Marion County

According to Marion County weather recorder Eddy Pearce, Marion County is on track to beat the 2005 record of 36 days with no measurable rain.
On Sept. 26 Pearce said that no measurable rain has fallen in the county for 31 days. Pearce said that he last recorded measurable rain on Aug. 27 when 15/100ths of an inch was recorded in his rain gauge at his residence south of Hamilton.
Pearce, who only records the weather and makes no forecasts, said he gets his weather forecasts from the Weather Channel.

HAMILTON - Last month, well-known Hamilton native son Clay Dyer was inducted into the “Legends of the Outdoors” Hall of Fame.  
The "Legends of the Outdoors" was established to recognize those outdoor sportsmen and sportswomen who, through countless hours of hard work and devotion to the outdoors, in both hunting and fishing, have played an integral part in setting the standards and guidelines for the rest of the outdoor world to follow.

HAMILTON -  “I know they have to have a jail and if you make it a vote of the people, they still have to have a jail,” said Don Barnwell, former Marion County District 3 commissioner and current Hackleburg town councilman, when asked by the Journal Record about a potential one-cent sales tax vote.
On Wednesday, July 24, the Marion County Commission held a special meeting in which Scott Hunt presented funding options for the new Marion County Jail.

MARION COUNTY -  Statewide changes went into effect for vape shops on Thursday, Aug. 1, as Alabama looks to tighten up on vape retailers.
This month, the state will begin oversight and regulations for retailers who sell vape and other nicotine products.
The new law:
• Requires vape shops to have a tobacco license;

Public schools across Marion County are searching for children with disabilities or who are suspected of having disabilities in order to provide special services.
The program, simply referred to as Child Find, is a statewide program that is sponsored by the state Department of Education’s Division of Rehabilitation  Services, Early Intervention, and the Division of Special Education Services.
The program is an effort to locate, identify and evaluate individuals from birth to age 21 who have disabilities or who are suspected of having disabilities.

GUIN - The discount merchandise store Fred’s announced that it will be closing the Guin store along with 129 other stores across the nation, including 11 other stores across Alabama.
Liquidation sales have already begun at the stores to be closed.
"While it is never easy to make decisions that impact our valued employees and customers, this initiative represents another necessary step in our continued efforts to stabilize our business by simplifying our store portfolio and product assortment," Fred's Chief Executive Officer Joseph Anto said in a statement.

MARION COUNTY - Alabama’s annual Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday is coming up on Friday through Sunday, July 19 through the 21.
Shoppers will be able to purchase clothing, school supplies, books and computers without having to pay state and local sales tax on items under a certain cost.
Items exempt from sales tax include:
•    Clothing items that cost no more than $100 each (this excludes items like sports gear and jewelry)

HAMILTON - Marion County’s sales tax for education has now tracked its second month in lower collections.
Marion County Superintendent of Education Ann West told the Marion County Board of Education during its meeting on Tuesday, June 11, that the county collected $129,983 in May—$4,0734 less than the previous year.
“For some reason, we were down again,” West said.
The collection was $18,000 lower than the April tax collection, when $148,082 was recorded. April also recorded lagging sales tax figures.

HAMILTON - Before the rain that fell on June 5, weather recorder Eddy Pearce’s rain gauge in Hamilton went 22 days without seeing any measurable rain. But that was no reason to be alarmed, Pearce said. Rainfall is above normal this year.
“You better believe it,” Pearce said on June 4, “if it don’t rain anymore for the month of June and July, we’d still be above normal.”
Pearce said average rainfall totals are 26.91 inches for the first five months of a year.

HAMILTON - Marion County has been awarded federal funds made available through the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program.
Marion County has been chosen to receive $12,015 to supplement emergency food and shelter programs in the county.
The application period begins today (Wednesday, June 19) and closes on Wednesday, July 3.