HAMILTON – Hamilton’s Ross Reed, 18, has earned Scouting’s highest honor—the rank of Eagle Scout.
Hamilton Boy Scout Troop 56 hosted Reed’s Eagle Scout Court of Honor ceremony on Tuesday night, Dec. 17, at the troops scout hut in Hamilton, friends, family and fellow Scouts attending.
Reed is the son of Mike and Michelle Reed. He has an older brother, Cole, who earned Eagle in 2018. He also has a younger brother, Lake.
During the court of honor, Reed presented his mother, Michelle, with an Eagle Mentor Pin for supporting him through the process.

HAMILTON – Absentee ballots for the Tuesday, March 3, primary are now in at the Marion County Courthouse, Marion County Circuit Clerk Denise Mixon said.
Election-related deadlines were announced in advance of the primary, which will involve presidential primaries for the two parties, plus a number of state and local elections.
Mixon, who will also serve as the absentee election manager during the primary, said absentee balloting would start today (Wednesday, Jan. 8).

HACKLEBURG – Radio business owner Hutty Hutcheson will pay a flat rate of $500 a month beginning Jan. 1 to rent space from the Town of Hackleburg.
Hutcheson owed the town multiple months’ rent and utility bills for using the old town hall building, where Hutcheson operates his radio station, Big 95.5.
Hackleburg Town Clerk Carla Rector told the Hackleburg Town Council at its meeting on Thursday, Dec. 19, that Hutcheson is now up-to-date on his rent payments.
Hutcheson’s rent was set at $300  a month plus utilities in last year’s contract.

WINFIELD – Northwest Medical Center has announced it will close the Northwest Family Care Clinic in Winfield effective Friday, Jan. 31.
The decision comes roughly a year-and-a-half after the City of Winfield took ownership of the local hospital through the Winfield Healthcare Authority, which purchased the hospital from Curae Health.
The after-hours clinic at 125 Henry Lane in Winfield opened in 2015 and  was built off of Interstate 22’s Exit 30. Med360 Health UrgentCare is located on the same exit, across Highway 129.

MONTGOMERY - A $79,713 grant will enable Thrive Alabama to expand mental health services to victims of crime in Colbert, Cullman, Franklin, Jackson, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Morgan and Winston counties.
Local matching funds of $19,928 will supplement the grant.

Safeplace, Inc. is using funds of $44,000 to continue providing domestic violence victims in Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Marion and Winston counties with legal assistance as they seek to escape abusive situations.

MONTGOMERY - Gov. Kay Ivey has awarded grants totaling $46.2 million to assist low-income families in Alabama with energy bills.
The Marion-Winston Community Action Agency (MWCAA) will receive $699,100.
“This will allow federal funds to come into the community to help individuals in Marion and Winston counties for utilities,” said MWCAA Executive Director Jeff Fleming.
The grants will enable 21 community service agencies throughout the state to provide emergency funding to help low-income families heat their houses this winter.

BIRMINGHAM - Alabama Possible, a statewide nonprofit that aims to break down barriers to prosperity, recently announced that two Marion County schools will receive the Best Hustle Award for successfully improving its early Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion by at least 10% from Oct. 1-Dec. 1.
This year, 120 Alabama high schools earned this recognition, including Hackleburg High School, which increased completion by 26%, and Marion County High School, which increased completion by 71%.

HAMILTON – For the week-period ending Wednesday, Dec. 26, a total of $35,454 has been raised for this year’s Christmas for Kids campaign—leaving the charity $4,556 short of its goal of $40,000.
With 2019’s holiday season winding down, Sandy Sandlin,  coordinator of the campaign, said the charity was able to purchase 402 Christmas gifts this year. The charity spending $90 on each child to purchase gifts and clothes.

HAMILTON - U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne addressed the Marion County Republican Party during a regular meeting on Saturday, Dec. 7, at J&V Ole Smokehouse in Hamilton.
Byrne, who is currently serving his fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives, was born in Mobile and has served as a member of the Alabama State Board of Education and former chancellor of the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education.
He is currently running as a Republican for the U.S. Senate in the 2020 election, a position which is currently held by Doug Jones.

HAMILTON – A recent report shows that Marion County residents are alert and ready for the upcoming 2020 Census count.
Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) spokesperson Mike Presley told the Journal Record in a phone interview that Marion County received one of the highest scores in Alabama on an “indifference” survey conducted by ADECA to canvass the state on how willing citizens are to participate in the upcoming Census.

HAMILTON - Marion County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Jimmy Mills told the Journal Record that the storm that took place on Monday, Dec. 16, did not do any damage in the Marion County area, which Mill stated was a blessing.

“We didn’t have any damage, 9-1-1 had a report of some lines down on Highway 43 North, but that ended up being a false report,” said Mills.
“I haven’t heard of any power outages or trees down, no limbs down—nothing. We were blessed because it (the storm) went north and south of us.”

HAMILTON - The Hamilton Kiwanis Club partnered with Christmas for Kids this year and sold 210 turkeys and hams as well as delivered approximately 35 food baskets, according to Kiwanis member Mark Dearen.
“I would just like to thank everybody for helping us be a part of donating to  Christmas for Kids,” said Dearen.
“We (Kiwanis Club) try to serve the community and make the community a better place to live each year.”
Dearen also expressed his delight in helping those in need and seeing smiling children in partnering with Christmas for Kids.