What's going on in Alabama
Folks did great on yesterday's quiz, considering that we made a couple of the questions a little more obscure. The results are near the bottom of this email. Meantime, we have news from Death Row, tours from the TVA, and what ALEA said about an alleged TikTok challenge. Ike Morgan |
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The latest on state executions |
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The state of Alabama now has a detailed schedule set for the execution of James Barber, reports AL.com's Kent Faulk. It's scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. July 20 at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore and is going forward under a new rule giving the state a 30-hour window to complete its protocol and carry out the execution. The state has said that between last-minute appeals and efforts to access a vein to run IV lines, two executions were thwarted last year. Barber was sentenced to death for beating 75-year-old Dorothy Epps to death in 2001 with his fists and a claw hammer. |
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The Tennessee Valley Authority is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. AL.com's Paul Gattis reports that the festivities include tours of the TVA's dams. One that's really worth pointing out is the Wilson Dam, the TVA's largest hydroelectric facility, which is on the Tennessee River in the Muscle Shoals area. Wilson Dam was completed 99 years ago. It stretches a mile across the river and stands 137 feet high. Tours of the Wilson Dam will be given Aug. 4 and Aug. 18, a tour of Norris Dam will be Aug. 11, a tour of Chickamauga Dam will be Aug. 25 and a tour of Pickwick Dam will be Sept. 8. Tours are limited, people need to register ahead of time, and there will be random drawings to see who gets to tour the dams A dam lottery is perfect. During the state legislative session I heard someone say, "It's about time we get us a dam lottery." (He was pretty emphatic so I hope he gets his name drawn for a tour.) |
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Attention poachers and other trespassers |
So how many of y'all know about Alabama's "Purple Paint Law"? Apparently, not many folks do, since its passing back in 2016 didn't garner a lot of attention and it didn't come along with a big marketing campaign. And it's important to know, especially if you enjoy wandering around on property that's not yours. AL.com's Warren Kulo reports that the Alabama Legislature passed the Purple Paint Law so that property owners would have another option to legally let people know that trespassing is not allowed on their land. No proceeding, no parking, no poaching. You see, you're not necessarily trespassing a piece of land if there are no "no trespassing" signs -- or, since 2016, purple paint. Landowners should put purple paint on trees or posts in vertical lines that have to be at least 8 inches long and 1 inch wide, with the bottom of the mark between 3 and 5 feet above the ground, placed no more than a hundred feet apart on forest land or a thousand feet apart on non-forest land. |
A glance at the above photo raises so many questions. Such as: Is that Gov. Kay Ivey on a beer can? Why is she dressed like Colonel Sanders? Can I drive thru somewhere and pick up a box of Kentucky Fried Mountain Oysters?
The responses to those questions are, respectively: yes; I don't know; and I'm not feeling so well.
But the beer is real, and it's called KIV Sweet Tea Sour by Chandlers Ford Brewing. |
“The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s (ALEA) Marine Patrol Division does not have any record(s) of boating or marine-related fatalities in Alabama that can be directly linked to TikTok or a trend on TikTok." |
July 17: Special Legislative session begins to address Congressional redistricting
July 20-22: Rock the South takes place in Cullman
Sept. 2: Alabama and Auburn football season openers
Sept. 4: Labor Day |
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Recently, lightning started a fire that destroyed a house on the set of the 2003 film "Big Fish" in this Alabama town:
Millbrook - 50% (correct)
Eufala - 29%
Greenbow - 11%
Opp - 9%
Note: Eufala was a pretty thoughtful guess, considering the name of the film. The rebooted USFL's second season has resulted in a second consecutive championship for the Birmingham club. What's Birmingham's nickname?
Stallions - 79% (correct)
Iron - 9%
Blazin' Barons - 7%
Bulls - 5%
Note: The Iron was the name of a recent short-lived football team. A Randolph County man named Lewis Powell is connected to has which place in American history?
He was implicated in the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln and other U.S. officials. - 48% (correct)
He was the Secret Service Agent closest to President Kennedy when he was killed in Dallas. - 39%
He shot President Teddy Roosevelt during a speech that Roosevelt finished before being treated for the gunshot wound. - 7%
He was the executive producer behind the idea to create the "Who Shot Jr.?" season-ending cliffhanger on Dallas. - 6% Walker County native Polly Holliday, who turned 86 early this month, became a TV sitcom star in the late 1970s with what catchphrase?
"Kiss my grits!" - 94% (correct)
"You ol' heathen!" - 3%
"Who loves ya, baby?" - 3%
"I don't vo-dee-oh-doh-doh." - 1%
Note: The above catchphrases belong to, in order, Flo from "Alice," Aunt Esther from "Sanford and Son" and Lt. Theo Kojak from "Kojak." The last one is simply a memorable quote used by Shirley Feeney during a scene from "Laverne and Shirley." Which animal found in Alabama is NOT an endangered or threatened species?
Blacktip shark - 32% (correct)
Black Warrior waterdog - 22%
Whooping crane - 22%
Red-cockaded woodpecker - 25% |
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