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Chip Drago
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The Political Round-Up

Clearing off the desk & tossing out a few notebooks

By Chip Drago
Mobile Bay Times
Time to clear the desk and toss the notebooks. This and that from the stack.

Honor them before they're gone
U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions and U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner will speak Friday, Dec. 12 at 11 a.m. in the Aircraft Pavilion at USS ALABAMA Battleship Memorial Park to help kick off Honor Flight South Alabama, a program to recognize "the greatest generation." Under HFSA, a charter flight will take area WWII Veterans to Washington, DC next May to visit the National WWII Memorial. For more information, contact Pete Riehm at 251-442-4349.

New Youth-Reach facility for southwest Alabama
Youth-Reach Gulf Coast, a ministry for troubled young males, will have an official ribbon-cutting ceremony for its new Baldwin County facility at 25062 County Road 38 in Summerdale Friday, Dec. 12 at 2 p.m. Youth-Reach seeks to bring hope to troubled kids before they are lost.

More than 24 years ago, Youth-Reach opened its original home in Houston. Since then, Youth-Reach has been open twenty-four hours a day/seven days a week for homeless, damaged, and delinquent boys from 12-21. The new facility will serve Baldwin, Mobile and Escambia Counties.

For directions or more information please call 251-967-4809.

Stop in the name of the law
State Rep. Spencer Collier (R-Irvington) plans to file a bill before the 2009 legislative session making it a crime to elude police officers who signaled a vehicle to stop. Under current Alabama law, failing to stop when an officer attempts to pull a vehicle over is an unclassified misdemeanor. Collier titled the legislation the “Officer Keith E. Houts Act,” in honor of a Montgomery police officer who was shot and killed in 2006 after he pulled over a driver who had eluded his command to stop. In two separate incidents last month in Birmingham and Mobile, police pursuits of drivers who failed to stop resulted in two deaths and several injuries, Collier noted.

“Alabama is one of only three states with no law criminalizing the eluding of police officers who attempt to pull over a vehicle or make an arrest," he said. "Passage of this legislation is long overdue and will hopefully protect lives.”

Collier filed a similar bill during the last session which passed the House Judiciary Committee but failed to reach the floor of the House for a full vote.

Bonner staffer visiting
A staff member from the office of U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL) will stop twice in Mobile County on Thursday, Dec. 4 to meet with constituents having difficulties with the federal government and needing Bonner's help. The representative will be at Citronelle City Hall from 11 a.m.-12 p.m. and at Dauphin Island Town Hall from 2-3 p.m.

For more information on this visit, please contact Frazier Payne, Bonner’s District Representative, at 251-690-2811 or 800-288-8721.

Historic Development Awards Presented
The Mobile Historic Development Commission presented its annual awards and commendations honoring historic preservation earlier this week during a reception at Mobile Arts and Sports Commission's newly-restored offices, 151 Dauphin Street.

Mary S. "Bunky" Ralph, past president of the Mobile Historic Development Commission and chair of the Architectural Review Board, was honored for her leadership and dedication to historic preservation.

The Elizabeth B. Gould Research Award was presented to Ben Erickson for his definitive historical narrative Mobile's Legal Legacy: 300 Years of law in the Port City. 

Certificates of commendation were presented to: Dora F. Finley for her leadership and dedication to developing Mobile's African-American Heritage Trail; Gregory W. Rawls for his extraordinary renovations to the historic homes located at 1408, 1410 and 1412 Eslava Street; Mobile Bay Monthly Magazine, publisher Jocko Potts and editor Judy Culbreth for their excellent coverage of historic preservation; and the Junior League of Mobile for their Downtown Walking Tour offered to 4th grade classes
in Mobile and Baldwin counties.

Along with the awards ceremony Banner and Shield historic markers were presented to the following historic structures: