The Political Round-Up
Magistrate judge slot opens in federal court here;
City adding a part-time judge; Gulf Coast Classic accounting awaits; The moonpie will drop
By Chip Drago
Mobile Bay Times
Applications are being accepted for a $150,000-plus per year magistrate judge position in federal court here.
The post pays an annual salary of $155,756. The appointment is for an eight-year term. Applications should be directed to U.S. District Court Clerk Chuck Diard. The deadline is Jan. 23.
There are presently three U.S. magistrate judges in the U.S. Southern District of Alabama -- William Cassidy, Sonja Bivins and Bert Milling.
Muny court judges
City officials recently completed interviews with as many as 17 applicants for a new part-time Mobile municipal judgeship paying $50,000 annually. Mobile City Councilman Fred Richardson, who chairs the council committee overseeing the process, said a council meeting would be scheduled to select the judge. The city now has two part-time judges, Rose McPhillips and Matt Green. A third part-time judgeship to handle the three weekly jail dockets was deemed necessary. Those dockets are currently handled by Thomas Figures, under a mayor's appointment as an assistant city judge. Figures was one of the 17 prospects for the part-time judgeship.
Accounting for the Gulf Coast Classic
Mayor Sam Jones expects a response to his request for a financial analysis of the Gulf Coast Classic any day now from the event's sponsor, he wrote in a letter to City Council President Reggie Copeland. The letter was copied to the other six members of the Mobile City Council.
Jones pointed out in the Dec. 18 letter that the Gulf Coast Scholar and Sports Foundation's board of directors was scheduled to meet that day and he expected a response to his "official request for information" to follow. The GCSSF board includes Steve Harrelson, Richard Davis, Taylor Hodge and Ray Lapierre.
GCSSF spearheaded a controversial effort to revamp this year's Gulf Coast Classic football encounter between Alabama State University and Southern University into a genuine classic along the lines of the Bayou Classic in New Orleans and the Magic City Classic in Birmingham, events that are said to have a big economic impact on the cities. A true classic format as is common among historically black colleges and universities features the same two teams competing each year in the same city at the same time of year.
Jones' initial budget proposal included an appropriation of $450,000 for the GCC. Funding of $40,000 was provided for the 2007 game, ASU's 34th consecutive home game at Ladd-Peebles Stadium here. A compromise of $275,000 was approved in a contentious city council meeting that included racially-charged remarks. Both universities are pre-dominantly black. Black city councilmen Fred Richardson, William Carroll and Clinton Johnson subsequently each directed $25,000 from their discretionary accounts to the GCC.
Copeland has consistently called for an audit of the game and its associated activities to help determine whether the $350,000 investment was appropriate. Richardson has also called for an economic impact study of the GCC.
"The sales tax impact, the impact on the hotel industry and the impact on the retail industry will take some professional studies to provide accuracy," Jones wrote. "Anything other than that is merely an assumption."
Jones wrote that he would provide the information as soon as he received it. He also noted that he had been informed that the foundation didn't expect to complete its audit until after January, 2009.
A survey of about 16 area hotels after the event six weeks ago indicated "disappointing" occupancy attributable to the GCC, according to area hoteliers. In fact, the informal numbers suggested that total tax revenues to the city from GCC participation likely did not exceed $10,000. The survey reflected 763 room nights and almost $82,000 in revenue. However, the numbers included the football teams and the bands whose expenses -- about 40 percent of the total -- were covered within the monies guaranteed to the schools for their participation.
There! Up in the sky! It's ... it's ... a moonpie?
Fireworks, music and fun activities are common at most cities' New Year’s Eve celebrations. But this year Mobile, Alabama will introduce a unique wrinkle to its activities -- a 600-pound electronic MoonPie, a treat heretofore more synonymous with the city's
Carnival season.
Mobile's more notable
celebration is the first-known
American Mardi Gras
celebration in 1703 (yes, even
before New Orleans). The
party lasts for over two and a
half weeks and culminates on
Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday and the advent of the sacrifices of the Lenten season.
A some point in the 300-year tradition the moon pie gained a singular status among the throws of Mardi Gras revelers.
The city this year partnered with Chattanooga Bakery Inc., the maker of the iconic MoonPie brand marshmallow sandwich, to enhance the New Year’s Eve celebration with an huge electronic MoonPie that will light up Mobile's skyline at the stroke of midnight.
Prior to midnight, officials from Chattanooga Bakery will serve up an edible 550-pound, 4,500-calorie chocolate MoonPie, purported to be the world's largest. The big MoonPie is nearly four feet in diameter.
"This event will not only kick off our Carnival season, but we believe it will become the premier event for the Central Time Zone, creating a tremendous economic impact for our city," said Mobile City Councilman Fred Richardson. The $9,000 moonpie concept for Mobile is Richardson's brainchild.
In addition to the 550-lb edible MoonPie, the bakery will also hand out 5,000 regular-sized moonpies to New Year’s Eve revelers. Leroy Hill Coffee Company will sponsor 5,000 cups of coffee and SMG will provide 5,000 cups of hot chocolate.
"What a great idea," said Tory Johnston, Chattanooga Bakery's VP of Marketing. "Mobile, Mardi Gras and MoonPies go hand-in-hand, so we thought the the New Year’s Eve's celebration was a creative idea. We've made a few big ones (MoonPies) over the years, but this will be our biggest one yet."
More than 4 million MoonPies are sold during Mobile’s Mardi Gras season, according to Stephen Toomey, owner of Toomey’s Mardi Gras Candy Company.
Ingredients of the "World's Largest Edible MoonPie" include six pounds of chocolate icing and 14 pounds of marshmallows.
Materials for the electronic moonpie include 1200-1500 LED golf ball-size clear lights; eight sheets of 2-by-2 square aluminum tubing; ten sheets of plywood; and a lot of banana-colored paper mache.
Entertainment For New Year's Eve will be provided by New Orleans Jazz sensation Charmaine Neville and the Mobile Singing Children; The Dance Center; Bishop State Community College Chorus; Melinda Leigh School of Dance; Elements of Difference (Students from Murphy High School); the Excelsior Band and bands from the City of Mobile, James Seals and Sullivan Community Centers.
Entertainment will kick off at 8 p.m. in Cooper-Riverside Park in downtown Mobile adjacent to the Arthur Outlaw Convention Center.
Proceeds from the sale of commemorative tee-shirts and coffee/hot chocolate will go to the Salvation Army and McKemmie Place, a local shelter for homeless women.
Bonner staff to visit Citronelle, Bayou la Batre
A staff member from the office of U.S. Representative Jo Bonner will stop in Mobile County Thursday, Jan. 8 to assist constituents with any problems they are having with the federal government.
The representative will visit Citronelle City Hall between 11 a.m.-12 p.m. and at Bayou La Batre City Hall between 2-3 p.m.
For more information, contact Frazier Payne at 251-690-2811 or 800-288-8721.
