Attalla man arrested for break-in at vacant house

An Attalla man was arrested after he allegedly on Tuesday broke into a vacant house being renovated on Fourth Street, Police Chief Lamont Tucker said.

 

Aaron Wade Dillard

Aaron Wade Dillard, 20, was charged with third-degree burglary and second-degree theft, Tucker said.
Tucker said someone called Attalla police after seeing a man running from the house. The caller saw the man get into a car, and got a description of the car, Tucker said.
Attalla Police Sgt. Jerry Williams spotted a car a few blocks away on Laurel Place NW, Tucker said, fitting the description of the car seen near the Fourth Street house.
Dillard was riding in the car, Tucker said, and a cordless drill and saws were in the backseat, as well as some copper pipe and copper tubing. It later was determined the drill, saws and copper were taken from the house during the burglary.

Eagle doing well after stadium luxury box crash (Video)

Spirit

AUBURN, Ala. (AP)
The director of an Alabama raptor center says Auburn University's beloved eagle mascot, Spirit, is doing fine after crashing into a stadium luxury box in front of thousands of fans.
Jamie Bellah, director of AU's Southeastern Raptor Center, tells The Opelika-Auburn News he's not sure why the bald eagle careened into the luxury box window.
He said the routine for the pre-game flight, a ritual at home games, was very normal for Saturday's game against Mississippi State.
The 14-year-old eagle circled high above Jordan-Hare Stadium before colliding with the window, continuing its flight and descending to a handler on the field.
Bellah said an examination and blood work revealed no problems.

Spirit came to the raptor center in 1998 after sustaining both wing and beak injuries in Florida.
Video is from YouTube!

Forester stable after 28-foot fall down mine shaft in Tuscaloosa County

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama
A forester is in stable condition at DCH Regional Medical Center after falling 28 feet into an abandoned mine shaft near Coaling in Tuscaloosa County, where he spent around 20 hours before being rescued Saturday morning.

The Westervelt Co. employee, who company officials say  wishes not to be identified publicly, accidentally stepped onto the opening of the mine shaft and fell around 12:30 p.m. Friday while working in the area. The opening to the shaft, measuring 4 feet by 4 feet, was hidden by vines that had grown over the opening and other debris.

Company spokesman Robby Johnson said the man has been a company employee for 25 years.

The company provided the following account: When the man did not return home in the evening, his wife contacted family, friends and the company. They formed a search and rescue team on the property where he had planned to work that day, but the effort was suspended at 2 a.m. due to darkness.

After the search resumed later that morning, members of the team located the man's company truck with his cell phone inside. The man later responded to calls from rescuers, and Westervelt associates removed him from the shaft around 9 a.m. They then transported him to receive treatment for non-life threatening injuries.

According to safety coordinator Jimmy Swindle, Westervelt's Natural Resources division's employees are trained on mine shafts as potential occupational hazards. Their safety procedures also include a system to keep track of workers' locations in the field.

“Our foresters utilize a lone-worker process to account for their whereabouts when they are in the field, posting their planned daily schedule on a board in the office and touching base if the schedule varies,” Swindle said.

Westervelt has been investigating the accident and is working to begin the process of filling the shaft.

“The mine shaft in question has been heavily studied over the past few days as we've pieced the facts together," Swindle said "It appears to be part of a very old iron ore mine, probably not used for over 100 years, which has given it plenty of time to become an undetectable hidden hazard."

Swindle said the company, which owns nearly 500,000 acres of timberland across the Southeast, fills identified mine shafts with dirt using a backhoe. In some cases, Westervelt has been assisted by the State of Alabama Department of Industrial Relations Mining and Reclamation Division.

“In West Alabama, mine shafts are a potential hazard to anyone in wooded areas, particularly because they can be so camouflaged and undetectable," Swindle said. "Regardless, we will continue identifying ways to improve our safety processes to minimize this risk.”

Natalee Holloway's father seeks official declaration that disappeared Mountain Brook woman is dead

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama 

Natalee Holloway

A judge has set a Sept. 23 hearing on a request filed by Natalee Holloway's father to have her legally declared dead, more than six years after she disappeared during a high-school graduation trip to Aruba, court records show.
The petition, filed in June by Dave Holloway, asks Jefferson County Probate Judge Alan King to enter what is known as an "order on legal presumption of death."
The process, which requires multiple hearings and publication of notices seeking information that she is alive, is expected to last into early 2012. Fewer than a half-dozen such cases are filed annually in Jefferson County, court officials said.
Natalee Holloway, who was 18 when she disappeared hours before her school group was to return to Mountain Brook, left no will. Her possessions are worth less than $500, the petition said.
She was last seen alive after midnight on May 30, 2005, and was declared missing the following morning when her packed bags and passport were still in her hotel room and she failed to catch her flight home.
The petition makes several references to the homicide investigation conducted by Aruban authorities and the ongoing focus on Joran van der Sloot in connection with Holloway's disappearance.
Van der Sloot was charged in 2010 in federal court in Birmingham with attempting to extort $250,000 in exchange for information about where the teen's body could be found. Van der Sloot currently is in a Peruvian jail, charged in the death of another woman there that occurred five years to the day after Natalee Holloway's disappearance.

Wiregrass man now accused of molesting 11 boys and girls

DOTHAN, Alabama 

Bobby Lynn Smith

An Ashford man out on bail for multiple sexual assault charges faces new charges of molesting 11 children.
The Dothan Eagle reports that court records indicate Houston County sheriff's deputies have charged 51-year-old Bobby Lynn Smith with sexually assaulting 11 children over the past 10 years.
Deputies arrested Smith on Monday on charges that include 3 counts of sex abuse of a child under the age of 12.
Deputies arrested Smith last month on 9 felony sexual assault-related charges, involving eight different victims. The new charges involve 2 of the same victims.

Mobile man wanted on kidnapping, robbery charges captured in Texas

MOBILE, Alabama
A Mobile man remains in the Mobile County Metro Jail today after being extradited from Texas on kidnapping and robbery charges, Mobile police said.

Zerrick Charles Robinson, 26, is charged with first-degree kidnapping and first-degree robbery in an incident that occurred in June, Officer Christopher Levy, Mobile police spokesman, said.

Zerrick Charles Robinson

Police were called to the 2400 block of Sayner Avenue at about 11:30 p.m. June 30, officials said then. People at the scene told police that a friend of theirs had been robbed and kidnapped.
At approximately 7:15 the next morning, police went to the 600 block of Whitney Street, where the victim was found.
Police determined that the robbery and kidnapping occurred during a narcotics-related event. The robbers then demanded ransom from friends of the victim, police said.
The victim later escaped and called police, officials said.
In early July, Johnathan O’Neal Thomas, 22, of Mobile was arrested and charged with first-degree robbery and first-degree kidnapping, in connection with the incident. Thomas remains jailed without bail, according to jail records.
Robinson is scheduled for a bail hearing on Friday, records show. He has 10 previous arrests in Mobile County dating back to 2001, for a variety of charges including robbery, assault, traffic violations and drug offenses, records show.

Huntsville police advise area motorists to 'leave early' to avoid Trail of Tears riders Saturday

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama 
The Huntsville Police Department advises Saturday motorists using I-565 and University Drive in Huntsville to "leave early" or "take alternate routes" as the 18th Annual Trail of Tears motorcycle ride passes through the city.
The bikers, starting in Bridgeport at 8 a.m., will travel through North Alabama Saturday, entering Madison County on U.S. 72 East at Gurley between 9:20-9:40 a.m.
They will continue west into Huntsville on I-565, with riders expected to pass through town between 9:45 and 10:15 a.m. They will exit the Interstate at Madison Boulevard (Exit 13), just west of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, and should begin arriving for a lunch break at the Old Time Pottery Barn shopping center on Madison Boulevard between 10:20 and 10:30 a.m.
Bikers will begin departing the shopping center at 11:30 a.m. and travel west on Madison Boulevard until reaching County Line Road, where they will turn north until intersecting U.S. 72 (University Drive).
The riders will turn west on U.S. 72 toward Athens until reaching Florence where they will take a right on Cox Creek Parkway before heading to their destination of Waterloo.
Anyone traveling west out of Huntsville on I-565 Saturday morning should plan to leave earlier than usual because ramps to I-565 until the Madison Boulevard exit will be closed for the safety of the riders as they pass through Huntsville.
Alternate routes to reach Madison and points west once the riders enter Huntsville will be Old Madison Pike and U.S. 72 West.
Travelers headed east or west on University Drive can expect lengthy delays between 11:45 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Traffic will be stopped in both directions to allow the bikers to turn left from County Line Road onto U.S. 72 West.
Motorists are advised to use I-565 during this time to avoid delays.
The Trail of Tears is a cooperative effort between the Alabama State Troopers and all local law enforcement agencies, fire departments and emergency responders.