The Evergreen Courant's News Flashback for Dec. 15, 2020

Jeff Sessions

20 YEARS AGO
DEC. 21, 2000

Local weather reporter Harry Ellis reported .05 inches of rain on Dec. 11, 2000, 1.40 inches on Dec. 13, .22 inches on Dec. 14, .32 inches on Dec. 15 and .22 inches on Dec. 16. He reported a high temperature of 77 degrees on Dec. 16 and low of 22 degrees on Dec. 17.

Saturday’s high winds destroy Christmas in the Park displays: Mother Nature took a hand in Evergreen’s annual Christmas in the Park this year, destroying most of the displays with high winds late Saturday afternoon.
The weather didn’t cooperate at all, beginning Friday afternoon with heavy showers, which continued into the night. Luckily, judges were able to choose the winners of this year’s event before the weather turned nasty.

Senator Jeff Sessions visited Evergreen this past Friday afternoon to discuss several important issues with local residents.

Joseph A. Bratton, Chairman and President of Regions Bank Covington-Conecuh, along with Pam Hammonds, Senior Vice President and Branch Manager, announce the retirement of Janella R. Baggett, effective Dec. 31, 2000, and the promotion of Carol H. Cook to Vice President and Branch Operations Officer.

BellSouth Pioneers donated bluebird houses to the Conecuh County Board of Education in an effort to help raise public awareness about the decline in the bluebird population over the last five decades.

35 YEARS AGO
DEC. 19, 1985

Local weather reporter Earl Windham reported 2.49 inches of rain on Dec. 11, 1985 and 1.60 inches of rain on Dec. 12. He reported a high of 79 on Dec. 12 and a low of 28 on Dec. 14.

The Greening Masonic Lodge on South Main Street was slightly damaged by a fire discovered at 6 p.m. Monday. The Evergreen Volunteer Fire Department was able to quickly put out the blaze.

The City of Evergreen recently improved the services of its Sanitation Department with the purchase of this new trash truck with knuckle boom loader. The approximate cost was $26,000.

Captain and Mrs. Ellis W. Golson (nee Rachel Ellis) of Killeen, Texas proudly announce the birth of a daughter, Amber Lynn, weight eight pounds, nine ounces born Dec. 15.

The Evergreen Industrial Park continues to expand. Work is progressing rapidly on this building for Interspec.

The FFA’s champion corn grower for the Southwest District is Maurice Lee of the Evergreen FFA Chapter.

This, the home of Randy and Rita Baggett, 103 South Main St., winners of first place in the Chamber of Commerce’s Spirit of Christmas Entrance Decorations Contest. They received a prize donated by Cassady Insurance Agency.

50 YEARS AGO
DEC. 17, 1970

Book published by Miss Riley: Miss Elizabeth d’Autrey Riley has published some of her memories in a book that will be of great interest to people throughout the country who enjoy a well told tale from local history.
The Evergreen Old Historical Cemetery as written by Miss Riley will lead one down each lane of this hallowed spot, and her comments concerning those buried there will bring before the reader a past that has faded away except as it lives in the memory of older citizens.
Miss Riley is well qualified for her role as historian being descended as she is from the representative pioneer families of South Alabama. She is a native of Monroe County, having been born in the ancestral mansion at Flat Creek Plantation, the daughter of Enoch George Riley and his wife, the former Narcissa Davidson. Her uncle, Dr. B.F. Riley, was an author and historian of note and a president of Howard College.
Miss Riley has already appeared in print, having written an account of an antebellum Christmas in South Alabama for the magazine of the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. She is a charter member of Conecuh Chapter of this organization.
The Evergreen Old Historical Cemetery, Miss Riley’s latest work, will enrich those who share with her these memories and will add luster to her reputation as an historian.

65 YEARS AGO
DEC. 15, 1955

SELECTED SOLDIER OF THE MONTH: Army PFC Clayton C. Hale of Repton, Ala. receives congratulations from Lt. Col. Clyde Kennington, Battalion Commander of the Army Medical Service of the Army Medical Service School, after being selected Soldier of the Month for the enlisted student section at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. A dental laboratory technician at the school’s Medical Center, Private First Class Hale was selected for his soldierly appearance, knowledge of duties and military courtesy. He entered the Army in January 1955 and is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Willie L. Hale of Rt. 1, Repton.

Robert Boone, administrator at the Conecuh County Hospital, was elected president of the Evergreen Junior Chamber of Commerce Monday night. He will serve a six-month term of office until the first of July 1956 and succeeds Bill Gaines.

Wayne Hutcheson, manager of the Cotton Tractor Co., Ford tractor and implement dealer of Evergreen, returned Sunday from a four-day visit to Havana, Cuba via Delta Air Lines.
This all-expense-paid trip was given to 42 Ford tractor and implement dealers in Alabama and Georgia by Southeast Ford Tractor Co. of Decatur, Ga. as a reward for excellent performance in a nationwide sales contest sponsored jointly by the Tractor and Implement Division of Ford Motor Co. and Southeast Ford Tractor Co. during August and September of this year.

Bermuda Community, representing Conecuh County in the State Community Improvement Contest, was visited by state judging team on Thurs., Dec. 8.

80 YEARS AGO
DEC. 19, 1940

Rat Extermination Campaign To Start This Week: On account of the general complaint of rat infestation the Mayor and Council have asked the Health Department to put on a campaign for the extermination of these pests and carriers of diseases, especially Typhus fever.
The P.W.A. crew will begin poisoning Thursday or Friday morning of this week, and we hope everybody will cooperate 100 percent since it is for the common good of all. This work will be supervised by Mr. Spann, county sanitation officer, and Mr. Kyle of the State Health Department. (Signed) E.L. Kelly, County Health Officer.

Former Resident Dies In Plane Crash: Funeral services will be held in Montgomery tomorrow afternoon at three o’clock for Clarence M. Dannelly Jr., son of Dr. and Mrs. Clarence M. Dannelly of Montgomery, formerly of Evergreen.
According to reports from the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, the 24-year-old ensign and a student pilot, Max Lettau of Manchester, Mass., were killed Tuesday morning about nine a.m. when the plane in which they were practicing water landings dived into the bay and sank. The bodies of Dannelly and Lattau were not recovered from the sunken ship until late Wednesday afternoon.
Ensign Dannelly was graduated from the University of Alabama in 1937, majoring in aeronautical engineering. Shortly after receiving his B.S. degree, he entered the Navy and received his training at the Pensacola Air Station, graduating about two years ago.
For two years, he was assigned to duty in the Panama Canal Zone and while there Ensign Dannelly was selected for special coastal survey work in Colombia and Ecuador. He remained in South America two months and shortly after his return to the United States was stationed at Charleston, S.C. Last September, he was sent to Pensacola as a flight instructor.
Surviving are his parents, Dr. and Mrs. C.M. Dannelly; two sisters, Hermione and Mary; one brother, Frank Perry, all of Montgomery; his grandmothers, Mrs. A.B. Farnham, Evergreen, and Mrs. J.M. Dannelly, Selma; four aunts, Miss Aline and Augusta Farnham, Evergreen, Mrs. George Hobbs, Selma, and Mrs. George Clinkscale, Spartanburg, S.C.; two uncles, Milton Dannelly, Birmingham, and G.R. Farnham, Auburn.