Friday, December 14, 2018

The Evergreen Courant's News Flashback for Dec. 14, 2018

Old-fashioned whiskey still from the 1930s.

SIX YEARS AGO
DEC. 13, 2012

Evergreen weather observer Betty Ellis reported no rain between Dec. 3 and Dec. 9. She reported highs of 77 degrees on Dec. 3 and Dec. 4 and a low of 49 on Dec. 5.

Local UFO mystery deepens this week: The mystery surrounding the UFO reports made in Conecuh County over the past several weeks only deepened during the past week as more witnesses reported seeing strange lights in the night sky.
During the past week, a woman reported that she and her 16-year-old daughter saw a “weird light that blinked red, blue and white” Wednesday of last week and on Sun., Dec. 2, near their home on County Road 15 in the Baggett’s Chapel community.
“Whatever it was moved real fast and went west toward Lenox and Deer Range,” the woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said. “And it was real quiet. We hear planes all the time from the airport in Evergreen, but whatever this was, it didn’t make any sound at all.”
The woman and her daughter spotted the unidentified light around 9 p.m. on Wednesday of last week and around 8:45 p.m. on Dec. 2. On both occasions, they were able to see the object for 15 to 20 minutes, she said.
“I thought it was a star at first,” she said. “But then it got bigger and started to move around, and I knew then that it couldn’t be a star.”

30 YEARS AGO
DEC. 1, 1988

Evergreen weather observer Earl Windham reported no rain between Dec. 1 and Dec. 7. He reported a high of 63 on Dec. 5 and a low of 28 on Dec. 5.

Judge of Probate Frank Salter administers the oath of office to the newly appointed City of Evergreen Personnel Review Board: Jeanette Turner, secretary; John Murphy, Cecil Caylor, co-chairman, and James Cowart, chairman. The other member, Gerald Salter, was not present.

Connie Manufacturing Co. of Evergreen has announced plans to create a new division of the company, CMC Apparel. This new division will manufacture men’s dress slacks for distribution by Seminole Manufacturing Co. of Columbus, Miss. Forty new jobs will immediately be created in Conecuh County when production begins in January 1988, eventually resulting in the creation of 125 jobs with an estimated annual payroll of $1,000,000, according to John Law Robinson, President of Connie Manufacturing Co.

The Conecuh County Board of Education will host a reception honoring Mrs. Pat Cassady from 8:30 to 10 o’clock Monday morning in the central office located in the Rutland-Price Building. Mrs. Cassady was named one of the nation’s 100 winners of the 1987 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching in October. The award is presented to one math and one science teacher from each state by the National Science Foundation.

56 YEARS AGO
DEC. 13, 1962

Cold wave blasts county and state: The weather made big news in Alabama this week as the season’s first “cold snap” gripped the state. There was no prospect of a thaw until Friday.
The week started off cold and a blast of Artic air late Tuesday sent the mercury plummeting all over the state. Lows near zero were recorded in North Alabama early Wednesday. Locally, the temperature dropped to an unofficial 12 degrees with some reports from out in the county of lows of 10 and 11.

MISS GERRY SEALES has been chosen one of the four beauties to be featured in the yearbook at Judson College. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bill Seales of Castleberry, Gerry is a member of the senior class at Judson.

Local CAP Flies Dangerous Mission: In the face of dangerously high winds on Sunday morning, Dec. 9, the Evergreen Composite Squadron and Covington County Composite Squadron, Civil Air Patrol, flew their first radiological survey. The purpose of this mission was to test the possibility of Civil Air Patrol units gathering essential radiation data for the state Director of Civil Defense in the event of nuclear attack.
Personnel from Evergreen Squadron participating in this mission were: Major Lee F. Smith, acting as Mission Commander, Capt. G.D. McKenzie, acting as Operations Officer and pilot, Capt. David E. McKenzie, pilot; 2nd Lt. Otto Stacey, pilot, and acting as observers in the aircraft, Major Alton L. Dean, 2nd Lt. L.E. Dean and Warrant Officer Roy Lewis.

71 YEARS AGO
DEC. 11, 1947

Officers had no clues Wednesday as to the identity of the burglar who entered Coker Service Store late Saturday night and stole $62 in cash, a large portion of which was in silver dollars. The thief entered the service station through a rear window and apparently did not bother anything else in the place. Stanton Coker is owner and operator of the service store.

The Eastern Star will hold its regular meeting Monday night at seven o’clock. This will be the annual Christmas party and all members are urged to attend.

What was perhaps the largest wildcat still ever seen in this county was captured one mile south of Nymph Thurs., Dec. 4, by Sheriff W.D. Lewis, Deputy Hobson Lewis, J.E. Jones and S.S. Patrick of the ABC Board.
The giant still was in operation when the raid was made, Sheriff Lewis told The Courant. A keg containing about 10 gallons of shinny was also captured. Approximately 1,000 gallons of mash was destroyed.
Sheriff Lewis stated that the still would probably turn out 100 gallons of liquor per day when in full operation. The cooper still would have held something like 1,000 gallons of mash. Nearby was a concrete vat used for fermenting the mash. It was 15-feet by three-feet and would have held 1,000 gallons or more.
Apparently, the still had been in use for a long period of time. It was located deep back in the swamps something like 1-1/4 miles from any road except the little used trail over which materials were carried to the still.

81 YEARS AGO
DEC. 9, 1937

Lowest Temperatures Since 1925 Record: This entire section has been shivering this week as it was gripped by the coldest weather recorded since the winter of 1925. According to J.R. Kelley, local weather reporter, the thermometer dropped to 14 (18 degrees below freezing) on Monday of this week, thus chalking up the lowest reading since it dropped to 12 in 1925.
Much inconvenience and considerable damage resulted from the unusually low temperatures. No doubt many flowers and shrubs have been killed and many residents report damage to their plumbing. The weather began moderating late Tuesday and by Wednesday was raining. At press time Thursday morning another cold snap is on with a forecast from the weather bureau predicting another severe freeze with the possibility of a temperature as low as 10 degrees above zero.

Charles Tomlinson, who is attending college in Marshall, Texas, is at home for the holidays with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. C.P. Tomlinson. Charles is making a record in the newspaper field being publisher of the college paper as well as reporter for a city paper in Marshall.

A.B. Cline, formerly of Miami, Fla., arrived here the latter part of last week to become associated with the firm of I. Long & Sons. He will assist Mr. Robert Long in the management and operation of this large store.
While in Miami, Mr. Cline was engaged in publishing a newspaper and operating a commercial printing plant.

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