The Evergreen Courant's News Flashback for Dec. 27, 2022

George C. Wallace

29 YEARS AGO
DEC. 23, 1993

Keith Pugh receives Master of Divinity: Keith Harrison Pugh from Evergreen, Ala. received the Master of Divinity degree on Dec. 17 at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Pugh, a pastor of First Baptist Church in Jackson, Ala., is married to the former Teresa Winter of Huntsville, Ala. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Pugh of Evergreen.
Pugh’s home church is Evergreen Baptist Church in Evergreen. He holds the bachelor of science degree from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Evergreen weather observer Harry Ellis reported .98 inches of rain on Dec. 13, 1993 and .22 inches on Dec. 19. He reported high temperatures of 59 degrees on Dec. 18 and Dec. 19 and a low of 35 degrees on Dec. 18.

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. – Army Staff Sgt. Willie J. Meeks was one of the more than 3,500 military personnel who participated in “Joint Logistics Over the Shore III,” a month-long joint logistics exercise held here.
Meeks is a 1980 graduate of Evergreen High School.

The Evergreen Courant would like to take this opportunity to thank the Evergreen and Lone Star Reorganized Churches of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for their cooperation in the publishing of this, our first full color photo in this newspaper. This is the seventh year the Latter Day Saints have performed their Live Nativity. It has grown each year and has become one of the most popular and beautiful sights of this community.

44 YEARS AGO
DEC. 28, 1978

Howard Marion Cook, 78, of Evergreen died Wed., Dec. 20, in a Pensacola hospital. Mr. Cook had operated a taxi business in Evergreen for many years and was well-known and much respected by the people of this city.

‘Crispy Chick’ to open here: Mobile-based Crispy Chick, which operates fast food restaurants in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, has opened its 22nd facility at the corner of Bel Air Boulevard and Cottage Hill Road.
Restaurants are now under construction in Evergreen and at Lake Forest near Fairhope.
Other Crispy Chicks are located in Fairhope, Grand Bay, Monroeville, Butler, Livingston, Linden and Stevenson, Ala. and Gulfport, Miss., Cantonment and Pensacola, Fla.

Evergreen weather observer Earl Windham reported .30 inches of rain on Dec. 21 and 1.43 inches on Dec. 24. He also reported a high temperature of 79 degrees on Dec. 21 and a low of 27 degrees on Dec. 18.

On Dec. 8, Gov. George C. Wallace announced the appointment of Mrs. Alice Presley of Evergreen to serve as chairman of the Conecuh County Board of Registrars.
The appointment represents, perhaps, one of the Governor’s last major appointments in Conecuh County prior to his leaving office in January 1979.
Mrs. Presley’s late husband, James Presley, was the founder of Presley Funeral Home, now located on Knoxville Road.

59 YEARS AGO
DEC. 26, 1963

State Accepts Bids On I-65 Atmore-Stockton: The State Highway Department has accepted bids on the stretch of Interstate 65 from the Atmore intersection south to the Stockton area, The Courant learned Monday noon.
Bob Kendall, assistant director of the State Highway Dept., said that the bids were accepted and it is assumed the contracts will be signed and construction began early in the new year.
Kendall also said that plans are now “on the boards” for the section of I-65 from Montgomery south to Ft. Deposit and these contracts will be let in 1964.
The former Conecuh representative and senator also said that the state plans to get the I-65 segment from Georgiana north to Ft. Deposit under construction in 1965.
“By the end of Gov. George Wallace’s administration, we expect to have the Interstate Highway open from Montgomery to Mobile with the exception of a temporary route by Bay Minette on in to Mobile,” Kendall said.

Dr. J.B. Nix Is Claimed By Death: Dr. Joseph Bethune Nix, age 74 years, died at Mizell Memorial Hospital Monday, Dec. 16.
The deceased was born and reared in Barbour County and came to Opp in 1920. He maintained an office in the Ward Building where he practiced dentistry until recent years when his health became impaired.
Dr. Nix numbered his friends by the score in years gone by. He was superintendent of the Sunday School of the First Methodist Church and was instrumental in the growth of the church for a long time.

74 YEARS AGO
DEC. 23, 1948

The cotton ginning report as of Dec. 1, 1948 indicated that there were 8,660 bales of cotton ginned in Conecuh County during the year of 1948. This compares with 4,868 bales ginned in this county during 1947.

Girl Hitch Hiker Leaps From Car To Avoid Attack: A 27-year-old girl was found bruised and unconscious by the side of Highway 31 just north of Four Points Service Station here Tuesday night. The girl, who gave her name as Lillian W. Pizzano, was found by a soldier who was also hitchhiking.
Patrolman George Phillips of the Alabama Highway Patrol, who was called in to investigate, said that Miss Pizzano told this story:
She was on her way to visit an aunt in Buffalo, N.Y., who is the only living relative she has that is known to her, and had come from New Orleans to Evergreen. A man driving by himself picked her up across the street from the Pix Theatre. He immediately began to make advances and to handle her, and she leaped from the car.
Patrolman Phillips said that she was carried to Carter’s Hospital, Repton, in the Cope Funeral Home ambulance and treated there. She suffered no broken bones, but was bruised quite badly.
The girl was unable to give any means of identifying the man. She said that she had a billfold containing eight dollars in her pocket when she entered the car, but it could not be found. She was stranded here without any funds as this was written.

89 YEARS AGO
DEC. 28, 1933

There were 6,541 bales of cotton ginned in Conecuh County from the 1933 crop prior to Dec. 15 as compared with 6,799 ginned to the same date in 1932, according to the report issued by Bureau of Census of the Department of Commerce.

Castleberry Man Killed By Tree: Castleberry, Ala., Dec. 26 – A falling tree brought almost instant death here Friday to Hosie Oliver Lynch, 28-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. J.D. Lynch, who lived three miles east of Castleberry.
In company with his father, a brother and other workers, young Lynch was getting out black gum cross-ties in the woods three miles west of town when a pine tree, which had been lodged but was released by the cutting of another tree, struck him on the head. He died within 20 minutes.

Purcell Stage Circus – Featuring Monkeys, Dogs, Pony and Clowns, now playing at Grand Theatre, Montgomery, will play at Evergreen Theatre Mon. and Tues., Jan. 1-2. No Advance in Regular Admission.

Skinnerton Man Is Wounded In Difficulty: John Alex Brown, age 21, young man living in the Skinnerton community is recovering at the Betts & Newton hospital from a pistol wound in the chest which it is alleged was inflicted by E.M. Binion Jr. in difficulty which took place here last Saturday night. The bullet, said to have been a 32-calibre, entered the chest on the right side and passed entirely through the body, coming out under the shoulder blade on the same side.