Daily Rainfall Observations from SW Alabama for Wed., Nov. 20, 2019

Rainfall (Past 24 Hours): 0.00 inches.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.00 inches

Month to Date Rainfall:  1.50 inches.

Fall to Date Rainfall: 8.75 inches.

Year to Date Rainfall: 47.20 inches.

Readings taken at 0700 hours Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily in Monroe County, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.405783N Lon -87.479861W. CoCoRaHS Station No. AL-MN-6, Station Name: Frisco City 5.0 WSW.

The Evergreen Courant's News Flashback for Nov. 19, 2019

SIX YEARS AGO

NOV. 28, 2013

Evergreen weather observer Betty Ellis reported no rain between Nov. 18 and Nov. 24. She reported a high of 81 degrees on Nov. 18 and lows of 35 on Nov. 23 and Nov. 24.

The Evergreen-Conecuh County Chamber of Commerce recently named the Bank of Evergreen as the Chamber’s Business of the Month for the month of November. Chamber board members presented the bank with a special plaque last Thursday night to mark the occasion.

Representatives of EMC Hospice look on as Evergreen Mayor Pete Wolff signs a proclamation last Thursday at Evergreen City Hall making the month of November “National Hospice-Palliative Care Month” in the City of Evergreen.

Hillcrest High School’s marching band recently wrapped up its marching season by bringing home trophies for superior ratings from three area marching contests.

The band earned superior ratings from the Daleville Band Classic, the Rehobeth Marching Festival and the 33^rd Annual “Little Bighorn Marching Contest” in Opp.

At the competition in Opp, Hillcrest senior drum major Korshontes Butts received the Best in Class Drum Major Award, which is given to the best overall drum major in the entire contest. Hillcrest’s dance team also received “The Best In Class Award” for the second year in a row.

31 YEARS AGO

NOV. 24, 1988

Evergreen weather observer Harry Ellis reported 0.29 inches of rain on Nov. 15 and 0.53 inches on Nov. 19. He reported a high of 80 degrees on Nov. 16 and a low of 42 on Nov. 21.

The Evergreen Chamber of Commerce’s 1988 Christmas Parade Saturday afternoon was an unqualified success. There were 19 floats and a total of 54 entries in all. This was the largest parade ever and with more interest than ever.

The Evergreen High School Band’s “Christmas through the Eyes of the Pride” won first place among the floats in the Evergreen Chamber of Commerce’s annual Christmas Parade Saturday afternoon.

Phillip Blackmon off to Washington; expresses his thanks: Phillip Blackmon will be in Washington, D.C. next week, Nov. 29-Dec. 4, attending the Congressional Youth Leadership Conference. Phillip, son of Mr. and Mrs. Johnny Blackmon of Castleberry, is a senior at Conecuh County High School. He won the Woodmen of the World History Award earlier this year and was invited to attend the meeting in the nation’s capital by the Congressional Youth Conference.

William J. “Billy” Hammonds has been appointed vice president of operations at Poole Truck Line by Bill Johnson, President. Prior to this appointment, he was serving as director of operations. Hammonds began his career with Poole in 1978 as a driver and continued with moves into central dispatch, terminal manager and director of terminals.

56 YEARS AGO

NOV. 21, 1963

POOLE BUYS TAGS AND MORE TAGS: Walter Poole is without question the biggest auto and truck tag buyer in Conecuh County. Shown here picking up the final batch of tags for the trucks, trailers and service vehicles operated by Poole Truck Line, Poole bought a total of 128 tags this year, according to Judge of Probate, Lloyd G. Hart. Also in on the big buying splurge were Tax Assessor Delma Bowers and Tax Collector H.C. Wiggins. Poole Truck Lines bought tags for 49 tractors, 73 trailers and six service vehicles. Total cost of the tags was $19,889 plus $2,504 ad valorem taxes for a grand total of $22,393.

The Evergreen Highway Patrol office reported one accident that took the lives of two local youths during the past week.

Thomas R. Jordan, 17, of Evergreen, Rt. 2, was driving a 1955 Ford that went out of control Friday night about one mile north of Evergreen of Highway 83. Walter William Mooney, 14, of Evergreen, a passenger in the car, was killed instantly. Jordan died a short time later in the Conecuh Hospital.

Trooper Troy Smith investigated the accident and reported $450 damage to the auto.

HOMECOMING ROYALTY AT EVERGREEN HIGH are caught by the photographer as they enter the stands following a pre-game ceremony. Miss Homecoming Susan Blair and Miss Football Sandra Brooks reigned over festivities, including a parade and the game with T.R. Miller. Escorts were Conner Warren and Stan Coker.

81 YEARS AGO

NOV. 17, 1938

VIADUCT WILL BE DECORATED DURING CHRISTMAS SEASON – Tree Will Be Placed At The Head Of The Bridge: Evergreen citizens and visitors who pass this way during the Christmas holidays will have a rare treat in store for them if present plans materialize. Plans are underway to decorate the huge viaduct with pretty lights and ornaments in keeping with the holiday spirt. The viaduct, itself a thing of beauty, enhanced with the beauty of these lights and other decorations should present a gorgeous scene.

Supt. of Lights Fred M. Wright has already bought the materials and they are here. Sometime early in December they will be installed and it is hoped to have them up and ready by Dec. 10 to 15. The Evergreen Garden Club will put up and decorate a Christmas tree at the entrance to the bridge next to the business section. In addition, it is hoped that all business houses will arrange their windows and fronts in holiday decorations. With everyone cooperating, Evergreen can perhaps be made the most outstanding beautiful city in this section of the country this Christmas.

Boy Scout Bulletin: The regular weekly scout meeting was held Monday night. “Assembly” was blown by “Sonny” Price. The scouts who had paid their monthly dues answered roll call “sheep” while the boys who had not answered “goat.” Points were given on the contest for writing the 12 Scout Laws backward. We enjoyed a talk given by George Smith, a colored World War veteran. The speech was about his “oversea experiences.” The meeting was closed with “Taps.” – Louis Murphy, Reporter.

Daily Rainfall Observations from SW Alabama for Tues., Nov. 19, 2019

Rainfall (Past 24 Hours): 0.00 inches.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.00 inches

Month to Date Rainfall:  1.50 inches.

Fall to Date Rainfall: 8.75 inches.

Year to Date Rainfall: 47.20 inches.

Readings taken at 0700 hours Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily in Monroe County, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.405783N Lon -87.479861W. CoCoRaHS Station No. AL-MN-6, Station Name: Frisco City 5.0 WSW.

The Evergreen Courant's Sports Flashback for Nov. 18, 2019

SIX YEARS AGO

NOV. 28, 2013

Nared plays in playoff game: Evergreen native Justin Nared, a former record-setting quarterback at Hillcrest High School, made even more history over the weekend when he played in the first ever football playoff game in the history of Tuskegee University’s storied football program.

Tuskegee traveled to Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence on Saturday to face the University of North Alabama in the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs, and UNA came out ahead in the end, 30-27.

Nared, who injured his throwing shoulder earlier in the season and missed two entire games, saw limited action on Saturday, running just once for a two-yard game.

The season-ending loss dropped Tuskegee to 8-3 on the season. Nared, a 6-1, 200-pound junior, finishes the season with 37 rushes for 38 yards. He completed 53 of 104 passes for 809 yards and five touchdowns.

Sparta Academy’s varsity girls basketball team opened the 2013-2014 season in a big way last Thursday night by netting a 53-point win over South Choctaw Academy at Richard Brown Memorial Gymnasium in Evergreen. The Lady Warriors won, 69-16.

April Palmer led Sparta with 26 points, eight steals, five assists and a rebound. Alex Etheridge followed with 11 points, four rebounds, three steals, five assists and a block.

(Other top Sparta players in that game included Emily Deason, Roberta Hall, Drew Ann Lambert, Jayden McKeough, Ashley Riley, Rachel Riley, Emily Rodgers, Lisa Smith and Reagan Wild.)

31 YEARS AGO

NOV. 24, 1988

Lee-Scott nips Sparta 14-10 for Class A title: The Sparta Academy Warriors came oh so close to winning their first ever state championship here Friday night before losing 14-10 to Lee-Scott Academy’s Warriors of Auburn in the APSA Class A Championship Game. Still, Sparta set records and posted a school best ever record of 12 wins and one loss.

Sparta made one big mistake and it cost the local school the ball game. Leading 7-0 with a little over a minute left in the first half, Sparta botched a pitchout and Lee-Scott recovered it in the end zone for the tying score and eventual margin of victory.

To Sparta’s credit, the local Warriors took the following kickoff and drove to the Lee-Scott three-yard line as time ran out. Bobby Johnson kicked a 20-yard field goal to give Sparta a 10-7 halftime lead, but it didn’t hold up.

Sparta also contributed to Lee-Scott’s final touchdown. A Sparta back ran after signaling fair catch on a punt and caught a flag. The penalty put Sparta back to its 15, first and 15. A motion penalty backed the locals up to the 10, and first and 20. Sparta couldn’t get out of the hole and the visitors set up on the Sparta side of midfield after the punt and then punched out a touchdown to win the championship tilt.

Jeff Carrier scored the only Sparta touchdown on a five-yard run as Sparta drove for a first-quarter score. Johnson added the point.

Jamie Deason picked up 60 yards on nine carries; Carrier, 18 on 13; Kenny Bledsoe, 16 on five; and Lee Wild, 15 on five.

Bledsoe completed nine of 15 passes for 95 yards. Carrier missed his only toss. Jimmy Hart had two receptions for 35 yards; Craig Blackburn, three for 29; Johnson, two for 23; Steven Gall, one for 10; and Carrier, one for a loss of two.

56 YEARS AGO

NOV. 21, 1963

Aggies almost get G’ana in ‘finest hour’ – The Evergreen High Aggies had their “finest hour” (well, make it 48 minutes if you have to be technical) Friday night and almost won the biggest game of the year.

As it was, Coach John L. Robinson’s club threw a Texas-size scare into Coach Bobby Wasden’s Camellia Bowl-bound Georgiana Panthers before losing 14-12.

Tragedy stalked the field in the fourth quarter and struck down the last of the football-playing Williams brothers, Ronnie, to put a damper on the celebrating Evergreens. Ronnie, not yet 18, died in a Montgomery hospital Sunday morning following brain surgery. He got a head injury throwing a block in the fourth period.

The Aggies were there to battle and it was obvious they had the determination to mold an upset from the opening kickoff until a pass interception in the final seconds put it out of reach.

The teams battled scorelessly until 2:09 from the end of the first half. At that point, Ronnie Williams took a screen pass from Jimmy Weathers on the left sidelines and ran it in for the first score. The play covered 20 yards and capped a 70-yard drive.

All the Aggies played well and to single out any “stars” would be doing injustice to the battlingest bunch seen on Brooks Stadium turf in many years. Everybody but these players knew Georgiana was supposed to swamp ‘em. They still don’t believe it.

81 YEARS AGO

NOV. 17, 1938

V.P. Smith spent the weekend in Birmingham to be with his mother, Mrs. J.A. Smith, on her birthday and to attend the Auburn-LSU game.

Mr. Gwin Alderman, Misses Laurette Fortner, Carolyn McCreary, Mary Hearn and Thelma Williams attended the Georgia Tech-Alabama football game in Atlanta.

PIX – A Martin-Ray Theatre – Friday, Nov. 18 – Continuous Showing From 2:15 to 11 p.m. – John Howard in “TOUCHDOWN ARMY” – Three Turkeys Free – Two Reel Musical Comedy “CLEANING UP” – One of $250,000 Movie Quiz Pictures

Bird Season Opens Monday!! Are You Ready? FOR COMPLETE HUNTERS SUPPLIES – SHELLS, GUNS, BAGS, COATS, HATS – Wild Bros. Hardware Co. – Evergreen, Alabama.

Daily Rainfall Observations from SW Alabama for Mon., Nov. 18, 2019

Rainfall (Past 24 Hours): 0.00 inches.

Week to Date Rainfall: 0.00 inches

Month to Date Rainfall:  1.50 inches.

Fall to Date Rainfall: 8.75 inches.

Year to Date Rainfall: 47.20 inches.

Readings taken at 0700 hours Central Standard Time (1300 GMT) daily in Monroe County, Alabama, USA, in the vicinity of Lat 31.405783N Lon -87.479861W. CoCoRaHS Station No. AL-MN-6, Station Name: Frisco City 5.0 WSW.

Acreman brothers were first to come forward with local Bigfoot reports

Bigfoot hunter Wesley Acreman reviews map.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been two years since I accompanied local Bigfoot enthusiast Wesley Acreman on a “Bigfoot hunt,” which is something that I’d wanted to do ever since people in our area began to report sightings of these unusual creatures.

Many of you will remember that Wesley and his two brothers, Virgil and Roman, claim to have had multiple encounters with a Bigfoot-type creature between 2009 and 2015 while living in the Pine Orchard community, which sits on the Conecuh-Monroe county line.

During that time, the brothers lived in a house on the Conecuh County side of County Road 5, between Ramah Church and Monroe County Road 42. After the Acreman brothers came forward with their Bigfoot stories, a number of other witnesses came forward to talk about similar experiences.

When it comes to Bigfoot, I consider Wesley to be an expert. He not only claims to have seen one of these creatures, but he’s also heard tree knocks and vocalizations, watched numerous documentaries and read a lot about them. Over the years, Wesley and his brothers also claim to have gotten responses when they’ve made Bigfoot calls and knocked on trees at night.

Way back in the fall of 2017, I asked Wesley if I could go with him one night to observe his methods and techniques for calling a Bigfoot, and he agreed to take me on a “Bigfoot hunt” on Nov. 3, 2017. We picked that night because of the full moon, which would allow us to see without having to use our flashlights very much.

We met at Pine Orchard around 6 o’clock that evening, when there was just enough daylight left for us to get our bearings. Once the full darkness set in and the moon began to rise, Wesley demonstrated a wide variety of Bigfoot calls, and it was obvious to me that he’d had a lot of practice. Wesley is an average-size man, but he can impressively project his voice over a wide area.

Wesley’s two sons – Grayson and Gabe – were also with us and both of them also demonstrated their own Bigfoot calls. I was impressed by their calling abilities and their deep knowledge of the outdoors. I even tried my hand at making a Bigfoot call, but I failed to match the lungpower mustered by Wesley and his two boys.

To my surprise, at least twice on that Friday night, we heard responses to Wesley’s calls from some distant unknown source that we could not see. I have to admit that I was somewhat stunned, but Wesley didn’t seem surprised. He’d heard this type of thing before.

I heard these responses with my own ears, and they were among some of the most bizarre noises that I’ve ever heard. I would describe the responses as being similar to the calls made by Wesley, but fainter, either due to distance or low volume. In the darkness, it was hard to be sure.

Many Bigfoot enthusiasts also theorize that Bigfoot-type creatures communicate by hitting trees with pieces of woods, a behavior known as “wood knocking.” The idea is that they warn each other of danger with these noises or make their presence known to other Bigfoot creatures within earshot.

On this particular Friday night, Wesley picked up a random limb about the length of a baseball bat and knocked it against pine tree trunks, creating a loud, clear “tock” noise. Again, it was obvious to me that he’d done this before, and he was able to make a noise so loud that it likely could have been heard from a mile or so away. I was impressed with his ability to do all this, and each time he would knock, we would pause, perfectly still, and listen.

Again, to my surprise, at least twice while doing this I heard two faint wood-on-wood noises that seemed to be responses to Wesley’s knocks. (I don’t believe that we were hearing echoes because the responses seemed to come much later than you would expect from an echo.) These responses, which were faint, came out of the dead silence of the night and were unmistakable in my book.

It would be an understatement to say that I was surprised by all of this. Wesley, on the other hand, seemed pleased to have an impartial, third party on hand to validate what he and his brothers have experienced for years.

Also, about halfway through our field trip, well after the sun had gone down, I came down with a serious case of the “willies,” where the hair seemed to stand up on the back of my neck. I kept silent and noticed that none of the other members of our small party seemed to be feeling the same thing. This strange sensation lasted probably about 20 to 30 seconds and then it passed. I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe I was spooking myself out or if something out there in the woods was watching us.

Later during the trip, one of Wesley’s sons said he smelled something out of the ordinary, a smell that he described as a “wet” smell. None of the others in the group, including myself, smelled what he smelled, and a few seconds after he reported smelling it, he said that it had gone away. This brief incident reminded me that Bigfoot sightings are often accompanied by reports of unusual smells.

Also on that night, we heard a wide variety of other noises that you would expect to hear on a moonlight night. We heard a number of passing cars on County Road 5, a variety of birds (including owls), howling coyotes and mooing cows from nearby farms. All of these noises were perfectly normal and very different from the responses and knocks we heard.

In the end, I appreciate Wesley letting me tag along with him and watch the way he made Bigfoot calls and tree knocks. I was honestly surprised by the responses we received, and it makes me just that much more curious about the Bigfoot stories that I’m hearing from area residents. Even though two years have come and gone, I still have fond memories of the night that I went on my first official Bigfoot hunt.

Skipper, Cotten are tied for first place in local college football contest

The 11^th week of our local ESPN College Football Pick ‘Em Contest wrapped up last Saturday, and the local standings reflect another big shuffle as we close in on the end of the season.

Once the dust settled after Saturday’s slate of games, we found Drew Skipper and Mark Cotten tied for the No. 1 spot in the local standings with 79 total points each. We also had a four-way tie for the third place with Brett Loftin, Clint Hyde, Blake Stringer and Casey Grant all holding down the No. 3 spot with 78 points each.

Jesse Jordan was in eighth place with 77 points, and someone named Doughboy36401 was in ninth place with 75 points. Justin Chandler was in the No. 9 hole with 74 points, while Austin Weaver and I were tied for tenth place with 73 points each.

As you can see, only six points separate the guys in first place from those of us in tenth place, so big changes could take place from week to week. We’ve got just four more weeks to go before the end of the contest, and you can rest assured that there will be more than a few changes.

Can the No. 1 guys hold on to their spot, or will someone come from behind to knock them off the top of the mountain? Only time will tell, but in the meantime we’ve got a lot of football left to enjoy as the contest sorts itself out.

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Of the football teams that I follow on a regular basis, Hillcrest High School’s varsity football team was the only one this past weekend who held up their part of the bargain when it comes to winning. Hillcrest defeated a pretty good Alabama Christian team, 28-21, in a good, close game at Brooks Memorial Stadium. Few fans left this one early because it could have gone either way right up to the very end. Hillcrest actually trailed with about three minutes left to go in the game, but showed a lot of fight as they marched down the field and punched it into the end zone to seal the deal.

Like a lot of Alabama fans, I was disappointed by their loss to LSU, but Alabama still remains alive for a spot in the playoffs. LSU no doubt has a great team, but Alabama didn’t help themselves with all of the dropped passes and missed kicks on Saturday. The pressure’s on LSU now, and it remains to be seen if they’ll be able to hold up under the pressure of staying undefeated.

Alabama’s loss to LSU wasn’t nearly as bad as the New Orleans Saints implosion against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. Atlanta entered that game with a 1-7 record while the Saints were 7-1. New Orleans has looked great all season, but they came out very flat against Atlanta. It just goes to show how evenly matched the NFL teams are, and there’s a lot of truth to that cliché that any team can beat any other team on any given Sunday.