280 living june 2015

By ROY L. WILLIAMS

When Terry Ponder opened Ponder Properties Commercial Real Estate LLC in Meadowbrook Office Park in 1995, the U.S. 280 corridor was in the early stages of business growth.

Twenty years later, Ponder says the 280 corridor has become what he believes to be the leading business center in metro Birmingham. While new restaurants and business headquarters continue to choose the 280 area, the veteran commercial Realtor says a new trend of growth is emerging: healthcare.

By SYDNEY CROMWELL

Around Chelsea High School, Koa Vicens is recognizable by the smile on his face, the lei around his neck and his frequent use of the “hang loose” sign popular among surfers. Koa,

who has Down syndrome, is beloved by fellow students and teachers.

“Amongst my population of special needs [students], he is a leader. He is also extremely helpful to his classmates and teachers. He is well liked and loved throughout the school,” CHS

special education teacher Eleanor Wise said.Behind Koa’s smile is the work of his father,

Ralph, who gets up at 4 a.m. to get his son ready for school and has driven him to school

June 2015 | Volume 8 | Issue 10

n e i g h b o r l y n e w s & e n t e r t a i n m e n t

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facebook.com/280Living

Sponsors ............. A4280 News ............ A6Business...........A8Food...................A12Faith...............A30

Opinion..............A31Community.........B7 School House ... .B15Sports ................ .B17Calendar ............B24

INSIDE

The father-like figure in Mike Vest’s life came through Big Brothers Big Sisters.Read his story in this issue.

See page B1

See page B4

Block party

Father figure

St. Vincent’s One Nineteen will host its annual block party this month. Find all the event details inside.

See GRADUATION | page A29

See HEALTHCARE | page A28

Inseparable

Father and son celebrate an early graduation due to cancer diagnosis

Koa Vicens hugs his father and gives the “hang loose” hand sign after his early graduation ceremony on May 12 at Chelsea High School. Photo by Sydney Cromwell.

Healthcare sector explodes in growth on 280

American Family Care CEO Dr. Bruce Irwin stands in their new national headquarters off U.S. 280. Photo by Keith McCoy.

280living.com/topics/video/

280 LivingA2 • June 2015

280Living.com June 2015 • A3

280 Bro

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Highland

Pkw

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Meadow View Dr

GrandAsian Buffet

Asian Buffet

New to the Hwy 280 area, Asian Buffet has the largest sushi buffet in the area. Our food is always fresh and we feature a New York big sushi chef. Dine in and take out are available.

LunchAdults: $7.99

Ages 3-6 $3.457-10: $5.45

Sushi, Hibachi and Chinese Food705-1377 • 27 Olmstead StMt. Laurel Next to Tea Shop

Shiki Sakura

Visit our other great restaurant..

Hwy 28010 Meadow View Dr • 518-0491

Opening

Next to Joe’s Crab Shack

DinnerAdults: $10.45Ages 3-6 $4.45

7-10: $6.45

Friday & Saturday Dinner BuffetAdults: $13.45

Copy masthead over from previous month

About UsPhoto of the month

Legals: 280 Living is published monthly. Reproduction or use of editorial or graphic content without prior permission is prohibited. 280 Living is designed to inform the 280 community of area school, family and community events. Information in 280 Living is gathered from sources considered reliable but the accuracy cannot be guaranteed. All articles/photos submitted become the property of 280 Living. We reserve the right to edit articles/photos as deemed necessary and are under no obligation to publish or return photos submitted. Inaccuracies or errors should be brought to the attention of the publisher at (205) 313-1780 or by email.

Please recycle this paper.

Contact Information:280 LivingPO Box 530341Birmingham, AL 35253(205) [email protected]

Please submit all articles, information and photos to: [email protected]. Box 530341Birmingham, AL 35253

For advertising contact:[email protected]


280Living

Published by : Starnes Publishing LLC

Dan StarnesKeith McCoyMadoline MarkhamDavid KnoxKatie TurpenSydney CromwellRoy L. WilliamsMadison MillerEmily VanderMeyMatthew AllenRhonda SmithWarren CaldwellDon HarrisMichelle Salem HaynesLouisa JeffriesJohn PerryKari KampakisLeah Ingram EagleMarienne Thomas OgleRick WatsonHannah Jones

Publisher: Creative Director:Managing Editor:

Sports Editor:Staff Writer:News Editor:

Community Reporter:Editorial Assistant:

Graphic Designer: Advertising Manager:

Sales and Distribution:

Copy Editor:Photographer:

Contributing Writers:

Intern:

Please Support our Community Partners30A Realty (B17)

Alabama Allergy & Asthma Center (B11)

Alabama Outdoors (A5)

Alabama Power (B26)

ALDOT (B2)

ARC Realty (B11)

Asbury United Methodist Church (A10)

Asian Buffet (A3)

At Home Furnishings (B7)

Avenir Realty-Amanda Hardin (B13)

Azia Medical Spa (B27)

Batts’ Chimney Services (B4)

Bay Leaf Indian Cuisine (A26)

Bedzzz Express (A2)

Bellini’s (B8)

Birmingham Bicycle Company (B4)

Birmingham Speech & Hearing (A14)

Cabinet Cures of Birmingham (A17)

Cabinetry Refinishing & Restoration (A1)

Cahaba Glass (A28)

California Closets (A26)

Central State Bank (A24)

Charles Thompson Attorney (A14, B14)

Chelsea Party Center (A27)

Chiropractic Today (A26)

Chiropractor Acupuncture (A11)

Church Unlimited (A31)

Classic Gardens (A24)

Commute Smart (A30)

Diamond Golf Cars (B19)

Drew Taylor Remax (A21)

Elite Boutique (A22)

Encore Rehabilitation (B5)

ERA King Real Estate Homewood (A30)

Expedia CruiseShipCenters (A7)

Fancy Fur- Paws and Claws (A15)

Fi-Plan Partners (A5)

Fireworks Blast (B18)

Floor Coverings International (B14)

Four Corners Gallery (B23)

GeGe’s Salon (A19)

Greater Shelby County Chamber (A25)

Healthy Smiles of Birmingham (B5)

Henderson & Walton (B8)

Hendrick Hoover Auto Mall (A17, B18)

Hollywood Feed (A1)

Holmes Feline Clinic (A21)

Indian Springs School (A28)

Issis & Sons (B1)

Jostens Publishing (A29)

Lawncrafters (B13)

Lice Clinics of America (B24)

Lisa Miller Oral Facial Surgery (B16)

Mantooth Interiors (B16)

MD Wellness & Aesthetics (A18)

Morningside at Riverchase (B15)

MVP Training (A3)

NAPA Auto Parts (A6)

Narrows Family Eyecare (B20)

North Shelby Library (B22)

Odyssey Early Schools (B21)

Outdoor Living Areas (B3)

Pak Mail (A22)

Pastry Art (B23)

Plain Jane Children & Gift Shop (A22)

Preserve Paints (B20)

Re/MAX Advantage-Crutchfield (A25)

RealtySouth Marketing (A9)

RealtySouth-Ry at RealtySouth (A15)

Red Pearl Restaurant (B19)

Revitalize at Greystone (A15)

Royal Automotive (A32)

Salon M2 (A31)

Skelton’s Air (A12)

Somerby at St. Vincent’s (A13)

Southeastern Jewelers (A12)

St. John’s Anglican Church (B6)

St. Vincent’s Health Systems (B28)

Sugar Sands Realty (B25)

Target Auction Company (B27)

The Altamont School (A23)

The ARC of Jefferson County (B25)

The Funky Muffin (B25)

The Maids (B12)

The Neighborhood Plumber (B17)

The UPS Store - Cahaba Heights (B12)

The Wild Bird Center (A16)

Therapy South Greystone (A8)

Town of Mt Laurel (B9)

Tutoring Club Inverness (A16)

Vape Escape (A19)

Vestavia Hills Soccer Club (B6)

Wee Peat Boutique (B24)

Weigh To Wellness (B2)

Western Sales and Service (B3)

Your Good Neighbor (B27)

Editor’s Note By Madoline Markham


University of Alabama Football Coach Nick Saban played in the pro-am tournament during the Regions Tradition at the Shoal Creek Golf Club in May. Other celebrity players included Dr. Condoleezza Rice, Coach Hugh Freeze, Bo Jackson, Coach Gus Malzahn, Coach Bruce Pearl, Coach Dan Mullen and Morning Drive Co-Host Charlie Rymer. Photo by Keith McCoy.

Our publisher Dan Starnes’ favor-ite stories to tell are about the early days of 280 Living. Patti Henderson founded the paper in 2007 from her Brook Highland home, delivering copies out of the back of a pickup truck. Dan’s first issue as publisher came seven years ago this month as the paper began to be delivered via US Postal Service.

Patti ran a one-woman show for the paper, and Dan’s early days were also not just as publisher but also as salesperson, writer and pho-tographer. The July 2008 that hangs in framed in his office shows off a cover story on the U.S. Junior Amateur Tournament at Shoal Creek — written by Dan.

Eighty-four issues later, the paper looks a little different. With Dan at the helm, 280 Living and its four sister papers he has started have exploded in size, growing year over year, as has our staff as you can see below. Dan’s passion for delivering

relevant community news to the 280 corridor remains as his vision for it has expanded in scope.

These days the editorial staff and I get the meaningful job of sharing stories like that of Ralph and Kao Vincens (cover story) and Mike Vest (B1), much thanks to Dan and our ad team leading the business side of things. Dan would say for you to be sure to thank our advertisers for making this issue possible, but I’d add

that our staff would also like to thank him for making this one, the previous 83 and the many more to come possible.

Happy summertime, and happy reading!

280 NewsLet’s Play Inverness brings fun from crawling to climbing

By LEAH INGRAM EAGLE

Birmingham kids will have a new place to play this summer. Let’s Play, an indoor playground, is tentatively set to open in the Inverness Heights Shopping Center the first week of June. It will be located in the former Party City location next to TJ Maxx. With the heat during the Alabama summer, this 13,000-square-foot play place will offer a cool alternative to the outside temperatures.

The owners are from Atlanta and said the market there was saturated with places like this, and they wanted to bring the con-cept to Birmingham. They chose the spot at 5025 U.S. 280 because market research showed there were people with kids and

there is nothing like Let’s Play around town. They hope this will be the first of many in a franchise.

While still over a month away from opening, their Facebook page has over 3,200 likes.

Let’s Play will be an indoor soft play center and playground/recreation center catering to children 12 and under. The structure will be a three-story jungle gym that has been designed from scratch.

The area will be mostly fenced, but keep a concept of open play. For ages six to 10, there will be a treetop course above the main play area, which will feature a rope course with a net bottom that the kids can do without assistance or a harness.

There will also be an area for smaller

children, including crawlers and babies, which will have interactive LED lights, stimulation and items for practicing motor skills. There will be toddler toys on the wall, a building block area, slides and ball pits.

Admission ranges from $6-11 and is good for unlimited play all day. Let’s Play will be available for birthday parties, fund-raisers, field trips, church groups and more. A waiver must be signed for each visit and socks are required. They will not have a kitchen on site, but can place orders for food and have it delivered. Snacks and drinks will be available for purchase. Let’s Play will begin hiring an estimated 10 to 15 employees once they finalize an open-ing date.

Construction is underway on Let’s Play Inverness, which is set to open in June. Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle.

End of bus system would cause traffic congestionBy ROY L. WILLIAMS

A Birmingham-based traffic consultant told members of the Hoover Board of Education that if the school system had proceeded with its now-dropped plan to halt bus transportation for students, it would have made traf-fic congestion to and from the city’s schools even worse.

Darrell Skipper of Skipper Consulting said he did his study at the request of Interim Superintendent Jim Reese “in case this issue ever came up again.” The Hoover school board, in a controversial July 2013 decision, had voted to end bus service for most students to cut costs. After a public outcry from many Hoover parents, plus inquiries by the U.S. Justice Department, the Hoover school board in December 2013 rescinded that decision to end bus service.

The report by Skipper, whose company conducts traf-fic studies for schools, governments and private clients across Alabama, pointed out how big an impact cutting busing would have had on those who deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic surrounding the schools on mornings and afternoons.

“If you eliminate a bus, it takes 24 cars to replace it,” Skipper said. “That equals about 600 feet of traffic, or two football fields. That means it would take 50 percent more time to exit school campuses per day.”

Of Hoover’s 16 schools, Skipper said 12 of them use five or more buses a day to transport students to and from schools. The other four use four or less buses, he said. Of Hoover’s 14,000 students, about 45 percent – 6,500 students – are taken to and from school via buses, Skipper said.

After Skipper’s report, Hoover school board attorney Donald Sweeney said the public shouldn’t read too much into the study, adding there are no current plans to revisit eliminating busing for Hoover students.

Reese, the Hoover interim superintendent, the cost of bus transportation is one of the biggest issues school systems face across the state, not just in Hoover.

“Another problem is finding bus drivers, especially those that have a CDC license,” he said.


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EVENT

By ROY L. WILLIAMS

Hoover City Council Pres-ident Jack Wright says a bill reallocating money from a 1-cent sales tax that was orig-inally supposed to be used to pay off bonds issued to build new schools is unfair to the City of Hoover.

Wright, during the May 18 council meeting, expressed displeasure at the bill, which on May 5 was overwhelm-ingly approved by members of the Jefferson County delegation and later the full Alabama House of Representatives.

Jefferson County senate delegation approved the plan on May 19. As of press time, the bill had not gone before the full senate. Check hooversun.com for updates.

Jefferson County senate delegation approved the plan on May 19. As of press time, the bill had not gone before the full senate. Check hooversun.com for updates.

Under the plan, the $560 million left to be repaid from the $1 billion in bonds used to finance $1 billion in new school construction across Jefferson County would instead be refi-nanced over 30 years. The debt was originally earmarked to pay off the remaining in 14 years.

Wright claimed the City of Hoover generates $20 million from the 1-cent sales tax in Jeffer-son County, but would only get $2.4 million.

“They are taking $20 million from us and only going to give us $2.4 million - I’m not excited about it,” Wright said.

The issue came up near the end of the meet-ing, when Hoover resident Dan Fulton, a retired teacher, told the council about a May 11 appear-ance before the Hoover Board of Education by Jefferson County Manager Tony Petelos, a former Hoover Mayor.

During his presentation, Petelos told the school board that refinancing the debt would generate $65 million a year, allowing the county to resume many services that were cut after the Jefferson County occupational tax was eliminated.

Petelos said Hoover city schools would receive $2.4 million annually from the reallocaton plan and other school systems across Jef-ferson County would receive

money based on student size. During that meeting, Hoover School Board Member Craig Kelley spoke out against the plan, saying Hoover wouldn’t receive its fair share based on the sales tax revenue generated by the city.

In an interview after the meeting, Wright agreed with Kelley.

“If you like your sewer and water bill, you’ll love this,” he said. “They (county commis-sioner) said it (the tax) was going to sunset, then sunset it. Same song, second verse.”

Petelos said Hoover would reap benefits from the bill. Jefferson County would be able to resume road improvements cut off after the county lost the tax, he said. Petelos, who was joined at the meeting by several members of the Jefferson County delegation, including State Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia, and State Rep. David Faulkner, R-Mountain Brook.

He said the Jefferson County bankruptcy and loss of the occupational tax has hampered the county, and this bill would be a major boost for the entire county. In addition to paying down the debt, the reallocation plan would generate needed revenue for the Birmingham Zoo, mass transit and other services for citizens of Hoover and other areas, Petelos said.

Council president speaks out against 1-cent sales tax bill

Council President Jack Wright.

EBSCO creating private exit road


Construction has begun on a private, exit-only road off U.S. 280 at EBSCO Industries.

The project, which was approved by a permit from ALDOT, is completely funded by EBSCO. The private road is for employees leaving the EBSCO property, and will provide an exit at the Highland Lakes traffic signal for a left turn onto 280 West.

ALDOT confirmed that there will be some modifications to the traffic signal, and a retain-ing wall will also be built.

The road will not have any entrance off U.S. 280, and will allow employees to turn west only.

“We will also be keeping the current entrance and exit at the bottom of the hill,” said Karla

Wiles, vice president of corporate communica-tions at EBSCO.

Wiles said the project was initiated by Dixon Brooke when he was CEO, and he is manag-ing it through to completion. He and Brooks Knapp of EBSCO Realty worked with ALDOT to receive approval for the project.

According to Wiles, creating this exit road has been in the works for some time, and it will provide a more efficient exit option for their campus.

“This is just one of the many improvements we have been making around our EBSCO campus,” Wiles said. “We recently remodeled and updated the employee cafe and re-opened it as the Treetop Cafe. We have been renovating a significant portion of our interior workspaces.”

Construction is underway for a private exit road from the EBSCO campus onto U.S. 280. Photo by Leah Ingram Eagle.

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moved from franchise ownership to corporate ownership, and the store has undergone a complete renovation.678-6648, whataburger.com

Carrabba’s Italian Grill, located at 4503 Riverview Parkway near Target,

has been remodeled and is now open for lunch seven days a week.980-1016, carrabbas.com

Lamar Adcock has relocated his MetLife insurance offi ce to 5511 Highway 280,

Suite 224, on May 22. His agency, open for the past 8½ years, offers a variety of auto, home and life insurance products. His offi ce was previously located in the Jared Square building at the foot of Double Oak Mountain.995-7872, lamaradcock.metlife.com

News and Accomplishments

Aliant Bank has been rebranded as USAmeriBank. The bank has a location

in Hoover at 1100 Corporate Parkway.408-2000, usameribank.com

Expedia CruiseshipCenters, 270 Doug Baker Blvd.Suite 500, is celebrating its

one-year anniversary June 2.437-3354, cruiseshipcenters.com/GreystoneAL

Hirings and Promotions

RealtySouth’s Inverness Offi ce, 109 Inverness Plaza, has welcomed Kelley

Brand and Clay Guy as new real estate agents.991-6565, realtysouth.com

AnniversariesOdyssey Early School, 104 Heatherbrooke Park Drive, is celebrating

its 20th anniversary in Inverness in June.991-0039, odysseyearlyschool.com

Weigh to Wellness and MD VIP, 4704 Cahaba River Road, are celebrating their

fi rst anniversary in June. Weigh to Wellness is owned by Leslie Ellison, and Dr. Timothy H. Real is the medical director of Weigh to Wellness and owner of MD VIP.994-2393, weightowellnessllc.com

Now OpenUncle Maddio’s Pizza Joint is now open in the Village at

Lee Branch at 210 Doug Baker Blvd. This is the pizza chain’s fi rst location in Birmingham and second in Alabama.783-5353, unclemaddios.com

Blissful Boutique is now open at 11 Mount Laurel Road.

The specialty women’s clothing and accessories store features all sizes and styles.991-0909

Brahmin, a new handbag store, has opened at The Summit at

213 Summit Blvd. This is the company’s fourth retail location and fi rst in Alabama, in addition to four other outlet stores.262-2004, brahmin.com

Exclusives Barber Shop is now open in Brook Highland at 5287

Highway 280, Suite 267.607-7119, facebook.com/exclusives0007

Coming SoonLet’s Play Children’s Indoor Playcenter will be opening in

June at 5025 Highway 280, Suite 102, in the space formerly occupied by Party City. The center is an indoor soft play facility for children ages 0-12.590-5866, letsplayparty.com

Birmingham Academy of Dance will open in July at 5033 Highway

280, Suite C1, in front of the Inverness Heights Shopping Center. The studio is owned by Autumn Blais and will offer instruction in more than 35 types of classes covering all dance genres.518-0933, badance280.com

Pieology, a build-it-yourself pizza restaurant, will open its fi rst

Birmingham location at 327 Summit Blvd. later this year. It will occupy part of the former Michelson Laser Vision Center location.pieology.com

Relocations and Renovations

Whataburger’s Chelsea location, 16064 Highway 280, has

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Dance studio coming to Inverness

By SYDNEY CROMWELL

For dancers wearing ballet slippers, tap shoes or clogs, a new dance studio is opening in Inverness on July 20.

Birmingham Academy of Dance will be located in the Inverness Heights shopping center at 5033 Highway 280. Autumn Blais, the owner, said the academy will offer classes, camps and competition teams for dancers interested in ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop and contemporary clogging.

Blais said she has seen a need for a studio located on 280 that focuses on customer service and working with parents’ schedules and fi nancial situations. She started dancing at age two and has been involved in it in some way for three decades.

“I grew up as a dancer and then I did teaching and cho-reography, and now I’m the parent of a dancer,” Blais said.

Blais said she enjoys working with students who have work ethic even if they don’t have the most technical skill, and she never wants those students to be overlooked. She said dance is good for children because it provides “something well-rounded that they can do and still participate in their school activities.”

“I just like seeing the talent develop,” Blais said.For dancers ages two to adult, the 8,500-square-foot space

will be divided into fi ve studios. Six instructors will teach from 3:45 to 8:45 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and they’ll hold competition practices on Sundays from 1 to 7 p.m. Blais said she chose teachers to fi t with her vision of placing their focus on the children and their parents fi rst.

“We’ve got some really good instructors to share that same philosophy of customer service,” Blais said.

Once the studio opens in July, summer dance camps will last until school begins in August. Students can begin register-ing for classes and camps on May 8, and Blais said she hopes the academy will grow to teach between 200 and 300 dancers.

To learn more, visit BAdance280.com or the Birmingham Academy of Dance Facebook page.

coming to Inverness

Dance instructors Kelee Mefford, left, and Alli Davis will be teaching at the Birmingham Academy of Dance when it opens in July. Photo courtesy of Frank Carnaggio.


Five Questions with Roy Williams A chat with

Harlan Parrish of USAmeribank

By ROY L. WILLIAMS

When Harlan Parrish in 2011 joined what was then known as Aliant Bank’s office in Meadowbrook on U.S. 280, the Alabama-based bank was small but had big dreams of growth.

A year later, Aliant, which was originally founded in 1900 in Alexander City, began a major expansion when it was acquired as an Alabama subsidiary of Tampa-based USAmeriBank.

Over the last several weeks, all of the Aliant bank names and logos across metro Birming-ham and statewide went down as the bank began operating under the name of its parent company, USAmeriBank. Parrish has a new title, Alabama Area Executive, overseeing state operations for USAmeriBank.

In a Five Questions interview, Parrish talked about the name change and how the U.S. 280 office is the statewide headquarters for USAmeriBank.

Q Tell me about the rebranding to USA-meriBank and what it means to your

bank.

A Parrish: Since 2011, we’ve been oper-ating as a division of USAmeriBank.

We merged with them on Dec. 31, 2011 and became Aliant Bank a division of USAmeriB-ank. The Aliant Bank name was so well known in Alabama we said let’s not make so many wholesale change.

That move was made to make us a stron-ger bank. In today’s regulatory environment, not that we want to be real big, but if you are less than $1 billion in assets it’s very difficult because you have to hire so many people in the back room to keep up with so many bank regulations.

So we joined up with USAmeriBank at the end of 2011 and that was a good thing. We feel like right now is the right time to change our name for several reasons. We can be best in class in every area since we no longer will have to split resources between two brands. We had two websites, all of the collateral we printed was separate so with this, we can do it all together.

It really makes it more clear not only to the public, but also to our employees that we are one bank. We were always one bank before but had two names. When you’ve got 700 miles between Tampa and here, some thought we’re separate, but we’re not.

Q For those unfamiliar, share Aliant Bank’s history. I know it’s tied to Alex-

ander City.

A Parrish: We were started in 1900 in Alexander City by three people. Benja-

min Russell was one of them. He is known for Russell Athletics, which actually started in the lobby of the bank in 1902. The two businesses stayed in the same building until 1953. One of those individuals was Sally Mae Thomas, and her grandson, John Russell Thomas, is still involved in our bank. It was First National Bank of Alexander City when the bank started but changed its name in the 1980s when they bought First National Bank of Elmore County.

We introduced the Aliant name in 1989. Aliant is the derivative of two words - alliance and reliant. We kept that name. This building in Meadowbrook was built in 1995, then we moved into Crestline office in Mountain Book. Over the last seven or eight years, we built Ala-baster, Gardendale in 2009 and Pell City. So we have five branches in the Birmingham area.

Q How has the bank grown in assets and branches over the years?

A Parrish: USAmeriBank started as one bank in 2007. It is now up to 13 offices

and $3.2 billion in assets in just eight years. Their main acquisition was just our Alabama operations, besides one bank they bought. We were $1.7 billion in assets when I joined so have basically doubled in four years since 2011.

Q Why is being on the 280 corridor so important to USAmeriBank?

A Parrish: It’s a growth corridor. There’s a lot of traffic going by here. There’s also

a good mix of residential and a growing busi-ness community in this area. It’s got the mix of residential component for consumers and the business opportunities are tremendous. It’s been a great location for us. In the last four years, we’ve tripled the size of this branch here in Meadowbrook.

I am the Alabama area executive over the whole state. Alexander City was the headquar-ters for the state for over 100 years. We are now headquartered here on 280. We keep a big base there, but this is our headquarters.

Q What are the future goals of USAmeriBank?

A Parrish: When someone comes in, we know them. Big banks have so many cus-

tomers you’re just a number. We have really focused on customer service and will continue to focus on knowing our customers, especially small businesses.

Harlan Parrish stands outside the former Aliant Bank’s recently updated building. Photo by Roy L. Williams.


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Uncle Maddio’s brings personalized pies to Lee Branch

By MARIENNE THOMAS OGLE

Pizza lovers will be able to build their own pies at Uncle Maddio’s Pizza Joint in early June, when it opens at 210 Doug Baker Blvd. in The Village at Lee Branch shopping center.

According to owner and franchisee Sha Nateghi, customers can choose from three types of crust and 48 top-pings including six sauces, 27 vege-tables and 15 meats. The restaurant’s unique fast-bake ovens can produce 200 pizzas per hour.

More than 30 menu items are made fresh daily in-house, and create-your-own signature salads and toasted panini sandwiches are also on the Italian-style menu.

For those with dietary restrictions, Uncle Maddio’s serves up a huge selection of healthful options such as whole wheat and gluten-free crusts, hormone-free chicken, fresh local vegetables, Daiya vegan cheese and organic greens. The restaurant also offers a selection of craft beers and wine.

“Birmingham residents can now experience the Uncle Maddio’s made-from-scratch pizza ordered just how they like it,” said Nateghi. “I think our guests will come to love the fresh and flavorful pizza concept, and we look forward to serving the community.”

The Lee Branch location will be one of five Uncle Maddio’s set to

open in the Birmingham and Tusca-loosa areas.

Based in Atlanta and operating 31 locations in 14 states, Uncle Maddio’s opened 10 restaurants in 2014 and is expected to double in size this year.

Nateghi is a Jimmy John’s fran-chisee and also has experience as an AAMCO Transmissions franchisee, said Matt Andrew, CEO of Uncle Maddio’s.

“Alabama residents have already

come to know Uncle Maddio’s and have enjoyed its menu at the Auburn and Daphne, Alabama, locations,” Andrew said.

The restaurant will also open a loca-tion in Huntsville in late 2015, he said.

For more information on Uncle Maddio’s Pizza Joint, visit unclem-addios.com.

(above) A new location of Uncle Maddio’s Pizza is getting ready to open in mid-June.

(left) Workers install an 850-pound pizza dough mixer at Uncle Maddio’s Pizza. Photos by Marienne Thomas Ogle.


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former KFC building

By ROY L. WILLIAMS

Since opening in December 2011, Chelsea women’s boutique Ditsy Daisy has been drawing in customers across Alabama and shipping items to online customers as far away as Rhode Island.

Now, the mother-daughter team behind Ditsy Daisy is preparing for bigger and better things and has moved to a former KFC building near their current location at 16618 U.S. 280 in Chel-sea. Cindy Parnell, who owns the store with her daughter, Michelle Butts, said they opened in the new location in mid-May.

“Our customers are thrilled,” Parnell said. “It will give them more room to move around in the store and give us more space for merchandise. Plus, it will give us back room space for an office that we don’t have now.”

The former KFC building, located across from a Walgreens pharmacy adjacent to the current Ditsy Daisy space, is also much larger. The free-standing building is 2,500 square feet compared to the current 1,000 square feet they lease in a small retail center. And it has its own parking, enabling the store to service more cus-tomers, Parnell said.

Parnell and her daughter had been searching for a bigger location on U.S. 280 in Chelsea for more than a year when they happened to think of the former KFC that had closed about 18 months ago. The building owner had taken it off the market before Parnell approached him.

“We are so excited about the move,” Parnell said.

Ditsy Daisy is a women’s boutique special-izing in women’s clothing, shoes and accesso-ries. The store was the brainchild of Butts, who wanted to do something different after studying computer science at Auburn University.

“I had previously owned a boutique in Syla-cauga, and Michelle came to me saying, ‘Mom, why don’t we open a boutique in Chelsea?” Par-nell said.

They came up with the name Ditsy Daisy to capture the fun and colorful atmosphere of their store, right down to daisy-shaped price tags.

“I tell people I am the Ditsy, and Michelle is the Daisy,” Parnell said with a laugh.

Sales were strong from the beginning, the owners said. Besides Parnell and Butts, Parnell’s youngest daughter, Lindsey Parnell, a freshman at Auburn University, is also a part of the team. Lindsey models their clothing on the Ditsy Daisy Facebook page. She also runs the store when her mom and sister are at buyers’ events and gives input on the kind of items teens and young adults like.

The boutique offers contemporary clothing for women of all ages, from middle school to moms and even grandmothers. Each piece of their PRITI jewelry line is uniquely handcrafted. They also sell women’s scarves, frames, candles and other jewelry, plus seasonal items.

Parnell said Ditsy Daisy has grown thanks to word-of-mouth from repeat customers and promotions on its Facebook page, allowing cus-tomers to call to reserve merchandise they like.

The Ditsy Daisy, a women’s boutique, has moved into the former KFC building in Chelsea. Photo by Keith McCoy.

Cindy Parnell, left, runs Ditsy Daisy with her daughters, Michelle Butts, center, and Lindsey Parnell, right. Photo courtesy of Ditsy Daisy.


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By ROY L. WILLIAMS

When you walk through the model home at Mt Laurel, it is Kay Green who aims to hook you into becoming a buyer.

The Florida native has been decorating model homes for builders across the country for decades, building a national reputation for her style and attention to detail. Recently, Green set aside some time to show off a model home at 110 Burnham St. in Mt Laurel, and explain some of her technique.

Green handles merchandising for builders across the country, meaning she is hired to go in and oversee decorations for their model homes. She works with builders in 15 states.

“I help pick the beams, the crown molding, the tiles, floor coverings, practically anything you see in a model home,” she said. “We select the pieces of furniture and fabrics as well.”

The 3,100-square-foot model home in Mt Laurel she designed was featured in the Birmingham Parade of Homes in May as one of the Designer Showcase homes. Green has been designing homes for 40 years and has built a national reputation.

“Kay Green did a fabulous job with our interior design,” said Ray Jackson, sales manager of Mt Laurel, adding that she will return to the community in mid-June for a “Day With the Designer” event and answer questions from prospective buyers.

The home has five bedrooms, five and a half baths and is on sale in the $500,000 range, Jackson said.

Green said she tailors each design to the housing community to make it fit what buyers desire. You can check out samples of her work on her website, kaygreendesign.com.

For more information on Mt Laurel, call 408-8696 or visit the sales office at 5 Mt Laurel Ave. The website is mtlaurel.com

Designer Kay Green talks about Mt Laurel model home

From left, Juliana Vance, Kay Green and Ray Jackson stand in Mt Laurel’s model home at 110 Burnham Street.


Leadership Shelby County graduates Class of 2015

By ROY L. WILLIAMS

Leadership Shelby County held its Graduation Luncheon for the Class of 2015 Wednesday, May 13, at Jefferson State Community College’ s Valley-dale Road campus.

Shelby County Roundtable, an organization that provides network-ing for nonprofits in the county, has a new Facebook page and logo, thanks to members of Leadership Shelby County’s Class of 2015.

Members of the group will also this October host a major fundraising event for the Alabama Firefighters Museum and Education Center, a pro-posed $5.5 million museum in Calera.

During the luncheon, 33 graduates, divided into group, presented the proj-ects they had chosen for 2015.

Carol Bruser of the University of Montevallo, coordinator of Leader-ship Shelby County, said the presenta-tion of group projects is the highlight of the annual graduation program.

“Several programs in the county, including Shelby County Mental Health Court, reading readiness and Backpack Buddies, grew out of Lead-ership Shelby County projects,” she said.

In its 20th year, Leadership Shelby County has become a great network-ing tool allowing leaders of various organizations to discuss ways to move the county forward and share leadership strategies, Bruser said. Members meet monthly over nine months, and work closely with youth

on various activities, including a an annual trip to the state capital building in Montgomery.

“We have a diverse group -law-yers and judges, educators, non-profit leaders,” she said. “Our focus is on empowering the community.”

Here are the graduating members

of Leadership Shelby County Class of 2015:

} Tracey Morant Adams of Renasant Bank

} Jason Beasley of Pelham YMCA } Erin Bodden of SafeHouse of Shelby County

} Butch Burbage of Shelby County

} Lauren Butts of Pelham City Schools

} Dr. Doug Clark of Pelham Eye Care } David Comer of Central State Bank } Judge Danny Crowson of Shelby County

} David Hambright of Hoover Fire Department

} Jenise Hampton of Shelby County Schools

} Roger Hepburn of Shelby County District Attorney’s Office

} Jason Hitchcock of UAB Hospital } Troy Howard of Raymond James } Michael Hudson of Shelby County Shelby County Sheriff’s Office

} Michael Jones of New Mt. Moriah } Susie Kelley of Spot On } Marcus Lee of MSPARK } Denise McDaniel of Alabama Power

} Judge Corey Moore of Shelby County, Alabama

} Herbert Orise } Kerri Pate of American Village Cit-izen Trust

} Craig Pearce of Tri-Solve } Tami Pickett of Keller Williams } Mark Richard of University of Montevallo

} Nolen Robinson of Robinson Window Cleaning, LLC

} Lindsay Schluntz } Julie Sewell of Alagasco } Frank Thomas of Shelby Baptist Medical Center

} Kevin Thornthwaite of University of Montevallo

} Neal Wagner of Shelby County Newspapers, Inc.

} Wayne Vickers of Alabaster City Schools

} Angela Walker of Shelby County Board of Education

} Ward Williams of Vineyard Family Services

Kevin Morris, president of Leadership Shelby County, speaks at the 2015 Graduation Luncheon. Photo by Roy L. Williams.


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Following in a founder’s footstepsChelsea High School media center named after current teacher’s parents

By MADISON MILLER

Ritchie looked around for his father before realizing the student was addressing him.

“Hi, Mr. Ritchie,” the student had said.

“I just assumed they meant Dad,” Frank said.

It was 1984, and Frank’s first day teaching at Chelsea High School. For years, Mr. Ritchie the math teacher had been his dad. And now he was the new Mr. Ritchie the math teacher as well, stepping into the large shoes of his father.

During 11 years as a teacher at Chelsea, John Ritchie, Frank’s dad, quickly had become legendary.

“I had the opportunity to meet Col. Ritchie back when I first started,” current Principal Wayne Trucks said. “If you do anything in this commu-nity, everyone talks about what a neat person Col. Ritchie was.”

With changes being planned for library and media center at Chelsea, Trucks wanted to give the space a new name as well. He immediately thought of John and his wife, Terry. The school held a dedication ceremony in April, officially giving it the name “The Col. and Mrs. John Ritchie Learning Commons.”

When he first started teaching at Chelsea, Frank and his father were the only teachers in the math department, which has since grown to eight teach-ers. Since 1984, the high school and the city of Chelsea have continued to

experience growth. Chelsea now has approximately 1,300 students total with 300 seniors graduating this year, Frank said.

“When Mother and Daddy moved to Chelsea, there was a population of nearly 600, and this was a quiet, peaceful, rural area,” said Frank’s sister Laura Chambless. “Watching the changes to Chelsea gave Daddy great pleasure.”

After graduating from West Point and a career in the Air Force, John and Terry decided to relocate to Chelsea, where her parents were from, in 1976.

“He had flown over the area many times in prior years and thought is was beautiful,” Chambless said. “Mother was not really sure about living in the country, but he convinced her to give it three years and if she did not like it, they would move to a city.

Needless to say, after three years, no one could have convinced Mother to leave Chelsea.”

John had taught in the Air Force but went back to school for a teaching cer-tificate afterward.

“Dad always said that teaching was the best job he’d ever had,” Frank said. “He really loved teaching.”

Following in his father’s footsteps, Frank also served in the Air Force and

then joined his family in Chelsea. The inspiration to go into teaching came from his father, Frank said.

“It’s a great profession,” he said. “There’s really nothing else that I would rather do.

Despite the growth and the new faces of students each year, Frank said John’s legacy is one that is easy to remember. He still teaches students whose parents had John as a teacher, and he taught some current teachers on the Chelsea staff as well.

“Dad touched a lot of students here right now,” Frank said. “[It’s] great how much they remember things that Dad did for them.”

John was involved with the city of Chelsea outside of the school too. He served as a city council member, was one of the original members of the board of education and was a member of the Library Board of Chelsea.

“Their love of reading was passed on to their children and the grandchil-dren,” Chambless said. “Daddy never went anywhere without a book.”

Even after retirement, John and Terry could always be found cheering on the Hornets at the football games as Frank coached.

John died in 2013 at the age of 88 after a car crash on U.S. 280. With John’s support throughout his life, Frank was not surprised when he heard Trucks’ idea to name the library after his parents, but he was grateful.

“My dad was such a great teacher,” Frank said. “I’m fortunate to be able to follow in his footsteps.”

Frank Ritchie stands in the Chelsea High School library, which was recently renamed The Col. and Mrs. John Ritchie Learning Commons after his parents. Photo by Madison Miller.


Panel discusses church role in health care

By MADISON MILLER

Community members, health care experts and local pastors recently met at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church to hear from a panel discuss-ing the topic of the church’s role in providing healthcare.

Although the Affordable Care Act provided thousands with health cov-erage, about 200,000 people statewide fall in an income range that places them in a health care gap. Because individuals must make a salary above the poverty level in order to qualify for a subsidized health plan and must make an income at only around $2,000 to $3,000 per year to qualify for Med-icaid, some are left in the middle with-out a health care plan.

The panel was made up of Grace Christian Church Pastor Tommy Morgan, M-Power Executive Direc-tor Ryan Hankins and head of the Jef-ferson County Department of Health, Dr. Mark Wilson. Each panelist gave opinions and answered questions on both the realities of the health care system and how churches and non-profits can assist in providing care to those who fall in the gap.

“Whatever our politics may be and whatever our economic philosophies are, whatever they may advocate, the call of Jesus requires Christians to care for those who are in need,” Morgan said.

Although the church feels called to help with charity clinics and volunteer

medical work, needs of those affected by the health care gap can most likely not be met by volunteer work alone, the panelists said.

“Our organization was run as a vol-unteer, walk-in clinic,” Hankins said. “It was thought to be an asset for the community if physicians and nurses volunteered their time and provide short-term health care to that small population of adults who had lost their

jobs and were in transition and needed what we called ‘episodic health care’ for problems like an ear infection or sore throat.”

M-Power ran into problems, how-ever, when they realized that not only were there a larger number of people needing care than they anticipated, but also that their problems were more serious than an ear infection or sore throat.

“There is a gross misunderstanding of what the church can do and what nonprofits can do in any circumstance, not just in health care,” Hankins said.

Along with the struggle of provid-ing for those already in need of health care, there is a possibility that the need might grow, said Wilson. After the Affordable Care Act passed, the state was allowed an increase in the number of individuals eligible for Medicaid

to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, about $15,000 per year for an individual and $31,000 annually for a family of four. However, the state has not yet expanded the Medicaid program.

The Jefferson County Health Department estimates that about 300,000 Alabamians would enroll in an expanded Medicaid program if given the opportunity. For those worried about what the expansion might cost the state, Wilson pointed out that the federal government would pay for 100 percent of the expansion cost for the first three years, reducing the amount to 90 percent in 2020 and years after.

Currently, issues with the state budget are also a factor potentially affecting heath care, Wilson said. Budget cuts could require Medicaid to be cut by as much as 15 percent, which would prevent the program from meeting federal standards.

“If we cut 15 percent, we will be unable to maintain Medicaid as required by the federal government,” Wilson said. “It will go away.”

Those who make a salary under the poverty level would still be unable to qualify for a subsidized health plan, and those who do qualify would most likely be unable to afford the cost of the plans. Along with these setbacks, $12 billion of Alabama tax dollars would go to provide health care in other states.

Grace Christian Church Pastor Tommy Morgan, M-Power Executive Director Ryan Hankins and head of the Jefferson County Department of Health, Dr. Mark Wilson, led a panel on the role of the faith community in the health care system in April. Photo by Madison Miller.


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are cooked in a clay oven called a tan-door, and a variety of different meats are used, including goat, lamb and chicken.

Peter was very familiar with Indian cuisine by the time he opened Bay Leaf. He worked in the restaurant business for eight years, managing different restaurants before he decided

that it was time to begin working for himself. He opened Bay Leaf Indian Cuisine early this year.

When choosing a location for the restaurant, Peter knew he wanted to be in an area where people were inter-ested in trying Indian food. The 280 corridor proved to be perfect place.

“People here are open to multicul-tural cuisine,” he said. “People want to learn new things, and I like to introduce Indian culture and cuisine to them.”

Peter has big plans for the future of his business.

“We want to grow and serve more authentic food with a different variety,”

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Read all the past Restaurant Showcases at 280Living.comRestaurant Showcase

Bay Leaf Indian Cuisine

By HANNAH JONES

Vijay Peter wanted to give people more than just good food in his restau-rant. He wanted to share a cultural experience with them.

You can’t help but take in the strong smells of garlic and curry sauce within the bright green walls at Bay Leaf Indian Cuisine. They make you feel close to the heart of India, even though the restaurant is right off U.S. 280.

Bay Leaf’s menu has something for everyone, from people who have never tried Indian food to those who grew up in the country. For nov-ices, Peter suggests Chicken Tikka Masala, chicken roasted in a clay oven and then folded into a creamy sauce, or Tandoori Chicken, which is marinated in yogurt and spices then grilled in a clay oven. For those more familiar with the fare, Goat Kadahi Halal Meat, goat cooked in fried onion sauce, bell peppers and spices, could be the perfect dish. The restaurant also offers Indian culinary staples such as naan, teardrop-shaped bread cooked in a clay oven, and chicken curry.

Indian food has a unique taste because of the heavy use of spices mixed with creamy sauces. Many dishes

he said. He also plans on expanding the catering side of Bay Leaf.

Bay Leaf plans not to lose the heart of their business through growth, though. The employees and owners plan to continue to help their customers learn more about Indian culture, whether it’s through the food, service or atmosphere.

Bay Leaf Indian Cuisine offers authentic Indian food. Photo by Jessa Pease.

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Closer to the starsBy SYDNEY CROMWELL

When Wendy Rose feels the wheels of her plane leave the runway, she’s thinking of her daughter. Dana is 11 years old, and she wants to be an astro-naut. Rose wants to set an example that any dream can be achieved.

“Parents have big influence on what their children can achieve,” Rose said. “We want her to actually get there and be an astronaut. It’s our dream to see it happen.”

The Mt Laurel resident, originally from the Czech Republic, started flying lessons at Over the Mountain Aviation in March. She and her husband, David, had already taken Dana to space camp in Huntsville and to the Young Eagles pro-gram, which allows children to fly with local pilots for free. It was at one of the Young Eagles events that David found out about the Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide and its yearly First to Solo scholarship challenge.

“Looking at it from a parent’s per-spective, this is a challenge – some-thing I’ve never done before, but flying is fun,” Rose said. “I decided to become a pilot and fly my kid around and take her closer to the stars before she can get there on her own.”

Once her lessons began, Rose ran into every roadblock that could stop her flying plans, from bad weather and sick instructors to paperwork delays and extra medical exams. Rose has one eye that does not focus correctly, so she had to go through extra examinations to prove that she was capable of flying a plane on her own.

“It was really discouraging, but you know, you have to look ahead,” Rose said.

Finally, on April 27 she came home from a lesson to find her medical license in the mail. She called her instructor and immediately returned to the Shelby County Airport. After one last flight and some tips from the instructor, Rose taxied to the runway on her own for the first time.

“The runway’s the same, the plane’s the same, but it doesn’t feel the same,” Rose said as she recalled looking at the empty seat where the instructor

usually sat. “I remember that my cheeks were hurting so much because I was grinning.”

When Rose landed, she was the first woman registered with Women of Avi-ation to take her first solo flight in 2015. As the winner of the First to Solo chal-lenge, she received a $1,200 scholarship for more flight lessons and a new digital headset, but Rose was more excited to tell her daughter that she had accom-plished her goal.

“I did this challenge to prove to my daughter that if you have a dream, go for it,” Rose said. “She was so happy and proud.”

The scholarship will go toward Rose’s new goal to get her pilot’s license and eventually an instructor certification so she can teach her family to fly as well.

“It’s just the beginning into the whole world of aviation,” Rose said. “I’m totally hooked.”

Once she gets her pilot’s license,

Rose said she plans to take her daugh-ter flying and her first long-distance trip will likely be to Florida. She said she still feels a rush every time the plane takes off and she has the freedom to go anywhere.

“One mile of road will take you one mile of road. One mile of runway will take you anywhere. All you need is room to take off and you can go any-where,” Rose said. “It has to be felt. It has to be lived.”

Mt Laurel resident Wendy Rose took up flying lessons to inspire her daughter to reach her dreams of becoming an astronaut. On April 27, she won a challenge to become the first woman to take her first solo flight in 2015 as part of the Institute for Women of Aviation Worldwide. Photo by Sydney Cromwell.


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Behind the scenes Former football star portrays Tony

Nathan in Woodlawn movie

By JESSA PEASE

Former Briarwood Christian School and University of Alabama football player Caleb Castille has made a switch. Now scripts are his playbook, and auditions feed his competitive nature.

But his first role — Tony Nathan in the upcoming movie Woodlawn — is about football.

“I felt like I always had the passion for [acting], and it was something that came easy to me,” the 23-year-old said. “I just love to find ways to

inspire people, so I was thinking, ‘What can I do to inspire kids beyond the athletic arena?’”

Growing up in a culture that is highly influenced by media, he knew movies would be a major tool of influ-ence on people. He said he wanted to use his talents to have an impact on his generation, so he got an agent out of Nashville and actively began pursuing an acting career.

He had played football from sev-enth grade all the way to his junior year of college, and up until that point the Inverness resident never realized

how that discipline would help him in his acting pursuit. His junior and senior years at Alabama were filled with auditions from Nashville to Atlanta. He balanced these auditions with both school and a job.

“Being a student athlete is some-thing I feel people overlook — the stress and the level of intense pres-sure you are under every day,” Cas-tille said. “You have class and you have practice, so all of that prepared me for even this film. More than that, that workload helped me pursue what I was trying to pursue.”

He would often find himself on the road at 4 a.m. on the way to an audi-tion in Nashville, knowing he’d need to be back in time for class that after-noon. It wasn’t until his last semester that he found the role that was made for him.

The Birmingham-based Erwin brothers, Jon and Andy Erwin, were producing a movie called Woodlawn. The movie revolves primarily around Tony Nathan, a former Alabama and Miami Dolphins football player.

“This [movie] is me — football, faith, love, race, redemption, hope

— all these things, all in one story,” Castille said. “Even the character, I connected on such a level that I almost felt like I was reading about myself.”

He remembers reading the script overnight, unable to put it down, and praying for the role of Tony Nathan. “Lord, this is my movie,” he said. He said he had such a peace that he would play a part in the movie that he signed and dated the script that night.

However, the Erwin brothers had already chosen an actor from London, who had never played American football, to play the role of Nathan.

Coach Hank, played by Sean Astin, talks to Tony Nathan, played by Caleb Castille, before the big game in the film. Photo by Alan Markfield.


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Castille went through a three-week open audition process to show the directors he could play football. They were impressed with his skills and his temperament, so he was selected as a body double.

Somehow, though, Castille said God was working behind the scenes. Three days before the movie was to start production, Andy Erwin called. He had seen Castille’s original audi-tion tape for the first time, and the guy

from London was having an issue with his visa. Castille was Erwin’s plan B.

After days of screen testing and script run-throughs, the Erwin broth-ers knew they had their guy.

“This is your role,” they told him.

“I think it was supposed to be yours the whole time. We’ve been running into so many problems trying to get this kid over here. We feel like God is telling us this is supposed to be your role.”

Director Andrew Erwin describes a shot to Caleb Castille on the set of Woodlawn. Photo by Alan Markfield.

For Castille, it was both a sigh of relief and a “let’s do this” feeling.

“It just goes to show when you are diligent and disciplined, all of those things God places in your life prepares you for moments,” Castille said. “It’s up to us to decide whether or not we handle those moments with care or if we throw them to the side.”

They started rehearsals in October of 2014 and the movie was finished in December, but the experience is one that Castille will never forget, along with the 16-hour nights. And the filming, he said, was just as hard as a summer at coach Saban’s football camp.

Although he was filming rain scenes in 35-degree temperatures while the crew was dumping water on the actors for 12 hours, he said it was worth the pain.

“It was cool to be the lead actor, I won’t sugarcoat it,” Castille said. “It was such an incredible experience, but more than anything [it was incredible] having all those people on the crew who believe in you and believe in the story.”

More than anything, Castille said he enjoyed portraying Tony Nathan, who he describes as a Peter Park-er-type character. Until Nathan tapped into his power, he wasn’t quite sure what he was getting into. Castille said Nathan was a symbol of hope because, at that point, there weren’t any Afri-can-American superstar athletes.

Now that Woodlawn is finished and scheduled for release in November or December, Castille is pursing more film and television opportunities. Long term, he’d like to play a role that could lead to an Oscar and to own his own production company.

“A lot of actors, their first movie is not as big a budget as this, and they aren’t the lead,” Castille said. “I think I’m pretty lucky to be in this position.”


Father’s Day Gift Guide

2015 Jeep Wrangler Starting at $22,895 For a present Dad won’t forget, go with the classic Jeep Wrangler.

Hendrick Hoover Auto Mall 1626 Montgomery Highway 823-5220

Photo Shoot with Family & Pets $100/30 minutes, $200/hourCapture lasting memories of your family with an outdoor photography session for up to two pets and fi ve family members.

White Dog Photography & Design 251-680-5300

Seiko Core Men’s Watch$285This classic quartz watch is water resistant up to 100 meters.

M&M Jewelers440 Inverness Corners991-0593

SPF 50 Moisturizer$36 This ultra-sheer, lightweight moisturizer with a built in broad-spectrum high UVA/UVB sunscreen provides skin with ultimate protection and prevention.

Revitalize at Greystone 8040 Hugh Daniel Drive 305-7222

Men’s Silk Ties $39.95 These ties are perfect for the pet lover and available in several styles.

Hollywood Feed 230 Doug Baker Blvd. 995-0223

2015 E-Z-Go Express S4 $7,750 Choose from a gas-powered or electric vehicle for Dad to use at the lake, beach, around the neighborhood or at the hunting camp.

Diamond Golf Cars 4647 Highway 280 769-6355

Yeti Colster $29.99 Dad will never deal with a lukewarm beverage again thanks to 18/8 kitchen-grade stainless steel, double-wall vacuum insulation and sleek sweat-free design.

Alabama Outdoors 108 Inverness Plaza980-3303

2015 E-Z-Go Express S4

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By LT. EMILY J. MCCAMY

A 2007 Oak Mountain High School graduate is serving with a U.S. Navy helicopter squadron that flies the Navy’s newest and most techno-logically-advanced helicopter, the MH-60R Sea Hawk.

Lt. Junior Grade James Adair is a naval avia-tor with the “Magicians” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 35, based out of San Diego.

“This aircraft is the newest helicopter in the Navy,” said Adair. “We’re capable of several missions sets such as anti-submarine, anti-sur-face warfare as well as search and rescue and humanitarian aid which makes it a really fun helicopter to work with.”

The squadron deploys its helicopters and personnel around the world aboard a variety of Navy ships, including frigates, destroyers, cruis-ers and aircraft carriers.

While aboard ships at sea, the squadron con-ducts a variety of missions.

“Our missions aboard ships include tracking and hunting enemy submarines, combatting enemy surface ships, search and rescue, com-munications relay, and ferrying supplies, cargo and personnel,” said Lt. Reagan Lauritzen, Commander, Naval Air Force U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesperson.

As a naval aviator, Adair is responsible for leading sailors and learning how to be a better pilot. He’s also learning how to fly the MQ-8B

Fire Scout Drone, the Navy’s only unmanned air vehicle.

“[Flying the UAV] is exciting because it’s the future of the Navy and the military in general,” said Adair. “I enjoy flying the helicopter more but learning about UAVs is exciting.”

The MH-60R Sea Hawk is over 60 feet long, and can weigh up to 23,500 lbs. It is replac-ing the Navy’s older helicopters because of its greater versatility and more advanced weapon systems.

“The MH-60R features more sophisticated electronics, like a new low-frequency sonar and an advanced radar system,” said Lauritzen. “The Seahawk can also launch torpedoes, fire Hellfire missiles and laser guided rockets, and carry crew served weapons”

Adair said he is proud to be a part of the 283-member squadron that is ready to defend Amer-ica at all times.

“I like the camaraderie of the Navy, whether being in school or at the squadron, it’s like being in a big fraternity,” said Adair. “Anywhere I go, there’s someone I know I can visit.”

Being a sailor assigned to a helicopter squad-ron and in a deployable status means spending a lot of time away from friends and family, but serving his country makes it worth it for Adair.

“Everyone joins the Navy for a reason and deployment is the culmination of years of train-ing,” said Adair, “so to finally use my skills to serve my country will be an honor.”

OMHS grad serves with Helicopter Maritime Strike

Squadron 35

OMHS graduate Lt. Junior Grade James Adair now serves with Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 35. Photo courtesy of Navy Office of Community Outreach.


Your Health Today By Dr. Irma Leon Palmer

The scoop on poop

Would you guess that one of the most common health complaints of Americans, requiring between 2.5 to 3.5 million doctor visits a year and costing upwards of $21 bil-lion annually in medical and related costs is constipation and IBS? Yes, who would have guessed it!

According to the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders, 70% of Americans who suffer from constipa-tion or IBS do not seek any type of treatment, and many live with mild to severe symptoms for years before seeking help. IBS is the most commonly diagnosed disorder by gastroen-terologists and accounts for 12% of all pri-mary care physician visits. Consider the huge number of Americans struggling daily with unpredictable diarrhea, difficult or infrequent bowel movements, bloating, and gas. Are you one of them?

Constipation is not a disease, but a symp-tom of a much deeper issue, usually related to lifestyle choices such as poor diet, lack of exercise, improper nervous system supply to the colon, etc. Many are not aware that constipation can also be initiated by poor nerve function, hypothyroidism, diabetes,

side effects of medications, colorectal can-cers and other diseases. Stress also exac-erbates constipation as your body identifies stress as danger. As a result, non-essential body systems, such as digestion, become sluggish. Stress can also decrease nutrient absorption, enzymatic output and oxygenation to the gut, slow blood flow by as much as four times leading to decreased metabolism, creates ulcers, and much more! All of these effects impact how fast food is broken down and moved through the digestive system and out of the body. Therefore, it makes sense that long-term stress can take quite a toll on our body and immune system.

Our bodies are made to eliminate waste, so what happens if it doesn’t? Complications and diseases of the digestive and excretory systems develop when not working properly. The reality is our colons were made to hold a few pounds of waste in transit out of the body. However, with a diet lacking in proper nutrition and exercise, the colon can often hold twenty or more pounds of waste. This stretches out the colon, ultimately irritating the walls of the organ. The body, requiring hydration, extracts water from the fecal matter

causing it to get hard, dry, and difficult to pass, exacerbating the constipation. Constipa-tion can also be a symptom of disbacteriosis, which is when the normal intestinal flora is dead or missing. This flora protects the colon from pathogens that cause inflammation. It also produces B and K Vitamins, which aid in blood clotting. The flora aids in our immunity and it forms stools, keeping them moist and soft. Lastly, when left unchecked, constipa-tion can break down the mucosal membrane of the colon. This develops polyps and flat legions, which can turn into cancer.

Beware, laxatives provide short term relief, but long term harm. Overuse of laxatives cause the muscles in the bowel to stop work-ing, making the body dependent on the stimu-lants in order to expel waste. The colon is one long muscle, and when it does not naturally exercise, it will stop working.

Common recommendations for consti-pation relief are a healthy, plant-based diet with lots of water and daily exercise. How-ever, a chiropractor should also be consulted to make sure the signals from the brain are reaching the intended organs. The brain con-trols every organ and muscle, including those

muscles that push stool through the colon to be expelled. Nerve cells in the intestine called ‘ganglion cells’ cause these muscles to contract. These nerves connect to the celiac ganglion, which control the stomach, liver, gallbladder, spleen, kidney, small intestine and ascending and transverse colon. These nerves all connect to the spinal cord in the lower thoracic and upper lumbar region of the spine. If there is a subluxation (misalignment) in any of the vertebrae in these regions, the associated organs are all affected and diges-tion, proper waste elimination, etc are all neg-atively affected. .

There is a danger for common health con-cerns to be overlooked, but be assured that bloating, gas, pain, and irregularity do not have to be a part of your life. We offer spe-cific supplement recommendations to work with your personal body chemistry to relieve your symptoms. You can receive a specific list of vitamins, so proper flow can be restored in our complimentary consultations. Living life wide open at any age requires proper flow inside and out. Come join us on Monday June 15 for our Scoop on Poop workshop at 6:15pm. RSVP to 205.991.3511.


Brandon and Abbe Ball, a pastor and worship leader, respectively, started Church Unlimited in December. The church meets in the former Edwin Watts Golf building in Brook Highland Plaza. Photo by Madoline Markham.

New Brook Highland church celebrates ‘victory in life’

By MADOLINE MARKHAM

As Brandon Ball commuted from Chelsea to the Colonnade daily for six years, he would dream of opening a church on the 280 corridor, often tossing around potential names for it with his wife, Abbe. At the start of this year, that dream became a reality, and its name became Church Unlimited.

“Unlimited speaks of the unlim-ited goodness of God,” Brandon said, referring to John 10:10’s statement that Jesus “came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

“God gives us unlimited peace, unlimited joy and unlimited success,” he said.

The church has remodeled the Edwin Watts Golf building adjacent to Outback Steakhouse and the new Five Below store in Brook Highland Plaza.

Brandon said the heart of the church is “victory in life.”

“We have a vision of hope and victory,” Brandon said. “We want to empower people to experience the victorious life Jesus intends for all. People have different ideas of God, but our understanding is that he’s a good God. We are trying to raise up families as world overcomers. God intends for us to succeed at all times.”

Church Unlimited is a member of the Champion’s Network, a part of Joel Osteen’s ministry. First-time visitors receive a copy of You Can, You Will: 8 Undeniable Qualities of a

Winner, the newest book by Osteen, a Houston preacher, pastor, televange-list and author.

Brandon and Abbe moved first to Birmingham, Abbe’s hometown, after meeting in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he was attending Rhema Bible Training College. After that point,

Brandon worked as an electrical engineer before starting to serve as a full-time pastor at another church. He and Abbe, who now live off Highway 119 and are the parents of 9-year-old twins, started Church Unlimited in December.

Their first services were held in

the Birmingham Marriott on 280 near I-459. Around 220 people came the first week and 240 the next, so they signed a lease for the Brook Highland building and began meeting there Jan. 11. Abbe now serves as the church’s worship leader.

“Our hope is to have an impact on

as many people as we can,” Brandon said. “We want to give answers to people going through life with ques-tion marks.”

Since moving into the former golf shop, the church has installed walls to partition off a lobby from an audito-rium that now has a stage at its center. The building is larger than it might appear, with 10,000 square feet on the first floor and more upstairs. The Balls are planning to add more reclaimed wood and brick to enhance the interior in the future.

Inside the space, Brandon said they want to make church look like heaven, creating a place where different races worship together. Each Sunday, they have about a 50/50 black and white racial makeup.

“God has given a voice to bridge that gap,” Brandon said. “We have a sense of love and acceptance here. We come together with a common goal.”

Brandon hopes to expand to two church services by the end of the year, and that people who drive by the church on 280 will see their new signs and banners and come on a Sunday. For him, it’s a dream come true.

Church Unlimited meets at 10 a.m. on Sundays at 5235 U.S. 280. Chil-dren’s programs are held simulta-neous to the service. To learn more, visit mychurchunlimited.com or call 968-1180.


By ROY L. WILLIAMS

Shift from downtown to suburbs “There has been a lot of press about growth down-town, but I don’t see growth there like we see on 280 and in the suburbs,” Ponder said. “I hope it does well and I’m glad to see positive public-ity. But compare it to the growth in the suburbs, which never gets press, whether it’s Highway 31, Pelham with its new dynamic mayor or 280. All of these different businesses on 280 blows away what’s happening downtown.”

280 traffic not that bad While traffic congestion on U.S. 280 gets a bad rap, Ponder says things are much better since the Alabama Department of Transportation imple-mented changes designed to enable vehicles to move more smoothly.

“I’m not a big fan of ALDOT, but they did a tremendous job on U.S. 280,” Ponder said. “There are a few people who complain about it, but it’s made the traffic flow much better. My wife is an RN at UAB; she’s been there 28 years. She says she can get downtown in 18 minutes. Having lived in Atlanta, I know not to get out at certain times, especially rush hour anywhere in Birmingham.”Ponder said traffic in Birmingham is nowhere

near as bad as Atlanta, Miami and other cities he has lived in.

“280 takes all of the rap because it’s straight and you can see it, there aren’t many twists and turns,” he said. “But U.S. 31 is no picnic, I-65 traffic is no picnic, Alabama 150 is terrible. You can’t even get to Helena down Highway 117, it takes you hours at rush hour.”

Commercial real estate bouncing back from 2007 recessionBigger office buildings and warehouses are still not filling up like they were, but smaller office buildings and shopping centers are doing much

better, Ponder said.“The little shopping centers — 5,000 to 3,000

square foot, that are unanchored — are doing fine,” he said. “Certain areas of town are slowed down and others will keep doing well. For exam-ple, Trussville is a little slow right now, and Pelham is a little slow due to high inventory. I think as time passes, it will absorb. The entre-preneurial spirit is still there and filling the space of the big banks that left. Servis1st [Bank], for example, is doing very well.”

Residential housing rebound For the first time, doctors and medical staff can leave Jefferson County for the suburbs of Shelby or St. Clair counties. Housing inventory is shrinking, and prices will be rising in certain price ranges as the inventory continues to decline.

“Other cities around the nation have the hospi-tals positioned where the people live, and now we are finally starting to wake up and have facilities there,” Ponder said. “There is a long way to go, but we are getting there.”

Over the past year, nearly 30 new busi-nesses have opened or expanded on the U.S. 280 corridor, according to Ponder. Half of them — 14 — have been new restaurants. But the biggest projects have been healthcare-related. Among them are:

} Total Care Now, a doctor’s practice in the former Don’s Carpet Building in Greystone.

} St. Vincent’s One Nineteen expansion underway just off Alabama 119 in Greystone.

} Brookwood Medical Center’s new Freestanding Emergency Department under construction on U.S. 280 near Greystone.

} American Family Care’s relocation of its headquarters into a new building on Cahaba Beach Road.

} Ponder says this fall’s pending relo-cation of Trinity Hospital from Bir-mingham to Grandview in the former HealthSouth digital hospital building has spawned much of the development, including many doctors’ offices that have moved into or are in the planning stages of relocating to retail centers on U.S. 280. He said the Grandview Hos-pital opening in October will have a positive ripple effect on development along 280.

“What you are seeing is a number of different things,” Ponder said. “In the 1950s, Birmingham started losing population like all cities did across the country. Everything started moving out to the suburbs except the hospitals. The only thing that stayed was the hospitals, which kept growing because of the CON process (Certificate of Need). Finally, we’re starting to get a little bit of action.” The Certificate of Need (CON) is a

requirement for approval by state of Alabama regulators before hospitals can

relocate. Basically, they must prove there is a need for such services in the area before they can build.

With Brookwood opening a new emer-gency facility and Grandview hospital coming to 280, you’ll see more doctors and staff relocating to the suburbs to live and work, Ponder said.“This will be the first time that doc-

tors were able to live past Brookwood,” he said. “You will see housing out here, inventory starting to shrink and values start to go up.”

Ponder said commercial Realtors and property owners are already seeing major interest from doctors offices moving to U.S. 280 in anticipation of the Trinity Grandview hospital opening.

“We’ve sold some buildings to doctors. We’ve leased a lot of space to doctors,” Ponder said. “A lot of doctors are start-ing to discover that it’s not convenient to be in a professional building. When you go to a professional building that’s 13 stories high, have to park a football field away and have to take your 80-year-old momma, it’s not easy. You can’t figure out where to go.”

He added, “Now you’re seeing doctors in drive-up offices. They’re in shopping centers, like at Lee Branch or near Jim ’N Nick’s and places like that. You see doc-tors having their own buildings or lease from landowners in small office build-ings. We’ve done a lot of doctor offices lately in this area around 280, and more are coming all the time. They’re also going to the 31 side and Pelham. All of us [property owners] have doctors we’re working on right now.”

Ponder said plenty of new business deals are in the works related to health care, but he can’t mention details. “There will eventually be retail in front of the Grandview Hospital up there, and they are putting in some professional build-ings up in Grandview,” he said. “You will see more big buildings full of medical and medical suppliers.”

HEALTHCARE CONTINUED from page A1

Terry Ponder has worked in commercial real estate along the 280 corridor since 1995. Photo by Roy L. Williams.

Terry Ponder on more business trends on 280


GRADUATIONCONTINUED from page A1


Susan, Koa and Ralph Vicens have not let Ralph’s cancer diagnosis stop them from enjoying life together. Photo by Sydney Cromwell.

every day since kindergarten. Ralph goes on all the field trips with his son’s class and sometimes takes Koa to work with him. The father and son spend their afternoons and weekends together, too. Through Hawaiian phrases and hula lessons, Ralph has taught Koa to embrace his Hawaiian heritage.

“He took that child and he put his everything

into him,” Ralph’s wife, Susan Vicens, said. “Ralph is his everything. They’re attached at the hips.”

In late April, Ralph and Koa’s time together was thrown off when Ralph was diagnosed with inoperable liver cancer. The doctors’ initial prog-nosis gave him a month to live.

“I couldn’t even breathe for days,” Susan said. “I was walking around like I was having a heart attack.”

The news was also difficult for Wise, who has known Ralph for four years.

“It’s been tough, it’s been a shock,” Wise said. “It’s been devastating because Ralph is one that goes everywhere we go.”

In the wake of the first diagnosis, Susan’s fellow nurses at the UAB Hospital operating room set up a fundraiser to pay for some of Ralph’s care, raising around $2,500 so far. CHS Principal Wayne Trucks decided to hold an early graduation ceremony on May 12 for Koa and four other special education students to ensure that Ralph would see his son walk across the stage in his cap and gown. Susan said these

acts of kindness from the community have been invaluable to her family as they coped with the diagnosis.

“We’re doing it by all the help and the prayers of the people around us,” Susan said.

Ralph’s doctors have also found that he has more time than they originally thought. They cannot remove the tumor in his liver, but chemo pills could stop its growth and extend his life anywhere from a few months to two years.

“Just because you get a death sentence doesn’t mean it is,” Susan said. “My husband is positive. I am positive.”

She added that she wants to use her cowork-ers’ fundraiser so Ralph doesn’t feel the need to work while he undergoes treatment.

The day of Koa’s graduation was a good day for Ralph. He was feeling energetic enough to attend the short ceremony and watch his son enjoy cake and friends at the reception without feeling out of breath. Though the cancer wears him down some days, Ralph is determined to make his time last as long as possible.

“I believe [God] gave Koa to us for a reason, and I haven’t backed down and I don’t plan on it,” Ralph said. “Because of him, I’m going to put some boxing gloves on and take it to the limit.”

Koa already knows his father is sick, though he doesn’t understand the extent of the illness. When they’re at home together, Koa will some-times come to Ralph and ask if he’s OK. Ralph always answers that he’s fine, but Koa will ask again a few hours later.

Neither Susan nor Ralph is sure how they will explain the cancer to their son, but Ralph wants to use his time to teach Koa and try to make his own passing a little easier.

“Given there’s pretty much a time limit, I figure if we just spend a lot of it together, it’ll help his transition as well. The last thing I want to do is really leave him in this world,” Ralph said. “I’ve kind of come to accept that it may happen and the best thing to do right now is just to stay together.”

Donations to the Vicens’ medical bills can be made at gofundme.com/vicensfamily.

Life Actually By Kari Kampakis

The woman who loves her people well

Faith

By KARI KAMPAKIS

I have a friend who hopes to start a minis-try. She’s equipped to do it and her life story is pointing that way, but currently she’s in a season where she is waiting for God to reveal His plan and provide more direction.

She’s a great mom to her kids and other peo-ple’s kids, too. My children love her and look up to her. She’s also a dear friend, the kind who will drop everything to help you.

Here’s an example: A while back when I had an unexpected doctor’s visit, I called to see if she’d pick up my child from MDO. I spoke quickly because my cell phone was dying. She said she’d pick up Camille and bring me a phone charger to the doctor’s office after she finished lunch with a friend.

I never thought to ask for that favor, and the fact that she did speaks volumes about her nature.

Recently, she and I talked about the ministry she hopes to start. I could tell she’s a little restless in this period of waiting, and I can relate to that. As I left I told her, “What you’re doing right now, being really available for your family and friends, is just as important as what you hope to be doing two years from now. I want you to remember that.”

She smiled shyly and shook her head, as if her current contributions aren’t that big a deal. But they are, and the truth is, what she’s doing now is far more important than what she hopes to be doing in two years.

Because what she’s doing now is loving her

people well. She’s avoiding the mistake that too many of us make, the mistake of spreading ourselves too thin and not leaving room in our calendars for the people we love most.

It’s interesting now that I’m in ministry because I have a fresh perspective of what this world needs. I can look back with new eyes on the days when I was in my friends’ shoes, wait-ing for more clarity from God and fighting the restlessness to do more than raise a family and be a good wife and friend.

I never planned to go into ministry, but some-how it happened when my passion for writing collided with my passion for God and I wrote a book that led to speaking engagements and other events. It’s been an awesome journey, and I’m grateful for every opportunity to connect with moms and daughters.

At the same time, I’ve grown more aware of how valuable my work was before my minis-try ever started. Back when I was “just” a stay-at-home mom and all I could do was love my people well because caring for little ones left little time for outside interests, I gave myself too little credit.

While I loved staying home with my girls and was grateful to have the option, I often felt like I should do more. I couldn’t fully recognize how I was already fulfilling my greatest call. I was doing work far more important than what I hoped to do in the next season of motherhood.

Mother Teresa once said, “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your

family.” This message deserves more attention, because in our world, we’re often pushed to do more and think bigger. We’re encouraged to reach the masses and spread goodness far and wide.

And while I’m certainly on board with this mission, I’d like to point out how we can get so caught up in having a wide influence that we fail to have a deep influence. We can spend so much time growing an audience around the world that we miss the best opportunity of all with the small audience inside and around our home.

Because as much as the world needs us, our families and loved ones need us more. They always have and always will. What ministry has taught me is the importance of striking a bal-ance. My work life should complement my per-sonal life, not take away from it. My soul should be fed, not depleted.

What this world needs has become clear to me through the emails I receive, feedback I hear and people I meet. All around us, people are really struggling with something. They’re wanting advice and insight on how to find it. When I’m asked to speak, it’s the most commonly requested topic. It’s particularly important to females because deep in our heart, we hunger for this. We want it on a level that’s true, genuine, and real.

What is it? Friendship. Good, solid and loyal relationships. In an age where we’re highly con-nected online, people are lonely in real life. They’re surrounded by faces, yet they still feel invisible. In many ways, friendship is becom-ing a lost art. People who make others feel seen,

loved and valued are a rarity.So before we act globally, maybe we

should love better locally. Maybe we should remember the value in quiet acts of service — like picking up our friend’s child from MDO, or taking a cell phone charger to her doctor’s visit — that don’t get posted on social media or draw fanfare but that express love to someone in a deep, meaningful way.

If you’re in a season of life where all you can do is love your people well, or if that’s your primary life goal, please know that you are a gem. Don’t think you’re letting God down as you wait for more important work because your current work is more important than any purpose you may discover later. What our world needs most are more people who understand real love, real connection and real community.

A woman who loves her people well is loved well in return. Her relationships stand the test of time. Those who know her adore her, and those who don’t are missing out because what a joy it is to be loved by an unsung hero who treasures her relationships and makes those around her feel seen, loved and valued.

Kari Kubiszyn Kampakis is a Birmingham mom of four girls, columnist and blogger for The Huffington Post. Her first book, 10 Ulti-mate Truths Girls Should Know, is available on Amazon and everywhere books are sold. Join her Facebook community at “Kari Kampakis, Writer,” visit her blog at karikampakis.com or contact her at [email protected].


Opinion

I envy people like the late Steve Jobs, who was one of the creators of Apple. It was not his wealth, or health that is enviable, but his abil-ity to understand with certainty what would resonate with people. Having this gift would be handy. It’s what made him wealthy.

Jobs realized from the begin-ning that not everyone is a com-puter nerd. Some folks just want their computers to help them be more creative and productive. They don’t really care about bits and bytes, RAM, silicone, or transistors. They just want to sit down at their computers and work. That idea resonated with a lot of people.

Later when Apple developed the fi rst smart-phone, no one even knew they wanted or needed one. But Jobs knew a device that could play music, take pictures, send texts, check addresses, record messages and do a thousand other func-tions would resonate with the public. As it turns out, he was right.

Steve wasn’t a writer, but I have a feeling if he had been he would have intuitively known what people wanted to read.

These thoughts wandered through my mind this past week because I’ve been in a rut. Every-thing I’ve written seems as thin as a bony fi nger.

While beating myself up, I Googled - where writers go when they’re fresh out of ideas. It was good to learn that most writers struggle at times with creative droughts, but it seemed my drought made the Sahara Desert look like a rainforest. But simply knowing that the condition was only temporary made me feel a little better. It didn’t put any words on the page, but it kept me from jabbing a pencil into my eye.

A recent column, generated a ton of feedback on my blog, on Facebook, emails from people across the southeast, and a grunt from my sister. It resonated and I’m not sure why.

Perhaps it has something to do with shared experience. When I write about doing something goofy, some readers will smile and say, “I can name that tune in one note,” because they’ve been there. I actually hear that a lot from readers. “You’re writing

about me.” Who knew?The dictionary defi nes resonate like this -- to

have particular meaning or importance for some-one: to affect or appeal to someone in a personal or emotional way.

That makes sense, but it’s much easier said than done. It would be invaluable to know in advance what things will resonate, and what will sit there on the page like a fl y on a biscuit.

I talked to one writer at a conference last year. He worked for a large publication and he said that sometimes he struggled with fresh ideas, but when that happened, he just wrote something down.

That was an option for him, but I feel that I’ve built a relationship with the people who take the time to read my column. Simply writing something down just to be done would be like cheating a friend.

Every column might not be an iPhone, but it won’t be because I didn’t try to write something that resonates.

Rick Watson is a columnist and author. His latest book Life Changes is available on Amazon.com. You can contact him via email: [email protected]

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Inverness man finds father figure in Big Brothers program

By SARAH MCCARTY

Father’s Day isn’t always about fathers. Sometimes it’s about broth-ers — brothers like Mike Vest and Mark Griffin, who met in 1979 after the Big Brothers Big Sisters program matched them.

“Big Brothers Big Sisters was a huge influence in my life growing up as a fatherless boy,” said Vest, an Inverness resident. Vest’s parents divorced when he was 8 years old, leaving his mother to raise a son by herself. Eventually she learned about the Big Brothers program, which pairs caring role models with children, and signed Vest up. He said Griffin filled a father-figure role in his life.

“He wouldn’t want me to say that,” Vest said of Griffin. “He wanted people to know that I was his little brother, and he didn’t want to try to replace my father, who wasn’t around.”

But as a young boy without a father, Vest needed the commitment and guidance of a positive male role model and Griffin provided that.

“I always tell people if you’re going to get involved as a Big Sister or Big Brother, if you’re going to do this, you better be committed,” Vest

said. “If you’re going to be a father figure to the kid, be one.”

And that’s what Griffin did. “I had a mentor there to keep me

busy and make sure that I was where I supposed to be and make sure I wasn’t where I shouldn’t be,” Vest said. “It held me more accountable back in the 70s when kids were experimenting

with things. It kept me busy from other things that were going on in the neighborhood.”

Griffin was there for all of the big moments in Vest’s childhood — his first date, vacation, his last high school football game.

“Whenever I wanted to do some-thing or whenever I needed something,

I’d ask,” he said. “I’d say, ‘Hey Mark, I need your car for a date,’ and he’d say ‘Here’s the keys.’”

The two immediately bonded over their love for sports.

“He was a sports nut. I was a sports nut,” Vest said. “We went to UAB basketball games, Alabama football and basketball games, even to high

school football and baseball games. He would come to my Little League games and cheer me on. And then I went on and played high school foot-ball. Mark never missed a game.”

Griffin, who is a retired firefighter, was named Big Brother of the Year in 1985, and the pair represented Ala-bama in a Big Brothers Big Sisters book celebrating the top 100 matches of all time in 2004, according to Vest.

More than 35 years after they met, Vest still looks up to his Big Brother and wants to make him proud.

“He showed me how to be more attentive,” Vest said. “Knowing I needed a father figure or a male mentor in my life, I felt like he showed me there’s other kids like me out there and to make sure I pay it forward.”

Vest, who works as the community and corporate relations director for Knight Eady Sports Group and serves as a Shelby County commissioner, was a high school football coach in Texas and spent several years at the Birmingham Athletic Partnership, a nonprofit aimed at raising money for school bands and athletic programs. In both roles he formed relationships with students and tried to serve as a

Mike Vest, left, holds an award he received for serving as chairman of the Big Brothers Big Sisters Shelby County Advisory Board. He is pictured with his wife, Diana, and his son, Griffin, who was named after his Big Brother Mike Griffin. Photo courtesy of Mike Vest.

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St. Vincent’s to celebrate 10th anniversary at block party


A bob in a tethered hot air balloon and a blood pressure reading are just two of a slate of options available to participants at St. Vincent’s One Nine-teen’s Block Party and Health Festi-val. The event is scheduled for June 13, 5-8 p.m.

Stephanie Holderby, executive director of St. Vincent’s One Nine-teen, said this is the block party’s ninth year, and it will be a celebration of the facility’s 10th anniversary and its expansion project — a professional office building and physician space with ambulatory surgery and urgent care centers — scheduled for a late 2015 completion.

“This year’s event is especially sig-nificant, as it’s an opportunity to thank the community for their support of our facility over the past 10 years, and to celebrate together the future services that will be offered with our expan-sion,” Holderby said. She also serves as vice president of operations for the St. Vincent’s Ambulatory Healthcare Network.

From kids’ activities to food

vendors and live music from Act of Congress, the free gathering is designed with all ages in mind.

Participants can challenge them-selves to bubble soccer, a rock climb-ing wall and a 70-foot inflatable obstacle course. Tethered hot air bal-loon rides will be available if weather permits.

Sports performance program demonstrations, including running

drills for kids ages 7 to 18, will be held. The program helps with strength and power development, linear speed, change of direction, foot speed, plyo-metrics and flexibility for enhanced performance, organizers said.

In addition, community members have the opportunity to meet local physicians and learn more about their overall health and wellness with free health screenings including physical

therapy assessments and blood pres-sure readings. Mammograms will be offered for a $99 charge.

Samantha Stewart, a Shelby County resident, attended last year’s block party and said she plans to make it an annual outing.

“We enjoyed the live music, great food, health screenings and multiple activities for the family,” Stewart said. “This is a family friendly event

you don’t want to miss.”Stewart’s daughter, 4-year-old

Fallon, said she also enjoyed the block party.

“I got my face painted like a cat and jumped in the bounce house, and I can’t wait to do it again this year,” Fallon said.

For more information about St. Vin-cent’s One Nineteen, call 408-6600 or visit onenineteen.com.

Block PartySt. Vincent’s One NineteenFeaturing Act of CongressJune 13, 5-8 p.m.onenineteen.com

Blood pressure is one of several screening that will be available to participants at the St. Vincent’s One Nineteen Block Party on June 13. Photo courtesy of St. Vincent’s One Nineteen.

St. Vincent’s One Nineteen Block Party-goers will be able to take to the skies, weather permitting, in a tethered hot air balloon. Photo courtesy of Southern Balloon Journeys.


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Buster Britton Triathlon coming to Oak Mountain


Athletes of all levels will converge on Oak Mountain State Park June 13 for the 29th annual Bike Link Buster Britton Memorial Triathlon.

More than 400 participants are expected to take part in the event, which is one of the longest running triathlons in Alabama, race co-director Faye Yates said. Yates is the co-owner of Team

Magic, which manages the competition.The race legs are a 400-yard swim, 12-mile

bike and a three-mile.“This race was on the forefront of triathlons

but is very beginner friendly,” Yates said. “The distances are short enough for newcomers but long enough for good competition.”

The triathlon honors Buster Britton, one of the fi rst area triathletes who lost his life in a fun

run not long after having completed the Hawaii Ironman.

Same day registration begins at 5:30 a.m. with a 7 a.m. race start, Yates said.

Participants are encouraged to stay for after-race food, drinks and an expo. The awards cere-mony will be directly after the race and include prize drawings.

Yates said that as long as participants are in

decent physical shape and have done some of each of the event segments, they should come out for the Bike Link Buster Britton Memorial Triathlon.

“It’s a very manageable course and the com-munity is very social and welcoming,” Yates said. “Some racers are very competitive but some aren’t – it’s just a great blend of folks.”

Race and registration information can be found at team-magic.com.

Bike Link Buster Britton Memorial TriathlonOak Mountain State Park Saturday, June 135:30 a.m. registration, 7 a.m. raceteam-magic.com

(left) About 400 participants are expected to compete in the June 13 Bike Link Buster Britton Triathlon . (right) Link Buster Britton Memorial Triathlon starting gun goes off at 7 a.m., June 13 at Oak Mountain State Park. Photos courtesy of Team Magic.


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Bark and Wine to raise money for four-legged friends


Animal lovers will soon have a chance to sup-port the only open-admission animal shelter in Shelby County. The Sixth Annual Bark & Wine fundraiser will take place on June 13 at the Inver-ness Country Club.

“This event has grown every year, each of the six years,” said Robin Adams, president of the Shelby Humane Society board of directors. “This will be our first year hosting at Inverness

Country Club. We’ve done it at other venues around town, and as we’ve grown and expanded, we have had the opportunity to change venues.”

The silent auction will begin at 6 p.m. Items available for bidding include art by local artists, a three-night stay at Orange Beach, a golf pack-age and jewelry.

After the 6:30 p.m. buffet dinner, the live auc-tion with Ken Jackson will begin at 7:30 p.m. Jackson is an animal enthusiast and brought Remy’s Dog Park, an off-leash area for dogs, to

Red Mountain Park. A retired businessman, he participates in various animal fundraisers.

“Ken is very animated, lively and enthusias-tic,” Adams said. “It’s worth the cost of admis-sion just to see his show.”

Tickets are $150 per person or $1,500 for a corporate table of eight. Seating is limited to 140 reservations, and as of May 5, there were around 50 seats still available. The deadline to RSVP was May 15.

All proceeds collected will directly benefit

Shelby Humane Society, which cares for over 5,000 animals annually. Adams said they are appreciative of the people who have supported them year after year with sponsorships, and the fundraiser couldn’t happen without their support.

“It’s really a fun event,” Adams said. “We look forward to it every year. It’s a great chance to see people who love pets and are excited to have an opportunity to support the shelter.”

For reservations, call 678-8200.

Bark and WineBenefiting Shelby Humane SocietyJune 13, 6 p.m.Inverness Country Clubshelbyhumane.org

Crowds participate in the live auction during the 2014 Bark and Wine fundraiser. Photo courtesy of Shelby Humane Society board of directors.



CommunityPop-up markets to bring local vendors to Galleria


The Shelby County Mom’s Guide is organiz-ing a “pop-up market” to help small businesses and local entrepreneurial moms reach a new audience.

The Guide will host its new Hello Sunshine Summer Pop-Up Market at the Riverchase Gal-leria two weekends this summer.

The markets, which will take place June 13-14 and July 11-12, will have space for 40 vendors and take place in the breezeways of the Galleria.

Nia Miller, special events coordinator for Shelby County Mom’s Guide, said the idea for this market came after they had success with similar ones at Christmas and in the spring, and they plan to do one every season.

“We have numerous small businesses that don’t have store fronts and a few that do,” Miller said. “This event gives them a chance to get out and meet with their customers face to face. It will also help small and local busi-nesses. Most of our vendors are from the Hoover and Shelby County area.”

The market will give vendors an ideal set-ting to broaden their business. Customers can shop for home decor, handmade items, jewelry, art, clothes and more. Some of the vendors already signed up include Advocare, Bare Bones Cargo, It Works!, Jamberry Nails, LJ’s Boutique, Main Street Chic, My Sister’s Place, Scentsy, SoChic Boutique, Stylin Pup Pillows, Rodan + Fields, Templeton Photog-raphy, Usborne Books and Younique.

Shelby County Mom’s Guide will also use this platform to give back to the community. Savings passes will be sold for $7.50 and will include discounts from the vendors.

“By purchasing the savings pass, you get a lot of different discounts from our vendors, and half the cost of each pass sold will go to Carly’s Clubhouse,” Miller said.

Carly’s Clubhouse is a playground being designed in Pelham for both able-bodied and special needs children.

To register or become a vendor, email [email protected] or call 588-8962.

Childersburg mother/daughter team Sonya and Hannah Paige will be at the Hello Sunshine Pop-Up Market with items from their fashion shop.

Friday Night Flicks returnBy MARIENNE THOMAS OGLE

If you’re looking for something fun, free and for the whole family, grab a carload of folks and head out to Veterans Park for Friday Night Flicks.

Each of the eight weekly showings begins at dusk and features a PG-rated film. Food

vendors will also be on hand.Hoover Mayor Gary Ivey said he’s always

excited to see the growing popularity of the event.

“You can’t beat it for a great evening out and we’re expecting big crowds again this year,” Ivey said.

May 29: Big Hero Six

June 5: Alexander and the Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

June 12: Strange Magic

June 19: Annie (2014)

June 26: Paddington

July 10: Home

July 17: Maleficent

July 24: Dolphin Tale 2

July 31: RAIN DATE

For more information, visit hooveral.org.

The 2015 Friday Night Flicks schedule:

A call to care for the fatherless5K to raise awareness about orphans, adoption and foster care


On June 6, runners and joggers will have the opportunity to get some exer-cise while helping a “plus one” — one orphan, one foster child, one family or one church — at the Know More Orphans 5K.

The third annual run will be 8 a.m. at Veterans Park, with a 6:30 a.m. reg-istration and a family fun run at 9 a.m., Know More Orphans (KMO) Execu-tive Director Johnny Grimes said.

“This event is for the entire family, and we’ll have all kinds of fun things to do including moonwalks, live music, popcorn and snow cones,” Grimes said. “We’ll be giving away some great prizes at the awards ceremony.”

KMO is part of Altar84, an orga-nization co-founded by Jodie Frye of Chelsea.

“In 2010, our hearts were for-ever altered as we were introduced to the plight of the orphan and the call to care for the fatherless,” Frye said. “Over the course of the next few months, we grew more and more bur-dened with the enormity of the need and yet how one of the greatest means of reaching this need had been God’s plan all along — the church.”

“When we refer to ‘the church,’ we are talking about the people within,” she continued. “As author [and] pastor Rick Warren says, the church has the largest participation, the widest distri-bution, the fastest expansion and the highest motivation.”

Frye said that over the last four years, Altar84 has brought two KMO conferences to the Birmingham area that included nationally recognized speakers and impacted more than 1,200 families and countless churches. The group has also written “Woven,” a six-week Bible study, and devel-oped AltarCare, an orphan care min-istry curriculum for church leadership. Altar84 also launched the Go Green in Haiti initiative.

“As our primary focus, we have

built ongoing partnerships with over 10 area churches, helping them launch various aspects of their orphan care ministries, including awareness initia-tives, family support and educational opportunities,” she said.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Ser-vice’s Administration of Children and Families, in 2011 there were approxi-mately 400,000 children in the foster care system across the U.S. More than 5,000 of these children were in

Alabama.“And in our world today, there are

143 million children who have lost one or both parents,” Frye said. “This is almost one half the population of the United States and every year the number grows, with 12 million more children becoming orphaned.”

But, Frye said, everyone has an opportunity to help.

“Whether you are called to adopt, foster, become a respite parent, serve a family here or serve orphans in Haiti,

give of your time, talents, or treasures, we encourage you to join us at the KMO 5K,” she said.

For more information about the Know More Orphans 5K, visit knowmoreorphans.org/5k/ or con-tact Johnny Grimes at 419-7377 or [email protected].

For more information about Altar84 and Know More Orphans, visit at knowmoreorphans.org.

Know More Orphans 5KSaturday, June 68 a.m. 5K, 9 a.m. Fun RunVeterans Parkknowmoreorphans.org/5k/

Area residents run in last year’s Know More Orphans 5K at Veterans Park. The run is organized by Altar84. Photo courtesy of Johnny Grimes.


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Enjoy lunch on the patio this summer

Vacation Bible School Roundup 2015

Local churches plan summer VBS sessions

Asbury United Methodist Church6690 Cahaba Valley Road995-1700asburyonline.orgJune 8-11, 8:30 a.m.-noon.G-Force: Four days of living out God’s love in our lives.

Christ Church United Methodist5091 Caldwell Mill Road991-5065christchurchtv.org/eventsJune 1-4, 9 a.m.-noon.Everest: Learn to conquer challenges with God’s mighty power.Open to rising kindergarteners through fifth graders.

Double Oak Community Church115 Olmstead Street995-9752doubleoakcc.org/vbsJune 8-12, 9 a.m.-noon.Everest: Learn to conquer challenges with God’s mighty power. Open to kids who have completed kindergarten through fifth grade.

Chelsea Creek Community Church48 Chesser Crane Road, #K678-2406chelseacreekcc.orgJune 15-19, 9 a.m.-noon.Everest: Learn to conquer challenges with God’s mighty power. Open to kindergarten to fifth grade.

Faith Presbyterian Church4601 Valleydale Road991-5430faith-pca.org/art-science-campJune 1-4, 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m.Art and Science Camp: Get ready to create and investigate at art and science camp this summer. Open to kindergarten to sixth grade.

First Christian Church4954 Valleydale Road991-5000fcc-bhm.orgJuly 13-17, 9 a.m.-noon.Everest: Learn to conquer challenges with God’s mighty power. Open to kids age 3 through completed fifth grade.

Inverness Vineyard Church4733 Valleydale Road980-1690groupvbspro.com/vbs/ez/IVCkids/gpgs/Home.aspxJune 1-5, 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.Everest: Kids will walk away with a rock-solid faith that they can rely on God when life gets tough. Open to rising kindergarten through fifth grade.

Liberty Park Baptist Church12001 Liberty Parkway969-1236libertypark.org/vbsJune 1-5, 9 a.m.-noon.Journey Off the Map: Toss the map, stick close to your guide and prepare to listen to God’s direction. Open to children who will be 4 by Sept. 1 to children who have completed fifth grade my May 31.

Meadow Brook Baptist Church4984 Meadow Brook Road991-8384meadowbrookbaptist.orgJune 1-5, 9 a.m.-noon. Journey Off the Map: Prepare to listen to God’s direction. Open to kids who have completed kindergarten through fifth grade.

MountainView Baptist Church1800 Highway 39601-6986mountainview.ccJuly 7-9, 5:30-8 p.m.MountainView Baptist Church VBS. Come ready to have fun. Open to ages 4-12.

North Shelby Baptist Church4100 Belcher Drive995-9056northshelbybaptist.orgJune 15-19, 9 a.m.-noon.Son Spark Labs. Discover God’s plan for you. Open to kids who have completed kindergarten through fifth grade.

Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church5080 Cahaba Valley Trace995-9265ompc.orgJune 1-4, 9 a.m.-noon.Scar Force VBS: From Genesis to Revelation, kids will discover that they are part of the greatest saga of all time. Open to kids who have completed kindergarten through fourth grade.

The Church at Brook HillsVarious Birmingham neighborhoods313-7745brookhills.org/local/children/rocktheblock.htmlJune 1-July 3: Rock the Block Summer: Children will attend these four or five day events for a couple of hours enjoying games, building relationships and encouraging the Gospel together with other neighborhood children. Open to first through fifth graders with younger or older siblings welcome.


The annual Celebrate Hoover Day took place on a sunny May 2 at Veterans Park this year. Festivities included a Veterans Memorial paver dedication, giant apple pie, Blue Bell ice cream, an exhibitor pavilion, kids zone with inflat-ables and games, a petting zoo, carni-val rides, blood drive and car show.

Photos by Keith McCoy.

Celebrating Hoover at

Veterans Park


Meet new Hoover City Schools Superintendent Dr. Kathy Murphy

By ROY L. WILLIAMS

Dr. Kathy Murphy, the new head of Hoover City Schools, found out that she had been offered the job as she was driving back home to Monroeville from an interview as finalist for the Dothan City Schools’ superintendent’s job.

“We were driving back from Dothan and I told my daughter the Hoover School Board was meeting about the superintendent position,” Murphy recalled during an interview today, May 1. “She pulled it up on the phone just as Board President Donna Frazier was talking about calling Dr. Murphy to see if she would accept the job. Obviously I was beyond excited.”

A few minutes later, Murphy, currently superintendent of Monroe County (Ala.) schools, took a phone call from Frazier and immediately accepted the Hoover Board of Edu-cation’s offer to become Hoover’s new superintendent at a base salary of $195,000.

Murphy, who starts her new posi-tion in Hoover on June 1, was selected over two other finalists who had inter-viewed last week: Dr. Charles Led-better, superintendent of Dublin (Ga.) City Schools and Dr. Chris Marczak, assistant superintendent of Oak Ridge (Tenn.) City Schools.

A fourth finalist, Dr. Vic Wilson, superintendent of Hartselle City Schools, withdrew his candidacy just minutes before the April 30 school board meeting. Wilson, with strong

Dr. Kathy Murphy stands in Spain Park High School. She begins serving as Hoover City Schools superintendent this month. Photo by Keith McCoy.

area ties as a 16-year Bluff Park resi-dent who previously was principal at Mountain Brook High and Homewood High, had been widely considered the favorite early on after last week’s interview.

But when Murphy had her inter-view with the board on April 27, she immediately established herself as a viable contender, impressing the board in describing herself as “a workaholic” passionate about educating children.

Murphy said today she is grateful to

the Hoover school board for selecting her out of three other talented finalists. “I can’t wait to get on the bus with so many talented teachers and adminis-trators who have helped build Hoover into such a great school system,” she said. “I have such a passion for chil-dren and look forward to helping edu-cate them.”

Murphy said she looks forward to making her first official public com-ments before Hoover city residents at Saturday’s “Celebrate Hoover Day”

at Veterans Park. She is to be intro-duced at 9:45 a.m. by Hoover Mayor Gary Ivey.

“When I was invited by Derrick Murphy on behalf of the Hoover Board of Education, I was glad to rearrange my Saturday schedule to be there,” Murphy said. “I may take advantage of this opportunity to drive around looking for temporary housing since June 1 (her starting day) is not that far away.”

It will be a quick transition for

Murphy as the Monroe County school year ends May 28 and she starts in Hoover a few days later. She origi-nally thought her first day would be July 1, but added interim superinten-dent Dr. Jim Reese will be a valuable resource helping her learn more about the Hoover school system.

“I will literally be a sponge soaking in as much knowledge from Dr. Reese as I can,” Murphy said.

Murphy said it was tough to inform her Monroe County school board of her decision to leave for Hoover, but they are understanding that “this is an incredible opportunity I couldn’t afford to pass up.”

“The board has been so supportive of me in this process,” she said. “I will be meeting today with members of the Monroe County school board, teachers and principals. This is a great system; I’ve enjoyed my time here.”

As she prepares to hand out diplo-mas in late May to graduates in Monroe County, Murphy said she will meet with school system lead-ers to prepare a smooth transition. “I’m committed to helping them put together a contingency plan,” she said.

Meanwhile, Murphy said she expects to take a couple personal days off so that she can visit some Hoover city schools, talk to principals, teachers and meet students before the school year ends.

“You get a much better feel for what the schools are like by being there while school is still in session vs. during the summer months when


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most of the teachers and students are gone,” Murphy said. “I’m looking forward to great things in Hoover city schools.”

You can watch Murphy’s full interview at the following link:

nfhsnetwork.com/events/hoover-high-school-hoover-al/c2537eaaa1

An archived link to the other finalists’ interviews is on the Hoover City Schools website, hoovercityschools.net/.

Here is background on Hoover’s new superintendentDr. Kathy L. Murphy

Current position: Superintendent, Monroe County Board of Education, Monroeville, Ala. until end of May, when she takes over Hoover City Schools.Education:

} Doctorate, Auburn University, Physical Education, Program Administration

} Education Specialist, Auburn University Montgomery, Education Leadership

} Master›s, Auburn University Montgomery, Educational Leadership

} Bachelor›s, Troy University, Health, Physical Education, Recreation and DanceYears in education: 1984-presentAbout the new superintendent: Murphy had the

most experience (31 years) of the four finalists, beginning her career as a physical education teacher at Auburn Junior High School in 1984. Other than a five-year stint as an assistant professor at West Georgia College from 1988 to 1993, she has spent her entire professional career in Alabama

Murphy became superintendent of Monroe County schools, which has 3,650 students, in 2011. The school system is based in Monroeville, the southwest Alabama town that is home of Harper Lee, the author known for her bestseller, “To Kill A Mockingbird.” She was appointed to her super-intendent’s position after serving as principal of Charles Henderson High School in the Troy city school system in 2010.

From 1993 through 2010, Murphy served in several administrative leadership roles for the Butler County Board of Education, from principal of Greenville Middle and Greenville High schools to three years from 2008 to 2010 as administrative assistant to the superintendent of Butler County schools.

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mentor when possible. “I still get kids texting me about once

or twice a week, often from college, tell-ing me what kind of grades they made,” he said.

Vest also makes sure to share his story of being an at-risk youth helped by Big Brothers with his family. He honored his Big Brother by naming one of his sons Griffin. Another son, who recently gradu-ated college, just became a Big Brother to

a fifth-grade student in Tuscaloosa. Vest continues to look out for fatherless

children by serving as the chairman of the advisory board for Big Brothers Big Sis-ters of Shelby County.

“He was actually the one who kind of got it started and got us into Shelby County,” said Kim Egan, Shelby County program director for Big Brothers Big Sisters. “When we started out we just wanted to get 40 matches, and we have grown now. This year we’re looking to serve 200 matches.”

Egan said while Big Brothers Big Sis-ters doesn’t just work with single-parent

households, a lot of children have similar stories to Mike Vest.

“We do have single-parent homes missing a father figure, so having a Big Brother is someone they can look up to — that positive male role model in their life,” she said. “But we do need men to volunteer because they’re kids waiting. And I want men to know that you don’t have to be a superhero. You just have to give a little bit of your time.”

To learn more about Big Brothers Big Sisters, visit bbbsbhm.org.

BIG BROTHERCONTINUED from page B1

Mike Vest and his Big Brother Mark Griffin in the locker room at Vest’s last high school football game. Photo courtesy of Mike Vest.


Great Strides benefits CF awareness

This year’s Great Strides Walk raised funds for cystic fibrosis research and awareness on May 16 at Veterans Park. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic, life-threatening disease with no cure. The walk was presented by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, which was created in 1955 by parents of children with CF hoping to find a cure and extend life. For more in-formation, visit cff.org/Chapters/alabama.

Photos by Madison Miller.


School House

Career Awareness Fair held for 10th-grade students in Shelby County

The Greater Shelby County Cham-ber held its inaugural Career Aware-ness Fair program, sponsored by Legacy Community Federal Credit Union, for 10th-grade students throughout Shelby County April 23- 24.

During both days, over 100 volun-teers from various careers took time out from their work schedules to meet with more than 2,000 students from 12 high schools to share information about career opportunities available to them in Shelby County.

In addition to learning about careers, the students also heard about the edu-cational requirements for those careers, what type of salaries they could expect in that career, and helpful tips on what they can do now to better prepare them-selves to be successful in their pursuit of that career.

Each student visited two of the 16 booths set up at the Shelby County Exhibition Center in Columbiana.

The participating high schools included: Oak Mountain, Montevallo, Thompson and Calera on 23, and Pelham, Chelsea, Vincent, Shelby County Career & College Center, Helena, Shelby County, Cornerstone Christian and Kingwood Christian on April 24.

The Chamber’s Education Work Group developed this program to

follow up on the successful “Keep-ing It Real” program for more than 2,600 ninth-grade students through-out Shelby County. That program, which just completed its second year in April, enables volunteers from the Chamber to meet with students to help

them start thinking about their future and discussing the importance of fiscal responsibility.

The Career Awareness Fair and the Keeping It Real program are an out-growth of the Greater Shelby Cham-ber’s 5-year Strategic Plan and are part

of the Chamber’s efforts in workforce development. The Chamber believes that meeting with Shelby County stu-dents once a year, at different stages of their high school careers, will help ensure that Shelby County businesses have the qualified workforce they’ll

need in the future.-Submitted by Keith Brown, Interim

President of Jefferson State Commu-nity College & Vice Chair of Commu-nity & Workforce Development for the Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce

Area professionals speak during the Career Readiness Fair held in April. Photo courtesy of the Greater Shelby Chamber of Commerce.


Shelby County School District gives technology awards

The Shelby County School District announced the two winners of the Owens-Young Memo-rial Technology Innovation Award at the school board meeting on April 23. The award honors two former employees whose work paved the way for teachers to use technology in the classroom.

This year’s recipients were Danny DuBose, Krystal Lawrence, Tami Genry and Ashli Polizios, from Oak Mountain Middle.

DuBose teaches geometry at Oak Mountain High School and uses a variety of different types of technology in his classroom.

Lawrence teaches fourth grade at Shelby

Elementary School and uses technology in new and effective ways.

Genry is the library media specialist and local school technology coordinator at Helena Inter-mediate School.

Polizios teaches history at Oak Moun-tain Middle School tries to use technology in her classroom frequently to help her students throughout their student career.

Teachers receive the Owens-Young Memorial Technology Innovation

Award at a recent school board meeting. Photo courtesy of Shelby

County Schools.

Chelsea High School honors studentsBy MADISON MILLER

Chelsea High School held its annual awards ceremony on May 1. Students at every grade level were honored with departmental awards, special awards, senior awards and scholarships.

Among the special awards, Jake Cotton received a $3,000 scholarship from the Chel-sea Business Alliance for his involvement with Future Business Leaders of America. Chelsea Business Alliance fundraised for the

scholarship with a Flapjack Fundraiser and with the help of Shell Gas Station owner Steve Sewani, who pledged one penny per gallon of gas at the station in March to the scholarship.

Representatives from Auburn University, The University of Alabama, Jacksonville State and more were in attendance to present schol-arships to seniors attending their schools in the fall.

For more information, visit shelbyed.k12.al.us/schools/chhs/.

Chelsea High School senior Jake Cotton receives an award from the Chelsea Business Alliance. Photo by Madison Miller.


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Several Spain Park athletes signed to continue their sports endeavors in college. Front row, from left: Keyasha Gordon, basketball, Wallace State Community College; Victoria Baldwin, basketball, Lander University; Jamaiya Lee, basketball, Wallace State. Back row, from left: Tyler Wise, baseball, Birmingham-Southern College; Micah Wheeles, lacrosse, University of Montevallo; Jhavonte Waire, cheerleading, University of North Alabama; Jeff Bannon, track and field (pole vault), Anderson University. Photo by Keith McCoy.

Spain Park signing day

Pearce Merry, left, is headed to Southern Union to play baseball for the Bison while Ashley Ochsenhirt will play tennis at Mississippi College. Both signed on May 6. Photo by John Perry.

Briarwood athletes sign to continue their careers in college

Oak Mountain athletes to play at collegiate level

Jessica Amaro will play college tennis at Rhodes College in Memphis. She has played No. 1 singles and doubles for Oak Mountain since her freshman year.

Zack Holton will play golf at Birmingham-Southern College after being a standout for the Eagles since middle school.

Brian Deason will play college tennis at Millsaps in Jackson, Mississippi. He was a captain for the high school team, which won the Shelby County tournament four straight years.

Christian McGowan is headed to Birmingham-Southern College to continue her basketball career. She averaged 10.1 points per game and 3.9 assists per game for the Lady Eagles. Photo courtesy of Belmont Studios

Jessica Amaro

Brian Deason

Christian McGowan

Zack Holton


Sports

Oak Mountain’s Kennedy Davis is mobbed by teammates after scoring the first goal in the Class 7A final vs. Auburn in Huntsville. Photos by John Perry.

Eagles break through for state title

By DAVID KNOX

Oak Mountain broke open a score-less first half with three second-half goals to beat Auburn 3-0 and claim the Class 7A boys soccer championship in Huntsville on May 9.

The win made it a clean sweep for the school in 7A, coming after the Oak Mountain girls beat Auburn 2-1 in a shootout earlier that day.

It looked as if the boys’ game might be headed to overtime as well. But the Eagles (23-4-1) broke through with goals by Kennedy Davis, Trigg Lang-ner and Clay McDonald after the break to stun Auburn.

Langner was named the most valu-able player.

Goalkeeper Ryan Dearman got the shutout with great help from his defend-ers, as he was credited with no saves.

It is the fifth state championship for the boys program, but the first under second-year coach Dan DeMasters. The Eagles were runners-up last year to Vestavia Hills for the Class 6A title.

The boys also have state champion-ship trophies from 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2011. The Eagles were runners-up not only in 2014 but also the two pre-vious seasons.

“I’m very excited and happy for our team and the hard work, effort focus and passion they put into the preparation for

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each and every game,” DeMasters said. “We had numerous goals at the begin-ning of the season, and though we didn’t complete them all, we accomplished the most prized of them all and that was the first-ever 7A state championship”

It also was sweet to reclaim the blue trophy after settling for the red one three years running.

“I think it is always going to be a goal of ours to win a state champion-ship,” DeMasters said, “but I do think

that getting second place the past three years has put a bit of a bitter taste in the players’ mouths. Our boys program — including before I even got here v has been in the state championship game the past five years now.

“It’s quite an amazing accomplish-ment to make it to the championship game for that many years.”

After a scoreless first half, DeMas-ters didn’t want to let his charges lose focus on the prize.

“Halftime was a pretty spirited speech,” the coach said. “I told our team that we knew both teams were tired from the heat, but I gave them confidence. I reminded them how much we ran to prepare for this moment, I told them that we were the better-fit team and I inspired them to go score the first goal. I told them that if we play with more passion and desire and in addition we score the first goal, we would be state champions.

“In that type of game, the Xs and Os weren’t so much a priority. We pride ourselves on being prepared, and we knew about all the formation and tac-tics the night before the game. It was the effort, desire and willingness to sac-rifice to score the first goal that would help us obtain the result we wanted. Once we scored our first, the rest just followed, but I really thought we had it after we scored our second goal from Trigg Langner. The third goal

by Clay McDonald just put the icing on the cake. With five minutes left in the game, I made sure we all started to soak it in because it’s the feeling that all teams want at the end of the season.”

DeMasters praised the entire OMHS organization for the title.

“I really give credit to everyone involved with the program. Adminis-tration, parents, fans, managers, assis-tant coaches, the players … everyone in this organization did what they needed to do to help prepare the players on the field to have success. A car couldn’t run if everything, even the smaller nuts and bolts, didn’t operate correctly. As for the players, we had great underclass-men who stepped up in major roles this year such as Chad Jeter and Kennedy Davis, our back line of four amazing junior defenders [led by Hunter Hol-stad, Christian Thomason, Chandler Thomason] and all the way up to our three senior captains, Clay McDonald, Hunter Ratliff and Trigg Langner. Each of these players led and stepped up big time in big moments and this is what lifted us to greatness this year.”

Certainly, DeMasters would love a repeat in 2016, but he believes he’s building on something special at Oak Mountain for the long term.

“It is certainly not easy to win a state championship,” DeMasters said. “You can have all the ideas, practice plans and philosophies in the world and not have a winning team. In fact, Oak Mountain has got second three years prior to this, so that is the proof. Every year and every team is different, and you need to have all the pieces clicking or the team won’t be successful.

“My coach when I was younger told me something that I will never forget, and I tell this to all the teams I have coached. You need three things to win a championship; you need skill, you need heart and you need to be darn lucky. I believe that we make our own luck.”

Kennedy Davis celebrates an Oak Mountain goal. Tripp Langner receives the MVP award.


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Oak Mountain’s girls rush to accept the Class 7A state soccer trophy. Photos by John Perry.

New coach, same resultOak Mountain girls win second straight state soccer championship

By DAVID KNOX

Oak Mountain’s girls soccer team claimed its second straight state title in dramatic and thrill-ing fashion, defeating Auburn 2-1 in a shootout in the Class 7A state championship game in Huntsville on May 9.

After finishing regulation play 1-1 and going through two scoreless overtimes, it came down to shootout kicks.

The Eagles (23-3-1) scored on all three of their first kicks while Auburn missed on three

of its four, giving Oak Mountain the win.The Eagles got shootout goals from Alexan-

dra Dunn, Nealy Martin and Julia Pack. After allowing Auburn its first shootout goal, Eagles goalkeeper Katie Denney turned away the rest of the shots.

Pack scored the only goal in regulation for Oak Mountain, but Auburn answered less than a half-minute later to tie the score at 1-1.

Denney, who was named the match’s most valuable player, made five saves.

Auburn finished its season 17-1-1.

This is the third state soccer championship for the Oak Mountain girls, but the first under David DiPiazza. It’s not DiPiazza’s first title, though. He won the 2014 Class 5A girls championship at John Carroll Catholic and won four state boys titles from 2008-2012. In fact, the John Carroll graduate was part of 11 of the school’s 12 state titles as either player, assistant or head coach before leaving.

Coming into an established powerhouse from a powerhouse can lead to great expectations. It’s almost a must-win-a-championship situation. But

DiPiazza and his team met the challenge head-on.“It was pressure,” DiPiazza said. “I was at

John Carroll where I was in a comfort zone, had won four with the boys over there and built a girls program, so it was a completely different animal coaching a team that was already at this level as opposed to building a program.

“Honestly, I felt the expectations were high. I never felt like the administration put pressure on me … but obviously my goals were to get this team back to the championship game.”

While it doesn’t always work out when a


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Julia Pack (4) dribbles downfield against Auburn. Hailey Whitaker (10) holds off an Auburn defender.

high-profile coach arrives at an already highly successful program, DiPiazza said the girls bought into his philosophy very quickly.

DiPiazza credits the experience of being there before as a factor once the team made it to Huntsville.

“I don’t know how much the girls felt the pressure,” he said. “I think we were the most experienced team in that Final Four. There were two coaches who had never been to the Final Four and one that been there last year, and then me, who’d been there with a different team last year and my girls had been there …. My seniors won three championships in four years, so I think that really helped us when we got to Huntsville, knowing what to expect.”

That includes things that might seem incon-sequential — knowing how to prepare for the games, how to warm up for the games — that are different from the regular season.

“You get breaks in between, you start warm-ing up, then they call you to check you in, and then they make you stand at a gate and you warm up again, and then you play — so we were ready for all that,” DiPiazza said.

“Their experience and my experience made for a pretty good combination.”

Another key along the road to the state title was a crucial shootout win over Vestavia Hills. Goalkeeper Denney was a big factor in that win and the others to the crown. “Our four games, she was huge for us,” DiPiazza said. “We won

two of our games in shootouts. The Vestavia shootout went 13 rounds, which is unheard of, and then in the final against Auburn, we only had to take three shots to win the shootout , which is also unheard of, because our goalkeeper saved three out of four shots.”

Having gone through the 13-round shootout with the Rebels just a week before was an advan-tage. “We were very calm and composed in the final,” DiPiazza said.

“That shootout was the least nervous I was the entire game because I knew I had Katie Denney in goal. And I think our players shot with confi-dence because they knew they had Katie Denney in goal.”

DiPiazza also singled out some other players

who might have flown under the radar.“Midfielders are probably the most unher-

alded soccer players there are, because it’s a real workman’s type of role. You’re sitting in front of the defense, sheltering the defense … you don’t get much of a chance to take shots. It’s a real selfless role, and our senior midfielder Sydney Jeter just did a great job with that.

“Of course, Alexandra Dunn, a junior, had a great year for us. Hailey Whitaker, a freshman, just had a standout season. Julia Pack missed most of the season with an injury, but when she came back we really went on a strong run.”

Can the Eagles make it a threepeat? It’s never easy, but the Eagles lose only five seniors, so it would be foolish to count them out for 2016.


Briarwood has strong showing in 6A tennis championships

By DAVID KNOX

Briarwood Christian moved up to Class 6A this season, but that didn’t deter the Lions’ tennis program in the least.

The Briarwood girls, paced by state championship performances by Jud Tarance, Kateleigh Calloway, Callie Ware and Katelyn Bussey, posted a strong second-place finish. The boys team, led by a singles win by Thomas Collier, finished a solid fourth, just five points behind state champion Walker.

The combined total of five individ-ual state champions was more than any other school.

“I am extremely proud of the way both of our teams competed this year,” said coach Jeremy Mears. “I have been blessed to lead this incredible group of young people. Although we moved up to 6A, we were able to continue the level of excellence that we have striven for in our program for the past decade. “Our senior leadership was tremen-dous. They have certainly left a posi-tive footprint upon our tennis program. Ashley Ochsenhirt, Lukas Castellanos and David Salchert will be missed greatly.”

Ochsenhirt, a two-time Class 5A champion at No. 1 singles, is headed to Mississippi College to continue her tennis career. She made it to the semifi-nals of the No. 1 singles this year.

In the state tournament at Mobile, Walker’s girls edged Briarwood 71-60. Tarance, a junior, won her state cham-pionship at No. 2 singles. She beat

Decatur’s Anna-Quinn Weaver 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3).

Calloway, a sophomore, won at No. 4, beating Walker’s Abby Hayes 7-6, 6-3.

Ware, an eighth-grader, won at No. 6 by knocking off Decatur’s Beverly Fite 7-6, 6-1.

Calloway teamed with freshman

Bussey — daughter of Bill “Bubba” Bussey — for a doubles win at No. 3. They beat Walker’s Holley Spivey and Olivia Hayes 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Also, Ochsenhirt and Tarance were runners-up at No. 1 doubles.

In the boys tournament, Hillcrest of Tuscaloosa won the state team title by edging Walker 41-39. Dothan was third

at 38 points with Briarwood right behind at 36 points in an extremely competitive field. The Lions won the sportsmanship award.

Collier, a junior, won at No. 2. Cas-tellanos and Bennett Davis were run-ners-up in the No. 2 doubles.

It capped a great season overall for the Lions’ program.

Among the highlights were reg-ular-season wins over powerhouse Walker by both the boys and girls teams; a girls win over Vestavia, the first time ever; both boys and girls winning the sectional tournament; and the girls win-ning the Hillcrest tournament and the Shelby County tournament.

Front row: Callie Ware, Frannie Ware, Keeton Cross, Kateleigh Calloway, Ashton Henderson, Judd Tarence, Ashley Oshenhirt, Katelyn Bussey. Back row: Coach Brandon Snipes, head coach Jeremy Mears, Reed Hodges, Lucas Castellanos, Thomas Collier, David Salchert, Bennett Davis, Liam Partian, Christian Ragsdale, Hunter Bussey, Coach Bill “Bubba” Bussey.

KIDS SUMMER READINGTWEEN SUMMER READING

Registration Starts May 18Online registration and book logging

at www.northshelbylibrary.org

NORTH SHELBY LIBRARYMay 30, 10am-1pm

Face painting, games, refreshments, fun, and more!

MT LAUREL LIBRARYJune 2, 5:30-7:30pm

Inflatables, refreshments,games, face painting, and more!

NORTH SHELBY LIBRARY - 5521 CAHABA VALLEY RD.MT LAUREL LIBRARY - 111 OLMSTED ST.

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MT LAUREL SUMMER READINGRegistration: May 18-July 14

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TEEN SUMMER READINGRegistration: May 18-July 14

Online book logging: May 18-July 21


Real Estate ListingsMLS # Zip Address Status Price

622907 35242 3189 Bradford Place New $482,300

632272 35242 5536 Heath Row Drive New $342,500

632488 35242 5125 Selkirk Drive New $209,900

632438 35242 2041 Cahaba Crest Drive New $264,900

632414 35242 255 Swann Drive New $549,900

632412 35242 1009 Kings Way New $309,900

632252 35242 661 Talon Trace New $284,900

632241 35242 6922 Lyndon Drive New $340,000

632240 35242 6046 Mill Creek Drive New $219,000

632236 35242 6926 Lyndon Drive New $189,900

632228 35242 6098 Eagle Point Circle New $298,900

632202 35242 1037 Waters Edge Circle New $594,900

632180 35242 5427 Dover Cliff Circle New $264,900

632386 35043 220 Chesser Way New $178,500

632338 35043 113 Courtyard Drive New $529,900

632166 35043 2013 Shelby Forest Cove New $169,900

632134 35043 140 Hackberry Circle New $254,900

632133 35043 308 Honeysuckle Lane New $255,000

632120 35043 517 Willow Branch Circle, Unit 125

New $264,900

632033 35043 1100 Fairbank Lane New $139,900

3189 Bradford Place

1037 Waters Edge Circle

280

Real estate listings provided by the Birmingham Association of Realtors on May 18. Visit birminghamrealtors.com.


Calendar280 Events

June 4, 11, 18, 25: Urban Cookhouse Farmers Market. 3-7 p.m. The Summit. Visit urbancookhouse.com.

June 5: Alexander and the Horrible No Good Very Bad Day. Film starts at sundown. Veterans Park. Free. Visit hooveral.org.

June 6: Know More Orphans 5K. 8 a.m. Veterans Park. Visit knowmoreorphans.org.

June 6, 13, 20, 27: Mt Laurel Farmers Market and Craft Fair. 8 a.m.-noon. 5 Mt Laurel Ave. Visit mtlaurel.com.

June 6, 13, 20, 27: Valleydale Farmers Market. 8 a.m.-noon. 4601 Valleydale Road. Visit valleydalefarmersmarket.com.

June 12: Strange Magic. Film starts at sundown. Veterans Park. Free. Visit hooveral.org.

June 13: Bark and Wine. 6 p.m. Inverness Country Club. Visit shelbyhumane.org.

June 13: Block Party and Health Festival. 5-8 p.m. St. Vincent’s One Nineteen. Enjoy live music from Act of Congress, kids’ activities, food vendors, tethered hot air balloons rides, bubble soccer, health screenings and more. Free. Visit onenineteen.com.

June 18-20: National Sacred Harp Singing Convention. First Christian Church, 4954 Valleydale Road. Visit olemiss.edu and search “Sacred Harp Singing Convention.”

June 19: Annie (2014). Film starts at sundown. Veterans Park. Free. Visit hooveral.org.

June 26: Paddington. Film starts at sundown. Veterans Park. Free. Visit hooveral.org.

North Shelby Library Events5521 Cahaba Valley Road

439-5500, northshelbylibrary.org

AdultsJune 5: Brit Flick Movie Night. 7-9 p.m. Brit flick movie night with wine and refreshments.

June 9: Curb Appeal-Gardening Program. 10:30-11:30 a.m. Program will focus on landscape design and maintenance qualities. Registration required.

June 17: The Basics of Backyard Livestock. 9 a.m.-2 p.m. How-to tips and techniques for chickens, goats, honeybees and small ruminants. Lunch included. $5 per person.

June 23: Paint & Pour. 6-8 p.m. Get creative on canvas. $3. Registration required.

June 26: Welcome to Medicare Celebration. 10 a.m.-noon. The State Health Insurance Assistance Program at Middle Alabama Area Agency on Aging will host a free welcome to Medicare celebration.

June 28: Dolores Hydock, Storyteller Extraordinaire presents: ‘Soldiers in Greasepaint: USO Camp Show Entertainers of WWII.’ 2-3:30 p.m. Registration required.

KidsTuesdays: Craft Days. 2-3:30 p.m. Drop by and make a craft. All ages. Registration required.

June 1: Tom Foolery. 2 and 6 p.m. Juggling, unicycling and stilt walking. All ages.

June 4, 8, 18, 22: Family Movie Days. Watch a family friendly, new release movie. All ages.

June 11: Miss Kit’s Bubble School. 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. This unique show is filled with science, comedy and bubbles. All ages.

June 15: Animal Avengers. 2 and 6 p.m. Features live, exotic wildlife from all over the world. All ages.

June 25: Superhero School. 2 p.m. Find out what you’re made of at Superhero School. Ages 7-12. Registration required.

June 25: Family Ice Cream Social. 6-6:45 p.m. Bring the whole family to make a delicious sundae. All ages.

Story timesJune 1, 8, 15, 22: Toddler Tales. 9:30 and 10:30 a.m. Stories, songs, fingerplays and crafts make up a 30-minute program. Ages 19-36 months. Registration required.

June 2, 16: Baby Tales. 9:30 a.m. 9:30 a.m. A story time designed especially for babies and their caregivers. Birth to 18 months. Registration required.

June 3, 10, 17, 24: Mr. Mac. 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. Stories, puppets and lots

of music for every member of the family. All ages.

June 4, 11, 18: PJ Story Time. 6:30 p.m. Come in PJs, have milk and cookies and hear some wonderful bedtime tales. All ages.

TweensJune 3: Super Magnetic Modpodge. 2 p.m. Create your own superhero magnet. Age 8-12. Registration required.

June 8, 22: Retro Family Movie Night. 6 p.m. Share your favorites from childhood with your kids. All ages.

June 10: Bleachable Super Wear. 2 p.m. Bring your own T-shirt into bleached spray art superhero logo swag. Age 8-12. Registration required.

June 17: Superhero Lego Build. 2 p.m. Hero-themed Lego day. Age 8-12. Registration required.

June 24: Origami. 2 p.m. Learn how to craft Japanese paper art. Age 8-12. Registration required.

TeensJune 1: Computer Animation Workshop Application Deadline. Workshop for sixth-12th grade. Learn basics of 3D computer animation from a professional artist in a one week, intensive workshop. Call 439-5512.

June 1: Anime Night. 6 p.m. An


expires 6-30-2015

Expires 6-30-2015

Calendar

Greater Shelby County Chamber of Commerce

1301 County Services Drive663-4542, shelbychamber.org

June 3: Ambassadors Work Group. 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Chamber of Commerce.

June 3: Small Business Work Group. 4-5 p.m. Chamber of Commerce.

June 9: Small Business Mentorship Appointments. 8-11 a.m. Chamber of Commerce. Call 663-4542 to schedule and appointment.

June 9: Education Work Group. 8:30-9:30 a.m. Shelby County Instructional Services Center.

June 9: Go and Grow Workshop “How

to Drive Recognition To Results.” 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Greater Shelby Chamber of Commerce. Members $10, Non-members $20.

June 10: Existing Business & Industry Work Group. 8:30-9:30 a.m. Barge, Waggoner, Sumner & Cannon, Inc. 3535 Grandview Parkway, Suite 500.

June 12: Health Services Work Group. 8:30-9:30 a.m. Chamber of Commerce.

June 16: Entrepreneur Roundtable I. 8-10 a.m. Chamber of Commerce.

June 17: Board of Directors’ Meeting. 8:15-9:30 a.m. Chamber of Commerce.

June 19: Entrepreneur Roundtable II. 8:30-10:30 a.m. Chamber of Commerce.

June 24: GSCC Community Luncheon. 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Pelham Civic Complex and Ice Arena. Members $20. Non-members $30. RSVP by June 22.

June 25: Governmental Affairs Work Group. 8:30-9:30 a.m. Sain Associates, Two Perimeter Park South, Suite 500.

North Shelby Library Events(continued)

evening of anime.

June 4: Doctor Who! 6 p.m. Spend the evening with the Doctor and Vincent.

June 5, 12, 19, 26: Gaming. 3-5:45 p.m. Board games, card games, Wii, Xbox One and Minecraft.

June 11: 8th Annual Fear Factor Food Challenge. 6 p.m. Put yourself to the test with some new and unique food combinations.

June 15: Teen Summer Reading Movie. 6:30 p.m. Watch Jurassic World at Lee Branch Carmike. Teens sixth-12th grade free. Parents and siblings are welcome to attend for $9 each. Registration required.

June 18: Hunger Games Science. 6 p.m. Explore the science of survival through the eyes of Katniss Everdeen.

June 20: Teen Writing Workshop. 1-4 p.m. Local author Anna Kathryn Davis will host a hands-on

writing workshop.

June 25: 3D Printing, Part I. 6 p.m. Start learning to code using TinkerCad and create a 3D project we will print for you in Part 2 on July 7. Registration required.

June 29: Learn Magic. 4:30 p.m. Skip Cain will teach you some of the mysteries of magic. Registration required.


[email protected]

251.974.1672 | 800.824.6462

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Have you triedthe bread?

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4647-B Hwy 280 (Behind Full Moon BBQ/Next to Schaeffer Eye Center) 408.9825 | www.TheFunkyMuffinBakery.com

The Best Gluten Free Bread Around

Also try our Pizza Rolls, Cinnamon Rolls, Dinner Rolls, Orange Also try our Pizza Rolls, Cinnamon Rolls, Dinner Rolls, Orange Rolls, Hamburger and Hotdog Buns, and our (NEW!) Garlic Knots Rolls, Hamburger and Hotdog Buns, and our (NEW!) Garlic Knots

You’ve got to try it!You’ve got to try it!

All proceeds benefi t the services provided to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities at The Arc.

100% of the remains are recycled.

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Calendar

St. Vincent’s One Nineteen Events7191 Cahaba Valley Road, 408-6600

onenineteen.com

Wednesdays: Breastfeeding Support Group. 10 a.m.-noon. Moms will have the opportunity to meet with a lactation consultant, as well as network with other breastfeeding moms. Free.

June 9: Blood Pressure/Body Mass Index Screening. 8-11:30 a.m. A representative from St. Vincent’s Wellness Services will be screening for blood pressure and BMI in the front entrance.

Free.

June 15-19, 22-26: Thyme to Cook for Kids. 8 a.m.-noon. June 15-19 ages 6-9, June 22-26 ages 10-12. Children will discover new ways to cook old favorites, investigate new foods and explore healthy cooking. $195.

June 18: Medicare Educational Meeting.

10 a.m.-noon. A meeting will be held to inform customers about senior products.

June 18: Individual Insurance Products. Noon-2 p.m. A meeting will be held to discuss individual products for those under 65. Free. Register by calling 1-855-764-1333.

June 24: CPR for Family and Friends.

6-8:30 p.m. Learn how to perform the basic skills of CPR in adults, children and infants. $20. Call 939-7878 to register.

June 29: Wellness Screenings. 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. St. Vincent’s One Nineteen will offer cholesterol, blood glucose, blood pressure, BMI and waist circumference screenings by appointment. Call 408-6550 to register.

Mt Laurel Public Library Events33 Olmsted Street

991-1660, mtlaurellibrary.org

June 4: Summer Reading Kickoff. 5:30-7:30 p.m. Inflatables, refreshments, games, face painting and more. All ages.

June 3, 10, 17, 24: Crafts. Noon-2 p.m. Drop by and make a craft. All ages. Registration required.

June 4: Pete the Cat Party. 2 p.m. Stories, games and craft. Registration required.

June 5, 12, 19: Toddler Tales. 10 a.m. Stories, songs, fingerplays and more make up a 30-minute program.

June 5, 12, 19: Storytime with Ms. Kristy. 11 a.m. Stories, music and more for every member of the family.

June 9, 16, 23, 30: Family Movies. 2 p.m. Stop by the library for a showing of a family movie each Tuesday.

June 11: Animal Super Powers. 2 p.m. Coosa River Science School will be out to let participants meet animals and learn about their super survival powers.

June 18: Super Hero School. 2 p.m. Find out what you’re made of at Superhero School. Ages 7-12. Registration required.

June 19: Youth Book Club. 4 p.m. Discuss great books. Ages 7-12. Registration required.

June 20: Lego Club. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. The library

provides the Legos, the kids provide the imagination and creativity.

June 22: Happy Birthday, Mt Laurel Library. 1-7 p.m. Stop by to celebrate the library’s first year in its new building.

June 25: Composting for Kids. 2 p.m. Learn how to make and use compost. Registration required.

TeensJune 15: Teen Summer Reading Movie. 6:30 p.m. Watch Jurassic World at the Carmike Lee Branch. Admission provided for teens sixth through 12th-grade. Parents and siblings welcome to attend

for $9 each. Registration required.

June 16: Teen Mario Kart. 4:30 p.m. Compete with other teens to see who can get through Mushroom Mall the fastest. Registration required.

AdultsJune 9: Treasure Salvage. 6:30 p.m. Don Cables will present the where, what, when, who and how of locating and salvaging sunken treasure.

June 23: CPR Classes. 9:30-11:30 a.m. or 6:30-8:30 p.m. Attend one of two American Heart Association Friends and Family CPR courses provided by the Cahaba Valley Fire District.


Jason Wilson, FoounderBack Forty Beer Company

© 2015 Alabam

a Power Company

Safe, affordable, reliable electricity is one form of power we provide, but not the only one. For the Back Forty Beer Company, it’s helping them lead the way for craft beer in Alabama. With a lot of hard work, vision and a little help from Alabama Power to make their facility and processes effi cient, Back Forty is proving that a local dream can turn into an amazing reality. That’s power to build on your passion. That’s Power to Alabama.

Watch the Back Forty Beer story at AlabamaPowerRealTalk.com.

POWER TO THE CRAFT

POWI-3874 P2Craft 10x7.5.indd 1 2/17/15 5:26 PM

CalendarHeardmont Senior Center Events

5452 Cahaba Valley Road991-5742

Area Events

Mondays: Tai Chi. 9:30-10:30 a.m.

Mondays: Mah Jongg. 9:30 a.m.-noon.

Mondays: Canasta. 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.

Tuesdays: Bible Study. 11 a.m.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays: Lunch. Noon.

Tuesdays and Thursdays: Aerobics. 10 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. on Tuesdays, 10:15 a.m. and 10 a.m. and 11:10 a.m. on Thursdays.

Tuesdays and Thursdays: Bingo and Board Games. 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Wednesdays: Bridge. 9 a.m.-noon.

Fridays: Zumba Gold. 9-10 a.m.

Fridays: Intermediate Line Dancing. 10-11 a.m.

Fridays: Beginning Line Dancing. 11 a.m.-noon.

June 4: Hearing Clinic. 9:30-11:30 a.m.

June 9: Seniors Helping Seniors Bingo.

June 11: Sundae Thursday.

June 17: AARP Driving Class. 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

June 18: Becky with Harrison Regional Library. 11 a.m.

June 23: Lunch at Peach Park.

June 26: Heardmont Dance. 6:30-9 p.m.

June 5-6: Magic City Brewfest. June 5, 7-11 p.m., and June 6, 4-8 p.m. Sloss Furnaces. Weekend dedicated to learning about craft beer and sampling the best that Alabama has to offer. Visit magiccitybrewfest.com.

June 5-7: Alabama Symphony Orchestra: Symphony in the Summer. June 5-6, 8 p.m., and June 7, 6 p.m. Railroad Park. Bring out your lawn chairs and blankets to enjoy the free concerts by the ASO. Call 975-2787.

June 12: Monty Python and the Holy Grail. 2 p.m. The Alabama Theatre. $8. Visit alabamatheatre.com.

June 13: Caribbean Day in Linn Park. 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Linn Park. Enjoy music, food, vendors and dancing in the street. Call 383-1726.

June 12-13: Garth Brooks with Trisha

Yearwood. 7 p.m. BJCC Arena. Visit bjcc.org.

June 12-14: Moto America. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Barber Motorsports Park. $10-$55. Visit barbermotorsports.com.

June 12-14: 2015 Alabama State Games. 7 p.m. National Peanut Festival Fairgrounds. Free for spectators. Visit alagames.net.

June 14: Roman Holiday. 2-4:30 p.m. The Alabama Theatre. Tickets $8. Visit alabamatheatre.com.

June 19: Ghostbusters. 7-9:30 p.m. The Alabama Theatre. Three unemployed parapsychology professors set up shop as a unique ghost removal service. $8. Visit alabamatheatre.com.

June 20: Happenin Fest 2015. 2-11 p.m. Good People Brewery. The festival includes a long

line-up of performing artists, on-site vendors and food trucks all day. Pre-sale tickets $17, $20 day of the show. Visit happeninrecords.com.

June 21: To Kill A Mockingbird. 2-4:30 p.m. $8. Visit alabamatheatre.com.

June 24: Flicks Among the Flowers: Ghostbusters. 8-10 p.m. Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Free. Call 414-3950.

June 26: The Big Lebowski. 7-9:30 p.m. The Alabama Theatre. “The Dude” Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it. $8. Visit alabamatheatre.com.

June 27: Birmingham Heart Walk. 7:30 a.m.-7 p.m. Uptown Entertainment District, 2221 Richard Arrington Jr. Blvd. N. Call 510-1515.


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