Selma Police Department has released very few
details on the murder of a
Marion man in that city
over the weekend. According to details the department
has released, Jerry Lee
Moore, also known as Jake
Sawyer, was driving in the
area of Kayser Street and
Minter Ave. in Selma when
a man approached his vehicle. The two exchanged
words, and the man fired
several shots into Sawyer’s
car. At least one of the shots
hit Sawyer in the torso. The
injury was fatal. Sawyer’s
assailant then fled the
scene.
Marion Police Chief
Tony Bufford went to
Selma shortly after learning
of the murder. Several
members of Sawyer’s family had also come to Selma,
and Bufford said the Selma
Police worried the grieving
family members might get
violent if they found
Sawyer’s killer first.
“There were a lot of his
family members over
there,” said Bufford. “I’d
say it was about 15 car
loads.”
“They all took it well,
considering they had just
lost a family member,” he
said. “There were no problems.”
Bruce Baughman of
Tuscaloosa plans a meeting
with all interested Perry
County landowners regarding the possibility of a natural gas play in Perry
County. The meeting will
be at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday,
April 24 at the Marion
Depot. Baughman has already met with some of the
county’s largest landowners
and gotten tentative commitments totaling some
80,000 acres to lease mineral rights for the possibility
of natural gas drilling. He
says he hopes to lease the
mineral rights for the entire
county and attempt to market those rights to energy
companies for the purposes
of drilling. Drilling, he said,
is already taking place in
Greene and Hale Counties.
Marion Military Institute’s Alumnus of the Year,
Jimmy Race, dedicated a
rapelling tower at the school
to two friends from his
MMI days who were later
killed in Vietnam: Charles
W. Davis and Marshall Calender. At a recent dedication ceremony, Rane was
joined by family members
of both of the men: Marlene
Barnette, Michael Barnette,
Mary Jo David, Mac Davis,
Jim Davis, Deborah Davis,
Sarah Davis, Leann Bolware, and Robert Bolware.
Marion resident Jeff
Nail, a student at the University of Alabama School
of Law, was awarded the
American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers Honor
Award and the Alabama
State Bar Association Family Law Section Award at an
award ceremony held
March 30. Nail, who currently works for Marion attorney Kirtley W. Brown,
will receive his Juris Doctor
degree this year.
The 2007 Alabama
Crawfish Festival will be in
Faunsdale this weekend,
April 20 and 21. The festival begins at 10:00 a.m. on
both days with crawfish,
arts & crafts, and children’s
activities.
Marion City Council decided at their meeting on
Monday, April 16 to deny a
permit application for an
on-premesis beer and wine
application for Lee’s Community Store, owned by
Robert Lee, in the Lincoln
Heights community. Lee
also owns Lee’s Lounge, a
popular nightclub on Highway 5.
Birmingham Judson College alumnae are holding a
dinner event next Thursday,
April 19 at The Club in
Birmingham: “Spotlight on
Perry County.” The event
will be an evening celebrating the vibrant spirit of
Perry County, Alabama and
spotlighting local businesses and programs: “A
Showcase of Perry County
Treasures.”
Caroline Reich and her
mother, Eugenia Anderson,
are helping to organize the
event so Birmingham alumnae who may not have visited Marion lately can see
the changes taking place in
Perry County, and connect
more with the town that is
home to their alma mater.
Dr. Wayne Flynt, an Alabama historian and advocate for the Black Belt, will
address ways urban areas
can share resources with the
region.
