In & around SEC West Division preview
Alabama Crimson Tide
Coach: Nick Saban
68-13 (seventh season)
2012 Record: 13-1
Season Outlook
Alabama is coming off its third national title in four seasons, yet this year’s team might be Saban’s best since he’s been in Tuscaloosa. A.J. McCarron, who returns for his senior year, has an unlimited supply of talent surrounding him at skill positions. Receiver Amari Cooper and running back
Time to invest in public education and stop punishing educators
I have always been a believer in the value of education. And that is why I have always fought to protect our public schools and to fund them to the level that our children deserve.
But over the past three years, state leaders in Montgomery have done a very poor job of supporting our schools. And – for no other reason
Etowah County’s first courthouse
This week the Vagabond will venture around some history books and talk about the first courthouse in Etowah County. Many people have told me that they remember the courthouse that existed through 1950. Some folks even have argued that it was the first courthouse built for the county, but little do they know!
Back when the Vagabond was attending high school,
‘Team Nathan’ golf tourney is Aug. 24
By Donna Thornton/News Editor
Neuromyelitis Optica is an uncommon illness – one most people probably have not heard of at all.
But it’s something Nathan Gilbert, 12, and many other children face each day. Nathan, a student at Westbrook Christian Academy is a trooper, his mother Johnnie Sue Gilbert said, and does not let the illness get him down
Johnnie Sue and her
Downtown Dance Conservatory celebrates
By Laura Ann Tipps
When Linze Rickles McRae teamed up with the Gadsden Cultural Arts Foundation to open the Downtown Dance Conservatory 10 years ago, she started with a little under 75 students.
A decade later, in the midst of the studio’s anniversary celebrations, McRae has 400 students already registered for the upcoming year and expects that number to climb before classes
New businesses on the way for City of Attalla
By Donna Thornton/News Editor
City of Attalla Mayor Larry Means turned out for a ribbon-cutting at a newly opened Attalla business (Snap Fitness, in the Attalla Plaza off Ala. 77) and offered up news of another on the way.
Means said he got the go-ahead about a week ago to publicly talk about a new Ace Hardware store coming to the city.
YMCA’s Youth in Government gives teens unique opportunity
By Donna Thornton/News Editor Not too many years ago, Brett Johnson, then a Hokes Bluff high school student, went to a meeting to hear about a YMCA program called Youth in Government, mainly to get out of class. The meeting, and his subsequent involvement in the program changed his life, Johnson said. He became president […]
State superintendent brings welcome message to teachers
By Donna Thornton/News Editor
Alabama Superintendent of Education Dr. Tommy Bice dropped what might have seemed to be radical ideas on Etowah County teachers last week at the county’s system wide meeting, held at CrossPoint Church.
Purge your minds of everything the state Department of Education has told you for the past 25 years, Bice told the educators.
And by all indications, they
Sign unveiled, local Civil Rights leaders honored
City of Gadsden, Etowah County and Attalla leaders were among many who gathered at Gadsden City High School auditorium Aug. 10 to celebrate the unveiling earlier that day of a highway sign designating U.S. 431-Meighan Boulevard in the Gadsden city limits as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Parkway.
They gathered also to commemorate the contributions of others who played a