FLOYD O'NEAL LONG - OBITUARY

Floyd O’Neal Long, age 74 of Athens, passed away Friday, April 27, 2018 at Athens Limestone Hospital. Mr. Long was born October 21, 1943 in Limestone County, to Floyd Green Long and Daisy Marie Kelley Long. Mr. Long was a US Army Vietnam Veteran. 
 
He is preceded in death by his parents and one brother, Billy Gene Long. He is survived by his wife, Kathy Long of 41 years; three daughters, Donna McCown and husband Kevin of Elkmont; Kristie Andrews of Harvest, AL; Hollie Long of Athens; three brothers, David Long of Athens; Charles Long and wife Paula of Athens; M F Long and wife Kathy of Lester; four sisters, Nella Faye Harrison of Lester; Evelyn Sinard and husband Harvey of Athens; Lounette Long Wilson of Athens; Connie Ball of Athens; six grandchildren, Collin Wray and wife Jasmine, Ryan Wray and wife Brittany, Madeline Curley, Katie Andrews, Kaleb Andrews, and Kade McCown; two great-grandchildren, Lillyanna Wray and Camryn Wray, and several nieces and nephews.

Funeral service will be Monday, April 30, 2018 at 2 p.m. at McConnell Memorial Chapel with Doug Colwell officiating. Visitation will be Sunday from 6-9 at McConnell Funeral Home. Pallbearers will be James Curley, Dwight Brumitt, Michael Harrison, Keith Defoe, Tim Lucier, and Kevin Hall. Honorary pallbearer will be Jorge Rodriguez.

BARRY'S CORNER - LIVING IN ELKMONT

Help us...help us all....we gotta make it 4 more weeks!! Today Pre-K is lining up (if that’s what you call it...looks like when you kick an ant Hill) to go back to class and the little guy in front was battling hard for position. He talks with a long country drawl and is a hoot. 

I said “are you the leader?” He said “ Wellll ( with 3 syllables) I’m the pinsitter. “ I said “What is a pinsitter”. He said “Daisy is absent so I am the pinsitter.” I said "ok". Get back in and ask the teachers what in the world is a pinsitter. They said they told him, since Daisy was absent he was the the pinch hitter!! The fill in! May 24th please hurry! Have a good one!

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT..... ITS ALWAYS GOOD TO READ DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

We have the left media, we have the right media but there are other points of views still... 

In the mid-1970s, coming out of the Arab oil embargo, Saudi Arabia became a major player on the world scene.  American corporatocracy leaders and foreign policy experts realized that another embargo couldn't be allowed to happen. So a plan was put in place to partner with the Saudis. Saudi Arabia was awash in cash, so Washington began negotiating with its leaders to provide technical support, military hardware and training and an opportunity to bring its infrastructure into the 20th Century in exchange for petrodollars and assurances there would never be another embargo. When completed, the deal came down to this: Saudi Arabia would use petrodollars to purchase U.S. government securities; in turn, the interest earned on these securities would be spent by the Treasury Department in ways that bring Saudi Arabia out of its medieval existence and into the modern world.
Today, the U.S. uses more oil than Germany, Russia, Canada, Japan and India combined at over 19 million barrels a day. And Saudi Arabia is our biggest outside oil supplier.
Here are the others in the top 10 oil producers in the world:


Two more countries, Syria and Venezuela, used to be on this list until physical warfare and economic warfare took them down. Even under the despised Hugo Chavez, as recently as six years ago, Venezuela was selling the U.S. 6 percent of its imported oil. Syria used to sell the U.S. more than 15,000 barrels a day. Except for Brazil and Canada, all of the countries above are mired in the struggle over oil and currency. To any sane observer, the current world economy should appear as a confidence game holding many contradictions and deceptions.
Syria and Oil
President Donald Trump — who differs remarkably from campaigner Donald Trump — tweeted that it was time to get out of Syria. Seemingly moments later, a "chemical attack" in Syria killed some children. After a lot of tough talk in the press between Russian and U.S. officials about bombs and retaliation, "Within days, after what clearly was some careful secret orchestration between U.S. and Russian military to avoid any Russian deaths, the Americans, with some token participation by the British and French, loosed a barrage of missiles on what they said were Syrian government chemical weapon research and storage facilities (mainly empty buildings, apparently)." -- Martin Spring
Meanwhile, as my colleague Brandon Smith points out, "There is no basis for the latest missile attacks on the regime. This same exact false flag tactic was attempted under the Obama administration to draw the U.S. people into open war in Syria, and it failed. Now the chemical weapon card is being played again, this time with a 'conservative' president. The establishment must be hoping that Republicans will find excitement in becoming the war party so long after the Bush years."
Indeed they do. Nothing gets President Trump more accolades from the GOP establishment than dropping bombs and fomenting wars and regime change because it's part of its DNA. The War Party and their neocon warmongers and their mouthpieces in the media would like you to believe that they endorse President Trump getting us out of Syria soon. Not true, points out Republicstandard.com: The neocons very much want the U.S. in Syria — and anywhere else there's oil to be conquered.
Because the real reason the U.S. is in the Middle East is to defend the petrodollar, and block Russia/Iran/China from creating their own petro-currencies. Russia needs markets for its oil. As Jennifer Grossman of the Atlas Society points out, "A staggering 70 percent of Russian exports are comprised of oil and gas. Over half of Russia's federal budget revenue comes from the country's oil-and-gas sector — which in turn finances Putin's ongoing military aggressions, including in Syria and Ukraine." Therefore we have a permanent war for oil and the pipelines that supply it. Do you believe that our ongoing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria mean our oil supply is sitting on a powder keg?
No, it's sitting in the hands of the elites who love to make war — fomented by presidents both Democrat and Republican who are recruited to further it — and collect assets like so many chips on a table:

• There's a reason the U.S. occupies the 30 percent of Syria that has most of its oil, water and gas.
• There's a reason Syria, Russia, France and China blocked access to Syrian oil back in 2003 when the U.S. invaded Iraq.
• Regime change was planned against Syria, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan and Iran 20 years ago, and attacking Syria weakens its close allies Iran and Russia... and indirectly China.
• Moammar Gadhafi had to be overthrown not because he was a dictator, but because he planned to quit selling oil in U.S. dollars.

General Wesley Clark recalled a 1991 meeting he had with then-Undersecretary for Defense Paul Wolfowitz who told him Operation Desert Storm had shown military brass that the United States could make war on anyone it pleased and that it was time clean up the old Soviet Middle East client states — including Syria and Iran — before another superpower came along. Wolfowitz said it would happen within 10 years.That ambitio us goal was missed, but the plan to destroy the Middle East continues apace. The perpetual war — the globalist's New World Order — has two dominoes still to knock down. President Barack Obama tried to drive us to war in Syria because he was doing the will of his globalist masters. Congress — even if it has the will — is probably powerless to stop anything President Trump wants to do there, as we have seen.

To the proponents of the New World Order, if the U.S. pulls out of Syria, as has been suggested that Trump wishes to do, all that oil and the pipeline routes for it will effectively go to Russia and Iran. Therefore they want to control any oil supply and any pipeline from the Middle East to the EU, and will not hesitate to use its military wing, NATO, stop any plans to the contrary. Republicstandard.com put it succinctly: "If NATO has to smash Muslim heads together to make [a] pipeline feasible, they will do whatever it takes to push in the direction of conquest. This is not about the squabbles between parochial Islamic political and sectarian divides. This is about the Cold War. It never ended. The New Great Game is no longer simply against Russia, it's against Iran and China. Out of this melee the one country in the middle-east which will always side with the U.S. and NATO, is Saudi Arabia; the No. 1 oil exporter in the world and the lynchpin of the entire petrodollar system. The only person who can stop this pipeline is Putin, but for this he needs to uphold Assad."Conversely, for the petrodollar to survive, Assad needs to be taken down. If Assad survives, it will be the beginning of the end for the petrodollar and the beginning of something else. Remember, there are also banksters in the pseudo-capitalist totalitarian countries of Russia and China.

Oil and the dollar

This is to say in no uncertain terms that there awaits a great crash only needing a trigger. In 2012, Iran began taking renminbi laundered through  Russian banks in exchange for oil.Then in 2015, Russia began selling oil to China in renminbi directly. And all the while these countries began to become net sellers of U.S. Treasuries.

Now the Chinese are building up their own commodities markets and as leading producers and consumers of gold, they've created a Shanghai gold exchange. This effort continues as the renminbi gains more and global acceptance. Venezuela, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands have already repatriated most if not all of their gold held by the Federal Reserve or other western central banks in recent years. Last week, Turkey announced that it decided to repatriate all its gold stored with The Fed as well, in a move to help hasten the fall of the petrodollar. Turkey profits no matter who builds an oil pipeline to the EU, and it seems they are hedging their bets and trying to avoid having any U.S.-denominated assets in case of attempted sanctions by the U.S.

Those who put their trust and their savings in the system and U.S. dollar assets do not suspect how the facade of safety is manipulated and inflated until it collapses. How many Enrons are there sitting on top of your assets?  The end of the petrodollar will be a major disruption to the U.S. economy. The best way to protect yourself is to make sure you are holding gold and silver. Gold prices have been manipulated for decades by the Western banks. As this old model collapses, gold prices will have to rise to their unrestricted levels.

Yours for the truth,

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN ELKMONT THIS WEEK?

28
Elkmont Historic Saturday Walks  starting at 10:00AM with local guides sharing tales of history and lore from the Elkmont Depot (Railroad Street in downtown Elkmont).  Free.

The Elkmont High School Class of 1969's ninth annual reunion picnic will take place 11 a.m. Saturday April 28, at the Elkmont Rural Village Picnic Pavilion. The classes of 1968 and 1970 are also invited to attend, as well as family of graduates. Barbecue pork, buns, beans, plates, cups and ice will be provided. Those who attend are asked to bring a drink for themselves and a dessert, chips, slaw or other barbecue condiments to share. More information (and to RSVP): Johnnie King, 256-584-7001.


29 CHURCH DAY

GAYLE STEPHENS - OBITUARY

Gayle Stephens age 69 of Athens, passed away Tuesday, April 24, 2018 at her residence. Mrs. Stephens was born January 17, 1949 in Giles County, TN to Aubrey Alsup and Oma Treadway Alsup.

Services will be Saturday, April 28, 2018 12:00 p.m., at Limestone Chapel Funeral Home with Bruce Alsup officiating. Visitation will be Friday, April 27, 2018 from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home. Burial will be in Roselawn Cemetery.

She was a loving Mother and Nana who worked hard her entire life, to ensure that her family was taken care of. She will be greatly missed. Mrs. Stephens loved gardening and she was of the Baptist faith.

Preceded in death by her parents; two brothers; two sisters and several nieces and nephews.

Survived by her husband, Jerry Stephens; two sons, Floyd Coffman and wife, Donna and John Richardson; two daughters, Kim Culps and husband, Stanley and Sabrina Richardson; one step-son, Brandon Stephens and wife, Jamie; grandchildren, Aubrey Pepper and wife, Lacy; Jordan Brown and wife, Jerrica, Cadie Coffman and Alex Richardson and wife, Hannah; step-grandchild, Shana Coats and other step-grandchildren; one sister, Melonee Sharpnack; several nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers will be John Richardson, Brandon Stephens, Floyd Coffman, Aubrey Pepper, Jordan Brown and Alex Richardson.

ELKMONT WANTS DISTRICT MAP TWEAKED

Article reposted from September 20, 2011

— A lively band of Elkmont residents pushed Monday for further revisions to the Limestone County school board district voting map. However, the latest attempt at revising the map could pit two existing school board members against one another in an upcoming election.


About 25 Elkmont residents attended the 5 p.m. work session at the Central Office in Athens. They wanted territory currently assigned to proposed District 4 to be moved to proposed District 3, which was redrawn to create a separate district for Elkmont residents. In the last election in 2010, school board members in Districts 4 and 5 divided the Elkmont area.


When it came time to redraw the lines this year, Elkmont resident John Carter, serving as a spokesman for other residents, asked the board to consider creating a separate district for Elkmont. Some residents there believe it is difficult for an Elkmont resident to be elected to the board because of how the lines were drawn.


The demographer the school board hired to redraw the map had tried to accommodate the group. However, they asked the board Monday to tweak the map a little more. They want the board to move a section of proposed District 3 containing the Owens community to District 4 in exchange for more land north of Elkmont that is currently in District 4. After some discussion and pressure from Elkmont residents, the board agreed to try to give a piece of proposed District 3 extending from Easter Ferry west to Nelson Road, north to Section Line Road and south to the city limits of Athens back to District 4 in exchange for the property north of Elkmont. The question is whether it can be done without moving District 3 board member Marty Adams into District 4. Although Adams lives east of Easter Ferry Road — outside of the area the board is trying to move to District 4 — redrawing is done by census blocks, which means it could be difficult for the demographer to slice off a chunk of land precisely along that roadway.


The demographer will redraw the lines for the fifth time and get a map to Elkmont group before a meeting Monday, during which to board hopes to finalize the map. That meeting, which was to be Friday, has been moved to 7 a.m. Monday at the old City Hall council chambers. Board members are required to redraw voting district lines every 10 years in order to ensure equal representation for residents. They use current census figure to ensure that each of the seven school board districts have the same number of residents, plus or minus 5 percent.

Article reposted from September 20, 2011

Source:  Jean Cole

jean@athensnews-courier.com

We will be electing the first school board representative for the newly formed Elkmont District this fall.  Candidates will be registering to run for the position during the next month.  Currently, Marty Adams (West Limestone family)  is our representative. He has indicated that he is interested in throwing his hat in the ring for the upcoming election.   Hill Spirit has gotten some questions  about how the new district came about so this series of articles will be reposted so those questions can answered. There are about six of them so look for one each day. If you missed one, look in the list of posts at the bottom of the blog.

PROPOSED SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICTS

 Reposted from September 2011

 

Every 10 years, the school board must redraw voting district lines based on new census information in order to ensure equal representation. Limestone’s population grew by 26 percent in the past decade and some of the population shifted, largely to the east.

A demographer from Auburn University, Dr. Terance Winemiller, was hired to draw the new map with the goal of creating seven voting districts with roughly the same number of residents — within 5 percent of each other.

Board members reviewed the proposed map Tuesday, which had to be tweaked three, times before it was ready. Board members reviewed the map during a work session Tuesday, suggested a few changes and the map was revised and finalized Wednesday.

The map appears on page one today and in an ad in The News Courier for the next 13 days, as required by law.

The board will accept public comments or suggestions on the proposed map for the next 14 days, make changes if they see fit, and then submit the map to the United States Justice Department for consideration. With the 14-day publishing requirement, the map cannot be submitted to the Justice Department by Sept. 15, which the board considered the deadline. If the Justice Department gives preliminary approval, which typically takes about 30 days, members of the Limestone County Board of Registrars will plot the changes and notify voters of their new voting districts, a process that takes 45 to 60 days, according to Board of Registrars Chairman Lee Liveoak. The work by the registrars must be completed and the voters notified of changes at least 90 days before the next election, which is the March 13, 2012, primary election.  That gives the registrars at deadline of Dec. 13, or about 47 days to do the work, if the Justice Department takes 30 days for preliminary approval.  However, the registrars also have other maps to plot because the County Commission, Athens City Council and city schools also had to redraw voting district lines.

Board members discussed

With the deadline looming to submit the map to the Justice Department, most board members let go any minor disagreements they might have had about the map so the task could be completed.

“I can live with it,” said District 3 Board Member Marty Adams.

Board member James Shannon said he was sorry to lose some Elkmont voter to the east and in the Thach community, but said he could live with the map as is.

“I don’t want to be the only one to hold this up,” he said,

District 1 Board Member Charles Shoulders said of the map, “I’m OK, I have a school in my district.” He did, however, lament the loss of voters in Belle Mina, which move to District 6 on the new map.

District 6 Board Member Anthony Hilliard requested changes to the map so he could retain more of his original district.

“I’d rather have some of my old district,” he said, noting the loss off territory north of Beatline and Harvest roads and the addition of territory south of Huntsville Browns Ferry Road to Alabama 20 past the Belle Mina area east to Segers Road. “I don’t know anybody down there (pointing to the Belle Mina area).  He compromised by swapping a piece of land in the Belle Mina area and a piece of land south of Harvest and west of Mooresville roads for territory north of Harvest and Beatline roads that had been in District 7, which is represented by Earl Glaze.

Glaze asked the demographer to redraw that section to make sure the numbers worked. The change was tentatively approved Wednesday and the school system issued the proposed map.

Changes

Voters will notice changes in all seven school board voting districts.

District 1, currently represented by Charles Shoulders, will have a school in it for the first time. Tanner High School had previously been in District 2.

District 2 picks up voters south of Upper Snake Road and south of Browns Ferry and the western portion of Nuclear Plant road.

District 3 will now include Elkmont High School and some Elkmont area voters. Under the existing map, the Elkmont area was mainly in District 4, with some in District 5. Some residents in Elkmont asked the board to create a district for Elkmont area voters to make it easier for a person from Elkmont to be elected to the school board.

District 4 loses some Elkmont voters and regains voters to the south of Alabama 99.

District 5 loses some voters to the east in the Elkmont area and gains voters roughly north of Elk River Mills Road.

District 6 lost territory along the eastern border of the county south of Harvest but gained territory south of Huntsville-Browns Ferry

District 7 has become a compact rectangle roughly bordered by Beatline and Harvest roads to the north, Huntsville-Browns Ferry to the south, Mooresville Road to the west and the county line to the east.

SOURCE:  ATHENS NEWS COURIER

Reposted from September 2011

A FIFTH DISTRICT, ELECTED AT LARGE SCHOOL BOARD???

Reposted from August 16, 2011

Joel Glaze spent 18 years on the Limestone County School board between 1980 and 2000.

When he was first elected there were no school board districts, the five members were elected at-large. It was not until his last term, after the county created a seven-districts board, that Glaze represented a district rather than all the residents in the county.

“I was elected both ways and I can’t see one benefit to having districts,” said Glaze, who is a Limestone County voter registrar.  “Voting at-large was the best because every school in the county belonged to every school board member.”

Glaze made the comments while addressing an Elkmont resident’s statement that current voting district lines make it difficult for an Elkmont resident to be elected to the school board.

John Carter had told school board members last week he represented many in Elkmont who would like to see a change in the way the lines for voting districts are drawn.

He said the Elkmont area is essentially split between Districts 4 and 5 because Alabama 127 is used as the basic dividing line. He said that gives the candidates from West Limestone and Ardmore an advantage over a candidate from the Elkmont area.

Glaze said Carter is wrong. He said County Road 55 — or Hays Mill Road/Pettusville Road — divides Districts 4 and 5, not Alabama 127. That puts the city of Elkmont and Elkmont Rural Village, two of the most heavily populated areas, in District 4, which is represented by Darin Russell. Fewer Elkmont area voters reside in District 5, which is currently represented by James Shannon.

Carter suggested redrawing the voting district lines to mirror the existing school district lines. Board members may look at doing that when they redraw the voting district lines this month. By law, city and county schools and governments must redraw voting district lines every 10 years following the census in order to ensure there are roughly the same number of residents in each district, within a margin of 5 percent. Limestone County school board members have tentatively agreed to hire a demographer to help them.

Return to old

Glaze said he would like to see the county school system return to a five-member school board in which each member was elected countywide rather than by district.

One problem with the current seven-district board, he said, is that board members become too territorial. Another problem is that one school board district — District 1 in the north end of the county — doesn’t even have a school.

Among the advantages of a countywide school board is that it would allow anyone the opportunity to run for school board at any time, he said.

“They wouldn’t have to wait for their turn — for the term of the board member in their district to end,” Glaze said.

Currently, board members serve staggered, six-year terms, so a new candidate would have to wait until a board member’s term expired to run. With at-large voting, a candidate could run whenever a seat on the board was open, which would occur every two years.

Glaze also believes a five-member, at-large board could accomplish more.

“It would be better at doing the business of educating our children,” he said. “Board members would not be worried about ‘my district.’”

He said five members could accomplish more than seven.

“Those two board members make a lot of difference,” he said.

If a board member or residents are interested in changing the board, Glaze said one board member could consult with a member of the local legislative delegation and get the proposal placed on an upcoming election ballot and let voters decide. 

Source:  Athens News Courier; Jean Cole 

Hill Spirit's opinion is that population has shifted since Joel Glaze's time on the school board. An elected at-large school board could easily be dominated by the East Limestone area.  A better solution would be for each high school to have an elected representative from it's district boundaries.  That representative would speak for the high school and it's feeder schools.

WHAT ABOUT THE NEW ELKMONT SCHOOL DISTRICT ?

 Reposted from 2016

 

We will be electing the first school board representative for the newly formed Elkmont District this fall.  Candidates will be registering to run for the position during the next month.  Currently, Marty Adams (West Limestone family)  is our representative. He has indicated that he is interested in throwing his hat in the ring for the upcoming election.   Hill Spirit has gotten some questions  about how the new district came about so this series of articles will be reposted so those questions can answered. There are about seven of them so look for one each day.

Reposted from 2011

WILL ELKMONT HIGH SCHOOL FINALLY GET  SCHOOL BOARD REPRESENTATION?

Residents in Elkmont want their own representation when the Limestone County school board redraws voting district lines in the coming month.

Every 10 years, after each census, cities and counties are required to redraw voting district lines to ensure the population is equally distributed among districts.

In the case of Limestone schools, the board is required to redraw lines for its seven voting districts by September.

During a work session to discuss whether to try to redraw the lines themselves or hire a demographer to do it, an Elkmont resident lobbied for a district representing Elkmont.

John Carter, who said he represented many in Elkmont who would like to see the change, asked the board to simply make the school district lines and the voting district lines the same.

“The way the lines are now, if the lines are not moved, they (Elkmont residents) will be at a substantial disadvantage,” Carter said.

He said the Elkmont community has not had a member on the school board for 20 years. He attributes that to the way the lines are drawn in the northern half of the county — into two quadrants separated by Alabama 127. He said the division, while logical, essentially puts half the Elkmont area voters in District 4 and half in District 5. Because candidates for those districts are typically well known by voters in either western Limestone or Ardmore, they usually win the school board seat.

Carter said Baldwin County schools recently decided to base its voting districts on school feeder patterns or school district lines.

District 5 board member James Shannon, who represents residents in the Elkmont and Ardmore areas, said he was open to the change, though he made it clear he was there to represent Elkmont residents.

District 4 board member Darin Russell could not attend the meeting because he was repairing power lines down in the recent thunderstorm.

District 1 board member Charles Shoulders, who served as acting president Tuesday while President Earl Glaze was absent due to a death in the family, was also open to the change.

“I feel strongly about your concern,” Shoulders told Carter. “I hope representatives from West Limestone and the Ardmore area are as interested (in Elkmont school issues) as a person from Elkmont would be, but I understand your concern.”

Shannon told Carter he was there to represent Elkmont residents as well as those in the Ardmore area.

“You know you can call on me,” Shannon said to Carter.

Carter did not suggest that existing representation was poor, only that he believed the Elkmont community would like to elect one of its own but district voting lines make it difficult.

“I think it is something we really need to look at,” Shoulders said. “We have to look at decreasing some areas to have true representation from Elkmont.”

During the work session board members also decided to hire a demographer to redraw the lines.

Carter had asked if the schools could use the demographic software the county commission had rented for $4,500 for a year so they could redraw voting district lines.

Assistant Superintendent Mike Owens said he had inquired about using the county’s software but was referred to a lot of different people and then given the address for a website that his computer could not operate.

About that, Carter said, “I got the impression they do not want to get involved in this.”

Superintendent Barry Carroll said Auburn University might have a demographer available.

Board members opted to hire a demographer for two reasons: because there is no school official available to operate the program and because there is only about a month to complete the task. The County Commission started the redrawing task earlier.

Board members asked Carroll to find a demographer and bring him before the board next week.

In 10 years, Limestone County’s population has increased by 17,106 residents to 82,782, an increase of 26 percent. Growth has been strongest in eastern Limestone County. Under the law, the populations in each school district must be within 5 percent of each other. Board members will have to redraw voting district lines so all seven district have roughly 4,750 to 4,800 residents each. Currently, Districts 1 and 7 have 6,901 and 6,045 respectively. District 6 is the smallest with only 3,485. Athens residents do not vote for county school board members.


Source:  Athens News Courier

WHAT HAPPENED AT THE BOARD MEETING?

The Limestone County School Board held its monthly meeting, September 9.   One item of note that will affect our driving students is that they will have to pay $25 to park on campus next year.

The Board of Education on Tuesday approved Superintendent Thomas Sisk's recommendation for a $22 increase for student parking passes.  The fee hike will go into effect for the 2015-16 school year. Each high school will keep $5 to pay for the parking decal. The school system will receive $20 for use on parking lot improvements. 

The school board also approved a fiscal 2015 budget that includes $60,000 for athletic events security and athletic fields and gymnasium upkeep at the high schools. Each of the high schools will get about $10,000, Sisk said.  With approval of this allotment, Sisk said he won't recommend raising varsity football and basketball ticket prices by $1 as requested in August by the high school principals. The principals asked for the ticket price increase to cover the rising cost of security, referees, and field and gymnasium upkeep.  Elkmont Principal Garth Garris said the allocation will allow him to put more ticket revenue into an athletic fund that has been depleted by increasing expenses. 

The school board also approved a plan to merge Owens and West Limestone elementary schools into a new $11 million elementary school on Salem-Minor Hill Road. Owens will become an alternative school. 

Hill Spirit remembers when an Elkmont/Piney Chapel merged elementary school was the top construction project around 15 years ago.  It was to be located across from the Pig. The Piney Chapel building was to have become the alternative school for the county due to more centralized location. However, that project was dumped into the dust bin of politics.  The current plan is that eventually Elkmont and Tanner will each get a new elementary school.  Piney Chapel will be merged with the Elkmont but Piney Chapel will still be open. ???? Don't hold your breath.

How did Marty Adams, our school board member vote?
A merger of Owens and West Limestone elementary schools is the first step toward closing Piney Chapel Elementary, the Limestone County school board president said Wednesday.

Board President Marty Adams said Piney Chapel’s future is one reason he voted Tuesday against the Owens-West Limestone merger.  Adams’ concern was the Owens and Piney Chapel communities would lose their identities without their own schools.  He was outvoted 6-1, so the county will move forward with a plan to build an $11 million elementary school on Salem-Minor Hill Road.  “When you move the alternative school, that will leave about 200 students at Piney Chapel,” Adams said. “The board won’t want to fund a school with only 200 students.”  

Superintendent Thomas Sisk said he wants eventually to build stand-alone elementary schools in Tanner and Elkmont, which currently have K-12 schools. Adams said he expects Piney Chapel to be merged with the new Elkmont elementary, even though Sisk said he doesn’t plan to close Piney Chapel.  Adams’ concern is the Owens and Piney Chapel communities would lose their identities without their own schools.
 
Other items of note for Elkmont:
*Approved Class of 1979 to use Elkmont High School lunchroom Oct. 4 for a reunion.

*Approved Elkmont and Ardmore Youth Football to use the Elkmont High School football field and concession stand Oct. 18 for homecoming games.

*Approved Alumni Football USA to use the Elkmont High School football field, restrooms and dressing room area for an alumni football game in spring 2015.

* Hired Stephanie Sutton, Title II kindergarten teacher, one year only

*Resignation: Rita Lynn Hobbs, bus aide

source: Decatur Daily

NEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL?

It sounds like having a school district representative of our own may be bearing fruits.  Earlier this year, hope for a new elementary school looked dim. If you missed that article, here is the link, THE FIRST SHALL BE THE LAST. It will fill you in what was the status in August. Since then Ronald Christ Jr., first representative of the newly established Elkmont district has been sworn in. It may have already been in the works but much needed improvements to the football and baseball fields have now been approved.  Other capital projects on the agenda are renovations to bathrooms and other minor school improvements to be completed this summer. School officials discussed last year the possibility of building a new stadium at Elkmont, estimating the cost at $3 million to $5 million but we are thrilled that any improvements will be made.

Now there is news of the possibility of a new elementary school to be built at Elkmont Rural Village on Alabama 127. Do we dare hope that after twenty years of promises, something might actually be built?

In an Decatur article published this week, Major Construction Planned for Elkmont, Limestone County School District Superintendent Tom Sisk was quoted as saying ...  “Hopefully, in a year or so, we’ll be having a more candid conversation about the new Elkmont Elementary School.” Candid means honest, not optimistic or promising. Might it be true? Don't get your hopes up. Only time will tell. There is an old saying about wishes....

ELKMONT'S RONALD CHRIST ELECTED TO SCHOOL BOARD

With the retirement of Marty Adams, the Limestone County Board of Education welcomed Ronald Christ to its ranks in November 2016 as the representative for Elkmont High and Piney Chapel Elementary schools. Adams, who was elected in 2010, decided not to seek a second term and Republican Christ ran unopposed for the seat. 

With 2,654 ballots, or 98.6 percent of the vote, Christ swept the race's seven precincts.  He  is a lifelong resident of Elkmont and has served on the town council for several years. He has an extensive history with both the town and school. Christ, his wife Melissa, son Caleb and daughter Meredith, live inside a home built for the first principal of the school, located just across the street from the campus. He is a third-generation Elkmont High School graduate and his mother, wife, sister and other relatives are, or have been, teachers at the school.

Therefore, the decision to run for school board came naturally. “I just love my community. Education has always been big in the family,” he said. “I'm proud to serve.”

With his wife and children by his side, Christ placed his hand on a Bible and took the oath of office from Limestone County Probate Judge Charles Woodroof Thursday night at the board's regular meeting. Christ said he looks forward to learning everything he can from his peers during his six-year term.

Complete Article Link: Athens News Courier

NEW ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN SIX YEARS?

Superintendent Thomas Sisk said Tuesday in his State of the Schools speech that Limestone County Schools has made great progress in his first three years, but more is yet to come. He highlighted plans to change grade configurations in at least three schools, build new schools, add alternative and virtual schools, and continue expansion of the computer initiative.

The school board has approved plans to expand Creekside Elementary and divide it into two schools on one campus. It has also approved expanding the Limestone County Career Technical School and building a new West Limestone elementary school that could merge West Limestone and Owens elementary schools. 

Sisk said he would like to open an Alternative Center for Excellence in Education at the Owens building. A Twilight Academy, or “night school,” a virtual school, or online guided education, and possibly a Center for Early Childhood Education pre-kindergarten, would open at Owens. West Limestone Elementary’s building would become part of West Limestone High School.

After the new western Limestone County elementary school is built, Sisk said, he wants to build $15 million elementary schools in Tanner and Elkmont in 2018 and 2020 so he can split the nearby high schools, which currently have K-12 configurations, into separate K-5 and 6-12 schools. After those schools are built, he said, the board should then look at improvements at the county’s other six high schools.

The Digital Passport Initiative, the school board’s plan to provide laptops for every student, will continue its expansion. After starting with grades 3-4 this year, another 1,400 laptops will be needed next year for fifth- and sixth-graders. The school system will continue to add 1,400 to 1,600 laptops a year by grade. The goal is that every student in grades 3-12 have a computer by the 2018-19 school year, Sisk said.

Sisk said the system upgraded security on buses and at schools, including adding school resource officers in partnership with the Limestone County Commission.
“We’ve been able to do everything we’ve done without asking for a tax increase,” Sisk said.

For Complete Article: DECATUR DAILY

HILL SPIRIT'S THOUGHTS:

Elkmont has been on the list for a new elementary school for twenty years.  It never is built, always mentioned and occasionally thrown in with rainbows and sunbeams. Don't put much stock in this newest bone thrown to the Elkmont community. Believe it when you see it.

BARRY'S CORNER - LIVING IN ELKMONT

Kids..the most important part of public education. Our job is trying daily to shape them into productive adults who will better themselves and our world. I’ve been at it a long time....nearly 26 years. Today I saw worried faces on teachers who I genuinely care about. A direct result of the school board's work session. The mismanagement of our county's funds have caused our system to have to make some decisions. The “proposals” for a “fix” seems to fall on the backs of classroom teachers. Let that sink in; class sizes will increase. Anyone involved in schools knows the stress placed on classroom teachers and kids when the numbers increase. The accountability for test scores and classroom management becomes overbearing and unrealistic. We are going to lose great teachers through the system's plans and lose great teachers to other systems who have lower class sizes. I’ve been told personally we have to ask ourselves, “who is most important?” Classroom teachers of course. Not personnel who do not have a direct impact on kids daily, not the type of impact our classroom teachers have. Parents...here is your call to action. Let your board members know that you value low class sizes and keeping ALL classroom teachers. The price for these mistakes can not rest on your children!! My take! Have a good one!

PLAYOFF BOUND

Elkmont punched its ticket to the playoffs with a 4-2 victory over Athens Bible School at Boss Hill Stadium. 

In a game that resembled mud wrestling at times, Juan Mendoza and Sebastian Amaya each scored two goals. 

Elkmont faces St. Bernard Prep on Tuesday, May 1st, at 7:00 pm at Saint Bernard Prep. 1600 St Bernard Dr SE, Cullman, AL 35055. 

ONE STEP CLOSER TO PLAYOFFS

Elkmont kept its playoff hopes alive with a 2-1 victory over Mars Hill in double overtime. Rafael Aguilar scored Elkmont’s lone goal in regulation on a penalty kick. Ben Besherse added a goal in the second overtime to secure the area win. Elkmont travelled to Westminster on Friday, settling for a 0-0 tie.

The Red Devils finish up their regular season with two area games this week, facing Athens Bible School on Monday and Clements on Tuesday.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT..... ITS ALWAYS GOOD TO READ DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

We have the left media, we have the right media but there are other points of views still... 

Modern medicine has one purpose — to make money for the pharmaceuticals, their army of "trained practitioners" and the insurance companies. If anybody in America wants serious health attention, they have to take responsibility, pursue alternatives and pay for it out of their own pocket. I will quickly give you a valid exception and that is if one needs trauma care. It is generally and quickly available and most of the time life-saving. But this is a very small part of medical practice in America.

In fact, there is a very high risk in going to the hospital. Organized medicine is the third-leading cause of death in America, and prescription drugs are the leading cause of death by overdose. Drug companies rush new money-making medications to market before they're fully tested for safety and/or ignore or cover up harmful side effects. Doctors recommend unnecessary (and possibly life-threatening) tests and surgeries. Hospitals administer the wrong medicine or the wrong doses or operate on the wrong patient. Doctors prescribe medicines that conflict with other medicines the patient is taking or that are not recommended for the ailment from which the patient suffers. Pharmacies commit dangerous errors in filling prescriptions. Besides the hundreds of thousands of drug-induced deaths (iatrogenic deaths), there are people who check into hospitals and unexpectedly die of viral pneumonia that antibiotics can't help. Tuberculosis has returned to America along with drug-resistant strains. Even what appears to be the old common cold is lasting for months.
 
We are the victims. It's our bodies they "practice" on. They're always practicing and rarely getting it right. This is partly because of the chemical agents of death created by the pharmaceutical companies — and endorsed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — which are always seeking a "cure" for the latest disease: seeking but never finding. Physicians are brainwashed by their pharmaceutical cartel-controlled medical schools and bought off by drug manufacturers. We are literally a prescription drug culture.

With this in mind, the medical establishment must be reeling over the findings of a survey that shows that even though people have medical insurance — either through the Obamacare exchanges, their employer or private purchase — more people than ever before a skipping doctor's visits even when they were very sick because of the high cost of care.

The survey from the West Health Institute and NORC at the University of Chicago found that almost half (49 percent) of people ages 45-59 didn't go to the doctor when they were sick or injured. Another 45 percent skipped recommended tests or treatments, 43 percent didn't go to the dentists when treatment was needed, 40 percent avoided a routine physical or other preventive care and 30 percent didn't fill a prescription or took less than the prescribed dose. In the 60-plus group, the number of those avoiding the doctor were less, but still almost one-third went without routine care, and one in four didn't fill a prescription, skipped a recommended treatment or test or didn't go to the doctor when sick or injured. Researchers believe the numbers in this category were better because of Medicare.
 
"We were surprised by the magnitude of the findings," said Dr. Zia Agha, chief medical officer at the West Health Institute, a nonprofit applied medical research organization based in San Diego. "And 80 percent of the people we surveyed had health insurance, so just having insurance does not make you immune to health care costs."
Despite promises from President Barack Obama and other Obamacare cheerleaders that the program would drive down medical costs, health insurance premiums have spiked and deductibles have increased to the point that having insurance is useless unless a catastrophic event occurs.

Conventional wisdom sees this as bad news. The mainstream media has run with a rash of articles of late lamenting the fact that Obamacare has separated people from their doctors. But it can be a blessing in disguise. How so? We can seek out alternative therapies and concentrate on reversing our own maladies caused by years of following established protocols and poor diet. We can regain our health and longevity. So take control of your health by changing your diet and, if you are on prescription medications, by working to ditch those prescriptions (but not all at once.) Find an alternative medicine or integrative medicine doctor to help you with that. Masking disease is the central premise of allopathic medicine. But getting to the root cause of your illness is a central premise of alternative medicine and traditional Chinese medicine.

Health is not drugs; health is food. Health is achieved through proper diet and exercise. A diet of natural — not processed — foods, particularly organically grown foods, is the road to good health and a happy life. Eliminate from your diet processed foods and foods containing high fructose corn syrup and chemical additives. Consume primarily fresh — preferably raw — vegetables. Supplement with small amounts of fish and free-range chicken and beef and natural supplements of vitamin D.
We can have our health if we avoid the system. Get off the sickness diet that is the standard American diet (SAD) and get on the Nutritarian Diet by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. (and no, I'm not paid to endorse this).

What you will be doing is getting rid of the SAD, which is very high calories and very low nutrition, in exchange for the tasty green diet, which is very low in calories and very high in nutrition.
If we take charge of our own health, we can restore the Constitution and human liberty in America. We will have:

• Guaranteed better health.
  
• A way to avoid cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
  
• Increased exercise if we grow what we eat in a very small home garden.
  
• A leg up on ending the oppression of the medical mafia. This is the subversive cartel that has deceived us into believing that drugs will take the place of food in healing and health.
  
• An increase in our years on this Earth by reducing our calories.
  
• Re-training of our taste for the right nutritious foods.
  
• No more hunger. The Nutritarian Diet is completely satisfying and we can eat to fill our stomachs.
  
• The death of Obamacare, which will be killed in its tracks by our becoming healthy.
  
• The commercial food empire (junk food) will be cut in half. America has been deceived into bad health through bad diet. Hippocrates said, "Let your food be your medicine."

Americans will no longer be dependent upon the medical mafia, and it will break its hold over politicians.
This will save your health and restore America.

Yours for the truth,

Bob Livingston
Editor, The Bob Livingston Letter™

MARGIE MARIE TROWBRIDGE - OBITUARY

Margie Marie Trowbridge, 91 of Elkmont, died Thursday, April 19, 2018 at Falkville Health Care. There will be a 3:30pm Graveside Service Monday in Athens Memory Gardens with Spry Funeral Home directing. Mrs. Trowbridge was born March 27, 1927 in Limestone County and she was a homemaker. 

Survivors: Daughter: Carolyn Hovis of Huntsville, Sister: Florissa Stephens of Athens, Three Grandchildren, Four Great Grandchildren.

TRAIL REPORT

Lots of rain, wind and downed trees last night with power out for many of us Elkmont folk.  The sun finally popped out later this morning so the Hill Spirit was off and down the trail.  The dogwoods have really popped out and the purple spring phlox is glorious.  However, we must have gotten more rain than the couple of inches reported.  The water overwhelmed many of beaver dams in the swamp and there are now rushing mountain streams down the limestone bottomed channels.  As you are going south from Elkmont, once you reach the 4.0 to 4.5 mile markers, there is water over the trail in several places.  There were many stranded fish on the trail that got pitched back in.  The water has undermined the root systems of several trees that are now leaning over the trail.  

So if you enjoy bright green, freshly washed leaves,  cool temperatures and the sound of rushing water, get out and take a walk on the trail this afternoon.  Certainly, just the ticket to quiet the mind and de-stress from an all too busy world.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT..... ITS ALWAYS GOOD TO READ DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

We have the left media, we have the right media but there are other points of views still... 

Federal taxes were "due" last week, and there's something you should know about all that money being disappeared from the system:
Cash is no longer king. Credit rules.
Movement of money used to be important. Now it's the movement of debt.
When the upward movement of debt slowed down in 2008 (you can see it in the small glitch in the chart below) the entire world's economy almost collapsed.

You will never know how close it came to total collapse because the truth can never be known, lest the public revolt at the fact that money does not exist anymore. Only credit exists. This is why the government must keep interest rates low, mortgage rates low, must incentivize car loans, college loans, "Christmas" spending and credit card debt and increase sales tax revenues.
When consumers stop spending money they don't have — when debt slows — the "economy" falters. 

Why target cash?
Cash is being abolished in favor of debt. Cash itself is a "note," or a debt from the federal government to you, as I have pointed out. That arrangement must be abolished. Yes, they want to track you through electronic transactions. But the goal of the powers that be is always to extract wealth from the people. If they can get their useful idiots and psychopaths in government to take directly from the people, it will have to print less money, thereby extending the life of the system that must fail, as all fiat systems have, and extending the theft.
How else do you think it's possible they could float something as ridiculous as negative interest rates — that banks can charge you, not pay you, to park your cash there — in Europe and other places, and investors would line up to do it? Because the investors know there will be less debt doing it that way. They lock in a lower loss than the credit system would otherwise afford them.
You might simply now say that "cashless is king." Visa recently offered a reward of $10,000 if stores would go cashless. And banks now use advertising images of young people, even children, and their ease with the newest technology to make anyone using cash feel like an old fuddy-duddy and an outcast.
"Why are users of physical cash being targeted ... by governments and banks? The simple answer is to dissuade us from using cash and to encourage us to use as little of it as is possible or to create a perception that if we do use cash, we're behaving like some outmoded throwbacks and the kids will look on us as — horror of horrors — in danger of becoming obsolete." -- Nakedcapitalism.com
What is cash?
Ultimately, what exactly is physical cash? Nakedcapitalism.com also points out that "it has some unique and rather special characteristics. As a service, it is free at the point of use. When I pay you in cash, neither of us incur a fee for my settling my account with you by handing over notes or coins."
The banksters can't have that. "People using money for free instead of incurring a 3.25 percent charge for using a credit card? Humbug!" They are goading us into abandoning the only money that has no settlement fee for using it, and which pays interest when you store it, in favor of taxable, fee-based debt that you owe interest on.
How did no one see the switch from earning and saving to borrowing and spending? It happened gradually, over time, since December 1913 when the Federal Reserve was established.
On the very first page of Henry Hazlitt's book Economics in One Lesson he writes: "While certain public policies would in the long run benefit everybody, other policies would benefit one group only at the expense of all other groups. The group that would benefit by such policies, having such a direct interest in them, will argue for them plausibly and persistently. It will hire the best buyable minds to devote their whole time to presenting its case. And it will finally either convince the general public that its case is sound, or so befuddle it that clear thinking on the subject becomes next to impossible."
Thus, we've become befuddled and confused over what real money is, all according to the plan officially put into play a hundred years ago.
Before that time, banks would lend money. After the Fed was created, banks were there to provide credit. Central banks don't deal in money, they deal in "financing conditions" and "liquidity." This does not include lending out cash — which one thinks of as the very thing a bank does. No, this means incestuously purchasing government or corporate bonds with newly minted public "credit," keeping in mind that notes and bonds are much nicer names for what they really are, which are "debt instruments." All controlled by the Federal Reserve.
In an interview from 1994 on C-Span's show Booknotes, Milton Friedman explained why he was for ripping the heart out of this immoral system of debt serfdom and abolishing the Fed. "Look, the Federal Reserve started operation in 1914. It presided over a doubling of prices during WWI, it produced a major collapse in 1921 ... it undertook actions which led to a recession in 1929-30, and it converted that recession, by its actions, into the Great Depression ... Since that time, it presided over a doubling of prices during WWII, it financed the inflation of the 1970s... It's done far more harm than good."
Where's the cash?
Consider that in the United States, most of the money in our financial system is in stocks, derivatives, bonds, mortgages and digital bank deposits. The real physical cash in circulation — that is, stuff you can actually hold in your hands — adds up in total to less than 1 percent of all the money in our financial system.
Here's another curious fact that may surprise you and illustrates just how far the war on cash has encroached into our financial life. Once upon a time, the U.S. printed denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, and even $10,000 notes. These large bills were no longer printed after 1945, and under the pretext of fighting the war on drugs, in 1969 the U.S. government eliminated all large denominations. The largest paper note now printed by the Treasury Department is the $100 bill.
If anyone needed further proof that cash is disappearing, I point out that the world's largest printer of banknotes, after cutting production and firing employees, also sold its paper banknote business off to an investment fund. De La Rue produces banknotes for over 150 national currencies (including the British pound sterling, for example), more than any other company in the world, and will continue to produce polymer banknotes and passports, even though it just lost out on the job to continue to make the U.K.'s iconic blue passports.
Are the money creators winning the war on untraceable, untaxable, user fee-free private cash? 
Not yet. India's war on cash has backfired. Economic growth has slowed, and the push to stop "criminals" has resulted in millions of jobs lost, and a loss pf privacy for Indians. Swedes, who also went all in on a cashless society, are now regretting their decision due to loss of privacy and vulnerability to hackers and thieves — the very bad actors moving away from cash was supposed to stop.
There are more than enough reasons to take personal measures to retain a certain level of freedom in your financial affairs by converting a portion of your wealth into non-digital assets like gold and silver bullion coins and bars, jewelry, precious gems, art and antiques or other hard assets. Of these, gold and silver bullion requires the least amount of specialized knowledge.
Of course, you'll have to provide storage and security for these hard asset valuables. You may want to consider offshore non-bank storage to get your goods as far from U.S. government hands as is legally permissible, both to protect privacy and to protect against seizure or even confiscation.
Be sure to abide by all U.S. and international laws when considering offshore storage for your valuables. Bob Livingston Alerts in no way advocates illegal activities. You also want to do due diligence on the integrity of the storage institution you choose and the political stability of the country where they operate.
I advocate holding gold and silver for future use, and if you go here, I'll give you my best advice on doing so, but for now, you should hold some cash money — enough to cover about three months of bills if possible. Buy with cash while you can, but be careful who you tell that you have it, and store it in a safe, preferably hidden away. I can't believe it, but some people still ask if they should put their assets in a bank safety deposit box. The answer is still a resounding "No." Banks are pseudo-governmental agencies and contents are subject to seizure.
Yours for the truth,
Bob Livingston