COTTONWOOD: This is one of the stories that there is NO WAY that I am going to be able to write without making people mad. But, it will not be the first time and definitely will not be the last time.
On April 1, 2025 there was a scheduled meeting of the Cottonwood Mayor and Town Council.
There were no agenda items on the printed agenda concerning the Cottonwood Police Department.
There were no official discussion or votes by the Mayor or members of the Cottonwood Town Council Members concerning the Cottonwood Police Department at the meeting or after the meeting.
Following the meeting, in casual, one or more council members asked a couple of questions concerning the Cottonwood Police Department. Not official in decision making, but some general questions concerning overtime.
COTTONWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT
The Town of Cottonwood “had” three full time police officers. Those being Chief Tony Money, Director of Department of Public Safety Colonel Jim Smith, and Corporal Justin Pearson.
For an extended period of time both Colonel Smith and Corporal Pearson have been on medical leave. Partially being exposed to fentanyl and other medical issues.
Colonel Smith works a couple of days per week and Corporal Pearson quit full time and took another job but it is my understanding works some part time.
Cottonwood Police Department is not a full time, 24/7/365 on duty police department. Someone is on call to investigate wrecks inside the city limits of Cottonwood. When there are no officers on duty, Houston County Sheriff Department handles the law enforcement calls within the corporate city limits of Cottonwood.
RECENTLY A CHANGE IN MAYOR’S IN COTTONWOOD
Recently the Mayor of Cottonwood resigned due to health reasons. Councilman Granger was appointed Mayor of Cottonwood.
Apparently today, Cottonwood Mayor Granger made an executive decision to limit the Cottonwood Police Officers to a 40 hour work week. The reasons we understand is because overtime pay has grown a tremendous amount. And it was felt the overtime needed to be cut.
There was not a discussion during the regular scheduled Town Council Meeting last evening and not a vote by the members of the Cottonwood Town Council members. It was solely an executive decision by the Mayor of the Town of Cottonwood.
COTTONWOOD SCHOOL SRO
The school in Cottonwood is managed by a SRO (School Resource Officer, but a Sheriff’s Deputy) of the Houston County Sheriff Department. This has been a rub to the members of Cottonwood Police Department. But Houston County Sheriff Department handles all Houston County Schools as SROs.
So even with the cutback to 40 hours of Cottonwood Police Department, it will have zero impact on SRO protection at the school.
HOUSTON COUNTY SHERIFF DEPARTMENT PROTECTION IN COTTONWOOD
The City of Cottonwood is 5.8 square miles. By Alabama law the Cottonwood Police Department can only run radar within the 5.8 square miles and can not use radar traffic control device outside the 5.8 square miles. They have 1.5 square miles of police jurisdiction outside the corporate city limits they can patrol, but can not use speed detection devices in this 1.5 square miles outside the city limits but within the police jurisdiction. (Code of Alabama 32-5A-171). As a law enforcement officer in the State of Alabama, the Cottonwood Police Officer or any other law enforcement officer can make an arrest outside their city limits or police jurisdiction. When an arrest is made it is required to be placed in the District Court of the County.
The City of Cottonwood is in Houston County. The Sheriff has responsibility and jurisdiction in the entire Houston County. In the Corporate City Limits of Dothan his assistance is not needed as much because they have 208 sworn law enforcement officers. No where near that outside the corporate city limits of Dothan. The Sheriff has a responsibility, without a contract or payment from a municipality, to provide law enforcement protection to the entire county. He is elected by all of Houston County and his responsibility is to everyone.
There has been discussion, by a number of municipalities of contracting with the Sheriff for law enforcement protection. While I am sure he would welcome the money, but understand, it is his mandated duty without compensation from a municipality to provide law enforcement protection to all 582 square miles of Houston County, and furthermore the responsibility of the Houston County Commission to fund that law enforcement protection.
Any felonies in the city limits of Cottonwood are handled by the Houston County Sheriff Department currently. This has been the policy for a long time that all felonies are handled by the Sheriff Department.
CONTRARY TO RUMOR MILL, COTTONWOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT IS NOT CLOSING
Contrary to the rumor mill Cottonwood Police Department IS NOT CLOSING. It is a step to get the hours under control because overtime can have dramatic negative results on a municipality.
The Cottonwood Police Department is and has done a good job. As with everything there can always be improvements. But the Cottonwood Police Department has been responsive to the residents and guests of Cottonwood.
With the damage to the town and lack of strong economic structures of businesses in Cottonwood, finances are tight. And that requires some strong and major decisions that have to be made.
The lookin’ out the window weather is warm and foggy this morning, but sunny, breezy and very warm weather will be in by afternoon.
Left-over moisture from the last few days rains are rising into morning clouds and fog. Plenty of sunshine will push temperatures into the mid to upper 80s Thursday, and winds continue to breeze out of the south at between 10 and 20 mph.
Last night the low temperature barely dropped below 70, and after a hotter day today than yesterday lows this evening may stall out at 70 degrees. A few clouds will swirl in this evening, and Friday looks like a pretty Spring day before more clouds arrive Saturday and rains late Sunday into the start of next week.
Car enthusiasts spearheaded an event to spark interest in automotive history and mechanics with local 6th graders. D.A. Smith Middle School and the Ozark Boys and Girls Club are set to host a unique and educational event, “Driving Through the Decades,” on Friday, May 2, 2025, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (with a rain date of Friday, May 9). This inaugural event, organized to engage students in the history and evolution of automobiles, promises to be a fascinating experience for both participants and attendees.
Participants will showcase their vehicles, ranging from early 20th century models to cars from this year.
Here’s how it works: Vehicle owners register their year, make, and model at nscdothan.com/decades by the deadline of Friday, April 18 at noon. Sixth-grade teachers then provide this list to their students, who select a vehicle to research. The students delve into the car’s history and mechanics, creating informative posters and artwork to display alongside the vehicles on the day of the event.
Students will explore the evolution of cars, identify key innovations, and discuss potential future advancements, as well as address current automotive challenges and propose solutions. On the day of the show, students will dress in period-appropriate attire and present their research to their peers.
Participants are asked to arrive between 8:10 a.m. and 8:45 a.m. to park their vehicles, as students will begin arriving at 9:00 a.m. Due to bus drop-off, vehicle parking prior to 8:00 a.m. is not permitted. The event is free, and all types of vehicles are welcome. Cars will be arranged chronologically, showcasing 125 years of automotive development.
The one leading is the disaster itself — in our case, the tornado which hit Dothan Monday. At first, the emergency response team made up of firefighters, police, paramedics and so many more personnel are following.
Here’s the trick: the emergency response team has to take over the dance. They have to become the leaders.
In the case of Monday’s Waltz of Weather Chaos, it was brief before leaders had control of the dance — and thus, control of the situation.
Dothan Fire Chief Larry Williams had the tempo before it even started.
The first step: knowing when a potentially disastrous situation is on the way.
“We knew that we had a squall line coming in,” he said. “One of the things I try to do is keep the City Commission and the department heads aware of what’s happening with severe weather, so we started all that really early.”
He said the fire department started with an extensive list of pre-planning measures: making sure trucks were fueled, making sure all the equipment was in order, checking that reserves in the shop were in service and ready.
“Just basic management to be able to handle the increase in possible call volume. That’s the number one thing,” Williams said.
He said all eyes were on the tornado warning between Enterprise in Daleville when officials began monitoring weather more closely so everybody was “ready to rock and roll.”
That’s standard procedure — if a tornado warning pops in an adjacent county, especially if the same storm is headed our way, they double down on the monitoring and begin doing more preparations.
But about the time they get situated, the power cuts.
A generator failed.
By the time everyone is beginning to get hip to the situation, they’re running blind.
As if in some cable TV drama, dispatch immediately tells firemen about an outdoor fire… and the roof caving in at Dothan Preparatory Academy.
“That’s all we knew,” Williams said. “We did not know we had a tornado warning, or if a tornado had touched down.”
He said it was all of a minute and a half before the warning was issued, as any potential rotation was wrapped in rain.
Battalion Chief Shan Ash called in to tell her colleagues she was looking at what appeared to be tornado damage and debris off Lafayette Street.
Williams said everyone scattered.
With the information the storm had hit DPA, he instructed his team to begin pulling together more staff to put on reserve engines in case of the need for advanced life support.
Williams headed to DPA — where he had a grandson.
He was thinking of getting in touch with emergency management, and what they’ll do about power, and where they’ll send trucks — but he was also getting calls from his wife and his daughter.
He said he was a little apprehensive getting on the scene for worry of his family, but he knew he had a job to do.
“We get nervous, too,” he said. “We get worried about our family, and we’re not as clear-minded until we make sure they’re okay when we know they could be involved. But I’m just so programmed on what to do, I just do it.”
Chief Pete Webb was already on the way to the Dothan Utilities Emergency Operations Center, intending to help coordinate between downed power lines and blocked roads and feed all that information back to other agencies; but Webb caught the dispatch about DPA and responded there first, establishing a command.
By the time Williams arrived at the school, Webb informed him everything was beginning to look clear; they had everybody identified and had found the five minor injuries.
And, Williams’ grandson was safe.
“When I heard that, I went, wooh!” Williams breathed a sigh of relief. “I felt good.”
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Thus began the protocol all incident response teams in the country use: L.I.P. That stands for Life safety, Incident stabilization and Property protection. It’s listed by priority.
“The first priority, from a car wreck to a house fire to a tornado, is life safety,” Williams said. “We’re going to do everything, but first thing we’re going to do, any incident we go to, we’re going to verify there is nobody that is trapped, there is nobody injured, there is nobody critical. We’re going to make sure we got everybody out of whatever structure, so we do that. We call it an all-clear.”
Police and Fire began going floor-to-floor, room-to-room, clearing the building of anyone who may still have lingered.
Williams knew the next move was to prepare for all the calls coming in from the neighborhoods in the path of the storm.
His team established an area command and a grid pattern to begin going door-to-door in the areas with major damage, clearing the neighborhoods the same way they cleared the school, but on a larger scale.
“We’re looking for any injuries, any fatalities, any victims,” he said.
When that’s done, the next step is incident stabilization. That’s getting in control of the incident: taking the lead in the dance.
Damage assessments began, and teams began prepping the community to get further support. Roads closed to allow for less traffic in affected areas. Dothan Utilities began to really get to work assessing the power situation.
Until three in the morning Tuesday, most teams were still in rescue mode. Power was still off in areas, but they were able to get an all-clear for the area.
Williams said a big part was going slowly and carefully.
“It is managed chaos,” he said. “In the middle of all that, you’ve got so many things to do.”
He remembered the tragic tornado in Enterprise in 2007, early in his game as the top man at Dothan Fire. His department had been called for mutual aid, but how many trucks could he spare — especially considering the squall line headed for his jurisdiction?
It’s incidents like that which helped teach him not only how to keep a cool head, but also how to be smart, how to think ahead, and how to manage resources in times of crisis.
But he said a huge part of the quick response was the great relationships his department had with other departments: police, sheriffs, utilities, hospitals, every department, and the City Commission itself.
“Everybody just works great together as a team, but it’s bigger than that,” he said. “From utilities to public works to wastewater treatment, every department has a hand in public safety. All these things are all us working together to ensure the public is safe, healthy and well during these type of events.”
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Williams was hesitant to use the word “pride” to describe what he felt in the aftermath, lest he sounded prideful in some sinful sense.
“I’m proud of our fire department,” he said. “They did a great job. They all did what they were supposed to do. They were at it the correct way, and their training fell in place.
“We were prepared for the worst-case scenario, but it wasn’t, thank the Lord.”
He said he also was so proud of the community response from every department within the City of Dothan and the citizens.
He said Dothan City Schools did a great job with the emergency response as well.
“They took care of those kids,” he said. “And the SROs from the police department made a major impact. Right off the bat, they got it all rolling.”
“Everybody working together makes me proud even more, because all the practices we have done, the training, the exercises, the disaster plans written by the Emergency Management Agency, all those things came together, and we were ready.”
