HOUSTON COUNTY: This week Houston County Sheriff Donald Valenza and Houston County Jail Captain David Asbill are having much-needed repairs done at the Houston County Jail.
The primary repairs are for the locks that the Houston County Commission had neglected to have repaired. That is, until inmates escaped and attacked another inmate, sending the inmate to UAB Hospital via Survival Flight, from injuries received because of the neglect of the Houston County Commission. Finally, the locks are being repaired.
Houston County Sheriff Donald Valenza had requested the Houston County Commission to fund the repairs. He was DENIED, with Chairman Shoupe saying he would rather have roads paved then the locks repaired.
Now that a lawsuit has been filed against Houston County (US – the citizens of Houston County) by Jacoby and Meyers. Alabama State Representative Paul Lee went to work and obtained $1 million in funding to assist in making the jail safe for staff and other inmates.
Sheriff Valenza and Captain Asbill are also updating the camera surveillance system in the Houston County Jail.
The jail, designed and constructed under the Sheriff Lamar Glover administration is designed for 379 inmates. Today, 8:45 AM, the Houston County Jail has 417 inmates.
DO WE NEED A NEW JAIL?
The answer is NO. About 65% of the inmates could be housed in a work camp – barracks style facility with bunk beds, an outer fence, and K-9 attack dogs within a interior fence. That would guarantee no escapes. You have enough lockup space for the inmates who need to be locked in a cell. But that takes getting out of the box and thinking.
Van Granger was named the Mayor of Cottonwood at Tuesday’s Town Council meeting.
Michael Capehart was named Mayor Pro Tem.
Cottonwood’s District 4 Town Council seat is now vacant. If you want to run, you need to notify city hall before March 3rd, and you must be a resident of that district.
From left: Houston County Commission Chairman Brandon Shoupe, Cottonwood Mayor Van Granger, Houston County D2 Commissioner Tracy Adams
Gov. Kay Ivey ordered flags at the state capitol and at state offices to be flown at full-staff on Jan. 20, honoring the inauguration of President-Elect Donald Trump.
Flags are currently flying at half-staff as the nation mourns the death of former President Jimmy Carter. President Joe Biden ordered flags remain lowered until Jan. 29, as is custom for when a former president passes away.
Ivey cited federal law in her decision, saying certain occasions allow flags be flown at full-staff.
Flags will return to half-staff on Jan. 21 for the rest of the mourning period.
As numerous illnesses swirl through the community, including norovirus, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Dothan City Schools (DCS) said it’s crucial for parents to be proactive in ensuring sick children stay home to avoid infecting others.
Keeping sick children home from school is one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of illness, according to Blair Peterman, DCS Director of Health Services.
Norovirus is one of the most common diseases going around schools now. It’s more commonly known as the stomach flu. Symptoms typically last one to three days and include vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach cramps. Though norovirus is not related to the flu, it is highly contagious and can spread even after a person begins to feel better.
In addition to norovirus, influenza (the flu) is widespread in Alabama. The flu can cause a variety of symptoms in children, including fever, cough, sore throat, muscle aches, and sometimes vomiting and diarrhea. Parents should consult their child’s doctor for treatment.
Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is also affecting children in the area. RSV is a common cause of respiratory illness in children and primarily impacts the nose, throat, and lungs. It spreads through droplets when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks, and can also be transmitted by touching contaminated surfaces. RSV typically causes mild, cold-like symptoms such as cough, fever, and congestion. It tends to peak in Alabama during January.
Peterman emphasized that children should stay home if they have a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher, are vomiting, or experiencing consistent diarrhea. Additionally, students with a persistent cough or runny nose should be evaluated by a doctor before returning to school. For children showing respiratory symptoms, wearing a mask is recommended to help reduce the transmission of illness.
“We want a healthy learning environment for all our students,” said Peterman. “Parents play a vital role in helping keep our schools safe. By keeping sick children at home, they can help stop the spread of viruses and protect other students and staff members.”
Along with keeping sick children home, parents should teach children to wash their hands frequently, cover their coughs, and avoid sharing drinks or eating utensils. It’s also important to ensure that children are dressed warmly for school, as proper layering can help them adjust to fluctuating temperatures throughout the day. Regular washing of jackets, hats, gloves, and other outerwear is also encouraged.
Hand sanitizer is available in classrooms across the district, and students who are feeling unwell at school can visit the nurse for an evaluation.
The Alabama Legislature is gearing up for a new session in February, and local delegates visited Dothan to discuss the top issues they expect on the legislative floor.
Rep. Steve Clouse, Rep. Paul Lee, Rep. Jeff Sorrells, Rep. Rick Rehm, Sen. Donnie Chesteen, and Sen. Billy Beasley appeared at the Wiregrass Rehabilitation Center for Eggs and Issues, a Chamber of Commerce event previewing the public on the legislature’s plans for 2025. While various topics were discussed, it was clear local legislators are focused on a lottery bill, driving economic development by improving education, and tackling faltering healthcare systems around the state.
Gambling
Gaming is a hot topic in Alabama — one of only five states without a lottery.
The state misses out on a large amount of money yearly because those who want to play the lottery are forced to travel across state lines, thus handing revenue to surrounding states.
Sen. Billy Beasley, who has been in the legislature for 26 years, said lottery legislation passed both chambers in 1999, but it failed a general vote.
“It got torpedoed by outside interest,” he said.
Gambling legislation failed again last year; Beasley said the sponsor of the bill voted no at the advice of the Poarch Indians, who sold their casino this year.
“I’m ready for the issue to be sent to the people because it’s a constitutional amendment,” he said. “All you do is align the people of Alabama to make the final vote.”
Education
Houston County is one of the lowest-funded districts in the state of Alabama.
Rep. Steve Clouse said he hopes the legislature will focus on modernizing the school funding formula.
Currently, the state determines funding levels by enrollments submitted by the schools; 40 states in the U.S. have done away with this method, instead pivoting to a student-based funding model.
“You can’t educate every student for the same dollar,” Clouse said.
Potential ideas would make sure every school would get a base level of funding, then adding more money for poverty, special needs students, gifted students, and rural communities.
Clouse said school funding would be a “big topic” in the upcoming session.
“I don’t know if we’ll get there this year, but the conversations have begun.”
Sen. Donnie Chesteen said Alabama was in the seventh year of “record growth” in state education budgets.
The CHOOSE Act passed earned great interest from Alabama families. The act allows up to $7,000 for families to send children to private schools instead of public schools.
Special needs students get first preference for funds, followed by military families and then families deemed eligible within a certain income.
Another issue on the legislature’s mind is the amount of graduates attending college or secondary education. About 46% of Alabama high school graduates do not attend college, Chesteen said.
“They’re basically getting the high school diploma and we’re saying, ‘good luck with your minimum wage job,’” Chesteen said. “What are we doing to prepare these kids for the workforce?”
Legislators hope the last session’s Alabama Workforce Pathways Act can help students get jobs.
With this legislation, students can substitute math and science courses for career courses.
Chesteen said Alabama has a 57% workforce participation rate, and this legislation could also help that statistic.
“Let’s give them a skill they can go to work with,” he said. “If we want to move that labor participation rate, that’s the way to do it.”
Rep. Rick Rehm said the issues go back to economic development.
He said the education system is a healthy industry — supported and tax-based — but taxes are not the be-all-end-all solution.
“We cannot tax our way into prosperity,” he said. “You have to create an atmosphere in which industry wants to come and business wants to thrive,” he said.
Healthcare
Rep. Paul Lee, also the executive director of Wiregrass Rehabilitation Center, said healthcare was a primary issue for Alabama’s governing body.
The Alabama Political Reporter said 14 rural hospitals closed since 2010.
“The importance of rural hospitals is tremendous,” Lee said.
1819 News reported 252 pharmacies have closed from 2019 to 2024.
Lee said the closures can be partially attributed to not enough reimbursements for medications.
“Our rural pharmacies are closed, and that is the heart of the Columbia, of the Cottonwood, of the Wicksburg, the smaller towns in those areas,” he said. “Those pharmacists know everyone, and when those close, let me tell you, it’s difficult.
“We’re fortunate here, but we have deserts in the Black Belt of the state that maybe they don’t have a hospital, they don’t have pharmacies, they don’t have dentists.”
Beasley said the price of drugs can drive a pharmacy to ruin with high costs; they can’t afford to stock higher-priced drugs, leading them to pay large amounts to get a prescription without much chance for reimbursement.
Beasley said he hopes to see regulations in the pharmacy benefit management industry, which determines how much drugstores have to pay to fill prescriptions.
“There needs to be some regulations in Washington on how pharmaceutical companies set up the prices of drugs,” he said.
He said he also plans to introduce a bill regulating the prices of drugs.
Lee said the legislature hopes to tackle the problem by incentivizing healthcare providers to stay in the state with better reimbursements.
Doctors can realize there’s more money to be made in surrounding states, leading to not as much incentive to stay and practice in Alabama.
“Hopefully we’re going to have some help now at the federal level that will address it,” he said.
A Columbia man is charged with incest and sex crimes after abusing his victims for 10 years, according to the Houston County Sheriff’s Office.
Alphonzo Sanders was charged with three counts apiece of incest, first-degree rape, and sodomy.
Houston County Sheriffs said he abused his victims for a decade.
He’s being held in the Houston County Jail with bonds totaling $1,490,000.
Candace Coachman, also of Columbia, was charged with three counts of aggravated child abuse in relation to Sanders’s case. She is being held with no bond.
At the first appearance hearing for Sanders, it was revealed he fathered a child with at least one of his victims.
Two other inmates at the jail attacked Sanders during the first appearance, unfolding in a dramatic brawl on video call in front of the courtroom.
