By By Chuck Bodiford Publisher
Atmore's residents on Main Street are fed up with speeding, and the city has heard their call.
At Monday's council meeting, more than a dozen concerned residents arrived to ask for more enforcement of the city's speed limits, especially on S. Main Street.
"This is a big problem, something that I feel has gone on to long, and we are here basically asking that you do something," said Floyd Adams. Adams house faces Main Street near the intersection of Craig and Main. Floyd also commented that he was curious about the number of accidents that happen at that intersection.
Mayor Shell agreed saying that action has been taken in an attempt to remedy the situation. "We met with the State Department of Transportation to get a turning lane put in at that intersection (Main Street and Craig Street), about four months ago." Shell said the road was a State Highway, and the city is only able to make suggestions rather than taking action themselves. Shell also addressed the fact that speeding is a problem all over town and not just on Main Street.
Former Atmore police chief Glen Carlie who was also in attendance at the council meeting said adding police officers would help speed limit enforcement. "We are four officers short right now; I think a real solution could be changing the caution lights at Owens and Horner back to red lights. We have petitioned the state for this, but they have refused. We can always work to do patrols and spot checks, but our big help would be changing those lights."
Mayor Shell told the residents that he would work to get an engineer to come to town to again survey the problem and call some of the residents in attendance to plead their case.
Police Chief Jason Dean also heard the concerns and immediately stepped up traffic enforcement along Main Street. By 5 p.m. Monday, a patrol car had taken up station in front of the Atmore Advance building running radar to slow drivers down and ticketing excessive speeders.
Tom Byrne Park grant
The council had two topics for Atmore's Tom Byrne Park. First, Atmore's Relay for Life event is scheduled for June 11-12 at the park. The council granted permission for it to be used that day and night for the events activities. Second, Governor Bob Riley awarded the City of Atmore a grant in the amount of $50,000 for lights atTom Byrne Park. some of the lighting is expected to provide lighting for the park's walking trail.
Additionally, the town of Flomaton will receive $38,848 to renovate a trail at their Hurricane Park. "Outdoor recreation facilities are an investment not only in state and communities, but in our citizens," Riley said. "I am pleased to provide these grants." With the state awarding the grant of $50,000 the city council approved matching funds in the amount of $12,500, for a total of $62,500 to be used for the park's lighting system.
In other council action:
The city was asked by the W.J. Grissett family for permission to have a family parade that would travel from City Hall to Houston Avery Park on July 10, beginning at 10 A.M. The council passed the motion for the parade, which is in conjunction with the Grissett's family reunion.
After passing the motion, the council moved directly into talks about a problem occurring at the recycle bins located to the east of City Hall. The problem is that lately improper materials have been left at the bins for pickup. Joyce Bolden of the Atmore Public Library said, "The program is doing well, however, lately someone has been putting cardboard out at the recycle bins. Please we can have no cardboard, especially corrugated cardboard." Mayor Shell followed Bolden's comments by verifying a number of products that could be disposed of through the recycle bins such as plain paper, newspapers and magazines.