Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1983, the first item I saw in The Atmore Advance was a story about a stabbing in Holman Prison. To begin with, it was thought that maybe a power outage was connected with the stabbing, but that idea was dismissed.

Another story about the prison system in Atmore was that there was an outcry about the plan to move the wardens of both Holman Prison and Fountain Prison. The public spoke out against the move and talk went on for several weeks. Firstly, they were to be kept on and then they weren’t. I don’t really know what finally happened. J.D. Smith of Holman and J.A. Davis of Fountain were the wardens involved.

In other news, it was announced that penalties for food stamp fraud was getting tougher. New changes were to be made on July 1.

Atmore police officer, Jake Phillips, retired after 14 years of service. He was presented with a plaque from police chief, Bill Smith.

There was a very youthful photograph of Sheriff Tim Hawsey after a big haul of marijuana was found. Arrests were made from the combined efforts of the Alabama and Florida authorities. The joint undercover operation was called one of the largest ever made.

Another story about the marijuana stated that over a million dollars worth of marijuana was confiscated and burned.

The next week the story continued with marijuana raids in Escambia and Baldwin Counties.

A new doctor had come to town to set up a practice. Dr. David Maxwell was back in his hometown.

This one was interesting. There was a long story about snakes in The Atmore Advance. Now, you know my feelings about snakes. I do not like them.

There was a story in the paper written by Mrs. Rufus White telling of the trip made by the  Johnny Folsom family of Brewton.

Mrs. Folsom was a native of England and the whole family had returned from a trip to visit relatives in England.

Now I envy them. I would love to visit England.

There was a story about the city looking for ways to use the old Rachel Patterson Elementary School as construction on a new school was completed.