Tag: Alabama

Alabama governor signs bills supporting military

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MONTGOMERY – Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed four bills Monday supporting veterans and the military. The governor signed House Bills 58, 83, 88 and 92. Earlier this month at Maxwell Air Force Base, the governor also signed into law House Bill 388, the Military Family Jobs Opportunity Act.

“Throughout my career, I have advocated for our service men and women, and I will continue to do all I can as governor to offer my support to those who have given us so much,” Ivey said. “Alabamians are steadfast in their support for the military, and I am proud to strengthen Alabama’s bond with the military through these five bills I have signed into law.”

HB 58, known as the “Parks for Patriots Bill,” grants free admission to active or retired service members, who are Alabama residents, to state parks operated by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. An appropriate active or retired military identification card, a driver’s license with a military veteran designation, a valid Department of Defense Form or any other documentation prescribed by law or administrative rule must be shown to obtain free admission. In November 2017, Ivey announced that entry into Alabama’s State Parks was free for all veterans. At that time, Rep. Dickie Drake said he planned to file a bill in the 2018 Regular Session that would permanently codify Ivey’s Parks for Patriots plan into law.

“I am so proud to have sponsored a bill that allows veterans and current military to have free admission to Alabama State Parks,” Drake said. “With Memorial Day close at hand, this should be something nice for our Veterans and our military who have given so much and make so many sacrifices; we can never fully repay them.”

Ivey also signed HB 83, the Veterans Employment Act, and HB 88, which gives preference in competitive bids on state government contracts to businesses owned by veterans. Drake also sponsored HB 88. The Veterans Employment Act, sponsored by Rep. Connie Rowe, gives a tax credit to small businesses that hire unemployed veterans.

“This was an opportunity to help both our veterans and small businesses at the same time. Incentivizing the hiring and retention of our military veterans by Alabama small businesses allows us to acknowledge their service and provide them with more job opportunities,” Rowe said. “Small businesses will benefit, not only by qualifying for the tax incentive, but also by bringing employees into their businesses with the admirable traits and skills acquired during military training and service. It’s a win-win piece of legislation.”

HB 92, sponsored by Rep. Barry Moore, allows a person who meets the military service and award requirements to be issued a windshield placard displaying an appropriate military honor or veteran status. The placard will permit parking in designated military parking places. The bill makes it unlawful for a person to park in these designated military places without distinctive placard.

“In our great nation, we recognize that freedom is a right given by God, but we also know that right is protected by those who fight for it,” Ivey said. “I am grateful for the hard work and support of the Alabama Legislature for passing strong legislation supporting our service men and women.”

Earlier this month at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ivey signed into law HB 388, the Military Family Jobs Opportunity Act. Through this bill, professional licensing boards are required to issue licenses and certificates to military spouses who hold licenses and certificates from other states. In the case a state has lesser requirements, the state will issue temporary licenses. Sen. Gerald Dial and Rep. Thad McClammy were the sponsors of this legislation.

US Attorney launches Birmingham Safe Neighborhoods Task Force

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‘Here for as long as it takes,’ sheriff says

BIRMINGHAM – The U.S. Attorney’s Office today launched the Birmingham Safe Neighborhoods Task Force to offer prevention and community outreach programs within the city. 

This task force will complement the law enforcement work of the Birmingham Public Safety Task Force, which was announced last month, in combined efforts to reduce violent crime in the Birmingham area, announced U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town.

The Birmingham Safe Neighborhoods Task Force will engage law enforcement, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and corporate citizens in a coordinated and collaborative process to ensure parity in prevention, enforcement, and re-entry efforts. Building and restoring relationships between communities and law enforcement is a primary function of the task force.

“This task force will endeavor to meaningfully engage citizens of Birmingham with regard to how we can improve the station of the entire city,” Town said. “It is no longer enough just to prosecute our worst offenders. Prevention and outreach programs that decrease criminal activity and increase opportunity must accompany our overall crime reduction initiative,” he said. “I appreciate the leadership of our mayor, our sheriff, and all of our task force members for their willingness to engage in this worthy challenge.”

Members of the Birmingham Safe Neighborhoods Task Force will collaborate to develop and conduct community programs aimed at education, community-police relations and building opportunities that will benefit the entire community.

“As stated before, we are here for as long as it takes,” said Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale. “I have no doubt this multifaceted initiative is going to have a very positive impact on crime in general, but most especially violent crime. Taking violent criminals out of these neighborhoods and locking them up for 15 or more years will return these neighborhoods back to the good folks and improve their quality of life dramatically. That is the goal. It will be met.”

Building and improving trust and communication between the community and members of law enforcement will be a critical function of the BSNTF, Town said. That will include encouraging patrol officers, deputies and agents to increase general and positive interactions in the community, whether that be helping to spruce up a community park or passing out free ice-cream coupons to neighborhood kids.

The two Birmingham task forces incorporate principles of Project Safe Neighborhoods, the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction strategy, and the National Public Safety Partnership. PSN is a nationwide Justice Department program committed to reducing gun and gang crime by networking existing local programs that target gun crime and supporting those efforts with training and funding.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced PSP last year as a training and technical assistance program designed to enhance the capacity of local jurisdictions to address violent crime in their communities. He selected Birmingham as one of the initial 12 locations to participate in the program. The PSP and PSN programs both reinforce the federal, state and local task force model as one of the most effective ways to reduce violent crime.

A bit about ‘Heart of the Plate’

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My third book, Heart of the Plate, is one that I wrote rather quickly.

Some may think that it is not of a certain quality, since I wrote it in about four months and had it published five months after the release of Deep Green. That’s for others who read it to judge and not me.

But I will say this: It is a fictional story I had in my mind for a long time, a story of redemption that I wanted to tell. I wrote pages and pages each day because I believed in the story and its message. It’s more than just baseball. It has addiction and overcoming, love lost and love rekindled, heartbreak and uplifting moments. It has something for everyone, and I hope you order a copy and let me know what you think.

Jeff Wright is at the pinnacle of his Major League Baseball career, earning his way into his first All-Star Game. Not long after, Jeff suffers a gruesome, career-ending injury and ventures down a path of self-destruction, and becomes addicted to painkillers. He is arrested for drug possession. Upon completing a stint in a rehabilitation center, Jeff returns to his hometown of Lewis Rock, Georgia, where he discovers that the town’s largest job source, Reynolds Manufacturing, is being sold off and will leave hundreds jobless. He also attempts to rekindle a love that he lost years ago. What begins as mandatory community service for Jeff’s arrest quickly becomes his saving grace. Follow along as Jeff helps his hometown through a difficult time the only way he knows how — through baseball.

The book earned praise from former Major League Baseball players Wes Helms, Matt Guerrier, and Jason Standridge, as well as former college softball head coach Karen Johns.

Buy Heart of the Plate

Read an interview about Heart of the Plate

Pitches and promises

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The sophomore pitcher circled the mound before the first batter stepped into the box, and then he bent over behind the rubber. He extended his left hand and began to use his index finger as a pencil for the cool dirt. It was winter, and the high school baseball season was just underway. He was set to face his high school’s arch rival, one of the best teams in the state of Alabama. The sophomore had already won his first three starts as a varsity pitcher, including a five-inning no-hitter, striking out nine batters in a shortened game due to the mercy rule. He was an ace. But against his team’s rival, he should have been nervous. He was a sixteen-year-old pitching against a great team, after all. But he was as cool as he could be. He was pitching with purpose.

GET VALLEY ROAD: UPLIFTING STORIES FROM DOWN SOUTH HERE

Not long before the game, he stood in his coach’s office in the stadium’s press box, and talked about his purpose with a reporter. His mother died the previous October after battling breast cancer for nearly two years. The family found out about her diagnosis on Valentine’s Day when the sophomore was an eighth-grader, in the drive-thru at a Wendy’s. When she died, his mother was fifty years old. Just before she died, her son promised her two things — that he would marry a woman who reflected her and that he would pitch his way to college baseball.

“When people lose family members, some rarely get the opportunity to talk with them and say goodbye,” he says. “Barring the situation, I feel really thankful I was able to do that. When my mom was on hospice care, I got to be around her a lot. While she wasn’t very responsive, you could tell when she was hearing and listening to you. I got the chance to tell my mom how thankful I was to have her as my mom, and she taught me more (about) life than she would ever know. Getting to tell the person who gave you everything in life how thankful you are for it and how much you love them for the sacrifices they gave to benefit your life is something that will give you peace to any situation. I also promised her things in life that I would accomplish for her – in memory of her.”

He left the press box after a fifteen-minute interview and warmed up for the game. Just prior to the first pitch, he bent down to etch his mother’s initials and the breast cancer symbol on the backside of the pitcher’s mound. He proceeded to hurl a complete-game five-hitter, allowing his only two earned runs in the top of the seventh, the final inning. His team won 3-2. He struck out six batters. He finished his first varsity season with nine wins and one loss for a team that won the area championship.

“The support I had from my baseball team that season was something that was beyond special,” he says. “I felt so close to all those guys and I knew they were behind me supporting me through that time.”

His head coach that season was supportive. After the win over the team’s biggest rival, the coach talked about how his pitcher’s tough situation ministered to his team, how instead of the team ministering to him, his family ministered to the team. He called it amazing.

Over his final two seasons of high school baseball, the pitcher compiled twelve wins against just four losses and a 1.88 earned-run average. He struck out more than one hundred batters.

For his efforts, he earned scholarship offers from several college programs around the Southeast. He chose the one closest to home, to be near his longtime girlfriend and son, who was born when he was a high school junior. His plan was to propose to his girlfriend during one of his college baseball seasons. He did so on the first weekend of the 2017 college baseball season. She said yes.

“I feel like it is a promise kept, and I am blessed to be in the situation I am in,” he says. “I will always look back to my coaches and teammates during the hardest time in my life and see the positive impact they had on my life, and where I am now is because of all they did for me during this time in my life.”

As far as his mound ritual, the pitcher no longer etches his mother’s initials in the mound, but they are written across his glove, so that she will always be there for him every time he steps on a mound. He looks back to that sophomore season as a blessed time.

“Going through things like that will always be hard, but when you have people surrounding you and providing love and encouragement, it gives you a peace about it,” he says.

The piano man

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A chapter from “Valley Road: Uplifting Stories from Down South”by Gary Lloyd, complete with video of the man playing the piano:

As long as I have known him, he has played the piano.

At Christmas, Mr. Darby would play “Jingle Bells” and “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” at my grandmother’s house. He could have played professionally, and there is no doubt about that.

When I moved into my grandmother’s old house not far from Trussville, Alabama, the brown Wurlitzer piano remained. Its top held framed engagement and wedding photos, and its bench often acted as a resting place for bills and other mail. I never played, but there was a time, when my wife and I lived there, that Jessica would sit down on that piano bench and play. Our dog, Abby, sat with her.

When we moved out, the piano again remained. It stayed when a family friend moved in, and after he left. It has stayed since my mother-in-law moved into the house. She likes the piano there, and so do I. It provides a glimpse into the past.

The man who tickled those ivories for so many years is in his nineties now and has lived in a retirement community for a number of years. He has battled severe dementia. When he has called my parents’ house and spoken to me, he has believed I am actually my dad. When I have visited him at the retirement community, he has asked the same questions over and over. He doesn’t remember asking them the first time. Each time, I just answer him, as if it is the first time he’s asked.

This retirement community has a spacious lobby area, almost like a huge living room. There are couches, women at tables playing card games, and a huge, glass case filled with fluttering birds.

There is also a piano.

We visited the Piano Man on September 1, 2014, to see him for his birthday, which was the following week. Mr. Darby wore gray slacks and a teal sweater, and I wondered how in the world people can wear sweaters in September in Alabama.

Somehow, we convinced him to sit down at the piano and play. I wondered how he would know what to play, how he would remember which keys to press. He sat down, and muscle memory took over. He played “It Had To Be You,” not messing up a single time in a video recording that lasted one minute and four seconds. I couldn’t believe that a man who often forgot my name could do this. It was remarkable.

Elderly women stopped dealing cards. Men, aided by their walkers, came to sit closer. The staff looked on. Everyone clapped. Mr. Darby’s cheeks reddened.

That song has been recorded by famous surnames such as Sinatra, Holiday, Charles, Bennett and Stewart.

Call me biased, but I would add Darby to the top of that list.

A rundown on my 5 books

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My full house is complete. 

Two fiction novels and three works of nonfiction. 

And due to work and graduate school, I may not be publishing another book for quite a while, despite having several ideas in mind. Who knows, though? Maybe I’ll have another published in the near future. It’s something I love doing.

So, in the meantime, why not provide a quick video rundown of Trussville, Alabama: A Brief History, Deep Green, Heart of the Plate, Valley Road: Uplifting Stories from Down South, and Ray of Hope?

In the video, I briefly talk about each book, summarizing the plot and letting you know where you can find each. I even profess my feelings for the Atlanta Braves, a tumultuous relationship that I can’t seem to quit.

Please share this post with your friends!

Check out the video below.

Birmingham hockey team partners with Make-A-Wish

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BIRMINGHAM — The Birmingham Bulls of the Southern Professional Hockey League is teaming up with Make-A-Wish Alabama on Saturday, March 17 to raise money for the local nonprofit organization.

Make-A-Wish Alabama grants life-changing wishes for children with critical illnesses in all 67 Alabama counties. There are currently about 300 children in the state waiting on a wish.

Bulls players will be wearing St. Patrick’s Day jerseys for this game, which will be auctioned off after the game to benefit Make-A-Wish Alabama. 

The game is set for 7 p.m. March 17 at the Pelham Civic Center against the Virginian Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs.

For more information, check out http://www.bullshockey.net.

Make sure to support this worthy cause!

New book chronicles Florida wheelchair ramp ministry

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All proceeds to benefit Ray of Hope nonprofit
 
MOODY, Ala. – Author Gary Lloyd has released his fifth book, Ray of Hope.

Jimmy Ray was quiet, shy, and humble, but even the most unassuming people have burning passions in their hearts. Jimmy’s was for the disabled, those in northwest Florida who were stuck inside their homes because they could not afford to have wheelchair ramps built. That bothered Jimmy to his core. He began constructing wheelchair ramps with the help of his wife and young daughter, and along the way, a church ministry was born. It became Jimmy’s mission in life. Men, women, and children volunteered. Money and materials were donated. More than five hundred lives were changed forever. In Ray of Hope, Jimmy’s passion is revealed by family, friends, and more than a dozen people who received wheelchair ramps when they had nowhere else to turn. 

Jimmy was Lloyd’s father-in-law, but Lloyd never had the chance to meet him. Jimmy died on Feb. 28, 2010, two years before Lloyd met his daughter, Jessica. Ray of Hope’s publication date is eight years to the day after Jimmy’s death.

“The idea for this book came in 2016 on a ride to the Atlanta airport,” Lloyd said. “Jimmy’s wife, Ramona, was driving Jessica and me there for a trip we were going on, and we spent some time talking about Jimmy and the Ray of Hope organization, which builds wheelchair ramps for those in need. I discovered that the nonprofit had built more than 500 ramps in northwest Florida alone, and I knew that this man’s story, this ministry’s purpose, needed to be told in a book.”

Ray of Hope was published through CreateSpace Independent Publishing. The book is available on http://www.Amazon.com for $10 and on Kindle as an e-book for $7.99. All proceeds from the book’s sales will benefit the Ray of Hope nonprofit organization.
 
Lloyd is also the author of Trussville, Alabama: A Brief History, Deep Green, Heart of the Plate, and Valley Road: Uplifting Stories from Down South. 
 
Lloyd has been a journalist in Mississippi and Alabama. He grew up in Trussville, Ala., and earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from The University of Alabama in 2009. He lives in Moody, Ala., with his wife, Jessica, and their two dogs, Abby and Sonny. 
 
For more information, email garylloydbooks@gmail.com. Also visit http://www.garylloydbooks.squarespace.com and Like his author page at http://www.facebook.com/GaryLloydAuthor. 

For more information about Ray of Hope, find the “Ray of Hope Wheelchair Ramps” page on Facebook.

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‘I have fought a long fight’

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I can count the number of concerts I have attended on one hand.

In high school, I saw P.O.D. in downtown Birmingham with a few friends.

There was the time last year when Colt Ford, Justin Moore and Brantley Gilbert came to Birmingham one warm night. There was the time Morgan Wallen, Nelly, Chris Lane and Florida Georgia Line shared the stage on a cold night at the Oak Mountain Amphitheatre. 

But this week, I tried something different. My wife and I went to Iron City in downtown Birmingham, a venue that fills up an hour before the opening act takes the stage. We went to see Walker McGuire and Kane Brown.

We stood in a line that wrapped around two buildings, among teenage girls with Kane Brown photos used as their iPhone wallpapers, with twenty-somethings who could have used perhaps six more inches of material on their dresses. 

Inside, we smelled enough cheap cologne to singe nose hairs and tried to find a quiet spot on the mezzanine. It was crowded, loud, hot, and I felt as if these types of events had passed me by. I’d be lying if I said I was looking forward to standing for three straight hours amongst the screamers and the beer-drinkers. 

But something great, in addition to the music, happened.

Up on the mezzanine were a dozen or so reserved tables. We stood directly behind one, and I mentioned to my wife, “Must be VIP.”

The table’s occupants showed up close to showtime, both women. One was bald, with gold crosses dangling from her ears. She was there to see Kane Brown, and she was excited. She even brought a small sign that referenced one of the country artist’s songs. It read, “This Is My ‘Last Minute Late Night’ Before My Surgery.” Surgery was underlined. She taped that small sign to the mezzanine railing, hoping the budding country star would see it. 

As the night went on, she asked my wife to take photos of her and her friend. My wife, of course, did.

I found out the woman, named Merin, has Stage 2 Triple Negative Breast Cancer, diagnosed June 5 of this year. She had port surgery just over a week later and has since had four rounds of Red Devil chemotherapy, and twelve treatments of Taxol and Carboplatin. One treatment a week for twelve weeks.

Someone at the concert asked when Merin, from Pell City, was having surgery. The surgery is this Dec. 12, a double mastectomy and reconstruction. She will have to spend four or five days in the hospital, and will also have four drains and expanders for a few months. 

“It was very important to me to be able to have a fun night out,” the woman told me. “I’ve only had a six-week gap in between my chemo treatments and surgery day.”

She told me that she was in Atlanta for the Luke Combs concert the previous night. She was having her own “last minute late nights” before life changes for a long while. 

“After surgery I really won’t be able to attend any more concerts for a while just because of risk of getting sick or bumped into,” she said. “I don’t know how after surgery I will be feeling. The doctors told me around a year or so. My next concert I’m going to shoot for is Florida Georgia Line, Luke Combs or Carrie Underwood.

“I have fought a long fight,” she said. “You always think, ‘Oh my, I feel bad for someone who has cancer.’ But until you live it you really have no idea how bad it is.”

It is tough financially and emotionally. The woman has a seven-year-old son she calls “wonderful,” and he needs his mother. He has had to help her more than any kid should have to. It’s not fair to him, she told me. 

“I will be glad when this is all over with so he can be a kid again, and I can take back my role as mom,” she told me. “I trust in the Lord to guide my family and I in the right direction. With Him, anything is possible.”

The concert was awesome, and I know this woman enjoyed it. I could see it on her face, hear it in her screams as Kane Brown performed “Last Minute Late Night” and “Learning” on stage. 

Kane Brown never saw her sign, as far as I know. The room was too dark at times, and too bright with purple lights at others. I wish he would have seen it, and gotten to meet this special woman.

I checked Kane Brown’s social media channels two days after the concert, just to see if he posted anything from his trip to the Magic City.

His two Tweets since the show: “My job’s to bring light into other people’s lives” and “You’re special.”

If he didn’t see that woman’s sign, you could have fooled me with those Tweets.