60-year-old Army veteran joins 2,100 classmates getting diploma today
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 12
As Timothy Michael Dempsey prepared for today’s commencement ceremony, the 60-year-old Army veteran followed the routine of many fellow University of Alabama graduates-to-be, stopping for photos on campus in his cap and gown. On Friday in front of Bryant-Denny Stadium, Dempsey posed in front of the statue of coach Wallace Wade, drawn by the legendary football coach’s football Army service in WWII as an artillery officer. “I tell everybody I am the senior senior at the University of Alabama,” said Dempsey, one of more than 2,100 graduates being awarded degrees at UA. On Friday, Dempsey also reflected on the people who helped him fulfill the dream of completing a degree from Alabama, from the high school teachers who helped a “terrible student” graduate to the UA professors, staff and fellow students who helped inspire the former Army medic and paratrooper to complete his history degree. “Ever since I was a young kid, I had Alabama deep down inside me,” Dempsey said.
National Water Center to get $4 Million
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Dec. 15
The National Water Center in Tuscaloosa is getting $4 million in funding. According to Senator Richard Shelby’s office, the funding comes from the 2015 Omnibus appropriations bill passed over the weekend by Congress. The Center is located on the University of Alabama campus. Research at the center helps predict and manage problems with our nation’s water sources.
Study finds enjoying a crackling fireplace can reduce stress
Fox 6 (Birmingham) – Dec. 12
Even with all the joy of the holiday season families can sometimes use a stress reliever from all the activities. Many of us enjoy gathering around a crackling fire in the winter – but did you know it really could reduce your stress? “Well, I had this idea in the back of my head of testing the role of fire and relaxation,” University of Alabama anthropology professor Dr. Chris Lynn said. The study grew from an idea into three tests of more than 300 adults. “I thought it would be a good way to get students involved in research. A study we could do on campus. A way to train students. And it took on a life of its own,” he said. Participants’ blood pressure was checked prior to each study. They were shown video of fire without sound for a five-minute period followed by fire with sound and a blank screen for the same amount of time to compare. Later studies lasted 15 minutes and added an upside down fireplace shot without sound.
Survey finds Georgians are confused about winter weather alerts
WSB-TV 2 (Atlanta, Ga.) – Dec. 12
January 28, 2014 is a day few of us will forget. People stranded in cars. Children stranded in schools. Families separated and scared after a winter storm hit metro Atlanta. Now, Channel 2 Action News is getting a better look at just what happened, and why so many people went to work that day only to clog the highways trying to get home. “The big issue was that it was an overnight event and the warnings changed overnight,” said University of Alabama professor Laura Myers. Dr. Myers surveyed 3,700 people about the Jan. 28 storm. She found the confusion started overnight when the National Weather Service changed its alert from a winter storm watch to a winter weather advisory. “The advisory is more complicated because we don’t use advisories much in the south. We don’t get a lot of winter weather,” said Myers. “So people aren’t aware that an advisory is actually an elevated watch.”
Alabama Writers Hall of Fame 1st class selected
CBS 12 (Chattanooga, Tenn.) – Dec. 12
The inaugural class for the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame has been selected. The Tuscaloosa News reports (http://bit.ly/1w37ymJ ) 12 writers have been selected and will be inducted in June 2015. The hall of fame is a partnership between the Alabama Center for the Book and the Alabama Writer’s Forum. The 12 writers selected are: Rick Bragg, Andrew Glaze, Harper Lee, Sonia Sanchez, Sena Jeter Naslund and posthumous inductees Johnson Jones Hooper, Augusta Jane Evans Wilson, Helen Keller, Zora Neal Hurston, William March, Albert Murray and Helen Norris Bell. The University of Alabama, which is home to the Alabama Center for the Book, said in a news release that the an advisory committee of scholars, writers and arts volunteers met in June to consider nominees.
Officials boost number of state troopers by adding officers from other departments
Anniston Star – Dec. 15
Drive too fast on Alabama’s highways this holiday season, and you might get pulled over … by the Marine Police. State officials say Alabama’s State Troopers’ numbers have been boosted this year by officers from other divisions of state law enforcement, putting more officers on the road than the state had last year or the year before. But it’s nowhere near enough to fix Alabama’s long-term shortage of troopers, one observer says. “I’ve been amazed by how low our numbers are, compared to similar states,” said Rick Davis, professor and head of the criminal justice department at Jacksonville State University. According to numbers released Monday by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, 404 sworn state police officers patrolled Alabama’s highways over the Thanksgiving weekend, one of the year’s biggest weekends for traffic. That’s more than last Thanksgiving, when 275 state troopers patrolled the roads, and more than in 2012, when 327 troopers were out on patrol. Alabama’s numbers have historically hovered between 400 and 500 officers, according to reports from various news outlets over the past 25 years. Collier, citing a study by the University of Alabama, said earlier this year that the state needs 870 troopers on the road. The current 290-trooper force is one-third that size.
Alabama, Auburn graduates partner in business venture
South Florida Times – Dec. 15
Alabama and Auburn might be gridiron rivals, but in the business world, it’s a different story. Graduates of the two schools who a few years ago started Bellhops, a moving service that employs college students, have seen their young business score big time in the Silicon Valley. Matt Patterson, Bellhops chief operating officer and a 2008 University of Alabama graduate with a degree in finance, said the company recently raised $6 million from Silicon Valley investors. Its total venture capitalist funding stands now at $7.8 million. … “The main focus will be to (use the new funds to) improve our technology and to build up operations in markets like Tuscaloosa and expand and grow further in other markets,” Patterson said during a telephone interview.
JIMMY SMOTHERS: Copeland recalls banquet memories
Gadsden Times – Dec. 15
At the 1949 Gadsden High School class reunion the other night, Wayne Copeland was recalling when he was an officer in the Etowah Touchdown Club. It was in December 1962, and the club was looking for a speaker for its annual banquet for January 1963. That was the era when the Green Bay Packers were dominating the National Football League and someone mentioned trying to get Bart Starr. Trying to get in touch with the No. 1 quarterback in the NFL today would be next to impossible; getting him to come to Attalla to speak to what was basically a high school boosters’ club would be out of the question. However Copeland, a bright, young attorney at the time, said he’d give it a shot. So the next day, he phoned the long distance assistance operator and asked for the number of Bart Starr in Green Bay, Wis. She gave it to him almost immediately, then placed the call …• When Fred Sington Jr. of Gadsden received the Paul W. Bryant Alumni-Athlete Award earlier this fall, it marked the first time the award has been presented to a father and son. Fred Sington Sr. received the award in 1991. The award is presented annually by the University of Alabama’s National Alumni Association to former athletes for accomplishments based on character, contributions to society, professional achievement and service. Sington lettered in football at Alabama in the 1958-59 seasons. He has served as president of the National Alumni Association, Red Elephant Club, Alabama Alumni Club of Etowah County and the Gadsden Quarterback Club.