Greene County Democrat

Month: June 2019

  • Former Greene County Commissioner Edna Chambers honored with special salute: It’s Your Time

    Shown above Joe Chambers, Cathelean Steele, Edna Chambers and Dr. Charles Steele.

    Mrs. Edna Chambers, the first African American female to serve on the Greene County Commission, was honored for her outstanding community work at a special program entitled, It’s Your Time, held June 15, 2019 at the Eutaw Activity Center. Mrs. Chambers is noted as a trailblazer, civil rights activists and humanitarian in Greene County and throughout the state of Alabama.
    Chambers, representing District 1, served two terms on the Greene County Commission between 1998- 2004. Johnnie M. Knott, served at the Mistress of Ceremony. Mrs. Chambers was escorted by her son, Joe Chambers and grandson Ivory Chambers, Jr.
    Commissioner Lester “Bop” Brown delivered the history of her political career. Brown stated that due to a federal indictment at that time, he could not seek political office so he contacted Mrs. Chambers. He revealed that he asked her to run for the District 1 seat and before she could say anything he encouraged her to think about it and hung up the phone.
    Brown further explained that not only did Mrs. Chambers win the position, she ran and won by a landslide. Her platform was honest government, dedicated service and commitment to try and lift falling humanity. Her interest in Greene County’s welfare goes beyond politics. Mrs. Chambers often stated, “I want to work for all the people without regard to race, color, sex or creed.”
    Prior to running for office, Mrs. Chambers had just retired from the Greene County Health Department as a home health care employee. She and her husband for many years operated a small community grocery store. She was also a licensed agent with Primerica Insurance Company.
    In her capacity as a community leader, Mrs. Chambers helped and assisted with the following: Camp Montgomery, Knoxville Volunteer Fire Department, Montgomery Recreation Center and the USDA Commodity Distribution. She is also an active member of the Greene County Chapter of Alabama New South Coalition.
    Mrs. Chambers attends Cedar Grove Baptist Church in Knoxville. Her pastor, Rev. Robert Ellis, was on hand to provide words of encouragement and blessing of the food. She is the mother of two children Joe and Ivory. Ivory, her eldest child, died in 1997.
    The theme for Edna Chamber’s Day, It’s Your Time, was echoed throughout the event with musical selections presented by the Greene County Mass Choir.
    Mrs. Cathelean Steele introduced her husband, the guest speaker, stating that Mrs. Chambers played matchmaker for them. Dr. Charles Steele, Jr. President /CEO of National SCLC served as guest speaker. Steele stated that although he has traveled to many countries around the world, he will never forget that he is a product of Greene County.
    Eutaw Mayor Raymond Steele thanked Mrs. Chamber for being a trailblazer for not just for women but for all of us. A resolution was presented by the Greene County Sheriff Department.
    Other program participants included: Scripture reading by Minister Johnnie Chambers Sankey; Prayer by Rev. Michael Billingsley; Welcome/Greeting by Mary Beck and Carolyn Beck; Occasion by Mary Harris and Lester Brown; Musical Tribute by Antonio Pearson and Samoria Beck.Various family members and friends shared stories of inspiration and appreciation in how Mrs. Chambers touched their lives. Many spoke of Mrs. Chambers as a quiet, seemingly low-keyed person, but when she spoke, everyone knew exactly what her position was and what actions she would take.
    Mrs. Chambers thanked everyone for coming out and showing her love and she thanked the Lord for his many blessings.

  • Greene County playwright to present her play as a benefit for the Greene County Health System

    In the photo shown above is Mrs. Carrie L. Coleman and a few of her cast and crew members: Patrica Coleman, Ernestine Saxton, and Brandon Smith.

    By: Quantynia Johnson,
    Student Intern

    Mrs. Carrie L. Coleman the author of the play The Church of Yesterday will be having her play performed Saturday, June 29, 2019, at the former Carver Middle School in Eutaw. Come out to see this magnificent performance. Ticket costs are $10 for ages 12 & up and $5 for ages 2-11. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Proceeds from this special performance will be donated to the Greene County Health System.
    In a recent interview Mrs. Carrie L. Coleman expressed that her play will be very uplifting with a spiritual and historical feel of how church used to be when she was younger. This will be her fifth time having the play performed. When asked about her inspiration for the play, Mrs. Coleman responded: “One night the idea came to me in a dream and the Holy Spirit led me to make it into a play.”
    Mrs. Coleman was a member at Second Baptist Church at the time and approached the preacher and some members seeking approval to have the play preformed and they agreed. It took her about a month to finish writing the play. The first time it was performed it was called The Church of Yesteryear & The Church of Today because it had two different scenes.
    She feels that many people will want to come out to see the play because people want to learn how things used to be in the past. It will give them knowledge on how the structure, rules, regulations, and much more were different when their grandparents and great-grandparents grew up in the church.
    The Eutaw resident originally started writing in the 1980s. She has written other plays such as The Ten Virgins; Throw Out Life, and many more. She said writing has given her the ability to return the blessings that God has brought upon her in different ways.
    The characters in her play are based on fictional people with real characteristics. Patrica Coleman will be playing the role Jesse belle; Brandon Smith as Little Church Boy; Ernestine Saxton as Sophia, and others will be performing other characters.
    Pinnia Hines, Chair of the GCHS Foundation, commented: “This is a wonderful opportunity for people to see an original work of art by a Greene County playwright about the religious culture and spirituality inherent in our people. The performance will also benefit our Greene County Health System which makes this event that much more special.”
    If you are unable to attend please make a donation to the GCHS Foundation to support the work of the hospital and related health system.. For more information call 205-496-4062.

  • Newswire; African cocoa growers take hard line on prices – better ones or else

         June 17, 2019 (GIN) – Strike! That’s the sound of the world's top two producers of cocoa who say they are suspending their sales for better prices.

     The governments of Ivory Coast and Ghana are trying this time-honored strategy to address the imbalance between farmers’ income and money made by foreign commodity markets who scoop up most of the profit.

     If the strategy sounds familiar, it’s the same one described in the Greek play Lysistrata where the women withheld affection from their husbands in order to secure peace and end the Peloponnesian War.

     Currently, the majority of money does not reach the farmers who live in poverty.

     Globally, 85% of the market is controlled by companies such as Kraft, Mars, and Nestle.

     But according to Ed C, a journalist, Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara and his Ghanaian counterpart Nana Akufo-Addo would do better to focus on processing cocoa beans, rather than just growing them. As with other commodities like diamonds or crude oil, the labor-intensive work happens elsewhere.

     Of the $100 billion spent annually on chocolate, the African Development Bank reckons the continent keeps just $5 billion.

     A meeting in the Ivory Coast in Abidjan on July 3 will discuss how to implement this measure for the next two years crops.

  • Newswire : Father Augustus Tolton, the first Black Roman Catholic priest, is expected to become a saint

    By Frederick H. Lowe, BlackmansStreet.Today

         Father Augustus Tolton, the Roman Catholic Church’s first Black priest, who is slated to become a saint, was forced to attend seminary in Rome because no American school would admit him despite his intellect, special abilities (he spoke several languages) and his devotion to the church because of his race.
     Tolton, a former slave from Missouri, attended seminary at The Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide.

    Father Augustus Tolton is destined for sainthood
    He arrived in Rome on March 21, 1880. Church officials ordained him as a priest on Holy Saturday, April 24, 1885, at Basilica St. Lateran Church in Rome.
    Tolton lived in Rome for six years as one of 70 seminarians who attended the school and had come from different parts of the world. The other seminarians called him Gus, for U.S.
    What they didn’t call him was “nigger” or go out of their way to make him feel uncomfortable or unwanted, according to his biography.
    In his free time, he walked around the neighborhoods of the “Eternal City”, sketching more than 600 churches and the city’s architecture in his artist’s notebook.
    Tolton’s career will soon make another dramatic turn.
    On Wednesday, Pope Francisapproved a decree recognizing Tolton’s “heroic virtues,” which is a step in the process toward sainthood, following a five-year investigation by the church, which began in 2010 when Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George announced Tolton’s cause for canonization. Pope Francis made Toltonvenerablewithin the church, which is two steps away from canonization.
    On November 4, 2011, Chicago dedicated “Honorary Father Augustus Tolton Street.”The honorary street sign is located at the corners of 41st Street between State Street and Michigan Avenue.
    Other events honoring Father Tolton also have taken place throughout Chicago, where he founded in 1889 the parish of St. Monica at 36th and Dearborn Streets for black Catholics. He was parish priest until his death in 1897 from heatstroke. Father Tolton was only 43.

    Born into slavery

         Tolton’s historical journey began on a  small plantation in 1854 in Monroe County, Missouri, where slaveholders that owned his family baptized him a Catholic.
     In a dangerous escape to the Underground Railroad city of Quincy, Ill., from Missouri, his mother led the family to freedom. Confederate soldiers shot at the family,  but no one was wounded.
     His father escaped slavery – and probably underwrote the family’s successful escape. He was a member of the Colored Infantry in the Union Army. He reportedly died in a prison camp in Arkansas, according to The Catholic Telegraph, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
     After ordination, Father Tolton believed he would be assigned to a parish in Africa because of racism which was sewn deeply into America’s fabric. Catholic leaders, however, had other plans. They sent him to U.S.
     Roman Catholic authorities believed it was time America lived up to its self-image as an enlightened, “Christian nation.”He was assigned to St. Peter Church in Quincy, Illinois, where he had grown up after escaping slavery.
     When he first arrived in America, however, he gave his first Mass on American soil atSt. Benedict the Moor Churchbefore a majority black congregation in New York City.

    It was the first time congregants had seen a Black Catholic priest. Many parishioners traveled from other towns and other states to see and hear him.
    In Quincy, it was a different story. The new pastor of St. Boniface Church referred to Tolton as that “nigger priest.” The Catholic Church discouraged blacks from attending Mass. In Chicago, priests in white parishes often called blacks “niggers” and told them they weren’t welcome to pray to God among the white Christian worshippers.
    Blacks were so poor that it was heartbreaking. They attended Mass to keep warm because they did not have shoes or adequate clothing.
    After three years in Quincy, the Roman Catholic Church reassigned Father Tolton to Chicago. A parade welcomed him to the city.
    Now the church has opened the door to his sainthood.

  • Newswire: Smithsonian names Lonnie Bunch III secretary

    By: BlackmansStreet.Today

    Lonnie Bunch III


    He is the first African American elected to the post
    The Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents has elected Lonnie Bunch III the 14th Smithsonian Secretary effective June 16.
    Bunch is the first African American, and the first historian elected Secretary of the Smithsonian, which was founded in 1846 with a bequest from British scientist James Smithson.
    The Washington, D.C.-based Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum, education and research complex with 19 museums and the National Zoological Park.
    Bunch is founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in September 2016.
    Previously, Bunch was president of the Chicago Historical Society, one of the nation’s oldest museums of history.
    “I am humbled and honored to become the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution,” Bunch said. “I am excited to work with the Board of Regents and my colleagues throughout the Institution to build upon its legacy and to ensure that the Smithsonian will be even more relevant and more meaningful and reach more people in the future.”

  • Newswire: Confederate War Monument vandalized to read ‘They Were Racists’

    The monument in Nashville’s Centennial Park lists the names of more than 500 Confederate soldiers.

    By Nina Golgowski

    Defaced Nashville Confederate monument

    A Tennessee monument honoring hundreds of Confederate soldiers was painted over the weekend to read “They were racists.”
    Police said the vandalism, which was discovered Monday in Nashville’s Centennial Park, likely occurred sometime late Sunday. Metro Nashville Police Department Capt. Chris Taylor told the Tennessean there are surveillance cameras in the park that authorities will review.
    The parks department removed the red paint, some of which had been splashed across the monument, a police spokesperson told HuffPost on Tuesday.
    Park and city officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    The bronze monument, called the Confederate Private Monument, features a single Confederate soldier. He is seated above a plaque listing the names of more than 500 members of the Frank Cheatham Bivouac, a camp that was named after a Confederate general following the war. It was commissioned in 1903 and dedicated in 1909, according to the Smithsonian’s website.
    This type of vandalism is rare, Taylor told the Tennesseean.
    “The parks do experience vandalism, usually it’s tagging, more of a neutral nature. This is more focused, obviously, with a political statement associated,” he said. “A political-nature vandalism hasn’t happened in at least seven or eight years.”
    There has been a rise in vandalism to Confederate War memorials across the country amid growing protests to have them removed.
    A monument erected in 1903 for Confederate soldiers in Austin, Texas, was similarly painted earlier this month with the word “RACISTS.”
    A monument to a Confederate commander in Harrisonburg, Virginia, was also found vandalized with eggs, raw meat and other substances, according to local station WHSV.
    In April, a monument honoring Confederate soldiers in a cemetery in Durham, North Carolina, was found vandalized for the second time. That monument was erected in 2014 by the Durham camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the News Observer reported.
    People examining the vandalism in Nashville’s park on Monday expressed shock and disappointment while speaking with a local reporter.
    “I don’t think that this helps anything. I don’t think this moves the conversation forward. This is just someone who wanted attention,” Meehan Rahman, who was visiting Nashville from Pennsylvania, told 5 News.
    “People don’t take the time to think about it but there were controversial figures in the Civil War that were unfortunately racist and then there were men who were just following what their state believed in and they were just soldiers,” he said. “It’s like, not everyone who was fighting in the union was fighting for civil rights.”

  • Newswire : Poor People’s Campaign mobilized in DC this week

    News Analysis: By Jesse Jackson

    Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and Rev. Dr. William Barber II

    (TriceEdneyWire.com) – This week in Washington, the powers that be are hearing from a vital
    new democratic force in this country.
    For three days, the Poor People’s Campaign will bring poor and low-wage Americans to the nation’s capital to call for a moral renewal in this nation. They will question many of those who are seeking the Democratic nomination for president. Congressional hearings will showcase their Poor People’s Moral Budget.
    Their actions should be above the fold of every newspaper in America; they should lead the news shows and fill the talk shows. A movement for common sense and social justice is building, putting every politician on notice: lead or get out of the way, a new moral majority is building and demanding change.
    As the co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign, the Rev. Dr. William Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, write in their forward, this movement is not partisan. It calls not for liberal or conservative reforms, but for a moral renewal. It is not a deep-pocket lobby. It is mobilizing the 144 million Americans who are poor or one crisis away from poverty into a “new and unsettling force” to “revive the heart of democracy in America.”
    This movement launched on Mother’s Day in May 2018. In 40 days, it triggered 200 actions across many states with 5,000 nonviolent demonstrators committing civil disobedience, and millions following the protests online. Forty states now have coordinating committees build a coalition of poor people and people of faith and conscience across lines of race, religion, region and other lines of division.
    They are morally outraged that the richest nation in the world would in a “willful act of policy violence” condemn 140 million — more than 40 percent of the population — to live in poverty or near poverty. This includes 39 million children, 60 percent — 26 million — of African Americans, 64 percent — 38 million — of Latinos, more than one-third — 66 million — of white Americans.
    These realities — and the extreme inequality that scars this society — pre-date the Trump administration, but now Trump is fanning increasing policy violence against the poor. In response, the Poor People’s Campaign is doing deep organizing and power building among the poor, turning them from victims to subject actors in history.
    This week, the campaign releases their Poor People’s Moral Budget. It details authoritatively that the cost of our current inequality, the cost of mass poverty is far greater than what it would cost to invest in people, put them to work at a living wage and guarantee basic economic and political rights. It costs society big time to not provide health care or quality education or clean water and air, to suppress voting rights and to keep wages low.
    The moral budget is detailed and authoritatively sourced. The numbers are clear, as is the conclusion.
    As the document concludes, “We have been investing in killing people; we most now invest in life. We have been investing in systemic racism and voter suppression; we must now invest in expanding democracy. We have been investing in punishing the poor; we must now invest in the welfare of all. We have been investing in the wealthy and corporations; we must now invest in the people who build this country.”
    This is not a time for incremental change, but for fundamental transformation of our priorities and our direction. The budget details large reforms — from automatic voter registration, a living wage, health care for all, quality education from pre-k through college, investment in clean energy and modern infrastructure. It details how these and other reforms can be easily afforded by fair taxes on the wealthy and corporations and by ending our effort to police the world.
    The Poor People’s Campaign picks up the unfinished work of Dr. Martin Luther King. It realizes that ending the policy of violence on the poor at home cannot be achieved without challenging the costly endless wars and constant arms buildup that only make us less secure. It understands that change will come not from the top down, not from our corrupted big money politics, but from the poor, the worker, people of conscience coming together to revive our democracy and to change our course.
    In these troubled times, the promise of this new force is powerful. Across the country, working and poor people are beginning to move. If this movement can continue to grow, it will transform our politics. And it is the only force that can.

  • Next Level Leaders contributes to support E-911 building

    Shown L to R: Corey Cockrell Next Level Leaders, Iris Sermon, E911 Executive Director Latanya Cockrell- Fowler and Johnny Isaac E911 Board  Chair

    Corey Cockrell and Latanya Cockrell-Fowler, officers of Next Level Leaders, a charity connected to the Rivers Edge Bingo, presented Johnny Isaac, Board Chair and Iris Sermon, Executive Director of E-911 with a check for $3,000 towards furniture for their new building.
    The new E-911 building is located on Highway 43 behind the Department of Human Resources Building. The building is a block and concrete structure, a part of which is designed as a storm shelter, to withstand hurricane and tornado winds in excess of 150 miles per hour.
    Iris Sermon explained, “We had a CDBG grant from the State of Alabama, through the Greene County Commission to build our new building which will house our countywide emergency dispatch system as well as other critical emergency services. After the state required us to change and strengthen the specifications of the building, we did not have enough money to complete construction, radio equipment and furnishing the new facility.”
    Johnny Isaac said, “ We are still expecting the County Commission to pave around our building and create parking spaces as part of their matching contribution to the CBDG grant.
    We are also hopeful we can find funds for $200,000 of new radio dispatching equipment we will need to upgrade our E-911 services for Greene County.”
    Sermon pointed out that the dispatching equipment for Greene County costs as much or more to serve a widely dispersed rural county area as well as the same system serving thousands of people in a concentrated municipal area. “We are looking for sympathetic supporters who want to see E-911 be successful and effective and will help us with our radio tower, dispatching and other needs at E-911,” said Sermon.
    Persons, businesses and organizations interested in contributing toward E-911 should contact Iris Sermon at 205-372-1911.

  • County Commission approves proposal to curb Beaver population in the county

    The Greene County Commission acted on various considerations at its monthly meeting held Monday, June 10, 2019. The commission approved Lee’s Wildlife Services’ proposal to trap and remove Beavers under designated roads where Beaver dams are erected. According to engineer Branch, nine sites have been targeted. Branch explained that this is a situation we have to continuously manage in the county.
    According to action taken at the meeting, the Commission will be seeking to fill a part-time labor position for the Solid Waste Department as well as a van driver for the Eutaw Nutrition Site.
    The commission also acted on the following:
    Approved an ABC license for Atkins’ Bar-B-Q.
    Approved the county’s contract renewal with Blue Cross Blue Shield.
    Approved Mr. J.E. Morrow to serve on the County Board of Equalization.
    Approved Ms. Dotha Williams to serve as District 5 representative on E911 Board.
    Tabled appointment to E911 Board for District 2.
    Approved Engineer Willie Branch’s request to submit HRRP application.
    Authorized Engineer Branch to proceed with allocating remaining federal funds for infrastructure.
    Approved travel for CFO to County Government Institute June 19-20, 2019 in Prattville; and travel for office manager to ACCA Annual Convention August 20-22, 2019 in Perdido Beach.
    Approved the finance report, payment of claims and budget amendments.
    The CFO reported the following bank balances as of May 19, 2019: CitizenTrust Bank – $3,410,113.02; Merchants & Farmers Bank – $1,957,146.20; Bank of New York – $955,253.61; and CD. Bond Investments – $932,332.28

  • School board hires new administrators for Robert Brown Middle School

    At its monthly meeting held Monday, June 10, 2019, the Greene County Board of Education approved the superintendent’s recommendations for Principal and Assistant Principal at Robert Brown Middle School. Shwanta Owens, of Hueytown, AL was selected as Principal and Brittany Harris of Demopolis, AL was selected as Assistant Principal. Each will be offered a one year contract commencing July 1, and July 24, 2019 respectively.
    Ms. Shwanta Owens’ current position is Director of Early College, University of Alabama at Birmingham. She serves as the liaison between Woodlawn High School, UAB and other Early College Partners. Previously she has worked as a teacher in various public school systems in Alabama in the area of language arts. She holds a Master of Arts Educational Leadership; Alabama Educational Specialists Degree; Master of Arts Secondary Education Language Arts and a Bachelor of Arts Secondary Education Language Arts.
    Ms. Brittany D. Harris’ current position is as First Grade Teacher at Southview Elementary School, Tuscaloosa, AL. She has taught previously in elementary schools in Mississippi. She holds an Educational Specialist Degree in Instructional Leadership; Master of Arts in Instructional Leadership; Master of Education in Elementary Education; Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education.
    Other personnel services acted on by the board included the following:

    • Approved the voluntary transfer of Drenda Morton, Librarian, from Robert Brown Middle /school to Librarian at Greene County High School; Fentress Means, part-time Physical Education Teacher at Eutaw Primary to Part-time Physical Education Teacher at Greene County High School.
    • Approved: Eutaw Primary School Re-hiring: Katlin Whittle, Part-time Visual Arts Teacher; Jacqueline Allen, Reading Tutor.
      *Approved Robert Brown Middle School Re-Hiring: Kotoya Quarrels, Math Teacher; Brittany January, Math Teacher; Katlin Whittle, Visual Arts Teacher; Rebecca Coleman, Computer Science; Alisa Ward, Elementary Teacher; Jacqueline Carter, Science Teacher.
    • Approved Greene County High School Re-hire: Elroy Skinner, Math Teacher; Ann Spree, Math Tutor; Twelia Morris, Secretary, Greene County Career Center.
    • Approved Re-Assignments: Garry Rice, Math Specialist, Greene County School System, Grades K-12; Fredrick Square, Lead Teacher, Assistant Principle, Greene County Learning Academy.
    • Approved Extended Contract: Willie Simmons, Principal, Greene County High School.
      Contract Personnel: Cynthia Crawford, Technical Support, Greene County Board.
    • Approved Resignation-Retirement: Timothy Gibbs, JROTC, Greene County High School, effective July 1, 2019; Glen Monroe, Senior Army Instructor, Greene County Career Center, effective July 1, 2019; Diana Bowen, Teacher, Eutaw Primary School, effective August 1, 2019.
    • Approved GCH Summer School Program: Angela Harkness, Teacher.
    • Approved Family Medical Leave/Catastrophic Leave: Regina Harmon, Teacher, Robert Brown Middle School.
    • Approved Salary Adjustments for: Sarah Hall, Secretary to the Superintendent; Tracy Hunter, Secretary, GCHS.
      Approved Supplemental Contract for: Sharon Washington, Special Projects; Linda Little, Cheerleader Sponsor, GCHS.
      The board approved the summer schedule June 2 through July11, 2019, and the following personnel for the 21st Center Community Learning Centers Summer Enrichment Program – Robert Brown Middle School: Andrea Perry, Director; Drenda Morton, Lead Teacher; Twelia Morris, Teacher Assistant; Vanessa Bryant, Teacher; Raven Bryant, Teacher; Miakka Taylor, Teacher; Alisia Allen, Teacher; Janice Jeames, Teacher; Mary Hobson, Teacher Aide; and Anika Batch, Teacher Aide.
      Eutaw Primary School: Keisha Williams, Lead Teacher; Tamecisha Abrams, Teacher; Pamela Pasteur, Teacher; Genetta Bishop, Teacher; Bernice Smith, Computer Lab Teacher; Shirley Noland, Librarian; Denise Horton, Teacher Aide.
      CNP Personnel for Summer Foods Service Program: Sandy Wilson, Gloria Lyons, Mary Hill, Amanda Askew, Rosie Davis, Tina Cherry.
      Under the Administrative Services, the board approved a 4-day work week for all extended employees beginning June 3 – July 26, 2019; approved CNP PACA purchasing agreement with Jefferson County Purchasing Division; approved 3 SRO contracts between Greene Board, Greene County Commission and Greene County Sheriff. The Resource Officers will be housed at Eutaw Primary, Robert Brown Middle and Greene County High Schools.
      The board approved the job description for Mathematical Specialist for the Greene County School System; approved request for Debate Team to attend Youth Leadership Training Conference in Washington, D.C. June 1-8, 2019; Approved payment of all bills and payroll.
      The Greene County Board of Education authorized the sale of the former Birdine School facility with designated acreage to the Town of Forkland with two contingencies: 1. The State of Alabama returning the Birdine property to the Greene County Board of Education. 2. Following an appraisal, the property is sold at fair market value.
      The board also authorized the superintendent and board president to prepare a deed to the Town of Boligee directing specific use of the former Paramount facility and delineating the parameters of educational competitors.