A fund has been established in honor of Haylee Burks at Regions Bank in Jemison.

Burks, a second grader at Jemison Elementary, was struck and killed by a car as she and her family were walking to their car after the Tuscaloosa Regional Air Show on March 31.

The driver of the vehicle, Danny Ray Smith, 64, was arrested by Northport P.D. and charged with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of the accident and two counts of first-degree assault.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Haylee’s name.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, April 7 at 11 a.m. from Jemison Baptist Church with Rev. Wayne Hughes, Rev. Steve Johnson and Rev. Billy Boatwright officiating.

Burial will follow in the Union Springs Baptist Church Cemetery in Randolph.

The city of Jemison will hold a carnival Thursday, April 5 through Saturday, April 7 in Jemison City Park.

Proceeds from the carnival will support Jemison’s next citywide festival, previously called MayFest, which will be postponed this year for lack of adequate funding.

“We know there is not a lot of entertainment in our little town,” Jemison resident Rex Bittle said. “We’re just hoping everyone will come out and have some fun.”

Trinity Amusements of Odenville will provide the carnival rides this year.

Armbands are $15 per day for unlimited access to rides. Visitors must buy new armbands each day.

The carnival will open at 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday and at noon Saturday.

Concessions will be available every day.

For more information, call Karen McMinn at Jemison City Hall at (205) 688-4492 ext. 319 or visit Jemison’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/cityofjemison.

The city of Jemison will hold a carnival Thursday, April 5 through Saturday, April 7 in Jemison City Park.

Proceeds from the carnival will support Jemison’s next citywide festival, previously called MayFest, which will be postponed this year for lack of adequate funding.

“We know there is not a lot of entertainment in our little town,” said Jemison resident Rex Bittle, who volunteers with the city. “We’re just hoping everyone will come out and have some fun.”

Trinity Amusements of Odenville will provide the carnival rides this year.

Armbands are $15 per day for unlimited access to rides. Visitors must buy new armbands each day.

The carnival will open at 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday and at noon Saturday.

Concessions will be available every day.

For more information, call Karen McMinn at Jemison City Hall at (205) 688-4492 ext. 319 or visit Jemison’s Facebook page, www.facebook.com/cityofjemison.

The Jemison Council approved an ordinance Monday night allowing the annual license fee for selling and distributing alcoholic beverages to be prorated.

The total license fee of $2,500 will be divided by 12, and the licensee will pay the city the monthly amount multiplied by the number of months remaining in the year from the time the license was obtained.

The previous ordinance did not account for business owners who got their alcohol sales licenses half- or more than halfway through a calendar year.

“We’ve had a lot of business people that said a lot of other cities don’t do it this way,” Mayor Eddie Reed said. “Now, we’re in line with everyone else.”

In other business, the council noted upcoming community events in Jemison:

•A citywide cleanup will be Monday, April 23 through Friday, April 27. City employees will pick up all trash items except chemicals, paints, car tires and batteries.

•A carnival to raise money for the city’s next festival will be Thursday, April 5 through Saturday, April 7 in Jemison City Park. Armbands for each day are $15. The carnival will begin at 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday and at noon Saturday.

Reed also read a letter of appreciation that a Chilton County resident wrote to the Jemison Police Department.

“We get these letters often from citizens, and our police department has responded professionally,” Reed said. “We thank the work the officers do in Jemison. It makes our work easier.”

By James Dubuisson | Special to the Advertiser

The Lady Rebels of Thorsby High School defeated Maplesville on Monday afternoon, 10-9.

MHS went up 2-0 in the top of the first inning off of two doubles and a single from the first three batters in the lineup.

After the Lady Red Devils set down the first two Lady Rebels batters of the game, Braiden Gottier reached base off an MHS error. THS would take advantage of the extra out. Josie Adams was the next batter for THS. She found a pitch that she liked and drove it to left field. The softball carried over the fence for a two run homerun that tied the game at 2-2.

The game stayed that way until the top of the third inning, when MHS went up 5-2.

THS would cut that three-run lead to one in the bottom half of the inning, as runs scored off of a Lady Red Devil error and a RBI groundout by Kelly Nord.

MHS appeared to have put the Lady Rebels away when they extended their lead to five with a four run fourth inning. They led 9-4 with only three innings left to play.

But coach Rachel Argent’s Lady Rebels were not done yet.

Senior Whitley Hines got THS’s rally started with a one out single in the bottom of the fourth inning. Savannah Bice and Taylor McManus followed suit with singles of their own. McManus’s single drove in Hines to narrow the gap to four runs. The next Lady Rebels’ batter, Gottier, hit a sacrifice groundout that drove Bice in.

THS completed their comeback in the bottom of the sixth inning. The Lady Rebels trimmed the lead to two runs when McManus drove in her second run of the day. MHS’s lead was down to one run after another THS RBI single, this one coming off the bat of Gottier. Gottier would later score the eventual winning run off of an Adams double.

THS led 10-9 heading into the final frame. Starting pitcher Taylor McManus was able to finish her complete game victory, holding MHS scoreless in the last stanza.

The whole team contributed in the batter’s box, as eight of the 10 Lady Rebels that had at-bats reached base in the game. Adams led the team, as she had a double and a home run, which led to her 3 RBI.

Natalie Arnold was 3-for-4 at the dish for the Lady Red Devils.

A Jemison Elementary student was killed in a car accident Saturday afternoon near Kentuck Park after the Tuscaloosa Regional Air Show.

Second-grader Haylee Burks, her 28-year-old mother and 2-year-old sister were walking to their car on 5th Street after the event when a black 2008 GMC Sierra pickup struck Burks and her mother and sister, according to authorities.

The driver of the vehicle, Danny Ray Smith, 64, was arrested by Northport P.D. and charged with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident and two counts of first-degree assault, said Capt. Loyd Baker with the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office homicide unit. Smith was originally charged with DUI, which led to the vehicular homicide charges.

A fourth man walking behind Burks and her family was also struck by Smith’s vehicle but was not hospitalized for injuries.

Burks and her mother and sister were transported to DCH Regional Medical Center.

Burks died at DCH and her mother and sister remain hospitalized Monday afternoon.

“She was a sweet child and a good student, and will be greatly missed among the student body,” JES Principal Louise Pitts said of Burks.

Pitts said counselors and pastors from area churches will be on the JES campus to talk to students and faculty as the need arises.

Chilton County Schools Superintendent Dave Hayden offered to send more counselors to the school if needed, Pitts said.

Ken Daniel, husband of Burks’ teacher Susan Daniel and pastor at Friendship Baptist Church in Clanton, has spent time at the school Monday as well.

“He had frequently come and had lunch with the class,” Pitts said. “We felt that his presence on campus would be a comfort to the students and faculty members.”

Pitts said students in Burks’ class wrote a note to her family and a note to Burks on Monday morning.

“They wrote a note to Haylee and attached that to some helium balloons and went outside and released the balloons,” Pitts said.

Burk’s sister was expected to be released some time Monday from Children’s Hospital in Birmingham. Her mother remains in DCH’s intensive care unit in stable condition.

Smith, who owns Dixie Air and Danny Smith Realty and Construction in Tuscaloosa, was released from the Tuscaloosa County Jail on Sunday on bonds totaling $110,000.

Funeral arrangements for Burks had not been determined Monday afternoon but will be announced later by Ellison-Cleckler Funeral Home of Clanton.

Check back for updates on this story.

Managing Editor Justin Averette contributed to this report.

By Stephen Dawkins | Assistant Managing Editor

Two traffic-related fatalities occurred in North Chilton County in consecutive days.

About 5 p.m. on March 23, a 2008 Honda Accord struck a 2012 Scion TC when the driver of the Honda changed lanes on Interstate 65, according to State Troopers spokeswoman Robyn Litchfield.

The Scion left the roadway about 2.5 miles north of Jemison, went into the median and struck a tree.

Chiquise Christiana Sharese Miller, 21, of Montgomery was killed. She was not wearing a seat belt.

Less than 24 hours later, a motorcycle wreck claimed the life of Justin Edward Gillen, 27, of Brierfield.

Troopers said speed was a factor when Gillen’s Honda motorcycle left Chilton County Road 50, about a quarter mile east of Thorsby, and struck a ditch and power pole.

Litchfield said Troopers are still investigating both wrecks.

By Stephen Dawkins | Assistant Managing Editor

A jury ruled in favor of a mower manufacturer last week in a trial at the Chilton County Courthouse, denying the plaintiff’s claims that a Thorsby city worker’s death was caused by an unreasonably unsafe piece of equipment.

Rebecca B. McDonald and Jimmy Wayne McDonald sued Kubota Manufacturing Corporation of America, which made a mower that was being operated by Jeremy Wayne McDonald when he died in 2009.

The trial began on March 6, and a defendant’s verdict was issued on March 22.

“Kubota would like to thank the jury for its hard work in achieving a unanimous and correct verdict in this matter,” Bruce Shanahan, associate general counsel for Kubota, said in a statement. “Kubota understands that the trial took several weeks and as such was an imposition on the daily lives of jurors but appreciates the dedication the jury showed in analyzing the evidence of the case.”

The family of Jeremy Wayne McDonald filed suit on June 7, 2010, against the mower’s manufacturer and local distributor, according to court records.

Clanton Tractor and Equipment, which sold the mower to the city of Thorsby, reached a settlement with the plaintiffs on Feb. 8, before the case went to trial. The terms of that settlement haven’t been released.

Part of the plaintiff’s allegations were that the mower McDonald was operating at the time of his death did not feature a “roll-over protection structure,” which are common in newer model mowers. The complaint reads that the mower was “unreasonably dangerous” and that McDonald wasn’t warned of the danger.

The plaintiff sought punitive damages in an undetermined amount.

Judge Ben Fuller presided over the trial.

By Emily Beckett | Staff writer

Firefighters at the Thorsby Fire Department rely on more than flame-retardant suits and water hoses to do their jobs.

They keep a stash of stuffed teddy bears on the fire trucks to give to children who need comforting during an emergency.

“We use the teddy bears to console the little kids, mainly to build the confidence of the child that no one is there to hurt them,” Lt. Phillip Porter said. “They get to keep the bears.”

This month, the new varsity cheerleader squad at Thorsby High School collected more than 100 teddy bears for the fire department.

“This is their first community service project this year,” coach Holly Deavers said. “They’re a very good group of girls. It’s important that they learn to do these things.”

The squad placed collection boxes at the school and around town.

“Besides the churches giving stuff, this is the first time the school has actually done a drive,” Porter said.

The Thorsby Varsity Cheerleaders who participated in the project are: Haley Barnett, Kelsie Barrett, Jessica Boddie, Lauren Liveoak, Brianna Ellison, Katie Adkins, Bailey Lucas, Laken Patterson, Lindsey Robinson, Bailey Childress, Darian Green, Laken Hayes, Marisa Withers and Rebel Man mascots Charly Hilyer and Jade Connell.

By Stephen Dawkins | Assistant Managing Editor

A man fleeing from police was arrested Tuesday after he ran out of gas about one mile north of Maplesville High School.

Dustin Wade Martin, 26, allegedly stole a vehicle in Jemison and then, when police identified the vehicle minutes later, led them on a 40-minute, high-speed chase.

Martin is a suspect in at least two other vehicle thefts and one attempted break-in since Monday afternoon, Jemison Police Chief Shane Fulmer said.

Martin asked for a ride from a stranger Tuesday at a fuel station off Interstate Exit 219 in Jemison. While believing he was taking Martin home, the man stopped to re-fuel at the station at the intersection of Highway 31 and County Road 44 in Jemison.

While the man was inside pre-paying for gasoline, Martin allegedly stole his vehicle, a 2002 Acura.

“While he’s in the store, the guy gets out and goes around to the driver’s side and takes off in the car,” Fulmer said.

About 15 minutes later, JPD Riley Barnett spotted a vehicle matching the description of the stolen one and attempted to make a traffic stop. Martin fled leading officers from several different county police agencies on a chase that reached speeds in excess of 90 mph but more often than not transpired on rural dirt roads.

The chase ended about 9:45 a.m. on Highway 139, just north of Maplesville High School. Martin was headed toward the school.

Martin has been charged by Jemison with felony theft of a motor vehicle, reckless endangerment and various traffic violations. He will face additional charges from Maplesville and could eventually face charges related to other vehicle thefts.

“You always hope for the best end result, which is what we got because no one was hurt and no property was damaged,” Fulmer said.