PHOTO: The DeKalb County Commission presented the 2016 Fyffe High School Football and Cheerleading teams with resolutions in recognition for winning both state championships. (Tyler Pruett | Southern Torch) 

By Tyler Pruett, Managing Editor

tyler@southerntorch.com

FORT PAYNE, Ala. — The DeKalb County Commission presented the 2016 Fyffe High School Football team and Cheerleading squad with resolutions recognizing them for both winning 2A State Championships at Tuesday's regular commission meeting.

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Commission President Ricky Harcrow was absent, as he had an eye surgery earlier in the day. The surgery reportedly went well and Harcrow was on his way back while the meeting took place. Commissioner DeWitt Jackson served as president today in his absence.

The commission first honored the cheerleading squad for winning the Alabama Class 2A Cheer Competition, and as DeWitt Jackson pointed out, this isn’t the first year the team has been named champions.

“The girls, from my understanding, have went five years in a row as state champions,” said Jackson. “I appreciate ya’lls willingness to work hard and be the very best, and undoubtedly ya’ll have done the very best, winning state.”

The Commissioners, County Attorney, and County Administrator each gave their congratulations to the teams on their achievement.

Commissioner Scott Westbrook, who graduated from Fyffe High School said, “As a fellow graduate of Fyffe High

School, I just want to say congratulations and I’m extremely proud of the accomplishments that you guys and gals have made.”

“I commend all of you, ladies and guys both on the accomplishments, also the coach and all the staff. This is something you will be proud of for many years to come,” said Westbrook, before presenting the resolution to the Red Devils football team.

The resolution for the Cheerleading squad read as follows:

[blockquote style="2"] “Whereas the Fyffe Red Devil Cheerleading Team, Coach Connie Cochran and Assistant Coach Ashley Bunch at Fyffe High School have achieved the Class 2A State Cheerleading Championship for the fifth consecutive year. We, the governing body of DeKalb County, Alabama, wish to extend our congratulations and commend the Fyffe cheerleading team and coaching staff for their dedication, perseverance, loyalty, and leadership in bringing about this great achievement. Therefore, we the DeKalb County Commission, while in regular session, shall publish on the permanent record as January 24, 2017, our sincere congratulations and appreciations to the Fyffe Red Devils High School Cheerleading team for their success as Alabama 2A State Champions.”[/blockquote]

The football team was also presented with a resolution reading:

[blockquote style="2"]“Whereas the Fyffe Red Devil Football Team Coach Paul Benefield and coaching staff at Fyffe High School have achieved this great milestone, not only for Fyffe High School, but also for DeKalb County and the State of Alabama. We the governing body of DeKalb County Alabama wish to extend our congratulations and do commend each player and member of the coaching staff for their dedication, perseverance, loyalty, and leadership for bringing back this great achievement. Therefore we the DeKalb County Commission while in regular session, shall publish on the permanent record as January 24, 2017, our sincere congratulations and appreciations to the Fyffe Red Devils High School Football team for their success as the Alabama 2A Football State Champions.”[/blockquote]

Tom Broyles, Superintendent of the County's Road Department, then gave an update on road repairs after the recent heavy rains. He also notified the commission that the department had filled an open position. Cody Elrod will be the new addition to the road department.

Commissioner Shane Wooten commended Broyles and the department for their hard work in preventing more damage to the roads after the recent wild weather.

"I appreciate the work that you and your crews have done on the roads. Two or three years ago, ya'll actively started working on drainage issues," Wooten said.

"It's really showed up in the work that ya'll have done over the last couple of years to get drainage in better shape. Normally on a weekend like this with as much rain as we had would have had a lot of washouts, but because of the work that ya'll have done it has went rather smoothly, so I appreciate the work ya'll have done on that," said Wooten.

County Engineer Ben Luther presented the commission with a funding agreement for a project on County Road 255. DeKalb County has received federal funding in the amount of $546,236.66 to work on the road, which runs from Highway 35 all the way over to Lickskillet. (For more on this story, see our print edition, which will be on stands Friday) 

"A lot of our projects come from grants. In some cases state; and in some cases the federal government. In this case, the National Park Service. This is a project I've been working on, along with Mr. Luther, for over four years," explained District III Commissioner Chris Kuykendall. "You look to find these funds. Fortunately for us this is the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. Congress freed up some funds to be used to improve some roads of this particular nature."

"They only allotted a million dollars, so competition was very fierce, so we were very fortunate," Kuykendall stated. The commission voted to accept the funding agreement.

Commissioner Westbrook brought forward the renewal of Mark Cotton and James Edwin Cash to the Aroney Fire Protection Board. The measure passed.

DeKalb County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Anthony Clifton announced the bi-annual meeting of the Local Emergency Preparedness Committee (LEPC), which Clifton announced the name would be changed to the All-Hazards Planning Committee. This would allow the county to do all it's hazard and emergency planning in the same meeting.

Under the, "Community Right-To-Know Act," the local EMAs are required to update the community on hazardous materials stored within the county, and what materials are transported through it. This data is provided by a Hazardous Materials Commodity Flow Study.

The meeting will be held on Thursday, January 26, at 2 pm in the DeKalb County Commission Chambers in the DeKalb County Activities Building.

Clifton also asked the commission to ratify an emergency declaration for the winter weather earlier in the month. The declaration was unanimously ratified.

The next meeting of the DeKalb County Commission will be held on Tuesday, February 14 at 10 am in the DeKalb County Activities Building.