Cullman County high school students participated in a voter registration tour this month led by State Rep. Cindy Myrex (R-Cullman) and political commentator Brilyn Hollyhand to encourage eligible seniors to register to vote.

Hollyhand visited seven high schools across the county during the first week of the tour, speaking with students and providing information on how to register. Schools on the tour included Good Hope, West Point, Cold Springs, Hanceville, Holly Pond, Fairview and Vinemont high schools.

Myrex said Cullman County schools were “honored to have him” and welcomed the opportunity to host the tour, highlighting the importance of civic participation among young voters.

Myrex highlighted the tour by resharing Hollyhand’s post on her campaign social media accounts.

Hollyhand said the idea for the initiative came from his own experience helping classmates register to vote while he was still in high school.

“I just graduated from high school a few months ago, and remember helping a lot of my friends register to vote in the lunchroom and wondering why there wasn’t a strong push for high school seniors to register like there was for college students,” Hollyhand said.

He said Myrex invited him to begin the tour in her legislative district after he shared the concept with her.

The tour included presentations to students and a QR code system that allowed eligible students to access voter registration resources.

Hollyhand is a 19-year-old Auburn University political science student and the author of “One Generation Away: Why Now is the Time to Restore American Freedom.”

 Sherri Blevins is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You may contact her at sherri@yellowhammernews.com.

Law enforcement, elected officials and residents gathered at a Cullman elementary school to talk about an uncomfortable issue facing parents – school shootings. They also got to see a demonstration of new technology that offers a possible solution.

State Sen. Garland Gudger went to kindergarten at West Elementary School and opened by saying today’s threats were never something he had to worry about.

“As a father dropping my two boys off at school, you expect them to be safe,” he said. “I can’t imagine what’s happened at some of these other schools across the nation that weren’t able to pick their children up.”

The device is a deployable, ballistic wall unit in classrooms that can also be used as a multipurpose space. Alabama company KT Solutions said the units can be deployed in less than 10 seconds and offers a level of protection that stops up to a .308- caliber round. 

A teacher who showcased the system in her classroom over the past month demonstrated the rapid deployment.

The room can also be used as shelter during severe weather events and other emergencies. 

Kevin Thomas, CEO of KT Solutions, said his company was creating ballistic equipment for the military last year when he felt called to work on this invention in the days that followed the massacre in Uvalde, Texas. 

“We took something that takes most folks two or three years to do, and we did it in eight months,” Thomas said. “What we do have control over is the ability to make things that are innovative in the meantime while we fix the bigger issues.”

U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt commended Thomas on his initiative and said he’d like to see how the system can be implemented in classrooms across the United States.

“It’s great to live in a country where there’s so much ingenuity,” said Aderholt (R-Haleyville). 

State Superintendent Eric Mackey said school safety is the issue that keeps principals up at night.

“From the time they get on the bus until they get home in the afternoon, they are your responsibility,” he said.

Mackey said the device demonstrated is “the one investment in government I can think of that I hope we never use.”

Prior to former President Donald Trump’s arrival for the event staged by the Alabama Republican Party at York Family Farms near Cullman, both local and national media outlets forewarned of the event as a potential “superspreader.”

In a tell that the media were almost too eager for their prediction to come true, outlets ran headlines proclaiming, “One third of Cullman Alabama school district students absent due to COVID surge.”

Upon further review of the actual numbers offered by local school officials, the problem is that that is not the case.

A report from Mobile NBC affiliate WPMI cites left-wing blog RawStory to bolster the claim made in its headline.

“According to news outlet RawStory, ‘one-third of students at the district’s 29 campuses were reported absent due to a positive COVID test or contact tracing,'” WPMI’s Darwin Singleton wrote.

Singleton’s story, which emphasizes the Trump event weeks earlier, links to the RawStory report, which links to a Cullman County Board of Education (CCBOE) release, which RawStory apparently misinterpreted.

“The Cullman County school district announced Wednesday that the five schools will switch to remote learning from Aug. 27 through Sept. 10, saying that one-third of students at the district’s 29 campuses were reported absent due to a positive COVID test or contact tracing,” RawStory’s John Wright wrote.

A closer review of the school system’s website reveals an actual one-third number of positive COVID tests or close contact with a positive-tested individual is of five of Cullman County school system’s 29 campuses.

According to a local official with Cullman County schools, only “about 10%” were out countywide with some COVID-related issue.

The number was much lower for Cullman City Schools, with 2.81% of students absent on Tuesday due to a positive test and 4.61% of those absent due to COVID exposure.

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.

According to the deed, executed on November 7th, 2014, the lake house and land were sold by the Carthage Family Limited Partnership, to the Cullman County Board of Education.

The Carthage Family LP is incorporated in Indiana, but lists its address as 1908 Cherokee Ave. SW in Cullman, the site of a building housing several medical practices.

When a Cullman local first raised the alarm Tuesday, his Facebook post quickly spread on social media in just a few hours.

The property acquired by the Cullman County BOE was adjacent to some lakefront property already owned by the BOE as so-called “section 16” land.

“Section 16” lands are real estate deeded to the state for the benefit and use of public education pursuant to the act that made Alabama a state in 1819. In 2012, The Cullman County BOE was given control of the 435 acres of lakefront property on Smith Lake, including 25,000 feet of shoreline deemed to be worth millions.

The lake house causing the controversy was halfway built on a peninsula adjacent to the section 16 land, but the house was never fully completed.

Cullman County Superintendent Dr. Craig Ross justified the decision to spend $1.2 million on a dilapidated lake house in a statement Tuesday.

“It has been brought to my attention that there are public concerns over a land purchase that was approved at the November 6th board meeting,” Dr. Ross said. “This land has great potential to bring some financial security in the future for Cullman County Schools if the property is sold or leased.”

The BOE’s main concern, Dr. Ross said, was that an easement would need to be obtained by the original owners of the lake house for a driveway, diminishing the value of the land.

“As we look at the investment opportunity that this property holds for the future of Cullman County Schools and all 9,000-plus students, the board made the decision to purchase additional property adjoining our Section 16 property,” Dr. Ross continued. “While this property is not located in Section 16, it adjoins the property and will clear up the easement, right of way, and access issues to this section of the property. This purchase will dramatically increase the overall value of the 400-plus acres.”

There’s only one problem with Dr. Ross’s plan. It appears that it may be unlawful for a local school board to buy private property with the intent to develop and sell it. Additionally, there is already a road leading to the edge of the land.

Newly-elected State Representative Corey Harbison (R-Cullman) told Yellowhammer News Tuesday afternoon that he’s already heard from several upset constituents.

“When the people of Cullman County voted for a half-percent tax [increase] I don’t think they knew it would go to pay a mortgage payment on lake property,” said Rep. Harbison.

“We have schools that are dilapidated,” Rep. Harbison said, “we need classroom supplies, we have gyms that need to be built, we have roads that need to be paved on campuses. For [the BOE] to spend $1.2 million is ludicrous.”

Yellowhammer will continue to investigate.

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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015