PowerSouth Energy Cooperative, a generation & transmission cooperative serving the Utilities Board of the City of Andalusia’s wholesale power needs, officially dedicated the new, state-of-the-art Lowman Energy Center (LEC) in a special ceremony on March 22.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey attended the event to celebrate the 710-megawatt natural gas facility, which began commercial operation on Sept. 20, 2023.

“History is being made today,” Ivey said of LEC’s completion, referencing LEC’s status as one of the most efficient power plants in the United States. “America’s future is dependent upon its access to abundant industry, including electricity. Economic development and thousands of new, good-paying jobs, both here in Alabama and for our neighbors in Florida, are directly tied to projects like the Lowman Energy Center.”

Mayor Earl Johnson, who also serves on PowerSouth’s Board of Directors, was on site to celebrate the dedication of the plant, which replaces the historic coal-fired Charles R. Lowman Power Plant that had operated for 51 years.

“LEC is a tremendous accomplishment for PowerSouth and a blessing for our area,” Johnson said. “The power it generates will supply our members around-the-clock, especially on cold winter mornings or extremely hot summer afternoons when other generation sources may not be available. Natural gas is also abundant and, for the most part, affordable, so LEC will help to keep down our members’ electric bills as much as possible.”

PowerSouth’s President & CEO, Gary Smith, said the plant will be a workhorse in supporting the cooperative’s mission to provide reliable and affordable power to its members.  

“LEC is not only very efficient, but it also has access to a very good, affordable gas supply,” Smith said. “PowerSouth has 20 members in Alabama and Florida, and I want to thank them for their confidence and support in allowing us to move forward in building this plant. It will be there for them to serve their wholesale power needs for decades. We are excited about LEC, and excited about the future.”

Collectively, PowerSouth provides power to the City of Andalusia and 19 other distribution members, and these members supply safe, reliable, affordable power to more than a million end-of-line members.   

The City of Andalusia is forming a Law Enforcement Advisory Committee resulting from a meeting Mayor Earl Johnson and Councilman Joe Nix held with community stakeholders on Sunday afternoon.

The meeting was set after a local woman, Twyla Stallworth, through her Georgia attorney, accused the Andalusia Police Department of racism during her arrest on February 23, 2024. The woman has not filed a complaint with the police department, but the allegation was made in a press release issued by her Georgia attorney and circulated widely online.

While standing on her front porch, the woman was arrested for refusing to show her identification when an officer responded to a neighbor’s complaints about her violation of the city’s noise ordinance.

An 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling recently changed the interpretation of Code of Alabama, Section 15-5-30, authorizing peace officers to demand identification. The Court’s ruling states that individuals are not required to present identification while on private property. However, there are a number of exceptions to that rule, which could cause confusion.

On Friday, Mayor Earl Johnson issued a public apology to Ms. Stallworth for her arrest, and announced that all charges have been dropped. In the statement, he also said the officer has been reprimanded for his failure to know the law.

At Sunday’s meeting, organized by Councilman Nix and attended by approximately 50 people, Mayor Johnson and Andalusia Police Chief Paul Hudson discussed the case and answered questions about the arrest and police training.

Mayor Johnson assured those in attendance that the arrest in question is the subject of an ongoing investigation. After reviewing the officer’s body camera footage with Councilman Nix, the city attorney, and leaders of the Andalusia Police Department, he said, he has seen no evidence of the alleged racism.

When asked in the meeting about implicit bias, Chief Hudson assured the group that implicit bias is a topic regularly included in APD required training.

The planned Law Enforcement Advisory Committee was the brainchild of those in attendance, and was quickly embraced by Mayor Johnson. Mayor Johnson appointed Councilman Nix to chair the committee, and said committee members will be charged with bringing concerns of the community to the attention of law enforcement officers, and will hold quarterly meetings.

Mayor Johnson stated he hopes that these actions will help prevent similar situations in the future.

On a recent afternoon, Andalusia Animal Shelter manager Kayla Robbins received more than 50 messages to her personal Facebook account in the time it took her to drive from her in-laws’ home to her own.

All of the messages were from people who wanted to adopt a French bulldog or “Frenchie” from the shelter.

Unbeknownst to Robbins, the Animal Shelter’s Facebook page had been hacked, and the hackers had removed her as an administrator and proceeded to post photographs of coveted dogs, along with a link where those interested were encouraged to make a “refundable” deposit.

It was all a scam.

“In the nine years I’ve worked here, we’ve never had a Frenchie,” Robbins said.

When she realized what had happened, she quickly attempted to spread the word on Facebook through her personal account, and created a new one for the Animal Shelter. She believes the hackers began their work months before this successful takeover.

“Months ago, I got an email one day that said somebody had been added to page as an administrator,” she recalled. “There are only two of us who work here, so I clicked on a link and removed the new administrator.”

Shortly after Christmas, she received similar emails about a dozen or so people being added as administrators of the page. Again, she attempted to remove them.

Since the hackers locked her out of the shelter page, she has reported the incident to Facebook daily, as have other City of Andalusia employees. Facebook has offered its assistance in recovering the page.

The Andalusia Animal Shelter does have a new page, as social media has proven effective in helping find homes for shelter animals.

“If I had a different way to notify the public when we have animals up for adoption, I would use it,” she said.

The Animal Shelter uses software that requires workers to create unique identification numbers for animals, and those animals are uploaded to Adopt-A-Pet and Petfinder, which are websites that create nationwide databases of adoptable animals.

While the Andalusia Animal Shelter does charge adoption fees, it does not accept deposits online. Robbins encourages anyone who is confused about which page is the “real” one to call the shelter with questions at 334-222-8705.

Mayor Earl Johnson on Friday released the following statement in response to allegations made by Andalusia resident Tyla Stallworth in a press release issued this week by her Georgia attorney, Harry Daniels.

“On behalf of the City of Andalusia and the Andalusia Police Department, I would like to apologize to Twyla Stallworth for her arrest in February.

“All charges against Ms. Stallworth are being dropped.

“The arresting officer has a clean record with our department, but he made a mistake in this case on February 23^rd. He has been disciplined for failing in his duty to know the law.

“When I learned about this incident last week, I offered to meet with Ms. Stallworth. She declined.

“Ms. Stallworth has not filed a complaint with the police department, but her attorney alleges in his release that her arrest was racially motivated. We have reviewed body cam footage of the incident, and see no evidence of racism.

“We have always worked hard in Andalusia to maintain great relationships among our diverse populations.

“In the video released by her attorney, Ms. Stallworth also claims that the police department has failed to respond to complaints she made about her neighbor. We also have reviewed internal evidence that shows the police department did respond.

“I have met with the Andalusia Police Chief and other leaders in the department. We have agreed that the entire department will receive additional training on Constitutional law, the laws of the State of Alabama, and the City of Andalusia’s ordinances, so that we will not have problems like this one in the future.”