By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



The following events were reported in The North Jefferson News during this week in 2003, 1998, 1988 and 1978.



Five years ago

• Two suspects are in the Jefferson County Jail on charges of armed robbery. They are suspected of robbing two customers in the parking lot of Food World in Gardendale. After a car chase through Gardendale, Fultondale and Tarrant, a Gardendale police officer shot one of the suspects in the face after the suspect reportedly pointed a gun at him.

• City of Gardendale’s leaders’ efforts to build a new fire station were doused when construction bids came in higher than anticipated. All five bids could be rejected, delaying the creation of a full-time fire department for the city.

• Members of the North Jefferson Quilter’s Guild donated a quilt to the University of Alabama’s GYN Oncology Department in Birmingham. The quilt will be displayed in the department’s waiting room so ovarian cancer patients may receive comfort from it.



10 years ago

• The Warrior Police Department has been given permission to hire two new officers for the city of Warrior. The two positions were left vacant when officers Steve Combs and Tim Evans were promoted to sergeant.

• Women in the north Jefferson area now have a place to go for advice about an unplanned pregnancy. The North Jefferson Women’s Center is a facility that ministers to women in the area who are forced to deal with pregnancy and temptations that usually confront teenagers.

• The Warrior City Council is working on laws concerning mobile homes. Each council member will write out different things they would like to see in a mobile home ordinance.



20 years ago

• The Corridor X highway is to bypass Fultondale. It wasn’t what north Jefferson County officials wanted to hear. The new route selected will tie in the highway to Interstate 65 about halfway between the 41st Avenue interchange and the Lewisburg interchange in Fultondale.

• The possibility that asbestos was used as an insulating material at the Mount Olive Community Center when it was built has temporarily put the brakes on plans to restore the aging structure to its original state.

• Acting on the recommendation of Councilman Jim Lowery Monday evening, the Fultondale City Council voted unanimously to repeal an ordinance it adopted two weeks earlier which authorized the mayor to declare “water emergencies.”



30 years ago

• Bonnie Mitchell of Gardendale announced her candidacy for the District 35 seat in the Alabama House of Representatives. She is manager of Central Bank’s Century Plaza Office and is a freelance writer.

• Gardendale City Council members unanimously voted that they would not issue an on-premises license to sell beer to a proposed Pizza Hut at Robbe Road and Hwy. 31 N.

• Northern Jefferson County residents Robert D. “Don” Cosper, Rena Hudson and Oscar Dean Jolly are all vying for a seat in the State Democratic Executive Committee, District 14. Also, J. M. “Jack” Boggan, Nancy T. Smith and C.E. “Gene” Nappier have qualified for the committee’s District 35.