Attalla News

(Attalla, AL 0 July 29, 2010) Several local baseball players from the Gadsden metro area are celebrating their title as Alabama All-Stars and runner-up to the Cal Ripken South East Regional Tournament, having lost two games to the same team in the regional.

Earlier this month, the Attalla 11-year old All Star team won the state tournament, held in Childerspurg, AL to become the Alabama All Stars, and to represent the state in the Cal Ripken South Eastern Regional held in McKenzie, TN this past week.

The state title is the first time in several years that any team from Attalla has advanced beyond state to regional play. Most of this team has played together for the past five or six years to get to regional play, according to a press release sent out by the team.

The South East Regional included ten of the best baseball teams in the Southeastern US, including Alabama, Tennessee, South and North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia, among others.

Attalla played seven games in the tournament, only to lose their first and last games of the tournament. Both loses were to the same team, Southern Pitt, of Eastern North Carolina. The first game of the tournament for the Attalla boys was lost by a score of 3-1.

Following that loss, the team won five straight games in the double-elimination tournament. Those games were won by margins as large as 13-2 to the host McKenzie, TN team to as small as 9-6 to Giles County of Eastern TN.

Attalla lost to Southern Pitt on Thursday, July 22 with a score of 3-1. On Friday, the team faced host, McKenzie, TN and defeated them by a score of 13-2. That victory kept the team alive in the tournament, starting off a string of victories that would eventually put them into the Championship game.

Other victories that followed were Saturday's victory against Cookville, TN (13-3). The next day, the team played twice, and won both games, including their victory against Giles County (9-6) and Williamsburg, Virginia (7-1).

Those victories let the Alabama team to the championship round against the team that put them in the lower bracket, Southern Pitt.

Attalla had two more games scheduled, a semi-final game on Monday night, and if they won, a championship game the same evening.

The first game, against Indian Trail of North Carolina ended in a 6-5 upset victory. That win advanced the team to the final against Southern Pitt. Because the Alabama team had lost one game, they would have to defeat the team from North Carolina twice to win the tournament and advance to the national tournament.

The first game, held Monday night, followed what one coach described as "the hardest game of their entire life." The final score of the game found Attalla on top, 2-1 to force a second game against the only team in the tournament to have beaten them. That game was held almost twenty-four hours later.

The final game of the tournament pitted the Attalla players against one of the top teams in the nation would find both teams rested and ready to play. After the dust settled following the final out, the Attalla team found themselves on the short side of the bat, losing by a score of 6-3.

Next year, the South Eastern Regional runners-up will be playing 12 U baseball, and are already looking forward to winning state and regional tournaments next year in order to advance to their final destination - the Cal Ripken Baseball World Series.

For more information, and to see video footage from the regional tournament, visit the Attalla All Stars' website.

Lola Fauls, 42, Attalla, AL Charged with burglary, theft

(Attalla, AL - July 22, 2010) Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin says a 42 year old Attalla woman is facing two felony charges relating to the theft of construction equipment at a home on Wesson Lake Road.

ECSO Investigator Josh Morgan says Lola Fauls was arrested July 15 and charged "with one count of third degree burglary and one county of second degree theft of property, both are felonies."

Fauls is accused of stealing a concrete saw, propane tank and an industrial cutting torch set from a Wesson Lake Road in Attalla on the day of her arrest. She was charged with the crimes on July 16, and has since been released on $5,000 bond.

(Gadsden, AL - May 28, 2010) Three Attalla residents were arrested Thursday night and charged with narcotic related offenses, according to Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin.

The three, 48 year old Jerry Patton, 25 year old Sumer Naylor, and 23 year old Heather Comer are now charged with one count of first degree manufacturing, according to Entrekin.

Heather Comer, 23 Attalla, AL	Jerry Patton, 48 Attalla, AL	Sumer Naylor, 25 Attalla, AL

The arrests follow the execution of a search warrant at 15715 Highway 278 West last night around 11:50 p.m.

Inside, agents found a shake and bake methamphetamine lab, imported meth from Mexico and a firearm. According to the sheriff's press release, other items were seized at the time of the arrests, including a motorcycle, a car, and a small amount of cash.

The execution of the search warrant followed what Entrekin describes as "about a month-long investigation."

All three remain in the James L Hayes Etowah County Detention Center.

Kenneth Alan Lawson, 28, Attalla Arrested on theft charges involving a gold ring and a saddle from a Rockledge home on May 9.

(Attalla, AL - May 14, 2010) A 28 year old Attalla man his under arrest and charged with one count of Second Degree Theft of Property, according to Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin.

In a press release issued today, Entrekin says Kenneth Alan Lawson is facing the felony charge in connection with a May 9th incident at a residence on Old Sheffield Gap Road in the Rockledge community.

According to the report, Lawson stole a gold wedding ring and then allegedly sold it to an individual. That person later returned the ring to the owner. Lawson is also accused of pawning a saddle also stolen from the residence. That saddle was recovered from the pawn shop and returned to the rightful owner by Sheriff's Investigator Shane Hartley.

Lawson was arrested today, and is being held on a $2,500 bond in the James L Hayes Etowah County Detention Center.