Rainbow City News

(Rainbow City, AL - July 17, 2010) Local Willie Nelson impersonator and founder/owner of the Rainbow City entertainment center "Willie's Woods," Bob Collins announces the second "Giving Back" benefit concert.

Last year, due to weather conditions, the concert was moved to Center Stage in Rainbow City. But, this year's event will be held August 21 at Willie's Woods located at 199 Friendship Road in Rainbow City. Collins has been working tirelessly to complete his entertainment stage will will feature the ability to be used in an indoor or outdoor configuration when completed.

The event was birthed out of his desire to use his talents, and the talents of several friends to "give back" to children who need the medical attention provided through the St Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

This year's musical line-up includes musicians from all over the south, and a variety of musical styles. Scheduled to appear: The Blackstone Band, It's All Relative, Southern Nites, Kevin Moore, Black Creek Revival, Mercy, Country Case and Rebecca Southern, Evan Walker, Laura Dodd, Smokin Gun, and Matt Owens. In addition, several tribute artists will be featured, including Collins' Willie Nelson tribute. Other tribute artists are Elvis, Michael Jackson and Roy Orbison.

The all day event is scheduled to begin around 11 a.m., with a conclusion around 10:30 p.m. Collins tells GadsdenMetro that plans are being finalized to include the first ever fireworks show in Rainbow City at the conclusion of the event. He says authorization by the city has been approved and the finishing touches on the show are being made.

Admission to the music and entertainment festival is only $10 per person, with children 12 and under free with an accompanying adult.

Concert goers will be able, with proper identification, to come and go from the event. And kids will be entertained by the Kids Zone, featuring a Wild West show by the Hat Creek Cowboys. Also featured in the children's area will be face painting, a magician and other activities.

Hot air balloon rides will also be available for adults. Food vendors will be on hand with hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream, snow cones, ribbon fries and funnel cakes.

Collins says you are encouraged to bring your chairs, but no coolers or pets, please.

All proceeds from the Willie’s Woods “Giving Back” Concert & Festival will go directly to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

(Gadsden, AL - May 19, 2010) One Rainbow City business is trying to help soak up oil being pumped into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of the British Petroleum oil drilling rig disaster off the coast of Louisiana weeks ago.

Planet Doggiewood owner Dave Ancel says his kennel is acting as a collection station for animal and human hair to be used in absorbing oil from the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Ancel is asking other businesses, such as beauty salons, barber shops and pet groomers to help collect the leftover hair for the oil cleanup efforts in Alabama and other gulf coast states.

He compares the project to "Locks of Love," where donors give hair to help make wigs for balding cancer patients.

If you have hair to spare, you can drop it off at Planet Doggiewood on Rainbow Drive, just below the Highway 77 intersection. For more information, contact the kennel at (256) 442-0411.

(Special thanks to WGAD News Director, Scott Chambers for the tip)

Image from Security Camera at Super B Discount Drugs on Rainbow Drive The suspect, identified as Bryan Joshua Sutula, was later apprehended by police at the Traveler's Inn on East Broad Street in Gadsden

(Gadsden, AL - May 13, 2010) Rainbow City Police Department Captain Greg Carroll identifies 34 year old Bryan Joshua Sutula as the suspect arrested for the alleged armed robbery of the Super B Discount Drug Store in Rainbow City.

The robbery was reported to the Rainbow City Police Department around 8:35 a.m., and the suspect was apprehended around 11:30 in Gadsden.

Reports indicated that a white male in his 30's wearing a navy baseball cap and navy jacket, brandishing a semi-automatic handgun had robbed the store of a quantity of oxycontin pills before getting away in a White SUV, described as a Honda Pilot by one eye-witness.

Carroll says the police department went through the security tapes from the cameras at the store and were able to identify the suspect with the help of the store employees, who were held at gunpoint during the robbery.

Once Carroll and other officers were able to identify the suspect, they recognized him from a previous armed robbery arrest in 2007.

He says they were able to track a tag number and vehicle description through the tag department and went to the last known address for Sutula.

Carroll says the residents of the home told officers that Sutula no longer lived in that home, but pointed officers to the Traveler's Inn in East Gadsden.

Police found an SUV matching the description of the getaway vehicle, and knocked on the door of the room given to them by the motel desk manager.

"He opened the door and acted a little surprised that we found him that quickly," Carroll tells GadsdenMetro in a phone interview.

Rainbow City Police booked Sutula, while the Etowah County Sheriff's Office took two other men who were in the motel room into custody. Carroll says the police were also able to confiscate the weapon used in the robbery, as well as most of the pills.

Other agencies involved in the investigation include the Southside and Gadsden Police departments, as well as Etowah County Sheriff's Department and Alabama State Troopers.

(Rainbow City, AL - May 13, 2010) Rainbow City police, along with several other law enforcement agencies are now searching for a suspect involved in a robbery of the Super B Discount Drug Store on Rainbow Drive earlier this morning.

An alarm was sounded and police responded, but not before the suspect was able to get away in a White SUV, intially heading north on Rainbow Drive (Highway 411).

Lt Chase Jenkins of the Rainbow City Police Department describes the suspect as a white male with brown hair and a brown goatee. He was wearing a navy baseball cap, a navy jacket, and sunglasses. The suspect is described as around 5 foot 9 to 5 foot 11 and weighing 165 to 170 pounds. The suspect got away in what police are describing as a White Honda Pilot SUV with no license plate, believed to have headed north on Highway 411 (Rainbow Drive).

Other reports from law enforcement indicate the suspect stole a quantiy of oxycontin at gunpoint.

Rainbow City and Southside Police departments, state troopers, and the Etowah County Sheriff's Departent all responded to the call and the search continues for the suspect at this time.