The best way to provide the citizens of Daleville with full time emergency rescue service was discussed at a second work session on the issue Aug. 16.

“We’ve been fortunate in Daleville over the years to have good (emergency rescue) volunteers, dedicated people who do a good job,” said Daleville City Councilman Allen Souders. “I didn’t realize until recently that we were in a position where we needed to go (full time) paid. I know there have been struggles back and forth over the years but I just wanted to say that our folks are good and have always responded to calls.”

Daleville Mayor Jayme Stayton agreed, adding that “minutes make a difference in someone living or dying” as a primary reason for striving to obtain emergency rescue service for the city seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

“The city of Daleville is growing and it is time for the city to have a full time rescue squad,” Stayton said at the work session Aug. 1. “We need a faster emergency response available for our citizens.”

Two possible options the city could consider were to outsource emergency rescue operations to a private company specializing in such. A second option was for the city of Daleville to incorporate the rescue service into a city department and employrescue staff as city employees.

At the Aug. 1 work session Daleville City Councilman Jimmy Monk, who is on the Daleville Rescue Board, and Daleville Department of Public Safety Assistant Chief David Grubbs, who supervises the emergency rescue volunteers, asked the council to consider hiring rescue staff as city employees with city benefits to include state retirement.

The two presented a preliminary plan of what making the squad a city department would cost the city and were asked by the mayor to come back to the council with a more detailed cost analysis.

At the Aug. 1 meeting Daleville City Attorney Henry Steagall said that he had been researching the issue of a potential agreement with Enterprise Rescue Inc.

Steagall said that the Daleville Rescue Squad has had some difficulty responding to calls in the last few months. “That is what has triggered these discussions,” he said. “As you are seeing, not just in Daleville but everywhere, you just don’t have the number of volunteers you used to.”

Enterprise Rescue is an employee owned, non-profit service operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is a private company and not run by the city of Enterprise. The company provides Advanced Life Support for the cities of Level Plains, New Brockton, Elba and Enterprise and the surrounding communities.

At the work session Aug. 16, Enterprise Rescue Squad Capt. Anthony Cole outlined the services that his service with 85 employees, 10 ambulances

Daleville city operations will open for normal business hours effective Monday, May 4, according to Daleville Mayor Jayme Stayton.

The water department will be drive-through only. The Daleville Public Library will be open but for the safety of the public and employees, there is a limit of 10 people at a time in the library.

The Daleville Recreation Center will remain closed in accordance with Gov. Kay Ivey’s “Safer at Home” order.

The Windham Elementary School Sixth Grade teachers for the 2019-20 school year from left, are Ashley Davis, Olivia Laaker, Tracey Odom, Jacquelin Hines and Cassidy Mulcahy. WES is a Pre-K through sixth grade “Leader In Me” school, using the comprehensive-school improvement model that empowers students with the leadership and life skills they need to thrive in life. Davis is a Troy-Dothan education major who will graduate in December. Mulcahy and Laaker are first year teachers. Odom has been employed with DCS for six years and Hines for 12. “They never leave our hearts,” Odom said about WES sixth grade students. The other teachers agree.

“A man sent from heaven blessed by the Best,” was honored during the 25th Annual Peace Parade held Saturday, Jan. 26, in Daleville.

People of all ages participated in the three-mile walk that began near the Fort Rucker gate and ended at the Daleville Christian Fellowship Worship Center.

“We are here to honor a man who fought for economic and social justice,” said Master of Ceremonies Robert Bender at the program held in memory of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the Daleville Christian Fellowship Worship Center following the parade. “We are here because of his struggles but I assure you the struggle is not over,” Bender said.

The Daleville Christian Fellowship Worship Center Mass Choir, the Chapter 7 singers from Elba and a solo/liturgical dance by Jessica Smith and Sharon McDole were among the performances during the program.

Elder Cedric Smith delivered the invocation, Deaconess Carolyn Logan delivered the welcome, Zakiyyah McKinney explained the purpose of the event, Jakerion Ware did an inspirational reading and Archbishop Carl McComb gave the closing remarks and benediction.

Retired NASA executive James Jennings was keynote speaker at the program. “Look where he brought us from: From darkness to light,” was the theme of the program honoring the legacy of the slain civil rights leader.

“The theme this year is ‘Just look where he brought us from,’” Daleville Mayor Jayme Stayton told those attending the program at the church on Martin Luther King Circle. “That means not just Dr. King, but the Lord.

“It’s our responsibility to make sure that we move forward, not backward,” Stayton said. “This country is not fully where Dr. King wanted it and I don’t know if it will ever be because you are always going to have hate and there is always going to be racism in this country no matter how hard we try to change that.”

Tolerance and social justice begin with each individual, Stayton stressed. “But we can continue to teach and help the future generations to understand where this country was and we are at today,” Stayton said. “It is okay to turn your head and look back to the past in order to know what not to do again but never turn around and walk toward the past, always move forward.

“If we can do that then Dr. King’s legacy will never be ‘in the dark.’ It will always be ‘in the light,’” Stayton said. “Right now his legacy is shining with us but if we don’t pass it on, it may dim.

“But if it’s not shining then the devil can get in because the devil doesn’t like the light,” he added. “So it must shine like a bright beacon because if it’s not, then everything Dr. King worked for was for nothing. “What he taught us wasn’t just for the ‘then.’ It’s for the ‘now’ and for the ‘forever,’’ Stayton said. “And I’m not going to let it go out on my watch.”

The Daleville High School Chapter of the Senior National Honor Society Officers conducted the new member indication ceremony held Friday, Jan. 18, at the DHS library. Participating in the ceremony are, from left, DLS NHS Officers Danielle Jackson, Lauren Dorminey, Paige Henderson, Phaybein Green Christopher Roblez and DHS NHS Sponsor Roni Gilley.