Turn left, then right and
head for daylight. Soon, you will
see an opening.

• • •

Read more haiku.

We know who the Birmingham News endorsed in today’s city elections, but who did they endorse in the previous election in 2005?

Here are two lists of 2005 endorsements from the Birmingham News. The names in bold were endorsed both in 2005 and 2009 by the newspaper.

Birmingham city council, by district

1. Chris Cummings
2. Carol Reynolds (now Carol Duncan)
3. Valerie Abbott
4. Maxine Herring Parker
5. Elias Hendricks
   
6. Carole Smitherman
7. Miriam Witherspoon (died in 2009)
8. Steven Hoyt
9. Roderick Royal

For the council, the News is decidedly pro-incumbent and anti-Joel Montgomery (in district 1). They did switch it up, endorsing Lawrence Conaway over two-term District 2 official Carol Duncan.

Birmingham board of education, by district

1. Martha Wixom
2. Virginia Volker
3. Mike Higginbotham (unopposed)
4. Carolyn Cobb
5. Dannetta K. Thornton Owens
6. Willie Maye
7. Odessa Ashley
8. April Williams
9. Phyllis Wyne

For the board, the News’ slate ended up winning every seat in 2005. (This year, district 1’s Wixom isn’t running and district 3’s Higginbotham resigned mid-term.) Of the remaining seven spots, only three were endorsed again.

Update: Complete election results.

So the News likes a majority of the current council and only a third of the current board (which it picked 100 percent) to remain in office. What do you think?
• • •

More Vote 2009 coverage.

Over at ye olde blogging academy, yours truly posts weekly office hours. But I have something special to reveal for this week

A producer at WBHM (90.3 FM) would like to tape an hour of us talking politics, specifically the economic toll that political corruption causes a community. So if you have something to vent on the way Birmingham or Jefferson County has been running, or on today’s election results, here’s your chance.

As demonstrated by my presence, no expertise is required: just a clear speaking voice and some insight into the political mess that is Birmingham and Jefferson County.

This is part of a news series scheduled to air in mid-September.

We’ll be meeting at Starbucks in Five Points South [map] from 4 to 5 p.m. Wednesday. Coffee’s on me, but you must RSVP by noon Wednesday by leaving a comment below. First three to commit will win a spot at the table.

I hope to see you there!

Join us tonight for election results
on Wade on Birmingham.

Update: Joining me for the roundtable will be …

• John Garrett, @garrett98, The Microfit Group
• Adam Martin, @somesoma, Bham.fm
• Martin Weinberg, @ProgressiveElec, The Progressive Electorate

Photo by cpstorm / CC BY 2.0

Birmingham residents to elect city council, school board

Election Day in Birmingham has arrived. At stake are nine city council seats and nine school board seats. Will you throw the bums out, or keep the bums in?

You have until 7 tonight to vote. Runoffs, if needed, take place Oct. 6.

Q: Where do I vote?

A: The answer is a call away. Jefferson County: 325-5550.

Or try AlabamaVotes.gov and click on “Search for My Polling Place.”

Be sure to double check, because many polling places have changed.

Join us tonight for election results
on Wade on Birmingham.

Remember, if you have problems at your polling place:

• Notify a poll worker immediately.
• Obtain a complaint/evaluation form (or download jpgs of pages 1 and 2). Print it, fill it out, copy and mail it.
• Call the state attorney general at 1-800-831-8814 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Wednesday or fill out this online form.
• Call the secretary of state at 1-800-274-VOTE (8683) or visit her site, StopVoterFraudNow.com.
• And tell the probate court for Jefferson County (325-5203).
• Leave a comment below.

Q. Who’s running for city council? For school board?

A. Lists from …

• Bhamwiki
• Caputo Report
• The Terminal

The Birmingham News has bios, interviews, videos with all the candidates in its Guide to Birmingham Elections.

Q. Oh, and what district am I in?

A. Only you can know for certain. Check Bhamwiki’s guide to districts, complete with maps. (Your council and board of education districts are the same.)

Q. Who has been endorsed?

A. For Birmingham City Council …

• • •

For Birmingham Board of Education …

Also:

• Langford promises not to endorse candidates, but does so anyway in recorded calls
• The strange run of Antwon Womack for school board:
  • Media conference video from NBC 13
  • Admits to lying about background / he’s staying in! / he’s quitting! / he’s back in!
• Are anger and apathy driving the vote?

Are you voting? Who has your vote? Sound off in the comments.

• • •

More Vote 2009 coverage.

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. A 30-part series running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 Oct. 19 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

Don Siegelman

Positions held: Alabama’s governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and secretary of state; Vestavia Hills resident after leaving office in 2003.

Wanted for: fraud (2004); bribery, mail fraud and obstruction of justice (2005)

Date of conviction: June 29, 2006, convicted alongside HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy; 2004 trial went nowhere after prosecutors dropped all charges on second day.

Sentence: 7 years 4 months in prison, 3 years probation, $50,000 in fines, $181,325 in restitution and 500 hours community service.

Criminally fun fact: Siegelman served nearly 9 months in a low-security Louisiana federal prison before being released in March 2008 on appeal bond. His case is under review by the House Judiciary Committee and was featured in a February 2008 episode of “60 Minutes.”

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: Don Siegelman
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

Want more Wade on Birmingham?
Subscribe to our free newsletter!

A man can feel small
next to a saint, who feels small
next to a belief.

• • •

Read more haiku.

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. A 30-part series running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 Oct. 19 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

Matthew Cloyd, Russell DeBusk and Benjamin Moseley

Positions held: college students

Wanted for: arson, burglary, conspiracy

Date of conviction: Dec. 20, 2006

Sentence: 8 years in federal prison for Cloyd and Moseley, 7 years in federal prison for DeBusk; 2 years in state prison for all three men; $3.1 million in restitution; 300 hours of community service at the churches

Criminally fun fact: Cloyd and Moseley went on a two-night drunken arson spree in February 2006 that destroyed or damaged nine rural Alabama churches. DeBusk took part on the first night. The three said it started as a joke that escalated out of control. Two firefighters were injured while putting out one of the fires.

DeBusk and Moseley were students at Birmingham-Southern College, while Cloyd had transferred from there to the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Birmingham-Southern established the Alabama Churches Rebuilding and Restoration Fund, which distributed more than $368,000 to the churches.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: Pleasant Sabine Baptist Church and Rehobeth Baptist Church of Lawley
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

Want more Wade on Birmingham?
Subscribe to our free newsletter!

Life is a shipwreck,
but we must not forget to
sing in the lifeboats.

• • •

Read more haiku.

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. A 30-part series running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 Oct. 19 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

Samuel Pettagrue

Positions held: pastor of Sardis Missionary Baptist Church

Wanted for: bribery, conspiracy, mail fraud and money laundering

Date of conviction: Jan. 21

Sentence: 5 years probation, including 1 year of home detention, $366,000 in restitution. Prosecutors, who had sought 14 years imprisonment, voiced disappointment at the sentence, which took into account his numerous health problems.

Criminally fun fact: Pettagrue worked with state senator E.B. McClain, who passed along $760,000 funds to the community program Heritage to Hope Foundation, run by Pettagrue and intended to tutor high school dropouts.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: Samuel Pettagrue
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

Want more Wade on Birmingham?
Subscribe to our free newsletter!

[Share on Facebook | Twitter]

1. welcome to the neighborhood
   It is the hour
   when children devour, lawns
   are cut, and we walk.
2. motivated to stall
   The deadline looms, yet
   the work pile remains. Maybe
   motivation soon.
3. anywhere a classroom
   Wherever a thirst
   for knowledge, a font appears
   to quench with wisdom.

(more…)

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. A 30-part series running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 Oct. 19 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

John Katopodis

Positions held: president of Birmingham city Council; Jefferson County commissioner; chairman of the Birmingham Regional Planning Commission; secretary of the Alabama Republican Party; co-founder of nonprofit organization Computer Help for Kids along with Richard Scrushy and Langford

Wanted for: mail and wire fraud

Date of conviction: July 1

Sentence: To be sentenced Oct. 28. Katopodis, convicted on 97 counts, faces up to 20 years per count and forfeiture of $162,910.

Criminally fun fact: Katopodis wrote a couple of books while at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government: “Resegregation in the South: the Case of Sumter County, Georgia” (1975) and “Pre-school in Sweden: The Formation and Implementation of a National Policy” (1977).

Katopodis was involved in the founding of Southside’s EPIC School and the McWane Science Center, as well as leading the drive for the Alabama School of Fine Arts’ current facility, opened in 1993.

He had a ring made with the Kennedy family crest on it to present to John Kennedy Jr. in 1995. Katopodis hid it in a pouch of Red Man chewing tobacco, telling Kennedy, “It’s redneck Cracker Jack: There’s always a surprise inside.”

His downfall was from spending $250,000 of Computer Help for Kids’ $815,000 in donations.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: John Katopodis
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

Want more Wade on Birmingham?
Subscribe to our free newsletter!

“Hi, I’d like to talk
with someone—” “Yeah, can’t help you,
so please go away.”

• • •

Read more haiku.

Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival updates …

• Awhile back, a long while back, we promised numbers from May’s Birmingham Shout gay/lesbian film festival. Here’s where we stand:

Officials at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival, which runs the annual event, declined repeated requests for revenue figures form the two-day event. Shout festival director Ralph Young said that attendance increased 250 percent from 2008 to 2009, though it’s unclear how he arrived at this figure.

He states that 2009 attendance was 710 (135 on opening night and 575 the following day). In 2008, the one-day festival attracted 285 attendees, but this accounts for only a 149 percent increase. For comparison, the 2009 festival had 13 feature-length films and a shorts block, while 2008 had five films and one short, and 2007 had 14 films and three shorts (over three days).

Ticket prices for 2009 were $20 to $25 for opening night and $20 for all day Saturday, or $12 per film.

Chloe Collins, Sidewalk’s executive director, said:

“The Alabama Moving Image Association [Sidewalk’s umbrella organization] presents numerous events throughout the year (Sidewalk, Shout, Scrambles, Teen Filmmaking Challenge etc.), and each of these events have expenses and incomes, making up the total AMIA budget.

“Like most nonprofit organizations who host multiple events throughout the year, AMIA provides the expense and income information for the entire season, as requested by the various organizations from whom we seek funding and as required by law.”

Other Sidewalk updates:

• The festival launched a three-week Kick the Bucket online fund-raiser with a goal of $10,000. Despite extending the campaign by a week, it appears the effort fell short by a considerable amount. The last update said it had raised $2,861 as of Aug. 31. Update: The campaign raised $5,864.
• Speaking of fund-raisers, Theatre Downtown is donating all proceeds to Sidewalk from its 8 p.m. Sunday performance of “Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.” Performances take place at Birmingham AIDS Outreach, 205 32nd St. S., Ste. 101, Lakeview [map]. Tickets — $17, $12 for senior citizens and students — can be purchased online or by calling (205) 306-1470.
• The schedule, originally to be posted Aug. 10, should be posted Friday on the site, according to today’s e-mail newsletter.
• Lastly, the November Sidewalk Scramble has been moved to this month, with entries to be screened at this year’s festival on Sept. 25-27. Registration, $50, closes 5 p.m. Monday, with competition taking place Aug. 28-30. For more information, visit the Scramble page.

Update Aug. 21: Sidewalk schedule delayed till next week. The word from organizers:

The Sidewalk Staff is pleased to announce that we have secured a new screening venue, giving us a grand total of 8, all located in downtown Birmingham. Because of this exciting development, we are now having to reorganize the official schedule and will not be able to post it today.

In addition, we’ve had some exciting developments with our Opening and Closing Night films, special screenings, and more. So, beginning on Monday, we will be giving you updates every day next week, beginning with the Sidewalk Minute on Fox 6, starting at about 7:50am. Stay tuned to your inbox, sidewalkfest.com, Facebook, and Twitter to stay on top of all things Sidewalk.

To whet your appetite, here’s a sneak peek at some of the films we’ll be showing at Sidewalk:

• “Etienne”
• “Dear Lemon Lima”
• “We Fun”
• “Lightning Salad Moving Picture”
• “Autistic Like”
• “Modern Love is Automatic”

• • •

More Sidewalk coverage.

In August, we’re celebrating Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks, whether they be liars, thieves, extortionists, swindlers or thugs. A 30-part series running daily until Birmingham mayor Larry Langford’s Aug. 31 Oct. 19 federal trial. Thanks to Bhamwiki for helping with this project.

Troy Ingram

Positions held: miner, mechanic, Ku Klux Klan leader

Wanted for: making and planting bombs

Date of conviction: never prosecuted

Sentence: n/a

Criminally fun fact: Ingram met Bob Chambliss while working with the United Mine Workers. The two are assumed to have provided know-how for bomb making for fellow Klan operatives.

Ingram was implicated in several bombings, including the house of Birmingham civil rights attorney Arthur Shores, the 16th Street Baptist Church and a street in Titusville. Debris found from the Titusville bombs matched materials in his garage, and Ingram failed FBI polygraph tests.

He died in 1973 while driving a fire engine for the Cahaba Heights Volunteer Fire Department.

• • •

Additional reading:

• Bhamwiki: Troy Ingram
• Crime Watch
• Meet more of Birmingham’s Biggest Crooks | RSS feed

• • •

Want more Wade on Birmingham?
Subscribe to our free newsletter!

Only two for this
screening. Seat choices galore,
chomping snuck-in snacks.

• • •

Read more haiku.