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(11/01/14 4:00pm)
The Auburn Water Works Board has begun demolition of two water towers that are no longer useful to the water system, according to the city of Auburn.
Demolition of the tank located on Armstrong Street, built in the 1930s, and the tank located on East University Drive, built in the 1970s, is scheduled to be complete by December.
"Both tanks have been out of service for a number of years and aren't needed in the current water system," said public affairs director David Dorton. "The cost of rehabilitation would exceed the cost of replacement."
The East University Drive water tank has been out of service for four years because of byproduct accumulation, according to Eric Carson, director of the Water Resource Management Department.
When the 2-million-gallon water tank was in service, the water wasn't being used and replaced fast enough to avoid high concentrations and buildup of byproducts by Environmental Protection Agency regulation.
"Back when that tank was built in the 1970s, byproducts were not a big issue or something that they (the EPA) really regulated," Carson said. "Today, it's a big deal, and that tank is just not suitable for today's regulations."
The tank on Armstrong Street has been rehabilitated in the past to ensure water quality.
Over the years, however, the metal of the tank has thinned because of the different rehabilitation techniques.
According to Carson, the cost for rehabilitation did not match the benefits,
The Water Board made the decision to remove the two water tanks after years of studying the impact of removal through a water quality model.
Another factor taken into consideration was the aesthetic value of the historic water tanks, especially the tank on Armstrong.
Since the days Auburn University was known as Alabama Polytechnic Institute, the Armstrong water tank could be seen overlooking Pine Hill Cemetery.
The city's name has since been put on the tank in capital orange and blue block letters that stand taller than most buildings in the city.
"It does have some nostalgic value there," Carson said. "But it's just one of those things that is a liability. You just can't leave it up there. You've got to keep water in it or else if a storm comes through and hits the tank, it could actually be blown over if it isn't full."
Neither the board nor the city has heard complaints about taking down the water tanks.
"It was a tough decision because I'm a history buff," Carson said. "I love that stuff and it means a lot to me. We did not take this decision lightly."
Auburn currently has enough water tanks to satisfy demand, and the removal of the tanks will not require Auburn to become more dependent on Opelika for their water needs, according to Carson.
"The main thing is we are trying to improve water quality in the system, and we are trying to manage the board's assets wisely," Carson said. "We are looking out for the best interests of our customers."
(10/29/14 4:30pm)
Billy Jackson opened the door to the entrance bay of Opelika Fire Station No. 2 like he did many summer nights while working for the Opelika fire department in the late 1980s.
Alone and awake in the common room after the rest of the crew had gone to bed, Jackson heard a clang of metal on concrete coming from the entrance bay feet away. The sound was best compared to the sound of a metal folding chair being slammed onto the floor, Jackson said.
He walked out to investigate himself, but there were no metal folding chairs, no fallen pieces of equipment, nothing. Yet Jackson says to this day the sound was as concrete as the ground in the entrance bay.
Jackson had heard stories about unexplainable sounds and sightings before he began working with the fire department in 1985. He swapped stories with the people he worked with until he changed jobs in 1990, and he is still a familiar face around fire department headquarters 24 years later. And 24 years later, the number of stories about paranormal activity at the station has grown.
Fire Station No. 2's double-engine garage and living quarters have sat next to the East Alabama Medical Center on Pepperell Parkway since the 1960s. The red-brick building tucked behind a long driveway and manicured lawn is easy to miss next to the large hospital next door on the road serving as an artery connecting Auburn and Opelika.
In his black work boots, navy pants and black fire department t-shirt with a pink breast cancer awareness month emblem, Capt. Brent Stephens recalled his own paranormal stories about Fire Station No. 2.
"I don't believe in ghosts, but it's something strange," Stephens said. "I've seen something that looked just like a person."
Stephens has personally witnessed lights and TVs turning on or off and doors being opened, but it was a figure he saw more than 10 years ago that confirmed his suspicions about the old fire station.
Watching TV after the other men on duty had gone to bed, Stephens saw what he described as a man who looked "like Abraham Lincoln," in period clothes of a top hat and a tailed coat.
Since then Stephens has heard stories about men seeing a girl in the fetal position on the farthest bed from the door, and men waking up to briefly catch a glimpse of people watching the fire fighters sleep.
Stephens has also seen a paranormal team of ghost hunters set up their tent and equipment at the station and write a report confirming paranormal activity coming from a little girl. Fire Chief Terry Adkins still has the report.
After Jackson left the Opelika fire department, he stayed in the city he was born and raised in. He worked for the hospital, was the Spring Villa caretaker with Parks and Recreation, did photography for Opelika-Auburn News, earned a degree in public relations at 40-years-old from Auburn University in 2004 and currently works as membership director at the Opelika Sportsplex.
His office is covered with Auburn University memorabilia ranging from bobble heads to a four-colored Aubie painting in the style of Andy Warhol's pop art. Through all of his jobs in the city he has grown an understanding of the people and places that local haunted lore celebrates.
Jackson's description on the validity of ghost stories in the area echoes that of Alabama paranormal researcher Faith Serafin in that it is something you need to see to believe, and his beliefs follow what many of the people in local haunts have said over The Plainsman's month-long exploration of allegedly haunted places.
"I think there is something there, but I don't know what," Jackson said. "I'll say I have a healthy respect."
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(10/24/14 12:00pm)
Following the trail through the woods and over two hills past the grave of Penn Yonge, the ghost who allegedly haunts Spring Villa Mansion, Faith Serafin and her team of paranormal investigators walked onto an ancient Native American gravesite.
They came armed with a collection of ancient Muscogee Native American words found in old history books.
The Muscogee-Creek language has been nearly lost in the years following the tribe's removal during the Trail of Tears. Only an estimated 5,000 people speak the language today, largely in the Muscogee Creek Nation in Oklahoma.
Speaking these words, Serafin believes, invoked a string of bad luck on her and her team after they left the gravesite.
The nearby lime and quartz quarries that built Yonge's fortune in the 1850s are visable in the area. Small shards of quartz crystal can still be found scattered across the ground, shimmering in the sunlight.
Minerals, especially lime, quartz and granite, store and release energy from the area, said Serafin. Concentrations of quartz are used in electronics to store energy, and one of Serafin's theories is this same quality can store the energy of spirits as well.
(10/15/14 12:00pm)
The town of Loachapoka will be welcoming approximately 20,000 people, Oct. 18, for the 43 annual Syrup Sopping and Lee County Historical Society Fair.
With a permanent population under 200 people, there will be more than a 99 percent increase in visitors from around the Southeast. There were even visitors from Hawaii and Alaska in 2010, according to the Syrup Sopping's website.
Loachapoka, a name meaning "turtle sitting place" in Native American Muscogee Creek language, was a busy trading location in the 1800s. As Auburn and Opelika saw an increase in their population, the regional economic importance of Loachaoka fell.
Loachapoka turned to agriculture, part of which was Alabamian sorghum and cane sugar. The climate was too cold for the sugar to be sold commercially, but the weather did permit locals to grow enough of the crop to make home-made syrup.
Little has changed since the Syrup Sop began, says Mathan Holt, one of two organizers that have seen the Syrup Sop grow first hand from what it was 43 years ago.
"Most of the people that have worked at the Syrup Sop and promoted the Syrup Sop and all the people that go into putting it together has changed since the start," Holt said. "Basically everything else is about the same."
The Ruritan Club and Ladies Improvement Club of Loachapoka held the first Syrup Sop in 1972 to honor that syrupy history. Both clubs are still major contributors today and use the profits from the event to preserve local history.
The event has evolved into one of two major events held in the small town. This year there is bluegrass music and biscuits and sausage served by Hardee's.
Across the street, a separate event is hosted by the Lee County Historical Society. That fair will host people practicing traditional trades like blacksmiths, potters and soap makers.
"Most folks have never seen anything like this," Holt said. "I can almost guarantee you, unless you grew up on a farm where your parents or grandparents did something like this, you're going to see a lot of things you've never seen before."
Holt encourages students to come out and experience something new in Loachapoka.
"For some people it's intriguing, some people aren't interested in it," Holt said. "But it's very, very educational."
(10/17/14 12:00pm)
A bright flash of light like a fireball shot down the front stairwell of the Whitfield-Duke-Searcy House five years ago. Three women working with the city of Opelika witnessed the light and remember the event vividly, but it is just one of the many stories people working in the house tell when asked about the ghost of the house.
Vivian Anthony, administrative assistant for the Opelika Chamber of Commerce; Cindy Pugh, sales manager for Auburn Opelika Tourism Bureau; and Tipi Miller, director of Keep Opelika Beautiful; have all been working in the house for at least eight years.
"Everyone is excited about it, and everyone has a story," Pugh said about the ghost in the house.
Built in 1895, by the John Whitfield family, the house has been repurposed several times. The Duke family, then the Searcy family, owned the house. In 1979, First Alabama Bank bought it for their Opelika office. Then, in 1988, the city of Opelika bought the house to serve as the city's chamber of commerce.
Today the house has been refurbished, but it stays true to the original design.
The downstairs bedrooms, once for guests, have transformed into offices and meeting rooms. The dining room still has a table, but it is a long oval with enough seats for city meetings instead of family dinners.
Two leaded glass windows with yellow and red are original to the house, and cast multi-colored lights on the front stairwell and greeting room like windows from an old church.
Upstairs, the original family sleeping quarters has been repainted like the rest of the house and converted into office buildings. It is in these offices the legend of the child ghost is the strongest.
The middle room on the left side of the building, where the Keep Opelika Beautiful office is today, was once the children's room.
In the early 1900s, Pugh said, a young girl died of a sickness believed to be hay fever.
Those working at the office speculated about the death, but over the years, there have been cousins and distant family members from the Whitfield, Duke and Searcy families who have come into the building just to tell the tales told to them about their relatives. Several of them mention the death of a child, said Pugh and Anthony.
Approximately five years ago, Pugh noticed indentations of footprints would regularly appear on the back staircase. After being cleaned off, Pugh said, the footprints about the size of a five-year-old would come back in the same manner.
They always stopped at the fifth step, and they always were two by two, as if a child was jumping up the stairs.
Miller believes the footprints could have been from the daughter of the cleaner who no longer works there, but the consistency with which they used to appear makes Pugh question that theory.
Another visible sign before the house was remodeled appeared in the bathroom directly below the allegedly haunted room. Water damage formed in the silhouette of a girl, like one that would be cut out in grade school, said Pugh. When the house was remodeled, it disappeared, but it is now starting to come back.
Other paranormal stories include a painter who claims he felt he was pushed while painting the outside of the room the child allegedly died in, chairs rolling across the top floor despite there being only one person working downstairs and piles of phone books scattering themselves and falling.
One night, while Anthony was at the house by herself, working late, a man knocked on the door of the chamber building. She let him in and they took a couple steps back from the door, right below the stairwell that the fireball of light allegedly went through.
They were standing about four feet from each other when an 8x11 piece of paper floated down from upstairs and landed exactly in the middle of them. The man ran out of the door, and Anthony shut the door, sat back down and kept working. Her family said maybe it was some sort of a sign protecting her.
"I've never felt scared from everything that goes on," Anthony said. "Besides the painter, nothing that has happened seems aggressive."
However, every Friday afternoon, Anthony gets the "feeling of something really wanting you out of here."
The webpage about the chamber encourages people to ask about the ghost. One mention to either Pugh or Anthony at the front office will draw a crowd of women who work at the office eager to talk about their personal experiences.
Dramatic fireballs of light are rare, but a visit at the right time may give an outsider the chance to witness hard to explain mischief themselves.
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(10/14/14 3:00pm)
The East Alabama Male College, which later became Auburn University, closed down during the Civil War. The campus was used as a training ground for Confederate soldiers, and the Auburn University Chapel, in the same location today on the corner of Thach Avenue and College Street, was used as a hospital for wounded soldiers.
After the Confederacy was broken up, the campus was again used as a university. One dead Confederate soldier, however, allegedly refused to leave the former hospital he died in.
According to legend, Sydney Grimlett was a British soldier fighting for the Confederacy. He died in the chapel after a failed amputation of an infected leg, and was buried in Pine Hill Cemetery. The chapel was used by Auburn's theater department in the 1900s, and actors would blame unexplained problems with missing props or scripts on Sydney.
His legend was passed down, and it is still told today to student actors and freshmen at Camp War Eagle.
"I think it's interesting because it portrays the natural human side of wanting to see something supernatural," said John Morsom, freshman in history.
He heard about the haunting at Camp War Eagle, but said he doesn't necessarily believe the legend.
The chapel is the second oldest building on campus, and the oldest building in its original location. Over the years, it has been used as a church, a hospital, a classroom and theater before serving as the church it is today.
The building is locked, but open to the public with a reservation through Auburn's reservation department and a $20 deposit. From the raised stoop leading to the front door, Samford and Toomer's Corner can be seen over the wall in the courtyard.
The tan shuttered windows and locked front doors discourage college students walking to and from the downtown bars from organizing their own tours.
Inside, the sound of yells and laughter from the sidewalk can be heard. Loud motors from trucks accelerating past the four-way intersection sound loud enough to be heard on the church stage next to the pipe organ facing the metal framed, blue cushion chairs lined up in swayed rows. Lights illuminated every corner of the main floor, stairway and balcony.
Faith Serafin, author and Alabama paranormal investigator, investigated the chapel with the Alabama Paranormal Research Team. Throughout the night they spent on location, numerous inconclusive signals were picked up by their equipment.
As they left, however, they heard water from the sink in the women's bathroom being turned on and off.
"The biggest thing that I can tell you, as far as a paranormal investigator goes, is that you can have all the equipment in the world," Serafin said. "The best cameras, thousands of dollars of thermal gear, military grade everything and for you to go somewhere and have an experience with your own senses, not that you could capture, that's when you have a tendency to believe a little bit more what might actually happen there."
As the University expanded, the chapel was renovated and the theater department moved to the Telfair Peet Theatre on the opposite side of Auburn's campus. Sydney allegedly followed.
Robin Jaffe, associate professor of theater and production manager and faculty technical director for Auburn's theater department, came to Auburn in 1992. Then, the legend of Sydney in the Telfair Peet Theatre was alive.
Jaffe can't say whether he has seen or heard Sydney himself, but a tradition of leaving Reese's peanut butter cups and Skittles on the catwalks before shows has kept Sydney's meddling with the actors at bay.
If the stage managers don't follow tradition, something will go wrong.
"Sometimes it's the students, sometimes it's Sydney," Jaffe said.
Scripts and props go missing, and there is a bin of shoes where only one in the pair could be found. According to legend, Sydney takes the other shoe for his leg that wasn't amputated.
One professor, in 2008, decided it was time for students to take responsibility for their mistakes instead of blaming Sydney and performed an exorcism that allegedly made Sydney leave. That professor left, and the legend of Sydney continues despite the fact that "the ants have taken more candy than the ghost," said Jaffe.
Serafin said her team would like to return to try and find more about Sydney, but until then, the legend of Sydney will be passed down from the older theater members to the newer.
"Any story created helps build a camaraderie," Jaffe said. "There's always a history everywhere you go."
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(10/02/14 5:37pm)
Al Greco, 83, still helps operate APSCO Appliance Center in Clearwater, Florida. When he started the business 43 years ago, he helped move large appliances into customers' homes. Open six days a week, Greco gave his personal number to customers and encouraged them to call whenever they needed anything, store hours or not.
Now Greco has expanded to three stores and a service center, but a quick downward spiral of events since the financial downturn has put his family business in hot water. His daughter, Auburn alumna Laura Greco, 43, is reaching out to the Auburn Family through social media for help.
Jeremy Henderson, editor of The War Eagle Reader, has seen the rise of Auburn alumni reaching out through different social media platforms first hand. People connected to Auburn reach out to Henderson and his publication regularly to help spread the message of a cause they are promoting.
Henderson's Twitter account, @wareaglereader is punctuated with retweets and mentions of members of the Auburn Family looking to reach a wider audience.
Laura admits she is in unchartered territory when it comes to asking for help over social media. A friend of hers in the public relations field mentioned websites like Kickstarter and GoFundMe as a way of raising funds anonymously and from people you know. Laura set up an account and tweeted the link from her personal Twitter account, directing her call for help towards the people she knew she could count on; the Auburn Family.
"I think that there's definitely a stronger bond reaching out to Auburn people or the Auburn Family with social media because of the nature of it," Henderson said.
Both The War Eagle Reader and War Blogle retweeted Laura's tweet, which read, "Hey Auburn Fam., I need help ASAP 2save my parents business. Can u help me get 3,000 people 2donate $10? #shoplocal..." and included a link to the GoFundMe page.
(10/03/14 6:00pm)
Theft on Auburn University's campus has decreased by 8 percent, according to Capt. Lorenza Dorsey of the Auburn Police Division.
According to current records of theft reported to the Auburn Police Division, theft from cars and buildings have decreased in comparison to the same window of time during last year's football season.
"It's just the increase of patrol," Dorsey said. "We've got officers actually dedicated to patrolling certain areas they are responsible for. We've got bike officers and officers in cars and officers on foot patrol in previous areas we had issues in that we're focusing on in addition to other areas, which resulted in less thefts than we've had in previous years."
Director of public affairs David Dorton credits citizen surveys and identifying new problems to the decrease in theft.
"I don't think it's a funding issue, so much as it's just a good policing issue," Dorton said.
The division operates on a two-year budget, and the public safety department allocates money based on where they see a need, according to Dorton.
Public Safety director Bill James also credits good police work and operations by the police division for the decrease in theft.
"I think one of the biggest things, as far as reduction in thefts, is the officers working more diligently to make contact with anyone who looks suspicious, anything out of the ordinary and making those contacts," James said. "When you do that, you do come across people who are where they shouldn't be or have taken something that didn't belong to them."
James said the foot patrol, officers on bikes and T3 Patrollers, the three wheeled vehicles seen on campus, are more efficient on campus
Last year, the Auburn Police Division made 3,060 arrests and investigated 1,523 cases reported in the city, according to city records.
According to James, adjusting the budget to fit future trends is an ongoing activity.
"As the city continues to grow and our population grows, we do look at trends to see what's needed," James said.
Dorsey said he does not currently believe any area on campus is a high-risk area for theft.
"We're going to have the occasional thefts," Dorsey said. "Those are going to occur, but we take measure to prevent and also take measures to apprehend those responsible for those thefts."
Even though theft has decreased, James said there are several habits students should develop in order to limit their own risk of theft.
"We do a great job of protecting things, but we need citizens to help themselves as well," James said.
James gives advice to students.
"My best advice for students to protect themselves and their possessions is, No. 1, in vehicles, do not leave them out in sight. The other thing is to lock your vehicle, because a lot of the thefts we have are taken from vehicles that are not locked."
(10/06/14 1:30pm)
Standing in the shadows of the haunted Spring Villa Mansion on Tuesday night, eight gun shots went off somewhere in the woods.
I don't believe in ghosts, and I'm always skeptical about paranormal activity. But as the padlock to the mansion door unlocked with a click, chills went up my back. The gun shots made me look over my shoulder, but the allegedly haunted house made the hair on my back stand up.
It was possible I was chilled on the first night under 70 degrees since summer began, but it was also possible that constantly reassuring myself on the 20-minute car ride wasn't enough of a morale booster to escape feeling a little spooked.
I will be going to more allegedly haunted houses every week in October. They are all nearby, some are even near Auburn's campus.
None of them however, are in the clearly defined Auburn bubble.
I had never spent time in the South before I left my home in California four years ago for the red brick buildings of Auburn University.
I knew it would be different, and I wanted to experience every difference there is between the central coast of California and small town Alabama.
However, the Auburn bubble is hard to escape.
I joined a fraternity, one of the best choices I have ever made, and I went through the motions of college life at Auburn.
I went to the same bars every week, ate at the same places-usually Chipotle-and talked to the same groups of people.
Then I joined The Plainsman's community section in the fall of last year, and I was able to see past the framework of ideas and activities that make up nearly every Auburn student's life.
Downtown Opelika is experiencing a cultural revival of food and art. The people leading the charge are drawing in talented artists and creating an atmosphere of creativity that will keep growing.
The John Emerald Distilling Company is distilling liquor and is willing to give you free private tours of the process after tastings.
Listening to John and Jimmy Sharp describe how they left a stable family business in Montgomery in order to follow their passions made me question my own choices.
The longest urban whitewater rafting course in the world is only 45 minutes away in Columbus, Georgia. They also have a zip line from the Georgia banks to the Alabama banks of the Chattahoochee River, where you can see rafters taking on the class five rapids from 100 feet in the air.
A little bit of digging into what is going on in the community opens doors and offers new opportunities.
College is about taking a chance on new things because there may not be another time to do it.
There is so much more to the Auburn area than Auburn University, and it is just waiting to be explored. All that needs to happen is popping the Auburn bubble.
(10/03/14 12:00pm)
Jeff Pokorney thumbed through his set of keys to unlock the thick padlock keeping the doors to Spring Villa Mansion closed to the public.
The front of the house facing the street doesn't have electricity, but the dim streetlight from the back gives just enough light to see through the windows of the allegedly haunted house.
Pokorney is the caretaker of Spring Villa Mansion, located on the outskirts of Opelika, two miles past the "Road may be subject to sudden catastrophic sinkhole collapse" sign on County Road 148.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places as being built in 1850, the house was owned by businessman Penn Yonge. Yonge's land surrounding the house was a cultural center in eastern Alabama with a horse track, a lake with a small island and glass-bottom boats.Today, the house has become the cultural center of a local legend.
The house is allegedly haunted by the ghost of Yonge, or by two small children who drowned in the lake in the early 1900s, depending on who is telling the story.
"The story behind it was that he was mean to his slaves, and one night one of his slaves was up in a cubbyhole in the staircase," Pokorney said. "I've heard different versions that he cut his head off or that he stabbed him to death."
The small cubbyhole is located in the middle of the spiral staircase above the 13 stair. According to legend, a deep red bloodstain from Yonge's murder comes back despite different layers of paint on the cracked step.
Pokorney admits he hasn't seen any stains in the 18 years he has been caretaker.
Growing up in Lee County, Faith Serafin, paranormal investigator and author, heard stories that were passed down through her family about the Spring Villa Mansion. This particular haunting was also one of her first serious paranormal investigations.
"There were always camper stories that were told there and the legend of Spring Villa," Serafin said. "Which is a legend, but we as a paranormal team were about to get out there and figure out some of what was legend and some of what was the truth."
Over the years, the story has changed, said Serafin. According to her research, the current tale of Yonge being murdered by a slave originated around the 1940s. Yonge's gravesite, one half-mile across the road from Spring Villa lists his death in 1879, 14 years after the end of the Civil War.
On the other side of the yellow sign there is a warning about catastrophic sinkholes. According to Pokorney, the Villa Bar is where "the beer is cold and stories are told."
Owner Billy Allen, 64, grew up near Spring Villa and remembers being told similar haunting stories throughout his childhood. Before the house was closed to the public, Allen's wife's side of the family would have family reunions and sleep at the house.
Every Labor Day for 15 years, the younger family members would stay up all night playing instruments and telling ghost stories. But the haunted part, Allen said, was always just for the kids.
Legend or not, Serafin claims paranormal activity was recorded during her investigation.
In a video of the investigation, the faint sound of a piano key is heard while Serafin is in the upstairs bedroom once occupied by Yonge and his wife. The house doesn't have any instruments in either the main building or the second portion of the house.
After recording the sound, Serafin was speaking with an administrator from Opelika Parks and Recreation about the area.
The administrator told her a story about a Boy Scout camp leader known as Magic Mike. He had gone back into the house to retrieve a few items left by a camper, but after several minutes he still hadn't come out.
Another camp leader went into the house to find Mike sitting on the floor, petrified. He claimed he saw a man sitting at a piano and actually playing it.
"He explained that he could actually hear the notes and see that it was there," Serafin said. "When he looked again it just dissipated, and it scared him so bad that he literally just froze."
Other tales include construction workers suddenly being overcome with nausea while standing on the 13th stair and fully charged batteries suddenly going dead or stop working.
One explanation Serafin gives is stored energy from Native Americans, the Yonge family and others is trapped in the plentiful quartz and limestone in the area. At certain times, it is released.
"That's one way we can interact with them," Serafin said. "It would be hard for me to say, yes, this is something supernatural because I can't honestly tell you, yes, I've seen a ghost. I've just had experiences that came into play."
Legends will continue to grow about the area as time progresses. Each person's own version of truth is shaped by their own experiences.
"I tell everybody the best piece of equipment you can have is your own sense," Serafin said. "It will never lead you astray."
The Plainsman will be investigating a different local haunted location every week in October. Read next week's edition to learn more about the alleged ghosts living near you.
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(09/30/14 12:33am)
Surveillance footage from the University Heights shooting was shown to jurors on Monday, Sept. 29, in the Desmonte Leonard murder trial.
Jurors viewed footage from the night of June 9, 2012 of a group of party goers scatter and run apparently due to gunshots being fired at them. The video was the same one showed at a preliminary hearing on July 11, 2012, and showed Eric Mack and John Robertson fall to the ground then help each other up and walk out of view. However, the video did not show the shooter.
Andrew Belter, a leasing agent at the complex formerly known as University Heights, now called Tiger Lodge, was called by the prosecution to walk jurors through each of the 10 cameras and the view they showed.
Belter also testified he was a resident of the complex at the time and heard the shots.
Both Robertson and Mack survived the shooting, but Robertson was shot in the head and faced life threatening injuries, according to testimony from Dr. Allen Moore who was working at the East Alabama Medical Center (EAMC) emergency room on the night of the shooting.
Robertson underwent brain surgery to remove the bullet from the right side of his head near his temple, according to testimony from Dr. Robert Brunner who specializes in traumatic brain injury with the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Leonard is charged with the capital murder of former Auburn football Players Ladarious Phillips, Ed Christian and DeMario Pitts of Opelika.
Leonard is also charged with attempted murder and assault.
Defense attorneys for Leonard are claiming the shooting was in self-defense citing the Alabama stand your ground law.
"I think it defies logic to think that out of the hundred plus people out there, that there was only one gun in that crowd," defense attorney Susan James said.
Kenneth Johnson, an EMT working with the EAMC at the time of the incident, said he helped Ladarious Phillips when he arrived at University Heights.
Johnson said Phillips was under a walkway and had difficulty breathing because of his injuries. He became combative in the ambulance and required hand restraints. Phillips' breathing and vital signs flat lined before he arrived at the hospital, according to Johnson.
Levi Richardson, an advanced EMT with the EAMC, was directed to work on DeMario Pitts when he arrived at University Heights. Pitts had a gunshot wound on his left abdomen, but was seated and responsive when Richardson arrived.
Pitts' condition deteriorated on the ambulance ride to the hospital and became unresponsive on the way, according to Richardson.
Bill Harris, Lee County coroner, was notified of three victims before he arrived at University Heights on the night of the incident. Two of them, Phillips and Pitts, were at the hospital.
The third victim, Ed Christian, was pronounced deceased at the scene of the crime. He was originally found lying face down, but was turned over before Harris arrived.
Robert Sewell, a detective for the Auburn Police Department from 2008-2012, was also brought to the witness stand.
Sewell arrived at the scene shortly after the patrol officers and helped collect evidence. One piece of evidence was a bullet found in the wall.
Sewell was also responsible for access to the evidence room, and verified a Glock 22 .40 caliber pistol and a broken Seagram's Gin 1.75 liter glass bottle as evidence collected for this case.
James acknowledged the value of the glass bottle, but questioned whether it was the bottle actually used in the fight before the shooting.
"We don't know at this point who had the bottle," James said. "But I think that it is evidence of what was going on out there when this incident occurred."
(09/26/14 7:30pm)
In the upper seating section of Beef O'Brady's, four people rumble the seats with their foot tapping and Irish session music as the Atlanta Braves play the Washington Nationals on a projector and surrounding TVs.
There are more seats open than a usual Tuesday, but that doesn't stop Scott Miller, Diane Hite, James Goldstein and Auburn history professor Ralph Kingston from playing traditional Irish session music like they do every Tuesday from 7:30 p.m. to midnight.
The group has been playing together since 2004. The sessions are open to anyone who is interested in playing with them, and the number of people playing varies from three to six.
"We don't necessarily care about the audience, we just want some people to come and play music," Kingston said. "That's the point."
Kingston came to Auburn to teach from Cork County, Ireland. He plays the banjo, the flute and the tin whistle.
Irish music sessions are held around the world, and Hite said they are similar in songs and style from Ireland to Columbus, Ohio, to Auburn.
Miller, of Opelika, began playing Irish music in garages. Eventually, he started playing in groups at the Olde Auburn Ale House. After the Ale House closed, Beef O'Brady's took advantage of one of Auburn's only Irish culture groups.
"It's a great relationship," said manager Russell Woodham. "Being an Irish sports bar, it's nice that we have authentic Irish music playing once a week."
Irish music sessions are different than many informal music gatherings. Sheet music exists, but players don't use it while they play.
"They are dance tunes with a strong beat," Hite said. "Some of the tunes are old or passed on. It's an oral tradition mostly learned by ear, so by and large, we just know the tunes we play."
Kingston plays a few notes on his tin whistle, an instrument he said Irish children learn when they are young because of its cheap cost. Hite and Goldstein then start playing their fiddles and Miller strums his Irish bouzouki, which is similar to a large mandolin.
Kingston's straight shoulder-length hair bobs as all four members' feet pound a beat. Conversations, eating and drinking come second whenever the beginning of a tune is heard.
An Irish music session resembles bluegrass music. The main difference is that bluegrass has improvisations, whereas Irish session music lacks both solos and improvisations, according to Goldstein.
"I've been here many years and never thought there could be an Irish session because there was no real community," Goldstein said.
Beef O'Brady's is helping to support this small piece of Irish culture.
"It makes Auburn more like a college town," Kingston said. "There's always supposed to be something going on in a college town."
Nestled in between a wall and a window in the top corner of the restaurant, the players don't think twice about the small crowd listening at the bar.
They are there to enjoy playing music and each other's company. Authenticity, rare in chain restaurants, is just an unintended consequence.
"We like to cater to all types of college kids and families," Woodham said. "We're a sports bar, but also an Irish sports bar. We try to be as authentic as we can and provide a good atmosphere for anyone who wants to come."
(09/23/14 12:25am)
Jury selection began on Monday, Sept. 22, for the Desmonte Leonard murder trial in Opelika.
Leonard is charged with the killing of DeMario Pitts and former Auburn football players Ladarious Phillips and Ed Christian on June 9, 2012 at University Heights, now known as Tiger Lodge.
Judge Jacob A. Walker oversaw the Lee County courtroom as 102 potential jurors answered questions from District Attorney Robert Treese and defense attorney Susan James.
Walker began by instructing the potential jurors to declare if they or their family members worked or had retired from Auburn University.
About a quarter of the potential jurors raised their hand.
The potential jurors were asked to give reasons why they thought they should be excused.
"I got two reasons, I believe in God and I can't judge nobody," said one potential juror. "[The other reason] I got no ride."
Ten potential jurors were excused from duty.
Questions asked by Walker, Treese and James to screen potential jurors revealed certain trends among those selected for jury duty.
Of the 92 potential jurors left remaining after the lunch recess, 20 said they had not heard anything about the case.
Walker mentioned the trial could take two to three weeks, and 30 potential jurors said serving the length of the trial would cause hardship.
Leonard allegedly used a semi-automatic pistol against the victims.
Forty-two potential jurors said they own a semi-automatic pistol.
If Leonard is found guilty of capital murder, he may face the death penalty.
Fifteen potential jurors expressed they have views against the death penalty.
These and many other questions will be used to lessen the number of potential jurors over the next two days to create an unbiased 12 person jury.
James said she was waiting to hear more from potential jurors before deciding on whether to ask for a change of venue.
"It's really too early to tell," James said, "I was shocked that there were so many people that knew and I was shocked that there were a good many people that had never heard anything about it."
(09/20/14 4:00pm)
Behind the closed doors of a home in an Auburn neighborhood, a new business opportunity is being discovered.
Cindy Thrash opens her double oven in her spotless, white, monogrammed apron and sticks a toothpick in two angel food cakes. A few moist crumbs stick to the wooden toothpick.
She shuts the door and puts five more minutes on the timer.
A baked frosting marshmallow brownie sits on the counter; two whole wheat banana bread loaves are cooling next to it.
The mixer is taking a break after making an old chocolate chip cookie recipe passed down on Thrash's mother's side of the family.
The kitchen is in full-production mode by day, and except for the size and the location in the middle of Thrash's home, the kitchen resembles a commercial baking kitchen, with high-end thermometers, scales and a drawer full of different aprons.
Thrash is operating under Alabama's new Cottage Food Law, which became active in June.
She's not the only one.
Since that time, the Alabama Cooperative Extension System (ACES) has had nine agents across the state training more than 200 people to safely sell food from their homes, according to Jean Weese, food safety, preparation and production extension agent for ACES.
The idea for the law began several years ago when two legislators in south Alabama had constituents who wanted to sell non-hazardous food from their home legally, without going through rigorous processing and education. Alabama legislators reviewed states with similar laws and found a balance between safety and business.
The law allows an individual to sell oven baked goods, candy, canned jam, jellies and dried herb mixes they make in their home.
Individuals must sell the product directly to consumers, pass a food safety course offered by ACES and label the food with their name, address and a statement saying the food is not inspected by the local health department.
It is still illegal to sell meat, fish, low acid or acidified foods produced from home, and individuals cannot sell their products over the Internet or to distributors.
"I think the biggest seller in this kind of thing is people making birthday cakes or wedding cakes, which a lot of people did out of their house, but it wasn't legal," Weese said. "Now they can sell those types of products legally,"
The Cottage Food Law requires sellers to sell directly to customers so people can have the opportunity to ask about the type of homes sellers kept and any allergens the food may contain.
"There is a requirement they take a food safety course, which is two hours, then they get a certification that lasts for five years," Weese said. "That is to tell them if they are going to be manufacturing and they are going to sell it, you need to make sure the cat's not on the counter, you're washing things off, you're doing it in an environment that is as safe and as healthy as it can be."
The law also stipulates a person cannot make more than $20,000 per year from the sales of their goods. The state reasoned it would be difficult for a person to make that amount of money without a commercial kitchen.
Thrash agrees $20,000 is a fair amount.
"You set your goal," Thrash said. "Do I want or need to make $100 this week, or do I want or need to make $1,000 this week?"
When shopping for ingredients, Thrash will typically buy 300 eggs from the Auburn Meat Lab and 100 pounds of sugar and flour at one time.
Her monthly income from baking varies, and when she files her sales taxes on the 20th of every month, she uses her Social Security number as a sole proprietorship to pay her state and federal taxes.
Local food production in Alabama is becoming more popular. Thrash's appreciation for the farm-to-table movement and her desire to share family recipes handed down from the early 1900s piqued her interest.
Her family was eager for her to stop talking about selling her baked goods and to actually do it.
The warm cookies come out of the oven and Thrash is nearly done with her Friday baking.
Her monogrammed apron her daughter helped design is still completely white, without an ounce of dough or chocolate on it.
The immediately recognizable soft, rich smell of sugar and sweets fills the house.
Talking to her mother over the phone from Birmingham, Catherine Gayle can imagine the smell of her mother's in-home business.
"It smells like home," Gayle said.
(09/17/14 6:00pm)
The Auburn Arts Association and the Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center will be hosting a juried photography exhibition and competition.
The contest is called Photo XVI, and the Dempsey Center has been holding the show every fall since they opened 16 years ago.
Each photographer can submit three pieces, and all submissions must be turned in by Oct. 9. Chosen photographs will be shown in the from Oct. 15 - Nov. 21. The exhibition is open to all photographers 17 years and older.
There is no defined category for submissions, and usually approximately 100 entries, according to Margaret Gluhman, who runs the gallery.
Two judges, one a professional photographer and one an artist, independently pick the work that will be shown in the gallery, and then judge once more to determine the winners of the competition.
"I usually enter three different categories, because you never know who the judges are and what they like," said John Rhodenizer, photographer and sales manager at Cameragraphics. Rhodenizer also teaches basic photography and Photoshop at Auburn University, and has entered the competition the past nine years.
Much of the work submitted to the previous photo contests are printed at Cameragraphics, and Rhodenizer has seen a vast range of pictures from portraits to macro landscapes.
"The best images are different, interesting subjects that will grab someone's interest," Rhodenizer said. "You are basically at the mercy of the judges."
Although there are a large number of entries, there is a lack of a true photography community in Auburn, said local photographer David Aaron.
"There's such a small saturated market that it's very competitive," Aaron said.
To break through the competition, Aaron suggests submitting pictures different from than the typical butterflies, sunsets and landscapes. He hasn't participated in past competitions, but he is thinking about entering this year.
"I would like to see more street photography and portraits," Aaron said. "People playing with light, contrast and shapes. Photography is all about painting with light."
The subject matter isn't confined to Auburn, but "local people like to keep it local, which is OK with me as long as it's a good show," said Guhlman.
Behind the closed door of the gallery storeroom, Guhlman flips through pictures that were left over from the past. A black and white image of a woman on a Cuban beach, a butterfly and a Star Wars Lego figurine standing on a clear jellyfish paperweight, sit in a pile of matted photographs.
"Most of the people that enter are people that just like to take photos, not necessarily someone who makes their living from photography," Guhlman said.
Auburn University students are encouraged to enter, but there haven't been a large number of students involved in the past, according to Guhlman.
There are cash awards, but the judges don't always pick a definite first place.
The competition is $20 to enter. At the exhibition, sales are encouraged and the Auburn Arts Association will charge no commission. The public is invited for a free reception Oct. 24 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Rhodenizer has encouraged his students and others at Auburn to enter.
"You don't have to be an exceptional photographer to enter," Rhodenizer said. "You just have to produce a good photo with good composition."
(09/15/14 12:00pm)
Cindy Thrash, owner of Cindy Cakes, stands under the shade of her canopy tent at University Station Motor Coach and RV Resort.
It's Friday, and like other home football game weekends, RVs have been piling onto University Station's more than 500 lots all week.
Near the entrance, pop-up tailgates and TVs tuned to ESPN are packed side by side.
Further into the park, past the golf cart traffic, RVs are parked on plots of land filled with trees, flowers and small wooden buildings.
One backyard has a small putting green, while a few spaces down the road, another has a full two-story, one spot RV parking garage.
The shadow of Thrash's tent provides a small amount of protection from Alabama's September heat for her; her father, Earl Willis; family friend, Bob Duke and the baked goods she is selling. Sept. 6 marked her second week at University Station, and the distinctive atmosphere is already obvious to her.
"It is really a tight-knit subculture here," Thrash said. "I saw someone at 6 a.m. planting new shrubs, and that's what they do, they make this a home."
The atmosphere isn't the same atmosphere of an average home. It is more like a community that fulfills all of the residents' needs without leaving the park.
On Thursday nights, University Station shows a movie. On Friday nights, a band will play, with dinner provided. On Saturdays, breakfast is served before the game. Before people leave their lots Sunday, a church service is held from 9-10 a.m.
Across Highway 14 at Auburn Legends Luxury RV Resort, owner Russ Hart said he built the park for the home atmosphere.
"I wanted some place that was kind of permanent," Hart said. "It's easy. You own your lot. It's like a second home. You just unpack your car, get your chairs out and you're good."
Hart's children went to Auburn, and he has spent the last 15 years bringing his RV to tailgate. He went from housing his RV on Wire Road to the hay field and then the old Alpha Psi house.
After Alpha Psi closed their house for its new location, he began to look for property to start his own RV resort.
In 2010 he built Auburn Legends with 67 spaces, a clubhouse and a pool.
The design reflects the comfort side of RV life, with full power and water, as well as Wi-Fi and grounds maintenance.
Four years later, the park is growing, and Hart sold four lots the Friday morning before the San Jose State football game.
When the lot owners come with their families for the weekend, the atmosphere is calm and family-oriented.
Hart said he believes the RV culture is only going to grow and is selling spots with the future in mind.
"With this park, we try to make something here that people will have for a long time," Hart said. "They will bring their children, and their children will have it and just keep going."
(09/14/14 4:00pm)
Driving along Interstate 59 toward Birmingham from his hometown of Gadsden, Josh Dowdy listened to his dad warn him that Auburn University would probably lose the 1986 Iron Bowl.
It was Dowdy's first Iron Bowl, and he was already an avid Auburn football fan.
He didn't know the University of Alabama was favored to win in that game, and he didn't care.
Late in the game, Lawyer Tillman scored on the reverse, bringing in an Auburn win to the score of 21-17.
For Dowdy, that was a big moment, and Tillman's touchdown fanned the fire of Dowdy's Auburn obsession.
Dowdy is now an author. His new book Orange Is Our Color is a history of the head football coach Tommy Tuberville era.
"Not history for history's sake," Dowdy said. "But history to answer the question of why the Tuberville era matters, mixed with something of a fan's memoir."
More than a fan, Dowdy is an Auburn graduate.
He said he attributes learning how to be an Auburn man from his father and the meaning of Auburn football from Pat Dye.
He discovered writing in sixth grade through a daily journal and has been writing ever since.
Despite a passion for writing, Dowdy chose what he considered to be a practical major, and graduated in 1999 with degree in operations management.
At Auburn, he dabbled in the marching band his freshman year, joined Auburn Christian Fellowship and played intramurals. The biggest moments of his college career, however, were football Saturdays.
Dowdy has a full-time sales job in Birmingham, where he lives with his wife and two kids. Writing about Auburn football has become a bigger part of his life in recent years, but it started small.
In 2004, before Dowdy had a full sense of what a blog was, he would send a mass email to friends and family with his thoughts about the Auburn game each week.
Later, he wrote a couple of different blogs. Now he has a website with the same name as his latest book.
Dowdy's approach encompasses Auburn culture and the identity of the Auburn Family.
Dowdy credits his writing approach to his graduate education at Baylor University, where he earned an M.A. in religion in 2012.
Originally, Dowdy planned to write a book about the succession of Auburn coaches, from Pat Dye to Gene Chizik. Each coach's early success drew him into the topic, but one caught his eye more than others.
"When I got into looking at the Tuberville years, I became curious about why it is that some people in the Auburn Family today still think so fondly of Tuberville," Dowdy said.
Another topic Dowdy became interested in inspired the title of his book.
When Tuberville asked Auburn fans to wear Auburn orange to the game, they listened.
Despite Tuberville now working at the University of Cincinnati, Auburn still asks their fans to fill the stadium with orange.
Dowdy began his research by reading newspaper articles about Auburn football from 1999-2008, old issues of the Auburn Football Illustrated game programs and anything he could get his hands on.
Besides his time in Texas, Dowdy has made it to Auburn games religiously.
He was in Auburn for opening weekend this year, and did a book signing at the Auburn Bookstore before the San Jose State game.
He is still interested in the early success of Auburn coaches, and Gus Malzahn is now added to that list.
"I'm not sure that we've all grasped the reality of how incredible he is just yet," Dowdy said. "The negativity and the problems that had turned into an infection in 2012 is so far in the past right now. I do not expect Auburn to lose a game this year."
Dowdy admits his prediction is bold.
Regardless of this season's outcome, Dowdy's 2-and 3- year-old children will be singing the fight song and the alma mater with him beside a painting in his house of the 'Reverse to Victory;' the play that started it all.
(09/09/14 12:00pm)
A new upscale apartment complex is coming to Auburn in Aug. 2015.
One-Sixty Ross, located across the street from the Auburn Police Division, will be able to house 642 residents. The complex will feature elevators, parking deck and on-site security at their five and a half acre complex.
The apartments will feature a different type of living than other apartment complexes, according to Collin Carter, owner of Carter and Carter Construction Company.
"If you look at other schools, Auburn is a little behind in upscale housing," Carter said. "This will be the first of its kind."
Leasing will begin in October, and Carter said students would not have to worry about construction running late.
"We were fortunate enough to start on time," Carter said. "This is the smoothest project we have going. At the moment, we are a month or two ahead."
Lynda Tremaine, recently elected City Council representative for Ward 5, said she spoke with residents in her ward who were worried about the high-density traffic that would come with an apartment complex the size of One-Sixty Ross.
"You just have to ask, 'When is it going to stop?'" Tremaine said about the number of apartments available in the area.
The city has been researching the status of the housing market and hired the Danter Company to do a third-party assessment of the long-term student housing market in 2013. The goal of the study was to provide market expectations to assist future planning decisions on student housing development.
"It said, essentially, we are getting close to the absolution point," said Forrest Cotton, Auburn planning director.
The study suggested Auburn limit construction of new housing complexes to within a one-mile radius of the Haley Center. Both 319 Bragg and One-Sixty Ross are in the suggested radius and were included in the market study.
One of the biggest challenges, Cotton said, is that the land around the University is mostly developed, so more construction will need to be centered on the redevelopment of older properties.
The study found approximately 78 percent of University students need to live in off-campus housing. Apartments built for students had a total vacancy rate of 8.1 percent, and apartments built for Auburn residents and students had a total vacancy rate of 5.3 percent. Of the more than 5,500 rooms available to the general public, 55.1 percent are occupied by students.
According to the study, Auburn is currently over-built for the short term, but underserved by properties within a one-mile radius. Since nearly 93 percent of University students are not from Lee County, the Danter Company said there is a substantial amount of rental opportunities near campus.
However, the study said the University is working on improving the quality of education rather than focusing on enrollment growth.
Cotton contacted other college towns for his own research to supplement the study.
"We are, relatively, still in good shape, but we're looking forward," Cotton said. "We will need to be very deliberate when considering new projects."
(09/08/14 12:00pm)
The show of force and military- grade equipment in Ferguson, Missouri has prompted local media to investigate the equipment available to their own town.
In Auburn, police equipment is what everyone thinks they would have, according to Police Chief Paul Register. Included in their inventory for extreme situations are masks, helmets, gas, three Humvees, an ATV and a command tent.
Some of the larger items were acquired from the Department of Defense's surplus program, but no firearms have been received since 2008, Register said.
The Humvees have been used in situations, such as pulling cars out of the snow and pulling one of the large buses out of the mud during Alpha Psi Rodeo.
The ATV was a key part of a search mission for a missing person.
"We get as much benefit out of those kind of things as we do weapons, so that is the typical thing that we get from the surplus program," Register said. "Heavy equipment like that we would not normally have budgeted in our finances."
A green Hummer with a tented back is primarily used for hauling cars and the ATV. It is also one of the few vehicles that can move a police barricade the force has had since 2004, according to Captain Tommy Carswell.
"From a money standpoint, we would not be able to have this equipment if it wasn't for the federal surplus," Carswell said.
The Auburn Police Division is also building the number of body cameras that officers can have on them while on duty, according to Register.
All police cars have dashboard cameras on them, and over the last several years, more officers have been receiving individual cameras.
"They do a very good job in diffusing complaints and makes the officers feel good," Register said. "They like having the cameras because it gives us the ability to review the complaints. More than anything, it's been a help to justify what the officers have done."
Diffusing complaints, according to Register, is the alternative to using riot gear the Auburn Police Division is trained for.
Every officer goes through customer service training to learn better ways to deal with the public and resolve situations without force.
"It's about the relationship we have with our community," Register said. "We have our officers get out of the car and talk to them."
That doesn't mean the Auburn police force would be unprepared if a riot were to occur, Register said.
The Auburn Police Division is part of a countywide SWAT team.
More than 15 different law enforcement agencies are in a mutual-aid agreement to come to each other's aid if more police are necessary.
In Auburn, game days are when the city sees the most outside help.
Even during high-traffic days, such as football Saturdays, Auburn students and residents are generally well behaved, said Register.
According to Register, the national championship celebration at Toomer's Corner in 2010 is a good example of Auburn residents' mindset.
"We did not make one single arrest during that incident," Register said. "Things weren't torn up, people didn't set things on fire, people didn't steal things. It was a very orderly celebration."
Register said, much like the everyday gear a police officer carries around, the type of riot gear the station has is what the community would expect to deal with a situation of unrest.
"Most of the things we have, all of the kinds of things, we would hopefully have people just comply and move on," Register said. "Dispersal type devices is what we have."
So far, the Auburn Police Division has not had a major incident where riot gear was needed, Register said.
"I think we have enough officers to do our job," Register said. "We're funded well, we have a lot of public support, and our city officials give us the tools we need to do our job."
(09/02/14 1:30pm)
Construction on Frederick Road between Sam's Club and Tiger Town has been going on since February 2013 and is expected to be completed by early 2015.
"I would say if we are completely done by Christmas, everybody will be pleased," said Opelika City engineer Scott Parker. "That's our goal. That's not the real date."
After completion, Frederick Road will be five lanes across: two each way and a center turn lane.
There will also be a bike lane and a sidewalk built near the Shops at Midtown.
Money for the project comes from the City of Opelika and the Alabama Department of Transportation.
The City is contracting Robinson Paving Company out of Columbus, Georgia.
Originally, the estimated completion date was October 2014.
Weather and underground utilities are the two main reasons for delayed construction, according to Parker.
Casey Waid, who opened and has owned Play It Again Sports since December 2011, said the construction hurt business the most last October, when the road was cut down to one lane.
"At this time in 2013 to the end of September, I was up 35 percent over 2012," Waid said. "So I went from being up 35 percent on average to being down 25 percent in October. It was a 60 point swing in the negative direction."
The construction and use of only one lane lowered the amount of walk-in traffic to the area, according to Waid.
During that time, traveling the length of Frederick Road could take up to 45 minutes, and Waid would see posts on Facebook to avoid the road.
"It seems like, for the most part, a good number of people still avoid it and are going to avoid it until the construction is done," Waid said.
When Kandy Russell opened Smallcakes: A Cupcakery in the Shops at Midtown in September 2013, she was thinking of the long term.
"I feel like four lanes with a turn lane in the middle will be worth it," Russell said.
With walking traffic down during construction, Waid has resorted to guerilla marketing tactics.
A few months before construction began, Waid started Auburn Opelika Specials.
The site's Facebook and Twitter accounts advertise specials in the area to help local businesses.
"Every business here has been affected," Waid said. "They all experienced a big drop off in business when the road started, and I think there is some sense of unity in there."
Once construction is complete, both Russell and Waid see Frederick Road becoming a gateway between the two cities, much like Opelika Road.
Until then, Russell informs people that the construction is not as bad as before.
"It's not something you should go 'I am not going that way,' or 'it's not worth it,'" Russell said. "It's not that bad. It looks worse than it is with all those orange barrels sitting everywhere."