Up & Down Commerce St. – Sept. 17

Published 3:41 pm Monday, September 20, 2010

Greenville’s Kent Riley was a nominee for the offensive Player of the Week as voted on by the Alabama Sports Writers Association this week. Riley rushed for 222 yards and scored four touchdowns in the Tigers big 52-41 victory last Friday night. He also passed for 90 yards and another touchdown.

If you’ve never seen Riley play, do yourself a favor and get out to see this young gun in action sometime on Friday nights at Tiger Stadium. Keep in mind, he’s only a sophomore and is just going to get better this year, next year and the year after that.

As you’ve probably read, Greenville, Georgiana, McKenzie and Evergreen have moved forward with a lawsuit against BP for a loss of summer revenue due to the oil spill. Time will tell how this all plays out, but clearly traffic has not been flowing as steadily down  I-65 as it did in years past. Cities, like the ones above, were just starting to recover a bit from three years of ugliness, then the oil spill. Revenue is down across the board. This is a chance to recover some of that, so it’s worth the old college try.

Lots of things going down the weekend of the “Great Greenville Homecoming,” part of the state’s celebration of small towns and downtowns in 2010. Here’s a brief itinerary:

On Thursday, Oct. 28, there’s the dedication of a historic marker at City Hall at 11 a.m. and Mayor Dexter McLendon will be special guest speaker at the Rotary Club luncheon at 11:30 a.m. For the kids, there’s “Trick of Treat on Commerce Street” from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., from the Train Depot to the courthouse, with candy provided by downtown merchants and a special photography session offered by Monk Photography. Fort Dale Academy’s dance squad will then perform Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” in Confederate Park at 7:30 p.m.

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On Friday, Oct. 29, the Gospel group Southland performs at the Ritz Theatre at 7 p.m. Greenville High will have homecoming at Tiger Stadium that night as well.
Saturday is a big day. A homecoming 5K run starts at 7 a.m. at Tiger Stadium. Old Time Farm Day gets into gear at 9 a.m. and there’s a Car Show at Confederate Park at 10 a.m. Finish your day off with an oldies concert brought you by The Fabulous Shades in front of City Hall.

Oh, and the Greenville Fire Department’s Haunted Firehouse on Highway 10 will be going strong this weekend as well.

Of course, an event of this magnitude needs volunteers. Offer your services at 382-3251.

Not much going on in the election front. We feel the candidates are a bit bland. We sure could use a controversial commercial right now. But Tim James is not around.

WAKA hosts an After Hours on Thursday, Sept. 23 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Cambrian Ridge. You can catch the weather report on-site. It’s a good opportunity for you to get out and meet Elise Burkart, the WAKA South Alabama reporter. Maybe she’ll bring her pig, Violet.

The Internet rumor floating around this week is that Auburn will run out of Jordan-Hare Stadium tonight sporting new uniforms. Blue helmets. Or blue pants. Or some combination of that mixed in with the traditional home duds. AU coach Gene Chizik shot down those rumors at a Wednesday night pep rally. But, who knows? The Tigers tangle with Clemson tonight at 6 p.m.

The Butler County Health Department will administer flu shots on Sept. 21, Oct. 6 and Oct. 26 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The cost is $5. Bring your insurance cards (Medicaid, Medicare, and Blue Cross/Blue Shield). The health department is located at 350 Airport Rd. For information call 382-3154.

You’ve probably heard, but Dalton VanCor booted a 35-yard extra point a few weeks ago to help Stanhope-Elmore beat Prattville 35-34 at the end of regulation.
And young kicker has Greenville ties.

Dalton VanCor is the son of Patrick VanCor, who graduated Greenville High in 1984.

Lady GaGa showed up at the MTV VMA awards wearing a “meat” dress.

And somehow this qualifies as “art.”

Send us some info. Any old thing will do. Any comments, questions or criticisms of this column are always welcome. Email us at editor@greenvilleadvocate.com. Or snail mail us at 103 Hickory St., Greenville, AL, 36037.

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