A new scam is hitting the telephone wires, officials said. The latest one arrived Thursday with Mobile residents claiming to be the electric company and delivering an ultimatum – pay up or get cut off.
Cathy Alexander with Andalusia Utilities said a local customer reported such an incident to the office.
“She said a man called and said he was with Alabama Power and that her electricity would be cut off if she didn’t make a payment over the phone,” Alexander said. “Thankfully, she did not give that person any of her banking information.
“As a reminder to our customers, Alabama Power does not have services in this area and our customers should call our office at 222-1332 if they have any concerns about the status of their accounts,” she said. “If I remember correctly, this is the second time this year that this scam has run through our area.”
Lt. Paul Dean with the Andalusia Police Department said his office was also contacted about the scam. He explained that the callers are very convincing during their spiel.
“They will call and identify themselves as a local government official,” he said. “Then, he’ll give the name of his supervisor as a ‘Kevin Brooks’ or ‘William.’ This man has an accent, but he identifies himself as working for Alabama Power.”
Dean said the call originates from a 251.744.3669 number.
He said he conducted a follow-up with
Kim Roland was among the many wives who called Andalusia Farmer’s Co-op and asked Russell Lassiter to save the Andy Bucks tickets due their husbands.
Mrs. Roland’s phone call paid off when she held the first winning Andy Bucks number drawn last week in a shop at home promotion sponsored by the City of Andalusia and 20 participating merchants. Yesterday, she claimed the prize at city hall.
Her husband, Charles, was among, the men buying supplies for feed plots last month. Mrs. Roland said she was initially headed back to the Co-op, to eat at David’s and to Singer’s to spend her 20 $50 Andy Bucks certificates.
Lassiter said Mrs. Roland wasn’t the only wife who called him.
“We kept them in a file of tickets in the back,” he said. “They came by and picked them up.”
It was a great time of year for wives to be tuned in to Andy Bucks tickets. Lassiter said the Co-Op went through 19 rolls of 1,999 tickets during the October promotion. That’s a total of 37,981 tickets.
“We had a five-gallon bucket we kept the tickets in for the drawing,” Lassiter said. “We filled it up two and a half times. I’ve already brought the bucket up here and turned the tickets in once this month.”
Area shoppers receive a chance in the monthly drawing for each $10 spent with participating merchants. The winner receives gift certificates in increments for $50 totaling $1,000 to be spent with any participating merchant.
Those include Ansley Place, Barrow’s Furniture, Beef O’Brady’s, Brooks Hardware, Christopher’s, Darby’s, David’s Catfish, Delta Lighting, Andalusia Farmer’s Co-Op, Harold’s Furniture, Ireland Trailer, Lee’s Samauri, Mary Kay Consultants, Pale Moon Yarns, Singer’s, Sporting Lifestyles, Two Guys Pies, Walker Business, Ward & Co., and Yo’ Cravin.
The next drawing will Be Dec. 3.
Work done here could modernize tea world
Part of a dream began to come true this past weekend for Bob Sims. The Texas entrepreneur and Alabama native has long had an interest in growing his family’s tea business from the sale of tea to the cultivation and processing of tea. Now he is working to make that dream come true in Andalusia.
- Approximately 7,000 tea plants, grown from seeds imported from Eastern Europe, are ready to be planted.
- Nigel Melican and Bob Sims. In three decades in the business, Melican had never used an auger for planting.
- Melican, left, and Sims plant the first local plant.
- Melican walks a newly-prepared row.
- In the tea industry, blooms are not good. But they are pretty, and illustrate that the tea plant is a “cousin” to the camellia.
With the help of the British tea consultant Nigel Melican, Sims has been researching the possibility of growing tea in or near Andalusia for several years.
Melican selected a tea plant in ex-Soviet Georgia as the one he believes will do well here. The selection, Melican said, was based on his experience and the local climate.
“Tea,” Melican said, “loves humidity.”
And while ex-Soviet Georgia may not be a place one thinks of as a tea-growing nation, Melican said the Georgians produce more than 200,000 pounds of tea per year – mainly for their own use.
“I chose this tea for Bob because it is hearty,” he said. “It’s built like a Soviet tank.”
On Valentine’s Day of 2011, a shipment of seeds left Georgia for Andalusia.
“It was 20 below in Georgia,” Sims said. “And the shipment was held up by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. What was supposed to be overnight delivery took seven days.”
When 20,000 seeds finally arrived – in less than optimal condition – Sims had them planted here and placed in greenhouses.
Two-and-a-half years later, this past weekend, Sims, Melican, and other helpers began planting the resulting 7,000 seedlings. Sims is partnering with AHS ag instructor Anthony Mikel and his students for the project.
Sims is using approximately 11 acres at the entrance to the Andalusia Industrial Park which he is acquiring in a lease/purchase program with the Andalusia Industrial Board. Before it was purchased by the city, the property had a long history as a peanut field.
Sims said it makes sense to cultivate tea there.
“If you think about it, most of the places where tea is grown, they don’t have access to water,” he said. “Here, the utilities are already installed, which helps us.”
By comparison, Melican said he... READ MORE>
Andalusia area residents have two days left in October to become eligible to win the first Andy Bucks in a drawing set for Tuesday. Residents get a chance to win the $1,000 drawing for each $10 spent with a participating merchant. Here, Mayor Earl Johnson and Kimberly Jacobs are shown with tickets collected for the drawing to date. Ticket colors change to pink on Friday for the December drawing.Participants include Ansley Place, Barrow’s Furniture, Beef O’Brady’s, Brooks Hardware, Christopher’s, Darby’s, David’s Catfish, Delta Lighting, Andalusia Farmer’s Co-Op, Harold’s Furniture, Ireland Trailer, Lee’s Samauri, Mary Kay Consultants, Pale Moon Yarns, Singer’s, Sporting Lifestyles, Two Guys Pies, Walker Business, Ward & Co., and Yo’ Cravin.