Local News
Alabama A&M president fired by board of trustees
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — The Alabama A&M; Board of Trustees voted Monday to fire university President Robert Jennings.
The board voted 7-1 to fire Jennings immediately for allegedly not properly documenting more than $2,000 that was paid to an assistant, university spokesman Jerome Saintjones said in a statement.
For the past several months, a special board committee has been looking into allegations that Jennings had improperly arranged to pay a former executive assistant for time that was spent attending a graduate course in Minnesota.
The board voted down a motion to hire former President Carl Harris Marbury to serve as president on an interim basis. The board did not name an interim president or a permanent replacement for Jennings.
Jennings quietly left the meeting after the board’s vote without commenting.
The board voted to fire Jennings after being in an executive session for about an hour, according to the statement from Saintjones.
Jennings had been president of the Huntsville college since January, 2006. He was accused of violating school policies in the hiring of an executive assistant and for paying the assistant more than $2,000 for time spent away from the campus, The Huntsville Times reported on its Web site.
Jennings has maintained the payment was not improper and that the assistant made up for the hours he was away with extra work.
Jennings had also been accused by an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science of being involved in having the grades of some students changed without the teacher’s consent.
Jennings has denied directing anyone to change the grades. In a university statement Friday, department chairman Venkata Atluri said Jennings had “nothing at all” to do with changing grades.
Jennings came to Alabama A&M; from Wake Forest University.
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Local woman dies in Friday fire
A woman who was badly burned when she was discovered in her unit at Elmwood Apartments by police and firefighters late Friday night died not long before midnight, authorities said.
Vickie Strasser, 52, was taken by ambulance at about 10:40 p.m. to Athens-Limestone Hospital with second- and third-degree burns over 95 percent of her body. MedFlight was called to rush her to Huntsville Hospital at about 11:30 p.m., but she died before the helicopter arrived. -
Athens Police make 14 arrests in Friday night drug roundup
Friday night was a busy one for Athens Police officers. While several investigators were conducting a roundup that resulted in 14 arrests, other officers responded to a fire call at Elmwood apartments (see story on today’s front page).
Lt. Trevor Harris said officers conducted search warrants at two homes — one at 1210 Plato Jones St. and another at 903 Brownsferry St.
Madison Police Department provided two additional officers and dogs from the K-9 unit to assist. -
Family displaced by fire seeking residence to rent
One family displaced by last Sunday’s fire at Athens Village Apartments is desperately looking for a home or apartment to rent in the area.
Scott Robertson and his wife, Amanda, and four children, daughter Jordan, 16; son Matthew, 14; son Dallas, 9; and daughter Lily, 5, lost everything they owned on Aug. 29 when an early morning fire — sparked by a cigarette thrown on a patio chair outside another apartment — destroyed all eight units in Building D of the apartment complex at 1711 W. Elm St. in Athens. -
TVA ranks in Top 10 for economic development
For the fifth year in a row, the Tennessee Valley Authority has been named by Site Selection magazine as one of the top 10 North American utilities for economic development achievement. -
Bank robbers remain at large in city, county
Athens Police are still searching for a white man who robbed TVA Credit Union on East Hobbs Street in Athens on July 9.
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Woman burned in fire at Elmwood Apartments
A woman who was burned over 95 percent of her body after a fire in her unit at Elmwood Apartments was taken to Athens-Limestone Hospital by ambulance at around 10:45 p.m.
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Trinity reunion parade will be at 10 a.m. Saturday
The Trinity High School Grand Reunion parade will be at 10 a.m. Saturday in Athens.
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Keeping the bees
Limestone County Beekeepers Association received a grant from the Alabama Mountains, Rivers and Valleys district of the RC&D Council.
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Trinity High School had many distinguished graduates
Local resident Lt. Col. James L. Walker gathered biographies of some of these graduates as the school celebrates its annual Grand Reunion today and Saturday in Athens.
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Part of Clinton Street in Athens to be closed at least 2 more weeks
Clinton Street in Athens, between Lee and Forrest streets, will be closed for at least two more weeks while Athens Utilities replaces sewer lines that are up to 75 years old, an official said.
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