Birmingham Post-Herald from Birmingham, Alabama • 21

wwwpostheraldcom Tuesday August 21 2001 Metro editor John Stacd 325-2342 or jtaedpos the raid coin Classifieds D3 UPDATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Facility could revive Titusville Commerce Center planned both factories the Interstate access it has all kinds of potential said Griffin Lassiter Birmingham business Birmingham By JAMIE UZZIRE BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD An old Titusville steel facility is getting new life from a developer house auto suppliers and biotech businesses The project being undertaken by Roy Weston Inc would convert the old Trinity Industries aid Mosher Steel facilities into the Birmingham Commerce Center The more than 300000-square-foot facility at 620 Fourth Ave would be leased to a variety of businesses and is expected to employ 600 to 900 people by its fifth year of operation officials said School Biotechnology businesses are an-other possibility since the University of Alabama at Birmingham has announced plans to build a biotechnology research facility an campus McDermott said Marketing efforts to find tenants for the facility are under way and improvements to the building are expected to begin within a month officials said The Birmingham Finance Committee also recommended approval Please turn to PLAN page D2 The old Mosher Steel building is one of the facilities set for transformation into the Birmingham Commerce Center by Roy Weston Inc The project is seeking a $15 million Community Development Block Grant from the City Council off new look ALABAMA POWER CO Negligence lawsuit likely to be settled By SARA FOSS BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD In 2000 the dty of Birmingham settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a girl who drowned after falling into an En-sley storm drain At the time of the accident in 1999 the storm drain lacked grates or safety bars The dty had been told the storm drain was unsafe before the accident hut did not fix it said attorney Steve Goozee who represented the family of 4-year-old Jasmine Moore proved that the city knew or should have known about the Goozee said did have the practices and policies and procedures in place to check the drain and make sure it was Similarly a lawsuit filed against Alabama Power Ool by the family of a bay who was critically injured by a downed power line depends on whether the company should have known or did kmnr that a dangerous situation existed Goozee said The lawsuit accuses Alabama Power of negligence in the electri- cal accident on Thursday that injured Ward Webb 4 and killed his 6-year-oid friend Zackary Thomas Downard The lawyer Da- vid Cromwell Johnson could not be reached for comment The boys were playing in a dry creek bed near their home in Maun- tain Brook Thursday afternoon when Zackary bumped into the line and was fatally shocked The power line sent a current of electricity through the creek knocking Wad off his feet and burning him both externally and internally Ward re- mained in critical condition today at Children's Hospital we know is that the kids went into the forest area and came into contact with the power said Goozee who has represented families in negligence cases against Alabama Power before all we know We don't know if Alabama Power knew about the line Please turn to SUIT page D2 BIRMINGHAM Councfl committee recommends election payment The Birmingham Finance Committee recommended paying mare than $420000 for the upcoming City Council elections The committee made the recommendation to pay 1420971 for the Oct 9 election and Oct 30 runoff at its Monday afternoon meeting The matter will go before the City Council for approval want to keep our commitment to the county by paying for the upcoming City Council President William Bell said The city still owes money for the Feb 27 Birmingham Water Works referendum but Bell said that matter eventually will be resolved in the courts The total cost was slightly less than $160000 A majority of the City Council has repeatedly voted against paying for the Water Works referendum with some council members saying they do not want to endanger their legal position in the appeal regarding the referendum The referendum which was approved by a 4-1 ratio gave voters the right to have final say in the sale or transfer of the assets of the Birmingham Water Works But the council transferred those assets from the city to the Water Works before the vote Jamie Kizzire VESTAVLV HILLS Council OKs annexation task force: The Vestavia Hills City Council approved a resolution Monday establishing a task force to study the impact annexing the Cahaba Heights community would have an the school system The task force will be composed of dty officials and representatives from the Vestavia Hills Board of Education In July a Vestavia Hills committee recommended the dty annex all of Cahaba Heights but residents expressed concerns about the possibility of school crowding at an opro forum held earlier this month The dty of Mountain Brook had been interested in annexing Cahaba Heights' major commercial areas But after residents protested saying the dty only wanted their tax revenue Mountain Brook backed off its proposal The resolution passed Monday also calls for further study of other issues related to annexation The dty of Vestavia Mis will study the impact annexation would have on Vestavia property values the potential for devdop-mert in Cahaba Heights and the mast appropriate method of annexation The deadline for completion of the process of study-ing annexation is Oct Foss DOTIIAN Commission upgrades nuclear safety rating: The UA Nuclear Regulatory Commission has upgraded its evaluation of security measures at the Farley Nuclear Plant near Dothan rating plant security between low to moderate The revised rating is based on an exercise in July 2000 during which it was determined that security personnel failed to prevert a mock incursion to certain areas within the plant an NRC statement said Monday The Atlanta-based Southern do which operates the plant contested the initial finding After cksed-door discussions in July between the company and the federal agency the plant's security rating was upgraded Associated Press Write and tell us about your personal hero Do you know of an unsung hem or heroine? Is it a person who does good things and keeps his or her light under a bushel basket? If so send rstoryto Clarke Stallworth Birmingham Post-Herald PO box 2553 Birmingham AL 35202 or by email at coachl mindspringcom We need a picture of you to go with the story and a picture of your hero or heroine if you can get it Swy the pictures cant be returned The West Chester Pa-based developer along with a group of investors plans to invest $6 million to $9 million into the 283-acre site within five years This is a way to iqject life' and vitality back into the said George McDermott senior development manager for the Impaired Property Development Group of Roy Weston The group is hoping to attract auto suppliers for Honda and Mercedes-Benz to the facility which would be centrally located between the two automobile factories he said The facility is less thm half a mile from Interstate 65 making it ideal for transporting products to shows were living in the '50s This is year Principal Garry Rickard The midcentury took included walls of Back to School windows and high ceilings structures that not only dated the oldest wing of the school but created a difficult teaching environment Helen Pruet whose classroom borders a parking lot said the glare from outside can fonxd her to shut the blinds an sunny days Now walls of windows have been reduced to two or three High ceilings also created poor acoustics in the rooms Staff file photo Michele Gorman 13 an eighth grader laughs with classmates today at Mountain Brook Junior High School as Mountain Brook Junior High enters 21 st century of style aha grabs her books to put into was the last area school system voice bouncing off the walls Pruet said Lighting also was improved But not everything had been finished by today Instead of glass plywood filled the new windows aid dust still covered the floors Tt looks better The bricks were ugly fin ft said Gabrielle Street 13 an eighth grader But she didn't care for the temporary windows feel locked she said Teachers also faced extra challenges in preparing their rooms for students Tm looking at a pile of Ptuet said Posters must be put back on the wall computers reconnected and books moved back into the rooms worked seven hours each day this weekend Til work late tonight too" Pruet said In addition to the renovations classrooms were more streamlined according to grade MukWeterFwtrHenld her locker Mountain Brook to open this year By designating specific areas for seventh- eighth- and ninth-graders administrators hoped to cut down on walk time between classes for the 990 junior high students Only classes in the science labs will require students to leave their grade areas Rickard said As more classrooms were added to the school through the yean new classes were put together piecemeal It gives them an identity Instead of the seventh-graders mixed in with the ninth-graders they'll have their own Pruet The new system may help students like Jason Ross 12 a seventh grader who was starting' junior high today Tm nervous but excited and mad that I have to go back to school Ross said The and hoys' locker rooms were renovated and new flooring was installed in the gymnasium Chariot MdnkMh can ba raached 1325-2476 OfflflCillMippOBIlBWKljPBni a marvelous facility with great equipment and Al Denson airport executive director traffic control tower in the entire country said Carol Windham spokeswoman for Birmingham International Airport The Monday dedication ceremony was attended by US Rep Spencer Bachus R-Vestavia Hills and Carolyn Blum FAA Southern regional administrator The air traffic control ad By CHARLOTTE MCIMTOSH BIRMINGHAM POST-IIERALD Although their school system was the last to start in the area Mountain Brook Junior High students still longed for summer as they returned to classes today seems like summer went by lot quicker than I thought it said ninth grader Martha Legg 14 here I need mare said Dawson Drinkard also 14 and in the ninth grade When students arrived excited about classes or not they found a new look to their school Mountain Brook Junior High School received a face lift this summer updating the look of the Over-brook Wing which dates back to the late A Comair jet takes off from Birmingham International Airport in front of the new FAA air traffic control tower which was officially dedicated Monday making it the newest air traffic control tower in the nation replacing the oldest operating tower i TRANSPORTATION New air traffic control tower should enhance airport safety ditional height will enable air traf- fic controllers to see the runways 1 better Windham said The airport has two runways A couple of years ago the north-south -runwsy was expanded by about 2300 feet The additional length made it harder for air traffic con- trailers to see the entire length at the runways which is one reason a new runway was needed Windham said the new runway does is -enhance safety during landing and Windham sate In addition the airport plans to extend its east-west noway by adding 2000 feet to the 10300-foot runway Work should take more than two years to complete Windham said The project will involve leveling a hill and dosing several streets which will be rebuilt she said By SARA FOSS BIRMINGHAM POST-HERALD Until this year the air traffic control tower at Birmingham International Airport was the oldest sir traffic control tower run by the Federal Aviation Administration Built for $2 million in the 1960s the tower was 87 feet tall and seven stories high On Monday the FAA dedicated a new $12 million air traffic control tower at the Birmingham aiiport The new tower is more than 100 feet taller than the tower it replaces standing 198 feet tall and 13 stories high a marvelous facility with great equipment and said A1 Denson airport executive director will continue to enhance sir I The tower is also the newest air.