Ten years ago, in 2007, residents from Evergreen to Casleberry to Brewton and all points surrounding this area were made aware of what could happen in case of an emergency.

According to The Brewton Standard, a train derailed in Castleberry causing some scares. Firefighters had to don hazmat suits in order to make sure they were not contaminated with the phenol said to be leaking from the wreck. A good portion of Castleberry itself had to be evacuated. All of this attention brought to mind of what could happen in an incident such as this.

Along with the opening of hurricane season, the Emergency Management Association was being called upon more than usual. It also set up a mock disaster in Flomaton to test the program in place for accidents and hurricane recovery.

Another thing on the minds of residents was the question of where to put a new middle school. One of the concerns was the possibility of turning of the golf course into a school ground. The public was told that nothing was going to change the golf course to where it could not be used. It was much on the minds of residents around town.

Well, as we found out, the new school was built north of the golf course and golfers could continue with their games.

But, as we all know, the golf course is closing anyway. There has been no decision as to what will be done to the golf course, or at least I don’t know of any.

Debbie Hardee was named vice-president at BankTrust and there was a lot of discussion about the upcoming Blueberry Festival.

As far as I know there were no connections with blueberries and barbecue, but The Brewton Standard ran two pages of recipes for different barbecue sauces. It is well-known around this area that there are those who will go to great lengths to prove one is the best at putting out good barbecue. It means that there will be plenty of the good eats to go around.

In addition to the train derailment in Castleberry, with the first of June came the beginning of hurricane season.

It was only three years since we all suffered through Hurricane Ivan and memories were still raw from all we went through. We need to take any storm seriously and be aware of how quickly it can change to a disaster.

The Brewton Standard published a tracking map of the Caribbean so we could post it on our refrigerator doors. Its better to be safe than sorry.

A fake disaster was put on by the EMA and officials in Flomaton to see just how effective we were prepared.

W.S. Neal High School hired Tommy Suitts to be the new coach while T.R. Miller High School hired Gerald McAnally to coach football at the Brewton Middle School.