The Sun looks back at some of the top stories from 2020

"Teamwork" credited with site selection for state's newest veterans home

Jan. 8 (picture 1)

“Teamwork” was the common denominator cited for the selection of Enterprise as the home for the state’s fifth state veterans home. At the Alabama Board of Veterans Affairs meeting Jan. 3 in Montgomery, 108 acres between Highway 84 and Highway 167 in Enterprise was unanimously chosen as the site for the $65 million single-story 182,000 square foot facility which is projected to employ approximately 250.

Coffee County gets electronic poll books

Feb. 26 (picture 2)

Electronic poll books at each of the 29 Coffee County voting places were in operation for the first time March 3. “An easier, more efficient way,” is how Coffee County Chief Election Clerk Susan Carmichael described the new poll books made possible by the Coffee County Commission. “This electronic roster system makes the paper process obsolete and increases speed and accuracy with an automatic process.”

Enterprise breaks ground for airport terminal building

March 11 (picture 3)

Ground was broken for the new Terminal Building to be built at the Enterprise Municipal Airport March 9. Barry Mott, vice president and client service leader for Barge Design Solutions, said the new terminal is an eight-month project. Mott said a new general aviation ramp has just been completed with a concrete section for parking. The non-parking area is new asphalt. “The reason we’re doing all this is the airport’s experienced great growth over the last several years,” he added. “We’re going to build the terminal building that abuts the new ramp here.”

Area plans for COVID shut down

March 18 (picture 4)

As the first cases of the COVID-19 strain of coronavirus in Alabama were confirmed, Gov. Kay Ivey declared a State of Emergency at a press conference March 13 and announced the closures of all schools in the state March 18. All athletic activities were cancelled and breakfast and lunch feeding programs for school children during the shutdown were initiated. Municipal and county offices in Coffee County were among those that declared states of emergency and closed to the public. Ivey also announced that all “nonessential” businesses statewide were to be closed. The closures were initially to be through April 17.

School tax civil lawsuit settled

 May 13

The 2017 civil lawsuit filed by the Daleville, Dale County and Ozark City Boards of Education in an effort to counter a state superintendent’s direction to include Enterprise and Dothan City Schools in the distribution of Dale County school taxes for students attending those two school systems who live in Dale County was settled. Some 600 students attending Enterprise city schools lived in Dale County and 29 students attending Dothan City Schools lived in Dale County at that time.

Phase 1 water main replacement completed

May 20

Phase 1 of the Enterprise Water Main Replacement Project was finally complete some eight months after expected completion date. The first phase focused on the water lines that posed the biggest threat of damage and leaking throughout the city due to age. Some of the mains were nearly 100 years old and the city is replacing the old galvanized piping with PVC piping. Phase 2 of the project is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.

IDB receives $900,000 grant for infrastructure improvements 

June 10

A $900,000 grant from the state’s “Growing Alabama” program will enable the Enterprise Board of Industrial Development to install infrastructure improvements on about 240 acres of city industrial property. Enterprise was chosen as one of the 11 economic development organizations awarded grants in 2020.

Inaugural "Juneteenth Celebration" in Enterprise

June 24 (picture 5)

An inaugural “Juneteenth Celebration” was held June 20 at Johns Chapel AME Church on Geneva Highway in Enterprise. Juneteenth is a commemoration of the date in 1865 that 2,000 Union soldiers under the command of Gen. Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas to announce that all slaves had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation signed two and one half years earlier by then President Abraham Lincoln. Keynote speakers at the first-ever Enterprise event, organized by Nichole Nichols, were Winnie Frazier, Elder Rodrick Caldwell, retired Presiding Elder David Reddick and his wife, Allie Bell-Reddick.

New Rucker school named for Parker

Aug. 5 (picture 6)

Fort Rucker and Department of Defense Education Activity officials announced July 30 that the new elementary school built on Fort Rucker will be named in honor of the retired Lt. Gen. Ellis D. Parker of Enterprise, known to many as the “godfather of Army Aviation.” There really is no one who comes to mind that has had more of an impact on the development, growth and health of the Army Aviation Branch, said Col. Whitney B. Gardner, Fort Rucker garrison commander.

Cooper, council sworn into office

Nov. 4 (picture 7)

William “Bill” Cooper was sworn into office as mayor of Enterprise by Municipal Judge Paul Sherling in a ceremony held Nov. 2 at the Enterprise Civic Center. Also sworn in were District 1 Councilwoman Sonya W. Rich, District 2 Councilman Eugene Goolsby, District 3 Councilman Greg Padgett, District 4 Councilman Scotty Johnson and District 5 Councilman Turner Townsend. Townsend was elected council president and mayor pro tem and Rich as president pro tem by fellow council members at the organizational meeting that immediately followed the swearing in.

Barry Moore elected

Nov. 11 (picture 8)

Barry Moore of Enterprise garnered some 64.5 percent of the votes cast in the Second Congressional District to win the United States House of Representatives seat for the Second Congressional District. Moore is a former state representative and self-described “garbage man from Battens Crossroads,” who ran as a conservative and as the “first elected official in Alabama to publically endorse Donald Trump” for United States President.