Athens community members and nonprofit raise over $21K in tornado relief funds
ATHENS, Ala (WHNT) — No one wants to hear that their business or city has been hit by a tornado, yet that was the reality on December 28, 2024, in Athens.
'I received a phone call about 11:30 on December 28th that said 'You probably need to get downtown… we've been hit by a tornado,'' said Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks.
From Mess to Ministry: Huntsville barber gives haircuts and a little hope in hard times
The EF1 left its mark all across downtown, but it hit the CEI bookstore especially hard. It's a Christian bookstore and supply center.
'Once the roof was ripped off of the building, we kind of knew as soon as we went in that man, nothing much in here is going to survive as far as being able to sell it to customers,' said Lance Taylor.
Taylor is the bookstore's director of operations. He and his team have spent the last five months working hard to get back on their feet. They've even reopened the store in a different location down the road from their original one.
While they've worked to turn a new page, the community has rallied around them as well.
'We were really overwhelmed to see the support from so many people, individuals and business owners to say, 'Hey, we don't want you to go anywhere….what can we do to help,'' he said.Mayor Marks said many people wanted to help when they found out the damage in Athens did not meet the threshold to get state funding. That's when a nonprofit stepped in.
'Athens Main Street and others said, 'We need to help our local business people…..they are the heartbeat of all of our communities,'' said Marks.
They created a 'business storm relief fund,' raising just over $21,000 and providing it to the four businesses hit the hardest.
'One of the first things I told her is I hope there's other people that are eligible for this, too,' said Taylor. 'Because, you know, our building's roof caused a lot of other damage when it came off … You know it landed on a lot of other businesses here in downtown and even the courthouse.'
While the past few months have been far from ideal, Taylor said they're finding the good in this situation, too.
'There was a lot of things to kind of be sad about and cry about or whatever in the loss, but there's also bright spots and the silver lining,' said Taylor.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Female Nude Spa in Washington Can't Bar Transgender Clients With Male Genitalia, Federal Court Rules
A female nude spa in Washington state cannot bar preoperative transgender women, a federal court ruled last week, rejecting the claim that forcing the business to serve customers with male genitalia violated its First Amendment rights. In 2020, Haven Wilvich, who identifies as a "nonbinary trans woman," filed a complaint with the Washington State Human Rights Commission (WSHRC) after allegedly being turned away from Olympus Spa in Lynnwood, Washington, for having a penis. Olympus, which has another location in Tacoma, is a traditional Korean spa that offers full-body scrubs and massages, and requires nudity in its pool area, which is why it caters to a single-sex clientele. (The spa also accepts postoperative transgender women.) The WSHRC, however, said the business's policy ran afoul of the Washington State Law Against Discrimination, otherwise known as WLAD, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of "race, creed, color, national origin, citizenship or immigration status, sex, honorably discharged veteran or military status, sexual orientation, or the presence of any sensory, mental, or physical disability." Sexual orientation, under state law, is defined to mean "heterosexuality, homosexuality, bisexuality, and gender expression or identity." After entering into a settlement with the WSHRC in October 2021, Olympus Spa sued, alleging the state's enforcement against it violated its rights to free speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of association. But none of those were applicable to this case, ruled the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in May. "We are not unmindful of the concerns and beliefs raised by the Spa," wrote Judge M. Margaret McKeown for the 2–1 majority. "Indeed, the Spa may have other avenues to challenge the enforcement action. But whatever recourse it may have, that relief cannot come from the First Amendment." The spa said the state had violated its free speech rights when the WSHRC forced it to change its policy on its website; the 9th Circuit noted that "compelled changes in conduct—which might incidentally compel changes in speech—are not reviewed as content-based speech restrictions." In other words, the government forcing a store to remove a "whites only" sign, for example, would not be a First Amendment violation, as the speech restriction would be a natural consequence of complying with the law. The spa further said the state had infringed on its freedom of religion by forcing the owners to violate their Christian beliefs around modesty, allowing clients with male genitalia to comingle with naked female clients, who can be as young as 13 years old. "Though we recognize that the Spa's desire to perform acts that contravene WLAD's mandate is motivated in part by religious belief," McKeown said, "the HRC's action under WLAD does not prohibit the Spa from expressing its religious beliefs." And the spa's freedom of association objection, the 9th Circuit said, failed to pass legal muster because the business is neither an intimate nor an expressive association. "That right protects both 'intimate association,' that is, the 'choices to enter into and maintain certain intimate human relationships,' and 'expressive association,' which is 'a right to associate for the purpose of engaging in those activities protected by the First Amendment—speech, assembly, petition for the redress of grievances, and the exercise of religion,'" wrote McKeown. "Business enterprises serving the general public typically lack" the qualities of an intimate association, she noted, which is why they are usually subject to antidiscrimination laws. And to classify a nude spa as an "expressive association," she added, "would stretch the freedom of association beyond all existing bounds." At the core of the decision is Washington state's definition of sexual orientation. "Washington chose an expansive definition" of that term, the 9th Circuit said. "The Spa simply did not challenge the statute itself"—opting instead for its First Amendment argument—"and it is not our role to rewrite the statute." That would have to come from the Legislature. The decision "seems correct to me under current law," says Eugene Volokh, an expert on First Amendment issues and formerly a professor of law at UCLA. Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission (2018)—the Supreme Court decision that ruled in favor of a cake baker who declined to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple—would not apply here, Volokh notes, as that ruling was narrowly based on the Colorado Civil Rights Commission's explicit hostility toward the baker's religious views. "There was nothing like that in this case," he says, "nor was there evidence (which the Masterpiece Cakeshop majority also pointed to) that religious objectors were being treated worse than people with very similar secular objections." That will likely dissatisfy many people, however, who do not want to see a private establishment legally obligated to place naked biological men among biological women—a requirement that would upend the sex-segregated business model core to Korean spas. So how might Olympus Spa have proceeded in court with more success? "I expect there might be some constitutional right to privacy claim, either under the federal Constitution or the Washington Constitution," says Volokh. "But it's not clear whether that applies outside the context where the observation by the opposite sex is genuinely coerced, as it is in prisons. There is no federal constitutional right to be naked in a relatively public place." That leaves another avenue: changing the law itself. "WLAD's governing regulations permit the maintenance of certain 'gender-segregated facilities,' such as 'restrooms, locker rooms, dressing rooms,' and similar spaces, so long as the facility does not remove or otherwise take action against a person for reasons '[]related to their gender expression or gender identity,'" the 9th Circuit notes. An exception could be introduced, then, "allowing places of public accommodation to segregate facilities by gender however the places define it – including, if they wish, anatomical gender," says Volokh. In dissent, Judge Kenneth K. Lee did not confront the plaintiffs' First Amendment arguments. Rather, he disputed the notion that the text of WLAD prohibits discrimination against transgender people. It's a difficult argument to make, though, when considering that sexual orientation as defined under state law explicitly includes "gender expression [and] identity"—a reminder that the responsibility, and the blame, for these problems often lies with lawmakers. The post Female Nude Spa in Washington Can't Bar Transgender Clients With Male Genitalia, Federal Court Rules appeared first on
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
‘Help Ronnie's kids find joy amidst tragedy': Dumas family PI sets up GoFundMe for kids to attend summer camp
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The private investigator for the family of the still-missing Huntsville realtor has set up a GoFundMe for the children to go to summer camp and for the eldest's birthday in a few days. 'Help Ronnie's kids find joy amidst tragedy,' James Andrews said. Ronald Leslie Dumas Jr., 37, was last seen on Dec. 15, 2024. A missing persons report was filed on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024, and he was placed on the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency's Missing Persons List as a missing adult on Dec. 23. The Huntsville Police Department and ALEA upgraded the missing adult alert for Dumas to a missing and endangered person alert on Feb. 7, saying he 'is believed to have been abducted and in danger of bodily harm or death.' Andrews, the family's private investigator, has now created a GoFundMe to support Dumas' kids as they head into the summer months. 'Ronnie is a dedicated father who loves his children, and he was involved in every aspect of their lives right up until the moment he was taken away from them,' the GoFundMe reads. Kai is 12, Lindsi is 6 and Ryili is 4. 'Kai turns 13 on June 11th, and he wants to celebrate at the Lego store. Kai, Lindsi, and Ryili would all like to go to summer camp this year, and from personal experience, I know how beneficial that would be for them! Summer camp alone for the 3 kids will be a few thousand dollars, but it will be worth every penny to bring these children some joy and moments of peace,' Andrews wrote. ALL funds raised will go directly toward helping the kids feel some sense of normalcy while their mothers and other family members continue to help them navigate this crisis. As we continue to search for Ronnie and answers, we cannot forget about the impact this is having on his young children. We ask everyone that is able, please donate and share! Every contribution, no matter how small, helps us bring comfort and stability to these amazing kids during an unimaginable hard time. GoFundMe You can visit the GoFundMe page here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Miami Herald
42 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
2024 WNBA draft pick Celeste Taylor joins Grand Canyon staff
Celeste Taylor, the No. 15 overall pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft, is joining the coaching staff at Grand Canyon for the 2025-26 season. Taylor played collegiately at Texas and then Duke, where Grand Canyon head coach Winston Gandy was an assistant on the staff. She was a defensive standout for the Blue Devils, named Atlantic Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2023 among her accolades. She played her final college season at Ohio State. A 5-foot-11 guard, she was drafted in the second round by the Indiana Fever and also spent part of the season with the Connecticut Sun and Phoenix Mercury. Her biggest contribution came in 15 games with the Mercury, where she averaged 3.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists over 20.1 minutes per game. Taylor, who turns 24 this month, said she was grateful to Gandy for the opportunity. "This is his first time as a head coach and it's at a program like GCU that's definitely up-and-coming and growing and a beautiful university, but I'm definitely grateful for him giving me the opportunity," Taylor told ESPN. "He wants to put the best people around him, so for him to look to me and believe in me, to be able to help him is a blessing." Whether this is a long-term job remains to be seen. She is recovering from a foot injury she suffered playing over the winter in Australia and wants to return to the WNBA in 2026. "There have been teams who wanted me to come back this season, and I think for me, it's trying to get healthy and trying to maintain in the space of being fit and looking at what's right for my body, listening to my body," she told ESPN. --Field Level Media Field Level Media 2023 - All Rights Reserved
