The Russell Forest Run is this Saturday Feb 27th.
The 10k starts at 8 am. 10k is equal to 6.2 miles. $40 entry fee until feb 26th it is $50 the day of the race.
The one mile fun run starts at 9 am. Entry fee is $10
You can pick up your packet at the Discovery Center in between Catherine’s Market and Spring House on Friday afternoon between 4 and 6 pm, or on Saturday morning from 6 to 7:30 am. Good luck, hope to see you there.
I am pleased to say that in the February 2010 issue of Lake Magazine – Lake Martin Edition, we received a nice mention.
I am really thankful to Kenneth Boone and Emily Gregg for the ink. We made the “Lake Martin News” section of the magazine, on the bottom of page 11, under the title “New Real Estate Agency Opens on Lake.”
If you haven’t already, please pick up a copy of February’s issue. Here are a few of the articles:
Drop Anchor – succinctly written and illustrated, tells you the how, when, and what of using anchors on Lake Martin, along with a rule of thumb so simple that I can remember it.
Soaring Socialites – an article about Cedar Waxwings. As I age I am becoming alarmingly out of the closet about my birdwatching. I try to tell myself it’s a manly pursuit of knowledge, not only for old ladies.
Emporium Wine
Passage Of Wine – Henry Foy urges passage of Alabama State laws that would be more friendly to fortified wine, and I raise my glass to the idea. However, as a friend and frequent customer, I hope Henry plans a follow up article on jerez, the rich types and uses of which he scantily describes as “used for cooking and sipping.” I know where he’s going with it, as most Americans identify sherry as something to buy in Winn-Dixie along with Worcestershire sauce. But you could say the same thing about Dom Perignon or, for that matter, the excellent Chimay I bought from him recently.
Check out this old ad for Lake Martin’s Kowaliga Beach. I think it was from the 1950s. You can’t rent a cabin on Lake Martin for $60 / week anymore.
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Thanks to reader sprink56 of the Club Sea Ray forum for supplying this picture of a vintage newspaper ad of Kowaliga Beach on “Beautiful Lake Martin.”
You could rent a cabin for $5 a night. Can you believe it? It says this was for an Open House at Kowaliga Beach, even gives directions to Lake Martin and brags about the road being paved. I can’t tell if this is from the original opening or just a seasonal opening.
Can anyone help out on this that was around back then, or worked for Mr. Toppy?
If you know, please comment below!
Related Posts:
Pictures of the Old Kowaliga Indian, Restaurant, and Kowaliga Kubbard
Christmas time gives way to project time around the Coley home. My wife started cleaning out the photo trunk on Saturday and needed my help to cull the many hundreds of photos I have saved over the years. Since there was a marathon of Bruce Lee movies on the G4 channel, I obliged her in sorting those that could be thrown away. Many of them are useless, anyway, like my 48 out of focus shots taken from inside New York’s Hard Rock Cafe I took I was in eighth grade.
Some of them were keepers, though. See below. For some reason I took two pictures of the old Kowaliga Restaurant – before it burned to the ground and they rebuilt in its current location. It burned in June of 1999. I am guessing I took these pictures of the Kowaliga Indian around 1993. In this one you can even see the Kowaliga Kubbard.
For those who never knew it, the Kowaliga Kubbard was sort of a convenience store without gas. They also had a little kitchen in there. They served sandwiches and burgers for lunch, but breakfast was by far my favorite. They made big huge buttery biscuits and all that goes with them: eggs, grits, sausage, everything. And when you needed more jelly or whatever, you just walked back into the “employees only” section and grabbed some more. They didn’t care.
The above shot shows the lake view. This was before the days that ole Kowaliga had to be glassed off to protect him from vandals, or at least from we kids that would hang on his arm. I know that I have had my picture taken while doing that, but I can’t find the photo.
You also can see the catwalk that leads into the old restaurant entrance. This is where the kids would hang out while waiting for a table, or if you were too loud and your parents sent you “out.”
Circa 1993 – 1996 was the golden age of Kowaliga to me. The Kubbard was rolling. The restaurant was booming. There were still enough local people in there that it felt like it was “ours.” Yet by then I had met enough out of towners to realize that folks from Montgomery – and – even as far away as (gasp) Birmingham – appreciated its worth. Plus by then it had expanded into that glass atrium / bar area.
But the most critical contribution to its zenith in my mind was that I was friends and / or relatives with a lot of the wait staff. There is nothing more impressive to a future wife than to be able to score a margarita in 45 seconds when there are 75 people waiting out on the deck who are supposed to be ahead of you.
Then again, for all my sentimentality, I must admit that I can’t imagine Aquapalooza 2009 being handled by the old facility and the old ways.
Hey reader – do you have any old pictures of Lake Martin landmarks like Kowaliga Restaurant? Leave a reply in the comment section below, or post them to the Lake Martin Voice Facebook page, the I Love Lake Martin photo group on Flickr, and let us all take a look!
Today I took my kids to eat lunch at Chappy’s Deli in Peppertree Shopping Center. We had a great lunch and it was fun to be “off” of work. However, I guess I ruined someone else’s fun today, because when I got back to my truck, I found this note tucked under the wiper:
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I guess I should be thankful there was no cursing. Actually it was pretty polite (see “please”). It is way too nice to submit to a site like PassiveAggressiveNotes.com.
Here is my parking job, the shadow hurts the shot but you can see the offending entry on the white line:
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Here’s a shot from directly in back. Snoopy is right, I broke the barrier:
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The irony is not lost on me that normally this time of year, Snoopy’s in a great mood. He’s on TV a lot, doing Christmas specials, etc. But here he is back to his dejected position on the dog house, looking straight up at what the person had to write. Clearly, I have disappointed him.
I would like to say to this person: I was wrong. I did a bad job parking there. Please know I will pay more attention in the future.
Though not technically on Lake Martin, Tallassee’s Hotel Talisi has been a regional attraction for decades, until early this month. It was destroyed by an alleged arson.
The new owners of Hotel Talisi have apparently lost everything, and are in need of our help. A donation fund has been set up by one of the members of lakemartin.com forum.
If you would like to help out, please send any donation to:
Bodenburg/Shores Fund
c/o Banktrust
P.O. Box 780607
Tallassee, AL 36078
(334) 283-7000
Any donation will help. According to this post on the forum, “It is a total loss…..Some really great local folks put a lot of work into refurbishing it. It caught fire from a building behind which caught fire. A wonderful couple who moved from Minnesota were living in and managing the hotel. They got out with their lives Thank GOD, however, they have lost everything including their jobs and insurance.”
Thanks!
Coverage of the fire in the Montgomery Advertiser:
Tallassee will hold a town hall meeting Thursday evening to discuss the future of the city’s downtown. A fire destroyed the Hotel Talisi on Nov. 30. The landmark was considered the anchor of downto… more…
A 17-year-old male remains in custody for his involvement in last week’s early morning blaze that swept through the city’s downtown area and eventually destroyed Hotel Talisi, one of Tallassee’s ma… more…
The Elmore County district attorney’s office wants to charge as an adult a juvenile accused of starting the fire that destroyed the historic Hotel Talisi. If the juvenile is tried as an adult, the … more…
One of Tallasee’s most historic landmarks was destroyed by an early-morning blaze that swept through the city’s downtown area on Monday. An effort by more than 100 firefighters from nine different … more…
TALLASSEE – Investigators believe a fire that destroyed a landmark hotel in east Alabama was started to hide a burglary in a nearby business. A spokesman with the state fire marshal’s office, Ragan… more…
We have had a lot of beautiful clear fall weather this year at Lake Martin. Recently I was driving back from checking on a home for sale in The Village when I decided to stop and snap some pics of the fall colors.
The Village is a subdivision off of Highway 50 on Lake Martin. It is very close to Chimney Rock and Acapulco Rock and Martin Dam. So as I was driving back to my office, I passed right by the Overlook, which also serves as the trail head for Lake Martin’s Cherokee Ridge Trail system.
Since it was such a pretty day I decided to stop at the Overlook and get some pics of the fall colors, maybe even the famous landmarks of Chimney Rock and Acapulco Rock. I figured it would take a quick 30 minutes.
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I ended up taking a couple of hours, mainly because I went the wrong way on the Chimney Rock Loop Trail.
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As usual I missed a couple of pics of hawks. But this turtle could not escape my speed photography:
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I probably need to get a polarized filter or something that will help out with the color balance:
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Chimney and Acapulco Rocks look lonely in the fall:
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This boater breaks the silence:
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In the end, I was too far away from Chimney and Acapulco Rocks to get decent pictures, even with my long lens. But it was a really fun hike, and the leaves were just right.
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Bay Pines Marina has been around Lake Martin as long as I can remember. More accurately, it has always been there, but has been run by different folks.
That’s why I was excited when I read of Bay Pines’ renaissance under current owners Jim and Bill.
As the name would indicate, it is in the Bay Pines area of Lake Martin. To get there by car from Alex City, go east over the Highway 280 (aka River) Bridge. Take a right on County Road 40. At the stop sign take a right on Bay Pines Road, and go all the way to the end. Click here for a map to Bay Pines Marina.
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Here is a link to their ad on lakemartin.com
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Also, in a sign of the times, I am pleased to see that they have a Facebook Page. Now, when Marty’s Marina gets a Facebook Page, I really will be surprised. (quick self promo – please become a fan of the Lake Martin Voice Facebook Page)
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They sell non ethanol gas and are proud of it, by God. In fact, according to their ad, “We have ethanol-free gas at the dock and on the street. The street gas is a little lower price but still the same mid-grade all the way around with NO ETHANOL EVER!!! BOAT GAS IS NOT MADE FROM CORN“ Too funny.
Bay Pines Marina seems to be very geared to fishermen. You can launch your boat, get gas, buy coffee and C store food- plus Bait! I am not sure but it may be the only place you can buy live bait on the waters of Lake Martin. If someone knows for sure, please comment below and help us all out.
According to a sign posted on the window, Bay Pines’ winter hours are:
Friday – noon till dark
Saturday – 8 till dark
Sunday – 10:30 till dark
Here are more pictures and video of the auction of Richard Scrushy’s Lake Martin waterfront home, lots, and hangar at Willow Point Airport. HealthSouth shareholders forced the auction to recover part of the $2.9 billion judgment against Scrushy.
As expected, the HealthSouth shareholders were the high bidders on both parcels. They “bought” the hangar for $435,000 and the lake front home and 2 adjacent lots for $7,4000,000. They arrived at these prices by getting appraisals, so Richard Scrushy will be given full appraised value as credits against the judgment. Now the shareholders are the official owners of the Lake Martin properties and seek to sell them as soon as possible, according to their attorneys. Obviously, as a Lake Martin realtor, I would love to help anyone buy it. Please contact me at the number and email at the top of this page.
If you would like to see a video of the home auction only, see my earlier post here.
The below video is for both the hangar and the waterfront home and lots in Willow Point, plus a little wrap up. The whole auction process lasted about 2 minutes:
Since the auction was over so fast, most of my time was spent listening to the attorneys for the Plaintiffs explain the process. The TV news never has time for full explanations, so I thought it would be helpful to publish the below explanations.
The Attorney speaking is John Somerville of Galloway and Somerville, LLC. He answered most of the post auction questions.
Another Attorney for HealthSouth was John Haley of Hare, Wynn, Newell, and Newton, LLP. He did some interviews but I didn’t get them on tape. Another attorney also present from that firm was Judge Ralph Cook.
A crowd gathers before the auction:
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Sheriff Jimmy Abbett explains the process:
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Page One of the Order of Sheriff’s sale:
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To download a PDF full copy of the Sheriff’s Sale of the Scrushy Lake Home click here.
HealthSouth Attorneys John Haley and Ralph Cook confer before the auction:
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Lead Plaintiff Wade Tucker (l) and Attorney John Somerville (r) answer media questions after Scrushy auction had ended:
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Attorney for the Plaintiff John Somerville meets with media:
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For a complete set of all pictures I took at the Scrushy Lake Martin Home acution, see this set on Flickr.
Anyone or any company is free to download, use, re-print, re-broadcast any and all of my pictures and / or video that I have published on the Scrushy story. I do ask that if you use on the web please cite a hyperlink of this article or if you are using it in a broadcast, please cite LakeMartinVoice.com.
I have already been contacted by a few different media members for my content, and I am glad to help in any way. For quotes, analysis, or perspective, please contact me at the email and number at the top of the page.
To read all of my coverage on Scrushy and HealthSouth, see: “Scrushy Category” – or look on the left side bar and select Scrushy.
Ex HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy’s Lake Martin home was auctioned today on the courthouse steps in Dadeville, Alabama. HealthSouth shareholders won a $2.9 billion judgment against the “CEO of Fraud” and are now attempting to recover the cash.
The above video shows the home and its adjoining lots being auctioned.
The auction actually included two parcels:
1. The Hangar at Willow Point Airport- 644 Willow Way North – Scrushy owned a hangar there, one of only 2 or 3 at the airport, which is adjacent to the neighborhood of Willow Point. It was the site of the boat auction a couple of weeks ago. The shareholders bought it for $435,000.
2. The Waterfront Home and Lots - 1470 Willows End - this is the home and the surrounding lots in Willow Point. They had an opening bid for $4 million and the shareholdersof HealthSouth bought it for $7.4 million.
Related Posts:
More Pictures And Video – Richard Scrushy Lake Martin Home Auction
For everything I have written on Scrushy, see Scrushy Category
For now pictures, video, and text I cranked out on the scene at:
Lake Martin Voice on Posterous
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