Aug 27, 2024

Welcome back. We're reflecting on the state of debates over on the podcast, if politics is your thing.

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Ike Morgan

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After the tithes and offerings, somebody might need to pass a hat around to pay for the lawyers.

Forty four South Alabama and Florida Panhandle United Methodist Church congregations joined to file a lawsuit last year claiming they were kept from leaving the UMC as the deadline passed for disaffiliating churches to take their property with them. That lawsuit hit a dead end at the Alabama Supreme Court, which ruled that the fight belongs in the church's court rather than the state's courts.

The churches had argued that because of the property issues, the case belonged in state court.

AL.com's Greg Garrison reports that now there are at least three churches that have filed individual lawsuits:

Harvest Church in Dothan, Guy's Chapel in Bay Minette and First Methodist Church of Demopolis all argue that they owned their own property and never signed it over to the UMC.

The church in Demopolis was founded way back in 1847 and says it's owned its property throughout its 177 years.

Meanwhile, the UMC's judicial court is taking a look at how to handle the congregations that still want to leave.

We now know a little more about the Birmingham man who died three decades after he was shot, thanks to reporting by AL.com's Carol Robinson.

Sounds like it's been a difficult 32 years.

Erving Gray was shot in September 1992. One of the shots resulted in a head wound that even required removing some brain tissue.

A man was charged with attempted murder back then, but the charges were dismissed. He died in 1997, and upon Gray's death the charge was upgraded to homicide.

The head injury caused Gray to be disabled the rest of his life. His mom said he suffered from seizures and other illnesses. She also said that six months ago he told doctors that he didn't want to take his medication anymore.

Finally, on Aug. 6, his mom found him unresponsive in the bathtub.

His son Martavious Stewart was born a month after the shooting. He played ball at school, which took him to the University of South Alabama, where he stuck around and picked up a Master's degree.

Martavious Stewart: “My dad wasn’t able to take care of me, but he recognized me and told me he loved me.”

Virginia Transportation Corp. unveiled a semi-truck Monday that'll haul vehicles from the Honda plant in Lincoln, reports AL.com's William Thornton.

You didn't find this big rig in CW McCall's convoy.

It's a Peterbilt 579EV.

That's right, it's all-electric. And it's the result of a project that involved Peterbilt, Alabama Power, the Alabama Clean Fuels Coalition and Virginia Transportation.

According to Peterbilt's website, the truck will get you 150 miles on a charge, then require a minimum three-hour recharge. But this one's not going that far: It'll haul vehicles from the Honda plant to a nearby CSX railhead so they can be put on a train and shipped.

“You have players that may think they are going through a hard time because they lost a game or they didn’t play good or are facing other adversity, but when something like that happens it puts it all in perspective and shows us all that all this other stuff is fleeting. It’s all just stuff, and we should be thankful every day for the life we have and our families and thankful we get to play this great game.”

Gulf Shores High head coach Mark Hudspeth, reflecting on the death of Morgan Academy high school football player Caden Tellier.

11

That's how many men were arrested in a sting operation at a Montgomery hotel targeting child-sex predators.

In 1949, country music band Alabama's late guitarist and fiddle player Jeff Cook of Fort Payne.

Thoughts on the state of debating -- and an upcoming Congressional debate in Alabama.

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