December 29, 1970 Birmingham News
ALABAMA AMBLINGS
Jim's trusty pliers save day
BY THOMAS F. HILL, News staff writer
DEMOPOLIS
It was an ultra formal occasion; leading citizens had gathered to join city and state officials in welcoming a foreign diplomat. Everyone was dressed in his Sunday best.
One man, wearing a full dress suit and white gloves, was about to enter Bluff Hall, when he saw some policemen around a car with its hood up and lights burning.
"Hey, Jim," one officer called to the man in white tie and tails. "Lend us your pliers. We need to disconnect the lights."
The man took off his white gloves, reached in a pocket and handed the officer the pliers.
This amusing s story on the front page of The Demopolis Times this week is about Jim Bird, a friendly citizen -engineer and cattleman of the area and of his habit of carrying pliers with him at all times.
JIM ALWAYS CARRIES pliers, saying you can never tell when you'll need pliers for something or other. He even has them in his tux pocket at a dance.
"You'd be surprised," he explains, "how many things need fixing at a dance, and no one has any pliers."
At a church wedding, the ushers were having trouble getting a stuck door open when they saw Jim.
"Hey, Mr. Bird." they said, "lend us your pliers, we can't get the door open."
He did and they did. .
Bird attended elementary school at Edgewood in Birmingham and graduated from Phillips High.
He attended Marion Institute before going to Kingsport Merchant Marine Academv. He received a commission in the U. S. Navy and a degree in marine engineering. He later went to Auburn University, getting a degree in mechanical engineering.
A descendant of Gen. Nathan Bryan Whitfield, builder and owner of Gaineswood, Jim is married to the former Elizabeth (Lib) Otts of Greensboro, a former reporter for The Birmingham News, and avid University of Alabama journalism graduate.
So, it you ever have car trouble in Demopolis, look up Jim Bird. He probably can fix it with his pliers .
. . . . ...
BY LIB BIRD, News correspondent
ALICEVILLE
Homer Carpenter Sr. was someone to be remembered by all who knew him. Now a musical record has been dedicated to the memory of the former Greene County Commissioner.
Although he made friends far and wide during his political career, it was the way he loved to dance that inspired a band to record his favorite melodies.
The Moundtown. recording is entitled: "Memories of a Saturday Night at Carpenter's Lodge."
Opening with the "Beer Barrel Polka" the music makes you visualize Carpenter dancing his favorite piece. :Most every woman who ever went to his lakeside lodge was honored with at least one dance with the genial proprietor.
On Aug. 3, Carpenter was dancing as usual at the dine and dance place near Aliceville.
He suffered: a fatal heart attack.
WHEN HE DIED so did the era of the Saturday nights at Carpenter's Lodge. The Bert Fuller band, which had been playing there since May of 1960, decided to make the recording of Carpenter's favorite dance pieces.
The rambling building had been first built as an overnight hunting lodge. It remained quiet until one Saturday night in January when the band returned for a one night opening. About 130 persons crammed the dance floor that night. Although the opening was only advertised by word of mouth, many couples had to be turned away.
Fuller's band, which plays big band and country music without amplifiers, recently kept folks dancing for hours at the Demopolis Civic Center.
"The Dance Club" composed of "over 40" members entertained at its first ball with all the guests over 40, too.
Musical ambassadors
SPEAKING OF MUSIC, "'The Messengers" are a group who can please all ages. The Memphis-based young vocalists have traveled world wide proclaiming their message of "What Price Freedom." : Although the group began as a church choir, its concert includes popular songs of today and yesteryear. It was a cotd, rainy night when "The Messengers" performed at Demopolis during Christmas on the River week. The large expanse of empty seats and the bleakness of the armory didn't dampen their enthusiasm.
With a musical background, the young vocalists sang and .spoke of patriotism and honor mentioning sacrifices made by forefathers 200 years ago. The musical ambassadors of peace are sponsored by Holiday Inns, Inc. Their appearances here and abroad are underwritten by the motel chain.
September 16, 1976 Birmingham News
ALABAMA AMBLINGSRiver Modernization Has Its Points
BY LIB BIRD, News correspondent
FORKLAND - A boat ride on the Tombigbee River is just like the jungle tour at Silver Springs, Fla., except for the monkeys.
At a recent Corps of Engineers hearing on proposed river improvements south of Demopolis, I heard speakers say "Stop Tenn-Tom." They said it was going to ruin the natural environment of the area.
Just to see for myself we traveled the portion that had already been widened from Demopolis to Bluffport. All I could tell was that we sure made much better time without having to twist and turn around so many jutting out bends.
A mile canal was cut to eliminate 10 miles of Rattlesnake Bend which really does coil. At our house on the river bank, you look to your right to see the sunset. One day we stopped at a sand bar several miles downriver on the old, twisting part. We were on the same side of the water but I was amazed to see the sun was setting to my left, because of the coiling of the stream.
From Demopolis to Bluffport, our house is practically the only year-round dwelling. There are many fishing and hunting camps and trailers. Much of the land is subject to overflow and is inaccessible by automobile.
Before flood waters washed away our docks and part of the stairs, we used to keep our boat in the river. It was so nice to be able to take a short spin at dusk when the Tombigbee is at its most beautiful.
Years ago a journalism school friend stopped to spend the night with us while en route from Florida to Texas. We loaded up the four Waldron children and our four Birds and went up the river for a weiner roast on a sand bar.
Returned home to real surprise
THE COOK-OUT went well with the usual sand in the bun, but when we got home we were in for a surprise.
The two lights we left on down by the river had attracted willow flies by the millions or billions. Thank goodness, they come only occasionally.
Walking up those steps barefooted with in the gooey layers of dead insects was distasteful. Two of our children were hesitating, so Jim went ahead of them. He slipped on the mashed bugs and fell back with the drink box. .Both youngsters were knocked over and one lost his glasses.
When we went down to search for the glasses the next morning, we were surprised to see the chickens had feasted and cleaned away the willow flies in the yard. But they hadn't got to the steps. I took a fireplace shovel to remove the two or three inches of bugs all the way down the stairway. At the bottom we did find the glasses.
If modernization of the Tombigbee has anything to do with controlling willow flies, I'm all for it..
April 7, 1976 Birmingham News
ALABAMA AMBLINGS
Looking Through Kitchen Window
BY LIB BIRD News correspondent
FORKLAND - Jimmie Stewart witnessed a murder in the movie "Rear Window." I might never see a killing through my kitchen window, but I do see a lot.
Just the other night I was standing at the sink enjoying the glorious sunset reflected in the Tombigbee River. Then I noticed something different and thought I should go get my camera for a picture of the man in the boat floating along.
About that time Jim, too, was looking at the sunset from another window and said, "I believe that man is having trouble."
My farmer-husband, who always has a pair of pliers in his pocket, started down the hill to see he could lend a hand to the boater. But his offer of assistance came too late, as the swift high water carried the boat past our landing before the man was able to paddle to the bank.
As he floated away, the man shouted back that his wife was waiting at a Sumter County boat landing. She had a CB radio so he asked that we try to get in touch with her.
Sought help from CBer
JIM ASKED a Demopolis CBer to get in touch with the wife, in her truck at the landing, didn't hear the message. A neighbor heard and volunteered to go tell her that her husband was safe.
By that time the distraught woman had notified game.wardens and the state troopers. The fisherman was three hours late already.
It was about another hour before he floated down toward the Birdeye boat landing. The fisherman seemed relieved to catch hold of a tree in the slough leading toward the fertilizer plant. He yelled that he wanted someone to come for him with a boat and bring a fan belt and battery jumper cable.
By this time it was dark and his idea of making the trip by boat was vetoed by the game warden, waiting with his wife in Sumter County. They headed for him by land, which is many miles farther than by water.
RECALLED ANOTHER RESCUE
AS WE LEFT him tied to the tree, Jim recalled the time he had towed two wet Mississippi fisherman back to their campsite one night. It was on a Sunday evening of a Fourth of July weekend and their boat had turned over in the river below our house.
We were eating supper outside and heard a boat's motor stop.
Jim yelled to ask if they had trouble. A calm voice called out:
"Yes, we've capsized."
Our own boat was tied at the landing at the bottom of the hill so we went across the river and fished them out of the river.
Luckily, they were wearing life jackets and abiding by that safety precaution. After we got them safely on the landing, we went back for the boat and floating equipment. Our young children were rather frightened by the drenched fisherman, who were shouting at each other. It turned out that one man was wearing a hearing aid which was out of commission..
January 24, 1977 BIRMINGHAM NEWS
ALABAMA AMBLINGS
When it snows, what do you do?
BY LIB BIRD News correspondent
FORKLAND - What's there to do when you are snow bound in Alabama?
Part of my day was routine ... watching the birds feed on leftovers from the scraps given the dogs. Trying to stay close to the log fire to conserve gas used by the furnace.
BUT THEN there was the unusual, too. Driving through the pasture pulling my husband behind the pick-up on a pair of snow skis. He had already tried skiing down the hill in front of the house, but that was too tiring coming back up without a ski lift. However, before we got to the larger hill, he was almost frozen from so many spills as his skis hit the ruts in the dirt road.
Our day even began unusually. I woke up wondering why my heating pad was not working. Discovering the electricity was off, I looked out the window to see beautiful snow. Of course, Jim didn't think it looked beautiful because he thought about his cold cows out in the bad weather.
Our family, like everyone in Alabama, always has voiced a certain amount of excitement when snow appeared. Always I'd delight in waking the children with the surprising news.
At the breakfast table I said, "You know I miss being able to wake up Archie with a shout that it's snowing."
For old times sake, I telephoned Archie to wake him up with the announcement. His sleepy reply was, "Yes, it's snowing here too and it's about zero.'
Our youngest son is a freshman at the University of Wyoming
and seems to always low-rate the Alabama weather bulletins.
THINKING back on other snows since we've lived in Greene County, I recall the time our oldest boy came back in the house from playing in the white stuff. Just as he was peeling off his wet clothes, someone said, "'There goes a deer through the yard."
Picking up his gun, the youngster dashed out the door to chase the white-tailed creature till it jumped the fence. He hadn't even realized all he had on was his underwear.
As bad as this snow seemed, the aftermath is sure not to be as bad to us as the one in about 1961. That time when the temperature dropped to 8, we had 28 burst pipes. Luckily then we had an overflow well.
We were snowbound several days with our older two children having remained in town with relatives so they could stay in school. They were really disgusted when school closed and they would have had a much better time in all the snow on the farm.
All's not fun in the country even though it's beautiful. Cows followed the truck around as Jim skied. They were expecting it to be pulling a hay wagon rather than a creature..
Tues., Feb. 3, 1976
The Birmingham News
Alabama Amblings
Otts family knew about printer's ink
BY LIB BIRD News correspondent
GREENSBORO- Back in the days of the 2 cent stamp, it sometimes took the rural mail carrier until after dark to get around the route in his new $600 Model "T" Ford.
Before his automobile purchase, the late Archie Otts used a horse drawn "dog cart" to deliver the mail. The light two wheeled cart was pulled by one horse and didn't mire up in the mud as did the "horseless carriage."
During the Christmas holidays in 1915, the mail carrier was still using his dog cart in delivering mail north of Greensboro. There at the MacMillan mail box stood a young Montevallo College student. Despite the disadvantages of trying to court at an all girls school, Archie Otts and Elizabeth MacMillan were wed the next fall.
On their honeymoon to New Orleans they had purchased one of the newly-invented linotypes for his father's newspaper. Mrs. Otts said she was the first linotype operator in Greensboro and later taught the skill to the personnel of other weeklies. Her husband did the job printing on days he came in early from the mail route.
The late attorney Lee M. Otts sold the Greensboro record after he became postmaster. When the post office became second class his son's wife became a clerk
. Began riding husband's mail route
MRS. OTTS WORKED off and on in the post office for many years. Prior to the depression Otts sold radios and automobiles in addition to carrying the mail.
Federal directives made him stop since he had one salaried job. During those lean years for many, Mrs. Otts recalls she began riding the route with her husband to buy antique furniture.
She stopped a farmer from cutting one beautiful chest of drawers to fire wood by giving him $5. At that time she was probably one of the few collectors of old mahogany pieces.
The bad weather continued to present a problem for the carrier even during the days of the 3-cent stamp. Delivering mail south of Greensboro in the prairies, Otts could carry a man with him when it was muddy to help get him unstuck.
DURING WORLD WAR II, the Otts family had another connection with newspapers. The linotype operator for the Greensboro Watchman was drafted, and Mrs. Otts took over. Assistance in the printing was given by the carrier. Their daughter was writing many of the articles in the high school paper for the late Hamner Cobbs.
So you see printer's ink really did flow in the blood of Elizabeth Otts Bird. She went to journalism school and on to The Birmingham News..
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