​ I finished this story the day before Byrd Stewart passed away.I’m leaving the story just as it was written. I am so honored to have had the privilege to do this and get to know Byrds wonderful daughters. My heart goes out to this great family.

              A Man of Character
       I wonder how many people can say that they were born in World War I, lived through the Great Depression, fought in World War 2 and can speak of it today? Not many, if any, I’d say but we have such a person right here in Randolph County. His name is Mr. Byrd Stewart. At 103, he still lives at home, enjoys a good book, conversation and watching the birds outside his picture window.

Byrd Stewart enlisted in the Army in June of 1941, at the age of 25. He went in as a mechanic and as soon as his training was complete, he was loaded on the Queen Elizabeth, seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time, and shipped off to Scotland to eventually join the 6th Cavalry Mechanized Division.

In his service, he witnessed the tragedy of war. The effects of bombs, bullets, fire and inhumanity were obvious everywhere. As his exit paperwork shows, he was there in the Battle of the Bulge in Normandy, Central Europe and Ardennes Rhineland. In all, he was in three different campaigns that were called the Bronze Service Star Campaigns.

For his service, Sgt Stewart earned the Bronze Star as well as the European-African- Middle Eastern service medal with one silver star.

To read more about Mr. Stewart, pick up your copy of Southern Holiday Life.

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#HealthandWellness #LakeWedoweeLife #LakeLife  #Recipes #April2019 #ReadersPhotos #WhereInTheWorld 

A practice that has been opened since 1979, Dr. Michael Edwards, D.M.D.. P.C. has provided excellent dental care and orthodontic work for residents of Randolph County, as well as East Alabama. His story, like so many that call Randolph County home, begins in another location. 

Once earning his degree from the University of Alabama-Birmingham and the University of Alabama School of Dentistry, Dr. Edwards found himself in a residency program that took him to a small town in Western Montana called St. Ignatius. Dr. Edwards fell in love with the reservation that served the Salish and Kootenai tribes, so much so, that he wanted to settle in a small town that reminded him of St. Ignatius, that was much closer to his hometown of Birmingham. 

"Being a native of Birmingham, (Dr. Edwards and his wife, Terri) were tired of the traffic and the city. We just decided to come (to Wedowee) and look around," says Dr. Edwards. 

Dr. Edwards, who claimed to have never been south of Mt. Cheaha upon arriving in Wedowee, says that there settlement took it's next step during a stop at a convenience store on Main Street. 

"A guy asked me what I did, and I told him. He said that “Hey, we need a dentist down here really bad!” We stayed around and a nice committee of citizens here cooked lunch and had us up to their house. The next thing that we knew, we had made a lot of friends. We decided to give it a try, and we fell in love with it." 

While the area has grown since 1979, and continues to grow, many residents still have to drive to cities such as Oxford, Carrollton, Auburn, or even Atlanta and Birmingham for doctors visits, shopping, dining, among a variety of other reasons. Dr. Edwards cuts down on travel time for dentist-related appointments, as many procedures can be handled here in Wedowee. 

In addition to standard cleaning, fillings, and implants, Dr. Edwards also offers orthodontic work. 

"I went back and trained in orthodontics, where I could do braces and have been doing braces for over 30 years for kids in the area. That was something that families had to drive long distances to get that service, so we felt that we would start to implement things and training that would allow us to give those services to our patients." 

New to the practice, is 3D digital imaging. With this new technology, Dr. Edwards can now create the "perfect smile" for patients and allow them to see the generation prior to the procedure. 

"Everything in dentistry is moving digitally in every aspect," says Dr. Edwards. Patients love it because they don’t have to have all the impressions stuff in their mouths, that’s all gone now. We just let the camera look at their bite, the way that their teeth fit and are arranged, and we can create any smile we want to from that, and they get to preview it ahead of time.”

It's easy to say providing the area with great dental care for nearly 40 years has been rewarding for Dr. Edwards.

#InTheSpotlight

The regular season has come to a close for 2018, and four teams are left standing. Clay Central, Handley, Randolph County, and Wadley will all host playoff games as 2-seeds in their respective regions. 

The Randolph County Tigers will be tasked with welcoming the Lauderdale County Tigers to Wedowee to open the playoffs. While the Tigers are ranked #1 in Class 3A, it was Piedmont who claimed the region 6 crown, winning the tie-breaker by owning the head-to-head matchup that was played in mid-September. 

Lauderdale County is 4-6, with all four wins coming over region opponents. The Tigers finished third behind Colbert Heights and #7 Westminster Christian. 

Wadley, under first year head coach Jonathan Farr, are in the playoffs as the 2-seed after an impressive 7-2 regular season. Their lone loss came to the #1 Lanett Panthers, who ended as region 4 champions. Coach Farr looks to become the first first-year head coach in Wadley history to win a playoff game, as his Bulldogs welcome 1A power Brantley to Curtis Lynch Memorial Field on Friday night. Brantley enters the game at 7-3, finishing third in 1A Region 2 behind Elba and region title owner Georgiana. This will be the 2nd time that Wadley has faced Brantley, the Bulldogs in red clad defeated Brantley in 2007, 21-20 in a comeback effort for Brantley at home. 

Handley's topsy-turvey region has finally gotten figured out, as they claim the 2-seed in 4A Region 4. In the first round, the Tigers will host an old friend in Trinity out of Montgomery. This will be the seventh time that these two teams have faced each other, with Trinity winning the first five meetings. Handley won the most recent match, 28-14 in the 2007 playoffs. Trinity has had a down year, entering the game at 4-6, but has won three of their last four games to close out the year. 

Finally, Clay Central will be rewarded in the first year of Danny Horn's return by hosting a playoff game as the 2-seed in 5A Region 5. Their only region loss came to region champ Mortimer Jordan on a bizarre final play that involved a blocked field goal resulting in a touchdown. The Blue Devils won that game, 32-27. The Volunteers from Clay Central will host Corner from 5A Region 7 in round one. Much like many opponents from the 2018 season, Corner and Clay Central have never met on the gridiron before Friday. Corner and Clay Central share a mutual opponent, the Jasper Vikings. Jasper defeated Corner 35-20 on September 14, and got the best of Clay Central two weeks later, 10-7, scoring on a last-minute field goal. Corner finished third in region 7, with a 6-4 record, 4-3 in region.  

The regular season came to a close last Friday night for our area High School Football teams, and for two teams, they ended the season on a high note. 

RANDOLPH COUNTY 28 WADLEY 0

This game was much closer than the scoreboard indicated. Randolph County led the game 7-0 at the break, with the only score coming on a turnover due to a busted play on a Wadley punt. The Tigers ultimately pulled away in the second half for the win. 

Both teams are qualified for the playoffs in their respective classifications, and will host round one games this upcoming Friday night. 

CLAY CENTRAL 45 HANDLEY 7

The Volunteers from Clay County had a great end to their season, by defeating Handley 45-7 on the road. 

Clay Central did most of their damage in the first half, scoring 38 points to take a 38-0 lead going to the locker room. Handley's lone score came in the 3rd quarter at the 4:10 mark. 

Much like Randolph County and Wadley, both Handley and Clay Central will host playoff games at their home stadiums this Friday night. 

DONOHO 56 WOODLAND 0

The 2018 football season has come to a close for the Woodland Bobcats, it ended with a shutout loss at Donoho last Friday. The Bobcats end the season with a 2-8 record, with wins coming over Fayetteville and Gaston. 

Be sure to visit tomorrow, as we give you a guide to first round playoff games for our area teams. 

Here it is, the regular season finale. "Football Weather" is in full effect as most games will see temperatures in the high 40's at kickoff. Oh, and it's non-region rivalry week. Here's a preview of this week's games. 

Woodland (2-7) at Donoho (7-2)

In the season finale for the Woodland Bobcats, they hope to spoil the final regular season game of the year for Donoho on the road. Donoho, who has been known to be streaky over the last few seasons, have won seven games this year, and will host a round one playoff game. For Woodland, who entered this re-classification cycle as the smallest 2A school in the state, playing a local 1A team is beneficial says Coach Jeremy Stanford. 

"We need to be playing schools that are nearby, that we can keep on our schedule, we could possibly be in their region (next re-classification cycle in 2019)."

Clay Central (6-3) at Handley (5-4)

In what has become a solid rivalry game, the Vols and Tigers meet for the seventh time on Friday night. Both teams finished second in their respective regions, and will have one last test before hosting playoff games next week. In his first year back in Clay County, Danny Horn has gotten the Volunteers on the right track, losing three games by just 13 points. Handley has won two straight, and wants to keep that momentum going into the playoffs. 

Wadley (7-1) at Randolph County (8-1)

Here it is, the big one of the week. Wadley wrapped up the 2-seed in 1A Region 4 last week with a win over Notasulga. For Randolph County, they need a win and a Piedmont loss to win 3A Region 6. Both teams have one loss, and are hungry to get after each other.

"It will be a great challenge for our guys to come out and play hard," says Wadley head coach Jonathan Farr.

​Wadley has shut down premiere athletes all season long, Friday's match with RCHS will be the ultimate test for the first-year head coach and his squad against the best team in 3A, who has athletes all over the field. 


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