In addition to being interested in the ecosystem itself and the bird populations, I am a huge fan of old public golf courses of the early 20th century era.

When I lived in New Orleans (2000-2004) I played the Uptown Audubon course a couple of times a week. It was built a few years before Roebuck and had an interesting icon from Birmingham preserved on the course, a large chunk of iron ore from Red Mountain, transported by train for a World Fair of sorts in the late 1800s.

I wrote a story about it for Gambit Weekly, the alternative weekly in New Orleans.

While I was there, however, the Audubon Foundation and the city spent $6 million to turn it into a so-called “executive course” with 12 par-3s — and screwed up the original design instead of just fixing it up, which would have been preferable from a player’s stand point and for historical purposes.

I hope that never happens to Roebuck. Now that the golf boom is over, maybe no greedy developer will get their hands on it like they did Highland Golf Course on Southside.

Also, a note about the juvenile detention facility. Growing up in these parts, we called it the “reform school,” and parents would use it sort of like Jesus and Santa Claus to control rebellious behavior on the part of teen-aged boys. If we were ever caught acting up or doing something for which we did not have permission, like Huck Finn or something, they would threaten to send us off to “reform school.”

Fortunately, I made it through adolescence without having to do a stint there : )

But I did play on a championship church basketball team that used to play the “boys club” team every year.

I suspect with the more violent nature of today’s urban youth, the detention facility is more like a jail than a school.

I suggested the other day to one of the board members of the Black Warrior Riverkeeper group that they might want to work with the school to get some of those youth educated about science and nature by helping to clean trash, especially tennis balls, out of the pond.

He seemed to like the idea. Stay tuned…

The golf course was developed as a private country club in 1911. If the channel below the weir was channelized at this time, it was by private hands, not by the city. Birmingham took possession of the golf course shortly after the 1929 stock market crash.

I’m eager to learn more about the park’s history, so please let me know about any references you’ve found.

http://www.bhamwiki.com/w/Roebuck-Hawkins_Park

For starters, and to correct one thing here, it was a crane and not a backhoe that took out the dam. Not sure yet if it was really city workers, as the Birmingham News has reported, or a private contractor. As I say in the current story and editorial, it may take a lawsuit to find out what really happened. But no matter what that shows, the word “moron” will be associated with it.

In the late 1990′s, for quite a few years, the tennis courts were dug up just above the dam for some reason. The city let it sit for a long time then suddenly filled it in and repaired the tennis courts.

As for Regina Nummy, although she stated what she did, the way that city government is set up, she would not have the power to direct ANY construction crews to do what they did. She would have had to file a request with her department head then he would have, upon approval of the action, forwarded it on to the department head for the work crews.

With that being said, there was no markers or id’s posted by the city or the environmental agencies declaring that a protection zone or that an endangered species resided there and was under federal protection laws.

Don Lupo’s token pesticide sign is way on the other side of the parking lot, where the golf course comes down to the stream. There has never been any notice posted anywhere in the vicinity of that pond or stream bed leading from it. In retrospect, the darter protection zone follows the stream bed all the way to the West Boulevard bridge, where the stream crosses out of the golf course. Yet, there are no notices posted anywhere. And city crews have been doing erosion control, which is severe, along the stream bed of the golf course, due to the city piping storm drainage into that waterway.

In no way do I excuse Regina’s action. I just highly doubt that she was the one to make the call. There is a system of checks and balances and the Parks and Rec. Director should take administrative culpability for being so stupid as to green light a project he should have had the knowledge and the good sense to red flag.

The administrative leads at City Hall should resign due to overwhelming stupidity for ignoring their duty to secure the environmental assets of this City. Once again, no one in this local government gives a DAMN about anything of true substance in this city.

I suspect you are right, John. I’ll have to link to it more often and maybe even help you out now and then with some editing.

I think you will agree that the Locust Fork News-Journal is a more reliable source on many issues than any other online news site or blog in Alabama, and certainly better than the conservative newspapers much of the time.

Of course there are five of our critics who disagree, those anonymous Republican commentors at the Political Parlor, which is useless over time because all the Alabama newspaper links die after a few days.

One of these days they may figure out what we mean by a FREE free Web Press archive and open source : )