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Couple receives same-sex marriage license

Main Street Music Fest to feature ire hydrant raffle

e Reporter | Morgan MartinSamantha Stevens, left, and Lauren Silvers were the irst couple to receive a mar-riage license in Marshall County since Probate Judge Tim Mitchell halted licensesin February. On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down bans on same-sexmarriages in all 50 states.

Birthday surprise brought local women toMarshall County Courthouse Wednesday

Samantha Stevens and Lauren Silverswere the first same-sex couple to obtaintheir marriage license from the MarshallCounty Courthouse late Wednesday after-noon. Marshall County Probate Judge Tim

Mitchell issued a statement Tuesday say-ing his office would immediately begin is-suing marriage licenses again. Stevens and Silvers were the first couple

to take advantage of the same-sex licenseprovision.Stevens is originally from Pennsylvania,

but has some family in Alabama, and Sil-vers previously lived in Michigan. Same-sex marriage is legal in both states and hasbeen for more than a year. The couple hasbeen together for about a year. They were each thrilled to finally be re-

ceiving the same rights as other couples inthe state. Stevens has been “out” since shewas 16 years old and admitted she did notknow if this moment would ever be possi-ble.

“I didn’t figure Alabama would ever geton the ball,” Silvers said.Neither of them gave off a demeanor of

nervous or anxious feelings, instead exud-ing happiness and comfort as they stoodclosely together after receiving the license. The couple decided to visit the court-

house on Wednesday, as it was Silvers’birthday.“I wanted to surprise her with it since

today is her birthday,” Stevens said.They had previously planned to have a

ceremony on the beach in the fall a fewmonths from now, but changed their plansafter they looked up more information onthe licenses.“We were going to do something in a

few months, but we found out that these(marriage licenses) are only good for about30 days, so we have to move it up,”Stevens said. “It’ll be this month some-time.”Etowah County Probate Judge Bobby

Junkins said he wasn’t surprised by theU.S. Supreme Court’s ruling.

Morgan Martinmmartin@sandmountainreporter.com

See License | A5

Albertville

Albertville’s Main Street Music Festivalis giving patrons a chance to win an Ala-bama or Auburn-themed fire hydrant fromMueller. This unique way to show support for the

respective schools is one way festival or-ganizers have chosen to celebrate Mueller’s40th anniversary during the event. “The raffle gives the Main Street Music

Festival a way to highlight Mueller andtheir contributions to our community andeconomy over the past four decades, but

also gives us a chance to add a fun twist tothe festival,” said Melody Whitten, the fes-tival’s director. “How many chances doesthe average citizen have to own their ownfire hydrant in their team colors?”Raffle tickets will be $5 each, and pur-

chasers will choose to be entered in eitherthe drawing for the Alabama hydrant or theAuburn hydrant. Like anything Alabama and Auburn,

there will be a friendly competition to seewhich school can sell the most tickets.Throughout the event, festival organizers

will keep track of which team is the mostpopular among purchasers, and they plan toprovide updates to those in attendance. Mueller will donate the proceeds from

the raffle to next year’s Main Street MusicFestival. Tickets can be purchased at Albertville

City Hall, the Albertville Chamber of Com-

merce or from any member of the festival’s

steering committee prior to the festival on

Aug. 7-8 in downtown Albertville.

Tickets can be purchased during the

event at the information booth.

Sales will close at 6 p.m. on Saturday

and the winner of the raffle will be an-

nounced prior to .38 Special’s perform-

ance.

Organizers said the winners of the raffle

would be responsible for transporting the

hydrant to their home or business.

Jonathan Stinsonjstinson@sandmountainreporter.com Tickets

Tickets for the Main Street Music Festival firehydrant raffle may be purchased in advanceat Albertville City Hall or the AlbertvilleChamber of Commerce. During the festival,tickets will be sold at the festival informationbooth.

It was the first day ofOctober 2014, tempera-tures were still in the high80s and the Drug En-forcement Agency andDeKalb County TaskForce begin to pack ontheir gear in preparationof a raid on a house in thecounty.Officers are following a

fresh tip from an inform-ant, which they believewill lead them to a sub-stantial amount of syn-

Police inddangerousdrug locally

e Reporter | Bradley RobertsSpice comes in various recipes and is sold under different names, such as SATAN.The drug is showing up locally.

thetic marijuana. The bust goes as

planned, and agents seize2.2 pounds of a chemicalspray, which is the mainingredient in the drugknown as “Spice.”

Authorities make twoarrests in what is labeleda “great blow” to thespread of the drug in thecounty, and these arrestslead to more suspects inneighboring Marshall

County, where only acouple of days later Mar-shall County Drug En-forcement Officersrespond to an alert by theU.S. Postal Service of asuspicious package.

The package containedthe spray chemical, andofficers are led to a homein Albertville where sixpounds of the plant mate-rial, which is smoked,and pans used to dry thefinished product beforepackaging are found.Three more arrests aremade, and in less than aweek the Spice, whichhad a street value of morethan $400,000, is markedas evidence and stored inpolice lockup.It is indeed a huge blow

to the drug trade in thetri-county area.

‘Everybody has adifferent recipe’Spice is commercially

known as syntheticcannabis, or any drug thatmimics the effects ofcannabis. A chemicalcompound is created andthen sprayed onto a plantmaterial, which is left todry before being sold tothe consumer. Only a few years ago,

the drug was being toutedas the legal alternative tomarijuana. It was beingsold behind the counterof tobacco shops, and itquickly grew in popular-

ity as an alternative wayto experience the samehigh produced by mari-juana, while also beingable to beat a drug test. However, it was un-

clear what was going intothe drugs. The differentcompounds respondeddifferently in the individ-uals who were takingthem.“Everybody has a dif-

ferent recipe,” saidJimmy Harris, DeKalbCounty Sherriff. “Thesame way each grand-mother may have a differ-ent recipe for bananapudding, each of thesedealers has different in-gredients that they put inthem, and that’s wherethey stay ahead of us.”Harris pulls out a

sealed black-and-redpackage with bold red-or-ange lettering displayingthe name “SATAN,” anda demonic face forms inthe background uponcloser inspection. The 10grams of the drug wereconfiscated by Harris’ of-ficers several monthsprior.It had a street value of

$100, and he was unsure

See Spice | A5

Bradley Robertsbroberts@sandmountainreporter.com

Spice

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