Tuscaloosa lawmaker pleads guilty

Associated Press

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - State Rep. Bryant Melton pleaded guilty to theft and money laundering charges Wednesday, ending a 24-year legislative career and starting a new role as government informant in an investigation of the Alabama Fire College.

As part of a plea-bargain agreement with prosecutors. Melton, D-Tuscaloosa, admitted he was guilty of theft and money laundering charges and agreed to pay restitution to the state for $85,000 of legislative discretionary funds he had routed to the Alabama Fire College Foundation in Tuscaloosa.

Melton admitted the foundation then sent much of the money to him, which he used to pay personal expenses, including gambling debts. Prosecutors said the payments were disguised as a scholarship from the foundation to Melton's daughter, who had no knowledge of the arrangement.

"Melton is a betrayer of the public trust," U.S. Attorney Alice Martin said.

Melton has entered into a cooperation agreement with federal and state prosecutors and is assisting with an investigation of the Alabama Fire College and the Alabama Fire College Foundation, Martin said.

Melton, 66, has been personnel director at Shelton State Community College at Tuscaloosa. The Fire College, which trains firefighters from across the state, is located at the two-year school.

Attorney General Troy King, whose staff worked on the case, said, "Bryant Melton disgraced his office when he broke the trust vested in him by our state."

Melton, 66, was the first black legislator elected from Tuscaloosa County since Reconstruction, but he had to vacate his legislative seat with his guilty plea.

He had already won the Democratic nomination for another term. Because of that, the State Democratic Executive Committee will meet Saturday in Montgomery to name a replacement, who will have no Republican opposition in the general election Nov. 7.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. Tuscaloosa police are searching for a suspect accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

Nickname: "T-Town, The Druid City"
Coordinates: 33°12′24″N, 87°32′5″W
Government
Country State County	United States Alabama Tuscaloosa County
Mayor	Walt Maddox
Geographical characteristics
Area	66.7 mi² - 172.8 km²
Land	56.2 mi² - 145.7 km²
Water	10.5 mi² - 27.1 km²
Demographics
Population (2003)	79,294
Density	1,385.2/mi² - 534.8/km²
Metro	116,324
Time zone   Summer (DST)	CST (UTC-6) CDT (UTC-5)
Website: www.tuscaloosa.com

Tuscaloosa is a city in west central Alabama in the southern United States. On the Black Warrior River, it is the seatTuscaloosa County^GR6 and the fifth-largest city in Alabama with a population of 79,294 (2003 U.S. Census Bureau Estimate). Tuscaloosa is named after the Choctaw chieftain TuskalusaBlack Warrior in that language), who battled and was defeated by Hernando de Soto in 1540 Battle of Mauvila.

Best known as the home of the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa is also the center of industry, commerce, healthcare, and education for the region commonly known as West Alabama. Tuscaloosa attracted international attention when what is now DaimlerChrysler announced it would build its first Mercedes-Benz automotive assembly plant in North America in Tuscaloosa. Nevertheless, the University remains the dominant economic and cultural engine in the city.

History

The area at the fall line of what would be later known as the Black Warrior River had long been well known to the various Indian tribes whose shifting fortunes brought them to West Alabama. The river shoals at Tuscaloosa represented the southernmost site on the river which could be forded under most conditions. Inevitably, a network of Indian trails converged upon the place, the same network which, in the first years of the 19th Century began to lead a few intrepid white frontiersmen to the area.

The pace of white settlement increased greatly after the War of 1812, and a small assortment of log cabins soon arose near the large Creek village at the fall line of the river, which the settlers named in honor of the legendary Chief Tuskalusa. In 1817, Alabama became a territory, and on December 13, 1819, the territorial legislature incorporated the town of Tuscaloosa, exactly one day before CongressUnion as a state.

From 1826 to 1846 Tuscaloosa was the capital of Alabama. During this period, in 1831, the University of Alabama was established. The town's population and economy grew rapidly until the departure of the capital to Montgomery caused a rapid decline in population. Establishment of the Bryce State Hospital for the Insane in Tuscaloosa in the 1850s helped restore the city's fortunes. During the Civil War following Alabama's secession from the Union, several thousand men from Tuscaloosa fought in the Confederate armies. During the last weeks of the War, a brigade of Union troops raiding the city burned the campus of the University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, too, suffered much damage from the battle and shared fully in the South's economic sufferings which followed the defeat.

The construction of a system of locks and dams on the Black Warrior River by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the 1890s opened up an inexpensive link to the Gulf seaport of Mobile, stimulating especially the mining and metallurgical industries of the region. By the advent of the 20th Century, the growth of the University of Alabama and the mental healthcare facilities in the city, along with strong national economy fueled a steady growth in Tuscaloosa which continued unabated for 100 years. Manufacturing plants of large firms such as Michelin and JVC located in town during the latter half of the 20th Century. However, it was the announcement of the addition of the Mercedes facility in 1993 that best personified the new era of economic prosperity for Tuscaloosa.

Geography and climate

The Black Warrior River at Tuscaloosa in 2004

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Tuscaloosa has a total area of 172.8 km² (66.7 mi²). 145.7 km² (56.2 mi²) of it is land and 27.1 km² (10.5 mi²) of it (15.68%) is water. most of which is comprised of Lake Tuscaloosa and the Black Warrior River, which is entirely in the city limits.

Tuscaloosa is situated on the Black Warrior River approximately 60 miles southwest of Birmingham. The city occupies a unique location of fall line of the Black Warrior River on the boundary between the Appalachian Highland and the Gulf Coastal Plain approximately 311 km (120 mi.) upriver from the river's confluence with the Tombigbee River in Demopolis. Consequently, the geography of the area around Tuscaloosa is quite diverse, being hilly and forested to the northeast and low-lying and marshy to the southwest.

The area experiences a typical Southern subtropical climate with four distinct seasons. The Gulf of Mexico heavily influences the climate by supplying the region with warm, moist air. During Fall, Winter and Spring, the interaction of this warm, moist air with cooler, drier air from the north along fronts create precipitation. These fronts usually move from west to east as they track along the jet stream. Notable exceptions occur during hurricane season where storms may move from due south to due north or even from east to west during landfalling hurricanes. The interaction between low- and high-pressure air masses is most pronounced during the severe weather seasons during the spring and fall. During the Summer, the jet streams flows to the north of the South, and most precipitation is convectional, caused by the warm surface heating the air above.

Winter lasts from mid-December to late-February; temperatures range from the mid-20s to the mid-50s. On average, the low temperature falls at freezing or below about 50 day a year. While rain is abundant (an average 5.09 in. per month from Dec.-Feb.), measurable snowfall is rare; the average annual snowfall is about 0.6 inches. Spring usually lasts from late-February to mid-May; temperatures range from the mid-50s to the low-80s and rainfall amounts average about 5.05 in. (128 mm) per month. Summers last from mid-May to mid-September; temperatures range from the upper-60s to the mid-90s, with temperatures above 100°F (37.8°C) not uncommon, and average rainfall dip slightly to 3.97 in. (101 mm) per month. Autumn, which spans from mid-September to early-December, tends to be similar to Spring terms of temperature and precipitation.^[1]

The highest temperature to have been recorded at the Tuscaloosa Regional Airport was 107.0°F (41.7°C) on July 29, 1952, while the lowest recorded temperature was -1.0°F (-18.3°C) on January 21, 1985. ^[2]

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