To dodge the rain of gunfire outside her home, the young girl had learned to study on the floor.
That was the story a University Manor family told Mayor Walt Maddox and a host of city officials during a recent tour of one of Tuscaloosa’s most crime-infested neighborhoods.
And it was one of many reasons that the City Council, at the urging of the mayor, Councilor Sonya McKinstry and Tuscaloosa Police Chief Brent Blankley, among others, chose to commit $350,000 toward trying to rid this area from a constant barrage of violence.
“We’re having to react to the criminal element that, in many ways, (has) taken the community hostage,” Maddox said after recounting the family’s story of urban survival. “Not once a year or once a month – several times a week they hear the type of gunshots that are going on. Not far away, by the way; in their community. Near their home.
Tuscaloosa Gospel Artist Spotlight: Blest By Four
Tuscaloosa has many gospel talents and this week we feature one of the premiere groups of the area. This week we feature Blest By Four.
Blest By Four is a traditional quartet group compromised of brothers and a sister from Duncanville, Alabama right outside Tuscaloosa. The group is compromised of Demetrius Smith known as “Dodie”, Felicia “Pooh” Smith-Polion, Terrence “Beauty” Smith Sr., and Marcus Smith. The are siblings were raised in the church and began singing as children. They are now singing locally, regionally and nationally and have opened and graced platforms across the United States.