Schools Update:
The Newton Municipal School District, Newton County School District, and Union Public School District will remained closed on Wednesday, January 17 due to unsafe travel conditions. All three districts are scheduled to open under their normal schedules on Thursday, January 18.
Newton County Academy will be open on Wednesday, January 17, with a regular schedule beginning at 8 a.m.
Due to road conditions throughout their five-county district, East Central Community College campuses and offices will have a delayed opening tomorrow, Wednesday, January 17th. All offices will open, and in-person classes will resume at Noon. Classes before Noon will be virtual. Students, please check your Canvas accounts for announcements/coursework from your instructors.
Mabry Cafeteria will open at 10:45 a.m. for lunch for students who are currently on campus. Please use caution when moving through campus to the cafeteria.
Periods of freezing rain and a mix of rain, sleet and snow have made conditions in Newton County icy on Tuesday morning.
According to EMA director Kaleb Rice, all county roads and bridges were experiencing icy conditions making it treacherous for travel.
The Newton County Courthouse and Newton City Hall both shut down on Tuesday. No word was available at press time if they would reopen today.
Garbage collection has been affected by the ice storm. Newton City Manager Jay Powell said their contractor was not working on Tuesday, meaning that trash collection for those routes will occur today. It is unclear if normal Wednesday routes would be picked up today.
Since City Hall was closed on the 15th due to a holiday and yesterday due to weather, Powell said that water cutoff fees would not be assessed until the end of the day today, Wednesday.
In Newton County, Circuit Clerk Mike Butler posted that garbage trucks will not be running Tuesday.
“They will be doing their best to run their routes later this week. Not exactly sure what that will look like at this time,” Butler said. “County garbage pick-up will be trying to run their routes if roads permit. Remembered, pick up is delayed one day due to holiday (Monday).”
The Tuesday’s scheduled Board of Supervisors meeting has been rescheduled until today at 9 a.m.
The City of Union’s garbage collection is also being affected by the ice. According to city officials, trash collection will be running one day behind for Tuesday’s collection. It is uncertain if Friday’s collection will be affected.
Decatur Mayor Max Anderson said he hadn’t heard of any issues as of Tuesday morning. It is uncertain if today’s garbage collection will be affected by the weather.
All schools were closed Tuesday, and schools were scheduled to reopen at 10 a.m. today.
Check www.newtoncountyappeal.com and the Appeal’s social media fees for the latest on the weather situation.
