Look Back ... to internet access coming to libraries, 1997
Dec. 11—Dec. 11, 1947, in The Star: Pine Avenue Baptist Church is making plans to erect a church building in the near future on the site of the First Baptist Church at the corner of 14th Street and Pine Avenue, the Rev. O. W. Hughes, pastor, announced. The church which was organized in Anniston on Aug. 17 with 87 members, has grown to 172 members now and needs a building of its own. The group has been meeting in the Community Club building of Anniston Manufacturing Company.
Dec. 11, 1997, in The Star: Anniston police Officer Phillip Smith was seriously wounded last night by a shot fired from a .22-caliber rifle in the possession of a criminal suspect. The shooting took place near Crestview Road on top of 10th Street Mountain, where Smith was investigating a shots-fired call. The call was thought related to several other similar calls that homeowners in that section of the city had made in the previous week. Smith, who works in the Street Crimes Unit and has been with APD for four years, was in stable condition last night at RMC. The bullet struck him near his pelvic bone. [The suspect was caught that night, and in early 1999 he would be tried, convicted and sentenced to prison for his crimes, both the assault on the officer and the shootings into homes.] Also this date: The public libraries of Anniston, Oxford, Piedmont and Jacksonville have received word that the Gates Library Foundation will install state-of-the-art computers with internet connections in their facilities in 1998. Necessary software and training will also be provided for free, courtesy of Microsoft. A free internet connection comes from Jacksonville State University, which will give the libraries access to the school's supercomputer. "This is a pretty big deal for the public library system," said Anniston library director Bonnie Seymour.
