Lisa and Cecil Vinson were one of 12 couples who were married last Thursday at the Bibb County Correctional Facility in Brent, AL.

The 12 couples were married last week in one of the largest group ceremonies Chaplain Eddie Smith has performed.

Couples are married at the prison once every six months, and getting approval requires mounds of paperwork, applications and required reading of Scriptures.

Last week, the newlyweds sat close holding hands in the prison chapel after Smith performed the group ceremony. It would be the closest couples could get since the prison does not allow conjugal visits.

Most were holding their heads together, talking softly and giggling like teenagers, including Lisa and Cecil Vinson.

Cecil kisses his bride, Lisa.

Cecil Vinson, 41, has been in prison for more than 15 years. After his divorce eight years ago, he started trying to reconnect with Lisa, who he dated when they were in their early 20s. His mother finally found her address and wrote her six months ago.

“I gave him up once. I’m not going to give him up again,” Lisa Vinson said.

“It’s like everything fell into place when I found her,” Cecil Vinson said.

Cecil Vinson, from Wetumpka, was charged in 1988 with capital murder and receiving stolen property. His wife said he is serving time for the stolen property charge because he was in possession of a car owned by a murder victim. Another man committed the murder, she said.

It’s not easy to keep up their relationship. They speak on the phone once every two weeks — it costs $8 for a 20-minute collect call — and they write every day. Every detail of what happens in their lives is shared. Lisa says the writing has brought them closer.

“It’s easier to put down on paper what you’re really feeling,” she said.

“You have got to be a strong person to have a relationship like this. There is no sense going into anything like it if you’re not. You’ve got to have a lot of love and a lot of faith and be willing to live with what other people are going to say.”

“I cried all the way home Thursday.”

Cecil Vinson, who did construction work before his incarceration, has spent most of his adult life in jail.

“He doesn’t know anything about computers or cell phones. He’s really been out of touch, and it’ll be tough for him when he gets out,” Lisa Vinson said. “He’ll be OK, because he has a good support system behind him.”

According to the Alabama Dept of Corrections website, Cecil is scheduled for release on March 18, 2011.

Story via Tuscaloosa News.

If you reside in Birmingham, AL, and you’ve read a newspaper or watch local TV news, you’ve probably heard a little bit about the growing controversy surrounding Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford.

Most of the news has been generated from two separate depositions involving Langford. The first being a SEC deposition in Miami, FL and the second deposition from a lawsuit filed by HealthSouth against a computer charity he founded.

HealthSouth deposition

Larry and the city council are trying to rollout a laptop for every kid in the Birmingham City School System. He’s trying to set up some sort of board to help administer and provide support for the laptops. John Katopodis, a close friend of Langford who is organizing the mayor’s initiative, faces questions in a civil lawsuit and in federal subpoenas about how he managed Langford’s first computer charity. Katopodis is being sued by HealthSouth. You can read the story here, but here’s the summary:

• The lawsuit questions why the first computer charity gave Langford money, paid for casino trips and handed out donated computers to friends and politicians.
• The charity also paid $30,000 to Marc Anthony Donais, also known as Ryan Idol, a star in gay adult films, to do computer repair work and other work.
• $28,000 in cash to Katopodis through checks and automatic teller withdrawals, including withdrawals at casinos.
• Also, as much as $10,000 to Langford, which he said went to a private charity he controlled.

Photos courtesy of Jonathan Purvis.

I scanned Larry’s deposition and found these humorous quotes:

The attorney asked Larry if he had talked to anyone else regarding Katopodis’ suit against Healthsouth.

Larry: No, ma’am.

Q: Have you read any -
Larry: Well, my wife. You know, I live with her. So, you know.

Q: And she was also deposed in this case, and so that probably came up as part of your discussions?
Larry: Oh, yeah. Oh, it cam up all right.

Q: Have you and your wife — did you and your wife talk about her deposition testimony after her deposition?
Larry: Uh-huh

Q: What did she say about her testimony?
Larry: She was pretty pissed off, how she was treated.

Q: Did she say anything about her actual testimony?
Larry: No. That she was just pissed off — excuse my English — of how she was disrespected and treated.

Later when questioned about whether or not he was ever compensated by Healthsouth, he replied:

Larry: I’ve never been compensated by HealthSouth for anything

Q: Okay

Larry: As a matter of fact, I even had a test done over there, and they charged me for it. Those suckers. I mean to talk to Richard [Scrushy] about that, too.

I love it…Larry says excuse my English (rather than French) and he wanted free treatment from HealthSouth. What’s Richard going to do about it Larry? He’s in jail.

Larry’s SEC deposition

The Birmingham Weekly’s Kyle Whitmire had a very interesting article written after the reading through Larry’s deposition in Miami, FL.

I am amazed at what Larry stated. I’ll let Kyle’s words speak for themselves:

In 2002, about the same time he was running for county commission, Langford had accumulated about $70,000 in credit card debts and department store bills. Most of that debt was for clothes, he told the SEC.

“I’m a kind of a clothes person,” Langford said. “I like clothes.”

In other settings, Langford has rhetorically attacked parents who buy their children expensive tennis shoes and designer clothes they can’t afford.

“We pay $120 for a pair of sneakers for a 12-year-old child. Are you crazy?” Langford said in his inaugural speech. “You are paying $60 and $80 for blue jeans with the names of somebody tattooed on your children’s butt you don’t even know. When was the last time Tommy Hilfiger was at your house?”

Indeed, Langford wouldn’t be caught dead wearing Tommy Hilfiger or shopping at the mall. When Langford needed clothes, he went to Shaia’s the upscale clothing store for men in Homewood among other places.

There, according to his testimony, he bought at least $40,000 worth of clothing, all on store credit. By the summer of 2002, his store account was close to going to collections.

And his Fairfield house…

Last November, Birmingham News metro columnist John Archibald discovered that at least one mortgage Langford had was disproportionate to the value of his Fairfield home. Probate court records showed that in 2000, Langford had received a $300,000 mortgage on his home. In 1999, the same house had been appraised at $96,430. The loan from The Bank — now Superior Bank — was for three years. If he ever paid it, there is no record.

The UAB-Memphis basketball game was quite a game. UAB fans thought that they had upset #1 ranked Memphis until Chris Douglas-Roberts’ three-point play with 6.5 seconds left gave the Tigers a 79-78 victory.

What happened after the game was classic and classy. First we’ll look at the open face slap that Memphis’ Pierre Niles put on some UAB fan in an orange jumpsuit.

Next, we should look at the impressive sign “We Beat Mempis, Not Our Girls” sign. Obviously the sign is misspelled, but how ironic that the photo taken pictures Memphis junior forward Robert Dozier with his jersey showing. Dozier could face an assault charge after his ex-girlfriend, Laparis Woods, claimed he open face slapped her twice earlier this month.

The slap…click to enlarge.

The result of the slap and close up of all the fans including a girl with a black eye wearing a “I date Dozier” shirt.

All photos courtesy of the Memphis Commercial Appeal.

A mix between a Chicago Bulls fan and a matador and a bull. But mostly a bull.

Totas

The silver boots, the sweet hair, the awesome collars. In a word, Totas.

Scandinavia

Nothing is more classy than a mullet in a tuxedo.

Viktor Klimenko

Viktor: what are you wearing and what book is that? No one in their right mind would be smiling if they had to read something that big.

Streaplers - Speed

Click to enlarge this one. I don’t things turned out too well for the guy on the far right. Just basing that on his hair.

Streaplers - Lady Banana

See I told you things didn’t work out for the guy on the far right…look at him now.

Dan Jakob

Nothing beats daydreaming on your album cover.

I spotted this at lunch today in the West End area of Birmingham, AL.

My only question is, were they planning on keeping the blinds? The cardboard is doing a good job.

I wonder if the owner of the van is the former driver of this van featured on Festville in 2005?

Who is Mike Sawyer? Well, it appears that he resides in the Birmingham, AL area. He is passionate about exercise and anti-smoking. He also is a webmaster of sorts. He might have been the mayor of Red Level, AL in the past, but who knows.

First, let’s look at Mike’s occupation of sorts. This is how Festville found out about Mike. A dedicated Festvillian saw his truck and looked him on the world wide web and well, here you have it.

He writes on one of his websites: “Please consider allowing Mike to fetch your dog for fun and fitness!”
http://www.petministry.com/dogrunner

Work outs

“This is a new routine that I create with an unused bridge off the main trail. You can see the leaves which indicates not much travel. Here I am stretching my body about 50 inches across these two handrails. My arms caught the most pain. After a few times I was able to go across the bridge twice at a time. I attempted to do with one arm but immediately realized “not” yet.”

Another interesting exercise move.

FirmNotFat website…

Anti-Smoking
Mike claims: “Mike Sawyer was the first in the world to create a Tobacco Death Memorial in 1999.”

“Mike Sawyer bought this U.S. Smokeless Tobacco promotional t-shirt at a Panama City Beach, Florida thrift store for $2.00 and then paid an airbrush artist $8.00 to airbrush www.TobaccoDeath.com. This was during the Spring Break 2004 at Panama City Beach, Florida”

This picture was taken by Mike Sawyer at Five Points West, in Birmingham, Alabama on Saturday April 17, 2004

On one of his anti-smoking websites, Mike starts out with a photo of some lightening. He then lists a whole bunch of people who died and celebrities who died as well. You assume they were smoking related deaths. He also has a photo of his father’s gravestone who smoked.
Up In Love.com website