POWERGRAMS

29 T homas Earl Gilmore was beaten, arrested and jailed fighting Jim Crow laws in the 1960s before being elected sheriff in 1971. He served three terms and became known as the "Sheriff Without a Gun," following King's philosophy of nonviolence. Gilmore retired in 1983 to pastor an Ensley church before the courthouse square was named in his honor in 2013. He died in 2015. Eutaw's welcome sign at the city limits declares yet another theme: "Pride for the Present, Hope for the Future." Indeed, the town's newer homes are mostly modern wood frame or brick ranch-style buildings with well-kept yards, shrubbery and flowers. Residents shop at Edgar's for groceries, Binion's for gifts, eat breakfast at Roebuck Landing and dinner at the Warrior Bar & Grill, cash checks at Merchants & Farmers Bank, fill prescriptions at Mills Pharmacy or double-up at Eutaw Tire and Flower Shop. e 20-bed local hospital, which employs 200 professionals, provides most medical services found in larger cities, and there is a 70-bed nursing home. Few towns of similar size can boast of two weekly newspapers: the Greene County Independent and e Greene County Democrat. Democrat co-Publisher Carol Zippert has chaired the county Christmas Parade for nearly 50 years and helps organize the Black Belt Folk Roots Festival in August. ose are two of the biggest annual events, along with the Antique Alley each June and the Eutaw Pilgrimage-Tour of Homes in October. It is thought that Eutaw's location between the Black Warrior River and the Tombigbee River kept U.S. troops during the Civil War from burning the town like Union soldiers did to others in central Alabama. e woods and waters surrounding Eutaw provide plentiful fish and wildlife that attract hunters from across the nation. e rivers provide ample recreational opportunities, with public access at several points. Finches Ferry Park has a boat ramp, restrooms and picnic pavilion. Jennings Ferry Public Use Area is on a peninsula just across the Black Warrior River bridge. e modern facility has 52 lots, most with water hookup for $26 a day. A large bathhouse is adjacent to a playground, picnic tables, grills, courtesy boat dock and nature trail. rough the years, Eutaw has had a few brushes with fame, highlighted by the time Hollywood came to town in 1980 to film "Jaws of Satan," which marked the big screen acting debut of 7-year-old Christina Applegate, who would go on to win an Emmy for her role on the sitcom "Married … with Children." Applegate's mother, Nancy Priddy, starred in the Eutaw film, along with Fritz Weaver and Norman Lloyd, who is widely known for his later roles in "St. Elsewhere" and "Dead Poets Society." Birmingham's Virginia Samford had a speaking role portraying a state senator. Primary locations for the movie included Kirkwood, Greenetrack and the courthouse square. Music fans will more closely identify with Old Crow Medicine Show's seeming fascination with Eutaw. e bluegrass band named its second album after the town in 2001. And Eutaw takes center stage in one of OCMS's biggest hits, "Big Time in the Jungle," about a soldier during the Vietnam War. Some residents think the song is modeled after the late Donald Whitfield, an eccentric veteran who was

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