POWERGRAMS

21 1980, moving from the restaurant his parents started right across the highway. "Miss Edna keeps everyone straight, including me. We have a family thing here. All my help have been here pretty much as long as I have." The barn was built in the early 1960s by volunteers using donated materials — including timbers from the old dam's Lock 5 — for Teddy Porter, a local sports star who was paralyzed protecting his girlfriend in a car accident. Townspeople filled the barn with odds and ends so Porter could make a living, which he did for 13 years before closing the thrift shop. Roberts, 60, has added on to the original structure several times. The upstairs center section of the barn is now a bar with dining and pool tables. It was voted the Best Local Bar in a poll by The Demopolis Times. He employs 10 full-time workers, including his sister, Sabrina Harrell, and the restaurant is open every day except Sunday "or any holiday that's a Monday. If it's Groundhog Day, I'm taking it," he says with a laugh. The owner doesn't serve or cook. He is the "setup man," working 70-80 hours each week cleaning kitchen equipment such as the fryers and ovens, and preparing all of the food for cooking before and after his chefs and servers arrive. When he's done in the kitchen, Roberts sometimes steps upstairs to visit with longtime friends and new customers. "There's a lot of different kinds of people here and we all get along," he says as some wave or stop by for a handshake and a word with Roberts. "Demopolis is very fortunate to have a lot of intelligent people. I'm very fortunate to live here. I think this is the kind of place people are going to be looking at to get out of the big towns." APC EMPLOYEES PROUD TO SERVE DEMOPOLIS Customer Service Representative Amanda Henderson has worked in the Demopolis Office across from the city square for 14 years, while Valerie Owens has worked there nearly two years after transferring from the Tuscaloosa DOC, where she worked for eight years. Market Specialist Aimee Reynolds has worked for the company 12 years. Their manager Diane Brooker, a Demopolis native, has worked for Alabama Power for 30 years. Cylese Hinton of the Linden Office takes care of appliance sales in the Demopolis Office one day each week. She has been with the company for 18 years. Annie Larkin is a Transmission Lines engineer. Field Service Supervisor Randy Baker is beginning his 40th year with Alabama Power, following 21 years on a line crew and 16 years as a local operating lineman. "I'm thankful that I have been given the opportunity to work in so many areas of the company and still raise my family here," says Brooker. Demopolis Office employees: Owens, Henderson, Larkin, Baker, Reynolds, Brooker. "Miss Edna" takes customer's order.

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