A beloved member of the Montgomery County School Board and longtime educator has died. Beverly Ross passed away Thursday afternoon. She was 65. Ross represented District 7 on the county school board. She also served as vice president of student affairs at Trenholm State Community College. Fellow school board member Mary Briers said she admired Ross' dedication to helping students. Funeral services for Beverly Ross will be held tomorrow at 12 noon at Resurrection Catholic Church.
Tractor Trailers Collide
A deadly crash on Interstate 65 involving two tractor-trailer trucks left one driver dead and another injured. State Troopers said the 18-wheelers collided around 4 p.m. Thursday near Hope Hull in south Montgomery County. The crash forced Troopers to shut down the south bound lanes of I-65 for at least seven hours, a stretch of I-65 near mile marker 159 was reopened just after midnight. Troopers have not released the victims' names, the investigation is ongoing.
Leonard Appeal
An Opelika-Auburn newspaper reports a Montgomery man is appealing his convictions in the shooting deaths of two former Auburn football players and a third man. Desmonte Leonard is asking the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals to overturn his conviction in the 2012 killings. His attorney filed the appeal this week. Leonard is serving life without parole after being convicted last year of fatally shooting three people during a party at an Auburn apartment complex in June 2012.
Elderly Man Found
A state Trooper helicopter was instrumental in locating an elderly Montgomery man who was reported missing Wednesday night. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency said 71-year-old Leroy Hails was wearing a project lifesaver bracelet and that helped a ground search team locate Hails. He was not injured. Alabama Law Enforcement Agency head Spencer Collier said proposed budget cuts will dramatically reduce Trooper Aviation units life saving efforts.
Prisoner Returned
Alabama prison officials say an inmate who escaped more than two weeks ago is back in custody following his capture on the Alabama coast. 39-year-old Kevin Campbell was apprehended in Gulf Shores Wednesday night. Campbell, according to the state Corrections Department, walked away from a work release job in Troy on August 3rd. Since then, he managed to elude manhunts in Crenshaw and Montgomery County. Campbell was serving a life sentence for multiple robbery convictions in Baldwin County.