Editor’s note: Every day this week, the Times-Journal will look back on some of the top stories of 2015. Here’s the Year in Review for May and June. 

Boy, Girl of the Year chosen

Will Sherrer was named the Paul M. Grist Boy of the Year by the YMCA of Selma-Dallas County, while Mary Logan Kelley was named Delta Kappa Gamma’s Girl of the Year. Both were seniors at Morgan Academy.

 

Boy killed by train in Plantersville

A 9-year-old boy was killed in Plantersville May 12 after being hit by a train. The child, later identified as Andrew Paul Carter, was a student a J.E. Terry Elementary school, but wasn’t in school the day of the accident.

Orrville man charged after shooting

An Orrville man was arrested for murder following an early morning shooting May 14 in Orrville. Raphael Miquel Clark, 24, was charged with murder and receiving stolen property.

He turned himself in at the Selma Police Department, telling officers he had shot and killed a man. The victim was later identified as Derrick Levon Dower Jr., 22, of Selma.

Clark told authorities that Dower jumped in his vehicle and told him he was taking him to go get money. At some point, Clark overpowered Dower, took his gun and shot him.

 

Cosby visits Queen City

Comedian Bill Cosby spoke to students in Demopolis and Selma on May 15 and led a march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

Cosby was in town to help launch the Black Belt Community Foundation’s Black Belt Children Matter Campaign.

Cosby, best known for his time starring in The Cosby Show, stand-up routines and Jello commercials, led a chant of “education, motivation, Black Belt children matter” as he and others marched across the bridge.

At the time, Cosby was in the national spotlight after more than two dozen women accused him of sexual assault. On Dec. 30, Cosby was charged in a 2004 sexual assault case in Pennsylvania.

 

Home invasion ends in death

A Dallas County man was shot and killed May 19 after a home invasion at a duplex on Laredo Court. The victim, 39-year-old Jesscilus Phillips, was shot to death. The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office believes Phillips was asleep at the time his home was burglarized.

No arrests have been made in the case.

 

Selma High prank causes serious damage

A 17-year-old Selma High School student set off the school’s sprinkler system, which caused hundreds of thousand of dollars worth of damage to the school.

“This wasn’t a prank. This was serious business,” said then Fire Chief Mike Stokes.

 

Senate votes to rename bridge

The Alabama Senate, in a bill sponsored by Sen. Hank Sanders, voted to rename the Edmund Pettus Bridge as the Journey to Freedom Bridge. The idea was opposed by several other leaders, including U.S. Rep Terri Sewell, and died in the Alabama House of Representatives.

 

EMA director arrested on ethics charge

The Dallas County Emergency Management Agency Director Rhonda Abbott and her husband, Bryan Johnson, were arrested June 4 for allegedly stealing $20,000 from the Selma-Dallas County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Squad.

Abbott had been the county’s EMA director since February 2011.