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 July and August.

Amelia Boynton Robinson dies at 104

After suffering a stroke in July, civil rights icon Amelia Boynton Robinson, who played a key role in the voting rights movement, died on Aug. 26 at 104 years old. Fifty years after Robinson marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday, she held the hand of President Barack Obama as they marched together across the bridge in March.

On Sept. 8, hundreds walked with Robinson’s ashes from the historic Brown Chapel A.M.E. Church across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and her ashes were scattered in the Alabama River.

 

Selma Fire Chief Mike Stokes retires after 25 years

Mike Stokes, chief of the Selma Fire Department, retired Sept. 1 after 25 years as chief. Stokes took another position working in the private sector for Burkes Mechanical.

On Aug. 25, Stokes pinned his badge on the new fire chief, Toney Stephens, who said he had been waiting 25 years to earn the honor. Stephens started as a firefighter in Montgomery at age 18, and he had spent the past 25 years with the Montgomery, Victoryland and Selma Fire departments.

 

NAACP begins march from Selma to D.C. 

The NAACP began an 860-mile march, which they called America’s Journey for Justice, from Selma to Washington D.C. on Aug. 1. U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell spoke to the hundreds who showed up for the march bright and early that morning.

The NAACP and those marching along made stops throughout the journey to Washington D.C. in Montgomery, Atlanta and Charlotte, among other places. In various cities, there were rallies held to push for equality in different areas such as education, economic and voting rights. The march ended in Washington D.C. on Sept. 15.

 

Police chief leaves to take job in Michigan

After seven and a half years as chief of the Selma Police Department, William Riley resigned to take a job in Inskter, Michigan just outside of Detroit. His last day in the office was Aug. 3.

Lt. John Brock was appointed the new police chief on Sept. 8 after serving the city of Selma as police officer for 29 years.

 

Remembering the life of Ken Stabler

Prolific University of Alabama quarterback Ken Stabler died on July 8 of colon cancer. Selma attorney Henry Pitts, who was Stabler’s agent during his NFL career, remembers plenty from the life Stabler led and the successful career he enjoyed both in college and in the NFL.

“There are a lot of stories about Kenny,” Pitts said. “I could go on and on and on … We lost a good man, and I lost a very good friend.”

Pitts said the numbers that Stabler amassed in the NFL, which measured up to 27,938 yards and 194 touchdowns, should earn him a spot in the NFL Hall of Fame.

 

 Aghedo wins DYW program

Esoca Aghedo took first prize Aug. 29 at the Distinguished Young Woman of Dallas County program in Pickard Auditorium. Aghedo’s reward for winning was a $3,000 cash scholarship, but she also took home an additional $1,250 in scholarship money for various other awards she received throughout the night.  Sophie Talton was named the runner-up, receiving a $2,000 cash scholarship, and Mary Stewart was named the second runner-up, receiving a $1,500 cash scholarship.

 

Monster gator captured in the Alabama River

On the first night of the gator season’s second weekend, Josh McAteer, Jason Howell, Ware Cox and Jim Kilpatrick caught a 901-pound alligator in the Alabama River on Aug. 21.

The gator measured in at 14 feet and 6.25 inches, and at the time was the biggest gator caught in the West-Central Zone in 2015.