The Blood Drive held at Shady Grove Baptist Church on Dec. 18 was a success. There were 16 registrants and all but one was eligible to donate. According to LifeSouth Donor Recruiter Melanie Moore, each donation of blood typically saves 3 lives which means that Shady Grove saved approximately 45 local patients, lives for Christmas “Now That Is Awesome”! As we look back at 2016, we are so very grateful for Shady Grove Pastor Tom Campbell and their Congregation for their support and partnership! LifeSouth says that they could NEVER fulfill their commitment to the hospitals without their help. Melanie Moore, on behalf of LifeSouth, extends their sincere wishes to all for a safe, happy and prosperous New Year.

Special belated happy birthday wishes go out this week for Tyler Turrentine and Tyler celebrated his birthday on Jan. 16.

The Members of Shady Grove Baptist Church express Christian love and heartfelt prayers for the following who are on the church prayer request list and they are the Church Recovery Team, the Vondale Merritt Family, Buddy Franklin, Sharon Riggs, Ruby Self, Karen Moore, J.W.Blackwood, Denise Brackeen, Dennis Olive, Melissa Stancil, Penny Buckalew, Sidney Woznicki, Janet Reynolds, Baby Nora Grimes, Shirley Bibb, Barbara LeMay, Mike Segars, Randy Lewis, Diane Young and Linda Yancy.

I want to share with our Hartselle Enquirer Readers this this week a story taken from the Morgan County Genealogy Society’s book titled The Heritage of Morgan County Alabama . The title of the story is “Iron Man Stand Still” and was submitted to the Society by Ivydene Simpson Walls.

The Iron Man stands watch over the intersection of Alabama 36 and Iron Man Road, west of Hartselle, although he has been moved several times and broken once. It originally stood at the intersection of Highway 36 and Forest Chapel Road. Once a prankster dressed the Iron Man in a lady’s party dress and baseball caps.                                                   The Iron Man was used for advertising a liver tonic and is the only statue in Morgan County except at the county courthouse. Traveling peddlers were once a fixture in every community, selling everything from sewing thread to patient medicine. It must have stirred much interest in the community when a peddler came with a statue of an iron man in the back of his wagon. It was probably cast in Birmingham and was very heavy and took several men to unload.                                                                       His hands point north and south, his two-faced head faces east and west and his chest carries the message, ‘Vega Cal gets the bile”. With his feet buried in concrete and his legs welded together, the silver metal statue stands impervious to the passage of time.                                                                                     The Iron Man was put up some time in the early 1920’s, possibly by the Vega Cal medicine company and is a familiar landmark. It is believed to be the only one of its kind in the state of Alabama.