The long-awaited Highway 119 and President Street traffic light project has broken ground. After lengthy delays while details were worked out with ALDOT and geotechnical studies were undertaken to make sure the installation of the poles would not interfere with the Rowan Springs water source, work has begun on the new traffic signal at that intersection. This traffic light should help greatly with backups at that intersection during school drive times. The contractor estimates the installation should be complete by the end of May. The free water source will still be available.

Woohoo! Life is beginning to think about opening up and one of the first events in the Leeds Moody area will be auditions for the upcoming play, the Disney Newsies, scheduled for this Saturday through Tuesday, May 2-5 at Leeds Arts Council. Naturally, this group will practice social distancing so please schedule an audition to control the number of folks in the theatre at one time. This Broadway’s Smash Hit Musical is based on the 1992 motion picture, inspired by a true story and features a Tony Award-winning score by Alan Menkin and Jack Feldman as well as a book by Tony Award winner, Harvey Fierstein. Auditions are tentative assuming that Gov. Ivey opens up Alabama this week. For more information, please visit www.leedsartscouncil.org and to schedule an audition, please contact Debbie Landry at (205) 699-0712.

The May 9th meeting of the Mid-South Chapter of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society has been cancelled due to COVID-19. Meanwhile, the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum is advertising a movie to watch while we’re all trying to flatten the curve. Check out Honeydripper which was partially shot on location at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum. The Harmony Depot located along the Calera & Shelby Railroad was constructed for the movie and provided the backdrop for scenes featuring Danny Glover and Keb’ Mo’. Fun fact: The Calera & Shelby Railroad makes a brief flag stop at Harmony during the Wild West event to pick up a shady cast of characters! When the museum reopens, you are invited to take a ride on the Calera & Shelby Railroad and pass through Harmony yourself. The movie is set in Alabama in 1950 and was filmed on location entirely in Alabama.  In addition to the YouTube link provided, the movie also is available on Amazon Prime Video. Link to the Honeydripper movie on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=blwiQYfQBYU

April is National Humor Month and that’s no joke! If I didn’t know better, I would say this whole month had been a bad joke, because in our wildest dreams who would have thought that a pandemic of this magnitude and devastation would have hit the United States such as COVID-19. It has already been everyone’s nightmare with the threat of the illness and possible death not to mention the economic devastation with a total shutdown of our economy. You have to laugh to keep from crying. This has given each of us a glimpse of what it is like to live in a third world country and it is very frightening. I feel like I am going into combat with my mask and gloves every time I go to the grocery store or pharmacy. I see so many derogatory social media posts about the nerve of people not practicing social distancing and wearing or not wearing appropriate mask and gloves. Before you judge me, let me begin by saying that I personally try to wear a mask and carry some nonsurgical disposable gloves in my purse. I am one of those people who have allergy problems with watery eyes, sneezing, runny nose these days with all of the pollen as well as irritants in the air bothering me and when I go anywhere, I am bombarded with perfumes, cleaning supplies, etc. so thus the itchy, runny nose. A mask has been very effective for me, because I can pinch my nose with my hand without it actually touching my face to combat the itchy nose while I am in public. It keeps you safe from my allergic nose and it keeps me safe, because I can touch my mask instead of my face and get through the ordeal. The gloves are to use when I need to touch the keypad and pen when checking out at the register and sometimes helpful when touching refrigerator doors, etc. in the dairy section; then, when I get home, the handwashing begins! We’re all in this together and struggling to comply with the rules to protect ourselves and others so it is disheartening to see the public display on social media with everyone so critical about all of these factors. We’re all getting a little testy, even at home, so let’s be as patient as possible with each other. Hopefully, this will all pass soon, because it is a life and death situation for some while a total source of irritation for others. Everyone needs to get back to work while at the same time we must be conscious that it will take some time for us all to get back to normal, if ever. It will definitely be a new normal, but hopefully, it will be a better normal once the pandemic has passed.

If your or your business are needing any transparent sneeze guards, Power Laser Cut in Leeds can laser cut any sizes or shapes to fit your particular need. They also have 400 face shields in stock at a very good price. Please call them at (205) 699-1721 or visit powerlasercut.com for more information.

Thought for the Week: Always pray to have eyes that see the best, a heart that forgives the worst, a mind that forgets the bad and a soul that never loses faith. ~Unknown

As you begin scheduling and rescheduling events, please remember to keep me posted so I can help you promote. I thoroughly enjoy sharing information, news and calendar items with you each week and I thank you for reading my column. Please send any news to me at leedsmoodynews@gmail.com and have a great week!