The term “green jobs” can refer to opportunities for workers and contractors in sustainable construction. There will be a seminar at Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve on October 17 about green building jobs in Alabama. Photo of workers installing solar panels by Lou Hernandez.

As you can see, this definition of green work is rather broad. It can involve building solar panels, doing eco-friendly landscaping, repairing bicycles or scooters, working as a wildlife biologist or hundreds of other activities.

It can also involve jobs in eco-friendly construction.

If you’d like to learn more about getting trained to obtain such construction jobs in our state, then check out the free seminar, “Building Green Jobs for Alabama,” to be held Wednesday, October 17, from 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m., at the Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve (RMNP).

It’s the next installment in the “GRCA Brown Bag: Lunch and Learn series,” hosted by the Green Resource Center of Alabama.

The instructor will be Justinn E. Overton, Green Workforce Project Director for the Alabama chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Overton will discuss the eligibility requirements and goals of the USGBC Building Green Jobs for Alabama program.

Attendees will learn about green building and sustainability and about the opportunity for trades-people and builders to earn green-building credentials. The training to obtain these credentials is free for Alabama residents who meet qualifications set out by the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. The credentials are approved by the non-profit green-building organization LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).

Building Green Jobs for Alabama is based around a five-step program in the fundamentals of green building and sustainability, according to the web site for the USGBC Alabama chapter. Participants will tour green buildings, including both new construction and retrofits of commercial and residential buildings, and learn about the sustainable principles used in them. They will also receive assistance in finding jobs.

According to the USGBC web site, green building is a growing sector of the construction industry. The organization cites McGraw-Hill Construction, which estimates that green building will grow to more than one-half of all construction within the next five years, and Booz Allen Hamilton, which estimates that by 2013, green building will support nearly eight million workers in a range of occupations, including carpenters, electricians and truck drivers.

The RMNP is located at 1214 81st St. South in South East Lake. Following the green jobs program, participants are invited to take a  tour of the RMNP Nature Center led by Robbie Fearn, Ruffner executive director.

For more more about the Building Green Jobs for Alabama program, go to www.usgbcofal.org. For more about the GRCA, go to www.greenalabama.org.

Chandler tweets, “Victory for clinic proponents as board does not approve disputed rule. Very happy, says lawyer for Shelby Humane Society. Meeting ongoing.”

Five Alabama senators have asked that the state’s four low-cost spay and neuter clinics be allowed to remain in business until the issue can be taken up again in the 2013 legislative session.

According to Jean Cole of The News Courier in Athens, Ala., Sen. Bill Holtzclaw, R-Madison, made public today an October 4 letter in which he and four other senators asked the Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (ASBVME) to refrain from voting on a rule change that would all but close the state’s four low-cost, nonprofit spay and neuter clinics.

According to Cole, the state Veterinary Medical Association, which represents about 75 percent of the state’s vets,  has also written a letter to the ASBVME asking members to delay action.

The ASBVME is scheduled to meet in Montgomery tomorrow, October 10, at 9 a.m. to discuss changes to state rules.

There are millions of stray dogs and cats on U.S. streets, and animal advocates fear the problem could be made worse in Alabama if the state veterinary board closes down low-cost spay-neuter clinics. Photo of dog in Iowa animal shelter by Nhandler.

Shelters take in 6 to 8 million homeless animals each year, says The Humane Society of the United States, and many must be euthanized.

Many experts and animal advocates say that the best way to combat the problem is through spaying and neutering animals.

Since 2007, low-cost, non-profit spay-neuter clinics in Alabama – there are presently four around the state, including Alabama Spay/Neuter in Irondale – have helped serve this need, particularly for people who can’t afford to pay typical veterinary charges.

However, the clinics could be shut down if the Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners (ASBVME) adopts new, tougher regulations at its October 10 meeting in Montgomery.

The Board wishes to more strictly enforce a ban on non-veterinarians hiring veterinarians.

And the Board plans to go further, prohibiting non-veterinarians, including non-profit groups, from owning veterinarian equipment or even renting or providing space to a veterinarian.

The Board president, Dr. Robert Pitman, an Athens, Ala., veterinarian, has suggested that there is evidence of substandard care at the clinics, and that non-veterinarians have had too much control over the veterinarians at the clinics and how they give care.

Rhonda Parker, Birmingham resident and state chairman of Alabama Voters for Responsible Animal Legislation (ARVAL), dismisses the charges of less-than-quality care at the low-cost facilities.

“[The Board has] been in charge of inspecting and regulating these non-profit clinics since 2007 and have never found cause to charge them with substandard care,” Parker told Weld Local in an email.

Photo of stray cat seeking shelter by Elena Chochkova.

Parker added, “If there was substandard care, why didn’t the ASBVME investigate it and issue a citation?  It’s their job.”

Veterinarians may be worried too much about eliminating competition and not enough about animal welfare, according to Parker. “In order to reduce the severe pet overpopulation problem, we’ve got to have some form of low-cost spay neuter programs across the state,” she said. “Vets cannot proceed to ignore the fact that people simply cannot pay typical private vet prices for sterilization services.”

Parker cites statistics from the Alabama Veterinary Medical Association putting the number of animals killed in shelters each year between 400,000 and 450,000, adding that some sources put the number closer to 250,000.

Parker sees other negative effects that could result if the clinics close, citing a possible “increase in feral animals that can pose danger to community residents….and of course, the deaths of hundreds of thousands healthy, adoptable shelter animals.”

Some of those animals might fail to be adopted because someone who wants an animal may not be able to afford a large vet bill to have the animal sterilized. Kelli Holmes of the Greater Birmingham Humane Society told CBS-TV 42, “If we’re not allowed to have a vet on site you know what does that do for us as far as trying to get the animals adopted out.”

The dispute over the clinics came close to a solution in the Alabama legislature during the 2012 regular session when Rep. Patricia Todd (D-Birmingham) sponsored House Bill 156, which would have allowed an exemption to the rule for spay and neuter clinics. It was approved by a House-Senate conference committee but was killed on the session’s final day when it was not brought to a final vote.

Animal lovers can bond with shelter pets, but it could become more expensive to adopt a pet in Alabama if low-cost spay-neuter clinics are closed by new rules. Photo by AdmZooKievUa.

The Federal Trade Commission came down in favor of Todd’s bill, according to a letter from the FTC to Todd, April 26, 2012, which stated, “FTC staff believe the Bill is likely to benefit consumers by increasing consumer access to, and choices among, spay and neuter services for their pet.”

But ASBVME president Pitman said in an American Animal Hospital Association magazine article earlier in 2012, at the time that Todd’s bill was being considered, that the board has evidence that non-veterinarians were allowing substandard care at the facilities.

As reported by Dana Beyerle of The Tuscaloosa News and others. Pitman said that under HB 156, any nonprofit organization could own a clinic and give orders to a veterinarian. “This is certainly not in the best interest of the pet-owning public,” he said.

And a vet at Alabama Spay/Neuter, Dr. Margaret Ferrell, told Kim Chandler of The Birmingham News that she is in charge of medical decisions. “If I don’t think [an animal is] a good candidate for surgery, they don’t get surgery. They get referred to a veterinarian,” Ferrell said.

“If the ASBVME fear is that non-vets are going to oversee medical decisions, that’s wrong,” Parker said. “Vets make the decisions on medical care.  If the nonprofits ran a bad business model and animals suffered for it, they’d go out of business.  Physicians don’t own the hospitals they operate in.  The same principle applies here.”

The Gadsden Times, in a recent op-ed, noted both the increasing technical sophistication and ever-rising costs of veterinary medicine and suggested that veterinarians should help craft a solution.

“Low-cost rabies vaccination clinics are held each year, and while we understand those shots are mandated by law, we think there’s an equally compelling public interest in the availability of low-cost spaying and neutering,” the Times op-ed stated. “If it’s not going to be at these clinics… then veterinarians across Alabama need to step up and meet that need.”

Weld Local sought comment from the ASBVME and was as referred to Board President Pitman. We left messages seeking comment but did not hear from Dr. Pitman before our press time.

Several other outlets, including The Birmingham News, The Tuscaloosa News and WHNT-TV, were also unable to get comment from the Board.

Board attorney Alyce Addison told The Dothan Eagle recently that the rule would clarify existing state law and added, “People can voice their opinion about the rules before the board on October 10,” she said. “Written comments will be considered and comments will be heard before the board makes a decision on the rules.”

Letters of comment, Parker tells her group’s supporters, are more effective than emails or phone calls, and should be sent to Alabama State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, c/o Tammy Wallace, 8 Commerce Street, Ste. 910, Montgomery, Ala. 36130.

Parker also suggests sending copies of your letters to Mark Nelson, Alabama Spay/Neuter,2721 Crestwood Blvd., Irondale, Ala.

Learn more about AVRAL at www.alabamavotesforanimals.org. The ASBVME web site is http://asbvme.alabama.gov. 

Jesse Chambers is the editor of Weld Local. Send your feedback to editor@weldbham.com.

Volunteers from a local Methodist church during a recent service project. Several local churches have partnered to help sponsor the citywide “Magic City Miracle” day of service on September 30. Photo courtesy Liberty Crossings UMC.

That’s part of the reason why several UMC congregations are inviting everyone in Birmingham – not just other Methodists or even other church goers – to take part in a Sunday afternoon of volunteer projects in Birmingham called “The Magic City Miracle.”

Volunteers in this day of service are to meet at Railroad Park downtown on September 30 at noon and travel in teams to the projects they’re pre-registered for online.

There will be projects at sites in the city and beyond, including repair work for non-profits, neighborhood clean-ups, tornado recovery work, planting community gardens, preparing meals for shelters and many others.

“We are prepared for about 800 to 900 volunteers at about 70 different mission sites, so we’re talking about thousands of people directly benefiting from this work,” said Julie Holly, senior pastor,

Discovery UMC in Hoover. The original “Magic City Miracle” project partners were Discovery, Avondale,Highlands, St. Junia and Liberty Crossings UMCs.

Organizers say that local businesses, non-profits and the city of Birmingham, including the mayor’s office, have also been involved.

“The scope is unparalleled and, to my knowledge, this is a first-of-a-kind event for the church to bring together the city, local churches and non-profits together in one event,” according to Liberty Crossings pastor Wade Griffith. “And it is a secular project. What we’re doing is getting out there and helping people. We are not pushing some religious agenda. To have the church to be a unifying force of our city – the media, local business, city government, all together – that is unprecedented.”

The organizers see the Miracle – a large, highly publicized iteration of the volunteer work that the congregations at many Methodist and other local churches do year-round– as a good chance for churches to get beyond their own sanctuary walls and into the community.

“I’m a deacon in the Methodist Church, and one of the definitions found in the Book Of Discipline for that is being a bridge from the church to the world and the world to the church, so my hope is that this is what [will happen] that day,” said Deb Welsh, director of serving ministries at Highlands UMC.

The Miracle is one way “to get beyond thinking of church solely as a building or institution and think of it as a community of people that are engaged in their community,” saidHighlandssenior pastor Mikah Hudson.

Organizers also hope the Miracle will serve as a starting point for people to volunteer on a regular basis with the non-profits and community groups they encounter that day. “It’s all relationship-driven,”Griffithsaid. “You tell somebody to volunteer and their eyes glass over, but they go somewhere and meet a woman who had her arm broken because her husband beat her, and you meet her kids who are the same age as your kids, and your life is linked to her life, and you are changed and you are committed.”

The Miracle may help improve the image of churches among young people and other groups who are reluctant to attend church and are skeptical of traditional religion. “The churches get so much bad press about being hateful and judgmental, that we hope this will show that the churches are really invested in people’s lives and want to improve people’s lives,” Holly said.

And there’s a lot of people who neither have nor want a connection with the church because they associate it with traditional worship services and being called a sinner, according to Brandon Harris, pastor at Avondale UMC. “We want to show them that there is more to church than just coming and sitting, that God called us to do some great things in the world and to be agents of transformation and hope,” he said.

Griffithsaid he understands why religious engagement is said to be at what he called “a historic low” among 20- and 30-somethings. “When I see images of church and religion in the media it makes me not want to be a part [of it], and I’m a pastor,” he said. “Blood sells newspapers, but an event like this shows who we really are.”

Griffithcites the many faith groups who have helped with such tasks as storm relief and feeding the hungry. He says that the church “is not just the demagogues on TV,” adding, “The average believers are the people who are helping people. The 20-somethings and 30-somethings need to see who the church really is. It’s not some knucklehead saying that 9/11 was a punishment for homosexuality inAmerica.”

Organizers say that many of the young people in churches are drawn to service work. “People in their early 30s and in their teens now want to know that what they believe matters,” Holly said. “They want to see practical things happen from what they believe.”

According to Welsh, “There is a generation of folks that are coming up who want to be doing, want to be serving, want to be involved.”

The mostly young pastors who seem to be driving this effort dare to dream big about the possible positive effects of the Miracle. “If we care to call ourselves the Magic City, we need some magic, or we are just a city,”Griffith said. “The magic in my life is in passion and love and community and relationships, and if we are going to be the Magic City, we have to be a place where people lift each other up and share their lives with each other.”

Harris hopes the Miracle can help change the city change its “self-perception,” adding, “Birmingham likes to talk trash about itself, put itself down, and I think that Birmingham has a hopeful future.”

There are simpler goals for the event, as well. “And of course, as churches, as Christians, we hope that people will experience love from their neighbors,” Holly said. “That’s always our goal.”

“The Magic City Miracle” day of service will begin at Railroad Park Pavilion, Sunday, September 30, at noon. For more information, or to register for a volunteer project, go to www.magiccitymiracle.org.

Jesse Chambers is the editor of Weld Local. Send your feedback to editor@weldbham.com.

A panel of staffers from various federal agencies will discuss their programs and initiatives regarding sexual orientation and gender identity, according to an announcement September 26 from Equality Alabama.

In addition, various federal agencies will host information booths. Attendees will be able to ask questions both of the panelists and the agency representatives at the information booths.

Participating federal agencies are to include the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Social Security Administration.

Participating community partners are The Alliance for LGBT Equality at UAB, AIDS Alabama, Central Alabama Pride Inc., Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) and Equality Alabama.

The event will take place in Alumni Auditorium in the Hill University Center, which is located at 1400 University Blvd.

Send your feedback to editor@weldbham.com

"Duh... I'm here for the Scramble. Am I holding the camera the right way?" The Fall Sidewalk Scramble short-film contest is scheduled for October 5-7. Photo by Eland Interactive.

I couldn’t. Hell, it would take me a full day just to round up coffee, donuts, a director’s chair, a megaphone and a riding crop.

But if you think that you — and some of your hard-working friends – could be up to the challenge, there may still be time for you to take part in the Fall Sidewalk Scramble, which is sponsored by Birmingham’s Sidewalk Film Festival. 

The Scramble is scheduled for October 5-7, but you must pre-register, and there is only room for 24 filmmaking teams.

In the Scramble, participants must take their films from concept to completion within 48 hours. That means that the films must be written, rehearsed, shot and edited – absolutely everything – In just one weekend.

Filmmaking teams will meet at the Kick-Off Event on Friday, October 5, and find out their specific “inspiration items” – elements that the completed films must include to ensure that the script was not written ahead of time.

All films are due by Sunday, October 7, between 5-7  p.m.

There will be three prizes adding up to more than $1,000, and a chance for filmmakers to have their film included in the 2013 festival line-up at Sidewalk.

For all the details and to download registration materials, go to www.sidewalkfest.com/scramble. 

The Scramble Screening and awards ceremony is to be held at The Edge 12 theatres in Crestwood,  Thursday, October 18, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 and are available at www.sidewalkfest.com or at the door the night of the event.

For more information about the Sidewalk Film Festival — a project of the non-profit Alabama Moving Image Association – call (205) 324-0888 or go to www.sidewalkfest.com. 

Send your feedback to edior@weldbham.com.

The 'Taste of the Magic City" fundraiser features five Birmingham restaurants and will benefit Avondale's non-profit M-Power Ministries, which provides free health and education services and maintains a community garden. Photo by Jean Noel-Lafargue.

The first event takes place tonight at Little Savannah.

The rest of the schedule is as follows: The Red Cat Coffee House, October 4, Saw’s Soul Kitchen, October 11, Bottletree Café, October 18 and Silvertron Café, October 25.

To learn more, go to www.tasteofthemagiccity.com.

Each restaurant has agreed to donate a portion of its proceeds on those days to support M-POWER, a faith-based nonprofit in Birmingham that uses education and health services to help people break the cycle of poverty.  Located in Avondale, M-Power was established in 1998.

Taste of the Magic City was formerly known as “The Taste of 35222.”

M-Power operates the only completely free medical clinic in Jefferson County, providing walk-in care, primary and specialty care to about 2,000 patients annually, according to a news release from the organization.

The release also states that the group’s education center is the largest adult literacy service provider in the state and also offers GED and career programs.

The group also maintains as community garden.

To learn more about M-Power, call (205) 595-5959 or go to http://mpowerministries.org.

A rendering of the exterior of a fully renovated Lyric Theatre, located at Third Avenue and 18th Street North downtown.

Beginning at 6 p.m., Rojo will donate 20 percent of food and drink sales in their side room to the Lyric Lobby restoration fund.

In addition, there be music by the Avery Ellis Exhibit(s) and lots of merch for sale, including those groovy new Lyric T-shirts.

There is lots of Lyric news to talk about, including a sold-out concert scheduled to take place at the Lyric tomorrow night, Friday, September 28, by the Chad Fisher Group. Only 200 tickets, priced at a nominal $20 a pop, have already been sold, but more concerts are planned.

And according to an announcement on the Lyric page at the social fundraising site Rally, the campaign to raise money to renovate the Lyric lobby is going well, with about a dozen new people who have signed up to help raise $1,000 in donations this fall.

There have also been more than 50 other people who have sent in donations.

And our former Weld colleague, Madison Underwood, showed the Lyric some love in a Birmingham News  story about the concert titled “Lyric Theatre set to host its  ’first concert of the 21st century.”

Learn more at https://rally.org/savethelyric or at http://savethelyric.com.