Category: Mobile County

News from Mobile County, Alabama and its communities.

Old ticker tape machine in a mid-century brokerage office

‘What Have I Gotten Into?’ A New Broker Takes the Measure of Mobile’s Little Wall Street

James Bullard, September 18, 2004

Part two of a serialized memoir of a bygone Mobile: a rookie account executive discovers that all three of the men above him at the downtown brokerage have a drinking problem.

Local News

Sell 200,000 Bushels: The Mobile Surgeon Who Traded Soybeans From the Operating Room

James Bullard, September 17, 2004

Part ten of a memoir of a bygone Mobile: a Mobile eye surgeon ran enormous soybean positions from the operating table, and made his broker the top producer in the office.

Local News

Vintage brokerage office with a chalk quotation board and ticker tape machine

St. Patrick’s Day, 1952: How a Mobile Sportswriter Wandered Into the Brokerage Business

James Bullard, September 13, 2004

The first installment of a serialized memoir of a bygone Mobile recalls a 31-year-old juggling three jobs who walked into a downtown brokerage office next door to the liquor store.

Local News

Declining stock market chart on a newspaper page

Nobody Rings a Bell at the Top: A Mobile Brokerage’s Bear Market Revolt

James Bullard, September 8, 2004

Part eleven of a memoir of a bygone Mobile: a brutal 1962 bear market, a boss who berated a broker on the morning his mother-in-law was dying, and the plot that followed.

Mobile

An empty city council chamber with seats and a dais

Newcomer Outraises Veteran 10 to 1 in the Special Election for Mobile’s District 7 Council Seat

James Bullard, August 11, 2004

First-time candidate Rick Collins raised $31,600 to John Peavy’s $2,800 in the opening filing period of the 2004 special election for Mobile City Council District 7, left vacant by Stephen Nodine.

Baldwin County

A state capitol building representing the Alabama Legislature

Hap-pening or Hap-less? A Senate Retirement Rumor Freezes the Field in District 34

James Bullard, August 9, 2004

State Sen. Hap Myers said in August 2004 he would likely seek a fourth term, a signal that scrambled the plans of would-be successors in Alabama Senate District 34 ahead of the 2006 election.

Mobile

A podium and microphone at a political party meeting

Former State GOP Chairman Quits Party Committees After Backing a Democrat for District Attorney

James Bullard, August 9, 2004

Roger McConnell, a former Alabama Republican Party chairman from Mobile, resigned from the state and county GOP executive committees in 2004 after co-hosting a fundraiser for Democratic District Attorney John Tyson Jr.

Mobile

Scales of justice representing a county juvenile court

Retired Republican Judge Endorses the Democrat in the Race for Juvenile Court

James Bullard, August 9, 2004

Retired Mobile County Circuit Judge John Butler, a Republican who spent 22 years overseeing juvenile court, endorsed Democrat Jeff Glidewell over the GOP incumbent appointed to succeed him.

Mobile

A courtroom setting where an oath of office is administered

Riley Appoints Nodine to Vacant Mobile County Commission Seat Days After Runoff Win

James Bullard, July 1, 2004

Gov. Bob Riley appointed Mobile City Councilman Stephen Nodine to the vacant District 2 seat on the Mobile County Commission in July 2004, days after Nodine won the Republican runoff.

Bayou La Batre

Financial disclosure documents and a ledger on a desk

Runoff Money: Nodine and Buffkin Empty the Tank Before the June 29 Vote

James Bullard, June 26, 2004

Final campaign finance reports before the June 29, 2004 runoff showed Stephen Nodine and Ralph Buffkin each spending more than they raised, leaving both nearly broke on the eve of the election.