Alabama News

The United Methodist Church in North Alabama has moved around many of its clergy who will preach their first sermons in their new churches today.

The Rev. Robin Crews Wilson became senior pastor of Tuscaloosa First United Methodist Church effective July 1 and will preach her first sermon today at the 11 a.m. service.

Wilson has been serving since July 1, 2024, as executive director of stakeholder relationships for the United Methodist General Board of Discipleship.

A native of Prattville, Alabama, Wilson has a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University and a master of divinity degree from Duke University.

An ordained elder, Wilson has been pastor of congregations in Mobile, Dothan, Opelika and Phenix City.

She has also served as director of the Healthy Clergy and Congregations Initiative.

She is the author of the 2016 devotional, “God is With Us: An Advent Study Based on the Revised Common Lectionary,” published by Abingdon Press.

She will succeed the Rev. Clinton Hubbard Jr., who became the first Black pastor of Tuscaloosa First United Methodist Church in 2019. Hubbard will be district superintendent of the East District in the North Alabama Conference, effective July 1.

The Rev. Kevin Thomas, pastor of Forest Lake United Methodist Church in Tuscaloosa became the new senior pastor of First United Methodist of Birmingham effective July 1. He’ll preach his first sermon today as pastor at First Birmingham.

Thomas has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama and earned a master of divinity degree from Memphis Theological Seminary and a doctorate from Asbury Theological Seminary.

He has been in pastoral ministry for 30 years, the last decade at Forest Lake.

The Rev. Stephanie York Arnold, the first woman senior pastor at First United Methodist Church of Birmingham, stepped down from that role in February to take a CEO-level post at a denominational agency.

Arnold, who had been on staff at First United Methodist since 2010 and senior pastor since 2018, accepted a job as general secretary of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women of the United Methodist Church, effective March 1.

Here are some other clergy who are moving to new pulpits today:

The Rev. Andy Curtis is the new senior pastor at Jacksonville First United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Mike Butler is the new senior pastor at Red Ridge United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Earl Freeman is the new senior pastor at Sylacauga First United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Chris Cone is the new senior pastor at Centre First United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Elizabeth Crosby is the new senior pastor of Long Memorial United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Andy Yarnell is the new pastor of Mosaic Church in Gadsden and in charge of junior college ministry.

The Rev. Don Barnett is the new senior pastor at Red Bay United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Megan Morris-Barber is the new senior pastor at Section/Dutton/Upper Sand Mountain parish, with the Rev. Stephen Barber as associate pastor.

The Rev. Arthur Harrison is the new senior pastor of Aldersgate United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Brittany Camp is the new senior pastor at Good Shepherd United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Dale Capron is the new senior pastor at Tanner/Green Hill.

The Rev. Belinda Freeman is the new senior pastor at Columbiana United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Belinda Rives is the new senior pastor at Forest Lake United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Joe DeWitte is the new senior pastor at Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church.

The full list of new appointments can be found here.

Before heading to bed before the Fourth of July holiday, Christopher Flowers checked the weather while staying at a friend’s house along the Guadalupe River. Nothing in the forecast alarmed him.

Hours later, he was rushing to safety: He woke up in darkness to electrical sockets popping and ankle-deep water. Quickly, his family scrambled nine people into the attic. Phones buzzed with alerts, Flowers recalled Saturday, but he did not remember when in the chaos they started.

“What they need is some kind of external system, like a tornado warning that tells people to get out now,” Flowers, 44, said.

See also: 8-year-old Alabama girl among the many killed in Texas flooding

The destructive fast-moving waters that began before sunrise Friday in the Texas Hill Country killed at least 43 people in Kerr County, authorities said Saturday, and an unknown number of people remained missing.

Those still unaccounted for included 27 girls from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along a river in Kerr County where most of the dead were recovered.

But as authorities launch one of the largest search-and-rescue efforts in recent Texas history, they have come under intensifying scrutiny over preparations and why residents and youth summer camps that are dotted along the river were not alerted sooner or told to evacuate.

The National Weather Service sent out a series of flash flood warnings in the early hours Friday before issuing flash flood emergencies — a rare alert notifying of imminent danger.

Local officials have insisted that no one saw the flood potential coming and have defended their actions.

“There’s going to be a lot of finger-pointing, a lot of second-guessing and Monday morning quarterbacking,” said Republican U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, whose district includes Kerr County. “There’s a lot of people saying ‘why’ and ‘how,’ and I understand that.”

When the warnings began

An initial flood watch — which generally urges residents to be weather-aware — was issued by the local National Weather Service office at 1:18 p.m. Thursday.

It predicted between 5 to 7 inches (12.7 to 17.8 centimeters) of rain. Weather messaging from the office, including automated alerts delivered to mobile phones to people in threatened areas, grew increasingly ominous in the early morning hours of Friday, urging people to move to higher ground and evacuate flood-prone areas, said Jason Runyen, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service office.

At 4:03 a.m., the office issued an urgent warning that raised the potential of catastrophic damage and a severe threat to human life.

Jonathan Porter, the chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, a private weather forecasting company that uses National Weather Service data, said it appeared evacuations and other proactive measures could have been undertaken to reduce the risk of fatalities.

“People, businesses, and governments should take action based on Flash Flood Warnings that are issued, regardless of the rainfall amounts that have occurred or are forecast,” Porter said in a statement.

Officials say they didn’t expect this

Local officials have said they had not expected such an intense downpour that was the equivalent of months’ worth of rain for the area.

“We know we get rains. We know the river rises,” said Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s top elected official. “But nobody saw this coming.”

Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said he was jogging along the river early in the morning and didn’t notice any problems at 4 a.m. A little over an hour later, at 5:20 a.m., the water level had risen dramatically and “we almost weren’t able to get out of the park,” he said.

Rice also noted that the public can become desensitized to too many weather warnings.

No county flood warning system

Kelly said the county considered a flood warning system along the river that would have functioned like a tornado warning siren about six or seven years ago, before he was elected, but that the idea never got off the ground because of the expense.

“We’ve looked into it before … The public reeled at the cost,” Kelly said.

He said he didn’t know what kind of safety and evacuation plans the camps may have had.

“What I do know is the flood hit the camp first, and it came in the middle of the night. I don’t know where the kids were,” he said. “I don’t know what kind of alarm systems they had. That will come out in time.”

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Saturday it was difficult for forecasters to predict just how much rain would fall. She said the Trump administration would make it a priority to upgrade National Weather Service technology used to deliver warnings.

“We know that everyone wants more warning time, and that’s why we’re working to upgrade the technology that’s been neglected for far too long to make sure families have as much advance notice as possible,” Noem said during a press conference with state and federal leaders.

Weather service had extra staffers

The National Weather Service office in New Braunfels, which delivers forecasts for Austin, San Antonio and the surrounding areas, had extra staff on duty during the storms, Runyen said.

Where the office would typically have two forecasters on duty during clear weather, they had up to five on staff.

“There were extra people in here that night, and that’s typical in every weather service office — you staff up for an event and bring people in on overtime and hold people over,” Runyen said.

Tropical Storm Chantal moved onshore in South Carolina early Sunday morning and continued to dump heavy rain on parts of the Southeast.

The National Hurricane Center said Chantal, the third named storm of 2025 in the Atlantic, moved onshore around 3 a.m. Sunday near Litchfield, S.C. Forecasters added that the storm had been losing its structure and its exact center was tough to pin down.

However, the storm peaked with 60 mph winds before moving onshore overnight, according to the hurricane center.

Chantal continued to move inland and weaken on Sunday morning. The hurricane center said flash flooding remained a threat for areas in northeastern South Carolina and eastern North Carolina through at least Monday.

As of 7 a.m. CDT Sunday, the center of Tropical Storm Chantal was located about 80 miles west of Wilmington, N.C., and was moving north-northwest at 8 mph, according to the hurricane center.

Chantal had sustained winds of 40 mph, making it a minimal tropical storm.

A tropical storm warning remained in effect from the South Santee River, S.C., to Surf City, N.C., but all other coastal watches had been dropped.

The hurricane center expects what’s left of Chantal to move further inland over South Carolina and then North Carolina through the day on Sunday while weakening.

Chantal is expected to weaken to a trough of low pressure by Monday.

Forecasters said tropical storm conditions will be possible along the coast through the morning.

There will continue to be a threat for flash flooding. Chantal could bring 2 to 4 inches of rain to areas in northeastern South Carolina today and North Carolina through Monday.

There will also continue to be the risk of deadly rip currents along the coast far from the storm. Rip currents will be possible from northeastern Florida northward into the mid-Atlantic region over the next day or two, forecasters said.

If that wasn’t enough, a tornado or two will be possible Sunday across portions of eastern North Carolina and extreme northeastern South Carolina.

There are no other potential tropical trouble spots as of Sunday in the Atlantic Basin, which includes the Gulf and Caribbean.

The Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be a busy one, however, with an above-average number of storms expected before the end of the season on Nov. 30.

This is an opinion column

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Today’s guest columnist is Daniel Christiansen.

A few months ago I settled into a seat in the Jones Valley Teaching Farm’s classroom for a “Cottage Food” class.

After receiving praise from neighbors for my homemade salsa, I was getting the certification in case an opportunity to start a home business presented itself.

Our friends and neighbors at Last Call Bakery, run by the now James Beard Semifinalist pastry chef Chanah Willis, had started from a similar class, and while I have no illusions of matching their quality, being able to provide a service to my community out of my own home certainly appealed.

The class itself was remarkable only for being filled with people with the unifying belief that each of us could run a small business out of our home, legally, without needing a second mortgage. But one little comment from the facilitator stuck in my head:

“Check your local zoning regulations about selling out of your home.”

When I pulled up the Birmingham zoning code and map, I found that I wouldn’t have any issues with running a small business out of my home or in my neighborhood.

But I also saw that I was likely in the minority in that regard; there are a large number of Birmingham residents that would be in violation of the zoning code if they tried the same.

Map of Birmingham zoning illustrating how Retail and Residential Uses are separated

Building this map showed me that neighborhood businesses are zoned out of about 67% of the areas with homes, and by extension the businesses that do exist can’t be within easy reach of the residents of those homes.

Even where residents and businesses are allowed to live side by side, about half are in areas requiring planned development.

In effect, residents in up to 84% of the city’s residential spaces are prohibited from having a grocery store, pharmacy, doctor’s office, or other neighborhood or home business serving their area. To my eye it seems that these laws are, if not the root cause, at least a major contributor to Birmingham’s food deserts.

Historically, food deserts didn’t exist. Stores opened up wherever people gathered in sufficient numbers that running one made sense. These amenities grew along with a neighborhood, supporting each other symbiotically. Other businesses, such as daycares, pharmacies, and doctor’s offices, would be attracted as the neighborhood grew.

But around the turn of the 20th century a movement to categorize and separate uses, among other things, created modern zoning.

When Birmingham adopted its first zoning code in 1926, along with more notorious actions, the code designated separate zones for residential and commercial activity.

Neighbors could no longer legally offer goods or services to the community out of their own home and stores were concentrated away from neighborhoods. With businesses located far from the vast majority of residences, traveling for essentials and entertainment became the norm.

As people had to travel further and more often to get what they needed, stores could similarly expect people to travel further. Large chains planned for people to travel across town, creating large asphalt parking lots, local stores died and the food deserts grew. National chains could outbid locals for commercial space and now, nearly a century later, few truly local businesses remain.

And the lack of local businesses has had its own consequences. My wife and I have lived in areas that are exclusively residential. While we’ve known neighbors, or at least their dogs, we’ve never really felt part of a community.

It’s far easier to stay home with a screen than to endure another drive across town to see friends. Now living along 2nd Ave N we have more interaction with our friends, neighbors, and community than we’ve ever had living elsewhere.

Walking our neighborhood to visit Protective Stadium, Sidewalk Cinema, the 2nd Ave restaurants, and Pepper Place, to name but a few, my wife and I see people we know nearly everywhere. While we could claim that it’s something unique to the people who live downtown, or just their numbers, I can’t help but notice that the neighborhood businesses create the reasons we have to be out and give us more opportunity to know our community.

I believe that in other areas of the city a couple of neighborhood businesses, if legalized, could easily do the same. Giving people additional opportunities to get out without a windshield between themselves and the community would build the sort of connections we all crave.

The random interactions that build relationships and camaraderie are catalyzed by a neighborhood coffee shop or grocer. And a neighborhood shop is far easier to start when you can run it out of your own home.

Starting a business isn’t easy, it takes planning and money to make it work. When trying to start a business it is considered smart to “fail fast and small” – better to know that an idea is a stinker before you put a lot of money and effort into it.

Money is a considerable barrier for many would-be Birmingham entrepreneurs; Commercial rent or a food truck are significant investments.

But when you can start out of your own home, you can start smaller and learn faster, and a new venture can emerge while also benefiting the neighborhood.

We can improve our neighborhoods.

We can build a better Birmingham.

We can be the ones to solve our own problems, erase the food deserts, care for our children and families, and build communities to be proud of. We can be the architects of our own success and prosperity.

We can do it ourselves, not waiting for money from the city, the county, the state, a charity, or a giant corporation to do it for us.

Changing Birmingham’s zoning code to allow home and neighborhood businesses, our own or built by friends and neighbors, to serve our communities, can set us along that path. I think we’ll be pleasantly surprised by what we can accomplish.

Daniel Christiansen serves on the Birmingham Planning Commission and as the president of the Central City Neighborhood Association. He works as an engineer and takes an interest in history and urban planning. He can often be found walking his three dogs around 2nd Ave N and the rest of downtown Birmingham.

David Sher is the founder and publisher of ComebackTown. He’s past Chairman of the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce (BBA), Operation New Birmingham (REV Birmingham), and the City Action Partnership (CAP).

Invite David to speak for free to your group about how we can have a more prosperous metro Birmingham. [email protected]

The NASCAR Cup Series continues today, as racers compete in the Grant Park 165 this afternoon. The event will begin at 1 p.m. CT on TNT Sports. Fans can watch this NASCAR race for free online by using the free trial offered by DirecTV. Alternatively, Sling offers a first-month discount to new users.

William Byron currently sits atop the NASCAR Cup Series standings, as he possesses 631 points. Notably, Byron has accrued seven finishes inside the top 5 this season.

In his last race, Byron was forced to DNF for the first time this year. With this in mind, he will look to bounce back this afternoon.

Chase Elliott has climbed to second place in the NASCAR Cup Series this year, as he enters today’s race with 594 points. He is coming off an incredible performance, as he secured a first place finish last week. If Elliott performs similarly this afternoon, then he could overtake Byron for first place in the standings.

Elliott has raced at a high level throughout the season, as he enters this race with 10 finishes inside the top 10.

Fans can watch this NASCAR race for free online by using the free trial offered by DirecTV. Alternatively, Sling offers a first-month discount to new users.

Linebacker Mohamoud Diabate went from playing 27 defensive snaps as a rookie to 581 in his second season with the Cleveland Browns. And the jump the former Auburn High School standout could make in Year 3 has Browns linebacker coach Jason Tarver “really excited” about 2025 for Diabate.

Diabate earned a spot on the Browns’ roster as an undrafted rookie from Utah in 2023. He made his contributions on 296 special-teams plays. In 2024, Diabate had 165 special-teams plays as he became a regular contributor on defense, starting 11 games even though he missed four of the first five contests because of a hip injury.

Tarver said Diabate “got in really great shape” between his first and second NFL seasons and carried that objective over into this offseason.

“The first offseason you got to get in the best shape of your life, and now you know it,” Tarver said during the Browns’ offseason program. “And your second one, now you know how to do it, and he’s gotten in even better shape. His explosive numbers are through the roof. He’s running; he barely looks like he gets tired. He’s impressive as heck.

“And now he’s playing all three positions. So when he came in last year, what we do is we give him a home first – one position out of the backers. We’ll all know it all eventually. He had his one position, and when he went in the game, that’s where he played. Now he’s playing the other ones, so he’s done a good job. Like, he had a couple of plays where he’s on the edge of the defense yesterday that he’d never done before, and they were perfect. So very excited with where he’s going.”

In addition to Diabate, linebackers returning for Cleveland include Jordan Hicks, who started 12 games last season; Devin Bush, who started 10; Winston Reid, who started three; and former Maplesville High School star Nathaniel Watson, who started one.

Linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah started 41 games over the past four seasons. But a neck injury sustained in the eighth game in 2024 will keep him out for the 2025 campaign as well.

The Browns used the first pick of the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft on UCLA linebacker Carson Schwesinger.

Cleveland returns from its summer break with the rookies reporting for training camp on July 18 and the veterans coming in on July 22. The Browns’ three-game preseason schedule kicks off on Aug. 8 against the Carolina Panthers. The regular season begins on Sept. 7 with an AFC North game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Diabate earned All-State recognition at Auburn in 2017 and 2018. In his senior season, he was among the three finalists for the Alabama Sports Writers Association’s Class 7A Lineman of the Year Award.

Diabate played in three seasons for Florida before completing his college career at Utah in 2022.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at @AMarkG1.

This is an opinion column

In my experience, citizens want to do the right thing at the ballot box but too often fail because it is difficult to find accurate data.

Voters’ basic question is, “Are our values represented in Congress by those we vote for?”

Here are some tips on how to be better informed.

Be skeptical

Do not rely on the veracity of the news releases of senators or congress members when you vote. If you do, odds are you have been duped.

That’s not to say politicians lie (although they sometimes do). It is to say their news releases are one-sided to induce citizens to vote for them regardless of a public official’s real and complete record.

Get more balanced information elsewhere!

Scorecards by entities that don’t profit from votes

I avoid performance evaluations by special interests that profit (at public expense) from politicians doing what special interests demand.

Instead, I use evaluations by entities that value the foundational principles that have combined to make America the greatest nation in world history.

Be aware that senators and congressmen often vote on different bills, so comparing a senator’s score to a congressman’s score is like comparing apples to oranges. It just doesn’t work. Similarly, different sessions of Congress yield different scores because votes are cast on different bills. Be cognizant of that difference.

Some examples of reputable conservative scorecards are:

• Heritage Action for America

Heritage Action is the Heritage Foundation’s political wing, whose “mission is to formulate and promote public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.” Its 2023-24 scorecard states:

For perspective, my life-time Heritage Action score was 88% and 2021-2022 score was 94%.

• Council for Citizens Against Government Waste

“CAGW’s mission is to eliminate waste, mismanagement, and inefficiency in government.” Its 2023 scorecard states:

For perspective, my life-time CAGW score was 88% and 2019 score was 100%.

• National Taxpayers Union

The NTU “Score measures the strength of support for reducing wasteful government spending, opposing higher taxes, and often opposing burdensome regulations that can stifle U.S. economic growth.” NTU’s 2023 scorecard states:

My life-time National Taxpayers Union score was 81% and 2019 score was 89%.

• Institute for Legislative Analysis

The Institute for Legislative Analysis asserts it evaluates based on adherence “to the limited government principles of the U.S. Constitution.” ILA’s 2024 scorecard states:

My Institute for Legislative Analysis 2022 score was 91% and “District Grade” was an “A”.

ILA’s “District Grade” system is weighted and compares an elected official’s voting record to how conservative the voters in their district are. If an elected official votes more liberal than the citizens represented, then a lower letter grade results.

That is why the Institute for Legislative Analysis gave “F’s” to Rogers, Aderholt and Britt. Per ILA, each voted much more liberally than the preferences of voters who sent them to Congress.

What it all means

My #1 concern is deficit, debt and America’s risk of suffering a very dangerous and debilitating national insolvency and bankruptcy.

I also focus on border security versus open borders, free enterprise versus socialism, moral versus immoral values, threats to individual liberties, and the like.

Based on their four scorecard results, Alabama’s best and most conservative “Top 3” Washington politicians in 2023-2024 were Barry Moore, Tommy Tuberville, and Gary Palmer. With one exception, these three consistently scored in Alabama’s Top Three. If you prefer a conservative philosophy of government, these three are likely for you.

Next, Alabama sent a “middling duo” of Dale Strong and Jerry Carl to Congress. With one exception, these two consistently ranked 4 or 5 on all four scorecards. If you prefer “middling”, establishment Republicans, these two are more likely for you.

With one exception, Katie Britt, Robert Aderholt and Mike Rogers ranked at the bottom of Alabama’s GOP DC delegation.

Britt, Aderholt and Rogers’ not only refuse to do what it takes to prevent a debilitating national insolvency and bankruptcy of a nation our ancestors sacrificed so much to make great, their big spending ways actively make America’s financial condition worse by spending money we don’t have, have to borrow to get, and can’t afford to pay back.

If you, as a voter, care deeply about America’s solvency, then you should never vote for Britt, Aderholt or Rogers unless they dramatically change their debt-junkie, big spending habits. And I mean “dramatically change,” not the masquerade change so many politicians are renowned for and get away with.

I conclude with Terri Sewell. Sewell averages a 6% conservative vote. Conversely, that means Sewell votes liberal or socialist 94% of the time.

If you are a liberal or socialist, Sewell is definitely your choice.

One caveat

Alabama’s GOP politicians in Congress tout a common theme. If it is a Democrat debt bill, it is bad. If it is a GOP debt bill, it is good. Think about it.

Is it easier to pay back Republican debts? Nope. Creditors don’t care about which party borrows money so long as American taxpayers pay it back, with interest, of course.

In 2025, Alabama’s entire GOP DC delegation voted to increase America’s debt by $7.5 trillion during Trump’s 4-year term and $19.4 trillion debt over the next in ten years! That’s horrifying.

Alabama’s GOP DC delegation must learn from Terri Sewell and fight for Alabama’s conservative values as hard and consistently as Sewell fights for bigger government, bigger spending, higher taxes, open borders, and the like.

If Alabama’s GOP DC delegation does that, America will be a better place.

Mo Brooks served on the House Armed Services Committee for 12 years and the Foreign Affairs Committee for 6 years. Brooks graduated from Duke University in 3 years with a double major in political science and economics (highest honors in economics).

The former Parker Towing Company property on Three Mile Creek in Mobile was sold for $5 million to an out-of-town corporation, according to The Weavil Company, which represented Parker Towing and assisted the buyer in the transaction.

 The 30-acre site at 1920 Bay Bridge Cutoff Road is one of the last undeveloped industrial properties on the port. The property has 1,375 front feet on Three Mile Creek.

The transaction was one of several of note in coastal Alabama in recent days. Additionally:

• An out-of-state investor paid more than $3 million for the property where the Wawa gas and convenience store was built at 10040 Encounter Drive in Fairhope, according to court records. Herrington Realty represented the seller. The ground lease investment of 2.5 acres is at the northeast corner of Alabama 181 and 104. The Encounter development is a 13-lot commercial project on 35 acres. Wawa opened last March.
• Wave Medical Equipment has leased 1,720 square feet of space in Daphne Square Shopping Center at 2200 U.S. 98 in Daphne, according to John M. Delchamps of Merrill P. Thomas Co., who handled the transaction. Wave Medical is a supplier of home respiratory care, specializing in CPAP therapy and supplies, CPAP machines and other medical equipment.
• Kid to Kid has leased 4,000 square feet of space in Eastern Shore Plaza on Eastern Shore Boulevard in Spanish Fort, according to Martin Smith of SRS Real Estate Partners Birmingham office, who represented the landlord. Leann Anderson of Re/Max Signature Properties worked for the tenant. Kid to Kid is a national children’s resale franchise. Kid to Kid buys children’s clothing, gear and toys and resells the items.
• Watch for a mixed-use development of 300 multi-family units and commercial buildings on a 23-acre site on the Foley Beach Express just north of Auburn University Veterinary Specialists building in Gulf Shores. The 300 multi-family units will consist of seven four-story buildings. The city of Gulf Shores is expected to approve a Planned Unit Development Master Plan overlay.

The hardest trick to pull off in the restaurant business may be this: To keep everything that’s really important the same, when everything is subject to change.

Char Haber knows. She was a young child when her parents got into the restaurant business. Charlie Wrape had a career behind him in the Navy, Sandra Wrape had been a nurse, and “they just wanted a little something something to supplement their income” in retirement, said Haber. In 1973, the Wrapes and another couple bought a little bait shop/sandwich shop that had been on Wolf Bay in the Miflin community, near Elberta, since the 1940s; illness forced the other partners to sell out not long into the venture, Haber said.

“Our first night, we served roughly 27 diners,” said Haber. “I think I was five or six when we bought the place and was raised in that place, you know, my entire life.”

Her parents set about expanding the shop into a full-service restaurant, and over the next 35 years, they built a landmark. Wolf Bay Lodge was a little out-of-the way for beach-bound tourists. But among locals, and visitors who’d been tipped off to seek it out, its name became a byword for authentic Gulf Coast Seafood and top-notch service.

In some imaginary world, all the Wrapes and their descendants would have had to do at that point was to keep everything the same. But that wasn’t an option. Damage from Hurricane Ivan in 2004 shut the restaurant down for more than half a year, but it was nothing compared to the fire that destroyed the original Lodge.

“When the fire happened in ‘08, it was devastating, that news,” said Haber. “It traveled around the world. I even heard from people in Europe. I mean, it made national news. And literally down here was like a drive-through funeral procession. That’s the only way I can describe it.”

Everything changed. Wolf Bay reopened at Zeke’s Marina in Orange Beach. The thought was that this would be temporary, but the proprietors soon learned first-hand that being in the thick of the tourist market opened up a whole new world of business.

Meanwhile, plans to reopen in Miflin evolved in an unexpected direction: Westward to a new site in Foley, much closer to Ala. 59 and all its beach traffic. Looking back, Haber said a big motivating factor was that the city of Foley was extremely welcoming and proactive, offering a lease on a city-owned property that had previously been the Wilson Pecan Co. (Within a few years, Wolf Bay was able to purchase the site from the city, she said.)

The Foley restaurant opened at the end of 2010; by that point, the operators had decided that it made sense to keep the Orange Beach location going, too. The pattern was set, though the Orange Beach location eventually shifted from the marina to a free-standing building along Perdido Beach Boulevard.

Fifteen years later, and more than 50 years since the Wrapes eased into the business, both Wolf Bay Seafood & Steak locations are going strong. That’s pretty convincing evidence that the family owners have been doing a few things right – and it’s not hard to figure out what some of them are.

The two locations have different moods. As befits its prime location in condo country, the Orange Beach store feels newer and more stylish and has plenty of natural light. The Foley location has a darker, woodier interior with a much more down-home vibe, and a sizeable boutique store stocked with jewelry, clothing and other wares up front. “We do get locals in the Orange Beach one, but it really serves the tourists,” said Haber. “Where my Foley location serves the tourists, but really caters to the locals.”

You get the same service either way, so it’s a fine distinction. The menus are also much the same, and that’s where the fun begins.

For lunch in Orange Beach, I opened with the Peel ‘N’ Eat Shrimp appetizer ($13). It’s advertised as half a pound of boiled shrimp, served hot or cold. It was pretty on the plate: an artful pinwheel of 10 shrimp big enough to be two or three bites each, making this a tasting plate for the party or an entrée for one. These specimens also featured crisp texture and clean flavor so it would have been shameful to bury them under breading or alfredo sauce or any other coating. They were good with a dash of the house cocktail sauce, but better with a squeeze of lemon juice.

For a dinner visit in Foley, I went with something almost completely different: the Shrimp Nachos ($14). Now, let’s be honest: Any of us could dump some chips on a plate, throw on whatever leftover shrimp we had handy, cover that in queso and maybe garnish with taco toppings – and that would be all right. It might fail to elevate its mediocre ingredients to a higher level, but it couldn’t possibly be bad.

Wolf Bay’s version is a lesson in what sets the restaurant apart.

First, the shrimp are grilled. They didn’t have to do that, but the sear and the seasoning make for a better visual impression and help the shrimp stand out tastewise when they’re in the sauce. Speaking of sauce: This isn’t queso from a food-service barrel, it’s house-made Mornay sauce. And why would they give you chips when they could give you fried pita tips?

It’s a sham. It’s a hoax. This is false advertising. The shrimp are a topping you’d be happy to eat straight, without the chips and cheese. The “cheese” is some fancy French sauce. And the so-called “chips” are so decadent that if you scraped off all the sauce and toppings and ate them plain, they’d still be the richest thing you had today. Calling this “nachos” is just the setup for a sucker punch. But it is incredibly good, and you should try it.

You can get that same Mornay sauce on a few other dishes, including the Fried Green Tomatoes appetizer ($11) and the Signature Shrimp & Grits ($26). But for my lunch in Orange Beach, something else caught my eye. My colleague Matt Wake has been bragging on Huntsville’s Reuben game, so I went with the Grouper Reuben ($22 with fries or fresh fruit).

What impressed me from the first bite was the balance of the sandwich. When you get a Reuben you want certain notes: You want the rye, the sauerkraut, the salad dressing. Fish can be more delicate than corned beef, though, and if all this stuff overwhelmed a good piece of grouper, there’d be no point. The folks at Wolf Bay don’t let that happen. Starting with big slabs of grilled grouper helps. While the flavors of rye and thousand-island dressing were distinct, it seemed they were a little milder than you might commonly find. The result isn’t a toned-down Reuben, it’s just a seafood Reuben that showcases the fish rather than burying it.

It turns out that the dressing is one of many things that’s made in-house at Wolf Bay.

“We make all that stuff, the Mornay, we make the Alfredo, we make the gumbo, we make the tartar sauce, the cocktail sauce, the ranch, we make it all,” said Haber.

“We are so fortunate to be in this area, to get our hands on so much fresh food,” she said. “I always buy local corn, local peppers, local cucumbers, local squash, local zucchini. Anything that we’re growing or can catch here, we get it.”

This attitude ramifies in other ways. Steaks are hand-cut daily, never frozen. Chicken is cut and cooked in-house, rather than using pre-processed food-service products, even for the chicken salad. “I’m literally boiling my own chicken, picking it off the bone, chopping my own vegetables and mixing my chicken salad,” said Haber. “And that goes for every salad. We stuff our own deviled eggs and those salads that are on that bar, except for canned olives or anything like that, we make it.”

The local purchasing and in-house prep results in one of the best salad bars you’ll find. None of this is cheap or easy: “I’m losing my tail on payroll,” said Haber. But that’s a trade-off she accepts.

“That’s what drew people to Wolf Bay,” she said. “And if it’s not broke, I can’t fix it. I’m second generation, and I’m doing everything the first generation taught me to do, but I brought it to another level. We didn’t have pasta on the menu. We didn’t have Alfredos on the menu. We didn’t have chicken parmesan. But I took the foundation that my parents set for me, and I didn’t change a thing, and I will not ever. Because it worked, and people got used to those standards.”

The approach naturally shows in Wolf Bay’s signature specialties, such as the Whole Crab Stuffed Flounder ($38). The broiled dish pairs the down-to-earth character of flounder with a bold crab stuffing, and lets you decide how much of each you want in your next bite.

Change continues. Haber lamented the recent retirement of Fannie Bell Brown, aka “Ma Bell,” a veteran prep cook whose output of peeled and deveined shrimp, stuffed crabs and other labor-intensive items was legendary. “She was 92 years old and could outwork most every 20-year-old I got in the building,” said Haber.

But the third generation of the family is stepping up. One of Haber’s daughters, Whitney Haber Kelley, runs the Orange Beach store, and another, Courtney Haber Brumley, works there.

Haber is quick to credit key staff for Wolf Bay’s ongoing success: Foley General Manager Chanda Hurley, chefs Paul Able and Brandy McGill. “I love what I do, and I try to find people that love what they do,” she said. “And I try to find people that are more knowledgeable than I am because I feel if I surround myself with knowledgeable people, we’ll grow together.”

What’s the secret to maintaining a reputation established over the course of 50-plus years? Not taking anything for granted. The fundamentals may seem simple, such as starting with fresh ingredients and committing to in-house prep, but they’re never going to require less care or effort.

“The freshest I can make it is the best meal to me,” said Haber. “That, to me, is the best meal that I can provide to my customers and my guests: The freshest I can put it on that plate and get it to you.”

“It’s just in my blood, it’s in my bones, and I just love it to this day,” she said. “My body’s not so happy with it, but I still love my restaurant.”

Wolf Bay Seafood & Steak is at 20801 Miflin Road in Foley and 24131 Perdido Beach Blvd. in Orange Beach. For more information, including menus, visit www.wolfbaylodge.com.