The Brundidge City Council took no action on the request by the Brundidge Historical Society to lease the former Brundidge City Hall building that is home to Alabama’s Official Folklife Play, “Come Home, It’s Suppertime.”

Lawrence Bowden represented the BHS at the Tuesday council meeting and made the official request for the historical group to lease the building in order to give the group the option for use of the building that is known as the We Piddle Around Theater.

The BHS’s folklife play is performed at the theater twice a year, in November and April and is also the venue for the annual Pike Piddlers Storytelling Festival, the Chili Country Christmas and the June Buggin’ event. The theater is also used for a summer workshop for kids.

“The theater is unique to what we do and the atmosphere that is created is diminished when the events held there do not complement or enhance what we do,” Bowden said.

The BHS was given permission by the Brundidge City Council to use the building for its theatrical performances in 2002. The building had been gutted by fire about 10 years earlier and was standing vacant. The state’s official folklife play is now in its 16th year.

“The BHS has invested a great deal of money in the building and has been greatly assisted by the city and we appreciate the city’s support,” he said. “We are not trying to be selfish; we simply want to preserve what has been created through the hard work, dedication and talents of so many people.”

Bowden said the We Piddle Around Theater events bring positive recognition to the city throughout the state and beyond.

Margaret Ross, councilmember District 3, said, too, that the theater is something in which the city can take pride.

She commended the efforts of the BHS to offer opportunities for its citizens and to bring positive recognition to the city and improve the quality of life for all ages.

Mayor Isabell Boyd expressed sadness at the impending deactivation of the Brundidge National Guard unit. Boyd said loss of the 900th Maintenance Company would be like losing a member of family.

“Because we are family,” she said.

In council action, the council voted unanimously to approve the application for a retail liquor license by Frank Wheeler, owner of Ruthie’s Restaurant on Louis Anne Mill Loop. Citing personal reasons, the mayor did not vote.

Council Member Arthur Lee Griffin, District 2, said the application has been approved by the ABC board and recommended the license be approved.

Ross said the residents in the Mims Creek area of the city are been swarmed by mosquitoes and requested that the area be sprayed weekly rather than every two weeks.

Linda Faust, administrative assistant, said mosquitoes are a problem in most all areas of the city and weekly spraying will be done.

The council declared eight items surplus property. The items include two 2007 Crown Victoria vehicles, a 2004 Ford Explorer, a 2003 Ford Explorer, a pole trailer, a 1999 John Deere tractor, a Bush Hog and a boom for an electric truck.

Brundidge Police Chief Moses Davenport reported that two suspects in the recent murder that occurred on Walding Circle are in custody, one in the Pike County Jail and another in Colorado.

However, Davenport said there are other suspects and the investigation continues. The Brundidge Police Department is being assisted by the Pike County Sheriff’s Department, the District Attorneys Office, the Troy Police Department, Crime Stoppers and the U.S. Marshals. Anyone with information related to the crime is encouraged to call the Brundidge Police Department at 735-3333.