ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — The big news for Gulf Shores and Orange Beach for 2012 was one of hope of future economic, environmental and infrastructure improvements.

The RESTORE Act may send billions to the area within 25 miles of the coast, tourism dollars broke records for the second straight year and a new scuba tourism industry may be on the rise with the future sinking of a 271-foot cargo ship 16 miles off of Orange Beach.

There were also two shooting incidents in the normally quiet resort area of Orange Beach and a retired firefighter was killed in a hit and run accident on County Road 4 in Gulf Shores.

The RESTORE Act

Residents of South Baldwin County got a boost in July when Congress OK’d the RESTORE Act, a bi-partisan law passed in July which requires 80 percent of the Clean Water Act fines from the 2010 oil spill to be spent in the five coastal states affected by the spill.

Robert Craft of Gulf Shores and Tony Kennon of Orange Beach will be part of Alabama’s 10-member panel that will decide how some of the money is spent. Along with Craft and Kennon, Mayor Tim Gant of Fairhope, a commissioner each from Baldwin and Mobile counties, three mayors from Mobile County, chairman of the state docks in Mobile, Jimmy Lyons, and Gov. Robert Bentley will make up the panel.

“RESTORE comes from Resources, eco-systems, tourist opportunity and revived economy,” Craft said. “Our assets are environmental. The reason we have this tourism community we have, is that Gulf of Mexico, and all the activities that go with it.  So the recovery of the environment and the eco-systems, that’s an important part of our business opportunities.”

Estimates are the fine will be anywhere from $5 billion to $20 billion. Fine terms and settlements are still being negotiated.

Record tourist season

The summer tourist season set a record with taxable lodging revenue surpassing $300 million for the first time, according to a figures released by Gulf Shores / Orange Beach Tourism after the summer season.  When all the numbers are in, officials expect that amount to exceed $320 million.

This tops the record season last year of $280 million which followed a down year of $176 million during the oil spill summer of 2010.  The previous benchmark year was 2008 with $238 million of taxable lodging revenue.

The big ship

In June, residents of Pleasure Island were thrilled at the site of the Yokamu, a 271-foot freighter, being pushed from Mobile Bay to Orange Beach along the Intracoastal Waterway.

Reef veteran David Walter had it towed to his business and was looking for $500,000 to cover the cost of sinking it.  By December the Alabama Gulf Coast Reef and Restoration Foundation, a newly formed organization to build artificial reefs in the area, had accomplished that goal.

A naming-sponsor donation from Mac McAleer of LuLu’s came in to the tune of $250,000 and the ship is now The LuLu. The hope is to sink it in June while cameras from the “Reef Maker” reality are rolling to give Pleasure Island valuable TV exposure.

Vince Lucido, chairman of the commission, said the ship will bring in a different group of tourists further expanding the island’s offerings.

“A different type of business, something that we haven’t really developed like Panama City or Pensacola or Destin,” he said.  “Panama City is one of the biggest dive training areas there is. All the stores from all over the country bring their students there for the initial training.  It’s a big business there.”

And Lucido thinks it can be big business here, too.

Road rage shooting

Damon Alan Hembree, 44, of McCalla, was shot by Steven Pinson, 54, at a stoplight on Alabama 182 in front of the Rite Aid in Orange Beach.

Attempted murder charges were filed and a $500,000 bond set against Pinson and his case will be presented to a Baldwin County grand jury.

Hembree’s family was here on vacation and his wife and two kids were in his car when he stopped behind Pinson’s truck, Orange Beach Police Chief Billy Wilkins said.

According to what witnesses told police, the incident began on the Perdido Pass Bridge when Hembree’s car was driving slow in the left lane. The vehicles were travelling west and Hembree was driving a 2011 silver Ford Fiesta, Pinson a 2006 pewter gray Chevrolet 1500 pickup truck.

Reports said Pinson passed to the right of Hembree’s car, pulled in front of him and slammed on the brakes before continuing on. Pinson was apparently irked by Hembree’s rate of speed in the left or inside lane and an incident occurred before he came to a stop at the Alabama 161 traffic light, police said.

When Pinson stopped at the traffic light, Hembree left his car and walked up to Pinson’s driver’s side door and a confrontation developed, Orange Beach Police Chief Billy Wilkins said.

“That’s when Mr. Pinson pulled the pistol and shot Mr. Hembree in the chest,” Wilkins said.

Fatal hit and run

The hit-and-run death of retired 53-year-old firefighter Michael Hoeft was, for almost a week anyway, a real “who done it?”

For Gulf Shores Police Department detectives Sgt. Jason Woodruff and Chad Lambert, it was an all-consuming effort to find the vehicle involved in the Feb. 21 fatality and who owned that vehicle. Hoeft was riding a recumbent cycle along County Road 4 near his home when he was struck and killed.

“We haven’t really had one like that where it was all-consuming,” Woodruff said. “Every single detective in this building was probably assigned to it for five of the seven days.”

Exhaustive police work and constant attention to the case ended up in the arrest of Melvin Dennis Hutcheson of Gulf Shores. Hutcheson was charged with felony leaving the scene of an accident.

Woodruff believes the case is a solid one for proving felony leaving the scene of an accident. It has not been revealed if the case was presented to the fall session of the grand jury.

Fatal shooting

On Feb. 8 Kenneth Myers was shot in the head at close range by his long-time friend, Jon Christopher Washington at Washington’s residence on Marina Road. Orange Beach police filed murder charges and Washington is out on $100,000 bond.

Myers had lovingly been called “The Chair Man of the Beach” and had been in the business of renting beach chairs and umbrellas for more than 20 years just over the Florida line in Perdido Key.

Myers and Washington ended up at Washington’s house in the early hours of Feb. 8 where Washington says an accidental discharge of a pistol took Myers life.

“That’s what he originally said, it was an accident,” Orange Beach Assistant Police Chief Greg Duck said at the time. Duck also said both men were under the influence.

Lt. Steve Brown of the Orange Beach Police Department said evidence at the scene led officers to charge Washington with murder.

“The wound to Mr. Myers head, he had a wound to his head, the weapon would have had to be in close proximity when it was discharged,” Brown said. “So it was a contact wound. It was in close proximity to his head. It wasn’t a shot fired at distance.”

The .22 caliber weapon belonged to Washington.

“He claimed ownership of it,” Brown said. “It had been in the family for a while.”

Washington’s attorney, Pascal Brujin said at the time his client admitted shooting Myers, but it was a tragic accident.