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This Oct. 10, 2012 photo provided by the Covington County (Ala.) Sheriff's Department shows Mary Ella Hixon, the longtime mayor of River Falls, Ala., who pleaded guilty to stealing $201,000 from the south Alabama town where she was mayor for three decades. River Falls is trying to sort out the mess left by a 91-year-old mayor and much of the task will fall to the newly appointed mayor, Patricia Gunter, who took office after Hixon pleaded guilty to theft. Gunter lost a mayoral race to Hixon in August and in 1996. Now, it's her job to get the Covington County town of 510 people back on stable footing.



