KELLI HEWETT TAYLOR
News staff writer

Batten down the portable toilets.

Dothan, the self-proclaimed Peanut Capital of the World, has a serial potty tipper on the loose.

No building site appears safe, even in the upscale subdivisions of Spann Farms, Westbrook, Grove Park and Crestwood.

"It's not funny at all," said Kelly Powell, co-owner of Portable Toilet Services in Dothan, which has 400 rental potties and three people to service them. "It's pretty cut and dried: They turn them over and we have to go clean it up. It's very time-consuming."

"There are additional problems if it lands door-down," said Capt. John Givens of the Dothan Police. "If it leaks out, there is no ventilation. It gets really nasty in there."

Forty to 50 potties were knocked over in one weekend. Police immediately stepped up patrols around the sites, which seems to be helping. Just two tippings have been reported in the past week, both at a local park.

"It has to get to be frustrating to go service one of the things that's toppled over," said Givens, who conceded he chuckled when he first heard about the spree. "You have to admit, it is humorous, whether it's a nuisance or not."

After some research, Givens didn't think it was quite as funny. He estimates each damaged toilet costs $150 in time, energy and repairs, not to mention the drain on police resources. [...]

[...] The potty-tipping has garnered some international publicity for the town. Fox News and CNN have picked up the story. [...]

Dothan was the site of another head-shaking story in 1999. During a Dothan police prostitution sting, a man in a pickup truck offered an undercover female officer two freshly killed squirrels, a broken washing machine and $6 dollars in exchange for sex. She declined.

"Dothan hasn't had this much publicity since (then)," Givens said.