He even had a set of combat fatigues personalized with his name and the words "Civilian Aide" embroidered on the collar where a soldier's rank was displayed at the time.

One notorious incident of many was his crackdown on rock-n-roll concerts in the city-owned Montgomery Civic Center --- a mass arrest of concert-goers carrying drugs, paraphernalia and minors with alcohol and beer at the facility early in his tenure set the tone for his administration, according to some.

Further incidents against entertainment venues included a noise curfew against a motorsports park located about two miles away from a residential area.

Folmar was part of the city effort to relocate the Alabama Shakespeare Festival from Anniston to Montgomery, on land and money both donated by Winton "Red" Blount, a wealthy construction magnate and former U.S. Postmaster General.

The Festival along with the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts (a city facility) were located in the Winton M. Blount Cultural Park.

Languishing and drifting without direction under the loose guidance of an ad hoc coalition of the community's arts and entertainment groups, Folmar said the glorified block party should grow or cease and challenged leaders to take the festival to the next level.

In 1989, the zoo was expanded to its current size, enhanced with natural habitat enclosures for the animals and has regularly added new and exciting additions to the exhibits and collections.

One of the premier golf trails in the nation, the RTJ course in the area was finally located in Prattville, a nearby bedroom community.

However, Folmar supporters say that this was a shrewd decision that risked no capital outlay, but allowed the city to reap the benefits of filling its abundant hotel rooms with golfers traveling to play the Trail.

After the Montgomery Rebels departed in 1980, leaving the 7,000 seat Paterson Field in poor upkeep, Folmar decreed the facility and nearby Cramton Bowl would remain dedicated to amateur sports.

His 22 years in office marked the longest consecutive period of any mayor in the city's history although his tenure began in the wake of a racially divisive scandal.

Then an officer at the scene planted a weapon near Whitehurst that was later determined to have been confiscated by the police in another case and filed a report saying he was shot in the front of his body.

Although Folmar prided himself in keeping roads paved, potholes filled, water flowing and garbage collected, he was criticized at some points for not being sufficiently proactive in repairing infrastructure in poor, minority sections on the periphery of the city limits.

But Folmar also took great pleasure in jousting with former city councilman Richard Moncus, who represented a primarily white constituency in a heavily middle class section of Montgomery.

So, in 1991 Folmar put together what he called "Montgomery's Team," basically a group of hand-picked city council candidates he could entrust to help him push his policy agenda.

Among them were the championing of a vote to spend a large portion of federal grant money on a public golf course and softball fields on the predominantly white east side of the city rather than using all of the grant money to end urban blight by providing necessary city utility infrastructure on the predominantly-black west side.

in 1983 when 2 white police detectives, Ed Spivey and Les Brown, allegedly barged into a home where black mourners had gathered after the funeral of a grandmother.

Folmar was quoted in 1997 using the word "queer" publicly in a derogatory fashion noting his disapproval of the lifestyles of gay and lesbian individuals.

The resulting negative press led to a voter backlash against Democrats and Guy Hunt was subsequently elected the first Republican Alabama Governor since the post-Civil War Reconstruction period.