Alabama Town’s Failed Pension Is a Warning Prichard, Ala., presents a worst case for public pension funds: It stopped sending checks in 2009. By MICHAEL COOPER and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH Published: December 22, 2010 PRICHARD, Ala. — This struggling small city on the outskirts of Mobile was warned for years that if it did nothing, its pension fund would run out of money by 2009. Right on schedule, its fund ran dry. Last week, retirees asked the City Council for some help before Christmas. Then Prichard did something that pension experts say they have never seen before: it stopped sending...