It seems that no matter how ignorant of the Bible people are, there is one verse that everyone knows. No, it’s not John 3:16. Some people still don’t know that one; however, everyone seems to know Matthew 7:1, wherein Jesus says, “Judge not, that ye be not judged” (KJV). In fact, the less of the Bible people know, the more they’re prone to know and repeat this verse. If we had a nickel for every time someone accused us of “intolerantly” violating this verse, we could pay our server costs and possibly quit our day jobs. - Kim Olsen
Is branding a dog considered abuse? If the answer is yes, then GN has some 'splainin' to do. This dog, reportedly a Mountain Cur, has been turned in to the Florence-Lauderdale Animal Shelter on College Street. The shelter wants to know its origins.
If you have any info on this dog, please call the shelter at 256-760-6676.
Now...who brands a dog? Some comments on the shelter Facebook site indicate those who hunt raccoons often do so. We were not aware of that. We were already pretty wary on those who hunt down any innocent animals just for fun, but this makes it that much worse if it's true.
A poster calling herself "Sally Gooden" made the following remark on the TimesDaily site today in reference to salaries in education:
Lets put this in perspective. Working as a Special Needs
paraprofessional, in Lauderdale County my yearly compensation is
approximately $12,000. I fully support folks that go to work everyday
being paid a living wage. Trust me when tell you this is NOT true
when it comes to education employees within the state of Alabama. Most
must work at least ONE additional job JUST to keep the utilities from
being turned off. Morale is low, workers are exhausted as a result of
burning the candle at both ends. A ONE PERCENT cost of living raise to
someone making $12,000 comes to $120. That computes to a whopping $10 a
month. We are struggling with whether to cut the grass once a month or
take the kids for a treat at McDonalds wth our increased income.
Thank you Gov. Bentley! As you once said, "you are a FRIEND of
education. Now, those of you that do not know the true reality of the
situation.......THE FLOOR IS YOURS.......!!
Let's look at Sally's faulty logic. First Sally calls herself a paraprofessional; that means she has no teaching degree, but works as an "aide," if they still use that term. It also means she has two to three months each year, plus other large blocks of time, when she's free to work elsewhere if she chooses.
Second, let's take Sally's logic a step farther. Let's look at physicians. A friend of ours has commented that many of his profession have done without for so long, they overspend when they first set up practice. These doctors invariably spend every cent they make. Are they underpaid?
What about those other misunderstood doctors? Yes, we mean those of the juris doctor persuasion. Years ago a local attorney became seriously ill and was forced to sell his home and possessions in order to pay medical bills. The home was in a somewhat exclusive area and the estate sale offered gold and platinum jewelry. Was he underpaid or did he just overspend without thought for the future or was it both?
How about those who are actually teachers? We once heard of a male teacher who often stated if he were married to someone who didn't work and had three children, his offspring would be eligible for reduced price lunches. Hmmmm. In reality, he wasn't married and had no one but himself to support.
While we're sure most people do the best they can financially, let's remember that teacher aides are not the only ones in the state who are underpaid. The private sector in Alabama is not known for excessively high wages. Most individuals with more than one degree or advanced certification work more than one job. For some it's a balancing act. Some do work seven days a week to bring in the income they desire (notice we didn't say need).
Are teachers underpaid? Not to the degree they once were. If any readers are visualizing their grandmothers teaching in a one-room school house for a few dollars each month, just check out the current salaries those in the education field make. Teachers in the Shoals area know going in that the education field is one of several in the area that don't have enough positions for each graduate. It's a crap shoot. Can it be fixed? Not with the current economy and the law of supply and demand.
If you haven't visited the Quad-Cities Daily recently, you're missing out on more than just local arrests. The QCD has added Shoals traffic cams to their menu. While the broadcast images are stills, they update quickly and provide readers with an idea of what road conditions are like at any given time. The feed currently airs sites in Florence, Sheffield, and Muscle Shoals.
Pen-N-Sword has also been updating its Missing in North Alabama section as well as Shoals Most Wanted. Trader tells us the site will be adding two to three of the most wanted each week and will ultimately have a complete list and back story on all those missing from Alabama counties north of Birmingham.
We notice one of the most wanted is Gerald Winston Surratt Jr. Surratt was once arrested in Sheffield for sexual assault, but a grand jury failed to indict. At that time, a source in the Florence Police Department told us Surratt was the subject of an investigation into various robberies, most using a pass key. At that time, Surratt was a maintenance man at a local apartment complex.
After the grand jury failed to indict Surratt in Colbert County, we received a scathing e-mail from him informing us that he had been cleared of all charges and to remove our blog concerning his case. It was only a few weeks later that formal charges were brought against the Florence resident, and he's now on the run.
Due to the three million dollar appropriation the City of Florence recently budgeted for the University of North Alabama's new science building, several have asked what constitutes a conflict of interest? In many cases, especially in small towns, almost anything could be made to appear a conflict of interest if one tried hard enough.
Libby Jordan, the wife of Florence City Councilman Dick Jordan, is on the university's board of trustees. Barry Morris, another council member, is retired from the university. If any Florence resident indeed felt there was a conflict, he or she should report the matter to the state ethics commission.
Our personal opinion? No one received any personal gain from the donated funds, and the new science building will increase enrollment among, hopefully, local students.
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Some associations are more difficult to analyze. A reader has asked about Dr. John G. Thornell (pictured). Thornell is provost at UNA and also serves as Vice President of Academic Affairs. It seems Thornell is also on the board of trustees at Columbia Southern University.
Offices for CSU are located in Orange Beach, Alabama, but its entire campus is the Internet. There are no traditional classes available from CSU, so is it in fact in competition with UNA? That's a difficult question. Looking at programs offered by CSU, we find Business and Criminal Justice among them. These two areas also compose a large percentage of UNA's curricula.
As with the two above referenced instances, it may be a question to be decided by the ethics commission...that is if anyone wishes to file a complaint. We're sure UNA is aware of Thornell's involvement with CSU. Officials at the university have probably been too busy recruiting Chinese students to give it much thought...
Laura Wise, aunt of Ron Wikkid Weems, aka the Wikkid One, called her nephew a good father. Really? He has at least five children by three different women, only one of whom he was married to. He didn't work, but preferred to have the Salvation Army provide for his children. He's now out of the picture, leaving his youngest child with his mother, a woman who allowed the child to be sexually abused. Yep, he's a great father.
As for Weems' mother Laquania, she's still maintaining her son's innocence...when she's not trying to cast spells for protection. Laquania seems to be a few nuggets short of a Happy Meal.
Colbert County District Attorney Bryce Graham has stated there was no basis for a Capital Murder charge against Weems. Really? Since witnesses testified that his victim Amanda Taylor was naked from the waist down, it would hardly have been a stretch for Graham to have also had Weems indicted for attempted rape. That's all it would have taken to make the charge a capital offense. We doubt the jury would have questioned the charge.
Now Weems will be up for parole at some point. He won't make it any time soon. Let's hope he never does.
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Due to an accident involving the court reporter in Franklin County, the sentencing for Hershel Dale Graham, admitted killer of David Martin Andrasik, has been postponed. We'll publish the new date as soon as it's announced.
The City of Florence has revealed its new capital projects budget. Included are three items of interest. First, the appropriation for helping fund the new science building at UNA has been met with mixed feelings. Three million dollars is a lot of money, but will it ultimately help the city?
We're going to say yes; however, we would like to hear more about the engineering programs that the university is proposing. We also hope that UNA will now concentrate on its academic commitment to the area and place any move to Division I athletics on the back burner.
Second, we question the $100,000.00 donation to the Salvation Army for a new homeless center. Florence has given to this church before; it continues to set a bad precedent. Perhaps the Church of Satan would like to build its own homeless shelter?
Third, and most importantly, we're concerned about the $650,000.00 set aside for the proposed College Street Plaza, Mayor Mickey Haddock's pet project. The council has not yet voted on the project, nor has the city requested any input. Do we favor the project?
Yes, we do; however, we don't favor pushing anything down the citizens' throats. Nor do we favor hiring an architectural firm for a project of this magnitude without taking bids. It will be most interesting to see how this plays out.
The sentencing for Hershel Dale Graham, convicted of Manslaughter in the intentional shooting of David Martin Andrasik (pictured), will be May 17th in Franklin County. One of our readers who attended the trial has sent us this commentary:
David was already in his car halfway seated & WAS leaving when Hershel's son ran out to the street RIPPED his own shirt off, cussed, etc demanding David get back in the yard and they would settle things.. DAVID WAS LEAVING.. If you are so fearful for your life why would you call someone back in the yard & be the aggressor in that manner?? David never touched any of them & that was proven in court by eye witnesses NOT related to the shooter at all. Those EW's gave polar opposite testimonies compared to the shooter's EW statements as to what happened.
During the time Elijah Graham was antagonizing David back into the yard & the school teacher who drove up to EW all of this was the ONLY one who bothered to call 911 & the other neighbor EW's said that Hershel Graham disappeared out of sight around the house for around a minute or 2. Many believe that is when he went & got the gun..yet HE HAD PLENTY OF TIME THEN to call police but he chose a gun. He then began walking toward David, David walked toward him, no words were exchanged, nothing physical whatsoever from David & when David got about 3 ft from Hershel Graham out of nowhere & no warning Hershel jerked this gun out & fired it into David's chest hitting him in the heart going thru 3 chambers of his heart, fractured his T9 vertebra lodging there causing epidural leakage.
He claimed he had warned David he had a gun.. the other EW's said NO that did not happen. He also claimed David shoved him really hard & as he was falling back he pulled gun up & fired it THINKING he was firing a warning shot & again the other EW's not related to Hershel said NO that is not what happened. They all said they were stunned, thought in NO WAY it was escalated that far, completely stunned by what they had just seen happen. After he shot David THEY ADMITTED THAT THEY ALL STOOD (4 or 5 people present during all of it) & watched David laying there struggling, grabbing at his wound, even giving accounts that he was gurgling on perhaps blood clearly fighting to breath & NOT ONE offered him any aid whatsoever... before anyone goes judging David they need to know ALL the facts & not just what the other side is claiming. THESE ARE ALL FACTS from court.
Also when the lady who witnessed pulled up and the ONLY ONE who called 911 she saw David laying on the ground & HE WAS THE ONLY ONE SCREAMING for help.. THE ONLY ONE the ENTIRE time screaming for any help. He also went to the neighbors across the street for help.. again he was the ONLY one who went for any assistance/help. He had no weapon on him & he never touched anyone of them other than a possible chest bump ALL ACCORDING TO EW's NOT related to the shooter. The neighbors also admitted to letting David come inside their home, he was not in any way making threats to them, etc.. they said they were NOT afraid of him at all, that he came and told them that the son had just tried to kill him by running over him with a truck & he needed help..
They didn't really know what to do but said had they known it was gonna end like this they would have kept him there with them,etc.. all the EW's for the prosecution were just devastated that it went down like this and was totally uncalled for, senseless & not justified. They all said David did NOTHING to deserve that nor did anything for there to be need of a gun.
I also don't think the school teacher had arrived yet when Elijah struck David which he tried to squirm his way out of on the stand. When she pulled up she I believe stated that she saw David laying on the ground.. unsure where exactly but said he was screaming for help & with tears she struggled to say I called 911 because that was the best help I could offer him.. he had NOT been shot at that point.. when the 911 call was played you hear her say that there are 4 men fighting (she cleared it up saying she meant verbal, NOTHING physical) she then described David as being in a black sweat suit barefoot.
She told them a car was in the road & had her blocked.. the Red Bay PD or EMT she was talking too kept her on the phone while she gave address,etc.. and then you hear a POP in the background and she said OMG.. He has just shot him in the chest.. and kept repeating OMG (the actual words) over and over, and toward the end of the conversation she told them David was no longer moving. She was as calm as she could be under the circumstances.. David was shot I would think around 5:37 because cops didn't get there until 93 seconds AFTER David had already been shot, an ambulance was en route but they were unable to give David any aid until the scene was declared safe so I would think David laid there several minutes for them to do that.. precious minutes... especially in the shape he was in.. He basically bled out or to death. They began chest compression's on him when they lost a pulse in the Ambulance and continued CPR until the hospital. He died 20 minutes later if the death cert time is accurate saying 6:30pm.
If you would like to recommend the maximum 20 year sentence for Graham, you may contact Judge Terry Dempsey at:
256-332-8893
Teresa.Seal@Alacourt.gov
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Perhaps many have never considered just what the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI) does or doesn't do. Here's a description from their own website:
Welcome to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI) Division. The ABI functions as the investigative branch of the Alabama Department of Public Safety (DPS) and is one of six divisions of the Department. The ABI provides investigation services in support of other members of the criminal justice system in Alabama. In addition to criminal investigations, the ABI also delivers several other services through the various components of the division such as the Latent Print Unit, and Hazardous Devices Unit (Bomb Squad) to assist our partners in the law enforcement community. The ABI is not a first responder agency and investigations are conducted upon request by a criminal justice agency. Members of the ABI also provide law enforcement services for operations with the other DPS divisions, such as in times of natural disaster and other special details.
In other words, you just can't pick up the phone and accuse someone you don't like of committing a crime; just doesn't work that way...even for family of former police chiefs, we understand.
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