"What, Exactly, Did Bronner Do?"

The title of today's blog is a question sent to us by a faithful reader. What did Dr. David Bronner do to recruit Navistar to the Barton rail car plant? We cannot answer that question, but obviously much is owed to Forrest Wright. We can comment on the timeline.

On August 21st of last year, the TimesDaily announced that National Rail Car Ltd. in Colbert County had been purchased by RSA and renamed National Alabama. That would make the purchase just over 13 months ago. Now we're told that Bronner, etal., had been working on the Navistar deal for "more than a year." Obviously the intent of purchasing the ivory pachyderm was to enable a sale to a company of RSA's choice.

We understand the need for secrecy, but wouldn't a "no comment" have been more honest than the smokescreen of supposed accomplishments propagated by our local rag? That being said, we now have a second rumor running amok at National Alabama.

We've received several reports that despite assurances by Navistar execs, most employees can expect to receive their walking papers in the near future--presumably after Navistar hires a skeleton crew to maintain the plant. This rumor is extremely hard to assess since the Huntsville engine manufacturer has not yet commented on what it will be producing...if it even knows what it will be producing.

*****

We've confirmed that Jeremy Shane Hall, the former Russellville police sergeant, was indicted by the most recent Franklin County grand jury on seven counts of sexual abuse. This is in addition to the civil suits brought against Hall and the city for the alleged crimes

*****

Tomorrow: .Those who "have taken a stand for what is right" lose a round, but the fight continues.



Shoalanda