Supporting Debbie Wilson/Comparing Thugs

Yesterday we looked at a video of Thursday's Florence-Lauderdale Tourism Board. Think the Three Stooges without the humor. Think harassment. Plenty of harassment. Alex Nelson not only threatened Debbie Wilson's job twice, he called her the name of a certain shady lady. Wow!

We've looked at it. Now you take a peek--keep the barf bag handy:

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Some have asked about D.K. He no longer blogs with us, but we continue to support the wonderful work he does. We are about to present a real treat for you very soon. An accomplished political blogger will be joining us. His emphasis will be on Florence politics, but he will also blog on business/political interests in the entire Shoals area. He hasn't chosen a screen name yet, but we can promise you he will be worth waiting for.

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Some time ago two friends asked if we could rate Shoals criminals. We thought about it and decided the only way it could be done was to eliminate the murderers. Isn't one murder a million times worse than 50 home burglaries? How do you rate a man who shoots dead two women...and a dog? How do you compare a man who beats his step-son, rapes his two step-daughters, then kills one of them? It can't be done.

So if we eliminate the murderers? Everything is still subjective. We have a friend who knows the families of both Andrew Daniel Scott and John Wesley Akin. It's hard for her to read about them, especially in a "non-news" source. In other words we comment on the wake of crimes--something journalistic endeavors don't do. No, the TD won't tell you about the man who lost thousands of dollars when his car was stolen and he's so far received zero compensation. You won't read in newspapers about the families of those who died from supposedly tainted heroin...or the parents of a child they feel is threatened by a local druggie whose family just feels is misunderstood.

A local publication recently compared Quittney Nichols to Scott, Akin, and Jerry Don Crowden. We're sure it was done in jest, but there is a comparison. We usually refer to Nichols as Lil Quittney since that's how our friend Bubba wrote about her. In truth she's now 29 and has spent the majority of the last ten years in lock up. Aside from one attempted murder charge, most of her arrests have been of a less than dramatic nature. She needs help, but how do you get it for her?

The three guys? We're hoping that now Akin has been off drugs while in Limestone Prison he will never return to them. We're sure his family does also. He still faces a very serious heroin trafficking charge in Lauderdale County, but after that is adjudicated, he can enter DOC drug rehab.

Jerry Don Crowden? He's serving 20 years at the maximum security Holman Prison for six crimes, among them escape. He won't even be eligible for parole until 2020 (barring someone's intervention). Crowden is quite different from Akin and Scott. He may do drugs, but it was just sheer thug life that sent him south. He's not of the intelligentsia and he seemingly likes a life of crime--it's so easy, right? No...no hope for him, but we're sure at least some of his family still hopes. He's a sociopath, if you believe those exist, and we do.

That brings us to Andrew Daniel Scott, now 25. He's not as intelligent as Akin, but is much more so than Crowden. He may be addicted to drugs, but he's also a sociopath. The State of Alabama has paid thousands of dollars to send Scott through a six-month drug program, but on December 3rd, he was arrested on four new charges while serving in community corrections and will be returned to prison. If Judge Self should choose to add to Scott's sentence, he may do so. Not a rosy future there.

Thanks to the Quad-Cities Daily, from whom we shamelessly stole Scott's latest mug shot. Visit them every day for new local mug shots!

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For discerning women:

Shoalanda