Disenfranchisement in Russellville?

A Russellville reader has asked about city residents not being allowed to vote for the county superintendent. We've found that in 1993, a Federal judge ruled that was illegal, but by 2000, it was the the method in place. Why?

We're still working on that, but in the interim, here's a comment on Phillip Pettus. The author has graciously allowed us to use his name:

My immediate response to the article in the TD was to send the writer the following comment. I'm probably now on the Suspected Shoalanda List. Doesn't do any good to write Rep. Pettus, he never replies. Neither does Danny Pettus, the County Commissioner. Not sure if it's personal or if they just struggle to read and write. It might explain their ignorance of history and current events.

To: "lisa.singleton-rickman@TimesDaily.com" <lisa.singleton-rickman@TimesDaily.com>
Subject: Lauderdale County Vote

So it looks like a lot of people around here slept through American History. Seems like one of the drivers of the American Revolution was ' taxation without representation is tyranny'. Or maybe the city residents will be removed from the tax roles. Or perhaps we have tyrants within our local government.

John A Nutbrown

Suspected Shoalanda List? Mr. Nutbrown is Number 100. 

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For those who have asked, we do feel it would be very easy for the right person to stop any such unconstitutional legislation...it would also be very easy to make the lives of the Lauderdale County superintendent and board members hell with petty grievances. (Don't laugh--we had one reader who suggested Florence voters could steal their tax money back--we don't recommend that.)

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For our Athens and local history fans, AL.com today published a montage of endangered service stations within the state; however, the one pictured below shouldn't be on the list:

It was relocated and taken into the city park system some time ago. Thank God that we in Alabama occasionally do some things right.

Shoalanda