Muscle Shoals Municipal Elections/SNAP

In less than seven days, the Shoals will hold municipal elections. Unfortunately, many will not vote. It’s unfathomable why some won’t vote in a city election where their ballot just might make a real difference, but proudly brag of voting in a presidential race which, at least in Alabama, is a foregone conclusion.

We’ve discussed Florence, now let’s venture to Muscle Shoals. Up for grabs are three city council seats. Each of the three has only two candidates, so the Tuesday election is the whole shebang.

Place One:

Chris Hall – A realtor who uses a sea of rhetoric in his platform. You can find his platform on his FB page, but basically he wants to meet challenges, support the city and its services, and do what’s right in general. So what does the reader learn from this? Absolutely nothing unless you count the fact that Mr. Hall needs professional help with his writing. Another long article in the TD conveys only that Hall wants to see more cooperation among local governments.

Don Terry – A former police officer. Terry has concrete ideas to improve police and fire services. While he doesn’t enumerate all the “changes” he wants to see in Muscle Shoals, he at least is specific in part of his platform.

Do we have a recommendation? Yes, we endorse Don Terry and suggest Chris Hall get some serious help with his writing.

Place Four:

Ken Sockwell – A credit union employee. Sockwell’s entire platform is “more jobs.” Beyond that, he sings the praises of the city, but offers no concrete ideas for advancement in any areas.

Mike Price – A commercial maintenance tech. Price’s platform? More jobs. He also touts his decision making skills, but doesn’t offer any data to back them up.

Our recommendation? Take your pick. If either one wants to stand out, he’s not doing a very good job of it.

Place Five:

Allen Noles - Retired from Electric Board. Noles is a long serving council member. His platform, while not innovative, at least proves he can read and write well. His ideas are to expand educational opportunities and city services. Some of our readers have called Noles a “yes man.” From the few documents available to us, we’re not particularly seeing that, but will mention it in the for what it’s worth department.

Daron Goodloe - Instructor at a local community college. In checking on Mr. Goodloe’s qualifications, we can find nothing in the TD or FB. His LinkedIn profile is scant. In other words, Mr. Goodloe is an unknown quantity and doesn’t appear to be putting very much into this race.

Recommendation? Allen Noles has the ability and the experience. We will suggest that since Mr. Noles is retired, he set up some system where the citizens can easily contact him online with their concerns. We’re not seeing “yes man” here; we’re actually seeing more qualifications than the current mayor.

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The Foghorn Leghorn Award – We’ve never given this award before, but after reading Chris Hall’s platform on FB, he’s the hands down winner.

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Quite close to some recent conversations:

SS: John Doe, 25, is serving a ten year prison sentence for the theft of 11 cows, six pairs of knickers, and a crack pipe.

Reader: You dumb idiot you. You lie. You got it all wrong. He’s 26.

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In the “Compassion Isn’t What It Used to Be” department, it’s great to serve your community as a fire chief, but FB posts ridiculing SNAP recipients don’t speak well of you or anyone else. Certainly the program is abused by some, and we’ve very glad you’re able to support your family/families without using it, but things change. It’s always good to remember that.

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Coming to Russellville this weekend: