Let Us Splain This River Thing

Photo Posted on Florence Tourism's Instagram Account Today

You see, there’s this river. It’s long and it’s wide. A great many people forgot about the river over the years until people on the north side of the river desperately needed a new hospital. Then the people on the south side of the river tried to tell the people on the north side what they could or couldn’t do. Suddenly the river roared back. 

It’s a great deal like this Alabama-Auburn thing. Always root for (insert name Alabama or Auburn) unless they’re playing (insert name Auburn or Alabama). Similarly, always root for Colbert, Franklin, etc., unless they’re competing with Lauderdale.

And God forbid…pay close attention now, Robbie Baby…you’re paid to promote Florence-Lauderdale and you promote Tuscumbia-Colbert. Tuscumbia is a beautiful town. It’s historic. It’s well worth seeing. It’s just not what you’re paid to promote; get it, Rob?

Not all sights, or sites, around the Florence-Lauderdale area are equal. More people may be interested in seeing Rogers Hall than are in seeing the Rogers Department Store building…or vice versa. Yet a person could post a different interesting photo on Instagram each day for ten years just from Florence-Lauderdale. Why is Rob Carnegie posting a photo from Tuscumbia to the Florence Tourism account?

Doesn’t Robbie Baby know about the river?

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Now a word to all you guys in Colbert County. We’ve seen people in Sheffield and Tuscumbia thoroughly trounce Muscle Shoals for using a photo of Ivy Green in its promotional material. Now’s your chance. Shoalanda not only gives you permission, but is actively recruiting you to give Rob Carnegie hell for stealing one of your top tourist draws. Please…go for it!

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Now let’s talk legalities. We don’t know who, if anyone, owns the copyright to the picture Rob Carnegie posted today, but we do know it’s not anyone in Lauderdale County. We’ve seen the photo floating around for years and quickly found it on a site from 2011. If we had to guess, it may be 30 or more years old.

Sure, Tuscumbia is glad to let you use it, aren’t they, Rob? See remarks in section above. Still, if you continue to use photos that aren’t your own or don’t belong to Florence-Lauderdale Tourism, you’re going to tick someone off someday. Let’s try to be a little more honest, shall we, and at least give credit where due.

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We do have to congratulate Rob Carnegie--he's really on a roll. In the past month, he's promoted one Florence business over its competitor, spotlighted an illegally parked motorbike, misspelled Deibert Park, and now is promoting a town outside the Florence-Lauderdale area. From the movie Elizabethtown: ...there's a difference between a failure and a fiasco. A failure is simply the non-presence of success. Any fool can accomplish failure. But a fiasco, a fiasco is a disaster of mythic proportions.