Yes, Virginia, Scottie Exists & Was Attacked

A few days ago we blogged about a man named Scottie Leon Davis who was attacked by persons unknown in the Lauderdale County Detention Center. We'll go ahead and say now what we didn't say then - there is at least one witness who said Scottie was attacked by a jailer. Whether that's true or not is not the reason for a second blog.

A local blogger has suggested, along with other libelous statements, that the Scottie story is a figment of our imagination, or in his words the informant for the story is in the head of someone who writes here (a person who actually doesn't write here).

We have contacted Scottie's relative for permission to elaborate on this story and have received it. Our "informant" is Kimberly Harrison, Scottie's cousin. She's still very concerned about Scottie and can't understand why anyone would wish to make light of the incident. Neither can we.

Lest anyone not familiar with Scottie still thinks he's some figment of a writer's imagination, here's the official jail listing:

You can see that Scottie Davis left the detention center on his birthday; according to witnesses, he left on a stretcher. Prayers are still requested for his recovery.

Why did we say jailers aren't the cream of society? Check out their arrest rates. The one who complained about our statement to the blogger? He or she couldn't write a paragraph without using two vulgarities. We rest our case in his/her lack of gentility and education.

Whoever did this to Scottie, be it jailer or inmate, should be arrested for attempted murder...

Kavanaugh: Totally and Permanently Destroyed?

On Thursday, Brett Kavanaugh stated accusations against him had "totally and permanently destroyed" him and his family. The mind wobbles.

A significant other often told us as we faced life's problems that the road of life had speed bumps. Problems are to be faced and dealt with. Surely Kavanaugh doesn't think he or anyone else can sail through every job quest without facing some opposition? 

His Howard Dean Impersonation?

Now let's look at how "destroyed" his life will be if he should not become the newest member of the SCOTUS:

1. He still has a wife and two daughters. Presumably they're not going anywhere.

2. He still has a position that's highly coveted and that pays him $211,200.00 a year. (How much do most local attorneys make?)

3. He still lives in a 1.2 million dollar house. (That was the asking price 10 years ago.)

4. He still has his health and the ability to go beyond what he is today even if he's not a fixture on the highest court in the land.

Just how has his life been "destroyed?" 

Now let's ask why so many are supporting this particular man instead of saying he has entirely too much baggage and Trump should bring on his next nominee. We see many referring to the man as simply Brett and commenting on what a wonderful person he is as well as a few comments on his "good looks." We're reminded of how teenage girls treat rock stars, but again we say "really?"

Let's assume dear ol' Brett gives a private party (that's one not designed to bring in campaign dollars). Whom would he invite? We can tell you whom he wouldn't invite.

He wouldn't invite any blacks.

He wouldn't invite any Jews.

He wouldn't invite any of us dumb Southerners who didn't attend a private school, preferably an Ivy League institution.

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Why would anyone object to a week's delay in a confirmation vote on Kavanaugh. The seat Antonin Scalia held was vacant for 422 days. Surely the American public shouldn't mind another seven days in the quest to fill the seat of Anthony Kennedy who retired on July 31st?

Buy It in Mississippi!

Need CBD oil? You can always purchase it via mail, but if you like a short, scenic drive once in a while, now you can find your product of choice in nearby Tishomingo. You won't even have to leave Highway 72 unless you simply want to visit historic Corinth while in the area. 

Let's see how this works...everyone wanted alcohol (which does have severe health hazards) legal so that citizens wouldn't spend money across the state line, but they want CBD oil (with no health hazards) to be illegal so that the area will lose more tax dollars. Okay, got it...

Lazarus Labs

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Speaking of losing tax dollars, how about the lottery? Make no mistake, Shoalanda herself would never purchase a lottery ticket and, if given the chance, will vote against the lottery. That being said, our legislature is not keen on giving anyone the chance to vote on this particular form of gambling.

Enter Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow who has a well thought out plan for a lottery and its proceeds. We'll have more on this later, but for now we'll simply say that a man with a plan is highly unusual in this state...at least one in Montgomery.

A Great Big Shout Out to All You Westboro Baptists Out There!

Every Baptist believes exactly as the Westboro congregation does. Did we hear gasps? It seems plausible since we've just seen where every Democrat is evil.

Very few institutions come with a one-size-fits-all label. We may be conservative to moderate, but we don't endorse everyone who dons such a name for themselves. Think Brett Kavanaugh.

Did you know that all current members of the Supreme Court graduated from Ivy League schools? Not sure which ones they are? Since there are only eight, here's the list:

• Brown University.
• Columbia University.
• Cornell University.
• Dartmouth College.
• Harvard University.
• Princeton University.
• University of Pennsylvania.
• Yale University.

Certainly there are many reasons for this, but nevertheless this one fact would suggest that others are not qualified. Just look at Trump's recent comments concerning Jeff Sessions and all of us dumb Southerners. Not one practicing attorney who graduated from the University of Alabama is worthy of the highest court in the land? Not one from a Texas law school? Or a California school?

So far we have at least four who have accused Kavanaugh of sexual impropriety who continue to stand by their stories. Not many? No, but how many women knew him in high school? It's not like he went to a large school or socialized with girls from large public schools. His social set was far more restricted than the Gadsden Mall. Obviously he met a great many more women in college, but his social circle would have shrunk after he graduated. If Kavanaugh's accusers are lying, just think of the gross dishonesty factor among a small number of women. 

Trump has at least two replacements for Kavanaugh waiting in the wings. They're both conservative, and one is actually female. More gasps? Isn't it time that the Ivy League monopoly on the SCOTUS came to an end?

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Here's a little tidbit thrown in just because it's somewhat troubling. Three women who attended Wayne County High School have accused a former coach of gross sexual conduct from decades ago. The former coach is now a Tennessee state representative. We're seeing some who are comparing this yahoo to Brett Kavanaugh. That's as in "poor, persecuted thing," not "abuser of women." 

Anyone out there from Coffee High School who knows someone like that? Other schools? The one we remember best doesn't enjoy the public trust (much less the trust of his wife), so we're not encouraging anyone to come forward with names. We're merely suggesting some of you think about it and then say the Wayne County coach is innocent.

The Muck is Getting Deep in Colbert County

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,

Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

We're approximately five weeks from the mid-term election, but it's local offices that are creating the buzz, especially in Colbert County. For your reading enjoyment we present the tale of Candidate A and Candidate B.

Mrs. A opens a letter to find venom dripping from the paper in the form of anonymous allegations against her husband. Bringing someone's wife into it? Not exactly cricket, but no one knows who was behind the letter. Candidate A thought the worst and told some friends that he suspected Candidate B of being the holder of the poison pen. 

Should Candidate A have made his suspicions public? Probably not, but when one's spouse is concerned, individuals don't always think clearly. Candidate B has denied being behind the letter. How do we know all this?

Candidate B has made the whole reasonably private affair public on his Facebook page, demanding a public apology. This was a bad decision for two reasons.

First, probably very few people knew about the letter to begin with, but after Candidate B blasted the sick event to one and all there are just that many more who will automatically suspect him of being the author. The worst of it is that Candidate B is demanding a public apology for Candidate A's private remarks to some he thought were his friends. 

And the voters? Pass the popcorn...

Alleged Assault at Lauderdale County Detention Center

Scottie Leon Davis is an East Florence resident who, judging by his Facebook profile pic, loves his dog. His family says that he's a really good guy who's made some mistakes in life, mainly involving drugs.

In May of this year, Davis was arrested on misdemeanor drug charges. He was sentenced in Florence Municipal Court and assigned to work at the city recycling center to pay his fines and court costs. Then last week Mr. Davis failed a drug test and was placed in the Lauderdale County Detention Center.

Monday was Scottie's 38th birthday. We're not sure what kind of celebration he was anticipating while incarcerated, but in all probability he didn't expect to leave the jail on a stretcher. Davis is now in Huntsville Hospital; the hospital won't give out patient information at this time, but Scottie's family says he's fighting for his life.

According to family, Davis has a severe head injury, two broken hands, and other assorted injuries. They've been told that Scottie fell in the shower. In case you're not a CSI fan, broken wrists are often associated with a fall, but not hands. Scottie Davis' family wants answers.

Some things come to mind here. Mr. Davis is important to only his family and to God. No matter Davis' social status, we're pretty sure God is not happy if Scottie's family's suspicions are true. Yes, the jail is overcrowded beyond belief. Our sheriff has asked for help with the situation and has so far gotten very little from our county commission. Jailers aren't paid much, so don't expect them to be the cream of society either; rumors of employee initiated violence are common. 

We're wishing Mr. Davis the speediest recovery, but that's not looking good right now. Let's all say a prayer for both Scottie and our county, shall we?

Sex Offender Paradise? Maybe Not!

Look for some bombshell news about the Church of the Highlands sex offender program in the next few days. It won't bode well for Chester McKinney's practically free labor project.

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We've just been told that a person who intentionally speeds when late for work is as guilty of evil as the man who lies in wait and rapes a toddler. Really? What Bible is this commenter reading? We don't advocate intentional speeding, but we're pretty sure some super nice police officers just might let someone off for that. We're not so sure about an officer letting a rapist off...

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Patterns to sexual deviance? We recently published something from "Aunt Jane" who bases her deductions on village patterns of behavior. We see at least 50% of sexual assaults on children come from neighbors, etc., who groom and/or entice little ones. Take care of your children; better to err on the rude side than to have your child's innocence taken by a neighbor.

Taylor Ryan Bloodgood

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For those who asked, our follow up on the UNA survey is coming.

Will Brett Kavanaugh be the Next Bill Cosby?

You keeping up with the latest on Brett Kavanaugh? At first it was one, then two, and now three women who have made claims against the good judge. That's not a landslide yet, but didn't Bill Cosby's downfall start out the same way?

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High school boys are not known for good judgment. It would be good to note here that at least one of Kavanaugh's accusers has related a college incident, but college boys are not known for exceptionally good judgment either. 

Yet there's a difference between fumbling juveniles attempting to score and young men who deliberately set out to score at the expense of a young woman who may have severe emotional problems. Didn't we write this blog about five boys at Brooks High School a few years ago?

Let's digress to Lewis for a minute. No, not the inspector, but the humorist Mr. Grizzard. He related his conquest of a girl who lived with only one parent and no supervision. He stated that he always regretted it. He certainly didn't brag about it.

That brings us to the Renate Alumni. The alumni were the Georgetown Prep football team, and Renate was a student at a nearby girls' school. Renate, unaware that the football team had bragged of any conquests concerning her, was one of the women who signed a letter in support of Kavanaugh. Now that she's been told of the assertions of Brett and the rest of the boys in the band she's not as supportive, but is still offering little comment. 

Hmmm, we think we're seeing where the term white privilege originated.

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Notice anything else about Judge Kavanaugh? He didn't graduate from that sub par law school Alabama as did Jeff Sessions. Notice anything about Jeff Sessions? We've never seen a woman accuse him of any gross sexual immorality. 

Which man is the better? Do you really have to ask? Why not send Jeff to the SCOTUS?

Hercule & Aunt Jane on Andrew Davenport

Has anyone noticed how many recent murders have taken place in or been committed by residents from the Colbert Heights area just south of Tuscumbia? Much of this area is in the Tuscumbia police jurisdiction, but not all. It would be interesting to see a map of these crimes.

What brought up this line of thought? We've been surprised by the amount of interest the Andrew Davenport case has generated in contrast to the James Tabor case. Both men lived on Colburn Mountain Road just south of Tuscumbia and north of Littleville. By tabloid standards, Tabor's murder of his roommate makes much more interesting reading; it's a case we would expect to see featured in the Daily Mail. Yet Andrew Davenport's shooting of a young Muscle Shoals woman is the murder our readers are discussing.

We've had two locals weigh in on Andrew Davenport, and for obvious reasons we're going to call them Hercule and Aunt Jane. First, from Hercule, a homicide detective not connected to the Muscle Shoals police force:

"He didn't have any record? Family says super nice guy? You usually hear those things about a psychopath when he snaps."

Next, from Aunt Jane, an area mystery writer:

"I'm thinking he didn't intend to kill her. He had argued with her earlier in the evening and apparently hadn't got his point across. He took the gun to get her attention, but when she still wouldn't listen to him, he fired the gun. I haven't seen where a wound location has been mentioned, so I'm thinking he intended to shoot either close to her or shoot her in the leg, and things went horribly wrong."

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We've also been asked why shooting into an occupied building makes this a capital case. We infer it's because the shooter may be intending to kill one person, but has no real idea who else may be in the building. The interesting thing about the charge in the Streitmatter murder is the width of the garage door may be an asset to Andrew Davenport's defense. After all, he had a very plain view of his victim. We're looking forward to seeing if Bryce Graham will actually get his capital indictment in the case of the married father of two.

UNA Ain't What It Used to Be

What were things like in your parents' or grandparents' day? Certainly not like they are now. Due to that new monument to modern healthcare about to open in East Florence, many have been posting photos of the first Florence hospital on East Tuscaloosa Street. Quite a difference isn't there?

Why should our university be any different? We want it to be forward thinking. We want it to grow. We want it to be self-sustaining...oh, wait. Just what is involved in the latter? Promoting the overstuffed college of business at the expense of anything else? Turning the necessity of a business end of matters into a machine that terrorizes anything in its way? 

No, UNA is nothing like it once was. We should all remember that so many things are better, but also try to curb the rising bad. That brings us to a certain survey. We understand the satisfaction survey included only support type employees and not faculty. We also understand things didn't go well with the survey results. No, we don't have all the information yet, but we plan to.

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So how about faculty? Are they happy? Here's one that isn't.

Dr. Greg Gaston

Or should we say wasn't? What happened? When this many wagons are circled, you can know it wasn't good.

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On a closing note, the Ministry of Truth has told us that murder is good. People who mention it are bad. Just thought we would pass that on-dit along. We've also heard from Hercule and Aunt Jane. Their takes on a recent murder are interesting to say the least.

The Case Against Andrew Davenport?

Benjamin Andrew Davenport has been charged with Capital Murder. Why? He, according to both at least one live witness and security cameras, fired into a garage and killed a young woman standing in her own attached garage. Actually, any garage would be a building, whether attached or not. 

Did Davenport think by exiting his vehicle before he fired the weapon that he avoided that little detail of capital enhancements...or did he even care? Perhaps the salient question is can Bryce Graham get a capital indictment? Let's say the grand jury indicts for Felony Murder, what then?

With the amount of evidence against Davenport, the state may wish to avoid the cost of a trial, but has no real need to fear a "Not Guilty" verdict. That means they won't offer a plea unless Davenport has someone to shop in another case. Does he? We somehow doubt it, but we've heard some very interesting theories from some very crime savvy individuals. 

Our prediction is Davenport will be found guilty, sentenced to Life with Parole, and perhaps secure release in 30 years. His wife has already stated to friends that her two children are now her life. Or was there already trouble in paradise?

The reason for our commenting on this case? It still irks us that Graham refused to try for a Capital Murder indictment in the Amanda Taylor murder case. It should have been a slam dunk, but he had scruples? Really? As he does with CBD oil sales?

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So who would Davenport have pertinent information on? His victim was the best friend of Casie Winborn, the young woman found murdered in Russellville last July. Many are saying it's too much of a coincidence. Perhaps, but we wouldn't rule coincidence out.

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Threats? Davenport's wife has related tales of threats directed to her family. Are they real? We have to ask what kind of person would threaten a woman and two young children? What are we missing? 

If these threats are real, Winnie Davenport should consult the Tuscumbia police or the Spring Valley sheriff's patrol. There's no excuse for that kind of behavior in today's world.

Russellville High Threat/CBD Oil Support

According to a brief news release to parents, there has been a threat made toward Russellville High School. A ninth grader has been investigated in the matter, and all was deemed safe. Well, at least for other students; if we were a parent of this young man, he would not be safe for a very long time.

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Anyone hear of a UNA survey recently? You know one where 100% of faculty and students said they loved Kenneth Kitts more than life itself? No? Thought not. More to follow shortly.

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Local governments have been very tight-lipped on CBD oil sales recently. If you want to take part in clarifying these laws, or perhaps changing them if needed, you have an ally:

Anyone that would be interested in publicly showing support for CBD in the Shoals area please get in touch with me via my Facebook or messenger. #bringbackcbd #cbdislegal. James Wright

Problems with Rogersville?/Problems with Florence?

First a little parable: Al and Bob were best friends in college. The two went on to work for the same company where both advanced in their respective departments. Al was responsible for yearly performance reviews and always gave Bob a 99% for his work as operations manager. He would have given him a 100%, but that wasn't allowed. Then one day new owners took over the company and posted Al to a new office. When Bob received his next annual performance review he discovered he'd made only 75%. Why? While Bob was excellent at what he did, he'd never kept up with changing company policies. Al had simply given him the 99% out of misguided loyalty. 

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No person is perfect. Towns are even less so since they're made up of some very imperfect individuals. Those who are now saying Rogersville is a perfect town not deserving of ANY criticism are highly misguided. When you have a mayor who tells half-truths (or worse) and a chief of police who outright lies about drugs, you have problems.

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Since some are saying we wouldn't criticize Florence as we have Rogersville, we're happy to give our home town equal time. How perfect is Florence? We love our home town and can't be entirely objective, but we can point out some problems.

1. Some department heads have absolutely no rapport with employees and use draconian tactics to rule.

2. Nepotism may not be in every nook of the city, but you don't have to look far to find it.

3. Leah Fox and the animal shelter are at the top of several hit lists. The situation with animal abuse is about to get very messy. Fox should do us all a favor and resign now.

Now how's that for giving equal time?

The Face of an Angel (Or Keep Fighting DHR)

Remember Angel Gieske? She's the fake doctor of psychology to whom thousands and thousands of our dollars were paid to sort out home situations. She's currently serving two concurrent and one consecutive sentence of one year from Lauderdale, Franklin, and Walker Counties. Apparently Limestone chose not to prosecute. Angels may walk among us, but this one won't be in our midst again until February 2020.

However, she is in currently in Lauderdale County, specifically the detention center, at order of the judge. We have no idea why she was sent for, but we have seen her mug shot taken upon entering the facility. This is the face of crime. This is the face of DHR who either placed or took custody of children upon her orders. Look at it carefully, and then tell us that the DHR in Alabama is a fully functioning, non-corrupt agency.

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We've been asked to comment on two gun crimes, one slightly out of our usual geographic territory. We'll take on the Huntsville school shooting first.

1. This boy took a gun from his home which his father had left unsecured. No gun laws will make a person responsible unless a police officer is a fixture in the home.

2. This gun "belonged" to a person who had no constitutional right to a gun. Again, how do you regulate a criminal?

3. This gun was stolen. By now you should see that no one in this home followed the law and would have obtained a gun no matter what laws were in place.

4. For any gun laws to make a difference in this type of situation, it will take approximately 30 years to clean up this current mess. First, we have to have citizens willing to make it happen. While we do support that, we don't see that as happening in most of our lifetimes.

5. Huntsville, where the elementary school shooting took place, is discussing metal detectors at all schools. We agree and feel that Florence should follow suit. Sad, isn't it?

About Confiscating That Vape Pen...

So you're a police officer. You make a traffic stop and smell weed. Or maybe you don't smell it; we have no real idea how MJ oil works in these contraptions called vape pens. No matter, let's say you see a vape pen in the vehicle. You let the driver go and take the pen with you.

Any of that make sense to anyone? Are we missing something? Did the driver/suspect commit a crime and get away with it? Why let him go and keep the pen? How much are those things worth? Apparently less than a ticket or the driver would have complained.

Let's see (isn't Google shopping wonderful?)... One article says $20.00 to $40.00 at regular price, maybe $15.00 on sale. Our own quick search found some for as little as $8.00, while others were going for up to $80.00, but these prices didn't include shipping. You think the confiscated vape pen was one with the fancy enamel with some thin blue line decorations? Hmmm, could be.

So if no one had become ill (wink, wink?), what would have happened to the (maybe) fancy vape pen that wasn't even evidence in a case? Would it have stayed in a desk drawer for a while until it was forgotten and then gone home with the officer in question? 

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Just in the For What It's Worth Department, it seems the fingertips are the slowest part of the body to absorb chemicals, for obvious reasons. If this particular vape oil is that potent, should the officer really have let the driver go?

Support for Name "Pride of Dixie?"

In case you're looking for a pithy comment on changing the local university band's name, you're not going to get it here...at least as the main theme. We will make some superficial observations:

1. The band's nickname was given it by one man, a band director in 1965. Now it's taking a committee of 19 to decide whether to change it or not? Really?

2. Did anyone complain when the nickname of Florence was changed? How about Sheffield? Muscle Shoals? We can't add Tuscumbia to that list since it's apparently never had a cutesy name.

3. Does anyone think the name change will matter in 200 years? 

4. Did anyone really notice when high school bands stopped playing Dixie?

Now for the pithy remarks. We're amazed at the number of negative comments we've seen over UNA changing a simple name, when we saw only 10% of that number when the university (read: Kenneth Kitts) tried to steal property from the school children of Florence.

If you haven't driven by the new middle school, we suggest you do. It's something our city can be extremely proud of. It belongs to all citizens of Florence, but only some of us fought for it. If we hadn't, these students would now be sitting in a 60 year old building behind the Krystal.

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J. Redmon has his Halloween costume all picked out. We have an idea he won't be the only one wearing this shirt in October.

What's Wrong in Rogersville?

We frequently receive input from readers on the various Shoals cities. We may not be able to tell you exactly what's wrong in some of these cities, but we can tell you which ones bring the most complaints here. Franklin County? That would be Russellville and its totalitarian police department. Colbert County? Let's hope you guessed Sheffield with its problems at city hall. Lauderdale County? Rogersville, always Rogersville.

From a reader (edited):

Thank you so much for staying on top of Rogersville and the Vape Pen Debacle. I grew up there and can attest that Poor old "Coach" Herston really doesn't know anything about running a municipality. He barely knew anything about Jr. High history when he taught us. 

As for Chief Holden having any sway over Poor ole "Coach" Herston, it's doubtful that he has the time. You see, Chief Holden's son Matt is an officer for the police department and according to the residents the city's biggest liability. He drives city vehicles like he's trying to get cast for a remake of Smokey and the Bandit and folks that live in town say they're just waiting for him to be the cause of a fatal accident. He is dangerous and highly irresponsible AND Chief Holden has been told this. It must be nice to play-act the Dukes of Hazzard as a grown-up and have your daddy cover for you all the time. 

It is also felt by pretty much all the citizenry, although there isn't any hard proof, that the catastrophe with the Vape pen was all Matt Holden's fault. Everyone knows the ONLY way that everyone could have gotten sick from that Pen would be if SOMEONE was actually "vaping" with it. Someone whose son would absolutely confiscate said Pen and take it back to the station and toke up with his buddies....and the same ones that would FLIP OUT when they realized they were high from vaping and had to do SOMETHING before Dad came on-shift. Thus, an idea was born out of stupidity....er....desperation. 

Rogersville is a dark little town, truth be told. It's mostly stupid in its administration...but when a woman's murder there about three years ago is waiting on an arrest simply because of a hold-up in state forensics....but you can get a lab report back on a vape Pen some dumb*** was using in 2-3 days, someone isn't being straight about a LOT of things.

There you have it. Rebuttals welcome.

The Three Counties Turn...Or Is That Churn?

Lauderdale/Florence - A police report on the untimely death of a shelter dog was filed earlier this week. While it may be some time before we can report on actions resulting from the complaint, we can say that even more individuals are contacting us to demand Leah Fox's head on a dog biscuit pan. 

Colbert - The Revenue Commissioner's office has lost at least three clerks in the past few months. Mr. Oswalt has placed ads for replacements, but according to a friend who submitted a resume', no interviews have been held. 

On another Colbert topic, why is Rep. Morrow the only one to speak out against the sex offender re-entry program? It seems Sen. Larry Stutts is "working on it" as he praises the McKinney family.

Franklin - Escaped county prisoner Robert Lee Brown is back in custody, but how did he get "wire cutters" to break through the facility fence? Franklin's detention center is still on the new side; security shouldn't be so lax. Was a guard paid off? That question may be rude, but it seems the logical assumption.

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Tomorrow: Some pithy reader comments on Rogersville!

Two Points to Consider on Florence, etal.

A friend just contacted us to say her roof is no more, but she has gained a swimming pool inside her home. We imagine she is not the only one so affected by the advent of Hurricane Florence. It seems the storm season has arrived a trifle late this year, but we doubt that Flo will be the only "big and wet" weather front coming to the Shoals in days to come.

First, how is your insurance? We don't have any companies to recommend, but we do know that no matter how long you've paid premiums, you may be in for an unpleasant surprise when you finally need to file a claim. If readers have any bad, or good, experiences to share please send them to us.

Second, about that roof... Yes, Digital Roofing is one of our advertisers. We'll say that up front. We'll also say that we hear only good things about the company. Their contact information is just a click away in our left sidebar; give them a call if you're a wind/rain damage victim. We can promise you'll be pleased!

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Have you heard about the newly reported problems at the Florence-Lauderdale Animal Shelter? We'll shortly have updated information on how this incident is being handled.

Let's just hope Prince doesn't decide to take the matter into his own paws...

Nathan Boyd: Remorseful?

So Nathan Boyd was abused? That's old news, whether anyone wants now to deny it or not. The abuse was revealed almost 20 years ago during initial legal proceedings for the two brothers. Not all abused children turn into killers, but it seems that Boyd did. He even dragged his brother into his crimes. Now Eric Boyd, guilty or innocent, also sits in prison. 

Danny Sledge's Galley Restaurant - Scene of Brutal Murder

Friday ended a long wait for a new sentencing hearing for Boyd. Actually, the wait is still being endured by victim Danny Sledge's family. How will Judge Gil Self rule? Will Boyd now be sentenced to Life with Parole? 

We somehow doubt it. It might have helped Boyd's case if he had ever uttered any remorseful words.

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What of older Boyd brother Eric? His first parole hearing ended in a denial. He will be eligible for a second hearing after April 1, 2019. Looking at what little of his record that appears online, he seems to have been a model prisoner. It's extremely sad that Nathan dragged him into a miasma of violence...and that Eric let him.

That Rogersville Report Ready Yet?

So far, we've heard nothing on the final Rogersville drug report. Exactly what was in the confiscated e-cig? Will anyone ever know if one doesn't file an official request?

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We've also had several comments asking who's actually running Rogersville. These readers claim police chief Terry Holden guides Mayor Herston in his daily decisions. Really? Let us hear more.

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Are local citizens about to ask for the arrest of a City of Florence department head? This should be interesting. We've asked Prince for a quote:

"Let my people go!"

Shawn Childers Has Been Missing Two Years

From a member of Shawn's family:

Thinking about my brother in law, Shawn Childers. 9/11 is his birthday, 9/17 marks 2 years. His medicine was “miraculously” found south of his house last year, on the anniversary of this nightmare. David Nix has been interrogated and his statements from 2016 and then again 2018 don’t match. Strangely enough, a neighbor saw Shawn that night with Nix after the time that Nix report that he “walked away”. But with no body, it’s all considered circumstantial! Funny you don’t have to see a robbery to investigate and make an arrest.... just saying! Thank you for helping us keep Shawn’s memory alive.

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Shawn Childers

We are not experts at finding a body. We also know that Shawn's property has been searched and re-searched. Yet we do not believe that the person who is responsible for Shawn's disappearance could have taken a body a great distance to dispose of it.

More on Childers' Disappearance

Cadaver dogs are specially trained to find signs of decomp - especially human remains. What would it take to bring a special team of these dogs to the Lauderdale County home Shawn shared with David Nix?

If any of our readers has a contact in the area of cadaver search, please let us know. It's time to give Shawn Childers' family some answers and to bring justice to anyone who might have harmed him.

When You Do Your Job Too Well...

Yesterday we published what was intended as a humorous take on Drag Queen Story Hour. A reader had sent us a hilarious photo of three gentlemen dressed in drag for some reason or the other. Only one was known to us, so we didn't attempt to identify any of them, but apparently the three gents did their job too well.

We're 90% Sure Osbie Linville Is on the Left, But Can't ID the Other Two

We're going to take a guess that the photo is around 30 to 35 years old, but perhaps drag queen fashion sense doesn't change. The most hilarious thing of all is that a few have posted online that this event has already happened. How rumors get started? 

Our take is that Mobile will be the first and probably last Alabama town to have an actual drag queen story hour...at least for a few decades. We would love to see Ambrosia Starling speak locally, but to a group of adults who would appreciate her comments on Roy Moore. Similarly and in fairness, we would welcome either Roy or his representative to speak at the same gathering. No females under the age of 21 allowed.