FBI to Investigate Suspicious Colbert Death

 

The Colbert County Sheriff's Office has announced that the FBI will be investigating the recent hanging death of Dennoriss Richardson. The death had been ruled suicide by local investigators, but many family members suspect foul play in what some have called a lynching.

Richardson had filed a lawsuit against the Sheffield Police Department and various officers claiming:

* He was restrained in a chair for three hours

* He was forced to remain in a pepper-sprayed cell

* He was denied medical care

* He was assaulted about the head and neck

It's unknown how long the FBI will be investigating the actions of the current and former officers named in the suit.

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'Ello, 'Ello, Leo!

 

More like a werewolf than a lion, UNA's human-lion hybrid mascot seems to change with great regularity. For years, Leo was a solo act and, seemingly, a nudist:

Then Una joined Leo, and the pair began to sport athletic attire, but after a few seasons, a more dramatic change took place. The two lions became more "hip," with critics calling Leo a metrosexual. The university countered that Leo's mane often scared children, so he needed to tone down some of the wilder aspects of his appearance.

Indeed, Leo's hair seemed to change more often than Madonna's. With the arrival of new school president Kenneth Kitts and his curious mop, Leo engaged in what some might call hero worship.

It was at this point that the evolution of Leo and Una began to speed up, with almost every season sporting changes to the pair's appearance. Students even injected some fan art.

Now a Division I team, the leonine pair representing the college have still another incarnation. Leo and Una seem almost cartoon-like with their huge schnozes.

We're pretty sure these two are incapable of scaring anyone at this point - unlike this prime example of UNA non compos mentis...

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SMILING HAPPY PEOPLE IN THE CITY OF FLORENCE

 

The Open Meetings Act which replaced the former “Sunshine Law” for the state of Alabama states: “Unless otherwise specified by law directly applicable to the governmental body, notice of a meeting, as defined in Section 2(6) pursuant to Section 11-43-50, Code of Alabama 1975, shall be posted as soon as practicable along with any accompanying agenda after the meeting is called and in no event less than 24 hours before the meeting is scheduled to begin, unless such notice is prevented by emergency circumstances”. 

This has been a source of many complaints from “council junkies” like yours truly who often get the agenda for the meeting being published an hour or so prior to the work session and meeting itself starting. Evidently, someone in the mayor’s office heard our complaints. It COULD have had something to do with the retirement of Martha Murphy and her replacement getting the agenda for the meeting out on time, but that would be purely speculative. Let’s just leave it as an improvement that hopefully will be continued. AND the Open Meetings Act being followed. It is the LAW after all.

Included in the agenda items for 10/15/2024 meeting was the budget for the City of Florence for 2024/2025. In years past, the vote on the budget was taken with no prior notice to the taxpayer live at the council meeting. The public did not know a vote was going to take place until the reading of the agenda items. Last year, several citizens voiced their concern that this was not giving the taxpayers any notice to see the budget much less time to study what their taxpayer money would be used for in the coming year. A pleasant surprise was in store for our complaints. Not only was the 10/15 agenda notice published on the Facebook page of the City of Florence 24 hours prior to the meeting, but the agenda item for the budget was also labeled: "General Fund, Solid Waste Fund, and others budget 2024/2025”. The item itself could be “clicked on” at the Facebook page for the city of Florence to “pull up” the entire budget! This had been proposed to Shana Balch, the CFO of General Fund Accounting office last year and evidently, she listened! Things were looking up for this meeting!

THEN, to put the cherry on top of this ice cream sundae of warm feelings at the city council meeting, two of the council persons were absent and President Kaytrina Simmons made the decision to postpone the vote on the budget until the next meeting to give the absent council members the opportunity to vote. This also gave the public, and especially us council “junkies”, two weeks to pore over every proposed transaction in the budget! A “win-win” all the way around! (Well, maybe Andy Betterton would not like all this newfound “transparency” but some people were happy.)

I don’t know whether it was the change in weather or just a “feel good” autumn day but this was one meeting where it was blue skies all the way around. It will not last of course, there are some building projects coming up and the vote on the budget is still out there. But for this meeting of the Florence City Council, it was sunshine and lolly pops all the way around! I am always proud and grateful to be a citizen of the city of Florence, but this meeting made me especially happy to live here. Of course, on the way home I hit three potholes and got stuck at the Florence Blvd/Darby Dr red light, but I only cussed under my breath a little bit! It was a pretty good meeting!

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UNA "Most Liberal" College in State

 

Niche has just named the University of North Alabama the most liberal college in the state and the 14th most liberal in the nation. We're sure imported activist Katie Owens (not pictured) is thrilled. Hmmm, that would explain the Palestinian terrorists...

Wondering which is the most conservative? Niche says the University of Alabama. We found that surprising.

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The last day to register to vote is October 21st. Don't forget or you'll have no right to complain.

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Matthew Tidwell Didn't Learn

 

In December 2014, Matthew Ray Tidwell placed his three children in a vehicle and sped off to the Rogersville McDonald's wishing to arrive before the eatery's midnight closing. Tidwell was under the influence of Xanax and codeine at the time and left the road, crashing into a tree. His oldest child, Samantha, died at the scene and the other two were injured. None had been wearing a seat belt. Tidwell took a plea that required him to serve 33 months for manslaughter, professing himself to be reformed. Was he truly?

On March 22nd of this year, Tidwell was indicted on a similar crime. The 42 year-old was alleged to have been at a Lauderdale County drug den in possession of oxycodone and marijuana, but he hadn't gone there alone. Tidwell had taken a four year-old child to what's commonly called a trap house. He's officially charged with Possession of Illegal Narcotics and Child Endangerment.

Tidwell wasn't arrested until October 9th, and his family promptly bonded him out. We'll be following this case as it makes its way through the courts.

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UNA Grads Only? Is This Kosher?

 

One of our bloggers is asking if it's unfair for the City of Florence to be involved in business promotion for UNA grads only:

We're not totally sure that non-grads are excluded, but if so, we're not sure that it violates any federal laws. It does smack of elitism in many ways. 

The last time we checked, only 25% of the population of Florence held a bachelor's degree - a fairly high percentage for this state. Sad, isn't it?

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Incident at Sheffield Ball Game

 

After Friday night's Sheffield football game, social media was full of a story about the arrest of a "child molester." Some even posted photos.

We're not going to post either accounts or photos related to the incident at this time. We are going to remind parents to remain vigilant with their children. 

This kind of crime is not as rare as some think. We recently posted a Most Wanted notice for a man whose original crime was attempted enticement at a Red Bay ball game. Luckily, in both cases, the would-be victims managed to escape harm.

If you see anything odd, no matter where it is, be sure to notify authorities.

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