Tax Musical Chairs? (Let's Hope It Doesn't Flood in Muscle Shoals)

 

Oh, what a tangled turkey web...

* Muscle Shoals has a half-cent sales tax voted on by the people and earmarked specifically for flood control. There's even a separate account and all that...all official like.

* Now the city council has agreed to usurp 50% of that for the general budget. To be totally honest, one council member (David Moore) voted against it, but the rest applauded the mayor and city clerk's idea and rubbed their sweaty fingers in glee.

* The big borrow, well actually a steal, is to begin January 1st, but see the next point.

* On November 18th, the city clerk Brittany Walker had 2.5 million dollars transferred from the flood control account to the general budget fund due to an alleged projected shortfall.

* Finally, if you feel bad about all this, just think how funny it is that the mayor and clerk have never managed to figure out who the moles are in their offices. Big snicker, guys!

Props to David Moore who is not happy with what he seems to feel is sloppy flood control and poor maintenance of the town's retention ponds. 

There once was a Muscle Shoals mayor;

He was a pencil pusher, not a dragon slayer.

His clerk was even slower,

But was still quite the go-er.

Too bad the citizenry is the cheated payor.

End Times: We Actually Support RFK and his MAHA

 

It's hardly anything to brag about to say we regularly read the Daily Mail. Yet we do and many years ago read a short article about the differences in American and British ketchup. Yes, you read that right. It seems the US red condiment contains much more than its UK sibling...and we don't mean good things.

Over the intervening years we've read and heard much more about how chemicals added to preserve our food or make it more palatable are actually making us sick. Go abroad for a month? In two weeks, you'll feel like a new person. It's scary.

Now, Robert F. Kennedy, the thrice-married adulterer who promotes the theory that vaccines cause autism, is about to clean up our food, or so he says. We say, gasp, more power to him. We never thought there would be a day when we would support him in anything, but it has now come.

If you've had any experience with this change of diet while living overseas, feel free to tell us about it. If you have experience in any diet improvements, write it up for us. We desperately want to Make America Healthy Again.

Circle the Wagons (at Florence City Hall)

 

When this reporter arrived, the chairs were all arranged in a circle in the auditorium of the Florence city hall for the special called meeting by President Kaytrina Simmons to discuss the plans for the new city hall building. The few reporters and spectator citizens who showed up for the meeting were not included in the “circle of trust” evidently. Our suggestions and ideas were outside the circle. In the circle was Kaytrina Simmons, Jackie Hendrix, Blake Edwards, Jimmy Oliver, Bill Griffin and Michele Eubanks along with 2 or 3 department heads, city attorney Billy Musgrove and representatives from Lambert, Ezell and Durham architectural firm.

The first idea to came from Jimmy Oliver who relayed the cost from the architects had placed the current plans for the city hall building as designed to be at least $55 million dollars. The city has already borrowed $48 million. Mr. Oliver said the city council did not need to borrow any more money. Jimmy had discussed with architect Calvin Durham the possibility of altering the plans from a 6-story building to two 3 story buildings utilizing the lot on the corner of Tennessee and Pine streets after demolition of the parking deck which currently was on the property. The gist of his plan would involve cutting back on non-essential spaces like conference rooms and shrinking the city auditorium space. It all sounded very reasonable.

Then Blake Edwards chimed in. His idea was to keep the blueprints the same as comprised with 6 stories on one city lot and just not finish the top 2 floors. He said the city could finish them later if need be. This sounded to me like building a 3-bedroom house and borrowing extra money to build a 5-car garage on the structure. Just in case.

And finally, there was the plan given by Jackie Hendrix. Jackie started his presentation with the caveat that it might not be the most popular with the department heads or the architectural firm; Lambert, Ezell and Durham but why not incorporate the current city hall building into the proposal to remodel and add onto? At this, your faithful reporter had to sit on my hands to keep from clapping. (Remember, my enthusiasm was outside the “circle of trust”) 

Sure enough, he almost got instant backlash from the department heads saying they were operating in cramped spaces as is. Andy Betterton started saying how the building department had found asbestos in the building. One or two other council people started objecting to no room for growth. But “Justified Jackie” was NOT deterred. He started explaining that he is only saying a study needs to be done of how much it would cost to incorporate the current building into any plans and to justify to the citizens of Florence that EVERY option for the new city hall had been considered.

It was a long meeting and seemed to go round and round in circles. The seating was appropriate. Like the story of the three bears, Jackie Hendrix’s proposal seemed JUST RIGHT! But the meeting ended, no decision was made on which way to go and Goldilocks still didn’t know how much the new city hall was costing her in tax money.

Equal Justice Initiative Has Its Eyes on Sheffield

 

Sheffield. What can you say about Sheffield? One of the two Sheffield bloggers who toil here once wrote some beautiful comments on what the city was like in its glory days. Yet a Florence friend has mentioned one of the few points of friction between her parents was her father opposing her mother's shopping in that Colbert town due to its "wild citizens."

When asked about the current situation in Sheffield, Colbert Commissioner Tori Bailey replied: “There has long been a kind of disconnect between communities of color and law enforcement. Unfortunately, many of us do not feel that law enforcement is actually there to serve and protect.”

According to attorney Roderick Van Daniel and the Equal Justice Initiative, he is currently representing five Black and Latino citizens in suits against the City of Sheffield. (We can't keep up!) One of these lawsuits was originally filed by Dennoriss Richardson against former Sheffield police officers Ricky Terry, Max Dotson, and three others, accusing them of physical abuse. Since the death of Mr. Richardson, the plaintiff is listed as his wife Leigh Richardson.

On November 23rd, there will be a March at 2:00 p.m. for "Justice, answers, and truth" about Richardson's hanging death. Participants will march from the Sheffield City Hall to the Colbert County Courthouse. We wish them safety and success. Readers are invited to send in their accounts of the event.

Attn: Florence - How Is This Explained?

 

The City of Florence needs change in at least two departments - one being Parks and Recreation. How many of you use the City's recreational facilities? Oh, you say, you don't but they bring in tourists for tournaments, etc. Really? The big tournament must choose between Florence and Madison, so which wins? Don't you think it might just be the town closer to Huntsville with its myriad of other entertainments?

Speaking of Madison, that city is currently having a weekly civics course to bring more citizens into the government mix. Recently, one topic was recreation. Take a look at this visual:

Huntsville, the largest city listed, Budgets $51.80 per person for recreation. And Florence? $217.56 per citizen. All figures are using latest 2024 data.

Is there something wrong with this picture? Could part of it be Bill Jordan's new pickle ball courts that only a few will use? Could part of it be Andy Betterton's complete lack of common sense?

August 2025 is coming!

Stanley Hopes to Overcome $54K Loss in Future Budgets

 

Sheffield mayor Steve Stanley recently announced that the city's liability insurance premium increased by $53,982.00 for the 2025 budget year. He hopes to reel in costs in future years.

Why does Steve Stanley think he'll be around in future years?

Stanley lay the cost of the increase at the door of the police department, citing at least four lawsuits, plus the damage to city property involving reckless officers. He specifically mentioned replacing former Chief Ricky Terry and terminating Wes Holland and Kaegan Cook.

Holland was a long time Tuscumbia officer who had migrated to Sheffield in the past few years. Cook had been named in a recent 15 million dollar lawsuit filed by a Florence chiropractor and later accused of a second unknown infraction.

At least one of the four suits* facing Sheffield goes back five years. It seems that, as usual, it's too little too late from Steve Stanley. We have many readers in Sheffield, and each who contacts us mentions new leadership coming in 2025.

* We continue to see four suits against Sheffield listed in the press; however, we believe the actual number is five - three from black males, one from a white male, and one from a white female.

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A Teacher Speaks Out/Spring Park

 

We've received an interesting comment from a local teacher (not in the Lauderdale County system):

My school is experiencing a rash of incidents that we refer to as 'open defiance': 'You cant tell me what to do.' 'You aren't the principal.' 'I don't have to listen to you.' 

Common thread? They're ALL Freshmen. Couple that with a constant shortage of Disciplinary Referral forms, discipline forms 'getting lost', or disciplinary issues taking WEEKS to be addressed, it all adds up to ONE THING: plausible deniability. 

Schools are being pressured to 'reduce disciplinary issues'. Such looks 'bad' on the State 'report card'.

THAT'S what's going on. EVERYWHERE.

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Spring Park will be getting its semi-annual cleanup this Saturday. If you think the city of Tuscumbia is on the ball with this, think again. This is the second year that an organization called Beautify Tuscumbia has taken things into their own work gloves and arranged to rid the recreational area of much of its litter and filth. Thanks to this organization for caring  more than the city.

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