Brian T. Beadle/Missing Cherokee Fuel?

Brian T. Beadle resides in Florence. Last Saturday night at approximately 10:30, Mr. Beadle was traveling south on Nathan Boulevard, anticipating a left turn onto Hatch Boulevard to continue into Muscle Shoals where he has stated a friend lives. Nathan Boulevard is also known at U.S. Hwy 43 and Jackson Highway; in other words, it's a well lit highway, and it was a clear night. The area is highly built up. Deer would be a rarity, and dogs would also steer clear of this heavily traveled approach to a major intersection. That does not mean that neither would ever be encountered.

What Mr. Beadle did encounter was Mr. James Lambert. We had never met Mr. Lambert, but we do know unless there are medical problems, a grown man is at least 5' 2" in height. Mr. Lambert was probably considerably taller...taller than a deer and certainly much taller than a dog.

Sadly, we also know that when a large vehicle hits a pedestrian, the body is apt to be thrown onto the hood of the vehicle, and certainly headlights are often broken out. Unless Mr. Beadle was impaired for some reason, he knew what he hit was quite large and in all probability knew he had hit a person.

Mr. Beadle turned around, but did not stop. Did he see Mr. Lambert lying in the road as he turned? Certainly most of us would have looked to see if what we hit was still moving. Why didn't Mr. Beadle? Or did he see his victim lying there and callously head back to his home in North Florence without any remorse?

That's right, if you haven't already heard, Mr. Brian T. Beadle suddenly decided to forgo his visit in Muscle Shoals and return to his home in Florence where he parked his truck. Why would Mr. Beadle, 50 years of age and no novice driver, have behaved in that manner?

Only three reasons come to mind: He was impaired (drunk as a skunk or high as a kite), he had no insurance, he had outstanding warrants for his arrest. Whatever his reason for committing a felony hit and run, he has now hired former Judge Jimmy Sandlin to defend him. (Feel free to insert any jokes here.)

What can Mr. Beadle anticipate? Since he turned himself in over 24 hours after the event, many drugs would no longer be discernible in his system. If his reason for running from his crime was indeed impairment, it may be hard to prove. What does Brian T. Beadle deserve if this was the case? We believe the standard sentence for this type of manslaughter is 15 years, which would mean at most five years--a small price to pay for taking a life.

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It must always be raining in Cherokee, since Councilwoman Thelma Lambert has never heard of Sunshine...or at least the state's Sunshine Law. It seems on Tuesday night she asked the council to approve a motion prohibiting public access to certain town records. This comes at the first city council meeting after a more than startling piece of investigative journalism was published in The Connection: Link

Live in Cherokee? Then you deserve to know what, if anything, has happened to over 10K in fuel that your taxpayer dollars have funded. After that is straightened out, we suggest you start looking at other areas for misspent/misplaced funds.

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Many years ago schools taught basic manners. We suppose they no longer do so due to time contraints brought about by all the pat downs for weapons that occupy much class room time. That being said, let's do a little remedial teaching in good manners that also touches on basic vocabulary.

Congratulations? Don't know what that word means? It means the person to whom the comment is directed has accomplished something or won a prize. Oh, you knew that you said. Then why do some individuals "congratulate" a bride? We're sure Judith Martin feels a disturbance in the force.

Congratulations to the groom; best wishes to the bride (she usually needs them). With that in mind, best wishes to our friend Kari-Kay Harp who has embarked on the sea of matrimony. Congratulations to Jordan Cassady who has indeed won a prize.

Shoalanda