Smoke Free Florence?/Subversive Colbert Attorneys

We had intended to blog about Facebook's crackdown on language, but an article in the TD on a smoke-free Quad-Cities has caught our eye. We'll return to our 978th rant on vulgar words in the near future.

It seems the Smoke Free Shoals organization has been discussing a new smoking law with the Florence City attorney. That's fine; as we understand it, the city attorney is there to answer the questions citizens ask about various statutes in Florence. Except according to Melanie Dickens, the city attorney has been doing more than telling the group what it would take to have the council consider a new smoking policy. Dickens has told the TD that the attorney is reviewing the proposed new law, or in other words using city time to critique the suggested new policy that may never come before the council.

Mayor Steve Holt, to whom the city attorney reports, has not heard about any requests for a new smoking policy. Nor has he heard from any city council members about such a change. In fact, Mayor Holt states that he believes the city's current policy is a good one.

Has there been some miscommunication at some point? The citizens of Florence have a right to know.

Now on to Colbert County where Jeff Austin is running for circuit court judge on the Democratic ticket. Kyle Brown is the Republican opposition. We certainly realize that each candidate wants to pull out most, if not all, stops in his campaign. 

However, Austin is campaigning that he will defend the Constitution. We weren't aware that the Constitution needed defending in Colbert County Circuit Court. Have Colbert attorneys become subversive agents of Putin while no one was looking? Or is he saying Kyle Brown won't uphold it? Or that Judge Hughston hasn't been upholding it?

Most circuit court cases are criminal in nature and tried using the Alabama Code, a pretty well established body of work. Any problems with Constitutional law shouldn't come into the Colbert County court room. When we read appeals of decisions in circuit court, they all reference the Alabama Code. Perhaps Austin should have mentioned that he will uphold that?

The average voter often doesn't realize when he or she is being played with semantics. What's next? A candidate who will support continued free oxygen?