Picks for Colbert County?

 

Our friends south of the river have two very hotly contested races. Angela Hulsey is currently an ADA hoping to become the next district attorney. She's running against Hal Hughston III, a Tuscumbia attorney. 

Despite Hughston having outspent Hulsey, we're told they're tied in local polls. Both seem to be more than qualified; therefore, we have no recommendation in this race.

The contest for district judge is also close. We can safely attest that both candidates are more than qualified. Chad Smith is a Tuscumbia attorney, while Mary Baschab-Haslacker is also an attorney, practicing in Muscle Shoals. We've been greatly impressed by both and advise voters to carefully weigh their talking points and make an educated choice.

*****

Mrs. Baschab-Haslacker has sent us some remarks to close out her campaign:

Colbert County, Tuesday you have ONE opportunity for years to come to pick your District Judge.  Your one decision will empower a single person to make thousands of decisions FOR YOU.  When you pull that trigger, make sure you are on target.  There is no putting the bullet back in the chamber.  Be sure your candidate has a work ethic to take on the heaviest caseload in this county. Be sure your candidate has hands on experience with children of all ages, all incomes, and all abilities. Be sure your candidate has a proven track record of integrity and honesty.  Be sure your candidate will be transparent and accountable to you.  I AM THAT CANDIDATE. I have spoken to thousands of you in your homes, on the street, and at your work. I know what matters to you. I know what you value. I am you. Its time for a breath of fresh air. Vote Mary in the Republican priMary on May 24 for Colbert County District Judge. 

Colbert County Number One in COVID

 

It's usually nice to be number one in something, but not this time. Colbert County is leading the state in new COVID cases.

From AL.com:

Meanwhile, many counties in north Alabama saw big increases over those two weeks. None saw a bigger spike than Colbert County, in northwestern Alabama in the Shoals area. The 7-day average per capita more than doubled there, up to a state-leading 48 cases per 10,000 residents per day.

All we can say is that must have been some Christmas party!

Now the question is why? Is Colbert an IT hub? Is Colbert near an Interstate? Has Colbert recently hosted a national event? We could go on, but you get the idea. 

History tells us that at one time no one understood how the Black Plague was transmitted. Even in the past 50 years, no one knew how AIDS was being transmitted. Now in 2022 everyone knows how COVID is transmitted. 

Bottom line: People just don't care...

New Colbert Sex Offender Law?

 

The Alabama Legislature will meet again in January, and there may be some interesting changes in Colbert County. The county is proposing a ban on more than one registered sex offender per address unless in a residential facility with licensed oversight. 

This law would make the Four-Way facility on Highway 43 illegal as well as some private homes that often house two or three offenders. The last time a bill like this was before the legislature, it failed to go the distance.

This time, we're hoping there's enough support that it will be passed. A great many sex offenders never realize what they've done wrong. When paired with similar offenders, the effect is synergistic and the proverbial "ticking time bomb."

When the bill number is announced, we'll publish it here so that the citizens of Colbert County can contact their representatives to urge its passing.

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...

The Rider's Random Thoughts

Random Thoughts

By:  The Midnight Rider

I got this from Shoalanda Speaks:

We've had some questions about the Midnight Rider. We've been in touch, and he's been under the weather, but is slowly recovering.  

All the best from his many readers who miss him!

  

First I want to thank the readers for asking about me.  I have had an extended illness but am getting better.  This time of the year, we are gathering the cattle from the back 40, which is keeping me busy. 

But, I have had some random thoughts:

-Spring Park.  Recently there was an incident with the roller coaster in the park where some young buckaroos were caught at the top of the ride.  Rumor has it that maybe the situation wasn’t handled correctly by the operator of the roller coaster.  I have to give kudos to Mayor Bubba Underwood for conducting an investigation as well as getting information about the roller coaster to make it a safer ride for the youngins’.

-Inspiration Landing.  Well this is supposed to save the City of Sheffield.  But there is no construction yet.  The developer has closed his office on Montgomery Ave but the first phase was supposed to be going in 2018.  Now I am not a contractor but I have built a barn or two before.  I am not seeing this happening by 2018.  

-Sheffield Police Dept.  Again, it is a revolving door.  The police Department have lost two good officers within a month to Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department.  When is the City Council going to realize what is going on?

Domestic Violence at UNA.  Can you believe that there is Domestic Violence at UNA?  I have news for you, there has been for a long time.  I know for a fact that when I was attending school there that a football player was arrested twice for Domestic Violence but the University decided that they did not want to prosecute.  That says a lot about the University.  

  

That is it for now.  Always remember, the Rider will turn up where you never expect him.  I’ll be around.   

Until next time…..

I am and always will be, the Midnight Rider.

*****

Thanks to the Midnight Rider for stopping by. We hope he makes it around this way again soon. 

His thoughts on Inspiration Landing? We consider them spot on! So far we've not had one of our readers who have inquired about the closing of the local office manage to get an answer from anyone. Interesting? 

Return to Colbert County

The Colbert County School System:

From a reader: 

* System refused to offer Biology (the only state required high school science elective) to students in 2016/17.
* 'Fired' two non-tenured science teachers in Nov. (not at end of semester or year) at Colbert County High (no known cause).
* Pink slipped at least one remaining HS science teacher.
* Hired a Fire Science instructor (from Colbert 911 and EMA) at Cherokee High.

This is not good for students. They and their parents need continuity and to be able to trust the decisions made by this Board. These irrational and capricious decisions should be questioned by any stakeholders and the media. It seems as though they are  driving a bus straight to state takeover.

*****

Colbert County Stills:

We were at first bemused by some of the reactions to a reader's guest editorial on Colbert County Commissioner David Black. While we don't think this is the genesis of the problems many have with him, he has been named as one of three commissioners who voted to allow a former member of the Dawson gang to operate a legal distillery on LaGrange Mountain. 

We're not familiar with the safety issues, but do know that several fire departments spoke against it. We also know that many felt the vote was precipitous since one commissioner was absent from the May 2nd meeting. 

Reader comments welcome.

*****

We'll be having quite a bit more later on hit dogs, but today we wish to mention a fun and entertaining meeting we had several years ago. Political strategist Paul Begala often visited Florence when his parents lived here, and we had the great pleasure to be introduced to him. If you're not familiar with Paul, he was a Clinton advisor and often appeared on CNN and other news outlets. 

(Before you ask, no, we always detested Clinton. Also, we can't imagine how disliking nutcase Roy Moore makes us a "progressive liberal.")

If we were running for state office, we would hire a real PR firm...just a thought. As for those who claim the title political strategist, but can't make a simple post without using vulgarities? Need we formally answer that?

The Parrots of Winter

The Parrots of Winter

A Guest Blog By

Deepfat

Cold, rainy days seem to bring out the parrots. Flocks of 400 birds are common, and those up to 700 are not unheard of. That they can fly at all is probably as remarkable to them as it is to me. Flailing and thrashing to stay aloft, they barely overcome gravity. They are immune to gracefulness, both in their aeronautics and in their natural voice; they screech as they flog the wet air with voices that remind one of nothing more than bad brakes on a pumper truck.

No one can agree on their origin in Pasadena. Some argue that a few pets just escaped and flourished into the flocks, others tell stories of a traveling circus the parrot cart of which wrecked. Some say the Ritz Carlton hotel used to keep an aviary full of them for the entertainment of its winter guests and let them go when the guests got tired of them. The local historians only admit that it’s a mystery.

The green Amazons and African Grays don’t migrate. If you ever saw them fly, you’d understand why. Why they flock and fly in the winter is anyone’s guess. Mine is that the tropical birds must fly to keep warm, and it sounds as though they fly under protest, so I’m sticking with that hypothesis.

California is unlike Alabama in so many ways. One of them is that winter is when California is green. About the time the dogwood and redbuds bloom so conspicuously and gloriously there, California will revert to its tawny, dry norm. The parrots feast on grass and other seeds now, and will be fed by thousands of happy volunteers the rest of the year. So much so, that they seldom flock, but hunker in every neighborhood and silently enjoy the good life.

Non-native as they are, the parrots have assimilated to an urban environment, same as the red-tailed hawks and crows that more elegantly decorate the local skies. Perhaps, out of their natural element, the parrots approach symbiosis with us humans now. If for no other reason than to see their comical attempts at flight, I’m for it.

Thanks to our West Coast corespondent and publicist for this beautiful story. We hope it will be the first of many he sends us.

*****

We've heard that during the storms Thursday night, many of the sirens in Colbert County weren't working. As far as we know, the power remained on over the entire county, but if that had not been the case, the sirens would have been only too necessary. Let's hope Mike Melton and associates have them ready for our usual spring tornado season.

Shoalanda

Sunshine Week

Today is the first day of Sunshine Week, an annual event designed to focus on not just transparency in government, but accountability as well. The emphasis of this year's campaign is local records, particularly those posted online. So how does the Shoals stack up?

If you live in Franklin County, not technically a part of the Shoals, you have absolutely no online access to public records. Neither Franklin nor its county seat of Russellville has an official site where records are available for public consumption. This survey (see link below) did not consider privately funded websites or sites erected by such public entities as fire and police departments.

Looking north to Colbert County, we find a website for the county, but not for the county seat of Tuscumbia. The city of Muscle Shoals does provide a site at which some of its records may be obtained; it is the only municipality within Colbert to do so.

Moving on to Lauderdale County, the availability of online records increases, but is still found to be wanting. For instance, the website connects to one offering court dockets, but once there we find only the most recently completed docket, with no information concerning future trials. Inside Lauderdale, only the county seat of Florence provides a website where any such records may be easily obtained.

Obviously, this area has far to go. I think it's safe to say it won't improve until we call our elected officials accountable and demand an increase in easy access to these public records.


To see how other Alabama counties stack up, check out this year's Sunshine Project from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa: http://chrisrob.com/sunshine

Lauderdale/Colbert Superintendent Races

As with state judges, county Superintendents of Education are elected in Alabama. This year both Lauderdale and Colbert races are hotly contested, each having independent candidates attempting to unseat the incumbents. While Lauderdale County has one city system, Colbert has three, and voters residing within these city systems may freely vote in the county elections. In other words, the system has been broken from day one and is not serving the needs of families living in rural areas.

In Lauderdale, the current superintendent has only a masters degree and has been accused of favoritism. His opponent has even less education and has been accused of riding on his semi-famous father's coat tails. The Colbert election has also garnered wide attention from the voters; rumors rampant on both sides, with the race issue adding fuel to the mix.

In the four local city systems, the practice of appointing superintendents has worked well for some time. These appointed officials are free from much of the political influence that dominates the county offices and serve much longer terms. Continuity in such offices is essential for efficiency.

Each registered voter should research his/her choice thoroughly before voting, but more importantly, the voter should write his/her state congressman and senator requesting a change in the manner of County Superintendent selection. Alabama's children deserve no less.


What's up with this: Responding to a recent question, former Franklin County District Attorney John Pilati is currently residing in Seagoville Federal Prison in Texas and is scheduled for release on March 24, 2011.