Bevill Prexy Bumbles & Stutts Stumbles

Bevill State primarily serves six counties, the closest to the Shoals being Marion and Winston. Last year Bevill's president Kim Ennis wanted to close out three vocational programs at the Hamilton campus, stating they didn't have the enrollment to make them worthwhile from a monetary standpoint.

Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow led the successful thrust to reinstate the programs. One would have thought that state senator Larry Stutts would have joined in, but it seems he "had more important fish to fry" as he has stated in connection with other local concerns. 

But simply getting the programs reinstated wasn't the end of the saga. Rep. Morrow discovered that Ennis had used old data to prove her point about low enrollment and antiquated curricula. Morrow and others requested Sen. Larry Stutts' help in gathering the correct information. What did Stutts do?

See What Stutts Did!

If you guessed that Stutts did nothing to help the situation at the Hamilton campus, you would be absolutely correct. That's right. Larry Stutts did nothing to fight the fraudulent report from Ennis. (Ennis has stated the whole thing was a misunderstanding.)

So when the Hamilton area goes to the polls in November, for whom will they be voting? Will they choose Larry Stutts who for whatever reason refused to help the Bevill State Hamilton campus, or Johnny Mack Morrow who went to bat to get their discontinued programs restored? 

Not a tough decision for those voters, is it? How about for the rest of District 6?

Opioid Town Hall Was a Bust?

From a reader who attended the Opioid Town Hall meeting at UNA:

Johnny Mack in one sentence confused methadone with methamphetamine. When a professor from UNA was touting the benefits and need for treatments like methadone & suboxone -- he cut her off and moved the conversation forward avoiding any conversation of the only approved treatment for this epidemic according to SAMHSA. Our illustrious Mental Health commissioner who has no clue what she is doing then acted like she didn't know what options were out there even though Shoals Treatment Center and HealthConnect both received grant money to address this epidemic locally. 

This was a true political event for the people on the stage including the Attorney General who truly believes the only way to treat them is to incarcerate them and basically wants the cops to be the first receivers of funding to deal with this issue. I was floored and disappointed in the lack of ideas to help the situation and only a defensive attitude of those on the stage who think they know how to deal with it.

If you don't know the difference between methadone and methamphetamine you are part of the problem in this epidemic. You can't arrest our way out of it either...we've been doing that since the 70s...

Mental health is the fix because it's a disease and a nurse who worked in a psych ward for a short stint is not qualified to lead this fight.

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ICYMI Story About Our Johnny Mack

Let's hope no one thinks politics in Alabama can't get, pardon the expression, stranger. Because they certainly can. 

Unless you've been living under a rock or bridge, you know that Doc Larry Stutts unseated Roger Bedford in the last state senate race. You also know there's a distinct possibility that he won't be a member of that sometimes less than august body after the next election. That brings us to longtime North Alabama pol Johnny Mack Morrow who will be running for the seat on the (curses...) Democratic ticket.

Perhaps the worst criticism we've heard of Morrow's long political career concerns his habitual blowing off meetings, and an offshoot of this behavior may have led to this relatively under-covered event. On March 6th of this year, Morrow was presiding over an unofficial fact finding public meeting concerning proposed walking trails in Marion county that would run parallel to existing railroad tracks. 

The exact sequence of events may be unclear, but what is clear is that Morrow was already packing up to leave the meeting when former Marion County clerk Odis Garrard rose to speak. Garrard leases part of the land the proposed trail would cross and spoke to oppose the project. When Morrow simply thanked the former clerk for his input, Garrard took umbrage and added that he wouldn't be above stopping the project with guns if necessary.

What would we have done? If we had been Morrow, we hope we would have attempted to defuse the comment and taken a few moments of our time to assure Garrard that no decisions were being made that night. What did Morrow do? He had Garrard arrested for making a terrorist threat. 

Yes, Garrard was carted off to the Hackleburg city jail and allowed to bond out within a few minutes. Three charges were pressed in total, the specific terrorist threat being the only felony. Odis Gerrard was formally indicted ten days ago and will now face a jury trial with Johnny Mack Morrow being the primary witness against him.

Shall we chalk that up to being at least one person who won't support Morrow in his bid to unseat Doc Larry?

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Johnny Mack Morrow's Catch-22/Roundabout it?

Franklin County's Johnny Mack Morrow and Allen Farley of Jefferson County have proposed several new takes on improving prisons in Alabama. One is to clean up gangs and cell phones, ensuring no new prisons are needed. We're not exactly sure how that works. Remove cell phones and excess prisoners are so distraught that they die on the spot? Hmmm, it could work.

But the DOC says aside from some perfunctory sweeps of prisons, cell phones aren't a top priority. It's waiting for new prisons with cell blocking technology to make those little bundles of contraband totally useless. We believe that's called a Catch-22.

Johnny Mack isn't so keen on the current prison commissioner either. He says Commissioner Dunn doesn't have previous corrections experience as required. The state's personnel director says that requirement is "vague." Well, that explains a lot of the people currently working for the state, doesn't it?

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Governor Bentley wants new prisons, and someone in Florence wants a roundabout...somewhere. It turns (pun intended) out that there are actual memes about roundabouts...lots of them. This is for a reason, folks.

Marcel & Johnny Mack Do Ashville/Homan Ethics Complaint

Marcel's at the Grove Park Inn, or was. So was Johnny Mack. Neither Mr. Black nor Mr. Morrow nor any of their 13 other fellow legislators paid for this luxurious vacation; everything was paid for by the Alabama Lenders Association. Was it legal? Apparently so. Was it really ethical? We'll let our readers decide that. For the complete story along with some pics of the Grove Park Inn; here's the link:

Lawmakers Get Free Trip to Lavish Hotel & Spa

For those who caught the parody of this blog's first line:



And speaking of Marcel: Is Marcel Black One of Us?

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We have been asked to clarify an issue presented in the Midnight Rider's last blog. This is something we have addressed before:

Police as Hired Guns

Our main question is the legality of these off-duty officers using Muscle Shoals police cars. Is this wise? Is it legal? Does it open up a legal can of lawsuit worms?

However, we again wish to stress that these officers are all off-duty and not paid by the City of Muscle Shoals to patrol traffic at Highland Park Baptist Church.

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An ethics complaint has been filed against Lauderdale Circuit Court Clerk Missy Homan (Hibbett). While we know the gist of the complaint, we do not yet have a copy of the document. As soon as we do, we will publish more information.

It's Who You Are at CCHS?/Sober Civility?

From a concerned Colbert County parent. The communication has been edited to remove names of minors:

As you may have read in the Times Daily there was some vandalism to the Colbert County High School that was discovered on April 27 . It was a "senior prank, gone bad". There were somewhere in the range of 14-15 seniors that were involved. Of those seniors some had never been in any type of trouble before and one was even the CCHS 2015 Homecoming Queen. These students have been placed in alternative school for the remainder of the year, with ALL senior activities stripped, even walking at graduation. In the Colbert County School Handbook this activity is a Class III offense.

On May 8, there was a fight that occurred between 2 girls from the softball team (Miss CCHS and a sophomore) that had stemmed from several weeks of bullying from teammates (whole different story). One of the 2 girls fighting was 18 while the other was 15. The 15 year olds mother was called immediately to pick her child up, while the senior was allowed to stay at school until 6th period. Mr. Satchel informed the mother of the 15 year old that the punishment would be 15 days alternative school and having to take exams. This is also classified as a Class III in the Colbert County Handbook. On further conversation the 15 day alternative school QUICKLY turned to 5 day suspension without consulting the board members.

On Tuesday, May 12 the mother of the senior posted on her personal facebook page that her daughter would walk at graduation. She would graduate with HONORS, she will keep her crown and IS next in line for Homecoming Queen since the crown has been taken from the former HCQ for the school vandalism. 

 
If you will look at the facebook post of (offender) you will also see that the principle, Mr. Stachel's wife, Mrs. Gail Satchel will be found in the comment section of the post, who is also a superior in the Colbert Count School System.

If both offenses were Class III, why is it ok for each to be punished differently according to WHO you are dealing with?

This parent has presented some interesting questions. We've previously posted similar stories from Florence, Muscle Shoals, and UNA. We personally support strong punishment when it's called for. We do not support favoritism and nepotism. We welcome any replies.

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Some time ago we read a post on a local forum in which a learned gentleman stated the death of Treyvon Martin could have been prevented if he and George Zimmerman had only acted civilly toward each other. We agree.

It seems forensic testimony in the Joel Moyers trial has indicated victim Brandon Hydrick was three times over the limit for intoxication in this state or had at least .24 BAC (well on his way to alcohol poisoning). He knew the shooter Moyers by sight and according to Bronwen Murray often waved as he drove by Moyers' property. A few simple words of greeting would have prevented Hydrick's death. Brandon wasn't being rude; he simply was too drunk to respond to the situation. 

We preach about Spice and other illegal drugs, but compared to the misuse of alcohol, their impact is minuscule. Will this incident teach even one person to drink responsibly? We wouldn't bet one cent on it.

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Johnny Mack Morrow has basically called Phillip Pettus a liar...and this is a surprise to anyone? We only think Morrow should have pursued his claims against Pettus. 

It looks like several other representatives are also irritated with Pettus' behavior. We're wondering if the confabulating rep from Greenhill will be on any committees next year...

Shoalanda

Any Local Pols Take Money from Poarch Creek Gambling Interests?

We're betting (ahem) that most of our readers are psychic enough to know the answer to that question. Here's a rundown of the local state legislators who did:

Johnny Mack Morrow - $15,000.00

...and? Hmmmm, looks like Morrow is the only one from this immediate area. Huntsville is the next closest city with representatives who took Poarch Creek funds to finance their campaign. In fact the great majority of those accepting such contributions are from south of Birmingham.

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We're still waiting for someone to offer any information as to the difference between a lottery and a raffle:

Maybe it's like before abortions were legal, they were termed "D&Cs?" (Note, that was in no way a dig at any woman who had a D&C for legitimate purposes. It was simply an observation on how far our society will go to whitewash anything unpleasant or controversial.)

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Feeling better?!!!





Shoalanda

Ethics Question 3: Roger Bedford, Etal.

Some things in life are taken for granted without much thought from the average Joe or Jane Citizen. Shoalanda herself will admit that she had never thought about today's topic until approximately two weeks ago. Let's start here: What do our state legislators do?

We couldn't find a job description exclusive to Alabama, but we did find an all-inclusive one:

When their legislative body is in session, state legislators create and process bills that will become state law if approved. They also form issue-related committees and subcommittees and debate and read bills and amendments on the legislative floor.

So, is this all? Does four lines cover it?

Most of us know of another role these legislators fill; they assist their constituents with various problems. Certainly Roger Bedford has been known to help a friend out when dispersing state funds. Anything else?

They appear, either for or against, at parole hearings. Is this in their job description? We're using the word "appear," but many will only write the board or call. It is less frequent for them to actually put in an appearance.

Some time ago, Roger Bedford and Johnny Mack Morrow attended a parole hearing for a Franklin County citizen. Also attending was Tammy Irons. Why Tammy? We assume she identified herself as a friend of the inmate's family, but we all know that the board knew who she was.

D.K. has asked us to address this again. We have no idea how ethical or unethical it may be. After considering the issue, it would seem that our legislators should not be allowed to influence the board either for or against unless they had personal knowledge of the case (that's not hearing about it years afterward).

Has anyone ever filed any ethics charges against those who attend and influence such hearings? We don't know, but we do know it would be almost impossible to learn of a phone call to a board member. Perhaps if any contact was required to be registered, it would solve the problem?



Shoalanda

Johnny Mack Morrow & the Alabama Music Hall of Fame

Johnny Mack Morrow & the Alabama Music Hall of Fame

A Guest Commentary By

Hester Saint

Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow, Democrat, Red Bay, asked Shoals businessman Marty Abroms to chair a committee whose purpose will be to keep the Alabama Music Hall of Fame alive and keep its current Colbert County location, according to a story by Russ Corey in the Jan. 4th edition of the "Times Daily." The article continued by stating that "Morrow is adamant about keeping the Alabama Music Hall of Fame open, but he’s concerned about how that’s going to happen" given recent budgeting which cut State funding to museums and other attractions."Morrow asked the mayors of Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Tuscumbia and the chairmen of the Colbert and Lauderdale county commissions to serve on the committee. Tuscumbia Mayor Bill Shoemaker, whose city is home to the hall of fame, was the only county or municipal official who could attend a meeting Wednesday at the Northwest Alabama Council of Local Governments offices to discuss the museum. Also attending were state Sen. Tammy Irons, D-Florence, state Rep. Marcel Black, D-Muscle Shoals, state Rep. Greg Burdine, D-Florence, and NACOLG Executive Director Keith Jones."

Rep. Morrow may, indeed must and certainly should, feel like the chickens have come home to roost. Notorious across NW Alabama for being unresponsive to mailed notifications of meetings of importance to his district, invitations to events affecting his district, unreachable by any of the means given by him to the office of the Clerk of the House for inclusion on the Alabama Legislature website. Johnny Mack must also feel egg from those roosting chickens all over his 'can't catch me' face.

Appropriately, all but Tuscumbia's own Mayor, Bill Shoemaker, played their own trump cards on 'ol Johnny Mack by not attending the meeting he called - in my humble, oft time frustrated to no end at his arrogant approach to representation of his district, opinion. Discussed among myself and others who over the years shared spoken aggravation at his thumb nosing to even the most important events.

Hopefully, Mr. Abroms and the members who now make up the committee to keep the Alabama Music Hall of Fame afloat and housed in its current location will not be discouraged by lack of attendance at Rep. Morrow's called meeting, rather encouraged anyone did.

The matter would likely gain more momentum and support if handled by someone else.

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From Ron Jeffries: For everyone who knew Charlie Ross (Dave Tipps), there will be an informal Wake/Reunion/Celebration of Life for Charlie tomorrow (Saturday) at O' Malley's in Sheffield at 2:00 p.m. All friends and former co-workers are invited.

Shoalanda

Comments welcome. No profanities, vulgarities, or libelous statements...

WVNA/WLAY plus More From Cherokee

WVNA/WLAY Off-The-Air Because Of Rent Dispute

A Guest Commentary By

Steve Wiggins

I was truly surprised to find one morning that WLAY AM-1450 on the dial was off the air. Then I read in the Times-Daily that both ‘lay and WVNA AM-1290 were going to be dark for several weeks.

It so happens that the property owner of the land where both radio stations have their transmitters more than tripled their rent and forced the stations to look elsewhere for a site. So now the owner, URBan Radio Broadcasting, Inc., has engineers from several of their stations across America scrambling to find a suitable transmitter site and secure FCC approval for it. Not an easy task.

Meanwhile ex-landlord Elton Darby, Jr., is keeping silent on why he did what he did. I tried to contact Mr. Darby five times in the past week, but have had no success in getting his side of the story.

I spoke with General Manager Dale Powers at URBan’s Shoals Radio Group in Tuscumbia on July 7th . He told me that Darby’s action took him completely by surprise.

Mr. Powers said that it was his understanding that lease negotiations were settled. Evidently he was mistaken. Mr. powers arrived in The Shoals last November. At that time negotiations between URBan and Mr. Darby had been on going for several months. According to Mr. Powers, Mr. Darby had approached URBan with the desire to sell the broadcasting company the property and towers. URBan decided it was in their best interest to continue leasing the property, and declined the offer. Then, at the end of May, URBan was informed that the rent on the property and towers was going up sharply.

This could not have come at a worse time. Radio stations, particularly AM stations, are having a rough go of things nowadays. Their revenues are dropping faster than a barometer in a hurricane due to a combination of forces. The worldwide economic downturn has curtailed many traditional radio-advertising sources, namely local mom and pop businesses. The second major threat to AM radio is New Media: The World Wide Web in general, and XM/Sirius satellite radio, as well as talk and music from wireless sources like the phone companies. Because of dropping ad sales, stations are trimming expenses wherever they can. And that is the case for WVNA/WLAY. Sometimes cost cutting becomes the decision point between continuing, or pulling the plug on the whole shebang.

So why the debacle? We may never know the whole story. Was Mr. Darby mad because URBan declined his offer? Was he being vindictive because the company wouldn’t pay his asking price? Did he think it was reasonable to give a Broadcaster, who had been at the site since the early 1950’s three days notice before tripling the rent? I wanted to give Mr. Darby the benefit of telling his side of the story, but I couldn’t reach him. Sorry.

This is not a simple story of a landlord-tenant dispute. This story is about the uprooting of two radio stations that have for decades been an institution here in The Shoals. They mean something to us. And when they suddenly go off the air because of a simple money dispute, and without any warning, the residents here suffer an injustice. How much money and power is enough? When is it time to start thinking about a legacy? Mr. Darby’s father, Elton, Sr., founded WVNA. His name will forever be attached to the radio station’s history, for better or worse. I find it quite ironic that the individual who may have set the wheels in motion for the station’s demise, is the son of the man who put it on the air in the first place.

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That was Steve's first guest commentary, and we hope it won't be his last. Since we're continuing to receive numerous guest commentaries concerning Cherokee, we will be publishing one each day in addition to our other regular material.

Here's another great update from C. R.:

Rumors of a Recall

One day after the Cherokee City Council fired the city attorney and part time city clerk, rumors of a recall have surfaced. One local citizen stated "by Monday there will be a petition out to recall the fools on the town council". On a local blog cherokeecobra.blogspot.com a post calls for the citizens to rise up and take back the town. The poster encourages all Cherokee citizens to unite and demand State Senator Rodger Bedford and State Rep Johnny Mack Marrow sponsor a bill that would allow a recall. Currently Alabama law does not allow a recall for a Class 8 Municipalities. The petition would show Sen. Bedford and Rep. Morrow that the people of Cherokee have the majority support of the citizens.

What Will Happen

Becky Watkins was hired as an part time clerk under former Mayor Mignon Willis. Becky Watkins turned in a letter of resignation. Watkins was called back into work after the resignation by city clerk Melinda Malone. While at city hall Watkins hurt herself and is now filing a workers comp claim against the city. Because Watkins was brought back to work after she resigned Mayor Lansdell fired Watkins because she was never rehired by the mayor or city council. Several citizens complained to Mayor Lansdell that the full time city clerk was taking off too much and leaving the city hall closed too often. Mayor Lansdell hired former full time city clerk Marsha Allen in the open part time position.

During the 14 July meeting Steve Glover, Patrica Mason, Mike Malone, and Joe Franks voted to fire the part time clerk Marsha Allen and rehire Councilman Steve Glover's mother-in-law Becky Watkins. Sources at city hall believe the firing of Marsha Allen and rehiring of Councilman Steve Glover's mother-in-law were illegal. Steve Glover should not have voted on the issue because it related to his mother-in-law. Patrica Mason should not have voted because she is related to Marsha Allen's son. The vote was 4-2 and when the two illegal votes are removed the issue would be tied and not passed. Since the vote was illegal, Mayor Lansdell could move to fire Becky Watkins and hire Marsha Allen again. The next few days should be very interesting.

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We've received several inquiries concerning Jimmy Sandlin's abrupt termination of Juvenile Officer John Winston; however, we have no further news on the situation. If any readers have additional info on this or other Sandlin terminations, please forward it to us for publication.


Shoalanda

Masterson v. Morrow: Where Does the Truth Lie?

Photo courtesy of Alfa

Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow has deep roots in Red Bay. Pictured above at his 300 acre Cypress Cove Farm, the former economics instructor at Northwest-Shoals Community College has come under fire this week for misappropriating over 77K of taxpayer dollars for his Franklin County farm. One of four children, Morrow is the only one to remain in Red Bay, where he resides on property that has been in his family for generations. Sources say with the property inherited from his parents and uncle, along came the financial means to keep up the land. So, why would Morrow risk everything for what might be a rather trivial amount to him?

Perhaps he hasn't. Sources say Morrow has taken out an ad in the Red Bay newspaper claiming that accusations by his opponent Jeff Masterson are motivated by more than Masterson's desire for the HD 18 seat; Morrow blames Indian casinos in Mississippi for much of the hubbub over state money spent on his land--land at least partially leased by the Bear Creek Development Authority to use for educational purposes. Besides the annual "Farm Week," local school children are welcome one day each month at Cypress Cove.

Seventy-seven thousand dollars for 16 days a year of education/entertainment at a venue where exhibits from the private sector also regularly set up? There must be something in the water in Montgomery...

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Jeff Masterson's response to Morrow and the Bear Creek Development Authority:

Today the board members of the Bear Creek Development Authority attacked the Masterson Campaign for telling the truth. The board members claim that the Masterson ads “harm the good name not only of BCDA, but also of the teachers...” The Masterson radio ad...does not mention the Bear Creek Development Authority or any teachers. There are absolutely no claims of any wrongdoing on the part of anyone except Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow.

“Iʼm disappointed that the fine members of the authority would try and distort what my campaign has been saying,” said Masterson. “All we have said is the truth, which is that Johnny Mack Morrow has used Community Service grants to build buildings, install an irrigation system and hire a worker for his farm. These expenditures are documented in his own handwriting and none of them are through Bear Creek.

"I once again call on Johnny Mack Morrow to return to the state the over $75,000 of taxpayer money he has misspent,” said Masterson.

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There are new additions at Judge Sandlin's Locker.

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The Shoals Republican Club will host a luncheon featuring Angela Laughlin and Dr. Gerald Freeman, candidates for Alabama Senate District 1. The luncheon will be at Ryan's in Florence at Noon today.

At this time, we are happy to endorse Dr. Gerald Freeman for the Republican nomination. Dr. Freeman has been a local physician for many years and will make a great and much-needed addition to the State Legislature.


Shoalanda

Special Report: Morrow's Documented Expenses

We have just received the following report from Jeff Masterson, Democratic candidate for HD 18, the seat currently held by Johnny Mack Morrow:

Discretionary Fund Expenses Benefiting Johnny Mack Morrow's Cypress Cove Farms

We invite our readers to peruse the records and offer comments.

Shoalanda

Cypress Cove Farms: Morrow's Waterloo?

Johnny Mack Morrow seemed like the proverbial shoo-in for retaining his House seat. There is no Republican opposition in that bastion of Democratic rustics, and Jeff Masterson (pictured) has, until now, been an extremely dark horse. The question is, "Did Morrow actually use (read: steal) over 77K in taxpayer funds to complete various projects on his Cypress Cove Farms?"

A working farm, Cypress Cove is open annually to students in Morrow's district. Each year grade school youngsters come from Haleyville, Hamilton, and all over Franklin County to visit the legislator's Red Bay farm during what the legislator calls "Farm Week." Perhaps a better term would be "Your Tax Dollars at Work Week."

Jeff Masterson is currently a Russellville City Councilman and a relative unknown outside Franklin County--until now. We have to ask just how long Masterson has been sitting on this information and, more importantly, can these accusations be proved? If Morrow has used tax payer dollars for personal gain, there would be more than an ethics violation in Johnny Mack's future. Morrow could possibly be adding the title "convicted felon" to his political resume'.

What if Jeff Masterson can't prove his accusations? In that case, we hope Mr. Morrow, a 20 year veteran of the House, winds up making even more improvements to his farm with money won in a libel suit against his opponent.

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We had planned to endorse Johnny Mack Morrow in the House District 18 race; however, we obviously now feel that until these charges are investigated (and that may not happen until after the primary), HD 18 voters will do well to monitor developments day by day and vote accordingly.

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Don't tell Tim James, but Jeff Masterson's Facebook page has parallel postings in Spanish. Well...he is a Democrat.


Shoalanda

Our New State Song by Bubba Smuckpucker

Our New State Song

A Guest Commentary by

Bubba LeRoy Smuckpucker II

I heard on TV that Alabama is fixing to pick a new state song. At first I heard it was going to be "Stars fell on Alabama" that I'd never heard of, but now I hear it's going to be "Sweet Home Alabama" that everybody's heard of. Great choice, man.

Well, actually I'd rather have "Ala-freakin-bama" but you can't expect our state lawmakers to have that much class. Just last year they voted to up the highschool dropout age to 17, and I need my boy at home to help with the septic tank business, so what can you expect from anybody that's been to college.

But back to the song, I hear Johnny Mack Morrow--he's my cousin Earl Nol's wife's brother-in-law's foot doctor's neighbor (twice removed)--wants to change the words around to cut out some things that are supposed to be offensive. All I got to say is that they should add some more of them. Us in Alabama don't give a rat's ass what anybody across any state lines think of us. Hell, I think we should have left the union when Wallace was gubnor. At least they mention him in the song, along with Watergate, Neil Young, and Jimmy Carter in some versions.

That's what I mean, we can add some more verses and stick it to ol' Obama while we're at it. This would be the best thing that's happened to Alabama since George stood in the schoolhouse door.

Go for it, Johnny Mack. We're all behind you here in Dog Ear, Alabama. We might not read no newspapers. Heck, maybe most of us can't even spell Alabama, but we vote, usually for the same people over and over. That's why we have the most greatest state in the Union.

Thanks for letting me have my say,

Bubba LeRoy Smuckpucker II
Dog Ear, Alabama
Foghorn Junior High Class of 1982


Our series on the murder of Matthew Williams will continue tomorrow.

Shoalanda