Is There A Defense For Mayor Bobby Irons' Behavior?
A Guest Commentary By
Bailey Quarters
I never lived in Sweetwater, East Florence, or Weeden Heights, so I had no interest in the Sweetwater Reunion other than hoping they had a large turnout. I do live in Florence and it seems that our mayor's visit to the reunion has caused a lot of controversy, at least on Facebook.
Should he have made an attempt to visit with the guest of honor from out of town or only visited with registered voters? It's possible he did attempt to meet Mr. Fisher. Perhaps Larry was away from the venue for a short time and Mr. Irons had to leave. We'll never know unless Mayor Irons chooses to comment on the issue and I doubt that he will.
What if Mayor Bobby Irons ignored the Sweetwater Reunion guest of honor intentionally because he is not a registered voter in Florence? Then we do need a more caring and, yes, thinking chief executive for our city.
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While on the subject of Mayor Irons' behavior, we've seen some comments on "voting them all out." We will go on record here that since all humans make mistakes, we'll venture that Dick Jordan and Sam Pendleton have also--that does not mean they are not the best Florence has to offer. We may not always have agreed with them on some issues, but we've always believed they've placed the interests of Florence first. We doubt that Mayor Irons will comment on his behavior at the Sweetwater Reunion since that would serve to draw more attention to it.
According to some who attended last Saturday's Sweetwater Renunion, Florence Mayor Bobby Irons was in attendance. The problem? It seems guest of honor Larry Fisher didn't meet Mayor Irons during the festivities. It does seem both prudent and hospitable that our mayor would have sought Mr. Fisher out...
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This weekend marks Russellville's annual Watermelon Festival, but if you're planning on going, you may not see Kerry Gilbert and his band. It seems he was bumped in order to make way for Travis Wammack on the lineup. One would think there would be room for both great entertainers.
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According to today's TimesDaily, Christopher Michael Rich's estranged girlfriend and mother of his two children, Hollie Elizabeth Newbury, has now become his "common-law wife." Is this just an error on the part of the TD, or is the prosecution attempting to add an element to its case?
One would think the crime was so heinous that a conviction is a given, but considering some fairly recent verdicts* in Lauderdale and Franklin Counties, perhaps Rich's defense team may be able to find 12 individuals who sympathize with this abuser.
* David Darryl Thompson, Lauderdale County/Mark Anthony Hurley, Franklin County
We've mentioned before that the State of Alabama does not place professional services under its bidding umbrella. Why? Obviously there is more to consider than the bottom financial line in such contracts. It's also obvious that such no-bid provisions can lead to, as many have termed it, "good ol' boy" politics at its worst. Ironically, when Mayor Bobby Irons and the late Councilman Scott Carrier sought to open up the position of Financial Advisor to the city, they were the ones accused of wanting to place their cronies in the job.
The Joe Jolly Co. made the news today when its Shoals representative Johnny Dill announced that local bonds financing the Robert Trent Jones Golf Courses were on schedule to pay off early. The Joe Jolly Co. has been the Financial Advisor to Florence since 1979. It also serves in similar capacities to Muscle Shoals and numerous towns across the valley. Like Florence, these cities do not place their contracts out for bids.
By all accounts the Joe Jolly Co. has served Florence and other cities well, but its exclusive contract bothers many. In other words, the City of Florence cannot use any other brokerage firm but Jolly's, located in Birmingham. Is this troubling?
We don't have the financial expertise to answer that, but we do question how anyone would not find the contract anything but good ol' boyin' at its best. Local Jolly representative Dill is the son-in-law of the late Elton Darby. Interestingly, the Joe Jolly Co. has previously donated large amounts to the campaign of Roger Bedford, another Darby son-in-law.
Looking on the bright side, Mayor Irons favored giving the contract to J. P. Morgan, the company that lost its shirt in the Birmingham Sewer Bond boondoggle. We have Scott Carrier to thank for that not coming to fruition.
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An update on Kiwi's Haven from Renee' Miskell:
Instead of opening the paypal account (which would take too much time that I don't have), I wanted to let you know that the Elgin, Alabama Co-op is allowing donors to call in their credit card numbers. The Elgin Co-op phone number is 256 247 3453. Mention that they want to apply credit to the Jeff & Renee Miskell account. This way we can buy feed, halters, corral panels, medicine, etc.
I have rescued 37 horses, 5 cows, and 3 dogs. Joanne Gutknecht (was my friend) was not feeding them, letting them starve to death; two died. Now I am going to court Aug. 19 on the hearing. Then hopefully the horses can be placed in new foster homes. It's been quite a project! Never a dull moment. Tank got excited by all of the mares, broke 4 wood panels, cut his leg wide open, treating that now. He should be okay. A mare cut her leg, treating that. A gelding cut his leg, treating that. Walking 7 dogs morning and night. Feeding and treating 37 horses with rain rot, cutting manes and tails that were matted. Two horses looked like they had a fifth leg because the tail was so matted and touched the ground. I've made quite a stir in the Arabian horse community, been in the newspaper and on two tv stations. Spent $5000 already. Taking donations.
Really hot...105...grass is drying up. Already feeding our winter hay supply to Joanne's horses.
If you live in Florence, or perhaps just shop frequently in the Lauderdale County seat, some of your tax dollars just made 100 individuals $20K richer. Why?
We're not sure. Mayor Bobby Irons has announced that the city currently has no actual plans to expand the current landfill into the Golf and Country Club property--it just didn't want this wonderful deal to slip through its municipal fingers. We know that Councilman Barry Morris' father-in-law benefited from the sale. Who else received money from the purchase of this stately white elephant?
Surely the city didn't buy the FG&CC in order to ensure more paying customers for its Blackberry Golf Course, now hard pressed to compete with two Robert Trent Jones Golf Courses? In our column yesterday on the small Colbert County town of Cherokee, we mentioned the expression "follow the money." It may not have applied to that comical circus near the Mississippi state line, but we have no doubt it does here.
Now we not only own a luxury golf course and club house, we'll be footing the bill for its upkeep. Located on the edge of the city with little use, how long until vandals discover a new venue for their senseless graffiti and destruction?
We expected better from our council. We're just not sure why.
What's up with this: A reader has informed us that Pasquale's in Muscle Shoals has closed. Indeed, it has. Too bad the city to the south of Florence didn't see fit to bail our this icon.
Scott Morris is the relatively new editor of the TimesDaily. Apparently it hasn't taken Mr. Morris very long to get the feel of local government, at least where Florence is concerned.
Mr. Morris also seems to be an excellent satirist. If you didn't catch his weekly Sunday column, here's the link to the item that had to have made Mayor Bobby Irons' day. There's nothing wrong with a town the size of Florence having a spokesperson. There is something wrong if that office is inaugurated for the purpose of covering up clandestine meetings or general flubs that come with all governmental operations.
Flubs? Well, a difference of $7,000.00 in proposed additional salary for the media czar would fit the bill.
What's up with this: If you've been checking out posts on various media sites, you've seen where a second young man has come forward to state he's been inappropriately touched by Amanda Watkins. Does UNA not offer at least one lecture in its education program outlining the consequences of such actions?
The fountain at the corner of Seminary Street and Mobile Plaza is not what most citizens of Florence would call attractive. Constructed in 1972, the three tiered structure falls under the category of "what were they thinking?" Thinking? Perhaps we give the city fathers entirely too much credit.
By 2002, all three levels of the fountain had been filled in with dirt and the edifice converted to a flower bed. Hester Cope of the Florence Mainstreet Project headed an effort to restore the fountain, an effort made easier by the fact that the fountain's plumbing miraculously still worked. The Mainstreet Project paid off-duty Florence Water Department employees to do any required maintenance and local artists to paint the inside of the fountain with images of water lilies and frogs. Voila--a Florence landmark was saved--or was it?
In 2006, inspections of the cobble stoned plaza found the unique pavement to be crumbling. The repaving project was considered a priority, and a new fountain was among the budget items included in the Mobile Plaza renovation project even though it had been renovated only four years previously.
By 2007, the City of Florence still had not begun renovations to the fountain or the one-block plaza, but had hired the third architect to oversee the job. After paying two Florence architectural firms a retainer, the city finally decided to offer the job to the Birmingham firm of J. K. Terry and Associates. While, Lynn, & Collins and Robert Whitten had already been paid $18,970.00 when Terry was contracted at a cost to the city of $47,500.00, a fee that did not include any physical renovations to the fountain or the plaza. Mayor Bobby Irons called the hiring of the previous Florence architects a matter of miscommunication among city officials. As of today, no actual work has been done on either the surface of Mobile Plaza or the fountain.
Now, according to Florence Councilman Dick Jordan, the city is ready to hire a fourth architect to design an entirely new fountain at the busy city corner. Florence will be paying Andy Brown $17,500.00 for his fountain design, a design that will be highly influenced by the architecture of Wilson Dam.
If the current fountain has any fans, we're not aware of it. The new fountain sounds like a dramatic and much needed asset to the downtown area. We're not sure what the first three architects hired by the city think of the latest version of the project. Perhaps as long as they were paid with taxpayers' money, they smiled all the way to the bank.
Photo by Jim Hannon
What's up with this: Councilman Barry Morris is opposing the $225,000.00 resurfacing project of Mobile Plaza. We're not sure if he is genuinely concerned about the cost or simply wants to keep his opposition record at 100%.
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