Hacked!

Earlier tonight, hackers, who apparently reside in Russia or adjacent country and have a Yandex mail address, gained access to both our Facebook and Twitter accounts. We've secured our Facebook, but not yet Twitter. Therefore, if you see that we've advocated attacking Ft. Knox with a Bowie knife and toothpick, you know it wasn't us.

It's possible our Twitter may be down for some days; however, we don't Tweet every day, so that's no biggie. Do we have any idea how this was accomplished? No, since we haven't visited any odd sites, but it would seem some people in non-English speaking countries have too much time on their hands. 

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Speaking of Tweets, did you see Christi Onocki's Sunday barrage of posts on some of the irregularities at the Chris Martin trial in Colbert County? She took on everyone from Judge Jackie Hatcher to the Quad-Cities Daily. We'll be addressing her charges this week, so stay turned. 

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There are six more days in the regular Alabama Legislature session. Anyone want to bet that there won't be a special session again this year...or will Gov. Ivey decide to have mercy on us citizens and pretend that we aren't 49th to 51th (counting District of Columbia) in almost every category?

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Florence is the 11th largest city in Alabama, so why was it recently voted as being only the 17th best city in which to live in this state? We call foul on this statistic!

The Best Way to Secure Action Against Shoals Area Families Foundation

The little sewing rocker that just won't go away:

Apparently the little sewing rocker that lost its way is still making waves in Shoals area cyberspace. We originally had wanted simply to put a few things in perspective from both sides, but as more information has become available, it does seem that something is not right about Ups N Downs Thrift Store on Veterans Drive in Florence. We do want to stress that we have never met either party to this now resolved dispute, nor do we wish to from what we've seen this past week.

Yes, the charity is registered with the state as we previously mentioned. By the state, we mean the Office of the Secretary of State. Its board is mentioned there; however, we will not publish names of directors since one is a friend of ours and there's nothing that she can do immediately. We will publish the chief contact's name: Willson Jenkins. If you have questions, we suggest you contact Mr. Jenkins, whom we infer was not originally recruited out of the goodness of his heart as our friend was.

Now, some oddities: We've seen it published that the organization is not registered with the IRS. While we haven't found such a registration, we're not prepared to say there's not one. Many of the lists, such as ProPublica, end in 2014 and cover the previous year. Shoals Area Families Foundation was not established until June 2014.

We can say that the organization is not registered with the State Attorney General's office. That registration is needed before it can publicly solicit funds. In other words, if the foundation's founder wants to give a private party to solicit money, that's fine. What she can't do is publicly, as on the Internet, request funds/donations. We have been sent links to GoFundMe pages that are illegal as we understand it. If you're out for blood from this woman, you might want to start with the attorney general's office and go from there. Believe us, it will be quicker than reporting her to the IRS.

It would be good to remember that just because this woman seems to have been born with her foot in her mouth, it doesn't mean that everything she does is illegal. It would appear that she owns half a business not connected to Ups N Downs from which she obviously makes money, as well as being associated with other endeavors.

If anyone has copies of debits/charges on the Ups N Downs card made to liquor stores, as widely reported, please send us copies and we will publish them. Otherwise, we'll assume this is more idle gossip. It would also be good to remember that many, if not most, serve alcohol at charity parties, and this may be the case with Ups N Downs.

Let's hope this offers more effective measures to secure action than a one-day picket...

Chris Hall & Organized Labor

From a reader:

Just wondering:

 (1) Why would the Shoals Area Central Labor Council and the Alabama AFL-CIO in Montgomery be donating money to a local city council candidate?

 (2) What promises to these organizations were made by Mr. Chris Hall?

 (3) Do Mr. Chris Hall's garage door company employees work under a Union Bargaining Agreement?

 (4) Was there an agreement between Mr. Chris Hall and Organized Labor to try to unseat the incumbent Joe Pampinto in exchange for a monetary donation?

 (5) Is it Mr. Chris Hall's plan to allow Union organization of the City employees?

Just what is your plan, Mr. Hall, and why did you take money from these organizations?

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It does seem a fair question. Why would "a city council election garnished (sic) recognition from all across the state?"

Hmmm, spellcheck seems to trip most everyone up from time to time.

During the fall election, Chris Hall was the winner of the only Foghorn Leghorn Award we've ever given. You just had to see his writing to believe it...

Safeplace/Ups N Downs Thrift Store

We had a reader who felt our humorous comment about a certain Muscle Shoals coach did not help the understanding of domestic violence and asked us to do more to make our readers aware of the problem. We feel that most readers are surely aware that it transcends class lines, but since money problems exacerbate the violence, it's obviously found more in homes where there is a lack of ready funds. It's also safe to assume some types of men are more prone to violence than others.

For two or more years we maintained an ad for Safeplace in our sidebar. The ad featured a battered woman. Then a Safeplace representative sent us a new logo...a friendly logo that she said created a more positive image for the entity. Until then, we had two to three readers each week exit our site to the Safeplace page. After the logo change? We watched the spot for months, and it didn't get one hit. We finally took the ad down. It's our opinion that dressing up domestic violence in a tutu doesn't do anyone a service. 

The Waterloo science teacher? We understand more information is forthcoming tomorrow.

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We've received several questions about Ups N Downs Thrift Store. We can say that it is definitely chartered in this state as a non-profit. It was registered June 19, 2014.

Some are suggesting the charity is not all it claims. If any of our readers have specific information, contacting Mayor Holt to investigate is not going to help, as we're sure he'll tell you. That's like the old joke about entering a hardware store to order a Moon Pie and RC. What some readers are suggesting is the commission of a felony; therefore you need to contact the Lauderdale County District Attorney's office. That office is the only government organization that can bring charges in such cases, unless you want to bypass them and go to the Alabama attorney general who will probably send you right back to the DA's office. 

Some time ago we had a young man, a college student, contact us. It seems he had gotten behind with his bills and Ups N Downs was going to pay $50.00 toward his utilities if he would work four hours doing warehouse work for the Veterans Drive store. 

At that time we told him that seemed fair. We're rethinking this, at least slightly. Items sold in the store are donated, yet the owner has to pay utilities, rent, etc. What do you think, readers? Is this a fair exchange or not?

The Sewing Rocker & the Facebook Storm

In case you're among the 1% of Shoals residents who haven't heard the tale of the sewing rocker, we're presenting it here, and drawing three conclusions from this sad debacle:

There was a lovely lady who had a son who had an infant daughter. We're going to call the lady Jane and the infant Big Baby.

Jane had a sewing rocker that, while it didn't have great monetary value, had quite a bit of sentimental value. She stated that when the time came, she wanted Big Baby to have it. Sadly, Jane suddenly departed this life without putting any of this in writing.

Big Baby's mother told family members that the rocker was to go to her. We'll call Big Baby's mother Lexie. According to Facebook, Lexie was the fiancee' of Jane's son, but she called Jane her mother-in-law. Confused yet?

Now we come to an unknown relative whom we'll simply call X. Even though Lexie has identified others in this situation, she has not identified X. It seems X donated a great deal of Jane's estate to a local thrift store. Did X have that right? We don't know. X could have been executor of the estate or simply a relative who came in and took charge.

At some point, Lexie realized that X had donated Big Baby's sewing rocker to the thrift store along with other items. Lexie immediately called the store owner whom we'll denote as Tess.

In fairness to Tess, she runs a large charity shop and hears all sorts of tales every day in order to scam her out of the stock she sells for charity; however, Lexie had a photo of Big Baby in the rocker which she showed Tess. Tess still refused to relinquish the sewing rocker, and strong language was used on both sides. At last report, the sewing rocker remains in the thrift store.

Now some conclusions:

1. If you want a family member or friend to have a particular item when you're gone, put it in writing. It's entirely possible X didn't like Lexie and without proof, didn't believe her. We can't stress too strongly that last wishes should be put in writing and given to a trusted friend to hold until the time comes.
2. It's possible that Tess had looked at Lexie's FB page and was unsure of all the relationships. If Lexie identified Jane's son as only a fiance', but called Jane a mother-in-law, Tess may have thought she was being scammed. The moral is to update your FB page if it needs updating.
3. There is a simple way to get the sewing rocker back. Lexie needs to file a police report stating that X stole the chair. The rocker may be in police custody for a while, but if Lexie has enough witnesses that the sewing rocker was to go to Big Baby, she should get it back to hold for her daughter.

We'll add that if we were Tess, we would have given it back even if we thought Lexie's story was a little dodgy. It does make for good will in the community.

To Lexie we're going to say that as you get older you'll lose precious items through theft, fire, water damage, moves, etc. You'll come to realize that the items aren't important in themselves. As long as you hold Jane in your heart, you don't need a mass produced sewing rocker to remind you of her.

"DOES YOU SMELL WHAT THE MUSCLE SHOALS CITY COUNCIL IS COOKING?"

From a reader: 

"DOES YOU SMELL WHAT THE MUSCLE SHOALS CITY COUNCIL IS COOKING?"

On February 20, 2017, the MS City Council interviewed and selected 2 members to serve on the MS Electric Board. According to 1 councilman I spoke with, there were 20+ applicants for these 2 positions. However, they only interviewed 7 candidates. Now, two open positions, 20 applicants and you only interview 7 people? Was there a female or minority that applied and (was) passed over? Seems a little fishy to me, but now we know why.

Go forward a couple of weeks and this same City Council votes to prohibit a citizen from serving more than 2 terms AND prohibited a city employee from serving on a Board. Term limits and city employee disqualification, yes, HOWEVER, on 2/20/17 the City Council knowing they were soon to adopt those rules UNANIMOUSLY reappointed a city employee (for a 3 term) and another 3+ term Board member to the MS Electric Board. Intentional act = political agenda? YOU DECIDE.

According to Council President Allen Noles, the term limit and employee board disqualification will allow more MS residents to become involved in City Government. So, the Council really only interviewed 5 citizens who had not served on a Board. The MS City Council had the opportunity to appoint two new members/non-employees to the Electric Board which would be in accordance with the policy they held on approving till the deed was done. They knew all the while they were going to reappoint the status quo. Why waste time on all those others? Political agenda? YOU DECIDE.

So, what exactly are your intentions Mr. Chris Hall, Mr. Neil Willis, Mr. Mike Lockhart, Mr. Ken Sockwell, Mr. Allen Noles? Are you really concerned about limiting terms on ALL board members and disqualifying ALL city employees from serving on Boards? Any of you care to answer, or is this yet another smoke and mirror political game? We don’t expect any of you to say or do anything other than evade and misrepresent the people and employees. We would like to know why city employees that are residents of MS and taxpayers cannot serve on the Electric, Water, Gas, and School Boards that have nothing to do with the city. From what we understand they are individually incorporated.

Congratulations, you have set us back to the good ole boy political system of the 70’s. Call our friend, Crazy Billy, and he’ll make ‘em pay once again…

Yes, WE DO SMELL WHAT THE CITY COUNCIL IS COOKING and it smells pretty much like that stench coming out of the treatment plant on a daily basis.

WHERE IS JOE PAMPINTO WHEN WE NEED HIM!!!

Enjoy your 4 years, Mr. Hall.
 

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Another Muscle Shoals reader has informed us that a parent or parents of one of the five suspended drunken baseball players complained to school officials about the ban on attending prom. We're told school officials relented and allowed them to go on the condition that they take ugly dates. 

Any of our readers ever see Dogfight?

Will Tommy Die in 22 Days?

We're sure many out there think Thomas Dale Arthur won't die on May 25th. He's escaped the chair and needle seven times so far. While we don't bet as a rule, if we had to, we'd bet he goes to his reward this time. Why?

Was This Really Tommy?

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied hearing his latest appeal and his attorney Suhana Han filed a request for new DNA testing that was denied by Gov. Ivey. Previous testing found no DNA present in the wig Arthur allegedly wore when he killed Troy Wicker. So is this the best Han has? If so, there would appear to be little left legally for Tommy to cling to.

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Conflict of interest? It seems to be everywhere. We've just had a reader ask us how Butch Whitehead can be the electrical inspector for the City of Muscle Shoals and also serve a paid position on the Muscle Shoals Electric Board. 

Is this a conflict of interest? We welcome reader comments.