Karaoke with Cole Smith (and a Touch of Rape?)

Monday night was "Karaoke with Cole Smith" night at the 72 Roadhouse in Rogersville. We have no idea who Cole Smith is, but we can positively say what happened there did nothing to enhance his career. Now the roadhouse is shut down; will it reopen?

Rape at 72 Roadhouse?

That may depend on what did happen there. Was it only attempted rape or did the manager succeed in his alleged attack? Is alleged the operative word; forensics will soon prove if this unfortunate young employee was actually drugged and raped, simply drugged, or neither? 

In the interim, the owner(s) will have lost revenue and may never be able to regain the lost patrons. At best...the very best...there were some unfortunate hiring decisions made here.

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If you're 17 and wish to enter the military, you need to be able to run two miles in 17 minutes. If you're older and wish to be Sheffield's next police chief, you need to be able to run 1.5 miles in 15 minutes. How many excellent law enforcement personnel does that preclude? Anyone think the fix was in?

No matter, most in the Sheffield City Council saw through that and didn't want Ricky Terry (yes, he's not a favorite in several communities, and we're not talking criminal). Let's hope a second round of picks will work out better.

Kitts Said (Insert Euphemism)

Did you ever leave a job to pursue other interests? Or perhaps you left to pursue other opportunities? What does that mean exactly? Hmmm, let's see: Sacked, canned, fired, dumped, given the boot, phased out - you get the idea. If you don't get it, here's a great article that explains it very well:

A Euphemism for Firing

So how was David Shields' resignation announced? From the FlorAla:

Shields Resigns

UNA prexy Kenneth Kitts didn't have too much to say, did he? Kittsy has more sacks to his credit than most SEC defensive linemen. 

"Break Me off a Piece of That Kit Kat..."

Perhaps we should start a pool on who will be next? Mark Linder or Leo?

We're going with Linder. Leo can bite back.

How Loud Is Loud?

Noise ordinances are worded in several different ways, from defining decibels to distances. In most cases, sound ordinances that are easily enforceable speak of noise that could be considered unreasonable. Obviously, very little noise coming from a bar could be designated as unreasonable. 

However, this point in Florence may be moot if several of our readers are correct. They've informed us that the FloBama and the Stricklin Hotel have reached an amicable resolution to their differences. Let's hope that's the case.

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On the local education front, David Shields is now gone from UNA. Why? More personality clashes? One of the results of the Jane Doe lawsuit fiasco?

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Meanwhile in Muscle Shoals, an election is fast approaching. Does anyone think the additional property tax will be approved? Does anyone actually believe that Supt. Brian Lindsey either knows or cares how to use the taxpayer funding he currently has? We're predicting a huge "No" victory.

Before anyone can say "for the children," is there someone out there who can tell us one thing in the Muscle Shoals school system that is currently substandard? That's not counting administrators, of course.

Priority for New Muscle Shoals School?

From a Muscle Shoals resident:

Steve Hargrove Leaves Sheffield BOE

Not only has Keith Lankford left the Sheffield school system where he was superintendent, board member Steve Hargrove has also reportedly resigned. This may be old news to some who are in the know - it happened in June. Yet, there have been no public announcements about Hargrove's resignation. 

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The Muscle Shoals school board says that the only reason anyone moves to that Colbert County city is the quality of education. Really? Surely the city has other alluring attributes? 

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Dr. Jimmy Shaw

It's a good time to ask if Muscle Shoals does have a better quality of education than the other three major systems in the Shoals. Depending upon the criteria, the Florence City School System comes out first in many surveys. Florence also has much less drama and political machinations than Muscle Shoals while offering a more rounded education. Surely that counts for something? Thank you, Dr. Jimmy Shaw!

Needy or Greedy?/Private Security

From Stop the Home Tax:

Mr. Thompson as a resident and a parent with a child in our school system you are wrong for saying that the “anti” side is against the future of our children. I am embarrassed for you that you use such tactics as to say that. I want nothing but the best for my child and every other child. I want the best education that our money can Afford! You want us to be aware of the future of our children when you as a BOE member hasn’t planned for the future of our school system. I’m sorry this this has become such a hate thing between 2 sides, because I’m not that kind of person.

Being proud of the our school is what WE are all about. I would love to see all the schools have new facilities. What I have a problem with is how so much money is spent in certain areas instead of equal distribution and planning ahead. You can’t argue that the school system receives a nice amount of money already, over $30 million a year. This does not include fundraisers and monies the education foundation raises. When there is such a need for new buildings why are you not planning ahead and looking into the future way before now. You talk about the future but why has the BOE not taken action before now!! It’s so demanding that you all of a sudden need money now and you couldn’t see this coming several years ago. You have been on this BOE for many years and you want people to jump up and give money when planning is the key to the future. Just as these children are a key to the future. 

You want to make it sound like 67% is an invalid number. Yes, that’s a big number to stare at and $4.17 is a small number to stare at. And sure “your side” will show as small of a number as possible to make them think it’s not much. When you raise 7.5 to 12.5 (millage) then that is a 67% increase no matter how you figure the math.

I don’t know where you get your number but the average homeowner will not be giving $4.17 a month. You need to research better and maybe see Tommy Oswalt at the Colbert County Rev. office. The property taxes have just increased significantly and you didn’t factor that in. You also are assuming an average and you're way off base. It is fair to say the lower your property value is the less you will pay, but the higher your property value is the higher you will be paying. Your $4.17 is inaccurate in so many ways.

I’ve talked to many more folks than you, I promise! I’ve given out over 260 yard signs and I have 200 more wanting them. As I deliver them I get to hear their story.

You know it seems to me that better solutions are available. It’s sad to see that a small city as ours can’t come to an agreement on this instead of this stuff that’s happening. We should all be spreading the Love.

Come on Mr. Thompson, you're better than this, we all love our community and the school system, don’t make us look like haters!

As Mr. Richard Riley said, a former respected teacher of the Muscle Shoals School System, “No one is opposed to adequately funding our schools but there is a big difference between the needy and the greedy.”

Leigh Ann Hunter

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Over the years I've had occasion to work for several private security companies. There are a few facts about private security worth noting:

* Private security officers ARE NOT law enforcement officers.

* Private security officers DO NOT have arrest powers, neither can they forcibly restrain any one. This is to shield the security company from lawsuits.

* Private security officers have NO LEGAL OBLIGATION to intervene in any incident. Rather, they are trained to OBSERVE AND REPORT. This is to shield the security company from lawsuits.

* Private security officers have minimal training, UNLESS they are employed by a FEDERAL agency, such as TVA. The minimal training supports the private security companies' objective of being a 'witness', rather than a 'deterrent'.

* Private security officers are very often underpaid, have NO meaningful benefits, and as a result, the industry suffers a very high turnover rate. Security companies will charge $25-35/hr for their services, yet the security officers on the site may make no more than $8-10/hr. So: If $28,000/yr is being requested to hire a PRIVATE security company officer, the security officer will only 'see' $15,000-18,000 of that money. The private security company will pocket the rest.

* Lastly, private security companies secure contracts by UNDERBIDDING their competition. In other words, a site (Your child's school?) is 'protected' by the LOWEST BIDDER for the contract.

We Heard Us Some Sounds, It Was a Honky Tonk Lounge

We sincerely hope that we can stop laughing long enough to compose this blog. Let's begin at the beginning...



Florence, being a happenin' kind of a place (insert Steve Martin sketch here), wants to be many things to many people. Specifically, our lovely town wants to have a downtown entertainment district, so we have places like On the Rocks and Flo-Bama. You know Flo-Bama - it's why you can't find a parking place near Fred's when you get off work. 

But it's here; it's been here for quite some time. We haven't heard of any muggings, brawls, or honey trap schemes, so if you don't like it, just don't go there. Pretty simple, isn't it? 

On the other side of the social coin are boutique hotels. Florence now has two - the Gunrunner and the new Stricklin. Our personal opinion is the jet set doesn't want to come to Florence and even the most urbane business travelers are on a budget, so they won't be staying at any boutique hotels while visiting here. Sure, there will be some visitors, even some locals on a special night, but enough patrons to keep two such establishments in business? We'll see.

Now, if you aren't familiar with Florence, the Flo-Bama is located adjacent to the Stricklin Building where the new hotel is located on the upper floors. Sounds from this honky tonk lounge probably don't bother diners at Big Bad Breakfast, but they do irritate hotel patrons who wish to sleep at night. Who saw that coming?

Now the owners of the Stricklin have filed suit against Flo-Bama...and the City of Florence for not enforcing the noise ordinance. Remember, the Flo-Bama may be a dive but it's been there since 2010. The Stricklin opened just this past month. Perhaps we should mention here that the hotel has its own bar, the Boiler Room. Yes, they actually named it that. Florence obviously needs a seminar on naming businesses. We're expecting the Bloody Bucket to arrive shortly.

Now, gentle readers, if we open a store on Shetland Island selling air conditioning units, will you feel sorry for us when we fail? What? You're not answering that question? Oh...you're too busy laughing at the owners of the Stricklin Hotel.