Lauderdale County Schools Lost HOW MUCH Money?

As mentioned in a previous post, the Lauderdale County Board of Education reported a $619,000 decline in its fund balance in 2018. The Board’s 2019 Budget projects another decline of more than $835,000. Unfortunately this projection of increasing losses may itself be overly optimistic. 

Using the Board’s reported expenditures for the first four months of the 2019 Fiscal Year as a basis for projection, the Board’s total expenditures for the year will outstrip projected revenues by $3,500,000 if the current monthly rate of spending continues. If this projection is realized, the decline in fund balance for the year will be over four times greater than expected. 

At that rate the Board’s fund balance will be zero in less than three years. Bottom line? If the Board continues on its current trajectory, the school system will not only have to borrow to build a new vocational school, but it may also have to borrow simply to meet payroll.

Humbly submitted for your consideration by,

Local Murder for Valentine's Day!

Want to send your cross-country sweetie a little something for Valentine's Day? Something straight from the Shoals? It's not too late with Kindle!

First we suggest Love is Murder, a compilation of 30 short stories edited by Sandra Brown. The local part? One of the entries is by the late Beverly Barton from Tuscumbia, and it's set in Florence. Is the local detective out to save the heroine or to make sure she doesn't testify in an important murder case? Send it instantly with Kindle:

Love is Murder

Next on the fiction front is Murder on Lido Drive. Athens author Cassandra Clairage blends two real life Colbert County murders into one in this series opening novella. See if you can detect which ones:

Murder on Lido Drive

Finally in the true crime section, if your dear one wants to learn more about murder in the Shoals, our collection of 13 local murders is just the thing:

Murder in Muscle Shoals

Remember: Nothing says true love like murder!

Lauderdale BOE Seeks Advice from (Survey) Monkey

It hasn't been that long ago that some in the Waterloo area laughed when we mentioned the strong rumors of their school closing. Now fewer and fewer individuals are laughing as the Lauderdale County Board of Education moves closer and closer to a giant consolidation plan that some say can't be stopped. 

First, the Board has asked for input. Here's the link in case you think your opinion will actually sway the powers that be in Lauderdale education:

Lauderdale Education Questionnaire

Second, the Board has announced a series of meetings where the public will hear the basics of whatever it deems to tell them and where they can presumably offer input. Here are the dates:

2/21 - Lauderdale County High School

2/25 - BOE Annex

2/26 - Central High School

3/7 - Brooks High School

Our opinion? No one who blogs here has children in the Lauderdale County system, so any opinions we have are based on wanting the best for the youth of the area in general. What we have now is not working, at least the way that it should. Our children deserve more. Is consolidation the way to achieve that? 

Again, the jury is still out on that question. We solicit comments from all concerned citizens whether they have children in the system or not. No matter anyone's age or social standing, it's human nature to cling to tradition. It's sad not to have a high school that one can follow, yet no one can expect any institution or program to last forever. We advocate keeping an open mind on consolidation...as long as the public isn't blindsided by the school board in its quest to... Hmmm, to save money? Or to something else? 

Who's the Colbert County Leaker?

There's been some intrigue recently in Colbert County. In case you missed it, a story was leaked to Russ Corey at the TimesDaily concerning removing Colbert County from SEDA, the local industrial recruitment board. The tale presented to the media was that Tommy Barnes, a county commission member, had written a formal proposal to be voted on. This wasn't true.

To some, this seemed like a minor distinction, while to others it seemed like a major smear campaign against Mr. Barnes. Would anyone want to lie about the good commissioner? Supposedly, David Black has accused Jimmy Gardiner, and Gardiner has accused Black.

Isn't it nice to know that these guys work so well together?

Have some ideas on the SEDA situation? If you think it should be disbanded or if you think it's the greatest thing since pimple cream, tell us how you feel.

Scraping the Barrel Bottom for Investors?

First, how does one attract investors to a major project? If the economy is right, can't someone like John Elkington merely crook his little finger, as in sending out a prospectus? That didn't seem to work at the Forge or Saddle Creek. 

Now we understand Elkington is bringing investors here...or plans to. That's good, but doesn't this mean these investors are the more choosy kind, the kind who won't simply take Elkington's word that the project will succeed?

Years ago, we heard of a young bride whose husband picked her up at the Muscle Shoals airport, then promptly became lost. As they drove down Second Street, she began to cry. Was this the beautiful Shoals she had been told about?

Then more recently there was the review of that aluminum giant adjacent to Park Place. The writer laughingly told of his family screaming for him to turn around, telling him he had to be lost. There was nothing worthwhile to be found in the immediate area. 

If you were an investor, one known for shrewd but cautious decisions, how would you react? And how will several Sheffield property owners react to being told after all these years that their eyesores are now a major liability? Will they hasten to Sherwin-Williams to buy their redecorating materials or will they drag their feet in court until Elkington says "Enough!"?

From J. Redmon:

Sheffield's prosecutor and municipal judge are wanting more frequent courts. Currently, Sheffield's municipal court clerk is working FULL-TIME for Muscle Shoals as Court Clerk and Magistrate WHILE continuing to work FULL-TIME for Sheffield. Does anyone see a problem IF Sheffield increases the number of times it holds court each month? 

Mexican Flag? Send Us Proof

Returning briefly to the Salvationist Church, a local attorney has contacted us that it's legal for a government to contract with a church to administer a taxpayer funded program. The program itself must be kept entirely separate from any church teaching.

That last statement would seem almost impossible in the case of day/night uses of Salvationist buildings and equipment. We also question if collaborating and co-mingling of funds for a project is quite the same as administering it. It will be interesting to see if the SA/Florence collaboration does bring legal challenges.

We have received two unrelated complaints about the Salvationists, one of which we condone and one of which we initially laughed at, but then reconsidered. The first complaint accused the SA coven of stealing children with DHR's help. 

Consider this: By the time a child is actually taken away from its biological family, the situation has to be extremely bad. We have to believe parental rights should be terminated. If these Salvationists will offer the abused children a permanent home, we feel this is much better than a life of abuse that will turn them into a new generation of criminals.

The second complaint against the Salvation Army? The local church flies the Mexican flag? We at first assumed that it was for some special program or the other, but after asking for details, we were told the female half of the current captain duo is a Mexican national. We believe the woman probably has dual citizenship, but the salient question concerns flying the Mexican flag or displaying it above its U.S. counterpart.

If anyone can back this accusation up, please send us the photos, and we'll publish them. If it should be true, perhaps it's best to remember that these people are always transients who will move to another posting in a relatively short time and that problem will be solved. 

God, Greed, Fraud, Schools, and Taxes

Introduction: Below is a very enlightening essay by The Lauderdale Luminary on the proposed Ag-Center, the county school system, and more. We were curious about the religious makeup of the Ag Board. Here is a list of members and their religious affiliation, if known. If there should be errors, we apologize in advance and will be happy to update the preferences.

Tim Melson - Church of Christ

Lynn Greer - Southern Baptist

Phillip Pettus - Conflicting information; he either "attends" the Church of Christ with his wife or is a member.

Ed Tease - Unknown

Joe Hackworth - Church of Christ (Fringe)

Roger Garner - No preference

Ronnie Lane - Unknown

According to most statistical information, the largest religious group in Lauderdale County is the Southern Baptist Church.

Reflections on the Ag-Center Cabal

Operating under a smokescreen of ambiguity and double-talk, members of the Lauderdale County Ag-Center Authority Board, along with their allies at the Lauderdale County Board of Education and Northwest Shoals Community College, are hell bent on shoving this Ag-Center boondoggle down our throats, despite the sober and reasoned reservations of the citizenry about the need or the market for such a facility. In fact, their obvious and deliberate avoidance of these considerations strongly suggests that the private interests in this project far outweigh any potential public benefit. If the gumshoes at the Times Daily could remember what expository journalism is, perhaps they could shine some light into this dimly lit corner.


From the stories I've read about the Ag-Center project thus far, it would seem that the participation of the Lauderdale County Board of Education in this venture is considered a key factor in its predicted success. According to public statements by school board members, the proposed construction of a new vocational school at the Ag-Center site will require the school system to borrow tens of millions of dollars. I suppose we should all just forget about the fact that this same school board has already chosen to hand over $250,000 of TVA tax funds annually to the Ag-Center "Authority", or that this same school board has allowed its athletic programs throughout the county to rack up over $2,000,000 in red ink, or that this same school board has capriciously wasted over $600,000 just to enlarge its administrative office campus, all while the district's fund balances continue on a steady decline. I suppose we should all just consider ourselves fortunate that we have such a gifted group of financial experts to saddle the Lauderdale County taxpayer will even more debt.


So the school board now intends to borrow tens of million of dollars using a bond issue. So what does it take to borrow money in the bond market? In a word, "disclosure". Full disclosure to be exact. The laws and regulations governing the securities markets require institutional borrowers like the school board to submit very detailed and specific documentation before their debt securities can be sold to investors. The board's most recent audit is a required part of this documentation, so I decided to take a look at this report as issued by the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts.


After a diligent search of the Examiners' report I was struck by one glaring omission. A little background first - financial reporting standards require reporting entities like the board to disclose any significant contingencies as part of their audited financial statements. This means that if the board is aware of a circumstance that could lead to a significant financial consequence, then the board is supposed to disclose this circumstance in its financial statements. So then, the glaring omission of which I speak is that I can find absolute no mention in the board's audited financial statements of the EEOC "equal pay" lawsuit now pending against the board in Federal Court, a case that holds strong potential for a very costly outcome.


Returning now to the disclosure requirements governing the securities markets, I wonder whether the board intends to carry this glaring omission forward from its audited financial statements into its submissions to the bond underwriters. Doing so might be considered willful fraudulent misrepresentation of a material fact by Federal regulators, but I would so love to see this obtuse tribe of troglodytes test those waters.


Now, a question! Why is anyone surprised that Senator Melson wants sectarian religious instruction to be offered in publicly funded facilities? After all, Senator Melson and the majority of members on the Ag-Center Board and the school board are all prominent members of the same Christian sect, as is a plurality of the county's population! All of you short-sighted fans of theocracy out there must be down right orgasmic nowadays.


Yes, our currency does have "In God We Trust" printed on it, and the Founders did indeed invoke the Creator often in our founding documents, but these were admonitions to each citizen to trust in the Creator he understands, rather than trusting in tyrannical kings or governments. This becomes especially clear when one considers another motto also emblazoned on our currency - "Novus Ordo Seclorum" or New Secular Order - neither kings, popes, nor prophets shall rule us! It is tyranny to compel taxes from a public comprised of many beliefs and then use those taxes to promote any particular notion of truth. The presumption of these zealots boggles the mind, does it not?


Humbly submitted for your consideration by,