Smoking Isn't Welcome Everywhere!

With more people staying home, more people are smoking in their homes. This is not always good, especially if you live in an apartment. From a reader:

I live at Magnolia Gardens here in Florence, Alabama. When I moved here in 2016  residents were allowed to smoke on the outside only.   I’ve never been a smoker and had no real problems with this rule. 

In 2018 HUD implemented a rule stating that no smoking would be allowed in public housing. It also stated that you had to be at least 25 feet from the building to smoke outside. I guote “ A landmark rule that requires all public housing in the U.S. to be smokefree is quickly approaching its July 31 implementation deadline, which will give 2 million public housing residents the ability to breathe easier at home. This rule is an important step in protecting nonsmokers and families from exposure to a serious health hazard where they live. Tenants in an apartment building or other multi-unit housing share the air. Smoking in one unit leads to secondhand exposure for other families and residents in the building.”  https://no-smoke.org/hudruleimplementationjuly31/

Well within the pass four weeks my apartment has been inundated with second hand smoke from smoking tenant(s) inside their apartments. I wake up coughing so bad I can’t sleep at night. They smoke all day and night. I’ve complained on numerous occasions to the property manager, Sarah Willis, about my concerns. She states that tenants can smoke in their apartments and that Magnolia Gardens doesn’t fall under HUD’s rules and that they can do what they want to do. However they posted newly made signs on the doors and bulletin boards about the soon to be implemented no smoking rule.  They have sense taken those signs down.    She further stated that they were a LTD. I looked this up and it is a term mostly used in European countries. It’s the equivalent of a LLC used here in the States. 

Magnolia use federal housing dollars issued by HUD so this statement of them being a LTD makes absolutely no sense to me!  I’m here suffering in my apartment from this smoke and they simply do not care. I’ve never smoked in my life and knowing that this stuff kills is no comforting though. IF the above is true why would HUD allow one Housing Authority to implement this rule and allow another to not implement the rule?  That’s sounds unfair to me!!  My life is just as important too. 

Please any help you can provide would help me and all the other non smoking tenants here. 

Virtual Meetings and the Public

The noon Muscle Shoals School Board meeting on Tuesday will be a virtual affair. Good or bad? A reader has asked:

Are the Muscle Shoals superintendent interviews offered access to the public for viewing, such as a public login to the virtual interview app?

Open Meetings Act. Can the assistant superintendent serve as interim after Lindsey leaves if the Shelter In Place is still in effect?

What is the rush?

How does this fit in with the open meetings act if the public (read: parents), don't have access? Or if there is access, it has not been publicized? 

Other public boards are also conducting business in this manner. A great use of modern technology or a great way to hide personal agendas from the taxpaying public?

No matter who the three Muscle Shoals finalists may be, you can bet none of them will have red hair...

(Just an aside here...rebuttals welcome, but comments that this time of crisis should exclude political commentary are not the most intelligent arguments we've ever encountered.)

Muscle Shoals Parents: Time to Pay Attention!

Attention Muscle Shoals Parents: Do you know what your school board is planning in two days? If you don't, it's time to ask questions.

On Tuesday, the board of education will narrow down a field of seven applicants for superintendent to three finalists. While Muscle Shoals is a smaller system than Limestone County, the latter recently has a short list of five for its similar opening.

We've received quite a bit of mail that the fix is already in. Is that surprising? Didn't you know the game was rigged when Mr. Blake Jarmon was given the bum's rush by this same board?

From a reader: Insiders say Lindsey told the board they are to hire Chadwick Holden so they can move the pawns around in the administrative playground.

Sent from another reader:

This may make the Lauderdale board election look subdued!

Let's Solve the Vent Problem, Not Go to War over It

If you've read this site for any length of time, you know how we feel about the state wasting money on passing and defending anti-abortion laws that will never stand up in court. Our position has always been to take that money and use it to provide better sex and contraceptive education. The induced abortion rate should decline appreciably each year for the next two decades. 

Now, let's turn toward ventilators. There aren't enough, and we've recently seen many who are demanding their family member comes first no matter what. Without commenting on the mental stability of these individuals, isn't it more productive to secure more vents in some realistic manner? No bloodshed required.

Obviously nothing is going to be done overnight, but something can be done in a matter of weeks if our government gets involved in the right way. Here's one of the most hopeful articles we've read on this subject:

Re-Invent

J.C. Penney Gone? Say It Ain't So!

And Then There Were None?

Once upon a time in Florence, there were four real department stores, at least in the downtown area. By "real" we mean those which offered cosmetics and home decor and even furniture. One by one they have gone away for good.

We don't remember much about Belk, or Belk-Hudson as the local store was called. It burned before we even started school. Perhaps it shouldn't be counted since Florence now has a Belk in a mall that's on life support itself.

Quite a few years later, Rogers closed. It was not a chain, at least for most of its retail life...and life goes on.

In 1978, Sears and J.C. Penney moved to the retail mecca that was Regency Square. If you had told anyone in the late '90s that Sears would leave the area, they would have laughed. We hear the few remaining stores will soon close, but that's a post script as far as the Shoals is concerned.

That left only J.C. Penney from this bygone era still viable at the beginning of 2020. Many said it too was on life support, but most had hopes it could rebound. On March 18th, the once popular retailer said it was closing all stores until April 2nd. Now it says all stores, distribution centers, and corporate offices are closed until further notice.

Employees are "furloughed." For the time being, they still have health insurance if they're signed up for it. 

How long is indefinitely? Most healthcare pundits are now saying nothing should reopen until June 1st...if then. The question would seem to be, will these shuttered outlets be able to bounce back?

If any are presumed able to withstand this, J.C. Penney isn't one of them. 

And Jeff Bezos Smiled...

Is Total Lockdown Coming Tomorrow?

Huggy Bear says the word on the street is that the guv will be calling for total lockdown tomorrow. We'll see. 

BTW, is there a pool on which restaurant will go under next? Asking for a friend.

Tis the season for eggs, and Walmart does indeed have them cheap at sixty cents a dozen. That's if you don't require any size above "large." How do the prices stand up against Foodland's?

Today at 3:00 p.m. on Florence Boulevard

Up Crops Foodland's Name Again

Whoever Designed This Puzzle Wasn't Shopping At Foodland

According to the state attorney general's office, there have been price gouging complaints filed in over half of Alabama's counties. In other words, price gouging isn't a very rare event.

Two statements:

1. We support local businesses.

2. We do not support anyone having to pay $3.99 for a dozen eggs that can be purchased at Walmart for $.99.

Is there a conflict in the above statements? If there is, please select option number two. We cannot see why any family, especially one struggling financially at this time, should throw dollars at the owners of Foodland or any other local business just to deny Walmart a sale. Remember that Walmart orders totaling $35.00 are shipping free. It's a win/win situation - cheaper prices and no risk of infection.

You ask how Foodland came into this mix. It was only a few days ago that a Foodland manager apologized for incorrectly pricing chicken. Now we've been sent evidence that the store's $1.99 eggs have risen in price to $3.99. If anyone has a rationale for this other than price gouging, please let us know.

If you are aware of any business taking advantage of consumers during this crisis:

COMPLAINT

Leo Says "Stay Home"