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Since Monday, we've been in contact with Escambia County (Ala.) Emergency Management Director David Adams about this possible storm that is brewing off the coast in the Gulf of Mexico. Adams made his first report to the county commission Monday morning. At that time, there were a lot of uncertainties about the low pressure system in Georgia that was making a turn toward the Gulf. Adams basically told the commission that it was too early to tell what the upcoming storm would do but that people needed to keep an eye on it. We talked to Adams...
The United States of America is 243 years old this Independence Day. For almost two and half centuries, this great nation has guaranteed the freedom Americans enjoy and too often take for granted. We are quick to proclaim and celebrate our freedom. We demand it and claim we will even defend it, but exactly what are we demanding these days? What do modern Americans think freedom is? The concept of freedom is immutable; it never changes. In sheer genius, our founders captured the essence of freedom in the Declaration of Independence in one...
For months, Speaker Pelosi and my Democratic friends have denied a crisis on the border exists. Nothing to see here! But the American people, our border agents, video footage, and even the liberal media insisted otherwise and called for action. The public pressure was immense. Now, in a development as stunning as it is sudden, Democrats have dramatically shifted gears, speaking out against the housing of illegal immigrants in detention and the need for immediate action to improve conditions. This comes after Democrats refused for months to...
The 2019 Legislative Session was one of the most controversial yet productive sessions in memory. Governor Kay Ivey’s first Session of the Quadrennial was a roaring success. It’s hard to remember a governor getting everything they wanted since the George Wallace heydays. Wallace in his prime simply controlled the legislature. It was more like an appendage of the governor’s office. Kay Ivey has apparently taken a page from the old Wallace playbook. By the way, that is probably apropos as Kay cut her teeth in Alabama politics working for and l...
You can't erase history by trying to ignore history. Nike folded under pressure from Colin Kaepernik to pull its Fourth of July Air Mike 1 Quick Strike Force tennis shoe off the market. Kaepernik protested because the flag used on the back of the shoe was the one Betsy Ross is credited for designing to represent the 13 colonies that signed the Declaration of Independence, ending England's rule over what would become the United States of America. Kaepernik made a name for himself while in the NFL for kneeling during the national anthem in...
It appears the Escambia County (Ala.) Commission is seriously considering building a new county jail after giving Sheriff Heath Jackson permission to approach Brewton Mayor Yank Lovelace about an option to purchase a city-owned 80-acre tract of land across from Southern Pine Electric Cooperative on Highway 31. I've been hearing the rumblings and rumors about a new county jail for months. Tuesday afternoon was the first time I heard it discussed in a public meeting. The current jail, which also...
For decades after WWII, the Golden State led the country in innovation, prosperity, and progress toward the good life. California set the pace for everything and everyone wanted to go to California. But sadly affluence and apathy allowed absurdity to overtake the culture. The liberal notion that everything that feels good is good took hold because it seemed there were no consequences for overindulgence or decadent destructive behavior. The glitz and glamour of Hollywood and Silicon Valley hid the ugly truth. With over one fifth of America’s h...
State Senator, Jabo Waggoner (R-Vestavia), has been in the Alabama House and Alabama Senate for over 40 years. That is a record in Alabama history and definitely a record of longevity for any Jefferson County legislator in history. Jabo Waggoner has had a significant impact on behalf of the folks in Jefferson County over his stellar career. He has been instrumental in the growth of UAB. In the 1970’s Waggoner sponsored legislation which spearheaded the purchase of 45 blocks in downtown Birmingham for UAB’s expansion. UAB purchased this pro...
Last week the Supreme Court ruled on an important case with significant implications for the future of religious expression in our republic. The case, American Legion v. American Humanist Association, was brought by a nonprofit atheist organization seeking to remove an almost 100-year-old monument in Maryland’s Prince George’s County. The 40-foot granite and cement cross, called the Bladensburg Peace Cross, was built on public land and paid for by local families, businesses and the American Legion in 1925. It has stood in memory of local res...
You can tell presidential politics is heating up, especially among the growing number of Democrats tossing their name into the hat promising this and that – from Bernie Sanders' plan to forgive more than a trillion dollars in student debt and making college free for everyone to the rest of the group that vows to raise the federal minimum wage to at least $15 per hour. I'll give Sanders credit, he doesn't shy away from saying he's a socialist and the United States needs to be a socialistic societ...
Do you remember the song 'Henry the VIII' that was made famous by Herman's Hermits in the mid-1960s? Basically, the song continues to repeat itself over and over again with 'I'm Henry the Eighth I am, Henry the Eighth I am I am, and even tosses in the lyrics the 'second verse, same as the first'. We thought about that song when we decided to write this editorial the week before the Fourth of July. Looking back, something about fireworks safety has filled this space in every issue before the Fourth of July and New Year's Eve since we can...
Decades of bad immigration policies have undermined our laws and led to the worst conditions at our border we’ve ever seen. U.S. Border Patrol agents have apprehended a staggering 56,278 unaccompanied minors this fiscal year. The Department of Health & Human Services, tasked with housing the largest number of children in its history, had 13,200 minors in custody this month, and they warn they will soon run out of funding for the year. Yet Democrats refuse to support funding relief. Even the liberal New York Times Editorial Board has called f...
Some of us who were former legislators, who served our counties in the legislature a long time, were considered by many to always be their legislator. A good many of my former constituents still call me with questions or problems. Some ask me how to get in touch with their congressman or senator about a certain issue so that they can express their opinion. They invariably ask will their letter or email make a difference. My response is, “Yes, it will.” All legislators or congressmen want to know what their constituents are thinking. They gen...
Rough and tumble, partisan politics have always been pointed. Cut throat campaigning and bruising elections are common; and passionate philosophical and policy debates are standard fare for American politics. So fierce competition in politics is expected and actually healthy. Political issues should be intensely deliberated, so ideas can be thoroughly vetted before implementation. Thereby our leaders hopefully come to the correct decision. That political intensity has served America well for most of our history because political opponents...
OK, I get it. Several months ago I published pictures, ran stories and wrote a column and editorial about the illegal dumping at the dumpster behind Flomaton Town Hall. The town's response was to place cameras and begin prosecuting those who dumped illegal stuff in the dumpster. Since that time, the dumpster behind the Tri-City Ledger has been filled with household garbage and other items. About a week ago, I think I got all the remains of a wedding reception dumped in my dumpster. Maybe not eno...
Within hours after Brewton resident William Douglas Smith pleaded guilty Wednesday morning to multiple sex crimes against young boys we began receiving telephone calls questioning why someone who molested so many young boys got off with a 20-year sentence. Most of the people we talked too felt the least he should have received is life, while others said he should be taken out on the front lawn of the courthouse and shot. Smith was scheduled to be tried by a jury Wednesday morning in Brewton on two counts of sexual abuse of a child under the...
For most of the history of our country, it was widely accepted, as I firmly believe now, that life begins at conception, that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image. The thought of prematurely ending a pregnancy was considered in stark, unreconcilable contrast to the principles of our founding of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Support for the rights of the unborn was not a partisan political issue. The taking of an innocent life created by God was wrong and always would be. How times have changed! Since Roe v. W...
The 2019 legislative session is now in the books. As each session is observed, it is apparent that primary, powerful, state senators control the flow and outcome of any and all legislative sessions. Current Alabama State Senators Del Marsh, Jabo Waggoner, Greg Reed, and Arthur Orr wield immense influence. This has been true throughout history. The annals of political history reveal powerful state senators. Some of the most prominent include: Roland Cooper, the “Wily Fox from Wilcox”, Joe Goodwyn of Montgomery, Walter Givhan of Dallas County, Ry...
Despite technological conveniences and innovations, modern society is bizarrely skidding toward moral chaos and civil collapse. Our prosperity enhances, excuses, and even masks our cultural decay. We may enjoy unparalleled creature comforts and be well fed, but more and more Americans are miserable. Instead of advancing the human experience, we are abandoning traditional timeless family values resulting in increased anxiety, depression, discontentment, and general unhappiness. Broken families and absent fathers are certainly large factors, but...
I can't remember how old I was, but I know it was in my elementary school ages when I was riding in a car with my grandfather. We approached a stop sign and he stopped. I guess it was one of those moments for him to teach me a life lesson without me really knowing. That lesson was not only about stopping at the stop sign, but also to make sure the vehicle in the other lane stopped. I can't remember exactly the question he asked, but it went something like asking me why you need to stop at a...
Flomaton Councilman Buster Crapps has repeated the phrase that it is the council's responsibility to look out for the money and it's the mayor's responsibility to manage the employees. He's said it in several different ways, but he's been consistent in saying the mayor has the responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the town and it's the council's responsibility to make sure they have enough money to pay for it. State law and town charters spell out the responsibilities of the mayor and council. Some councils are different and have...
I've seen the Facebook video, I've seen the Facebook posts. I didn't go looking for them, they were forwarded to me about Atmore Mayor Jim Staff killing a raccoon with a shovel. I've seen the photoshopped photos of Staff with a coon skin hat on his head and others that are either poking fun at him or really mad at him for beating the raccoon to death with a shovel. I guess politicians make good targets for social media. I've had several people ask me if Staff would be on my front page today....
We may sound like a broken record, but if you live in Flomaton and you get this issue of the Tri-City Ledger before 1 p.m. today (Thursday), you need to be at town hall. We've written about it, people have talked about it, people have called us about it, but you will hear the ins and outs of a possible Form Based Code being implemented in Flomaton at the 1 p.m. meeting in the council chambers. As we've said before, whether the Flomaton Town Council decides to go in this direction will depend on what the tax-paying citizens of Flomaton tell...
It is fitting that last week, now-former Special Counsel Robert Mueller announced his resignation and return to private life and his shuttering the office of the Special Counsel. Just the day before his announcement, I filed a bill to get some real transparency from those who undertook this costly, wasteful, and pointless investigation and to ensure that something this unnecessary never happens again. I have read the entire Mueller Report cover to cover, and it’s clear to me there was no collusion and no obstruction. Even with access to the f...
After almost two years of intense yet insipid national turmoil, the Special Counsel investigating the 2016 Presidential Election finally completed and submitted their report. Due to previous indictments of several Russians, we knew the Special Counsel believed Russians did attempt to interfere in our political process. Hardly an earth shattering revelation, does anyone doubt the Russians are always meddling in our affairs? Or for that matter, the Chinese? The Iranians? Or any of our enemies? But leftists across politics and throughout the...
