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My next book on Alabama politics will expound on who I believe have been the top 60 political leaders in Alabama over the past 60 years. More than likely in any political historian’s book George Wallace and Senator Richard Shelby would rank as the top two. The question is, “Who gets the number one spot?” In my book, Senator Shelby trumps Governor Wallace. Maybe not six years ago, but after Shelby’s current reign as Chairman of the United States Senate Appropriations Committee and what he has brought home to Alabama is simply unparal...
These last few weeks have riveted the country’s attention on police brutality. The murder of George Floyd was an atrocity, and unfortunately it’s not the first one. As we have so often in our history, it’s time for America to respond with appropriate and reasonable reform. It’s not time to lose our heads, however. The “defund the police” movement is not the answer. My colleagues Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia, all members of the Congres...
According to the U.S. Census' website, as of June 15, Flomaton ranks dead last in Escambia County (Ala.) in terms of how many people have filled out their 2020 census form and Century's response is a little bit worse. The figures showed 61.4 percent had filled out the forms across the nation; 59.3 percent of residents in Alabama have filled out the forms; 56.6 percent have filled out forms in Escambia County; and 46.6 percent of Flomaton residents have filled out the forms. Looking across the...
We'll give Tommy Tuberville credit for either being a great politician or surrounding himself with people who know about politics. As a football coach he studied the playbook of his opponents and as a candidate for the U.S. Senate he stole the playbook from President Trump and Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey. Trump ran as an outsider who wanted to drain the swamp of career politicians. Tuberville did the same. Gov. Ivey ran her campaign by staying away from the microphone and wouldn't debate her Republican challengers in the primary or her Democratic...
First it was the public health experts whose projections were wrong about COVID-19. They predicted far more spread of the disease, and death from it, than we have actually experienced. They also predicted that those states which opened up before others would have a widespread breakout and a spike of hospitalization, and that hasn’t happened either. Then, on Friday, the unemployment numbers for May were released by the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists predicted that the report would show another 7 million people lost their jobs i...
The U.S. Senate runoff between former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville and former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions was put on hold by the coronavirus. The original primary on March 3 had Tuberville and Sessions in a dead heat. The runoff was scheduled for March 31. However, the pandemic shutdown placed a freeze on everything politically. The runoff is now set for July 14. The epidemic hiatus shutdown began to melt a little around Memorial Day, and it started with a meltdown between President Donald Trump and Jeff Sessions. Trump, our...
Please pause for a moment; take a deep breath and stop whatever you are doing. America is having an anxiety attack. Literally everyone is upset and emotions are fever pitch, and with good reason. After months of questionable quarantine, the nation was already suffering acute cabin fever. Then out of nowhere, a gruesome video of a Minneapolis Police apprehension that went horribly wrong resulting in the callous killing of George Floyd shocked Americans; it was disturbing and heart wrenching. National outrage was immediate and justified;...
Taking down confederate monuments don't change history. Changing the names of colleges doesn't change history. Taking Elmer Fudd's gun away from him won't slow down gun violence. We can't bury the past by taking down signs of the past. I remember when I was in school and really didn't understand why I was taking a history class. We all had them and had to remember all those dates and who did what. More than one teacher told my classmates and me that you study history for several reasons. You...
Too often we are accused of 'sensationalizing' bad news to sell newspapers. Granted, drugs, sex and violence sell more newspapers than other stories, but is that a reflection on us or on you, the reader? We talked to a group once and said we could have a story that General Motors was opening a plant in Escambia County, Ala., and would employ 5,000 people and our rack sales would drop. If we run a story about a preacher abusing a little boy, we'll run out of papers. We try our best to give a balance. This week is a perfect example. In today's...
Another legislation session has passed, and Alabama still has no lottery. Actually, the legislature does not in itself have the authority to pass a state lottery, they can only authorize a ballot initiative to let you vote on a lottery. It takes a constitutional amendment. The lottery would pass in a vote in Alabama simply because Alabamians are tired of their money going out of state to Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee. All our surrounding Southern sister states have lotteries and Alabamians are buying lottery tickets in those...
On Memorial Day, the nation was shocked when a horrific video went viral showing the callous senseless killing of a man on the pavement already in hand cuffs. George Floyd was being arrested for allegedly trying to pass counterfeit money. Video shows Floyd cooperating and after being cuffed, a police officer escorts a calm Floyd to the sidewalk to sit down. Then with an apparent gap in another video, Floyd is suddenly lying on the street next to a squad car with Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on his neck for nearly nine minutes. Floyd ca...
I was a young teenager in the late 1960s, but I remember the riots and violence that occurred around the country, and especially in the large cities. I was concerned that we were headed down that road again with racial violence around the country in the summer of 2016, President Obama’s last year in office. Over the previous several years we had become an extremely divided country, a clear failure of our national leaders. That seemed ironic inasmuch as President Obama’s election eight years earlier was supposed to have ushered in a new gol...
The video of Minnesota Police Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of of George Floyd as he pleaded that he couldn't breathe sparked outrage. It was a disturbing video and the screams for justice came quickly. Chauvin was arrested a few days later and charged with murder. That's how our system works; that's how justice works. But protests quickly turned to violence, looting and vandalism. I cringe every time I see the national news and the networks call these looters and vandals...
We didn't know Trayton Gage Adams. What we know now is the 6-year old Flomaton resident died last Thursday afternoon when a four wheeler turned over with him as a passenger. You didn't have to know Trayton for your heart to sink when you heard the news. He had just completed kindergarten at Flomaton Elementary School. We reached out to Principal George Brown and Trayton's teacher Brittany Brown. They knew him, they knew his smile, they knew his big heart and they knew the hugs he loved to give. “I'm extremely heartbroken,” Mrs. Brown said. Tea...
Over the past four years during my travels and speaking events over the state, the most asked question posed to me has been, “Why in the world is Mike Hubbard not in jail?” It was four years ago in June 2016 that the Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives, Mike Hubbard, was convicted by a jury of his peers in Lee County of a dozen counts of violating the State Ethics Laws. The most inquiring and astonished groups have been Republican laden clubs like Rotarians. They have been very indignant, vocally, about the imbalance of the cri...
Increasingly pathetic and pitiful, Joe Biden’s presidential campaign has become a comical caricature of awkwardness and incompetence, but it’s not all funny. Besides creepy and weird, Biden has a real knack for incredible gaffes. Easily tongue tied, we all remember “We choose truth over facts.” Or, when he tried to quote the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident. All men and women are created, by the, you know, you know the thing.” At 77, Biden may not be as sharp anymore, but he has had a habit and history of...
This year, during the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, Memorial Day provided an even more unique opportunity to reflect upon what makes our nation great and the shared values we hold as a people. Though our celebrations may have been scaled down, the greatness of our country is, in many ways, more apparent in challenging times like these. The struggles we are going through together as a nation are real and impactful. The coronavirus overwhelmingly targets seniors and those with preexisting conditions. As a result, nursing homes and long-term...
I want to start by saying that I love my son, but Lord, is he a talker. He is a normal rambunctious 6-year old, but I dare say he might have a better grasp on the English language than some auctioneers. Now when I say that this boy likes to talk, you’re just going to have to trust me that I have literally walked by his room in the evenings when he should be asleep and heard him talking; not playing with his toys. Nope. Just happy to chatter away in the dark listening to the sound of his own v...
The state of Alabama failed Rufus Evans III and his family. It failed Tyler Dawayne Lisenby and his family. Alabama's mental health agency failed everyone in the community and it fails people everyday. Lisenby is dead and Evans' life will never be the same. The lives of their families and friends will be changed forever. Just months before Evans was arrested for shooting Lisenby to death, Evans' sister filed a mental health petition claiming her brother was mentally ill. A short visit to...
As expected, Monday's Memorial Day event on the front lawn of the Escambia County Courthouse in Brewton was a touching ceremony. To be honest, we were a little surprised to see so many people there as we continue to battle the coronavirus. But most of those attending had lost relatives or friends fighting to give us all the freedoms we enjoy today. Many wore red, white and blue and held small American flags. The joined in singing 'God Bless America' and stood with their hands on their hearts for the 'Star Spangled Banner' and to recite 'The...
Last Friday the House of Representatives took a truly unprecedented step. The Democrat majority voted to change our rules and allow members to vote online in committee action on bills, and to vote by proxy on passage of bills and resolutions. That’s right, members of Congress can now vote from the comfort of our homes and not set a foot in Washington. We no longer have to show up for work, like millions of Americans do every day, even during this pandemic. Article One, Section 5 of the Constitution clearly requires a majority of members to b...
The legendary Speaker of the U.S. House, Sam Rayburn, coined a famous phrase he used often and imparted to young congressmen when they would arrive on Capitol Hill full of vim and vigor. He would sit down with them and invite them to have a bourbon and branch water with him. The old gentleman, who had spent nearly half a century in Congress, after hearing their ambitions of how they were going to change the world, would look them in the eye and say, “You know here in Congress there are 435 prima donnas and they all can’t be lead horses.” Then...
Amid myriad mixed signals about facemasks, incessant sensationalized reporting, and even outright fearmongering, Americans are repeatedly instructed to be afraid. The Chinese corona virus is certainly dangerous, but we are being told this pandemic changes everything. Our way of life is supposedly forever altered. Americans are scolded that going to work or any mundane daily activity could be deadly and surely selfish. Large gatherings may be forever unsafe and prohibited. Our governments are hesitant to relinquish power, slow to reopen our...
I've talked to several people over the past month or so in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some had been in lockdown, others had 'essential' jobs but schedules got moved around. Most all agreed that the pandemic and the state and federal guidelines have gotten us all thrown out of whack in terms of the calendar and routines we had in place. With many churches cancelling services, Sunday didn't seem like Sunday. Those who scheduled to go out to dinner a few nights a week were left at home...
It appears we are slowly creeping back to normalcy in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. More and more things are opening. In-person court hearings such as district court and municipal court have resumed. Libraries are opening their doors and yes, you can go to the probate judge's office and get your boat registration renewed for another year. But all of the openings still come with restrictions. The courthouse is limiting the number of people who can go into an office at one time; the libraries are not only limiting the number of people they are...
