Our Opinions
Rotating chairmen
      We've often equated the Clarke County Commission chairman's term to a pregnancy term but often without the same significant results. The five county commissioners rotate the chairmanship among themselves every nine months or so. It hasn't worked and isn't working and, to their credit, commissione...
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Legislative stalemate
      Our hope for a productive legislative session with worthwhile accomplishments for Alabama citizens were not encouraged by the bitter tug-of-war for power that started off immediately in the State Senate. The Alabama Legislature is starting to resemble the U.S. Congress, with all the partisan bicke...
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Missouri miracle
      Stories of missing children usually don't end well. But one from Missouri this week ended very well- twice as well, in fact. A tip about a pickup that matched the description of one used in a kidnapping just days ago led police to a St. Louis suburb apartment where they discovered the 13-year-old,...
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Correction
      I made a huge error last week in personal column remembering great folks we lost in 2006. Grove Hill native and retired Mobile attorney T. Massey Bedsole is still very much with us, I am happy to report. Mark Twain once observed, "The news of my death is greatly exaggerated" when papers of his da...
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Alabama Scene
Senators won't stay hitched
Bob Ingram
      In the halls of the Alabama Legislature there is no worse indictment than to accuse a fellow lawmaker of "not staying hitched." That indictment was being returned against two members of the State Senate in the aftermath of the ugly fight in the election of a new president pro tem of the State Sen...
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Congress Reports
Democrats 'First 100 Hours'
Jo Bonner
      The House Majority last week began its "First 100 Hours" agenda, and under the new House rules enacted by the majority party, much of this legislation will be moved under closed rules, skipping the entire Rules committee process, including hearings, markups, and
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Pictures From The Past
      Jimmy Deas of Prattville emailed this photo from the 1958 Coffeeville High School annual. Can anyone tell us who the boy and girl are? The eye-catching thing about this photo is the price of a Coca Cola in 1958- six cents!
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From Our Files
      100 years ago "The long distance 'phone between Mobile, Birmingham and other points, spoken of here for some time past, promises to reach us soon." "Dr. James J. Cobb, a well known citizen of the county, died at his residence near Clarkesville, Thursday, January 10, aged 79, after an illness of ...
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Inside the Statehouse
Hubbert rules Goat Hill
Steve Flowers
      Last week's organizational session of the Legislature played out with as much drama as expected. A few weeks ago it was an understatement when I suggested to you that it was anybody's guess what the final result of the battle for control of the State Senate would yield. It remained a mystery up unt...
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Paw Paw's turkey hunt
By Linda Garrison Brown
      One of the great passtimes in Fulton, Alabama in 1958 was hunting. Bud Brown- Paw Paw- was one of the town's great enthusiasts and he fully intended to make me one also. I was totally in favor of that plan and as a boy often I awoke many mornings to hear the tap, taptaping on my window before day...
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Gone South
WWJT?
Hardy Jackson
      Why is it, when clipping Southern stuff, I am always drawn to articles on religion? More specifically, why am I drawn to strange things that Southern religion somehow or-other gets drawn into? Articles that leave me wondering, "What would Jesus think about that?
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