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Publisher's Comments
**** One little jab on the floor of the Alabama Senate got a lot of attention the last day of the session. It seems that two of the betterknown senators- Republican Charles Bishop of Jasper and Democrat Lowell Barron of Fyffe were having a little disagreement over a bill. That is not news, of course. The entire Senate has been virtually shut down this entire session because the Democrats and Republicans couldn't agree on the time of day. Charles Bishop is a bit of a hothead and has been known to call people outside to settle differences. Lowell Barron is the former president pro tem of the Senate and also has a short fuse. He isn't quite the fighter that Bishop is though and usually prefers to do his "getting even" in more subtle ways. Their spat apparently led to Barron calling Bishop an "SOB"- but he didn't use the abbreviation. Bishop said he took offense to his mama being talked about and drilled his fist into the side of Barron's face, knocking him to the floor.
Whatever. Alabama Public TV caught the blow on video and it made state, national and international news. The punch has been replayed countless times over the Internet. I'm sure both of these tough politicians have called folks SOBs and been called SOBs themselves. The fight wasn't so much about the profanity as the differences that have persisted all session long in the Senate. The power-hungry Democrats and Republicans refused to compromise and the state and its citizens suffered from their stubbornness. A lot of good bills died because the Senate didn't do its job. Let's bring the Senators back to Montgomery and let them duke it out to see who gets to run the chamber next session! **** Have you noticed how gasoline prices are bouncing up and down? Just a week or so ago, gas was up over $3 a gallon. As I write this, it has dropped in some places to $2.92 or so. How can prices fluctuate so widely? Something is rotten somewhere and I think it is the multi-billion gasoline companies that stink. **** Did you see the news story about the woman who had been dead in her house for seven years? Her son apparently had not seen or thought about mama for years but suddenly decided to check on her. Neighbors said they hadn't seen her but said she was a recluse and didn't like to be bothered so they left her alone. That would never happen in Jackson or the surrounding communities. Sometimes some of us think our neighbors a little too nosey but for the most part we are a caring, concerned bunch of folks. Even if the woman was a recluse and a little out there, I think if she had lived here someone would have checked on her before seven years went by. Incidents like this should make us glad we live in small towns where people care and look out for one another. **** In case you haven't heard, it is mighty dry. Yards and gardens have just about dried up. Cattle farmers are having a hard time finding any hay to cut. Even loggers- who never, ever want it to rain- agree that we could stand a little. It is hard to believe, but the weathermen say central and north Alabama are in worse shape than we are. Those who keep up with this stuff say this is the worst drought since we started keeping records 100 years ago. Afew years ago when we had a real dry summer, I suggested we needed a little bitty hurricane to bring in some moisture and some folks criticized me harshly for the remark.
I certainly don't want a fullfledged storm or even a medium one but a little rainmaker out of the Gulf would be welcomed right now.
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