Editorial: Buckle up
Gov. Robert Bentley kicked off a statewide initiative Tuesday to encourage the use of seatbelts. We hope he isn’t tilting at windmills. Common sense suggests that the use of seatbelts increases one’s chances of surviving a crash. There have been innumerable tests, studies and scenarios providing overwhelming evidence to support the claim. Yet many motorists continue to drive without buckling up themselves and their passengers. With the notable exception of New Hampshire, every state has a law requiring the use of seatbelts. In most, including Alabama, it’s a primary law, meaning a motorist can be stopped and cited for an infraction; in 17 states, it’s considered a secondary law, allowing for a citation after a motorist has been stopped for another purpose. A ticket won’t break the bank – at least the first one won’t – but in this economy, who has an extra $25 to spare? Yet many motorists continue to drive without strapping themselves and their passengers in.
Editorial: A shaky bet
Tim James, a two-time also-ran for the governor’s seat his father, Fob James, held for three terms, distinguished himself in the 2010 race with a vow to change the state’s driver license exam to English only. It’s America, James would say – learn the language. Despite the popularity of a subsequent oppressive immigration law, James’ “common sense” campaign didn’t gain traction. However, James’ recent remarks on the state budget and the lawmakers who put it together should draw broad support. “There's not much difference between the Alabama politicians and your Greek politicians,” James told the Associated Press. “Same politicians, just different continent. Instead of looking adversity in the eye, just robbing future generations.”
Editorial: Politics as usual
With its dismal 2012 regular session behind it, the Alabama Legislature has shifted its attention to the post-Census mandate to redraw legislative district lines in Alabama. It should be no surprise that lawmakers think this is about them. Of course, it isn’t. The purpose of revisiting district lines every 10 years is to ensure that the people of Alabama are properly represented. Population in a given area is far from static, and often changes significantly over a decade. It may grow or shrink, or shift from one area to another. Legislative districts must change to reflect those differences. Because of the voting rights act, they must also be drawn to ensure appropriate minority representation in our government. In other words, the changes are meant to serve the public.
Editorial: Beautification
Residents don’t need a long memory to recall when the area now home to the Pavilion along U.S. 231 was a large tract of denuded land. It had not always been that way, having once been densely wooded. But long before construction began on the project that would yield one of the city’s largest shopping centers, heavy equipment knocked down all the trees. In this case, everything worked out. But it was troubling, and it highlighted the city’s need for an enhanced tree ordinance.
Editorial: Order in the court
The performance of the Alabama Legislature this session has been dismal, as the body has failed to address any of the chronic problems facing our state, or even mitigate the effect of the problems caused when it passed the nation’s toughest immigration law last year. With two more days before the session ends, there may still be time to shore up the state court system, which faces budget shortfalls that worsen each year.
Column: Mother loved Dothan
Mother’s Day is bittersweet. It conjures up memories of my mother, Althea Selfe, and reminds me that she is no longer here with us. She left this world in a blaze of glory. It was April 2010, a few days before the Azalea-Dogwood Festival. Dothan was already adorned in magnificent colors. Lawns were abloom with red, pink, and purple azaleas in every shade imaginable and accentuated by the brilliant white of bridal wreath and dogwoods ─ all flowering at their peak. It was fitting that mother would leave us at such a time as this. She loved Dothan, but never more so than when the azaleas were in full bloom. Throughout her life, she was an ambassador for Dothan. She would encourage friends, family, and even strangers to visit her beloved city, especially for the Azalea-Dogwood Festival. Wherever she traveled or lived, her love for Dothan went with her.
Editorial: It's about respect
A nursery rhyme tells us that sticks and stones may break our bones, but words will never hurt us. Then again, a popular bumper sticker in the city several years ago reminded us that words hit as hard as a fist. History has shown that the former simply helps prepare youngsters to handle the former, as words do indeed strike palpable blows. That’s a tough lesson learned for a City of Dothan department head whose use of an offensive racial slur – caught on a recording made by a colleague – will have costly repercussions. Tim Stewart, the city’s director of information technology, wasn’t directing the slur at anyone in particular. But that’s not the point. It’s a word that has become taboo in society – unless you’re a rap star, or aspire to be – and is simply not used in polite company. And for a supervisor in any personnel situation to use the word – or any other offensive or inappropriate language – is asking for trouble.
Editorial: Ignore the budget and have a big beer
Alabama needs leaders with the courage to revamp our governing body so that it identifies challenges from afar and prepares for them rather than waiting until the 11th hour to hit it a lick with baling wire and duct tape and hope it holds.
Editorial: Spay/neuter bill must pass
But the future is grim for facilities like Wiregrass Spay/Neuter Alliance, unless the Alabama Legislature passes a measure that’s on the verge of being ignored to death. In a puzzling ruling, the Alabama State Board of Veterinary Examiners said veterinarians are not to work in clinics not owned by a state-license veterinarian. Lawmakers followed by introducing a bill saying veterinarians could work wherever they choose. That measure passed both House and Senate, and has been returned to the House for consideration of changes made in the Senate. What has happened since can only be described as a turf battle. The ASBVE , concerned about what sort of procedures will be done in the spay/neuter clinics, has been working so hard against the spay/neuter bill that, one legislative step shy of becoming law, the bill is languishing in the House of Representatives with no one showing the backbone to bring it to the calendar.
Editorial: Anti-texting law needs autocorrection
The new anti-texting law stops short of addressing the real problem. While prohibiting “the use of a wireless device to write, send, or read a text message, instant message or e-mail while operating a motor vehicle” is a sensible condemnation, Alabama’s new law identifies the menace not as distraction itself, but as a particular object of distraction. In fact, like many of the beneficial measures cobbled together on the floor of the Legislature, the anti-texting law is rendered all but impotent by mitigating language -- in this case, a specific exclusion of the use of global positioning system from the prohibition. Only the dull-witted will admit to texting if confronted by a police officer when they need only utter the initials "GPS."
Editorial Board
Jim Whittum
Publisher
Bill Perkins
Editorial Page Editor
Robert Jesswein
Regional Controller
Whitney McHugh
Content Manager, dothaneagle.com
Steve Baine
Prepress Supervisor
Kelly L. Bexley
Creative Services
Marshall Andrews
Regional Director of Audience Growth
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