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By Staff
Auto policy need to be examined
Editor:
The law, according to the mayor, says taxpayers are paying for city vehicles to be driven home by our city workers.
Mayor, instead of sending out a memo to our administrator asking for this matter to be taken care of, why don't you have the courtesy to discuss this, since you are the mayor. Or is your job just to attend ribbon cuttings?
In previous years, during John D. Long's term as mayor, all vehicles were left at City Hall. This was before the "Great Computer Age."
Our Street Department workers are out during all kinds of bad weather trying to help out in emergencies. I think it's unfair to ask them to come back into town in the middle of the night in their own vehicle and then go to the shop to get the city truck.
Those people work long and hard hours and overtime is paid only after they work 40 hours. This also applies to the animal shelter and Parks and Recreation. Our building inspector also gets calls during the night for fire emergencies.
The police department should be like any other-park at City Hall and drive their own vehicle. They bring their children to school in city vehicles.
Stopping on the way home for medicine, groceries, or to pick something up from a restaurant is a simple thing. After all, it could save a drive back to town.
What is the big deal about all of this?
If the money was used wisely when you, mayor and council, took office then Hartselle would be in good shape.
You have wasted the taxpayers' money, which is far more than the $3 per day you are griping about.
In two and one-half more years, you will see changes.
Charles L. Austin
Hartselle
Resident disagrees with column
Editor,
I found the commentary by Nick Johnston on Dec. 26, 2002 ("Richardson playing race card") concerning Nolan Richardson, the former coach of Arkansas basketball, to be very interesting.
After reading the commentary, I am still trying to determine why Mr. Johnston would write an article about Mr. Richardson, head of coach of Arkansas, for the people of Hartselle, Alabama.
Do we really care what happened to Mr. Richardson in Arkansas? Or did the fact that this is a race issue cause Mr. Johnston to think we are interested in the situation?
Mr. Johnston was very clear in his article on all the race-related details in the situation: however, some of his conclusions concern me.
Mr. Johnson stated that after being fired, Mr. Richardson, "being black," played the "race card." Is this something that all blacks have that we can use whenever we think we have been treated wrong?
Mr. Johnston said that nowadays, when a black coach gets fired, rumors circulate that the white man is holding down black people. He went on to include all situations of blacks and whites by writing, "In fact, when anything is racially charged at all, it becomes a three-ring circus with Jesse Jackson as the ring master." I am really concerned about this statement. What are his facts? And does Mr. Johnston really want to be associated with this type of thinking and conclusion? Please Mr. Johnston, explain this to your readers.
Mr. Johnston, speaking for and behalf of all chancellors, presidents, and athletic directors at the Division I college level, concluded that all selections of coaches for college teams are fair without regard to race, period. He also acknowledged that black coaches have been complaining about this for years. Mr. Johnston, where are your facts? How can a reporter for a weekly newspaper in Hartselle, Alabama speak with such certainty for so many people and situations on an issue that our society has struggled with for so many years? Mr. Johnston, please explain your views and conclusions to your readers.
I hope I am not misunderstood. I am not supporting Nolan Richardson. Based on what I know from the limited news information, I know Mr. Richardson messed up. I don't think the college needs anything racially to fire Mr. Richardson-his mouth took care of that.
My concern is why and how Mr. Johnston wrote and handled the facts and information in this commentary.
The why, I believe, is because he thought we, the citizens of Hartselle, wanted to read his racial opinions, of which he did not limit to Mr. Nolan Richardson.
Another concern is that even though Mr. Johnston says he is not a racist, on several occasions he used false, negative comments in reference to a race of people in general. I believe this, even though it may not be intended as racism.
After considering this article, I concluded that this type of news reporting is not needed in Hartselle.
Why not write on local issues, such as a commentary on the success of Coach Smith and the Hartselle football team, for starters?
Joe L. Berry
Hartselle
Mayor off base on cable comments
Editor,
As I was reading the Decatur Daily's Dec. 29, 2002 edition, I read an article by our mayor, Clif Knight, which I could not believe.
He wants to ask Charter Communications Company to do something for our citizens of Hartselle that he and our council would not do.
That is to charge you if you use the service. For example, if you use the sports channels then you pay for them. If you don't want the sports channels then you don't pay for them.
That is exactly what the residents of Hartselle wanted on our recycling program. If you use, you pay. If not, you don't pay.
But no-he and the council voted to charge every household whether they use it or not.
I can not believe he would ask anyone to do something for one resident that he and the councilmen would not do.
There is something you can do about the cable-drop it. But we have recycling until our next administration in June 2004.
Ray Clark
Hartselle
Hollywood pushes liberal agenda
Editor,
Once again liberal Hollywood is out in full force and led by the same people-Mike Farrell, Ed Asner, Martin Sheen, and loveable Sean Penn.
Most people, including the above mentioned, wanted the United Nations to send weapons inspectors to Iraq and the U.N. concurred.
These people didn't say anything un-American, but they always came off as arrogant and know-it-alls. With weapons inspectors in Iraq, it still didn't satisfy these celebrities. They're still making a fuss.
Here's a question: Did any of these celebrities console the victim's families of 9-11?
"It's the same cast of characters who always try to appease the enemy," as Claude Rains said in the classic movie "Round Up the Usual Suspects."
Jimmy Robinson
Hartselle