March 14, 2008 02:15 pm
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Letters policy
The News Courier encourages letters to the editor. Submissions should be no more than 400 words and should include a name, address and telephone number for verification. Submissions that do not meet requirements are subject to editing. Send letters by noon on Thursdays to P.O. Box 670, Athens, Ala., 35613, or e-mail to kelly@athensnews-courier.com.
Hog farm bill: no good for Alabama
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it
probably is. If it smells like the feces of 10,000 hogs, it probably is a
corporate owned and ALFA backed hog farm. If ALFA and the corporate backers
of Senate Bill 285 have their way, many residential property owners and soon
to be former family farmers in the state of Alabama may be forced to welcome
all those hogs.
Bill 285 is misleadingly called the “Family Farm Preservation Act.”
No preservation involved, however, because this bill simply immunizes huge
corporate hog farms from nuisance lawsuits. Known in the industry as
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), these big businesses are
nasty operations. Immunity from lawsuits and protecting their money from
regular Alabamians is the gold standard for rogue corporations that NEVER
want to be held accountable for their actions. What does this mean to the
average Alabama property owner? It means that if a CAFO moves into your
area, infects it, and drops the value of your property by 50 percent, you have no
rights against the hog farm for that devaluation. This bill also saves
corporate hog farms from the inconvenience of cleaning up their own messes
and mandates that Alabama taxpayers foot the bills for cleanups.
Everyone should know some things about hog feces. It does not evaporate
into thin air. It does leak into the ground, contaminating the groundwater,
streams, lakes and rivers. ALFA is in favor of you drinking, swimming in,
or fishing in water contaminated by tons of hog feces. I doubt ALFA’s CEO
would want to do so. I’d be willing to guess that if he had a planned CAFO
near his home, ALFA wouldn’t back this hog farm bill. Everyone recalls when
Sen. Trent Lott’s house suffered damage during Hurricane Katrina.
Sen. Lott spent decades attacking trial lawyers and lawsuits, until he
suddenly found himself with an insurance company that did not play fair. He
brought a lawsuit. Senate Bill 285 would not only cause this stink but
also would allow these CAFOs to drive family farmers right out of business.
CAFOs are the Wal-mart’s of the agricultural world. When they arrive, they
drive down the prices of hogs to the point that family hog farmers cannot
compete and lose their farms. One would think that a bill so ironically
titled the “Family Farm Preservation Act” would prevent this. Instead, it
protects that practice. In many states where this has already happened, the
wealthy corporations behind the CAFOs even buy the family farmer’s land for
pennies on the dollar. Everyone should contact our Senators and tell them
we are against the hog farm bill. You can find contact information at http://www.legislature.state.al.us/misc/zipsearch.html
If ALFA cared about the small farmers as much as it did the corporate fat cats that own these cash cow CAFOs, the family farms could be preserved. This bill, however, will make the small Alabama farmer an endangered species. Alabama Family Farm Preservation Act? It sounds like a load of hog feces to me.
Sincerely,
Jeremiah M. Hodges
Athens
Appalled by student with knife story
After reading about the student from Elkmont High School having a knife and the steps the principal took or did not take to discipline the child, I was appalled. Is this principal stupid? Does he not know that it has been this time of year that most of the school killings have taken place? Regardless, of what time of year it is, a rule is a rule. I guess the principal was going to enforce the rule after the child hurt or killed someone. It is more than obvious any child who feels the need to carry a weapon has a problem, so the principal did that child an injustice also. If that child's parents didn't see the need to keep him home and get him mental help then, by all means, the principal should have. I truly hope the grandmother and others do not accept this behavior from our educational leaders. Limestone County does not want schools or help from outside counties, yet they tolerate behavior like this.
Sincerely,
Brenda R. Turner
Athens
Fees on construction should pay for infrastructure
Dear Editor:
At the Feb. 25 council meeting, I discussed the need for special-assessment fees on new subdivision lots and mentioned the city of Madison’s special fees, as I have done since last October.
Councilman Marks responded to me that, to his knowledge, the city of Madison did not have an ordinance applying to the $10,000 per lot fee being charged. Last Monday night, I provided all our city officials with a copy of Madison’s ordinance, effective last October, which their legal department sent me.
I have personally talked with Steve Haraway, the president of the Madison City Council. He told me that $2,000 of the fee is for infrastructure costs and $8,000 will go for their schools. To cover all the costs of multiple inspections of new homes and sites, Madison also charges the builder 1 percent of the sales value of the new home at the time the builder applies to begin construction. Madison, like other cities, has no other sources of revenue to cover the multitude of costs involved with new subdivisions and they feel that current homeowners shouldn't be footing the bill.
Councilman Marks said last October that 1,200 new subdivision lots would be approved in Athens in the near future. At $2,000 per lot fee, and a 1 percent builders’ permit fee, this could easily have generated over $4 million in city revenues for infrastructure costs. If Athens had charged $10,000 per lot like Madison, these 1,200 lots could have provided an additional $9,600,000 in funding for Athens schools.
A combined total of over $13,600,000 in new revenues from these 1,200 lots that did not occur! It could have been a tremendous benefit for Athens’ current homeowners that has been missed! Instead, our current homeowners will have to foot the $13,600,000 bill through rate hikes and higher taxes.
Mr. Haraway further told me that Franklin, Tenn., is building new homes like popcorn. Yet, Franklin has an $8,000 builders’ permit fee plus other charges that add up to about $15,000 before the builder can even start construction of a new home.
Our officials have the Madison ordinance as a model to enact one for Athens. They no longer have any excuse for not pursuing this matter unless they just don’t want to do it. Do we have to replace some of them to get fair treatment for the current homeowners and citizens?
Sincerely,
Quentin D. Anderson Sr.
Athens
Hill does not represent ASHL
Dear Editor:
The News Courier has published several opinion columns and letters to the editor from Jerry Hill, a member of the Alabama Silver-Haired Legislature in which the member criticized the Alabama Legislature and made critical and/or political statements. These columns and letters that address subjects other than subjects to favorably impact the quality of life for seniors, which is the purpose of ASHL, have nothing to do with the Alabama Silver-Haired Legislature and are not related to fulfilling the needs of seniors.
While respecting the right of the author to write letters or columns and the right of The News Courier to publish them, I have attempted to discourage the connection with the Silver-Haired Legislature in what are political and perhaps self-serving writings. After the author rejected my requests out of hand, the governing body of the Alabama Silver-Haired Legislature voted unanimously in January to condemn such writings and the misuse of membership in the Silver-Haired Legislature.
I am writing to advise your readers that Mr. Hill not only does not represent the Alabama Silver-Haired Legislature with his writings, some of his writings do a disservice to the senior citizens who elected him.
The governing body of the Alabama Silver-Haired Legislature joins me in asking that, to the extent of your authority as an editor, you no longer associate the name of the Alabama Silver-Haired Legislature with the writings of Mr. Hill.
Sincerely,
Billy Adams, speaker
Alabama Silver-Haired Legislature
Ardmore
Appointed superintendent works
Dear Editor:
I believe that in 1995, the school board members wronged the voters of Limestone County when, by legislative act, they took away our right to vote on an elected superintendent.
We were not asked if we would allow the superintendent to become an appointed position instead of an elected position. Instead, our right to vote on the issue was stripped away without the courtesy of explaining why the board wanted this change. I believe that the voters would have agreed with the 1995 school board were we asked.
In 1996, I campaigned for the Citizens of Limestone County to vote on this issue. This was before a superintendent had been appointed. I believed then, as I do now, the citizens are capable of making the right decision for our school system. I think the 1995 school board was correct that the Appointed Superintendent is the best way to run our school system. However, they did not allow the people to vote and the position became appointed and a superintendent was hired.
The appointed superintendent is certainly more in tune with being fair to all the schools in this system. This fairness is due to the fact that each board member has a vote on the superintendent’s review and contract.
An appointed superintendent is more accountable to the school board members than an elected superintendent. An elected superintendent can make decisions to get re-elected without regard to the wisdom and judgment of the board members.
The appointed superintendent is accountable immediately to the board members, while the elected superintendent has possibly four years before the voters can hold this person accountable.
The school board appears to be working effectively with the appointed superintendent. Our school system appears to be planning and preparing for the future.
The growth and requirements of the system are being met and the entire school system appears to be growing and prospering.
Money and resources appear to be distributed more fairly now, than ever before.
Let’s move on and not attempt to change something that is working effectively. Voting on this issue now will possibly damage the entire school system.
The voters of Limestone County have removed the 1995 school board and entirely replaced them with new members showing that elected officials are accountable to the people of this great county.
Two wrongs don’t make a right.
Sincerely,
Johnny Hatchett
Ardmore
People have right to vote
Dear Editor:
The issue of the elected superintendent is based on the constitutional right to vote. There is no popularity contest, statistics or personal interest that can take that right away from any citizen of Limestone county. To those board members who have stated the petition has no merit is the same as saying the people who voted for you have no merit!!
Anyone interested in reviewing the petition, please contact me at Lo2i@aol.com.
Sincerely,
Lori Masonia
Athens
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