The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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Opening morning of turkey season did not disappoint. Even though I never took a shot, I had lots of action. And it’s always great when you can watch a tom strut for an extended period of time. If it were not for a late morning zoom that I had to attend, I would have stayed longer, just trying to get a gobbler a little closer. But I sure am glad my local season finally opened. It seemed like it would never get here. What made it worse was just driving around and seeing all the toms already in t...
The 2026 election season has begun. It is our big election year in Alabama politics. All our Constitutional offices, including Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and State Auditor are up for election. You will also have two seats on the State Supreme Court up for election as well as two seats on the Public Service Commission. In addition, and probably more importantly, all 140 seats in the Alabama State Legislature are up for election and one of our co...
The City of Hoover was founded in 1968 as a suburban bedroom community of the Over the Mountain area. In 57 years, it has grown into one of the most prominent and prosperous cities in the Jefferson/Shelby metro area. It is now the fifth largest city in Alabama in real population following only Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery and its neighbor, Birmingham. About two decades ago, Hoover’s population had grown so significantly that the Census Bureau changed the label of Alabama’s largest met...
April 15 is traditionally known as the deadline to file your tax return. This time last year, Alabama political insiders had marked their calendars as that being the date that our 2026 political season would begin. It was thought that all of the thoroughbred horses would be at the gate to begin their races for the state’s four top political posts by April 15, 2025. Our Republican primary is our election in Alabama. Therefore, the election for Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, and one o...
The partisan complexion of Alabama’s Congressional delegation has changed from six Republicans and one lone Democrat to five Republicans and two Democrats. This change was orchestrated by federal court decree. The federal courts plowed new ground when they ruled that Alabama’s Legislature did not have the right to draw their own congressional lines. The U.S. Supreme Court has adamantly decreed, for the entire duration of U.S. history, that the state legislatures have the omnipotent pol...
Our Alabama Supreme Court is a stellar group. All nine of our Alabama justices are Republicans. They are conservative Republicans and that is not bad. It is actually proper and appropriate given that we are one of the most conservative Republican states in America. Not only are all of the Supreme Court Jurists Republicans, every statewide elected official and constitutional officeholder in Alabama are GOP stalwarts, as well as both of our U.S. Senators. Speaking of which, all of our...
People often say that God won't give you more than you can handle. Are you kidding me?!?! God will give you abundantly more than you can handle so that you will learn to hand it off to the who can …which is God. “Be still, and know that I am God" Psalm 46:10 As long as you think that you got this in your own power and your own ability, with your own strength, As long as you think that you can do it. You are the master of your own ship. You are the captain of your life. You can battle the win...
Last October, I had the privilege of conducting a wedding in our little country church. The groom is a retired U.S. Army corporal. The bride is a direct descendant of Patrick Henry. Born 29 May 1736, Henry is the subject of my column for May. Most Americans, when they think of Patrick Henry, are reminded of his timeless words, “Give me liberty or give me death!” They think of Henry as a great orator but not much else. But an orator’s power to move people wells from the depth of conviction in hi...
May is the month we associate with the holiday, Memorial Day, honoring all who died serving in the Armed Services during U.S. wars, beginning with the Civil War. In 1971, Congress passed into law the Uniform Monday Holiday Act establishing that Memorial Day be commemorated on the last Monday of May of each year. And the red poppy is the flower associated with this holiday. After Flanders Field in Belgium was rutted for years with the tracks of heavy armored tanks and vehicles, red poppies...
The Trial of Jesus: A Historical Look at the Jewish and Roman Trial Proceedings, an honors thesis, written by Vivian Pryor while at Ouachita Baptist University , 17 April 2024, discusses the trial of Jesus by the High Priests, also referred to as a council meaning the Sanhedrin. It is believed that the Sanhedrin was a council of multiple men, most likely members of the Pharisees and the Sadducees who functioned not only in judicial matters but legislative as well. The Pharisees were priests...
This year (2025), America’s most powerful man (Donald Trump) has teamed up with our most brilliant (Elon Musk) to create and administer our new Department Of Government Efficiency. It’s mission is to perform our greatest economic rescue in history—a massive colorectal cleanup that has been decades overdue. These two heroes are hustling full tilt to cast off our bureaucratic slave chains and plug our treasury’s massive hemmorhage to literally SAVE OUR COUNTRY from financial collapse and impendi...
This time of year I try to spend as much time in the turkey woods as possible. Since I speak and write to a lot of hunters, I really do need to be able to tell some stories that are not too far from the past. So, I just think of April and November as the two months that I have to go back to school to do continuing education – to keep my accreditation current- to keep abreast on any new tools and techniques. (That sounds really good. I wonder if I can use that on my wife?) But in all reality, I d...
One of America’s most famous combat correspondents was killed 80 years ago on the island of Ie Shima in Japan. Pulitzer Prize winner Ernie Pyle died when a burst of enemy machine gun struck him in the head. His death was mourned throughout the country, from President Harry Truman to Eleanor Roosevelt to General Eisenhower to the masses of infantrymen Pyle wrote about throughout the war. He was a journalist of the old school, providing the facts from his experience embedded with combat troops and...
Lt. Col John Gibson Hamilton passed away April 14, 2025. He served 34 years in the U.S. Military including six years in the U.S. Marine Corps and 28 years in the U.S. Air Force including a tour in Vietnam. His biographical article was published in the June 2021 issue of the Alabama Gazette....
Edward G. Platt……………..May 2nd Jimmy F. Meacham…………May 5th Linda L. Boyle……………….May 6th Joel A.. Burdette…………….May 6th LaQuiesha Andrews………..May 7th Sandra Dee Lucas………….May 13th Paul Williamson…………….May 14th David L. McFarland………...May 16th Lenora White………………..May 19th Richard Aldridge…………….May 20th Ronald W. Balkom………….May 20th Willie Durham……………….May 22nd Ell White……………………..May 27th Joseph Simon……………… May 29th Jason R. Hughes...
Senior Master Sergeant Sharon Kay Waters served 22 years in the United States Air Force. Her Air Force Specialty Code was Administrative Superintendent for three years and one month and Administrative Technician for 19 years and three months. She received the following decorations, medals, badges, citations and campaign ribbons: Defense Meritorious Service Medal with one Device, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Joint Meritorious Unit Award, Air Force Outstanding Unit Awar...
Chaplain, Major Alexander Palomaria served 32 years in the U.S. military including nine years in the Army and 23 years in the Air Force. His Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) was Chaplain, and he served as a chaplain for 19 years. He received the following decorations, medals, badges, citations and campaign ribbons: Meritorious Service Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award, Air Force Organizational Excellence...
Master Sergeant MSG) Boris Tucker served 35 years in the U.S. military including 12 years on active duty in the U.S. Army and 23 years in the U.S. Army Reserve including four deployments. His Miliary Occupational Specialty (MOS) was (92-A) Automated Logistics Specialist. He received the following medals, decorations, badges, citations and campaign ribbons: Purple Heart, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, with two campaign stars, Armed Forces Reserve Medal with 20 year device silver hourglass, Iraq...
The 908th Flying Fighter Wing held a Family Day at Maxwell Air Force Base on Saturday, April 5, 2025. Personnel with this Wing and their families enjoyed a day filled with games, jumping on inflatable bounce houses, face painting, riding tricycles, videos, vendors such as the American Red Cross and a lunch of freshly grilled hotdogs and hamburgers. The 908th Flying Training Wing is Alabama’s only U. S. Air Force Reserve Wing. It has approximately 1,000 members serving in more than 80 career f...
Given ‘woke’ education from soviet educators who truly believe in ‘Hammer & Sickle’ command economies as our nation embraced the path of transferring wealth to specific interests over the general welfare, most have heard the acronym MFN (Most Favoured Nation) trading status, yet have little education with this unconstitutional power. Fellow Gazette writer Johnny Taylor’s book https://www.google.com/books/edition/Union_at_All_Costs/DopXMQAACAAJ?hl=en is the best I’ve read documenting...
I was going through one of my Dad’s old notebooks the other day and saw where he had saved old articles and poems from the past. There were also some poems and articles that he wrote. Like me, my Dad was a Methodist Pastor in Alabama and the panhandle of Florida as was my grandfather and my great-grandfather too. My Dad died in 1988 at the age of 57, but while he was alive he taught me to regularly reflect on my life and my witness for Christ. I miss him everyday and wish I could hear his v...
I love college football. Or should I say, “I used to love college football.” There was a time not so many years ago that my wife and I would get up on Saturday morning, read our Bibles and then at 0900, we would turn on College Gameday on ESPN and watch college football until we went to bed that night. We would watch it sometimes all day long. I know that I am not alone. I have a friend who is a big “gamer” and loves to play video games. He once asked me about it because he thought it was stu...
C-Span recently featured John Grinspan speaking about the Wide Awakes, a topic covered on the Abbeville Blog and in Chapter Seven of my book, Union At All Costs: From Confederation to Consolidation. As early as 1856, numerous paramilitary clubs were organized in support of the Republican Party. Examples included the Rocky Mountain Clubs, Freedom Clubs, and the notorious Wide Awakes. This organization differed from the previous group of New Yorkers who wore the Wide Awake moniker. The originals...
It has been 3 months since President Trump has entered the White House. In less than 100 days, President Trump and his administration have already identified more than $155 billion in government waste, fraud, and abuse that has gone unchecked for decades. One of the most shocking discoveries to-date has been the corruption within the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under the Biden administration. Thanks to the great work of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the...
