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  • ENDREW F. V DOUGLAS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT?

    Ron Holtsford|Apr 1, 2017

    While states are able to receive Federal funds under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act, the State(s) must provide each eligible child with a free appropriate public education and each child under that program must have an individualized education program (IEP). Based on prior case law the education plan for the child must enable the child to make passing marks with appropriate progress and advance from grade to grade. The language was not confined to a single test. Endrew F. is a...

  • Dangerous Mindset

    Marcia Chambliss|Apr 1, 2017

    Beyond my belief that our Constitution as our nation’s founding document limits by design the power and scope of the federal government for the protection of its citizens from tyrannical administrations, I also believe that it protects us from a dangerous mindset. Dependency. As a parent, one of my goals was to ensure that my son grew up with whatever opportunity I could afford him in order for him to have the skills set and ability to care for himself and his future family, completely i...

  • Installing Steven 'Crash' Leath as AU's 19th President

    John Sophocleus|Apr 1, 2017

    I recently witnessed the installation ceremony of Steven ‘Crash’ Leath as AU’s 19th President at the University Ballroom March 20th; with considerably less ‘pomp & circumstance’ and significantly more transparency I participated in the election of Josh Tuttle as Chair of Alabama’s LP February 25th. AU’s BoT unanimously selected Leath after a six-month national ‘search’ which provided little on how it was conducted. Last year our Lee County Commission Chair correctly misspoke affirming somethi...

  • Inside the Statehouse

    Steve Flowers|Apr 1, 2017

    Lots of folks are still mad about our lame duck governor Robert Bentley naming Attorney General Luther Strange to Jeff Sessions Senate seat. If the sitting attorney general of a state openly states that he is investigating the governor for misfeasance and then that governor appoints that attorney general to the senate seat it looks funny. It gives new meaning to the word collusion. This brazen move has incensed legislators who have heard from their constituents back home. It has especially...

  • CHECKMATE

    John Martin|Apr 1, 2017

    In 1966, Ray McKinley Dunwoody Jr. was a USAF chief master sergeant stationed in Roswell, New Mexico. During this time a friend of his, a retiring master sergeant, held a small party with a number of his friends and associates, including Ray. During a casual conversation, Ray mentioned chess. His friend eagerly announced that he was a member of the local chess club and held a high ranking. He then asked Ray about his chess experience. Ray told him that he only played once in a while, was just...

  • LIBERAL LUNACY

    Chris Beeker Jr|Apr 1, 2017

    “Male and female he created them ….” (Genesis 5:2) With those six simple words the Bible gives us all the information we need regarding the genders God created. People are born either male or female; there are no other options. But liberals disagree. According to Merriam-Webster, one definition of the word lunacy is “wild foolishness” or “extravagant folly.” In an incredible demonstration of liberal lunacy, the politically correct secularists among us have decided that there are now four gend...

  • "HE IS ALIVE!"

    Trisston Wright Burrows|Apr 1, 2017

    What a thrill to KNOW that my Redeemer lives! Jesus Christ is just as alive today as He was right after the resurrection. In fact, He is just as much alive today as He was before the crucifixion…and even before He came to earth and was laid in the manger. “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.” Job 19:25 What difference does it make whether we serve a living God? Isn’t it just a practice we believe in? Absolutely not! A living God knows right where you...

  • CRY WOLF

    Robert Tate|Mar 1, 2017

    I am not sure what they are teaching in college these days but I am sure in many cases it is not honor, integrity, critical thinking, wisdom and common sense. I came across this article the other day titled, “The Writing Center at the University of Washington is telling students that expecting Americans to use proper grammar perpetuates racism.” Wha-what??!! I am not even sure where to go with this. But here goes. The writing center is willing to argue that “there is no inherent ‘stan...

  • A FUNERAL AND A WEDDING

    Ron Holtsford|Mar 1, 2017

    Not to be confused with the South Korean movie “Two Weddings and a Funeral” or the British movie, “Four Weddings and a Funeral”, my real life January events had nothing to do with “hooking up” and instead I endured the most grievous and oft dreaded death of a parent, my Mom and only two days after her funeral my oldest son, Matt (not his actual name) returned to Montgomery and married his most precious and beautiful fiancé, Lisa (not her actual name). How often does one experience an emotional...

  • So Much for Tolerance

    Marcia Chambliss|Mar 1, 2017

    Sometimes, a Facebook meme sums up current events quite well and one citing a William F. Buckley, Jr. quote recently appeared in my news feed. While I’m fully aware that there are exceptions to everything and I try to be cautious in making generalizations about any identity group, far too many on the left are currently validating Mr. Buckley’s reflection. “Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.” From th...

  • Consider the Olive Branch

    John Sophocleus|Mar 1, 2017

    Some readers may recall past columns covering John Rice's efforts to weaken the grip 'double-dark money' has on our State. Sad so few understood what this former State legislator (a rare champion of liberty and unflappable small government conservative) was trying to accomplish on OUR behalf - i.e., those interested in promoting the general welfare for ourselves and our posterity over special interests. After calling them out into the light and connecting the dots to expose what these...

  • Inside the Statehouse

    Steve Flowers|Mar 1, 2017

    We have unbelievable natural resources in Alabama starting with the Tennessee Valley and transcending to the beautiful white sands at Gulf Shores. Many of our natural resources have been exploited over the years. The prime example would be the exploitation of our rich vaults of iron ore discovered in Jefferson County in the early 20th Century. It created the city of Birmingham, the Steel City of the south. U.S. Steel swept in and bought the entire region and used cheap labor in the mines and...

  • Ready to Respond

    Chris Beeker Jr|Mar 1, 2017

    April 3, 1974. April 27, 2011. Those are two dates that many of us in Alabama will never forget. On each of those days portions of Alabama were devastated by tornadoes. Lives were lost, people were seriously injured, and homes and businesses were destroyed. Compounding those tragedies was the fact that some communities lacked electrical service for several days. Even those who were not directly impacted by those storms must have felt great relief when their electricity was restored. Severe...

  • "Forgiveness"

    Trisston Wright Burrows|Mar 1, 2017

    Did you know that unforgiveness, bitterness and resentment block the flow of God’s blessings in your life? Holding on to the hurts of your past can poison your present and limit your future. However, when you let go of these emotional wounds, you open the door to the life of victory that God has planned. “Let all bitterness, indignation, wrath, resentment, quarreling, and slander be banished from you…” Ephesians 4:31 The enemy will try to use your past to influence your actions and respons...

  • What gives the President the ability to pardon or commute sentences imposed on criminals?

    Ron Holtsford|Feb 1, 2017

    Article 2, Section 2 of the Unites States Constitution says, “... and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” This has been in the news just prior to the inauguration of Donald Trump as President and it has become common for the outgoing President to issue pardons or commutation of sentences. With the exceptions of Presidents Harrison and Garfield all Presidents have issued pardons and/ or commutations. Har...

  • Can We Agree on Anything?

    Marcia Chambliss|Feb 1, 2017

    Americans now have a new administration, battle lines have been drawn between the left and the right, and it would appear there is little hope that our fiercely divided nation can agree about anything. Politics naturally divides as it is only in the civil debate of opposing ideas are we able to create solutions to problems. Unfortunately, the continual stream of media commentary encouraging rancor in addition to an escalation of protests from the left designed to further divide makes the prospec...

  • "IT IS A CRUEL WORLD, HERR HAUPTMAN. YOU SAID IT YOURSELF."

    Robert Tate|Feb 1, 2017
    1

    This is my favorite line from my all-time favorite movie, The Blue Max. In this 1966 movie that my dad took me to watch when I was all of five years-old, George Peppard plays a German World War I fighter pilot, Bruno Stachel. After being denied his first aerial victory and being dismissed by his snobby, upper-crust squadron mates, Bruno shoots down a British airplane over his own airfield. When confronted by his angry commanding officer, Stachel walks over to the downed airplane, cuts the regist...

  • Inside the Statehouse

    Steve Flowers|Feb 1, 2017

    During the past couple of months everywhere I go people continually ask me why in the world the legislature could not simply put the issue of whether they could vote for or against a lottery on the November ballot. The fact that this inquiry has lingered for this long tells me that folks are upset about this travesty. They are mad at the legislature. However, the blame lies with the governor. Indeed, the legislature met in a special session to address this issue of whether or not to put the...

  • Warmongering Madness

    John Martin|Feb 1, 2017

    In addition to repealing the catastrophic Obamacare health care plan, one of President Donald Trump’s absolute top priorities must be to resist the military industrial complex and put an immediate end to the carnage and destruction our nation has been spreading all over the Middle East under the guise of saving the local people from their leaders and civil unrest. For the past 50 years and more—from Vietnam to the Middle East—our involvement has produced no benefits whatsoever. The result has b...

  • Goodbye and Good Riddance Obama Godspeed President Trump

    Chris Beeker Jr|Feb 1, 2017

    In the words of the old spiritual, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty we're free at last." Barack Obama is no longer president and Donald Trump is. As further proof that a leopard doesn't change his spots, Obama spent his final weeks in office doing the same things he did throughout his presidency – displaying his utter contempt for America and trashing our Constitution. In a series of despicable displays of arrogance over his last few weeks in office, the lame duck circumvented Con...

  • "Love, Sweet Love"

    Trisston Wright Burrows|Feb 1, 2017

    Remember the line in that old pop song, "What the world needs now is love, sweet love". How true that is! God's love that will make all the difference. Don't you just get excited to see God's love manifested in someone's life? Watching new Christians learn and grow close to God to me is just amazing. You begin to see them attending church, reading their Bibles, their family lives begin falling into place, and they begin to be active for Christ and all because of God's love. Of course, we as...

  • Do I need to think about any legal issues for the New Year?

    Ron Holtsford|Jan 1, 2017

    Without specifics about yourself I’ll make this answer generic in a personal and in a business sense. I’m presume you looked at your financial estate planning (401k, mutual funds, stocks and bonds, life insurance, etc) and as you do you also think about your legal estate planning. After all you are a year older; you may have gotten married, had a new child, had a child reach the age of majority (19 years), gotten divorced or suffered the death of a spouse or even a child. You may have a chi...

  • WELCOME TO THE MAD DOG!!

    Robert Tate|Jan 1, 2017

    Today every other man (and still more so during war-time) is an amateur strategist and tactician; the House of Commons is full of such folk. No politician would be considered sane if he told a chemist or an astronomer what to do, but he considers it his right to tell the soldier, sailor, and airman what to do, and even how to do it; and if his words are not based on a true understanding of war they are based on a false understanding, for there can be no middle course. J.F.C. Fuller Did you hear...

  • Teachable Moments

    Marcia Chambliss|Jan 1, 2017

    One of my major concerns with politics has been our increasing obsession with political personalities rather than the legitimate debate of issues, and this last election has done little to dispel that uneasiness. In our soundbite media culture, personalities are far more interesting and entertaining than policy, and they more easily influence voters. Details in legislation are boring and too deep into the minutiae or legalese for the average American to even want to understand, and the...

  • Secretary Merrill's Grasping for Straws - one day per violation

    John Sophocleus|Jan 1, 2017

    Jim Little's Opelika-Auburn News [11/21/16] article entitled, Judge declares signature requirement unconstitutional for short special elections asserted, "Future Alabama special elections will have to take into account a recent federal court ruling to allow third-party or independent candidates time to collect signatures to get on the ballot." Judge Myron Thompson (no champion of citizens' and voters' civil rights) September 30 federal court ruling determined Alabama's signature requirement for...

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