Archive for the ‘Editorial’ Category
America: the world’s FEMA
By Tray Smith
Guest Columnist
In 2005, politicians, reporters and storm survivors all heaped criticism on the Federal Emergency Management Agency for its slow and ineffective response to the flooding Hurricane Katrina unleashed in New Orleans.
One afternoon, while watching coverage of stranded victims on television, a friend turned to me and said, “Well, imagine what things would be like without FEMA.” At the time, the point seemed moot. After all, taxpayers provide FEMA with a large staff and a lot of money. They simply ask in turn that the agency be ready to help in case of disaster.
Continuous news coverage of the catastrophe in Haiti over the past week prompted me to revisit that friend’s thought. Everyone who has seen images of the ravaged country can now imagine what things would be like in America if, in times of disaster, there was no FEMA.
Of course, it …
Popularity: 3% [?]
District 5 roads, bridges need attention
To the editor:
When I was a young boy, Houston Baker was my county commissioner.
Every day, Monday through Friday you could find him in his pickup, riding the roads in his district looking for something that needed fixing. The county right of ways were clean with cut grass, the potholes filled quickly, and if you had a problem you could always call him and tell him about it. Now it seems that nothing gets repaired, the roads are falling apart, there is trash all along the right of ways, and it is just getting worse.
1). The City of Atmore and Escambia County spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a new bridge for Brushy Creek on Jack Springs Road. The City did an excellent job with their end of the bridge but the county end is already wearing out due to faulty paving where the …
Popularity: unranked [?]
Thanks supporting ECHS baseball team
To the editor,
I am writing this letter to thank the people of Atmore and Escambia County for their involvement and support during our fund-raising events for the Escambia County High School baseball team. These events include a Boston butt sale and bagging groceries. Alabama Wing House and Winn Dixie were both essential to our success during these ventures and I want to especially thank them for the use of their facilities.
The ECHS baseball team and softball team, under the leadership of William Casady, made a joint effort in selling Boston butts; the Alabama Wing House’s participation was instrumental in the success of our sale. Mr. Cloud was kind enough to donate his time and efforts to smoke and wrap the Boston butts for us, allowing us to focus on delivery of the items.
Winn Dixie allowed us to bag groceries for their customers on Jan. 16, allowing the baseball team members …
Popularity: unranked [?]
Kappa’s reaching out
By ZICKEYOUS BYRD
Guest Columnist
The Atmore Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi is proving to be a positive force in our community. The Atmore Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi is sponsoring the first Kappa League Leadership Institute. The institute is part of the international Kappa League which is an organization which helps young men of high school and middle school age grow and develop leadership talents. It does so by providing challenging and rewarding experiences which enhance the students’ lives.
It’s the purpose of the Atmore Alumni Chapter to help our young men achieve worthy goals for themselves and allow them to make constructive contributions to their community when leadership roles become their responsibility.
Kappa League sponsored an informational session on December 19, 2009 at Escambia County Middle School. This event proved to be a huge success. Those in attendance demonstrated a willingness to embrace the Kappa League …
Popularity: 1% [?]
AACCM expresses thanks for support
To the editor:
On behalf of the Board of Directors and the many volunteers at Atmore Area Christian Care Ministry, we would like to thank Atmore’s citizens for their support through the previous year. Thank you especially for the outpouring of donations that came in through the Thanksgiving and Christmas season. These gifts enabled us to minister to those in need these past few months. We have seen many new churches, businesses, and individuals in our area come on board through food drives and monetary support. Hunger is a community concern, and the community has responded.
We would like to thank everyone who gave. Each gift was huge in the eyes of our God who can still take seemingly very little and feed thousands. We also would like to especially thank those who partner with us, whose gifts we simply could not survive without, [such as] Southern Family Market’s support …
Popularity: 1% [?]
Roll Tide, Roll
I was born a Georgia Bulldog fan.
When you live in the state of Georgia, there’s no other real choice. Yeah, there’s the North Avenue Trade School, but for most, they’re not really a factor when it comes to football choices in my home state. On the other hand, Georgia Southern has built a strong program and has a very strong following, and many Dawg fans are Eagle fans too and vice versa. It will be interesting to see what Georgia State does as they start a new football program.
As we all know, the college football scenario is much different in Alabama. As a non-native of the state, I’ve been told on several occasions that I have to choose between Auburn and Alabama. That’s hard to do. I guess I’m like most, and I tend to pull for the underdog, although I enjoyed watching Alabama go undefeated and win the National …
Popularity: 5% [?]
‘ … high hopes in the coming year’
The end of one year and the beginning of the next almost always makes us think about what has happened and what might be ahead. That may be truer these days than in the past. Seems we’ve had some turbulent times in our nation, particularly with the economy. We can’t know what the future holds, and we can’t do much about the situations on the state and national level, but maybe we can do something in our own part of the world. I talked with Mayor Howard Shell the other day about Atmore.
Any discussion with the mayor about this town almost always begins with the people. He writes about the volunteers in atmore magazine and never passes up an opportunity to thank folks for their time.
“We have so many volunteers who make our city better,” Mayor Shell said. “Just look at our summer programs and all the people who are …
Popularity: -2% [?]
Getting help when needed
I was in a local store earlier this week and folks were talking about the rain totals we received recently. The reports vary from 10 to 14 inches the night the heaviest rain came through. If the ground wasn’t wet enough, we received another good soaking on Christmas Eve. The consensus during the conversation in the store was no one had ever seen that much rain at one time.
I’m not one to complain about rain because I remember too vividly those summer days when I was much younger and my dad, who was a farmer, praying for rain. The crops in the field had wilted under the heat of the sun, and the yield was certainly going to suffer if rain didn’t come.
After the rains, we went out to North Canoe Road and saw the bridge that’s just not there anymore. I can’t imagine what it costs to replace a …
Popularity: -1% [?]
‘The best laid plans … ’
If you have this newspaper in your hands, I’m thrilled. We’ve run into some snags this week, and at times getting the paper out seemed like “the impossible dream.” We’ve had some work done on our e-mail and Web site. You probably won’t notice any difference – it’s one of those internal things. Well, there might be some changes to the site. It’s still not back up as I write this on Tuesday morning, so I may be surprised when I see it.
As with most projects, it was supposed to be a seamless operation, however, as with anything involving technology, there are bound to be problems. I think it’s like trying to fix a plumbing problem – it’s never as easy as you think it’s going to be. Alvin Owens says when he starts a plumbing project, the first thing he does is fill his truck up with gas, because …
Popularity: 3% [?]
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