Thursday, April 19, 2012

Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of controversial landfill vote

As hard as it is to believe, yesterday (Wednesday) marked the one-year anniversary of the Conecuh County Commission’s vote to approve the Conecuh Woods landfill application, paving the way for the construction of one of the nation’s largest landfills in our own backyard.

I said it then, and I’ll say it now. That vote will likely be looked back on as one of the most important votes in the county’s history. In fact, future generations might even look back on April 18, 2011 as a turning point in the county’s history.

For those of you who may have forgotten, commissioners Leonard Millender, Wendell Byrd and Jerold Dean voted in favor of the application. Commissioners Hugh Barrow and D.K. Bodiford voted against.

Much has occurred in the past 12 months and more than a few changes have taken place regarding the commission. Barrow and Dean decided not to seek for re-election, and Bodiford was defeated in the primary by Citizens for a Clean Southwest Alabama Chairman Johnny Andrews. In the run-off election this coming Tuesday, Millender will face challenger Clinton Peters, and Byrd will face challenger Ras McCreary.

It’ll be interesting to see how Tuesday’s run-off election turns out. It’s sometimes said that voters have short memories, but sometimes that’s just not the case.

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The American Library Association recently released its annual State of America’s Libraries report, which includes its annual list of Top 10 List of Frequently Challenged Books for 2011.

The previous year’s most challenged books included:

1. “ttyl; ttfn; l8r, g8r (series)” by Lauren Myracle

2. “The Color of Earth (series)” by Kim Dong Hwa

3. “The Hunger Games” trilogy by Suzanne Collins

4. “My Mom’s Having a Baby! A Kid’s Month-by-Month Guide to Pregnancy” by Dori Hillestad Butler

5. “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie

6. “Alice (series)” by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

7. “Brave New World” by Aldous Huxley

8. “What My Mother Doesn’t Know” by Sonya Sones

9. “Gossip Girls (series)” by Cecily Von Ziegesar

10. “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee

Books that were on the lists last year that fell out of the top 10 included “And Tango Makes Three” by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, “Crank” by Ellen Hopkins, “Lush” by Natasha Friend, “Nickel and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich, “Revolutionary Voices,” edited by Amy Sonnie and “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer.

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The good folks up at the state tourism department released this week their list of Top 10 events to attend in May. This month’s list includes the following events:

- The Hangout Music Festival, May 18-20, Gulf Shores

- Gardendale Music Festival, May 4-5, Gardendale

- WhistleStop Festival & Rocket City BBQ Cook-off, May 4-5, Huntsville

- Mayfest 2012, May 5, Atmore

- 63rd Annual Blessing of the Fleet, May 6, Bayou La Batre

- Cullman Strawberry Festival, May 11-12, Cullman

- 40th Annual Art in the Park, May 12-13, Foley

- Jubilee Cityfest, May 18-19, Montgomery

- Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon Festival, May 26-27, Decatur

- 25th Annual Muleday/Chickenfest, May 31-June 2, Gordo

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