Gov.-elect Bob Riley says he isn’t convinced Alabama’s schools need more money.He proclaims this theory while simultaneously planning a glitzy inauguration. He justifies that lofty price tag two ways.
First, contributors will foot the bill for his flashy party. Secondly, he says the celebration will “bring the state together” and “raise spirits” (whose?) in defiance of the financial problems looming over our state.
This is reminiscent of his lavish dinner party last summer in Birmingham, where his guests paid $50,000 for a photo with President Bush.
Sure, Riley is good at raising money to throw “swinging shindigs,” but he obviously lacks the good sense to discern the critical needs of our state. He has started out on the wrong foot.
I have family in South Carolina who laugh at us Alabama parents for having to send paper towels, soap and other supplies to school. Pathetic!
Has Riley or any of his wealthy cronies ever visited our schools? On what does he base his out-of-touch opinion that our schools do not need more funding? Or, is that just his fat cat friends doing his talking and thinking?
Perhaps Riley can at least save on entertainment costs at his party. He could fiddle Nero-style, while Alabama crumbles in the backdrop.
Pamela Mays Decker
Springville
Incineration
The Star printed my letter in “Speaker’s Stand” on Jan. 10. In the letter I stated that The Star continues to withhold important information from its readers. This is exhibited by The Star changing information. In the letter I stated that Mr. Waddle advocates incineration that is “swift” (10-12 years for disposal). Without my knowledge, The Star’s editors changed the 10-12 years to “several” years for disposal.
In April 2001, a Senate Subcommittee hearing was held in Washington, D.C. At this hearing the information came forth that incineration in Anniston would take 10 to 12 years.
I was there; I heard it. This information was then verified by an oversight committee.
Why does The Star want to withhold this information from its readers?
Brenda Lindell
Anniston
Serbs and Confederates
I read Brandy Ayers’ excellent Dec. 8 piece entitled “Don’t touch that flag” — and yes, he is absolutely correct about the similarities between Southerners and Serbs and their collective historical experiences — especially that of being relentlessly demonized in the news media.Just a few points to clarify. There is no “Orthodox Catholic” church — only the “Orthodox Christian” church. It was originally the Eastern half of the Christian church before the 1054 split with Rome — the Orthodox Church has its administrative headquarters in what was Constantinople, called Istanbul since 1930. Unlike Catholicism, Orthodox churches are “autocephalous” — each national group has an independent church hierarchy — there is no Orthodox version of the Pope. Russians, Greeks, Rumanians, Bulgars, Armenians, Macedonians, Byelorussians, Ukrainians and many Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Ethiopians, Lebanese and Palestinians are also Orthodox Christians.
The historic pain of the Serbs was whipped into a frenzy of hatred against the Albanians of Kosovo by the demagogic appeal of Slobodon Milosevic.
However, this is not quite true. This claim has been mistakenly and repeatedly attributed to Milosevic’s June 28, 1989, speech upon the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo. His speech was nowhere near “rabble rousing” that media had claimed .
The Albanian Moslems of Kosovo were stirring up serious trouble in the region as early as the mid-1970s, and their criminal activities intensified after Marshal Tito’s 1980 death. The New York Times did a long, 1982 investigative story on the Albanian terror in Kosovo.
More locally, a number of Serbs (who first settled in New Orleans in the 1840s) served in the Confederate army, most notably in the 10th Louisiana Volunteer Regiment — the outfit was nicknamed “Lee’s Foreign Legion.”
At any rate, great story,
Michael Kreca
San Diego, Calif.
