Speak Out

Lately, there has been talk of upgrading the Oxford Fire Department from a mostly volunteer department to a full-time department. It is ironic, since I had suggested doing just that, both as a candidate for local office and as a private citizen.

The real irony is that incoming Fire Chief Gary Sparks voiced the same concerns I had several years ago. I find his motives questionable since the captain saw fit to ridicule me publicly for voicing these concerns. Sparks suggested that I was attacking the mayor and the fire department, which was never the case. The captain has changed his opinion, just as the political climate in Oxford has changed.

I recall Mayor Leon Smith declaring that as long as he was in office that Oxford would never have a full-time fire department. He and the City Council were in a better position than many of the citizens of Oxford to know what the city’s potential for growth was and how that growth would affect city departments.

As a candidate in two city elections, I expressed concern that the city was gradually outgrowing its capacity to provide services that residents rely upon, specifically the fire department.

My criticism was that of a city government severely out of touch with the needs of the city, and since the residents of Oxford did contribute to the city treasury, they should derive some benefit.

In both elections, I never suggested that the change in the fire department take place immediately, but rather gradually. The real irony is that if we had started this process five or six years ago, we would have a fire department that could serve the city’s needs well into the future, instead of having to wait another five to 10 years to gradually upgrade this department.

Freddie L. Hinton
Oxford

Torture and atrocity

I felt the writer’s torturous pain from reading Col. Pete Eschrig’s letter describing the Abu Ghraib incident as “neither torture nor an atrocity.”

If the writer sticks around long enough, he may witness in his homeland, and even in Jacksonville, up-close and personal torture and atrocities that will make Abu Ghraib seem like the kind of thing that frat boys, sorority girls and academy cadets do to newcomers.

Armond “Si” Simmons
Pell City