Speak Out

Re "Historic Jacksonville mill is coming down" (News story, March 12):

The Jacksonville mill building being demolished was built in 1908 as the Ide/Profile Cotton Mill No. 2 and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. I remember attending a public open house at the mill a couple of years back. A great many Jacksonville residents toured the building that day, and everyone I spoke with was enthusiastic about the possibility that the mill, which had been so central to the life of the community since the time of its construction, would be renovated for new uses.

After all, many other communities had done it, so why not Jacksonville? Unfortunately, those dreams never materialized despite several good and reasonable development proposals.

The Star's article made it sound as if the new owners are preserving the mill by recycling its historic materials. Sounds more to me like they are plundering the heritage of places like Jacksonville for their own financial gain. When its old bricks become a trendy bistro in Miami and its sturdy boards are sawn up and installed in someone's new mega-mansion in Atlanta, what traces will remain of the sweat and blood of generations of Jacksonville's working men and women?

A similar fate befell Anniston's Cotton Manufacturing Company (Chalk Line) a couple of years ago and is being repeated at the Blue Mountain Mill. Unfortunately, these fine, proud and sturdy old buildings will soon exist only in history books. I hope those books won't neglect to tell the story of the shortsighted leadership that let it slip away.

David B. Schneider
Anniston

Driving while on drugs

Alabama's state laws are flawed with regard to those who use illegal drugs and cause traffic accidents, injury or death.

If a person has been drinking and driving and causes an accident resulting in injury or death, the offender faces a loss of their driver's license, jail or prison time and is required to attend rehab to regain their driving privileges. Probation is rarely an option.

However, if the same crime is committed while high on illegal drugs, the offender usually gets a much lighter verdict.

A friend on mine's family was T-boned in Calhoun County by a person high on illegal drugs, causing injury to his wife and young daughter. The offender was only given probation. It is a gross miscarriage of justice when our laws are this flawed.

It is time to see that at the least the same penalties apply to driving and illegal drug use as applies to driving while intoxicated.

Billy E. Price
Ashville