Bryan is the winner
Ray Bryan won the popular vote of the people in Calhoun and Cleburne counties. He made a minor mistake and didn't get his financial papers in on time, but they got there. He wasn't trying to hide anything. It was an oversight.
He still won. The people voted and Bryan received the most votes. Bryan's the winner. Mannon Bankson is just mad because he did not get enough votes from the people. Bankson should not even want to be in a position that he knows the people of the area do not want him in. That's kinda shameful. In order to get what he wants and the people don't want, he complains. Sounds childish to me.
Bryan is the winner, by the people and for the people. Why get the courts involved? The votes have been counted, and there were no hanging chads.
Tina Horn
Alexandria
AHS scholarships
I am a retired educator with all of my years of service in public schools. Students with the desire and capability to attend college should be afforded that opportunity, although I strongly disagree with the scholarship program in the Anniston School System. Taxes collected by the city of Anniston should go toward improving the city school system and not toward college education for a few students. There is too much room for mismanagement of these funds when used as scholarships.
Counselors in all secondary schools are paid to make students aware of scholarships and grants available to graduates. I retired from Gadsden State Community College, and a high percentage of our students qualified for federal Pell Grants. This program provides need-based grants to low/middle-income undergraduate students.
There are approximately 5,400 participating postsecondary institutions. Pell Grant amounts are dependent on the student's expected family contribution, which is based on the previous year's income tax information. Pell Grant forms are available at participating institutions, including Gadsden State and Jacksonville State University, as well as on the Internet. Federal tax funds already go toward these grants for students who need assistance to attend college. Anniston should stay out of the scholarship business.
Sarah Ballard
Anniston
Service stations?
First we had full-service gas stations. Then we had full-service/self-service, where for a couple of cents less you could pump your own gas. Now all we have is self-service, and they want you to go inside and pay before you pump. I always fill my car or truck up, so I don't know how much money to give them and often make a second trip inside to get my change.
If they want their money first, then I think the owners should go back to full-service or put someone on the gas island to collect the money. After all, they are supposed to be doing us a service — not us doing them a service.
When they say pre-pay, I let them know that I am going to fill up, and when they still insist that I pre-pay, I just leave (stubborn I guess). After all, it used to be a service station.
Be stubborn. Join me.
Percy L. Owen Jr.
Lincoln
Government obligation
Re "Government support" (Speak Out, June 27):
I respect letter writer Don Thornton's right to his views. However, if Thornton will check, former White House spokesman Scott McClellan was not fired as he suggests; he resigned. I find it odd that these people who have exposed so much wrongdoing in the Bush White House are being bashed as sour grapes or un-American liberals.
It is wrong to simply think everyone is lying about the current White House administration or trying to cash in. It is very possible that some are simply trying to tell the truth.
It's also wrong for government to turn its back on those in need. I sincerely hope that Thornton and or his family never need help from folks who think along the same talking points. I am not a socialist whatsoever. I just think that we have a moral obligation to try and help those less fortunate than others. Hope is the father of all virtues. Crush a man's hope and you will sever him from the source of all decency.
I have never met letter writer P.J. Miller nor lived in a communist country. I am a five-point Vietnam veteran; I volunteered for service while the Vietnam conflict was going on, although I was 17 and was never sent to Vietnam. I was, however, awarded a national defense medal for serving my country in a time of war. I have also given 261/2 years of government service to my country.
I guess Thornton wants to paint everyone who shows concern for the less fortunate as socialists or communists and wants them sent to a communist country. Thanks for the suggestion, but I will always speak out for what I believe in. Maybe Thornton should visit said countries since they are not allowed to speak out against their government. Then he will not have to worry about reading letters he does not agree with.
Eric Luna
Anniston
'I Protest'
Here we go again with another proposal for selling license plates in Alabama with the words "I Believe."
First we have "God Bless America" and "God Bless Alabama" on license plates — whatever will acknowledge God in public. Now we need a more specific and personal belief in re-affirming Alabama's Christian faith.
A license plate should read "I Protest," because legislators have not earned their pay raise. Religion matters in Alabama, and many politicians of faith like to emphasize it through props, signs, labels, displays, slogans, themes, topics and plates. However, very few politicians lived the faith by enacting the appropriate good laws during the recent legislative session.
Why can't Christians follow the unmistakable badge for display that Christ has given them? Christ says, "Love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know that you are my disciples if you love one another."
Whenever religion embraces politics, victims of minority faith or no faith at all often are disrespected by the dominant religion and the majority's will.
Isaiah J. Ashe
Huntsville
