Dear Editor,

Seems like, every year, we hear stories of the state of Alabama coming up short with money. The problem is why does the media outlets not tell the reason for most shortfalls which is primarily due to foolish spending. Every municipality, every county in Alabama is guilty of it.

Hartselle, once again, fell into the wasteful spending money trap with their misguided hypothesis that downtown Hartselle has a traffic flow problem. They, in turn went to, ALDOT, who contracted a firm to perform a study to eliminate this alleged traffic jam problem, at a cost of $100,000. Personally, my opinion, ALDOT is at the top of the list for wasting taxpayer money.

Apparently the powers that be in Hartselle, or for that matter, some shop keepers, have never sat in a real traffic jam. 3-4 minute back up in Hartselle, is nothing. Try going 5 miles, and it takes 2 hours to get there. What this one-way street ordeal, will turn into, now that this has been voted on, and approved, will be a nightmare, all for a ½ mile or less. Older drivers, who have driven for decades, will now be confused on this pathetic example of wasting money.

Of all the things our council could have spent quality time on that needed attention, this issue was a critical issue? The great philosopher/comedian Ron White says it best. “You can’t fix stupid!”

Mike Dowdy

Hartselle, AL 35640