Letters to the Editor

By Staff
Fire victims grateful for help
Editor:
Recently, we lost our newly constructed hone to a devastating fire caused by a severe lighting storm on May 13. Our family had worked for three years creating this home as well as our lifelong collections, heirlooms, photos, etc.; all were gone within eight hours.
After the fire, many people from the Hartselle area have donated clothing and other items, including Hartselle High School and HHS FCA and Burleson Elementary School, and our family has been in their prayers.
We are extremely thankful for this outpouring of support and help at this critical hour for our family.
Bruce M. Wiegmann and Huiping Liu
Hartselle
Let people vote on school board
Editor:
Are there 12 more people in Hartselle, that didn’t sign the petition to switch from an appointed school board to an elected board? If so, I would ask that you please take a minute, stop by city hall, and sign it.
Only one of Hartselle’s councilmen, Don Hall, isn’t impressed that 788 people took the time to sign the petition, showing their support. Now that the petition has been presented to the council, he has expanded his guidelines, in an apparent effort to thwart any such vote.
When the legalized alcohol sales petition was presented to the council some years ago, Mr. Hall supported allowing the people to decide this matter. That petition had less signatures on it, as well as the tax increase petition of 2004, which he also supported. If I’m not mistaken, when he campaigned for this current council position, he said he would vote to allow the people to decide this issue, if a petition was presented.
It would appear that Mr. Hall doesn’t trust the voters to decide this matter, but he did trust them to decide such matters as alcohol or property tax increase issues. Was he not impressed 10 years ago, when 83 percent of Hartselle registered voters supported changing the process to make it easier to change from an appointed to an elected board.
His position regarding whether or not an elected board will improve the quality of education is disturbing. For me, it’s not so much a matter of improving the quality of education, it’s a matter of being represented. There is a greater level of accountability with an elected board, as opposed to an appointed board. An elected board removes any possibility of a quid pro quo situation between the council and people either already appointed or those that seek appointment to the school bd.
Mr. Hall had the opportunity to vote no on accepting the petition, but instead he voted yes. He also had the opportunity to offer some discussion when it was asked by the council president, but once again, he chose not too. Another time, another issue, another elected lone ranger.
It’s not surprising that supposedly intelligent people can take such a nonsensical position, in order to block the will of the people.
Mike Dowdy
Hartselle