The World Around You

Well the Church vs. State argument has come home to roost in Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright’s backyard,

Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright won re-election to a second term on Oct. 14 as the candidate of inclusiveness, but one of his critics said he has done the unthinkable — taken Christ out of Christmas.

“He has essentially tried to abolish any references whatsoever to the Christ child and Christmas,” said Suzelle Josey, 40, organizer of a grass-roots group calling itself Operation Christ Back in Christmas in Montgomery. “There’s a lot of people upset.”

Josey accused Bright of refusing to place a Nativity scene downtown, eliminating a crËche at the Montgomery Zoo and dropping the word Christmas from the city’s holiday parade. She is taking her complaints to tonight’s City Council meeting, scheduled for 7 p.m.

Bright, reached over the weekend, labeled Josey “an extremist” and her claims “innuendoes and assumptions.”

“She has no earthly idea what my religious beliefs are and how strong they are,” Bright said, adding that Josey was one of the key supporters of his chief opponent in the mayoral contest, Scott Simmons.

Josey has another version.

“When we contacted the mayor’s office (about the Christmas matter), the answer we got was they are trying to include everyone in the holidays. In the process of trying to include everyone, they are excluding the Christians,” she said.

“We want to know how this happened,” Josey said. “This has not gone before the City Council.”

Ms. Josey may have a point, if other religions are being included to the exclusion of Christians, but nothing cited in the article points toward that. It sounds like the Mayor is trying to keep city celebrations secular, which should not cause a problem. If you want to celebrate the birth of Christ, that is an appropriate thing to do in church. If you want a nativity scene, that is fine, but you need to include other religions’ holiday symbols in the same display. Otherwise, it is government endorsing one religion over another. This is not complicated, but some people still can’t get it through their thick skulls.

I have not posted much on the HealthSouth case, but there are developments on a daily basis. Two directors have resigned from the board, beginning the process of yanking control from Scrushy loyalists,

The resignations Monday of George Strong and Chuck Newhall paves the way for new directors without ties to former HealthSouth chief executive Richard Scrushy or investments in HealthSouth-related companies.

A federal indictment unsealed last month charged Scrushy with 85 counts, including charges of securities fraud, conspiracy and money laundering. Scrushy has said he is innocent and that the fraud was orchestrated by lower-level executives without his knowledge.

Newhall and Strong had investments in HealthSouth spin-off companies and those with which HealthSouth did business.

A lawsuit filed by the Teachers Retirement System of Louisiana in Delaware Chancery Court scrutinizes Newhall’s investment in and board seat on Medcenterdirect.com — a company HealthSouth created to handle its medical equipment purchasing.

According to the lawsuit, New Enterprise Associates, the Baltimore-based venture capital fund Newhall co-founded, made investments in at least one other HealthSouth-related company.

The suit also alleges that Strong’s personal investment in Medcenterdirect and Source Medical Solutions, another company HealthSouth set up, made him unable to continue to act as an impartial board member.

After constant reassurances from the company and our elected officials in Prattville that it would not happen, we have lost Venture Industries,

Venture Industries Corp. failed to raise the $100 million it needed to build a Hyundai supplier plant in Prattville and has dropped the project.