The World Around You

The latest episode of violence in Montgomery is deeply disturbing. Eric Robinson shot his children, Ereal-4, Ehren-6 and Evin-11, loaded them in his car and drove to where his wife was, walked in the front door and shot himself in front of her and her mother.

Obviously, the entire city mourns this horrific event, but we need to come together as a community to deal with the violence that is once again on the rise in our community.

Montgomery Advertiser:  Police: Man, 3 children dead in murder-suicide

UPDATE: Kathy had a more violent reaction.

This is certainly an interesting twist in the case. No one should forget that Siegelman was once attorney general and has many friends in their ranks. I certainly think an investigation is called for, but it doesn’t make Siegelman innocent.

Ala. Gov.’s Corruption Case Questioned, Attorneys General Ask Congress To Investigate Whether Politics Played Role In Don Siegelman’s Prosecution - CBS News

The Alabama Line at Doc’s Political Parlor has been updated. I largely agree with the analysis. The list of potential gubernatorial candidates will get longer before it gets shorter.

I will say, there is not a chance that Shelby is running for Governor. He’ll take another round in the Senate and call it a day. That means that Artur Davis and Jim Folsom will slug it out for the Democratic nomination, while we will likely have a large field on the Republican side including Luther Strange, Troy King, Kay Ivey and Mike Hubbard.

Alabama Line Updated » Doc’s Political Parlor

Danny has news that attorney David Marsh may run as a Democrat against Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Mobile) and that Troy University Chancellor may run as a Republican for Governor in 2010. These are both interesting rumors and worth keeping an eye on.

Rumored Candidates for Major Posts » Doc’s Political Parlor

My biggest applause to the Birmingham News editorial board for their editorial on the need for drug treatment dollars yesterday.

The implications are huge, for our communities and for our state. Oftentimes, addicts who don’t get treatment in the free world end up getting it in the state prison system. Close to 80 percent of those coming into Alabama’s Department of Corrections have a drug or alcohol problem, and most end up going through one of the prison system’s substance-abuse programs. There couldn’t be a more costly way to provide drug treatment, though.

Unfortunately, some don’t ever make it to treatment or the prison system. They die. And as last Sunday’s story from News reporters Dave Parks and Nancy Wilstach showed, there are more and more of them.

Alabama must invest more in drug treatment or we’ll continue paying a much higher price, in prison costs - and in lives.

AMEN

Birmingham News: Dying for treatment

Having worked in state government, I can certainly understand how things like this happen, but there are right ways and wrong ways to do it.

Officials say Roy W. “Trey” Granger III didn’t actually work that many hours in a single day, and the reason for the discrepancy is that Gov. Bob Riley’s legal office altered paperwork so Granger could be paid for the work he performed to help Alabama comply with the federal Help America Vote Act, or HAVA.

“There is no relationship between the documents they filled out and the time I really worked,” said Granger, the consultant, who also serves as elections director for Montgomery County. “It’s not matched up at all.

Mobile Register:Election consultant worked hard: 32 hours in one day

Say what you will about the Siegelman administration, but they did take water policy very seriously. It is incredibly disturbing that the Riley administration is not paying more serious attention the state’s water plan and working harder to develop a workable solution. This is a critical issue for our state and needs to be pushed up in the queue to be addressed.

Birmingham News: Issue of statewide water plan shelved due to lawsuits, drought, leadership turnover, lack of political will

The Katrina Ice is finally being melted…hurray….

Ice for Katrina victims finally being melted - NewsFlash - al.com

The number of teens dying on Alabama’s highways is not acceptable and there are proven strategies to bring those numbers down. It is time for Alabama to strengthen one of the weakest graduated license laws in the nation.

Birmingham News: Weak license law blamed for teen deaths