Recent editorials from Alabama newspapers:
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Sept. 1
The Montgomery Advertiser on state leaders:
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill tried to play by the rules last week when he said special session legislation had to pass by Aug. 24 to make it on November ballots.
That turned out not to matter for state lottery measures, since none survived the session. But a bill to correct procedural vote blunders by the Legislature that put hundreds of local laws about matters from fire department funding to hospital construction at risk of lawsuits did pass.
Not until after the deadline, however. Desperate to stave off chaos for affected localities, Montgomery power brokers procured a court order from Montgomery Circuit Judge William Sashy on Aug. 26, ensuring the proposed amendment will appear on fall ballots.
There are several ironies at work in this mess. First, the procedural problems sprang from the fact lawmakers for decades haven’t been following voting process rules to approve local laws. They got quorum requirements, specified in a previous constitutional amendment, wrong.
Which raises the question, does anyone know how to run a tight ship on Goat Hill?
The bigger guffaw is that most often in Alabama, unlike in Merrill’s stand for playing by the book, it’s politicians ignoring the rules that forces courts to step in and set things right.
Suspended state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore’s refusal to recognize court rulings that same-sex marriage is legal across the land is the most flagrant recent example.
Gov. Robert Bentley last year issued an executive order saying the state would not accept refugees from Syria’s nightmarish civil war, even though he lacks the authority to issue such a ban.
He followed up with a lawsuit against the federal government, saying it didn’t consult with state leaders about refugee resettlement. But Alabama in 2001 abdicated oversight for refugee services, which then moved to Catholic Social Services of Mobile.
The lawsuit was recently dismissed in federal court. Bentley says the state will appeal, wasting more taxpayer dollars and demonstrating again how rarely Alabama politicians, left to their own devices, do the right thing. In this case, that means accepting carefully screened refugees fleeing a hellhole.
Other instances where outside coercion was needed to enforce rule of law:
Bentley’s unconstitutional attempts to deny Medicaid dollars for poor women’s healthcare to Planned Parenthood. The fiasco cost taxpayers $51,000 for the nonprofit’s legal fees alone when a lawsuit was settled.
Key provisions of Alabama’s draconian 2011 anti-immigration bill, which overstepped the state’s authority, blocked as illegal.
Next up? Possible court rulings allowing the feds to take over Alabama’s dangerous, overcrowded prisons, as lawmakers shirk their duty to fund them adequately.
Conservatives may complain that many court-ordered mandates are federal overreach or create a nanny-state climate. But the oversight will remain sorely needed so long as Alabama leaders act like irresponsible children who don’t understand or want to obey the rules.
Online: https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/
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Sept. 6
The Selma Times-Journal on Childhood Cancer Awareness Month:
September is observed as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in the United States.
In the U.S. alone, 15,780 children under the age of 21 are diagnosed with cancer each year, according to the American Childhood Cancer Organization.
Sadly, approximately one in every four of them will not survive the disease.
Cancer is a disease that doesn’t discriminate. It takes people of all races, all ages and all genders from this world way too early, it’s got to especially tough on families that have a child diagnosed.
While adult cancer is more likely to be discovered in the earliest stages of the disease, about 80 percent of childhood cancer cases are diagnosed after the disease has spread to other areas of the body.
So, how can you help?
First, just raising awareness and sharing information about the disease is beneficial, whether that’s through social media or by finding another way to spread the word.
All across the country, many will spend this month wearing a gold ribbon, meant to raise awareness for childhood cancer. That’s an easy way for any of us to help out.
The American Childhood Cancer Organization has a lot of information on its website on how someone can help raise awareness and most importantly, raise money to help find a cure for cancer.
The website is www.acco.org.
Online: https://www.selmatimesjournal.com/
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Sept. 6
The Decatur Daily on the mental health system:
Two apparent crimes in two days gave some insight into the extent to which law enforcement increasingly has become immersed in dealing with mental health issues.
On Aug. 25, a Decatur woman refused psychiatric help at Decatur Morgan Hospital, according to police, and proceeded to drive off in an ambulance parked outside the hospital.
The next day, an elderly man told a teller at an Athens bank he was holding the bank up. He then told her he needed psychiatric help, and this was the only way he knew to get it. The unarmed man sat quietly and awaited police.
In the first case, Decatur police placed the woman in jail and charged her with a felony. In the second case, Athens police declined to charge the man and Chief Floyd Johnson has been involved in the effort to obtain psychiatric care for him.
It’s tempting to criticize Decatur PD for not being more sensitive to a person whose misconduct appeared to be a function of her illness rather than of criminal intent, and Johnson certainly deserves credit for his handling of the Athens situation.
The fact is, though, that law enforcement officers are trained and equipped to enforce laws, not to evaluate mental illnesses. They don’t have the resources to become the primary bridge between the mentally ill and health providers.
“Law enforcement by its very nature is reactive,” Morgan County Sheriff Ana Franklin said. “But it shouldn’t be that way with the mental health system.”
Sadly, the mental health system is not just reactive, it is dysfunctional. Beds are scarce, especially with the closure of facilities like North Alabama Regional Hospital. Even those who are committed average 10-day stays, according to Franklin, which for many is inadequate.
The poorly funded state Medicaid Agency also is a factor, as it contributes to a shortage of mental health providers.
Franklin, who is a member of a state task force assigned with the mission of finding solutions to mental health problems, said the ultimate problem is funding. Law enforcement sees first-hand the enormity of the problem, and its cost to society. So do caregivers and judges and mental health professionals. They understand that skimping on a proactive mental health system costs money, in the form of greater pressure on law enforcement, more crimes and crowded jails. And most also recognize the terrible toll our underfunded mental health system exacts on the mentally ill and their families.
But it is not law enforcement or judges or health care providers that make the call on funding issues. That job falls primarily to state lawmakers, and they routinely place mental health near the bottom of their list of funding priorities.
That’s a mistake, both financially and morally.
Online: https://www.decaturdaily.com/
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