Recent editorials from Alabama newspapers:
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May 18
The Gadsden Times on students following local elections:
There’s a sense in some quarters today that young people aren’t getting a strong enough background in civics and government as they approach voting age.
That may not be a failure of the education system, mind you, if it’s true. Teachers can disseminate information all day long, but it’s not going to register on unreceptive ears that are more likely to be focused on Spotify than the latest news from Montgomery or Washington. (We know we risk sounding like crotchety seniors trying to keep their yards pristine with that one.)
We’re also not going to blame the civics deficit, as some do, for any particular election result. It’s impossible to assign any one factor to the success or failure of a campaign.
Things are about to change in Alabama, though. A bill by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, mandating that students pass a civics and citizenship test before graduating from high school, has passed the Legislature and awaits the likely signature of Gov. Kay Ivey. The prospect of not getting to don a cap and gown, walk across the stage and receive a diploma with classmates should make those ears a little more receptive to the machinations of government and politics.
Besides, as serious as this stuff is and as heated as the conflicts between parties and philosophies have become, political campaigns still can be fun.
For an example, young folks should tune in this summer when 19 - count ’em - people will be vying for permanent occupancy of the U.S. Senate seat vacated by current Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
That’s a throwback to the wilder days of Alabama politics, when as many as 14 candidates (1958 Democratic gubernatorial primary) would seek a single office, stumping the state and filling the airwaves and newspapers with ads.
Of course, all of those candidates weren’t serious contenders, and neither are some of the 11 Republicans and eight Democrats who made the Senate race by the end of qualifying Wednesday.
Former state Attorney General Luther Strange, who was appointed as a temporary replacement for Sessions by former Gov. Robert Bentley, leads the GOP field.
Folks in Washington are treating him as the incumbent - although that’s a tenuous claim - and are prepared to spend lots of cash and hammer his opponents with attack ads to keep him in the seat.
Some analysts say Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has signaled his preference for someone more conventional and malleable - like Strange - in the seat than a firebrand like former state Chief Justice Roy Moore or U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, who are challenging the former attorney general.
So is Sen. Tripp Pitman, R-Daphne, a veteran and prominent legislator who might struggle to keep afloat in this particular pool.
The strongest candidate on the Democratic side appears to be former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones, who has worked on some high-profile cases both as a prosecutor and defense attorney.
The primary election for both parties will be Aug. 15, meaning much of the campaigning will take place while Alabamians are seeking summer relaxation and students are in “school’s out” mode.
That doesn’t mean young and old can’t listen in occasionally, though. It’s a way to make an educated choice for an important position - and get a chuckle or two as all these candidates (almost enough to field a football offense and defense) try to keep from stampeding each other while chasing votes.
Online: https://www.gadsdentimes.com/
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May 22
The Selma Times-Journal on Smart 911 saving lives:
Time is critical when police officers, firefighters and paramedics are responding to a call. Any information to help them respond to an emergency is important and could help save time and lives.
Sunday’s edition of the Times-Journal featured a story about Smart911, a free program through the Dallas County Consolidated E-911 Communications Center that allows citizens to build a profile and attach it to their phone numbers.
The profiles can contain as little or as much information as citizens want to share with first responders. Tracy Williams, director of the center, and Captain Mike Granthum with the Dallas County Sheriff’s Department said the more information, the better. While the program has been available in Dallas County for four years, not enough people are utilizing it. Williams said the center answers two or three calls a month with a Smart911 profile attached to it, and he is hoping to increase that number to improve on response times.
When it comes to emergency services, time is critical, it’s crucial, and it cuts down time,” Granthum said. “It’s a good program. We just need more people to take advantage of it.”
Smart911 profiles can include directions to a home off the beaten path, floor plans, medical information, such as medicines or if someone is on oxygen, information about pets, children and tons more.
This is a great program the county is offering, and people should take advantage of it. It can also take some of the stress of having to relay information to a dispatcher off of the person calling 911 because much of the information they need is already there.
Dallas County was the first county in the state to implement the program, and people that live here should take advantage of it.
Signing up is easy. Just go to www.smart911.com, and click the sign up button.
Williams said the website takes you through the process step by step.
Online: https://www.selmatimesjournal.com/
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May 18
Montgomery Advertiser on speeding up death penalty appeals:
Alabama legislators this past week wrongly approved a bill that shortens the appeal process for people convicted of a capital crime and facing an execution.
Too much is at stake to take decisions of execution lightly. Mainly, it’s someone’s life and when the state makes the choice to kill a person, we are all responsible for that death.
Nationwide, 159 people have been exonerated from death rows since 1973, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, including six in Alabama. For every nine people executed nationally, there has been one person on death row exonerated, according to the Equal Justice Initiative. That’s quite the risk. Someone’s death is nothing to be cavalier with.
Currently, someone convicted of a capital crime can appeal the decision and also file a separate post-conviction appeal that challenges parts of the ruling. Under the proposed legislation approved, both appeals processes would run concurrently, compressing the opportunity for someone to appeal against being killed.
Advocates of the law change, known as the Fair Justice Act, argue that streamlining the appeals process spares crime victims’ families from reliving the pains of the ordeal over and over. The Attorney General’s Office noted in a release that death row inmates’ appeals average more than 15 years.
“This legislation is about justice, and justice should be fair and swift,” Attorney General Steve Marshall said in a news release. “The Fair Justice Act takes nothing away from a death row inmate in terms of the courts reviewing his case.”
Opponents, including us, fear the lawmakers’ decision increases the chance we could execute an innocent person. When a life is at risk, quickening the pace of the appeal against death is unjust. The desire for swift justice when the guilt is seemingly obvious is understandable, but getting it wrong just once is once too much.
Rep. Thomas Jackson, a Democrat from Thomasville who opposed the bill, said Alabama is trying to “speed up the process of killing people.”
Executions are more readily accepted and more readily performed in the South. The region accounts for 56 percent of the nation’s executions since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, but it hasn’t impacted the South’s homicide rate, which is the nation’s highest, according to the Equal Justice Initiative.
Seven states have abolished the death penalty since 2007, and death sentencing has dropped to 10 percent of what it was in 1998. Last year, 30 sentences were handed out compared to the 298 rulings 19 years ago.
Alabama currently has 184 death row inmates, according to the Department of Corrections. There are 179 men and five women. The state sent four inmates to death row in 2016 and another in May.
While many lawmakers are coming to grips with the fact that the death penalty isn’t a policy that prevents crime, Alabama ashamedly has proposed changes to our rules to speed up the process of killing someone.
Online: https://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/
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