Recent editorials from Alabama newspapers:
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May 29
Tuscaloosa News says the NCAA should reconsider its policy on legal drug use:
Marijuana is easy to find on any college campus. College kids have been smoking pot at a pretty steady clip for decades, and that includes a substantial percentage of student-athletes.
Every year, it seems, college football players are in the news after being arrested for a small amount of pot. There’s no telling how many of these student-athletes are caught and not arrested due to an officer’s discretion. But when they are caught, no one is shocked. To many, marijuana possession is less serious than, say, public drunkenness or driving under the influence. It has happened more than a few times at the University of Alabama and resulted in no more than a slap on the player’s wrist.
People still have fun with the events of late September 2016, when UA police officers followed their noses to a parking lot on the Strip and discovered starting linebacker Tim Williams and a friend in a car where marijuana was also located. The driver told the police the pot wasn’t his, that he was just holding it for a friend — a friend named “Brandon Chicken.” Williams, who was in the passenger seat, wasn’t charged with possession. The entire situation led to a lot of laughs and not much more.
The NCAA knows that the system in place to catch drug use among student-athletes is flawed. Reportedly, players at some universities have failed multiple tests for marijuana and missed no playing time. Frankly, we don’t think that’s a big deal.
That’s why what has unfolded at Auburn University recently has shined such a bright light on the hypocrisy of our approach to drug laws and, in particular, the NCAA’s rules.
C.J. Harris of Warner Robins, Georgia, had long dreamed of playing football for Auburn. Harris had his first seizure when he was 14 and was soon diagnosed with epilepsy. He repeatedly had seizures that doctors couldn’t stop. Finally, a doctor prescribed cannabis oil in January 2017 and Harris hasn’t had a seizure since. In fact, the legal medicine worked so well it enabled Harris to have an outstanding senior year on the football field, and it appeared his dream was coming true — he was invited to join the Auburn football team as a preferred walk-on. Harris was up front with the university about his medical condition and the medicine he took to control his seizures. But his family said Auburn rescinded the offer, citing NCAA rules against marijuana use.
Now, keep in mind, the oil Harris takes has less than 0.3 percent of the psychoactive substance commonly called THC. He’s not getting high like one would while smoking a joint. He’s taking medicine that the state of Alabama legalized in 2016.
Auburn, according to a subsequent report, said the offer was withdrawn out of concern for his safety, not the cannabis oil. But that doesn’t change the NCAA’s position that Harris would be ineligible anyway, because its rules do not make an exception for the necessary use of a legal medicine. This is an absurd stance, and the NCAA should change it.
Online: http://www.tuscaloosanews.com
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May 30
Dothan Eagle says the trend of misconduct allegations against high-powered people may signal a societal shift:
In recent years, social media has become a minefield for many, particularly elected officials and aspiring politicians, whose unfiltered comments and opinions often cause tremendous backlash.
It doesn’t stop there. Just this week, Roseanne Barr sank the revival of her television show with a series of nasty tweets, particularly a racist barb directed at a former Obama Administration staffer, Valerie Jarrett.
Closer to home, Alabama’s state Republican Party is dealing with similar headaches in its own ranks. A GOP candidate for Public Service Commission was censured by the party on Wednesday because of offensive posts to his Facebook page and remarks in the media. State GOP chair Terry Lathan said the comments of the candidate, who has twice served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention, “are not condoned by the Alabama Republican Party.” The state GOP also took the drastic step of asking Alabamians not to vote for him.
That may be moot; the ostracized challenger has gained a great deal of traction and is leading the incumbent - perhaps because his name is similar to that of a highly regarded former U.S. congressman from Alabama’s 1st congressional district.
Perhaps this week’s events, coupled with the trending condemnation of high-profile men accused of sexual misconduct, signal a societal shift back in the direction of class and decency.
That would be a refreshing change.
Online: http://www.dothaneagle.com
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May 24
The Gadsden Times says there’s another quixotic legal battle brewing in Alabama:
It’s late springtime in the South, and some things never change. It’s hotter and more humid, rain showers are materializing and vanishing without rhyme, reason or warning - and Alabama is launching another quixotic legal battle against the federal government.
Attorney General Steve Marshall, joined as a plaintiff by U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, recently sued the Department of Commerce and the Census Bureau, demanding that they not count people living in the United States illegally in the 2020 Census.
Marshall contends counting those not legally in the country will cause Alabama to lose a congressional seat - those are apportioned based on Census results - and a vote in the Electoral College that decides the presidency to a state “with a larger illegal alien population.”
Brooks is known for making unbridled comments and didn’t disappoint with his contribution to the debate. He insists congressional seats “should be apportioned based on the population of American citizens, not illegal aliens,” nothing that “this is America, not the United Nations.”
The problem is, their stances defy both current procedure and case law.
The Census Bureau in its decennial snapshot of the population traditionally has counted every human being in the country, regardless of citizenship status.
Also, the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016, in Evenwel vs. Abbott, ruled that states could use the “whole population” - again, both citizens and non-citizens - to draw legislative district lines. The decision - which was unanimous; there can’t be any liberal/conservative spin to it - said the authors of both the U.S. Constitution and its Fourteenth Amendment intended that “representatives serve all residents, not just those eligible or registered to vote.”
We see multiple motivations here. The first is to rile up the conservative faithful and get them to the polls in an election whose significance far exceeds the typical presidential off-year vote. Democrats are determined to take back Congress and do battle with President Donald Trump.
The Electoral College also helps more conservative states like Alabama offset the population advantages of more urban and liberal states. The red states don’t want to see that pendulum shift a millimeter.
Plus the United States remains so polarized and equally divided politically, anything that could impact a single vote attracts the intensity of a round of Global Thermonuclear War from the 1983 film “War Games.” Seventeen states are fighting the Trump administration’s decision to add a question about citizenship status to the Census, fearing it will discourage people from responding and leave their populations under counted.
We doubt this suit, in the end, will produce anything more substantive than a few bold headlines in print or online. We’re also not naive; we figure most Alabamians won’t have an issue with the price tag as long as we’re standing strong and defending our rights against the feds.
We wish the emphasis was on doing positive things to attract people to Alabama and make other states’ Census numbers irrelevant. Instead, we’re trying to work the margins.
Online: http://www.gadsdentimes.com
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