Greene County Democrat

Tag: Governor Kay Ivey

  • Newswire: Alabama governor commutes death sentence of man who didn’t kill anyone

    Newswire: Alabama governor commutes death sentence of man who didn’t kill anyone

    Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey commuted on Tuesday, March 10, the death sentence of Charles “Sonny” Burton to life without parole, saying his execution, which was set for Thursday, would be “unjust.”

    In 1991, Burton was one of six men involved in the robbery of an AutoZone store in Talladega that ended with the murder of a customer, Doug Battle; Burton did not pull the trigger in the killing.

    “Doug Battle was brutally murdered by Derrick DeBruce while shopping in an auto parts store. But DeBruce was ultimately sentenced to life without parole. Charles Burton did not shoot the victim, did not direct the triggerman to shoot the victim and had already left the store by the time the shooting occurred. Yet Mr. Burton was set to be executed while DeBruce was allowed to live out his life in prison,” Ivey said in a statement.

    “I cannot proceed in good conscience with the execution of Mr. Burton under such disparate circumstances. I believe it would be unjust for one participant in this crime to be executed while the participant who pulled the trigger was not,” she said.

    Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall expressed disappointment in a statement first to NBC News. “There has never been any doubt that Sonny Burton has Douglas Battle’s blood on his hands,” he said.

    “Burton does not deserve special treatment because he is old — he could have been executed a long time ago, but like many death-row inmates, he chose to drag out his case through endless frivolous appeals. I firmly believe that he should have faced the punishment imposed by a jury of his peers and upheld by numerous judges,” he said.

    Burton admits to entering the store armed with a gun. He said he stole cash from a safe in the back room, then fled outside to wait by a getaway car.

    Inside the store, one of his accomplices, Derrick DeBruce, shot Battle, 34, in the back, killing him. The state acknowledged this fact in its response to Burton’s application for a stay of execution from the U.S. Supreme Court.

    Burton’s death sentence was possible because of a legal doctrine known as felony murder, which allows prosecutors to treat anyone involved in certain felonies, such as robbery or burglary, equally responsible for a killing that occurs during the crime, even if they did not commit the act themselves.

    In a phone interview earlier this month from William C. Holman Correctional Facility, the site of the state’s execution chamber, Burton told NBC News he had no idea Battle’s murder was going to happen.

    “I didn’t assist nobody. I didn’t aid nobody. I didn’t tell nobody to shoot nobody,” he said.

    Ivey had faced a growing chorus of voices asking for mercy for Burton, 75, including the victim’s daughter, who published an op-ed in the Montgomery Advertiser urging Ivey to spare his life.

    Burton expressed gratitude to NBC News for that show of support.

    “She forgave me, and I want to say how much I appreciated that,” he said. “She lifts a whole lot of guilt off me.”

    Burton’s family and legal team expressed their gratitude in a statement from federal defender Matt Schulz, who represented Burton for nearly two decades.

    “Governor Ivey’s decision is to be applauded, as it demonstrates measured, responsible, and respectable leadership. Though a ‘thank you’ indeed falls short of the level of gratitude the parties wish to express, Sonny Burton, his family, his friends, his legal team, and all those who have supported Sonny’s request for clemency thank you, Governor Ivey,” said Schulz.

    Schulz also shared a statement from Burton to Ivey. “Just saying thank you doesn’t seem like much. But it’s what I can give her. And I do thank her. Thank you, Governor,” said Burton.

    Burton would have been the ninth person to be executed by nitrogen gas — a method first carried out in Alabama in 2024. He is only the second person to have his death sentence commuted by Ivey. 

  • Newswire : Alabama students, professors appeal ruling in lawsuit challenging anti-DEI law

    Flowers on campus

    By Chance Phillips, Alabama Political Reporters

    On Monday, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the American Civil Liberties Union filed an appeal in a lawsuit challenging the anti DEI law SB129 on behalf of college students and instructors at Alabama’s public universities.
    In a press release, ACLU of Alabama Legal Director Alison Mollman called the appeal a “necessary next step to ensuring that the constitutional rights of all professors and students are protected in Alabama.”
    Filed last January, the lawsuit alleges that SB129 is an unconstitutional infringement on Alabamians’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.
    “SB 129 unconstitutionally abridges the First Amendment right of the students to receive information and the right of the professors to disseminate ideas without undue imposition of governmental viewpoints,” the original complaint asserts. “SB 129 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it was enacted with intent to discriminate against Black professors and students, and those who ally with them.”
    APR reported earlier this year that documents submitted as evidence in the lawsuit showed professors concerned that their classes would be effectively banned by SB129 and describing a general “pall of distrust, anxiety, and fear.”
    “As a senior, I have watched our campus change overnight, as students are afraid to speak, opportunities for thoughtful engagement have disappeared, and students’ shared sense of belonging has eroded,” Sydney Testman, a student at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, stated. “With this appeal, we hope the courts will recognize the real and lasting damage that SB 129 has caused to me, my classmates, and my professors.”
    Before SB129 was enacted, Testman was the finance coordinator for UAB’s Social Justice Advocacy Council, which had received funding from the university that was terminated after UAB and other public universities closed their offices meant to encourage and help students who are members of minority groups.

    Signed by Governor Kay Ivey during the 2024 legislative session, SB129 formally prohibits state agencies and public universities from sponsoring diversity, equity and inclusion programs or requiring individuals to “personally affirm, adopt, or adhere to a divisive concept.”
    In August, a federal district court judge denied the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction against SB129’s enforcement. He wrote that the University of Alabama Board of Trustees “clearly has an interest in regulating the type of classroom indoctrination forbidden by SB 129” and referred to the current Trump administration’s stance on “preferential treatment based on race.”
    Requesting the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit approve a preliminary injunction, the appeal filed earlier this week charges that the district court judge “committed an abuse of discretion” by ruling that the students and the Alabama NAACP lacked standing, which contributed to the denial of the request for an injunction.
    It also challenges claims that SB129 is not unconstitutionally vague and that professors’ speech affected by SB129 is not protected by the First Amendment.
    “The law continues to censor classrooms, restrict student expression, and disproportionately harm Black and LGBTQ+ students,” Legal Defense Fund Senior Counsel Antonio Ingram wrote. “We will continue to challenge SB 129 because every student in Alabama deserves an accurate, high-quality education free from discrimination, fear, or undue interference from politicians.”

  • Newswire: United Auto Workers lose union election at Mercedes by 597 votes

    UAW President, Sean Fain, surrounded by Mercedes workers at union headquarters discusses election

    By Chance Phillips, Alabama Political Reporter

    The final count in the week-long union election at the Mercedes factory in Vance was 2,642 against unionizing versus 2,045 in favor. 51 ballots were challenged and not counted and 5 ballots were void. The election still has to be certified by the National Labor Relations Board, but it is very unlikely that this process will not change the results.
    Speaking at the UAW Local 112 headquarters in Coaling, UAW President Shawn Fain said “these courageous workers reached out to us because they wanted justice. They led this fight.”
    Fain remained optimistic about the union’s prospects and its momentum as it tries to organize workers in the South. “We’ll be back in Vance,” he said. “I assured the company of that before I walked out the door and shook their hands.”
    Today’s loss for the UAW follows what Mercedes employee Brett Garrand described as “a constant brow beating of anti-union campaigns” by Mercedes, the Business Council of Alabama, and Alabama politicians.
    Alabama Secretary of Commerce Ellen McNair promised in January that “led by Governor Kay Ivey and backed by the Business Council of Alabama (BCA) and other key players in Alabama’s business community, we’re going to fight the United Auto Workers.”
    Gov. Ivey and several other prominent state politicians released anti-union statements regularly during the four-month campaign. During a speech about signing SB231, which heavily penalizes the voluntary recognition of labor unions, Ivey said she wants “to ensure that Alabama values, not Detroit values, continue to define the future of this great state.”
    The Business Council of Alabama conducted the Alabama Strong campaign, which ran anti-union advertisements online and on local television channels.
    Mercedes itself also engaged in many practices union supporters have called oppressive. Workers were required to sit through daily mandatory meetings and watch anti-union videos. Flyers posted around the plants read “if you don’t want a union, vote no,” or simply “vote no.”
    The National Labor Relations Board is currently investigating six unfair labor practice charges filed by the UAW against Mercedes. On May 16, Germany’s Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Export Control announced that it is also investigating Mercedes for anti-union behavior that may have broken German law.
    In a statement, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler called the anti-union behavior by Mercedes and Gov. Ivey “part of a long oppressive history in the South, from slavery to Jim Crow ‘right to work’ laws to prison labor.”
    One of the major contributors to today’s loss is likely Mercedes’ replacement of its unpopular plant CEO, Michael Göbel, with then-vice president of operations Federico Kochlowski. In the lead up to and during the election week, Mercedes employees were implored to give Kochlowski a chance by voting no.
    While the loss for the UAW today is a major setback for the union, it is not necessarily a death knell for Mercedes workers’ hopes of unionizing. On Thursday, Garrard pointed to “Volkswagen winning their union after three tries.” In 2014, the vote at the Chattanooga plant was 712 against, 626 for, and in 2019, the vote was 833 against, 776 for. But in April, Volkswagen workers overwhelmingly voted to join the UAW with 2,628 in favor and only 985 opposed.
    One pro-union Mercedes worker, Robert Lett, optimistically proclaimed on Wednesday that “Mercedes is going to be unionized, it doesn’t matter if it’s Friday or in the future.” Before the results began to come in, Rick Webster, who works doing final fit and finish for Mercedes, confidently stated that he “would definitely try again” if needed.

    With an ongoing two year, $40 million campaign by the United Auto Workers to organize Southern workers, pro-union workers at Mercedes and other Southern auto plants will likely continue to try to organize and build support for unionization in the coming months and years. The next UAW union election target is the Hyundai plant in Montgomery, Alabama,
    In a press release responding to the election results, Mercedes stated that “we look forward to continuing to work directly with our Team Members to ensure MBUSI is not only their employer of choice, but a place they would recommend to friends and family.”

    What UAW needed at Mercedes and must have in Hyundai

    Pat Bryant

     

    News Analysis by: Pat Bryant

    Rev. James Orange, the late powerful civil rights and labor leader often said labor unions need to make a real investment in Black people in the South to win. The UAW win at VW in Chattanooga, Tn and the UAW loss at Mercedes near Tuscaloosa clearly point to the need for upsized investments of money and other resources in the UAW fight to represent auto workers at Hyundai Montgomery and other southern auto factories. Rev. Orange’s words speak loudly from the grave.
    While the UAW did not win the election, the union is likely to raise wages somewhat, and make a few concessions they promised if workers rejected the union.
    Rev. Orange was a dynamo who would coral leaders in churches, civil rights groups and organizations in communities to support union organizing. Communities trusted Rev. Orange who began as young leader in Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
    Where are the trusted UAW leaders now who can influence workers and communities.
    The UAW overwhelming victory at the VW factory in Tennessee was due largely to UAW success in the Big Three strike (Ford, General Motors, Stellantis [formerly Chyrsler]}. Striking workers got a whopping 25 percent wage increase plus benefits. That win created a desire bynon-union workers at foreign auto makers to get more. Tennessee was the first vote, an enthusiastic victory.
    But then came Alabama. The anti-union challenge of six southern governors to renewed southern UAW organizing, didn’t work in Tennessee, but was powerful with Governor Kay Ivey giving the signal for Mercedes to stop the union drive the old southern way. Fear, intimidation, and firing, the capital punishment for workers were all used, and were effective. Pro-worker literature in non-work areas was seized. The whole array of Chamber of Commerce, religious and social leaders weighed in against the union drive.
    Mercedes held captive audience employee meetings where they blasted the UAW with misrepresentations and inuendo. Across the region there was chorus of “don’t vote union. The company will leave and you will loose this good job.” Right to work and the southern labor discount is still effective.
    Mercedes Benz spokespersons denied violating workers rights. The vote was 2045 or 44 percent of workers for the UAW and 2,642 or 56 percent against.
    That was not unusual. But what was unusual was the absence of a more visible campaign from Alabama’s justice communities, labor, civil rights, youth, religious and progressive community groups. The UAW is very sensitive to efforts that might turn off white and conservative Black voters. Rev. Orange and former White labor leader C.P. Ellis, a former Klansman, were experts at speaking clearly to white and black workers while not turning off the other.
    Workers facing the union challenge need the support of community and family. Church rallies, not used in the Tuscaloosa area, would be very effective in influencing Montgomery workers. The Hyundai plant is located in Montgomery County and draws its workforce from surrounding Black Belt Counties. House calls, visits to workers’ homes are a must for union wins. Accounts of these fights in Black media is a must. Black Belt counties in the South face the worst repression by politicians and business leaders.
    Don’t be fooled, the Hyundai Company cracks the whip but denies wrongdoing. There are allegations and complaints of Black workers being required to say “Master” when referring to a White supervisor. The firing of the highest ranked Black person, Yvette Gilkey-Shuford, and calling the firing a restructuring. Allegations are that the most dangerous jobs on the assembly lines are populated by Blacks. That is the Hyundai story.
    Important to the Hyundai story is how the UAW is able to assemble an array of community based fighters including Alabama labor unions, progressive churches, civil rights groups, women’s organizations. And important is the amount of dollars the United Auto Workers will invest in their fight.

    *Pat Bryant is a retired urban planner, community organizer, singer, poet, journalist who has been active in southern justice fights for sixty plus years.

  • Newswire : Community events held to overcome political opposition to union election for UAW representation at Mercedes Benz plant in Vance, Alabama set for May 13-17

     

    Rally held in Tuscaloosa in support of Mercedes Benz workers

     

    By Pat Bryant
    A big battle between workers at Mercedes Benz Vance plant near Tuscaloosa, Ala and its German employer is about to come to a head. Voting begins on whether workers will be represented by the United Auto Worker (UAW) on May 13 through 17 and results will be announced May 17 by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). UAW has been on a roll. Southern worker oppression, tough and unapologetic, seems crumbling. A rather festive weekend of worker support events attracted community supporters in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.
    The United Auto Workers has filed a complaint with the NLRB of illegal company captive employee meetings and firing of workers who are advocating for unionization. Spokesman for Mercedes denies those allegations. This union battle follows a massive win of workers at the Tennessee Volkswagen plant, another German auto giant in which workers chose the United Auto Workers by a landslide. In Alabama, the main issue is pay and use of “temp workers”. A company spokesperson would not comment on pay structure.
    Unionizing workers catch more hell in the South with elected leaders promising industrialists to provide docile workers in anti-union environments, nearly free land and no or low property taxes, and companies sometime keep state withholding taxes.
    But feeling the power grip over workers slipping Governor Kay Ivey spoke in the media to company officials: “you need to fix this” referring to the system of threats and intimidation unique in the South. Alabama is a right to work state. That means every attempt of workers to organize is met with crushing company and government opposition. Employers can use the capital punishment for workers—firing—with no recourse. Workplaces that have unions provide a level of protection against unreasonable employer actions complained of at Mercedes Benz. Conversations with workers and community leaders show excitement and anticipation.
    Several Democratic Party leaders came to support workers in weekend events in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa. The festive events with barbeque, music, and gelato in toasty heat. Former U.S. Senator Doug Jones, Alabama Democratic Party assistant chairperson Tabitha Isner, Birmingham’s Joshua Raby, the party Disability Chair were among many others that mixed with community leaders supporting workers.
    Senator Jones said he was expecting as big a landslide in Alabama as at the Volkswagen vote in Tennessee.
    Austin Brooks, an employee has been at the plant two years was excited. But Brooks says workers are frightened to the extent that many will not take a union flyer. Austin says employees are temps for a year, and if they don’t rub anybody the wrong may become permanent.
    10 year employee Jacob Rines, was a temp worker at Mercedes for 5 years 2 months and 19 days before he was hired full-time. The six foot six husky guy may have rubbed someone the wrong way. The present campaign is his second time supporting unions at the factory. The rapid pace that workers have signed cards to unionize, he says, is amazing. He contributes worker excitement to the Big Three Automakers, GM, Ford, and Chrysler, contracting last year with United Auto Workers in a big 25 percent and higher pay raise. “It is proving that with a union we can win and get our fair share of representation”, Rine said.
    Dr. Pam Foster, a medical doctor and medical school professor, said she is excited about the “possibilities of a union victory in Alabama”. She is a Alabama leader in the Poor People’s Campaign that will bring its leader the Rev. Dr. William Barber to Mercedes’ Vance factory on May 13th, the day voting begins. Barber’s presence will certainly boost a vote for unionization.
    The South’s continued history of slavery, division and oppression of workers, is on the line. Tennessee, Alabama, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina, and Mississippi governors released a joint letter recently urging their followers to hold the line and not allow United Auto Workers to win at Volkswagen, Mercedes and other southern plants. That did not work in Tennessee.
    Now local chambers of commerce, some elected and appointed officials are busy trying to hold the line, reportedly through fear and intimidation tactics. There are anit-worker videos and ads on television outlets, radio stations, Facebook, Instagram and newspapers. State and company pressure for a no vote is on.
    Former crimson tide and NFL cornerback Antonio Langham was at a rally held at Tuscaloosa’s Christian Community Church and encouraged workers. Langham said NFL players got better health care because of the NFL Players Association fighting for workers against team owners. With the UAW, workers can do the same, he said.
    No one that this writer met in a two-day swing through Alabama seemed to know much about Mercedes Benz history. The company has unions in its German factories. Its existence in Alabama seems contingent on keeping an anti-union environment.
    The company seems to have decided to go along with the South’s program. Fear in the workplace is an example. The company has a history of going along with the program.
    When Hitler rose to power in 1932 Mercedes factories had 6,000 plus employees. As Hitler made war in Europe Germany’s troops captured hundreds of thousands of Jews and others. 60,000 became slaves in Mercedes factories. The auto giant had 68,000 plus workers by the end of WWII. The company apologized in the 1980’s and paid a small $12 million reparations to its victims. The company did not respond to questions about its WWII history.
    *Pat Bryant is a long time southern poet, community organizer, and journalist reporting and writing about the southern civil rights and human rights movement

  • County Commission requests State Attorney General’s opinion on Coroner’s salary and expense adjustments

    The Greene County Commission met in regular session, Monday, March11 with all commissioners present. The body approved the previous minutes, agenda, financial report and payment of claims as presented by CSFO Mac Underwood in the work session held Wednesday, March 6, 2024.
    The first item of new business, approved by the commission, (with an abstention by Commissioner Tennyson Smith) was a resolution requesting the State Attorney General’s opinion regarding the Coroner’s (Ronald Kent Smith) salary and expenses allowance as indicated in a Local Legislative Act approved and signed by Governor Kay Ivey in March 2020. This Act authorizes the Greene County Commission to provide for the compensation and expense allowance of the coroner including expenses for the operation of the office of coroner and to repeal Section 45-32-60.01 of the Code of Alabama 1975.
    The Act passed in 2020 states: “The Greene County Commission may provide the Coroner of Greene County with additional expense allowance and compensation or salary. The county commission may provide for any expense allowance granted to the Coroner by this Act or otherwise to convert to salary effective beginning the next term of office of the coroner.”
    Greene County Coroner, Ronald K. Smith, began a new term of office in 2022. Mr. Smith indicated his salary and expenses allowance should have been adjusted at that time. He said he has approached the commission numerous times regarding an adjustment in pay,
    In other business the commission acted on the following:
    * Approved ABC License for Greene County Entertainment, with four commissioners voting for and Commission Chairperson Corey Cockrell voting against.
    * Approved Drug and Alcohol Abuse Policy.
    Approved travel for Board of Registrars and Assistant Engineer
    The financial report for February 2024 was as follows: Accounts Payable -$725,439.09; Payroll Transfer – $289,883.73; Fiduciary – $721,162.61; Total $1,736,485.43. Electronic Claims paid January, 2024 totaled $52,678.19. Unrestricted Funds in Citizen Trust Bank totaled $3,474,352.09. Restricted Funds in Citizen Trust Bank Totaled $4,760,130.74. Unrestricted Funds in Merchants & Farmers Bank totaled $2,900,862.04. Restricted Funds in Merchants & Farmers Bank totaled $1,467,507.61. Total investments reported as $894,295.60.

  • Newswire : Allegations of modern-day slavery emerge as Alabama inmates sue state officials and corporations

    By Stacy M. Brown
    NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent

    A group of current and former Alabama prisoners have filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that they were trapped in a “modern-day form of slavery” by being forced to work at fast-food chains for meager or no compensation. The comprehensive 129-page complaint, seeking class-action status, contends that the prisoners were victims of a “convict leasing” system, compelling them to work under exploitative conditions while the state of Alabama and its corporate partners reaped substantial profits.

    The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama and first reported by the website Law & Crime, implicates over two dozen state officials, including Governor Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall, alongside numerous government agencies and private employers, including the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC). The plaintiffs argue that these entities have violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

    The complaint notes that while 26.8% of Alabama’s population identifies as Black or African American, double that percentage constitutes the Black incarcerated population. Drawing historical parallels, the group compares the alleged labor-trafficking scheme to the enslavement of individuals in Alabama’s cotton fields and subsequent sharecropping and convict leasing practices post-Civil War.

    In a video statement, jailed activist Robert Earl Council, also known as Kinetik Justice, asserts that Alabama’s work programs are a continuation of pre-Civil War slavery. He accuses corporations and fast-food companies involved in these programs as complicit “slave masters,” condemning their participation in the exploitation.

    The complaint alleges that Alabama generates an annual $450 million from forced labor, with inmates compelled to work against their will. At the same time, the ADOC claims 40% of gross earnings purportedly for the cost of incarceration. In a recent finding, the U.S. Department of Justice announced significant deficiencies in ADOC facilities, prompting a 2020 lawsuit against Alabama, citing widespread violence among prisoners and guards.

    Individual plaintiff stories further underscore the harsh realities. Lakiera Walker, incarcerated from 2007 to 2023, recounted years of uncompensated work, including housekeeping, floor stripping, and employment at Burger King for a paltry $2 per day. Walker details enduring sexual harassment, being forced to work while unwell, and the intimidation preventing many women from speaking out.

    The lawsuit contends that the work programs create a paradoxical situation where inmates are denied parole for public safety reasons while simultaneously working without supervision at local businesses. The plaintiffs demand justice for what they describe as forced labor and aim to expose and rectify systemic exploitation within Alabama’s prison system.

  • City of Eutaw receives $5.6 million for water and sewer improvements, first installment of a multiyear commitment to update Eutaw-Boligee joint system

    Shown L to R: Greene Commission Chairman Corey Cockrell, Mayor of Boligee Hattie Samuels, Mayor of Eutaw Latasha Johnson, Councilwoman Valerie Watkins, Corey Martin, City of Eutaw Water Operator, and Pro Tem James Morrow

    On Friday, December 2, 2022, the City of Eutaw held a press conference to announce receipt of grant of $5.6 million, $2.6 for drinking water and $3 million for sewage, from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) State Revolving Loan Fund.

    This will allow the City of Eutaw to proceed with water and wastewater system improvements for the unified Eutaw and Boligee water and wastewater systems.

    This funding, which is a grant with no matching fund requirements, was made possible with funding from the Biden Administration initiatives,
    American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Congresswoman Terri Sewell was instrumental in urging the state to use these Federal funds to benefit projects in the rural Black Belt counties within her Congressional District. Sewell was the only member of the Alabama delegation that voted in favor of this legislation in the past year.

    The $5.6 million is the first installment of additional funding to be provided over the next three to five years for improvement of the joint Eutaw and Boligee water and sewage systems. This system also provides services to the Crossroads of America Industrial Park at Boligee.

    Mayor Latasha Johnson expressed thanks to the many persons and agencies that made the project possible including Congresswoman Terri Sewell, John Laney and Jim Graciano of ADEM and project engineer, Angela Henline of Cassidy Company in Tuscaloosa, who will be designing the project.

    Corey Martin, City of Eutaw Water Operator, said, “The first part of the project will be to renovate and replace six lift stations which move sewage back to the lagoon in Eutaw. The second priority involves bringing the Boligee water tower back on line to relieve water quality and pressure issues. We do not know all the problems with the system and how they will be addressed until our engineer makes her official assessment and design plans for repairs.”

    Mayor Hattie Samuels of Boligee, commented, “The Town of Boligee
    Local funds were being drained to make constant repairs in the water and sewage systems. This is truly a blessing – to receive these grant funds to give our residents a better quality of life.”

    Mayor Samuels read from a statement sent by Congresswoman Terri Sewell, which said,” This is GREAT news! For too long, Alabama’s rural communities have suffered from failing wastewater systems that have put the health and well-being of our residents at risk.

    “Access to clean water and adequate wastewater infrastructure is a basic human right, and thus funding for the City of Eutaw will be instrumental as we work to end this crisis.

    “I am proud to have voted I favor of both the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the American Rescue Plan, which made these grants possible. I will continue to fight for more of these critical investments across Alabama’s 7th Congressional District.”

    Governor Kay Ivey sent a message, which was read Greene County Commission Chair, Corey Cockrell, stating “In Alabama, we believe in helping our neighbors, and that exactly what the city of Eutaw and the city of Boligee are doing here. I’m proud to see both cities come together and strike a mutually beneficial compromise that will go a long way to improving the quality of life for the residents of each community.”

  • When White people get a cold, Black people get pneumonia SOS holds press conference at Alabama State Capitol steps to highlight health disparities and advocate for immediate expansion of Medicaid

    Montgomery, AL: The Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy (SOS), held a witness and press conference on the steps of the Alabama State Capitol, on Tuesday, April 14, 2020. The witness by SOS leaders, standing six feet apart, was to highlight the disparities in health impacts for Black and other minority communities caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
    SOS advocated to Governor Kay Ivey and state leaders to immediately expand Medicaid to provide insurance coverage to over 340,000 working people in the state of Alabama as a meaningful response to the corona virus pandemic.
    SOS also urged state and local leaders to release all non-violent offenders in prison and persons held in jails for failure to make bail, as a humanitarian response to the coronavirus pandemic since adequate social distancing is not possible for incarcerated people in Alabama’s overcrowded prisons.
    Attorney and former Alabama State Senator Hank Sanders said: “Unfortunately, the reality is that when White people get colds in our society, Black people and other Minorities get pneumonia. The coronavirus has shined a blinding light on this longstanding reality. Because the coronavirus is much more contagious and deadly than pneumonia, Black people and Minorities are at much greater risks from the coronavirus. The time to address these inequities and disparities is now.”
    Community Advocate Karen Jones said: “The statistics are overwhelming in showing the greater and deadlier impact on Black and other minority communities when it comes to the coronavirus. The statistics for today from the Alabama Department of Public Health show that 43% of the 3,800 people who have tested positive for coronavirus are Black and that 53% of the 99 deaths attributed to the virus are Black. This is in a state where 25% of the population overall is Black. These are cold, hard facts. This is an opportunity not only to act to save lives now – but also to save lives in the future. Alabama must seize this opportunity now and expand Medicaid.”
    Attorney and Civil Rights Advocate Faya Toure said: “Black and other Minorities are hit by the quintuple whammies of: (1) poverty; (2) lack of health care and access to care due in large part to the failure to expand Medicaid in states that have greater Black and Minority populations; (3) difficulty in securing health insurance due to cost and jobs that do not provide health care; (4) jobs that expose them to greater risk of contacting the coronavirus; and (5) closer living spaces, whether that is in the home, the community or in our prisons and jails.”
    Founder of the World Conference of Mayors and former Tuskegee Mayor and State Representative Johnny Ford said: “The United States is testing fewer than one percent of our population, and Alabama is testing at an even lower rate. Alabama is also testing at the lowest rate in Black and other Minority communities.
    In fact, the Alabama Department of Public Health has only held one day of very limited testing in two Black Belt counties Bullock County on April 3rd and Lowndes County on April 7th – out of 18 Alabama Black Belt counties. ADPH limited testing to people (1) who are symptomatic with either a fever, cough or shortness of breath and (2) who also are immune-compromised or have comorbidity, 65 years or older, a healthcare worker or associated with a long-term healthcare facility. That was it for the Black Belt. That must change NOW.”
    SOS Health Care Committee co-chair and Chair of the Greene County Health System John Zippert said: “The State of Alabama and the federal government must direct resources to the communities where the greater likelihood of death and serious illness exist. This includes testing, medical care, data collection and more. And by testing, we mean mass testing because that is the only way to detect and prevent mass spread of this virus. We cannot get ahead of the virus until we begin mass testing.”
    Zippert also said, “Gov. Ivey must immediately expand Medicaid coverage to the working poor, up to 138% of the poverty level, to help insure that more small rural hospitals will be able to remain open in the state to serve people during and after the pandemic. Most rural hospitals in the state are running at a financial deficit because they are serving people who would otherwise be covered by insurance secured through Medicaid expansion.”
    Law Professor Emerita Martha Morgan added that data from a Pew Charitable Trusts report released yesterday had very disturbing findings, including: “It looks increasingly likely the South will endure more death and economic loss from COVID-19 than any other region in the country – and not just because Southern governors were slow to shut down businesses and order people to stay at home. Southern poverty rates are high, social welfare programs spotty and health care infrastructure threadbare.
    Last year, 120 rural U.S. hospitals closed their doors; 75 of them were in the South. And emerging data from some cities and states shows that Black people – more than half of whom live in the South – are contracting and dying from the virus at a disproportionately high rate.”
    For more information on the work of the Save Ourselves Movement for Justice and Democracy, visit http://www.saveourselvesmovement@gmail.com.

  • School board holds emergency meeting, confirming plans to provide for students during virus epidemic

    Robert Brown Middle School personnel review instructional packets for students. Shown L to R: Principal Owens, 4th Grade Teacher, Annie Howard and Assistant Principal Harris.
    Child Nutrition Program personnel distribute meals for students outside Robert Brown Middle School.
    CNP school personnel gather meals packaged for distribution from Robert Brown Middle School.
    LaTonya Fowler, Board’s Central Office personnel, assists in distributing food packets to children.

    The Greene County Board of Education held an emergency meeting, Thursday, March 19, 2020, to consider resolutions joining the state and federal government in declaring an emergency due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus epidemic. The resolutions authorized the school superintendent to take all actions, including the provision of food for schools children and instructional materials consistent with the declared emergency and the needs of the Greene County Board of Education during this emergency from March 19, 2020 until further notice.
    The resolutions adopted by the board also declare that schools are closed in compliance with Governor Kay Ivey’s order until further notice and the March 24, 2020 scheduled meeting of the board is also cancelled.
    In his update to the board, Superintendent Dr. Corey Jones stated that during Spring break week of March 16, all school facilities were given a thorough cleaning and sanitizing stations were set up in classroom and hallways for the future return of students and personnel.
    According to Dr. Jones, the school system will provide two meals per day for all students in the duration of the school shutdown. He indicated that USDA has authorized the school system to operate the food distribution comparable to the Summer Feeding Program which allows meals to be served to youth ages 1-18.
    In compliance with Superintendent Jones guidance, each school has instituted plans for delivering food and instructional materials to students. In the food program, students are provided two meals each day with distributions scheduled for Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Parents may drive to the schools for meals and some meals will be delivered to various designated venues in the community. The detailed delivery schedule is listed in this newspaper as well as on the school’s web site and other relevant social media.
    For Greene County High School students, the majority of teachers sent enrichment activities via email or Google Classroom. A few teachers prepared instructional packets which were delivered on Monday.
    Eutaw Primary School delivered instructional packets on Monday and Tuesday. Robert Brown Middle School had packets available for parents to pick up on Wednesday. Instructional packets can be delivered in any situation where parents are not able to come to the school.
    Dr. Jones informed the board that the system will continue its financial obligations. Payroll and bills will be paid in a timely manner. Personnel not on direct deposit plans will have paychecks sent through postal mail. “Traditional business of the school system will be handled as efficiently as possible,” Jones stated. He clarified that usual bid laws can be suspended regarding emergency purchases.
    Superintendent Jones indicated that no determination can be made at this time as to meeting schedules for particular school activities such as prom and graduation. “We just don’t know how long this medical emergency will last. I urged our community to take every precaution to keep safe and avoid contracting the virus.”

  • Groundbreaking held for Love’s Travel Center at Interstate 20/59 Exit 40 Eutaw

    Officials participating in groundbreaking (L. to R.): Kenneth Boswell (ADECA), Rep. Ralph Howard. Senator Bobby Singleton, Eutaw Mayor Raymond Steele, Governor Kay Ivey, Congresswoman Terri Sewell, Jenny Love Meyer, Rep. A. J. McCampbell, Bill Gleason (Love’s), Eutaw Council members Joe Lee Powell, Sheila H. Smith, Bennie Abrams, LaJeffrey Carpenter, and Danny Cooper (GCIDA)

    On Monday, October 15, 2018, a groundbreaking was held for a Love’s Travel Center and Country Store, near the location of the new business on the Southside of the Interstate 20/59 Exit 40 on Highway 14 coming into the City of Eutaw.The mid-morning groundbreaking was attended by Congresswoman Terri Sewell, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, Legislative delegation members, Senator Bobby Singleton, Rep. A. J. McCampbell and Rep. Ralph Howard, members of the Eutaw City Council, Greene County Commission and other state and local agencies involved as well as Jenny Love Meyer and William “Bill “ Gleason representing the Love’s corporation. The new $12.5 million travel stop will be built on a 13.9-acre site and is expected to bring an estimated 43 jobs to the area with a projected 1,000 trucks per day. The new Love’s will be one of the largest Love’s sites in Alabama and will include a Hardee’s, Godfather’s Pizza, and Chester’s Chicken. The Eutaw location will also consist of 96 parking spaces for professional drivers, with the possibility of future expansion for more parking spaces. Councilman Joe Lee Powell welcomed the over 250 people assembled for the groundbreaking ceremony by stating, “You are welcome in Eutaw the Gateway to the Alabama Black Belt.” Rev. John Hodges, Pastor of the Saint Mathew Baptist Church in Boligee gave the invocation. Congresswoman Terri Sewell thanked all the groups and agencies present for their contributions to make the project a success. “We thank Love’s for bringing jobs to the Alabama Black Belt where they are greatly needed. We can assure you that people are our greatest asset – their strength, their intellect and their heart, which will become part of this project.” State Senator Bobby Singleton said, “this is a great day for Eutaw and Greene County. This project is a gamechanger that will bring new jobs and open opportunities for other development and jobs.” State Representatives A. J. McCampbell and Ralph Howard, who represent Greene County, echoed these same sentiments. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said, “This is an exciting day for this county, when Greene County wins, Alabama wins.” She reviewed her success in bring 16,000 jobs to Alabama since she became Governor. “We are working to make groundbreakings like this an everyday occurrence in Alabama. We know that Love’s has 14 locations in Alabama, especially in rural locations like this one. We wish them success in providing drivers a quality and safe place to rest and refuel,” she said. Jenny Love Meyer speaking for the Love’s Company said, “This will be one of 470 locations around the nation that will bear our family name. We started in Oklahoma to build clean and friendly places for truckers and other travelers. We know this new location will live up to our company’s mission and vision.” William ‘Bill’ Gleason, Real Estate Property Manager for Love’s, who was instrumental in finding the location, said, “ Our travel centers have no wheels under them. Once we build, we are with you to stay!” Mayor Raymond Steele thanked everyone involved in the project, including ADECA, Delta Regional Authority, USDA Rural Development Greene County Industrial Development Authority and the West Alabama Regional Planning Agency who provided funds and direction to extended sewage and other utilities to the Exit 40 site. The Mayor also thanked the Eutaw City Council, the Greene County Commission, Jamie Banks family, who sold the land for the project and many others for making the project possible. “We hope that this is just the beginning for new jobs and growth in our community. With this project, we have a chance to move forward together and open other new opportunities for the people of our area,” said Mayor Steele, before a large group of the invited dignitaries put their golden shovels in the ground to turn over the dirt symbolizing the start of the project.