World-Class Jack

Cordova Mayor Jack Scott has single-handedly done for Cordova what no one else has managed in the 152 years of the city's existence--he's brought world-class attention to the town and it's nothing to be proud of. Unless you're Jack Scott.

We have often wondered why Alabama politicians have been so fond of the phrase "world- class." They throw it around in describing just about everything--bridges, budgets, ethics reform, mathematics programs, each other and the future of Alabama. It is almost like code speak for ' I pulled that off ' and when they use it, good intentions don't figure into any part of it.

Former Governor Riley was especially fond of saying this: "Ladies and gentlemen, the future is going to be exciting to watch, what will happen in Alabama is going to be a world-class movement of exciting changes."

Governor Riley doesn't know Jack Scott.

Cordova's Mayor Scott probably never thought, in his wildest dreams, that "world-class" and Cordova would have appeared together in anything, even on a hedged bet. He does seem to fancy gambling in some way because his obstinate, bull-headed, stuck in the 1950s way of viewing the world didn't go away with the initial outrage to his decision in banning FEMA trailers. Instead, he responded by doubling down, called the opposition and went out in public and showed the iron fist of who he really is to the world.

It was a bad bet.

Eyes all around the globe have watched the news clips of a town hall meeting in little Cordova. They got an up close view of the hard as nails Scott, a man seemingly devoid of the basic human capacity to feel empathy and one measly ounce of compassion for those he is charged with leading--his twice over tornado ravaged citizens.

The world does not like what it sees and Jack didn't count on all of this attention.

But he isn't moved one bit. He's dug in and hunkered down in his grand house of shame--proud of the I don't give a damn what anybody thinks walls that surround him.

And he's done talking about the whole thing.

Joe Johns Show CNN Newsroom May 30th:

We would love to talk to you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Scott, we have been calling you a number of times the past couple of days. You have not yet returned our phone calls, but I invite you live here on national television to pick up a phone and call me, Brooke Baldwin here at CNN.

It seems to us that a man who claims he "wants to make Cordova better" would jump at the chance to have national and global media attention for what he claims is his excuse in disallowing the FEMA trailers--"We want young professional people to move in here to Cordova and better our town. We don't want to be a town full of run-down trailers, we want to move Cordova forward!"

He has the perfect chance to hawk little Cordova on a world stage and make himself a big deal Daddy in the process by changing his mind about the city ordinance. He just won't take that opportunity no matter who's calling.

Instead, he uses his supporters to defend him on social network pages with scripted responses that no one is reading. The main page folded in less than 72 hours of internet existence. Ol' Jack did stick his head up briefly enough to claim "Everybody has got it all wrong...they don't know both sides of the story."

That's what he said--when he was talking.

Tell us what we have wrong Jack.

But Jack has nothing else to say and he's still at the table of I'll take my odds.

And the reason he isn't showing is because he's got a side bet with big coal.

Everyone has to make sacrifices, even Jack. And he's going to make sure Jack comes out ahead even if it causes him embarrassment far and wide.

What does he have to gain if he gives in and does the right thing? What's the payoff for him in his view of the situation?

Not a single lump of coal or one ill-gotten dollar.


*Update--'Talk' is starting to reach a 'compromise'   Or maybe not.
*July 5, 2011--Reed Materials files for coal mining permit on land owned by the Cordova Industrial Board. 20 jobs predicted.
*Please link to this article if using content

 Subscribe in a reader

More Self Imposed Embarassment for Alabama--Cordova Lands at the top of the Drudge Report for Refusing FEMA Trailers

Update #1--CNN linked to ABC 33/40 news coverage "Town Won't Allow FEMA Trailers"
Update #2--Mayor Scott's pastor called into WAPI's Leland Whaley show to defend his 'brother' and claimed the Mayor worked for revitalizing Cordova. Big lie, link here
Update #3--CNN posts video story from WBMA
Update #4--The mighty Archibald weighs in
Update #5--Smoking Gun on stereotypes and Cordova in Buster 
Update #6--Finally AP and MSNBC do a mainstream media story, heavy circulation follows 
Update #7--YouTube fun with Jack from NMA TV 
Update #8--Widely read Huffington Post runs the story & Daily Mail United Kingdom

Snapshot of Drudge Report website as it appeared on May 24th 11:43 EST

The mayor of Cordova, Alabama, Jack Scott, a former coal miner, thrusts Alabama back into the national spotlight of 'oh no not again' with his refusal to allow FEMA trailers inside the city limits of the town.

Mayor Scott acknowledges that victims of the April 27th tornado outbreak are without their homes and in need of shelter until they can rebuild, but he *refuses to allow single-wide FEMA trailers to be an acceptable solution. His solution is to house storm survivors in  'Scott approved' FEMA trailer camps outside the city limits, and off of their own property.
*(YouTube link)

Scott claims he is only following a decades-old city ordinance, and admits it's been rarely enforced over the years, but he claims Cordova needs to "keep it's options open to young professionals who might want to build in Cordova," outraging his constituents who are suffering from the devastation of losing their own homes.

They're out of luck in his view and he isn't being kind about it. In a May 24th City Council meeting "tempers flared" and residents had the added misfortune to experience the full breadth ofJack Scott's black as the coal the used to mine heart.

Here's a link to the latest news story on that City Council meeting and a video below from ABC 33/40. Listen for the Mayor to bellow at least twice: "Chief Bobo put her out!"

This is the same Mayor who vacated a Comprehensive Planning agreement that would have revitalized and opened Cordova up to connections with main highway thoroughfares by constructing the proposed I-22 exchange, in favor of a strip mine operation. 

On Cordova's Main Street, the city's vision for rebirth is weighed down by the depression of vacancy and dilapidation. 

Earlier this decade, residents of Cordova, with the help of the Regional Planning Commission and the Auburn Center for Architecture and Urban Studies, drew up a comprehensive revitalization plan anticipating the impact being connected to Birmingham by the new Interstate 22.

The plan pictures a revitalized historic downtown and new neighborhoods connecting the city to the river -- a bedroom community offering riverfront greenways and a marina. 

The community viewed the plan as a chance to reverse a 40-year decline. In 1962, the town lost its dominant large employer, the Arrowhead Textile Mill. About the same time, the once plentiful jobs in underground mining began giving way to more sporadic, smaller-scale employment in strip mining.

"We built our plan on our two interstate interchanges," Randy Palmer said. "This kind of opportunity comes along once every 100 years. Now, it's at our two interchanges they are fixing to strip mine."

"We didn't put a strip pit in our long-range plan," he said.

That operation is the notorious Sheperd's Bend coal mine.

Last time we checked, living next to a coal mine wasn't necessarily a big property owner draw, but we know of stranger things that have happened.

And in Walker County, where Cordova is located, strange doesn't begin to describe the *dark history of the county that coal built and ruined. Nothing happens there without the influencer's blessings, or curse, depending on how you look at it and who you are.
*(beginning on pg 53 & NY Times story 1991)

Jack Scott is an insider and he knows how to play the familiar game of I'll get mine and yours too if I get half a chance.

Word in the community is the Mayor has his eye on some tornado damaged property for cheap.

Scott is your typical small town Alabama politician: a stubborn cuss with my way or the highway thinking plotting his bumbling course through local good ol' boy politics. These types aren't interested in making sense of forward thinking ideas that rise above their high-school-at-best level of education. Ask them and they'll tell you they are the smartest man they know without so much as a flinch of humility. They're prone to cronyism of the worst order, and crave the attention and ego stroking that they believe elected office entitles them to.

We sincerely hope that landing at the top of the widely popular Drudge Report brings 'King' Scott all the attention he doesn't want, but so richly deserves.

Maybe you'd like to get in on it too?

Cordova Mayor's Office
74 Main St, Cordova, AL 35550
(205) 483-9266 or 483-7025   Residence: (205) 483-9235 

*We'll keep this story update with any new developments. Please check back.

 Subscribe in a reader

Governor Bentley Upset With FEMA Rejection Letters

Governor Bentley pens his "Epistle to the Afflicted" version of a  FEMA rejection letter

Alabama republican and ever-stalwart man of God, Governor Dr. Dr. Bentley, thinks FEMA is being "insensitive to elderly couples in rural Alabama who have had their homes blown away” by starting out the FEMA claim response letters with the line “You have been denied.”

The good Dr. (and self-professed superior Christian) has volunteered his services for a more appropriate letter and managed to get the federal coordinator Michael Byrne to acquiesce to this nonsense:

"The agency's federal coordinating officer, Michael Byrne, has agreed to *revise the letter," Bentley said.
"The first sentence should not say you have been turned down, especially when you are hurting and you've lost everything," the governor said Friday. "That is my disagreement, but let me tell you Mike Byrne has been nothing but gracious."
Mike Byrne, FEMA's state coordinator in Alabama, said the agency would *address the governor's concerns. (Which is it? “Revise” or “address” the wording?)
Bentley, a retired doctor, advised that FEMA should adopt a better bedside manner, with a little understanding of Southern manners.
"You cannot write a letter in Washington and make that letter fit an elderly couple in rural Alabama who has had their home blown away," Bentley said. "They (the letters) can say the same thing, but you need to say it the right way."
Gov. Robert Bentley said he was worried that the letters FEMA is sending people are “too full of government jargon” and “would discourage many people from pursuing assistance.”

In other words, Bentley seems to be implying in a roundabout way, ‘You all aren’t smart enough to understand the letters. You need me to help you with this and you can cry on my shoulder, because I know you will cry from that unchristian-like government language.' 

He has asked to “personally review a rewritten version of the letters before more go out in the state.” 

Wouldn't it be a better use of his office to mobilize 'solution centers' set up with hotlines and staff that can assist residents through the process after they have received denial letters? That's what other communities have done after disasters and denials. Let him put his own FEMA money where his mouth is, Alabama has gotten a sizable amount so far.

$33 million in federal aid has poured into the state since the April 27th tornadoes, where has this money gone? If it is not reaching the people, then who is it reaching and how are they using the tens of millions? Maybe they can consider floating the folks a loan.

We don’t deny that it’s tough to go through a disaster, lose everything you have and then receive a claim rejection letter from the federal government. But it’s not a unique situation, and numerous communities in America have gone through this process and managed to deal with letters from FEMA without their governors needing to call in the psychologist (or priest depending on geographic location) at large.

Or take over the federal government's written response to claimants and inject veiled religious dogma into the matter. There's hardly a speech or public commentary that goes by where Bentley does not do this in one form or another and it's wearing thin.

This is quite the unique circumstance that our governor thinks this state deserves special kid-glove treatment and word specific government letters that are “more sensitive” to his constituents sans the perceived “complicated governmental jargon.” Is he suggesting that no one in Alabama can deal with "No" or is it simply they shouldn't have to unless it comes in a satin lined box, complete with complimentary crucifix and state republican party donation envelope, of greater sensitivity?

Here’s a link to a denial letter from FEMA to the state of Virginia that we are struggling to find "complicated and insensitive governmental jargon in." There’s the obvious disappointment in "No," but the logic behind Governor Bentley’s claims are not apparent to us. Maybe we are just too insensitive ourselves, but no other governor has ever made this kind of surreal request of FEMA before. And they shouldn't again.

It’s embarrassing and nonsensical beyond belief. And ineffectual. 
 
Who really gives two whits about the choice of word placement when action is what is needed more than anything right now? And yes, that action includes federal intervention! If southern governors and politicians continue to stick their thumbs in the eye of the federal government, a la Rick Perry of Texas, then who is really to blame when those same states desperately need federal assistance and the feds say "No?"

It is not FEMA’s job to replace everything you have. FEMA is designed, even with all of it's inherent flaws, to act as a stop gap in helping with specifically defined immediate needs, like temporary housing, food and water, etc.--the basic necessities of existence. They are not capable of making you whole, and they shouldn't be in the business of bowing to behind-the-times religious zealots disguised as governors.

Governor Bentley knows that individual claims do not have the strength to turn on the spigot of federal dollars like state agencies do. The $33 million that has already been paid to Alabama is weighted much more towards the state's requests for assistance than for individual payouts--clearly they have figured out how to deal with "No" and get their fair share and much more to follow. 

We think the state can best help these denied claimants by using the weight of the state to cut through governmental red tape and resubmit claims, with organized centers staffed with knowledgeable people, that can help guide citizens through the process. 

Anything else is grandstanding.

If Governor Bentley is seeking a leveling of the payout playing field, citizen claims catch up to state payouts, on that point alone, we stand behind him without all the other nonsense included. If however, he is seeking to score political points off the disaster, and we suspect he is, then his actions are even more troubling.

Alabama has been doing some bragging about the fact that they are "doing a better job taking care of their own" and "really don’t need the federal government to intervene." Certain radio talk show hosts and Tea Party types have been saying just that very thing, and the mantra is echoed in a recent Letter to the Editor from the Birmingham News May 19th.

You can’t have it both ways.
 
Alabama has suffered some real embarrassment in the national media and we think the governor's latest public meddling with FEMA verbiage continues us straight down that path and into the wide-open spaces of more public embarrassment.

So, rather than reaching for the well worn Kleenex box, we decided to make lemonade from the increasingly abundant lemons and have a little fun with Dr. Dr. Bentley. Laughing is easier than crying after all and it's going to be a looooong four years.

Here’s how we imagine a letter from the Governor, based on his public missteps, religion first governing, and his incredibly amateur way of speaking (complete with his favorite, overused folksy sayings), might go:

“Bentley’s Epistle to the Afflicted”

The Brothers and Sisters Who Are Hurting
555 Blown-Away Street
Deprived County, Alabama 00000

Dear Elderly Christians in Rural Alabama:

We feel your pain, but we can‘t give you any of that government money right now, and why do you want anything from the evil federal government anyway? They are nothing but a bunch of socialist liberals and we don’t need that in Alabama.  The fact that you have been denied by FEMA is really a blessing. You should be rejoicing!

The Lord God our savior said: (insert uplifting and zealous bible verse of your choice here)

Brothers and Sisters, we want to make you whole again, but you have been tried and found wanting and suffered God’s wrath! (Like you didn’t know that).  Suffering and sacrifice is not enough; God also thinks you shouldn’t get a federal handout at this time. He works in mysterious ways, don’t he?

But don’t you fret none now, because “you have a Doctor in charge of Alabama now” and he will make everything as right as rain. Well, maybe that wasn’t the best choice of words.  I’m not known for my oratorical skills, but I do love the Lord Jesus and I think you should too. And not just any Jesus, I’m talking about the righteous Christian blue-eyed Savior, because if you’re worshiping the son of the wrong God, you are not my brother and sister in Christ, maybe just a half-wit 2nd cousin or something.

And are you right with my God? Because if you aren’t than maybe that’s why your house blew away.  In Revelation, 11:19, “… there was opened the temple of God that is in heaven; and there was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant; and there followed lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.”  Sound familiar?

 "But you know what?" We really don’t need the federal government all in our business here in the great state of Alabama. If you’ll just pray with more conviction, your house and property and everything that the bad ol’ socialist liberal tornado took away (it had to be liberal because it hurt so may of you good conservative Christians) will miraculously rebuild itself. God can do anything. And so shall I despite Mike Hubbard and Bob Riley's meddling.

“Great and marvelous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the ages.” (Revelation 15:3)

I so personally approve this letter that I asked Mr. Craig Fugate to let me write it myself. That devil FEMA has been insensitive to you, offering money and then sending those straightforward rejection letters with no mention of Divine Intervention. I told Mr. Fugate that he should just send all those demon rejection letters to the pastors of your churches so he could pray with you, as you read the words “you have been denied,” words written by the Devil himself, denying you both the Kingdom of Heaven and a few dollars to rebuild your little Kingdom on Earth.

You will never be denied the Kingdom of Heaven if you just follow me and my Daddy, the Lord.  We may torment and test you for a thousand years, but just as Noah survived the Flood and Job endured his boils, you can get past a few more years of me as governor. Wait, did that come out right? Never mind, I'm low on White-out and just remember, the Rapture will come. Just not right now, and certainly not in the form of a check or any kind of compensation from Alabama or the Federal Government.  

Say “Hallelujah!”

Signed,
The Self-Anointed, Righteous, Governor of some all Alabamians
Dr. Dr. Robert Bentley

*Disclaimer--it was not our intent to harm the feelings of Christians or deride religion with this parody of a letter. We simply don't believe governing should be weighted too heavily on religious beliefs first and foremost.

 Subscribe in a reader

Birmingham Mayor and City Council Fiddle While Pratt City Languishes in Storm Debris

*Updated May 24th--Council approves kickbacks contracts

Mayor William Bell, the man who won't, without a personally enriching "incentive" first

Birmingham's mayor and city council seem content to thrill to tune of their own sniping and neglect what should be important priorities in the aftermath of the April 27 tornadoes.

Mayor William Bell and the Birmingham City Council have wasted close to a month arguing over debris removal for Pratt City and other areas in Jefferson County. Meanwhile, the federal clock on FEMA funds continues to tick away with a June 12 deadline coming up fast. After the deadline, federal assistance drops from 90% to 75%, increasing the costs to the county and state.

But there's another cost that cannot be measure so easily--the price of frustration and squalor in the Pratt City area because of this lunacy masquerading as leadership. 

Governor Bentley has told the county in not so many words to 'get their rears in gear' and commenters to Birmingham News stories about the 'council of none but themselves' have echoed the sentiment.

In a city that wrote the sheet music for the familiar tune of 'corruption, cronyism and pay-offs' we think that debris removal should begin at City Hall before moving onto Pratt City. There is simply no excuse for the inept inaction by the city leaders, unless there is something else going on that is delaying the city from reaching a consensus. 

John Archibald has a pretty good idea what it is, and it centers on Birmingham Mayor William Bell's past business connections to one of the three private firms being pushed on the council by Bell. The main sticking point for the council has to do with a little pocket change, $10 million dollars worth, that has to be paid upfront first.

In contrast, the ACOE (corps) does not require money upfront, and is more than capable of doing the job, yet still, Mayor Bell insists on his costly scheme plan being voted on and approved by a majority of the council before anything happens.

We say--Fiddlers, meet Mr. Archibald's pen:

Alabama Tornadoes: the devil in the aftermath, is in the dollars

 Subscribe in a reader