SCOTUS decisions, good things happening at Flagg
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In My Humble Opinion
Jodi McDade
I admit I got my days confused last week with the holiday on Monday so I didn’t get a column done in time to make the deadline. There were plenty of Independence Day celebrations scheduled so if you didn’t see at least one, you missed out!
So many from around the country were televised, and they were all good. But the best one I watched on TV was from “Thunder on the Mountain” from the Vulcan statue in Birmingham! I hope I can go in person next year.
I’ll go back to my column in the July 1 edition and just say the Supreme Court continued to make some, in MY opinion, good decisions. They ruled the EPA regulations on carbon emissions were not constitutional so that will help some of the further attacks on our energy requirements.
Unfortunately, they ruled to allow illegal immigrants to continue coming across our border with no restraint. They thankfully ruled in favor of upholding military reservists job security, and the individual in Texas can now sue the state to get his job back.
The issue of state law enforcement being able to arrest and prosecute people committing crimes on Indian land was ruled in favor of the law enforcement agencies. SCOTUS is still releasing opinions on other cases and will do so until the end of the month.
I made a trip to Portland, Oregon, a couple of weeks ago to stay with a granddaughter after she had her gallbladder removed, and I was SO glad to get back to small town Alabama! That city is in a wonderful area of the country, but it has become overrun by homeless tents along the sidewalks and graffiti on almost all the buildings. And, my granddaughter who has grown up out there eats some of the strangest foods I’ve ever heard of.
I also went out to eat with my son, but told him I wanted REAL food so he took me to a local place with great fried chicken. Thankfully I did not have any problems with my flights, but the planes were booked full and the ticket costs are outrageous!
More good things are happening at Flagg Mountain since the reopening of the tower. The project to run water to the mountain is one step closer with a state grant for $1 million being announced. With this added to the funding that had already been set aside and/or raised, we are just waiting for the final cost estimate from the engineers to make the next step in the process.
We have some new temporary caretakers, Randy and Luanne Anderson, while Sunny takes a break to finish another book. I’ll try to get more information on them in next week’s edition – but go up and meet them!
And, if you haven’t made a trip to Flagg Mountain lately, go when you can to see the tower and all the work that has been done. If you ever went up in the tower before, the new stairs are constructed in the same manner as the old ones, but the view from the top is even better with some of the trees thinned. Remember, First Friday on Flagg potluck dinners are held every first Friday, and it is open to the public. Just bring a dish to share, a chair to sit in, and enjoy seeing old and new friends while you enjoy good food and entertainment. Dinner is at 6 p.m.
Our economic outlook just seems to get worse, and we are having to make some choices we never thought we would have to make. This hits us in the rural areas particularly hard because we have to travel so far for basic supplies and services, plus to jobs outside of Coosa County.
Gas prices are not going to get better anytime soon since our president is now sending some of our fuel reserves to China while he goes to beg Saudi Arabia and Venezuela to produce more that we can buy from them! Two short years ago we were energy INDEPENDENT for the first time ever and were selling oil to the rest of the world. So very sad.
This past week the blame game went to several different sources – from Putin to major oil companies to the small independent gas station owners to the Republican Party. The White House just can’t admit it is THEIR fault.
We all need to continue preparing for higher food costs and the lack of supplies available because of this high cost of fuel and the lack of willing people to work. If you have a 401K or retirement fund of any kind, you are losing money daily so you need to reconsider how much money you have anticipated for the future. Many of you have never studied the period of our Great Depression so I encourage you to find OLD books to find out what it was really like.
So, maybe there will be more cheerful news to talk about next week. But until then, please continue to pray for our country – we need a revival in the worst of ways!