PETA urges ban on all fishing in Alabama state parks
A threatened loggerhead sea turtle died recently after getting hooked by fishing lines twice in one week at Gulf State Park. PETA sent a letter to Alabama State Parks Director Greg Lein, requesting a fishing ban at the park. They also asked him to consider extending the ban to all state parks. PETA noted that fishing kills at least 4,600 sea turtles in U.S. coastal waters annually after they get caught in nets or are accidentally hooked on bait lines. The necropsy revealed that two fishhooks had perforated the turtle’s intestine and that a third “was anchored at the entrance to the [turtle’s] stomach.” “Gulf State Park should provide at least threatened and non-target animals with a safe haven,” says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. “PETA is asking Lein to protect all the park’s wildlife, from trout to turtles, by making fishing off-limits,” the letter continued. “Whether people like to think about it or not, fish are sentient beings, capable of feeling fear and pain—especially the pain of being hooked through their sensitive mouths, which have many nerve endings. It should be no more acceptable to harm them than it is to harm any other living, feeling beings.” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the largest animal rights organization in the world with more than 9 million members. PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. Their motto states, “Animals are not ours to experiment on, eat, wear, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way.” PETA’s letter to Lein follows.October 20, 2021 Greg Lein Director of Alabama State Parks Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Dear Mr. Lein: PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters globally, including thousands across Alabama. I’m writing to you on behalf of PETA U.S., the largest animal rights organization in the world, in response to news that a threatened loggerhead turtle recently died eight days after he had accidentally been hooked (for the second time that week) and rescued at Gulf State Park Pier. While we applaud park security and naturalists who helped rescue this turtle—two fishhooks had also perforated his small intestine and a third hook was in the entrance to his stomach—we have an urgent request to get ahead of this problem: Please ban fishing at Gulf State Park to protect turtles, fish, and other wildlife.Every year, anglers worldwide leave behind a trail of victims that includes turtles, birds, and other animals who sustain debilitating injuries after swallowing fishhooks or becoming entangled in fishing line. Wildlife rehabilitators say that abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear is one of the greatest threats to aquatic animals and makes up about 10% of all ocean litter. It damages marine habitats and entangles marine animals, leading to injury, illness, suffocation, starvation, and death. Researchers estimate that fishing kills at least 4,600 sea turtles in U.S. coastal waters annually, because they become caught in nets or hooked on bait lines. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, bycatch in fishing gear is the greatest threat to loggerhead turtles worldwide, and a 2010 study estimated that as many as 1.5 million sea turtles were caught in fisheries worldwide over an 18-year period.Whether people like to think about it or not, fish are sentient beings, capable of feeling fear and pain—especially the pain of being hooked through their sensitive mouths, which have many nerve endings. It should be no more acceptable to harm them than it is to harm any other living, feeling beings. As more information on fish sensitivity and pain receptivity has been in the news lately, yet another benefit to a ban is that fewer of these sensitive animals would be suffocated, gutted while still alive, or hooked and thrown back, only to die slowly and painfully from the resulting injuries and stress.I hope that in light of both this recent hideous incident and the ongoing dangers that angling poses to turtles and other wildlife species, you’ll impose a ban on fishing at Gulf State Park and consider extending it to all state parks. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you. Very truly yours,Ingrid Newkirk President
API report accuses GOP of allowing ‘big government’
The Alabama Policy Institute (API) released a new report evaluating the current fiscal state and uninhibited growth of Alabama’s government. API is a non-profit, non-partisan educational and research organization committed to free markets, limited government, and strong families. API reaches its goal of sound public policy through research, advocacy, and public education efforts. The report entitled “Follow the Money and See Where It Goes: Alabama Citizens Pay for Big Government”, examines the rising tax revenue and spending from the state’s General Fund and Education Trust Fund budgets over the past several years. According to the API press release, the goal of the report is to inform the citizens of Alabama so that they will obtain a better understanding of the budgeting and financial processes of state government. In 2018, Alabama elected what was believed to be the most conservative legislature in state history. However, those same people have allowed state spending to rise by 17 percent in the last three years. According to the report, state government is taking in and spending more of Alabama citizens’ money than ever before. Much of the new revenue has been reinvested back into government, rather than directly benefiting the citizens and business owners. The federal government has awarded nearly $4 billion to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Only a small portion of the state funding has thus made it back into the private sector through grant programs. Lawmakers have continued to look for new revenue streams like raising the gasoline tax, allowing for the sale and taxation of medicinal marijuana, and attempting to legalize casino-style gambling and establish a state lottery. All of this is being done despite record state revenues over the last three years. The report states, “As Alabama begins fiscal year 2022 and begins planning for the 2023 budget cycle, there is an opportunity for the state to return to the limited government, fiscally responsible roots that flipped control of state government just a decade ago. But it will take strong leadership and courage from a coalition of current lawmakers or a generation of new lawmakers that want to change the status quo and transform state government to be less invasive in the lives of all citizens.”
Kay Ivey awards nearly $2.8 million to state’s homeless programs
Gov. Kay Ivey awarded nearly $2.8 million to help Alabamians who are homeless or at-risk of becoming homeless to obtain shelter and other related services. The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA) will administer the grants from funds made available by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The funds from the federal Emergency Solutions Grants program will enable 13 regional agencies to provide shelter, legal and health services, and other assistance to help individuals and families who face losing their homes or are already homeless. According to their website, the program’s focus is to assist people to quickly regain stability in permanent housing after experiencing a housing crisis and/or homelessness. “Alabama is a state where neighbors help neighbors, and we want to ensure we provide support for those who may be struggling the most,” said Governor Ivey. “These funds are intended to serve as a safety net to ensure that residents are provided a roof over their heads as they work to get back on their feet economically.” ADECA administers an array of programs supporting law enforcement and traffic safety, economic development, energy conservation, water resource management, and recreation development. According to the ADECA website, their programs help address critical infrastructure needs like water, sewer, and broadband; provide law enforcement equipment and support for victims of crime; build new trails and recreational features, and assist with energy efficiency that lowers energy costs “Emergency Solutions Grants, in addition to helping people obtain housing, involve measures to assist them with regaining their financial footing and becoming self-sufficient,” ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell stated. “ADECA joins with Gov. Ivey and these local agencies to provide this assistance to families at a time they need it the most.” Listed below are the awarded agencies, the amount, area served, and sub-recipient agencies. City of Huntsville – $500,000 (city of Huntsville) The city will contract with AshaKiran Inc., Community Action Partnership of Huntsville/Madison and Limestone Counties Inc., Crisis Services Center Inc., Family Services Center Inc., First Stop Inc., and RiahRose Home for Children to provide emergency services and homeless prevention. City of Florence – $300,000 (Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Marion, and Winston counties) The city will contract with the Salvation Army of the Shoals and Safeplace Inc. to find housing for the homeless and assist people at risk of losing their homes. Marshall County Home Place Inc. – $33,000 (Marshall County) The agency will provide transitional housing for the homeless. 2nd Chance Inc. – $341,169 (Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, Etowah Randolph, and Talladega counties) The agency provides emergency shelter and rapid re-housing for victims of domestic violence. Pathways Inc. – $26,000 (Jefferson County) Pathways will provide emergency shelter to homeless women and their children. Shelby County Commission – $153,700 (Shelby County) The county will contract with Family Connection Inc., Safehouse of Shelby County Inc., and Shelby Emergency Assistance to provide housing and emergency assistance. City of Tuscaloosa – $225,000 (city of Tuscaloosa) The city will contract with the Salvation Army, SAN Inc. (Turning Point), and Temporary Emergency Services to provide outreach, emergency shelter, and homeless prevention. Dallas County Family Resource Center – $100,000 (Dallas County) The center will provide emergency shelter and homeless prevention assistance and rapid re-housing to homeless persons or those at risk of losing their homes. Montgomery Area Coalition for the Homeless Inc. – $500,000 (Autauga, Bullock, Elmore, Lowndes, and Montgomery counties) The coalition will provide street outreach, emergency shelter, rapid re-housing, and homeless prevention. It contracts with the Family Sunshine Center, Friendship Mission Inc., and the Salvation Army for some of the services. Family Promise of Baldwin County – $99,000 (Baldwin County) Family Promise will provide emergency shelter, homelessness prevention, and rapid re-housing assistance. Salvation Army’s Family Haven Program – $200,000 (Mobile and Baldwin counties) The program provides emergency shelter for families within the two counties. Mobile Area Interfaith Conference Inc. – $106,000 (Mobile County) The agency assists with housing needs for recently released inmates from the Mobile County Metro Jail and locals released from state and federal correction institutions. Penelope House Inc. – $200,000 (city of Mobile) Penelope House provides emergency shelter to domestic violence victims. The agency consults with Family Promise of Coastal Alabama and McKemie Place to assist homeless persons.
Paul DeMarco: Alabama’s port of Mobile ready to step up to help solve nation’s supply chain problems
The Nation’s economy is already seeing the effects of inflation. The increase in prices is detrimentally affecting consumers and the cost to manufacture goods. Alabama is being hit tremendously hard on both counts due to the high inflation. The supply chain crisis is a major problem in the country and the port of Los Angelos, where 40 percent of the Nation’s imports come through, has ships backed up off the coast. The good news for Alabama is that our state port is seeing an increase in ships unloading material to the state. With so much congestion at ports around the country, shipping companies are taking advantage of Alabama’s gateway to the Gulf of Mexico. Millions of dollars have been spent and more contracts are in place to modernize the port for even more cargo to unload in our state. And it has paid off, as this past year there has been a 27 percent increase in volume of containers being shipped through the port in Mobile. Refrigerated cargo products are up even higher at 47 percent from the same time last year. Alabama’s deepwater port was first dedicated in 1928 and it now has a total economic impact of $25.4 billion for the state. Hopefully, the national supply crisis will be solved soon and the Alabama Port of Mobile will increase its share of the Nation’s supply chain. Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives.
Steve Flowers: Defense spending important for Alabama
During the Great Depression and coming out of World War II, the deep south had immense power in Washington. We were fortunate to have a cadre of southern senators, who were seniority laden and knew how to bring home the bacon. This group of deep south southern Democrats controlled most of the prominent and consequential major committees in the United States Senate. In that era, all the jobs in the United States Capitol, as well as our state capitol, were patronage jobs or really could be called political jobs. Every clerk, stenographer, research analyst, secretary, and even elevator attendants were granted their jobs based on who you knew, not what you knew. Most people in Washington were working there because they were southerners who had connections to our southern senators. If you got in an elevator in the nation’s capital, you often-times would hear southern accents. That is not true now, today you would hear a foreign accent or foreign language. Our southern senior senators knew how to bring home the bacon like nobody’s business. The roll call included Stennis and Eastland from Mississippi, the southern lion Richard Russell from Georgia, Strom Thurmond from South Carolina, Russell Long from Louisiana, and last but not least our, our dynamic duo of distinguished, erudite powers, Lister Hill and John Sparkman. For this reason, a good many of our nation’s military bases are in the south. Ft. Benning in Georgia is there because of Richard Russell, and probably its location on Alabama’s eastern border of Columbus/Phenix City is no accident. Russell was granting deference to Hill and Sparkman, who really did not need any help. Eastland and Stennis did pretty well for Mississippi’s Gulf Coast when it comes to military and ship building facilities. Eglin and Tyndall Air Force Bases in the Florida panhandle are there thanks to one Bob Sikes “The He-Coon.” However, no state has benefitted more from military defense related locations than us in the good ole Heart of Dixie, thanks in large part to Lister Hill and John Sparkman. If you took the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, the Maxwell/Gunter Air Bases in Montgomery and Ft. Rucker in the Wiregrass out of Alabama, we would be more than wiped out. Our senior senator, Richard Shelby, has been the salvation for sustaining and saving our sacred military facilities. Shelby has not only been Chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, but he also retained the Chairmanship of the Senate Defense Appropriations Committee. He has made the difference for Redstone, Maxwell, and Rucker for the last decade. Folks, Shelby is retiring at the end of next year and Alabama is going to be up the proverbial creek without a paddle. I am here to tell you that national defense spending is very important to Alabama, but more importantly, it is vitally important to our nation’s security and future. Senator Shelby is sounding the alarm as the senate is crafting the next fiscal year’s budget. He is saying you cannot adhere to the Biden Democratic calls to cut defense spending. The national defense strategy provides a roadmap for our Department of Defense. The Democrat’s efforts to undermine the importance of strategic, long-term defense readiness plays into the hands of our competitors China and Russia. The Democratic Biden Administration budget proposal would allow Russia and China to overmatch our investments in readiness, state-of-the-art equipment, and technology. China seeks hegemony militarily, technologically, financially and is making unprecedented investments to see that come to fruition. Russia is also quietly building a massive military modernization program that saw its defense spending increase 30% over the last 10 years. We must outpace Russia and China in defense spending. Our state, and more importantly our nation, must adhere to Senator Shelby’s admonition that we as a nation cannot afford to cut military spending as President Joe Biden and liberal Democratic Senators in Washington are advocating. The two things that our country still does best and indeed the two most important things we need to do best are having the most superior military in the world and the ability to grow our own food and fiber. Military and Agriculture are America’s salvation and, by the way, defense dollars and agriculture are Alabama’s salvation. We as Alabamians can and should look closely as to who can and will work the hardest to protect defense and agriculture when we vote for the person to succeed Senator Richard Shelby in Washington in the U.S. Senate. That person would not be Mo Brooks. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at: www.steveflowers.us.
COVID-19 and pregnancy: Women regret not getting the vaccine
Sometimes when she’s feeding her infant daughter, Amanda Harrison is overcome with emotion and has to wipe away tears of gratitude. She is lucky to be here, holding her baby. Harrison was 29 weeks pregnant and unvaccinated when she got sick with COVID-19 in August. Her symptoms were mild at first, but she suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe. Living in Phenix City, Alabama, she was intubated and flown to a hospital in Birmingham, where doctors delivered baby Lake two months early and put Harrison on life support. Kyndal Nipper, who hails from outside Columbus, Georgia, had only a brief bout with COVID-19 but a more tragic outcome. She was weeks away from giving birth in July when she lost her baby, a boy she and her husband planned to name Jack. Now Harrison and Nipper are sharing their stories in an attempt to persuade pregnant women to get COVID-19 vaccinations to protect themselves and their babies. Their warnings come amid a sharp increase in the number of severely ill pregnant women that led to 22 pregnant women dying from COVID in August, a one-month record. “We made a commitment that we would do anything in our power to educate and advocate for our boy because no other family should have to go through this,” Nipper said of herself and her husband. Harrison said she will “nicely argue to the bitter end” that pregnant women get vaccinated “because it could literally save your life.” Since the pandemic began, health officials have reported more than 125,000 cases and at least 161 deaths of pregnant women from COVID-19 in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And over the past several months, hospitals and doctors in virus hot spots have reported a sharp increase in the number of severely ill pregnant women. With just 31% of pregnant women nationwide vaccinated, the CDC issued an urgent advisory on Sept. 29 recommending that they get the shots. The agency cautioned that COVID-19 in pregnancy can cause preterm birth and other adverse outcomes and that stillbirths have been reported. Dr. Akila Subramaniam, an assistant professor in the maternal-fetal medicine division of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said the hospital saw a marked rise in the number of critically ill pregnant women during July and August. She said a study there found the delta variant of COVID-19 is associated with increased rates of severe disease in pregnant women and increased rates of preterm birth. “Is it because the delta variant is just more infectious or is it because delta is more severe? I don’t think we know the answer to that,” Subramaniam said. When COVID-19 vaccines became available to pregnant women in their states this spring, both Harrison, 36, and Nipper, 29, decided to wait. The shots didn’t have final approval from the Food and Drug Administration and pregnant women weren’t included in studies that led to emergency authorization, so initial guidance stopped short of fully recommending vaccination for them. Pfizer shots received formal approval in August. The women live on opposite sides of the Alabama-Georgia line, an area that was hit hard by the delta variant this summer. While Harrison had to be put on life support, Nipper’s symptoms were more subtle. When she was eight months pregnant, she lost her sense of smell and developed a fever. The symptoms went away quickly, but Jack didn’t seem to be kicking as much as he had been. She tried drinking a caffeinated beverage: Nothing. She headed to the hospital in Columbus, Georgia, for fetal monitoring where medical staff delivered the news: Baby Jack was gone. “He was supposed to come into the world in three weeks or less,” Nipper said. “And for them to tell you there’s no heartbeat and there is no movement …” Nipper’s doctor, Timothy Villegas, said testing showed the placenta itself was infected with the virus and displayed patterns of inflammation similar to the lungs of people who died of COVID-19. The infection likely caused the baby’s death by affecting its ability to get oxygen and nutrients, Villegas said. The doctor said he has since learned of similar cases from other physicians. “We’re at that point where everybody is starting to raise some red flags,” he said. In west Alabama, Dr. Cheree Melton, a family medicine physician who specializes in obstetrics and teaches at the University of Alabama, said she and her colleagues have had about a half-dozen unvaccinated patients infected with COVID-19 lose unborn children to either miscarriages or stillbirth, a problem that worsened with delta’s spread. “It’s absolutely heartbreaking to tell a mom that she will never get to hold her living child,” she said. “We have had to do that very often, more so than I remember doing over the last couple of years.” Melton said she encourages every unvaccinated pregnant woman she treats to get the shots, but that many haven’t. She said rumors and misinformation have been a problem. “I get everything from, ‘Well, somebody told me that it may cause me to be infertile in the future to, ‘It may harm my baby,’” she said. Nipper said she wishes she had asked more questions about the vaccine. “Looking back, I know I did everything that I could have possibly done to give him a healthy life,” she said. “The only thing I didn’t do, and I’ll have to carry with me, is I didn’t get the vaccine.” Now home from the hospital with a healthy baby, Harrison says she feels profound gratitude — tempered with survivor’s guilt. “I cry all the time. Just little things. Feeding her or hugging my 4-year-old. Just the thought of them having to go through life without me and that’s a lot of people’s reality right now,” Harrison said. “It was very scary and it all could have been prevented if I had gotten a vaccination.” Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
Authorities arrest Alabama man in Alaska after Jan. 6 riot
An Alabama man accused of using pepper spray and throwing a metal rod at law enforcement protecting the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection has been arrested in Alaska, according to court documents filed in federal court. The FBI took Christian Manley into custody Friday in Anchorage. During an arraignment Tuesday, a judge set a detention hearing for him for Thursday afternoon. Manley faces several charges, including assaulting or resisting officers using a dangerous weapon, civil disorder, exhibiting disorderly conduct and demonstrating in a Capitol building, and engaging in physical violence and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building. Court documents did not list an attorney for Manley. His ties to Alaska were not immediately known. According to a statement filed in the case by Stephen Lee, an FBI special agent in Birmingham, Alabama, an informant met someone named Christian from Alabama, who had attended the riot. That person a week later called back to give them the last name Manley. Agents then met the informant and showed them still photographs of wanted individuals taken from videos shot during the insurrection. That person identified him from a photo the FBI showed them and said Manley had earlier shown them the same photo from a list of wanted persons distributed by the FBI. The FBI then found Manley’s phone number had used a cell site near the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to the statement. Later, the FBI interviewed a relative of Manley’s, who identified him and said Manley had discussed going to the Jan. 6 rally, the document alleges. The FBI agent’s statement includes photos taken from video alleging to show Manley approaching the Capitol with a can of pepper spray and then spraying it toward officers inside the Lower West Terrace archway of the Capitol. When the can is emptied, authorities allege he threw it at officers before later footage shows him spraying another can and throwing it when it is empty. The statement then alleges he accepted a metal rod from another rioter and threw it at officers. The document alleges he moved toward the officers defending the entrance, braced himself against a wall, and used his body to push a door against officers trying to defend the entrance. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
