- Associated Press - Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Recent editorials from Alabama newspapers:

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Nov. 15

The Cullman Times on whether Roy Moore should step aside:

Roy Moore was never a good candidate to serve Alabama in the U.S. Senate. Today, due to his past political history of being twice removed from office and recent allegations of sexual misconduct and romantic encounters with teenage girls some four decades ago, he’s the worst candidate for the office.

Mr. Moore, it’s time to step aside and let the Alabama Republican Party offer another candidate to voters in the Dec. 12 special election.

We join the growing list of believers of the women who accused Moore of sexual misconduct, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who occupied the Senate seat Moore is seeking to fill.

This is not intended as an endorsement of any other candidate, on the ballot or not.

Moore’s lame responses to the claims against him don’t ring true, blaming everybody under the sun, from the Republican establishment to Democrat liberals to anti-Christian forces to the women he says he never knew or met.

A chorus of disbelieving supporters and the troubled state Republican Party are crying foul over the reports Moore made sexual advances on a 14-year-old, dated teenage girls and attempted to have sex with a 16-year-old against her will in the late 1970s.

Yet many residents around Gadsden, where Moore worked as an Etowah County assistant district attorney when the allegations originated, say it was common knowledge he pursued teenage girls for dates. According to an AL.com report, several residents recall Moore being a problem at the local mall because he often made advances toward girls too young for a man in his 30s.

The loudest objection to the accusations against Moore is the timing; that they are politically motivated and intended to discredit him a month before the election.

The outrage purposely misses the point. Consistency and specificity of the women’s stories is significant and on point. Moore is a candidate for the U.S. Senate, one of the highest elected offices in the land. His past conduct is relevant to the present decision before Alabama voters.

Moore can hide behind a shield of religion and lash out at national Republican leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who have called for him to step aside. But even many of Moore’s own townsfolk are not buying his self-proclaimed innocence.

As we have previously stated, the former jurist should have left Alabama’s political front porch when he was ousted from office a second time after directing Alabama probate judges to ignore a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing same-sex marriage.

As Alabama Supreme Court chief justice, Moore was simply too stubborn to fulfill the duties of the office. Moore held a position based on a bastion of fairness for all Alabama residents, which he failed to follow. From his jurist bench, Moore’s view of fairness has always been reserved for whoever agreed with him.

The accusations against Moore are gravely serious. Alabama doesn’t need a senator with a tarnished history. The stories of his predatory nature with teenagers are alarming on moral and cultural grounds.

Our culture toward sexual harassment and abuse is changing. Still, coming forward years after being abused remain difficult, challenging and often humiliating. For Moore and others to mock or ridicule these women for having the courage to stand up to a man poised to ascend to the U.S. Senate is wrong and nothing short of bullying.

It’s time for Moore to stop verbally attacking his accusers, who he claims are on a “witch hunt,” quit being a narcissist and do what’s best for Alabama and vacate his Senate campaign. It’s the right thing to do.

Online: http://www.cullmantimes.com/

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Nov. 14

Decatur Daily on Alabama and the federal government doubling down on the drug war:

The state of Alabama may talk a good game when it comes to hating the federal government, but it never passes up free money, even when it plans to do little more than flush the money down the toilet.

The state recently received $1.3 million in federal grant money that will go toward establishing an Alabama Drug Enforcement Task Force. As one might guess from the name, this is to be yet another stab at using law enforcement to tackle drug addiction.

“The illegal manufacturing, trafficking and sale of narcotics in Alabama is a problem for every part of the state and should be dealt with accordingly,” Gov. Kay Ivey said in announcing the grant. “Through combined efforts and statewide cooperation, this new task force will allow local police, sheriff’s offices and district attorneys to work together with state police and investigators to remove more of this dangerous element from our communities.”

This comes as the Trump administration revives a 1980s-style approach to illegal drugs. Attorney General Jeff Sessions won’t stop crusading against the demon weed of marijuana, even as a majority of Americans - and even, for the first time, 51 percent of Republicans, according to a Gallup poll conducted in October - want it legalized.

For his part, President Donald Trump wants to revive the “Just Say No”-style ad campaigns and D.A.R.E.-style programs that repeated studies have found ineffective in combating drug use.

Other strategies, however, have been more successful, and the use of most illegal drugs in the U.S. has trended downward over the past few decades. The one exception is opioid abuse. Overdose deaths from opioids began spiking in 2010 and have risen steadily since, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This, unfortunately, may be an unintended consequence of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. According to a report released earlier this year by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, over-prescription of opioid painkillers is a serious problem in the Part D program, and Alabama, along with Mississippi, leads the nation with the highest proportion of its residents taking prescription painkillers.

No one wants people with chronic pain to suffer, but easier access to highly addictive opioid medications is ripe for abuse, and it’s not even remotely the same type of drug problem as the nation faced in the 1980s.

A new and different problem demands new and different solutions.

A study published last month in the American Journal of Public Health found that “Legalization of cannabis in Colorado was associated with short-term reductions in opioid-related deaths.”

The study stresses “short-term” because that’s all the evidence that’s in so far. Colorado voters legalized recreational marijuana use just five years ago. Still, the study points in a radically different direction from the traditional war on drugs the Trump administration and Sessions seem poised to fight.

Online: http://www.decaturdaily.com/

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Nov. 14

The Opelika-Auburn News on Auburn University’s decision not get a new scoreboard:

Auburn University has the biggest, grandest, video scoreboard in all the college football land.

It makes good common sense that university President Steven Leath and the board of trustees tap the brakes on spending millions of dollars to add another one.

The trustees met Friday, and previously on the agenda was discussion on moving forward with a new, $6.3 million video scoreboard for the north end zone of Auburn’s Jordan-Hare Stadium.

Keep in mind that, rising up skyscraper height above the south end zone is the mere 2-year-old, almost $14 million, 200-by-105-foot giant scoreboard with a video screen spanning 190-by-57 feet.

It’s a beaut.

It’s also one of the many entertaining attractions that bring fans back to the stands, as a 40-person video team provides a wonderful variety of feature stories, live broadcasts from other games, in-stadium dance scenes and candid views from cameras shooting throughout the stadium.

Game statistics are provided live, in real time. Replays come fast and clear.

It’s fun, informative, and most of all. hard to miss.

Yet, several thousand fans sitting directly under it don’t get the benefit of enjoying such a show, and they won’t with the planned smaller one across the way when it does come.

While the new project would no doubt be a welcomed enhancement, Auburn is going through other changes, among them a search for a new athletics director.

It seems wise to suggest that whoever fills that role, once hired, might bring with them a bit of expertise that could lead Auburn athletics onto a different course with its master plan.

It also gives Auburn another year or so to consider if investing $6 million in another scoreboard is a good or bad idea. Or, perhaps consider if it is part of a grander scheme, instead of a lesser one.

There are other issues, other changes, other needs of focus with Auburn athletics today. Leath is correct in that a north end zone scoreboard that has served well for 20 years probably could make it 21 years.

Besides, the focus of most fans’ attention with Auburn football now should be on the field.

Lighting up another new scoreboard will have to come some other day.

Online: http://www.oanow.com/

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