Recent editorials from Alabama newspapers:
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Dec. 6
The Gadsden Times says Alabama should follow Georgia with a hands-free law:
Folks from Etowah County often travel to and through Georgia for a variety of reasons (that don’t always involve Atlanta). So, earlier this year we issued a warning about the new hands-free law that took effect July 1 in our neighboring state.
It prohibits drivers not just from holding a cellphone, but from having it in contact with any part of their bodies while behind the wheel of a vehicle on the state’s roadways, unless they are making an emergency call. Drivers can only make or take non-emergency calls via speakerphone, a wired connection to their vehicle, or regular or Bluetooth headphones, and of course can’t send or receive text or email messages. (All of those things are fine if you’re stopped, but being stuck in traffic - cough, cough, Atlanta, cough, cough - doesn’t count as being “legally parked.”) GPS and voice to text usage is permitted.
Our warning came with unequivocal support for the law - the same support we’ll deliver should Sen. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, follow through on his intention to introduce a similar law in the Alabama Legislature’s 2019 session.
McClendon told ABC 33/40 last month that the Georgia law appears to be doing what it’s supposed to do - lessen the number of crashes caused by drivers distracted by gadgets - and he has the same goal for Alabama. He said other legislators are considering similar bills, which is a strong signal that some kind of restriction will be on the books …
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an average of 9 people are killed and more than 1,000 hurt every day in vehicle crashes involving distracted driving.
That’s the bottom line here; no other factors are relevant.
We wish everyone would do the right thing without any compulsion. Unfortunately, that’s not realistic.
Why not go ahead and try the hands-free route - the hardware isn’t that expensive these days - and get used to it before the hammer arrives? It might actually be liberating.
Online: https://www.gadsdentimes.com/
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Dec. 11
The Dothan Eagle on Jeff Sessions:
Whether one agrees with his politics or not, one would have to concede that Jeff Sessions is a gracious son of the South. With 20 years in the U.S. Senate under his belt, he was among the first to jump on the Trump train during the campaign, and the new president ultimately tapped the former federal prosecutor and Alabama attorney general to serve as his U.S. attorney general.
Recently, he was back in his home state, speaking to a Chamber of Commerce gathering in Montgomery a few short weeks after the president asked him to tender his resignation, and it was clear he remembered the adage, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Sessions spoke of his tenure serving in the Trump administration with praise.
That’s a different tack than that taken by many others who have been severed from the administration. Sessions has every right to feel betrayed, disrespected, and discarded following months of humiliating treatment. One might even have expected him to make the rounds of talk shows badmouthing the president.
The closest he came, however, was in saying that he knew he’d draw controversy, “But this very public adventure, I’ve got to say, exceeded my expectations.”
Sessions made no indication of any future political plans, if there are any. Some speculate he may seek the U.S. Senate seat he left to join the president’s cabinet, challenging Sen. Doug Jones in 2020.
He may well be able to write his own ticket, if for no other reason than emerging from the crucible with grace and dignity intact.
Online: https://www.dothaneagle.com/
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Dec. 11
The Gadsden Times on recommended changes to the U.S. Postal Service:
The U.S. Postal Service is sinking deeper into a financial abyss even though it’s doing more business. A presidential task force has come up with some potential solutions for that problem.
The USPS lost $3.9 billion during fiscal year 2017-18 - its 12th consecutive year in the red - according to figures cited last month by CNN.
That happened even though its packaging business saw 6.8 percent growth in volume and 10 percent growth in revenue, which contributed $1 billion in positive cash flow to the agency’s operating revenue (and offset continued declines in first-class and bulk mail).
However, the overhead from that increased package volume, combined with higher fuel prices for most of the year and increased compensation and benefits costs for employees, made operating expenses surge as well.
The USPS also faces what it calls the onerous and unnecessary burden of prefunding retiree health benefits for a half-century into the future. The agency won’t be able to make this year’s scheduled $6.9 billion contribution to that fund.
So, President Donald Trump in April commissioned a study based in the Department of the Treasury on what can be done to put the agency “on a path to sustainability.”
The task force issued its report, recommending changes in the USPS’ business model that would remove price caps and charge market-based prices “with profitability in mind” for anything deemed not to be essential postal services.
Mail and packages going from one individual to another would be defined as “essential.” Packages delivered from Amazon and the like to customers would not, and could wind up carrying additional delivery costs.
Amazon - which had nearly $53 billion in sales in the second quarter this year - has been a particular shoe pebble for Trump, with the president insinuating that the USPS was losing money by not charging the online retailer enough to ship packages. His task force didn’t reach that conclusion, but did say the agency wasn’t properly assessing its costs for services to Amazon and others.
That certainly should change if true, but let’s be realistic. Companies might say the right things - Amazon and eBay both took part in the task force’s report - but any extra shipping costs will be passed along to consumers. (Although in fairness, if Congress pumped bailout money into the USPS, it would be out of taxpayers’ pockets. They’re going to get you either way.)
The report calls for strengthening the USPS’ Board of Governors, giving it more control over the agency’s direction than the postmaster general. It also calls for keeping the pension prefunding requirement, and wants the USPS to have “greater flexibility to determine mail and package delivery frequency” and mentions that “major changes are needed … in the level of service Americans should expect from their universal service operator.”
People already are screeching about the prospect of delivery days if not actual door-to-door delivery going away. Unions also are angry about a call for “eliminating collective bargaining over compensation for USPS employees,” which they alone among federal workers enjoy …
We oppose any fix that would involve significant service reductions from an agency that’s tied this country together since its origin … although we wonder if there could be some negotiations and tradeoffs involving the pension prefunding arrangement, which we’ve always thought seemed extreme.
Of course these are only proposals, and we doubt moving forward anything with Trump’s name attached is going to be greeted warmly in at least one house of Congress.
This situation isn’t going away, however. So use this report as a starting point, or shred it and start over, but acknowledge the problem and do something. Inaction isn’t acceptable.
Online: https://www.gadsdentimes.com/
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