Originally printed in The Centreville Press December 20, 2008
By Jim Oakley Jr.
I surrender. I have done all I can to fight our fight to get our gasoline prices in Bibb County down to the same price in surrounding counties. Last week I called for our elected officials, mayors, council, superintendent of education and county commissioners to face some of our gasoline distributors face to face. They did this last week by way of a round-the-table conference telephone call. The result was a lot of discussion, no concessions by the gasoline distributor, and the price went up a dime in Bibb County the next morning.
Obviously there is no good faith discussion left with these distributors. The prices escalated again this past weekend and though it was predicted, again the prices here are higher than they are in any surrounding county. I hate this because our cities and school system depends on gasoline taxes to operate. There are a lot of Bibb County people working in these stations too. There has been a lot of talk about gasoline price gouging. I called the Attorney General’s Office last week and one of the clerks read me the law about “gouging.” The only time Alabama law will prosecute for gouging is after a state of emergency has been declared by the governor and stations then raise their prices. I described our situation to the clerk and was told that our only recourse was not to buy gasoline where the price is high. I close my campaign on high gasoline prices by saying I am not buying any more gasoline in Bibb County unless the highways are closed and I can’t drive to cheaper gas. You can make you own choice about what to do for yourself.
This area suffered a personal loss to many last Tuesday when the Bibb County Junior High building burned. It would have been 100 years old January 1, 2009. Needless to say thousands of Bibb Countians were educated in that school or at least had education presented to them. I stood there and watched it burn, and as I looked into the different rooms as they burned I had special memories of each. Some pleasant and some not so pleasant. I was not a model student but I fooled the teachers a lot. At least I thought I did until years later when some of them told me they knew what I was up to. I admit, as tough as I am, tears welled up in my eyes and I tried to stay away from people lest they see me cry. It’s gone now. Memories are all we have. I am going to spend some time writing down some of my more memories such as washing freshmen’s heads in the bathroom using strong soap and toilet water. Heck, it was done to me. Anyway, enough of that. Let’s write our memories for our children and grandchildren. Life moves on.
One of my favorite companies has gone out of business. Polaroid, one of the pioneers in photography, folded last week. Polaroid began in 1948 with a new instant camera that swept the market. I had three of them at the Press back then. What did them in was the digital camera. My son made a picture last Sunday afternoon for his Christmas card, and an hour later he was addressing the envelopes and headed for the post office with a beautiful picture. That new way of doing business has just scratched the surface. It’s like the computer industry, you ain’t seen nothing yet.
Governor Bob Riley has been the best governor we have ever had. Until last week he has operated his administration like a well-oiled machine and has done so much for our people. Last week he made a horrible mistake. On the very day he ordered a hiring freeze in state government, he hired a close friend for $80,000 a year. Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, who lost an election to Lucy Baxley in November, and a close Republican friend of Riley, has been given a tax payers handout. She has been named to some position to make it legal. Nothing can make it right. She was formerly chair of the Alabama Republican Party. Shame on you governor. I am very disappointed in you.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. This is my 36th year of writing this column without missing a week. This includes a stay in the hospital for heart surgery when my family sneaked in a laptop computer. It has been a great pleasure to write this each week and I hope you enjoy it. I have never attempted to talk you into doing something or voting for someone. I do give my opinion. I have always striven to create thought and discussion. People come up and tell me they agree or disagree with me. I love that. At least we are all thinking. As we close out 2008, remember, our nation needs prayer more than anything else. We have a lot of our friends sick or hurting, some lost their jobs and the future might not look so good just now. We have to trust that God is in control and we need to turn our problems over to him and trust him to lead us. We should all know that he may do what we ask for or want. But you can count on him to do whatever is best for his people in the long run. If you are not one of “His People,” you’re on your own. Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy 2009.
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