Letters

Indiana Jones and the Unwieldy Ousting

To the editor:

I’m not sure what role the Lagniappe played in (May 20th’s) showing of the new “Indiana Jones” movie, but I believe that the Lagniappe’s name was all over the passes. Let me preface this by saying that I was one of the people who managed to get a seat and see the movie (which was a decent movie for me, surprisingly, so thank you for the opportunity).

However, I had to watch a couple dozen people be removed from the theater as the show started, and it annoyed the hell out of me. I can understand trying to make sure that every seat was filled and overbooking a slight amount, but overbooking by dozens and having everyone drive across the bay only to find out that they can’t see the movie? It just smacks of disorganization and really not caring about anything but the monetary bottom line.

Having the Lagniappe’s name pasted all over this only serves to give the paper a black eye as people associate it with being turned away from the movie. Granted, some of this is from emotion as it did hack me off quite a bit, but I think it’s a legitimate complaint, regardless of the cost-free nature of the tickets. I have to say that I’m going to view future promotions done by the Lagniappe with suspicion, wondering how the next person will get screwed.

K.C. Oaks

Mobile

Editor’s note: We were there too and saw some of the same things. Of course we weren’t concerned, since we already had seats! Kidding, kidding! We’ve spoken with the studio and may discontinue working with this type of promotion if such massive overbooking is the norm. We apologize to anyone who wasted time driving to the theater only to be turned away. If it’s any consolation, Harrison Ford looks really old.

Profiting on another’s past

To the editor:

In the great progress of downtown revitalization there are some horrific occurrences taking place. One hundred-nineteen years ago the Demeranville family opened a flower shop at 9 N Conception. In 1924 they incorporated the business within the family. Today it is still run by Billy Yost, the grandson of the founder. The shop displays posters from the early 1900s.

This building has been sold. It includes 9 N Conception and houses Woodlands Bank, Malcolm Pirnie, Demeranville Florist Shop, and a pending gift shop by the family of Ron LeGrange, the previous owner & business partner of new owner.

Demeranville Florist has been given notice to move out and is attempting to construct a lease agreement at another downtown location. In the meantime, Demeranville has been informed that their florist shop coming up on it’s 120th Anniversary will be occupied by competing flower shop under supervision of new building owners from Jackson, AL.

I find the fact that these people are coming in from out of town manipulating the public by violating an existing historical Mobile business reprehensible.

Is the Peanut Shop next?

A city that clings to its heritage and historic importance should address this issue. Is there an existing ordinance that requires people to delay establishment of a business similar to the pre-existing historic business they displace? Or one that at least requires posting significant signage indicating the new location of the abused historic business?

In the case of Demeranville Florist they are being outright kicked out of their store after 119 years so somebody else can benefit from their history. As revitalization continues other businesses could suffer less direct hits like exorbitant rent increases, which force them out. There are plenty of defunct businesses and empty storefronts to be revitalized. Newcomers who are booting out historic businesses should be prevented from profiting off of their historic past. Small shops that fought through the tough years shouldn’t be punished with revitalization.

Preserve your heritage, Mobile, or perhaps as the city “Brings Back Broad Street” we can plan on seeing a Panera Bread in place of Pollmans.

Stephanie Searight

Mobile

Begging for a break

To the editor:

Give me a fin break, Jeff sessions says $5 gas is because of global warming legislation (Beltway Beat 5/21/08). F that **, it’s because of the Sessions/Cheney/Bush/Republican energy policy.

They are the ones who sat down with big oil and came up with an energy policy that has just about destroyed our country. To make a reasonable profit on oil it has to sell for about $50 per gallon. The price will soon reach $150. We are paying the difference because of the Iraq War/Mideast turmoil caused by Bush/Republican foreign policy.

Wall Street (Republicans) also bid up commodities (food, energy, every damn thing). Do you not see what is happening? The whole country is terrified. Is it any wonder Sessions/Bush approval ratings are the lowest in the history of any presidency.

Yet you just spout off the same tired rhetoric, the same bull* “sound bites” that got us into this mess. Get your f*n’ head out of your ass and tell the truth. The Bushies have been in control of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government for almost 8 years. It was a coup, just ask the Dixie Chicks/ Segelman(sic)/ et al.

This war, economy, deficit, torture, moral standing in the world, is all the result of the actions of people like Jeff Sessions. Now he is going to use YOU to claim that it is not his fault.

PLEASE give me a f** break.

Walter Bower

From the foster program…

Dear Citizens of Mobile and Baldwin Counties:

I am writing this letter in hopes to inspire individuals (especially men) to become mentors for foster children in the Mobile and Baldwin Counties. I am writing in hopes to be an advocate on behalf of my country and the children who cry or lay quiet in the dark but never speak. I must first premise that what you are about to read is not a reflection of all foster homes. This reflection is that solely of my experience.

On August 9, 1978, a 46-year female schizophrenic patient at a mental institution gave birth to me. I never knew who my birth father was. My biological brother was in prison at the time. I was in a foster home from birth until I was almost 6 years of age. While there, I saw other children who cried all the time and some whom seemed angry all the time. At the home, my foster mother burned me with a cigarette on my left arm which has left a permanent scar while we were outside a Winn Dixie in Tuscaloosa, AL. She also had a habitual desire to bite me with her silver and gold capped teeth. Embarrassing enough, I sometimes had to share the underwear of another little boy the same age as myself whom was a friend of the foster family I was in. My foster father was an older man who always wore overalls and a plaid long sleeve shirt. One day, he took some dirty pliers and pulled my bottom front teeth out. His actions left my teeth permanently crooked. I can sometimes still feel the pain from how rough and uncaring his touch was to me.

As a foster child I rode the bus to school. I often got teased horribly. One day some children were meddling with me and a little girl called me monkey boy. I told her “You better leave me alone or I am going to tell my momma”. That same little girl exclaimed. “You don’t have a momma.” I immediately started to cry. When we reached the school, I got behind the bushes and sobbed. I made a promise to myself that day that I was going to make something out of myself and go back to help foster children who face many of the same obstacles that I faced, and helped them find their own individual way to thrive.

When I was six years old, I was officially adopted by a Lt. Colonel of the United States Army, Eugene Mullins, and his wife Shirley Mullins. Mrs. Mullins is paralyzed on her entire left side; however that didn’t keep didn’t keep her being a good disciplinarian. When the social worker told me, “That is your new mommy,” I ran to her and hugged her leg. It was the first of the two best days of my life. I grew up in a somewhat rough neighborhood in Birmingham. I got into many boyhood fights as a young child and a teen, but I made it. I even witnessed someone get shot and killed between my back yard and my next door neighbor’s yard, but I made it. When I was 17, my parents went away to the National Baptist Convention one summer. While they were away, one night I was awakened by shots being fired at my house. My home received the accidental remnants of a drive by shooting, but once again I still made it. I survived that environment, but to this day, I still love my neighborhood. I survived what some would say against all odds and awaited a new challenge in a new environment.

With the support of my adoptive parents I went on to Miles College. My father once told me that he chose not to move into a suburban neighborhood because he wanted to save up enough money for me to attend college. I was even chosen as the poster boy for the school’s brochures. I went on to graduate from Miles Law School with the degree of Juris Doctor where my father paid the first year, and I paid the remaining years. While working my way through school I was an intern for a radio station. I have been a production assistant for a local TV station in Birmingham, WBMA ABC 33/40, which gave me my first true experience in corporate America. I have been a corporate executive, I have worked for law firms, and I have even been a mentor for children in Birmingham. I got married which by the way was the second best day of my life to the woman who found my birth family. This wonderful woman, Tiffany Mullins, is now a second year medical student at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine.

I have had an interesting life and my mission is not to relieve my past, but to interest people in Mobile and Baldwin counties to become mentors, especially men. You may not be able to adopt or be a foster parent, but one can be a mentor to a foster child. Now that I work for the Corporation for National Community Service in conjunction with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Alabama YMCA, I can encourage the latter. I have experience the full spectrum of the foster care system for which in many ways I am truly grateful. If it was not for the very existence of the system I would not have ended up in the Mullins family. I realize at the most fundamental level how important role models are in the life of a child. Many children are in positive foster care environments. For any child, regardless their environment the extra support and encouragement that a mentor can provide can be what makes the difference in a child surviving versus thriving. My life has come full circle, and I am tasked as well as fortunate to get volunteers to wipe away the tears or be there for the laughter of a foster child in our community, even if it is only for one day.

In closing, the Mullins stepped up to make a difference. You can too, citizens of Mobile and Baldwin County.

Sincerely,

Charles Mullins, JD

Bemoaning the runway closing

To the editor:

As a pilot having used Brookley (known to aviators as Mobile Downtown Airport), I am dismayed that the local aviation community is not outraged that the airport authority and other powers that be are closing Runway 18/36.

Once closed it is a done deal never to return. Do they not realize it will be forever gone? The closing of airports and runways has been for years a battlefield between the aviation community and government entities. Many articles have been published in aviation periodicals on the subject.

If the aviation authority were more interested in expanding aviation and not their pockets, they could have wisely adapted the available property at Brookley to have included keeping Runway 18/36 open.

Mike Sullivan

Mobile

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