The Anniston Star from Anniston, Alabama • Page 6

2 CA Monday, January 15, 2CQ7 ECITCr.IAL tDie Annistott "It is tha duty cf a newspaper to bsccms the attorney for the most defenseless among its subscribers." Col. Harry M. Ayers, President and Publisher, 1910-1964 DRAWiJ OUT SINCE ttXTRE NCW IN CHAReE.UEEfc'S MOWER PROJECT WE WERE FIDDLING WITH! H.BRANDT AYERS Chairman and Publisher BOB DAVIS Editor CHRIS WADDLE President Ayers Institute PA SANGUINETTI President ED FOWLER Vice President for Operations WILLIAM P. DOWNEY Vice President for Sales and Marketing i WHAT I KIT?) IN OUR OPINION Importance of Senate committees Montgomery's plum assignments cartoonist for The Palm Beach Post (www.palmbeachpost.com). If the recent controversy over who would and who would not be president pro tem of the Alabama Senate does nothing else, it should re-emphasize the fact that what is and is not done in the Legislature depends on who does and does not control legislative committees.

When he was president pro tern, Sen. Lowell Barron and his supporters dominated the committee structure. They were the chairmen." They made up the majority of members. Anything that reached the floor of the Senate did so because they let it. Anything they did not want debated and voted on never saw the light of day.

Much of the lost legislation was proposed by Republicans, and most of that came from the governor's office. Which is why Gov. Bob Riley complained that his agenda was not getting a "fair hearing" and why he supported the coalition of Republicans and dissidents who wanted to wrest power from the "Barron Democrats." So it followed that when it appeared the "bipartisan coalition" might just pull off a coup, "Barron Democrats" went into panic mode. Now this is not to suggest that concern was not called for. Word was out that leaders of the coalition were kicking around the idea that dissident Democrats would get the chairmanships of General Fund and education committees but Republicans would ha ve the majority on each.

This would mean that if the governor's $300 million tax cut plan stood a good chance of getting out of committee and onto the floor where it would be dif ficult for senators to vote against it even if it did take money from our already under-funded schools. Not wanting to get on the wrong side of Alabama's irrational attitude on taxes, Barron Democrats argued that if the Riley-backed coalition got control of the Senate, it "would try to do what Riley tried to do (four) years ago. raise taxes" not the most rational argument, but by then reason had gotten lost in the shuffle. Alarmed that their hold on Senate power was slipping away, those outside the coalition hammered home the point that a coalition victory was really a Republican victory, and there was more to be gained by staying with (or returning to) the loyal Dem-ocratic fold. So Sens.

Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, and Phil Poole, D-Moundville, switched sides. Sen. Hinton Mitchem, D-Union Grove, was elected president pro tem and those who were in power stayed in power. Explaining this change of heart, Smitherman said he decided that he did not want to give up control of the budget to a minority party a good point, but one that just as easily could have been made months ago. "I took the best vote for my district," was how Pool explained his decision.

Now, of course, deals were made. In two years Smitherman will become president pro tem, with all the privileges that go with the office. And though it is not clear just yet what Poole got, you can bet a plum committee assignment is part of the package. SPEAK OUT numbers on the bottom line, I'd say they know what they're doing. Chris Abernathy Anniston Payroll Tide Re "Payroll Tide" (News article, Jan.

4): Thanks for the headline and a story that put Payroll Tide in proper perspective. Despite never-say-die Bear Bryant rationalizing, educational priorities in Alabama are out of kilter. A distinguished Anniston native son addressed well the state's folly prior to its latest embarrassment. Professor-emeritus Dr. Wayne Flynt, an ardent advocate of balanced academic-athletic curricula, earlier asserted that big football is out of control in our colleges and universities.

Have educational administrators a rational response to scholarly Flynt's charge? Are they ready to get back on track in pursuing reliable research, quality teaching and genuine community service? By squarely facing these and related questions, perhaps Payroll Tide can be justified. When justified, disciples of Flynt will not be punting against the wind. When anyone tries to justify making a football coach the highest-paid employee in my state, I'm compelled to ask, respectfully, "MadamSir, have you no common sense?" John A. Vanderford, Ed.D. Jacksonville IN THEIR OPINION Don Wright is editorial Coaching salaries Is a football coach worth nearly $4 million a year? Of course not.

Is a con- venience store clerk worth $7 an hour? Not when you consider that the average annual income in Vietnam is $440. It is hypocritical for any of us to judge Nick Saban or the University of Alabama if we have ever spent money on frivolous things such as intermittent windshield wipers, fashionable clothes or ice cream. When you look at college football from a fiscal perspective, it's hard to say that the money is not being well spent. In that the difference in payouts (per team) between the bowl games in which Ala bama and LSU played this season is about $16 million, you start to understand how paying a quarter of that to a coach who is expected to get you into higher paying bowls is a good investment. There are also other money-generating streams for a school like Alabama jerseys, watches, dog bowls, etc.

that are already up for sale. There are the broadcast network with all of its commercials, the signs at the stadium and ticket sales. All these things add up to an enormous profit for the program which provides money to the other sports that only bring in a fraction of what they cost. It also adds up to a large amount of money that is given to the academic endeavors of the university. Saying a coach "just isn't worth it" is a job for the people who are charged with operating the program.

Judging by the One more If you roll your eyes through the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, and are bracing for the onslaught of Black History Month, I feel your pain. If you view a speech about "dreaming of a day when little black boys and girls are holding hands" as an idea that is long realized, I can see your point But sorry, you have not met the King I admire. I realize this may tick people off. They don't like their MLK radicalized, might scare off the corporate funding for all of those quaint King Day celebrations.

But can MARY The complexities of needed relief "Why $5.15 an hour isn 't enough look at MLK's writings Saban's salary? To coach at Alabama, Saban is getting That's $8,000,000 a year! Armond "Si" Simmons Pell City Auburn not disappointed Re Sports articles, Dec. 28: The Anniston Star mentioned several times Auburn's disappointments in the 2006 football season. Get a grip, Anniston Star, Auburn won 10 out of 12 games, playing a Southeastern Conference schedule. I don't know any Auburn fans who are the least bit disappointed. And there are several bowls with less clout than the Cotton Bowl.

Bill Emhry Trickum Valley TELL US WHAT YOU THINK Send letters to: P.O. Box 189, Anniston, AL 36202 Fax letters to: (256) 241 -1 991 E-mail to: Speakoutannistonstar.com Letters should be no longer than 200 words. They must be signed and are subject to editing for length, clarity, content and taste. Writers must include a phone number for confirmation purposes. Please limit letter submissions to once every 30 days.

also fits into classic King psychology. "The richer we have become materially, the poorer we have become morally and spiritually." He took the concept to world leaders as well: "When scientific power outruns moral power, we end up with guided missiles and misguided men." Think Iran and North Korea. Some of King's commentary is dated, not in theory, but in the countries of focus. Add "Middle East" to Latin America in this passage, with a new emphasis on Colombia and Venezuela. "Everywhere in Latin America one finds a tremendous resentment of the United States, and that resentment is always strongest among the poorer and darker peoples of the conti- nent." The reason King remains relevant is that his focus was on inequality, morals and God's desire for peace and brotherly love between people.

Given the complexities of globalization, some aspects of which King could not imagine, achieving these goals today is daunting. "And if we are not diligent in our determination to root out the last vestiges of racism in our dealings with the rest of the world, we may soon see the sins of our fathers visited upon ours and succeeding generations." That's a message worth repeating more than just one day each January. Mary Sanchez is an opinion-page columnist for The Kansas City Star. E-mail heratmsanchezkcstar.com. The Anniston Star (24600) published daily by Consolidated Publishing 4305 McClellan Blvd, Anniston, AL 36206.

Periodical postage paid at Anniston, AL. POSTMASTER: Send address change to THE ANNISTON STAR, P.O. Box 189, Anniston, AL 36202. Delivery by carrier $12.75 per month. SANCHEZ Depending on which side of the fence you rest, the raising of the federal minimum wage -w a much-needed relief for millions of American workers is either welcomed arrival or a precursor te economic dangers.

Workers and union leaders have lobbied hard for tQe first federal increase in a decade. Business owners, especially those of small, family-run opera- ikjus, say an increase ultimately will lead to jb reductions and business failures. To say it's a divisive iSsue hardly is strong-ejiough language especially between management and labor, whose competing interests make any discussion of raising the federal minimum wage an instant firestorm between them. But a story last week in The New York Times iflustrates how the matter of giving more money ttf America's minimum-wage workers isn't as simple as critics of the increase want you to believe. The story highlighted workers at a rijzza parlor in Liberty Lake, rfjany of whom live in Idaho and commute a few miles across the state line each day.

Washington is one of states that already has raised its rfjinimum wage. Idaho is not; 13 percent of all jobs in Idaho pay less or at the proposed federal minimum tfage. In eastern Washington, the result i stunning: Many workers refuse te work in Idaho for $3.15 an hour bjecause they can work in Washington for $7.93 an hour. For the pizza pftrlor The Times profiled, it means higher worker productivity, an overabundance of qualified job appli cants and, the parlor's owner claims, a better product. He says the price increases then placed on his customers is insignificant and that he's had no complaints, only increased business.

Of course there are variables to consider, many of which make it difficult to compare eastern Washington to eastern Alabama. Each state has different rates of taxation, different population demographics and different industrial components. Economists go crazy studying examples such as this; you can't arbitrarily say if it works there, it would work here, too. But you can say a form of this state-hopping for higher-paying jobs already occurs here, especially with teachers and nurses regularly making daily drives into Georgia for advanced wages. The bottom line is simple.

The House has passed it, the Senate is expected to -pass it, the White House opposes it because it doesn't provide adequate relief to small businesses, and the increase's critics and supporters will never reach a compromise. That's how these things work. It soon will be law, and like it or not we'll deal with it It's difficult to believe opposition to the hike won't decrease if Senate Democrats do accept changes that would help shield small business owners from adverse effects, especially if it's done in the spirit of bipartisanship and within a sincere effort to help American workers and American businesses. Our leaders in Washington should make that a priority. passages noted here are contained in the 25-page chapter.

The book was King's last. In it, King commented on the long, often-violent process by which countries develop politically. "We must have patience. We must be willing to understand why many of the young nations will have to pass through the same extremism, revolution and aggression that formed our own history. Every new government confronts overwhelming problems." Add that to commentaries about troop surges in Iraq.

He was keenly aware of the dangers of missing societal shifts, a view taken regularly by both those alarmed by the spread of Islam and those who plead for tolerance of the faith. "One of the great liabilities of history is that all too many people fail to remain awake through great periods of social change." For those who debate stem cell research, King thought much about the impending conflicts between man's conscience and scientific advances. "One of the great problems of mankind is that we suffer from a poverty of the spirit which stands in glaring contrast to our scientific and technological abundance." The recent scandals of corporate greed, chief executives who plunder companies and yet walk away with gold parachutes, PHILLIP TUTOR ANTHONY COOK GARY LEWIS SCOTT E. CALHOUN ROBERT JACKSON TRISHA FOWLER DENNIS DUNN VfcOGER SAWYER Commentary Managing Acting Online SecretaryTreasurer Asst. VP for Operations Advertising Circulation Production we please quit co-opting the man's legacy, just to soft sell him to the masses? King was radical.

His thoughts, his "dreams" if you must stick to that overused descriptor, were deep and prophetic. I'd argue many of the people who groan mid-January, and are grateful February is a short month, might be more engaged if they were told fuller truths about black historical figures. King, for example, did more than preach about the races co-existing. But given that legalized segregation ended years ago, and that class, not race, is the biggest divider in the United States, talking harmony is the safest way to present King. If you never sample anything else of King, read chapter six The World House" of his last book, "Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?" All of the Wit Paila Slarf established Irv 1883 was Anniston' first It merged with The Evening Star in 1912 to form Consolidated Publishing publishers, of i A home-ownti newspaptr Editor Editor Director Director Director Director.