WE SHOULD REASON TOGETHER

Editor,

I am the parent of a student at Hartselle High School, a teacher in
Hartselle City Schools, a resident of Hartselle, and a voter. Each of these
roles gives me a different perspective about the furor that is surrounding
our School Board and our Hartselle City Council.

First as a parent, I am very concerned about the availability of drugs in
our town. My concern covers all types of drugs -- alcohol, street drugs and
prescription drugs used for reasons other than for health care. We have
made obtaining drugs much too easy for our youth and this ease of
availability has certainly created problems in our schools. While the
problem manifests itself at the schools, the source of the problem is a
teenage population that has too much money, too little supervision and to
much access to parental medicine cabinets. This part of the problem is a
home problem that parents need to begin solving immediately.

I support the concept of a school-wide drug policy that demands
accountability from students and parents. I understand that the Hartselle
City School Board is working on such a policy. This is a good beginning
solution to a complicated problem. With all the ramifications and
technicalities in today's legal system, I understand that the school board
can not shoot from the hip in a knee-jerk fashion (such as, in the manner
most people over the age of 30 would have been treated) when an infraction
occurs. Hindsight, whether from the School Board or the City Council, is
always 20/20 and those whose counsel was not sought always become the experts.

This appears to have happened early in this furor. This is regrettable. It
is not, however, irreparable. A very wise man once said, "Come, let us
reason together." Notice, it did not say, "Let us duke this out in the
papers or through the grapevine." The book of Matthew is very clear on the
subject of disagreements, and I would urge that this Christian form of
discussion be followed. This is the model of resolving disputes that our
city needs to be modeling to our youth and to the community.

Secondly, as a teacher, I want our schools to be safe, pleasant, and to be
the best possible. Hartselle City Schools qualify on all three points.
Those that have not taught or lived any place else but Hartselle do not and
can not appreciate what a blessing we have in our school system. This is a
system that always places the needs of the child above everything else. I
have taught in five different systems in my 21 years of teaching, and no
place compares to what we have in Hartselle. It is the best possible place
to learn and work. Do we face constant teacher turnover? No? Teachers come
to Hartselle and stay.

That type of loyalty is not engendered by a school board that is on
auto-pilot. Our schools are always striving for ways to be and to do
better. Our inspiration for striving to always improve the opportunities
for every child comes from the top, the superintendent and the Hartselle
City School Board. Loyalty comes from working in a system where integrity
is important. Do people move here because of our excellent city services?
No. They move here because of our schools.

Ask any realtor why people move here. Next, ask them why people move away.
The answer is the same. Schools. Our mayor and Hartselle City Council have
struck a potentially lethal blow at an economic level that will affect our
city for years to come.

As a resident it is embarrassing to me to listen to this squabble. I'm
proud of this town, darned proud. Other municipalities are relishing every
moment of this. Mayor Knight and City Council, our town, which has enjoyed
an especially good reputation, has lost much in this face- off of words in
the newspapers. Some personal money spent in anger management courses would
have been money well spent by some of those involved. This situation is no
place to grind old axes.

Lastly, I am a voter. I voted for Mr. Stoner, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Knight. I
won't make that mistake again. They have not represented me well in this
incident nor in several other instances. It seems very clear that their
intent is to eliminate each person on the school board who has served well
for several years and replace each person with a hand picked lackey. Before
this time, how often did Mr. Stoner or Mr. Jones attend regularly attended
school board meetings? How can they speak to the way that Mr. McHugh and
Mrs. Puckett have comported themselves? What kind of separation do they
seek? After they replace the present board with hand picked plants who do
the city council's bidding, where will we be?

Mr. Stoner's constant remarks to the March 25 appearance of the baseball
team lead me to believe that he is very thin skinned. I believe it was
Franklin Roosevelt who said, 'If you can't stand the heat, get out of the
kitchen."

My suggestion is to allow the Hartselle City School Board to work out a
drug policy that is enforceable, allow them to implement this policy, and
to put bruised feelings and petty squabbles aside.

Ellen Hodgen

Hartselle

Council Crusade Not About Drugs

Editor,

Dr. Lee Hartsell is one of the most respected school superintendents in
Alabama. The school system is the most positive thing this city has going
for it. The schools are consistently ranked in the state top 10 in all
categories. I fully support Dr. Hartsell, Susan Puckett and Jerry Reeves.
We are fortunate to have people like them in Hartselle.

Allen Stoner, Frank Jones, Dick Carter and former Hartselle Enquirer editor
Clif Knight should stop pursuing personal vendettas in the newspaper and
focus on the real problems which face this city. Does anybody really
believe their crusade against the schools has anything to do with drug
testing? Stoner and company are the people who should resign.

In fact, that would be a good topic for this week's online poll on the
Hartselle Enquirer website.

Barry Ward

Hartselle