Local news nuggets

As you probably know, I love newspapers. Today's Huntsville Times had two "eye catchers".

First there was a story about the state's attempt to retry a guy in a murder case that was dismissed a while ago. The facts of the case are rather lurid, but what caught my attention was the MOST confusing sentence, outside a Faulkner novel, I've ever read:

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals granted a request by the state attorney general's office to reject Moore's request for the appeals court to reconsider its decision not to rehear the appeal.

Read that again. The court granted a request to reject a request to reconsider a decision not to rehear! Make sense? Without the headline I'd never haver figured out the court said the state CAN try the guy again.

A little later in the paper I came across the latest in the ongoing saga of one Laura Wilson. Wilson was the cheerleader coach at Buckhorn High, but she got in trouble for running a for profit summer cheerleading camp at the school. As the story played out other complaints emerged. The end result seemed (to me) to be that she had bent the heck out of a bunch of laws/regs, but her biggest crime was just hacking off the wrong folks. Anyway, they fired her, but she sued to keep her job. The arbitrator ruled in her favor, but the school board won't let it go. Sure enough, some court has now ruled the arbitrator was in the wrong. What I found interesting, though, was a little bit about the financing of this whole ordeal:

Wilson left Buckhorn 16 months ago and opened a private cheerleading business but continues to draw her $50,848 teaching salary while she appeals her termination. Because she is still eligible for automatic raises given to all educators, her pay recently jumped more than $4,000.

The school system has spent more than $120,000 in legal fees since December 2004 trying to fire Wilson. It is also paying a physical education teacher to take Wilson's place at Buckhorn until the case is resolved.

So they've paid her a year-and-a-half of salary, they've spent $120,000 on legal fees, AND they've paid a sub for the same 1.5 years. I know there's a principle at stake, but isn't it maybe time to cut your losses and let the woman come back? Furthermore, I've read some news stories that seem to indicate Wilson would not come back anyway -- choosing to continue her private cheering business. As long as this drags on, though, she gets the best of both worlds. She draws her salary AND runs her private business!

Anyway, just some news items that caught my eye this morning.