Talks THE TALLASSEE TRIBUNE
Steve Flowers Inside the Statehouse
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Opinion A reminder that public information is for everyone
Where are former T governors now? A
good friend and loyal reader suggested to me that he would like to see a column entitled, “Where Are They Now?” Then I ran into former Gov. Albert Brewer at a Birmingham restaurant and it prompted me to do that column. Gov. Brewer has always been admired by Alabamians as one of the finest people to have ever served in state government. I got to know Gov. Brewer when I was a young page in the Alabama House of Representatives and Brewer was a youthful Speaker of the House. In fact, he has the distinction of being the youngest Speaker in state history. He was elected to the House from Morgan County at 28 and became Speaker during only his second term at age 33. Flowers In 1966, he was elected lieutenant governor. While serving as lieutenant governor, Lurleen Wallace succumbed to cancer and Brewer became governor in 1968. He ran for a full term in 1970. In the most memorable and momentous governor’s race in history, Brewer and George Wallace clashed. He led Wallace in the initial voting but Wallace overtly played the race card and overcame Brewer in the runoff to become governor again. Brewer made another run for governor in 1978 but Fob James came out of nowhere to defeat the three B’s, Bill Baxley, Jere Beasley and Albert Brewer. Since leaving politics, Gov. Brewer returned to the practice of law then began teaching at Samford’s Cumberland School of Law, where he has counseled and mentored students and young lawyers, including my daughter Ginny, for more than 20 years. Gov. Brewer has remained active in governing in Alabama through the Public Affairs Research Council. At 87, he is in good health and enjoys his life in Birmingham. Another former governor, John Patterson, is 94. He lives on his ancestral land in Goldville in rural Tallapoosa County. Patterson has the distinction of being the only man to beat George Wallace in a governor’s race. Wallace was a fiery circuit judge from Barbour County and Patterson was a squeaky clean law and order segregationist young attorney general. Patterson beat Wallace soundly in that 1954 race and became the youngest governor in state history. He was only 33 years old when he took office as governor in January of 1955. He was dubbed the “boy governor.” Patterson was later appointed and then elected to the Alabama Court of Appeals and served with distinction as a jurist for over 20 years. He is enjoying his golden years on his farm and has a pet goat named Rebecca, who came to his house out of the blue and took up with him. Rebecca follows Patterson wherever he goes. She watches him intensely and animatedly seems to engage in conversation. Former Gov. Fob James is enjoying his retirement years at his Butler County farm and at Orange Beach. Fob actually retired about 40 years ago at age 40 when he and his brother, Cal, sold their Opelika industry, Diversified Products. Fob chose to spend his personal money to surprise Baxley, Beasley and Brewer in 1978 to win the governor’s race in one of the most notable gubernatorial contests in state political history. Fob was elected governor again in 1994. He is the only person in state history to win the governor’s race first as a Democrat then as a Republican. Bill Baxley was elected Attorney General of Alabama in 1970 at age 28. He became not only the youngest person elected attorney general in Alabama history but he was the youngest state attorney general in the nation’s history. Baxley served two terms as attorney general from 1970-1978, then came back as lieutenant governor from 1982-1986. Baxley has a successful law practice in Birmingham and is doing well at age 75. At age 66, Jim Folsom, Jr. is the youngest former governor. He and Marsha live in their native Cullman. They both look great, as always, and are enjoying their life. Perry Hooper Sr., who was one of the founders of the modern Republican Party in Alabama, is 90. He is retired and living in his beloved Montgomery. He became probate judge of Montgomery County with the 1964 Goldwater Republican landslide. He later became the first Republican Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and paved the way for our current day all Republican Supreme Court. See you next week. Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.
March 16, 2016 • Page 5
his week is 2016 Sunshine Week, a time that we in the media work to raise awareness and remind the people of our area that this week is not for the media – it is for the people. The laws that are on the books are designed to assure free flow of government information – information that can help citizens understand government and make sure that leaders are being good stewards as they handle our business and our money. The laws are on the books for
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time for Americans to educate ourselves and remember that public information doesn’t belong to the government, nor does it belong to the press – it belongs to the people. If you have a question or want to know ‘why,’ ask your government for the information. It is that simple. There are minimal costs associated with the production of the information in some cases, but if you want to know, it is worth the nominal fee. The moral is that freedom of information is only a good principle when used by the people. Let’s all do out part and let the sun shine on the workings of our governmental bodies.
Produced by George Martin
he words at the top of this column, “produced by George Martin,” were four magical words found on the labels of Beatles records. (“Recorded in England” were three others that appeared on nearly every release, to remind us they were a British act.) Last week, when Sir George Martin passed away at the age of 90, music journalists fell over themselves in print and online with entire articles about the records he produced for other people – The Goons, Shirley Bassey, America, Cheap Trick – you name them, he worked with them – to prove that he made more of a contribution than just to the Beatles. As if they weren’t the greatest group of all time. But his “fifth Beatle” status is his legacy. Five decades removed from the heyday of Beatlemania, it’s difficult to imagine a statistic such as this one: in the year 1965, over 60% of all the records sold were Beatles records. Staggering! And the Fab Four were constantly in the movies and on tour during that time as well. While they were pushing for change, they were savvy enough to also appear on the comedy and variety shows in vogue at the time. And of course, 73 million people saw them on Ed Sullivan, which is the largest television audience ever recorded. We are huge Beatles fans in our house, so I hereby share my favorite productions that would never have happened without the influence of George Martin, one of the greatest producers music will ever know. EXHIBIT A: One Day in 1962: Parlophone Records was a comedy and novelty label. George Martin was a classically trained musician. He was
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good reason – to make sure that the public is not left in the dark. This newspaper has featured several stories in recent weeks and months that are the direct result of the use of the state and federal open records and meetings laws. We often hear residents complain that they didn’t know what lawmakers were doing or claim that they “pulled a fast one.” That can only happen when we don’t pay attention and ask questions. Our staff pledges to let this week renew our mission of keeping the public informed by using the tools that the current laws allow to get information out. We also charge citizens to do their part as well. This week should serve as a reminder as a
Bird’s Eye View By Michael Bird assigned the Beatles, and from the beginning Martin heard things happening within the band even these road-hardened “professionals” didn’t realize about themselves. For instance, Martin brought Ringo Starr into the band that day. He directed John Lennon to play the harmonica solo at the beginning of “Love Me Do” instead of in the middle. These, and a million other things, went right during a single 12-hour recording session that produced the first Beatles LP. The fact that we’re still talking about it 55 years later shows what an important contribution it is to rock music. EXHIBIT B: The Golden Age: Beatles press agent Derek Taylor called the middle Beatles period “the years of dash and daring,” a phrase that has stuck with me when I listen to RUBBER SOUL and REVOLVER back to back. The mood, instrumentation, arrangements, and lyric subject matter is miles of maturity away from the “yeah yeah yeah” sounds of only a year before. George Martin’s performance on “In My Life,” for example, sets it apart; “Norwegian Wood” brought the sitar to prominence; his production of “Michelle” evokes the French torch song genre it was aiming to emulate; the quiet instrumentation and beautifully recorded vocals of “Here, There, and Everywhere” and “Nowhere Man” are quintessential Beatles. But Martin brought everything including the kitchen sink to his
production of “Tomorrow Never Knows,” which is one of the strangest – and most fascinating – recordings in the Beatle catalog. EXHIBIT C: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: So, the Beatles decided to take some vacation time after their final live show at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park in August, 1966. They holed up in the studio and knocked out a psychedelic classic: “Strawberry Fields Forever,” a story of John Lennon’s childhood. Martin physically held his hand on the reel to give Lennon’s vocals that in-and-out-of-consciousness sound so familiar to us today. Later, as the band worked on the SGT. PEPPER album proper, Lennon brought in a circus poster with the entirety of “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite” lyrics already written on it. Lennon described to Martin that he wanted it to sound like a carnival. Martin recorded some steam organ to tape, then cut the tape into thousands of pieces. He had the engineer splice them together randomly, which created what Martin called “the wash at the back of the picture”. Genius. And the string and harp arrangement on “She’s Leaving Home,” or the barroom piano on “Lovely Rita,” or the animal kingdom sounds on “Good Morning Good Morning,” or the orchestra crescendo that strings together the ultimate LennonMcCartney composition, “A Day in the Life” – it just doesn’t get any better than this. It may have been by chance, but I believe it was destiny for George Martin to cross paths with these four hard-edged rockers from Liverpool. He guided them into sharing their hearts with listeners everywhere, and changed popular music forever. “Good Night.”
How to grow a buckeye ball tree
s we live, we learn. I’ve told you before that I like buckeye-balls; I’ve always been told that they were good luck. I’ve carried one with me off and on all of my life and most of the time I’ve had good luck. When I went to Desert Storm in 1990 someone sent me a buckeye ball. I kept this buckeye ball until recently, on one of my hospital trips it got lost. I immediately got me another one when I got home. I have some in a drawer at the barbershop. When I got back from Desert Storm, Jack Venable asked me about my buckeye ball and then he asked me to find him one. One day while going to the boat-launching ramp at Yates Dam I saw some on the side of the road so I got Jack one. On occasion I would ask him about it and he would reach into his pocket, pull the buckeye ball out and show it to me. Quite a few people beside myself carry them. Jerry Warren comes to mind as one that raises them and carries one in his pocket. Many times I’ve tried to grow a buckeye ball tree but had no luck but this past year I think I found the secret to growing one. Some people say plant a small sprig and others say plant the buckeye ball itself. My son and I were up on
The Coffee Breaker By Ronald Brantley the middle pond and ran into some off shoots about two to three feet tall. We also saw some buckeye balls so we got both. We were careful to save the roots, the twig itself was about as big around as two matchsticks put together. We brought our find home and prepared to plant them. Now, here is where everything differs from any other experiences. We have a sixty-acre farm and my boy picked the worst spot on the whole place to plant them. We planted them in a place where another little tree had died. Not smart but it saved some digging, his decision. We stuck the plant down in the ground and then threw some buckeye balls in the hole with the plant. This saved digging another hole and we will remember where we planted the balls. Another one of his ideas and I registered this in the back of my mind for future use if I have to blame anyone. There the plant was right where I told him
not to plant it and on a dark night I ran over it. Thought of what I had done and backed over it. I got out and checked it out; it wasn’t broken but skinned up pretty bad. I told my son and he kicked and snorted and put a wire tomato stand around it. It didn’t take long and I hit it. The tomato stand got bent up, twisted and tangled with the plant. After a lot of untwisting, straightening out wire and unweaving the plant we got it free again. The dog discovered it and now it’s his fireplug. We are beginning to have some pretty days and I’ve noticed the big golden yellow Jonquils are blooming. I see some grass turning green in spots and I even saw a pair of doves sitting on the power line the other day. As of this writing the purple martins have not come in yet but I’m looking for them to arrive at any time. I stopped to look at my beat up and skinned up buckeye ball tree yesterday and low and behold there was some tiny buds on it. I haven’t any proof that it will live yet but if it does go by these instructions and you can grow a buckeye ball tree. Ronald Brantley is a Tallassee resident and can be reached at Rbrantley1@elmore.rr.com.