Talks THE TALLASSEE TRIBUNE
Inside the Statehouse By Steve Flowers
Recollections of Bill Baxley and the Cuban Missile Crisis
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le Bill Baxley has been in the news a lot this year. He was the lead defense counsel for former Speaker Mike Hubbard’s ethics conviction trial over in Opelika. Baxley practices law in Birmingham and is one of the state’s premier and most expensive criminal defense lawyers. Like a good many of the top defense attorneys, Baxley was first a prosecutor and a doggone good one. Baxley was born and raised in Dothan, the heart of the Wiregrass. His family was one of the original settling families in Houston County. His daddy Keener Baxley was the Circuit Judge in Houston and Henry counties. Mr. Keener had been the District Attorney prior to going on the bench. Bill grew up in his daddy’s courtroom. There was no doubt in his mind that he would be a lawyer. Baxley was a child protégé. He also had a meteoric rise in Alabama politics. He finished Dothan High School at 16, the University of Alabama at 20 and Law School at 22. He became the District Attorney in Houston and Henry Counties at the age of 24. He was elected Attorney General of Alabama at the ripe old age of 28 and served eight years as the state’s top prosecutor. Unlike many of the recent attorney generals, who actually know nothing about criminal prosecution, Baxley though young was well qualified and an effective prosecutor. Baxley was elected lieutenant governor in 1982 and ran second for governor twice, once in 1978 and again in 1986. Bill Baxley like most politicians had his favorite stories and jokes. His best that he told repeatedly throughout the years took place in October over 50 years ago. It was during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Most of us thought our world was coming to an end. The story was about an ole guy named Squatlow. I am not sure whether this story is true or not but it could very well be true. Squatlow got his nickname because he would squat down low to the ground whenever he talked with folks. Ole Squatlow would hunker down with a chew of tobacco in his mouth and gossip and swap stories all day. Baxley was a young district attorney for Houston and Henry Counties. Dothan and Houston County has about 90 percent of the people in the Circuit with Henry County being the home to about 10 percent. Baxley was a youthful 25-year-old district attorney and would travel to Court on occasion in Henry County to prosecute the few criminals they had in Henry County. Baxley like most politicians would stop at a country store and drink a coke with the rural folks in the area. Henry County is a very sparsely populated rural county in the Wiregrass with two small towns, Abbeville and Headland. Abbeville happens to be the county seat. Squatlow had a mechanic shop/gas station/ grocery store in the obscure community of Tumbleton in Henry County. His whole world was no bigger than that county. The biggest places he had ever been were Abbeville and Headland with a population of about 1,000 people each. Well, they may have been back in the woods, but they knew about the Cuban Missile Crisis and the standoff between the United States and Russia. It was a scary situation. I think most people were afraid that a nuclear war was imminent. The whole world was on edge. During the week of this crisis, Baxley while traveling to court in Henry County, stopped by Squatlow’s store in Tumbleton. Squatlow and all the folks in the little community were scared. This was obviously the topic of conversation that day. Ole Squatlow sauntered down in his lowest squatting position and just shook his head. “You know, I’ve been thinking about it all night, and I just know those damn Russians are going to bomb Abbeville. Yeah, they gonna drop one of them atom bombs right on Abbeville,” said old Squatlow. Baxley looked at Squatlow and said, “Squatlow, why in the world would the Russians drop a bomb on Abbeville, Alabama?” Squatlow looked at Baxley like he was the most stupid person he had ever seen. He shook his head at how ignorant this young, 25-yearold lawyer was. He looked at Baxley and said, “Boy, don’t you know nothing? Don’t you know that Abbeville is the county seat of Henry County?” 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.
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October 19, 2016 • Page 5
Superintendent debate was a clean affair
he superintendent debate hosted by the Elmore County Republican Party Monday night was an extremely clean affair. Candidates were asked seven questions and given a range of time from two minutes to five minutes to answer the questions. During each of their answers, the candidates stuck to the questions and issues presented. At no point was there any discussion that devolved into name-calling, insults, discussion of candidates’ sexual proclivities or anything similar. It is interesting how a small superintendent race in a little county in Alabama can be so clean while the race for the most powerful position in the entire world effectively devolves into a grade school mudslinging contest. One would hope that for the highest office in our country we would attract the
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ast week, we celebrated Paul Simon’s 75 th birthday in this space. He seemed, to quote one of his songs, “old.” This week, it could be argued that an even greater milestone has been reached for the earliest rock and rollers: Chuck Berry, the pioneering guitarist and songwriter, turned 90 on Tuesday. Chuck Berry! NINETY?! And he’s been married to the same woman since 1948?! AND he has a new album coming out?! George Howell, who went by the name George the DJ on the radio, often says that the first-generation rockers seemed to avoid the pitfalls of those who came after. Fats Domino, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis are all still alive,
WILLIAM CARROLL Managing Editor
best and brightest, but more often than not it seems these days to attract the dregs of society. In that respect, the superintendent debate between current Superintendent Dr. Andre Harrison and challenger Richard Dennis was an example of how to conduct a proper forum. Personally, I prefer when actual issues are discussed. I’ve never understood campaigns that are short on facts but long on diatribe. Sadly, that is what our politics are in this country, especially on the national level. Obfuscation and misdirection are the tricks of the trade as candidates would rather
fill voters heads with nonsense than sound practical solutions to their problems. Oftentimes voters themselves are to blame, whether conservative or liberal they have decided to listen only to voices that support their own and refuse to listen to any evidence to contradict their opinions. The reality is that none of those in attendance at the debate Monday changed their opinion on who to vote for, but at least they were able to hear each candidate talk about their views on how to properly run a school system and their opinion on a variety of issues. If nothing else voters left the room hearing actual policy solutions, not meaningless platitudes. One can only hope that our national leaders would learn a thing or two about local races. That brings up another interesting
issue. In my experience, local races tend on average to be clean. Sure occasionally candidates sling a little mud and a little dirt, but the fact you have to live around those you speak ill of can have a chilling effect on what you actually say. It seems though that the higher up you go on the electoral ladder the dirtier your campaign needs to be. It seems that as candidates seek to convince more people to vote for them they believe they need to do so by seeking out every sordid detail they can about their opponents. If only they would stick to actual issues, perhaps we could then elect people who actually do what they say they are going to do. William Carroll is the managing editor for the Elmore County publications for Tallapoosa Publishers, inc.
Chuck Berry turns 90 was rocking, a constant presence on then-new TV, joyfully duckwalking while playing his Gibson semi-hollow By Michael body electric guitar. He learned a lot of his Bird riffs and licks from time spent performing still performing, still with bluesmen T-Bone recording. Chuck Berry Walker and Muddy reaching age 90 is a Waters. But Chuck cultural signpost. Berry had a grander Berry was raised in a vision, one with unity upwardly middle-class in mind: he would take family. Chuck’s dad the R&B riffs and marry was a Baptist deacon, them to Nat King Coleand his mom was a style vocals, adding public school principal. a country & western His parents surrounded backbeat, giving his him with good music variation of “rock ‘n’ and literature; to roll” its own distinctive this day, if one were style. to dissect Berry’s The Chuck Berrylyrics, they would see styled leads have been similarities between imitated by, literally, Berry’s words and the everyone. His greatest works of Poe, Dunbar, living disciple might be Tilton, or Shelley. Keith Richards of The From earliest Rolling Stones, who memory, he was a openly admires and performer. And as the reveres Berry so much 1950s rolled on, he that he even made a
Bird’s Eye View
documentary film about him several years ago. And who can imagine the success of the Beach Boys without the noteperfect copies of Berry’s hits? Chuck Berry created, and has lived, a particular rock and roll style and attitude, or stance. In and out of trouble since his youth, he went to reform school (and performed his way out), and has been imprisoned on several occasions, usually for sex or gun-related crimes. Somehow, the charges never seem to stick. Chuck Berry, for all intents and purposes, is “rock and roll” personified. John Lennon of the Beatles said it this way: “if you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’.” Hail, hail, rock and roll!
There's nothing like performing in a theater
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here are pilgrimages that certain groups must make at least once in their lifetime: hippies to San Francisco, baseball fans to Cooperstown, and old people to Branson. I’m not old, but I did a show in Branson in 2009. Old people really dig my humor, and I really dig them. Like them, I dig circus peanuts, too. I’ve performed in a lot of places, including bars, churches, comedy clubs, restaurants, ball rooms, convention halls and arenas, just to name a few—not bad for a stuttering guy. I’ve even performed for troops all around the world, which include a couple of undisclosed locations. You name it, and I’ve probably performed there. I’ve even performed in Tuscaloosa a few times. One of those times was at Bama Theater. While I love performing for troops and other groups who hold a special place in my heart, as far as venues go, there is nothing quite like performing in a theater with my name on the
JODY FULLER Guest Columnist
marquee. Theaters remind me of a simpler time. Several years ago, I was one of four comedians scheduled for a show at the State Theater in Albany, Georgia. The marquee simply read “Four Comedians.” Now, imagine driving by the movies and seeing a marquee that read “Fourteen Movies.” Would that entice you to pull in and check it out? Likely, not. The State Theater had been recently renovated, so people weren’t accustomed to attending events there anyway. The promoter of the show didn’t know what the heck he was doing—bless his heart. There was not only an annual festival that took place the same weekend every year going on at the same time, but Georgia was playing South Carolina under the lights
on ESPN. Like it or not, pigskins trump punchlines in the Peach State. We had four people show up for the show. This past Thursday night, I had a gig at the Princess Theater in Decatur. Boy, was it nice. There cake in the greenroom! It was a fundraising and awareness event for the Decatur Kiwanis Club. They had my name, along with my friend Tim Steed’s name, beautifully displayed on the marquee. By beautiful, I mean in black plastic letters, but it was beautiful to me, although I was kind of hoping for “Two Comedians,” to be honest with you. I sometimes have a weird sense of humor. I actually met Tim at that gig in Branson in 2009. Tim performed for about a half hour, and then I followed him with a full hour. It would’ve been great to have a few more people there, but it was still a really good crowd for a Thursday night and they laughed a lot. The acoustics in the theater were outstanding. I told
a lot of jokes and a lot of stories and they laughed hard when I wanted them to except for three occasions when either I told stories I’d never told before or stories that just needed to be dusted off a bit. I have a dream to see my name on marquees at theaters all across the country. I work hard and have to believe that one day that will come true. If I didn’t believe that, why would I be in this business? What are your realistic dreams and what are you doing to make those dreams become a reality? I even want to see my name on a marquee in Branson, but I got word from Mel Tillis’ people that Branson wasn’t big enough for two stuttering guys. Jody Fuller is a comic, speaker, writer and soldier with three tours of duty in Iraq. He is also a lifetime stutterer. He can be reached at jody@ jodyfuller.com. For more information, please visit www.jodyfuller.com.