So I get home today and my wife hands me some court papers. They weren't hers. She'd copied some that she got from our next door neighbor. We never got any.

Funny thing is, these court documents list the Town of Argo as plaintiff in a case and several of our neighbors and friends as the defendants. It's the very case that we've been expecting to see taken to the Supreme Court, and there is no obligation to the people named in the papers. My neighbor was freaking out.

For the record guys, it's just a scare tactic. Let it make you mad and then do something about it. They're not going to get you.

One must ask why Argo's town leadership has such a problem with the principles on which this country was founded. First they show disrespect for the republican process in not allowing its citizenship true representation by refusing a special election to replace elected officials. Now, they outright spit on the democratic process by outright stating to the press that they will fight to the very end to deny Argo's people their right to vote.

After Judge Wallace Wyatt, Jr. upheld his decision in April, the Town of Argo had between 40 and 90 days to schedule a vote. Instead they plan to take the issue to Alabama's Supreme Court in an effort to fight the will of the people. Let them. The Alabama Supreme Court has the authority to take over the town and schedule the vote themselves. The St. Clair County Probate Judge didn't have that authority.

One way or another the Argo's leaders have just shot themselves in the foot. What judge in his right mind is going to issue a decision that would refuse a vote of the people-- especially a judge who is himself elected? Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb just won a very tight race herself and she certainly couldn't afford the political backlash of such a decision. Argo might have had a slight chance had they waited this one out. They might have actually won had they scheduled the vote and not fought the issue. They might have drug out the issue at least to the next election. Instead they've all but guaranteed their swift defeat by demonstrating that the town leadership is very much interested in fighting the will of the people. Many who were previously on the fence and some on the other side have now hopped on over to the annexation side. They've even raised a few eyebrows in other cities across the state-- from Montgomery to Tuscaloosa to Wetumpka to Enterprise to Birmingham to Huntsville to Foley.

Now they're screwed. If they held a vote today they'd lose. If they fight it they'll still face a vote and they'll lose by an overwhelming landslide. I'm sure that Betty Bradley and Albert Jordan are very grateful to the town leadership for making their lives that much easier.

And their reasoning? You're going to love this. They state that they're fighting an election partly because it would cost the city money to hold one. As opposed to the money coming out of the city treasury to pay attorney fees and court fees to fight it? An election would be downright thrifty on their part!

I'm waiting to see if they'll state as usual that they've been misquoted when they released that very statement in writing to several local newspapers.

I'd be interested in seeing what the district attorney has to say about the legality and ethics regarding using town treasury to fight town interests. We could very well have a lawsuit against the town leadership themselves before this is over and done with.

And what excellent poker faces our town council and mayor have! As I suspected, the ordinance is legal but only because it requires permits only for those assemblies that might block traffic or might pose a safety risk.

The sad part is that this has accomplished something. It will affect someone. It will affect church gatherings, charities, and other legitimate public gatherings. It does nothing for peaceful demonstrations.

I heard an amusing rumor while I was headed over to the town hall today. Someone told me that the gay community of Argo is planning to show up and enjoy their own quality time together during the celebration. I don't know if it's true or not but the city doesn't have an ordinance prohibiting public displays of affection. Yet. More power to them but I'm not sure how some of these folks would react to that.

I leave town for one day and all hell breaks loose.

The first thing I see when I get back is several emails from The Alabama Moderate telling me to go and look at a post on the al.com forums. The post stated that the town council has passed an ordinance to require a permit for public assembly and thus foiling an attempt by annexation supporters to peacefully assemble at the park opening.

My first thought was, "What a load of crap!" If you know anything about how these laws work, you know that they can't require a permit for a peaceful public protest on public property unless someone is standing in the middle of the road blocking traffic or something. Then I saw the saveargo.com website, where they do state that they have passed a public assembly ordinance.

My best guess is that this is a bluff by the mayor and council and won't affect anyone's ability to protest. I'll pick up a copy of the ordinance today and see what kind of language is used.

The Birmingham News is really behind these days. We found out about Judge Wyatt upholding his decision the day that it happened. The News is just now running an article on it. Here's a link.

The article does give us a small glimpse into what is happening behind the scenes. That's the part we didn't know until now. From the article:

Birmingham attorney Albert Jordan, who represents a petitioner, said he hasn't ruled out seeking an order from a circuit court judge that would force Argo to schedule a referendum.

The article also hints that Argo officials may still be looking for a way around a vote. It just seems to me that a vote is the easiest way to get everything behind us and to make sure that the will of the people, whatever it may be, prevails.

I just received a forwarded email with a couple of meetings listed. One of them in particular is not listed on the saveargo.com website and is not a regularly scheduled meeting. The other is the regularly scheduled Monday night meeting. Please note that I'm not shouting. I just got lazy and used copy/paste to put this info here. So here it is:

"THE TOWN OF ARGO WILL HOLD A WORK SESSION ON TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2007 AT TOWN HALL BEGINNING AT 6:00 P.M. THE MEETING IS TO INTERVIEW APPLICANTS FOR THE ARGO ZONING BOARD.

"ALSO, THE REGULARY [sic] SCHECULED [sic] COUNCIL MEETING WILL BE HELD ON MAY 7, 2007 AT 7:00 P.M. THIS MEETING WILL ALSO BE HELD AT TOWN HALL."

The Birmingham News recently ran this article in it's Eastern section. I held off on posting it until I could find out some more information because something in particular caught my attention.

Before I get to that, let me just give the Town of Argo a big kudos for stepping up and taking the area from those infamous pictures to what it looks like today. The dirt pile is gone and has been replaced with a pile of sand and a pile of gravel. There are some railroad ties out there. I'm assuming that this will be used for the play area. Signage is still M.I.A. Perhaps one of our paving companies will step up to the plate regarding paving the road and parking. While we're on the subject of parking, there's going to need to be more of it if they plan to use the area for the 20th anniversary celebration. I didn't see room for more than 20 vehicles unless you pack them in and block them in. I'm working under the assumption that these things will be cleared up in the next few weeks.

Now that I've given some credit where credit is due, I want to address the following quote from the article:

"And for the faint of heart, there is an Argo Fire Station at the park."

I don't know if News staff writer Patrick Hickerson bothered to go up to the door and knock, but chances are that he didn't. Nobody's home. According to what is being posted by annexation opponents on the al.com forums, the building there is technically a "fire station" but it does not function as one. There are no firetrucks going to and from this building. There are no firemen stationed there. The only thing that makes this building a fire station is the signage on the building.

If the "fire station" were in use, that would be wonderful. I have often wondered what would happen if there was a fire and a train was stopped on the tracks. It needs to be manned.

My concern is that the park is being misrepresented as all the better for being next to a "fire station" when it is a "fire station" in name only. That's a lot like, as Alabama Moderate pointed out, saying that Argo has a "park" when all they have is land for a park. If I say that I have a "car" people don't expect me to show them an engine. If I say that I have a "house" people don't expect me to show them a pre-approved mortgage. If I say that I have a "child" people don't expect me to show them my wife's ovulation kit.

If I tell an employer that I have a "degree" he is not expecting me to show him my student ID.

I received an email today letting me know that Judge Wyatt has decided that what he previously decided is in fact his decision. Did you get all that? In case you didn't, here's the scoop. St. Clair County's probate judge previously certified Argo's annexation petition. The Town of Argo appealed and the documents are included in my previous posting. Despite the appeal, the previous ruling still stands. So will Argo citizens soon be joining their brothers and sisters in Branchville at the polls? Stay tuned.

Argo's leaders seem to be denying a vote to the petitioners. Petitioners will likely have to go around them or above them to get one. The Secretary of State oversees elections. Beth Chapman's office seemed like a good place to start. I called this morning. It seems like there may be a way to get around the council and mayor after all. They gave me some information. I'm following up on it at this time.

It has nothing to do with what side I'm on. An election seems like a good idea no matter which side of the fence you are on. I for one would like to see this over and done with so that the citizens of Argo can move forward one way or the other. Neighbors are fighting neighbors and families are being torn apart over this mess. A vote would settle things quickly. Then we could all focus on healing.

The City of Argo has appealed the decision of Judge Wallace Wyatt, Jr. to certify the annexation petition. The new trial is set for tomorrow, Thursday, April 19 at 9:00 a.m. at the Pell City Courthouse. Stop by and show your support for either side. The argo2springville website has some documents posted regarding the matter at the links below. I hope they don't mind me stealing their bandwidth. Both documents are in pdf format.

Fax 1

Fax 2

I would like to see a response from the mayor and council regarding this matter. It's always best to have both sides of an argument.

It turns out that our friendly Alabama Moderate is quite busy these days so I have offered to take over the Argo news and discussion for her. I sent her an email last night and she gave me the thumbs up today. She's been doing some op-ed and links to news articles with a few fill-ins from various folks. I'll try to provide more of the same. If anyone has any news please contact me to let me know. I'll check it out and get it up as soon as possible. I'm going to try to get things as accurate as possible. As it often happens when you try to get information out there I will eventually get something wrong. Just let me know as soon as possible and I'll correct it.

A little bit about me. I've lived in Argo nearly all my life. I used to run a fairly popular blog called "Blog Diggity" back in the days before blogging was the cool thing to do. I've covered just about everything but I quit blogging and deleted my blog back in 2006. It just wasn't fun anymore and I got sick of keeping it up.

So that's me and that's why I'm here. Hope this can be of some use to you.