Investigative journalism isn't dead

Thanks to Rebecca Burylo and the Montgomery Advertiser for an in-depth report on the I-85/I-65 interchange crashes. Investigative journalism is not dead, even if on life support.

Rather than spend the tens of millions of dollars Mayor Todd Strange estimates would be required to redesign the fly-over ramp to I-65 south, that money should be used to extend the "outer loop," currently under construction from I-85 to SR 110 in Pike Road, all the way to I-85/Hyundai Boulevard.

A completed outer loop to I-65 south would divert a major portion of the 18-wheeler traffic from the crowded downtown portion of both interstates. These top-heavy vehicles are the ones most prone to flip off of the poorly designed ramp.

The 35-mph speed limit on the ramp is absurd and nothing more than a "CYA" measure to absolve the DOT from culpability for crashes. Post a more-reasonable 45-mph limit and emphasize it with "rattle strips" prior to the intersection. Out-of-area drivers are not expecting such a slow speed on an interstate merger, and rightfully so.

Let's complete the outer loop, and if that does not solve the problem, then we can start knocking down schools and churches to construct a proper intersection at I-85/I-65. Buckle up, hang up and drive smartly.

Jerry L. Gantt


Moon's facts don't add up

Advertiser columnist Josh Moon's Sunday editorial about expanding Alabama's Medicaid and how good it would be using some Kentucky revenue facts to back his position doesn't match with the Sunday USA Today article a week ago on the healthcare disaster in Kentucky. Josh claims Kentucky will be revenue positive in the millions over the next ten years. The USA Today piece claimed Kentucky would be billions of dollars in the red from the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid which it adopted in its entirety. In addition Kentucky hospitals are closing because of low payments or no payments and they are cutting staff employment as a result.

What conclusion can be drawn from comparing the two articles? It appears that the USA Today numbers were based on what actually happened to Kentucky since the state's adoption of the Affordable Care Act and the Medicaid expansion not the projections from the administration's Health and Human Services promotion of the Act. What we have are real numbers versus hoped for numbers and so far the real numbers are not matching the hoped for numbers in any state that has adopted the Act and the expansion of Medicaid.

So do we really want Alabama to have a similar revenue problem like Kentucky is experiencing on top of the existing revenue problems?

Duane Mara


Letters to the editor: Columnist Moon's truth self-serving nonsense

Why should we fight?

Some insist that the Islamic State was created by the Iraq invasion. Others say ISIL was created when the U.S. left Iraq without leaving a residual force behind to support the Iraqi Army. The truth is ISIL exist, and is growing stronger, because the Iraqi military will not fight! BBC News reported that ISIL captured Ramadi with just 200 men. The Iraqi forces defending Ramadi were 2,000 troops strong/weak, and they cut and ran! Battle after battle, the Iraqi troops have cut and ran when they are challenged by ISIL.

As a retired military serviceman and a Vietnam veteran, I find it appalling we are still involved in a war to defend a country where their military has no loyalty to their nation at all. Their loyalty is to a tribe or sect or Islam. If they will not fight, why should we fight for them? We lost many brave service men and women in Iraq and their service should never be minimized because of decisions by our nation's civilian leadership.

The Bush and Obama Administration say, "Our goal is the train the Iraqi Military to defend their country." I served in at the American Embassy at Cairo Egypt, and I know that military training cannot erase thousands of years of misplaced values. They believe in order for them to accept Democracy, they would have to deny their Faith. Our government continues to believe falsely that a regime change from a strong man dictator will create a flourishing Democracy.

Zack Buckner


I commend Al Benn on his excellent article on the dedication of a new monument to Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest in Selma recently. The old monument had been stolen by those who believe that Forrest is not a hero but a racist villain, not only for his association with the founding of the first Ku Klux Klan, but also because of the alleged Fort Pillow Massacre, in which black troops were reported to have been killed after they surrendered. For some blacks, a monument to Forrest in Selma would be like a monument to Hitler in Jerusalem. But the real question is who owns the land and who owns the monument. If the land and the monument are on private property, the statue is legal, just as a statue of Hitler in the United States would technically be legal, however offensive, because of the first amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.

Daniel Haulman


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