Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Bill Baxley and Squatlow

  Ole Bill Baxley has been in the news a lot this year. He was the lead defense counsel for former Speaker Mike Hubbard’s ethics 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.

Hank Sanders: Senate Sketches #1495: Wrestling with fear and facts

  Facts don’t stand a chance in the face of fear. Fear just bowls over facts like a bulldozer over outhouses. Facts don’t stand a chance when facing fear.

  I have fought fear many times. In the last two weeks I fought against fear on two occasions.

  I was called by a reporter in Mobile, Ala. He asked if Perry County was in my senate district. I said that Perry County is indeed in Senate District 23 which I represent. He explained tuberculosis cases had been reported in Perry County and some schools had refused to go there to play basketball games. This was the first I had heard of this situation. I told the reporter that I would get back to him. I wanted to get the facts even though I knew facts don’t stand a chance in the face of fear.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Squatlow and the Cuban Missile Crisis

  Fall is my favorite time of year and October is my favorite month. The pristine air, glorious foliage and football season are enthralling. Every October I think of a traumatic experience for our nation. It was 51 years ago this month that the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred. I remember it like it was yesterday. It appeared eminent that we were headed for a nuclear holocaust.

  It was October of 1962. The Russians had secretly planted a nuclear arsenal in Cuba and the warheads were aimed in our direction only 90 miles from our border. John Kennedy was a youthful president who had been in office less than 20 months. The young president showed what he was made of. He told the Russians to take their nuclear weapons out of the western hemisphere and gave them a short deadline to dismantle and go home.