SEC issues counterfeit ticket alert
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 2
The Southeastern Conference sent out an alert Monday reminding fans to be cautious when purchasing SEC Football Championship Game tickets on the secondary market. Tickets for Saturday’s game between Alabama and Florida are sold out. With many fans obtaining tickets through various channels on the secondary market, the University of Alabama, the University of Florida and the SED have advised buyers to beware of possible counterfeit or stolen tickets. The SEC and the Georgia Dome will be offering a ‘Ticket Validation Window’ at the main box office of the Georgia Dome beginning at 9 a.m. ET on Saturday. The authenticity of the ticket can be confirmed by a box-office representative on site. Buyers of counterfeit tickets risk being denied admission to the Georgia Dome for the game.
Huntsville Times – Dec. 2
Birmingham, Ala., mayor indicted on bribery charges
Los Angeles Times – Dec. 2
…Jefferson County’s financial problems were not driven by criminality as much as the decision to take on a troubling amount of risk, said Robert Brooks, a business professor at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa…
Scandal after scandal tarnishing trust around Birmingham metro area
Birmingham News – Dec. 2
…David J. Lanoue, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama, said the corruption scandals have an impact in two important ways.
“First, it diminishes trust in politics, in government,” he said. “People assume all politicians are corrupt. They become cynical, are less likely to participate in the process and become more easily persuaded by demagogues.” Second, Lanoue said: “People lose faith in the body, in the very government itself. This kind of corruption brings under suspicion not just those who are charged with wrongdoing, but many who work for the political body. It hurts the innocent public servants who try to do their jobs, who try to stay on the right side of the law but come to be viewed as just as corrupt as those who actually are.”… Stephen Black, director of the University of Alabama Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility, sees the potential for two reactions to the corruption that has gripped the commission. “The first course of action citizens may take is to pull away from it, to disengage from politics, not to believe politicians can be honest in moving the community forward,” Black said. “People give up, and the only kind of government they might support is a weak one, one that is so weak it has little in the way of resources from which to steal but also little power to do anything effective.” But, Black said, corruption might result in a very different reaction among citizens. “What we have seen around the nation in many cases is that honesty appeals to voters and that a cycle of corruption can be followed by a cycle of reforms pushed by those who want politicians to transcend corruption, to seek integrity, honesty and pragmatism,” Black said. “It may sound corny, but, really, what we need is an active, engaged electorate and this is the time for that in Jefferson County.”…
Changing attitudes is next battle in fight against AIDS
Tuscaloosa News – Dec. 2
… Working to change attitudes about both is the next battle in fighting the disease, speakers said Monday night at the West Alabama AIDS Outreach observance of World AIDS Day at University Church of God. ‘We need to start homophobia training in the churches,’ said Dr. Pamela Foster, deputy director of the Institute for Rural Health Research at the University of Alabama…(Cassandra) Simon, an assistant professor of social work at UA, said that her brother had been a good student before he dropped out of high school because he got in fights every day because of his sexual orientation…Before his death, Simon’s brother told her that he wanted people to think of his life and hopefully be more accepting of others. ‘He wanted people to know that we create the society in which we live,’ she said…
Education briefs
Birmingham News – Dec. 2
…Scott Stephens, chairman of the art department at the University of Montevallo, has an exhibition at the Sarah Moody Gallery of Art at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The show, “Reunion: Judy Major-Girardin and Scott Stephens,” will feature recent work from Stephens’ sabbatical, as well as a selection of recent and career work from Stephens and Major-Girardin, who shared their M.F.A. thesis exhibition at UA in 1983. The show will run through Dec. 14…