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I've tried to interest various TimesDaily "reporters" in this matter, to no avail...perhaps someone who reads this will know a way to pursue it...
Y'know the parking lot in front of the Florence Police Department (on the Mitchell Blvd. side of the building)?
Many years ago, the area underneath the parking lot was a bait shop/gas station. The business had two gasoline storage tanks underground.
Bait shop goes out of business, tanks remain underground, FPD buys the lot and builds parking lot on top of former bait shop property.
BUT...in 2000 or so, the new environmental protection laws regarding out-of-date, dangerous underground gasoline storage tanks was enacted (remember when 90% of all the Mom-and-Pop gas stations had to go out of business?)...there are stiff penalties for not upgrading or removing gasoline storage tanks from the ground on one's property...
Guess what the City and the FPD chose to just quitely ignore, and hope no one would ever mention??

Humbly submitted,
bc
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ADEM & EPA

Call them.

In Madison city recently, an in-ground storage tank of gasoline was found to be leaking.

It was contaminating the water supply.

It had to come out.

It was replaced.

Report an Environmental Violation
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/complaints/index.html

EPA Region 4
United States Environmental Protection Agency

Region 4
Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Atlanta, GA 30303-8960

1-800-241-1754

R4 Emergency Response and Removal Branch
Removal/Cleanup Public Information Line
(8am-5pm, M-F, Eastern)

1-800-564-7577

Alabama Department of Environmental Management
Coliseum Blvd. Montgomery, AL 36110
mailing address:
Post Office Box 301463, Montgomery, AL 36130-1463

(334) 271-7700 1400

ADEM
Attn: Field Operations Division
Water Quality Assessment Unit

Post Office Box 301463
Montgomery, Alabama 36130-1463

Telephone Number : (334) 260-2700
Fax Number: (334) 272-8131

Question About our Field Ops Division:
fieldmail@adem.state.al.us

Decatur Field Office
2715 Sandlin Road, S.W.
Decatur, AL 35603
(256) 353-1713

http://www.adem.state.al.us/WaterDivision/WaterDivisionPP.htm

"The Underground Storage Tank (UST) Corrective Action Program oversees the initial response, assessment, monitoring, risk evaluation and remediation of releases form underground storage tanks."

"The Compliance Unit of the Ground Water Branch is responsible for implementation of equipment and leak detection standards for underground storage tank systems. These staff perform inspections, and recommend enforcement action where needed. "
Sure thing!

Glad to help!

Regarding criticism of the TimesDaily... well, it's an interesting observation when, in a literate society such as ours, that a little weekly advertising-centered publication has a much higher unpaid circulation than a daily, paid circulation newspaper.

The TD could be so, so much more!

Their management team is apparently not listening to the community's wants, and perhaps only marginally serving their needs.

For example, a thread here in this forum bemoaned the removal of their "Religion" section. Presumably, it was due in large part to the death of Lucille Prince, whom was their regular Religion columnist.

Personally, I agree with Jim Bevis whom initiated the thread, whom inquired about why the TD hasn't stepped up to the plate to continue the section.

In the thread, I noted that even the Huntsville Times has a regular, weekly Faith section, and columnist Doug Mendenhall writes a totally separate Op/Ed style piece about Religion/Faith from a Christian perspective.

However, the weekly Faith section has featured articles on people in the greater Huntsville/Madison County community of varying faiths and religious traditions, not all Christian. I've seen Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, and the various flavors of Christianity, including Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Episcopalian, Methodist, Baptist, etc.

But, that's off topic.

Anyway, Godspeed, and I hope you and yours have a blessed holiday!
The TimesDaily COULD be much more...but it is my observation, after reading it daily since the early eighties as a grade-school kid, that the paper just acts as a public-relations facilitator for the City of Florence, UNA, and itself.
There's never been any hard-hitting journalism-- and I've always suspected that that's because nobody at the publication has any real drive or motivation to be a pro-active tool for holding governments and organizations accountable to the citizenry, as you would expect from a 'real' newspaper.
The TimesDaily is an excercise in "journalism by press release", rife with conflicts of interest, and as eager as your average senior-citizen's home newsletter to convince everyone that everything's rosy and tranquil.

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