It is quite obvious that the small town of Dozier is literally being held hostage by two town Council members, Linda Hutto and Bob Morrison. They have, in fact, missed the last four town council meetings, thereby causing the meetings to be cancelled because without them, no quorum can be established. If the two empty seats in Districts One and Two were filled with other council members, the town council could continue handling the town’s business without Hutto and Morrison; as it stands, however, that is not the case.

Since the resignation of former Mayor Kay Moody, former town clerk Mary Jo Dozier, and former council member Jane Ellison, the town council meetings in Dozier have come to a standstill.

This is not to say that there aren’t good people in Dozier and that nothing good happens in Dozier. In fact, the town is filled with good people who care about each other, their families, and their town, which only says more for the fact that they do not deserve to be submitted to this kind of unprofessional behavior from two of their own representatives.

One citizen at Monday night’s meeting stated: “We all know that those two are not thinking with their own minds—that someone else is behind their actions….We can’t prove that, but everybody knows who’s calling the shots here…this is childish and ridiculous.”

Whether these common statements are factual or fiction, they are being said all over the small town of Dozier. The main point here is that this historical little town has not been able to handle its business for the last two months thanks to the actions of two people.

Quite an amazing feat.

The residents who are represented by these two council members should be, and are, quite angry over their actions, or in this case, their lack of actions, as well they should be.

To be fair, both Council members Hutto and Morrison may have had very good reasons for not attending the last four council meetings; however, the assumption made by the common citizen is that they are deliberately staying away, thereby literally holding the town hostage.

The 1997 movie “Conspiracy Theory” takes a big stab at what might be going on in the south end of Crenshaw County. But that, in itself, is just speculation.

We do know this, however—what began as a child’s game of Monopoly has turned into a major chess battle with the next move to be made on March 9 or by Gov. Bob Riley.

The Luverne Journal