Seeds in the mail?

There are reports that some Alabamians have received unsolicited packs of seed, reports AL.com’s William Thornton.

State officials have tested some and have identified tomato and onion seeds and have not found any dangerous or otherwise harmful compounds.

Still, if you receive an unsolicited package of seed, authorities are saying don’t run outside and plant it in your garden.

You never know whether the seeds are invasive or perhaps unhealthy for livestock.

Instead, Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Rick Pate sends these instructions:

1. If they are in a sealed package, don’t open the package.

2. Report the package to your county cooperative extension office.

Packages have also been reported in some other states, including Texas.

The same sort of thing happened in 2020, when packages containing flower, vegetable and herb seeds arrived from China.

Another city squabble

You probably recall the stories we’ve had about Tarrant’s political squabbling, with the mayor at odds with the city council and police chief. It has involved ugly language, ugly comments about spouses and at least one punch.

That has been going on in Tarrant, which is in Jefferson County.

Now, another Jefferson County town, Lipscomb, has its own political controversy, and it also involves Tarrant Mayor Wayman Newton, reports AL.com’s Joseph D. Bryant.

You see, the Lipscomb City Council has hired Newton as its city attorney. And Lipscomb Mayor Tonja Baldwin isn’t happy about it.

The immediate issue is over whether the council had the right to appoint a city attorney. Baldwin argues no, that she should be the one to do that. The deeper issue is that Lipscomb, like Tarrant, has government gridlock with the mayor and council at odds. The council believed the previous city attorney favored the mayor in disagreements, and now Baldwin said she believes the appointment is an effort to control her.

As an example of the very Tarrant-like situation in Lipscomb, in September Baldwin placed the police chief on leave pending an investigation and appointed an acting police chief. The on Feb. 6, the council passed a resolution to reinstate the original police chief.

Currently, Lipscomb is paying two police chiefs.

Proposed protest law

On Goat Hill, a bill has been introduced that would make it a crime in some situations to protest or picket near someone’s home, reports AL.com’s Heather Gann.

The bill is from state Sen. Arthur Orr, a Decatur Republican. It prohibits someone from “picketing or protesting at or near the residence of any individual with the intent to harass, intimidate, or disturb during the period starting 30 minutes after sunset and ending 30 minutes before sunrise.”

It also would prohibit artificial noise and the blocking of public roads, residences and workplaces.

A first violation would be a Class C misdemeanor that could get you three months in jail and a $500 fine. Additional violations would be Class B misdemeanors that could bring six months in jail and a $3,000 fine.

A sea-cow theory

Today, as the last Wednesday in March, is Manatee Appreciation Day.

It’s been over the past decade or so that manatees have been showing up in numbers in our part of the northern Gulf Coast. And one might think that the Florida subset of the West Indian manatee is making a big comeback in our waters.

But there’s a theory out there that the big mammals never were a thriving species up here, or even in Florida.

University of South Florida anthropology professor Thomas Pluckhahn and George Washington University archaeology professor David Thulman published a paper this past fall that hypothesized that sea cows made only occasional trips up from the Caribbean, if that. They cited a lack of reports of manatees by the earliest Europeans, that sightings prior to the 1950s seemed to always be treated as novelty, and that manatee bones have been surprisingly rare in archaeological sites.

The theory goes that manatee trips into Florida increased as the Earth came out of the Little Ice Age and they’ve continued to swim farther north as Gulf waters have warmed. Plus, they famously flock to upriver power plants in South Florida, giving them winter refuges that helps their populations survive.

So when you see a sea cow this summer, keep out of his or her way. Even though they might not pre-date European colonization here, most of us don’t either.

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