There is little doubt Alabama has had a very rough year. First, their entire workers’ compensation system was found to be unconstitutional. Then it wasn’t. That was followed by a raucous and controversial Senate campaign that drew the attention of an entire nation; a race that to this day has not drawn a concession from the loser. If it wasn’t for the Crimson Tide, the whole year might have been a complete failure.
And now, we have news of a terrific loss in the city of Montgomery.
Over 100 residents of the state capital turned out this week to hold a candlelight vigil to honor a cherished landmark recently lost. Together they mourned the tragedy and pondered their now dimmed future. There is no easy way of saying this; the city’s Taco Bell burned last week.
The idea for the vigil apparently started when customers took to Facebook to say they wanted to have a candlelight vigil to “Stand together in the loss of our beloved Taco Bell.” Over 100 people turned out. The cause of the fire, which completely destroyed the restaurant, has not been determined.
I don’t know much about Montgomery, other than my car was built there, and those folks can assemble one fine Hyundai. But from what I have read, this is a terrible loss for the city. I imagine the destruction of a fine dining establishment like Taco Bell is difficult to bear. I am assuming from the citizens outpouring of grief that they do not have many other options to choose from. This is going to make prom night extraordinarily complicated, and has no doubt thrown the plans for numerous wedding receptions into complete disarray.
And I suppose the local Kiwanis Club is scrambling to find a new meeting room, since those bastards in Rotary already secured the available room at Chuck E. Cheese.
I suppose I suffer a bit of professional envy, as there was no vigil whatsoever for the “loss” of Alabama’s workers’ comp system when it was declared unconstitutional. Of course, it got a 6 month stay to allow the legislators to figure out what to do. Then the dang case settled and like magic, workers’ comp was constitutional again. Good thing for that. I suspect many of the legislators were at the Taco Bell vigil and couldn’t be bothered with pesky little problems like an inadequate comp system.
That, and workers’ comp doesn’t make a tasty Grilled Stuft Cheesy Beef Burrito at 3:00 in the morning.
The good news for the citizens of Montgomery is that the Taco Bell owners have vowed to rebuild, just as soon as they can get all those candle clutching idiots off their land. It’s unfortunate that, should Alabama workers’ compensation “burn” again in the form of another unconstitutional declaration (something many believe is a possibility), that the fix will not be so easy. The legislature will have much more trouble rebuilding that. I was informed as of this writing by a legal eagle Alabamian friend (ok, he might not be a legal eagle, but he passed the Bar, which is ironic as I have never known him to pass any bar without going in) that Amazon’s Alexa is cited as a persuasive authority in Alabama. Perhaps they should ask her what to do.
Regardless, the few Alabama friends I have all have great senses of humor, and I hope they don’t mind me having a little fun with their state. For the rest of you from Alabama, I apologize if I offended you. We are just having a little fun.
Besides, I’m not the one who publicly mourned the loss of a Taco Bell…..