Key Issues

Mental Health

Recently (October 2025), FOX 10 and NBC 15 ran a story about how Alabama ranks dead last of all 50 states for access to mental health assistance for our youth.  This is an issue that should have already been addressed. Overall,  AltaPointe, the conglomerate mental health corporation in South Alabama has been lacking in providing enough( or even basic) mental health services in our area.  Private mental health therapy is unaffordable for most people, and many of our youth are going online and seeking advice/approval/connections with anyone who will reply to them.  This is obviously not a solution.  Since Searcy closed here in the Mobile area, access to mental health treatment has suffered greatly.

I will propose that the state needs to educate, train, and hire more therapists, services, mental hospitals and other ways for our citizens to connect to someone in person, local, and work on any issues they may be experiencing (other than just medications). I want to open clinics with certified therapists, make them accessible for everyone, and inform people in simple, easy to understand step by step directions on how to get the help if they need it.

State government transparency

One of the issues people discuss with me is that they have no clue why the state of Alabama does not let people vote on issues.  Florida is preparing to vote on eliminating property taxes.  Now, we don’t have the tourism dollars like Florida, but the idea that citizens are able to vote on issues in the state is what is key.  In Alabama, the discussion of a lottery comes up every year, yet the people are not allowed to even vote on one.  Whether you support it or not, the fact that citizens cannot vote on it is the issue.  Why can’t people vote?  All people are told is….. “It is not coming up this year”  or “it is not on the ballot”…  Why not?  What are the reasons/secrets?  

Another issue the people should be allowed to vote on is term limits for ALL state elected offices, not just a select few.  The people should be allowed to decide if they want decades-long state politicians or not.  

However, these issues are not sent to the people to be voted on.  

Why not?  It needs to be explained to the citizens of the state of Alabama about why their elected officials will not let the voice of the people be heard on some issues.  I will propose a state-wide vote for issues like these that matter to the everyday taxpaying citizen of the state.

K-12 Schools

Starting in the Fall of 2026, the state of Alabama is eliminating Civics as a “stand-alone” course in middle school. The plan is to incorporate aspects of Civics into and throughout a year-long US History course in 6th grade. I feel this will be a less effective way of teaching our youth about American Civics.  In 7th grade, students are starting to learn about life, experiences, and possible outcomes of their future;  good and bad choices.

Eliminating a stand-alone course dedicated to teaching Citizenship, Criminal & Civil Law, Economics, the 13 Colonies, the  Declaration of Independence, the creation of the USA, & the Constitution might have negative impacts on our youth and the future of our country.  I will propose that this must be corrected ASAP by bringing back Civics/Government in 7th grade as a full-year course (for the past 20+ years it has only been a half-year course). 

In addition, the introduction of student laptops in K-12 public schools, while in theory “sounds good” has actually had many negative effects.  As an educator, I have seen firsthand these effects, which include shorter student attention span, more student apathy for their academics (they mostly want to just play games on them), and even some teachers are actually “teaching” less, more so relying on online assignments & assessments and AI to teach and grade for them instead of direct instruction between teachers and students.  This will certainly have negative effects on our youth in preparing them for jobs/careers later in life.

Lastly, studies have shown the negative effects of blue lights from too much screen time, and our youth will need the skills to handle interpersonal interactions when they are adults. Listening skills, reading comprehension, and critical thinking skills need to improve, and that is normally not enforced though “laptop” time in class.

I will propose a state-wide limit of the use of laptops in classrooms – 2 or 3 days a week maximum.  The rest of the days, teachers will get back to teaching directly to students by having them take notes, writing (on paper) essays, short answers, etc.

Constituent Communication

I feel that any/every elected state official should treat their office as a full-time job; they should be available all year long to the people who elected them with no other distractions.

I have no full time other careers/jobs & no working/owning other businesses which might “influence” their voting decisions on bills and resolutions.  Elected officials should be open and available, by email, website, phone, text, social media, etc to their constituents (within reason), not just during the 2-3 months before an election.