A Mobile woman offered a deal to the Mobile City Council on Tuesday.

Velma Jackson asked the council to start a weekly prayer meeting at noon Wednesdays in the atrium of Government Plaza.

"If you do this," she said, "you will be awarded the tanker contract you so diligently seek."

If Northrop Grumman and EADS win a U.S. Air Force refueling tanker contract, the planes would be assembled in Mobile, creating 1,500 local jobs.

But the tasty carrot was balanced with a sharp stick. If the city doesn't host the prayer meetings, Jackson said, "the water in the rivers will come up and flood the city."

"This is the word of the Lord," she said.

City Councilman Fred Richardson told Jackson that she would have to approach the Mobile County Commission, which owns and operates Government Plaza.

"We can't give you permission we don't have," Richardson said.

"I'm not asking for permission," Jackson responded. "I'm delivering a message. And the message is for you."

"You did your job then," Richardson said.

Mobile County Commission spokeswoman Nancy Johnson said religious meetings are not permitted in Government Plaza.

"We couldn't pick and choose and we'd have to allow them all, then we wouldn't have any room in the courthouse," she said.

Mobile Mayor Sam Jones did not seem worried about the possible ramifications of the policy.

"I've been praying every Wednesday for a long time," he said.

Some chicken to go?



Former Mobile Mayor Mike Dow was spotted possibly finagling his way toward faster food recently via a Chick-fil-A drive-thru.

Dow did not appear to recognize a Press-Register reporter in line behind him as he got out of his Ford sedan, walked toward the ordering kiosk and waved to the two occupants of a gold Honda Accord three cars ahead of his.

After getting back in his car, Dow drove out of the line and pulled beside the gold car and talked to the driver. He held up two fingers -- possibly for a No. 2 grilled chicken sandwich combo?

Dow then pulled away and parked nearby.

A few minutes later, the gold Honda pulled up beside the former mayor's Ford. The reporter could not see whether any food was delivered but Dow got into the back seat of the Accord and stayed awhile.

Political announcements



Editor's Note

"The Political Skinny" is an inside look at Alabama politics prepared by the staff of the Press-Register. For more information, e-mail Jim Van Anglen or call 251-219-5608.

The Mobile County Republican Executive Committee will conduct its next meeting this evening, at 7 p.m., at Christ United Methodist Church on Grelot Road, according to a news release.

The committee will be rotating its meeting place around the county in 2010, the release states. Gubernatorial candidate Bill Johnson is scheduled to be the guest speaker at tonight's meeting.

Applications will be available for membership in the MCREC and the Mobile GOP for 2010, the release states.

(Today's column includes contributions from the following staff members: Rena Havner and Dan Murtaugh.)



