Dear Editor,

My child has a very important document that he is to recite for school. I don&8217;t remember it myself but I think that if you can&8217;t recite this creed then you don&8217;t want to be &8220;an American,&8221; but rather a visitor.

&8220;I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people, whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign states; a perfect Union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes.

I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.&8221;

If you are an American as described above, you should receive the benefits as such. If you are a visitor, you should not.

Donna Thompson

Pelham

Credit and debit cards are crucial components of today&8217;s retail market. Millions of retailers accept these cards because they recognize the many ways this can bring customers and revenue to their business.

Unfortunately a few large retailers are trying to encroach on use of plastic payments by charging check out fees to customers to using these payment methods, essentially discouraging such use.

Big business is further trying to damage the credit and debit card industry by limiting consumer choice as to which cards they may use.

These are unreasonable policies, yet unfortunately stereotypical of big business attempting to take advantage of the consumer.

We must demand freedom of choice when it comes to credit and debit cards and be wary of institutions attempting to charge check out fees.

Gavin DeFreese

Calera

After receiving outrageous Alabama Power bills, I decided to do some research on their slogan as &8220;One of the lowest cost suppliers on the U.S.!&8221;

I went to the NYSE and searched through the Southern Company&8217;s massive accounting figures. I also looked at the salaries of Alabama Power&8217;s Top 50 executives.

What I read shocked me! There was not one of them making under $1.25 million a year, including stock options. Put this into perspective; they (earn) more per hour than most of our senior citizens have to live on for a month!

As for being one of the lowest providers in the country, that is not really so! We actually pay more per kilowatt hour than any other Southern Company-owned electrical supplier!

That information is available in there proxy. I guess we all got suckered by their cute bird commercials!

Charles Sampson

Montevall