BSC is a troubled city on a hillWe’ve seen this mess be-

fore, in oh-so publicplaces such as the city

of Birmingham and JeffersonCounty.

We’ve watched it in publiclytraded companies, from thepurely inept to the downrightcriminal.

Now, if you can see throughthe ivy and ivory, you mightspot it again at Birmingham-Southern College. Something isjust not right on the Hilltop.

The dollars don’t add up. Themath doesn’t work and excusesdon’t pan out. Relationshipsrule, even atop the ivory tower.

Just to catch you up, BSC hadto cut staff, drop several majorsand reduce pay to make up forboneheaded mathematicalblunders that led the college topay too much financial aid tostudents. Moody’s InvestorsService slashed the college’scredit rating and blasted it in ascathing report.

So how did Birmingham-Southern fall from grace to this. . . disgrace?

Not merely by bad math andPell Grants. The troubles runtoo deep. The river of doubt isfar too long.

According to BSC’s tax re-cords from 2004 to 2008, thechasm between revenues andexpenses alone has widened al-most every year since 2004,when David Pollick took over as

president. The deficit was $11.5million by 2006, $18.8 millionthe next year, and $22.1 millionin 2008, the most recent filingavailable.

That’s just through 2008. Inthe next two years, as Moody’swrote, things got so bad BSChad to borrow operating fundsfrom Regions Bank.

It is here I ought to point outthat Regions Bank’s then-CEO,

See ARCHIBALD Page 3B

Councilto paylobbyists$250,000Blaze

destroysthreehouses

Work will beevaluatedin NovemberBy STAN DIELNews staff writer

The Birmingham CityCouncil voted Tuesday topay lobbying firm Hand-p r i n t B e l l C o n s u l t i n g$250,000 for the current fis-cal year and to review thefirm’s work in November.

Some members of thecouncil had expressed con-cerns about the quality ofrepresentation the city is

getting from the firm inWashington, and about alack of communication be-tween some on the counciland the firm. But others ar-gued that the polarized na-ture of national politics andthe recession made it toughon all cities seeking federalfunds in the past year.Handprint Bell should bejudged on the success it hasin the coming congressionalsession, they said.

“I know that HandprintBell has been working onbehalf of the city,” saidCouncilman Johnathan Aus-tin. “This year, certainly, we

See COUNCIL Page 2B

NEWS STAFF/BERNARD TRONCALE

State again fails toget school grantsBy BOB JOHNSONThe Associated Press

MONTGOMERY — Ala-bama for the second timehas failed to make the list offinalists for the federal“Race to the Top” grants,and Gov. Bob Riley blamedthe loss on the AlabamaLegislature’s defeat of legis-lation to authorize charter

schools.Alabama was not on the

list of finalists releasedTuesday by Education Sec-retary Arne Duncan for partof the $3.4 billion in federalgrants that are to reward in-novative public educationprograms.

Alabama also failed to

See GRANTS Page 3B

NEWS FEEDblog.al.com/spotnewsALABAMA

4,500 nonprofitsmay lose status

The Internal RevenueService said up to 4,500small nonprofit organiza-tions in Alabama are atrisk of losing their tax-exempt status becausethey haven’t filed returnsfor the past three years.The groups can preservetheir tax-exempt status byfiling their returns by Oct.15 under a one-time reliefprogram. The 4,500 orga-nizations and their lastknown addresses in Ala-bama are listed on the IRSwebsite, www.irs.gov.They include fraternal, so-cial and civic organiza-

tions. Some of thosegroups are defunct.

See the IRS list of the4,500 Alabama nonprofitsat al.com/birmingham,the online home of TheBirmingham News:blog.al.com/bn/documents

The Associated Press

ODENVILLE

Stillborns foundin septic tank

The bodies of stillborntwin boys were recoveredfrom a septic tank on Fri-day, and the results of aninvestigation into the inci-dent will be presented to aSt. Clair County grandjury. See story, Page 3B.

Attorney Brett Pouncey sorts through burneddebris in his office at 2124 10th Avenue Southon Tuesday afternoon. Three houses were de-

stroyed by a blaze that started lateMondaynight, including one at 2120 10th Avenue South,top. See story, Page 2B.

Hiring in-house attorney OK’d

By VAL WALTONNews staff writer

The Birmingham Board of Educa-tion voted Tuesday to hire as its in-house attorney a lawyer with one ofthe firms it employs on retainer.

The board voted 7-2 to hire Afrika

C. Parchman, who has worked as alawyer with the Thomas, Means, Gillis& Seay firm for the last five years, atan annual salary of $120,000.

In May, the board approved Super-intendent Craig Witherspoon’s planto hire an in-house attorney to reduceits reliance on two law firms it has onretainer — Thomas, Means, Gillis &Seay, and Waldrep, Stewart & Ken-drick.

Witherspoon said Tuesday that he

anticipates that hiring an in-house at-torney would save the board about$500,000 or more. Witherspoon saidthe board would still need to consultwith outside firms.

Witherspoon said Parchman is al-ready familiar with the system, educa-tion, tenure and employment law andwill be proactive in helping to thwartpotential legal issues that wouldprompt the board to rely on outside

See BOARD Page 3B

Superintendent saysit could save $500K

WHAT’S UP WITH THAT?

U.K. pub gets mayoral treatmentMayors often make remarks at cele-

brations marking grand openings ofbusinesses large and small. But it’susually in their own cities, rather than4,000 miles across the Atlantic.

Mayor William Bell will take thatunusual opportunity when he tapes agreeting to be played at the grand re-opening of the Bell Inn, a tavern inBirmingham, England.

The tavern’s promotions companyrecently contacted the Alabama city’smayor and asked him to participate.

“At first I thought it was a prank,but it’s a great honor to have a drink-ing establishment named after me inEngland,” Bell said with a laugh.

While looking forideas to promote theb u s i n e s s , L a u r aB r o w n o f P o w e l lC o m m u n i c a t i o nConsultants pulledup the website of theE n g l i s h c i t y ’ snamesake.

“I have looked atthe Birmingham, Alabama State web-page and couldn’t help but notice —to my surprise and delight — that youshare the same name as the pub,”Brown wrote in a letter to Bell.

Bell’s taped message will be shownduring the pub’s grand opening party

in late August.“We’ll let them know that we are

pleased that they have continued tomaintain their relationship with thecity of Birmingham, Alabama, downthrough the years,” Bell said.

Alabama’s largest city was namedafter the British city, which also was aheavy metals industrial center. Thetwo were accidentally linked last yearin two gaffes, when the Magic City’sskyline was featured on official leaf-lets promoting Birmingham, Eng-land’s recycling program, and againon a website by three British mem-bers of the European Parliament.

Joseph D. Bryant

William Bell

GOOGLEMAPS

BirminghamMayorWilliam Bell will appear in a tapedgreeting at the grand re-opening of The Bell Inn inBirmingham, England.