To the Editor:
    On Friday, May 14 City of Madison Councilwoman Connie Booth and I attended Morgan County High School’s Fourth Annual Mock Student Congress. To say that we were impressed with the day’s proceedings would be an understatement.

    We witnessed the results of months of preparation spent in the writing of bills, researching the topics covered in those bills, and the learning of the parliamentary procedures necessary for the business to be conducted. Not only were the students dressed professionally, but also they are to be commended for the professionalism or maturity they manifested when debating the bills before them, the topics of which legalizing same-sex marriage; increasing funding for adult stem cell research; random drug testing for all school employees; reintroducing compulsory military service, this time for both men and women; abolishing the death penalty; and legalizing medical and recreational use of marijuana were, in some cases, quite sensitive and controversial.

    The enthusiasm, the passion exhibited by the students in debating the bills was amazing, and especially in the House of Representatives, tested the abilities of the Speaker of the House, Houa Yang, to maintain control over the body. It mirrored what we see in both Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

    This annual two-day affair for all high school sophomores is a massive undertaking, and Ms. Amy Saylor, Dr. Jim Malanowski and Mr. Clark Mays, in particular, are to be congratulated, as are the instructors of the sophomores whose cooperation was essential for the two-day civics lesson to go forward.

    Mrs. Booth and I are already planning a return visit to next year’s congress, and we are hopeful that we will be able to attend both days so that we do not miss any of the excitement. Kudos to the sophomores and to the high school staff.
Connie Booth, Councilwoman, District 3
Michael Naples, Councilman, District 5
Via hand delivered