Jan 29, 2025

On Monday I asked for suggestions on renaming the Gulf of Mexico to something with a little more local flavor.

Y'all came through. I mention a handful of them below.

First, the rest of today's report. Thanks for reading,

Ike

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Reports indicate that immigration enforcement is taking place in Alabama in the form of arrests, reports AL.com's Sarah Whites-Koditschek.

According to Fultondale police, three people were arrested there Sunday on outstanding reentry warrants. Guns were found during the arrests.

And, according to the executive director of the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice, arrests were made in a Huntsville home. Allison Hamilton said the man officers were after wasn't home, but they arrested several others who were there, leaving a woman and a baby.

She said those "collateral" arrests are a change from what her organization saw before President Trump took office.

CNN also reported Tuesday that several former Alabama residents were recently deported to Guatemala.

Because of the very nature of someone's being undocumented, we don't know how many immigrants are in Alabama illegally. Immigration groups estimate there are 183,000 total immigrants in Alabama and that around 20 percent are here illegally. The math students out there know that would be more than 36,000 undocumented residents.

But that number is unconfirmed.

President Trump has raised ICE arrest quotas to at least 1,200 arrests per day, according to The Washington Post.

Country singer Melba Montgomery died earlier this month after a long fight with dementia, reports AL.com's Mark Heim.

We're a little late getting to this one, but I was away when this broke and didn't want to miss it.

Montgomery was born in Tennessee but grew up in Florence, Alabama. She was known as a duet partner during the 1960s and 70s, and she had a number of hit solo single as well, including the 1974 song "No Charge," which went No. 1 on the country chart.

History will probably remember her most as George Jones's duet partner years before he matched up with Tammy Wynette, another country legend who lived in Alabama before making it in Nashville.

Jones himself has been quoted saying that Montgomery was a better match for his voice than Wynette. We're so used to hearing George and Tammy that it's probably hard to make the comparison, but if you give "We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds" a spin you see how Jones and Montgomery are coming from a more common artistic space.

If you do take the time to listen, know that they're really throwing it back. It is not for mild country fans.

Melba Montgomery was 86 years old.

We have a new Mr. Football in Alabama. But he still wore a Saraland uniform.

Saraland High School senior quarterback KJ Lacey made it three in a row for the Spartans when he was named Mr. Football by the Alabama Sports Writers Association at its banquet in Montgomery, reports AL.com's Ben Thomas.

Saraland's Ryan Williams won the award the previous two seasons.

The previous record for schools winning consecutive Mr. Footballs was exactly one. The award has been handed out annually for 43 years.

Lacey has signed to play college ball at Texas. He passed for 327 yards and four touchdowns in the Alabama-Mississippi All-Star Game last month.

On Monday I asked folks to suggest alternative new names for the Gulf of Mexico that were a little more Southern-sounding than "Gulf of America." To give it a little regional flavor. It's intended to suggest neither that the Gulf of Mexico needed a name change nor that we're taking some big stand against Gulf of America.

We just figured that if somebody's going to up and change the name, some Southern folks ought to be able to weigh in.

I can't share all of them here or we'll keep you too long, but here are a few that jumped out to me:

James brought some geographic reasoning to the conversation and tossed out "Gulf of Florida," since there's already a Gulf of Maine.

Also note the current existence off the Gulfs of California and Alaska. So as soon as Canada is officially a state we could say the four corners of the 50 contiguous get their own gulfs.

Michael went straight to the topic I first did: food.

"Gulf of Gravy" and "Sea of Shrimp & Grits" were solid suggestions. I've gone through a sea of Shrimp & Grits over the course of my life.

Let me toss "Fry Everything Basin" into the mix.

Miranda crushed it with "Gulf of Lower Alabama." That's more inclusive than it sounds at first because, as many Florida Panhandle people realize, their part of the Sunshine State is often also called Lower Alabama (LA). She also suggested "Not Your Momma's Ocean" as a signal to all those tourists who generically call the Gulf "the ocean."

I don't know whether Bob was being provocative or sarcastic with "Gulf of the Confederacy" but that's certainly going hard either way.

Ryan had several good ones, but since the nihilists need one, how about "Gulf of Extinction"? It's not uniquely Southern, but it's a nod to the asteroid impact off the Yucatan Peninsula that is believed to have wiped out most animals on Earth and ended the Cretaceous period.

Ryan also had "The Gulf of Diminishing Returns" as a nod to mishandled and/or struggling seafood populations (see: oysters).

That's certainly better and less nerdy than using the other economics phrase with the "Sea of the Tragedy of the Commons."

Lorraine shared an idea for a Jimmy Buffett tribute she saw on an internet meme with "Gulf of Margaritaville."

Beverly noted how Florida's Big Bend is often called the armpit of the South. I can certainly vouch for that (that it's called the armpit, not that it is the armpit).

I can't get on board with "Gulf of Hyperhidrosis," though. Although everybody on the Gulf Coast does plenty of sweating come July.

Jason tossed out "Gulf of Intelligence" and there's a couple ways you might consider taking that one.

Kenneth wanted to know whether "Redneck Riviera" was out, and I say that one's never completely off the table. I've heard it all my life and know it was created as an insult but have learned to embrace it.

You have to have a sense of humor, after all.

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