Heads and tales: Why we fight

The comeback: Sean Phillips, a 22-year-old Marine corporal from Montgomery, fights the good fight. He’s not in Iraq, not anymore, but at Birmingham’s VA Hospital — after an enemy bullet tore through his brain. In the year and a half of recovery, he has become legally blind, lost half his field of vision, lost some use of his right arm and leg and dropped 100 pounds. Phillips, though, pushes forward with recovery, having regained some of his vocabulary and speech (though he still struggles to name familiar faces) and ability to get up and around on his own. He’s one of 19,000 U.S. military members wounded in Iraq during the three-plus-year war. Meanwhile, the 1,165th Military Policy Company, based in Fairhope, received the president’s highest award for a military unit Saturday for serving longer than any other National Guard unit in Iraq: 15 months.
• Marine fights for life after sniper’s bullet [Birmingham News]

Red alert: Think your job is tough? Try working while blood is squirting from stumps where fingers used to be, or with a foot you broke earlier in this morning. Just another day at the track for Hueytown’s Red Farmer, a member of the Alabama Gang of NASCAR legend. He said, “I have always been a slave to the paycheck. If I didn’t race, my family didn’t eat.” Retirement appears to be out of the question, as the 73-year-old (or 74) still races every Saturday night at the Talladega Short Track. Catch him if you can.
• Busted up, never broken [Birmingham News]

Spare the grog, spoil the child: Should parents be arrested if teens drink alcohol? In Mountain Brook, it’s the law. First strike: $25. Second strike: $200 to $500. Third strike: $300 to $500, plus up to six months jail time or community service. Good news: cocaine and pot, still legal!
• Adult responsibility law for underage drinking passes [Birmingham News]

Heather has one or two mommies: If one lesbian can be a mom in Alabama, would two be better? A Montgomery probate court denied an adoption application from a lesbian who wants to become the second legal parent of her partner’s baby son, born in December. The couple has appealed the decision. Cari Searcy, partner of birth mother Kim McKeand, said, “Our home is a normal one. It’s filled with love, commitment and support. … Kim and I are dedicated to giving Khaya the best life possible and we’re going to do what it takes to do that.” OK, but a kid named Khaya’s just asking for a wedgie …
• Same-sex partners seek Alabama court’s OK on baby’s adoption [Associated Press]

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