To the Editor:

This is a hard letter for me to write, but several people from Selma have asked me to do so.

We came to Selma for the 1951 Class Reunion the weekend of April 21 and April 22. We spent two nights at the Saint James Hotel and were shocked!

We were there five years ago for the same reunion, and we enjoyed an excellent experience. This time, the hotel was so different! The room was okay – not the cleanest, but okay.

Saturday morning between 8:30 and 9 a.m., we went down for breakfast to the dining room. We saw the remains of where others had eaten and asked for breakfast in the dining room. We were told, “We’re not in here, we all are in there – the bar.”

We reluctantly said okay, and went in. People in there were mostly hanging out, not all eating, just there.

A glance told us every table and chair was taken, and the only available seats were at the bar. We sat at the bar and waited for what seemed like forever.

There were a man and a woman at the cash register behind the counter who never looked our way. Finally, the man decided to leave and his only way out was to go past us. I asked him for menus, and he politely said yes, handed both of us one, and disappeared out the door. Quite some time passed, and the woman decided to leave, so she came toward us and turned her body away from us and quickly left. No one ever returned.

We sat there for what seemed like an hour and eventually left to find breakfast somewhere else.

Is that all?

No, that evening, we heard people – after 9 p.m. – racing, running, yelling and stomping up and down the hall outside our room.

The noise outside was also loud with music, motors racing, etc. and it lasted for hours and hours.

During the trips in and out of our room, we never saw any other guests on our floor … weird … where did all that noise come from?

The room was not as clean as other hotels in which we’ve stayed. The coffee package must have been stored in the glass pot for months or years. It was greasy and I was unable to read the label … not too inviting.

The next day, there was no new coffee packets left and no clean container.

Other than the two rats we saw, that’s about all I want to recall. We will not be returning to the Saint James. It’s a shame such a lovely, restored hotel has become completely unlivable.

What has happened?

Who is NOT in charge?

I would not want my picture on those walls.

Mrs. Richard Brown