BURKARD'S BLOG
14 JUN 03: PHENIX-PHOBIA
Saturday night's news brought a stunning announcement about Phenix City's future hospital. The Chief Executive of Ameris Health Systems has been fired - less than 48 hours after he announced the hospital's location! Those grumbling residents near the Fifth Avenue Extension must be more powerful than we thought.
An Ameris official explained the C.E.O. is required to live in Phenix City or Russell County, where the new hospital will be built - but the man only seemed interested in living in Columbus. Didn't this guy realize he merely had to drive across the river for better gas prices?
(Do you think there's something more to this than where the C.E.O. wants to live? Could, perhaps, the head man of Ameris be too amorous?)
The Ameris spokesman said the person in charge of the new Phenix City hospital must be "involved in the community." Apparently this company hasn't used the word "tri-community" used around here -- as in try to get along.
The next question should be obvious: what other Phenix City businesses and institutions require officials to live in town, and bar them from living in Columbus? A check of the phone book shows Phenix City school superintendent Tom Hackett DOES live inside the city -- and if anyone would have a valid reason to live in Columbus, he would.
Our quick phone book check found Columbus City Manager Carmen Cavezza even has a lake cabin inside the Columbus city limits. Next time you're shopping for dinner, demand nothing but Muscogee County fish! Anything from Troup County might have Atlanta's waste in it.
I've mentioned before here (22 May) my puzzlement over people who don't like to go to Phenix City. Maybe they're confused by the commercials they see on TV. The Lee County Flea Market is several miles outside town.
But back to the hospital: someone asked me the other day why Ameris is building a new hospital in the first place. Why not, she asked, lease the building where Phenix Regional used to be? I'm not sure if the company would save money - but potential patients like her would be walking distance from convenience stores with soda discounts.
Away from the 11:00 p.m. news, Bill Purvis declared during his "Real Time" sermon: "Sammy Sosa plays epic baseball." Given what's happened to Sosa lately, this'll teach that pastor to record his shows two weeks in advance....