Thursday, June 05, 2003







Burkard's Blog of Columbus, Georgia



BURKARD'S BLOG



I searched on the Internet, and found no one keeping a blog about events in Columbus, Georgia. (Well, other than a 15-year-old high school student, and who knows how much he pays attention to the news?) So being the hip web-savvy guy that I am, I decided to start a blog of my own - chronicling happenings in the town I've called home for almost six years, as well as my experiences in it.



But be warned.... I used to have a humor service called LaughLine.com, so my views may be a bit amusing. And the views are my own -- no one has paid me to present theirs. Not yet.



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5 JUN 03: BEANS AND FRANK



Memo to Doug Graham, wherever you are: Frank Myers still is talking about you. And no, he was NOT drunk when he talked - he's that glib with his tongue ALL the time at dinners and parties.



Attorney and Democratic Party spokes-official Frank Myers sat at one end of a long table Wednesday night at the El Vaquero restaurant near Cross-Country Plaza -- and he took charge of the situation. For starters, he tried to sign people up in a "Mega Millions" pool for Friday's $80 million drawing. By comparison, Republicans would tell you to get off the couch and buy a ticket yourself.



You may recall when Doug Graham was at WRCG Radio, he raised the question of how much Frank Myers influenced news coverage at WTVM. After all, Myers's wife is news anchor Cheryl Morgan. The strange thing is, Graham never asked about WRBL's news coverage being influenced by sportscaster Jack Rodgers' dad -- the Columbus Mayor Pro Tem.



(Even stranger: Doug Graham was still in town in March - when WTVM showed an entire half-hour of Governor Sonny Perdue's town hall meeting at the RiverCenter.)



Given this knowledge from last year, I wondered if I should even bring up Doug Graham's name during the dinner. But not to worry - Frank Myers did it first. "Doug Graham has a job opening now," he declared at the farewell bash for a WTVM news anchor. Somehow, methinks Graham would be more comfortable waiting for Al Fleming to retire from commentaries.



Frank Myers addressed all sorts of topics, as I dined on two nice chicken enchiladas with rice and refried beans - but I have to be careful here. This IS a public blog. And he IS an attorney, who knows how to file lawsuits....



Frank Myers revealed he's called the NEW host of WRCG's TalkLine, Russ Hollenbeck -- and actually thinks he's doing a good job. "He's much more balanced.... but the show is more boring." This is amazing! Even Democrats prefer to hear a talk show host ranting and raving.



Frank Myers also predicted Scott Peterson "is gonna walk" for the killing of Laci Peterson and her fetus/baby in California. When IS that defense lawyer going to blame the deaths on Eric Rudolph?



Frank Myers and Cheryl Morgan have a three-year-old daughter - and after dinner, she was allowed a few minutes of "energy time" between the tables at El Vaquero. She ran back and forth, and at Frank's urging went to other tables and said hello to customers. You can't start these future politicians on "pressing the flesh" too soon.



(Would my parents have let ME do that at a restaurant when I was three? Well, I vaguely recall trying to act as emcee of an event at the Odd Fellow's Lodge....)



El Vaquero near Cross-Country Plaza apparently is more of a political hotbed than I realized. As I walked in for dinner, I spotted former mayoral candidate Jed Harris making his way out. So the Democrats REALLY want the Hispanic vote in next year's election.



There's now a CiCi's Pizza shop down the street from El Vaquero. The sign outside Wednesday night offered a "holiday special." Holiday?!?! Well, some Christians WILL mark Pentecost this Sunday.