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25 OCT 03: THE BAND DIDN'T PLAY ON
The "Parade of Heroes" for the military marched through downtown Phenix City and Columbus today - revealing the bias of the organizers. If they're really fair and balanced, they'll stage a "Parade of Peaceniks" for the S.O.A. Watch protesters next month.
The route of the Parade of Heroes passed within one block of my apartment, so I strolled over to Broadway to have a look. The turnout in the Historic District was small to moderate. If only Bludau's menu prices were the same way....
As I walked north on Broadway, who did I encounter but Archway Broadcasting newscaster Robbie Watson - with NO visible tape recorder or microphone! WRCG apparently did NOT broadcast the parade live. Instead, Edward Dubose probably used his NAACP hour for a parade of complaints against the school board.
Robbie Watson told me Archway Broadcasting still is going through a "shaking out" of staff, about a year after taking over several stations. If that's true, perhaps the more proper station nickname should be "Kissin' UP 99.3."
I picked a spot in the middle of Broadway across from Heritage Park to watch the parade go by. The pre-parade antics of children were fun to see, by themselves. One child had a long stick, and looked like he was trying to fish in the fountain. Several soldiers came along minutes later to balance it out - with weapons for hunting.
Several other children decided to play of "all fall down" on the grass in the middle of Broadway. They'd bump each other, then collapse on their backs. As I told one parent watching the scene, it was like pro wrestling used to be....
(Some Pentecostal people might have seen the children falling on their backs, and wondered where the preacher was standing.)
At last the parade began in our neighborhood - led by a truck from the Columbus Exchange Club. I couldn't resist asking the driver if she was selling foot-long hot dogs. (She wasn't.)
The Exchange Club had the lead position because of its "give a kid a flag to wave" promotion. People walked alongside the truck with little flags for youngsters. Too bad they didn't also have free cameras, for us adults who didn't think to buy one in advance.
Then came the soldiers, marching in units in military dress. I waved the little flag I brought and clapped along with the army chants - while everyone around me sat, stood and stared. They didn't cheer, whistle, applaud or ANYTHING. Maybe the Exchange Club should have handed out cups of coffee, to wake everybody up.
How strange! It was a "Parade of Honors," to salute the soldiers of Operation Iraqi Freedom - yet all the citizens around me reacted to the U.S. Army's presence as if the Iraqi Republican Guard had won.
A truck filled with flags followed the soldiers at 7th and Broadway - and then, there was nothing. No marching bands. No floats. No little cars spinning in circles, like I saw on the evening news. It was as if the police radioed someone up the street, about our block not deserving a full parade.
(I didn't really walk home disappointed, though. I clapped and waved for the soldiers -- and they were the ones who mattered.)
Whose idea was it to stop the floats and marching bands around the RiverCenter? If the soldiers can march on the bricks of Broadway, everybody else can do it as well.
The parade's end-point was Golden Park, where soldiers received a free lunch. The original plan for the "Parade of Heroes" called for an evening concert and fireworks show at Golden Park as well - but that never happened. I didn't realize the soldiers already were having flashbacks about Baghdad.
COMING SUNDAY: The item we've promised about the former Mayor online.... and a look at your e-mail....
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