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1 MAR 04: BLUE IN THE FACE
Instant Message to all the visiting college softball players in Columbus: Thank you for coming -- but no, that was NOT an official city welcoming committee honking and standing along 4th Street over the weekend. After all, they claim they don't have enough money to go inside the gates to watch your games.
Dozens of public safety workers and their families spent a second day Sunday staging a public protest along 4th Street. They say police and fire department employees need more in pay and benefits. Hey, so do I - so will you officers please stop issuing tickets?
The public safety protest was only a short distance from my apartment, so I walked over to it Sunday morning. But of course, I was on my best behavior. This was certainly the wrong time to cross Veterans Parkway against the light.
Imagine my surprise to find Muscogee County Marshal Ken Suddeth on the protest line. He explained he was there because the current situation is a "crisis." I didn't think to ask him when was the last time he gave one of his aides a raise.
Randy Robertson with the Fraternal Order of Police told me the weekend protest involved several related issues. One of them is "pay compression" - which I thought happened when I squeezed all my dollar bills into my wallet.
I asked Randy Robertson what the visiting softball teams from across the country might think of the protest line. Robertson said the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Sports Council "try to paint a beautiful picture...." but he said
"there are problems in Columbus, Georgia." Wow, for once the law officers and civil rights groups agree on something.
Randy Robertson dared to suggest if nothing else works to improve police and fire pay, it might be time to ask Columbus voters to end the property tax freeze. There's one group certainly rooting for this -- the Chattahoochee County commission, which is looking for new residents and tax revenue.
The Fraternal Order of Police and other groups plan to meet Wednesday with Columbus Council's Public Safety Committee. Hopefully everyone on all sides will be courteous enough to go through the metal detectors first.
Mayor Bob Poydasheff was asked about the weekend protest by public safety employees. He said they have the right to do that, but claimed when it comes to pay, "these are tough times." For instance, consider how much debt the assistant city managers must have had....
Public safety workers say more protests are planned in the weeks to come -- only at businesses such as AFLAC. What's the point of this? To get the company's security guards to make a donation?
It was actually a Sunday doubleheader for me, as I went to Auburn after visiting the protesters. It was a busy Sunday on the plains -- with the college baseball and women's basketball teams at home, and spring football practice opening. I'm not sure which event the trustees decided to micromanage.
I chose to visit the Auburn women's basketball game against Florida, and had the privilege of sitting near "Joe's Mob" - a group of VERY noisy fans who back Auburn coach Joe Ciampi. It was amazing to hear them butter up the two female officials before the game, by saying how nice they looked.
The kind atmosphere soon changed, though, as Florida beat Auburn 71-60. Joe's Mob loudly accused Gator players of standing in the lane all day, of grabbing the jerseys of Tiger players - why, they have great futures as lobbyists in Montgomery.
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© 2003-04 Richard Burkard, All Rights Reserved.