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12 MAR 04: IN OR OUT?
Let's play a game today called "In or Out" - where we mention an item in our area, and you guess whether it's, well, in or out right now. Ready?
1. Yellow as a spring color. In or out?
Answer: OUT. Haven't you seen Jimmy Rain's Great Southern Wood ads? It's YELLA now.
(Remember one thing when you see the big billboards with Jimmy Rain pointing at the word "YELLA" - he's on the Auburn University Board of Trustees.)
2. Welfare in Columbus. In or out?
Answer: IN. It certainly was when I visited the DFCS office Thursday morning. And before you ask - no, I am NOT living on food stamps because you're not donating to this blog.
I was chauffeuring my elderly next-door neighbor, and our first stop was the Health and Human Services Center on Comer Avenue. At one point, the line of people to see a DFCS window attendant was five people long - which I think matched the longest line to buy South Georgia Waves baseball tickets last season.
In the "cubicle farm" beyond the DFCS waiting room, there's a big sign reading, "Get in gear.... start a career." Trouble is, my next-door neighbor is more than 70 years old. People her age are thankful simply to get out of bed, much less get anything in gear.
3. The Family Center's Dr. Julie Rose. In or out?
Answer: IN, for a comment she made on TV Thursday evening. She said parents should encourage sensitivity in boys, because when they grow up "hopefully they'll marry a girl." This doctor can run for any political office in Columbus she'd
like.
4. Colonial Mall in Auburn. In or out?
Answer: OUT. Managers announced Thursday the name will change to "Colonial University Village." As if "mall" is the word which didn't fit here?! It's in Auburn, not Louisville or Richmond.
Colonial University Village will be the second name change for the Auburn mall since I moved to this area seven years ago. New college students will be amazed to learn these changes happened with NO competition from the new "Tiger Town."
I'm actually pleased by the name change the mall in Auburn. The corporate managers have put the name "Colonial Mall" on buildings in several other cities, including one I've visited in Brunswick, Georgia. How many Auburn alums have stopped there, and been disappointed by the lack of Tiger gear?
5. Mike Gaymon of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce. In or out?
Answer: IN. He's on the air so much these days that I'm waiting for him to announce he's running for President as an independent.
Mike Gaymon announced a new membership drive for the Chamber of Commerce Thursday. Is this really the right time? After all, the United Way hasn't finished begging for money yet....
Mike Gaymon already hosted a weekly Chamber of Commerce talk show on WCGT TV-16. Now he also has a Tuesday morning talk show on WDAK radio -- where he joins the weekend home repair guy as the only announcers with no conservative ax to grind.
6. Heath Morton, WRBL weekend meteorologist. In or out?
Answer: OUT. He's heading for Huntsville, to take a TV job there. Now I have no one left to call "Heath Bar" when I'm watching TV.
Heath Morton reportedly had a deal to move to Huntsville several months ago - but the WRBL management at the time refused to let him leave. If Morton was that vital to whatever success they had, why didn't the managers put Jeff Donald on a bus to Huntsville instead?
Heath Morton didn't get much of a chance to say goodbye to WRBL. It came up last Friday on "News 3 at 6:00" - in the last ten seconds of the newscast. Maria LaRosa had a visit from former Mayor Bobby Peters.
7. Mara Kelly, WRBL weekend news anchor. In or out?
Answer: OUT - or so I'm hearing. One source tells me Kelly's leaving the air because she wants to start a family. So maybe THIS is WRBL's strategy for better ratings....
8. Southeastern Conference basketball, as a whole. In or out?
Answer: OUT. When Columbus TV stations would rather show an infomercial or a shopping channel than Thursday afternoon's Auburn-Georgia game, it MUST be out.
On the other hand, radio coverage of Southeastern Conference basketball must be IN. I went back and forth between WRCG and WHAL to listen to the Auburn-Georgia game, and heard the same commercials on both stations several times.
9. The University of Georgia men's basketball team, which annihilated Auburn Thursday in the Southeastern Conference tournament. In or out of the NCAA's?
Answer: OUT, I say - even if the Bulldogs beat Kentucky today for a third time this season. If they couldn't beat Winthrop in December, can you really trust this team to show up for the national playoffs?
10. Auburn men's basketball coach Cliff Ellis, whose Tigers were trampled by Georgia. In or out?
Answer: IN. His job is safe, because Athletic Director David Housel doesn't want to shoot himself in the foot twice in five months.
11. A day without any news about the Kenneth Walker case. In or out?
Answer: IN - and I hope more days are like Thursday. To me, it's a refreshing change.
BLOGGER'S NOTE: Daily blogging may diminish over the next few weeks, due to our annual spring clean-up....
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