10 FEB 05: BOOM BOOM BUMMER
Wednesday evening's news announced the end of one of Columbus's best-known nightclubs. The Boom Boom Room has closed its doors - but no, I don't think the last person to leave the building shot out the lightbulb....
I didn't say the Boom Boom Room was among the best-LIKED clubs -- simply one of the best-KNOWN. The Cusseta Road club became notorious for a series of shootings in the parking lot. Some criminals simply took the club's name too literally.
The Boom Boom Room had a prime location at the "A-B-C" intersection: Andrews Road, Brown Avenue and Cusseta Road. Trouble was, people started connecting with another set of initials -- D-O-A, or "dead on arrival."
How could we forget the politicians who used the nightclub's building for advertising last year? Current Judge "Boom Boom" Bobby Peters had a big sign there, and he won. Then Ken Suddeth had a smaller sign, and he lost. Voters apparently expected the Marshal to know better....
The Boom Boom Room was one of the first places put on Fort Benning's "off-limits" list for soldiers. It was easy to understand why. Troops can get their target practice ON post - and they wouldn't risk becoming the targets.
Things eventually reached the point that the Boom Boom Room painted club rules on the outside wall of the building - no weapons, no drugs, no loitering. To which some customers arguing in the parking lot apparently said, "no fun...."
Some people living near the Boom Boom Room became fed up last year, and started a petition drive to shut down the club. They collected 350 signatures - which I think almost matched the total number of police calls there.
But we're told the Boom Boom Room's owner did NOT decide to close because of community pressure, or because the club was on Fort Benning's "hit list." The owner simply decided to move to a new location. And why wouldn't he - being in such an unsafe corner of town?
The owner of the Boom Boom Room plans to open a new nightclub near South Lumpkin Road. Now there's a forward-thinking businessman - preparing for all the traffic around the new Infantry Museum.
I asked some colleagues Wednesday for ideas about what to name the successor to the Boom Boom Room. Their ideas went in a similar direction:
+ The "Boom Boom Boom Boom Room" - as in the sequel, I suppose.
+ The "Place Where You're Likely to Get Shot." There's somebody thinking positively about Columbus South.
+ Then there's my idea to rename the OLD nightclub building: "The Boom and Bust."
(BLOG-BLAH-BLAH: Do you have a better name for the Boom Boom Room's successor? Send it to us!)
BLOG UPDATE: On down Cusseta Road, the news was better Wednesday at Mockingbird Mobile Home Park. The Columbus Housing Initiative intervened to turn the water back on for 30 days. Residents who hurried out Tuesday to buy water jugs hurried out again, to buy barrels for filling.
The Columbus Housing Initiative worked out a deal with Columbus Water Works, to restore what one Mockingbird resident called "real water." Some people, of course, prefer FAKE water - the brands sold at stores with hints of orange and raspberry....
But not all the news was a thrill at "Mockingbird Hill." The Columbus Housing Initiative left brochures at every mobile home, telling residents they have two weeks to find somewhere else to live. The timing of this could turn out all right - as these people can take those new apartments, before the new Fifth Brigade shows up.
One Columbus attorney said Wednesday Georgia tenants have little recourse in a case like this. If landlords don't live up to an agreement to pay utility bills, they can be fined $500. But the owners of Mockingbird Mobile Home Park owed $5,000 in water bills - so that fine literally WOULD be a "drop in the bucket."
Now for some quick refreshing splashes of other topics:
+ Which nationally-known morning radio program is about to go off the air in Columbus? (At least, that's what I'm hearing.) Why are the people most likely to cry about this members of the Ledger-Enquirer's editorial board?
+ Don Cook resigned from the Muscogee County Library Board, saying it's becoming too political. He used to be a high-ranking official with the local Democratic Party - so maybe the new library has too many books about private enterprise.
(Don Cook actually is concerned about the Library Board taking a stand on development around the new library. He apparently wants board members to stick to books - not to the view readers will have out the window.)
+ Columbus State University hosted the Muscogee County Science Fair, with more than 130 exhibits on display. I keep waiting for a young genius to find a way to box up the 65-degree air like we had Wednesday - so we can open it up and enjoy it in mid-July.
+ A "Black History Month" presentation on the growth of Columbus's African-American middle class was given -- huh?! At Auburn University?! Is this where so many of those middle-class people moved, for better schools and cheaper housing?
+ Auburn lost at Louisiana State 90-59 in college basketball. One of L.S.U.'s starters is freshman "Big Baby" Glen Davis. [True/Auburn Network] But I'd better not give Columbus Councilor Gary Allen any new name-calling ideas....
+ Instant Message to ABC News: Thanks a lot for that report Wednesday night - you know, about how some bloggers have been fired from jobs because of what they wrote. That's the way to uphold my freedom of speech.
COMING SOON: The hottest trend among local bloggers.... and why I'm not likely to join in it anytime soon....
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