22 JUN 05: A LOOSE BRICK SOMEWHERE

Instant Message to Holt Service Company: One of your bricks is missing. I hope no one's holding it for ransom - or threatening to throw it through your office window in an act of vengeance.

What I'm talking about is the ring of "Olympic bricks" outside Golden Park, which marked the 1996 Olympic softball site. In the last few days, four bricks with names on them mysteriously have disappeared -- including one in a series for Holt Service Company. Did some family member need it to pin down a picnic tablecloth?

The largest empty section is one where it appears three bricks were removed. The area seems big enough to hold two named bricks and a smaller "filler." This had better not be a publicity stunt, and replaced with some radio station's logo....

If you're wondering what's the big deal about these bricks, consider this. People paid $100 nine years ago to have their name or message put on one brick in South Commons. That's $100 for a brick measuring roughly six inches by two inches -- which still makes it more expensive per square foot than most Columbus houses.

Each brick was supposed to be a lasting memorial of the people who supported the 1996 Olympics. So if someone stole one of them, it's at least discourteous - and at worst, someone who jogs after dark like me could wind up with a face full of other bricks.

The idea of "brick fundraisers" quickly spread after the Atlanta/Columbus Olympics. You'll find named bricks outside the Phenix City Amphitheater, in a special section on the grounds of Hardaway High School - and if you hand Mike Gaymon a big enough check, your name can be in front of the Chamber of Commerce office.

So why do you think someone would steal these scattered bricks from around the Olympic monument....

+ Is this something new in scavenger hunts -- because the new city street signs are welded on too tightly?

+ Are local residents running out of unique and unusual things to sell on eBay?

+ Could Detroit Pistons fans be taking them, to wave "bricks" at their televisions when Tim Duncan of San Antonio shoots free throws?

+ We can't blame it on local Republicans - since the bricks for President Clinton and Vice President Gore are still there.

(Now now, you cynics -- I don't want to hear anyone claim the missing bricks will add a local feel to that statue outside the Columbus Public Library....)

(CLASSIC BLOG: Read more about the Olympic bricks in our entry of 18 Jul 04.)

E-MAIL UPDATE: Tuesday's flaming message from A.R. (the subject of our latest BIG BLOG QUESTION) brought several rapid-fire responses. We're standing aside for this one from Justin:

Richard,

First a few quick observations about AR.....(if that is his real name)

1. Obviously not a Southerner!

2. I thought the Democrats were supposed to be the bitter ones.

3. To big a coward to use his name (or maybe you just did that to protect his identity, we don't want to get the blog mafia on him just yet)

4. Obviously has to much time on his hands since he can take an hour out of his day to write a letter telling you how worthless you are.

5. He's certainly a "Republican (who isn't about beating Bibles into peoples' heads)", that or he skipped the whole section of the Bible about judging people.

I find your blog amusing and informing about parts of Columbus (if you have moved away, like me, you can't get to much info from the Ledger or TV stations on the web). I'd give your blog higher marks if it wasn't for your misguided comments about Moe's.

Keep up the good work and let me leave AR with this.....

YANKEE GO HOME!

A.R. indeed are the writer's real initials - and since he signed his message that way, I let that stand. But I'm puzzled about something. How does Justin know A.R. isn't a Southerner? Is it because the word "y'all" never appeared in his e-mail once?

So there's a "blog mafia" out there? Is that the proper term for all the bloggers who went after Dan Rather last year? And here I actually thought those folks were Republicans....

Another blog reader leaped to our defense:

Dear Richie: I tried to post a comment on your big blog question about what a sweet and charming gentleman you are, but I couldn't figure out how to do it.  So I thought I would ask you to tell me what I'm doing wrong. Then I realized that, if your disgruntled reader realizes that I'm too---mmm---technologically challenged to figure out how to post a comment, he might think I'm a little too dimwitted for my opinion to really count. So, for what it's worth, I think you are a lovely person. Love & kisses, M

Awwwwww.... oh yes. I should point out to A.R. that this writer is a Columbus attorney. She may not know how to leave online comments, but I'd guess she knows something about "defamation of character" lawsuits.

Now some quick items before we pound the gavel and stand in recess:

+ Winn-Dixie announced it will sell or close one-third of its supermarkets nationwide, including the store on U.S. 280 in Phenix City. The corporate office at least could have warned us - by changing the name to "Loss-Dixie" or something.

(Phenix City lost a FoodMax store on the 280 Bypass four years ago. Now this Winn-Dixie closing could leave giant empty spaces for supermarkets on opposite sides of the highway -- or maybe Cadillac Jack's nightclub will get competition from a "Lexus Larry's.")

+ The mystery of who bought a nine million dollar Lotto South jackpot ticket in Americus continued for a third day. Maybe the winner still doesn't realize he's won - and Millard Fuller might not check his tickets until he finishes the Jimmy Carter Work Project in Michigan.

+ Danica Tisdale gave several farewell interviews, before giving up the Miss Georgia title this weekend. She'll go to Emory University this fall, to obtain a doctorate in "women's studies." Single guys who watch this week's pageant can claim the same thing -- only without the doctorate.

+ Former Kendrick High School football star Dell McGee was named the team's new head coach. How do you think the Kendrick principal announced this to the team? Did he say, "Dudes, you're getting a Dell" ?!

+ The Columbus Civic Center introduced the managers of the city's new Atlantic Indoor Football League team. Former Wardogs manager and broadcaster D.J. Jones said the team will need to be active in the community. The more players they can recruit at Baptist churches, the better.

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