1 AUG 05: HEY, BIG SPENDERS

The answer suddenly came to me Sunday - the answer about why Columbus Mayor Bob Poydasheff seems unconcerned about panhandlers. City officials do the same sort of begging all the time, only for state and federal grant money.

Why would a federal transportation bill include money for the National Infantry Museum? Georgia Congressman Sanford Bishop says the project is in line for more than seven million federal dollars, under a bill sent to President Bush. Are they planning tank races on the grounds, or what?!

A list of transportation bill items from Sanford Bishop's office actually mentions the National Infantry Museum twice. The biggest item is more than five million dollars for a "transportation network." You may remember when this had another name - roads.

There's also $1.7 million earmarked for a "multimodal facility" at the National Infantry Museum. I think that means you'll be able to get there by car, bicycle or armored personnel carrier.

But wait, there's more! The new National Infantry Museum will be along South Lumpkin Road - and the transportation bill includes $400,000 for a trail on that road. The true infantry member will want to march, after all....

Not far away, the transportation bill provides more than one million dollars to improve the Victory Drive exit from Interstate 185. This is strange, since parts of that exit recently were closed due to security improvements at Fort Benning.
Please don't tell me they forgot the toll booths....

You may not know the "Streetscape" work in downtown Columbus is funded by federal money. Rep. Sanford Bishop says the transportation bill includes $800,000 for phase III of that project - so maybe business owners on Broadway should fly to Washington personally next time, to stop it.

(There's also $160,000 for a Streetscape project in Richland. Given what some business owners in downtown Columbus have been saying, this federal money might close the town completely.)

Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama issued his own statement, noting the transportation bill will help build a new exit on the Phenix City side of J.R. Allen Parkway. The ramps will lead to and from the new hospital. Before all the malpractice suits, we might have wondered why doctors didn't pay for this themselves.

If that's not enough, Senator Jeff Sessions noted the transportation bill has $18 million for a new interchange in Auburn. You'll be able to get off Interstate 85 at Beehive Road -- and who knows how many older Southern women will do this, looking for a hairdresser.

Critics of this sort of bill call it "pork-barrel spending," filled with all sorts of special projects for lawmaker's home territories. Alabama state lawmakers sometimes call it "pass-through pork" - and if you haven't eaten it in a while, the pork is liable to do exactly that.

Yet supporters of the projects we've listed say they will benefit this area immensely. After all, how do you raise millions of dollars for these improvements in the private sector? The $160,000 for Richland alone would take years of spaghetti dinners....

Members of Congress would argue they're trying to make sure your tax money comes back to you. The approach merely is different this year, after those two government rebate checks came in the mail.

If you're not happy with Congress spending federal tax money on transportation projects in this area, keep something in mind. That money could be going to Iraq, to build transportation projects there instead -- and some might suggest Iraq needs the work much more.

Before I doze off in front of the computer, let's catch up on all sorts of things from the weekend....

+ The Georgia tax-free holiday ended with my purchasing an item which should significantly improve this blog. I went to that "big yard sale" on Broadway Sunday -- and spent 50 cents on a joke book.

+ Edward DuBose of the Georgia NAACP faced tough questions on WCGT's "Out of Order." One caller demanded something be done about "radical" Columbus President Bill Madison -- to which host Nate Sanderson said DuBose is more likely to reprimand people in private. That hasn't stopped some civil rights leaders....

+ Columbus Regional opened its new Spring Harbor retirement village -- and one resident compared it to the Titanic [True/WRBL]. The sooner Columbus building inspectors check this complex from top to bottom, the better we'll feel.

+ Singer and TV star Hilary Duff told the Ledger-Enquirer she's dating the lead singer of the band "Good Charlotte." Who knows how many parents' jaws dropped when they read that - until their children reminded them Good Charlotte is NOT a "girl group?"

+ LaGrange golfer Allen Doyle rallied from nine strokes behind to win the U.S. Senior Open. This could earn Doyle some major endorsement deals - and it's about time Geritol made a comeback.

+ Columbus Catfish second baseman Travis Denker won a promotion in the Los Angeles Dodger system. He's now at what they call in minor league baseball "high-A Vero Beach" - and sometimes I wish the managers made players sing a "high A" on their arrival.

+ Instant Message to Desiree Taylor: We wish you well as you leave WRBL for a new job in Elmira, New York. But we're comforted by one thing - new reporter Susanna Avery could pass for your twin sister.

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