Thursday, September 29, 2005

29 SEP 05: YOUR FIRST IMPRESSION



"Coca-Cola Museum?" a total stranger asked me as I walked on the Chattahoochee Promenade the other day. I'm always willing to help people find their way, but this question threw me. Does the Columbus Museum have Coca-Cola - and is it kept in a refrigerated display case?



"It's probably over on Broadway, between Seventh and Ninth," I told the man. All that came to mind was a historic marker noting Dr. John Pemberton's preliminary work on the drink in Columbus. But in terms of souvenirs there, it's really more like a Coca-Cola Zero.



This wasn't quite the answer the visitor expected. He thought for a moment, then said: "The space science museum." Aha, now this was clearer. He was looking for a center, not a museum - and its only connection with Coca-Cola was a big undisclosed advertising deal.



The Chattahoochee Promenade goes right next to the Coca-Cola Space Science Center, so I pointed it out to the visitor. Then the man did something interesting - pulling a plastic tourist map of Columbus out of his rear pocket. Was he testing me? Or was this your typical man refusing to look at a map?



I felt a need to clarify something at that moment. "When you say Coca-Cola Museum, I think of a place displaying Coca-Cola. While Dr. Pemberton did some of his early research on Coke in Columbus, the company's name is on the Space Science Center." I almost wished Moon Family Properties sponsored it instead.



"Gotcha," the visitor replied. But he didn't head for the space science center. Instead he strolled south on the promenade, simply looking at the sights. The man didn't carry a camera, so I don't think he was a suspected terrorist.



"When my current job's over, I'm heading back north," he told me. "It's too d**ned hot down here." There's a possibility for the next one-cent sales tax question - putting retractable roofs over all city parks.



"Of course," he continued, "I may go up there and find it's too d**ned cold." Wherever this man works, I get the feeling he's the number-one adjuster of thermostats.



A short walk south, the visitor spoke up again. "There's another half-a*s amphitheater!" This was the one at Sixth and Front Avenue with old wood benches - the one which would be great at a Boy Scout camp, but Callaway Gardens would have had sponsored and renovated years ago.



Apparently this visitor already had seen the Phenix City Amphitheater during his walking tour - and by saying "another," he wasn't impressed by that one, either. I could have pointed out that at least our area has TWO of them. But don't two "half-a**es" make a whole one?



I chose not to respond to the man's amphitheater comment. I was starting to wonder if he was attempting to provoke a Columbus resident -- or if he was a visiting Harley-Davidson rider who was walking because his motorcycle broke down.



The visitor crossed Sixth Street to continue his walk, and I took a different course down the promenade. The man left me thinking he wasn't too thrilled by what he saw around downtown Columbus. Maybe if some of the Broadway bars could find a way to be open 24 hours a day....



E-MAIL UPDATE: Our 22 Sep entry about the planned Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop brought an unusual response - relating to law enforcement:



Here's a link to a site I thought you might find interesting....



At one point in time, the National Fraternal Order of Police spoke out against Ben & Jerry's due to their support of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Ben & Jerry's has since been sold by the original owners that provided that support, so I don't think that the FOP is still boycotting it. Just thought you might find this interesting. Enjoy!!



The link is to a memorial web site for Daniel Faulkner, a Philadelphia police officer killed (so courts have ruled) by Mumia Abu-Jamal in 1981. Backers of Abu-Jamal used to lobby loudly for his freedom. But then September 11th happened - and let's face it, that Islamic name isn't helping his cause these days.



I hadn't heard about any law officer boycott of Ben and Jerry's, relating to the Mumia Abu-Jamal case. Perhaps if the ice cream shop had come out with a "Marshmallow Abu-Jamal" flavor, I would have remembered it.



(Remember, young people: a life of crime only leads to one ice cream flavor - a Rocky Road.)



Now other brief bits from a nice September day:


+ Which Columbus radio station left its listeners puzzled, by NOT doing a daily birthday giveaway? I'm told people were actually calling TV stations to ask what happened - as if TV station employees would admit listening to radio while on the job.



+ Students at Clubview Elementary School donated more than $1,000 to the American Red Cross for hurricane relief. A few Clubview students are evacuees from the Gulf Coast - so why don't the others trust them enough to make a direct donation?



+ Instant Message to the Greater Columbus Fair: Some of us are puzzled by your TV commercial mentioning "exotic animals." Are you really showing a goat there?



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