16 DEC 05: THE SUNNY SOUTH

The Columbus South Revitalization Task Force unveiled a new promotional campaign Thursday. It's built around the slogan, "a new day is dawning." That's nice - but is it too cold there for people to visit at sunrise?

Columbus South is promoting its new slogan by putting up banners on the south side of town, at a cost of almost $20,000. I assume they cost so much because they're made of special material, which vandals and thieves on Benning Drive can't damage.

So where was the new banner campaign for Columbus South unveiled? At the area's big business icon -- a McDonald's on Victory Drive. Since the banners cost about $20,000, supporters apparently could only afford to eat lunch from the dollar menu.

But the real reason why McDonald's was selected for this event is because restaurant owner Jack Pezold is paying most of the cost for the banners. So a new day is dawning, and you can't really appreciate it without a McGriddle.

Jack Pezold actually is credited with starting the "new day" of Columbus South, by opening a McDonald's on Victory Drive 25 years ago. Before 1980, I guess that road served merely as the Fort Benning demilitarized zone.

Jack Pezold says there's a group of concerned citizens in Columbus South now, which wants to see the area improved. This is good news - because a city the size of Columbus deserves state-of-the-art tattoo parlors.

Jack Pezold is making an even bigger investment in Columbus South. He's bought land around the old Traffic Light Motel, and plans to start construction of a hotel there in the next six months. Right now, a "hotel" in this area is defined as the Motel 6 with its jacked-up weekend rates.

The past year truly has seen some progress in Columbus South. We mentioned last week's grand opening of the city's first Bank of America branch. Work is underway on a new National Infantry Museum. And Victory Drive has a new Sonic drive-in -- where skating servers have an advantage over promiscuous soldiers.

(Someone pointed out to me recently that no other part of Columbus has two thriving Piggly Wiggly stores within about one mile of each other. No wonder Publix is afraid to build a store on South Lumpkin Road.)

The Columbus South Revitalization Task Force promises another major announcement in a few weeks. It's not giving any clues about what the announcement is - but it would only make sense for Dr. Jay Brodwyn to move his office closer to where the Cottonmouths play.

I don't know if this has anything to do with the mysterious announcement - but whatever happened to the talk about renaming Victory Drive? Might it be named after one of the longtime businesses on that road? "Lucky 7 Lounge Lane" would sound so cool....

An event Thursday night was a reminder of how far Columbus South still has to go. The annual "Shop with a Cop" motorcade started at the Civic Center - and went to the Kmart on Airport Thruway. Apparently shopping at Dollar General or Piggly Wiggly isn't quite good enough.

Now other items of interest from a gray December day:

+ Third Brigade officers announced soldiers in Iraq will begin returning home to Fort Benning this weekend. That's a week sooner than expected -- so either the Iraqi elections went well, or Columbus Councilors up for reelection next year want to make sure those soldiers are back to vote.

+ Columbus United Way President Guy Sims told the 12:00 noon news this year's campaign should make its goal sometime in January. That way, the former school superintendent can resist the urge to recommend a new one-cent sales tax.

+ A new statue of Saint Anne was unveiled at the Columbus Catholic school named after her. That's funny - she doesn't look like Anne Hathaway at all....

(Roman Catholic tradition claims St. Anne was the mother of the Virgin Mary. But the Bible doesn't say that - so I guess it keeps the name of the mother anne-onymous.)

+ WXTX "News at Ten" reported Georgia is missing out on $21 million in federal money, because pickup drivers aren't required to buckle their seat belts. But we must understand something here - state officials are being consistent. Most pickup drivers don't latch their tailgates, either....

+ Travelers in parts of north Georgia spent much of the day under an "ice warning." In Columbus, of course, we don't need this sort of thing - since Buck Ice is never touched by human hands.

+ Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue joined Alabama, in calling for a boycott of Aruba. Shouldn't these governors be consistent in their policies? If they want to punish the mishandling of crimes, they should call for a boycott of the Neverland ranch in California as well.

+ Auburn running back Kenny Irons announced he will NOT enter the pro football draft next spring. "The Iron Horse" said he needs to gain weight, to knock over N.F.L. defenders such as Ray Lewis. Irons is showing his young age - because all he really needs to do that are some drinking buddies in Buckhead.

+ Instant Message to the webmaster of the Columbus city government web site: Are you aware Augusta's city web site gives visitors a choice of SEVEN different languages? We only offer two - so does that mean we're closer to racial unity than they are?

COMING NEXT WEEK: We begin our annual "year in review" of events in the Columbus area....

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