21 DEC 05: BIGGER IS BETTER

Barbara Walters presented a two-hour special Tuesday night asking, "Heaven -- how do we get there?" After a vote in Columbus Council earlier in the day, some Midland residents will tell you the path won't go through their neighborhood much longer.

Columbus Council voted 7-3 in favor of a new Wal-Mart SuperCenter on Gateway Road, in the Midland area. And we all know once a Wal-Mart shows up, the "rollbacks" only happen inside the store - not in the development around it.

Councilor Evelyn Turner Pugh voted for the new Wal-Mart, but warned the company it had better keep a promise to build another SuperCenter on the south side. In her words: "my reputation is at stake." You don't have to change many letters in "reputation" to spell "reelection."

But the two other African-American councilors voted against Wal-Mart. Nathan Suber said the plan for three SuperCenters from Airport Thruway north will entice South Columbus residents to drive to them, instead of the Buena Vista Road store. Isn't he assuming something - that all those residents have cars?

(The manager of the Buena Vista Road Wal-Mart told WRBL Tuesday night she thinks regular customers would return, once the "newness" of a SuperCenter wears off. I don't see that logic working yet at Northside High School.)

Councilor Julius Hunter says he voted against Wal-Mart because he's "not satisfied" all of the company's promises will be met. That's easy for him to say, since I can't recall him making a single promise when he ran for office.

The third Columbus Councilor to oppose the rezoning for Wal-Mart for Glenn Davis. So much for him holding a baseball autograph signing at the new store....

But Mayor Pro-Tem Jack Rodgers voted for the rezoning, saying the land on Gateway Road was suitable for retail business. If that's the standard, can you imagine Mike Gaymon of the Chamber of Commerce serving on Columbus Council? We might have stores on every street corner in the city.

Jack Rodgers suspects the opposition in Midland was directed more at Wal-Mart in particular, than retail development in general. He said if the proposal was for a Nordstrom or Neiman-Marcus, there wouldn't be a debate. So when are those stores coming - and where?

Wal-Mart plans to build a 200,000 square foot store on Gateway Road - but first it has to work with the Georgia Transportation Department on details of road improvements. For one thing, we have to figure out which famous politicians to name the roads after.

Supporters say the new Midland Wal-Mart is expected to bring other businesses - including a bank, and possibly a motel. I suppose they're for Talbot County residents, who want to make this a weekend getaway....

But the next Wal-Mart SuperCenter to open in our area probably will be near Columbus Park Crossing. The land is cleared for it, yet it might not be ready until late next year. Contractors must be allowing plenty of time for protesters to slow things down.

For the opponents living near the new Midland Wal-Mart, I have a couple of suggestions. If you plan to sell your home, put up posters around current Wal-Mart stores. And if you plan to stay, make money off all that extra traffic you expect - by holding yard sales every weekend.

Now let's enter the express lane, for other news items from Tuesday:

+ WRBL reported someone recently stole a Columbus city dump truck from an equipment yard. Why would anyone want to steal a dump truck? It can't be for the aerodynamics or the cushy interior.

(A series of thefts from the equipment yard in recent months have included one pickup truck and two lawnmowers. This is what happens when prison inmates cut the grass along the Riverwalk.)

+ East Alabama Medical Center reported 20 milligrams of morphine had disappeared. If I could offer some advice - look for the patient with the widest smile.

+ The Sumter County Commission voted to take in as many as 30 inmates from the Gwinnett County Jail. Of all the ideas I've heard to bring the "two Georgias" together, this tops them all....

+ The Jerry Springer Show on WXTX featured a man who cheated on his wife, with a woman he met in the human wheelbarrow race at central Georgia's "Redneck Games." He picked up a new lover, in more ways than one....

(The man named Erik complained to Jerry Springer that his wife wouldn't let him enter the Redneck Games tire toss. What did she do - threaten to "steel belt" him one?)

+ Shaw High School's boys basketball team handled Hardaway 100-76 at the Shaw Holiday Tournament. The Hawks have a player named Elijah Pitts - who might find himself recruited to make a football comeback for the Green Bay Packers this weekend.

+ The Atlanta Hawks were embarrassed in Miami 111-92. That score is misleading, because the Heat led 81-43 in the middle of the third quarter - and I started to wonder if Reggie Bush of Southern California can play basketball, as well as football.

(You know the game is out of hand when Hawks announcer Steve Holman resorts to bad Shaquille O'Neal puns. Who joins O'Neal at the golf course? A Caddy-Shaq.)

+ Instant Message to Rhodes Furniture: Eight days before you go out of business - and you STILL won't break up bedroom suites to sell me a chest of drawers?! I thought no reasonable offer was refused! And I didn't raise my voice once....

2005 IN REVIEW CONTINUED: What do you know - our review of March events reminded us the Columbus Planning Commission recommended AGAINST that Wal-Mart SuperCenter in Midland! So much for those commissioners thinking they have powerful positions....

March was the month when the Columbus City Manager dreamed of a pay raise - only to have Columbus Council turn him down. So when does Isaiah Hugley plan to retire, and become Assistant City Manager of Phenix City?

Later in the month, Lisa Goodwin of METRA was named one of Isaiah Hugley's assistants. I assume she works in her office all day long, because a METRA bus ride to a project across town simply would be too long a wait.

An e-mail to the blog in March announced a bumper sticker campaign with the slogan, "Let's Raise Police Pay." To this day, I haven't seen any of those stickers on cars - but then, I don't tend to follow Columbus police cruisers that closely....

The Washington Post revealed during March that Millard Fuller was accused of sexual misconduct several times, during his years at Habitat for Humanity. Amazingly, his new "Fuller Center" has its headquarters in Americus - and NOT on Victory Drive in Columbus.

March was a month of mourning, as several famous names passed away. They included WRBL's Rozell Fabiani, former Phenix City Mayor Jane Gullatt, the Olive Branch Café in downtown Columbus - as well as attorney Johnnie Cochran, who would have made them all rhyme somehow.

Your blog spent a week in federal court during March, covering a pregnancy discrimination lawsuit. WRBL's parent company lost, yet the damage may be done already. No one on the WRBL news team has become noticeably pregnant since.

We also tracked down some interesting numbers in March - learning paid attendance at "Thunder in the Valley" dropped by about 25 percent from the year before. This may prevent next year's event from expanding to "Thunder and Lightning in the Valley."

Speaking of numbers, regular unleaded gasoline went above two dollars a gallon across Columbus during March. It actually dropped below that amount for a while in recent weeks - and if you please do NOT smoke while you fill up, a lack of fires could bring the price back down.

A new multilingual newspaper premiered in Columbus during March. The English section is called "The Courier." The Spanish section is called "Eco Latino." And it's probably only a matter of time before an Ebonics section is in there....

And in radio, Davis Broadcasting made several changes in March. The stations at 92.7 FM and 95.7 FM switched places. The station at 1580 AM switched to sports talk. And at WFXE "Foxie-105," they're thankful they haven't switched spots at the top of the ratings with "101.3 The Beat."

WRBL's Blaine Stewart used to work in radio - and he revealed during March he was the first announcer to play a Britney Spears record. It's a good thing he didn't claim any "secret sex tapes" as well, because Spears sued a magazine Tuesday about that....

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