28 DEC 05: UPDATED SCORE - 3-1

More details emerged Tuesday about Don's Fine Foods in Phenix City. The attorney for owner Don Ford said the store has been robbed four times in 17 months. So Ford's use of force last March may have been a case of "strike three, you're out."

Attorney Frank Martin told reporters Don Ford plans to keep his store on Fourth Avenue in Phenix City closed, in the wake of last Saturday's shooting. In a related note, all Spectrum employees in Phenix City are asked to clean their security cameras every two hours.

Frank Martin seemed to blame last August's murder indictment for last Saturday's shooting. He claimed Don Ford hesitated, when robbers entered his store wearing ski masks. Can you blame him? After all, these people are supposed to wear Santa Claus beards on December 24....

(So was Don Ford's hesitation due to the murder charge he's facing? Or was he waiting to see if Ashton Kutcher would walk in the door, and declare he'd been "Punk'd?")

Frank Martin says Don Ford will need a hip replacement, in the wake of last Saturday's shooting. The District Attorney will find that comment interesting -- because he believes Ford shot from the hip back in March....

Frank Martin says the weekend shooting shows it's "not reasonable to say every detail of a robbery should be checked," before a business owner opens fire. He raises a good point. After all, only the dumbest criminal would state his name and address during a stickup.

Frank Martin stated his hope that murder charges against Don Ford will be dropped, in the wake of the shooting. Russell County District Attorney Kenneth Davis is being awfully quiet about that - as if he's preparing papers to hold the trial in Huntsville.

(So is Kenneth Davis being too tough on crime, for charging Don Ford with murder? Or was he too wimpy, by letting Ford get out on bond so he could be shot?)

Meanwhile, Phenix City Police responded Tuesday to recent complaints about a crime wave on Fourth Avenue around Don's Fine Foods. A spokesman said the crime rate is the same in that neighborhood, as it is everywhere else -- so don't be surprised if users of the "Phenix Skate Park" roll everything into Smiths Station.

The Phenix City Police spokesman said crime goes up all over town in December. At last - a government official daring to make an argument against keeping Christmas....

You may be surprised to learn while the Columbus Police Department has dozens of unfilled positions, the Phenix City force is full. In fact, four new officers will join the department early in 2006. Quick, somebody - find the latest list of Columbus city retirements.

We'll keep watching this case - but let's see what else made headlines Tuesday:

+ The northbound lanes of Interstate 185 were closed for about three hours, after a deadly drive-by shooting. I've heard several police reports of road rage in recent days - and you know it's bad in late December when it spreads beyond parking spots near the department store door.

+ An Associated Press survey found Hurricane Katrina was Alabama's biggest news story of the year. The Natalee Holloway case was second - which makes you wonder how many times Greta Van Susteren and Rita Cosby voted.

+ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Chattahoochee County has the highest percentage of uninsured drivers in Georgia. This may be the only county in the state where drivers don't laugh at Geico commercials.

+ Lightning Graphics on St. Mary's Road set up extra phone lines, and invited Third Brigade soldiers to use them for free. Other businesses near Fort Benning may follow this trend - for instance, offering "you talk, we tattoo."

+ WRCG Radio's "Talkline" featured former TV talk show Nate Sanderson -- who said on the air he was ready to "beat up some liberals." You can always the people who watch Jerry Springer....

+ The Columbus Civic Center rink was open for public skating. Perhaps the skaters were inspired by the Cottonmouths - just as we suspect boxing clubs have been inspired by coach Jerome Bechard.

+ The Columbus High School wrestling team won all three matches in a "quad meet." And you thought quad meets referred to four-by-four vehicles holding a mud run....

(In one of the matches, Columbus slammed "Dr. Phillips High" of Orlando 63-7. This may start rumors about the job security of Superintendent John Phillips all over again.)

2005 IN REVIEW: Georgia was reeling from Hurricane Katrina in September, so Governor Sonny Perdue ordered a suspension of state fuel taxes for 30 days. Then he called on public schools to close for two days. And last week he took the biggest fuel-conserving step yet - urging you not to travel to Aruba.

Law officers from Columbus and other parts of the country went to the hurricane zone, to help keep order. Some of them wound up on traffic patrols in Baton Rouge - where they had to get used to spelling word on tickets with "aux."

Despite high gas prices, Harley-Davidson fans from across Georgia gathered in Columbus in September for a state convention. These riders know how to keep a budget. If gas prices go up again, they'll simply buy one less leather jacket.

September was fair month in Columbus - and this year it regained the name "Greater Columbus Fair." Civil rights leaders had learned their lesson from Riverfest, and did NOT hold a "Greater Columbus is Unfair" picket.

Allen Elementary School staged an unusual event in September - "Backpack Awareness Day." If grade school students aren't aware of that big bulky thing attached to their shoulders, they need to stop listening to iPods so much.

We found out in September about a survey of Auburn University students - which showed 75 percent of them do NOT know Opelika exists! They must pick up copies of the Opelika-Auburn News, and think Mr. Opelika created it years ago.

Tim Chitwood took on a new job at the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer in September, reporting on Columbus Council meetings. If Chitwood REALLY wanted to write funny columns, he should have asked for the Russell County Commission beat.

This blog had high and low points in September. First came an invitation to speak at the Columbus Kiwanis Club. Five days later, I collapsed from possible food poisoning. I may never tell an AFLAC joke in public again....

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