for 9 DEC 05: JOIN THE CROWD
The Bank of America officially arrived in Columbus Thursday -- and in a bit of a surprise, the first office is on South Lumpkin Road. So much for the cynics who drive through that part of town, and think it should have El Banco de Mexico.
Bank of America bucks the trend of so many big-name Columbus businesses, by opening on the south side of town. And even more amazingly, it did NOT consider "south side" to be the side of Macon Road where the main library is.
So why would Bank of America put its first Columbus office on South Lumpkin Road, south of Victory Drive? The sign outside gives the answer: it's a "military bank." Pawn shop owners in this neighborhood should be afraid - very afraid.
Despite the "military bank" designation, Bank of America managers say it's really open to all customers. I assume there are some differences, though....
+ Those aren't bank guards - they're Security Sergeants.
+ The tellers don't say "next" - it's "forward MARCH!"
+ New savings accounts of at least $1,000 will be rewarded with a gift certificate for tattoos.
Did you hear what one woman said during the 5:00 p.m. news about the new Bank of America office? She declared Columbus has too many banks now! The reporter should have asked what her job is at Synovus Financial....
Economics expert Mike Daniels at Columbus State University disagrees with that woman. He says Columbus actually has two little competition when it comes to banks - but that's deceiving because of all the bank branches. Imagine if Daniels had been asked about competition for Spectrum stores.
Check the phone book under "banks," and you'll find 11 other companies with offices in Columbus. One of them is "State Farm Bank," which is really part of State Farm Insurance. So City Manager Isaiah Hugley's wife is a banker, too -- and we STILL have a tight city budget?
(Another surprising listing is Central Carolina Bank, which claims to have an office near 11th and Front Avenue. I'd never heard of it before - and you'd think this bank would sponsor Atlantic Coast Conference basketball games or something....)
There are other businesses in Columbus which could use some more competition, to possibly bring down prices. For one thing, the city has only three supermarket chains - but then, the people in Midland still won't let Wal-Mart in.
(And there's still a big empty supermarket storefront on Veterans Parkway at Whittlesey Road. C'mon Kroger, you can do it! I promise to show up often....)
But things certainly have improved since I moved to Columbus more than eight years ago. When I arrived in 1997, the city had no Target store, no Walgreens, no Best Buy, no Cracker Barrel -- in short, a big-city guy like me felt very deprived.
We have an early deadline again, so let's check other quick Thursday headlines:
+ Someone robbed a Spectrum store on Miller Road - but Columbus police said instead of money, the robber only wanted cigarettes. Maybe local jails need to add nicotine patches to their reform program.
+ Russell County Schools held their annual science fair. One of the top prizes went to an experiment involving moldy bread and cheese. I'll assume that was submitted by an exchange student from France....
+ Atlanta kept busy at baseball's winter meetings, trading for Boston shortstop Edgar Renteria. This follows the trade of pitcher Dan Kolb back to Milwaukee -- which was more like Rent-a-Reliever.
(BLOGGER'S NOTE: The jokes for today have concluded, but you're welcome to read on for some personal reflections.)
BUT SERIOUSLY: The wake-up call came early on December 9, 1980 -- around 2:00 a.m. or so. I was the morning newscaster at a Kansas City radio station, and the all-night announcer had breaking news he wanted me to get up and cover. I pushed him off once, but he called a second time about an hour later and said it was THAT serious.
What had the all-night man all concerned? No, it was NOT the killing so many people remembered Thursday. A fire had erupted at a multistory apartment building, practically next door to our radio station. Many older residents had evacuated safely -- but as I recall, at least ten people died of the smoke and flames.
The details are a fuzzy memory now -- but I believe it was only as I drove toward the station that I learned John Lennon had been shot and killed. I had to get to bed early to anchor the morning news, and the shooting was announced at about 11:00 p.m. Central time.
After interviewing survivors of the fire on tape, I realized the dilemma I faced. There was a local disaster story, which occurred during the night - and the murder of a famous name in music as well. Which one should lead the morning newscasts?
While some details are distant, I remember well how I began the 6:25 a.m. news 25 years ago Friday. "This is one of those mornings when you're not really sure where to start." In the eight newscasts which followed that morning, I alternated between John Lennon and the deadly apartment fire as the top story.
This is why I found Thursday's remembrances about the murder of John Lennon a bit odd. For many people, a CBS News reporter said, "This was their Dallas"?! Perhaps if you worshiped the Beatles, it was. Perhaps if you lived in New York, it was. But for me, it was NOT the historic milestone some are making it -- and I wonder if that's true for others as well.
After John Lennon's death, the first single from his comeback album raced to number-one on the charts. But at the Top 40 radio station where I worked, the Program Director refused to air it for weeks. "It's not a good song," he kept telling the General Manager about "Starting Over." I should note within a short time, the Program Director was fired - and he's now a traffic reporter in Kansas City.
I'm tempted to call the historic hype about the John Lennon murder a case of the New York news media going overboard. He was killed near Central Park, after all. Yet so many major events happened around the same time - the Iranian hostages going free weeks later, then President Reagan and Pope John Paul II being shot early in 1981.
Yes, John Lennon was an activist for peace - and he dared people to "Imagine" idyllic things in his songs. But remember: while he lived, the four Beatles never came back together for a reunion.
Humans often seem quite incapable of making peace. That's why I'm looking for a "higher authority" to bring it someday. I'll let you guess Whom I mean....
COMING SOON: E-mail about.... dog meat?!....
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REVISION 1....