11 JAN 06: IT'S SPLITSVILLE

Yes sirree, that bandwagon for a shared sales tax in Columbus is rolling right along. On Tuesday, it nearly careened down the stairs next to the River Club, and crashed into the Chattahoochee....

Much more became clear Tuesday about the proposed "split sales tax" for Columbus. One thing was especially clear - if you're going to start a grassroots movement, some Columbus Council members might prove to be as stubborn as weeds.

Several Columbus Councilors declared they were "blindsided" by the talk of a one-percent sales tax, shared by Muscogee County Schools and the city. They were upset that the proposal was taken to the school board first. So if you start with schools, you haven't done your homework.

City Manager Isaiah Hugley said supporters of the split sales tax didn't even show enough "courtesy" to give him a phone call and talk about it. Remember these words if the tax winds up on the ballot, and Mr. Hugley doesn't call you to explain it....

Councilor Evelyn Turner Pugh complained she received calls about the split sales tax idea, when she knew nothing about it. "I don't like to be embarrassed," she said at a work session. Neither does the Jordan High football team, but they keep playing instead of muttering about their situation.

Evelyn Turner Pugh says all officials affected by the split sales tax proposal should have been brought together at the same time. In fact, there probably was a great chance to do that last week - but from what I've read, some officials arrived at the NAACP banquet late while others left early.

WRBL went to Muscogee County School Board President Mary Sue Polleys, and asked if she would have been upset had Columbus Council been told about the tax proposal without her knowledge. Her answer was no -- but she has a secret advantage. Her husband used to be the city attorney, so he has sources....

But hold on a minute here. Wasn't that Columbus Councilor Wayne Anthony I saw on TV Monday night, when the Muscogee County School Board endorsed the split sales tax? How did he know about it, when other Councilors didn't? Does he actually open his e-mails from citizen groups?

(Based on Council seat numbers, if Evelyn Turner Pugh opposes this idea while Wayne Anthony supports it, you'd have a challenging 4-9 split.)

Beyond the complaints about protocol, several Columbus Councilors expressed doubts about the split sales tax. In fact, Nathan Suber suggested it was a waste of time - and when a politician who's worked to defeat tax increases says that, it's worth taking seriously.

Mayor Pro-Tem Jack Rodgers indicated he's against a split sales tax. And Evelyn Turner Pugh said she'd have a hard time campaigning for a tax increase, after city jobs are cut due to a lack of money. Now now - that hasn't stopped some corporate executives....

So who came up with this idea for a city-school split sales tax? A volunteer group apparently held meetings about it, including former Muscogee County Democratic Chair Frank Myers. Maybe local elected leaders need to stop by his evening "office" -- at restaurants such as El Vaquero.

Frank Myers told the Columbus Council work session the sales tax proposal is the work of "a small group of people, putting something together very fast...." But this IS Columbus - where many times the only things which go very fast are cars on the J.R. Allen Parkway.

But even the mention of the term "split sales tax" brought grumbling Tuesday, from Columbus's number-one political wonk. Paul Olson called WRCG's "TalkLine" and claimed his idea from four to six years ago is being plagiarized. You'd think someone with his knowledge would know about copyright law.

Paul Olson told TalkLine he proposed a city-school shared sales tax when Bobby Peters was Mayor. He says both former Mayor Peters and current Mayor Poydasheff didn't seem to care for it. Olson should be pleased now -- knowing several Columbus Councilors still don't care for it today.

Paul Olson seems to want some kind of credit for this split sales tax proposal - perhaps a news conference where he's declared the creator of it. But really now: does he put labels on the bouquets in his flower shop, naming the people who grow every rose?

But the grumbling about this proposal doesn't stop there. A Phenix City blogger took the Ledger-Enquirer to task for calling it a "one-cent sales tax" -- arguing it's really one PERCENT, because no one will pay simply one penny. Unless, of course, you buy dinner off the fast-food value menus....

So a supposedly bipartisan and unified sales tax proposal already has criticism from Columbus Council, from a frequent critic of Columbus Council, and even from people in east Alabama. The way it's going, this "bandwagon" is going to wind up in an Ellaville demolition derby.

BLOG UPDATE: Tuesday night could have been fight night in Taylor County, over those two war memorial plaques on the courthouse wall. But the county commission worked out a compromise -- so Ed DuBose of the NAACP learned how some Columbus Councilors felt earlier in the day.

Georgia NAACP President Ed DuBose wants the separate plaques for Euro-American and African-American World War II fighters removed from the Taylor County Courthouse. He says such items from the segregation era belong only in museums - perhaps not realizing some old rural courthouses might as well BE museums.

Sybil Willingham of the Taylor County Historical Society raised several objections to Ed DuBose's request to remove the two plaques:

+ Georgia law forbids the altering of any war memorials. So the damaged wall of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Buena Vista Road won't be repaired until someone knocks it down completely.

+ Taylor County has no museum for holding the 1944 plaques. Wouldn't a retirement home be the next best thing?

+ While Willingham admits the two plaques are "abominable," she says they're still historical. That sort of logic didn't get Pete Rose elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame Tuesday....

The Taylor County Commission turned Ed DuBose down, but unanimously voted instead to hang a THIRD plaque on the courthouse wall. It will list all the World War II fighters together, and explain why the other plaques are there. Wasn't this same approach tried for high school proms, too?

The Taylor County compromise doesn't satisfy Ed DuBose. He promises to keep working for the removal of the two 1944 plaques. Perhaps DuBose would get more support he if proposed replacing them with the Ten Commandments.

One Taylor County resident said the other day Ed DuBose really is upset because one of the courthouse plaques has the word "colored" on it. That resident wondered why DuBose doesn't lobby instead to get the name of his group changed - the "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People."

(I personally think this resident misunderstands what Ed DuBose is arguing. Besides, it would sound strange calling his civil rights group the "N Double-A Double-A P.")

THE BIG BLOG QUESTION on the Taylor County controversy concluded Tuesday night -- and 83 percent of you say the World War II memorial plaques should NOT come down (10-2). The next question is obvious: were all of you sitting at separate computers when you voted?

(BLOGGER'S NOTE: We now have a NEW Big Blog Question on the Columbus split sales tax debate.)

With dreams of area unity apparently still somewhat in shambles, let's check other things we found on Tuesday:

+ The Tuesday high temperature in Columbus was 72 degrees F. - warm enough that the lights were on during the evening at Golden Park. But even in a baseball-loving town, the Columbus Catfish STILL couldn't put people in the bleachers....

+ Columbus Council considered rezoning land on Victory Drive for Pastor Ann Hardman's Faith Worship Center International. Hardman wants to move her church out of Ladonia, and open an "impact center." I thought the Vipers of indoor football were planning one of those already.

(This would be the third move for Ann Hardman's church in eight years. She left Columbus after a fire, moved to the old Phenix Cinemas on the 280 Bypass, then went to Ladonia. Hardman takes that Bible verse about "strangers and pilgrims on the earth" a bit too literally.)

+ OfficeMax announced it will close more than 100 stores nationwide at the end of March. No locations were named, but I won't be surprised if the Cross Country Plaza store shuts down. From my experience, I also wouldn't be surprised if most of the staff never notices the "quitting business sale" signs.

+ Former Atlanta relief pitcher Bruce Sutter was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He's reportedly the first baseball player to enter the hall without ever starting a major league game - so backup players for the Kansas City Royals should be inspired by this news.

+ Instant Message to WRBL: Thank you for verifying the closure of the Riverwalk at Rotary Park Tuesday. And thank you for verifying you're getting some of your news story ideas from here. As long as I don't hear my punch lines...

COMING SOON: We visit one of Columbus's newest "wild" spots....

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