26 APR 06: THE SEVEN-MILLION DOLLAR MEN

(AND WOMEN)

The official proposal will come out Friday, but Columbus city leaders dropped notable hints Tuesday about the fiscal 2007 budget. For one thing, every city employee would get a raise -- and those who are the most upbeat about it might get their own streets.

City Manager Isaiah Hugley revealed the proposed budget would provide $7.2 million in pay raises for city workers. The percentage would depend on "longevity" - and hopefully the tallest employees will not feel like this gives them an advantage.

New Columbus city employees would receive a 2.5 percent raise. Those with more longevity in city government would receive five percent more. So City Manager Isaiah Hugley may finally get that big raise he wanted last year - by tying a bungee cord to the entire staff.

But what about the group of city workers which always seems to come up first in these discussions? City Manager Isaiah Hugley said under the proposed budget, entry-level police officers and firefighters would be paid exactly $28,528. We'll find out Friday if they have to drive their own cars to emergencies.

Fraternal Order of Police President Randy Robertson didn't have an immediate response to the City Manager's number-dropping. He promised to study the proposal closely. Do you think he'll be ready to give an answer Thursday afternoon - standing alongside Jim Wetherington?

The speculation around Columbus is that the proposed city budget will have fewer city layoffs than some feared months ago. And that's a good thing, since some of the Kia jobs in West Point may go instead to corporate attorneys in South Korea.

WRCG Radio revealed Mayor Bob Poydasheff's unveiling of the city budget proposal will be made LIVE Friday morning, on the Columbus City Government cable channel. How long the presentation remains live may depend on how much money is allocated for that channel....

BLOG EXCLUSIVE: At our deadline, your blog learned a web site with Jim Wetherington's name was reserved on the Internet Tuesday. The site says only that it's "owned by Columbus Web products." If that turns out to be a member of Bob Poydasheff's family, would that qualify as a dirty trick?

E-MAIL UPDATE: It didn't take long for "IsOurCitySafe" to respond to the speculation about one mayoral candidate, and a street naming for another. We combine two messages here:

Mayor Bob is going to get his butt kicked in the election by a man who can get this city back on track where it needs to be.

Wetherington mulls bid for mayor....

Congratulations are in order for Mayor Bob Poydasheff. He recently had a court named after him.

Poydasheff Court. How fitting. A dead end street for a man who is driving this city into a dead end.

Thanks,

Brent Rollins

Now hold on a minute! Jim Wetherington's currently the headmaster at Calvary Christian School. Would he kick Mayor Poydasheff - or wait until the mayor slaps him on both cheeks first?

(Come to think of it, that could be one of Bob Poydasheff's debating points - that Jim Wetherington cares more about private education than Muscogee County's public schools. But then again, Mayor Poydasheff wasn't happy when the school board approved that split sales tax idea first.)

Brent Rollins attached to the first message an article from last Saturday's Ledger-Enquirer, where Jim Wetherington first dropped his hint about POSSIBLY running for mayor. But what if he decides NOT to run? Thursday's trip to the Government Center steps might be merely to promote outdoor exercise.

As for getting the city "back on track," I wonder if Brent saw the Tuesday evening news. It reported Auburn currently has a shortage of four police officers. Opelika has six openings, the Lee County Sheriff's Department two - and have those roaming gangs conquered the Hurtsboro police yet?

The news report pointed out most U.S. cities have police staffing problems these days. Yet the crime rate nationwide hasn't really jumped in recent years -- so this is one time when a government cover-up of statistics actually might be a good thing.

I haven't driven down Forrest Road to that new subdivision lately, but will Poydasheff Court really be a dead end road? Or will it be a cul-de-sac -- which could still remind you of city government, by making you go around and around in circles?

We've also heard from "Wunderdog," whose new blog was our focus on Monday:

Evenin'

Nice mention

Read about being absent for a while,, well, hands have had a hard work out for about a week,,, yard work and a long, long wooden privacy fence has the hands in a heelin' mode

Thanks again

Thank YOU for the explanation. It's hard to believe someone living around Smiths Station would need a privacy fence. And new soldiers transferring to our area might jump it for combat training, anyway.

There might be a way to keep blogging even while your hands are healing. Have you seen the "you talk, it types" software in stores? I've often wondered how accurately it works - and whether it would show me living in a "column bus."

BLOG UPDATE: A big crowd gathered in Russell County Tuesday night to raise a fuss, and demand something big be accomplished quickly. And after the high school baseball team won its playoff game, the crowd showed up late for the school board meeting....

Several parents asked the Russell County School Board why nothing had been done about the four teachers and one principal arrested last week. Board members seemed to avoid the obvious answer - that at least their school district didn't have any wild rumors last week about gang fights.

Russell County School Board members had no comment on the parents's complaints. Instead, they had a two-hour closed-door "executive session" -- but the parents stuck around, so the board couldn't come out to an empty room and give
the suspects a vote of confidence.

Russell County Superintendent Rebecca Lee said the concerns of the parents would be addressed - through a news release from the school district's attorney. So when did former FEMA Director Michael Brown start advising this board?

And to make matters worse, attorney Sydney Smith didn't have the news release ready yet. It might be released today, we're told -- and hopefully that typist will be treated well, on this Administrative Professionals' Day.

Sydney Smith explained to WRBL that while Russell County School Board members are concerned about last week's five arrests, even the suspected educators have rights. That argument doesn't seem to work for middle school students, when the drug dogs show up....

As for the baseball game: Russell County shut out Oxford 8-0 in the first round of the Alabama high school playoffs. And earlier in the day, Cory Rasmus and his dad/coach were named to play in an all-American game in June. Will all teachers please stay off their hands, until this happens?

Now a quick check of other business from an active Tuesday:

+ Russell County Commissioner Cattie Epps told WRBL someone has been doing criminal background checks on commissioners, using a national database. County Attorney Kenneth Funderburk seemed to confirm it - but who tipped Epps off to it? Does she have friends on Cynthia McKinney's staff or something?

+ Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue appeared on GPB's "Georgia Weekly" and declared: "Campaigns are about facts. They're about trusting me as their governor...." That's your problem, Governor. Old-line south Georgians trusted you to have a vote on the old state flag - and the fact is, you didn't.

+ The CB&T branch on Forrest Road was robbed, and a bank surveillance camera indicated a woman did it. Once again, we see why the Equal Rights Amendment never was necessary....

+ METRA Assistant Director Saundra Hunter told WXTX "News at Ten" ridership has NOT increased much, as gas prices have gone up. I wonder if it's because most people don't know the bus routes - and they're afraid they might wind up at a public housing complex.

+ A meeting at the Fort Mitchell Community Center organized Christians to mark the first "Ten Commandments Day." It'll be Saturday, May 6 - a day I suspect was chosen so believers won't be tempted to follow those gamblers at the Kentucky Derby.

+ Instant Message to the driver who passed me on Veterans Parkway with a "KEEP ALL TEN COMMANDMENTS" bumper sticker on his car: What sort of Christian example do you think you're.... oh wait, I forgot. Speeding isn't one of the commandments.

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