28 APR 06: HEY, JIM-BOB

Isn't that a nice Southern name, Jim-Bob? It's so nice, we can name the race for Columbus Mayor that way....

Former Columbus Police Chief Jim Wetherington stopped the (alleged) rumors Thursday, by announcing he'll challenge Mayor Bob Poydasheff. Hundreds of people cheered him on outside the Government Center -- so I guess the Wetherington was nice and sunny.

Former Georgia Corrections Commissioner Jim Wetherington says he only decided to run for mayor in the last 30 days. He technically doesn't have to file his campaign papers until June 30 - so does this mean his campaign is on probation now?

Jim Wetherington promises he will not be a "one-dimensional" candidate, but show concern for "all aspects" of the city beyond public safety. So there will be more police officers patrolling parks, more officers watching prisoners pick up trash - and maybe even a police show on the government TV channel.

The challenger for mayor admits he doesn't have a campaign platform yet, but he hopes to have one in a few weeks. Jim Wetherington may have summed it up with the words: "I'll be different." If he proposes holding Council meetings in Spanish, look out....

Jim Wetherington says he plans to run a "positive campaign, on the issues." That sounds familiar. So who's in charge of the group "Veterans for Truth About Poydasheff?"

Yet when Jim Wetherington was asked about the proposed city budget giving public safety workers a nice raise, he said it's "a little bit strange that this came about all of a sudden." That's a nice down-home way of saying, "election year payoffs."

Jim Wetherington says he'll spend the weeks ahead knocking on doors, and talking with prospective voters. Hopefully he'll understand if some residents demand the former police chief get a search warrant first.

Campaign finance reports will reveal who's backing Jim Wetherington in his campaign for mayor. But I'm told one of his backers is former Muscogee County Democratic Chair Frank Myers. The way this election year is going, this could mean Andrew Young will appear in Wetherington's commercials.

In response to Thursday's announcement, Current Champion Mayor Bob Poydasheff said he'll run on his "transparent record." That's transparent as in tape - as in what will hold up vital city projects, if you don't approve his sales tax plan.

Mayor Poydasheff promises he'll not run against the record of Jim Wetherington. As he told WRBL: "I run on me." I do that sometimes, too - when I stumble over a curb while jogging and trip.

As for the possible big issue in the city election, Bob Poydasheff declared no mayor and council have cared more about public safety than the current one. He can prove that today, when he announces the proposed city budget - by having Police Chief Boren alongside, and giving him a big hug.

The evening news noted only one Columbus mayor has won re-election since consolidation - and in that case, Bobby Peters was unopposed in 1998. Maybe if Bob Poydasheff changed his hair color a bit....

By the way, did you notice Mayor Poydasheff's wife was honored Thursday night? She was named a "woman of achievement" by the local Girl Scout council, only three days after the mayor had a street named after him. I won't be surprised if they wind up buying naming rights to the Civic Center.

BLOG UPDATE: Doug Kellett answered our questions Thursday, about his pending return to WRCG radio. He informed us via e-mail he'll do his new afternoon show from Columbus "on occasion." Anything to avoid encountering upset city officials, I guess....

Doug Kellett explained he'll do his new afternoon talk show from his "home studio near Atlanta." So he'll be like another WRCG talk show host -- a Neal Boortz, only without a pilot's license.

Doug Kellett tells your blog he's excited about returning to the air on WRCG. He says he still has a lot of friends in Columbus, and a bond with listeners "seems to still be strong." Is that really surprising? When was the last time a local Republican switched to the Democrats?

In fact, Doug Kellett hopes to host talk shows on radio stations in several cities from his home studio - but have "local" themes to all of them. So he could be on WRCG for three hours, then be on Dallas radio for three hours and Denver radio for two more. Wow - this man truly CANNOT shut up, can he?

Doug Kellett also reminded us that during his tenure on "TalkLine" years ago, he scored two victories against potential local tax increases. One would have ended the Columbus property tax freeze, while the other was a proposed school property tax increase. Those happened before B.C.E. - the Burkard Columbus Era.

Someone dared to claim Thursday Doug Kellett is this blogger's "buddy." Well, not really. I don't think we've ever met face-to-face. But I recall Kellett and Bobby Peters forming the Columbus version of a singles "rat pack" years ago - so
maybe I'm a wanna-be.

(But come to think of it, if Kellett is going to do two or three radio talk shows every day from his home, maybe he STILL doesn't have much of a love life.)

E-MAIL UPDATE: Readers want to talk about all sorts of topics today. We start with the police shortage -- the East Alabama one:

Lee County may say they are short 2 Officers, but, you cannot tell that to the people that live in the true county parts..

When your neighbor comes to ya shaking their head after having a conversation with a County Deputy , ya wonder what is wrong - the neighbor lets me in on what is wrong with a reply "I asked the off icier about some patrolling in our neighborhood" and the response back was "Well, I guess we can start some patrols their,,-- the neighbor asked the Officer "why did you stop" and the reply was just a shrug on the shoulders and the Officer says "I have to run"

This county is popping at the seams with 4 wheelers every where and no way of tracking them,,unbelievable amount of vehicles with car lot tags on them...and by no means of having enough Law enforcement needed for the area...I figure someone is going to use the new law on defending themselves a little more than needed and usually hurting the ones that are only taking matters into their owns hands..

Thanks for the warning! If I see a four-wheel-drive vehicle in Lee County with a paper tag, I plan to stay at least 100 feet away from it.

Next up: a Columbus murder trial which ended Wednesday. Bosnia-Herzegovina immigrant Ekrem Jakupovic was found guilty of murdering a co-worker, during the construction of the hhGregg store at Columbus Park Crossing:

In no way do I condone murder and what the families are going through is awful. Nobody has the right to kill, at the same time nobody has the right to beat someone with boards which could kill as well. I have to admit from the news reports I've heard, it was proven that the man from Bosnia was surrounded by the victim and his coworkers and beaten with boards. That sounds like a self defense situation to me. The Bosnian brought the gun but are we allowed to possess guns in this country for our own protection only if we don't use them? (By the way I support Gun Control.)

It is very common for contractors to carry a handgun to job sites to protect themselves from robbery and this type of situation. If he hadn't carried the gun he may have been beaten to death. Judge Peters chastised the convicted man and said he should have just moved the lumber to start with and none of this would have happened. "Going to lunch and leaving the materials on the roof launched a deadly sequence," Peters said.

Maybe the mexican crew launched this event by destroying his property and hitting him with 8 foot boards. Maybe those people should bear responsibility for their actions too. If any of those jurors or the judge had been faced with a half dozen men hitting them with boards, I wonder what they would have done? Set their gun down and try to outrun ALL of them? This verdict sends the wrong message.

Admittedly, I didn't follow this case much -- but several thoughts come to mind. For one thing, this killing happened on September 11, 2004. You'd think these immigrants would have enough respect not to launch their own September 11
attacks.

(Imagine if that young man in the hhGregg commercials had been on the scene that day. The angry workers might have turned on him, because of all those lame jokes he tells.)

By the way: I didn't realize contractors felt endangered enough at construction sites to carry their own weapons with them. Don't these muscle-bound guys realize their fists probably are enough?

(And as for the work crew, no matter what its ethnic background is -- one death and one injury indicated some people were punished for their actions. In pro hockey, boarding usually gets you only two minutes in a penalty box.)

Keep something in mind about Judge Bobby Peters: He was the Columbus mayor who was invited to Washington for promoting a gun buyback program. His view seemed to be that fewer weapons on the streets are better for everyone -- but sometimes, even angry criminal minds can be creative.

Our last message today is from WRBL meteorologist Darren Stack, who was mentioned briefly here Thursday:

While I appreciate the "Shout Out" on your blog, your facts are incorrect so let me do my best to clear things up.

First and most important with rain well off to our west and nothing close to our area I NEVER mentioned that it would rain by 9 am. I DID say that it was only 7:45 and that there was a chance for a few showers and thunderstorms for the late morning and a better chance in the afternoon. Wow! How about that! My forecast verified! I suggest both Robby Watson and Antonio Carter actually listen to my forecast instead of waiting for their turn to talk, then writing you an e-mail with false information. I would figure that both of them would understand that when I do my forecast it is not just for Columbus, Antonio Carter, or Robbie Watson. There are over 20 counties between Georgia and Alabama that we forecast for.

I'd also like to correct you on your most unprofessional "short" stack comment. I am well aware that you work at WTVM and if you take a few minutes to observe those around you, you will notice that most of the men on the news staff are around 5'9" to 5'10". You are therefore calling everyone that is in this range short as well, which I am sure Chuck, Sean, Andrew, and Jon would truly appreciate. I am 5'9" and even on national standards I am considered of average height.

Uhhhh, welllll - I really DO appreciate a meteorologist who tries to "clear things up." Especially so the weekend is sunny....

The claim that Columbus would have rain Wednesday by 9:00 a.m. actually came during the first ten minutes of "News 3 This Morning" at 6:00 a.m. These days, my clock radio awakens me to the WRBL news on WRCG - while minutes later, another TV station's news seems to be on WDAK.

(And no, the "TalkLine" hosts did NOT e-mail me with false information - unless Robbie Watson was incorrect about Jim Wetherington moving to the Wynnbrook church school. No newscast mentioned that Thursday. So some anonymous church member could be mailing weird stories about that soon.)

A "most unprofessional" comment? Here?! This assumes I'm a "professional" blogger - and at least in sports, you aren't a professional unless you're paid money to do it....

I'm (ahem) led to believe Darren Stack was not pleased with the nickname "Short." But he's the breakfast time meteorologist, isn't he? Don't they serve short stacks of pancakes at Ruth Ann's Restaurant?

(He apparently hasn't seen some of the other breakfast nicknames we've used here - such as Fourth Street Baptist Church Pastor J.H. "Frosted" Flakes.)

I'll confess, I have NOT measured the height of TV journalists in Columbus. But some people DO notice these things. I actually took a call shortly after moving here from a woman who claimed every news anchor at a station was left-handed. She still may not realize it's the right hand, when you look from the opposite direction.

Confession #2: MY height is about five-foot-nine. Again I thank the convenience stores which have put measurement scales by the front doors, so I can check for signs for osteoporosis.

Being five-foot-nine does make me short, compared to a wide range of other people. One of my first crushes in high school was for a girl who was six-foot-one. My last dream of serious romance was with a TV reporter who stood about six
feet tall. Sadly, sometimes little things DO mean a lot....

So I hereby apologize, if Darren Stack was steamed by one of Thursday's jokes. Since a source close to Stack has confirmed to the blog he IS five-foot-nine, we will no longer use the nickname "Short." We might switch it instead to "Smoke."

Is today's entry long enough for you? If it's not, read on -- because we haven't finished our Thursday news summary:

+ The Russell County School Board finally issued a written response to those complaining parents. If it took two days, was this made some class's writing project?

(The statement from the school board says last week's arrests of five educators showed members the need to "reexamine our policies and procedures." The spelling word here is S-U-S-P-E-N-S-I-O-N.)

+ A search committee was formed, to find a new Auburn University President. Your office pool probably can start now, for whether the new one will last longer than the current "interim" one.

+ Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller visited Columbus, to examine homes built under the "NeighborWorks" program. I somehow suspect he's visited Columbus before - using one of those paper tags Lee County has in such abundance....

+ Ground was broken in Smiths Station for the city's first subdivision with complete sewer lines. So which is it -- Lafaye Dellinger Avenue, Court or Drive?

+ An evening jog through the "Riverfest zone" found plenty of preparations underway for this weekend's big bash. I counted 11 port-a-johns lined up outside the Space Science Center. Hmmm - 11?! Is there some weird contest planned, involving high school football teams?

(Early-birds touring Riverfest may have found a building at 100 Seventh Street, with signs promoting a "Fine Arts Exhibition." If the fine arts are there, what is everyone else at Riverfest going to sell -- cheap trash?)

+ The owner of the Montgomery Maulers indoor football franchise released every player on the team -- yes, he fired the team! Those Chattahoochee Valley Vipers had better not miss any more appearances at grade schools....

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