2 MAY 06: A DAY OFF, NOT A DAY ON?

Jimmy Johnson won Monday's rain-delayed NASCAR race at Talladega - and did you see how packed the stands were, despite the postponement? I don't think immigrants were the only ones taking a day off from work....

For the first time, Columbus actually had an immigration rally Monday. An estimated 400 people gathered outside the Civic Center - but from what I saw Monday evening, none of them were sleeping in line for the start of Wednesday's "Fiesta Columbus."

The crowd marched with signs and waved flags, along security fencing set up for Fiesta Columbus - and opponents of immigration reform thought to themselves, "If only southern Arizona was set up this way."

There was an element of election-year politics in the rally outside the Civic Center. A "Hispanic liaison" for Georgia Lieutenant Governor Mark Taylor attended - but I didn't notice any campaign signs promoting "El Grande."

Hispanic liaison William Viruet says many immigrants come to this country seeking the American dream - yet he contends government policies are "kicking them in the b**t." This doesn't seem fair, considering so many immigrants came here years ago to kick footballs and soccer balls.

Columbus Councilor and Puerto Rican native Mimi Woodson explained some immigrants have filled out the paperwork to become U.S. citizens, yet have been waiting "seven or eight years." Imagine how the new Fort Benning soldiers are going to feel, when they look for a nice place to live.

It's estimated 1,000 undocumented immigrants live in the Columbus area. If 400 attended Monday's rally, that means most of them stayed away. Were they afraid of U.S. government agents arresting and deporting them - or WHINSEC students reporting them to Latin American leaders, so their relatives would be arrested?

WRBL spotted a few counter-protesters at Monday's rally. One of them was military veteran and Puerto Rican native Moses Maldonado, who said immigrants should apply for U.S. citizenship legally. Of course, he probably has to wear his veteran's hat everywhere to avoid accusations that HE'S illegal.

It's not clear how many businesses in Columbus closed Monday because of the immigration rally. But I know a few immigrants did NOT stay away from work. For instance, the Columbus Catfish sent Miguel Sanfler of the Dominican Republic to the mound Monday night -- but then again, he WAS the losing pitcher.

And as I took a Monday evening jog on the Riverwalk downtown, I passed a crew and truck from "Outdoor Solutions." The workers looked Hispanic, and I tried to ask one about his working on the no-immigrants day. But then again, would you like total strangers coming up to you and demanding proof you're from Georgia?

Was it only coincidence or some grand design, that on the day of the immigrant walkout:

+ It was "Law Day" across the country? Well, I guess the crowd really wants the immigration laws changed....

+ AFLAC held its annual shareholders' meeting at the Columbus Museum? I'm not sure the late Elena Amos would have shown up.

+ GPB presented a documentary on the battle for the Alamo? Talk about a country that hasn't remembered....

+ The Georgia Lottery's Fantasy Five game had the first of five bonus-ball "Fiesta Nights?" They never have a "free at last" ball to mark Martin Luther King Day.

THE BIG BLOG QUESTION on "Poydasheff Court" closed Monday - and we're sorry, Mr. Mayor. In our court, the eight-member jury was unanimous. None of them say you deserve your own street. And the way things are going, the Public Safety Center could be renamed the "Wetherington Building" by Election Day.

Meanwhile, the most stunning political ad so far debuted Monday night on WXTX "News at Ten." It's for Georgia's Republican Governor Sonny Perdue - and has the voice of Democratic ex-Governor Zell Miller! They may have to build a zig-zag-shaped casket, when Miller finally leaves us....

(The ad was stunning for another reason. Sonny Perdue actually has a commercial on television! He didn't need that to win four years ago.)

So we have Andrew Young doing a commercial for Mark Taylor, and Zell Miller doing a commercial for Sonny Perdue. Did the Georgia legislature pass some secret law, requiring candidates for Governor to have puppets?

And who is left to speak for Cathy Cox? Jimmy Carter is available, I suppose - or she might try to convince people that she's related to Atlanta baseball manager Bobby Cox....

Now other bits and pieces from a potentially historic Monday:

+ A big fire erupted at the old Swift Mills on Second Avenue. The complex's current owners were pulling pinewood out of the floor, to resell it. Not even car dealers get this desperate, with their "everything must go to the bare walls" sales.

+ Russell County was placed under an outdoor burning ban, by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management. Those roaming thugs in Hurtsboro have to be upset - because one of their summer projects has to wait until November.

+ The attorney for Dr. Eric Buffong told WRBL if the gynecologist had been tried on rape charges, he would have been acquitted. So why did Mark Shelnutt agree to a plea bargain? This is like Rush Limbaugh telling Republicans to "go for it all and lose," before cutting his own deal.

CORRECTED:+ Newsweek Magazine issued new rankings of the country's top high schools. Auburn High School ranks 77th. Columbus High ranks 554th. And Russell County schools - well, lately they're just rank.

+ Instant Message to WRBL's Darren Stack: OK, you made me curious [28 Apr]. Chuck stands five-foot-nine. Jon's in the lead at six-foot-one. And as for Sean - do you really think Fox News Channel would respond to a question like that?

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