8 MAY 06: A LIGHT DISCUSSION
Sometimes people in Columbus can find all sorts of things to fight about. The latest battleground may be light bulbs. Who should be lit? Who should not? And were too many people "lit up" at The Fire House club?
Did you hear what one parent said the other night, about possible cuts in the Columbus Parks Department budget? The parent argued a fall youth baseball season should have lights, while the Riverwalk's lights should be turned off. This parent must have never lived near Wrigley Field in Chicago.
The Parks Department faces big cuts in the proposed Columbus city budget, and officials say one way to save money is to drop fall youth baseball with night games. Playing games during the day apparently is out of the question during fall -- even though countless college football teams have done it for decades.
But it was the parent's comment of comparison which caught my attention. For one thing, it assumes nobody uses the Riverwalk after dark. Oh yes, some people do -- and they are NOT all thieves lurking behind trees and bushes.
It surprises some people when I talk about jogging on the Riverwalk after dark. In fact, for years I've done my best running at night -- without the sun in my face, without the heat of the day, without fashion critics noticing some of my T-shirts have holes in them.
My Saturday night run found several people on the Riverwalk, between South Commons and the Bull Creek bridge. The area isn't merely for exercisers, either....
+ Couples go there for romantic walks. Doing that between Staples and Sears at Columbus Park Crossing isn't quite the same.
+ Men like to fish along the riverbank well after dark. They actually believe WRBL's "Fish and Game Forecast" is accurate.
+ A small group of young men does skateboard tricks. Some day I should quiz them, to see if they've learned the words on all four sides of the Christopher Columbus statue.
But I have some news for the youth baseball parents - parts of the Riverwalk have been lacking lights for some time. A wooden bridge between South Commons and Port Columbus has none at all. Over the weekend, a little boy's blinking sneakers were all I had to go on.
We mentioned here last year that the stairway from Golden Park to the Riverwalk had no working lights [25 Mar 05]. More than a year later, they're still out. Which youth baseball league should get the medical bill, if someone trips and falls?
And at the risk of stepping on some toes, who told the parents they had to have TWO youth baseball seasons? I haven't seen a push to add a second football season - and we have an indoor football team in town through June.
There are parts of this country where young people get along just fine with only one baseball season. And it should be starting in southern Alaska any day now -- perhaps with no lights at all.
I know, I know - without a second youth season, we won't have national title-caliber baseball teams in our area. But do Riverwalk users have to be left in the dark to make this possible? Couldn't some teams be sponsored by Duracell flashlight batteries?
We'll see how this battle of light and darkness turns out - but now let's check items from the Sunday news:
+ The "Opelika-Auburn News" reported the key vote to privatize Opelika's Public Works Department came from a man who received money for his printing business from the company which took over the department. Sometimes Inc. and ink simply get too close together....
+ The Columbus Museum held a family fun day, in which people learned how to make artwork from glass. Some of those works can be multi-functional. Please make sure you clean the ashtray thoroughly, before baking a pie with it.
+ The Phenix City "Holy Rollerz" hot rod club held a cookout. Organizers say one benefit of a Christian car club is that it removes the "pressure to cuss." Yeow - my father only wanted me to say "uncle" when we wrestled.
+ The son of Columbus State University's golf coach almost won his first PGA title. Trevor Immelman bogeyed the 18th hole at the Wachovia Championship, then lost in a playoff. At Wachovia, the second-place check probably cost Immelman three percent in interest.
+ Instant Message to Macy*s: The sign over the bargain basket said the towel cost $2.99. Your employee at the checkout insisted it really cost $4.99. Was that towel made of petroleum or something?
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