2 JUL 06: WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?

The field now appears set for the Columbus city election in November -- and it has only two candidates for Mayor. This shows how our city is different from Atlanta. In Atlanta, at least one college student would run as a political science project.

Regular blog readers know we've received plenty of e-mails in the last couple of years critical of Columbus Council, and calling for candidates who support public safety. Yet when Friday's qualifying deadline passed, two incumbent Councilors stood unopposed. These e-mailers may have about as much clout as the callers on WRCG's "TalkLine."

Wayne Anthony turned down suggestions that he run for mayor - and now he's unopposed for another term on Columbus Council. Are there any banks which offer four-year certificates of deposits, for his campaign donations?

What makes this lack of opposition interesting is that Wayne Anthony has an "at-large" Columbus Council seat. Anyone in the city could have run against him - but not even "IsOurCitySafe" writer Brent Rollins filed for the job. Perhaps he's too busy finding new internal police records to send us.

The other Columbus Councilor who will be unopposed in November is Mimi Woodson. Make enough shopping trips to Brito's and Millie's Markets, and you keep potential challengers at bay....

It appeared Councilor Julius Hunter also would be unopposed for another term, but he received a challenger Friday from William Wright. I suppose the challenger has a chance to win District 3 - if he runs attack ads calling the race a choice between Wright and Wrong.

Two other Council races shape up to be quite competitive. In fact, Nathan Suber in District 1 has several challengers for the first time in a long while. I can't wait to see how many of them received donations from Doug Kellett, to enter the race.

(Your office pool can start now, about which candidate in District 1 will be first to bring up the arrest of Nathan Suber's daughter....)

It's probably not surprising that several people are running in District 5, the seat of the retiring Jack Rodgers. One last-minute entry was church pastor Prather Powell. He could turn that race negative, simply by saying his opponents are sinners.

The same "Street Committee" at The Courier which we took to task Saturday claims school board Fife Whiteside resisted suggestions to run for Columbus Council. Assuming the committee is right this time, this is quite a missed opportunity. All Whiteside had to do was change his old signs to say "Fife for District Five."

The Mary Sue Polleys era officially will end on the Muscogee County School Board. She did NOT pull a repeat of four years ago, by changing her mind at the last minute and running again. Apparently she'll be too busy tracking down her husband, who's off climbing hiking trials. [True!]

Cathy Williams of "NeighborWorks Columbus" will be challenged for the at-large School Board seat by Rickey Davis. The Ledger-Enquirer endorsed the then-Cathy Vaughan over Mary Sue Polleys four years ago - so she may be rooting for the newspaper to endorse Davis now

Now for some other items from a long holiday weekend - and we hope our Canadian readers (we know of at least one) had a nice Canada Day:

+ The Chattahoochee County Sheriff went to court, demanding the county commission provide him more money. He says commissioners took necessary funds from his office to start a new Cusseta-Chattahoochee County police department. That'll teach his staff not to have ticket quotas....

+ A new law took effect in Georgia, setting a minimum age for marriage of 16. The pool of possible guests for The Maury Povich Show just dropped about five percent.

+ Officials in Alabama, Florida and Georgia announced an interim agreement to share water from regional lakes and rivers. There's no word yet about which two days a week are set aside for Georgia residents to open their taps.

+ Former Auburn running back Carnell "Cadillac" Williams appeared in Columbus, signing autographs at a Nextel store. Huh?! Doesn't Bill Heard Cadillac want anything to do with him? Williams is probably much more respected than Phil Carter with those loud jackets.

+ Auburn High School hosted a celebrity basketball game with several pro football players. WRBL showed Terrell Owens making a slam-dunk -- but then for some odd reason, he didn't pull out a Sharpie pen and sign the ball.

+ Former Georgia Tech men's basketball coach Bobby Cremins told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he's becoming the head coach at College of Charleston. So will Tech change the name of "Cremins Court?" Will Paul Hewitt be fired, so it can be named after him?

+ Instant Message to Skipper's Seafood on Buena Vista Road: Are you kidding - you're selling frog leg baskets?! Did someone there lose a bet, when France beat Brazil in the World Cup?

COMING THIS WEEK: We finally make that "Famous Pumpkin Pie"....

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