5 OCT 06: WHO GOTS DA SHOTS?

OK, OK - before you English teachers e-mail me, I know the grammar in that title isn't correct. Let's just say I was inspired by a man who passed me at a strip mall Wednesday night, practicing his rapping out loud....

The shots we're talking about are flu shots - and strangely, the people whom you would expect to have them in Columbus don't have them right now. The evening news reported Wednesday the Columbus Health Department may not have vaccine for three more weeks. It's almost enough to make you wish this heat wave kept going, and we all turned our air conditioners back on.

Columbus doctors apparently don't have flu vaccine yet, either. But they probably don't mind. Patients probably are bombarding them with all sorts of questions about the prescription drugs advertised on TV - the ones with the higher commissions.

There's some reason to be concerned about the flu already. Health officials have confirmed at least 11 cases in Ozark, Alabama, about two hours away from Columbus -- and there could be dozens more. If only Lake Eufaula had some mineral spas, to act as a buffer....

So who HAS the shots right now? (There, it's correct this time.) Believe it or not, Winn-Dixie supermarkets do -- with hundreds of doses of flu vaccine. Considering this company is still in bankruptcy protection, the government may have decided to put the poverty cases first.

Wednesday was opening day of flu shot season at Winn-Dixie stores in Columbus. The first store to offer them was the one on South Lumpkin Road. So take that, you northsiders! Go to the Kohl's grand opening today - and be afraid of breathing the air of other crowded shoppers....

People lined up at the South Lumpkin Road Winn-Dixie for flu shots - but one woman said it was a breeze compared with 2004. She said back then, she had to wait three hours at Eckerd Drugs. And that's remarkable, considering how few people have been shopping recently at Eckerd Drugs.

Most of the people receiving flu shots Wednesday were older. Some Medicare recipients can get vaccinated at Winn-Dixie for no charge - so a vaccine in early October is the medical version of the "early bird special."

I've shopped at the Winn-Dixie on South Lumpkin Road many times - and it was interesting to see the flu shots being provided next to the bakery section. They wouldn't dare have those needles out on the other side of the store, near the meat cases....

But as someone pointed out to me Wednesday, isn't it strange that Winn-Dixie has flu vaccine before the Columbus Health Department does? I suppose we could call this a victory for private enterprise over big government - but we don't know yet if the Health Department will beat the supermarket's $23 price for a shot.

E-MAIL UPDATE: If it wasn't for your messages, the pickings would be slim today. We start with a follow-up to Wednesday's writer with the missing debit card:

You asked why the cashier at Wal Mart didn't ask for ID..detective said they probably knew 17 yr old who took card..there were multiple transactions in WM in Cols and Phenix City with only minutes between them..seems they all lined up and passed the card back to the next shopper...total now over $2000..total from refused transactions were also recorded at bank and adds to the total leading to a felony...one place that refused to accept card without ID was Sneakers..hats off to them...they sure filled up numerous cars with gas at Circle K,where ever that is...hats off to CB&T for calling when purchases looked strange...did I say it is on video at wal Mart and the sub shop..I wonder why the thief has not been back to work ,even to pick up pay check, guess she thinks she as been caught...BINGO

Hmmmm - so the next time someone speeds past me on the J.R. Allen Parkway, it might not be road rage. It might be a criminal's freedom clock ticking.

So people were passing a stolen debit card back and forth at a Wal-Mart? It certainly gives a whole new meaning to a "criminal line-up."

(These meanies should know better than to pass the same debit card back and forth. I mean, all those laterals didn't help the New York Jets beat Indianapolis in the final seconds last Sunday.)

I would join this e-mailer in saying "hats off" to Sneakers on Macon Road -- but if the name is Sneakers, don't they sell shoes instead of hats?

As for "wherever" Circle K is -- that's apparently now what Columbus Spectrum stations are called, even if the signs haven't changed. I've heard police refer to them that way. And no Columbus Councilors have a K in their initials, to make it some sort of inside joke.

Speaking of police, this e-mail came as well Wednesday:

In light of all of the recent school shootings, I would like to be the first to volunteer to be trained on how to respond to school shootings where there is an "active shooter." This has been a proven technique in many recent school shootings across the country. The old technique of securing a perimeter and waiting for SWAT is an ineffective plan as Columbine showed. I do not want to stand by and watch children being killed so I volunteer to be trained.

Concerned citizen that currently does not have any children in school.

Brent Rollins

I'm not completely familiar with what Brent is describing - but I don't think this approach is used very often. Detective Horatio Crane only does it about once a year, on "CSI: Miami."

Our last e-mail takes us back to the curb in Smiths Station:

envy with green

Why is it that something like the curb service has neighbors angry at one another.

Could it be the cost: let's see, 19 dollars a month plus the cost for set up fee 30 dollars, (Beginning October 1, 2006 payments for services will due on a quarterly basis, paid in advance ) that would be 30 plus 57 is 87 dollars at one time, - to some - this is an outrage, plus what you are charged for white goods and tree limbs the like...So, it might be around 100 dollars for a 3 month period times 4 Quarters is 400 dollars for a years worth of Curb Service....HhhMmm Where does the money go for the prepaid services yet to be rendered.....An interest bearing account?? Who gets that money????

Other side - you paid 144 dollars a year for you to take your trash and tree limbs and white goods to a dump site in the county, any dump site at any time of the day when you feel in the mood to do it which is about 2 times a week, - let's see - 144 dollars plus fuel - around2 dollars a trip times 104 is 208 - 144 plus 208 is 352 - so -

around 400 a year for you to take your Green wheeled trash can to the curb on certain days for when they do the picking up to around 352 for you to do it when you feel like doing it and as much as your vehicle can just about carry...

48 dollars for the difference....

I say - let the scrabbling begin (g)

Why are the neighbors angry at each other, you ask? It seems obvious to me - they're trash-talking each other.

Are you kidding me, though - Smiths Station is charging residents extra to dispose of "white goods?" Why do racial issues always have to come up in these Southern arguments?

And what do you mean, people are "in the mood" to leave trash at dump sites twice a week? This writer obviously is married, not single -- and his wife could be making trash service more of an issue than he is.

The cost of mandatory curbside trash service in Smiths Station has some people annoyed, and I can understand why. But look on the bright side. The demand for apartments there could be on the verge of exploding.

COMING FRIDAY: Our plans for vacation - both there, and here....

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