26 NOV 06: CAPTURED AT LAST

If someone hadn't pointed it out, I would have missed the most interesting news item of Thanksgiving weekend. It's news that could break the hearts of single women across Columbus - and if they're reading this: I'm listed in every Columbus phone book....

BLOG EXCLUSIVE: Muscogee County Judge Bobby Peters confirmed to your blog Saturday that he is now married. The wedding actually was announced with an ad in Thursday's newspaper -- but you know how some of those College Republicans can pull funny pranks.

In case you missed this big announcement: go to the middle of the Local News section of Thursday's Ledger-Enquirer. There's a small ad on page nine, showing Judge Bobby Peters and his new bride. Isn't he sneaky - sliding that ad into the Thanksgiving paper, when most readers are looking through dozens of pull-out sections?

Judge Bobby Peters told me the newspaper ad is accurate, and he married Yongmi Kim recently during a Caribbean cruise. We can understand why he had the wedding outside the country. A Columbus wedding would have been the local equivalent of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes - and who knows how many photographers might have hurt each other.

If you're new to Columbus, let's explain: Bobby Peters went from Columbus Council to two terms as Mayor, then was elected Superior Court Judge. And through it all, he built a reputation (true or not) of being a very eligible bachelor. But admittedly, I don't recall ever hearing about him dating a "C-Town Hottie" from The Edge Magazine.

For some people, it became a local spectator sport to figure out whom Bobby Peters was dating. I even took a call on a Saturday night, about Peters being spotted with a woman on his First Avenue front porch. The fact that I was home to take this call made me feel SO inferior....

After he was elected Judge, the Bobby Peters "date watch" diminished quite a bit. In September he told this blog about how he had a very full schedule on the job [15 Sep]. Shame on me - I didn't ask how busy his weekends were.

With very few sightings of Judge Bobby Peters outside the courtroom, the Thanksgiving Day ad announcing his marriage was a big surprise. On a local level, it rivals the marriage of Kenny Chesney and Renee Zellweger - although I certainly hope the local wedding lasts much longer....

"She felt sorry for me," Judge Bobby Peters joked in a short phone call to the blog Saturday. I thought I could hear the former Yongmi Kim laughing in the background. She's taking the married name Kim Peters - which is surprising, because many women want to be a "young me" as long as possible.

"She's a sweet, smart lady," Judge Bobby Peters said of his bride. Yongmi Kim is a professor in the computer science department at Columbus State University. Her specialty is called "bioinformatics" -- which must be a high-tech of having that little talk (ahem) with your children....

Judge Bobby Peters left a message on my answering machine, confirming the newspaper ad. He didn't provide any extra details, except to say Yongmi Kim is "a good catch on my part." And as a one-time attorney, he probably offered her plenty of appeal.

We're still trying to pursue some missing details about the marriage of Bobby and Kim Peters. We don't know if they married at sea, or in some exotic Caribbean location. And we'd like to know how the couple met - although I've never really thought of the C.S.U. Cunningham Center's Carmen Cavezza as a matchmaker.

From a selfish point of view, I'm also hoping to get some dating and "catching" tips from Judge Bobby Peters. With his marriage, the other single men in Columbus all move one step up the ladder - and I'd rather become the "number-one contender" before I'm admitted to Muscogee Manor, not after.

We wish the newlyweds well as they combine furniture, not to mention lives - and move on to other holiday weekend news:

+ A memorial service was held at Shiloh Cemetery for the transplanted remains of Civil War veteran James Nathaniel Overbey. Relatives say he was the man who named the Flat Rock area of Columbus. I'm still trying to find the person who first mispronounced Buena Vista as "BYOO-nah."

(The memorial service for the Confederate Civil War veteran included a three-gun salute by family members. To the victor goes the spoils - like 18 more rounds of gunfire....)

+ Gas pumps reopened at the Dolly Madison bread store on Victory Drive, with a Columbus-low price of $2.05 a gallon. The pumps were closed for weeks, while some kind of underground repair work was done. Maybe there's a hybrid experiment going on here -- with animal fat from the Twinkies being mixed with fuel.

+ The Thanksgiving issue of "Eco Latino" said absolutely nothing about the S.O.A. Watch protest. Why not?! Don't Hispanic readers care about human rights abuses in Latin America? Or is it because absolutely no Hispanic residents on the south side of Columbus joined in the protest?

+ The Budweiser Clydesdale touring horses made an appearance at the Peach Bowl lanes in Columbus. When you show up late for the Steeplechase, you take your fun any way you can find it....

+ Georgia beat Georgia Tech in college football 15-12. Tech quarterback Reggie Ball lost to the Bulldogs for the fourth year in a row - and after that many misses, Ball's four means he must take a walk.

(Georgia Tech goes on to face Wake Forest next Saturday for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship. Why do I have a feeling the Bowl Championship Series people want Boise State to show up in Jacksonville, and challenge the combined teams to a game?)

+ Legendary quarterback Archie Manning suggested Auburn's Tommy Tuberville as a candidate to become head coach at the University of Miami. Manning noted on CBS's "College Football Today" Tuberville coached in Miami for eight years. Somewhere Bobby Lowder and David Housel said, "NOW we learn this! We went to the wrong city!"

+ The Columbus Cottonmouths flipped Florida 5-1, on "Northern Little League Night" at the Civic Center. OK, it's been three months now. Is there anyplace left in Columbus which has NOT honored the Little League champions? Hurry up, or you're going to have to wait for the five-year reunion -- at much higher rates.

+ Instant Message to WURY-FM "Radio 74:" Thank you for coming to your senses late Saturday night. Just because department stores are playing non-stop Christmas music did NOT mean you had to do it, too. Let WGSY "Sunny 100" take all the heat for awhile....

COMING MONDAY: More weekend wedding news.... although this item admittedly doesn't have a famous name....

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