10 JUN 07: NO ROOM AT THE INNS

The price posted outside left me stunned, as I drove down Victory Drive -- $53.99! Now before you have a heart attack, the price of gasoline did NOT jump over the weekend....

That price of $53.99 was posted Friday afternoon outside a place I never wound have expected - the Motel 6. Only a few dollars more, and this place might as well change its name to Motel 60.

Whatever happened to Motel 6 claiming to have the "lowest price of any national chain?" That's what Tom Bodette used to say on radio. Maybe the light they're leaving on for you nowadays is one of those expensive energy-saving kinds.

Motel 6 may have jacked up its prices this weekend because there are a lot of events in the Columbus area. The biggest one gets underway at sunrise, as the Bike Ride Across Georgia starts at the Civic Center. Hopefully everyone has been told NOT to sound their bells and air-horns at once - because some people across the street at the Booker T. Washington Apartments might retaliate.

About 2,000 cyclists will travel from Columbus to Savannah over the next week, during the Bike Ride Across Georgia. As if this trip takes seven days?! Once you head east of Albany on Highway 520, there are hardly any hills to.... oh wait, I forgot. Lingering smoke from the wildfires could get in everyone's lungs.

Some cyclists brought travel trailers and motor homes to Columbus, and spent Saturday night in the Civic Center parking lot. That beat paying a high price at Motel 6. But I hope all those noisy Fort Benning soldiers at the Columbus Catfish game didn't cost the cyclists any sleep, and make them crash on post.

(I live close enough to Golden Park that I could hear the soldiers yelling during the Catfish 4-1 loss to Charleston. In fact, there were a few times when I couldn't make out what they were yelling - so they actually seemed to be watching the game.)

Another big event in Columbus is the Senior State tennis championships, which continue through Monday at the Cooper Creek tennis center. It's nice to see older people outside exercising - but for some strange reason, Maria Sharapova keeps getting the endorsement deals.

(They play on clay courts at Cooper Creek Park, you know. So after some hard matches, these older tennis players might be clay-achin'.)

Then there's a regional youth soccer tournament, which is wrapping up at the Woodruff Farm complex. This tournament actually has lasted two weekends - which still makes the National Basketball Association finals seem tame.

Put all these activities together, and Columbus motels probably are filled and active this weekend. But $53.99 for a room at Motel 6 doesn't seem quite right. In fact, it smells like price-gouging - especially considering the S.O.A. Watch protesters in November probably get better rates than that.

It's good to have all sorts of events coming to the Columbus area. But it's NOT good when motels take advantage of the situation, to jack up prices. If tourists and visitors want that sort of treatment, they'll go to New York -- or maybe to Auburn on football weekends.

If you're heading toward Columbus and want to avoid price hikes like this, there's at least one hotel where rooms may have opened suddenly this weekend. I'm assuming a few customers walked out of the Hilton Garden Inn, to protest the Paris Hilton fiasco....

E-MAIL UPDATE: We've been meaning to mention this, but we'll defer to a reader....

I heard on Channel 9 that Mitch Baria was locked up on charges today. They also said he had some charges (new ?) in Mississippi. I'm going to call Ch. 9 tomorrow, as well as the Police Dept. Hope they don't lynch him until I get my money back....

Jim Kimbrough

In fact, Mitchell Baria of Liftech was arrested by Columbus police on charges relating to home repair fraud. Maybe commercial spokesman Scott Whaley will hock that impressive-looking baseball ring, to bail him out.

But hold on here: Mitch Baria being lynched?! This case doesn't seem big enough for The Big Eddy Club - unless Liftech did some work in Green Island Hills....

Here's one more message about questionable repair work:

Came back in today from Waverly Hall on the [Manchester] expressway...The paving company has started to grind up the asphalt that they just put down...what a dusty mess..

This was a big issue in late April, when many drivers thought crews had left a repaving job on Manchester Expressway near Miller Road unfinished. At least the workers are back now - and critics ought to be happy that they're sweating a lot more.

A little rain fell along Manchester Expressway Saturday, to calm down the dust. Here's what else we've noticed from the last couple of days:

+ Columbus city officials had a meeting, on how to prepare for a possible natural disaster. For instance, if Paris Hilton ever gets arrested inside the city limits....

+ WRBL reported three of the "To Catch a Predator" suspects want their trial moved out of Harris County, because of all the media publicity. Someone should tell these suspects NBC-38 doesn't have that many viewers, unless Oprah Winfrey's on.

+ The Phenix City Amphitheater had a good crowd for a concert by 1960's pop star Gary Puckett. Puckett made a wise move for a concert in Alabama - and didn't bring his old band, the Union Gap.

(I jogged by the Amphitheater during the Gary Puckett concert, and counted about a dozen people standing outside the fences watching the show. Not even Puckett singing "Lady Willpower" was enough to convict them to buy a ticket.)

+ The NAACP announced its Atlanta regional office will close. The organization's budget is so tight that Georgia state president Ed DuBose might raise extra money by putting one of his suits up for auction.

+ Governor Sonny Perdue asked all Georgians to pray for rain on Monday. Governor Joe Frank Harris made the same request about 20 years ago, and it worked -- which must have stunned some Baptists, because he was a Democrat.

+ Columbus High School catcher Chase Weems was drafted in the sixth round by the New York Yankees. He should consider this carefully - because New York already has a bank named after him, ready for an endorsement deal.

+ The Jack Cook Classic Little League tournament had a team advance to the "Coach Pitch" finals named the Muckdogs. How many players have parents employed by Columbus Water Works?!

+ Instant Message to the pickup truck driver who was second in line at a red light on Weems Road, then suddenly decided to turn around in the middle of the street: Of course I let you come out of the grass and go ahead of me. Who knows what you would have done, once you discovered I drive at the speed limit?

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