for 23 JUL 07: CHECK MIXED

The weekend "snail mail" brought a letter from the city of Columbus. But don't worry - it was NOT a proposal for me to stop blogging, if I become a paid speech writer for City Manager Isaiah Hugley....

The envelope contained a refund check from the city - and to be honest, it was about time that check arrived. I filed the paperwork for the refund in February or March, and the check didn't reach me until mid-July. I realized the new city finance director was watching money carefully, but this seems like a bit much.

But I should start at the beginning: When I tried to start a sports league last year, I had to pay a city occupation tax. It was based on my estimated income from the business. I thought I had written down a "lowball" amount - but the actual total income wound up being on the level of sewer pipes under Broadway.

Even with all my personal business ventures lumped together, from Power Frisbee to CD sales to this blog, my official computed occupation tax was less than 60 dollars. And if you think that's bad, check the city occupation tax return - because 50 dollars of that is an "administrative fee."

My prepayment last year on the occupation tax was well over 100 dollars, so I had a nice refund coming. When I went to the Government Center during the winter and turned in the paperwork, a woman told me she couldn't provide the refund money on the spot. Those little shops a few blocks away on Veterans Parkway could have done it....

I presumed the occupation tax refund check would come in the mail, and didn't think much about it. But then the federal income tax refund check showed up, followed by the state income tax refund check. Both arrived before my city refund check?! Did I have to wait on Mayor Wetherington to submit a budget that provided for it?

It must have been early June when I decided enough was enough. I called the city Finance Department, gave them my account number - and after some searching by the staff, my occupation tax return was found. It somehow was filed in an "unclaimed" area. And if I hadn't called sooner or later, that would have been true....

A woman at the Finance Department promised to resurrect my occupation tax return, and asked me to call her back in a week. But of course, I became busy and forgetful. It was several weeks before I called the department again. Since the tax check still hadn't come, perhaps the staff was just like me.

After a little "phone tag" with the woman who promised to handle my occupation tax return, she asked me to leave my account number on her voice mail. I did, and she left a message on my machine last week promising the check would come within two weeks. Could it be true? Was my money about to be liberated from "occupied territory?"

Indeed it was - and the occupation tax refund was dropped in my mailbox Saturday. But it was a shame that the Columbus Finance Department staff lost track of my return, and left it sitting idly for months. If you think your business has money coming from the city, give the Finance Department a call. It beats losing even more money on an Internet "unclaimed cash" service.

E-MAIL UPDATE: Now for how other city money is being handled....

I would like to know the number of crimes in the Hilton Hghts/Lakebottom area in the past 6 months.......I am hearing from the grapevine about robberies and holdups around the park area on all sides. There are many of these in North Columbus lately as well but seem to go less reported in the "newspaper" . Wasn't there a time when all police reports were published?

Mayor W........The police are no longer visible........check out the at Bradley Park parking lot lately near McDonalds and Steinmart.........and it isn't south Columbus or Macon Road........I AM WORRIED ABOUT THE CRIME IN OUR CITY....

From watching TV news reports, I believe Columbus Police keep track of crime by "beat areas." Hopefully walkers and joggers aren't robbing each other on the Lakebottom Park trail.

There may have been a time when the Ledger-Enquirer published all the police reports in Columbus. And the way it's handling the front pages these days, that time could come back. Why, the federal decision in the Kenneth Walker case didn't even make the top of page one Saturday.

But Columbus has about 185,000 people now. Consider how many police reports probably are handled each day - everything from homicides and holdups, to panhandlers knocking on people's doors. Then consider how many reports could be found false. Both the police and the newspaper would have to apologize for those.

Now a colorful follow-up to a message we posted Sunday about Summit Hospital:

I said RED elephant, as in red ink, a $ loser.

As you wish - a red elephant it is. That probably beats a pink elephant, which countless bar patrons on Broadway may have seen over the weekend.

Now for things WE saw on Sunday - none of them really pink:

+ Four cans of chili came down from my pantry, because they're included in the Castleberry's botulism recall from a plant in Augusta. Uh-oh -- now I only have enough cans stored to survive a category-four hurricane.

(The Castleberry's web site is making an important correction. The recall of "Great Value" chili sold at Wal-Mart stores applies only to cans sold in Canada. If the company recalled Canadian doughnut batter as well, that WOULD be a hardship.)

+ WRBL reported U.S. marshals in Indiana captured former Muscogee County Prison inmate Eddie Rias. Rias escaped from a work detail 37 years ago. And then some people say it's easy to find every illegal immigrant, and kick them out of the country....

+ The Trade Center hosted a "Wedding Extravaganza," complete with a horse and carriage on display outside. But so far, there's no talk of replacing the "InMotion X" bicycle races downtown with harness racing. Broadway is simply too restricted now.

+ The Ledger-Enquirer reported a Columbus woman is suing the creators of "Girls Gone Wild." Brittany Pitts admits exposing herself for a photographer while on vacation in Florida, but claims she never expected the picture to be released. Well, what did she THINK would happen to the picture -- that it would only be shown at somebody's bachelor party?

+ Instant Message to the young woman who called me the other day, promising to "save a spot on the beach here in San Diego": I didn't catch your name, and you gave me no address. Do you read this blog - or were you at the end of your shift selling timeshares?

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