5 AUG 07: NO HELP WANTED
Suppose they gave away free money, and nobody came to claim any of it. In Georgia, lottery players would pass out in disbelief - while in Alabama, conservatives would call it a victory for hard work and the state's low unemployment rate.
But which is more amazing: a failed money giveaway, or the giver openly admitting no one took advantage of it? I'm startled by what Publisher Wane Hailes writes in the current issue of "The Courier." He admits no one entered his weekly paper's contest offering $4,000 in college scholarships. At some radio stations, a person in the front office would have called and pretended to win.
The rules for claiming college scholarship money were relatively easy. The Courier asked minority high school graduates to submit a 1,000-word essay, and take part in an "oral interview." Maybe that last part threw the teenagers off - because sad to say, many of them nowadays attach something else (ahem) to the word "oral."
Wane Hailes writes three anonymous minority business owners offered the scholarship money - and they're "frustrated with the lack of response." Can you blame them? Now they have to find another way to claim that tax deduction....
(In a rather confusing sentence, Hailes adds the business owners finally gained a response "through their churches." I'm not sure if the church teenagers actually received the scholarship money, or if they suggested the business owners put the money in the collection plate.)
Wane Hailes's column blames minority parents for the lack of response to the scholarship contest. He says they should "insist our children do all they can to lighten the financial load of college." But maybe the high school graduates already have a plan to do that. It's called a part-time job....
There may be other explanations for the lack of response, which Wane Hailes and The Courier are not considering. For instance:
+ HOPE scholarships allow high school graduates across Georgia to get started in public colleges. Maybe minority graduates aren't thrilled about going to Morehouse or Spelman College anymore.
+ If no one applied for the college scholarships from East Alabama, there's an easy way to fix this. Start leaving copies of your paper on the other side of the river.
+ The explanation Wane Hailes doesn't want to hear - that hardly anyone is reading his paper, so they didn't know about the contest in the first place.
There was another way to handle this lack of response from "minority high school graduates." Open the college scholarships to ALL graduates, regardless of skin color. After all, Chamber of Commerce numbers indicate Columbus has NO "majority" ethnic community right now. If some white teenager had written a 1,000-word essay on this, at least some Ku Klux Klan chapter would have come out of hiding to help.
E-MAIL UPDATE: Now for some other people who apparently aren't concerned about money....
Richard, I wonder how many residents of the small town (approximately 5,000 population) of Smiths Station realize that the city council recently voted to increase the part-time mayor's salary from $750. to $1,875. per month. But that's not all - they voted to increase the council members salaries too. Not bad for a little town that incorporated only six years ago (June 2001). I do recall the citizens being told at the time of the incorporation vote not to worry about the cost of city officials - that they could and would work for free. That didn't last long! Don't believe politicians or in this case it was "wanna-be politicians".
I wonder how this salary compares with the salaries of other area small town, part-time mayors. Maybe some of your enlightened readers can let us know.
Answering that last matter first - at $750 per month, Smiths Station's mayor currently tops Talbotton Mayor Tony Lamar by about $750.
We admittedly waited to post this message until we could confirm what it claims. Smiths Station Mayor LaFaye Dellinger did NOT respond to our call, but city councilman George Stringer Jr. confirmed part of it Friday night. The council approved a pay raise at its 10 July meeting. Hmmmm -- could that explain why no agenda or minutes of that meeting are posted on the city web site?
George Stringer Jr. clearly did not expect a call from your blog about this. He couldn't remember the current salaries for the Smiths Station mayor and council, or the new salaries which were approved. And you thought only Bill Gates could forget about something as insignificant as that....
But George Stringer Jr. added a key detail which the e-mail left out. He says the pay raises in Smiths Station don't take effect until after the next city election. So if you don't like what the city council members did, you can vote them out of office next year - but if you run against them, you have to explain why you're not just as greedy.
I asked George Stringer Jr. about the supposed 2001 statement that elected officials in Smiths Station would work for free. He didn't recall anyone saying that. So the e-mailer is going to have to hire Josh McKoon from Columbus -- since he's so good at keeping track of other people's promises.
Our short conversation ended after I suggested to George Stringer Jr. that if the council is approving pay raises, Smiths Station's finances must be in good shape. He told me to call the City Clerk about that - and we all know how well that sort of trust by council members worked recently in Columbus and Talbotton.
Your donations of money to this blog are always welcome - but before you write a check, consider some weekend news headlines:
+ F.B.I. agents told the Ledger-Enquirer accused Cross Creek killer Michael Registe may have fled to the Virgin Islands. This doesn't seem like a very smart move. Recent history suggests if you want to disappear from the law in the Caribbean, you fly to Aruba.
+ Alabama Governor Bob Riley called for an inspection of the state's "steel deck truss" bridges, including one in Tallapoosa County. After what happened in Minneapolis, officials clearly are spelling "truss" correctly - and not misspelling it "trust."
+ The state of Georgia announced the formation of a "carbon registry," where environmentally-minded people can exchange carbon credits. The Columbus Civic Center could make a fortune from this -- assuming the staff saved all the carbon black which was cleaned off the roof.
+ The Columbus Catfish lashed Lexington 4-2, on the first-ever "Faith Day" at Golden Park. Who knows how many fans misunderstood this -- and were disappointed when Faith Hill didn't sing the national anthem.
(Meanwhile, the Friday night post-game fireworks show at Golden Park increased in length from the last show on 20 July. Compared with six minutes, seven minutes IS a substantial improvement....)
+ Phenix City edged Columbus Northern 4-3 in eight innings, at the Little League regional baseball tournament in Florida. At least I think Phenix City won - but WRBL showed the numbers backwards on the screen. I predict the newsroom phone will stop ringing at about 2:00 this afternoon.
+ The Associated Press pre-season college football rankings put Auburn 13th, and Georgia 14th. But when Hawaii is ranked and Alabama is not, it could be time for the Nick Saban supporters to lay off the energy drinks for awhile.
+ Instant Message to City Manager Isaiah Hugley: That's a nice new upright sign at Tenth and Veterans Parkway, marking the Government Center Annex. Hopefully spending money on that sign instead of public safety won't come back to bite you - like if gangs cover it with graffiti.
SCHEDULED MONDAY: Three miles from one major victory....
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NAME CORRECTED 11:43am....