6 AUG 07: FINER 49'ER

"You must have walked here," said the woman behind the counter at a Buena Vista Road restaurant. She was staring at a man with sweat all over his head and T-shirt, shortly before 10:00 on a Saturday night. You'd think people living in that neighborhood actually could afford air conditioning.

"I drove here," the sweaty man responded, "from downtown - where I've just jogged three miles on my 49^th birthday." I should mention this restaurant was a Subway - where the food is more likely to help keep off the weight you left on the running course.

You ask who was this sweaty man, who went for a long run on his birthday? That person happens to be I. Yes, I turned 49 over the weekend - and Someone bigger than I provided the strength to run three miles non-stop on the Riverwalk. Call me weird, but that gift of health means more to me than any version of X-Box.

The weather in Columbus allows me to run outside 12 months a year - but three dates have become annual "measuring stick" runs for me. There's the first run of the calendar year on January 1, my Columbus "anniversary run" on April 29 and the "birthday run" on August 4. If you want to sponsor a fourth run to make it a grand slam, please make me an offer.

The January 1 run this year wasn't too thrilling - 1.2 miles non-stop, about half the distance of 2006. The April 29 run probably should have been canceled, because I was fighting pneumonia. So Saturday night's birthday run was a big moment -- not to mention a test of whether I was pushing 50, or that age was pushing me.

The timing of this birthday run couldn't have been more perfect. It came at the end of the seventh-day Sabbath. So not only I was well rested from the day, but the church snack table can be a hidden source for "carbo-loading."

I felt good starting on the Riverwalk course around 9:00 p.m., and the only distracting moment of the first two miles came after my turnaround point. As I headed under the Trade Center, I passed a group of young people - and one man tossed a large boulder into the small pool of water around a support pillar. Some guys need gym memberships, to show off to their girlfriends.

"Why?" I said aloud while I jogged, just after the boulder's splashdown.

"Why what?" a member of the group said.

"Why do that?" I asked. If they had a good answer, I couldn't understand what they said - and I kept on jogging south, realizing the big guy who tossed the boulder probably couldn't even keep up with my slow pace.

The last half-mile of the three-mile course was a bit wearying, because Columbus had a very hot and sticky weekend. So the sweat on my shirt was my part of the work, to reduce the relative humidity.

But the final score of the run was 3.1 miles - my second three-miler since the pneumonia fight in the spring. A check of the records shows it was my longest birthday run in at least eight years. Maybe next August when I turn 50, a recruiter from the American Association of Retired Persons can join me.

By the way, my 49^th birthday is the answer to a "teaser" question we posted the other day. Charlotte and California's Long Beach State have college sports teams nicknamed the 49'ers. And I've decided for this special year, I'm rooting for the San Francisco 49'ers in pro football. Now if someone will sign Julio Franco to a baseball contract, so I can still feel young....

BLOG CORRECTION: Not everything gets better with age, you know. Sunday's e-mail made that clear about my brain....

The Council member last name I think should be Stringer instead of Stallings.

I thought ESPN would be the one to stir things up with names.

On the steel bridge thing for Alabama - I have not heard of this one on the list in Salem, Alabama

The reader is correct, and we fixed the name of the Smiths Station City Council member after we read it. We talked Friday night with George Stringer Jr. Shame on me! George Stallings hasn't coached Alabama football in more than a decade, and that was back when.... no wait....

The e-mailer included a picture of a bridge - one I admittedly didn't recognize. I didn't download it to my computer, either. If it's structurally deficient, who knows how much of my hard drive might collapse from it?

The person who originally wrote about the Smiths Station city council corrected us as well:

Richard, Maybe the reason George Stallings, Jr. doesn't seem to know much about the Smiths Station council members' salaries is that we don't have a council member by that name. Or maybe you are talking about George Stringer, Jr. Yes he is a city council member and a retired school teacher (Driver's Ed). I can't believe he doesn't know what his monthly paycheck is! I wonder what other city business he can't remember. The city council raised their salaries (beginning next year) from $300. per month to $420. I say "their" salaries because none of them had any opponents the last election and with the apathy which is apparent I doubt they will have any opposition next year. But then again - maybe if the information about their pay increases gets much publicity there might be others wanting that "easy money". Two 15 minute meetings a month for $420. - not bad.

Perhaps that Georgia town that's been bouncing city checks needs to check with Smiths Station and find out how they come up with so much money. It may be that they offer no city services except garbage pick-up and they make a profit on that ($19. per mo for once a wk svc). They let the county do everything else.

I won't have to hire Josh McKoon to prove anything. I have the newspaper articles and the campaign flyers.

Thanks for listening and verifying all information you receive.

Now, now - the Smiths Station City Council has more than two "15-minute meetings" every month. Don't overlook that 30-minute work session, before the regular meeting begins.

Before we start pointing fingers at the Smiths Station City Council and its $300 monthly salary, keep something in mind. Some starting pitchers in major league baseball make hundreds of thousands of dollars, yet only appear in games 35 times a year. Has Tampa Bay's Edwin Jackson given back any paychecks, with his 2-11 record?

By the way, we heard from Smiths Station Mayor LaFaye Dellinger Sunday night. She left a short message while we were dining out, and noted she begins jury duty today. So she could make a little extra money - perhaps even enough to buy her lunch, during a trial.

E-MAIL UPDATE: Now back to Columbus, and what remains the top issue on many minds....

Why has crime increased so much in Columbus this summer? Has the price of drugs gone up with the price of gas? This is really a scarey time in Columbus for the elderly..They are afraid to go shopping and afraid to get out and work in their yards..What a way to spend your golden years,behind locked doors and closed blinds...

It's not only the older people who are facing scary times. I'm hearing a local journalist was carjacked in Midtown over the weekend. It's enough to make you wish the carjackers could be given their own version of Safety Cab.

Sunday's Ledger-Enquirer took an in-depth look at the Columbus murder count. It concluded only four of the 17 homicides so far this year were "random" occurrences. For some reason, it ruled out the "Hispanic home invasion" killings of April - as if the defendants in that case plan to use bad landscaping as a defense?!

It was interesting and sad to read that three of the 17 homicides in Columbus this year are "domestic" cases - with relatives accused of killing each other. Three more were declared "crimes of passion." Perhaps we should blame these killings on people imitating the characters on "Family Guy."

WRBL went on patrol with a Columbus Police "Project Safe Streets" team. The officers corrected one claim by Mayor Jim Wetherington - that while much of the crime surge is in drug-infected neighborhoods, the crimes do NOT involve drugs. So maybe people are fighting over the money, weeks after the deals....

Muhammad's Mosque #96 in Columbus took its own stand against crime Sunday - with members going door-to-door, urging people to come together and pray. This sounds like a good idea. But while we're at it, can we ask the Nation of Islam to send a delegation to Pakistan to do the same thing with Usama bin-Laden?

A big crime-fighting event comes up this week in Columbus - as Tuesday is the "National Night Out." Several neighborhoods will hold special events in the evening. And they're all likely to end by 10:30 p.m., before many of the criminals hit the streets.

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