9 AUG 07: VENT EARLY AND OFTEN

An arrest was announced Wednesday in a Phenix City home invasion case. An 81-year-old woman claims she was raped by a 19-year-old man. This is one time when suggesting the man pick on somebody his own size clearly is NOT appropriate....

The arrest of Javarous Hall was posted on the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer's web site around 12:00 noon - and in keeping with a recent addition there, a "comments" section was attached to the story. That section had received 45 comments by Wednesday night. That newspaper knows how to keep a blogger like me humble.

But what struck me was what some of the readers wrote in the comment section about Javarous Hall, especially after examining his police "mug shot." One declared him a "retarded animal." How do you know when a cat is mentally disabled, anyway? Does it try to moo?

Several of the written comments were incredibly blunt about Javarous Hall - in some cases too blunt for this G-rated blog. For instance:

+ "Looks fit for the electric chair to me." Did that person say the same thing about Lindsey Lohan's mug shot?

+ "This low down retarded perverted man needs to not only go to prison, but somebody, and I wished it was me, needs to rape.... him with a stick, a mop, a steel pipe or something...." This presumably non-retarded writer needed me to add all his punctuation.

+ "Get the big oak tree and a good sturdy rope!!!!! And save us taxpayers a ton of money!" This almost sounds like a man trying out for The Big Eddy Club.

That last comment reminds me of what someone said the other night on ABC News's special "iCaught." He said the Internet is "like the wild West," with almost anyone able to attack and bring shame on anybody else. That may also explain all the poker web sites which have come along lately.

But the comments on this case also made me ponder something. Are newspaper comment areas such as this destined to replace radio and TV talk shows? In other words, who needs a "Talkline" when you can write your thoughts and feelings on the spot - with multiple people commenting at the same time, and no six-second tape delay for dirty words?

To be fair, other visitors to the Ledger-Enquirer's web site tried to counter the attackers. One called some of the comments about Javarous Hall: "an embaressment to the city of Columbus, the state of GA, and the USA." But then, leaving a comment which misspells "embarrassment" might do the same thing.

Someone is screening the Ledger-Enquirer's comments section, because at least five comments on the arrest of Javarous Hall were deleted. I can only imagine what those people might have said - since you're not likely to see them in the newspaper's "Sound Off" section, either.

Yes, I know -- open online message boards have been around for about a decade. But until now, web surfers normally had to search around for a board or a forum. They weren't directly attached to newspaper stories, as they are now. The difference between one and three clicks can be huge, you know....

We've heard occasionally from people wondering why this blog has no "comment" links. That's mainly because the option wasn't available to us when the blog started in January 2003. But anymore, it's also because I don't know what sort of commenters might show up. They could use dirty language, leave spam offers for prescription drugs - and might even leave better jokes than I write.

E-MAIL UPDATE: From the more civilized side of cyberspace, we have a response to Wednesday's topic about a candidate for Public Services Director:

The Bishops, Creightons, Turners, Huguleys must have run out of true relatives to give the position so Sandford's assistant is the next best thing. The "inside" of our Government in Columbus is running out of control.

WAKE UP COLUMBUS!! NO WONDER THE UPPER CRUST OF MUSCOGEE COUNTY ARE TAKING THEIR INVESTMENT VENTURES TO PHENIX CITY AND HARRIS COUNTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aw, c'mon - why would these powerful Columbus families give the job to an assistant who lives in Albany? Couldn't Willie or Brenda Dozier be talked out of retirement?

And when you refer to the "upper crust" moving money to Phenix City - I hope you realize some people don't consider that new Alatrade poultry plant that great an investment.

Now for some quick ups and downs from the Wednesday news....

+ The temperature in Columbus went up to 99 degrees F. The morning LOW at the Atlanta airport was a record high 82 - but of course, that could mean more United Parcel Service planes are flying there than ever.

+ The RiverCenter held a "buy one get one free" ticket sale, for Friday night's Dionne Warwick concert. The sale is scheduled to continue today - so feel free to sing "Deja Vu" as you approach the box office.

(Does this mean ticket sales for the Dionne Warwick concert are down, and going slowly? Would they increase if she promised to bring some of her "psychic friends" on stage, to read members of the audience?)

+ Russell County High School officials told WXTX "News at Ten" the school library will be closed for renovation, two weeks past today's start of a new term. About 20,000 books will be put back on the shelves, after the work is complete -- to which many Columbus library patrons said: "Books?! How old-fashioned are they?!"

+ Columbus Councilor and former major league baseball player Glenn Davis told WRBL he believes "the ball is juiced" today, resulting in more home runs. So who smuggled the steroid needles into the baseball factories in Haiti?

+ Instant Message to Shaw High School: I've got it - the perfect "Partner in Education" for you! Have the Raider football team wear home uniforms of "Continental Carbon black...."

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