5 SEP 07: ZAP TO IT

No, we're not talking about a web site which reviews television programs. We're talking in essence about a proposal mentioned Tuesday by Columbus City Manager Isaiah Hugley - a proposal to expand how the police department uses "stun guns." For an African-American official to support this almost seems stunning by itself.

Columbus Council approved 50 new stun guns for the police department - and City Manager Isaiah Hugley told WRBL he'd like to see every officer have one. Well, I suppose it WOULD bring down the higher cost of ammunition....

(OK, you purists - I know Columbus Council actually approved 50 "Tasers," and there's some kind of difference between a Taser and a stun gun. But a Taser sounds too much to me like something plastic surgeons use to remove unwanted facial hair.)

If all goes as planned, the city of Columbus will spend $55,000 over the next several months to equip every police officer with a stun gun. I suppose the police still will need a firing range, for using guns as a last resort - but where do you test your stun gun skills? At that new poultry plant they're building in Phenix City?

A stun gun for every police officer is "our goal," City Manager Isaiah Hugley said. Hmmmm - maybe I'm understanding his comments here. There's Mr. Hugley, Mayor Jim Wetherington and Chief Ricky Boren. So the police have him outnumbered, by two votes to one.

This move toward providing a stun gun for every police officer points out a notable change in Columbus. Edward DuBose isn't powerful or active locally anymore - because if he was still Columbus NAACP President, he wouldn't stand for this. I'm wondering if Bill Madison missed Tuesday's Council meeting, because he was marching in front of a car repair shop again.

But we should also remember a suspect died a couple of years ago, after Columbus Police fired bean bags at him. A death like that hasn't happened here with stun guns, as it has in other cities. And if weakling TV reporters can survive being zapped, maybe those devices aren't all that bad.

The vote for additional stun guns came only hours after another homicide in Columbus, and a shooting in another part of town. But Police Chief Ricky Boren reassured viewers Columbus still is a safe city. Well, as long as you lock the door behind you when you hold a holiday cookout on the front lawn....

Chief Ricky Boren said "Operation Safe Streets" has led to 450 arrests in Columbus since late July. So if the pressure of public opinion doesn't bite local law enforcement, the Justice Department might - with a new lawsuit about jail overcrowding.

BLOG UPDATE: Columbus Riverfest officially was declared dead Tuesday. A short statement posted at the Riverfest web site announced the April celebration is being merged "with other community events in Columbus." Somehow I doubt those events include any NAACP banquets...

A threatened boycott of the 2005 Riverfest by civil rights groups was canceled at the last minute. Then the Historic Columbus Foundation called off this year's event, apparently because it was losing money. Now the only way you might see a "Big Pig Jig" in Columbus will be if the Arkansas Razorbacks football team stops here, on the way to Auburn.

The Riverfest web site says there will be a "community festival," directed by the Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau. What this means for the future of the Historic Columbus Foundation isn't clear. It could stage a tour of Historic District homes -- but how many attorneys would risk a liability lawsuit, by letting strangers inside their offices?

The death of Riverfest was related to the announcement on Broadway Tuesday of a new "Uptown Coalition." If this combined lobbying group can't get new rules passed for outdoor musical performers, I don't know what will.

Five different agencies are joining forces in the Uptown Coalition. They include the city, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, Columbus State University - but for some reason NOT the RiverCenter. I suppose the staff there has its section of Broadway all figured out financially.

Richard Bishop of Uptown Columbus Inc. says the new coalition has a goal of bringing new events downtown every weekend. If all else fails, they can set up poker tables on the sidewalk along Broadway and have a weekend "Columbus Showdown."

One big new downtown event was announced Tuesday - as "God Bless Fort Benning" day is moving to Broadway in November. Until now, that event has been held in the Civic Center parking lot. This seems strange, because the cleaning crew will have two full weeks after the Fountain City Classic to remove the beer cups.

Many S.O.A. Watch protesters have visited downtown Columbus, on the night before their big Sunday rally at the Fort Benning gate. Combining them with the God Bless Fort Benning crowd could make things very interesting this November. Who needs to bring back the Auburn-Georgia football game, when you have a rivalry like this?

Tuesday was a busy day at Columbus Council, so we'll wrap up with some other highlights from there:

+ Gary Stickles was named the new city Public Services Director. It was a title he apparently never expected - so you could say he's "Stickled pink" to get it.

(Stickles was approved weeks after a controversy erupted about the nomination of Kenneth Cutts to be Public Services Director. The Courier reported Cutts "removed his name" from consideration for the job weeks ago - but he did it so quietly, you'd think he was making a surprise trip to Iraq.)

+ Plans were approved for widening part of Moon Road, in the Whittlesey Boulevard area. But construction won't begin until 2009 - leaving plenty of time for Moon Road residents to file their lawsuits, complaining about the loss of their front yards.

+ Former Columbus Council candidate Jeremy Hobbs expressed objections to plans for a skateboard park in South Commons. He declared the Victory Drive corridor an unsafe part of town - which apparently explains the move of God Bless Fort Benning, because we certainly don't want our soldiers put in any dangerous situations.

(Jeremy Hobbs offered Comer Park as an alternative site for a skateboard park. It already has some steep and dangerous slopes, so all the city would have to do is throw down some sheets of plywood.)

SCHEDULED THURSDAY: It ought to be the hottest ticket in town.... we plan to find out if it is....

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