16 OCT 07: ROLLING COMMERCIAL-FREE

The Monday evening news revealed Interstate 185 has been declared a "Georgia scenic byway." Well, that certainly beats what some local cynics have called it - the world's longest cul-de-sac, or the "road to nowhere."

The Georgia Department of Transportation declared I-185 a scenic byway. Only eight roads in the state have that title. If you can name the other seven, you need to go on "Jeopardy." If you've driven all of the other seven, your retirement funds and RV must be a lot bigger than the rest of us.

Keep Columbus Beautiful and similar groups lobbied for more than two years, to get I-185 declared a scenic byway. They're concerned about trees along the interstate being chopped down for billboards. But how else are restless five-year-olds supposed to know where the next restroom is?

The "scenic byway" title means limits will be imposed on billboards along Interstate 185. So if you want to show support for a Harris County Commission candidate, you might have to hang campaign signs around the necks of deer.

Keep Columbus Beautiful officials predict the "scenic byway" title will help attract visitors down Interstate 185 to Columbus. And I'm sure you've noticed how many Chet Atkins fans have come to town, since part of the highway was named after him....

Environmental groups now hope they can obtain grants, to make Interstate 185 even more scenic and picturesque. I'm not really sure how they can do that - especially since Georgia's current rules forbid fancy new waterfalls.

I suppose one person's "scenic" can be another person's "boring" -- and some might argue there's not a lot to see along Interstate 185. After all, Rock City would have claimed some open roof of a barn by now....

But perhaps you haven't stopped to consider all the marvelous scenery along Interstate 185. Let's start from Fort Benning and head north:

+ Mile 2: The famous "too fast when flashing" lights above the road - yellow lights which never shut off, even if you crawl past them at 30 miles per hour. They're apparently so popular that a matching set was put on Victory Drive.

+ Mile 6: The Macon Road exit allows a great view of the Columbus Public Library. Who knows how many visitors have seen it, and wondered why the city couldn't afford to put a dome on top?

+ Mile 7: The Manchester Expressway exit allows visitors to drive right past the runways of Columbus Metro Airport. If you time it right, you might just drive by on a day when a plane is taking off or landing there.

+ Mile 15: The Columbus Welcome Center is here. I stopped there on my first visit to Columbus in 1997 and picked up a city map. But there was no free Coca-Cola - or even a sample of Country's Barbecue.

+ Mile 18: At about this point, the "call boxes" kick in - phones along the roadside which let you call for help if you have an emergency. If they're as successful as the politicians claim, why does no other highway in Georgia have them?

+ Mile 25: The exit for Hamilton. Feel free to sing, "For He's a Jolley Good Fellow" - because it might get you out of a speeding ticket from the Sheriff's Department.

+ Mile 30: I think this is the exit with the only Waffle House between Columbus and LaGrange. The scenery is so overwhelming that the restaurant chain hasn't spotted other exits yet.

+ Mile 34: Exit here for Callaway Gardens and F.D.R. State Park. Or drive east from the interstate to U.S. 27, and wonder why that highway wasn't named a scenic byway instead.

+ Mile 42: The best exit for going directly into LaGrange. But we can't tell if that city has anything of value - because we'd violate the spirit of the byway rules.

BLOG UPDATE: Well, well. The Constable in Hurtsboro may not have given us the whole story about Williams Grocery. An Alabama alcohol enforcement official told your blog Monday that he was approving a liquor license for the store -- one he says the Hurtsboro City Council approved in mid-August! Did R.J. Schweiger send us notes from August 2006 by mistake?

John Richardson with the Alcohol Beverage Control enforcement division told me the liquor application from Williams Grocery was on his desk, and he planned to "sign off on it" that afternoon. But it can take about 24 hours for that notice to be posted and become official - so vodka-starved residents of Hurtsboro may have to endure one more painful day.

According to the application on John Richardson's desk in Montgomery, Gary Williams changed his mind about transferring his liquor license to a new owner earlier this year. Williams decided to let the license lapse on September 30, and let the new grocery store owner file separate papers -- perhaps to avoid some official accusing him of handing over the powers of alcohol on a whim.

The application filed in Montgomery also shows Hurtsboro's City Council approved a new alcohol license August 14^th - not to someone named G-Tu, but to the Harsh Corporation. How would you like to work for a company with that name, on this National Boss's Day?

The person from Harsh Corporation who apparently now runs Williams Grocery is Kirtikumar Gopal Patel. Hmmmm - maybe all the motels in Hurtsboro were taken....

So it turns out Hurtsboro city officials DID approve an alcohol license for Williams Grocery, and NOT to a man named G-Tu. But maybe G-Tu was passed over, in some kind of competitive bidding. Even in rural Russell County, it can be a Harsh business world.

E-MAIL UPDATE: A reader puts a couple of recent topics together....

Richard, You told us that Goodwill had moved their recycling center [14 Oct] but you forgot to mention "where to". I was over there a couple of weeks ago and saw that they had moved but there was no sign telling folks where to take the recyclables.

I heard Al Fleming's commentary this morning and it was one of the few times I could agree with him. He thinks the MCSB should redo the old Baker High School building to use for the administration building. What an excellent idea! He even pointed out that they could save money by doing this. Can you imagine the highly paid administrators telling friends their office was on Victory Drive?

A Columbus GA Blog fan

I didn't say where because I wasn't sure where. That was a news item on the Friday evening news, and I didn't catch every detail. One of these days, I'll learn to keep a notepad near the television for something other than beauty pageant contestants.

The TV station's web site didn't even list the address in its story - but I was told Monday evening the new Goodwill recycling center is on Tenth Avenue, around Sixth Street. The idea supposedly is to put it in a "more central" location. As if that's closer to well-to-do environmentalists, who actually care about recycling?!

Al Fleming's one of many people who have offered ideas for the old Baker High/Middle School. I've heard lots of ideas - but for years, the Muscogee County School Board hasn't acted on any of them. Maybe THAT is the real property being offered to Wal-Mart....

The Muscogee County School Board ignored Al Fleming (gasp!), and voted Monday night to begin tearing down the old Sears building on Macon Road for a new administration building. The board hired a New York company called Empire Dismantlement - which sounds like it ought to be run by board member Cathy Williams.

Superintendent John Phillips told WXTX "News whenever the baseball game ends at Ten" that it might take 36 months to build the new administration building. That's 12 months longer than it took to build the central library next door. How much gold-leaf are they installing on the stairways, anyway?

Other things happened on Monday as well....

+ Operations managers reported West Point Lake is eight feet below normal. Considering it was nine feet below normal a few weeks ago, you'd think Governor Perdue would be delighted.

+ The group "Stop Hunger Now" enlisted Auburn University volunteers to prepare food packets for 100,000 children in Haiti. Can I have about five of those to keep in my car this winter - when beggars approach me in the parking lot?

+ Georgia head football coach Mark Richt appeared at the Columbus Quarterback Club meeting. Richt said his team is "playing on emotion right now." Translation: the players should use their heads, and pass their midterms.

+ The New Jersey Giants (I'm sorry, but they don't play in New York) stomped the Atlanta Falcons 31-10. The one bright spot for local fans may have come when the Giants' Amante Toomer caught a touchdown pass - allowing them to raise their "Toomer's Corner" signs.

(The Falcons' 47-year-old kicker Morten Andersen was short with one field goal try, and barely put a 47-yarder over the bar. Don't be surprised if he makes a call for help today to "Duke and the Doctor.")

+ Instant Message to the Columbus Health Department: Did I hear it right - you're having a "Latino Health Fair" this weekend? How far are you taking this? I mean, will people with breathing trouble receive free habañero peppers?

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