11 JAN 08: YOU'RE ALL WETTT

Caravan season has come to Georgia quite early this year. A group of Republicans came to Columbus Thursday, as part of a statewide tour - and the strange thing was that none of them are running in next month's Presidential primary.

Georgia's Governor, Lieutenant Governor and House Speaker all stopped at the Columbus Airport, to talk about issues in the upcoming legislative session. An all-star political lineup was waiting to welcome them - including Mayor Jim Wetherington as the token Democrat.

Governor Sonny Perdue outlined five key areas for the legislative session, which opens Monday: water, education, transportation, trauma and taxes. That spells WETTT - and seems to show education should be the top priority.

Governor Perdue says the Columbus area has nothing to fear from the Georgia Water Council's management plan. But I can understand why some people outside Atlanta are concerned. Coca-Cola's headquarters is in Atlanta - and that Dasani water has to come from someplace.

When it comes to transportation, Governor Perdue says he wants to encourage the use of railroads for shipping. He apparently thinks there are too many tractor-trailers on state highways - so the tax he really wants to cut this year may be the state fuel tax.

One interesting transportation idea was offered before the Republican leaders reached Columbus. During a Wednesday stop in Albany, Mayor Willie Adams said Interstate 185 should be expanded south of Columbus to Florida. Highway 520 must not be good enough anymore - either that, or the mayor is tempted by all the restaurants along the highway in Dawson.

(I can see one advantage to expanding I-185 to the Florida line. Driving to Cairo to win a state football title would become much easier.)

But here's the thing: Columbus city officials are resisting the urge to use Georgia transportation money now. City Manager Isaiah Hugley said this week the state would pay for the widening of Moon Road, but only if it has four lanes and a median. That official state of Georgia concrete must be the best anywhere....

Yet Mayor Jim Wetherington told WLTZ Columbus roads are NOT ready right now for the thousands of newcomers expected from base realignment. So he'll take any help from the state he can, while also promoting that proposed one-cent "public safety" sales tax. Our mayor is learning from those get-rich-quick infomercials - and looking for multiple streams of income.

Mayor Wetherington told GPB Radio Governor Perdue "hit all the right buttons" in his presentation on Georgia's needs for 2008. But I smelled a deeper message in the caravan around the state. Republicans want to show they're united, after last year's feuding between the Governor and House Speaker Glenn Richardson. Of course, it would help if Richardson was part of the tour....

These political party "flyarounds" in Georgia used to happen only in the days before or after a big election. Now Republicans have staged one in January, in a "legislative preview." What will the Democrats do in response -- hold Sunday forums called "cloudy, not Sonny"?

BLOG UPDATE: If all goes well, WRCG radio should return to the air today. Manager Chuck Thompson told WRBL Thursday repairs on the station's tower are almost complete. If I can offer a two-word suggestion to prepare for next time -- streaming audio.

Chuck Thompson explained someone fired gunshots at the WRCG tower in Phenix City 26 December, knocking the signal off the air for more than two weeks. It's been silent so long that listeners have missed out on an estimated $4,000 in money-saving tips from the Clark Howard Show.

That's not the only Columbus radio station having problems these days. Non-commercial WFRC-FM apparently can't pick up its Family Radio home signal from California right now. So for much of the week, it's played a 29-minute loop of instrumental music over and over. At least that beats the Atlanta station, which played nothing but the "tomahawk chop" music for days. [True!]

E-MAIL UPDATE: Thursday's Ledger-Enquirer prompted someone to write us....

Every one needs to read Kaffie's article today on the MCSD's new administration building...Is Cathy Williams the only member that is going to stick up for educating students? Thanks Cathy for your support for the betterment of our kids..We all know they are going to class in rundown portables and trailers.We know they are getting wet in the rain running out to these portables across muddy areas and some all the way across parking lots...We know of the use of class sets of textbooks and not enough computers...However,according to Mr.Walker,who says he contacted every principal,kids are not getting wet going to portables..They must be rainproof....

Thanks Kaffie for your continuing support of the children..

The column by Kaffie Sledge quotes Muscogee County School officials as saying the district owns 67 portable classrooms, and leases 64 more. At least now we know where they went, when Governor Don Siegelman kicked them out of Alabama.

School Board member Cathy Williams complained one "English as a Second Language" class at Spencer High School has only one computer. This tells me two things: first, Williams is sticking up for her alma mater. Second, we're becoming too reliant on computers in education - because they didn't have computers at Ellis Island 100 years ago.

Cathy Williams explained she supports a new central administration for Muscogee County Schools - but one that costs $13 million, instead of $31 million. But she was outvoted last year by other School Board members. At least they'll keep construction workers busy, during this tight housing market.

Now for other Thursday thunderings - and as it happens....

+ A late-night storm system prompted a midnight-hour tornado warning in parts of Russell County. Sirens could be hurt in downtown Columbus, in the minutes before the Russell County warning expired - yet Muscogee County only had a severe thunderstorm warning. My neighbor's right again. Sounds DO travel farther during winter.

(The severe storms proved how WLTZ's new weather team ranks far below the other Columbus TV stations. Mark Prater never interrupted the programming with weather warnings - but then again, the siren sounds probably didn't carry all the way to Iowa.)

+ Columbus police found a woman on Victory Drive, who was listed as missing in LaFayette for eight months. Dorothy Brooks admitted she decided to move to Columbus after leaving an Alabama prison last year. Now she's ready to return to LaFayette - so that new Victory Drive Huddle House simply was delayed too long.

+ WRBL showed a visit to Rigdon Road Elementary School by a group of men called the "F.B.I.: Fathers Being Involved." I'm glad they are involved - but I wonder how tempted these dads are to wear their F.B.I. outfits into restaurants, trying to get dinner discounts.

+ The president of Southern Union State Community College in Opelika was suspended, and could be fired. She's accused of several ethics violations - including one of the most dreadful sins in Alabama: not having a college football team.

+ Auburn lost their opening conference games in men's and women's college basketball. The Lady Tigers were tossed by Tennessee 85-52 - reminding me of some of the great names on the Lady Vol team, such as "Nicky Anosike" pronounced an-no-SICK-ee. If only she wrote for Wiki - as in Wikipedia....

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