12 FEB 07: GOOD OR BAD?

We haven't played a question-and-answer game here in a long time. (No, last week's Super Tuesday quiz was question-only.) So let's play one today, which borrows from sports radio talk show host Todd Wright. I'll list several questions about various local topics. You guess if their current status is good or bad. This is so simple, even I could play it....

1. Radio news in Columbus. Good or bad?

2. A proposal to name a street after Councilor Red McDaniel. Good or bad?

3. The dog which was "mauled and injured" in Hurtsboro last week. Good or bad?

4. Columbus State University President Frank Brown. Good or bad?

5. The West Point City Council in general. Good or bad?

6. Retired baseball pitcher John Rocker. Good or bad?

7. The Muscogee County Deputy Tax Commissioner. Good or bad?

8. The job pool for the new Kia plant. Good or bad?

9. The economic stimulus checks we're getting from Washington. Good or bad?

10. The Carver High School baseball team. Good or bad?

Before we compare answers, let's check....

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OK, how did you do? Here are my answers, as of Monday evening:

1. Radio news in Columbus is BAD. That's because your blog confirmed Monday that Clear Channel radio has fired Val McGuinness -- who was the most authoritative radio news voice in the area. Then again, he was about the ONLY radio news voice in the area....

I woke up to WDAK for the last several years, hearing Val McGuinness present the news. But even though his picture is still on the station's home page, he apparently was let go in the last couple of weeks as part of a Clear Channel staff cut. If the entire Morning Show team had been fired, it would have been a Channel Clear-cut.

What makes Val McGuinness's departure awkward for WDAK is that he did many promotional announcements for the station. There was the "warm, fuzzy" message describing the Morning Show team. There were the reworked words he put on the "Beverly Hillbillies" theme song. And only two weeks ago, McGuinness did Super Bowl commercials for Charter Cable - so maybe he lost a bet on the game.

Val McGuinness has been a Columbus radio fixture for decades - and he might still be able to make a living as a commercial voice. In fact, one thing that annoyed me about WDAK is that McGuinness's taped commercials were played during his newscasts. You would never hear a respected journalist mixing things up like that - such as Paul Harvey.

A lack of Val McGuinness made Monday's Morning Show on WDAK sound, well, BAD. There was more news from TV anchors than from the radio announcers. And the radio people almost made me long for the days when WRCG's "Morning Magazine" played extended readings of proclamations by the mayor.

2. Naming a road after Red McDaniel seems GOOD on the surface - until you consider who's proposing this. The idea comes from Jeremy Hobbs, who is challenging McDaniel in this year's Columbus Council election! So Hobbs loves the man so much that he wants to kick him out of office?!

Jeremy Hobbs sent an e-mail addressed to Red McDaniel to news media throughout Columbus. It reveals Hobbs wants to rename Manchester Expressway the "Red McDaniel Highway." That seems fitting, because it has plenty of Red lights....

Jeremy Hobbs promises in the e-mail to carry on Red McDaniel's legacy - but he also writes: "After the election I planned a four-month training program with you so I could learn from the master himself." Can you imagine Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton writing something like this to President Bush? It's a wonder Hobbs isn't offering right now to pay McDaniel's moving bill.

3. The dog on Hurtsboro's Goolsby Street is GOOD after all. We finally heard Monday from Russell County Animal Control, and learned the animal described by Constable Robert Schweiger as "mauled and injured" last week had only a scratch. It's a good thing those poodles come with extra padding on the outside.

Animal control officer Jason Cooper told me a veterinarian checked the "injured" Hurtsboro dog, and decided it was OK. Yes, a dog and its owner were chased down a street - but the outcome was NOT as bad as the Constable claimed. Now if Hurtsboro's Mayor would reassure us about the rest of town....

4. Frank Brown is GOOD, if you appreciate free speech. I'm hearing some members of the Columbus State University science faculty complained to him about the "Christian Creation Conference" on campus, but he refused to stop it. Do those instructors want all religion courses canceled as well?

We stopped by the Elizabeth Bradley Turner Center Monday night to check on this conference, and the room was packed with about 300 people. The main speaker even realized some evolution supporters might be in the audience. "If you're a scoffer, we welcome you," he said - and then noted the Bible warns against scoffers.

5. I'll dare to say the West Point City Council was BAD Monday night. At least one council member wanted reporters to show up, seemingly to record another member getting lambasted by the audience. Now that's the way to bring harmony to local government....

This apparently started at the January meeting of the West Point City Council. Gary Harrison was sworn in as a new council member -- and after the short meeting, he walked up to the City Clerk and referred to him with a racial slur. What does Harrison think he is, a rap star?!

The West Point City Council held an executive session on the incident, and decided to censure Gary Harrison and remove him from some city committees. Council members say that's all city rules allow them to do. They can censure him, but they can't censor him....

But Council member Donald Gilliam told me Monday he wanted journalists to come to the February meeting, as if more action would be taken. What occurred was a special "town hall" session, where people discussed the punishment of Gary Harrison. WRBL didn't mention if anyone was hauled out of the meeting, for reading Harrison's comments on the record.

I can understand the West Point City Council wanting to clear the air about the Gary Harrison punishment. But the approach Monday night seemed on the order of a public flogging -- especially with a member urging reporters to show up. Where was this urging, when the executive session was held? Is this story good TV only when people are standing, yelling and pointing fingers?

Ann Gray of the local NAACP says she plans to organize a recall campaign in Gary Harrison's district. She also wants West Point city officials to undergo sensitivity training. After all, council members might utter a Korean slur toward a Kia employee and never know it.

By the way, you'd think Gary Harrison would have known better about using racial slurs. He's a retired firefighter - and traditional firehouse dogs show how well black and white can mix.

6. John Rocker has been BAD for years - and he was again on Monday. The former pitcher admitted on an Atlanta sports-talk radio station he was "taking the juice" in 2000. And I don't think that meant buying lunch for O.J. Simpson....

John Rocker claimed the commissioner of baseball knew he was taking steroids in 2000, but never did anything about it. But he neglected to mention the fact Bud Selig didn't really have to do anything about it. Selig had suspended Rocker two weeks for saying ethnic and racial slurs.

7. It's GOOD for Muscogee County's Deputy Tax Commissioner to get mentioned in the latest Ebony magazine. David Britt is named an outstanding young African-American leader. If he keeps up the good work, Britt David Park, Road and School might need to have their signs adjusted.

But what strikes me about 27-year-old David Britt is that he has two other jobs, besides the position of Deputy Tax Commissioner. This should teach the critics who think city employees are overpaid - especially the tax collectors.

Ebony magazine notes David Britt is also a weekend announcer at WFXE-FM "Foxie 105," as well as a realtor. Given the current economy, I can understand why ANY realtor would have a second or third job....

8. The pool of workers for the Kia plant seems quite GOOD. The online application process closed last week, and Kia announced Monday it has about 43,000 applicants. So what happens now? Will there be a new reality series called "West Point's Next Top Machinist," where people tighten lugnuts in front of a panel of judges?

Kia noted about three-fourths of the applications for the West Point plant came from Georgia. We'll see how many of them actually are hired - and how many Korean restaurants Troup County really needs.

9. The economic stimulus checks are BAD. At least, that's what Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama says. He told a meeting Monday he voted against the checks because they'll merely "increase our debt and deficit." Plenty of Alabama bloggers must have laughed at that - since they've accused Shelby of doing that very thing for years, with pork-barrel spending.

10. Let's see - your team was winless last year, then your ballpark is covered up in the off-season by a grade school parking lot. Yes, baseball at Carver High School seems to be BAD.

Carver is moving its home baseball games to Edgewood Park this season, because the old diamond was removed to make way for the new Rigdon Road Elementary School. Yet the Tiger coach predicted Monday his team would have a winning record. If Jarvon Fortson can hit twice in the batting order and pitch, that might happen....

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