21 FEB 08: DAY'S IN

Take that, you scoffers! A new airline was announced for Columbus Metro Airport Wednesday. Well, it's sort of an airline. Well, it's more like an air taxi service. Wellllll - it's a next step in impressing your sweetheart beyond a limousine ride.

DayJet went to the Chamber of Commerce office, to announce it's beginning service from Columbus to seven cities. Six of them are in Florida, but Panama City is NOT included - so the police departments in Eufaula and Abbeville don't have to worry about losing money from speeders.

DayJet began service last October, billing itself as a "per-seat, on-demand" regional air service. The on-demand part sounds different enough - but what's the big deal about "per-seat?" I thought Southwest was the only airline which charged overweight people for two seats.

A DayJet executive told WLTZ his air service is a "business enabler." It comes across to me as a charter service, which can respond to your request in less than four hours. Do you realize in some parts of Columbus, this response is almost as fast as METRA?

But I'm wondering how many Columbus business people will need or want to travel to some of the Florida "Day Ports." Airports near Miami and Tampa might be helpful - but Gainesville? Big football weekends only happen a few times a year....

(And service between Columbus and Pensacola? It sounds good if you're a Fort Benning soldier, who wants to play a prank on a buddy in the Navy....)

The price of a DayJet flight depends on several factors. If you're flexible in your departure time, the cost is lower. Of course, most major airlines work the same way. If you're flexible about being on an overbooked flight during a holiday weekend, going on "stand-by" might earn you a free ticket.

The announcement in Columbus didn't mention the fact that DayJet also has service at the Auburn-Opelika Airport. So East Alabama residents might prefer to catch a flight there - especially the Auburn trustees looking for new coaches. Oops, I mean athletes....

As for the non-charter fliers, the Columbus Airport is up to five ASA flights a day -- assuming the airport web site's information is current. When the airport's newsletter hasn't been updated in six years, there's good reason to wonder about that.

E-MAIL UPDATE: One reader is so upset that they've sent us two messages on a topic in two days....

How can we trust a school board who spends millions in taxes and the chairman does not allegedly even pay his own property

taxes..Mr.Chairman,I think you should resign your position..This is the same man who told me he checked with all the principals and kids walking to portables do not get wet when it rains.These kids must be waterproof or walking under invisible canopies Did he think I would believe that also?...

So,James Walker,Pres.of MCSD board,can spend our tax money without any thought ,because he never paid his property tax or never paid the complete tax...I think Mr.Walker should resign. We,as taxpayers,put our trust in him to spend tax money wisely. He has violated that trust. How can he not have known the taxes had not been paid? My understanding is that the tax office must try every means possible to notify the property owner. The statement from the tax office says that part of the taxes were paid. To have paid part of the taxes don't you think that is a give away to knowing that taxes were owed?...If what the Ledger printed is true,then Mr.Walker should be decent enough to resign his seat on the board.

What the Ledger-Enquirer's Tim Chitwood wrote is that James Walker co-owns a building at Veterans Parkway and West Britt David Road which is delinquent in property taxes. In fact, the building is scheduled for auction in two weeks - so critics might be able to buy it, and turn it into a recall campaign headquarters.

James Walker explained to the newspaper that SOME of the property taxes have been paid - and after the building is refinanced, the rest will be paid as well. If this is grounds for the School Board Chairman to resign, I'd like to see every board member's credit card statements.

The newspaper article also notes the billing address for the Veterans Parkway building actually is registered in the name of James Walker's co-owner, Ronnie Alligood. If unpaid property taxes lead to the building's sale at auction, he might not be living up to his name....

The payment of part of the property tax bill could be an "estimated payment." I finished working on my federal tax return Wednesday, and I could apply my refund to the "estimated taxes" for 2008. But then, that's a bad example -- because aren't we all pretty sure we'll have federal income tax withheld this year?

And to the winner of the Big Blog Question goes the victory speech:

Sir Richard:

Thank you for having the intestinal fortitude (guts) to accept my challenge!

The recent poll just reinforces my assessment of the situation. First of all I will remind you that I said - your readers prefer to read - not submit. And, I don't think that fifteen votes can be considered worthy by any means!

I do want to thank those who responded with comments. They were appreciated!! And,they were in stark contrast to the anonyminity and stony silence of the Constable bashers from "Hurt'sboro. It would take very little "head-scratching," to come up with the names of this group headed by Rick Perry! I'm surprised that the rotund fop had time to vote. He is usually busy downloading risque material from the internet. "Mr." Perry has good reason to despise me. And, if your readers would like to hear "The rest of the story" I can be easily reached at rjschweiger@yahoo.com or two of the local Blogs!

I would like to close; by mopping out a couple of corners. First of all there was NO council meeting in "Hurt'sboro the other night. It was cancelled when they spotted WTVM in town (another meeting was scrubbed tonight) I guess they are just too nervous to get together. It was no miracle - that Charlie Torbert, went on camera - I and the WTVM reporter cornered him at his home and he just couldn't escape!

Finally - you minimized the dog mauling incident, and said that I exaggerated the affair. The truth is - I kept it low key on purpose. I merely stated that the dog was being mauled when its owner FRIGHTENED the monsters off. I didn't tell you that - shots were fired - and they were meant to kill!!

The only reason I called Russell County was because THERE WAS NO LOCAL LAW AVAILABLE! The Reason I sent the Mayor Pro-Tem the letter was to remind her that local ordinances were not being enforced! The only reason I sent it to you was to publize and bring notice to the "novel" conditions here in town!!

I must give credit where credit is due! Your BLOG and the profiling by WRBL & WTVM have stirred the wrath of the "ladies" in "Hurt'sboro's Literary guild! They say its all your fault that the town looks so bad in the eyes of the world! Keep up the good work!

Constable R.J. Schweiger

OK - I'll grant you the argument that most of our readers don't want to "submit." That explains all the negative e-mail we get regarding all sorts of elected officials....

But while R.J. Schweiger thanks the comment writers in this victory statement (whom I'm not sure even live in Hurtsboro), he does NOT thank the voters who came to his side. If he plans to run for another term as Constable, he'll have to adjust this. But then, some people are wondering if Schweiger plans to run for Hurtsboro Mayor - since it probably would be easier to clean a house from the inside out.

The Constable simply can't resist making new accusations, as he claims victory. Where is his evidence that the owner of Perry Hardware downloads "risque material?" Is he doubling as an undercover officer, seeking in the back rooms of stores?

If Hurtsboro's City Council didn't meet last week, why did Councilor Charlie Torbert suggest it did - by saying members decided NOT to take action against the interim police chief? Did everyone decide this over lunch at the City Grill?

What Constable Schweiger calls a "mauling" of a dog, Russell County Animal Control officers called a "scratch." [12 Feb] So there are two sides to this story - and we still haven't heard directly from the dog owner, so there may be two sides to "stony silence" in Hurtsboro as well.

I didn't realize Hurtsboro had a "Literary Guild" - and we invite all the library patrons to e-mail us, if they want to tell the other side of the town's story. In the last year, we've only heard from one challenger to the Constable's constant criticism. And we had to travel personally to Hurtsboro for Thanksgiving, to learn the town even has artwork on its Main Street buildings.

By the way: the trial of Hurtsboro City Councilor Mae Dell McVay has been rescheduled for March 10. She's already been reprimanded by the Alabama Ethics Commission, for her vote in support of selling three used city vehicles to her husband for $200. If the city garbage truck and a police car have trouble running, maybe the McVays should give them back.

One more e-mail is going to require some double-checking at the Government Center, before we post it. In the meantime, here are some other news highlights from Wednesday:

+ A lunar eclipse was visible in downtown Columbus. And that was strange, because WLTZ meteorologist Mark Prater declared flat-out at the end of "The 6 O'Clock Report" it would NOT be visible due to cloud cover. His angle of the Columbus sky must be blurry - from four states away in Iowa.

+ Columbus Police announced Rosemary Clancy was arrested, on charges of attempting to scam a 77-year-old man. Detectives say Clancy claimed to be an undercover officer, and told the man to pull money of his bank account to avoid being arrested. Imagine if the man had offered her drugs instead -- or simply surrendered.

(Columbus Police Lt. Gil Slouchick assured the evening news undercover officers will never ask people for money. Of course, this makes it a little more difficult to find printers of counterfeit bills.)

+ Lanett police reported a woman robbed an O'Reilly auto parts store, wearing jogging pants which were turned inside-out. I thought people displaying the tags on their hats were strange....

+ Opelika's City Council voted to give the winner of this summer's race for mayor a $20,000 raise, to $72,000. Columbus City Manager Isaiah Hugley will be looking for that story online today - because he hasn't had a raise in a couple of years.

(Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller promises if he wins re-election, he'll give away that $20,000 raise. That's the way to inspire someone to work on his campaign staff....)

+ Christian Garay of Columbus won the USTA national clay court tennis title, for players 12 and under. Our city could have a young Andre Agassi on our hands. Now all we need to find is the right child movie star, for him to date.

+ Tennessee trampled Auburn in men's college basketball 89-70. Tiger broadcaster Damian Fishback declared during the first half the officials would be biased against Auburn, so Tennessee's Saturday showdown at Memphis wouldn't lose any luster. Yet Tennessee was called for three more fouls, and Auburn had ten more free throw attempts -- so does Fishback plan to join someone's Presidential campaign?

(Then again, Fishback may have said all this for another reason. He might be Coach Jeff Lebo's agent, and trying to save Lebo's job.)

+ Instant Message to the Georgia Department of Revenue: You're kidding, right? I mean, the revised state tax return - now with SEVEN pages, instead of four? And the first page only has room for my name, along with my dependants? Did your staff lose its vision insurance coverage?

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