Thursday, May 15, 2008

15 MAY 08: MAGNUM GA.



Weeks of debate and lobbying came to an end Wednesday in Atlanta. Georgia's Governor signed a bill guaranteeing the right to carry concealed weapons into more locations around the state. Those competitors in the U.S. Olympic marksmanship trials at Fort Benning don't have to worry about dinner anymore.



The bill signed by Governor Perdue will allow you to carry a gun into a restaurant, if you have a "concealed carry" permit. I can see why the supporters of this bill would be concerned. If you complain to the chef about dinner, he's already armed with sharp knives.



As you might guess, pro-gun groups lobbied hard for Governor Perdue to sign this bill. They were apparently moved by the last big crime incident at a Georgia restaurant - which I think involved Kid Rock at a Waffle House.



But the Georgia Restaurant Association lobbied hard the other way, and opposes this new concealed carry law. After all, its members have been serving doughnuts and bagels with holes in them for decades - without any help from the public.



We should note the new Georgia law does NOT allow concealed-carry customers to drink alcohol at restaurants. So if they have guns, they can't have "silver bullets...."



The owner of Country's Barbecue told the late-night news he sees no need for a law about carrying concealed weapons in restaurants. Jim Morpeth recalled one incident where customers squirted bottles of hot sauce at each other. He did NOT say if they started with mild barbecue sauce, and worked their way up.



The Ledger-Enquirer asked local restaurant owners several weeks ago about this idea -- and at the time, Jim Morpeth said he might require all weapons to be checked at the door. Talk about a sudden change! Places which stopped accepting checks years ago might be requiring some before long.



(Even the manager of Cowboys Steak Saloon says he might require customers to check their weapons at the door. So much for this place being an authentic western steak house.)



The gun law signed by Governor Perdue also allows concealed-carry weapons inside Georgia state parks. This should settle the debate about allowing hunting at Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park in Harris County. Walk around with a hidden handgun, and the deer will never know what's coming.



Concealed-carry weapons also will be allowed aboard public transportation in Georgia. Opponents of this new law fear this could lead to more violence -- and it admittedly will sound strange, the first time there's a drive-by shooting involving a METRA bus.



The debate over concealed-carry weapons in Georgia may spark a lawsuit -- but it boils down to an old classic debate. Does the presence of guns make people safer, or make things more dangerous? The answer may ultimately come down to which way the barrel is pointed....



E-MAIL UPDATE: While some people keep grumbling about that big library on Macon Road, a reader noticed a change at a different library....



The Phenix City library is holding a fund raiser for their exciting remodelled library..They are selling T-shirts with the logo of the children's summer reading program.



They want anyone owning the shirts to have their picture made in some out of town location and send it to the library...



Cute idea !! Cute shirt!!



The T-shirt displayed at the library's web site is bright green, and invites you to "catch the reading bug." But this could meet with some resistance - as so many people caught the flu bug last winter.



The idea of snapping out-of-town pictures has been done in other cities. People have carried copies of the Americus Times-Recorder around the world, over the last couple of years - and their pictures of the newspaper have been published. In a town the size of Americus, slow news days can happen.



By the way, I'd forgotten this month marks ten years since the present Phenix City Public Library opened. As I recall, the drive to build it began because the old library wasn't accessible for disabled people. Ten years later, there may be a new issue - whether it's accessible for bicycle riders, trying to avoid burning gasoline.



Meanwhile, Wednesday's Ledger-Enquirer reported the Education Park Coalition will file yet another appeal regarding the land around the central library. Please note what Mayor Jim Wetherington is promising with the one-percent sales tax. He would put police officers in parks - but he's said nothing about putting any in greenspace.



We'll check out now, with other Wednesday news of note:


+ The Russell County Sheriff's office announced two arrests for a series of copper thefts. One of the suspects is Gregory Goode - and if he really stole air conditioners from churches with a last name like that, he should be ordered to change his name before entering prison.



+ WLTZ interviewed school board member and church pastor Joseph Roberson -- and asked him why he's against polygamy. I wonder if anyone else has ever asked him that question. But I think the residents of Baker Village Apartments limited their weirdness to gang membership and drug-pushing.



(WLTZ asked this question because the Oprah Winfrey Show focused on the fundamentalist church group in Texas, where men reportedly have multiple wives. As a lifelong single man, I only have one thing to say about this - don't they teach the principle of sharing?)



+ Columbus High School crushed Crisp County twice, in the second round of the Georgia state baseball playoffs. Was anyone really surprised by this? Mess with Blue Devils, and you could get burned to a Crisp.



+ Disgraced former Louisiana State quarterback Ryan Perrilloux told the Birmingham News he plans to enroll and play this fall at Jacksonville State. That team needs to have a good offensive line - or else he'll frequently be in Perrilloux's conditions.



+ Instant Message to Tedi's Coffee and SweeTreats in downtown Phenix City: Aw, c'mon - three dollars for a muffin?! A muffin with a hole in the bottom?! What do you put in it, gasoline?






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