30 JUL 08: CARBON COPS

All right, you serial business burglars - Columbus Council has had enough! It approved a resolution Tuesday, allowing the city to begin hiring 100 new police officers immediately. The next time you break into a restaurant at 1:00 a.m., you might find an off-duty officer making extra money by cleaning up the kitchen.

Columbus Council decided not to wait for the one-percent sales tax money to start rolling in next year. The members want the process for hiring officers to start now. And who knows - if the 100 additions bring things under control, each Councilor might wind up with an officer of his/her own.

So where will the city get the money to begin hiring police officers early? The Columbus Council resolution permits the use of several million dollars from the recent Continental Carbon lawsuit. The Phenix City company couldn't keep its dirt under control - so now it will help Columbus do it.

(Are you noticing this, Fort Benning? Foul up too many "controlled burns," and Muscogee County Schools could get the money for several new buildings.)

Police Chief Ricky Boren says the current vacancies on the force will be filled first. It was surprising to learn Columbus is down to only three openings. But is that because Mayor Jim Wetherington is impressing so many candidates -- or because the Georgia unemployment rate is suddenly so high?

Chief Ricky Boren explained the quick authorization will NOT mean he'll be in a rush to add 100 new police officers. He says all candidates have to undergo a series of checks, including a psychological assessment. If only the voters could give political candidates the same sort of thing....

Add a required stint at the police academy, and 100 newly-hired officers in Columbus might not be patrolling the streets for 12 to 18 months. So Columbus Council has a little time to figure out where the get the money for all those new patrol cars.

If you think Columbus is the only city which has faced police staffing problems, consider Atlanta. A five-year audit revealed Tuesday shows that city's police force typically has 200 vacant positions. We hope the Republicans who oppose "big government" walk Atlanta's streets with smiles on their faces....

The audit also shows about 20 percent of Atlanta's police officers have left the force in the last two years. So Columbus officers may move to Atlanta for higher pay -- and only then they hear about the Fort Benning recruiters offering even pricier jobs in Iraq.

Then there's the interesting story from Tuesday involving Phenix City Police. Marcus Phillips was sentenced to ten years in prison for breaking into the police headquarters evidence room and stealing items - not once, but twice. What went wrong the first time? Did his legal counsel suggest he needed a search warrant?

Prosecutors say Marcus Phillips used a simple screwdriver to break through four doors, and enter the Phenix City Police evidence room. Police assured reporters they have now improved security. Break through one door and you'll hear a threat from the City Manager - then with the next door, you're threatened by the mayor.

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BLOG UPDATE: Bert Coker finally responded Tuesday night to the message we left him about his campaign signs [22 Jul]. He did NOT declare me the "Idiot of the Week" - not even for last week. So if no one claims the title by Thursday night, we might open the floor for nominations.

In fact, Bert Coker told me he's partly responsible for the end of the "disclaimer rule" on campaign signs. He was so annoyed by a Bob Poydasheff for Mayor sign being planted in his yard that he complained to the state about it - and then Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker decided the rule no longer applied. So Baker's "tough as nails," but not as tough as yard stakes.

Bert Coker says Thurbert Baker cited a ruling on a similar law in Ohio, in explaining his decision to allow campaign signs which merely name candidates. Coker still wonders what an Ohio ruling has to do with Georgia election laws. And wait till the couples who want homosexual marriage contact the Attorney General's office, and bring up Coker's comments.

Now let's pull up stakes on that topic, and consider other Tuesday news:

+ Barbara Gauthier of Cleveland was named the replacement for Dee Armstrong on the evening TV news. Gauthier is a Waverly Hall native who once was an anchor for BET's Nightly News - back when news reports on BET meant something other than rappers on "106 & Park."

(Isn't this amazing? A TV station was able to fill one of the most powerful local media positions in only a few weeks. Maybe the Muscogee County School Board should call those bosses, and find out how it's done.)

+ Aflac Chair Dan Amos co-hosted CNBC's "Squawk Box" for the second time. If Amos keeps this up, he might become Barbara Gauthier's co-anchor in a few years....

(Synovus Chairman Richard Anthony again appeared with Dan Amos, and said home equity is a banking problem in parts of coastal Florida. It almost makes you wonder if real estate agents there know where the first hurricane will strike.)

+ The Ledger-Enquirer's banner front-page headline declared: "Families Want Registe Found." Wow, that's a surprise! You mean the Kilgores and Newtons don't want Michael Registe to be swallowed whole by Caribbean quicksand?

+ WLTZ reported the Windsor Hotel in "Your Hometown, Americus" is holding a contest to rename the Grand Dining Room. Let's see - given our current inflation problems, how about the Five Grand?

+ Speaking of which: the Alabama Beverage Control Board revealed alcohol sales are up nine percent this month, compared with last July. Let's all be thankful that driving is down, at the same time drinking is up.

+ The organizers of the Georgia Music Hall of Fame announced rap star Ludacris will be inducted in September. For him to enter any hall of fame at the age of 30 is simply.... uhhhhh, well, you know....

+ Atlanta's baseball team traded first baseman Mark Teixeira to the Los Angeles Angels. With Nomar Garciaparra already playing for the Dodgers, fans of Georgia Tech baseball will be staggering to work every morning from now through mid-October.

+ Instant Message to Muscogee County Tax Commissioner Lula Huff: Aw, c'mon - you're sending out property tax bills on the weekend of the Georgia sales tax holiday?! Is this what happens when you're unopposed for re-election?

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