28 OCT 08: BETTER EARLY THAN LATE?
So let's see if I have this straight. Columbus had more than a month of "early voting," and Monday we moved on to "advance voting." Is there any real difference? I mean, other than the word "advance" inspiring Fort Benning soldiers to vote?
Stunningly long lines were seen at Columbus's four voting sites Monday. So most of the people who lined up to "advance vote" wound up falling behind in their plans....
The line to vote at the Government Center stretched across part of the basement parking garage. Who knows how many people changed their minds about a couple of races, when they saw the spots reserved for Columbus Council members?
People waited about an hour at one point, to vote at the Government Center. So why didn't these people line up to vote there over the last five weeks? They probably could have saved a lot of time -- and the line outside certainly would have been warmer.
The waiting time to vote at the Columbus Public Library was as long as three hours. You could see how disorganized things were there -- because the lines didn't go past any stacks of books, so people could read something.
You couldn't blame the long lines on the newest idea in voting. Columbus State University's Cunningham Center was the site Monday for "vote and vax" -- combining the election with flu vaccine. The candidates took shots at each other for months, and now you can take one of your own.
Mayor Jim Wetherington took part in a media event Monday, showing how "vote and vax" works. He received the flu vaccine, yet admitted to WLTZ he does NOT plan to vote until today. It's nice to know our mayor has plenty of time on his hands these days....
Mayor Wetherington encouraged people to get a flu shot, saying the 23-dollar cost was like an investment. He said the payoff will come in the form of good health. Considering what's happened to other investments during October, I'm not sure even this one is guaranteed.
Mayor Jim Wetherington says about 15,000 people in Columbus have taken advantage of early voting so far. Based on the lines which formed Monday, your best chance to avoid crowds might actually be to head for the polls on Election Day.
Did you hear about the long line at one Georgia polling place last week - where a woman waiting outside collapsed in the heat? It's hard to believe the thought of seeing Saxby Chambliss or Jim Martin would make anyone swoon....
Meanwhile, the Georgia Supreme Court refused Monday to block the state's "photo ID" law for voters. Democrats tried one more appeal to get the rule waived - even though they could have borrowed some of Barack Obama's excess campaign funds, and made identification cards for almost everyone.
BLOG UPDATE: Muscogee County Sheriff Ralph Johnson brought up one lingering rumor about the Kenneth Walker case Monday. In an interview with Richard Hyatt's web site, Johnson said one of the four people stopped on that fateful night claimed Walker was separated from his wife. If she wasn't in the Yukon with him, they were at least separated by a few miles....
Somehow the separation story involving Kenneth Walker has spread all over Columbus since 2003. Skeptics have made it sound like evidence that Walker was doing something wrong, or wasn't the "family man" some have made him out to be. Yet somehow, no one seemed to make these claims when Dan Amos was between marriages.
Of course, the statement by one of Kenneth Walker's fellow passengers does NOT necessarily mean the separation claim is true -- and the Sheriff was never asked in the interview if it was true or not. But this public statement may settle the issue once and for all. It could take a defamation of character suit by the family, but it'll be settled.
We returned to the poker table last week, after a few weeks away. Read how we did at our other blog, "On the Flop!"
E-MAIL UPDATE: In these shaky economic times, one reader is mulling over money....
Ways to become wealthy within 50 miles
----start a real newspaper
----open an affordable private school in Russell County in Fort Mitchell
Ways to improve budgets and schools
---Have one or two sports magnets to save on sports/coach funding
( check out the attendance at football games)
---Northside could have had that auditorium a long time ago by charging a toll for every car entering the driveway with an out of county and/or state car tag.
Hmmmm - what do you mean by a REAL newspaper? Do you mean something from the "good old days" of the 1990's, when Tim Chitwood stuck to a humor column?
I'm not sure people would accept "sports magnet" schools in Muscogee County. But people in Phenix City seem to like that idea - at least the ones who send their children to Glenwood.
Let's see what items we found Monday, which could fit in that real newspaper....
+ A freight train derailed along U.S. 80 in eastern Muscogee County. It spilled some bags of wheat and corn -- so we can say the train with grain went insane on the plain.
+ Reports from Russell County indicated steelworkers might be on the verge of setting a strike date against MeadWestvaco. Their contract expired almost a year ago - so with timing that good, I hope they hired an outside professional to invest their strike fund.
+ Carver High School linebacker Jarvis Jones was named to play in a national high school all-star game in January. Jones revealed his college choice is down to six schools, including Southern California. Carver's English teachers may spend Thanksgiving break rapidly writing screenplays.
+ Alabama football coach Nick Saban told reporters he's still trying to sell his team on "the idea of playing 60-minute football games." You'd think that would be easy right now. The team playing 30-minute games is Auburn.
+ Instant Message to all the TV meteorologists: Nice try, but you didn't scare me. I went running outside Monday evening, and made it 3.3 miles non-stop despite that strong north wind -- although that wind DID dry the sweat off my T-shirt.
BURKARD'S BEST BETS: FREE tacos at Taco Bell from 2:00-6:00 p.m. (one per customer).... gas for $2.56 a gallon at Pyramid Food Mart on Buena Vista Road.... and negative campaign ads outnumbering positive ads by a ratio of 7:1....
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