15 DEC 08: RATTLED IN ATL?

We took Friday off from blogging because of an all-day trip to metro Atlanta. Since we went to the north suburbs, we were reminded that it sometimes seems like an all-day trip simply to get THROUGH Atlanta.

We allocated two-and-a-half hours to get to the funeral for Atlanta radio host and former co-worker Mike Kavanagh [9 Dec] -- and we needed every minute of it to reach our destination. If that sounds strange to some of you who commute, we should point out one important fact. When I drive, I'm one of those weirdos who tries NOT to speed.

The pace of our trip was slowed north of LaGrange, by 29 miles of construction on Interstate 85. It seems like crews have been widening the highway for years, from four lanes to six. At last - a construction crew which makes the Phenix City Streetscape project look fast.

The speed limit dropped to 60 or even 50 miles per hour from Meriwether County to north of Newnan. It's no fun for me to drive up a highway with a tall concrete barrier to your right, instead of a shoulder. But then again, the South is full of NASCAR fans....

That NASCAR spirit showed when I reached the heart of Atlanta. A white van raced around my car on the downtown connector, zigging back and forth in various lanes. Either a woman was about to give birth, or the two-hour-only sale in Buckhead was too good to miss.

Even though I was making good time, I needed to take the Georgia 400 toll road to reach the funeral service on time. So I turned north on I-85 -- and found traffic slowing for an overturned white van along the roadside at Buford Highway. I don't know if it was that same fast van. License plates at 90 miles per hour can be a blur, you know.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn the Georgia 400 toll road through Buckhead still costs only 50 cents -- the same price I paid when I last drove on it about 12 years ago. Then again, maybe I shouldn't post that fact. Governor Sonny Perdue might refigure his next budget.

The funeral mass for Mike Kavanagh was held at a large Catholic church in Johns Creek, a relatively new city east of Roswell. It was created by people who grew tired of being under Fulton County government. But that name - how many teenagers already have turned that into crude jokes?

If any current or former CNN employees were at the funeral besides myself, I didn't see them. The only familiar face I noticed was Mike Kavanagh's co-worker, WRCG talk show host Clark Howard. No, I didn't ask for his autograph - or for advice about my 401(k) plan.

Clark Howard sat several rows in front of me - and the way he kept looking around the large church sanctuary, you'd think he had never been inside a Catholic church in his life. Either that, or this "consumer guru" was deciding all the stained glass on the windows was terribly overpriced.

As the one-hour funeral mass ended, a true celebration of Mike Kavanagh's life began. As about 300 mourners left the sanctuary for a fellowship hall down the hallway, a man played bagpipes in the foyer of the church. I'd kilt to have that sort of musical skill....

The fellowship hall had a table displaying mementos from Mike Kavanagh's life -- but also a long snack table with vegetables and sweets, and a drink table with everything from lemonade to Diet Coke. A woman behind that table admitted to me she felt a bit like a bartender.

Several people offered personal tributes to Mike Kavanagh. Clark Howard gave his comments in tag-team with fellow WSB Radio personality Scott Slade. It ended with Slade reciting Kavanagh's favorite poem - and I've never heard the words to the Notre Dame fight song read more dramatically in my life.

-> We played poker this past week at perhaps the biggest tournament in Columbus. Read about it at our other blog, "On the Flop!" <--

BLOG UPDATE: We have now posted two audio clips, which could be at the heart of the federal grand jury investigation of Mark Shelnutt. hey're both taken from a video recording of a February hearing in Harris County Court. No, the person who left that DVD at our door has not come back to have it returned.

The audio clips from a hearing last February have Atlanta attorney Derrick Wright explaining why Mark Shelnutt might have to be called as a witness, if Wright's client Tamika Hall was charged in a drug case. She wound up being a witness for the state - but that never stopped some lawyers from giving a good long speech.

The video of that first clip shows Mark Shelnutt sitting at a defense table, showing no emotion at all. But minutes later, he rises and says Derrick Wright is wrong to make such accusations in open court. Shelnutt also wonders if the prosecution is out to get him, instead of the drug suspects. Well, that probably would get more journalists to attend the hearing....

BLOG CORRECTION: The new head football coach at Auburn University actually arrived Sunday night. It was Athletics Director Jay Jacobs who was jeered at the airport Saturday -- as if supporters of Senator Richard Shelby didn't think Tommy Tuberville deserved a big bailout, either.

New head coach Gene Chizik declared to hundreds of welcoming supporters: "I'm home." Is Auburn heaven? No, it's simply far from Iowa.

Now let's see what else caught our attention Sunday:

+ The Ledger-Enquirer listed the highest-paid public servants in Muscogee County. Incoming school superintendent Susan Andrews will have the highest salary, at $170,000 - twice as much as the mayor earns. Maybe Jim Wetherington now is having second thoughts about leaving Calvary Christian School....

(How interesting to read that the principal of the Teenage Parenting Center makes more money than veteran Juvenile Court Judge Aaron Cohn. Some of us wondered why Cohn was still working in his nineties. He may be trying to finish on top.)

+ WRBL continued to be web-only, in terms of news updates. And its digital "Weather 24/7" channel didn't update the Five-Day Planner forecast all weekend. It's fun to check that on a Sunday night, and see where the meteorologist got it wrong two days in a row.

+ The Atlanta Falcons moved into playoff contention by topping Tampa Bay 13-10 in overtime. Of course, some sports talk show now will claim the Falcons "control their own destiny." That's like saying I control my own destiny when I drive to work - because one passing sleepy driver could change everything.

+ Instant Message to Peach Bowl Lanes: First of all, your computer robbed me of a ball in the fourth frame of my first game. Secondly, what's the deal with bright orange bowling balls? Do people check them out on weekends, during hunting season?

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