9 JAN 09: Trouble in Our Middle-East

Sometimes your hunches are right, and sometimes your hunches are wrong. Spend enough time at a poker table, and you learn that. That's why I didn't make a prediction on Thursday night's college football championship game. I had a hunch Oklahoma might beat Florida. But then, I actually had a hunch the Detroit Lions would have a winning pro football season.

A reader's hunch about crime in one part of Columbus may be right after all. Today we have a surprising e-mail response to our Tuesday topic:

I just completed reading the article titled Shutdown at Sundown. I am the owner of Captain Toms Restaurant located on Macon Road. Our closing at 6pm does have something to do with the crime rate increasing in this particular area of town. Monday-Wednesday tend to be our slowest days, therefore, increasing the risk of a burglary against the restaurant, the employees and our patrons. The traffic on this end of Macon Road has almost ceased to exist. Since the North Mall development, the locally owned businesses on Macon Road have been forgotten. Our parking lots are densly lit, under populated and the empty stores within the shopping complex's; Who wants to venture out under those conditions? Not me!!! Crime is on the rise! With the unemployment rate rising daily, companies shutting down, corporations bankrupting, foreclosures and don't forget the individuals who just choose the life of crime leaves the honest, hardworking citizens of Columbus scared to go out at night. Cheryl Wills

In a way, this decision takes Columbus another step toward being like Florida. We've had a lot of warm days lately. And now you're rewarded for "early-bird dining."

Cheryl Wills's concerns led me to make a call Thursday to Teresa Tomlinson at Midtown Inc. But I quickly learned the section of Macon Road with Captain Tom's is outside her organization's boundaries. Midtown officially stops at Interstate 185. So which group claims Macon Road east of there - at least until Columbus State University buys it out?

(Midtown Inc.'s other boundaries are Tenth Avenue on the west, Talbotton/Warm Springs Road on the north and Martin Luther King Boulevard on the south. That may come as a surprise to business owners on Buena Vista Road, who keep hearing about nothing but improvements on Wynnton Road.)

But Teresa Tomlinson did offer thoughts on Cheryl Wills's concerns in general. "We have a crime problem in Columbus, period," Tomlinson told me. No, I do NOT think that's why the Cottonmouths began a 20-day road trip Thursday night....

Teresa Tomlinson does NOT think there's been a deliberate "targeting of crime in Midtown." That's comforting to know - even though some criminals are so dumb they might think Midtown has a Target.

Teresa Tomlinson pointed me to the Midtown Inc. web site, which has police charts comparing four prime Columbus shopping areas. Did you realize between January 2007 and June 2008, Columbus Park Crossing had three times as many robberies as Cross Country Plaza? Of course, skeptics might argue that's because Columbus Park Crossing has many more stores to rob....

On top of that, Peachtree Mall had three times as many larceny cases as Cross Country Plaza between January 2007 and June 2008. Empty stores could be an issue at the mall as well, as radio ads Thursday announced the Hallmark card store is closing. At least you can buy sympathy cards for Goody's employees at cut-rate prices.

On the other hand, Cross Country Plaza had five times more burglaries than the other shopping areas in that 18-month period. Teresa Tomlinson blames that on a burglary ring which police may have busted recently. Any other rings at Cross Country Plaza were moved to The Landings by V.V. Vick.

I didn't realize until Thursday that Teresa Tomlinson and her husband own the Butler's Pantry restaurants. Tomlinson told me they have NOT adjusted their closing times, because of any crime problems. I only discovered during a check online after the phone call that those restaurants have been closing at 6:00 p.m. all along.

Since I had Teresa Tomlinson on the phone, I asked her about one other pesky Midtown issue. What IS the deal with that unopened CVS pharmacy on Macon Road? Imagine my surprise to learn she doesn't really know the answer, either....

The CVS pharmacy appeared ready to open in September. Then it posted an opening date of sometime in January. Teresa Tomlinson guessed the company didn't want to move away from Cross Country Plaza during the holiday season. Wow - even businesses are looking for January discount sales, only here from moving companies.

E-MAIL UPDATE: Another e-mail in recent days has directed us to a photo collection in Savannah. The pictures were taken by someone with a very similar name to mine -- except he has an extra H, and a T on the end. My last name is much less cluttered than that....

It appears the Richard Burkhart in Savannah is on the staff of the daily newspaper. That would explain the variety of pictures in his "Favorites 2008" gallery. But the "Spotted" section also uses volunteer photographers -- who probably get paid as much for their pictures as I do.

This is an example of why you should beware of imitations. If a blogger spells his last name with extra letters, it could be a scam. But please let me know first, so I can beat Zaneta Lowe to the story.

We also caution you not to confuse this blog with the Dr. Richard Burkard, who teaches college-level Spanish in Pennsylvania. He also appears to dabble in writing religious articles - but he's probably under the collegiate pressure to "publish or perish." If I fail to post here some days, it could be due to a late-night poker windfall.

Now for some things which appeared downright truthful Thursday....

+ Phenix City Elementary School held a "Virtual PTA" meeting, with several groups connected online by web cameras. There are several advantages to this approach. For instance, mothers only have to bake one-fourth as many cookies for the snack table.

+ A 100-year-old home in Smiths Station was moved across a street, so a new high school can be built. If they call the school Smiths Station South, law officers will have an easy way to test whether students are drunk or sober.

+ The Associated Press reported Alabama Treasurer Kay Ivey is taking steps toward running for governor. She's hired a pollster. She's renting office space. And she'll probably be flying to the Northeast, to seek "Ivey League" donations.

+ The Carmike 15 cinemas showed the Bowl Championship Series title game in 3-D. Those showoffs - moving beyond the "Big Switch" to the big change in eyeglasses.

(I didn't know about this special 3-D showing until the Florida-Oklahoma game was in the fourth quarter. It turns out Tim Tebow wasn't the only person with a "triple option.")

+ Several reports indicated Atlanta pitching legend John Smoltz will sign a one-year contract with the Boston Red Sox. I know Smoltz didn't pitch when the Atlanta franchise was in Boston, but sometimes it seems that way....

+ Talladega Superspeedway announced it will cut the prices of some tickets in half for this year's races. As long as the beer cans are the usual 12 ounces, most NASCAR fans won't really care.

The number of unique visitors to our blog has doubled since 2006! To advertise to them, offer a story tip, make a PayPal donation or comment on this blog, write me - but be warned, I may post your e-mail comment and offer a reply.

BURKARD BULK MAIL INDEX: 1,275 (+ 48, 3.9%)

The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the author -- not necessarily those of anyone else in Columbus living or dead, and perhaps not even you.

© 2003-09 Richard Burkard, all rights reserved.