14 MAY 09: Terry Meetings

Wednesday evening marked the end of an era in the downtown Columbus area. The last book was checked out of the old Mildred Terry Library, at Seventh and Veterans Parkway. But staff members didn't seem to be crying about it - as no Terry towels were in sight.

The Mildred Terry Branch Library was used for 56 years. But I didn't realize until I checked the library web site Wednesday night that it originally had a very different name - the "Colored/Fourth Avenue Library." It stuns me how many people who don't want the former name applied to them anymore still refer to Veterans Parkway by the latter name.

The old Mildred Terry Library admittedly was cramped for space, especially after public access computers became common. The first time I walked inside, it reminded me of a high school library -- well, except there were small computer monitors instead of a large TV set atop a cart.

The good news is that a larger Mildred Terry Library has been built next door. It's scheduled to open 2 June. But the bad news for some people is that even though it's along Veterans Parkway, there's no sign of a park anywhere around it.

The new Mildred Terry Library will have 50 public access computers, up from the current 29. Pictures posted online indicate it also will have a spacious meeting room for community events. And there will be a separate children's section -- so patrons playing online billiards won't be distracted anymore by youngsters singing rounds.

The construction of the new Mildred Terry Library is on the spot of the old library's parking lot. That's caused a few headaches, as patrons either had to park along Seventh Street or at the Columbus Career Center across the street. Thankfully, library patrons weren't required to sign up for part-time Census jobs....

Once the new Mildred Terry Library opens, the old one will be torn down. Directors say a "reading garden" will be prepared there, and open in late August. It's a wonder children haven't started the process already -- by climbing on the eight-foot-tall pile of dirt at the street corner.

While the new Mildred Terry Library is almost ready for use, it's still not fully paid off. The library web site shows about $1.4 million more is needed in donations or grants. Before you get bright ideas - no, I don't think you can take care of this by holding books for 20 years and paying the accumulated fines.

You'll be able to help pay for the new Mildred Terry Library in two weeks, when items from the old building go up for bids in a "silent auction." Since it's a library, the big surprise would have been if the auction was NOT silent.

I'll never forget my final visit to the old Mildred Terry Library last week. Because I don't have a working computer printer, I went there to get the online coupon for a KFC Grilled Chicken dinner. But I needed to download "coupon printer" software, which only an administrator could approve - and the staff didn't know how to do it. Apparently the "Software for Dummies" books were checked out.

A staff member pointed me to one library computer where people had printed out chicken coupons during the day. But someone else was using it, so I chose to wait on her - a wait which wound up being 45 minutes. Well, at least I had something to read....

After 45 minutes, the woman stood up to leave the "coupon computer." I stood about five feet to her left, ready to use it - but a woman standing to the right stepped in, took the computer and told me she'd need it for an hour-and-a-half. My attempt to be courteous apparently was overpowered by my greed for free food.

I simply smiled at that point, walked out of the Mildred Terry Library and drove to a different library to print the chicken coupon. And of course, since then KFC has called off the free offer and started offering rain checks to customers. The way this adventure has gone, that rain check will wind up in a neighbor's mailbox - and he'll need me to drive him to KFC to enjoy it.

-> Our other blog starts with poker, then goes in directions you might not expect. Visit "On the Flop!" <--

E-MAIL UPDATE: As it happened, a blog reader wrote us Wednesday about a different library....

Today I observed a lady using the bathroom at the gate entrace to the main library off Boxwood.Thanks goodness she was on the grass right off the sidewalk.I told a security guard at the side entrance what was going on ..He walked about 10 ft looked over the hill and said we have trouble with her all the time..Later I saw her enter a truck and she was so drunk she couldn't stand up..The security didn't do anything in the 10 min before the truck,but laugh with another guard about why the truck picked her up..I was in disbelief..Then I get upstairs by the magazines and there is same greasy long haired dirty man sitting in his usual everyday chair facing the front of the building..There were teens roaming every where..They were so loud on the elevator I could hear them going all the way to the second floor...If people don't have manners and respect then they should be escorted off the grounds ..I was just wondering if SPLOST covers the salary of these security guards..

There you have it, friends -- another reason why Josh McKoon is fighting in court for a park behind the library. Plant the right number of trees, and our reader never would have seen some of this.

We checked the library web site Wednesday night, and found no specific budget in the online annual report. But then again, the latest posted annual report is for 2005.... [True!]

I would guess the library security staff comes under the "operating budget," which is largely funded by property tax millage. Perhaps the Library Board should put a prod on the guards to be more pro-active - and bring in a stylist to offer patrons free makeovers.

We promised to catch up on other e-mails today. Here's one about the political scoop we apparently broke here Tuesday....

Richard, I was quite amused about Johnny Ford wanting to be sent back to Montgomery. If I lived in Tuskeegee I'd want to be sent to Montgomery or elsewhere! Tuskeegee looks like a third world country! If it weren't for the VA Hospital there unemployment would probably be close to 100% and the only money there would be from welfare and food stamps. If I'm not mistaken Johnny Ford has spent much of his adult life either as Mayor of Tuskeegee or in other elective offices representing his city. My question is: How has Tuskeegee's status improved during his years in public office? Why does the town still look so bad? It's too bad that thousands of veterans from the Columbus area have to travel to Tuskeegee for many services that are not provided by the VA Clinic in Columbus. I certainly don't mean to suggest that Johnny Ford is responsible for all of that town's problems but he certainly has had a leadership position there for many years and not much improvement can be seen.

Ooh boy - first this blog made part of Hurtsboro upset with me, and now you're trying to spread the cancer....

I've made a few visits to the Tuskegee University campus, and consider it nice and attractive. And the city has a chance to promote tourism, with the Tuskegee Airmen Memorial at Moton Field. Maybe the V.A. bus should add a history tour, and pick up patients at the National Infantry Museum.

As for how Johnny Ford has improved Tuskegee over the years - remember the groundbreaking thing he did, which Phenix City later copied and Columbus is still unable to do. Yes, Ford led the rush to Sunday beer sales in convenience stores.

But it was former President Bush who prodded then-Mayor Johnny Ford to action, during a trip to Tuskegee three years ago. Remember how Mr. Bush called for potholes to be filled on U.S. 80? [26 Apr 06] Mr. Ford then declared he needed federal grant money for the work. Hey, maybe I should try that - the next time someone writes us with a tip requiring hours of investigation.

Let's drive east on U.S. 80, from Tuskegee to Phenix City....

Phenix City's new speed limit's signs are up on broad st.

when you make a left onto Broad coming from Columbus a sign of 35 is there, not very far behind that one is one 20 - around the NEW Red Light District and then another one around the Police station is for 35. 35 is too fast for the narrow lanes anyhow.

When traveling south on Broad - keep an eye on the brick planters off to the left, that is where the patrol cars are parked between, all that sticks up are the lights on top of the car (was wondering why the planters were built).

Aha - so this is one place where Phenix City police officers are NOT "on their feet." They simply can't outrun those fast drivers.

By the way, Phenix City officials said during Monday night's town hall forum that the Streetscape work was finished at $10,000 under budget. Uhhhhh - after the budget for the project went up HOW many times?

Our last e-mail finally brings us to Columbus -- sort of:

How could the Ledger omit that the winner of the Best Ranger competition is a Columbus native?

Perhaps the newspaper didn't know. I understand the parents of Sgt. Blake Simms contacted a TV station with that information. But the official Army news release only mentions Simms as being from Fort Benning - and at events like that, Columbus can become a Benning suburb.

We thank all of you who read this blog and write us! Now let's see what else interesting happened Wednesday....

+ A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the "rails to trails" project, creating what Columbus Planning Director Rick Jones calls a "linear park" across the city. I think he mispronounced that name, and meant to call it J. Smith Lanier Park.

(Did you see the line of people wearing white shirts at the ceremony, standing on bicycles? They're apparently police cadets - and they'll be riding bikes until another car dealer goes out of business, and has to liquidate its inventory.)

+ The Georgia Board of Regents approved plans for a West Point campus of Columbus State University. Classes begin this fall - and I assume one of them will be "Korean as a Second Language."

+ The Quitman County Sheriff admitted some people are using River Bluff Park in Georgetown as a "lover's lane." Steve Newton said security cameras have caught at least two men using a restroom stall for (ahem) lewd intimate acts. There's an ingenious approach for fighting same-sex marriage -- stop the same-sex sex.

+ Pacelli pounded Washington-Wilkes in the second round of the Georgia high school baseball playoffs, sweeping a doubleheader. The Georgia High School Association should have shown Pacelli some mercy - by having the Vikings play Washington in the first game, and Wilkes in the second.

+ Instant Message to all the men defending Miss California USA: Why are you paying so much attention to her "Christian" message about marriage, while ignoring that skimpy swimsuit she wore during the pageant?

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