11 MAY 09: Double Exposure
Some days it's fun being your local humor blogger. But sometimes it can be downright uncomfortable. For instance, I spent time on the phone Sunday night with a man who says he's trying to live a private life - but other people keep spreading rumors about him. And no, I was NOT on the phone with Mayor Jim Wetherington.
The son of former Phenix City Mayor Sammy Howard wants to make one thing clear: he was NOT fired from Cable TV of East Alabama, after hosting a phone-in talk show there. Craig Howard says he left by his own decision, on what he calls "good terms." He doesn't even want to face the people claiming otherwise at Thursday night's wrestling matches.
Craig Howard admitted his cable talk show became controversial, after he discovered a legal notice. It was a proposal in the Alabama Legislature to give Phenix City Council members a raise [24 Apr] -- but the bill never had the words "Phenix City" in it. The city is called a "Class 5 municipality," which I think is one level short of a full-scale pandemic.
Craig Howard says he dared to call the proposed raise for Phenix City Council members "deceptive" on his cable program. For some odd reason, several council members didn't like that and complained to his boss -- thus disproving one rumor. Yes, Howard's talk show DID have some viewers.
(The complaints from Phenix City Council members reportedly were passed along through Russell County Commissioner Ronnie Reed. Maybe he was hoping somehow to get a raise out of the deal, too.)
Craig Howard says his Dad and former mayor advised him to back off on his talk show, after he mentioned the proposed raise -- and so he did. But Phenix City Councilors were complaining Howard called them names. Imagine if Howard had taken the whole matter to Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity.
But Craig Howard says he was uncomfortable with the path the talk show was taking, so he looked for another job. He's found it now with a digital billboard company, and he'd rather live a private life. So the early leader for the next Phenix City mayoral election seems to be Jeff Hardin....
(You may be asking where that proposed raise stands. We checked Sunday night, and the bill is stuck in an Alabama House committee -- unless it floated away in last week's rainstorm.)
Craig Howard admitted to me he can't believe the "firestorm" that's developed here in recent weeks about him. Sadly, it's no surprise to me - and if Howard happened to be a youth league baseball coach, things might be even worse.
Craig Howard was absolutely sure who spread the rumor that he was fired. In fact, Howard named the man - but he'll be surprised to read today he was wrong. The rumor came from the man who has claimed to be "Russell C. Ounti" in snail mails to this blog. Today we feel prepared to name this mysterious writer - in other words, make him an Out-ee.
The latest letter from Russell C. Ounti reached us Saturday, in the nick of time to avoid today's two-cent postage increase. The slip of paper had correspondence relating to Craig Howard, with the addressee and signer were blotted out. But they weren't blotted out well enough - and the names were evident in the light of day. Well, the light of our living room lamp....
The note about Craig Howard was written to "Bob" - and based on earlier letters from Russell C. Ounti, we can only conclude that means former Hurtsboro Constable Bob Schweiger. You'll recall Schweiger sent e-mail to us declaring Howard a "loser" [19 Apr] From the latest note, perhaps he considers it a best-of-three match.
(By the way, the note was signed by "Ronnie." We can only guess which Ronnie it is. It might be fellow Democrat Ronnie Reed -- but I think developer Ronnie Gilley is too busy trying to salvage The Phenixian project.)
Do you realize what this revelation means? Russell C. Ounti has claimed to be a big backer of Hurtsboro's Robert Schweiger -- and wrote us last year urging a blog investigation of then-Russell County Commissioner J.D. Upshaw [30 Mar 08]. Now we've concluded he IS Robert Schweiger, who was running against Upshaw at the time! Maybe I've missed my calling, to be a political consultant.
Mr., ahem, Ounti gave us a phone number for calling Roy Greene at Cable TV of East Alabama, to get his side of the Craig Howard story. We left a message after an uncertain beep on the phone Sunday night, but there was no response. Then again, he could have been out repairing storm-damaged cable lines.
So an effort to expose one person in Russell County actually winds up exposing another. We gave Russell C. Ounti the benefit of the doubt for a long time. But now that another apparently bogus rumor has been passed our way, we'll put this in language an old Constable like Robert Schweiger can understand - the jig is up.
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BLOG UPDATE: Meanwhile back at the Council, Phenix City officials are heading to a church tonight. Another snail mailer doesn't seem pleased about that. Here's part of what the "13th Street Businessperson" sent us last week:
Why are we holding Council meeting in a church (May 11, 2009) Why not make such presentations at Council meetings or at the Activity Center? Are such meetings scheduled at other city churches? Didn't separation of church and state have something to do with the establishment of the original 13 colonies?
"It's not necessarily a meeting," a woman at the Phenix City Clerk's office told us Friday. It's a "town hall forum" council members are invited to attend. Of course, the members who don't show up risk being branded as potential atheists.
The town hall forum at Phenix City's Pine Hill Baptist Church was organized by the "Citizens for Unification, Revitalization and Economic Development." I'm not familiar with this group -- but based on its name, it wants Phenix City CURED of something.
As for the U.S. history part of this letter: Some of the original colonies opposed the Church of England. But the Jamestown colony of the 1600s required worship at the Church of England -- so when Phenix City Councilors go to a Baptist church, they almost look progressive.
But our online search found no law against city councils gathering at church buildings. In fact, the relatively new city of Dunwoody, Georgia held council meetings at a United Methodist Church. But a new City Hall opens today -- so the balancing act of council members giving invocations probably will end.
Other questions raised by the Businessperson will be held until another day. We need to move on to Sunday's news headlines....
+ A late-afternoon thunderstorm dropped heavy rain on Columbus, and knocked WRBL's digital signal off the air. I wouldn't want to be the station managers today, reading all the angry e-mails from infomercial fans.
+ The Piggly Wiggly store on River Road began offering disinfectant wipes for all shopping carts. Staff members confirm it's in response to the swine flu outbreak - and if a store named Piggly Wiggly is this concerned about swine flu, maybe we all should be.
+ The annual "Best Ranger" competition concluded at Fort Benning. The final day of the three-day endurance event involved being dropped by helicopter onto the Port Columbus museum site, then paddling a canoe to post. Aw, c'mon - they could have made this tougher, by firing the Civil War cannons.
+ Our Burkard Bulk Mail Index dropped to another record low, below the 470 mark. If the spam count keeps dropping, can we REALLY say the economy is coming back?
The number of unique visitors to our blog is up more than 14 percent so far this year! 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: 461 (- 38, 7.6%, record low)
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