19 AUG 09: Doll's House

You might not recognize him, but Columbus residents probably know her. She's appeared in TV and radio commercials for years. And years ago, we noted on this blog her face was peeling -- a face on a billboard above Interstate 185.

The woman we're talking about is "Hi Y'all" Cissy Doll - and her husband Rob may be in a financial pinch right now. The new location of Rob Doll Nissan was mentioned in the Ledger-Enquirer the other day. But when it's in the legal notices under foreclosures instead of the classified ads under "cash for clunkers," that's not a good sign.

Someone started spreading rumors to the news media during the spring that the new Rob Doll Nissan site was in financial trouble. The management denied it at the time - but now the property on Whittlesey Road is scheduled to go on the auction block in two weeks. It looks like the perfect place to store your collection of Hummers, before production on them stops.

Cissy Doll's radio ads in April and May indicated June would be moving month for Rob Doll Nissan. But that didn't happen, and Mr. Doll told the Ledger-Enquirer it was due to a dispute with Nissan's financial company [19 Jun]. At the time, I considered it no big deal - because haggling is common in the car-selling business.

But the dispute remains unresolved, so the site of the new Rob Doll dealership is now listed among the foreclosures. Doll told the Ledger-Enquirer Tuesday his attorneys hope to work out a deal within two weeks -- and the "over-and-under" for the financing rate is 4.75 percent.

The Rob Doll Nissan web site still claims a move to Whittlesey Road will occur "soon." By using that word, he's not boxed in by promises anymore -- even though his dealership remains stuck on Box Road.

Richard Hyatt's web site noted a curious coincidence several weeks ago. Rob Doll's home is down the street from where the former mansion of Bill Heard stands, in the Green Island Hills neighborhood. Of course, Doll would say this explains his desire for a new location on Whittlesey Road - to promote gas savings.

But Rob Doll admitted to the newspaper he's cut his staff in Columbus and Americus by more than half, because of the recession. I've noticed less advertising for his dealership as well. If Cissy Doll isn't careful, she'll be replaced as the best-looking car saleswoman on Columbus TV by Emanuel Jones's daughter.

Rob Doll also is well-known in Columbus as a Republican Party leader. In fact, he's refusing to take part in President Obama's "Cash for Clunkers" program.
Doll argues it will inflate the price of used cars for low-income drivers in coming years. Doll somehow did NOT mention how he's likely to make more money, if used car lots go out of business.

BLOG EXCLUSIVE UPDATE: Chattahoochee Valley Community College begins its fall semester today - but without its usual library. A staff member told your blog Tuesday Owen Hall probably will be closed for the rest of the year. The leaking roof couldn't be fixed in time to stop, well, a rain-fall.

The initial guess in June was that CVCC's Owen Hall would have to be closed as much as three months for repairs [23 Jun]. Either the library roof damage is worse than expected, or all the roofing companies were grabbed by Columbus State University after the downtown tornado.

The blog of CVCC's Learning Resource Center indicates all of the center's books and records have been moved to a "local storage facility." About 56,000 items in the collection are.... well, they're somewhere. Don't librarians usually oppose this kind of secrecy, when it comes to books?

A makeshift CVCC library still is available at Brassell Hall. During the summer, laptop computers were added for students to print out items. You know -- important things like essays, term papers, photos of Megan Fox....

Now a quick tour of other Tuesday topics:

+ WLTZ reported the three-day furlough in Muscogee County schools will cost Superintendent Susan Andrews $2,125 in pay. But don't worry about her income - simply find her a nice educational conference where she can give a paid speech.

+ Phenix City Superintendent Larry DiChiara told WTVM his district has about 330 more students this term. So far, he's been able to accommodate them all without resorting to portable classrooms. If some of the students in the "Freshman Academy" look especially young, don't think too much about it.

+ Fort Benning held a "deployment fair" for families of the Third Brigade. Hmmmm - who DOES bake the best cookies, for surviving a 110-degree afternoon in Iraq?

+ United Way President Scott Ferguson appeared on WDAK radio's "Viewpoint." He said funding for "midnight basketball" in Marion County is worthwhile, because police say crime goes down during the season. Is that all it takes - giving young people a legal opportunity to steal something?

+ The suburban Atlanta food company Curry & Echols announced a recall of one kind of pickle, due to a difficulty with jars sealing. The batch was only distributed in Georgia - so we can say this peculiar pickle problem is particular to Peach State pallets.

+ The Southeastern Conference took back some of its new rules for football fans attending games. Twitter messages from stadiums had been banned, but they'll now be allowed. Game clips posted on YouTube had been barred, but now that will be limited to live streaming video. And if you spot Erin Andrews on the sidelines, please photograph her from the bust line up.

+ Instant Message to Brett Favre: Enough already! Now you ARE playing quarterback again?! Your chances of ever becoming a politician are practically gone.

SCHEDULED THURSDAY: What could be the Columbus political debate of the year (and we might post something early about it)....

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