28 NOV 04: FLAME-WORTHY?
Even before Saturday afternoon's downpour, it was out. I passed it about 1:30 p.m., and it was out. The "Eternal Flame" outside the Government Center wasn't lit. So which S.O.A. Watch prankster pulled this off -- and how?
I don't drive down Ninth Street every day, so I can't tell you how long the flame "in honor of our veterans" has been out. Bobby Peters might know, since his house is practically across the street. He apparently doesn't have a pocket lighter, to get it going again.
About a year ago, someone suggested I investigate how much it costs the city of Columbus to keep the Eternal Flame lit. After all, natural gas isn't cheap these days - but veterans probably would respond with that cliche, "the price of freedom
isn't free."
The person who made this suggestion also offered a warning - that some terrorist might try to blow up the Eternal Flame. He said that would damage not only the Government Center, "but also Bobby Peters's house." Surely there's a better way to persuade a Judge-Elect to move into your neighborhood....
But I confess I haven't made the phone calls to the Government Center or Atmos Energy - not to ask about the cost of lighting the flame, and not to ask about someone blowing it up. Either way, I'm concerned my monthly bills might increase.
Could what I saw Saturday be a sign of things to come? After all, City Manager Carmen Cavezza has talked of extensive budget cuts. But you'd think a former Fort Benning commanding general would wait until he leaves office to shut down a veterans' memorial....
I doubt any politician in Columbus would dare recommend the Eternal Flame be turned off. But then, I doubted anyone would dare propose a tax vote which might end the property tax freeze....
Meanwhile, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Buena Vista Road still sits unrepaired - months after a driver struck and damaged it. C'mon folks! Is everybody committed to building Habitat for Humanity houses for the next three months?
(But you know what? Maybe we should leave that memorial "as is" until late January. That could be the perfect community service project for S.O.A. Watch suspects.)
E-MAIL UPDATE: Uh-oh -- speaking of "flames," your blog received not one upset message Saturday, but two from the same place:
Bloger, why do so many people feel the need to make some crack, (probably showing when you bend over right now) about people crying, you, a few from the Columbus news paper, I think if you really did something besides write, you might see it is really exhausting , and women, me in this case , cry more when they are tired, so next year I bet you 100 dollars if you hang with me from the Monday before the event till the event around 3:30 when they started asking me questions I bet you will be crying as well, and I promise you I will count whining as crying because that is what men do when they are tired....
Also because you are so ill informed , I didn't have a restaurant I had a private party place and that was so I could control who came. I always had more than I needed or wanted, that is why I sold, Miriam tidwell
Ms. Tidwell, since you brought it up - I experimented with what you mentioned as I wrote this reply. No, "it" was NOT showing. Some of us do tuck our shirts inside our running shorts.
My concern over the years has NOT been about "cracks" in the area you're describing. For some reason, my pants tend to develop holes in the inside thigh area. If I stand up straight, people don't notice it - but then again, does that make the problem worse?
Then there's the pair of running shorts I wore for a twilight jog tonight (a run shortened by rain). Somehow, a small hole has developed in the middle of the backside of that pair. I'd rather people wonder about the safety pin in the back, than see through that hole and remove any doubt.
(Could it be that a hungry cockroach ATE that hole in my running shorts -- one which prefers a high-fiber diet?)
But I guess that's not why Miriam Tidwell wrote, was it? And come to think of it, I don't recall ever seeing a stand-up comic on her TV-16 talk show....
I had nothing against Miriam Tidwell crying during "God Bless Fort Benning." [21 Nov] If 15,000 people showed up for my big celebration, I'd probably break down and cry as well. For one thing, I wouldn't have anywhere near enough snacks
to feed them.
Hopefully Miriam Tidwell had some time to rest this past week, after all the activities involved with God Bless Fort Benning. Husband Jack shouldn't have required her to prepare the Thanksgiving turkey - especially since his cancer
treatment center has devices which can heat things in a hurry.
So men whine when they are tired, eh? Miriam Tidwell should have been where I was Thanksgiving afternoon. After dinner, so many WOMEN demanded other people prepare coffee that I openly asked if "Thanksgiving whine" was being served with the meal.
But hold on here - Miriam Tidwell "didn't have a restaurant"?! Then what is this "Miriam's Café and Gallery" I see in the BellSouth Yellow Pages, under Restaurants? Who was the "ill informed" person who bought that listing for several years? Ms. Tidwell may have controlled some things, but maybe not her advertising.
And that's not all: what about that grand opening I attended on 13th Street 15 months ago? [15 Aug 03] Didn't I see something there about Miriam's opening up for breakfast? Maybe Ms. Tidwell sent customers across the street to Lewis-Jones for doughnuts.
Now let's compose ourselves (hanky optional), and send some Instant Messages:
+ To everyone parked at Peachtree Mall around 5:00 p.m. Saturday: I hope you don't mind - but I laughed at you as I drove by all your cars, on the way home from church. Lambs can be led to slaughter, you know.
+ To the organizers of Friday's after-Thanksgiving "Buy Nothing Day": I had to clean my clothes, so I went to a coin laundry. Does that count?
+ To WRCG radio: I like those new, rocking jingles. But as someone who scans the AM dial a lot, it's going to take awhile for me to sing your letters instead of "WBBM" in Chicago where I heard the jingles first.
+ To Cascade Hills Church: I've never seen anything like what I found on your web site -- a church "Marketing Director." Some of us Christians call these people evangelists.
+ To whomever parks a car at the Oakland Park Shopping Center with a "Money Come to Me!" bumper sticker on the back: Wellll - I suppose it would, if your sticker distracted me and I rear-ended you....
+ To the new "Easy Cheese Pawn Shop" along Veterans Parkway: That name is easily the cheesiest I've seen on any business in awhile.
(And about the bright orange paint job on your building - are you illustrating cheese with that? Or are you taking sides in Ukraine's political crisis?)
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