9 APR 06: SIXTH NO-SENSE
It's been a very rough week in one Columbus neighborhood. An area of five blocks by two blocks has seen a homicide, a shooting and a house fire. You'd think someone in this zone would have made up for all that, by winning the Mega Millions jackpot Friday night....
The trouble started last Monday morning, with the discovery of a dead body in a car at 35th Street and Sixth Avenue. It looked at first like a simple car crash, but someone inside the car was shot. It's like that theme song from "The Evidence" - one thing can lead to another.
As detectives tried to figure out who killed Kevin Stafford of Smiths Station, new trouble developed Tuesday night. A man was shot in the 3000 block of Sixth Avenue, less than five blocks away -- only this time he was NOT in a car, thus giving up a potential 4,000-pound and 70 mile-per-hour advantage.
Columbus Police say Quantavia Snellings shot Stephen Harrison in the knee, after the two quarreled about a "female friend." Somehow, I don't think they were debating how fast she can type at a word processor....
Quantavia Snellings might have shot Stephen Harrison, but Harrison might not have been exactly helpless. Police say they found Harrison with a baseball bat -- at 10:45 p.m. The practice sessions at nearby Northside Park must run extra-long, while students are on spring break.
(Yes, that ball field along Veterans Parkway is called "Northside Park," even though it's south of the River Road intersection and a long drive from Northside High School. I suppose it dates back to when Manchester Expressway really was a complete edge-of-town expressway.)
If those shootings were not enough, a home caught fire late Wednesday night in the 600 block of 33rd Street. That's almost halfway between the shooting scenes -- enough to make you wonder if the shooters had run out of bullets for a few days.
So why is this little section of Sixth Avenue having all this trouble? Some residents say drug trafficking is a serious problem. DARE can stand for "Drug Abuse Resistance and Education" - but it also can mean, "don't dare go there late at night."
I wanted to see for myself what Sixth Avenue was all about, so I drove through the neighborhood on my way home from church Saturday afternoon. I'm thankful to say no one shot at me or offered me drugs - but then again, maybe the hoodlums were taking naps before sunset.
Sixth Avenue has one church between 35th Street and a "dead end" sign at 30th Street. It also has a lot of small, tightly-spaced older houses. If anyone living there has a lot of money, he probably keeps it quiet - because the neighborhood would know in no time, and might be a bit jealous.
This road also isn't that far from the Wilson Apartments - the place where residents shoot off fireworks for fun around July 4th, in violation of state law. So maybe Sixth Avenue is considered a step up the economic ladder. And it's only a few miles down River Road from Green Island Estates....
As far as we know, the three incidents this past week are NOT connected. But the fact that they happened so close to each other ought to have the attention of Columbus Public Safety. This pocket of trouble along Sixth Avenue may deserve a police sweep -- and in case residents protest, go armed with newspapers.
E-MAIL UPDATE: Readers are setting us straight on several things today - starting with an Instant Message we sent to Phil Carter at Bill Heard Chevrolet [2 Apr]:
I'm not aware of the Plymouth model.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontiac_Tempest
Craig
Oops! Our apologies, Craig. The Tempest admittedly was before my driving age. Chrysler makes cars about clouds, not storms....
(You know: the Chrysler Cirrus, the Stratus - and I kept waiting for them to come out with a muscle car called the Cumulonimbus.)
My first car was a 1966 Impala, which my older brother sold to me for $500 after my first year of college. Serious spring cleaning at home showed me my gas mileage record for that car -- and on the highway I once reached 17.1 miles per gallon. That's the high, not the low....
Another message takes on two Friday topics at the same time:
Have not sent you anything before. I got this web site from Barb Jordan
I talked to Russ [Hollenbeck] Friday morning and he is not doing anymore Hosting ,,he is happy watchin' his grand kids.
I think Russ cut his pony tail off for a group some months back.
on the R C Corner,,also a Mark Godwin is running too-signs up in the county this weekend.
Daniel
Thanks for writing, Daniel - and I'll assume your last line is about the Russell County Coroner's race. I think the real "R.C. Corner" is at Tenth Avenue and Wynnton Road - where a Royal Crown Cola flag flies.
It's hard to believe Russ "a.k.a. Jerry Garcia" Hollenbeck chopped his ponytail. Perhaps he did it for "Locks of Love" - which is even stranger, because "love" and radio talk show hosts usually aren't mentioned together outside of tax cuts.
Now other weekend notes you may have missed:
+ Rough weather moved through Columbus, with a car skidding on Buena Vista Road and crashing into Midtown Pharmacy. Now I understand why Walgreens and CVS have drive-through lanes for prescriptions.
+ My Pastor at church preached against the "Veggie Tales" books and videos. If you think about it, he has a point. Cucumbers and tomatoes can't talk, so they're lying to our ignorant children.
(The pastor explained Bible stories are far more dramatic and exciting than anything the "silly Veggie Tales" can offer. Yeah, but the vegetables probably sing a lot better....)
+ First Presbyterian Church had a special Saturday evening Lenten Bible study on "Bloggers." I wasn't personally invited to this, so they probably were talking about all my false doctrines.
+ Country star Gretchen Wilson performed at the Columbus Civic Center, while hip-hop star Chris Brown performed next door at Golden Park. What a shame that "One Columbus" couldn't persuade these musicians to appear together....
+ Instant Message to the Krystal on Veterans Parkway near Airport Thruway: What's that new item on your sign - the "low-cab breakfast?" Do you pay the taxi bills to visit you, between 5:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.?
BURKARD'S BEST BETS: Gas for $2.52 a gallon at Summit, 22nd Avenue and Victory Drive.... Millie's Market Customer Appreciation Day today on South Lumpkin Road, perhaps with FREE food.... and sales on allergy medicine, after all the rain....
SCHEDULED MONDAY: Auburn University needs a new WHAT?....
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