Editor bids fond farewell to 'The Chronicle’

He drove north on Interstate 15 until the stark Mojave Desert of Nevada gave way to the picturesque red rock vistas of southern Utah.

For a reason known only to him, he exited on State Highway 9 and pulled off onto a dirt road not far from the entrance to Zion National Park. He drove the Cadillac until the road ended at a meadow along the banks of the Virgin River.

Nobody knew how long this man, a middle-age Las Vegas resident with a recent run of financial trouble, sat gazing at the high-desert landscape through his windshield, but at some point during that summer day in 1994, he put a .380-caliber pistol to his head and pulled the trigger.

His body was discovered a month later.

The gruesome find was reported to the county sheriff. Editors at the local newspaper heard the traffic on the police radio and sent a veteran photographer and me, a 22-year-old recent graduate of journalism school, to find out whether this was murder – a big story in rural Utah.

The sun was low in the sky when we rolled up on the scene, and the smell of death also hung low in the air. The authorities made no attempt to keep us back. This was before the O.J. Simpson verdict – cops were friendlier before O.J. Besides, they were confident they were dealing with a suicide. Through the Coupe de Ville’s dirty window they could see what was left of the corpse’s fingers clutching the pistol.

I chatted with a deputy county attorney, whom I had met only months earlier, until a supervisor arrived and gave deputies the green light to retrieve the body. A jar of mentholated jelly was passed around, and we all took turns rubbing it under our noses, which we then covered with paper dust masks. After the car door was opened, however, nothing could thwart the stench.

A deputy wrenched the pistol from the dead man’s hand, but not before accidentally discharging a shot into the car’s plush interior. With the gun secured, the body was bagged and, as the photographer continued to snap pictures that no newspaper would ever publish, I came to the realization that no amount of time would erase the grotesque images from my brain.

The authorities were doing an inventory of the car’s contents when a funeral home van arrived to take the body. They spoke briefly and helped the driver load the bag onto a stretcher. Then they went back to rummaging through the car while the photographer took pictures.

The driver and I stood there for a short time before he turned to me and asked whether I could help him load the stretcher into the van. After a slight hesitation, I obliged.

Once the photographer decided he had a picture suitable for publication, we went back to the office, and I did something that I would find myself doing nearly every day for the next decade and a half: I sat down at a computer, pulled a small notebook from my pocket and wrote a story for the newspaper.

It’s now time to let someone else have a turn.

In case the headline didn’t tip you off, you are reading my final piece of work as a newspaper journalist. I am leaving The Augusta Chronicle.

As of Tuesday , I will be employed as a public information specialist at the Medical College of Georgia’s Division of University Advancement, Office of Strategic Communications.

I will be working on publications that help advance the mission of an institution that is not only crucial to the economy of the Augusta metro area but also crucial to future of health care throughout the region. I consider that to be important work.

Still, my decision to leave did not come without much soul-searching.

I have wanted to work for a newspaper since I was a child. In high school, I excelled in only two things: the student newspaper and metal shop. My parents wanted me to be a welder; I wanted to be a journalist.

I followed my heart, and I’ve had no regrets.

I’ve learned more about people and society in 14 years than some people will learn in a lifetime. I’ve had access to places most people will never see. I’ve interviewed just about every type of person you can think of, including a member of the French resistance, a gang of neo-Nazis, CEOs, Indian chiefs, felons, politicians who would become felons, celebrities, an Amway salesman who thought he was a celebrity, and even the president of the United States. (though he was governor of Texas at the time).

My favorite assignment, without a doubt, has been covering business news for The Augusta Chronicle during the past decade. Ten years is not long compared to many journalism careers – there are people who sit less than 50 feet from me who have been in the business nearly a half-century – but it is the longest tenure of any business reporter/editor in modern history at The Chronicle, a publication known as “The South’s Oldest Newspaper.”

The next crop of business journalists is ready to bring you the local financial news of the day. I leave the business section of this newspaper in the capable hands of senior business reporter Tim Rausch, who will be taking over in the interim while my full-time replacement is sought. Tim’s interim duties also include taking over this column, so, after I am gone, Scuttlebiz will live on.

During my time in Augusta, I’ve seen a handful of PR shills try to make a buck by masquerading as business journalists. I can assure you that Tim and business reporter LaTina Emerson will continue to be your No. 1 source for local business news. No one else does it better, and you know it. That’s why you keep coming back for real news day in, day out.

I’d like to take the remaining three column inches of space and give thanks to some people.

First, I want to thank the professionals with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working throughout the years. They deserve the most thanks because, in addition to bringing you news and information, they bear the thankless task of defending the First Amendment, the freedom that gives us all others.

I also want to thank the officials, sources, public information officers, spokespeople, tipsters, gadflies and others who have provided me with information over the years. I wouldn’t have been able to do my job without these folks.

Finally , I want to thank you, the reader, the one who has made all of this possible. Without you, there would have been no me.

Thanks for letting me be me.

Surplus school property sale? It's about time

The Richmond County Board of Education is about to make a smart move.

To help offset its $13.4 million budget shortfall, the board is poised to give final approval to sell off more than $1.5 million in unused real estate, including the old John S. Davidson and Sue Reynolds schools.

The only smarter move would have been to put the properties up for sale several years ago. In the case of the old Davidson school, it might have already been redeveloped into something that contributes to the tax digest, instead of becoming a crumbling structure whose most recent tenants were the homeless.

The school’s proximity to the hospital district makes it prime for medical office development. In fact, an Athens, Ga., developer, Nichols Land & Investment Co., wanted to purchase the property in 2004 to do just that. After months of having its proposal sit unopened on the desk of then-school Superintendent Charles Larke, the company decided that it, too, had better things to do.

As for the old Davidson property, it was allowed to continue its decay.* Whoever wants to renovate it now will not only have to deal with asbestos removal, they’ll have to put the second floor back where it belongs.

When vacant school properties are sold to civic-minded developers,** good things can happen. Just look at what brothers Clay and Braye Boardman are doing with the old William Robinson School in the Summerville district. They’re taking a property that hasn’t been used in more than a decade and investing more than $7 million to turn it into high-end townhomes that will generate revenue for the school district.

The school district’s new chief, Superintendent Dana Bedden, unlike his predecessor, is vowing to run Richmond County schools more businesslike. Eliminating “nonperforming assets,” as a businessman would call them, from the school system’s balance sheet is a great way to start.

* This, unfortunately, was not an isolated incident: Welsh Bros. Construction signed a contract to purchase the school district’s former administrative building on Heckle Street in summer 2004. As the school board – and its longtime legal counsel – waited until the following spring to approve the sale, water had seeped through the roof, damaged the floor and spawned toxic mold.

Feet dragging was also the order of the day in the sale of the old Houghton School to Clay Boardman in 2005. Significant deterioration at the 90-year-old building that occurred after the school board abandoned the property in 2000 had to be repaired before the founders of Heritage Academy, the private Christian school that purchased the school from Mr. Boardman in 2006, could move in a year later.

** The trick is finding someone with a combination of money and vision. When the school district voted to sell the historic Lawton B. Evans school on Walton Way in 1996, the real estate investors who purchased the ornate property along the Augusta Canal had it demolished the following year rather than rehabilitate it. The property is still vacant.

IS IT THERE YET? IS IT THERE YET?: You no doubt have noticed new signs at the Village at Riverwatch project that heralds the future Bass Pro Shops and solicits for other commercial tenants. Call Frank, (706) 951-5490.

What you haven’t noticed yet is anything that resembles actual construction work.
That may seem odd, considering developers had already taken care of most of the site preparation work back when the property was to be a Belk and Dillard’s-anchored “lifestyle center,” but fear not – the typical Bass Pro Shops store takes 10-12 months to build, so the company could wait a few more months to break ground and still meet its goal of a fall 2009 opening.

Based on how rabid Augusta-area outdoorsmen are about the store, the only welcome construction delay would be unseasonably wet weather. That delay would be extremely welcome.

Like, right now.

MORE ON OUTDOORSY RETAILERS: I heard an advertisement the other day for REI, the Kent, Wash.-based retailer that makes hikers, climbers, campers and kayakers go all nutso.

The company has four stores in metro Atlanta but none here. Why, then, are they advertising on local airwaves? Some folks say it’s not uncommon for a company considering locating in an area to go on a pre-emptive brand-building campaign.
I’m not saying REI is coming to our area, but I’ll take the credit for starting the rumor.

IT’S OFFICIAL: Every eighth business in Augusta is now a laser hair removal spa.

WHERE ARE THEY GOING?: The fine folks over at Renaissance Fine Furnishings are adamant their “store closing” sale is not a “going out of business” sale, as yours truly incorrectly reported recently. They say they are planning to move to another location. Those same fine folks, however, when pressed for details on the “new location,” have been adamantly mum.

The leasing agent for the company’s current store at West Town Market Square in Martinez said a move-out date has not been established.

SOMETHING THAT’S DEFINITELY MOVING: The University of Georgia’s Small Business Development Center, in a Claussen Road office park, will soon be occupying half of the third floor at the recently renovated Granite Mill, the stone building attached to Enterprise Mill.

The building, constructed 30 years before Enterprise, has been fixed up by Savannah-based owner Melaver Inc. It will house 15,500 square feet of office space and four apartment units, so look for other tenant announcements in the future.

WHO SAYS THERE’S NO MONEY IN FARMING?: The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis came out with personal income report last week. Guess which state saw the biggest gain in from fourth quarter 2007 to the first quarter of 2008?

You guessed it, North Dakota.

The nation’s most least visited state, and the birthplace of Lawrence Welk, posted a 7.6 percent gain in income, largely from what the guv’ment calls “largely a consequence of rising grain prices.” Corn prices jumped 22 percent in the first quarter, while wheat prices rose 18 percent and soybean prices 17 percent.

In Georgia, where we don’t grow as much corn, our personal income increased 1.2 percent during the quarter, giving the Peach State the 12th-best gain during the period. South Carolina, which produces even less corn, fell right about in the middle, with a gain of 0.9 percent and a national ranking of 26.

Hey, that’s better than the low state on the totem pole: Arkansas, where personal income declined 1.9 percent. I’m not sure what the trouble is there.

Summer of '93: Heat, dirt and dropping acid

Economists are saying this is the worst summer job market in more than half a century.

Reading all the hubbub about how difficult it is for teens to find a summer job makes me thankful for the employment opportunity I had as a young’un.* I didn’t work at a fast-food joint, a movie theater or any of the other usual places.

My job was a really good one – I worked at a copper mine.

While my friends were spending their air-conditioned summer toiling for minimum wage, I was donning a hard-hat, a respirator and polyester work clothes (you’ll understand later) to earn more than $11 an hour (not too shabby for 1993 ) at ASARCO Inc.’s Ray open pit mine near Kearny, Ariz. The Ray complex is not far from my hometown, which was also a mining town.

Back then, ASARCO had a small summer job program for employees’ college-age children. The last few years of my father’s 40-year mining career were spent driving huge dump trucks (the kind with the 20-foot-tall wheels that you see on the Discovery Channel) inside the pit.

I worked there two summers and one Christmas break. The first job was working in the “concentrator,” the mill that produced blackish-green copper concentrate, the powder that is later refined into the shiny, ductile metal we all know and love.

The centerpiece was a gigantic rotating drum filled with steel balls the size of grapefruit that smashed fist-size chunks of ore to a fine slurry. Ear plugs were mandatory. Most of that summer was spent blasting rocks and muck off conveyor belts and the basement floor with a high-pressure water hose.

My next job was at the pit “crusher,” another loud place. The cacophony of a four-story mortar and pestle reducing man-size boulders to gravel, however, is not your primary concern when you are covered in dust at the bottom of a 1,500-foot hole during summertime in Arizona.

Crusher duty involved more conveyor belt cleaning, this time with a shovel and a compressed air cannon.

My final assignment at ASARCO was by far the most interesting – the SX-EW (solid extraction/electrowinning) plant. Workers just called it the “tankhouse.”

It was the only place I saw actual copper, but it was arguably the least glamorous place at the mine. Here’s the best way I can describe the experience: Picture a two-story warehouse. On the second floor are dozens of leaky, swimming pool-size vats of sulfuric acid. On the first floor you use a hose to spray the acid and other falling debris into a drain.

I disregarded my co-workers’ advice to wear 100-percent polyester clothes, which they said was more acid-resistant than natural fibers. After coming home the first day wearing Swiss-cheese khakis, I immediately went out and bought some polyester Dickies.

The azure acid was weak enough that it was only mildly irritating if it got on your skin. My work buddy, however, landed a trip to the infirmary when some of the concentrated stuff dripped on his shoulder, burning a hole through his shirt.

When I wasn’t on acid-rain duty, I was upstairs helping make copper cathodes. The fuming vats of acid contained copper ions that had been “leached” out of large mounds of low-grade ore by a sprinkler system spraying (you guessed it) acid. When electrified, the ions would stick to a plate and create a thin copper sheet. The sheet was placed in another vat, where it sat for several days until it grew into a shiny, 300-pound slab of 99 percent pure copper.

In the end, I earned a few thousand dollars for college, gained 15 pounds of muscle and learned some lessons that were far more valuable than anything I could have picked up in class.

So, kids, if you still haven’t found a summer job, don’t give up. If you have found one, I hope it’s as profitable and enlightening as the one I had.

I also hope it doesn’t involve acid.

FULL-TIME JOBS MIGHT BE HARD TO COME BY, TOO: The slack economy continues to claim local victims. Last week, Goody’s Family Clothing announced it would close its stores in south Augusta and North Augusta as part of a 69-store elimination plan, and the Save-A-Lot grocery store on Wrightsboro Road shut its doors Friday. Furniture General (formerly known as General Freight Furniture) is having a going- out- of- business sale.

THE WATERMARK: I’m starting to get a tad nervous about the lack of activity at the proposed riverfront hotel/office/residential complex near the old train depot at Fifth and Reynolds streets.

I might just be high strung.

AFFLUENCE – IT’S ALL RELATIVE: A couple of weeks back I mentioned the state’s “tier” system, which allows counties to offer tax incentives to businesses based on its per capita income. My diatribe, which was delivered via the Columbia County economic development perspective, caught the notice of a Richmond County economic development official. He had some interesting feedback to offer.

But first, here’s a refresher on how the tier system works: Companies that fall into any one of six categories – manufacturing, telecommunications, warehouse-distribution, research and development, processing, and tourism – are eligible for state tax credits based on the number of jobs they create. The number of jobs and the amount they get to write off varies based on the county in which the business chooses to locate.

The more “affluent” the county, the smaller the write-off, and vice versa.

In Georgia’s 16 Tier 4 counties, which includes Columbia County, a company would have to employ 25 people to receive up to a $1,250-per-job tax credit. At the other end of the spectrum, if that company were to locate in Richmond County, Burke County, Lincoln County or 68 other Tier 1 counties, it would only have to create five jobs to qualify for up to $4,000 in per-job tax credits.

This could go a long way to explaining why Bass Pro Shops chose to the Villages at Riverwatch property (in Richmond County) for its megastore instead of at a rival site off Interstate 20 near Grovetown (in Columbia County). When all things are equal (access to transportation, labor costs, etc.) the deciding factor always comes down to incentives.
Now, here’s the interesting part, as our Richmond County friend points out: The per capita income used to calculate the tier is based on where workers live , not where they earn their income. Thus, in a market such as Augusta-Aiken, it’s easy to see why Richmond County – despite being the economic center of the region and boasting nearly all the amenities (ballet, opera, airport, sporting events, etc.) – is considered “poor” by the state. It’s not that wealth isn’t being created; it’s that the wealth is increasingly residing in Columbia and Aiken counties, where most new housing construction is occurring.

“Imagine what the rankings would be if it were reversed ... if it were based on the per capita income of where you work,” the official said.

Food for thought, I suppose.

Richmond County has many poor residents, but I don’t consider it a “poor” county. In the eyes of the state’s tier system, however, the label will stick until the county finds a way to keep the affluence it creates.

* Warning: Personal anecdote alert!

Hey, cut me some slack – news is slow in the summertime. If you know something I don’t – and you probably do – give me a call at (706) 823-3486 or drop me a line at damon.cline@augustahronicle.com.

Workers' comp tiff creates rift among builders

When I think of hostile takeovers, I think of board rooms, billionaire investors and hordes of execs in dark suits and power ties.

I also think of Michael Douglas.

What doesn’t come to mind is construction sites, guys in tool belts and pickup trucks.

That’s why I find the current proxy battle between the Home Builders Association of Georgia and the builders who sit on the  board of the state’s largest workers compensation insurer  interesting.

This is builder vs. builder – and it could a long-term rift in the state’s usually harmonious home- construction industry.

“I’ve never seen the state association so mad about anything,” said Bill Beazley,  the  president of Bill Beazley Homes Inc., one of Augusta’s largest residential contractors.

Here’s what’s going on: The association  is urging its 13,000 members, through three  dozen regional home- builder associations, to sign  blue  proxy cards to oust the directors of Builders Insurance, the mutual insurance company that Georgia builders created two decades ago to provide affordable workers compensation insurance.

The association  alleges the nine-member board has been lax on corporate accountability and has been grossly overpaid at the expense of policyholders. The association wants to install its own board to rein in board compensation (which it says was $1.9 million in 2006 and ’07) and increase policyholder dividends (which it says have  fallen from 13.6 percent of premiums to 1.5 percent of premiums since 2000).

One of those board members, Chris Bowles,  the  president of Augusta-based remodeling contractor Bowles Construction Co., received $173,156 in director compensation in 2006.* The association  said his 2007 compensation hasn’t been reported.

Mr. Bowles, who is also a member of the association’s  local affiliate, the Builders Association of Metro Augusta, did not return my phone message seeking comment. He did, however, forward the message to Builders Insurance’s public relations firm, Manning Selvage & Lee, which said that all communication would come from Builders Insurance CEO Patrick Mitchell.

Here’s what Mr. Mitchell said: Corporate accountability and director compensation is a “red herring.” The real issue, he said, is that the builders association is upset about losing revenue.

It all started in April when the Builders Insurance board voted to open coverage up to non-association  members through a  contractors organization whose dues are $60 a year, compared to $300-$600 for the typical association -affiliated builders association, where dues pay for member programs such as government- affairs initiatives and networking meetings.

The April decision also ended Builders Insurance’s long-time practice of paying “endorsement fees” to the association  (the payments to affiliates will cease at the end of the year).

Mr. Mitchell said there is nothing sinister behind the decision to end the association’s  exclusivity – the company is simply trying to expand its policyholder base.

“For years we’ve understood people haven’t been able to afford (coverage) because of high HBAG dues,” he said. “Looking at today’s economic downturn, the board decided we should have a low- cost alternative.”

Builders Insurance has responded to the association’s  takeover attempt by asking builders statewide to sign  white  proxy cards, which would keep the current slate of directors in place.

As for exorbitant salaries and compensation, Mr. Mitchell argues the company has done well and its directors are being compensated accordingly. He added that  the company has paid out more than 40 percent of its profits in the form of dividend payments to policyholders since 1997, and that just last month it distributed $1.6 million in dividends.
The proxy vote is expected to conclude in 60 days.

Is it a case of a handful of builders getting fat off rising workers’ comp premiums, or is it a case of an association trying to protect its membership dues revenue stream?
The home-builder community will have to decide.

If the blue cards win, expect the installation of a new board (which would include Mr. Beazley) and a thorough audit of Builders Insurance’s finances. If the white cards win, expect some of the association  members to switch their workers comp coverage to another company (rumor has it that North Carolina’s builder-created insurer could be doing business in Georgia by July).

Regardless of the outcome, there will probably be lingering hostility for years between contractors who sided with the builders associations and those who  sided with Builders Insurance.

“There’s no fun in this,” said Mr. Beazley, who served on the Builders Insurance board during the 1990s, when directors received no compensation. “We trusted them to run this organization like it should be run.”

* They must have really long board meetings, and a lot of them.

A FINAL (AND UNRELATED) WORD ON HOMES: An increasing number of soldiers could come home from Iraq or Afghanistan to find they have lost their homes, foreclosure analyst RealtyTrac Inc. recently reported.

The company said foreclosures are drastically increasing in many cities and towns near military bases. The biggest surge was in Columbia , home to Fort Jackson, where properties in some stage of foreclosure rose 492 percent from January to April, compared with the same period a year earlier.

The second-biggest increase was 414 percent in Woodbridge, Va., next to the Marine Corps Base Quantico. Columbus, Ga.,  the  home of Fort Benning, was 102 percent higher.

In Augusta: a 10.9 percent increase. That’s not only lower than many other military communities but it’s also lower than the nation as a whole, where foreclosures increased 59 percent during the same period.

With Fort Gordon serving as the Army’s information technology center, there’s no doubt military personnel in Augusta are smarter than the average soldier. Apparently, they’re better money managers, too.

WE WISH HIM WELL: Last week, Columbia County economic development czar** Zack Daffin announced he will step down  next month to be a financial adviser at Smith Barney’s Augusta office.

When the announcement was  made, he was leaving to take an undisclosed job in the “private sector.” My first thought was Georgia Power (because he came here from sister company Alabama Power), but then it all made sense  when I pulled a 4-year-old story out of our archives in which the former Marine Reservist said he had long wanted to be a stockbroker.

Hats off to you for following your dreams, Zack.

** Technically its “executive director of the Development Authority of Columbia County,” but I think "economic development czar" has a nice ring to it.

PRINT PLANT PERFECTLY PROFITABLE: Columbia County’s Quebecor World printing plant continues to do well despite the economic downturn that led to its parent company’s bankruptcy filing  this year.

Though the Canadian-based company is selling off its European operations to an investment group in the Netherlands, the local plant is planning an open-house party for employees and selected county officials.

Plant Manager Pat Quinn said employment and productivity at the facility, which prints catalogs and retail inserts, have  remained steady.

A larger party for the general public could be on the table for discussion after  market conditions improve, Mr. Quinn said.

GAS-SAVING TIP: When traveling on a highway or interstate, pick a speed. Set your cruise control. Leave it alone.

You’ll save gas and annoy fewer people (me) who don’t appreciate your schizophrenic fast-slow-fast-slow road ballet.

WORD ON THE STREET: Folks are talking about how the Jay’s Music Center store at the corner of Washington and Berckmans roads has been acquired by  Augusta National Golf Club for a ridiculous amount of money.

If a sale has occurred or is in the works, we wouldn’t know.

There are no public real estate records indicating a sale has occurred , and the Frohman family, who  owns the business and the property, said they have not sold to anyone.
Maybe someone out there is engaging in a guer rilla campaign to boost the property’s value?

We like rankings – if they’re positive

Did you hear about the Augusta-Aiken area getting ranked No. 8 on Throwin’ Bones magazine’s “Best Place to Play Dominoes” list?

No? That’s probably because you’re still trying to digest the city’s honor of ranking No. 3 on Fragrant Times’ “Smelliest Cities in America” list, or its mention in Tweaker Weekly’s “50 Places to Watch” feature on up-and-coming methamphetamine markets, or its honorable mention on Destitute Destination’s “100 Best Soup Kitchens in America?”

OK, so no one of those publications or accolades are real, but if they were, they wouldn’t be much more meaningful than those that are.

Wait, let me rephrase that, they would be meaningful to local leaders if they were “positive” in nature.

Community leaders, and, by proxy, the news media, have a love-hate relationship with lists and rankings.

If your community is on Money magazine’s 100 “Best Places to Live” list, which the Martinez section of the metro area is (No. 76 to be exact), you’re likely believe the editors at Money magazine are geniuses whose keen eyes for spotting exceptional quality-of-life are matched only by their vast databases of statistics that empirically prove your community is worthy of making the list.

If your community wasn’t on the list, you probably think they’re a bunch of eggheads who should stick to evaluating mutual funds because they have never even been to your town anyway.

Like I said, love-hate relationship.

Here in the 144 square-feet that is the business news cubicle, we see a lot of these rankings. Some are created by large organizations and national publications, and some are created by niche groups and magazines whose circulations are lower than many high school newspapers. We evaluate their importance and determine how much, if any, coverage is warranted.

Here’s a recent example: A fella I know sent in an article from Best Life magazine* that listed the 100 “Best Places to Raise a Family.” Augusta was ranked 85 (ahead of Fort Worth, Texas, but behind Oakland, Calif.).

Is this interesting? Well, interesting enough that it’s being mentioned here.

Is it news? That’s debatable. With Augusta being one of the 100 largest metro areas in the nation, it’s very likely to end up on just about any list.

For discussion’s sake, let’s say it is newsworthy. Is the news, then, that the city should have scored higher, or that it scored as high as it did?

What is one supposed to infer after seeing Columbus, Ga., and Columbia – two markets very similar in size and demographics to Augusta – score fourth best and sixth worst, respectively?

If you’re the type of person who really buys into these lists, you should probably move your kids to Honolulu – Best Life’s No. 1 “Best Place to Raise a Family.”

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: I was having lunch the other day at a local country club , and I struck up a conversation with an economic development official from Columbia County.
The conversation turned to the lack of major industrial projects in recent years, a topic I have a particular interest in because I’m growing weary of county leaders filling its coffers by boosting the tax assessment on my home every year.

But enough about me.

One of the things the official reminded me of – which is something I hadn’t thought about in a long time – is Columbia County’s disadvantage in state tax incentives.

In Georgia, corporate tax write- offs get tighter as a county becomes more affluent. In the state’s tier system, Columbia County is considered a Tier 4 county, the most affluent tier.

All its neighboring counties, Richmond, Lincoln and McDuffie, are Tier 1, the poorest designation.

It’s easy to see how a major employer, such as T-Mobile or ADP, both of which are as close to Columbia County line as you can get, would want to make sure they’re just inside the Tier 1 zone.

The companies get Richmond County tax breaks and access to Columbia County workers. Everybody wins.

Well, everybody except Columbia County property owners getting nailed with another round of property reassessments.

But, again, enough about me.

PEOPLE REALLY DO READ THIS STUFF: French Market Grille co-owner Chuck Baldwin has been getting a lot of calls from longtime customers lately. There’s nothing amiss – they just wanted to know more about his downtown location.

Eh?

There is no downtown location in the works.

Here’s what happened: People reading the list of new Richmond County business licenses in last Monday’s edition of The Chronicle’s Your Business section noticed the temporary license the Baldwins obtained to cater an event on Broad Street. They assumed it meant the cajun-style eatery was on its way downtown.

As one who has heard the “you know what happens when you assume” spiel one too many times, I will refrain from lampooning them.

I will, however, say this: Don’t fret. There are plenty of new restaurants in the works downtown, including White Azalea and Casablanca Cafe, both of which will occupy space in the soon-to-be-open The White’s Building.

$55.5 MILLION FOR REGENCY MALL?: That’s not going to happen unless someone discovers crude oil deposits underneath the old Montgomery Ward.

The New York-based owners of the 75-acre tract apparently think real estate in Augusta is as valuable as it is in the Northeast.

Chronicle columnist Bill Kirby seems to be enjoying his “when will gas prices reach $4 contest,” so I’ll join in the fun with a contest of my own: When will Regency Mall be redeveloped?

Send in your best guess, and, once the announcement in 2013 is made to level the buildings and start from scratch, I’ll see whose answer was the closest.

The winner will receive a $100 gift certificate … to Montgomery Ward!

MY BAD: Last week’s item on Milton Ruben Chevrolet’s land acquisitions near the intersection of Washington and Pleasant Home Roads resulted in a friendly call from the pastor at Pine View Baptist Church, who wanted to let everyone know the church is not leasing the former St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church building. It owns it.

Here’s how the deal went down: Milton Ruben Chevrolet purchased the entire six-acre site from the diocese, then immediately sold half the land it didn’t want (the part with the church and parking lot on it) to Pine View, keeping the vacant tract to the north for its own purposes.

Of course, no one except those close to the deal would know this, however, because public records on the sale have not been updated on the county’s Web site yet. Thus, when someone (i.e. me) looks at the records, it would be easy to assume (and you know what happens when you assume) the dealership owns the whole tract.

HERE’S SOMETHING I CAN’T MESS UP: The good folks at the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis recently sent me some of the latest data (as in 2006) for the Augusta metro area:

- Population: 522,608, or 95th out of 363 metro areas**

- Per capita personal income: $29,328, or about 80 percent of the national average, $36,714

- Total personal income: $15. 3 billion, No. 107 out of 363

You’ll be able to get this year’s data by reading Scuttlebiz in 2010.

That’s as close as I get to a cliffhanger ending.

*Which is about half the circulation of Cottage Living magazine.
** Ugh. More rankings.

Businesses don’t want to be immigration police

What’s was the top concern of local small business owners attending last week’s National Federation of Independent Business?

Immigration.

Specifically, they want a federal employer verification law that doesn’t put the burden of proof on them. In other words, if they hire an illegal immigrant who gets the job by producing phony documents and paperwork, they don’t want to take the heat.

“They don’t want to be held accountable for making an honest mistake,” said David Raynor, the NFIB’s Georgia state director. “It shouldn’t be incumbent upon them to verify the authenticity.”

That’s why the group supports the New Employee Verification Act (H.R. 5515), which piggybacks on an existing system that tracks down parents who don’t pay child support. It also supports the employee verification portion of the Secure America though Verification and Enforcement Act (H.R. 4088), which gives small businesses (which usually don’t have professional human resources staff) more time to comply with the law.

As proof the NFIB isn’t “anti-immigrant,” it supports extending the cap on the H-2B program, which allows foreigners to work seasonal jobs in industries that have trouble finding American workers during peak seasons.

The NFIB said that many small seasonal business, such as landscapers, commercial fishers and crabbers and hoteliers could even go out of business if the program cap of 66,000 foreign workers isn’t extended.

HOW CAN THERE BE A SHORTAGE OF U.S. WORKERS?: I see plenty of able-bodied young people standing around holding paper bags every time I drive through Harrisburg on Broad Street.

They must be on their lunch hour, I guess.

MEDIA REPORTING ON MEDIA: There’s some speculation out there that the local NBC affiliate, WAGT-TV (Channel 26) is being put on the market. The station’s owner, South Bend, Ind.-based Schurz Communications, said no deal is in the works.

Schurz Senior Vice President Marci Burdick, who was general manager of the station several years ago, said she believes what has fueled the speculation is that the company chose not to replace Jeff Marks after he was promoted to run the company’s station in Roanoke, Va., last year. Since then, his duties have been overseen by the station’s business manager, Marilyn Brock, who is serving as interim general manager.

“We have the luxury of having a very good business manager,” Ms. Burdick said.

SOMETHING THAT MIGHT BE FOR SALE: The Canadian investment fund that owns Augusta’s Castleberry’s Food Co. hasn’t expanded on its recent announcement that it is exploring a possible sale of the canned meat company linked to last year’s botulism scare involving cans of hot dog chili. Connor Bros. Income Fund said it wants to boost its seafood side of the business, which includes Bumble Bee Foods, the company that oversees Castleberry operations.

We were interested in getting an update on the possible sale, so Chronicle Business Reporter Tim Rausch registered for, and participated in, a conference call with company officials earlier this month. When it came time for the question-and-answer session, Tim’s requests to ask a question were ignored.

We are unsure if we were passed over on purpose. I’ll chalk it up to a communications glitch unless it happens again.

SOMETHING THAT IS DEFINITELY FOR SALE: We’re used to a lack of communication from some companies, including Xethanol Corp., the (picture me making quote marks in the air with my fingers) biofuel company currently trying to sell what is left of the former Pfizer Inc. facility it purchased in 2006 to turn into an ethanol refinery.

According to its most recent report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the 40-acre Augusta facility is still up for sale, though it has not retained a brokerage firm to market the property as of March 31. One would think the company would like to do that quickly as possible, considering the property costs the company an estimated $50,000 a month in overhead.

Here are some other interesting numbers from the filing:

$8.4 million: Purchase price of Augusta facility

$3.1 million: Proceeds from sale of surplus equipment at the facility.

$2 million: Company net loss for the three-month period ending March 31.

One other interesting tidbit, the company’s corn-based Xethanol BioFuels plant in Blairstown, Iowa – the company’s only property that sells any biofuel – was closed May 1 to “reduce its operating losses.”

Downtown master plan meetings run smoothly

The most clever television commercial I’ve seen lately is for an online job search company for upper-income professionals.

Two guys playing a spirited game of tennis get swarmed by hundreds of other “players.” The match is disrupted by everyone running around the court, swinging wildly at hundreds of tennis balls falling from the sky.

Chaos ensues as the voiceover says: “When you let everyone play, nobody wins.”
For some reason, I feared there would be a similar chaotic scene (minus the tennis balls) at the recent public forums for Augusta Tomorrow’s downtown master plan. When community leaders usually ask the general public for feedback on a major initiative – let alone one as complex as the blueprint for the future development of downtown Augusta and North Augusta – there always seems to be something that comes out of left field.
About one-third of the comments are constructive, a third are pie-in-the-sky wish list requests and the other third are general gripes that may or may not pertain to the issue at hand.

I was pleasantly surprised to see Augusta Tomorrow and its consultant, ICON Architecture Inc., organize a forum that kept the meeting from becoming a free-for-all. These folks should put on a “how to” workshop for some local government bodies.
There will likely be a follow-up meeting or two before ICON presents the completed master plan in December or January. If the planning goes as smooth as the forums, the plan should be well worth the $250,000 price tag.

ON ANOTHER POSITIVE NOTE: Kudos to the Greater Augusta Association of Realtors for making its local real estate statistics available to the public through its Web site.
Several of the group’s past and current leaders worked hard to create a site where locals can find out everything from how long homes are staying on the market to average sales prices for a given month.

Interested? Check it out at www.augustarealtors.com.

WE HAVE ENOUGH OF THOSE ANYWAY: Remember that Florida home warranty company that was considering Augusta for a 350-employee call center a couple of years ago?

No? Well, it doesn’t matter, because they’re not coming.

Last week, Cross Country Home Services Inc. said it would open its customer care center in Anderson, S.C., in a former Winn-Dixie store. The 350-employee center will take calls about the company’s home warranties and service plans.

Why not us? We’ve got vacant retail space, too.

“Our search results and analysis identified Anderson, S.C., as offering our client the best strategic location, favorable business climate, ample skilled workforce with low competitive saturation and an equitable incentive package,” Christine Sullivan, the vice president of Site Selection Group Inc., told a Greenville television station.

Note the phrase “low competitive saturation,” which, when translated into plainspeak means: “We do not wish to compete with Sitel, ADP and T-Mobile wages.”

GOODWILL STILL HUNTING: Goodwill Industries continues scouting property for its mega training center. The nonprofit almost bought the former St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church last year but couldn’t seal the deal (the property was eventually purchased by the principals of Milton Ruben Chevrolet, which is leasing part of the property to Pine View Baptist Church).

Goodwill says it hasn’t yet found a property large enough, affordable enough and close enough to its core clientele.

WORD ON THE STREET: Rumor has it that Milton Ruben’s appetite for real estate hasn’t been quenched yet. The dealership reportedly has its sights set on the tract just north of the former St. Teresa property – the Augusta Suzuki dealership.

The good guys at the Chevy dealership aren’t the only ones interested. The owners of Toyota of Augusta area also eyeing the corner of Washington and Pleasant Home roads.
If a bidding war is brewing, the owners of the Suzuki dealership are sure to be smiling.

A QUICK WORD ON RUMORS: You should see the stuff that doesn’t make it into Scuttlebiz.

WHAT ABOUT TOYOTA?: Real estate records show the seven-acre Toyota of Augusta dealership has been transferred for $12 million to “Car Dar Ga Aug LLC.”

Is that company simply another corporate entity created by the current owners, Darrow Automotive? Entirely possible, considering that employees haven’t been informed of a change in ownership. There is no record of Car Dar registered in Georgia or Wisconsin, Darrow’s home state. Dealership management has yet to return a call.

Are the owners making preparations for some sort of deal? We’ll get to the bottom of it. Eventually.

UNVERIFIABLE FACT NO. 614: 99.97 – percentage of area residents who dislike trains running through downtown Augusta.*

UNVERIFIABLE FACT NO. 615: 0 – percentage of area residents who can do anything about it.

BIOFUEL BONANZA: Here’s something I recently learned – nearly all cars in Brazil are powered by ethanol. Unlike the corn-based stuff we use in the U.S. ( Augusta area stations began selling 10 percent ethanol blended gas this year), the fuel the Brazilians use comes from sugar cane, which is a much better feedstock.

It takes one unit of fossil fuel to create eight units of ethanol, compared to one to one for corn.

Brazil began investing in ethanol production in the early 1970s, around the same time the folks at OPEC decided to boost prices by turning the oil spigot to the right (remember, it’s lefty loosy). Brazil is now energy independent and nearly all its cars are “flex-fuel” models.

Why my sudden interest in Brazil’s ethanol industry? I found out L t. Gov. Casey Cagle recently took a trade mission there **. He was particularly interested in the biofuel industry because of Georgia’s desire to turn its pine trees into celluosic ethanol (which is also superior to corn).

“I met with leaders of the biofuel industry in Brazil and urged them to make Georgia a significant part of their future growth and potential,” he said in a statement issued by his office.

If you want to learn more, check out his (ahem) blog on the subject at www.stateofgeorgiamissions.com. Don’t expect to be buying Brazilian ethanol anytime soon. The 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on imported ethanol ensures it will never hit our shores.
Perhaps the lieutenant governor can get our Georgia delegation to work on a tariff repeal? I’d rather buy ethanol from a country known for skimpy swimsuits than oil from countries that don’t like the United States. Or skimpy swimsuits, for that matter.

* Some of us find trains make a convenient excuse for being late.

** Brazil is Georgia’s 11th largest trade partner. Last year, it bought $495 million worth of our stuff and we bought $915.5 million of theirs. There’s a Brazil nut joke in there somewhere.

Government: A blessing for the economy

Times like these (as in “so-so”) make me glad to live here. Although the recent economic downturn (no one is using the R-word yet) has business and industry in many parts of the nation pulling on the emergency brake, the Augusta-Aiken metro area has simply eased off on the gas pedal.

The local economy’s behavior is not all that different from that in previous national downturns. The topic came up during a conversation I had with an executive at a recent Leadership Augusta event. The lifelong area resident mentioned that during several national recessions in recent history, “Augusta chose not to participate.”

Had our conversation lasted longer than four minutes, we might have touched on “why”: government.

Yes, the very government we curse is also what smooths out the peaks and valleys of economic cycles. If the metro area were a table, three of the legs would be Fort Gordon, the Medical College of Georgia and Savannah River Site – all large, government-supported institutions.

The fourth leg is either the region’s diverse manufacturing base or its large concentration of health care centers. I’m not ready to say which one it is, but evidence clearly shows which of those two industries is growing and which is stagnant (hint: it’s the one where the federal government pays 45 percent of the bills).

Back to the other three table legs for a moment. Each is largely immune from business cycles:

- Fort Gordon: With 16,000 military personnel assigned to the post, 2,900 civilian employees and 2,700 contract workers, Fort Gordon is the region’s largest employer.
The post focuses on high-tech communications training and development, something the military will need more of.

As a bonus, the fort’s military intelligence components have allowed it to attract the National Security Agency’s communications center, a half-billion- dollar project that will employ 4,000 people by 2012. With national security never going out of style, Fort Gordon will be even better positioned whenever the next round of base closings takes place.

- MCG: There are two industries where costs never go down: health care and higher education. Fortunately for Augusta, it has an institution that combines the two.

Sure, there is a lot of apprehension about expanding MCG in Athens, but the state medical school’s core will always remain in Augusta, where more than 5,100 faculty and staff members and residents are on the payroll. That doesn’t include the 3,200 people who work at MCG Health Inc., the company that operates its hospitals and clinics.

- SRS: It doesn’t employ nearly as many people as it did during the height of the Cold War, but the 310-square-mile installation still employs more than 10,000 (well- paid) people.*

The $3 billion mixed-oxide fuel facility, which will turn weapons-grade plutonium into fuel for nuclear power plants, will extend the life of the installation and create about 800 full-time jobs when construction is completed in 2014.

Is there a downside to having stable, recession-insulated employers? You bet – slower economic growth. The NSA center and MOX facility notwithstanding, government isn’t exactly a growth industry.

What the executive at the Leadership Augusta event didn’t mention (and I don’t hold it against him, considering it was only a four-minute conversation) is that the Augusta metro area also chooses “not to participate” in national economic booms.

Consider this: When the U.S. economy was enjoying its fastest-ever peacetime expansion during the 1990s, the Augusta area was in a recession caused by post-Cold War layoffs at SRS.

The same thing would likely be happening now had Fort Gordon ended up on the chopping block during the latest round of base closings in 2005.

That being said, there are a lot of communities out there that would love to have just one of our table legs. We should be thankful for having all three.

MEET THE NEW BOSSES: With billions of government dollars in the SRS trough, heads are spinning throughout town because people no longer know whose butt they need to kiss.

That’s because SRS’ owner, the Department of Energy, recently upheld its decision to award the management and operating contract to Fluor Corp.-led Savannah River Nuclear Solutions LLC. The installation’s previous operator, Washington Savannah River Co., has ruled the roost (under various incarnations) since taking it over from DuPont in 1989.

Community officials, business leaders and liaisons are no doubt in a tizzy.
About 100 top managers at the site will be replaced by the new regime, which consists of Fluor, Northrop Grumman, Honeywell and Lockheed Martin.

A 90-day transition period began this month. A name you’ll hear more of is Chuck Munns, a retired naval officer, who has been named head honcho.

BRINGING IT BACK: Every day without the TEE Center is a day the city misses out on a convention or trade show. One of those is the LandWarNet Conference, the military trade show that replaced the Fort Gordon Signal Symposium in 2005.

The sponsors of the event already have indicated they would like the show moved from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.,** to Augusta.

Local tourism officials no doubt will be heavily courting organizers after the TEE Center is built.

The cancellation of the Signal Symposium put an end to 3,000 military officials and private-sector contractors coming to Augusta. In 2005, those visitors pumped an estimated $3.6 million into the local economy.

Augusta will have a chance to bring them all back after it TEEs off. So let’s get moving, already.

WHAT’S GOING ON IN FRONT OF THE BOBBY JONES HOME DEPOT? Rooms to Go’s new store. It’s old news (chronicle.augusta.com/stories/081107/bus_139260.shtml) but I thought I’d mention it because people tend to forget these things.

WHERE’S COSTCO GOING? Dunno.

The suburban Seattle-based warehouse chain is said to be very interested in building near Augusta Mall, specifically on property occupied by Bobby Jones Ford. The Lawrence family, the dealership’s owner, has been approached several times by company representatives but – as of this writing – has not entered into a contract to sell their 22-acre tract.

In December The Augusta Chronicle reported that the developers of the Village at Riverwatch, which we all recently learned will be the home of Bass Pro Shops, was listing Costco in its marketing materials as an anchor tenant. It turns out that was news to Costco, too.

The company had only been in discussions with the developers and had no formal contract to locate there. The marketing materials were abruptly changed after Costco officials blew a gasket.

Of course, just because Dallas developer MGHerring Group jumped the gun doesn’t mean Costco won’t end up locating there. For all I know (which isn’t much) the Village at Riverwatch could be the brand-spanking-new location of Bobby Jones Ford.

WHAT’S THE FASTEST LAND ANIMAL? The cheetah.

THE BILL IS IN: Last week, Georgia Power announced it received no outside bids to build two new reactors at the Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant. That means it will move forward with its self-build proposal now under review by an independent evaluator hired by the state Public Service Commission.

What’s the price tag looking like? Georgia Power said its 45.7 percent share of the project – which includes financing costs and inflation – will likely be $6.4 billion. That means the final tab will be well over $12 billion.

The final cost to you, ratepayer, has yet to be determined, but Georgia Power estimates its typical customer, using 1,000 kilowatt-hours a month, would see a base rate increase of about $12 per month in 2018, when both units are fully operational.

* I earn almost as much as their janitors.

** A city that hasn’t had a military base since 1842.

$4 a gallon for gas? They’re not even trying

When I heard that Hurricane Katrina was going to damage refineries and offshore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, I quickly left work and filled the tank of my Bonneville in anticipation of a shortage that never came.

My bunker mentality notwithstanding, I was relieved to see no hoarding by consumers or rationing by stations. Of course, I was aghast at prices the next time I filled up: $3.29 per gallon for regular unleaded at the Central Avenue Circle K. I kept that receipt from the summer of 2005 for months, evidence of what I thought would be the high-watermark in U.S. fuel prices during the first decade of the new millennium.

Boy, was that stupid!

As I write this, the average price for regular in the metro Augusta area is $3.51. Nationally, it’s $3.62, and analysts forecast it could head well above $4 a gallon in the high-traffic summer.

What I say to that – and this is the point where you might throw your newspaper down in disgust or, if you’re an online reader, spit on your computer screen – is: Bring it on! I hope gas prices hit $4. In fact, I want them to climb even higher.

It’s not because I want the sheiks, the commodities brokers and the oil companies* to get even richer – which they will; it’s because I want a riot.

Whoa, hold on there, hoss. I’m not talking about a violent “let’s-go-loot-a-liquor-store-and-steal-a-TV” kind of riot; I’m talking about a major social, political and economic upheaval.

I’m talking about passing the tipping point where the people and leaders of this nation are forced to make real changes in how it consumes energy and invests in technology to make alternative energy sources as economically viable as fossil fuels.

We have never come close to that tipping point, not even with dino juice trading well above $100 a barrel.

What we’ve seen so far is what always happens during a run-up in oil prices: Oil companies boost their “alternative energy” marketing campaigns to make you think they’re actually working on ways to sell you something other than oil (e.g., BP as “Beyond Petroleum”); politicians (those who aren’t on oil companies’ contribution lists) hold meaningless hearings to question the industry’s “windfall profits”; and, last but not least, upset motorists direct their blind rage at anyone who will listen, usually local service station operators (whose gasoline profits actually go down as pump prices get higher).

Then, when prices fall or stabilize – as they always do – the innovation stops. Nothing changes. Everything goes back to normal until the next excuse for a price spike comes along.

Like it or not, we’re not going to see major changes in mass transit, urban planning, car fuel efficiency or alternative fuels until we reach the tipping point.

ONE MORE POINT ON TIPPING: It’s a reflection of the level of service, not an entitlement. At least, in my book, anyway.

TALE OF TWO CORPORATE CITIZENS: Augusta’s favorite environmental whipping boy, Olin Corp.’s manufacturing plant, now has another strike against it.

Competitor Occidental Chemical Corp. announced last week it has ceased all mercury-based manufacturing processes in North America, leaving Missouri-based Olin’s chlorine, caustic soda and bleach plant in south Augusta as one of only four remaining producers using mercury-cell based technology.

Dallas-based OxyChem, which operates a sodium silicate plant in south Augusta near Olin (small world, eh?), already appears to be marketing itself as the good-guy chlorine producer.

“Our ability to offer all of our caustic soda and caustic potash customers product made in a non-mercury cell process reinforces our position as an industry leader,” OxyChem President Chuck Anderson said in a statement issued last week.

OxyChem’s decision will no doubt embolden Olin’s critics, namely Washington-based environmental group Oceana, the driving force behind the anti-mercury campaign.

I can see the new protest signs now: “Olin: Can’t you be more like OxyChem?”

NO TAX INCENTIVES ON THIS LURE, YET: Aside from sheer jubilation, the recent announcement by Bass Pro Shops to build a megastore at the Village at Riverwatch site has produced another common reaction: “What are we giving them?”

It seems to be a fair question, considering destination retailers such as Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s** have commanded huge tax incentives from the communities they have built in over the years. I won’t get into the nitty-gritty here, because writer and corporate watchdog Greg LeRoy has already written a comprehensive piece on the subject ( www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=19290).

Let’s just say the two retail chains have no problem using their status as tourist attractions to secure economic development goodies usually reserved for major industry. That’s caused smaller competitor Gander Mountain – which The Augusta Chronicle reported this year was scouting Augusta as a possible site for its first store in Georgia – to go on the offensive.

So far, Richmond County officials have not given Bass Pro Shops any taxpayer money or government grants. They are, however, working on a $25 million tax-exempt industrial revenue bond to help the retailer finance its proposed 100,000-square-foot store.
The bonds carry no cost or liability for taxpayers. The store qualifies for the bonds because of a loophole for sports- and tourism-related developments.

Of course, no one knows what incentives the Village at Riverwatch developer and property owner offered to lure the retailer to the site near River Watch Parkway and Interstate 20. Whatever it was, it was attractive enough to make the company stop looking at property near the Lewiston Road exit on I-20 in Columbia County.

SINCE WE’RE ON THE TOPIC OF CONSTRUCTION: Residential construction in the metro area was off to a slow start in the first quarter. The value of residential construction contracts through the end of March, $133 million, was about 15 percent lower than the $156 million reported during the same period last year by McGraw-Hill Construction.

Now for the sunny side: Non­residential contracts, which include everything from office buildings and hotels to apartment complexes and churches, were up 62 percent – from $53 million in 2007 to $86 million .

WE DON’T NEED NO EDUCATION (OR DO WE?): Here’s something to think about at graduation season: The 59,000 Georgia high school dropouts from the Class of 2007 will cost the U.S. government nearly $2.8 billion in lost tax revenue over their lifetimes.

That’s according to the Washington-based Alliance for Excellent Education, which calculates lost revenue based on the lower earning power (which equals lower income taxes) of the average high school dropout compared to diploma holders. Nationwide, the 1.2 million dropouts could have put an additional $60.72 billion in tax revenue in the federal coffers over their lifetimes, the alliance said.

Of course, I’d like to think all of those tax collections would have been directed toward education as opposed to offsetting the $58 billion in “unreconciled transactions” between federal agencies that auditors found in last year’s budget.***

* And the Russians and that Hugo Chavez character.

** Which my friend Joe Converse said I gave short shrift to last week. Sportsmen consider Cabela’s the “Cadillac” of outdoor stores, he said.

*** That’s right, the federal government lost more money in 2007 than Exxon Mobil made in profit. I’m in the wrong business.

Who moved my (pimento) cheese?

In last week’s Scuttlebiz, I declared I was finished commenting on the Masters Tournament for the year, but that was before I heard a tidbit about a new food-service company vying for the tournament’s concession business.
It appears a Chicago-basedcatering company Levy Restau­rants is moving into the role of concession manager for Augusta National Golf Club’s tournament. For years the job belonged to a local company, Collie Concessions.
Sources* say Levy staffers from Jacksonville, Fla., where the company provides food at the Jacksonville Jaguars’ stadium, were at the tournament learning the ropes for their transition into long-term service. The company, a division of Britain’s Compass Group PLC, a $23.5 billion company, also provides food at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and American Airlines Arena in Miami.
When contacted, a Levy spokeswoman could not immediately provide details on the deal.
Augusta National, which almost never discusses club business, declined to comment.
A phone message left with Collie Concessions’ owner Alex G. Collie III was not returned.
In the grand scheme of things, there probably will be no major changes to the tournament’s time-honored (read: inexpensive and tasty) snacks, such as pimento cheese sandwiches** and $2 beers.
It doesn’t matter who Augusta National pays to dispense goodies – anyone who takes the contract is going to deliver exactly what the club wants, recipe and price included.

THE LION ROARS; WILL CONSUMERS YAWN? In case you needed one more example of why the Evans Town Center plan is a failure, here it is: Developers are planning to build a Food Lion-anchored strip mall at the corner of Washington and Belair Roads, on parcels in front of the recently built The Home Depot store.
More on Food Lion in a minute. First, I have to rant about the so-called Evans Town Center plan. As the name suggests, the plan’s goal was to turn a 1.5-mile radius centered at the Washington-Belair intersection into a traditional town center, complete with quaint boutiques, restaurants and parks. Officials specifically sought to discourage large strip malls and other generic big-box developments.
Columbia County’s then-director of planning and zoning said it was designed to “ensure a high-quality environment” in Evans.
Now, 14 years after the plan’s conception, what has become of the “town center?” Drive around the area (if you can stand the traffic) and you’ll see nothing that resembles a traditional town and everything that resembles typical suburbia: Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, The Home Depot, Dollar General and so on.
Whatever vision the plan laid out has been systematically nullified by county leaders who roll over like a kayak in rough water the moment a developer lands a commercial tenant.
That brings us to Food Lion.
The Salisbury, N.C., company is a fine, tax-paying corporate citizen but certainly not the type of “high-end” retailer that developer Blanchard and Calhoun Commercial Corp. and its partners pitched to the public when it bought the 21-acre site formerly occupied by Evans Middle School.
Based on the architectural drawings I’ve seen, the store is clearly a Food Lion, not the company’s upscale “Bloom” concept that is starting to crop up in the Carolinas.
A Food Lion spokeswoman would not comment.
There’s already a Food Lion not far from the site at the corner of Old Petersburg and Old Evans roads. Anyone want to bet on which one closes first?

NOT EXACTLY BREAKING NEWS: Some people have forgotten that The Augusta Chronicle last month reported a Cracker Barrel was going to be built at the corner of Washington and Belair roads (in the same shopping center as the aforementioned Food Lion and The Home Depot). So I just wanted to remind you: A Cracker Barrel is going to be built at Washington and Belair roads.
A side note: The location is unique in that nearly 90 percent of Cracker Barrel locations, such as the one near the Belair Road-Interstate 20 interchange, are on interstate highways.
Whether the new location will be more or less crowded than the existing one on Sunday morning remains to be seen.

A SHORT COMMUTE? Employees at the FPL Food slaughterhouse on New Savannah Road might have to drive to Lexington County (west of Columbia) if they want to stay employed with the beef-processing company.
Last week, FPL, which longtime residents remember by its former name, Shapiro Packing Co., announced it would be shifting work from Augusta to its new facility in South Carolina. About 100 jobs could be lost.
The company’s Web site says it employs about 700 people in Augusta, where it processes beef for companies such as Wal-Mart and McDonald’s.

SPEAKING OF BURGERS: A reader posted a reply to a recent Scuttlebiz that said Five Guys Burgers and Fries was coming to the Evans area. The Evans Town Center to be exact (again?).
I haven’t been able to confirm that because I’m playing the world’s longest game of phone tag with the company’s spokeswoman (Molly, call me!). The Richmond, Va.-based chain has several locations in Georgia, including two in Athens.
If it does come here, it’s likely to give the market’s other burger joints a run for their money. The company appears to have a cult following rivaled only by In-N-Out Burger, a West Coast chain that, if it located here, would be the sole recipient of my hamburger expenditures.

HISTORY LESSON: The recent bankruptcy and closing of the Friedman’s jewelry store chain would have no more resonance here than the closing of any other chain except for one thing: Friedman’s has roots here.
In 1909, Sam Segall started a jewelry store in Savannah, Ga. His nephews Abraham and Benjamin Friedman took over when he died, naming the business Friedman’s Jewelers in 1924. Abraham moved to Augusta and brought his share of the company with him. The brothers later split up their seven stores. Abraham named his A.A. Friedman. Having two companies with “Friedman” in the name didn’t pose a problem until the companies grew so large that they began to overlap.
Under a lawsuit settled in 1997, Abraham’s 137-store chain became Marks & Morgan. Benjamin’s Friedman’s Jewelers became a publicly traded company that grew to 455 stores nationwide under the Friedman’s and Cresent brand names.
Augusta-based Marks & Morgan ceased to exist in 2000 when Susan Morgan, daughter of company Chairwoman Betty Friedman (whose maiden name was Marks) sold the firm to Signet Group PLC in a deal worth $160 million.
Benjamin’s half of the business, whose liquidation is now being overseen by three national firms, is unloading $400 million worth of inventory and seeking a buyer for its remaining locations.

* “Sources” means “a banker I know who was at the course.”
** The pimento cheese is the most revered concession item, but the barbecue sandwich is the most underrated.

It takes an outdoor store to save a Village

Well, well, well.

I guess developers of the stalled Village at Riverwatch had an ace up their sleeves after all.

After nearly three years of on-again off-again (mostly off) activity at the proposed retail site near River Watch Parkway and Interstate 20, project backers have secured the holy grail of outdoor retail: Bass Pro Shops.

But is it enough to save the 170-acre tract?

Of course it is. Duuuuh.

A Bass Pro Shops store (there are only a few dozen of them, by the way) is a tourist destination. People who are not me will drive many miles to go to one. Others who ordinarily wouldn’t stop in Augusta will pull off Interstate 20 when they see the store’s sign.

It’s like a shopping mall, outlet center and theme park rolled into one. Only there are more folks wearing camo.

A couple of years ago I drove through Mitchell, S.D., on Interstate 90. As far I could tell, there were two things to do there: see The Corn Palace (a big building decorated with corn) and stop at the Cabela’s outfitter store (whose massive parking lot was chock-full of cars, RVs and buses).

Anyone remotely interested in outdoor retail knows Bass Pro Shops is way more revered than Cabela’s. In fact, I’ve never heard locals more excited about a single store since, since … well, I can’t remember.

It’s clear Bass Pro Shops will revive the Village project. What’s unclear is what the rest of the tenant mix will be. The developers’ representatives last week were typically mum on the details of the project once pitched as a lifestyle center anchored by a Dillard’s, Belk, Starplex Cinemas and , most recently, a Costco.

Lifestyle center, big-box center, strip mall, outlet center – who cares what the rest of the place looks like? We’ve got Bass Pro Shops!

Eat your corn-fed heart out, Mitchell.

RUMOR OF THE WEEK: The Salvation Army property on Greene Street has been purchased by hotel developers.

Wrong.

Although developers have made overtures, a sale has not occurred, the organization isn’t seeking offers and it doesn’t plan to move any time soon, Commanding Officer Chip Hall said.

Some of the Salvation Army’s land has been acquired to complete the St. Sebastian Way extension project, but Mr. Hall said the organization is “perfectly happy” staying where it is.

“We don’t need to move; we don’t have to move,” he said.

Now, if somebody really wants the property, Mr. Hall said, the deal would also have to include payment for relocation and new building expenses.

“If (relocating is) best for the city, then I’m open to it,” he said.

IN THE (NU)CLEAR? If you’re opposed to nuclear power, this is bad news. If you’re in favor of nuclear power, this is good news. If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t really care what makes your TV glow, skip right ahead to the next section.

The owners of the Alvin W. Vogtle Nuclear Generating Plant near Waynesboro, Ga., cleared a major hurdle in the proposal to build two new units at the plant. T his month, they finally settled on a price for the reactors with a consortium of companies led by Westinghouse Electric Co.

Southern Co. subsidiary Georgia Power, Plant Vogtle’s majority owner, had been wrangling with Westinghouse (one of only two companies whose reactor designs have already been approved by federal nuclear regulators) for months over spiraling costs that threatened to derail the multi billion -dollar project.

The price of the reactors is being kept confidential until state regulators sign off on the long-term electricity-supply plan that Georgia Power will submit next month.

After the plan is (likely) approved, the company is finally expected to finally announce it will commit to the project, which will create thousands of temporary jobs and double the plant’s full-time employment to 1,800.

HERE’S SOMETHING FUNNY – SORT OF: My Unverifiable Fact from a couple of weeks ago – the one about the percentage of area residents who leave town during Masters Week – can almost be verified.

I said 23.7 percent of people leave town. Although no one can prove that, we can say that 22 percent of area residents polled in a recent Belden Associates media survey said they leave during Masters Week.

Was I close or what? I didn’t even have to randomly call up thousands of people to do it, either.

The Belden survey also showed (warning: shameless self-promotion ahead) that The Augusta Chronicle and its affiliated products reach more area residents than all other Augusta media combined. Boo-yah!*

ON THE TOPIC OF MEDIA: You might have noticed that E-Z-GO went all-out this year during its Masters Week media blitz.

The gist of the golf and speciality vehicle manufacturer’s television, billboard, radio and newspaper ads is to get consumers (rather than the shrinking golf course market) thinking about its non golf vehicles as an alternate form of transportation around the yard.

The company wants people to see its small vehicles as the car you drive around the neighborhood or take down to the ol’ fishin’ hole. The unique twist, though, is that the company is using its celebrity golf endorsers – Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Vaughn Taylor – as pitchmen in the off-the-course campaign.

“This is a perfect week, when you’ve got a global audience,” said Kathleen Searle, the company’s vice president of communications.

Now that the Masters Week marketing has concluded, the company is pushing the campaign out to its 600 dealers and distributors around the world for use in their local markets.

ONE LAST MASTERS COMMENT: If it seemed like Augusta National Golf Club hired more people to work this year’s Masters Tournament than in years past, that’s because it did.
Sources say the club hired about 1,900 people to work the week, or about 300-400 more than the number of temporary hires it has made in previous years.

It’s nice to know there will always be one industry in town that’s recession-proof.

SEEING DOUBLE: You might have noticed a new Circle K under construction at 459 Old Evans Road near the intersection of Old Petersburg Road, which is the site of … another Circle K.

At first glance, this would appear to be the convenience-store operator’s third set of dueling stores (side-by-side locations on Washington and Wrightsboro roads being the other two).

The new store, however, is designed to replace the older one, which is being razed as part of the River Watch Parkway expansion project on Old Petersburg Road.

The plan is for the new store to open in mid-July, just as the old one is torn down, said Robert Campau, the director of Circle K regional operations for the chain’s Canadian parent company, Quebec’s Alimentation Couche-Tard.**

The largest convenience store operator in North America – and the largest in the Augusta-Aiken area – is also building a new store at 3698 Mike Padgett Highway at the intersection of Tobacco Road.

Mr. Campau said that the company, which has remodeled many of its area stores during the past 18 months, plans to develop two more area stores next year.

* That’s the last time I’ll do that. Pinkie swear.

** The company name is French for “food for those who go to bed late.” Honest!

Thank you for the thank yous

A few weeks back I visited my hometown for the first time in nearly a decade. I decided to write about the trip because, quite frankly, being away from Augusta for 10 days left me little else to write about.

In case you missed it, the piece focused on the socio-economic changes that followed the loss of the town’s sole industry several years ago.

Some of those changes included the eviction of my parents from the place they have called home for more than 30 years.

I have been inundated with reader comments since the date of publication. In fact, I don’t think I have ever received more feedback on anything I’ve ever written for a newspaper during the past 15 years. With the exception of one e-mail chiding me for not sticking to Augusta-area news (“...I really don’t care about your hometown...”), all the comments I have received have been complimentary and heartfelt.*

At first, I was a bit surprised by all the reaction. After all, the social upheaval caused by job losses in a town 1,650 miles away has little impact on the lives of Augusta-area residents. However, after speaking with many of you, I have come to realize that nearly everyone, whether they live in a trailer park or a gated mansion, can relate to the column’s underlying themes: the cause-and-effect of industrial decline, a child’s concern for aging parents and the very concept of what we call “home.”

I rarely comment on what I write (I prefer to let readers have the last word), but in this case, I feel the need to say something about the kind words from everyone who called or wrote to me about the column: Thank you.

* The column also helped me reconnect with my childhood best-friend, whom I had lost touch with over the years. We failed to reunite during my recent visit, but he posted a blog reply reminding me of something I forgot long ago: That we entombed a coffee-can “time capsule” inside the block wall of my mother’s home. I’m hopeful it can be retrieved before she moves. I’d like to know what we put inside it.

Masters Tournament: What's the economic impact?

The hotels are empty. The street vendors are gone. The limos and vans are back in their garages. The golf fans have all gone home.

All that remains of the 2008 Masters Tournament is the money still circulating around the Augusta economy. How much money?

That’s a common question, but one that’s tricky to answer.

Calculating the economic impact of the Tournament would require, among other things, a ballpark figure on the number of people attending. The only people who know the answer to that are at the Augusta National Golf Club, and they aren’t talking – yet.

Officials from the Augusta Convention and Visitors Bureau last year began discussing with the Augusta National the possibility of issuing an economic impact statement. The Augusta National last week acknowledged it has had some talks with the CVB, but would not indicate if or when such as statement would be issued.

The fact that the Augusta National has even entertained the idea is a landmark achievement. That’s because the club has never disclosed the number of people it hires to work the Tournament (hundreds, possibly thousands), the value of Masters merchandise it sells (reportedly in the low tens of millions) or the tonnage of pimento cheese sandwiches consumed on the course (my guess is somewhere between one and three).

Sales tax collections spike during the period, but remember that much of the spending during Masters Week isn’t reported. Think of every homeowner who turns their yard into a paid parking lot or every schoolteacher who gets cash “under the table” to help a catering company deliver gourmet meals to corporate executives at their hospitality suites.

The Augusta National is apparently interested in what people think of its impact, as evidenced by one of the questions on its first-ever patron survey. The survey allowed patrons to plug in their best guesses, all the way up to $200 million.

In 1997, the CVB (using hotel occupancy as a gauge) estimated the Masters Tournament pumped $109 million into the local economy. That was the last economic impact statement.

Hopefully, Augusta won’t have to wait another 11 years for the next one.

Red Carpet Tour goes confidential

When I covered my first Red Carpet Tour in 1998, I practically knew everything about it before ever stepping foot inside the hospitality tent on the far southwestern corner of the Augusta National Golf Club property.

The organizers of the state’s largest economic development initiative used to hold press conferences weeks before the event to tout the decades-old program that each year brings more than three dozen titans of industry to the Masters Tournament.

Officials from local and state chambers of commerce would give interviews to talk about how the tour has generated thousands of jobs and billions of dollars’ worth of investment from companies whose tour guests were impressed by Georgia’s hospitality and “pro-business” climate.

Basically, the Red Carpet Tour organizers expected – practically demanded – publicity.

You can imagine my surprise, then, when on Thursday (the first of two Red Carpet Tour dates) I and other members of the media, were told to stay out. Some VIP guests on this year’s tour, I was told, were so concerned about confidentiality that the tour’s local organizers (the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce) had to make the decision to keep the media away.

Apparently, the chances were just too great that the 10 seconds of B-roll footage that a local network affiliate would have shot for its 45-second story about the tour could compromise some corporate bigwigs’ identities and jeopardize the business they might bring to Georgia.

Corporate spies scan local TV newscasts for intelligence. Interesting development.

The media has covered the event since it was created in the 1950s, and not once has the coverage played a part in a tour guests’ decision to locate or not locate their business in Georgia.

Was I surprised by the media blackout? Yes, but I probably shouldn’t have been.

The tour’s organizers – namely the Georgia Chamber of Commerce – have been increasingly hostile to reporters over the years.

Two years ago Augusta Metro Chamber officials, under pressure from their state counterparts, told me not to come to the event. I protested and was later told I could come but couldn’t “talk to anyone” on the tour.

At this point, it is necessary to point out that all tour guests are consenting adults well over the age of 18. All are briefed that they are under no obligation to speak to the media or anyone else who isn’t a tour volunteer. All appear to have average or above-average intelligence.

You can understand, then, why I found it a bit odd at last year’s tour event that a Georgia Chamber employee repeatedly stepped between me and tour guests to disrupt my interviews. The people I interviewed found this odd as well.

Contrary to the image portrayed by tour organizers, not everyone on the tour wants to keep their identity secret. Most have no problem telling you who they are, what they do and why they are on the tour – they even wear name badges.

Coverage or no coverage, the Red Carpet Tour is a great event. It has helped attract several companies to Augusta in the past, such as Sitel, John Deere and IFF. It’s a good partnership between the public and private sectors – some state and local tax dollars are contributed, but the bulk of the money comes from major corporations.

Still, closing the event to the media is a bad idea. Here’s why: The Red Carpet Tour is essentially a marketing program. It is designed to tell the world how wonderful our area is and why they should be doing business here. Shouldn’t the tour try to have as many people as possible, including the media, tell that story?

Earlier in the week, I had heard that a camera crew from CNBC went to the tent looking for a story. Instead of giving the national news crew a few minutes of sound bites that sung the praises of the Augusta-Aiken area, volunteers and officials at the tent told them to take a hike.

What a blown opportunity.

If the powers that be at the tour have decided their event will yield better results without media attention, then they have their wish. I, for one, won’t be bothering them anymore.

New cars, new homes

 OUT WITH THE CADDY, IN WITH THE BENZ: White DeVilles have given way to silver GL 550s.

Masters visitors have noticed the change in courtesy cars as the Augusta National Golf Club has selected Mercedes-Benz as the exclusive provider of transportation services for the Tournament. For decades, Cadillac – a former broadcast sponsor – was the official courtesy car for players and other Tournament VIPs.

“I’m partial to Cadillacs – I own two of them – but this is an international event and everything about it should be international,” Mark Reeder, a first-time visitor from Peoria, Ill., said Wednesday.

The partnership between the Augusta National and the German automaker was announced late last year.

Charles Coody said he enjoyed driving his Mercedes this week. He laughed when asked if that was because the Benz had more features than the Caddy he drove after winning the 1971 Masters Tournament.“Everything now has more features than what I drove,” he said.     

HOUSES, NOT CABINS: Eagle-eyed course visitors may have glimpsed the new homes east of the No. 10 fairway, barely visible through the pines and azaleas.

Unless your a guest of one of the three broadcast sponsors – AT&T, IBM and ExxonMobil – that is as much as you’re going to see. The Augusta National confirmed the homes are hospitality houses that were built late last year to allow the sponsors to entertain their guests and clients.

Unlike most professional golf tournaments, the Augusta National does not allow corporate sponsors and partners to have on-course tents or other temporary structures.

Because the hospitality homes have no overnight accommodations, the homes will not be considered one of the “cabins” on the course, of which there are 10. The Eisenhower, Butler and Roberts cabins stand alone.

There's more than smoke in the air at the course

SMOKE GETS IN YOUR EYES: If the Masters Tournament had a smell, what smell would it be?

Ask that question to 1,000 people and you’re likely to get 1,000 different answers. If you asked me, I would say it smells like a cigar.

Everyone*, it seems, is smoking a stogie.

There are roughly a half-dozen tents selling cigars outside the gates of the Augusta National Golf Club, and all are doing brisk business.

“What just this one tent does is two-fold what we would do on an average day (at our store),” said Clayton Smith, who was manning one of the four tents run by Top Shelf Cigar & Tobacco Shoppe.

The company, whose brick-and-mortar store is on Washington Road in Evans, sells roughly 30 boxes of cigars a day. Cohiba, Arturo Fuente, Ashton and Partagas appear to be patron favorites, Mr. Smith said.
What about Cubans?

“We get asked that constantly,” Mr. Smith said. “We don’t have them. We run a clean business.”

SOMETHING ELSE IS IN THE AIR: Verizon Wireless said it expects data usage over its network around the Augusta National to double this year.

Cell phones and other wireless devices are, of course, not allowed on the course. That means people are making up for it once they get outside the gates.

“It’s all those people trying to get some work done on their Blackberrys,” Verizon Wireless spokeswoman Kira Perdue said.

Last year, Verizon moved more than 131 megabits of data per hour last year through its towers near the course between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. During that same period the company processed 5,000 phone calls per hour.

There was no shortage of people using their wireless toys to get work done at Executive Marketing Services’ Foundation Club corporate hospitality building on Azalea Drive on Tuesday.

“I expected to come up here and work,” said Skylar Rupp, vice president of underwriting at Guarantee Insurance Co. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., while working on his AirCard-equipped laptop.

Sitting next to him, also working on a laptop, was Marshall Gordon, the company’s vice president of marketing.

“We’re entertaining customers. We’ll be working all week,” he said.

SO THAT’S HOW THEY GET THE AUTOGRAPHS: Ever wonder how these sports memorabilia dealers get all those autographs?

Me too. That’s why I asked Joe Soprano** of Classic Golf Images Inc.

The answer, unfortunately, wasn’t as interesting as I thought it would be. Turns out golf megastars such as Arnold Palmer and Ben Crenshaw have arrangements with memorabilia companies for their autograph. These companies are the ones that supply Mr. Soprano’s company with autographed photos, scorecards, and flags.

Mr. Soprano said memorabilia from golf greats such as Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods cost more because they don’t work with such companies.

That explains the $9,995 price tag on the 36-by-51 inch oil giclee of Tiger Woods at St. Andrews hanging in Mr. Soprano's Azalea Drive tent. The painting has Tiger’s autograph and a certificate of authenticity.

But is someone really going to pay $10,000?

“Oh yeah,” Mr. Soprano said. “Some Japanese guy will come in here and buy it.”

He practically has to sell it. His tent, across the street from the Augusta National’s main patron entrance, is costing him $16,000.

JUST GOOD TIMING: Whole Life Ministries didn’t plan to open its restaurant, Honey From The Rock, to profit during Masters Week, it just happens to be a fortuitous coincidence.

“We had hoped to open a couple of weeks ago,” said Cindy Jones, the children’s pastor at the church located across the street from the Augusta National.
The 95-seat home-cooking cafe is going gangbusters at breakfast and is doing well at lunch.

“We have people lined up here at 6:30 in the morning,” she said. “They’re trying to get something before the gates open.”

Dinner traffic, however, is so light that the restaurant plans on closing after lunch for the rest of the week.

* Well not everyone, just most men over 40.
** That’s his real name.

Masters Roundup: Gas, food and lodging

PRICEY PARKING: Parking lots were filled up quickly Monday at paid lots all around the Augusta National property except for one: the National Hills shopping center.
The $40 price posted to park at the property, which was acquired last year by an Atlanta-based retail developer, is now the high watermark for Masters Week parking prices.

By mid-day, parking spaces were still visible in the lot surrounding the former Dillard’s department store, which closed in January. Nearby parking lots were charging $20-$30.

NO THRU TRAFFIC: The Madison on the Green apartment complex on River Ridge Drive has long been a favorite shortcut for locals and Tournament regulars as a good short cut to avoid congested sections of Washington Road.

Not anymore.

Non-residents attempting to drive through the complex, located directly behind the Washington Road Arby’s restaurant, were stopped by a two men asking for $5 for a one-day “pass” or $50 for the week.

A reporter inquiring about the toll was met with a no-comment from the men, who said the apartment complex is private property and that they had permission from the owner to collect the money.

County records show the property is owned by a limited liability company based in McLean, Va.

ROOM AT THE INN: Have some Augusta hotels priced themselves out of the market? That’s what some industry insiders are saying about vacancies at hotels such as The Partridge Inn and the DoubleTree Hotel, where dozens of rooms remain available.

With prices hovering around $700 a night for what is essentially a $100 room, well-heeled patrons and corporations are looking elsewhere for accommodations.

On the budget end of the spectrum, the glut of low- and mid-priced hotels in recent years has boosted the number of available rooms, giving patrons more choice in where they can stay.

NO DOUBLE DIPPING: Those attending past practice rounds and tournament days are using to having their tickets and badges scanned on the way in to the Augusta National. This year, they were surprised to have them scanned on the way out, too.

Longtime patrons were speculating Monday that the move is designed to cut down on more than one person using the ticket at the same time.

Here’s how the con has worked in the past: A group of friends go in the gate. Once inside, they go to a discreet area (such as a restroom) pass the tickets to a designated mule who walks the tickets back out the gate to another group of people who then use the tickets to enter the property.

Once together, they can then walk around and hope security doesn’t notice only half of them are wearing tickets. If noticed by security, the ticketless patron could pretend their ticket must have been lost or stolen.

Not anymore. Now, tickets that haven’t been scanned out will send up a red flag if they are used to reenter the property.

Smart thinking, huh?

A ghost in the (wrecking) machine

Business Reporter LaTina Emerson’s feature story on Thompson Building Wrecking Co. Inc. this week yielded more than just 50 years of family business history – some bona fide ghost stories were told.

The company’s president, Hiram Thompson, said two of his employees have sworn they experienced paranormal activity while working at the Forrest Hills-Ricker Hotel/Oliver Gen­eral Hospital building near Forest Hills Golf Club.

The first occurred in 1987, when the historic hotel-turned-Veterans Administration hospital and 32 smaller buildings were being torn down.

Employee Thomas Valentine was working alone in one of the buildings when he heard a noise. He looked down a hallway and saw what appeared to be a line of German soldiers marching down a hallway. Mr. Thompson said he and his employee later found out the building, which was turned into an Army hospital in 1942, treated German prisoners of war.

Mr. Thompson said his nephew Paxton once heard doors slamming repeatedly when he went there with some friends.

The second sighting occurred when the company returned to the site in 2006 to do more demolition work.

This time, Mark Boyd, Thompson’s asbestos supervisor, walked into one of the buildings and told his boss that he felt the “hair raise on his neck” just before seeing what appeared to be an American G.I., a corporal, based on the stripes of his WWII-era uniform.

Mr. Boyd said the soldier walked across a hallway from one room to another and (gulp) locked eyes with him as he went by.

Intrigued, Mr. Boyd later placed recorders in the vacant building. Mr. Thompson said conversations could be heard on the tapes. We asked to listen to those tapes, but they were apparently confiscated by federal agents named Mulder and Scully.*

The ghosts of the Forrest Hills-Ricker Hotel will probably remain a mystery.

POSTPONED, NOT DEAD: Augusta-based medical billing company Medac Inc. has yet to follow through on plans it announced in 2006 to build a 20,000-square-foot data processing facility at the Lincoln County Industrial Park.

However, the delay is not because the company is having trouble. On the contrary, it’s in the middle of a major deal that has the potential to make the $2 million data facility even larger.

Medac President John Memar would not disclose details but said the deal could expand the scope of the company beyond services for anesthesiology practices.

However, he did indicate the deal has the potential to bring 120 jobs Medac currently outsources overseas back to the Augusta area.

There’s something you don’t see everyday.

SUPERMARKET STUFF: The rumor is that grocery chain Publix is interested in locating a store near the planned extension of William Few Parkway to Hardy McManus Road in the Greenbrier section of Evans.

I’m here to say it’s not a rumor – there will be a Publix-anchored shopping center there in about a year.

I can’t tell you how I know, I just do. Have I ever steered you wrong before?**

WHAT ABOUT SOUTH AUGUSTA?: The topic of grocery store development made me curious about something: When was the last time a new grocery store opened in south Augusta?

As best I can tell, it was 1998- 99, when local developers began work on the Winn-Dixie at Tobacco and Peach Orchard roads and the Food Lion near Tobacco Road and Mike Padgett Highway. Only the Food Lion is still open.

More south Augusta grocery stores have closed than have opened in recent years, fueling speculation that the Deans Bridge Road Kroger store would close. The location, along with the 15th Street Kroger, are the only Augusta Krogers that haven’t been renovated. As of last week, Kroger officials said the store wouldn’t be closing.

UNVERIFIABLE FACT NO. 113: 23.7 – percent of area residents who leave during Masters Week.

BE MY LITTLE ANGEL (INVESTOR): The Augusta area’s burgeoning life sciences industry has everything it needs to grow, except cash from venture capitalists and “angel” investors.

A Savannah-based investor group, in conjunction with a coalition of state biotech organizations, is hoping to change that.

Ariel Savannah Angel Partners has scheduled a daylong seminar on how to invest in start up companies on April 23 at the DoubleTree Hotel on Perimeter Parkway.

Well, Daddy Warbucks, what are you waiting for? Call (912) 447-8455 to learn more.

GIMME A CAR(T): The tradition of Club Car lining Augusta’s streets with its golf cars*** is going on 25 years and doesn’t appear to be waning in popularity. Requests by businesses to have a vehicle placed at their establishment start earlier each year.
“We started getting requests about two months ago,” said Ray Bentley, Club Car’s director of aftermarket sales. “We’ve had requests for 90 to 100 cars already.”

Club Car said it tries to get everyone a car that wants one but acknowledged there have been a few oversights, including one year where it forgot to deliver a car to Hooters.

“They weren’t too happy,” Mr. Bentley said. “They even put a message on their sign out front saying they didn’t need us any more and they’d get a Harley instead.”

The delightfully tacky restaurant got over it, as evidenced by the bright orange car currently parked there.

* This is not true.
** Don’t answer that.
*** Yes, 99.9 percent of people call them golf “carts.” But isn’t a cart something you push or pull, not drive?

The 'other side of Augusta' is like your city

The first week of April is nearly on us, and you know what that means.

That’s right: A major media outlet somewhere is working on its (insert Stone Phillips voice here) “other side of Augusta” story.

You know what I’m talking about. Nearly every year a major newspaper or magazine publishes a story during Masters Week, pointing out how most of Augusta is not as classy as the venerable Masters Tournament or as picturesque as Amen Corner.

Local reaction to these stories (even after all these years) falls into three basic categories:

- Outrage from local community leaders who usually complain that the writer failed to mention the city’s “positive” attributes

- A chuckle from people who like to dwell on the city’s problems and secretly take delight in seeing community leaders get bent out of shape.

- A sigh from people who are too weary of reading the same story to have a more visceral reaction.

I’m in the third category. I do not complain about such stories, nor do I get some perverse thrill out of having an outsider tell me about my city’s flaws during its most exciting week of the year. I’m just a little tired of it.

That being said, there’s not much you or I can do to stop reporters from doing the (use the Stone again) “other side of Augusta” story. If you find yourself in a situation, though, where you are being interviewed by a national media outlet and you have a concern they are working on a (come on, one last time, Stone) “other side of Augusta” story, clip out the following segment and hand it to the reporter.

Think of it as a favor to me.

“Dear Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss Journalist:

Hi there. Welcome to Augusta. I hope you’re enjoying our accommodations and your company’s expense account. Here’s a few things you should know about our city before you write your story.

Being a perceptive individual, you no doubt have noticed we have litter on our streets. Except for the Wifesaver logo on the plastic cups, our litter is very similar to the litter on the streets where you live.

You might have noticed a person or two not wearing a Tournament badge who appears to be destitute. Don’t be alarmed – these people are just as needy as the folks on your streets. You might want to check with our numerous nonprofit organizations – I’d start with the Golden Harvest Food Bank – to see how well we take care of them.

Your trained journalistic eye surely has taken note of the fact that there is a two-block section of Augusta where adult businesses flourish. These “gentleman’s clubs” are the similar to the ones you have in your (much larger) adult district back home. Sure, the lap dances are likely less expensive here (reflective of our lower cost of living), but that’s not much of a story, is it?

Oh, speaking of “strip,” the strip malls here are exactly, exactly, like the one’s where you live: a grocery store, a Chinese restaurant, a nail salon, a video store and a dry cleaner. Just because we play host to the world’s most famous golf event for a week does not make us different from the rest of the country during the other 51 weeks.

Those big buildings with all the pipes, boilers and storage tanks you saw on the far east side of town? We call that “industry.” It’s how some of the people who don’t work at the golf course earn a living.

Last, you might have picked up on what appears to be some racial-political tension in Augusta. Although it’s true our brand of racial politics is a little “over the top” (you probably heard something during your visit about our coliseum authority), it’s not much different from what you might encounter in the 42 states that aren’t Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. There are racists in Augusta, but Augusta is not a racist city.

In closing, thank you again for your visit. We appreciate your hotel, meal and rental car expenditures. When you write your story, double-check your spelling. That little town south of here is spelled H-E-P-H-Z-I-B-A-H.

Sincerely,

Damon Cline

P.S.: Try the sweet tea. You might like it!”

HARRY KITCHEN’S SINK: Wondering what’s up with Harry Kitchen’s Watermark project at the site of the former train depot between Fifth and Sixth streets on Reynolds? So were we.

The head of Bluffton, S.C. -based The Foxfield Co. said his riverfrontoffice/hotel/condominium project is about 45 days from receiving state environmental certification, allowing him to complete his purchase of the property from the city. An architectural firm has been hired, and Mr. Kitchen said he has been in talks with the Hilton Hotels Corp. as a possible tenant.

“We’ve gotten some interest, but we haven’t gotten one to the final stages yet,” he said.

The condominium tower would likely be the last phase to be completed, he said, because financing for residential projects is a little tight.

“Obviously, the residential market is non existent at this point. You have a hard time putting together a condominium project,” he said. “The banks don’t even want to hear the word condo right now.”

HOTEL FRENZY: Something else we’re wondering about: How many hotel rooms can downtown Augusta support?

You’ve no doubt heard of the multistory hotel being considered for development on the site of the former city police station at Ninth and Reynolds. The project, which is rumored to involve the Hyatt hotel chain, is said to be the centerpiece of a condo, retail and underground parking complex that would be built on parcels housing the old police station and vacant warehouses.

Whether there will be enough commerce in Augusta to support such a project, even after construction of the TEE Center, remains to be seen. Either way, a new hotel would look a whole lot better that what’s sitting there now.

THE WHOLE STORY ON HULL STOREY: Last week, I updated the Hull Storey Retail Group’s proposed sale of 11 shopping malls to an Atlanta-based company.
Or so I thought.

Information that the Augusta retail developer was “confident” of the conclusion of the sale was outdated before the ink dried.

Shortly after I spoke with Hull Storey owners, the deal fell through because the proposed acquirer, Hendon Properties, couldn’t get the $214 million in financing for the malls, none of which are in Augusta. The Hull Storey folks aren’t too upset – Hendon Properties solicited the sale. You don’t seem too upset, either. The only mall you’re interested in is at 3450 Wrightsboro Road.*

THE “OTHER MALL”: Someone asked me the other day “what’s going on” with the Village at Riverwatch project near River Watch Parkway and Interstate 20. Here’s the answer: Nada.

NEXT! Richmond County economic developers are helping market the former Pfizer pharmaceutical plant that alternative fuel company Xethanol Corp. occupied just long enough to convert to a scrap heap.

The facility, or what’s left of it, is for sale or lease. Economic developers are working with a company interested in the site, but they characterized the talks as “preliminary.”

* How’s P.F. Chang’s? I’ve never been, and I’m not about to go until the wait is less than a half hour. I hate holding pagers.

Motorists: Don’t say 'egad' over E10

If you think alcohol is made for drinking and not for pumping into your gas tank, you might be a little miffed at what’s going on around town: Ethanol-blended fuel has arrived.

Many fuel pumps in the area are sporting stickers proclaiming that the fuel they dispense might contain up to 10 percent ethanol, a blend known in many parts of the country – mostly the Midwest – as E10.

Ethanol, a type of alcohol produced mostly from corn, has been blended with gasoline for years but is just now beginning to become commonplace in the Augusta-Aiken area – and most other parts of Georgia – because of the federal Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

The legislation, approved in December, requires companies to sell 9 billion gallons of renewable fuels this year – 36 billion by 2022.

“You’re going to see ethanol blends in gasoline everywhere,” said Davis Cosey, the president of Perry-based Davis Oil Co. and board member of the Georgia Oilmen’s Association.

Andy Jones, the president of M.B. Jones Oil Co. in Wrens, which operates the Augusta-area Sprint stores, said customer response to E10 has been positive.
“We have not had any issues,” he said.

Regardless of how you feel about the political ramifications of ethanol (driving up the cost of food; not producing as much power as straight gasoline; etc.), it’s here to stay.

Here’s what you need to know about E10:

a) It’s not going to damage your gasoline-powered car, boat or lawn mower (pilots, stick to aviation fuel). All major automakers warranty their vehicles for the fuel, and some even say the cleaner-burning fuel can improve engine performance.

b) E10, as its name implies, is not E85, a high-ethanol blend that can be used only in flexible-fuel vehicles, or FFVs.

c) You’re not getting cheated. Though it’s true that ethanol produces less energy than gasoline, numerous government and private-sectors tests have shown E10 blend has virtually zero impact on a vehicle’s fuel economy. Only vehicles burning E85 get lower mileage than straight gas.

d) You won’t be paying any more for your gas … but you won’t be paying any less, either. That is, until the alternative fuels industry finds a way to mass-produce ethanol using something other than corn as a feedstock.

As to when that occurs … your guess is as good as mine.

Remember the Xethanol folks? The ones who said they were going to produce cellulose-based ethanol from paper mill waste at the former Pfizer plant in east Augusta?

The one thing they did, besides scrap a perfectly good pharmaceutical plant, was prove that making ethanol from low-cost feedstocks is easier said than done.

NOW THIS IS MY KIND OF ALCOHOL: I like bourbon.* I like jelly.

So, when Aiken resident Sheila Bowers sent me a jar of City Grocery Bourbon Jelly, what was I going to do, donate it to a soup kitchen?

The jelly is made by her brother, Jim Boklage, and his wife, Constance, in their hometown of Frankfort, Ky., a place any bourbon lover calls Valhalla.

It has already garnered somewhat of a cult following since they began selling it in October – Louisville’s landmark Brown Hotel carries it, and the governor of Kentucky includes it in his gift bags.

“It’s another connection between Aiken and Kentucky,” Ms. Bowers said, alluding to thoroughbred horses, the other link.

With a 7 percent alcohol content, I think the jelly makes a better ham glaze than a spread on your morning toast, but to each his own. Just don’t let your boss smell it on your breath.

Get a 9.2-ounce jar for $7 at ww.citygroceryfoods.com (you can also check out recipes there).

Or,you can actually move away from the computer and get a jar in “real time” at Aiken’s Plum Pudding store on Laurens Street or the Old Aiken Market & Smokehouse on Park Avenue.

NOT EXACTLY BREAKING NEWS, BUT ... : Hawk & Simpson Real Estate has merged into Larry Miller Realty.

That’s probably not a shock – the two Augusta Century 21 franchises have been in negotiations since last year – but hey, it might be news to you.

“I’ve known both Jerrell Hawk and Dennis Simpson as first-class real estate executives and honorable, worthy competitors for over twenty years,” Mr. Miller said in a prepared statement.

In the same statement Mr. Hawk said, “we can all now enjoy greater operational efficiencies and increased performance, primarily because of economies of scale and the seamless nature of our merger.”

HERE’S A DEAL THAT’S NOT QUITE DONE: Augusta’s Hull Storey Retail Group’s proposed sale of 11 shopping mall properties, originally set to close in January, has still not been completed.

Company principals said they are still working out the reported $214 million deal with Atlanta-based Hendon Properties, and said they are confident the sale will occur as announced in November.

None of the malls is in the Augusta-Aiken area.

ONE POINT OF VIEW: So, how do you feel about Augusta’s being in a recession? Huh?
A recent report from Moody’s Economy.com said the Augusta metro area is in a recession based on the market’s employment, income, industrial production and retail sales.

Augusta State University Economist Mark Thompson, who follows the same stats, disagrees , arguing that employment growth is still solid and unemployment has not skyrocketed.

Who’s right? Because federal gross domestic product figures for metro areas have a three-year lag, we won’t know until 2010.

In case you were wondering, Moody’s says Rome and Dalton are also in a recession, while Atlanta, Athens and Savannah are in the midst of an expansion.

SINCE WHEN IS RICHMOND COUNTY 'Rural’ ? Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office recently announced that Richmond County has been awarded $1.5 million in Economic Development, Growth & Enterprise grant funds to purchase equipment at the new(ish) T-Mobile call center off Wheeler Road.

The grants, administered by the OneGeorgia Authority, are “aimed at spurring economic development in rural Georgia.”

I don’t know anybody who would consider Wheeler Road a part of “rural Georgia” except for maybe folks in Atlanta. That being said, I don’t think we’re going to give the check back.

* I find Ezra Brooks and Old For ester to be exceptional values; however, if I’m over at your house, I’ll be looking for Buffalo Trace or Maker’s Mark. And a glass of ice.