Criminal activity abruptly stops in Augusta

Local and state police officials are at a loss for words at the recent drop in crime in the Augusta area. Three days ago, local gangs, robbers, thugs, pimps and muggers decided to lay down their weapons and adopt a new philosophy on life.

Week 8: Can you hear me now?

Give us a funny caption and you could win a prize.

Bad news persists, but there is one upside

Major business news breaks every time I leave town on vacation, and it’s rarely good news. My last getaway, less than two weeks ago, happened to coincide with the Castleberry Food Co. recall of 90 types of canned chili, beef stew, corned beef hash and other meat products produced at its downtown Augusta cannery.

Augusta Lynx convert to roller hockey format

Like most events that take place in the Augusta area, the Augusta Lynx hockey club is making plans to move to the new convocation center at USC Aiken.

Week 7: The devil went down to France

Give us a funny caption and you could win a prize.

Self-made entrepreneurs make the best stories

One of the things I’ve learned writing about business over the years is that the owners of successful companies tend to fall into a few general categories.

People like to talk about their good vacations.

People like to talk about their good vacations.

They like to share the sights, the sounds, the food, the experiences. The photos, the home movies. How much money they spent and how much money they saved.

But what about the other vacations? You know, the disasters?

Reader feedback: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

If you've finished reading Harry Potter's final adventure, share your thoughts here about the book and the series.

Greenbrier vs. North Augusta. Is it just fantasy baseball?

Can you name the biggest high school baseball game between two teams from our area? Ever?

Which high school will have the best baseball team around next season?

Staff writer Jeff Sentell has learned of a potential game that may provide an answer to both those questions next season.

Olin agrees to cleanup act if Woody Merry will be quiet

In a surprise reversal of policy, the Olin chlorine plant has announced plans to convert its facility to a mercury-free production process.

Week 6: Happiness is a giant chipmunk

Give us a funny caption and you could win a prize.

Politics, not economics, killed TEE center

Here’s an ethics question: Would you rather A) make a bad decision in order to look cool to a small group of friends, or B) make a wise decision and look cool to everyone but your small group of friends?

If you chose option A, congratulations! You might have a future on the Augusta Commission.

Some of the city’s leaders last week chose to ignore the facts – or, at the very least, did a convincing job of pretending they didn’t understand the facts – and voted against the latest in a string of proposals to build a $20 million trade, exhibition and event center on Reynolds Street.

The TEE center, as the project is known, would have allowed Augusta’s tourism officials to book conferences and conventions the city is missing out on because it lacks large, flat-floor exhibit space. Voters apparently thought the TEE center was a good deal, because they approved funding it through special purpose local option sales tax money two years ago.

The stars appeared to be aligned Tuesday when the proposal went before the commission:

l Money to build the center is already in hand.

l The best possible real estate in town had been secured (at no cost to taxpayers) next to the existing city-owned convention center.

l The annual cost to run the 40,000-square-foot building – $350,000 – would had been covered through a slight increase in lodging and car rental taxes (both of which are largely paid by nonresidents).

In short, the project made economic sense.

So why would two commissioners vote against it, two abstain from voting and another not even bother to be in the room? Well, the answer to that is obvious – to ensure the proposal would not get the six votes needed for approval while avoiding a tie that would have allowed the mayor to cast the deciding vote. That song’s been played before.

I suppose the better question is this: What do these commissioners, all of whom happen to be black and represent primarily lower-income, mostly black districts, have against a TEE center? Do they believe the city does not need one? Do they believe it’s too big, too small or the wrong architectural style?

No, the answer is pretty simple, and really quite petty: They do not like William S. Morris III.

The Augusta businessman, whose family holdings include the parent company of this newspaper and the company that operates the Augusta Marriott Hotel & Suites (which houses the city’s convention center), is the walking, talking embodiment of the white power structure that is hell-bent on oppressing lower-income black residents. At least, that’s what black leaders (mostly of the self-serving variety) have led their constituents (mostly of the ill-informed variety) to believe is the source of most, if not all, of the woes they face.

Never mind that the public-private venture between the Morris family hotel venture and the city convention center has, according to city tourism officials, pumped more than $13.3 million into city coffers. Never mind that his company has offered to donate $1 million worth of real estate to the city on which to build the facility.

Never mind that the TEE center, if it were built, would bring thousands more visitors and pump millions more into the city’s pocketbook. Never mind that the facility would have created service jobs in inner-city districts.

Never mind all of that, and you’ll see that the vote against the TEE center last week was nothing more than a vote against one man.

Had the $350,000 operating agreement been with ABM (Anybody But Morris) Corp., the measure would have passed without discussion.

In the grand scheme of things, the commissioners who orchestrated the proposal’s failure made a monumentally bad decision for the city. At least they looked cool to their friends.

MOVING ON: Expect to hear an announcement this summer about a new medical device company featuring some familiar faces around Augusta.

Marketing wunderkind Joe Testino, who this month sold his stake in eAuction Depot, the successful Augusta-based eBay store franchise, is starting a company called Life Coach Medical with several key players from Osbon Medical Systems, the company whose vacuum-therapy products for erectile dysfunction gave , ahem, rise to an entire industry. It’s not much of a surprise that Mr. Testino would get back into the medical-device business, seeing as how he used to work for Osbon Medical before linking up with the fledgling eAuction Depot two years ago.

Whether lighting strikes twice remains to be seen, but we’ll be watching.

Hair Don't

Back to the barber

Let's Keep the Rain Dance

China is playing weather maker.

Am I surprised?

No.

Truth be told, they've been playing rainmaker, officially, since 2004.

Gasp!

All our precious cats and dogs have suffered from bad pet food, the tootpaste was tainted, fish is being banned from China and now they want to manipulate the weather.

My best advice to Zhang Qiang, the top weather-modification bureaucrat in Beijing, just don't forget what happened to the former director of China's State Food and Drug Administration.

In the meantime, China, the geographic origin of bird flu, is rejecting our poultry citing contamination.

Non-tainted food for thought: it's not necessarily what they are telling us as much as what they are not telling us; so just how far can their storm making missiles reach?

Some things are better left to the Maker.

hkj

SouthoftheGnatLine.com

Will it blend: iPhone

iPhone fans may not want to watch. iPhone haters, on the other hand... enjoy.

Rabbit fights snake and wins

The toughest rabbit you've ever seen...

Copenhaver: “It’s time for a change”

Mayor Deke Copenhaver has announced a new program to improve his standing in the political arena.

Week 5: Here kitty kitty

Give us a funny caption and you could win a prize.

Downtown: It's better than it used to be

Whenever I show visitors around downtown Augusta, there is almost always a question about why there are “so many vacant buildings.”

"Oooooh.......Ahhhhhhh!"

Hats off to the greatest fireworks show ever - earlier tonight at Fort Gordon! What a celebration!

:)

hkj

SouthoftheGnatLine.com

16,000 firecrackers in one minute

If you've never seen a bundle of firecrackers the size of a tire set off at once, you've been missing out. Until now...

Village Plaza Mexican standoff continues

I had to chuckle this week when driving down Bobby Jones Expressway. No, I didn’t see one of those $750 Oldsmobuicks with the gigantic $3,000 rims . I just happened to glance at the Village Plaza shopping center.

Week 4: Eyes like a hawk

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Hell needs a bureaucracy

Since there is so many bad things going on right now I am thinking that the Devil might have his hands full. I know he is the ruler of all evil but everybody needs help sometimes. Keeping George Bush in office and the Cincinnati Bengals out of jail is a tough job for anyone.