Officials will be hoping to zap one another

What do you get when you take 30 local officials and business leaders, arm them with laser guns and turn them loose on each other in a dim arena?

I call it the best grand-opening gimmick ever.

On March 17, Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver and Columbia County Commission Chairman Ron Cross will celebrate the opening of the new laser tag arena at Adventure Crossing by doing battle in a cross-county exhibition match.

Gens. Deke Skywalker and Obi-Ron Cross will command a 15-member team each during the 15-minute laser tag match sceduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. at the family fun park formerly known as Funsville.

The epic battle is the main attraction of the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce’s SuCCess Columbia County Style networking event, which will run from 5-7 p.m. at Adventure Crossing, 4350 Wheeler Road in Martinez.

The evening is all about fun and games but it’s still a chamber event ( no kids), and as such, you’ll need to make reservations. E-mail chris@columbiacountychamber.com or call at (706) 364-0425.

If you’re a chamber member, it’s free. If you’re not, expect to pony up $15. I’d say that’s a small price to pay to see community leaders shoot each other down .

RUN OF THE MILL: An Augusta businessman’s purchase of the historic Sibley Mill property along the Augusta Canal is going to take a little longer than expected.

The property’s owner, Avondale Mills, is extending an option to Clay Boardman, the man behind the redevelopment of Enterprise Mill, to Sept. 1. The sale of the old textile mill was initially supposed to close on Feb. 28.

Mr. Boardman, the head of Augusta Capital LLC, said the extension will allow more time to complete environmental testing and other pre-sale stipulations.

GUV’MENT IS GOOD? If you could grade the state of Georgia’s government, what would you give it?

Well, you may have heard that The Pew Center on the States and Governing magazine ranked Georgia among the best-managed states in the nation. In its the Grading the States 2008 report, Georgia’s overall grade was B+, the highest awarded to any state in the Southeast.

“We have made sensible, strategic reforms in Georgia to make government more efficient and more responsive to the needs of our citizens,” Guv’ner Sonny Perdue said.

Only three states received a higher grade than Georgia’s B+ (Washington, Utah and Virginia) and four other states received the same grade (Missouri, Texas, Michigan and Delaware). South Carolina got a B-, which is the national average. New Hampshire scored the lowest, with a D+.

Georgia’s previous overall grade was a B in 2005, the most recent year the study was conducted. This year’s study is the fourth in the series.

Read the entire report at http://pewcenteronthestates.org.

BUT CAN YOU EAT 50 EGGS? The Sunrise Grill in Martinez recently cracked it’s millionth egg.

Were they counting every single egg? Probably not, but when you’ve been in business since 2003 and your bread-and-butter is waffles and omelets, it’s entirely plausible.

The eatery, which also has a North Augusta location on Martintown Road, served the egg to customer Brock Poole, who also scored a gift basket full of Sunrise Grill goodies.

WE WANT YOUR BUSINESS: Screven County, which you almost drive through on your way to Savannah, was recently named the state’s newest “Entrepreneur Friendly” community.

The Georgia Department of Economic Development designation indicates the community has “worked to develop an environment that is welcoming to small business and entrepreneurs.”

The state agency said 96 percent of Screven County’s 626 companies are small businesses with fewer than 20 employees. Screven County is the 80th community in the state to be named Entrepreneur Friendly, joining Burke, Jenkins and Emanuel counties.

The state said Richmond County is “in the process of receiving” the designation.
It probably would have received the designation already if it hadn’t been too busy attracting major corporations such as T-Mobile and ADP.

Boo-yah!

HOLD ON JUST A MINUTE … : That’s even more amazing about Richmond County’s recent economic development success is that the body that oversees industrial recruiting, the Development Authority of Richmond County, has for several months had four board members with expired terms.

Milk goes bad after its expiration date, but political appointees, apparently, do not.

ONE FROM THE VAULT: Re­mem­ber my sort-of official Augusta Chronicle Pork Brain Recipe Contest? Of course you don’t – that was, like, so eight months ago (http://blogs.augusta.com/node/1009).

The passage of time didn’t stop a loyal reader from sending in another recipe a couple of weeks ago. According to his letter (He asked, by the way, to remain anonymous: “No acknowledgement in print of this gracious favor to you is necessary.”) he found a recipe for brains (the type of brains were not specified) in an old copy of his wife’s Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.

For the purpose of discussion, I will call him Mr. Bing.

Had I received Mr. Bing’s recipe earlier, he would have been the hands-down winner of an Augusta Chronicle golf shirt. Heck, I might send him something anyway just for the effort. Here’s the recipe he mailed in:

“BRAINS

Cover with cold water; add two tablespoons vinegar. Soak 30 minutes. Drain. Remove loose membranes. Simmer in salted water 20 to 30 minutes. Drain; chill in cold water.

Then: drain; season. Dip into beaten egg, then into cracker crumbs. Fry in hot fat.

Or, dice; add to creamed peas with mushrooms. Or, chop fine, fry in butter, add beaten eggs and scramble.”

Are you still there, or did I lose you at “remove loose membranes?”

At this point, it would be appropriate to mention that the photocopied page containing these instructions also listed recipes for “Bologna-Rice Skillet,” “Deviled-ham Hot Lunch,” “Saucy Corned-beef Patties” and “Liver Loaf.”*

Mr. Bing said he looks forward “with eagerness” to the report I will make once I try the recipe.

I hope you’re a patient man, Mr. Bing. A very patient man.

* If people don’t eat like this anymore, why is there such an “obesity epidemic” in this country?