Commissioners hope 'dessert' sweetens voters' views of tax

Augusta Commission members have agreed on a special purpose local option sales tax package. Now that's big news. Shoot, they only had 10 months since voters turned thumbs down on the last one to get it together.

They thought they had the perfect package a month or so ago with Administrator Fred Russell's $160 million no-nonsense proposal, but then Mayor Pro Tem Marion Williams started wanting some "dessert" in the thing, his word for something that would make people want to vote for it. Interim Mayor Willie Mays, meanwhile, being absent when the package was first approved, started orating endlessly on projects that weren't in there, muddying up the waters real good.

One more long-winded meeting during which nothing was accomplished and some commissioners were outta there, among them Barbara Sims, who was thoroughly disgusted with the whole process.

On Friday, they met in twos and threes in various rooms and kept sending drafts back and forth by a highly paid courier, city attorney Stephen Shepard, trying to reach a compromise. They whittled away at the mega-million judicial center in favor of theaters, museums and historical buildings. The clincher was the reprogramming of $2.5 million for work around the planned Lucy C. Laney High School stadium. Good thing, too, because Laney-Walker-area community activist Margaret Armstrong was ready to mobilize Laney alumni over the issue.

Ms. Armstrong, upset because the money had not been included in Mr. Russell's proposal, was critical of the commission.

"We had our problems, but you never saw us on the floor acting like a fool," she said of her days on the old Augusta City Council.

Anyway, congratulations to commissioners on reaching an accord. Now the only thing they've got to do is get it passed.

CONFESSIONS OF SPLOST HOSTAGES: During the two-hour wait while all of the closed-door negotiations were going on, someone asked the question, "What does it feel like to be held hostage to SPLOST?"

Here's a sampling of answers:

"Like an animal gnawing its arm to get out of a trap," said WGAC-AM radio reporter Greg Patin.

"Like 14 months of pregnancy," said a city employee who begged for anonymity.

"Like making sausage. You don't want to see it," said Commissioner Tommy Boyles.

"Like these fire ant bites," said Mr. Russell, showing dozens all over his arms and legs.

IF YOU CAN'T COME, DO THE NEXT BEST THING: Political season is getting into full swing with barbecues, fish fries and forums almost every week. District 1 Commissioner Betty Beard had a big fish fry a couple of weeks ago. District 22 state Senate candidate Ed Tarver had a fish fry last week and ran out of fish but got more.

District 5 Commissioner Bobby Hankerson had a barbecue Thursday night, and like the good Baptist preacher he is, he "brought it home" with a very impassioned, impressive sermon, the theme of which was "Augusta doesn't need a freshman. It needs a professor" - he of course being the professor. At the height of his speech on revitalizing south Augusta and doing something with Regency Mall, Commissioner Jimmy Smith stood up, cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "Preach on, preacher."

Mr. Hankerson noted that although some of the chairs at Julian Smith Barbecue Pit were empty, the $25-per-plate tickets had been sold. He said people who told him they couldn't make the barbecue got the same response as members of his congregation who say, "Oh, I can't stay over for the meeting, Pastor, and I can't make it to next Sunday's meeting."

"I tell them to do the next best thing," he said. "Send money."

"Those chairs may be empty, but there's money there," he said.

All during his sermon, Mr. Hankerson's wife, Delores, also a licensed minister who was baptized on the same day as her future husband in a Burke County church when they were in the ninth grade, stood beside him. The couples' three lovely daughters helped put on the affair, and barbecue really was Bobby's barbecue.

From Warrenville.

FORUM FIREWORKS: Sometimes there are fireworks at political forums, but the only sparks to fly at the one sponsored by the Laney-Walker Neighborhood Association last week were between Mrs. Armstrong's daughter Loretta Hairston and Mrs. Beard.

It seems Ms. Hairston doesn't like some of the positions Mrs. Beard has taken on issues, such as favoring a beer and wine license for a restaurant at 12th Street and Perry Avenue, and confronted her in the parking lot after the forum. Mrs. Beard, obviously didn't like her attitude and told her to go to hell. Deputy Fire Chief Carl Scott intervened and helped Mrs. Beard into her car, at which point Ms. Hairston stood in front blocking the way.

Ms. Hairston said she only wanted to delay Mrs. Beard until she could get her mother out there to hear how Mrs. Beard had talked to her.

On Friday, Mrs. Beard said she did tell Ms. Hairston to go to hell and now is "kind of sorry" she did.

Like the true gentleman he is, Chief Scott drove Mrs. Beard home.

GOT GAS?: The high gasoline prices and rumors of a pending shortage this week led moderator and neighborhood association President Stanley Hawes to open that political forum with a blessing for our times.

"I hope everybody got a tankful," he said.

CROSSING OVER: District 1 candidate Robert DeMello showed up for the forum in a Land Rover with a South Carolina license plate. "I have a business over there," he said, although his phone access company is apparently winding down. He insists his family lives on Greene Street.

CHOOSE YOUR SECONDS: Judicial warfare has broken through the undercurrent at the Marble Palace with the publication of an article in the Metro Spirit this week. What has been whispered about for two years is now a matter of record: War has been declared between Judges Duncan D. Wheale and William M. Fleming Jr. Judge Wheale wants to dislodge Judge Fleming from the supreme power position he has held for more than 30 years by challenging him in the 2006 election.

The legal community hasn't started handicapping this battle yet, but off the record, many wonder whether anyone can defeat Judge Fleming, who's said to be the most powerful Superior Court judge in Georgia. Others, however, think Judge Fleming's reign is over now that he's reached the ripe old age of 80 and many of his political connections have passed from the scene. Some believe Judge Wheale should bide his time like the rest of the community and quietly wait for Judge Fleming to retire because the potential for airing the judiciary's dirty laundry will only bring more disrespect to the bench.

Those who know Judge Wheale, however, say betting against him is foolish. With a serious base of support in Columbia County, he might be able to unseat Judge Fleming if he can split the votes in Richmond County. It wouldn't be the first time Columbia County voters swung an election - recall Bettieanne Hart and Judge Neal Dickert.

City Ink thanks Staff Writer Tom Corwin for his contribution to this week's column.

Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylvia.cooper@augustachronicle.com.