On this week's Buzz: (click)
>Viral video: Media war erupts again, this time with video
>Fricks' video causing new turmoil; other commissioners taking the heat?
>Single-digit dilemma: Turnout for primary runoff looks tiny
>SPLOST vote in September could be small, too
>Sales tax holiday: Some parents get 32 hours to shop before school starts
>Heads in beds: Bigger TVs, salt water pools--welcome to today's hotels
>Library's summer reading programs set a record
>Business updates, by the line
Sports
>Norman Arey's Sports: Rivals.com is bullish when it comes to the no. 2 football team in the state of Florida> Arey
>Braves go for series win vs. Greenjackets Monday> Sports
WeatherCenter
>High in the upper 90s today; slight chance of more rain> WeatherCenter
>More bad air in Bartow, metro Atlanta> Smog
Downtown Headlines
>What's ahead in downtown Rome this week> Downtown Headlines
Regional gas prices drop; state average down 7 cents(updated 7/28)
Gas prices are down four to seven to 10 cents a gallon from Friday morning's report. On Sunday, the Murphy Oil shops at Wal-Marts in Rome and Calhoun were at $3.82 a gallon and that was before the three-cent discount if you have a store card. Near Dalton, prices were $3.64. Statewide, the average: $3.90. down 7 cents. A year ago, we were paying $2.80.
| Bartow | Chattooga | Floyd | Gordon | Polk | Georgia | |
| Ticker | Down | Down | Down | Down | Down | Down |
| Range | $3.84- $4.20 | $3.68- $3.95 | $3.88- $4.00 | $3.76- $4.00 | $3.86- $4.00 | $3.90 |
| Links | Cartersville | Summerville | Rome | Calhoun | Cedartown | State |
>Check gas prices in vacation destinations from GasBuddy.com
Viral video: Media wars escalate right before your eyes
Question: What do Garry Fricks and that six-legged deer have in common?
Answer: Together they've ignited a new round of media wars, this one involving RealFastNews.com and the Rome News.
There's been no peace between the two for months or longer, ever since the newspaper started looking for ways to grow the brand as the newspaper side contracted. Last week, the discovery of the now world-known six-legged deer saw huge traffic from the curious, both in Rome and on the major news sites
Next came RFN's exclusive release of the video showing Fricks' already suspect traffic stop in Calhoun. If the initial arrest reports didn't kill his career, the video certainly did. But the rivalry between RFN and RNT got hot when the newspaper dropped the words "released today" by Calhoun police into the two-day-old story. RFN had the video up Monday; the RNT link was established Wednesday.
Over the weekend, we saw a bit more of it. An armed robbery on Shorter Avenue was on view at the RFN site by mid-afternoon. The RNT news burst on the video posting followed Saturday evening.
The battle is an interesting one to watch. The first online news video we recall seeing in this market was a few Mays ago as K98's Web site (www.k98radio.com) included a brief clip of the law enforcement remembrance ceremony in downtown Rome. Since then, tons of video has been posted at varying Web sites in town.
And it will continue, although you have to wonder when companies and institutions around town will begin filtering (read: forbidding) video content. Several companies and institutions already block YouTube and even eBay. A loss of the at-work video viewer would be crippling for these expensive local efforts. Stay tuned.
Release of Fricks' video causing new turmoil
One more item on the Fricks' video. It has renewed calls for his departure from the County Commission (he's unopposed for re-election this November) and his colleagues on the board are beginning to feel the heat. Will it become an election issue for the only other candidate on the fall ballot, Chairman Jerry Jennings (who's opposed by Republican Irwin Bagwell)?
It's not so much a campaign issue between the candidates; we have not heard any such word from either the Jennings or Bagwell camps and doubt we will. It resonates within the community itself as the other commissioners hear renewed requests to remove Fricks. The bottom line: They lack the power and the means to do so. Each commissioner is elected by the public, not by fellow board members.
Fricks faces court hearings next month on the traffic stop. Given the context of the arrest video, he could be facing a different sort of court in Floyd County as well.
Single-digit dilemma: The primary runoff
As advance voting opens statewide today for the primary runoff, we're hearing pretty much the same story as before--only worse. Will anyone show up? With turnout in the July 15 primary bordering on tiny (Floyd didn't crack 11 percent), look for the Aug. 5 primary runoff with exactly one ballot issue to be microscopic.
Only Democrats can vote in the runoff and their choice is to pick a U.S. Senate nominee: Vernon Jones or James Martin. The winner goes on to face Saxby Chambliss in the Nov. 4 general election. Chambliss is a favorite no matter who wins but this is one of those election years where weird things are happening so the runoff vote means something.
Martin won in Floyd, Bartow, Gordon and Polk counties. The only county statewide to give a majority of votes to Dale Cardwell? Chattooga County.
And what about Sept. 16's turnout?
The good news is this should be the last time a SPLOST issue is on the ballot by itself. Look for future SPLOSTs to be part of broader ballots. And that's a good thing because the money spent to decide one-horse ballots is prohibitive.
Floyd County voters will decide whether to OK a new $80.6 million education SPLOST in that election. It would not be a new tax per se as we're already paying one penny per taxable dollar toward city/county education projects. The education SPLOST got the unanimous support of the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce's board of directors last week.
As for turnout: 20 percent might be too generous; 13 percent might be more on target. For more on the 2008 SPLOST, click Education.
Tax holiday: You get 32 hours before Rome, Floyd schools start
Speaking of taxes, the sales tax holiday is this Thursday-Sunday Rome/Floyd County parents have exactly 32 hours to buy back-to-school supplies before the first bell rings this Friday.
The tax holiday itself is from midnight Thursday through midnight Sunday. You save 7 cents on each dollar spent on specified school supplies, electronics, clothes, etc. You'll find a complete list of what's "covered" by the tax break by clicking DOR.
(Note to DOR: That "later date" for posting details is three days away).
Some area merchants are ramping up sales efforts to get some extra buzz from the annual tax break. They include:
>At Prime Outlets in Calhoun, stores are hyping the tax-free holiday sale and are hosting a sidewalk sale for special sales on "already reduced" items. Outlet hours are 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. weekdays and Saturday, and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Sunday> Outlets
>At Mount Berry Square, shops are open from 10 a.m. until 9 p.m. weekdays and Saturday, and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday> Mount Berry
>Sales details: Other merchants organizing additional sales events (above the tax break) are asked to send us brief updates for free publication. Click e-mail.
Heads in beds revisited
One thing about the hotel/motel boom: We're seeing innovation with many of the new or refit hotels now in service. One of the big pluses: bigger, flatscreen televisions such as those in rooms at the new Holiday Inn Express off U.S. 411 near Chulio. It also comes with a very open breakfast area (free hot breakfast for patrons), a "board" room for large business groups, a small meeting area available for use by the public and another salt water pool (saves on chemicals). We like the new logo, too.
Holiday Inn Express will be joined by Comfort Suites and LaQuinta soon as well. The former Super 8 already has been upgraded to a Motel 6 next to the recently redone Huddle House.
In Cartersville, chamber members got a closer look at the new Fairfield Inn & Suites at Main Street and I-75 with a Hilton Gardens and Microtel also on the way.
Business updates, by the line (or two):
The Chattooga County Chamber of Commerce is celebrating the community's Entrepreneur Friendly Designation by the Georgia Department of Economic Development beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday at the chamber office.
Some of the toughest food critics we know (remember Justin Thyme and Mae Gore from The Druck Report?) sent a quick e-mail about an outstanding recent meal at Sassafras Grille on Redmond Circle, adding that it might be the best in Rome/Floyd County at this time.
Speaking of dining: El Nopal has a new store rising quickly in Calhoun off Ga. 53. El Nopal has shops scattered around Northwest Georgia including an almost-recent addition in Rockmart.
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