Monday updates from www.hometownheadlines.com

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This week's Buzz: (click)

>WROM going 'home' again; whatever happened to Plainville's new station? Plus: WRNT studio now official; espn360 on the way?

>Booth Western Art Museum celebrates five years this Saturday; huge expansion to be done in '09.

>New, 'old' restaurants open this week; Ru San gets closer.

>Shorter begins classes Wednesday; Berry next Monday.

>Chamber After Hours focuses on arts; RACA display opens Monday; reception Tuesday.

>Peaks & Valleys/Tillman 5K Road Race; the newspaper industry; and the Columbus Catfish.

Politics

>Gingrey picks D.C. oil protest over McCain's Atlanta visit: A story on today's ajc.com talks about the number of Republicans skipping John McCain's fund-raising event in Atlanta. Among the no-shows: U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey. He's staying in D.C. to continue the House oil protest. Among those on the RSVP list: U.S. senators Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson> AJC

WeatherCenter

>Monday: Sunny with a high of 93; rain by Tuesday evening>WeatherCenter

>Is Fay on the way? Keep track of Tropical Storm Fay: You'll find complete links to the National Hurricane Center as well as state and federal emergency agencies as Tropical Storm Fay moves north into Florida and possibly Georgia. For expanded details, click WeatherCenter

 

College Football Previews from Norman Arey

Norman Arey, Northwest Georgia's most experienced sports journalist, presents his annual series of college football previews now through Aug. 28. Starting Friday, Aug. 29, "Norman's No-Nos," Arey's weekly pick of football losers, returns.

>Monday/ACC Coastal, Part One:

>Georgia Tech, Duke, Miami: Mostly new but improved? Not this season

>Also this week: ACC Atlantic, SEC West

>Click Norman Arey's Sports Roundtable

Rome Braves fall again to Captains, 5-1; series finale tonight> Sports

-Latest roster moves by the Rome Braves

-More game photos from Mills Fitzner> Focus

Dining Guide

>Get the latest public health restaurant scores for Floyd, Bartow, Gordon, Polk and Chattooga counties.

Downtown Headlines:

>Details from Downtown Development Authority meeting; title sponsor soon

for NAIA game >Downtown Headlines

The Buzz of Northwest Georgia

MEDIA

WROM goes full circle

One of the late Harry Chapin's signature songs, Circle, tells about life's cycle and coming back to where you are.  For WROM 710 AM, the circle is being completed in coming days as the radio station moves into very familiar quarters off Turner McCall, most recently home to K98.

WROM's new owner, Ed Smith of Joy Christian Communications Inc., has rented the second floor of the 710 Turner McCall Blvd. building from Mills and Cheryl Fitzner, majority owners of K98. Joy Christian is based out of Centre.

Longtime radio listeners remember WROM FM eventually became K98, now WGPB 97.7FM and part of Georgia Public Radio.

Another fall without WRBF 104.9 FM?

As a vintage AM station prepares for a new home, we're checking for updates on the area's newest FM station, WRBF. Howard Toole, general manager of Southern Broadcasting's Athens cluster, won the FCC bid for the Plainville FM last year.

At one point, Toole told others the station was shooting for a fall premiere. FCC records show he has a construction permit in hand but that the station remains off the air. That permit was granted Oct. 18 and is good through that date in 2010.  (Click)

Once on the air, WRBF will be heard at 104.9 FM in a market touching Rome, Cartersville, Adairsville and Calhoun. The only news on the station has been appeals by Coosa Valley News' Thom Holt, another bidder for the frequency. Holt questioned Toole's ties to Southern Broadcasting and its holdings in this market (WRGA, Q102, WGJK, South 107, etc.) Those concerns came up in Cox Radio's recent $60 million purchase of Southern's Athens cluster but were dismissed by the FCC. (Click)

'WRNT' goes official with 'Gridiron' studio

Leading the front page of Sunday's Rome News and Web site was another self-indulgent piece about the new Webcast studio reported here last week. (Image to the right, click RNT)

The real news here is what else the new studio is capable of producing. The football package covers slightly more than a quarter of the year, and you can expect more high school and college sports as well as news productions. We hope it will be a venue for some fall political debates (and real debates, not those with canned questions and basic two-minute bio pieces).

Adding the speculation of "what else" was that visit by ESPN to Rome last week. Could the new Rome News Web site, said to resemble the company's Polk County online venture, The Polk Fishwrap, come complete with a Web version of the sports giant? A lot of ESPN's programming--video, radio, etc.--already is Web friendly.

You can bet the folks at the radio stations and Comcast cable find this potential anything but "Comcastic." Stay tuned.

REGIONAL TOURISM

Booth celebrates five years Saturday; more on the way

By Natalie Simms/For Hometown Headlines

Cartersville's fast-growing Booth Western Art Museum is celebrating its fifth anniversary this week.  A full day of festivities is planned for Saturday, which is the exact anniversary of when the museum opened to the public in 2003. (Click)

"The museum was started by a local family and others who have been Western art collectors for many years," says Kathy Lyles, a museum spokeswoman. "They wanted to share their art with the community, particularly young people who might not otherwise be exposed to art, so they decided to build a museum to showcase their collections."

To this day, the founders remain mostly anonymous per their request.  However, the museum is named for Sam Booth, who was a good friend and mentor to the founders of the museum.

The museum has seen some 200,000 visitors since the 80,000-square-foot structure opened in downtown Cartersville. The goal is 500,000 visitors by this time in 2013, says Lyles.

Booth a local, regional draw for students

Visitors have included nearly 41,000 students from over 23 Georgia counties. Counties with the highest visitation including Bartow, Cobb, Paulding, Floyd, Fulton, Cherokee, Gordon and Polk counties.

But students also visited from Carroll, Chattooga, Clayton, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Forsyth, Gilmer, Gwinnett, Hall, Madison, Murray, Pickens and Whitfield counties.

Not only has the museum had an impact on local students but the Cartersville-Bartow County economy has experienced a surge, toot. According to the 2006 Travel Industry of America Economic Impact of Tourism in Georgia study:

• The estimate for average per person expenditures of day-visitors in Georgia is $47 per day and overnight visitors spend an average of $109 per day. Assuming all 40,000 Booth visitors per year are day visitors, which is not the case, the museum generates an estimated $1.88 million in direct expenditures (dollars going into cash registers) for the local economy.
• Assuming that money rolls over (is reinvested) in the community just 1.5 times, a very conservative estimation of economic impact from the museum is $4.7 million per year.
• That $4.7 million generates $141,000 in local sales tax and SPLOST tax, and $188,000 in state sales tax per year.
• Moreover, for every $68,000 in direct tourism expenditures in a community, a job is created with an average salary of $24,000. Therefore, the additional $1.88 million spent in the Cartersville area generates, or supports, 27.6 jobs in the area, exclusive of the people who are employed by the museum itself.
• Currently, the museum has 50 employees.

Permanent, visiting exhibits keep the museum 'fresh'

Along with the economic impact, the museum has brought a visual impact with its exhibits to the community. Since 2003, the museum has hosted approximately 80 temporary exhibitions.

"The most unique exhibition is the upcoming 'Western American Art South of the Sweet Tea Line II', which runs through Nov. 30 of this year," says Lyles. "The exhibition features Western art from Southern public and private collectors. The 74 works of art come from 37 locations across six Southern states."

But Lyles says the most popular display thus far has been "Charles Fritz: An Artist with the Corps of Discovery." This exhibition contained 67 paintings by Montana artist Charles Fritz who retraced the path of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and recorded the journey as Fritz believed the Corps of Discovery experienced it. This collection of paintings took nearly seven years to complete, says Lyles.

The museum has seven permanent collection galleries:

>The American West Gallery (divided into seven themed galleries): Symbols of the West; Faces; First Peoples; Colliding Cultures; Wild, Wooly and Wicked; Let's Rodeo; and The Modern West.

>The Cowboy Gallery

>Carolyn & James Millar Presidential Gallery

>The Mythic West

>The Reel West

>War is Hell

>Sagebrush Ranch.

Booth adding 50 percent more space in 2009

To make way for more permanent galleries, the museum is adding a 40,000-square- foot wing that will open in fall 2009 (Click Images).

"The expansion will allow the museum to expand the permanent galleries and it will serve as a multipurpose space for the museum and the community," say Lyles. "The new multipurpose space will accommodate over 200 people for a seated dinner."

After that, "we'd like to see the Booth Museum continue to grow and prosper as it has done during its first five years," says Lyles.

What's ahead this Saturday: Activities are set from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with events for kids and parents. Included: hard-hat tours of the expansion> Birthday celebration

THIS WEEK'S NEWSWATCH

Dining: Silwan premieres, Bistro 239's new spin: Two familiar venues get new spins starting this week. Silwan opens in Central Plaza on Wednesday, bringing Middle Eastern-style food and wine to the market. The bar area already is developing a good buzz... Bistro 239: On and Off Broad opens Monday under the ownership of Chef Lance Lombard. He's taking the successful concept at 239 Broad St. in a slightly different direction... Ru San's at Five Points (near Troy's new home) is getting close as well. The restaurant's Web site is now live with updates continuing to flow in. (Click Ru Sans). On the way: "Japanese cuisine and seafood." The menu button is live so give it a check (Menu)

Colleges: Shorter College begins classes this Wednesday while Berry College opens the new year a week from today, Aug. 25. You'll find continuing coverage on our Campus Headlines page... Shorter's football boosters are very hyped about the coming season and are organizing road trips to away games (Boosters). The Hawks open at Western Carolina on Thursday, Aug. 28, at 7 p.m.  We'll link you to the Webcast from The Ridge/95.7 FM.

The Arts: Big week ahead. One of the bigger arts events of the year is this Thursday. Once again, the August Business After Hours from the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce has an arts focus. This year's event is from 5:30 until 7 p.m. at Heritage Hall. Sponsors include: Berry College Fine Arts Department, Georgia Highlands College Humanities Division, Rome Area Council for the Arts, Rome International Film Festival, Rome Little Theatre, Rome Symphony Orchestra and Shorter College School of Arts> Chamber

... Also this week: A new exhibit opens at the Rome Area Council for the Arts' gallery at 248 Broad St. The "From Our Past" permanent art collection is on exhibit starting today and continuing through Sept. 19. An opening reception is set for Tuesday from 6-8 p.m. Guests also are urged to meet RACA's new executive director, Rebecca Koontz.

Peaks and Valleys: The highs and lows of Northwest Georgia

Peak to the organizers, runners in the Gary Tillman Memorial Clocktower 5K: Some of the numbers are still being added up but this year's race to benefit the Exchange Club Family Resource Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse. is one for the books. Some 588 people crossed the finish line on Saturday. The Tillman Clocktower 5K continues to be more than a race/fund-raiser. It has become a community event, a late-summer ritual similar to the Noon Optimist Club's pancake breakfast. (Results, photos are available by clicking Here)

Valley to the newspaper industry: Make no mistake--we'll read newspapers until the day our name appears in the obituaries. But last week's announcement that Cox is selling all but the AJC and two other papers is a punch in the gut for the industry. No one can fault Cox for making the decision. As an industry analyst said, Cox executives don't see a return to the robust days for print. And there is no room for backslapping by online or other media. Whatever replaces newspapers has not yet surfaced. Web, videocast, broadcast, whatever you care to call the so-called "toys of the week" are nice but the true next big thing is not here as yet. As many strides as we've seen, know that the real news replacement is still "under development."

>How tough is the market? Even Creative Loafing is laying people off> CL

Valley to the Columbus Catfish: Great name, great rivalry for the Rome Braves. And a great big exit at season's end as the franchise becomes the Bowling Green Whatever. The Catfish have been excellent rivals (we'll never forget that brawl in 2004 one hot Wednesday afternoon) and their ballpark (and city) are gems. Fan support in Columbus has been lousy (a league worst 1,016 fans per game through Saturday night) which is one reason why they're losing the franchise. So good bye, Catfish; hello Bowling Green Blowfish?