Columbus and the Valley July/August Issue

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JULY-AUGUST 2023

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Publishing Legacy HEROES AMONG US

WWII Vet Reflects on His Time in the Flying Fortress

HOUSE OF HEROES

Volunteers Help Local Veterans

From the Editor’s Desk

O

n any given weekday morning, you’ll find me heading down Second Avenue at a somewhat moderate speed— that’s not me hogging the fast lane! My daily commute finds me glancing left and right to monitor the progress of the renovations, new buildings and established businesses that lie on this main corridor. There’ll be somebody harvesting fresh produce from the Mercy Med Farm, seizing the day before the temperature rises, and making me think about lunch at The Food Mill. One of my favorite parts of the journey is rising over the crest of the 2nd Avenue bridge and catching sight of the cranes in the distance swinging back and forth fervently and forever changing the landscape with the building of W. C. Bradley’s Riverfront Place. If I catch the light at 13th Street, I’ll look to my left and muse the progress of Highside Market excited that this hub will soon open its doors to the public.

My commute is also driven by my choice of music. There’s a full-on Foo Fighters concert going on in my car, and I’m singing in harmony hopefully? “There goes my hero. He’s ordinary.” This song resonates with me and will never wear thin. They’re out there—heroes. The unsung, recognized, unrecognized, ceremonially pinned and civic awarded, our elders.

That’s how I came to meet Arwood Begor tucking into his bacon and eggs at Ruth Ann’s restaurant sporting his World War II veteran’s cap. At 99 years of age, he can stand proud as he regales his stories of navigating a B-17 bomber over Germany after being drafted straight out of high school. He had no choice and no time for fear. He’s an “ordinary” hero too—a family man. On a side note, he knocks out 100 sit-ups a day.

Another 100-year celebration is on the horizon just across the river. Phenix City will celebrate its centennial in August. A fascinating and, no denying it, colorful history has put this city on the map. The formation of the city that we know today and memories of growing up during the turbulent times are told by longtime resident Marian Carcache.

Cresting a bridge on the path of life are recently retired publishers Jill Tigner and Mike Venable. Their daily commute from Seale, Alabama to the Columbus and the Valley magazine’s office had them heading over the various bridges into Columbus—a city and region they’ve served for more than thirty years. They’ve tooted the trumpet for many a hero and now it’s time to tell their story and grace the cover of the magazine that they nurtured for so long.

House of Heroes provides opportunities for you to be a hero to our heroes. The work of this homegrown, non-profit is a work in progress. Opportunities abound for you and your organization to serve and make a difference to our veterans by helping to maintain their homes. As they say, a man’s home is his castle, and that home is the home of a veteran and often a veteran’s widow. The story features Jake a young volunteer who is often declared a “hero” by those he helps, but it truly is a case of heroes serving heroes.

Who’s your hero? I hope you’re singing out loud and proud about them.

Jodi Saunders Editor & Publisher Follow us on

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GRAPHIC DESIGN Sixty Two Graphic Studio CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Brett Buckner Doug Gillett Janet Burden Marquette McKnight Marian Carcache Scott Phillips Pat Daniel PHOTOGRAPHY Ritchie White Photography Margie Richardson ______________________ P.O. Box 229 214A 10th Street Columbus, GA 31902 706-324-6214 • fax 706-324-6216 ______________________ COLUMBUS AND THE VALLEY MAGAZINE is published bimonthly for $18 per year by Valley Life Ventures, LLC dba COLUMBUS AND THE VALLEY MAG­A­ZINE, P. O. Box 229, Columbus, GA 31902. The cov­ er and contents are fully protected and may not be re­pro­duced in whole or in part without the writ­ten con­sent of COLUMBUS AND THE VAL­ LEY MAG­ A­ ZINE. We are not responsible for loss of unsolicited inquiries, manuscripts, pho­ to­ graphs, or other materials. They will not be returned un­less accompanied by re­turn post­age. Editorial con­tri­bu­tions and let­ters should be addressed to CO­LUM­BUS AND THE VALLEY MAG­A­ZINE, Post Office Box 229, Columbus, GA 31902. Copyright © 2023

by Valley Life Ventures, LLC trad­ing as CO­LUM­BUS AND THE VALLEY MAG­A­ZINE. Postmaster: Please send address corrections to: Post Office Box 229, Columbus, GA 31902.

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Columbus and the Valley

JULY-AUGUST 2023

JULY-AUGUST 2023 VOLUME 32 | NO. 4

what’s inside...

FEATURES 8 Flight of the Navigator World War II Veteran Arwood Begor looks back on his time in the Flying Fortress and how he came to call Columbus home.

13 Phenix City Celebrates Its Centennial Reflections of a city with a turbulent past and celebrating 100 years.

18 ‘The Phenix City Story’ Walking Tour Recount history step-by-step.

23 Two People with Issues

Mike Venable and Jill Tigner turn the page on an eventful career.

31 Women @ Work

Women in the workforce are making a difference in the Chattahoochee Valley.

DEPARTMENTS

ON THE COVER

49 Valley Scenes 54 Dining Guide 56 Calendar 57 The Cine Files

Mike Venable and Jill Tigner stand on the Phenix City side of the Chattahoochee River with the Dillingham Street bridge in the background.

39 Constructing Vets' Dreams

House of Heroes volunteers provide veterans with home maintenance and company.

45 Crush

Backyard Barbecue Wines

On the Go? Read Columbus and the Valley Everywhere on Your Tablet or Smart Phone.

by Ritchie White Photography

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OPTICAL COLONOSCOPY

Strongly Recommended for Colorectal Screening

By Dr. Kevin E. Woods, Chief, Interventional Endoscopy, Gastroenterology & Nutrition, City of Hope Atlanta Colorectal cancer is the third most common form of cancer diagnosed in the United States, affecting both men and women as they age. In Georgia, the American Cancer Society estimates there will be 4,880 new colorectal cases in 2023 with 1,640 deaths.

Those numbers can be reduced with regular screening after the age of 45. Whereas there are three diagnostic methods currently used, medical authorities, including the American Gastroenterological Association, recommend the optical colonoscopy as the most effective screening method.

An optical colonoscopy allows examination of the entire colon and rectum using a tiny camera. This important diagnostic tool can identify cancers in the earliest and most treatable stages. In addition, polyps are removed during the procedure, which can prevent cancer. Optical colonoscopies are typically a 30-minute process, conducted while the patient is asleep.

This method is highly recommended because it can find and remove the smallest polyps before they turn into cancer and there is virtually no discomfort to patients.

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Ultimately, optical colonoscopies will save more time and detect cancerous polyps long before they grow. To that end, the American Gastroenterological Association recommends optical colonoscopies because of the reliability of results and ease for the patient since they sleep through the procedure.

The other two screening methods available to gastroenterologists are a virtual colonoscopy and stool DNA test.

Signs and Symptoms: Be Proactive If a patient is experiencing symptoms of colorectal cancer, including a change in bowel habits, blood in or on the stool, diarrhea, constipation and unexpected weight loss, they should consult their doctor immediately about recommendations for colonoscopy. For patients at average risk, doctors recommend getting an optical colonoscopy every 10 years, beginning at age 45 and continuing through age 75, with more individualized decision-making after age 76. For patients at high risk, they may need to start screenings before age 45, be screened more often, and/or get specific tests regularly.

This includes people with a strong family history of colorectal polyps, colorectal cancer or a hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome and those with a personal history of colorectal cancer or inflammatory bowel disease, among other factors.

Get Healthy to Stay Healthy Many colorectal cancer cases can be prevented through a healthier lifestyle. In fact, more than half of colorectal cancers in the United States can be attributed to modifiable risk factors. It’s important to stay physically active and eat a healthy diet. Eat a controlled amount of red meat, consume a controlled amount of alcohol and don’t smoke tobacco.

Patients seeking more information about colorectal cancer should consult their doctor and ask about screening options.

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Gastrointestinal Cancer Care at City of Hope Atlanta

The clinicians at the City of Hope Gastrointestinal Cancer Center in Atlanta are committed to offering state-of-the-art treatments for patients with gastrointestinal cancer. Our multidisciplinary team of board-certified medical oncologists, surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists and supportive care clinicians work with our patients to deliver quality clinical care with a patient-centered approach. Featured here is just a sample size of the full multidisciplinary team that works together to deliver quality care with a patient-centered approach at City of Hope Atlanta.

Medical Oncologists

Shahin Chowdhury, DO • Degree: Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences • Residency: Genesys Regional Medical Center (Ascension) • Fellowship: Medical Oncology, Oklahoma State University • Board Certifications: Medical Oncology, Internal Medicine

Surgical Oncologist

Ahmad Hammad, MD • Degree: Jordan University School of Medicine • Residency: East Tennessee State University • Fellowship: Medical Oncology, East Tennessee State University • Board Certifications: Medical Oncology, Internal Medicine

Radiation Oncologists

Lily Shakibnia, MD, MSc, DABR, FRCPC • Degree: McGill University; The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine • Residency: Radiation Oncology, McGill University • Board Certifications: Diplomate, American Board of Radiology • Serves as Chief of Radiation Oncology for City of Hope Atlanta

Gastroenterologist

Elesyia Outlaw-Evans, MD • Degree: Saint Louis University School of Medicine • Residency: Siteman Cancer Center, Washington University School of Medicine • Board Certifications: Radiation Oncology

Expert cancer care is only one call away. If you are interested in learning more about the comprehensive and compassionate cancer care at City of Hope Atlanta or have other questions about the hospital, call 855-939-HOPE or visit cancercenter.com/atlanta. ADV

JULY-AUGUST 2023

Chukwuemeka “Emeka” Obiora, MD • Degree: Wayne State University School of Medicine • Residency: Temple University/St. Luke’s University Health Network • Fellowship: Complex General Surgical Oncology, Wake Forest School of Medicine • Board Certifications: General Surgery, Complex General Surgical Oncology

Columbus and the Valley

Kevin E. Woods, MD, MPH • Degree: Meharry Medical College • Residency: The Johns Hopkins Hospital • Fellowship: Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Massachusetts General Hospital; Advanced Endoscopy, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Gastrointestinal Mucosal Imaging - Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital • Board Certifications: Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Hepatology • Serves as Chief, Interventional Endoscopy, Gastroenterology & Nutrition for City of Hope Atlanta

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Arwood Begor greets Arnold Boles, a member of his church, at Ruth Ann’s

HEROES AMONG US

FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR AS HE APPROACHES HIS 100TH BIRTHDAY, LOCAL WORLD WAR II VET, ARWOOD BEGOR, LOOKS BACK ON HIS TIME IN THE FLYING FORTRESS.

BY BRETT BUCKNER PHOTOS BY RITCHIE WHITE

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It may have been nearly 80 years ago, but Arwood Begor remembers it like it was yesterday.

“It’s not the kind of thing you forget,” said Begor, who turns 100 in September. “I was lucky to be there, and I was lucky to come back home.”

During World War II, Begor, then 20 years old, flew 17 missions as a navigator on the famed B-17 with the 398th Bomb Group out of Royston, England.

Nicknamed “the Flying Fortress” because of its heavy firepower and multiple machine gun emplacements, the B-17 was a rugged, reliable bomber that captured the public’s imagination as the symbol of American air power by dropping more bombs during the war than any other American aircraft.

“It was an amazing plane,” Begor said. “But it wasn’t very fast, going only about 200 miles an hour, depending on the wind.

“You could feel explosions all around.”

Of the 12,731 B-17s built, about 4,735 were lost during the war.

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TAKING FLIGHT

Begor didn’t necessarily grow up dreaming of one day soaring among the clouds. But he had a friend whose father was a pilot. For a 9-year-old boy living in Florida, the chance to fly was a oncein-a-lifetime opportunity.

Or so he thought.

“It all started there,” Begor said. “I loved to fly, but I had no idea where it would take me.”

As World War II raged in Europe, Begor was drafted into the Army after graduating high school. He attended basic training in Miami before spending six months in South Carolina where he trained to be a navigator.

“The army was running short of navigators,” Begor said, “so that’s what I did.”

Navigation cadets went to flying school following pre-flight where they spent 15 to 20 weeks in training. The demand for navigators required a constant expansion of the training program through 1943 and by VJ Day in September 1945, more than 50,000 cadets had graduated.

Navigators then went to operational training units to become part of a flying crew. For Begor, that meant returning to Florida, specifically Drew Field in Tampa, where he met the rest of the 10-man crew of the 398th bomber group. From there, it was on to Royston, England.

“None of us were from the same place,” Begor said. “We were from all over, and the only place we were able to get together was on the plane because officers and enlisted men were separated. We didn’t sleep in the same barracks. We didn’t go to the same restaurants.

Arwood flew a B-17 bomber like the one above as part as the Flying Fortress over Europe.

“On the plane, we each had a job to do, so there wasn’t a lot of socializing.”

The navigator shared the nose of the aircraft with the bombardier and was responsible for knowing the exact position of the aircraft and steering it to its target.

“We had to tell them how to get to the target,” Begor said, “and how to get back.”

During combat, navigators relied on a combination of pilotage—using visual landmarks to gauge ground speed and location —radio triangulation, or dead reckoning —using basic direction, time, speed, and distance calculations speed, to mathematically reach a certain spot—to find the target.

“We did whatever we had to do to get those bombs off and on target,” he said. “We had to because there was a lot riding on us hitting those targets.”

‘CLIMB ABOVE THE CLOUDS’

Arwood Bego r, Navigator, 603rd BS, 39 8th BG

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In a letter he often hands out before sharing his story to middle and high school history classes, Begor describes what happened each day while overseas: “At 4 a.m. ‘Reveille’ played to wake us up. After getting dressed we went to breakfast. Officers went to mission meetings while enlisted men got the guns and 50 caliber bullets. The crew met at the plane for inspection.

The radio operator would start up a small gas motor with a generator and he listened to find out if the mission was ‘a go’ or ‘scrubbed.’ If it was ‘a go’ the guns were placed in the brackets and armed. The left motor was started, then the right. We’d wait for word that it was time to taxi out to the runway.

We’d take off and climb above the clouds … we’d keep climbing and at 10,000 feet, we’d put on our oxygen. After 28,000 feet, we’d fly towards our target.

When we got 10 miles off, we’d turn right or left 90 degrees to reach the target, giving us enough time to drop our bombs before the fighter planes or aircraft guns could determine our height.

After the turn, we’d straighten, the bombardier turned on the bomb sight and

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a computer that helped determine the wind speed and direction. the most of the five landing sites at Normandy.

If a cloud front is moving in, and we can’t see the target, we’d Despite what was going on all around, there wasn’t time to have to find a target of opportunity, otherwise we had to drop be afraid. them in the ocean because the bombs are armed.”

“When you’re young you don’t know enough to be scared,” he Begor’s first flight was just before the Allies invasion on Omaha said. “I never got scared because I was concentrating on doing Beach. The mission was to destroy what I was there to do.” a German artillery fortification Begor’s final mission was to fly over located on a 200-foot cliff near the Berlin.

French village of Longues-sur-Mer in “We knew we were getting close to Normandy. the end of the war,” he said. “After that While not the most powerful we took all the ground crew up in the artillery battery, it was the best located plane and flew them back over just to with guns positioned right between see what all we’d done.

Omaha and Gold beaches.

“We flew almost to Russia before “We dropped 250-pound TNT deciding we’d better turn back.” bombs, but when we got back to base, After the war, he returned to Florida they told us those bombs didn’t do where he managed the family grocery any good,” Begor said. “So, we had to store. He reconnected with Doris, his go back the next day. high school girlfriend, who’d since “We found out later that the graduated from college.

Germans used so much steel in those “One night,” Begor remembered, bunkers, and we couldn’t touch ‘em.” “she looked at me and said, ‘I waited It wasn’t until D-Day itself that the four years for you, now what are we guns were finally silenced by the offgonna do?’ ” shore allied navies.

“So, we got married.”

They would be married for 71 years There were more than 2,000 Arwood married his high school before Doris died in 2016.

American casualties on Omaha Beach, sweetheart, Doris, after the war.

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Begor soon realized that running a small grocery store wasn’t such a good idea, so he eventually went to college and got a degree in business from Emory University.

After graduating, he received three job offers, one in Atlanta, one in Athens and one with Bags, Inc. in Columbus, which made mesh bags for potatoes, oranges and onions.

Begor would spend 35 years in textiles before retiring in 1985, but he carried a few lessons from his service into the business world.

“You always think about it,” he said. “You always ask yourself, ‘How would I do it if I were back there?’ I tried to look after the people who worked for me because that’s what I was taught—look after those who look after you.”

At Christmas, Begor was known for buying each of his staff a ham and 20 pounds of citrus fruit.

“It really taught me how to treat people,” he said.

Begor still drives and exercises every day. He has a social calendar—including his Thursday lunches at Ruth Ann’s, meetings with his men’s church groups and Kiwanis Club—that would tire out the average Joe. “I like to stay busy,” he said, “and I like being with people. I love to talk, and I like to listen.” C

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Phenix City Centennial:

Reflections & Celebrations

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BY MARIAN CARCACHE PHOTOS COURTESY EAST ALABAMA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

As the immortal bird that shares its name rose from the ashes, Phenix City rose above organized crime and the monikers “wickedest city in America,” “Sodom of the South” and “Sin City USA” to its present-day slogan “Positively Phenix City—come grow with us.” Called “a barbaric land” by Anne Kendrick Walker in Russell County in Retrospect (1950), Phenix City has come a long way.

The city’s name came to be Phoenix City after many changes in boundaries and mergers of separate villages. The spelling was changed to “Phenix” to oblige the citizens of the area.

Located on the west bank of the Chattahoochee River, Phenix City has played its part as history has unfolded from the time of the early Spanish explorers and indigenous Native American population.

Early on, the southern part of the town was called Girard, named after a wealthy slave dealer from Philadelphia. The northern part of the area, Brownsville, was named in honor of a Judge Eli Brown who, though he didn’t live locally, had interests there. To avoid confusion with another Alabama town called Brownsville, this section’s name—at least in the eyes of the Post Office—became Lively. And if two names weren’t enough for one part of the town, the railroad depot there was known as “Knight’s Station.”

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As might be expected, confusion ensued. Eventually, by a legislative act, the various areas were consolidated as Phenix City. That, however, was not the end of the list of names by which Phenix City was once called, including “Brandon” to honor a state governor, and Mechanicsville.

In spite of its early history, perhaps the era Phenix City is best known for revolves around the period during and after World War II. That was the time during which it became what political columnist Steve Flowers once described as “the poor man’s Las Vegas and Guadalajara” rolled into one. Certainly, the time was colorful, and often violent.

Because the town didn’t have the revenue to bring in jobs, the city leaders voted to authorize illegal gambling. It was this decision that ultimately led to the unflattering sobriquets denoting sin and wickedness.

From its consolidation of multiple communities in 1923 (see top of page) to summer nights with families enjoying its riverfront amphitheater in 2023—Phenix City has prevailed through its colorful past.

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During the war, soldiers stationed at nearby Fort Benning (now Fort Moore), frequented the gambling spots and brothels in Phenix City. According to writer Margaret Anne Barnes, author of The Tragedy and Triumph of Phenix City, Alabama, the soldiers were often taken advantage of. Once a soldier was drunk, it was easy to relieve him of his gambling money. If he put up a fight, he might end up beaten or even killed. The story goes that Gen. George Patton threatened to roll his tanks across the river from Fort Benning to destroy the town.

Some of the more upstanding citizens spoke out against the bad reputation Phenix City was building. One of these was merchant Hugh Bentley. After his house was bombed, his friend and ally Albert Patterson ran for the office of Attorney General.

Patterson’s platform was to clean up Phenix City. Although the syndicate tried to “fix” the election, Patterson won. Sadly, he was murdered on the street outside his law office before he could fulfill his promise.

His assassination, however, brought the National Guard in, and the town was put under martial law. Gambling establishments and all their equipment were destroyed. Over the course of the next year, between six and seven hundred people were prosecuted.

Chief Deputy Sheriff Albert Fuller was convicted of Patterson’s murder.

• • • And so it was that in 1954, the year of my birth, hundreds of miles away in an Army hospital in New Jersey, the National Guard crushed the syndicate and paved the way for the rebirth of Phenix City.

Mama often repeated the story about how when they were stationed “up north” and people saw their Alabama license plate, strangers would yell “Sin City” from the window of their cars.

Phenix City’s reputation made the national news.

The town’s story has been dramatized in the 1955 film noir movie, The Phenix City Story. In addition, several books have been inspired by the events that took place there. Margaret Anne Barnes’s The Tragedy and the Triumph of Phenix City, Alabama (1998) is a well-researched history that reads almost like a novel. Alan Grady’s When Good Men Do Nothing (2003) offers

an in-depth study of the Albert Patterson murder case. And in 2008, Pulitzer Prize winner Ace Atkins, contributed Wicked City, a novel inspired by real people and events that is as brilliant as it is gripping.

Former Phenix City mayor and state legislator, journalist Jane Gullatt, in defense of her town, eloquently described the place she loved as “a Jekyll and Hyde town.” Like Bob Kane’s DC comics super-villain, Harvey Dent, aka, Two Face, Phenix City has had a dual identity. While Dent changed from an upstanding district attorney into a criminal mastermind after being disfigured by the mob, Phenix City followed the opposite trajectory: evolving from a place controlled by organized crime to a town its people can be proud of.

Growing up in the 1950s-'60s in a more isolated and rural part of Russell County, I found a connection to the outside world through its WPNX radio station, The Phenix Citizen newspaper, and the Bookmobile that visited from the Phenix City-Russell County Library every two weeks and parked in front of our family grocery store.

We drove into town to eat at Pritchett’s Fish Camp on weekends, and I bought the Beatles on 45 at Grant’s in Phenix Plaza. Daddy banked with Farmer’s and Merchant’s Bank’s Phenix City branch, a little oval stone building in the parking lot of Phenix Plaza.

We made an occasional outing to Idle Hour Park when I was a child. There were, at the time, concession booths, games, rides and other amusements. My first real date took me to the Phenix Drive-in.

It is hard to believe that only a few years before my idyllic Russell County childhood and adolescence, there had been that other side to Phenix City that was much seedier than dime stores and drive-in movies. Phenix City had been “cleaned up,” but the stories were still being repeated, possibly even embellished.

I overheard rich details about places that served both food and sex: the Fish Camp by the river, the Blue Bonnet Café, whose “girls” were supposedly tattooed inside their lower lip to prove they “belonged” to the café’s owner.

There were references to the gambling, to the women, to the fighting and to the bootlegging. There were even whispers about

Albert Patterson (second from left) and Hugh Bentley (third from left) were on a mission to clean-up the corruption in Phenix City in 1954.

The blood stain in the photo is from Patterson’s murder.

Deputy Albert Fuller (left) was eventually convicted of Patterson’s assassination and sentenced to life in prison.

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black market babies. I listened to the adults talking about the murder of the DA and those they believed to be involved. I heard the story of “the night the bug house fell in,” and was enthralled by tales of a woman called Ma Beachie.

When her first husband died, “Ma” Beachie Howard Parr, born in 1891, was 34 She was left with five children to bring up and a struggling grocery store. After she and her second husband traveled to New Orleans, apparently liking the opportunity she saw there, she returned to Phenix City, and in 1937 started her own Swing Club.

She appeared as herself in The Phenix City Story movie, depicting the paradox that the south has always relished: in her case, a delicate woman wearing white gloves and a hat who ran a house of ill repute and carried pearl-handled pistols.

As for “the bug house” falling in, the tragedy took place on April 21, 1938. Twenty-two people died and 80 more were injured in the collapse at the Ritz Café in the Girard area of Phenix City.

According to Mark Clark, columnist for The Citizen of East Alabama, the crowd had gathered there to wait for the results of “the bugs lottery,” a popular form of gambling.

Troops from Fort Benning were sent into the rubble, and, as would happen again in 1953 with the “cleanup,” the National Guard followed to pull dead bodies and survivors from the debris­—and to demolish the rest of the structure.

A decade or two later …

Just outside of Phenix City, down Highway 431 closer to Seale, my family used to stop by Digger O’Dell’s place. The main draw was that he had Elvis’s first Cadillac, a customized purple Eldorado,

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After Patterson’s murder, martial law was declared. National Guardsmen took over the Russell County Courthouse and the city hall, firing the sheriff, deputies and police. The troops raided gambling places and destroyed slot machines.

The evidence resulted in 749 indictments against 152 people.

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“Ma” Beachie’s arrest

parked under a carport out front. He also sold “junque” out of one side of his “World Famous Digger O’Dell’s Farmer’s Market.” I bought a purple wicker chair from him, leaving only a degree of separation between me and not only the man who got buried for a living, but also the greatest showman of all, Elvis Presley.

Herbert “Digger” O’Dell Smith, a “professional endurance” artist, estimated that he spent six years of his life underground, being buried alive approximately 94 times for various promotions. He was usually hired by businesses, often car or mobile

In 1956, Look Magazine named Phenix City an “All-American City.”

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home dealerships. Sometimes he went under for a cause, such as to protest high gas prices. He claimed to have earned as much as $600 a week following his calling.

One of my regrets is that I was not able to see him in 1979 when he was buried in a parking lot at Mack’s Mobile Homes in Phenix City, promising to stay under until gasoline prices came down.

In a sense, his “trade”—or perhaps, “trademark”—was similar to that of the Phoenix: to, at least symbolically, “die” and then come back again.

On the opposite side of Phenix City from Digger’s place, sat the mobile home of Prophetess Mary. She proudly boasted of a length of hair that grew from her head faster and longer than the rest. The implication was that her gift might have come from that mystical lock. Her walls were plastered with images of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. Her tiny Chihuahua wore a sweater proclaiming loyalty to a certain ball team. There were religious icons placed generously about the room in which she prophesied for a fee.

This was the Phenix City that is etched in my memory, the Phenix City of my formative years.

The town has been home to hardworking mill employees, excellent doctors and nurses, lawmakers and lawyers, teachers and athletes, public servants and manual laborers, and to several entertainers. Names such as John Patterson, Hugh Bentley, JoJo Benson, Freddie Hart, Harvey Glance, brothers

City of Phenix City

Centennial Celebration August 9, 2023

CONCERT AT 7:00PM Phenix City Amphitheater 508 Dillingham Street Open to the Public Woodrow and Eddie Lowe, Jane Gullatt, among others, have ties to Phenix City.

I am glad to see Phenix City moving forward “positively,” but I also cherish the memories of the people and places that raised the city to almost mythical status during its ascension from its rockier days.

The last time I drove through Phenix City, I noticed remnants of that incongruity that makes life’s tapestry richer: a car wash and a fitness gym named “Blessed” on one side of the street, and a series of signs in the window of a car parked on the other side, the mildest of which read: “If you think this car is dirty, you should spend a night with the driver.”

To rise from the ashes, we must endure the fire. C

This colorful mural still shines through today in Idle Hour park from it's heyday as an amusement park.

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‘The Phenix City Story’

WALKING TOUR COURTESY OF EAST ALABAMA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Join us for a trip back in time to experience Phenix City’s time of corruption to its clean-up.

14 Street and Dillingham Street Centers of Vice Trade

Start on 14th Street at the corner of Whitewater Avenue and look away from the river at the right side of the street.

The south side of 14th Street

• Curt’s Café: Curt Daugherty ran slot machines, poker, dice, lottery, prostitution and rolled soldiers out of his café.

• Blue Bonnet Café: Gambling, prostitution and tattooing while you wait hosted by owner, Frank Gullatt.

Walk south (downriver) on the Phenix City Riverwalk to the Dillingham Street bridge.

The north side of 14th Street just after the clean-up

This street hosted these establishments: • Riverside Café: Soldiers were rolled and drugged here.

B-girls were bought off for prostitution and instructed to take drunk GIs to the Oyster Bar for gambling.

• Oyster Bar: This gambling house was downstairs under the Phenix Finance Company.

• Yarbrough’s Café • Boone’s Café: Boone’s specialized in knockout drinks, rolling dogfaces, and the owner, E.V. Boone, ran the B-girl pawn racket. Unconsumed beer was re-bottled and re-sold.

• Haytag: Drugs and prostitution were prevalent here.

• Coffee Pot • Golden Rule Café: This café was around the corner from 14th Street on 4th Avenue.

Look on the north side of Dillingham Street (amphitheater side).

Look on the left side of 14th Street.

• Davis Sporting Goods & Pawn Shop • Manhattan Club & Café: National Lottery Headquarters • Silver Slipper: This was another popular hub for gambling and prostitution.

• Silver Dollar: Rudene Smith and H. C. Edwards served dishes of bed-bouncing, dice and poker.

18

From the 1910s through the 1960s, this area along the Riverwalk was a white working-class neighborhood. Called Cocaine Flats by the Columbus newspapers, it flooded every time the river rose.

The worst flood was in 1929. The river rose almost to the tops of the Dillingham bridge arches. This area was completely under water with 1200 displaced from their homes.

The revenue from Dillingham Street was higher than that from 14th Street, even though it was smaller. Establishments included: • Ritz Café (original): This was located where the amphitheater now stands. It was also known as the “Bug House.” The “bug” was a lottery. In 1938, the two-story Ritz Café collapsed, killing 24 people. For decades, locals dated events as happening before or after the “Bug House” fell in.

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JULY-AUGUST 2023

5th Avenue

Site of Albert Patterson’s Assassination In 1923, the county seat moved from Seale to Phenix City making it easier for the gangsters to control county government. In 1948, Russell County got its own judicial district, giving the gangsters less risk of serious prosecution.

• Bama Club and Corral: This catered to “high rollers” who often flew into town just to go there. Reservations were often required. It offered almost every type of gambling known to man which included poker, lottery, slots, blackjack and sports parlays.

• Yellow Front Café: This café contained slot machines, dice tables and lottery.

• Girard Cleaners: Served as a lottery pickup station.

Look on the south side of Dillingham Street

The building where Brickyard Bikes is now, has the only remaining building from the vice era. Establishments were: • Bridge Grocery: Headquarters of the Metropolitan Lottery. Inside were roulette wheels, lottery equipment, business machines and an elaborate inside warning device.

Across from the courthouse is the old Phenix City post office where slot machines openly operated.

By the 1930s, gambling paraphernalia were widespread in the business district.

Turn right on 5th Avenue and walk to the Coulter Building.

Albert Patterson’s office was on the second floor.

On June 18, 1954, outside his office as he got into his car in the alley between the Coulter Building and the Elite Café, Patterson was shot three times.

He staggered down the street and collapsed in a pool of blood. The bullet to his throat kept him from talking to witnesses during the few minutes he survived.

Continue on 5th Avenue to the corner of 16th Street.

On the left was the Palace Theatre which hosted the world premiere of The Phenix City Story. The 1955 movie was filmed in Phenix City just after the clean-up and featured a cameo appearance by Ma Beachie, as well as many locals in minor roles.

• New Bridge Café: Gambling under the sponsorship of David Griggs.

• Ritz Café (new): The Ritz relocated here after the collapse in 1938. The building now home to Brickyard Bikes.

• 602 Club: This was located behind the Ritz.

• ABC Store • Original Barbecue: Assorted gambling and command post for E. L. (Red) Cook’s lottery • Bennie’s Club: Home to dice tables, slots and lottery records Walk back to 14th Street and up to 5th Avenue to the courthouse JULY-AUGUST 2023

The crowd at the murder scene in 1954.

Columbus and the Valley

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Columbus and the Valley

JULY-AUGUST 2023

Two People with Issues MIKE VENABLE & JILL TIGNER TURN THE PAGE ON AN EVENTFUL CAREER.

BY DOUG GILLETT PHOTOS BY RITCHIE WHITE

I

In the span of a few months in 1995, Jill Tigner and Mike Venable made three major decisions—one excellent, one questionable and one downright terrible.

In order, they were: marrying each other, buying a newspaper and hiring me to work there.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but when Mike handed me his business card after a Hardaway High School end-of-year awards ceremony, I was about to get in on the ground floor of a local publishing dynasty. Over the next 28 years, Mike and Jill would

JULY-AUGUST 2023

not only run a newspaper (The Phenix Citizen) and two magazines (this one and Valley Parent), they would be witnesses and scribes for some of the most sweeping changes in this area’s history.

Now, as they hand off their mini-empire to a new publisher and prepare for the sweet life of the willfully unemployed, I sat down with Mike and Jill to talk about how and why it all happened.

And, of course, we shared some fun stories in the process—some I knew about, some that were new to me and only a few of which involved me doing something stupid.

Columbus and the Valley

23

Chapter 1: The Marriage

Jill and Mike first got to know each other in the ’80s as co-workers in the classifieds department of the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. They were “buddies,” Mike says, but buddies who were in tune enough to frequently know what the other was thinking. (When Mike called Jill one afternoon to tell her he was going completely against character and adopting a cat, she says she knew what his big news was as soon as he told her, “You’re not gonna believe what I’m going to do this afternoon.”)

Mike’s career took him to newspapers in Wichita, Kansas, and then Huntsville, Alabama, before the two reconnected. Mike, recently divorced, was driving from Huntsville to Columbus on the weekends to spend time with his two sons; one weekend Jill, also recently divorced, asked him to be her plus-one at a cousin’s wedding. From then on, Mike had a third person to visit on his weekend trips to the Chattahoochee Valley.

It didn’t take them long to realize they needed to be together, but there was a problem: There weren’t any jobs for Mike in Columbus, nor any for Jill in Huntsville. “We said, ‘What are we going to do?’ Newspapers were the only thing we knew,” Jill remembers. “So we said, ‘Well, I guess we’re just going to have to buy a newspaper.’ We didn’t have any money—we were just young and stupid.”

The couple couldn’t afford a daily, but they could afford a weekly—and it didn’t take long to find The Phenix Citizen, a weekly founded after what Jill calls “the cleanup” of Phenix City in the mid-1950s. The Citizen’s owners, Harry and Harveta Barr, weren’t interested in selling, but over a series of Saturday chats, Mike wore them down. They closed the deal on Tuesday, May 2, 1995.

Mike and Jill celebrated the purchase at a party at the old Russell County courthouse in Seale, Alabama, that Saturday. “What’s black and white and read all over?

The Phenix Citizen, we hope! Come help us celebrate our partnership,” the invitations read—offering a clue to the party’s dual purpose. At 7:30 Mike grabbed the microphone and announced, “Jill Tigner said she’d never get married again unless Elvis was there. Well, folks, the King is in the building!”

Out came Elvis impersonator Heath Taylor— incidentally, today the Russell County sheriff—who performed a classic tune and then declared, “Let’s have a wedding!”

“Everybody was drinking, carrying on, and, I mean, people were just going crazy,” Mike recalls.

“They couldn’t believe it,” Jill adds. “Some said, ‘I talked to her yesterday, she didn’t say a word about this!’

But we didn’t want them to know it was a wedding.”

Top: Mike and Jill with two publications they created in conjunction with the Ledger-Enquirer's first car show.

Bottom: Mike, Jill and "Elvis", along with sons, Adam Venable and Nicholas Riddle, at the couples wedding.

Chapter 2: The Paper

When the newlyweds returned from three days in Gulf Shores, the honeymoon was over, in more ways than one. Their first week of newspaper ownership, Mike 24

Columbus and the Valley

JULY-AUGUST 2023

says, was marked by a flea infestation courtesy of “a lovely band of feral cats that lived under our building.”

“The power went out. We were covered with fleas. We were still in this position where we had to have a waxer [to run the articles through] to stick them down on the sheets and lay the paper out. It was misery,” he says. “I swear to God, I think we sat on the floor that night and cried together.”

Little did they know an even bigger pest was about to walk through the Citizen’s doors.

Honestly, when Mike handed me his business card after that Hardaway event, I was ticked. I’d been counting on doing nothing that summer but hanging out by the pool, and here’s this nosy stranger planting the idea of a summer job in my parents’ heads. My dad had been urging me toward a bigger paper like the Ledger, but a small weekly operation, Mike assured him, could provide me a breadth of experience I couldn’t get anywhere else.

And boy, did it ever. Over the course of not one but three summers (and three Christmas breaks) at the Citizen, I wrote stories on everything from city council meetings to local country singers. I helped lay out pages (at least until Mike switched us to computer pagination in 1996). I took pictures of local business owners, happy families, car accidents and high school football teams. Of course, being exposed to so many different things also dramatically expanded my opportunities for making mistakes—like driving out to Crawford to take pictures for a story on a home-schooling family, without any film in the camera. (“You go right back there, with film in the camera, and take the pictures,” Jill ordered when I asked her what to do. “I don’t care what you tell them—the camera malfunctioned, whatever. But we’re on deadline.”)

When they weren’t flea-bombing the office or dealing with my screw-ups, owning the Citizen was, in Jill’s words, “a sweet time.” “Our sons grew up in that building,” she says. “Mike’s dad would come in and help us put the paper together on Tuesdays.”

“It was a wonderful experience,” Mike agrees. “We lived in the community; every crazy person who had a real loud mouth would end up in our office … I JULY-AUGUST 2023

Columbus and the Valley

25

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- Health Plans (under 65) - Medicare Insurance (over 65) - Life Insurance - Dental/Vision Plans - Critical Illness Plans - Hospitality Indemnity and Accident Plans

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Columbus and the Valley

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even got threatened with some ass-whoopings. All the things that, if you’re doing a good job as a publisher, are gonna happen to you.”

Chapter 3: The Magazine

Mike and Jill didn’t have to wear anyone down to purchase Columbus and the Valley—it virtually dropped into their laps when its founder, Alice Robertson, asked them to buy it in 2000.

“God, it’s a blur,” Jill says of the two years that they ran both the magazine and the Citizen. Realizing that the workload was unsustainable, they sold the paper—by then one of Alabama’s largest remaining family-owned weeklies—back to one of its founders in 2002.

Jill and Mike didn’t waste any time making their mark on the magazine. They redesigned it and switched to Columbus-based Communicorp, an Aflac subsidiary, for printing, which both improved the print quality and enabled them to use more color.

But the most important work they did was outside the office.

Starting with Mike being invited to serve on the Columbus Regional Medical Foundation board, they became part of a nonprofit community in Columbus that was on the verge of transforming the city and the region.

“That was the way we got to know people,” Mike explains.

“We just spent years and years doing volunteer work and we got to hang around with some of the greatest people. They were the people that were making plans that are coming to pass now—

JULY-AUGUST 2023

“WE JUST SPENT YEARS AND YEARS DOING VOLUNTEER WORK AND WE GOT TO HANG AROUND WITH THE SOME OF THE GREATEST PEOPLE.”

Columbus and the Valley

27

new hotels and the river being returned to its natural wild self. We just feel like that was our big contribution to the changes in the magazine, because we really got to know the community well and saw what we thought it needed and got to be involved.”

“That’s what you have to do when you have a company like this,” Jill adds. “You’ve got to get out there and be with people, go to events, and fortunately, we enjoy that. We like to put on a long dress and a tux and go out and do things. We liked it a lot.”

The RiverCenter for the Performing Arts, the renovation of the Springer Opera House, the conversion of the Eagle & Phenix Mill to condos, the creation of the downtown whitewater rafting course, the construction of the palatial new National Infantry Museum—Mike and Jill got up-close-and-personal looks at all of them, as they happened. And then there were the smaller human-interest stories they found just by keeping their ears to the ground. Jill says her favorite stories she worked on were about the local chapter of the Single-Action Shooting Society, an international organization dedicated to preserving the history of the Old West, and a young couple who got married after their grandparents decided to play matchmaker.

Mike’s proudest work was a story about Columbus’ Sixth Avenue corridor, a street he says is emblematic of how the city has made major strides while preserving its history.

“It is the most incredible thoroughfare in the community, I think. There’s a jail, there’s two cemeteries—one on each end—there’s a textile mill that’s now condos; and look at all the stuff that’s coming up. There’s a dog park down there, restaurants, and a place where people can throw axes. I really love that corridor because it embodies what I see for the community.”

Epilogue: What They’ve Learned

The magazine years were not without trials and tribulations. Mike was diagnosed with cancer in 2009, and over the ensuing years would suffer through both radiation and surgeries to remove his left kidney, numerous bones, 12 lymph nodes, even an

Back where it all started: Jill and Mike stroll the Phenix City RiverWalk.

28

Columbus and the Valley

“WE’VE GONE THROUGH KNOWING EACH OTHER, BUT THEN REALLY FINDING EACH OTHER.” adrenal gland. (“I’ve got a real large organ discard pile,” he says with a weary smile.) After a year and a half of severe discomfort, Jill got her own unfortunate diagnosis—uterine cancer—in the summer of 2022.

But after three surgeries in seven weeks and a dose of radiation, she’s been cancer-free. And Mike, despite being given minimal chance of survival, is still alive and kicking nearly a decade and a half later. The experience, he says, made his world view “180 degrees different.”

“I loved my cat and I loved my dog precancer. I didn’t really care much about your dog or your cat,” Mike admits.

“Post-cancer, I say a prayer for that dead cat on the side of the road. I pray for the people who loved her and who she loved.

And I’m serious about it and emotional about it. It’s very different. You’re crazy different in the head. But hopefully better.”

The theme for their past 28 years, then, seems to be greater appreciation— for life, certainly, and for the community where they’ve lived and worked. But they’ve also gained an even greater appreciation for each other.

“We’ve gone through knowing each other, but then really finding each other. Knowing that this is the person [pointing to Jill] that I’m supposed to be with, and then getting to know people like this [pointing to me], it’s just been a great experience. It’s just been so much fun. A lot of happiness has come out of this place.

“I feel like we’re sliding into home plate, we’re bloody, we’re bruised, we’re tired, we just kind of left it all out there.

We really have done a lot of things, and I don’t feel like we left much undone.”

“The good thing is,” Jill says, “that not one day have I said, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ I never, ever got to that [point].

So when we were thinking it was time to find a buyer, it wasn’t a panic thing, because I loved it. I loved it till the last day I walked out of here. It was a fun, fun job— most people don’t get the opportunity to have a job like that.” C JULY-AUGUST 2023

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Columbus and the Valley

JULY-AUGUST 2023

women @work Today, there is no field where women are not making their marks. We are proud to profile some that are making a difference in the Chattahoochee Valley.

Sylvia Thomas—putting out fires as Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital cno

W

hen detailing Sylvia Thomas’ regular duties as chief nursing officer (CNO) at the Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital in Phenix City, the list is impressive.

Sylvia’s responsibilities, in part, include: • Organizational, administrative and nursing leadership duties • Overseeing the day-to-day flow of patient care • Working with physicians, hospital management and administrators • Working with department directors to ensure the hospital is providing high-quality medical care to its patients • Acting as a spokesperson for nursing staff • Working to ensure the hospital follows federal, state and local regulations • Meeting with stakeholders to develop strategies that impact the entire facility • Working to positively impact staff morale But those are just her official responsibilities. Hughston’s regional marketing manager, Rachel Dye, has more to add.

“One of Sylvia’s main job duties as the CNO is to put out ‘fires’,” Dye said. “She’s the hospital’s go-to person for nearly any issue that may arise throughout the day, and as you can imagine at a hospital, there are plenty.”

She works very closely with the CEO, Mark Baker, on almost every decision that’s made in regard to patient care, the hospital

JULY-AUGUST 2023

JACK HUGHSTON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

4401 Riverchase Dr., Phenix City 334.732.3000 al.hughston.com/jack-hughstonmemorial-hospital

and its staff.

Sylvia was with the hospital when it was purchased and converted to Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital in 2008. She was promoted to CNO in 2009.

“I have known Sylvia for 15 years,” Baker said. “I would describe her as an intentionally committed person. She is someone you can truly count on.”

What makes Sylvia an effective leader is where her priorities lie.

“Sylvia always puts the patient first, always,” Baker said. “And a very close second are the employees at the hospital. We definitely work like a family, and she truly embraces that concept and lives it every day.”

Sylvia has a reputation as a loyal and dedicated employee with a great heart for her patients and staff.

“She always strives to be excellent and believes wholeheartedly that mediocre is not enough, especially when providing patient care,” Baker said. “Jack Hughston Memorial Hospital is a better place thanks to Sylvia’s efforts.” ADV.

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women@work

COLUMBUS SPEECH AND HEARING

2424 Double Churches Rd. 706.324.6112

ColumbusSpeechandHearing.com

A

Alice Cellino guides patients to victory at Columbus Speech and Hearing

lice Cellino grew up listening to her mom, a speech pathologist, talk about the transformative experiences of her

patients.

“I just loved the stories,” Alice said. “And I was aware from a young age of her impact on the community. We couldn’t go many places without someone coming up to hug her and thank her for making a difference in their life.”

It was those stories and interactions that inspired Alice, 43, to eventually become executive director for the Columbus Speech and Hearing Center.

“I chose to be an audiologist rather than a speech pathologist because audiology is more of a diagnostic science as opposed to a rehabilitative science, and I really like diagnostic work,” she said. “But our practice is structured in a way that we all work and collaborate together, so I get to work with my speech pathology and occupational therapy friends every day.”

As executive director, she is responsible for the clinical development and focus of the practice.

The Columbus Speech and Hearing Center specializes in three major fields, including speechlanguage pathology, audiology and occupational therapy.

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“I have the privilege of overseeing all departments,” Alice said. “And helping my teams facilitate a multi-disciplinary approach to treating medical communication disorders.”

Dr. Susie Ford, Alice’s mother, founded Columbus Speech and Hearing Center in 1978 in a tiny office in midtown Columbus. Over the next 40 years, the center grew from a one-woman practice into the Chattahoochee Valley’s leading diagnostic and rehabilitative speech and hearing center, serving thousands of patients.

Alice grew up in the center, answering phones and filing paperwork, followed by summers as a speech-pathology aide working with children in HeadStart programs.

She eventually graduated with her doctorate in audiology and developing CSHC’s vestibular/balance programs.

In 2008, she officially joined the family business.

“It’s flat out amazing,” Alice said of working with her mother. “A family business isn’t for everyone, but when that’s a real option for you, it can create an amazing, trustworthy environment. It allows for the type of easy growth and brainstorming that bring about good ideas and programs.”

For example: The other day she was washing dishes after a family meal, and she and her mom were brainstorming ways to have a patient attempt therapy a little differently.

“I think it makes a difference in patient outcomes when the providers can easily reach each other and share ideas and experiences,” Alice said. “You can get that with a family business. It’s also important that our entire clinic culture supports that unusual togetherness.

“The entire staff operates as a work family. It’s really special.”

It’s that type of family environment that makes the center unique.

“It makes us better providers,” Alice said. “Our company values are loyalty and excellence. We value being committed to each other and to doing our best for each other while we are together. We feel that way about our patients, too.

“I hope we are different because we are fiercely loyal and dedicated to our peers and our patients, in addition to being the clinical experts in our fields.”

Which isn’t to suggest that there aren’t problems.

“Definitely, the most challenging part of the job is knowing that there are too few providers to meet the needs of the community,” she said. “The waiting list for therapy services is long. We manage the challenge as well as we can, but it still pulls at us.”

And there’s no lack of opportunities.

“This is a plug for anyone considering a field in communication disorder sciences,” Alice said. “You’ll definitely have a job waiting for you when you graduate.”

Despite the challenges, it’s the successes that keep Alice and her staff doing what they do, which is watching patients of all ages blossom.

“Communication is one of the fundamental joys of life,” she said. “As long as you can communicate and relate to your friends and family, you have the potential for hope and happiness.

“It’s a gift to work with our patients through their victories.”

Just imagine the first time a kid sings, “Happy Birthday” to their mother. The first time a grandparent participates in a conversation with the grandkids who are hard to hear. The first time a child is able to button and unbutton clothes so they’re independent at school.

“That’s what makes it all worth it,” Alice said. ADV. Columbus and the Valley

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Libba Dillon at Malone Office Environments­— 'not our first rodeo'

W

hen talking about the best part about being an interior designer, Libba Dillon doesn’t hesitate.

“Collaborating,” she said. “I love working with the client, the architecture firm and the contractor to make a vision become a reality. It is also very rewarding when I get to work on projects that have a substantial impact on improving the community of Columbus.”

Since 2009, Libba Dillon, 36, has worked for Columbus’ Malone Office Environments; assisting local companies, ranging from Piedmont Columbus Regional and Mercer Medical School to W.C. Bradley Co. and Synovus, creating workspaces that incorporate form and function.

Libba doesn’t have to look too far to see where her passion for interior design originates. She remembers watching the way her grandmother decorated her house and how she organized things for entertaining friends and family.

“I think it goes back to my grandmother and the way I grew up,” said Libba, who is the senior interior designer and head of furniture sales at Malone. “It really inspired me to want to do that for myself.”

She graduated from Auburn in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in interior design, a Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA accredited program). But she never envisioned interior design for business being her eventual career path.

“I sometimes laugh when I think back to graduating from college,” she said.

“I thought I was going to be doing high-end residential and didn’t put much thought into the commercial side of the industry. There wasn’t much going on in the economy.”

Throughout her career, she has honed a skill set when it comes to making clients comfortable and willing to accept her ideas for their working environment.

“It’s about being honest and going above and beyond to help them understand exactly what our team does, and giving them visuals and examples to let them feel at ease. This is not our first rodeo."

In addition to her skills as an interior designer, Libba is also a great salesperson, who works well as a member of the Malone team.

“Amazing,” said Sam Buracker, owner of Malone Office Environments, when asked what Libba was like to work with. “She’s played a great role in helping me grow the business. She comes in every day with a great attitude and is just a pleasure to work with.”

Sam recognized Libba’s talents when it came to dealing with clients.

“She’s just got a knack … she’s got good taste, just has an eye for it,” he said.

“She never lets the customer down, which builds loyalty. Then ultimately, they like to buy from her, which keeps them coming back.”

But that’s not to suggest, even a job she loves, doesn’t come with certain challenges.

“One of the most challenging parts of working at Malone’s in our role in the furniture department is trying to get the word out there that they can purchase the same thing from us,” she said. “We can help you create your space locally versus competing with the Amazons of the world.

“Malone Office Environments has been around for almost 100 years, and we are constantly evolving to try to keep up and compete with the internet because it has changed the entire business.”

If there’s one aspect of interior design the average person doesn’t appreciate, it’s the attention to detail.

JULY-AUGUST 2023

Columbus and the Valley

women@work

MALONE OFFICE ENVIRONMENTS 1345 13th Ave 706.322.2513 MaloneOffice.com

“There are so many details that it is so easy to make mistakes if you are not paying close attention,” Libba said. “Also, the logistics can be challenging when you have an install and ordering from multiple manufacturers you have to make sure all those dates align to have the perfect outcome.”

When she’s not at work, she is all about spending time with her family. That includes her husband, Will, and their two sons, Wells and Graves, along with their two dogs, Lilly and Piper.

“I love to travel and explore parts of the world,” she said. “I love antiques and collecting things from the past. This past year I spent a week in Provence with my sister-in-law going to all the villages and markets. It was such an experience.”

In addition to working at Malone’s, Libba has invested in local businesses such as Fountain City Coffee and its sister location in Banks Food Hall, which she co-owns with her husband, Will, and brother, Jud Richardson. She also owns Park Place Interiors and has her hand in an offshoot of Malone's that specializes in floor coverings. As a result of all her endeavors, Libba was named the 2022 Entrepreneur of the Year by the Columbus Chamber of Commerce.

“I love Columbus,” she said. ADV.

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women@work

WESTECH HEARING 4401 Armour Rd. 706.571.8877 WestechHearing.com

F

Tara Roney promises

patients will hear the difference at Westech Hearing

or Tara Roney, owner of Westech Hearing, it all started with a single class while in college at Auburn University.

It was her sophomore year when she took Introduction to Speech and Hearing. Up to that point, Tara wanted to be a Speech Pathologist, but the more she learned about Audiology, she knew she’d found her career path.

“I am a concrete or black/white-type thinker,” Tara said. “In Audiology, we know the specifics of your hearing problem, and we know how to improve it.”

Tara would be 1-of-10 accepted into the Audiology graduate program at Auburn two years later, where she gained both academic knowledge and daily, hands-on experience in the Speech and Hearing Clinic where she studied from 2000 to 2002.

Today, at age 45, Tara is a certified Audiologist and owner of Westech Hearing.

To the uninitiated, Audiologists help diagnose hearing and balance disorders for people of all ages. They also provide professional and personalized services to improve a patient’s important activities in their lives.

“Our primary goal is giving them a better quality of life with improved hearing,” she said.

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Tara spent 14 years as an Audiologist at Westech before purchasing the business in 2019.

“I knew Westech Hearing was where I wanted to be until retirement age,” she said. “The new adventure of ownership was just the challenge I was looking for as I entered middle age.”

As owner and Audiologist, Tara wanted to maintain the same type of relaxed office environment that Westech has long been known for. “ I can schedule my patients for as long as I think we need for an appointment,” she said. “We are not rushed for time, and I think this is why Westech has been around so long. We take the extra time needed to properly take care of the patient's individual hearing needs.”

Customer service is a top priority.

“Our personalized care does not go unnoticed by our patients,” Tara said. “We try to go above and beyond to help our patients hear as well as possible.”

As an Audiologist, Tara appreciates the struggles her patients face.

For example, when someone's hearing is severe to profound and their word discrimination ability—the clarity of words they can understand at a comfortable listening level—is less than 20 percent, indicating hearing aids are of little help, it breaks her heart.

“I really want to help that person hear the best possible,” Tara said. “I have to counsel them that even with the best hearing aids, the clarity of words will still be garbled because the distortion occurs when processing the words past the inner ear—meaning there is nothing a hearing aid can do to help with that.

“It frustrates the patient and me.”

A recent challenge is helping patients navigate through the enormous amount of advertisements for hearing aids.

“You really need to work with someone you can trust when it comes to hearing aids,” Tara explained. “The over-the-counter style hearing aids are truly for someone who has a mild to moderate ‘flat’ hearing loss in both ears. This may only be helpful for less than 25 percent of the individuals who have hearing loss.”

Hearing aids are not one size fits all.

“Every hearing loss I see is different from one person to another,” she said. “I only fit prescription hearing aids, meaning the hearing aids are programmed for your specific hearing loss for each ear frequency by giving you a very accurate fit.

Therefore, overall increased satisfaction while wearing hearing aids is achieved.”

After 21 years as an Audiologist, Tara knows how to measure success.

“Seeing someone's face when they finally hear and understand their relative sitting beside them without having to strain never gets old,” she said. “My goal is that the patient can sit back and enjoy having a conversation in most environments with family and friends.

“It is such a rewarding and fulfilling job that it has never really felt like a ‘job.’”

Tara has been married to her husband, Andrew, for 21 years. They have two children, Brooks, 17, and Anna Kate, 14.

“It is so hard to believe,” she said. “We will have a senior and freshman this coming fall.”

The family added two puppies in past few months, too. Waylon is a 7-monthold golden retriever, and Charlie, a 5-month-old King Charles Spaniel.

“They are quite the pair,” Tara said. ”Together, they’re currently at 52 and 9 pounds and still growing.” ADV. Columbus and the Valley

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Fitz Bickerstaff and Arden Cheney invite

clients to take the next step

T

eamwork makes the dream work. While this may sound cliché, when it comes to the partnership between Fitz Bickerstaff and Arden Cheney, it’s both true and beneficial.

To anyone moving into a larger home, smaller home or senior living community, Fitz, a realtor, and Arden, an interior designer, have joined forces to make the transition less stressful.

Fitz scours the area in search of the right home at the right size. Arden customizes the interiors to reflect your personality.

Together, they call it Next Step.

“Arden and I respect their emotional journey while coordinating every detail, from interior design, downsizing, and moving, to repairs and renovations,” Fitz said. “Once the home is seller-ready, I optimize pricing and marketing strategies for a successful sale.”

Arden works closely with clients as they prepare to move into their new home. This includes drawing the floor plans, getting things packed up and moved.

“The goal is to be their personal elves during this time,” she explained. “We welcome them into the new space with furniture in place and ready to enjoy their next step. Downsizing should not have to be a painful and stressful event.

“It’s our hope that your experience with our team makes the transition an enjoyable one.”

When Fitz Bickerstaff left her job as a fifth-grade teacher with Muscogee County, she joined her husband, Boon, to sell real estate as an agent with Flournoy & Calhoun Realtors.

“I have enjoyed helping first-time home buyers from the beginning to the end of the process and seeing their excitement of the purchase of their first home,” Fitz said.

“Living in Columbus for 30 plus years, I knew the name Flournoy & Calhoun Realtors and knew it was the perfect fit for me. It is family owned and has been committed to Columbus and surrounding areas since 1887.

“It immediately gave me that family feel.”

When it comes to finding the right home for her clients, Fitz, who works predominantly with seniors, is a good people-person.

“I think that my interpersonal skills are a great asset to real estate,” she said. “I enjoy meeting new people and learning about their unique stories, which allows me to develop a comfortable rapport with clients while promoting services.

“It’s not a secret … just listening to someone and understanding their needs.”

JULY-AUGUST 2023

women@work FITZ BICKERSTAFF FLOURNOY & CALHOUN REALTORS 2520 Wynnton Rd. • 706.327.1990

ARDEN HUFF CHENEY INTERIORS 1311 Rhodes Ave. • 706.563.6780

Arden Cheney started her interior design career when she moved to Georgia in 1999. She worked as an apprentice at the design firm Collins & Huff. (After nine years she was working as an interior designer before starting her own company, Arden Huff Cheney Interior Design.)

While Arden has numerous responsibilities when it comes to interior design, the most crucial part is assisting clients in downsizing or transferring to a retirement community.

When asked, Arden doesn’t hesitate in naming her favorite part of the job.

“Without a doubt it’s the relationships I have made with my clients and their family,” she said. “I have the opportunity to really get to know the people I work with. They are letting me in to their personal space and trusting me with their home.

“Each project I get the privilege to work on is such a blessing to me.”

It’s a job she loves because it’s always changing. The same goes for the challenges.

“To be honest, this is something that does not stay the same,” she said.

“The challenges I had four years ago are not the same today. Most of the challenges I face today are things completely out of my control.

“It feels like since moving out of the covid crisis that shipping and stocking issues would be resolved, but they have not.”

Arden and her team spend a lot of time online and on the phone tracking things down, which can slow down a project.

Fitz and Arden have been friends for some time, so a partnership made sense. Fitz recognized in Arden someone who felt the same passion and commitment to a client’s transition that she did.

But after reading a client’s testimonials, working together was a no-brainer.

“One of her clients successfully relocated to a small villa in a retirement community,” Fitz remembered. “Her client was thankful she did not have to go through the hassle of moving. Arden and her team took care of the moving process. All the clients had to do was enjoy her new home, even down to having her toiletries ready and waiting in drawers.

Together, Fitz and Arden will help you revitalize your lifestyle. To learn more, visit fitzbickerstaff.com. ADV. Arden Cheney

Columbus and the Valley

Fitz Bickerstaff

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GENTLE DENTISTRY OF COLUMBUS

1846 Warm Springs Rd. 706.322.6551

G

Dr. Devon Paris helps make Gentle Dentistry ‘a place you feel at ease’.

entle Dentistry will soon have a new address. Currently located on Warm Springs Road, Dr. Devon Paris and Dr. Brett Page are hoping to move into their new office at 500 Brookstone Centre Parkway, Suite 300 by September with patients arriving at the beginning of October.

“Dr. Page and I both love our patients and were both very blessed to take over a long standing-practice here in town,” Dr. Paris said.

“We see grandbabies of our existing patients, so we wanted to continue to grow to continue to serve our community.”

The new office offers a chance to expand the current practice.

“With our new building,” Dr. Paris said, “we will be able to get some help from another dentist and another hygienist.”

When asked what part of the new office she’s most excited about, the answer was emphatic.

“Everything,” Dr. Paris said. “We are all so very excited about the new building—from our team to telling our patients, we all cannot wait! A lot patients already go to Brookstone Centre off Bradley Park for their dermatology or primary care physician appointments and are saying how it will be more convenient.”

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The new office also won’t necessarily look like a dentist office.

“The color will be neutral earthy tones with a lot of natural light from our big windows,” Dr. Paris said. “The overall feel of the office that I am going for is a coffee shop vibe—a place where you feel welcomed and enjoy visiting with the people you meet there. A place you feel at ease.”

Such an atmosphere is the embodiment of Dr. Paris’ approach to dentistry. With a dentist for a father, Dr. Devon Paris remembers how afraid patients often were coming into his office, dreading the root canal that awaited them.

Fortunately, the fear was gone after the procedure.

“When they left, everyone seemed to have a look of relief or even happiness on their faces,” Dr. Paris said. “As I decided I wanted to grow up to be a dentist, I determined that I wanted them to have a smile on their face when they came in not only when they left.”

A Columbus native, Dr. Paris attended Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama where she completed her undergraduate training before receiving her Doctor of Medicine in Dentistry from Georgia Regents University’s College of Dental Medicine in 2014.

When opening her own practice, Dr. Paris found exactly what she was looking for in 2018 when she bought the existing Gentle Dentistry. Keeping the name just made sense.

“A majority of people, when they think dentist, think needle, handling, etc., but this Gentle Dentistry title was just the name I wanted to have as my practice name,” she said. “My goal is to change all my patients views on dentistry from an anxietyridden, serious, painful space to a stress-relieving, laughter-filled, empathetic office.”

Working alongside Gentle Dentistry owner Dr. Paris is associate dentist Dr. Brett Page. A native of Cataula, Dr. Page earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Emory University before also receiving his Doctor of Dental Medicine from Georgia Regents University’s College of Dental Medicine in 2014. He joined Gentle Dentistry in 2020.

They, along with a trained staff of hygienists, all working together toward a common goal – “to make coming to the dentist a joy,” Dr. Paris said.

Gentle Dentistry of Columbus provides: • Cleanings and Exams • Crowns and Bridges • Fillings and Sealants • Dentures and Partials • Root Canals • Extractions • Teeth Whitening Dr. Paris and her staff at Gentle Dentistry are especially proud of their cosmetic dentistry services.

“We even got awarded the 2022 Columbus People’s Choice Award Runner’s Up for Cosmetic Dentistry here in Columbus,” she said. “This was the greatest honor of all because this award was chosen by the public.”

Dr. Paris views her and the staff’s overarching approach to patient care in terms that a sports ravenous area can fully appreciate.

“My bedside manner is like having your best teammate by your side,” she said.

“Whether it is visiting with a patient in hygiene just joking around like during practice or helping a patient to a common goal of oral health like when trying to score that final goal.“The hope is to always be here for the people who need me. ADV.

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HOUSE OF HEROES – CHATTAHOOCHEE VALLEY CHAPTER

Constructing Vets’ Dreams

STEP BY STEP

A

North Columbus Rotary Club with Willie Mae Brown, widow of Sgt. 1st Class Wilson Brown.

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Columbus and the Valley

BY JANET BURDEN

fter retirement formalities wind down, most military and public safety service personnel hang up their uniforms and transition to the civilian life they’ve dreamed of during their lengthy and honorable careers.

Thoughts of owning and living in a home from which to put down roots and cultivate a safe and comfortable life very likely fed that dream. Eventually, though, some of these men and women may find that because of unexpected expenses their budgets no longer stretch far enough to maintain that treasured home—or that their bodies are just not up to the rigors necessary to perform repairs.

That’s why the House of HeroesChattahoochee Valley Chapter provides local military and public safety service veterans with a ray of hope and a helping hand if they ever find themselves in need of assistance.

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HONORING LOCAL HEROES

Few places feel military veterans’ presence more widely than the Chattahoochee Valley.

As the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reported in its most recently published study in 2017, Georgia ranked No. 9 in total military population, with an estimated 700,000 veterans.

Given our proximity to Fort Moore, it’s no surprise that 8.29-23.05% of that number have settled in the Columbus area. Factor in public safety service retirees and that number swells.

For Wayne Anthony, president and founder of House of Heroes, this was the obvious location to launch a non-profit organization in 2000 to thank those willing to lay down their lives for others. Known as House of HeroesChattahoochee Valley Chapter after becoming a national entity in 2008, it’s been serving all U.S. military branches and public safety service veterans ever since. Through the generosity of individuals, families, corporations, civic groups and religious organizations, veterans who are disabled, living on fixed incomes, or facing other challenges, either physical or financial, receive tangible, practical assistance—at no cost.

BY THE NUMBERS

Since its launch, more than 25,000 volunteers have dedicated over 200,000 hours to assist area veterans and their spouses. Those volunteer hours equal an estimated $3 million, with HOHCVC providing more than $1.4 million toward materials. In the first half of 2023, HOH-CVC

Meet

JAKE WOOD

HOH-CVC team captain, volunteer, dreamer Jake Wood began his volunteering career as an elementary school student when he and fellow choir members washed cars to raise travel funds. The memories of that effort have stayed with him and the satisfaction of working hard to achieve a dream is firmly planted in his soul. Now, with more than 20 HOH-CVC projects under his toolbelt, Jake shares a few thoughts about why he volunteers.

Q. In what capacity do you volunteer?

A. I’ve been both a volunteer and team captain although no prior experience is needed to be a HOH-CVC team captain. First-time volunteers who have formed a group are typically designated its captain.

Q. What is the best way to organize a volunteer group?

A. Look around your business, religious institution or social group to find people interested in helping a local non-profit. One of the great things about HOH-CVC is that the volunteers, materials and veterans are all local, which in turn helps the Chattahoochee Valley community.

Q. Which Columbus-area groups would be suitable for a HOH-CVC project?

A. I would say any size business that wants to help foster community and team building within their company. Every project is different in terms of what skills are required, so anyone can volunteer to help change a veteran’s life. HOH-CVC would love to see new businesses and organizations join the long list of area sponsors, work groups and in-kind donors.

Q. Besides corporations, what other groups volunteer?

A. HOH-CVC has been able to reach more and new businesses over the last couple of years through advertising, marketing and events. As a result, we’ve had several Rotary Clubs, soldiers, retired military groups and skilled businesses like HVAC, plumbing and electrical help.

Q. Does HOH-CVC staff have tips and resources for any individuals trying to pull together a volunteer group?

A. Yes, they do! If someone is looking to get a group together for a project, contact HOHCVC. Lora, the Development Director, and Pam, the Volunteer Coordinator, will be more than willing to get a new group started or find a project that fits a given skillset. They’re very creative and can find just the right project for your group.

Q. If a group is already formed, what's the next step?

A. Again, call the HOH-CVC office. Lora and Pam can find the ideal project and schedule a date that works for the group.

Q. What is the most important skill or talent for a volunteer or groups to possess?

A. Communication. It’s important to communicate well with other volunteers about what tasks can be completed, the overall goal for the project and how to do something for the first time, like pressure washing. It is what makes the team-building aspect so successful.

Q. Do recipients need to put forth "sweat equity" and assist the volunteers?

A. The recipients don’t need to put sweat equity into their project. They’ve already done so much for our country; this is a way for volunteers to say thank you. The recipient can rest, relax and enjoy the progress HOH-CVC and volunteers make on their home. There have been several instances of recipients helping with yard work, painting and even cooking for the volunteers because they wanted to and couldn’t sit still. HOH-CVC does not require the recipient to help on a project, but it is always appreciated if they feel they must.

Q. Have you ever experienced families volunteering?

A. Yes, I have. I’ve seen families volunteer together through religious institutions and businesses. It’s a rewarding experience for families to volunteer as it creates memories and stories. Everyone learns valuable life lessons.

Q. What's the most unique way you've seen someone volunteer?

A. Any time children are involved! I enjoy seeing their energy, excitement and creative ways to complete a task.

Q. What is the most touching display of appreciation you’ve seen exhibited by a veteran?

A. One example was a lady named Mrs. Jessie. She was so excited that HOH-CVC was able to work on her house that she began to sing as a way of saying “thank you”! There have been numerous examples of veterans getting emotional when we complete the flag ceremony and share the veteran’s story. It does give you chill bumps as you get a look into their previous military experience. It’s humbling.

Jake Wood assists Sgt. James Miller with his flag.

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served more than 49 veterans. Typical supply costs per project are $2,000, with inflation resulting in ever-increasing figures.

Funding is provided through grants, donations and fundraisers such as Bids and Bubbly coming up in October, the Heart of Serving luncheon in November and gift wrapping at Peachtree Mall during the holiday season. A Pulling for Patriots skeet shoot is scheduled for February.

CAN’T HANDLE A HAMMER? THERE ARE OTHER WAYS TO HELP!

HOH-CVC makes it easy for you to support its mission. There are countless opportunities, even if your skillset may be as basic as wielding a weed eater or providing lunch for hungry volunteers.

Repairs range from cleaning and painting to staircase construction, wheelchair access ramp repair, window screen storage, appliance servicing or installation and yard maintenance. Sometimes, simply talking with and keeping vets company during work days is invaluable. Home

JULY-AUGUST 2023

Gentian Baptist Church was able to help Staff Sgt. Jeffery Brown with maintenance of his home.

projects utilize licensed craftsmen for any work required under construction code.

But don’t underestimate your strengths! Besides repair, construction and lawn expertise, there are also ways to put your fundraising, management, publicity and recruiting talents to good use. While most projects derive volunteers from sponsoring organizations, individuals with event-planning superpowers help with behind-thescenes HOH-CVC administration, upcoming special events and project management.

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NOT YOUR TYPICAL CORPORATE TEAMBUILDING ACTIVITY

HOH-CVC sites are also the perfect environment for local companies to grow teams. Often, becoming active in HOHCVC means setting aside pre-conceived notions of organized team building.

HOH-CVC volunteers work on roll-upyour-sleeves, hands-on projects that not only solve veterans’ minor repair problems but that require collaboration. Google a phrase such as “developing strong teams” and you’ll likely read responses that describe the very qualities that make HOH-CVC so successful. Volunteers learn to depend on one another, solicit

Susan Wood, Sgt. James Miller and Jake Wood

“Sometimes, simply talking with and keeping vets company during work days is invaluable.”

HOH-CVC

Steps to Success To be eligible for assistance, veterans must live within 45 miles of Columbus; be a military or public safety service officer retiree or, if deceased, a surviving spouse; own and occupy the home to be repaired, or, if deceased, have resided in it with a surviving spouse. There is no discrimination because of race, religion, sex, age, national origin or disability.

Honorably discharged military veterans and public safety service personnel, or someone applying on their behalf, can find the “Online Assistance Application” in the "Contact" tab located on the houseofheroescvc.org website.

When completing an online application, applicants will need a copy of the veteran’s DD214 and proof of home ownership to upload.

Refer to the website or contact HOH-CVC Executive Director Susan Wood for further details and particulars.

VOLUNTEER & DONATE

Volunteers can access the site’s “Volunteer” tab to explore multiple ways to improve a veteran’s life or the “Donate” tab to provide support through financial or supply donations.

CONNECT NOW

Call 706-569-7011 or visit the website at houseofheroes.org to apply for assistance and to explore ways you or your organization can plug in.

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The House of Heroes staff volunteer group with Sgt. James Miller

others’ opinions, establish shared goals, and map team logistics as well as additional traits that in the cubical world are merely abstract.

At an actual HOH-CVC worksite, however, implementation of those concepts is essential for success and translates into long-lasting career-building skills as individuals form bonds and morph into cohesive teams.

A SPECIAL TRIBUTE TO HONOR VETERANS AND EXPRESS THANKS

With its ties to military and public safety service personnel, it’s appropriate that HOH-CVC projects conclude with a presentation to homeowners of an American flag once flown over the nation’s capital. The ceremony serves as a reminder of the solidarity and teamwork that goes into any successful mission.

Through HOH-CVC efforts, veterans and volunteers alike are reminded that when it comes to dreams, these aren’t just houses, they’re homes. C

Perfect Size.

Perfect Color.

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CRUSH

BY PAT DANIEL

Backyard Barbecue Wines N

ow that we are fully into summer, we thought we’d look at having wine at one of summer’s favorite pastimes, backyard barbecue parties. Here are several aspects to the barbecue experience to make it fun to enjoy a great summertime wine.

The typical barbecue is at someone’s house, in the backyard. It’s probably a warm summer day, and maybe there are activities like volleyball, and you’ll spend the majority of the time outside. All these aspects suggest the best wine would be something fun, easy to enjoy and definitely not too heavy. Even if the party is at your own house, you don’t want to be running in and out fooling with wines. It’s your party, too.

Let’s start with the obvious. It’s really easy to select white wines which you can simply leave in a bucket of ice and enjoy right next to the grill. We’ve already discussed some of these in previous articles, for example, in "Guilty Pleasure Wines" we featured classics like mateus rose, casal garcia vinho verde and even white zinfandel. Fancier whites to enjoy would include unoaked chardonnays, sancerre and even a crisp chenin blanc. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a red style—in fact several reds are meant to be enjoyed chilled. Aside from the obvious sweet bubbly reds from Italy, there are all the variations of sparkling and non-sparkling red moscatos, different styles of lambrusco (there are several producers) and of course our old friend Beaujolais. If you’d like something in between, the French turned vivacious red grapes into refreshing rose styles to enjoy by the Mediterranean seashore. Provence, Loire and the Rhone are just begging you to enjoy their wines all summer long.

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But maybe you’ve splurged and grilled that nice cut of meat, and want your usual favorite or special red with it, without going inside to the air conditioning. Most nicer red wines are ideally served around 60 degrees, not left in an ice bucket to become too cold without constant attention. Several retailers carry accessories for outdoor buffets which are meant to keep food cold on an outdoor table­­—these will work for your nice reds also. Imagine a tiny rectangular inflatable “pool” a few inches high, and usually one or two feet long. It is then filled with ice so potato salad and other items can be set on top and remain cool. Well, they are perfect for keeping just the bottom inch or so of your nice red wine cold, right next to the horseradish for your prime rib. To serve, just give the bottle a little swizzle to mix the cold wine in the bottom with the rest, and voila, your nice red, served outdoors, with your nice meal, is at the perfect temperature.

Steak is steak. We all have our favorite fancy wines for that. For much of the other traditional barbecue/grill fare, like hamburgers, hot dogs and brats, simply pick your favorite wine, or grab what’s there and enjoy. But this article can’t be all summer fun— there’s one wine-related item at the barbecue we should probably discuss, and that’s the barbecue sauce. You see, we all have that one friend who orders a nice cut of meat, like a ribeye or even a filet mignon, cooks it to well-doneness, and then puts ketchup all over it. Your wine looks at YOU in the same “Oh no” kind of way when it sees your saucy food. It’s afraid it’s going to be covered up, and it will be. As with every other food-wine pairing, understand the two main principles, which are “fit into what’s going on" or “bring out more flavor.”

Barbecue sauce is definitely a “fit into” situation. The full flavor of spices, mouthcoating texture, vinegar and other ingredients like molasses make it hard to pull out any hidden flavors. It’s like shouting during an already-loud rock concert. And yet a white wine like a crisp, neutral pinot grigio can separate out some of the flavors by lessening their assault on the senses. Some moscatos or a vigonier even add a hint of peach, which might be just perfect with a barbecued pork chop. Most reds simply behave as a base

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which takes on the flavors, but the tannins and higher alcohol intensify the spices, and therefore the flavor. If you really want to get into it, there are four main regional styles of Barbecue to explore: Kansas City style features slowsmoked meats rubbed down in a sweet seasoning and smothered in a thick, sugary sauce. Try pairing with a California red blend, cabernet from Lodi, or a bourbon-barrel finished red.

Memphis style barbecue prepares mainly pork ribs in wet and dry styles.

“Wet” ribs are brushed with sauce before, during, and after smoking them. “Dry” ribs are equally succulent—they’re coated in a dry rub before they’re smoked and served without sauce, allowing the meat’s true flavor to shine. A Spanish garnacha would pair well with the wet style, try a classic Argentine malbec with the dry style.

Carolina style slow-roasts pork from 12 to 24 hours. While finished in a variety of regional sauces, Carolina-style whole hog cooking requires a moistening “mop sauce", a thin liquid sauce “mopped” or brushed onto the meat as it cooks. The sauce might take its base from vinegar, apple cider, tomato juice or beer, but in the Carolinas, vinegar-based mop sauce is king. Pairing a wine to anything with vinegar is tricky, it can thin out a wine.

Try a cru beaujolais from Moulin-a-Vent or perhaps a classic rioja; it may thin out the wine but leave the dust and spices to add to the meat.

Texas style barbecue is especially famous for beef ribs and melt-in-yourmouth brisket. Central Texas, smokes the brisket over oak, slices it and serves it without sauce. In South Texas it’s mesquite-smoked. And Eastern Texans favor sausages and chopped beef sandwiches in a spicy, vinegar-based sauce that soaks through buttery buns and sandwich wrappers. Try Central Texas with an Oakville cabernet, the mesquitesmoked with an inexpensive cabernetbased haut-medoc and a fruit-forward California pinot noir with East Texas style.

It’s warm and we’re outside, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have a great time with nice wines. Life is still too short to drink bad wine. So come in and get some wine, get to a barbecue and tell us all about it. Call it "research" for your “What I Did This Summer” essay. C JULY-AUGUST 2023

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Valley Scenes

Columbus and the Valley will publish as many photos as quality and space permit. Black and white or color photos may be used. Please identify all subjects with a brief description of the event and the date. Mail them to: CVM, P.O. Box 229, Columbus, GA 31902. Email them to: ContactUs@ColumbusAndTheValley.com, Columbus and the Valley assumes no responsibility for care and return of photographs submitted.

Much Ado About Something...

BY MARQUETTE MCRAE MCKNIGHT

My How We’ve Changed ...

Over the last five years, the Knight Foundation Fund at the Community Foundation (CFCV) has granted more than $1.5 million in support of local efforts to advance city vibrancy and connectivity, accelerate the attraction, development and retention of talent, foster civic engagement and develop our entrepreneurial ecosystem. Sounds like a lofty goal but just wait to see what’s happened!

Lilly Weinberg, a senior director with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation (and an advisor to the Knight fund at CFCV), was in town to see how things were going. CEO of the CFCV Betsy Covington had to have been delighted to report the way the community has maximized those funds for the good of our entire region through projects of Columbus 2025, the Dragonfly Trail Network, StartUP Columbus and various public art projects throughout our community.

We were glad to be able to get several of the past CFCV board chairs together at dinner with Lilly, which turned out to be a lovely evening at the Millhouse Kitchen with David White, Will Burgin, Ken Henson, Rodney Mayor Skip Henderson speaks to guests at the Historic Columbus groundbreaking Mahone and me, along with Betsy and Kelli Parker. ceremony for the renovation of the Chattahoochee Promenade The topic at dinner was all about new opportunities and changes in the community—Lilly hasn’t been here since 2018—so there was April Jacobs. Several folks singled out for awards much to update. were Tao Ge and Olivia Fortson with the Steven The next day of Lilly’s visit was a whirlwind of tours and discussions—with M. Pace Choir Ambassador Award, Nairobi some of those same folks that she had dinner with plus Mayor Skip Henderson, Maurice with the Director’s Choice Award and Becca Zajac, Ben MacMinn, Alan Rothschild, Sherricka Day, Hannah Israel, Wilson Ford, the Distinguished Alumni Award.

Pace Halter, Tabetha Getz and Ben Moser. As Betsy said at the end of the Board members Darlene Laird, Bryan McMeen, visit, “…a great testament in itself to what everyone is doing to improve our Mark Montgomery and Resa Lord were community!” everywhere, making sure the gala was perfection

Voices of Angels

There was a lot of beautiful choral music going on during a gala weekend as Voices of the Valley (VOV) Children’s Chorus celebrated 15 years. Friday afternoon was workshops for all choirs—including the new Alumni Choir— working with previous conductors Steve Pace and Dr. Elizabeth Parker.

Formerly at Columbus State University, Parker is now a professor at Temple University and artistic director of the Philadelphia Children’s Choir. She traveled back to Columbus just for the gala celebration—quite a testament to the growth of the group, now led by Dr. Michelle Folta, the VOV’s Musical Director.

The "gala part" of the weekend was a lavish gourmet buffet held on Friday night in the Springer’s Foley Hall. Bobsie Swift, Sally Baker, Tammy and Bynum Perkins, Ronni Wharton, David and Paula Acton, Kathleen Mullins, David and Karen Lewis, Brian and Hannah Walker, Nathan Smock, Alicia Vinson, Lon and Brantley Fbisbad and (one of my all-time favorite people in the world) Sonya Boyd. Folks loved the jazz stylings from members of CSU’s National Association for Music Education and it was a trip down memory lane for many including founding board members, Amy Phillips Way and Ken and Judy Ellison. The celebratory crowd included Rex Whiddon, Wanda Ebright, Isiah Harper, David Hahn, Matt White, Maureen Girard, Scott Harris and JULY-AUGUST 2023

Columbus and the Valley

Dr. Michelle Folta, Voice of the Valley’s Musical Director, with Wilson Ford, recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award

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The 2023 Debutantes and their escorts on the steps at the Wynn House, were, (L-R, Front Row), George Hampton Mitchell, Brooke Nicole Tillery, John Ralston Cargill V, Mia Rowan Vongsavang, Rebecca Jordan Calhoun, Lennox Reed Rambo, Cora LaDelle Lee and Tate Davis Thornell. (Second Row), Chandler Newton Chung, Rosemary Franklin Rice, Mattie Wood Albright, Gage Davis Bolin, Mary Avnor Parker and Tucker Brown Pearson. (Third Row), Anita Katherine Scarborough, Daniel Anthony Griggs, Laurie Clare Jones, Pace Matthews Halter, Jr., Margaret Matheson Middleton, Dylan Frederick Butcher, Tayler Leigh Baker and William Scott Wood. (Fourth Row), Lillie Amelia Caves, Reid Wellman Calhoun, Marianna Swift Branch, Jonas Bjorn Stenslie, Elizabeth Hay Manderson and Raymond Thomas Wheatley III. (Fifth Row), Alexander Campbell Dow, Mildred Collins Rustin, Mary Margaret Saunders, Gregory Rock Paul, Riley Elizabeth Grier, Averett Waddell Davis, Jr., Carter Elizabeth Hudson and Teague McMillian Haley. (Back Row), Holland Lesley Alexander, James Hubert Blanchard, Anne Winstead Waldrop, John Ivey Waldrop II, Anna Marie Albright, Chance Reginald Chung, Marguerite Helen Brooks and Walker James Harris.

and additional awards went to VOV’s Founding Director Steve Pace, who received the Irish Blessing Award—so well deserved— and current VOV Board Chair Rick McKnight, who was honored by the naming of the Choral Music Library after him.

Rehearsals for the choir continued during the day on Saturday and the choirs presented a concert on Saturday night featuring all four choirs to a standing room only audience in Legacy Hall.

There were a few choked up folks in that room listening to those beautiful voices.

Heritage Ball Benefits Wynn House

The 2023 Wynn House Heritage Ball was held on May 6, 2023 at The Wynn House. More than 600 people attended this fundraiser benefiting the Wynn House to continue to preserve, maintain and restore the historic structure. Serving as master of ceremonies for the evening was John Ralston Cargill IV. 50

Twenty-two 2023 Cotillion Club Debutantes were presented.

It was a wonderful cool evening and the Wynn House was decorated perfectly. Mitchi Wade and her Wynn House Heritage Ball Committee did an outstanding job as did the Wynn House staff catering the event.

Students Honored

Columbus Technical College (CTC) student, Janette Valez, was announced as winner of the Georgia Occupational Award of Leadership (GOAL) sponsored annually by the Georgia Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG). Through a sponsorship with KIA, Valez is also taking home a brand-new car.

The GOAL program focuses on excellence in technical education and relies on nominations from instructors at the local level to award outstanding students attending a Georgia technical college who have exhibited both academic excellence and personal

Columbus and the Valley

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ATTENDEES AT COLUMBUS MUSEUM'S BLOOM BASH HELD AT THE WYNN HOUSE: Top left: (L-R) Maggie Dickinson, Sarah Sluder, Ashley Farmer and Clare Koppang Top right: Steve and Kent Butler Right: (L-R) Dan and Kathelen Amos, William Morgan, Andrew Taylor and David Beavers

achievement. Each year, the GOAL student is named alongside a Rick Perkins Instructor of the Year. This year’s recipient of the Rick Perkins Award is Adrienne Baldwin of Chattahoochee Technical College.

“Janette and Adrienne are two remarkable people that embody the absolute best of TCSG,” said TCSG Commissioner Greg Dozier.

“Technical education has made a life-changing impact on both of their lives, and they are an inspiration to others who are considering furthering their education through TCSG. Congratulations to Janette and Adrienne on their well-deserved honors. I know they will be tremendous ambassadors for technical education in Georgia this year.”

Art in Bloom

Janette Valez and Greg Dozier

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The Second Annual Museum Alive! Bloom Bash was held at The Wynn House featuring floral sculptures inspired by the museum’s own collection. The event also had an art sale of works by local and regional talented artists as well as live music by NBC The Voice’s Tanner Fussell. Kerry and Donna Hand, Maudie Huff, Minnie Bradley and her daughter, Nell Bradley, Julie Littlejohn, Chris Harman and Noah Fussell, Alice Douglas, Sallie Martin, Ashley Holt, Arden Cheney, Gloria Mani, Billy Kendell, Pam and Edwin Page and Dan and Kathelen Amos attended.

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A Teacher’s Legacy

Vanessa Ellis did what no one else has done. Ellis, a teacher at Veteran’s Memorial Middle, was the Muscogee County School District’s 2022 Teacher of the Year (TOTY). A few months ago Vanessa was named one of the Top Ten honorees in the Georgia TOTY program. In mid-June, amongst her peers from around the state at the state program in Jekyll Island, Vanessa was named the sole runner-up becoming the only MCSD TOTY to ever achieve that recognition in the state. It's so incredibly well deserved! As she accepted the honor with a brilliant speech, her biggest fans were there cheering her on, husband Oliver Ellis, mother Roxanne Lewis, mother-inlaw Rita Ellis, Superintendent Dr. David Lewis and me representing the Muscogee Educational Excellence Foundation, which produces the MCSD TOTY program. Vanessa will continue to represent exceptional teachers as she always has—with a focus on her students. There aren’t many professions where your impact is always a legacy­and teaching is at the top of that list.

Congratulations, Vanessa!

The Nature Conservancy

A reception was held for the newly appointed executive director of The Nature Conservancy of Georgia, Monica Thornton at the Green Island Country Club. The event was hosted by Liz and Mason Lampton and Clint and Alison Cox. A native of Georgia, Monica discussed her passion for conservation and her plans for The Conservation Agency. At the reception to welcome Monica were Kirk and Cindy Ticknor, Mint and Robert Flowers, Jack and Ashley Turner, Jeff and Mary Lovett Beck, as well as Director of Conservation Dan Ryan, Chattahoochee Fall Line Program Director Michael Hensley, and board member Bailey Izard.

The National Infantry Museum showcased its new Airborne Simulator.

Guests had the opportunity to navigate through the air and land safely.

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Ad Directory

Liz Lampton, Monica Thornton, Clint Cox, Mason Lampton and Alison Cox at the Nature Conservatory reception.

Skydiving on the Ground

The National Infantry Museum’s 1775 Society invited donors and community leaders to experience its new parachute virtual reality simulator. Guests were given the opportunity to skydive seeking targets to improve their scores and it was very realistic.

Either watching or participating were Borden Black, Carla Stickles, JoRhee and Jack Pezold, Chuck Hecht, Amy and Dick Nurnberg, Frank Lumpkin IV, Jill Tigner and Mike Venable, Rhonda Eysel and Rachel and Mac Plummer. Following the “jumps,” guests were treated to a taco bar and dessert.

Girl Scouts Honor Women of Distinction

The Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia honored four women at its annual Women of Distinction banquet held at CSU’s Cunninngham Center. This year’s honorees were Irmgard Cordell, Jennifer Joyner, Tiffany McBride and Barbara Motos. Friends, family and co-workers including Patti Cardin, Ashley Schley, Sharon Billins, Allison Wilbanks, Demeka Daniels, Courtney James, Tony Link, Rocky Kettering, Betty Harris and Carolyn Hugley turned out in force to celebrate these women who reflect the values and mission of Girl Scouts to make their communities and the world a better place.

A silent auction found Susie Berry, Kathy Riley, David Lewis, Jane Bayer, Jill Tigner, Helen Johnson, Billy Kendall, Kathryn Cheek, Teddie Ussery, Oz Roberts and Jennifer St. James bidding, in hopes of taking away one of the valuable items offered.

Event Chair Jackie Dudley and her committee put together a memorable event that raised funds in support of Girl Scouts in the Chattahoochee Valley and after hearing from the local scouts in attendance, that money is a good investment. C Marquette McRae McKnight is the owner of Media, Marketing. and More! Inc, a full service public relations firm. She may be reached at 706-660-9702 or via e-mail at marquette@mediamarketingandmore.com.

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Columbus and the Valley

A-Com 38 Aflac 3 B. Merrell’s 54 Big Mama Vietnam Kitchen 54 Burt’s Butcher Shoppe & Eatery 55 Chattahoochee Valley Libraries 25 City of Hope 6&7 Columbus & Valley Vendors 26 Columbus Body Works 38 Columbus Botanical Garden 26 Columbus Hospice 41 Columbus Museum 26 Columbus Speech & Hearing/Alice Cellino 32 Columbus Tape and Video 20 Communicorp 56 Country’s BBQ 54 Covenant Woods 44 CTV BEAM 44 Dacosta Insurance Services/Paul DaCosta 26 Dinglewood Pharmacy 47 Flournoy Calhoun Realtors/Fitz Bickerstaff 35 The Food Mill 55 Fountain City Coffee 55 Gentle Dentistry/Dr Devon Paris 30 & 36 GPB 30 Hampton Inn by Hilton Columbus Downtown 37 Hudson Pendleton Financial Group 20 Hughston Clinic 48 Hughston Memorial Hospital 31 Kinetic Credit Union 38 Knox Pest Control 10 Malone Office Environments/Libba Dillon 33 & 53 McMullen Funeral Home & Crematory 21 Mellow Mushroom 54 Phenix City 12 Ritchie White Photography 52 RiverCenter for the Performing Arts 22 Rivertown Pediatrics 30 Russell County School District 17 Ruth Ann’s Family Restaurant 54 Sallie Kirkland Paris Realtor 47 St. Francis Emory Healthcare 58 Schomburg’s Jeweler 20 Skin Cancer Specialists 42 Speakeasy 54 Spring Harbor 27 Striffler-Hamby Mortuary 5 Synovus 29 The Overby Company/Shred Away 43 Townsend Wealth Management 1 Triangle Wholesalers 47 Two Men and a Truck 30 Uptown Vietnamese Cuisine 55 Uptown Wine and Spirits 46 Valley Fir & Redwood 10 Wasabi Japanese Steak House 54 WC Bradley Co. 11 WC Bradley Real Estate IF Westech Hearing/Tara Roney 34 West Ga. Oral and Facial Surgery 43 Whispering Hills Natural Green Cemetery 15

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Dining Guide

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To have your restaurant featured here, contact Margie Richardson at 706.575.7825 or Kathleen Mitchell at 706.239.7200

B. Merrell's

A relaxed, family-friendly restaurant featuring rotisserie chicken, wings & a wide selection of beer.

Tu-Su 11AM-10PM, Closed Monday 7600 Veterans Parkway 706.653.9464

Big Mama Vietnam Kitchen

Big Mama’s is proud to serve you fresh, homemade food made with local ingredients that you are sure to love. Our specialty involves healthy cuisine with plenty of fresh vegetables and a variety of flavorful spices.

Tu-F 11AM-3PM, 5PM-9PM, Sa-Su 11AM-9PM 5300 Sidney Simons Blvd., Unit 14 BigMamaVietnamKitchen.com

Burt's Butcher Shoppe & Eatery Columbus butcher shop committed to helping you enhance your cooking experience by specializing in custom cut meats. Come by the restaurant to enjoy a delicious lunch or dinner.

Shoppe, Tu-Sa 9AM-6PM Eatery, Tu-Sa 11AM-7PM 2932 Warm Springs Road 706.653.0677

Country’s Barbecue

Real Barbecue Slow Cooked Over Hickory and Oak. Casual dress, takeout, catering, kids’ menu.

Su-Sa 11AM-10PM Mercury Dr., 706.563.7604 Broadway/14th St., 706.596.8910 Veterans Pkwy., 706.660.1415

The Food Mill

Shop their variety of local pottery, jams and more in their indoor market. Enjoy breakfast or lunch in the café, and shop their prepared to-go items and family meals to make eating healthy easy. All purchases support their nonprofit mission of reducing barriers to food security in our community. Learn more about their catering services, private event room and more at thefoodmill.org.

Southern style lunches, and breakfast is served all day. W-Su 6:30AM-2PM 940 Veterans Pkwy. • 706.221.2154.

Place your next takeout order at ruthannsrestaurant.com.

Speakeasy

A local favorite serving great, homemade food and drinks in a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere.

M-F 7:30AM-5:50 PM • 3718 2nd Ave Suite A 706.330.3972

Su-Th 11AM-8 PM, F-Sa 11AM-9 PM 3123 Mercury Drive • 706.561.0411

Fountain City Coffee at Banks

Uptown Vietnam Cuisine

FCC's second location located in Bank's Food Hall. Serving up made from scratch baked goods and delicious sandwiches daily in the heart of Columbus.

M-Th 8AM-6PM, F-Su 8AM-8PM 1002 Bay Ave. • 762.524.7774

Mellow Mushroom

The combination of a great menu, handtossed dough, fresh ingredients and friendly service makes the Mellow Mushroom a must when you have a taste for pizza. Bring your group for a family-friendly dinner or join your friends in our comfortable neighborhood bar.

M-Th 11AM-9PM, F-Sa 11AM-10PM, Su 11AM-9PM. 6100 Veterans Pkwy. • 706.322.4602

Ruth Ann’s Restaurant

A Columbus tradition for families, friends and great food. Ruth Ann’s offers authentic

Uptown Vietnam Cuisine offers authentic, traditional Vietnamese dishes that are both delicious and healthy, featuring fresh ingredients and a variety of flavorful spices.

Dine-in, carry-out and party trays are available, as well as a 10 percent military discount.

M-F 10:30AM-3PM & 5-9PM, Sa 11AM-9PM • Closed Sunday.

1250 Broadway • 706.576.9922

Wasabi Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar

Traditional Japanese cuisine with hibachi grill tops and fresh sushi. Come and try our flavorful and fresh ingredients.

Su-Th 11AM-9PM, F-Sa 11AM-10PM 1808 Manchester Expy 706.642.0888 Dine in or order online at wasabijapanesecolumbus.kwickmenu.com

YOUR RESTAURANT COULD BE HERE! CONTACT OUR SALES REPS:

Kathleen Mitchell 706.239.7200

Margie Richardson 706.575.7825

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What's Happening?

JULY

July 28

Sweetland Amphitheater July 4 - August 29 in Lagrange will host Chris Tomlin during its summer Head to Banks Food Hall each concert series. Tomlin is a Tuesday for Trivia Night. Each contemporary Christian music Tuesday, Trivia is hosted for a singer, songwriter and worship chance for groups to win prizes leader originally from Texas who for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. has sold over 7 million records.

1002 Bay Ave from Some of his most well-known 5:30PM - 7:30PM. songs are “How Great Is Our God,” “Our God,” “Whom Shall July 7 - August 25 I Fear (God of Angel Armies)” No Shame Theater is a lateand his cover of “Good Good night, uncensored event in which Father.” For tickets and info, visit performers get five minutes to sweetlandamp.com express themselves through music, poetry, sketch comedy, July 28 - 30 prose, rap, improvisation, dance, rants, stand-up comedy—almost The Friends of Libraries BIG Book Sale is back at the anything goes. There are Columbus Public Library, 3000 only three rules at No Shame Macon Road. Stock up on books Theatre: the performance can by bestselling authors, cozy last no longer than five minutes mysteries, suspenseful thrillers, and must be your original delightful children’s books and material. Also, you can’t break much more, with books priced at anything—the space, the law $2 or less. All proceeds support or yourself. Doors open at the programs and services 10:00 p.m. $5 admission. Visit offered by the Chattahoochee SpringerOperaHouse.org/ Valley Libraries. noshame for more info.

Visit cvlga.org for more info.

August 24

AUGUST August 4 - 6 Join fellow pop culture friends at the Columbus Georgia Convention and Trade Center for the Georgia Pop and Horror Con. This is a comic-con event like no other.

Featuring some of your favorite movie celebrities, incredible vendors, tattoo artists, illustrators, authors, an epic cosplay contest, celebrity Q&A's, celebrity hosted live-streamed panels, movie setused cars, trucks, props and so much more.

Visit columbustradecenter.com for more information.

August 11 Columbus Hospice presents The Denim & Diamonds concert featuring Brothers Osborne and special guest Caitlyn Smith at Columbus Civic Center.

For tickets, visit ticketmaster.com/ event/0E005E9BDB3459AB.

The Bibb Mill Event center will hold the Restored Men’s event presented by The Redeemed, a non-profit organization that aims to empower and encourage men to walk in the fullness of all that God has in store for them. This year, special guest Tim Tebow, will take to the stage to share his uplifting message. Attendees will also be able to connect with a community of like-minded men, hear from their ministry team and learn about resources available through The Redeemed.

For tickets and more info visit, theredeemed.com/restored/.

August 26 Join other runners at Callaway Resort & Gardens for the TriColumbusGa Sprint Triathlon and Duathlon. Enjoy a special rate when you take part in the Race Series Overnight Accommodation Package.

Visit CallawayGardens.com for more information.

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local expertise Communicorp is an award-winning, marketing solutions provider offering

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Season Essentials 2022

Season s E sentials 2022

business needs. From technology, to digital and offset printing, to promotional products and fulfillment – we’re committed to ensuring we provide products and services that are relevant and specifically designed to drive customer loyalty, retention and growth. We’re conveniently located in Columbus, so stop by and let’s discuss your next marketing campaign.

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BY SCOTT PHILLIPS

THE

S

ummer vacation is a great time to catch up on the first half of the film year. If the latest sequels sound like tired retreads, or you simply don’t want to brave the heat to head out to the theater, here are a few of the better films of 2023 that may have flown under your radar that are now available from the comfort of your own homes: The Artifice Girl: Most science fiction films are in the space opera tradition with battles between starships and intergalactic exploration. This brilliant little gem of a film is science fiction in concept and lo-fi in presentation. In the opening scene, Gareth is being interrogated by a pair of federal agents about his online activity. Is he a cyber predator, trolling the

internet for underage victims? Or is he an online vigilante seeking to apprehend such criminals?

The film unfolds in three lengthy scenes that span 50-years of Gareth’s life. Technology advances, societal norms shift and Gareth’s work evolves. The Artifice Girl has a lot to say about our online lives, our adoption of personas on social media and where a world based on avatars and cyber doppelgängers may take us in the years to come. It’s well-written, thought-provoking stuff that strikes a blow for lower budget science fiction. Fans of the genre shouldn’t miss this one. (The Artifice Girl is available on all major digital rental platforms.)

Boston Strangler: If you’re a fan of journalism movies (All the President’s Men, Spotlight) or films based on real crimes (Zodiac, In Cold Blood), this title should be at the top of your summer viewing list. Keira Knightley and Carrie Coon play Loretta McLaughlin and Jean Cole, the female reporters who broke the story of the Boston Strangler and ran circles around Boston law enforcement during the investigation of the case. In addition to being a compelling crime procedural, the film looks at the discrimination and misogyny directed at the two female journalists who forced their way from covering cookbooks and events at the zoo to the front pages usually occupied only by their male colleagues. (Boston Strangler is streaming on Hulu.)

Sisu: If you think John Wick 4 is the best action film of the year, you may want to give this film a look before you hand out the trophies. The film opens in Lapland in 1944 as a Finnish prospector is searching for gold. It’s no spoiler that he makes a life-changing gold strike and runs into a convoy of defeated Nazis returning from the front. For the remaining 90 minutes of this lean, mean thriller, the platoon of German soldiers attempts to commandeer the prospector’s gold and begin to realize they are tangling with a man who has a “special set of skills”.

Sisu is gritty, bloody and cartoonishly violent in the vein of Quentin Tarantino’s gonzo best (Inglorious Basterds, Kill Bill 1&2). What makes the film the biggest surprise of 2023 (so far) is the way it interweaves a dark Scandinavian sense of humor with mayhem. Audiences may be uncertain if they should laugh or be repulsed. The short answer is both. Where John Wick 4 is the beautiful, choreographed school of action filmmaking, Sisu has a bare bones aesthetic that relies on practical make-up and special effects and a very clever screenplay. (Sisu is available on all major digital rental platforms.) C Scott Phillips is a Columbus resident and current president of the Southeastern Film Critics Association.

His reviews and other work can be found at Forbes.com

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