Atlanta City Council President Victim Of Home Break-in

Lisa Borders, the current Atlanta City Council President and candidate for mayor was the victim of a home break-in this week. According to news reports she was home at the time of the burglary. The intruders got away before the police arrived. She posted on the twitter that she was "Ok", and thanks everyone for the well wishes. When the local news ran the reports of the break-in you could see several Atlanta Police personnel fingerprinting and investigating the incident.

Exactly how many people were assigned to this burglary? I know people that have had their homes broken into, I've been a victim as well. I've even been in a Subway restaurant when it was robbed. Not once in any of those incidents did Atlanta police send the fingerprinting unit to investigate. If you live in the city of Atlanta, you are probably lucky to get one officer to respond within 45 minutes of calling 911.

Did Lisa Borders get special treatment in the investigation of her break-in because she is the City Council President and candidate for mayor? That is probably a question every Atlantan should be answering themselves. As citizens you pay taxes, and if Shirley Franklin had her way you'd be paying more than you already do. So you deserve and should insist on getting the same level of service from law enforcement as Lisa Borders is apparently getting.

I've lived in Atlanta for much of my life. When my home was burglarized in 2005 Atlanta police sent one officer out to take a report. I was referred to a detective that I spoke to over the phone. Even though I had serial numbers of the items taken and a pretty good idea of who the culprit was, nothing more was done on my case. I had over $2000 worth of items taken. No fingerprints were collected and I had to write it off ass a loss. The response times for police in the city, in my experience is unacceptable.

When I was present at the robbery of the Subway sandwich shop on Piedmont Rd, it took over 30 minutes for police to arrive. The suspect was long gone. A man robbed the store at gun point. He threatened to shoot the employees and customers if the manager on duty didn't give him all the money from the back office. Subway employees called police three times. The dispatched said they had problems locating the subway. It was really ridiculous. When police finally arrived, two officers showed up and took statements. They didn't send out a finger printer or a detective. They didn't even call me to follow up on my statement.

I've heard of people having their car stolen and having to wait for police to call them back to make a report over the phone. What's wrong with that picture?

You drive around the city any weekday during the lunch hour, you can find officers in groups of 5 or more gathered at eateries across midtown and downtown Atlanta, yet they don't have officers to send to investigate serious non-violent crimes.

Atlanta Police is already under fire about incidents involving officers. I think response times are horrible in some areas, they obviously are having problems with integrity after the Kathryn Johnston shooting and this latest shooting incident. The leadership at the police department and city executive level is is less than impressive.

Atlanta and its citizens deserves more than they are getting from the mayor and Atlanta Police.

V-103's "Frank And Wanda Show" Contest Trips

As I reported back in November I won trips to New York City and Las Vegas as part of a prize package courtesy of V-103’s Frank & Wanda Show anniversary contest. The show selected 10 listeners to receive 10 of Frank and Wanda's 10 favorite things.

My adventure started in New York City, where myself and 9 other winners had the opportunity to see the musical “Wicked.” And what a "Wicked" good time we had. The show was amazing. The hotel we stayed at, the Flatotel was fabulous. We also got the chance to check out NYC, see the sights, sounds and sample the best of New York cuisine. Frank Ski was our host for this trip.

Two weeks later our destination was fabulous Las Vegas. Our accommodations for this trip were at TI: Treasure Island Hotel. As New York was cold, with snow on the ground, Vegas was warm, sunny and lots of people. Somehow I always manage to get to Vegas during college spring break. Our host for this trip was Wanda Smith, and her sidekick the wonderful Miss Sophia.

I would never have guessed I would say this, but Cirque du Soleil’s Mystere, was actually pretty good. The show is very interactive with the audience. I have to admit, the show is pretty impressive. I call it a sensory explosion, as there were performers in front of me, behind me, overhead and even below the stage. It was very entertaining.

Being that this was like my fourth or fifth time in Vegas, I stopped counting a while back.... I tried to do some fun off the strip....so

I took a tour of the Ethel M chocolate factory. Ethel M or Ethel Chocolates are the gourmet candy division of M&M's and Mars candy. Ethel was the mother of the company's founder. The factory also has a botanical cactus gardens. All types of cactus species are grown there. What is also interesting about the gardens, the factory uses different techniques to recycle 100% of it wastewater without using harmful chemicals.

Finally I took a trip over to what is called old Vegas. These are the early hotels on and near Fremont street. They are old, but still bustling with life. I’ve been told by some that the odds are much better at these establishments. My luck wasn't so good; I lost $7 on the quarter slots. $10 was my limit; after all we are in a recession.

I have to say thanks to "The Frank and Wanda Show", V-103 and it's staff for the great "recession vacation." In the current economy there would have been no way for me to go to both Las Vegas and New York in the same month. I had a great time. Special thanks to Wanda and her pal George Wallace for inviting us to his "I Be Thinking Show", at the Las Vegas Flamingo.

Oprah Creates Unprecedented Demand For KFC

-Ashville, N.C. Let it be known from this day forward, that the power of Oprah is not to be underestimated. The queen of daytime announced earlier this week that coupons for a free KFC grilled chicken meal would be available on her website. The coupons were available for download until 11:59 p.m. on May 6. The announcement triggered heavy internet traffic which made it difficult to download the coupons. There are reports that it took some viewers three to four hours to get the coupons to print.

In Macon, Georgia, where in 2007 the city was named the location of Oprah’s most loyal viewers, had record turnout for the promotion. It was reported that by noon restaurants in the Macon and Warner Robbins area had all served more than 500 meals per store. A KFC manager that has worked for the chain for 29 years said, “It’s not busy here, it’s a blowout.”

But that’s only half the story, KFC’s across the country were caught off guard by the crowds of people trying to redeem coupons. Some stores called in additional help while some turned customers away after running out of supplies. In New York City there were unconfirmed reports that customers staged a protest over not being able to redeem their coupons. The company has denied those reports, only to say that customers were upset. In Greensboro, N.C., traffic was so congested by motorists trying to get to a KFC that police had to block streets and deny access to the restaurant because the lines of cars created a safety hazard.

A KFC spokeswoman said that there has never been this kind of demand for a KFC promotion in the chain’s 50 year history. Because of the delays and unexpected crowds, the company will be issuing rain checks to people with coupons. KFC wants its customers to have a positive experience eating their new grilled chicken. It’s KFC’s hope that grilled chicken, will attract customers that don’t usually eat at thier restaurant. They have even created an entire campaign with that theme, “Unthink what you know about KFC.” The website they created for the promotion is unthinkfc.com. KFC may indeed benefit more than they ever expected from the enormous turnout for free chicken. The chain has been struggling with sales in recent years amid controversies regarding unhealthy food, cruelty to animals and it’s rebranding to downplay the “fried” in its name. The move to align itself with Oprah means new customers and a success in offering a healthy alternative to its trademark fried chicken.

I’m sure corporations are taking note of the “Oprah Effect.” It’s pretty much a sure thing that anything promoted or endorsed by Oprah, will be an instant hit. From books, music and politicians, Oprah’s word seems to be gold. After all she did pick our nation's President.

CBS Turns The Lights Out On The Guiding Light

The longest running soap opera in televison and radio history was put on the chopping black last week by CBS. The Guiding Light started out as a 15 minute program on the radio 72 years ago. In the 60's it made the leap to television as a 30 minute live serial eventually going to an hour broadcast.

Rumors have been swarming for years that another popular soap would get the ax, many speculated that NBC’s Days Of Our Lives would be the next soap to fall. In the last 15 years NBC has nearly eliminated all of its daytime soap operas. In the 90's it did away with "Generations ", "Santa Barbara", "Another World" and the Aaron Spelling production "Sunset Beach". Days Of Our Lives is the only NBC soap still on the air. Daytime televison is currently feeling the economic pinch, it has been for years now. Shows are tightening it budgets just to remain on the air. Just last month Jess Walton walked off the "Young And The Restless" set over a proposed pay cut. "Y&R" is the number one soap on the air for 16 years running, If they are cutting salaries imagine what the other shows are doing to stay afloat.

At the end of the day, the soaps that are loved by many and have been a staple on televison as long as televison has been around, is just a business. And like any business it has to make money for it’s owners. Declining ratings over the years as viewers mostly housewives either lost interest after two writers strikes or moving into the workforce, has forced significant cuts in daytime programming. My fear is that the soaps will go the way of the radio serials, a thing of the past.

Soaps have always been apart of our pop culture. The theme song from the "Young And The Restless", is famous the world over. Susan Lucci is a celebrity because she’s a soap star. Many of today’s biggest celebs got their start in Daytime TV, "CSI: NY’s" Melina Kanakaredes, "Heros" Hayden Panettiere, movie stars Rachel Miner, Brittany Snow and Kevin Bacon all got their start on "The Guiding Light". It’s a shame that a show with such a rich history is coming to an end. Even though I understand the reasons CBS is pulling the plug, still I feel like the networks are not in touch with what the viewers want. They pull shows off the air, leaving the audience hanging. It took a massive letter writing campaign to convince CBS to bring "Jericho" back on air only to see it cancelled again. When NBC canceled "Passions" they tried to move it to Dish Network but it was just prolonging the inevitable. In the end the nets only care about dollar signs and not what the viewers really want. They wouldn’t hesitate pulling a show or changing its time slot in favor of something they think will attract the preferred demographic. If only we the viewer could launch an effective protest to get our point across, a couple of million dollars in lost revenue would get their attention.... wouldn’t that be something?

The President Signs Economic Recovery Plan Into Law

This week President Barack Obama signed his $780 Billion economic stimulus bill into law at a Denver, Colorado event. The President warned of hard times ahead as he signed the bill. The bill is supposed to be designed to help the country get out of this recession. The bill is intended to help with the massive amount of foreclosures across the country, create over 3.5 million jobs, create tax cuts for millions of low to middle income households, provide $150 billion for infrastructure repair projects for roads, water systems and dams and $10.5 billion towards healthcare.

It looks as if the Presidential honeymoon is over and things are back to business as usual in Washington. The President extended more than one olive branch to the republicans in an effort to get some kind of substantial economic relief package to help turn the economy around. All but three republicans in the U.S. House voted against the bill, citing that Democrats locked them out of the process. No one in the House of Representatives have clean hands in this recent skirmish. The Democrats have been heavy handed and uncompromising in drafting this bill. The very nature of politics involves compromising with the opposite party for the benefit of the people they represent. I think most people understand that everyone can’t get what they want, but when a bill this important comes up our representatives are suppose to put their differences aside and help the country.

Both parties have to find a way to work together, it’s essential. There is very little room for mistakes as we go forward. One needs only to look as what happened to Japan in the early 90’s. It’s only recently that Japan has leveled out of its recession. They made many mistakes including waiting too long to take action to correct the downturn of their economy.

I’ve been thinking about we got into this mess and it doesn’t make anyone look good. We bought our lattes at Starbucks everyday, we had to have our I-pods and Sony flat screen TV’s, and we bought more foreign cars than domestic. Looking at it differently American car companies haven’t been producing autos comparable or better than imports; banks gave out bad loans and enriched their executives as a reward. So if the mortgage crisis helped pull us down, but there are far too many other things we did to reach this point. Now is the time to act, we can’t afford to wait any longer. We have already waited too long as it is.