Festival de Columbus

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I'd like to thank all of you that emailed me and were making sure the International Headquarters of Public Enemies C0lumbus was all right. We're are fine. It was a little close as the fire was within 4 miles and could have jumped Columbus at any moment but as luck would have it we were spared.

Still, I did set up a Rod Melotte Wide Angel Lens/Evacuation Fund at a local bank in case any of you feel the need to send in money to help out this wonderful charity. WWJD - What Would Joan Do. . . . BTW - speaking of Celebrity Apprentice - did you know that Donald Trump's sister works for Joan Rivers Charity? hmmmmmmm!

That show is dead to me!

As you can see in the below photo I was a little off on WHAT building was ablaze - THANKS Channel 3. I'm glad the Television Station was not in charge of putting out the fire as they would focus on the wrong building as the one NEXT to it was on fire. I guess that is why they only REPORT the news.

BTW - a few days ago I listed all the good things about Columbus and I failed to mention the freaking huge Fire department. Well done guys (and gals?)

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I received an email from Laurent my Public Enemies Brussels connection (do brussel sprouts come from Brussels?) which had a photo attached from the Cannes Film Festival (or as I like to call it the Festival de Cannes). How can Columbus get those posters - THAT would ROCK!! Steve S, get on that will ya, hop on a plane and check it out!

Anyway - PE will not be shown in Cannes as it was not ready yet. The Festival which begins today is just too early and the movie is not ready. BUT you can still advertise right?

I STILL think Columbus should have a film festival. It would be awesome and the talk of Wisconsin. Get the Fireman's Park Pavilion and rig up a big screen and sound system - sure it would not be state of the art but the uniqueness of the entire venture would bring people from all over. We could show old Oscar Winning movies - Festival de Columbus

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Weather - hold on to your hats as we are in the battle zone today between three army's of mother nature. In the next 12 hours we will be breathing air from three separate air masses.

The first one to be pushed out of the way will be from a very very moist warm air mass and behind it by only several hundred miles is a cold front. If we see any sun this afternoon once the warm air hits, watch out as the atmosphere is already very unstable and that would tip the scales.

I doubt you will see approaching storms as they should start to form right on top of us. I guarantee we will be in a Tornado watch sooner or later today perhaps as early as 4:00.

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One of the excellent stories coming from the fire has to do AGAIN with the Columbus Countryside Veterinary Clinic.

Remember when we had the 2nd 100 year flood in the last 10 years many families had to abandon their pets as they were being rescued. The CCVC took it upon themselves to rescue the pets.

Well the CCVC is next to the Chemical Plant - here is a good story that is floating around the internet.
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COLUMBUS, Wis. -- Directly next to Columbus Chemical Industries is a veterinary clinic, which evacuated all of its animal patients due to the chemical plant fire Monday night.

Dr. David Gerber said he evacuated seven dogs and five cats from his Columbus Countryside Veterinary Clinic and took them to his home.

Gerber was one of the first to see the fire Monday night. He was working in the dog park behind his clinic, which also runs behind the chemical plant.

He determined that all animals at the clinic had to be moved, and he said time was critical.

"I noticed some smoke that was coming from one corner, so I went over there and could see that smoke was coming from Columbus Chemical. I immediately called 911," Gerber said.

Gerber said he watched as the blaze grew out of control.

"We started hearing explosions as things got progressively worse and started to escalate. We realized we needed to evacuate the animals," Gerber said.

Most of the animals went to his home, but several were moved to the Wyllow Pet Hospital in Beaver Dam.

"We did have some animals that needed medical attention, so I called up Dr. Smith and asked if we could use her facility. She very graciously said, 'Bring them on up,'" Gerber said.

"We have talked in the past about what would happen if we needed to transport our patients or evacuate our premises. I didn't expect that we would have to implement the plan," said Dr. Vicky Smith, of the Wyllow Pet Hospital.

Gerber said an elderly pug was one of the pets that needed immediate care.

"The timing was crucial. We needed to do the surgery today," Gerber said.

Gerber said the situation might not have been ideal, but cooperation between the clinics made for as smooth of a transition as he could have hoped for in an emergency.

"(The dog) is doing fine. He's in recovery," said Gerber.

Gerber, like others in the area, was finally allowed back into the clinic Tuesday afternoon.

He said both he and the dogs staying in kennels in his garage are happy to be out of his garage and back into the clinic. He said it was getting a bit noisy in his garage.
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There was a comment in the comments (where the comments hang out) that said "so you don't like the new Mayor?"

My answer is that I have never met the new mayor so I can not say I like or dislike him. I think the problem comes with his supporters who play dirty personal politics and thus, because I dislike their behavior and personal attacks/lies it rubs off on the mayor.

The only thing I know is that his platform was not pro downtown which I believe and KNOW is the heart of Columbus. He was more into infrastructure which is not a bad thing. I just feel it is conservative and not forward looking enough.

Many organizations also feel he will do more harm to Columbus and good. But I disagree.

My feeling is that downtown looking organizations should use this time to regroup and prepare. Let the new government of Columbus fix the infrastructure, smooth the roads and pick up the leaves and so forth. Then, when the time is right and we get someone that is looking more into the real future of Columbus, which is the downtown area we will be more prepared and can hit the ground running.

Instead of worrying about the NOW, get better prepared for the future. Columbus is getting younger and younger and I feel more people are interested in the historical aspects of this community. The demographics are slowly changing and the older people are afraid of change.

My advice is to hunker down and prepare. Use the next two years to your advantage. Make this an opportunity.

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I've been getting a lot of mixed reactions on this photo at photo.net. Either people like or they don't like it at all. SOME count the stars on the flag (SCOTT?? LOL)



Rod out!