Tomorrow, I'm going out to write a business profile of Charles Anthony's Pub. Established in Montgomery 35 years ago (at Montgomery Mall), it's been at exit 11 on the Chantilly Parkway for several years already.

Anyone have a favorite memory of The Pub?

On Friday, I'm covering a dodgeball tournament at AUM. Dodgeball! Costumes are "greatly encouraged," according to the press release. I'm taking a video camera -- something tells me this will be of great entertainment value. Add to that, the event is a benefit.
Hosted by the AUM Baptist Christian Ministries and all the proceeds are going to help ease hunger in east Asia through International Baptist Ministries. If you're interested, you can drop a line to Lee Dymond at ldymond@alsbom.org, or call him at 334.272.0658.

Also, a quick follow up to the Turkey Burner race at MetroFitness November 17. The event was also a food drive for the Montgomery Area Food Bank. Initially, we reported that 555 pounds of food was collected. Now, the final number is 1,479 pounds. Way to go!

Yesterday, I covered a story in Deer Creek and passed a couple Christmas tree lots on Vaughn Road. On the way back, I stopped at one and talked with Montgomery native Aduston Rogers, who owns and operates the farm across from Aldersgate UMC.

We have a nicer smaller fake tree that we've used here for five years. Standing next to rows of Fraser Firs, though, at Rogers' lot, I started having tree envy. Mentally, I rearranged my living room to open a large enough space for the good-smelling, nothing-can-replace-it real Christmas tree.

Later, when we went to my parents house to watch the Iron Bowl, my mother gladly let me go up into the attic and "borrow" one of her old tree stands. She, of course, has a high-end larger taller slimmer pre-lit fake tree from Southern Homes & Gardens. She sweetly didn't remind me what a mess I might be getting into with this "real tree!" obsession. I very well remember...

Back when I was still in grammar school, we lived in northern Virginia and always got not only real Christmas trees, but ones with the roots in a burlap sack so we'd plant them in on our acreage after the holiday. A couple days after we'd brought a huge tree in one year and decorated it, something happened that my mother still isn't over: a bat awoke from within the tree and took flight all over the vaulted living room, confused at the angles up there... zipping this way and that. My mother squealed (it's the only time I've ever heard her squeal) and ran to the safety of the kitchen yelling for dad. My father assessed the situation with a laugh, grabbed a tennis racket, managed to hit/stun the creature and carefully take it outside. (I think if his daughters weren't watching, the options for the bat might have been less humane.) Mother was pretty upset, shocked mostly, and she just stood there staring at the tree saying "a bat's been in there all this time?"

While searching the interior of the tree for any remaining intruders, dad informed her that in German, the word for bat is "fledermaus," or flying mouse, which sounds sweet and sing-song. Mother barked, "it's a bat."

To this day, if you say the word "fledermaus," she grimaces. Fun for the whole family.

In this week's East section, I wrote about the Montgomery Area Food Bank. Holidays bring out a lot of giving from people, and the food bank benefits from your generosity. Whether it's a canned food drive or responding to their mailers with a donation, without contributions the food bank would suffer greatly.

Each year, one of the biggest events for the food bank is 12's Day of Giving. WSFA, Cumulus Broadcasting and Dixie Electric Cooperative get together and throw a day long fundraiser/ food drive at the Wal Mart on Atlanta Highway. It will take place November 30 and run from about 6 a.m. for twelve hours. You can drop off non-perishable food items or make financial contributions in any amount without leaving your car.

You'll hear more about 12's Day of Giving as the day draws nearer, and it's a wonderful way to give back to the community.

This probably violates blog etiquette.

Several posts ago, I mentioned the Merry Community sign just south of the the Pike/Vaughn intersection. This weekend, John Hunt added a comment to the post which fascinates me:

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Here's the scoop on Merry.

The whole area west and south of the Pike/Vaughn Road intersection used to be called "Scotia," named after the historical Scott family estate on Pike Road close to the intersection. Those with older ties to the area still call it that today.

However, in the 1880s, a railroad line (the "Seaboard") linking Montgomery with Savannah and the eastern seaboard was laid out, and there was a freight and passenger depot at the point where the tracks crossed Vaughn road, about where the Chantilly Parkway joins into Vaughn Road today. Since there was already a station by the name of "Scotia" elsewhere on the Seaboard line, the station at the Vaughn Road crossing was dubbed "Merry."

When the depot was later abandoned, its large sign reading "Merry" came into the possession of Barnett Pinkston, who later put it on display in his country store located on the NE corner of the Vaughn/Pike intersection (the store was torn down a few years ago). For decades Pinkston's was the best-known country store in the area, and since people stopping there always saw the name "Merry," the name stuck and it started appearing on maps, even though older maps showed "Scotia."

Some of these details can be found in the book "Memories of the Mount: The Story of Mt. Meigs, Alabama" by John B. Scott, Jr. (published by The Black Belt Press in Montgomery in 1993). Other details I can vouch for personally, since I spent many years growing up in Scotia, often running up to Pinkston's store to buy fish bait as well as anything my grandmother (Virgnia Scott Martin) needed in the kitchen. I strongly recommend John Scott's book to anybody interested in the history and personalities of the Mt. Meigs and Pike Road areas.

Regarding the "Dangerous Intersection" sign: When I was a boy in the late 60s, it was a big event if a dirt truck drove by. But as the years have passed, traffic has picked up, and many horrific accidents have occurred at this intersection.

- John Hunt

Sometimes I go cover something only because a reader calls to remind me that it's going on. I love when people call to tell me something's worth coming out for, and you should call more often.

At Gallery East (EastChase, next to Williams-Sonoma) last night, I went out to meet a couple painters who were the focus of an exhibition: Ted Ellis and Andre Kohn. Both artists has agreed to donate a percentage of their sales to military families, and they called the night an Art Party for Peace. Kind of nice that the "peace" part was not a protest, per se, but an effort to ease the pain of war on those who are left behind while others are sent to the sandbox.
The art was excellent, I really enjoyed meeting both artists, and patrons were buying. The spread for the event was not meager, either.
Mr Ellis has this brilliant smile, tells amazing stories in his work and knows the glass is always half-full. Mr Kohn lived in Montgomery for a long spell from the early 90s and channels Degas on his canvases. I dig Degas. A lot. Anyway, look at their websites and see the kinds of things they do.

As I was leaving the office for EastChase last night, my editor told me I'd see a new traffic-directing device at the top of Exit 9. At the top of the exit, in an effort to keep people from taking the far right lane and then photographically merging three lanes to get into EastChase, a long line of short poles (I don't know what they're called) have been erected halfway to the Halcyon Forest entrance. Interestingly, after I'd taken the right and sat in the left-turn-into-EastChase lane, I watched - in my rear view mirror - cars come up the exit, barrel around the right turn and then still jump over to the EastChase turn lanes after the line of short poles. With the new geometry of this, though, their vehicles were nearly perpendicular to oncoming traffic. Some didn't have space to straighten out after getting a couple tires into the EastChase lane, so they stuck into Taylor Road and seemed to be annoyed.
What kind of hurry do you have to be in to attempt such vehicular acrobatics?

Anyway, take it even easier than usual around there for a while. There will have to be a fatality, a lawsuit against the city (et. al), the removal of the poles, the dismissal or settlement of the lawsuit and the re-designing of the intersection before the mess is cleared up.

I'm curious about how people in east Montgomery feel about guns. The stereotype about the south is that we carry pistols or rifles with us everywhere -- of course, there's also a kind of charming pistol-toting stereotype a la Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil where an eccentric older lady doesn't leave the house without her tiny revolver -- but I wonder if this is changing.

We do have a mayor who told us getting a gun and using it for home protection isn't a bad idea, and I don't know if I've met anyone from Montgomery who would disagree with that. I don't know everyone, though.

Generally, the more liberal argument against firearms is something about guns being a problem, maybe even barbaric, and if we got rid of all of them, maybe murders would go down. That kind of thought lends itself nicely to the kinds of folks who are inclined to enjoy the American Civil Liberties Union's work. Even the ACLU can't fight the Second Amendment. Officially, they remain "neutral" on the topic. Here's their statement of policy about gun control.

I think it's a little odd to say if the right to bear arms is absolute and personal (as opposed to general and collective), the government cannot limit which arms a person can bear. The ACLU says that if we do have a personal right at all, then it cannot exclude the right to bear SCUD missiles, for example.

Legal arguments, and their "slippery slopes," are fun. I don't really have an emotional response to any gun argument, but that's because the Bill of Rights makes for very strong law. To put it mildly.

This morning, I'm going out to the Gun Shoppe at Chantilly Corners to see what they have to say about it.

In tomorrow's paper, a story about Shawn York and his company. He's something else. He's definitely one of those guys who you're certain can juggle twenty hatchets, then accept a couple more if its advantageous. His PDA is either blinking, ringing or beeping all the time and you still feel like he's only talking to you. Quite a gentleman, too. He might be the consummate homebuilder and craftsman, but put his 6-month-old daughter in his arms and he turns to sap.

Also tomorrow, read about the plans for the Pike Road library. Right now, it's basically a trailer on the side of the road near town hall. Soon, it will be more-centrally located at Vaughn and Pike roads, in the shopping center where Dominic's used to be. The library's move has been a long process involving the County Commission, the Montgomery City-County Public Libraries, and the Pike Road library users and Friends. I was surprised to learn that both the Pike Road and Pine Level branches share one librarian and are open half-time.

Yesterday, I had to go to the Pike Road library to get some photos. On the way back out of the community, on Pike Road heading to Vaughn, I noticed for the first time a sign announcing the Merry Community. Right after that sign, really close to Vaughn, another sign: Dangerous Intersection.

1. Merry. From a search of the Montgomery Advertiser's archives, it's only been mentioned once, in a late December, 2006, q & a with Mayor Gordon Stone. Then, he was explaining how Pike Road intended to let communities like Merry maintain their identity within Pike Road. I just have never heard of Merry. Is it a mere collection of houses or more than that? Twelve people? A hundred?

2. Dangerous Intersection. I don't think I've ever seen this street sign. I'm usually pretty careful around the apex of Vaughn and anything, but I guess the sheer number of dump trucks and commercial vehicles makes that intersection worthy of official designation. Eleven years ago, I worked at a tack store there and used to walk across to the filling station for a Coke. On credit.

The East section goes out each Wednesday. This week, one of the cover stories is about comic book stores in east Montgomery. The other is about the Pike Road Arts & Crafts Fair. I've written a lot about that here, but now there are three videos I shot posted from last Saturday. I really enjoyed seeing the birds of prey, particularly the Eurasian Eagle Owl. That's the largest breed of owl in the world. Apparently, if our eyes were the same relative size as that owl's, they'd be the size of softballs.

Today I get to go out to The Waters and meet with Shawn York. I think he's impressive because, before the age of 30, he was a member of the Builders Guild out there. I told him that yesterday while setting up the interview and he replied, "that? Well, I've got other tricks up my sleeve." He seems pretty tireless.

Sometimes, when I make a call for a story, more interesting things happen on the phone than I'd expected. Today, I called Mrs. Julia Norris, who is a co-chair of publicity for the 41st Annual Pike Road Arts & Crafts Fair. All I needed was a little of the history of the fair, then to remind her that I'd be there tomorrow.
Among other things, she told me that when she moved to Vaughn and Bell roads, her direction to people was: "we're the tenth house from Rosemont gardens." Not only that, but when she moved there, Vaughn was gravel.
Mrs. Norris has been with the Pike Road Fair since the very beginning. Once this whole weekend is over, I'm tempted to bug her some more. She's been at east Montgomery's crossroads for sixty years... I'm dying to hear her stories.
As it is, I'll meet her tomorrow. She said she'd be in the kitchen. I have a feeling she'll be doing much more than that.

Last night, my husband and I were stationed at the house on candy duty. We take this seriously, since we sometimes spend Halloween away from the house. When we're there, we offer great stuff, and plenty of it. We do not skimp on the sweets, and take pride in how cool the kids must think it is that they not only get a wee Snickers, but also a Reeses cup and a Blow-Pop. Awesome, right?
Well last night, I was shocked into place. A group of girls, ranging from 6 to 9, maybe, rang the doorbell and I opened up with the basket of treats. I complimented costumes, acted frightened at the ghost, called the princess "m'lady" when offering her choice of candy and everyone was like "cool!" when taking three or four goodies at a time... and then the winged angel smiled up to me "TRICK OR TREAT!!!" I held out the basket, and she looked at the packets of Skittles, chocolates, Starbursts and Reeses. Her face gently fell, and she looked back to me to say "oh. . no, thank you" before turning with her friends and moving to the next house.

What?

Not only was a rebuffed by a 7-year-old angel, but she had manners.