Birney Imes: Freezing for a good cause

Late Wednesday afternoon as I was driving to Walmart, there was a bit on the radio about John Hammond. If you’ve ever enjoyed the music of Billie Holiday, Bennie Goodman, Count Basie, Aretha Franklin, Pete Seeger, Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen, you have John Hammond to thank.

Columbus native Ivy named head of national architects’ group

On Thursday the board of directors of the American Institute of Architects named Robert Ivy its new CEO. Ivy, who grew up in Columbus and for a time practiced architecture here, is editor and chief of Architectural Record.

Birney Imes: Christmas memories

Friday night after an hour or so of Wassail Fest, my mate and I and another couple slid into a booth of a popular downtown restaurant. The place was packed; we had waited 40 minutes for a table.

Birney Imes: Small blessings close to home

If on Thanksgiving morning you were in charge of the first meal and you knew the second one was going to be a feast, I suppose you could be forgiven for resorting to donuts on your watch.

Birney Imes: Speaking of trees

Thursday afternoon Spencer Smith is standing under the chestnut tree next to the parking lot of Covenant Life Ministries on Yorkville Road. Smith, who has worked with plants for more than half of his 28 years, reaches down with a pair of pruning shears and picks up one of the spiked brownish burrs that enclose the nut.

Birney Imes: Everything matters

On a glorious Friday afternoon at the end of a week of glorious afternoons, an old friend visiting from a northern state and I set out for a walk across the river. Bob and his wife, Deborah, are here for a few days, at the tail end of a two-week swing through the South.

Birney Imes: Classmates

Running a political campaign is a lot like organizing a class reunion, says Rex Gillis. He should know. Gillis, who has put together half a dozen reunions for his high school graduating class, managed Alan Nunnelee’s successful Congressional campaign in Lowndes County.

Birney Imes: Hamburgers like none other

When I was a kid, my mother on Saturday nights would pile us children into her Buick station wagon and take us to a drive-in on Sand Road for hamburgers.

Birney Imes: Political endorsements

If you’ve ever run a business, chances are you’ve had to conduct a job interview. As a manager, the decisions about the people you put in positions of responsibility are among the most consequential you make for your company.

Birney Imes: Finding honor in compromise

Monday afternoon, in a room that looked like a set from Gone with the Wind, Dewitt Hicks called to order the monthly board meeting of the Columbus/Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Birney Imes: A letter from Rety

Chances are if you’ve ever gotten a letter from my mother-in-law, you did with it exactly what I’ve done with those she’s written me, you kept it.

Link preparing for war over expected tourism fund cuts

Joe Higgins is not happy with the Columbus Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau, and he’s making no secret of it.

Birney Imes: Lovers of books

Friday night in the center court of Leigh Mall, amid the clutter of empty whiskey boxes and makeshift bookshelves, a score of readers picked through piles of hand-me-downs.

Friends of the Library volunteer Doug Blount explained the boxes: “We have a lot of drinkers.”

And the Friends has a lot of books.

‘A death in the family’: The story of how overreaching executives destroyed a hometown bank

“I feel like there’s been a death in the family. I am sad. I’m mad. I’m disgusted. This was so unnecessary.” These were the words of a Columbus businessman and Cadence Bank stockholder who has seen the value of his stock sink from a high in 2004 of $28 a share to $2, the price Trustmark agreed to pay Cadence shareholders in its bid to buy the ailing bank announced two weeks ago.

Cadence CEO concedes bank was over-exposed to development loans, but defends strategy

Tuesday afternoon, Dispatch publisher Birney Imes sat down with Cadence Bank CEO Lewis Mallory to talk about the recent purchase of the bank by Trustmark National Bank of Jackson.

Birney Imes: Tornadoes vs. Yellowjackets

“What do you know about taking pictures at football games?” Daughter Tanner, who was filling in for Dispatch shooter Kelly Tippett last week, had drawn Friday night assignments in Pickens County and New Hope.

Birney Imes: Back roads and small towns

At the beginning of a workshop on small newspapers last week, everyone was asked to stand, introduce themselves, say where they were born, where they are now and what would be the job of their dreams, if not newspapering.

Dignitaries celebrate opening of Paccar engine plant

At 6:37 Monday evening Paccar CEO Mark Pigott and Gov. Haley Barbour, standing in front of a phalanx of blue-shirted workers, local dignitaries and the company’s board of directors, cut the ribbon for what is sure to be one of the crown jewels of the local economy for years to come, the $300 million Paccar engine assembly plant.

Birney Imes: Literary notes

About the new color scheme for Tennessee Williams’ Welcome Center one of our readers wrote, “I think the colors are hideous and have yet to hear anybody else say otherwise.” At this writing 38 percent of respondents to our online poll have said otherwise while 54 percent don’t like it. The rest are on the fence.

Birney Imes: Wil Colom wants to help save the world

Sometimes the answer comes before the question is fully formed. Just ask Wil Colom. Eight years ago, the lawyer/businessman/entrepreneur happened to be standing on the Serengeti Plain in northern Tanzania in the presence of a Maasai warrior when he heard music.