If the movie's bad enough, we'll walk out

It's hard to look to our next-door neighbors these days without cringing.

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The dismaying antics of Augusta's Coliseum Authority are like watching a bad horror flick: We see the killer sneaking up on the victim, but no matter how much we yell at the screen we know what's going to happen.

We can breathe a sigh of relief that it isn't happening to us, but does Columbia County really escape harm from misrule next door? Are we just spectators watching the drama unfold?

The fact is, Augusta is the city center of our community. As such, it has the infrastructure to also be the entertainment center.

Because Columbia County hasn't yet reached that stage, our sports venues are limited to high-school stadiums. Our entertainment facilities, while high-quality, seat only 300 spectators indoors, and around 1,500 outdoors.

Like it or not, we rely on Augusta for major concerts or sporting events. The other side of that coin, though, is that Augusta also relies heavily on Columbia Countians to support those events.

Though it's likely to fall on the deaf ears of the officials allowing this misrule, they need to hear this: Columbia County might be spectators right now, but the worse this movie gets, the greater the likelihood that we'll walk out - and build our own theater.