CITY OF COLUMBUS DISRESPECTED EVERY VETERAN & PATRIOT WHO CALLS THIS CITY HOME

This city was vibrant, thousands of people came downtown along the Riverwalk to see the festivities. Old, young, male, female, rich and poor all gathered in a sea of brotherhood and fellowship to celebrate Independence Day. It was July 4 and I wanted to go downtown Columbus GA to capture the firework show. It's been years since I've sat along the banks of the Chattahoochee River and watch the sky light up in an array of colors. Several things were aware to me real quick. Being a street reporter, observance is one of my stronger attributes and the lack of law-enforcement in that area alone was alarming. There were literally thousands and thousands of people and I didn't see the police as deep as I thought they would be. Albeit a good thing to me personally lol I don't think it was a good idea for safety. Secondly, besides a couple of ice cream trucks there were no vendors. People were complaining about having to walk back up to Broadway to get beverages and or food. There wasn't enough bathroom facilities for the enormous crowd that was out there, no extra porto potty's. I did see a fire truck by the Dillingham St Bridge for precaution but no EMS. Something was wrong this wasn't the 4th Of July celebration I was accustom too. The kicker for me was the lack luster firework show which lasted all of 9 to 11 minutes. By no means is this shade on the firework company who put on the show. They were giving a budget and they stayed within budget. For the sheer amount of people that were there the grumblings of the crowd were loud and clear people were pissed. I don't know if other media sources covered this part but I was on the ground on the street and people felt they had wasted their time. Saying they were disappointed is a severe understatement. Somebody dropped the ball major!! After doing some research I found out that Phenix City was responsible for this event, not sure why both city's didn't come together and do a duel operation. Uptown Columbus is responsible for vendors, porto's, and accommodations for these events but only in Columbus. Sounds like they were not a part of this venture. Why does Columbus not sponsor our own fireworks show on the 14th street bridge which is managed by the city? Columbus is the second largest city in Georgia and for the city of Columbus to celebrate our nations independence in that form and fashion with all these veterans from Fort Benning and all across the world who retired here was a disgrace. Hopefully city officials can see the people in Columbus as patriotic and they love the United States of America and they deserve better in 2018 - T Flow