World champion Little Leaguers from Georgia meet Bush

By The Associated Press

Posted 4:45AM on Thursday, September 7, 2006

The Little League World Series champions from Columbus skipped one more day of school Thursday _ this time to meet the nation's highest-ranking baseball fan.President Bush briefly met with the team's coaches and players on an air strip at Dobbins Air Reserve Base before leaving aboard Air Force One.The team gave the president a pair of baseballs, team caps and t-shirts signed by the team. On the back of the caps, they wrote "W" and "First Lady."The players all wore t-shirts of the team-color powder blue with red lettering on the front that bragged: "Columbus, Georgia, 2006 Little League World Series Champions.""This is an ultimate honor for them," said Coach Randy Morris. "Only a select amount of people has the chance to meet the man who runs this country. For these 12-year-olds to win the championship, to meet the president, is a dream for them."Morris said that when he got the call that the president _ a big baseball fan and former part-owner of the Texas Rangers _ wanted to meet the team, "I had to really think about what I was going to say to the man."Morris admitted that he was much more nervous about meeting Bush than he was before his team played in the Little League World Championship game.While his coach searched for the right words before the meeting, starting pitcher Kyle Carter knew exactly what he wanted to say to Bush: "I must ask him about lowering gas prices."However, gas prices were never mentioned. Instead, Carter was taken aback when the president sought him out by asking "Where's the lefthander?""He told me, 'You did some really nice pitching,'" Carter said.The Columbus Northern 12-year-old team was the first team from Georgia in 23 years to play in the Little League World Series, held annually in Williamsport, Pa. The last team was East Marietta, which also won the world championship.The team defeated Japan in the Little League World Championship game on Aug. 29, after most of the players had already missed the first three weeks of school. Georgia students typically aren't allowed more than five non-excused absences, but school administrators had given the team's players a pass because of the special circumstances.The team made the 106-mile drive from Columbus early Thursday and the players didn't expect to make it back home in time for classes.So will it be their absences be excused this time? Of course, said the principal for at least three of the players."That's pretty educational, meeting the president," said Gary Shouppe, principal at Blackmon Road Middle School in Columbus. "We allow excused absences for educational activities. This is a once-in-a-lifetime activity."-----PRESIDENT'S PRONOUNCERSIn Georgia, lots of names and words are pronounced a little differently, but President Bush came up with some new ones during his latest stop in the state.When referring to his flight to Georgia aboard Air Force One, Bush said he was joined by the state's U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss. However, he mispronounced Chambliss as SHAND-liss rather than CHAM-bliss.And when saluting the service of Army Lt. Noah Harris, who recently was killed in Iraq, the president pronounced the soldier's hometown of Ellijay as EEL-a-jay instead of how locals refer to it _ EHL-uh-jay.But mispronunciations are somewhat expected of visitors to Georgia. The state is home to its share of cities and counties with common names that appear to be easy to pronounce but actually sound quite unique when spoken correctly.Those include Cairo _ it's KAY-roh in Georgia, not KY-roh like in Eqypt; Vienna _ vy-IN-uh in Georgia, not like the VEE-en-uh in Austria or those little sausages; and Houston County _ it's HOUSE-ton, not the traditional HUE-ston like in Bush's home state of Texas.-----SLINGING MUDIt wouldn't be a campaign event without mudslinging. Good thing somebody called a tow truck.Several donors who paid $250 or more to attend President Bush's fundraiser for Republican congressional candidate Max Burns in Pooler got their cars stuck in the mud and needed a tow truck to pull them out.The 475 people attending the fundraiser had to park in a muddy field across from the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum near Savannah. Rain during the event made the soggy parking area an even bigger mess. At least three cars _ a Jaguar, a BMW and a Lexus _ required towing when they tried to leave."This is stupid," grumbled the BMW's driver, who refused to give his name. "This is unbelievable that they'd park us here."Asked later if he had anything to say to supporters who ended up stuck, Burns said, "My only words are: Thank you for coming. We're grateful you'd brave the elements."-----USO VOLUNTEERS SALUTEDMost of the people who met President Bush face-to-face received just a handshake, but Margaret Rose Halbert of Atlanta got a peck on each cheek.Halbert received the special treatment _ as well as a President's Volunteer Service Award pin _ for her four years of volunteer work for the United Service Organizations Georgia. She is involved in the USO's program at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which caters to military personnel traveling to and from Iraq and Afghanistan.At the airport, Halbert and other USO volunteers greet troops, provide refreshments and gifts, distribute care packages, assist with transportation and ticketing information, and escorts soldiers to staging areas as they prepare to board their planes.Halbert briefly met the president on the airstrip at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta soon after Air Force One landed Thursday morning."I wish the rest of my USO comrades were here as well," she said. "I will wear my pin when I am down at the USO and I will inspire others to volunteer like myself."During his stop at the Savannah airport, Bush also awarded one of the pins to Mary Nelson Adams, director of USO volunteers at Savannah International Airport, Hunter Army Airfield and Fort Stewart.Since last year, Adams has been helped secure snacks and care packages for departing and arriving military personnel and organized Welcome Home events for 189 flights involving nearly 20,000 troops.-----Associated Press Writers Shannon McCaffrey in Atlanta and Russ Bynum in Pooler contributed to this report.