A 53-year-old Columbus woman learned Tuesday that it wasn't a good idea to drink alcohol and take a walk on that road after dark.

Susan Childs of Stone Creek Drive was charged with pedestrian under the influence after she was struck by a pickup. She was treated at The Medical Center after the 7:53 p.m. collision near Williamsburg Drive and given a citation.

Police said Childs was walking in the roadway when the passenger side mirror of a GMC 1500 Sierra truck driven by Tyler Brown struck the woman. Brown told police he didn't see the pedestrian.

Childs said she was walking in the road to avoid the grass and snakes. She told police she had been drinking.

There was slight damage to the pickup truck.

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Now, how about a little church humor?

Northside Chapel, which has been on Whittlesey Road since 1985, recently changed its name to Northside Worship Center and put a new sign out front.

Senior pastor Larry Biggers said there is a good reason for the change. "Too many people thought we were a funeral home," Biggers said, Wednesday.

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Speaking of back from the dead ...

Synovus Chairman and CEO Kessel Stelling knows firsthand the difficult road the bank has traveled in its effort to recover from a bruising financial downturn. For more than two years, he either led the company or has been part of two restructurings as an upper-level executive, with the firm jettisoning about 2,000 jobs and closing branches in its Southeastern footprint.

On Tuesday, after the bank reported its fifth quarterly profit in a row and said repayment of federal bailout money is now in sight, Stelling had some appreciative words on a conference call for those who have kept their chins up through the darkest of moments.

"I want to add special thanks to the many team members we have on this call," he said, "from those who have persevered and stuck with this company through some very tough times and continued to serve our customers with a passion every day, to our board members and affiliate directors who have shown rock-solid support of our company through the crisis, to all of our customers who continue to amaze us with their loyalty and their support of our company, and then to the many shareholders who are on this call. I'm assuring all of you that our team is as passionate as ever and energized as ever to take this company through the next couple of big events."

The biggest event is a doozy -- paying back nearly $1 billion owed through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, a move that should occur in 2013.

Synovus, like most, will take good news when and wherever it can get it.

Here's hoping the road becomes less bumpy for the historic regional bank firm, with the community being the biggest benefactor of better times ahead.