If the developer is allowed to build the new subdivision in the west section of PTC, part of which is in the county, without providing a bridge over the railroad tracks on the north side, then someone in our PTC government should have to pay for the bridge personally. It is simply not feasible to turn that much traffic loose over a railroad crossing that is used by trains many times per day. Why is it even being considered to not have a bridge by either side? Do we already expect the taxpayers to pay for the bridge? I tell you anyone with common sense knows it will demand a bridge and there is no sense in killing a few people first. Hundreds and hundreds will cross that crossing daily. The developer will just have to add a couple of thousand to each house or eat it out of profits.

***

While the PTC Mayor and the county commissioners provide the smokescreen with their argument over who gets what share of the SPLOST, the real merits or lack thereof in the transportation plan get lost in the shuffle. The grand plan has developers’ fingerprints all over it and should be defeated irrespective of the funding debates. Metro Atlanta, particularly North Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, and DeKalb, is a living example of how more roads subsidize more development, which brings more people, which provide the excuse for more roads, and the vicious circle keeps looping. An east bypass around Fayetteville, or any other “bypass” in the county, just invites more annexations, higher density development, more people, the need for more bypasses, etc. Fayetteville’s traffic mess around the square is a byproduct of the city fathers being in bed with certain developers. Therefore, “relief” of that bottleneck ought to be done within the confines of downtown Fayetteville by altering traffic patterns and widening existing parallel streets, etc., and not through grand new “bypass” roadways for developers. New thinking, outside the old “box” that has failed everywhere else around Atlanta, is called for here. Want examples of what the old thinking/planning brings? Go up to Roswell, Alpharetta, Marietta, etc. and see what “relief” such grander new roads and bypasses provided. Then vote to send our transportation “planners” back to the drawing boards in November. Vote “No.”

***

I don’t understand. Your paper said that when the developer’s lawyer almost talked Peachtree City into a secret closed meeting, it was stopped only because Judge Edwards said no, and he only said no because The Citizen filed a lawsuit. But I thought when the state told Fayette County they couldn’t meet in secret they said they would do it anyway. Is this legal or not? And why should The Citizen have to pay a lawyer to make this happen? I have to believe that Edwards was right. Could you explain this to me?

***

The comments by your paper on open meetings are interesting. The easier question might be “Who does follow the rules?” I would point out Janet Smola of the school board as someone who may not understand the requirements. She reminds us of Woody Shellnut when they supposedly had private meetings. I think the state court looked into the school board then and then let them off the hook.

***

Nominees for open government violators? Similar to sports, you’ve got performers and you’ve got hall of famers. You were right to point out the former Peachy City Council as closed meeting violators during the Annie years. Don’t forget City Manager Jim Basinger who for years always had a handwritten agenda for the “real meetings” that would start at the end of the “official meeting” when they would holler “Executive Session” and kick the press out. They would then go in the back and do the real business. Same thing with the Development Authority. But even though Peachy City has some candidates, when it comes to Fayette sunshine law violators, you have offenders and you have habitual violators. My nominee for the Fayette Closed Government Hall of Shame goes to Fayette County Attorney Bill McNally. I’ll buy you a steak dinner if you can publish how much he has drained out of the county in the last five years. Betcha can’t. They have an accounting system that would make the Enron accountants giggle.

***

In a response to a letter from a local Democrat, editor Cal Beverly admits to the Fayette Citizen’s “opinion bias.” Then he goes on to say that he prints “nearly every one” of the letters he receives from Democrats. I don’t believe this is true. I’m sure the vast majority of readers would appreciate more balance to opposing viewpoints.

***

I have lived in Peachtree City for over six years and think it is time that your newspaper realizes that not everyone here is a Republican. When I vote in the primaries I see a number of Democratic ballots are cast in my precinct. And even some Republicans I know are questioning the direction the current President is taking this nation. I am horrified at how easily the current administration tries to dismiss honest citizens with different views by calling them names, questioning their patriotism, labeling them. It would be much more constructive if we could tone down the rhetoric and do an honest and fair evaluation of the issues and search for solutions. In order to do this evaluation, we need to examine all sides of the issues. I call upon The Citizen to present all sides so that we can think for ourselves.

***

Twice this past week I witnessed people running red lights (Ga. Highway 54 at Tyrone Road and Hwy. 54 at Sandy Creek Road) and speeding to get to the hospital. Please call an ambulance next time. Don’t make a bad situation a lot worse.

***

I’m not so sure it wouldn’t be a good idea to let the local bank (Peachtree, I think) foreclose on the Tennis Center. If it was such a worthwhile venture when they loaned the money to the tennis pro then, they should want to get it for a million bucks and run it. Or would they? I see where the local tennis bums want the pros that are there paid better so they will cater to them as did the employees of the movie “Caddyshack.” Anyway the bank would have an employee pay problem due to the vast difference in pay of a tennis “pro” and a bank clerk. Tennis lost a million bucks, obviously, or they wouldn’t owe a million bucks for so many years. It’s time the tennis bums paid their own way.

***

Over this past week, I attended two emotionally charged Tourism Association and Peachtree City Council meetings and you couldn’t have attended either without recognizing the impact of Councilman Steve Rapson. As chairman, he calmed the crowd of over 200 tennis center parents by calmly explaining the reasoning behind their approach with the center. As council member, he was the voice of reason concerning denying the Westside annexation and had the developer agree to over 50 conditions prior to passing the Target development. Mr. Rapson continually exemplifies his motto of being professional, respectful and factual. Let me be the first to ask him politely to run for mayor next year. We need leadership and it is far too rare in politicians today.

***

We don’t want to make the same mistake in this current session of wars as we made in Vietnam and Korea. We ignored our soldiers, locally. Oh, it was in the national news, but local towns and cities simply pretended it wasn’t happening, even when the guys came home (it was guys then). Let us not do that here in Fayette County this time. 100,000 people simply cannot stand by and let nearly 10,000 wounded and 1,000 killed occur, to date, and do nothing much to support these people except vote for more bloodshed so we will be protected, we think. Does anyone know how many are in the military from Fayette County? How many have been wounded and maimed? Whether we agree with this war or not, we can’t continue to ignore it.

***

Alright, I have had enough. The citizens of Tyrone have had to sit and watch the development go in on Ga. Highway 74 and watch all the broken political promises made by our elected officials. We were promised a progressive tree buffer law like the one that Peachtree City has and our Town Council let the developers cut down EVERY tree in front of the Publix and across the highway. What really makes me angry is that Mayor Sheryl Lee erected one of her large campaign signs in the middle of the treeless mud as though she is proud of what they have done. Is the tree butchering developer giving mayor Lee a campaign contribution too? Money really is the mother’s milk of politics. Well, we all know that the mayor must be extremely happy that our Town Council cut all the trees down because her campaign sign can now be viewed clearly from what was once a tree-lined pristine highway. Shame on Paul Letourneau too for allowing the trees to come down and supporting Mayor Lee’s efforts to make Tyrone look like Gwinnett County.

***

I’m casting my vote for Grace Caldwell for mayor of Tyrone. I am very tired of reading about how Sheryl Lee has preserved our rural quality of life since she has been mayor. What a joke. There’s development on every corner of Hwy. 74 in Tyrone. It seems like every time a developer goes to the podium to ask for land rezoning or a variance, their wish is granted. I want a mayor who is not “developer friendly” and will look out for its citizens and not bend over backwards to help every developer in town. I don’t want our town looking like Riverdale in 10 years.

***

Dick Cheney got his flu shot, Congress got their flu shot (Saxby was first in line), all employees of Congress got their shots, all doctors got their shots, all their employees also, everybody at the health departments got their flu shots, all politicians locally, for the most part, got their flu shots, and their help. I’m not sure about town and county employees, but it would be interesting to see. This list could go on and on, but space doesn’t permit. The point is that it has always been obvious that very sick and elderly people and very young children would be first in case of shortage, or simply whether you just want to get one or not when there is plenty of supply. One year of the wrong vaccine and the next year a purchasing problem is enough to make one wonder just how stupid nearly everything is about this current government. Just announce a shortage of nearly anything and those in power and in the know always are first to hog in. Should have asked Halliburton to supply the vaccine: It would be falling out of trucks on the road.

***

Bard fears fear, SPLOST

Epistle to the Editor

I’ve learned that nothing robs a person’s mind of all its powers like fear. This year has been a big year for making use of the fear factor. Presidential want-to-be John Kerry has tried to scare us into voting for him by saying that President Bush will restart the military draft, destroy Social Security and cause us to lose our clout on the international scene.

Deep down inside I’m not sure that we can completely get rid of fear. I do know that you can harness fear and try to master it.

I read the articles in the newspapers where Mayor Steve “Cheery” Brown was having to reassure the villagers in the Peachy City that Ga. Highway 54 will still be widened and that Ga. Highway 74 South will still be widened even if the SPLOST proposal doesn’t pass.

Shame, shame, on “Emperor” Greg Dunn for scaring the villagers into thinking that our road projects won’t be built unless he’s able to double our taxes with a SPLOST.

“Emperor” Dunn and the three County Commission “Stooges” have almost completely neglected our old people. Some of our seniors are going to be crushed by the extra sales taxes.

The Emperor and the Stooges won’t pay for a new senior center in the county but they’ll waste hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars harassing the High Sheriff and the F-ville “Delta Bunch” City Council in court.

Our older villagers can’t afford to pay thousands of dollars more in sales taxes with the county SPLOST.

Everyone riding a golf cart past Lake Peachtree knows that the county already makes the little people in Peachy City and T-Town pay taxes for recreation and doesn’t give us a dime in return.

The Peachy City Council even had to write a letter to “Emperor” Dunn asking him to stop taxing the villagers for emergency medical services that the county is not providing!

A lot of us Delta retirees are wondering if we will still be drawing a pension in the near future and now the county wants to suck the marrow out of our bones. They don’t care about us and they are just downright intolerant. It’s easy to hate people that are intolerant.

Even the Fayette “Keystone” Chamber of Commerce has gotten into the “high fear” mode. They are always in the newspapers telling us that we won’t be able to bring in tons of new residents in the future if we don’t vote to raise our taxes.

The villagers eating over at Partners Pizza are saying that we don’t want tens of thousands of new residents and we like things the way they are now.

In 30 years I’ve never seen the “Keystone” Chamber not support a tax increase and they’re supposed to be the voice of business. Their attitude of “if we don’t double your taxes we’ll all be doomed” is pure nonsense. Stop the scare campaign because it’s not working.

I’ll be honest and admit that I didn’t vote in the last election. I went to a funeral of a good friend on the day before Election Day and simply forgot to vote. I will show up this November.

I’ll be voting AGAINST dim-witted tax increases and I’ll be voting FOR President Bush who has more integrity in his little finger than John Kerry has in his entire body.

Buster
The Bard of Braelinn

Oct. 20, 2004

While all of the socialists rant about the Timber Lake residents protecting “private property,” I can’t help but pity how uninformed and eager to condemn many residents of Peachtree City have become. I guess it’s the government schools and liberal colleges around the nation that encourage emotional reaction, rather than fact-based reason. First things first, the path in the subdivision is not public property. It is a private path paid for by the citizens of Timber Lake. Secondly, they have every right to limit access to their subdivision. If they choose, they can put a guard at a gate at the front of the subdivision and only let friends and family enter. Not a single person in the city has a right to their property. They pay for it, not you. This Hillary Clinton attitude of the society being of greater importance than individual rights is a slap in the face of every citizen of Peachtree City that still believes in personal freedom and liberty. While everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, no one has the right to dictate to free Americans their ability to protect their property, their life or their happiness. Maybe when you parents out there actually consider teaching your kids about respecting private property, and respecting other people and their property, the residents of Timber Lake might remove the gate. Until then, keep whining and teaching your kids how great socialism is so that we can have a wonderful socialized America in which private property no longer exists and the governments control what once was freedom.

Between Greg Dunn and the Timber Lake subdivision I am almost ashamed to say that I live in Fayette County. Selfish people are incapable of loving others, but they are always interested in getting their own piece of the pie. The more we share as a people the more we all have. The Bard is right. We just need to be fair and treat each other like we want to be treated. Luke 3:11 would go a long way in Fayette County.

The mistreatment and abuse of teachers by their principals is one of the major weaknesses in our educational system. I recommend you read the book, “Breaking the Silence: Overcoming the Problem of Principal Mistreatment of Teachers,” by Drs. Joseph and Jo Blase. This book is based upon genuine research conducted by these respected scholars from the University of Georgia’s Department of Educational Administration. From the veteran teachers interviewed for this book, the following are a few examples of mistreatment: Criticizing teacher in front of students, parents, other staff, unfair evaluations based on agenda other than students’ achievements, denying a teacher’s request to transfer, “ganging up,” soliciting information about teacher from other staff, failure to recognize teachers’ accomplishments, accusations without due process, deliberate failure to provide necessary information, lying, and many more. Then maybe you will understand why more than 30 percent of teachers did not return to a school.

Money to pay for roads can come from any kind of tax. The question for us on Nov. 2 is whether we want to remain a 5 percent sales tax county like Cobb (which is doing very well, thank you), or get on the way to becoming a 6 percent county like Gwinnett, a 7 percent county like Clayton, or an 8 percent area like Atlanta.

To the person who complained about Jordan’s Salvage last Wednesday: What’s more interesting, trying to spot a gem in the junk while you’re waiting for the light to change, or looking at yet another store/fast food/gas station parking lot? Surely that mess isn’t the most pressing issue or ugliest aspect of downtown Fayetteville. I think it adds a quirky character to that part of town. Suggestion: If you’re that annoyed at the junk, just keep your eyes focused on that traffic light until it turns green.

Jordan’s is an eyesore? Please. The new subdivisions and shopping plazas going up everywhere are the real Fayetteville eyesores. Like we need another batch of gaudy, look-alike homes or another chain grocery store. Jordan’s is an institution, subdivisions and new stores aren’t. Fayetteville has a horrible habit of destroying its history and native culture. Jordan’s is one of the few survivors. Let it be!

To all the people that stuck around and cheered for everyone else even after their respective runners passed them at the Peachtree City Classic: Thank you, it was a big help. You are all great Americans.

I am also a Tyrone native who had ancestors here in the 1800s. It scares me to know that people think that going to every event in Tyrone for the past 28 years qualifies one to be mayor. I quite frankly want a mayor who can run the town of Tyrone without needing everything okayed by the Town Manager Barry Amos. I’m voting for Grace Caldwell because she is well-educated on all the subject matter required by this job and will not have to depend on Barry Amos to make decisions for her. It’s time our government was turned back over to the citizens and taken away from Barry Amos. I’m not real sure who our current mayor is. Is it Sheryl Lee or Barry Amos? I urge you to cast your ballot for positive change in Tyrone and vote Grace Caldwell mayor of Tyrone.

Ask Fayette County High School how much of a “money maker” a band performance can be. Stop by their stadium on Oct. 30 and see how many fans attend a marching band competition! All bands, all day. Football not included. P.S. Can’t we all just get along?

I have lived in Fayette County for over 28 years and have never read a letter more arrogant and hateful than the recent letter from Gerard Jansen concerning health care and insurance. Rather than being thankful for his good health and good fortune, he damns those who are less fortunate and uses his religion to support his views. God save us from Christians like Mr. Jansen. By the way Jansen, the Medicare premiums are controlled by a law that was enacted several years ago, and are based on a formula that was approved by both the House and Senate. It was supported by both Democrats and Republicans. If you don’t like the Medicare program you are free to drop out at any time and then pray to whatever God it is that you worship that you never have a major health problem.

Mr. Jansen’s recent letter to the editor Oct. 13) really amused me. Since he has his own business, he states he has depended on himself for his needs and has done without a lot of luxuries. He also states even though his wife, who obviously works for Delta, has to take a 10 percent pay cut, “it is a lot better than no salary, insurance or flight privileges.” Give me a break! Somehow I find it hard to understand how flight privileges can be used in the same sentence with salary and insurance. After retirement, my husband went back to work to help pay for our outrageous health care costs. Had we been smart, I should have gone to work for Delta and then we would have it all, salary, insurance and those ever so important flight privileges too!

Peachtree City businesses, please don’t take down your bragging rights. Those businesses that have put health and safety of their customers and employees first (when it was voluntary) should keep your Green and Blue smoking signs up and brag. You tried; you did it before it was required. You are the responsible businesses that set the standard for everyone else. Those who still have trapped indoor smoke have NO sign requirement. Your red Smoke Present sign can still give the warning that because of the competition for liquor sales, people under 18 cannot enter. You need to keep trapping indoor smoke until broader legislation can protect your profits.

PTC Council member Judi-Ann Rutherford, get your facts straight! You proclaim that there are 35,000 tax paying citizens of Peachtree City. Do your research. Check the U.S. Census. Approximately, 13,000 PTC citizens are under the age of 18. Very few young adults older than 18 are homeowners. There are only approximately 2,500 senior citizens over the age of 65 in Peachtree City. Shame on you for being the lone hold out on the senior tax exemption!

Conservative legislators across the state have explained that gays are “wrong,” that they are “sinners,” and that they live a life that is “not in accordance with the teachings of the Bible.” These legislators and the Georgians who back them have not taken their argument against gays to the next step, and that is deciding how to treat people who are gay. If you believe that being gay is wrong, then ask yourself how Jesus Christ taught us to treat people who are wrong. The answer is clear, simple, and unconditional: Love thy neighbor. If you consider yourself to be a Christian, then you must love thy neighbor. True Christians do not speak out against anyone; instead, they choose to love thy neighbor. It is not, “Love thy neighbor provided they make choices you agree with,” or “Love thy neighbor provided he is not gay.” Using the Bible to justify put-downs is a total contradiction. And Christians who use the Bible to justify their hatred of gays have a lot in common with Muslim extremists: They all use religious doctrine to justify hatred.

I’m a conscience-voting Christian who doesn’t see abortion as the only critical moral issue in this election. Republicans have cleverly hijacked abortion to secure the Christian vote, while secretly, even overtly, committing acts which these Christians either ignore or mustn’t see. John Dean, council to President Nixon, declares this administration to be more secretive and corrupt than even the one of his impeached former boss. They speak loudly about their faith, but their actions are different. Is it moral to profit from war and special interests? And why, even pre-9/11, have they fought to hide what other administrations have openly shared? Jesus’ strongest condemnations were against those who duped and took advantage of the less privileged for selfish gain. This describes the actions of this administration. Should we vote based on one moral issue, or should we hold our leaders morally accountable for all of their actions?

If I understand things correctly, the DOT did not include the Ga. highways 54-74 intersection in the budget for the widening of hwys. 54 and 34. Well, maybe by 2006 when hwys. 54-34 are done, the PTC Police Department will have collected enough in traffic fines to finance the work without the help of the DOT. It’s a goldmine, when you have the traffic lights timed to get you halfway across the intersection on a green light, but traffic comes to a dead stop in the middle of the intersection till after the light turns red. What should we do, back up?

Who in the world is Howard Mead and where did he get all of the money to run those incessant TV ads?

Why is the legislative system being blamed for the very activities law enforcement is put into place to protect against? A liquor license in Tyrone is being described as a plan for “more DUIs and deaths on Hwy. 74.” This area was described as an “alcoholic community.” Don’t overlook the association between irresponsible, selfish behavior and a lack of self control. DUI is completely preventable through simple, smart planning. A taxi ride across the communities of PTC and Tyrone may cost as much as $15, but how much was your bar tab? All bar managers and staff are able to arrange a cab ride for any customer, which is a nicer and more affordable ride than with the guys who drive the white cars with the big, blue stripe. Please don’t confuse capitalistic freedom with individual irresponsibility.

I don’t care how many excuses the federal administration makes, there is none for the current flu shot fiasco. The obviously inept director of the CDC and the Surgeon General have simply gone along with the hard heads in this administration who think nothing should be needed from Washington, not even leadership for our national health. It is not like this lack of vendor situation hasn’t been known; it has. Britain, long ago, went to at least five suppliers for vaccines. They saw the need for more than one or two suppliers since anything can happen in that business. Our children’s vaccines aren’t in much better shape in case of a terrorist virus attack and yet all we do is blow up Iraq to solve the problem. Also, it should be obvious to us all that we will buy drugs from foreign countries when our drug companies don’t want to have to make them competitively, but we will not buy drugs from Canada because that would hurt our American drug companies. Another thing: I am a very senior citizen with heart and other problems and need a flu shot but my doctor or clinic doesn’t have any, or didn’t want to fool with it, not sure which. The county nor the towns have done a thing to tell people like me where to get one and when. That is a shame. We are talking about health problems, not welfare.

The continuing and controversial fussing about the posting or placing of images of the Ten Commandments in government buildings or on public land reeks of something more than protecting Christian religion. If one assumes that our citizens who are not Christian such as; Muslims, Hindus, various Oriental religions, Native American religions, and on and on, have a right to live here without being singled out as something inferior as far as our government is concerned, then how can we justify the endorsement in our government of only one belief? It really is an individual’s right to make his choice as to how he best can serve his God and hope to have an afterlife. Ten different people will each interpret the Commandments in a slightly different way if asked to describe in detail what one means. Aren’t these rules just a way to try and keep order?

This item for Free Speech isn’t likely to be printed anyway, due to the screen name, (Almostfreespeech) if for nothing else. However I’ll say it anyway for my own archives. Since our current administration (Attorney General) won’t investigate or prosecute any of the corporate crooks, New York’s AG again today found that some of the thieving bank and insurance companies and their agents have been cheating us all to provide huge salaries to jobs that shouldn’t exist. Our own county, Fayette, has scores of these people also and a great deal of our economy depends upon their jobs, I fear. It is a false economy in many ways and will fail if not corrected, but the worst part is all of us who have donated the cash from our retirement and stock savings to support these leeches. Just add up all the losses over the last four years just in our county by individual count and you will see what I mean.

The only group in our country today who can be bigger frauds than what our old nineteenth century, uneducated, self-anointed traveling preachers were is our current crop of ultra-conservative and ultra-liberal politicians, and radio and TV commentators. I do hope our local county is not loaded with these types. Another one, it appears, since he so far hasn’t denied it, fell today. Fox Networks biggest money maker. Add to that Gingrich, Clinton, Limbaugh, Bennett, and many others, even here in Georgia, and it seems to be getting dangerous for our government’s survival. What are we doing wrong to promote such pretentious people into positions of influence? Obviously, there is too much money involved for one thing, but I think, maybe the real problem is that we choose to overlook such egregious fallacies in order to elect someone for our own benefit at the extreme expense of many others because we simply don’t care much for other’s plight. I don’t think this attitude is taught in our schools or our churches. It is taught at home.

Oct. 13, 2004

“Four Nights in October” at The Fred: Why not do a story on how it is OK for the Christian rock show to blow me out of my home, but I never hear the other concerts? I’m writing this from my mother’s house in Chicago because I don’t want both of my children kept awake until midnight like last year. I believe in God, but I don’t need Christian music blasting into my house in the middle of the night.

So, Line Creek Baptist has moved. It’s a good thing that the ”King of Petitions” didn’t find out or he’d really have been busy! After all, does Peachtree City need another gas station? The traffic caused by all those vehicles with full gas tanks would be so annoying. Boy, those pesky Lutherans have set such a bad example for the churches in this town. Or is it that the Lutherans just don’t want to be left behind by the Baptists? Speaking of petitions, didn’t the petition king complain about the church only having 400 or so voting members out of the listed 1,800 members vote? How does that percentage compare to the 800 signatures last listed in the paper for the petition drive. Let’s see, 800 out of 34,000? Sounds like a landslide to me. What a lulu; it’s all making me coo-coo!

As a Fayette County native and my family being part of the Tyrone area since the late 1800s, I have known Sheryl Lee, Tyrone’s long-time citizen and current mayor. She has been involved in almost every community function the town has ever had. Sheryl is very proud of the community. She has been a school crossing guard, volunteer recreation director for Tyrone and much more. The positive spirit and leadership she has shown in the community is the reason I will be casting my ballot for Sheryl Lee. She has for the last 28 years dedicated her time and efforts into what we Tyronian’s and area citizens know as Founder’s Day.

My get-it-off-your-chest question and sound-off concerns Jordan’s Salvage in downtown Fayetteville. No doubt he is a fine charitable citizen of our city but isn’t enough ever too much? How in this world does he inventory for tax purposes? And, if he hasn’t made enough profit by now to build himself a tin building or warehouse, then it’s time to clean up or ship out. I care about his interest and well-being, but what other business can be allowed to continue in such a jungle of junk stacked all over the city block he owns. It just looks junky and ugly and I think it is time to clean up what looks like an infested junk yard. No disrespect to Mr. Jordan himself, but I question city officials who allow this awful eyesore to go on any longer.

Thank you, Steve Brown, for stepping up to the plate to get to bottom of a number of baffling issues in this city, namely, the development authority fiasco. How is it they were never able to properly account for themselves for 10 years and almost hoodwinked the council into approving funding they had sole control over? I want to see those properly executed loan papers. I don’t think they exist. Who should be responsible for their inability to follow standard written procedure? Certainly not the citizens. The tennis center was another murky mess. Thank you, Steve Brown, for your persistence. Those underhanded deals should have been disclosed long before the three to four years it finally took to get to the bottom of them. We know you ran on a platform of no new development. Thank you for reviewing all angles of the West Village situation. We need a road to the north. The government will never be able to accomplish it. Look at the time it’s taken to get Ga. Highway 54 to the widening stage. We appreciate your efforts to get citizen input for the project. and thank you buster for your welcome comments. Direct-PAC keeps trying to accuse the current administration of destroying the city. Thank you, Steve Brown and City Council, for cleaning up the past messes and illegalities

Long live the Bard and the Duchess. For those folks that are bothered by it, just don’t read it. Ignore them. Having a sense of humor is good and all they’re doing is poking fun at politicians. So what? Weren’t the very first letters to the editor not signed way back in 1776? I can’t blame them for not putting their name in there. You saw what happened earlier. Some slimy trial lawyer will file a bogus slander suit just to force the letter writer to rack up a legal bill so that they stop writing. And that works. Then the trial lawyer crawls back under the rock and sues a hospital or a doctor or something. So I hope they keep writing and I hope The Citizen keeps printing.

Well, Col. Greg “One Star Wannabe” may be right on something: Getting the facts on property seizures. He has been battling Sheriff Randall and Little BJ over the money and property that the sheriff seizes. Greg says shows us the numbers. They say “no” (and not that politely). Channel 2 I-Team Reporter Mark Winnie has done a couple of shows on a sheriff near Fayette that is in hot water over the exact stuff. It seems that they have been playing footsie with property and cash and are sharing all kinds of cars, property and stuff all over the county. Maybe Dunn is right. Buying BJ’s helicopter without telling anybody including the commission first was a slap in the face. As a taxpayer, you ought to wonder where and to whom all the cash and property they seize is going.

I totally agree with folks not knowing what to do at a malfunctioning traffic light. Also, the media does confuse things by saying use it as a four-way stop. Malfunctioning is not totally out. Totally out is when you treat it as a four-way. If it’s flashing, you do what the lights show. I have one question, however. How does a red light flash yellow?

I have difficulty imagining the educated residents of Timber Lake have thoughtfully considered the ramifications of their desire for exclusive golf cart paths. Look at the implied inverse. When they want access to PTC’s paths, should we require user fees since they are not city residents?

I cannot believe the Timber Lake residents who put up a iron gate to keep people out. You should be ashamed of yourselves. It sounds like you are acting like children who don’t want to share their toys. I just wonder what gives any of you the right to decide who can and cannot use the public paths? If you weren’t willing to share them then why have the paths there in the first place? Don’t you have anything else going on in your lives that you are that concerned about who uses the paths? Before we know it your subdivision will be handing out to tickets to intruders!

As usual, The Citizen only gave one side of the story in the Timber Lake cart path issue. A quote from Mayor Steve Brown reads, “Every single subdivision in Peachtree City has cart path access.” Herein lies the problem, Mayor Brown. How many subdivisions in Peachtree City do not have cart path access and must cut through other neighborhoods to gain access? To my knowledge, every neighborhood has access to the cart path system. With the addition of the path to Highgrove, Whitewater Creek and eventually New Haven, our neighborhood will be a golf cart “cut-through” for over 1000 homes. I don’t think any other neighborhood would want to see themselves in this situation.

Shame on Timber Lake residents. How can you keep the rest of us out after the city tied you into our path system? In the spirit of our community, take down your iron gates. Why is your safety more of a concern than the rest of Peachtree City?

Oct. 6, 2004

Well, looks as if we will soon have a cemetery on stilts on the west side of town, and a traffic madhouse at the intersection of Ga. Highway 54 and Peachtree Parkway. Isn’t it odd that everyone else will be able to get around these two gridlocks once a convenience store and a Walgreens is built, but the good church people can’t now? Money always talks.

The bicyclists do have the right to be on the roads, but do they feel like they do not have to abide by the rules of the road as other vehicles? If you do not want to be injured, I appeal to you to also consider four-way stops. That means you wait your turn like any other vehicle (yes, that means full stop and not cruising on through) and that does not mean you hide on the passenger side of a car and go when that car goes (you don’t move as fast, remember). Yes, you do have rights on the road, but you must also take responsibility when it comes to your safety. Common sense, if you have any, please use it.

The band students work just as hard as the football players and the band practices on asphalt in the middle of July. Their practice field is the parking lots at the schools, not the football fields. This is a great article on fine arts. Let your readers know that the Fayette County Tiger Marching Band is going to London, England for the New Year’s Day Parade. So if they see anyone washing cars or selling cookie dough, it is to raise the money to go.

Can any restaurant owner explain why diet lemonade has replaced regular in so many local restaurants? Bring back the good stuff!

Oh what a tangled Tyrone web we weave
With “anonymous” vents made to deceive.
For complaints on our mayor were never heard,
Until challenged by a new old-bird.
Now “anonymous” negative vents do grow.
Grace, I trust you’ll reap what you try to sow.

I think Sheryl Lee is the best candidate for the mayor of the town of Tyrone. She has consistently shown that she truly cares for the town and its people. I have personally seen her involved in every event in this town in the last 20 years. I don’t think we as a town could find anyone more dedicated to making Tyrone a better place to live than Sheryl Lee.

God help all you Tyrone folks if Grace Caldwell becomes your mayor. God help you all.

I sure hope that I can get some free advertising from the Fayette County government. Maybe I can get my business listed on all county letters or something like that. I mean, if the county’s Web site has the name and a direct link to a private company, why can’t I get free advertising as well? I guess the county is paying this firm, so why do they get free advertising? Maybe county contractors should be paid and be able to hang large signs right on the Administrative Complex. Like stadiums, maybe the Administrative Complex should be renamed the “Flush Your Drain Plumbing Company Administrative Complex.” Oh, wait a minute. Those companies pay to name those stadiums. My mistake.

Please tell all the stupid people traveling from Fayette County to Riverdale Ga. Highway 85 that a red light that is completely out should be treated as a four-way stop sign. A red light that is flashing yellow is a caution light and to be treated as such (Don’t stop, but proceed with caution) and of course a flashing red light means you stop and only go when traffic allows. I have heard so many radio and TV stations announce this incorrectly. Most people are not doing this. Late again because of the stupidity of others.

OK, I am sick to death of The Bard and The Duchess. Whatever happened to your “must sign letters” policy? This is nothing but slamming people with no pretense of class or literary ability.

I would be willing to bet the company store that Buster “the Barb of Braelinn” is really Mayor Brown “the village idiot.”

Anyone who parked their car at The Avenue parking lot in Peachtree City (down toward The Bread Company) on Oct. 2 would be interested in knowing that the film covering their car on their return was from the hydrochloric acid solution that was being used to pressure-clean the brick at the adjacent construction project. When questioned, the supervisor assured me that there was no acid in the “detergent” being used. However, upon further examination, the containers (clearly marked “CORROSIVE”) list hydrochloric acid as one of the main ingredients. The container’s instructions also clearly require that adjacent vehicles be protected, which obviously was not being done. The specific cleaner being used was “600 Detergent,” by Sure Klean, manufactured by Prosoco, Inc. A police report was filed, and a complaint with the Peachtree City Building Department is pending.

The Peachtree City Post Office needs to take a lesson in customer service from the friendly, helpful postal employees at the Tyrone P.O. Before the disgruntled postal customers revolt, it’s time the manager takes a good look at his staff in Peachtree City. I stood in line Friday at 10 a.m. Only one window was open helping a customer who had at least 20 boxes she was sending overseas. I was the first one in line and waited 10 minutes for another window to open. In the meantime, the manager stood watching 10 more customers accumulate in line behind me. Even the one customer being serviced thought it was strange he let the crowd gather. She asked him if he would open a window and he said, “No, not unless I want a lawsuit.” So we all waited and watched our numbers grow. The female employee who finally appeared to help me had a chip on her shoulder. Seems the Peachtree City Post Office doesn’t know we are customers. This sure wasn’t the only time we customers have had no service. It is a daily event at the Peachtree City Post Office.

Hey, Jean Studdard, you go, girl!

What a heart-warming piece in the AJC Fayette Fluff this week, “Spotlight on Senator Seabaugh.” They talked about Mitch’s rise to power in the state Senate starting with his election over Mr. Empty Suit and Mitch’s strong campaign backing from the Fay-Cow Developer Crowd (Pathways/PCDC, Jim Pace, Group VI, etc.). Mitch goes off to Atlanta, gets millions of tax dollars for the TDK developer road to nowhere and, surprise, gets himself a full-time job with one of the developers. Only in America!

I think the residents of the Peachtree City subdivision Fielding Ridge should be totally ashamed of themselves for complaining about the “noise” from the roller hockey rink at Kedron! Instead of kids spending time on a sport and having fun, maybe these same residents would much rather have the kids out on the street vandalizing their homes or doing drugs or drinking alcohol or some other illegal activity? Come on, people, there are a lot worse things to be complaining about! How about all the kids that are going off the beaten track of the cart paths to smoke weed or drink alcohol? Why not go seek out those kids and complain about that instead. Or better yet, get a life! These kids are out there having fun and staying out of trouble; get over it! So now the city has to spend more money erecting a wall so it can drown out barely audible noise! Give me a break. We live about two miles from Riley Field at Peachtree City Elementary and can clearly hear the football games, and I think its a great sound. Wow, kids having fun and not getting into trouble; what a concept!

Mr. Gerard Jansen must live in the same altered reality in which President Bush resides. Do Republicans just not get it? A problem not handled by individuals or businesses becomes a burden on society. Mr. Jansen asserted that health care provided by the employer is not a right and that companies who are struggling to survive should not be burdened with employee health care. First, how long could the dedicated, loyal employees of Delta stay around to help dig Delta out of the hole if they do not have health care? Not for long. Second, if businesses do not provide health care for their employees, then who should? Are we to leave the dead and dying in the gutters of Fayette County? Wouldn’t that be a violation of some county code or wouldn’t everyone run over them in their SUVs? No, Mr. Jansen, we can’t leave them in the streets even if you might want to do so. If their employers don’t provide health care, then they wind up going on Medicaid and then we all pay for their health care. Get it now? Either the businesses foot the bill or you foot the bill: Which is it going to be? John Kerry and John Edwards have a plan to provide health care for those who need it and a break for businesses to allow even those who are struggling to still provide coverage to their employees. Alas, it’s not either or; it can be both. Their plan reduces the employer’s plan costs, allowing them to provide coverage and stay competitive at the same time. The Kerry-Edwards plan will reimburse businesses for 75 percent of the cost of catastrophic care by providing small businesses with tax credits to help them provide health insurance for their low and moderate-income employees (employees who would wind up on Medicaid otherwise). Their tax credit would cover up to 50 percent of the cost of the employers’ share of the premiums. The Kerry plan will also reduce medical malpractice premiums by requiring a qualified specialist to certify a case’s merit before it is allowed to move forward and will make available non-binding mediation in all malpractice claims before cases proceed to trial. Under his plan, lawyers who file frivolous cases would face tough, mandatory sanctions for the next 10 years. You see, Democrats can “walk down the street and chew bubble gum at the same time.”

Tom Delay, the Texas congressman, charged with an ethics breach: I don’t see how that is possible since he has never had any ethics to breach. Another one of those radical, anything-goes as long as the result is what we want, ultra, neo-Christian conservatives who we no longer need is Tom Delay. Finally got rid of Newt and Barr; now for a few more.