News
Tennant ordinance on
council procedure tabled
Peachtree City
residents and members of the City Council aired
differing views on what constitutes free speech at
last week's regular meeting, during discussions of a
proposed law that would allow more citizen input.
Lenox says he erred in
allowing Lindsey speech
Mayor Bob
Lenox acknowledged at last week's City Council
meeting that he mishandled a situation in which city
attorney Rick Lindsey spoke at the March 2 meeting
about an impending libel suit.
City turns down Anderson's
settlement request
The city of Fayetteville has
declined Main Street director Sherri Anderson's
request for a $125,000 settlement of her sexual
harassment grievance against former city manager
Michael Bryant.
GOP targets Fayette's Sen.
Hecht in 2000 race
Republicans at the state and
local level are gunning for the only Democrat in
Fayette County's legislative delegation, Sent. Greg
Hecht.
Planning panel says `no' to
The Village
Ga. Highway 85 is simply too
congested to withstand the additional traffic that
would come from The Village, a proposed mixed use
development in the heart of Fayetteville, according
to the city Planning Commission.
Peachtree City ethics
boards gather tonight
The ethics boards appointed last
week to investigate alleged violations by city
attorney Jim Webb and councilman Dan Tennant will
have their organizational meetings tonight, both of
which are open to the public
Brooks Council reneges on
ball fields
Brooks Town Council last week
rescinded its 1998 approval of the first phase of a
master plan for a new sports park, pleasing neighbors
of the proposed fields but angering youth sports
boosters.
Hecht secures $350,000 for
Fayette park
A $350,000 grant for
improvements to Fayette County's McCurry Park is
included in state appropriations for fiscal 2001,
according to Sen. Greg Hecht, a member of the
Appropriations Committee.
Commission to discuss
impact fees
The Fayette County Board of
Commissioners will have a special called meeting
today at 5 p.m. in the board conference room at the
County Administrative Complex to discuss the county's
capital improvement program and the use of impact
fees to fund capital projects.
Fayetteville budget on
target at midyear
Fayetteville's revenues and
expenditures are about where they should be at
midyear, finance director Lynn Raven told City
Council Monday.
GOP group says Price votes
like a Democrat
A group of Fayette Republican
Party leaders is trying to pin the “donkey
tail” on Rep. Rick Price, saying he votes like a
Democrat.
New sign restrictions on
Fayetteville's plate
Does flying American flags over
a business constitute patriotism or advertising?
Expand red light
coordination plan? `Not so fast,' says Co. Commission
Coordinating traffic lights as
far north as Ga. Highway 279 with those in downtown
Fayetteville won't have any great effect on traffic
now, admitted city engineer Don Easterbrook.
Fayetteville adds full-time
computer guru
The city of Fayetteville's
computer system has grown so large and complex that a
full time person is needed to maintain it, says
acting city manager Johnny Roberts.
School board beginning 2001
b udget process
Drafting a budget for a
burgeoning school system is a challenge in itself.
NTB hopes to build on
Lowe's out-parcel
When representatives of National
Tire and Battery proposed a store next to Applebee's
last year, the Fayetteville Planning Commission told
them they liked the design of the proposed store, but
the location was wrong.
Republican Convention draws
light turnout
The Fayette
County Republican Convention attracted a lighter than
normal turnout this year.
Local Democrats preparing
for election 2000
Fayette County Democrats are
getting in gear for an active political year, said
first vice chairman Judy Chidester.
Lawyer Bob Ruppenthal seeks
magistrate post
Robert “Bob”
Ruppenthal has formally announced as a candidate for
Magistrate Court judge Post 3 for Fayette.
Sheriff's group honors
Collins
Fayette County's U.S.
representative, Mac Collins, has been recognized by
the National Sheriffs Association with an award of
appreciation for support of local law enforcement.
School Fun Night features
auction
Braelinn Elementary School knows
how to put the fun in fund-raising.
Business
Harris Teeter readies for
customers today
After months of waiting, Fayette
and Coweta shoppers will finally be able to
experience the grocery shopping experience of Harris
Teeter.
Leadership provides
purpose, direction and takes action
By GREGORY SMITH
Business Columnist
Just
like the poem,Three Blind Mice, many businesses don't
know what true leadership is all about. A person sent
me the following comments:
Hair
Cuttery opens in Peachtree City
A new Hair Cuttery is now open
in Peachtree City at the Peachtree City Marketplace
on Huddleston Road. The largest privately-owned salon
chain in the United States, Hair Cuttery is open
seven days a week with no appointment needed.
Local pet care
professionals attend educational seminars
The entire
staff of Exclusively Tailwaggers Inc. recently
attended a three-day weekend of pet styling seminars
sponsored by McPaw Inc. in Atlanta.
- Sports
Lady Panthers streak ends,
boys get big win over Chiefs
McIntosh hosted Starr's Mill on
Saturday night for a set of soccer games between the
two schools soccer teams. All four teams are ranked
near the top of the classification and were looking
to send a message of county dominance to their
opponents. The two schools split on Saturday night,
only to further enhance the ongoing debate about
local soccer supremacy.
Locals come out swinging
hard as baseball season begins
Region play in high school
baseball began last week and the local teams are
starting to get into the swing of things.
Calendar
Chicken Soup book needs
ingredients for next work
Do you have a heart-warming,
insightful, and/or funny story about sports? Former
NFL Referee Jim Tunney, along with Mark and Chrissy
Donnelly, co-authors of Chicken Soup for the Golfer's
Soul, are seeking stories to include in the upcoming
book “Chicken Soup for the Sports Fan's
Soul.” So far, Chicken Soup for the Soul titles
have sold over 50 million copies, literally
transforming the lives of readers from all walks of
life.
Silverbacks to host MLS'
Dallas Burn
Head Coach Nuno Piteira and
General Manager Mike Balson announced a Silverbacks
exhibition game against MLS's Dallas Burn on Tuesday,
May 16, 2000 at DeKalb Memorial Stadium. "We are
very excited to play the Dallas Burn; it will give
many of our players the opportunity to demonstrate
that they are up to the MLS level of play," said
General Manager Mike Balson.
Region 4-AAAA Standings
See the sights of the
county by bicycle this weekend
Join other bicyclists on the
monthly "Tour de Fayette," March 25, 2000.
- Weekend
FCHS ready to rock 'Round
the Clock'
- The Fayette County Select
Chorus, under the direction of Janice Folsom,
will present its 23rd annual Select Chorus
Variety Show this Thursday though Sunday.
- The play is the
thing
- Shakespeare once wrote:
“All the world's a stage.” That may or
may not be true, but this week it seems that at
least all of the state is a stage.
-
- Woodworking Show
returns to Atlanta
- Whether you are a beginning
woodworker or you are professional, when the
Woodworking Show returns to Atlanta this weekend
all will have an opportunity to take their work
to another level.
-
- Movies
- A stranger becomes
a cousin — too late
- By SALLIE
SATTERTHWAITE
sallies@juno.com
Continued from last week...
Shortly before Christmas, I
referred a distantly related correspondent to another
far-removed cousin I had swapped data with, but had
never met.
- Clean closets and
help others dress for success
- The Georgia Chapter of the
National Association of Professional Organizers
is supporting the efforts of Dress for Success
worldwide as they sponsor National Clean Your
Closet Week for the third year in a row.
- I can see clearly
now
- I recently purchased a pair
of non-prescription eyeglasses. Check me out on
the street sometime. They're pretty nice. I think
they make me look sophisticated.
-
- Old Clothes...New
Fashion Trend
- There is absolutely no need
to shop for sportswear this spring.
- Local man aims to
make Delta Air Lines Walk America team number one
— again
- Allen Greer
aims to make the Delta Air Lines WalkAmerica team
number one — again!
Religion
Old-fashioned foot washing
can bring you humbly to your knees
By Rev. Dr. John Hatcher
Religion Columnist
History was made Sunday
afternoon, March 19. At the Edgefield Baptist Church
located on Church Street in the inner city of
Fayetteville, four white men washed the feet of a
black man. He was The Rev. Eddie Thomas. They were
The Reverends Chuck Griffith, Roger Powell, Sam
Calleiro and me. It was the occasion of the
celebration of Rev. Thomas' third anniversary as
pastor of Edgefield.
History of hymns makes them
all the more endearing
Anyone who knows a whit about me
knows how important music has always been in my life.
I grew up in the era of big bands, Broadway musicals,
and parlor pianos. All those hold pleasant childhood
memories, but the most memorable songs that have
stayed with me through the years are the old hymns
sung from the Cokesbury Hymnal. I practically grew up
in the East Point First Methodist Church. I remember
putting my pennies in the basket on my birthdays
(“Yes the pennies say she's --- years
old.”), eating spaghetti dinners and doing folk
dances at MYF on Sunday nights, and singing, singing,
singing the old hymns on Sunday and Wednesday nights.
CDM Center offers healing,
prophetic meeting March 24
Mark Chapman and Timothy
Frazier, members of the Leadership Team at CDM
Teaching and Training Center in Tyrone, will head up
an Evangelistic-Healing-Prophetic meeting this
Friday, March 24 at 7 p.m. at the center.
Promise Keepers sets date
for Atlanta conference
The Phillips Arena in Atlanta
will host an expected crowd of 21,000 this October
when Promise Keepers, the Denver-based international
ministry to men, convenes for its year 2000
conference in Atlanta. Conference dates are Oct. 27
and 28. The day-and-a-half gathering is expected to
draw men from throughout the southeast.
Trinity Fellowship to
present humorous drama this Sunday
Mark and Sandy Remington of
Cleveland, Ga. will present a humorous drama Sunday
evening, March 26, at 6 p.m. at Trinity Fellowship
Church near Peachtree City. The play brings to light
problems of the Christian family by dramatizing
different types of personalities found in most
families.
Enjoy organ, piano music at
Inman UMC Saturday
Dr. Bob Huie and Judy Roehm will
present an evening of piano and organ music this
Saturday, March 25, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at Inman
United Methodist Church. Prior to the musical
program, members may enjoy a dinner prepared by Joe
Hite beginning at 5:30 p.m. Proceeds from the dinner
will go toward the building fund. For more
information, call the church at 770-461-2123.
'Right to Life' plans oratory contest
Protecting Life in the New
Millennium is the theme of this year's Georgia Right
To Life Oratory Contest. Scheduled for 9 a.m.,
Saturday, April 15, at AmeriHost Inn in Stockbridge,
the event is open to high school juniors and seniors.
California publisher seeks
religious poems from Fayette area residents
The Bards of Burbank is seeking
religious poems from Fayette area residents to be
entered in their millennium poetry competition.
Cokes Chapel UMC 'hymn
fest' cancelled
The “Old Fashioned Hymn
Fest,” originally scheduled for this Saturday,
March 25, at Cokes Chapel United Methodist Church in
Sharpsburg, has been cancelled and will be
re-scheduled at a later date, probably in May. The
hymnfest features an evening of congregational
singing of old hymns from the past and special
performances by local groups and individuals.
F'ville Christian schedules
auction for this Sunday
The Missions Ministry Dept. at
Fayetteville Christian Church is accepting donations
for this year's auction, scheduled for Sunday, March
26.
Post abortion workshop is
tomorrow in Newnan
Atlanta SW Right to Life will
offer a workshop on Post Abortion Syndrome Thursday,
March 23, from 7-9 p.m. at Crossroads Baptist Church
on Ga, Hwy. 154 in Newnan.
Crash survivor Jerry
Schemmel is featured speaker at Fellowship of Christian
Airline Personnel banquet
Jerry Schemmel is scheduled to
be the guest speaker at a banquet hosted by the
Fellowship of Christian Airline Personnel on Monday,
March 27 at 7 p.m. at the Atlanta Airport Marriott.
Opinion
Gagging on gnats and
swallowing camels
By DAVE HAMRICK
Editor-at-large
I hear the Census Bureau's phone
lines have been jammed with people wanting to
complain about the intrusiveness of the questions on
this year's Census.
Schools here have model
safety plan
By AMY RILEY
One Citizen's Perspective
The Fayette County school system
has recently unveiled a comprehensive safety plan
under the leadership of Wayne Robinson, who is the
director of Secondary School Operations. Those in
attendance at the last meeting of the Board of
Education witnessed a presentation of the new plan,
and judging by the receptive murmurs heard in the
audience, the plan was a huge success. I was so
impressed by the professional caliber of the end
product, that I went and met with Mr. Robinson to see
it up close. As a parent, I am much more comfortable
knowing that a concrete plan is in place now which
will enable school officials to deal with any crisis
swiftly and efficiently.
Griffin Tech funding
suffers because of local legislators' tactics
By LEE NL HOWELL
Politically Speaking
There is a lot
of uproar in Spalding County — and in the
surrounding counties (including Clayton, Coweta and
Fayette) which are served by the Griffin Technical
Institute — because the state's recently-adopted
supplemental budget did not include the $9.8 million
in construction funding for a new classroom building
on that technical school's campus.
- PTC
Frankenstein? Embrace the beast!
BILLY
MURPHY
Laugh Lines
-
- Throughout history monsters
have reared their ugly heads in many different
forms, but none have been as repulsive as local
government gone bad. We, the people, though, have
created this monster. And though we blame
government, it is because of our own apathy that
this creature exists. Can Frankenstein be blamed
for his own freakishness?
Letters to
the Editor
PTC mayor responds with
`The real facts'
The RealFacts: I took to heart
your comments on the Opinion page in your edition of
March 15. You are correct — if I don't write it,
you can't print it. While I have an aversion on
principle to writing letters to the editor to your
paper, I have decided that I will do so from time to
time. I would like to establish some ground rules:
Power structure won't
silence Tennant's voice
Standing Up When You're Expected
To Sit
Steve Brown: How freedom of
speech has benefitted citizens in PTC
Our last Peachtree City Council
meeting was about as close to an apology as we can
expect for an extremely unfortunate incident that was
government sanctioned. It will be interesting to see
how Judge Johnnie Caldwell fares in his upcoming
election now that City Attorney Jim Webb has begun to
ask what we know about him.
PTC fiasco reeks of power
mongering, political posturing
I've followed with growing
interest the recent developments regarding the libel
lawsuit and “free speech” controversy
involving Peachtree City Mayor Bob Lenox, local law
firm Webb, Stuckey and Lindsey, Councilman Dan
Tennant, and local resident Steve Brown. I have lived
in Peachtree City for almost three years and not once
have I felt compelled to voice my opinion about local
political matters until now.
Teacher dismissal in
education bill smells
Dave Hamrick's column,
“Education bill's gems are buried in dung,”
shows clearly why the effort to eliminate fair
dismissal for Georgia's teachers “smells.”
First of all, no teacher has “automatic contract
renewal.” Teachers are evaluated each year and
are then either offered or not offered a one-year
contract.
The bill? What bill?
Lately, talk at Sandy Creek High
School has been about the Plus Education Reform Act
of 2000, the school-related bill that was passed last
month. Many students, as well as teachers, have only
read or heard excerpts of this bill and are extremely
frustrated with it. Spanning 153 pages, containing 77
sections, the bill explains the changes that will be
made in Georgia's schools come July 1, 2000.
Mayor shows humility in
apologizing, has point about replies
I would appreciate publication
of the enclosed e-mail I sent to Mayor Lenox.
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