McMenamin calls to end bickering amongst officials in letters to editor

By JOHN MUNFORD
jmunford@TheCitizenNews.com

Tired of seeing some of her fellow council members take their disputes to local newspapers, Peachtree City Councilwoman Annie McMenamin has called for a truce.

Although she doesn't want to inhibit free speech, McMenamin said she wanted "a good faith effort not to communicate with each other in letters to the editor."

In recent weeks, Mayor Bob Lenox and Councilman Dan Tennant have traded accusatory letters in The Citizen, pointing fingers at each other regarding the handling of the severance package granted to former city clerk Nancy Faulkner.

McMenamin said she could understand using a letter to the editor to explain a council member's position on a vote but she hates to see attacks made in the paper. The negative tone of the letters creates a false impression about the way council conducts its business, she said.

To explain her feelings on the situation, McMenamin related a positive comment she received about the city recently. The person was speaking about The Avenue at Peachtree City retail center and how well the city must cooperate to get things done.

"I told her, 'You must not read our newspaper then," McMenamin said.

Councilwoman Carol Fritz said she gets plenty of citizen complaints about the decorum displayed by public officials on the letters to the editor pages.

Lenox agreed to stop writing letters to the editor.

"I'm willing to say publicly I'm not going to write letters to the editor," Lenox said.

Fritz, McMenamin and councilman Steve Rapson agreed they wouldn't either.

Tennant did not contribute to the discussion.

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