Wednesday, March 6, 2002
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Wednesday, March 6, 2002 |
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Is it time for Tyrone Council to clean up its act? Has the time come for us to clean up our act in Tyrone? "Cannon: 'Dunn's a liar,'" but Tyrone Council still approves jail agreement. Regardless of how you may feel about [Fayette Commission Chairman Greg] Dunn or the tax inequity debates, headlines such as these from The Citizen on Feb. 27 leave our town disgraced. While Mr. Cannon has no doubt contributed to our community through his years of committed service, Tyrone's image is tarnished irreparably through these headlines. On one hand our town calls Mr. Dunn a liar, on the other hand they pay lawyers to support the judge's decision to close the meetings to public scrutiny and publicly vote to support what the county has been proposing for months. Look closely at the actions taken and not at the rhetoric. We had two council people vote no to adopting the county's plan, Paul LeTourneau and Lisa Richardson. Congratulations to both of you for sticking by your beliefs. We had two vote for adopting the county plan, Ronnie Cannon and Ray Bogenshutz. With a stalemate on hand, Mayor [Sheryl Lee] cast the deciding vote and voted for the county proposal. For those of you that don't know, this deciding vote should not have occurred. Why, you might ask. Well, regardless of what was the right decision is in this matter between the town and the county, and regardless that the town has spent considerable time and taxpayer money fighting the county on this issue, there was the possibility of a conflict of interest. You may not be aware that all of your council people and mayor are part time and essentially unpaid by the town. They all have jobs elsewhere to support their families. The mayor should have chosen to recuse herself from the vote since she is an employee of Fayette County. That is not to say she placed the right or wrong vote; it is just to say the appearance of a conflict of interest should have caused her to take a different action in light of the many months of highly charged and costly political positioning. Truly there is enough about this situation to cause it to be written about in The Citizen. Thank you, Cal Beverly, for being willing to report the facts and question the logic. The Tyrone Watch Community Action Group is a group of residents seeking to promote the proper growth of Tyrone through volunteer participation in the processes of government. Your action is needed to insure the success with this issue and to further develop a grassroots network of concerned Tyrone citizens. Contact us at ericalle@bellsouth.net or 770-329-1527. Proper growth requires your input and participation; please help! Eric Allen Tyrone Watch Community Action Group
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