Let’s have some debate. There is discontent brewing with County Commissioner A.G. VanLandingham, the latest person trying to derail Peachtree City’s call for an equitable distribution of local taxes.
Personally, I am glad that he is initiating this discussion and we will let the voters decide for themselves.
I do not blame Commissioner Van Landingham for attempting to disrupt the process. The County Commission is having a very difficult time explaining why they dodged the new state SPLOST fairness law (HB 709).
Their task is especially daunting since their very own Association of County Commissioners of Georgia organization helped craft and approved the fair tax distribution legislation.
It was very obvious that the County Commission never intended to offer Peachtree City and others an equitable deal on the SPLOST because County Attorney Bill McNally openly stated, “The only deadline facing the commission right now is July 1,” the day that HB 709 was to go into effect.
HB 709 clearly states that tax proceeds must be distributed between the county and the municipalities either according to: (1) an intergovernmental contract; or (2) according to population. (Each municipality would receive a percentage of the proceeds based on the ratio its population bears to the countywide population and the county would receive a percentage of the proceeds based on the ratio that the population of the unincorporated area of the county bears to the countywide population).
First, the county strong-armed their position by passing their resolution under the old unfair state SPLOST law.
Second, the commissioners said that they were willing to change to the new fairness law (HB 709) only if Peachtree City and others agreed to an intergovernmental contract for less than half of revenue that new law would allow.
Obviously, the city was not going to agree to our citizens getting beat over the head with a sledgehammer so the commissioners stayed [sic] to dodging the new law.
In fact, the minutes from the Board of Commissioners meeting on May 27, 2004, quotes Commissioner VanLandingham saying, “He said when you get out into the unincorporated areas, traffic was not so bad. He said it was in the cities and metropolitan areas where traffic became congested.”
We agree with the commissioner and we have some of the worst traffic congestion in the county and we want our county tax dollars providing equitable relief in Peachtree City and elsewhere. Abiding by HB 709 is the right thing to do.
The county commissioners’ argument for diverting the county taxes paid by county residents living in Peachtree City is predicated on a lie.
Listen to these comments by Commission Chairman Greg Dunn from the minutes of their special called county transportation meeting on Oct. 28, 2003.
On page 12 it says, “Chairman Dunn said they [the road funds] were state funds but the county had to move utilities [water pipes]. He said there were a lot of costs involved whenever a state road was built or widened. He said the local money was being spent and the taxpayers’ money was also being spent in and around the city of Peachtree City almost exclusively on the big projects. He felt people would start to see some shifting of where the money was going to go into some road work in the future.”
On page 14 Dunn continues, “He said Peachtree City was getting the lion’s share of the effort at the state and local level right now and in five years it would be over at the other end [of the county].”
For the record, the county NEVER spent a single dime on Peachtree City’s road projects in the past.
There has NEVER been a county fund for local matches on road projects in municipalities.
The entire “local” road funding that Dunn is referring to came out of Peachtree City’s own general fund.
Peachtree City never had an opportunity to obtain local matches from the county and the commissioners are now holding our own funding of vital road projects against us.
Not even moving the water pipes came out of the county’s budget. Instead, the water consumers in Peachtree City paid for the utility movement through their water fees.
In the same special called county transportation meeting on Oct. 28, 2003, on page 13, “Commissioner Pfeifer said the state and federal money was money that comes from the county and he felt this money should be spent by the county and be under its control.”
The truth is that 95 percent of the SPLOST would be generated in the retail sectors of the cities, not the county.
Pfeifer is very blunt about the commissioners wanting to exclude the county taxpayers residing in Peachtree City and their local elected officials from being able to resolve traffic and cart path problems within the city.
After I repeatedly called for the commissioners to follow the new state SPLOST fairness law, Chairman Dunn confirmed their wanting to exclude Peachtree City by saying, “We didn’t want to have Steve Brown in control of this,” (The Citizen, July 14).
As far as the commissioners confiscating the tax revenues for recreation from the county taxpayers residing in Peachtree City, our city staff determined that our city residents are losing around $450,000 per year on taxes paid with no services rendered.
After the county recreation plan was approved by the commissioners the headline read, “PTC, Tyrone left out of Fayette’s $19 million 20-year recreation plan” (The Citizen, Sept. 10, 2003). That about says it all.
However, I must offer that the company hired by the commissioners did not even consider giving Peachtree City and Tyrone the use of their own tax dollars.
The official report clearly reads, “Peachtree City and the town of Tyrone maintain their own recreation departments. Due to this, Robert and Company did not perform detailed analysis of the existing and needed facilities in these areas” (Fayette County Recreation Plan, p. 48).
Commissioner Pfeifer also disagreed with Commissioner VanLandingham and it was stated, “He [Pfeifer] said he had a major problem with the plan that actually said a portion of the county would be discounted. He said taxes would be collected from 100 percent of the county but only [the] needs of 61 percent of the county was considered,” (Board of Commissioner Minutes, Aug. 28, 2003, p. 6).
Peachtree City gladly serves over 12,000 county citizens in our organized recreation programs (not including the July 4 parade, concerts, large-scale children’s’ events and festivals).
We are the largest provider of recreation in the county. We had to start our own recreation departments because the county never stepped up to provide the services and now it is being held against us.
I will leave the voting districts discussion for another day, as this will be coming soon. Somehow Commissioner VanLandingham thinks that you are a “Democrat” if you want your citizens equally represented and he has gotten into the name-calling stuff again with his “closet Democrat” ranting.
The only problem with the commissioner’s argument is that people in specific voting districts vote a majority of our elected Republicans into office around our state.
I enjoyed Commissioner VanLandingham’s comment, “Anyone who doesn’t fully agree with him on issues is now gone or he has attempted to get them out of the picture.”
The previous Development Authority members horribly mismanaged city-owned venues, piled up massive debts and consistently mislead the public. They should be gone.
Judge Melear was using racial slurs while conducting official judicial business and he needed to go.
The Chamber of Commerce severed their ties with Elissa Hall on their own. Although Ms. Hall consistently spoke poorly of the City Council causing a great deal of disharmony, the Chamber took the necessary action.
Please remember to ask these questions. Did the county provide the matching funds for Peachtree City’s major road projects or did the city pay for them?
Why did the county dodge the new state fairness law for SPLOST?
If the county taxpayers residing in Peachtree City and Tyrone pay the county for recreation, should not they expect to receive an equal distribution of that revenue for services in their area?
Should we speak out against those that attempt to do harm to our citizens?
Steve Brown Mayor, Peachtree City brown@peachtree-city.org
Pilots, Delta workers’ futures in your hands
To all Delta pilots, I’m an 18-year Delta employee here in Atlanta. We all here at Delta now realize that we have reached a crossroad in our individual careers, and our company’s fate is at stake.
Our CEO, all other Delta employees, the media and even your group (results of ALPA’s review concluded at the beginning of the summer) all realize that our company is in peril.
I’m not writing this today to spawn an argument, I’d rather be known as the voice of reason. After listening to [Delta CEO Gerald] Grinstein yesterday, I’m personally convinced that this man will do what he has to for the sake of Delta’s survival.
The plan is on the table and now has come the time to act.
I certainly understand that your work group works under a negotiated contract. Although I’m not a lawyer and personally don’t understand all the legal details of your agreement, the one thing I do understand is our company’s future lies in your hands.
Maybe that isn’t a fair assessment but with an agreement, we will avert bankruptcy and without one, the courts will make the choices for us all.
As I look around the industry, both past and future, it is very apparent that we are all better off settling our differences in constructive debate and not behind a gavel.
It is also my assertion that our current management team did not create our company’s current situation, and trusting that they will have your best interest at heart probably is extremely difficult based on the ills of the recent past.
Unfortunately none of us have the luxury of developing a relationship that’s based on trust. Sometimes faith in a man is all you’ve got, much like the faith I must have in all of you to help secure my future.
As it has been written recently in the media, there will be some statistics (failures) in our industry; personally I don’t want that to be you or me.
Please take very seriously the task at your hand, for your sake as well as ours. Thank you and good luck!
David Stafford Delta machinist Fayetteville, Ga.
Both parties avoiding the crucial issues
For the life of me I cannot understand why the presidential election is focused on gay marriage, terrorism, and Vietnam records. These are sidetrack issues, designed to take our attention away from the real issues that confront the country.
Though Bush is preferable to Kerry, he has also avoided the important issues. The issues below should be on the table:
• We have a massive trade deficit of over $600 billion a year that is continuing to grow. In 10 or 20 years nothing will be built here and we will be deeply in debt to and dependent on our “trading partners.” We will be an economic colony or worst a political colony of Asia.
Why isn’t trading away our equity for consumer goods an election issue?
• We have a $420 billion federal deficit, and we have had a federal deficit continually for over 25 years. These deficits are a tax on our children and grandchildren. What do you think will happen if our foreign creditors who buy most of our debt decide to stop? Perhaps the next great depression?
Why isn’t federal debt an issue anymore?
• Our tax system is a Byzantine nightmare. It is so complicated very few of us can file our returns without professional help. That professional help and other “compliance costs” are a hidden tax of hundreds of billions of dollars per year. Additionally an income-based tax system instead of a consumption-based system tax discourages investment and saving.
Why do you think we have the lowest personal savings rate in the world? Why isn’t the Linder fair tax in the news as an issue? It is highly regarded as a solution to our need for tax reform.
• Fifty years ago we barely had a population of 150 million. Now we have almost 290 million. Unrestricted immigration is going to turn our pretty country into Bangladesh. We can no longer be the population safety valve for the world.
• We have nearly one lawyer for every 100 workers in this country. No other country has nearly this ratio. No other country has a tort system that allows the legal community to extort billions from the hard-working business people of the country. No innovative, entrepreneurial activity can take place safely in our legal environment.
• Terrorism is a problem. But I really don’t think we will solve it by spending hundreds of billions of dollars turning the Middle Eastern countries into democracies (either with or without U.N. help).
Unfortunately the best way to fight terrorism throughout history has been to be a better terrorist. For instance the Romans would have put a whole village to the sword in retribution for a terrorist act. It is barbaric, but people do not attack nations who they are deathly afraid of.
It is un-American and barbaric but in the end we will have to threaten the Islamic world with genocide to get them to back down. It would be better if we did this before they get around to setting off a nuke in an American city.
• Last but not least, time is running out to fix the actuarial time-bomb that is Social Security. As the boomers retire, they will bankrupt the federal treasury if we don’t privatize Social Security, raise the retirement age, and cut benefits. Any politician that tells you different is a liar.
This county is going down the tube if we don’t wake up to the real issues that confront us. Neither party is telling us the truth about the real condition that we are in. Why? No matter who wins, the issues will continue to be put off.
Bill Gilmer Fayetteville, Ga. wmgilmer@mindspring.com
So what’s the problem with annexing West Village?
I have been appointed as the chairman of a committee to assess the possible annexation by John Wieland Homes. The committee was formed by the Centennial Home Owners Association, and we have followed much of your opinion concerning this annexation.
Most of our residents and, I’m sure, the surrounding neighborhoods as well, were under the impression that McDuff Parkway would be extended, by whom we did not know.
Due to budget crunches and in-fighting between the city and county, we now find that this is not likely to happen anytime in the foreseeable future unless this annexation proposal passes.
As an association, we came to a consensus to support the annexation in hopes that the extension would relieve the traffic woes that now plague McDuff and Ga. Highway 54 as well as ensuring that any construction would be required to adhere to Peachtree City standards.
At this point in time, we have roughly one-third of the traffic that will exist when Centennial, Cedarcroft, and Chadsworth at Ashton Reserve are built out.
It is not uncommon to sit through three to five cycles of the light to leave McDuff and head east on Hwy. 54.
Increases in this traffic will have an adverse effect on our and other neighborhood property values. This effect would have a much higher impact than the extension of McDuff.
By having the one way in and one way out, we are at risk of being severed from emergency services should McDuff have a washout.
It is our understanding that the Fayette County Board of Education would like to see the extension for the possible construction of Centennial Elementary School.
What we support is the extension of McDuff Parkway tying into Ga. Highway 74 at the Kedron South intersection. That would provide a traffic light, and if you have ever attempted to turn south onto Hwy. 74 from Kedron South, you would appreciate that.
It is our understanding that the railroad crossing that CSX will require, will provide full coverage of the crossing in both directions, alleviating the possibility of cars trying to go around the crossing.
This type of crossing would also allow CSX to no longer blow their horn, which would reduce the noise around Arden Lee, Pinegate, Honeysuckle Ridge, Blueberry Hill, and Centennial.
We have come to the conclusion that you don’t support this annexation. Are you opposed to annexation in any form, or is it just this property that you oppose?
Please don’t be insulted by my next question, but is it really the annexation that you oppose or is it an opportunity to do battle with Mayor Steve Brown?
All homeowners in this area have an obvious investment in the outcome of this annexation. It is our hopes that with the extension of McDuff and that extension having a Wieland look that the entire stretch of McDuff would become an attractive parkway.
We are aware that the Wynnmeade Homeowners Association is working hard at changing the perception of Wynnmeade and we are planning on meeting with them and the other HOAs to hopefully achieve a consensus that supports this annexation.
As the editor of The Citizen, we hope that you will rally behind us to help in resolving this issue.
Dana Kinser Peachtree City, Ga.
[The editor replies: A cursory check of The Citizen’s archives reveals that I opposed annexation of the West Village during the Lenox administration, before the current mayor had embarked upon a political career and well before most folks even knew who Mr. Brown was.
My antipathy toward annexations began during the mid-1980s when Fayetteville went through political upheavals about annexing many hundreds of acres west of the then-city limits. The land was subsequently annexed, de-annexed and then portions re-annexed. The editor believes that every annexation should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism regarding its touted “benefits” for the community.
The benefits of higher density and increased commercial uses almost entirely accrue to the developers, who take the money and run, while the hidden, recurring costs of city services and increased traffic belong forever to the city’s (and in the case of new schools, the county’s) taxpayers.
My position: Don’t just tell me annexation is good for the residents; compare costs of alternatives and prove it.]
Jacob lost his battle Monday
At 3 Monday morning, my beautiful little grandchild lost his battle with brain-stem cancer.
Thousands of prayers, love, nothing helped, now we are left to tell two little children that their brother is gone.
Pray now for strength for his family to carry on. Pray for cancer research to find a cause for this horrible disease that takes children in the prime of their life.
Heaven must be rejoicing at this hour to have him among them, to tell them new stories about things he has read.
A story comes to mind that should have told me years ago that there was something different about this little boy.
A hawk kept flying down and eating his baby chick. Jacob stood on the porch and pointed his finger at the hawk and said “Hawk, in the name of Jesus, go away and eat no more of my chickens.”
The hawk left and didn’t come back. Most 6-year-olds would never have thought of this.
Pray for a broken heart. Remember us in your prayers.
LeGay Saul sfoxylegay@bellsouth.net
PTC firefighters go beyond call of duty to help family
Words cannot express how much we appreciate the Peachtree City Fire Department and their volunteers.
On the Saturday of Labor Day weekend a tree fell into our dining room. There was debris everywhere and a big hole in our house.
Firemen and volunteers came to our rescue within minutes.
First, they cleaned up the interior of our house by removing broken items and sweeping floors.
Next, they worked diligently to secure a tarp over the exterior of the house.
Lastly, additional firemen returned to our house the next day. They added another tarp to help protect us from the approaching Frances storm.
When the heavy wind and rain came, our way we stayed safe and dry.
We would like to recognize the Peachtree City Fire Department and their volunteers for their thoughtfulness in our time of need. You all are amazing people!
Adam and Kimberly Fisher Peachtree City, Ga.
The Duchess goes after C of C, PTC
It was good of controversial Editor Calamity Cal to print a column by our copycat friend Buster, The Bard of Braelinn, in last week’s edition of “The Citizen Fishwrap.”
Buster had everything right except the point about the anti-business Fayette Chamber.
He should have known that King Bob is not the only culprit calling the shots on the Chamber Board. His ally, Jimbo Pace of Group VI fame, and the wife of Jimbo’s business partner (Turner) are the real force behind the self-serving policies espoused by The Chamber, usually, against the wishes of the membership.
This is the same crowd who recently dismissed the Chamber’s top executive who questioned the Chamber’s inappropriate stance in the Tennis Center mess. It may be time for the Chamber membership to again take charge of the organization.
Buster was dead right about Annie being mad as stew that her daughter was not appointed Peachtree City solicitor, as if we needed one.
In a related Garden Club rumor, it is said that a political race is shaping up between Annie’s daughter, Susan Brown, and Allison Chambers to replace Murray Ragweed on the City Council.
The word among among politicos is that Ragweed is out whether or not he chooses to run for reelection.
We can’t wait to see “All Spice” Allison and “Superwoman” Susan debating the proposed new dress code for city employees, because both prospective candidates promote interesting views.
The Garden Club members have also followed the case of the moving house in the Peninsula with interest until everything got real quiet, a sure sign of trouble.
It seems that Fiery Fedor Family noticed the ground under their new million-dollar home shifting and causing cracks in the walls.
They reported their problem to Builder Bearden, who quickly responded that he would fix it, buy it, or replace it with a double-wide trailer.
The Fiery Fedor Family responded by locking Builder Bearden out of the home and banning him from the premises.
Political Opportunist Mud Flap Brown heard of the stand-off, visited the site and announced to the press that the home was built on a construction debris burial pit.
Courageous Tom Carty, chief city building inspector, bailed the mayor out by issuing a statement that his boss was on the right elevator for a change but stopped on the wrong floor.
Courageous Tom contended the home was not built on a burial pit but on fill-dirt which was not properly compacted.
Then things really got bizarre! Builder Bearden alleged that he “wanted to compact the soil but the Fedor Family wouldn’t let him.”
He also passed the word that the Fedor Family didn’t really own the house because the transaction never closed.
A confused city staff decided to settle the issue by condemning one room. I repeat, one room!
We checked with our friend Earnest the Engineer, who did some higher math calculations and determined that “if one room falls in, it has implications for the stability of the rest of the home, particularly the rooms situated above the condemned room.”
We can’t wait to get an update on the moving house. My bridge partner Alice thinks everyone involved in this drama is on shaky ground.
Enough said!
Duchess Andrea of Aberdeen Village
Tennis Center profit: What a novel idea
Epistle to the Editor
Boy, howdy, that Mr. Robert “Kissin’ Somebody’s Behind” Peterson really sent a chill up the old villagers’ spines when he wrote a letter to Scribe Beverly saying that we should name the tennis center after the Peachtree “Embarrassing” Bank.
That’s kind of like naming your local synagogue after Adolph Hitler.
“Kissin’ Somebody’s Behind” Peterson demanded that Mayor “Cheery” Brown use the profits from the tennis center and the amphitheater to pay back the bank.
Profit: Hey, what a concept! I can’t ever recall hearing the P-Word associated with the amphitheater and tennis center before when the “Non-Development” Authority was running them.
The new boys get the things to turn a profit for the first time ever and now Peterson wants to pay back those wolves in bankers’ clothing.
Hurricane Frances made me the happiest villager in the Peachy City! My neighbor’s big oak tree fell on his teenager’s car.
I haven’t been awakened by the boom, boom, thump, thump of the little grubber’s car stereo for the last five nights in a row.
My blood pressure is down and I no longer suffer from constipation. I am more rested and Mrs. Buster is starting to see me more.
The little grubber didn’t need a vehicle anyway because all he does is sit in those darn fast food drive-through lines waiting for another allotment of greasy food to stuff down his pimpled face.
The whole reason we are experiencing high fuel prices is the fact that all of those overweight teens are constantly sitting in those drive-through lines burning up perfectly good gas.
Don’t complain to the little grubber’s mother because she’ll tell you that the little darling is not capable of doing anything wrong.
When the youngster is finally caught breaking the law, she’ll then tell you that the police are harassing the poor child.
Beware of pimpled-faced children driving nicer cars than most of the adults in the subdivision!
Well, A.G. “Curly” VanLandingham wrote a gaseous letter to Scribe Beverly about that bad old Mayor “Cheery” Brown. “Curly’s” letter had the same effect on the reader as eating two pints of pinto beans (pass the Gas-X tablets).
The discourse was one of Curly’s finer works as it contained at least a handful of words that were over two syllables in length.
Ain’t it funny how hard “Emperor” Dunn and the three stooges work to discredit Mayor “Cheery.” They are using the same tactics tried by the “Non-Development” Authority of Peachy City.
The villagers aren’t stupid. If he weren’t on to something they wouldn’t be so defensive.
Having the mayor going after those boys is reminiscent of watching steer wrestling. Pull on them horns long enough and you will eventually bring that steer down. Curly, if you can’t stand the heat, try the living room.
The Fayette “Keystone” Chamber of Commerce is saying that using one million of our tax dollars to pay back the “Embarrassing” Bank is the moral thing to do. Who’s code of moral conduct are they using? Maybe they are using the Attila the Hun how-to book on achieving moral excellence.
I mean that we are talking some people that were voted “most likely to be served with a search warrant” in their senior class.
The “Non-Development” Authority Chairman was also an officer at the “Embarrassing” Bank. These evil villagers are so close to one another that they could share the same underpants.
Our neighbors to the north in T-Town now have liquor by the drink at their restaurants. Being able to have liquor served with their tacos should really help the local townies dull the pain of having their county tax dollars being put to good use on the other side of the county.
Those tricky Lutherans are still overcrowded and looking for a rezoning and those uppity Methodist are going to rip down more trees on Robinson Road while they continue to ruin a perfectly good building on the Peachy Parkway.
The Presbyterians are awfully quiet, though. The village rumor is that they don’t have the cash to make any bold moves and are probably owed money by the old “Non-Development” Authority of Peachy City.
How does “Presbyterian Tennis Center” sound? You could pray while you play — naaah.
You have to admit that the villagers living near the Lutheran church are hard up for decent arguments. For some reason the Walgreens store will destroy them and yet the Eckerds that was next to grocery store on the Peachy Parkway for years was never a problem.
For goodness sake, there is a Kroger and 15 other stores that we enter from the parkway and they have never been a problem to the adjacent villagers, but if you add a drug store on the corner, the whole world will come to an end.
The Walgreens is a perfect fit because they might have something for the anxious villagers to calm them down. Just being able to get your Viagra prescription filled on your golf cart is reason enough.
Buster The Bard of Braelinn
Kerry broke faith with his comrades
Another blast of drafty diatribe from Tim Parker and we are treated to a thousand words plus on a subject which could have been addressed in three paragraphs, even to the unread and unwashed conservative.
The situation is fairly straightforward for those of us who were there, and Parker was not, barely into high school in 1971.
None of John Kerry’s testimony has been taken out of context and if one really takes the time to read same, as I did from Vietnam in that year, it is obvious that he was the lying mouthpiece and most central player of a cast who broke a sacred trust with their comrades-in-arms.
In fact, it is the very context of Mr. Kerry’s testimony, which does not focus on the elected civilian officials whose decisions to prosecute the war put uniformed men and women in harm’s way, but rather suggests explicitly that his larger “band of brothers” were war criminals, that makes it so objectionable.
This can be a difficult concept to grasp if one has not been in a profession such as policeman or firefighter where one, daily, may be called upon to put his/her life at stake and trust in the courage of one’s fellow “warriors,” and where none consider themselves heroes though there may be heroes among them.
“I would like to talk, representing all those veterans, and say that several months ago in Detroit, we had an investigation at which over 150 honorably discharged and many very highly decorated veterans testified to war crimes committed in Southeast Asia, not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command....” John Kerry, April 22, 1971.
Kerry states, just before this paragraph, that he is representing a group of 1,000, not the 150 which Parker mistakenly identifies while “re-reading” the testimony.
The numbers are unimportant, but a single glance at the above direct quote shows how blatant was Kerry in breaching that trust by impugning all of us serving at that time.
If “day-to-day basis” and “all levels of command” do not indict us all, we may as well be speaking a foreign tongue unknown to any of us.
Many of our POWs of that war have stated the tremendous damage done by the Kerrys and the Fondas in helping worsen the wretched conditions of their already inhumane imprisonments.
The right, the wrong, and the inept conduct of that war are not the complaint of the many; Kerry’s lack of character is!
No war, sadly, is without its atrocities, as My Lai of that war and the prison abuses in Iraq more recently demonstrate. But I would stake my life on the fact that American soldiers are on the “isolated incidents” end of that gruesome statistic.
At least Jane Fonda had the decency to apologize.
Les Dyer Peachtree City, Ga.
Blame Bush for hurricanes, damaged trailers
The aftermath of the disasters created by hurricanes Charley and Frances is just another example of the incompetence of the [Bush] Administration.
This Administration failed to destroy Hurricane Charley before it reached U.S. shores. It failed to secure our boarders against illegal hurricanes. It failed to protect the people living in Florida, the Carolinas and Virginia.
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and FEMA budgets have not been fully funded by this Administration, leaving them woefully unprepared to handle the tragedy. They lacked the protective clothing necessary to carry out the mission.
The Administration knew there were people living in Florida in house trailers that were not tied down and thus vulnerable to extreme damage and loss of life. It didn’t pass a single law to prevent this catastrophic loss of property.
It has even been reported the Administration risked lives to save the profits of its big oil company buddies. There is a rumor that as the hurricane crossed the Florida Keys, weather forecasters concluded the hurricane was on a direct path to hit oil rigs in the Gulf.
The Vice President held a secret meeting with oil executives and NOAA. The minutes of that meeting are not being released but it is clear that a deal was made that NOAA would divert the hurricane over land to avoid the oil rigs.
It is also rumored that the President, who has a vendetta against Cuba, actually had the Air Force steer the hurricane directly over the communist nation to destroy their ability to create weapons of mass destruction.
The Administration decided not to evacuate Orlando because Disney World sponsors “Gay Days.”
Senator Kerry, on the other hand would have handled the disasters perfectly.
Because of his four and one-half months of service in Vietnam, two controversial medals for valor, and three medals for scratches in action, Sen. John Kerry would have had a plan to deal with all this.
He would double spending for NOAA and FEMA and he would create at least 10 million jobs.
Sen. Kerry would have acted more quickly. He would have included the UN, France and Germany in finding a peaceful solution.
He would have proposed a UN resolution condemning hurricanes. Sen. Kerry would have attacked the hurricanes in a more sensitive manner.
For sure, Senator Kerry is the man we need to be our next president.
(You want ridiculous? Imagine a President Kerry. Imagine Secretary of Defense Howard Dean. Imagine Secretary of State Kennedy.)
Randy Lee Acworth, Ga.
Kerry’s votes are consistently anti-defense
Less than a year after the first World Trade Center attack in 1993, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry offered an amendment in the Senate (No. 1452) that would have slashed an additional $4 billion from the national security appropriations bill, which had all ready been cut by $18 billion.
His amendment would have reduced our defenses by $25 billion over five years, and would have sliced $1 billion from 1994 intelligence funding, which had previously been reduced by more than 13 percent since 1989.
Fellow Democrat Dennis DeConcini, chairman of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, observed that Kerry’s amendment would have further reduced intelligence spending by $5 billion over five years.
The amendment was voted down by 70 percent of Democrats.
Kerry apparently failed to appreciate the seriousness of terrorism, which was to take several hundred lives in the next five years.
Incredibly, he now criticizes the Bush administration for neglecting the terror war, and not anticipating the 9/11/01 attacks. Even more incredibly, the signs at the Democratic convention touted “A Stronger More Secure America.” How can that be with the consistent Kerry record of weakening America?
When elected to the U.S. Senate in 1984, Kerry championed the “nuclear freeze” that would have insured eventual Soviet nuclear dominance.
He has also worked against the development of missile defense systems.
His record includes a “no” vote on the Patriot short range anti-missile missile that has protected our troops from Saddam’s Scuds, as well as working to de-fund the intercontinental anti-missile defense system that would protect us from the Chinese and North Korean threats.
Kerry also opposed funding for: the B-1 and B-2 bombers; the F-15, F-14A and F-14D fighters; the AH-64 Apache helicopter; the AV-8B Harrier short takeoff jet; the Aegis fleet air defense cruiser; and the Trident missile.
He sought to reduce procurement of the M-1 Abrams tank, the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle, the Tomahawk cruise missile, the Trident D-5 submarine-launched missile, the Titan 4 missile (which launched our all-important communications satellites), and the F-16 fighter.
There is hardly one modern weapons system in the U.S. military that he has not opposed at some time.
Kerry was one of the Senate’s strongest critics of policies supporting military resistance to communist aggression.
He characterized the rescue of American students from the communist government of Grenada, which was holding them hostage, as ”a bully’s show of force.”
He characterized our attempts to aid anti-communists in El Salvador as “haughtiness,” then demonstrated that he knew haughtiness by traveling to Managua to attempt his own deal with the Nicaraguan communists, thus undercutting U.S. foreign policy.
Kerry voted against the first Gulf War. He would have resigned Kuwait to Saddam’s torturers and given Saddam a choke-hold on most of the known oil reserves in the Middle East.
Kerry said he believed sanctions would work if given time, but did not specify at what point sanctions would be considered a failure.
After voting for a military solution to Saddam, Kerry voted against the funds to arm our troops to finish the effort.
If all of Kerry’s votes were not reversed by the Congress, and Saddam had gotten the sanctions lifted, Saddam would not only still be in power, but could soon have intercontinental nuclear missiles, the defenses for which Kerry opposed.
During 19 years in the Senate, Kerry worked tirelessly for a weaker, less secure, America.
William Fielder Peachtree City, Ga.
[Fielder is a retired Army officer with 40 years experience in U.S. intelligence.]
Traffic scary at site of proposed Walgreens
I live in the Highlands subdivision and have lived there since my birth in January of 1994.
I get on the bus at the entrance of our neighborhood. I’m scared sometimes. I know I’m a kid and nobody cares about my point of view but the traffic is horrible there NOW!
If there were a Walgreens on the corner of Peachtree Parkway and Ga. Highway 54, it would be even more horrible.
There have been people in our neighborhood who have been hit at that intersection. My mom went to a beautiful church which now has a Ruby Tuesdays on the land where the church used to be. What do you think God would say about this?
My friend goes to the Lutheran Church, and I would hate to hear her tell her kids that she went to a church which was also beautiful but is now a Walgreens.
Please don’t change the zoning of this property. Keep it Office Institutional and not Limited Use Commercial. Drug stores cannot take the place of a beautiful church like Christ Our Shepherd.
Maggie Plunkett, age 10 Peachtree City, Ga.
PTC greenbelts could use some intelligent clearing
I just read the article about the proposed tree ordinance for Peachtree City. In the article there were some references to people cutting trees and brush on the greenbelt in order to have a lake view.
I have often wondered why anyone would pay a premium price for property on a lake but city ordinances kept you from even seeing the lake.
I think that someone should start looking at our greenbelts. Does the definition of a greenbelt mean that it has to remain a jungle and that no matter what grows there it must be preserved?
Personally, [I think] some of our greenbelts look pretty bad when some brush clearing and cutting would enhance the look and utilization of the land. I would like to see this come up for discussion with city officials.
Over the last few years I have been bounced around several times when I call the city to ask why can’t some of the brush and trees be removed on the road across Lake Kedron.
There are beautiful views there that would be greatly enhanced by some selective cutting. You can still be a city of trees but not have to live in a jungle.
I would also hope that if new rules are established that safety would also be considered when tree cutting requests are made.
I have been removing pines around my house for several years and still have several large ones that need to go. The price of tree removal is high now but adding permit fees and licenses for companies will just increase the cost.
Pine trees are nice in a forest but they are terrible in one’s yard and every builder in Peachtree City used to leave a dozen or so in your front yard.
I’m sure that is why we have a lot of trees being removed now as these scraggly pines have grown up and threaten to smash your house when a strong wind comes along.
Dwight Wilson Peachtree City, Ga.
FCHS ‘truant” can get some help with her problems
For the “truant” teen who wants to go to school: As a leader in the dropout prevention efforts for over 13 years, the Truancy Intervention Project (TIP) would like to commend [the teen] for [the teen’s] strength and perseverance as she struggles for her right to a proper education.
In a time when only 60 percent of Georgia’s children graduate from high school and Georgia ranks 35th in the nation’s highest dropout rates, it is so refreshing to hear of a young person fighting to stay in school versus fighting for their right to drop out.
Everyday, TIP works with children in similar situations to yours and we offer the following advice with the hope that it will provide you with a realistic answer to your situation.
If you can demonstrate that you are financially and emotionally independent, you can probably petition your local juvenile or superior court for emancipation.
You need to show that you are taking care of yourself, trying to go to school and basically doing everything that you are supposed to do without the assistance or support of your mother.
Under the law, to be considered emancipated, a person under the age of 18 must be one or more of the following:
• Self-supporting: working and able to provide own housing, food, clothing, medical care, etc.
• Married.
An emancipated child remains under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court until 18. An emancipated child may face legal restrictions that are based on age such as the ability to sign binding contracts, obtain a loan, etc.
Begin this process by contacting your local juvenile court to learn more about the petition process for the county, and you may want to seek legal counsel to help you show why you should be emancipated from your mother.
Please know that you are welcome to contact the Truancy Intervention Project office in Atlanta at 404-224-4741 if you have any questions and we wish you the best!
Caren Cloud, staff attorney The Truancy Intervention Project The Romae T. Powell Juvenile Justice Center Atlanta, Ga.
Thanks for covering Flat Rock AME event
On behalf of the entire Flat Rock AME church family, I express sincere gratitude and appreciation for the news coverage [Carolyn Cary] provided during the celebration of our 150th church anniversary on Sunday, Aug. 22, 2004.
We are grateful for The Citizen being the only local news media that believed an historic occasion such as this was newsworthy.
As the oldest black church in Fayette County, we are particularly proud of this church’s heritage and seek to do greater outreach and ministry in this community.
Your outstanding journalism and caring spirit helped publicize our heritage and our mission. Thank you for believing in this small, yet Godly led, congregation.
The Rev. Edward Johnson, pastor Flat Rock AME Church Fayetteville, Ga.
Voters must push for no-smoking regulations
To get nonsmoking rules for Fayetteville, Tyrone, and other Fayette County residents, please note:
Your elected officials are waiting to hear from you. It is up to you to protect yourself and your families.
