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Letters to the Editor

The things you read in the paper lately ...

When Mark Twain was made temporary editor of a small rural weekly magazine, his flights of agricultural fancy evoked such strong response from his readers, they made their way to his offices and petitioned him to verify their sanity.

Having read the latest issue of The Citizen, I find myself in a similar state of mind: am I mad or you?

On page one, we find the county tax collector, an unpopular man to be sure, cited for displaying a shotgun, a raffle prize, to his friends and employees. A county marshal, no doubt a recipient of an unfavorable real estate assessment, issued the citation upon reflection and a somewhat belated study of the penal code.

A woman is arrested and jailed for the offense of failing to report the neutering of her now dead cat. The estimable Judge Fletcher Sams seems taken aback at the miscarriage of justice, but not to the extent he would punish the obvious transgressors.

The principal of Booth Middle School is alarmed at the sexual proclivities of his charges and admonishes the parents of same to give their children a good talking to.

It is my firm belief, one not shared by Mr. Lombard, that the children in question already know their parents stand on sexual misconduct in school and further discourse will be quite ... impotent?

The newly installed public defender, due to an unfortunate “accident” (a word now completely irrelevant to police and lawyers), faces the prospect of finding himself his first truly needy client.

That’s page one. Inside, in the rather lengthy section titled “Letter, faxes, e-mail,” we glimpse the madness that has surely afflicted our community.

County Commissioner Pfeifer (a pseudonym if ever I saw one) tells us he’s on a mission from God and shares his life-altering experience in grueling detail to a frankly amazed audience. Is this man allowed sharp objects?

Lt. Colonel Bruce Jordan [of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department], a thoroughly ambitious man if not a scrupulous adherent to the Constitution (not the newspaper, sir) rambles through a sort of apology to you, our esteemed editor, then ends with the indubitable truth that no one really understands him save Reba, his dog.

Cal Thomas advises us that God has selected those in authority over us and we dare not rebel against them lest we offend Him as well. Hello, Idi Amin!

And grace and selflessness as superior weapons in the fight for Terri Schiavo’s life? I submit a glass of water and a crust of bread will aid her better.

The entire purpose in trying to save Terri Schiavo is to save Terri Schiavo, not make a political statement. Future discourse will serve her not a whit. And a further note: it is not the courts that are a mess that needs be reformed. We have met the enemy and ....

It gets worse. “Bubba” ball barks, Mr. Parker vs. Mr. Dickinson, bicyclists vs. little leaguers, Joe Maloy against the disabled, Trey Hoffman against (as near as I can figure) everything, John Munford against Dell Computers (“None dare call it paranoia”) and the Peachtree (Ga.) Little League against large red ants.

And this is all before an innocent turns the page to a section euphemistically called “Free Speech.” Wow.

My only hope is that the circulation of The Citizen extends not beyond the county’s borders and that every last copy is collected from its readers and destroyed without a remaining trace. Otherwise, I’m afraid a county marshal will come and take us all away.

Bill McNew
Fayetteville, Ga.

Sen. Seabaugh, why so selective with ID?

[State Senator Mitch Seabaugh,] how can you require a most stringent ID requirement (accepting only five, most of which are not readily available to all voters, and non-driving photo IDs being available in only 50 places for 159 counties) for “in person” voting, while there are 17 forms of ID accepted for voter registration and absolutely NONE required for absentee ballot voting?

Common sense (and the AARP) says there are other considerations than security in choosing to only tighten one of three areas.

We had the same concern with golf cart driving for senior citizens in Peachtree City when a driver’s license was required. My neighbor lost her means of getting to the grocery store until we changed that law back.

Why did you chose only one area to tighten?

Kathie Cheney
Peachtree City, Ga.

Walgreens instead of a church is a LULU (locally unwanted land use)

How could a CUCU become a LULU? More importantly, what in heaven’s name could this have to do with the proposed demolition of Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church in Peachtree City?

If this all sounds like acronym alphabet soup read on. A LULU is a newly coined term for Locally Unwanted Land Use in a “Field Guide To Sprawl” dictionary written by esteemed Yale professor of architecture, Dolores Hayden.

In an AJC article she says, “If you can’t name things you can not define problems, and if you can’t define problems, you can’t correct them.”

A Walgreens at the heart of the Peachtree City would be a LULU. This bears repeating. It would be a Locally Unwanted Land Use.

That is what more than 1,600 local signers of a petition opposing the commercial rezoning of Christ Our Shepherd church property are saying. The most common reaction has been, “We do not need another drug store and certainly not there.”

Does this matter to Chicago-based Walgreen Company? No. The very first line of their 2003 Annual Report, after the customary letter to the stockholders, reads, “We build stores where we want to be, rather than where sites happen to be.” Look it up.

Site selection is critical to Walgreens. They tried to buy out the Church Of Latter-Day Saints (with a much smaller building complex on the diagonal corner across from Christ Our Shepherd) first and were rebuffed.

Christ Our Shepherd is, however, probably neither the second nor last church that Walgreens is trying to buy out, demolish and replace somewhere in America.

Think about it. Getting a pillar of the community with a highly respected pastor behind a commercial rezoning request simply makes good business sense.

However, should this obvious tactic make a LULU more palatable for our City Council? What it unfortunately has done is focus much of the issue on the church rather than on the suitability of Walgreens’ selected site. This also bears repeating.

For me it’s about Walgreens’ commercial rezoning, not the fine folks at Christ Our Shepherd. The central issue is the potential long-range impact of setting the wrong rezoning precedent at this intersection for the wrong reasons. Yes, money talks, but we do not always have to listen.

So what is a CUCU? Hint: It has nothing to do with a clock. It is an acronym for Covenant Undone Community Upset.

In the 1975 sale of land to the Board of America Missions of the Lutheran Church of America there was a long list of restrictive covenants.

First and foremost, “No portion of the property shall be used except for church and church related purposes.” The restrictions were valid for 20 years.

Now the very same people are telling us that by placing another 20-year restriction in the form of LUC (Limited Use Commercial) the community will be protected. What is the old saying? Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

The decision to sell to Walgreens was, however, not easy. What congregation would want a signature church, fountain and grounds to be bulldozed? Based on what we are hearing a lot of members still don’t.

The original intent of the restrictive covenant was clear. Walgreens’ approach is equally clear. They build 24-hour stores where they want them to be, rather than where sites happen to be. Still, a property owner has rights. One of which is the right to request a rezoning.

Churches are private property owners, not public entities. They already have special property privileges in recognition of community service. Churches do not pay taxes and they can build in any zoning, residential or otherwise.

The rezoning to commercial is what so many in the community oppose. It is an over-simplification, but for many this seems to be a case of the tail wagging the dog.

Only about 3 percent of Peachtree citizens are members of Christ Our Shepherd, and we already have nine pharmacies in town with a tenth on the way at Target.

If not a Walgreens plus another business to be named, then what? Christ Our Shepherd is in my opinion a resilient, engaged congregation whose ministry will grow no matter what the decision. They also have other options.

Chicago-based Walgreen Company probably would not even notice. They are growing the business. In an average week Walgreens opens one new store a day and two on Sundays. Losing one corner in Peachtree City certainly won’t affect their stock price. There are of course more suitable building sites in town, with the proper zoning, for commercial development.

Walgreens also has other LULUs. Just talk to the residents of Buckhead where jackhammers recently began tearing apart yet another community icon, and for what? They are relentless. Walgreens knows what they want and they usually get it, regardless of the cost.

This is a very serious issue that hopefully I have not trivialized, but rather added more definition. What we are hearing across the community is that this is a real LULU, Locally Unwanted Land Use. What do you think?

B. Ray Helton
Peachtree City, Ga.

Senior city proposal sounds good

I have just returned “home” to Newnan after 40 years in the big wide world. I am a retired Air Force pilot and now teach in this community in the same school system I went through.

I am acutely aware that I will not remain young indefinitely (I am 60 now), and the time will come when I may not be able to keep up my home even with my wife’s help.

I do not want to leave the general Newnan area since I grew up here. Frankly, I want to die here when the time comes.

The option of a community being developed where my wife and I could live happily and receive possibly needed assistance would be a gift indeed.

I believe this plan to be sound and will be an asset to the Coweta-Fayette area. We all appreciate your keeping us informed on a development of this magnitude and possible benefit to the communities in this area.

Clayton Knight
Newnan, Ga.

Proposal short of sufficient retail space

Fayette County apparently still has not learned two basic laws of real estate:

1. If you allow for residential development, you must assume that these folks will need an appropriate amount of commercial-office development.

In other words, goods and services need to be located as close to where folks live, so that they do not have to get into cars, create more traffic, burn gas, pollute the air, etc.

2. It is the tax dollars that come from commercial and office development, and not the tax dollars from homeowners, which drives most municipal and county budgets.

Therefore, to allow for lots of homes, you must offset that by allowing the appropriate amount of commercial-office development to balance the budget.

The article states that commercial development would be limited to 10,000 square feet of office and retail per 300 homes built.

This is far, far less than what will be required. That is the size of one Walgreens.

Therefore, for the folks in those 300 homes, if they want to eat, drop off their dry cleaning, go to a dentist, then, [they must get] into their cars and [drive].

Stan Citron
Southern Atlantic Associates, Inc.
stancitron@bellsouth.net

Schiavo: Another Easter execution

I find it quite ironic that the last serious legal efforts to thwart the killing of Terri Schiavo would be finished on Easter weekend. The similarities between her death and that of Jesus are too close to be just mere coincidence.

They were both betrayed by the kiss of one who purported to love them. Their betrayer also did so out of greed, Judas for 30 pieces of silver and Michael Schiavo originally for the malpractice settlement, but now to free himself up to legitimize his extramarital affair.

The cases of Jesus and Terri both made their way through the appropriate legal system. At each level along the way, false testimony was given in an attempt to influence the result, and the judges ruled so as not to contradict the views a highly vocal group of people, the Pharisees in the days of Christ and the right-to-kill crowd of today. At least in the case of Jesus, the tribunals recognized that the testimony was untrue.

The cases finally made it to the highest judicial body in the land. Pontius Pilate handed Jesus over for crucifixion, a horrific form of execution, even though Pilate found no fault in Christ.

Terri Schiavo’s case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which affirmed without uttering even a single word of explanation her execution by the equally grotesque method of starvation.

Lastly, Mary the mother of Jesus stayed by his side throughout the trial, the beatings, the mockeries and the execution, enduring the severe emotional pain of watching horror upon horror inflicted on her son.

Likewise, Mary the mother of Terri and Bob, Terri’s father, have remained by her bed for 15 years, bearing not only the distress of her condition, but having to see their daughter suffer an agonizing, and equally inhumane death by starvation.

However, there are three significant differences in the two scenarios. In the case of Jesus, Judas was very remorseful for what he had done and hanged himself.

In Terri’s case, Michael Schiavo showed absolutely no remorse and spent a large portion of the money intended to help rehabilitate her for lawyers trying to convince everyone she should be killed.

The second difference is that the highest judicial body in the time of Christ stated that Jesus was actually innocent, but that the execution had to be allowed because of a technicality in the law.

In Terri Schiavo’s case, the highest court did not make any reference to her innocence, staying deathly silent while watching a helpless girl be eliminated by a system which showed nothing but contempt for the lives of those least able to help themselves.

Lastly, Jesus only had to suffer on the cross for six hours. Terri had to endure the cruelty of starvation for 13 days before she finally succumbed.

The bottom line is that Jesus and Terri Schiavo were both executed to satisfy certain highly vocal political groups rather than being protected by the legal system designed to look after their welfare.

J.V. Cuff Kelso
Peachtree City, Ga.

Animal Control ignores report of mutilated cat

On March 24, I found my cat mutilated. I was distraught and called my parents who live across the street. My father called the Fayette County Animal Control to let them know, and at the time we thought it had been done by an animal.

They weren’t interested. Which surprised me since there might be a rabid animal running around. My father put our cat in a box and I told him my husband would want to bury him when he got home in a few hours.

I went back out and looked at our cat and realized that something wasn’t right. When my husband got home, I told him he probably wanted a camera to take pictures because the way he looked wasn’t normal.

My husband and I have rescued and helped pets our whole lives. When he looked at our cat, he said he had never in his life seen anything like it. That he had seen animals attacked by animals, and animals run over; but nothing like this.

By this time it was too late to call any one. The next morning we called our vet and they agreed it didn’t sound like an animal killed it and to call Animal Control.

We called Animal Control again reporting animal cruelty this time and they said that if, “We kept our animals inside that this wouldn’t happen.”

We insisted they come out so that it didn’t happen to someone else, considering another separate animal cruelty case had been reported several months prior (September if I am not mistaken).

After half of the day and they still hadn’t showed up, we called and they said they were busy handling “dog bite cases,” but that they would be out.

We never heard anything from them. So, that night we put up a reward sign for info on the death of cat. Within 11 hours someone had taken it down. That confirmed my suspicions.

I just want Fayette County to know that their tax dollars are being wasted as far as Animal Control is concerned and that their pets aren’t safe. And that there is a reward for information on the death of my cat.

You can reach me (Kristie or my husband Gene) at 770-364-3085.

Kristie Garrett
Fayetteville, Ga.

Bikers, motorists can share roads

I am an avid bike rider and feel there’s nothing better than riding around south Fayette County in the spring.

In response to the person who commented on biking in the Free Speech section (March 16, 2005) wondering how we’ve become the unofficial biking spot of the world, it’s because it is a very pretty place, not yet spoiled by strip malls and massive subdivisions. Would you rather have it that way?

Please don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Biking is an environmentally friendly, healthy, and fun sport. What this person may have an issue with is what I’ve noticed, that cyclists can be rude when it comes to traffic.

When they know there is a car behind them, I’ve seen cyclists ignore the traffic and continue to ride down the middle of the road.

Making motorists angry doesn’t help make bike riding on main roads a safe sport. Ideally, when car and bike come upon each other, the bike should move over as far as possible while the car should slow to a reasonable speed giving the bike some room.

It might require that the car move into the opposite lane a bit but motorists should not do that unless they can see what’s ahead.

I’ve seen many motorists speed past me in the opposite lane while approaching a hill or curve. You wouldn’t do that if you were passing a car; why do that passing a bike? That is a very dangerous thing to do. Please slow down and have a little patience.

I’m sure that bikes and cars can peacefully coexist as long as both are sensitive to the other’s needs. Oh, and one more thing: the people riding bikes are your coworkers, church members, neighbors, people sitting next to you at soccer and baseball games. We are Fayette Countians and we, most definitely, pay taxes.

Beth Riley
Fayetteville, Ga.

Recognize private school students also

In the March 16 edition of your paper, there was an article announcing the names of the participants in the Georgia Geography Bee held April 1 at Georgia University in Milledgeville. Your article left out the names of the participants from the private schools in Fayette County.

Our daughter, Molly Munson, will be participating in this year’s Georgia Geography Bee representing St. Paul Lutheran School in Peachtree City.

We would appreciate it if you would correct this article and include Molly. She has worked very hard to be included in the bee. She was not only her school’s champion but, she also took a written qualifying test. All school champions take this test so the bee will only have 100 participants.

I imagine there are other children from other private schools that you have excluded. You do a real disservice to these children by not mentioning them. They have worked very hard to get into the Geography Bee and the community needs to recognize them. Thank you for your consideration.

Susan and Gary Munson
Peachtree City, Ga.

Restaurant goes extra mile to serve visitor’s dad

I would like to make a public “thank you” to Mike D’Apice and to the Peachtree City Chili’s restaurant for going such a long extra mile to put a smile on my elderly father’s face.

I came from Michigan to visit my father in Senoia last week. I took him to Peachtree City’s Chili’s where he enjoyed their baby-back ribs immensely.

Upon my return home to Michigan, I phoned Mike D’Apice to see if they could find a way to deliver to my father a meal of those ribs he so much enjoyed.

Not only is Mike D’Apice hand-delivering this meal of the heart to my father, he would not even accept payment for it.

Thank you for helping me to express just how special my father is to me.

Roberta Joyce Taylor
White Lake, Mich.