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Wednesday, June 8, 2005 | ||
For past Letters to the Editor, view our Archives by publication date.
Bad Links? | What our Readers Are SayingLetters to the Editor Greg Dunn types let power go to headIm not sure what it says about this community that everyone seems to be running to the paper box every Wednesday to see who got zinged in The Citizens opinion section on any given week. Im sure Cals laughing all the way to the bank. My first instinct was to not respond when Commissioner Greg Dunn zinged me there last week, so I wont respond to him. I will respond to my friends and family who seem to think I am fretting over the matter. Friends, dont sweat it. I have served Fayette County for 26 years. For more than a quarter of a century I have been through scores of county commissioners. Most of them have been good but occasionally you will get the Greg Dunn types who let the part-time positions go to their head and become power crazy. You just have to ride those types out and hope they dont do too much damage. I actually laughed at the last paragraph of Dunns letter when he said, I have asked Sheriff Johnson to restrain Col. Jordan from making unprofessional statements. Yeah, like that happened. Sheriff Johnson and Greg Dunn are not exactly communicating regularly and even when they were, Dunn was, well, less than truthful. The Sheriff is not an easy man to fool. If you were to see them talking today someone please pass the sheriff the salt, all of it! I dont think it is unprofessional of me to tell the public that some of your county commissioners arent telling you the truth. The statement that Greg Dunns number one priority was public safety was also also more than a little hard to swallow. Yeah, and Michael Jacksons number one priority is feeding the children. Im not overly concerned, though. It has been my experience that the public grows tired of the Greg Dunns of this world and will eventually make him go away, leaving his predecessors to fix whatever he has broken. Bruce Jordan
Sheriff should dig into his big pocketsThis letter is in response to Damon Sandersons comments on the Fayette County Sheriffs Department needing more funds for a drug task force. Mr. Sanderson, look no further. How about asking Sheriff Randall Johnson what the value of confiscated goods from drug busts earns his department annually. Please take a good look at the fancy sheriff vehicles we have at our schools, complete with their custom paint jobs. Note the D.A.R.E. PT Cruiser and, of course, our much-needed helicopter and all of the expenses that go with maintaining it. Dont forget the unmarked cars and SUVs pulling you over for a speeding ticket! They are all top of the line vehicles. Dont condemn the Fayette County commissioners for not approving an increase to the sheriffs budget to include two drug task force agents. Ask the sheriff to dig deep into his own pockets and cut back on frivolous expenditures the same as any other business would have to in these times. I personally think closer auditing of the sheriffs budget needs to be evaluated. Ill wager that at least one agent can be paid for with drug money that the sheriffs department apprehends annually. Denise Fair
Lack of manpower endangers task forceIn a recent article, Fayette County Commission Chairman Greg Dunn stated that public safety was his top priority. His outrageous statement made my entire squad nauseous. Please let me introduce myself to you. I am Captain Mike Pruitt, supervising agent in charge, of the Fayette County Sheriffs Drug Task Force (DTF). I have been in law enforcement for 27 years, with the majority of my career assigned to narcotics. The drug problem in Fayette County has steadily grown; however, the number of deputies assigned to the DTF has not increased. We have the same five original positions allocated to the DTF which was formed 16 years ago in 1989. Requests for more manpower have been repeatedly submitted and turned down by the commissioners for the past five years. The need for more positions is demonstrated by our statistics showing a dramatic increase of drug crimes, arrests and complaints. The commissioners resolution to fix our shortage is to simply get the sheriff to move some people around. Deputies cannot simply be moved around. Dunns solution would leave other divisions short-handed and in essence put them in the same position that I am desperately trying to get out of. Commissioner Dunn would have the citizens of Fayette County believe that he supports the Drug Task Force and invited the citizens to take a look at his track record. I would also like for you to do the same. Here are the hard facts: 1. Operating the Drug Task Force with only five agents is extremely dangerous. 2. Clayton and Spalding Counties have over 20 drug agents. Coweta County has over a dozen drug agents. 3. The commissioners rejected additional manpower recommended by the county budget office. 4. There is no Regional Drug Unit, as specified by Commissioner Dunn. 5. All DTF undercover vehicles are purchased with money seized from drug dealers. 6. All undercover and surveillance equipment is furnished from drug seizure funds. 7. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of equipment used to support the DTF daily operations are funded by drug seizure funds. I agree with Commissioner Dunn that you wont find a better equipped drug task force anywhere, but our equipment is the result of hard work and dedication, NOT the product of the Board of Commissioners. The fact is, Commissioner Dunn has tried to keep the Sheriffs Department from receiving any of the drug seizure funds used to purchase all of the above equipment. He has repeatedly refused to sign the federal audit report required by the United States Justice Department, which keeps the records of the DTF in good standings. Please tell me, why would Commissioner Dunn want the honest taxpayers of Fayette County to PAY for equipment when it can be furnished for FREE with drug dealers money? If he cant even give us two additional DTF positions, how would he furnish much needed equipment to fight the war on drugs? In Commissioner Dunns recent letter to the editor, he tried to justify his position by throwing out dollar figures spent in support of law enforcement. The figures were for the construction of the 911 center, new courthouse, new jail, and remodeling of the Sheriffs Department. This has nothing to do with the issue of manpower and the safety of officers. Lets compare apples to apples. The issue at hand is additional manpower required to combat the growing drug problem in our community. The truth of the matter is, we cannot continue to be successful with the drug war with only five agents, and the commission chairman continually turns a deaf ear to our pleas. On a personal level, my agents work an average of 12 to 14 hours a day. They are the most dedicated officers I have ever had the privilege of working with. Because we have to work the equivalent of two shifts, we seldom get to spend quality time with our families. We have missed birthdays, graduations, and many family functions others may take for granted. The strain put on our families is enormous, but we willingly do this because we believe in what were doing. An increase of just two positions will not solve these issues. To be honest, I really need another eight agents, but two would be a start. Commissioner Dunn, unlike you, I grew up in Fayette County. I deal with the drug problem every day and I am telling you that I need help. I am frustrated by not having the personnel to deal with the growing drug problem in this county. I dont get involved with the politics of Fayette County, but I am passionate about the safety of its citizens. You stated, Lieutenant Colonel Jordan and his subordinate are just trying to use scare tactics. Allow me to be clear that I am not in any way acting under the direction of Lt. Col. Jordan. I approached Lt. Col. Jordan myself and requested permission to address this problem and I assure you these are not scare tactics, they are true facts. If you dont want to take my word for it, I implore you to speak with District Attorney Scott Ballard; Juvenile Court Judge Shell; State Court Judge Fletcher Sams, or any of our Superior Court judges, Judge English, Judge Caldwell, Judge Edwards, Judge Hankinson, to verify the dramatic increase in drug offenders in Fayette Countys court system. Commissioner Dunn, please do your homework! Pick up the phone and call the surrounding drug task forces and speak with their commanding officers like the reporter did. Let them tell you personally how ludicrous and unsafe it is to be operating with only five agents in a county with 90,000-plus citizens. I now ask for the citizens of Fayette County to attend the next commission meeting on June 9, and request the commissioners reconsider their stand against the additional manpower needed to keep our streets safe and our community free of drug dealers. Capt. Mike Pruitt
Commissioners, sheriffs department both need to answer questionsCommissioner Dunn, Lt. Col. Jordan, Lt. Jody Thomas and Captain Pruitt: This letter will serve as public inquiry to all of the individuals mentioned in the subject line of this e-mail as to why you are unable to (seemingly) properly staff and manage a drug fighting task force. As a citizen of Fayette County, and one who loves this place dearly, I have faith in both my county commissioners and my police officials. I believe that Commissioner Dunn has the best intentions for the county and I believe that the police officials and officers also have the best intentions for the county and that all of these people want the drugs to stop at the Fayette County line, maybe even before! I have some questions for all concerned parties, including my fellow citizens: 1. Why cant Fayette Countys drug task force have more than five agents? 2. Are they really often working seven days per week, 12-14 hours per day? 3. Why wont the county commissioners authorize more agents? 4. Is the number of officers cited by Commissioner Dunn (200) relevant? If this number is larger than other comparably sized counties, why cant Lt. Col. Jordan reallocate some officers, as Commissioner Dunn suggests? 5. What about the rest of the commissioners? Does Dunn have more authority than the others? If not (and I dont believe he does), where are their voices on this issue? 6. Why cant all parties concerned simply have a meeting of the minds and figure out how to fight this battle effectively? Dont they realize that the longer this bickering goes on the more powerful the drug influence becomes? 7. Why arent more citizens aware that our drug task force is significantly smaller than in other counties and further, why arent questions being asked about why this is the case? 8. If the budget is really that tight, why cant we move money from other, less important areas (amphitheater, decorative parks, etc.) to help fund this extremely high priority area? Can the budget really be THAT tight? I readily admit that I have no formal training in how to run either a county or a police department. However, I am a concerned member of this community and I am ready to do what I can to help defeat the evil that is drugs. I am even willing to pay higher taxes if it means an increased measure of safety for myself and my family. My final point is this: Drugs only take hold where they are welcomed. If there is an increase in drug activity in Fayette County, it is not just because the dealers are increasing their evil activity; it is because they are being bought and used here. It is up to the citizens, not the police department or the county commission, to make sure that our children are educated in such a manner as to keep them from participating in any form of drug activity. I will also contact the county commission directly as well as the Fayetteville Police Department and Fayette County Sheriffs Office for hard data on crime statistics. I welcome responses from other concerned citizens and any of the good officials mentioned in this e-mail. Brendan Carruthers
Tree limb a safety hazard at White RoadI live off White Road in Fayetteville and have noticed a potentially dangerous safety hazard on the corner of White Road and Ga. Highway 92 North. The corner of White Road and the highway has a tree branch that greatly obstructs the view of drivers stopped at this stop sign waiting to turn onto the highway. Many times I have looked both ways and thought that it was safe to proceed, but in reality, there is a car coming that was hidden behind this branch. I hate to think about what could happen if I did not look left again before I proceed. This branch needs to be trimmed, and I should not have to write a letter to the editor of a newspaper each time that I see a potential safety hazard. The people living in this house should exercise enough good judgment to cut this branch back without anyone telling them to. This goes for everyone, that we should try to find safety hazards before they become dangerous and fix them. David Zitelli
Choose smoke-free localesYoung women in Georgia will have a better chance of continuing to look good in bathing suits and evening dresses as of July 1, not just those in Peachtree City, Douglasville and Gwinnett. Please learn from my mistake. Now I understand that you can increase your risk of breast cancer when you inhale second-hand smoke before you get the protection that comes with having a child and breastfeeding. Recent studies indicate that second-hand smoke may put you at even more risk of breast cancer than the smoker gets. It appears to do with the way second-hand smoke effects estrogen. We are no longer having families at 14 or 16. Avoid the increased risk of breast cancer by avoiding smoke. Once July 1 comes and with it our new smoke-free air ordinance, please only go into smoke-free businesses especially smoke-free bars (those within restaurants are most likely to be smoke-free). Kathie Cheney
Is your vehicles window tint too dark? Ask sheriffs department to checkAs a captain with the Traffic Enforcement Division of the Fayette County Sheriffs Office, one of my duties involves answering questions from citizens concerning a number of Georgia traffic laws. Most new laws enacted by the Georgia legislature and signed by the governor usually take effect between June 1 and July 1, so this time of year is especially busy. This year, our most frequent question has been, Are my car windows too dark? On the telephone the answer is always, I dont know, I will have to see the car. We arent trying to be difficult; we have to check the window with a special meter. Imagine what would happen if I told someone over the telephone that their window tint was okay only to later have them get a traffic citation for illegal window tint. The newly enacted law is found in the Official Code of Georgia 40-8-73.1. The law basically says that for most privately owned passenger vehicles, the window may not be tinted to reduce light transmission to less that 32 percent (+/-3 percent) or more than 20 percent light reflection. Since Georgia laws are usually as clear as the window tint on limousines, this law provides a host of exceptions (The law and its exceptions can be found on the Internet at www.legis.state.ga.us/cgi-bin/gl_codes_detail.pl?code=40-8-73.1). This is a safety issue for law enforcement officers. While not everyone I have ever stopped has become violent, that has not always been the case. Heavily tinted windows are difficult to see through in the best of conditions. At night and in bad weather it is impossible. The tension that law enforcement officers experience while conducting traffic stops is raised significantly when they cannot see the driver and vehicle occupants as the officer approaches the car. Since there is no one vehicle used by violent offenders, law enforcement officers approach all vehicles carefully. I dont want to be hurt doing my job and I suspect the public would not want to be hurt doing theirs either. When I make a traffic stop, I almost always act in a calm and even-tempered manner. When I become concerned about safety, Im still professional but much more direct and cautious. So, the public might ask how do I help law enforcement officers be less tense when they approach my car on a traffic stop? The answer is simple: Have legal window tint on your vehicle and at night; turn on your interior dome light once you have stopped. In an effort to help our citizens comply with the new window tint law, Sheriff Johnson has allowed the Traffic Enforcement Division to check the tint on private vehicles. The public can come by the Fayette County Sheriffs Office daily, between the hours of 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. and have their window tint checked for free. If window tint is found to be illegal, the driver will be advised so that they can have the problem corrected. The Fayette County Sheriffs Office is located at 155 Johnson Ave., Fayetteville, Ga. Please keep in mind that this service is based on our normal call volume and it may take a few minutes for a member of the Traffic Enforcement Division to arrive. If the public has any questions about the new window tint law, or would like to arrange to have their window tint checked, they can call the Fayette County Sheriffs Office, Traffic Enforcement Division, at 770-716-4820. Captain Bryan L. Woodie
New rule limiting July 4th parade entries unfairI just read your article on how the Peachtree City Council had elected to limit entries for the Fourth of July Parade to residents and businesses from Fayette County. I think this is a mistake, and quite honestly, I think its a little unfair. I own a Newnan-based business. We actually strategically placed our business to be almost equidistant from both downtown Newnan and downtown Peachtree City. I estimate that 40 percent of our business is in the Peachtree City, Fayette County area. As a matter of fact, since our company offers home-based services for special needs children, we actually do offer our services within the Peachtree City city limits. I think that this sends the wrong message to the businesses and people of Newnan. Here we are, in the middle of a huge expansion of Ga. Highway 54 to deal with the massive increase in traffic between our two cities. All of the businesses in the brand new shopping center at the intersection of hwys. 74 and 54 will definitely benefit from the Newnan customers, as will all of the new businesses in Newnan from the Peachtree City population. We all realize how much we need each other, so much so that each of our governments will dump millions of dollars into new roads to improve the traffic flow between our two cities. Is anyone going to stop the throngs of people from Newnan and Coweta County from attending the parade? I think not. If theyre afraid that the parade is getting too commercial, then stop letting businesses enter the parade, period. But if youre still going to allow some businesses, dont you think that should be open to anyone who offers a service to Fayette County residents? If you really have entries that are entering 18-wheelers with little or no patriotic decorations or a July 4th theme, then dont let them enter the parade. That is something that can be handled by someone when the floats are lining up for the parade. If they havent gone out of the way to show their patriotism, if they havent made and effort to put something together that would be festive and entertain the parade-goers, then dont let them in; its as simple as that. I understand the desire of the council to get the parade to more of a hometown feel, but I think what they really want to do is make sure that the parade is more patriotic. Local businesses (by that I mean Fayette and Coweta businesses) should have the opportunity to make a public appearance, to parade in front of a gathering of a large cross-section of residents from all over the place, to show them that we are here, that we love our country, and to join in a celebration of our freedoms. Everyone knows that for the past several years, the Peachtree City parade has become the predominant celebration for the surrounding counties. I think this latest decision is a little insulting to Coweta residents and business owners. I really think they should change the standards required to enter the parade, not limit who gets to be in the parade. Its unfortunate that a few bad apples have spoiled the bunch for the rest of us. Gregg Mulvany, general manager
So, Nixon is still the villain, but Clinton is still the victimAfter hearing rumors that everyone from Diane Sawyer to Linda Lovelace was a Deep Throat of Watergate scandal fame, we finally learn that it was none other than retired FBI agent W. Mark Felt. It seems so ironic, but typical, of the leftist media in this country, that they celebrate bringing down Republican President Richard Nixon, yet, they turned a blind eye and excused the falsehoods that emanated from what was likely the most dishonest administration in the history of this country. I am speaking of the Lyin King, Bill Clinton. Clinton got by with much more dangerous derelictions of duty than Nixon. Selling missile technology to China, lying to a grand jury, giving presidential pardons to drug dealers and other criminals during his last few days in office, and having an affair with a young intern are just a few of the dubious distinctions of that depraved, dastardly degenerate and his disingenuous donkeys. Yet, the liberal media gave him a pass. The liberal media has berated all Republican presidents from Nixon to Reagan to Bush 41 and Bush 43, and, yet, with all the disgraced journalists that are scattered across the landscape of America, it seems like they have become more like Nixon. Mary Mapes and Dan Rather at SeeBS, Jayson Blair of the New York Times, and many more are trying to help their side by making up stories about the other side. The best part is that George W. Bush won in spite of their efforts. Kevin D. Arnold
Chewing gum award is good education?The lack of compassion and encouragement in the Fayette County School System never ceases to amaze me. My niece, an 11-year-old girl, was humiliated and insulted when her group of teachers at Fayette Middle School thought it was appropriate to give her Most likely to chew gum as a superlative at the end of this school year. Yes, my niece may be a bit rebellious, and, yes, she may have had problems with her school work that ultimately led to her failing this school year, but to give her an award such as this is a giant bruise to her already extremely low self-esteem. How is it that these teachers, who are supposed to encourage, inspire, and educate her, abandoned her halfway through the year and then publicly insulted her at the end? I went through her work over spring break. There were no comments on her work, no see me after class, or you should work harder on this, or even positive notes on the things that she did well. How is she supposed to succeed if the people teaching her at this level dont seem to care about her progress? Im lucky enough to have had a few exemplary teachers at FMS and FCHS that cared about me despite my rebellious appearance, or my talkative nature. The memory of these special teachers stayed with me through college and grad school, and knowing that someone cared about my education encouraged me to care about it myself. I believe that they saw something special in me, and I work everyday to prove them right. Unfortunately, for my niece, school has done nothing to encourage her learning or her sense of well-being. I fear that she has such a low self-esteem that she wont ever be successful unless we (her family) repair the emotional damage that these teachers have done. I pray that she finds a better, more compassionate and involved group of teachers next year. I pray that when her grades start to slip, she gets instruction instead of just lectures. Most of all, I pray that she rediscovers her passion for learning and the endless possibilities that it can provide. There is a lot more to this little girl than her ability to chew gum, and any decent human being can see that. Unfortunately for her, she cant. She has been left behind, left behind holding a sign that says Most likely to chew gum. Shana A. Slay |
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