In response to a recent letter written by Fayette County Sheriff Randall Johnson regarding prisoner escapes, I would like him to answer a few questions. Sheriff Johnson, are you calling my child a liar? Are you calling her bus driver and her school officials liars?

Are you trying to tell me “lock-down” has not occurred at our city schools, especially East Fayette Elementary? Are you trying to tell me that three to four years ago, East Fayette Elementary students were hallucinating when they witnessed an individual being apprehended by officers across their playground?

Are you trying to create a false sense of security among parents whose children must attend school near your county jail complex? If so, please inform us as to exactly when, where and why “lock-down” situations during the past five years have occurred, other than during the Columbine High situation last spring.

Stop playing semantics with misleading titles and creating a false sense of security among parents of school-age children who attend school within the city limits of Fayetteville. Yes, Sheriff, maybe this time those offenders did not escape from the “county” system and, yes, maybe there were “city” offenders who walked away from court. But the reality is, don't say it can't happen within your system. I am sure you have heard the age old adage, “never say never.”

How can you possibly think that expanding the jail at its present location and increasing your prisoner population to 800-900 offenders over the next several years will not impact the neighboring communities and schools? How can you promise us that students will never need to experience “lock-down” and, worse yet, understand a term that should be reserved for offenders?

I wonder, Sheriff Johnson, do you or the board of commissioners have children or grandchildren who are affected by “lock-down” at Fayetteville city schools? I would think not or you would understand my concerns. I wonder how many Peachtree City parents have had to experience having their children locked in school and how often.

I appreciate the need for a new and larger county correctional facility. Sheriff Johnson, I understand your support of the commissioners' decision to expand the jail. After all, who wouldn't want to work in a brand new facility? What I don't understand is why alternative sites were never considered for the relocation of the jail and judicial complex.

When the commissioners acquired the present property 15 years ago, it may have been a suitable choice then, but this is now, and Fayetteville has grown dramatically. This property is zoned for single-family residences, not a university for jailbirds! How do you all sleep at night?

Denise Fair
Fayetteville

Back to Opinion Page | Back to the top of the page