By SALLIE SATTERTHWAITE
Lifestyle Columnist

I'm angry. No, I'm not. I'm 'way beyond angry. I can safely say I have a vested interest in my community, having served on City Council, as a volunteer firefighter/paramedic, and, perhaps most significantly, as a voter who has never missed an election of any kind since moving here in 1971.

So when I see a trend away from an ideology that I believe is fundamental to the concept of Peachtree City, I become first apprehensive, then troubled, and finally concerned enough to speak out about it.

I'm seeing the politics of exclusion emerge in this town, at first subtly, but progressing through just plain silliness to its present suggestion of elitism, racism and anti-semitism.

Most of my neighbors, I'm sure, are people of good will and acceptance. I truly hope that this mean-spiritedness does not represent a broad spectrum of residents here. I first noted this attitude in petty ways, such as in the failure of some people on the cart path to return our “Good morning” or “Hey.” It is incomprehensible to me how anyone can pass another person close enough to smell her sweat or cologne, yet fail to exchange a smile and salutation. (I have a friend who says he has to fight down the impulse to grab the unresponsive pedestrian, biker, or golf-cart driver by the collar, get up in his face, and snarl, “I said, `Good morning.' Is anybody home?”)

Then there was the matter of signs. In the entry to the condominium complex nearest my home, there used to be a little sign that said, “Welcome home.” Even though I didn't live there, it gave me a lift every time I saw it.

But suddenly “Welcome home” became “No trespassing.” “Private Property.” “No trucks. No playing in driveway.” Not long after that an astonishing display of signs went up along one of the paths south of Braelinn Village Center. Kids apparently were cutting through a seniors' subdivision, and the homeowners' response was to put up no fewer than eight signs within less than 150 feet: “Posted. Private property.” “No trespassing. Violators will be prosecuted.” “Private community. Residents only.” City Hall says there is no remedy in city ordinances.

All this, however, pales beside the recent comments of a candidate for the City Council election taking place next month. His statement in his first mail-out — that he was a “lifelong Republican” — annoyed me enough to plan this column. In their wisdom, the founders of Peachtree City believed that our city would be better served by maintaining nonpartisan elections. Nowhere on the ballot is there a suggestion of party connections in the city election, and the insertion of such affiliation is an unwarranted lapse in this “gentlemen's agreement.”

As if this weren't outrageous enough, the same candidate, in a Q & A piece that appeared in the Fayette section of the Atlanta paper last week, stated the following: “This community should have `one of their own' serving on City Council — namely a married, average-income professional who is raising children in a Christian environment.... The leaders of the city should be an accurate reflection of the people who live here and who share the same values.” Then he listed among those values a commitment to family, church, and “living right.”

Well, sir, I hardly know where to begin. For one thing, we don't follow a mirror. Why would I look to my own reflection for leadership? More to the point, how did you come to the conclusion that Peachtree City is best “reflected” in the person of a married, average-income professional, raising children in a Christian environment?

When you say “one of our own,” I hear code words. I hear white. I hear male. I hear conservative Christian. I hear middle-aged. I hear exclusion. Thank God, I am not “one of your own.”

You don't mean me, a semi-retired female with grown children and liberal inclinations. You don't mean the underpaid single mom juggling job, food stamps, and child-care. You don't mean the widower with two sons in college, the Chinese restaurateurs, the lawyer in the wheelchair, the Hindu engineer from India, the black police chief, the Dutch retirees.

You don't mean those whose commitment is to mosque or temple, synagogue or shrine, instead of “church.” You don't mean the Muslim, the Buddhist, the Shintoist, the Jew, and you probably don't even mean the Catholic.

You don't mean many of the businesses and industry this town is trying to attract. You don't mean the Mexican food-server, the Hispanic laborer, the Korean nail technician, the Japanese assembly line foreman, the Kosovar dry-cleaning worker — not to worry, most of the foreigners you see daily in Peachtree City can't vote here anyway. But the hyphenated Americans can and do vote.

On Oct. 1, Peachtree City's roster of electors (governmentese for voters) included 648 black people and nearly 600 listed as “other,” meaning Asian, Indian, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, or unknown. I bet that's more than the “hundreds of Peachtree City citizens” you say urged you to seek office.

Thank God for these “not of your own.” They give this city its texture and color, and most of them say “Hey” on the cart path. I'm proud to be outside your chosen demographics, and I hope you find out I have a lot of company on Nov. 2.

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