News
Expert: Fayetteville will
love rapid rail
Fayette residents may not be
used to the idea of a rapid rail line running through
the county, but one of the architects of the plan
says once it's here, you're going to love it.
Widening of Hwy. 54 now
on'fast track'
Fayette County officials will
continue to meet with state transportation officials
to iron out the details of an agreement reached last
week that would hasten the widening of Ga. Highway 54
west of Peachtree City.
F'ville to be drier?
More than half of the businesses
in Fayetteville licensed to sell beer and wine are
now finding those permits in jeopardy due to unlawful
alcohol sales to minors.
County hones tree-save
rules
The Fayette County Planning
Commission will do a little more spade work before
planting its final version of a new tree protection
ordinance.
Tree law by next week in
F'ville?
New rules for tree preservation
in Fayetteville may be in place by next week, ending
a moratorium on development in the city.
Christmas bird counters
need more landlords' permission
This is a big year for people
who love birds. The Christmas Bird Count, the annual
census of North American birds sponsored jointly by
the National Audubon Society and the Cornell
Laboratory of Ornithology, hits a significant
milestone this winter: its 100th anniversary.
Commission to discuss
options for jail funding and impact fees
Two hot items dominate the
agenda for the Fayette County Commission's monthly
work session this afternoon: funding for a new jail
and judicial complex, and recommendations from the
impact fee committee.
Funding options tough to
pin down
If Fayette County enacts a
special sales tax to pay for a new jail and judicial
complex, the average three-person household will pay
about $1,500 over the five-year life of the tax.
Dealth penelty hearing set
for Monday
The first of two defendants
facing a possible death penalty for a murder last
spring makes his first appearance in Fayette County
Superior Court next week.
Peachtree City Council to
address police station
Another step toward a new police
station in Peachtree City is scheduled to be taken
tomorrow night when the City Council considers an
agreement with the Georgia Municipal Association
concerning the construction of the new facility.
Fence requests are hot
topic in Fayetteville
Neighborhood fence disputes
continue to plague the Fayetteville Planning
Commission.
Village zoning, truck law,
fence fight on Fayetteville's agenda
Mayor Mike Wheat's last
Fayetteville City Council meeting, set for Monday at
7 p.m., promises to be a barn burner.
Council to address police
station
Another step toward a new police
station in Peachtree City is scheduled to be taken
tomorrow night when the City Council considers an
agreement with the Georgia Municipal Association
concerning the construction of the new facility.
Strategic plan taken off
shelf
Fayette County school officials
have dusted off a 10-year-old strategic plan, revised
it and presented it to the public for comment, with
the idea of having a blueprint to follow for the next
five years.
School board surveys
residents on options for overcrowding
Fayette County School
Superintendent Dr. John DeCotis passed out a survey
recently at the community round table meeting asking
attendees to answer five questions relating to use of
space in the schools.
Tree farms provide
old-fashioned yule experience
Christmas tree farms produce the
traditional greenery we associate with the holidays
and a whole lot more. They provide a destination for
a family outing, are havens for wildlife, and are
personalized retail outlets where good cheer abounds.
Fund-raising pro takes helm
at Keep Fayette Beautiful
Keep Fayette Beautiful, an
affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, has named Marie
Short, one of Atlanta's leading nonprofit community
development and fund-raising professionals, as its
executive director.
Collins speaks to Fayette
chamber
Rep. Mac Collins, speaking to a
meeting of the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce,
discussed legislation before Congress, predicting
that trade policy will force a change in taxation,
and that the minimum wage will be increased.
United Way, Saturn, union
combine in toy collection
The Coweta/Fayette office of
United Way is participating for the first time this
year in the Presents from Partners toy drive.
Home tour to raise funds
for Olympic band trip
A Christmas tour of homes is
planned for Saturday, December 11 between noon and 7
p.m. to raise funds for Fayette County High School
band students headed for the 2000 Summer Olympics in
Australia next fall. The band is scheduled to play at
the opening ceremonies.
School counselors discuss
issues
Faith Smith, a counselor at
Tyrone Elementary School and president-elect of the
Fayette School Counselors Association, recently
attended the 50th Georgia School Counselors
Association Conference in Atlanta.
New ornament now on sale
A limited edition brass ornament
designed by Fayetteville artist Patsy Gullett is now
available at Miss Minnie's Cottage.
Government meetings change
for holidays
Meeting schedules will change
for Fayette County governments in December, due to
the holidays.
Prime
Timers
- Senior
Services helps growing 60+ generation
- Fayette Senior Services has
undertaken the momentous task of building a new
facility to serve the needs of the growing senior
population in Fayette County. Based on
projections from the Atlanta Regional Commission
and the Governor's Office of Planning and
Budgeting, the over-65-year-old population will
increase from close to 8,000 in 2000 to
approximately 12,000 in 2010.
- Senior
Services seeking support for new center
- Almost since
the first site was purchased to house Fayette
Senior Services in 1978, there has been an active
hope that a larger facility that could offer more
services and options to seniors would someday be
a reality.
-
- Love
is in the air
- Fayette Senior Services is
once again preparing for the busy holiday season.
Each year the Meals On Wheels program delivers
close to 30,000 meals to individuals throughout
the county. During the holidays, Fayette Senior
Services is not required to provide meals, but
for the past five years the agency has elected to
deliver a five-day frozen meal pack to those who
are on the regular Meals on Wheels route. The
project is named “Project Love.” This
year, they are adding a three-day Y2K meal pack.
To support this extra effort, the agency asks for
financial assistance from the community. The cost
of one three-day Y2K pack is $10, the cost of the
Christmas five-day meal pack is $25. Individuals
can sponsor one meal or more. Donations can be
mailed to: Project Love, Fayette Senior Services
Inc., 390 Lee St., Fayetteville 30214-2056 or can
be dropped off between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., Monday
through Friday. Phone 770-461-0813.
-
- Southland
articles win state awards
- Southland
Nursing Home in Peachtree City took six out of
ten first-place state awards at the recent
Georgia Nursing Home Activity Director's
Convention. The awards were presented at a recent
banquet in Atlanta.
-
- New
local show for older adults
- Tamela
Ragsdale, RN, OCN and director of client
relations for Aging Matters Inc., and Gina
Weathersby, personal care manager with Wesley
Woods of Newnan-Peachtree City, have teamed up to
host a new cable program on aging.
- Business
County's umemployment rate
tops the charts
Fayette County has the lowest
unemployment rate in the Atlanta region, according to
statistics just released by the Department of Labor.
Tools for Business Success
By GREGORY SMITH
Business Columnist
The Scud missiles flamed toward
their targets behind friendly lines in Saudi Arabia
and Israel. We were in the Persian Gulf War and Iraq
unleashed another salvo of airborne lethality. Air
raid sirens sent both America soldiers and news media
people into their bunkers beneath the surface. At any
second the missile could explode on the military
base. Except a few foolhardy reporters and a couple
of remote video cameras, no one was standing in the
open. Deep underground in a protected bunker, an
American soldier talked to his wife back at Ft.
Benning, Ga., via cellular phone. His wife was glued
to the television watching live coverage on CNN of
the same missile attack. Blow by blow, moment by
moment, she relayed the information back to her
husband via the cell phone. Like a military command
post, she told him when the attack was over and when
it was clear to return outside. This spouse, like
millions of others has learned how to innovatively
manage information. A few years ago these same
electronic tools were available only to a small
number of people. Today, half the modern world has
access to them. Innovative leaders can improve
productivity, reduce costs and increase efficiency by
adopting new business skills as the ones below.
FAIRBANCO
gets in the holiday spirit
Fairburn Banking is helping
others this holiday season by accepting donations or
new toys that you would like to give to the less
fortunate.
Main Street
ornaments are now available
The most recent addition to Main
Street Fayetteville's popular commemorative ornament
series is now available.
- Sports
Chiefs must exercise
patience this wrestling season
The key to a successful season
for the McIntosh Chiefs wrestling team will be
patience.
Area teams prepare for
tough season
With the fall season over and
Christmas just around the corner, the winter sports
season has begun. The area high school's boys and
girls basketball teams are gering up for a very
competitive and challenging season.
Patriot grapplers prepare
for season, tourney
The Sandy Creek Patriot
wrestling team is not young, but it is inexperienced
Bulls
complete successful fall season
The 13 and under Fayette Bulls
traveling baseball team, based in Peachtree City,
recently cmpleted a successful fall schedule of
games. This was the third season of play for the
Bulls in the highly competitive Georgia Baseball
Association (GBA). The Bulls played teams from
Gwinnett, Cobb, DeKalb, Spalding and Fulton counties.
Sports Calendar
- Weekend
Paper exhibit illustrates
beauty within special artform
- What is your opinion of
paper? Is it the best thing to write on ever
invented? Are you sometimes left in awe when you
consider all of the wonderful things you can do
with paper?
- Plenty to do as
holiday season has officially begun
- There is probably no other
time that feels as Christmasy, as the week after
Thanksgiving, barring the Christmas holiday
itself.
- Give the gift of
reading this holiday season
- Over the next several weeks,
shoppers will flock to area malls, searching for
the ever elusive perfect gift.
Christmas
"traditions," gone so soon
By SALLIE SATTERTHWAITE
Lifestyle Columnist
- When someone who grew up in
Germany refers to a “tradition” in his
village, he may mean an event that has happened
annually since 1167.
-
- Movies
Holiday
Calendar
Religion
Prodigals are all too
painful realities...come pray with us Thursday
By Rev. Dr. John Hatcher
Religion Columnist
Jesus told a story about a man
who had two sons. The youngest grew tired of the
routine and yang-yang of home life. He asked his dad
for his cut of the family fortune. Dad gave it to him
and the young son left home to party. .
Prodigal prayer service
planned for December 2
A Prodigal Prayer Meeting has
been set for Fayette area churches, Thursday, Dec. 2,
at 7 p.m. Unlike other unity events, this service is
designed strictly for parents with children who have
become prodigals.
Fayetteville "Tree of
Light' ceremony is this Saturday
Southwest Christian Hospice Tree
of Light will be a part of "Fayette Christmas on
Main Street" again this year. The Lighting of
the Tree will take place on Saturday, Dec. 4, at 6
p.m. along with a Christmas music program featuring
students from Fayette County schools.
Christ Our Shepard begins
celebrations of Advent, 25th anniversary with special
services
The season of Advent has begun.
Christians around the world, in keeping with ancient
tradition, prepare with solemnity and contemplation
for the coming of the Savior.
Religion Briefs
Opinion
Going out on a limb to save
some trees
By DAVE HAMRICK
Editor-at-large
It's with more than passing
interest that I follow Fayette County's and
Fayetteville's search for ways to save more trees
from the bulldozer.
Media as gutter: How much
longer?
By LEE N.HOWELL
Politically Speaking
There has been
a lot of comment made about Minnesota Gov. Jesse
Ventura's comments to a Playboy interviewer this year
about his views on religion — and on sex —
and on just about every other topic imaginable.
- A
leftie looks at life: Woe, woe
BILLY
MURPHY
Laugh Lines
-
- I'm left-handed; thus, I'm a
minority. I don't know if there is an affirmative
action program for my “people,” but we
should warrant a PBS documentary, a
“20-20” episode and at least one Susan
Faludi book. But, I bet you won't see Jesse
Jackson taking on our cause anytime soon. I hear
he only loves righty.
Letters to
the Editor
Way to go, PTC; wake up,
citizens of F'ville
I would like to congratulate the
citizens of Peachtree City for their ability to
identify a development project that wasn't good for
their community. They showed an ability to mobilize
public interest in order to prevent a nearsighted
vision of their community from moving forward.
Now it's time for PTC
Council to say `No' to Home Depot
I had the experience of seeing a
magic show on Nov. 22. No, it wasn't anyone famous
like Penn and Teller, but instead was Mr. Ed Ellis of
Dames & Moore, Peachtree City's hired traffic
consultant. While Mr. Ellis is not well known as a
magician, I believe he showed that he has a promising
career ahead of him.
It's time for affected
neighborhoods to speak up about new jail
Fayetteville jail notification:
Last call; don't say you weren't invited!
Bike club likes bike lane
proposal
I understand it may be possible
to have bike lanes included on the new bypass routes
to be constructed in the future in Fayette County.
PTC traffic consultants
sound like Home Depot hired them
I would like to thank the
Peachtree City Planning Commission members for
showing the people of the city that we matter. They
made a very difficult decision in spite of being
threatened by RAM Development's attorney.
Letter's anti-Jewish charge
was non sequitur
I was flabbergasted that the
writer of a recent letter to the editor expressed the
opinion that [The Citizen's editor] Cal Beverly
opposed Bruce Perlman's election to the Peachtree
City Council because he was Jewish.
Congratulations to Starr's
Mill H.S.
Just a mere two years ago our
students were all eagerly anticipating the opening of
our new facility while trekking an extra distance to
attend classes.
PTC Council has been
shortsighted in planning for big boxes
The “big box” debate
is becoming fascinating. The Huddleston family wants
their six or so million dollars and they do not
appreciate the latecomers (anyone after 1965) asking
for responsible development and a decent community.
Of course, the Huddleston's have stated that the
community was really decent before the latecomers
arrived. The only problem is that their land would
probably be worth about $175 an acre in the absence
of the latecomers because, in Jim Minter's words, the
area was “populated by rough and tumble folks
partial to whiskey and fighting” (AJC, September
1999).
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