Margot's blog

Grace Caldwell’s Tyrone Sign Ordinance

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:36:24 -0400

This is a political satire

Vote to re-elect me Grace Caldwell for Tyrone Council. My support in passing a new sign ordinance is another accomplishment I forgot to mention. The purpose of this outstanding piece of legislation as stated in Sect 6-6-2 is to attract sources of economic development and growth as a means of communication in the town. For all you people that don’t understand legal talk; that means how Tyrone helps bring in new businesses. We help businesses by prohibiting the following signs.

Who’s running for Tyrone Council?

Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:19:29 -0400

Tyrone voters badly need to elect honest council members this fall. Grace Caldwell and Gloria Furr are up for reelection. Will two people who are real leaders, please announce your candidacy this month to make sure Caldwell & Furr have some opposition. Don’t wait until the August 31 deadline. There are many reasons to elect new blood.

Barry Amos is at it again

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 12:45:42 -0500

Its hard to keep a good bureaucrat down. Fired just 12 months ago from Tyrone, in part for changing zoning laws that took away property rights for downtown redevelopment, Barry became Stone Mountain’s new City Manager.

Evaluating the Mental Health of Politicians

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:36:26 -0400

It’s often said that to seek public office, one has to be crazy. It is also possible to determine which politicians are crazy and which ones are sane.

Janet Smola Votes for Higher Taxes

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 14:03:58 -0400

Fayette School Board member Janet Smola voted to increase property taxes to $90 Million. While the State of Georgia cut education expenses, the school board decides to increase spending.

The necessity of cleaning up government

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:47:39 -0400

The current investigation of Tyrone’s government is just one of many. Government is so rotten that it defies common sense for citizens to pay for it. Aside from the mass of incompetence and improprieties in Tyrone, just read the Atlanta Journal Reports. Everyday some government employee or official is being investigated, fired or sent to prison. For example, the Wed. Aug. 13 edition has two articles involving the death of a woman caused by an incompetent 911 operator who took one hour to get an ambulance to a 39 year old woman with two children whose life could have easily been saved. The investigation revealed the 17 yr operator had 2100 pages of reprimands in her file, including mishandling of calls, mistake, eating lunch and sleeping on the job. Sleep so soundly that one time she fell out of her chair onto the floor.

Report Card For Tyrone Government

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 19:08:51 -0400

Grades are in for the 1st Semester 2008

1. Procedure - F - Executive Sessions violate the law. Last minute notice of called meetings reminiscent of Barry, Minutes to vague and posting takes too long. Historical Minutes still not posted prior to 2005.

Letter to Ex-Tyrone Mayor Sheryl Lee

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:11:34 -0400

Dear Sheryl Lee: Valerie Fowler Caldwell said at the public Council Hearing on June 10, 2008 that you authorized Valerie to pay herself $14,000 and Barry Amos $22,000 in November 2007 for vacation pay. Is this true?

Tyrone Guilty of Violating Open Meetings Act.

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:04:59 -0400

Dekalb County is under fire for voting in secret executive session just like Tyrone. The Atlanta Journal reported Saturday 7-12-08 that the GA. Open Meetings Act requires all votes by a public agency to be public. Dekalb Commissioners routinely hold secret votes on litigation, then say the lawyers said it was legal.

Tracking Taxpayers’ Money in Tyrone

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:36:01 -0400

Now that Tyrone’s proposed 2008-2009 budget is on the web along with the 2007-2008 adopted budget, anyone with common sense or business experience can pin down the $43,103 paid to employees Barry Amos & Valerie Fowler in 2007.

Rudjard Hayes for D.A.

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 19:01:27 -0400

Vote Hayes in Republican Primary July 15. Mr. Hayes lives in Tyrone and says that he will listen to any citizen who comes to him about a crime they know of.

Tyrone Clerk Finally Fired

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:06:53 -0400

During investigation of their million $ deficit last night, Council went into Executive Session and fired long time Clerk and keeper of the records Valerie Fowler Caldwell. The dismissal took the small audience by surprise as no Executive Session was on the Agenda. But to some in attendance it was years overdue.

Did Senator Ronnie Chance Vote for Using School Taxes for Downtown Redevelopments?

Sun, 04 May 2008 13:57:50 -0400

I wonder how many property owners knew that their School Taxes had been used for 27 years by Local Governments and Private Developers for Downtown Redevelopment projects, like Tyrone. The law allowing Tax Allocation Districts (TAD’s) was passed in 1985 and ruled unconstitutional in February 2008. The Georgia Legislature under lobby pressure from local governments and developers immediately passed a resolution to change the Georgia Constitution to allow this Tax Theft to be voted on in November. Any legislator voting for it is hoping that unknowledgeable voters will vote to continue taking away money from schools. Does anyone know if Ronnie Chance voted for the referendum? Ronnie Chance, why don’t you tell us? Eric Dial, you’re a big supporter of schools. Will you help enlighten everyone to vote against keeping TAD’s. But you and all the Tyrone Council just voted to continue Tyrone’s Redevelopment Plan. Isn’t these a contradiction here? Does the Tyrone Council favor using School Taxes for Local Redevelopment? Is that why all of you lied to voters about changing Tyrone’s Ordinance? Isn’t it true that Tyrone’s Zoning Ordinance is a significant part of the Comprehensive Plan? Isn’t it a fact that the Comprehensive Plan states that Developers Burt Clark, John Wieland and Joel Ogletree are major stakeholders in Tyrone’s Downtown Redevelopment? And isn’t also true that these Developers would be eligible to use School Taxes for Private TAD development money? The Tyrone Planning Commission is reviewing their Comprehensive Plan at 7pm Tue. May 8. Concerned parents should be there to ask these questions about their school taxes.

Our System of Government Doesn’t Work Anymore.

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 12:31:54 -0400

Elected representatives can’t go to the bathroom without asking permission of an attorney. Officials are not trained in how to govern. This is a failure of the education system. Few with any business sense even run for office, most considering politics to be beneath their dignity. Governments always spend and tax too much, get into financial trouble, then have to call in private business to try and straighten out the mess. Clayton County has destroyed their educational system and has brought in outside help. Atlanta’s Tax Office has also brought in private help. Lithonia’s Council has locked their Mayor out of the Council Chambers and she has set up a dual government in a Coffee Shop. Tyrone has called in outside Auditors to investigate missing funds and is bound and determined to defend an awful zoning ordinance that the entire business community hates. The Federal Government can’t stay out of wars and has destroyed our monetary system. State Government representatives vote on laws that they don’t read. And Local Governments like Tyrone are a complete joke; a circus of self interest clowns fumbling around in their egotistical darkness. Our system of government cannot last; it is destined to collapse into chaos and anarchy. Like a stock market crash, our governments have hit the bottom. Best we all start thinking about how to dissolve it and start over.

Tyrone Councilman Defends Ronnie Chance

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 13:25:33 -0400

When Tyrone Councilman Eric Dial wrote his essay in the defense of Ronnie Chance, Dial showed just how clueless elected officials are in gauging the public’s temperament. Dial spoke about careless people jumping on misinformation that could ruin Ronnie’s career. A career politician is exactly what the people don’t want. They want officials to represent their majority views. Dial was elected on the strength of his school board office and associations with school age parents. These are the same voters who most opposed Chance’s vote on sending Clayton students to over-crowd Fayette Schools. We can therefore conclude that Dial supports Bill 458. The Tyrone voters were duped again.