First let me say how much your newspaper is appreciated. We live in a great country and a wonderful community. Your newspaper is a forum from which we truly benefit. As an itinerant writer, I have greatly enjoyed the ongoing dialogue and (showing my age) my diction was humorously labeled as “so 1890s.” I will try to do better. It has been a great pleasure reading and participating.

I was annoyed by the headline used in The Citizen on Nov. 23 that was titled, “Bad timing for Islam assembly?” While the article was factual and generally unbiased, the headline predisposes the reader to be critical of the faculty and administration at Whitewater Middle School and Fayette County Board of Education.

I am writing in response to two articles which were in your edition of Nov. 30, 2005: “There should be NO deadline for Iraq pullout,” by Terry L. Garlock and ”Vietnam analogy won’t work for Iraq,” by Earl Tilford. Both articles are thought-provoking and non-emotional in approaching a topic, our military involvement in Iraq, which is certainly an issue of widespread, and growing, national and international concern.

It’s unfortunate that Mr. Hoffman in his completely fabricated story took exception at my noting his utter ignorance. I was in fact giving him the benefit of the doubt as he had his history all wrong as usual, and I just assumed he hadn’t bothered to research almost anything that happened leading up to the McCarthy hearings. The obverse of ignorance in this case is deception, but I truly believe that Mr. Hoffman deceives only himself.

In a Democratic response to President Bush’s speech at the Naval Academy, [Senate Minority Leader Harry]Reid said that the American people want to learn of the successes in Iraq.

It’s amazing how many people have come out of nowhere to tell us why we need this [stormwater] utility. Amazingly enough, they do not reside in Peachtree City.

Marshals are superfluous? I haven’t written in a while since you either don’t publish the letter or the only things published are letters about the mayor of Peachtree City; the latter is of no interest to me.

On Thursday, Nov. 17, the American Cancer Society celebrated their 29th annual Great American Smoke Out. Georgia has done a great job for Smoke-Free Air by passing the Georgia Smoke-Free Act 2005.

Amidst the debates about Judge Alito and the next Supreme Court nomination, you often hear talk about the “right to privacy,” especially from those on the Democratic side of the aisle. I think most of you know already that this is a euphemism for abortion rights, but for some reason, the word “abortion” rarely emerges in the fray.

The Thanksgiving blessing started when I was suddenly released from work, so my family with three college students sought to find a “soup kitchen” to help out.

This letter is in response to Commissioner Peter Pfeifer’s letter a few weeks ago where he claimed there was no duplication of services with the Marshals Office. This is completely incorrect as the Sheriff’s Office does and always has patrolled county property (buildings, parks, etc.).

Many people have asked if I can pull a historic turnaround and win in the runoff election on Dec. 6. I tell everyone that unless the families that I have worked hard for over the last four years make it to the polls on Dec. 6 or participate in early voting (County Annex in Fayetteville: Nov. 28-Dec. 2, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), it will be difficult.

This past week the residents of Peachtree City, on the verge of a runoff election for the position of mayor, had some confusion thrown at them.

I told myself that if Bill King or Dan Tennant wrote another nasty letter in the newspaper that I would be compelled to write; they did and here it goes. It’s pretty obvious that Harold Logsdon has a hidden agenda. He’s a two-issue candidate. When you look at who is backing him, including Rick Schlosser, Bob Lenox and Rex Green (Direct PAC crowd), the two issues are easy to pick: large annexations and covering for the past sins of the Development Authority.

I am surprised, but admittedly amused, at the way the mayor has manipulated The Citizen newspaper about his relationship with the Development Authority and his level of responsibility in regards to the tennis center and its debt. You have let him throw verbal bombs that are arguably slanderous and distance himself from controversy that he himself helps create, without ever holding him responsible for the duties of his office.

Ask Harold Logsdon if he is an impostor. Ask him if he is a Fred Brown puppet.

Ask Logsdon what his plan is to restore the decades of deferred maintenance on our golf cart paths and all you get is a blank stare. Ask him how he plans on rolling back the millage rate and adding millions in additional maintenance expenses at the same time and he will shrug his shoulders.

I moved here about a year and a half ago, and met this wonderful mayor, Steve Brown. He is a person totally involved with our community and is certainly not afraid to speak up for what he believes.

I did something recently that I rarely do: I read a Steve Brown letter to the editor. I didn’t really have to read it to know what it said; however, I was told Mr. Brown reached new levels of brazenness, even by his standards. So, curiosity piqued, I opened to A6 and dug in.

Mayor Steve Brown showed us he cares more for his political career than he does for the welfare of Peachtree City.

Steve Brown hatched the idea for a runoff mayoral debate less than a week before the proposed date. He approached the students and arranged for them to host the debate on the same night as a City Council meeting. Steve Brown decided to skip the council meeting for the debate and thereby he caused the council meeting to be canceled for lack of a quorum and city business to be postponed. One would think that after four years Mayor Brown could understood his obligation to attend a council meeting and that he could have planned the debate for a time other than a council night.

Question: What do progressive organizations do with bean-counters who lack people skills? Answer: They make them internal auditors.

Thank you for hearing me in your forum. I actually had the privilege to meet Mr. Logsdon and hear him speak in a small meeting put on by a supportive neighbor. His explanation for seeking office and his status as a neophyte politician were very acceptable to me.

Unfortunately, mayoral candidate Harold Logsdon stuck tight to his refusal to debate Mayor Steve Brown. This is a shame, as there were plenty of citizens who braved the cold to hear what he had to say. Apparently, we were not important enough for Mr. Logsdon to bother with.

I recently found out there’s no Bill King. The weekly critic in the newspaper is nothing more than a human clone designed by none other than Direct PAC.

It would be nice to open a local newspaper and not see Brown’s face every week. I am diametrically opposed to the way this man thinks. He works very hard trying to create the illusion that everything about Peachtree City prior to his arrival was defective.

Editor’s note: Julian Linville, 70, suffered an apparent heart attack and died unexpectedly Thursday night at his home in Fayetteville. His son, Mark, also of Fayetteville, wrote this e-mail to his father the following Sunday. He now shares it with all of us.

I found Michael Boylan’s column of Nov. 16 to be profoundly sad. While the arguments he makes for TV censorship to be left to the home are completely irrational and self-refuting, it is unfortunate that his ideas reflect the pervasive and destructive direction of our culture.

It is unimaginable that the United States would resort to using torture. After all, our country is based on freedom, human decency and civil society. Given that torture has no value in extracting reliable information, its only uses are sadism and terrorizing people.

I just got home from the mayoral presentation set up by the McIntosh High School Young Republicans and Young Democrats.

If you go on to Steve Brown’s Web site, you will find among a section he calls Steve’s bio. It tells a good bit of information about Brown and includes a couple of accolades he is evidently proud of.

What a loser. How does a candidate in a two-man runoff for PTC mayor NOT show up at a question and answer? There is only one answer that makes sense. He doesn’t want to be pinned down on any issue and he doesn’t want anyone to know that he stands for absolutely nothing.