Smiles, signs and cheers took LaGrange Street in Newnan by storm Wednesday, as a throng of people, perhaps as many as 400, gathered at city hall to attend the Newnan Tea Party. Like countless other events occurring across American April 15, those in Newnan said the statement they were making was about principle not party, and about freedom, not oppression.

Senoia City Council will take a look at increasing water rates by 22 percent at the April 20 meeting. If adopted it will be the first rate increase since 1998. A public hearing on the issue will take place immediately prior the council meeting and follows a discussion held at the April 7 meeting.

It was strikingly similar to a court trial, which is what it may well become before all is said and done. The appeal of the denial of a business license by Kelly Rogers’ Starship Adult Novelties & Gifts in front of Coweta County Tax Rate Review and Appeals Committee April 13 ended as it began, with only questions and no resolution and without the committee forwarding a “Yea” or “Nay” recommendation to county commissioners. Another meeting will be scheduled to continue the matter.

Friends, relatives and Coweta County employees joined county commissioners at Coweta County Prison April 6 to remember Jimmy Scogin, the only known county employee to be killed in the line of duty in nearly 100 years.

The Newnan Fire Department has completed their ‘Courage to be Safe Program.’ Former DeKalb Fire Chief Steve Cough and State Fire Academy trainer Rodney Pickle provided the training for NFD.

Lane closures will be required in Coweta County today and early next week for some boring work to be done in conjunction with planned road improvements. A county contractor will be doing geotechnical work (borings) that will require lane closures on Reese Road, Hammock Road and Ga. Highway 154. 

The Newnan-Coweta Habitat for Humanity (NCHFH) will be relocating its offices and Habitat ReStore beginning Apr. 20 to the old 84Lumber building at 150 Pine Road in Newnan across from the Coweta County Fair grounds.

Alcan Packaging of Peachtree City was honored today with the top state award for medium-sized manufacturers.

The company, which employs 160 people and had revenues of $80 million last year, was recognized at a luncheon for Georgia Manufacturing Appreciation Week.

Members of Christ Our Shepherd Lutheran Church observe Good Friday by carrying three large wooden crosses on a brief journey to recognize the persecution and crucifixion of Jesus Christ in advance of the annual Easter remembrance. The crosses were carried from the church along the golf cart path leading to Picnic Park behind City Hall in the center of Peachtree City. Photo/John Munford.

NCR unveiled the first phase of its newly-renovated facility Monday afternoon, but the company’s expansion is already paying dividends.

The company has added about 100 new hires since October as it undertakes an expansion to its parts distribution center and its customer service department in Peachtree City. NCR plans to hire an additional 150-200 people later this year, officials said, ramping up to an eventual total of 610 new jobs in Peachtree City by December 2010.

A survey in January showed at least 52 homeless people subsist somewhere in Fayette County, 40 of them children.

Of these, the majority were homeless due to domestic violence, illness, foreclosure, or drug and alcohol abuse. Another factor cited was substandard housing, where there was no water or heat at the former residences.

Residents would be forced to pay for recycling whether they use it or not

Peachtree City may soon require all garbage service companies to enter an agreement with the city in exchange for the privilege of serving city residents.

{NOTE: This article has been corrected to show that the proposal would only affect bar closing times on Saturday night/Sunday morning; the city does not have closing hours for any other day of the week for local bars)

Activists say river faces more than just threat from future dams

The 350-mile Flint River — the stream that defines about two-thirds of Fayette County’s eastern border — made environmental headlines last week with the release of a report by American Rivers on the nation’s most endangered river systems.

It is TEA (Taxed Enough Already) time Wednesday at noon in Peachtree City and Newnan. Public TEA party rallies will be held at the city halls in both municipalities.

Peachtree City resident Shelby Barker has announced he will seek election to the post 1 seat on the City Council.

Barker, a business consultant, hopes to take the place of Councilman Don Haddix, who plans to resign from the seat so he can run for mayor in the November election. Whoever is elected to the Post 1 seat will serve the remaining two years on Haddix’s term.

Former Fayette County Administrator Christine Venice has filed a federal lawsuit against the county, alleging that she was asked to resign in April 2007 because of her gender.

The Fayetteville City Council April 16 is expected to decide on a bid for a sidewalk project along Ga. Highway 54 and consider a state loan application that could lead to bringing additional city water wells into service.

Fayette County employees will now have a guaranteed retirement pension so long as they can make at least five years service with the county.

The Fayette County School System is looking to take advantage of today’s lower interest rates by sending out a request for qualification (RFQ) on the 1999 bond series that carries an average coupon interest rate of 4.66 percent. Board members April 13 approved the measure.

Questions have arisen over possible sightings of Fayetteville’s Hollingsworth House chef Brandon Patton, missing since April 2 when he left his Atlanta home to visit his 3-year-old daughter in Tampa.

A staple in the restaurant business in Palmetto is opening a second location in Fayetteville. Frank’s at the Old Mill on Lake Bennett is expected to open its doors in the next couple of months.

Fayette County’s World War II veterans are dying at the rate of one a week, and a local organization is racing to honor as many as they can in their time remaining.

A Fairburn woman was charged with cruelty to children April 11 after her 3-year-old son was found in Stevie B’s Pizza’s parking lot while the mother was visiting a nearby business.

A Fayetteville man died Sunday evening after his motorcycle rear-ended a car on County Line Road near Plantation Parkway in southeast Fayette, sheriff's deputies said.

Six people were arrested early Friday morning as multiple units of the Fayette County Sheriff's Office raided four homes in the Shiloh Mobile Home Park on the eastern border of Peachtree City, officials said.

Fayette Honor Flight board member Connie Hale accepts the flag that will soon accompany veteran’s to Washington D.C. The flag, in a ceremony April 8 in Tyrone’s Veteran’s Park was flown, then lowered and folded, and presented to Hale by Al McWilliams (front) and (from left) Van Brock, Chuck Sandusky and Dennis Nelson.

Subdivision would also be near Falcon Field runway, Lake McIntosh

A plan to rezone 37 acres in Peachtree City’s industrial park for an 80-home subdivision and an event center with 12 overnight villas will be reviewed again Monday night by the planning commission.

The Peachtree City Development Authority is working to find a suitable tenant to fill the former “baby” Kroger location at the Peachtree Crossing shopping center.

Peachtree City’s Community Emergency Response Team won first place in a statewide competition among other specially trained volunteer groups, Chief H.C. “Skip” Clark recently announced.