Thanks to the generosity of Fayette’s business community, students in the county’s school system will receive some extra help in math and science.

Students involved in the Career Tech Student Organizations (CTSO) at Whitewater High showed the student body this season’s hottest prom attire while raising funds to help further their education.

The Fayette County Democratic Party is growing weekly, and is now consists of over 80 members.

They have been meeting each third Saturday at Starbucks in Peachtree City, but have outgrown its meeting room. An announcement will be made soon as to the new meeting place.

Do you know where open market operations are executed or what is the highest possible value of a Herfindahl Index? Do you know what a Herfindahl Index is?

The following arrests were reported by local law enforcement agencies for the past week. All persons are considered innocent until proven guilty:

The only thing left to do for the mass of Fayette County residents who flooded Gov. Sonny Perdue and the General Assembly with opposition to Senate Bill (SB) 458 is to pick out the casket and order the flowers. SB 458 is dead.

Fayette and surrounding counties are still under a tornado watch until 10 p.m. Friday, according to the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City.

The Peachtree City Council adopted a limited range of fee increases Thursday night, but tabled a final decision on a host of others that are being challenged or questioned.

The fee increases adopted include:

• Increasing the cost of solicitor's permits to $25 for the first day of the permit and $10 for each additional day the permit is effective in the same week;

A decision on fixing the city's police station headquarters or scrapping it in favor of rebuilding on site or purchasing another site for it has been delayed another two weeks.

There is a lot be said for acts of kindness. Such was the case Thursday at Roger Spencer community Center in Tyrone when the Shamrock Stitchers presented a sampler quilt to Steve (center) and Nina Mickell (immediately to his right), who recently suffered the loss of their home in a fire.

The town of Tyrone will celebrate Earth Day on Saturday, Apr. 19.

The event will begin with Clean Up Tyrone from 8-9 a.m.

The Tyrone Town Council Thursday night agreed that the town’s compute system needed a better security system.

Police Chief Brandon Perkins told the Town Council that he had been investigating several systems to protect the town’s records from a natural disaster, such as a tornado, or a man-made situation.

Two Tyrone businesses will hold fundraisers April 8 and 23 to benefit Georgia Special Olympics.

The April 8 location is Chapultepec Mexican Grill, located at 1522 Hwy. 74 North from 6:00-9:30 p.m.

Two recent burglaries in Tyrone resulted in the theft of a plasma television in one break-in and nothing missing in the other.

A missing 7-year-old boy and his friend were found safe ... and stuck ... in a swamp area behind Wynnmeade Parkway Thursday evening.

Peachtree City will soon have eight new school zones and eight larger school zones as part of an effort to increase safety for kids walking or taking golf carts to school.

[Editor’s note: The following is an opinion column by Rep. Matt Ramsey received April 3 via email.]

Charter schools exist to provide local control and flexibility

In the 1990s, during Gov. Zell Miller’s administration, charter school legislation was adopted in an effort to provide more flexibility and local decision-making authority to parents, teachers and faculty in failing schools.

Charter schools are public schools that operate according to the terms of a charter, or contract, with the state Board of Education.

Coweta County commissioners have set a May 13 date for a public hearing on a rezoning request by Piedmont Healthcare, Inc. for the new 800,000 square-foot Piedmont Newnan Hospital proposed for the south side of I-85 and Poplar Road.

It was a look at proposed ordinance amendments covering non-profit fundraising or political special events and alcohol consumption. But after a lengthy discussion that generated more questions than answers, Coweta County Commission Tuesday decided that solutions to the wide-ranging issues involved in the requests would be better left for a later date.

Roy Matthews, Coweta County Arborist, recently completed an intensive Municipal Forester Management Training Institute developed by the Society of Municipal Arborists. This program included training in leadership, ecosystem, technical aspects, conflict resolution and community group collaboration. Training began with weekly online assignments and concluded with 55 hours of workshops in San Antonio, Texas.

10 Coweta County students have been selected to attend the 2008 Governor’s Honors Program this summer.

Coweta County secondary Education Director Barbara Louis announced the selectees, who were drawn from 40 talented Coweta County high school students nominated earlier this year.

The Peachtree City Council is urging state officials to take a more active role in preventing Clayton County’s school system from losing its accreditation.

Time running out for House to vote on amended bill from Senate

A bill that would drastically change how charter schools are approved in Georgia may still have some life as the legislature approaches its final day tomorrow.

Several members of the Fayette County School Board took time after Monday’s work session to offer their thoughts on what had become a linguistic battleground in Fayette County in recent days over Senate Bill 458.

The modified life-span and the controversy surrounding Senate Bill (SB) 458 has caused as much controversy as nearly anything in the recent history of Fayette County, at least in legislative terms.

Hello, speeding tickets.

Drivers may soon have quite a few more school zones to tangle with, if several new and expanded zones are approved as expected by the Peachtree City Council Thursday night.

Fayette County’s personnel budget is set to rise nearly $3 million next year, despite a near hiring freeze by the county.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a letter sent Tuesday from Peachtree City Mayor Harold Logsdon:]

Last week’s letter to the editor from Mr. Juan Matute about the problems at the Peachtree City Police Station brought to light some common concerns in the community about the facility.

The variety of illnesses reported by more than 750 north Fayette and south Fulton residents in mid-2006 after breathing chemicals emanating from the Philip Services Corp. (PSC) waste treatment plant on Ga. Highway 92 in Fairburn appeared to pose no long-term adverse health effects and no public health threat, according to a March 7 Final Health Consultation study by the Georgia Division of Public Health (GDPH) and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), a division of U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services.

Call it a victory for north Fayette’s residents.

Last Thursday, the Fayette County Commission turned down two rezoning requests that were causing much consternation to residents who live near the intersection of Ga. highways 279 and 314.