Last week was a busy week for all Coweta County elementary and middle schools as students worked diligently on the Criterion Reference Competency Test.

The Fayette County Sheriff’s Department will no longer have to go through the county government for purchasing items or conducting vehicle maintenance, Superior Court Judge William Isom ruled Tuesday afternoon.

After taking public criticism for illegal students from other counties attending Fayette County’s well-regarded school system, the county Board of Education is considering a tougher policy that would force offending parents to pay tuition.

The Fayette County Board of Education got its first glimpse Monday night of next year’s proposed $173.7 million budget.

This could be the last year for lovers of Fayette County’s annual Kiwanis Fair to explore the sights and sounds of the midway at the fairgrounds complex on Goza Road.

The Peachtree City Council will meet tonight with homeowners from the Planterra Ridge subdivision to discuss traffic problems in the neighborhood.

At dusk on Friday night, over 350 Fayette County cancer survivors will walk the first lap of Relay For Life at the Kiwanis Fair Complex in Fayetteville.

The Peachtree City Council will consider approving a master plan for cart path improvements for the coming two fiscal years at its meeting Thursday night.

Fayetteville Planning and Zoning commissioners April 25 voted to recommend approval of two rezoning requests that would add nearly 62,000 square feet of office and retail space along Ga. Highway 54 W. at Brandywine Road Extension and more than 57,000 square feet at Hwy. 54 and Grady Avenue, both on the city’s growing west side.

It is hard to know what to do and where to turn when your world is shattered and danger is all around. Unlike the community wide devastation from hurricanes, floods and tornados, individual lives sometimes shatter at the hands of others. And many times it is women who become the specific targets, women who suffer the consequences of a crime perpetrated on them. One such crime is sexual assault.

Fayetteville City Council and Planning and Zoning commissioners met April 28 to discuss wide ranging topics such as the many issues related to development and the status of public input to the city’s comprehensive Plan.

Carolyn Cary, who has been Fayette County’s official historian for 25 years, was feted at a dinner party Saturday evening thrown by the Friends of the Fayette County Library.

Pet owners wanting to send their dogs on vacation will have to find another option, after the Fayette County Commission Thursday decided not to revisit their ordinances concerning a kennel in an Agricultural-Residential zoning district.

It’s back to square one for residents of Shenandoah Estates who had hoped the Fayette County Commission would reopen Old Ga. Highway 138.

Things are a little brighter at the Fayette County Animal Shelter, mainly due to a new antimicrobial floor and solatubes bringing natural light into the animals rooms. This renovation, made possible by a $15,000 donation from the Fayette County Humane Society, not only makes the shelter look more attractive, it is also now a healthier facility.

A groundbreaking was held April 12 for the new Starr’s Mill Professional Center at 1280 Ga. Highway 74 in Peachtree City. The location is just south of Rockaway Road and near the Starr’s Mill school complex.

McIntosh High School senior Michael Forsyth has received the Eagle Rank from the Boy Scouts of America at a Court of Honor at Holy Trinity Catholic Church. A member of Troop 279 for seven years, he also was elected to the honorary Boy Scout service organization, Order of the Arrow.

A personal tragedy made her want to make a difference in the lives of young people so she decided to become a teacher. She says that she didn’t find teaching, it found her and now the education profession has given Shelly McLemore, a science teacher at Flat Rock Middle, its highest honor as Fayette’s 2006 Teacher of the Year.

For the first time since the Fayette County Education Foundation began awarding mini-grants to Fayette’s public school teachers, the organization held a special recognition reception in honor of the 2006 minigrant award recipients and scholarship winners.

Herbert Kohn spoke to Team 8C at J.C. Booth Middle School on March 31 about fleeing Germany to England during the Holocaust.

Traffic in both directions on part of Ga. Highway 54 West in Peachtree City will likely remain shut down until 2 p.m. today as crews work to repair a gas leak, city officials said.

Palmetto has become the first South Fulton County city to publicly discuss facets of its annexation plans. Those plans were discussed at the April 27 council work session. Plans call for more than doubling the size of the city, a transition, said Mayor Clark Boddie, that can be accomplished without raising taxes or borrowing money while immediately providing fire, police and trash pick up services to those annexed.

Members of Palmetto and Fairburn city councils, Fulton County Board of Education and parents joined Creekside Principal Michael Robinson April 25 for the dedication of the school’s new wing of 27 classrooms and labs.

A wealth of questions about the June 2007 vote to accept the charter and form the city of Chattahoochee Hills were addressed April 25 at a public meeting at the Rico Cultural Center. A group of more than 200 residents heard presentations and posed questions to moderator Rodney Peek, Georgia State University’s Dr. Robert Eger, lobbyist Lewis Massey, Chattahoochee Hill Country Alliance Chairman Mark Hennessy, Commissioner Bill Edwards. South Fulton Concerned Citizens board member Chuck Miller and others involved since the idea of incorporation surfaced last year. Though the group is currently centering its efforts on the annexation attempt by the city of Palmetto to more than double its size, most questions and comments were geared toward issues of possible city-hood.

Union City officials are concerned that current and upcoming residential development will result in a need for greater wastewater treatment capacity. Responding to that concern, the City Council April 18 approved a measure aimed at increasing sewer capacity at the county’s Camp Creek Wastewater Treatment plant.

An armed robbery Wednesday night at Subway in Palmetto left employees physically unharmed and a lone gunman on the lam with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Everything goes up in price, including the cost of animal control. The Fairburn City Council April 24 voted to approve the recent Fulton County estimate that increases the annual animal control service to $52,904, or 10.7 percent, beginning in July. Council members also agreed to re-examine the issue if the new estimate exceeds 10.7 percent.

Join us for a day of fun filled activities within the Serenbe Community as we host our first annual May Day event, presented by the Serenbe Institute for Arts, Culture and the Environment. Our May Day event will be held Sunday, April 30 at 1:00 p.m. on Selborne Lane in the Serenbe Community.

Local farmers and artisans from Bear Creek Farms, Fairy Wood Thicket, Jane Storey’s Knitting and Woodcrafts, Puck’s Farm, Scharko Farms and Titania’s Soaps will feature the fruits of their labors at the Fairburn Farmer’s Market on Saturday’s from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. beginning May 6 and running through Oct. 28 at the city’s Historic Freight Depot located at 30 West Broad Street.

Reece Center for Handicapped Horsemanship will hold a benefit garage sale and tack sale Saturday, May 6 from 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. at the non-profit organization’s Palmetto site located at 8280 Wilkerson Mill Road. Proceeds from the sale will help cover the cost of feed and care of the organization’s horses.