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.

There are losses, and then there are beatdowns.

Starr’s Mill suffered the latter Tuesday, losing to Northgate 15-5 in five innings Wednesday in a Region 2-AAAA game in Fayetteville.

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.

Villages at Lafayette developer Heritage Creek Development made it through Fayetteville Planning and Zoning Commission last week and will take a proposal to amend the Villages at Lafayette Planned Community Development (PCD) agreement to the City Council Thursday for a first reading that would allow a 45,100-square-foot anchor at the site.

The proposal to amend the Planned Community Development (PCD) ordinance for the proposed Villages of Lafayette retail development on Ga. Highway 54 at North Lafayette Avenue was accompanied by a divergence of opinions March 25 at the regular session of Fayetteville Planning and Zoning Commission.

A proposal by Piedmont Fayette Hospital to add a fourth and fifth floor over the birthing center sailed through Fayetteville Planning and Zoning Commission March 25.

Unclear if bill will be voted on before session end this week

A bill that might have allowed Clayton County students to attend Fayette County Schools should Clayton lose its accreditation this fall was sent back to the House Rules committee Tuesday afternoon.

Thousands of local parents phone, email governor, legislators to protest school voucher bill

Nobody ever said language was easy. That certainly proved to be the case beginning nearly two weeks ago when Senate Bill (SB) 458 surfaced and set up the potential for Clayton County schools’ students to attend Fayette, Henry and other school systems if the Clayton system loses its accreditation in September.

sidelines 4-1-08 by Michael Boylan Click here

[A rebuttal letter follows this column.]

A Column of Opinion — I’ve voted Republican for a quarter century, but I’m wishing I had some choices other than loony Democrats and hardcore “looking out for number one” Libertarians.

Latest exhibit: Senate Bill 458. Here is where ideological theory got pounded by political reality.

And its aftermath demonstrates how our GOP leaders — including senators Ronnie Chance (R-Tyrone) and Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg), who are hard at work covering their posteriors before elections later this year — just don’t get it.

Change would forbid Clayton students from transferring to any public school ; vote expected Tuesday on House floor

What a difference a word can make. In the case of Senate Bill 458 those words are “shall” and “may.” But that problem appears to have been solved.

It has appeared as though the McIntosh Chiefs have been wielding oversized clubs, not bats, in their last two games.

McIntosh put on an impressive hitting display Friday, pounding out 14 hits in a 20-0 three-inning victory over Fayette County in a Region 2-AAAA game at Jimmie D. Allen Field in Fayetteville.

Chance says he was misled about initial amendment to bill

A Senate bill that would have required Fayette County's public school system to accept Clayton County students should Clayton schools lose their accredited status was dramatically changed at a committee hearing Wednesday afternoon.

Judge gives Hargrave 20 years in prison

A north Fayette man was found guilty Wednesday of molesting his 9-year-old niece when she visited his family from Baltimore between June 2005 and October 2006.