George Ingram sells tomatoes from his truck parked off Jeff Davis Drive to a passerby Monday.

The Fayette County School System is hopeful the newest contract from a developer to buy surplus school land near Inman, southeast of Fayetteville, will come to fruition.

Fayetteville City Council July 20 unanimously adopted the city’s $9.591 million Fiscal Year 2007 general fund budget, a 4.31 percent increase over the current year.

Fayette County Commission incumbent Linda Wells nearly squeaked out a victory despite facing two challengers in last week’s primary elections. She fell 194 votes short of winning outright without a runoff in a three-way race where 11,445 votes were cast.

First, he ordered a sandwich.

But instead of pulling out his wallet to pay, the “customer” drew a gun and demanded money from the cash register at the Blimpie store in the Fayette Pavilion Monday afternoon, police said.

When the school bell rings on Aug. 7, Fayette County’s summer construction projects should be virtually complete.

That’s the word from construction manager Klaus Darnell, who updated the Fayette County School Board Monday night on his busy summer.

Nearly 200 new teachers participated in teacher induction activities July 24-28.

As students get ready to head back to school on August 7, many will be entering the school system for the first time or graduating to middle or high school.

Fayette County Public Schools is seeking input from parents and the community regarding the 2007-2008 school calendar.

The Community Bankers Association of Georgia (CBA) congratulated Southern Community Bank, Fayetteville, and Gary McGaha, President & CEO, for being selected as the winner of the CBA’s 2006 Quality Service Award and Georgia’s Community Bank of the Year. The winner and finalists were announced at the CBA’s 38th Annual Convention and Trade Show at the Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii, where over 500 community bankers, associate members, and guests convened to network and share ideas with fellow bankers.

They came for an answer and they got it. Now they are waiting to see the results. And for furious and fearful residents of unincorporated south Fulton, Fairburn, Union City, Tyrone and north Fayette County exposed and sickened for weeks by the onion-like smell of pesticide component Propyl mercaptan, the words of Fulton County Commissioner Bill Edwards will long be remembered.

The Peachtree City Council proposed a plan to add one extra police officer to the force by the end of the year at its July 20 meeting.

Multi-family reference draws resistance

Tyrone’s draft of its community assessment report — designed to help guide future growth — will undergo some changes now that the planning consultant has gotten some feedback from the community.

Thanks to a contribution from the Fayette County Board of Commissioners, the town of Tyrone has an additional $18,000 to spend on recreation this year.

Few local commuters will be surprised to learn that I-85 between Fayette County and I-285 is one of the least congested areas in metro Atlanta, according to a recent study.

Tyrone officials turned down a commercial rezoning request Thursday night for a 10-acre parcel off Ga. Highway 74 between Jenkins and Sandy Creek roads.

But property tax bills will go up

Tyrone residents will see an increase on their town property tax bills, but the town will be able to hold its millage rate the same as last year, officials said.

An article in Friday’s edition of the Peachtree Citizen incorrectly noted the date of the runoff election for the Post 5 County Commission seat and other statewide races. The correct date is Tuesday, Aug. 8.

Tyrone finally received funds for recreation from Fayette County, but the timing of the award has two City Councilman up in arms.

Residents in south Fulton and north Fayette counties fed up with being sick and finding no help from their county governments filed a class action law suit Monday over illnesses they say were caused by the onion-like smell of Propyl mercaptan coming from the Philip Services Corp. waste treatment plant on Ga. Highway 92. To date, more than 225 say they are sick or have been since the smell began weeks ago and nearly 800 have signed a petition demanding immediate action.

The work of annexing one of Union city’s larger unincorporated islands came to an end July 18 as council members held 134 back-to-back public hearings to rezone and annex 67 parcels in Vickers Mill subdivision.

South Fulton Chamber of Commerce is no stranger to having more than its share of noteworthy speakers at its monthly meeting. The organization’s meeting Thursday was no exception as Gov. Sonny Perdue took the podium before a large crowd at Georgia International Convention Center in College Park.

Palmetto Elementary School held its annual Spelling Bee recently, with first place going to Trey McLendon in Ms. Tomecek’s fifth-grade class. Trey will go on to compete in the Fulton County Spelling Bee.

Georgia Dept. of Transportation announced that two southbound lanes of I-85 will be closed Monday, July 24 from 8 PM until 4 AM Tuesday morning.

The Fulton County Board of Education has named Kiné Geathers as the new Sandtown Middle School principal. Mrs. Geathers comes to Sandtown after serving three years as a curriculum assistant principal at Banneker High School and three years as a counselor at North Springs High School. She began her education career as a high school counselor in DeKalb County. In addition, she was the summer school principal when the program was at Banneker High School in 2005.

Join the Fairburn Police and Fire Departments on August 1, from 6 p.m.-10 p.m. in Duncan Park for “National Night Out.”

Schools in Fulton County have announced their new student registration dates and Open House dates for the 2006-07 school year. The new school year begins Monday, August 14, for the majority of Fulton County students. Two south Fulton elementary schools, College Park and Parklane, operate on a year-round calendar and begin school on July 24.

The following arrests were made by Fairburn Police between July 12-18:

Cyril Kirkland, 50, Fairburn, disorderly conduct-public drunk

Two Peachtree City residents have been cited for failing to keep their children in school as prescribed by law, police said.