Immigration may be the issue that convinces blue voters why it was important to keep Democrats out of power.

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This message is directed toward the gentleman who caused such a commotion about a T-shirt I was wearing at the Fayetteville Christian Church polling station on election day. Yes, the T-shirt indicated that it was time to “Boot Bush” as well as impeach him. What you failed to realize was that since Mr. Bush was not a candidate listed on the ballot, I was within my legal and constitutional rights to wear that shirt to the polling place. For whatever reason you felt it was necessary to summon the chief poll worker over regarding the T-shirt. She immediately told me that I had to change the shirt inside out so that it could not be read. I refused because I knew I was within my rights. I was then told by the chief poll worker that certain “authorities” would be summoned to take care of the “situation.” At that point she went to the telephone and apparently spoke with the Elections Division of the county. The Elections Division affirmed that since Mr. Bush was not on the ballot, it was fine that I was wearing the T-shirt. Sir, you represent much more of a threat to the basic freedoms of this country than any amount of terrorists. Once the American public fears that it can longer express their basic First Amendment rights to freedom of speech or expression, then indeed the terrorists have won. To sum it up, the advice you gave me — “oh, grow up” — equally applies to you. You might also want to review the first 10 amendments to the Constitution, otherwise known as the “Bill of Rights.” You never know, you might learn something.

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Now I can have an evening in peace and without interruptions from politicians and their celebrity friends. I wouldn’t mind so much if I had ever been included in one of the opinion polls that litter the election cycle like used tissues.

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The biggest winner across the nation in the November election was U.S. Rep. Lynn Westmoreland. He gained a strategic advantage with a Democratic majority. Now he can blame the Democrats for his not doing anything while being on the government payroll.

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Will the print and electronic media simultaneously declare their First Amendment free press sainthood, while letting a few pet candidates have the lion’s share of ink and air in the 2008 campaign already starting? If past performance is a gauge of future performance, every burp from Hilary and McCain will be endlessly dissected for meaning, and other candidates will be given the silent treatment.

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On voting day I was shocked and disgusted to see the voters exhibiting callous disregard for the faculty and administration of Braelinn Elementary. At 7 a.m. voters’ cars were double-parked, taking up all the parking spaces, preventing teachers from getting to their classrooms on time, blocking in teachers and parents dropping off kids. Many cars were parked in the fire lane of the school while a lone Peachtree City police car was parked in front of the voting post doors and a lone officer was on duty from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. The PTO had to ask for parents to patrol the halls of the school to deter voters from entering the classroom areas of the school, possibly disrupting the classes and presenting a huge security risk. The fault does not solely lie with the conduct of the voters, but the election board requiring the use of public schools during school hours causes me great concern. In some counties they schedule teacher workdays on the voting days so that the children are not in class and the risk of class interruption or — God forbid — the entry of an unauthorized person in a classroom. We know well in advance when election days are scheduled so why not build these days into the school schedule? As the parent of two elementary school students and a middle school student, I know I am not alone in my concern over the use of our schools as polling places during school hours. Please write Dr. DeCotis or your school board representative to express your concern. Until the school board feels the heat from the parents they will not be in a position to press the matter with the election board.

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You people are idiots. You gripe all the time about this mayor and that mayor. How about getting off your butts and actually doing something instead of writing novels for the local paper? How about volunteering? Actually attending the city council meetings? Protesting? Have you all gotten so lazy that you would rather sit on your couches, whining than actually doing something? Sheesh!

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The City Council of Peachtree City annexed a Group VI development that would bring in a paltry $40,000 worth of taxes to the city. In turn, the city will have to pay almost twice as much to provide services for the site. Obviously, this doesn’t add up. I’m not saying they are on the take, but it sure looks that way. By allowing TDK Drive to go through, Coweta County will haul in a huge $1 billion windfall and we get all the negative traffic. Our city council is annexing properties at a net loss. Am I the only one wondering what in the heck is going on? This looks horrible.

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The three derailed rail cars on a spur track at Noveon in Peachtree City recently ought to be a wake-up call for Mayor Logsdon. The newspaper reported that the tracks showed no sign of damage after the derailment. This very same situation can happen with hazardous chemical tankers on the spur line next to Centennial and Cedarcroft subdivisions. Don’t wait to act until a horrible accident happens and kills some of the adjacent homeowners. This has been a horrible year for Peachtree City . The mayor gets an F- in leadership his freshman year in office.

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Hooray! The Fayette Board of Education realized the proper direction to take with our high school redistricting. They need to continue towards a vote to leave the high schools alone. Let’s get some additions added to the current schools for less money than a new high school will cost. This will keep the next few years off redistricting to a minimum and stop the gnashing of teeth throughout the county (especially at the BOE offices). Besides, I think Dr. DeCotis aged five years in the last two months. Start now. Get financing started for school additions. It’s in the best interest of every child in the county. Redistricting hurts. Increasing school and community cohesiveness helps.

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To the person who suggested that there was a great conspiracy going on with the Whitewater and Highgrove neighborhoods not being redistricted: 1. I have lived here nearly eight years and not once have I been asked to pony up money to pay off the school board. 2. You are suggesting that we be sent to the Minter and Whitewater schools. This is insane to even think of since these schools are already overcrowded. What you ask for would load the schools that they are trying to decrease populations in with even more students. Maybe the school board actually thought of this and figured out all by themselves that this was not an option. 3. One of the major reasons for the overcrowding at Peeples was that Wilshire Estates was moved out of Braelinn. This should have never, ever happened. They were told that they would go to Braelinn, they are a city neighborhood feeding into a city school and Braelinn is in a no-growth area so there is no risk of overcrowding. This was an extremely bad decision on the part of the school board. So your plan and accusations don’t work. There are not enough children in Whitewater to make an impact on decreasing school populations at Rising Starr and Starr’s Mill; this would also apply to Newhaven. Furthermore, it makes no more sense to send the three neighborhoods (Whitewater, Newhaven, and Highgrove) to Bennett’s Mill than it does for them to try and pull the Peachtree City neighborhoods in there. They should be pulling in all the neighborhoods that are right there at the Lester Road area and there are a ton of them.

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I laughed the first time I heard of an conspiracy by Sam Sweat, head of the FCBOE redistricting committee, but I’m not laughing anymore. Sam Sweat has shown impartial favoritism to the Rising Starr and Starr’s Mill students. At the workshop, it was asked why the current Booth seventh graders could not return to finish their eighth year at Booth, since it will no longer be overcrowded with the new boundaries. This would include students who have spent two years on the Science Olympiad team, band members who have raised funds for their accounts to go along on the eighth grade band trip, school council members, beta club officers, etc. Mr. Sweat replied that the problem is not having enough eighth graders at Bennett’s Mill if Booth eighth graders didn’t attend. It was later asked by a FCBOE member why no Rising Starr students were being sent. Mr. Sweat answered that R.S. was not overcrowded and could, in fact, take on more students. There are R.S. students who live as close or closer to B.M., and could help up the attendance rolls. To quote Janet Smola, “We are scrambling to fill B.M.” Then why not bring in some R.S. students. Is Sam Sweat’s agenda to make R.S.M.S. and S.M.H.S. the star schools? If your can’t beat your competition fairly, then dismantle it.

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The recent Free Speech comments on bullying seemed to refer to boy bullies. How many parents realize that girl bullies are equally as common? Specific girl bully behavior can include social isolation and harassment, rumor spreading, secret divulging, alliance-building, backstabbing, ignoring, excluding from social groups and activities, verbal insults and hostile body language, such as eye-rolling and smirks. Girl bullies make it a point to let their victims know about activities that will go on without them. They humiliate and degrade and make it uncomfortable for their victim to confide in a parent or teacher. They lie and dare anyone to go against them for fear of the same treatment. They have discovered the power they have to incite peers to want to belong, and they enjoy being the one on top who tells others what to do, when to do it, and whom to do it to. Between the ages of 12 and 14 it is common for both sexes to test their own power, but girls use psychological aggression more often than the physical aggression associated with boy bullies. The bully is followed by other girls who want to be part of a powerful clique and inflict anguish just for the fun of it. It’s at the whim of a bully whom she will attack, but the target is very often a former friend. These girl bullies are often popular, attractive, and capable of charming behavior. They are generally liked by peers, parents and teachers. Yet, bullies feel the need to belittle anyone who might be a threat to their social standing, and don’t care about the consequences of their actions. Bullies have not learned empathy, or they may be beginning a lifelong pattern of intimidation and social combat. Because abusive behavior is learned, it is often not useful to depend on the parents of bullies to control their children. Observing parents who verbally and/or physically abuse one another is a common factor in the bully mentality. Tolerance and empathy don’t just happen, they have to be taught and continually enforced through the teenage years. Simply because a girl has made it to middle school without any obvious behavior problem means nothing if parents don’t take an active part in her social conduct. Twelve and 13-year-olds are not capable of living without social guidance and control. We may assume they use the ethical behavior we have instilled in them, but it just isn’t always the case. All teenagers have to be taught ethics and the consequences of failure to follow them. Parents actively contribute to bullying by refusing to believe their own daughter could possibly take part in such cruel behavior. They may even support the exclusion of another child. Asking your daughter if she is being mean and making someone’s life miserable is not enough. Teenagers are very capable of looking a parent in the eye and lying. Everyone’s daughter lies sometime, and the middle school years are definitely a time of testing. Parents who are bystanders, while their girls take part in trashing someone, are guilty of exacerbating the problem. Girls, and boys too, who excuse themselves as innocent bystanders share the blame, since their passive role enables the bully. You can’t watch someone being hurt and not be considered part of that action. Bullies need an audience. Without others to laugh, whisper and spread rumors, the bully is not effective, and that is why bystanders are such a big factor in contributing to the cruelty. There will always be leaders and followers, but bullying does not have to be part of that arrangement.

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Mr. Pick-Up Truck with the high water wheels, license 9687AJT, who passed me on Peachtree Parkway in the Huddleston Elementary school zone, you need to reread the driving laws. And a note to Peachtree City police. You either need to enforce the speed limit on the parkway or do away with it. I’m tired of people passing me and giving me “the look” as though I’m doing something wrong going 25 mph in a school zone.

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To the cheer-mom-wannabe complaining about fall tryouts for new students and a cheerleader being suspended: You obviously didn’t do your homework. The fall tryouts were held for new students and one girl that received special permission. She didn’t tryout/make the team in the spring due to a clerical error on her report card grade that was used for spring tryouts. When her parents reported the mistake, the spring tryouts were over. She was given special permission to try out with new students by the “powers that be” due to a mistake that wasn’t her fault. As far as the cheerleader that got suspended for seven days (not 10 days), she has been punished for her mistake. Per the Fayette County Code of Conduct, any student athlete that gets suspended has to sit out 25 percent of the sport season. Not that it’s anyone’s business, but the season is approximately 12 weeks long so she is missing three weeks of cheerleading. The spend-the-night party referenced was a “private” party at another cheerleader’s house and had nothing to do with school. Next time you complain, please get your facts straight.

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Shame on you, FCFT, for being so rude at your Evening of Broadway on Thursday night to me and other paying individuals. Won’t ever be back!

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Our infamous city council in Fayetteville is about to mess up bad. Stop the annexations for your buddy Bob Rolader. The fact is that the only reason Larry Dell and Walt White are still in office is that no one ran against them. That won’t happen next time. We are sick and tired of the rampant growth and you are killing our roads with traffic.

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Yesterday I invited a friend to attend the “Southside Slugfest” with me. Her response to me was, “Why should I want to attend the Board Of Education meeting when they release the new school boundary lines?” Guess they do have something in common. Will alcohol and tailgating be prohibited next year for the next concert series since the Amphitheater is located in a recreational area and alcohol is prohibited? Sounds a little hypocritical to me, but isn’t that Peachtree City anyway? Can’t wait till someone wants to hold a rodeo here.

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I just wanted to take a minute to thank the gentleman who stopped on Ebenezer Church on Nov. 6 and actually went to his home to retrieve his gas can, just to give me a couple of gallons to make sure I’d make it to the gas station with my 4-year-old son. It’s nice to see that there are still good, kind-hearted people left in the world. I even offered a couple of dollars for the gas, and he politely turned it down. Thank you so much, once again.

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We all know how the advertising game works. If you want to sell something, you use beautiful people. This is true in the medical field as any other. Since this is open enrollment time for insurance, Piedmont Fayette has been trying to get their share of business. Guess which doctor’s picture appeared in the ads? The youngest and best looking on the staff. My mom said she would probably have a heart attack being in his presence.

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I canceled the CNN breaking news e-mail report because today — election day. The single breaking news was that Brittney Spears is getting a divorce.

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Please light a candle this Friday for those who are battling, are a survivor of or have lost their fight to these diseases: Cancer, ALS, MS, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. And pray daily in whatever way that one day a cure will be found so people may live a life free of these diseases.

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I wonder how millions of union workers feel about their dues being spent to elect pols who are soft on wage-suppressing illegal immigration? But look on the bright side, maybe your union will give you Spanish lessons.

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Q: What do you call someone who hires illegal alien workers? A: A crook!

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How come farmers are always whining about the worker shortages caused by a lack of illegal immigrants? Never mind that there are more illegals in America than at any time in our history. The dirty truth is that not even illegal immigrants want these jobs because the conditions resemble slavery.

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It is offensive to hear the business press prattle on about all the jobs that Americans won’t do. The Wall Street cheerleaders never ask who did those jobs before the immigration onslaught. Americans did them, back when blue-collar employment paid a living wage.

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To those who send around the endless e-mails bashing the topic of the week, I have a question. If you were a Mexican, where would you be? Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats will ever diminish their desire for a better life. Why would they or you want to live in such a corrupt, poverty-stricken country where neither you or your family have the slightest chance to advance from the level of society in which you were born. You could have been born on the streets and live knowing your grandchildren and their children would never advance beyond the barrio unless you “run” for a better life. Remember as well that you would likely never have had an education beyond grammar school and only know what you are taught by those of your own caste and grow up believing what you hear on the streets and learn from Hollywood as fact. Any one believing fences are a fix is not living in the real world. Want to fix Mexico and keep the masses at home? Educate the children; develop industry and jobs in Mexico. Educating the children will over time reap many rewards for the U.S. By helping the lower class improve thereby giving future generations an improved chance for a better life there will be an eventual reduction in the amount of government corruption. Perhaps in a few years they will long to live in their own country and raise their children. The Mexican heritage is strong. The people have had to labor hard for generations just to survive. The average citizen will work long hours without compliant and expect much less than our labor force and without the attitudes we so often experience. A large percentage of everything we purchase is made in China, millions of phone calls are made to India each day by us and we allow it by doing business with these large corporations that are exporting jobs away from America. Why is the U.S. not putting more effort and money into developing our neighbors to the south? Our neighbors to the south have been dreaming of a better life since before our forefathers fought the tyranny of Britain. Think on it. This is not a party issue. Send e-mails demanding solutions for U.S. citizens and the U.S. economy which will also be beneficial to us and the future of Mexico and its citizens.