Reading through this morning’s Citizen, I couldn’t help but be concerned by the number of arrests listed on Page A3. Then, I got over to Page A10 and found almost 50 more. I could only conclude that Fayette County isn’t becoming like Clayton County, we are already there.

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In the arrest reports of 1/17/07 issue of The Citizen 14 people with Hispanic names were arrested. How many were driving without a license? Fourteen. They’ll make great law-abiding future citizens, don’t you think?

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I may as well join in with comments regarding a certain south Fayette County high school. I am talking about WHS. I substitute teach there about once or twice a week. I agree wholeheartedly that the administrative staff and faculty are very condescending toward substitute teachers. I actually see their point. In their minds, they are better than “subs” or other subservient type workers. No big deal. Get over it. Besides, none of them take the time to read the vents or letters to the editors of local newspapers. They could care less what we children of a lesser god think. Get on with your life. The kids at WHS are great people to deal with and they come from some good homes in our south Fayette area.

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Drop that cell phone and raise your hands. Ever thought that doing the right thing can get you in trouble? Well, it can in Clayton County. We have heard so much about not driving and using the cell that I thought by pulling over in a parking lot to speak to a coworker that I was being responsible. Not according to the Clayton County Sheriff Department. Recently I did just that and found myself being ordered by one of Clayton Counties finest to, “Drop that cell phone and raise your hands.” With his right hand on his gun and a belligerent voice I was ordered to comply. When I dared to question him as to why I was being threatened he stated, “Do you think this is funny? This is life and death. Someone can get killed.” Well, since he was the only one with a gun I took this to mean yours truly. He mentioned, “Drug dealer ... burglar.” Did I mention that I am a 45-year-old male in a company van so garishly painted that you can see it in the dead of the night? Not what I would call a good “do not notice me” getaway vehicle. Or that it was 1:30 p.m. daytime and I was dressed in business attire. After about 10 minutes he came back to the passenger side door, motioned for me to open it, placed my license on the passenger seat and left, never uttering another word: No apology for my inconvenience, or his over-cautious approach. When I asked for his name I got a slammed door for a response. Did I also mention I am a retired police officer from Alabama? Fourteen years on the force and have handled the same situation hundreds of time, and never have I ever seen one of my fellow officers or myself treat a citizen this way. I guess that reputation for Clayton County is well deserved; come on, you know the one.

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I applaud the recent efforts of the Peachtree City Council to bring much needed new development and infrastructure to our city. For too long we have been a quiet little town with nothing but single-family homes, neighborhood schools, safe streets, boring churches and pathetic little local merchants. Who wants to live in a place like that? Only when we have a big-box Lowe’s right across the street from our big-box Home Depot will we have truly achieved shopping Nirvana, with enough economic power to draw in those huge crowds of highly desirable affluent consumers from Clayton County. The many road improvements are also long overdue. We’ve ignored the incredible potential of Ga. highways 54 and 74 for decades and it’s going to take several years for this City Council to bring those under-used roads up to the standards of truly sophisticated metropolitan thoroughfares like Riverdale Road and Buford Highway. The TDK Extension is also a stroke of genius. The people of Coweta County are our neighbors and they deserve a fully developed 20-mile-long Fayette Strip Mall to cruise along on the way back to their high-density apartments, townhouses and cluster-homes. It’s our duty as good neighbors to provide that road. I also want to commend the council for all the recent action they’ve taken to address the serious local vegetation problem. A recent drive along Hwy. 74 South shows the enormous progress that’s been made in this area. There are far too many trees lining the streets and highways in our city and these obstacles could be very hazardous for all the traffic passing through to the new McIntosh Village development. There are a few areas in which our City Council has been remiss, however. The type and character of development contemplated by the council is inevitably going to attract a lot of complementary supporting businesses. There’s been little attention paid to legislating standards for the construction of these businesses. Before it’s too late, the mayor and council should immediately consider enacting sign ordinances for all strip clubs and massage parlors located within the Peachtree City limits. We don’t want just ordinary signage. The colors of all neon signs over 20 feet tall must match the building exteriors and blend in seamlessly with the architecture of neighboring residential subdivisions. This type of development is welcome — I’m tired of having to leave my home county just to find a good adult book store — but the low class cheap signs can be a real problem. The City Council also needs to get tough when it comes to pawn shops and check cashing stores. A convenient place to borrow money against your TV or obtain a quick payday loan will of course be a vital part of the economic growth envisioned by our leaders but the places offering these services must have adequate parking available. All those Coweta commuters passing through our city must be able to stop and shop with as little hassle as possible. The mayor and City Council have put forth a vision for growth that will lead our city into a bright and prosperous future. We should all be supportive of their efforts.

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The future development of the PTC Hwy. 54 West shopping center is headed down the wrong road. What is now pasture will soon be another Lowe’s and Kohl’s. Our community has no decent shopping, no up-scaled department stores, or desirable restaurants. Instead we are left with low-quality “big-box” stores that sell mediocre clothes and poorly made products, and chain restaurants with substandard food. It is a shame that we have to take our hard-earned income 30-plus miles away to places like Atlantic Station, Lenox Mall, and Mall of Georgia to spend a day out shopping and dining. These communities are reaping the benefits of our lack of available shopping. Yes, they do have some of the same stores, but their stores are twice as large and have four times the selection. With a population of 105,000 and a $36,000 per capita income, with an $86,000 median family income in Fayette County (2005 U.S. Census), you would think consumers would have more options of full-sized, quality-oriented shops and restaurants closer to home Again, do we really need another Kohl’s, or Lowe’s? Will this soon-to-be developed shopping center end up as a disaster like another Fayette Pavilion with its retail stores, traffic congestion and crime? And what is to become of the existing Kohl’s and Lowe’s when they lose half of their clientele? Why not develop the land into a well-planned pedestrian-friendly shopping center like Atlantic Station or The Avenue? Doing this will cause land values and tax profits to skyrocket, and more importantly, make Fayette County a more desirable place to live. — Student, 17

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Not reelecting Steve Rapson and Steve Brown was the right choice. We don’t have to agree on everything Councilman Boone and Mayor Logsdon stand for but the city is heading in the right direction under their leadership regardless of what everyone thinks.

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To the person who wrote in Free Speech about not restricting “local developers” from building the big-box kind of stores in Peachtree City, none of the proposed big boxes are from local developers. They are all from out of town. Build the junk, take the cash and run as fast as you can. They don’t have to live with the consequences like we do.

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What we’re starting to see in Fayette County, especially Peachtree City, are people in charge running from the truth. The commissioner from Coweta bluntly said they don’t really care what happens in Fayette County. They don’t care about our traffic, our crime rates or anything else. Steve Boone and Judi Rutherford supporting Mayor Logsdon’s build-it-all strategy with TDK is no better than agreeing with President Bush that 20,000 more troops are going to bring peace in a land mired in sectarian violence where the prime minister is beholden to a Muslim cleric who has his own agenda. Fayette County is changing in a bad way. It’s like someone taking over our house while we went on vacation and they installed pink cabinets and painted the walls black.

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Why is the city council of Peachtree City so willing to get spanked on TDK? I want to see Mayor Logsdon, Judy Rutherford and Steven Boone put an explanation in writing and send it to the local papers for all to see. When the Coweta commissioners admit we are going to take a beating, the average citizens are left wondering why our elected officials still want to go through with it. Stop the back-room antics and be accountable.

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After the recent barrage of awful news on TDK, one thing I know for sure is I dislike Coweta’s Commissioner Poole more than I dislike our own council. What a jerk. Why do we let that guy get a billion dollars in tax revenue and we get stuck with his traffic and road bills? Are we really that dim?

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While driving south on Hwy. 74 in Peachtree City recently, I noticed a train that was parked on the new siding. In the row of cars I counted four tankers labeled as carrying chlorine. The train was parked 100 feet from homes and close to Wal-Mart and The Avenue. As I recall the mayor at the time this siding was built indicating there wasn’t anything that could be done to prevent this from being constructed. It’s sad when the health and safety of the citizens is held in such disregard by our elected officials. This is just another sign of the gradual erosion of the quality of life of our beloved city. Say a prayer for the people living in Centennial that there is never an accident on that siding.

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The Jenkins Road issue is where Councilman Grace Caldwell has made all the difference. Councilman Mike Smola and Mayor Sheryl Lee have wanted to rezone everything. The latest Wieland rezoning came right after the mayor promised to not rezone the site. After she got elected, she threw those promises out the window. That’s all we need: Thousands of more cars on the roads. Thank you, Grace and Gloria, for turning our city in the right direction. We need someone to run against the developer monkey Mike Smola.

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The acceleration lane onto Interstate 85 northbound from Hwy. 74 has a solid white line on the left side for several hundred feet. This means that you cannot change lanes to the left until the line becomes broken. So don’t flash your lights at me when I legally change lanes in front of you after you have pulled your illegal NASCAR move to pass me. A few more seconds is not going to make a lick of difference in your commute.

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It won’t be long before Iran has nuclear weapons. They plan to take care of Big Satan (us) and Little Satan (Israel) once they have them. We should use a page from FDR’s foreign policy book and lend-lease Israel the means to thwart the fanatical Iranian government. We should loan them stealth and refueling aircraft, and ship-based missile systems plus laser bunker-buster bombs and missiles to destroy Iran’s early warning system, command and control centers, fighter aircraft, and nuclear facilities. Repeat as necessary.

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Do you believe the high cost of living is justified in this country? Business owners and CEOs are getting rich beyond anyone’s wildest dreams and you and I are giving them those riches for nothing in return. As a tax auditor for an agency in another state several years ago I was assigned to audit a large dairy farm. It was a family-owned business with husband, wife, son and daughter. The employees’ salaries ranged from $18,000 annually to $44,000 annually. The husband and wife each drew a salary of $750,000. The son and daughter each drew a salary of $250,000. The wife did not work in the business but maintained the home as a “show place” for the family-owned dairy. Both the son and daughter were full-time college students in another state. Do you wonder why you pay over $3 per gallon for milk? The same situation exists in other industries such as the oil and pharmacy industry where thousands of top executives are drawing salaries in the millions of dollars. Many of them have no duties to perform whatsoever. They just take mine and your money and do nothing to earn it.

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My faith in our nation’s future has taken and recovered from a lot of blows in my 70 years. But 11-year prison sentence for two Border Patrol agents because they shot a drug smuggler is the crowning blow. The fat lady sings.

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The party that gave a Spanish-language version of their “State Of The Union” speech says they are the party of working men and women. Sorry to say that this is not your father’s Democratic Party.

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Because the American Indians didn’t have immigration laws, they were all but swept into the dust pan of history on their own land. Unenforced immigration laws equal no laws and with the same “sweeping” results.

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Could it be that one man’s dream is another man’s nightmare?

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Some how I missed the edition of Free Speech that contained the informative piece on “Loose Change.” You remember the Web site with the documentary on events that led up to and after the 9-11 Twin-Towers tragedy. Just go to Yahoo and in the search area type in “Loose Change” and pick video B (I believe you will be directed) and you will be amazed at the events that were unfolding in the weeks and days prior to and after the attack against the U.S. It will amaze you and scare you. This is not a gory video; it’s more of an information video. It asked more questions than I have heard answers for. I must admit it really shocked me to the core and with the life and varied background that I have led, that’s saying something. I am really surprised this has been kept as quiet as it has.

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Subject of Free Speech item makes reply

From the pompous, arrogant joker in the black F-350 Super Duty FX4 with USMC and two Carolina Panther stickers on each side: For the record my name is Skip Stephenson. I live in the Golf View community. My wife and I are both successful entrepreneurs in Peachtree City.

I left out the irresponsible part because I pay my bills, raise my children and volunteer in the community. The other adjectives I will gladly accept. The definition of pompous may be extreme; I mean, I do have a large amount of self-esteem but excessive? I would have to disagree.

I was trying to get to the hockey rink during the road race. Yes, I did get upset with the assistant chief of police. I don’t know where you were in relation to my conversation with the officer because you are hiding behind this anonymous forum called “Free Speech.” All who write in this are most likely diffident, craven and downright forlorn individuals who can’t make a personal stand on their own. They get their jollies off writing in because there is no accountability in doing so. I challenge you to include your names with your complaints.

For me however, I am a former Marine who CAN make a stand for what I think is right. See, what you don’t know, or better yet to put it in Paul Harvey’s words “the rest of the story”: I waited patiently for about 10 minutes during this road race. I just picked up two cups of coffee for my wife and me. Understanding this road race could take a while, I chose to turn off my truck, leave it in place and move it when the race was over, simply walking over to see my son play box lacrosse.

This is where assistant chief of police stepped in. He had two choices. 1. Let the parent go see his son play box lacrosse by overlooking any “law” they might be breaking because of the situation. Or 2. Make a stand and force the parent back to his vehicle with his authority. Obviously he chose 2.

Instead of seeing the situation for what is was (a parent wanting to see his son play box lacrosse) he refused to let the vehicle stay parked while the road racers crossed.

This would not be a unique situation. When the Tour De Georgia comes through, do they not let you park on the side of the road while they pass? During 4th of July celebration, do the roads not get lined with vehicles? After all, I was not leaving the vehicle there the rest of the day. Only until the road race was over but then I guess that would be droll of me.

I first started to explain myself to him in a professional manner when he (assistant chief of police) decided to exert his ascendancy in a stereotypical authoritarian fashion. This is when I made my stand.

I realize you don’t know much about stands, but I do. I do not apologize for my action nor do I care if you or anyone else was upset about it. While you continue to live your daft life I will continue to be the modest, self-effacing joker in the black F-350 FX4 with a silver tool box.

The officer involved knew he was wrong in this situation because in seconds of my “temper tantrum” he found a hole to let us through. I say success to my stance for my right to see my son. As for the road racers, good job on the race, I certainly did nothing to hinder their efforts.

Now, back to you: you called me all sorts of names such as irresponsible, pompous, arrogant, clown, hind-end of a donkey. I scoff at your remarks and choose not to lower myself to your childish behavior.

See, the example I set for my children is to stand for your rights, the rights my brothers and sisters in green throughout the ages have protected. Police officer does not mean anything goes. Police officer does not mean citizens can’t disagree with their decisions. Police officer does not mean follow every law to the letter.

Laws are guidelines. To be enforced at the best interest of the community. Last time I checked, forcing a parent to miss a child’s athletic event was not in the best interest of the community. If it is in your community, then I understand more about you. It makes sense writing in to the free speech section of The Citizen. I understand your personality more.

I have a different set of personality traits. Personality traits that I like to pass on to my son. These personality traits are why my son does not cower in the presence of ascendancy. He stands up, with respect and will challenge the dominion if he thinks it’s right. All are good personality traits I applaud.

This is why my son excels at most of what he does. This is why my wife and I have two successful companies in Peachtree City. This is why I disregard how you feel and why I disregard what anyone thinks of that situation.