There they go again. The Board of Education is trying to move the school opening date for 2008 back to the first week of August. They think we’re not watching. Vote in their little poll, but tell them you want other options than Aug. 4 or Aug. 11. How about Aug. 25 or September? We have to be vigilant and outspoken, or they’ll have our kids back in school in July.

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To the two bicyclists riding side by side on Harp Road Tuesday morning. Just want you to know how selfish you are for hogging the road and expecting people paying over $3 a gallon for gasoline to stay behind. By the way, we are paying taxes for the maintenance and upkeep for those roads and since you are not, I have a right to the road and you do not. Don’t expect me to waste my expensive gasoline while you “take the road” when you feel like it and I will only “share the road” with another tax-paying vehicle. So ride on the edge of the road or on designated bike lanes. Stop being self-indulgent and expecting everyone else to indulge you when you decide to put on your tight little immodest pants and make a spectacle of yourself.

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Tyrone’s government continues on with its conspiratorial plan to redevelop downtown by eliminating businesses and taking private property without just compensation in violation of Fifth Amendment rights. Zoning Administrator Valerie Fowler Caldwell recently refused to renew the business license for Walter’s Auto Service who has operated on Palmetto Road for the past 18 years. Tyrone began its redevelopment plan in earnest in 2004 when current councilmen Michael Smola and Paul Letourneau voted to eliminate business property uses along Palmetto Road. By taking away existing uses, business licenses could be refused, thereby putting current owners out of business, thus allowing developers to buy up properties and tear down buildings for redevelopment. The plan is working to perfection. Sixty percent of the buildings have been bought by developers and demolition was begun this month. After Walter’s Auto Service is forced out of business, only four more business license refusals remain in order for the government to complete its plan. Passing laws for the general safety and public welfare is legal. Passing legal laws under the guise of public welfare that harm property owners is illegal. Under the law, its called civil conspiracy. Tyrone taxpayers will end up paying the just compensation for its government’s transgressions.

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Do we really need four more years of Mayor Sheryl Lee and her big-growth accomplices Paul Letourneau and Mike Smola, for crying out loud? Go back and look at every rezoning request in Tyrone that doubles the housing density and you will see their three names as the votes in favor. The reason why the folks at Tyrone City Hall are clamoring for more sewer is because they can’t say no to higher density rezonings. Mayor Lee lied to the voters about not wanting to double the size of the second Wieland site and flip-flopped a month after the election. We are going to choke on the traffic on Ga. Highway 74; it’s really bad now. We need to elect some slow-growth candidates in November and put a stop to all of the nonsense.

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“Fayette foreclosures: A growing pain.” Yes, they are. And have you checked to see where are all of the foreclosures and what developer has the most foreclosures? Think this should be a determining factor as to who Fayette County allows to develop a subdivision. John Wieland subdivisions, I bet, have the highest number of foreclosures. I would bet their lending practices support sub-prime lenders. But Wieland doesn’t care; they have their inventory to get rid of so they can go build another development and ruin that part of the community. Tyrone has been ruined because of Southampton and another Wieland development is being built off Hwy. 74 in Tyrone. Our wonderful community has lost its appeal and a notable increase in crime has occurred because of developers like Wieland. Please, Fayette County, do your due diligence and make sure developers are ethical in their lending and make sure future homeowners do qualify for loans they are applying for.

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Harold Logsdon said at the growth meeting he is going to use the property taxes from the new Wieland and Levitt and Sons homes to pay for 24 new city employees. But the Fayette economic development expert said residential property doesn’t pay for itself with services. OK, if it costs more in taxes to pay for residential than what you bring in, and you are going to divert their tax dollars for a specific project, how is that not going to turn into a deficit spending situation? Don’t we have financial people on the city payroll who can explain this to the mayor? Gee whiz.

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It was sickening to watch Harold Logsdon sweet-talking the Coweta County commissioners at the Town Hall meeting. Isn’t this the same group that is siding with GRTA in a lawsuit against us? Now the mayor says they’re best buddies. Did Coweta County drop out of the lawsuit against us? No, they’re still after us. The Coweta traffic engineer even said we’re going to get hit in the pants with traffic by their high-density developments. Why is the mayor now kissing their behind?

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A few of us in the audience groaned when Mayor Logsdon said he “knows” the state is holding back 25 percent of the sales taxes we are due. This is the same guy who said he “knew” he could cut the city budget and roll back taxes (the reason he got my family’s vote). The mayor needs to stop blaming the state and start looking in the mirror. We don’t need scapegoats. We need fiscal discipline.

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Bob Lenox and Steve Brown did a great job at the Town Hall meeting. Lenox was more philosophical and Brown brought a lot of the meat and potatoes to the discussion. The Chamber of Commerce mouthpiece was like a robot, “We want TDK ... good for business.” I thought it was great when Brown used Coweta County’s own numbers to show why TDK was a bad deal.

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The Peachtree City Town Hall meeting on Tuesday night was interesting and showed the challenges facing us and our surrounding communities for the next several years. After all of the issues and topics related to brick and mortar (mostly land development) and transportation problems (mostly new road construction), we got down to a basic concern about which there is no viable solution, at least so far. It is the lack of water to support all of the anticipated development and growth. The chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission could only offer two possible solutions: Conservation and the desalination of sea water. During some discussion of the related solutions, our state House representative, and resident of Peachtree City, offered the most ridiculous and inane contribution to the discussion. He stated that we should really get behind the immigration reform legislation to remove all illegal immigrants from our land, because it is they who surely are using too much water, and their removal will allow us to have what we will need. This type of logic is nothing more than a base pandering of a political operative who will do anything to put xenophobic fear into his constituents to advance his own political agenda. Conservation of our existing water resources may mean that our current lifestyle of big yards with large, water-thirsty lawns and gardens may have to be a thing of the past. If in fact we no longer need to support lawns and gardens, which are gorgeous, but a big drain on our water supplies, we may not have to employ armies of landscape maintenance people. This one change to conserve, will in itself, reduce the dependence on the current deluge of illegals whom we pay to mow, prune, and water our yards in this country. We also may be able to survive until a “Manhattan Project” develops a cost-effective method of using solar energy to convert sea water to fresh water (other than the way nature does it) to rely on.

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For the love of God, stop teaching our children to speak like morons. On the front page dated June 22, 2007, a Coweta County commissioner is quoted as saying “Coweta County is very supportive of working together with all of y’all on these projects.” Take it from an outsider, this sounds like you just came out from under a rock. It’s really sad when a city official or an NBA star speaks like they are in a gang or are part of a rebellion. People complain about education and the lack of it in Georgia. Well, guess what? You will only get out what you put into teaching your children. If you teach them to say “y’all” and “ye’me” and whatever else it is you folks say in Georgia, they will continue to sound as dumb as the words they speak.

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I see where Chief Murray is trying to get 5 percent and 10 percent raises for his elite police force. I think he needs to add another incentive. How about another 5 percent raise if the officer is ambidextrous and has watched all episodes of “Dragnet,” or better yet a 10 percent raise if he/she has the boxed set. Bless his little heart, he tries.

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We want to publicly thank Karen Morley of the Fayette County Administration Office for her friendly and professional approach to a problem we were having. She exhibited a sincere concern and immediately solved the issue. Mrs. Morley is an excellent ambassador for our county commissioners’ office. Thank you, Karen.

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We recently read in The Citizen that [a golf cart retailer] was under new management. The new managers said they bought [it] because they wanted to improve the store’s image and give their customers the quality service and parts that was lacking in the old management. We decided to use them to purchase golf cart batteries. One of the brand new batteries quit after two weeks. We were told it could not be returned or refunded even with a warranty. A word to the wise, the new management is not much better.

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This is in regards to the patrons who wrote in about the service at local restaurant. My response is get used to it. Visit the chain restaurants to the north of the city where you will be greeted by “Are you guys ready to order?” It is increasingly harder to find mature quality help in Fayetteville. Customers who come from the surrounding areas are rude and disrespectful and cheap. Servers don’t forget. Customers, ask yourself when you receive bad service, did I leave a decent tip? People who have never been a server should stop and consider all the job consists of. Everyone should do this once as it is far harder than it seems. Most people consider servers to be the bottom of the barrel and treat them this way. A clue for you: Not everyone can do this job and do it well. Many have college degrees and chose this because of the hours, their children or in my case a terminally ill spouse and child to care for. Gas is at an all-time high, groceries, medicine, clothing are all increasing daily. But do you know a server’s salary is $2.10 an hour? Most people still think 10 percent is acceptable. So next time you have good service, remember to tip well, and for bad [service], think about the tip you left last time you were in because servers all talk and tell each other who is cheap.

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In our neighborhood, we have what appears to be a house full of illegal aliens. There are between 10 and 14 men in and out of this residence. We can smell pot being smoked. There are several white vans that come and go for days at a time. They may be bringing in others and using this as a temporary place. We learned last night at our neighborhood meeting that we are not the only ones who have contacted our local authorities. Many residents have contacted the sheriff’s office, the marshal’s office, and the county commissioners. I know that when I called the sheriff’s office, I was told to call INS. I left a message there. We also learned last night that a Mexican owns the home, and he supposedly uses it to house his employees for his carpet installation business. Isn’t that against county policy for a single-family residence? Many families with daughters shared that they felt uncomfortable walking past the home due to noises and comments said to them. Is this what we want in Fayette? I hope that by this getting in the paper that someone will take action.

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Newt Gingrich is considering running for President. It would be better if he ran for head of the Republican Party. He can’t get elected President but he could help correct the left-leaning direction the Republicans have taken. Republicans need someone to help the party coalesce around a specific list of things to fix, a new contract with America. He is so good at doing that job, the Democrats will soon be hating him more than Karl Rove.

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Thank you to the individual who turned in my $100 bill at the Wal-Mart in Fayetteville this week. Not only did it surprise the management, but the customers as well. The money fell out of my pocket and wasn’t missed until I checked out. My son and I prayed that an honest person would find the money and turn it in. God answered our prayers immediately. This truly showed my children that there are honest people who still care enough to do what is right. Thank you for being an example of what we all should do in this situation. God bless!

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Thanks a lot to the very rude mid-20s lady driving the “strange” red golf cart two weeks ago down the golf cart path just past the golf cart bridge over Hwy. 74 and ran my son off of the path while he was riding his skate board. Thanks to you, he has suffered a fractured wrist, road rash all over his body and frankly, finally sees people in this town for what they are. You probably do not even own a home and therefore have no insurance to pay the medical bills, which will mean no reimbursement to me for his medical bills. Most importantly, my son, whom I have raised to be a very concerned and compassionate person, saw you for what you really are and it’s made him more aware of just how pathetic people can really be. The fact that you stopped, turned around and looked at him while he was in fetal position on the ground and then left without seeking emergency help for him is not only illegal, but is deplorable, unfathomable and pathetic. May karma deal with you righteously.

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I too was surprised at the monster SUVs the county Fire Department has bought. Apparently cost and fuel efficiency are unimportant when it’s taxpayer money. By the way, on a recent Miami trip I saw a number of city hybrid cars zipping around.

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To those of you who still insist on breeding dogs, perhaps you should make a trip down to Fayette Animal Control and see if you really think that the world needs more dogs. I wonder if the public can watch a euthanasia? That might open your eyes. Watch little Fluffy get killed. Or maybe you’d like to volunteer with one of the local humane societies and spend Saturdays and Sundays working the pet adoptions at Petsmart or Petco. I bet you’ve got lots of spare time for that.

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If people come here and resist learning English, they are segregating themselves from the larger community of citizens, which is a disservice to all concerned. When a protester must speak through an interpreter, why give them any credence?

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Is there any difference between a government where laws are selectively enforced or ignored and a dictatorship?

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Summer movie bomb: “My Big Fat Illegal Immigration Amnesty Bill,” starring Kennedy, Bush and McCain.

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GWB doesn’t like the word amnesty. OK, how’s this? The Senate’s bill gives lawbreakers immunity from consequences. Is that better?

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Think we’ll get socialized medicine after we import a few million more poor immigrants? Si. ¡Usted puede apostar a el (you can bet on it)!

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Apply security directly to the border. Apply enforcement directly to the job site. Apply comments directly to senators’ ears.

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Trent Lott says that “Talk radio is running the country.” Big sorry, Trent, but thanks to the Internet, cable TV, local papers,and talk radio, the people know what’s going on and are determined to defend our nation’s sovereignty from politicians who are blinded by greed or ambition (or just plain stupid).

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When I’m in charge of TV programs, I will tone down the background music.