Mayor Ken Steele of Fayetteville is going to raise our taxes again. All the tomfoolery about keeping the same millage rate is just a hoax about hiding a tax increase. Go back and look at your tax bills and you will see the amount increase every year. Mayor Steele’s strategy has always been to keep over-developing Fayetteville so that the subsequent increase in the number of people paying taxes keeps growing. In addition, all of our home values keep getting marked up around 7 percent every year, which is a consistent annual tax increase even without raising the millage rate. Pumping up government growth by over-development from Steele is what is causing our current traffic problems in Fayetteville. Peachtree City is not the only place heading for traffic jams and more taxes, and my fellow voters of Fayetteville had better wake up. All of our water and sewer rates are going up to cover the Mr. Mayor’s double- and triple-digit growth during his tenure. We need someone to run as a slow-growth candidate against Mayor Steele. It’s time for a change in leadership.

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Tyrone’s Citizens could celebrate this 4th of July by reflecting back on the new type of government formed by our Founding Fathers and what they had to say. Upon emerging from the constitutional convention Ben Franklin was asked, “What type of government do we have Dr. Franklin?” Franklin replied, “A (representative) republic, if you can keep it.“ For the past decade Tyrone has not been able to keep it. Instead of electing representatives of the people, we have voted in representatives with special interests who hire dictatorial bureaucrats who run the government and trample on the bedrock of democracy, private property ownership rights. Thomas Jefferson later said, “All governments need a good revolution every 10 years.” It’s time for Tyrone’s revolution. It was 10 years ago that our representatives hired its first town manager Barry Amos, who lives in Peachtree City, and dictates our property uses along with his assistant manager Valerie Fowler Caldwell. [They are] backed by our non-representative council led by the flip-flopping Mayor Sheryl Lee and councilmen Michael Smola and Paul Letourneau. John Locke, whose writings influenced the American Revolution said, when the people are abused by its government, “they have the right to resist, alter, or abolish it.“ Tyrone’s voters will get the chance this November to seriously consider the advice of these great leaders by giving us true representatives of the people.

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Did you read where Fulton County erosion inspector Don Mitchell was arrested for taking bribes, free meals and holiday hams? He spent a bunch of the past few years taking orders directly from south Fulton Commissioner Bill Edwards and his staff, rather than his superiors. Is this any different from local developers purchasing meals at a local restaurant for the members of Peachtree City’s Impact Fee Committee, the same committee charged with creating the city’s infrastructure fees for those same developers? For a mayor who charged in on his horse arrogantly boasting about leadership and financial expertise, he sure is as silent as a church mouse on this one. It’s time to get the district attorney to begin an investigation because the mayor keeps looking the other way.

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I used to fly out of Griffin and things got so bad there I moved my plane over to Peachtree City. Steve Brown is dead-on about Falcon Field. The encroachment from new homes will probably devastate flying in Peachtree City to a large degree. I can assure you the families living in homes priced $500,000 to $1 million in Coweta are going to object to the air traffic overhead. It looks like the city council is content to watch the airport fold. This would be a disaster for Fayette County.

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Another suggestion for Chief Murray. Instead of raises for his officers, why doesn’t he use the money to give them some training so they will conduct themselves like professional public servants instead of professional bullies that make law-abiding citizens afraid to go out on the streets.

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Go, Mayor Brown, go! Somebody stands up for the average Joe and Jane and tells it like it is. Don’t let those freaks spoil the best area left in metro Atlanta.

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To the reader who has a problem with people here using the word y’all. “Delta is ready when you are” to take you back to where they don’t use the word y’all. Hey, and Delta could really use y’all’s help these days too, so make sure y’all pay full fare.

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To the writer who objects to the user of “y’all,” I suggest he/she listen to a few Lewis Grizzard tapes to get educated on how the English language works in both the North and South. Y’all is just as proper as “youse guys” which is used extensively up North. I’m a Southerner who (unfortunately) lived in the North for most of my 40-year career. I use y’all because it is a proper way to express oneself in this region and it does not sound any more like a moron who comes from under a rock than “youse guys.” My credentials are B.S., M.S., Ph.D. Not in English, of course, but I do comprehend.

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Now I love our children playing sports as much as the next person, but the new soccer field proposal is too much. First, the mayor said we are slowing our house building as we near build-out. Why would we want to pay for the most expensive sports fields in the history of Fayette County at a time when the growth in children is stabilizing? Second, why do we want these ultra-expensive fields if just a few select soccer players get to use them? Mayor Logsdon hasn’t kept his promise of reducing taxes and now he wants us to eat another pork barrel project that will increase our taxes. Give the children decent fields to play on, but don’t gouge us with overpriced fields that 98 percent of the children will never set foot on. Don’t forget, if we removed the children leeching off our soccer program from Coweta and other places outside Peachtree City, we wouldn’t come close to needing these expensive fields. We don’t really need them now.

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Attention, old drivers, fat drivers, lazy drivers: The sign says “handicapped parking.” It’s not for you.

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I am a long-time resident of Peachtree City and have maintained a savings account with Regions Bank Crosstown branch for several years with a very pleasant working relationship. I have cashed Fayette County Board of Eduction payroll checks at Regions account for a number of years and attempted to do the same today. Today I came head on with a brick wall and a condescending attitude at the Regions Bank in Kedron. I have encountered a sad change with the new customer service policies that are being put into place by Regions as they merge with Amsouth. [I was told] he could not cash the check because Wachovia Bank had the FBOE business and Regions would have liked to have had it. He proceeded to send my check back with no apology. I then drove to the Crosstown branch thinking I would receive a little better treatment. I got the same answer and only an apology when I relayed my dismay and surprise with this treatment that I had not encountered in the past. The teller spoke with her manager who informed her she could not cash the check. The teller said the new policy was coming down as a result of the merger with AmSouth. I informed her that I knew it was not her fault but it would be a sad day for Regions when they stopped using the customer service practices that had been in place for so many years. These have been replaced by rude and inflexible policies and not handled in a way that makes me, the customer, want to continue using their bank. I immediately closed my savings account. I will ask other patrons of Regions Bank to watch out for this type of poor customer service and maybe if enough people refuse to accept it they will realize that treating your customers in a polite and positive manner is always the best policy no matter who you are merging with.

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I asked over at the elections office if anyone is running against Mayor Ken Steele or Mayor Sheryl Lee. They said, Nothing yet. Surely, someone has the courage to run against the annexation and rezoning king and queen. Well, it’s our problem and we have no one to blame but ourselves if we put the bums back into office.

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Sadly, Peachtree City seems to be outgrowing its most unique feature — our cart paths. The courtesy and neighborliness are fast being replaced by abuses and accidents which are multiplying so rapidly that I believe it will take more than one patrolman to make a difference. Neighbors have reported being accosted for rides, cigarettes and/or money by older youth loitering at intersections. How many people slow down for safe passing? Many of the paths, even after widening, have only one side that is safe to pull off. Do you think of that when barreling down the middle of the path? Parents who believe that allowing young teens the privilege of driving a golf cart will make them better automobile drivers should think again. Within a week my husband has had a small scrape and a near-miss by teen drivers (one young enough to be with a parent) going too fast around curves and tunnel approaches. In one case, a friend had the same experience in the same area only a few minutes later, so my husband’s call to “slow down” obviously went unheeded. I have seen a parent teaching a child much younger than the legal age to drive a cart, in reality also teaching that child it’s okay to ignore a law if you don’t like it. That same child got off the school bus and into the driver’s seat of the cart, thereby giving a whole bus load of kids the right to say, “She can drive, why can’t I?” What part of “Golfers Only” is difficult to understand? Daily I see many non-golfers driving (and walking) along the golf paths, frequently with small children aboard. Who would you sue if your child is injured by a golf ball? Why would someone choose to drive down Hip Pocket when there is a cart path just four feet away, especially since the sign instructs you to use the cart path? Granted, the paths can be a little roundabout at times, but that doesn’t mean you are entitled to drive a cart on the main or “collector” streets where curves and blind spots abound. If you are in such a hurry, take the car. Those who don’t appreciate their privileges may be doomed to lose them — hopefully, a small number of inconsiderate people won’t ruin it for the rest of us.

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The tip system in this country is totally out of hand. When a waitress drops a plate in front of me with a thump and walks away, never to be seen again, why should I leave a tip? Why should I leave a tip anyway? I just returned from a three-week trip to Japan and you don’t tip in that country. When you go into a restaurant you have instant and constant service. Food is of excellent quality and cheap compared to prices here. There are enough waitresses and waiters to take care of all patrons. Something is very wrong with the system here. This is supposed to be the land of plenty, yet we are still expected to pay an excessive price for our food plus the salary of the employees that serve it. Someone is making a fantastic profit off the public in this country.

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I wish to commend The Citizen for allowing the website users a reasonably free hand in saying what they want to say. In a locality such as Fayette County, where 75-85 percent of the citizens are Republican, it takes a lot of nerve and principles to fully hear each side, and in their “native” language, so to speak. If we have not learned anything in the last several years about how not to destroy democracy, then we never shall. The White House is arrogant, the Congress is ineffective and polarized, and the Supreme Court is 5-4 on nearly every decision. Let us start over soon and keep only the fate of the USA in mind in our decisions, no matter what party politics may dictate.