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FreeSpeech for 8-15-07Tue, 08/14/2007 - 3:49pm
By: The Citizen
I would like to address the comments made regarding the B. B. King concert. If you think that jumping up to dance, and showing your backside to Mr. King most of the time, was your way of showing the artist your appreciation, I would like to suggest enthusiastic applause and possibly a standing ovation between songs as being more appropriate. If you just have to dance, there is an area provided, stage right, that would even have room for you four. I would also like to remind you that you were the only ones standing up, and that you were blocking the view of everyone else. I would also like to tell you that we didn’t come to see you. We came to see B.B. King. I would like to say these things, but you know, in the end, I guess I’m just jealous of your seats. - - - - - - - - - - - Unopened cart path bridge: Unbelievable. Don’t think for a minute I’m going to accept the incompetence of City Engineer David Borkowski and City Manager Bernard McMullen about not checking on the permit to allow completion of the Ga. Highway 54 cart path bridge. Citizens have been talking, writing, complaining about the status for nearly a year. You’d think these two gents would have checked weekly instead of “finding out” a year later the permit was granted two weeks after being submitted. I won’t allow the misdirection being given us about “awaiting approval of the engineering plans to complete the project.” I fired Comcast four weeks ago because they were unable to provide me acceptable service and being incompetent. I suggest the same for Borkowski and McMullen. These well-paid people have been unable to provide the citizens a simple service and have demonstrated their incompetence for all to see. I wonder if this is acceptable business as normal with our city council? - - - - - - - - - - - The mayor and council in Peachtree City do deserve a pay increase. The police station disaster was not Harold Logsdon’s fault. Bob Lenox was responsible for the police station and development authority fiascos so don’t blame Harold. The SPLOST garbage was Dunn, Pfeifer, Wells and Frady’s doing. Unfortunately, Harold did make promises regarding taxes which he hasn’t kept, but all politicians do that stuff. I’m not saying Steve Brown doesn’t have a right to be angry about a lot of immoral or dishonest acts, but don’t blame Harold. I wouldn’t mind seeing Steve Brown on the council again. - - - - - - - - - - - Harold Logsdon is the biggest double-talker I’ve ever seen. He pulled their big pay hike the last time because they were stealing funds out of the reserves to balance the budget. Now Harold has given up his moral conviction on balanced budgets in order to stuff his pockets. The mayor and council have received a half million dollars in unexpected revenue this year and they still can’t roll back taxes. Thank you to Steve Brown for keeping their feet to the fire. - - - - - - - - - - - The PTC City Council was smart enough to deny sewer expansion into Coweta County for their over-development. Hopefully, they’ll be smart enough to do the same with Tyrone. - - - - - - - - - - - Tell me it isn’t seriously being considered. City Council, i.e., government, is moving in the direction of forcing everyone to use the same trash franchise for weekly curbside pickup. Choice is what makes this country great. I pay a much lower rate for my service because I took a few minutes to research the options. I’ve had great service ever since. Now “government” wants to tell me who to use. Raise your hand if you think government is the best entity to make your choice. So a few folks complain about “all” the trash trucks on their streets. Why don’t they get off their butts and talks to their neighbors about going to the same service. They might actually find out some interesting information about their rates. Just so you don’t think it would stop with the trash pickup, next will be the lawn services that are 10 times more noticeable to the peaceful environment around your homes. Think about it. - - - - - - - - - - - Instead of rolling back taxes, the great Mayor Logsdon has created another year of record spending. Does anyone else remember the mayor telling us paying off the development authority wouldn’t result in higher taxes? We’re looking at another 5 to 7 percent increase again this year. - - - - - - - - - - - Compare Tyrone’s government with Peachtree City and Fayetteville. In September PTC will have classes for citizens on the over-all operation of their government. Classes include role of the city manager, planning, zoning and land use issues, as well as finances, budget, appointed committees, plus a question and answer session with the mayor and council. In Fayetteville, you can walk in without an appointment and be greeted by helpful employees, look at the public records with or without help and get answers to any question you have. Both cities have downtown development authorities properly registered with the Secretary of State’s office. In contrast, Tyrone has a secret form of government, in which citizens cannot find out the duties of their town manager. Public records inspection requires a legal written open records request that takes three days for a response, then an appointment must be made. No one can get a question answered except from the town manager if he’s even there. The answer is usually either a half-truth or outright misrepresentation. Their downtown redevelopment program has never been formally passed by council and is not registered with the state. Tyrone prints an incomplete ordinance book that is 10 years old and was not brought up to date when printed. The mayor and council ignore citizens’ requests for help. The town attorney issues conflicting legal opinions and files complaints against citizens who have legitimate legal concerns; also he writes letters to citizens telling them not to bother him. Legal property rights are constantly trampled upon; laws on the books are not followed, but laws that haven’t been passed are presented as legal. Citizens have to file lawsuits to protect their rights. Secrecy, confusion, chaos, hatred and rebellion is the order of every day. Citizens and businesses are literally being run out of town. A popular petition is circulating to remove the town management. The governments of Peachtree City and Fayetteville may not be perfect, but it’s a long way from the dark ages of Tyrone. - - - - - - - - - - - Tyrone’s Valerie Fowler holds the office of assistant town manager, clerk and zoning administrator. As such she is responsible for keeping the public records and issuing business licenses. With her sidekick, Town Manager Barry Amos, those two totally control all of the citizens’ business. And control it they do, with the blessings of Town Attorney Brad Sears. Amos is fond of telling citizens that the town acts on the advice of their attorney. The attorney’s legal opinions often look like a witch’s brew of smoke and mirrors designed to justify Valerie and Barry’s needs, which is often legally contradictory. Valerie refuses business licenses without justification and routinely obstructs citizens’ access to public records like she owns them. Not to long ago, a 57-year-old lady was continually put off from seeing the records. When the lady had finally had enough, she demanded to see the records, whereupon, Ms. Fowler told the lady to get out of her office or she would call the police and have her put in jail. Upon notification of the incident, the brain-dead Town Council ignored the complaint, as usual. Not long afterwards, the Tyrone Police were called to the lady’s subdivision on a complaint that her son was illegally in his own community pool area. When the lady came to her son’s assistance, the police did in fact put her in jail on a charge of an unpaid traffic ticket, which later was proved in court to be untrue. Hundreds of Tyrone citizens are in open rebellion for the removal of these government employees, but while Tyrone burns, the Town Council fiddles. Lawsuit #4 for 2007 is on its way. God help the taxpayers come legal judgment day. The state legislature has the power to dissolve the municipality. Efforts are being pursued by citizens to do just that and give Tyrone to Fayette County on the basis that the town is incapable of governing itself. - - - - - - - - - - - Here goes our town council on another high-density building spree. At first the Tyrone Council lied to us and told us they weren’t going to double the density on the second John Wieland subdivision. They said 250,000 gallons per day of sewage was all they would ask for and now they want double. Use some common sense. The more dense the development the longer our drive is to work. We don’t need to be like Peachtree City and clog the roads. - - - - - - - - - - - It appears that Ga. Highway 314 is the new Autobahn in Fayette County. No enforcement equals no speed limit. - - - - - - - - - - - The writer who wants to know what’s going with our County Commissioners sort of answered his own question. What you are seeing now is only the beginning of what I think is the end of good government in Fayette County. For the past 10 years or so, our county was the envy of the metro area and much of the credit was due to the fine group of county commissioners who felt their primary job was to represent the citizens of the county, not the special interest groups who ran the county prior to the election of folks like Dunn, Wells, Bost, and Pfeifer. The group of commissioners now in office except for Pfeifer, don’t give a rip about the majority of us or what’s best for the county, only their narrow agenda and their friends. Translated: developers, special interests, etc. It appears that the commission is being run by the personal injury attorney (or as they say in legal circles, an ambulance chaser). He was able to fire the long-serving county attorney who was recognized as one of the best at what he did, based upon his estimate that the county could save $200,000 by hiring our own in-house legal services. This figure is about as valid as the claim that there were weapons of mass destruction. My guess is that when all the dust settles, the cost of legal services will double and a friend of the attorney will surface as the new inside legal hire and he or she won’t know beans about county government. I suggest that those few citizens who are really interested in the quality of life in Fayette County get involved and let the commissioners know that we won’t tolerate a return to the old ways of doing business, lest we end up with the same kind of county commissions we see in some of the surrounding counties. Folks, it just don’t look good. - - - - - - - - - - - There is an old saying that we should be careful of Greeks bearing gifts, and this is still true today. Evidently, the move to overhaul the county pension plan is being pushed by former county Commissioner Scott Burrell, who also just happens to be president of Pacific General Financial, an insurance and financial service firm. While Scott says he has nothing to gain from his proposed plan, I would not bet on it. This guess is based on his performance as a county commissioner a few years ago. While running for the commissioner post, Scott promised to support the county land use plan and assured voters that he was concerned about our quality of life, etc. However, once he got in office he never saw a rezoning request he did not like. It was during his tenure that our land use plan was open to whatever developers wanted, they got. Some folks even went so far as to refer to it as the rape of the land use plan. So, now out of the goodness of his heart, Scott wants to scrap the pension plan in favor of his new plan. I think we need to be very careful of this particular “Greek” and his plan. - - - - - - - - - - - The county attorney personnel change has been an interesting study in leadership. Now that the commission has decided to try the concept of an in-house attorney, a number of people still fight the initiative, including Peter the Puppet. Interesting. If the concept proves not to save money, they can switch back. But still this appears to be a case of the old group trying to save one of their own. The latest challenge was to express outrage that the county would not have an attorney for a few weeks. Imagine that. We go a few weeks without a lawyer whispering sweet nothings in our commissioners’ ears. Somehow that seems like a good idea. And so, the county responded by hiring interim lawyer Don Comer, a PTC resident, who was formerly Clayton County attorney. Apparently he, too, along with McNally, graduated from an unapproved law school in the late 1970s (which doesn’t matter if you pass the test). He fought Victor Hill the idiot sheriff. Like McNally he has about 20 years’ experience. He will work interim at $150 an hour. Comer appears to be a good choice. I’d chalk this up as another victory for the commission. - - - - - - - - - - - Regarding purchasing school supplies: I found a way to spend the least I had to for the requested list of classroom supplies. When the list was given out at the end of the previous school year, I would purchase items when they were on sale throughout the summer. Since I was purchasing a little at a time, this method softened the blow of one big total, plus I did spend less on sale items. - - - - - - - - - - - A Realtor friend of mine told me that most of his recent business has been Fayette County residents wanting to get out and move to Coweta. Thanks to Mayor Lee messing up Tyrone, and the Fayette County School Board messing up Fayette schools and boundaries, residents are scrambling to get out. I wonder how much money the study cost that erroneously determined that we need a new school on Sandy Creek. Maybe they did the study back when Tyrone and Fayette County were still nice places to live. - - - - - - - - - - - A certain rough high school in Fayette is telling parents that they can move their child to a school that has met AYP, but they will not provide transportation. Fayette schools lie again. According to federal law, and I quote, “LEA’s [your school district] must provide transportation for public school choice, and must use up to 5 percent of their Title I, Part A funds.” If your school did not meet AYP, then it must offer choice. If you are ignorant of the law, Fayette will take advantage of you. - - - - - - - - - - - May be it’s just me but again the leadership of the black culture confuses me. The Southern “Christian” Leadership Conference held its 50th anniversary celebration and gave praise and recognition to two men who are far from the term “Christian.” Bill Clinton? Give me a break, he’s in favor of abortion, same-sex unions and a socialized government way of life and what has he done to deserve recognition from a “Christian” organization? Obama? Give me a break; he’s in favor of abortion, same-sex unions, against our troops in war and he claims to be Muslim not a Christian. If you put the Christian beliefs, way of life and what the Bible says in line with these two men in particular, how can the SCLC recognize these men? The SCLC doesn’t represent a Christian-based organization of black Americans who are concerned about the Christian conservative way of life in America. It mainly represents an organization that is continually causing more division between races in America instead of healing those divisions. After all, if they were, they would have made a public apology after the Duke lacrosse situation was exposed for what really happened. Because after what the SCLC said about those Duke players and the real story was told, the SCLC along with Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson owe those young men a public apology and should ask for forgiveness. Change the name SCLC to fit what your organization is really standing for and take out the word you represent so poorly, “Christian,” because what you do and how you act is NOT what Christ is all about. - - - - - - - - - - - How many broke people live in PTC? One of our biggest pizza places no longer accepts checks. I am not joking. Are there that many broke PTC residents that are trying to pass bad checks for a meal? Can anyone tell me why Peachtree City is better than the next city down the road? I am losing sight of it. - - - - - - - - - - - To the man who knows nothing about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), we believe the following: 1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. 2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression. 3. We believe that through the atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. 4. We believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. 5. We believe that a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof. 6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the Primitive Church, namely, apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, and so forth. 7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, interpretation of tongues, and so forth. 8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God. 9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. 10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory. 11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege; let them worship how, where, or what they may. 12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law. 13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul: We believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. This should clear up your many falsehoods. - - - - - - - - - - - I feel compelled to respond to the Christian citizen who lambasted Mitt Romney as a presidential candidate, declaring that the Mormon faith is “a false Christian religion and a cult.” I am neither a Mormon nor a Christian. I cannot claim to know whether this writer’s description of the Mormon faith has any basis in fact. What I do know is that religion of any stripe is repugnant when it is used to justify hatred, intolerance and discrimination. I doubt that Jesus of Nazareth would rejoice to see his philosophies hijacked in this manner. For more than two thousand years this man’s teachings have been distorted by self-righteous bigots to support all manner of social injustice. We might all do well to remember some words from former a president: “To discriminate against a thoroughly upright citizen because he belongs to some particular church, or because, like Abraham Lincoln, he has not avowed his allegiance to any church, is an outrage against that liberty of conscience which is one of the foundations of American life.“ — Theodore Roosevelt, 1908. “The fundamental precept of liberty is toleration. We cannot permit any inquisition either from within or from without the law or apply any religious test to the holding of office. The mind of America must be forever free.” — Calvin Coolidge, Inaugural Address, 1925. - - - - - - - - - - - We have had presidents from many denominations. Religion should be a personal choice. There were many who had doubts about John F. Kennedy being Catholic. He proved to be a great president. The office can neither influence anyone or force his or her religion on another. The type of person running for office, his panel of issues, what he says he will do if he becomes president, what kind of job has he done in the area that he lives – all are good information to gather in making a choice for president. We are a country that allows all to believe in the religion we choose. There are safeguards against any group that threatens our country and freedom. What someone that joins a particular church believes is only his or her business. What someone else thinks to be outlandish, absurd, un-Christian, is not something that we can judge. There are cults, groups that lead young and vulnerable people into believing that having others dictate their lives is a good choice. When we teach our children well, how to make choices, they will be well-grounded in thinking for themselves; they will know the “right from the “wrong” influence. We can make choices for ourselves, and choose not to join any particular religion. We must be careful that we don’t accept beliefs as truth without studying and knowing the truth for self. It is our responsibility, to study ALL religions and be well-informed. In believing only what someone tells us is true, one will never know truth. If we live a life in service to others, we won’t have time to judge, but helping others with love, compassion, charity, empathy, understanding and patience. So folks, start studying the background of those running for the nation’s highest office, not the ones who have raised the most money, or judging them on their religion (be glad that they believe in God!) but who are running for office because they think they can do a good job for all. - - - - - - - - - - - If the social revolutionaries in this country get their way, it will solve the immigration problem altogether. Nobody will want to come here anymore. They’ll just as soon stay home in their own squalor rather than flocking to ours. The big bank accounts expected to provide the free meal tickets and health care will dwindle to peanuts with the more substantial fleeing to their own sanctuaries. When this happens, the veins on Commie Tommy’s fat neck will puff out like a bullfrog and turn as red the star on his little green uniform. Perhaps then he will realize why his Marxist philosophy, throughout history, has never succeeded anywhere else in the world. - - - - - - - - - - - I have often wondered how one maintains upper middle class status once the realization has set in that he will never really accomplish anything in the business world, otherwise known as the “real world.” The pipe dreams of the six-figure exec job just never seem to quite materialize. Well, let’s see. One would either have to marry an M.D. or get into politics, or both. Ring a bell? - - - - - - - - - - - You might be a redneck if you enter a bank wearing a ball cap and sunglasses, then again, maybe not. Anybody entering a bank wearing a ball cap and sunglasses should be shot on sight. All hats and sunglasses should be removed when entering a financial institution and additional cameras should be placed at eye level at the doorway. Robbers are getting more brazen every day. Why do we make it so easy for them? Americans are paralyzed. We have become so chronically terrified of frivolous lawsuits and ridicule from violating ridiculous political-correctness statutes that we can’t move. This weakness allows both criminals and enemies to stomp our faces in the mud with relative ease. Don’t believe it? Take a test. During August, count the number of times you see pictures of ball caps and sunglasses taken during robberies. They all look alike to me. - - - - - - - - - - - I sincerely apologize for comparing my limited knowledge of military and VA hospitals as they existed 38 years ago to a hypothetical, yet likely, government health care system in America. I was out of line. I salute your honorable service and sacrifice. A hulking, legendary orthopedic surgeon famous for setting his own broken leg during a Michigan football game — and cursing profusely while operating on his wide-awake patients — can leave an indelible memory. Most doctors during that era were like Hawkeye Pierce and BJ Hunnicut. I got Frank Burns. In a socialized health care system, you can expect a total reversal. At least I’m prepared. login to post comments
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