In order for public safety to work, law enforcement has to observe violations and make good arrests. Then the courthouse people have to do their jobs to put the perps in prison. The Peachtree City police are giving Fayette County a valuable reputation that we arrest perverts. However, there is some concern that the reputation is also out there that there is always a sporting chance when you get to the courthouse. Our most senior judge, Pappy English, after recently getting a 25 percent raise, was reversed a second time now for the same error that the Georgia Supreme Court told him not to do a few years ago: Just get out of the way and don’t tell the jury what to do. Here is the link for the earlier Fayette Citizen Hubbard story: http://www.thecitizen.com/archive/main/archive-040414/news/in-03.html. In this current sexual predator case, the jury convicted this Patel guy and still would have convicted him if the judge had just done his job and not tell them what to do. According to the Supreme Court, Judge English’s mistake was “the error of the violation of Georgia code section 17-8-57, which prohibits judges in criminal cases from expressing or intimating ‘his opinion as to what has or has not been proved or as to the guilt of the accused.’” This was in the case reported by John Munford in The Citizen. He spouted off to jury and the whole conviction was thrown out. Now what happens? Will the pervert walk? The guy will get a plea deal? We have the waste of a second trial? This is the same thing that happened a few years ago when then Fayette Commissioner Linda Wells took the stand in a divorce case as a witness. Judge English gushed to the jury how wonderful Linda Wells was. The link to the story is above here. The Supreme Court told Judge English “the court clearly stated its high opinion of Wells and bolstered her credibility as a witness, influencing an issue that is solely for the jury to determine. The statute unambiguously requires that upon any violation, ‘the decision in the case shall be reversed, and a new trial shall be granted.’” At the time Judge English said “I’d probably have been better off not to say anything.” No kidding. Folks, we have to demand, just a like a business, that we handle law enforcement right. Trials take up a lot of time and money. We do not have the time and money not to get it right the first time. Good job by the cops. Come on, judge, we know you can do better. Let’s get back to it.

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McIntosh may have won an award for great scores on the graduation test, but they also get first place for the school with the foulest language. As the Starr’s Mill band walked past their buses finishing a tiring walk along the parade route Friday evening, the McIntosh band yelled some rather obscene foul words at them. Furthermore, as adults walked past their students who were tailgating in the parking lot, more foul language was overheard. Makes you wonder what you need to pass a graduation test to get along in this world nowadays.

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I was terribly disappointed Friday night after attending a football game on the southside of Peachtree City. On the way home (with my 12-year-old son with us), we were followed by two groups of teenagers on separate golf carts. The music blaring from the cart directly behind us was incredibly full of foul language, and the teenagers seemed intent on singing along at the top of their lungs. I had to explain to my 12-year-old that some teenagers just are not taught the correct way to behave, or if they are, obviously they “forget” once out of the parents’ presence. In case you are wondering, these golf cart registration numbers were 2538, and 2010. Parents, please remind your teenagers that there are other families on these golf cart paths with them, and to please control their behavior. Thank you from one parent to another.

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The Peachtree City Packer football program is a disgrace. When did winning become not enough? Why do some youth sports programs feel they have to humiliate and demoralize their opponents? There is no clearer example of this then the youth football played in Peachtree City. The football program is divided into D-1 and Intracounty teams. The kids are all supposed to try out for the D-1 competitive travel teams and if they don’t make the team, then they play in the Intracounty division. You would think that the Intracounty league would want parity between the teams. Wrong! Teams in the Intracounty league are allowed to save multiple players before tryouts and the draft. Since you have 11 players on each side, most coaches already have their two-way starters before tryouts and the draft begin. The Peachtree City league then encourages more teams with fewer players so they don’t have to substitute. If you’re a team that has to depend on tryouts and the draft for players, you haven’t got a chance. This is why parents will see such a size, speed and ability difference between the teams. It gets much worse. Most of the dominant teams are not satisfied with winning, they want to drive the other 5-12-year-olds into the ground. They will keep their starters in, blitz when leading by multiple touchdowns, taunt and humiliate the other team. When you have such a gap of ability between two teams it is only a matter of time before a child becomes seriously injured. If you’re looking for the league to fix the problem, it’s not going to happen. The president and vice-president are coaches in the 11-12-year-old Intracounty division and they coach their teams with the above mentioned attitude. The entire league is a reflection of their poor leadership. If you bring this problem up to either of them, they feel that they are being attacked and since they are volunteers, they should not be questioned. The only people that can fix this problem are the parents, and I don’t mean just the parents of the inferior teams. I had to remind my own son’s coach about sportsmanship when we were winning big and he was trying to continually punish the other team. If your child is on the winning or losing team and the winning coach is using the game to humiliate and demoralize his opponent, you should make some noise with the league. How will you know if a coach is behaving like this? Let common sense be your guide. If a team is winning big and a coach keeps pushing to inflate the score or physically punish the other team, that should be a hint. Coaches should be appreciated for the volunteer time that they give; however, if a coach is using youth sports to compensate for any shortcomings that life has dealt him, then he should not be coaching and influencing children.

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Clearly, as gifted students we are intellectually superior to everyone at McIntosh High School. Therefore, athletic, good-looking and popular kids should never be allowed to finish at the top of the class and we should always have the opportunity to review and approve school curriculum.

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If you think the leaders of Fayette’s public schools are as arrogant and high-handed as they come, you’ve never met the “My Way or the Highway” crew at the Catholic school in Tyrone. At least the petty tyrants in government schools don’t claim to speak for God. In a community where both public and private school educators proclaim themselves immune from criticism, it’s no surprise that so many families prefer to home-school their children.

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Condemning Ted Lombard and/or Booth Middle School for the new state math curriculum is like blaming former PTC Mayor Steve Brown for the war in Iraq. Hey, wait a minute.

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Wow! I can not believe how traffic has declined in Tyrone since Noah Gift initiated his blog-boycott of Tyrone. Businesses will surely suffer. Whatever will the city fathers do? The public, especially the younger generation, expects to be treated the same as their mommies treated them when they were babies. The Tyrone police should know this. They should stand on the street corner wearing bright orange vests and shaking their fingers at violators saying, “Naughty, naughty, that’s not nice; don’t do it twice.” And every police officer knows that most Georgia drivers think STOP is an acronym for Slow to Opossum Pace. And red lights? Everybody knows that it is okay to run a red light as long as they don’t get caught. So, why in the name of screeching tires do we need cameras at red lights? It seems that half the people in Fayette County think that the other half should be locked up, and that includes the ones doing the locking up. Violators are not victims. Get used to it. In the meantime, I think I’ll start a blog boycotting the Fayette Pavilion. That ought to really shake them up.

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Let’s give our sheriff’s department the praise and compensation they deserve. They should be given the benefits that officers of the surrounding counties receive. In order to maintain our current safe lifestyle and high property values we must keep and attract the very best law enforcement personnel. Let’s give them a pension plan we can be proud of.

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My recent retirement and my wife’s pending retirement means it’s time for an important decision. Where to live when we retire? Do we stay here in Fayette County or move somewhere else? As background, I spend the first 20 or so years of my life growing up in Clayton County on a small farm. It was a great life with wonderful neighbors, a good church and even good schools. Not so anymore. After college I lived for a few years in Fulton County until it became apparent that it was changing and not for the better. About 20 years ago we decided to move back south to Peachtree City where we lived for 10 years. We became displeased with the politics and constant development there and moved out into unincorporated Fayette County where we have been since. We sold the old farm in Clayton County a few years ago when it became unsafe for my elderly mother to live by herself. She was broken into three or four times, had trash dumped on the back of the property and the woods set on fire by her new neighbors. Clayton County is not an option for us anymore. Riverdale, Jonesboro and Morrow used to be good, safe places to live. I noticed this week that Cal and company have stopped listing the crime and arrest reports for Fayette County, Fayetteville and Peachtree City. I guess the list takes too much print space. I viewed those reports as indicative of what is really going on around here. The last list I counted had about 90 incidents. And that was for only one week. Randall says he is retiring this year and who will be our new sheriff? Some of our newer folks say he has been too tough and controversial for our current, more diverse population. Will his replacement be as good? Not likely, in my opinion. The current political climate will likely be a negative factor in reducing crime. Politicians don’t seem to have the fortitude to make the hard decisions. Right now we see nothing in the near future to indicate Fayette County will be a better place to live. I see hair hanging out of football helmets at high school games. What’s that about? I see teenagers (and some adults) wearing their pants so low below their waists that you can see about half of their boxer shorts. They actually have to hold their pants up when they walk. What’s the point? Why not buy a belt? At red lights and stop signs I hear car radios playing insanely loud and vulgar stuff some call music which I don’t care for but have to tolerate until the light changes. Sometimes the windows rattle. Isn’t that noise pollution? I constantly dodge people riding bicycles on roadways with no regard for lanes, stop signs or other traffic laws. They show you a middle finger if you blow the horn to get their attention. I see gravel trucks speeding (I’m talking 60-70 mph and more) on our roads with complete impunity. They pass those little speed indicator trailers Randall puts out to tell you how fast you’re going without any thoughts of slowing down. It’s become dangerous for an old man to drive on these roads. Getting onto I-85 from Ga. Highway 74 in the mornings has become a nightmare, too. (I know that’s Fairburn and Fulton County, but most of the traffic is from Fayette County.) Getting off I-85 at Hwy. 74 in the evening is even worse. Then to top it off, we got our property tax bill last month and our assessment has gone up again with higher taxes. The school board is totally out of control with the constant increases in school taxes. It will be two more years before I can qualify for the exemption. I could go on and on, but I think you get the picture. Actually, our decision turned out to be pretty easy after all. We are putting our house up for sale this fall. Where will we go? We don’t really know yet. It’s a sad situation. I am sickened by the picture of the future my grandchildren will have to live in. They will face this decision long before they reach retirement age given the current political leadership and lack of real solutions to the problems in our county. Fayette County ... once upon a time.

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Rast and company have identified certain “character areas.” Of course they choose to leave out one of the most obvious character areas — Harmony Village. Not much harmony in that village. I drive past the entrance to this village often and I must say that the characters really do stream out of this area onto and across Peachtree Parkway with no care or regard for oncoming traffic. Yes, I know that we need housing for people who have been “displaced” from nearby cities and states, and also the people who are employed in the vast fast food industry that is totally overrunning our community. Oh, but wait. Maybe the Chinese company that plans to put up some housing will have some room for some of the characters who presently are living in Harmony Village.

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The Peachtree City Planning Commission once again proves to be a detriment to the taxpayers of PTC. I was present at the City Council meeting on Oct. 4 (and) one of the topics that was discussed was the rezoning of the Stephens tract. The city planning commissioner and a representative of the developer were trying to prove their case to have the zoning changed from its current industrial zoning to allow the developer to build a huge age-restricted complex. The centerpiece of the project is a four-story building that will house over 200 or more people, [plus] they plan to build a number of single family houses. Along with everything else, they want to develop a piece of land across the street with more six-plex condo units. This would bring the number of residents to over 500 people whose average age would be 71 and a half years old. The developer went on to say that the average price for a single family home within this complex would be between $300,000 and $500,000. I am to presume that the same prices would apply to the condo units. One of the brave city council members asked the planning commissioner what the financial impact was going to be on PTC. The very astute commissioner’s answer was, “I don’t know.” How does a project get sent to the council for a vote without any concern for what it’s going to cost the taxpayers of this city? Also the city manager couldn’t give an answer to the same question. To the two city council members who seem to care what’s going on in this city, here is some food for thought: 1. Where are the future 500-plus residents coming from? 2. Tax revenue that will be lost on average due to all of the tax exemptions afforded to the seniors of Fayette County, some of which are no school tax, in some cases no city property taxes, etc. I am not an accountant but it seems to me you are looking at a loss of taxes between the city and the county at around $1.5 million. 3. Why doesn’t the planning commission know what the financial burdens on the city are going to be? Because they know you don’t care. There were only a handful of people in attendance last night, so you prove you don’t care. So just get ready for more tax increases, because they are coming, along with the sprawl that is inevitable.

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The Peachtree City Council beats most episodes of Seinfeld. Harold loves on his developer friends. He’ll toss them a few smooches before a council gathering. Cyndi is the explainer on the team. She’s good at things like the “at-will” status she and Harold wanted for the city directors. “Well, we thought about this because we have a situation that we don’t have but could possible have if we only had it.” Steve is spacing out with a lollipop and holding the mayor’s hand. He makes such an impact that people on the street couldn’t give you Steve Boone’s name if you offered them $100 for the names of the council. Mikey is trying to convince us he’s really a good guy and not a sewer rat — yeah, right. Stuart is too busy running for the county commission to consider city business. On second thought, they’re more like cross between Survivor and Dancing with the Stars.

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I certainly agree with Mr. Dingivan’s letter on knowing the truth, the real truth, about the Kohl’s. I’m so tired of getting jerked around by Mayor Logsdon and his buddies. My family can’t wait to vote this bunch out of office. I hope Steve Rapson and Steve Brown decide to run again because they told the blunt truth. Funny how the other former mayors seemed to have crawled under a rock now that Peachtree City is turning into another Fayetteville. They sure were active for Logsdon and now it looks like they are getting exactly what they paid for. Tarnished Joel Cowan should have his name stripped from Hwy. 74 for supporting the gigantic size box stores.

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The Kohl’s developer is an honest man. Mr. Brown, Mr. Dingivan and Ms. Kelley should just back off on all the rules talk. The Fayette Chamber of Commerce is the authority on what is good for Peachtree City and we need to let them decide if the Kohl’s is necessary. Even though Harold Logsdon has been brought into disrepute does not mean that big box stores are a bad idea. Bob Lenox and Fred Brown never followed the comprehensive plan anyway. Let the experts, the Fayette Chamber of Commerce, decide the city’s fate.

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The PTC Senior Center expansion project will be voted on this November. Actually, I’m all for expanding it. It gets plenty of use and services a great number of citizens. However, I’m taken aback by the cost of this proposal which is planned at over $3 million for an expansion of 11,000 square feet. This seems completely ridiculous. I recently added 1,000 square feet to my home, and including all the permits, etc., the cost was around $50,000. This included completed interior surfaces. Get my drift. This is $50 per square foot for an ordinary expansion. So an 11,000-square-foot expansion should be in the realm of $650K, not $3M. What are we paying for, gold trim? Most of the space will be just that — space. Vote “No” for now and ask city council to come back with a more reasonable cost. Just because it’s “government” paying for it doesn’t automatically mean windfall profit for the builder. Try to think of it as spending your own money. Would you pay for an ordinary expansion costing $300 per square foot? Of course not. Hey, I just realized, it is my money. Let’s gets some sane thinking going on.

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Why do we want to allow a China Town to be built in Peachtree City? I wasn’t aware that residences could be built in industrial zoning. They are welcome with their jobs, but to refuse to assimilate as American is unacceptable. It has been suggested that they will bring their skilled workers with them, including managers, but will use Americans for the low-paying jobs. Do we have any assurances that this will not happen? I also know that they will probably have straw-boss floor workers to pass on instructions to the Americans. If these sort of things are what we have to pay to get the taxes, I don’t recommend it. We have enough problems with our few workers left now.

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Note to the planning department in regards to the upcoming Chinese construction projects: Will any local general contractors be involved in the Sany projects or will they be done by mainland Chinese contractors? You already know because this project is well beyond the planning stage.

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You’ve got to be kidding. $4,467,386 for an artificial turf (AT) soccer field that a few folks want and expect the other 30,000 folks of PTC to buy and buy and buy over and over again for the next 10 years. Is this one of those necessities we have to have? Why don’t these few find an already existing artificial turf field to play? Oh, that’s right, 99.99 percent of all soccer is played on good old grass. Even the pros won’t play on AT. I realize our good folks at Parks and Rec were “asked” by city council to develop the proposal for the upcoming vote in November, but after attending a recent P&R meeting on Monday evening is seemed clear the proposal development was done because they were directed to do it, not out of any desire to see the project become a reality. Somebody is pushing city council to do this to us. I’d really like to know who it is. Don’t be fooled into thinking we’re going to save bucks by spreading out the cost of this needless expensive by extending the payments, including interest, over 15 years instead of 10 years. It comes down to money out of our pockets. Oh, don’t forget the additional maintenance that seems to be absorbed into future budget lines. Don’t believe it, we’ll pay for that too. Alas, we must vote on this in November. Ask yourself, will your next soccer experience, if you ever have one at all, be enhanced to the tune of four million dollars? Or is grass just as good for you?

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Over the weekend, I went over to the Flat Creek Golf Club and was told by the starter that the club had removed some trees to protect the cart paths through the course. As I progressed through the day playing 18 holes, the extent of this activity became clear. The club has already removed hundreds of trees, and had hundreds more marked with an “x,” ready to be removed. It is well-known that many of the paths at the club had damage from roots, and all players would have agreed that something needed to be done. However, the club has begun to rampantly cut down trees, many of which aren’t near the path, and didn’t have issues with stability or drought. Instead of investing the time to come up with a better path system, perhaps involving more versatile packed gravel paths, or reinforced concrete or asphalt path sections, the club has removed all trees within 20 feet of the paths. This has not only disrupted the natural environment of the course, but also created eyesores, and fundamentally changed the character of many of the course’s holes. Visually appealing holes which required skill to neatly arc a ball around a corner have become scenes with rows of stumps and piles of wood chips where the player simply bombs drive after drive directly at the flag. The course has been degraded to a common urban golf venue with no character, and no respect for nature or the art of the game.

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Does anybody knows why Flat Creek Golf Course is cutting off so many trees? Some people say it is 800 of them. I know some needed to be cut but not so many.

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What is the deal with the house at the entrance of the Smokerise Estates subdivision that keeps their Christmas tree up year ‘round? It has been up, prominently displayed in their front window, for years now, and I am wondering if there is an interesting story as to why it stays up, or are they just lazy?

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What Fayette County needs is SOS. Anyone driving down Hwy. 54 and Hwy. 74 is witness to a massive loss of natural forest and old home places within a relative short period of time. All in the name of big business which quickly builds out commercial property then posts “For Lease” signs. So how does an ordinary citizen stop the developers from destroying so much land? The answer is S.O.S. which stands for Save the Open Spaces. SOS is a type of non-profit that can be found throughout the United States and the South American Rain Forest. Each S.O.S. is independent of the others and must be started and run from within its own territory. The way it works is quite simple. Ordinary people pool their money by donating it to a SOS non-profit organization which in turn buys land. (These donations are tax deductible.) The land titles remain in SOS trust funds and cannot be sold for commercial use other than agriculture. This keeps the land off the market and out of reach of developers, both residential and commercial, no matter how big they are. Interested people can review other SOS organizations online by Goggling Save the Open Spaces. It is up to you, the readers and residents, to start this initiative before it is too late. Best of luck.

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Just nailing Peachtree City Mayor Harold Logsdon for ushering in bad development isn’t going to cut it. He boldly lied about reducing taxes too. If you go look on the Internet, you’ll see government spending and taxes are at the highest levels in the city’s history. What happened to those promises? I agree with the letters in the newspaper that say the mayor is giving our city away. We were duped. The Kohl’s garbage and the police station on a trash heap are a slap in the face to the wonderful families who moved here because the place was special.

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Woman dies in police custody at airport. Young girl being punched and pepper-sprayed directly in the face by a cop that can’t handle his job without using brute force. Off-duty policeman murders six people. Is there a picture forming here, folks, or does everyone have their head in the sand? We must have law enforcement but we do not need hoodlums in uniform. It’s costing innocent people their lives every day in this country and destroying the lives of countless numbers of otherwise happy law-abiding citizens.

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In regard to the recent crackdown on illegals in the news recently: Nice to know that the proper authority is finally doing their job. One of the TV news media networks did a story and naturally interviewed one of the affected families. A comment was made that I’ve heard before, and quite frankly I find offensive and insulting. The remark was “Why do they hate us?” Most of us who are opposed to lawbreaking, i.e., illegal immigration, do not hate these people. This is a tactic right out of the liberal, left-wing extremist playbook. Namely, demonize the opposition and the truth is irrelevant unless it serves their purpose. These comments usually come from the children. I would suggest that if these children were being properly taught to actually respect the law, they wouldn’t be asking these questions. But of course the parents couldn’t do that since there was an obvious disregard for the law in the first place. I understand that illegals do not get to demonstrate in Mexico without being subject to prosecution. Now that’s mean-spirited racism. How about a little more appreciation on their part for the simple fact that many have become citizens by having simply been born here to illegals in the first place. The drain on our resources should not be tolerated nor should benefits be payable to lawbreakers except in emergencies. Illegal immigration is a bit more serious than breaking a traffic law and most of us recognize this. If we are going to actually assist with the language barrier, aren’t we then discriminating against all the other people here who speak other languages? Republicans haven’t been willing to seriously deal with or solve this issue because they want the cheap labor. Democrats on the other hand expect to get their votes. Our laws are there for a reason and when services are being denied to Americans (i.e., hospitals having to shut down, etc.) then this problem has gone too far. I suspect that this nation is headed for far more fundamental change than most of us deserve, but perhaps we have only ourselves to blame. You know you must live in a special country when illegal alien parents deliberately bring in a sick child for expensive medical care, and then take for granted that the government will not only provide the care but pick up the tab as well. This occurred here in Georgia a few years ago and was reported by the AJC. God bless the American taxpayer.

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Someone left a noose hanging in the New York City police station and now the blacks are all upset. According to all the people up North, this kind of thing only happens in the South. Who says the noose wasn’t put there by blacks as a warning to white officers? I grew up in a small town in East Tennessee in the 40s and 50s that was not segregated and I never knew the meaning of discrimination. My neighbors were black and we kids played together as we grew up. I witnessed my first example of discrimination in a northern city when I was about 20 years old and had just joined the military. I was having breakfast at a small restaurant and a black guy came in and sat at the counter next to me. The waiter rushed over and informed him that they did not serve n— here. He refused to leave and the manager and another employee came out of the back and physically threw him out of the restaurant. The fact is discrimination by both races against each other has always existed in both the North and South and it always will. It exists in every other country on earth. It’s human nature, folks. Face reality.