So here is what is re-dic-u-lous: I am a student at Fayette County High School and we now have a new bathroom rule because of those stupid hooligans that thought it would be cool to fight in the bathrooms. As if it wasn’t bad enough just having to ask the teacher if you could go to relieve yourself and hoping he or she would actually let you, or if you could find an unlocked bathroom (because locking the bathrooms is a WONDERFUL idea to start off with! I’d love to see what would happen if someone had “the runs” and couldn’t find an unlocked bathroom in time). So here’s the new regime: If you need to go to the bathroom during class, you must go all the way up to the front of the building, have the office person take your pass from you, sign your name in on a sheet of paper, including the time that you arrived; the office person will then tell you your approximate waiting time; you must wait for the last person that went to return so that you can get the key from them; proceed to go to the visitor’s bathroom located right across the hall from the office; return with the key; write what time you came back on the sheet; and then you get your pass back. This is dumb beyond belief. The bathrooms by the cafeteria are open during lunch, but what if you don’t have to go then? You could go in between classes. Want to know how much time you would have to do that? A grand total of five minutes! Suppose you had a class on the second floor on one end of the building and had to get to your next class upstairs on the opposite side of the building. What would you do then? Well, you would pretty much be screwed, especially if you have to go to your locker and if a mass majority of people in the hall won’t move quickly enough. On Wednesday, Jan. 16, all the students tried to organize a protest. At 2:45 everyone was supposed to go to the office to ask to go to the bathroom. Of course, the administrators caught wind of it and were patrolling the halls like crazy, sending people back to class left and right. We have even begun passing around a petition, and there are whispers of sit-ins in the bathrooms in between classes. The gang members are gone, aren’t they? Why punish the entire student body for something a group of idiots decided to do? The teachers already had bathroom duties before this happened, where they had to stand outside the bathrooms in between classes to unlock and re-lock the doors, so why don’t they just have a female teacher go inside the girl’s bathroom and a male teacher go inside the boy’s bathroom to supervise? Shouldn’t it be their responsibility to make sure the students are safe, even in the bathroom? While it should take a maximum of 10 minutes to go to the bathroom normally, with this stupid new rule it takes about 25 minutes. That is wasting classroom time for the students. Oh, yeah, and today when I went to the office to get the stupid key, the people that were trying not to let their bladders explode while waiting in chairs were quietly talking amongst each other, and one of the office ladies actually told us to be quiet because we were in her work area. Excuse me, office lady, but it’s y’all’s fault that we are in your “work area” in the first place! If we could just go to the bathroom by ourselves, we wouldn’t be disturbing your precious “work area.” Whatever, this blows. Thanks a lot, you stupid gang idiots, for ruining everything with your ignorance.

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I want to commend the staff/teachers, office staff, administrators and parents at Peachtree City Elementary School. Dropping my children off at such a positive and caring school makes me very happy and comfortable as a parent. Peachtree City Elementary School goes that extra mile each and everyday. My children love school and I love it. Being a part of the Peachtree City Elementary School family is wonderful. The Fayette County Schools are unique. We need to remember this each and everyday. Let your school know how much you appreciate them. Thank you for letting me brag on PCES.

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I have an idea: Police wait in the school pick-up lines and check tags/registration against driver licenses’ addresses to make sure families are really residing and using the schools and really paying the taxes for our county. Or maybe the tax commissioner office can get some sort of spreadsheet going, comparing tag and property tax against school enrollment. You must register cars and licenses within 30 days of moving to the state of Georgia. This generates taxes for where we live and helps support the schools and [puts] money back into the community, our community. Too many neighbors are not doing this. I know a home in PTC [where] they have lived there over a year and own a local business, but still all cars have California tags. If everyone started paying ALL of their taxes (home and car), then maybe our millage rate wouldn’t increase so much each year above what market value really is. Just an idea, because it is apparent that we need more checks and balances than we have in place. Just about every other car in line at Booth during pick-up is not in-county.

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Get your Kleenex ready. Latino press moans that “Mexican students in border towns have been pressured to prevent them from attending classes at public schools on U.S. territory.” Oh, boohoo.

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Fayette County residents paid $43,000 of taxpayer money to a consultant to come up with a plan to alleviate the overcrowding of Fayette County schools. The result: The consultant’s plans were ignored by the school board and a “secret” plan was adopted that will not help alleviate Peeples’ overcrowding. Why was a ”secret” plan adopted? Apparently some behind the scenes legal actions by Whitewater and Highgrove subdivisions subverted the publicly debated plans of Map A and Map B. This new “secret” plan moves roughly 35 students from Timberlake subdivision from Peeples Elementary to Braelinn Elementary. 35 students! This still leaves Peeples overcrowded. What a waste of taxpayer money. If you are as upset as I am, please email or call the Fayette County Board of Education. This is an outrage. Don’t let this happen again when, I predict, this is revisited soon for the third time next year. We have been trying to fix the overcrowding of Peeples Elementary for the last three years. Let’s come up with a plan that really works to fix the problem. Maybe we should send a bill for $43,000 to the homeowners associations of Whitewater and Highgrove? Imagine what other more beneficial uses to the county that $43,000 could have been directed. Teachers’ salaries, school supplies, computers, after-school programs, school lunches, etc. Since this very thing has happened in this county in the past, I can’t help but wonder: Could it be possible the $43,000 went to a consultant who has a “buddy” on the school board? Could it be possible the school board had no intention of following the consultant’s plan to begin with?

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The policy of the Superior Court Real Estate Division is very frustrating to a 20-year taxpayer. “The Policy” I am referring to is their policy to not help you, but are glad to take your $10 on the spot for no service rendered. The ladies at the window act as if you are disturbing them when you go there. They immediately refer you to a computer and then leave you unattended. An 85-year-old taxpayer with no computer knowledge is not helped at all but has to pay the $10 for nothing. Why is this office there? Where does the $10 go? Is this fair to Fayette County residents?

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Today, as I walked in the new North Fayette Kenwood Park, I watched as five deer crossed in front of me, an egret fished in a pond while a hawk circled overhead, and a group of vultures rested in a grassy area. I certainly hope future development plans for the park don’t destroy the magnificent natural areas.

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“It takes a village to raise a child.” Wrong! It takes parents. Period.

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To the person who wrote the letter beginning, “It take (sic) a village to raise a child,” you are the reason people from the South are often stereotyped as bigoted, simple-minded rednecks. In one sentence you say, “Soldiers are dying so that your child can have the freedom of being the so-called thug” and in the next breath you say that Fayette County does not tolerate boys who wear their pants low. Which is it? Don’t speak for Fayette County or for me.

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What good is the Fayette County Animal Shelter? Recently I went to the shelter on Ga. Highway 74 in Peachtree City to leave a 1-year-old mixed breed dog. I was told that they do not accept large dogs. Then I was given a sheet of paper with the animal shelters highlighted on where to take the dog, the closet one being in Atlanta. Then to my surprise, they went out and wrote down my license plate number and told me if they found the dog in Fayette County abandoned that I would be arrested. Here I am trying to do the right thing and end up being treated like a criminal. My son-in-law went there to leave a mixed breed beagle and her puppies. They accepted the puppies, but not her and she is not a big dog. They gave him the same sheet of paper to take the dog to Atlanta. Then they proceeded outside and wrote down his license plate number and gave him the same criminal treatment that they gave me. We don’t need an animal shelter that only deals in puppies or the dogs that they want so they can make a profit on. So I and many other Fayette County residents, have to ask again, What good is the Fayette County Animal Shelter?

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Leslie Construction should be volunteering to help solve the situation at the Peachtree City Police Station that they built less than five years ago. So there were no indications of problems when it was completed. There were plenty within a couple of years. Mr. Leslie must be laughing at the city’s inept way of solving this problem, spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayers’ money, instead of holding his company responsible. Are they still allowed to participate on city projects? Maybe Leslie was planning to bid on the repair contract.

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I am in agreement somewhat with the lady who writes about “driving while black.” The Fayetteville police are abusive toward citizens but not because they are black. It’s just the way they are. I’m sure the good officers on the force are terribly disappointed at the reputation the abusers are giving them. I am a white senior citizen and I have lived all over this country during my long life. I never once had an encounter with a local policeman until I moved here four years ago. In that four years I have had six encounters with the police, and they were all very unpleasant, with threats of jail being made a couple of times. One encounter was at the airport and the others in Fayetteville. I am a law-abiding citizen and the encounters I had were for frivolous reasons or no reason at all. I am afraid to go out on the streets of Fayetteville now.

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Is anyone aware of the fact that seven police officers have left the Fayetteville PD in the past 12 months? I wonder how many more will move on this year. Maybe it is time for the city to look into the real reason as to why they have left. They should also look into the promotional process to see why officers who are well qualified are being passed over for ones who are not. Hey, maybe that is the reason.

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Sheriff Randall Johnson is a good man and an excellent sheriff. Fayette County Sheriff’s Office is well run and staffed by some good folks. I have always voted for and supported Sheriff Johnson over the past 20 years. My concern is why did it take a police response over 15 minutes when my neighbor called 911 and reported a hunter on her property at 10 p.m. The hunter was armed with a rifle and was shining a big flood light at/on her house and was adamant about someone giving him permission to hunt on property behind her lot. Is this a safe situation and a proper response to a taxpayer?

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Can we go one week without the Free Speech being blown out by rants about Peachtree City politics?

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We are so thankful for those courageous Peachtree City police, who, braving the snow and icy roads Saturday, drove their patrol cars on the golf course cart paths to remove those hoodlum kids and their dangerous plastic sleds. No arrests were made for illegal sledding? That’s inexcusable!

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To the citizens of Peachtree City: Is it fair for one neighborhood which has a cart path running through it to impose restrictions of use? Timberlake, which sits outside of the city limits, has been restricting passage using padlock gates to enforce their rule. I don’t think this is news to anyone on the southside of the city. But, I believe it is time for the city to step in to this. I would like to ask the City Council to consider implementing an additional fee to any and all golf carts licensed to those who live outside our city limits but still enjoy the convenience of using the cart paths that are paid for by the citizens of Peachtree City. The residents of Timberlake might find it strange but there are no gates with padlocks on the cart paths which go through countless neighborhoods of the entire city. It is what makes our city special because it is a way of life here. We are one community, not a gated subdivision of a community. So, I would like to be the first to invite all residents of Timberlake to become a part of what makes our city special and remove the gates and padlocks. Otherwise, pay for your access to our cart paths and keep your elitist attitude.

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I smelled like cigarette smoke for two days after leaving Y-Knots in Peachtree City!

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When is someone on the City Council going to stand up to the developer bully Doug McMurrain? I agree with Steve Brown about the council being lethargic. The councilmen cave in every time the developer bully pounds on the podium.

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What do we have to do to get the PTC City Council to stop building more houses in the West Village? Tell John Wieland we don’t need more houses and townhomes. I don’t want to see our school redistricting situation get even worse because the council can’t show any self-control. How about defending the existing homeowners instead of the developers for a change? Just say “no” to more houses.

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Mayor Logsdon’s continual lying just irks me to no end. He promised along with the others that the annexed land on the west side would be the only additional residential on the other side of the railroad tracks. Now John Wieland wants to come in with more multi-family housing, and the mayor is backing it 100 percent. I’m tired of getting ripped off by the mayor and his crooked friends. How about keeping a promise this time; no more housing in the West Village.

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Please don’t tell me Mayor Logsdon is looking at the strip club tax as a way to bring in the bacon for Peachtree City.

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Seen in Fayetteville: Turn signal on car actually being used!

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News people, African-Americans, and political talking-heads are saying Barack Obama may be America’s first black president. But how can that be if his father is a black African and his mother is a white American? Wouldn’t it be more correct to say that he would be the first Bliteman to be elected president of the U.S.?

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The person who got his/her BVDs in a hitch over something a writer said about Barrack Obama should check the facts before shooting off his/her mouth. The information the writer gave on Barrack Obama is absolutely verifiable and the writer is obviously more of a concerned American than a racist. It’s the same old liberal crap. If you point out a negative truth about a minority, it’s racism. Makes me sick and it’s making America as a country sick as well.

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To the person excited about Japan’s way of life: So ... why did you come back?

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The real border war should be on the Flint River, not the Rio Grande.

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Black America vs. Free Speech: Martin Luther King Jr. stated that he had a dream. That dream was to see the constitution and bill of rights be established equally for all men and women of all colors. His dream was recognized during the Kennedy and Johnson presidency and what we have today is the direct result of American men and women, of all colors, making an effort to live and to help others live that dream. Today in America, we have for the first time a woman and a black American running for the presidency. This is a national accomplishment I wish that the late King Jr. could have personally witnessed. There is, however, a major hiccup that has evolved. As recently as when Senator Clinton heightened her campaign against Senator Obama, right away the Black Caucus following Obama cried “racially motivated accusation“ against Clinton. It is time we all were on the same field of play, stop the whining and pouting, crying to “ol’ man race” every time someone uses something about black history in their speech. It is time that the Black Caucus looks at both sides of their American history with a pure heart and stop turning everything said in earnest or jest about black Americans into a racial issue. There are no major racial issues anymore. Back Americans are free at last and their achievements are here to prove it. Come on now, it is time to homogenize into the American culture and be American. To coin a popular phrase, “You cannot have your cake and eat it too.” Black Americans have to stop using racial prejudice as a stepping stone to success. Stand on your own two feet and laugh, cry and be proud of your heritage, no matter who is speaking or what they are saying. This goes for taking the double standard out of your own culture as well. After all, we are a people of one nation, under one God, with life, liberty and the ability to pursue happiness. Let’s all strive to do it together, not in spite of one another. We cannot afford to have to guard every word that we say when it comes to a white, black, yellow or brown American. We must learn to live with truth and accept the good along with the bad as well as the ugly. When someone says something derogatory and unbecoming, Americans of all cultural backgrounds will judge it and reach the same conclusion. We are a just people in spite of what the media wants us to see or think. Black Americans no longer have to rest on the proverbial crutch of racial prejudice anymore. They truly are able to stand on their own two feet and say that they are here to stay and support the cause of freedom. Black Americans have earned that right; it was not given to them. So come on, let’s all get a life and grow up together. Our mixture should be a strength, not a weakness.