With the Clayton County schools imploding due to their own imbecilities and incompetence, state lawmakers are forcing Fayette taxpayers to “share the wealth.” Under Senate Bill 458, parents can opt to have their child attend another school within their school system, enroll and transport their child to a public school in another system or request a scholarship for a private school. SB 458 states, “if a school system or school loses or fails to attain accreditation, a student shall be entitled to attend another public school or receive a scholarship to attend a private school ... the public school system shall accept the student subject only to space being available.” That means that all those clowns that have been sneaking into Fayette don’t have to sneak anymore. Thanks, Atlanta lawmakers! [EDITOR’S NOTE: That requirement had been dropped by Tuesday.]

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I am writing to voice my opposition to the idea of SB 458. I believe that this bill will unfairly penalize Georgia school systems everywhere. What needs to be done is Clayton County fixing their wrong. I looked up the SACS review on Clayton County’s website and I want to know why they got the five negative results on March 5 and still they have yet to take action. Their website says they are closed schools and administration for spring break. No, you guys have a mess and need to work that week. Have as many meetings as you need to get these five areas taken care of because amendments/fixes must be made to correct your negative report. Here is my quick summary of how I would fix it if I was on that school board since this is each of their problem areas that needs to be addressed. Look on FCBOE.org and paraphrase from our [vision statement]. 2. Admit that everyone on the board screwed up. Quit! Get a new board with a true education leader. Hire the best consulting firm ASAP. 3. Hire more secretaries and take notes, date and time, everything. 4. Make your database BIG; get a new IT team; buy all the newest text books and use them. 5. Stop fighting. Keep your focus on the children. Stop being so corrupt; money isn’t the answer. Children want to learn; please provide a loving environment and I promise someday you will have educated leaders that will return to your county and make sure education is #1 and pass it on to other children.

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Fayette County residents, do not congratulate yourselves too much for helping to defeat SB 458. Our residency officer at the FCBOE can still destroy our schools at her discretion since the wording became “may” instead of “shall.” I can only speak for one school, but the drive-through lines at Whitewater Middle are least 30 percent Clayton County residents NOW. Do we really trust the residency officer to withstand the kind of pressure she’ll get if Clayton County loses accreditation? Be concerned, be very concerned.

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This legislation is currently being proposed and will have NO positive benefits for our children and for all students in the Fayette County School System. As taxpayers, why should our school system be at risk of overcrowding? Why should we feel the negative effects of a school board that failed to perform and deliver results? As a parent of an elementary student, I volunteer regularly in my child’s classroom and have witnessed first-hand the importance of having available resources to help children that are struggling with certain subjects. Our Fayette County teachers are quality professionals that give 110 percent to their students. However, there are only so many hours in the day. That is where parental involvement is so important. When compared to Fayette County, Clayton County schools fail miserably when it comes to parental involvement. Why should non-taxpaying families from Clayton County be allowed to put a strain on our resources? Our children’s education should be our number one priority. Fayette County Schools should not be mandated to accept all students from a surrounding county where their board has failed to do what they are supposed to do. Fayette County schools should not be subject to an influx of students with low test scores and a lack of parental involvement. Currently, many families from Clayton County try to defraud the Fayette County School System by falsifying their address to allow their children to attend one of the best school systems in the state. If this legislation is passed, they won’t have to defraud anyone; it’s actually a reward for their failure. Our county can help them by not allowing their problem to become ours. We can help them by forcing them to change their situation, not by rewarding them. If students from Clayton County want to attend Fayette County Schools, move to our county. Our housing market welcomes you. But we don’t welcome your failure; nor should we.

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I do not wish for my local school tax dollars to be spent on public education for children who live outside of my school district, Fayette County. Our family moved to Georgia/Peachtree City mostly because of the great schools. We sacrificed a lot personally and financially in order to afford housing in this community and we will not support any elected officials who are in favor of this bill. We went to register our preschooler for the lottery-funded pre-K at the elementary school a few blocks from home today, only to realize that there are now other preschoolers already registering from outside of the school district in hopes of getting in if the bill is passed. This is very unsettling, considering we pay several thousand dollars a year to the Fayette County School M&O/Bond taxes a year based on our home’s value. Please don’t make us regret moving to Georgia.

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SACS has stripped a district of its accreditation only once in the past decade. If it happens to Clayton County, it would be a first for a Georgia school system. Only two districts, Hartford, Conn., and Duval County, Fla., have lost accreditation in the last 20 years. And in Hartford, Conn., the state took it over. So put away your wording for SB 458 because you can’t push this problem onto the surrounding counties. I’m sure if the state got responsibility rather than passing a bill to make it surrounding counties’ problems then action will happen for Clayton to hire consultants and make the needed provisions. ASAP!

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Exactly what is it that the School Board is trying to hide by slipping a charter school into the county without any input from parents and the community? Could it be that no one wants to own up to the possibility that their plan is setting our children up to fail? Since our tax money is supporting this plan, why all the secrecy? Why are we being kept in the dark until after the board approves this charter school?

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Why is Fayetteville Police Chief Steve Heaton so anxious to see a hate crime law enacted? Is it because he is afraid of the NAACP? The term “hate crime” is an oxymoron and is nothing more than an excuse to discriminate against white people. White criminals target black people less than 5 percent of the time, while black criminals target white people more than 50 percent of the time. Have you ever heard of a black criminal being tried for a “hate crime”?

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Regarding the PTC Police Station conundrum: Repair — $700,000 (estimated). Replace: $6 million (estimated). I am no mathematical genius, but guess which amount of my tax dollars I want the city to spend?

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I have heard recently that the city recreation department is now widening the cart paths from six or so feet to eight feet. [In] the area of the city that we live in, they have already done the expansion. When I drive I still can’t fit side by side with another golf cart. It gets better. The city has already realized this and have proceeded to put down dirt and grass seed on either side of the path so people can get past each other. I find this quite ridiculous because who knows? They have already expanded the path two times. When will they do it again because more people complain? Why can’t they just make it 10 feet wide with a yellow stripe down the middle? I just don’t see the logic.

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I see some metal fence violations on city property off of Kelly Drive and quite a few homes off of Ga. Highway 74 due to the construction of the road widening. Since it is extremely noticeable right now and in violation of the fence rules, let’s clean up our city. Enforce your rules to the city property and to the residents who followed your bad example. “Fencing General Standards: The standards in this section shall apply to all fences within the City G). Wire fencing may be attached to the interior of, or made a part of any wooden, stone, brick, wrought-iron, or other such non-wire type fencing, where the other type fencing would not provide an adequate barrier to contain pets or animals. When so applied, the wire shall be vinyl coated or painted in a standard dark brown, dark green or black color. When used under these conditions, it shall not be considered a wire fence. Residential standards: C) No fence comprised of metal parts shall be installed in a residential area unless all exposed metal parts are vinyl-coated or painted a standard dark brown, dark green, or black color to blend into the natural surroundings.”

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Are you kidding me? Somebody actual writes in and has something nice to say about a PTC citizen doing something good for the town (picking up the trash along the road and how she/he was pointing out to their children what a good thing it was) and all this other person can do is criticize her/him? I think a child can have more than one role model. And how do you know they don’t do their share of community projects or good acts for others? Maybe you only had one person to look up to in your life, but I love that my children have more than one role model in their lives besides their parents: teachers, grandparents, athletic coaches, to name a few. Why must we always try to bring others down or be just plain negative?

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I am replying to the mean spirited person who suggested I should be a role model for my child regarding trash pickup in the community. I’m not sure if I should dignify your remarks by even responding to them. I am hurt and offended that you would send in such a response to someone paying a compliment to another individual. You don’t even know me and to suggest that someone who has taken the time to thank someone else in an anonymous public forum is not a role model is ludicrous.

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Shame on the property owner along Lake Peachtree who decided to burn his leaves on Easter Sunday. It was a beautiful spring afternoon and people were out in droves walking, biking, and golf carting only to be forced to go through the smoke from his smoldering pile of leaves. Naturally the fumes were not going near the direction of his house but instead straight towards the path and lake. The outdoor burning of yard refuse should be banned in this day and age.

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The Tyrone official who thought it was his duty to destroy the turtle and bird nesting areas in Shamrock Park should be arrested and tried for crimes against nature.

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Is it just me, or is anyone else getting pounded by Wachovia Bank, and their outrageous fees? Use your debit card at your own risk.

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All Easter weekend long, we heard radio voices weighing in on Obama. How do white people feel about his blackness, how do black people feel about his whiteness? Absent from the discussion is any awareness of what he’s actually done. Where has he landed his punches? During Obama’s brief political career thus far, what issues has he acted on? Much has been made of his pastor’s disparaging comments about America and 9/11. So has Mr. Obama spent his young senate days hanging with the fringe wing of the Democratic Party that pushes 9/11 conspiracy theories? Has he lent his voice to the view that 9/11 was America’s just comeuppance? No. If anything, Mr. Obama was a bit timid as a young senator, watching in dismay as his idealistic bits of legislation got watered down over time. Obama himself is a bit of a Rorschach Test, in that commentators superimpose on him what they think should be there. For this reason, Obama is often linked to Black Liberation Theology. This is silly, because he was never a radical. In his youth, he never went through a Chicago Seven phase, all fist-pumping, Bobby Seal haircuts and incendiary speeches. If anything, Obama was an eager but cautious Harvard law student with an eye on social justice issues, but apt to keep his options open. Not “options open” in a cynical sense, not soft-pedaling his views, but rather, living according to a belief that brash, extreme opinions only alienate those who might otherwise be your allies. Like many young black leaders, Obama saw the limitations of racially-charged politics, the futility of replacing one racial stereotype with another. Thus, he would find ways to discuss inflammatory issues in reasonable, nuanced tones. It looks like this year, America has a candidate that prefers to shed light, rather than heat. Are we up for it? If Obama loses, it won’t be because he’s black. It’ll be because America’s not ready for a President that talks to you as if you have a brain.