Most presidential election years, we find ourselves asking, “Are these candidates the best America has to offer?” The election process all but guarantees that a “politician” will be our only choice, as only a few very wealthy individuals can compete outside of the Democratic and Republican parties. Silly as it may initially sound, we should adopt an “American Idol” type process to cultivate candidates to oppose the major party nominees. This would allow college professors, retired military officers, clergymen and anyone else to take their shot at becoming president. The loonies and the obviously unqualified would be weeded out through the “Idol” process, eventually leaving a couple of very competent candidates who could then participate in debates with the party nominees. Just imagine how interesting the race for the White House would be!

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I am a 50-year-old female resident of PTC who has been using her golf cart for four years now. It is my only means of transportation, so I use it at all times of day and night. I have found that of all ages and sexes of drivers, the worst are the moms. They drive in the middle of the path and never move over. I can’t say how many times I have been run off the path by them. They never say excuse me or sorry. If I pull over, they never say, “Thank you.” On the other hand, teenage drivers and fathers are the most polite. They always say, “Excuse me, sorry, thank you.”

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I would like to use this forum to thank the city of Peachtree City for tearing out six trees along the east side of Holly Grove Road south of Pepperwood Drive and putting in a paved golf cart path. I suppose the one that is only 40 yards to the east and winds through some woods wasn’t sufficient for some of today’s get-there-as-fast-as-possible people. Not only does the golf cart serve the purpose for which it is intended, it now provides a paved walking path for the wonderful dog owners who insist on walking their animals without bringing along any means of solid waste removal. Those of us who live along the new golf cart path now have the unenviable pleasure of smelling dog refuse baking in the hot Georgia sun right in our own yard. People, with pets come responsibilities. When you walk your dog, bring along a plastic bag. Publix gives them away right down the road. You cannot possibly tell me that you don’t think of it as your animal is squatting next to your neighbor’s yard. Stop being so self-centered and clean up after your animal. Either that or maybe I shall take Jim Carrey’s position on the matter from his film “Me, Myself and Irene.” Now for something positive. A sincere thank you to the Peachtree City Police who are stopping speeders along Holly Grove Road. The residents along the road appreciate the great work.

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The end of the school year is fast approaching and the idle hours of summer will soon be here. I urge parents to stash away any spray paint cans or large permanent markers you may have around. In the past year or so, the beautiful Peachtree City has been defaced by a few children who find it fun to use these tools to mark up our cart paths, tunnels, signs and utility boxes. I fully understand school spirit and approve of the marking on the rocks outside of our local high school. But recently it seems as if the use of spray paint and permanent marker has moved beyond the campus property and spread out throughout the city, making our city and its unique cart paths look terrible. It was once a pleasure to take out-of-town guests on a fun golf cart ride. Now, it’s just embarrassing. I’d like to think that we’ve raised the Peachtree City kids to have pride in their town and to be conscientious citizens. Plus, our facilities department has enough to do already. It takes time and money to get this graffiti cleaned up. Let’s nip this in the bud before it becomes more than our facilities department can handle.

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To the motorist who wants to prove a point with his/her car by swiping cyclists: we are allowed by law to ride two abreast. As cyclists, we need to obey the laws as well.

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To the staff at 96.7 The Legend: your station would be exceptionally good if you didn’t play the same songs every day. For instance, upon turning you on, I am guaranteed to hear Jerry Reed’s “When you’re hot, you’re hot.” If you are short on music, I will lend you some of my compact discs.

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It’s so sad that people are so concerned with race and other shallow issues. There are so many bigger issues in this world than throwing rocks at one another. We are in very serious times, regardless of skin color. People are losing their homes, losing their jobs, dealing with devastating diseases that have no cure, gas prices, food prices and college tuition are skyrocketing. As a matter of fact, everything is skyrocketing. These issues are affecting people of all colors and economic status. So who cares if you’re black, white, red, brown, or blue?

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Notice to all Tyrone businesses: An exploratory committee has been formed to discuss the possibility of a future class action lawsuit against the town of Tyrone. Business and property owners were told last year by two council members that we needed to elect new members in order to get relief from destructive zoning ordinances. All elected candidates promised publicly to repeal or seriously examine the ordinances. The mayor, all four council members and the new planning commission now have already stated openly and voted not to change the ordinance. We can no longer depend on our representatives. We must take matters into our own hands. All Tyrone businesses in the C-1, C-2, C-3, M-1, M-2, and OI districts have been zoned out of their vested property rights. Most have lost money and investment. Many have lost their businesses altogether. We will identify those businesses who have lost money, discuss each members’ specific problems, compute total monetary losses, consult an attorney and clarify all common government violations. We intend to eliminate each individual having to pay $500 to ask council for help only to be turned down, then having to hire individual lawyers. More than 20 businesses have already expressed their problems. Interested and outraged owners who want to participate or get more information are encouraged to call 770-486-6065.

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For all you Tyrone citizens who have been ticketed by our fine police, Wednesday, May 7, is your chance for revenge. The Tyrone Police will be at the Tyrone Partners Pizza from 6-9 p.m. They will be waiting on tables for a good cause, the Special Olympics. Personally, I can’t wait to send them running for more tea, more napkins, extra plates ... and whatever else I can dream up. If everyone that has been ticketed for running a stop sign in Tyrone were to show up, the Special Olympics will be set for life!

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Did Senator Ronnie Chance vote for using school taxes for downtown redevelopments? I wonder how many property owners knew that their school taxes had been used for 27 years by local governments and private developers for downtown redevelopment projects, like Tyrone. The law allowing tax allocation districts (TADs) was passed in 1985 and ruled unconstitutional in February 2008. The Georgia legislature under lobby pressure from local governments and developers immediately passed a resolution to change the Georgia Constitution to allow this tax theft to be voted on in November. Any legislator voting for it is hoping that unknowledgeable voters will vote to continue taking away money from schools. Does anyone know if Ronnie Chance voted for the referendum? Ronnie Chance, why don’t you tell us? Eric Dial, you’re a big supporter of schools. Will you help enlighten everyone to vote against keeping TADs? But you and all the Tyrone Council just voted to continue Tyrone’s redevelopment plan. Isn’t there a contradiction here? Does the Tyrone Council favor using school taxes for local redevelopment? Is that why all of you lied to voters about changing Tyrone’s ordinance? Isn’t it true that Tyrone’s zoning ordinance is a significant part of the comprehensive plan? Isn’t it a fact that the comprehensive plan states that developers Burt Clark, John Wieland and Joel Ogletree are major stakeholders in Tyrone’s downtown redevelopment? And isn’t also true that these developers would be eligible to use school taxes for private TAD development money? The Tyrone Planning Commission is reviewing their comprehensive plan at 7 p.m. May 8. Concerned parents should be there to ask these questions about their school taxes.

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In this day and time, local governments welcome any non-residential development that would help provide some tax relief to their citizens. This is not the case in Tyrone where the new council at the urging of Chris Venice, the new manager, just doubled the staff review time. This is the same council that during the election promised to work with the businesses.

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Just like a previous poster I also tried to get change from the bank in the Kroger at the Braelinn shopping center. I had forgotten that I didn’t have change for the tip for my hairstylist and was in sort of a hurry since I only had a couple of minutes before my hair appointment. Just like the other poster they refused to just give me change since I did not have a account with them. This is a very strange business practice to me since most of the time companies get customers from some sort of positive experience or word of mouth. Well, unfortunately for them, I would never ever consider opening any kind of account with them after being rather rudely dismissed. It’s bad enough to be refused a very small favor, but it’s even worse when you’re answered in what was my opinion a rather snippy manner. So instead of simply quickly getting change from the bank, I had to get in line in Kroger and buy something to get the change. It’s not that that was such a huge deal; it just doesn’t make sense to me for a bank to be that way because it’s just bad business sense to not be polite and help a potential future customer out with something that wouldn’t cost them anything but a smile, two seconds of their time, and a “you’re welcome, we hope you consider banking with us.” People always gravitate to businesses that give good service and treat them like they are glad to be of service to them. If I were you, I would definitely consider changing this inconsiderate policy that mainly hurts your business in the long run.

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While I have no problem with Atlanta Christian College as an educational facility, I’m worried the City Council is making deals to attract a large non-profit institution without thinking things through. A growing college will be consuming a lot of city services and won’t be paying taxes. Wouldn’t it be a better idea to keep the land as taxable real estate which would help with our growing tax burden? Has anyone considered the problems with having another high traffic attraction on the westside near Ga. Highway 54? We certainly don’t need more things which take money from our pockets, and if the college will cost us more in taxes, then don’t do it.

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Uncle Sam is going to give us $1,200 back from last year’s taxes. It will sure help pay this year’s taxes. Do you think that means that Washington realizes that they have taxed every family $1,200 too much? Nah!

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This is an insult to all retired Americans who worked hard all their life and contributed to the Social Security system. I don’t know how, but maybe some good will come of this travesty. If the immigrant is over 65 they can apply for SSI and Medicaid and get more than my mom gets for Social Security, and she worked from 1944 till 2004, only getting $791 per month because she was born in 1924 and there is a Catch 22. It is interesting that the federal government provides a single refugee with a monthly allowance of $1,890 and each can also obtain an additional $580 in social assistance for a total of $2,470 a month. This compares very well to a single pensioner who after contributing to the growth and development of America for 40 to 50 years can only receive a monthly maximum of $1,012 in old age pension and guaranteed income supplement. Maybe our pensioners should apply as refugees. Our elected politicians (Nancy P. included) have been doing this over the past 11 years to the over-taxed American.

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For the first time in my life I have to say that I am disgusted with my country. As a patriotic American I joined the army at age 17 to fight in the Korean War. After military duty, I went into public service and served my country for more than 40 years. All that time, I was proud to be doing something to help my country. When I retired after 45 years of service, I had earned what was then a more than adequate retirement income. It was a comfortable living until George Bush took over the White House, and then it all disappeared. Now I can no longer live on the retirement I earned from a lifetime of hard work, and I have taken a part-time job at age 74 just to survive. Any reason why I should not be disgusted?

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In response to the individual who quoted from Barack Obama’s “The Audacity Of Hope” on April 30: the quote you gave is widely used on the Internet, but was not actually in the book. The actual quote can be found on page 261 and reads as follows: “... they need specific assurances that their citizenship really means something, that America has learned the right lessons from the Japanese internments during World War II, and that I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.” What Mr. Obama is referring to is the need to protect the rights of individual citizens, whether they be Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, whites, blacks, racists, bigots, conservatives, or (heaven forbid) liberals. I thought that the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness was what this county was all about. We also have the right to make informed choices regarding the officials we elect, or to make bad choices by listening to those who misquote and take statements out of context.

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There once was a young man named Amabo who wanted to belong and be a leader in a certain neighborhood. Amabo befriended an older “pastor” who showed him the wright way to fit in. The pastor provided Amabo with a steaming pile of dung for his front yard and instructed him to return every Sunday for fresh dung to keep the pile stinking and steaming. This pile made Amabo part of the neighborhood and showed solidarity with his peers. His natural drive took him to the leadership position that he desired. Even though this pile of dung was not something of which his mother would have approved, Amabo learned to accept the stinking pile and even joined in with his neighbors as they all added new dung every week, all the while blaming others for it being in their yard. Amabo was in! One day, Amabo, who was a bit older now, decided to run for a high office. To do this, he had to move into a new neighborhood with “different” neighbors. At first his new neighbors assumed that the steaming pile brought with Amabo and left in the front yard was just part of the move-in refuse. As disdainful as they found this unpleasant sight, they accepted the affront as an anomaly. Only when they witnessed Amabo adding fresh dung to the pile did the hard questions begin. Quickly (as he was no dummy), Amabo realized that in this neighborhood, having steaming piles of dung in your front yard was considered vile and would not be tolerated. Now confused, Amabo returned to his pastor for advice. The plan: “I’ll boogie on down to your new digs, stand outside and rant about how people are different and how some like the sight and smell of fresh dung (all the while blaming others for its presence), and finally throw big handfuls of the dung at your new house.” The pastor continued, “That way you act hurt long enough to confuse these simple rich folk who can’t help themselves from their desire to forgive outrage based upon their own taught guilt (you see, we have been sneaking bits of dung into the schools for two generations now!).” So, Amabo practiced his confused and hurt looks and speech for two weeks until the day that the slinging of the dung began. He thought to himself, “This just might work.” You tell me — was he wright?