As expected, Cyndi Plunkett caved and voted with Logsdon and his cronies for a shopping center that very few of us wanted. I’ll remember your vote on this at the next election, Cyndi. And hats off to you, Don Haddix and Doug Sturbaum, for voting against it. I’ll remember your vote also at the next election. Logsdon, you don’t even have to guess.

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Headline: “Developers Eye Peachtree City for Ice Rinks.” I hope this is just a bad joke. $19 million to build, and $2 million yearly operational fee to be paid by the taxpayers. It would be on Ga. Highway 74. Logsdon seems to love the idea. The developer hands him a line of blarney that since northern-based companies are coming to the metro area, this proposed complex would make Fayette a great place for potential growth. Why does our mayor love the developers so much? More growth, more traffic, more congestion, more crime, next thing a commuter rail; do we really need this kind of change? I hope all Fayette citizens step up to the plate and vote no on this referendum.

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Clover Reach pool: if Cyndi Plunkett would take the time and photograph the city workers driving truck numbers 3049, 3086, 3071, 3051, 3032, she would see that these trucks are left running with the air conditioners on. She could find the money needed to keep this pool open. Yes, the pool is in one of the oldest sections of town, but the last time I looked my tax rate is the same as Kedron and every other section of this town. The pool is a fringe benefit of living in this town, so why reduce the benefit in one area and not another? Also if the town would do a better job of letting the people of this city know what and where all of the pools are, I am sure the usage numbers would go up. P.S.: recreation department, if you want to lower your costs, send only one person to collect the trash at the Clover Reach pool instead of two people.

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Sports complex: Here we go again. A group of local professional business people has proposed to our very gullible city council members the opportunity to get on board and help push through a bond issue to get this project built, to the tune of $19 million. Also to get this same city council to approve a $2 million annual budget expense to operate and maintain this sports complex, all this while the city’s tax collections are dropping on a daily basis. Also in the wake of the council’s own words that they can’t even keep a local pool open because it costs the city $22,000 to run it. What’s in it for the proposers? I know what’s in it for the taxpayers: just what we all need, higher taxes on our property and more ineptness in city government.

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Peachtree City’s Council has demonstrated to me what the Bible says: If you cannot be trusted with small things you can not be trusted with the big things. I recently wrote to the council and several staff members including public works. Issue: the water fountain at City Hall (which was donated by a civic group) does not work. Other water fountains do work (like at Flat Creek golf course; also donated by a civic group and maintained by the city). A week later not only was the water fountain not fixed but one council member wrote to me that “the water fountains are shut off because of the drought.” LOL, the other fountains work; the City Hall fountain does not. It appears to me that with the city’s incompetence with the police station and the city’s generosity with their buddies on the million-dollar tennis center bailout that the rest of the city’s infrastructure has quickly become ragged around the edges.

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How many more strip malls does Fayette County need to build before every available parcel of land is cleared to allow an empty building to sit unoccupied? Take a look at the new mall across the street from the hospital. Not even close to capacity yet developers are building another strip mall by the Waffle House on Ga. Highway 54. Take a look at the strip mall on Georgia Highway 85 before Town Center. Is it full? No. So, let’s build another one in the middle of town. Could someone please explain this insanity?

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The blind leading the blind. The CRCT scores are out and Fayette County looks bad. If my son had been tested on the movie “Cars” he would have aced the test since he saw it in class a week before the tests. The implementation of the new math curriculum for grades 6 through 8 is a case study in poor planning and execution. Three years into it and my son has yet to see a supporting textbook. Combine this with the collaborative learning strategy (where your fellow students, not the teachers, help each other) and you have a recipe for disaster. If the teacher has not mastered the material and presents the lesson leaving out critical steps in the process, you have the blind leading the blind. If the school board needs a starting point in their investigation into this debacle, begin with the direct correlation between those students who sought outside help, and those that passed the eighth grade math CRCT. While I understand that “Leave no child behind” is an integral part of this train wreck, teachers may not give up on the kids. Improvise, overcome, deliver, and no, not more money, but more perspiration and more innovation. The sad fact is that those students who did not pay for supplementary education are going to be left behind. School vouchers, anyone?

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Early in the school year, I contacted state Superintendent Kathy Cox regarding the math curriculum in Georgia. We were new here and my daughter’s math class did not even have a textbook. It was one of the worst math curriculums I had ever seen. I asked her, by email, if the state had considered using the University of Chicago Math Project curriculum. This program is sometimes called “Chicago Math” or “Everyday Mathematics” and is used in states such as Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota (the states with the highest math scores in the country). One of her subordinates emailed me back, basically saying that they know what they are doing and did not need the help of commoners like myself. Maybe it was the Yankee accent in my email. I don’t know. What I do know is that my daughter, prior to moving to a state without Chicago Math, could multiply a three-digit number by another three-digit number in her head in the third grade. This past year, her first in Georgia, she almost failed math despite being in the 90th percentile on her ITBS (Iowa Test of Basic Skills). Math comes easy to her, so if she is struggling here, just imagine how difficult, if not impossible, it would be for the average or below-average math student to understand, learn, and retain the material from year to year. This program does have its opponents, but don’t they all? If enough parents speak, the state will have to listen. Check it out at http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/.

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People of Fayette County, you have the chance July 15 to get some new people on your Board of Education. Think about the possibilities with new ideas and new energy. Check out David Houston, Carol Jensen-Linton and Dr. Mary Kay Bacallao. This county needs new people on the board. Many members of the current board have been there too long and have had their chance. The current board created a fiasco with the redistricting and have built schools in bad locations. Let’s say goodbye to the old and hello to new ideas.

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I’ve enjoyed watching basketball for many years and I’ve never seen such poor coaching as Starr’s Mill H.S. The talent is there but you can see the fear of making a mistake on the player’s faces. You would think the administration would see this too. But alas, I guess the 2008-2009 year will be no different.

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I can only assume the letter writer grousing about SMHS’s basketball program is one of the embarrassingly whiny “I’m getting a lawyer” parents with a son who shows such poor work ethic, attitude, and commitment that he quits when a coach expects team members to work hard. How many teams has your son been treated unfairly on? Probably more than one, I would guess. Playing is a privilege, not a right, and should be reserved for the students willing to work hard and attend summer practices and conditioning. Do your sons a favor and teach them to take their privileges seriously and to not quit when someone offers criticism. Life won’t get any easier for them and they need to learn to be men now. Plus, you don’t see the dedicated athletes with parents who expect them to work hard complaining.

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Kudos to the person who complained about the head basketball coach at SMHS. The only success he has had came when he took over for the last half of a season when the former head coach fell ill. As I recall, that coach had just rebuilt the basketball program and the roster was full of those seniors he had worked with for three years. What has happened since this current coach benefited with a team that had been built for him? The SMHS administration owes it to the fans and taxpaying parents of students who would like to play basketball to place a person in the coaching position who does not run his players off. That is when we will see more seniors sticking with the program and more success on the court.

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They say we can water our lawns on the specified days but cannot wash hard surfaces like homes, driveways, walkways and cars. I think they are losing sight of what’s important to others. Some people don’t care if they have the greenest lawn in town. Some people would rather keep their homes clean or their second largest investment clean (automobiles). We cannot afford to drive them with the gas at $4 per gallon so we might as well keep them clean. The solution is so simple: we all get our water from Fayette County (except those with their own wells or who don’t live in Fayette but this should work on their system as well). Why don’t they set a limit (say 5 percent) on the extra water each household will be allowed extra each month over say the past two-year average for that household. It would be easy for them to flag abnormally high usage for the month. Those that can’t play by the rules would be dealt with as they are now (or as they should be now). Those that want to water their yards will have the extra water or those that want to wash their cars or whatever is important to them.

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After Tyrone’s Tuesday night meeting, I am convinced the town is run by idiots, and that’s being lenient.

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Now that Grace Caldwell has gotten rid of all the old management staff you can bet her henchman Mary Sterm will discover a “secret” cache of money (reserve fund) to balance the budget and not have to raise taxes. Of course the money was there all the time and Grace knew it, but using it before now would not have served her purpose in getting rid of all old management. Now she can fund her expensive lawyers and pay her manager almost twice what the old one earned on an hourly basis without raising taxes. Keep in mind that this was submitted five days before the council meeting; see what happens on the 19th.

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Stranger than fiction: Tyrone begs for years to get state funding for a new library. State requires justification to meet state’s criteria. Tyrone meets the state’s criteria for funding. State funds new library construction. New library opens. Library usage exceeds projections. Council under Grace Caldwell’s urging cuts library budget. Now the new library is open 16.6 percent fewer hours than the old library. Guess Grace Caldwell does not want the citizens to become too smart.

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Now I understand why Grace Caldwell had to get Tyrone to change town attorneys. The old one would not let her violate state open meeting laws like Overbill McNally and his partner Dennis Dumbenport.

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$5,000 later, Tyrone’s infamous forensic audit shows nothing is wrong. Auditor’s recommendation is to provide less information to the council members in a simpler format. (Translation: they don’t understand financial reports or you can’t fix stupid).

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I saw a Fayetteville police car sitting in the parking lot of Dick’s Sporting Goods store Sunday morning around 10:30. There was a lieutenant walking around in the store with a young lady and they were shopping. I guess it’s all right to burn taxpayers’ gas for personal business. The price of fuel being so high, somebody in city and county government needs to put a stop to the waste of taxpayers’ money.

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I’m glad that my apartment in Peachtree City really wasn’t on fire. I would still be standing in front of my car at the rate PCFD was going.

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There are striking differences in the Fayetteville Target and the PTC Target. Recently, while I shopped in the PTC location for the first time, I was: greeted by friendly employees; the employees asked if I needed help finding anything and told me the correct location of where to find it; the employees were visible and approachable; and when several customers were noticed standing in a checkout line, more registers were opened. It is worth it for me to drive the extra five minutes to the PTC Target than to go to the Fayetteville location. I wish all employees would realize that without customers, they won’t have a job.

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I wonder if the writer who so boldly challenged the teacher who complained about fuel prices to Google “Anwar,” actually did it himself. I did. In spite of his assertion, it is indeed a published and accepted acronym for ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge). I bet the teacher’s eighth grade students knew that. I’m sure they got the same message out of that letter to the editor that he did. Was it that the country’s economy is falling apart because people do not know the proper usage of acronyms? Oh, and paying a mere $65 to fill his gas tank isn’t much to brag about. He got robbed too.

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To all of the parents that let your kids pipe-bomb the city, how about keeping your punk kids in your sight? There is a thing called grounding. It’s when you say your kid can’t leave the house or use the TV or phone. I’m in the grade of those kids and so I know they are underage, driving the golf cart a day after they are caught committing a federal offense. Hmm ... makes me think twice about all of the good things the other people do in my grade. I feel I should be rewarded for being on honor roll and doing my homework every night. Maybe if I start failing my classes, my life would be easier. Yes, I could go and commit a crime and then the next day go joy-riding on the golf cart. What a great idea.

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I am always surprised when people go out of their way to perform a random act of kindness or common courtesy. Big thanks to the person in the cream-colored car with the Babb for Sheriff sign on the side. You are the only person who stopped for me as I tried to cross the parking lot on crutches. I know I was moving slow and very much in the way of everyone. Thank you.

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Once more our current tax commissioner has proved that he is so “special” that he is exempt from obeying the law. From April 28 until June 12, he had copies of his campaign announcement displayed on the counters in the tax office. Everyone who came into the office to transact business had access to copies of the information with the implied invitation to pick one up and take it along. Included in the announcement was the statement, “I ask for your support and your vote.” When confronted by the Elections Board about this obvious violation of state law prohibiting campaigning in a government facility, in true Wingo style, he denied that the material was campaign literature. Does he really believe his own lies, or does he think that the people of Fayette County are too stupid to see what he is doing? This is what happens when a career bureaucrat stays too long. They believe they are entitled to ignoring the law simply because of their time in office.

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If want your taxes to go down, just bring MARTA in to Fayette County and then your home’s value will be cut in half, thus lower taxes.

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Dave Simmons apparently puts a lot of effort and research into the crime/gang issues in Fayette County. As a long-time resident, I have witnessed the growth for many years, but it appears that only in the last two to three years crimes have increased, based on the police report published in local papers, news articles about crimes committed and the number of times Fayette County is a TV news item involving criminal acts. My question(s) to Mr Simmons is: In your honest opinion, what has happened to cause crime to increase and “gangs” to form in Fayette County and how do you reverse the trend if elected sheriff? Based on numbers of arrests being made, present law enforcement appears to be doing a very good job of catching many of the bad guys and gals.

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Donald Sims lied to us twice. First you falsely and publicly accused Wayne Hannah of stealing Simmons’ signs. Several very angry property owners wrote in to complain about people like you trespassing on their private property and placing Simmons’ signs without permission. Those owners admit to throwing your unwanted signs in the trash. Then you accuse Mr. Hannah of intimidating you by coming to your home. The fact is you are neighbors and casual acquaintances. Mr. Sims, you are the perfect advertisement for Simmons.

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Who believes that sheriff candidate Simmons was a registered Republican before moving to Fayette County?

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To the person who thinks the “dumocrat” writer needs anger management, realize we were laughing out loud at the wonderful descriptions of these dumocrats as we were writing to Free Speech. We realize that dumocrats have no sense of humor due to their bitter, hateful thoughts and ways towards America and Americans. Oh, your obama (yes, small “o” since he is so small-minded) ’08 bumper sticker should read, ”Voting for obama is like cutting your own throat.” An obama presidency will mean higher gas prices, higher taxes, higher food prices, massive unemployment, more regulation, socialized healthcare, more illegal immigration, etc. The list goes on.

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Regarding Mr. Hoffman’s article on gay marriage: The divorce rate in Massachusetts (where homosexual marriage is legal) is the LOWEST in the nation. If, as he claims, “Legalizing gay marriage undermines the basic unit structure of society,” then how would you explain that Georgia has a higher divorce rate than Massachusetts? I know it’s commonplace to mock “taxachusetts,” but if we are really concerned with the institution of marriage, could we all drop our state pride for just a moment and ask what might that state be doing that we are not, could we learn something from them, would we admit it if we could? Also, when you start a sentence with “No one questions,” how could you possibly know that? Just because you don’t question your own assertion doesn’t mean I don’t question it.

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I see our hometown columnist Terry Garlock made the big-city paper (and garnered national attention) with his so-called “conservative” case for gay marriage. Do you suppose Cynthia Tucker scouts The Citizen for new talent? Who will she scoop up next? Sallie Sattherthwaite? Father David Epps? You read them here first!

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I’m over at the Meet the Candidates forum Tuesday night sponsored by our Rotary Club, and I hear a candidate for probate judge say that there were 159 probate courts in Georgia and that he had worked in 158 of them. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Now let me tell you, the elasticity of my imagination is not sufficient for me to conceive of how, or why, any individual, including a lawyer, could possibly work in 158 probate courts, each in a different county, of Georgia. Is lack of gullibility a character flaw?

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It was sad that the young woman was already getting varicose veins on her leg. But when I got closer, I realized it was only a tattoo.

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The local NAACP is charging racial bias in the prosecution of Clyenthia Clark. Give me a break. Clark should have known better than to spank her child with a thick belt to the point where it left bruises. So what if the child has ADHD? Many people deal with that same issue. Does it give them the right to strip their child down to her underwear and beat her body? And isn’t it ironic that Clark hit her child as punishment for hitting another child? I wonder where the child learned that behavior? What makes this case even worse is that Clark works for DFACS, an organization that is supposed to protect children from mothers like Clark. Racial bias? Please. Should the color of her skin be blamed for her poor choice and actions? She should thank God she only received 10 years of probation and not a prison sentence or a sentence that included a beating with a thick belt until she was bruised. Don’t play the race card on this one, NAACP. Clark did it and, it appears, doesn’t think she did anything that was really wrong. Shame on the NAACP and shame on Clark.

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“Smart” car drivers may not be so smart. I saw a smart car being driven on Hwy. 54 this morning. The car had a local Realtor’s name painted all over it for advertising. The only problem was that the driver did not appear to be that smart. The driver was actually eating out of a bowl while driving through Peachtree City. Not sure that was such a smart idea.

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What has happened to customer service? I went to buy brake parts for my son’s truck at a dealership parts counter. When I went in there were three men seated there. One had hair longer than myself and appeared to be really interested in his computer; another was also paying attention to his computer and appeared to be spitting something into a bottle. All of a sudden the third guy took off some sort of ear piece, slammed it down and said, “These people are idiots,” and turned around and walked off. After about 10 minutes the spitter looked up and in a very non-caring mood asked how he could help. I felt intimidated to begin with, being a female, but proceeded to ask for what my son had written down for me. The man asked me a question, and when I told him I would have to call my son, seemed to become annoyed. At that time the one that walked to the back returned, mumbled something, and sat down. With this I just turned and left. Again, what has happened to customer service and wanting to help people out? I will not go back to buy parts and probably not buy a car or truck there either. It is a shame, because they have been in Fayetteville for a long time under different names, but this guy advertises how he wants to be the hometown dealer but treats people this way. I will not return.

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Please come see “The Music Man” presented by The Twilight Theater. It is directed by Dana Spears with Barbara Zellner (music director). Performances are July 11, 12, 18, and 19 at 8 p.m. and will be held at the Fredrick Brown, Jr. Amphitheater in Peachtree City. Go to www.thetwilighttheatre.com for more information. Hope to see you there.

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The United States is now a net importer of fruits and vegetables, and along with that comes the issues of food safety that we are now seeing with the tomato salmonella problem. The answer is two-fold. How about a backyard victory garden or buying locally grown produce? It’s not too late to plant sweet potatoes, so go online and order slips to plant or try sprouting sweet potato slips on your own. It’s a fun project to do with the kids this summer, and you’ll harvest a nice crop of sweet potatoes in time for Thanksgiving.

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With school out for the summer, it seems that more and more parents are using their golf cart as a means of entertainment for their underage children. We have seen children who could barely reach the pedals being allowed to drive on the city’s cart paths. Their clueless parents sit in the seat next to them, sometimes with younger children on the back seat of the cart in the hands of the underage driver. Parents, when you allow your children to drive your golf cart before the law legally allows, you are teaching them that the rules don’t apply to them and you are putting everyone in the cart and on the cart path at risk. Unfortunately, since there is only one police officer assigned to the cart paths, parents probably believe that they won’t be held accountable for their poor judgment. We’re going to start writing down the decal numbers of the carts that we see being operated by underage children and reporting them to the PTC police. It’s a start. Join us, won’t you?

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To the person who accidently left the Highgrove pool with my kid’s Crocs — royal blue, size 13 — please return them to the pool lost and found. This was almost two weeks ago. Our name is written inside the strap. Please make sure you don’t have two pair. Thank you.

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Several weeks ago on a Sunday morning, my husband and I went to Atlanta Bread Company for a quick breakfast. We gave our order, and to my dismay, discovered I had forgotten my wallet at home. I asked the server to cancel the order, and that we would be back later on. A lovely couple stepped up and told the server to prepare our order, and they picked up the tab. We were touched and overwhelmed by their kindness to two embarrassed strangers, and as they left they said, “God bless you.” If they are reading this, I want them to know I made a donation to our church’s food pantry ministry. It was truly a wonderful feeling for us to “pay it forward,” in that way, and I know God’s blessings will shine on them.

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Take the Teleprompter away from Barack Obama and he makes Dan Quayle look like a rocket scientist. Inhilator? Breathalizer? 57 states? Man, is this guy Obama stupid, or what?

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As a life-long resident of Georgia, I believe I’m about to speak for a majority of Georgians. There is possibly no greater revered U.S. Senator in this state’s history than Sam Nunn. However, it is troubling that Sen. Nunn is now Barack Obama’s foreign policy adviser. Even more shocking is that Sen. Nunn’s name is being cast about as Obama’s running mate. If Nunn were to have a moment of insanity and accept the nomination as Democratic VP, it would be a huge mistake. Everything he worked and stood for, namely as a moderate to conservative Democratic senator, would be instantly lost to his legacy. Why Nunn would want to be linked to Obama, rated the most liberal of all 100 U.S. senators, is perplexing. To be the “most liberal” is quite a dubious accomplishment when your peers include Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, Harry Reid, and Hillary Clinton, among others. Sen. Nunn, please consider carefully before you jump on the Obama socialist wagon. If you do and turn your back on your fellow Georgians, they will certainly do the same to you.

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Congress has brought heads of oil companies in for a very public tongue-lashing, including asking point-blank questions about how much salary they take home. One executive was asked why his company was charging $4 per gallon for gasoline, and his reply was, “Because we can.” Wall Street analysts have admitted that prices are being driven by wealthy investors who manipulate the stock market and not by what is actually happening. There are thousands of oil company executives who each take home enough money to provide a comfortable living for 50 ordinary American families. And they still want more.

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