I read Jack Smith’s very long dissertation July 16 with a great deal of amusement and disdain. The title of his dissertation started with “The Truth, not speculation and conjecture.”

If Jack thought he would be sharing truths and not speculation and conjectures, he ended up way off the mark. His article was far from the truth. In fact, it was full of big fat lies from start to finish. It is unbelievable that any one man could tell so many lies at one time. It is obvious he has had a lot of practice.

He could not have been further from the truth when he accused me of being a resident of the state of Florida and being forced to resign my seat on the Fayette County Commission in 2001. Any fool in his right mind would have to know that was hog wash. Jack really stretched his imagination to come up with that one.

The real story is that like many other people in Fayette County, I have had a beach home in Florida for many years. Further, I plan to have a beach home in Florida for a long time yet to come. However, I have not been a resident of Florida since 1965 and 1966, when I lived in the Miami area for less than 18 months.

Had Mr. Smith really been interested in the truth, he would have checked voter registration records and homestead exemption status of my beach home. It is apparent that all Mr. Smith was interested in was a concoction of a big lie.

Mr. Smith referenced and reprinted a letter I wrote to the editor of the Port St. Joe (Fla.) Star in early 2006 concerning the Gulf County Board of Commissioners raising taxes by “148 percent” over a five-year period.

I wrote that letter as a taxpayer, not as a permanent resident. I believe that when I have to pay over $25,000 a year in Gulf County taxes, I have every right to be upset, even though I am not a permanent resident.

I will have to admit, the Gulf County Commissioners in their own way are akin to our Fayette County commissioners. They are narrowly focused and don’t give a flip about the taxpayers.

Like Paul Harvey always said, “Now for the rest of the story.”

In early 2006 I was responsible for forming a group of Gulf County taxpayers into a political action committee to attack this overtaxing problem. Because of bringing this overtaxing problem fully to light and organizing pressures to bear, the budget approved in the fall of 2006 by the Gulf County commissioners dropped instead of continuing to dramatically increase.

The PAC I formed in 2006 is still healthy, active and is keeping an eye on the work done by the Gulf County commissioners.

Now, back to my problems with the current Fayette County commissioners. While there are a number of issues, the biggest issues are the continued efforts to operate out of sight from the citizens of Fayette County.

First thing they did upon taking over the commission in January 2007, they started leaving very important issues off the meeting agendas. Then after the meetings start, one of the commissioners introduces the subject. Therefore the public doesn’t know anything about the issue being on the agenda and does not show up for the meeting.

They have slipped many things through this way and people are none the wiser.

Earlier in 2008, without the subject ever being discussed or voted on at a commission meeting, they stopped taking detailed minutes of their meetings. Clearly, the reason for stopping detailed minutes of meeting was so the citizens of Fayette County do not have minutes available to know who said and/or did what at commission meetings. They are able to get away without proper accountability.

I am in the process of organizing “Fayette Citizens for Open Government” (FayCOG PAC). This political action committee’s objective is to stay alert to the actions of the commissioners and bring to light all things the commissioners try to do with out the citizens of Fayette County knowing about it. We will do what we can to inform the citizens of Fayette County as we uncover questionable actions by the commissioners.

We believe that when the citizens of Fayette County are fully aware of the underhanded, secretive way the commissioners are conducting business, they will be outraged. We want the Fayette County commissioners to know “we will not fade away.” They will be held accountable for their actions, one way or the other.

That is not a threat, it is a promise. The citizens of Fayette County deserve an open and honest government. Our hope is that they will stop trying to operate in secret.

Harold Bost

Fayetteville, Ga.

[Bost, a 24-year resident of Fayette County, served as County Commission chairman in 1999 and 2000.]