Whether elected or not, this police director is a public official. The New York Times v Sullivan case was rather clear regarding this, as was Hustler Magazine v Falwell. Public officials are fair game. Sometimes people (e.g. skyspy on this site) go too far and do indeed come off as cowardly weasels who hide behind their keyboards while making utterly baseless, ignorant and despicable comments. These are people who are too afraid to speak their minds publicly or face-to-face with those of whom they speak. But the anonymity of a keyboard provides them the courage to speak up. The white sheets the Klan wore years ago have given way to keyboards and monitors today.

But however unfair and cowardly their comments are (again, see skyspy's history here), they are and should be protected. If you decide to hold public office, you must accept that you are going to lose certain legal protections average citizens have. Such is the price of power.

Hi Harold,
Do you think that if you tried a little bit harder you could come up with a better relationship comparison than the klan - blogger equation? I'm hopeful that you don't think all bloggers are klan members, do you?

about the only klan that got in the news lately was the "Bigfoot" klan that was reported to live in the North Georgia hills.
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Caution - The Surgeon General has determined that constant blogging is an addiction that can cause a sedentary life style.

that an elected politician would refer to us as "klanies".
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Caution - The Surgeon General has determined that constant blogging is an addiction that can cause a sedentary life style.

Geee squirrel...ooopsss I mean harold, sounds like I hurt your feelings.

Actually I have addressed our council via e-mail using my real name. Sadly it was not with compliments. I just use this to vent.

Yes, you are correct. I am Harold. I have been uncovered by your scalpel-like intellect.

I'm referring more to your obsessive, repetitive and utterly ignorant references to several of our city leaders and alcohol consumption. You do that from behind the keyboard, wrapped in your security blanket of anonymity and that's fine; it's quite your right even if it is cowardly. I will strongly wager that you, in your prolific efforts of communication with those leaders, do not identify yourself personally as the blowhard on the Citizen website who also accuses them of being near-death alcoholics. Or is that what you mean by "vent?"

So I'll make you an offer: let's meet up tonight at your favorite place, the Y-Knot and we'll introduce ourselves to those cirrhotic civic leaders. I will wait for you right outside the front door... say around 5pm?

Hope to see you there! And thanks for finally coming out from behind the mask

I have been to the smoky hole y-nots once. Never again. When my friends and I go out on a Friday or Saturday we go to Buckhead. Last night we started at Twist. Sorry to have missed you.

So if you commit a crime under an assumed name - even a great name like Dirk Diggler - you need to be charged with that crime.

Most people think that me calling Steve Brown some inappropriate names and focusing upon his immaturity and self-centered behavior is libelous. Well, his attorney and mine have both said no, it is not libel - or slander.

On the other hand, when Dirk or others actually commit libel, they should be identified and charged.

Steve Brown was a good mayor.

In spite of what Ruth says, Steve Brown was a good mayor and in retrospect almost everything he said turned out to be right despite the ridicule he took at the time.

Steve Brown was a good mayor and cared about the city and its citizens. The developers just did a good smear job and got Otis Campbell elected. They are the reason he was so quick to get the Tennis center paided off and is quickly going down the road to bankrupt our fair city. And I thought that one of the main talking points of his campaign was that he was an accountant that could make sure that our books were balanced. HA!

I agree!
Brown had us, the citizens, in mind with everything he did.
He was looking out for us, not the moneyed interests.

He wasn't liked by those interests for that reason. He also didn't fit into the social scheme of things.

You both are right.

When Steve Brown was Mayor PTC was one of the top 10 best places to live in the U.S.

With harold we didn't even make the top 100. We have dipped into the slush fund every year since he has taken office(some of it not his fault the tennis center and police station are "gifts" from bob lenox), we have more empty store fronts than buisnesses and the city basically looks like river-crimedale at every turn. The way we are going harold will suggest annexing clayton county next.

Steve Brown was a genius compared to harold.

off that mess at the Tennis Center and Harold couldn't wait to get in office and push it through. There are many who believe that is why he ran in the first place. The second difference is that I truly believe Steve Brown cares about Peachtree City and Harold Logsdon doesn't care about anything. Let's hope there are not still some people around who would vote for him again or that he would try to run again. He has all the good ole boys behind him but I don't know what is left for him to approve for them. Guess there is always room for one more unwanted shopping center, service station or big box store now that I think about it.

That is a good point. Steve Brown for all of his faults truly cared about this city and the people here. harold could care less, unless there is something in it for him.

I believe that hardly anyone cares more for PTC than Steve Brown, but he got/gets very misguided in his zeal to improve PTC. He made permanent enemies very fast and before he ever took office. Steve can(and did) have good ideas, but when you've gone out of your way to alienate people and really p*** them off continuously, it makes accomplishing anything almost impossible, even good ideas that have a lot of benefit.

I don't think Harold is corrupt or gaining any benefit at all from being Mayor...I just think he is pretty dumb and clueless. That goes triple for Steve Boone.

Without going into a rehash of the whole Steve Brown Experience that has been done to death, I just have to ask has the bar been lowered so much that because Logsdon is a bumbling, incompetent mayor, that somehow makes Brown a good mayor? They both were/are awful and violated the whole Boy Scout philosophy of "leave it better than you found it."

Logsdon on the whole is probably worse than Brown was, but that hardly would justify re-electing Brown. He proved he couldn't do the job in several respects and deserved the door. The fact he was replaced with an even worse mayor doesn't change that. Logsdon at the time at least gave the city a "chance" to move forward from the 4 years of BS that we didn't need 4 more of, and it so happens that Logsdon has failed miserably. It happens.

Got a couple of things that Brown was bad at?

I've posted enough about my feelings on Brown's mayoralship. I'm sure you can find plenty of posts by me using the search function concerning the subject.

I thought so!
Apparently you wanted us to pay off the Tennis Center.
You didn't want any developer hindered in any way.
And, you didn't like him personally.
No specific reason.

Somehow I see a lot more than just that, but whatever.

That is a good point. It's a shame.

All I wanted in Logsdon or whoever is/was mayor was to not screw things up. I wasn't hoping for a grand vision or elaborate plans to better the city. Just a do the small stuff well, try to entice some businesses into the industrial park, be good stewards of taxpayer money, preserve the features of PTC, etc. I guess that was expecting way too much. PTC is still far above a lot of places, but it isn't trending in the right direction at all these days. Logsdon is in way over his head.

I was talking with a guy from Fulton County gov who worked there when City Mgr. Bernie was also there and he described him as "a nice guy but not too smart." That fits Harold also and the combination isn't good for PTC.

How many were approved under the administration of Stevie Brown?

I think he approved the building in the former 3 dollar cafe area. I think he approved lexington circle townhomes.

The Kedron shopping center and walley and no-customer-service depot I think were approved by lenox as he was leaving.

I could be wrong, it's happened once or twice before.

I'm just saying for a Mayor who campaigned on his ability to balance the budget and restore PTC to it's pristine charm harold has failed us miserably. Like I said the illegal tennis center mess and the police station "gift" were left to the city by lenox.

The Brown clown hurt us more than any other elected official. Disrespect from County, State and even U.S. officials is not what PTC needs.
Good riddance