For those of you concerned with the plan to consolidate trash collecting in PTC, let me put your minds at ease: We are a long way from socialism; your individual rights are intact, so relax. I realize you want the right to continue to pay more for your trash service with little or no recycling or green waste service, but this program will offer PTC residents more for less. The city is acting as an aggregate purchaser on your behalf, which gives it leverage to negotiate prices at or below your current rates, with recycling and green waste thrown in for FREE. For those of you that insist on spending hours doing your own recycling so you can pocket $6, keep going, Sparky! Good luck finding a place for all those glass bottles that nobody will take. Think long and hard about the amount of recyclable material that gets thrown out with the regular trash. By offering FREE recycling bins, doesn’t that encourage people to actually recycle and continue the “Green “ campaign? Math lesson for those of you that think three garbage company trucks is as hard on the streets as 1: One truck collecting trash on an entire street means one truck from point A to B. Three trucks collecting trash on an entire street cover the same point A to B, so three times the impact. DUH! Folks, the plan makes sense and is good for your pocketbook, the environment, and our streets. Spend more time and energy on truly worthwhile causes like “Keep PTC Beautiful” or helping those less fortunate through a local church or charity.

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Attention, nanny City Council: In light of your recent decision to mandate for us, the little people, which company to use for garbage removal, I would like to add the following for your further consideration. Please contact UPS, FedEx and DHL and require them to submit bids for local parcel delivery. As you know, we need to reduce wear and tear on city streets and also reduce fluid spills from the trucks. Please require bids from all of the plumbers, electricians, lawn care providers, painters and carpenters and sagely select the ones who are best for us, the little people. Please use the threat of legal action in order to keep us, the little people, from opting out and choosing another company. As you know, if we are allowed to opt out, the city would be using the same current free market system, and this, of course, will not be tolerated. While you’re at it, please create a new department. Let’s call it the Department of Nanny Services. Give them a white Crown Vic and a cell phone so that we can call when we, the little people, can no longer make any decisions for ourselves. By the way, I can’t decide between Dish Network and Comcast. Could you good folks mull this critical decision over at the next council meeting and let me know what you decide? Citizens of Nanny City, all of your elected city officials can be reached with a single email at council@peachtree-city.org.

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I am appalled by the revised efforts of the mayor and some members of the city council to resurrect the ill-advised idea to create a single company monopoly for garbage and trash pickup in PTC. I attended the council meeting a year or so ago when this subject was broached and can testify that the reaction of the citizenry was so against eliminating competition in this area that the matter was shelved, I thought, for good. Now, it seems that our mayor again wants to dictate what is best for the people of the city, no matter our reaction. I, for one, think that creating a garbage pickup monopoly is a terrible idea, and am absolutely against it. (We need competition — think Comcast). During the 25 years of living in Peachtree City, I have welcomed the opportunity to change garbage pickup companies, and have done so three times in order to get the best service at a reasonable price. Also, the argument that having only one company picking up trash will save our streets and reduce noise is weak at best. Adding to the mix that each household will be charged an automatic recycling fee monthly, no matter its desires, is an additional insult. If a monopoly were to pass, I would expect that when the first breakdown in service occurs, and you can rest assured that it will occur, that the people in each neighborhood where every driveway and tree lawn is fronted by trash receptacles for days at a time, that approval ratings for the mayor and council would likely approach single digits, similar to our current Congress. Mayor and council, please put to rest this idea which will lead to problems that do not currently exist. Instead, concentrate on fixing problems which everyone recognizes we already face. A prime example is the repair and maintenance of our cart paths. Check in front of PTC Elementary School along Wisdom Road and Riley Parkway where everyone drives on the grass to avoid these horrible sections of cart path. Running a city is a tough job. Don’t make the mistake of making it even harder.

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A year or year and a half ago I filled in at City Hall. There was madness about garbage pickup, hundreds of calls, from complaints to “I need the phone number.” Why can’t you lazy people pick up the phone and pay 50 cents or whatever the charge is now and call information? Hey, pick up your phone book and look up the number. The sad part is you can afford it rather than taking city employees away from their real jobs. I live in an apartment. The first year I paid a $4 fee for use of the dumpster (yes, I actually carried my bags to the dumpster). Second year I paid $4 fee for the dumpster and a MANDATORY $25 per month for the privilege of door to door pickup (might I mention the dumpster area is still an eyesore). I am one person and seldom have a day to day need for pickup. Third year I am paying the $4 and $25 for garbage plus now a MANDATORY $45 per month for cable. We always had no choice but Comcast for service, but now I do not have the right to have only basic for $20 monthly but MUST agree to $45 extended basic for I don’t know how many stations. My point? Get ready, citizens, I bet corporate (your city government) is about to stick it to you. Not IF but WHEN this happens, I hope all of your calls go straight to City Hall with questions and complaints. Don’t call the garbage company; call City Hall. Wonder which one of the officials may have some vested interest in the one they choose?

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Sorry to see the continued clear-cutting of Peachtree City continues unabated. The formerly beautiful area known as Stevens Tract on Ga. Highway 74 South is currently being destroyed in the name of progress. It being done to add more vacant store fronts to the growing inventory we have in town. Directly across the street, in the Wilshire shopping area, there are at least four or five vacant stores now. I also read today that a developer is proposing to build a child daycare center in this development. The 9,400-square-foot facility would be part of the Somerby of Peachtree City project, which includes assisted and independent living for senior citizens. A daycare center is just a super selling point to entice seniors to come live there, don’t you think? Planning Commission, before you do your Drive Time guy routine and rubber-stamp the daycare center, try to remember there are already three schools and a daycare facility within a half mile of this site. I can’t imagine what the traffic in the adjacent neighborhoods will look like with an addition like this. Look past how many trees and bushes they are going to plant and what the impact will be on your taxpayers.

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Good grief, enough! I understand that some readers may feel that our Board of Education has made some bad choices in the past regarding budget decisions. Of course they have. School systems are huge industries. Have you ever known a big corporation that had an excellent reputation, turned out a good product, employed thousands of people, was constantly under public scrutiny, and NEVER made a decision that wasn’t perfect? Wow! That would be pretty remarkable. Large companies occasionally make bad decisions and have to scramble to get things back on track again. They analyze what went wrong and come up with a solid plan. They don’t just let the company slide into a dysfunctional state and then moan about what a pathetic company they have. They go into “crisis mode” and figure out a way to make it work. But they can’t do that if the rest of the company grumbles and refuses to help. Yes, our “company” is having problems. Instead of pointing fingers, refusing to be flexible, and letting our school system slide into mediocrity, we should be asking how we can help them deal with the overwhelming problems they are facing. This is not the time to cripple our schools because of our irritation with school board members. Get things flowing smoothly again, then express displeasure when it is time to vote on members for the board. Did you vote when members were up for election recently? Very few people did. The SPLOST will not be a burden on anyone. We chose to live in Fayette County knowing the costs involved. Paying an extra 2 cents for a cheeseburger will not seriously affect our lifestyle. Losing teachers and programs in our schools will. Would paying private school tuition be more cost-effective? When prospective home buyers stop looking to Fayette County because the school ratings are slipping, will we be pleased that our homes have lost market appeal and we have to drastically lower the price? The added bonus of supporting a SPLOST is that every time someone from another area makes a purchase in Fayette County, they will be helping to pay for a superior education for our students.

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Let me get this straight. Local taxpayers are still paying for the 2004 bond. Plus we are already paying for a millage rate increase from 18.596 to 19.75, thanks to the board. Now, in addition, the Board of Education wants us to pay a SPLOST? If they had more competence, I could consider voting in favor of SPLOST. Unfortunately, this board has shown a pattern of lack of transparency, problems obeying open records laws, vague goals, undefined projects, and a history of spending taxpayer money building infrastructure, not to help Fayette County students, but to boost developers. Even though I have children in the Fayette County public school system, I will vote against Queen Janet and her blank check mentality, and I urge everyone to do the same.

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Our school system is riddled with waste. I will definitely not support the upcoming SPLOST. The FCBOE needs to trim the fat instead of relying on the taxpayers to pay for parapros that literally do nothing to further the education of our children. I see first-hand the parapros that sit in the high school classrooms to assist the students in need while the teacher is teaching a lesson. Most high school parapros do absolutely nothing but sit and observe. There is little or no interaction with the students under their watch. I am sure there is paperwork to be completed and meetings to be had, but a parapro assigned to these students is expected to assist them in the classroom to further their knowledge of a subject, not to read or use the computers for their personal use. This does not apply to all parapros but the majority of them on the high school level are being paid to babysit students. There are some very strong teachers that don’t rely on these parapros for assistance in their collaborative classes, but they are exceptions. Unfortunately, this is not the case on the elementary level. These parapros are totally hands on. Kindergarten and first grade parapros fill the role as an assistant teacher. They mirror the teacher and truly interact and assist in their learning. Do you see the problem? This is just one area of many that I see where the BOE could trim their budget. The BOE needs to observe these classrooms first-hand and see for themselves areas in which they can cut back and save. Say no to SPLOST.

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The FCBOE should carefully review their expense-saving measures to offset the state funding shortfall. I am shocked the BOE would even consider saving money by making the school system employees pay per month a portion of their insurance benefits to help offset the shortfall. As reported in the paper last week, the BOE’s three expense-saving ideas are raising the millage rate, requiring school system employees to pay a portion of their medical ($71 per month) and dental insurance ($22 per month) and implementing a 5 percent reduction in the operations budget. This is crazy that you would consider giving the school system employees a pay decrease. By requiring employees to pay a portion of their insurance benefits, this is another way of saying school system employees will receive a $1,116 per year reduction in your net paycheck. The school system employees have received a very low annual percentage pay increase over the last five years. The BOE would like to pass the SPLOST to help keep Fayette County as a top school system. The SPLOST would raise millions of dollars for the BOE with no BOE budget shortfalls. Do not implement a net pay decrease for our school system employees.

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FCBOE must be out of their minds as one week they claim they need money to survive and the next week they’re breaking ground on another unnecessary new school. As a previous article stated, spend all you have, raise taxes and when that’s gone, raise them again. Vote no on any school SPLOST and let them have to think for once. This is truly a slap in the face.

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Our school buses are extremely overcrowded this year. Our high school bus has three students to a seat and truthfully, only two behinds fit in each seat. My mom called the transportation department and they told her that our buses are 39-inch seats and that makes them a three-seater. When was the last time they measured a high school student’s behind? You would have to be 12 inches wide to safely sit three kids to a seat. Also we cannot bring our instruments on the bus unless they fit on our lap. With three to a seat, it’s impossible to bring your instrument. I’m sort of confused, because I read the news and hear the staff complain about parents who drive their kids to school and the long car rider lines. Now when parents are sending us on the bus, we don’t have room to safely sit or to bring our bookbags and instruments with us. I think the county needs to evaluate getting more school buses on the road.

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If the Fayette County School System wants to improve its financial situation, it could take a close look at the school lunch program. Eliminating the waste, pilferage, inefficiencies and nepotism would lead to considerable savings and to better meals for the students. The current system is broken. Maybe an efficiency expert from Chick-fil-A should volunteer to evaluate the overall operation. It is shocking to see what passes off as kitchen managers in charge of food preparations.

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The article about the new school zones in Wednesday’s Citizen quoted that the city will put up new signs. Some will even warn motorist BEFORE they enter the zone. What a brilliant idea. PTC is the only city that has “Begin School Zone” signs and about 50 yards later the sign with the time that the zone is in effect. Talk about a speed trap. Why don’t they put the flags on the signs up only during the hours that the school zone is in effect? I guess it might require them to pay a crossing guard an extra 10 minutes of pay to put the flags up and take them down twice a day. How about some solar-powered signs with flashing lights on them that can be turned on during school zone times?

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Kudos to [a high school] faculty for finally cracking down on the blatant and obvious bullying that goes on at that school. The punishment should have been more severe for the group that viciously attacked underclass members with posters not only posted at the school but around neighborhoods and shopping centers. One of the ringleaders of this latest bullying attack is [an extracurricular activity leader]. Coaches, what are you thinking? Is this truly the type of young adult we need as an example of leadership to head up a team? Many of us are tired of the coaches making excuses for their athletes that should be benched or dismissed from their sport for these sorts of actions. I thought playing sports was an earned privilege and that behavior on and off the field also mattered. When are our schools going to learn that we need to set examples for students, not make excuses?

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FCBOE should check on your sub/custodians because the custodians at the schools push all the workload off to them and take breaks or stay on their cell phones throughout the work shift. That would be wasting taxpayers’ dollars.

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I would like to comment to the person who thinks that the people in The Marks are lazy. I am going to assume that you do not have children of your own because usually people without children tend to have the most opinions on how to raise them. I really think that until you have your own children that you shouldn’t be giving out advice. And if you are only 26 and still living here in The Marks then you must still be living at home with Mommy and Daddy. So until you have really been out into the real world maybe you should just mind your own business. You do not know how everyone in this neighborhood lives their lives so you do not know if it is laziness or necessity that there kids are driven to school.

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It would be great if we thought it was safe for our kids to walk alone to school from a half mile away or to walk two streets down by themselves to the bus stop. Unfortunately, in this day and age, I cannot trust others enough to allow my elementary age child or middle school child to walk by themselves. But I am concerned about who is watching them and having other intentions, including nondescript 26-year-olds driving on the roads of my subdivision. And yes, I could walk to the elementary school with one, walk back home and get the other and walk back to the bus stop to wait with her, but I don’t. That would be called personal choice. Ninety percent of The Marks’ residents with Braelinn children drive their golf carts to pick up their kids and drop them off. Personally, I like the golf cart because it saves quite a bit of time in the morning and it’s a fun time with my kids. Most of those who are driving through The Marks to and from Braelinn live in different neighborhoods and don’t want to get stuck in the traffic on Robinson Road. If they do live in The Marks and are driving to school or waiting for the bus, it is usually because they are headed to work afterward. So, my 26-year-old neighbor, when you are responsible for children and their safety and well-being, I guess you can make that decision to let them walk the “less than a mile” to school by themselves. In the meantime, before you start generalizing and calling your neighborhood lazy, please get your facts straight.

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Did you ever stop to think that kids get plenty of exercise with the plethora of sports and after-school activities we have in PTC? If anything, children are overcommitted with sports and actually need some down time. Every child I know in this neighborhood is involved in a sport almost year-round. Do you pay attention to the children running around and riding their bikes around the neighborhood after school? Do you peek into backyards where children are outdoors playing? Do you go over to Braelinn pool in the summer to see The Marks kids playing and swimming all day? Do you know how many Marks kids participate in the running club at school every morning at 7:15 a.m.? My guess would be, likely not. Did you also know that we have several triathletes in our neighborhood? We have moms who cycle and also groups that walk around Lake Peachtree. I guess that doesn’t count because you don’t see it. My husband and I are healthy eaters and we exercise, but I don’t feel the necessity to have to walk to school at 7:15 a.m. with tired, worn-out kids. This is the year 2008 and safety is a concern, even when living in PTC. We are not immune to crime and predators watching our children. This IS a different time and when you are a parent you will understand. Lastly, if you didn’t know, this is PTC and we do use our golf carts. If you don’t like it, then live somewhere else. People like you should keep your opinions to yourself and find something better to do with your time. Maybe you should go to the gym and work off your frustrations.

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The Marks is one of the most active and friendly neighborhoods in Peachtree City. I have many, many friends who live in other areas of Peachtree City and they are constantly commenting about how wonderful our neighbors are and saying they wished they lived in The Marks. Do you realize we have block parties three or four times a year? We have an annual Halloween Parade (the kids walk all over the neighborhood) as well as neighborhood softball games. I’ve yet to see a Marks child that is anywhere near obese. As I am writing this, I see three children riding their bikes down my street and I can hear two playing very vigorously on our trampoline.

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To the 26-year-old who has a problem with The Marks neighborhood parents taking their kids to school on golf carts: When you are stuck in the house all day with a couple of little ones and want a 15-minute chat with your adult friends at the bus stop or the parking lot, then come talk to me. When you try to lead those little ones down the street with all the speeding traffic that cuts through on Marks Style from other neighborhoods (which could be a whole other Free Speech topic), then come talk to me. When your child is lugging a 60-pound backpack full of books and a musical instrument half their size and weight, then come talk to me about picking them up on the golf cart. Our healthy children are going straight to two hours of dance, football practice and running up and down the soccer field. Don’t talk to me about obesity problems and lack of exercise. We take care of our children, and it is none of your business how we get them to school. We are not blocking the roads or affecting you physically. Your offended sensibilities are not my problem. As a parent, as a rational human being, as a golf cart driver, I just have to say to you, grow up!

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I swear, Fayette County High School just gets more ridiculous each year. Last year, it was their inane locked bathroom policy. And this year, it’s the removal of the warning bells. What is the logic behind that? To me, it just makes matters worse. Everyone has to guess about when to get to class. This makes it especially difficult to go to your locker or to the restroom, because there’s no way to gauge how much time you have left. Now if there were clocks in the hallways, it wouldn’t be so bad. But there aren’t, so it’s very challenging to get to class on time. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if tardies have increased since last year. I cannot fathom why the administrators keep instigating these silly rules and policies. Do they really think they’re improving the school? They’re just making the school day even worse than it already is.

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Now that Grace Caldwell has bankrupted Tyrone, her next step will be to get the council to give up Tyrone’s charter so the town will no longer exist. It is all part of her master plan to keep minorities out of the town; if the town doesn’t exist, then it has no minority population (I know this doesn’t make any sense, but it’s “Grace logic”).

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When Grace Caldwell first took office in Tyrone, she was appalled that the town had no debt. Guess she fixed that.

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We fled DeKalb County in the mid 80s, then had to flee Clayton County in the early 90s, been in PTC ever since. Antenna is up again; where do we go now? Alaska? Europe? Area 51? There is only one way to stop this insurgency in its tracks: 24-hour CCTV surveillance of all commercial areas like Fayette Pavilion, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, The Avenue, McIntosh High School and Starr’s Mill parking lots, all major intersections in the county, cart path hot spots and gathering places. ”We are watching you.” This is the way it is done in most of Western Europe (especially in the U.K.). The second is stiffer penalties and a one-strike, you’re-out law. You commit any violent crime or felony offense in Fayette County and you are out of here for good, Jack. All penalties handed down need to be printed in the newspaper weekly so that the message is sent out load and clear to all would-be criminals that Fayette/PTC does not mess around. We can’t just sit back and let this happen to our fine community. We have been here for 15 years and I have never seen headlines like I have seen so far this year. We need to take action now before it is to late. Mr. Wingo’s community action group is a great place to start, so get involved and keep Fayette civilized.

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Love the Olympics! I especially like the women’s beach volleyball, along with the synchronized diving and the ping-pong. I’m hoping they will add ladies’ mud wrestling, synchronized pole vaulting and hopscotch to the list of events at the next games.

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It’s obvious that the Fayetteville Fire Department is proud of their trucks. They put them on display daily in the fire lane of our local grocery stores while they shop for their lunch/dinner. Boy, I wish I could designate my own parking. I thought the fire lane was for emergencies.

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Clayton Countians aren’t waiting around for the accreditation vote this week; they’re already moving into and attending Fayette County schools. The house across the street was rented out to two Mexican families, and all their vehicles have Clayton tags. Oh, joy, here they come.

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To the socialist/communist yammering about Walter E. Williams’ “A Nation of Thieves”: Let’s really put it all into perspective. Your welfare nation has been in place for the past 40 years and is recognized by everyone with a brain (i.e., not Libs) as a failure. All your class equalizing accomplishes is an entitlement class that never rises above its level. Only abolishing entitlements forces the entitled to make their own way and rise above their poverty levels. There’s only one race that insists on wallowing there and demanding ongoing accommodation and it isn’t Asians, Irish, Italians or whatever. Everything with you Libs is that it hasn’t been “fully financed” — let’s dump more money into programs that simply don’t work. The best example I can cite is the most expensive, least accomplished school system in the nation in Washington, D.C. And the list is endless. Listen up, Democrats/liberals/progressives/socialists/communists: It doesn’t work. Your class equalization stuff has never worked. And it isn’t because YOU weren’t in charge. We have the best standard of living in the world and we aren’t going to let you steal it from our children and grandchildren. The Obamanation can go back to stealing the good life from the citizens of Illinois; they seem to like it. But we don’t want it and aren’t going to stand for it. Finally, you should pack up your family and move to France — I’m sure you’d all like it there much better.

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In response to last week’s letter about the Red Room: If I want to go out and have sex with a barely legal woman, in front of a bunch of strangers, in the privacy of my own local pub, while snorting a bunch of cocaine, well, that is my natural right as an American. The people who run the Red Room are just honest people trying to run a stand-up business and I would appreciate it if people would just leave them alone. It is not their fault that a bunch of high and mighty Peachtree City people keep showing up there and getting disgusted by the drug-using, voyeuristic free spirits that patronize the Red Room.

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Think what you will about the Red Room, they have done nothing wrong. I have never heard anything but bad stories about that place. Thats why I don’t go there. If you think that the Red Room should be shut down, then do not go there. What last week’s writer wrote about the Red Room has been going on for years. Obviously, there is a market for this kind of sleazy activity in this town or the Red Room would have gone under a long tome ago.

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Friends and neighbors, the cart path system was not conceived to be a fast and direct way to get from Point A to Point B. That’s what our excellent system of streets and highways are for. If you need to get somewhere in a hurry, jump in your car. Or get yourself an electric vehicle that qualifies for street use. Or use your bicycle.

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As a resident of PTC with friends in Timberlake and Highgrove, the issues that Timberlake and Highgrove are working out are on good terms and has nothing to do with the sheriff stopping you for running a stop sign on a golf cart. Do you think carts are exempt from traffic laws? Pay attention to stop and don’t publish untrue facts as that only starts rumors. In my opinion, Timberlake ought to leave the path as is and realize that’s part of life, being a friendly neighbor. If they close the path, then PTC ought to close ours to them also. Everyone just needs to behave and respect other’s properties and we all get along just fine.

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Is it just me are all the major banks charging loan-sharking fees for every 20 cents you may accidently go over, then when THEY make a major mistake like putting $700 dollars of my money into another customer’s account, I can’t charge them a dime. Come on, people, start contacting your congressman to lean on these for-profit, lobbying monsters to bring down these fees to a more reasonable rate. By the way, I can manage my finances, thank you. If I had my way and I could get a direct deposit to my mattress, I would. If not, we can all sue for extortion.