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 spaces. I thought the fire lane was for emergencies.

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Dear Mr. Mayor, just finished reading your monthly newsletter. How was your trip to China? I noticed you didn’t mention that. Must have been very important to the taxpayers of Peachtree City. I am sure you did all sorts of great things for our town while you were there. Also, I just wanted to congratulate you on your new business venture. I read your first investment has a mold problem. The police station also has a mold problem. Maybe you can get those contractors to take care of that for you. I bet they will do it cheap for you.

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When is the next mayoral election in PTC? I would vote for a sack of marbles over Mayor Harold.

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Well, it seems Mr. Logsdon is still out of touch. I just refinanced my home and the value is $9,000 less than when I purchased it one year ago. Your ignorance is amazing to say the least. Then, you go into business with the city manager. There is no conflict per the city attorney. Did the taxpayers foot the bill for that advice? I guess Code Enforcement and the Building Department do not fall under jurisdiction of either of these men. Code Enforcement can condemn the properties while the Building Department overlooks you needing to bring the property up to code to help you save money. No conflict there! Now it appears City Attorney Meeker should be fired along with our mayor and city manager. If you purchased property outside the city, you may have us on a technicality. Then you send us a letter regarding trash service. You say you have to make a decision regarding a franchise, yet your letter states you have made that decision. In case you have forgotten, it is not YOUR decision to make, Mr. Logsdon. We have spoken on this issue several times and I can assure you that any member that votes in favor of this franchise WILL be replaced. Listen to your constituents. They know more than you think.

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Unbelievable, Ms. Plunkett. Complain all you want regarding regarding the “tone” of the PTC council meetings. It is clear that rather than listening to what the citizens of PTC want, you complain and point the finger at the two who actually do represent the constituency of our fair city. The fact that you are complaining is a clear indication that Haddix is right on target. Your time at your post is coming to a close soon enough. I guess at that point you will finally get it and realize you were wrong all along. Take comfort in the fact you will have company: the three of you will be voted out. Keep up the great work, Haddix and Sturbaum; the citizens who care about our great city are behind you 100 percent.

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Boohoo! Just read what Cyndi Plunkett had to say about how the City Council is operating. I moved back to PTC about two and a half years ago. Then, Cyndi and Stuart Kourajian were constantly at odds with the mayor and his other two Yes votes, and how they were selling the city down the road to destruction. Now we elected two new members to the council to help Cyndi and her causes. But, lo and behold, she crossed over to the mayor’s side and votes with him and his other in-your-pocket vote. Stand strong, Don and Doug. We will elect you guys some help soon. Or maybe the mayor and city manager will be found to be the true slum lords of PTC.

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With change, you expect a certain level of uncertainty. With our new chief of police, “Skip,” it was an absolute change for the worst. The PTC leadership continues to demonstrate their lack of civic responsibility by bringing in outsiders completely unfamiliar with our community. Once praised for being one of the top pursuers of pedophiles, our new chief is “leading” the department in a direction that is more interested in generating revenue and flexing his department’s authority rather than maintaining the great culture of our city and being a community partner. The new direction not only defies the theory of “to serve and protect” but builds an air of arrogance and waste. As evident in the last arrest blotter, 45 percent of the arrests by the PTCPD were for DUI and as many charges as they can muster up versus the Fayetteville PD and sheriff who had more common-sense, community-related issues like drugs and career criminals. Not that I condone driving while drunk, but what an incredible waste of our tax dollars and police resources having “safety” or DUI check points on the golf cart path. Is that really stopping the criminal activity like graffiti and loitering on the paths? Is that stopping other criminal and drug activity in other parts of the city or reducing traffic incidents? I’d much rather see the quad runners patrolling the paths, preventing reckless driving and property destruction rather than burning gas sitting idle in a park along with two other cruisers and officers. Statistically, I would imagine the incidence of injury and death on the roadways are significantly higher than the incidence of injury or death on the cart paths. How can you catch people doing bad things sitting still on the cart path? The culture of our once great city is being killed and our tax dollars are being wasted through incompetence. I cannot wait for the next mayoral election.

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The real amphitheater problem: Since I moved to PTC four years ago from Orlando, Fla. I have seen a constant decline in the quality of bands that are being brought to The Fred. I must admit Chris Isaak was awesome and so was Trisha Yearwood; 38 Special was good, as well, and I really enjoyed Rick Springfield again. I am a season ticket holder and have been since I moved here, but end up putting ticket after ticket on the board at Kroger to try and sell, like a lot of people do. The problem with The Fred is the people who are managing it; it’s simple. The Fred is a very nice venue for concerts and other events. I could see it if we lived in Ohio or Michigan, but we are in Georgia. It should be used as a multi-use complex. To be used for only a total of 10 weekends a year for concerts is unreal. Someone needs to look around at what the other amphitheaters are doing and get on board, even if the city has to lease the venue out to someone that knows what they are doing and has the experience in the business. I can see cutting out one band playing two nights in a row, have two different acts on each night. I love music and I could very well see myself going to both nights if I like the bands. The Fred will continue losing money until someone that knows the business runs it. People, if The Fred wants to have Ultimate Fighting, let them, it should be a multi-use complex for everyone to use. Peachtree City needs to loosen up and let the mixed age group in the city enjoy life, and you should, too. One of the very best concerts I have ever seen at The Fred was Kool & the Gang several years ago. Not one person was sitting down. Look at who goes to the concerts, people that like to have fun, mostly young people or baby boomers (as I am one of those, age 55), so bring in bands to fit the needs of who attends the concerts. If things continue the way they are going now, the venue will continue losing money and in the end we the taxpayers will suffer as with a great venue like The Fred sitting there not being used and also cheating the citizens and folks from the surrounding area out of some really great entertainment which we need so badly in Peachtree City. So back to the problem: Look no further than who is running it.

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To the parents of the young woman driving golf cart #9529 on Monday, Sept. 22. Your daughter was driving very fast, and failed to look for traffic as she blew through an intersection today near Lake Peachtree. As she and her friends had the radio turned up loudly enough so as to be offensive to anyone in the area, she also failed to hear my golf cart approaching the intersection. You can be grateful that I spotted her in time to swerve, putting myself and my daughter in danger; yet I was able to avoid a collision. I spoke to her briefly, told her to slow down, and be careful. As I drove away, she yelled, “Oh, my gosh!” with her best teenaged disdain. I could just feel her eyes rolling as I heard it. I stopped my cart, went back, explained she had put five lives in danger, and had better slow down and turn the radio down. I added I would be in touch with her parents. Consider yourself notified. It’s past time to parent. Peachtree City Police, it is my opinion, but I believe a widely held one, that the citizens of our city have a right to safe passage on the paths, even when teenagers are going to and from school. What can be done to step up surveillance and enforcement? Any chance of increasing the minimum driving age?

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Twice now I have had cars to stop abruptly in front of me at the cart crossing at the bridge on McIntosh Trail to let golf carts cross the street. Since when are we supposed to stop on a busy street and let carts cross? This could cause a serious accident. Watch out for the little gray PT Cruiser with flames; they may stop in the road in front of you.

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How about a section to show and update the position and vote of each elected official. If I wanted to live in Jonesboro, I would have. Can we stop it or at least make it difficult? Wal-Mart and Home Depot, we can’t stop you from building, but you don’t get a traffic light. You don’t get a sewer or a new road either. In fact here is the tax on your proposed building: high enough to make you rape the land and clog up the streets somewhere else.

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Fayette County Development Authority wants a $5.1 million bond for a Goodwill Store. Need I remind them that my tax bill for this year was only $400 shy of being double of my tax bill for last year. Peachtree City was right to kick them to the curb last year. Now you still want us to fund a private entity? Have you looked at the tax burden for this year? I do not want any money going out unless it is being returned to the taxpayers. It is time to trim the fat. Are you listening? Now is the time to rise to the occasion again to stop this misappropriation of funds.

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Every morning, I witnessed a potential tragedy. At approximately 6:20 a.m, in the vicinity of Spyglass Hill and Fishers Bank, going southbound on Peachtree Parkway are two cyclists. They are riding side by side in the right line of traffic. Both have feeble helmet lights, only one has a working tail light. It’s usually still misty outside, and of course dark, and yet there they pedal, oblivious to the fact that those motorists behind them probably don’t even see them until the very last minute. What a recipe for a tragic accident.

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To the mothers driving their massive SUVs with the Booth stickers and Starr’s Mill Panther stickers, these don’t give you a reason to cut people off, speed and other acts of bad driving. The majority of these soccer moms are the worst drivers I’ve ever seen. Always on cell phones, car full of kids. Be more careful. I’m putting myself in harm’s way being anywhere around your vehicles and your kids really aren’t that safe either when you’re on your cell trying to do 55 on Ga. Highway 54 (when the speed limit is 45, thank you very much.) We need some driver reform around here.

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To the lady who’s worried about a playground at Inman Road Elementary School, be more worried about the people that work for the schools and the lunch help who are already underpaid and not getting their raise this year. With the economy the way it is today I would rather know the employees of the BOE (and I am not one) had a job and enough salary to buy food, than a playground that the kids will use for maybe 30 minutes a day. Your child will survive without a swing at school, but will that child be OK if Mommie loses her job?

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Why won’’t Mayor Don Rehwaldt enforce the sign ordinance in Tyrone? Does he have to wait for Grace to tell him everything?

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I have to drive down Hwy. 74 everyday to get to work in The Avenue. One afternoon as I was driving out of work, I heard a clicking in my tire. After stopping to check the problem out, I see a huge bolt the size of my fist jammed into my tire. No doubt all the construction on Hwy. 74 is to blame. I am very angry at this. We are paying for this road work and I get a bolt, a destroyed tire ( which literally exploded as I was driving home, leaving me on my rim) and now one of my brand new tires, which was around 100 bucks, is gone. I’m young, I work for a living and this definitely was upsetting. So can I ask the construction company working on this road work to please clean up their work? You’re already destroying the land and causing me an inconvenience. The least you could do was pick up after yourself. Is that so hard?

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Fellow citizens, the speed limit posted on McIntosh Trail is 35 mph. Not 40. Not 50. Definitely not 60. So please, take your little convertibles definitely going more than 50 and speed somewhere else. I live off this road. When someone is barreling behind me as I’m turning into Sandown subdivision, it doesn’t really make me feel that comfortable and safe. Not to mention pulling out of my neighborhood. I will see to it that this speeding stops. I’ve just totally had enough.

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Janet Smola and the importance of the election of 2008. The recent collapse of our financial markets is the reasons why we can no longer elect the tax-and-spend politicians like Janet Smola. I use Smola as the most recent example of many because she is the centerpiece of the FCBOE increase in property taxes, having taken the lead in raising the millage rate; and her supporters don’t want taxpayers to get the spending records. We are headed for years of very hard times because our politicians ignored the consequences of fiscal irresponsibility. This is true of local, state and federal officials. These big spenders are in effect criminals because they all will bear the responsibility of the losses and even deaths of the people they swore to protect in the hard times that are upon us. And it is not like they didn’t know or should have known, to quote the “law of negligence.” There were warnings from our founding fathers. Thomas Jefferson warned us “not to print paper money that had no asset backing.” Ben Franklin told us we had a democratic government of people’s representatives to lead us, “if we could keep it.” In the last 35 years, hundreds of books and articles have been written predicting the coming crash of our financial system from spending beyond our means. We must throw all incumbents out of office in November 2008. They all were negligent. They all knew what was coming; and if they didn’t, they were too uneducated on finance to have been elected to begin with. Let’s start with Janet Smola. In the midst of financial collapse, she personifies our problems by raising property taxes. Ninety million dollars being spent for Fayette education, which doesn’t even teach our children financial responsibility. Which do you chose, voters? The advice of Ben Franklin or the advice of Janet Smola?

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I heard that the school bus drivers may have to pay for their own insurance. This would be prohibitive for many of them as their salaries are quite low. We, in all likelihood, would lose many of our faithful and dedicated school bus drivers. I certainly hope that this doesn’t happen. There must be other ways to cut expenses. I know this cut would affect others, but not to the degree it would our bus drivers.

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Whether the students are “illegals” or from Clayton County, their residency should be checked.

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Are people just plain stupid or what? In spite of all the media information and pictures of people being blown up by using cell phones at gas pumps, they still do it. Every time I get in line behind someone (usually a female) I see them talking on their cell phone while pumping gas.

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I am here at work right now without enough gas to get home and have just called every station I can look up on the Internet within 15 miles of my work and no one has gasoline for my car. If you reside in the north Georgia area, this is not a new story for you. This is the insanity that Georgia citizens have had to deal with for more than a week and it seems like it’s getting worse, not better. While this story has dominated the local Atlanta news networks, I haven’t seen a peep of it on any of the national news networks. And why is that? One word: Obama. Anyone who can’t find gasoline right now has got to be saying to themselves that the idea of not drilling for more domestic oil and not building more refineries to increase our capacity is outright stupid. We run such a fine line in this country with our gasoline supply that the least little hiccup can paralyze us, and yet there is this stupidity out there that we shouldn’t increase our supplies and just hope that we come up with an alternative energy solution. I’ll go on to say that any politician that is against drilling for oil and building more refineries as I scramble to find gasoline for my car so I can get home is stupid and the national news media knows it. Therefore, the national media is going to make sure that the rest of the country doesn’t hear a word about our shortage here in Atlanta so that their anti-drilling candidate will be elected. Does change still sound good to you, because having to scramble from gas station to gas station is a big change from the norm? Hope you enjoy it and I hope you can find some gas. To rephrase Bill Clinton’s campaign slogan to fit today’s environment, it’s the gasoline, stupid.

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Listening to the news every day, one would think this is the first time in history that we had hurricanes and flooding in this country. I can remember back more than 60 years and I don’t remember one single year that we did not have the same thing that we are having now during the hurricane season. In 1968 I lived in Houston, Texas, and we had a hurricane that almost wiped Galveston off the map. It proceeded up the coast and totally demolished a gasoline refinery and huge storage facility in Beaumont, Texas. I woke up one morning and saw a man’s form from the shoulders up glide past my living room window as if he was on a motor bike. I jumped up and ran to the window only to see him moving along the row of houses in a motor boat. The entire city of Houston was under water. I distinctly remember that there was not one cent increase in the price of gasoline then or any other year until about three or four years ago. It’s a convenient excuse for fleecing the motoring public.

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Cheated again! You would think the oil companies would have more respect for the American people after Ike hit the Texas coast. But, no, they are more interested in making a profit for themselves and their stockholders. What next? An artificial shortage to get the price up to $5 to $6 a gallon? I’ll be glad when we no longer have to use oil-related products.

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Funneling more money to the greedy fat cats on Wall Street who caused the problem to begin with will certainly not solve our economic woes. The obvious solution would be to do away with CEOs completely and return to the tried and true method of a company president on a reasonable fixed salary. If the thousands of CEOs who are sucking billions of dollars out of our economy for their own personal use were done away with the cost of living in this country would drop by 50 percent.

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Wall Street on the verge of collapse. The United States of America owes money to China. Our air is filthier than ever, yet we have no incentives to put readily-available solar or wind technologies to use. Here at home, Georgia is closing state parks due to lack of funds. With no new water conservation measures in place whatsoever, our fair governor is sure he can help us reduce consumption by 10 percent, and he says it will only take 12 years. Peachtree City had no gas at the pumps last weekend. Sure, I’ll vote for an incumbent this Nov. 4. As soon as pigs fly.