Hey, everyone, look at the newest money-making project set up by Fayetteville Police Department. They are running stings in construction areas in the city. I was returning from Senior Center and saw two motorists who had been stopped. Further investigation from me confirmed the fact that there were no signs in this area warning of this. Also, there was no construction going at the time. Citizens, wake up and demand that their shenanigans be stopped.

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Attention, Nicole File: The election was over on Nov. 4. Your signs are still up all over the county. I thought that there was a law against such.

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Kudos to president Obama for keeping the election about politics and not skin color. Shame on him for condoning the racist remarks and lyrics heard during the prayers and music at his big party. If you want to change the world, take a stand, Mr. President. Be a leader and work to eliminate racism of all forms and not just white.

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It’s funny how everybody’s all for the free market, till someone tries to open up an adult store in their county. Now, lots of folks suddenly want the government to interfere, and even go so far as to pass laws about what people can and can’t sell for use in the bedroom, which shouldn’t be the county’s jurisdiction. Fastest flip-flop in the South!

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What has happened to professionalism and courtesy in the profession of public safety? As a fellow public safety officer, I cannot get over the unprofessionalism that the Fayette County 911 communications center has, as I listen to them on my scanner. While they have a duty to the community, they also have a duty to the officers and firefighters on the other end of the radio. Their attitude and sarcasm to the officers is ridiculous, and the laughing and smart remarks they make on the radio is embarrassing to the profession. As officers are out there stopping vehicles, and they call to advise a traffic stop, the dispatcher then tells them to stand by. That is a huge safety issue; they need to be paying attention to the officers and the radio, not reading a newspaper or a book. They have the ability to determine what takes priority; if they are on the phone or a 911 line as they always say, “Standby, 911,” they can determine the urgency of that call. They do not even have to tell the person on the phone to hold on, let the officer or firefighter give their information out so at least other officers and firefighters know their location and the dispatcher can go back and listen. Officers are constantly having to asses a situation, and when they activate their lights, they do not have time to sit on the side of the road waiting, and hoping nothing goes down before his/her dispatcher will answer his transmission. In the wake of all the Atlanta 911 errors it is just a matter of time before Fayette County experiences this situation, with the unprofessionalism and carelessness some of its employees exhibit. Dispatchers want to be considered part of public safety, and public safety is a brotherhood. I do not know anyone that treats their brother(s) like they treat the officers and firefighters. It is time for management to step up and start enforcing the professionalism.

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Senator Isakson tries to fix housing slump: Today I received an email from Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson, who has introduced in Congress his first Home Buyer Tax Credit Act, which will give sellers a $10,000 to $22,000 tax credit and will solve the housing crisis in one year. So he says. Isakson says a $2,000 tax credit solved a much worse market in 1974 in one year. In other words the credit ended the crisis by 1975. Johnny, I know you mean well, have 33 years of real estate experience and were president Of Northside Realty of Atlanta in 1974. But here’s why it did not work then and won’t work now. 1. The current recession is much wider, more serious and will last longer. 2. There was no bank liquidity problem in 1974. 3. The recession lasted from late 1973 into 1978. I know because I was a real estate broker during this period and gave up trying to sell my own home at the end of 1977. 4. I know, your bill is directed toward new home sales, but what about all banks’ foreclosed over-mortgaged resales. We didn’t have that problem in ‘74. 5. And unemployment was not as serious as today. So there were more qualified working buyers in the market in 1974. 6. I don’t remember a single sale that was consummated because the seller got a tax credit back then. 7. Your bill proposes a $10,000-$22,000 tax credit for the seller and applies that credit for a buyer down payment. This means a seller would not receive that much money at closing. What incentive is that to a seller, particularly if they needed the money to buy another home or to live on? 8. Housing prices were not declining in ‘74 as you said, because we were in a bad inflationary period. Remember the President Ford WIN buttons (Whip Inflation Now). I could go on about Carter’s election in 1976, 21 percent mortgage rates and real estate companies going out of business because they couldn’t sell homes, but I believe I’ve proved your tax credit won’t solve the crises. It’s OK with me if it passes, but don’t give the people false hope that the credit will solve the crisis in one year. The 1974 problem was a smaller over-built market that solved itself in four years. This one is going to take at least 10 years.

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Citizen Newspaper vs. Fayette Daily News. The main difference between the two newspapers is that the Fayette Daily News is pro-government and The Citizen represents the people. Fayette Editor Chuck Morley is too tied in with politicians. Morley is always ready to print articles in favor of politicians and biased against non-politicians. He even puts words in citizens’ mouths that they never said. Even worse, Morley leans toward liberal Republican politicians. One reason is his newspaper has all the lucrative government legal ad business. When writing, Morley does a poor job of verifying the facts; and his paper is deficient in covering news outside of Fayette government, Fayetteville and PTC. The Citizen, on the other hand, covers all areas of Fayette County and Editor Cal Beverly is not afraid to tell it like it is with government and politicians. Citizen reporters always verify facts and present a fair view of the news. Most important, The Citizen gives the disenfranchised taxpayers ample opportunity to speak out with its Free Speech section, blogs and political forums. The Citizen does investigative reporting, while the Fayette Daily restricts its reporters from printing anything adverse about government corruption. According to one of its reporters, the Fayette Daily misstates its circulation coverage, making advertisers think they’re getting more coverage than they do. If you want the news, go to The Citizen, it’s a real newspaper.

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Given the economic crisis in which Peachtree City finds itself, can someone please explain why the huge fans in the three-sided Kedron Fieldhouse are running in the middle of the winter with no one inside?

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Someone has decided to build their own BMX track in the woods directly behind the Kedron Fieldhouse. In doing so they’ve dug up huge amounts of dirt to build the jumps and ramps and have created an erosion problem in addition to all the trash they’ve left. What can we do to put an end to this?

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So the Kroger at Ga. Highway 54 and Peachtree Parkway is closing because of decreasing sales. Did they ever stop to think that the decrease might be because of their excessive, almost daily, increase in prices while the income of consumers is dropping constantly and people are losing jobs by the tens of thousands each day? I’m sure the larger stores are having decreased business too, but it doesn’t show as much because of their much larger sales volume. I for one have decreased my food budget since these insane increases started happening. If people look closely at what they buy, a large percentage of it is things they just “want” or “like” but are not necessary for good nourishment. I have cut those things out of my food budget and reduced the amount I spend each month by almost half. If everyone did the same, I am sure prices would start to come down. After all, gasoline prices have dropped by two-thirds. Why shouldn’t food prices do the same?

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I wonder what excuse the oil industry is giving for the rise in gasoline prices again. Up 40 cents per gallon in the last two weeks. Crude oil prices are still dropping and today a barrel was selling for $34. The lowest price in almost ten years. I guess the big shots of the oil industry have decided they don’t have to account to the public anymore because they own our government.

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From plantation to reservation: Isn’t it ironic, that the United States government fought to free African-American slaves from the plantations, and then fought to force all Native Americans to live on reservations?

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I see that Sun Dried Tomato has closed its doors. It was the classiest restaurant in Tyrone. I guess that it just didn’t fit in with the current town council’s vision for the future of Tyrone.

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Can daylight savings time just be moved up to tomorrow, puhleeeze?

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Who put the happy pills in the drinks of the pre-admissions staff at Piedmont Fayette Hospital? Smiling, overly helpful, courteous, fast AND efficient. Let’s bottle it and sell it so we can all enjoy it, OK?

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Where’s Jimmy Carter when you need him? Why isn’t he giving the owners of that peanut plant the devil for giving Georgia’s peanut industry a black eye? This is nuts!

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Quite frankly, I am tired of all of the fuss over the Cedarcroft golf cart path. The West family is no different than any other family living within the vicinity of a golf cart path in Peachtree City. I feel the West family’s pain, a little too closely. My house is within 10 feet of a path and I personally experience litter on regular basis, golf carts riding over my sodded yard daily, profanity from teens when I ask them to slow down, and the incidents of police involvement which I would rather not mention for fear of revealing my identity. Sad. I don’t dare spend the money on a fence because it would be vandalized most likely within a week. My neighbor, although one house down from the path, now parks his cars in the garage at night because, “It’s never been like this before.” He has lived in that house for 20 years. Is it only the West family that has to tolerate “speeding golf carts, some of which are blaring music?” Please. It’s not the 24-hour Walmart’s fault. This is going on all over the city. Others are just not getting the publicity that the West family is. I don’t blame the West family for buying a house “too close” to a golf cart path. How was I, the West family, or other buyers to know that golf carts in this city drive with reckless abandon, that the paths are pretty much unregulated, and that the teens in this city are largely unsupervised and have no respect for others’ property? If city officials eventually decide to eliminate the West family path in the Cedarcroft subdivision at taxpayers expense, then they can relocate the golf cart path within 10 feet of my house, too. In the meantime, I’m going to start a “Victims of the Peachtree City Golf Cart Paths” support group, and when the real estate market rebounds enough, I’m selling out of the 30269 zip code.

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Note to aluminum can collectors and DUI patrols: check out Old Greenville and Upper Woolsey Roads for the motherload of beer cans and drunk drivers.

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Want to save money in the Fayette County School system? Cut back on the number of games your athletes participate in and send those attending school from Clayton County back over the Flint River.

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I’m tired of hearing about how I should be respectful of the office of the president. Where were you for the last eight years? How respectful was the left then? I’m tired of how I’m a racist if I don’t support everything Obama. Where were you when President Bush was being called a Nazi? Here’s how much I support Obama: I support him as much as Code Pink supports our troops. I support him as much as Nancy Pelosi supports the Catholic Church’s teachings on life. I support him as much as Ted Kennedy supports renewable wind energy off the coast of his summer mansion. I support him as much as the National Education Association supports the rights of students and parents to get a quality education over the security of a teacher’s job. I support the holder of the office of the Presidency as strongly as the City Council of Berkeley supports members of the U.S. military. I support this entire government as strongly as this government supports the 2nd Amendment and the rights of the unborn. He’s NOT my president — I need to get some of those bumper stickers the left was so proud to display on their cars the past eight years. If dissent was so patriotic the past eight years, why isn’t it now?

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According to the news, the President is outraged at the Wall Street executives who are receiving huge bonuses out of the tax payers money that went for bailout of their companies that they were responsible for bankrupting in the first place. A bonus is supposed to be paid to employees who help their companies to show a profits, not catastrophic losses that require the working people to bail them out with their hard-earned money. What right do they have to a job and a salary, much less a bonus? These executives should have their salaries cut by 75 percent and bonuses should be outlawed. These vultures should be forced to give up their plush vacation homes and private jet planes in a half-dozen places around the world and live like ordinary people because that is all they are. Actually not even that, they are criminals who steal from the working people. In many countries of this world they would be put before a firing squad for profiteering off the working people. Every American who works for a living should be outraged and screaming their heads off at this unbelievable travesty. One of the big oil corporations just posted a $45 billion profit (I don’t care how intelligent you think you are; you don’t have the slightest idea of what a billion dollars is, much less $45 billion). All of that came out of ordinary working people’s paychecks and went into the pockets of these same executives. If that $45 billion were put into lowering gasoline prices for the poor working class, gasoline would be 50 cents per gallon and working people could buy food for their families again. When is this country going to stop stealing from the working class and giving it to the super rich who do nothing for the good of our country? I constantly hear the Republicans like Rush Limbaugh complaining that the Democrats want to redistribute the wealth by taking from the rich and giving it to the poor. Why not? The rich don’t earn it; they steal it from the poor working class to begin with.