Thanks to the people next door to me for waiting until 9 p.m. at night to do yard work. It’s always nice to hear a grown women berate her son with F-bombs while my family is trying to enjoy a quiet evening. It’s also so refreshing to see the kids out of school walking around the neighborhood all day and night dropping F-bombs to each other, while yelling lyrics to rap songs. It’s always nice to listen to the kids today who spew slang around and could care less about the younger kids or families around them who don’t care to hear that language. Don’t dare ask them to watch their language for fear the parents will come down to your home ranting about how you dared to request they act like civilized human beings. Hey, one last thing: Pull your pants up!

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A special thanks to the eight young men on two golf carts who threw firecrackers at me and my three young children today while we were walking on the golf cart paths near Braelinn Village. It’s a sad day when you don’t feel safe in broad daylight is this city. ... Sigh.

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Amen to the Free Speech regarding the underage golf cart drivers in WoodCreek; can we please add Highgrove to that list? You know your children are not supposed to be driving your golf cart, so do your job as a parent and stop them from breaking the law. I am tired of explaining to my children why you think it is acceptable to break the law. You may have a very large seventh-grader, but you know how old they are and so does everyone else.

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Follow-up regarding people working at retail or as waiters/waitresses, or anyone who deals with the public: When you are greeting me, I am an obvious female of 69 years. I consider it an insult when you address me as, “Hi, guys.” How would you “guys” like to be addressed as “Hi, gals”? ‘Nuff said.

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To the person who offered the suggestion to young people who have the audacity to say, “No problem,” after being thanked, I think you are showing your stupidity in being upset with this response. There are many appropriate responses to a simple, “Thank you.” I quite frequently use “No problem” when being thanked. So does my boss, who isn’t young. “No problem” is simply saying, “It was not a problem, so no thank you was necessary.” Maybe they should say, “That’s not necessary,” in response to your thank you? I see you left off the better response of “You are welcome.” Should I get peeved when somebody says “thanks” to me? I mean, seriously, is it really that big of a deal? At least you are getting a respectable response from them. Would you get upset if you stepped on my shoe, then apologized and I said it’s all right? Or no big deal? Why be petty about this little choice in words? Not everybody speaks the same way.

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“No problem”? Serving customers or helping them find an item in your store should not be a problem. After all, many of your patrons are professionals who expect courteous treatment and good service because they have spent their entire lives affording the same to others. A “no problem” reply to a sincere “thank you” sounds like you don’t really want to be serving at all. It indicates that you have an attitude problem with authority and feel that playing a submissive role is beneath your dignity and not cool. It denotes that horrible “S” word, servitude. Are you angry at the world because your boss won’t let you wear your pants below your buttocks? Nobody wants to see your yellow, green and purple underwear because they recognize the burning message of rebellion churning in your gut that you are desperately trying to send to the whole world. Continue your indifferent behavior. That’s fine. I will quietly depart and spend my hard-earned dollars where I am shown respect and appreciated even if I have to search abroad. When your company fails and you wind up unemployed, on government support or working only low-paying jobs for the rest of your life, you will blame everybody but yourself. The rapidly increasing burden of entitlements and welfare partly resulting from this epidemic of slothfulness and rude mentality will soon overwhelm our tax base and bankrupt our nation. No more government pay-outs. “No problem!”

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To the Free Speech writer who called Commissioner Horgan a “drug addict”: If smoking a joint makes someone a drug addict, then this country is full of them, including Bill “I did not inhale” Clinton. Yes, he was wrong and owned up to it. So let the law run its course. I tried pot once in high school; didn’t like it; never did it again; and never smoked cigarettes. A misdemeanor doesn’t make someone a drug addict, so get over your high-and-mighty self.

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The other commissioners are guilty for remaining silent and not upholding our rules. Arwen, good letter. The other commissioners had plenty of time to talk to Mr. Horgan privately to encourage him to resign. The other commissioners could have then publicly voiced their support for county policies and for good government, and then publicly calling on Mr. Horgan to resign. Instead, they have remained silent. Perhaps they are too busy with Atlanta Regional Commission and new roads. Too many politicians are quick to pass more laws, more rules, more ethics regulations, but politicians won’t obey them and won’t enforce them. It seems to me that these commissioners and Horgan have higher priorities than the public good. I voted for some of them, and I am angry. If a county part-time bus driver, crossing guard, kitchen helper, phys ed teacher, deputy sheriff or maintenance worker was busted for marijuana, they would have been long gone by now.

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The picture on the front page of The Citizen showed a SMHS player sliding into home plate and being called out. I was sitting behind the plate, and you were safe. The ump was not in a position to make the call, as all he could see was your back and not the catcher’s mitt. The picture is clear that the catcher tagged you after you stopped your slide and you were across the plate. This doesn’t change the call. Hopefully it’ll confirm that you were “in there”! Great effort by both teams, great series and both teams are to be proud. I’ve been on both state winners and runner-ups. You’ll enjoy the memories at your class reunions.

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I have no clue who wrote about St. Gabriel and Father Karl in the May 27 issue. I do know that the person who wrote the letter was NOT attending Mass the day Father announced his future plans: to take some time off to think things out. He was very clear and precise relative to his plans. No person hearing his remarks would, in their right mind, pen such a letter suggesting anything to the contrary. I am also of the view it was extremely unkind and totally wrong to bring the archbishop into the picture. I am sure the archbishop has enough on his plate and would rather not go through the ordeal of finding a replacement that would be a good candidate, both spiritually and physically, that could pick up to the task of continuing the course that St. Gabriel has taken under the leadership of Father Karl. The only thing the person got right is that St. Gabriel’s is losing a good priest. Now on to the person who wrote the June 3 letter. That person missed the point of the May 27 letter completely. I am not privy as to why Father Karl was transferred to St. Gabriel. It very well could have been a financial decision. Lets face it: There were money problems. As I understand it, the the building committee, responsible for the construction the new church, managed to build a church that cost a great deal more than the $2 million the parishioners pledged for the construction of a new church. The debt service was out of control and someone had to get the house finances in order. Father Karl did it, and much more. In his announcement he made it clear, at least to me, he wanted to take some time off to think things over, but regardless of what he decided for his future, he no longer wanted to be a parish priest. I sure can’t blame him to making this decision. If raising over $2 million did not sap up a terrific amount of energy, the day to day dealing with some the parishioners of St. Gabriel’s would try the patience of a saint. I don’t see how he lasted as long as he did. The very idea of going to another parish and go through all of this again can be summed in one word: Ridiculous.

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Why is it that Coweta County Fire Department can continue to get more and more grants for new fire trucks, stations and equipment, when the only thing new Fayette County Fire Department gets is new administration cars and trucks? Sounds like their new chief is doing a great job.

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After six months of socialism and trillions of dollars in debt, our country and our economy continues to plummet. If we do not change Obama’s socialist path, we’ll reach a totalitarian destination. Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez admits that he and Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro, are more conservative than Obama. The Cairo speech: Obama basically rewarded Egypt for its bloody, anti-democratic, and dictatorial rule.