I was not hauling a**. I had just let someone pass in front of her. I was almost at a complete stop. And you're right, it is DEFINITELY a manners issue.

It's racism, plain and simple. It's the race card. And yes, it happens all the time in Fayette. You would think that African-American families moving to Fayette would want to assimilate into the community. Not change personality or heritage or preferences. Just fit it. But no. I get treated the same way in the supermarket.

It is racism, and I have noticed the very same things for years and not only in Fayette County. They look at you like they hate you and they ALWAYS step out in front of the car and walk like the own the road. I know that pedestrians have the right-of -way, but this is ridiculous.

Okay folks, let's remember that most of the people you see in the Pavilion are not from Fayette. Walk through the parking lot and pay attention to the tags on the cars. Most of them are from the counties surrounding us and that is where most of the crime in Fayette is coming from. I know this first hand because I work in the court system in Fayette and I see most of the people that are arrested in the Pavilion are not from here. Let's also remember that not all of the black people in Fayette are that way. My husband is black and is a police officer here and he does not and never has acted that way towards anyone unless they've done it to him first and he refuses to allow our children to have that attitude as well. So, just be careful and remember they're not all from here and haven't been taught properly and are not all like that.

Bigotry is most likely the word that better describes this. Bigots are everywhere. I'm a bigot. I don't like being around people that are different than me. I don't like criminals, wife beaters, drunks, and left wing wackos. Racism is where you believe one race is superior than another. I guess I'm a racist too, because I believe some races have qualities that are superior to other races. Whether its mathematics, arts, athletics, etc., all races have better and lesser qualities than others. Same for the Sexes. Some women can bench press 300 pounds, but as a rule, men are physically stronger, while women have other qualities generally that make them "superior" to men.

What I really think is the difficulty in this and other situations is something dealing with Culture. I care not if your skin reflects light differently than mine. I do care that you do not care that your children do not get a good education or place importance on family, on their country and their coummunity.

I want to hang around people that don't throw trash out on the street after leaving McDonalds. Who don't raise their voices and laugh everytime a cuss word is said at the movie theatre, all the while they are talking on their cell phones. Who want to come to Fayette and enjoy our lifestyle but copying what we do, not by changing everything here that has made us so popular.

There is a cultural difference between Fayette and Clayton. That Culture can often follow the races, but it doesn't have to. I know many that I've described above in both categories that reflect light differently.

So if you want and like the current Fayette Culture, then come, participate and enjoy. But if you want to bring Riverdale or Jonesboro or any other culture here, then please, please take it somewhere else.

The Culture of respect, of kindness, of courtesy, of family and country is more important than if you speak another language or reflect light differently. The culture of indiscriminate sex, of fatherless children, of drugs, alcohol, and victimization is not what we need nor want in Fayette.

Seize the Day in Peachtree City

It is also a term often used in the Navy as an expression of goodwill, however, it seems that the acerbity in your rhetoric is to the contrary. You start off your comments by stating that "I don't like being around people that are different than me (I can hear those words being stated with a Gov. Wallace-type patois)", then go on to state that "I care not if your skin reflects light differently than mine". Newsflash, you are contradicting yourself. I was waiting for you to state the proverbial "I'm not a racist, some of my best friends live in Clayton…" but at least you admitted to being both a bigot and racist up front which is more than I can say about others here in Fayette County. Oh you attempt to hide your true "racist" thoughts behind a thinly veiled statement like cultural differences, but the truth is, it's people like you that sets us, as a society, back 25 years. I too have no tolerance for people with no apparent redeeming qualities or what I call all purpose idiots, but I do not pigeon-hole an entire race for the actions of a few and I do realize that I do not live in a bubble.

Realize that some of the offensive cultural characteristics you state are that of teenagers (throwing trash, indiscriminate sex, drugs, alcohol, talking during a movie, alcohol, on cell phone, etc.). I believe the correct terminology is generational difference. I’d like to proffer some other offensive characteristics: how about golf cart jacking (see the “4 PTC kids arrested for golf cart theft” article on this website) or the myopic view of city planners when it came to expansion. How are you going to exclude them out of Fayette County?

To All - Instead of concerning yourselves about what county tags are on the vehicles in a public, open place like the Pavilion or God forbid parked at the Avenue, maybe you all should start a blog addressing the issue of why the highly vaulted Fayette County schools are not as top ranked as you may have come to believe. In case you do not know what I am referring to: Only One Fayette County Schools made the Top 1,000 Public High Schools in U.S. according to Newsweek Magazine (Congrats to Starrs Mill at # 868). If you’d like more info, go to the following website link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7723397/site/newsweek/. The state of Georgia had a total of 24 schools listed. Most of the other 23 Georgia schools listed were prevalent in the North Metro Atlanta areas like Atlanta, Marietta, DeKalb, Duluth, Alpharetta, and Chamblee and all but 5 were ranked higher that Fayette County.

Also, in the 2005 Edition of the Georgia Public Policy Foundation Report Card for Parents, Georgia’s Highest-Ranking Schools included only one Fayette County elementary (Peebles), one middle (Rising Starr), and two high (Starrs Mill & Fayette County) in the top 15.

I bring all of this up to say that I chose to live in Fayette County based on a myriad of factors with the school system being number one. I’m just flummoxed by this and other information I’ve see that goes against all I’ve ever heard about Fayette County Schools. Someone please elucidate me on this perplexing issue so we can seize the day.

"the number of Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate tests taken by all students at a school in 2004 divided by the number of graduating seniors."

I ask, because I don't know. I realize it's ONE way to do it.

I saw that same report. I thought I remembered seeing McIntosh on there at something like #888.

But you are right. When we moved here nine years ago, the excellence of the Fayette schools was all that I heard.

Given the fact that Georgia schools in general have consistently been in a dead heat for last place, ranking high *within* the state is important.

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"Every time I'm in Georgia I eat a peach for peace."
--Duane Allman

Do you suppose that all the illegal students could have brought our schools down from what they once were? We have an opportunity to elect two new school board members this year. They us elect two that will get the job done and not just sit on their hands.

illegal students have brought Fayette co schools down. Most Illegal students are black, go figure,just the facts.
Back to the pedestrians, what in the worlds were 4 black kids doing walking in front of apple b's and eckerds at 12:30 at night this past sat night, and why was the cop across the street not doing anything about it. Hey buddy ever heard of a curfew. Thats how kids get into trouble, walking around town at 1 in the morning. Fayette, once a great place to live.