Ah, the books saved for the occasion. CDs stacked in easy reach. The laptop sharing a bolstered bed with Webster and Bartlett in case the muse should strike, and the promises of catered dinners from about a dozen friends.

In our state judicial system, Fayette County is one of four counties forming the Griffin Judicial Circuit. Commissioner Eric Maxwell is reported as having recently publicly wondered if the time is not ripe for carving a Fayette Judicial Circuit out of the present Griffin Judicial Circuit.

He’s my “go to” guy. He’s the one when all other romantic dalliances nose dive, he’s there to hear the dismal stories and lend a sympathetic ear.

Three preachers were having lunch at the local diner, when one said, “You know, I’m having a lot of trouble with bats in the church attic. I’ve tried everything, but nothing seems to scare them off.”

DUBLIN, Ireland - Britain’s version of Elvis week reached its crescendo Friday with a memorial service marking the 10th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.

Last week, congressional Democrats vowed to investigate Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ firing of himself. Gonzales has said he was not involved in the discussions about his firing and that it was “performance-based,” but he couldn’t recall the specifics.

Three preachers were having lunch at the local diner, when one said, “You know, I’m having a lot of trouble with bats in the church attic. I’ve tried everything, but nothing seems to scare them off.”

Months ago, one of my closest and smartest friends, Georgia House Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter, told me he was committing to Mitt Romney for president. I told him I didn’t think Romney had a chance. Now I’m starting to think my former colleague and good buddy is graduating to political genius.

WASHINGTON — One day after Alberto Gonzales submitted his resignation as attorney general and two days before it was made public, White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten was on the phone Saturday feeling out who might be available as a replacement.

London’s Times Online recently reported that, according to Vatican sources, Pope Benedict XVI is working on his second encyclical, a doctrinal pronouncement that will condemn tax evasion as “socially unjust.” (See www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2237625.ece.)

No trade-offs?

A whole nation following the tragedy of a mine cave-in in Utah was struck by the further tragedy of another cave-in at the same mine, killing men who had gone underground to try to rescue the miners trapped there.

The dog days of August have drawn to a close. This is the calm before the gathering political storm.

On Sept. 15, the far-left group ANSWER (“Act Now to Stop War and End Racism”) will descend on the nation’s capital to demand what they’ve been demanding for the last six years in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks: immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan; immediate closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and immediate release of every last suspected al Qaeda operative in American custody; immediate impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney; and immediate capitulation to our enemies at home and abroad.

The most recent initiative of the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, is to change Venezuela’s time zone by one half-hour. Why? There is only one reasonable answer: to annoy the United States.

With the continuing stampede by the states of Michigan, South Carolina, Florida and whatever jurisdiction is next to fast-forward its own presidential primary dates to early January 2008, the nation risks losing a lot more than the reflective judgment of the voters in the traditional first-in-the-nation states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

There is something more than a little bizarre with the latest Washington feeding frenzy over Sen. Larry Craig.

Don’t get me wrong. I think what Sen. Craig did in the men’s bathroom in Minneapolis was gross and sleazy. But is it really worthy of the press attention it has received this week?

Is Elvira Arellano — the recently deported Mexican illegal alien — the new Rosa Parks?

Some of her supporters describe her this way. But Arellano’s credentials as a “role model,” to say the least, fall short. Indeed, even some “immigrant rights activists” find the comparison embarrassing.

There is something more than a little bizarre with the latest Washington feeding frenzy over Sen. Larry Craig.

Don’t get me wrong. I think what Sen. Craig did in the men’s bathroom in Minneapolis was gross and sleazy. But is it really worthy of the press attention it has received this week?

I do not like lightning, hot one little bit. Rumor was that an uncle of mine was struck by lightning when he was a kid. I cannot testify to the validity of the account but, from an early age, I was taught that lightning was downright deadly.

Umm-hmm. Yep. The Alberto Gonzales thing never was primarily about Alberto. Witness some of the edifying commentary that accompanies our first Hispanic attorney general on his way back to Texas.

“They’ll walk out to the bleachers, sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. ... The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: It’s a part of our past.”

Last week we had a little mishap with the car. Unfortunately, it was an incredibly expensive little mishap, one that caused us to call the insurance company to see if we were covered.

There is one more Jones family I want to mention before we move on to another series of families, and that is one I did quite some time ago when we did the stories about the families buried at Bethany Methodist Church in Fayette County. That would be Enoch George Jones and his family. He was the one who survived a load of buckshot pumped into him by his (second) wife one hot summer evening, lived to tell about it, and later divorced her. Several articles appeared in the Atlanta Constitution about the incident and were relayed to me by Deanne Barr, a descendant.

Anybody who knows me well could tell you that I’m a die-hard New York Jets fan. Some would even say I’m obsessed with the Jets.

Football is a sport with a proud tradition and with the rising popularity of websites dedicated to football at all levels, football video games and radio and television networks dedicated to yearround football coverage, the football fan has a wealth of information at their fingertips at all times.

Remember when you were a kid and your family decided it was time to buy a new car? You picked out a… oh, say, a Ford Falcon, ordered it in metallic blue, and waited for delivery.

Recent discussions by the City Council of Peachtree City and the board of directors for the Peachtree City Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) have taken place regarding an effort to provide sewer service to Tyrone.

“There’ll Always Be an England” - popular World War II song.

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND — Perhaps there will not always be an England. An exodus unprecedented in modern times, coupled with a record influx of foreigners, is threatening to erode the character of the land of William Shakespeare and overpowering monarchs, a land that served as the cradle for much of American thought, law and culture.

The man heard us talking and leaned over toward the little table at which we were sitting in the famed Polo Lounge of the Beverly Hills Hotel.

So Mother Teresa doubted! Wow. I found this out today while I was on the Internet. The woman whose faithfulness and dedication to God’s work inspired the world, no matter what the religion, had faith struggles. I don’t know why this surprised me so; everyone who seeks more than a cursory relationship with Christ has crises of faith. I guess it surprised me because she didn’t seem to be anything but an incredible woman of God and a tireless worker for his kingdom.

Residents of the only remaining area of unincorporated Fulton County will decide Sept. 18 whether to become the city of South Fulton or remain unincorporated. Either way, the vote will have an unprecedented bearing on their future, their families, their neighborhoods and communities. Like voters in Chattahoochee Hill Country who in June overwhelmingly approved their new city, voters in the new City of South Fulton area will hopefully do the same.