Two letters on this page take the cap off my own lengthy simmerings on these two related matters.

The first is a super-expensive solution to a limited problem: pedestrians crossing state highway intersections.

So here’s the January 2010 PTC Council lineup: The grizzled two-year veteran, Doug Sturbaum; the newly promoted two-year veteran Don Haddix as mayor; and three rookies — Vanessa Fleisch, Kim Learnard and Eric Imker.

Really, what drives her decision-making process?

In the few instances where Councilwoman Cyndi Plunkett actually owns up to her infamous support of selling city streets to enable a big-box developer to construct larger big boxes, she cites aesthetics — her personal notion of aesthetics, not anything in city planning or zoning documents.

Can you spell r-e-p-u-d-i-a-t-i-o-n?

That’s the resounding verdict of the voters of Peachtree City to the two incumbent City Council members running for another four-year term.

I eyeballed the whole slate of Peachtree City Council candidates at the recent forum at McIntosh High School and came away impressed with the strength and substance of the field.

Faced with the imminent expiration of their publicly funded slush fund for profligate governments, the Fayette County Commissioners convened an urgent gathering, inviting all mayors in Fayette to bring in their Santa Claus wish lists for a big “renewed” SPLOST.

Last Thursday, I emailed political position questions to all candidates in council races for Peachtree City, Fayetteville and Tyrone.

Deadline for email responses to questions is 5 p.m. this Wednesday, Oct. 14.

On healthcare, I’m just one of the ‘mob’

My laborious page-by-page reading and opining on the 1,000-plus-page House healthcare bill has been rendered moot by events and my slow reading pace.

It’s now obvious that HR3200 is dead on arrival and likely will never get to even a vote in the House of Representatives.

What happened?

Part 2 of the continuing horror

I’m reading the thousand-plus-page House healthcare act from the perspective of a small-business person running a business of under 20 employees.

I’ve downloaded the healthcare reform act known as HR 3200. I’ve read the first 170 pages of the 1,017-page bill (probably about 170 pages more than most members of Congress).

My initial impression: God save us from Democrats. Unlike many pieces of legislation, this bill is worse even than its opponents are depicting it.

On the issues facing Fayette: Where are the adults?

What should we think of local officials whose response to declining tax revenues is to seek higher tax rates?

[EDITOR'S NOTE: As of Thursday afternoon, the rezoning vote on Callula Hill has been postponed to mid-July.]

Once upon a time in Peachtree City’s history (like up to about 10 years ago), the volunteer Planning Commission served as the diligent, sometimes picky, but always faithful guardian of the city’s land use plan.

Scene: The Fayette County Commission goes behind closed doors for an executive session devoted to “personnel matters.”

On the last weekend before local high school graduations, a Fayette County elected official got caught doing what you might expect from a tiny minority of high school seniors: Toking while trucking.

Lauren Leak, a homeschool student, last week emailed me the following questions for her thesis:

“I just have a couple of questions about factors that are playing into the current death of the newspaper and where you see the future of journalism going:

[Editor’s note: A version of this column originally appeared in The Citizen in 1998.]

What if the mainstream media had been around approximately 1,976 years ago, this week after Passover? Return with me to sample today’s media coverage back then, courtesy of the Jerusalem Constitution and CNN (Centurion News Network) ...

This week, I’m printing the second part of a Fayette County resident’s prescriptions for cutting the school system’s budget.

The purpose of this column is to facilitate a detailed — but anonymous — critique of the Fayette County School System’s leadership.

The Peachtree City Council voted its customary split last Thursday in favor of further destroying the declining peace and tranquility of our “planned” community.

It's time for all of us to brace ourselves for some hard facts.

When you tell employees layoffs are inevitable, there is no joy for anybody.

Dear local government officials and public employees, I feel your pain.

The local economy has gone rotten, and tax revenues are far below what you’d ever thought you would experience.

Notes on the UNplanned nanny city:

Here they come again, those nameless, faceless bureaucrats out of the bowels of Peachtree City who are determined — even after past rebukes — that you will get a single trash pickup service forced onto you, and it will be the one the city picks.

Who and what I'm voting for

I can remember one other election since 1964 that has as much import as this year’s: 1980 and the seismic shift to a man of hope, Ronald Reagan.

Some of the bloggers/commenters on this site might find the following email exchange to be of interest, especially "sniffles5" and "Evil Elvis."

School system produces some paid checks, but no actual accounting

A few bloggers seem to miss the point of my earlier column: I received NO invoices detailing attorneys’ fees in my open records request.

“All government, of right, originates with the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole. Public officers are the trustees and servants of the people and are at all times amenable to them.” — (Constitution of Georgia of 1983, Article I, Section II, Paragraph I.)

Sheriff — Wayne Hannah

District attorney — Scott Ballard

County Commission — Peter Pfeifer, Greg Dunn and Bob Fuhrman

[A rebuttal letter follows this column.]

A Column of Opinion — I’ve voted Republican for a quarter century, but I’m wishing I had some choices other than loony Democrats and hardcore “looking out for number one” Libertarians.

Latest exhibit: Senate Bill 458. Here is where ideological theory got pounded by political reality.

And its aftermath demonstrates how our GOP leaders — including senators Ronnie Chance (R-Tyrone) and Mitch Seabaugh (R-Sharpsburg), who are hard at work covering their posteriors before elections later this year — just don’t get it.

Here’s a Christmas carol story.

My first job was playing Christmas carols. I was hired Dec. 15, 1959 at age 15 for a two-hour disk jockey slot on a little 250-watt AM station not far from the bluffs of the Chattahoochee River. My first official action was to cue up Percy Faith’s version of “The Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s “Messiah.”

Right in front of you, I’m going to wrestle with some conflicting political feelings.

First up is the runoff race next Tuesday with top vote-getter Mike King facing Doug Sturbaum for the Post 2 Peachtree Council seat.