What was long held a dream by many in the Chattahoochee Hill Country area of South Fulton County is poised to become reality. In keeping with the concept that would contain development within a small fraction of the 40,000-acre Hill Country, plans have been submitted to create the 2,000-acre Friendship Village at South Fulton Parkway and Rivertown Road. Far from being an enclave, Friendship Village is envisioned to be a full-spectrum community designed to melt into the rolling hills of south Fulton while maintaining nearly two-thirds of the community as greenspace.

Planning commissioner Ken Matthews, pictured left, accepts thanks for his tenure on the Planning Commission during Thursday’s Town council meeting.

To Jim Simpson it is a family matter that need not be disturbed. To the developers of South Fulton Crossing shopping center it is a way to accommodate emerging business while preserving an old family graveyard.

The debate over whether to form the new City of South Fulton or remain unincorporated continued Thursday at Emmaus Road Missionary Baptist Church on Flat Shoals Road. Members of a half-dozen homeowners associations listened as Fulton County Commissioner Bill Edwards and South Fulton Concerned Citizens representative Benny Crane presented opposing views to the issue facing voters in June.

Chattahoochee Hill Country Conservancy has a new executive director. And Christine McCauley brings with her a passion for stewardship of the land and a desire to conserve the rural character of the 40,000-acre Chatt Hills area envisioned by residents and the organization.

Residents of Chattahoochee Hill Country are invited to attend the “Future City of Chattahoochee Hills” town hall meeting Jan.

Tyrone hopes to capitalize on its Irish heritage this spring as the town gets ready to stage its first St. Patrick’s Day festival.

The Sandy Creek Band strutted their stuff during last weekend’s Martin Luther King Jr.

After months of discussion, Legacy Theater in Tyrone may soon have a marquee sign that will remind residents of the old-fashioned movie palaces.

Initial plans for Friendship Village, the first of three proposed villages in Chattahoochee Hill Country, have been submitted to Georgia Dept. of Community Affairs. Plans call for developing 5,981 residential units, nearly a million square feet of retail and office space and 96,500 square feet of civic and institutional use on 1,997.6 acres.

Twelve- year-old Senoia resident Sara McFall dusts for fingerprints at Union City Police Department’s Crime Scene Unit lab.

History has been made again. For the second consecutive year, a Fayette educator has been named a finalist for 2008 Georgia Teacher of the Year.

In some people’s minds it was only a matter of time. In the minds of others, it will never happen. House Resolution 12 introduced Jan. 9 by Alpharetta Rep. Jan Jones calls for the break-up of Fulton County that could result in the re-creation of Milton County on the north side and, presumably, Campbell County on the south side.

It was a look to the future Thursday as South Fulton Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Leslie Hamrick provided a glimpse of the organization’s plans at the Annual Meeting and Luncheon at Georgia International Convention Center.

The price of copper is up and thieves wanting to make an easy buck are cashing in. But police investigating the thefts are making headway with catching those wanting a quick profit on the shiny metal.

State Sen. Ronnie Chance (R-Tyrone) has been appointed Chairman of the newly created Senate Government Oversight Committee by Lt. Governor Casey Cagle. The Senate Government Oversight Committee is the newest standing committee in the body, which will be responsible for holding hearings, if necessary, on issues of concern within the state government. He also will continue serving as secretary of the Senate Finance Committee.

Last year, residents of Tyrone saw their small town move into the big leagues as new restaurants and a performing arts center moved into town.

Palmetto police are seeking an Alabama man in connection with a New Year’s Day kidnapping of a woman from her residence on Anna Avenue. The woman was released unharmed after being held at gunpoint for several hours on a journey that went from Palmetto to Alabama and to Atlanta.

Sandy Creek’s Drew Gunnin gets the upper hand in his match with his opponent from McIntosh High School.

It was an occasion for Fulton County residents to express their thoughts to the elected officials who represent them under the Gold Dome. But by the end of the Jan. 3 meeting at Atlanta’s Central Presbyterian Church, Fulton County legislators had received a diplomatic but determined earful from south Fulton residents who comprised the majority of those attending.

Plans to develop 230 townhouse units on 50 acres at Oakley Road and Mall Boulevard came on step closer to reality Dec. 19 when Union City council members gave approval to a rezoning request to transition the area from General Commercial to Town Center Multi-family zoning.

It was a little piece of history Dec. 22 when Chattahoochee Hill Country residents Melissa Monk and Sean Ihndris became the second property owners to participate in a process that will help preserve the area’s rural nature while financially benefitting from that decision.

An artist’s rendering shows plans for the proposed Neighborhood Community Bank on the southwest side of Carriage Oaks Drive and Ga.

A request to amend Tyrone’s Land Use Map and rezone eight acres on Jenkins Road near Flat Rock Middle School for construction of several homes succeeded with a unanimous vote Dec. 28 by the town’s Planning Commission. The vote came with opposition by neighbor Charles Bagwell who believed construction of several homes would be an improper use of the property.

Sasha Alter, 5, of Tyrone, winds up as she chucked food to the geese and ducks that call Lake Peachtree home Wednesday afternoon.

Tyrone police are working to identify the person who held up the Subway restaurant at knifepoint Wednesday night, getting away with several hundred dollars in cash.

Fairburn Police are seeking an armed gunman in the Dec. 19 robbery at the Bank of Georgia on Ga. Highway 74 and Milam Road.

Fairburn Det. Ben Pace said a man wearing a black jacket, dark pants and an orange toboggan entered the bank’s front entrance at approximately 11:27 a.m. The man was described as a white male with dirty blond hair in his late 20s to mid-30s, 5’5”-5’8” in height and weighing 120-140 pounds, Pace said.

A deal that has been in the works for more than five years came to fruition Monday night as the Fayette County Board of Education decided to get out of the sewage treatment business.

Michael Plott continues his annual festiv

Visitors approaching Tyrone on Ga. Highway 74 will soon see new offices sprouting up on the busy corridor.

The Tyrone Town Council Thursday night approved a 45 acre rezoning for a tract on Ga. Highway 74. The tract is the first property in Tyrone approaching the town from Fairburn on Hwy.74.