The grand opening of A Fine Art Photo Gallery in Tyrone located at at 105 Glendalough Court recently had great attendance from the community.

The summer of annexation is not over yet. Annexations in unincorporated south Fulton continued Oct. 9 with Fairburn City Council voting to annex 855 acres on the city’s south side.

Fulton County School System has announced three rounds of community meetings in October, November, and December to address the redistricting process for a new elementary school and two middle schools under construction in South Fulton County.

Fairburn Business Association will feature Christian City President and CEO Robert Crutchfield at the Oct. 16 meeting. Crutchfield will speak about the concept of Christian City, the organizations progress throughout the years and its future plans. The meeting will be held at the Fairburn Annex building on Washington Street and will begin promptly at 6:30 PM.

The future of Tyrone starts next week.

To address the issues surrounding the town’s growth, The Town of Tyrone has begun the process of updating its Comprehensive Plan. This plan will serve as the official long-range policy for guiding future decisions concerning land use, zoning and public facilities for the Town of Tyrone. In preparing this Comprehensive Plan Update, the town is soliciting input from local residents, business owners and other community stakeholders.

Members of the Sandy Creek Color Guard perf

Chattahoochee Hills residents are gearing up for the run to the ballot box in June and the formation of their new city. A group of nearly 90 area residents met Oct. 3 at Rico Community Center to begin the full-fledged initiative.

U.S. Marine Lance Corporal James Chamroeun was laid to rest Friday with full military honors at Georgia National Cemetery in Canton. The Union City resident died in the line of duty in Iraq on Sept. 28.

Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the Sons of Union Veterans honored their ancestors at a grave marker dedication ceremony.

Union City will hold the 16th annual Fall Festival October 13, 14, and 15 at Shannon Mall. The three day event features fun, food, vending, parade and three days of non stop live entertainment, including a ‘battle of the bands’ competition. The city of Union City is partnering with Shannon Mall to host the three day festival.

It was all over in a heartbeat as the Palmetto City Council Oct. 2 approved the millage rate, holding steady at 4.5 mills.

Fairburn City Council Sept. 28 approved the conceptual site plan for a Chick-Fil-A restaurant, the city’s newest addition to the growing number of businesses along Ga. Highway 74 near I-85.

Democrat David Scott made good on his claim to stand by the residents of Fayette and Fulton counties Sept. 25 when he issued a letter to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen Johnson calling for the temporary closure of the Philip Services Corp. waste treatment plant on Ga. Highway 92 near Fairburn.

It was a glimpse into the future of regional transportation Oct. 3 as Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) hosted the Envision 6 Transportation Fair at Shannon Mall. For those weary of mounting traffic congestion in South Fulton and south metro Atlanta there is little end in sight since most of the solutions are years away.

South Fulton Concerned Citizens, Inc. has been silent since the process by cities began in late spring to annex large portions unincorporated South Fulton County. Now with nearly 10,000 acres of land annexed by the various cities, the group promoting the formation next year of the new City of South Fulton ended its silence by filing suit against the cities, asking that the annexations be nullified.

Tyrone Planning Commission Sept. 28 voted to deny a request by Scarbrough & Rolader Development to rezone 45.6 acres along the west side Ga. Highway 74 on the town’s north side from AR (Agricultural Residential) to M-1 (Light Manufacturing). Representative Bob Rolader said the company wanted to relocate its headquarters to Tyrone. He proposed establishing a masonry facade office building near the highway with a small number of industrial buildings for electrical and plumbing businesses toward the rear portion of the property.

He is a war hero and a quite the gentleman. Modest in terms of his qualification to be regarded with the status of a hero, Palmetto resident Lowell D. Chambers was awarded the French Legion of Honor Medal in a Sept. 21 ceremony at the French Consulate in Atlanta.

The City of Fairburn lost one of its most well known citizens Sept. 23 with the death of former city Councilman Roy Farr. He served on Fairburn City Council for 36 years, ending his tenure in 2005, and had retired from Green Oil Company.

Dionte Bradley got away with it, but only for a while. The 25 year-old Atlanta man wanted in connection with the Sept. 9 shooting of Palmetto resident Charles Shovell was arrested earlier this week on drug charges by DeKalb Police.

Antioch United Methodist Church will hold the Fall Festival Fundraiser on Oct. 21 from 9 AM until 2 PM. The event will feature a chili dog luncheon, fresh produce, bake sale and flea market.

The summer of annexation has run smoothly, until Wednesday at the Fulton County Commission. The board voted 5-1 to oppose current annexation efforts by some South Fulton cities after hearing complaints about some of the approaches being used to prompt residents of unincorporated South Fulton to be annexed into existing cities.

An Atlanta man is being sought in connection with the Sept. 9 shooting of Palmetto resident Charles Shovell at Genesis Gardens Apartments. Shovell is recovering after being shot several times in the upper abdomen with a .45 caliber handgun.

Recent discussions on Fairburn’s proposed $22.5 million city budget may conclude Sept. 25 at the upcoming council meeting. The proposed General Fund budget totals $6.413 million while the various enterprise budgets total $16.118 million. Taken together, the total budget package represents a $207,643 increase over the 2005-2006 budgets. The millage rate is proposed to decrease from 5.448 mills to 5.0 mills.

Family and friends of Brandy and Riley Ressis will hold a fundraiser for the young mother and her four year-old son Sept. 30 at Wayside Park adjacent to the Palmetto Community Center on Roosevelt Highway. The purpose of the fundraiser is to help defray mounting medical expenses resulting from the incurable diseases suffered by Brandy and Riley.

Union City Council Sept. 19 approved the bid process to improve the first five streets identified in the 2006 Street and Road Improvement Bond Series. Construction should begin in the next three months.

James Heath will soon be a Tyrone resident.

The Tyrone Town Council voted 4-1 Thursday night to approve Heath’s request to be annexed into the town. Councilman Gloria Furr opposed the move because she was not sure if Heath would provide environmental protection on Trickum Creek.

“It’s going to be one of the most important meetings we’ll ever have.”

That’s what Tyrone Town Manager Barry Amos told the town council Thursday night about the town’s visioning session set for Oct.12.

State and federal officials confirmed Friday that tests showed toxic chemical presence of hundreds of thousands of times the accepted upper safe exposure levels for humans might have been present in south Fulton County beginning in late spring and early summer.

The summer of annexation is coming to a close with the force of a few megatons. Palmetto, Union City and Fairburn are looking to end September with the addition of thousands of acres to their cities beyond the thousands already annexed.

Union City is poised to hold the first of two public meetings on the proposed Tax Allocation District (TAD) that will appear on the Nov. 7 ballot. Scheduled for Sept. 21 and Oct. 12, the meetings will highlight the city’s intent to redevelop the area around Shannon Mall and Ga. Highway 138.