When severe weather strikes, mere seconds could mean the difference between surviving a horrific tornado or heavy thunderstorm, emergency officials say, as Georgia this week recognizes Severe Weather Awareness Week Feb. 3-9.

The Fayette County Board of Education approved two elementary boundary maps on Dec. 17, 2007, one for the 2008-2009 school year with East Fayette remaining open as an elementary school and the other for the facility to be used for another purpose in 2009-2010.

The Youth Council serving Fayette County is inviting the public (youth and adults) to attend a forum to discuss future plans for a community/ teen center in Peachtree City. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 13, at Peachtree City Library at 6:30 p.m.

United Way Women’s Legacy is gearing up for the third annual Shoebox Project. Each year, individuals and companies throughout the metro area donate shoeboxes filled with toiletries to be given to homeless women and children in our community on Valentine’s Day. Last year more than 10,000 shoeboxes were collected and distributed to 48 homeless shelters across the 13-county region United Way serves. United Way in Coweta & Fayette Counties collected 325 shoeboxes from Coweta and Fayette last year. These shoeboxes were distributed to local women and children’s shelters, in addition to Coweta County DFACS.

Mercy for Life, a student pro-life organization at Our Lady of Mercy High School in Fairburn, took part in the annual Walk for Life in Washington, D.C., last week.

Emails, records indicate State Director Harvey pressured Fayette DFCS officials for favorable treatment of Fulton official arrested for child cruelty, tried to influence criminal probe, warned that local officials ‘will pay for what happened today’; Clark’s highly placed friends

During classes, there’s 1 locked bathroom for all 1,300 high school kids

If you attend Fayette County High School these days, you have to develop a strong bladder.

By the end of May, the last students to ever attend East Fayette Elementary School could be bidding the structure a farewell.

Tens of thousands of people took part last week in the annual “March for Life” rally marking the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision that ruled that a woman has a constitutional right to have an abortion.

Fayette voters hoping to avoid long lines on election day next Tuesday have a chance through this Friday to vote early in the presidential preference primary at any one of three locations in Fayette County.

Several minor exterior modifications to a downtown business approved Jan. 22 by Fayetteville Planning and Zoning Commission will soon result in a spruced-up look to By Invitation Only, located at 119 South Glynn St.

A decision by Fayetteville Planning and Zoning Commission Jan. 22 on the approval of a proposed retail development across from Ingles on Ga. Highway 92 Connector and south of the Summit Point shopping center was tabled until February over questions about subdividing a building housing a convenience store to accommodate two additional businesses under the same roof.

The Fayette County Board of Education Monday night got an earful from Timberlake parents who felt they got a raw deal with the proposed new boundary lines for elementary schools.

National School Counseling Week and 8th Grade Career Fair, a Natural Fit

The impact Fayette’s 65 school counselors have on the county’s educational program is evidenced through the high academic achievements, awards and honors earned by students throughout the school system.

Students with disabilities in grades 9-12, and their parents and educators, are invited to attend a workshop, Transition to Post-Secondary Options, on February 5 at McIntosh High from 7-9 p.m.

The following arrests were reported by local law enforcement agencies for the past week. All persons are considered innocent until proven guilty:

Virginia Galloway, Grassroots Coordinator with Americans for Prosperity, will be speaking at the Feb. 2 meeting of the Fayette Republican Party at 9 a.m. at the International House of Pancakes in Fayetteville.

Fayette voters hoping to avoid long lines on election day next Tuesday have a chance through Friday to vote early in the presidential preference primary at any one of three locations in Fayette County.

At Monday night’s NAACP forum on gang activity in Fayette County, not everyone was pleased with the get-tough attitude local officials are placing on gang activity.

It was a community forum sponsored by the Fayette County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) about how to deal with a reported increase in gang activity in Fayette.

Less than a month into its tenure, the new Tyrone town government is already doing things a little differently.

Town Clerk Valerie Caldwell confirmed Tuesday the Town Council will hold a special meeting this Thursday at 7 p.m.

Tim Lydell and Paul Van’t Hof are hoping to convince their fellow Peachtree City residents that the City Council should abandon Line Creek Drive and Line Creek Circle to make room for a “better” shopping center off Ga. Highway 54 West, next to Planterra Way.

Fayetteville City Council Jan. 17 approved a small increase in garbage pickup rates at the request of city contractor Waste Management.

The Fayette County School System has embarked on reworking its five-year facility plan that could ultimately lead to discovering the fate of East Fayette Elementary School.

Relief may soon be on the way for some very thirsty baseball and soccer fields in Peachtree City.

A proposal to irrigate those fields with treated sewage was approved unanimously by the City Council Thursday night. The fields at the city’s Baseball and Soccer Complex on Ga. Highway 74 South have remained dry since the state’s outdoor watering ban was enacted, but reclaimed wastewater is still allowed to be used for irrigation purposes.

State Rep. Matt Ramsey, R-Peachtree City, said last week that he supports a bill that forbids registered sex offenders from living, working or volunteering near any child care facility, church, school or other area where minors congregate.

The Fayetteville Police Department will host its second Citizens Police Academy and is currently seeking applicants for the free classes, which begin March 18.

Friends of Fayette County Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Pruitt are inviting the public to help support him at a fund-raising breakfast Saturday in Woolsey.

Piedmont Fayette Hospital is hosting a free Healthy Heart Fair Saturday, Feb. 2 to educated the community about the risks of heart disease.

The following arrests were reported by local law enforcement agencies for the past week. All persons are considered innocent until proven guilty: