Jo Landgren and Kenny Gailey help light symbolic torches moments before the “survivor’s walk” at the annual Relay for Life fund-raiser at the Fayette County Fairgrounds Friday night.

Talk about sticker shock.

Jaws fell slack last week during the County Commission’s budget hearings as Recreation Director Anita Godbee told the board it would take $10 million to finish all three phases of Kenwood Park in north Fayette.

The ink is barely dry on candidates’ qualifying checks, but the political fireworks are already sparking.

Kay Seabolt, who is running for the Post 5 seat on the Board of Education, has been asked to withdraw her application for the election. Seabolt said Marilyn Watts, chair of the Fayette County Board of Elections, contacted her last week and informed her she couldn’t run for the office because she was an employee of the school system.

Officials at Peachtree City’s First Baptist Church are being urged to locate their proposed community center on church-owned property at the corner of Willowbend Road and Hip Pocket Road to avoid disturbing the city’s Pebblepocket tennis courts and nearby greenspace.

An estimated 250,000 gallons of untreated sewage spilled into Line Creek Saturday morning because of a human error, said Larry Turner, General Manager of the Peachtree City Water and Sewer Authority.

After extensive budget discussions Monday morning, the Fayette County Commission voted to cut the budgets of four divisions of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department by a collective $35,397.

The troubled purchasing card that many Fayette County employees used to buy incidentals or to pay for travel expenses is a thing of the past.

Peachtree City’s new cart paths for the current fiscal year have been approved by the City Council.

Two of the path segments will link the northern end of Robinson Road to Ga. Highway 54, continuing on to the Peachtree East shopping center, where it will connect with the SteinMart store, said City Planner David Rast. The area along Hwy. 54 has been an unofficial cart path used by many residents even though it is unpaved.

A controversial figure in the dispute between the Fayette County Commission and the Sheriff’s Department is headed for big sky country.

The landscape at Fayetteville’s wastewater plant is changing by the day. What was solid ground with council members shoveling dirt at the groundbreaking only weeks ago at the First Manassas Mile facility has quickly become the beginnings of the plant’s third aerobic digester.

The Georgia Department of Transportation wants to realign Kingswood Drive and Hilo Road on Ga. Highway 92 south and install a traffic signal at the newly-configured intersection.

The Fayette Democratic Women will host their February breakfast meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 13, at Du-Roc Cafe in Fayetteville. Scott Holcomb, candidate for Georgia Secretary of State, will address the group.

This Saturday, May 13, country music groups from all over Georgia and many from Nashville will gather in Fayetteville to participate in a family style event in Johnny Cochran’s back yard to celebrate life as well as Cochran’s birthday.

The Metro Fayette Kiwanis again honored the most improved student in the county’s fifth grades. It has been a project of the club for over 10 years.

The Partners in Education committee named the 2006 Business Partners of the Year at a breakfast held by the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce May 5 at New Hope Baptist Church in Fayetteville.

The following arrests were reported by local police agencies for the past week. All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty.

By CAL BEVERLY
editor@TheCitizen.com

The Georgia Supreme Court today (May 8) handed the Fayette County Commission a setback and Fayette County Sheriff Randall Johnson a partial victory in a dispute over the status of the county marshals’ powers.

Following is the verbal order handed down Tuesday afternoon by Senior Superior Court Judge William H. Ison in the lawsuit between Fayette County Sheriff Randall Johnson and the Fayette County Board of Commissioners.

The Fayette County Sheriff’s Department will no longer have to go through the county government for purchasing items or conducting vehicle maintenance, Superior Court Judge William Isom ruled Tuesday afternoon.

After taking public criticism for illegal students from other counties attending Fayette County’s well-regarded school system, the county Board of Education is considering a tougher policy that would force offending parents to pay tuition.

The Fayette County Board of Education got its first glimpse Monday night of next year’s proposed $173.7 million budget.

This could be the last year for lovers of Fayette County’s annual Kiwanis Fair to explore the sights and sounds of the midway at the fairgrounds complex on Goza Road.

The Peachtree City Council will meet tonight with homeowners from the Planterra Ridge subdivision to discuss traffic problems in the neighborhood.

At dusk on Friday night, over 350 Fayette County cancer survivors will walk the first lap of Relay For Life at the Kiwanis Fair Complex in Fayetteville.

The Peachtree City Council will consider approving a master plan for cart path improvements for the coming two fiscal years at its meeting Thursday night.

Fayetteville Planning and Zoning commissioners April 25 voted to recommend approval of two rezoning requests that would add nearly 62,000 square feet of office and retail space along Ga. Highway 54 W. at Brandywine Road Extension and more than 57,000 square feet at Hwy. 54 and Grady Avenue, both on the city’s growing west side.

It is hard to know what to do and where to turn when your world is shattered and danger is all around. Unlike the community wide devastation from hurricanes, floods and tornados, individual lives sometimes shatter at the hands of others. And many times it is women who become the specific targets, women who suffer the consequences of a crime perpetrated on them. One such crime is sexual assault.

Fayetteville City Council and Planning and Zoning commissioners met April 28 to discuss wide ranging topics such as the many issues related to development and the status of public input to the city’s comprehensive Plan.

Carolyn Cary, who has been Fayette County’s official historian for 25 years, was feted at a dinner party Saturday evening thrown by the Friends of the Fayette County Library.

Pet owners wanting to send their dogs on vacation will have to find another option, after the Fayette County Commission Thursday decided not to revisit their ordinances concerning a kennel in an Agricultural-Residential zoning district.