Pair used Craigslist; busted in undercover sting in DeKalb Co.

The band and chorus directors at Whitewater High School resigned Thursday after school system officials learned of their earlier arrest in DeKalb County for soliciting prostitutes, a spokesperson confirmed.

Band Director Doug Dee and Chorus Director Kelly Butler face criminal charges for using the website Craigslist to meet up with whom they thought were two prostitutes but turned out to be undercover police officers, officials said.

It’s a whopper! 11-year-old Whitewater Middle School student Karman Smith may hold the local record for an oversized watermelon. Grown in his grandmother’s yard in Fayetteville, the hefty melon measured more than 25 inches in length and had a circumference of 43 inches. Photo/Ben Nelms.

Get email notice when offender moves within a mile of your home

Fayette residents now can sign up to receive an email alert any time a registered sex offender moves within a mile of their homes.

Mass innoculation site planned for ‘worst case scenario’ in pandemic

As the novel H1N1 “swine flu” virus continues to spread in Fayette County, government officials are at the ready should the scenario play out to significant proportions in coming weeks and months.

Capt. Pete Nelms, the county’s emergency management coordinator, briefed the Fayette County Commission on some of those plans last Wednesday.

A coalition of leaders from local police, fire and EMS departments have been meeting over several months with officials from the county’s public health department and the medical community to prepare a “worst case scenario” of what the county’s needs could be for any pandemic, Nelms said.

Assuming that voters in November approve a six-year extension of the 1 percent sales tax, there would be $5 million set aside for a university campus in Fayette County.

Food, fun and fabulous exhibitors are what you’ll find at the Find it in Fayette Community Expo on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 3-to-7 p.m. at New Hope Baptist Church in Fayetteville, says the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce. Admission to the general public is free.

It has been a while since each incumbent on the Fayetteville City Council had a challenger. But the times they are a changin’. Council members Walt White, Larry Dell and Paul Oddo will all face opposition in November.

The time to put up or shut up is over. And there are plenty of people who put up their money to qualify in Fayette County’s municipal races that will be decided in November.

While construction continues on the first phase of the West Fayetteville Bypass and planning in detail is ongoing for phase two, what will become of the third and final phase?

Fayette Senior Services will hold its first stakeholders partnership meetings Sept. 22 and again Oct. 1 to highlight the accomplishments and challenges to a community that is home to metro Atlanta’s third fastest growing senior population.

Local residents are encouraged to line the streets in downtown Fayetteville with flags and banners early Saturday, Sept. 19 as Honor Flight Fayette sends another group of World War II veterans on a free trip to visit the national WWII memorial in Washington, D.C.

Mike and C’s restaurants in Fayetteville and Peachtree City will be donating a portion of its proceeds on Monday nights to Herobox, a Tyrone non-profit that sends custom care packages to troops overseas.

(photo submitted by Norman Goss)

A Sunday afternoon fire at the Norman W. Paschall in Peachtree City resulted in no injuries to workers on duty or firefighters responding to the blaze.

It will be a different kind of Sept. 11 ceremony, one that its local organizers say centers on the need for a spiritual awakening in America. Supported by Covenant Presbyterian Church, the “Wake Up, America” prayer event will be held Friday at noon at the old courthouse in Fayetteville.

The Peachtree City/Tyrone edition of The Citizen is being delivered about six to eight hours later than usual this Saturday because of press problems at the printer.

The Citizen's products are printed at the Columbus (Ga.) Ledger-Enquirer, and the L-E press was malfunctioning for several hours Friday night, resulting in a later printing and delayed delivery.

We apologize for the inconvenience to our readers.

Flu joined by strep, allergies, other illnesses

While two Fayette schools — Huddleston elementary and Burch elementary — had an absentee rate pushing into 10 percent Friday, not all sick students are absent with the flu, school officials reported.

Fayetteville’s three city council races in November will be races indeed, while in Tyrone the political climate has calmed down compared to recent election cycles.

Regardless the words used by Senoia Councilman Jeff Fisher, the ethics committee formed to hear the complaint by Heritage Pointe subdivision resident Don Rehman decided Thursday night that there was no intention to cause harm.

President to address kids nationwide via TV Tuesday

A plan by President Barack Obama to address schoolchildren across the country Tuesday by television has upset some local parents, who then phoned and emailed the Fayette County public school system, officials said Friday.

A Sharpsburg man is celebrating a mega win. Wayne Reese, 54, matched all of the winning numbers in Tuesday's Mega Millions drawing and won a $12 million jackpot.

With property tax notices going out next week, your individual bill is likely to be $70 to $280 more than 2008

Perhaps you’ve missed the recent headlines about Georgia’s financial doldrums due to the economy.

There were no surprises when it came to the millage rate adopted Aug. 24 by the Fayette County Commission where the rate was kept at the current 5.4 mills.

Performing well on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is nothing new for Fayette County high school seniors, and this year was no exception. Georgia SAT scores are sliding but Fayette test scores for 2009 continued their upward climb. All but Fayette County High School scored well above the state average for public schools.

Unemployment in Fayette County continued to rise in July with an 8.9 percent rate recorded by Georgia Department of Labor. A similar situation applied to Peachtree City where, for the first time, the rate climbed above 8 percent.

If flu strikes a business’s work force, what is the company to do?

To answer that, Summit Healthcare companies sponsored a flu pandemic preparedness conference for businesses Aug. 26 at the Coweta County Fairgrounds that was attended by companies from Coweta and Fayette counties.

The Fayetteville City Council at the Sept. 3 meeting will consider extending the use of temporary business signs to help offset problems caused by the recession. The council will also hear the first reading of a proposed amendment to the alcohol permit ordinance.

The Fayette Samaritans is a non-profit organization dedi- cated to the food and clothing needs of Fayette Countians. Their needs for September are as follows:

The “Find it in Fayette!” Community Expo is coming up on September 15, 3-7 pm at New Hope Baptist Church in Fayetteville, GA.

Square Foot Ministry is in the final stages of completing the Fayette Counseling Center on Bradley Avenue and hopes to be completed before Christmas. The ministry has some specific needs and would like to ask the community for help with these. Paint, paint, paint... 90 gallons of primer and 90 gallons of flat wall paint. Primer can be in a light color or regular primer and flat wall paint can be any brand but needs to be a specific color which donors can call me about, said ministry representative Beth Barron.

Gun drawn, deputy nearly run over during chase through PTC, Fayette

One car run off road, another struck during pursuit

Citing "an ongoing criminal investigation," a spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has declined to provide details of a police chase that happened more than two days ago through Peachtree City and unincorporated Fayette County.

The spokesperson said ICE anticipates releasing details later this week but did confirm the pursuit was part of an ICE investigation.