Fayette CARE Clinic, which provides free medical and dental care to uninsured local residents, has seen a surge in demand for its services with the weakening economy.

Seven former Fayette County commissioners are formally asking sitting commissioner Robert Horgan to step down from his post in light of his May 23 arrest for misdemeanor possession of marijuana and driving with an expired tag.

Fayette County officials are planning to avoid a property tax increase this year by reducing the millage rate to counterbalance any increased home reassessments.

Members of the Fayette County School Board are expected to take a final vote on the school system’s $185 million budget at a called meeting June 30. The budget includes a reserve “contingency” fund of less than 1 percent.

A Fayetteville woman was charged Monday with cruelty to children, child neglect and contributing to the delinquency of a minor after leaving her 10-year-old daughter at home in charge of her 1-year-old son.

Ga. Banking Department closes Southern Community Bank; branches reopen as United Community Bank; depositors said to be fully protected from losses

Fayetteville-based Southern Community Bank joined the growing list of failed banks in Georgia and the U.S. when a state agency — the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance — swooped in Friday and closed it down. It’s the first bank failure in Fayette County in modern times.

The SCB branches were picked up by another bank operating locally — United Community Banks with current branch locations in Fayetteville, Peachtree City, Newnan, Tyrone, Union City, Fairburn, Palmetto, Stockbridge and McDonough.

Council vote on rezoning industrial park for 80 homes, event center close to airport safety area postponed to July 16

OPINION column: With Callula Hill, unplanning reaches its apex

The applicant for the Callula Hill rezoning application requested that the item be pulled from the Thursday night Peachtree City Council agenda and tabled for further discussion, according to Betsy Tyler, the city’s public information officer and city clerk.

Although no date was given for reconsideration, the next regular meeting will be on Thursday, July 16 (the July 2 meeting has been cancelled). As always, the agenda packet will be available on the city website on the Friday prior to the meeting (July 10).

Fayetteville Police are searching for three or four men said to have been involved in firing shots at a vehicle in downtown Fayetteville in the early morning hours.

Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) announced it will locate a proposed cancer treatment hospital in Newnan serving patients from across the Southeast. The company will create 500 jobs and invest $150 million over the first five years of operation.

Saturday will mark the return of a wounded warrior and real-life hero. The afternoon of June 20 will be a special day for U.S. Army Sgt. David Battle and his family. And Fayette County residents are invited to share in the occasion and line the streets as the family receives a homecoming motorcade escort by the Patriot Guard Riders of Georgia and multiple law enforcement agencies to their home in Clayton County just outside Fayetteville.

Special to The Citizen

What degree is in the highest demand among citizens of Fayette County? Although it’s matter of more than just strictly supply and demand, Clayton State University-Fayette is going to start supplying a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in 2010.

Special to The Citizen

A team of student inventors from Whitewater High School — one of only 16 high schools nationwide selected to receive a Lemelson-MIT InvenTeams grant in the 2008-2009 school year — recently completed its solar dehydrator and dehumidifier.

The Georgia Supreme Court has overturned a Fayette judge’s divorce ruling that a gay father be forbidden from having visitation with his children in the company of gay or lesbian friends.

A lively group of former Fayette County High School graduates met for a combined reunion and birthday lunch for classmate Weyman Newton Monday at the Broadway Diner in Fayetteville.

What makes the group special is that they graduated in 1936.

The tentative FY 2010 Fayette County School System budget of $185.5 million was approved Monday night on a 3-2 vote.

Board members Lee Wright, Janet Smola and Terri Smith voted in favor of the budget.

Despite some apprehension from several Fayette County Commissioners, the conceptual alignment for the second phase of the West Fayetteville Bypass was approved unanimously Oct. 11.

Lake McIntosh, a new reservoir long planned for the Fayette County Water System, may go out to bid within two months.

Budget time is just around the corner in Fayetteville. The proposed general fund budget for fiscal year 2010 beginning Aug. 1 totals $10,056,727, a 2.67 percent decrease from last year’s budget of $10.325 million.

Lunches at Fayette County public schools will increase by 5 cents beginning in August. Prices on reduced-price meals and breakfasts will remain unchanged.

The Fayette County Board of Education last week adopted a resolution that provides for the public offering of the school system’s 1999 bond for which nearly $25 million is owed. The action was required prior to the June 11 county commission meeting. The decision to go public came after the banks that had been approached had strings attached to their refinancing proposals.

Twenty-three-year-old Fayetteville resident Randy Dale Hubbard was charged with aggravated assault and criminal damage to property June 13 in a road rage incident at Gingercake Road and Hood Avenue.

In addition to being asked to resign by a fellow Fayette County commissioner, Robert Horgan now has had an official ethics complaint filed against him following his May 23 arrest for misdemeanor possession of marijuana and driving with an expired tag.

A 10-year-old Fayette County boy died early Sunday morning after he was shot in the head the day before by his 12-year-old brother, sheriff’s deputies said.

Fayette County residents can go back to their regular odd-even outdoor watering ways now that all drought watering restrictions have been lifted for Georgia.

Critics complain road won't accomplish goal ... but will hurt environment

Despite some trepidation from several commissioners, the conceptual alignment for the second phase of the West Fayetteville Bypass was approved unanimously Thursday night.

Fayette County Commissioner Robert Horgan has been asked to resign by one of his fellow commissioners in the wake of his May 23 arrest for misdemeanor marijuana possession and driving with an expired tag.

In a letter provided to The Citizen this evening, commissioner Eric K. Maxwell (pictured at right) indicated that he has asked Horgan to resign. Maxwell noted that his conclusion is shared by an “overwhelming” amount of dozens of Fayette residents and a number of county commissioners from around the state.

Staff Sgt. John Beale of McDonough, who died in Afghanistan and was returned to his home soil this afternoon, got a hero's welcome from Fayette residents Thursday afternoon.

Hundreds of people, many waving American flags, lined the route. Sgt. Beale was escorted from Falcon Field in Peachtree City where his jet landed and through downtown Fayetteville on the way to McDonough.

An area soldier killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan last week is expected to land at Peachtree City's Falcon Field at 6 p.m. today, Thursday June 11. It is anticipated that the motorcade escort will leave the airport around 6:15, officials said.

Citizens are being asked to line the procession route to pay honor to Staff Sgt. John C. Beale of McDonough.

Gov. Sonny Perdue and state water officials announced today that all drought watering restrictions have been lifted.

That means residents can go back to their full outdoor watering uses including the washing of vehicles and pressure washing of buildings. Such use, however, will remain on an odd-even schedule, officials said.

Busted for pot, Horgan hangs tough as contentious meeting looms

Editorial column: Talking pot, blowing smoke behind closed commission doors (CLICK HERE)

So far no one has filed an ethics complaint against Fayette County Commissioner Robert Horgan following his May 23 arrest for misdemeanor possession of marijuana and driving with an expired tag.

The Fayette County NAACP, however, is urging citizens to attend Thursday’s county commission meeting to express their views on the matter. The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the county’s Stonewall government complex in downtown Fayetteville.