Peachtree City Police are warning the public about a suspicious person who is falsely claiming to raise funds for Promise Place.

City also kills vacation accrual for part-timers

Peachtree City employees will soon see their monthly insurance premiums double as part of a cost savings plan for the city.

Three people were recently arrested for selling drugs to undercover drug agents working with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office Tactical Narcotics Team, police said.

UPDATED Thursday at 11:50 a.m.

A late afternoon hailstorm swiped through Fayette County Wednesday damaging a number of homes and automobiles.

A possible tornado touchdown was reported in south Coweta County between Moreland and Luthersville near the Meriwether County line. A tractor trailer was overturned, trees and power lines fell and several homes were damaged, according to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.

Coweta Sheriff’s investigators are seeking information relating to the Feb. 15 stabbing death of 54 year-old Cathy Mendenhall McNaughton at her home in the French Village subdivision in northeast Coweta near Tyrone and Canongate Golf Club.

157 Fayette teachers face unemployment to plug $14.5 million budget gap

Pay cuts versus benefit cuts is one likely choice facing the school system, according to Fayette County School Superintendent John DeCotis in a Feb. 11 letter to all system employees.

Next week could be historic for the Fayette County School System as the five board members hold two meetings and two possible public hearings to decide on staff reductions and other emergency cost-cutting measures to offset $14.5 million in budget shortfalls beginning July 1.

As Fayette CARE Clinic gears up for its annual fund-raiser dance on Saturday, March 7, there is a growing need for financial support due to the downturn in the economy, organizers said.

For the 2009-2010 school year, Fayette’s projected teacher/student ratio numbers for all grades are adjusted for up to 157 announced reductions in school staff. Board members have said they hope that all the reductions can come through attrition. To date, approximately 64 teachers have said they would not be returning next school year.

Dreary and misty skies Saturday morning in Fayetteville could not alter the enthusiasm of several hundred volunteers from across metro Atlanta who poured into the parking lot at Lowe’s Home Improvement and at the construction site on Bradley Drive that will be the new home of Fayette Counseling Center.

Sheriff Wayne Hannah presented Fayetteville Police Chief Steve Heaton Feb. 11 with a check for $285,564.69 for the department’s participation with the Sheriff’s Tactical Narcotics Team (TNT) in two Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) program investigations code named Operation Shooting Star and Operation Latitude Adjustment.

911 center expansion also approved by commission

Fayette County’s finances are on solid ground, according to the most recent audit conducted of its fiscal books.

The Griffin Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office will be hosting the 3rd Annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Banquet at 6:00PM on May 7th at the Fayetteville First Baptist Church, 205 East Stonewall Ave.

The weight of the Fayette County School System’s $14.5 million budget deficit will fall on teachers and instructional personnel — between 150 and 175 of them.

Finances were front and center at the Fayetteville City Council annual retreat Monday. A preview for the upcoming budget amendment in March included a continuation of falling revenues and numerous cost cutting measures. Among those were the ongoing voluntary 2.25 percent salary cuts for managers and directors and an employee-initiated reduction in hours worked ranging from 2-8 hours per week.

To keep Fayette County’s budget in line for the coming year despite significant revenue decreases, officials are taking several drastic measures.

Could Fayette County one day have an office park off Ga. Highway 74 north near the Fulton County line?

County planners think so, and the Fayette County Commission has adopted a plan that with the blessing of Tyrone officials would call for just that.

The Fayette County Commission voted unanimously last week to reject all bids received for a defined benefits pension plan for county employees.

A second lawsuit has been filed in relation to the exposure by north Fayette and south Fulton residents to a pesticide and chemical odorant “wash water” during mid-2006. The six-count suit recently filed in Fulton County State Court is on behalf of Sandy Creek Road residents John and Delores Abernathy. The case is currently in the discovery phase.

Fayetteville Police have arrested Zaxby’s employee Taurean Wayne Johnson and issued warrants for two others in the Monday morning robbery of a Zaxby’s employee outside the south Kroger parking lot on Ga. Highway 85 as she crossed the parking lot to make a deposit at the Bank of Georgia branch inside.

10% this year ... 5% in 2010; will cover Lake McIntosh completion

Starting next month Fayette County water customers will see a 10 percent increase on their bills, thanks to a unanimous vote of the County Commission.

It may be called funny money, but there is nothing funny about it. There has been a confirmed case of two counterfeit $100 bills being passed in Fayetteville Feb. 1 and unconfirmed reports of two others in the city.

Environmental Institute of Georgia (EIOG) is a local non-profit that has already begun to make its mark of Fayette County through environmental education projects. Formed in 2008 by a group of largely Fayette County residents, EIOG last month became the trustee of a 310-acre nature preserve on Bohannon Road owned by the city of Fairburn.

Fayetteville residents beginning in May will see a decrease in their sanitation bills after the city council Feb. 5 approved hauler CLM for a one-year contract. The new rate will amount to a 15 percent decrease in monthly trash collection bills.

The Peachtree City Police Department is warning local businesses and residents of counterfeit $100 bills that have been passed in Fayette County recently.

***Update*** Fayetteville Police have arrested Zaxby's employee Taurean Wayne Johnson and issued warrants for two others in the Monday robbery of a Zaxby's employee in the Kroger parking lot.

Suspects ditched car off Redwine Road near church

A burglary in progress call led Fayette sheriff's deputies to quickly arrest two suspects early this afternoon.

One of the suspects got away on foot briefly but was found within minutes, according to radio traffic broadcast during the incident.

By Ben Nelms and Cal Beverly

As the Fayette County School System grapples with an upcoming deficit of between $11.7 million and $14.5 million out of a $197 million yearly budget, personnel cuts are being considered.

For NAACP Fayette Branch Legal Redress Chair Geraldine Grant, it is about doing what is right.

And what she said was right was the Nov. 8 filing of a voter fraud complaint to the national NAACP office over the local branch election in November in which she and others ran for office. Her complaint has been dismissed by the national office, but Grant is appealing the decision.

A committee studying a defined benefits pension plan for Fayette County employees is recommending that all the plan proposals be rejected so it can continue looking at “multi-employer plan options.”