We wish to thank Greg Dunn for the great job he has done for this county. For eight years you kept your word. You will be missed, and we hope that you will in some way continue to work and help this county grow.

Yankee Dunndle’s leaving townRiding on his ego.We plucked the feather from his hatAnd now he’s lost his mojo.Yankee Dunndle’s packing upAnd leaving all the candy.Yankee Dunndle’s out the door.Our sheriff is still the dandy.

I saw in the paper that the question of school calendars has come up again. Thanks to pressure from the state legislators our dear school superintendent is willing to let us (the incompetent taxpayers) choose school start dates for next year. When are we going to take our superintendent to task on this problem? At first we were told that school would start earlier to coincide with the start of colleges, then it was so the teachers could finish their summer college courses, then to accommodate the winter break and then the fall break. I have two children in the school system. In talking with the teachers at these schools they have all told me that with the current schedule they do not have time to work on continuing their education in the allotted time during summer break. They have also told me that the worst problem that they face is getting the students back into the swing of things after one of our numerous week-long breaks. They all agree that going back to the old schedule of starting the last week of August and doing away with the fall and winter breaks is the best for all involved. I know that my kids just sit around for the week and whine about nothing to do (and we are an airline family). So, people, it is time that we listened to the wonderful men and women teaching our children five days a week.

Re: The sign case in which local Judge Paschal English will have to decide a sign ordinance case a third time. What I read from this is that the judge simply was too lazy to do his job, or too interested in the county’s position. This is the same judge who was so interested in a Hollywood game show that he took a two-month hiatus from his court work, which I considered improper. As long as we allow “judicial malpractice” we will have judges that will further burden our country (and our taxpayers) with such evils as same-sex marriage and entitlement to benefits for homosexual partners.

Why does the Fayette County Board of Education want to ask us when we would like school to start? They have never paid any attention to what parents want and this will be no different. Most parents do not want school to start so early in August but each year the BOE keeps setting the start day earlier and earlier. I wish the BOE can prove me wrong this time and set a later start date, even if it is only a week.

I made a big mistake when I decided to make a myspace.com profile about our McIntosh School Resource Officer Corporal Doyle. I made a profile titled Cpl. Doyle using her picture from the Peachtree City Police Department Web site as what I thought was a harmless joke. What seemed like a harmless joke at the time turned into a felony “impersonating a police officer” charge on my record. I want people to know that Officer Doyle never had a myspace account and for people to exercise caution and use good judgment while using programs like myspace.

Our community is blessed to have Piedmont Fayette Hospital along with its caring staff of doctors and nurses, and it is a shame that our insurance company, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, is not going to include the Piedmont system in their coverage as of July 1. As for me and my family, we will be changing insurance companies at the first possible opportunity so that we can stay with Piedmont Fayette. We have top-notch quality healthcare in Fayette County, with excellent doctors, nurses, administrative staff, and facilities, and we are not going to let an insurance company tell us where we can and cannot go for care. We choose Piedmont Fayette.

Something stinks. When the Peachtree City manager is arrested for DUI while driving his golf cart after a concert at the city-owned amphitheater and the number two- and number three-ranking officers are both on duty on a weekend night, someone is on a witch hunt. My instinct says that after a couple of years on the job, the city manager was finally ready to make some much needed changes at the Peachtree City Police Department. The police probably wanted to make sure the city manager lost his job (hang in there, Bernie) before the top brass were to lose their jobs.

The talk of the town this past weekend was the lame job that McIntosh staff did with the sound at the 2006 graduation ceremony: 20 minutes late starting and most of the people who spoke could not be heard up in the stands. The P.A. system that was used was Mickey Mouse and there were no sound techs anywhere in sight. Anyone who has been exposed to the music business at all knows that what you hear on the field may be quite different from what you hear on the stage and in the stands. That is why we have what is commonly known as a “sound check.” Unfortunately, this has been going on for years at this ceremony and it never seems to dawn on anyone to get someone in who actually knows something about sound production to handle this important event. There are people out there that do this for a living; you guys may want to give them a call. How about a bit more effort next year? There were a lot of grandparents in those stands who had come from great distances to see and hear their grandchildren graduate not to mention the various people who spoke at the podium. This really should not be that difficult of a job. Better luck next year and don’t wait until the night before to study. That is what you tell your students, right? The proof will be in the planning; hopefully you guys will get it right next year.

Why is the local bar association inviting incumbent state senators and representatives to lunch right before an election, while leaving out their challengers?

Why do students attend Fayette county schools illegally by giving false addresses? Because Board of Education members serve on the BOE illegally by giving false addresses.

I just wanted to thank the town of Tyrone for the new 4-way intersection at Arrowwood and Palmetto Road. It’s so nice to sit in the traffic that now backs up half way to Palmetto. I guess you wanted a traffic problem similar to that of Peachtree City. Well, you got it. As a gesture of our appreciation I think it would be nice if we all start blowing our horn once we finally get through the new intersection and pass by Mayor Lee’s house during the morning rush hour. For those of you who don’t know it’s the little house just past the intersection with the tacky purple with red hat mailbox. Oh, what the heck, it does not matter what time, just blow to say thank you.

Re: “another 14 percent pay cut recommended for the Delta pilots by their own union.” We are NOT taking an additional 14 percent pay cut. The 14 percent we gave them several months ago is staying in place. It is not on top of that. And on top of that the pilots will be getting raises every year and a half after that for a period of time. I am happy with how our union has worked for us in the end. You said the pilots don’t really have what it takes to strike. You are very wrong. They do and they are ready. We as a family have been preparing for this for the past year and we will do what we have to do, even if it is a strike. I truly hope Delta pulls out of all this with flying colors, and if they do I hope I never come across you on one of their planes. Believe this when I say you are not welcomed.

Well, well, well, another 14 percent pay cut recommended for the Delta pilots by their OWN union. Let’s see what those 5,930 pilots do now. Meekly stay quiet and be thankful they have a job is what I predict. What else are they going to do? Those pilots can PRACTICE a strike but do they have what it takes to really do it?

The Delta pilots picketing at the G.O. should have had a large inflatable dead dog instead of a rat. That way they could have marched around it and kicked at it.

Delta pilot: $100,000 to $150,000 per year. Non-pilot Delta employee: $25,000 to $45,000 per year. Standing side by side with a pilot in the unemployment line: Priceless!

Hey, Cynthia, I have to show my I.D. everyday to the same guard at the same gate, AND he knows me by name. If I slapped him, I’d be in jail and out of work. Maybe your new slogan should be, “What can black do for you?”

Parents, take a look MySpace.com and see what is there. Search on your ZIP code and look for your children and read what they are up to. You can even read their blogs. It is easy to do, and you will be surprised at what is there (hopefully not disappointed).

Peachtree City’s pendulum has definitely swung in the other direction. The land grabs and sewer deals are going to drastically change the appearance of Fayette County. There’s poor Greg Dunn just standing around with his hands in his pockets as the county growth explosion begins; so much for good planning.

To the dozen or so people that handed me “Logsdon for Mayor” literature and promised that Logsdon would reverse the recent tax increases and keep our community a great place to live, oh, what a wicked web we weave! We are not talking about subtle lies, more like an avalanche. The man has been in office less than 90 days and I will be paying 30 percent more in taxes and fees (that he approved) to the city government this year. Why can’t Logsdon be like U.S. Representative Lynn Westmoreland when he voted down a bloated Katrina package and just say no? We were all assured that Mayor Logsdon was not a developer’s puppet. Wrong again! He got the City Council to vote in favor of setting a historical precedent by extending our sewer service outside of the city limits for residential use. Mark your calendars to remind you of that vote. Entitle the entry “beginning of the end.” The statement in the newspaper said the property in the county did not increase in density because of the sewer extension. I’m an engineer and I know that the city has an engineer. With the mandatory stream buffers in the county and poor soils, there’s no way they could have placed 60 homes on that site using septic. I’m not even sure the perk rate for the soil was even close to adequate which is why they needed the sewer in the first place. Cal Beverly’s editorial was right: get ready to be slammed by houses in Fayette and Coweta fed by our own sewer system. We are now going to see a chain of higher density developments in the county. Guess who is going to pay all the damage from that development, more schools, more traffic, more crowding? Now Mayor Logsdon wants to put 1,100 houses on the west side of the city. That’s somewhere around 2,800 new residents on that one piece of underdeveloped land. The ride in the morning on Ga. Highway 74 is already bad enough. If the huge developments are constructed in Coweta because they have our sewer capacity, the traffic will be unbearable. Their increase in population could be around 15,000 people or more. At first, I was hopeful. Now, 90 days later, we see Logsdon was nothing but a pig in a poke. The days of controlled growth are gone and the joke is on us. The quiet family town is on the way out, replaced with sprawl.

When are the taxpayers of Fayette County going to ask the Board of Education to account for the money wasted on the redistricting plan that went nowhere? As a taxpayer, I am disappointed the Board of Education used our tax money to pay for months of county employees’ salaries to come up with a plan to alleviate overcrowding, pay for large scale blow-ups of maps, and pay for hundreds of copies of maps. After the board decided to table the “Band-aid” approach, they used tax money to mail letters to the parents of children at the crowded schools, informing us we could request a transfer to an uncrowded school as long as we provided the transportation to and from the school. How much money did it cost to send out thousands of these letters? The Board of Education tells the parents of Peeples Elementary children we will see relief in three years when they build the new school on Ga. Highway 92. Have they taken into consideration the fact that we have 180 new homes under construction or soon to be under construction in the Peeples district? As taxpayers, Fayette county residents are paying for half-empty schools, trailers, and buses passing each other. What a waste.

This is in response to a letter in the 2/22/06 column advocating a change in the yearly school calendar to eliminate the February break. The author claims that a vast majority of the parents do not like the break. Did the author take a poll? Where is the data to back this claim? The author certainly does not speak for me. I happen to love the mid-February break. It gives me a chance to, yes, go skiing with my family. This is the only other time available during the school year, except for Christmas when the slopes are more crowded, to have a ski week without taking them out of school, which I do not condone. Personally, I don’t think we need a longer summer break. The kids can sit around playing videos and watching TV at this time also. What I would like to advocate for is a year-round school schedule providing siblings are on the same track (it works in California); or better yet, a realignment of the summer break. I propose the school year end in mid June and begin after Labor Day. Wouldn’t this schedule allow a longer window of time to have a vacation with those extended family members? (That is, IF you want to spend time with your adult siblings and their families. If not, there’s always friends.) Many Northern, Central and Midwestern schools follow this schedule. As more and more families are spread over the country, scheduling family reunions can become a juggling nightmare, as our current schedule allows only the month of July to fit in a vacation with those families and friends; that’s if one can get a week off in July from their place of work. Regional businesses would benefit also; everyone would not be requesting their vacation from the six weeks spanning mid June to end of July. I would like to see one of these suggestions seriously considered by the BOE.

Anyone see the article in Monday’s AJC about the week-long winter break holiday we’re in the midst of? If you missed it, Melinda Berry-Dreisbach, spokeswoman for Fayette County schools, was quoted as saying, “Our parents seem to like it. This time of year, a lot of our parents like to take ski trips, and this way they can bring their children with them.” How out of touch can you be, Melinda? It’s 40 degrees out and raining. Sure, it’s a great time to go skiing, if parents can afford it, and get the time off from work. But for the other 95 percent, the kids are not skiing this week; they’re sitting around the house playing video games or watching TV. By the way, spring break starts exactly six weeks from today. In fact, it’s only been six and a half weeks since Christmas vacation ended. If you were really listening to parents, Ms. Berry-Dreisbach, here’s what you’d hear the vast majority of us say: “We want to trade you the week off in February for a week later start in August.” Why is this so difficult for the school bureaucrats to understand? Stop defending this calendar. Instead of starting school Aug. 7, start the 14th and let the kids stay in school in February.

Let’s see if I have this straight: the Fayette County Board of Education dumps the responsibility for solving overcrowding onto the parents of Peachtree City Elementary School students. The majority of a neighborhood (originally scheduled for bused-redistricting) signs up to transfer to Kedron Elementary. (More could have, if bus service were available.) The school board will not furnish a bus to Kedron, so there will be 74 additional cars in the Kedron drop-off line. Hmmm, maybe FCBOE doesn’t have a bus to spare, because they are too busy transporting school employees’ kids from the parents’ schools to the ones the students attend and are not districted for. Yes, employees’ kids may attend Fayette County schools, but why do they get free transportation when those trying to help the situation at PCES are told no? There are at least three students picked up at Huddleston Elementary and transported to Booth Middle for class. Still others are driven to McIntosh in the afternoons, because their parents work there. Is this fair? Perhaps parents of transferring students, who give generously of their time and money supporting PCES, should instead seek jobs with FCBOE so they too can enjoy the benefit of free student transportation to the school of their choice.

Attention parents of Fayette County eighth graders: Watch out for plans that the math directors have for your child. Students with as high as a B average in pre-algebra will be pushed into an applied algebra class if the district gets its way. If your child is pushed into this class, keep in mind he/she will not meet college entrance requirements and most likely, will be locked out of higher level classes in later years. Insist that your child gets placed in algebra or you are closing the college opportunity door in ninth grade. The schools and district will say it is still possible, but the likelihood is almost zero. The creators of the new Georgia math curriculum want to eliminate applied algebra and get all kids in algebra or above. Keep in mind that pre-algebra is actually the first 12 weeks of algebra. Your kids can do it and you have been warned.

Fayette County Board of Education, how about prosecuting those who file false affidavits? We all know that a majority of these affidavits are bogus. Currently, all an out-of-county parent needs to do to get their child in our schools is to find a willing relative or friend to sign a piece of paper stating that that child resides with them. Most of the out-of-county students in our schools are here on affidavits and the majority of those are at Fayette Middle School and Fayette County High School. Could this be the reason why the school board is not interested in going after these students? Taxpayers of Fayette County, even if you don’t have a student at either of these schools you should outraged at the school board ignoring this problem.

Why does Fayette Tax Commissioner Wingo tell us, on his Web site, that people have until June 1 to file for property tax exemptions at the very same time he advertises in the newspaper that we have only until March 1? Is it out of a warped desire to mislead the taxpayers into paying extra taxes, or just stupidity?

I was shocked to read one of the headlines above the fold on the Jan. 4 edition of The Citizen: “Black Republican to run for county comm.” Why not “Republican to run for county comm.” or “Attorney to run for county comm.”? I am appalled that the color of a man’s skin is still viewed as the most important descriptor of a candidate in Fayette County politics, and saddened to see it in our newspapers.

To all those who support or don’t care about illegal immigration: Why do you have a fence around your yard and locks on your doors?

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