Who’s the bright bulb in the county, city, state, whatever, that decided to leave the green turn signal for people to turn left onto Ga. Highway 74 from westbound Ga. Highway 54 at the intersection of 54 and 74 when the traffic going eastbound on 54 has a green light? The eastbound 54 traffic has a red turn signal. What’s up with that? Their bright thinking almost caused me and numerous other vehicles at that intersection today to have a major collision with cars turning left onto southbound 74, with me being in the middle of it. My car and several others were traveling eastbound on 54, had a green light to go straight on eastbound 54, eastbound left-turn lanes had red light. We kept traveling forward when all of a sudden, several cars traveling westbound 54 turned left directly in front of us onto southbound 74 because they had a green light also. I guess it’s going to take several people getting killed at that intersection before something is done, I just hope it’s not me or any of my family. They’ve stopped the left turn onto northbound 74 when eastbound 54 has a green light, why not take it a step further and STOP the traffic turning left onto southbound 74 when eastbound 54 has a green light? Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that one out.

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Is is true that a teacher that does not live in Fayette County and has children attending the schools here is going to be asked to pay $1,000 for his or her education? What about charging some kind of tuition to parents of illegal children from another COUNTRY?

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It may not be a subject of conversation lately because of the economy and the recent uptick in local crime (topic for another discussion), but Clayton students still flood Fayette County schools. My wife is a teacher at one of the elementary schools in Fayette and some of her students actually live in Clayton and were talking openly about it. It is sad when we can barely afford to educate our own students in this economy, that we are forced to educate illegal out-of-county students. I guess this is just yet another example of our school officials, school board members, and elected county leaders failing us. It’s no wonder we have education finance issues, high student/teacher ratios, and overflowing classrooms in Fayette, when our elected officials cannot even enforce the law, investigate when necessary, and keep these illegal Clayton County students out. What a shame.

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From the appearance of our medians and other “landscaped” areas in PTC I thought the “landscape workers” had been laid off years ago. I would not recommend that the new contractor hire the furloughed “workers” if that’s the kind of work they do. I’m looking forward to the work being outsourced ... it can’t look any worse!

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This letter is written before the City Council meeting Feb. 19. Looking into my crystal ball, I see the vote: For more annexation, which we need like we need a hole, the mayor and his two followers voting for, and the only council members left voting against. Also we see how weak the city manager is by not reducing the workforce as much as should be, and also not reducing the rest of the workforce’s salaries. Hope the people in this city get wise and elect some people who have the city’s best interest at heart instead of their own instead of their own agendas.

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I read that the PTC Council votes to cut 23 jobs. I hope one of this jobs is the parks monitor. I bet he makes a big salary and does nothing.

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Taxes — personnel cuts — taxes. I have read and re-read numerous articles and “Free Speech” comments for the past several weeks and there has never been one comment about online shopping. What does this have to do with taxes and/or layoffs? Think about it. Do you shop online? Do you pay sales tax when you do? So, for all those purchases that you, your relatives, friends, and neighbors are making online our city and county are not collecting the sales tax. So, when your property tax goes up and your city officials take away the landscapers and close your pool and your local retailer is closed, think about it. Are you really saving any money by buying online?

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I have lived in Lake Peachtree subdivision for 10 years. My power has been taken out by falling trees three times. My septic system has yet to fail me because I get it serviced every three years by Bishop. When my septic system, which has around a 20-year life span, does fail or needs servicing, I have no problem spending a couple of thousand to fix it even if a mound system is requested; it would be cheaper. At $20,000 per house, the city wants to fix my nonexistent septic problems but think nothing of our above-ground power interruptions that can shock and kill me. Leave our septic alone and solve a real neighborhood problem — bury our power lines.

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If Lake Peachtree subdivision goes in the sewer, all of Peachtree City will go in the sewer. At $20,000 per house I can already see our City Council salivating at the cash flow. Was that one or two thousand houses total in your sewer hook-up plan? All Peachtree City homeowners who have septic systems, please attend the Saturday, March 7 city council’s retreat at City Hall in which the City Council will discuss the issue around 9 a.m. Hippocket neighborhood is the first trial neighborhood and the rest of us with septic is the next agenda on the plan. Please come and support this fight because if we don’t, we will be fighting our own sewer hook-up next.

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Let me get this right. We now have a declared candidate for City Council Post 1 who wants to see change. He is tired of those whom he believes consistently vote with the mayor on current development issues. He says he would like to see Mr. Haddix win the mayor’s seat so, when he is elected to Post 1, he can vote in lock-step with the new mayor. So where is the change?

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Reading the minutes from the Tyrone Council, it appears that Grace Caldwell has replaced Gloria Furr as one of the “GG girls” (two who shadow each other and vote in lockstep). The new “GG girl” is Eric Dial (guess you decided it is easier to follow Grace’s directions than think for yourself).

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Eric Dial wants a “seat” at the trough, er, table. Grace says pave it and cars will come. Finally after decades of unquenchable thirst, the Fayette County Development Gang has deposited the Tyrone frogs into the pot of warm water. “Relax,” they say as they turn up the heat. In no time, everyone will be silent (except for Janet Smola). Watch as they rename Hwy. 74 “OverBill McNally Freeway.” Heck, folks around here seem to like concrete barriers, empty subdivisions and shopping center drug meccas. Enjoy.

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The willingness of two members of the Tyrone Town Council to partner with Fayette County in development speaks of a panic resulting from the rising flood waters of red ink. At this point in time Tyrone would probably take any business, even a medical waste incinerator. Fayette County would have little interest in imposing any real standards (other than tax revenues) because to almost all of Fayette County, Tyrone and Hwy. 74 are way off to the west end. As some builders say, “Can’t see it from my house.” If Tyrone is incapable of land use regulation on its own, it should surrender its charter, give land use to Fayette County and eliminate the unnecessary double layer of taxation that currently exists.

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It’s absolutely amazing that a parent of a Starr’s Mill varsity basketball player could be so naive and not know what has really transpired over the past three years. This team should have won twice as many games as it did. These players are teenagers, not adults. They should be protected by the school administration from bullying and harassment.

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Hey, Starr’s Mill parents, I remember when you were arrogant, cocky and, dare I say, obnoxious, about your sports teams (but back then, you could back it up). In fact, I remember a Fourth of July parade when a bunch of you hurled obscenities at my son and the McIntosh football team for no apparent reason (other than that you’re a bunch of classless jerks). Now you’re just acting childish and pitiful. Face it, Starr’s Mill parents, your kids always were behind ours in academics, but now they’re ALSO the sorriest athletes in town.

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I am not sure who to direct this to since I have not written in to your paper before, but I would like to submit a thank you. I want to say thank you to the lady in a black Infinity SUV (I believe they are the QX54) for purchasing my coffee at Starbucks drive-thru a couple of weeks ago. What a delight to know that random acts of kindness are still done in the world.

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More of the same political, economic and societal posturing and chicanery (AKA pork-filled “bail out” bill) that led to today’s problems will — gasp — lead to more of the same.

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How ironic the tethered dog article appeared next to Free Speech as I considered listing the following frustration. Normally I would believe the accusations of the Animal Control. However, a recent event leads me to believe animal control considers everyone to be criminals. You see, three days ago in Newnan, a dog ran under my car in an intersection. To avoid running her over I picked her up. The phone number on her tag was disconnected. I looked for any vet or a street named on her tag. No luck. Because I had things to do and a kid in the car, I knew PTC’s Animal Shelter was on my path. I went in and was told I had to take the dog to Coweta Animal Control. (That is where the owner would look first since I found it in Newnan, even though PTC’s was closer). I explained I did not have the time to drive back. Why can’t they keep the dog and call Coweta? I must have seemed like a criminal because the woman followed me out to get my tag number. But she did not take the dog. I went home, rearranged my schedule and called Coweta. They said they would take the dog. However, when I got there they wanted picture ID. College ID not good enough. Now they wanted address, phone number ... (in case of a lawsuit). I didn’t feel comfortable giving it up, but if not I would have to take the dog back from them and take it to Austell. I gave in. If my son weren’t with me, I’d have let them arrest me. I should have taken the dog and sold it. Never mind the owner who was negligent in updating the tags. Never mind Animal Control for running me around four hours of my time when a phone call would have worked, and never mind the blackmail tactic from the officer at Coweta Animal Control. Never mind my kid was crying because, “if animal control doesn’t want her, who will?” As the officer said, it was my choice to pick her up. True. They’ve helped me in my next choice — never help a stray again. If trying to return a Shih Tzu is a crime, I can see where they would think anything is. This dog had tags. If not, I wonder if I’d have been strip-searched and had my DNA taken.

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Apparently, two or three students at FCHS slipped alcohol into their water bottles and became inebriated in class. As a result, the administrators, in their infinite wisdom, banned water bottles. What a joke. I have to wonder what exactly banning water bottles will solve. I believe the kids who want to get drunk in class are the ones who disregard the rules anyway; indubitably, prohibiting water bottles will not be a hindrance to them. Instead, the rule-abiding students must suffer once again for the actions of a small few. When is this injustice going to stop? This is just another case of the administration at the school overreacting and letting an isolated incident generate an absurd policy. It is just plain wrong when trying to stay hydrated can get you written up.

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Kudos to Kim Learnard in her letter on Feb. 18. She hit the nail on the head. I work in the school system and Kim echoed exactly what all the teachers/staff think, though we are not allowed to say. We have come up with multiple suggestions, such as why did you create a $90,000 a year job in this economy for Tracie Fleming (who left as principal of McIntosh)? Why create and fill that position now when you are asking us all to take cuts and we don’t make near $90,000? Another good point is that the “committee” is made up of a panel from the FCBOE office. There are NO teachers, parapros or other staff on the committee. How can you recommend what to cut when you haven’t been in the classroom in years? We have come up with suggestions but have been told by our principal that we are not allowed to forward them. Now THAT’S free speech, right?

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In response to the comment that insinuates that the Sun Dried Tomato closed because of heavy police presence ... seriously? While the food was good, it was also expensive and off the beaten path. It was more of a “niche” restaurant and truthfully, not a lot of people outside of Tyrone knew about it. I’m not happy it closed, but I’m not happy when any business has to close. These are the times we live in. Our local businesses need our support. The men and women of the police force in Tyrone are some of the finest I’ve ever met and go to work everyday to keep Tyrone safe. If a driver feels that the police are “harassing” them, maybe that says something about their driving skills. If you are running red lights, stop signs, speeding, and driving drunk? Sorry, but that is their job to pull you over and correct the situation. These officers don’t wake up every morning wondering how to ruin lives that day. I support the efforts of the Tyrone Police Department in keeping our town safe and would like to commend them on a job well done.

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Reading the case against Texas billionaire Allen Stanford it becomes crystal clear where the working people’s money has gone and why America is bankrupt. The top executives of the financial institutions like Staford’s and other large corporations are simply taking the money and living high on the hog with no intentions of paying it back. Things were fine as long as they were satisfied with being just plain old millionaires, but as greed will do it got out of control and they kept voting themselves salaries in the hundreds of millions of dollars yearly so they could become billionaires instead of paltry millionaires. In order to get this much money out of a company prices had to be constantly raised higher and higher. While working people are losing the ability to buy the overpriced necessities of life and losing jobs and investments at the same time these greedy executives are living it up as jet-setters and lavish spenders, all on the money they are stealing from the common working people.