Hundreds of residents in Fayette and Fulton in 2006 were introduced to a chemical mix called MOCAP wash water, a concoction that contains the organophosphate pesticide ethoprop and the chemical odorant propyl mercaptan. By government accounts, the onion-like chemical emissions originated at the Philips Services Corp.(PSC) waste treatment plant on Ga. Highway 92 just outside Fairburn.

Residents of unincorporated south Fulton County are just a few weeks away from a critical vote that will dramatically influence the future of their homes, neighborhoods and communities. Residents are currently scheduled to vote June 19 whether to remain a apart of unincorporated Fulton County or to become the new City of South Fulton and the new City of Chattahoochee Hills. I’ve heard a million reasons pro and con when it comes to forming new cities, but as I see it, the residents in unincorporated south Fulton have no real choice but to form the City of South Fulton and the City of Chattahoochee Hills. I came to that conclusion some time ago and, today, I am more convinced of this than ever. So below you will find three simple but overwhelmingly important reasons why the new cities should be voted in.

There is something wrong in south Fulton. And it’s not the people.

What you are about to read may well upset a few apple carts, though that is not necessarily the intention. My allegiance is to the residents of south Fulton, the diamond of metro Atlanta, not to any party or its representatives. And what follows is the beginning, not the end.

The vote by Fairburn City Council Monday night to approve the renewal of the lease of the old courthouse to the Old Campbell County Historical Society came on the heels of controversy in November and again this month. The issue centered primarily on the presence of various Confederate materials on display in the building and the appropriateness of those materials in today’s local culture.

There is still talk these days about forming, actually re-forming, a “new” Milton County out of the land mass in north Fulton. Not so curiously, there is less conversation about re-forming a “new” county out of the existing south Fulton. Though currently backing off on the time table, north Fulton legislators will certainly push hard for this concept to eventually be put in the hands of voters who will quite likely pass the measure. Georgia saw the desires of the people come through crystal clear after the “evil” Republicans paved the way for voters to create the cities of Sandy Springs, Milton and John’s Creek and what may later become the City of Dunwoody.

As far back as the 19th century coal miners used canaries as an early warning system and a life insurance policy. The reason was simple.

Nearly everybody in the country has heard about the E. coli outbreak responsible for more than 170 illnesses and at least one death in 25 states, all attributed to eating fresh spinach.

Listen up, Fayette County! You’ve got a problem. And it may be bigger than you could have realized.

You now know from the front page of this edition that Georgia Environmental Protection Division cannot account for a single annual report on waste products accepted by the treatment plant on Ga. Highway 92 just inside Fulton County since Philip Services Corp. bought the place in 1997.

In this line of work you see the best and the worst, the ordinary and the extraordinary. You travel from boardrooms to living rooms, from roadside tragedies to hillside wonders. You stand witness to forces that tear people apart, but you also witness the unrivaled glory of the human spirit.

The summer of annexation is seeing a flurry of activity in south Fulton County as cities rush to bring targeted areas into their respective cities prior to the Oct. 30 annexation deadline. Large land owner/developers with swaths of land near Union City and Palmetto have recently petitioned to come in to the cities under the 100 percent method, a move that left frustrated, small property owners living near both cities up in arms at planning commission and city council meetings. For the developers involved, the mantra is the same. They and their clients have decided they want to be a part of those cities. And in the background, adjacent property owners in the unincorporated areas wonder out loud how long it will be before high density, low quality development will dot the landscape of the still pristine South Fulton. And with the track records of both cities, it will be interesting to see how the bold pronouncements of “community-minded” developers and elected officials salivating over thoughts of increased tax revenue will play out near the end of 2007, when some of those annexed properties will likely be proposed for rezoning into high density residential neighborhoods.

Do you ever wonder if elected or appointed city officials care much at all about residents? I don’t mean only what they say, but also what they do and how they do it. Do you think they are concerned about your wishes on how your city is run, about your desire to understand the decisions being made and how those decisions directly affect your life? Well, some do care, and their efforts should be remembered the next time they run for office or the next time their re-appointment to a board comes up. Forthrightly and professionally conducting the business of the city, they prove themselves worthy of the public trust. But what about the others?

I was wondering the other day in my travels around South Fulton if there is anything else going this summer besides the mass of proposed annexations and the political maneuvering that accompanies them. It didn’t take long to figure it out. And some of it is worth a double-take.

This is the new South Fulton. Rapidly growing in number, they are articulate, informed and in no mood for political machinations or economic development projects that stand to compromise their communities. The most recent example of self-determination in the new South Fulton came only days ago at a public meeting over whether $16.5 million in revenue bond financing by the Fulton County Housing Authority should be used to help defray the cost of a 264-unit apartment complex near the intersection of South Fulton Parkway and Ga. Highway 92. Mainly at issue was the project component that would set aside 80 percent of the apartments for low-to-moderate income families with transportation costs for those residents provided by Fulton County Housing Authority.

There are a million pieces of news out there and a million people to talk to when trying to report it. Like every other area of life, it’s pretty easy to get things wrong and it’s even easier to miss the innuendo or the intent of a particular speaker when assembling a story.

Most everybody believes at some level that government wrongdoing exists. The day has long waned since Mark Twain said, “It can probably be proved with facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” The decades since those words were uttered has been sporadically rocked with government wrongdoing, cover-ups and denial. This is nothing new, you say. You’re right. Yet once in a while some honest employee, government or corporate, will try to stand up for the truth, to expose wrongdoing. And for their trouble they often pay a price. Well, the price got a little heavier earlier this week when the U.S. Supreme Court slapped the American people in the face with a ruling that essentially gives government the go-ahead to punish employees who challenge wrongdoing and take it public.

It is true that South Fulton County is undergoing the most important metamorphosis in its history. Incorporation and annexation issues abound. And while we will continue to bring these issues to your attention, I decided to use this space to make a few observations on the national issue of immigration.

History is being made all around South Fulton County these days. And that history is composed of three phases. One has come and gone, one is in process and the third will come next year.

Is it arrogance or ignorance?

It’s a question I’ve often been asked after residents witness whacky, stupid or rude actions by elected boards. Fortunately, these are few and far between.

I really considered not writing this column, but I realized that wouldn’t be fair. After having blasted the Union City Council and their city attorney, Dennis Davenport, a few weeks ago in our South Fulton Citizen edition for something similar, I would hate to give the impression of favoritism.

In a little over seven years of reporting the news, I have regularly covered hundreds of public meetings. Very rarely have I seen occasions where elected representatives of the people openly violated Georgia law, whether in letter or spirit.

I thought residents all over South Fulton might want to learn about one of the features of our Web site that you may not be familiar with. It is one that is designed to guarantee that you have a voice, that your voice will be heard and one by which you can exchange ideas and discuss issues affecting you communities among yourselves.

Unincorporated South Fulton County is edging closer and closer to the threshold of its future. The question is, what will that future be?

More than 1,000 people showed up last Thursday at the Georgia International Convention Center to learn more about the issues currently impacting the future of South Fulton County. Front and center in the presentation was the idea that the time has come for something different, something that is needful, something that meets the current and future needs of the unincorporated areas of South Fulton. Unless, of course, those in the unincorporated areas would rather be slowly annexed by the City of Atlanta and the cities in South Fulton: something that is guaranteed to happen.

I happened to be at conference at Emory in 1977 to present a paper on the impact of “belief” on human consciousness. Also presenting that day was another Georgia State student. Her paper held that Science qualified as a “belief system.” She was not the first or the last to put forward that thesis. A belief system, according to Webster, is a fixed, coherent set of beliefs prevalent in a community or a society. It is also defined as faith based on a series of beliefs but not formalized into a religion. Once a little known term from Anthropology, the term “belief system” is much more widely used today, including as an often-used substitute for the word “religion.” This is because, by its very nature, a belief system explains the origin and existence of life and the Earth, the nature and origin of the universe and so on.