[What do you really think? Email us your pithy opinions, your short takes on life in Fayette and environs, your gotta-get-it-off-your-chest questions or sound-offs. Emails only to [email protected]. Put Free Speech in your subject line and include your contribution as the body text of your email. No signature required. No phone calls, faxes or snail-mail letters, please. No personal attacks on private persons, but just about any aspect of public life is fair game.]
As a parent in a school system like Fayette that has first stated they don’t have any money, and then all of a sudden they find millions, I am still in shock that they paid my son this summer to retake a math test he already passed in order to just raise their score percentage. Not only did the high school pay for his transportation, his lunch from Chick-fil-A, more teachers to tutor him first, and to give him the test, they are paying for his senior dues. Now how much money is that wasted on kids that already passed a state mandated test? And what about the many many kids who did not pass? Aren’t they important, or do we kick them when they fail and leave them behind?
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Why would anyone think that a recorded phone message, disturbing me in my home, would EVER make me want to vote for them?
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If the Fayetteville police would patrol the handicapped parking spaces behind Piedmont Fayette Hospital, the west entrance, they would be able to write enough tickets for cars not having handicapped stickers to buy all the new cars the city needs.
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Senator Inhofe and Congressman Westmoreland, is it hot enough for you two now to forget about your hoax theory?
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To the taxpayers of PTC (or should I say the 3,500 voters of PTC): The only constant in this city has been the mismanagement by its city manager. He is the person in charge of the run-up of debt and the foolish increases in the city payroll and its diminished performance of the city employees. The mayor and City Council take the brunt of the responsibility for what goes wrong in the city, and yet this council like many Councils before them fails to do what needs to be done. Replace the city manager. Review and replace the non-performing directors on the city payroll. Immediately reduce the the city payroll by 13 percent. Demand and direct all departments to reduce all department budgets. I can’t believe that everyone stood by and watched the teachers who are entrusted with the education of your children take a large pay cut, and saw a large number of layoffs, yet this city management will not even consider a pay cut of its city employees. It’s pretty sick, and believe me most city employees make more money than our school teachers. I am not a school teacher nor do I have a child in school but every day driving through this city I witness the non-productivity exhibited by our truly protected employees. Let’s get with it, City Council; do the hard things. Raising taxes is easy; expecting your employees to do what they are paid for should be your goal.
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One thing that would make the West Fayetteville Bypass a good thing is to put a Varsity at the corner of Hwy. 54 and Huiet Road.
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Regarding the closing of St. Andrews Day School: The preschool has been running like a well-oiled machine. The teachers have always been loving, sweet and nothing but kind towards our children, and the teachers always had a terrific morale with our wonderful director in place. I think it’s time the we as parents, teachers, parishioners and members of the Peachtree City community know exactly what the truth is behind the closing of our school. And the man that knows needs to stop hiding in his office and take accountability for his actions. Our community has been let down thanks to you.
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Why is it that Democrat candidates say I, I, I, and Republican candidates say we, we, we,?
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Braelinn Shopping Center: Where has all the shade gone, long time passing? Whoever redesigned this shopping center was not thinking green, at all. Used to be you could walk in the shade, on a hot summer day, all the way from Kmart to Kroger. But not now. All store fronts will be in direct sunlight, and the electric bills for all tenants will be a lot higher, should they desire to keep their store cool. And all that brick wall that was torn down: What a waste! I always thought that brick was one of the best building materials for walls. And now, the sun will fade all those different store front colors, and the landlord will have to repaint them each year. And coming out of Kroger with a shopping cart that holds a bag of eggs, you’d best hold that bag of eggs in your hand prior to crossing that bumpy section of pavement that resembles, in a way, the “upside-down” look of an egg carton. The only thing in this remodeling construction that makes any sense is the repaving of the parking lot. Landlord, you could have saved a bundle of money by simply lowering the price of a lease.
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Can someone please explain to me why people bring babies to movie theaters? I was with my family over the weekend to enjoy a movie, and because of a baby crying the entire time we couldn’t hear the majority of it. There were plenty of other people making comments, because they couldn’t hear as well. I understand that there might not be a babysitter available, but that really doesn’t give anyone the right to ruin it for everyone else who paid a lot of money to enjoy it. I know a lot of young adults who would love to make some extra money. Next time, leave the babies at home with a babysitter; the baby will appreciate it as well.
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To Tea Party members: Please do not let right-wing conservatives jeopardize the Tea Party movement. There are some of us who have supported the Fair Tax plan and tax reform for many years, but we do not support some of the issues that some are attaching to the movement. We do not believe that God created the world in six days. We do not believe that prayer has been taken out of the public schools. Our children and grandchildren pray everyday at school. We believe that gays have the right to become legal partners, just don’t call it marriage. We believe that a woman should have a choice as to whether she will give birth to an unwanted pregnancy. These issues are irrelevant to tax reform. Please don’t let them ruin it.
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The universal healthcare bill passed by the Democrats in Congress is the worst piece of legislation ever enacted. President Obama says it will reduce the deficit but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know he’s blowing smoke. One thing we do know is that his health plan will increase the number of federal employees on our payroll and that’s not good. When it comes to government programs we can also expect Congress to raise payroll taxes on workers and employers soon to cover the Ponzi scheme called Social Security. In the future, the only way we can control our total healthcare costs is to tie that total annual expenditure to a percent of our GDP. We can’t afford the national healthcare plan imposed by the Democrats but we may be able to support a reasonable private system. We need the invisible hand of our free enterprise system working better instead of a central government program. I’m not sure the Republicans really want to establish universal healthcare. But if they do, just give every adult or family a voucher they can use to help buy a health insurance policy that best meets their needs and resources. Add the amount of the voucher to the individual’s or couple’s federal income tax return each year. Workers that now have company health insurance would continue to receive those benefits as a cash payment to their salary each month. They could use that money to buy additional coverage or defray the cost of the government voucher. This voucher system probably won’t be perfect but we can’t afford perfect. But, it most likely would satisfy 90 percent of the public 90 percent of the time.
