FreeSpeech for 01-06-10

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I want to thank Cleveland Elementary School for posting “Merry Christmas” outside of their school. Finally, someone is not afraid to say it! All you hear these days is “happy holidays and holiday party” and everything else except “Merry Christmas.” Thank you, Cleveland, for your example.
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I work in a federal building and there are several TVs (eating area, lobby, etc.). Each day these are rotated to a different news channel [CNN, HLN, CNBC, MSNBC, and Fox News]. When a dispute broke out a few weeks ago between the current administration and Fox News, Fox News has been dropped from the rotation. You are no longer able to watch Fox News in this federal building.
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Stop the insanity. Instead of annexing and building, why not fill in all the empty buildings we have now? No one should be allowed to approve and build more retail space when we have so many empty retail spaces in PTC now. The empty retail space in PTC is beginning to look like something out of a SciFi movie. Fill in the empty spaces, then you can build some more.
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I am relatively new to PTC, and I really love the place, but allowing developers to build more vacant shopping centers when 50 percent of the stores are vacant in the existing ones is insanity. A lovely patch of woods is a lot nicer than streets lined with “village sized shopping centers” that are mostly vacant. Anyone who thinks residents aren’t running to Newnan to do their “big box” shopping is kidding themselves. One of our local hardware stores is extremely well-stocked and convenient but charges more than double the Home Depot price for a spark plug. I am very thankful that we have a Home Depot in PTC, otherwise I would have to leave town for most of my shopping. Zero revenue for our over-priced local merchants. They need to wise up, too.
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OK, enough is enough. I’m having serious withdrawal problems here. Why has there been no Free Speech columns in the weekly paper? You’ve got to help me.
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Once again the PCFD fire chief has proven what type of leader he wants to be. I have just heard that he has gotten approved a raise for the volunteer firefighters. This is great for them, but I am a little confused why he chose to do this the same year his paid firefighters had to take a pay cut.
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Nice to see the article in The Citizen about “Schools catching more out-of-county students.” Cheers to Pupil Personnel Services Director Serapion for suddenly improving the percentage of students found to be illegally enrolled, versus the previous director who looked the other way. What about the football players at Sandy Creek High School that don’t live in our county?
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Congratulations to all the winners in the PTC elections. Now that we have a new mayor and three new City Council members, let’s see how long it will take to ask for the city manager’s resignation. The city manager has proven over and over that he is not capable of running this city. A capable manager could reduce the cost of running this city by a minimum of 20 percent without breaking a sweat. If the newly elected keep their campaign promises, you don’t need a planning department. Does the recreation director still get paid the same amount of money for only having one-half the work to do?
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Fayette County taxpayers are being overcharged. Your property tax bill states it is based on “fair market value.” The value of the average property in Fayette has dropped 25-30 percent or more. Look at past sales in your area or ask any Realtor. Better yet, call one and give them the amount on your tax bill and see how long before they start laughing. If the value has gone down, then why are your tax bills the same or have gone up in the past few years? We are being robbed, not with a gun but a pen, which is worse when we place trust in our elected officials to do the right thing.
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We found [The Citizen’s] cartoons extremely offensive. I wonder if The Citizen realizes that not all of its readership is conservative. Fayette County has a decent amount of Democrats. How about if you at least try some middle of the road cartoons? Articles? Op-eds? Obama is our President. He won. Show some respect, perhaps? Disgusting!
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Hey, Kedron Kroger: Why do the managers stand in front of the wine cooler like chain gang bosses? Are they trying to insure we the customers are getting good service? NOT. The Kedron Kroger store is really nice since the remodel, but the employees and managers are rude to customers. I never get a offer to help me out with my groceries and the bagger and cashiers barely speak, other than to each other. Often they do not give you the total, they just expect you to look at the screen and pay, and heaven forbid if you have coupons; the eye-rolls are unbelievable. If I want my shopping to be a pleasure, I could take my business to Publix, but I guess I want to save money and have to put up with bad service. Maybe Kedron Kroger can make all of the pay lanes self-checkout and place a mirror over the keypad and I could smile at myself and take my own groceries to my car!
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You people who walk your dog without a leash, exactly what part of the leash law don’t you understand? Don’t tell me he’s friendly, or she wouldn’t hurt a flea. There is always the possibility that they will behave unpredictably. As you jog through the neighborhood with your unleashed dog trailing behind you, happily relieving himself in whichever yard he chooses, exactly what are you thinking? The leash law applies to everyone. Your dog may be special to you, but you and he are not exceptions to the law. Do us all a favor and show some respect for your fellow man. Obey the leash law!
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I find it amusing that irritated citizens complaining about their neighbors burning leaves in the fall rather than taking them to the recycling area when these are probably the same people I see walking their dogs without a plastic bag in their hand. I would much rather smell leaves burning on the weekends than smell dog dirt all of the time.
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One of the requirements that Obama required of Hilary Clinton before he would appoint her to Secretary of State, was for her to disclose the contributors to Bill Clinton’s William J. Clinton Foundation. But he refuses to disclose his college records, birth certificate, political contributors, or give up his Blackberry whereby all correspondence would be recorded if he used email or the phone in his office. He has broken almost all campaign promises in regard to being transparent. His administration is as transparent as the Flint River after a 4-inch rain.
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And so the downward spiral begins. On Jan. 4 I had the privilege of visiting our neighboring county with my trip to the Sam’s Club. After I had checked out and was leaving, the team was having their morning meeting at the cafe area by the exit door. Not to my shock or surprise as I walked by the “Coach” giving his motivational speech for the day, I heard the following: “I’d rather you do your job halfway and spread the wealth than do your job all the way.” WOW! You’ve got to be kidding me. What mentality is that? Oh, that’s right, the mentality that’s gotten us to where we are today.