I agree with the sentiments expressed in the letter to the editor from Peachtree City resident Jim Richter.
“As someone who couldn’t take it anymore and began getting active by attending Board of Commissioners meetings, it is becoming more obvious every month that Jack Krakeel and Scott Bennett are a driving force behind the scenes for continuing the West Fayetteville Bypass and keeping us in the regional mass transit plans,” Richter said.
Truer words have never been spoken. I’ve been to quite a few of those meetings and totally agree with Mr. Richter’s idea that our problems are more systemic in our county government than just Chairman Herb Frady, Commissioner Lee Hearn and Commissioner Robert Horgan.
I personally watched the mindless exercise of Frady, Hearn and Horgan claiming they wouldn’t allow mass transit in Fayette County but then turn around and vote to keep it in our plans.
I have also watched the countless times our County Administrator Jack Krakeel and our County Attorney Scott Bennett have spoken up during those meetings to defend the positions of the three holdovers from the previous Board of Commissioners.
I watched County Attorney Bennett angrily criticize a local citizen who dared speak at a Board of Commissioners meeting. The nice citizen politely said Bennett’s research on a Board of Elections was incorrect and read aloud the correct information.
As it turned out, County Attorney Bennett was wrong. He didn’t like having his inaccurate research aired in public and thought telling the local citizen off in front of the audience and the newspaper reporters would save him. Bennett’s bullying didn’t work.
At a recent meeting our County Administrator Jack Krakeel tried to convince the audience during a hearing on mass transit if a majority of our voters did not support the regional transit tax referendum in 2012, but the rest of the region did vote in favor of it, our county would suffer penalties from the state. Commissioner Steve Brown had to show what Krakeel was saying was not true.
The main reason the county administrator and the county attorney are losing their effectiveness to assist the three holdovers from the previous Board of Commissioners is the local citizens are doing the research too. The citizens are armed with knowledge on these subjects now.
The citizens can now prove the sales job on the West Fayetteville Bypass is nothing more than deception. In addition, local people can now prove we were being duped on what used to be a secret plan to introduce mass transit buses to Fayette County from former Chairman Jack Smith and Fayetteville Mayor Ken Steele.
We can even prove now that Chairman Herb Frady wants to keep the mass transit buses in our county through the regional plan.
It’s obvious to everyone Frady, Hearn and Horgan have to be voted out in 2012. But I agree with Mr. Richter on sending the county administrator and county attorney packing too. Our residents are being neglected and we shouldn’t allow it.
David Barlow
Tyrone, Ga.
