Are you

trying to tell me "lock-down" has not occurred

at our city schools, especially East Fayette Elementary?

Are you trying to tell me that three to four years ago,

East Fayette Elementary students were hallucinating when

they witnessed an individual being apprehended by

officers across their playground?

Are you

trying to create a false sense of security among parents

whose children must attend school near your county jail

complex? If so, please inform us as to exactly when,

where and why "lock-down" situations during the

past five years have occurred, other than during the

Columbine High situation last spring.

Stop

playing semantics with misleading titles and creating a

false sense of security among parents of school-age

children who attend school within the city limits of

Fayetteville. Yes, Sheriff, maybe this time those

offenders did not escape from the "county"

system and, yes, maybe there were "city"

offenders who walked away from court. But the reality is,

don't say it can't happen within your system. I am sure

you have heard the age old adage, "never say

never."

How can you

possibly think that expanding the jail at its present

location and increasing your prisoner population to

800-900 offenders over the next several years will not

impact the neighboring communities and schools? How can

you promise us that students will never need to

experience "lock-down" and, worse yet,

understand a term that should be reserved for offenders?

I wonder,

Sheriff Johnson, do you or the board of commissioners

have children or grandchildren who are affected by

"lock-down" at Fayetteville city schools? I

would think not or you would understand my concerns. I

wonder how many Peachtree City parents have had to

experience having their children locked in school and how

often.

appreciate the need for a new and larger county

correctional facility. Sheriff Johnson, I understand your

support of the commissioners' decision to expand the

jail. After all, who wouldn't want to work in a brand new

facility? What I don't understand is why alternative

sites were never considered for the relocation of the

jail and judicial complex.

When the

commissioners acquired the present property 15 years ago,

it may have been a suitable choice then, but this is now,

and Fayetteville has grown dramatically. This property is

zoned for single-family residences, not a university for

jailbirds! How do you all sleep at night?

Denise

Fair

Fayetteville

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