Democrat

Elizabeth Jane Barnes has waited quietly in the

wings while Republicans started with three

candidates seeking the party nomination for

County Commission Post 1, whittled that down to

two, and then one.

Now

Barnes, who faced no opposition for the

Democratic nomination July 18, is ready to start

campaigning in earnest for the General Election

Nov. 7, facing A.G. VanLandingham, who came out

on top in the GOP runoff last week.

Though

she is fully aware that she is running in a

heavily Republican county, Barnes, 60, said she

hopes voters will focus on her as an individual,

rather than voting party ideology.

"People

vote for the person," said Barnes, who owns

and operates The Bookworm book store in

Fayetteville. "They're more independent

now."

Fayetteville resident who has lived in the county

for 23 years, Barnes has been married to Stuart

Barnes for 33 years, and was a real estate broker

before the couple purchased The Bookworm.

It

wasn't something they were planning, she said,

but when the business went up for sale, spending

her time in an office full of great books seemed

like the perfect business for her, she said.

And

it provides a great opportunity to find out what

the people of Fayette County are thinking, she

said. "I take my own little polls," she

said, adding that if she is elected she will

continue to find out what her constituents want.

"I'm not there for myself. I'm there for

what they want," she said.

Among

the top issues Barnes is running on are tough

tree protection laws and low-density growth.

"I'm

against `smart growth' - density," she

said in reaction to current efforts by the

Atlanta Regional Commission to encourage higher

density development along public transit

corridors.

But

she does favor a publicly operated bus system,

she said. With current privately operated

systems, "It costs $15 to go to the grocery

store. It shouldn't be that way... the county

should take that over," she said.

Barnes

said she attended most of the meetings when both

Fayette County and the city of Fayetteville were

hammering out the details of new tree protection

ordinances, and she will work to see that more

existing trees are saved from developers'

bulldozers.

She

also strongly approves current efforts at the

county level to allow developers to cover parking

lots with porous paving materials rather than

concrete, to improve drainage and reduce

rainwater runoff. "We should have it where

it doesn't even look like a parking lot,"

she said.

Plans

for a green space program aimed at setting aside

20 percent of local land for parks also get

Barnes' approval, but she said she would like to

see more large parks, not just small neighborhood

ones. A developer's plan for donating 215.5 out

of 873 acres for a park is a good example, she

said. "That would be a good buffer area

between the county and city [of

Fayetteville]," she said.

Local

cities' claims that their residents aren't

getting a fair share of services from Fayette

County are wrong, Barnes said. "I will stand

behind the commissioners," she said.

On

taxes in general, she called for a freeze on tax

reassessments as long as the same person owns the

property. When it is sold, the new owner would

pay taxes based on current values at that time,

she added.

Barnes

also favors a requirement that developers donate

land for schools, and would push for more bicycle

paths if elected, she said.

She

opposes current plans to build a bypass around

Fayetteville, though, she said. "It just

means more congestion," she said, but added,

"If it's what the people want, it's their

agenda."

With

a bright smile, Barnes said she has nothing

against her opponent, VanLandingham. In fact, she

likes him. "He's a good guy," she said.

"He comes in [the book store] all the

time."

She

also likes the current commissioners, she added,

and would get along with them fine, if elected.

"I was so pleased when [commission Chairman

Harold] Bost got elected," she said, adding,

"I believe in a team approach."

Barnes

has attended Orange Memorial Nursing School in

Orlando, Fla., Florida Technical College, Broward

Community College in Florida and Gordon College

in Barnesville, Ga. She has run for County

Commission one other time, in 1979.

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