What now?

That was the

reaction of many of the stunned South Fulton residents leaving the Coweta

County Commission chambers after the Commission turned down their annexation

request on Friday.

The 3-2 vote

ended nearly eight years of attempts by a group of South Fulton residents

trying to leave Fulton County and become a part of Coweta.

Bill Creel,

who helped lead the drive for annexation, thanked the board for their

consideration and knew it was a tough decision to make.

Commissioner

Leigh Schlumper, who sided with commissioners Lawrence Nelms and Robert

Wood in defeating the proposal, said her decision was never really based

on cost proposals.

She focused

on her constituents who had called her and said the county was already

growing too fast. Schlumper said she didn't want South Fulton residents

who were annexed to feel like second class citizens because services could

not be provided.

Nelms, who

would have represented the annexed citizens, suggested that the county

get in touch with its legislators to see if a county-wide referendum could

be drawn up to let all the citizens of the county decide the issue.

Nelms said

he interpreted the 100-year-old law's intent as allowing a man to de-annex

a portion of his property if a county line went through the middle of

the property.

While Creel

is looking for any avenue to let the South Fulton residents into Coweta,

he's not sure the referendum would be the best idea since all the residents

would not have the volume of information the commissioners had to make

their decision.

Commissioner

Jim McGuffey, who favored the annexation, said it was the decision that

had cost him the most amount of sleep in his six years on the board.

"The decision's

been made, it's time to move on," he said.