Tired of seeing

some of her fellow council members take their disputes to local newspapers,

Peachtree City Councilwoman Annie McMenamin has called for a truce.

Although she

doesn't want to inhibit free speech, McMenamin said she wanted "a

good faith effort not to communicate with each other in letters to the

editor."

In recent weeks,

Mayor Bob Lenox and Councilman Dan Tennant have traded accusatory letters

in The Citizen, pointing fingers at each other regarding the handling

of the severance package granted to former city clerk Nancy Faulkner.

McMenamin said

she could understand using a letter to the editor to explain a council

member's position on a vote but she hates to see attacks made in the paper.

The negative tone of the letters creates a false impression about the

way council conducts its business, she said.

To explain

her feelings on the situation, McMenamin related a positive comment she

received about the city recently. The person was speaking about The Avenue

at Peachtree City retail center and how well the city must cooperate to

get things done.

"I told

her, 'You must not read our newspaper then," McMenamin said.

Councilwoman

Carol Fritz said she gets plenty of citizen complaints about the decorum

displayed by public officials on the letters to the editor pages.

Lenox agreed

to stop writing letters to the editor.

"I'm willing

to say publicly I'm not going to write letters to the editor," Lenox

said.

Fritz, McMenamin

and councilman Steve Rapson agreed they wouldn't either.

Tennant did

not contribute to the discussion.

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