Voters, on your mark.

Three posts on the

City Council of Peachtree City and one slot on the Fayetteville City Council

await your pleasure. Next Tuesday, many of you choose among 12 candidates

for public office. Please don't shirk this high duty.

Flag-flying is nice,

but I prefer a more substantive form of patriotism: Vote. Fly all the

Old Glories you want, but back up that display by shouldering your responsibility

for maintaining our grassroots liberties in our democratic republic: City

voters, get out and vote next Tuesday.

If everybody who waved

a flag these past few weeks showed up at the polls, we would have near-record

turnouts. I hope that will be the case.

We have some good

people who have offered to serve you the next four years. Some differ

on important points, but, I believe, most have good intentions on your

behalf. I commend all 12 for aspiring to be public servants.

In addition, many

of you get to say yes or no to five bond proposals to borrow $7.14 million

in Peachtree City.

That said, choices

have to be made. Here are mine, and some reasons why.

PEACHTREE CITY

For mayor: Steve Brown.

For Post 3, City Council:

Steve Rapson.

For Post 4, City Council:

Murray Weed.

Bond referenda

Question 1: YES.

Question 2: NO.

Question 3: NO.

Question 4: NO.

Question 5: NO.

FAYETTEVILLE

For Post 3, City Council:

Walt White.

Why Steve Brown? You

may remember he and I were joint defendants in a libel lawsuit brought

last year by Jim Webb and his law firm, the city attorneys for Peachtree

City. (The suit was later dismissed by Webb. Brown is still seeking to

recover expenses from Webb.) Brown saw a plain conflict of interest and

pursued justice via letters to the editor in this paper.

Brown has consistently

been the voice of the average concerned citizen, concerned about the direction

being taken by the entrenched power structure of Peachtree City. He has

fought for the average homeowner, the everyday working dad and mom with

kids to get to ballgames and mortgages to pay and yards to cut. He is

a true grassroots champion of the people.

It pains me that my

choice for Brown means that I cannot choose Dan Lakly, a good guy who

has served the city and people of Fayette County in the past. Dan is a

straight-shooter, and would make a good mayor. I just believe that Steve

Brown is the right man for the job at this time in Peachtree City's history

and will make the best mayor of any of the candidates available.

Frank Murphy, also

a good man, also has a history of service to the city as director of EMS.

He is handicapped by an uncertain grasp of a broad range of issues facing

us. He's just not up to speed.

Gary Rower, a very

able pilot and volunteer, is the establishment power structure candidate.

With him as mayor, it would be business as usual at City Hall, meaning

all the things we've come to dread about the current crew in charge. Peachtree

City can't afford another four years of Mayor Bob Lenox-style leadership.

I face a dilemma in

Post 3 between incumbent Steve Rapson and former City Clerk Nancy Faulkner.

I'm going with Rapson because he has been a tough-minded breath of fresh

air at City Hall. He knows the city budget inside and out and will watch

our tax dollars carefully. I disagree with his support of the bond issue

for Braelinn Baptist Church as a city arts center. But he is the best

candidate for the job.

Faulkner is articulate,

sharp and smart and would be a hands-down choice were she running against

Carol Fritz in Post 4. But she chose to oppose Rapson, and I have to oppose

her. Here's hoping we haven't seen the last of Nancy Faulkner in politics.

The Post 4 race features

a failed incumbent, Carol Fritz, running again on a platform of more of

the same. On her watch, Fritz has helped give us traffic gridlock, higher

taxes, big box stores, huge apartment complexes, annexation warfare, and

unstinted support for questionable ethics in city officials. We can and

must do better.

Murray Weed is something

of a question mark to me. He is focused and knowledgeable about city issues,

and I agree with him on several items. But he has left himself more wiggle

room than I'm comfortable with on matters of annexation, rezoning and

sewer expansion. I'm voting for Weed, but I've got a jug of Roundup in

my holster, just in case.

The other two candidates

we wish well in their future endeavors.

In Fayetteville, Walt

White has done a workmanlike job, low-key and colorless. He deserves another

term. His opponent needs to expand his range of issues and address specific

local problems and tell how he would solve them, rather than just being

against "intrusive government."

As for the Peachtree

City bond issues, only one will actually save us taxpayers any money.

The refinancing of airport bond debt save money and should get a YES vote.

The others are nice

things to have, nice monuments to affluence and better economic times.

Those times have passed. Since Sept. 11, airline troubles and a shaky

local economy make these tax increases laughable.

These are optional

luxuries in a suddenly grim season. Vote NO against those million-dollar

questions 2,3,4 and 5. We can bring them up later, when we all can afford

such luxuries again .