In the place of old growth

and biological history that cannot be replaced, we have subdivisions such

as Lakemont and the new areas by the dirty and paved high school.

Ugly and offensive reminders

of man's encroachment on what was beautiful land. And are these really

necessary? They were not 10 years ago, but are all too key now (due to

undoubtedly poor planning and a blinded outlook into the future).

These beds of pavement are

living testaments to the greed and corruption of not only Fayette County.

The people of southern Atlanta were so gung-ho in their development and

new-found money that they ripped into Fayette like hurricanes. So blinded

and need to expand and earn more money led to gaudy and repulsive subdivisions,

proud, cheap palaces with which they could flaunt their supposed money

while hiding the debilitating unhappiness, alcoholism and bankruptcy,

their hypocrisy and shameful shallowness.

Now there is no place left

for Fayette County to grow and those of us who are awakened enough to

value what is left of the green space seek to protect it from the green-eyed

and green-flanked monster. It is foolish to think that we should have

to pay for nature, for the place to rest and admire the old growth without

having to sit in the middle of a highway island or lie in the clay surrounding

the developing areas. This is our county, too.

Just because we do not have

a rabid and obsessive need to develop more and more land for people who

will look and act just like we do in the pathetic attempt at homogeneity

and a perfect (probably white depending on where you live) America does

not mean that we do not have a say. As long as I pay taxes and live in

this county, I have just as much a right to my life, liberty and therefore

property.

I do not seek to correct the

mistakes of the past, but I am hopeful for the future and the success

of more green areas in Fayette County and indeed in Fayetteville herself.

It is painful to see what was once a beautiful and historic county (at

least until the older and more original buildings were ripped out to make

room for places such as the jail and low-income apartments) drenched in

her own blood, the infamous red Georgia clay.

As the greed of the early nineties

and now the early aughts rampaged, Fayette lost entire pieces of her history

to cheap, gaudy housing and highways. Important reminders of the Civil

War, the endurance of her early leaders and settlers are now covered in

cement.

Granted, the protection of

green spaces would cost money, but would have an immense and protective

benefit. In a state known for old growth and an almost Arthurian history,

the green spaces will provide infinite reminders.

What is money compared to a

noble and admirable history? Are the taxpayers of Fayette so miserly that

they would deny the future its history? Its parks? Its open spaces in

which to run free and escape the hectic nature of everyday life? I should

hope not, but than again history dictates they are.

Dixie Eska-Thedra

Fayetteville