The lawfirm of Collins and

Jones was awarded the Fairburn city contract for Municipal Court Judge

Monday night. Of the 18 solicited proposals, only three were received

back. Judge Antone L. Allison and Judge Ronald J. Freeman, Sr. withdrew

their proposal on September 25 leaving Donald J. Parrot, Sr. the only

other contender for the position.

Parrot quoted his monthly fee

range as $2,500 - $2,600 as opposed to Collins and Jones who set their

fee at $2,400 or $28,000 annually.

Availability also played a

deciding role. Parrot said he would be willing to hold court in the evening

each week and would be available by phone. Collins and Jones put 5 p.m.

as their weekly availability. As for warrants and first appearance hearings,

both firms were readily available. Collins and Jones were also available

for preliminary hearings and bond hearings. With a little more laid out

on the table, the contract went to Collins and Jones who will share the

duties of Municipal Court Judge and hold weekly court sessions on Thursday.

In other news, the City Council

approved a request for annexation by Curlene Loggins of 5786 Landrum Road.

Loggins requested Office-Industrial zoning for the 12.92 acres on the

north side of Landrum Road, which Councilman Harvey Melear calls "the

lesser of two evils."

Loggins stated in a letter

to the city that the recent death of her husband had made taking care

of the extra property "too much for me to take."

Barbara Allison of 5965 Landrum

Road offered to leave her phone number for the Council after making her

argument against commercial development at some length.

"I wanted to let you know

that once again I'm here at the City Council and once again opposing commercial

development. I've been in the area 15 years and have just seen it go down,

down down. I'll be honest with you. The next stop that I feel that I and

my family have to make is to go ahead and move out of Fulton County because

there won't be anything left."

Allison detailed the growth

around her neighborhood� and offered a suggestion. "The only alternative

that I can see is if any developments that you're aware of and recommend

that you buy up the whole street and if you could turn them into one piece

of community development and I would be open to that."

Cheree Johnson of 266 Malone

Circle was next and stated, "The City of Fairburn is growing and

changing but is this growth and change good or negative? Are citizens

of the community being benefited or being harmed?

"We need to revisit what

the citizens of the community want in the future of Fairburn. It's important

that you the council consider what the citizens want. You have the power

to rope us in. The zoning is an important issue. It affects everybody."

After considering the concerns

of those present, Melear sympathized with their viewpoint but made it

clear that " this piece of property is going to be turned into offices.

I hate to say that but that's what's going to happen down the road."

"By making this O/I, we

are keeping it limited to fewer cars and traffic than if we turned it

into commercial." Melear went on to explain. "One of two things

is going to happen. That's going to be either O/I because of it's location

or it's going to be commercial." With that said, the council voted

unanimously to rezone the land.