The parking situation at McIntosh High School is bad and doesn't promise

to get any better until Christmas, school officials say.

Continued construction on a new physical education facility has permanently

deleted 80 parking spaces from the Walt Banks Road campus. Another 20 spaces

were lost to construction on the school's cafeteria. The project is

scheduled for completion in December, said Principal Tracie Fleming.

Until then, only seniors and a few select underclassmen who need a car are

being allowed to park on campus, where spaces are at a premium, Fleming said.

A number of teachers have permission to park at Holy Trinity Catholic Church

next door but students are forbidden to park there, Fleming said.

The majority of the junior class is flat out of luck, unless they want to

drive a golf cart.

Hundreds of McIntosh students are again tooling to campus each morning in

the motorized carts, thanks to a state law changed by the Legislature last

spring that restores driving privileges to 15-year-olds.

The school's parking area designated especially for golf carts appears

overflowing, but administrators are carving out space on the grass for more,

Fleming said.

One problem, Fleming said, is that many students have balked at paying the

$40 permit fee to park golf carts on campus even though there is room.

That, plus the car parking crunch, has led many students to park on Prime

Point, which runs behind the school's stadium alongside Ga. Highway

54.

Fleming said there is irony in students parking along Prime Point and risking

a $45 parking ticket when they could park on campus by purchasing a $40 permit.

"But that's not an issue for us because it's off campus," Fleming

said. "There's nothing we can do about it because the street is

basically a street and they can park there."

The mass of cars mingled with golf carts parked up and down Prime Point

was a problem the first few days of school in August, said Police Chief James

Murray.

"The first couple of weeks of school we were called over there and

some of the vehicles were parked illegally," said Murray. "So we

give them a chance."

The city installed "No Parking" signs along the south side of

Prime Point and handed out tickets to a number of students who were blocking

driveways or fire hydrants, Murray said.

Students seem to understand they can't park in the parking lots reserved

for the professional offices and businesses along the winding road, he said.

"We're trying to give everybody the benefit of the doubt," Murray

said. "As long as the kids aren't parking along hydrants, we're

OK."

Murray said patrol officers keep a sharp eye on the situation each morning

and afternoon, and students have already established a routine.

"It's the same people parking in the same spots every day," said

Murray. "And the students always seem to try to be good at where they

park."