It is now time for the airing of grievances.

I've got a lot of bones to pick with some of you very important people. The office air conditioning is out and even if it were working I'd still be quite hot under the collar.

Anyway, on with the grievances:

1. Our esteemed governor, one Sonny Perdue. And throw in his spokesman Dan McLagan, too.

McLagan should know better than to speak out of both sides of his mouth. That didn't stop him Friday afternoon when I questioned him why Gov. Perdue signed a bill that makes the addresses and phone numbers of government employees secret.

"We want to give public employees the same rights as all other citizens of Georgia," McLagan explained.

He then argued, "I can't make an open records request for your address."

Think again, Dan. If you know the city where I live, there are multiple agencies that happen to have my address listed on a public document. All you have to do is go ask for it.

McLagan contends the bill was designed to keep unions and other big bad liberal groups were using the open records laws to fish for addresses to broadcast their propaganda. He recalled getting several union-oriented pieces of mail himself.

The solution? Shut off the public spigot entirely. Make all employees' addresses and phone numbers secret.

The effect on potentially exposing bad government is chilling, and none of the lawmakers who voted for this legislation care about that. Do you think a government employee who's contacted at his place of business will be free to speak about corruption, malfeasance or out-and-out stupidity in charge?

No way. They'll be more interested in keeping their jobs instead of being fired for using subversive language while on duty. I can see the dismissals coming now, the excuse being "conduct unbecoming" or the like.

Secrecy breeds bad government. Can we be too far from becoming New York, where they say the political machine controls every move, almost exclusively without regard for keeping the public informed?

That is a very scary thought indeed. ** Grievance number 2, with PTC Council and specifically Mayor Steve Brown.

This back-slapping, baby-kissing politics the mayor is playing in a production during each and every City Council meeting is quite ridiculous.

Guess what? The city doesn't pay you to give a plaque, certificate or trophy to the kiddies, no matter how good the math team or soccer team was.

This is nothing but political pandering at its highest level and it needs to STOP NOW. Believe it or not, the citizens pay you a meager salary (and elected you) to conduct city business at city meetings. Stick to that on your agenda, and let's start cutting the fat.

The result at Thursday night's council meeting was that a packed house, most all of whom cared about the Walgreens rezoning, sat through a half-hour of such recognitions and presentations. They shouldn't have been delayed half an hour just so the mayor can read proclamations and have his picture taken with folks in his effort to get re-elected.

While recognizing citizens for their contributions is a worthwhile effort, why not pick another day entirely to do so?

Perhaps one Sunday a month could be selected, since folks are usually dressed up for church anyway. That is a more appropriate time for folks to have their picture taken with the mayor.

If another day is selected, the program can be expanded, too. More time could be devoted to recognizing the good works, efforts and accolades earned by city residents.

Let's reserve the city council meetings for what they should be: conducting the people's business in a public forum. Save the political pandering for off-duty hours. City Council, this task falls to you to reign in your mayor. I don't much care how you do it. ** Grievance number 3 is with Fayette County assistant attorney Claude Goza.

I've never met Mr. Goza, but he has made quite the negative impression on my sister Sallie. Seems the county is asking for a permanent easement for a drainpipe project in her backyard. He paid her a visit and walked in the backyard with her to show what was needed and why.

Unfortunately, the house is on the market and allowing a permanent easement could possibly hurt the sale of the house, so my sister wants to wait until the house is sold.

She tried to explain that she supports what the county needs to do, and she noted that our family has lived around here quite a long time. She added: "You may even know my brother, who works for The Citizen."

That apparently sent Mr. Goza into a bit of a fit. He proceeded to rail on The Citizen in general, complaining about headlines, our editor, and so on.

My sister defends the paper, and me specifically, because, as she told me, she believes that I do the very best I can to portray the news accurately.

Well, Mr. Goza, if this were a news article, this objective reporter might be interested in what you have to say. I might have called you for some comment to include in the story.

But I trust my sister's account of the story. And this is my column, where I can be as one-sided as I want to be.

As a reporter, I've heard county officials complain before about our "sensational headlines" and Cal's various opinions. This confrontation with Mr. Goza sounded an awful lot like several such "talking-tos" I've gotten over the years from certain county officials, including Goza's boss, county attorney Bill McNally.

Here's a tip, fellas: Get over it.