Tina Bavaro found her calling serving students with disabilities as a paraprofessional and a bus driver.
Years back, after being overworked in a day care center, she was looking for something new. Nearly 18 years later, that something new became her home.
“Everyone had told me your natural instinct is working with kids,” said Bavaro.
A friend suggested being a substitute teacher,...
Student journalists from McIntosh High and Starr’s Mill High took part in the Georgia Scholastic Press Association Spring Awards and workshops at the University of Georgia.
McIntosh High’s The Trail earned an overall Superior rating, along with five All-Georgia Awards and nine Superior awards or their reporting, photography, and design.
The All-Georgia Award is the highest honor that GSPA gives, representing the...
UPDATED TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Dog lovers, Fayette County officials heard your complaints about too-small kennels in the new animal shelter.
Fayette County officials got a month’s worth of howls over the past few days as dog lovers raised a ruckus about a brand-new animal shelter being opened with kennels too small to accommodate dogs much larger than a terrier.
The emails that started...
Fayetteville Police and Fire officers are investigating fires that took place overnight on a construction site adjacent to the Piedmont Fayette Hospital campus. Several pieces of construction equipment were burned, and arson is suspected.
Local, state, and federal law enforcement partners are working together to collect evidence and pursue leads.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the...
By John Tinker
Most of the best stories I’ve heard come forth from the South. The most memorable people I have met, by far, are Southerners.
I’m a Yankee and moved here by way of California. My youth seemed normal to me even though my father was a very successful television executive and my stepmother was, aside from Lucille Ball, television’s...
When I look back over my accomplishments and failures in life, two things seem to have made the most impact on determining success or failure: attitude and pace. Both of these factors are entirely manageable. Don’t get me wrong—external factors can impact how things turn out, but in many cases, external forces can be overcome with a positive attitude...
Tyrone police are looking for a suspect in an April 15 shooting and asking the public for help as well.
According to a statement released by the Tyrone Police Department, officers responded at about 4:40 a.m. Monday to a call about a possible shooting and found a victim who has indeed been shot. The victim was transported to an area...
NEWS ANALYSIS — Fayetteville’s City Council will be asked this coming Thursday to approve the Step One part of an annexation request for 178 acres directly across Ga. Highway 54 East from McCurry Park, one of the county’s major recreation areas.
And what’s coming there? The FCDA is not telling the public. It presumably is telling Fayetteville officials but likely...
I discussed the first crisis from Peachtree City’s April 4 city council meeting in my last column (see: https://thecitizen.com/2024/04/09/what-3-council-members-ripped-away-from-citizens-last-week/). Today, let’s talk about the excruciating experience of having to force certain members of the current city council to vote against a dangerous transportation project.
Mayor Kim Learnard keeps pushing her agenda to blot out any opposition to her in public,...
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Friends of the late Dave West are invited to celebrate the launch of his memoir, Kick the Tires and Light the Fires, on Sunday, April 28, at Sun City Peachtree Golf Club.
A former longtime resident of Fayette County, Mr. West was a naval aviator, FAA test pilot, and aviation consultant.
This memoir covers the life of Mr. West from his...
Katie Lowrie, Sharpsburg, has been licensed as a Eucharistic Minister in the Diocese of the Mid-South.
Under the direction of her Rector, She will serve as an assistant during services of Holy Communion at her church and is authorized to take the sacrament to home-bound members and patients in hospitals, nursing homes, and hospice facilities.
Mrs. Lowrie will serve at the Cathedral of Christ...
After being tabled at the last council meeting, Crescent Communities is again asking the Fayetteville City Council to annex and rezone 12 acres off Ga. Highway 54 East to allow construction of 273 apartments.
The units — with four of the five buildings slated to rise four stories high and the fifth to be three stories — will be accessed...
A new, paved multi-use path linking neighborhoods along Lester Road and Togwatee Parkway to shopping and healthcare destinations along Highway 54 West is now open in Fayetteville.
This new multi-use connects to the existing path paralleling Lester Road just east of Bennett’s Mill Middle School. It borders the school property, winding north and providing access to the Togwatee Village shopping...
Traffic signal improvements are underway at Highway 54 and Gingercake Road intersection,
The Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) announced it has begun work to improve traffic signal operations at the Highway 54 and Gingercake Road intersection. Officials say the project will take roughly three months to complete.
String pole lighting will be replaced with mast arms, and signal light timing will...
Check the new time for the regular second monthly meeting of the Peachtree City Council: 9:30 a.m.
The council plans on having earlier gavel times for the second monthly gathering for April 18, May 16 and June 20. The idea is to make a council meeting more convenient to more residents who for work or other reasons have not been...
Orthodox Easter is celebrated on Sunday, May 5, 2024. St. Christopher Church is located at 313 Dividend Drive, Suite 210, in Peachtree City, Ga., and all are invited to attend Holy Week services as shown below:
Isn’t it amazing how science and developing technology eventually trap us in a web of total dependency? How did we ever get along without our personal computers, e-mail accounts, and cell phones? It seems incredible that the Church survived almost two thousand years lacking these vital services.
Unfortunately, where grace abounds, much sin abounds. What should be valuable tools that...
Two middle schools and two high schools joined in the competition at the Georgia Technology Student Association (TSA) State Leadership Conference.
From March 13-16, students from around the state gathered for three days of intense competition and camaraderie. The competition showcased the talents of middle and high school students representing 182 schools from across the state.
Bennett’s Mill and Rising Starr...
Everybody's cuttin' Footloose! Whitewater High School Spec is proud to present "Footloose!" on Thursday, April 18, Friday, April 19, and Saturday, April 20, at 7:00 p.m., and Sunday, April 21, at 3:00.
Tickets are $10 in advance for students, $12 in advance for adults, and $15 cash only at the door. The website to order tickets is https://whitewaterspec.ludus.com/index.php. Whitewater High School...
Fayette County High scored two gold medals at the 2024 SkillsUSA State Leadership and Skills Conference.
Mason Alleyne won gold in Photography, and the duo of Junior Amoji and Mehek Virani won gold in Mechatronics.
The duo of Priah Ferguson and Sarah Woods placed 2nd in Podcast Production. The FCHS chapter was also awarded silver in the Chapter of Excellence program.
Alleyne,...
A trio of Fayette County Public Schools alums claimed the top prize at a prestigious invention competition. Representing Georgia Tech, McIntosh alums Jacqui and Caitlin van Zyl and Starr’s Mill grad Meg Weaver won the ACC InVenture Prize Finals with their pediatric epilepsy monitoring device.
Biomedical engineering student Caitlin van Zyl, her sister and mechanical engineering major Jacqui van Zyl, and Meg Weaver, a biomedical engineering...
A group of 20 students competed in the Fayette County Chamber of Commerce National Civics Bee with Bennett’s Mill Middle student Kaden Jawwaad winning 1st place.
The students qualified to compete in the district finals by writing essays addressing a problem in the community and their ideas to solve it. There are three rounds in the bee, with the first...
UPDATED APRIL 12: A spokesman for the Peachtree City Police Department stated April 11 that three Douglasville men had been taken into custody with the help of the Morrow Police Department: Kyren Dorsey, 19; Daquan Hardaman, 20; and Devin Jackson, 20. Police said the trio smashed windows and broke into 48 vehicles in two jurisdictions.
Here's the department's take on...
Victory bells are ringing for the Panthers. Starr’s Mill High engineering and computer science teacher Rob Bell was named the 2024 Fayette County Teacher of the Year at the annual awards ceremony on April 11.
In his acceptance speech, Bell shared his journey to the classroom that was filled with detours and dead end majors. He struggled to decide what...
In John Grisham’s novel, “A Time to Kill,” a father avenges a brutal attack on his daughter by shooting the men responsible in a courtroom. Attorney Jake Brigance sees the act as a desperate bid for justice and risks everything to defend his client’s life. As the trial heats up, a community is torn apart. Southside Theatre Guild, metro...
There are few experiences more thrilling than exploring Georgia’s rich outdoors.
And for many of those experiencing mental and physical disabilities, this would not have been a possibility until the creation of All Terrain Georgia.
All Terrain Georgia provides motorized all-terrain wheelchairs for free rentals at multiple parks throughout the state. All Terrain Georgia is an initiative of the Aimee Copeland...
Historical figures filled the school as North Fayette Elementary 3rd graders completed research projects including a bottle model.
Focusing on a number of key English Language Arts standards, combined with a celebration of Black History Month, the project saw students select a person to study, write a short essay, and a create a bottle model of them. Students were introduced...
State Court Judge Jason Thompson serves the community that raised him.
Thompson was raised in Fayetteville, graduating from Fayette County High in 1993. He met his wife, Municipal Court Judge Alisha Thompson, in law school, and they live in Fayetteville, with their three children attending Fayette County Public Schools. His parents still live here and run a business with his...
Zion Lester is a published author, and book one is just the beginning. Lester, a sophomore at Fayette County High, recently celebrated the release of a children’s book she co-wrote with her father, Terence.
“Zion Learns to See: Opening Our Eyes to Homelessness” tells the story of a young girl joining her dad at his work at a community center....
Barbara Ann Fowler, beloved mother, grandmother, and friend, passed away on April 1, 2024, in Peachtree City, Georgia. She was born on March 29, 1932, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
At the age of 92, Barbara leaves behind a legacy of love and kindness that will forever be cherished by those who knew her.
Barbara dedicated her career in administration for Georgia...
— School board’s plan cuts 70 school positions, 3 central office slots as ‘bureaucracy motors on’—
More details of the plan to reduce headcount came out at the April 8, 2024 School Board “Working Session.”
During a discussion about 2024-2025 school year allotments, it was announced that there would be a reduction of 73 positions with 70 of them coming from...
Nathaniel Miller and Nitish Ragavendra Sudhakar of McIntosh and Rush Maples of Starr’s Mill have been named 2024 Georgia Scholars by the Georgia Department of Education.
The three students are among 173 graduating seniors across the state to earn the distinction. The Georgia Department of Education identifies and honors high school seniors who have achieved excellence in school and community...
The Peachtree City Police Department displayed this week on social media some of its recent confiscations from a significant drug arrest late last month.
It was a March 21 afternoon traffic stop on a pickup truck simply for a seat belt violation. The truck was spotted on Hwy. 74 near Paschall Road and finally pulled over on Huddleston Road near...
Wellspring Living, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting those at risk or victimized by sexual exploitation, is marking the 20th anniversary of the Wellspring Treasures retail stores. The anniversary will be marked by a special celebration event at the Peachtree City store on Saturday, April 13th at 9:00 a.m.
Since the first store opened two decades ago, the Wellspring...
