If the contingent of Fayette Free Thought Society members and supporters of newly appointed Fayette Board of Education Chairman Leonard Presberg thought they needed to turn out in strength to protect him from harm — whether mental or physical — from rabid, Jesus-spouting Christians last week, they needn’t have bothered.

The few Christians who showed up at the Peachtree City Library Community Room to question Presberg on his beliefs and worldview were easily outnumbered, mostly silenced and maybe even intimidated by Presberg’s vocal platoon. Read More»

Some readers and online posters have made a case for the ultimate logic of small district voting in the aftermath of the court-forced change in the way Fayette voters choose their representatives to the Fayette County Board of Education.

I suspect those who support the change tend to support the NAACP’s lawsuit contention that a black minority has been denied the right to choose their own representative to the board because Fayette’s at-large voting for all five districts dilutes their voting power.

That’s a separate issue, so first let’s take the district arguments on their merits. Read More»

[ADDENDUM and update follows below this column.] — In the aftermath of last week’s momentous votes by the Fayette County Board of Education, I’m still puzzled.

First, the four members of the board in early November interviewed seven volunteers for the opening on the board created by the Sept. 22 death of Post 5 member Sam Tolbert.

By mid-November, they made their choice unanimously: Leonard Presberg.
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The curious and the curiouser: Enquiring minds want to know . . .

The Fayette County Board of Education has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in capitulating to the NAACP district voting lawsuit shakedown, a suit totally unwinnable by the Democrats on the face of it.

As a result of members Terri Smith, Janet Smola and Leonard Presberg, every Fayette County voter has just been 80 percent disenfranchised. Read More»

It was not for nothing that wags once said, “Lock up your women and children and bury your gold in a safe hiding place. The Georgia General Assembly is in session.”

I often wonder how bad would it be, really, if one year the legislature just simply did not convene. How bad could it be that all those lawyers and oh-so-helpful legislators would just stay home and confine their helpfulness to their immediate family?

Oh, well, one can dream. Read More»

It’s Christmas. Unabashedly, unashamedly, unapologetically Christmas.

And this is a Christmas column.

This is a season that lends itself to sentimentality. But beneath that layer, let’s look at the basic impulse that drives this season: Giving, because of love.

The basis of this season is love that is expressed in giving something that costs the giver but expects nothing in return.

That’s not natural. But that’s the essence of Christmas. Read More»

On the opposite page, Georgia’s governor, Nathan Deal, lays out his vision of the state’s most pressing need: More money for “transportation infrastructure.”

Peachtree City state Rep. Matt Ramsey also weighs in across the page on the need for less “backward looking” and more attention to those things that might improve the economy of our area. More about that later.

I agree with Gov. Deal about the need for upkeep and improvement of some parts of our transportation infrastructure. I disagree with his means to get there. Read More»

After incumbents get beat unexpectedly — at least unexpected by the incumbents — pundits usually feel compelled to pundificate on “what it all means.”

I will resist that temptation since I have no idea what “it all means.” I do have a few ideas about what some of it means. (You are free to assign whatever weight you believe appropriate to my pundificating — or my bloviating, as one soon-to-be ex-mayor dubbed my editorial efforts.)

A tip of the hat to old Tip O’Neill, who immortalized the truism, “All politics is local.”

Local. Not regional. Read More»

It’s personality election time in Peachtree City, as evidenced by the postings commenting on an otherwise rather bland letter by this year’s surviving challenger — Stephen Allen — who is trying to unseat incumbent Eric Imker.

One new anti-Allen and pro-Imker poster — Greenbelt — raised suspicions; a verification check validated the suspicion.

Thursday afternoon, I posted the following comment on TheCitizen.com:

“Greenbelt is committing identity fraud & election dirty tricks Read More»

Remember these two principles of folks with a conservative or libertarian world-view? “That government is best which governs least.” And “local government is the most representative because it is closest to the people it governs.”

And let’s throw in a third principle enunciated by the late Democrat Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill (a liberal, back before that word was replaced by “progressive”): “All politics is local.” Read More»