LET ME RANT PLEASE

At the risk of sounding like talk radio or a bad edition of "The Vent," I want to riff on the county where I live a little bit. Still the greatest county in all of Georgia.

If it seems your typical Fayette county citizen took the whole Bill Clinton debacle in stride, there is a simple reason for it. Forget about political defiance and arrogance some 700 miles away, we live in it every day with our local public "servants." How many years now have we put up with our board of education and county commissions simply doing what they want and at best apologizing later for what alot of us would get fired for at our jobs. The recent confession of the Fayette County Commissioners that they "blew it" by holding a closed door meeting is another good example.

They would have us believe they just decided to "fess up" about the illegal meeting due to their consciences. Of course, where were their consciences during the meeting? Must have gone to see "Shakespeare in Love" at the movie theater. Boy, I wish each time I got caught in a traffic violation, I could tell the Fayette County cop, "oops, sorry" Yet, I have had to pay for my mistakes every time. And you know I don't speed much anymore, its expensive. But it's funny how no repercussions only spur more arrogance. Witness the ever-grinning Bill Clinton. I am sure there is more to come.

Not to let our school board off easily, what is this "can't see the forest for the trees" syndrome? Our school board has become so ingrown you would think they were serving in rural Alabama. Make no mistake, Fayette County students rank among the highest in the state and even in the nation because of Fayette County parents. Yet, our leaders stand around and pat each other on the back all the while missing great opportunities to push our county education system to the next level. But we aren't going anywhere are we? We're left fighting about issues of importance that are to education what Monica Lewinsky is to literature. Spend some money, get one of the top ten people in the country to come into Fayette county and push it on top. What's so hard about that?

How many weeks and months now have we been reading the arguments in the paper concering police treatment of our teenagers. Its time to send this issue to the gas chamber, the electric chair, give it the lethal injection. If there is anything our teens don't need anything more of, it's freedom. You don't have to look any further than the upcoming prom nights to see youth avarice at its worst; $500 gowns, limos carrying 16 year olds, and hotels filling up with reservations for underage partying. Kids today sure aren't any worse than any other generation. They just get to freely, without risk of penalty or remorse get to have their fun. And if any of you teens out there read this, "You bet your bippy," I'm just jealous. Not that any of you ever heard of a "bippy."

So, just how small will the "MEWS" project eventually become before they approve it. It started as MEWS then was reduced to "scaled down mews," and now it is "mini mews." Sounds like somebody has discovered the antidote for Viagra. By the time construction is complete we are just going to have a city of "porta-potty"-style buildings that will serve only one customer at a time.

And what's with the row of trees on Hwy 74 that "hide" the new construction between Longhorn's and Pike's Nursery? When someone local builds, like a church for instance, they have to leave the trees so thick, Kate Moss couldn't get through, but that hypocrisy of a green belt across from WestPark Walk only reminds me of my uncle Mel who tries to use those 7 hairs he has left to hide his whole bald head.

Billy Murphy -- 4/2/99