Dear Mr. Editor: Please accept this response, albeit delayed, to an article published in (an attached article of the Douglas County Sentinel) “Worthan Robinson Exchange Heated Words At Meeting,” on page A5, dated Wednesday, April 17, 2013. As a participant at the meeting and after reading it, twice, one was still left with amazement at the loss of the meeting’s saliency and depth. For example, on the topic of Opportunity Zone, please be commended on the accuracy of the general summary that an aspect of the opposing issue was about the need to “declare an area slum AND blight” in order to …

By Chan Weeks, Keep Douglasville Beautiful Keep Douglasville Beautiful would like to thank all the residents who brought their old, unwanted, worn out and broken items to our Great American Cleanup Spring Recycling Event held this past Saturday, April 13. We collected right at 6,000 pounds of electronics and scrap metal for recycling with our great partner, N.W. Georgia Recycling! 105 televisions and computer monitors were also saved from the landfill thanks to Metal Recycling Services. This was KDB's first event to collect shoes and wow did we! 167 pairs of shoes were collected for reuse all…

Dear Editor: It is clear from the last minute indictment, on the eve of the statute of limitations, that Fulton County does not have a case against the educators who were accused of cheating. The Fulton County District Attorney's office, known for "indicting a ham sandwich" less than a week after the accused has been arrested, has taken four years to figure out what charges to file against the Atlanta Public School educators. More than two Senior Assistant District attorneys have fled after being assigned to the case against the APS educators. With three attorneys, a team of investigators, …

Letter to the Editor There has been a recent push to increase the size of the hotel/motel tax in Douglas County from five to eight percent. I was the only member of the Douglas County delegation to vote against it. Throughout the campaign for my seat last year, I made it clear to every voter, and now constituent that I would not support any tax increases. I intend to keep my word, which is why I voted against this tax. I placed fiscal restraint and responsibility as the cornerstones of my campaign. In fact, the first bill that I sponsored as a member of the Legislature was HB 148 - the Tax …

Dear Editor, For those of us who are elected leaders, our primary function is to govern – a public trust to do what is right. Yet, governance does not work when 2 things are present: conflict of interest or concentration of power. As an educator, I emphasize this with my college seniors when we are studying establishing board of directors at public companies. The recent action by the Douglas County Board of Commissioners (BOC) would be a perfect case study of when one of those principles are in effect, poor decisions can occur, i.e. concentration of power or the downside of partisanship. All …

To: Mayor Persons, City of Douglasville Councilmembers, Douglas County Sentinel, Douglasville Patch, Bill Osborne From: Darren Bak Re: Mayor and City Council Pay Date: February 5, 2013 I would like to provide some research and commentary in light of the recent articles in the Douglas County Sentinel and Douglasville City Council discussions surrounding the Grand Jury and its recommendation to change the way the City Council and Mayor are paid. First, let’s review a snapshot of the total compensation package for the Mayor and Councilmembers.  Current Pay Structure (2012)   Meeting Pay Expense …

By Chan Weeks, Keep Douglasville Beautiful Executive Director I would like to thank everyone who participated in this year’s twenty-third annual Christmas tree recycling event, “Bring One for the Chipper” this past Saturday, Jan. 5 at the Home Depot. Keep Douglasville Beautiful and the City of Douglasville sponsored the event locally. The statewide sponsors included the Keep Georgia Beautiful Foundation, Home Depot, WXIA-TV, the Davey Tree Expert Company, and Earth911.com.  By recycling your Christmas tree, you helped to protect and enhance our environment. Our community collected more than …

Letter to the Editor – On behalf of the annual Hungry Bowl Pet Food Drive, I would like to this opportunity to thank members of our local community for donating to this year’s drive. I also want to thank the sites that served as drop off sites for donations. Those sites were: Mr. Wes Talon, Director, Douglas County Communications & Community Relations, Douglas County Courthouse, Dr. Justin Verner, Sweetwater Creek Animal Hospital, Dr. Rosemarie Russo, D.C., Douglasville Wellness & Chiropractic, Janice Thompson’s State Farm Agency and Westside Animal Emergency Clinic. I am also thankful to our…

Alcohol use among teens is on the rise. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, some parents wonder whether allowing their children to drink in the home will help them develop an appropriate relationship with alcohol. According to research this does not appear to be the case. In a study of 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, researchers observed that students whose parents allowed them to drink at home and/or provided them with alcohol experienced the steepest escalation in drinking (Komro et al., 2007). Other studies suggest that adolescents who are allowed to drink at …

The following was an address that I recently posted to my friends on Facebook, many of whom wished it to be shared with a wider audience. I have reproduced it here in its entirety. To all my Facebook friends (especially my republican/conservative friends): I know that I am going out on a very long limb with this statement but I felt that something must be said about our state of dialogue these days. I truly appreciate your political enthusiasm and participation throughout this election season and your motivation to stay involved in the political process. It is always enriching to share a …

Editor's note: Kim Porter graduated from Lithia Springs High School in 1996 and her husband graduated from Alexander in the same year. On Sunday, Kim and her family met Michelle Obama. Here is the letter she wrote Douglasville Patch: From Kim's first letter: My husband is in the U.S. Air Force and is currently posted in Korea for one year and we stayed behind in the United Kingdom. We have lived here since 2004. From Kim's newest letter: It was truly a great experience meeting the First Lady. My girls, Hannah, Caitlin and Kayleigh Porter, absolutely loved it. While waiting for the First Lady …

Editor's note: Kim Porter graduated from Lithia Springs High School in 1996 and her husband graduated from Alexander in the same year. Today their children will get to go to a U.S. Ambassadors house as part of Michelle Obama's Let's Move program and get to meet Olympians. On Sunday, Kim will get to meet Michelle Obama. She has promised Douglasville Patch to share her photos in the upcoming days. Here is the letter she wrote Patch: My husband is in the U.S. Air Force and is currently posted in Korea for one year and we stayed behind in the United Kingdom. We have lived here since 2004. I …

Somewhere between 8 and 8:15 p.m., a lighting strike hit a tree outside our home in Douglas County and sadly, our 11-year-old dog Fluffy was killed. She was asleep in her doghouse when she was killed. The Douglas County Fire Department was called about 8:30 due to the smoke around the tree. No one inside the home was injured but we were all shaken up by the loss. "We are deeply saddened by the loss of our sweet 11-year-old Fluffy. She was our best friend and we will miss her always. Her barking through the night and making us chase her through the neighborhood is something we took for granted…

Douglas County Commissioner Kelly Robinson today released the following  letter in response to continued failure by the Douglas County Board of Commissioners to address vote “suppression” during the redistricting process. As stated during Douglas County’s public hearing in September 2011, the process of redistricting involving drawing commission, legislative and congressional lines is sensitive. The discussion focuses on race classification of “whites and blacks”. Elected officials don’t have the luxury of being emotional about a topic that is core to how money through appropriations moves …

(Editor's note: Robinson announced a press conference is scheduled for Friday, to announce that a lawsuit is being filed in federal court inWashington, D.C. to request the U.S. Department of Justice to deny approval of a redistricting map adopted by the Douglas County Board of Commissioners. The following is the announcement sent out by the Commissioner.)In recent years, it has been published that Douglas County has been found guilty of election violations. But, more importantly, it is with the current 2012 election cycle where it is claimed violations have grown in severity. There are 3 core…

Editor's Note: Douglas County Board of Commissioner Kelly Robinson today released the following statement in response to his fellow Board of Commissioners recent four-to-one decision to declare parts of the only black commission district as a “slum.” Simply, the GOP cat is out of the exploitative bag. The very first decision under the proposed re-districting map that has not been pre-cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice is to declare parts of the only majority black district as a “slum” in the name of economic development. It’s not the fact that District 2 which is the eastern wall of …

This is an URGENT plea to anyone who can help by either adopting or rescuing a furbaby from the Douglas County Animal Shelter. Please note that without some intervention before 5 p.m. Thursday many furbabies are at risk to be "euthanized" because of limited space. No one wants this, but currently there are close to 200 dogs, puppies, cats, and kittens at the shelter being doubled up wherever possible. These animals are there through no fault of their own, but they will pay the ultimate price if not re-homed by Friday.  Please...if you have considered adding a new furbaby to your family, …

(Editor's note: Rhett Pyrdum was born and raised in Douglas County. He graduated from Alexander High School and is employed with the Manheim auto group as a BMW representative. He is a student at the University of West Georgia, studying accounting.) Several years ago, I made a personal decision to pursue physical fitness as an ongoing personal goal in life and as a means to better myself and to continue the physical fitness I had achieved by participation in sports while in high school. As a result of my long term interest in fitness and my goal to always strive to challenge myself, I have …

Alcohol use among teens is on the rise. According to the Center for Disease Control, most youth who drink do so to the point of intoxication, typically on multiple occasions. This is known as binge drinking (defined as having five or more drinks on a single occasion). Just last year a 16-year-old high school female from Douglas County was killed in an alcohol-related car crash, where four people were arrested. Three of the four individuals were teenagers, and adults were charged with allegedly selling liquor to the minors. Another Douglas County related incident occurred at a house party …

Thank you to all who decided to participate in a worth while cause to help promote the shelter animals and find them a home. A special thank you to Helping Prevent Homeless Pets (Shannon Frazier Edinger), Rebekah Mattox, Larry Wade, Lisa Levesque, Carl Pyrdum and Donna Veatel all of Douglas County who stepped in to sponsor animals during this campaign. On behalf of Douglas County Animal Shelter, Tim Hussey also sponsored animals during this time period. In addition, Douglas County citizens, co-workers and family members of the above stepped up to participate.      The campaign started on Dec…