01.03
Back in November the Walker Chamber of Commerce announced the winners for its 2009 Best of Walker contest. In the spirit of that lopsided vote, the Underground presents its own contest for the Worst of Walker County 2009.
Like the Chamber’s contest, this will focus mostly on LaFayette, Rock Spring, and Chickamauga since nobody cares about Lookout Mtn. and everybody in Rossville apparently thinks they live in Catoosa County. Also like the Chamber’s contest, you can vote as often as you like, the 
results are based on nothing scientific, and some of the questions don’t fit into the category we put them in.
This contest differs from the Chamber vote in that we’re welcoming your comments as to why you voted the way you did – you can vote in the comments below this post or via e-mail to lu@cityoflafayettega.com. We’ll run all the results in a few days, or maybe a few weeks depending on the number of comments. If you e-mail your vote we’ll only share comments anonymously. If you think of other categories that should be included feel free to suggest them. (Of course we reserve the right to add our own comments (and votes) to each category.)
Don’t just say who’s worst, say why – and be creative in your reasons. If you just send in a name we’re less likely to care about your vote than we are if you send a few sentences explaining who you chose and why.
Here are the categories for 2009’s Worst of Walker County:
- BUSINESS & INDUSTRY
Manufacturer most likely to close during 2010
Retailer most likely to close during 2010
Lamest business concept
Worst customer service
Worst billboard or ad campaign
Most inconvenient business hours
Ugliest business Web site
- RESTAURANTS & RECREATION
Dirtiest restaurant
Worst restaurant service
Blandest restaurant menu
Hotel you’d least like to stay in
Most disappointing public event
Lamest tourist attraction
- GOVERNMENT
Elected leader most in need of retirement
Unelected leader most in need of retirement
Biggest waste of government money
Most business unfriendly city
Poorest run government agency
Most ineffective law enforcement department
Ugliest government Web site
- Please limit voting in the above category to local government officials and agencies only, including (but not limited to) locally elected state officials. For example: a state legislator would qualify for voting, but the governor would not.
- SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, & NURSING HOMES
Worst church
Worst school
Worst sports team
Nursing home you’d least want your family to abandon you in
- COMMUNITIES
Ugliest neighborhood
Tackiest subdivision
Best place to get murdered
Best place to buy (illegal) drugs
Worst condition public road
Most dangerous intersection
This year’s winners will receive nothing except disdain and merciless teasing.
Begin your comments now.
The mayorand the city manager should go. The golf course is a waste of our tax dollars and should be considered as theft. LaFayette “city officals” are not up for new business unless it meets good ole boy standards. The entire city council should be recalled and made to pay for their self serving decisions. The DTF is a joke and should be investigated. When they break the law, instead of going to jail they just get demoted.
DTF..?
— The LaFayette Underground
I have lived as far north as New York, as far west as Arizona, as far south as Florida and many places in between and never have I lived in a town that was as anti growth and anti business as LaFayette,Ga. Count the empty buildings and the number of times a prospective new business has been turned away because the mayor and city council didn’t think it would meet the approval of the “good ole boys”. The city government looks a lot like Washington,DC. They really believe they know what’s best for the community and the decisions to regulate business is probably done behind closed doors, long before the council meetings take place. It’s time for a change before the tumbleweeds start blowing down main street.
It looks like the tumbleweeds have started to blow. El Cancun closed its doors. The previous owner, Edel Lopez, had asked the city council for a beer and wine license to attempt to increase business and was turned down. Since then he has returned to Mexico. The new owner simply didn’t have enough customers and closed the doors. Would having a beer and wine license been enough to stay open? Maybe, maybe not, but it would have at least shown an effort by the council to help a business. How long before someone becomes worried enough to take action? Don’t hold your breath.
This truly irritates… El Cancun was one of the county’s BEST restaurants – always had good quick service and good food for a better price than Don Lolo. I haven’t been in Don Lolo for over a year because they won’t wait on you unless you’re somebody’s friend. I was working on a good review of El Cancun for the site soon, but there’s never enough time.. Back to Taco Bell for me I suppose. Another one bits the dust. Just wait until Roper closes because the city is jerking them around. (New post about that coming soon.)
— The LaFayette Underground
A message to the mayor and city council, did you happen to notice what can happen to politicians when they fail to hear the people,i.e. Massachusetts voters
The race in MA (and the direction of congress in general) had actual media coverage. The City of LaFayette has little to no media outside WQCH and the Underground, neither of which add up to much. (The Messenger has apparently given up covering Walker County entirely, outside of publishing the occasional press release.) It also doesn’t help that a majority of people in the city are either illiterate or FISDOPS who don’t care what happens as long as nobody opens a store with bright lights across the street from their home.
— The LaFayette Underground
I thought the person in the Economic Development director’s position was responsible for promoting business growth in our city. What has she done since she has been in this position to help us? If you ask me, I think she doesn’t have a clue what her job is. Let’s not forget her while our streets are covered in tumbleweeds.
I don’t know the area well enough to vote for all of the categories, but I can vote on a few.
As far as worst customer service…my worst experience with customer service in town is at Twins. We waited for twenty minutes before someone even came over to take our drink order. This was not because they were busy either…probably five other people in the restaurant on a week day, and the two servers were sitting around not doing anything. They didn’t apologize for their ridiculousness either.
Most inconvenient business hours will have to be a tie among many in town, including the banks and the post office, most of the little businesses and most of the locally owned speciality shops. You can’t only be open while people are at work, thus they cannot come and shop at your store. If you don’t have consistent hours, you lose business to Walmart that has regular and long hours.
Ugliest business website will probably have to go to the city. Maybe if they took some of the money they put into the golf course and put it into their website it would look better, and maybe it looked better they could provide more information and perhaps eventually provide more everything, other than the golf course and beer at the golf course. I think we’ve enough of that.
Best place to buy drugs is probably that pretend community center thing on Chattanooga St. They offer free meals apparently but I also think they provide a central location to sell illegal wares and products. While they might just be misunderstood, they certainly don’t reach out to anybody else or explain what they are about. When someone I know recently tried to look in the windows he was chased away. Apparently he was the wrong color (white) to be hanging out around there. Maybe they were afraid he was an ACORN whistleblower.
Manufacturer most likely to close in 2010, thanks to the city and their ridiculousness, is probably Roper. All for that bit of money they make off the electricity. They’ll get rid of all of those jobs just so they can have the money to help supplement their coffers to pay for their beloved golf course. What business does a city council have in running a golf course anyway? Especially one that doesn’t make any money for the city and its residence but instead loses money? Then charges little children $4 to swim in the pool that is meant to be for the community? Doesn’t anyone else see that it is completely ridiculous?
Worst church…this is either going to be First Baptist or Oakwood. Both churches make a ton of money, Oakwood of course a ton more, but neither church hardly offers any community outreach. Oakwood instead of helping their own church members, sends them to the Care Mission whose budget is a tiny percentage of what Oakwood spends. If you can’t help your own church members or attendees, what the heck are you doing? First Baptist is pretty much the same way with this. Their community outreach is pretty poor as a church as a whole. Their youth group doesn’t reach out to anybody but the richer white kids that already attend the church, they take stupid “missions” trips to sing in the Capitol and to Six Flags. Where are the local missions? And why doesn’t a church as big as First Baptist not have a real children’s church?
Worst condition city roads….have you ever driven through Linwood? I vote for every street in Linwood.
Most disappointing event…the christmas lights in the park…goodness crap. They spent that much money on that?! It was okay to go to see with the kids, they ran around and looked at the lights, but if they meant to draw in tourist with it what were they smoking or drinking when they planned that?
I must say after reading all these comments, I am not sure which way you are leaning.
The good ole boys WERE Fred Henry, H C Derrick, Joe Stock, Ralph Jones, Jim Prestwood, the Abneys, Chapmans, and many others. These people brought the airport, Roper, Bluebird, the city lake, first apartments, convenience store, sewage, donated land and recruited dentists and doctors with their own sweat and money to LaFayette. This… they did not have to do, just like Neal Florence, they could have left at anytime and set their businesses up a little north and came out a whole lot better! They truly cared about bettering the town and its citizens. It appears to me the problem with LaFayette is the lack of good ole boys, it doesn’t appear there is any recruiting or looking to the future. These businesses in LaFayette started failing before this wrecked economy with no replacements. All I see is empty buildings and lots all thru LaFayette. You should spend your money in the township, that means if a screw is $.05 higher at the local hardware…trade local and yes these are the businesses that are open during work hours, they are also the businesses that can provide onsite service. Support your local stores and departments, this is the first step in being a good citizen…
To KTB: I am not sure why you got such bad service at Twins, but I can tell you this, Key came from Greece here, he learned English reading the newspaper, he studied to become a law abiding citizen, he worked 15 hour days, 7 days a week to become a business owner in a citizen forgotten town, he sent his children to public schools and has kept his money in LaFayette, Georgia.
Sincerely from a person who has been gone for 20 yrs, a taxpayer still and a little less informed than many of you,
Joy Prestwood Belcher
drug task force. when they break the law all they get is demoted.
Joy, I am not sure why the service as so bad either. It was very disappointing. Maybe the boss wasn’t there…but the employees certainly didn’t care…
They WERE good ol’ boys, back when good ol’ boys were actually good. Today’s crop of ol’ boys aren’t any good at all. Their fathers had moral standards and cared about others, but the only thing they passed on to most of their children is money and a family name. If anyone on today’s city council (or in Walker Co. government) was half the man Fred Henry was we’d be living in a different community.
Not sure why Neal Florence keeps his drug store open – he obviously doesn’t do it out of a love for the city. Must be making more money than you’d think just by looking at the place from outside…
Definitely support local businesses, especially well run ones. The half-@SS places that don’t try and have hand-written misspelled signs and inconsistent business hours and business plans that don’t make sense can all go drop dead somewhere, but the nice ones need and deserve our patronage. I’ve got a future posting about half done that discusses local small businesses and why their owners need to stop selling out to big out of state companies.
One reason why so many buildings and lots are vacant is because the city makes it hard as hell to renovate or change them. Endless paperwork and red tape, building codes that change more often than the price of beer at the golf course, and a crew of building inspectors who aren’t satisfied unless you’re one of their friends or accidentally leave cash laying around. Between that and landlords/sellers who want unreasonable amounts of money, it’s cheaper to buy a piece of empty land and build a building from scratch than to occupy something originally built for a different purpose.
Thanks for your readership and comments.
— The LaFayette Underground —
maybe if some you inbreds came and actually played golf you would’nt bitch so much
If the 90% of LaFayette that never plays golf benefitted from the city’s largesse we’d have no room to complain. As it is, this is just a perk for the city’s residents who can most afford it, being paid for by the city’s residents who can least afford it. There would be nothing to say if they charged market rates for the golf course and it didn’t cost the city more than it brings in. You can’t tell me the city leaders, retired lawyers, and preachers who make up most of the golf course’s customers can’t afford to pay two or three times as much for a round of golf – but I can point out 1,500 people in LaFayette who can barely pay their monthly utility bills because of how much extra electricity costs due to the golf course. I can point out 1,200 Roper employees who’d much rather keep their jobs than provide cheap golf and discounted office space for the city’s wealthiest 5%.
We may be inbred, but we can at least spell and use punctuation. We don’t have time to play golf, we’re too pissed off about what the city’s become while its leaders focus on their game.
– The LaFayette Underground
the spelling and wording was on purpose , get it.
The cost for a round of golf will remain the same so there will be no strain on the wallets of the rich and famous. We can all rest easier knowing that our garbage trucks will not get lost and can locate piles of debris due to the GPS in the trucks. We can sit on pins and needles waiting to see if Ropers parent company, GE, will pull out of town due to high electric bills. And I know we are all looking forward to paying $2.00 more a month on our water starting April 1st. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy don’t it.
If this town is so bad then you should move to Rossville. It is a much better place with booming business.
It’s not a matter of LaFayette being so bad. It’s a great small town with a great deal of potential and a city government that is doing NOTHING to stimulate business or growth of any kind. It’s really sad to see a town like this going down the toilet because of a few citizens with a lot of money and a stone age mentality who are dictating policy.
The worst in recreation should go to Queen city lake. most of the land around it is privately owned and what the city owns is off limits. theres really only one place to do anything at and thats where you put boats. don’t own a boat? too bad. the fishing sucks even if you have a boat. it’s never been cleaned up and if theres a drought they take water for the golf course. how much did we pay for that fence so we couldnt fish on the dam anymore? our taxes pay for it but we get nothing out of it.
You can swim and play where the boat ramp is – if you don’t mind trash, glass, rocks, and abandoned tires. A lot of families went out there this summer with their kids because pool admission went up to $4 a head, but it’s not a great place for kids because of the dangerous garbage and all the creepy people there who sit in their cars waiting on… drug deals? After-school sex with other students? Something.. Not the best place for women or kids to go alone.
The stretch of land by the ramp could make a nice recreational area (the city Web site claims it as one) if they’d put up some signage, pick up the trash, fix the road, install a couple of trash cans (maybe a BBQ grill) and send officers of the LPD out to cut down on the drug deals and public sexual acts. But that won’t happen because then we’d have people swimming on the FiSDOP’s private lake, which is the last thing they want.
We could have a world-class lakefront recreational facility where people could relax, swim, and fish for free IF the city was willing to set it up, and the overall costs would probably be less than $20,000 initially and a few hundred bucks a month to maintain. A whole lot cheaper and infinitely more useful (especially for families) than any golf course or softball complex. Makes too much sense to ever happen though.
– The LaFayette Underground
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY
Manufacturer most likely to close during 2010: Shaw…Lafayette branch
Retailer most likely to close during 2010: Is Bi-Lo considered a retailer? They are on their way out.
Lamest business concept: The Kidz playground…it seems like a great idea in theory, but it seems a little limited at this point.
Worst customer service: TIE: Don Lolo. Any place that greets me by saying, “Wow, Jessica! Why did you get so fat!?” is not okay by me.
Susie’s, because once I got banned from there because I contested the cost of a baked potato/BLT combo, which said $2.99 on the menu. “That’s supposed to be marked out,” the lady told me. When I expressed that I didn’t see how that was my problem and I would have gotten something else if that was going to wind up being the same price as everything else, I was told to never return again. I didn’t for several years, and when I went back, there was a lady who looked like she had been to a casting call for disgruntled haggard waitress and never got out of character. She made us wait on our food for 45 minutes, then slammed cold food down on the table, all not what we ordered, and told us to “deal with it”.
Worst billboard or ad campaign: hmm….
Most inconvenient business hours: Is Lulu’s in Walker County? Because no matter what time I go there, it’s closed. A close second would be Lafayette After Hours. They stay open REAL late…until about 7:00 pm.
Ugliest business Web site: Jenkins Chrystler Jeep Dodge is pretty ugly, since when you click it, it just goes to a standard Godaddy page.
RESTAURANTS & RECREATION
Dirtiest restaurant: Depends on the day…The Other Mexican restaurant that’s not Don Lolo or El Cancun (RIP!), Arby’s Taco Bell….
Worst restaurant service: See above comment on worst customer service.
Blandest restaurant menu: Arby’s
Hotel you’d least like to stay in: Um, Pine Motel for sure!
Most disappointing public event: The Christmas Parade
Lamest tourist attraction: The Marsh House. They are always renovating it, and it always looks like crap! And no, I’ve never been in it because it’s never open.
GOVERNMENT
Elected leader most in need of retirement: Neal Florence. I just finished watching “The Wire” and was in awe of Mayor Tommy Carcetti and what he was trying to do for the City of Baltimore. I often wondered aloud, “Does Neal Florence ever try to do any of this stuff? The only things I’ve seen him do are dip ice cream and wear a pot on his head pretending to be Johnny Appleseed!” Maybe if we had someone who actually took pride in being a mayor and making changes for the better, Lafayette could be much improved upon.
Unelected leader most in need of retirement: Hmm, all of them?
Biggest waste of government money: From the looks of the Theresa Parker case, I’d say the police department. Not everyone, but you know what I mean.
Most business unfriendly city: Lafayette…even a delicious place like El Cancun can’t survive, while all of the crappy businesses thrive.
Poorest run government agency: ….
Most ineffective law enforcement department: City of Lafayette?
Ugliest government Web site: City of Lafayette dot org
Please limit voting in the above category to local government officials and agencies only, including (but not limited to) locally elected state officials. For example: a state legislator would qualify for voting, but the governor would not.
SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, & NURSING HOMES
Worst church: TIE: I’ve visited both of these, not sure if they are in Walker County or not, but the Cowboy Church and Oakwood Baptist Church. I have written blogs about both of these because I found it baffling that places like this existed. At the Cowboy Church, they were talking about the Holy Land of Texas and were crying when they started talking about how Jesus was the greatest cowboy to ever live. At Oakwood, it was obvious how much money they had at their disposal, and yet the whole sermon was about giving to the church. They had everyone take out their wallets and pass them to someone next to you, and then that person was to deem how much money to take out of your wallet and add to the collection plate. They were determined they were going to raise FOUR MILLION DOLLARS that morning. Somehow, I don’t really see Jesus approving of either of these places.
Worst school: Lafayette Middle School/Prison
Worst sports team: Lafayette High School Football, at least when I went there.
Nursing home you’d least want your family to abandon you in: Either Shepherd Hills or Lafayette Nursing Home; both smell like pee and are depressing.
COMMUNITIES
Ugliest neighborhood: Anywhere in Lynnwood.
Tackiest subdivision: Fieldstone Farms? The houses are nice but they’re too close together.
Best place to get murdered: Sam Parker’s yard
Best place to buy (illegal) drugs: Probably the stoop of building E in Carriage Hill apartments.
Worst condition public road: hmm, there are quite a few
Most dangerous intersection: See above comment.
Can I just say that I admire on multiple fronts whoever is doing this website? I love the website design, and I’m proud that whoever is taking a stand like this can at least spell and looks to have been around the blogging block before. This looks infinitely more professional than the actual City of Lafayette website. Kudos. If I can do anything to contribute, please let me know!
wow , do you like anything?
james is either a FISDOP or just someone who likes to start trouble I think.
“Sam Parker’s yard”. Love it!
To KTB-
Your facts about First Baptist LaFayette youth group are a bit off. First of all, the “mission” trips you mentioned about going to Six Flags and the Capital to sing are actually “choir tours” in which the youth choir practices all year to spend a few days traveling to different locations to sing at different churches. They might visit Six Flags or water parks along the way, but this is just some extra fun and fellowship built-in the trip for the youth. The youth group goes on a yearly mission trip with an organization called Group Work Camps; I believe this year will make the tenth year of this trip. Each year any where from 15 to 30 youth and adults go to a location in which they spend a week working in a group of 5-6 other youth and adults from other churches around the county to repair the home of someone less fortunate. This is a true mission opportunity in which the participants go to make a positive change and come back changed themselves. The youth group is anything but “richer white kids that already attend the church.” There has been such growth in the youth group in the past 10 years that they now have separate high school and middle school sessions; they have also had to add on to the Annex in which they meet. Either the city is producing more “richer white kids” or FBC is actually reaching out into the community to attract more youth who aren’t “rich” or members of the church to have so many youth enter the Annex doors each Wednesday nigth. I challenge you to walk into the Annex on any give Wednesday night. Ask any youth if he or she is a member or how he or she found out about the youth group at FBC. I would be willing to bet that less than 25% of the students there are members themselves or their parents are members. I challenge you to walk through the doors of that building and not leave thinking that FBC has a fantastic youth group which is actively reaching out into this community.
Jebbica-
What was it exactly that you based you “worst school” vote on? Did you vote for LaFayette Middle because of the drastic decrease in students with more than 15 days absent from 35% of the student population in 2002-2003 to 6% during last school year? Sounds like 94% of the student population spent at least 165 days at LMS last school year or prison as you call it. Was it because of the drastic increase in CRCT scores in the last 6 years? Reading, Language Arts, and Math scores have shown a steady increase. LMS has also beat the state, system, Rossville Middle and Chatt. Valley Middle in all subjects tested on the CRCT last school year except for Science in which Chatt. Valley out scored them. Keep in mind that all the standards in each subject have been revamped over the past 5 years by the state; you might be shocked at what 8th graders learn in math now. Check the school improvement trends (http://www.walkerschools.org/lms/) before you base your vote on your person past experience. The data says LMS is first rather than worst.
We was thinking that maybe some folks just don’t appreciate the great city of Lafayette. Back when we was kids we always loved Lafayette and all it had to offer. That Lafayette Middle School don’t look like no prison to us. You see, the Wintes’ family is no stranger to being incarcerated. Uncle Heywood was arrested by Ralph Hill for running white lightning. But we digress. We was thinking that FBC in Lafayette seemed like an alright church even if they didn’t give the folks on here money and food like they was asking for. It seems to us like a lot of the roads around here could be fixed. For example we was riding down the road the other day and hit a pothole. After hitting said pothole our best bird dog flew out the back of the truck and hit one of them boys that like to walk around with a flat cap and low britches right in the forehed. To conclude, we feel like Walker County is a fine place to live and we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
Gus: the one real mission trip a year is great. I am glad they do that, but they don’t have raise a lot of money as a group or as a church to do the same thing to many houses in their own town! What about this mission field? How many of the kids that aren’t core kids go on the missions trips? How many kids do you have coming from “the other side of the tracks”? that attend on a regular basis and can go on the missions trips and don’t see how silly it is that they go and help other people with rebuilding a house when their own houses are falling in around them or they don’t have their own house. Do you really have any of those kids? I know of some place that does. How many non-white teens do you have attending on a regular basis and how much of the year do you take off? What do the kids do during that time? I am sure you have big numbers on Wed. and I am glad that the kids have a place to go on Wed night as LaFayette lacks most anything for kids to do. I know several kids, hundreds in fact, that do not go to FBC, 50 kids of middle to high school age that won’t go to FBC because they feel like outsiders because they are either non-white, or non-middle class, or they have no way to get there because their parents don’t have cars or they can’t walk home in the dark after youth group lets out, or even white, middle class kids that won’t go anymore because the main clique picks on him, nags him or ignore him. What about those kids?
I am glad FBC has a nice annex for the youth. I am glad that they have lots of kids in there on Wed. I am glad that the church can pay for them to go on trips around the US at least once a year, but how much outreach does FBC actually do for the community it which it resides? When they do have an outreach, like the youth revival last year where hundreds of kids came to win a Wii or a car, and many professed faith in Christ…how many of those kids are attending? How many of those kids were followed up with? How many of those now think it was just a party like any other party and now don’t see much significance in Christ?
FBC is not the only church that lacks in reaching out to youth. Most churches in LaFayette do. Some churches don’t even try, but FBC has such great resources to reach out to those in this community, but they do so little to do that. It is not enough to be a big church full of white people, full of people who mean something in town, having a presence is not enough…reaching out and actually caring is what it will take, and I am not sure that FBC as a whole really meets that criteria. I am sure there are plenty of those inside the church that do, there are many lovely people attending there, but it is lacking in its portrayal of the Church…”if this is the body, Why aren’t its arms reaching”? much farther than they do now?
KTB-
I haven’t taken a survey of which side of the tracks the youth that attend FBC live on, but I’m pretty sure that all of them live on one side or the other as it would be just silly to live on the tracks. As far as rebuilding in this community goes, it has been discussed to bring a Group Work Camp to the area but it takes more than one church to do this and many organization in the community to pitch in. It would be a great and worth-while endeavor for the community. I’m sure FBC would love to partner with your church on an endeavor like this.
Funny Gus. Glad you have a sense of humor :D I don’t think that we need a Group Work Camp to come here, but we do need to work as a group. I would think that with the intelligent people that I know that exist in the town, as evidenced by this group, we could manage to show Christ to those in town that are unchurched, that don’t know Christ’s love and could use someone to show that they really do care. We need to put the missions experience we’ve learned in other places to work here in town, and maybe it will start with a couple of people…but it won’t happen until we start reaching out and finding where the need is in our own community…to tell you the truth, I have many churches, one of them is FBC where I’ve attended several times. I am fairly new in town, and am having an interesting time adjusting to the church culture of LaFayette but have found good in almost every church that I have been to. There is not ever going to be a perfect church because they are filled with sinners, but there are those in each church that want to follow God and want to follow where He is leading…and I’d like to see those people stand up in their churches and start leading it in that direction, even if it steps on the toes of the FiDOPs (I think that is how it is spelled) who really just want to be there to get their church service and hymns sung to give their tithe and not have to fool with all the rest of that stuff.
The LaFayette city council has taken some pretty tough hits lately for being so anti growth, anti business so when something positive comes out of a council meeting I think it deserves mentioning. In last nights meeting one councilman voiced his opinion about government getting involved in businesses, he’s against it. His views and mine differ on a few things, but on this issue he’s dead on. Thank you Wayne Swanson.
Gus,
My opinion of LMS had nothing to do with the teachers or the things being taught there. My opinion of LMS comes from being able to remember being a student there, and remembering it as one of the worst times of my life. Age 12-14 is a horrible time anyway…your body’s changing, you start developing hormones, you’re taller than all the boys, so even if it was a beautiful state-of-the-art school, it would get my vote because those are generally the years you remember that you wish you could forget. But the lack of windows, the low ceilings, the commons area social time where the entire grades would split into two groups: “tough kids” and “preppies”. I was neither, so I was up against the corner with a book praying it would all end soon. I learned a lot at LMS, but the overall ambiance and social peer pressure is why it got my vote…and why I still shudder every time I pass by it! Also, it’s right next to the nursing home, and I used to have nightmares about people escaping from there and replacing our teachers.
I can’t help notice that many of the contributors to these great pages don’t use their full names. WHY? The last time I looked we still live in America. We have a right to voice our opinions, we have the right to tell our government that we’re not happy with the way they’re conducting business. We don’t have to fear them, they should fear us. WE are their employers and we can fire them. Are you ashamed of your beliefs? I’m not.
KTB-
I agree. Well said.
Jebbica-
I hate that your middle school years were so rough. I think LMS is doing a pretty good job helping students grow socially, emotionally, and academically in a time of such change. I know several students who would love to stay at LMS if they could. It has definitely changed in the past few years. LMS has done so much work to change its bad reputation in the county. You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but tt is frustrating to see people base opinion of a great school on past experience rather then present excellence.
You are correct Wayne,thanks.
Wayne: I use a pseudonym, but you click on my name and it leads to my website, which has not just my name but probably contains more information about me than you ever wanted to know! :)
Gus: We don’t have to agree on everything! Thanks for including me in this insight. I absolutely love hearing other people’s perceptions of things. Call me a hippie, but I think it’s great that we can have two totally varying opinions of the same thing and not resort to fisticuffs or anything juvenile. I would never want to be a robot who shared the same thoughts and opinions as everyone else. Nice to e-meet you, Gus! You rock.
Some might not use their full names because they do not want to get in trouble at work, or get their spouses or families in trouble at work, or have their electric bill go up, or perhaps have their houses accidently burn, or have their dog shot, or they like to be secretive because its fun :D
Wayne: Good job to councilman Swanson for saying that, but he has to do more than say it – he needs to take his 1 out of 5 vote and start making motions (even if they don’t pass) to correct the problem. I’d like to see (or at least read) his comment in context.
The reason for not using names on the site is because we all, at least in the city, live under the jurisdiction of these jokers, and they’ve proven themselves to be vindictive. A city council that behaves the way they behave and has little or no accountability can be dangerous, through the police department, utilities department, or hired thugs. We want the Underground to accomplish something more than just getting some people hurt or run out of town, and the only way to do that is to remain unknown until a safer environment develops.
Three different unconnected readers have said via e-mail or facebook that the city is extremely interested in finding out “who” the Underground is. Some have said the PD has been asking around, others say the council is checking security tapes in government facilities to find a suspect, and another person even said they’ve hired a computer consultant to somehow track down the site’s owners. If any (or all) of that is true then it just proves the corruption of the city’s leaders and proves just how correct we are in what’s been said here.
Working on a post to address some of this stuff..
– The LaFayette Underground
At the monday council meeting the sign issue was brought up. It was noted that code enforcement was charging $10 for the permit required for putting up a “banner” type sign. The council was unaware of this charge and councilman Swanson immediately wanted the charge removed, stating that there was too much government involvment in business. As an after thought, Block Busters is closing. The tumbleweeds are getting closer.
Blockbuster isn’t closing because of LaFayette, Blockbuster is closing because it’s a poorly run business in a dying market. Even as video stores go Blockbuster stinks.
The banner charge has been a problem forever; there are lots of fees, fines, and rules that nobody knows about because they aren’t spelled out clearly anywhere. You can’t post flyers on doors without a permit but no such permit exists. Codes (especially building codes) should be clear, transparent, available, and fixed – this crap where they change the rules in the middle of the game is a huge part of why we can’t get anybody to open a store here. That’s what did in the Captain D’s and has put several places (like the excellent Downdown Deli) out of business when they tried to move, remodel, or change owners. You have to either be giant like CVS, be sleeping with the city, or be willing to “grease the tracks” in order to build anything bigger than a dog house in this town, much less open a viable business in a decent location.
– The LaFayette Underground
For those of you who have not ever heard of the Dixie Mafia….Here’s a link to what happens due to corrupt governments. This site is about the county just to the south of us. http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread385034/pg1 This is a good read for Wayne since he’s sorta new in town but I think most of the rest of us already know about it.
OK, lets see if I’ve got this right. You can go into just about gas station in town, pick up a 6 pack of Bud and motor down the road. You can go into Walmart or Bi-Lo, do your shopping, pick up a 6 pack of Bud and motor down the road. NOW you can stop at CVS, buy your drugs, pick up a 6 pack of Bud and motor down the road. But you can’t go into a resturant, order a meal, have a Bud and motor down the road. Does this sound as silly to anyone else as it does to me?????????
It is silly, but apparently silly is something the city council appreciates. Silly or ridiculous, inconvient, something they can control easily, something that pleases their church buddies (who haven’t protested against the beer at the golf course that they perhaps frequent after church services on Sunday). I did see CVS advertising that beer and wine are being sold there. I suppose the arguement would be that the people that buy beer and wine at a store go home and drink it, but those who drink at resturants drink there then drive home just like Councilman Bill Craig….oh shoot, darnit Bill, you’re making them look bad!
I know this website i about LaFayette, but since this is the worst of walker article – you can go to Chickamauga and buy some beer at the mexican place across from Choo Choo. 50 cent taco night. Thought I’d let Wayne know where to get some
How is the Mexican place in Chickamauga? The good place in LaFayette is gone.
I DO NOT LIVE IN THE CITY. I DO HAVE A LAFAYETTE ADDRESS.I AM NEITHER RICH OR FAMOUS,BUT I ENJOY GOLF.I CAN NOT EXPLAIN WHY THE COURSE IS LOSING MONEY.I CAN TELL YOU THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE USE THIS COURSE DURING THE YEAR FROM OUTSIDE WALKER COUNTY.THESE FOLKS SPEND MONEY IN LAFAYETTE,(FOOD,GAS,ECT.) ALL THE AREA SCHOOLS USE THE COURSE FOR PRACTICE AND PLAY.IT’S A BENEFIT FOR THE CITY.I PAY $900.00 A YEAR TO BE A MEMBER NOT COUNTING A CART.THE COST FOR A ROUND TO A NON MEMBER IS ABOUT THE SAME AS ANY OTHER COURSE IN THE AREA.BATTLEFIELD IS A PRIVATE COURSE SO THEY DO NOT APPLY.SOME PAST MEMBERS HAVE CONTINUED TO PLAY WITHOUT PAYING,MAYBE THAT CAN BE REPAIRED IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
The rates you speak of don’t show up on the city’s website. I don’t know why they lose money either, since you are a member, maybe you can figure that out. It is not much of a benefit for the city when it loses money, it is a liability. I am glad that there are some people that enjoy it, but if they want to keep enjoying it they should figure out how to make it more viable. Schools don’t need a millions of dollars club house to play there either, that the city should not have paid for when they already had a club house and the city streets stink, the parks are horrid and they charge $4 a person for the swimming pool. If you, they want to defend the golf course, then they need to start making it work, either by cutting expenses, raising the green fees, membership fees, etc. Also, it would beneficial if they stopped being hypocrites about beer and wine sales in the city.
We was thinking that the golf course is losing money becaue of that strict dress code they enforce over there. We was interested in trying out golf at one time, but we was shooed away at the door because we weren’t wearing the right clothes. Now, we had studied every Nicklaus tip and read that little red book some guy named Harvey wrote. We showed up wearing our best pair of Liberty’s and our nicest pearl snap shirt. We was told that it was against golf law to be caught in overalls on the golf course. We was thinking that if the golf course focussed more on selling golf tickets rather than selling golf britches they might get back in the black. Furthermore, we had noticed that the golf course did not allow fishing on the course. We was thinking that if they would allow someone to come and get some of them world record carp we keep hearing about out of them ponds they might drum up some more business. Now, we’re no business genius, but we figure that the marketing practically writes itself. Lafayette Golf Course “Golf Holes and Fishing Holes”. See, a little something for everyone. The Lafayette Golf Course can reward us with our part of the commission, after all we did come up with the idea, at Rural Route 4 Box 550098 Walker County, Georgia. It’s just like Grandpa Wintes used to say “you can ‘t please everyone all the time, but the weather’s never too bad to fish”.
Hey Joe. I know where to go to get a cold beer and so does everyone else that enjoys adult beverages. And every time we enjoy one it’s money out of the pockets of the people of LaFayette. I think the key word here is “ADULT”.
You can’t raise rates at the golf course to try and counter economic losses. That is the same problem our country faces today, in our economic crisis. Improper spending by our local gov’t is the problem. The course fees are already high enough. Check around!
Slidin:
Raising the rates won’t counter economic losses, it’ll FIX that improper spending by the local government. The city owns the course and subsidizes its costs at a loss of $173,000 a year. The city would save that cost if the course charged market rates in line with other regional golf courses and golf clubs. Check out http://www.cityoflafayettega.com/2010/01/council-tells-roper/ if you haven’t already.
By your argument it isn’t possible for the course to raise its fees, so in that case the city should sell it or shut it down. A perk that benefits MAYBE 5% of residents and a handful of outsiders is being paid for through the utility bills of every person living in the city. If everyone had a lower power bill we’d all be able to spend more in local restaurants and retailers instead of waiting on Bill Gates and Warren Buffet to fly into Barwick Airport, play a few rounds on the LaFayette course, and then go blow their paychecks at Wendy’s.
It’s wonderful to have things like golf courses and airports, but they should either break even, make a profit, or be owned by a private operator. The city has no business being involved in things that should be done by private enterprise, especially when they’re run at a loss to benefit the powerful and subsidized by our tax dollars and utility bills. People who can well afford to pay more for a round of golf are having their hobby carried on the backs of people who can barely afford to eat.
— The LaFayette Underground
In General
What La Fayette needs to do is bring jobs to this town. We have plenty of places to take our money, but hard any to bring money in. We need to start thinking out side of the box this town has us stuck in and move in to Twenty-first Century. The worst thing is La Fayette has more young people and middle age adult that could make the change if they run all the FISDOP out of public office. It is time to move forward and not back. We need to bring money and growth in to this town before all that is left is a Wal-mart, fast food restaurants and red lights.
Well said Stephen.
If we aren’t careful there may not be any Walmart of fast food left either – if Roper packs up and leaves town there might not be enough employed people left in town to keep anything open.
– The LaFayette Underground
What makes you think roper is going to close/move. I have heard this for a number of years and nothing has ever come of it. The last I heard the city of La Fayette was going to pay their light bill. If they move and the city has been paying their light bill, then that would have been a waste of tax payer’s money. Its not like we don’t pay double the city, county, school and land taxes in La Fayette as it is. But we still have potholes and back roads that are not getting fixed. Yes, La Fayette would be lost with out Roper or Blue Bird. That is why I feel we need to bring more business in to La Fayette. If we bring company that make parts for Roper and Blue Bird, then that could help keep them here plus add jobs and money to the local economy.
to ktb and ul , maybe you should run for office or king of walker county.although i doubt you would be any more popular than you use to be.you guys have raised questions but not many solutions.the secret is out.
The city doesn’t pay Roper’s power bill, they won’t even cut it down by letting them skip the franchise fee. The council is basically telling Roper to go to hell. Again, read http://www.cityoflafayettega.com/2010/01/council-tells-roper/
Not sure who you think KTB and the LU are, and I can’t speak for KTB, but we were never popular. If this was a popularity contest we’d be playing golf and kissing butt with the powers that be instead of railing against them.
— The LaFayette Underground
Who was popular? I’ve never been popular. I am a person who enjoys the site like many others. Maybe Wayne or Chris want to be king. I think someone who says that kind of thing probably is someone that is already satisfied with the status quo, so of course they would not like what the LU has to say. You know the secret Obamamama? Please tell me because I don’t know it! I’d love to hear it. And instead of deciding a solution to a problem on its own, the LU asks for input, asks for solutions from other people, thinks about it, tries to figure out what would really work instead of going gung ho into the dark night and coming up with solutions that would hurt more than help, like some administrations seem to do. Raising questions is an important part of coming up with solutions and the biggest solution has been stated several times by many different people…get rid of the current city council…
why would anyone want these jobs? they pay very little and you can only please half the people.you can’t have a town hall meeting and try to work things out because to many want to scream and yell and no one benefits.my suggestion is pray hard for the current council,they have an impossible job.
LU, you should try golf and kissing butt, you would have better luck.watch out for the SHERMAN tanks.
KTB, I don’t know where you got the idea that I wanted to be King, but that’s the furthest thing from my mind. However I do know someone whose shown some interest in running for mayor. He is pro business, pro growth and truely cares about LaFayette. But the only way he would stand a chance of being elected would be to have the majority of free thinking people support him.
I’M NOT A LAFAYETTE RESIDENT,NOR AM I WEALTHY.I ENJOY SIMPLE THINGS LIKE THIS WEBSITE ,IT’S BETTER THAN T.V.I HAVE READ THE COMMENTS FROM EVERYONE WITH MUCH INTEREST AND HERE IS YOUR ANSWER.ALL CITY RESIDENTS MUST BUY IN YOUR CITY,CARS,CLOTHES,FOOD,ECT.THEN THE LOCAL MERCHANTS WOULD PLACE A PERCENTAGE OF PROFITS IN A NEEDY FUND TO HELP THE GENERAL NEED.GRANTED SOME ONE OR GROUP WILL HAVE TO BE IN CHARGE OF THIS FUND,MAYBE AN INVESTMENT COMPANY.(JUST A THOUGHT).SO MANY IN THIS AREA SPENDS A GOOD DEAL OF MONEY IN CHATTANOOGA,FT.O,AND SO ON.THIS WOULD ALSO APPLY FOR WALKER COUNTY RESIDENTS .NOW THEN,HOW CAN WE ENSURE THAT PEOPLE WILL ABIDE WITH THIS PROPOSAL?PRIDE AN HONOR,IF YOU WANT SOMETHING BAD ENOUGH YOU WILL DO IT.THEN WATCH AS AREA BUSINESS STARTS GROWING ,PEOPLE START COMING TO LAFAYETTE TO SEE WHAT’S HAPPENING .INDUSTRY WILL WANT TO COME AS WELL. IT WILL NOT BE EASY, BUT NOTHING WORTH WHILE EVER IS.YOU HAVE A GREAT WEALTH OF INTELLIGENT FOLKS IN THIS TOWN ,GET THEM TOGETHER ,HAMMER OUT A GAME PLAN.IT CAN BE DONE IF YOU CARE ENOUGH.IT HAS WORKED IN OTHER PLACES,NOW YOU HAVE THE SEED.
Popularity means nothing in the sense of wanting to bring growth into the area. To say it is based on popularity is about the same as saying that we are all still in high school.
Sure, everyone knows the quarterback and the prom queen. They may be very well liked by the school’s administration and are heavily active in school functions and some of those people might mean well, but after popularity and extracurricular activities go to those individuals’ heads, they tend to loose focus and only protect their own interests and not the school as a whole.
I refuse to pick on or call out and judge anyone of these people who have been referred to here, but I will tell you that, just like in high school, if no one stands up to the bully, or the popular spoiled kid who holds a book bag over another classmates head, then nothing will change for the better.
Just to say that there is no longer any real leadership in the city, or county for that matter, is a small piece of the puzzle.
If you leave a cute little puppy alone in the house long enough and do not keep an eye on him, eventually the puppy will become a dog and tear up your furniture and poop all over the house.
So, if the citizens choose to not attend meetings and only rely on other citizens to inform them of what is going on, then part of the problems in the area are with those individuals and so on and so on.
People who solely rely on television, media, neighbors and friends to be the only means to inform them of what is happening in the area, whether being locally or nationally, and allow for their tax money to go into projects (or lack of projects) that they do not agree with, then those folks should share some of the blame. Sorry, but that is true.
When you see, hear, read, etc. things that you don’t agree with and choose to do nothing, then you will receive nothing.
You can’t be an armchair politician and change anything.
Go to meetings, call your local leaders, get informed of what is happening on a first hand basis and know your rights.
Complaining does nothing, until you complain to the ones you elected and work towards solutions and make the elected ones work to those solutions or vote them out.
They ran for office. They chose to accept the job, so they should listen to the voters.
So, popularity means nothing, other than an OPIATE FOR THE LURED MASSES.
For example, let’s talk charity.
Charity is defined as an activity or gift that benefits the public at large.
All because you see a picture or footage of somebody handing someone else a check for something “charitable”, does not mean it is necessarily charity. Once you make it public that you are being charitable, doesn’t necessarily mean you are being solely charitable, but more so political.
Wouldn’t you prefer to know of the ones who give to charity and do not make it a spectacle to further their careers? Wouldn’t you like to know if that money came from voters or that specific person?
Look at celebrities that go on game shows to “give to charity” by appearing on them to win money for a specific charity. Would you not say that it is in someway political? Is it something that the celebrity wanted to do or what their publicist told them to do?
A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure. So, is this still charity?
All because so and so smiles at you at Wal-Mart, doesn’t mean you know anything about them, especially if they run for office.
What is something to look for in a person (candidate) is true character. Character is based on someone who looks out for the greater good, rather than trying to win a popularity contest. Having character is someone that DOES THE TRUE AND RIGHT THING, not someone who sales what “the right thing” is to you. Someone who doesn’t go along with the crowd, but sticks to their beliefs and puts others above themselves.
It would be nice to see the city and county be represented by a more diverse group of people. Not to knock on the councilmen individually nor anyone else (as I said, I choose not to judge the individuals), but you cannot have everyone represented, when the entire group consists of basically the same people, from same backgrounds, same churches, same addresses and cut from the same mold.
When you have a group in office that truly represents each side of the city, or county, then you can have true, effective, pure and decent growth for the people.
Someone who is financially more privileged than others will most likely not understand the true problems that others in a less financially stable part of town would and how could they anyways?
It is okay to have a financially fit golfer as a representative, as long as you have a more blue collar worker as one as well, a woman’s voice would be nice in there and at least someone who is not Caucasian.
That way more people can have a voice as long as that voice is clearly working for the voters, the people, the city and the area as a whole.
So, saying who is more or less popular means nothing if it is all based on an image and not based on solid character. (solution granted)
P.S. Nice site!
Wayne, I didn’t really have that idea, I was being sarcastic in reference to obamamama’s comments about KTB and LU should run for king because of our comments and I basically said that why me? I said maybe other people on the site, others who contribute, it isn’t like it is just LU or just me commenting. Not sure why she singled me out…that is what I am talking about….not a barb to you.
Bold ‘n Zesty, Nice speach, but what you failed to recognize is that local officials don’t listen to the people or more correctly the business owners. They listen to the “TOWN MONEY”. You have to have leaders that support growth not suppress it and that’s not going to happen until we find leaders with a little backbone. Someone that will stand up to elite few and start helping the people who pay the majority of taxes. The best we can hope for will be for candidates to run against the anti growth incumbants and win.
Bold n Zesty hit the nail right on the head!
We Need a more diverse city council for one to make sure the needs of ALL the people in LaFayette are met. However, if people dont get themselves involved in whats going on with their local government there will be NO change but “politics as usual”. LaFayette reminds me of the hit tv show, Sons Of Anarchy. If you have the connections you can get away with anything around here. But all it takes is the spark of ONE mind to create a WHOLE MOVEMENT.
Thanks Wayne, but to let you know I did not fail to recognize anything. I see more than you can imagine I see. I understand and have heard a lot of your frustrations and I know that you have been a very vocal citizen, thus here and in the media and that is a good thing. I also know the area well and have been let down by more than just a council in the past. There are good people in the area who try and help with the frustrated citizens (who are frustrated as well), but those people are usually left under the radar or thrown under the bus.
If you feel, as is your Constitutional right to feel, that I missed your point, then fine. I only said what was the truth in the most civilest of manors. Character matters and beats whatever popularity and money have to do with it, despite what this “reality” wants you to think. I know a simple call is not going to get the true change you want, but throwing fire on fire leads to more fire. It is the consistency I am talking about. You are on the right track; just stay positive is all I am saying. People are waking up.
My point was, if you are looking for true representatives for yourself and other citizens, then look in the mirror. We can only look out for ourselves as we have learned no one else can do that for us. Originally, I was referring to the gal who talked about popularity in my previous post. Again, who cares who knows whom? The government works for the people and if you can’t fathom that logic, then don’t be in the public eye. Otherwise, give us our money back!
The idea of one person can change the whole world is nice and all, but in reality, it takes money and connections to make a difference and if no one with either will stand up for those who don’t, it probably won’t happen. I was thinking to myself last night that I am sure that those on the city council have some good intentions and that they face a hard job, but then I thought to myself, ha, yeah right. If they really had good intentions they’d be out trying to come up with real solutions and not wasting money on things that don’t help a majority of the town. They would not spend so much money on useless softball fields, golf club houses and GPS for garbage trucks when there is obviously a lack of infrastructure in the town. When an eight-year-old notices that “the town doesn’t care much about kids does it? All the kid stuff and sidewalks are falling apart”. The one real park in town is pretty far away from a majority of the kids that need to use it, the pool is too expensive to swim in, the summer programs were cancelled, the sports are too expensive for many kids, and even the main rec is a said statement about what they feel about kids in the city. Look at that big old, hardly used senior center…then look at the other rec buildings and facilities in town…who do they care about? When a child can figure that out, you’d think other people could too…but perhaps they already have, they just don’t care.
Am I the only person who thinks liquor by the drink isn’t a bad idea for Lafayette? It doesn’t stop anyone from going to Ft. Oglethorpe and enjoying a meal at Logan’s, O’Charley’s, Applebee’s, etc. Personally I think once it got approved, we would start seeing some of these restaurants, and then more industry would follow: movie theaters, bowling alleys, and the like. I don’t see it as a means for everyone in Lafayette to get drunk and get DUIs. After all, that kind of happens, anyway.
No, you aren’t the only one. Mr. Winters is a big proponent for it, and if the city council would have left it as a vote for just beer and wine, instead of throwing in hard liquor, it probably would have passed.
Wasn’t it very close? I was so ready to vote for that one, but someone told me you had to live inside the city limits?
To vote, yes, you had to live within the city limits.
Yeah, that’s crappy. I was voting in spirit, even though the sign in front of the Care Mission told me not to, and I love the Care Mission.
Let me explain how I believe the liquor by the drink vote went. Again , this is what I believe, I can’t prove it. Every time I went before the council I was put on the agenda as “liquor by the drink” not beer and wine. When I last addressed the council they saw my name on the agenda and decided enough was enough and it was decided in the pre meeting, meeting, that’s the one that takes place in the mayors office before the council meeting gets started, that a council member would put liquor by the drink on the november ballot. They knew it didn’t have a chance of passing and it would give them an excuse not to address the issue for the remainder of the year. I don’t think they thought it would be as close as it was. Since the vote I’ve had people ask me if I thought all of the votes were counted. NO COMMENT.
Jebbica, I’m glad you like the Care Mission, and respect them telling you to vote against it even if you didn’t agree :D That is what being an educated, reasonable person is all about :D Liquor is not of the devil, but liquor can cause lots of problems, and I see both sides. As the council member illustrated for us, not having liquor by the drink in town has not stopped people from driving drunk anyway, and as Mr. Winters said, it is available anywhere in the stores. I don’t necessarily think it will save the town either though, but I think that the city council should at least allow a change for beer and wine in restaurants, especially since they allow it at their golf course. (And for any one that wants to tell me the evils of alcohol…I was raised Baptist, I understand that line of reasoning, and I also understand that there have been several members of First Baptist arrested drunk driving or drunk at football games, etc. so lets not go there. I don’t drink myself, but don’t see anything wrong with someone having a glass of beer or wine when they are eating out or in, or whatever. Moderation is the key, and beer/wine, beverages, bring in a lot of money for restaurants).
Eric Tallent, the newest member of the council and the councilman furthest away from facing voters, was the one who insisted that it be a vote for liquor and not just beer. That’s specifically mentioned in the council minutes, which are usually pretty vague.
Go back and read http://www.cityoflafayettega.com/2009/11/road-to-riches-or-highway-to-hell/ – allowing beer sales in town isn’t going to open the gates of hell underneath the city, but it’s also not going to be a magic bullet that will save us economically. Logan’s, Applebees, etc. aren’t going to move into LaFayette until the city has enough traffic and population to keep them open. Some large restaurants (like Steak n Shake, Panera Bread, or Golden Corral as examples from Ft. O.) don’t serve liquor but we don’t have them in town either, because there aren’t enough people in town to support their business models. We can’t even get a Captain D’s because of endless red tape and harassment from the city.
Beer sales are fine but we can’t become distracted by that issue, because there are a lot bigger things out there killing our community that need to be addressed.
— The LaFayette Underground
Beer and wine in restaurants doesn’t have to be voted on by the citizens. The city council can vote it in on their own. Only distilled spirits goes on a ballot. I have no idea how beer sales at the club house came about, but the citizens sure didn’t vote on it.
KTB: Thank you! I’ve never been one to hate anyone with a different opinion from me. I’m too analytical…I generally want to know what it is that makes this person think differently from me and if I could be wrong, or if it’s something we just have to agree to disagree on. It can be quite nerve-racking to be this neurotic, but at least I’m not “set in my ways”…not yet, anyway. :)
LU: That’s a good point. Thank you for bringing up these points; I hadn’t seen it that way. There seem to be quite a few of us on this site who would like to see a change…could we not all get together and start going to council meetings and whatnot? I mean, I have no idea if we even have those kind of Town Hall meetings like they have on TV or when they are, but it seems like it would at least make a small impact.
LU, As a co-organizer of the LaFayette TEA party movement I can tell you that when a group of citizens get together to fight for a common cause it can have a huge impact. I try to attend every city council meeting when possible. It would be nice to have a little company.
Wayne Winters: you have an email list or something? FB page? Keep us informed!
I will try to be a little more informed and post, at least on FaceBook, when the city council meetings are going to be.. The February one snuck up on us. There seems to be no rhyme or reason whatsoever in when they’re held, I think the January meeting was on a Tuesday night and this last one was a Monday? Not to mention special sessions that aren’t announced in advance… And as a half-dozen people have pointed out, the real meeting happens before the public meeting when our benevolent city fathers gather in an office (or over a round of golf) to decide what they’re going to say, who’s going to say it, and how they’re going to vote on whatever motions come up.
— The LaFayette Underground
All city council meetings are held on the second monday every month.You can google
LaFayette,ga, click on council then on agenda/minutes. You will only find out what’s on the agenda either the friday before or on the monday of the meeting and any special meeting will also be listed. Doesn’t give you much time to prepare, but if you have a question or want to object you can raise your hand to be recognized. Kind of like when I was in school and had to pee.
Is there a stated process for adding something to the agenda? Can a citizen submit a request in writing, say, a week before the meeting? Or is it within protocol to make a request during the meeting itself? I couldn’t find that on the city’s site either.
Thanks again to Mr. Winters, who attends the meetings, for educating us.
— The LaFayette Underground
In my opinion, The agenda should be for planned business during the meeting. I see no need for anyone to have to be on some agenda in order to discuss concerns they have with Lafayette. To not be recognized or listened to just because your not on an agenda is rediculous. I understand the planned business should come first but there should be time set aside for all concerns in every meeting whether on the agenda or not. If I were a councilman I would give everyone this time even if I had to listen on the sidewalk after all other councilmen had left. The people of Lafayette deserve to be heard and their concern may be to urgent to be placed on the agenda. Just my opinion
BUSINESS & INDUSTRY
Manufacturer most likely to close during 2010 Roper
Retailer most likely to close during 2010 Peebles
Lamest business concept Indoor putt-putt
Worst customer service City Hall
Worst billboard or ad campaign Crisis Center ad on an 18 wheeler trailer
Most inconvenient business hours Bank of LaFayette
Ugliest business Web site City of LaFayette
RESTAURANTS & RECREATION
Dirtiest restaurant Don LoLo
Worst restaurant service Twins
Blandest restaurant menu Subway
Hotel you’d least like to stay in Either of them
Most disappointing public event Balloons and Tunes
Lamest tourist attraction March House
GOVERNMENT
Elected leader most in need of retirement Bebe Heiskell
Unelected leader most in need of retirement David Ashburn
Biggest waste of government money Light show at Joe Stock Park
Most business unfriendly city LaFayette
Poorest run government agency Walker County Government
Most ineffective law enforcement department Rossville City Police
Ugliest government Web site City of LaFayette
Please limit voting in the above category to local government officials and agencies only, including (but not limited to) locally elected state officials. For example: a state legislator would qualify for voting, but the governor would not.
SCHOOLS, CHURCHES, & NURSING HOMES
Worst church First Methodist
Worst school LaFayette Middle
Worst sports team Gordon Lee Football
Nursing home you’d least want your family to abandon you in All of them
COMMUNITIES
Ugliest neighborhood Skyline Heights
Tackiest subdivision Oak Park
Best place to get murdered West LaFayette
Best place to buy (illegal) drugs Ann Street
Worst condition public road Foster Mill Drive
Most dangerous intersection Bypass@Warthen
If you want to address the council you can either call or go to the city hall and ask to be put on the agenda and they will ask you for what purpose. Just a fore warning, anything to do with booze isn’t very popular. Just have your facts straight and act respectfull and you can state your case. Just don’t expect much in the way of results.
Back when Mr. Walker started the great state of LaFayette, lives of us common folk were earsier. No BookFace, no Myface, no blogs. What is a blog? My nephew Stinky Wintes is right. The golf course needs a fishing hole. Where has the time gone? I’s really asking. Where has the time gone…
Now I don’t knows all the laws and such. But I’s do knows whats in my guts. Pure love for the great state of Lafayette. Gotta go now, the deer I fed are outside…
Thank you Sherman for doing this website. Keep up the good work Mr. Gibbs
El Cancun was closed by the health department because of failing inspections, NOT because they didn’t have enough business.
El Cancun got a 60-something on their last inspection, which is a barely passing (D) grade. Krystal just got a 53 and KFC got a 50-something last week, those are both failing grades and those sorry institutions are still open. El Cancun was always empty when I went in there, so it was likely as much a combination of the two or just a simple lack of business rather than a decision by the health department.
— The LaFayette Underground
On a humorous note, I fear I have succumbed to curosity. James, you wouldn’t happen to have a pair of those white, patent leather, homosexual golf-shoes in your closet, would you?
to alicia,tiger woods does and something tells me he’s not gay .we think you have succumb to stupidity .
Nirvana, you are one of a dying breed apparently. Tiger Woods fans, and grown people who still believe in Santa Claus…………..
alicia,i don’t like tiger,just giving you the facts.where did the santa comment come from? you must be smokin again.the doctor warned you about that!
Nirvana just go ahead and ge you a set of white patent leather high-heels and put your application in for admitance to the Klan McFlorence, it’s quite obvious where yor vote will fall. You assume” you are intimate my physician’s advice. Perhaps you should seek medical help of a different sort and see about getting some professional assistance of a different kind……
perhaps you should get hooked on phonics or maybe try some education,you know school and such.maybe just get laid that would probably help
I think that alicia is plenty intelligent. She’s had some useful and intelligent comments on the board. On the other hand, James/Nirvana, you’ve had just offered argumentative comments that don’t really add to the thread or offer any point to discuss. However, we don’t really need any of this on the board. Maybe you guys could get together for a round of golf and hash this all out ;)
no thanks ktb i just wish we were all as smart as you .so nice of you to come to the rescue.
Ditto KTB & thanx also. Incessant drivel can be entertaining to a point, then it just becomes useless banter which serves no useful purpose. Alicia signing out………..
Back to serious business………..
WORST BILLBOARD : Vote Neil Florence for Mayor (hands down).
MOST INCONVENIENT BUSINESS HOURS : COMCAST (Don’t have any………)
LAMEST BUSINESS CONCEPT : Revamping of Walker County and the building of numerous new banks (not for the purpose of loaning $, but for the handling of portfolios….) in ’07 for the cultivation of out-of-state retirees to move to. (The economy caused that plan to “not quite come together” for them as they had hoped…).
LAMEST TOURIST ATTRACTION : Joe Stock Memorial Park.
MOST DISAPPOINTING PUBLIC EVENT : City Election results.
ELECTED LEADER MOST IN NEED OF RETIREMENT : Neil Florence.
UNELECTED OFFICIAL MOST IN NEED OF RETIREMENT (tarring, feathering, run out on a rail…) : Johnnie Arnold.
BIGGEST WASTE OF GOVERNMENT MONIES: City of La Fayette Golf Course Club House.
POOREST RUN GOVERNMENT AGENCY : La Fayette City Hall.
TACKIEST SUBDIVISION : Sleepy Hollow.
BEST PLACE TO GET MURDERED : La Fayette City Hall.
BEST PLACE TO BUY ILLEGAL DRUGS : Skyline Hgths.
WORST PUBLIC ROAD : City of La Fayette North Main Street.
MOST DANGEROUS INTERSECTION : Patton & Duke. (The lines in front of the courthouse are as crooked as a dog’s hind-leg and looks as if they were painted by an alcoholic on a “bad day……….”.
Wow, Sleepy Hollow is now a subdivision? I did not know that a road with a few homes, an apartment complex, a pond, and a little garden could have such a title!
0 Sleepy Hollow Road is the residence of Neal and Carolyn Florence/Parcel #1041 009B/total value $278,021.00/ZONED BY CITY.
Courtesy of Walker County GIS.
Need more be said?
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES MAY 10th (Condensed Version)
More of the same, basically.
Meeting was initiated with the usual blasphemy, with only 3 members present. Votes all unanimous, 3-0, of course.
Councilman Swineson, as always, begging the City coffers be obligated for everything from “load tests” (tabled & to be re-addressed May 25, to be unanimously approved, of course) for the junk golf-carts WE purchased, to the purchase of TWO (2) MORE tractors for the golf-course.
Also included in this session was the motion to bilk GEFA (Georgia Enviromental Facilities Authority) of more monies in addition to the $9,083,410.00 this township has already robbed them of under the current administration.
Last, but certainly not least, the Public Safety Updates which infer an increase in $ for traffic fines (see attached…..but, there is no attached…?).
All in all, pretty much same old, same old, with the exception of City Manager Bozo not being congradulated for the “fine” job he has been doing. Oddly enough, Bozo was absent for this meeting………..
Maybe it falls to the old adage, ” Evil and deceit abhors the light of day”. (Loosely quoted…).
The city manager was absent from the meeting so he could see his child play in a golf tournament (they came in 10th place, high school team). Mr. Arnold recent stepped down as soccer coach at LHS, his last school-age child graduates next Friday… There are strong indicators that he’s going to retire from the city, and we expect at that point he’ll move out of town since nobody (except the old-money FiSDOP’s) chooses to live here unless they have to. He of all people knows how bad a shape the town is in, and he’s all out of cousins-in-law for the city to hire as department heads.
Apologies for no new postings, we’ve got a lot of stuff half done but real life interferes with blogging. We need another good snow day or a weekend of flooding rain so more writing can be done.
— The LaFayette Underground
No apology necessary LU.
Everything, including the shape this town has gotten into is “our fault” anyway.
This town is full of people one week away from going hungary or losing everything. There was a time when I was told by an elder man that his father (the only working parent in the family) was able to afford a house two cars a tractor 25 head of cattle and 90 acres of land and making less than $2per hour. It’s all about the individual and there ability to existing and that means doing what it takes to do so. So ask your self what does it take to wake up, feel good, to stay feed, and to love, and to provide for others. If you keep finding things that get in the way there are alternative ways. Example: Cable, Cellphones, Flat Screen HDTV, Gaming Systems and so on. But if you aren’t willing to do without you like other will be one check or pay day away.
I know this vote is terribly late but I had to go on record as saying that Shepard Hills Nursing home has to be the most miserable understaffed facility in north Ga. I worked there as a nurse and saw them constantly fire nurses for trivial matters in order to keep their staff full of new wet behind the ears nurses. I am gonna say that I know of around 10-12 that either left or were shown the door in a years time. I was a new LPN and was hired to work the night shift..I had SIXTY patients under my care with only 2 cnas for assistance. It was a situation where I felt like I could lose my license at any time due to the understaffing issues. People were forever falling and getting hurt and while you treat them two others are desperate for help at any given time. The director plays games with the REQUIRED NUMBER of trained people. The office staff is made to take CNA course so that when state comes in she can quickly put these people on the floor as if they get this good of care all the time. Some of these people are very sick and deserve better than they get for the money. My dog kives a better life than these people are given. If the ombudsman would only go through all of the records and talk to all of the people that we’re let go then he could get an accurate picture of the kind of terrible care these people endure. Even now I am afraid to give my name as this is a big corporation that has ways of keeping people quiet.