Rockdale Citizen

The Rockdale Citizen Poll is a compilation of opinions submitted by readers. These opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Citizen newspapers. If you agree or disagree with something you read here, you may respond by e-mailing poll@rockdalecitizen.com. Please remember that the Citizen Poll is not a forum for comments about candidates seeking elected office.

"Has no one applied for the job vacated by Mr. Scott from the fire department? I cannot imagine that Rockdale County has no one interested or qualified for this position. A applicant all the way from Idaho. How in the world did this person find an open position in Rockdale County? Does he and the Alabama person know someone?"

"Cost of justice in Rockdale County: standard attorney fees, five to eight grand; to hire ex-D.A., eight to 12 grand; change outcome of case before it goes to trial, three grand; no jail time, five grand extra; have records sealed, five grand extra; to have the judge ignore evidence that would convict you: Priceless."

"I smell a cover up on the report that the sheriff's son won't be charged for what him and his friends have done on the traffic violation. I forgot he is white."

"So now the prosecutor does not believe the police had a right to pull over the sheriff's son. How many other illegal DUIs and no license charges were due to false reasons for pulling over a person or Spanish-looking person? Is this racism practiced by the prosecutor?"

"Time for RCPS Superintendent Sam King to give back his bonus. The RCPS did not meet AYP. What were the goals that RCPS had to meet for 2010/2011 school year? At least meeting AYP should have been high on the list. Time to vote out the school board and vote in some true administrators. King is definitely overpaid for the amount of students in RCPS -- around 15,000 -- his salary should be around $75,000 per year."

"I disagree with evidence being inadmissible due to unlawful search and seizure. I know it is the way our courts have chosen to interpret the constitution but there is a better way. I think evidence is evidence. In this case two wrong things occurred. 1. Laws were broken by the kids. 2. The officers broke procedure. They are two different matters. The kids should be punished and the officers should receive reprimands. Maybe have a three strikes and you're out for every police officer when they get evidence this way. Three unlawful searches and you're fired. That way these criminals won't keep getting away with stuff because a cop makes a mistake and the cops will be motivated to keep their record clean."

"Me and my buddy, Bacon Neck, love our favorite game of redneck golf. Conyers is awesome because of the weather and the streets crack cornish henpecked. Sometimes Pupwood plays with us. Freeze up the okra for the winter. It'll be good with corn and peas 'bout January. Keep on the sunny side. Chicken ain't chicken till it's licken good fried. My uncle used to love me but she died."

"This is for Dr. Garret Brundage (behavior support director) at RCPS. I just read the AYP article and think that there is a quick way to get a jump on these scores. Start removing disruptive students. Most of them have poor scores and they are making the schools unattractive to families who want their kids in a safe and moral environment. If you get tough on behavior, the scores will go up."

"What a great lesson our justice system has taught our kids who are trying to do the right thing. The sheriff's son ... is allowed to get off without consequence. With such a high price he had to pay I'm sure he will never do that again. ... We will remember this at election time Mr. Wigington."

"North vs South ... If anyone on either side of town is dealing with trash, go to rockdalecounty.org , county facts , frequently asked questions , get neighbor to cut grass. You will see the request for services form. Fill it out and send it in or just call Code Enforcement."

"Can RCPS vote to stop hiring teachers with online degrees? The majority of those degrees are pretty useless due to the fact that no real learning can be assessed. They are just doing course work with no class discussions and learning from professors or projects. We are paying for masters and specialists in this county in name only. It is a much lower level of knowledge and performance as a result. The kids are suffering and so are our wallets. Some of these teachers are very low functioning in their academic field. Four biology teachers I work with hate labs and hate going outside but have some online degree that says they know science. Their classes are straight book work and notes. Bull crap."

"I saw the comment about everyone who signs their student up for free lunch should do community service. I agree it is a good idea. I also think that anyone receiving government assistance should have to pass a drug screening to get each check. It would cost a lot to implement the drug screen procedure but the overall savings would be phenomenal."

"It seems clear to all those paying attention that the game Obama is playing with respect to resolving the obscene national debt crisis, is to be sure there is no resolution since he keeps changing his mind. It is amazing someone in mainstream media hasn't figured this out, or could it be that there is a benefit to leaving the people in the dark? The budget he proposed was so irrational not one senator in his party voted for it, resulting in a 97-0 vote against it. Creating confusion and discontent appears to fit right in with his mission to bring America down. Along with anti-American organizations such as MoveOn.org and dozens of like-minded organizations, along with a servile following of toadies in the Congress, he is likely to be successful at the regret of the people."

"In reference to 'negative comments about school leadership in RCPS' (7/23/11). There is not an open dialogue in the schools where teachers feel comfortable speaking their mind and have the confidence that principals will address problems. When teachers are brave enough to approach a problem or concern they are usually placed on a PDP -- a Professional Development Plan (which is another name for Personal Discipline Program) that involves hours of video lessons, (extra) required educational readings, book reports, and usually time away from their classes attending specialized classes on whatever topic the teacher felt compelled to discuss with the administration. They are usually given a short period of time to make adjustments in their class to show they understand and have a grasp of their original problem. It is then up to the administrator to accept or reject the teacher's PDP work and at any time the administration has the option of terminating the teacher. This means the teacher is working under more pressure, has less time to spend on lesson plans, less time to review students' work and many times your students are being taught by a substitute who may not even be trained in the subject area they teach. I have witnessed this happen in this system. And teachers have no real recourse; so no, teachers are not comfortable bringing up issues in house. 'Teamwork' is a catch-all term for make sure we pass the CRCT and make AYP. (And that didn't happen this year.) No, it doesn't look good for the school system -- inside or out. I'm sure that there are some good administrators/principals in Rockdale, but this kind of 'Teacher Motivation' is apparently accepted by the school board and Dr. King. County level administrators know what's happening, but look the other way because they want to keep their jobs. As you said 'This doesn't seem like a system that is on top of things.'"

"I just saw a story ... of our U.S. State Department currently spending $770 million on mosque repairs in the Middle East in order to be nice to extreme Muslims! Just think of what we could do with that much money. Sometimes Washington seems like a bunch of nimrods.

"I understand that Salem High School is losing some long-time, very good teachers. I hope that the school board will take a look at why we are losing such good teachers and office staff at this school."

"Has our Board of Elections modeled themselves after the Democrats and Republicans debt talks? Thank you Channel 23 for broadcasting the meetings, as disturbing as they are, they are also entertaining."

"Dr. King and the school board need to be very aware of something. Their decisions effect property value. If they go to school uniforms, they will anger a lot of unwise people who do not understand what it takes to be successful. They will then leave the county. On the other hand, it will attract wise people who want success for their children. Wise people often have money to spend because they are wise. Same with discipline. If RCPS gets tough with discipline and starts expelling, bad families will have to move to another school district. Good families will be attracted here because the malcontents are gone, thus making our property more desirable to people with money. Am I the only one who sees this?"

"What is up with the discipline in RCPS? I have heard about a lot of problems here. I saw a couple of articles lately about bullying and dress code but that seems kind of trivial. What is being done about consistent misbehavior? Are there any ground-breaking reforms that will help clean up the lack of respect and adherence to rules? I get the feeling that Drs. King and Brundage don't really think there is a big problem with behavior in the district. Where is the disconnect?"

"I was just picked for jury duty. There were about 60 people there. We all got $25. Why not fill out a form ahead of time . Let the lawyers pick the 12 plus three alternates and only pay for 15 people. It's not much savings but it would add up and save the taxpayers a lot over time. We need to cut spending everywhere we can these days. Just food for thought."

"I am watching the Elections Board meeting of July 5. I see what I take as a lot of snipping at each other and reflects poorly on the board and is passed on to us, the citizens. A gentleman has just come up to the podium and he is making sense, he stated address the issues because not just Rockdale County sees and hears this meeting and it does reflect on all of Rockdale."

"The politicians are only trying to scare us. The only way we will default is if President Obama chooses to not pay the interest on the debt. Just because part of the government has to shut down does not mean we have to default. All we have to do to avoid default is to pay the interest on the loans. The government takes in much more than enough each month to pay the interest. After paying the interest, the next most important bills to pay are soldiers' salaries and Social Security. Again, the government takes in more than enough each month to pay all three -- interest on the debt, soldier's salaries, and Social Security. All President Obama has to do is to order those bills paid first and then fight over what to pay with the money that's left. Even if federal employees are laid off temporarily, they will get back pay for the time they were out. Basically, they will get an extra paid vacation."

"I'd like to know why, with all our dedicated and very capable county employees, we have to go out of the county and out of state for department heads. These employees deserve to be promoted. It only makes sense to promote people who are already experienced with our county."

"I'd like to know exactly what were the duties of an executive team leader for Target stores and how those duties give him the experience needed to manage a large human resources department for Rockdale County."

"'Prosecutors drop case versus sheriff's son' -- why are comments disabled on this article, but not on the ones that are similar stories?"

Editor's note: When the story was uploaded onto the Web site, comments were unintentionally left off. The comments were turned on a few hours later.

"How does the EPA plan to deal with the increased air pollution over Rockdale County and surrounding areas caused by planes flying in and out of Atlanta's Airport? They fly on a continuous basis and the exhaust can be smelled at times."

"Please let me know when there are going to be more 'pep rallies' at CMS featuring rap artists who like to use provocative lyrics and sexual gyrations while 'encouraging' students to do well in school and on the CRCT. Maybe that is the secret as to why CMS continues to meet AYP."