Rockdale Citizen

"This is to the old millionaires that still live here and read the paper. Please stop renting low budget houses in Olde Town. As your last testament and legacy to this town, why don't you tear down some of the crappy rental houses you own and build some big nice ones to sell to good people. Yes you will lose some money but someone has to take one for the team here. Many of you have made your millions by making this town attractive to poor families who raise their children in squalor and cause a lot of problems for this town with police records and discipline problems at school. You have literally made millions by bringing those people here. How about paying us back by removing some of the slummy houses and replace them with good ones for purchase not rent. You are in a position to help this town if you could get past losing some money. Add Milstead to that too. The rental properties are holding that community back as well."

"I appreciate Marty Jones and the rest trying to limit rental properties. We need more pushes in that direction. There are no good opportunities for nice retail here because of the average income levels being so low. We need to attract homeowners. We do that with good deals on homes and industrial job opportunities coupled with low crime and good schools. Our schools are still in good shape if we get rid of problem kids. Crime would be fine if we got rid of criminals. Problem students and criminals mostly reside in rental units. It is a fact. Reduce the rental units and we will attract wealthier residents. It is simple. Sometimes I feel like 'Braveheart 'and the leaders are just sold out and don't want to make the necessary moves to bring us to freedom. They sometimes seem to have already decided that our fate is like Lithonia so why fight it? We need new blood."

"Can we please just legalize pot? I don't smoke it, but I don't understand why someone else shouldn't be allowed to do so. We're wasting too much money and too much police time that could be better spent on crimes that really affect people: robberies, assaults, murders, etc. The ban on alcohol during Prohibition did nothing but create crime; the ban on marijuana does the same. Treat usage just like alcohol and bust people on DUI and the like; set up drug abuse treatment programs; and let the police get back to working on real crime."

"News terminology, Word terms used by the Newscasters that don't make sense. (Reverse Discrimination) Nowhere can I find in the dictionary such a term ... Discrimination is discrimination not forward or reverse. If I put it in reverse, that would mean just the opposite of forward. Discrimination is not for any one race or thing but for all, no matter if you like it or not ... I challenge all to describe discrimination for what it is and not for what direction it may seem to travel. (Impacted) If I where impacted I would have a tooth that was in an abnormal position, or something in an over crowded area. Now if something affected me, it would have an impact on me ... as to the term, by something the Newscaster said, it had an impact on me to make this statement. Not an English teacher mind you ... Just the boy next door watching how the Newscasters have an impact on me, and certainly I'm not prejudiced."

"Board of Education It has come to my attention that the BOE has finally made a decision on the custodial services now being passed on to a contractor. Meaning that if I were a custodian here in Rockdale County and decided to retire this year, I made a good decision. I can now retire knowing that my pay won't be cut, I will be able to keep/be paid for my sick time, and receive my pension I so deserved and not receive any shrinkage of pay due. As I move on, I look up my 14 leadership traits and 11 principles, (for I keep a copy in my wallet). I can say maybe the board would like a copy. Integrity, knowledge, courage, decisiveness, dependability, initiative, tact, justice, enthusiasm, bearing, endurance, unselfishness, loyalty, and judgment."

"This is to all of the middle-aged women who are using pictures of their attractive teenage or 20-something daughters as the profile picture. We know why you are doing it and it is a lie. Use your own picture."

"My principal does not know how to supervise or manage. Therefore, she doesn't know how to train her APs how to do it. If you asked one of our APs to give a summary on how each teacher was doing and what they needed to work on and how they have coached each teacher for improvement this year, they would make something up or not have an answer. It isn't that the principals and APs are bad at their jobs. They are doing everything that is expected of them, but no one is checking on this critical skill of teacher management. How about getting a superintendent that knows how to make this happen. Ask our principals to detail the training and improvement successes of the new teachers we have hired in the past few years. They are just throwing them to the wolves. So we have high expectations (supposedly) of the kids. Why not the management. Someone put this comment in front of Dr. Brundage and ask him what he is doing to develop our teachers. Please print the answer."

"Politicians (esp. Libs) act like tax funds are just magic money that people aren't out here sweating for. They give it away to people who will vote for them and do not represent us hard-working people. If anyone deserves favoritism from politicians, it is the hard-working people paying taxes. Not the people sitting around feeding off the system. I am tired of busting my tail and having the officials pandering toward lazy folks who are raising criminal children while I work hard all day and raise my child to respect teachers and police. It gets old seeing lazy, hateful, criminal types making demands to idiot politicians to continue giving away housing and food money. So no, I don't trust them with any more money until they start showing me that they appreciate what we already pay in taxes. No SPLOST for me!"

"Over 30 percent of my income is paid in property and income tax and these nut cases are telling us that isn't enough and they want to add the SPLOST. No sir. Not this time boys. You need to publicly show that you are grateful for the tax money we pay by being smart with it. You need to respect what we give you and not fritter it away and let criminals milk the system like they are doing. Get tougher on stupid government purchases and welfare fraud. You start cutting your own salaries back, then I will think about cutting mine by giving you more taxes. Enough is enough!"

"When I was 18 and first voting, I was excited about helping out and I voted for an increase in sales tax. I am in my 40s now and have seen how these elected guys work. They will not stop asking for more. That is all they know how to do (Democrats are the worst). They are not digging deep and being creative about building revenue through jobs creation or cutting spending. They just want more taxes. The only thing they know how to do is try to get more money from us. They need to cut taxes in half. Then they will see more spending and more jobs."

"Just ranting. Grapes taste nasty. Golf is for sissies. Cantaloupe is for old people and the spelling of it is ridiculous. And finally, Ralph Road is a stupid name for a road. I know I'm not making any friends with this post but everybody else gets on here and spews about stupid crap so I am too. Ralph -- freaking -- Road is one of the dumbest things I have ever heard. If you live there you probably like cantaloopay and eat grapes and are a chiropodist! ... And also with you coach. Bobby love!"

"Attention -- Attention school board, county office higher ups and administrators: There is not plan to energize people. Democracy is not in the systems guiding beliefs. That concept is not systematic (only in a few of the schools who are led by "leaders" who truly know how to create change and engage people). What is systemic is a belief that "higher ups and administrators know what's good for the schools. So they don't even bother engaging staff or asking for ideas for change. RCPS has class keys that are supposed to be teams of teachers sharing ideas, but its only an outlet to give out information from the top. Every three to five years all schools revise the vision and mission statement but no one knows what they are. And if the higher ups do not approve of the vision/mission then they tell the schools to redo it. The guiding philosophy that is currently going around is that things must be done 'for the good of the students.' Correction ... things must be done for the good of all the people (the entire system). If all people were engaged and energized then that energy would naturally spread throughout."

"Thank you RCPS for hiring from within. Mr. Autry is a great choice for our superintendent. He deserves this."

"New stadium: You ask my opinion ... Mr. Blank should pay for a new stadium all by himself. Wanting the state of Georgia and us taxpayers to pay for most of the stadium, you got to be kidding me, considering the amount of money he has in his pocket and the more money he will make. And to make a contribution that would only make himself more money and to boot, write if off as a tax incentive as a donation ... "

"Please tell me that the school board did not approve payment of more than $1 to the consultant group to tell them to look down the hall for their new superintendent!"

Editor's Note: The Rockdale County school board had agreed to pay the Georgia School Boards Association an $8,000 fee, but then the board suspended its search, so GSBA will refund its payment.

"I am torn. I know the school board needs new blood. They are in a serious management rut and do not know how to handle our new population of students. On the other hand, I do not trust the new Democrats in our county who would want their jobs. The last thing I want is one of those school boards that cannot get along and do not know how to handle business without being hateful and putting disputes in the news like Atlanta and DeKalb. It is a hard decision as a voter."

"Regarding the RCPS budget for this year, I will ask the same thing I asked last year in this poll. What do you guys think is going to happen to the revenue and budget next year? Do you think that there will magically be enough money that will allow us to reduce class sizes and start the retirement plan back up? If you don't know, what are you going to do to reduce costs during the year. You need to start planning for next year's budget now. The school board needs to get into the schools and all major departments and start finding waste. There is still a lot. Decide now that you will not cut more teachers next year. You have a year to come up with something. Task each person on the school board to come up with one budget saving idea per month. It will require them to do something besides go to the meetings though. They will need to get out into the system and talk to employees."

"I have an personal exercise I would like all county office leaders of RCPS and principals to conduct. Ask yourself what kind of school you would want your kids to go to. Then walk the halls of your schools asking yourself this, 'If I were thinking about moving to this county, would I want my kids to change schools and start here at this school?' Is your school helping to bring good solid families here? Many of our schools are scaring good families away. It is a fact. The question is, do you have what it takes to make these schools better? If you don't, please step down. It is time for a change. There are people who can do it. If you cant, at least be courageous enough to move out of the way. It is selfish to stay in your position while kids under your leadership grow up in the wrong environment. This goes to teachers as well. It is time to be responsible."

"Could someone please explain why the public comments segment of the BOC meetings have become a forum for free advertisement of businesses (including those from out of county) and local church activities? I thought public comments at board meetings were for citizens for Rockdale (and not citizens of other counties) to air concerns about our county services, economy and overall state. Why has it suddenly become some kind of open-air bazaar for businesses and out-of-towners to hawk their wares? If these businesses want to sell something, they need to buy ad space in the newspapers or on TV. Stop wasting time at BOC meetings!"

"Before you vote 'yes' for SPLOST take a ride on Stanton and Ebenezer Road to the Shell station on Ebenezer Road and see how your tax dollars are at work. They should have left it alone, it was better before they paved. The only improvement is the nice new SPLOST sign. Way to go county government If the county isn't going to do anything about the so called patchwork they could have at least re-striped the road."