• Riding through the county lately, I’ve noticed our faded and grown-over fire hydrants. I realize we’re trying to save fuel and wages by keeping our firemen at their respective stations. However, how much money will lawsuits cost when these firemen run a call and attempt to utilize a fire hydrant that no longer works? I think that we can spend a little extra money to ensure that our firemen can locate these hydrants, first of all. Secondly, I’d hope that we can all agree that we’d feel more secure if we knew the hydrants near our homes were working at all.

• I read in Thursday’s Times-Georgian that several of our schools received high honors from the Governor’s Office. Kudos to these teachers and students who’ve worked so hard for these achievements! However, at what cost are we trying to gain these achievements? Take a listen: our teachers are burned out and frustrated due to the pressure they’re receiving from their principals. Our students are shutting down and frustrated because their teachers are transferring their frustrations onto their students. Planning periods are taken over by “motivational meetings” that simply leave our teachers throwing up their hands. Let’s relax and make learning fun for a change.

• The impending closing of our local Food Lion store on Maple Street represents yet another nail in the coffin of Dave Schmidt’s Roswellian fantasy of an idyllic “live-work-play” community. The former head of Marathon Land Development should return to his beloved Maple Street Commons (aka “University Village”) to see the results of his eager bulldozing of many acres of unspoiled woods. Hopefully the CVS drugstore will survive what appears to be a gradual and persistent disintegration of a misguided entrepreneur’s grand vision.