Voice of the people

As of Tuesday, March 12, 2013
© Copyright 2013 Clayton News Daily

JONESBORO — Clayton News Daily is trying out a new feature where people who speak during public comment at government meetings will get their voices heard in the newspaper.

Each Friday, there will be a weekly round up of people who spoke at meetings of the Board of Commissioners, City Councils and the school board covered that week by News Daily reporters. There will be a short description of what the person talked about and a quote.

The following is a list of people who spoke at the March 5 Clayton County Board of Commissioners meeting:

• Dr. Henry Anderson called on the Clayton County Board of Commissioners to increase the number of officers in the county’s police department Tuesday. He said there are 160 uniform patrol officers or one officer for every 1,450 residents according to four-year old data. He said the county should have at least one officer for every 500 residents. The county has nearly 300,000 residents.

“As great as Clayton County Police Department is, they are still outnumbered by the number of citizens in this county,” he said.

• Jonesboro resident Ken Slagel complained to commissioners Tuesday about the name of an upcoming concert planned to take place at Clayton County International Park. The name “Funk Fest” is not the most attractive moniker for a county-hosted event, he said.

“I would like to think we as Clayton County citizens and commissioners would think more of our county and give it a better name than ‘Funk Fest,’ ” Slagel said. “Call it ‘Fun Fest,’ ‘Family Fest,’ ‘Summer Fest’ — anything other than ‘Funk Fest.’ ”

• Jonesboro resident Chuck Ware called on commissioners Tuesday to fight against the proposed House Bill 399, which would bar the county from collecting ad valorem taxes from businesses leasing space at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He suggested the county hire lobbyists to fight the legislation which could cost $12.6 million in tax revenue.

“It’s time we really start showing some interest in that bill because it’s very important,” Ware said.

— Compiled by Curt Yeomans

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nefarious 2 months, 1 week ago

I am so glad to see News/Daily doing this !! So many of our citizens in CC cannot get to a Board meeting for many and various reasons. This will give us a chance to read about what other CC residents have said. I hope people also realize that anyone can go to the homepage of the CC website and look at the agendas, meetings, comments and votes of our commissioners. Keep up the Great Work News//Daily !!