FreeSpeech for 06-09-10

Tue, 06/08/2010 - 12:05pmAnonymous

[What do you really think? Email us your pithy opinions, your short takes on life in Fayette and environs, your gotta-get-it-off-your-chest questions or sound-offs. Emails only to editor@TheCitizen.com. Put Free Speech in your subject line and include your contribution as the body text of your email. No signature required. No phone calls, faxes or snail-mail letters, please. No personal attacks on private persons, but just about any aspect of public life is fair game.]

What is the big rush to finish the Fayetteville West Bypass (between Huiet Road, Lester Road and Ga. Highway 54) that someone had to work on Memorial Day?

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I recently witnessed a demonstration of police efficiency in a small town not far from here. A young man (20ish) was cleaning a rifle when it accidentally discharged. I could never understand how that happens but it does. The bullet struck and killed his father. His mother and sister were also in the room and later confirmed the accident as it happened. The young man panicked and ran. The next day he calmed down and realized what a responsible person must do so he called the police and said he wanted to turn himself in. He said he would stand by the curb in front of his house and wait for them to pick him up. As he calmly stood by the curb with hands at his side passively waiting a car drove up. Four police officers jumped out, grabbed him and slammed him face down on the sidewalk. One officer stood in the middle of his back while another handcuffed him. They shoved him into the back of the police car with blood pouring from his nose and facial cuts. When asked by a reporter why they did this, one officer replied, “we have to do our thing, you wouldn’t understand.” Is this how our police officers are trained? God help us all if it is. I think citizens are in more danger from the police than they are from criminals. Criminals not in uniform, that is.

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To the writer who said the Fayette Pavilion should be renamed Clayton Pavilion, I live in north Fayette and actually one-third of the speeding, left-lane hogs barreling down Ga. Highway 314 each morning have Fulton tags.

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Yes, it is your car. Yes, you can do as you please with it. But, if you drive your convertible with the top down and the windows up, you are a dork dork dork!

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Ladies, why do you feel it necessary to bathe yourselves in a stinky vat of perfume to go Walmart shopping? It has even spread to the cart paths. Can’t even enjoy a walk between the stinky perfume and the boisterous conversations on the cell phones. I think I’d rather smell good ol’ sweat instead of that smelly dollar store perfume.

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Spotted on one of the overgrown cartpaths ... and greenbelts: Tarzan running through the weeds chasing Jane.

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I do not know Eric Imker from Adam. But it looks like we have finally elected an official who is actually fulfilling his campaign promises. He is willing to take on the government entitlements that our Peachtree City employees believe they are mandated to receive no matter what is going on in our economy. He even suggested cutting back on public safety — the untouchable subject for previous administrations. Hooray! I appreciate your stance.

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I’ve lived in Peachtree City for 12 years and seldom have I heard planes. However, in the past month the bombardment has been incessant over Kedron Village. One in the wake of another, you can scarcely hear the train horns anymore. I don’t think that anything reduces the quality of life in a community as much as constant air traffic.

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Kudos to the Peachtree City mayor and council for understanding the importance of keeping a code enforcement job in place to enforce the ordinances in Peachtree City. Unlike in Tyrone where the council will not fund a code enforcement position even though they have $3 million in reserve.

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A newspaper article recently states that Peachtree City is struggling with their budget and where to make cuts, etc. One suggestion was no new police cars and fire truck. I would like to remind the mayor and council that the purpose of government is to protect the public’s safety. In my estimation this would include new police cars and fire trucks. Maybe the mayor and council should look at their recreation department’s revenues versus expenditures and privatize that department. After all, I don’t recall anywhere in the Constitution where government takes tax dollars for recreation.

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The private sector in action (inaction?). The financial system, then the automotive industry, now the oil industry. Who, or what, is next?

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I recently bought a home insurance policy with Allstate insurance company. I was told by the representative that because my house is over 10 years old, I would have to have a $5,000 deductible on the house. I pleaded with him that my deductible was too high and if their was anything that he could do about it. He told me no, because it’s Georgia’s law that I must take a $5,000 deductible. I later learned from inquiry by Allstate management that there is no such law in the state of Georgia. Allstate representatives said that they would look into it, but they are not willing to share with me how they would prevent that from happening to innocent people who cannot afford a $5,000 deductible. I am concerned whether this is a frequent practice where they offer a very low premium that customers are not aware that their deductible is very high in order to get the low premium rate. I wonder how many other insurance companies are practicing the same thing. Please refer me to the right venue in order to make consumers aware of this untrustworthy technique.

Comments

"recently bought a home insurance policy with Allstate insurance company. I was told ... I would have to have a $5,000 deductible on the house. I pleaded.. deductible too high...itâ€™s Georgiaâ€™s law that I must take a $5,000 deductible... no such law in the state of Georgia. Allstate representatives said that they would look into it...to innocent people who cannot afford a $5,000 deductible. I am concerned whether this is a frequent practice where they offer a very low premium that customers are not aware that their deductible is very high in order to get the low premium rate. I wonder how many other insurance companies are practicing the same thing. Please refer me to the right venue in order to make consumers aware of this untrustworthy technique."

I got the same deal...only I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS A 5,000 DEDUCTABLE TILL TOO LATE...AND PS..OXYMORON'S OFFICE WILL ...NOT..HELP!!!

I called 3 agencies, told each the price of house, the deductible I wanted etc.. I took last one as all were about the same.

It is true I didn't go over the policy with a fine tooth comb. I assumed wrongly, I wasn't dealing with a crook! When their policy comes, it is deceptive. Every policy I've had, deductible etc summarized on 1st page. Theirs, only part info, the rest on the ...BACK.. of 1st page so you don't notice it!

After the hail storm, I almost died! Not only had they put down a $5,000. deductible that I hadn't asked for, they had DEVALUATED my house! It wasn't even insured for replacement value. Instead of 240,000. They had it down for around 180,000!

I complained n said I'd never asked for, nor heard of a 5,000. deductible in my life! Nor did I think it fare they DEVALUATED MY HOUSE!

They wouldn't budge. I then contacted the insurance commissioner's office, Oxymoron. I sent them copies of all my policies before with 500. and 1,000 dollar deductibles and stressing Id never heard of such. That I called these Allstate people, didn't know them..and common sense would tell you I would not willing agree to DEVALUATE my house and a 5,000 deductible when I could pay same amount to someone else n get coverage I asked for. As proof, I also sent them a copy of my NEW policy with LIBERTY MUTUAL..with me telling LIBERTY MUTUAL, loud n clear I JUST HAD A CLAIM, and bad mouthing ALLSTATE with every ounce of blood in me.

LIBERTY MUTUAL wrote me an honest policy for what I asked for, house at 240,000. 1,000. deductable, and more content insurance, for the same amount of money as ALLSTATE had written me the worthless one for!

A month later I get a letter from Oxymoron's office telling me, they looked into it, that the insurance company said...ya ya ya..and that they were so sorry.

I threw a fit, called Oxy's office and demanded to speak with him on several occasions, each time they told me there was no way he could call me back he was just too buzy. (That was about the time he was hunting birds on some insurance company's property and his kid filled some-one's butt with buckshot)

After several return calls from underlings, I told the last one I wanted Oxy and no other, at which point she told me she ran that department and she was as good as I would get. She claimed they would set up a showdown between me and the insurance company in their office. They gave me a date and a time. It had been a hard fought war to get that far, and they had completely lost my trust so I called the afternoon before, to confirm the appointment. Sure enough, they told me that the insurance guy 'just couldn't make it, it wasn't convenient for him'..they never bothered to call me! At my urgent request, and foot in their butt, they said they would set up another appointment. That was over 7 months ago!

I think this 5,000 deductible is because the home office has made their guidelines harder, and they can't be competitive otherwise. The insurance commissioner's office is aware and lets them do as they please.

The reason I say that is because when I gave them the house, I gave them the car insurance as well. I got a ticket for not stoping long enough at a 4 way stop. ALLSTATE canceld my car insurance! I called them n said I had no other tickets, what was their problem, they said that was a serious violation and canceled me! When this happened I should have pulled out my homeowners n gone over it, but I thought the joke was on them, because I simply switched car insurance and got a better deal.

There is something going on, as far as car insurance, I think they are 'cherry picking'.

As far as home insurance, I don't know, but when I looked at my policy, it seemed the way they had worded it, it was worthless except for hail!

BUYER BE WARE...AND DON'T THINK OXYMORON'S OFFICE IS GOING TO DO ANYTHING BUT PUSH PENCILS AROUND.

I looked later at the salaries in Oxy's office, and there are several drawing over 80,000. a year..for that kind of treatment to the taxpayer. It is outrageous!