Charlie Brown, meet Brad Barnett.

If you are feeling the belt-tightening pinch of a sluggish economy, you might want to apply for a job at Roswell City Hall.

The Alpharetta Planning Commission met Thursday, June 4, to decide on recommendations on two issues for the Alpharetta City Council. The Public Hearing was an opportunity for the public to hear and respond to the proposed applications. Chairman Michael Tomy described the importance of the public hearing when he said that the issues “hit here first. It is the citizen’s opportunity to hear it here first.”

“Debt free and exhibit full.”

Those who attended the Roswell Veterans of Foreign Wars meeting on May 19 had much to celebrate and plenty of ways in which to do it. VFW Post members, families, and friends let loose in the Canteen, a bar in the newly refurbished Post Home. Along with the new Canteen, the Post showed off its new lighting and floors. It was not just the furnishings of the Post, however, that have been revamped. Nearly every aspect of the Post, from its leadership to its morale, has been revitalized.

It was a lightning-quick council meeting covering all sorts of ground at Roswell last week. All council members were present except for Rich Dippolito. The meeting began at the usual 7:30 p.m. and ended just after 8 p.m. Having just come from a lavish dinner at the nearby Smith Plantation, it could be that the Mayor and Council were just happily full.

“People in Roswell have a difficult time understanding that there are homeless families here,” said Minnie Bowden.

The agenda for the monthly meeting of the Roswell Historical Preservation Commission included just three items for discussion.  The seven society members, headed by Mr. Richard Hallberg, faced a quiet group of 10 members of the public.

In 1997, 12 patriotic individuals came together to create a truly unique Memorial Day event – a non-political, non-commercial ceremony honoring veterans and the sacrifices they made in protecting our freedom. That first ceremony attracted approximately 1,800 individuals. From that humble beginning, came the...

Local law enforcement braces for Obama backlash.

This is not the conversation one might expect in Barack Obama’s colorblind America. Especially on the outskirts of North Fulton County.

“Daddy, why does his dream make you so mad?” asks Kimberly, nine, as she and a hulking man in camouflage step over fallen pine logs on a raw, damp afternoon in western Forsyth County, about 30 minutes north of Milton.

“Sweetie, it’s science fiction, like the comic books you read,” Thomas Stevenson replies in a gentle, fatherly tone.

Steadying Kimberly’s shoulders as they approach another slab of deadwood, Stevenson notices the bewilderment in his fourth grader’s gaze, so he tries again to put her curiosity to rest. “The dream is that everybody is the same,” he says. “In other words, if you get a potato, I get a potato. If I get a loaf of bread, you get a loaf of bread. If you live in a mansion, then I should too.”