Two years ago today, October 24 2009, the LaFayette Underground site relaunched with its current design and format. An earlier attempt in summer 2008 ended with frustration, but conditions in the Queen City prompted a second try, and we’ve been here ever since.

We’re not above recycling or referencing our own work, so here are a few of our favorite articles from the last two years, with a few comments on each. If you haven’t checked these out before we hope you’ll give them a read.

Nov. 16 2009: A Hanging Question The first real LU investigative piece was about the suicide of a Walker County Jail inmate. In this situation we actually did side with the Sheriff’s Office, which hasn’t happened much recently. This piece had two followups on November 20th (“If we’ve learned anything from Sam Parker, we know that law enforcement officers are perfectly capable of murdering people without arresting them first”) and November 26th. Still waiting on GBI results…

Nov. 19 2009: LaFayette Cemetery Stink Back when the LU followed news instead of making it, the tail end of LaFayette’s cemetery cleanup controversy. Misguided city employees threw out flowers and mementoes from graves but neglected to actually clean the place up. Several of the suggestions made here actually did come about, but the city still struggles to manage its graveyard properly. A followup ran on December 17th.

Jan. 25 2010: City Council Tells Roper Where to Go Roper requested the city drop its franchise fees on their utility bill, but the council decided it would rather keep $233,000 a year than Roper’s 1,500 local jobs. Where does the $233,000 go? To the golf course, of course. Our first whack at the city’s backwards budget.

Feb. 07 2010: Criminal Culture This is where the LU really came into its own, with a popular piece that we’re probably most proud of. Theresa Parker, Tri-State Crematory, a lying sheriff, and drunk councilmen. Clara Marsh named Woman of the Year ’95 and Sam Parker’s ex partner vowed in comments she’d come walking back into town some day.

“LaFayette does come across as a modern day Mayberry, but one where Barney the Deputy murdered his wife, Floyd the Barber has uncremated bodies stacked in a shed, Opie was molested by his tennis coach, and Otis the drunk sits on the city council.”

Mar. 01 2010: Infrastructure Insanity Georgia paved South Main Street four months earlier, but we still had a car-swallowing crater down by the rec center nobody would acknowledge. Possibly the world’s first custody battle involving a pothole. Also looks at how terribly Walker County was (and still is) maintaining local roads and bridges. The nine-month saga of East Reed Road bridge repairs and the ridiculousness of waiting on FEMA. (Walker County never did get paid back its $90,000 for fixing the &%$* thing.)

Mar. 13 2010: Misrepresentation An early look at the Lowell Green softball project when it was only going to cost $400,000 instead of the $900,000 it eventually consumed. Dissolves into a diatribe about the retarded way city wards are set up, which totally should have been a separate article. Read half, go eat a sandwich, then come read the rest and pretend its a second post.

COUNCILMAN BILL CRAIG AT ONE POINT DEMANDED A TOTAL COST TO FINISH THE PROJECT IN WRITING… SAYING “WE’VE JUST GOT AN OPEN CHECK-BOOK OVER THERE”.

Apr. 03 2010: Protecting Their Own Normally, if you threatened to shoot up your neighborhood and commit suicide, forcing the evacuation of an entire subdivision, you’d probably end up in state prison. Unless you’re retired from the Walker County Sheriff’s Office. In that case Steve Wilson comes over and puts you back to bed. And you can keep your guns!

May 25 2010: Charitable Questions A reader e-mails us complaints about The Care Mission, and we set them straight about the charity. Good people doing good things in a part of town too many residents don’t care about.

Jun. 11 2010: Chief Concerns After three years on the job and more than ten fires in five months, Chief Freeman suggests LaFayette might have a small arson problem. This realization was only made after a fire was finally set east of the railroad tracks.

Jun. 24 2010: Wasted Potential Another favorite takes a look at LaFayette’s neglect of the old LHS football field. Since the high school moved in December 1997 this city-owned facility has absolutely fallen apart, wasting its opportunity as a sports complex, stage, or outdoor theater. This one launched a short-lived restoration movement, a Messenger article, and follow-ups on August 9th and August 21st.

Jul. 19 2010: Mulling Over Mullis Here’s our all-encompassing profile of State Senator Jeff Mulls, and all his interests that have nothing to do with the job we keep mistakenly electing him to do. Briefly looks at his 2010 campaign opposition.

Sep. 02 2010: Bye-Bye BlueBird BlueBird North Georgia wasn’t the area’s largest employer, but it was arguably the county’s most prestigious. Being best in the world wasn’t enough; bad business, economics, and politics contributed to empty buildings, lost jobs, and broken spirits. And no, Freightliner isn’t moving in there.

Sep. 07 2010: Project in the Projects LaFayette Housing Authority has a grand scheme to rebuild a handful of apartments at Foster Circle and build new ones in a neglected neighborhood on the West side of town. It’s really a great plan but we’re still stuck in limbo waiting on approval from the federal government. Of course.

Sep. 11 2010: Plane Crazy LaFayette loses tens of thousands of dollars every year supporting an airport nobody uses. Now the city is flushing good money after bad to build a new fence and terminal around a facility that serves fewer than two-dozen of the city’s 7,000+ residents.

Sep. 27 2010: ..Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out After years of failed official searches, Theresa Parker’s remains are accidentally found by a Chattooga County farm hand. Steve Wilson had nothing to do with the discovery but went on TV to take credit for it, while totally not taking credit for his role in her brutal murder at the hands of his old friend Sam.

Oct. 31 2010: Sales Tax Creep In 2010 the Georgia General Assembly slipped through TSPLOST, a new tax bill; this bill sired by Jeff Mullis pretends to be about building roads, but it’s just about government failing to do what it should do and passing responsibility down to taxpayers.

“Citizens of Georgia wouldn’t vote in favor of a tax to cover state senator paychecks, Georgia Dome renovations, Atlanta airport expansion, MAGLEV train studies, or new misspelled signs for highways – but when those items are paid for with general fund monies, taxpayers willingly approve new taxes for core government responsibilities like roads, schools, and public safety.”

Dec. 06 2010: Under Our Feet If a high school student stole toxic material and spread it all over the city, would Walker County Schools tell parents and the public? Apparently not. Nor would they punish the ones responsible. Thanks for poisoning my kid.

Dec. 15 2010: All Fired Up The city finally arrested someone for lighting thirty fires in a decade, but only after another arsonist squealed to protect himself. This is hands-down our most controversial piece and comments have nearly reached 100, including some interesting remarks from LPD chief detective Meeks.

Feb. 05 2011: Snowpocalypse ’11 It’s not the end of the world, it’s just snow. Pain in the butt, but generally nobody dies. Critique of businesses, government, and individual reaction to the biggest snow in years. Milking the FEMA cow ’til she runs dry, which she promptly did.

Feb. 23 2011: Blotto Bebe? Walker County’s sole commissioner shows up at a local restaurant drunk, soils herself, and gets a police escort home. She still insists it never happened, but everybody there (and more than a few police) say it certainly did. Drinking kills memory, maybe she simply forgot about it.

Mar. 14 2011: It’s For the Children! An argument against the ESPLOST sales tax. It’s supposed to help kids educationally, but most of the funding goes to frivolous purposes, and the tax keeps us from being economically competitive with neighboring counties. Also touches on plans for a new middle school in Rock Spring. The tax was of course approved because nobody bothers voting in March. That’s why they vote on these in March.

Jul. 13 2011: After The Storm Looking at the aftermath of April’s tornadoes. Red Cross under fire, citizens fighting to get life back to normal, and David Ashburn wishing more people were dead so we could get a bigger response from FEMA and the media.

Aug. 24 2011: Johnny Cash Day in Georgia A look back to the Johnny Cash LaFayette benefit concert in August 1970. Local businesses, politicians, news media, and life in LaFayette 41 years ago.

Sep. 11 2011: The Garbage Man How does a city employee with a criminal record manage to embezzle more than $10,000 in less than two years? It’s not too hard when nobody’s paying attention. This article resulted in a GBI investigation.

Sep. 25 2011: Goodbye Johnnie LaFayette’s retiring City Manager puts himself above the rules and implodes his career. His subsequent termination resulted in few tears shed. Good riddance, maybe now we can fix the city.

Those are our personal picks, but you may have other favorites. Let us know about your favorite LU blog in comments below.