A weekly newspaper and legal organ for DeKalb County, GA. Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Tucker and Stone Mountain.
24
championnewspaper championnewspaper champnewspaper championnews thechampionnewspaper.com FRIDAY, Dec. 12, 2014 • VOL. 17, NO. 35 • FREE • A PUBLICATION OF ACE III COMMUNICATIONS • Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Tucker and Stone Mountain. F REE P RESS Clarkston lights Christmas tree Education .............. 18-19A Business ........................21A Sports...................... 22-24A Opinion ........................... 5A Classified.......................20A QUICK FINDER LOCAL, 11A LOCAL, 3A CITYHOOD GROUPS GIVE ARGUMENTS FOR BOUNDARY LINES EX-GPC PRESIDENT WANTS JOB BACK LOCAL, 16A DORAVILLE APPROVES $68,000 PARKS PLAN by Ashley Oglesby [email protected]The city of Clarkston kicked-off the holiday sea- son with its annual Christ- mas Tree Lighting event on Dec. 4. The tree lighting brought an estimated crowd of 300 to the Clarkston Woman’s Club and featured dancers and singers from Clarkston First Baptist Church, as well as musical selections from the Proskuneo School of the Arts and Indian Creek Elementary School. Clarkston City Manager Keith Barker said, “Un- like big events like the tree lighting at Lenox Mall, this event had a real sense of community. You felt that you were there with your neighbors, this was about bringing the community together.” As onlookers gathered around the tree, Clarkston’s public works department put on a fireworks show be- fore the arrival of Santa. After the show Clarkston’s fire department arrived with an employee dressed as Santa Claus. Par- ents and children formed a line at the Woman’s Club to take pictures with Santa. Barker said many agreed this year’s event was the biggest turnout. The spike in attendance could be the result of the newly annexed properties acquired by Clarkston. He added, “It’s amazing how even with different cultures and different reli- gions, the Clarkston com- munity can come together and celebrate what is truly an American tradition.” City staff provided punch and cookies and gave out 150 gifts bags to kids. “We were very pleased with the success and every- body was impressed with how smoothly things oper- ated,” Barker said. See more pictures on page 15A
• A PUBLICATION OF ACE III COMMUNICATIONS •Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Tucker and Stone Mountain.FreePress
The city of Clarkston kicked-off the holiday sea-son with its annual Christ-mas Tree Lighting event on Dec. 4.
The tree lighting brought an estimated crowd of 300 to the Clarkston Woman’s Club and featured dancers and singers from Clarkston First Baptist Church, as well as musical selections from the Proskuneo School of the Arts and Indian Creek Elementary School.
Clarkston City Manager Keith Barker said, “Un-like big events like the tree lighting at Lenox Mall, this event had a real sense of community. You felt that you were there with your neighbors, this was about bringing the community together.”
As onlookers gathered around the tree, Clarkston’s public works department
put on a fireworks show be-fore the arrival of Santa.
After the show Clarkston’s fire department arrived with an employee dressed as Santa Claus. Par-ents and children formed a line at the Woman’s Club to take pictures with Santa.
Barker said many agreed this year’s event was the biggest turnout.
The spike in attendance could be the result of the newly annexed properties acquired by Clarkston.
He added, “It’s amazing how even with different cultures and different reli-gions, the Clarkston com-munity can come together and celebrate what is truly an American tradition.”
City staff provided punch and cookies and gave out 150 gifts bags to kids.
“We were very pleased with the success and every-body was impressed with how smoothly things oper-ated,” Barker said.
see more pictures on page 15A
Page 2A the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014
localMore chargers added to the clarkston fleetby Ashley [email protected]
The city of Clarkson is getting nearly 6,000 new residents after a newly passed annexation referen-dum and is hiring eight additional public safety employees: six officers, one sergeant and one detective.
To serve the added population and geographic area, City Manager Keith Barker proposed at the Dec. 2 council meeting the purchase of five Dodge Chargers for the Clarkston Police Department.
The police department currently has two 2012 Dodge Chargers and four Crown Victorias. Barker said, “The four Crown Victorias in the department’s fleet have exceeded the mileage (80,000) at which we nor-mally replace units. Additionally, they have had numerous mechani-cal problems causing them to be out of service.”
According to the budget for vehicle repairs, the city has $30,000 for vehicle repairs and maintenance but has spent almost $40,000.
Barker proposed that the de-partment continue to maintain the two Crown Victorias that are in the best conditions to use as spares and to transport officers to training.
Barker said four of the new ve-hicles will be assigned to the patrol division to replace the four Crown Victorias currently in the fleet. The fifth Dodge Charger will replace chief of police Christine Hudson’s 2012 Charger, which will be as-signed to Captain T.D. Brown. Captain Brown’s vehicle will then be assigned to the criminal investiga-tion division for the added position of detective.
Barker said the city will take advantage of the Georgia Municipal Association’s equipment and real es-tate financing program to purchase the vehicles.
The vehicles will be leased over a five-year period at an interest rate of 2.82 percent.
Payments for the vehicles with
equipment and installation are es-timated to total $186,474. The city would pay $9,000 per quarter or a little more than $39,000 per year.
The city plans to use funds al-located from its federal asset for-feiture fund to finance the vehicles. The funds are adjudicated through the courts to the Clarkston Police Department for officers in the Drug Enforcement Administration task force. The agency deploys officers to get drugs off the street. If an officer is involved in a drug bust the city receives funds from seized assets of the drug dealer.
Barker said, “We have sufficient funds in that account, currently, to cover that expense. Our current bal-ance in that account is a little more than $142,000.”
He added, “We have about $300,000 in the pipeline that we an-ticipate we will receive over the next 18 months. It has to be adjudicated through the courts before it is re-ceived by us.”
Barker said the city typically re-ceives more than $100,000 per year from the courts.
“We are confident that we will be able to fund this particular ex-penditure in a manner that will not create a big capital expense,” Barker said.
Clarkston will be responsible for the annexed area beginning Jan. 1 and is actively recruiting for eight officers to join its department.
Hudson said, “It is going to be a challenge, but it’s nothing that the Clarkston Police Department can’t handle. We’ll be proactive. We in-tend to have officers down there to include myself.”
Hudson is hosting job fairs and recruiting from regional police academies, but admits law enforce-ment is competitive right now.
“We’re fighting against MARTA. They have a big recruitment going on and bigger agency requirements,” said Hudson.
Every day, underground pipelines safely transport natural gas to homes and businesses throughout the area. Atlanta Gas Light is responsible for the security and maintenance of pipelines in our service territory.
Natural gas is colorless and odorless so we add an odorant with a distinctive, rotten-egg type scent for easy detection. It is non-toxic, lighter than air and displaces oxygen. In severe cases, if not used properly, it may lead to asphyxiation and has a risk of ignition near a spark.
CALL BEFORE YOU DIG Before digging around your property, state law requires you call 811 to have your utility lines professionally marked – for free! You must wait the required amount of time before you begin your project.
Pipeline markers indicate the presence of pipe and right-of-way. While they’re not present in all areas, it’s always best to call 811. If right-of-way is adjacent to your property, it is your responsibility to ensure no new landscaping or physical structure interferes with access to the pipeline, and with our ability to keep it safe through routine monitoring and maintenance. Information about transmission pipelines operating in your community is available through the National Pipeline Mapping System (NPMS) and is available online at npms.phmsa.dot.gov.
WATER HEATER SAFETY The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission urges all users to lower their water heaters to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
CARBON MONOXIDE Incomplete combustion of any fuel – produces carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide is poisonous and has no odor, taste or color. Carbon monoxide detectors are helpful, but they are no substitute for using equipment safely. This includes having it inspected once a year by a certified contractor.
APPLIANCE SAFETY According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency:
• It’s important that you have your furnace inspected by a qualified specialist.
• Be sure all furnace controls and emergency shutoffs are in proper working condition.
• Keep trash and other combustible material away from your air heating and water heating systems.
Visit atlantagaslight.com/integritymanagementplan to learn about our emergency response plan which recognizes and mitigates threats and also sustains the integrity of the pipelines.
IF YOU SMELL GAS, ACT FAST.Although natural gas pipeline incidents are uncommon, these tips will help you identify a possible leak and know what to do.
LOOK for blowing dirt or continued bubbling of standing water.
LISTEN for a hissing or roaring sound near a natural gas appliance or line.
SMELL for the distinctive rotten-egg scent of natural gas. Take action if you detect even a small amount of this odor.
LEAVE the area IMMEDIATELY if you detect a natural gas leak through. Don’t try to identify the source or stop the leak.
CALL Atlanta Gas Light at 877.427.4321 or 911 once you are safely away from the possible leak site. Stay away from the area until an Atlanta Gas Light representative or emergency personnel indicate it is safe to return.
REMEMBER while near a possible natural gas leak, do not touch or use anything that may cause a spark. This includes lighters, matches, cigarettes, flashlights, light switches and telephones. Wait until you have left the area to use a cell phone.
For more information, visit atlantagaslight.com/safety or call 800.427.5463.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION FROM ATLANTA GAS LIGHT
The man who was ousted as the president of Georgia Perimeter Col-lege (GPC) in 2012 still wants his job back.
Through an attorney, former GPC President Anthony Tricoli has filed a motion in DeKalb County Superior Court seeking to be re-stored to his position pending the outcome of his lawsuit against the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents.
Tricoli’s motion states that prior pleadings and evidence submitted in his case “have demonstrated a strong likelihood of success on the merits, a balance of equities decid-edly in his favor [and] irreparable harm to Tricoli in the total destruc-tion of his academic career.”
After Tricoli was “falsely and very publicly blamed in the media for the GPC deficit crisis,” he was ousted “under unsavory circum-stances and has been unable to ob-tain another job in his profession,” the motion states.
Tricoli, who lost his home in At-lanta, “has applied for over 200 uni-versity positions across the country, but has been unable to secure a job—after being the USG’s ‘rising star,’” the motion states.
According to the motion, defen-dants in Tricoli’s lawsuit contacted schools interested in giving Tricoli a second interview to inform the schools of the negative media atten-tion surrounding Tricoli’s dismissal.
The motion comes after a law-suit Tricoli filed against the Univer-sity System of Georgia (USG) and some GPC employees for allegedly conspiring to cover up a budget shortfall in 2012.
According to the lawsuit, which
accuses officials from the col-lege and the USG of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the defendants tampered with evidence, made false statements to state agencies and in-fluenced witnesses.
Tricoli has said that USG of-ficials fraudulently breached his contract, forced him to resign from his position as president at GPC and falsified reports relating to the budget shortfall.
A list of the defendants includes GPC interim president Rob Watts; former GPC Chief Budget Officer Ron Carruth; GPC Human Re-sources Director Jim Rasmus; USG Chancellor Henry Huckaby and each member of the Board of Re-gents at the time the budget short-fall occurred.
According to Tricoli’s motion, when he was hired in 2006, it was Watts who, as the chief operating officer of the University System of Georgia, “insisted that Tricoli keep
the GPC budget that Watts had hired” while he served as the inter-im GPC president before Tricoli.
“Over time and with experi-ence, Tricoli’s confidence in Carruth
diminished, but Watts would not allow Tricoli to replace Carruth, insisting Carruth was ‘the best bud-get officer in Georgia,’” the motion states.
In 2006, Georgia Perimeter Col-lege boasted 20,000 students, 389 faculty and six campuses. Because the university system faced a bud-get crisis, Watts “ordered Tricoli to work with Carruth to eliminate almost 300 jobs at GPC as a budget cutting measure,” according to the motion.
Instead, Tricoli worked to in-crease the college’s enrollment and revenues. When the 33-year veteran of higher education was dismissed in May, the state’s largest two-year college had a roster of 27,000 stu-dents, more than 500 faculty mem-bers and five campuses.
In May 2012, Huckaby an-nounced that Tricoli had resigned following the discovery of a $16 million budget shortfall. Less than an hour after that announcement, Tricoli emailed the chancellor stat-ing, “I never agreed to ‘step down.’”
According to the motion, a spe-cial internal audit by the university system “found that Carruth had been spending GPC reserves with-out informing Tricoli.”
“The special report also con-firmed that two sets of [financial] books had been kept at GPC, one informing Tricoli of the rosy budget numbers and another report-ing deficit spend-ing to the USG and state auditors over a period of years,” the motion stated, adding that “Car-
ruth and other budget officers had been emailing back and forth about a looming deficit crisis, without in-forming Tricoli.
The motion states that the “termination of, by all accounts, a dynamic and successful GPC presi-dent was conducted with extreme prejudice.”
Referring to Tricoli as a scape-goat, the motion states that his “career was destroyed by the USG’s near diabolical portrayal of him in the press, after sandwiching him between the deceptions of Carruth and Watts in order to sandbag him out of his position as GPC presi-dent.
“While he may be awarded damages or other relief in this ac-tion, none of that will restore his ability to work in his chosen field, helping young people who started at the same disadvantage he did. The only way to erase that irreparable harm is to reverse [the] defendants illegal actions and place him back in his position as GPC president,” the motion state.
ex-Georgia Perimeter president wants job back
‘I never agreed to ‘step down.’
-Anthony Tricoli
The champion Free Press, Friday Dec. 11, 2014 Page 4aopinion
For those of us disap-pointed by the grand jury’s decision not to indict Fergu-son, Mo., police officer Dar-ren Wilson on any charge in the August shooting death of unarmed teen Michael Brown, the question is “What now?”
It appears that this is yet another case that will leave us without satisfaction from the American institutions that we turn to in times of crisis. Justice from our point of view was not served, and it doesn’t seem to be blind. So, “What now?”
Each of us who has prayed for a sliver of jus-tice—at least some acknowl-edgement that something that played out in the street
in Ferguson that night be-tween the kid and the cop wasn’t totally the fault of the kid—must decide how we’re going to respond over the long term to what I con-sider a pervasive problem
in America—fear of Black youth and the devaluing of the life of Black men.
By now, more than a week after the announce-ment of the grand jury’s de-cision, some of the pent-up anger and hostility has died down but certainly not all of it. And that’s a good thing.
Now is the time to turn our tempered rage, shock, disappointment and disillu-sionment into action.
There is no one thing to do. There are, however, a myriad of ways to fight against the inequities and inadequacies involving our communities.
What it will take to effect change is the involvement of many, not of the few, be-
ing more engaged in and committed to our commu-nities—caring about who represents us in public office and voting the right people in and the wrong people out; holding authorities re-sponsible when issues arise and not allowing situations to slide so these authority figures have the impression that we don’t care; insist-ing that law enforcement officials train and sensitize officers to better deal with conflicts with Black and minority youth; being more vocal as a community in ex-pressing ourselves in peace-ful, nonviolent ways; and keeping the dialogue going that discrimination is still very much alive in America.
It also means teaching our children to understand how to conduct themselves in public and in private at all times, especially if and when they have encounters with law enforcement. And we must find ways to share this guidance with youth in our community whose families and those around them may not be delivering these mes-sages.
If we do nothing, each of us has squandered an opportunity to find some way to be part of effecting a change in our country, of not just shaking our heads and ranting on social media.
Let Us Know What You Think!THE CHAMPION FREE PRESS encourages opinions from its readers. Please write to us and express your views. Letters should be brief, type-written and contain the writer’s name, address and telephone number for verification. All letters will be considered for publication.Send Letters To editor, The Champion Free Press, P. O. Box 1347, Decatur, GA 30031-1347; Send email to [email protected] • FAX To: (404) 370-3903 Phone: (404) 373-7779 . Deadline for news releases and advertising: Thursday, one week prior to publication date.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The opinions written by columnists and contributing editors do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editor or publishers. The Publisher reserves the right to reject or cancel any advertisement at any time. The Publisher is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts.
Publisher: John Hewitt Chief Financial Officer: Dr. earl D. GlennManaging Editor: Andrew cauthenProduction Manager: Kemesha Hunt Photographer: Travis HudgonsStaff Reporters: carla Parker, Ashley Oglesby
The Champion Free Press is published each Friday by ACE III Communications, Inc., • 114 New Street, Suite E, Decatur, GA. 30030 • Phone (404) 373-7779.
www.championnewspaper.com
DISPLAY ADVERTISING (404) 373-7779 x 110
FrEEPRESS
stAtement from the PublisherWe sincerely appreciate the discussion surrounding this and any issue of interest to DeKalb county. The Champion was founded in 1991 expressly to provide a forum for discourse for all community residents on all sides of an issue. We have no desire to make the news only to report news and opinions to effect a more educated citizenry that will ultimately move our community forward. We are happy to present ideas for discussion; however, we make every effort to avoid printing information submitted to us that is known to be false and/or assumptions penned as fact.
One Man’s OpiniOn
God bless us, every one!
“No act of kindness, no mat-ter how small is ever wasted,” –Aesop (620-564 B.C.), Greek philosopher and author of Ae-sop’s Fables.
As we count our blessings and gather with family and friends in the coming weeks to celebrate Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas and this holiday season, it is important to re-member that not every hearth or belly is full and that Santa may still have trouble finding a few thousand households thanks to a malfunctioning GPS and the lingering effects of this recession, where job growth has been the last key economic indicator to turn around.
I’m asking that you take a moment to select in your heart and your mind those organizations most worthy of your support this year. Here are few charities and non-profits of good reputation and long standing, with low administrative costs, a record of service and thrift and a demonstrated ability to stretch most every donated dollar to do the most good.
The Empty Stocking Fund (www.emptystockingfund.org)
Since its founding by The
Atlanta Journal in 1927, the Empty Stocking Fund has been helping Santa find the homes of Atlanta’s families most in need. Medicaid-re-cipient children, from birth to age 13 are eligible; their par-ents can shop at a Santa Vil-lage on Memorial Drive. The thinly staffed nonprofit will distribute nearly $4 million worth of gifts to nearly 60,000 children this year, an increase of nearly 20 percent over last year.
The Empty Stocking Fund buys close-outs and last year’s toys directly from the manufacturers, often right after each holiday season, stretching each donor dol-lar further. A gift of $20 will sponsor an age- and gender-appropriate gift packet for a child containing four toys, an educational gift and a pair of
socks or stockings
FODAC (www.fodac.org)Friends of Disabled Adults
and Children (FODAC), based in Stone Mountain has been improving and changing the lives of mobility impaired disabled adults and chil-dren for decades. Its annual Santa Breakfast its primary fundraiser is Dec. 13 at the Marriott Evergreen in Stone Mountain Park. Children under 5 are free, and adult tickets are $30, for an ample breakfast buffet, professional photo with Santa Claus, free gift for each child and a Stone Mountain Adventure Pass, covering every attraction except The Ducks and Snow Mountain. FODAC charges only a one-time membership fee of $25 to provide recycled and gently used mobility and durable medical equipment to veterans, the disabled or any-one temporarily sidelined by serious injury. Monastery of the Holy Spirit (www.trappist.net)
Particularly for my Catho-lic readers, though all are wel-come, the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, just off Georgia Highway 212 and now on the PATH Trail in Conyers, is a place for peaceful reflection, prayer and just pausing to
remember what this holiday season is really all about.
Since the dawn of civiliza-tion, where you have found Trappist Monks, you have found society, productive farmlands and a place for thoughtful prayer. This mon-astery is no different, nestled on a couple of thousand acres, including a self-sustaining farm, retreat house, green and natural burial grounds, exqui-site handcrafted stained glass and a wide array of Abbey trades and goods available for purchase in the gift shop.
The PATH Trail now winds past Arabia Mountain and along the South River giving another scenic way to travel to and from the monastery. The monastery’s mission and op-erations all are locally funded and self-sustaining.
The Salvation Army (salva-tionarmyatlanta.org)
“Doing the Most Good” wherever the need is greatest, all across the globe is the Sal-vation Army, and the Metro Atlanta Salvation Army has a vast mission and annual bud-get exceeding $2 million. Vol-unteers are needed to ring the Red Kettle Bells at more than 150 locations. Money from the drive fund programs ranging from the Angel Tree, to Boys & Girls Clubs to food pantries,
family shelters and emergency displacement relief.
If an apartment building burns, Hurricane Katrina devastates the Gulf coast or an earthquake all but obliterates civilization in Haiti, the Salva-tion Army is on the ground first, providing care, relief and the basic human necessities of life. Salvation Army thrift stores support its mission of helping those suffering addic-tion find their path to recov-ery and salvation, with clients most often serving as store employees.
You may instead want to support the mission of your own church, local school or community. What is most important is that if you can give that you do so and that you encourage others to do the same. We are, after all, our brother’s and sister’s keep-ers. God bless us, every one.
Bill Crane also serves as a political analyst and commen-tator for Channel 2’s Action News, WSB-AM News/Talk 750 and now 95.5 FM, as well as a columnist for The Cham-pion, Champion Free Press and Georgia Trend. Crane is a DeKalb native and business owner, living in Scottdale. You can reach him or comment on a column at [email protected].
Page 6A the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014
local
If you would like to nominate someone to be considered as a future Champion of the Week, please contact Andrew Cauthen at [email protected] or at (404) 373-7779, ext. 117.
MARTA is collecting pub-lic feedback on two designs of the Clifton Corridor Transit Initiative.
The Clifton Corridor would provide a direct link between the Lindbergh Center Station in the Atlanta and the Avondale Station in DeKalb County. MARTA held two meetings Dec. 4 and 9 to share information and receive feed-back on both plans.
The Federal Transit Ad-ministration requires these meetings be held to update stakeholders on the status of the project, including the envi-ronmental analysis that began in 2013. The Clifton Corridor is the region’s only major em-ployment center without access to an interstate or high-capaci-ty transit option.
“As we enter into the envi-ronmental analysis, we want to know people’s input on the alignment, on the station loca-tions and even on the mode choice,” said Tameka Wim-berly, MARTA senior regional planner.
The Clifton Corridor is
home to several neighbor-hoods, Emory University, Emory Healthcare, the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention, the Veterans Admin-istration Medical Center and Regional Offices and DeKalb Medical. The project features two alternatives. Wimberly said the project that includes a second alternative is similar to the project that was adopted by the MARTA board in 2012.
“Alternative 2 is an at-grade alignment,” she said. “It’s very similar to Alternative 1 except that it’s at-grade, it runs along the street level with the cars. What we’re doing in this pro-cess is to see what do people want. You learn from the pub-lic. This is their community, this is our community and we need to do this together.”
A public input from last year on the different alterna-tives indicated a preference for the at-grade alternative because they realize the cost difference, according to Wimberly.
“These are just preliminary costs because we have so much work to do,” she said. “But just high-level cost just off the back is a big difference and people prefer that. They are
Community involvement has always been important to Harold Morrow, who volunteers at Cross Keys High School and McNair Middle School.
“I was looking for opportunities to help, particularly with education and I’ve always been fairly good with math so it was a logical pro-gression into working with students and providing assistance.”
Morrow volunteers with Cross Keys High School on Tuesdays, as-sisting freshmen with mathematics and has worked with sixth graders at McNair Middle School for al-most a year with reading, English and mathematics. As the students complete assignments in class Mor-row assists teachers in answering questions and helping students solve problems.
“I’m pretty big on education; I think it’s very valuable thing to do,” Morrow said.
Morrow graduated college with a degree in business management and spent 35 years working various jobs with the Department of Defense, mainly in the Washington, D.C., area.
Upon retiring Morrow said he searched for opportunities to get involved and volunteer in schools and stumbled upon Communities in Schools, an independent nonprofit corporation focused on school suc-cess and dropout prevention.
He said after discussions with CIS he was invited to an orientation and began volunteering.
“It’s a place where they needed assistance. I was pretty much will-ing to go anywhere but this was one of a couple of schools where they said they needed help,” Morrow said.
He added, “It’s very rewarding to work with students and see when the light comes on, when students
say, ‘OK, now I understand.’”Additionally, Morrow volunteers
two hours every Monday at St. Vin-cent de Paul in Chamblee sorting donations and helping customers. He helps distribute food at the Com-munity Action Center and provides gifts and food at Christmas for low-income and homeless families in partnership with St. Jude’s adopt-a-family program.
Morrow was born and raised in St. Louis, served as a Boy Scout and attended a high school that instilled in him the need to get involved.
He said when he attended at the University of Dayton he also was encouraged him to serve in his com-munity. “Their motto is to learn, lead and serve. You go to college, you learn. You get out into the real world, in my case business, and you lead and now I’m just fulfilling the loop and providing a service since I am retired and I have the time.”
See MARTA on page 13A MARTA has two alternatives of the Clifton Corridor for the public to choose from. Photos by Carla Parker
People look at designs of the proposed Clifton Corridor.
the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014 Page 7A
community
Avondale estatesCity to hold holiday decoration contest
Avondale Estates residents and business own-ers are invited to decorate their homes or busi-nesses for the city’s Christmas and Holiday Spirit Awards decorating contest. Judging will take place Dec.15, and winners will be announced Dec. 16. Winners will receive a Christmas/Holi-day Spirit Award. Judges will view decorations on residences, storefronts, building exteriors and display windows from a vehicle passing slowly or stopping in front. Judges will not leave the vehicle for close viewing of decorations. Participants must have their lights on by dusk; businesses and house numbers must be clearly marked for judges to see; and all decisions of the judges are final. For more information, visit www.avondaleestates.org/events.html.
chambleeBreakfast with Santa announced
Parents can bring their children to visit Santa, see live reindeer, create some art, listen to a sto-ryteller, and much more on Saturday, Dec. 14. Chamblee will host its Breakfast with Santa with breakfast provided by the McDonald’s of Cham-blee. Reservations are required and there is a $5 fee per child for a photo with Santa. Reservations will be held from 8 a.m. until noon. Chamblee Civic Center, 3540 Broad St.
City to hold Compost and Recycle Day
On the third Saturday of each month, the Chamblee Public Works Department hosts Com-post and Recycle Day from 8 a.m. until noon. On Dec. 20, in an effort to reduce landfill use and promote responsible reuse, the city also will ac-cept electronic waste. For a complete list of the accepted items, visit chambleega.com. Free com-post is available. Attendees are welcome to bring their trucks and self-load. If you are a Chamblee residents who wants the compost delivered, the charge is $50. The location is 3210 Cumberland Dr. For more details, call (770) 986-5019.
DecaturCommunity center to host Brunch with Santa
The Community Achievement Center Inc. presents its inaugural Brunch with Santa on Sat-urday, Dec. 20, from 10 a.m. to noon.
“This event is a wonderful opportunity for families to have a safe and fun place to enjoy holiday festivities in DeKalb County, such as writ-ing letters to Santa, games, arts/crafts, a live per-formance and brunch,” states an announcement about the event.
Brunch with Santa is for students in pre-K through fifth grade. Admission is $5 per person. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Pic-tures with Santa may be purchased for an addi-tional fee.
The Community Achievement Center Inc., is a 501(c)(3) organization whose primary focus is to provide opportunities for people to improve the quality of their lives through tutoring, coun-seling and support programs that develop a desire for lifelong pursuit of worthy personal goals.
The center is located at 4522 Flat Shoals Park-way, Decatur. For more information, contact cen-ter director Clarence Wells at (404) 214-7400 or [email protected].
Stone Mountain
nonprofit receives spirit awardFriends of Disabled Adults and Children (FO-
DAC), a nonprofit organization providing over $10 million annually in durable medical equip-ment (DME) and supplies to the disabled com-munity, was selected by Atlanta Interfaith Broad-casters (AIB) to receive an AIB Spirit Award, recognizing the organization for its support of the mobility-impaired community.
The award was presented to FODAC president and CEO Chris Brand in October at FODAC
headquarters in Stone Mountain by AIB board chairman John B. McIntyre.
“The AIB Spirit Award is given to a person or organization that exemplifies the spirit of caring, sharing and lifting up others,” McIntyre stated. “Over the past 20-plus years, FODAC has pro-vided help to thousands of persons with mobility impairments, many of whom had no other re-source for the equipment they needed to maintain a quality of life.”
“We are always grateful to be recognized for the work we do to support the disabled com-munity,” said Brand. “The AIB Spirit Award is particularly meaningful to us because it also rec-ognizes the spiritual benefit of helping these folks regain independence and a quality of life. We are honored to accept this award.”
LifeLine Animal Project has begun its “Home for the Pawlidays” promotion. Between now and Dec. 31, people can adopt any dog or puppy at DeKalb County Animal Services for $30 and any cat or kitten at the shelter for $10. All adopted pets will be spayed or neutered, microchipped, vaccinated and more–services with a retail value of more than $200. Potential adoptees will be screened to ensure the animals go to good homes. For adoption hours, location and pictures of avail-able animals, visit www.dekalbanimalservices.com.
DeKalb Workforce Development offers work readiness workshops
The December 2014 schedule for DeKalb Workforce Development’s (DWD) Work Readi-ness Workshops has been released.
The workshops are held at the DWD building located at 774 Jordan Lane, Building #4, Decatur, and are offered free of charge.
The workshops are designed to empower job seekers with essential work readiness skills need-ed to secure employment. Workshop training top-ics include “resume writing,” “interviewing tech-niques,” “personal branding and marketing,” “net-working” and “basic computer and introduction to Microsoft Office Suite.” Since the program’s inception, more than 2,000 individuals attended DWD’s Work Readiness Workshops.
The schedule for the workshops is resume writing—Mondays and Thursdays, 10 a.m.-noon; personal branding—Tuesdays, 10 a.m.-noon; marketing—Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-noon; network-ing—Mondays, 10 a.m.-noon and 1-3 p.m.; inter-viewing techniques—Mondays and Wednesdays, 1-3 p.m.; basic computer—Mondays and Tues-days, 10 a.m.-noon; and introduction to Micro-soft Office Suite—Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m.-noon.
Around DeKalb
Page 8A the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014
A former Lithonia Middle School custodian is behind bars on child moles-tation charges.
Rodney Winston, 49, was arrested Dec. 2 for alleg-edly molesting two Lithonia Middle School girls. Accord-ing to Lithonia Police Capt. Xavier Todd, the alleged in-cidents happened in July at the home of one of the girls.
“Mr. Winston frequents that area and is well known in that area,” Todd said. “He actually grew up in Lithonia. So people allow him to come and go pretty much when he wants to.”
Todd said one of the girls, who is 11 years old, said that she was at a loca-tion in Lithonia on Smokey Road when she saw Winston in the neighborhood, where he approached her.
“He said, ‘I have some-thing to give you,’” Todd said. “She went to this resi-dence—she doesn’t actually lives there, her friend, the other victim does. They were in the house playing, and everyone went outside or in the back of the room while she was in the living room.”
Todd said Winston came into the house and sat on the sofa with her. When she stood up Winston ap-proached her and attempted to put his hand in front of her pants, according to Todd.
“She grabbed his hand and left out of the resi-dence,” Todd said. “He also tried to give her $20 prior to her leaving the residence.”
The other victim, who is 13 years old, said she knew Winston not only from school, but also from the neighborhood. Todd said Winston was able to come in and out of the home where the 13 years old was because he knows her grandfather, who sells “off the market alcohol.”
“We’re going to follow back up on that later,” Todd said.
Todd said the 13 years old was sleeping on the sofa and was awaken by Win-ston.
“He was trying to put some money in her bra and also touching her on her butt,” Todd said. “At that point, he left.”
Although the incidents happened in July, the girls did not report it until Oc-tober after they realized the same incident happened to them both.
“They said ‘we need to tell somebody,’ and that’s what prompted them to go talk to the school and their parents,” Todd said. “It’s not unusual for kids to do ‘out-cries’ after so long. They feel embarrassed.”
One of the students notified her parents as well as the school and a report was filed with the Lithonia Police. During the investi-gation, Todd said he went to the school, requested an open record of his person-nel file and discovered that Winston had prior incidents of inappropriate behavior within the school.
“The school said he touched a girl on her arm, and another girl complained that he was staring at her really hard and she felt un-comfortable,” Todd said. “He was reprimanded on both of those occasions, but he was not terminated at that time until this case came about.”
According to arrest re-cords, Winston was also ar-rested in 2003 on burglary, sexual battery and sexual battery charges from an in-cident in 2001.
Winston resigned in lieu of termination Oct. 21. He was charged with one count of child molestation and one count of sexual battery.
For the first time since sales began nearly 100 years ago, Girl Scouts of the USA will allow its local troops to sell cookies online using a mobile app or personalized websites.
The Girl Scouts’ new Digital Cookie Platform will enable customers to order cookies and have them shipped directly to them.
“Girls have been telling us that they want to go into this space,” said Sarah Angel-Johnson, chief digital cookie execu-tive for the organization covering about two million girls.
“Online is where entrepreneurship is going,” Johnson said.
According to a recent press release, Digital Cookie will introduce 21st century lessons about online marketing, application use and e-commerce to more than 1 million Girl Scouts, from kindergarten-age Daisies to teens.
Each scout will have her own web page –customers can choose whom they want to buy from, no matter what state they’re i–which is ideal for long-distance family members. Customers must receive an invi-tation via email to access a specific scout’s page.
The scouts are expected to opt in as the cookie-selling season begins this month and the scouting organization gets digital sales underway.
The digital option is intended to en-hance, not replace, the paper spreadsheets used to generate an estimated $800 mil-lion in cookie sales a year–at anywhere from $3.50 to $5 a box, depending on scout council.
Nekeidra Taylor, communications manager of Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, said, “The Digital Cookie follows Girl Scouts’ classic hands-on approach to teach-
ing girls new skills.” She added, “Through the platform, local
Girl Scouts will maintain their own protect-ed, personalized websites to market their cookie business to local consumers, accept orders via credit cards and activate cookie shipments directly to customers.”
Consumers who decide to place orders with Girl Scouts participating in Digital Cookie will receive e-marketing materials from the scout along with an invitation to visit her cookie website and make addition-al purchases.
The platform places an emphasis on the safety of girls and customers alike and of-fers an online experience that allows girls to learn about digital money management using dashboards to track their sales and goals.
Girl Scouts Service Unit Director and southeast DeKalb troop leader Shawanda Reynolds-Cobb said, “It expands the base for the girls. “We have family members from all over and so having that access on-line to place the orders and have the cook-ies shipped to the family members makes it much easier on the girls as well as custom-ers, volunteers and parents involved in the cookie sales.”
Girl Scouts of metro Atlanta are cur-rently recruiting for additional volunteers through an invite-a-friend campaign. The organization has 2,212 adult members and 474 troop leaders in DeKalb County.
Cobb said, “Each school year we work with the schools and churches and hold re-cruitment events. We send out information to the parents with the students or we go to the churches and make sure that the infor-mation appears on church bulletin boards.
“At those events the parents are able to complete the application process for their daughters to join Girl Scouts. Also that is an opportunity for us to recruit volunteers to serve as troop leaders and assistant troop leaders,” she said.
Girl Scout sales go digital
the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014 Page 9Alocal
concerned about property impact, they are concerned about construction and how that might affect them, their neighborhoods and their homes. So they support it, they realize that this area is congested. It’s not going to get any better and they want to see something done.”
According to a presenta-tion by MARTA on June 20, 2013, the at-grade alignment would cost $744 million and the alternative with the tun-nel would cost $1.1 billion.
Michael Sullivan, who lives in the area, said he pre-fers Alternative 2.
“We don’t have anything that’s near my house as it would be with Alternative 1,” he said. “Part of Alter-native 1 is from Emory to
Emory-Clairmont and goes along the CSX right away. The CSX lines are reason-ably close to where I live.”
MARTA will receive public comments until Jan. 23, 2015.
“We will continue to receive public comments throughout this process,” Wimberly said. “We won’t ever stop. Hopefully the end result of this is to create a final environmental impact
Marta Continued From Page 6A
Public Notification:Our client is proposing to construct four 60-foot positive train control towers (total height 63-feet) within DeKalb County, GA. The towers will be located in the follow-ing locations along the railroad right-of-way: #41405 – approximately ¼ mile northeast of the intersection of Ashford Dunwoody Road and Peachtree Blvd in Brookhaven, #40484 – approximately 200 feet west of the intersection of Pierce Dr and Peachtree Rd in Chamblee, #36723 – approximately 700 feet northeast of the intersection of the railroad and Longmire Way in Doraville, #41409- approximately 350 feet north-northwest of the intersection of Buford Hwy NE and New Peachtree Rd in Doraville. Golder Associates on behalf of our client invites comments from any interested party regarding the potential effects of the project on historic properties. Comments may be sent to Angela Kappen, Golder Associates Inc., N27 W23960 Paul Road, Suite 210, Pewaukee, WI 53072. Comments must be received by January 10th, 2015.
Holiday events set mood in Avondale estatesby Kathy Mitchell
Avondale Estates has an interesting mix of home types that reflect the city’s changes since it was founded in 1926, according to Mar-garet Lunsford, chairman of the annual Avondale Estates Christmas Tour of Homes.
Now in its 22nd year, the tour showcases six ar-chitecturally noteworthy private homes decorated for the holidays. “Many are homes that have been sensi-tively restored or renovated to preserve the character of our historic city. People drive past these homes ev-ery day and may wonder what they’re like inside. The tour gives them an oppor-tunity to come in and look around,” Lunsford said. The event will be Sunday, Dec. 14, 3-8 p.m.
“One of the greatest things about Avondale Es-tates is the mix of old and new—homes built in ev-ery decade since the 1920s when Avondale began as one of the country’s earliest planned communities and the mix of long-time resi-dents and people who have just moved to town.”
Sponsored as a preserva-tion fundraiser by the Avon-dale Community Club, the tour continues to be a popu-lar event, attracting between 400 and 500 visitors each year, according to Lunsford.
“The city of Decatur isn’t doing a tour of homes this year, so that means ours
will be the main event of its type in this area this season. It may mean that we’ll have even more visitors than usual,” Lunsford said.
Participants have a choice of visiting the homes on their own at their own pace or boarding the trolley at First Baptist Church of Avondale for stops at each featured home. The trolley tour takes approximately two to two and a half hours.
Among the homes on this year’s tour are two owned by sisters; both homes have appeared on television programs. One is a 1926 “Avondale original,” a 1953 bungalow that was re-cently renovated by HGTV’s Elbow Room. The other has been featured twice on the television show Finding Carter.
A house built in the
1940s is on display for its re-cently renovated back porch, described by Lunsford as “a charming outdoor space with unique architectural details.” Not every home on the tour is decades old. One is a 2013 home inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s archi-tectural style.
Two of Avondale’s Craftsman-style homes built last year by Lockman Home-builders also will be show-cased on the tour. “These homes were built as part of Lockman’s ‘buy one, build one’ program,” Lunsford explained. “For every home Lockman sells, the company builds one for a needy fam-ily in a Third World country. In this case, two families in Guatemala were provided with homes.”
While some holiday home tours offer refresh-
ments to visitors, Lunsford said Avondale Estates Christmas Tour of Homes encourages the homeown-ers to focus on showing the home. Visitors, however, will be treated to live music at nearly every stop. “This is new this year,” said Lun-sford, who explained that DeKalb School of the Arts and other local institutions are providing musicians to add to the holiday ambiance.
Those wanting a snack can find homemade soups and desserts and more at the Holiday Market, held in conjunction with the tour, she said.
The Holiday Market, which will be open noon-6 p.m., also offers a selec-tion of unusual gifts and an Authors' Corner, where shoppers can to meet au-thors and buy autographed
copies of their works. Au-thors scheduled to appear this year include Mary Kay Andrews, Casey Kallenberg Dunn, Vicki Schecter, Car-men Deedy, John Grady Burns, Lynn Cullen and Martha Tate.
Rounding out the event will be “Christmas in Avon-dale: A Service of Nine Les-sons and Carols,” a program at the Avondale Estates First Baptist Church at 7 p.m.
Tickets for the tour may be purchased for $12 in ad-vance at Avondale City Hall, Finders Keepers Furniture, REAL Salon and Seventeen Steps or for $15 on the tour day at the Avondale Com-munity Club. Reservations for the trolley can be made by signing up in advance at Finders Keepers Furnishings or contacting Lunsford at [email protected].
CITY OF BROOKHAVEN FY 2015 PROPOSED BUDGET PUBLIC HEARING
The City of Brookhaven will hold a public hearing on the proposed FY2015 Budget during the regular scheduled City Council meeting on December 2, 2014. Another public hearing will be held during the regular scheduled City Council meeting on December 16, 2014. All meetings will begin at 7:00 p.m. Following the public hearing on December 16, 2014, the City Council will vote to adopt the FY2015 Budget. The FY 2015 Budget will be available for public inspection at City Hall, 4362 Peachtree Road, and on the website www.brookhavenga.gov December 1, 2014.
Craftsman-style houses of the type popular in the 20th century will be among those featured on the tour. Those who choose to may take a trolley from house to house.
Page 10A the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014
local
Businessman, political partner dies
Brookhaven approves cHOA and executive Park annexation petitions
A south DeKalb entrepreneur who helped launch the careers of sev-eral local politicians died Nov. 28 at the age of 57.
For more than 20 years, David Larry Mullino was the owner of var-ious businesses in DeKalb County. He was CEO of Onillum Inc. which owned and operated Mingles Jazz Restaurant and Lounge on Snapfin-ger Woods Drive in Decatur. Mullino was also a partner in Cams Package Store, also on Snapfinger Woods
Drive in Decatur, and Mo’s Vacuum Plus, located on Rockbridge Road in Stone Mountain.
“He was a jewel of a person,” said Emmitt Austin, who knew him for 35 years and was a partner in a cou-ple of businesses with Mullino. “He was just a genuine person.”
When Mullino owned Mingles Jazz Restaurant and Lounge, he hosted several campaign functions for DeKalb County Commissioner Stan Watson, former county CEO Vernon Jones, former U.S. Rep. Cyn-thia McKinney and former Sheriff Thomas Brown, among others.
“He helped us launch the careers of a lot of politicians,” Austin said.
In a resolution, Watson recog-nized Mullino’s “legacy as a savvy en-trepreneur and local business tycoon whose vision and drive impacted the economic development of DeKalb County through a multitude of busi-ness establishments, ventures and op-portunities.”
“David Mullino will forever be cherished as a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and a person who ‘never met a stranger,’” Watson wrote. He “will be forever honored as a friend and campaign partner to
many of DeKalb County’s political leaders because of his many contri-butions to support efforts for a ‘Bet-ter DeKalb.’”
A U. S. Army veteran, Mullino earned a degree from DeVry Univer-sity and attended Gospel Tabernacle Cathedral for many years before joining Shekinah Glory Ministries in Fayetteville.
Mullino is survived by his wife Alicia Ann Davis Mullino; a son, David Mullino; a daughter, Venitra Roberson; three brothers, two sisters and eight grandchildren. Mullino’s funeral was Dec. 6.
Decatur police are inves-tigating the murder a wom-an who was found dead near a parking area Dec. 6.
Decatur police spokes-person Sgt. Jennifer Ross said police responded to a deceased person call around 10:55 p.m. in the 100 block of East Ponce de Leon Av-enue.
“Witnesses reported noticing the victim lying on the ground as they were exiting a parking area,” Ross said.
The victim has been identified as 44-year-old Karen Pearce of Smyrna. Police said Pearce left a local restaurant and was walking in an area adjacent to where her vehicle was parked. Wit-nesses told police that they heard gunshots in the area prior to finding Pearce’s body.
Ross said the cause of death has not been deter-mined, but investigators are working to identify a sus-pect and a motive.
Anyone who has any information on the case is asked to contact the Decatur Police Department at (404) 373-6551, or Crimestoppers at (404) 577-TIPS or online at www.crimestoppersat-lanta.org/index.
The Brookhaven City Council approved the annexation petitions from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) and Executive Park.
The vote came during the Dec. 8 special called meeting after the council deferred voting on the matter at least three times to have further conversa-tions with city officials and CHOA and Executive Park to address concerns with service delivery to the areas.
The city council also voted to ap-prove a cost defrayment agreement between the city and CHOA effective immediately and not to exceed seven years. The agreement will allow the city to generate revenue to offset the cost of
city services such as public safety and code enforcement.
In the agreement, CHOA will pay $342,500 in 2014. CHOA has agreed to take the 21 acres that is tax-exempt, divide that by the total acreage of 166.0244 and pay an amount equal to 12.65 percent of the total costs to serve the area for police protection only.
That 12.65 percent amount will total $74,000 the first year and $57,000 the next four years, according to the agreement. The total amount paid in next four years would be $450,000. CHOA will have been paid back its ini-tial amount in year 2020 and begin to pay its 12.65 percent share of costs.
CHOA and Executive Park filed an-nexation applications into Brookhaven in October.
“I think it’s an honor for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to have requested annexation into the City of Brookhav-en,” said Mayor J. Max Davis. “This opportunity allow us to play an integral role in expanding their mission of giv-ing care and comfort to sick children and saving their lives, as a parent this means so much.”
Councilmember Joe Gebbia said the benefits to the city will “far exceed” what comes from the annexed areas.
“We knew what we knew and we knew what we didn’t know, but what scared us what not knowing what we didn’t know,” Gebbia said. “That is the reason we deferred action numerous times and extensively vetted each peti-tion.”
Decatur has included four areas in the proposed maps of its annexation master plan report.
In the report, released Dec. 8, the annexation master plan proposes add-ing areas mostly north of the city. The proposed map also includes areas south of the city limits.
Decatur put together a draft of its 2014 annexation master planning process in October and received input from residents and petitions from areas that wanted to be annexed into the city. Decatur City Manager Peggy Merriss said in October that the city has been interested in annexing these areas since the 1950s.
“We want to also control the gate-ways into the city so we would have some control over the development that is going on in the key gateway areas,” Merriss said. “And, to also diversify our tax base in terms of adding commercial real estate.”
In the report, Merriss said Deca-
tur’s consideration of annexation is based on six objectives: expansion and stabilization of the property tax base; “municipalization” of north DeKalb; potential for location of addition school facilities; influence and control of de-velopment at key gateways; response to interest from nearby residents and property owner; and consolidation of partial parcel.
“Area A” of the proposed map is west and northwest of the city. The area includes properties of the CSX rail line, and north of the city limit along Claire-mont Avenue to North Decatur Road and along North Decatur Road east to the city limits.
“Area B” of the map includes prop-erties north of the city limits extending east along North Decatur Road to Scott Boulevard, and then south at Jordan Lane from DeKalb industrial Way to East Ponce DeLeon Avenue.
“Area C” includes properties along Derrydown Way and the United Meth-odist Children’s Home, and “Area D” is southeast of the city limits, including Midway Road east to Conway Road and
then north on Conway to Columbia Drive.
The report also includes the City Schools of Decatur’s analysis on how annexation will effect student popula-tion growth. According to the school district, even without annexation the school population will increase by 4,300 students to somewhere between 6,500 to 7,400 students.
The district did a financial impact analysis as well, and it showed that without annexation for the period from 2016 to 2020, the district’s rev-enues would be less than expenses by $7,669,000 even with a millage rate increase. With annexation during that same period, revenues will surpass ex-penses by $6,926,000 without a millage rate increase.
Merriss concluded the report rec-ommending that the Decatur City Commission “consider adopting a reso-lution asking the General Assembly to pass legislation in 2015 annexing the areas included in the [annexation mas-ter plan].”
Decatur releases annexation master plan report
the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014 Page 11Alocal
Despite the tension and discord between two DeKalb County city-hood groups, both LaVista Hills and Tucker representatives believe the two groups can come to a compro-mise on boundary lines before a leg-islative committee decides for them.
More than 100 people attended the House DeKalb County Cityhood Subcommittee meeting Dec. 3 that was held to hear testimony from representatives from the Tucker and LaVista Hills cityhood groups on boundary lines. The proposed maps for both cities include the Northlake commercial district and residential areas on both sides of I-285 and in the corner of I-85, I-285 and the Gwinnett County line.
The two groups had until Nov. 15 to reach agreement on city boundary lines, but could not, which led to the formation of the subcommittee. House Governmen-tal Affairs Committee Chairwoman Amy Carter (R-Valdosta) appointed a panel of five state House members to carry out the task of drawing city boundaries for the proposed cities.
Subcommittee members are representatives Howard Mosby (D-Atlanta) and Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur) of DeKalb, and representatives Buzz Brockway (R-Lawrenceville), Barry Fleming (R-Harlem) and Mark Hamilton (R-Cumming). The panel’s sole duty will be to produce a boundary map no later than Dec. 31 by majority vote of the panel.
Hamilton said he was disap-pointed the two groups could not come to an agreement.
“I’m not happy to be here. This goes outside our very specific rules,” he said. “I’m happy to be here as part of the process, but I’m not go-ing to vote for any map that doesn’t meet the right criteria. I’m very dis-appointed that the two sides could not come together and I think it should’ve been over at that time, but it’s not. So we will go ahead and do our due diligence.”
Some residents in the overlap-ping northern parts of both maps, said they prefer to be in LaVista Hills because of the services the proposed city will provide, specifi-cally public safety. Vanessa Bern-stein-Goldman, who lives in the Northcrest neighborhood, was one of many who said public safety is a primary concern.
“[LaVista Hills’] commitment to a city police force is the key reason for my support,” she said.
LaVista Hills representatives said once the city is formed it will
start a police force as soon as possible. For Tucker, the primary services that it plans to focus on once cityhood is established is zon-ing, parks and recreation, and code enforcement.
Frank Auman of Tucker said the Tucker community is mostly sat-isfied with the services provided by DeKalb County Police and will look into starting a police force later.
“We’re going to begin with our plan now…DeKalb County Police serving us exactly as they have been. But as a city, for example, we can contract with the county to add more officers,” Auman said. “We can do that as a city; we can’t do that as we are now. The citizens in a newly incorporated city of Tucker on day one can call for a referendum to institute our own police force. We’re not opposed to that; we would welcome that. When it happens that way, it is the citizens who’ve said that, ‘we know what it costs, we know what we’ll get it return, and yes, we’re ready to pay the price.’ So, it’s not nearly as simple as, ‘[they’re]
going to have a city police depart-ment and we’re not, therefore one is better than the other.’ It requires more thought than that.”
Auman said that the two groups must get through the boundary dis-cussion before discussing services.
“Anybody who ends up in one map that prefers the other because of something like public safety is-sues, there will be time to talk about that and iron those things out,” he said. “Our proposal for public safety, police and otherwise is bigger than a sound bite and it’s hard to get across. We need to have some meetings, we need to help the folks that are con-cerned about it and think they are not going to get it to understand it.”
Tucker’s main argument to the subcommittee was keeping the established community together and preventing LaVista Hills from “splitting neighborhoods.” The two groups are also fighting for the Northlake commercial area—Northlake Mall and surrounding business.
There is a Tucker-Northlake Community Improvement District made up of more than 166 com-mercial property owners, including more than 67 Northlake commercial properties. Auman mentioned the district and pointed out how busi-nesses in Northlake connects with Tucker more.
Charles DeWitt, CEO of Resur-gens Bank, said the Northlake Busi-ness Association, association un-derstands the importance that both communities have on the future of the commercial district and under
State Rep. Mark Hamilton (center) questions cityhood proponents during the House DeKalb County Cityhood Subcommittee meeting. Photos by Carla Parker
Wrap up all of your holiday shopping and dining here. Find festivities and local cheer anytime and special deals on our last Terrific Thursday – December 18.
TERRIFICDECATUR
THURSDAYS
o
Roast free marshmallows du ring ou r bonf ire on the squa re – Dec. 18!
The red glow of the fa-mous “Hot Now” sign indi-cating fresh, hot doughnuts now resides at 2533 Wesley Chapel Road.
Many patrons welcomed the opening of Krispy Kreme doughnut store, which marks the 11th metro-area location for the North Caro-lina-based corporation.
Hundreds of customers braved early morning tem-
peratures in anticipations of the store’s Dec. 9 grand opening. The first person in line, Keyana Vance, received one free dozen doughnuts per week for one year, and the remaining customers among the first 100 received one free dozen each month for a year.
“Everybody knew that we were coming,” Amanda Clark, regional market-ing coordinator for Krispy Kreme Corporate, said. “This has been of the most
welcoming communities we’ve ever been one in; I’ve never had so many people come up to me and say, ‘Thank you for being here, we’re so happy to have you.’”
More than just another place to get a sugar fix, the 2,400-square-foot store will be open 6 a.m. – 11 a.m. with a 24-hour drive thru.
According to Clark, the business employs approxi-mately 50 people, many of whom are employed for the first time.
Glazed goodness comes to Wesley chapel road
Photos by Travis Hudgons
the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014 Page 13AWeek in pictures
WEEK PICturEsIn
Photos brought to you by DCTV
A St. Pius X fan, dressed in a hotdog costumes, cheers on the St. Pius X Golden Lions during the Class AAAA semifinals game against Woodward Academy. Photo by Carla Parker
Rebecka Kaltenbach and her 2-year-old Hazel with Santa at Perimeter Mall. Photo by Ashley Oglesby
Principal Cornellia Crum shares the story of becoming a Blue Ribbon school. Photos by Ashley Oglesby
Dr. Cornellia Crum, principal of Wadsworth Magnet, celebrates Blue Ribbon Award.
Blue Bell Territory Manager Drew Fraser attends Wadsworth Magnet Blue Ribbon award ceremony.
Page 14A the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014
DeKalb County has can-celled its contract with the proposed Lithonia gasifica-tion plant that has been the subject of protests for more than four years.
Following a recommen-dation by interim DeKalb County CEO Lee May, the county’s Board of Com-missioners voted Dec. 9 to cancel a contract with Green Energy Partners-DeKalb LLC. Green Energy had two years to build its plant; four years have passed.
“They’re in default,” May said.
After receiving a contract from the county in 2010, Green Energy Partners filed a permit with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division in 2012 to construct a 10-12 megawatt “biomass fuel electric generating facil-ity” on 21 acres at 1770 Rog-ers Lake Road in unincorpo-rated Lithonia.
“The agreement in 2010 stipulated that a facility had to be built in two years and that was more than four years ago. There is no gas-ification plant,” May said.
“This cancellation allows us to formally terminate this relationship.”
The contract would have remained in effect through 2030.
According to its applica-tion, the plant would have processed approximately 165,000 tons per year of clean, untreated wood and yard waste. The wood waste, called biomass, would have been fed into a “combustion system which is a close-coupled gasification process,” according to the permit ap-plication.
May said the contract would have allowed Green Energy “to purchase wood trimmings that are at our landfill. They just sit there.
These are the wood trim-mings from people’s lawns that are collected by our sanitation workers. They sit there and then they degrade.
“That company would then take that and, through this renewal energy plant, convert those wood trim-mings through this gasifica-tion process to…energy,” said May, who supported the plant as the District 5 com-missioner.
To allow the gasification plant, “there was a zoning change that was made in District 5,” May told com-missioners. “I approved it as a district commissioner and many of you all…followed me.”
That decision was un-
popular among many of his constituents at the time.
“I think I got two oppo-nents in my election because of that decision,” May said.
May said it was coinci-dental that residents from the Lithonia area spoke against the contract at the beginning of the commis-sioners’ meeting.
One resident, Sandra Samuels, a member of Citi-zens for a Healthy and Safe Environment, said, “How long will it take for you as the voice of…south DeKalb County to make up your minds about the blight that is going to come into our com-munity?
“I hear you talking about beautification,” Samuels said.
“I want to know what kind of beautification is a gasifica-tion plant?”
“The community has spoken, and we have taken action,” May said. “Hopefully this gives the residents some closure, as the cancellation of this contract removes the source of the fuel for a gasification plant, no matter where it would be built.”
Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton asked May about the effect of the con-tract’s cancellation.
“Since they are in default and they haven’t been col-lecting the debris, what will be the consequences of that for us?” Sutton asked. “Do we have any plans for an-other company...to somehow dispose of it in another man-ner or are we just going to leave it sitting there?”
May said the county wasn’t “doing anything with the debris anyway.”
“It doesn’t just sit there,” he continued. “It actually degrades. This was just a unique…way for us to gener-ate some revenue. That was an unsolicited bid that we got.”
county cuts gas contractCommissioners nixed the contract of a controversial gasification plant. Photos by Travis Hudgons
The Doraville Parks and Recreation Depart-ment will create its first comprehensive master plan after receiving seven bids in response to the recreation and parks master plan request pro-posed on Aug. 25.
Rip Robertson, parks and recreation direc-tor said he asked several professionals to assist in evaluating the proposals, including director of Hapeville recreation department and former recreation coordinator of Doraville Todd Nichols and assistant director of Brookhaven parks and recreation department, Gary Schussler.
Robertson said, both directors “were ex-tremely satisfied with the product that Lose & Associates produced for their community.”
The city council approved Lose & Associates to provide the city with a master plan at its Dec. 1 meeting. The company is expected to provide the city with a final work plan including timeline within 10 business days.
Doraville will pay the company for services rendered on a monthly basis up to 50 percent of the total estimated, $68,620.00 contract. The fi-nal 50 percent of the contract will be paid as one payment upon completion of and approval by the city.
“Based on our evaluation and discussions we feel Lose & Associates would bring a vast amount of experience in developing new parks and recre-ation master plans to the city of Doraville,” Rob-ertson said.
He said, Lose & Associates “have completed the plans in new cities, Johns Creek and Dun-woody over the last several years and just recent-ly, Brookhaven. The latter two are our neighbors in DeKalb County, and we could benefit from the Lose’s experience in those two related communi-ties. They are very familiar with DeKalb County and the surrounding communities and have a great reputation for data and information de-velopment. This experience also will benefit our community as they develop a plan that would be inclusive of our diverse population.”
According to the scope of services draft, Lose & Associates will be responsible for providing an analysis of existing funding practices, establishing a criteria for park land acquisition policy, recom-mending a 10-year parks development capital improvement plan and compiling findings from their study of the city into documents that as-sist officials to identify community priorities for 2015-2025.
Public meetings will be held to obtain citi-zen input into the plan at key points within the process: at the beginning of the project, once a
framework has been established, to present pre-liminary findings to the master plan committee and for the presentation of the plan to city coun-cil.
Robertson said the city is in the process of fi-nalizing the agreement.
“The purpose for this plan is to guide us over the next three, five and 10 years not just with what should and can be done in our existing parks but also how to get from one park to an-other, how to get through the city through trails and sidewalks and what sort of programming we need to be looking at,” Robertson said.
He added, “We’re excited about actually get-ting a professional consultant to help guide us as we move forward. There is some work to be done, and we’re excited about where we’re headed”
The parks and recreation department recently installed two soccer mini-pitches due to a pro-gram proposed by Georgia Soccer and its part-ners.
The pitches replaced the former neglected tennis courts in Halpern Park.
Robertson said they are “working on com-pleting the renovation in Halpern Park and plan to have it completed by late spring.”
Now that the soccer mini-pitches are installed the department is working on renewing the lot for basketball use.
Notice of Availability
DeKalb County 2015 Executive Budget Recommendation The Interim Chief Executive Officer of DeKalb County will present the 2015 Executive Budget Recommendation to the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners on or before December 15, 2014 for their consideration. A copy of the entire Executive Budget Recommendation will be available for public inspection in the office of the Director of Finance, 6th Floor, Maloof Center during normal business hours, beginning December 16, 2014. The Executive Budget Recommendation will also be available electronically at www.dekalbcountyga.gov and at DeKalb County Library locations. The DeKalb County Interim Chief Executive Officer and Board of Commissioners will hold Public Hearings on the 2015 Executive Budget Recommendation at times and places to be announced later.
stand its importance to both groups.
“It’s imperative that any division of the Northlake commercial district be care-fully considered and done in a way that promotes economic viability for both groups for many years to come,” DeWitt said. “With-out a strong business district the cities will struggle to survive.”
DeWitt said the associa-tion supports the creation of two cities who boundar-ies do not negatively affect the district. The association suggested that I-285 be the natural border.
“We think it will make a lot of sense for that area,” he said.
That suggestion was met with some groans and gig-gles from the crowd, which
were heard throughout most of the public comment por-tion of the meeting. When Tucker supporters spoke, there were a few mild out-burst of giggles and negative comments from the LaVista Hills crowd, and from Tuck-er proponents when LaVista Hills supporters voiced their opinions.
“It’s an emotional issue,” said Mary Kay Woodworth of LaVista Hills. “I think you often hear laughter when people are nervous. There is a lot of tension in the room, no doubt. I certainly hope the Tucker representatives will want to sit down and try to work something out with us.”
Allen Venet of LaVista Hills added that a compro-mise is possible.
“We all failed to find that compromise, but it’s still out there, and we’re always still available to talk,” Venet said.
Auman agreed that a compromise could happen
before the subcommittee de-cides on a map.
“I think this committee, judging by some of their re-marks, is interested in help-ing that happen,” he said. “There’s still a lot of room for hope.”
However, State Rep. Scott Holcomb, who rep-resents parts of north and central DeKalb, told the sub-committee that he does not think the two groups will come to a compromise.
“They have acted in
good faith and they just have very different views,” Hol-comb said. “While I hope that they will continue to work together I’m not in any way confident that will hap-pen. So I think the decision will be yours.”
CityhoodContinued From Page 11A
City workers prep Halpern Park before a weekend event. Photos by Ashley Oglesby
Bernard Halpern Park receives finishing touches. Fencing around the newly installed soccer mini-pitches receives final paint.
the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014 Page 17Alocal
NeWS BrieFS
Brookhaven officers save lifeA Brookhaven police officer is credited with
saving a life Dec. 2 by using his city-issued auto-mated external defibrillator (AED) on a person having a heart attack.
According to a news release, Brookhaven police were dispatched to a business office on Corporate Boulevard around noon on a cardiac arrest call. Corporal Matthew Murray along with two other Brookhaven police officers rushed to the business complex after receiving the medical call. They arrived a minute later to find that CPR was already in progress on a 54-year-old female.
Officer Olen Boughner took over CPR while Officer Patrick DiCicco and Murray prepared the AED for use. The officers were able to revive the woman by administering two shocks from the AED to the heart before paramedics arrived on scene, according to the news release.
The woman was awake and talking to officers and paramedics as she was being loaded on to the elevator of the business. She was transported by ambulance to an Atlanta area hospital. Murray was able to talk to her again at the hospital, ac-cording to the news release.
The Friends of Brookhaven Foundation raised funds last year to purchase enough AEDs for all Brookhaven police cars.
County recreation department to hold blanket drive
The county’s Department of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Affairs is accepting new or gen-tly used blankets for its blanket drive through Wednesday, Dec. 31.
“As the temperature starts dropping and we focus on families and friends during the holi-days, the Department of Recreation Parks & Cul-tural Affairs is working to provide some comfort to those who are resistant to living in a shelter or those forced to live in the overflow shelters,”
states a county news release. Residents are encouraged to donate by drop-
ping off blankets at one of the county’s recre-ational facilities during normal operating hours. Once items are gathered, they will be distributed to people in need.
To donate drop off blankets at any of the fol-lowing locations:
Main Office/Maloof Building, 1300 Com-merce Drive, Decatur; Browns Mill Recreation Center, 5101 Browns Mill Road, Lithonia; Ex-change Recreation Center, 2771 Columbia Drive, Decatur; Gresham Recreation Center, 3113 Gresham Road, Atlanta; Hamilton Recreation Center, 3263 Chapel Street, Scottdale; Lucious Sanders Recreation Center, 2484 Bruce Street, Lithonia; Mason Mill Recreation Center, 1340-B McConnell Drive, Decatur; Midway Recreation Center, 3181 Midway Road, Decatur; N.H. Scott Recreation Center, 2230 Tilson Road, Decatur; Porter Sanford III Performing Arts & Communi-ty Center, 3181 Rainbow Drive, Decatur; Redan Recreation Center, 1839 Phillips Road, Lithonia; Tobie Grant Recreation Center, 644 Parkdale Drive, Scottdale; and Tucker Recreation Center, 4898 LaVista Road, Tucker.
The main office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Recreation centers and the Porter Sanford III Performing Arts & Community Center are open from 1-5 p.m.
For more information, call LaShanda Davis, public education specialist, at (404) 371-3643.
County’s magistrate court relocating temporarily
Effective Dec. 8, the criminal division of the DeKalb County Magistrate Court is temporar-ily relocated from Camp Circle in Decatur to the DeKalb County Courthouse, 4th floor, Judicial Tower, 556 North McDonough St., Decatur.
The Camp Circle location will be closed
during renovations that are expected to last six months. While the Magistrate Court’s criminal division will continue to operate seven days per week, the hours of operations will change slight-ly. The court will close at 11 p.m. daily.
For more information, call (404) 294-2150.
County accepts White House youth challenge
DeKalb County has accepted the White House’s “My Brother’s Keeper (MBK)” Challenge.
On Dec. 11, interim DeKalb County CEO Lee May will host a “Local Action Summit” at Lou Walker Senior Center, 2538 Panola Road, Lithonia, to discuss the challenge to eliminate opportunity gaps for youth. Starting at 6:30 p.m., the summit will bring the community together to outline MBK priorities specific to DeKalb Coun-ty and begin to build a plan of action around them.
“Twenty-four percent of DeKalb’s population is under the age of 18,” May said. “It has been DeKalb County’s priority to ensure collabora-tion of resources, tools, services and programs to create a sustained and strong foundation for our youth, and the MBK challenge fits right in to our overall plan. I’m excited to see what we can ac-complish together.”
The six goals of the challenge include: ensur-ing all children enter school cognitively, physi-cally, socially, and emotionally ready; ensuring all children read at grade level by third grade; ensur-ing all youth graduate from high school; ensur-ing all youth complete post-secondary education or training; ensuring all youth out of school are employed; and ensuring all youth remain safe from violent crime.
For more information, contact Jashawn Wil-liams at the DeKalb County Office of Youth Services at (404) 687-7108 or [email protected].
Interim DeKalb County CEO Lee May and the “We Need 2 Read Foundation” will host the Black Tie Holiday Scholarship Ball on Dec. 14.
This event is a fundraiser to provide scholarships to deserving DeKalb County high school seniors and will be held Sunday, Dec. 14, from 6 to 9:30 p.m. at the Thalia N. Carlos Hellenic Community Center, 2500 Clairmont Road NE, Atlanta.
A “Gatsby Affair” is the theme for the ball, and the evening begins with a VIP reception followed by dinner and the CEO’s Vanguard Award ceremony.
Professionals from a cross-section of industries will be honored for excellence in their respective fields, and their positive impact on strengthening DeKalb’s communi-ties and improving the quality of life
for local residents. The 2014 DeKalb County CEO
Vanguard Award honorees are Em-ory University Hospital, Larry Cal-lahan of Pattillo Construction, John Shelton of DeKalb Medical, Vaughn Irons of APD Solutions, Greg Street of V-103, DeKalb Chamber of Com-merce President Katerina Taylor, and Will Packer of Will Packer Pro-ductions.
Grammy award-winning singer Fantasia headlines the entertain-ment with Ryan Cameron of V-103 and Cynné Simpson of Fox 5 serv-ing as emcees.
For information about tickets and sponsorships, contact Nichole Simms at (404) 371-2552 or [email protected].
scholarship ball to raise funds to aid studentsPacker Irons Street Fox Callahan Shelton Taylor
the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014 PAge 18AEducation
Druid Hills charter cluster petition renewedby Ashley [email protected]
In coming months, resi-dents of Druid Hills will de-cide whether to remain part of unincorporated DeKalb County or join the city of Atlanta.
The initiative to join the city of Atlanta could shift thousands of DeKalb Coun-ty students to the Atlanta Public School System.
Approximately 4,500 Druid Hills households will be mailed informational ma-terials about their options in the next two or three weeks. Later this fall, they’ll be asked to complete surveys about their preference, said Anne Wallace, chairwoman of the Druid Hills Civic As-sociation 2014 Citizens Sur-vey Committee. Some Druid Hills residents want more of a voice in their local govern-ment representation, said Wallace.
As the nearby communi-ties of Briarcliff, Lakeside and Tucker push to become cities, Druid Hills residents fear they’d be separated from the rest of the county and see a decline in the quality of government services, said Wallace.
“It comes down to Druid Hills having a say in what our future local governance will be,” she said. “The more cities that form, the less re-sources there will be to sup-port county services. Those of us left are going to have to foot a bigger bill.”
Public education likely would be a key concern. Druid Hills residents voted last August to form a “char-ter cluster”–the petition would have granted gov-ernance of seven school communities–five feeder elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school–to a nonprofit board sourced from individuals vested in the cluster and its surrounding businesses and organizations.
The seven schools are Avondale Elementary, Briar Vista Elementary, Fernbank Elementary, Laurel Ridge Elementary, McLendon Ele-mentary, Druid Hills Middle and Druid Hills High.
By a 5-4 vote the county school board rejected the proposal.
Matt Lewis, a parent who led the petition effort, expressed disappointment about the decision. “The board’s decision is a chilling demonstration of the tyran-nical insistence on medioc-rity that plagues the DeKalb County public education system, leading to underper-forming schools that block progress in the vulnerable parts of our communities. In one vote, the DeKalb board has disenfranchised the very parental leadership it claims to champion, and commit-ted the education and suc-cess of nearly 5,000 students and 400 school personnel to the ash heap of the status quo.”
The cluster petition, de-veloped through an organic grassroots effort largely in response to “lagging achievement and the ac-
creditation woes of the dis-trict, reflected widespread community dissatisfaction with under-performing, under-resourced, and poor-ly-managed DeKalb County schools.”
After seven months of weekly cluster planning meetings–all open to the public and inclusive of any volunteer who showed up–and research and discussion documents posted online, more than 1,000 cluster stakeholders noted to sup-port this new approach to public education by a mar-gin of 92 percent to 8 per-cent.
At a Nov. 11, 2013, called board meeting, DeKalb County Superinten-dent Mike Thurmond and his staff stated that the peti-tion met all legal require-ments for a charter, concur-ring with the conclusion of the Georgia Department of Education, but advocated
that approximately one-third of the per student state required funding for charter cluster students remain with the school district rather than go to cluster class-rooms.
According to Lewis, Thurmond’s charter office seemed confused regarding petition approval criteria and reversed its position on key petition issues. Lewis said Thurmond’s charter of-fice and counsel also refused to provide petition organiz-ers with information on the district’s recommendation on the petition and tried to withhold documents pro-vided to board members in the public Board meeting, attended by hundreds of pe-tition supporters.
Ultimately, the petition denial and superintendent’s refusal to meet with the pe-tition organizers or provide information generated ill will toward the district from
many of the 5,000 students and more than 400 employ-ees in the cluster.
Theresa Bennett, a parent of an Avondale El-ementary student and future cluster governing board member, who helped with the development of the peti-tion reflected on what the denial means to her school community.
“The denial of this peti-tion is very disappointing; I can’t believe the board has told our kids no to success and smaller classes,” Bennett said. “Do they really want our kids to succeed?” she asked.
A renewed charter clus-ter petition is pending with the DeKalb school district. Atlanta school board Chair-man Courtney English said it was premature to discuss whether the city school system would be amenable to charter schools in Druid Hills.
www.thechampionnewspaper.com
If annexed into Atlanta and Atlanta Public School, Druid Hills High School would lose some of the communities that now call the school their own.
the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014 PAge 19AEducation
Dekalb school leaders attend cFO executive summit by Ashley [email protected]
“The next generation of suc-cessful business leaders will need to discover passion and purpose in their professional lives and reimagine the future of business,” said John Coleman, district 1 representative.
Coleman, District Chief Fi-nancial Officer Michael Bell and Superintendent Michael Thurmond provided keynote pre-sentations to the CFO Executive Summit on Dec. 2, at the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel in down-town Atlanta.
The CFO Executive Summit brought together financial execu-tives representing businesses in-cluding Coca-Cola Bottling, Delta Air Lines, Turner Broadcasting System, CNN, Rollins, Southern Company, Equifax, Intercontinen-tal Exchange, Microsoft Corpora-tion, Bank of America, Federal Reserve Bank, Cox Communica-tions and INVESCO.
“We have placed better con-trols on spending and adopted the goal of spending below projec-tions and receiving more revenue than we anticipated,” Bell said. “Fiscal integrity has been re-stored.”
According to a Dec. 1 press release, Coleman discussed the next generation of business lead-ers based on research from his book, “Passion and Purpose.”
Bell and Thurmond discussed the financial turnaround the dis-trict has experienced in the past 18 months since their involve-ment.
“The district could do nothing to improve academic growth and achievement, attract and retain high-quality teachers and provide a safe and productive learning en-vironment without the necessary funds,” Thurmond said.
He added, “With support of the Board, Bell has done an out-standing job of getting control of our financial processes and plac-ing accountability and discipline in the budget process.”
Georgia Governor Nathan Deal appointed DeKalb County School Superintendent Michael Thur-mond and Dr. Phyllis Edwards Superintendent of City Schools of Decatur to join 12 other school su-perintendents and education lead-ers including principals, teachers and school board members from around Georgia to the Education Advisory Board.
In a Dec. 1 press release the governor announced the board members will meet with him and his staff over the next year to pro-vide input on education policy is-sues facing the state.
“Throughout my term, the members of these advisory boards have provided invaluable feedback on policy issues including improv-ing the percentage of Georgia’s students reading on grade level by the third grade and encouraging in-novation in STEM education,” said Deal.
“By listening to those on the
frontlines, we can make better policy decisions for our educators and students, he said. “I’m grateful to these highly regarded profession-als who are giving of their time and talents. Our children are our great-est resource, and I look forward to discussing how we can continue to improve educational outcomes for all.”
The board’s first meeting is scheduled for Jan. 7 at the State Capitol.
“I am honored to serve on the Governor’s Education Advisory Board and take seriously the Gov-ernor’s mandate to ‘help our state continue to strive for educational excellence,’” Thurmond said.
He added, “The DeKalb County School District has made signifi-cant progress in addressing critical issues facing Georgia public edu-cation from fiscal management, academic growth and achievement, school safety, diversity, and pov-erty.”
Thurmond pointed out the dis-trict’s achievements since Feb. 2013 when he was appointed as DeKalb’
schools as superintendent by the Board of Education:• Eliminated $14 million deficit and
created a $40 million reserve fund with no tax increase
• Improved school safety with the dedicated resource officers as-signed to elementary schools
• Established three of the district’s four STEM certified schools in-cluding the first STEM middle school in the state
• Placed three elementary schools in the top 25 of the state’s more than 2,000 elementary schools for academic achievement
• Improved graduation rates by more than 5 percentage points over two years
“I applaud Gov. Deal for in-cluding our superintendent in a broad cross-section of education leaders from around the state to offer first-hand knowledge of the challenges and opportunities fac-ing Georgia’s public school system,” said Melvin Johnson, Chair of the DeKalb County Board of Educa-tion.
Superintendent joins education advisory board
www.thechampionnewspaper.com
the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014 Page 20Aclassifieds
DISCLAIMER: We do not knowingly accept advertisements that discriminate, or intend to discriminate, on any illegal basis. Nor do we knowingly accept employment advertisements that are not bona-fide job offers. All real estate advertisements are subject to the fair housing act and we do not accept advertising that is in violation of the law. The law prohibits discrimination based on color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap or familial status.
The Champion is not responsible for any damages resulting from advertisements. All sales final.
RATES: $30.00 for up to 40 words, each additional word $0.60. All ads are prepaid! All Major credit cards accepted!
For Prices, Deadlines and Information Visit www.championclassifieds.com
classifiedsTheChampion
Ads Due By Friday - Noonfor next publication date.
AucTiONSADVERTISE YOUR AUCTION in over
100 newspapers for only $350. Your 25-word classified ad will reach more than1 million readers. Call Jennifer Labon at the Georgia Newspaper Service, 770-454-6776.
UPCOMING AUCTIONS LIVE AUCTION- Seized Assets, Bank Repos & Consignments Saturday, December 13th, 10AM Including Law Enforcement Seized Assets, Trucks, Trailers, Cars, Campers, Classic Cars,Motorcycles, 4 Wheelers, and much more! ONLINE ONLY AUCTIONS- Seized Gaming Machines Bidding Ends De-cember 10th Guns Bidding Ends December 14th 107 Oak Valley Drive, Macon, GA
Go Online for Details L.W. Benton Company, Inc. 478-744-0027 www.bid-derone.com. #3215
DriVerSJoin our Team! Guarantee pay for Class
A CDL Flatbed Drivers. Regional and OTR. Great pay/Benefits/401k match. Call Today 864.649.2063. www.Drive4JGR.com
ATTN: Truck Drivers! Covenant Trans-port is HIRING! Team & Solo Drivers Needed. No CDL? We can help! 3wk train-ing avail. Call Career Trucker today! N. GA 866-494-7434; S. GA 866-557-9244.
Drivers: Need CDL A or B, to relocate vehicles from various locations throughout U. S. – No forced dispatch. 1-800-501-3783 or www.mamotransportation.com under Careers.
ATTN:Drivers – $2K Sign-on Bonus. Keep your Motor Running in New KW! $55K per/yr! Quality HomeTIme. Free Health Clinics. CDL-A Req. (877) 258-8782. www.ad-drivers.com
Drivers – No experience? Some or LOTS of experience? Let’s Talk! No matter what stage in your career, its time, call Cen-tral Refrigerated Home. (855) 973-9344. www.CentralTruckDrivingJobs.com
Drivers: Run FB with WTI. Be home through the week and weekends. Start up to 28% plus fuel bonus. New equipment. BCBS. Experience needed. LP available. Call 877-693-1305.
25 DRIVER TRAINEES NEEDED! Learn to drive for Steven’s Transport! NO EXPERIENCE NEEDED! Earn $800+ per week! PAID CDL TRAINING! Call for Pre-Hire! 1-888-749-2303.
Experienced OTR Flatbed Drivers earn
50 up to 55 cpm loaded. $1000 sign on to qualified drivers. Home most weekends. Call 843-266-3731/www.bulldoghiway.com EOE.
eDucATiONAL TrAiNiNG
Can you Dig IT? Heavy Equipment Operator Training! 3 –Week Program. Bulldozers, Backhoes, Excavators. Lifetime Job Placement Assistance with National Certifications. VA Benefits Eligible! (866) 900-8421.
WELDING CAREERS – Hands on training for career opportunities in avia-tion, automotive, manufacturing and more. Financial aid for qualified students – Job and Housing assistance available. CALL AIM (877) 205-2968.
AIRLINE CAREERS start here with HANDS on FAA certified training for car-rier opportunities in aviation, manufactur-ing and more. Financial Aid for qualified students – Job Placement assistance. CALL Aviation Institute of Maintenance (866)564-9634 www.fixjets.com
HeLP WANTeDMarket Research Analyst (Decatur,
GA):Research national and international logistic services market conditions, espe-cially Far East, China market, to analyze business requirements and identify reli-able logistic services to deliver high quality and low cost shipping identify and drive commodity leverage opportunities; gather information on competitors, prices, sales & methods of marketing, and design & gather information on the target group & creation of profile databases. 40hrs/wk; MA in in-ternational Business + 6 mon exp in the job offered; Mail Resume to Star Asia Interna-tional Inc. 208 Church Street, Decatur, GA 30030
FOr SALe
GET America’s #1 choice for Satellite Internet! HughesNet Gen 4 is available everywhere-even where cable and DSI don’t reach. Call Professional Broadband Solu-tions today! 1-800-283-1057. www.pbsin-ternet.com
CUTE KIDS MAKE MONEYin TV commercials, magazines.
5 yrs & up. Pope Models404-246-7823, 191 Peachtree St.,
Atlanta, GA. No Classes!
Donate A Boat
sponsored by boat angel outreach centers STOP CRIMES AGAINST CHILDRENwww.boatangel.com
“2-Night Free Vacation!”
or Car Today!
8001- CAR LANGE--
REDUCE • REUSE • RECYCLE
the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014 Page 21Abusiness
The Voice of Business in DeKalb CountyDeKalb Chamber of Commerce
404.378.8000 www.DeKalbChamber.orgTwo Decatur Town Center, 125 Clairemont Ave., Suite 235, Decatur, GA 30030
When Lisa Suneus and Wanda Shumake became friends, they found themselves talking about something parents often talk about—what they’d like to see available to their children.
While the Atlanta area has many types of indoor play facilities for children, the women felt none fit their needs exactly. So Shumake, who had worked 30 years as a micro-biologist, and Suneus, who had been in the same field 20 years, decided to create such a facility based on their own vision. In 2011, they opened Jumpin’ Kritters in the Mall of Geor-gia.
“We liked the place, but there was one big problem—it didn’t have a bathroom. Of course, there were public restrooms in the mall, but when you are dealing with small children, you need your own bath-room. We approached Simon Malls (the owners of Mall of Georgia and other malls) and asked if they had another space with a bathroom. They told us that a clothing store in Northlake Mall had closed. They could lease it to us, but we would have to do our own renovations,” Suneus recalled.
The process started in October of 2013 and the Northlake facility opened on Halloween 2014. The most time-consuming part, Suneus said, was satisfying DeKalb County’s requirements. “It was tough, because we had closed the original place and for a year, we had money coming in.”
At Northlake, the partners again created their vision. “Most places turn the children loose to play on their own, but the children quickly become bored and say ‘Mommy, come play with me.’ Mommy might need to finish some work she brought with her or just be tired. We have a staff of young people, high school and college students, who play with the children as though they were an older sibling or cousin,” Suneus said.
Also, she said, many such fa-cilities offer little variety, featuring all inflatables or electronic games. While Jumpin’ Kritters has inflata-bles, most of its equipment is what Suneus calls “retro.”
“We go back to basics for most of what we do—jump ropes, balls, coloring books, swings and slides. Simple toys require children to use
their imaginations and problem-solving skills. They get to use their creativity because everything hasn’t been worked out in advance by the designers of the games,” Suneus said. “We even have a corner where we read to the young children; they like that.”
Parents can play with the chil-dren, sit in a lounge area—possibly working at a computer—while their children play or they can leave for up to four hours for shopping and other errands.
“We’re not licensed as a daycare facility, so parents can leave the chil-dren only for short periods. Also, we don’t serve meals—just light snacks. We require that the parents give us a phone number and an alternate contact and we check both before they leave. They also must leave a password that the person picking the child up must know. We haven’t had any problems,” Suneus said.
As at most commercial play fa-cilities, birthday parties are a main-stay at Jumpin’ Kritters. There are private rooms that can be used for parties and parents can bring food or arrange for Jumpin’ Kritters’ staff to pick up such items as pizzas and cakes. “Many places don’t allow people to bring in their own food, but we don’t sell food and any food brought in is served only to that per-son’s party guests, so there’s no prob-lem,” according to Suneus.
“We want children to have the experience their parents want them to have. We try to address any special concerns parents have. Some don’t like anyone touching their children. We tell them that we don’t do hugs and kisses, but we do pick children up if they fall,” she said.
The facility takes children walk-ing age and older and the child must be potty trained. “We don’t have an upper age limit—and occasionally some teens will come in and want to throw a ball around of play on the swings, but most are young children.”
Suneus said that she and Shu-make want the students who work at Jumpin’ Kritters to get more than a paycheck. “We choose our staff carefully. We want the kind of young people who enjoy children, who would like to do this even if they weren’t getting paid. It’s an opportu-nity for them to build business skills and parenting skills that they can use in the future,” she said.
Co-owner Lisa Suneus says Jumpin’ Kritters is designed to encourage creative, thought-provoking play. The facility also hosts birthday parties and has a “drop and shop” option for parents. Photos by Kathy Mitchell
the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014 Page 22ASportS
The St. Pius X girls’ basketball team picked up its 62nd consecutive regular season region win Dec. 6 af-ter beating Columbia 48-42.
The streak dates back to Jan. 29, 2010, when St. Pius defeated region
opponent Therrell 44-25. The streak has led to three region champion-ships and two state titles.
“It’s really hard in the standpoint of trying to get the kids attention every night,” said head coach Kyle Snipes. “When you’re having suc-cess like that sometimes you have to use different measures [and] use dif-
ferent goals during the course of the game, especially when you might be playing teams that are not as competitive so that you can still get something out of the game. That’s one of the challenges but I would say that’s a nice challenge with the kids. It’s just keeping them engaged night in and night out when you’ve
had success like that.”Snipes has been with the team
for six seasons. He said coaching each team during this streak has been fun.
“It just means that the girls are really paying attention to what you are trying to do and bought in to what we as a staff are trying to do,”
It took a fourth quarter effort for the St. Pius Golden Lions to knock off Woodward Acad-emy and punch their ticket to their second state championship game in three years.
No. 6-ranked St. Pius defeated No. 5-ranked Woodward Academy 28-21 Dec. 5 in the semi-finals of the Class AAAA playoffs. The Golden Lions were down 21-7 early in the third quarter and went on to score 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win the game.
Head coach Paul Standard said the team did not come out in the second half with any secrets; it just played fundamental football.
“We did a better job of pass rush and pass coverage,” Standard said. “Offensively, we got the ball and had a couple of drives there and that helped, too.”
After a scoreless first quarter, St. Pius got on the scoreboard first in the second quarter after
a 6-yard touchdown run by quarterback Reed Egan, giving the Golden Lions a 7-0 lead. The lead did not last long, as Woodward scored on its first play on the following drive.
Running back Elijah Holyfield ran 80 yards to the end zone to tie the game at 7. Holyfield rushed for 152 yards on 12 carries in the first half.
After stopping St. Pius on offense, Woodward put together a long drive that ended in a 34-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jes Suther-land to Josh Johnson. The score gave Woodward a 14-7 lead at halftime.
St. Pius’ offense opened the second half, go-ing three and out. Woodward took the ball and drove down the field, scoring on a 10-yard pass from Sutherland to Jeffrey Hubbard, giving Woodward a 21-7 lead.
The Golden Lions were able to put a drive to-gether, but it stalled and St. Pius attempted a 47-yard field goal, but the field goal went wide left. It looked bleak for St. Pius after the missed goal,
but things turned around for the Golden Lions after Brian O’Reily picked off Sutherland on the following play.
“[That was] a big interception by Brian O’Reily,” Standard said.
St. Pius had the ball on Woodward’s 19-yard line and got down to the 1-yard line, but facing a 4th and goal. Running back Dalton Wilson was able to punch it in for the score to cut the lead to 21-14 with 11:09 left in the game.
St. Pius defense stepped up on the following play, forcing Woodland to punt. On the following drive, Julian Holliman took the ball on a reverse play and ran 51 yards to Woodward’s 5-yard line.
On second and goal, Ransom Klinger ran it in from two yards out to cut the lead to 21-20. St. Pius could have tied the game at 21, but the snap went over the holder’s head on the extra point.
The Golden Lions defense stopped Holyfield and the Woodward offense again, forcing a punt. St. Pius had the ball at its own 15 with 5:25 left to play. A conversion on 4th and 7 and a defensive
St. Pius girls’ basketball ball team continues winning streak
See Football on page 24A
St.Pius X head coach Paul Standard is embraced by his family after the Golden Lions knocked off Woodward Academy to advance to the state championship. Photo by Carla Parker
the champion Free Press, Friday, Dec. 11, 2014 Page 23ASportS
redan sweeps chamblee in region playby Mark Brock
Chamblee never quit on its home court, but Redan used big sec-ond halves to pull away to a sweep in Region 6-AAAA high school bas-ketball action Dec. 5.
Taylor Tucker came up big for the Redan Lady Raiders (4-0) when they needed her as Chamblee (1-3) battled to a 31-29 lead at the end of the third quarter.
Chamblee was trailing 27-22 fol-lowing a Kia Smith steal and basket for Redan with 4:15 left in the third quarter. Ariana Henderson then took over for the Lady Bulldogs driving to the basket three times and pulling up for a short jumper on an-other trip to score eight consecutive points to flip the lead to 30-27 with 1:36 left in the period.
Tucker then took control to open the fourth quarter by hitting a three-pointer to give Redan a 32-31 lead and the Lady Raiders would never trail again. The three was
part of a 13-2 run by Tucker alone that included three from the three-point arc and a pair of drives to the basket for a 42-33 advantage for the defending Class AAAA state cham-pions.
Liyah Terrell had seven points in the first half, and Ozichi Uqwu-madu (10 points, 15 rebounds) had six as the Lady Bulldogs overcame 21 first-half turnovers to trail by just one point (19-18) at the half.
Tucker finished with 25 points to lead Redan on the night, while teammate Jaylen Black grabbed 10 rebounds.
Uqwumadu had the double-double of 10 points and 15 rebounds to lead Chamblee, while Ariana Henderson finished with 10 points and eight rebounds.
BoysRedan 67, Chamblee 51The Redan Raiders had big runs
in the second and third quarters to put distance between them and the
Chamblee Bulldogs, but could never relax as the home team kept climb-ing back into the game in a 67-51 Redan victory at Chamblee.
Tyrone Stuckey and Raqui Owens got the Raiders rolling af-ter falling behind 5-0 early to the Bulldogs. The duo each had a pair of three-pointers, the first coming from Stuckey to put Redan on the board and a second to give Redan the lead at 8-7 with 4:59 left in the first quarter.
Owens hit his two in the final three minutes of the quarter as Re-dan (2-2) took a 22-13 lead into the second period.
Four different Raiders scored in the first four minutes of the second quarter as the lead ballooned to 17 (30-13).
Glenn Robinson came off the bench to spark the Bulldogs (1-6) with two baskets as Chamblee trimmed the lead to nine (32-23) with four seconds left in the half. Stuckey struck again at the buzzer
with a drive to the basket to give Redan a 34-23 lead heading to the dressing room.
Redan put together a 10-2 run in the final 3:55 of the third quarter led by four points from Tyron Turner to take a 49-29 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs answered to start the fourth quarter as Odell Fer-rell and Robinson hit back-to-back three-pointers in a 12-5 run to trim the lead to 13 (54-41) with 5:02 to play.
Six free throws and an Ashaki Powell basket with six seconds left put the game away for the Raiders in the final four minutes.
Owens finished with 15 points to lead Redan while Stuckey had 11 and Turner added 10.
Jeremy Salley finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for a double-double for Chamblee while teammates Ferrell (11 points) and Robinson (10 points, 8 rebounds) both finished in double figures.
Correction: The pictures for the Marist vs. Tucker game published in the Dec. 4, 2014 issue were taken by Travis Hudgons.
Redan’s Xavier Guzman (right) goes up for a layup. Photos by Mark Brock Redan’s Taylor Tucker (left) scored 25 points in the win over Chamblee.
Weekly ad in hand. Coupons in pocket.BOGO-vision on. It’s time to save.
publix.com/save
holding call on Woodward had St. Pius with a first down at the 30-yard line with 53 seconds left.
On the following play, run-ning back Joey Connors ran down the right sideline for a 30-yard touchdown. A pass from Reed to Brennan Garrison on the 2-point conversion gave St. Pius the 28-21 lead with 47 sec-onds left.
St. Pius defense forced a fumble and recovered to seal the win and the trip to the Geor-gia Dome to play for the Class AAAA championship.
“It’s great for our school and our community,” Standard said. “I’m so proud for them. It shows that you can get a group of young men together and [if] they have a goal in mind, one heartbeat, one mindset they can reach those goals.”
St. Pius will face Buford in the title game Dec. 13, at 4:30 p.m. St. Pius is 1-3 against Bu-ford, the last loss coming in 2012, when the Golden Lions lost to Buford in the Class AAA championship game.
Football Continued From Page 22A
BasketballContinued From Page 22A
he said. “Every game is important, regardless of who we are playing and that’s the biggest thing–the ability to play to the standard of your level of performance, as opposed to get caught up in who you are playing regardless of if it’s a Columbia or someone that’s not traditionally had as much success.”
During the streak, each team has been successful. In 2011, St. Pius finished 25-6, winning a region championship and an Elite Eight playoff appearance. In 2012, the team went 24-5 with a playoff appearance, and the 2013 and 2014 team had similar success with a 30-3 record and a state title.
Snipes said a lot of the success is due to the team leadership in the seniors.
“They instill in our younger kids that, ‘this is how we do things, we’ve had success with it and we really don’t want you guys coming in here messing with our success,’” Snipes said. “That’s pretty much how we are as a staff and the kids have done a great job of keeping that mindset.”
With most of the 2014 team returning this season, St. Pius has an opportunity to win a third consecutive state title. However, that is something St. Pius is not focused on.
“We’re just focused on trying to get bet-ter every day,” he said. “There are some things we have to improve at and just try to be better each day and try to build on that. If we’re fortunate enough to make the playoffs we’ll take it from there.”
Pet of the WeekCostello (ID#: 23532625) is a quiet fellow who has been at the shelter for a few months and is ready to find his forever family! He is a laid back boy who will just fit right into the flow of your family. He walks great on a leash and gets along with other dogs. He is 6 years old and has gorgeous eyes which definitely add to his cuteness! If you are looking for a calm older dog to join your family, Costello is the one for you! Costello is eligible for our December “Home for the Pawliday” special. All dogs and puppies are $30 and all cats and kittens are $10, including their spay/neuter, vaccines, microchip and more. To learn more about Costello, call (404) 294-2165 or email [email protected].
