FreePress 9-25-15

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FRIDAY, SeptembeR 25, 2015 • VOL. 18, NO. 25 • 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.

see Oath on page 15A

see Gangs on page 15A

Gang accused of ‘reign of terror’

Glass

Gresham

Nelson Hamlet

Broxton

Green

Pena

Ficklin

Hurt

by Andrew [email protected]

Eight suspected gang members have been ar-rested for their part of

a “reign of terror” in DeKalb County.

A joint investigation be-tween DeKalb County Police Department and District At-torney’s Office has resulted

in a 45-count indictment and the arrests of eight of nine people who law enforcement officials say are members of the HATE Committee, a subgroup of the Gangster Disciples criminal street gang. HATE is an acronym for “Helping All To Eat.”

The gang members are sus-pected of at least five murders since May, authorities said.

“These folks have been extremely dangerous and harmful and hurtful,” said Ce-dric Alexander, the county’s public safety director, during a Sept. 18 news conference.

“This type of gang vio-lence will not be tolerated in DeKalb County,” Alexander said. “We will go after you with everything that we have. We are committed to making

by Ashley [email protected]

Constitution Day and Citizenship Day are cel-ebrated each year on Sept. 17 in remembrance of the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

United States Citizenship and Immigration Ser-vices (USCIS) marks this occasion–also known as Constitution Week–by holding special naturaliza-tion ceremonies across the country.

This year, a ceremony was held at Georgia Pied-mont Technical College (GPTC), which also recog-nized more than two dozen new staff and student citizens.

Mohamed Sow is from Guinea. He said he start-ed the process of becoming a United States citizen in 1997.

“I’ve been through a lot with immigration. I went to prison for six months. I just wanted to be a citizen and finally I can close this chapter today.”

Dozens of new citizens take oath

Citizens take a picture with their official certifications.

LOcAL, 3A LOcAL, 16A SpORtS, 23A

Business ................................. 17AEducation.........................18-19ASports ............................... 21-23AOpinion ......................................5Aclassified ..............................20A

QuIck FINDeR DekALb OFFIceR DIeS IN wRONg-wAY cRASh

StADIum ReNAmeD FOR wILLIAm buck gODFReY

DekALb OFFIceR Ok AFteR ShOOtINg

From left, Public Safety Director Cedric Alexander, District Attorney Robert James and Capt. Leonard Dreyer of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office Field Division announce the arrests of local gang members. Photo by Andrew Cauthen

page 2A the champion Free preSS, FridAy, September 25, 2015

local

A Mobile Market is a farmers market on wheels. It brings fresh and affordably priced fruits and vegetables to your community.

The Mobile Market also provides food demonstrations and recipes.

What is a Mobile Farmers Market?

Fridays 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.

DeKalb County Extension 4380 Memorial Dr. Decatur

Tuesdays 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.

Exchange Park Recreation Center 2771 Columbia Dr., Decatur

4 p.m. – 6 p.m. Mainstreet Community Assoc.

5001 Mainstreet Park Dr. Stone Mountain

Wednesdays

10 a.m. – 11 a.m. Hairston Lake Apartments 1023 North Hairston Road

Stone Mountain

12 p.m. – 1 p.m. Spring Chase II

4947 Memorial Drive Stone Mountain

4 p.m. – 6 p.m. Downtown Lithonia

6861 Main Street

Thursdays 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Bethesda Cathedral Church 1989 Austin Drive, Decatur

4 p.m. – 6 p.m. Midway Recreation Center 3181 Midway Rd., Decatur

For more information, call DeKalb County Extension at 404-298-4080

Cash, Credit, Debit, and EBT cards are accepted.

Made possible with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

DeKalb Mobile Farmers Market Dates and Times Thru Oct. 23

County demolishes vacant eyesoreby Andrew [email protected]

A vacant, burned home was leveled early Sept. 18 by interim county CEO Lee May and county workers.

After getting a brief tuto-rial from a county worker, May took the controls of a bulldozer and knocked down part of the house located at 1637 Freedom Valley. The house had been vacant since it burned several years ago.

“I’m just elated because we have so many houses that are in the same condition in one of the most beauti-ful neighborhoods, centrally located, [in a] very valuable piece of south DeKalb,” said Joscelyn O’Neil, president of the Greater Towers Commu-nity Association. “It makes no sense for us to have to continue to live with these types of conditions.”

Some of those conditions have been going on for eight to 10 years, she said.

“Trees are growing up in the homes. The roofs are cav-ing. There are hazards [and] varmints. You have drugs and prostitution going on in some of those that [people can enter],” O’Neil said.

O’Neil said there are at

least six more houses in the community that are in a sim-ilar “deplorable condition.”

“We’re looking forward to this being a first step and going on to get some of the other eyesores out of our community,” O’Neil said.

The demolition was part of a county program in which the county goes to court to get authority to go on the property to either abate the issues that are there or demolish it because the building is deemed uninhab-itable or dangerous.

During the legal pro-ceeding, the owner retains ownership of the property; the cost of the demolition is placed as a lien on the prop-erty. The county’s sanitation department helps expedite the typically long process of a house demolition.

May said there are “a number of homes that have been burned down that have really lowered the quality of life in DeKalb County.

“We have these neigh-bors here that have to live next to these homes…for years now,” May said. “This is a health crisis here. It’s a code enforcement violation. You have drug activity that’s going on and it’s just an eye-

sore.“Our focus is making

sure that our neighborhoods are safe [and] secure,” May said.

“We have made a com-

mitment to our sanitation division and other depart-ments to demolish at least 25 homes this [year],” May said.

DeKalb County has two more homes scheduled for

demotion by mid-October: 2613 Crestdale Circle, Atlan-ta, and 3327 River Run Trail, Decatur.

Interim DeKalb County CEO Lee May gets behind the controls of a bulldozer to help level a dilapidated house in the Greater Towers community. Photos by Andrew Cauthen

the champion Free preSS, FridAy, September 25, 2015 page 3Alocal

Brookhaven pleased with MARTA station’s development partners by Carla [email protected]

The development partner selected for the Brookhaven/Oglethorpe MARTA station was one of four groups the Brookhaven MARTA Citizens Review Board recommended.

MARTA announced Sept. 3 that it approved The Integral Group LLC and Transwestern De-velopment Company to develop around the Brookhaven/Oglethorpe station. MARTA will en-ter into negotiations with Brookhaven City Center Partners on the project. The purpose of the project is to strengthen the link among public transit, housing and job access at MARTA rail stations, according to the agency.

MARTA plans to convert the 10.3 acres of sur-face parking lots at the Brookhaven/Oglethorpe station into a mixed-use, transit-oriented develop-ment.

The Brookhaven MARTA Citizens Review

Board (CRB) was created by the city to be a voice of the residents of Brookhaven. There are 14 mem-bers on the board, consisting of representatives from each of the four council districts, a mayor’s pick from each neighborhood surrounding the MARTA station, and members of the Brookhaven Peachtree Community Alliance, Brookhaven De-velopment Authority and the Brookhaven Cham-ber of Commerce.

There were seven qualified developers named and Brookhaven City Councilman Bates Matti-son, liaison of the CRB, said The Integral Group was one of the four recommended developers.

“The understanding has always been—both with the CRB and MARTA—that the CRB will now continue to work with the selected developer and help them fine-tune their plans and still be a resource for providing the citizen’s feedback, and the proposed development that Integral’s is going to have to go through a zoning process on,” Mat-tison said.

The development partners proposed a three-phase, mixed-use master plan, subject to a com-munity engagement process that will ultimately lead to city approval and rezoning. Mattison said the CRB told developers, “We want you to create a sense of community, create a cultural heart to our city. We want you to think about the development site outside the box and not just look in the con-fines of the MARTA property, but also the traffic and transportation issues surrounding it.

Phase 1 of the project includes 330 apartments; 25,200 square feet of retail; and 117,600 square feet of office space. Additional phases could include senior housing, civic spaces and a hotel.

“It’s a very exciting project,” Mattison said. “I am looking forward to continuing to work the Integral Group and hopefully develop a [transit-oriented development] design that is second to none in the Atlanta area.”

Phase 1 construction on the project is sched-uled to begin in the summer of 2017.


A DeKalb County Police officer has been released from an area hospital after being shot during a gun bat-tle with two suspects Sept 18.

Forty-seven-year-old Marco Vizcarrando, a 19-year veteran of the depart-ment, suffered a gunshot wound to his shoulder. He was treated and released from Grady Hospital late that evening.

Police have arrested Rome Crow, 21, and Isiah McCray, 24. Both suspects face charges of aggravated assault on a police officer and felony obstruction.

At approximately 4 p.m. Sept. 18, “Some of our detec-tives received information of gun runners which they attempted to stop out near [I-285] and Lavista Road,” said Cedric Alexander, the county’s public safety direc-tor. Alexander said as the detec-tives were in route to stop the vehicle, they requested uniformed officers to assist “so there would be no ques-tions…that they were being pulled over by DeKalb po-lice.”

When uniformed of-ficers arrived and attempted to stop the vehicle, a black Chevrolet SUV, it imme-diately accelerated south on Northlake Parkway and crashed into the RaceTrac

sign at 3356 Lawrenceville Highway.

When the suspects exited their vehicles in the RaceTrac parking lot, there was “an exchange of gunfire between police and these subjects,” Alexander said. During that gunfire, Vizcarrando was hit in the upper left shoulder.

Because of the “very, very nasty wound,” Vizcar-rando was transported to the hospital by a police helicop-ter, Alexander said.

Crow was taken into custody at the RaceTrac and McCray was captured by a K-9 unit.

“Neither one of these subjects were hit by police,” Alexander said. “They suf-fered no more than scratches when they fell to the ground or ran through the woods.”

Two firearms were recov-ered from the scene and the investigation is ongoing.

DeKalb officer OK after shooting

Youth advocacy organization challenges students

Vizcarrando


In 2010 Jeffery Henderson founded DeKalb-based nonprofit Youth Branding Uni-versity (YBU), an organization that aims to serve the needs of underrepresented and un-derserved children.

The organization offers student athlete personal, business, commercial and college planning workshops.

Henderson said the program seeks to help children from low income families who have been classified as high risk for academic fail-ure.

Henderson said he is passionate about helping youth. At the age of 15 Henderson spoke at Harvard University’s National Coun-cil of State Committees for Youth Helping Youth, “Ever since I have been an advocate for young people,” Henderson said.

This year YBU has expanded its efforts in Atlanta Public Schools, DeKalb, Clayton and Fulton counties to offer financial literacy,

entrepreneurship empowerment and engage-ment classes.

Henderson said the program’s mission is to “equip the next generation to become global leaders.”

The biggest challenge is “recruiting donors to support activities, challenges and events,” he said.

YBU recently partnered with Commu-nities in Schools, Future Business Leaders of America, Chick-fil-A Leader Academy, Rachel’s Challenge, Five Star Insurance, Prim-erica Financial Services, Community Teen Coalition, Hearts to Nourish Hope and other groups more in order to assist in promotions and resources for program participants.

“Our goal is to train and develop future CEO’s, executives, professionals, entrepre-neurs, motivational speakers, community activists, financial advisers, doctors, scientists, engineers, technologists, artists, mathemat-ics, politicians, spiritual leaders, college and professional athletes and leaders with a global mindset,” Henderson said.

See YBU on page 8A

Students at Tucker High School participate in a workshop led by YBU founder Jeffery Henderson.

the champion FRee pReSS, FRIDAY, SEptEmBER 25, 2015 page 4AOpINION

Team LINKS thousands with scienceOn Sept. 12 I spent half

the day in Marietta with a couple hundred students and their mentors from 13 schools. These kids traveled from across the state to meet in metro Atlanta to hear about their upcoming robot-ics season and to brainstorm the design of their latest ro-botics challenge. It was the kickoff for the BEST Robot-ics season.

BEST (which stands for Boosting Engineering, Sci-ence, and Technology) Ro-botics is a nonprofit, volun-teer-run organization which allows schools to participate at no cost.

In the program, students “take plywood and a box filled with items such as

PVC pipe, screws and other hardware, an irrigation valve cover, piano wire, aluminum paint grid, a bicycle inner tube, a BRAIN (BEST Robot-ics Advanced Instruction Node programmable plat-form), and something called

a micro-energy chain system and try, within six weeks, to design and build a function-ing machine that can per-form certain specific tasks in three minutes,” according to the BEST website.

At the end of the build season, the teams participate in competitions on a 24-feet-by-24-feet “field”—a maze of wood and PVC pipes with tasks for the robots to com-plete. The goal of BEST is for the participants to come away with an understanding of the practical use of math concepts and applied phys-ics; experience solving real-world science and engineer-ing problem; an increased interest in science, technol-ogy, engineering and math.

In the past, the Georgia BEST program was hosted by Southern Polytechnic State University. This year, BEST was a casualty of the school’s merger with Kennesaw State University and almost did not happen.

But the Fernbank LINKS (Linking Ideas and Network-ing Kids with Science) robot-ics team of DeKalb County stepped up to the plate and decided to be the only high school team in the country to host a BEST competition.

LINKS is not new to service. Led by Fernbank Science Center aeronautics instructor Debi Huffman, the team has been a STEM advocate for a dozen years, reaching more than 5,000

students annually through various outreach programs, including its Science Night Out, First LEGO League (FLL) workshops and scrim-mages, FLL regional com-petitions for middle and elementary, career days and STEM Days at local schools, as well as public events, such as the Atlanta Maker Faire and the Atlanta Science Fes-tival.

With more than 40 awards under its belt, and a spot in last season FIRST world championships, this is a busy team of really en-gaged, intelligent youth. And I’m not saying that just be-cause my daughter Adrianna is on the team.

@AndrewChampNews

Andrew [email protected]

Managing Editor

the champion FRee pReSS, FRIDAY, SEptEmBER 25, 2015 page 5A

Let Us Know What You Think!THE CHAMPION FREE PRESS encour-ages opinions from its readers. Please write to us and express your views. Letters should be brief, typewritten 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 colum-nists 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.

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stAtement frOm the Publisher

We 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.

OpINION

Swimmerman, swimmer fan“Water is the driving force

of all nature,” Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Italian artist, inventor, sculptor and architect.

I really cannot remem-ber a time when I did not know how to swim. The home I was born into had a small pool out back in Decatur. One of my earliest memories involves sitting atop my mother’s rib cage as a toddler while she swam the length of the pool doing a nice backstroke.

It wasn’t until years later, specifically high school, when I became aware that not everyone knows how to swim, and for some, the fear of submersion or drowning is very real and can cause practical paralysis or panic attacks.

Older daughter Barclay took easily to the water and is a strong swimmer and beach/lake lover to this day. Younger daughter Olivia has few fears, but those that exist are strong, and for the first seven years of her life, one of those was water on her face or in any way having her head underwater. As she loves the pool and playing with friends, it became time to give her swim lessons. But due to her developmental disability, it was hard to com-municate during parental

lesson attempts and any fear or tears usually meant a move out of the pool. As any swim instructor will tell you, getting past those fears is critical to becoming a strong swimmer.

In Atlanta’s small Down syndrome family commu-nity, referrals are taken very seriously, even if they don’t all work out. This, however, is an enthusiastic endorse-ment, and our household is now filled with Swimmer-man swimmer fans.

Swimmerman was begun as a modest family enterprise 1999, by Mike and Melina Slotnick, and, later, their son Manfred. Melina had nearly drowned as a almost 7-year-old child on a lake outing with family, able to float and dog paddle, but with her stamina and stroke yet unde-

veloped. Fearfully noting the boat and her family floating away, she went under.

Thankfully rescued, she would later begin a life of teaching others the joys of swimming. Her son, Man-fred, learned to swim at age two weeks. As we all at least started out floating in the womb, one might think swimming would just come naturally, but for many chil-dren and adults, that is just not the case.

Enter the aquatic super-hero Swimmerman to the rescue. Now with three year-round indoor locations and good metro area dispersal, including a Smyrna location close to Cumberland Mall and the Galleria, a Jonesboro facility on the southside and the newest location in mid-town Atlanta at Amsterdam Walk backing up to the Belt-line.

Olivia entered her initial lessons reluctantly, seeking her swim vest or floaties, and very unwilling to put her face in the water. But after only a few weeks of instruction, she began racing from the car to the locker room, donning her goggles and swim togs and talking constantly about taking “frog bites” (pre-submersion air gulps), and showing off her developing backstroke, side dives and

underwater crawl stroke. A team of highly trained

and certified instructors make this a serious mission made easy through the fun of play. Children in general, and particularly many with developmental challenges, learn better through play.

We are still months of instruction away from any unsupervised pool time, or perhaps a year away from considering a swim team, but as I have seen Olivia repeatedly achieve things which medical professionals once told us would be highly unlikely or impossible, we have little doubt that she will be fearlessly tackling beach waves and swimming under-water in a summer, two tops.

For both the safety and security of any child, and all the fun which water parks, beach waves and water ski-ing have brought our family through the years, I am find-ing great happiness in watch-ing Olivia conquer this fear and find a new joy.

Swimming is one of those few skillsets, like regular walking and exercise, which is never too late to start. And for the elderly in particular, the buoyancy and reduced stress on joints and muscle groups can make resuming swimming the ideal choice for improving and rebuilding

muscle strength and tone. So with that, a tip of the swim cap to Melina, Mike and Manfred Slotnik and their friend and our newest neigh-borhood superhero, Swim-merman.

C’mon over and dive in, the water’s fine.

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].

Bill [email protected]

Columnist

One Man’s OpiniOn


local

Joscelyn O’Neil, presi-dent of the Greater Towers Community Association, is passionate about her com-munity.

On Sept. 18 she was on hand when DeKalb County officials bulldozed a vacant, burned house in her neigh-borhood.

“It’s a magnificent area,” she said minutes before the house was leveled. “Anyone would want to raise their children in a nice cul-de-sac. So we’re looking forward to this being a first step and going on to get some of the other eyesores out of our community.”

A tragic accident moved O’Neil to get involved in her neighborhood. The accident claimed the lives of two chil-dren who were killed as they crossed a street with their

mother. “That just broke my

heart,” O’Neil said. After the accident, O’Neil advocated for a traffic light at the site on Glenwood Road. Some-times, she sat in the rain col-lecting signatures for a peti-tion, she said.

After that, O’Neil became increasingly involved with community advocacy. She helped stop plans for a music studio behind her house. She volunteered as the neighbor-hood watch chairwoman. She worked to get an an-nual summer camp program started at Lou Walker Park, located in her neighborhood.

She was instrumental in get-ting restrooms constructed at the park. She has served on the county’s code en-forcement advisory council, worked against human traf-ficking and is a member of the District 5 Community Council. She also has served on the Georgia Black Wom-en’s Caucus and participated in the DeKalb Neighborhood Leadership Institute.

“It’s just something that I naturally do,” O’Neil said about volunteerism.

O’Neil said her efforts are beginning to pay off in her community.

“So we’re at a point right

now where we were seeing something after all the years of hard work and complain-ing and looking at the eye-sore,” she said.

“We’re not going any-where,” she said. “Gentrifi-cation is not one thing that we’re going to be looking for in our community. We plan on living, playing, working and raising our children here educating them here and they need to grow up in a neighborhood that I invested in for my children to grow up in—a beautiful neighbor-hood.”

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.

JOsCelYn O’neil

Families talk to officials about police-involved shootingsby Andrew [email protected]

Family members of residents killed in police-involved shootings in DeKalb County got a chance to speak their minds in a private meeting with county officials Sept 16.

“Just the fact that we had a dia-log was pleasing for me,” said Delisa Davis, the sister of Kevin Davis, who was shot and killed by a DeKalb officer Dec. 29, 2014 after calling 911 when his live-in girlfriend was stabbed by a friend during an argument in their home.

“I can’t really say that I’m really sat-isfied, but I’m pleased that [the county officials] at least took the time out to come meet with our family,” Davis said. “Kevin meant a lot to us. He was our baby brother.”

Davis said what she had hoped “to hear that some accountability would be held [for] the officer that murdered our brother.

“It just bothers me to no end that [the officers] only got a slap on the wrist. He got taken off the force for a little while and now he’s back on the beat,” Davis said. “That I want to see stopped, because then [the officer is] out there to do it again to somebody else.”

Davis said law enforcement of-ficials should “have a little more com-passion for the families [of victims] that lost their lives, because we got none of that. To this day, we never heard from them that they killed our brother. We heard from a third party.”

“I don’t have all the answers. I’m just here advocating for my brother who was gunned down by a DeKalb County police officer,” Davis said. “He was a human being. He deserved more than what they did to him.”

Interim Police Chief James Con-roy said the conversation was about “accountability, transparency and com-passion” after police-involved shoot-ings.

“I think that’s the key takeaway from this,” Conroy said. “Those are points that everyone in the room agreed upon.”

Conroy said officer-involved shootings are “the one thing that no police officer wants in their career—whether they’re being shot or they’re having to take another’s life.

“It’s the last thing anybody ever wants to do and I think you’ll find…99 percent of the police officers have never been in that situation,” Conroy said. “It’s tragic on all fronts. You never want to have to take someone’s life, but unfortunately these are violent times in this country and police officers have been killed….

“That’s not a trend that’s going away,” he said. “I’m just hoping that we can do things better. We can learn from these and try [to] prevent as many shootings as we can and…learn how to react on the other side when there is one.”

After “speaking to the families and seeing things from their point of view,” Conroy said, “I can learn from them and hopefully be more compassionate in future incidents.”

Interim DeKalb County CEO Lee May said that during the “tough con-versations” there were “a lot of emo-tions, a lot tears, a lot of anger, a lot of questions, not a whole lot of answers, of course, because so many of these cases are still under investigation by the GBI.”

May said the meeting did not improve the situation for the victims’ families.

“The family members don’t come back as a result, but it does allow for a conversation, questions to be asked, [and] as many answers to be given as possible,” May said. “But I do believe it’s progress.”

A list of demands was given to commissioners, May said. “My un-derstanding is those demands will be listened to and deliberated over and maybe there can be some solutions.”

May said he has empathy for the families.

“I personally have experiences of

family members having direct engage-ment with police around the country and both cases ended in death,” he said. “So I personally understand.”

After the meeting, DeKalb County Commissioner Jeff Rader said, “People aired their grievances. We listened to them. I think that hopefully we better understand what people’s issues are as they relate to the way that this has been managed.

“People are simply impatient with that process because their loss was im-mediate but the process of resolving this and assigning responsibility and accountability is a long one,” Rader said. “It’s been a long protracted pro-cess and I think that people are waiting for a resolution of that process, which can only come through ultimately the judicial process.

“You have an investigation that was conducted by GBI in each of these cases,” Rader said. “It’s in the hands of the district attorney. The district at-torney has indicated that he is going to use a civil grand jury in order to air those cases and then ultimately make a decision as to how they proceed.”

From left, interim DeKalb County CEO Lee May met with Delisa Davis and other family members of victims of police-involved shootings. Photo by Andrew Cauthen


Avondale estatesdekalb School of the Arts announces premier weekend

DeKalb School of the Arts will hold its Pre-mier Weekend Sept. 25-27. Premier Weekend is a three-day season opener for the performing tour groups of DeKalb School of the Arts. The tour groups featured will be Dance Repertory Com-pany, drama ensemble, instrumental ensemble and vocal performances by Highliet and ProArte. Tickets are on sale at brownpapertickets.com event #2226437. The school is located at 1192 Clarendon Avenue in Avondale Estates.

AtlantaFernbank Science center wins grant for collection preservation

Fernbank Science Center has won a $24,610 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Museums for America program.

This award will be used to improve preserva-tion conditions for the science center’s collection of mammal, bird and insect specimens. The two-year project will help rehouse and relocate Fern-bank’s collection to improve access and preserva-tion of this asset.

“With this funding, we can start to really use and share what has been a hidden treasure, rather than simply store it,” said Chris Showalter, cura-tor of Fernbank’s natural history collections. “Our collections can be a powerful tool for research and teaching, and additional resources like this grant will help us tap into their potential.”

Fernbank Science Center natural history col-lection ranks among the most significant collec-tions in Georgia. FSC has a live-mount wildfowl that includes research-grade bird and mammal study skins, as well as bird eggs, with specimens dating back to the 19th century, including extinct species. The holdings also include insect collec-tion, representing most of the world’s major fami-lies, and including 10 paratype specimens.

brookhavencommunity yard sale scheduled

A community yard sale will be held Sept. 27, 1-4 p.m. at Briarwood Gym located at 2235 Bri-arwood Way in Brookhaven. The event is free. A table can be purchased to sell items. For more information, call (404) 637-0512.

city to host art event“Paint the Park” will be held Sept. 27, 1-4

p.m. at Blackburn Park, located at 3493 Ashford Dunwoody Road in Brookhaven. The event will include an art contest, treats and a bounce house. Art supplies and paper will be provided but artist can bring their own easel and canvas. The win-ning entries will be displayed in Brookhaven City Hall. For more information, or to volunteer as

a judge, email [email protected] or call (404) 637-0508.

decaturcommunity association sponsors hee haw octoberFest

On Saturday, Oct. 17, from 2 to 5 p.m., the Greater Towers Community Association will hold its annual OctoberFest celebration at 3569 Lark-spur Terrace, Decatur.

It will be “fun for all ages, so put on your western gear and join us,” states an announce-ment about the event, which will include a bike race for 3-to-8-years old, lasso contest, best west-ern-dressed contest, cakewalk, food and games.

church to hold prostate cancer awareness event

New Life Church and Community Center and the Our Journey of Hope Cancer Support Ministry (www.newlife-atl.org) is hosting the “Path to Prostate Cancer Awareness: Prevention, Detection & Care” breakfast event on Satur-day, Sept. 26, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., at 3592 Flat Shoals Road, Decatur.

The event is being held in observance of National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and in an effort to minimize the impact of prostate cancer local families and communities.

Men ages 30 and older are encouraged to at-tend; Men ages 40 and older also should register for the free prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ex-ams.

The event will consist of breakfast, expert panel discussion and free PSA screenings. Dr. Gregory Bolden of (Men’s Health Initiative -DeKalb County Board of Health) will be as the keynote speaker for the event.

Attendees will be provided with prostate cancer information and the opportunity to en-gage resources in the areas of research, nutrition, treatment, care and spiritual preparedness.

In partnership with the DeKalb County Board of Heath, the Center for Cancer Research and Therapeutic Development, Georgia Pros-tate Cancer Coalition, and Georgia Urology, the church is seeking to spread awareness of the overwhelming realties of prostate cancer.

For additional information or to register for the event or the PSA exam, go online to www.eventbrite.com, click the link www.bit.ly/NLCProstateAwareness, or text (678) 806 8136 with the phrase “Blue Breakfast.”

community Service board to meet

The DeKalb Community Service Board will meet Sept. 24. It is open to the public for those who are interested in services for mental health, addiction and developmental disabilities.

The meeting will be held at 3 p.m. at 445 Winn Way, Room 421, Decatur.

Agenda items include a director’s report, amendments to the board’s bylaws, the DeKalb County Clean Indoor Air Ordinance and a finan-cial status report. The board will also welcome DeKalb County School District Superintendent

Dr. R. Stephen Green.Those who would like to bring an issue before

the board can be placed on the agenda by con-tacting Sandra Piñeyro at (404) 294-3787.

Written comments to the board will be ac-cepted at Office of the Director, DeKalb County Board of Health, P.O. Box 987, Decatur, Georgia 30031.

chambleechamblee offers driving classes for young adults

Have a soon-to-be-teen driver? Worried about teaching them how to drive? Want to be eli-gible for a discount on your insurance? Chamblee Police Department is hosting its next Parents Re-ducing Injuries and Driver Error (P.R.I.D.E.) class on Sept. 24, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Cham-blee Civic Center, 3540 Broad Street.

Georgia Teens Ride With P.R.I.D.E. is a free two-hour course designed to help parents and their new or soon-to-be teen drivers, ages 14-16, prepare for their 40 hours of supervised practice driving time required by Georgia law.

After completing the class, parents receive a certificate from Georgia Traffic Injury Prevention Institute that can be submitted to an insurance carrier and may be eligible for discount on policy.

countywideregistration open for beat the badge 5k

Runners can register for the Beat the Badge 5K. The race will be held Sept. 26 and begins at 9 a.m. at the DeKalb County Police Headquarters located at 1960 West Exchange Place in Tucker. This year’s 5K race commemorates the 100-year anniversary of the DeKalb County Police Depart-ment and proceeds from the race will be donated to the DeKalb Police Alliance. Registration is lim-ited to 1,000 entries. For more information and to register, visit www.active.com.

Food and music festival announcedThe DeKalb International Food & Music

Festival will be held Sat., Oct. 17 from noon until 6 p.m. at Northlake Mall, 4800 Briarcliff Road, Atlanta.

The fifth annual DeKalb International Food & Music Festival promises to be a day of fun with food, music, entertainment and more. Free Ad-mission to all.

Children’s activities will be held in the Chil-dren’s Village; for a $5 fee, each child gets an all-day pass. The Children’s Village will feature the Center for Puppetry Arts, a game truck, bouncy houses, face painting, snacks and an opportunity to tour DeKalb County Fire Rescue and Police equipment.

For additional information visit www.dekalb-foodandmusicfestival.com.

Around DeKalb


local

stone Mountain chief holding officers accountable with new systemby Carla [email protected]

Stone Mountain’s police chief has created a new employee tracking sys-tem to improve police activity in the city.

Chief Chancey Troutman’s point system tracks officers’ activities dur-ing their shifts. Officers receive points for accident reports, arrests, citations, court attendance, domestic call re-ports, incident reports, juvenile call reports, miscellaneous reports and warning citations.

An officer on the day/evening shift must have an activity score of 80 per 160 hours of duty during two con-secutive pay periods. Officers on the overnight shift must have an activ-ity score of 56 per 160 hours of duty during two consecutive pay periods. Officers who fail to score the desirable level of points receive punishments from oral reprimands to dismissals.

“It’s basically keeping a count of the officers’ work,” Troutman said. “We had a few officers that weren’t doing anything, and people ride by and see them on the road on the computer. Some of them were doing homework; some [officers] were just on their phones or just sitting there doing nothing. Some of them might have been asleep for all I knew.

“Their activities were very low, the citizens complained about it, the city council complained about it and some of the other officers complained

about it,” Troutman said. “It’s already in our chapter and procedures policy in reference of work productivity, and we just put this in place to hold them accountable for their time at work for eight hours.”

There are 18 officers on the Stone Mountain police force, including 10 patrol units. The point system/activity sheet went live Aug. 25. The depart-ment did a trial run three and a half months prior.

“A lot of [officers] still didn’t make it [through the trial run] because they didn’t take it seriously enough,” he said. “It’s easy to do; it’s just keeping them busy, keeping them on their toes and doing [their] job. It’s not about just writing tickets.”

Walking the streets and talking with residents and business owners also count towards activity points.

Troutman has been the police chief for 15 years and with the Stone Mountain Police Department for 28 years. Before establishing the system, he said he had several conversations with his sergeants about doing a bet-ter job of tracking their officers.

“I have talked to them until I’m blue in the face,” he said. “I’ve had ser-geant meetings and told the sergeants to stay on [the officers], and they’ll do good for about a week or two, but they’ll slack back off again and it shows. It shows on some of the crime that was happening in particular neighborhoods in which the officer should have been patrolling. There

were accidents happening, petty theft that was going on. If the officer was sitting in the location monitoring, some of that stuff wouldn’t have hap-pened.”

Troutman also wants to prevent illegal behavior by officers. Last year, former Stone Mountain police officer Denoris Carter was one of 13 people sentenced to federal prison for accept-ing thousands of dollars in cash pay-ments to provide protection during staged drug deals that were part of a federal undercover operation. He was sentenced to three years, one month in prison, which will be followed by five years of supervised release.

Carter was found guilty of provid-ing protection for what he believed were five separate transactions in the Atlanta area that involved cocaine, ac-cording to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Carter accepted cash payments total-ing $23,500. During the transactions, Carter wore his Stone Mountain Po-lice uniform, was in his police cruiser and either patrolled or parked in the parking lots in which the undercover sales took place and watched the transactions.

Troutman said Carter’s sergeant did not hold Carter and other officers under his supervision accountable.

“The sergeant was fired before this even happened because he didn’t pass his evaluation—he wasn’t doing anything and it showed,” he said. “But his officer was outside our city limits doing what he wanted to do. Now,

each officer and each supervisor has a responsibility. If they don’t make their time they have to be disciplined for it.

“Everything that’s going on in these streets right now with these of-ficers killing people and beating up people, they have to be held account-able for that,” Troutman added. “You have to keep tabs on your officers while they’re at work. I don’t want that to happen to my city—the killing of an unarmed person. I want to keep all of my citizens safe.”

Troutman said there were com-plaints from residents about officers not being visible. He addressed that with his officers.

“I told my officers that if they can’t see you let them hear you—tap your siren a couple of times and they’ll know that we’ve been through there,” he said. “It usually makes [resi-dents] mad because it wakes them up at night but I tell them, ‘Y’all said y’all don’t see us but I want to let y’all know that we’re out there.’”

In less than a month, Troutman has seen slight improvements in the crime rate, specifically in petty thefts. He is pleased to see that the officers are on board with the system and its effectiveness.

“I hate I have to go through this because it puts more work on me, but I need my job too,” he said.

In addition to empowering children, the organization is also creating a call to action for parents.

“It’s always been a major component of the program to get the parents involved. We think it’s really critical,” Hen-derson said.

The organization recently created a program that targets fathers of program participants. “Whether the fathers are in the home, not at home or even in prison we want to connect with them and say ‘no mat-ter what your situation is, you need to connect with your son or daughter because they need your moral support.’ The im-pact of that would be tremen-dous,” Henderson said.

The second part of the pro-gram is working with the moth-ers, guardians, and siblings of each program participant to “get the family involved in the child’s entrepreneurship class projects.”

“We have a comprehensive and relevant program and we really interact with the youth. Entrepreneurship is the flag-ship. Our theory is before you

can even get to entrepreneur-ship you have to first under-stand what your lifestyle will be,” Henderson said.

He added, “We try to be as realistic as we can about what they can expect in the business arena and we push them to cre-ate goals and plans and build a team.”

“A lot of our young people have dreams and visions and they’ll say I want to move to California or New York and those are the two most ex-pensive. We explain to them if you’re going to launch your business in DeKalb County that’s a lot different than launching your business in New York. Their lifestyles would be different in New York. The cost of living is more expensive in New York. Laws are different in New York… Our program aims to dissect those choices and show them how to make ma-ture and responsible decisions, how to be a global leaders and a global citizen.

To make a donation or learn more about Youth Brand-ing University visit www.yb-uedu.org.

YBU Continued From Page 3A

YBU Founder Jeffery Henderson works with elementary school entrepreneurial mentee.

Students participate in a entrepreneurship workshop where they were assigned to present their busi-ness ideas.


stone Mountain chief holding officers accountable with new system

Time to invest in yourself.

There’s still time to attend GPC this Fall. Learn more at gpc.edu/apply. If you’re already accepted but haven’t enrolled, visit gpc.edu/secondhalf.

TheCampion.indd 1 9/1/15 1:27 PM

Clarkston to host food truck festivalby Ashley [email protected]

After debating the ordi-nance at four different city council meetings Clarkston of-ficials have adopted a mandate that will allow food trucks to operate within the city.

According to the Sept. 1 business agenda provided to the city council, the city’s code re-stricted many forms of outdoor vending including a food truck or cart from conducting busi-ness on a public right-of-way within the city.

City Manager Keith Barker said, “The overarching purpose of this is to allow via ordinance a mechanism for the city of Clarkston to allow and promote food trucks on a limited basis.”

He added, “Based on an application process that the city administration would approve to allow food trucks in the city of Clarkston, we think that this is something that would be de-sirable.”

Barker acknowledged that Clarkston is “not blazing any trails.” Food trucks have become

a popular trend for many cities and communities. Barker said the rewrite to the ordinance will allow Clarkston “to do some-thing similar.”

“The long range goal is that we want to get people used to coming to Downtown Clarkston in advance to us fin-ishing our streetscape.”

He said he also hopes vendors will consider turning their food trucks into a “brick and mortar business here in Clarkston.”

Council Dean Moore made a motion to approve the food trucks, which was seconded by Councilman Robert Hogan.

Councilwoman Dianne Leonetti also approved the agenda item but said, “It’s a little ambiguous in places” and still needs work.

The new ordinance will allow food truck vendors to ob-tain a permit from the city and operate on a limited basis.

Barker said, “Unlike Boston or Atlanta our problem is not regulating the food trucks want-ing to operate in Clarkston, our challenge [is] to attract food

trucks to come to Clarkston.”Following the adoption of

the new ordinance, officials an-nounced details of Clarkston’s first food truck festival, which will be held on Oct. 10 from noon to 4 p.m. on Market Street.

Barker said they’ve received commitments from six food trucks through The Atlanta Street Food Coalition.

In addition to food trucks the festival will feature live mu-sic, corn hole toss, a kids zone with a bouncy house, face paint-ing and other family-friendly activities.

Officials partnered with International Rescue Commit-tee, New American Pathways and DeKalb Medical Center to organize the event. Each organi-zation will have an information tent for residents to learn more about community efforts.

“We want to target our citi-zens to make sure that they en-joy the event but we also want to bring in people from outside the city. We want them to see the unique diversity that we have here,” Barker said.

Clarkston’s food truck rally will take place on its newly annexed parcel on Market Street. Six food trucks have been confirmed for Clarkston’s Food Truck Rally.


local

by Kathy Mitchell

Although the number of unemployed youth—defined as those between 16 and 24 years old who are actively seeking employment—has dropped markedly in the past year, as of July 2015 approximately 2.8 million American youth were look-ing for jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The youth unemployment rate nationally was 12.2 per-cent in July 2015.

Rich Harris wants to help. Harris, a 25-year-old DeKalb resident who works in a restaurant in addition to being an actor and musician, wants to create an organiza-tion through which young people can acquire the skills that will help them become gainfully employed.

“After I finished school, I found that a lot of friends and people in my neighbor-hood didn’t really know how to get a job. All they knew to do was to go online and fill out an application. Although we all were taught how to prepare résumés in school, not everybody really learned to do it. Nobody made sure students really understood, so if they didn’t catch on they more than likely gave up or settled for doing less than they are capable of—or end-ed up hustling in the streets,” he observed.

Harris is in the process forming Harris Essentials, a nonprofit to help young people gain the skills to get and keep a job. These skills include interview etiquette,

computer basics, creating or building a résumé, com-munication, employment re-sources and other tools.

He said that when he was a teen he participated in a summer program through which youth as young as 14 were taught the basics of business. Harris wants to take what he learned and expand it into a nonprofit. He said he envisions “an en-trepreneurship program that teaches on a basic level de-velopment of business plans as well as an understanding of demographics, teamwork, finances, etc. At the end of the program groups of teens would propose their business concepts and plans. Hun-dreds of kids each summer can benefit from that while being paid.”

Harris said he has been interested in helping others as long as he can remember. “Growing up, in school I was always the type to finish my work and then help others who were having trouble. The teachers could never help everybody because there were too many stu-dents in one class.” He said even after he was at a charter school where all the students were considered exception-ally capable, “I still helped those who clearly just needed the work explained to them in a different way.”

Although Harris’ non-profit is still in the develop-ment stages—he plans to launch it on his birthday, Nov. 7—he’s already has experience helping job seek-ers. “A lot of people I grew

Area resident wants to help young people find employmentup with (in Philadelphia) not only did not know how to prepare a résumé, they also did not know how to approach a hiring man-ager, what the proper words should be in that situation. I guided a lot of people in my neighborhood on the appro-priate verbiage they should use with specific employers and practiced with them. I suggested where they should go to find the type of work they were looking for.

“They all ended up with

jobs and are very grateful for what I thought wasn’t much at all. Since I’ve been in At-lanta, I’ve helped four people successfully build their résu-més and practice verbal skills to obtain work in the res-taurant industry, at markets and in hospitals,” he said. “I can’t wait until I’m able to be more hands-on and help on a larger scale. I especially want to help youth avoid becom-ing clueless adults.”

The biggest challenge in forming a nonprofit, Har-

ris said, has been educating himself not only on the busi-ness essentials he wants to teach, but also on operating a nonprofit organization. He added, “As has time passed, the vision has become be-came clearer. I’m surprised by the support I’m receiving from people that come from all walks of life, ranging from time, money, educating me on relevant topics, wanting to volunteer once it’s ready and even supplies.”

‘After I finished school, I found that a lot of friends and people in my neighborhood didn’t really know how to get a job.’

- Rich Harris

Rich Harris envisions a nonprofit through which young people can gain such employment skills as interview etiquette, computer basics, résumé preparation and communication.

the champion Free preSS, FridAy, September 25, 2015 page 11Alocalnonprofit aims to rehabilitate homeless families

Discover DeKalb’s Reunion Specialist will teach you everything you need to

know to plan the perfect Family Reunion in DeKalb County!

Workshop - 10 a.m. to NoonShowcase - Noon to 2 p.m.

Saturday, October 17, 2015Stars and Strikes Entertainment Center

1741 Mountain Ind. Blvd., Stone Mountain, GA

Family Reunion Capital of the South

Pre-registration is requiredCall 770-492-5018

Register online at AtlantasDeKalb.com

FREE Family Reunion Planning Workshop & Showcase

Showcase - Noon to 2 p.m.

Pre-registration is requiredCall 770-492-5014

Register online at AtlantasDeKalb.com

Professional trainer, Donna Satchell of STARR Consulting & Training,

will teach you the importance of providing outstanding service and help you enhance

your service skills in this motivating and invigorating free class.

FREE Customer ServiceTra in ing C las s

Thursday, October 8, 2015 Discover DeKalb Conference Room

1957 Lakeside Parkway, Suite 510Tucker, GA 30084


Our House is a nonprofit child care and support center for homeless families.

Since its inception in 1988 Our House has aimed to pro-vide quality early childhood education and comprehensive support services for families who are experiencing home-lessness.

Today, Our House has evolved to a nationally ac-credited early childhood edu-cation center, serving up to 81 children daily.

Our House President Tyese Lawyer said over the course of the year the organi-zationwill serve around 120 families from DeKalb County.

The organization has two locations, one in Decatur and another in Atlanta.

“We serve children and then we provide social servic-es to the families to help them move from homelessness to permanent housing and sta-bility,” she said.

In addition to free child-care the organization also provides a training program for adults to work in early childhood education.

Lawyer said adults en-rolled in the program receive a combination of classroom learning along with work ex-periences.

Lawyer said the program’s goal is to provide participants an opportunity to enter into a career path. She said many of the participants “have very little job experience and oth-ers have no job experience.”

She added, “We want to train them through a certifi-cate program that will allow them to work in early child-hood centers.”

Child Development As-sociate is the primary training program.

The training program runsapproximately five months and serves children ages 6 weeks up to 5 years old on Monday through Friday.

In additional to child-care the program also offers homeless children immuniza-tions, periodic health check-ups, formal developmental assessments and special edu-cation intervention services.

The program also aims to enhance children’s pre-litera-cy, self-help, confidence and resiliency skills.

Lawyer began working for Our House in 2004.

She said, “Our House of-fers a safe space for children

to learn and grow. All the research that is out there is telling us that the first years of a child’s life are the most im-portant in terms of predicting high school graduation. We’re able to provide a quality early learning experience that sets children up to enter school ready to learn and to be suc-cessful in their school experi-ences.”

She added, “Our program also works with children who are having some challenges —emotional and learning challenges. That really helps DeKalb County as these chil-dren are ultimately going to be children who matriculate through the public school sys-tem. The more positive their early learning experience, the less remediation they’ll need once they get to public school.”

Our House often partners with shelters and transitional housing programs in DeKalb County, including Decatur Cooperative Ministry and Coralwood Preschool Diag-nostics.

Lawyer said once a teach-er identifies a concern about a child’s learning curve the organization contacts DeKalb schools diagnostics to provide remediation.

“We have a lot of families that are grateful and apprecia-tive. All of our families truly want the best for their chil-dren,” Lawyer said.

She added the most chal-lenging aspect of what the or-ganization does is the “lack of resources in the community.”

“There is not enough low-income housing for all of the families who need it. There are not enough quality early learning spaces for families. As we work with parents in trying to identify their next best step that becomes chal-lenging and difficult,” she said.

Our House is actively looking for community mem-bers to read to children, help clean playgrounds and class-rooms.

Lawyer said the orga-nization is also looking for community members with specific skills or knowledge of expertise on a matter to talk with families at their monthly education workshops for par-ents.

For additional informa-tion on how to make a dona-tion to Our House or volun-teer, visit www.ourhousega.org.

Youngsters organize toy foods at the Children’s Musuem.

Volunteers assist in playground renovation.

Children at the Georgia Aquarium look at fish.

Our House youngsters participate in story time at the Decatur Public library.

A diver for the Georgia Aquarium interacts with Our House children.


local

County worker recognized for 28 years of serviceby Andrew [email protected]

Harvey Carter, a general fore-man in DeKalb County’s roads and drainage division, has been working for the county for 28 years. And this is his second stint.

“I had a job with DeKalb when I was 12 years old,” said Carter, a 50-year-old Stone Mountain resident. “They could hire you off the street back at that time. That was back in 1977.

“I was walking up the street and they were short on help and the guy asked me, ‘Hey...do you want a job? And I said, ‘Yeah.’ And he gave me a hard hat and a vest and put a flag pole in my hand,” Carter said. “He hired me right of the street...and I worked for about 15 minutes.

“He looked back down the street at me and he discovered that I was a kid,” Carter said. “I was big for my age.”

When the man learned that Carter was just 12 years old, he said, “Come see us when you’re 17,” Carter said. “And he took his hard hat and his vest and his flag back.”

Carter was recently recognized by DeKalb County for the “excep-tional customer service to everyone he encounters,” according to a county statement. “He is always willing to step in and assist anyone when

needed, whether it is a co-worker or the public.”

“I do like to help people on and [off] the job,” Carter said. “I was born, bred and raised in DeKalb. And whatever happens in DeKalb, if I can be [of] some benefit or service, then I figure it’s not just good cus-tomer service, it’s part of me and my duty to...extend my hand to the citi-zens of DeKalb County.”

Carter said the county recogni-tion was “one of the most beautiful things that ever happened to me in my life, actually.”

He was surprised with the rec-ognition during a county employees ceremony.

“I had no earthly idea what was going to happen,” Carter said. “They just told me to make sure I was there on that day and be on time.

“That was one of the biggest days of my life—to know that somebody thought enough to remember some-thing that I [did].”

More than once, Carter has stopped to help vehicle accident vic-tims. During one incident, Carter en-countered a woman and her son who were involved in a car accident.

“I immediately stopped my truck and put on my flashers,” recounted Carter, who along with coworker Rodney Cammon, blocked traffic and called paramedics and police.

“I continued to guide the traffic

and go over and talk to the lady that had been hit,” Carter said. “I was...trying to keep her responsive. I let her know help is on the way.”

When Carter graduated from high school, he began applying for a county job.

“It was pretty difficult to get on,” he said. “It took a couple of years.”

Once hired, he said he “started from the bottom, which was a crew worker.” From there he moved through the ranks, working as a se-nior crew worker, stock worker, brick mason and supervisor. Carter has been a general foreman for five years.

“Growing up, I used to see the trucks go up and down the streets,” he said, adding that his sisters taught him that county jobs were the good ones, along with jobs with MARTA or Atlanta Gas Light.

Carter said he also saw the coun-ty seal on trucks and noticed that the county was formed in 1822.

“I knew if that job had been around that long it wasn’t going no-where,” Carter said.

“I’m very happy to be a county employee,” Carter said. “I like ev-erything about this place. This place raised me up.

“The best part of being here is getting your years completed and knowing that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow,” he said, re-ferring to retirement.

As a general foreman, Carter’s role is “to make sure that the job goes safely because safety is No. 1.”

He also ensures “that the men have got the materials they need to get the job done fast and efficiently,” Carter said.

“We take care of rainwater,” said Carter, who estimates that he has worked on more than 2,500 projects in the county. “We [keep] things from flooding. We maintain the streets...and the backyards. We make sure everything is running according to schedule.”

Carter said big storms no longer make him nervous.

“I know how to go in there and attack them,” he said about the flood-ing storms cause. “I know where to go and how to make things drain. I know DeKalb.

“My job is to make a difference for the homeowners and the citizens of DeKalb County,” Carter said. “And I believe I’ve done that.”

Carter said he likes working for the county because it “is a place of opportunity. You can be what you want to be.

“You can start from the lowest man...[and go] up to the CEO. The county is a place of equal opportu-nity,” he said.

‘I was walking up the street and they were short on help and the guy asked me, ‘Hey...do you want a job? And I said, ‘Yeah.’

- Harvey Carter

Photo by Andrew Cauthen


Photos brought to you by DCTVDeKalb County begins one-day-a-week sanitation collection service July 6, 2015

Residential customers will have same-day garbage, recyclable materials and yard trimmings collectionFor more info, call or visit:

(404) 294-2900 www.rollingforwardtoone.com

WEEK PICturEsIn

Coach Godfrey was celebrated at the renaming of Panthersville Stadium to William Buck Godfrey Stadium in DeKalb. Photos by Travis Hudgons

From left, Coach Steve Davenport, former NFL player Quincy Carter and Coach Cortez Allen

Children of Godfrey, Colin & Rashan


local

indictment against ex-judge dropped

by Carla [email protected]

Veterans along with are calling for justice in the kill-ing of Anthony Hill.

Veterans, Hill’s fam-ily, friends and supporters gathered Sept. 19 at the old DeKalb County courthouse in Decatur for the “Veterans Unite” event as a school of support of Hill.

Hill, a 27-year-old Air Force veteran from Cham-blee, was shot and killed by DeKalb County Police Officer Robert Olsen, who responded to a call about a man acting “deranged,” po-lice said during a news con-ference after the incident.

Hill was naked and un-armed at the time of the shooting.

More than 50 people, at-tended the rally; some held signs as they called for Olsen to be held responsible for his actions. SCLC DeKalb chapter president Nathan Knight said Olsen should be arrested.

“There is no way that

a person walking with no clothes on in the community where he stays, under medi-cal attention from the [Vet-erans Affairs], should be shot by a police officer when 9-1-1 was called for ambulance service to come,” Knight said “Yet, a police officer—instead of helping this young man... he was shot. He was mur-dered.”

DeKalb District Attorney Robert James announced last month that a civil grand jury will review the case.

Knight said he attended the rally because “it’s just been too many of our young Black men and women across the country who have been killed by police and it has to stop.”

“I’m here because I think we have a duty and a respon-sibility to make sure that any infraction against any human being, such as Mr. Hill and others, is not in vain,” Knight said. “So we fight—we fight today and we’ll fight tomor-row.”

Maceo Williams, a for-mer board member of the

Atlanta Citizens Review Board, was also in atten-dance.

“I’m here to support this family in hopes that in the future we can create other boards throughout the state and throughout the region,” Williams said. “I just want to do the right thing for the people.

Williams resigned from the Atlanta Citizens Review Board—which oversees mis-conduct accusations against sworn members of the police and corrections depart-ments in Atlanta—in June because “the board was full of not only just attorneys, but people [who are] dealing with prestige and résumés and that [who aren’t] for the people.”

“We can’t live without the police, fire and EMS, but we can live without the miscon-duct,” Williams said. “My ob-jective is to formulate agen-cies throughout this state as needed, where needed for the people.”

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Veterans rally for justice for Anthony Hill

Family and friends of Anthony Hill joined veterans and civil rights activists for the “Veterans Unite” event to call for justice in the killing of Hill. Photos by Carla Parker

the champion FRee pReSS, FRIDAY, SEptEmBER 25, 2015 page 15ALOcALGangs Continued From Page 1A

Oath Continued From Page 1A

DeKalb safe and secure for all of our citizens. “

District Attorney Robert James said the HATE Committee carries out “high level, violent criminal activity at…request of several Gang-ster Disciples…and acts as security guards at meetings for Gangster Dis-ciples.

“They are the strong arms,” James said. “They are the most dangerous of this gang.”

The HATE Committee’s leader, Donald Lee Glass, aka “Smurf,” is charged with violation of street gang terrorism and prevention act and criminal attempt to commit armed robbery.

Glass “approved the robbery and eventual killing of Torey Austin based on gang’s need for money,” James said. “He also approved the killing of the Bloods gang mem-bers because of a HATE Committee member Quantavious Hurt was dis-respected.

“He is facing a maximum sen-tence, if convicted, of 185 years in prison,” James said.

James said the Gangster Disciples were “targeting individuals that they said were ‘not right’ with the orga-nization. By ‘not right,’ they had not paid their dues…[which] fund fur-ther criminal activity.

“The individuals that did not pay their dues were ‘green-lighted,’” he

said. “By ‘green-lighted’ we mean that Mr. Glass had given the order that these individuals could be hurt. They could be robbed, they could be shot, they could be killed, and…several of these individuals that were ‘green-lighted’ were killed.

“What we essentially have here… is a reign of terror in DeKalb Coun-ty,” James said. “Just since May this organization has been responsible for at least five murders in DeKalb County…and a slew of other crimes, from armed robbery to aggravated assault, drug crimes, multiple gang crimes—just since May 2015.”

Others named in the indictment in-clude:

• Joseph D. Broxton, aka “Lil Joe,” accused of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, viola-tion of street gang terrorism and prevention act, and criminal at-tempt to commit armed robbery.

• Quantavious K. Hurt, aka “Hurt” and “Lil Hurt,” has been charged with malice murder, felony mur-der aggravated assault, violation of street gang terrorism and preven-tion act, and criminal attempt to commit armed robbery.

• Karim Ali Ficklin, aka “Jersey,” has been charged with malice murder and violation of street gang terror-ism and prevention act.

• Daniel Pena, aka “Island,” has been charged with criminal attempt to commit armed robbery, malice murder and violation of street gang terrorism and prevention act.

• Rodricous Q. Gresham, aka “Dric,” is accused of violation of street gang terrorism and prevention act, malice murder, felony murder, ag-gravated assault, and criminal at-tempt to commit armed robbery.

• Perry Green, aka “Lucky,” has been charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and vio-lation of street gang terrorism and prevention act.

• Christopher Hamlett, aka “KD,” has been charged with violation of street gang terrorism and preven-tion act and criminal attempt to commit armed robbery.

• Sharita Nelson, aka “Queen Smurf,” has beenaccused of viola-tion of street gang terrorism and prevention act and violation of state’s controlled substance act.

“This is serious business,” James said. “These aren’t a bunch of kids that are accused of just being bad kids or misbehaving.

“We are dealing with a violent street gang that is organized and de-termined,” James said. “But what we want our citizens to know is that we are more organized and we are more determined.

“This reign of terror will not be tolerated in DeKalb County,” James said. “I want this indictment…to serve notice to every gang member that is operating in DeKalb County: You can stop or you can leave, but if you continue doing what you’re do-ing, you will suffer the consequenc-es.”

Alexander said the arrests were “very hard-hitting to this particular set of this particular gang.”

James said he has seen the gang problem in DeKalb County grow in the 13 years he has been a prosecu-tor.

“We have nationally recognized and syndicated organizations that have or are moving into DeKalb County,” he said. “They are organized in some cases. They’re funded. They have individuals that are calling the shots or giving orders both that are in the county and also outside the county.”

“We’re dealing with organized crime,” James said. “Make no mistake about it, it is organized crime and anybody should be concerned about that.”

Sow is married and has seven children. Currently he works as a truck driver but said his goal now is to work for the government. “I didn’t have that oppor-tunity before and now that I do have the opportu-nity I will apply and see if they accept me,” he said.

Sow said “It’s a very important day for me and my family because it’s been a long journey. I’m very happy to be a United States citizen.”

He said the most difficult part about the process is, “it takes a lot to prove to immigration services that they can trust you.”

The ceremony featured speaker Paul Onyango, chief of staff for the Department of Homeland Se-curity’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, also shared his experiences with becoming a U.S. citizen.

Onyango said it took him 14 years to get his green card and citizenship.

“I became a citizen in 1999 in September. In April I started working for the Internal Revenue Service. As soon as you become a citizen you can work for the government and do all of the other things that you’re not able to do when you’re not a citizen; he said.

Approximately 300 people attended the cer-emony.

GPTC President Dr. Jabari Simama said, “This is exactly what I believe a true community college should be about and that is serving the total com-munity. This program allowed us to serve the com-munity in a way that was significant and important.”

Simama said, “Not only are there a lot of new Americans, refugees and immigrants in and around where the college serves but we have a lot of them who are actually students at our college.”

Georgia Perimeter College President Dr. Jabari Simama presents Paul Onyango, chief of staff for the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services with a copy of his book Civil Rights to Cyber Rights: Broadband.

Guinea native Mohamed Sow poses with his certi-fication.

Li-Hong Lee walks on stage to receive her certification.


localDeKalb officer dies in wrong-way crash dekalb watershed

management to host job fair The DeKalb County Department of Watershed

Management’s capital improvement projects division will host a job fair on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at South DeKalb Mall in the Macy’s parking lot.

The job fair is being held in conjunction with Com-missioner Larry Johnson’s annual Heart of South DeKalb Festival. This event is free and open to the pub-lic.

Job seekers will have the opportunity to meet more than 25 perspective employers. A majority of the fea-tured employers are associated with $180 million Phase 2 construction of the Snapfinger Advanced Wastewater Treatment Facility expansion, which is the largest proj-ect ever implemented by DeKalb County.

The county’s Mobile Career Resource Center will be on site to provide computers for jobseekers who wish to complete applications online. Translators will be avail-able to assist non-English speaking candidates.

The following employers have confirmed partici-pation at the job fair: Archer Western Construction, Material Managers & Engineers, G.D. Swing, J. Heard, Lewis Contracting, Charter Construction Services, Lori’s Transportation & Excavation, Atlanta Utility Con-structors, Seiler & Associates, BE Guthrie Construc-tion Company, Carolyn’s Hauling, Halite Corporation, SD&C, A Plus, DeKalb County School District, Brick-man and Valleycrest Landscaping Company, Goodwill Industries of North Ga., Jackson Hewitt Tax Services, Chick-fil-A and Macy’s.

Job seekers are encouraged to register for onsite interviews at www.eventbrite.com/e/dekalb-countys-capital-improvement-projects-cip-division-job-fair-tickets-18434050742.

For more information about the job fair, contact DeKalb County Watershed Management, CIP Division Program Outreach and Administrative Manager Ma-Lika Hakeem at 1 (800) 986-1108 or email [email protected].

380‐377866 9/24

LEGAL NOTICE Manuel J. Maloof Center

1300 Commerce Drive, Suite 400 Decatur, GA 30030‐3221

9/22/15 Notice is hereby given by DeKalb County Board of Commissioners that the hearings on the following application(s) will be held by the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners in the Auditorium of the Maloof Center, 1300 Commerce Drive, Decatur, Georgia, on the following dates: Board of Commissioners Hearing Date –Tuesday, October 13, 2015, 10:00 A.M. LP‐15‐20056 Commission District: 2 Super District: 7 18‐145‐05‐012, 18‐145‐05‐047 Application of T P A – Arrowhead, LLC to change the land use designation from SUB (Suburban) to CRC (Commercial Redevelopment Corridor) for the development of a Seniors' Residential Community. The property is located on the S.E. side of Lawrenceville Highway, approximately 715 feet N.E. of McClendon Dr., at 2683 and 2671 Lawrenceville Highway, Decatur, has approximately 522 feet of frontage on Lawrenceville Hwy, and contains 9.29 acres. Z‐15‐20055 Commission District: 2 Super District: 7 18‐145‐05‐012, 18‐145‐05‐047 Application of T P A – Arrowhead, LLC to rezone property from R‐75 (Single‐Family Residential) to RM‐75 (Multi‐family Residential) for the development of a Seniors' Residential Community with a four‐story, 130 unit independent living facility and a one‐story, 95 bed assisted living facility. The property is located on the S.E. side of Lawrenceville Hwy, approximately 715 feet NE of McClendon Dr., at 2683 and 2671 Lawrenceville Hwy, Decatur. The property has approximately 522 feet of frontage on Lawrenceville Hwy and contains 9.29 acres.


Approximately eight hours after a gun battle wounded a DeKalb police of-ficer, another officer died in a wrong-way crash in Fulton County.

DeKalb County Police Officer Kevin Toatley, a seven-year veteran of the department, was killed Sept. 19. He was driving home in his patrol car on South Ful-ton Parkway near Buffington Road in south Fulton County when the accident occurred.

A driver in an SUV going the wrong way hit Toatley’s vehicle head on, causing it the burst into flames, according to Fulton police. The driver of the SUV and one of the four passengers

were in critical condition af-ter the crash, according to police.

According to police, although the woman driv-ing the SUV was not under the influence of alcohol, she could still face criminal charges.

“Unfortunately we had a loss of life of a police of-ficer tonight,” said Cedric Alexander, DeKalb’s public safety director, after the ac-cident. There are “a lot of sad moments inside the hospital right now.”

Alexander said Toatley, of Fairburn, “was admired by all those who worked with him and was admired by supervi-sors as well. I’ve had a chance to talk with many of them to-night and try to help comfort them.”

DeKalb County Commis-sioner Nancy Jester said, “We have lost a hero. My heart is broken.

“Join me in prayer for his family and fellow of-ficers,” Jester wrote. “Friday was a long day and night for DeKalb County.


The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners voted Sept. 22 to put some “skin in the game” for the proposed Assembly project at the site of the former GM plant in Doraville.

Commissioners ap-proved a plan to include county ad valorum taxes in a Doraville tax allocation district plan (TAD). That means the county would “contribute the incremental value of its ad valorem taxes to the Doraville TAD over the next 25 years.

“This is something that is really important to us,” said Shawn Gillen, Doraville city’s manager.

On the 165-acre former General Motors Assembly plant, Doraville officials want to create a regional mixed-use employment and activity center around the Doraville MARTA transit station.

Roy Johnson, a resident of Stone Mountain for 28 years, said he supports TAD because “the growth will be exponential for that area, which benefits the whole county.

“The jobs…will indeed be plentiful,” Johnson said. “The improved infrastruc-ture benefits not just that re-gion, but all of us. The ben-efits will be lasting, and that sounds like win-win to me.

“Here’s a real opportuni-ty for [a] tremendous win, I

Commissioners approve tax plan for old GM plant

See Tax on page 24A

Toatley

believe, for all of our citizens of the whole of the county,” Johnson. “It will help all of us…realize a new vision for our communities, our county and all of our citizenry.”

Stephen Binney, a Clarkston resident, said he could support the TAD “if this money was used only for increasing [infrastruc-ture] that would be of use to DeKalb County.

“I would like at least the TAD money to be…used that way and that way only,” he added.

“I am also concerned not about what is above the ground—it sounds like a good idea—but what is be-low the ground,” Binney said.

Binney said he is con-cerned that the land “is not exactly solid” and may cause some issues with the integ-rity of the structures built there.

A geological study is needed there, Binney said.

Doraville mayoral can-

didate Tom Hart, who rep-resents a group of residents who “strongly oppose this TAD,” said the entire north

Stop bullying nowstand up • speak out

File photo

BUSINESSthe champion Free preSS, FridAy, September 25, 2015 page 17A

DeKalb Chamber of Commerce • Two Decatur Town Center, 125 Clairemont Ave., Suite, Decatur, GA 30030 • 404.378.8000 • www.dekalbchamber.org

Flexibility

After 25 years in DeKalb, store still promotes outdoor lifeby Kathy Mitchell

In 1938, a group of outdoor enthusiasts in the Seattle, Wash., area began sharing with one another their frustrations at not always being able to locate quali-ty camping, hiking and climbing gear. They formed a cooperative to buy such gear in bulk and make it available to other mem-bers. The idea spread quickly and in 1956, the enterprise incorporated as Recreational Equipment, Inc. or REI.

By 2010, REI had—accord-ing to its website— annual sales of more than $1.66 billion, more than 10 million members and 114 retail stores, two of which are in DeKalb County, includ-ing the first in Southeast. After 25 years, that store continues to grow, according to Dave Ad-cock, retail sales manager at the east Atlanta store. It is now one of four stores in the Atlanta area.

“This has turned out to be a great location. We have lots of people from Emory University and from the CDC shop here. There are lots of people in the Atlanta area who want quality equipment for outdoor activities from rafting to camping to hik-ing and much more. We’re easy to reach without being in the heart of the city,” he said.

A former Eagle Scout, Ad-cock said he was a customer before he was an employee. REI offers hundreds of products, in-cluding bicycles, clothing, tents, stoves, hammocks, backpacks, ski equipment and more.

Adcock said the store is busy all year, but the seasons dictate which items are the big sellers. “Fall camping is very popular in this part of the country. The weather remains pleasant until late in the year and many people prefer fall camping to summer camping. Also, we have many customers preparing for fall and winter ski trips,” he noted.

REI is for both experienced outdoor enthusiasts and nov-ices, Adcock said. “People who are planning their first outdoor adventure and don’t have a clue what they need can depend on us to advise them. We love to educate and inspire. Our goal is to get more people enjoying the outdoor life. We like to say that a life lived outside is s life well lived.”

The company’s continued growth, Adcock said, reflects a cultural shift. “More than ever, people value time with fam-ily and friends and time spent in the outdoors. People who camped and hiked when they were young want their children to have that experience.”

REI has always been about having fun, Adcock said, citing as an example its “Twinkie roast” tradition of toasting the snack cakes over an open flame. “Since sometime in the 1970s we’ve held annual fall Twinkie roasts, which are supposed to bring a cold winter that’s good for skiing and other winter sports,” he said.

Products now on the market make outdoor life easier and more comfortable than it had been in years past, Adcock said, adding that those who haven’t camped since the scouting days of their youth might be sur-prised. “Equipment is now light-er and easier to transport than the equipment that was avail-able years ago. You don’t have to know how to strike two stones together to start a fire and you don’t have to worry about freez-ing if the temperature drops.”

Adcock said that in addition to having its own line of prod-ucts—many award winners—REI often introduces new brands to the market. “New products are being created all the time that make camping, hiking and other outdoor activities more appealing for those who might have been reluctant to try the outdoor life before. Often REI is where you’ll see those products first.”

REI continues as a mem-bership-based cooperative—the nation’s largest consumer cooperative, according to its website—but non-members can shop in its retail stores as well. “We encourage membership be-cause there are so many benefits, including an annual refund, which is typically 10 percent of what the member spent during the year.”

Also, he said, members are eligible to vote on recipients of funds donated to the commu-nity. “REI donates more than $6 million a year to such projects as development of trail systems. Members get to help choose how those funds will be used,” Ad-cock said.

In addition to equipment, REI offers a large clothing selection for outdoor adventures, according to manager Dave Adcock.

Adcock shows the many types of bicycles REI has in stock.

The stores feature virtually any gear for outdoor activity.

Adcock says camping gear continues to sell well into the fall in this part of the country.

EDUCATIONthe champion Free preSS, FridAy, September 25, 2015 page 18A

Family engagement offers digital resources to Title i families

DeKalb County School District announced the launch of Family Engagement on Demand (FAM-FLIX) in partnership with Successful Innovations Inc. The Title I Family Engage-ment initiative provides parents with 24/7 access to stream-ing videos to support their children’s learning while “on the go.”

The videos offer quick tips on topics including: helping your child with homework, preparing your child for college, effective study skills, and helping your elementary school child transition to middle school. FAM-FLIX is available in English and Spanish.

“FAM-FLIX is an asset to the district because parents may not always have the time to attend workshops to sup-port their children. FAM-FLIX is a great way for DeKalb parents to get involved in their children’s learning, increase family engagement and strengthen school relations,” stated DeKalb County School District Superintendent, Dr. Stephen R. Green.

In addition to being accessible from computers, tablets, and mobile phones, FAM-FLIX will also capture family en-gagement data to monitor the program’s success. For more information FAM-FLIX or to register, visit www.si4allonline.com/dekalb.


For decades, Georgia welcomed thousands of refu-gees. They resettled en masse near metro Atlanta, especial-ly in the DeKalb County.

In a cluster of DeKalb County District schools near Buford Highway more than 1,800, or approximately one out of four students, are currently assigned to 131 portable classrooms this fall because of a spike in popula-tion.

The overcrowding in the cluster has led to the instal-lation of temporary trailer classrooms at Woodward, Montclair, Dresden and Cary Reynolds elementary schools, Sequoyah Middle and Cross Keys High.

The schools have a ca-pacity for 5,700 students, but more than 7,500 are en-rolled.

Officials said 81 “porta-bles” — trailer classrooms — are used at the four elemen-tary schools, with another 32 at the middle and high school. There is an average of 17 students in each trailer.

On Sept. 14 a proposal aimed at improving and solving overcrowding issues in the Cross Keys Cluster of Schools was presented to the DeKalb County Board of Education.

According to the plan, students will be relocated to schools throughout the dis-trict and several schools will be moved into other build-ings to make way for Cross Keys students. The plan also includes construction of a new high school, middle school and two elementary schools.

Addressing the over-crowding is long overdue, Superintendent Stephen Green said.

DeKalb school leaders scheduled two public meet-ings to discuss overcrowding in the Cross Keys cluster.

Green said, “With a total of more than 1,000 people in attendance, I was very impressed with the large turnout of parents, teachers and community leaders at the two public hearings in the Cross Keys cluster last week. They were thoughtful, respectful, and determined to work with the district in improving the education of their children. I am commit-ted to finding a solution that will alleviate the crowded conditions the students and staff face.”

During the Sept. 15 public meeting, parents and educators shared their opin-ions and concerns for future overcrowding.

Director of Planning for DeKalb County School Dis-

trict Daniel Drake said, “In order to serve these students 113 portable classrooms are currently located in the cluster. Over the next three years, however, there is a need for more than 50 addi-tional portable classrooms at these six schools. Two cam-puses, the Cary Reynolds and the Dresden Elementary campuses, cannot accom-modate any more portables on-site.”

The district plans to move Warren Tech from its current location to the DeKalb Elementary School of the Arts. Following the move Cary Reynolds third and fourth grade students will be housed at the Warren Tech facility.

The Dresden third and fourth grade academy would be established at the former international student center.

Drake said, “There is still need for continued review of capacity deficits for the 2016-17 school year at Cross Keys High School, Sequoyah Middle School, and Mont-clair Elementary School. We are evaluating the feasibility of using modular classrooms on these existing three sites to handle the projected de-mand for next school year.”

He added, “In the past we have strictly looked at using single-wide classroom units, as well as quads, which

DeKalb school district battles overcrowdingare four classrooms in a por-table building. We may need to look at modular buildings that could include more than four classrooms in a tempo-rary building. As we review modular building placement at Sequoyah Middle and Cross Keys High School, we also need to ensure that modular buildings do not interfere with possible future additions at these two sites.”

Drake said district of-ficials will use the comments received from the meetings to revise the final proposal that Green will present to the board of education on Oct. 5.

If the plan is approved in October the district will open the third and fourth grade academies by summer to serve the student popula-tion in the fall of 2016.

At Cary Reynolds Elementary many students attend classes in trailers.

EDUCATIONthe champion Free preSS, FridAy, September 25, 2015 page 19A

school district introduces collaborative portal

1

Notice of Public Hearing

The Mayor and City Council of the City of Chamblee, Georgia will hold a public hearing on Thursday, October 15, 2015, at the Chamblee Civic Center, 3540 Broad Street, Chamblee, GA 30341 at 6:00 p.m. to receive public comments regarding the following matters:

*Carl Burnett, agent for Chamblee Center, LLC, requests approval of a major modification to a Planned Unit Development for the Buford Center, 2014PUD‐003 pursuant to Section 280‐6(c)(7) of the Unified Development Ordinance, Appendix A of the Chamblee Code of Ordinances. The application concerns construction of a proposed commercial and retail development on 2.95 acres of land zoned Corridor Commercial and located at 4900 Buford Highway consisting of the following parcels: 18‐281‐01‐001, 18‐281‐01‐002, 18‐281‐01‐003, 18‐281‐01‐006, 18‐281‐01‐007, 18‐281‐01‐008, 18‐281‐01‐009, and 18‐281‐01‐010 in DeKalb County. *Michael Scott Ogburn request approval of a variance from Section 230‐2(a) of the Unified Development Ordinance, Appendix A of the Chamblee Code of Ordinances that requires a minimum setback of 7.5 ft. in the NR‐1 zoning district. The variance would allow the applicant to construct a deck that would be 3.6 ft. from the side property line. The subject property is located at 2286 Capehart Circle, NE, being tax parcel 18‐235‐09‐009 in DeKalb County.


On Sept. 15 DeKalb County School District re-leased Launchpad, a student portal that provides a mul-titude of digital resources in one place. Through the portal students have access to email accounts, a graphing calculator, BrainPop, Actively Learning, Word, PowerPoint and Excel, as well as cloud storage.

DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Stephen Green said Launchpad will complement the district’s efforts toward achieving its mission of “helping students become the CEOs of their own learning.”

He said, “Not only does this access greatly expand the instructional materials and tools available to teach-ers, but it also empowers each student to take more control of his or her learning through exposure and en-gagement.”

Previously, students had access to educational re-

sources in multiple locations. The Launchpad portal was designed the DeKalb County School Districts Information Technology department in-house at no outside to be a “one stop shop” for teachers and students to connect to the district’s resources.

Chief Information Offi-cer Gary Brantley said, “Stu-dents now have district email accounts for communication and collaboration as well as access to cloud-based stor-age for assignments, projects, and other academic needs.”

In the portal students are encouraged to read, study, practice and complete homework. Students will be allowed access to Launchpad to connect with teachers dur-ing instructional time.

Green said, The district is committed to a focus on teaching and learning that embeds emerging technolo-gies through the curriculum.”

He added, “Launchpad definitely supports this engaged learning environ-ment and provides universal support to the district’s in-

structional initiatives. When considering the STEM initia-tive, project-based learning has been shown to increase student interest due to the collaborative learning ex-periences with peers that solve authentic problems. Launchpad allows the dis-trict to provide teachers and

students with the resources to promote problem-based learning.”

Instructors and students will have access to interac-tive e-books and adaptive quizzing, which individualize question sets and feedback for each student based on correct and incorrect re-

sponses. The portal also will

include a grade book and video assignment tool where instructors can assign video coursework from within Launchpad, or anywhere on the internet.

DeKalb Board of Education Chairman Melvin Johnson and Schools Superintendent Stephen Green address business meeting participants.

Through the Launchpad portal students can access links to learning apps that are used district-wide.

Launchpad users will also have access to the complete Office Suite, Code.Org and other academic resources.

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SPORTSthe champion Free preSS, FridAy, September 25, 2015 page 21A

Marson-Knight, defense lead stephenson to blowout win over Creekside

Football

The Stephenson Jaguars run onto the field at Hallford Stadium. Photos by Travis Hudgons


Prior to their win over Creekside, the Stephenson Jaguars were flying un-der the radar, according to Coach Ron Gartrell.

“We don’t look at things like rank-ings and never had,” he said. “We’re unknown right now and that’s the first time we’ve been that way in a long time. We kind of like it that way. We’re not saying we sneaked up on anybody, but we came out and played our game and we’re proud of that.”

The Jaguars (3-1) grabbed football fans’ attention Sept. 18 with a 49-12 win over formerly ranked No. 7 Creekside at Hallford Stadium, which aired on Georgia Public Broadcasting. The win put Stephenson in the Class AAAAA rankings for the first time this season at No. 8.

The teams went toe-to-toe in the first half. Creekside jumped out to 6-0 on its opening drive on a nine-yard screen pass from quarterback Felix Harper to wide receiver Khalil Mc-Clain.

After Creekside fumbled on its sec-ond drive, Stephenson drove down the field and scored on a 1-yard touchdown run by junior running back Jaylen Mar-son-Knight, his first of five touchdowns on the night. That score gave the Jaguars a 7-6 lead, and they extended it to 14-6 on a 15-yard run by Marson-Knight in the second quarter.

Stephenson went into halftime with that 14-6 lead and came out of the locker room a different team. The Jag-uars scored 21 unanswered points in the third quarter.

“We knew if we just had a few ad-justments here and there then we could make some plays,” Gartrell said. “Then we had some people make some big plays here and there. Our secondary played really good, our defense really stepped it up in the second half and of-

fensively, we felt like we could move the ball against them, but we just had to mix it up a little bit. We just took advantage of some of the situations they gave us.”

Marson-Knight was one of the play-ers who made big plays. He returned the second half kick-off 64 yards for a touchdown, his third score of the night, giving Stephenson a 21-6 lead. The Jag-uars defense forced Creekside to punt.

Creekside punter Chizco Alejandre mishandled the snap, which lead to a short punt. Stephenson’s Carlito Gon-zalez fielded the punt and ran 50 yards down the sideline for a touchdown, ex-tending the Jaguars lead to 28-6.

The defense stepped up again on the following drive when defensive back Shaun Jolly picked off Harper and re-turned it 63 yards before he was pushed out of bounds at the 10-yard line. That turnover turned into a 5-yard touch-down run by Marson-Knight, his fourth touchdown, giving the Jaguars a 35-6 lead.

Creekside did not score again until the fourth quarter on a 7-yard touch-down run by McClain, cutting the score to 35-12. Stephenson responded with another a 5-yard touchdown run by Marson-Knight, his fifth touchdown of the night, extending the lead to 42-12.

Marson-Knight, who finished the game with 174 yards on 19 carries, credited the offensive line for his five-touchdown night.

“My line was blocking for me,” he said. “I love my line. They were block-ing and doing their jobs, so when they opened up the holes I just hit them, ev-ery time.”

“He’s the best kept secret in DeKalb County right now,” Gartrell said about Marson-Knight. “I don’t think he is a secret anymore. The kid just prepares and plays hard, does all the things you ask him to do and we’re just lucky to have him.”

Richard Gray brought the final score to 49-12 on a 26-yard quarterback.

See Football on page 22A

Stephenson Coach Ron Gartrell gives players instructions during a timeout.

Running back Jaylen Marson-Knight runs away from a Creekside defender.


Next LevelEach week The Champion spotlights former high school

players from the county who are succeeding in athletics on the college level.

Johnny McCrary, Vanderbilt (football): The sophomore quarterback from Cedar Grove threw for 368 yard and two touchdowns in Vanderbilt’s 47-7 win over Austin Peay Sept. 19.

Terrance Smith, Southwest DeKalb (football): The senior linebacker from Southwest DeKalb had six tackles, including 3.5 tackled for a loss of 11 yards in the 14-0 win over Boston College Sept 18.

Kierra Lee-Dunson, East Carolina (volleyball): The senior middle hitter from Lakeside had 13 kills and a .522 attack percentage in the 3-2 win over Charleston Southern Sept. 19.

Athlete of the Week

The Champion chooses a male and female high school Athlete of the Week each week throughout the school year. The choices are based on performance and nominations by coaches. Please e-mail nominations to [email protected] by Monday at noon.

MALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEKJaylen Marson-Knight, Stephenson

(football): The junior running back had 174 yards rushing yards and the five touch-downs on 19 carries in the 49-12 win over Creekside Sept. 18.

FEMALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEKEmily Gray, St. Pius X (volleyball): The

junior had 10 digs and 14 service ace in the 2-0 win over Sonoraville Sept. 19.

Gilbert named to USA junior national team roster

McCrary Smith Lee-Dunson


Miller Grove senior point guard Alterique Gilbert is one of 57 players that have been named to the 2015-16 USA Bas-ketball Men’s Junior National Team roster.

Gilbert will participate in the 7th annual USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team minicamp that will be held Oct. 2-4 at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colo-rado Springs, Colo. The October minicamp will be used to continue player evaluations and to get a start on preparations for 2016 international competitions, including in the 19th annual Nike Hoop Summit, FIBA U17 World Championship and FIBA Americas U18 Championship, according to USA Basketball.

The players named to the rosters are considered the na-tion’s top high school basketball players. Gilbert is ranked 28th among ESPN’s top 36 prospects.

Gilbert, who committed to Connecticut in July, finished third in DeKalb County last season in scoring with 17.7 points per game. He also led the county in steals (5.4) and assists (6.0) per game last season.

Gilbert’s coach Sharman White will join him at mini-camp as an assistant coach. White was an assistant coach on the 2015 USA Basketball Men’s U16 National Team that won the FIBA Americas Championship in June.

The 2015 USA Basketball Junior National Team mini-camp will be led by Don Showalter from Iowa City High School in Iowa. Showalter has directed USA teams to seven gold medal finishes as head coach of the USA Basketball Ju-nior National Team since 2009.

Players are schedule to arrive at minicamp Oct. 2, and training sessions will be held Oct. 3 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. (Mountain Time) and 4:30-7 p.m., and Oct. 4 from 9-11:30 a.m. and 4:30-7 p.m.

The Jaguar defense held Creekside’s passing attack to 130 yards and one touchdown while forcing three turn-overs.

Other scores

Sept. 18McNair (1-3) 7, Washington (1-3) 6Mt. Vernon (2-3) 45, Cross Keys (0-3) 7Miller Grove (3-1) 12, Banneker (0-4) 6Arabia Mountain (1-3) 34, Chamblee (1-2) 0Woodward (3-0) 58, Clarkston (0-5) 0Columbia (2-2) 9, Redan (2-2) 6 Marist (2-1) 58, Stone Mountain (0-4) 13Lakeside (3-2) 44, Dunwoody (2-2) 9Stephenson (3-1) 49, Creekside (4-1) 12 Cedar Grove (3-1) 48, Douglass (3-1) 7 Lithonia (3-1) 16, vs. Grady (2-2) 14Decatur (3-1) 35, North Clayton (0-6) 28 Sept. 19Carver-Atl (4-1) 22, M.L. King (1-2) 6Westminster (2-2) 32, Towers (0-4) 8Mays (4-0) 44, SW DeKalb (1-3) 6 Open: Druid Hills (1-2), St. Pius (1-2), Tucker (2-2)

Football Continued From Page 22A

Miller Grove point guard Alterique Gilbert was named to the 2015-16 USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Team Roster. Photo by Mark Brock


Athlete of the Week

Stadium renamed for William Buck Godfrey by Carla [email protected]

As former Southwest DeKalb High School football coach William ‘Buck’ Godfrey walked on the field at the former Panthersville Stadium, a number of emotions went through him.

“It’s the first time I walked on this field and I wasn’t coaching,” he said. “So, I had a myriad of strange feelings.”

When he saw “William Buck Godfrey Stadium” on the scoreboard, it still had not sunk in that a stadi-um—where he won many games—is named after him.

“It’ll take a month, two months or maybe a year before it sinks in,” he said. “That’s just the way I react to things.”

The DeKalb County School District held a dedication ceremony Sept. 19 to officially rename Pan-thersville Stadium the William Buck Godfrey Stadium. The DeKalb County Board of Education voted April 1 to rename Panthersville Sta-dium after the legendary coach.

Family, friends, former players, coaches and colleagues of Godfrey gathered near the scoreboard to cel-ebrate the Hall of Fame coach and this new honor.

Godfrey began his coaching ca-

reer in DeKalb County in 1974 as a baseball coach. He was also a swim coach before he was hired to coach football at Southwest DeKalb in 1983. His first game as head coach at Southwest DeKalb was at Panthers-ville Stadium on Aug. 26, 1983. The Panthers defeated Redan 7-0.

“They were ranked No. 1 in the state,” Godfrey said.

During his 30 years at Southwest DeKalb, he won 273 games (the most wins of a football coach in DeKalb), won the 1995 Class AAAA Georgia High School Association state cham-pionship, 13 region titles, and helped hundreds of players earn scholar-ships to college. Godfrey never had a losing record at Southwest DeKalb and missed the postseason just three times.

The Hall of Fame coach has received many honors, including induction in the 2010 Atlanta Sports Hall of Fame class and in the 2014 class of the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association (GACA) Hall of Fame.

Godfrey said the best part about the dedication was seeing his former players.

“We had them on the field and in the classroom and to see them doing well, that’s all I really coached for,” he said. “I never expected all of this stuff here. This is something that happened because of fulfilling [my]

purpose and doing it well.”Hason Graham is one player

who did well after high school. Gra-ham, who played for Godfrey from 1987 to 1990, said playing for God-frey was everything.

“Coach Godfrey was my first father figure,” he said. “He really showed me how to play the game. I was always a talented kid, but he showed me how to take it to the next level.”

Graham went on to play on the college level at the University of Georgia and on the professional level with the New England Patriots. He said he credits Godfrey for his foot-ball success after high school.

“He was the one who showed me how to be a man,” he said. “When I was in the 10th grade, he brought me into his home—I came from a single-parent home. He taught me how to study; he showed me how to be suc-cessful for the next level.”

Graham said it is amazing to see his beloved coach’s name on a sta-dium.

“It’s amazing that somebody in this decade can even see his name going up [on a stadium],” he said. “Usually they’re gone, but for them to do this while he’s here is just amaz-ing.”

Although DeKalb County School District music coordinator Don

Roberts did not play for or coach with Godfrey, he still had an impact on Roberts.

“Coach Godfrey is one of the rea-sons that I wanted to come to South-west DeKalb High School,” Roberts said.

Roberts was the band director at Southwest DeKalb from 1990 to 2003.

“There is a culture that he helped create that exists today, and that culture is the band and the football teams are really close,” Roberts said. “You see in DeKalb County right now where the band and football teams all function as one and that started with Southwest DeKalb and coach Godfrey. He’s one of the great-est men I’ve ever met.”

Roberts said he hopes more is done to the stadium.

“Not only should it be a dedica-tion of this stadium, I think [there] needs to be a renovation and a totally rebuilt stadium in his honor,” he said. “This is a great honor, but it should be just the beginning for Coach God-frey.”

Godfrey had one message to all the men who call themselves “Buck’s Boys.”

“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for letting me coach you.”

Panthersville Stadium was officially renamed to William Buck Godfrey Stadium after the former Southwest DeKalb High School football coach. Photo by Travis Hudgons


localTax Continued From Page 16A


A DeKalb County woman was given a life sentence for beating her 3-year-old granddaughter to death.

DeKalb Superior Court Judge Mark Scott sentenced 44-year-old Selena Rivera on Sept. 16 to life in prison with the possibility of pa-role after serving 30 years. Rivera was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder and two counts of aggravated assault in the death of Neveah Pinckney. Rivera, who waived being present for sentenc-ing, was sentenced on the malice murder charge.

According to medical reports, the child died from blunt force trauma to the torso, extremities and head on Aug. 21, 2012.

Assistant District Attorney Lee Williams said Pinckney suffered after Rivera gained custody of her in 2011.

“She was beautiful—no marks on her body when she was in the

care of her mother,” Williams said. “Within a year—in the care of the defendant—on Aug. 21, 2012, she was bruised, battered and beaten to the point that the medical ex-aminers said her body could no longer sustain life.”

According to the indictment, Rivera also had custody of two other children, which she gained in 2008 because the children’s mother had a drug problem. She moved to Georgia from Florida with the three children in 2011 without permission from Florida Department of Family and Chil-dren Services.

When the emergency respond-ers went to the home on the day of Pinckney’s death, Rivera talked to a fireman and appeared not to be concerned when CPR was per-formed on the child, according to the indictment.

Rivera told police she gave Pinckney a Coke, came back in the room and found the child dead, according to the indictment. However, the other children told

authorities that they were beaten with metal poles. Pinckney was beaten with a metal pole and placed in a closet, according the indictment.

Rivera’s mother Betty Ann Haygood and friends asked the judge to show mercy on Rivera during the sentencing hearing.

“My daughter has never been convicted of a crime, and that is not to say that I am making light of the crime that she has been convicted of,” Haygood said. “I am only asking that the court be le-nient with Selena.”

Before sentencing Rivera, Scott said this was a sad case.

“Judges are not God. I do not have all power to do whatever I want and what you’re asking for,” Scott said. “This is one of the sad-dest cases I’ve ever heard and I’ve been on the bench 11 years. I’ve been practicing law 31 years and this was just sad. This was a hard case to listen to.”

Woman sentenced to life in prison for killing granddaughter

DeKalb infrastructure was “built around this site to encourage General Motors to locate the plant there in 1947.

“The waterworks, the road struc-ture—every asset in northern DeKalb County was built around the General Motors development,” Hart said. “This site does not need a dollar of infrastruc-ture.

“What is the purpose of the TAD? Why are we taking money away from the schoolchildren of DeKalb County and the citizens of DeKalb County to pay for a developer that already has all of the as-sets sitting in his lap?” Hart said.

Commissioners did not approve a related intergovernmental agreement between the city and the county. Some commissioners were concerned that they had not had enough time to study the proposed agreement, which officials said is still incomplete.

There were also concerns about the effect on the county and the plan if the county school district, which also must buy in, does not approve the agreement.

Gillen said the city and county “are not far apart as far as getting an intergov-ernmental agreement done, but there are some details that need to be discussed further.”

Commissioner Larry Johnson said, “This is a positive project. We have to put some skin in the game and make some investments for long-term growth and a return on investments.”

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