Thanks to the Cobb County School District’s communications office for the photos from today’s ride-along for Nicholson Elementary students who aren’t as familiar with that “back to school” feeling as those in the higher grades.
That’s because they’re kindergarteners and first-graders getting ready for the first day of classes on Wednesday as the 2018-19 school year begins.
They got up early with their parents to ride the school bus, and were greated by teachers and staff. They also got greetings and special messages from the CCSD transportation staff on how to be safe riders on the buses.
The Chick-fil-A cow, the CCSD’s transportation mascot Hawkeye (in the background below) and Kell High School students took part in the ride-along festivities at Nicholson, and they were repeated at other schools in the district.
Nicholson is one of seven East Cobb schools to have new principals this year. Faith Harmeyer comes over from Mt. Bethel Elementary School, where she had been an assistant principal.
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East Cobb Middle School students and staff join Superintendent Chris Ragsdale (third from right) and Principal Leetonia Young (second from right) to cut the ribbon Tuesday morning. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
The doors opened to new campuses for Brumby Elementary and East Cobb Middle School Tuesday morning, as two overcrowded school grounds more than 50 years old gave way to twin facilities on Terrell Mill Road.
The day before a new school year began, staff and teachers at the East Cobb’s oldest schools rejoiced in a day they have been hoping would come about for many years.
Back-to-back ribbon-cutting festivities, followed by open house tours, doubled the excitement for both school communities.
“This community deserves this,” East Cobb MS principal Dr. Leetonia Young said to rousing cheers, referring to the two-story building as a “resort.”
Instead of five aging buildings bunched in on Holt Road, its home since it opened in 1963, East Cobb MS is just one building, and can handle an enrollment of 1,300 students.
“Compared to where you came from, this is a resort,” echoed Cobb schools Superintendent. Like young and other dignitaries who spoke at the festivities, he thanked Cobb voters for approving the Cobb Ed-SPLOST sales tax that financed construction of both new schools to a combined tune of more than $53 million.
An East Cobb Middle School student looks at class lists posted on the wall. (CCSD photo)
Brumby Elementary, which opened in a single round building on Powers Ferry Road in 1966, was massively overcrowded even with additional buildings and 17 portable classrooms.
Not only was that unsafe for students and teachers, but it also posed traffic dangers for carpooling parents and bus queues that lined up on busy Powers Ferry Road.
A Brumby student who can attest to those conditions is rising fifth-grader Vincent Carter, a member of the school’s Boy Scout color guard.
He said it was “a really looooong walk” to leave class and go to the bathroom at the old school, and not fun at all in the rain.
He’ll get to enjoy his new school for only a year, but a year from now will start sixth grade next door at the new East Cobb Middle School.
Dr. Amanda Richie, the Brumby principal, got emotional discussing the evolution of the new school, which was about five years in the making. She also credited her faculty and staff that she said stuck together during some adverse times, trying to make do with an outdated campus.
“We’re a family, we’re the Brumby family,” she said. Because it’s a special group, she added, the new building will be “not just a school house, but a school home.
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Principal Amanda Richie (in black dress) said the Brumby ES family will help make the new campus “not just a school house but a school home.” (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
Members of the family whose land made the new schools possible also were in attendance. Six generations of the Hill family lived and farmed on 40 acres on Terrell Mill Road, even after it was subdivided to descendants.
The land was sold to the Cobb County School District for just under $10 million in 2014, and construction got underway in the fall of 2016.
Ed Graham, the grandson of Dorsey and Sarah Hill, attended Brumby its first two years, and brought along the jersey he wore as a member of the first Brumby Bobcats football team.
While the land featured cows, pigs, some chickens and vegetables, to him and his siblings and his cousins, “it was a 40-acre playground.”
His cousin, Tracy Luttrell Bennett, recalled childhood memories that included pea-shelling, corn-shucking, selling vegetables to passers-by, homemade ice cream every Father’s Day, Easter egg hunts and sales of pumpkins and Christmas trees during the holidays.
Ed Graham, who grew up on farmland that is now the schools’ sites, holds up the jersey he wore as member of the Brumby Bobcats. (CCSD photo)
“It’s a great honor to see these schools here today,” she said, encouraging the students to “work together, work hard, stay strong in the good times and the tough times, value your community and value your education.”
Cobb Board of Education member Scott Sweeney, who represents the Brumby and ECMS attendance zones, said that with their expanded capacity, the schools will be better able to serve as community centers.
While both schools have educational challenges—students come from cultural backgrounds that include a total of 40 languages and their enrollments have many transitory families—the extra elbow room can start to help make a difference.
Charlene Brisco, who is starting her sixth year as Brumby’s social worker, said she and her counselors have classroom space at the new school they didn’t have before, and that will enable them to conduct small-group meetings with students who need their help.
There’s also a food pantry to help out families in need, with room for a refrigerator that wasn’t available at the old school.
“Now we can expand what we’re doing,” she said.
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The Janice Overbeck Real Estate Team office will partner with Silverton Mortgage to host a free home buyers seminar in August. This FREE community class is open to the public and is an informative session for those looking to purchase their first home or for those who have not purchased in the last few years.
“Since the market has been quickly changing, simple processes and information can be very different today than it was even a few short years ago,” says Nick Seidell, who is an in-house loan officer at the team’s office in Marietta.
This seminar will include a wealth of information, along with free study guides, workbooks, and checklists for each guest.
Two class sessions will be offered and are set for Wednesday, August 8th from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm and Saturday, August 11th from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm. Food will be served, so please call (404) 585-8881 to RSVP. Location: 2249 Roswell Rd. Marietta, GA 30062.
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At the 2017 East Cobb Pigskin Preview, head coaches, L-R: Tab Griffin (Pope); Brett Sloan (Kell); Daniel Brunner (Walton); Brett Vavra (Sprayberry); Mike Collins (Wheeler); and Jep Irwin (Lassiter). They’re all back for 2018.
With August only a day away, local business groups are revving into back-to-school mode, including the East Cobb Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. Its annual East Cobb Pigskin Preview breakfast is next week.
It’s on Thursday, Aug. 9 from 7:30-9 a.m. at Indian Hills Country Club (4001 Clubland Drive), and you can get registration information here. While last season was full of change, as four of the six public high schools in East Cobb had new coaches, for 2018 they will all be back.
The coaches will be answering questions and will bring some of their top players with them as pre-season practice is getting underway.
The highlight of the year was Walton reaching the second round of the state playoffs under Daniel Brunner, who was one of the rookie coaches.
On Thursday, the Sandy Springs-Cobb MeetUp networking group has its monthly breakfast from 9-10:30 a.m. at Egg Harbor Cafe (4719 Lower Roswell Road). Small business owners will meet to share trips and help find referrals in an open group setting. The group also meets for lunch the third Thursday at Tijuana Joe’s (690 Johnson Ferry Road).
The East Cobb Business Association is holding its next Lunch and Learn Session Aug. 7 at the Sewell Mill Library, with the program subject being identity theft protection strategies. The ECBA monthly luncheon guests on Aug. 21 at Olde Towne Athletic Club are Atlanta Braves marketing and partnership executives.
The ECBA’s East Cobb Open Networking breakfast is every Friday from 7:30-8:30 a.m. at Egg Harbor, and it’s drop-in event.
The NCBA’s Five Alive business after hours event on Aug. 30 goes from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Fidelity Bank Canton Road branch (830 Old Piedmont Road) and also is themed for the upcoming football season.
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The last of the test runs for Cobb school buses take place Tuesday as another school year begins on Wednesday.
Here’s more about the Cobb County School District’s transportation services in this podcast with CCSD Executive Director of Transportation Rick Grisham and Associate Director John Lyles. The district has a bus route information page, and also has more information about stop arm laws and student safety.
Also Tuesday: Ribbon-cuttings will be held for the new Brumby Elementary and East Cobb Middle School campuses, which are ready to go after construction was completed this summer.
In addition to CCSD officials and school board members, the invited guests include Congresswoman Karen Handel, State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick and State Rep. Sharon Cooper.
The ECMS event is from 9-9:30 a.m. at 825 Terrell Mill Road, and the Brumby ribbon-cutting starts at 9:30 a.m. right next door at 815 Terrell Mill Road. Public open houses will follow.
From Cobb County government, here are some road and school bus safety tips for motorists to observe:
These tests will include activating the bus lights and stop arms—be on the lookout!
As Cobb County children head back to school, drivers are reminded to be alert and exercise patience and caution. Impatient, uninformed or apathetic drivers pose a great threat to children waiting at school bus stops. Georgia Department of Education staff recommends these safety practices:
Be on the alert as children walk to and from their school bus stops.
Exercise care and be responsive as children congregate and wait at their bus stops. They may be thinking about getting to school, but may not be thinking of getting there safely.
Be ready to act when you see the yellow flashing lights on the front and the rear of a school bus. This is your warning that a bus stop is about to take place.
Begin to slow down and look for students in the area. NEVER speed up to beat a school bus. You must be focused and exercise caution any time you are in the vicinity of a school bus stop, as student riders can sometimes be impulsive.
Abide by the law when a school bus comes to a full stop and you see the flashing red lights activate and the stop arm deploy. Motorists are required to stop in nearly every instance. The only exceptions to this rule are when highways are separated in the center by a dirt, grass or concrete median or a center turn lane. In these situations, only vehicles following or traveling alongside a school bus in the same direction must stop.
Be attentive after stopping. You must remain stopped until all loading students are aboard in the morning or all unloading students have cleared 12 feet off the roadway in the afternoon. Proceed with caution only after all students have safely cleared the roadway, the stop arm is cancelled and the flashing red lights are deactivated.
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Thanks to Cindy Theiler for the updated information to a story we posted in May about the Aloha to Aging gala that’s coming up on Aug. 18. As we mentioned then, the East Cobb-based senior non-profit is expanding its services, and is having this inaugural fundraising event:
An African safari, a Tuscany vacation, a spa getaway, and a one-week stay at a Florida beach house are just a few of the auction items that will be offered at Aloha to Aging’s inaugural gala on Aug. 18 beginning at 5 p.m. at KSU Center in Kennesaw. Sponsorships and individual tickets are still available for this event that will honor Dr. Betty Siegel, Kennesaw State University’s former long-time president.
Funds raised from this event will help fund programs and services to ensure enhanced quality of life for area seniors, their family care partners, and the community.
Sponsorship levels range from $1,000 to $10,000. Individual gala tickets are $75 per person and include appetizers, a full seated dinner, dessert, and three drink tickets. The reception and silent auction begin at 5 p.m.; dinner and the live auction follow at 6:30 p.m. A split the pot raffle tickets are also available to purchase (2 tickets for $20) from Aloha to Aging.
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In the days before former Atlanta Braves star Chipper Jones was preparing for his Baseball Hall of Fame induction, the Sandy Plains Prowlers baseball team was there, in Cooperstown, N.Y., participating in the Cooperstown Dreams Park baseball tournament.
Team manager Mike Tamucci got in touch with us to share the information below and the photos from the Prowlers’ run through the 104-team tournament.
They were runners-up, playing before 2,000 fans at the Little Majors Stadium in Cooperstown. He says it’s “the pinnacle of the 12-year-old travel baseball season.”
Here’s more from Mike explaining how the Cooperstown tourney unfolded for the Prowlers between July 20-27:
The Prowlers went 6-0 in pool play and outscored their opponents, 104-11, against teams from six different states, to earn the number one seed. On championship Thursday, the Prowlers won four-straight games and hit 18 home runs to beat the 32-seed from New Jersey, 17-seed from Maryland, 8-seed from California, and 5-seed from Wisconsin. In the semifinals, the Prowlers overcame a four-run deficit in the bottom of the fifth and scored 11 runs, including three-straight home runs, to earn the victory. For the tournament, the Prowlers hit 38 home runs and outscored their opponents, 157-22.
The Prowlers were the first team from Sandy Plains Baseball to earn a number one seed and play in the championship game in the 32-year history of Cooperstown Dreams Park. The Prowlers finish the season with a record of 65-11 and five tournament championships.
The Prowlers are seen below with the Dreams Park finalist trophy. Front Row: Brett Armstrong, Braden Gabel, Adam Little, Griffin Tamucci, Collin Trevison, and Ben Garvis. Back Row: Coach Ryan Tamucci, Coach Mike Tamucci, Kent Schmidt, Oscar Alfaro, Coach Darren Little, Dorian Harper, Pascal Trevison, William Petteys, Coach Brian Gabel, and Coach Bill Garvis.
Do you have news to share with the East Cobb community about your organization? Send it to us and we’ll get out the word! It can be anything, from a sports team to a church or faith community, civic or neighborhood association, school or more.
E-mail us at editor@eastcobbnews.com and we’ll post it. Feel free to send photos, graphics or flyers.
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East Cobb citizens had their say at several budget town hall meetings this summer, including at the Sewell Mill Library on July 9, shortly before commissioners voted to raise property taxes. (East Cobb News file photo)
Whenever the subject of a Cobb tax increase comes up, those who say “no” the loudest and most often quite often have prevailed.
Especially after I returned to the county in 1990, the “nos” have frequently had the ear of elected officials.
They have done almost anything to heed those citizens who urge them to: Cut wasteful spending. Impose a hiring freeze. Take care of needs instead of wants. Live within your means, just like we do.
These have been the bedrock principles of low-tax conservatism for as long as I can remember growing up in Cobb County.
Cobb became a magnet for new residents and businesses in large part because of low taxes. That’s still a big attraction, but so are good government services and schools. As a result, Cobb’s explosive growth, especially in the last 30 years, has generated another constituency.
These citizens, coming from all across the county, and representing many demographic and socioeconomic classes and interest levels, effectively countered the “no” forces during the budget deliberations that concluded this week with a general fund property tax rate increase of 1.7 mills.
Those citizens have been extremely vocal over the past few months about supporting the services they feared were being imperiled as a $30 million deficit loomed.
As draft lists were made public about potential “savings” in library and park services, the UGA Cobb Extension service and other small-bore line items, these citizens formed their own groups. Some started on Facebook, then fanned out to attend budget town hall meetings and public hearings and urged their members to tell commissioners what they valued.
They were every bit as active and organized as those who opposed a tax increase. At this point, the naysayers may wish to point out that citizens were whipped up into a frenzy by Commission Chairman Mike Boyce, who cited the need for a millage rate increase to keep Cobb “a five-star county.”
I wrote previously that there was some emotional blackmail involved as these lists were made public. I also wrote that a tax increase was likely. For far too long, Cobb elected officials have been fearful of getting an earful from those who always say “no.”
The problem with always saying no is that the provision of services wasn’t keeping up with the demand. Even as Cobb’s population grew from 450,000 in 1990 to more than 750,000 today, commissioners were gradually reducing the millage rate.
A post-recession situation emerged in which library hours hadn’t been restored, Cobb DOT maintenance crews hadn’t been replenished and the county had to hire dozens of new police officers.
Members of the Cobb Master Gardeners spoke in favor of preserving the UGA Cobb Extension Service.
As I listened to those who were saying “yes,” I heard the voices of Cobb citizens adamantly insisting that the services they valued were worth a few extra dollars a month on their tax bill.
Among those standing up were members of the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County. I’ve been hearing from them all summer. They work with the UGA Cobb Extension Office, which runs the local 4-H program and gets equal funding from the county and the state.
Also saying “yes” were some citizens who identified themselves as fiscal conservatives. These weren’t garden variety Berkeley radicals but suburban gardeners. They were also library and arts patrons and everyday people not prone to political activism.
None of those saying “yes” that I heard this summer are wild about a tax increase. I’m certainly not, but Cobb leaders have been dodging this bullet for too many years. After playing ball with the Atlanta Braves, they cut the millage rate in 2016, right before SunTrust Park became operational.
To me, that was the height of fiscal irresponsibility. Yet many proud fiscal conservatives have ignored that this summer, or belatedly sprung to action. The local newspaper fulminated in a thunderclap editorial that Boyce went against his promises of no new taxes, and fretted that “conservatism has fallen out of fashion” yet again.
(I’d argue that real, principled conservatism went out of fashion when the four members of the commission who are Republicans voted to subsidize a baseball stadium, an action the daily printed edition uncritically approved. The lone Democrat, occasionally slammed by the same publication, cast the only vote against it.)
Earlier this month, citizens against a tax increase lobbied for a hiring freeze, even as DOT, public safety and other positions have been frozen for several years.
The day before the budget vote, the Cobb GOP passed a resolution against a tax increase with plenty of boilerplate language, but no tangible suggestions to balance the budget.
Commissioner Bob Ott
JoAnn Birrell and Bob Ott, East Cobb’s commissioners, were on the short end of the 3-2 vote. Birrell wanted a smaller increase, Ott wanted to see more proposed spending cuts.
The decisive vote was cast by Bob Weatherford, drubbed the day before in a runoff against a tax increase opponent, but who said it was time for the county to invest its future.
Though his support for a tax increase may have cost him his political future, Weatherford’s rationale was certainly different than what we’re accustomed to in Cobb. So is Boyce’s, whether he runs for re-election in two years or not. Both are Republicans.
What looms ahead remains uncertain. I wonder if 1.7 mills will be enough of an increase to avoid another rough budget process next year. There are efficiencies that have to be considered that Boyce ignored in this budget.
Ott offered some sound spending proposals that deserve attention. Foremost is reforming the county’s existing defined benefit pension plan, which is a ticking time bomb for many governments. SPLOST reform also must be addressed.
More than anything, I hope citizens who participated in the budget battle this summer, both in favor of a tax hike or against, continue to stay active. Their voices and diligence and willingness to question how their money is being spent are needed.
No matter your views on a tax increase, it was encouraging to see such vigorous civic involvement, especially from those who don’t normally speak out.
Before Wednesday’s vote, former Gov. Roy Barnes, who holds a 4-H gala at his Marietta home every fall, said to the commissioners that local government is “government in the raw.”
We may be about to find out what that truly means, even after this grueling summer.
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More than 98 percent of students at Timber Ridge Elementary School performed at Level 2 or higher in the Georgia Milestones, the highest figure in the Cobb County School District.
Several East Cobb schools led or did well in various categories of academic performance in the 2018 Georgia Milestones report.
The data was released Friday by the Georgia Department of Education, which collects test scores from public school districts to measure learning proficiency in grades 3-12.
The levels are 1-4. Level 1 is Beginning Learner, Level 2 is a Developing Learner, Level 3 is a Proficient Learner and Level 4 is Distinguished Learner.
The evaluations are based on End of Grade (EOG) tests at the elementary and middle school levels, and End of Course (EOC) tests at the high school level.
According to the Cobb County School District, 10 elementary schools had 94 percent or more of their students score between levels 2-4. Nine of them are in East Cobb: East Side; Garrison Mill; Davis; Mount Bethel; Mountain View; Murdock; Rocky Mount; Sope Creek; Timber Ridge; and Tritt.
At Timber Ridge, 98.1 of the students were between levels 2-4, the highest figure for a Cobb elementary school. The elementary EOG tests are in English Language Arts and math.
Among top performing middle schools, according to CCSD, were Dickerson (97.3), Dodgen (96.5) and Hightower Trail (96.9). Middle school students take EOG tests in English Language Arts, math, science and social studies.
High school students are given End of Course (EOC) tests in eight courses in English Language Arts and math, as well as social studies and science.
Walton led Cobb high schools with a 97.1 score of students between levels 2-4, followed by Lassiter (96.4) and Pope (96.0).
Wheeler’s composite score of 83.3 is up 7.9 percent from 2017, one of the biggest improvements in the county.
Cobb schools said that the district-wide Level 2 or higher percentage for high school students is 84.9, much higher than the state average of 74.1 percent.
At the elementary/middle school level, 80.7 percent of Cobb students scored at Level 2 or higher, compared to 74.6 of all Georgia students.
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The latest Cobb Police Precinct 4 crime statistics reveal some good news about burglaries and car break-ins.
In its monthly PENs notification message for July, Precinct 4 officers said that 32 residential burglaries have been reported since May, down 43 percent from this time a year ago.
Vehicle break-ins are also down a bit, from 107 from May-July 2017 to 101 this summer.
What police are continuing to encourage you to do, as they always do, is keep your vehicles locked at all times.
In recent weeks the department has been issuing social media reminders to lock up and stay safe, whether at home or in your car.
Cobb Police are calling this the #9pmReminder. Each evening at this time, the messages go out on their social media accounts for you to do the following:
Lock all doors (even back doors and porch doors)
Leave exterior lights on (they deter loitering and burglars)
Pull your car in the garage, if possible, and remove your valuables, LOCK, and CLOSE the garage door (just because your car is in a garage, doesn’t mean it is secure).
Bring all items of value indoors (lawn decorations, toys, etc.).
Bring in mail (it has your information on it and is sought by those who want to steal your identity).
Set your alarms before bed (burglars do not like audible alarms).
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An Atlanta man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for robbing a Navy sailor after an evening at a Marietta nightclub two years ago, pistol-whipping him and leaving him naked near Bells Ferry Road.
Cortlyn Javon Martin, 26, was convicted by a Cobb jury in June of armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault, and possession of a firearm during commission of a felony.
On Thursday, he was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Lark Ingram.
Martin was a patron at the Club Rio, near the South Marietta Parkway and Franklin Gateway, on June 18, 2016, when he left the club with the sailor and other men by car, according to the Cobb District Attorney’s office.
The sailor was driving when Martin, sitting in the back seat, began pistol-whipping him, the DA’s office said, adding that Martin robbed the driver after forcing him to withdraw $500 from a bank ATM in Kennesaw.
The DA’s office said Martin then forced the victim to strip naked, and left him near Bells Ferry Road.
Martin, who was arrested two months after the incident, will be credited for the two years he has been in custody, according to the DA’s office.
“This defendant preyed upon an active-duty military member who was visiting Georgia for the first time on military leave,” assistant Cobb district attorney Kaitlin Southmayd said in a statement. “We are thankful for our victim’s service to his country and his willingness to tell his terrifying account to the jury.”
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Alyssa Prindle had recently graduated from Pope High School.
An East Cobb teenage girl who fell out of a moving car on Johnson Ferry Road earlier this month has died, and an arrest warrant has been issued for the driver.
Cobb Police Officer Sarah O’Hara said in a release this morning that Alyssa Prindle, 18, who suffered serious injuries in the incident, died Wednesday at WellStar Kennestone Hospital.
O’Hara said that the Cobb County Magistrate has issued an arrest warrant for Abigail Cook, 17, also of East Cobb, for 1st degree vehicular homicide.
According to police, Cook was driving a silver 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe northbound on Johnson Ferry Road near Sewell Mill Road around 2 a.m. on July 5 when Prindle, a backseat passenger, rolled down a window and began hanging out of the vehicle.
Police said Prindle was yelling and screaming and then fell out of the Hyundai. She was taken to Kennestone and placed in ICU, and O’Hara said this morning that she never left the hospital before dying of her injuries.
Cook was booked in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center and charged with DUI, reckless driving, serious injury by vehicle (a felony), underage possession of alcohol, possession of false identification and a violation of class D drivers license hour restrictions. She later bonded out of jail, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.
A GoFundMe page had been set up by Prindle’s family to pay for medical expenses, but a message posted there Thursday announced that Prindle, a Pope High School graduate, “lost her fight. Her body just couldn’t keep going. There were too many injuries, and the doctors just couldn’t do anything else for her.”
The message continued:
“Please pray for our family as we go through a difficult next few days together.
“Her parents are Todd and Julie, and her 15-yr old brothers are Kyler and Bailey. We would love for you to be praying for them by name, as well as her extended family.”
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The For Pets’ Sake Arts and Crafts Show will feature more than 20 arts and crafts makers selling their goods from 12-4 Sunday at the Olde Towne Athletic Club.
The proceeds will benefit five animal organizations which will also be on hand. The club is located at 4950 Olde Towne Parkway. Admission is free, and so is parking.
Caron Olson and Mary Boyle co-founded the event, and here’s Caron to explain how and why they got involved in this project, which sprang from their common interests in animal rescue:
The first year the event was held at a gallery where we both had booths (she makes jewelry & I do mosaics). We wanted to bring people in to shop and, to support & give exposure to some small animal rescue groups. The event had a good response, and we believe in what these groups are doing. So, even though our original venue has closed, we found a new place and are very excited for this year.
Our non-profits will be there to share their stories and we will have some wonderful handmade/handcrafted vendors. New this year are sponsors who have their logo/info printed on, and inserts in a tote bag we will be giving to shoppers. We will also have a number of gift baskets that will be raffled (cash only). Net money raised from booth fees, sponsorships and raffle baskets will be divided equally among the 5 non-profits.
Each organization will be present to discuss their rescue missions, talk about adoption-ready cats and dogs, and explain ways the community can help them fulfill their goals.
For Pets’ Sake arts and crafts vendors:
A Fur Baby Favorite (accessories for pets & pet lovers)
Baked with Love Treats (healthy dog & cat treats)
Birdie’s Soap Nest (soap & bath products)
Creative Expression Studio (paintings, animal portraits)
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Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce took his call for a property increase to citizens for several months, including town hall meetings this summer. (East Cobb News file photo)
After more than three hours of public speakers and comments from commissioners, a Cobb tax increase was approved Wednesday night.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 to approve a property tax hike of 1.7 mills and a fiscal year budget of $454 million for the general fund.
Chairman Mike Boyce, who said he was staking his political future on the outcome, got everything he wanted.
In addition to getting the vote of South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, the only Democrat on the five-member board, he also got the vote of Republican Bob Weatherford, who as it turned out may have sacrificed his political future in the process.
Bob Ott and JoAnn Birrell, who represent East Cobb in Districts 2 and 3, respectively, voted against the budget and the millage rate increase.
While Ott said he wouldn’t support an increase without spending cuts that weren’t presented, Birrell said she would have been in favor of a hike of 1.2 or 1.3 mills but nothing more.
Weatherford, defeated in his re-election bid Tuesday night in a Republican runoff in North Cobb’s District 1 by an anti-tax increase opponent, proved to be the swing vote.
He said after reflecting on his big loss (59-41 percent to Keli Gambrill) that he naturally wondered what had gone wrong.
“It’s what I did right that people didn’t like,” said Weatherford, who will have served only one term. “I made the hard choices and did what I said I would do.”
He said that he’s been threatened and even challenged to a fistfight for his calls for a lesser tax increase than what passed.
“The only thing I’m running for now is the hills, but I do not want to leave the county worse than than when I got here,” he said.
“So I completely support this.”
With that, loud applause broke out in the commissioners’ meeting chambers.
But plenty of citizens spoke against a tax increase, saying the county had a spending problem and wasn’t looking for efficiencies.
The 1.7 mills would push the general fund rate to 8.46 mills, generate around $47 million in additional revenue, and go beyond solving what Boyce has said is a projected $30 million deficit for FY 2019. The extra funds include $15 million more for public safety and the restoration of some Sunday library hours.
East Cobb residents Debbie Fisher and Jan Barton, vigorously opposed to a tax hike, continued to dispute the severity of the deficit.
Pamela Reardon, an East Cobb realtor and 1st vice chair of the Cobb Republican Party, which passed a resolution Tuesday against a tax increase, said the county must “learn to live within its means,” especially with a record county tax digest in 2018.
Another East Cobb resident, retiree Frank Maleski, recited a long list of taxes he pays and said “I can’t afford to pay for any more government.”
Other East Cobb residents were adamant in support of a tax hike.
One of them is attorney Lance LoRusso, who represents Cobb public safety personnel. The budget will fund 23 more police officer positions as well as vehicles and body cameras.
Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb and District 2.
He worried that failing to provide resources to police officers and sheriff’s deputies would prompt existing personnel to look elsewhere for better opportunities.
Another is JoEllen Smith, who ran as Republican for a legislative seat in East Cobb in 2013. She said she estimated her tax bill would go up by around $200 a year, or $16 a month. The weekly boost of around $4, she told commissioners, amounted to a cup of coffee.
“I’d give up a Starbucks so police can have whatever the hell they want,” said Smith, who apologized for her language.
In lengthy prepared remarks, Ott outlined many reasons for voting for any tax increase at all, including the fact that many of the services that were listed as possible cost savings—including parks, libraries and the Cobb animal services program—were not included in Boyce’s budget.
He likened this budget to the 2016 Cobb government SPLOST, which he said had a lot of “wants” but not much in the way of “needs.”
He also advocated that the county consider a regional library concept to consolidate branches that are little-used.
While “nothing on my list is absolute,” Ott said the county has to grapple with growing concerns like employee pensions and pay increases, especially when “the tax digest is the highest it’s ever been.”
Boyce, a Republican from East Cobb who’s been vilified in the Marietta paper in the days leading up to the vote, said “I didn’t have to do the town halls. But I believe in the people in this county. This is how I govern. I talk to you. I want you to tell us what’s on your mind.”
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With Dodgen principal Dr. Loralee Hill applauding, Fred Veeder reacts to being named the Cobb middle school teacher of the year by Superintendent Chris Ragsdale Wednesday. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
Fred Veeder was sitting in the cafeteria with his peers Wednesday morning, shortly after a welcome-back staff breakfast. The Dodgen Middle School teacher had no idea he was about to become the center of attention.
Then an entourage from the Cobb County School District, including superintendent Chris Ragsdale, entered the room, along with Veeder’s sister and mother.
He had been chosen the Cobb district’s middle school teacher of the year, and he was completely blown away by the honor.
The surprise announcements were repeated for teachers at Nickajack Elementary School in Smyrna and Harrison High School in Kennesaw.
Ragsdale, who told the Dodgen teachers that “you are the rock stars” of the school district, said breaking the news to the selected teachers is “probably one of my favorite things to do.”
A seventh grade math teacher at Dodgen for the last 15 years, Veeder was humble in being asked to speak to his colleagues.
“This is for all of us, not just me,” Veeder said.
Dodgen Middle School teachers listen to Fred Veeder after he was named a Cobb teacher of the year finalist.
Asked later what the honor means, Veeder still couldn’t believe it. “Oh God,” he said. “It just blows me away. I just love the job so much. That’s the reward in itself. This. . . this is surreal.”
Teaching is a second career for Veeder. He previously owned a Chevron station in Buckhead. After selling that business, he decided to go back to college and complete his education.
He’s been at Dodgen all 15 years as a public school teacher, but his teaching career isn’t a happenstance. His mother was a seventh grade math teacher before him, and she warmly embraced him at the celebration.
“He was just born to be a math teacher,” Dr. Loralee Hill, the Dodgen principal, said of Veeder. “It’s in his blood.”
Dodgen Middle School teacher Fred Veeder gets a hug from his mother, a retired 7th grade math teacher.
She said that what distinguishes Veeder is a “passion for the kids that’s insurmountable” and his success in engaging with them in the classroom.
Hill said while Veeder is a demanding teacher in a demanding subject, the way he questions students in classes is among the best she’s observed by a teacher.
Veeder also has been a sponsor of the Dodgen math club while teaching a 7th grade honors class. Hill said students taking math support classes eagerly sign up for him to be their teacher.
Not only is Veeder constantly willing to collaborate and learn new things, Hill said, he passes on that knowledge.
“He’s a legend in our community,” Hill said.
Veeder is a finalist for the Cobb County School District teacher of the year, which will be named after the start of the school year.
Among the perks is the free use of a vehicle of his choice for this school year from the Ed Voyles dealerships.
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Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce, a Republican from East Cobb, says a tax hike is necessary to move the county forward. (East Cobb News file photo)
While runoff election results were coming in on Tuesday, word was getting out that the Cobb Republican Party urged commissioners not to raise property taxes when they vote on the fiscal year 2019 county budget tonight.
Earlier Tuesday, the Cobb GOP passed a resolution encouraging the commissioners and all elected officials to “exercise fiscal restraint” and called a proposed tax hike “an undue burden on the community.”
The resolution will be presented by Cobb GOP chairman Jason Shepherd tonight as the Cobb Board of Commissioners is holding its final public hearings on the budget and millage rate at 7 p.m., before adopting both.
The resolution states, in part that:
“Cobb County Government should only provide services not readily available in the private sector and which are not core services of local civil government, especially when facing a budget shortfall;”
Also:
” . . . there have been several examples identified of waste in Cobb County Government spending, and no operational audit of the county government has been performed, nor have any reductions in spending been proposed at the townhall meetings hosted by the Chairman, but many increases in spending have been proposed . . . and a tax increase would be an undue burden on the community.”
The resolution comes at the end of a final push for and against Commission Chairman Mike Boyce’s proposed 1.7-mills tax increase.
He’s taken his proposed $453 million general fund budget around the county at town hall meetings, and citizens on both sides of a tax hike have been vocal.
The Cobb GOP is making a strong statement on a five-member board with four Republican members, including Boyce, who’s from East Cobb. He’s said the tax hike would help move the county forward beyond solving a projected fiscal year 2019 deficit of $30 million.
“It’s $30 million in an economy of billions. You would think we’re living in Albania! I just don’t understand.”
The Cobb GOP’s resolution echoes the calls of tax hike opponents who said the county needs to do more to find efficiencies, but is aimed at Republican votes on the commission.
District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb has said the vote “is very close right now” and said she is considering all comments from constituents.
Another Republican commissioner, who has been targeted by tax increase opponents, lost his bid for re-election last night. Bob Weatherford of District 1 in North Cobb was easily defeated in a runoff by Keli Gambrill, a first-time political candidate, who campaigned against a tax increase. She will join the commission in January since she has no Democratic opponent in the general election.
Weatherford still has a vote tonight, and he and Birrell said at a public hearing last week that a compromise figure on a millage rate increase could be likely.
Commissioner Bob Ott, a Republican who represents East Cobb in District 2, has said he opposes the budget proposal without any significant spending cuts.
Boyce has the support of South Cobb Commissioner Lisa Cupid, the only Democrat, who thinks an additional 1.7 mills is not enough.
The public hearings and commissioners meeting takes place in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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Lucy McBath, a gun-control advocate from East Cobb, has won the 6th Congressional District Democratic runoff.
With all 207 precincts reporting, she won with a 54-46 percent margin, collecting 14,270 votes. Kevin Abel, a Sandy Springs technology entrepreneur, received 12,258 votes.
McBath decisively won in her home base of East Cobb by a 59-41 percent spread, with 4,389 votes to 3,053 for Abel, as all 50 precincts have reported.
She also got 6,090 votes in Fulton to 5,313 for Abel, a 53-47 percent margin, with all 114 precincts reporting.
In DeKalb, Abel won 51-49 percent, with 3,892 votes to 3,791 for McBath, with all 43 precincts reporting.
She had trailed in early results. But as the evening wore on, she increased her margins in East Cobb. McBath won the precincts indicated in dark red on the map at the right.
Abel won the precincts in dark green. Click here for more details and to scroll over each precinct result.
In November McBath will face Republican U.S. Rep Karen Handel.
UPDATED 9:50 P.M.:
The 6th Congressional District Democratic runoff is neck-and-neck, but it’s hard to tell how much of the overall vote has been counted. That’s because the Georgia Secretary of State’s office still has 0% of the overall vote counted in the district.
Lucy McBath of East Cobb leads Kevin Abel of Sandy Springs 50-49, by 31 votes (6,879 to 6,848).
In her home base of East Cobb, she leads Abel 57-42 with 42 percent of the precincts reporting.
McBath leads Abel by a slender margin in DeKalb of 51-49 with 53 percent of the precincts reporting. In Fulton, Abel leads 55-45 percent, but no precincts have fully reported.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle has just made his concession speech as Secretary of State Brian Kemp is en route to a landslide victory in the Republican runoff for Georgia governor.
With 45 percent of the votes counted, Kemp leads 68-32 percent statewide. Even in Cobb County, which was considered a battleground, Kemp leads easily, 55-45 percent, with 45 percent of the votes counted as well.
We will be updating this post throughout the evening and on our Facebook and Twitter channels.
Cagle and Kemp had been locked in a close battle as the runoff approached.
But President Donald Trump endorsed Kemp just a few days before the runoff, right after outgoing Gov. Nathan Deal backed Cagle. Tight polls gave way to a Kemp lead over the weekend, and Kemp cited the Trump factor in his victory speech to supporters in Athens.
Another issue that came up during the runoff campaign was the release of a secret audio recording of Cagle admitting he supported a bill regarding tax credits for private schools to hurt a primary opponent.
In the November general election, Kemp will face Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams of Atlanta. The former Georgia House Minority Leader, she is attempting to become the first black female governor of any state.
UPDATED 8:30 P.M.
With 33 percent of precincts reporting, Kemp leads Cagle 66-34 percent.
The first results from Cobb show that Kemp leads Cagle 60-40 with 24 percent of the vote counted.
Also on Tuesday’s ballot is a GOP runoff between Commissioner Bob Weatherford of District 1 in North Cobb and Keli Gambrill. With nearly 75 percent of the votes counted, Gambrill was leading 59-41 percent.
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East Cobb commissioners Bob Ott (L) and JoAnn Birrell at a budget retreat in June. (East Cobb News file photo)
While voters are going to the polls in today’s election runoffs, county elected officials are preparing to vote on a Cobb budget proposal on Wednesday that’s been months in the making, and hashing out.
Starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, citizens will have their final say in required public hearings for the fiscal year 2019 budget and 2018 property tax millage rate held by the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
The commissioners will vote on both at the same meeting. It takes place in the 2nd floor board room of the Cobb government building at 100 Cherokee St. in downtown Marietta.
Commissioners heard plenty from citizens on both sides of a proposed tax increase of 1.7 mills last week, and the vote will probably be a very close one.
The budget and millage rate votes are being delayed a day due to the Tuesday runoffs.
Commission chairman Mike Boyce is proposing a $453 million general fund budget that includes the hiring of police officers and partial restoration of Sunday library hours cut during the recession.
While supporters of the tax increase include library and UGA Cobb Extension advocates, critics said Boyce didn’t look hard enough for cuts to reduce a projected $30 million deficit.
Citizen groups were urging their supporters early this week to make final contact with commissioners about the vote.
Rachel Slomovitz of East Cobb, who created the Save Cobb Libraries group and who supports a tax increase, posted on Facebook Sunday that “starting tomorrow until Wednesday night we need your voice. We need you to email or call your Commissioner, and tell them you want the libraries to remain open, in business and don’t want to see them on the chopping block.”
Members of the Cobb chapter of Americans for Prosperity, which opposes a tax hike, were knocking on doors Monday in District 3 in Northeast Cobb. That’s represented by commissioner JoAnn Birrell, who said the vote is “very close right now” and that she is considering every letter and call from constituents.
AFP also canvassed over the weekend in District 1 in North Cobb. That’s where commissioner Bob Weatherford is in a Republican runoff today against Keli Gambrill, who’s against a tax increase.
“We will have green shirts and signs [at Wednesday’s meeting] to let our commissioners know that we adamantly oppose the property tax hike and that our citizens are calling for fiscal viability as the baseline for our county’s governance,” AFP said in an e-mail communication to supporters.
Birrell is leery of a 1.7 millage rate increase, although she said the budget can’t be balanced on cuts alone. She said a compromise might be the best solution, and Weatherford said a likely figure the commission might settle on is a hike between 1.1 and 1.7 mills.
Boyce, of East Cobb, and Lisa Cupid of South Cobb’s District 4 support the increase, although Cupid thinks it should be higher.
Commissioner Bob Ott, of District 2 in East Cobb, has said he would not vote for the proposed budget without seeing more spending cuts.
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He had two bone marrow transplants and was treated at hospitals in Seattle and New York during his three-year fight, according to his obituary.
Olszewski usually wears No. 68 and also is listed as an offensive and defensive lineman.
The Greyhounds, like other high school football teams in Cobb, will soon begin practice for the 2018 season. They were 4-7 last year under first-year coach Tab Griffin, a former Pope player.
Pope’s season opener is Aug. 24 at Lassiter.
The Greyhounds also designate a home game each season as the Matt Hobby Game. This year that game is Sept. 14 against Alpharetta, and fundraising proceeds from a special T-shirt sale will go to the Atlanta-based Rally Foundation, which conducts childhood cancer research.
Pope efforts in Hobby’s memory have raised more than $200,000 for the Rally Foundation over the last 12 years.
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Cobb Police said a 68-year-old woman suffered serious injuries Saturday afternoon in a Powers Ferry Road crash.
Public Information Officer Sarah O’Hara said in a statement issued Monday that Lynda Phillips of Marietta was taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital after the incident.
O’Hara said Phillips was driving a gray 2007 Saturn VUE northbound on Powers Ferry Road, north of Windy Hill Road, around 3:18 p.m. Saturday when the she lost control of the vehicle.
The Saturn crashed into a curb, then hit a retaining wall, according to police. O’Hara said a medical emergency may have caused the crash, but police are continuing to investigate.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Cobb County Police Department’s STEP Unit at 770-499-3987.
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