From Tuesday’s opening day and ribbon-cutting of Jim ‘Nick’s Bar-B-Q in East Cobb, the first business to open in the new Sandy Plains Marketplace:
Today we celebrated our East Cobb Grand Opening and we are so excited to be a part of this wonderful community! At our official ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony with Cobb Chamber of Commerce we proudly presented a donation to the Lance Corporal Skip Wells Foundation.
The Lance Corporal Skip Wells Foundation was started after a terrorist shooting on July 16, 2015 in Chattanooga took the life of Skip Wells, as well as 3 other Marines and a Navy Sailor.
Skip graduated Sprayberry High School in Marietta where he was active in both the band and NJROTC. The Lance Corporal Skip Wells Foundation offers scholarships to help students go to college or tech school to further their education.
Jim ‘N Nick’s started in Birmingham and now has more than 30 locations in seven states, mostly in the the South.
The East Cobb location is the 10th in Georgia and is located at 3420 Sandy Plains Road, Suite 100. Hours are Sunday-Thursday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and Friday-Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.
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A City of East Cobb fire department “will not have the resources to operate” at a top certified level of protection, according to a group opposing cityhood. (ECN file)
A group opposed to East Cobb cityhood is criticizing an independent financial review that concluded that a proposed city would be fiscally viable.
The five-member Independent Financial Group, consisting of East Cobb residents who are finance and legal experts, volunteered to examine a Georgia State University feasibility study and issued its report in September.
The East Cobb Alliance, which formed over the summer to oppose cityhood, said in a posting on its Facebook page over the weekend that “in the beginning, there were 5 people on the IFG, but the 5th guy resigned when he couldn’t stomach the baloney the other 4 were proposing…and, ‘baloney’ is putting it nicely.”
(Shailesh Bettadapur, a member of the IFG group, resigned two days before the report was released, according to Bill Green, another member of the review group.)
The ECA post further stated that “several members of ECA who have choked their way through reading this document consider it nothing but a bunch of mumbo-jumbo malarkey.”
The East Cobb Alliance took issue with the report above all over fire services. The Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb had state legislation introduced in March that would create a city of East Cobb with police, fire and community development services.
The ECA noted in its posting that in the IFG report, members of the review group and the cityhood group “are concerned the [GSU feasibility] Study may not have included all necessary fire protection expenditures.”
The ECA post continued:
“This is a group of 4 people, NONE of whom have ANY experience in the fire protection services world. No one on the GSU research team had ANY experience in fire protection services. No one on the Pro-Cityhood Committee has ANY clue as to what it takes to operate an effective fire department.
“Our County Fire Department, and our personal lives and property, should NOT be subjected to the whims of fools who have NO IDEA of what it takes to assemble, hire, train, OR operate a world-class Fire Department like we have right now.
“Tell your friends and neighbors about this IDIOCY being pushed upon us.”
The GSU feasibility study estimated an annual fire budget of $5.9 million. According to the IFG report (read it here), a city finance director in a nearby municipality said a City of East Cobb may have relatively lower costs for fire because it “has a low proportion of multi-unit residential housing and fewer tall buildings.”
The IFG, in its report, added $4 million for fire expenses estimates “as a placeholder” pending further budgeting information becoming available.
The East Cobb cityhood bill includes a proposed municipality of around 96,000 people, and five fire stations currently part of the Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services Department.
The ECA in recent days has examined other aspects of the cityhood proposal, including the possible purchase and use of the East Cobb Government Services Center on Lower Roswell Road, and the proposed cost of buying those five fire stations for the new city from the county.
The ECA also claims that a new City of East Cobb fire department “will not have the resources” to provide the top certified level of protection, also known as ISO-1. Cobb is one of around 240 fire departments nationwide to have that status, which is given by the Insurance Services Office, a non-profit that provides insurance information, including for fire and building codes.
“Should we kill a great Fire Department to build a new police department? Seems like kind of a weird trade-off,” the ECA asks.
Another topic covers police and jail services that have been proposed by the cityhood group. The GSU feasibility study suggested a 140-officer East Cobb police force, nearly double the number of officers on patrol in Cobb Police Precinct 4, which covers an area well beyond the proposed city lines. Currently Precinct 4 has a staffing of around 50 response officers, a shortage of less than 20 for what it’s been allocated.
“That just seems very bizarre to us when the land area will be half of their current coverage,” concluded the ECA. “Why should we vote to form a new city to correct a deficiency of 16 people . . . when the coverage territory of a new city will be 50% of the original precinct territory? For all we know, 71 people may be the ideal force for a PCEC.”
The East Cobb Alliance and the East Cobb cityhood group have been invited to a Nov. 12 forum hosted by the East Cobb Business Association.
The cityhood group’s public events, which follow town halls in the spring, also tentatively will include more meetings after the first of the year, when the Georgia legislature would take up the East Cobb cityhood bill.
That bill would have to pass the entire General Assembly for a cityhood referendum to take place in 2020.
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A Cobb Police recruiting graphic drawn up after commissioners approved pay increases for public safety employees for FY 2020.
After hearing a first draft of a proposed step and grade salary and promotion system for Cobb County public safety employees, commissioner Bob Ott Monday said the plan isn’t any better than what’s in place now.
The proposal calls for a salary increase for police officers, sheriff’s deputies, firefighters and other workers, and in increments with a three-percent raise as they move up in grade.
“I don’t see any difference,” said Ott, who represents District 2, which includes part of East Cobb, at a Monday commissioners’ work session. “There’s just a difference in the numbers.”
Cobb public safety officials worked up the new plan as the next step in a series of salary, retention and promotional incentives after commissioners approved the fiscal year 2020 budget with a seven-percent pay raise for many public safety employees.
They previously received a one-time bonus of $1,450 as a good faith gesture from commissioners during the budget process.
The additional funding came after months of public lobbying from public safety employees and citizens to pay public safety employees better, provide more recruiting incentives, and increase morale. Cobb public safety has significant staffing shortages, especially with police and the Sheriff’s Office.
Cobb Police, which has a shortage of around 80 officers, has been actively sending out recruiting messages on social media, posting signs around the county (including at the entrance to East Cobb Park) and conducting job fairs in north Georgia.
Step and grade is similar to what Cobb County School District employees receive—annual, incremental raises based on a combination of factors, including years of service, promotions and performance reviews.
The Cobb public safety step and grade draft would boost the starting salary for an entry-level police officer from around $41,000 a year to $45,776 annually.
Cobb interim public safety director Randy Crider said under the proposal, an officer making $54,000 at Grade 16 and Step 6 could earn $54,976 instead under a “blue” plan that would take effect in March 2020.
Under an alternate “yellow” plan, that same officer would make $56,818 a year, with the new pay scale starting with the fiscal 2021 budget next fall.
Crider said his numbers were figured with current budgeting numbers in mind, and he told Ott that “this is to give you a structure to approve.”
The problem, as Ott saw it, was that under the draft proposal, raises would come to commissioners each year for approval. “That’s not step and grade,” he said.
Most step and grade plans, including that for Cobb schools, have automatic increases factored into budgets.
Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce said the current “pay and class” system was meant to be a one-time solution. With step and grade, “the anticipation is that we’ll do this annually.”
He said it was important for the county to “continue to provide incentives” to attract police officers and firefighters for years to come. “This won’t be a one and done.
“We don’t fix this overnight. We fix it over time.”
Ott countered by saying that in a “true step and grade, you get a raise every year. And you get another raise and you get promoted.”
The proposal brought before commissioners, he insisted, means that “each year, it requires the board to make the same decisions we’re making today.”
Public safety officials had scheduled individual meetings with commissioners after Monday’s work session.
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Submitted information from Cobb County government:
We’re taking applications for the 3rd class of “Cobb101.” It is a deep-dive into the workings of your county government. Past participants have come away with a better appreciation of what the various departments in Cobb County do for our residents. • 30 people in the upcoming class • Applications accepted through December 2 • Cobb101 Class of 2020 dates: February 27, 2020, through May 7, 2020 • Classes on Thursday nights from 6 pm – 9 pm (nothing Spring Break week) • 9 classroom sessions and a graduation ceremony
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A South Georgia man indicted for killing an East Cobb couple in 2015 has had the dismissal of his murder indictment upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court.
By a 7-2 vote, the state’s high court agreed with a lower-court ruling that a Telfair County grand jury that indicted Ronnie Adrian Towns was unlawfully constituted because “some of the grand jurors were not selected randomly.”
Towns was charged with the Jan. 2015 murders of Elrey “Bud” Runion, 69, and his wife June, 66, of East Cobb, who had traveled to McRae, Ga., to buy a 1966 Ford Mustang Towns had posted for sale on Craigslist.
After their daughters reported them missing, the bodies of the Runions were found in their car in a pond in Telfair County a few days later. Authorities in that southeast Georgia county said the Runions had both been shot in the head.
Prosecutors alleged that Towns tried to lure the victims with the prospect of buying the car, but intended to rob them.
Towns, who was 28 at the time of the Runions’ deaths, turned himself in, and he was indicted for murder by a grand jury.
According to the Supreme Court ruling, 50 prospective grand jurors were summoned to appear on March 16, 2015, but fewer than 16 showed up on time. The presiding judge ordered some of those who hadn’t appeared to be located by the Telfair sheriff, and asked the court clerk to identify four possible candidates for the grand jury from a list of prospective petit jurors who could show up quickly.
Two of those four reported, and others summoned for the grand jury later also reported, and a grand jury was empaneled on March 16.
That grand jury, with the two originally on the petit juror list, returned a murder indictment against Towns the same day.
Towns filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, alleging the two on the petit juror list were not chosen at random. Towns’ attorney said the clerk telephoned those four individuals, whom she knew personally. In a 2017 ruling, the trial court concurred and dismissed the murder indictment.
Prosecutors appealed that ruling to the Supreme Court. The high court majority concluded that while the petit jurors were selected at random from a master jury list, in selecting the two individuals who eventually served on the grand jury, the clerk:
” . . . relied on her personal knowledge of the prospective petit jurors, her own assessment of the extent to which she had the information necessary to contact them, and her estimate of the likelihood that they would be available to report immediately. Those selections were not ‘random’ in any sense of the word.”
The Oconee Circuit District Attorney, which prosecutes cases in Telfair and six other South Georgia counties, is seeking the death penalty against Towns.
The Runions, who lived in the Wendwood subdivision off Holly Springs Road, were married for 38 years. According to their obituary, in 1991 the Runions founded Forever Greatful Ministries, which helps families in need in the Marietta area. He was retired from AT & T and she was a preschool teacher at Johnson Ferry Christian Academy.
They were longtime members of Mt. Paran Church of God North on Allgood Road.
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Atlanta Regional Commission staff is hosting a open house 5-8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 24, at the Strand Theatre to share information about the Atlanta Region’s Plan — the region’s plan through the year 2050. Residents will be able to provide their input on a major update to this plan, which is the region’s long range blueprint that details investments needed to ensure metro Atlanta’s future success. The Strand Theatre is located at 117 N. Park Square, Marietta.
At the open house, attendees will have the opportunity to:
Explore the Atlanta region’s future through hands-on activities, including an online scenario planning game and a “living infographic” station where residents can give feedback on their biggest desires and concerns for the region.
Learn about key regional issues, such as advances in transportation technology and innovative efforts to address the region’s housing affordability challenges.
Search an online database to learn about transportation projects that are planned throughout the region over the next 30 years.
The Atlanta Region’s Plan incorporates a range of planning and programmatic elements, including transportation, community development, natural resources, workforce development and aging and independence services. The plan aims to improve mobility, create vibrant, walkable communities, ensure a clean, abundant water supply and meet the needs of the region’s population of older adults and disabled individuals.
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Group spokesman Rob Eble told East Cobb News the event begins at 6:30 p.m. in the B.B. Williams Auditorium at Wheeler (375 Holt Road).
It’s the second town hall the pro-cityhood organization has conducted, following a similar event at Walton High School (above) in May.
Cityhood leaders also spoke at Cobb commissioner Bob Ott’s town hall meeting in March, and at a Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance meeting in May.
The day after the Wheeler town hall, the East Cobb Business Association is having a forumwith representatives of groups supporting and opposing cityhood.
The Wheeler town hall comes a couple of months after an independent financial review of the East Cobb cityhood feasibility study concluded such a city is financially viable without raising property taxes above current levels.
A group that opposes cityhood, the East Cobb Alliance, says a new city would add an extra layer of government and disputes the financial analysis of the feasibility study.
State Rep. Matt Dollar of East Cobb has sponsored a cityhood bill that, if passed next year, would call for a cityhood referendum later in 2020.
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Roger Tutterow of Kennesaw State University said while housing starts are “quite strong,” he’s concerned about an overbuilt stock of new multi-family units. (ECN file)
The U.S. economy has experienced 121 consecutive months of economic expansion, nearly a full decade since the 2008-09 recession began to fade.
That streak, noted Kennesaw State University economist Roger Tutterow, “is the longest of the post-World War II era.”
According to some forecasts, Tutterow said in remarks before the East Cobb Business Association last week, “that means we must be due for a recession.
“I don’t think that’s necessarily true.”
The year 2020 is a presidential election year in the United States, which typically brings with it economic concerns. Some economists are rating the chance of a recession at 50-50 or higher.
Tutterow, an economic forecaster, said that in election years, the risk of a recession is “elevated,” but thinks there could be a one-in-three chance of an American economic backslide.
“Most likely,” Tutterow said, there will be “a continued trajectory of growth” in the U.S. economy.
What bolsters his view is that “consumers are keeping the economy humming on all cylinders.
“It’s confidence in the consumer sector that’s keeping us out of a recession,” Tutterow said.
Roger Tutterow
There are some trouble signs, though, including the manufacturing sector, which Tutterow said “is under a lot of stress.”
The impact of Trump Administration-imposed tariffs on the economy also figures to create some uncertainty, especially as the president will be running for re-election.
Tutterow, who describes himself as a free trader, said Trump “believes he needs to level the playing field that he believes is unfair for American producers.
“That raises the prices for goods you buy from overseas.”
A stronger American dollar also has affected trade; Tutterow said its value has grown by a third since 2011.
“A strong dollar doesn’t help those things that we export,” he said.
As for the housing market, Tutterow said that it’s “quite strong.” A total of 1.4 million new starts since the recession is “not bad, but we’re nowhere near we were from 2005 to 2007.”
He said the Cobb housing market is maturing, and that the rate of growth for the moment isn’t as much as it has been in the past.
“I am worried that multi-family housing is being overbuilt,” Tutterow said.
Overall in the Atlanta area that’s not true, he said, but locally there’s “too much vertical high-priced housing” that is coming online.
As for the 2020 elections, primaries get underway in February, with the Democratic presidential nominee likely to be determined by the spring.
The presidential campaign, “Tutterow said, “will be a debate about the fundamental direction of the country.”
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For the fourth year in a row, the Pope softball team has advanced to the Georgia High School Association finals in Columbus.
The Greyhounds are the only Cobb County representative in the Class 6A bracket, which starts play on Thursday.
Pope, which sports a school record 19-game winning streak, is slated to face Apalachee at 2 p.m. in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament, which ends on Saturday.
Last year, Pope was state runner-up, losing to Cobb rival Harrison in the finals. This fall, the Greyhounds easily won Region 5 in Class 6A. In the state tournament thus far, they have swept Douglas County and Houston County, scoring 49 runs and giving up only one run in those four games.
Pope coach Chris Turco also earned his 300th career victory at the school during the early playoff round. Pope has won the state title once, in 2014.
In the Class 7A tournament, Lassiter was eliminated by Grayson in the second round. The Trojans won their first game in a best-of-three series, then fell by scores of 11-0 and 5-0.
The Kell softball team defeated Arabia Mountain in the first round of the Class 5A tournament, then was swept by Starr’s Mill 3-1 and 16-0 in the second round.
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Thanks to Mary Wyman for asking us to share information about an art show in East Cobb she’s involved in next weekend that will aid suicide prevention efforts.
The show, called “Passionate Artists With a Cause,” will take place next Sunday, Oct. 27, from 3-6 p.m. at LM Frame + Gallery (formerly Thompson’s Frame Shop).
She’s among the artists, many of them from the Indian Hills area, who will have their artwork on display. A percentage of the sales will be going for suicide prevention work.
Wyman said this is the second year for the art show, which benefitted ALS research in its first year after the death of a golfer in the community.
The art show is free to attend and is open to the public.
LM Frame + Gallery is located at the Shops at Woodlawn, 1062 Johnson Ferry Road, next to Big Peach Running Co.
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Thanks to Gina Gory, a preschool teacher at Congregation Etz Chaim, for the information and photos:
Congregation Etz Chaim, along with the Atlanta Community at large is collecting food items between now and the end of October. These items will go the the Atlanta Community Food Bank and the Kosher items will be separated out and given to Jewish Family and Career.
It’s never too early to inspire our youth about the spirit of charity and giving back. The three year old Puppy class and their families donated several food items to help the cause. By participating in this event we are encouraging them to grow up with a healthy sense of compassion and a strong charitable spirit.
Upon depositing items in the collection bins we asked how this act of Tzedakah (charitable giving as a moral obligation) made them feel.
“My heart felt good. I felt happy. I felt better.”
Please consider donating your non-perishable food items to the Etz Chaim Lobby to benefit the Atlanta Community Food Bank.
Congregation Etz Chaim is located at 1190 Indian Hills Parkway.
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Due to rainy weather on Saturday the Mt. Zion UMC Party in the Patch event has been pushed back a day, to Sunday. Here’s what they’re sharing with the community about what’s taking place a day later:
Bad weather is never fun, and we want our Party in the Patch to be the most fun for everyone who attends!
We are moving Party in the Patch to Sunday evening, October 20! Same time, same place, same bouncy, same pumpkins, same fun!
Festivities begin at 4:30 with our double feature of films beginning at 7:15!! It’s Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown! followed by Spookely the Square Pumpkin! Be sure to bring a chair or a blanket!
All of the events are free to you, but all proceeds from pumpkins sales go directly towards benefiting our Youth Ministry!
Mt. Zion UMC is located at 1770 Johnson Ferry Road.
For other weekend events and our full calendar listings, click here.
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Lidl, which has opened two other locations in Cobb, is slated to open in East Cobb next summer, according to the report.
In 2017, Cobb commissioners turned down Lidl’s rezoning request to convert the Park 12 Cobb theater on Gordy Parkway into a grocery store after heated community opposition.
Nearby residents complained of traffic issues, but an attorney for Lidl noted during the zoning hearing that some “want to keep the movie theater as much as anything.”
The Fresh Market, a gourmet foods chain, has been at Woodlawn Square since 2003 and has been closing some of its stores around the country in the last couple of years.
Lidl, which operates 10,000 stores, mostly in Europe, made its foray in the U.S. in 2017 along the East Coast.
The Cobb stores are on Powder Springs Road, near the East-West Connector, and on Floyd Road in Mableton.
Another Lidl store was recently approved for Whitlock Avenue in Marietta, after the Marietta City Council rejected an initial rezoning request in 2017.
The only other Georgia store for now is in Snellville. ToNeTo has reported that Lidl is planning stores in Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Peachtree Corners, Roswell, Lawrenceville and Suwanee.
Lidl is a rival to Aldi, another German discount grocer, which has a store at the East Lake Shopping Center in East Cobb (2125 Roswell Road, Suite 30).
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Two weeks after closing due to a strep zoo outbreak, the Cobb animal shelter reopened on Friday.
The shelter was closed Oct. 2 after staff discovered the highly contagious bacterial disease had killed two dogs. The remaining animals were quarantined and given antibiotics and the facility at 1060 Al Bishop Drive was thoroughly cleaned.
The county said Friday there have been no reports of any newly adopted animals becoming ill so the shelter was reopened.
A fall adoption special is continuing, with fees reduced to $20 (typically they’re $115). The shelter is open from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday and from 2-5 p.m. Sunday.
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Jerry Hightower of the Chattahoochee NRA will speak to the Cobb Master Gardeners on Saturday at the Wright Enivironmental Education Center.
Now it’s really starting to feel like fall, with very cool temperatures coming in this week and a couple more weeks before Halloween. East Cobb weekend events are ideal for those and other activities of the season.
On Friday, high school football continues with key region games giving East Cobb teams a shot to jockey into playoff position.
At Wheeler, it’s homecoming, as the Wildcats take on East Coweta. Lassiter is also at home to face Roswell, Kell entertains Carrollton and Sprayberry will meet Dalton.
Walton stays on the road to play Etowah. All those games kick off at 7:30 p.m. At 8 p.m., Pope plays at North Atlanta.
The final weekend of CenterStage North’s season finale, “Point of Order, continues at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday at The Art Place (3330 Sandy Plains Road). Tickets are $20 each.
More board-trotting, this on the high school stage, as Pope Theater completes its presentation of “Edward Foote,” a Southern Gothic mystery set in the Depression-era Appalachians, on Friday and Saturday, both at 7 p.m., as well as a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee. The shows take place in the school’s performing arts theater (3001 Hembree Road), and tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students, as the Pope troupe prepares for next weekend’s Georgia High School Association One Act Regional Competition.
Weekends are ideal for getting the stress out, and on Saturday, you can learn how to handle it at a special Breathing and Meditation Session from 11-12:30 at the Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road). Khyati Doshi of The Art of Living Foundation will discuss how you can find your “space” with the simple act of breathing. The session is free but you should dress comfortably to practice some new breathing techniques.
If the rain holds off on Saturday, it should be a great day to explore one of East Cobb’s underrated nature preserves. From 12:30-2:30 p.m., the Cobb Master Gardeners Open Garden features a “walk and talk” at the Wright Environmental Education Center (2663 Johnson Ferry Road), led by Jerry Hightower, Park Ranger at Chattahoochee National Recreation Area. The event is free and parking is available at the adjacent Chestnut Ridge Chistian Church.
If you love high school marching bands, Sprayberry High School is the place to be Saturday for the 36th annual Southern Invitational Music Festival. Bands from around Cobb, metro Atlanta and Georgia will be performing in a judged competition, and the Sprayberry Band of Gold will be giving an exhibition performance at 7:45 p.m. Tickets are $10 adults, $5 students with an ID, and free for kids 6 and under. Everything takes place at Jim Frazier Stadium (2525 Sandy Plains Road).
Halloween events are starting to kick into gear, and one of East Cobb’s longstanding pumpkin fests is the Party in the Patch at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church (1770 Johnson Ferry Road). It’s free family fun starting at 5 p.m., so bring the kids in their costumes and enjoy a pumpkin maze, face painting, jumpy houses, family fun and more. A movie screening begins at 7:30 p.m., and they’ll have pumpkins on sale until 7:30 p.m.
UPDATE: Party in the Patch has been delayed due to rainy weather to Sunday, starting at 4:30 p.m., with a double-feature film starting at 7:15 p.m.
Sunday should be gorgeous, sunny and in the mid 70s, and it’s the last Sunday Funday of the year from 4-6 at East Cobb Park (3322 Roswell Road), presented by WellStar. The McCleskey-East Cobb Family YMCA will have Yoga and Zumba classes, Soccer Clinics, and kids activities. Bring a picnic and enjoy the Loose Shoes Band.
You’ll find more details about those events and can check out more of our calendar listings for this weekend and beyond.
Send your events to us and we’ll post ’em here: calendar@eastcobbnews.com.
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The following East Cobb food scores from Oct. 14-18 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing to view details of the inspection:
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Submitted information from U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, who’s holding a Passport Day from 10-2 Saturday at her district office (5775 Glenridge Dr., Building B, First Floor Conference Room, Sandy Springs :
Representatives from the Atlanta Passport Agency will also be there to answer your questions.
This event is a convenient way to apply for a child’s passport, apply for the first time, or renew passports. Some countries require up to 6 months of validity on your passport when you travel, so now’s the time to renew!
No appointment is necessary, but please bring proof of U.S. citizenship, a photocopy of the front and back of your citizenship evidence, valid photo identification, one recent passport photograph (2” x 2”), and a credit card, personal check or money order to pay fees.
You may contact my District Office at (470) 773-6330 anytime.
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Vedad Kovac, a varsity soccer player at Lassiter High School, was called into the team camp for the Bosnia-Herzogovina Under-19 national team in September.
Kovac, a senior midfielder, was named to the United Soccer Coaches’ All-Region team as a junior for the Trojans.
As a club player, he competes for the NTH-NASA Elite Clubs National Program in East Cobb. The ECNL program is a three-year-old nationwide development program for high-level youth players, both boys and girls.
The camp Kovac has been participating is in preparation for friendly matches and the Under-19 European Qualifiers in November. Here’s more from ECNL about Kovac:
“The last couple of months have meant a lot to me,” commented Kovac. “I have experienced something I would not trade for anything. This has made my family very happy, which has made me even more excited to participate.”
Born in the United States to a Bosnian mother and father, Kovac has been with NTH-NASA since the age of nine, and has been coached by the club’s Director of Player Development, Todd Gispert, for the last four years, but more recently flew onto the radar of the national team scouts of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
According to Gispert, the call up for Kovac is warranted based upon a host of strengths he brings to the table.
“His technical ability is superb. The way he utilizes his body in tight spaces is fantastic. He also scores goals and that means a lot at any level,” said Gispert.
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A total of 13 students from East Cobb schools got perfect scores of 36 on the American College Testing (ACT) exam as the Cobb County School District released 2019 SAT results on Wednesday.
Walton’s overall average on the ACT was 27.4, the best in the 16-high school district, followed by Lassiter with 26, Pope with 25.3 and Wheeler with 24.2.
Ten Walton students from the Class of 2019 got perfect scores on the ACT, as did four Wheeler students and one student each from Kell, Lassiter and Pope.
The ACT composite results are from curriculum-based tests in English, math, reading, and science. According to the CCSD, Cobb’s district-wide composite score of 23 is 1.6 higher than the statewide average and 2.3 points above the national average of 20.7.
CCSD said in a release that three schools had composite average gains of a point or more from 2018, and two were in East Cobb: Kell (1.7) and Lassiter (1.2).
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Wheeler Magnet is celebrating 20 years! Come join us on November 2nd to Party Like it’s 1999! Attendees can relive the achievements of the last 20 years and see where students will take us in the future through student showcases and tours!
The Center for Advanced Students at Wheeler High School, Wheeler Magnet, was created in 1999 to provide students with a strong background in Science, Math, and Technology. The magnet program is dynamic. Each year it grows and changes to best serve our students. We received Georgia STEM Certification in September 2012 and Georgia STEAM Certification in 2017. These prestigious certifications are awarded by the Georgia Department of Education to schools in Georgia who lead the way in STEM and STEAM education. Wheeler has become a model for schools across the state who are interested in starting and developing STEM and STEAM programs.
According to Chris Walstead, the magnet coordinator, “I look forward to celebrating the Wheeler Magnet 20th anniversary and am honored to be a part of the Wheeler Magnet legacy of excellence. Over the past twenty years the magnet program has changed with the times to meet the needs of our extraordinary students in order to prepare them for success after they have left our halls. I am very excited to see what the next twenty years brings.”
The 20th anniversary celebration will take place on November 2nd, from 2:00 to 5:00.
Attendees will enjoy a student led program along with food, music, tours of the facilities, and time to mingle. The celebration will be held in the Performing Arts Center at Wheeler High School (375 Holt Rd NE, Marietta, GA 30068). Click on the link below to RSVP to the event.
Join us in this memorable experience to get to better know your local community and speak with teachers and faculty! The committee leads for this event include Chris Walstead, Stacy Regitsky, Brian Kent, Cheryl Crooks, Tiffany Stark, Faye Lebish, Linda Yu, Tina Soucie, Paul Gillihan, Lisa Casey, and Kelly Feddersen.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
