Reader Lori Seyfried sends in the photos and information about a house fire overnight on New Bedford Drive in the New Bedford subdivision, located off Lower Roswell Road near Hyde Road.
It’s her son’s house, and she lives nearby, and reports that a neighbor’s video showed that the fire started after midnight Monday on the back porch, and that the blaze likely hit a propane tank from the grass grill.
She said the fire “got fast around 2:30 a.m. Homeowners and their dog got out. It’s a total loss.”
Nicholas Danz, a spokesman for Cobb Fire, said the fire is still under investigation but did not have more information.
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Town halls are excellent opportunities to hear directly from your county leadership, get your questions answered and share your input. Cobb Elections Director Janine Eveler will join me to host a town hall on voting and recent election law changes 7-9 p.m., Tuesday, May 18. It will be held at Jennie T. Anderson Theatre, Cobb Civic Center, 548 S. Marietta Parkway, Marietta.
Participants will hear a recap of the 2020 elections, review Senate Bill 202 and its potential impact, ask questions and share their input. You can submit your questions to comments@cobbcounty.org.
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The reconstituted East Cobb Cityhood effort includes some holdover members from the 2019 campaign and new members who have joined in since a new cityhood bill was filed near the end of the 2021 Georgia legislative session.
On Friday Cityhood group released further details about those individuals—some of whom have previously been identified.
The chairman is Craig Chapin, a technology entrepreneur who was raised in the Walton High School cluster. He took part in an April virtual town hall meeting held by the Cityhood group that featured the bills two co-sponsors, State Reps. Matt Dollar and Sharon Cooper.
Other newcomers include former Cobb school board member Scott Sweeney, who is currently chairman of the Georgia Board of Education, and who’s been front and center since the renewed Cityhood pushed was announced in late March.
Mitch Rhoden is the CEO of Futren Hospitality, which oversees Indian Hills, and is a former chairman of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. He was named the 2020 East Cobb Citizen of the Year.
Amy Henry moved to East Cobb two years ago and is a sales professional, fitness instructor, nutritionist, and mother of four children in the Walton cluster. Henry was involved in an effort to get Cobb schools to go to in-person instruction last fall, and more recently, she urged the school district to end its mask mandate.
Two people involved in the 2019 effort remain, including Jerry Quan, a former captain in the Cobb Police Department who was in charge of Precinct 4 in East Cobb. He’s currently a resource officer for the Cobb County School District Police Department, assigned to Lassiter High School.
Joe Gavalis is a a retired federal agent and the original Cityhood group president. He’s a longtime resident of the Chattahoochee Plantation area and a member of the Cobb Neighborhood Safety Commission and the Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force.
Gavalis was reluctant to make public appearances during that 2019 Cityhood effort, which began in late 2018. He stayed in the background during several town hall meetings, and it was nearly a year before that Cityhood committee voluntarily revealed its full listing of those involved.
He asked several prominent East Cobb citizens to serve on an advisory board to examine a financial feasibility study. When one of them asked who else was involved in the Cityhood effort, Gavalis declined to reveal them and that individual quit, citing a lack of transparency.
In its release on Friday, the Citybood group included a photo of Gavalis receiving an award from State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick of East Cobb upon being named the “Distinguished Older Georgian 2021” by the legislature.
The Cityhood bill filed by Dollar (read our Q and A with him here) and to be taken up in 2022 needs a local sponsor in the State Senate. Kirkpatrick, who represents the proposed East Cobb city, did not co-sponsor the initial bill, saying she received plenty of negative feedback.
The current Cityhood group sought public feedback in the form of an online survey. The April town hall took selected public questions on Cityhood topics, but didn’t provide for direct interaction with citizens.
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Cobb County last completed a Comprehensive Transportation Plan in 2015 — and much has changed since then. Our population has increased and transportation needs and opinions have shifted within the county and region. New technologies and transportation solutions are also available that can enhance and transform Cobb’s future transportation system. To leverage these new tools and strategies, Cobb County and our cities are embarking on CobbForward, the county’s Comprehensive Transportation Plan for 2050. Your feedback and participation in CobbForward will help shape the future of transportation investments in Cobb for the next 30 years.
CobbForward is gathering public input on a series of surface transportation (pedestrian, bicycling and trail) and transit projects. Cobb Department of Transportation staff has many ways for you to be involved:
ATTEND TOWN HALL MEETING Each district commissioner is also hosting an in-person town hall with Cobb DOT to discuss the CTP:
District Three Commissioner JoAnn K. Birrell 6-7:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 12 Cobb County Civic Center, 548 South Marietta Parkway SE, Marietta
District Four Commissioner Monique Sheffield 6:30-8 p.m., Wednesday, May 19 Cobb Public Safety Police Training Academy, 2435 East West Connector, Austell
District One Commissioner Keli Gambrill 6-8 p.m., Thursday, May 20 Lost Mountain Park, 4845 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs
District Two Commissioner Jerica Richardson 5:30-7:30 p.m., Thursday, May 27 East Cobb Park, 3322 Roswell Road, Marietta
STOP BY INFORMATION STATION POP-UP Materials and information will be made available prior to the Board of Commissioners meeting. There will be no formal presentation.5-6:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 25 100 Cherokee St., Marietta
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Cobb Collaborative, a local partner of the Georgia Family Connection Partnership that provides support, training and organizational development services to Cobb County nonprofits and affiliated agencies, is pleased to announce the expansion of its Mind Your Mind mental health initiative, after receiving a $100,000 grant from Resilient Georgia. The initiative helps to raise awareness, promote resiliency and reduce stigma around mental health issues, particularly in light of the burdens created by COVID-19 as it continues to impact children and families.
“We are honored to be awarded this grant to support the vital trauma-informed training, resources and programming to expand our Mind Your Mind initiative that launched in late 2019,” said Irene Barton, Cobb Collaborative Executive Director. “Mental illness affects 1 in 5 Americans, and yet so many individuals are hesitant to get help or are unaware of available resources. Now more than ever, it is critical to connect our community with knowledge and resources to help improve positive outcomes for Cobb county children and families,” she continued.
The two-year Trauma-Informed Community Grant from Resilient Georgia will fund resources that have a regional emphasis on trauma-informed awareness, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and child sexual abuse prevention training as a basis to transform systems and procedures crossing both public and private sectors.
Since its inception in 2019, the Mind Your Mind mental health initiative has continued to receive support from agencies like CareSource Foundation, Cobb & Douglas Public Health and Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning. The partnership with Resilient Georgia will help ensure that mental health resources are continuing to be provided in Cobb County.
For more information about the mental health initiative and other work at Cobb Collaborative, visit cobbcollaborative.com or contact Irene Barton at ibarton@cobbcollaborative.org.
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The following East Cobb food scores for the week of May 3 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
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A man charged with the 2018 killing of a mother at her home in East Cobb has been sentenced to life in prison, according to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office.
On Wedneday, Gene Scarboro, 29, pleaded guilty to choking to death Xi-Anna Graham, 24, at her home on Bonnie Dell Drive, and was issued the sentence by Cobb Superior Court Judge Angela Z. Brown, the DA’s office said.
During court testimony on Wednesday, Scarboro said he and Graham began arguing early that day, and enraged, he put his arms around her neck until she stopped breathing.
He fled the scene and made an anonymous call to Marietta Police asking for a welfare check, according to court testimony. Officers said they saw Graham without a pulse lying on her bedroom floor and tried to revive her, but without success.
The Cobb Medical Examiner’s office concluded Graham died from asphyxia due to strangulation.
Graham’s four minor children were at home during the incident, and according to the DA office’s release, one of them who had heard previous banging noises said in an interview at SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center that Scarboro “always, he does bad things to her…and now he…killed her.”
The DA’s office said that at Wednesday’s hearing Graham’s father told the court “I held her in my arms and watched her take her first breath, and he took her breath away.”
Scarboro has been in custody since his arrest the day of the crime and by law will get credit for the time he has served, the Cobb DA’s office said.
The DA’s office also urges anyone suffering from abuse in a domestic relationship to contact LiveSAFE Resources by calling its 24-hour crisis line at 770-427-3390 or visiting its website.
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State School Superintendent Richard Woods recently announced the names of the 2021 Georgia Scholars, which includes 20 students from Cobb Schools. In total, there were only 323 graduating seniors recognized as 2021 Georgia Scholars statewide.
The Georgia Scholars from Cobb represent the following schools: Campbell High School, Harrison High School, Hillgrove High School, Kell High School, Pope High School, Sprayberry High School, Walton High School, and Wheeler High School.
Through the Georgia Scholar program, the Georgia Department of Education identifies and honors high school seniors who have achieved excellence in school and community life. Students eligible for Georgia Scholar recognition are high school seniors who exhibit excellence in all phases of school life, in community activities, and the home. Each Georgia Scholar receives a seal for their diploma.
These students have carried exemplary course loads during their four years of high school; performed excellently in all courses; successfully participated in interscholastic events at their schools and their communities; and have assumed roles in extracurricular activities sponsored by their schools. Click here for a full list of Georgia Scholar program requirements. Note that the SAT and ACT score requirement was waived this year, as some students could not take or retake these exams due to the pandemic.
“As a state, we can all draw inspiration from the resilience and determination of the class of 2021,” Superintendent Woods said. “Like their counterparts in the class of 2020, they dealt with the sudden shutdown of in-person schooling in March of last year. Then they persevered through a school year that was, of necessity, unlike any we have ever seen before – and still, they found a way to excel. I am extremely proud of each 2021 Georgia Scholar and can’t wait to see what this outstanding group of students accomplishes.”
The Georgia Scholar program is managed by GaDOE’s Excellence Recognition Office and local coordinators in each public school system and private schools throughout the state.
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From L-R: Kendra Brooks, Murdock ES; Dr. Hannah Polk, Hightower Trail MS; Jill Spiva, Addison ES.
At least three public schools in East Cobb will be getting new principals for the coming 2021-22 school year, and the Cobb County School District has compiled the following profiles.
Their appointments were recently approved by the Cobb Board of Education.
Brooks has been an assistant principal at Sope Creek Elementary School and has been in Cobb schools for her entire 20-year educational career. In this Q and A, she describes her personal philosophy, what she calls “For Children – Through Teachers.”
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For the second month in a row, the Cobb Planning Commission has voted to hold two complex redevelopment cases in East Cobb, saying the proposals are improved but have not resolved issues over density, traffic and land use.
By unanimous 5-0 votes Tuesday, the Planning Commission is delaying the Sprayberry Crossing and East Cobb Church proposals until June, after last-minute revisions were submitted by the applicants last week.
Concerns by Cobb DOT over traffic changes at the Sprayberry Crossing proposal on Sandy Plains Road were enough for Planning Commissioner Deborah Dance and her colleagues to support another delay.
Atlantic Realty, which wants to redevelop the current blighted retail center on Sandy Plains between East Piedmont Road and Post Oak Tritt Road, dropped a proposed 125-unit apartment building for townhomes but is keeping a senior apartment building and grocery space.
The traffic changes include a proposed “offset” traffic signal into the development on Sandy Plains that would not align with the nearby Kinjac Drive intersection.
“Access is the No. 1 issue here,” planning board chairman Galt Porter said at the end of a discussion that lasted more than an hour. He also said the layout of the newly added townhomes “leaves a lot to be desired—it looks like a bowling alley.”
Porter also said making the senior apartment building—for renters ages 55 and up—from three to four stories, reflecting an increase from 125 to 172 units, is an issue.
Before that case, planning commissioners said plans by North Point Ministries for a campus of the new East Cobb Church, single-family homes and townhomes and retail at the intersection of Johnson Ferry Road and Shallowford Road are improved from the first hearing in April, but still need work.
Tony Waybright, who represents that area of East Cobb on the planning commission, said he was concerned about proposed high-density housing when the JOSH Master Plan calls for medium density residential as a transition between commercial zoning and low-density residential in the surrounding community.
“I don’t see a reason to go above” the master plan’s medium-density guidelines, he said in making his motion for another delay. The developer has not explained any hardship in making a request for high-density.
“This plan deserves a little more time,” Waybright said.
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A National Weather Service map of storms in north Georgia Monday afternoon.
Tornadoes touched down in Douglas County and other parts of metro Atlanta on Monday as heavy rains moved through the area, and will continue through Tuesday.
A tornado watch was in effect for much of the day.
A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect for Cobb and much of north Georgia through 9 p.m. Monday. A flash flood warning was expected to expire by 6:15 p.m. Monday.
News reports said an EF-1 tornado with estimated winds of 90 mph touched down in Douglasville, and killed a man when trees and power lines fell on his car.
Cobb County Government there have been 23 calls for flooded roads, including along Stilesboro Road in West Cobb, and there are several reports of downed trees on roads.
The rain is continuing in heavy amounts on Monday night and is expected to pick up again on Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service forecast in Atlanta.
Rainfall amounts could total between 1-2 inches in the Cobb area during that time.
Showers and thundershowers are expected to continue through Tuesday night, with an 80 percent chance of participation.
On Wednesday, the forecast calls for a 60 percent chance of rain in the morning, with that amount tapering off to around 10 percent by early Wednesday evening.
Sunny skies will return on Thursday through the with high temperatures ranging from the low 70s to mid-80s by Sunday.
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Applications open for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund on Monday, May 3, 2021.
On March 11, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 created the $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund to provide grants for restaurants sustaining financial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is administering the program, and will be issuing the necessary federal rules, regulations, and applications before grant funds are distributed.
Check out who’s eligible for this program. Registration for the SBA application portal will begin on Friday, April 30, 2021, at 9 am ET. Applications will open on Monday, May 3, 2021, at noon ET.
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For a larger view of the new Sprayberry Crossing site plan, click here.
Just a few days before going back before the Cobb Planning Commission, the Sprayberry Crossing developer has produced another new site plan, and it’s a major change.
Atlantic Realty is dropping plans for a 125-unit apartment building as part of the mixed-use redevelopment and is adding 62 townhomes to the 44 previously proposed.
A senior apartment building that originally called for 125 units now is proposing 172 units.
While keeping 34,000 square feet for a grocery store, the new site plan also has eliminated other retail space and green space.
The Cobb Planning Commission, an advisory body to the Cobb Board of Commissioners, voted in April to hold the application for a month. Kevin Moore, an attorney for Sprayberry Crossing, also submitted a new stipulation letter on Wednesday.
Reaction to the last-minute revisions have been mixed on social media channels devoted to the Sprayberry Crossing redevelopment issue.
Joe Glancy, creator of the Sprayberry Crossing Action Facebook page, said he’s been told “the developer made this change because they were told by Commissioner [JoAnn] Birrell last week that she would not approve the apartments.”
Participants on another Facebook group, ROD-1 Residents Against Apartments at Sprayberry Crossing (named after the zoning application number) said they’re still opposed because of the senior apartments, as well as for traffic and density concerns.
Tim Carini, a leader of that group, told East Cobb News “the new site plan still has apartments, and several other unresolved items, so we will be speaking on Tuesday.”
At the April Planning Commission meeting, Deborah Dance, Birrell’s new appointee, asked Moore if the developer would be “open to [consider] more ownership opportunities” instead of rental units.
She also said she had been getting slightly more messages opposed to the previous site plan than those in favor.
The Sprayberry Crossing case is one of two major applications in East Cobb to be held to Tuesday’s meeting.
The other, involving North Point Ministries’ request for East Cobb Church and residences at the Johnson Ferry-Shallowford intersection, also has a new site plan that was submitted last week.
That includes 59 single-family homes and 72 townhomes.
The Tuesday Cobb Planning Commission meeting begins at 9 a.m. and can be seen on CobbTV, the county’s government access channel, as well as its Facebook and YouTube channels, and on Comcast Channel 24.
The full agenda and individual items can be found by clicking here.
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On your mark, get set, go! While that’s usually how a real road race starts, this annual fundraiser hosted by the Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary on May 15 will once again be a Kettle Krush 5K “Race in Place” with no running or walking even required.
Brad Nitz, an East Cobb resident and meteorologist with WSB-TV, will serve as emcee for this Facebook Live broadcast beginning at 9 a.m. on May 15.
“While The Salvation Army of metro Atlanta has been here to support our community for 131 years, that need has never been greater during the COVID-19 pandemic and still today,” said Dawn Menear, event co-chair with Cindy Theiler, both East Cobb residents. “Our auxiliary knows requests for food and financial emergency assistance from The Salvation Army continue to remain higher than pre-pandemic. That’s why SAWA’s support for this event is critical.”
The purpose of the event is to help “krush” poverty, homelessness, and sex trafficking, and support veterans and youth enrichment.
“With a Race in Place, all participants are eligible to win the race awards and special, donated giveaway prizes,” said Theiler, who is one of 30+ East Cobb auxiliary members. “We’re pleased to have Mt. Bethel UMC as our title sponsor again and hope East Cobb residents will join us for this creative fundraiser.”
To sign up for this event and be eligible for awards and prizes, go to https://www.active.com/running/virtual-events-kettle-krush-5k-2021. A drawing will be held for top overall and top masters males and females as well as individual awards in 16 age brackets from 10 and under to 80 and over. All participants will be entered into a drawing for special, donated giveaway prizes.
This year the team competition is expanded to include three categories for prizes- business, church, and individual. Special prizes will be given to the top teams with the most participants (a minimum of 10 participants are needed to be eligible). All participants will receive a special commemorative Kettle Krush 5K “Race in Place” short-sleeve T-shirt.
Entry fee is $30 if received by May 5 at 5 p.m. and $35 through May 11 at 5 p.m. Donations are always welcome. Please make your check payable to The Salvation Army Women’s Auxiliary, and write Kettle Krush on the bottom “for” line of your check and mail to PRRC, P.O. Box 81777, Atlanta, GA 30366.
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