Month: September 2022

East Cobb man gets 10 years for child sexual exploitation

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Steven Porter, East Cobb man sentenced child sexual exploitation
Photo: Cobb County Sheriff’s Office

An East Cobb man was sentenced last week on child sexual exploitation charges after pleading guilty in Cobb Superior Court.

Steven D. Porter, 65, was given a 10-year sentence by Judge Gregory Poole and ordered to serve two years in prison, according to Cobb Superior Court records.

The Cobb District Attorney’s office said a jury trial call was scheduled for Porter’s case last Tuesday, Aug. 23, but he entered a guilty plea instead.

Porter was taken into custody in the courtroom and was held at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center before being transferred to the Georgia state prison system Thursday afternoon, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.

Porter was charged in April 2021 after Cobb Police executed a search warrant at his home and found on a thumb drive more than 300 photos and videos of children performing sexually explicit acts, according to his arrest warrant.

According to the arrest warrant, police sought the search warrant after someone uploaded sexually abusive material involving children to an IP address connected to a residence on Snowchase Way, located off Freeman Road near Johnson Ferry Road, between Aug. 2, 2016 and April 1, 2021.

Porter was released in April 2021 after posting an $11,200 bond, according to court records.

He was indicted on 10 counts of child sexual exploitation in October. According to the indictments, the photos and videos found at his home depicted children between the ages of 6 and 12, some posing nude, engaging in acts of intercourse and sodomy with adult males.

In Porter’s sentencing, all 10 counts were merged together, according to court records. Terms of his probation include no contact with minors, except for supervised visits with his biological grandchildren in the presence of adult family members.

In December, Porter requested a bond modification to allow for visitation with his seven grandchildren, who range in age from 3 to 10, according to court records.

Poole allowed Porter to have in-person and virtual visitations that required his wife and the children’s parents to be present at all times. His wife also was required to record the virtual calls with his grandchildren, the court records show.

After his release, Porter also will not be allowed to possess or subscribe to sexually oriented material and he cannot utilize a 900 phone number or rent a post office box or drop box without approval of a probation officer.

He also will be registered as a sex offender.

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Noshfest returns Labor Day weekend after two-year absence

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Noshfest
The playing of “Hava Nagila” is a long-standing tradition at Noshfest.

For the first time since 2019, Noshfest is a go.

The Jewish food and cultural festival at Temple Kol Emeth (1415 Old Canton Road) returns to its usual time slot—the Labor Day holiday weekend—in a format similar to pre-COVID.

After postponing the 2020 event to Spring 2021, organizers called that off too, and said the 2022 festival would take place in September.

The event, now in its 10th year, is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday and Monday.

Entry is free but you’re asked to bring two cans of food per family to be donated to MUST Ministries.

In addition to food vendors and cooking demonstrations, the schedule includes live entertainment, tours of the synagogue, a kids’ zone, crafts, face-painting and dancing.

Among the Noshfest food items include noodle kugel, potato knish, cheese blintz, bagels with cream cheese, Dr. Brown’s sodas, babka, halvah, pastrami and corned beef on rye and Hebrew National hot dogs.

The local food vendors include Alumni Cookie Dough, Bagelicious, Marietta Diner and Shish Kabob Mediterranean Grill.

You can find East Cobb News calendar listings in one handy place on our site. If you have events to share with the public, please e-mail: calendar@eastcobbnews.com and we will post them here.

 

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As prices fall, Ga. gas tax suspension extended into October

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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has again extended a suspension of the state’s gas tax that was due to expire this month.

Georgia gas tax suspension extendedInstead, he is continuing the suspension of the 29-cents-a-gallon tax for gasoline and 32-cents-a-gallon for diesel through Oct. 12. The suspension has been in place since March, and has been extended several times before.

Although gasoline prices continue to fall—to under $3.50 a gallon in many parts of East Cobb—Kemp cited continuing inflation elsewhere and supply chain issues.

Kemp, a Republican who is seeking re-election in November, blamed Democrats in Congress and said that “we can’t fix everything Washington has broken, but we can use the resources we have as a result of our responsible budgeting to keep more money in the pockets of hardworking Georgians.”

His announcement comes right before the Labor Day holiday weekend, and the new extension approaches the elections.

Stacey Abrams, Kemp’s Democratic opponent, has urged that he extend the gas tax suspension through the end of the year.

She hasn’t issued a statement on the latest extension, but when Kemp renewed the extension in August, she accused him of refusing “to provide Georgians with the stability they deserve and commit to a full-year suspension.”

The Georgia Department of Revenue estimates that the state gas taxes raise around $150 million a month for road maintenance projects.

Georgia motorists still pay a federal gas tax of 18 cents a gallon.

According to AAA-The Auto Club Group, Georgia’s gas prices are among the lowest in the country, as are most Southern states.

The current statewide average of $3.38 a gallon is “5 cents less than a week ago, 44 cents less than a month ago, and 43 cents more than this time last year,” AAA noted on Monday.

Metro Atlanta’s average of $3.43 a gallon is among the highest areas in the state.

In early June, the statewide average was $4.49 a gallon.

The most expensive state for gas is California, which averages $5.25 cents a gallon.

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