The Cobb Board of Commissioners is holding its annual retreat Wednesday through Friday at the Hilton Inn and Conference Center (500 Powder Springs Street, Marietta).
The three days of meetings will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and are open to the public. Unlike the board’s formal meetings, however, the proceedings of the retreat will not be livestreamed.
The agenda (you can read it here) is focused on an update of the county’s Comprehensive 5-Year Strategic Plan, a process that got underway last fall.
Listening sessions and online feedback have taken place since November under the direction of Accenture LLP, an outside consulting firm being paid $1.45 million by the county to conduct a comprehensive long-range strategic plan that includes a shorter-term element for the years 2023-2027 (scope of work info here).
The overall objective of the plan, according to the county’s statement of need document, is to produce “a clear, unified, community-driven, long-term vision for Cobb County for the next 10 to 20 years.”
Cobb government spokesman Ross Cavitt said Accenture is expected to update commissioners on the surveys, town halls and stakeholder workshops that have taken place thus far, with the goal of presenting a strategic plan proposal by February or March.
The retreat comes as the partisan divide on the five-woman board has escalated over redistricting maps.
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The Cobb County Public Library System is joining with the American Heart Association to promote heart health with a series of Go for Red Women’s Walks.
Two of the walks will take place at East Cobb branches on Friday—Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road) from 9-10 a.m., and the Gritters Library (880 Shaw Park Road) from 2-3 p.m.
February is American Heart Month, and the AHA has designated Friday as National Wear Red Day.
Participants should wear comfortable clothing and athletic shoes as they walk around the library grounds.
The walks are intended for adults, and children are welcome with an adult caregiver.
For information call the Mountain View branch at 770-509-2725 or the Gritters branch at 770-528-2524.
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Police made the arrests at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection Saturday night, according to warrants.
Two men whom Cobb Police said burglarized a home off Paper Mill Road Saturday night have been arrested, along with the driver of a vehicle who allegedly took them to the scene of the crime.
According to arrest warrants, Alfredo Gallardo and Carlos Arenas broke into a home on Gateside Lane Saturday night shortly after 8 p.m. and stole jewelry and other items.
The home is near the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection (4814 Paper Mill Road), where police on patrol became suspicious after noticing a sole vehicle, a van, in a parking lot, according to one of the warrants.
According to a warrant for the man behind the wheel, Jose Castro, “There did not appear to be any church activities happening at the time officers approached.”
The warrant said Castro produced for an officer an Argentinian identification that he later admitted had a false name and birthdate.
His warrant said Castro provided the other men transportation to the church, then to the victim’s residence.
Warrants for Gallardo and Arenas said that officers went to the home, and two men fled the scene, ignoring commands to stop.
Their warrants said that Arenas left a bag of tools in the residence on the victim’s couch and was found with “a window-breaking tool” when he was arrested. Gallardo was found with a bag of pry bars, according to his warrant.
All three men were charged with first-degree burglary.
Gallardo, 32, of Los Angeles, and Arenas, 32, who is listed as homeless, also were charged with possessing tools of a crime and obstruction of a police officer.
Castro, 19, also listed as homeless, was further charged with giving a false name to law enforcement and loiter prowl.
All three were in custody Monday afternoon at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on $22,220 bond each, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records, which state that they are being held on an immigration detainer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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Cobb Police have charged a transient man with the rape of a 12-year-old girl at Shaw Park last weekend.
Douglas Darch, 62, was taken into custody on Jan. 22 and remains at the Cobb Adult Detention Center without bond, according to booking reports.
Police said in a warrant that he approached the girl the day before as she was walking in a wooded area of the park shortly before 6 p.m. He offered her a water bottle, and after she drank from it, she began to feel dizzy, according to police.
The warrant said the suspect then took out a knife and threatened her to do what he told her.
According to the warrant, she was forced to provide oral sex, and the suspect also ordered her to remove her clothing, then touched her genitalia.
The victim further stated in the warrant that she “was in fear for her life or bodily harm.”
Darch is facing felony charges of aggravated child molestation, child molestation, aggravated assault, cruelty to children and making terroristic threats.
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Janine Eveler, the director of the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, announced Friday that she is retiring after 12 years in the position.
The announcement was issued by Cobb government, which said a search will be launched immediately to hire her successor. Eveler will leave her post after Cobb municipal elections in March.
Eveler was with the Cobb Elections for 18 years after a career in telecommunications.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my 18 years with Cobb County government,” Eveler said in a statement to the elections board that was included in a release issued by county. “I am very proud of the accomplishments that I and the Elections department have achieved and appreciate the opportunity to serve the citizens of the best county in Georgia.”
She was named the 2021 recipient of Ann Hicks Award, honoring excellence in elections administration, by the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Elections Officials.
But the 2022 elections in Cobb were marked by controversies and glitches involving the elections office that led to court consent decrees extending the deadline for returning absentee ballots in the general election and the U.S. Senate runoff.
“I am sorry that this office let these voters down,” Eveler said at the time. “Many of the absentee staff have been averaging 80 or more hours per week, and they are exhausted. Still, that is no excuse for such a critical error.”
She told the elections board and Cobb commissioners on several occasions that high turnover among elections workers and volunteers were significant challenges during an election year that included new boundaries due to reapportionment.
In the Post 4 Cobb Board of Education general election race in East Cobb, 1,112 voters registered in the Sandy Plains 1 precinct were incorrectly given ballots to vote in the Cobb Board of Education Post 4 race.
They live in Post 5, also in East Cobb, following redistricting earlier in 2022.
The error was corrected, but 111 votes that had already been cast could not be changed. Republican incumbent David Chastain defeated Democrat Catherine Pozniak by 3,686 votes to win re-election.
A city council race in Kennesaw in November was reversed after data from a memory card was not uploaded promptly after the general election.
The appointed elections board also added one Sunday of early voting for the general election, a change that Eveler opposed in favor of a longer Saturday.
She also attributed some of the errors to a new state law limiting the window for absentee ballots and dropbox locations for them.
“The Board of Elections appreciates Janine’s service and commitment to Cobb County and the opportunity we’ve had to work with her to address concerns and challenges related to the changing elections landscape in this state,” elections board chairwoman Tori Silas in the Cobb release.
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Most of the former Bed Bath and Beyond store at The Avenue will be taken up by a new Barnes & Noble location.
Nearly a dozen years after losing a major book retail store, The Avenue East Cobb is getting another one.
North American Properties, the retail center’s management company, confirmed to East Cobb News Friday that Barnes & Noble will be filling part of the former Bed Bath & Beyond space by this summer.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle reported earlier Friday at that Barnes and Noble will be testing a smaller concept, occupying 15,000 square feet at The Avenue, much less than its typical 25,000-square-foot size of standalone stores.
It will be the first such smaller store in Georgia, and is “intended to mimic the ambience, coziness and personal touch found in independent bookshops,” the ABC report said.
A story in The New York Times last April said Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt developed the concept, stemming from his days running Waterstones, a major book retailer in his native Britain:
“His theory was that chain stores should act less like chain stores and like more independent shops, with similar freedom to tailor their offerings to local tastes. It worked, and he returned Waterstones to profitability.
“He repeated that approach at Barnes & Noble. . . . Barnes & Noble has also concentrated on selling books, instead of the vast assortment of items that it once carried and that were only tangentially — if at all — related to reading.”
“We’re excited Barnes is coming,” an NAP spokeswoman said, adding that the rest of the BB & B space—which totalled more than 21,000 square feet—will be subdivided.
Borders was a staple of The Avenue in its early years before the company went into liquidation in 2011. That space is now occupied by the Michael’s craft store, which moved from the nearby East Cobb Crossing Shopping Center.
Since then, the East Cobb area has been served by independent and smaller book store chains.
Currently, there’s a Half Price Books location at Woodlawn Square, and Bookmiser operates a independent store on Roswell Road near Robinson Road West.
Barnes & Noble has three other locations in Cobb County, near Cumberland Mall and Town Center at Cobb and at The Avenue West Cobb.
The Avenue is currently undergoing a makeover that includes “jewel box” buildings with restaurants and small retail space, a public plaza and valet parking, and is increasing events.
NAP’s overhaul got underway before Christmas, with a portion of the back parking lot fenced off for construction.
Most of that project is expected to be finished by the summer, but the NAP spokeswoman said Barnes and Noble hasn’t given a more specific opening date.
She said several other leases of new retail tenants will be announced in the coming weeks, and that the Lululemon pop-up shop has converted into a full-time store at The Avenue.
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After 31 years on Bells Ferry Road, the Tommy Nobis Center will be moving to another area of Cobb County.
The non-profit that assists young people and adults with disabilities in getting or returning to employment announced Thursday it will be relocating to the former Cobb Chamber of Commerce building on Interstate North Parkway near Truist Park.
In a release, the Tommy Nobis Center said it has sold the Bells Ferry Road facility and is leasing it back while its new headquarters undergoes renovations.
“The new building will be better suited to the services provided by TNC and position them to serve more people in the hub of surrounding businesses,” according to the release, which said a capital campaign is being launched to help support the transition.
The former Chamber building holds 25,000 square feet that the Tommy Nobis Center said provides more classroom space for expanding services.
The Tommy Nobis Center, named after the late Atlanta Falcons star linebacker, was formed in 1977.
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“I like Jerica . . . but this has been taken too far,” East Cobb resident Debbie Fisher said.
An East Cobb resident opposed to Cobb County’s attempt to use home rule powers to conduct reapportionment has filed an ethics complaint against Commissioner Jerica Richardson, whose bid to stay in office is at the heart of the controversy.
Debbie Fisher alleges in her complaint to the Cobb Board of Ethics that Richardson is engaged in a conflict of interest due to a political action committee she formed to fight her redistricting by the Georgia legislature.
In her complaint filed on Monday (you can read it here), Fisher said Richardson should have recused herself from discussion and two votes in October in which the commission’s Democratic majority approved redistricting maps that would have kept her District 2 relatively unchanged.
In addition to seeking a reprimand and/or censure of Richardson, Fisher wants to void Richardson’s votes on the maps, which would result in a 2-2 deadlock.
Last year, the Georgia legislature passed HB 1154, which contains maps that placed Richardson’s home in East Cobb into District 3, where Republican JoAnn Birrell was re-elected in November.
In addition to vowing that she wouldn’t step down, Richardson set up a 501(c)(4) non-profit last March, For Which It Stance, Inc., to fight what she said was an “unprecedented” move to draw a sitting elected official out of office.
In what she and her supporters have called “Jerica-mandering,” Richardson has insisted that home rule is legal and necessary to invoke for redistricting so that her 200,000 constituents have representation.
The For Which It Stance website said it was dedicated to “protecting local control, empowering local voices,” and seeks financial donations, sells merchandise and offers memberships ranging from $25 to $100 a month.
Unlike 501(c)(3) non-profits, a 501(c)(4) organization can “push for specific legislative outcomes that align with our values and core mission,” according to the For Which It Stance site.
Fisher further alleges in her complaint Richardson “also violated the code of ethics by failing to disclose, in writing or verbally, the conflict and the collection of money through the 501(c)(4) Corporation’s website which clearly creates a Fiduciary conflict of interest that disqualifies Commissioner Richardson from participating in discussion in whole or part and from voting on this issue.”
Commissioner Jerica Richardson
The ethics board is a seven-member body appointed by the Cobb Board of Commissioners, the Cobb Tax Commissioner, the Cobb Sheriff, the Cobb Solicitor General, the chief judges of the Cobb probate and magistrate courts and the clerk of the Cobb State Court.
Under a local ordinance, the ethics board has 60 days to conduct an initial review to determine if there’s enough evidence in the complaint to warrant a further investigation. The complaint could be dismissed or the board could set a hearing date to formally consider whether an ethics violation occurred.
Fisher is a local Republican activist who told East Cobb News that “I like Jerica and I don’t necessarily agree with how the maps were redrawn but this has been taken too far.”
East Cobb News has contacted Richardson and East Cobb resident Mindy Seger, the executive director of For Which is Stance, seeking comment.
Seger would say only that For Which It Stance “will not be commenting on the complaint at this time.”
East Cobb News also contacted Lynn Rainey, the attorney for the ethics board, who said Richardson has 30 days to respond to the complaint.
Richardson, a Democrat, was elected to a four-year term in 2020, succeeding longtime Republican Bob Ott, in a District 2 that included some of East Cobb and the Cumberland-Vinings area.
In 2021, she moved into a home off Post Oak Tritt Road, which at the time was located in her District 2.
The Cobb delegation, which had a one-Democrat majority, approved maps that would have kept Richardson in District 2. But that map was never voted on, as Cobb GOP legislators did an end-run around that longstanding courtesy.
Under Georgia law, Richardson would have had to move into the new District 2 by Dec. 31 of last year to run for re-election in 2024.
After the commission Democrats voted in October to file the county delegation maps with the state, Birrell and fellow Republican commissioner Keli Gambrill objected, saying those maps are unconstitutional.
Gambrill suggested then that Richardson recuse herself, citing a conflict of interest.
Richardson didn’t respond to those concerns, and said before the second vote that “this is beyond partisanship. This is about the balance of power among all 159 counties and the state General Assembly. This ensures that future state and federal politics won’t play a role in our local government’s daily operations.”
Earlier this month, Birrell and Gambrill tried to abstain from voting at the commission’s first meeting when they were told the county maps would be in force. They left the dais after an executive session and as Chairwoman Lisa Cupid threatened to have them escorted away by security, saying board policies didn’t allow them to abstain without a “valid” conflict.
On Tuesday, the two Republican commissioners cast votes but issued statements of protest and disputed the Jan. 10 meeting minutes saying they voted to go into executive session when they insisted they had not.
East Cobb resident Larry Savage is expected to refile a lawsuit soon in Cobb Superior Court challenging the county’s home rule stance.
The same year, Savage filed ethics complaints against the four Cobb commissioners who voted for the stadium deal, but those were also dismissed.
The only commissioner not subject to that complaint was Cupid, then a district commissioner for South Cobb.
In defending the vote to approve Cobb delegation maps instead of the state-approved maps in October, Cupid said “this is not something that we can just move past . . . this is not something that we can just take lying down.’
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The Taste of East Cobb will be back at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church May 6 for its annual food festival to benefit the Walton High School band programs.
The event (basic info here), sponsored by the Walton Band Parent Association, lasts from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the South parking lot of the church (955 Johnson Ferry Road) rain or shine.
In addition to food samplings from local restaurants and eateries, the Taste of East Cobb includes live jazz music—from the Walton band students, of course—a kids’ fun zone, sand art and face painting, products and services from other local businesses and vendors, a silent auction and the “Best of Taste of East Cobb” voting competition.
(Last year’s food winners included Smallcakes at The Avenue East Cobb and McCray’s Tavern at Parkaire Landing.)
Event admission is free and food tickets cost $1 each.
The Taste of East Cobb is accepting applications for restaurants, vendors and sponsors, with the latter ranging between $750 and $5,000.
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The following food scores for the week of Jan. 23 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection details:
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The Cobb County School District announced this week that Walton High School student Catherine Kexuan Jiao has been named one of the top 300 teenage scientists in the nation in the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2023.
In a release, the district said Jiao, a senior, will receive $2,000 and Walton will be awarded $2,000 for having a Society for Science scholar (full list here).
Her project was “The Implications of Smart Tip Nudging: A Data-Driven Behavioral Economic Study.”
Jiao was selected from an initial group of nearly 2,00 students from across the country “based on their outstanding research, leadership skills, community involvement, commitment to academics, creativity in asking scientific questions and exceptional promise as STEM leaders demonstrated through submitting their original, independent research projects, essays, and recommendations,” according to the district release.
The Society for Science, founded in 1921, fosters the expansion of scientific literacy, STEM education and scientific research.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. has been a sponsor of the science talent search, which dates back 82 years, since 2017.
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As we have noted before (including last week with the forthcoming Westfield Tavern), restaurants and bars in Cobb have to take a few extra steps to get an alcohol pouring license if they come up against distance requirements in the county ordinance.
The Righteous Que barbecue restaurant at the Piedmont Commons Shopping Center has been open since 2012, and in December applied for a beer and wine license (it’s closed on Sundays).
As usual, the Cobb Business License Division denied the application, because the restaurant at 1050 E. Piedmont Road is less than 300 feet from a residence and less than 600 feet from the McCleskey Family-East Cobb YMCA, which is considered a park and subject to that distance requirement.
If an applicant appeals, that is heard by the Board of License Review, which is an appointed body that typically issues a reversal unless there is opposition or other circumstances.
There wasn’t opposition to the Righteous Que liquor license, and during the Jan. 5 appeal hearing the restaurant’s attorney said the plans are to serve beer and wine only, with customers taking their drinks to their tables after ordering, and that there will not be a bar.
Righteous Que’s opening hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday-Saturday. The attorney said that employees are being trained to check identification of customers at the time of beer and wine purchases, and that 90 percent of the business is expected to come from food sales.
“Additionally, the premises has been licensed in the past and granting a license now will not adversely affect on the residents or YMCA,” the restaurant stated as part of the appeal.”
Righteous Que moved into space that previously had been a Mexican restaurant and said that employees found to have violated the underage sales ordinance will be immediately terminated.
The review board reversed the denial 5-0, with the final say going to the Cobb Board of Commissioners, who approved the reversal Tuesday on their consent agenda.
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Two weeks after being removed from the meeting dais after trying to abstain, the two Republican members of the Cobb Board of Commissioners cast votes on Tuesday.
But they did so under protest, introducing formal statements that they wanted read into the record before every vote, reiterating their objection to reapportionment maps passed by the board’s Democratic majority the Republicans say are unconstitutional and illegal.
Republicans Keli Gambrill and JoAnn Birrell also challenged the accuracy of the minutes of the Jan. 10 meeting—most of which they watched from the back of the room—saying that a meeting video did not properly convey the details of an executive session that had been called, and that they say falsely recorded the two Republicans as casting a vote to go into executive session when they did not.
“The clerk has us voting when we did not vote,” Gambrill said, adding that in her first term in office, she couldn’t recall not voting to approve meeting minutes.
Chairwoman Lisa Cupid also asked Gambrill and Birrell to vote again on the first vote of the meeting, for a swimming pool construction permit, for which they initially tried to abstain. A nearly 29-minute recess ensued.
Board policies do not permit abstentions unless there is a valid financial conflict of interest. But a motion for another vote on the swimming pool item was not made after the meeting resumed. When Birrell and Gambrill declined to vote, Cupid asked them to leave the dais and later asked for security to remove them.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, Gambrill asked for a forensic audit of the video to be conducted by an outside party, and for commissioners’ votes to be electronically recorded from now on.
In response, Cupid said that commissioners are responsible for the keeping of minutes and that the county clerk [Pam Mabry] is being unfairly burdened.
“It’s an unfortunate day when we bring it up in a public manner,” Cupid said, prompting some groans from the spectators, and later added that an attempt to “dress down our county clerk was disrespectful.”
Cupid said that there was “not complete sync with the communication on the dais with the recording. But the truth is still the truth. What the eyes saw cannot be unseen and the truth that occurred cannot be undone.”
Cupid said commissioners voted to go into executive session, and “if you did not believe that they should have not participated. I hope this never happens again.”
But Birrell, whose District 3 boundaries are in dispute, she also couldn’t vote for the minutes for the first time during her tenure, which just began a fourth term.
She said there were several discrepancies in the proposed minutes, and Cupid’s directive for them to leave the dais wasn’t recorded.
Birrell repeated Gambrill’s complaint that a vote that was recorded as 3-2 that she said was accurately a 3-0 vote.
“I’m not demeaning Pam,” Birrell said, referring to Mabry. “A lot of this was procedures that were taken that I don’t agree with.”
Her District 2 East Cobb colleague, Democrat Jerica Richardson, said she supported the minutes because “the statements in it are ones I recall.”
She also told Mabry that “your integrity is not in question.”
Tuesday’s votes to approve the Jan. 10 meeting minutes passed 3-2, with the Democrats voting in favor and the Republicans opposed.
Citizens spoke on both sides of the redistricting issue, which is expected to be resumed in Cobb Superior Court when East Cobb resident Larry Savage refiles a lawsuit that had been withdrawn, challenging the county maps.
Mindy Seger of East Cobb, who leads Richardson’s political action committee to stop the legislative maps, said the county’s home rule challenge is necessary because the legislature’s actions to ignore the Cobb delegation-drawn map sets “a dangerous precedent.”
Local maps, Seger said, “are local matters to be handled locally.”
But Marietta resident Leroy Emkin said speakers arguing on behalf of the county map “are missing the point.
“The point is the law. [Commission] district boundaries are voted on by the state legislature and signed into law by the governor. . . . At the present time it is clear that no county has the authority [to draw maps]. The law is the law.”
The last speaker of the night, Donald Barth of the Cloverdale Heights neighborhood in the city of Marietta, summed up the confusion of citizens who aren’t sure who their commissioner is.
He’s been redistricted before, from District 4 to District 2 and now to District 3—he thinks.
“Does anybody know where in the hell I belong?” Barth said. “Because Marietta don’t want me.”
At the end of the meeting, during commissioners’ remarks, Birrell read from a second prepared statement, saying that Cobb’s home rule challenge has “increased tensions” on the board.
She said she and her constituents in District 3 have been harmed, the latter by not knowing who their duly elected official is, even though she was re-elected in November under the state-approved maps that have been certified by the Cobb Board of Elections.
“If the amended [county] map is the law, what does that do to the voters of all the county? Please continue to pray for all of us.”
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Wednesday is going to be a blustery day for Cobb County and much of Georgia.
The National Weather Service has issued a wind advisory for a good portion of the state beginning at midnight Wednesday through midnight Thursday.
Cobb is included in an area in which winds could gust between 30-40 mph during the advisory period (in yellow).
Rain also is expected overnight Wednesday, with a 100 percent chance of rain by sunrise and forecast to taper off by late morning.
The NWS is forecasting that winds in the Cobb and Marietta area will be southeast 25-30 mph, then becoming west 15-20 mph in the Wednesday afternoon.
High temperatures Wednesday are expected to be in the low 60s, with lows Thursday morning falling into the high 30s.
The rest of the week will be sunny, but colder, with highs only in the mid 40s Thursday and Friday and lows at or below freezing both days.
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Cobb County School District social worker Julie Lance and PORCH-Marietta neighborhood coordinator Sue Heavlin.
Last fall we posted about a food collection drive called PORCH-Marietta that was working to keep the food pantry stocked at Brumby Elementary School.
The all-volunteer organization has announced that its launching a new program, called PORCH for Schools, to serve broader needs in the Marietta area, and is initially focusing efforts on getting healthy snacks to children attending Sedalia Park Elementary School.
Thus far PORCH-Marietta has provided 37 cases of snacks to Sedalia Park students so they could “keep both body and mind nourished, eliminating distraction due to hunger,” according to a release.
As of December PORCH-Marietta had donated more than 12,000 pounds of food to the Brumby pantry and the Center for Family Resources pantry.
Participants leave food on their doorstops on designated monthly pickup days (the next collection date is Feb. 9) and can also contribute financially.
Some of the participating neighborhoods in East Cobb include Sentinel Lake, Indian Hills, The Oaks, Heatherleigh, Paper Mill Manor, Chimney Lakes, Timberlea Lakes, Beverly Hills Estates, Weatherstone, Elan, Sibley Forest and Glen Ivy.
PORCH-Marietta chapter leader Liz Platner said the public can help with the food drive with tax-deductible donations by clicking here. Businesses also can support the effort as sponsors.
“Our holiday giving campaign raised enough funds to buy snacks for Sedalia Park Elementary students who didn’t bring a snack from home this semester,” Platner said. “We hope to restock their snack shelves in August and include additional schools as our budget allows.”
PORCH Communities was started in 2011 in Chapel Hill, N.C. and now has 26 chapters in eight states, distributing more than $7.8 million in food to neighbors in need.
The PORCH-Marietta chapter was founded in February 2022.
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Artisan Custom Closets of East Cobb was the 2022 Cobb Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year.
Submitted information:
The Cobb Chamber is accepting nominations and applications for the 2023 Small Business of the Year awards. The deadline for nominations is Wednesday, February 1. Applications close on February 28.
In 1982, the Small Business of the Year awards were established to honor the important role that small businesses play in the Cobb community and the economy. For the 2023 competition, the Cobb Chamber will name the 2023 Small Business of the Year, the Top 25 Small Businesses of the Year, the Businesses to Watch – businesses that have launched three years ago or less – and the Next-Level of Excellence award winner. The Next-Level of Excellence award recognizes companies that have exceeded SBA size standards and are continuing to excel.
Business owners can nominate themselves or other businesses. Nominees and applicants must:
Comply with the U.S. Small Business Administration’s size standards.
The applicant must be the owner, partner, or major shareholder of the business, and active in its day-to-day operations.
The business must be financially stable and operational for a minimum of three years – except for Businesses to Watch applicants, which are businesses that were established fewer than three years ago.
Businesses must be a member of the Cobb Chamber at the time the award is presented on May 8.
Once applications are submitted, each application is judged on business growth and performance, business challenges, unique and innovative approaches, community involvement and contributions, company culture, and employee relations. For the 2023 Small Business of the Year competition, an independent evaluation team will choose a Top 25, and from that group five finalists will continue in the competition for one to be named the 2023 Small Business of the Year. For Business To Watch and Next-Level of Excellence applicants, an independent evaluation team will choose the top three applicants for each award category. An overall winner for each award category will be chosen from the top three applicant pool.
The winners of each award category will be announced and celebrated at the Small Business of the Year Luncheon on Monday, May 8 from 11:15 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Coca-Cola Roxy.
Nominations and applications can be submitted at https://bit.ly/3IY6J7k. For more information on the Small Business of the Year Awards or to become a sponsor, contact Jani Dix at 770-859-2335 or jdix@cobbchamber.org.
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!
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Democrats conducted the Jan. 10 Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting by themselves after their Republican colleagues were ordered from the dais by Chairwoman Lisa Cupid (center).
A political advocacy committee started by Cobb commissioner Jerica Richardson to fight against legislative maps that would draw her out of her seat is encouraging those who support her to speak out when commissioners meet on Tuesday.
The For Which It Stance group wants to “fill the room” and speak during public comment sessions as a home rule dispute continues to roil the five-woman board.
The notification was amplified on the Facebook page of the Cobb County Democratic Committee.
The Cobb County Republican Party has posted a similar notice on social media, urging its supporters to “show up and support our state constitution.”
On Jan. 10, Republican commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Keli Gambrill tried to abstain from voting, saying maps approved by the three Democrats on the board are unconstitutional under Georgia law.
They were told by Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid that they could not abstain without a valid conflict and eventually were removed from the dais, watching the rest of the meeting from the back of the room.
Whether that scenario may repeat itself Tuesday is uncertain. When asked by East Cobb News what she plans to do at the meeting, Birrell said only that “I will be making a statement next week.”
Birrell began her fourth term in January after being re-elected under new boundaries in District 3, which includes most of East Cobb.
Those maps were approved by the Georgia legislature after Cobb GOP lawmakers skirted the common courtesy of honoring local delegation maps.
The Cobb delegation had a one-member majority, and commission maps drawn by former chairman Erick Allen would contain most of Birrell’s former district, including some of Northeast Cobb, the Town Center area and city of Marietta.
That map, which Birrell opposed, was never voted on by the legislature, but it’s what the county has submitted to the state, and it’s the one the county attorney’s office is saying is currently valid.
Richardson was elected in 2020 in District 2, which has included some of East Cobb and the Cumberland-Vinings area.
She moved to a home off Post Oak Tritt Road last year, and under state law, would have had to move into the new District 2 to seek re-election next year.
That’s because the legislative maps drew District 2 to include Cumberland-Vinings, Marietta and most of the Kennesaw-Town Center area and took out East Cobb.
But Richardson isn’t budging, as the county is claiming home rule provisions that Republicans said do not apply when it comes to reapportionment.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr this week agreed, saying the county maps are “not legally binding.”
But there’s not an active lawsuit to contest the county maps. East Cobb resident Larry Savage withdrew a suit in Cobb Superior Court and is planning refile it soon.
In the meantime, said Mindy Seger, the executive director of For Which It Stance, the option that would cause the least harm and disruption to is to honor the county maps and keep Richardson in office until the courts decide the matter.
She said Richardson’s fight is about the “representation of 200,000 people,” her District 2 constituency, who were the subject of an unprecedented action by the legislature—drawing out an incumbent elected official.
Savage’s initial lawsuit sought a preliminary injunction to uphold the state maps. That would trigger Richardson’s removal from office and a special election.
If that were to happen, and the county then won its home rule claim, Seger said, that would create even more chaos than what the Republicans are saying is happening now.
Seger, who was a leader of the anti-cityhood East Cobb Alliance, also encouraged Birrell and Gambrill to show up and vote—not abstain—and represent their constituents.
The commission meeting begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta), and the full agenda can be found by clicking here.
There are two public comment periods, one at the beginning and the other near the end, with a maximum of six speakers each who are limited to speak for five minutes.
You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
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!
The Marietta-Roswell chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. is organizing a human trafficking forum Jan. 28 at East Cobb Middle School ((825 Terrell Mill Road).
“An Eye-Opening Experience on Human Trafficking” takes place during Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and the forum will include a simulation experience, a panel discussion that includes the Cobb Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit and youth creating awareness posters.
The forum is next Saturday, Jan. 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and you can register by clicking here.
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!
Richardson was elected in 2020 in District 2, which has included some of East Cobb and the Cumberland-Vinings area.
