East Cobb resident John Driskell Hopkins, founding member of the Zack Brown Band, is organizing another holiday benefit concert for his charity, Hop On A Cure Foundation, which is dedicated to research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Hopkins, who was diagnosed with the neurodegenerative disease also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease two years ago, will be playing host to a “Sounds of the Season” concert Wednesday, Dec. 20 at the Buckhead Theatre in Atlanta.
He’s released his fourth annual holiday album, “Let’s Get Frosty!” and other entertainers on hand at the concert will include members of Yacht Rock Revue, and friends including, Ruby Velle, Emily Saliers of the The Indigo Girls, David Ryan Harris, Lily Faith Hopkins and more!
Since Driskell and his wife founded the organization in 2021, Hop On A Cure Foundation has raised more than $2.5 million, held more than 100 events and awarded more than $1.5 million in grants, including The Sean M. Healey and AMG Center for ALS at Emory University.
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Jay Cunningham and Cobb Community Foundation director Shari Martin.
Cobb Community Foundation (CCF) presented Superior Plumbing’s Jay Cunningham with the 2023 James L. Rhoden, Jr. Award for Visionary Philanthropy at the Marquee Monday event hosted by the Cobb Chamber of Commerce on Dec. 11.
The James L. Rhoden, Jr. Award for Visionary Philanthropy was created by the Board of Cobb Community Foundation in conjunction with its 10th anniversary in December 2003, to honor founder, Jim Rhoden. The award is voted on annually by the Board to recognize and honor a Cobb business and community leader who makes significant contributions to our community through gifts of time, talent, and treasure. Nominees are recognized in Cobb County for their commitment to improving the quality of life for Cobb residents and meeting critical needs of the community as demonstrated by their leadership and/or service work.
CCF Board President Kim Gresh was the presenting speaker and praised Cunningham for the many ways that he makes Cobb County better. The father of seven children and a grandfather, it is understood that family is in the forefront of everything he does. Said Gresh, “His business’s logo is hard to miss and can be found all over this county in football stadiums, at the North GA State Fair, the Big Shanty Festival, the Taste of Kennesaw. He serves on the board of trustees for the Wellstar Health System, The Strand Theatre, Must Ministries and many others. He is a Tommy Nobis Center Community Champion and serves on way too many Cobb civic organizations to name.”
Here are just a few examples of ways he invests in Cobb County:
The Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Cunningham Family building in Kennesaw
The Superior Plumbing VECTR Center, an academic transition support center for veteran students and their dependents
Superior Pets, an initiative pairing sheltered animals with deserving veterans
Furthermore, he actively urges local businesses to contribute both financially and physically to their communities. In essence, Jay’s dedication to advancing with purpose, challenging conventional thinking, and uplifting those facing obstacles around him is truly praiseworthy. His inclination to participate in discussions that test the boundaries of established thought often leads to rewarding results for many within our community.
We are proud to name Jay Cunningham as this year’s recipient of the James L. Rhoden Visionary Philanthropist award.
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Cobb Board of Education electoral maps before 2021 reapportionment (left) and after (right), with the latter maps having been thrown out in federal court.
The Georgia legislature was ordered on Thursday to draw up new electoral maps for the Cobb Board of Education by mid-January.
A federal judge in Atlanta threw out maps lawmakers approved in 2021 that were submitted by Cobb Republican lawmakers and drawn by a law firm hired by the Cobb County School District.
Those maps pushed Post 6, which had included the Walton and Wheeler high school clusters, out of East Cobb and into the Cumberland-Smyrna-Vinings area.
A group of parents and progressive advocacy groups filed a lawsuit, claiming that the new maps were racially gerrymandered and violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act.
In her ruling granting an injunction to the plaintiffs (you can read the ruling here), U.S. District Court Judge Eleanor Ross concluded that it was “substantially likely” that the 2021 maps would be declared unconstitutional.
The lawsuit, spearheaded by the Southern Poverty Law Center, claims that the redrawn posts 2, 3 and 6—all held by the current Democrats on the school board—diluted minority voting strength.
Posts, 1, 4, 5 and 7—occupied by the Republican majority—had their minority voting percentages reduced curing reapportionment, with all four posts having at least 58 percent white constituencies.
The two posts in East Cobb have the highest percentage of white populations. While Post 5 didn’t change much (going from 66.97 percent to 67.24 percent), the Post 4 difference also was noticeable, rising from 57.24 percent white to 65.56.
David Chastain, one of the four GOP members of the school board, was re-elected to a third term in Post 4 last year.
In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs said that the 2021 map “bleaches the population of the northern districts,” a charge the Cobb school district has heatedly denied.
Ross gave the legislature until Jan. 10—two days after the 2024 General Assembly session begins—to draw new maps, which are considered temporary for use in the 2024 elections. The Cobb school district intends to appeal to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, seeking a stay of the judge’s order.
The Cobb school district was denied by Ross to join the lawsuit as a defendant, a decision that also is being appealed.
Ross also gave the plaintiffs and the defendant—the Cobb Board of Elections, which is not defending the current maps—until Jan. 12 to object to the redrawn maps, and Jan. 17 for the parties to respond to the other.
The 2024 Georgia primaries are May 21, with qualifying set for March.
Four of the seven Cobb school board posts are on the ballot in 2024, and three of them currently occupied by Republicans, including David Banks of Post 5 in East Cobb.
He hasn’t said whether he will seek a fifth term next year, but two first-time candidates announced earlier this year: Republican John Cristadoro and Democrat Laura Judge. Both are parents in the Walton cluster.
Post 5 was redrawn in 2021 to include the Walton, Wheeler and Pope clusters, while Post 4 includes the Kell, Sprayberry and Lassiter clusters.
In October, Ben Mathis, the lead attorney for the Cobb school district, accused the elections board of “a total surrender” to what he called “leftist political activists” who wanted to usurp the power of the legislature to redraw the Cobb school board maps.
That and another related message were posted on the Cobb school district website, including a charge from Mathis that the SPLC was trying “to impose their will over the Legislature, the Governor, and the voters of Cobb County.”
In a statement issued Friday through the SPLC, Sofia Fernandez Gold, associate counsel at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights under the law, said the order by Ross to redraw the maps “affirms the fundamental right of Black and Latinx voters of Cobb County to fully and fairly participate in the democratic process by having an equal opportunity to elect members of their choice to the Cobb County School Board.”
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A month after the redevelopment of the former Harry’s Farmers Market was vetoed by Marietta Mayor Thunder Tumlin, the City Council on Wednesday voted unanimously to approve a revised version of the plan.
By a 7-0 vote, the council voted to approve a mixed-use plan for nearly 20 acres on Powers Ferry Road at Roswell Road that features apartments, townhomes and retail space on the ground floors of those buildings.
The council voted 6-1 in November to approve plans for 28 townhomes and 236 apartments. But Tumlin—who has vetoed other apartment projects in the city recently, including at the former Kroger site on Delk Road—mixed the measure, saying the balance wasn’t right.
The developer, Westplan Investors of Atlanta, came back with a revised plan to increase the number of townhomes to 39 and keep the same number of apartment units, as well as increase the retail space to nearly 29,000 square feet from around 15,000 square feet
There was little discussion before the vote, and Tumlin didn’t pull out the veto pen.
Westplan touted the mixed-use project as a transformational one for a portion of East Marietta that has not been revitalized in more than 30 years.
Harry’s closed in the fall of 2017, just as Movie Studio Grill was set to open in the same retail center.
Brian Schultz, the theater owner, said at the November council meeting that “this property needs a spark.” He addressed also Tumlin’s reluctance.
“I’m literally imploring you to let us bring this community together. Please don’t stand in the way of progress.”
Westplan originally proposed 300 apartments, but changed those plans after several delays in public hearings.
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Three years after being formed, the Pope High School flag football team has won a state championship.
The Greyhounds scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter Wednesday to take the lead against Allatoona, then held off their Cobb County rivals thanks to a missed extra-point to prevail 14-13 in the Georgia High School Association’s Division 3 title game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The margin of difference for Pope (26-2) was a defensive play by Pope’s Sarah Gentry, who broke up an extra-point pass with 20 seconds left to preserve the win.
Riley Bensman, a senior quarterback, threw three touchdown passes for Pope, which defeated Allatoona 40-7 earlier in the season.
The Greyhounds, who are coached by Kevin Fraser, lost only to Milton and Blessed Trinity during the season. Pope avenged the loss to Blessed Trinity with a 7-6 victory the state semifinals.
This is the fourth year the GHSA has had a state championship for girls flag football, and this was the first year the finals were played in conjunction with the boys football title games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Kell and Walton also qualified for the Division 3 state playoffs this season, as did Marietta, Pebblebrook and McEachern.
Other team members for Pope this year included Meryl Palazzo; Abbey Bensman, Kourtney Kalman, Mac Wiley, Kate Davenport, Faith Stokes, Carly Oubs, Alysa Cabrera, Syra Patel, Laila Nixon, Cora Davis, Olivia O’Connor, Julia Acker, Danielle Morgan, Elizabeth Kelly, Giselle Aitken and Lucy Cantando.
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The Walton football team’s dream season ended in heartbreak Wednesday as the Raiders suffered their only loss.
Milton took advantage of four turnovers by Walton in the second half to win the Georgia High School Association’s Class 7A championship game 31-21 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.
The Raiders entered the game at 14-0 and were trying to win their first state title in school history, featuring an offense that averaged nearly 50 points a game during the season.
Walton was held well below its offensive average across the board as star quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski was harassed all evening by an active Milton defensive pash rush.
Walton led 14-7 at halftime, but disaster struck right after the third quarter began.
The Eagles converted a fumble into a field goal and two interceptions into touchdowns on Walton’s first three possessions of the second half.
On the second interception, Ty Redmond returned a Hecklinski pass 58 yards, setting up a touchdown by Milton quarterback Luke Nickel that widened Walton’s deficit to 24-14.
Hecklinski struck back right away, throwing a 43-yard touchdown pass to Cameran Loyd with 7:28 to play in the game.
In the final minute, Raiders defender Oliver Skeean intercepted a pass as Walton set up on its own 1-yard-line. But Milton’s Jacorey Stewart stepped in front of a Walton receiver at the 5-yard-line and picked off Hecklinski again, scoring the final touchdown of the game.
The title was the second for Milton since 2018. Walton, which reached the finals in 2011 before losing to Grayson, is a state runner-up for the second time.
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The Atlanta-based professional singing company Coro Vocati will be performing Saturday at St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church.
There are still a few holiday-related events taking place in East Cobb this weekend, largely of the performing arts variety.
On Friday, the East Cobb-based MDE Vocational Academy will be holding its annual Winterfest Market. Students from the special-needs school will be selling their homemade hot chocolate bombs, ornaments, Mason Jar cookie kits, pot holders, and other gift items, and Santa and Mrs. Claus are rumored to be making an appearance.
The event is from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the school (1523 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 200) and admission is free.
On Saturday is the 4th annual Dance Stop Company Holiday Spectacular, featuring performers from the East Cobb-based dance school. Two shows will take place at the Lassiter Concert Hall (2601 Shallowford Road)—at 2 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $15, and Dance Stop students get a free ticket with every single ticket purchase.
On Saturday night, St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church (571 Holt Road) will be the venue for “Christmas with Coro Vocati,” with carols and songs to celebrate the season.
Coro Vocati is an ensemble of professional singers based in Atlanta, and the program includes traditional carols, arrangements by modern composers, and Christmas-themed standards.
The concert begins at 7 p.m. and the public is invited to the free event, a presentation in the 12th Annual Friends of Music series at St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church. A reception follows with opportunity to meet the artists.
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East Cobb Quilters’ Guild is proud of its long history of community service. Its members freely give their time and energy to create quilts, placemats,
Beads of Courage bags, and pillowcases for donation to area charities. Often gathering in small groups to sew, members also benefit from the friendships that develop and deepen while these projects are created. This year they exceeded their original goal of 1,250 by almost 200% creating a total of 2,430 items.
“Our members use their love of quilting and sewing to share these items with others in our community. Even though we do not know them personally, we feel a connection to each of the recipients through our community partners outreach,” commented Caroline Benefield, president of the East Cobb Quilters’ Guild.
In 2023, the Guild donated a total of 2,430 items to local organizations, an almost 100% increase compared to 2022.Donated items included: 344 quilts for Cobb County DFCS, for children who have been taken into foster care; 737 pillowcases for Ryan’s Case for Smiles, for children in hospitals in the Atlanta area and around the state of Georgia; and 524 placemats for Cobb County Meals on Wheels, for older adults and disabled individuals who receive home meal delivery.A new recipient this year is Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. The Guild has made and is donating 825 Beads of Courage bags to give to their patients who are coping with serious illnesses.
“Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta has been incredibly blessed by the beautiful Beads of Courage bags made by the East Cobb Quilters’ Guild. Members use their talents and favorite fabrics to create bags for the beads our cancer patients “earn” – whether the beads are from chemo treatments, blood draws, or other types of tests. Our precious patients hold tight to the beads and the bags. They give them strength, encouragement, and hope. That is what it is all about – HOPE! We are very grateful!” stated Pam Younker, community development officer, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
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“I can’t support a 30-year tax, but it will be up to voters to decide,” commissioner JoAnn Birrell said.
In a partisan vote, the Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved adding a referendum to the November 2024 general election ballot on whether to collect a 30-year sales tax for a major development of the county’s transit system.
Commissioners also approved a project list for the referendum that in East Cobb would include the reinstatements of bus routes running along Roswell Road and connecting to the Dunwoody MARTA station, and a new transit station in the Roswell-Johnson Ferry area.
The Cobb Mobility Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax, if approved by voters, would collect a one-percent tax for an estimated $10.8 billion, financing the creation of several high-occupancy bus routes, the construction of transit centers and expanding microtransit, paratransit and other transit options around the county.
Cobb collects a SPLOST for overall county projects, and the Cobb County School District also has its own SPLOST for school construction, maintenance and technology projects.
But Cobb DOT officials have been planning for a possible transit referendum for several years, with Atlanta Regional Commission projections that the county’s population will near a million people by 2050.
The board’s three Democrats voted in favor of having the referendum, while Republican commissioners were opposed.
The items on the project list would add 106 miles of bus and transit routes to the existing CobbLinc service, which has only one route in the East Cobb area, along Powers Ferry Road.
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of District 3 in East Cobb said the length of the proposed tax is far too long, and consists only of transit projects.
“In the past I’ve always supported our county SPLOST going to a referendum, but the maximum they were was six years,” she said. “But they had not only transportation, but libraries, parks, public safety and other departments.
“I can’t support a 30-year tax but it will be up to voters to decide and that’s the bottom line.”
Commissioner Monique Sheffield of South Cobb, who grew up in Brooklyn, said she might not have had the educational opportunities she had without being able to ride the subway in New York City, and that many young Cobb citizens are facing similar obstacles.
“The generations are getting younger, things are changing,” she said. “I look forward to see how this plays out in the community.”
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said that “we have moment of transformation before us today.”
She compared the chance to vastly expand transit options to the 2013 vote by commissioners to enter into a 30-year memorandum of understanding with the Atlanta Braves to build a baseball stadium, and the county’s buildout of sewer systems in the 1980s.
“I’m sure there were reasonable voices of concern about those times, but there are reasonable considerations of why now,” said Cupid, who was the only commissioner to vote against the Braves stadium deal.
“This is a board of action, this is a board that wants to get this done,” she said. “I’ve seen moments of opportunity come and go.”
Cobb voters rejected a referendum in 1971 to join the then-now Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. In 1989 the county created Cobb Community Transit (now called CobbLinc) to provide a limited amount of transit services, including express buses serving commuters in downtown Atlanta.
She said Cobb has had “consideration of a robust investment in transit for almost 50 years now. . . . and we’re at a key time to offer commensurate options for our community.”
Commissioners voted along the same 3-2 split to approve spending $187,000 for an education campaign to take place in 2024 ahead of the referendum.
That effort, which includes a combined donation of $100,000 from the Town Center and Cumberland Community Improvement Districts, will include town hall meetings and other information presented to citizens.
After the vote, citizens spoke on the issue in public comment sessions.
Kevin Cutliff of East Cobb, a 21-year-old who supports the transit tax, said many in his generation are struggling to afford cars to get around.
He uses a combination of an electric bike and CobbLinc, but said he doesn’t feel safe with the former and feels “disconnected” with the latter, saying the current system has very limited access to the rest of metro Atlanta.
“This transit referendum hopefully will change that going forward,” Cutcliff said. “When voters use transit, this affects all of us, when all of it is connected.”
But Cobb resident Tracy Stevenson said the overall cost of the Mobility SPLOST—nearly $11 billion—”is a buttload of money.
“Do we need to overhaul the system? Probably? Do we need to have compassion for people? Absolutely. Are there are better ways to do it that use a 30-year technology to move forward. We put rosy new names on things, but it’s still a bus system.
“If we can manage the system better than we have now then why don’t we?”
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Brunessa Drayton, a former Cobb Library System supervisor and chief assistant to Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, announced Tuesday she is running for Cobb Superior Court Clerk in 2024.
Drayton, a Democrat who declared her intent to run in November, said she is running “because the Clerk’s office is in need of leadership that’s focused on the details. I’m ready to bring leadership, integrity, and transparency to the Clerk’s office.”
She the second Democratic hopeful challenging incumbent clerk Connie Taylor, who has come under fire for personally pocketing more than $400,000 in passport fees—which are legal—but far beyond her salary of $170,000.
More recently, Taylor has been the subject of complaints from lawyers, judges and prosecutors, as reported by the MDJ, for a backlog of filing online court records going back several months.
The newspaper reported last week that Cobb Superior Court Judge Robert Leonard even posted a message on his Facebook page telling attorneys with cases before him that “if you have something important that needs attention, or even a responsive pleading with a hearing coming up, please send my office a courtesy copy.”
Taylor was elected in 2020, defeating Republican incumbent Rebecca Keaton.
In a release announcing her campaign, Drayton didn’t mention Taylor by name or specify those issues, but said that “I know the importance of a government that works for people and makes the most of our community’s hard-earned taxpayer dollars. Under my leadership, the Clerk’s office will solve problems instead of creating them.”
In her time in Cupid’s office, Drayton helped provide oversight during the county’s COVID-19 response and to develop programs such as the county’s first Youth Commission and Cobb African American Public Policy Forum.
She also was the Northwest Georgia Outreach Coordinator for U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff.
Drayton and her husband have four sons and live in Powder Springs. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Western Kentucky University and a master’s degree in public administration from Kennesaw State University and has been a member of the Cobb Library Board of Trustees.
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The following East Cobb residential real estate sales were compiled from agency reports. They include the subdivision name and high school attendance zone in parenthesis:
Nov. 20
807 Snider Walk, 30068 (The Reserve at Olde Towne, Walton): $695,000
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A proposed bus route from Marietta to the Johnson Ferry Road corridor would restore service to East Cobb that was eliminated in Cobb budget cuts during the recession.
A project list for the proposed Cobb Mobility SPLOST would include what is being called an Arterial Rapid-Transit line along Roswell Road to the Johnson Ferry Road area, a total of 6.6 miles, and with an estimated cost between $125 million-$150 million.
That project list also includes a proposed East Cobb Transit Center, one of several planned as part of a proposed 30-year tax that would collect nearly $11 billion in sales taxes.
Cobb DOT officials will ask commissioners on Tuesday to place a referendum on the November 2024 ballot on whether to approve the tax, and to approve the project list it has compiled.
That list (you can read it here) details the cost breakdown for eight different project types, with nearly $6 billion devoted for what’s called “high-capacity” transit bus lines.
The proposed Roswell Road route is one of three in the Arterial Rapid-Transit category, along well-traveled routes and that connect to major activity centers.
The East Cobb route would extend to Avenue East Cobb, just east of Johnson Ferry Road, and down to Merchants Walk Shopping Center.
The East Cobb Transit Center location wasn’t specified in the project list information, but it would connect the East Cobb ART route with two proposed bus routes serving Fulton County and DeKalb County.
Those routes would extend to South Atlanta Street in the city of Roswell and the Dunwoody MARTA Station, according to the proposed project list.
The former is included on a list of local bus routes; the latter in a rapid-bus transit list of routes that would make fewer stops.
Currently the only transit option in the East Cobb area is a CobbLinc route along Powers Ferry Road.
Republican commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Keli Gambrill oppose a 30-year tax.
In September, county officials held a town hall at Fullers Recreation Center, where residents expressed skepticism to a transit tax.
The commission meeting begins at 9 a.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.
You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
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The proposed 11th District would include all of East Cobb and Marietta as well as the Town Center area and I-75 corridor north of Smyrna.
The Georgia legislature completed a special session Thursday by adopting Congressional maps that would place all of East Cobb in the 11th U.S. House District.
But Cobb Democratic commissioner Jerica Richardson, who has announced for the 6th Congressional District that was substantially redrawn, said she doesn’t think the maps will “hold up.”
They don’t pass “the smell test,” she said in an interview Thursday on the Politically Georgia podcast, before the maps were passed.
The Republican-majority legislature was called into a special session following a federal judge’s order to redraw legislative and Congressional lines for violations of the U.S. Voting Rights Act.
Specifically, lawmakers were ordered to create a new majority-black Congressional district in metro Atlanta. That appears to be the new 6th District, which includes most of South Cobb and covers an area represented by longtime Democratic incumbent David Scott.
In a posting on her campaign Facebook page, Richardson said Thursday night that “the maps that Republicans drew are in clear violation of a federal court order to add a new majority-minority district. We fully expect a legal challenge to this map, and there’s a high likelihood that it can succeed.”
Richardson said she hasn’t decided which district she may decide to run in—candidates do not have to live in their Congressional districts—but ruled out competing against any Democratic incumbent.
“We will evaluate where the need is and decide whether my message will resonate with the communities in that district,” she said in the Politically Georgia interview.
While she was asked if she may take on current 6th District Republican incumbent Rich McCormick in the new 7th District, Richardson didn’t mention the prospect of running in the new 11th District.
That seat is held by Republican Barry Loudermilk, and the new lines would include some of Cherokee County, as well as all of Bartow, Pickens and Gordon counties.
She continued in her social media message that “while the battles play out in court over the next few weeks, I remain committed to running a grassroots campaign on the same issues that have driven me from the start: connecting all communities to power and ensuring they have a voice in government, protecting our fundamental rights, expanding access to healthcare, improving infrastructure and transit, and enhancing economic empowerment.”
Richardson, who was drawn out of her Cobb Commission District 2 home in East Cobb by the legislature last year, has been holding meetings and events in the current 6th—which stretches from East Cobb up through North Fulton, Forsyth and Dawson counties—since she announced her Congressional ambitions this summer.
Richardson and her two Democratic colleagues on the commission invoked home rule over reapportionment, which critics say violates the state constitution.
A Cobb Superior Court judge is expected to rule this month on that legal dispute.
“At every roadblock, there has been an incredible outpouring of community support,” she said on the podcast. “I don’t expect this to be any different.
“At the end of the day, people just want people to represent them. If we can keep the focus, we’ll all be okay.”
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The U.S. Department of Education this week launched an investigation into the Cobb County School District after receiving a complaint of what it calls “shared ancestry” discrimination.
The education department’s Office of Civil Rights is investigating the complaints under Title VI of the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars schools receiving federal funds from discriminating based on race, color and national origin.
Those complaints can also include harassment based on a person’s shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics.
The OCR, which has been stepping up probes since mid-October at the behest of the Biden Administration, did not specify the nature of the Cobb school district investigation, which was launched on Tuesday.
East Cobb News has not received a copy of the complaint and contacted the Cobb school district seeking information.
A district spokeswoman said in a statement Thursday evening that “despite social media posts made by familiar political activists which are simply not accurate, there is no antisemitism OCR complaint against the District. We are aware of a single complaint, at a single school, that isn’t related to antisemitism. All students in Cobb should feel safe and welcomed, we do not tolerate hate of any kind.”
The Cobb school district was the subject of public complaints by Muslim and Palestinian parents shortly after the Middle East conflict began for a message that went out informing school families of an “international threat” by Hamas.
The message said that “while there is no reason to believe this threat has anything to do with our schools, parents can expect both law enforcement and school staff to take every step to keep your children safe.”
Nazia Khanzada, mother of a Cobb fifth-grader, told the Cobb school board at its Oct. 20 meeting that the school district’s message “has directly resulted in hate, harassment and bullying threats directed at Cobb’s Arabic and Muslim students and their families, including myself.”
At the same meeting, Cobb superintendent Chris Ragsdale replied to the criticism by saying that “the information we received required us to let the entire district and parents know we were taking the threats seriously” and that “bullying and hate of any type will not be tolerated in the Cobb County School District.”
A Jewish Campbell High School student told the Cobb school board Thursday—the first night of Hanukkah—that she’s experienced several instances of anti-Semitism and doesn’t feel safe on campus.
A Palestinian high school student also complained that she and those like her are being silenced and demanded that the district provide more resources to increase diversity and inclusivity.
The district has come under fire in recent years for how it has treated anti-Semitic acts at schools, including swastika graffiti at Pope and Lassiter high schools in East Cobb.
A number of parents and citizens have asked the district to bring back a “No Place for Hate” educational program produced for schools by the Anti-Defamation League.
The OCR also launched Title VI investigations Tuesday at Montana State University, Union College in New York, the University of Cincinnati and Tulane University in New Orleans.
A number of other notable educational institutions, including the New York City Department of Education and Harvard University, also are being probed for complaints of anti-Semitic treatment since the start of the Middle East conflict.
If the Cobb school district is found to have violated Title VI, it could be asked to submit a plan for compliance or OCR could conduct its own enforcement.
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“Before we take our final bow, we ask you to join us once more. Let’s fill our dining room with the sound of clinking glasses, the aroma of favorite meals, and the warmth of shared stories. Come, be part of the grand finale of a place that’s touched lives and fostered a spirit of togetherness.
“Here’s to the traditions, the bonds, and the simple joy of a meal shared. Christos is not just saying farewell; we’re commemorating the indelible mark we’ve made in each other’s lives. Let’s make these last days glow with the essence of what we’ve built together.”
The Giannes family opened their first restaurant at Terrell Mill Junction in 1979, then moved it to the Delk Spectrum shopping center.
The renamed Kouzina Christos opened in the revived Terrell Mill Village shopping center in 2012, but closed it in December 2020 following COVID-19 closures that Giannes said were crippling to mom and pop restaurants like his.
That’s across the street from the MarketPlace Terrell Mill redevelopment, and Giannes wrote at the time that “chains are happy to see the mass failure of independents, expanding the labor pool, increasing competition and increasing downward pressure on hourly wages. Corporate greed and avarice…supporting the Chinese economy.”
Giannes moved Kouzina Christos to the former Aurelio’s Pizza spot at the Market Plaza Shopping Center on Johnson Ferry Road in March 2021.
Om Thursday, Giannes said that “Christos is not just saying farewell; we’re commemorating the indelible mark we’ve made in each other’s lives. Let’s make these last days glow with the essence of what we’ve built together.”
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Chabad of East Cobb is hosting a Menorah Lighting event Sunday at Avenue East Cobb to kick off Chanukah.
There’s plenty of music in the air this weekend across East Cobb, as the Christmas and Hanukkah seasons overlap.
Two East Cobb congregation choirs are joining together for what they’re calling “There’s A Song in the Air” concerts at each respective church.
The first is Friday from 7-8 p.m. at Grace Resurrection Methodist Church (1200 Indian Hills Parkway) and then on Sunday from 5-6 p.m. at East Cobb United Methodist Church (2325 Roswell Road).
The public is invited to these free events.
Likewise, east and west Cobb churches and the Georgia Festival Chorus are combining for “Handel’s Messiah Sing-Along” concerts in two parts. The first is Saturday at 6 p.m. at Due West Methodist Church (3956 Due West Road) for Part I, followed on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Eastminster Presbyterian Church (3125 Sewell Mill Road).
The concerts are free and open to the public.
The annual Christmas at Johnson Ferry festivities this year are dubbed “Sounds of the Season,” featuring a Christmas concert in the sanctuary, with the Johnson Ferry Baptist Church choir, orchestra, sing team, students and children in performance, followed by what we’re told are very, very snowy family activities in a winter wonderland setting.
The free events are Saturday-Sunday from 5-730 p.m. at the church (955 Johnson Ferry Road).
The last two shows of CenterStage North Theatre’s “A Dickens’ Christmas Carol” are set for Thursday-Friday starting at 7 p.m. at The Art Place (3330 Sandy Plains Road).
The Styckes Upon Thump Repertory Company embarks on its fifteenth annual tour of the Dickens classic, subtitled “A Traveling Travesty in Two Tumultuous Acts.”
Tickets are $15-$27.
The weather on Saturday should be pleasant enough for another Hyde Farm Walking Tour. Cobb PARKS leads tours at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. to explore the 1840s-era working farm, as well as fields, pastures an orchard and more natural wonders near the banks of the Chattahoochee River.
The tours are free and participants should gather near the red gate at the end of the parking lot. Call 770-528-8840 for information.
The Hanukkah season is getting underway, and once again the Chabad of Cobb synagogue will lead the celebrations with a Menorah Lighting at Avenue East Cobb on Sunday.
The free family-friendly activities begin at 5:30 p.m. with music and treats, including the Gelt Drop, with chocolates falling out of the sky, thanks to Cobb Fire Ladder 20.
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They said that “due to unforeseen delays in the construction and permitting process with East Cobb County, we are being forced to postpone the grand opening event.”
The Belgian-style waffle eatery is set to occupy one of the new “jewel box” spaces at Avenue East Cobb, a key component of the retail center’s overhaul under North American Properties.
Grand opening festivities were to include live music from local schools and churches, discounts and more.
The announcement comes a day after Press Waffle formerly sent out word of its opening. Keith Ginel told us that a new opening date hasn’t been set and that “our contractor is working on an updated schedule for us now.”
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!
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!
New Georgia State Senate maps (left) would put some of East Cobb in District 33, while the State House boundaries (right) didn’t change much.
East Cobb voters who got a substantial new look on their ballots for Georgia State Senate races in 2022 elections will get another one in 2024.
The Georgia General Assembly on Tuesday adopted legislative maps that likely ensure Republican control and would substantially alter East Cobb’s representation in the upper chamber.
After passing the Senate on Friday, the Senate maps were approved Tuesday by the House. Likewise, the Senate passed State House maps that left the East Cobb area relatively unchanged.
The legislature is in a special session to redraw state and Congressional boundaries after a federal judge declared the 2021 maps violate the U.S. Voting Rights Act.
The Georgia legislature has had Republican majorities since 2005. Currently the GOP has a 102-78 advantage in the House, and a 33-23 majority in the Senate.
Lawmakers were ordered to create a majority-black Congressional district in the western part of metro Atlanta be created, as well as several majority-black legislative districts in the Atlanta and Macon areas.
The East Cobb area had been largely represented in the Senate with one seat, District 32. But after the 2021 Census, legislators redrew the East Cobb area to include District 32, District 56 and District 6.
For the 2023 session, those incumbents were Republicans Kay Kirkpatrick and John Albers and Democrat Jason Esteves, respectively.
The new lines would remove District 6 and place some of East Cobb District 33, which stretches from Powder Springs and through the city of Marietta
That’s represented by Democrat Michael “Doc” Rhett, who represented a smaller part of the East Cobb area until reapportionment.
The maps that were approved were proposed by Republican leaders, who claimed the new boundaries met the judge’s order.
Democrats disagreed, and some complained that the new maps unfairly placed incumbent Democrats in the same district.
One of those situations is in the Smyrna area, where Cobb legislative delegation chairwoman Teri Anulewicz and Doug Stoner were redrawn into District 35.
After the maps are signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, they will be submitted to the federal court for final review.
Legislators also must finish Congressional redistricting by Friday. Maps proposed by GOP leaders would also change East Cobb representation, putting most of the area in District 11 and taking out District 6.
Democrats are threatening legal action at what they say is gerrymandering, including 6th District candidate and current Cobb commissioner Jerica Richardson.
“These maps are an affront to the idea of fair representation and fly in the face of the judge’s order to the state,” she said.
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