The flash flood watch area is in green; flash flood warnings are noted in red. (NWS map)
Monday’s heavy rains are just the beginning of some more wet weather to greet Cobb at the start of the week.
The National Weather Service in Atlanta has issued a flash flood watch through 7 a.m. Wednesday that covers Cobb and north Georgia.
The NWS said one to three inches of rain have already fallen in the east metro Atlanta area, and between and inch and two inches is forecast for the rest of Monday and into Tuesday in the north metro area.
When a flash flood watch is issued, it means that conditions are favorable for possible flooding, including standing water and saturated ground.
The chance of rain is 90 percent today in Cobb and 80 percent overnight, with highs in the high 60s and lows in the low 60s.
For Tuesday, the chance of rain will be 80 percent during the day and 60 percent Tuesday night, with temperatures ranging between the low 60s and and around 70.
Wednesday’s forecast calls for a 70 percent chance of rain, with precipitation tapering off to 20 percent by Thursday.
Temperatures also will be warmer, with highs also expected to reach into the high 60s and low 70s.
We may not see any sun until Sunday, with highs expected around 50.
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A teenage girl was killed and another suffered serious injuries Sunday night in a two-car crash on Jamerson Road, according to Cobb Police.
Officer Sydney Melton, a police spokeswoman, said Kayleigh S. Neste, 17, of Kennesaw, was pronounced dead after being taken to WellStar Kennestone Hospital.
Neste was a student at Kell High School.
A 16-year-old girl, who was not identified, also was taken to Kennestone, with serious injuries that were not specified, Melton said.
Police said the crash happened at 7:14 p.m. Sunday on Jamerson Road at Navilly Way, near Kell High School. A westbound-traveling white 2008 Nissan 350Z driven by Neste lost control and collided with a white 2012 Kia Forte, heading east and driven by the 16-year old.
Neste’s car caught fire after the crash, and Melton said bystanders helped her out of the car and also pulled the Kia away from the Nissan before it could catch fire.
The 16-year-old girl was trapped inside the Kia until fire and rescue crews could free her, Melton said.
Melton said the crash remains under investigation and anyone with information should call Cobb Police at 770-499-3987.
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Some highlights from our events calendar and other activities going on in East Cobb in the coming week:
Gardeners Night Out: Hydrangeas in My Garden, Now What!
Master Gardeners of Cobb County will be presenting Gardeners Night Out at the East Cobb Library (4880 Lower Roswell Road) Tuesday from 7-8 p.m. Lisa Bartlett, garden manager at the Smith-Gilbert Gardens in Kennesaw, will present “Hydrangeas in my Garden, Now What!” Lisa has an extensive horticultural background and will share her knowledge and experience with growing hydrangeas. The event is free. Click here to register or call the East Cobb Library at 770-509-2730.
Kids Cursive
On Wednesday at 5 p.m. its Kids Cursive at Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road). This program is for cursive beginners 8 years and up and their adult caregiver. Learn letters, practice names, and play fun games to reinforce skills! All materials will be provided. No registration required.
Sandy Springs-Cobb Business Networking
Thursday from 8:30am – 10:00am at a new location, Jason’s Deli (1401 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 334). Pay for your breakfast, bring business cards and meet other business owners and entrepreneurs in an informal session.
Financial Fraud
Friday at the East Cobb Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road), 10 a.m.-11 a.m.
Incidences of fraud are on the rise, and scammers’ tactics are becoming more complex. This presentation will help you get the information you need to “outsmart the scammers.” We will discuss how to spot certain red flags that may indicate a fraudulent encounter, resources individuals can turn to in the event they or loved ones are targeted, and steps you can take to help protect yourself and loved ones. Free; registration required by calling 770-509-4900.
Freaky Friday the Musical
Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Wheeler High School theatre (375 Holt Road). Watch what happens when a mother and daughter who are always in each other’s face end up in each other’s body in this 21st century update of a beloved classic.
Wheeler Theatre’s production of Freaky Friday is directed by Dayna Strickland, with choreography by Jaclyn H. Barber. Visit wheelerhs.booktix.com for reserved and general admission tickets. Contact wheeler.theatre.boosters@gmail.com for more information.
Polar Bear Run
From 8-11 a.m. Saturday at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church (955 Johnson Ferry Road), it’s the 32nd running, and and Peachtree Qualifier road race. The distances are 5K, 2K or Cub Run with the miles outdoors and a party indoors, to be run rain, snow or shine. For information and to register, click here.
Pope High School Band Recycling Day
Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the school (3001 Hembree Road), accepting recyclable metal, electronics, appliances, paint and paper for shredding.
A $10 donation includes all you can bring metal, appliances and electronics. Additional fees apply for TVs, monitors, tablets, large items, paint and paper shredding. Pick-up is available with advance reservation.
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Cobb County government is saying Saturday night that thunderstorms that came through late this afternoon have left some roads blocked by trees.
Those roads include portions of Old Canton Road, Post Oak Tritt Road, Bill Murdock Road, Casteel Road and Bishop Lake Road.
A message sent out by the county around 7:30 p.m. Saturday wasn’t more specific, except to say that it was responding to at least two dozen calls, and likely more, around Cobb.
The county said Cobb police and fire/rescue crews that have responded thus far haven’t reported any injuries.
Cobb EMC is updating its power outage map (see above), which as of 8:30 p.m. included some locations in East Cobb. The biggest cluster was in the Terrell Mill/Powers Ferry area, with nearly 500 outages reported.
More than 200 outages were reported in an area around Lower Roswell Road and the South Marietta Parkway, around 30 off Canton Road near Morgan Road, and 20 or so off Lower Roswell, east of Johnson Ferry Road.
Georgia Power showed some outages on its map around the Noonday area, also around 8:30 p.m. Saturday.
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Submitted information from the Cobb County School District:
Something exciting and fresh is happening at Wheeler High School! The Wildcat Nation is expanding Wheeler Fresh Collaborative, a cross-curricular collaboration by teachers and students whose goals are to increase community involvement and provide food essentials when and where needed. This STEAM initiative (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) was originally conceived as a farm-to-table program but has since evolved to include a food pantry started by Wheeler students and eventually supplemented with contributions from the surrounding community.
The Wheeler Fresh Collaborative utilizes expertise from Wheeler’s culinary, horticulture, environmental science, drafting, graphic design, and marketing classes along with many Wheeler clubs to help ensure fellow Wildcats have a reliable source of food when needed.
From concept to realization, many classes have helped develop the Wheeler Fresh Collaborative. Drafting students designed the layout of the grow beds for horticulture students. Environmental science students studied the soil and the growing environment. Now, horticulture students grow herbs and vegetables, and culinary students prepare, cook, and serve meals. Graphic design students create logos and visuals. Credit for branding and promotion of the Wheeler Fresh Collaborative goes to the school’s marketing students. Wheeler’s Girls Who Code Club members manage the online ordering system for the food pantry, which they created.
For its kick-off event, Wheeler Fresh Collaborative hosted a dinner theatre ahead of Wheeler Theatre’s production of the musical “Annie” in the Spring of 2019. This event, along with Marketing students attending monthly business luncheons in the East Cobb and North Cobb areas and articles published in local media outlets such as East Cobber Magazine, brought attention to the initiative. Collaboration has since involved linking Wheeler’s feeder schools and their food pantries to further extend the program’s reach.
Currently, Wheeler Fresh Collaborative is preparing for its inaugural Wheeler Fresh Marketplace scheduled for January 17. The Marketplace will be set up outside the Performing Arts Center [from 5-7 p.m.], in conjunction with Wheeler Theatre’s musical production of “Freaky Friday!”
There will be an interactive gallery where a variety of Wheeler clubs, organizations, and classes will promote concepts of students helping students, collaboration and community involvement within the Wheeler family.
The Horticulture Club will sell plant starters, AP Statistics students will display their original games for people to play, and other Wheeler clubs will have snacks for purchase or a community experience to present. Thanks to donation boxes placed around the Marketplace for the Wheeler Fresh Collaborative and Feed Our Friends initiatives, visitors will be able to help pay off student lunch debt across the Wheeler cluster of schools.
Program organizers and volunteers plan for the Wheeler Fresh Collaborative to sustain a food pantry with both Wheeler grown food and other non-perishable items, which will aid the 41% of Wheeler students who benefit from free and reduced lunch. The goal is for the Wheeler Fresh Collaborative to reduce the challenges faced by those in need in the community, all the while demonstrating what can be accomplished when students work together to build a true sense of community.
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Loyal Tavern closed at Parkaire Landing in June 2019, after previously opening as Loyal Q and Brew in 2017. (ECN file)
The former Loyal Q/Loyal Tavern space at Parkaire Landing will soon become another location for the expanding McCray’s Tavern venture, according to a published report.
ToNeTo Atlantaposted Friday that the fourth McCray’s Tavern in metro Atlanta will open in the spring. McCray’s has existing neighborhood bar-type restaurants in Smyrna, Lawrenceville and Midtown.
Randy McCray, one of two brothers behind the LEAD Hospitality Group, recently purchased the longstanding Shillings on the Square restaurant in Marietta.
That’s being converted into a steak and seafood establishment to be called Mac’s Chophouse, also slated to open in the spring.
Other restaurants run by LEAD (for Let’s Eat and Drink) include The Mill in Roswell.
OVME, a “medical aesthetic boutique,” is opening its second metro Atlanta location Jan. 20 at Merchants Walk.
Services will include facial services, dermal fillers, body sculpting and laser hair removal, testosterone replacement therapy and PRP (Platelet-rich plasma) for hail loss, as well as B0-12 shots and hydration therapy.
OVME (www.OVME.com) has locations in Buckhead, Dallas and Nashville.
Boyce to speak to ECBA
Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce is the guest speaker at the Jan. 21 luncheon of the East Cobb Business Association at the Olde Towne Athletic Club. Tickets are $20-$25 in advance and $25-$30 at the door; get info and register by clicking here.
On Jan. 15 the Northeast Cobb Business Association holds its first event of 2020 at the Piedmont Church. The speaker is Scott Reed, franchise owner of Chick-fil-A at Sprayberry. Info and more here.
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Warmer weather this weekend will bring with it the chance of severe weather on Saturday, including heavy rains and a wind advisory that’s been issued for much of the state.
Cobb is included in the wind advisory, which begins at 7 a.m. Saturday and ends at 10 p.m.
According to the National Weather Service in Atlanta, northwest Georgia could be in for heavy rain showers, damaging winds and possible tornadoes.
The severe weather is expected for mid-afternoon and into the early evening on Saturday.
A 50 percent chance of rain is expected Friday night, rising to 90 percent by later Saturday afternoon.
The high Saturday is expected to be around 70, with winds gusting between 15-20 mph and possibly as high as 35 mph in some places, especially in west Georgia and metro Atlanta.
Between a quarter-inch and a half-inch of rain is in the forecast, and the winds are likely to pick up Saturday night.
The low Saturday night could drop into the high 40s.
The sun will return on Sunday, most likely in the afternoon, with highs in the mid 60s. The chance of rain is expected to be around 20 percent, and winds will die down to 5-10 mph.
More rain is in the forecast Sunday night and through most of next week, and temperatures will be above average for the winter.
In anticipation of the severe weather, Georgia Power has prepared a checklist and tips for safety and preparing for the possibility of power loss.
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Rob Hosack, the Cobb County Manager since 2017, announced his retirement on Thursday, according to a release issued by Cobb County Government.
Hosack, an East Cobb resident, will be leaving on April 1, and his position will be filled by deputy county manager Jackie McMorris on an interim basis after that, according to the release.
“It has been one of my highest honors to serve as county manager of Cobb County,“ Hosack said in a statement. “For the past several years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with an outstanding team in the county and to engage with Cobb’s residents. We have developed a deep bench of talented administrators and it’s time for me to step aside and let others lead.”
The county manager directs the day-to-day governance of county government departments and a workforce of 5,000.
This is Hosack’s second employment with Cobb County. He previously had worked 29 years for the county, including serving as the Community Development Director, and returned to assume the county manager post in 2017.
He succeeded David Hankerson, who was the Cobb County Manager for 24 years.
“Rob is the epitome of a public servant,” Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said in a statement. “Any success we’ve achieved in the county while I’ve been Chairman is largely due to Rob Hosack. I’m saddened, but understand his reasons for leaving and wish him nothing but success. No Chairman could have had a better working relationship with a county manager than I had with Rob.”
Hosack returned to Cobb under new political leadership after Boyce defeated incumbent chairman Tim Lee in 2016.
And Hosack’s announced departure comes in an election year when Boyce is up for re-election, and whose seat is being eyed by South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid.
Another announced candidate for chairman is East Cobb resident Larry Savage, who’s twice run before for that seat.
East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott is also up for re-election, but he has not announced his plans.
Several Cobb department heads have changed in that time, including community development, DOT, communications and public safety.
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The following East Cobb food scores from Jan. 6-9 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing to view details of the inspection:
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!
Jump start your new year’s resolution of finding a job by attending career seminars at the CobbWorks Worksource Development Center.
Ace Your Interview 9-11 a.m., Friday, Jan. 17 Learn important components to a successful interview, what research you should do beforehand and what your clothes say about you. Presented by David Perry, human services director for the Omni Hotel at the Battery Atlanta.
Resume Building 9-11 a.m., Friday, Jan. 24 Learn the keys to a powerful resume. Presented by Georgia Department of Labor staff. All attendees must register at employgeorgia.com and create a searchable resume in order to attend.
Skills Employers Want 9-11 a.m., Friday, Jan. 31 Learn the soft skills employers want most. Presented by Georgia Department of Labor staff. All attendees must register at employgeorgia.com and create a searchable resume in order to attend.
Registration for all workshops is required. To register, call 770-528-4300 or send an email to information@cobbworks.org. The workshops will be held at 463 Commerce Park Drive, Suite 100, Marietta.
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A 3-point basket swishes through the net for the Lady Trojans in the first event at the new Lassiter gym. (East Cobb News photos and slideshow by Wendy Parker)
Before the first-ever event tipped off at the new Lassiter High School gym on Tuesday, the school’s athletic director stood at midcourt, looked around around them, and took in some history.
Scott Kelly is 1993 Lassiter graduate who recalled his time the school’s first gym, built in 1980.
“We played on a rubber floor,” he said.
The new $15.66 million building features maroon-colored seating for 3,000, as well as locker rooms for basketball and volleyball, and a wrestling practice facility.
For the last year or so, the construction area has been a mess, in addition to taking out parking space.
“I think you’ve got the best gym in the state,” Kelly told the Lassiter student body at a grand opening ceremony that included CCSD officials.
He also thanked the students for their patience: “You finally made it.”
Lassiter and Cobb County School District leaders and representatives from R.K. Redding Construction Inc. attended the grand opening.
As the Lassiter girls basketball team played Walton in the first game, Kelly paused momentarily near the Lady Trojans’ bench and took in the atmosphere.
He’s been a teacher and administrator at his alma mater for 20 years, including the last five as athletics director, as plans were being made for a new gym.
“It’s something people in this community have been looking forward to for a lot of years,” he said.
It’s state of the art, and part of a continuing wave of new gyms in the Cobb County School District to feature such a large capacity, and with specific space for multiple sports.
That’s also the case at a new gym that opened in August at Walton and two years ago at Pope. They have combined gym-theatre facilities, unlike Lassiter, whose concert hall opened in 2013 on another part of campus.
Kelly said the Lassiter freshman and JV teams will be playing at the new gym as well, starting with home games on Friday against Roswell.
The wrestling team will have competitions there, and the volleyball team will make its debut at the new gym in the fall of 2020.
On Tuesday, however, Walton played the role of spoiler, winning the girls game 65-37 and the boys game by a 55-50 score.
The Lassiter huddle was fired up in the fourth quarter as Walton began pulling away.
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The Cobb Board of Elections and Registration will consider a proposal next week to relocate nine voting precincts from schools for the 2020 elections, including three in East Cobb.
The precincts at Dickerson and Dodgen middle schools and Lockheed Elementary School are among those to be considered for relocation by the five-member board next Monday.
Under the proposal the Dickerson precinct would move to Lutheran Church of the Incarnation (1200 Indian Hills Parkway), and the Dodgen precinct would move to the Episcopal Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (1795 Johnson Ferry Road).
The Marietta 6A precinct at Lockheed would be moved to the Redeemed Christian Church of God-Heaven’s Gate Church (816 Pickens Industrial Drive).
Most of the other proposed precinct changes elsewhere in the county also involve moving from schools to churches or community centers.
“Any objections must be filed in writing before the time of the hearing or presented orally during the hearing. If no objection is made, the Board will adopt this change at that time.”
Also on Tuesday’s elections board agenda is a proposal to divide the Bells Ferry 3 precinct in northeast Cobb and create Bells Ferry 4.
Here’s a proposed map of the two precincts; voters remaining in Bells Ferry 3 would continue to vote at Noonday Baptist Church (4120 Canton Road). Voters in the new Bells Ferry 4 precinct would vote at Shiloh Hills Baptist Church (75 Hawkins Store Road).
Two members of board of elections are appointed by the Cobb legislative delegation, and one each are chosen by the Cobb Democratic and Republican parties and the Cobb Commission Chairman.
The elections board meets Jan. 13 at 4 p.m. in the conference room at West Park Government Center, 736 Whitlock Ave., in Marietta.
Any precinct changes made by the elections board are subject to final approval by the Cobb Board of Commissioners next Tuesday, Jan. 14.
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The Cobb Board of Education met for only 20 minutes Tuesday to elect officers for the 2020 calendar year, but most of it was taken up with the explosive charge by one member that the process for doing so isn’t above board.
Jaha Howard
“Something stinks,” second-year board member Jaha Howard said after the board’s Republican majority voted 4-2 for fellow party member Brad Wheeler to serve as chairman.
Another Republican, David Banks of East Cobb, was voted vice chairman in a similar fashion and by a similar vote.
Both votes were conducted without any board discussion at its annual organizational meeting.
Howard, who represents the Campbell and Osborne clusters in South Cobb, nominated his fellow Democrat, Charisse Davis, of the Walton and Wheeler clusters. But they were the only two votes for her in a series of votes strictly along party lines.
The board’s other Democrat, David Morgan, was not in attendance.
The four Republicans are all white males and the three Democrats are black. Davis is the only woman on the seven-member board.
After the votes for Wheeler and Banks prevailed, Howard lashed out, saying “everything is behind closed doors” pertaining to board discussions about officers before the meeting, and that the activity in open session is “vote, hurry and go on.”
He said that in communicating with colleagues before the vote about nominating Davis—also starting her second year on the board—he was troubled to hear familiar concerns about her, including a lack of experience.
Charisse Davis
“These reasons keep coming up,” Howard said.
“What is it? Is it gender bias? Is is racial bias? Is it a political party bias? . . . The public deserves to hear why you’re choosing somebody.”
Shortly after taking the gavel, Wheeler said that for each individual board member, “that’s their call” on how they vote.
“I’ve been in this situation before. It’s who the board majority has confidence in.”
In brief comments, Davis noted that while “the vote is the vote,” this is the fourth consecutive year that either Wheeler or David Chastain, last year’s chairman, has served as chairman.
Howard, who touched off controversy last year that resulted in the board voting to ban members’ public comments, said that “most efforts to have more conversations in the light of day seem to be frowned upon.”
Brad Wheeler
Republican board member Randy Scamihorn said he’s not heard from Howard or Davis about their concerns. He said that his decisions on voting for officers are “personal” and that “I try to to make it for the betterment of the board and school district.”
Wheeler, last year’s board vice-chairman, pledged to work with all board members and said that “I think this position represents our best collectively.”
After the board meeting, Davis wrote on her Facebook page that “seemingly everyone who has expressed an interest in being chair over the years, except Mr. Morgan, has been chosen. This includes newly sworn-in members, women, non-educators, and even a Democrat that served some years ago.
“However, in a district comprised of 62.6% students of color, there has never been a person of color chosen as chair. It’ll happen.”
Wheeler, who represents the Harrison, Hillgrove and McEachern clusters, is one of four board members up for re-election in 2020, along with Banks (Pope and Lassiter), Scamihorn (Allatoona, Kennesaw Mountain and North Cobb) and Morgan (Pebblebrook and South Cobb).
The board also approved its 2020 meeting schedule, and changed those dates from the third Wednesday to the third Thursday of the month, with a few exceptions.
The first regular work session and business meeting for the school board take place on Jan. 16.
The rest of the 2020 school board meeting schedule can be found here.
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At the start of a new year, we’d like to ask our readers what they think of what we post here on East Cobb News. We promise this short survey won’t take much of your time.
Just fill out the form at the link below, and feel free to add any additional thoughts about what you read at East Cobb News. What’s happening in East Cobb is why you come here, and we want to better serve your interests and understand what you value about this community resource.
Unlike corporate-owned media, we answer above all to our readers, with the objective of meeting the news and information needs in our community. Your answers will help us tailor our product to make it really appeal to what’s important to you.
Don’t be bashful—tell us what we’re doing well, what we could do better or different. We appreciate your readership and look forward to delivering more community news and information that’s relevant to you as we continue in 2020.
I’m always accessible to field your questions, hear complaints and try to explain why we do what we do at East Cobb News. E-mail me: wendy@eastcobbnews.com.
There’s not a deadline for this; we’ll be collecting responses for most of the month of January, so please feel free to complete the survey as you can.
Thanks so much, and Happy New Year!
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The Cobb Board of Education meets Tuesday in its 2020 organizational meeting, at which it will select its chair and vice chair for the year.
Charisse Davis
Charisse Davis of Post 6, which includes the Walton and Wheeler clusters, said she’s interested in becoming chair.
It’s a duty that includes running meetings and representing the board in an official capacity.
“I’ve expressed my interest to serve as chair, a role that many other board members have held, even in their first term,” Davis noted in her January newsletter.
The first-term Democrat, who lives in the Campbell cluster, was nominated for vice chair last year, shortly after taking office. But the board’s four-member Republican majority voted for two of its own members for the leadership roles after multiple votes.
The 2019 chairman was David Chastain, of the Kell and Sprayberry clusters, and the vice chair was Brad Wheeler of West Cobb. Per board rules, officers cannot serve in the same roles in consecutive years.
The board had a 6-1 Republican majority until Davis and Jaha Howard of South Cobb joined in 2019.
During the year, they sparred with Republicans on issues including revisiting the school senior tax exemption and equity and diversity matters in the Cobb County School District. Votes to formally consider them were defeated in party-line votes, as was a proposal by Davis for formalize a process for communicating with the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
Regarding the senior tax exemption issue, Davis has said she wants to examine closing loopholes, not do away with the exemption altogether.
“Right now, the age-based tax exemption, which exempts anyone 62 and over who applies for it from paying school taxes in Cobb (regardless of your income or any other qualifier), amounts to $122.7 million,” Davis wrote in her October newsletter. “That represents 27% of our total residential property tax digest and Cobb’s age-based exemption has more of an impact on our school funding than any other metro district.”
The four GOP members also voted in August to bar board members from making comments at meetings after Howard had spoken out in that forum on non-school matters. Both he and Davis decried the ban as censorship.
Tuesday’s meeting starts at 1 p.m. in the board room at the CCSD Central Office, 514 Glover St., Marietta. Board members also will vote on meeting dates for 2020.
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But that was for specifications for seating for 2,500, and was revised to include more capacity and factor in annual construction inflation of six percent.
The building includes varsity locker rooms for the Lassiter girls and boys basketball teams and the Trojans volleyball team, as well as locker rooms for visiting teams and a practice facility for the Lassiter wrestling team.
The Lassiter gym is the second new gym to open for an East Cobb school in recent months.
The new Walton gym was broken in by the Raiders’ state championship volleyball team in the fall.
That’s part of a new $31.7 million project at Walton that includes main and auxiliary gymnasiums, a wrestling room, a weight room, locker rooms, a main theater, a black box theater and band, orchestra and choral suites.
On Jan. 24, Walton will play host to Lassiter in basketball in its new gym.
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The following East Cobb food scores from Dec. 23-Jan. 3 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing to view details of the inspection:
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!
On Friday morning Paper Mill Road was closed at Old Paper Mill for several hours after being affected by flooding following the heavy rains Thursday.
Cobb County government said Old Paper Mill Road was reopened to traffic around 10:30 a.m., as work crews on the scene cleared out debris pushed into the drainage system by the rain.
Another road with flooding issues is Willow Point Parkway, between Lower Roswell Road and Little Willeo Road (see map above).
If you know of any roads that are experiencing flooding, please let us know by e-mailing: editor@eastcobbnews.com.
The National Weather Service in Atlanta said a flood watch remains in effect for extreme northwest Georgia, but that continued rain Friday will continue to present flood hazards in most of north and central Georgia.
Cobb is included in its hazardous weather outlook through Friday afternoon and into Friday evening, when the rain is expected to taper off.
Friday’s highs are expected in the lower 60s, with an 80 percent chance of showers and patchy fog.
The chance of rain is 60 percent tonight, and down to 40 percent on Saturday, with highs in the mid 50s.
Temperatures are expected to be near freezing on Saturday night, with partly cloudy skies.
The sun will return on Sunday, with highs in the mid 50s, with lows Sunday night in the mid 30s.
More sun will greet the first full week of the new year on Monday, with highs also in the mid 50s, but rain is in the forecast on Tuesday.
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The U.S. Census Bureau is recruiting thousands of people to assist with the upcoming April 2020 Census. Census recruiters will be on-site at the East, North and South Cobb County tag offices from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Monday, Jan 6 and Friday, Jan 10. Stop by to learn more and apply. Find office locations here: www.cobbtax.org/locations/MVLocations.
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Smith-Gilbert Gardens seeks volunteers to join their Docent Training class of 2020, which begins in late January. Docents are the outgoing volunteers who lead interactive tours of the gardens for all types of groups and casual garden visitors. Beyond leading tours, docents also help with environmental education programs like Garden Stories, Butterfly Ambassadors, Scout programs, guided bird walks and more. Docents are the key link between Smith-Gilbert Gardens’ mission to be a resource for education, the physical collections at the gardens, and garden visitors.
No prior gardening experience is required – trainees will learn all they need to know. This is a wonderful opportunity for anyone who enjoys learning and teaching others. Due to the garden’s hours and popular tour booking times, some weekday morning availability is required.
Training begins Monday, January 27 from 9:30 to noon, at Smith-Gilbert Gardens, 2382 Pine Mountain Road, Kennesaw; and continues on each following Monday through March 2. Trainees will learn the history of the Hiram Butler House and surrounding property, the plant and sculpture collections at the gardens, and everything else they need to know to lead a fun, informative tour at Smith-Gilbert Gardens. Upon completion of training, new docents can start leading tours right away!
Anyone interested in joining the Docent Training class of 2020 should submit their New Volunteer Application online at https://smithgilbertgardens.com/support-us/volunteer/ , and will be required to submit to a background check and drug screen. For further information, please contact Kathy Post at (770) 919-0248, or email kpost@kennesaw-ga.gov.
Smith-Gilbert Gardens houses more than 4,000 species of plants on 17 acres in Kennesaw, GA. United by woodland paths, the gardens consist of separate groupings with individual elements of fascination. These include the Bonsai Exhibit, Paladino Camellia Garden, Crevice Garden, Rose Garden, and American Conifer Society Reference Garden.
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