Cobb Police on Thursday visited nearly a dozen East Cobb businesses to see if they would serve alcohol to anyone under 21. All of them passed their compliance checks, meaning they did not sell to underage volunteers. Those businesses are:
Kroger, 2960 Shallowford Road
Wing Zone, 3052 Shallowford Road
BP Food Mart, 2951 Shallowford Road
Food Mart, 3065 Shallowford Road
Avenue Spirits and Wine, 4400 Roswell Road
Citgo Food Mart, 4360 Roswell Road
BN Food Mart, 4267 Roswell Road
Publix 4401 Shallowford Road
Yeero Village, 4751 Sandy Plains Road
Rosa’s Pizza, 3605 Sandy Plains Road
Good Times Package Store, 4771 Alabama Road.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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 29th Marietta Greek Festival continues through Sunday at Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church (3431 Trickum Road), and we got there not long after it opened on Friday to take in what’s become one of the most popular community festivals in East Cobb.
Grade-school children danced to folk tunes from the Greek islands and mainland, part of the featured entertainment that’s a custom at the festival.
The festival also includes tours of the church, which are from 10-5:30 & 7:30-9 Saturday & 12-5 Sunday. This year’s theme is “Holy Icons: Windows Into Heaven.” The history of the Orthodox church, as well as many Greek cultural achievements, are spelled out for visitors in the fellowship hall. A full menu of Greek food items for purchase includes the classic Gyro. Cooking demonstrations will be held at 1, 3, 5 & 7 Saturday and 12:30, 2:30 & 3:30 Sunday.The outdoor marketplace includes more food, children’s activities and crafts.
The Marietta Greek Festival continues Saturday from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
Admission is $5, and free shuttle bus service is available at the Church of Latter-Day Saints (3340 Trickum Road, Saturday only), Simpson Middle School (3340 Trickum Road) and Mountain View Elementary School (3151 Sandy Plains Road).
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!
Cobb Forward, the county’s comprehensive transportation update, is seeking public feedback via an online survey that continues through the end of May, and that takes just a few minutes to complete.
It asks participants to state their priorities for roads, transit, trails, cost efficiencies, safety and technology and innovation upgrades and options.
This is the first Cobb CTP (explainer here) to incorporate a broad base of information, including technology (i.e. autonomous vehicles), land use and other factors besides roads and transit.
A series of town hall meetings was conducted around the county this spring (presentation links here), and the next phase will be a needs assessment, expected later this year.
Recommendations will be made early in 2020 for the plan update, which will become part of the Cobb 2040 Comprehensive Plan.
That’s slated to be adopted by county commissioners in 2021.
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!
I.M. Pei, the architect who designed the Wildwood Plaza office park in East Cobb and who was known for many acclaimed buildings around the world, has died at the age of 102.
His most famous building is the Louvre Museum pyramid in Paris, and he’s also known for the John F. Kennedy library in Boston and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
He was world-famous by the time he drew up the plans for Wildwood Plaza, which was developed by Tom Cousins and opened off Powers Ferry Road and Windy Ridge Parkway in 1991.
The twin towers are two 15-story granite buildings with a pyramid atrium (inspired by the Louvre building, which opened two years before Wildwood) that form the centerpiece of the 289-acre Wildwood office complex.
The towers, done in Pei’s modernist urban style also were graced by pear trees he explicitly included across the traffic circle from the buildings.
Last year, during a zoning case before Cobb commissioners, some nearby residents asked if the developer of a townhouse complex slated for the area could try to preserve the aging trees (they were not).
Pei, who was born in China in 1917, came to the United States and studied architecture at MIT under Walter Gropius, one of the leaders of the modernist Bauhaus movement.
His awards included the Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious honor in architecture, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce (in uniform) and Cobb Superior Court Judge Reuben Green (with scissors) at the East Cobb VA clinic ribbon-cutting.
Submitted information and photo:
The Atlanta VA Health Care System held a ribbon cutting ceremony May 16 for its Northeast Cobb County VA Clinic, located at 2217 Roswell Road in Marietta. The new VA clinic provides local veterans with primary care, mental health, telehealth and laboratory services. It is open 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.
“We have a county of over 45 thousand veterans and the needs here for medical services and primary care are urgent,” said Chairman Boyce, who spent nearly 30 years in leadership positions in the Marine Corps and was in Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm in Iraq and Operation Restore Hope in Somalia. “I’m glad to see the VA recognizes that and is going to build that kind of care and begin serving all these warriors that live around here. It’s a long time coming.”
“Opening the VA clinic here will make a huge difference for our veterans in Cobb County both in the Veterans court but also for the veterans in our community that need services,” said Superior Court Chief Judge Reuben Green, a veteran of the Marine Corps.
Veterans previously requesting to receive care at this site will be contacted directly. Enrolled veterans interested in transferring to the new site, please contact the new clinic by calling 404-321-6111, ext. 204403. Veterans not enrolled in the Atlanta VAHCS, please call Eligibility Service at 404-321-6111, ext. 206450.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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 Georgia Celebrates Quilts Show will be held at the Cobb County Civic Center, Thursday, June 6th through Saturday, June 8 from 10am – 5pm. Immerse yourself into the world of quilting as the most talented quilters from around the state compete for cash prizes. More than 344 juried quilts will be on display in the quilt gallery. Handmade pieces range from artful wall hangings to traditional bed coverings, and the show will offer inspiration and pleasure for quilters, artists, and everyone who appreciates the beautiful results of this art form.
The event also includes a Quilted Treasures boutique featuring unique handmade items, a Block Party display of blocks made by K-12 students, several raffles and a marketplace featuring quilt related products.
The Georgia Celebrates Quilts Show is a family friendly event and is being held at the Cobb County Civic Center – 584 South Marietta Parkway SE Marietta, GA 30060. Tickets are $10 at the door, advance tickets for groups of ten or more at $9 per ticket are available for pre-show purchase at https://ecqg.com/advance-ticket-sales/. For additional information visit https://ecqg.com/quilt-show/.
The raffle quilt for this year’s show “Celebration,” shown above, was created by 69 guild members. The show features handcrafted quilts from 26 local East Cobb women.
Featured women of East Cobb: Michele Bautsch, Beth Brady, Rebecca Drumm, Suzanne Gipalo, Carolyn Hofmann, Marie Huston, Heather Kosbab, Alta Miele, Joann C. Moore, Kathy Niemann, Abbi Rabeneck, Natalie Lynn Scott, Betty Gay White, Ginger White, Linda Bailey, Devone Desoto, Jeanne Hayden, Angeline Hixson, Glenda Jones, Adri Herman, Lila Taylor Scott, Michelle Doyle, Carol Littge, Devon Pfeif, Mary Ellen Von Holt and Mary Ann Zambory.
Photo credit: Jerrie Paschal – Used with permission.
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!
With little discussion, the Cobb school board adopted a $1.17 billion fiscal year 2020 budget Thursday night.
The budget, which takes effect July 1, will include pay raises for most non-temporary employees ranging between 8 and 12.6 percent. They include teachers, administrators, bus drivers, cafeteria workers, counselors and nurses.
The only change to the budget, presented at a board work session Thursday afternoon, is spending an additional $340,000 in “academic supplements” for elementary school teachers. The stipends will go to those teachers who will serve in grade-level leadership positions at their respective schools.
The budget adopted by the board maintains the current millage rate of 18.9 mills. The pay raises will total around $74 million, and more than $18 million is being transferred from reserves.
Teacher allotments will increase by 90 across the district, and members of the CCDS’ police department also will get a “competitive salary adjustment.”
A total of $81 million in increased revenues, including $43 million in state Quality Basic Education funding as well as $30 million in additional property taxes due to an estimated 5.5 percent growth in the Cobb tax digest, has been worked into the budget proposal.
Brad Johnson, the district’s chief financial officer, said the final tax digest number will be determined in June.
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 Greek Festival takes place from Friday-Sunday, and organizers said there will be some parking changes in effect this year.
The festival goes from Friday-Sunday afternoon the Holy Transfiguration Greek Orthodox Church (3431 Trickum Road, indicated by red star on map), and off-site parking with shuttle service has been altered from previous years.
Due to construction work at Lassiter High School, a previous satellite parking venue, the festival lots for this year are at the following venues (indicated by blue circles on the map):
Simpson Middle School (3340 Trickum Road);
Church of Latter-Day Saints (3195 Trickum Road, Friday and Saturday only);
Mountain View Elementary School (3151 Sandy Plains Road).
The festival hours are 3-11 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
There’s free admission Friday from 3-5 p.m.; otherwise admission is $5, and free to children ages 12 and under. Online admission and food ticket purchases can be made here through Sunday.
The parking is free at all lots.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) contractors will implement overnight lane closures on I-75 this weekend for resurfacing. Expect some traffic delays.
Weather permitting, these are the lane closures scheduled for Friday, May 17 from 9:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. Monday, May 20:
Two right lanes and right shoulder lane will be closed on I-75 southbound between the Canton Road and Delk Road exits;
Three right lanes will be closed on I-75 northbound between the I-75/I-285 interchange and the Canton Road exit.
Overhead signs and message boards in the Marietta area will alert drivers of the closures in advance. These major closures reduce prolonged impacts to the traveling public by condensing the crews and equipment needed and ensuring safety for workers and drivers.
Motorists are advised to plan alternate routes to their destinations and/or allow extra travel time for traffic delays.
As always, motorists traveling in the area are reminded to reduce their speeds in the work zone. Motorists are also encouraged to wear seatbelts, eliminate distractions behind the wheel, and plan their routes before getting on the road by calling 511 for real-time information on work status and traffic conditions.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
Anthony and Cynthia Welch were shot after celebrating her birthday at dinner at Pappadeaux. (Photo: Cobb District Attorney’s office)
A Cobb Superior Court jury has convicted two men from Florida for killing a man and shooting his wife in 2016 in the parking lot of a Windy Hill Road restaurant.
The Cobb District Attorney’s office said Demarious Kevauh Greene, now 23, and Dylan Marquis Ledbetter, now 25, were found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, and firearms-possession charges. Ledbetter was also found guilty of aggravated assault on a police officer.
Their victims are Anthony and Cynthia Welch, a Kennesaw couple leaving the Pappadeaux restaurant on Oct. 7, 2016, after celebrating her birthday. Prosecutors said they were attacked as they reached their car, and when Anthony Welch stepped in front of his wife to shield her from the men, he was shot in the heart with a .380-caliber bullet.
Cynthia Welch also was shot, in the arm and the chest, and one of the men took a necklace from her neck before they fled the scene by car, according to the DA’s office.
Anthony Welch died a short time later, and Cynthia Welch survived. They were married nearly 25 years.
During the trial, prosecutors said police linked the Welch shootings with a robbery in the parking lot at a store in Woodstock four days later. On Oct. 15, police spotted a vehicle from the Woodstock incident parked at a Red Roof motel near the Pappadeaux restaurant, and followed it as it left the parking lot.
During a traffic stop, prosecutors said the vehicle pulled into a gas station, trying to get away, and hit a Cobb Police officer, then another car. According to police, Greene and Ledbetter jumped out of the car, with Ledbetter being shot three times by a plainclothes officer.
The DA’s office said a man still in the car surrendered to police, who executed a search warrant for items in the vehicle and discovered a .380 handgun that GBI ballistics experts later matched to the bullets in the Welch shootings.
Prosecutors said other evidence corrobrated the presence of Greene and Ledbetter at the crime scenes.
In his closing arguments, Cobb assistant district attorney Jesse Evans said, “this murder was cold-blooded. Senseless. It didn’t have to happen. Cynthia and Anthony Welch did not deserve this.”
Greene and Ledbetter will be sentenced on May 30, and could be facing life in prison without parole. They’ve been convicted in the Woodstock robbery and received life sentences.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
For the first time since 2011, the Walton boys lacrosse team is playing for a state championship.
The Raiders downed centennial 8-3 at Raider Valley on Wednesday to reach the Georgia High School Association Class 7A finals.
Their opponent will be the two-time defending state champions from Lambert, which prevented an all-East Cobb final by downing Lassiter 8-4.
Saturday’s final will take place at 1 p.m. at Fifth Third Bank Stadium near the Kennesaw State University campus (3200 George Busbee Parkway).
Admission is $14 and covers all four state championship games, starting at 10:30 a.m.
Walton is 20-2 on the season, while Lambert is 20-1. The Longhorns, from Forsyth County, have won four state championships since the school opened in 2009.
Walton’s only title came in 2011. The Lassiter boys won state championships in 2006 and in 2017, but on Wednesday never had the lead against a Lambert team that’s become a dynasty in a short amount of time.
No East Cobb girls teams reached the finals this year. Kell won state titles in 2014 and 2015 and Walton won in 2016. The Milton girls, who play in the same region as Walton and Lassiter, will go for their 13th championship in the 7A final Saturday against Mill Creek at 5 p.m.
Pope prevails
The Pope Greyhounds baseball team advanced to the state championship series for the fourth consecutive year by defeating Harrison earlier this week.
The Greyhounds, winners of the last two Class 6A titles, knocked off the Hoyas on the road in the third and decisive game on Wednesday in a 5-0 shutout.
Pope will play Heritage of Conyers in a doubleheader starting at 5 p.m. next Wednesday, May 22, at State Mutual Stadium in Rome. Tickets are $13 plus a $2 facility fee.
If a third game is necessary, it will take place at the same venue on Thursday, starting at 7:30 p.m.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
As crews were finishing the grading work for the new MarketPlace Terrell project and construction began on the self-storage facility, a spokesman for the developer updated the community about the mixed-use development.
Brandon Ashkouti of Eden Rock Real Estate Partners told members of the Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance last week that the overall timetable for the $120 million project, located at the northwest intersection of Powers Ferry Road and Terrell Mill Road, is expected to be about 24 months.
That depends in part on a case to be decided soon by the Georgia Supreme Court. Kroger, which is planning a 95,000-square-foot superstore as the center’s anchor, is appealing a Cobb judge’s ruling against tax abatements it sought from the Development Authority of Cobb County.
Ashkouti said in response to a question from the audience that Kroger is committed to building there (and moving from a nearby location at Powers Ferry and Delk roads).
“Until they are approved,” he said, referring to the abatements, “we do not have a timeline for that store. We anticipate a favorable outcome.”
The Kroger store would be located where the former Brumby Elementary School campus once stood.
In the meantime, a self-storage facility located at the back of the 23.9-acre tract, and near Terrell Mill Road (in photo above) is the first building to get underway.
Ashkouti said that building should be done within 9 to 12 months, and an adjacent apartment building with 298 units is expected to be completed in 24 months.
Building out shops and restaurants could take between 12-15 months, he said, and discussions are underway with possible tenants he wouldn’t identify.
Construction on the latter could get underway this fall, he said, and two planned restaurants would have 4,200 and 3,500 square feet.
“We’re talking to some great local restaurants,” Ashkouti said.
Brandon Ashkouti
The buildings will be in Colonial Williamsburg style architecture.
A dentist’s office on the intersection that has already opened is not part of the MarketPlace Terrell Mill project.
The plans also call for traffic lights on Powers Ferry right across from Micro Center shopping center and on Terrell Mill, to be sequenced at the L.A. Fitness entrance.
Rezoning was approved last year by Cobb commissioners in a project that has been dubbed “transformative” for a corridor that is being revitalized elsewhere.
The so-called Restaurant Row cluster on Powers Ferry near Windy Hill Road will make away for another mixed-use project.
Craig Gearheart of Greystar, a multi-family developer, told the PFCA audience that groundbreaking will begin in July for Overture at Powers Ferry, a 171-unit building for residents 55 and older, and should take around 24 months to complete.
A 276-unit apartment building, Elan at Powers Ferry, also is planned for the property, as is a 10,000-square foot building with shops and restaurants, including Rose and Crown.
It’s the only active restaurant still remaining at Restaurant Row, and will relocate to the new facility, taking up 6,000 square feet.
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!
For more than 20 years service organizations, churches and others have helped Marietta-based MUST Ministries with its summer lunch program by providing homemade sandwiches to be delivered to needy children in seven counties in metro Atlanta.
Last Friday, MUST was notified by state health officials that for food safety reasons, only sandwiches made in certified, licensed kitchens under supervision can be distributed in the sack lunches.
Volunteers and organizations have been preparing sandwiches at their own venues, and at MUST kitchen off Cobb Parkway near Bells Ferry Road in “lunch building” sessions.
With only a couple weeks to go before the summer lunch program begins, MUST is asking anyone who wants to help to make a cash donation so it can purchase sandwiches for the summer lunch program, which starts May 28 and continues until the end of July.
It’s called “SOS”—for “Save Our Sandwiches”—and MUST says the cost will cover only the purchase of sandwiches, about 75 cents each. Other items for the lunches, including juice boxes, crackers, fruit cups and other prepacked foods and snacks, are still accepted.
Last summer MUST distributed between 6,000 to 7,000 sandwiches a week, or around 260,000 for the summer, to kids who qualify for free or reduced school lunches.
MUST has pointed out that in 23 years of the summer lunch program, it’s never heard of an instance of a food safety issue. MUST has distributed for years a lengthy list of requirementsfor those who’ve made sandwiches.
MUST looked at partnering with church and other certified kitchens, but that was unfeasible since the summer lunch program is less than two weeks away.
Thus far, more than $17,000 has been raised for MUST to buy sandwiches from a certified food vendor, about enough to get through three weeks of the seven-week summer lunch program.
If you’re interested in helping out, you can text “MUSTSOS” to the number 52182, or e-mail SummerLunch@MUSTMinistries.org.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
Cobb commissioners on Tuesday approved a project to repair the bridge over Sope Creek on Lower Roswell Road.
Georgia Bridge and Concrete, LLC submitted a low bid (out of four received) of $356,440 and was awarded the contract. The funding comes from the 2016 Cobb SPLOST.
The project will consist of resealing bridge joints, replacing, drainage structures, patching existing concrete, stabilizing an approach slab, and installing polymer overlay.
Work will begin 60 days after the contractor gets permission to proceed.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
Due to graduation ceremonies next week, the Cobb school board has moved up its May meeting by a week, and is scheduled to act on the fiscal year 2020 budget on Thursday.
Charisse Davis
There will be a work session starting at 2:30 p.m., a public hearing on the budget at 6:30 p.m. and a regular meeting starting at 7 p.m., in which the board is expected to vote on the budget.
The meetings will take place in the board room at the Cobb County School District Central office, 514 Glover St., in Marietta.
He said the proposed raises were made possible by $3,000 raises for teachers that were included in the state education budget. The fiscal year 2020 budget begins on July 1.
Details of the budget proposal can be found in several ways:
Earlier this month the school board held a retreat and spurned a proposal by board member Charisse Davis to create a special committee to examine possible changes to the Cobb schools property tax exemption for seniors.
Cobb is only one of two school districts in the metro Atlanta area to offer the exemption to homeowners 62 and older without any qualifications (such as income levels). School district officials estimate the exemption will amount to nearly $112 million this year.
Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters, pointed to a recent vote in Forsyth County to eliminate a senior tax exemption for homeowners who have students living with them but who are not legal guardians. Forsyth schools will gain an additional $500,000 in annual revenue.
But Davis’ proposal just to form a committee was voted down 4-2 (with the board’s four Republicans all voting against), and came just a few days after board chairman David Chastain, who represents the Kell and Sprayberry clusters, adamantly said the senior exemption isn’t being taken away.
Davis, one of three Democrats on the Cobb school board, reiterated after the retreat that in Forsyth, “a Republican school board asked a Republican delegation to put a senior tax change up for a vote, the state legislature overwhelmingly approved it, and then the county’s voters approved it. Imagine that.”
She also drew up a map (bigger version on her website) showing the various school senior tax exemptions in metro Atlanta school systems.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
A photo of the former Wilce Frasier home taken over the winter, as the land was put up for sale. (ECN file)
One of the older buildings in East Cobb stands no more. A home more than 100 years old and located at 4658 Lower Roswell Road, at Woodlawn Drive, has been demolished by Cobb County government, which has had plans for several years to rework the intersection.
The demolition of the home and two smaller structures behind it took place following an expedited decision granted by Cobb commissioners on April 30 to County Manager Rob Hosack, at a cost of $18,625.
A low bid for the demolition work was awarded to Tucker Grading & Hauling, with the funds coming from the 2011 Cobb SPLOST account, according to a memo to Hosack from Cobb DOT Director Erica Parish and dated Tuesday.
The demolition was necessary, according to the memo, because the properties were in poor condition and trespassing had been taking place there.
On Tuesday, commissioners “ratified” the decision to tear down the buildings by a 4-0 vote. Commissioner Bob Ott of East Cobb was absent. The memo was included as an agenda item.
The home had been vacant since Jan. 2018, when the homeowner, Wilce Frasier Jr., died at the age of 93. According to deed records with the Cobb County Superior Court Clerk’s office, Frasier had lived in the home since the early 1960s.
A family member, Lisa Frasier McCalvin, said the home dates from the late 1800s: “Wilce grew up in this house with his brothers and sisters . . . . it never left our family . . . . the memories I have of playing in that house are some of my fondest from my childhood.”
Wilce Frasier’s obituary noted that he was a Navy veteran during World War II and worked at Lockheed-Georgia for 30 years, and that he is buried at the Mt. Bethel church cemetery just around the corner on Johnson Ferry Road.
His heirs had been in negotiations with Cobb DOT regarding right-of-way for the intersection improvements. The 0.9 acres owned by Frasier, put up for sale over the winter, has been sold. It had been marketed for possible commercial use.
The intersection project is part of Lower Roswell Road improvements stretching from Woodlawn, across Johnson Ferry Road and to Davidson Road and is part of the 2011 SPLOST.
A contract for the project was approved in 2012 but the county still needs to make more right-of-way acquisitions.
The improvements at Lower Roswell and Woodlawn will include installing a median and additional turn lanes at a clogged intersection.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
From L-R: NW Atlanta Habitat for Humanity CEO Jessica Gill; Campbell and Pope Students; State Farm Agent Veronica Adadevoh; State Rep. Sharon Cooper; Pope HS Advisor Cindy Ford.
Submitted information and photos:
Alan C. Pope and Campbell High School Habitat for Humanity Campus Chapters have each been awarded $5,000 after raising matching amounts for this year’s annual Cobb High School Coalition Habitat build. The grants were awarded at the home dedication of United States Veteran Danny Burgess on Old Bankhead Highway in Mableton on Saturday, May 11.
Pope and Campbell High School Habitat chapters are a part of the Cobb High School Coalition, which comes together annually each Spring semester to build a Habitat house over nine weeks. This year’s home began in February and was dedicated on Saturday. The 2019 Coalition consisted of chapter students from Allatoona, Campbell, Hillgrove, Pope, Walton and Wheeler High Schools.
Students representing each school participated in the dedication ceremony through the singing of the national anthem, the presentation of the homeowner Bible and key, and the reading of the Habitat Litany. Cobb County State Representative Sharon Cooper spoke at the ceremony and optimistically told the students, “You are our future leaders” and encouraged them to “never stop giving back.”
“We are grateful to have been selected as one of the matching grant recipients,” said Pope High School chapter teacher/advisor Cindy Holland. “The grant will help us to build another house for a well-deserving family in our community.”
A Habitat campus chapter is a student-led, student-initiated organization on a high school or college campus that partners with the local Habitat affiliates to build, fundraise, advocate and educate to support the work of Habitat for Humanity.
“We are proud that our funding is helping to engage young leaders in advancing Habitat’s mission in communities across the country,” said Ed Woods, Human Resources Director, Philanthropy/Diversity & Inclusion at State Farm. “State Farm is here to help life go right and is committed to building safer, stronger and better educated communities.”
Habitat has several programs to engage youth ages 5 to 25. In addition to the ongoing support State Farm offices provide to local Habitat organizations across the United States, State Farm has provided support for Habitat for Humanity’s youth programs since 2007.
Students from Allatoona, Campbell, Hillgrove, Pope, Walton and Wheeler HS with new homeowner Danny Burgess.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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 Pope baseball team’s hopes of winning three consecutive state championships is alive. There’s also a chance for an all-East Cobb boys lacrosse state final.
The Greyhounds, who ousted Lee County 2 games to 1 in a home baseball series this week, moved up the finale of that series on Thursday to avoid the rain, and came away with a 9-1 victory.
The victory came in a rematch between the finalists for the 2017 Georgia Class 6A title. Lee County won the opener 8-7 and Pope rallied with an 18-8 win in the second game of a doubleheader.
Pope is 28-7 on the season and won’t have to travel far in the semifinals, meeting Harrison, which eliminated Houston County Friday in a game that was delayed by rain from Thursday night.
This will be the fourth consecutive semifinal appearance for Pope. The series with Harrison begins with a doubleheader on Tuesday, and a third game, if necessary, would be played on Wednesday.
Walton’s baseball season came to an end this week when the Raiders were swept in the Class 7A quarterfinals by Parkview, by scores of 5-3 and 7-4. The teams have won two of the last three titles.
Lacrosse playoffs
The Lassiter boys lacrosse team has reached the semifinals of the Class 6A-7A tournament after defeating Mill Creek 16-9 this week. The Trojans, who have reached the finals three years in a row, will next play the team they’ve met in those championship games.
The Lambert Longhorns downed North Gwinnett 12-4 and will play host to Lassiter on Tuesday or Wednesday. Lambert, in Forsyth County, has beaten the Trojans in two of those three title games.
The Walton boys reached the other semifinal match in Class 6A-7A, as the Raiders toppled Etowah 8-5 on the road on Friday. They will be playing host to Centennial.
The Walton girls team was eliminated Friday in the quarterfinals, losing at North Paulding 14-13.
Soccer semis
The Pope boys have reached the Class 6A semifinals, and will be playing at Dalton on Tuesday. The Greyhounds defeated Tucker 3-2 in the quarterfinals this week.
The Kell boys were eliminated in the first round in Class 5A by Lithia Springs, while Walton reached the second round in Class 7A before falling to Hillgrove. The Lassiter boys also lost in the second round in 7A to another Cobb school, Kennesaw Mountain.
In girls soccer, the Walton girls also were ousted in the second round by Hillgrove, while Lassiter beat Kennesaw Mountain to advance to the Class 7A quarterfinals, where they were beaten by Parkview.
In Class 6A, the Pope girls were eliminated in the quarterfinals this week by Heritage of Conyers, and Johns Creek downed Sprayberry in the first round.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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!
Submitted information and photo from the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, which is holding its next Open Garden event next Thursday, May 16, at the Wright Environmental Education Center in East Cobb:
Joe Ranney of Wild Birds Unlimited will speak at 9:30 and 10:30 on Backyard Birds, including songbirds, migratory birds, owls, and raptors (hawks, vultures). He will bring nest boxes, feeders, seeds, etc. Make plans to attend the talks and to walk the trails of this beautiful urban forest.
The Wright Center is located at 2661 Johnson Ferry Road; parking is in the adjacent Chestnut Ridge Christian Church, accessible via Post Oak Tritt Road.
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 last week of the 2018-19 year for the Cobb County School District is coming up, with graduations a little more than a week away.
Here are the dates, times and venues for commencement exercises for the six high schools in East Cobb:
Tuesday, May 21
Kell, 3:30 p.m., KSU Convocation Center
Wednesday, May 22
Wheeler, 6:30 p.m., Wheeler Gymnasium
Thursday, May 23
Lassiter, 2:30 p.m., KSU Convocation Center
Friday, May 24
Walton, 10 a.m., KSU Convocation Center
Pope, 7 p.m., KSU Convocation Center
Saturday, May 25
Sprayberry, 7 p.m., KSU Convocation Center
There are more details here about each school’s event, including directions and parking, as well as a link to watch via the web and order DVDs of the ceremonies.
They’ll be among 8,000 high school seniors in the Cobb district getting their diplomas.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
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 Lassiter boys lacrosse team has reached the semifinals of the Class 6A-7A tournament after defeating Mill Creek 16-9 this week. The Trojans, who have reached the finals three years in a row, will next play the team they’ve met in those championship games.
