After spending this week absorbing the tragedy of the Tree of Life massacre in Pittsburgh, East Cobb synagogues will be taking part in a new national effort to promote unity and awareness during Saturday services.
It’s part of an effort called “Show Up for Shabbat,” which is being promoted by the American Jewish Committee.
Congregation Etz Chaim (1190 Indian Hills Parkway) is taking part, and here’s how the synagogue is describing the effort to its members:
Rabbi Daniel Dorsch, Congregation Etz Chaim
“It calls for all Jews, our allies, elected officials, civic and religious leaders of all faiths to come together and stand as one united community. Let us all stand in solidarity with those we mourn in light of this horrific attack on the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh.
“We urge you to stand in solidarity in this national initiative. We will #ShowUpForShabbat. We will not be afraid. We will not allow hatred and bigotry to destroy our faith. We stand together. We mourn together. Let us be a light unto the nations.”
Etz Chaim Rabbi Daniel Dorsch told a local business group Thursday that non-Jews are also invited to the service, which takes place from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
“This has been a very challenging week,” he said at a breakfast of the East Cobb Area Council of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. He said the objective is to show solidarity, and “not to tolerate hatred and bigotry in our community.”
Etz Chaim is the Hebrew translation of “Tree of Life.” After the shootings, which killed 11 people, members of nearby Catholic Church of St. Ann created a memorial at Etz Chaim for the victims, arranging 11 chairs outside the synagogue in a circle. Each chair seat had a card with the victim’s name and a rose.
Earlier this week, Temple Kol Emeth held a solidarity service (East Cobb Newscoverage here) that included members of other faith communities in the area.
On Saturday, the Chabad of Cobb synagogue on Lower Roswell Road also is taking part in Show Up for Shabbat. According to a Rabbi Ehpraim Silverman, a special service will follow at 11:30 a.m., marking the end of Shiva, a period of remembrance for those who were murdered.
In a social media posting, Silverman said Cobb County officials, including those from law enforcement, will be discussing security matters.
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Rev. Ike Reighard of MUST Ministries opens the Brumby Elementary School food pantry with students, volunteers and staff. (Cobb County School District photos)
The 31st school in Cobb and Marietta schools to be provided with a food pantry had a ribbon-cutting Thursday. The Brumby Elementary School food pantry is now open to students as part of the non-profit’s Save It Forward initiative.
The pantries are located primarily at Title I public schools in the county to address hunger and nutrition needs for at-risk students.
In the Save It Forward program, volunteer shoppers receive weekly e-mail lists for items that cost less than $6 each. Those items, which also include toiletries, are then stocked on the shelves at the school pantries for students and their families who need them.
Partial funding for the pantries also comes from the United Way of Greater Atlanta. More than 3,000 Cobb students and their families are served by the school pantries.
On hand for Thursday’s event were Cobb Board of Education member Scott Sweeney and State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, as well as members of the Rotary Club of East Cobb, which is involved extensively with community service projects at Brumby Elementary School.
Rev. Reighard meets with Charlene Brisco, the Brumby social worker.
Other Save It Forward schools in East Cobb include Lassiter and Sprayberry high schools and McCleskey Middle School.
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Since winning a special election in 2011, State Rep. John Carson has had few tests to his incumbency in the District 46 Georgia House seat that covers some of Northeast Cobb and southern Cherokee.
The Republican Carson was unopposed in the May primary, and hasn’t had a Democratic challenger since 2012. In the general election, he faces first-time candidate Karín Sandiford, who was the only Democrat to qualify.
Carson is a CPA and commercial banker with SunTrust Bank. Sandiford, a native of Brazil, has a background corporate leadership and is a managing partner of Latam Innovation LLC, a technology consulting firm.
Carson was the chief sponsor of a new hands-free driving law that took effect in Georgia this summer.
This year he also voted to reduce corporate and personal income tax rates and supports the elimination of corporate taxes. He is opposed to any extension of Obamacare in Georgia, saying it will add $500 million a year to the state budget and “will kill jobs, destroy our healthcare system, and hurt our families.”
He also is a sponsor of state legislation in 2018 that will increase private school tuition tax credits. Currently there is a $58 million cap on what the state can provide.
HB 217, which passed the legislature and was signed by Gov. Nathan Deal, will raise the cap to $100 million a year.
Like many Democrats running in nearby East Cobb legislative races, Sandiford supports expanding Medicaid in Georgia. She also is in favor of making technical colleges tuition-free for Georgia residents. Sandiford is against campus carry laws.
Her other priorities include work- and career-related matters. She advocates a pay inquiry law that would prohibit employers from asking job candidates about past income.
Sandiford, a single mother to four children, also wants to offer companies a tax incentive with Work From Home programs, saying technology “offers us the capabilities and conveniences to work from home, so family time, or your personal time, should never be robbed because of traffic.”
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Brenda Rhodes receives the East Cobb Citizen of the Year plaque from Johnny Johnson of Edward-Johns Jewelers. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
The East Cobb Citizen of the Year for 2018 has an expansive background in community service, but she noticed some seemingly small things from her primary volunteering effort that led to larger action.
Volunteering at MUST Ministries inspired Brenda Rhodes to do something more for the homeless and low-income people who relied upon the non-profit agency for shelter, food and other basic assistance.
In 2010, the East Cobb resident started Small Needs GA, a non-profit that helps those in need with a little more—like bringing tents to those living in the woods, or duffel bags with toiletries and other household items.
It’s grown to much more than that, but her philosophy has remained the same.
“I just happened to see some needs that were being unmet,” Rhodes said Thursday as she was honored by the East Cobb Area Council of the Chamber of Commerce at a breakfast at Indian Hills Country Club.
“So I thought that I should do something about it.”
That was in 2010. Since then, Simple Needs GA has helped hundreds of clients, many of them single mothers with children, often fleeing domestic violence and abuse. Among the items delivered are birthday and Christmas presents, shoes, furniture, bedding and mattresses and school uniforms.
Last year, Simple Needs GA provided birthday gifts and other items to more than 200 homeless children in Cobb through the My Birthday Matters and Spirit of Christmas programs.
Rhodes, who holds down a corporate job as a business analyst at Genesys, says she spends 20-30 hours a week with Simple Needs GA, and even drives delivery trucks.
“It’s actually fun to drive a big truck,” she said.
“Our goal is to meet the needs that aren’t being met” by other agencies. “We’re trying to fill the gap.”
Simple Needs GA accepts donations of money and other items on its website. More about its programs and community partnerships can be found here.
Rhodes has served in many capacities as a community volunteer. In addition to MUST, she has helped with Good Mews Animal Foundation, the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Hands On Atlanta, WellStar Foundation and The Center for Family Resources.
She contributes to local missions teams, sings in the choir at First United Methodist Church of Marietta and belongs to the Georgia Symphony Orchestra Chorus.
Rhodes is a two-time recipient of the National Points of Light Award and was Hands On Atlanta’s Premier Volunteer in 2004.
She is a graduate of the 2016 class of Leadership Cobb and the winner of the 2016 W. Wyman Pilcher Jr. Memorial Grant for community service from the Leadership Cobb Alumni Association.
The East Cobb Area Council chooses the Citizen of the Year from nominations made by members of various community service organizations, including the East Cobb Lions Club, Rotary Club of East Cobb, the East Cobb Civitans Club, the East Cobb Business Association and others.
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If you’re in the vicinity of SunTrust Park during early November and see a lot of law enforcement presence, there’s a reason for that. There will be Cobb Police active shooter training going on, and they’re sending out word about what you’ll notice:
Beginning November 1, 2018 the Cobb County Police Department will be conducting large scale training at SunTrust Park. This training will result in a large number of emergency vehicles and personnel in and around the Park. The training will be conducted November 1 and 2, 2018, and it will continue on November 5 through November 9. Passersby and residents may notice an increased police, fire, and emergency medical services presence in the afternoon hours and late into the evening
We are excited about our partnership with the Atlanta Braves and the opportunity to train in a real-world environment to better prepare our officers, firefighters, and emergency medical personnel to more effectively respond to and handle all emergencies in Cobb County.
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Pittsburgh native Brian Pearle (left) greeted by well-wishers at a special solidarity service Tuesday at Temple Kol Emeth. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
As he and his daughter lit a candle at an East Cobb synagogue service on Tuesday, Brian Pearle choked up talking about his hometown.
He grew up in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh where 11 members of a synagogue were murdered Saturday in the worst mass killing in American Jewish history.
Pearle also knew several of the victims who were attending a bris at the Tree of Life synagogue when they were shot to death. The alleged gunman was taken into custody after a standoff, and after authorities said he posted anti-Semitic messages online.
Reciting the names of other places of mass shootings—Sandy Hook, Charleston and Parkland—Pearle admitted it was unfathomable that the place he called home for much of his life will be included on that list.
“It just hasn’t sunk in yet,” Pearle said at a special solidarity service at Temple Kol Emeth. “It torments me that the place I’ve called home could forever be remembered as one of those places. That just hurts me deeply in my soul.”
“You can’t really describe the feeling,” he said after the service, with many participants approaching him and his daughter Rachel, who had her bat mitzvah at Kol Emeth, with shows of support.
He said Squirrel Hill, with stately homes and many schools and places of worship, felt like the safest place in the world.
Two of the victims he knew well, brothers Cecil and David Rosenthal, who were fondly remembered in Pittsburgh and beyond. Earlier on Tuesday, they were laid to rest in the first of the funerals for the shooting victims.
“Everything you’ve read about them, that’s exactly who they were,” Pearle said, fighting back some emotion. “It could not be more accurate. They were great guys, would give you the shirt off their back.”
Pearle was among those speaking during a “call to action” segment of the service, which was quickly organized by Kol Emeth leaders on Sunday.
Other attendees urged the crowd to vote, contact their elected officials and treat one another with generosity, love and kindness and emphasize those qualities with their children.
Rebecca Tullman, the synagogue’s religious school director, said it was particularly tough to address the shootings during Sunday services with youth.
“It’s really hard to explain to kids why some people hate you, because of your religion,” she said.
Tullman, Kol Emeth president Rachel Barich and Rabbi Steven Lebow offered prayers for peace and special messages. The audience recited the Mourner’s Kaddish and sang, including “If I Had a Hammer” and “Oseh Shalom.”
“There has always been anti-Semitism and there always will be,” said Lebow, but recent political discourse and rhetoric “has done little” to tone down those sentiments.
The Pittsburgh shootings took place at the end of a week that included the arrest of a man for allegedly mailing pipe bombs to members of Congress and former presidents Clinton and Obama and the shooting deaths of two black customers at a Kentucky supermarket in what’s also being investigated as a hate crime.
“When will this madness end?” asked Lebow.
He urged Cobb schools, local churches and politicians to do more to practice and preach tolerance, not just for Jews, but for others from racial and other minority groups, as well as immigrants.
Barich said she was heartened by a co-worker asking her how she was doing when she arrived at her job on Monday.
“I didn’t expect to be approached as if I needed support,” Barich said. “That was very much appreciated.”
Barich said the support from around East Cobb, especially other faith communities, at Tuesday’s service also was uplifting.
“This is the beginning of healing.”
Pearle agreed, calling this “a good beginning. “This was therapeutic, this was cathartic.”
He was last in Pittsburgh last month, as his son is considering attending college there.
“The next time I go home, I’ll probably be a wreck,” Pearle said.
On Nov. 15, Kol Emeth will hold its annual Thanksgiving Ecumenical Service. This year’s theme, “Harmonizing the Voices of Humanity,” is “still very appropriate,” Barich said.
“We’re moving forward,” she said. “That’s what we Jews do.”
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East Cobb’s longest serving legislator has some rare general election competition this year. Republican Don Parsons was first elected to serve the District 44 Georgia House seat in 1994.
His Democratic opponent is Chinita Allen, who like many in her party campaigning for legislative seats in East Cobb, is a first-time candidate.
She is a teacher at Chalker Elementary School and is the mother of children in the Lassiter High School cluster. Parsons worked for many years for BellSouth and is a consultant in the telecommunications field.
Allen did not have a primary opponent. Parsons easily defeated Homer Crothers in the Republican primary in May.
Allen’s focus is on economic development, education, health and civil rights.
She supports increased education spending for K-12. The Georgia Science Teachers Association’s District 3 Science Director (which includes Cobb, Marietta and Douglas schools) and the Georgia STEM Laureate, Allen wants the state to establish more “science, STEM and career pathways.”
Parsons supports expanding 5G wireless technology across the state. He also has supportedcutting personal and business income tax rates, additional funding for public K-12 education in Georgia and a proposed constitutional amendment on the November general election ballot for victims’ rights.
More recently, he has cited the addition of 700,000 new private sector jobs, the preservation of HOPE Scholarships and full funding of K-12 education under Republican leadership in state government since 2010.
“We can’t go back!” he said earlier this week.
Allen has stressed her grassroots campaign against a better-financed opponent and has noted that she’s among 191 women in both parties running for state office in Georgia (and several others in East Cobb as well).
“We need women running and winning at every level,” she said recently. “What we have seen is the result of the absence of more women in elected office.”
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Two East Cobb teams will be playing for state championships Saturday in the Georgia High School Association volleyball tournaments, and they won’t have to venture too far from home.
The Walton and Pope volleyball teams will be playing in back-to-back matches in the finals at Marietta High School.
Pope, which downed Creekview Tuesday in a comeback victory, will be meeting fellow Cobb school Allatoona in the Class 6A championship match that begins at 4 p.m.
The Lady Greyhounds are 39-9 and are in the finals for the first time since they won their last state title in 2011 (they also won state in 2009). Since then, Pope has finished in the Sweet 16 three times, the Elite 8 once and last year the Final Four.
Pope lost the first game to Creekview 25-19 on Tuesday but came back to sweep the match by scores of 25-17, 25-17 and 25-10.
Walton had little trouble dispatching North Gwinnett in straight sets on the road Tuesday to reach the state finals yet again. The Lady Raiders (40-3) will defend their Class 7A state championship at 6:30 p.m. against Milton.
Walton is attempting to win its fourth consecutive state title. The Lady Raiders have a total of 12 GHSA crowns and are heavily favored to make it 13.
The Walton and Pope matches will conclude a day of four title matches at Marietta High School (1171 Whitlock Ave.). All-session tickets are $8 a person. For more information visit the GHSA volleyball page.
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An East Cobb legislator who’s had little opposition in recent years is like his fellow incumbents in the area. Republican Matt Dollar, who has held the District 45 Georgia House seat since 2003, is facing a Democrat who’s a first-time candidate.
She’s Essence Johnson, a human resources and management professional. Dollar is a real estate broker who graduated from Pope High School. They were unopposed in the May primaries. District 45 is mostly in East Cobb and includes some of Sandy Springs.
Johnson has identified three priorities in her campaign: education, health care and economic development. She supports expanding the HOPE Scholarship program, full funding for Quality Basic Education and increased funding for pre-K and technical college programs.
Her health care objectives include an expansion of state Medicaid and greater insurance provider choice. Medicaid expansion, she says, would bring billions of federal funding to Georgia that would help those with lesser incomes: “Health care should not be wealth care.”
Johnson, whose husband is a small business owner, also has said she will push for access to capital, tax incentives, and technical support for entrepreneurs.
Dollar also cites education in his platform, along with economic growth and tax issues.
He has supported full funding of QBE, which happened for the first time in the 2018 legislative session. He also has worked to increase funding for school safety initiatives.
On taxes, Dollar voted for cuts to the state personal and business tax rates this year, and says that “I have never, and will never, vote for a tax increase.”
Dollar has not had any Democratic opposition since 2010. He has high ratings from the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
Johnson was inspired to run for office after participating in the Women’s March in Atlanta in Jan. 2017. She has been endorsed by Georgia’s WIN List, which supports pro-choice Democratic women candidates.
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The Alex Gaines Law office (3101 Cobb Parkway, Suite 124) is starting a series of free estate planning seminars this week that continue through Nov. 15.
The dates are Nov. 1, 3, 9 and 15. There’s a Saturday breakfast on Nov. at 10:30 a.m. and 1-hour weekday Lunch & Learn workshops on Thursday, Nov. 1, Friday, Nov. 9 and Thursday, Nov, 15 from 12-1 .p.m.
Here’s additional information they’ve submitted:
These interactive estate planning talks are designed to help guests learn how to avoid common estate planning mistakes and ways to protect their children, families, property, and assets. Everyone needs an estate plan! All courses cover the same information. Breakfast & childcare is available upon request. Seating is limited and registration is required.
Follow this link for more information and to sign up.
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Police are sending out word that there’s going to be an East Cobb crime forum Thursday night to address a rash of burglaries affecting citizens of Asian and Indian descent.
The meeting starts at 7 p.m. at the East Cobb Senior Center (3322 Sandy Plains Road).
Here’s more from Lt. Nathan McCreary, head of the Cobb Police Precinct 4 Criminal Investigations Unit:
The forum will focus on the increase in burglaries targeting the Asian and Indian community in East Cobb County. All citizens are invited to attend and encouraged to participate. The presentation will include crime stats and methods for all citizens to use to decrease the potential of becoming a victim.
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One of the most complicated measurements of academic progress in the state of Georgia has been streamlined in order to become less complicated. But the Cobb CCRPI scores for 2018, which were released Monday, are lower across the board than last year.
The drops include schools in East Cobb, which still had some of the highest figures in the Cobb County School District and in Georgia.
The CCRPI—which stands for College and Career Ready Performance Index—is a state accountability measure that gauges overall achievement results and how schools are preparing students for the next level of education.
Cobb’s average of 79.6 (out of a maximum score of 100) is nearly three points higher than the state average, but lower than the 82.9 score from 2017.
Student performance is assessed in several ways, and they differ according to school level. They include content mastery, progress, closing performance gaps, readiness and graduation rates.
The Georgia Department of Education made some changes to its formula in the spring (here’s a PDF that breaks it all down, but as stated above, it’s really complicated). These changes were done to reduce the number of indicators to measure.
‘They’ve redone the math’
It’s the third time in the last five years that the state has changed the formula, and both Georgia and Cobb officials are urging parents not to compare 2018 scores to those in years past.
“Whatever analogy you want to make—apples to apples, oranges to oranges—this is reflected across the state,” said John Floresta, the Cobb schools chief strategy and accountability officer. “They’ve redone the math.”
He said the changes that are being felt the most are at the elementary school level.
One was to remove “challenge points” for “exceeding the bar” activities that allowed some schools to get a score of more than 100 points.
The other major calculation that affected scores was the “closing the gap” measurement. In essence, Floresta said, there’s now a lower ceiling for the highest-performing schools, while that ceiling has been raised for lower-performing schools.
A good example is at Timber Ridge Elementary School in East Cobb, which last year had a score of 100.5, a school that “exceeded the bar.” This year, Timber Ridge’s CCRPI score is 93.3.
Like many schools in East Cobb, Timber Ridge students did very well in content mastery at 98.6 and also scored above 90 in progress and readiness. But Timber Ridge’s closing the gap number, which comprises 15 percent of an elementary school’s score, was 78.6.
“The frustration is with the principals and staff more than anything else,” Floresta said. “It’s the reality of how they’ve redone the categories. We just want to know what our kids know.”
On the other hand, Mt. Bethel Elementary School was a perfect 100 in closing the gap, along with Wheeler High School.
Those East Cobb elementary schools that had double-digit drops had closing the gap scores that in some cases were below 50 (full East Cobb school results here).
Ups and downs
Some East Cobb schools came close to the maximum in 2018: Walton High School (96.3), Lassiter High School (95.8), Simpson Middle School (94.7) and Dodgen Middle School and Hightower Trail Middle School (both 91.8).
At the elementary school level the leaders included Mt. Bethel (95.6) and Timber Ridge’s 93.3. They were among the 19 schools in Cobb that had averages of 90 or more.
Some schools did report sizable increases in their CCRPI scores from 2017. Among them are Simpson Middle School, which jumped from 89.9 to 94.7, one of the biggest moves up among Cobb middle schools.
Seven schools got perfect scores of 100 in content mastery, including Walton, Lassiter, Pope, Dickerson Middle School and Murdock and Sope Creek at the elementary school level.
“Although we are glad to see strong CCRPI scores yet again, we are more focused on supporting our teachers to identify what their students know and immediately acting on what they learn about their students,” Cobb schools Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said in a statement.
School-by-school breakdowns have been provided by the Cobb County School District, and you can click on this page to see the full table.
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One of the most powerful leaders in the state legislature is being challenged by a first-time candidate in the District 43 Georgia House race.
State Rep. Sharon Cooper (pictured at left), a Republican who is the chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services Committee, has held the East Cobb-based seat since 1997, and has had little opposition in recent years.
Her opponent is Democrat Luisa Wakeman (right), a nurse who also has a background in the financial services industry.
Wakeman was unopposed in the primary; Cooper’s only Republican opponent disqualified for owing back taxes right before the primary.
A retired nurse and former nursing educator whose late husband was a physician, Cooper has long based her platform around health care issues. More recently, Cooper has pointed to efforts to make it easier for first-responders to to administer Naloxone to those suffering from opioid overdoses.
She also has cited her work to address hospital and trauma-care needs in rural parts of the state, and her advocacy with the Cobb Elder Abuse Task Force. Cooper sponsored a bill that was passed in 2018 that allows local communities to create task forces to investigate allegations of elder abuse among at-risk seniors.
Wakeman supports expansion of Medicaid in Georgia and has been critical of what she said is Georgia’s “unwillingness to address their 300,000-person coverage gap through previous legislation” that has reduced the network of insurance providers.
Wakeman also wants full funding for public schools in Georgia and is in favor of ballot initiatives that would address special education needs and teacher compensation.
Cooper has said that while the current funding formula for public education in Georgia needs to be changed, “we must make certain that any change in the school funding formula reduces, not raises, the amount Cobb is required to give.”
In 2016, Cooper voted in favor of HB 757, the so-called Religious Liberty bill, that would strengthen legal protections for those who oppose same-sex marriage. That bill was vetoed by Gov. Nathan Deal, and since then Cooper has said a federal solution may be the best option.
Wakeman, the mother of a daughter in the LGBT community, said such laws are discriminatory. She also opposes campus carry laws.
Her other main campaign issue is advocating changes to state financial priorities. Wakeman said recent changes in the federal tax code could mean Georgians may have to pay $3.6 billion in state taxes over the next five years.
Cooper hasn’t had general election opposition since 2010, when she won with nearly 67 percent of the vote.
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The teardown of the old Mountain View Elementary School is almost complete, and the construction signs around what’s left of it are hinting at what’s to come in what’s being called the Sandy Plains Marketplace mixed-use development.
The Atlanta retail site ToNeTois reporting that other tenants include several restaurants with growing presences in the metro area, including a Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar and MOD Pizza.
Food joints also include First Watch and Jim ‘N Nick’s Bar-B-Q and there’s going to be another Hollywood Feed, a boutique pet supply retailer, which also opened in East Cobb in January at Woodlawn Square.
Fuqua, which is the developer of The Battery Atlanta, developed a concept similar to the Sandy Plains Marketplace called the Kennesaw Marketplace. That’s recently opened and is anchored by a Whole Foods Market (prompting the closure of Harry’s on Roswell Road this time a year ago).
Last October Cobb commissioners gave the greenlight to rezoning the former Mountain View school grounds, on nearly 14 acres. Fuqua and East Cobb-based Brooks Chadwick Capital LLC also had to come back to the commission to get approval for a self-storage facilitynear the back of the property that was opposed by some residents of the adjacent Hunters Lodge neighborhood.
Grand opening
Flooring Atlanta has moved into East Cobb at 2214 Roswell Road, and is having a grand opening celebration Saturday from 11-3. There will be free food and drinks in addition to music, including a live Mariachi performance at 1.
Flooring Atlanta, the new name for what had been Carpet Surplus, also has showrooms in Kennesaw, Roswell and Norcross.
Business of the Year
The East Cobb Business Association has named EAST COBBER magazine its 2018 business of the year at a luncheon last week that surprised publisher Cynthia Rozzo.
She’s marking 25 years since beginning the monthly lifestyle magazine, and recently staged the 23rd EAST COBBER parade and community festival. Rozzo also will receive an ECBA Honorary Lifetime Membership.
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!
This is the week for East Cobb advance voting, and you’ll have more than one place to cast your ballot in person before the Nov. 6 election day.
As we noted last week, Cobb Elections is opening additional venues for advance voting due to high turnout.
In addition to the usual location at the East Cobb Government Service Center (above, 4400 Lower Roswell Road), you’ll also be able to vote at Noonday Baptist Church (4120 Canton Road), and the East Cobb Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road).
Advance voting hours are Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. There will be no voting on Saturday, Nov. 4.
According to Cobb Elections, more than 26,000 people voted early in person, and more than 16,000 absentee ballots have been received. Those numbers don’t include those who voted yesterday.
We’re continuing our coverage of East Cobb races with our voters guide. It includes previews of all races in the community, from Congress to Cobb Commission to Cobb school board and Georgia State Senate.
In the coming week, we’ll have profiles of candidates running for the Georgia House and take a look at state and local ballot issues.
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!
Two East Cobb teams made it to the Elite 8 of the Georgia High School softball tournament this week, and turned in strong performances. The Pope softball team finished second in Class 6A, while Lassiter was third in Class 7A.
The Greyhounds came out of the elimination bracket to reach the finals in Columbus on Saturday, but fell to Cobb County rival Harrison 6-3.
Pope’s season started in August with a loss to the Hoyas. Along the way the Greyhounds compiled a 33-6 record, a school record for wins, captured their region in undefeated fashion and have now made three championship game appearances since 2012.
Lassiter also won its region and qualified for the Elite 8. On Friday, the Trojans lost to Mill Creek 3-0 in the Class 7A semifinals to end their season. Lassiter’s first loss in the double-elimination tournament was to eventual state champion East Coweta.
Also on Saturday, the Walton volleyball team rolled on in the Class 7A quarterfinals. Playing in their home gym, the Lady Raiders trounced Lambert in a sweep to advance to the semifinals on Tuesday at North Gwinnett.
The finals will be Saturday at Marietta High School.
Walton, the defending state champion, is 40-3 and is heavily favored to continue its dynastic run through the state of Georgia.
Lassiter also reached the state tournament in Class 7A, but fell to West Forsyth Saturday in the quarterfinals. The Trojans were 29-6 this season.
The Pope volleyball team also has reached the semifinals in Class 6A, and will meet Creekview on Tuesday. The Greyhounds are 38-9 on the season and defeated Glynn Academy Saturday to advance.
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We got a message today saying that the East Cobb Jason’s Deli opening has been pushed back again, to mid-November.
We noted on Monday, which was to have been the opening, that construction delays resulted in a delay to Nov. 5.
Greg Feltner, the managing partner for the East Cobb Jason’s Deli, said in an e-mail this afternoon that the renovations are taking longer than expected, and here’s why:
“The building is more than 30 years old, so we basically had to gut the inside and start from scratch. The construction crew did not realize how long that would take.”
He didn’t mention a specific date because the construction crew is replacing all the tile in the kitchen, “which we were told is at least a 10-day job.”
The Jason’s Deli space at Merchants Exchange (1205 Johnson Ferry Road) has been the home for Sage Social Kitchen, Chequers Seafood and Steak and Houlihan’s.
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Officer Phil Bradford was appointed to a new emergency management specialist role with the Cobb County School District police. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
As they were rolling out a new website dedicated to safety issues, officials—as well as officers— from Cobb schools tried to reassure parents at an East Cobb town hall meeting Thursday that they were being proactive in dealing with a variety of threats to students, teachers and staff alike.
The new site, called Cobb Shield, includes much of the material presented to the audience of around 50 parents at the Lassiter Concert Hall.
Some of them had specific questions about threats of violence, accidents, assaults and bullying, but school officials said they couldn’t answer some of those questions in public.
One came from a Lassiter mother, who wanted more information about a report of bullet casings that were found in a classroom during the current school year.
John Adams, the Cobb schools deputy superintendent for human resources and operations, told her that a communication was sent to parents from the Lassiter administration. When she said she hadn’t received it, Adams said that he “couldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation.”
Adams said the matter “illustrates how . .. students have to be our eyes and ears” in reporting such incidents.
Being watchful was the watchword at the town hall, which featured leaders of the Cobb County School District Police force, which has 65 uniformed officers.
Many of them have years of previous law enforcement service, including Cobb Police. Capt. Wayne Pickett, a former Precinct 4 commander in East Cobb, is one of them, and he’s second-in-command to Chief Ron Storey, also a Cobb Police retiree.
Capt. Wayne Pickett of CCSD said that Code Red drills serve as “a way to surveil” how well schools are prepared for serious threats of violence.
The department average is 26 years of experience, according to Adams, and 12 officers have SWAT training. “We want mature officers who have some experience,” Storey said.
Pickett detailed how ongoing “Code Red” drills are working, especially at the high school level, which are supposed to have one each semester.
He said the unannounced drills are designed to train staff, teachers and students to be better prepared for suspicious persons activity. During the drills, a plain-clothes officer comes to the school and tries to go as far as possible before being noticed.
“The administration has no idea we’re coming,” Pickett said. They’re told “We’re in a Code Red right now. What are you going to do?”
More than anything, he added, school police want to gauge how prepared each school is, with a checklist of around 25 items to keep in mind.
“There’s no way to pre-plan such a stressful activity,” Pickett said. “It’s snapshot of what they do. Do they know the policies for Code Red?”
After a drill, school police meet with administrators to identify successes and improvements. If there are enough problems at a school, another drill may be ordered.
A report is sent up the administrative line at the district, all the way to the superintendent.
Pickett said “we haven’t had too many that are bad. Most are exceptionally good.”
The AlertPoint system, Ofc. Phil Bradford said, “empowers every member of the staff to take action” to ensure safety.
When a parent asked about inspecting Code Red drill reports, Adams said that’s also something that’s not available to the public, for security reasons.
Officer Phil Bradford, another Cobb Police veteran, heads up a newly created position with the school police as emergency management specialist. He updated the Lassiter audience about the AlertPoint emergency communications system that’s gradually being rolled out at every school in the district.
It’s a $5 million system that was begun in the wake of the Parkland, Fla., school shootings, and features a device issued to teachers and staff. The card-type device allows them to trigger an alert to designated first responders in case of any kind of emergency, from a suspicious person to a health issue.
“The badge identifies who you are and where you are,” Bradford said. “Most important, it leads to instant action.”
Flashing lights and beeper alarms are activated in the case of a Code Red alert and the entire school is notified of a lockdown.
High school classrooms are being issued AlertPoints now, to be followed by those at the middle school and then elementary school level.
An active-shooter training video has been shown to staff for more than a year. Bradford said a safety video has just been completed for elementary students, and another for high school students should be done soon.
Those videos, and other safety-related measures, will gradually be added to the Cobb Shield webpage, said Adams, a former Cobb Police officer. That page also will include a tip line, which is expected to be fully functional by the spring semester.
He encouraged parents to contact him with suggestions at: john.adams@cobbk12.org.
“This is the most important thing we do,” Adams said.
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The Cobb District Attorney’s Office said Friday that 23 people have been sentenced to long prison terms for a range of gang-related criminal offenses in the county in 2015 and 2016.
In a release, DA’s office spokeswoman Kim Isaza said that members of Get Money Squared, Wildlyfe and 2200, three criminal street gangs with roots in Cobb, pleaded guilty to drive-by shootings, drug offenses, thefts, car break-ins, assault, street-gang terrorism, criminal trespass, disrupting a public school and firearms violations.
One of the crimes tied to the defendants included a car break-in on Manning Road in the East Cobb area in January 2016.
Another case tied to the crime spree, according to prosecutors, was a drug sale at Windy Hill Road and Circle 75 Parkway in May 2016.
Isaza said Cobb Superior Court Judge Reuben Green handed down sentences ranging from 10 years to 20 years.
She said many of them were given first-offender status, which means that if they complete their custody and probation periods without further incidents, their records will be sealed.
Isaza said the defendants are between 20-27 years old and come from Cobb, Woodstock, Lawrenceville, Atlanta, and Dothan, Ala. The last of the defendants was sentenced last month, she added, and all of them pleaded guilty to racketeering.
Investigating the case were the Cobb Police Anti-Gang Enforcement Unit, Smyrna Police, Marietta Police and Cobb County School District Police.
“Members and associates of these gangs admitted that they sold drugs, broke into dozens of cars to commit thefts and committed acts of violence against people outside the gangs, all to increase their status within the criminal organization and further the gangs’ violent reputations,” said Cobb Senior Assistant District Attorney Jaret Usher, who prosecuted the case, in a statement.
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We’re off to a wet, cold start, but that’s about all that can dampen a packed slate of East Cobb Halloween Weekend Events. Saturday will be rainy and chilly too, but Sunday through Oct. 31 promise to be warmer and very sunny.
On Saturday morning, hearty souls will be out early with their running shoes on, in the Haunted Hustle Run at the Northeast Cobb YMCA (3010 Johnson Ferry Road) to benefit both Y branches in East Cobb.
This is for kids, young and old, from the folks at Zaxby’s at 2981 Delk Road: Touch-A-Truck, from 11-3 Saturday. The vehicles to explore will come from local law enforcement, a stretch Hummer, USPS mail truck, and dump truck and more. Wear a costume for “truck” or treating.
The Avenue East Cobb will be holding its Fall FestivalSaturday from 3-7 around the shopping center (4475 Roswell Road), with trick-or-treating, games, face-painting, games, prizes and live acoustic music starting at 5 in front of Stockyard Burgers.
Another Community Fall Festival, from 5-7 Saturday at Paper Mill Road Baptist Church (3227 Paper Mill Road), that’s open to the public, with trick or treating, games, door prizes and more.
Stay warm indoors with the start of Pope High School’s Haunted Theater. This year’s production is “The Circus,” a Halloween thriller with friendly clowns and performers including the bearded lady, a contortionist and a two-headed human, among other creatures. The show starts at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Also indoors, all day Saturday, is the GirlsFIRST Jr. Robotics workshop, from 9-4 at the old East Cobb Middle School (380 Holt Road). It’s for girls grades 6-8, as they will learn about a variety of STEM opportunities and speak to women in STEM fields. Lunch is also being provided.
Saturday’s also the day to deposit old and unused medications on national Medication Take Back Day. Visit WellStar East Cobb Health Park (3747 Roswell Road) between 10-2.
Saturday night, cozy up indoors at the Lassiter Concert Hall (2601 Shallowford Road) for the U.S. Navy Jazz Band Concert, which starts at 7. It’s free to the public.
Sunday’s going to be sunny and in the 70s, perfect for outdoor fun. From 4-6, enjoy another Sunday Funday concert at East Cobb Park (3322 Roswell Road). Bring a picnic and take in the sounds of The Loose Shoes Band.
Also from 4-6, the public is invited to a Trunk or Treat at Wesley Chapel United Methodist Church (4495 Sandy Plains Road).
With Halloween stretching into the middle of the week, we’ll stretch our calendar a few days ahead too.
On Monday, it’s a Halloween Food Truck from 5-8 at Paper Mill Village (255 Village Parkway). There will be face painting, live music from the East Cobb School of Rock and all kinds of food truck fare, including Cousins Maine Lobster, Deep South Biscuit and Cattywumpus Grill.
Last call for Trunk or Treat is on Halloween day itself, Wednesday from 6-7:30 p.m. at Powers Ferry United Methodist Church (245 Powers Ferry Road). After collecting candy treats, a hot dog dinner will be served.
Did we miss anything? Do you have a calendar item you’d like to share with the community? Send it to us, and we’ll spread the word! E-mail: calendar@eastcobbnews.com, and you can include a photo or flyer if you like.
Whatever you’re doing this weekend, make it a great one! Enjoy!
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