A judge has sentenced a man found guilty of serial Cobb rapes 32 years ago.
Antonio Ledell Brooks, now 48, was found guilty by a Cobb Superior Court jury on Friday and was given two consecutive life terms plus 20 years by Judge Gregory Poole, according to the Cobb District Attorney’s Office.
Brooks was convicted on two counts each of rape, aggravated assault and false imprisonment and one count of burglary.
According to information released by the DA’s office, the first victim, who was 24 years old at the time, was attacked on Sept. 1, 1986 at a Franklin Road apartment by a man wielding a knife.
A few days later, another woman, aged 23 then and living a block away at another apartment on Franklin Road was raped and severely beaten, according to prosecutors. They said both women were treated at Kennestone Hospital, where their rape kits were collected, but no suspects were identified.
On an unspecified date in 1988, another young woman was raped at an apartment on Powers Ferry Place, off Delk Road and near Powers Ferry Road, the DA’s office said. The woman told police she later saw the same man at her complex and identified him, leading to Brooks’ conviction in that case, the DA’s office said.
It was that conviction that led to the resolution of the Franklin Road rapes, according to prosecutors, a cold case investigation more than 20 years in the making.
In 2008, Georgia Department of Corrections collected Brooks’ DNA and sent it to the GBI for entry in the federal CODIS, or DNA, database.
Five years later, in 2013, the Marietta Police Department asked the GBI Crime Lab to analyze DNA from the 1986 rapes on Franklin Road.
The Cobb DA’s office said the GBI reported an initial match in those kits to Brooks, then took new swabs of Brooks’ DNA and confirmed the matches.
He was put on trial this week, and found guilty after two hours of jury deliberation, the Cobb DA’s office said.
“What happened to these women is every person’s nightmare and despite the passage of over 30 years, justice was served today,” said Cobb assistant district attorney Courtney Veal in a statement. “The defendant has forfeited his right to live in a free society, and the judge’s sentence should ensure that he can never victimize again.”
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Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce holds his first budget town hall meeting Monday at the East Cobb Senior Center. (East Cobb News file photo)
A revised Cobb budget for fiscal year 2019 would keep open libraries and parks that had been put on draft lifts as options for closures because of the county’s projected $30 million deficit.
The revised budget, which Boyce explained in his weekly video (see bottom of this post), comes to $453 million for the general fund. The current budget for the general fund is $405 million.
In addition, the proposed budget would would add police officer positions and purchase body cameras for law enforcement and have Sunday opening hours at regional libraries (including the Mountain View branch in East Cobb).
It also would keep open the UGA Cobb Extension Service and the county animal services department. Those agencies also have been mentioned for possible elimination.
The millage rate increase he is seeking is 1.7 mills, above the 1.1-mill hike he had initially sought. While the 1.1 mills could cover the $30 million gap, Boyce said additional funds are necessary to restore county services to what they were before the recession.
He said based on feedback from Cobb citizens, especially in regards to libraries and parks facilities, the message is clear.
“We’re not closing anything,” Boyce said. “From what I’ve heard and seen, people like these amenities and want us to keep them. But I have to find a way to pay for them.”
Boyce, who begins a series of budget town hall meetings on Monday at the East Cobb Senior Center, also laid out how much a 1.7-mill increase would cost property owners (see chart below), with annual jumps ranging from $170 to $1,700, based the the taxable value of their homes.
After a testy Cobb budget retreat this week, Boyce got no “clear direction” from other commissioners about what proposal to take to the public. East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott has maintained that he wants to see more spending cuts before he would support any kind of increase.
Northeast Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell has said “everything is on the table” but that she didn’t favor shutting down parks facilities.
East Cobb facilities that have appeared on draft lists prepared by department heads and made public include the East Cobb Library, Fullers Park and Fullers Recreation Center, the Mountain View Aquatic Center, Mountain View Community Center and The Art Place.
Other budget details include restoring eliminated Cobb DOT maintenance positions and increasing right-of-way mowing contracts. Proposed cuts include $2 million in local grant matches and information services contracts.
Boyce said he’s gotten many e-mails from citizens complaining about unmowed grass along county roads and potholes.
On Wednesday, Cobb government asked in a social media posting for the public’s patience in handling a long backlog of transportation maintenance calls. It said Cobb DOT received 300 requests for service in a seven-day period and that the backlog includes 1,800 work orders.
“At current staffing levels, DOT is completing about 20 work orders per day,” according to the message.
“Do we want to have a county with a high quality of life serviced by the best staff in Georgia?” Boyce said in his video. “Or do we want to live in a mediocre county staffed and funded by a sub-par budget?”
He also said that “these town halls make a difference.”
Monday’s town hall meeting at the East Cobb Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road) starts at 7 p.m. The town halls continue through July 9 at the Sewell Mill Library, followed by three public budget hearings that are required by law.
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 County Fire & Emergency Services recommends that you attend one of the many professional public firework displays put on at various locations around the county each 4th of July.
If you choose to use fireworks, be sure to follow the recommendations below by the Consumer Product Safety Commission:
Never allow young children to play with or ignite fireworks. Only those 18 and older can legally use fireworks in Georgia;
Avoid buying fireworks that are packaged in brown paper because this is often a sign that the fireworks were made for professional displays and that they could pose a danger to consumers;
Always have an adult supervise fireworks activities. Parents don’t realize that young children suffer injuries from sparklers. Sparklers burn at temperatures of about 2,000 degrees – hot enough to melt some metals;
Never place any part of your body directly over a fireworks device when lighting the fuse. Back up to a safe distance immediately after lighting fireworks;
Never try to re-light or pick up fireworks that have not ignited fully;
Never point or throw fireworks at another person;
Keep a bucket of water or a garden hose handy in case of fire or other mishap;
Light fireworks one at a time, then move back quickly;
Never carry fireworks in a pocket or shoot them off in metal or glass containers;
After fireworks complete their burning, douse the spent device with plenty of water from a bucket or hose before discarding it to prevent a trash fire.
Fireworks can mean misery for pets. Thousands are sedated every year after being frightened by fireworks. Others are so distraught they bolt and get lost or injured.
Keep pets indoors, close the curtains and play music to drown out the noise. Make sure your pet is wearing a collar and tag and is microchipped in case it bolts and becomes lost.
Fireworks can still be enjoyed if at the same time care and consideration are given to pets, livestock and animals living in the surrounding area.
WARNING: Persons choosing to use fireworks should be cognizant of their responsibility to discharge them safely without endangering other persons or property. Please be advised that you have a legal duty to exercise reasonable care in using fireworks and are presumed to intend the natural and probable consequences of your acts. As a result, you may be subject to potential criminal and/or civil liability for any damage to persons or property resulting from your use of fireworks.
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On Monday District 2 Cobb Commissioner Bob Ott signed off on minor modifications for the architecture and canopy for Chick-fil-A Woodlawn Square renovations that will begin in July.
As we noted in December, commissioners approved the restaurant’s expansion plans in December that include a double drive-through with a canopy and subject to final approval from the district commissioner.
That’s standard practice on most zoning and site plan cases that come before the commissioners. What they’re not required to do is explain what modifications they make after the cases are approved.
Earlier this spring Ott said he would publicly post any minor modifications and any other sign-offs on zoning cases online and in his weekly newsletter:
This will allow you, and your neighbors, the opportunity to review the request and to see what changes are being proposed and to provide feedback to Commissioner Ott. Commissioner Ott will review the feedback that has been provided, make possible changes and will sign the document the following week.
The canopy and architectural renderings, as modified at the Woodlawn Chick-fil-A, can be found here. The changes pertain to side and rear elevation specifics of the canopy.
As we noted in March, the busy restaurant is closing in July for the renovations and is expected to reopen in November.
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East Cobb commissioners Bob Ott (left) and JoAnn Birrell (right) wouldn’t support Chairman Mike Boyce’s call for a property tax increase of 1.1 mills at Tuesday’s budget retreat at the Cobb Civic Center. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
One of the objectives laid out before a Cobb budget retreat on Tuesday was for county commission chairman Mike Boyce to “leave . . . with clear direction from the board.”
That board, the four district members of the Cobb Board of Commissioners, provided him with nearly everything but that in a three-hour meeting at the Cobb Civic Center. Instead, Boyce left openly frustrated as he begins a series of budget town hall meetings next week, starting Monday at the East Cobb Senior Center.
He’s proposed a millage rate increase he says will close a $30 million budget deficit that’s projected for fiscal year 2019. During the retreat, told the commissioners “if we want to keep what we have, the bill is 1.1 mills,” a reference to his recommendation to raise the general fund millage rate.
Revealed earlier are draft lists of possible closures of libraries, parks and other “desired” services that have galvanized public pleas to preserve them, and in some cases, by raising taxes.
Here’s a Cobb Budget Journey interactive the county has released to provide background on the budget and millage history in recent years.
Commissioners picked away at a number of budget expenses, such as the cost of new police vehicles, transferring operating costs for the Cobb Safety Village to the Cobb Fire Department and proposed Sunday library hours, unwilling to give Boyce an unqualified yes vote.
Bob Weatherford of West Cobb, who is in a runoff election the day before the budget is to be adopted in July, told Boyce that “you’re asking us to commit to something before we’ve had the town halls.”
Even South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, his most reliable ally on the budget, wondered aloud about having town hall meetings to solicit more public feedback, since “every single e-mail references [full funding of libraries]. They’re telling us it’s a matter of priority.”
Boyce kept making the case that “I’d rather have something to take to the people.
“I have to pass a budget, but I also have to count votes,” Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce told commissioners at the retreat.
“What I’m asking the commissioners is to join me in this program,” he said. “I get it. You don’t want to stick your neck out. But this isn’t hard.
“It’s $30 million in an economy of billions,” Boyce said, his voice rising. “You would think we’re living in Albania! I just don’t understand.”
Near the end, Boyce said even if the tax rate went up two mills, it’s still lower than most other local governments in metro Atlanta.
“We owe it to the people of this county to continue this level of service,” he said, suggesting that if they couldn’t, headlines would read that they’re closing things like parks and libraries.
Some county government department heads and staffers in attendance loudly applauded when he said that. Boyce received even louder applause when he said:
“I will pay a huge political price. But I’m willing to pay it. I don’t want to live in a county that’s worse than when I came here.”
After the retreat, East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott told East Cobb News that he “heard some frustration” and credited Boyce with providing more budget details than what commissioners have received in past years. Ott has said for several months that he wants to see more proposed spending cuts before he’s willing to consider a tax increase.
He couldn’t support a millage rate increase on the spot “because I haven’t seen the cuts.
“A lot of what he asked for today we heard in October” at the commissioners’ previous retreat, Ott said.
Ott doesn’t support closing any parks or recreation facilities that were disclosed last week and contained on a draft list of possible options for budget reduction. They include Fullers Park and Fullers Recreation Center in East Cobb.
“I’m not going to support closing something that is heavily used,” Ott said.
District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell said that “I have no interest in closing parks.” Birrell, who is up for re-election in November, told East Cobb News she’s eager for the town hall meetings to get more citizens’ input before budget deliberations begin in July. She said she’s received many messages both in support of and against a tax increase.
The Mountain View Arts Alliance is asking members to fight to keep The Art Place open.
“We’re still looking at everything,” she said, adding that “shutting down” items on draft lists “won’t add up to $30 million.”
On the draft parks and recreation list in her Northeast Cobb district are the Mountain View Aquatic Center, the Mountain View Community Center and The Art Place.
The Mountain View Arts Alliance, a non-profit citizens’ group that provides support for The Art Place, has distributed a letter urging its members speak out at town hall meetings and contact their commissioners:
“Increasing the millage rate would provide the funds necessary to close the 30 million dollar budget gap. This money goes toward programs ranging from road maintenance to emergency services to libraries to the PARKS department, which encompasses The Art Place as well as dozens of recreation facilities and public parks.”
The MVAA is also asking its supporters to “please wear your brightest blue to show support at town hall meetings.”
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Parents and family members supporting Walton High School students who staged a March walkout to demand gun-control measures. (East Cobb News file photo)
Thanks to East Cobb News reader and parent Rene’ Brinks Dodd for letting us know about an East Cobb school safety meeting she and other parents are putting together next week at the Whole Foods Merchants Walk location.
It’s next Tuesday, June 19, and starts at 7 p.m. in the meeting room next to the cafe in the front of the store (1289 Johnson Ferry Road) and the public is invited.
Much of this is focused around school shootings, but as you’ll see from Rene’s information below other topics will be on the agenda:
As parents, we have a say in protecting our kids, especially in school. Let’s be proactive and help make the changes the schools need so that one of our Cobb schools doesn’t end up on the news as yet another school tragedy.
I personally think our country’s culture needs to change. Other countries have guns but they don’t have a mass school shooting problem. Why does the US?
If you would like to be a part in making a change and creating a better culture for our kids to be raised in, please attend a parents local meeting next week.
Some of the topics will be recent bomb threat (Dodgen MS), sexual predators (Pope HS and recent arrest at Kell HS) and what else we need to do to make our schools safe to prevent tragedies such as mass shootings.
At Tuesday’s East Cobb meeting will be a speaker from the Sandy Hook Promise program, which trains parents and students about how to reduce and prevent gun violence.
Members of the committee include Republican Kay Kirkpatrick of East Cobb. Additional meetings will take place through the fall, with the aim to present legislation for the 2019 session of the General Assembly.
Here’s the video of that senate committee meeting earlier this month in Roswell. It’s a little more than two hours. She says the audio quality isn’t good but there are helpful PowerPoint slides and useful information starting at the 18:12 mark.
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A rendering of a proposed park in Mableton, along the Chattahoochee River, includes Civil War earthworks.
An East Cobb resident who asked Cobb commissioners Tuesday to include the name of a Confederate general in the name of a new county park along the Chattahoochee River upset the commissioner who took the action item off the meeting agenda.
During a public comment period, Mary Stevens, who said she lives in East Cobb, wants the name of Gen. Joseph Johnston to be part of a proposed park in the Mableton area that includes Civil War earthworks.
Stevens said the Civil War wasn’t fought over slavery and that “had it been so bad for the freed slaves they would have left the South.”
She said blacks served the Confederate Army as cooks, chaplains and other laborers and that “naming the park anything that does not include the name of Joseph Johnston is historically inaccurate.”
Johnston was the general in charge of Southern forces that fought Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman’s Union Army at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain and the Battle of Atlanta in 1864.
Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, who represents Mableton and South Cobb and is the board’s only African-American, tabled a proposal to designate the 103-acre tract as the Mableton Chattahoochee River Line Park.
A master plan for what some South Cobb residents preferred to be called the Mableton Discovery Park was approved by commissioners in March. Cobb has owned the land that’s also been known as Johnston’s River Line since 1990, but finalizing the name has been a thorny matter that has been delayed before.
Cupid said she understood there would be those with different perspectives, which is why she favored the Mableton Chattahoochee River Line Park name as a compromise.
“It’s very clear that this is a very sensitive issue that I don’t think was dealt with very sensitively” by Stevens, said Cupid, saying she was “deeply offended” by her remarks.
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Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce explained the budget situation to the East Cobb Business Association in January. (East Cobb News file photo)
A few hours before holding a budget retreat, Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said Tuesday morning that no decisions have been made about how to close a projected $30 million deficit.
During a public comment session at the Board of Commissioners meeting, several East Cobb Boy Scouts asked that the Mountain View Aquatic Center and The Art Place not be closed.
Those facilities were included on a draft list prepared by the Cobb Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department and made public last week. They outlined possible cost savings as options for balancing the budget and include several parks, pools and community centers around the county.
Also on the list are the Mountain View Community Center, Fullers Park and the Fullers Recreation Center in East Cobb.
“All that it is is a working document,” Boyce said, explaining that county department heads have been asked to be prepared to answer questions commissioners may have about the cost of individual facilities as they begin budget deliberations.
The retreat is taking place Tuesday afternoon at the Cobb Civic Center.
Thus far, however, such options have been publicized only for senior services, libraries and parks and recreation. Also listed for possible elimination are the UGA Cobb Extension Service and Keep Cobb Beautiful.
Boyce had a town hall at the East Cobb Senior Center in January to hear from the public about fee increases at senior centers.
In February, a draft list of nearly $3 million in possible service cuts to the library system included the full closure of the East Cobb Library.
A formal budget proposal by Boyce has not been released as he prepares for several budget town hall meetings, starting next Monday at the East Cobb Senior Center. Another town hall will take place July 9 at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.
“If you think it’s hard for you, it’s hard for us,” Boyce told the scouts.
He said that during the budget town halls, “we are going to find out what we’re going to continue to fund” based on public feedback, with the goal of producing a budget that “reflects our conservative values.”
Boyce has suggested a 1.1-mills increase in the property tax rate that would cover the deficit. But East Cobb’s commissioners are cool to that. District 2’s Bob Ott said he wouldn’t support a hike without seeing considerable savings presented first. JoAnn Birrell of District 3, who is seeking re-election in November, said she isn’t in favor of a tax increase either.
The parks and recs draft list identified around $3.3 million in savings, and about a third of that, $1.1 million, is in Birrell’s Northeast Cobb district.
She also reminded the Boy Scouts that no decisions have been made and asked for their and other feedback at the town halls.
“We’d like to hear from you again,” she said.
An East Cobb resident whom commissioners have heard from often renewed her concerns about library cuts during the public comment period Tuesday.
Rachel Slomovitz, who organized the Save Cobb Libraries group, said she has more than 2,100 signatures on a petition, and pleaded with commissioners not to “take away the most elemental of services.”
She said Cobb could have “book deserts” if steep cuts are made, citizens will suffer from having few computers for job-hunting and students will lose additional learning resources outside school.
“When you take away a library, there are outcomes you cannot imagine,” said Slomovitz, who supports a tax increase to prevent library cuts.
“I am here also to ask why you don’t have the courage to do what’s right for Cobb. Why make Cobb citizens feel as though they are about to lose everything?”
The fiscal year 2019 budget is scheduled to be adopted on July 25, after the town halls and three public hearings.
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East Cobb News photos and slideshow by Wendy Parker
The Good Mews 30th birthday celebration that was open to the public on Sunday is part of a month-long promotion that includes special prices on adoptions and the unveiling of the cat shelter’s new surgical facilities.
The cage-free, no-kill Good Mews opened in 1988 in its founder’s apartment, then to a location on Sandtown Road before moving to East Cobb. After many years at the Fountains of Olde Towne Shopping Center, the non-profit Good Mews Animal Foundation built a free-standing building on the site of a former pet day care center at 3805 Robinson Road that has been its home since late 2015.
In that time, it’s adopted out more than 8,000 cats who were once homeless, abandoned, abused, rescued or neglected. The Good Mews mission is “Finding Good Homes for Good Kitties.”
The expansive space in the free-standing building is home to around 100 cats and kittens, with a few dozen more typically out in foster homes at any given time.
Good Mews takes in cats from a number of kill shelters in north Georgia and prepares them for adoption. All are given medical screenings and some require separate rooms for medical, dietary or behavioral reasons.
Cats needing medical attention had been sent to nearby veterinarians, but Good Mews recently has been able to create its own on-premises surgical facility that includes donated ultrasound and X-Ray machines. The shelter also will be able to spay and neuter cats and provide teeth cleanings as well.
Dr. Judy Johnson is a contract veterinarian who will be leading the medical unit on-site. In addition to saving money, Good Mews will be able to better provide continuity of care.
Recently Good Mews began a Yoga with Cats program and a Reading to Cats program.
For the month of June, to mark its 30th birthday, Good Mews is adopting out adult cats at a reduced rate of $30. It’s also accepting in-kind donations of supplies like litter, food, cleaners and more on a regular basis.
Adoptions take place from 10-4 each Saturday and the second, third and fourth Sundays of each month from 1-4.
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State Rep. John Carson, a Republican from Northeast Cobb who was the primary sponsor of Georgia’s new hands free law that takes effect July 1, sent this message out today:
ATLANTA – State Representative John Carson (R-Marietta) today clarified that Georgia drivers may utilize music streaming applications and that there will not be a set enforcement grace period after House Bill 673, the Hands-Free Georgia Act, takes effect on July 1, 2018. Rep. Carson sponsored HB 673 during the 2018 legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly, and Governor Nathan Deal recently signed this measure into law to create a hands-free driving law in Georgia.
“According to recent data, we believe the public awareness of this new law is already saving lives,” said Rep. Carson.“We encourage all Georgians to implement the best practices stated in the Hands-Free Georgia Act prior to July 1, 2018, for the safety of all commuters on Georgia’s roadways.”
According to a recent press release from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, drivers can listen to music streaming apps on their phone while driving under the new law, but they cannot activate their apps or change music through their phone while driving.Music streaming apps that are programmed and controlled through the vehicle’s radio system are allowed.However, music streaming apps that have video are not allowed since the law specifically prohibits drivers from watching videos.
Additionally, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, the Georgia Department of Public Safety and local law enforcement officers recently reminded Georgia drivers that the law does not contain a 90-day grace period for enforcement.Many officers will be issuing warnings for violations in the first months of the law as part of the education effort, but citations can and will be issued starting July 1 where law enforcement officers believe they are warranted, especially those violations that involve traffic crashes.
This new hands-free driving law will prohibit drivers from holding or supporting a wireless telecommunication device or a stand-alone electronic device while operating a vehicle. Additionally, this measure will maintain the ban on texting, emailing and internet browsing while driving, but will also prohibit watching or recording videos while driving.GPS navigation and voice-to-text features will still be permitted.
For more information on HB 673, please click here.
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The East Cobb Library has been in operation only since 2010 at Parkaire Landing Shopping Center. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
The Cobb budget crisis will soon be addressed in serious detail by the Cobb Board of Commissioners, which is holding a budget retreat on Tuesday.
The week after that, next Monday, June 18 to be exact, at the East Cobb Senior Center, budget town halls will start around the county. There will be another one in our community, on July 9, at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center.
Like the proposed library cuts, the cuts on parks and rec “draft list,” if enacted, would absolutely crush the provision of popular services.
Like the proposed library cuts, closing all of the parks and rec facilities on that list wouldn’t do much to close the deficit.
In East Cobb, the “draft list” includes Fullers Park and the Fullers Recreation Center, the Mountain View Aquatic Center, The Art Place and the Mountain View Community Center.
A little more than $3 million, to be exact, is what the parks and rec savings would add up to countywide. The library cuts would amount to less than that, roughly $2.9 million.
Along with new membership fees and increases for classes and rentals at senior centers, the possible elimination of the UGA Cobb Extension Service and shutting down Keep Cobb Beautiful (also on the parks and rec list), that still doesn’t equal what the county spends every year to pay off its obligations for SunTrust Park and other costs for Atlanta Braves games and events there.
The work of local artists on display at the $10.3 million Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center, which opened last December.
As I wrote back in February: SunTrust is untouchable, having been placed on the “must” list of budget items that are required to be appropriated by commissioners every year.
Parks, libraries and senior services are not. They’re merely on the “desired” list.
Yet the cost of delivering services has grown the most in public safety, transportation, courts, community development and water and sewer.
Library hours have not been added back to their pre-Recession totals. Cobb’s unwillingness to have Sunday library hours anywhere except the Switzer branch, but only during the school year, is ridiculous.
The library system’s budget details were laid out in painful detail months ago. Employees in these endangered departments know their jobs may be eliminated.
Why are these low-cost, high-impact services, which add exponentially to our qualify of life, vulnerable to being gutted with a record tax digest predicted for 2018?
Citizens skeptical of paying higher property taxes think it’s a ploy by Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce to get a millage rate increase. He wants to add 1.1 mills to your property tax bill, which would just about cover the $30 million.
Getting you stoked up over the possibility of losing your library, or park, is an old tactic. His predecessor, Tim Lee, did the same thing. It worked during the Recession, when tax rates went up.
The county released a “Cobb budget journey” explainer this past week with information to bolster the argument that our current general fund millage rate is just about tapped out.
We’re paying a lower millage rate now than in 1990, despite the Cobb population having grown from 450,000 then to around 750,000 now. The tax hike imposed during the Recession was brought down a couple years ago, foolishly, by Lee, with a millage rate reduction right before losing his runoff with Boyce, and just as SunTrust became fully operational.
That vote only added to the budget jam that exists now.
I’m not wild about a tax increase either, and many homeowners are already paying higher tax bills because their assessments have gone up, some dramatically.
Instead of grazing around the edges, threatening to close parks and libraries and the Cobb Safety Village and whatnot, it’s time to tackle the truly big-ticket items. There’s got to be an honest conversation about what it really costs to properly serve a fast-growing county with basic, local government services.
Cobb is no longer the sleepy bedroom community it was when our family moved here in the mid-1960s. Many who simply wanted a quiet refuge in a ranch house on a wooded lot (some built by my father, a now-retired home contractor) are finding the density, traffic, noise and increasingly urban feel to Cobb, and even East Cobb, alarming.
So do I. That’s why a visit to a park, or a library has become something much more than a treat. For me, it’s almost essential to do this, at least once a week, or when I can.
But the truth is we require more public safety services, more court services, more transportation services, more zoning services, more water and sewer services. The current millage rate, even what Boyce has proposed, likely will not cover all of what’s required in a few years. Even if he gets his wish, it may not be enough.
Cobb commissioners recently spent $1.7 million to purchase land on Ebenezer Road for a future passive park.
Some question the wisdom of spending millions on future park land and opening new facilities built with SPLOST money, but that operate with county budget funds.
Those are valid issues, as is the subject of SPLOST reform. These topics are likely to be hashed out during the hot summer budget months ahead. They have to be part of an eventual effort to get ahead of budget issues.
In order for that to happen, Cobb leaders have to offer something of a vision for the county that hasn’t been forthcoming for years, even before the recession.
I’m admittedly a bleeding heart for parks and libraries, but scapegoating the services that Cobb has nickeled-and-dimed for decades, and playing a game of emotional blackmail with the public, isn’t the way to do that.
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Thanks to Anne Pitts, incoming president of the East Cobb Rotary, which is staging its 13th annual Dog Days Run Aug. 4 at the East Cobb-McCleskey Family YMCA (1055 East Piedmont Road), for the submitted information about the event. Here’s the online sign-up page if you want to run/walk on what’s becoming one of East Cobb’s biggest 5K events.
Last year we raised over $92,000 that we used to support local non-profits and many school programs in our community.
We expect 800-1,000 runners and their families at the race and after-race festivities. Our purpose for the event is to raise money for local charities or charities with local impact. Last year, the money raised supported the Rally Foundation (childhood cancer research), REAP (improving reading proficiency in public schools), Lekotek (empowering children with special needs) and more than 30 other charitable organizations that make a positive impact in the Cobb County community. Additionally, we have committed $35,000 over 3 years to help Wheeler High School start and implement an AVID program which directs college-preparatory assistance to students of lower socio-economic backgrounds.
Not only do we raise the funds, our members actually help put these funds to work, by serving as volunteers for many of the projects financed. Dog Days funds allow us to sponsor Interact Clubs (youth service organizations) at Wheeler and Walton High School, students at Lassiter and Wheeler High Schools to participate in the National Laws of Life Contest which spans the academic year and culminates in the contest in the spring, and we are able to sponsor 4 students from Walton and Wheeler High School each year to attend Rotary Youth Leadership Camp in the summer. The students that attend this camp tell me that it is by far their best experience, and they are lit up and ready to bring positive changes to their communities.
You can also register at Big Peach Running Company (1062 Johnson Ferry Road) or via regular mail at this link by July 22; early registration is $20 through July 28. After that, including race day, it’s $30.
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Following up the post from last week about Piedmont Road railroad crossing repairs: Cobb County government posted around 10 a.m. that that stretch of the road—from Canton Road to Morgan Road—has reopened.
The crossing, is, and we’re quoting directly here from a social media posting, “is smooth as a baby’s you-know-what!”
The work was to smooth out a very rough crossing and to make track and roadside repairs.
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East Cobb Weekend Events are indoors and outdoors, full of summertime fun and relaxation, and also designed to help good causes for our furry friends.
Bright and early Saturday morning is the Northeast Cobb Business Association’s 4th annual 5K-9 run at Piedmont Church (570 Piedmont Road), which is raising funds for the purchase and training of a therapy dog for a PTSD military veteran. The first race starts at 8 a.m., and there’s walk-up registration and age-group awards. You can also bring your dog for a run/trot;
Need help writing or revising your resume? There’s a session from 11:30-12:30 Saturday at East Cobb Library that’s free, but you’ll need to register first;
Summer movie fun is also slated for Saturday afternoon at local library branches: “Grease” will be shown from 2-4 p.m. at the Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road) that’s part of its Rockin’ Summer Movie Series;
This is almost as good as a first run, and without the steep ticket prices: The acclaimed recent release of “Black Panther” will be shown from 6-8:30 Saturday in the Black Box Theater at the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road). It’s free, and you’re free to bring your own food and drink to take in the saga from the Kingdom of Wakanda;
Earlier on Saturday at Sewell Mill, from 2-5:30 p.m. is Teen Retro Game Day for kids between grades 6-12, and it’s a drop-in event where they can make friends and learn all about oldie goldie console games like Atari and Nintendo;
On Sunday is a special celebration. From 2-5 it’s the 30th anniversary of the Good Mews Animal Foundation (3805 Robinson Road), which began on Sandtown Road and has been in East Cobb most of the time since then. They’re offering free tours and you can bring your own gift (supply list here) for the felines they’re preparing for adoption;
From 4-6 on Sunday, a Choral and Orchestra Concert takes place at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (2922 Sandy Plains Road), which is performing John Leavitt’s “Requiem.” The sounds include the church’s famed pipe organ, and a reception is to follow.
Check out our full Events Calendar for more things to do in East Cobb, this week and beyond. Did we miss anything? Do you have an event to share with the community? Send your items to us, and we’ll post them: calendar@eastcobbnews.com.
Whatever you’re doing this weekend, make it a great one!
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The first tenant in a new shopping center on the site of the former Mountain View Elementary School will be the first location in Georgia for the Publix GreenWise Market concept.
The Atlanta Business Chronicle reported that the store will have 25,000 square feet as the anchor of a 103,000-square foot development on 14 acres on Sandy Plains Road at Shallowford Road.
The still-to-be-named complex is being developed by East Cobb-based Brooks Chadwick Capital and Fuqua Development and will include “chef-driven” restaurants, retail and service shops and a self-storage facility.
Rezoning for the complex was approved by Cobb commissioners last fall, and they signed off on the self-storage building this spring despite complaints from nearby residents.
According to a report in ToNeTo Atlanta, which covers the metro retailing scene, Publix is rolling out its GreenWise Market organic foods concept in other Southern markets. They include Tallahassee, Boca Raton and the Charleston, S.C. area.
The East Cobb store will be right down the street from a Publix supermarket at the Highland Plaza Shopping Center. The ABCquoted an Atlanta real estate observer that:
“The target market for GreenWise is those areas that have a strong Publix presence already. GreenWise could function as a complementary destination for a core Publix location, helping to spread out customer density in their busiest markets.”
GreenWise is eyeing a competitive East Cobb organic grocery market, with Whole Foods and Sprouts nearby, in the Johnson Ferry-Roswell area.
The Shallowford-Sandy Plains area also was a target of Lidl, a German-based supermarket chain, which wanted to locate a store on the site of the Park 12 Cobb movie theater on Gordy Parkway. But its zoning application was rejected by commissioners last fall following intense community opposition.
ToNeTo said the East Cobb Public GreenWise Market could open by next summer.
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The following East Cobb restaurant scores from May 8-June 7 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link below each listing to view details of the inspection.
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Submitted photo and information below from Sgt. Jeff Tattroe about the Cobb Police Bookbag Palooza initiative to collect school supplies for needy students. He’s the head of the department’s community affairs unit and one of the dropoff points is the Precinct 4 headquarters in East Cobb:
Cobb County, it’s time to rally up for a great cause – BOOK BAGPALOOZA.You came through with overwhelming support this past winter with “Giving the Gift of Warmth” coat drive, so let’s now do the same with Book Bag-Palooza.
The Cobb County Police Department’s Community Affairs Unit would like to gather as many book bags and school supplies as possible.The donations that are received will be distributed to those Cobb County students in need at the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, which is only two month away!
We are seeking new book bags, paper, folders, pencils, crayons, glue sticks, markers, etc. Any items that a student, whether they be elementary to high school, would need to start the school year out prepared and proud!The Palooza starts now.
Drop off locations are any of the Cobb County Pct. locations:
Pct. 1 ) 2380 Cobb Parkway NW, Kennesaw
Pct. 2 ) 4700 Austell Rd. Austell
Pct. 3 ) 1901 Cumberland Parkway, Atlanta
Pct. 4 ) 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta
Pct. 5 ) 4640 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs
HQ ) 140 North Marietta Parkway, Marietta
The hours for drop off at the above locations are from 9am till 4pm, Monday thru Friday (excluding holidays).If you have a business or club that takes on the Palooza challenge and collects a large amount of school items, one of the Community Affairs officers will be happy to arrange pick-up from your location.
If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call.I look forward to seeing how the residents of Cobb County step up to make sure all students walk in to school proud and ready to learn.
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Fields at Fullers Park, where the East Side Baseball Association plays. (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
A draft plan that would cut roughly 15 percent of the Cobb Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs Department budget lists several East Cobb parks and recreational facilities for possible permanent closure. They include the Fullers Park and Recreation Center, the Mountain View Aquatic Center and The Art Place.
Cobb PARKS director Jimmy Gisi has included those facilities, as well as the Mountain View Community Center, on a list of parks, recreational and community centers and other facilities under its purview as options for budget cuts that come to $3.3 million.
Cobb County government is facing a fiscal year 2019 budget deficit of at least $30 million, and commissioners will hold a retreat next week before budget town hall meetings take place around the county through early July.
Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce has proposed a 1.1-mill increase in the general fund property tax millage rate to cover the $30 million gap.
Earlier this year Cobb Library director Helen Poyer recommended cuts of nearly $3 million, or around 25 percent of that department’s budget to be reduced, including the closure of East Cobb Library.
Many of the East Cobb items on the parks and recreation list have undergone extensive renovations and maintenance in recent years with money from SPLOST and not property tax revenues.
There are facilities in each of the four Cobb Board of Commissioners districts that are on the draft list. By far, the deepest cuts would come in District 3 in Northeast Cobb, represented by JoAnn Birrell.
A total of $1.1 million in cost-savings has been identified there: The Art Place, Mountain View Aquatic Center and Mountain View Community Center.
The aquatic center budget is more than $600,000 a year, the most expensive of the items on the draft list. It’s heavily used by high school and club youth swimming teams, as well the general public. The facility was renovated with $1.4 million in 2011 SPLOST funding.
The Art Place, which offers art classes, has art gallery events and sales and an outdoor amphitheater. It’s also the home for numerous community concerts and theater presentations, including those of the Mountain View Arts Alliance and CenterStage North, has a budget of more than $500,000 a year.
Both the aquatic center and The Art Place are part of a consortium of county government services on Sandy Plains Road that includes the East Cobb Senior Center and the Mountain View Regional Library.
The Mountain View Community Center, with a budget of around $6,000 a year, also is in that complex, located next to the former Mountain View Elementary School. The county spent nearly $160,000 last year to make renovations on the small building, which was closed for several months.
The Fullers Park and Recreational Center on Robinson Road cost a combined $315,000 a year to operate, and serve as the home for the East Side Baseball Association and other youth and recreational entities. In recent years the rec center was renovated with nearly $1.2 million in SPLOST funds.
The Atlanta Braves also paid for the renovation of a baseball field at Fullers Park in 2015 as part of its “Chipper Jones Field” community outreach program.
Those are the only two facilities in Commisioner Bob Ott’s District 2 that are on the draft list.
Also included in the draft plan for possible elimination is Keep Cobb Beautiful, with an annual budget of more than $200,000, and which has a strong advocate in Birrell.
The list of the possible parks closures comes as new East Cobb parks projects are underway, or will be soon.
That amount is included in the current fiscal year 2018 budget commissioners voted to fully fund the 2008 Cobb Parks Bond referendum.
Those are passive parks, with minimal cost and staffing compared to what’s been included on the draft plan. Other possible closures include the Lost Mountain Park and Tennis Center and the Ward Recreational Center in West Cobb, and the South Cobb Aquatic Center and South Cobb Recreation Center.
Mabry Park’s annual operating budget is expected to be $104,000, paid via property tax revenues. Funding details for the development of the Ebenezer Road park have not been determined. The county is holding a public preview for that park on June 23.
The county is also spending $284,000 in property tax revenues in both the library and parks budgets for the current fiscal year to operate the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center, which opened in December 2017. It replaced the East Marietta Library and cost $10 million in SPLOST funding to construct.
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An East Cobb woman has been charged by Cobb Police with reckless conduct and cruelty to children for leaving a baby in her car while she went shopping last month.
Shoba Marudur, of Ashworth Glen Court in East Cobb, was booked and released on a $10,000 bond on Sunday, May 27, the same day of the incident, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.
According to media reports, Marudur was shopping at the T.J. Maxx store at Providence Square Shopping Center on Roswell Road on a hot afternoon when other shoppers noticed a crying infant girl alone in a car, without windows cracked, and called 911. They also went into to the store to seek out the child’s parent.
The reckless conduct charge against Marudur is a misdemeanor, while the second-degree cruelty to children charge is a felony.
East Cobb News does not publish photographs of crime suspects before their cases have gone through the legal system, and then only if they are convicted or plead guilty and are sentenced.
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The Foxtrotters Ballroom Dance Club is disbanding at the end of this month, after 21 years of events at the East Cobb Senior Center. A farewell dance will take place there on June 22.
A steep increase in fees for renting out the event for their dances is the reason for the decision to shut down the group, Foxtrotters president Barbara Digulla told East Cobb News.
Like other groups and individuals who have been using the East Cobb Senior Center, the Foxtrotters have been affected by proposed activity fee increases for senior centers across the county to address Cobb’s current $30 million budget deficit.
At a January town hall meeting in January at the East Cobb Senior Center, Boyce told seniors upset about the proposals that “we’re all in this together” in terms of resolving the county’s fiscal crisis.
While some seniors didn’t object to paying a $60 annual membership fee, groups that meet at senior centers were alarmed by the high increases that commissioners are being asked to approve.
The Foxtrotters have paid $120 a month to Cobb Senior Services for the use of the facility for their monthly dances.
That cost could jump to $540 an event, if the proposed fee increases are approved when the commissioners finalize the budget in July. The hours for their dances also were pushed up from 7-10 p.m. to 6-9 p.m., with the county citing security reasons.
The Foxtrotters said the changing hours negatively affected turnout, and they hire their own security guard for their dances. Digulla said she was able to negotiate a 7-10 p.m. window for their final dance on June 22.
She said around a third of those coming for the dances are from well beyond the Cobb area, including DeKalb and Gwinnett counties and elsewhere.
“We’ve accepted it,” Digulla said about the end of the group. She said she and other dance club members “tried every possibility there is in this area” to find another place for their events, including churches and community centers.
She said that typically 45-55 people attend a dance, but attendance has been down 20 to 30 percent since the new fees kicked in.
Digulla said the Foxtrotters are required to pay for a security guard that cost $80 an event. Combined with that and the rental fee, along with around $500 an event for bands, each dance cost in the range of $650 to $750 a month.
To have to pay nearly double that, between $1,100 to $1,200 a month, and on short notice, “is ridiculous,” Digulla said.
The Foxtrotters aren’t the first senior dance group to shut down in the wake of the new Cobb senior activity fees.
The Stardust Dance Ballroom Dance Group that held events at the West Cobb Senior Center also is closing down, due to the proposed fee increases, and is having three final dances this year at a senior center in Paulding County.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners is scheduled to adopt the fiscal year 2019 budget in July. The senior fee increases were initially delayed as Boyce held senior town hall meetings, but they went into effect this spring.
Launched in 1997 by founding members Naomi Davis and Jan Henkleman, the Foxtrotters are geared toward seniors, with attendance open to those 55 and older.
They used to have another senior dance group, the Flamingos, who met at the Windy Hill Senior Center, but that group disbanded when the center closed in 2011.
The Foxtrotters farewell event begins June 22, 21 years and two days after their first event at the East Cobb Senior Center. The cost is $15 a person, with music provided by The Continentals Band and the theme “I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning.”
Digulla said around 70 people have signed up to attend, enough to provide a free buffet meal as the Foxtrotters have their last dance.
As a Foxtrotters Facebook page message indicated:
“Let’s say goodbye in style and pay tribute to the best social event East Cobb has ever known!”
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