The office is located at 2932 Canton Road, in the Market Plaza Shopping Center (just north of the Piedmont Road intersection).
The closure begins next Wednesday, July 25, with reopening in the fall. A specific date hasn’t been mentioned.
If you use that office and need tag services during the renovations, alternate locations include the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road).
Other tag offices are at 4700 Austell Road, 3858 Kemp Ridge Road and 700 South Cobb Drive, as well as self-serve kiosks at the Austell Road and South Cobb Road locations and the Kroger at 3240 South Cobb Drive.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
By a unanimous 7-0 vote Thursday, the Cobb Board of Education approved a measure to increase a Cobb school employee pay raise over what was adopted in May.
The extra 1.5-percent raise comes on top of 1.1-percent raises that were previously approved for all 15,000 Cobb County School District employees, as well as 1.1-percent bonuses.
The school board also voted Thursday to establish the 2018 millage rate at 18.9 mills, a figure that has been in place for 11 years.
The Cobb schools fiscal year 2019 budget that began July 1 is $1.2 billion.
The raises will cost just under $22 million. The additional raises were proposed by Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale after the Cobb tax digest grew more than school officials anticipated.
They had forecast 6 percent growth, but the net tax digest increase for Cobb schools for 2018 ended up being 8.2 percent. The Cobb tax digest for this year is a record $36.7 billion.
Ragsdale said not all of the extra money is being used for the raises, although “a vast majority” of the $38 million more coming into school district coffers is. He said the school system wasn’t able to afford a pay raise last year and he wanted to reward staff when it was fiscally possible to do so.
At a public hearing Thursday afternoon, Donna Rowe of the Cobb Association of Realtors expressed concern about basing pay raises on revenue from property values.
“That is a fluctuating thing and it is dictated by the market,” said Rowe, who is based at the Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in East Cobb.
She said she was speaking as a citizen, mindful of the real estate market during the recession.
Ragsdale addressed that concern, saying that “we not spending every single dollar” of the tax digest windfall on raises.
“Yes, it’s recurring revenue, but it’s prudent for us to make sure that we are financially stable” in case of unexpected expenses, he said.
The board approved the pay raises without discussion.
The additional pay boost, which also will apply to substitute teachers, is “a great step forward,” said Cobb County Association of Educators head Connie Jackson, who had been pressing for a 2.6 percent raise.
That’s what has come to pass, thanks to the additional tax digest growth and another $10 million in state funding due to the termination of state education austerity cuts.
The bonuses will be paid in December. Eligible teachers also will be receiving STEP increases based on their years of service.
Cobb teachers returned this week to begin preparing for the 2018-19 school year. The first day of classes is Aug. 1.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Sewell Mill Library Mini Con that’s set for Saturday is one of the new facility’s most ambitious events yet.
It’s from 1-6, and like the world-famous Comic-Con International taking place this weekend in San Diego, is a celebration of comics arts and related popular culture.
There will be a Cosplay contest, panels and workshops on the digital arts, local artists and vendors (including the Giga-Bites Café of East Cobb) and food purchases from Good Food Marietta across the street and more.
The activities also include a Dungeons & Dragons Adventure League all day, tabletop games, 3D printing demos and Captain Underpants games.
The full schedule can be found here with links to much of what’s going on.
James Mitchell of the Sewell Mill Library explained the evolution of Mini Con to East Cobb News:
“Mini Con started as an idea from the Sewell Mill Library & Cultural Center staff to bring together local community partners including local artist, writers, gamers, podcasters, cosplayers, businesses, and filmmakers into one local event.
“We have tried to create an event that has something for everyone: food, live music, workshops, a costume contest, face painting, board gaming, D&D, and much more. We have been very fortunate to have found so many volunteers in the community to help with the project.
“It is really that community that makes this and other events possible. We are all geeks at heart here at Sewell Mill and look forward to sharing that experience with the public.”
All events are free and open to all ages. The Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center is located at 2051 Lower Roswell Road.
On Friday and Saturday, the work of the Bard comes to Sandy Plains Road, but it will be something of a bittersweet event. William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” is being presented at The Art Place (3330 Sandy Plains Road).
The shows, which start at 7:30 each night, will be the last for the Different Drum Theatrics group. The student-focused outfit is “closing up shop with heavy hearts” due to a lack of participants.
Classic cars will be on display Sunday at Bradley’s Bar & Grill.
Ticket prices are $12 at the door and $13 if you’re using a credit card.
From 3-7 Sunday, Bradley’s Bar & Grill (4961 Lower Roswell Road, French Quarter Shopping Center) is holding its 2nd annual Car Show. This year, the beneficiary is the Orphan Annie Animal Rescue organization. There will be food, live music, classic cars and games and prizes.
The 181st Marietta Campmeeting is winding down this weekend, with 11 a.m. services Friday-Sunday and 7:30 p.m. services on Friday and Saturday. The Marietta Campground is located at 2300 Roswell Road, and overflow parking is available across the street at East Cobb United Methodist Church. The services are free to all.
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!
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell’s office has sent out word that Cedar Forks Drive, a neighborhood street in East Cobb located off Holly Springs Road, is closed until around 5 p.m. today for emergency sewer repairs.
That’s just north of the intersection of Holly Springs and Old Canton Road and is indicated by the blue box in the map above.
Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority crews have been on the scene since around 9 a.m.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
From L-R, Wheeler F1 racing team members Shivam Patel, Michael Jin and Arul Gupta. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
Members of the Wheeler F1 racing team had barely gotten off the plane after winning a national competition in June when they knew what they had to do next.
“We were on cloud nine for about three hours,” said Arul Gupta, the executive manager and marketing director of the AeroFlow Racing team, which includes five students who attend the Wheeler STEM Magnet School.
They’re spending what’s left of their summer redesigning their foam and light plastic miniature vehicle for the F1 in Schools world competition in Singapore in September.
They know they have to step up their game in marketing, project management, promotions, community outreach and fundraising—the other components of the entrepreneurially-constructed F1 in Schools concept—in facing the global elites of the circuit for the first time.
There’s little time to waste.
“We’re doing prototypes now” for the cars they want to take to Singapore, said Michael Jin, the manufacturing engineer for Aeroflow Racing.
At the F1 in Schools National Finals in Austin, Texas, their car posted a time of 1.3 seconds along a track of 24 meters, or 78 feet (as they demonstrated in April at the Wheeler STEAM Symposium), the best time of all the cars there.
In Singapore, Gupta said, “1.3 isn’t going to cut it.” He figures Aeroflow needs to cut it down to 1.1 seconds to have a shot against the elite teams, especially those coming from Australia and Britain, the hotbeds for F1 in Schools.
The AeroFlow team scored around 920 points out of a possible 1000 in all phases of the national competition, which included teams with ages ranging from 9 to 19.
While team members are proud of that, they know that most of the 40 teams heading to Asia are more experienced than AeroFlow, which was formed in the fall of 2016. The global competition, Gupta said, is also “much more rigorous” in judging.
“They don’t grade just how fast your car goes,” he said. “They judge design, marketing, social media strategy, all of that.”
The AeroFlow team even had to design and update its own website as part of the competition.
The victorious Wheeler F1 racing team car at the U.S. Nationals. (AeroFlow Racing photo)
Last year, the Wheeler students finished fifth in their maiden national competition. “We wanted to the best we could,” said Gupta, who lives in the Pope High School district and who like his fellow AeroFlow team members commutes to classes at Wheeler. “It gave us a better idea what we had to improve upon.”
The speed of the car had to get better, and they decided making it as light as possible was the key.
Getting that weight to 50 grams, the minimum allowed in F1 in Schools, is an exacting and time-consuming task.
That task fell largely to Jin, who lives in the Walton High School district. “When you’re making a car, getting the design right is so important,” he said. “Adding a couple of coats of paint can make a big difference.”
The construction includes forming the car body out of a foam block, then adding plastic components that include the wheels and other elements that enhance speed.
As they were evolving their model over the last school year, the AeroFlow team members consulted with Georgia Tech aerospace engineering professors who advised them on lift and downforce.
“The car’s acting almost like a rocket,” Gupta said.
“The real difficulty is getting the right finishing on it,” Jin said, with the ideal being “a perfectly smooth surface.”
Added Gupta: “It should be smooth as glass,” with a glossy look.
The AeroFlow car turned in a time of 1.13 seconds at the Wheeler STEAM Symposium in April. (East Cobb News file photo)
The intricate attention to detail in F1 in Schools is paramount, but the rising Wheeler seniors on the AeroFlow team say they embrace the challenge that’s largely outside the classroom.
While they submit college applications (among the schools are MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Cal Tech, Stanford, Georgia Tech and Emory), they enjoy learning the well-rounded skills they have to develop.
“You get to be extremely hands-on,” said Gupta, who in his role works with Novelis, an aluminum products manufacturer that is AeroFlow’s main corporate sponsor.
Even the AeroFlow name came after a lot of thought among team members. “How can we be known for something that’s related to what we’re doing,” he said. “That sounds about right.”
Jin said he especially likes the chance to “simulate the real world” and “this shows what drives innovation.
“We feel like we’re in a pretty good place. We know what our competition is and what we are doing well.”
The other immediate challenge the AeroFlow team has is raising money to make the trip to Singapore.
They estimated that all their costs, from entry fees to air fare, food and lodging, will cost around $37,000.
Thus far, they’ve raised around $24,000, with less than two months before their trip.
The AeroFlow team has created a GoFundMe page to accept donations from anyone wishing to help out.
The Wheeler-based AeroFlow team members after winning the U.S. Nationals in Austin, Texas, in June. (AeroFlow Racing photo)
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A proposed Cobb property tax increase prompted some feisty comments from citizens Tuesday night at a public hearing before county commissioners.
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell said she and her colleagues “are still looking at everything” while deciding on the FY 2019 Cobb budget. (East Cobb News file photo)
A good number of those speaking were East Cobb citizens, both in favor of a millage rate increase and against it.
Commissioners also offered extended comments the week before they have to approve a fiscal year 2019 general fund budget and millage rate.
“It’s very close right now,” said JoAnn Birrell, who represents District 3 in Northeast Cobb and who said she is reading everything she gets from citizens on the budget. “I’m hearing you.”
Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce is proposing a $453 million budget, a hike of nearly 13 percent from the current $405 million FY 2018 budget.
Some citizens suggested a smaller tax increase than his proposed hike of 1.7 mills, which would yield close to $50 million in new revenues.
Boyce’s budget (click for PDF version here) would restore some services to pre-recession levels, including partial Sunday library hours and for Cobb DOT maintenance. It also would fund new police officer positions and purchase body cameras for public safety personnel.
The FY 2019 budget deficit was projected to be $30 million at the current 6.76 mills. Last week, Boyce concluded a series of town hall meetings around the county at the Sewell Mill Library, and his budget proposal got mixed reviews there.
On Tuesday, citizens brought up Braves stadium financing, the county employee pension plan, transit, non-profit funding and other spending and budget issues.
East Cobb residents Jan Barton and Debbie Fisher, vocal opponents of a tax increase, pointed out that the 1.7-mills increase is to pay for the current FY 2018 budget, not the new budget that takes effect in September.
“Would you prepay your credit card with $47 million for what you’re going to get next year?” Fisher asked, showing a graphic claiming that the increase would pay for “slush funds and uncontrolled spending.”
She said that no more than an additional 0.23 mills in property tax revenues is needed.
“Animal control, parks and libraries, we all love those,” Fisher said, in reference to categories of possible spending cuts that have been made public. “But I’m not a one-issue voter.”
Northeast Cobb resident Larry Long, who lives in the Mountain View area and is member of Cobb Master Gardeners, supports a tax increase, saying it’s an investment in the county’s future.
“We’ve invested our tax money wisely,” he said. “I don’t want us to go backwards.”
Sarah Mitchell, president of the Mountain View Arts Alliance, said The Art Place is heavily used, including its theater facilities for CenterStage North productions, but still doesn’t have Friday hours due to pre-recession cutbacks.
“It’s hard to sell tickets if you’re closed on Friday,” she said.
Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce said getting months of budget input from the public “makes us do our job better.” (East Cobb News file photo)
Thea Powell of Northeast Cobb, a former county commissioner, referred to some of the information presented at the town hall meetings as a “dog’s breakfast.”
Powell is Boyce’s appointee to the Cobb Planning Commission and served with him on a Cobb Citizen’s Oversight commission that made some budget recommendations in 2012.
However, she was piqued by a part of the “Cobb’s Budget Journey: How We Got Here” presentation related to “unexpected expenses” in county spending outlined in 2014.
The funding of SunTrust Park, approved the year before that, was “not unexpected,” she said. For that and other reasons, she said, the presentation should be renamed “How You Brought Us Here!”
Fran Mitchell, a longtime East Cobb resident, was adamantly against a tax increase, saying “I would like to see some cuts before you decide to raise the millage rate.” She asked commissioners to “make us fiscally responsible again.”
Judi Wilcher, president of of the Cobb Association of Realtors, said a tax increase is necessary “to maintain our quality of life.” She proposed an increase that’s “closer to 1.1 mills” and that would include some library consolidations and reducing five percent of the county work force over three years through attrition.
An increase between those two figures appears to be likely when commissioners finalize the budget. Boyce, of East Cobb, can count on South Cobb commissioner Lisa Cupid, who emphatically argued that a 1.7-mills hike didn’t go far enough.
Bob Ott, of District 2 in East Cobb, has wanted to see more spending cuts proposed. At the end of Tuesday’s hearing, he said “I have a concern about going all the way to 1.7.”
Birrell, who said the budget can’t be balanced on spending cuts alone, expressed a similar sentiment. “A compromise is going to be the best solution,” she said.
North Cobb commissioner Bob Weatherford, who is in a Republican runoff next Tuesday against Keli Gambrill, a tax-increase opponent, said that a figure between 1.1 mills and 1.7 mills “is where we ought to be.”
The final millage rate and budget hearings are next Wednesday at 7 p.m., followed by adoption.
“We’re not done yet,” Boyce said. “We hear you.”
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
President Donald Trump sparked bipartisan criticism from members of Congress on Monday for his comments at a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
At a joint press conference in Helsinki, Trump defended Putin against claims of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections, and said the U.S. was equally to blame as Russia for poor relations between the two countries.
A number of prominent Republican lawmakers in Washington denounced Trump’s comments. U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona said the summit was “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”
U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, an East Cobb resident who is Georgia’s senior senator, sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee and issued the following statement late Monday afternoon:
I support the assessment of the intel community & the bipartisan Senate Intel Committee findings that Russia interfered in the 2016 election – just as it has done for decades. Russia does not deserve our trust or special treatment, and my view remains unchanged after today's mtg.
U.S. Rep. Karen Handel, a Roswell Republican who represents East Cobb in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District, is a member of the House Intelligence Committee. She released this statement on late Monday afternoon:
Georgia’s other senator, Republican David Perdue, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has not commented publicly on the matter.
Trump finished a week-long trip to Europe that included a visit to NATO headquarters in Brussels as well as Britain.
Even some long-standing supporters of Trump were concerned about the president’s comments. Former House Speaker and 6th District Congressman Newt Gingrich said Trump “must clarify his statements in Helsinki on our intelligence system and Putin. It is the most serious mistake of his presidency and must be corrected—immediately.”
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb tax digest has grown by more than originally anticipated in 2018. As a result, superintendent Chris Ragsdale is proposing Cobb school employee pay raises that are larger than what was adopted for the fiscal year 2019 period that began July 1
Instead of a 1.1-percent across-the-board increase that was approved last month, the Cobb Board of Education is being asked to amend that pay raise upward, to 2.6 percent, at its July meeting on Thursday.
The proposal for the extra raise came after the county tax digest grew by 9.1 percent for this year. Cobb schools budget staffers projected a six percent increase.
The school board in May approved only a 1.1 percent one-time bonus, to go into effect in December. But the end of state education austerity cuts in May prompted Ragsdale to propose a 1.1 percent raise for some employees, mostly at the school level, on top of the bonus.
School board member David Morgan of South Cobb said that wasn’t enough. So did Connie Jackson of the Cobb County Association of Educators, who pleaded for a 2.6-percent raise to help Cobb move up from near the bottom in starting teacher salary levels for school districts in metro Atlanta.
She suggested raising the millage rate from 18.9 to the maximum 20 mills to do that, but the rest of the board wasn’t in a tax-raising mood.
“I am sure the over 15,000 school employees will be happy to hear this good news and teachers will receive a much needed raise,” school board member David Banks, who represents the Lassiter and Pope districts, said in his weekly newsletter over the weekend. “It is critical that Cobb be in a position to retain our teachers and valued support employees.”
He said he also wished the raise could be higher.
Also on Thursday, the school board will hold the final of its required public hearings on the school tax millage rate, followed by the adoption of the millage rate. The hearings are at 12 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., in the board room at the CCSD Central Office, 514 Glover St., in Marietta.
Nobody spoke at the first millage rate hearing last week.
The board will have a work session at 1:30 p.m., followed by an executive session, and will reconvene at 7 p.m. for the business meeting.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The third week of each month means local business groups in East Cobb are holding their monthly luncheons.
It’s not too late to register for them, including the East Cobb Business Association luncheon that’s Tuesday from 11-1 at the Olde Towne Athletic Club (4950 Olde Towne Parkway).
The guest speaker is Jen Carfagno, meteorologist and host of AMHQ program at The Weather Channel.
This year the ECBA expanded its luncheon hours to include more networking (for the first half hour), and there’s an additional networking session built into the program.
The cost is $20 in advance for members, $25 in advance for visitors. The cost at the door is $30 for everyone. Click here to register.
The ECBA is also looking for volunteers later this week to help with one of its ongoing community initiatives. They’ll be assembling sandwiches for MUST Ministries’ summer lunch program for needy kids.
The lunch-packing takes place from 10-noon Friday at the Foothills Community Room (1407 Cobb Parkway North). Parking is behind the building, and you’ll enter at the blue and gold door marked for visitors and volunteers.
And don’t forget ECBA’s Friday East Cobb Open Networking breakfast at Egg Harbor Cafe. It’s a new location, but the same informal setting to meet and greet fellow local business professionals.
NCBA Luncheon Wednesday
At Wednesday’s Northeast Cobb Business Association luncheon the guest speaker is Mark Butler, the Georgia Commissioner of Labor.
The luncheon is from 11:30-1at the Piedmont Church, 570 Piedmont Road. The cost is $15 for members and $25 for non-members.
Coming up in August
The next East Cobb Women in Business luncheon is Aug. 16 from 11:30-1 at the Paradise Grille (3605 Sandy Plains Road). No need to register; just pay for your lunch and bring plenty of business cards for networking. Visit their Facebook page for more.
The next East Cobb Area Council quarterly breakfast of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce is the annual East Cobb Pigskin Preview. It’s from 7:30-9 on Aug. 9 at the Indian Hills Country Club (4001 Clubland Drive), and features the six head coaches from Kell, Lassiter, Pope, Sprayberry, Walton and Wheeler football teams and selected players.
The cost is $20 for Chamber members and $30 for guests and you can register here.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The all-volunteer organization then interviews candidates in the fall before training classes take place from January through early April of 2019.
Here’s more about what applicants, and selected trainees, can expect:
The training is designed to meet the needs of the home gardener. Class topics include vegetable and fruit gardening, plant disease identification, insect control, ornamental shrubs, tree care, turfgrass management, annuals, perennials, pest identification, pest control, and Xeriscaping.
After completion of the training, fifty hours of volunteer service are required within the first year (thirty answering the horticulture hot-line at the extension office and twenty hours working in community garden projects). In subsequent years, twenty-five volunteer hours are required to remain an active Master Gardener.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The final week of Cobb advance voting for the July 24 runoffs will include more locations in the coming week, including the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road).
Voting hours are Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
On the ballot for East Cobb voters in particular is the 6th Congressional District Democratic runoff between Lucy McBath and Kevin Abel. The winner advances to face Republican U.S. Rep. Karen Handel in November.
The top two statewide races also are up for runoff on the Republican side. For governor, it’s between current Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and sitting Secretary of State Brian Kemp.
Lieutentant governor candidates are Geoff Duncan and David Shafer. The GOP Secretary of State runoff features David Belle Isle and Brad Raffensperger.
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!
Calling all seniors (ages 55 and up): The East Cobb Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road) is marking its 23rd anniversary next month, and the celebration will be themed along the “23 Arabian Nights.”
The event is Aug. 10 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., but you’ve got only a little more than a week to register. The deadline is July 16, and the cost is $15 for Cobb residents and $18 for non-residents.
Participants are encouraged to dress in their best genie outfits if they so desire.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb Sheriff’s Office said Pruitt has been captured and arrested.
The sheriff’s office and Cobb Police responded to a suspicious person call at a residence at 1631 Wildwood Road, located between Roswell Road and the North Marietta Parkway.
Pruitt was identified by both law enforcement agencies and was taken to the Cobb County Adult Detention Center, where he had been incarcerated since May for a probation violation, the Cobb Sheriff’s Office said.
ORIGINAL REPORT, POSTED 4:24 P.M.:
Cobb Sheriff Neil Warren said a county jail inmate escaped a work detail at Fullers Park today.
He said Christopher Shane Pruitt walked away from a cleanup at Fullers Park on Robinson Road in East Cobb around 11 a.m.
Pruitt is incarcerated for a probation violation after an original charge of theft by taking of a motor vehicle.
Warren said Pruitt is a white male, 47 years old, about 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds.
Pruitt was last seen in a white shirt and pants with a blue stripe on his pants leg. The back of the shirt says “COBB COUNTY PRISONER.”
Warren said he’s not considered an immediate danger to the public, but if you see him do not approach him. Instead, call the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office at 770-499-4639.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
If it’s mid-July, it’s time for the Marietta Campmeeting. The 181st edition of the summertime revival begins its week-long run on Friday, starting off a celebratory slate of East Cobb weekend events.
The Marietta Campground (2300 Roswell Road) is the venue for the Marietta Campmeeting, with has a long tradition in the Methodist church, starting in 1837, but now features a non-denominational schedule of speakers and music.
The Friday opening picnic starts at 6 p.m., and you’re asked to bring a covered dish to share, followed by the opening service at 7:30 p.m. The guest speaker is Rev. Ike Reighard of the Piedmont Church.
Morning services start daily at 11 a.m. on Saturday through the finale next Sunday, July 22. Evening services continue at 7:30 p.m. through next Saturday, July 21.
But there’s so much more going at the Marietta Campmeeting (full schedule here), including a children’s church, a watermelon-cutting and an old-fashioned ice cream social.
All events are free and open to the public, and extra parking is available across the street at East Cobb United Methodist Church (2325 Roswell Road).
From one of East Cobb’s oldest events to a new one: The first Sewell Mill Library Summer Concert Series show is Friday at the outdoor amphitheater at the library (2051 Lower Roswell Road), and it features the rock trio of Kienan Dietrich from Sarah & the Safe Word, the Wildfire Orchestra, Chasing Lovely, and The Good Graces.
The show is free and you’re invited to bring picnic fare, blankets or even your own lawn chairs. The amphitheater opens at 6:30 and the music starts at 7;
Saturday morning is the grand opening of the East Cobb location of Board and Brush, a DIY home decor spot with workshops and supplies, in the Woodlawn Square Shopping Center (1205 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 103). The festivities take place from 10-12;
The Good Mews Animal Foundation is holding a Kitty Shower on Saturday from 10-4 at the shelter (3805 Robinson Road), as it continues to celebrate its 30th anniversary with special prices on adoptions for kittens and adult cats. You’re asked to donate litter, paper towels, canned food and other supplies from a “kitty registry” list, and you’ll get raffle ticket in return for a chance at door prizes;
On Saturday afternoon is the latest showing of the Murderino Movie Series at the Sewell Mill Library, and it’s the 2002 film “Chicago,” starring Catherine Zeta Jones, Richard Gere and Renée Zellweger. The lights in the black box theater dim at 3 p.m., and you’re free to bring your own food and drink.
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!
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Mike and Mary Lutzenkirchen, the parents of Philip Lutzenkirchen, at the 2017 Lutzie 43 Road Race at Lassiter High School (East Cobb News file photo).
The Lutzie 43 Foundation is once again holding the Lutzie 43 Road Race at Lassiter High School (here’s last year’sEast Cobb News coverage).
The event honors the memory of Philip Lutzenkirchen, the former Lassiter and Auburn football star who died at the age of 23 in a 2014 drunken driving crash.
Both he and the driver of a truck that crashed near LaGrange on June 30, 2014 were intoxicated.
The foundation, headed by his father Mike Lutzenkirchen, raises funds and awareness to help young people with character development and making good decisions. He speaks often to youth groups around the South, including college athletic teams.
The Lutzie 43 Road Race is presented by Jim Ellis Kia of Kennesaw, and here’s what the foundation wants you to know about the event. The race proceeds benefit the foundation and the East Cobb Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter:
Our race features a 5K race and one-mile kids’ fun run. The race starts and finishes at Lassiter High School’s Lutzie Field in Marietta, GA.
This race is for everyone! Bring your whole family, friends, dogs, and anyone who wants to have fun! Every runner gets an official race t-shirt!
Prices: July 5-August 4 Students – $30 Adults – $43
Here’s more about how to sign up for the Lutzie 43 Road Race that includes a “virtual race” option for those who can’t make it in person, and a link to a t-shirt sale that’s raising funds for the foundation.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A partial summary of the proposed fiscal year Cobb government budget presented on Tuesday (continues below).
Just hours after a feisty town hall meeting in East Cobb, citizens continued to sound off Tuesday as Cobb tax millage rate public hearings got underway this week.
On Tuesday morning, several East Cobb citizens were among those urging the Cobb Board of Commissioners to raise the general fund property tax rate to preserve and enhance libraries in particular, as well as parks and other public services.
One of them was Abby Shiffman, chairwoman of the Cobb Library Board of Trustees. She was at the Monday town hall at the Sewell Mill Library, and in reference to opponents of a tax increase, said “do not believe what you’re reading by misinformed people on social media” about commission chairman Mike Boyce’s proposed 1.7-mills increase.
On Wednesday morning, the Cobb Board of Education also held a public hearing as it officially sets its millage rate this month.
No citizens showed up for that, and the hearing ended after only 20 minutes, following a brief presentation by Cobb County School District finance chief Brad Johnson.
While the school board isn’t proposing a millage rate increase—it’s holding the line at 18.9 mills—additional property tax revenue for the school system means it’s required to hold three public hearings (FY 2019 Cobb schools budget info here).
Two more will take place next Thursday at noon and at 6:30 p.m., followed by millage rate adoption at the board’s business meeting the same day at 7 p.m.
Cobb commissioners also will have two more scheduled public hearings, July 17 at 6:30 p.m., and on July 25 at 7 p.m. Commissioners are set to adopt the budget on July 25.
To be precise, commissioners are holding two separate hearings—one for the millage rate, and one for the budget, since both have yet to be adopted.
The Cobb government budget would grow by 9.7 percent from the current fiscal year 2018 (continued from the top).
Georgia law requires the public hearings if either the millage rate or property tax revenue (or both) increases from the previous year. Millage rates also have to be formally adopted for local governments and school districts to receive tax revenues.
Here’s a detailed PDF of the proposed Cobb FY 2019 budgetthat includes departmental and other breakdowns and forecasts into fiscal year 2020.
While most of the speakers at Tuesday’s commission public hearings were in favor of the millage rate increase (which would add $50 million to the general fund), some were opposed, or expressed concern about the size of the proposed tax increase.
Ron Sifen of the Cumberland/Vinings area said “that’s a big increase. You’re really hitting the reset button on spending” by boosting general fund expenditures from $403 million to $454 million.
Alicia Adams of Americans for Prosperity also asked commissioners to reject a tax hike. “Cobb homeowners have been taxed enough,” she said.
The supporters included those supporting the UGA Cobb Extension and Cobb parks as well as Save Cobb Libraries.
Mike Smith, an East Cobb citizen, said the proposed increase is “a fair price to pay” for public services. He lives in District 2, where commissioner Bob Ott has been skeptical of a tax increase. Ott was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, as he represented the county at a technology conference.
“Somebody needs on the commission needs to get to Mr. Ott,” Smith said. “I wish he were here today.”
Shiffman, who was appointed a library trustee by Ott, told the other four commissioners to “do what your constituents want, not what you feel you may want.”
She feared that “if this increase does not pass, there will be cuts.”
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Sewell Mill Summer Concert series begins Friday with a pop performance by Kienan Dietrich from Sarah & the Safe Word, the Wildfire Orchestra, Chasing Lovely, and The Good Graces
It’s the first of three free monthly concerts presented by the Cobb Library Foundation in the outdoor amphitheater of the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road). You can bring a picnic, blankets or set up lawn chairs. Doors open at 6 p.m, and the music starts at 7.
Here’s more about what you’ll be hearing, and at the bottom of the post there’s more about future concerts:
Kienan Dietrich (from Sarah & the Safe Word) featuring the Wildfire Orchestra “Baby, I’m the best kind of wrong,” croons vocalist Sarah Rose on Sarah and the Safe Word’s latest album, Strange Doings in the Night. Exploring sounds reminiscent of cabaret, vaudeville, southern gothicism, swing, and – of course – rock and roll, the band urges enthusiastic victi- er, listeners – to step inside, get strapped in, and prepare for one very, very, peculiar evening.
Chasing Lovely: Folk-pop duo Chasing Lovely combine haunting harmonies, powerful melodies, and insightful lyrics to create a truly captivating acoustic performance. Chasing Lovely’s mission is to provoke thought, promote understanding, and capture both glimmers of light and darkness as they share the deeply moving human experience through song.
The Good Graces: the Good Graces is an indie-folk/Americana collective fronted by singer-songwriter Kim Ware and based in Atlanta, GA. In 2015, Kim’s song “Cold in California” caught the attention of the Indigo Girls, and the band was invited by the renowned duo to support some midwest and southeast shows during their summer tour.
The concert series continues on Aug. 17 with the jazz sounds of Will Scruggs and Masterpeace, and concludes on Sept. 21 with a classical show featuring the Wheeler Quartet and a quartet from the Georgia Symphony Orchestra.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
This year the show, which takes place next Sunday, July 22, will benefit the Orphan Annie Animal Rescue organization, and the event has been expanded.
Here’s more about Orphan Annie, and below is the message Bradley’s is getting out about the show, including a sign-up link if you’d like to have your car registered.
We will have all of the excitement of last year plus much more! Join us July 22 from 3 PM to 7 PM for live music, outdoor food specials and entertainment, frozen treats, games, prizes and of course, lots of awesome automobiles! See you there!
Registration Info: All makes, models and types of automobile are welcome! To register, participants must FIRST purchase a Vehicle Registration ticket on Eventbrite. SECOND, participants must register their vehicle information at BradleysBarandGrill.com. A Vehicle Registration ticket is admission for one vehicle and 2 participants. General Admission tickets are sold separately! A portion of proceeds will be donated to Orphan Annie Animal Rescue to support our local pets in need!
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb Police said today they have arrested Clint Vance, 32, of Kennesaw, on three charges of vandalism to a place of worship. Those are felony offenses, and police said investigators expect more charges to be filed in Cobb and Cherokee counties.
Vance was booked into the Cobb County Adult Detention Center shortly after midnight Wednesday, according to the Cobb Sheriff’s Office, which said Vance’s bail has been set at $8,470.
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.
ORIGINAL REPORT, POSTED July 10, 7:08 p.m.
Cobb Police on Tuesday said they’re expanding their investigation into a series of recent church vandalisms that includes Noonday Baptist Church in Northeast Cobb.
Police announced on June 18 they were looking for a lone male suspect, between the ages of 35 and 50, and believed he was driving a Hyundai Elantra.
In a release issued late Tuesday afternoon by Cobb Police, Public Information Officer Sarah O’Hara said police are also investigating that a Honda Accord “or [a] like-styled four-door sedan” may be the suspect vehicle.
A photo at Noonday was taken by a church surveillance camera on May 8, shortly after 3 a.m., and shows a male standing on a sidewalk near the church entrance and next to a vehicle with the driver door open.
However, O’Hara said, police have been unable to identify the color of the car because of the black and white footage.
Cobb Police said last month that a male suspect they believed to be working along spray-painted “vulgar” and offensive messages on churches, including satanic messages and “what can best be described as sacrilegious symbols to include crosses with circles around them and lines striking through them.”
O’Hara said police believe the vandalisms took place from April 29 to June 1, and said that the Church of Christ at North Cobb, on Shiloh Road in Kennesaw, has been vandalized three times. She said “satanic messages and offensive language” were spray painted there, and that a private residence also is included in the investigation.
Police said the suspect is partially balding with brown hair, and weighing between 230 to 280 pounds. He is approximately between 5-foot-10 and 6-foot-2 and has a “distinctive gait” that was spotted on the security footage.
O’Hara said anyone with information about the vandalisms is asked to call the Criminal Investigation Unit of Cobb Police Precinct 1 at 770-590-5769.
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!
Your November election ballot will include a Cobb brunch bill referendum that would expand Sunday alcoholic beverage service at restaurants and hotels.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted 4-0 on Tuesday on its consent agenda to put the referendum on the ballot. The question, if approved by voters, would allow service from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Sundays (here’s resolution information).
Here’s the language that will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Currently restaurants and hotels in Georgia cannot serve alcohol before 12:30 p.m. on Sundays. Cobb has allowed Sunday restaurant and hotel alcohol sales since 1982.
The Georgia legislature this year approved SB 17, the so-called “brunch bill,” that was signed by Gov. Nathan Deal (here’s the legislation). It allows local governments to hold referendums to give the final say to voters on whether restaurants, hotels and wineries can serve alcohol on premises as early as 11 a.m. on Sundays.
Eligible restaurants must derive at least 50 percent of their annual gross sales from food, and hotels must generate at least 50 percent of their annual gross income from room rentals for overnight lodging.
The brunch bill does not apply to retail sales, such as package stores, convenience stores and supermarkets.
At Tuesday’s commissioners meeting, Karen Bremer, executive director of the Georgia Restaurant Association, said the brunch bill “levels the playing field” for restaurants. She said venues under state government auspices, such as the former Georgia Dome and Lake Lanier Islands, have had the latitude to set their own Sunday pouring hours.
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!
