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David Zandstra after his arrest in Cobb; Gretchen Harrington. Photos: Delaware Co. (Pa.) district attorney
A retired minister who has been living in East Cobb has been charged with abducting and killing an eight-year-old girl who was attending Bible school at his church in Pennsylvania nearly 50 years ago.
The district attorney in Delaware County, Pa., west of Philadelphia, said Monday that David George Zandstra, 83, has been charged with murder and kidnapping of a minor and the possession of an instrument of crime.
Zandstra was taken into custody on July 17 by Cobb Police after being questioned by Delaware County investigators who had traveled to Marietta.
He remains in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center after being denied bail, charged with being a fugitive from justice, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Office records.
Gretchen Harrington went missing on August 15, 1975, as she was walking in Marple Township, Pa., to Bible school at Trinity Church Chapel Christian Reform Church, where Zandstra was a pastor. The girl’s father was a pastor at The Reformed Presbyterian Church nearby, which also served as a venue for the Bible school.
The DA’s office said her father became worried when she didn’t show up at the latter church that day, and reported her missing to police.
Gretchen Harrington’s skeletal remains were identified at a state park several miles away on Oct. 14, 1975.
But the case into finding her killer went cold after some early leads fizzled, according to a release on Monday from Jack Stollsteimer, the district attorney in Delaware County.
A witness at the time said the victim was seen with the driver of a Cadillac or station wagon. The driver was interviewed by police but denied seeing the girl on the date she disappeared, the DA’s office said.
After living in Pennsylvania, Zandstra resided in Plano, Texas, before moving to the Marietta area. His Cobb booking report residence is listed as being in the Lakewood Colony neighborhood, off Shallowford Road and west of Trickum Road.
Cobb property tax records indicate Zandstra and his wife have owned a home in that subdivision since 2005.
The case was revived when Delaware County investigators earlier this year talked to an individual who said she was best friends with Zandstra’s daughter, and who would stay at the minister’s home for sleepovers when she was a girl.
The witness said that when she was 10, she was awakened by Zandstra groping her, and another friend told her that he “did that sometimes,” according to the Delaware County DA.
That was right before Gretchen Harrington went missing. The same witness also told authorities a child in her class was almost kidnapped twice, and noted in her diary that she thought Zandstra might have been behind those attempts, the DA’s office said in the release.
After the DA’s office located Zandstra in the Marietta area, investigators traveled to Georgia earlier this month to talk to him.
Stollsteimer said Zandstra initially denied any involvement in Gretchen’s disappearance and killing, then was told of the witness’ allegations of his sexual misconduct.
Zandstra said he saw Gretchen Harrington walking by herself along a road as he drove in a green station wagon on the day she disappeared. He offered to drive her to the Bible school and she accepted.
Instead, he drove to a wooded area, parked the car, and asked her to remove her clothing, the DA’s office said.
Stollsteimer said Zandstra then told his investigators that after she refused to comply, he struck her in the head with his fist, causing her to bleed, and he tried to bury her body before leaving the area.
Stollsteimer said Zandstra is refusing to waive extradition to Pennsylvania, and that a request will be submitted to Gov. Josh Shapiro to forward to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
“Justice does not have an expiration date. Whether a crime happened fifty years ago or five minutes ago, the residents of the Commonwealth can have confidence that law enforcement will not rest until justice is served,” Lt. Jonathan Sunderlin of the Pennsylvania State Police said in the Delaware County DA’s release.
Stollsteimer thanked Cobb Police among various law enforcement agencies that have been working on the case for decades.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children issued a statement from the Harrington family:
“We are extremely hopeful that the person who is responsible for the heinous crime that was committed against our Gretchen will be held accountable. It’s difficult to express the emotions that we are feeling as we take one step closer to justice.
“If you met Gretchen, you were instantly her friend. She exuded kindness to all and was sweet and gentle. Even now, when people share their memories of her, the first thing they talk about is how amazing she was and still is…at just 8 years old, she had a lifelong impact on those around her.
“The abduction and murder of Gretchen has forever altered our family and we miss her every single day. We are grateful for the continual pursuit of justice by law enforcement, and we want to thank the Pennsylvania State Police for never stopping in their constant search for answers. We would not be here today if it was not for them. Thank you for your understanding, love, and continued support. It means the world to us.”
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Suzette Spinelli of Lassiter talks to the media after being told she was the Cobb school district’s 2023 high school teacher of the year. ECN photo and video
For Suzette Spinelli, Tuesday started out the same as it had for the last 47 years, the first day back to school for teachers.
The veteran Lassiter High School art teacher wore a light, sleeveless dress on a hot day as she attended a teachers’ assembly at the school’s concert hall, where Cobb County School District Chris Ragsdale was a special visitor.
He had come there not just to thank teachers—”what you do every day makes a difference”—but to acknowledge a certain teacher in particular.
It was Suzette Spinelli, whom he announced had been named the Cobb school district’s high school teacher of the year for 2023.
She was in a total state of surprise as she was greeted by family members bearing flowers and hugs.
“You thought when you got up you were just going to work today,” Ragsdale told her as her colleagues, administrators from Lassiter and Cobb school district and two board members rose to congratulate her.
Now in her 48st year as an educator, Spinelli has been with the Cobb school district for 41 years, and has spent much of her career at East Cobb schools. She’s been at Lassiter since 2001, and previously taught at Daniell and Simpson middle schools.
She said teaching isn’t something she does for recognition.
“This was the last thing I expected,” Spinelli told the media after her honor.
She said for a few years now, she’s been asked how long she might want to continue to teach, but retiring isn’t something that’s crossed her mind.
“Every day, every year is a new beginning,” she said, noting that her first students are now in their early 60s.
“The students haven’t changed in all these years,” Spinelli said. “I see them grow and develop and and I still stay in touch with some of them.”
Spinelli said her passion for teaching stems from her desire to instill creativity in their students, even though most of them won’t have professional arts careers.
Spinelli’s previous teaching stops include Daniell and Simpson middle schools in East Cobb.
She said she’s learned as much from them as she teaches them, and “they have made my art better. . . . Being an art teacher is the best job ever.”
What drives her, she said, is her “hands-on” approach to teaching. “I’m still old school,” Spinelli said, admitting the difficulties of teaching art virtually at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I survived,” she said. “I wasn’t the best at it, but I survived. I just love what I do.”
Her work goes far beyond the classroom, as she has been an advisor and instructor for students entering art competitions, as well as a judge for art shows. She’s also had her own work exhibited at the Marietta-Cobb Museum of Art, the Fine Arts Gallery at Kennesaw State University and The Gallery at Johnson Ferry.
Spinelli’s daughter, Cara Smith, was named Chalker Elementary School’s teacher of the year in 2022.
Spinelli was named Lassiter’s teacher of the year in April and is a finalist for the Cobb school district’s overall teacher of the year, which will be announced later in the fall semester.
Ragsdale said that after the individual school teachers of the year are named by their peers, a special committee at the Cobb school district begins the process for choosing the grade-level recipients.
Before his stop at Lassiter, he visited teachers at Awtrey Middle School and Bells Ferry Elementary School, who are the other finalists for overall teacher of the year.
They are Annelisa Bellack at Awtrey, who teaches social studies. Dr. Elizabeth Goff is an English as a Second Language teacher at Bells Ferry.
“It’s an awesome event to go to all three schools,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite things to do.”
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The following East Cobb residential real estate sales between July 3-7, were compiled from agency reports. They include the subdivision name and high school attendance zone in parenthesis:
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From the time he was a young boy, Teddy Porter was raised by his father in a modest home in East Cobb where he participated in a variety of youth sports.
He played recreational basketball at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church and baseball at Sandy Plains Baseball, and football in the Pope High School programs. His father was his youth coach for a couple of years.
With his years as a Pope student disrupted by COVID-19 closures and restrictions, Teddy wasn’t sure what he wanted to do after graduating in 2021.
A few months later, Charlie Porter, his father, was told he would need a kidney transplant.
Without hesitation, Teddy volunteered to donate a kidney.
“I thought that I probably had the best chance” to be a good match, he said.
But Charlie was hesitant, even though Teddy did turn out to be an ideal donor.
“I don’t know how much time I have left,” says Charlie, 69, from the living room of his home off North Hembree Road, in an interview this week with East Cobb News.
“But at first I said I don’t want to put my 21-year-old-son under the knife.”
A friend, Brenda Isaac of the One Love Learning Foundation, an Atlanta non-profit that helps children in disadvantaged situations through the establishment of schools and community gardens, reminded him that he wanted to raise his son in a stable community, and that he made sacrifices to do so.
“Here’s his chance to give back,” Charlie recollected Isaac telling him about Teddy’s offer to donate a kidney.
On Tuesday, Charlie, Teddy and Isaac will be in Nashville, where the transplant will take place at Vanderbilt Health.
After the surgery, Teddy will return home after a few days, while Charlie will have to stay for at least a month, and possibly up to eight weeks.
In the months since they made this father-son arrangement, Charlie said he’s been able to reflect upon the role of his children—he has two daughters, 40 and 38, who are Teddy’s half-sisters—who have rushed to their father’s side during his health crisis.
“It’s been a lesson in love for me,” said Charlie, who had to retire last year after a 30-year career in the trade show business. “They’ve shown up unconditionally for me.”
Teddy’s parents are divorced. He was home-schooled for a while until his father got sole custody. His mom is still close by—she’ll be looking after Teddy after he returns from the transplant operation—and he said he doesn’t see much of a downside to being a donor.
“My mom has been very helpful,” Teddy said.
He’ll lose a kidney, but said doctors told him the capacity of his remaining kidney “expands by 20-30 percent.”
There aren’t many side effects, although he can’t take ibuprofen. And he won’t be able to go back to heavy lifting at various trade show jobs he’s had right away.
As a male, he can’t pass on the gene for Alport Syndrome, a rare condition Charlie inherited from his mother.
And if Teddy should need a kidney transplant at some point in his life, he would be a priority since he’s been a donor.
“Most people with this don’t make it to my age,” Charlie says of Alport Syndrome, which affects mostly children and young adults.
He’s had a uralysis every five years, and it’s the one he had in 2021 that resulted in the Alport Syndrome diagnosis.
After about a year, Charlie wanted a second opinion, after enduring quite a bit of fatigue. In addition to his work, he couldn’t even mill around in his garden or volunteer at the One Love Learning gardens, including one at Maynard Jackson High School in Atlanta.
Neither has he been able to continue taking up yoga, which he says has been a revelation to him. After his mother died, he started taking classes at Peach Out Power Yoga in East Cobb, and befriended owner Karen Patton.
“I fell in love with it,” Charlie says. “It changed my life in many ways.”
He credits yoga in part for contributing to his his otherwise good health, which made him a strong candidate for a transplant.
So he’s hopeful about his prospects after the transplant.
“If all goes well, I should be able to get another eight to 10 years,” Charlie said.
“I thought it was 20,” Teddy responded.
On Tuesday, Teddy’s surgery will begin early in the morning, and last around two hours. Charlie’s surgery will take place immediately after that, and he is expected to remain in the hospital for a few days before staying in an Airbnb he has rented out in Nashville.
While he rehabs, there will be follow-up visits with doctors before he’s allowed to return home.
Charlie’s already turning the wheels in his own mind about becoming active in his life again. He served on the board of the East Cobb YMCA, in addition to his career and other community activities.
“I have been active since I was 16 years old,” he said. “That’s been the hardest thing for me. Now I’m starting to look at the other side of this.”
He wants to get back to yoga and gardening, and to see his son further into adulthood. Teddy said he’s pondering college but possibly joining the military more than that.
“This process has been a family affair,” Charlie said. “My three children have rallied around me, and it’s amazing to me that they said they were going to do this together.”
Charlie looked Teddy squarely in the eyes and said “my son gave me a purpose. A big part of my life was raising this boy, and I just wanted him to be a good boy.
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Cobb residents have been up in arms over the prospect of higher property tax bills as Cobb commissioners are scheduled on Tuesday to adopt the fiscal year 2024 budget and millage rates.
Commissioners also are being asked by the Cobb County Water System to raise water and sewer service rates for the second time in less than two years.
An item on Tuesday night’s agenda (you can read it here) is seeking an increase that would raise the average residential bill by more than $5 a month.
The water system said it needs the rate adjustment because it’s costing more to buy chemicals, wholesale water and materials and to dispose of biosolids, as well as to fund “planned infrastructure replacements and upgrades.”
The water system says the average residential customer consumes around 5,000 gallons a month, and is charged around $54.85 for water and sewer and a $7 monthly service charge.
“It should be noted that this is among the lowest rates in the Atlanta Metro area, and it is substantially lower than most other major counties,” the agenda item states.
The rate adjustments would raise water commodity charges (the cost per thousand gallons used) by 7.5 percent and sewer commodity charges by 8.5 percent. The water system also is asking to increase the service charge for all meter sizes.
The rate hike, if approved, would go into effect Oct. 1, when the county’s fiscal year 2024 begins.
“Even with the proposed rate adjustment, our rates will remain lower than other major counties in the metro Atlanta area with our average residential customer,” the agenda item states, “paying $1.35 for the delivery of 100 gallons of treated water, removal of the water once used, treatment of the wastewater to a very high standard, and return of the resource to either Allatoona Lake or the Chattahoochee River where it is available for further use and enjoyment.”
Here is a detailed fee schedule the water agency has submitted with its proposal for a rate increase.
She has been opposed to transferring water system revenues to the county’s general fund and has pushed for that amount to be lowered.
Birrell reiterated that objective at a town hall on Wednesday about the budget and millage rate. The proposed budget would reduce water system revenue transfers from 7 percent to 6 percent.
A final hearing on the proposed budget (details here) and millage rate will be conducted by commissioners at the beginning of the meeting (summary agenda here).
The general fund millage rate is proposed to remain at 8.46 mills but because of rising property tax assessments the state considers that a tax increase and hearings are required.
At Birrell’s town hall and elsewhere citizens have pleaded for a reduction in the millage rate. She said she supports a cut but hasn’t determined how much that might be and needs two other votes from commissioners.
Cobb school board members voted Thursday to adopt a fiscal year 2024 millage rate of 18.7 mills, a 0.2 reduction. But school taxes will still be going up as Cobb announced a record tax digest of $58.1 billion for 2023.
The full agenda for Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting can be found by clicking here.
It begins at 7 p.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
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Last weekend, Habitat for Humanity of NW Metro Atlanta and the Cobb Interfaith Habitat Coalition (CIHC) hammered the first nails and raised the first walls on their 22rd annual Habitat house.
This year’s faith groups include Smyrna First United Methodist Church, Bethany United Methodist Church, the Islamic Center of Marietta, East Cobb Islamic Center, Temple Kol Emeth, St. Thomas the Apostle, Log Cabin Church, Covenant UMC, Unity North Church, McEachern United Methodist Church, St. Catherine’s Episcopal, First Presbyterian of Marietta, and Due West United Methodist Church.
This year’s corporate partners include Pinkerton & Laws Construction of Atlanta, Fortune Johnson, Foresite Group, Moore Colson, Atlanta West Carpets, and Nissan.
The build is for future homeowner Vernita, who has worked as a General Manager at McDonald’s for 21 years. Vernita is always willing to lend a helping hand, a quality that has allowed her to create a family environment with her work staff. She chose this role because it gave her the flexibility to spend time with her daughter Diamond, who is now 21.
The family of two lives in a Villa Rica apartment where the living conditions are very stressful. Vernita didn’t think she would be able to afford the down payment on a home, but now that she is approved for Habitat for Humanity’s affordable homeownership program, she is so excited to have a place to call home. She is most excited about spending time outside working in the yard.
“For more than two decades multiple religious organizations from many different faiths and denominational backgrounds, come together with corporate partners for the common purpose to build,” says Jessica Gill, CEO, Cobb County Habitat Coalition.”
The CIHC coalition uses the motto, ‘We Build to Coexist, We Coexist to Build’. Henry Hene, longtime coalition co-chair said, “Despite obstacles, and regardless of the economy, for 22 years, this coalition stayed the course of showing selfless service and demonstrating faith in action.”
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Carly Lyon reads to the school board from “My Shadow is Purple,” the book at the heart of the firing of a Cobb school teacher over Georgia’s divisive concepts in education law.
Although they weren’t permitted to directly address the firing of a Cobb County School District teacher over Georgia’s “divisive concepts” in education law, parents, teachers and other citizens found a creative way to get their point across on Thursday.
During a public comment session at a Cobb Board of Education meeting, a speaker read from the book that got fifth-grade teacher Katie Rinderle fired from her position at Due West Elementary School.
The book in question, “My Shadow is Purple,” by Australian author Scott Stuart, is a picture book about a child of elementary school age who doesn’t identify as a boy or a girl, but falls into what has been called by some as “non-binary.”
Among the charges against Rinderle is that she told students to use “they/them” pronouns to refer to the main character of the book instead of a gender-specific identifier.
Speakers at the school board meetings were told by Suzann Wilcox, the school board attorney, they couldn’t comment about a pending personnel matter. Rinderle is appealing her termination and a hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 10.
Michael Garza
The Cobb school district concluded the subject matter taught by Rinderle violates the 2022 divisive concepts law, which bars educators from teaching that racism is “systematically” racist, that a group of people is inherently “oppressive” and covers some issues about sex and gender identity.
The law that prompted an outcry from teachers and education organizations across the state as being draconian and lawsuits have been filed.
Rinderle’s termination, which came after the school district investigated complaints by Due West parents, is the first in Georgia since the law was passed.
For some parents, who came to the school board meeting wearing purple shirts saying “Ban Bias Not Books,” the action smacks of what they claim is the district’s lack of an embrace of a diversity and inclusion agenda.
Jeff Hubbard, president of the Cobb County Association of Educators, asked that the district reinstitute “No Place for Hate,” a curriculum program developed by the Anti-Defamation League.
Anna Clay, who said she is a Cobb teacher, was wearing a purple shirt.
She said the schools “should be welcoming of all students. Some are boys. Some are girls. Some are neither. Some are trans. Some are still figuring it out. They all deserve to be treated with respect. They all deserve to be represented in classroom literature.
“Our students are human beings, not divisive concepts.”
Michael Garza of East Cobb adapted a portion of the book’s text to explain his some of his educational experiences, and to comment on the Cobb school district’s actions.
Caryn Sonderman
“What I am left wondering is why is hate speech always free, yet your administration is quick to dismiss speech that validates me,” he said. “Being gay, being brown, being Jewish, being different is not a sin. When we all band together, your bigoted policies will not win.”
At a Thursday afternoon work session, Caryn Sonderman of East Cobb thanked the district for not allowing the teaching of those issues.
She said that the “truth is found in only one source God’s word. . . Are you building the kingdom of Satan or are you building the kingdom of God?”
“Children are being confused and deceived when God clearly made a man and a woman, a boy and girl, and you influence children to get them to think they can be other than what God made them to be.”
Board members did not comment, but later in the meeting approved a request by Superintendent Chris Ragsdale to give him authority to establish procedures and create a list of qualified candidates to serve on tribunals that conduct personnel hearings that are submitted to the school board.
“Tribunal members must possess academic expertise and must be impartial,” according to the agenda item, which was passed on the consent agenda.
During a brief discussion at the work session, the matter involving Rinderle was not mentioned.
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“I don’t want to get into a situation where we tax people out of their homes or can’t pay the rent,” Cobb school board member David Banks said in supporting a 0.5 millage rate cut.
As he did during the adoption of the Cobb County School District’s fiscal year 2024 budget in May, school board member David Banks didn’t cast a vote Thursday when it came time for setting a new millage rate.
As he did previously, Banks, the board’s vice chairman from East Cobb-based Post 5, voted present as his colleagues voted 6-0 to set the millage rate at 18.7 mills.
The millage rate is set separately from budget adoption since the Cobb tax digest isn’t formalized until July, when the Cobb school district budget goes into effect.
That’s 0.2 mills less than the millage rate that’s been set annually since 2007, but not as much as Banks wanted.
At a work session and voting session Thursday, he reiterated his desire for cut of 0.5 percent, due to rising property tax assessments that have prompted an outcry from citizens across the county.
He repeated claims that even with a 0.2 cut, the FY 2024 budget includes the largest tax increase in the history of the Cobb school district.
But during the work session, Brad Johnson the district’s chief financial officer, said he researched that issue and found that in 1972, the Cobb school budget had a tax increase of more than 30 percent.
That was a few years before the Georgia legislature approved a senior tax exemption for homeowners 62 and over from paying school taxes.
“I’m not for a wholesale reduction,” said Banks, a fourth-term Republican, saying that a 0.5-mill cut would suffice “until we get to a level that is appropriate.
“I don’t want to get into a situation where we tax people out of their homes or can’t pay the rent.”
It’s a similar concern expressed at a town hall meeting held Wednesday by JoAnn Birrell of the Cobb Board of Commissioners, which is scheduled to adopt a budget and millage rate on Tuesday.
The new $1.4 billion school district budget based on an 18.7 millage rate includes substantial pay increases for teachers and full-time employees, who have received strong pay and benefits raises for after several lean years.
Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said those initiatives have been necessary to make Cobb schools competitive for hiring and retaining teachers, issuing a common refrain of “so goes the district, so goes the county.”
But Banks persisted with a line of questioning that irritated board chairman Brad Wheeler, a fellow Republican, who wanted to “move along” with the discussion.
“Please don’t interrupt me,” Banks shot back, as the two went back and forth like that for a few moments.
At the evening voting session, the board’s three Democrats also said they liked the idea of a bigger reduction, but only one of them, Tre’ Hutchins of Post 3 in South Cobb, voted with Banks on the latter’s amendment to reduce the rate to 18.4 mills.
First-term Democrat Nichelle Davis of Post 3 in Smyrna said the 18.4 millage rate is “a step in the right direction.”
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Chattahoochee National Park Conservancy (CNPC), the official Friends Group and Primary Philanthropic Partner of the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area (CRNRA) announces Brittany Jones as the first Executive Director in the organization’s history. Hiring an executive director signifies a major milestone in CNPC’s development and growth. Jones began her new role on July 10.
Before joining CNPC, Jones served as Chief Experience Officer at San Francisco’s Filoli, a National Trust for Historic Preservation site. She most recently was Executive Director of Smith-Gilbert Gardens in Kennesaw, Ga. In 2021, Jones completed her Master’s in Nonprofit Administration from the University of San Francisco. Through her final capstone project, “DEAI in Nonprofits: Through the Lens of Museums and Gardens,” she explored practices and barriers around Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion. Jones received her Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies at Florida International University.
“We couldn’t be more proud that our volunteer-led organization has reached a point where our size, complexity, and strategic goals necessitate the appointment of a dedicated leader to manage and oversee its operations,” says Graham Dorian, CPNC President and Board Chair. “Brittany is inclusive, collaborative, and strategic and has the skills and experience to continue to develop CNPC. We are confident her commitment, fresh perspectives, energy, and expertise will allow us to continue to be an impactful partner for the national park.”
“What CNPC has accomplished in just 10 years is astounding, and I am thrilled to be joining such an active, growing, and engaged organization!” says Jones. “I have a deep passion for parks and the volunteers who care for them and look forward to enhancing CNPC’s ability to achieve our mission and create a meaningful impact.”
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A federal judge has said a group of plaintiffs suing over redistricting of Cobb Board of Education seats doesn’t have a legal claim against the Cobb County School District.
Cobb Board of Education maps passed by the legislature were first recommended by the school board’s Republican majority.
That doesn’t end the lawsuit, filed on behalf of several plaintiffs by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the ACLU and other attorneys.
Judge Eleanor Ross also ruled against the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, the defendant, to have the suit dismissed entirely.
Plaintiffs claimed that the Georgia legislature, which passed the new maps last year, violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act and used race as a guiding factor in redrawing the seven school board posts.
Those actions included Post 2 and 3 in South Cobb and Post 6, which had covered most of the Walton and Wheeler high school attendance zones, and which was moved out of East Cobb, and mostly into the Cumberland-Smyrna-Vinings area.
Among the claims made by the plaintiffs was that the Cobb Board of Education’s four-member white Republican majority “voted on racial lines and without substantive debate to hire—at great expense to the county—a consulting firm to draw a proposed map” and that the process “both the hiring of a third party to draw the redistricting maps and the Board’s decision to forego bids from multiple firms— strayed from the Board’s past practices.”
That map was adopted by the legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp and went into effect for the 2022 elections.
The lawsuit seeks to declare the drawing of posts 2, 3 and 6 unconstitutional based and to order the legislature to draw a new map.
But in a ruling issued Tuesday, Ross, of the U.S. District Court in Atlanta said that “the Court finds that the above allegations are insufficient to establish a ‘longstanding and widespread practice’ by the District of recommending a racially gerrymandered map for the Board of Education elections in Cobb County.”
Ross, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, issued the ruling nearly a month after a hearing in her courtroom.
The Cobb school district hired an outside law firm as it sought a judgment that it shouldn’t be held liable for a redistricting map approved by the state legislature.
In a release issued late Thursday afternoon, the Cobb school district said the following:
“The suit is an unfortunate extension of efforts by political activists and organizations to exert influence in Cobb County’s schools. . . .
“While the Court’s opinion frees the District and its Board members from baseless accusations of racial discrimination, the District continues to be concerned that Cobb County Board of Elections, a politically appointed body, chose not to join the District in asking Judge Ross to rule in its favor and conclude the lawsuit.”
The SPLC issued the following statement from Poy Winichakul, one of its attorneys for voting rights:
“Despite the district’s mischaracterizations of the court’s order and the case itself,we are pleased that the plaintiffs’ case against the Board of Elections is moving forward. Judge Ross declined to rule on any of the district’s arguments related to the map. What this means is that our case is proceeding exactly as plaintiffs originally pled it last summerand the district will no longer spend the county’s resources litigating the case, but instead will return to its important job of educating the students of Cobb County. We look forward to proving our case on the merits.”
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Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell (right) is questioned by East Cobb resident Debbie Fisher, with Cobb Chief Financial Officer Bill Volckmann looking on. ECN photos.
What was designed to be an open house for Cobb homeowners to sort through assessments and tax bills one-on-one with county officials turned into a contentious town hall over a scheduled vote next Tuesday by the Cobb Board of Commissioners about whether to lower the millage rate on property taxes.
Many of those in attendance Wednesday at the Tim D. Lee Senior Center in East Cobb took aim at the event’s host, District 3 Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell.
For nearly two hours, she and other county officials took questions—and plenty of broadsides—from residents livid at the proposed fiscal year 2024 Cobb government budget of nearly $1.2 billion that holds the line on the general fund millage rate but that has $53 more in revenues.
Under state law, that constitutes a tax increase, and the county has had to hold three public hearings. The final comes Tuesday, before the budget and millage rate are adopted.
At Wednesday’s event, East Cobb resident Jan Barton, a frequent critic of county government spending and a commenter at public meetings, asked Birrell if she planned on voting to reduce the tax rate.
“I’m working on it,” said Birrell, prompting a number of groans. “I’m one vote in five.”
When a resident accused county officials of “not being able to take the heat,” County Manager Jackie McMorris said that “if we didn’t want to take the heat, we wouldn’t be here.”
Birrell said she’s continuing to meet with county officials about finding areas to cut spending—she doesn’t support funding any new positions, for example—but said “something can be worked out.”
She didn’t specify how much of a cut she might propose and where she might find a third, and decisive vote.
(The Cobb Board of Education passed its fiscal year 2024 budget of $1.4 billion based on a 0.2 millage rate reduction, which it is poised to adopt on Thursday, but there are calls for a larger millage rate cut.)
Birrell is one of two Republicans on the commission. Her GOP colleague, Keli Gambrill, also has said she wants to cut the general fund millage rate, which funds most county government operations.
Citizens at the Tim D. Lee Senior Center asked why the county can’t tighten its belt, since they’re having to.
“We don’t need larger government,” said a 91-year-old man, who added that “I have never seen anything as bad as the crap we’ve got right now.”
Others shouted at, interrupted and openly confronted county officials, including County Manager Jackie McMorris during a two-hour meeting that at times descended into chaos.
There were complaints about the taxpayers’ cost of funding Truist Park and the Cobb special local-option sales tax (SPLOST) that funds maintenance and construction costs unrelated to the operating budget.
When Birrell explained her longstanding effort to reduce the percentage of revenues transferred from the Cobb water system to the general fund—the budget proposal reduces that from 7 to 6 percent—she even got an earful about that.
“Now you’re explaining why people don’t trust government anymore,” East Cobb resident Jim Astuto said.
East Cobb resident Jim Astuto (right) speaks with Cobb CFO Bill Volckmann.
After a woman suggested that citizens stop voting for the SPLOST, McMorris responded that they should be careful what they wish for.
Some growled back at her, and with a bit of sarcasm McMorris said that, “Yes, we wake up every day trying to figure out how to make people mad.”
As Birrell tried to restore order and an open house format, a man standing in the back of room boomed: “It was a non-speaking meeting until everyone started to speak.”
This year’s record Cobb tax digest is $58 billion, is up 15 percent from last year.
Cobb resident Tracy Stephens decries higher spending in the proposed Cobb budget.
That fueled further criticism that the county should learn to do more with less. Bill Volckmann, the county’s chief financial officer, tried to explain that in some categories where spending is higher, a critical factor is a looming recession, and that “we’re trying to prepare.”
That didn’t sit well in the room either.
“As a stupid man sitting on the sidelines, I don’t see how spending more is saving money,” said Tracy Stephens, a home contractor who also has spoken at public hearings on the budget and tax rate.
At a millage rate public hearing on Tuesday, commissioners heard from citizens in South Cobb, including retirees who complained that higher assessments have raised their tax bill by 20 percent or more.
(District 4 commissioner Monique Sheffield, who represents South Cobb, is scheduled to have a town hall meeting on Monday.)
Of the nearly 50 people at Birrell’s town hall, most of them were middle-age and older, including some retirees who said that with inflationary costs for other living expenses, a much higher tax bill threatens to price them out of their homes.
“Some of my neighbors are worried about losing their homes,” said Barton, who handed out a long list of “Questions for Cobb County” prepared by a citizens group, Cobb Tax Revolt.
A woman who just turned 62—making her eligible for the senior exemption from school taxes—said that still won’t help her much.
“I need two other votes,” Birrell said, and explained that her own property assessment has gone up dramatically.
“We’re the people who made East Cobb what it is,” she thundered to applause. “We’re the ones who made the schools what they are. . . . You’re pushing all of us out. We’re getting cheated out of our retirements.”
Birrell replied that “I’m doing the best I can to get support and lower the millage rate.”
She said cutting the rate to the “rollback” rate of being tax neutral to the current-year budget isn’t possible.
There are public safety salary and benefit increases that have been factored in.
“There are other things I don’t agree with that we need to get rid of,” Birrell said. “But I need two other votes.”
East Cobb resident Debbie Fisher asked for the budget and millage rate votes to be postponed, both for Birrell’s purposes and for the public to understand the numbers better.
Mack Cobb, a retired youth sports coach and a former East Cobb Citizen of the Year, referenced the failed East Cobb Cityhood efforts. Opponents said citizens in the proposed city would be paying higher taxes, just as those living in Cobb’s other cities do.
“It got bloody,” he said. “We were told, ‘Don’t vote yes, your taxes will go up.’ Well hello? Thank you very much, but my taxes are going up.”
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A woman who pleaded guilty this week to killing her toddler son and leaving his body in the Chattahoochee River in 2021 has been sentenced to life in prison.
Breyanla Lachuan Cooper
The Cobb District Attorney’s Office said Thursday that Breyanla Lachuan Cooper, 29, of Stone Mountain, pleaded guilty in Cobb Superior Court to one count of malice murder, one count of aggravated assault and one count of concealing the death of another.
They were conducting a training session on July 1, 2021, when they noticed the child, who was deceased, floating in the water.
The Cobb DA’s office said after the news was released to the public, Cooper called the Cobb Fire non-emergency line to see if she could identify the body.
Cobb detectives investigating the death said Cooper told them that a man took her son because she owed him money, and that she was afraid to report it, according to the DA’s office, but police later determined there was no kidnapping.
Police also talked to Cooper’s mother, who described for them the details of her daughter’s car that was identified via GPS data at having been at the river on June 26, 2021, in the early evening hours. prosecutors said.
“It was during this time that she killed her child, leaving him in the river,” the Cobb DA’s office said, but didn’t elaborate on how the child died.
Cooper was arrested on July 2 and further interviews by police included the woman’s older child, “who disclosed that Cooper told her that their time with Faheem was done,” the DA’s office said.
At sentencing, Hill said that “it is unspeakable that a mother would do this to her own flesh and blood. There’s just nothing the court can say or do to make this any better for anybody.”
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!
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!
There’s still a good bit of work to be done on the new plaza area at The Avenue East Cobb, which is the centerpiece of the retail center’s ongoing redevelopment project.
But North American Properties, The Avenue’s management company, announced this week that it’s scheduled an unveiling of “The Plaza” in early September.
A cocktail event takes place on Thursday, Sept. 7, from 6-9 p.m., with appropriate attire, and featuring live music, light food and drink and more.
It’s being billed as “an exclusive first look at the Redefined Avenue East Cobb,” and tickets will go on sale Monday, Aug. 7 at 9 a.m. More information can be found by clicking here.
The Plaza is a public space that will include live music and other special events.
Tickets for the unveiling are $75 per person, and include a complimentary open bar and food tastings from new restaurants that are part of the overhaul, including the two “jewel box” buildings going up on either side of The Plaza.
All ticket proceeds from the cocktail event will benefit MUST Ministries.
For redevelopment updates, including a construction livestream, click here.
A rendering of The Plaza, with a music stage in the background.
There’s also a new women’s clothing store that’s coming soon to The Avenue. It’s called Evereve, which has more than 100 retail locations around the country, including two others in metro Atlanta, and is going in next to Warby Parker.
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!
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 finishing touches are being put on the new Kroger Superstore that’s the centerpiece of the MarketPlace Terrell Mill development in the heart of the Powers Ferry Road corridor.
It’s one of the last components of the project to open, and a ribbon-cutting has been scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 2, at 8 a.m.
The store is a 90,000-square foot “superstore,” one of the largest for Kroger in the metro Atlanta area, and includes a drive-through pharmacy, a dedicated area for online pickups and a fuel center with 18 pumps that recently opened.
Kroger spokeswoman Tammie Young-Ennaemba said the public is invited to assemble for a rally at 7:30 a.m. before the ribbon-cutting.
The store will open to the public after that, leaving two restaurants as the final additions of the $120 million MarketPlace Terrell Mill, which replaced aging office buildings, retail space and the original campus of Brumby Elementary School and was developed by Connolly and Eden Rock Real Estate Partners.
The Los Abuelos Mexican Grill, with existing locations in Newnan and John Creek, was tentatively to have opened in June at the Shoppes At MarketPlace, but there’s not an update on a new timeline. The Terrell Mill location has a sign in the window indicating that a liquor license has been applied for.
The same is a couple doors down where The Brass Tap Craft Beer Bar is preparing for an opening in August. It’s a a Tampa-based chain with Atlanta-area locations at Perimeter Center, Milton and Hapeville.
A couple miles down Powers Ferry, the Rose and Crown Tavern is expected to reopen this summer, along with a companion restaurant between the new Bexley and Overture apartment complexes on what was Restaurant Row.
An update on the restaurant’s Facebook page was no more specific than this:
“Rose & Crown Tavern and R & C Kitchen coming to you this summer season.”
The tavern (1935 Powers Ferry Road), the last surviving business in Restaurant Row, closed in July 2019 for what was intended to be only two years.
But it’s been a little more than three, as COVID-19-related and other delays have kicked in. Owner Miquel Ayoub has directed customers to the Mojave restaurant he opened on Powers Ferry Road in Sandy Springs in early 2019.
East Cobb News has left a message seeking more information. Readers also asked for more specifics:
“Hurry up and open already!”
“Is Shrimp and Grits still on the menu?”
Not far up the street, a standalone building for the relocating Tasty China Restaurant (1808 Powers Ferry Road) also is nearing completion.
The popular Szechuan restaurant is moving from Franklin Gateway, where it opened in 1998, to the former site of La Frontera Restaurant. A tentative opening was for the spring, and there’s not an update beyond a liquor license application notice in a front window.
At Terrell Mill Village, the former Kouzina Christos space has a new occupant. It’s the forthcoming Milancho Fresh Market & Kitchen, part of a New Jersey-based chain of locations featuring European-style groceries and with a focus on traditional Bulgarian food products.
There was a Milancho grocery and cafe in Smyrna but that closed in early 2022.
And for the time being, the Starbucks on an outparcel facing Powers Ferry and Terrell Mill Road is closed, as the coffee shop is being renovated.
That includes the drive-through window, and there are cones blocking access to the parking lot and drive-through lanes.
Across Powers Ferry, the Jacobs Java Cafe (1350 Terrell Mill Road) serves up Chicago-style coffee, espressos, and smoothies as well as a variety of hot dogs. You can also buy bags of its coffee blend.
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!
Linda Dunikoski, a senior assistant Cobb District Attorney who prosecuted three men in the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial, has been named the Georgia prosecutor of the year by the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia.
Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady presented Dunikoski the award recently at the organization’s summer meeting for her work getting convictions for Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael and William R. Bryan.
Arbery was a black man jogging down a residential street in Brunswick when he was pursued by a vehicle with the McMichaels and Bryan, who are all white.
The Cobb DA’s office was assigned the case when the Glynn County district attorney declined to bring charges, citing Georgia’s citizen arrest law. She later was indicted for her handling of the case.
“I am so honored to be recognized by the District Attorneys’ Association of Georgia for my 21 years of service to the citizens of Georgia and for our team’s work on the Ahmaud Arbery case,” Dunikowski said in a statement issued by the Cobb DA’s office.
“Our trial team, including Paul Camarillo and Larissa Ollivierre, could not have achieved justice for the family of Ahmaud without the support of Cobb DA Flynn Broady.”
In the same statement, Broady said that “the eyes of the world were upon the team led by Linda. The trial team showed that we as prosecutors will fight for victims and their families, despite the hardships inherent in a prosecution of this magnitude. Not only did she deliver justice, she brought back the legitimacy of our system of justice to many. We are very proud of the work by these men and women in our office.”
Dunikoski currently is the managing attorney of the Appeals Division of the Cobb County District Attorney’s Office.
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The following East Cobb residential real estate sales between June 26-30, 2023, were compiled from agency reports. They include the subdivision name and high school attendance zone in parenthesis:
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 juggler from Timber Ridge Elementary School at the EAST COBBER parade, which returns in 2023.
A week ago today we launched our “6 for 6” campaign to ask readers to support what we do at East Cobb News bringing you community news and information.
I’m humbled by the support we’ve received thus far, and wanted to say thanks to all of you who have contributed!
We’re calling it “6 for 6” in that we’re marking our 6th anniversary in July, and asking for a minimum contribution of $6 a month, or $60 a year.
Some of you have done that, and even stepped up those amounts more. We’ve gotten pledges for recurring monthly contributions of $12 a month and $20 a month, and a one-time contribution of $125.
I’m just blown away by the response, especially in the stifling heat of the dead summer.
What I planned as a soft launch with people on vacation has exceeded my expectations—so thanks again!
It’s called Press Patron, and it’s designed to help local news publishers like East Cobb News solicit support from their readers.
As I noted last week, I’d like to get 500 supporters signed up by the end of September and 1,000 by the end of the year. After our first week, we’re certainly on track to achieve that, and want to maintain the momentum.
We’d really like to encourage recurring monthly donations if you can swing that. When you click on the link to donate above, you’re not required to create account. But if you want to change your contribution settings, you’ll need to do that.
Please note that since we are a for-profit business, your contribution is not tax-deductible. But it will go a long way to help us keep giving you the local news that you love!
And during our initial “pledge drive” of sorts, we’ll include in these posts some of our favorite photos over the years, including the above taken at the EAST COBBER parade and festival, which is returning this September.
You depend on us to get you the news. We depend on you to help us financially. Now is not time to sit on the sidelines waiting for someone else to support local journalism.
We offer some affordable and dynamic ways to promote local businesses, and we’ve got enticing readership numbers to help those running small businesses to reach new customers.
Our “Six for Six” campaign also includes some advertising specials, so please visit this link for more.
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with questions about using Press Patron and our contributing to supporters’ campaign, as well as general inquiries about East Cobb News: wendy@eastcobbnews.com.
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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!
