Have a splashing good time at Cobb PARKS’ two outdoor pools. Sewell Park Pool and Seven Springs Water Park make for great summer days for the entire family.
Sewell Park Pool, 2051 Lower Roswell Road in Marietta, will be open seven days a week from 1 – 6 p.m. through July 31, except holidays when it is open from 1 – 5 p.m. From Aug.1 – Sept. 4, when most schools start, the pool will be open from 1 – 6 p.m. on weekends only. Holiday hours are in effect for Juneteenth, Independence Day and Labor Day. Fees are $3.50 for youth, $4.50 for adults and $3 for seniors (age 55 and older). More information on Sewell Pool can be found on our website here.
Seven Springs Water Park will offer two separate sessions, noon – 3 p.m. and 4 – 7 p.m., seven days a week through Aug. 1, then weekends through Labor Day. Fees are $6 for adults, $4 for children and $3 for seniors (age 55 and older). Passes are available. Please see our website for more details.
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 County Public Library System has compiled an extensive booklist for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Pride Month, which is observed in June.
The titles range from children’s picture and non-fiction books to teen and young adult fiction and adult titles.
The Cobb library system provided similar resource lists for Black History Month and Women’s History Month earlier this year.
In her weekly e-mail newsletter, Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid referenced the Pride Month booklist, saying “this month-long observation recognizes all members of the LGBTQ+ community, their historical roots, and allies that fight for their fundamental human rights and equality. It honors their bravery and influence. We take time to consider LGBTQ+ victims of hate crimes and those who continue to face violence, discrimination, and other injustices.”
Pride Month has been observed in June to honor the start of the modern gay rights movement, stemming from the Stonewall protests that took place in New York in June 1969.
More information about the Cobb Library Pride Month booklist can be found by clicking here.
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 home in Northeast Cobb that served as a Union general’s headquarters during the Civil War could soon give way to a car wash.
The Cobb Planning Commission on Tuesday is expected to give a first hearing for a proposed car wash at the intersection of Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway after the application had been delayed.
The McAfee House has been vacant for years, and historic preservation interests have been negotiating with the landowners to have the building relocated.
Two-acre site is surrounded by commercial property, including a shopping center with a Publix and a Barnes and Noble, and is across the street from Bells Ferry Elementary School.
Tommy’s Express by Northgate is seeking the neighborhood retail commercial (NRC) category (case filings here) for the two-acre site, which currently is zoned general commercial.
The car wash, which would include 5,315 square feet of space and 29 parking spaces, would be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.
The Cobb Zoning Office is recommending approval with some conditions, and suggested that “if the house cannot be moved and/or preserved on site, staff recommends that documentation of the structure, all outbuildings, and its setting, including current archival-quality photographs be completed by a cultural resource consultant. These materials should be submitted to the historic preservation planner.”
The McAfee House was the homestead of farmers Eliza and Robert McAfee, and it dates back to the 1840s. It was used as a Union Army general’s headquarters after the seizure of the Big Shanty during the Civil War. It also served as a field hospital after an 1864 engagement near what was called McAfee’s Crossroads.
Cobb Landmarks had been working to preserve another 1840s home on Post Oak Tritt Road where another rezoning case was being considered.
But the applicant, Kenneth B. Clary, withdrew that application last month after a proposal for a subdivision drew opposition for stormwater and historic preservation reasons.
The Power-Jackson Cabin was also built in the 1840s and has been abandoned for several decades. Cobb Landmarks posted earlier this week that it recently visited the site to assess the possibility of having an archaeological survey conducted:
“Cobb Landmarks is also exploring different options for the long-term preservation of the cabin, including the possibility of relocating it to a nearby park for public display. . . We were encouraged by what we saw and are hopeful the cabin can still be saved.”
Cobb Landmarks has been interested in having the structure relocated to the Hyde Farm facility on Lower Roswell Road.
Another Northeast Cobb rezoning case of interest to be heard Tuesday has been placed on the consent agenda, meaning there is no known opposition.
It’s a proposal by Toys & Gift Delivery, Inc. for a bakery at 2601 Sandy Plains Road, from office-industrial to NRC.
The vacant building at 6,552 square feet and the bakery would be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, according to the zoning filing.
The Cobb Planning Commission hearing begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta), you can view the full agenda and individual case files by clicking here.
You also can watch on the county’s website and YouTube channels and on Cobb TV 23 on Comcast Cable.
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!
Bill Byrne, who served as Cobb Commission Chairman from 1993—2002, has been named to the board of the Cobb Taxpayers Association.
“Byrne’s appointment to our Board comes at a critical time for the County,” Cobb Taxpayers Association Chairman Lance Lamberton said.
The citizens group made the announcement Friday, and Byrne will serve as one of six board members, including chairman Lance Lamberton and vice chairman Jim Astuto, an East Cobb resident.
“We are flattered that someone of Bill Byrne’s stature has agreed to serve on our board,” Lamberton said in a statement. “In his 10 years as BOC Chairman, he served with distinction and presided over a period of historic business and residential growth in the County. That record of accomplishment, combined with his strong commitment towards the taxpayer’s best interests, will bode well for CTA in the next year and a half.”
The Cobb Taxpayers Association was founded in 2005 and scrutinizes Cobb County government finances, spending and tax issues. In the past it has been opposed to extending the Cobb Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) that funds construction and maintenance projects for county government and public schools.
“Byrne’s appointment to our Board comes at a critical time for the County, which is facing the threat of one of the largest tax increases in its history,” Lamberton said, referring to a proposed transit tax which could be on the November 2024 ballot.
Cobb commissioners in March voted to approve spending more $500,000 to hire three separate consulting firms to help the Cobb Department of Transportation prepare for the referendum.
Lamberton spoke at that meeting against the tax, saying that “if mass transit is so dad gum important to you, then move to a place where it makes sense. That place is not Cobb County.”
Earlier this year, Lamberton filed an ethics complaint against a member of the Cobb Transit Advisory Board, but that was dismissed by the Cobb Board of Ethics last month.
Lisa Cupid, the current Cobb Commission Chairwoman, is floating a 30-year transit tax, but the current board’s two Republicans are opposed to anything longer than five years.
Commissioners would determine the length of a sales tax referendum, and more public feedback is being sought.
In the Cobb Taxpayers Association release, Byrne said that “I believe the County has lost its way over the past two decades, and has adopted a tax and spend policy which would have been unthinkable while I was BOC Chairman. But through it all, CTA has fought tooth and nail against the tax and spending interests, and has some impressive wins in its column despite being outspent by its opponents by as much as 100 to one.”
Byrne ran for his old job in 2012, but was defeated by then-incumbent Tim Lee in a Republican runoff.
Speaking to the East Cobb Civic Association this week, Cupid said that a transit tax—which would fund road as well as mass transit projects—has “never been put out to vote” in Cobb’s history.
“We have a lot of people that are not able to access workforce opportunities” due to a lack of mass transit opportunities in Cobb, she said, adding that “a lot of businesses are bypassing Cobb” as a result.
The only CobbLinc bus line in the East Cobb area runs along Powers Ferry Road. A previous line that traversed Roswell Road linking Marietta with Sandy Springs was discontinued in 2011 as part of budget cuts due to the recession.
“I would ask that you consider that there are others among you who can utilize this service,” Cupid said.
She said at the same meeting that she “can’t say” for now if she’ll propose rolling back the county’s general fund millage rate this year despite skyrocketing property assessments.
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 program includes a partnership with the Cobb County School District and Marietta City Schools and is particularly aimed at keeping children reading during the summer vacation months.
Readers earn “BINGO” credits that are good for badges and prizes, as well as eligibility for the grand prize.
Participants track their reading with a Beanstalk account, and a traditional paper log is also available.
More information about the challenge can be found by clicking here; you can create a Beanstalk tracking account at this link and a traditional paper log at this link.
A formal presentation is expected in June, and on Wednesday Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid addressed that topic and others in a mini-state of the county update to the East Cobb Civic Association.
She said her own assessment has gone up by 25 percent on the home she bought in Smyrna two years ago.
Cupid also pointed out the need to continue a new step-and-grade salary and promotional system for public safety personnel, among other priorities in the current $1.2 million FY 2023 budget.
“All of that has to be funded,” Cupid told the ECCA audience of about 40 people at the Fullers Park Recreation Center. “We are fortunate that we have the coffers to do this.”
Cobb commissioners voted last year in a partisan split to maintain the general fund millage rate—which provides most of the revenues for county government—at 8.46 mills, while slightly raising the fire millage rate.
Cupid and the board’s other two Democrats, including Jerica Richardson of East Cobb, voted for that budget, while the two Republican members, including JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb, were opposed.
Some citizens spoke then for a millage rate cut, in light of inflation and amid broader economic concerns.
After the meeting Wednesday, Cupid was asked by East Cobb News if she might be considering a millage rate reduction for the 2024 budget.
She said that “she can’t say” for the moment, not just because the budget proposal is still being put together, but also because of the need to continue making strides to improve salaries for county employees and other priorities.
Last year, Birrell and GOP commissioner Keli Gambrill said the millage rate should be cut back due to rising revenues from a tax digest that grew by more than 12 percent.
This year’s digest is expected to be 13 percent, and could be larger when it is finalized next month.
The Cobb Board of Education last month passed an FY 2024 budget of $1.4 billion that includes generous salary increases but also cuts the millage rate for the first time in 15 years.
Cupid said her concern is if the board does cut back, the funding issues she’s mentioned for several years “will roll over and over” into coming years.
She admitted that concerns from citizens about rising assessments “is the most I’ve ever heard” in her near-decade on the board.
“Those concerns are being heard,” she told East Cobb News. “I can certainly understand the concerns they have.”
Cobb commissioners last reduced the general fund millage rate in 2016, when then-chairman Tim Lee was in a runoff with Mike Boyce, who defeated him then to become chairman.
But the county faced a $32 million budget shortfall two years later, and Boyce pushed through a millage rate increase that his fellow Republican commissioners opposed.
Boyce, whom Cupid defeated in 2020, said the hike was necessary to maintain Cobb’s status as a “five-star county.”
She isn’t using language like that, but reiterated her long-standing complaints—stemming from the time she was the only Democrat on the board—about “kicking the can down the road” when it comes to spending priorities.
“I could do it and look good,” Cupid said, referencing a tax cut proposal, “but somebody’s going to have to pay the price.”
She said Cobb has made some headway on addressing those long-term needs, including restoring some key capital maintenance funding, but “we still have a ways to go.”
Before Wednesday’s meeting, ECCA officials handed out an information sheet about how citizens can appeal their assessments.
Cobb Tax Assessor Stephen White said roughly 1-2 percent of Cobb property owners file an appeal. The deadline for submitting an appeal is June 26, and more information can be found by clicking here.
Cupid also encouraged property owners to learn about homestead exemptions and other exemptions they may qualify for that could reduce the assessed value of their homes.
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!
Teresa Sykes of the Johnson Ferry Homeschool Group passed along the flyer below about its curriculum and used book sale Friday and Saturday.
The sale takes place from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday and from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Saturday in the Magnolia Room at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church (955 Johnson Ferry Road).
The sale includes a wide variety of curriculum, as well as general reading literature from preschool on up, games, puzzles, DVD’s and other items of general interest to the public.
For more information, scan the QR code on the flyer below.
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Before the disruptions caused by school closures in response to COVID-19, Laura Judge was forging a deeper interest not only in educational issues but broader political topics.
Her son was six years old during the 2016 and excited about the prospect of the first female president of the United States to follow the country’s first black commander-in-chief.
“We tried to keep politics out of the home,” said Judge, who at the time was working in the biotech industry.
While historical lightning didn’t strike twice, that campaign ignited Judge’s political involvement.
In the 2017 special election for the 6th Congressional District, she took her soon to the East Cobb Government Service Center for a meet-and-greet with Jon Ossoff.
He lost to Karen Handel, but that launched his political career, and he currently serves as Georgia’s senior U.S. senator.
Judge began paying closer to attention to school-related issues after Charisse Davis was elected in 2018 to serve part of East Cobb on the Cobb Board of Education.
But Judge said she felt as though voices in the school community outside of those held by Republican majority were not only not being heard, but not welcome.
When the board was conducting business remotely via Zoom, she said she was bothered when David Banks, the longtime Post 5 incumbent, left a meeting when some his colleagues were speaking.
(Banks and Davis and Jaha Howard sparred frequently during the single term served by the latter two.)
“I wrote the board that I didn’t think that represented our values or our schools,” Judge said in a recent interview with East Cobb News to discuss her candidacy for the Cobb school board from Post 5, which includes the Walton, Wheeler and Pope high school clusters.
She said only Davis responded, a pattern Judge said she saw as typical.
“Our community should have access to board members,” said Judge.
Judge, a Democrat, is involved in Watching the Funds-Cobb, a citizens watchdog group that scrutinizes Cobb County School District finances.
The mother of two children who attend Dickerson Middle School and Mt. Bethel Elementary School, Judge also is involved their respective PTA organizations.
She was the education chair in the citizens cabinet of District 2 Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson until launching her campaign (here’s Judge’s campaign website).
She also has been active with the Georgia chapter of Moms Demand Action, which advocates for gun safety, and spent much of the 2023 legislative session at the state Capitol.
Judge said that many of the messages she sent to board members about a number of concerns were falling on deaf ears.
“I never received any responses, and other parents feel like they don’t know where to find information.”
When the pandemic was declared and schools closed in March 2020, Judge’s daughter, whom she called a “struggling reader,” felt further behind.
“I didn’t know until then how in-depth her problems were, but it helped me understand her struggles and advocate for her,” Judge said.
She took her children out of the Cobb school district for the 2020-21 school year. After they returned, she worked with her daughter’s teachers at Mt. Bethel who are certified in the Orton-Gillingham evidence-based literacy training approach.
Having just completed third grade, Judge’s daughter is now reading at grade-level, and “I’m very excited.”
Judge speaking at the Georgia Capitol during the 2023 legislative session.
Long Island roots
A native of Long Island, N.Y., Judge, 41, moved to the Atlanta area with her family in 2005 and settled in East Cobb in 2014. She attended the U.S. Naval Academy and received a bioscience research degree from Farmingdale State University.
She and her husband run Monsta Content, a digital marketing and content company.
She said her priorities in her campaign are transparency, safety and literacy.
The Watching the Funds-Cobb group has been critical of the Cobb school district’s handling of some financial matters.
Judge applauded the board and Superintendent Chris Ragsdale for the recent $1.4 billion fiscal year 2023 budget that includes a property tax millage rate reduction and pay raises for teachers and other employees.
But the budget process, Judge said, is an example of transparency issues she sees.
“Our budget looks great,” she said. “It’s the smaller projects that don’t always go to the board.”
She pointed to the district’s handwashing machines and security alert system that Watching the Funds-Cobb has been critical of over the last two years.
By the time the proposed budget goes to public hearings, Judge said, “there is no interaction. The budget is already done.
“It’s by design. It’s how it’s been working for a long time,” and said that in the aftermath to the district’s COVID response, “people were seeing that’s not how it should be working.”
Partisan lines drawn
The Post 5 seat will be one of four on the seven-member school board to be decided in the 2024 elections. Two others are also held by Republicans, who hold a 4-3 majority.
Banks hasn’t announced whether he’ll seek a fourth term. Business owner and Walton cluster parent John Cristadoro announced as a GOP candidate and has assembled a committee of supporters that includes former school board member Scott Sweeney of East Cobb and John Loud, a former president of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce (Cristadoro interview here).
Post 5 was redrawn to include the Walton and Wheeler clusters that formerly were in Post 6, where Davis served until deciding last year not to seek re-election.
Of Banks, Judge said that she “appreciates all the years he has spent” devoted to local education matters.
“I hope he does what he feels like is best for him.”
But she thinks that his status as a lightning rod works against him and the district.
“I don’t think David Banks represents East Cobb,” she said. “I don’t like a school board member being in the press for making controversial comments.
“Some people like those who speak their mind, but I don’t think that represents Post 5 as a whole.”
When asked about Cristadoro’s supporters, Judge said “I don’t think they want [the partisan dynamic] to change. So many parents wish our school boards weren’t partisan. That’s why I think our board should have policies that are above partisanship.”
Thoughts on the Superintendent
In certain conservative circles in Cobb, some have expressed concerns that a Democratic majority would undermine the school district in a number of ways, including the appointment of new superintendent.
Board Democrats in recent years have voted against extending Ragsdale’s contract, and they went to the district’s accrediting agency, Cognia, which issued a special review in 2021 but reversed those findings early last year.
Judge said there is “no fiscal responsibility to changing the superintendent.”
She said that any such change “would have to be something done with the other six colleagues” and would hinge on “what would be best for the community.”
If Democrats were to gain the majority, Judge said, “I don’t think things would change as much as people are talking about. Children aren’t political pawns.
“I think more people will have a voice.”
After Ragsdale lashed out at Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid’s school-related comments at the recent Cobb Prayer Breakfast, Judge said “I wish they would work out their differences behind closed doors.”
Other issues of concern for her are improving mental health services for students and being more responsive to students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), where the Cobb school district “is involved in a lot of litigation. . . . I don’t think they want to lose, but it’s something that I think doesn’t need to get to that level.”
Judge said the school board’s ban on the teaching of Critical Race Theory in 2021 was “unnecessary” because it’s not included in current Georgia curriculum standards.
The Cobb school district also has resisted calls for a diversity officer and programs. Judge said students are being “insulated” from a diversifying society.
“It doesn’t have to be in the curriculum per se, but there are ways of teaching people to be kind to others,” she said.
Judge and her family moved to East Cobb in 2014.
Pledging a moderate approach
Judge says that “I’m not looking for radical change” and that her priorities rise above partisan politics.
“I want to see our county continue to grow,” she said. “Things are changing a lot faster for some people that they are uncomfortable with.
“I think that people are fearing others. I don’t want to ‘other’ anybody.”
While Post 5 remains something of a Republican stronghold in a Cobb County that has seen significant Democratic political gains in recent years, Judge thinks her party affiliation shouldn’t be an issue.
She said Davis and Howard, who served from 2019-2022, were successful “in letting people know how the district operates.”
She said she would go about dealing with some contentious issues—including along racial and ethnic lines—in a different way.
Efforts to change the name of Wheeler High School, over the namesake’s history as a Confederate general in the Civil War, also have been spurned by the board’s GOP majority and the district.
Judge said she would “defer to the community” on that issue, but was critical of the board’s decision to disband a name-changing committee shortly after it was formed in 2021.
She maintains that one of the biggest challenges facing the district is “people being heard. Everybody deserves to have a voice, to be at the table.
“We have a great district. We have more people paying attention to what the district is doing and how it operates.”
Judge said that if she were elected, “I would like to think that would change more voices to be heard.”
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!
1st Row, L-R: Tim Roberts, Henry Hene, Bill Lerner, Stuart Weiss. 2nd Row, L-R: John Herbst, Aric Fine, Robert Corby, Frank Mix.
Submitted information and photos:
As part of its year-long celebration of the 40th anniversary of its founding, Cobb County-basedTemple Kol Emeth (TKE) held a “There’s No Place Like Home” themed Ruby Jubilee on Saturday, April 29. More than 200 members of the TKE community gathered for the gala event co-chaired by Sarah Thalheimer and Ryan Singer, which included dinner, a silent auction and entertainment by comedic magician Jake Schwartz, who kept the crowd laughing.
The Cobb County Commission provided a proclamation to honor the past, present and future of the Reform Jewish temple, which was founded in 1982 by seven families and has grown to encompass more than400 families. In the four decades since opening its doors, TKE has been a welcoming Jewish presence in Cobb County, serving a diverse congregation that includes interfaith families and members of every race, age and background. Past presidents, including founding member and longest-serving president Jane Aronoff, were honored at the event.
“Temple Kol Emeth’s 40th Anniversary Ruby Jubilee was a wonderful occasion to come together as a community to honor our past and celebrate our future,” said Temple Kol Emeth President Jodi Roberts. “We are a dynamic, inclusive and growing community, grounded in our Jewish faith. Celebrations such as this provide the opportunity to reflect on our past and share our excitement for the future of our temple community.”
The celebration continues with the installation of the Birthright Bench by nationally recognized wood sculpture artist and congregant Doug Pisik. The 600-pound wooden bench will provide a new sitting area, featuring a wall of cubbies along the back, which includes prayers and thoughts from TKE congregants, symbolic of the Western Wall.
Prayers from the bench will be taken to Israel by 45 congregants participating in the 40th Anniversary Israel trip, taking place May 27 through June 7. During the trip, TKE members will participate in hands-on learning and a spiritual unearthing of Israel, exploring both ancient artifacts and new-age discoveries throughout Tel Aviv, Galilee, the Dead Sea and Jerusalem.
40th Anniversary Chairs Ryan Singer and Sarah Thalheimer. L-R: Steve Harris, Lon Goodman, Marnie Harris, Madeline Sable, Sonya Powers, Craig Aronoff.L-R: Mitzi Schepps, Frank Mix, Sandi Davis, John Herbst.L-R: TKE President Jodi Roberts with Proclamation.L-R: Henry Hene, Teri Singer, Shep Orlow, Jen Orlow.
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!
Benny lives in East Cobb and attended Kennesaw State University. He is a Senior Vice President, Wealth Management Advisor, Senior Portfolio Manager with the Varzi Group and this is the fifth consecutive year he has been named to this list.
Since the beginning of his financial services career in 1981, Benny’s area of emphasis has been portfolio management. His focus has been on the implementation of investment policy statements, asset allocation recommendations and portfolio construction/security selection. Benny holds the designation of Certified Investment Management Analyst® (CIMA®) awarded by the Investments & Wealth Institute™ (The Institute) and taught in conjunction with the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Kennesaw State University and has Certifications of Portfolio Management from The Babson School of Executive Education in Boston, DePaul University in Chicago and The University of Chicago Booths School of Business.
In his spare time Benny serves on the Alliance Theatre of The Woodruff Art Center and previously served on The Board of Trustees of the Atlanta International School. Benny and his wife, Roxanne, have two children, Leila and Sofia. His hobbies include skiing, mountain biking and traveling.
Merrill holds the No. 1 position for all firms, with 1,820 total advisors recognized on the published list. Additionally, Merrill has 23 advisors recognized as No. 1 in their state. This was the sixth consecutive year Merrill has ranked No. 1.
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 summer schedule of special events at The Avenue East Cobb will be getting underway next week as redevelopment continues.
Above is an aerial photo taken for the retail center, which has set a general timetable for completion by this summer.
Marketing manager Madison Murphey told East Cobb News there’s no more specific estimate for unveiling the new look, which will include two “jewel box” buildings with restaurant and retail space and a public plaza.
The project got underway in December, and in February, North American Properties, which manages The Avenue, announced some new restaurants: Press Waffle Co. will occupy one of the jewel boxes, and Peach State Pizza is coming to the former Stockyard Burgers space.
Murphey said there are no updates about those projects, as well as the upcoming opening of Barnes and Noble at the former Bed Bath and Beyond location. A summertime opening was announced and renovations are underway.
As for the summer “signature events,” they include family-friendly comedy the first Monday of the month, kids’ activities the last Tuesday of the month, fitness events every Wednesday and live music every Friday.
A weekly cornhole league and cooking classes at the Olea Oliva! store are continuing.
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U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick, whose 6th District includes part of East Cobb, is one of a handful of members of Congress to support Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in his campaign for president.
DeSantis, who recently won re-election by nearly 20 points, announced his candidacy this weekfor the Republican nomination, and McCormick issued a video (see below) calling him “a bold conservative” who can not only defeat Democratic President Joe Biden, but “grow our party.”
In the two-minute video, McCormick—who is serving his first term in a district that also includes North Fulton and Forsyth and Dawson counties—didn’t reference former President Donald Trump, who’s holding big leads in polling among GOP candidates.
McCormick blamed what he called “Joe Biden’s failed leadership” on issues such as immigration, crime and energy.
“We need a warrior to do whatever it takes to champion conservative values and safeguard the next generation,” McCormick said in the video, adding that DeSantis is “battle-tested and ready to be our next president. He’s bold and has a vision for our future.”
In the Republican congressional primary last year, McCormick defeated Jake Evans, whom Trump had endorsed.
Among Trump’s Congressional endorsers is Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose district includes part of South Cobb.
GOP Congressman Barry Loudermilk, whose 11th District also includes part of East Cobb, has supported Trump in the past but thus far hasn’t announced his preference for 2024.
Georgia figures to be a battleground state again in the 2024 presidential election. Biden was declared the winner in 2020 by less than 12,000 votes, but Trump has disputed those results ever since.
The Fulton County District Attorney’s office has been investigating whether Trump and his campaign broke the law in trying to overturn the Georgia results, and there could be indictments.
The dispute has roiled Georgia Republicans, as Trump attacked Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, fellow Republicans who have upheld said the 2020 election results in the state.
Both are bypassing the state Republican Party convention next month in Columbus, but Trump has said he will attend.
McCormick also published an end0rsement of DeSantis in The Hill, a Washington political publication, saying the Florida governor, who has touted a strong conservative legislative agenda and whose pugnacious style includes an extended battle with the Walt Disney Co. on cultural issues, “will fight and will win.”
McCormick said DeSantis’ strengths include “stopping the left’s woke agenda, spurring economic growth, and keeping us safe.”
He also said it’s important to back a candidate “who can fight and win against the radical left and their allies in the media. Who can earn victory in Georgia. Who can beat Joe Biden.
“Most of all, this election is not about the past,” McCormick said, with the video showing DeSantis, 44, his wife and three young children. “It’s about the future. Who can lift us up, who can inspire the nation, who can lead us forward.”
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Students from the Habitat clubs of the Cobb County High School Coalition recently completed their 26th home in the Marietta area, and on May 20 celebrated the dedication with the family.
The students are from Campbell, Hillgrove, Pope, and Walton high schools, and the resident is Laurelle, a mother of two children who is a paraprofessional at Birney Elementary School.
A native of the U.S. Virgin Islands, she applied for Habitat consideration through her son’s therapist. Soon, she will be closing on a home with a zero interest mortage, according to Habitat for Humanity of Northwest Metro Atlanta.
“Every year, it is amazing to see busy high school students give up their Saturdays for nine weeks to build this house,” NW Metro Atlanta Habitat CEO Jessica Gill said. “The students are led by great teachers who help them raise the funds for the project all year and build alongside them and the homeowner each Saturday.”
Cindy Cassanova, Habitat Club sponsor from Pope High School, said “they not only get to be a part of building a home for a family, but they also get to do it with peers from other area schools.
“Seeing the family and crew all dressed up and celebrating a new home that will be loved and lived in for years…well that is what it is all about.”
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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!
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 chase ended at the Pappadeaux restaurant (blue star) after beginning along Bentley Road (upper right corner). OpenStreetMap
UPDATED, MAY 27:
Cobb Police said on Saturday that all three suspects have been captured.
Public Information Officer Aaron Wilson said in a release that the other two suspects were taken into custody at the Country Hearth Inn and Suites (2767 Windy Hill Road) after conducting surveillance.
Wilson said that police obtained a search warrant and asked the suspects to come out, but they declined. He said that the Cobb Police Violent Crime Bureau was called to the scene, and “with their assistance, officers were able to get the two suspects into custody.”
Wilson said all three suspects were listed as runaway juveniles and were not identified.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
Cobb Police said Friday that they have captured one person and two other suspects are at-large after a vehicle chase along in the Bentley Road-Windy Hill Road area earlier this morning.
A Precinct 3 press release said that around 4 a.m. Friday, a Flock license-plate reader alerted officers to a stolen vehicle in the Bentley Road area, and that the vehicle matched the description given by Marietta Police of being involved in several car break-ins in the vicinity.
Cobb Police said an officer spotted the vehicle and attempted to make a traffic stop but the driver got away.
The driver “operated the vehicle recklessly” as officers pursued, according to police, and the vehicle continued to the Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen (2830 Windy Hill Road).
Police said the driver lost control and the vehicle crashed, and three suspects fled on foot.
Police said a K9 unit found one of the suspects hiding in a bush near the Belmont Place apartments and made an arrest. Meanwhile, other officers pursued the other suspects, but they got away, Cobb Police said.
One of suspects jumped a bridge rail and ran down a hill, with an officer deploying a Taser. But that didn’t work, and the suspect continued to flee. The officer sustained cuts to his right hand, a bruise to left thigh, and had a swollen left foot, and was taken to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital for treatment, police said.
Police said they recovered three guns at the scene where the vehicle was ditched, with two confirmed as having been stolen, but K9 units were unable to locate the two other suspects.
The Precinct 3 release didn’t describe the vehicle or identify the suspects.
There’s no booking information available at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center.
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!
Justin Ross Harris is serving a 12-year-sentence for exchanging sexually explicit messages with minor girls.
Cobb District Attorney Flynn Broady said Thursday his office will not retry a man sentenced to serve life in prison in the “hot car” death of his son in 2014 but whose conviction was overturned last year.
In a 6-3 vote last June, the Supreme Court of Georgia overturned the conviction against Justin Ross Harris, whose 22-month-old son Cooper died of hypothermia being left all day at his father’s workplace in Vinings in a vehicle that was nearly nearly 100 degrees inside.
The high court ruled that evidence presented by prosecutors at Harris’ trial about his extramarital activities and sexually lewd activities and communications with girls and women was prejudicial and should have been separated from the murder indictment.
Harris continues to serve a 12-year sentence in the Georgia prison system for criminal attempt to commit sexual exploitation of a minor and distributing harmful materials to minors.
But Broady said in a release Thursday that his office is closing the murder case on Harris after a nearly year-long review, concluding that “crucial motive evidence that was admitted at the first trial in 2016 is no longer available to the State due to the majority decision of the Supreme Court.”
Broady said he disagrees with the Supreme Court ruling, which was also based on now-retired Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark’s denial of objections by Harris’ attorneys to introduce that evidence, and that she didn’t give “limiting” instructions to the jury.
Staley Clark, who retired last May, right before the Supreme Court ruling, also denied a motion by Harris’ attorney last year for a new murder trial.
The Cobb DA’s office—then led by Vic Reynolds, now a Cobb Superior Court judge—prosecuted the case in Glynn County, on the Georgia coast, due to pretrial publicity, claiming that Harris’ motive was to kill his son to get out of his marriage.
Harris, who was 33 at the time of his son’s death, was a web developer working for Home Depot.
On the morning of June 18, 2014, he was to have dropped off his son at Home Depot’s day care center before going to his office. Father and son had eaten breakfast at Chick-fil-A, but Harris was late for work, and left the boy inside his Hyundai Tucson, prosecutors said at the trial.
According to trial evidence, while Cooper remained inside a hot vehicle, Harris was at work in his office, where he sent lewd messages to women.
The evidence showed that Harris returned to his car after 4 p.m., and found Cooper unconscious in a car seat in the back of the SUV with the windows rolled up.
According to trial records, Harris removed the boy from the SUV and placed him on the pavement, and, according to witnesses, yelled “What have I done?”
Even though Harris said he simply forgot about his son in the vehicle, a jury found him guilty of murder and sentenced him to life without parole.
A dissenting Supreme Court opinion argued last year that there was “no abuse of the court trial’s discretion” in deciding that severing the cases against Harris was unnecessary, and that introducing evidence about his sexual desires was not improper.
“Although we disagree with the outcome of the majority opinion and agree with the reasoning set forth by the dissenting justices, we are bound by the majority’s decision,” Broady said Thursday.
He thanked law enforcement and prosecutors “who worked tirelessly for years to obtain justice for Cooper. Cooper will always be remembered by this Office and those who fought for him.”
The Friends for the East Cobb Park, an all-volunteer organization that supports activities at Cobb PARKS facility (3322 Roswell Road), is organizing a garden club.
An organizational meeting has been scheduled for next Saturday, June 3, at 10 a.m. at the gazebo overlooking the park, next to the maintenance shed, and accessible at the back of the upper parking lot.
They’re looking for volunteers to get the effort started with an eye toward a number of a variety of projects, including creating garden areas, pollinator gardens, trail beautification, community gardens, removing invasive plant species and other related activities.
The Friends for the East Cobb Park sponsors concerts, the Holiday Lights at East Cobb Park celebration and purchases playground equipment. The group also held a cleanup day at the park recently along the banks of Sewell Mill Creek.
“We need people,” Friends president Kurt von Borries said in reference to the garden club. “The goal is to beautify the park even more than it already is.”
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!
Last Saturday a final walkthrough was scheduled at the longstanding Eastvalley Elementary School main building on Lower Roswell Road.
It was a chance for students, parents and staff to bid farewell to an aging building after more than 60 years of use.
Furniture, books and other items had all been packed up, ready to be moved to the new campus across from Wheeler High School on Holt Road.
But construction delays mean that those items will remain where they are for the time being.
The new campus won’t be ready when the 2023-24 school year begins Aug. 1.
The Cobb County School District told East Cobb News that the issue is supply chain issues, but a spokesperson wasn’t more specific. Here’s the statement we received:
“We are told that our new building should be completed around Fall break. We know this timing is not ideal, but the construction team assures us that every step is being taken to complete the project as soon as possible. Until then teaching and learning will continue in our current building.”
The fall break in the Cobb school district is the week of Sept. 25-29.
The $36.7 million Eastvalley rebuild began in the spring of 2022 and will contain 136,110 square feet and 61 classrooms, with an expected capacity of around 960 K-5 students.
The present campus has been overcrowded for years, with more than 700 students crammed into a main classroom building designed for 400. A dozen trailers have been in use but have generated parental complaints.
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!
