Starting Friday morning, commuters can begin using the Windy Hill-Terrell Mill connector.
It’s less than a mile, but is expected to alleviate traffic in a busy corridor of East Cobb along Interstate 75 and the Northwest Express Lanes.
Local dignitaries, including elected officials, county transportation and development leaders and civic participants took part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday afternoon.
The four-lane connector costs $45.8 million, with nearly $30 million coming from the 2016 Cobb SPLOST (special local-option sales tax) and the rest from Georgia Department of Transportation and the Georgia State Road and Tollway Authority.
The connector is accessible on Windy Hill Road by the Spectrum Circle/Interstate North Parkway and moves northbound to Terrell Mill, ending at the intersection of Bentley Road.
The road also features a multi-use trail on the west shoulder that connects to the Bob Callan Trail system, which ultimately hooks up with the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area trails.
Among those on hand for the ribbon cutting were Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, former Commissioner Bob Ott, Cobb County Manager Jackie McMorris, Cobb DOT director Drew Raessler, Cumberland Community Improvement District executive director Kim Menefee and Powers Ferry Corridor Alliance president Patti Rice.
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 5th anniversary of The Coder School in East Cobb will be observed this month with a special Halloween costume event.
The franchised afterschool coding program, is inviting students from its locations in East Cobb at the Shallowford Falls Shopping Center (3142 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 430) as well as Johns Creek and Suwanee on Saturday, Oct. 29 from 4-7 p.m. in their costumes.
Once at the event, costume contest participants will get their pictures made to be posted online for a virtual vote.
“The parties will be going simultaneously and the vote will take place online,” said Jerry Massey, The Coder School franchisee at all three locations. “We will tally up the votes from all three centers to choose one final winner.”
The winners at each location will receive a portable video game console.
“This is just a fun event we wanted to do for our kids to celebrate our anniversary,” he said. “Not only will there be cake, goodies and games, but we will also award the winner of the best costume contest with a new Nintendo Switch Lite.”
Massey and his wife Kim started the East Cobb location in 2017. The Coder School, which is based in Silicon Valley, teaches coding to children ages 8-16 and has more than 50 locations in 15 states.
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!
Stormwater damage to a residential property off Robinson Road near East Cobb Park in Sept. 2021.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners’ scheduled work session on stormwater issues was postponed Tuesday due to the length of a regular meeting earlier in the day.
The county public information office said it would be rescheduled.
Commissioners were to hear a presentation and an analysis by the Cobb Water Department of stormwater management issues and the possibility of assessing an impact fee.
District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson will hold a virtual community meeting Saturday focusing on the stormwater issue. The session starts at 11 a.m. and you can register 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!
By a 4-1 vote, commissioners confirmed the decision to grant a beer, wine, liquor and Sunday pouring license to WellSpun Investments Inc., which plans to open the Habits Bottle Shop on 2940 Johnson Ferry Road.
That’s in the former location of Jackie’s Wine and Spirits, which has moved close by, to 3140 Johnson Ferry Road.
Jackie’s hired attorneys from the prominent Cumberland law firm of Taylor English Duma LLP to fight the new shop’s application.
Nearby residents also expressed opposition during the initial phase of the request, as the Cobb Business License Division denied the application. WellSpun appealed to the License Review Board, which granted the license in August.
But during a special public hearing Tuesday, the Jackie’s store attorney, Scott Jones, said the WellSpun request should be denied due to its proximity to two day cares and a church.
WellSpun hired a noted attorney as well, Parks Huff, known for his work in zoning cases, who said that Jackie’s doesn’t “want to have any competition.”
He showed a map of liquor stores in the East Cobb area (see below), showing that Jackie’s has a significant portion of the area to itself.
“They’re asking you to overturn a decision, not a recommendation,” he said of the License Review Board’s application.
The 2940 Johnson Ferry Road address is in a strip mall located close to the Sacred Tapestry church, which meets in another retail center.
One of the day care centers Jones referenced, the Princeton Montessori School ,has since closed. Commissioner Jerica Richardson asked Ellisia Webb, the Cobb Business License Division manager, if the distance between the store space and that day care played a role in the initial denial of the license.
“It could have,” Webb said.
Sam Hensley, an attorney represented the Business License Division and the License Review Board, admitted this was “a bit of an unusual situation” because state regulations are involved in liquor store licensing, as opposed to alcohol licenses for restaurants and convenience and grocery stories.
Jackie’s contended that the distance between the two liquor stores would be less than the minimum of 1,500 feet. Hensley said the measurements need to be made in as straight a line as possible, literally from front door to front door.
Huff claimed during the hearing that the distance was 1,560 feet by his calculations.
Another bone of contention was whether the Montessori school could be classified as an educational institution subject to the distance requirements. Huff said the now-closed facility is a day care center (as is the nearby Primrose School of Lassiter).
Richardson moved to uphold the liquor license. Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb was the only vote against, and there was no discussion among the commissioners beforehand.
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 Board of Education will be asked Thursday to spend $2.836 million to replace the roof at Mt. Bethel Elementary School in East Cobb.
That request is coupled with a $1.14 million roof replacement request for Kennesaw Mountain High School that will be presented during a work session Thursday afternoon and is expected to be acted on during a voting session Thursday night.
The work session begins at 3 p.m. and the voting session starts at 7 p.m. in the board room of the Cobb County School District central office, 514 Glover St., Marietta.
The full agendas for the public meetings can be found by clicking here. An executive session follows the work session.
Funding for the Mt. Bethel and Kennesaw Mountain roof projects comes from the Cobb Education SPLOST V sales tax collections. According to an agenda items, both projects are expected to be finished by July 2023.
Also on the school board’s agenda is the request for a $419,518 contract to purchase 11 2023 Chevrolet Tahoe police vehicles from Hardy Chevrolet, Inc. for use by the Cobb County School District’s police department.
The funding for that also comes from SPLOST V, which continues through the end of 2023.
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!
We noted that plans for a two-story Starbucks have been delayed until the November zoning calendar and that the owners of Camps Kitchen & Bar have purchased Moxie Taco from the Moxie Restaurant Group and will be renaming it the Green Coyote Cantina.
In another part of the retail center, a new shop is holding its grand opening this week. It’s the second location of the Rose Jasmine Flower and Decor Studio, and two days of events are taking place Friday and Saturday from 12-4.
It’s located at 255 Village Parkway, Suite 740, next to Fit for Life Personal Training, and offers what it calls “chic, elegant and modern arrangements.” Rose Jasmine claims to be the first “24/7 availability flower shop in Atlanta.”
The grand opening festivities include music, appetizers, champagne, raffle prizes, gift cards to use at the store and a wrapped arrangement master class by founder and owner Anastasia Sudarikova.
Visitors also can go to a DIY floral station to prepare their own signature wrapped arrangements for a discounted price.
Sudarikova opened the first Rose Jasmine store in Owings Mills, Md. in 2017. Rose Jasmine specializes in fresh boxed arrangements for same-day delivery by couriers wearing white gloves. The store also sells floral complements like balloons and rose petals, preserved and dried florals and a variety of boxes and arrangements.
Online orders and curbside pickup service are available.
The store hours are 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and couriers can deliver 24/7.
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!
Commissioner Jerica Richardson said the home rule resolution is an option to address the legislature’s “unprecedented” redistricting against the wishes of the Cobb delegation majority.
In a strict partisan vote, the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved the first of two votes Tuesday to take an unprecedented step at invoking home rule powers over redistricting.
The board’s three-member Democratic majority voted to approve a resolution that would redraw the four commission districts according to a map accepted by the Cobb legislative delegation.
That map, which was not voted on by the Georgia legislature this year, would have kept current District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson in her district, which includes some of East Cobb as well as the Cumberland-Vinings area.
The two Republican commissioners voted against the resolution, saying it’s a violation of the Georgia Constitution for local governments to conduct reapportionment, which is a task of the legislature.
Another vote has been scheduled for Oct. 25 before the resolution would be sent to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, but a lawsuit by the state is expected in response and the matter will likely be resolved in the courts.
“We begin to make history with this vote,” Richardson said.
A map approved by the Republican-dominated legislature redrew Richardson, a Democrat in her first term, out of the East Cobb home off Post Oak Tritt Road that she moved into last year.
She would have to move into the newly redrawn District 2 by Dec. 31 in order to keep her seat. Her term expires at the end of 2024, but she has said since the legislative session that she will “not step down.”
Before Tuesday’s vote, she reiterated previous public remarks that the legislature’s action to draw a sitting commissioner out of office during a term is unprecedented, and needs to be challenged.
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell
She said it’s the opinion of the county’s legal counsel that the Georgia Constitution allows for local governments to claim home rule powers.
That has not occurred with regards to redistricting. “That it has not been used in this manner does not mean it cannot be used in this manner,” Richardson said before the vote.
District 3 Commissioner JoAnn Birrell, a Republican whose new district includes most of East Cobb, said of the resolution that “this action is illegal” and goes against the state constitution.
She said she twice asked Cobb County Attorney William Rowling for a second opinion but noted that “this was not done,” then read from a letter by the state Office of Legislative Counsel questioning the constitutionality of the resolution.
Rowling responded that several times the language in that letter stated “it appears” and took issue with referenced federal redistricting cases.
“Federal cases do not speak to Georgia law,” he said. When Birrell asked him if home rule could apply to local redistricting in Cobb’s case, he said “Yes ma’am. I do think it’s undecided.”
Keli Gambrill of North Cobb, the other GOP commissioner, accused her Democratic colleagues of “playing politics over enforcing policy” in advancing the resolution in executive session.
Judy Boyce
She also said the “local courtesy” tradition of the legislature honoring county delegation maps isn’t law, and Cobb “has no legal authority to enact redistricting.”
Monique Sheffield, a first-term Democrat who represents South Cobb, said Richardson was elected for four years “and she should have the opportunity to do so.”
That was the sentiment of public speakers in support of the resolution. They included Jackie Bettadapur of East Cobb, who is the head of the Cobb Democratic Party. She didn’t identify herself as such, but said that Cobb’s Republican lawmakers who presented their own maps “went rogue” in getting them approved.
“This is voter nullification,” she said, adding that the GOP “is overturning 2020 election results.”
“State overreach into local government matters has got to stop,” Bettadapur said. “Give voice to our votes and honor the 2020 election results” that resulted in the first Democratic majority on the commission since the 1980s.
Pam Reardon of East Cobb, a Cobb Republican activist who also didn’t mention her party ties, countered by saying that the approved maps are the law and that “this lawsuit is going be a colossal waste of taxpayer funds.”
She said Richardson, who narrowly was elected in 2020 by roughly 1,200 votes over Republican Fitz Johnson, knew redistricting would occur and moved “all the way across District 2” into her new home.
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid tried to move the vote up on the agenda to allow public speakers to have their say beforehand.
But she couldn’t get a majority, and after the vote, speakers on either side of the issue had their say.
They included East Cobb resident Judy Boyce, whose late husband, Mike Boyce, was the Republican chairman from 2017-2020.
She said she voted in the May primary with the new lines in effect, including District 3, in which Birrell is seeking a fourth term against Democrat Christine Triebsch.
The resolution doesn’t affect 2022 elections, but it could create chaos if it ultimately prevails, and Boyce urged commissioners not to vote for home rule.
“What happens to my vote?” she said, getting emotional. “What you did today nullifies my vote. I deserve to have my vote honored. How does this work now?
“I don’t think what you’ve done today is legal. It’s politically motivated.”
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 United Methodist Women’s ministry at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church in East Cobb will be holding its Holly Jolly Craft Show in November.
The show will take place on Friday, Nov. 11 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Saturday, Nov. 12 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the church (1770 Johnson Ferry Road).
The show features more than 50 arts and crafts vendors, a silent auction, door prizes, a bake sale and frozen meal sales, as well as a quilt drawing and a gift basket drawing.
There also will be photo opportunities with Santa Clause and baked good made during the show.
Admission is free to the public; all proceeds from the sale benefit the Mt. Zion UMW’s work with charities helping women and children.
Send Us Your News!
Let East Cobb News know what your organization is doing, or share news about what people are doing in the community—accomplishments, recognitions, milestones, etc.
Pass along your details to: editor@eastcobbnews.com, and please observe the following guidelines to ensure we get everything properly and can post it promptly.
Send the body of your announcement, calendar item or news release IN TEXT FORM ONLY in the text field of your e-mail template. Reformatting text from PDF, JPG and doc files takes us longer to prepare your message for publication.
We accept PDFs as an accompaniment to your item. Images are fine too, but we prefer those to be JPG files (more than jpeg and png). PLEASE DO NOT send photos inside a PDF or text or any other kind of file. Of course, send us links that are relevant to your message so we can direct people to your website.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
790 Weybourne Court, 30066 (Chastain Commons, Sprayberry): Charlotte Welch, trustee to Meridian Trust Real Estate Investments; $280,000
2272 Rosemoore Walk 30062 (Rosemoore at Harper Woods, Sprayberry): Steven Clover to Bikal and Andreia Dhakal; $491,500
2737 Vintage Reserve Unit 15, 30066 (Vintage Club, Sprayberry): Bradley Coleman, executor to Salli Jane Parker, Kelci Emily Kimbro and Kassidi Kole Kimbro; $277,610
500 Piedmont Road, 30066 (Sprayberry): Duncan Land Investments to Angelene Bisnott; $395,000
2378 Wilderness Way, 30066 (Wilderness Ridge, Sprayberry): Garrett Tucker to William and Allison Bates; $460,000
3927 Vinyard Trace, 30062 (Arthurs Vinyard, Pope): David Frykman JHB Homes LLC; $410,000
1550 Blackjack Drive, 30062 (Blackjack Hills, Sprayberry): Susan Abballe to Xiang Ying Zuo and Xue Zhang Gao; $450,000
2870 Cobb Street, 30068 (Cobb Estates, Wheeler): Bradley and Mackenzie Deal to Amber and Andrew Alley; $426,000
3554 Clubland Drive, 30068 (Indian Hills, Walton): Beatriz Montalvo to John and Vianna Kovalsky; $685,000
465 Salem Woods Drive, 30068 (Salem Woods, Wheeler): Opendoor Property Trust to Carlos Otero and Anthony Buccellato; $280,000
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 makeshift “photo booth” was set up at the Sewell Mill Baptist Church Saturday for a pumpkin patch and fall produce sale held by Holland Botanical (previous story here).
Visitors could get their pictures taken (many were taking snaps of their kids sitting on the bales of hay) as they shopped for fresh fruits and vegetables.
Some of the proceeds benefitted the church’s Richards Christian Academy, including raffle tickets sold for the large 75-pound pumpkin in the front.
On Sunday Holland Botanical will be taking its produce and pumpkin patch setup to the Sukkahfest at Congregation Etz Chaim (1190 Indian Hills Parkway), from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Send Your Halloween Photos!
If you’ve got shots of the season you’d like to share with the community, pass them along to us at editor@eastcobbnews.com and we’ll post them here.
Sent them as separate files (JPG or PNG formats preferably) and include any descriptive information you’d like.
If you have a Halloween-themed event coming up that’s open to the public, we’ll be glad to post that on our calendar listings. E-mail calendar@eastcobbnews.com.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Damage to a yard in Terrell Mill Estates after September 2021 flooding.
Nearly a year after Cobb commissioners asked the county water department to examine the possibility of imposing a stormwater impact fee, they will hear a preliminary analysis on Tuesday.
A work session has been called for Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. “to present information on stormwater management services and the preliminary analysis of a stormwater fee based on impervious surface,” according to the agenda item.
Since 1994, stormwater management has been handled by the Cobb water system, and is funded by water and sewer revenues. A consultant recommended the county impose a stormwater fee in a 2005 report, but no action was taken.
The county has admitted it lacks staffing and resources to adequately handle demands on the system.
The agenda item for Tuesday’s work session states that “there is a significant backlog of stormwater maintenance projects” including the maintenance of more than 400 detention ponds.
There have been numerous sinkholes resulting from pipe failures
Following floods last fall that damaged the homes and yards of residents in East Cobb and other areas of the county, the subject has taken greater precedence.
Commissioner Jerica Richardson held several virtual meetings. Since a December 2021 meeting the water system has been looking at how other other metro Atlanta jurisdictions manage stormwater utilities and how they charge for them.
A potential impact fee based on impervious surface of a property, instead of water and sewer usage, was raised at the time.
But commissioners were divided along partisan lines, with the board’s two Republicans opposed.
One of them, JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb, said she wasn’t in favor of adding another utility fee with water rates going up in Cobb.
When East Cobb News asked Cobb spokesman Ross Cavitt about what specifically will be recommended by the water department Tuesday, he said that “they are still working on final details before presenting it to the board.”
Since it’s a work session, there won’t be a vote. The meeting will take place in the second floor board room of the Cobb Government Building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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 East Cobb-based Janice Overbeck Real Estate Team once again held an appreciation barbecue lunch to honor local police, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and military veterans.
Wednesday’s lunch included the Capital City Home Loans grilling from a food truck and serving burgers and hotdogs with a variety of sides sponsored by Arrow Exterminators.
Additional sponsors for the event included American Home Shield Warranty, Amerispec Home Inspection, and Chick-Fil-A East Lake.
Send Us Your News!
Let East Cobb News know what your organization is doing, or share news about what people are doing in the community—accomplishments, recognitions, milestones, etc.
Pass along your details to: editor@eastcobbnews.com, and please observe the following guidelines to ensure we get everything properly and can post it promptly.
Send the body of your announcement, calendar item or news release IN TEXT FORM ONLY in the text field of your e-mail template. Reformatting text from PDF, JPG and doc files takes us longer to prepare your message for publication.
We accept PDFs as an accompaniment to your item. Images are fine too, but we prefer those to be JPG files (more than jpeg and png). PLEASE DO NOT send photos inside a PDF or text or any other kind of file. Of course, send us links that are relevant to your message so we can direct people to your website.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb is challenging a legislative-approved map at right and wants to replace it with the one on the left that would allow District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson to keep her seat (in pink).
An unprecedented legal ploy by Cobb County to invoke home rule provisions for reapportioning commission district lines will be considered for a vote Tuesday.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will be asked to pass a resolution to redraw the four commission districts according to a map drawn earlier this year by State Rep. Erick Allen, the Cobb legislative delegation chairman, that would preserve the District 2 seat for commissioner Jerica Richardson.
But Cobb Republican lawmakers ignored Allen’s map and pushed through the GOP-dominated Georgia legislature that took most of East Cobb, where Richardson lives, out of District 2.
Under state law, Richardson, a first-term Democrat who was elected 2020, would have to move out of her home off Johnson Ferry Road and into the new District 2 if she wants to remain in office.
She has claimed it’s the first time in state history a sitting elected official has been drawn out of a district, and that the legislature ignored longstanding courtesy by not accepting the local delegation map.
The resolution is on the commission’s regular agenda (agenda item here), and will be followed by a second consideration and vote on Oct. 25.
The Cobb challenge will have no bearing on the upcoming Nov. 8 general election. Voters in East Cobb will have the District 3 commission race on their ballot (in yellow on the maps above).
That seat is currently held by Republican JoAnn Birrell, who is seeking a fourth term and is being challenged by Democrat Christine Triebsch.
Cobb’s resolution, should it pass, is likely to be challenged in court by the state. Birrell has previously said that she didn’t think it was fair for Richrdson to be drawn out of her seat.
But she is against changing the maps approved by the legislature, saying it’s confusing to voters and “isn’t even legal.”
The full agenda for Tuesday’s meeting can be found by clicking here. It will take place starting at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb Government Building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Cobb Police said a woman from Mableton was.killed early Friday when the car she was driving in the wrong direction at I-285 and I-75 in Cobb County collided with another vehicle.
Officer Joseph Wilson said in a release that Chassity Hogan, 30, was was behind the wheel of a white 2014 Hyundai Elantra around 2:50 a.m. Friday, heading southbound on I-75 in the northbound lanes just below Windy Hill Road.
Police said the Hyundai veered into another northbound line while traveling South when it collided with a blue 2017 Volvo tractor-trailer driven by Jose Henriquez, 38, of Orlando, Fla.
According to police, the impact of the collision forced the Hyundai into a guardrail after the vehicle spun around. Police said Hogan was pronounced dead on the scene by the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office and that her next of kin has been notified; Henriquez was not injured.
The crash remains under investigation and anyone with information is asked to call Cobb Police at 770-499-3987.
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 following food scores for the week of Oct. 3 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing for inspection 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!
A former amateur golfer paralyzed in a traffic accident, tees off not far from the Shepherd Spinal Center on a special golf cart funded through the Georgia State Golf Association. Photo: GSGA
To say that Jim Ingram is a golf enthusiast is putting it mildly.
The East Cobb resident is a longtime avid golfer, and has served as a volunteer and executive board member of the Georgia State Golf Association for 30 years.
The president of Evans and James, an executive search firm serving the plastics and packaging industry, Ingram remains involved in GSGA events and activities, including a relatively new charity fundraiser.
He’s played a lot of golf at a lot of local courses, including Indian Hills Country Club and Brookstone Country Club in Cobb County.
He makes fun of his “lousy golf swing” (see below) but has a 9 handicap, and often is accompanied by his dog Rover.
Ingram also has played plenty of times at the nine-hole Bobby Jones Golf Course in Buckhead, where the formerly East Cobb-based GSGA now has its headquarters.
But on Oct. 21, Ingram will play Bobby Jones like he never has before—as in over and over and over again, set to make the turn many times.
Rover is Jim Ingram’s frequent companion on the golf course.
That’s because he’s taking part in the GSGA’s charity marathon fundraiser to benefit the organization’s adaptive and junior golf programs.
(You can pledge per round or make a one-time donation to Ingram’s marathon by clicking here.)
In last year’s event, he played 81 holes in one day at the Druid Hills Country Club. In a couple of weeks, he’ll likely play just as many, if not more, on the storied public course named for a Georgia golf legend.
“You just golf until you drop,” Ingram said of the marathon, which raised more than $50,000 overall. The GSGA is aiming to surpass that figure this year with around 20-30 participants having signed up.
The proceeds enable youths 16 and under from economically challenged backgrounds to play for $5 a round, and for the GSGA to purchase special equipment and provide instruction for the physically handicapped.
Among them is Chance, a former amateur golfer and a police officer who was paralyzed from the chest down in a 2018 traffic accident.
As he rehabilitated at the Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta, his visitors included some who introduced him to adaptive golf.
He plays golf once again, thanks to a solorider cart provided by the GSGA with funds from last year’s marathon.
It’s a story the GSGA is encouraging its marathon participants to share as they collect pledges. The GSGA has raised nearly $100,000 in subsidies for the youth program (the GSGA makes up the greens fees to the golf courses) and is close to having enough money to purchase another adaptive cart.
“We’re trying to set good examples,” Ingram said of the GSGA’s initiatives to expand golf access.
More than 2,000 people have gotten involved in the adaptive program, and it’s something that “changes people’s lives,” Ingram said.
Like Chance and others at the Shepherd Center, “we’re trying to get them involved.”
Ingram played 81 holes in a single day at the 2021 GSGA marathon fundraiser.
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!
Community members opposed to a liquor store that plans to open in the same location vacated by another bottle shop on Johnson Ferry Road have appealed to the Cobb Board of Commissioners.
WellSpun Investments Inc. applied in March for a liquor, beer, wine and Sunday sales license for Habits Bottle Shop at 2940 Johnson Ferry Road, near the intersection of Freeman Road.
It would replace Jackie’s Fine Wine and Spirits, which relocated nearby to 3140 Johnson Ferry Road, and would be open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
Opponents, who have hired an attorney, Christina Moore of Taylor English Duma LLP, have said the new store is located close to two pre-schools and religious space and isn’t suitable for an area with young people. Some also expressed traffic concerns at that intersection.
The store is less than 600 feet from the Princeton Montessori School and the Primrose School of Lassiter and is less than 400 feet from Sacred Tapestry, a Methodist-affiliated entity that holds worship services at an adjacent strip mall.
The License Review Board typically grants waivers for distance requirements if there’s not opposition.
(Also on Tuesday’s agenda is a consent item to grant a liquor license for a new Canton Road sports bar on Canto Road, whose owner has appealed a denial of a liquor license due to its proximity to a church.The review board is recommending commissioners approve the license for Bar 44, and there has been no known opposition.)
Since Jackie’s moved, the landlord has been advertising the 2940 Johnson Ferry Road space as suitable for a liquor store or retail use.
But letters from community members initially filed in March, and included in Tuesday’s agenda item for the hearing (you can read through them here) say that there are plenty of establishments in the vicinity that sell alcohol in addition to Jackies: Walmart, gas station convenience stores and restaurants.
“There are currently 10 stores selling distilled spirits within a 5 mile radius with many more selling wine and beer,” wrote one citizen. “The proximity to schools and impact on traffic are two very important additional reasons why we object to this application.”
Another resident said “we don’t need one more establishment for the teenagers at Pope and Walton High School to buy from, and inevitably pay a legal adult to buy alcohol for them. I know this due to the fact that I went to Walton High School and my daughters went to Pope High School.”
In response to a questionnaire from the review board, Salim Rajan of WellSpun said he would require employees to card “if a customer appears to be under the age of 40” and that employees will be terminated if they have been found to have made an underage sale.
The Tuesday hearing will take place at the end of the meeting, and will be conducted like a formal court proceeding, with witnesses sworn in, evidence introduced and cross-examination allowed.
The full agenda for Tuesday’s Board of Commissioners meeting can be found by clicking here. It will take place in the second floor board room of the Cobb Government Building, 100 Cherokee St., in downtown Marietta.
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!
Four high schools in East Cobb reported graduation rates of 90 percent or higher in the Class of 2022.
The Georgia Department of Education released district- and school-level figures on Thursday, with Harrison High School leading the Cobb County School District with a 97.2 percent graduation rate.
Lassiter High School in East Cobb was second at 97 percent, followed by Walton at 96.5 percent and Pope at 96.2 percent. Kell graduated 91.3 percent of its seniors this year.
Sprayberry had a graduation rate of 88.2 percent and Wheeler’s is 86.8 percent.
Federal law requires that graduation rates must be calculated by including all students expected to graduate in 2022, including those enrolled for a single day.
The Cobb County School District reported an overall graduation rate of 87.4 percent, second in the metro Atlanta area to Fulton County schools (89.3 percent), according to a district release.
The state average of 84.1 percent is an all-time high.
The Kell graduation rate of 91.3 percent is 2.4 percent better than 2021, and Sprayberry’s rate rose 1.9 percent from last year, according to the Cobb school district.
The district said that its graduation rate would be 92.6 percent if calculated to include students who were enrolled for at least two years, 95.2 percent for three years and 96.5 percent for students in the 16 traditional high schools enrolled all four years.
The Georgia Department of Education has full scores that you can read through 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!
As the calendar turned to October the weather started to feel like fall, and this weekend will be perfect for taking in the festivities of the new season.
The earliest of the many community arts and craft shows leading up to the holidays starts on Friday. It’s the St. Andrew United Methodist Women’s 20th annual “Fall Into Crafts Marketplace,” which takes place in the Keheley Center building at St. Andrew UMC (3455 Canton Road) from 11-6 Friday and 10-4 Sunday.
Several dozen vendors will be displaying their products, along with a variety of other homemade items, and there’s food available for purchase and a silent auction.
The proceeds benefit the mission work of St. Andrew’s women’s ministry. The church also has a pumpkin patch that’s open from 10-8 seven days a week through Oct. 31. Info: Call 770-926-3488.
Holland Botanical, a local produce service, is having not one but two fall farm and pumpkin patch events this weekend (they’ve been featured here previously).
The first is Saturday from 9-3 at Sewell Mill Baptist Church (2550 Sewell Mill Road). In addition to sales of fresh fruits and vegetables, a 75-pound pumpkin will be raffled off, with the proceeds to benefit the church-run Richards Christian Academy.
On Sunday, the Congregation Etz Chaim Sukkahfest takes place from 11-3 at the synagogue (1190 Indian Hills Parkway).
The Good Mews Outdoor Market takes place Saturday from 10-2 at the shelter (3805 Robinson Road), books for all ages, delicious baked goods, plus new and gently used pet merchandise. There’s also a group walk starting at 9 a.m. at Good Mews that proceeds to East Cobb Park and back to the shelter.
Gardeners can prepare for the season with a Fall Planting Workshop Saturday from 11-12 at the Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road). It’s offered by the UGA Cobb Extension, and covers planting, lawn care and ornamentals.
At the end of what’s expected to be a beautiful weather weekend, take some picnic food, blankets/chairs to East Cobb Park for the second of three Music in the Park concerts this fall. The entertainment is provided by the popular local Loose Shoes duo, as they play crowd favorites from across the decades and genres.
You can find our calendar listings in one handy place on our site. If you have events to share with the public, please e-mail: calendar@eastcobbnews.com and we will post them here.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb Department of Transportation will be holding a ribbon-cutting event next Thursday, Oct. 13 for the newly completed Windy Hill-Terrell Mill Connector.
The event takes place at 11 a.m., and you’re asked to do two things—park at1950 Spectrum Circle and take a shuttle to the venue, and wear comfortable shoes.
Construction has been underway for the last three years on the $45.7 million, 0.7-mile project, which was built with 2016 Cobb SPLOST funds as an alternate route from Windy Hill Road to access the I-75 Northwest Corridor Express Lanes.
The four-lane connector stretches from the intersection of Windy Hill Road and Spectrum Circle, and continues north to the intersection of Terrell Mill Road and Bentley Road. The connector also has a raised center median that includes a sidewalk and multi-use trail.
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!
