Cobb Democratic Party blasts ‘unfair punishment of teachers’

September 17, 2025 by Wendy Parker

The chairwoman of the Cobb County Democratic Committee on Wednesday issued a statement blasting the Cobb County School District for placing teachers on leave for the comments they’re accused of making about the death of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk. Cobb Democratic Party blasts 'Unfair Punishment of Teachers'

Essence Johnson said in a statement authorized by the party that the school district “is once again picking and choosing which employees get a pass, and which are harassed until the ends of the earth.”

The district announced Monday that it had placed an unspecified number of employees on administrative leave while it investigates allegations that they posted social media messages “appearing to celebrate the death of Charlie Kirk.”

The district didn’t specify what the messages said, but indicated that the employees won’t be allowed in classroom settings while on leave, and that they could be subject to disciplinary action that could involve possible revocation of their teaching certificates.

Johnson said the Cobb school district’s decision smacks of hypocrisy, and referenced a December 2023 report in the Cobb County Courier alleging that employees in the district’s communications office had ties to a conservative Powder Springs group, American Vision.

In that report, Cobb school district chief accountability officer John Floresta—who oversees the communications staff—was quoted as saying that the district isn’t “interested in the personal or political views of any of our staff.”

“For those unfamiliar, Gary DeMar, the [American Vision] founder, supports the death penalty for people in the LGBTQ community,” Johnson said in her statement Wednesday. “Now, after two years the school system has changed its stance on the personal or political views of its staff according to a statement released on Monday about the suspension of a teacher.”

Johnson, an East Cobb resident and former Georgia legislative candidate, further stated that “make no mistake, we reject political violence, regardless of which ‘side’ it comes from. However, Mr. Kirk’s killing has been used as an excuse by MAGA to persecute anyone who doesn’t adhere to their beliefs.”

“To those hellbent on rewriting history and ratting out their neighbors over perceived slights, we urge you to stop. To Cobb County Schools, we demand you stop using our teachers as political pawns and allow them to do their jobs.”

The Cobb school district has a social media policy for employees that also has provisions for what employees are permitted to post on their personal and social media accounts.

Among the provisions, employees are refrained from posting material that “displays inappropriate personal information, videos, or pictures that impair the employee’s professionalism and reputation” and “harms the reputation of or discredits the District.”

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East Cobb Charlie Kirk vigil relocated to Woodlawn Square

September 18, 2025September 17, 2025 by Wendy Parker

UPDATE: The event has been moved again, to East Cobb Park, at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The organizers of the East Cobb vigil for Charlie Kirk on Thursday said they have relocated the event to the Woodlawn Square Shopping Center on Johnson Ferry Road.

The vigil is set for the same time—7 p.m.—and will take place near the Chick-Fil-A (1201 Johnson Ferry Road).

The organizers were forced to find a new venue after Cobb County officials said Tuesday they could not have it at the East Cobb Government Services Center on Lower Roswell Road, which had been announced as the location.

The facility houses Cobb Police Precinct 4 and Cobb Fire Station 21.

County officials said they weren’t informed there was a group meeting there, and said that such gatherings are not allowed “due to the potential disruption of public safety operations. Anyone who attempts to attend will not be permitted to gather there.”

Candles will be provided and the vigil along the lines of other vigils across the country for Kirk, a conservative activist who was shot to death last week at a college event in Utah.

He was the founder of Turning Point USA, an advocacy group that organized youth around a message of conservative populism.

Kirk was a strong ally of Trump who hosted his own podcast and spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2024.

A public memorial service is scheduled for Sunday at a football stadium near Phoenix, where Kirk lived.

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Cobb Elections director leaving after less than two years

September 16, 2025September 16, 2025 by Wendy Parker

Tate Fall, who was hired less than two years ago to run the the Cobb Board of Elections and Registration, will be leaving her post. New Cobb Elections director hired

Cobb government announced last week that she will be departing near the end of the year, after her leave period expires.

Fall has been on an unspecified leave for the last few months. Michael D’Itri, a deputy director in the elections office, has been named the acting director.

A former deputy elections director in Arlington County, Va., Fall started her tenure to succeed Janine Eveler in Cobb County in December 2023.

Fall was chosen after a search for Eveler’s successor was extended because a lack of qualified candidates.

At the time, then-Elections Board Chairwoman Tori Silas said that “it was difficult to find someone with the level of experience needed along with the zeal for this job. We believe we have found the right person at the right time.”

In Fall’s time in Cobb, the five-member appointed board has been embroiled in a number of disputes, including county commission redistricting.

Last month, the board sparred over electing officers following the appointments of two new members. Fall was absent at that meeting, at which the extension of her leave was announced.

No timetable was mentioned for hiring her successor, which will be chosen by the elections board.

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East Cobb vigil for Charlie Kirk scheduled for Thursday

September 17, 2025September 15, 2025 by Wendy Parker

UPDATED: The vigil has been relocated to the Woodlawn Square Shopping Center.

A vigil for the slain conservative political activist Charlie Kirk has been scheduled for Thursday in East Cobb.

But the vigil that had originally been scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. Thursday at the East Cobb Government Services Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road) is being relocated

A group of East Cobb mothers organized the event, according to a message about the event sent to East Cobb News on Monday. The East Cobb Government Services Center facility includes Cobb Police Precinct 4 and the Cobb Fire Station 21.

But they did so without notifying the county, which told East Cobb News on Tuesday “that this location is not appropriate for large public gatherings, as such activity could interfere with critical police and fire operations.

“Public safety officials have attempted to contact the organizers without success. The public should be aware that this facility cannot accommodate this event due to the potential disruption of public safety operations. Anyone who attempts to attend will not be permitted to gather there.”

Randi Beth Soniker, one of the organizers, told East Cobb News Tuesday that “we were not told no” but said her group was making arrangements for another location to be determined.

A number of vigils have been taking place across the country since Kirk was killed last Wednesday while speaking at a university in Utah.

Among the vigils included a Sunday event at the Kennedy Center in Washington that drew cabinet members of the Trump Administration and 85 members of Congress.

A vigil even was held in the Utah hometown of the 22-year-old suspect, Tyler Robinson.

The East Cobb organizers said that at Thursday’s vigil, it will be “just community coming together to talk about Charlie Kirk and open with a prayer or two. People can speak about how they are feeling and what’s on their mind. We’ll light candles in honor of Charlie Kirk. Just a peaceful event to bring the community together.”

Kirk, 31, was shot once in the neck from long range while speaking at Utah Valley University, and later was pronounced dead at a hospital.

He was the founder of Turning Point USA, an advocacy group that organized youth around a message of conservative populism.

Kirk was a strong ally of Trump who hosted his own podcast and spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2024.

A public memorial service is scheduled for Sunday at a football stadium near Phoenix, where Kirk lived.

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Cobb Elections Board dispute roils along partisan lines

August 19, 2025August 19, 2025 by Wendy Parker

Two East Cobb residents presided over the Cobb Board of Elections meeting on Monday, but their elevation to those posts last month has been called into question.

Two Democrats—Jennifer Mosbacher and Stacy Efrat—were voted as chair and vice-chair of the five-member board in July, as two other members were slated to rotate off the board due to term limits.

But the board’s lone Republican attempted to change the by-laws to allow for elections after new members begin their terms.

That GOP board member, Debbie Fisher of East Cobb, tabled her motion Monday and said she would bring it up again in September.

The terms of the Cobb legislative delegation appointments, Democrats Tori Silas and Steve Bruning, expired at the end of June.

The existing elections board by-laws state that officer elections are to be held every odd-numbered year in July “unless otherwise necessary.”

But the delegation, which has a Democratic majority of one, was late in naming their successors, Reginald Turner and Kendall Watkins, who will begin their tenures in September. (Cobb Republican legislators have objected to those appointments, saying they weren’t properly consulted beforehand.)

The elections board approves policy for the administration of Cobb Elections, which is non-partisan, and certifies elections results, among other duties (more on the board and what it does here).

During a contentious meeting Monday afternoon, Fisher said in reference to the board officer elections that “what happened was unprecedented.”

Fisher was the lone vote against the elections of Mosbacher and Efrat in a 3-1-1 vote. Abstaining was Silas, the outgoing chairwoman.

“There is a problem that exists with just having the language that exists today,” Fisher said in explaining her motion.

A number of public speakers commented in favor of her proposal, and for greater transparency on the elections board, which has a 4-1 Democratic majority. Others said the board had done nothing improper or illegal.

Mosbacher was appointed by Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid, a Democrat, and Efrat is an appointee of the Cobb Democratic Party. Fisher was appointed by the Cobb Republican Party, which on Monday called for an audit of the board officer elections process.

Fisher said near the end of the meeting that “once the voters’ trust is lost, that is not something that is easily restored.”

Some commenters took aim at Mosbacher for previously not standing for the Pledge of Allegiance. She did so on Monday. Cobb resident Hugh Norris, who’s been openly critical of her before, said he noticed she didn’t have her hand over her heart, alleging that she “might have allegiances elsewhere.”

He did commend Silas, an attorney who in her closing remarks noted that the board officer elections “have come at a time of heightened polarization, unlike anything I’ve seen in my 51 years on this earth.

But said she reminded the audience that the administration of Cobb Elections is non-partisan, and that during her tenure she was committed to her “top guiding principle . . . what best serves Cobb County voters.”

You can watch the full meeting below; it’s around an hour and 43 minutes.

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Anti-Trump ‘Rage Against the Regime’ rally set for East Cobb

July 30, 2025 by Wendy Parker

Progressive groups who have been involved in two previous public rallies in East Cobb against the policies of the Trump Administration have scheduled another one for Saturday.

What’s being called a “Rage Against the Regime” protest will take place at the intersection of Roswell and Johnson Ferry roads—the same venue as the previous events—from 12-1:30 p.m. Saturday.

The protest is being organized by Indivisible Cobb, a liberal advocacy group, in conjunction with the 50501 Movement, in a nationwide effort across more than 300 communities.

In a press release, 50501 calls Saturday’s event as “a mass mobilization to channel our collective rage against the Trump administration for its weaponization of ICE against our communities, construction of concentration camps, covering up the Epstein files, attacks on transgender rights, and its dismantling of Medicaid, SNAP, USAID, the Department of Education, NOAA, and the National Weather Service into collective action.”

Indivisible Cobb leader Stacey Parlotto said that “If you are not outraged by Trump’s reign of terror, you are not paying attention to the alarming erosion of democratic norms, attacks on truth, and the marginalization of vulnerable communities. Trump’s actions have normalized extremism, incited violence, and undermined institutions meant to protect civil rights and social justice. Now, how about releasing those Epstein files?”

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Rained-out anti-Trump rally in East Cobb set for Saturday

July 15, 2025July 15, 2025 by Wendy Parker

A rally to protest Trump Administration immigration policies has been rescheduled for Saturday in East Cobb, after being rained out last month.

Indivisible, a liberal advocacy group, is organizing what it’s calling a “Cobb Disappeared in America Rally” from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the intersection of Roswell Road and Johnson Ferry Road.

That’s where the same group held a “No Kings” protest in June that drew several hundred participants as Trump staged a military parade in Washington.

“We’re showing up across the country to say: in America, we don’t let the government disappear people,” Indivisible said in describing Saturday’s rally.

“That’s not who we are. And we’re showing up in East Cobb again, so let’s show out like we did for No Kings!”

Indivisible says the Trump administration is failing to provide due process, and that the president “has said he wants to abduct and deport U.S. citizens. If this he isn’t stopped now, no one is safe.”

An East Cobb couple hailing from Brazil and that we have been reporting on was detained at a Georgia detention facility in April after being questioned at their home. The wife has since been released but her husband has been transferred to a detention facility in Mississippi as their son works to free him.

A recent Sprayberry High School graduate, also from Brazil, was recently taken into custody, but no reasons have been given.

A number of liberal groups have been calling calling for sheriffs to refuse to cooperate with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

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Ga. Congress members respond to ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’

July 5, 2025July 1, 2025 by Wendy Parker

By a razor-thin partisan votes the U.S. Congress this week approved President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Budget Bill,” a sweeping omnibus budget bill for fiscal year 2026.

Ga. Congress members respond to ' One Big Beautiful Bill' — *U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk*

The bill (H.R. 1, you can read through it here) includes making permanent 2017 tax cuts implemented during Trump’s first term, reduces taxes on tips and overtime and increases spending on defense, border security and energy exploration as well as cutting spending on some entitlements, including Medicaid.

Vice President JD Vance broke a tie in the early hours Tuesday, ensuring final passage by a 51-50 vote that was entirely along partisan lines.

The House vote was 219-214, with Republicans also holding a slim majority. Some GOP members have threatened to stop the legislation as the House faces pressure from the Trump White House to adopt the measure before the July 4 holiday.

Other measures in the bill (quick summary here) would reduce taxes on small business and prevent state regulation of artificial intelligence.

Republican U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, whose 11th District in Georgia includes East Cobb, was an enthusiastic supporter of the bill.

“President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill will deliver historic tax relief for hardworking Americans, and a vote against it is a vote for the largest tax hike in American history,” Loudermilk wrote Tuesday afternoon on his Facebook page.

He laid out a series of “myth vs. fact” talking points, insisting that the bill “delivers the largest middle- and working-class tax cut in U.S. history. This legislation will put more than $10,000 a year back in the pockets of typical hardworking families. This is one of the most pro-growth, pro-worker, pro-family pieces of legislation ever crafted.”

Loudermilk also called the bill “the most pro-American worker bill ever” with the cuts on taxes for tips and overtime, a boon to Trump’s populist base, and denied that it will cut Medicare, close rural hospitals and increase the national deficit.

But the Congressional Budget Office has calculated that $3.3 trillion would be added to the national deficit over the next decade. Some estimates are higher than that.

Among the more outspoken critics of the bill is Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who said passage was”a big, ugly betrayal. Republican politicians in Washington just voted to dismantle Obamacare and spike your health insurance bill. They’re taking from you to pay for another tax break for big corporations.”

He complained that his overnight amendment to save “thousands of clean energy jobs in Georgia and across the nation” was blocked by Republicans.

Earlier, Warnock, a former pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, took to the Senate well to ask “Sometimes I find myself wondering: Are Washington Republicans with whom I share the same faith reading from the same Bible?”

Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia said Tuesday afternoon the bill “is a disaster for Georgia,” and that it “guts Medicaid, crushes nursing homes and hospitals” in addition to adding to the debt.

Also opposing the bill is entrepreneur Elon Musk, who supported Trump’s re-election and headed up a federal budget-cutting project before recently leaving.

On the X (formerly Twitter) social platform he owns, Musk said that “every single member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!”

He claimed the debt would climb by $5 trillion, and declared that “we live in one-party country—the PORKY PIG PARTY!”

But the White House summarized the Senate vote in stark partisan terms, noting that no Democrats voted for it.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that the “Senate vote is a major step forward in enacting President Trump’s agenda to revitalize the American economy and provide certainty to households and businesses alike.

“We encourage House Republicans to act quickly so that we can deliver on President Trump’s promises to power the future of our economy and ensure the United States remains the world’s premier destination for capital and innovation.”

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You ask, we answer: Permits for public property gatherings

June 26, 2025June 26, 2025 by Wendy Parker

Since some of you have asked, the kinds of political rallies/protests that we had a couple weeks ago and the one scheduled for Thursday afternoon in East Cobb do not require permits.

Smaller gatherings don’t need to get advance approval from Cobb County, according to a statement we received from government spokesman Ross Cavitt Thursday afternoon.

Here’s what he told us:

“But the Police Department would appreciate notice of such events. They are grateful they have had communications with organizers before recent gatherings.”

As we reported at the June 14 No Kings protest at the Roswell-Johson Ferry intersection, Cobb Police said the event went off without incident. There was an instance in which EMS crews were called for a medical emergency near the Valvoline oil change business on the northwest corner.

Estimates about the turnout varied from several hundred to more than 1,000, with the latter figures coming from people who were there and who told us.

If the latter figure is accurate, it may be a violation of the Cobb County Code, which requires a permit from the Cobb Fire Marshal’s Office for outdoor gatherings with “projected crowds exceeding 1,000 persons” (Sec. 54-54.2, under Operational permits).

We say may because another provision under that section also states that “crowd calculations shall be estimated at one time, not throughout the event.”

The City of Marietta, which has many special events, allows gatherings up to 2,000 people without a permit.

The East Cobb anti-Trump rallies have been organized by Indivisible, a liberal political advocacy organization.

At the June 14 event, we didn’t see any activity that roamed out into the roads, or in access points to shopping centers and other buildings. The protesters held up signs, chanted, and asked motorists to honk their horns in support.

Thursday’s rally, like the first, was specifically to protest Trump’s immigration policies and detentions.

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East Cobb rally set to oppose Trump immigration detentions

June 24, 2025June 24, 2025 by Wendy Parker

Two weeks after hundreds of people turned out at a busy East Cobb intersection to protest the policies of President Donald Trump, another rally has been scheduled for the same place this week.

A group called the Not Above the Law Coalition will stage the rally at Roswell and Johnson Ferry roads for Thursday from 5-6:30 p.m. to protest the Trump administration’s immigration deportations.

The rally is entitled “Disappeared in America” and is one of several scheduled across the country on Thursday, which the group has designated as a “national day of action.”

The rally is organized similarly to the “No Kings” rallies that took place on June 14, including East Cobb.

According to the invitation for Thursday’s rally, “in America, the government doesn’t get to grab people off the streets, skip the courtroom, and send them straight to a foreign prison.

“Disappeared in America is a national day of action to stand up for the rule of law and confront the Trump administration’s illegal abductions, detentions, and deportations of people like Kilmar Abrego Garcia, Rui Marras, and Juan Maldonado Zuniga.”

The group says the Trump administration is failing to provide due process, and that the president “has said he wants to abduct and deport U.S. citizens. If this he isn’t stopped now, no one is safe.”

An East Cobb couple we have been reporting on was detained at a Georgia ICE facility in April after being questioned at their home. The wife has since been released but her husband has been transferred to a detention facility in Mississippi as their son works to free him.

Not Above the Law also is calling for sheriffs to refuse to cooperate with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

Recent polls have Trump’s approval rating still below 50 percent, but he is polling stronger on immigration than many other issues.

Not Above the Law doesn’t appear to have a website, but other sources indicate it was formed in 2017 after the start of Trump’s first term. The coalition’s co-chairs come from Public Citizen and Stand Up America, both left-of-center advocacy groups.

Earlier this year, the coalition organized protests against the electric-car company Tesla, owned by Trump ally Elon Musk.

Other members of Not Above the Law include a variety of other left-of-center organizations, according to Influence Watch.

Influence Watch is part of the Capital Research Center, which is a right-leaning think tank investigating non-profits involved in political advocacy.

East Cobb woman released by ICE; husband still detained

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Ga. Congressional members issue statements on Iran attacks

June 24, 2025June 23, 2025 by Wendy Parker

U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, whose 11th Congressional District includes East Cobb, said Saturday that “America and the rest of the world are much safer” after U.S. military strikes over the weekend against nuclear facilities in Iran.

Loudermilk, a Republican from Cassville, typified the mostly partisan responses that came from members of Congress after President Donald Trump ordered U.S. Air Force B-2 “stealth” bombers to attack enrichment sites in Fordow and Natanz, where the Iranian regime has been enriching uranium for use in developing nuclear weapons.

Tomahawk missiles were fired at a third site in Isfahan, where a uranium conversion facility is located, from U.S. military vessels in the Persian Gulf.

“Putting America first means prioritizing the safety and security of the United States; and Iran has been a serious threat to the U.S. and our ally, Israel, for decades,” said Loudermilk, a long-time Trump ally, in a statement on social media Saturday night.

“President Trump exercised incredible restraint while seeking diplomatic solutions with Iran these past few months; unfortunately, Iran was unwilling to cooperate.”

According to Trump during brief remarks at the White House Saturday night, he said operations completely “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program, but the extent of the damage remains unclear.

Trump responded after a conflict between Israel and Iran broke out, and after threatening to strike if the Iranians didn’t agree to negotiate.

Trump launched the strikes in coordination with the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli Defense Forces, which struck Iranian military targets before the U.S. assault.

More than 100 planes from both nations took part in the attacks, which took place early in the morning Sunday Iranian time.

All seven U.S. B-2 bombers returned safely to their home base at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

Trump has long argued that Iran should not have nuclear weapons, but many Democrats in Congress decried the attacks.

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia was one of them. He said Trump “has now entered another Middle East conflict” and said the president should have first sought Congressional approval.

“This is war,” Warnock said in his statement. “And this is not the first time the American people have not been told that it will end quickly.”

On Sunday. U.S. Jon Ossoff, also a Democrat and member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, issued more measured comments.

He issued a brief statement saying only that “I pray for the safety of U.S. military service members deployed around the world and express my admiration for their courage and professionalism.

“Congress must be promptly and fully briefed on tonight’s operation and consulted on the Administration’s strategy.”

Ossoff, who is Georgia’s first Jewish senator, said on Friday that he was mindful of Iranian missile attacks on civilian targets in Israel and that he had been briefed on the developments.

“The Iranian government’s support for terrorist proxies and enrichment of uranium have destabilized the region. The United States has repeatedly made clear in recent months—and the President stated again this week—that diplomatic solutions remain available.”

The only Republican member of the Georgia delegation critical of the strikes was U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of the 14th District in Northwest Georgia.

She said in a social media statement that “there would not be bombs falling on the people of Israel if Netanyahu had not dropped bombs on the people of Iran first.

“This is not our fight.”

Israel has contended that its attacks in Iran in recent weeks were only against military targets.

Israel and the U.S. were bracing for retaliatory measures promised by the Iranian regime. The Iranian Parliament voted to close the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil exports pass through.

Greene, whose district includes some of North Cobb, amplified her opposition on Monday, as the Persian Gulf nation of Qatar closed its airspace following Iranian strikes at a U.S. military installation there.

At the same time, Israeli forces struck government targets in Iran.

“It feels like a complete bait and switch to please the neocons, warmongers, military industrial complex contracts, and neocon TV personalities that MAGA hates and who were NEVER TRUMPERS!” Greene said of Trump’s decision.

Conservative Fox News commentator Mark Levin, an Israel supporter, called her a “shameless nitwit” in response.

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East Cobb precinct to stay open late in PSC primary election

June 24, 2025June 17, 2025 by Wendy Parker

The Sope Creek 3 voting precinct in East Cobb will be open a little bit longer Tuesday due to a late opening in primary elections for the Georgia Public Service Commission. cobb advance voting, Cobb voter registration deadline, Walton and Dickerson PTSA candidates forum

Cobb Superior Court Judge Kim Childs issued an order to keep the precinct open until 7:14 p.m. The Sope Creek 3 location is at the Lutheran Church of the Resurrection (4814 Paper Mill Road).

After a number of legal challenges that delayed 2022 elections, a special election was called for Tuesday to determine two seats on the PSC, which regulates electric and utility rates for Georgia consumers.

The seats are District 2, which covers eastern Georgia, and District 3, which covers DeKalb, Fulton and Clayton counties.

But all eligible voters across the state can cast ballots at their voting precincts until 7 p.m.

In District 2, Republican incumbent Tim Echols is facing primary challengers, and there is a Democratic primary in District 3.

Later this year, the Democratic winner in District 3 will face GOP incumbent Fitz Johnson of Vinings, a former Cobb Board of Commissioners candidate.

Turnout was light in early voting, with only 18,000 votes cast, according to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office.

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Editor’s Note: An uneventful ‘No Kings’ rally in East Cobb

June 24, 2025June 14, 2025 by Wendy Parker

From the moment I got an e-mail earlier this week about a rally in East Cobb against President Trump, I dreaded Saturday.

The “No Kings” events across the country coincided with a military parade in Washington Saturday night to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, Trump’s birthday and Flag Day.

Those plans were in the works before violent protests broke out in Los Angeles over immigration raids conducted by the Trump administration.

And before California U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla interrupted a press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to protest the raids, and was pushed to the floor and handcuffed by Secret Service for refusing to leave.

Along the way, East Cobb News readers were complaining that our report simply informing the community about the event was “promoting” it, and somehow proved our bias.

Given the location, I was simply trying to give a traffic heads-up to motorists in an always-congested area. It’s also a news story, which should have been fairly obvious even to low-information readers.

All week this ignorant nonsense persisted. I got this cordial, erudite e-mail from a reader on Friday:

“U have proven to be a left leaning news source. Tomorrow I will be at 120 and Johnson ferry to counter the BS rally you left, want to protest ICE arresting rapists, pedofiles and illegals that are in our country illegally overwhelming our schools, hospitals and killing* our citizens, and I will have an American flag, a TRUMP FLAG and will be armed.”

When I woke up this morning, I heard the news about a Minnesota state legislator and her husband being shot to death at their home in what’s suspected as a political assassination.

Another lawmaker and his wife were also shot, and are recovering. The suspect is believed to have compiled a long list of elected officials and might have been making plans to go to “No Kings” events in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

As I write this, there is a manhunt underway for him.

The gunman’s motives aren’t clear, but the murdered legislator, a former Speaker of Minnesota House, recently voted for a bill to end free health care for illegal immigrants.

As I prepared to go to the rally here, I saw a social media post by U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, who’s now our Congressman, noting that Saturday also was the eighth anniversary of the shooting of the House Majority Leader at a Congressional softball practice.

U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise was seriously injured and had a long recovery, but his Secret Service detail shot and killed the assailant, or more casualties would have been likely. Loudermilk, who was on the scene, was not hurt.

Reading this, however, I was more than unnerved, and weary of complaints about our coverage about an event that hadn’t happened.

A couple readers yakked at me that they had gone to the Roswell-Johnson Ferry intersection Saturday morning and didn’t see any protesters.

The same cordial, erudite reader sent this to me around 1:20 p.m.:

“There is nothing, why would you do that unless you are a left leaning, democrat run site”

If he had bothered to read the story, it said the rally was on Saturday afternoon from 2-3:30 p.m. Click the links, folks, that’s why we provide them.

I fired off this post on our Facebook page before I went over there about the need to take it easy.

This is not something I do, but we’re living in overheated times fraught with ridiculous political grandstanding and performative theater designed to curry attention (and campaign donations) but not much more.

But there was a good crowd of several hundred or so people, perhaps more than I anticipated, staving off some raindrops.

Thankfully, they were doing nothing more than holding signs and asking motorists to honk their horns. Many vehicles blasted away, with some waving at the protestors.

It was all rather uneventful, and that was a blessed relief.

Whatever you think about their political positions, and however contrived you think the “No Kings” rallies may be, they symbolized what peaceful protest should be about.

(At some point those who dislike the president are going to have to do more than protest; they don’t seem to have an alternative vision to Make America Great Again. And quite a few not only don’t know the meaning of fascism, they don’t care.)

With nearly 2,000 protests planned around the country, it’s possible some of Saturday’s “No Kings” rallies may have gotten out of hand. But in East Cobb, that wasn’t the case.

I talked to Cobb Police Maj. Brian Batterton, the Precinct 4 commander, who was standing near the Five Guys with several of his officers and patrol cars, and he said there hadn’t been any reported incidents.

He said a couple people stepped out into the roads, and there was a medical emergency that prompted an ambulance, but there wasn’t any sign of counterprotests (if you know otherwise, please let me know).

At one point, an organizer kindly asked me to step out of a shopping center exit, in keeping with orderly protocols set up for the event.

Free speech is the bedrock principle of what it means to be an American, and the right to dissent should be sacrosanct. In recent years, it has been coming under fire from all sides of the political divide.

That’s nothing new, as the late, great civil libertarian Nat Hentoff noted in his 1992 book “Free Speech For Me—But Not For Thee.”

Now he truly was cordial and erudite during a long and distinguished career, and is one of my journalistic heroes. He died shortly before Trump’s first inauguration, and I wonder what he would make of the times we’re in now.

He’s who I thought of when I wrote my Facebook post, and as I’m finishing this now.

But he’s almost forgotten today, in a troubling era of unhinged social media rants, cringeworthy behavior by elected officials and escalating political violence that is proving to be deadly.

Hentoff’s gentle voice and deep passion for the best values of America are in such short supply. I’m grateful we had a protest that embodied some of those qualities, and I hope they’ll be making a comeback very soon everywhere in this country.

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‘No Kings’ anti-Trump rally set for East Cobb on Saturday

June 24, 2025June 11, 2025 by Wendy Parker

East Cobb Black Lives Matter rally — *A pro-Black Lives Matter rally in front of Trader Joe’s on Johnson Ferry Road in June, 2020. ECN file photo.*

Update:

Here’s our coverage of Saturday’s rally.

Original Report:

The sidewalk facing Johnson Ferry Road in front of Trader Joe’s has become something of a rallying point in East Cobb for political activists in recent years.

It’s been five years ago this month that several dozen people stood there as part of protests following the death of George Floyd.

And on Saturday, the Johnson Ferry-Roswell Road intersection is one of the designated locations for a nationwide protest against the policies of the Trump Administration.

What’s being called a “No Kings” rally takes place from 2-3:30 p.m., and is organized by Indivisible, a liberal political advocacy organization.

The rallies across the nation (map here) are timed against a large military parade in Washington at the behest of Trump, whose birthday is Saturday, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.

From the Indivisible event invitation for the East Cobb rally:

“NO KINGS is a national day of action and mass mobilization in response to increasing authoritarian excesses and corruption from Trump and his billionaire tech bros. We’ve watched as they’ve cracked down on free speech, detained people for their political views, threatened to deport American citizens, disappeared people, and defied the courts. They’ve done this all while continuing to serve and enrich their billionaire allies.”

In the protests, according to the message, “we’re not gathering to feed his ego. We’re building a movement that leaves him behind.

“The flag doesn’t belong to Donald Trump. It belongs to us. We’re not watching history happen. We’re making it.

“On June 14th, we’re showing up everywhere he isn’t—to say no thrones, no crowns, no kings. Bring your signs and your flags and stand with us in nonviolent resistance to show the country what true patriotism really looks like.”

On Saturday morning, Indivisible also is holding a rally from 10-12 at the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta.

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Allen takes office as Cobb commission elections certified

May 6, 2025May 6, 2025 by Wendy Parker

Shortly after the April 29 special elections for the Cobb Board of Commissioners were certified on Tuesday, the newest member was sworn into office.

Erick Allen took the oath as the new commissioner in District 2, which formerly included some of East Cobb and now comprises much of Smyrna/Cumberland/Vinings and along the Interstate 75 corridor.

A former legislator and Cobb delegation chairman and former head of the Cobb County Democratic Central Committee, Allen succeeds Jerica Richardson, whose office was vacated in January, shortly after her term was expired.

Since then, the five-member board has operated with four members.

Special elections in District 2 and District 4 for the Cobb commission were ordered by a Cobb judge after May 2024 primaries were invalidated due to electoral maps that were ruled to be in violation of the Georgia Constitution.

Those maps were drawn by Allen, then the chairman of the Cobb legislative delegation, but never received a vote.

First-term Democrat Monique Sheffield easily won re-election to District 4 in South Cobb as Democrats regained a 3-2 majority.

Allen will have a ceremonial swearing-in celebration on Monday, May 12 at the Jennie T. Anderson Theatre at the Cobb Civic Center at 6:39 p.m. The event is free and is open to the public.

His first meeting as a commissioner takes place the next day, Tuesday, May 13.

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Reports: Kemp won’t challenge Ossoff in U.S. Senate race

May 5, 2025 by Wendy Parker

Reports: Kemp won't challenge Ossoff in U.S. Senate race

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Monday he will not be making a U.S. Senate run next year.

Multiple news outlets reported that he has decided against challenging Jon Ossoff when Kemp’s second term ends in 2026.

Kemp, 61, who is term-limited, had been considered the top potential challenger to Ossoff, a first-term Democrat who ousted then-incumbent David Perdue in a 2021 runoff election.

Kemp’s decision likely will open the floodgates for Republican candidates and could have a major domino effect in 2026 mid-term elections, which include state as well as Congressional races.

A recent poll had Ossoff and Kemp in a dead heat, but the AJC reported that Kemp told the newspaper “that being on the ballot next year is not the right decision for me and my family.”

He didn’t elaborate on the reasons, but the report said Kemp pledged to President Donald Trump and Republican leaders in the Senate that he will help GOP efforts to flip the seat from Democrats, who lost party control after the 2024 elections.

Republicans have a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and Georgia was seen a possible pick-up state, given Trump’s win in 2024. Ossoff has been considered among the more vulnerable Democrats in the mid-terms.

According to Axios, Republican Majority Leader John Thune and Sen. Tim Scott personally lobbied Kemp to run.

Among those considered possible Republican candidates now are members of Georgia’s delegation to the U.S. House, including Rich McCormick and Marjorie Taylor Greene, who trailed Ossoff by double-digits in the above-linked poll.

The AJC said its poll showed that Kemp had a 60 percent approval rating in the middle of his second term as governor.

But Kemp has had differences with Trump, which has caused divisions in Georgia Republican ranks. When he ran for re-election in 2022, Kemp formed his own fundraising committee, and has declined to appear at Georgia Republican Party gatherings.

He drew Trump’s ire after the 2020 elections for not working to overturn presidential results in Georgia, which gave former President Joe Biden a 12,000-vote victory.

At the time, Georgia had two Republican senators who were locked in runoffs with first-time Democratic candidates. But both Perdue and Kelly Loeffler lost, to Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively, in January 2021, after Trump cast doubt on the integrity of Georgia’s elections system.

Kemp and Trump have buried the hatchet to some degree, and both former senators are now part of the Trump administration.

Loeffler is the head of the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Perdue, who was trounced by Kemp in the 2022 GOP gubernatorial primary after being recruited by Trump, was recently confirmed by the Senate as the U.S. Ambassador to China.

Both Ossoff and Warnock voted against Perdue’s nomination.

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Democrats regain Cobb commission control in special election

April 30, 2025April 30, 2025 by Wendy Parker

Erick Allen won a special election Tuesday to fill a vacant seat in District 2 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners, ensuring that Democrats once again will control the majority.

Democrats regain Cobb commission control in special elections — *Erick Allen*

He and incumbent District 4 Commissioner Monique Sheffield cruised to victory over Republican opponents, restoring a 3-2 majority that had been in limbo since January.

Allen, a former state representative from Smyrna and ex-head of the Cobb Democratic Central Committee, defeated Republican Alicia Adams with 58 percent of the vote.

Turnout was very light, both in early voting and in Tuesday’s balloting.

Allen received 5,403 votes to 3,820 for Adams (sumary here) in a race that included several precincts in the East Cobb area (precinct breakdown here).

Sheffield, who has served one term, defeated Republican Matthew Hardwick with 64 percent of the vote in a heavily Democratic district in South Cobb.

Democrats held the board majority from 2021 until January, when the District 2 seat formerly held by Democrat Jerica Richardson was declared vacant.

That followed more than 30 years of Republican majorities on the board, including in District 2, where Bob Ott retired in 2020 after three terms, and was succeeded by Richardson.

Democrats also hold a one-seat edge in the 22-member Cobb legislative delegation. Republicans maintained a 4-3 majority on the Cobb Board of Education in November after holding all three GOP seats on the ballot.

Those maps were drawn by Allen, then the chairman of the Cobb legislative delegation, but never received a vote.

Adams challenged the Democratic commissioners’ used of those electoral maps that led to her disqualification bu the Cobb Board of Elections for seeking the District 2 seat in 2024.

After the court rulings, Cobb commissioners voted to vacate the District 2 seat that had been held by Richardson, who was drawn out of her East Cobb home in redistricting.

Richardson and her two Democratic commissioner colleagues honored the Allen maps for more than two years in making a “home rule” challenge. But two Cobb judges ruled those maps were illegal because only the legislature can conduct county reapportionment.

In January, Richardson lost her final appeal to stay in office—although her term expired on Dec. 31—and the commission has been operating with four members since then. Sheffield has continued serving on the board, which had been deadlocked at 2-2 between Democrats and Republicans.

The elections of Allen and Sheffield must be certified the Cobb Board of Electi0ns, which is scheduled to meet May 5.

Allen finished third in the 2024 Democratic primary, won by former Cobb Board of Education member Jaha Howard, that was later invalidated.

In the February special election primary, Allen defeated Howard in the Democratic runoff.

Allen will be the only male to serve on the board, which has been all-female since January 2021. And like the previous Democratic majority that included Richardson, the new majority will be all-black.

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Cobb commission special elections to be decided Tuesday

April 26, 2025April 26, 2025 by Wendy Parker

Voters in a few East Cobb precincts will be going to the polls Tuesday in a special general election for District 2 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

The candidates are Democrat Erick Allen and Republican Alicia Adams, and party control of the board is at stake.

Currently there are two Democrats and two Republicans on the commission, which also has been all-female since 2021.

Early voting in special elections in District 2 and District 4 ended Friday and turnout has been light, according to Cobb Elections, with fewer than 6,000 total votes cast in both races.

The polls will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and the District 2 precincts in the East Cobb area that are in District 2 are as follows:

Chattahoochee 01: The Paces Foundation, 2730 Cumberland Boulevard
East Piedmont 01: Shady Grove Baptist Church, 1654 Bells Ferry Road
Elizabeth 01: Cobb EMC, 1000 EMC Parkway
Elizabeth 02: Covenant Presbyterian Church, 2881 Canton Road
Elizabeth 4: Gracelife Church, 1083 Allgood Road
Marietta 6A: Kenyan American Community Church, 771 Elberta Drive
Marietta 6B: Mt. Paran Church of God North, 1700 Allgood Road
Powers Ferry 01: Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center, 2051 Lower Roswell Road
Sewell Mill 03: Immanuel Korean United Methodist Church, 945 Old Canton Road
Terrell Mill 01: Former Eastvalley Elementary School, 2570 Lower Roswell Road

(Please note: Not all voters in these precincts are in District 2. To check your status, visit the My Voter Page at the Georgia Secretary of State’s website.)

*District 2 contains only small portions of the East Cobb area.*

District 2 formerly included much of East Cobb when it was represented by Democrat Jerica Richardson from 2021 through earlier this year.

Special elections in District 2 and District 4 were ordered by a Cobb judge after May 2024 primaries were invalidated due to electoral maps that were ruled to be in violation of the Georgia Constitution.

Those maps were drawn by Allen, of Smyrna, then the chairman of the Cobb legislative delegation, but never received a vote. Since leaving office, Allen has been the head of the Cobb Democratic Party.

Adams is a Republican activist who challenged the Democratic commissioners’ used of those electoral maps that led to her disqualification for seeking the District 2 seat in 2024.

After the court rulings, Cobb commissioners voted to vacate the District 2 seat that had been held by Richardson, who was drawn out of her East Cobb home in redistricting.

In January, Richardson lost her final appeal to stay in office—although her term expired on Dec. 31—and the commission has been operating with four members since then.

Also on Tuesday, in District 4, which covers most of South Cobb, first-term Democrat Monique Sheffield will face Republican Matthew Hardwick.

Cobb Elections estimates the special elections will cost around $1.5 million.

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Cobb Senior Citizens Council to hold 2025 legislative forum

April 1, 2025April 1, 2025 by Wendy Parker

Submitted information: Cobb Senior Citizens Council to hold 2025 legislative forum

The 2025 Cobb County Legislative Delegation Forum is jointly sponsored by the Senior Citizens Council of Cobb County and Cobb County Senior Services, and is being held on Tuesday, April 22 from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm at the Senior Wellness Center, 1150 Powder Springs Street, Marietta, GA 30064.

This event is a rare opportunity for the Cobb senior community to hear important information and engage directly with their state legislators. Every Georgia house representative and senator serving a Cobb County district has been invited to participate. All persons who attend will leave the forum knowing more about which critical issues affecting seniors were addressed in the most recent legislative session at the Gold Dome.

Registration and information: https://www.seniorsofcobb.org/meetings-events/2025-cobb-county-legislative-delegation-forum.

The event is free but space is limited and persons need to register ahead of time to secure a spot.

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Cobb Republican Party chooses new chairwoman, officers

April 1, 2025April 1, 2025 by Wendy Parker

The Cobb County Republican Party has new leadership.

Mary Clarice Hathaway, an insurance business owner and political activist in the Kennesaw area, was elected at the party’s election in late March.

She succeeds chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs, who was term-limited, after defeating challengers Sophia Farooq and Dr. Fun Fong.

Hathaway’s immediate priority is campaigning for Alicia Adams, the Republican nominee in the April 29 special election for District 2 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners.

Her larger task is revitalizing Republican politics countywide. After the 2024 elections, Democrats hold all countywide seats in Cobb County, from Commission Chairwoman down to State Court Clerk.

The GOP had dominated county government since the 1980s, but in 2020 the commission went from 4-1 Republican to 3-2 Democrat. Democrats also control the Cobb legislative delegation by one seat, while the GOP holds a 4-3 majority on the Cobb Board of Education.

Hathaway, who has six children and also is a grandmother of six, vowed to bring new energy across the county for Republican candidates.

“There are people whom I think if we had the right outreach and the right message, we could reach a lot of people who have previously been unreached,” she said at March candidate forum.

While Hathaway is new to Cobb GOP politics, said that “having a fresh perspective, a fresh set of eyes to solve problems is an asset.

“My goal is not to come in and take over anything. My goal is to steer and guide an organization . . . to get Cobb County trending red again.”

While East Cobb and North Cobb remain Republican strongholds, Hathaway said she wants to cultivate grassroots support even in South Cobb, which is dominated by Democrats.

“I’m not afraid to go anywhere,” she said. “Give me a shot.”

She was elected with a slate of officers that include her oldest son.

Jeff Hathaway Jr., an East Cobb resident, was voted first vice chair of the Cobb GOP. He and his wife have three children who attend Mt. Bethel Elementary School.

Another East Cobb resident, Arielle Kurtz, was voted Cobb GOP secretary, and was involved in John Cristadoro’s recent election to the Cobb school board.

The treasurer is Scott Brandenberg and the assistant treasurer is Skyler Atkins of Smyrna, a national board member of Log Cabin Republicans, which represents gay and lesbian Republicans.

The Cobb GOP will have its first monthly breakfast with the new leadership Saturday at 8:30 a.m. at the Taco Mac on 2650 Dallas Highway.

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