The following East Cobb food scores for the week of May 23 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!
Cindy Cooperman and Craig Chapin of the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood at an April debate.
Hours after a stinging referendum defeat Tuesday, the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood took down its chief online vehicles for communicating with the public.
The cityhood’s Facebook page no longer exists, and its website includes only a link to Tuesday’s results and an MDJ story about Cobb commissioners favoring a 30-year transportation tax.
The referendum was defeated in landslide fashion Tuesday, with 73 percent of voters rejecting the creation of a City of East Cobb.
UPDATE: The website homepage has been restored, but information tabs that included Cityhood analysis of proposed services and biographies of group leaders is gone.
“Thank you for your support, we continued to be committed to East Cobb and protecting our neighborhoods,” said the homepage message, which links to the cityhood legislation and feasibility study as well as the proposed city map.
All three Cobb referendums on the ballot failed, with voters in Lost Mountain spurning cityhood with 58 percent of the vote and Vinings voters turning it down with 55 percent of the vote.
A cityhood referendum in November will take place in Mableton.
In commenting on the referendum results, East Cobb Cityhood group spokeswoman Cindy Cooperman told East Cobb News on Wednesday that the group “has worked hard for the citizens’ right to vote for a city and as advocates for the proposed city. Although the county and opposition didn’t want citizens to vote, the community had their voices heard.
“Make no mistake; the facts have not changed. East Cobb will be under increasing growth and tax pressure from Cobb County to urbanize our community. Our polling told a different story from the results last night. Cobb’s policy direction explains why the county worked so hard to stop the cityhood effort(s).”
Cobb government officials held several town hall meetings over the last two months about the cityhood referendums and the county launched a cityhood web portal with what it said was objective information in response to requests from the public.
The Cityhood group heatedly objected, and tried to keep the focus on development and density issues.
Ppponents and Cobb leaders tried to cast doubt on a city’s ability to provide proposed police, fire and emergency 911 services.
Last week, as the campaign reached its final days, some Cobb public safety department heads took part in a Zoom call conducted by the East Cobb Alliance, the main opposition group to cityhood.
Those opposed to cityhood took note of the Cityhood group’s web disappearance.
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Three Republican elected officials serving East Cobb at the county and state level had primary challenges on Tuesday, but all three won handily.
District 3 Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell cruised into the November general election by defeating first-time candidate Judy Sarden with 77 percent of the vote.
With all 52 precincts reporting, Birrell received 25,329 votes to 7,538 votes for Sarden, who during the campaign had been critical of Birrell’s votes on key zoning issues.
Birrell, who is seeking her fourth term, won all but the Chalker precinct. You can search the results by clicking here; they are unofficial until certified by the Cobb Board of Registration and Elections.
The new District 3, redistricted by the Georgia legislature, will include most of East Cobb.
In November, Birrell will face Democrat Christine Triebsch, a former candidate for the Georgia Senate.
State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick
Triebsch twice faced but lost to Republican Kay Kirkpatrick, who trounced Andy Soha in Senate District 32, which includes northeast Cobb and parts of Cherokee County.
Kirkpatrick, who is seeking her third full term, got 22,473 votes, or 85 percent, to 3,923 votes for Soha, a conservative political activist in Cherokee and Donald Trump campaign volunteer.
In November, Kirkpatrick will face Democrat Sylvia Bennett.
Another legislative leader from East Cobb targeted in the GOP primary is headed to the general election with a big victory.
State Rep. Sharon Cooper, the chairwoman of the House Health and Human Services Committee, trounced Cobb GOP activist Carminthia Moore in District 45.
Cooper received 10,713 votes, or 78 percent, to 2,954 votes for Moore (view results).
Cooper has represented District 43 since 1997, but during reapportionment she and former State Rep. Matt Dollar were redrawn into District 45.
State Rep. Sharon Cooper
Dollar announced last fall he would not seek re-election; both were the leading sponsors of the now-defeated East Cobb Cityhood referendum.
But Cooper said little about her support during the legislative session and did not speak to the bill on the House floor.
Her Democratic opponent in November, Dustin McCormick, made his opposition to East Cobb Cityhood a central issue in his special election campaign for District 45 this spring.
McCormick was defeated in a runoff on May 3 by Mitchell Kaye, who is filling out the rest of Dollar’s term this year.
In the new District 43, restaurant owner Solomon Adesanya defeated attorney Benjamin Stahl to win the Democratic primary.
Adesanya got 1,712 votes, or 56 percent, to 1,318 votes for Stahl to advance to the November general election against Republican Anna Tillman.
Primary winners in another open East Cobb legislative seat were determined handily on Tuesday.
In State Senate District 6, Fred Glass routed Angelic Moore with more than 67 percent in the Republican primary.
Gov. Brian Kemp
He will be challenged by Democrat Jason Esteves, the former chairman of the Atlanta Board of Education. Esteves got more than 55 percent of the vote against Luisa Wakeman, who twice came close to unseating Cooper in the last two elections.
Republican incumbents at the statewide level also had easy times in their primaries, including two of the most heavily watched races.
Gov. Brian Kemp cruised over former Sen. David Perdue, getting 73 percent of the vote. Perdue, who got less than 22 percent, conceded before 9 p.m.
In November, Kemp faces a rematch of the bitter 2018 gubernatorial campaign against Democrat Stacey Abrams.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who was targeted by former President Donald Trump after the 2020 elections, staved off a challenge from pro-Trump Congressman Jody Hice and won the primary without a runoff.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger
Raffensperger received 53 percent of the GOP vote and will face either State Rep. Bee Nguyen or Dee Dawkins-Haigler, who will be in a Democratic runoff next month.
Former UGA football star Herschel Walker was the easy winner of the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, setting up a November general election against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock.
There will be a runoff in one of the primary races in the East Cobb area.
In the U.S. House District 6 GOP primary, Rich McCormick and Jake Evans will square off on June 21 to determine that party’s standard-bearer in November.
McCormick got 43 percent of the vote and Evans collected 23 percent in a field with nine candidates.
In the general election, the runoff winner will face Bob Christian, who won the Democratic primary Tuesday over Wayne White with 55 percent of the vote.
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From L-R valedictorians Kunling Tong (Walton), Mark Wellman (Lassiter) and Keegan Ryan (Sprayberry)
The Cobb County School District on Tuesday announced the Class of 2022 valedictorians and salutatorians, and students from East Cobb schools had some of the highest grade-point averages in the county.
Overall, the valedictorians in the Cobb school district combined for an average GPA of about 4.7, with salutatorians just short of that threshold.
Six seniors in Cobb schools had grade-point averages above 4.8. Two of them are from Walton, valedictorian Kunling Tong (her 4.883 is tops in the county) and salutatorian Daniel Liu (4.867).
Wheeler valedictorian Maxwell Jiang has a GPA of 4.803, and the other three are from Campbell High School.
What follows are the vals and sals from the six East Cobb high schools, their grade-point averages, college choices and intended majors.
Seven of the vals and sals from East Cobb are headed to Georgia Tech, with two bound for Princeton and one each headed to UGA, Duke and Cal Tech.
Sprayberry valedictorian Keegan Ryan will be enrolling in Columbia University in a dual bachelor’s degree program with Trinity College of Dublin, Ireland. She will be studying classics, ancient history and archeology.
Kell High School
Valedictorian —Emmanuela Omole, 4.734, Princeton University, economics and international affairs.
Salutatorian—Cooper Gates, 4.656, Georgia Tech, neuroscience
Lassiter High School
Valedictorian—Mark Wellman, 4.76, Georgia Tech, computer science
Salutatorian—Anna Patel, 4.754, Georgia Tech, neuroscience
Pope High School
Valedictorian—Harshita Khazanchi, 4.778, Georgia Tech, computer science
Salutatorian—Keira Cullinan, 4.768, University of Georgia, bioengineering and business
Sprayberry High School
Valedictorian—Keegan Ryan, 4.75, Columbia University and Trinity College Dublin, classics and ancient history and archeology
Salutatorian—Jeremy Thomas, 4.708, Georgia Tech, biomedical engineering
Walton High School
Valedictorian—Kunling Tong, 4.883, Duke University, pre-med
Salutatorian—Daniel Liu, 4.867, Princeton University, economics
Wheeler High School
Valedictorian—Maxwell Jiang, 4.803, Georgia Tech, undecided
Salutatorian—Sujit Iyer, 4.791, Cal Tech, undecided
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 pro-Cityhood electric sign parked at the former Tokyo Valentino adult store at left; an anti-Cityhood sign in Indian Hills.
UPDATED 2 A.M. WEDNESDAY
With all 17 precinctsreporting, the East Cobb Cityhood referendum has been defeated by a 73.4-26.6 percent margin.
The unofficial totals are 16,289 voting NO and 5,900 voting YES.
More details and reaction Wednesday.
UPDATED, 12 A.M. WEDNESDAY
The East Cobb Cityhood referendum is going down in a crushing defeat.
With 70 percent of precincts reporting, NO votes are 13,706, or 72 percent, to 5,218 YES votes, or 27 percent.
That’s been the most lopsided of the three Cobb cityhood referendums on Tuesday’s ballots.
Cityhood votes are trailing with 58 percent of the vote in Lost Mountain having voted NO, (59 percent of precincts reporting); and with 55 percent voting NO in Vinings, (60 percent of precincts reporting).
In the results thus far, all but one of the 17 precincts have voted overwhelmingly against Cityhood, with only Sope Creek 3 (with 52 percent of the vote) favoring incorporation.
Early voting totals were 5,841 votes NO, and 1,844 votes YES.
UPDATED, 11:30 P.M.
With 54 percent of the precincts reporting, NO votes are 8,659, and YES votes are 3,467 in the East Cobb Cityhood referendum. That’s 71.4 percent to 28.6 percent.
The Lost Mountain Cityhood referendum votes have NO leading YES 56-44 percent with 45 percent of precincts reporting, and the Vinings vote is trailing 55-44 with 20 percent of precincts reporting.
UPDATED, 10:30 P.M.
With 23 percent of precincts reporting, NO votes are 3,119, and YES votes are 1,016 in the East Cobb Cityhood referendum.
That’s 75-25 percent.
Only one of 17 precincts is close. In Sope Creek 3, NO votes are at 52 percent; in many others, the NO votes are at 80+ and even 90+ percent.
The results coming in from Cobb Elections in a number of races are painfully slow tonight, and we may not get final decisions until the morning.
UPDATED, 8:55 P.M.
In the East Cobb Cityhood referendum, NO votes are 497, YES votes are 128, roughly 79.5 percent to 20.5 percent, still early voting totals only.
UPDATED, 8:20 P.M.
The first results are trickling in, and “no” votes for the East Cobb Cityhood referendum lead “yes” votes 87-13 percent.
Those are just a few dozen early votes: 99 no, and 15 yes, with more to come before today’s in-person tallies come in.
Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell leads Judy Sarden 75-25 percent in the Republican primary for District 3, also with only a few hundred early votes cast.
Birrell has 481 votes to 156 for Sarden.
In the Lost Mountain cityhood referendum, “no” votes have 851 votes, or 64 percent, to 472 yes votes, or 36 percent.
No results have been reported yet from the Vinings cityhood referendum.
State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick and State Rep. Sharon Cooper, both Republican incumbents, were easily leading in their primaries.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has been declared the the winner of the Republican primary as he seeks re-election. Former Sen. David Perdue conceded after early results showed Kemp with 73 percent of the vote.
In November, Kemp faces a rematch of the bitter 2018 gubernatorial campaign against Democrat Stacey Abrams.
Former UGA football star Herschel Walker was projected the winner of the Republican primary for U.S. Senate, setting up a November general election against Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock.
ORIGINAL POST, 7 P.M.
The polls have closed in Georgia, and the counting has begun for the 2022 primary elections and the East Cobb Cityhood referendum.
Voters who were in line by 7 p.m. Tuesday will be able to vote.
East Cobb News will continuously update this post all evening with results.
Three-term Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell is facing a challenge from first-time candidate Judy Sarden in the Republican primary in District 3, which includes most of East Cobb.
East Cobb legislative incumbents Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick (District 32) and Rep. Sharon Cooper (District 4) have GOP primary challengers in substantially redrawn seats.
There’s a nine-candidate field in the GOP primary for U.S. House District 6, and new representatives will be chosen in State Senate 6 and State House 43.
Two contested non-partisan primaries are taking place for seats on Cobb Superior Court, including one held by incumbent Chief Judge Robert Leonard. The other race includes candidates vying to succeed retiring Judge Robert Flournoy.
In statewide races, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock were facing primary challenges. In the former contest, former U.S. Sen. David Perdue was trailing Kemp among Republican voters. The primary winner will face Democrat Stacey Abrams in November.
In the latter race, the Republican field is led by former UGA football star Herschel Walker. Warnock, elected in 2020 to fill the term of Johnny Isakson, has nominal opposition:
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A Woodstock man was killed Saturday when his motorcycle crashed with another vehicle at an intersection in Northeast Cobb.
Cobb Police Sgt. Wayne Delk identified the victim as Jason Williams, 51.
Delk said that a white and red 2004 Sprinter 2500 van driven by Steve Folds, 75, of Woodstock, was in an eastbound lane of Alabama Road (Highway 92) around 5:30 p.m. Saturday, ready to turn left at the intersection of Old Mountain Park Road.
As the van made the left turn, it was hit on the right side by a blue 2016 Yamaha FJR motorcycle driven by Williams, according to police.
Delk said Williams was ejected from the bike and was pronounced dead on the scene, and his next of kin was notified.
(A reader who passed by the scene took the above and other photos as police arrived.)
Folds was not injured, according to police, who said the crash investigation is continuing.
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!
For primary election and East Cobb cityhood referendum results, click here.
ORIGINAL POST:
After record-breaking early voting turnout across Georgia, voters are finishing up the 2022 primary elections Tuesday at their home precincts.
The polls are open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Click our election day voters guide for more details about on what’s on the ballot, and how to cast it.
East Cobb News will provide real-time coverage and results on a separate post to be published after the polls close.
In addition to a number of local, state and federal races, voters in a portion of East Cobb will be deciding whether to incorporate a City of East Cobb.
It’s one of three cityhood referendums in Cobb County, along with Lost Mountain and Vinings.
During the final days of the campaign, the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood has sent messages urging voters to “preserve the suburbs in East Cobb” and stop high-density development.
The group’s bogeywoman during the campaign has been Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid.
“The county is changing, like it or not,” according to a Cityhood group e-mail that was sent Sunday.
“Chairwoman Cupid is already working hard to put her plan for Cobb County in place . . . one that promotes higher taxes, more spending, density, and mass transit. Cityhood is a real and effective strategy to put the decision-making for East Cobb in the hands of the people who live here.”
Although it’s pledged to be non-partisan, the Cityhood group blamed federal government policies for the high-density push.
“Closing the housing gap, and manipulating the housing market, is a top priority of the Biden White House,” the e-mail states. “Predictably, President Biden falsely blames state and local zoning laws (i.e., the same ones that preserve and maintain the character of a community) for creating a land shortage that drives lot and property prices to higher levels. Thus, the Democrats’ plan is to incentivize states and localities to buck market forces to increase housing density.”
They’ve also accused the East Cobb Alliance, which opposes cityhood, of being run by Democrats.
In response, the Alliance said it’s “co-led by an even mix of Republicans and Democrats, as a lot of people of all political persuasions are against cityhood for East Cobb.”
The Alliance has used allegations of voter fraud against former State Rep. Matt Dollar in the final days to solicit donations and to urge citizens to vote against the referendum.
Cobb Democratic Party Chairwoman Jackie Bettadapur said Dollar, who resigned his seat in February, illegally voted in the cityhood referendum.
He sold a condo near Parkaire Landing Shopping Center in late February and moved into a home outside the proposed city limits.
But the complaint said the voter affadavit he signed when he voted early—and obtained by the Alliance via an open records request—shows that he listed his Parkaire Landing residence.
The Cobb Elections office has forwarded the complaint to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office to be investigated.
The Alliance also has complained that the pro-Cityhood group hasn’t filed a financial disclosure report. The Cityhood committee says it’s not obligated to do so, but pro-cityhood groups in Lost Mountain, Vinings and Mableton have filed those reports.
Visit our Cityhood tab for more information about the referendum, which will be the last item on the ballot of voters eligible to cast a vote regarding cityhood.
A Republican primary for District 3 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners pits three-term incumbent JoAnn Birrell against political newcomer Judy Sarden. After redistricting, that district includes most of East Cobb.
Several East Cobb-area GOP legislative incumbents also are facing primary challenges: District 32 Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick and State Rep. Sharon Cooper, who has switched from District 43 to District 45.
Gov. Brian Kemp and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock also are facing challenges in the Republican and Democratic primaries, respectively.
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!
Several Cobb County high school students, include some who attend Pope and Walton in East Cobb, recently volunteered with the Cobb County High School Coalition on a recent home project in Mableton, along with the Lutheran Coalition for Habitat.
The groups co-sponsored the project with Smyrna-based Habitat for Humanity of NW Metro Atlanta and dedicated the first house of the year to single mother Kimberly Sylvester and her three children.
It’s the 25th Habitat home built by the students of the Habitat clubs of the Cobb County High School Coalition, and the 33rd Habitat home built in the region by the Lutheran Coalition for Habitat.
Other students attend Campbell and Hillgrove high schools.
The Lutheran Coalition for Habitat is a group of Lutherans in the metro Atlanta area who have agreed to partner with Habitat affiliates to eliminate substandard housing. Since 1994, the coalition has helped build 32 homes for families across northern Georgia, and for the last 15 years held an annual fundraiser to make this possible, called Taste of Habitat.
Kimberly Sylvester, 39, is a paraprofessional with the Cobb County School District and has children who are 18, 11 and three months old.
She was born in St. Lucia and raised in the U.S. Virgin Islands and moved to Cobb County seven years ago, renting an apartment.
Sylvester is the first in her family to own a home. The Lutheran Coalition and student volunteers built the home over nine Saturdays beginning in February.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb County Public Library System has themed its 2022 summer reading program “Oceans of Possibilities.”
Kickoff events take place at four venues on Saturday, June 4, from 4-6 p.m.
They include the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road), and the free, all-age event includes activities, crafts and more to promote social connections and reading.
The challenge officially takes place from June 1—July 31 and is designed to encourage patrons of all ages participate in shared learning experiences and community engagement, and to track their reading times to win prizes.
For more on all Summer reading programs, resources and activities in Cobb, visit www.cobbcat.org/summer.
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Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The nationwide fashion accessory retailer Kendra Scott is having a grand opening for its new pop-up store at The Avenue East Cobb on June 3.
Located at Suite 940 (next to the East Cobb mural), the store will be the sixth in Georgia for Kendra Scott. The company includes more than 100 stores across the country.
The store will include current fashion collections and the Kendra Scott color bar, providing an interactive experience to create customized jewelry.
During its opening week the Kendra Scott store will host local non-profits and donate a percentage of sales—details here.
Kendra Scott also will take part in the Ladies Night Out event at Avenue East Cobb on Thursday, May 19from 5-7 p.m. Guests can stop by the pop-up concierge station in Central Boulevard (located between Kale Me Crazy and Banana Republic) to shop the Kendra Scott trunk show and enjoy a 15 percent discount.
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!
For primary election and East Cobb cityhood referendum results, click here.
ORIGINAL POST:
On Tuesday voters will be going to the polls in the 2022 primary election on a ballot that also includes a cityhood referendum for part of East Cobb.
This post rounds up everything we’ve put together before you head to your precinct—if you haven’t already voted. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at all precincts.
If you have an absentee ballot, that must be dropped off at a designated drop box location by 7 p.m. Tuesday. It’s too late to put it in the mail, because all ballots have to be received by Cobb Elections by 7 p.m. in order to be counted.
For voters in East Cobb, there’s a full slate of competitive races at every level—local, state and federal, as well as the cityhood referendum.
Voters in the proposed city of East Cobb (you must live within the boundaries of this map) will vote either for or against incorporating a new municipality of around 60,000 people. Visit our Cityhood tab for more information about the referendum.
It’s one of three Cobb cityhood referendums to be decided on Tuesday, along with Lost Mountain and Vinings.
Voters in East Cobb will have contested primaries in several key races, including District 3 Cobb Commission (Republican), Georgia Senate 6 (Democrat and Republican), Georgia Senate 32 (Republican), Georgia House 43 (Democrat) and Georgia House 45 (Republican.)
A big Republican field also is on the ballot in the 6th Congressional District, and several sitting statewide office holders are being challenged. They include Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock.
The sample ballots above are countywide; to get a sample ballot customized for you, and to check which races you will be able to vote in, click here.
Cobb Elections said 23,990 Democratic ballots, 30,938 Republican ballots and 564 non-partisan ballots were cast in-person during three weeks of advanced voting.
More than 10,000 of those ballots were cast at the East Cobb Government Service Center and nearly 6,500 at the Tim D. Lee Senior Center.
A total of 5,153 absentee ballots have been accepted out of 6,293 returned, and 9,457 issues.
The Cobb Board of Elections and Registration has changed several polling stations Tuesday, including one in the East Cobb area.
The Bells Ferry 3 precinct, which has been located at Noonday Baptist Church, will be moved to Transfiguration Catholic Church (1815 Blackwell Road).
That change is for the primary only; you can check your registration status and precinct location by clicking here.
Voters must present a valid photo identification or a special voter ID card with them to the polls.
Primary runoffs are scheduled for June 21.
For more local information, including absentee voting, voter registration, maps and an elections calendar, visit the Cobb Elections 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!
Failed referendums in 2018 took place in Eagles Landing (Henry County) and Sharon Springs, which would have created only the second city in Forsyth County.
The latter referendum did get a majority of voters in support, with 54 percent voting yes. But the Sharon Springs charter stipulated that the referendum had to pass with 57 percent of the vote.
Dating back to 2015, in fact, only three cityhood referendums have passed, in Tucker and Stonecrest in DeKalb County and the City of South Fulton, where an initial referendum in 2007 was handily defeated.
The Skidaway referendum is the only cityhood vote to take place outside of metro Atlanta since 2005.
That was in March 2019, as the initial East Cobb cityhood legislation was being introduced, and as that first cityhood group was finally meeting the public.
Before town hall meetings began in East Cobb, Charlie Harper, a Cobb-based political consultant, wondered if the cityhood movement was losing its steam, and specifically its message of promising better government with local control instead of less government.
Those have been the conflicting messages of the Committee for East Cobb Cityhood and the anti-Cityhood East Cobb Alliance, respectively, in what’s become an increasingly bitter campaign.
Harper also thought it was a good time to “re-evaluate the rush to cityhood in many cases. We need to set a higher bar before pitting neighbor against neighbor. There needs to be a clear and consistent reason why we should.”
The cityhood movement picked up in Cobb after Democrats gained control of the Cobb Board of Commissioners and Republican elected officials expressed concern over high-density development in more suburban areas.
The GOP-dominated legislature easily passed the three cityhood bills calling for Tuesday’s referendums, as well as another to take place in November in Mableton.
There has not been a new city in Cobb County for more than 100 years.
Milton City Hall opened in 2016, 10 years after a cityhood referendum passed. (ECN file)
While the East Cobb Cityhood group said it was not doing any formal polling, State Sen. John Albers, a North Fulton Republican who carried the East Cobb Cityhood bill in the Senate, said he thinks the vote could go either way.
He has been involved in some of those cityhood referendums in North Fulton, and said those new cities have largely been governed smoothly. (Like East Cobb, Johns Creek and Milton are affluent communities that are providing police and fire services.)
There were initial problems on the Milton City Council due to some personality conflicts that required the help of an industrial psychologist.
But of the last five cityhood votes that were approved, three passed with less than 60 percent of the vote. The exception was Tucker, with 74 percent of the vote.
The following is a summary of the 15 cityhood votes that have taken place since 2005. State Rep. Mitchell Kaye said he requested the information from the House Budget and Research Office.
He was sworn in earlier this week to fill out the rest of the term of Matt Dollar, the chief East Cobb Cityhood bill sponsor.
Kaye said he was initially undecided about cityhood but now is opposed, saying he doesn’t think a City of East Cobb could improve upon current county public safety services.
He said while he was initially pleased at the level of community engagement when the referendum campaign began, he’s troubled by more recent dialogue that has “taken on a more personal tone.
“I hope our community can come together however the vote turns out,” Kaye said.
County
Year
Vote
Sandy Springs
Fulton
2005
Yes, 93%
Johns Creek
Fulton
2006
Yes, 88%
Milton
Fulton
2006
Yes, 85%
South Fulton
Fulton
2007
No, 84%
Chattahoochee Hills
Fulton
2007
Yes, 83%
Dunwoody
DeKalb
2008
Yes, 81%
Peachtree Corners
Gwinnett
2012
Yes, 57%
Brookhaven
DeKalb
2012
Yes, 54%
Tucker
DeKalb
2015
Yes, 74%
LaVista Hills
DeKalb
2015
No, 50.5%
Stonecrest
DeKalb
2016
Yes, 56%
South Fulton
Fulton
2016
Yes, 59%
Sharon Springs
Forsyth
2018
No*
Eagles Landing
Henry
2018
No, 56%
Skidaway Island
Chatham
2019
No, 62%
(* 54 percent of Sharon Springs voters approved the cityhood referendum, but it failed because “yes” votes needed to cross a 57 percent threshold)
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A week-long schedule of commencement exercises for the Cobb County School District gets underway on Monday, with most schools once again holding their graduations at the Kennesaw State University Convocation Center.
All six high schools in the East Cobb area will be having graduation ceremonies there, as most schools did before the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the last two years, graduation took place outdoors at McEachern High School.
But with the return to KSU, the Cobb school district also is reverting back to some of its previous features.
Those include live-streaming of all graduation ceremonies at this link. DVDs of graduation events also can be ordered and purchased at this link; the cost is $30 for the DVD and for shpping.
The Cobb Horizon School will the first graduation ceremony, with Kell High School the first traditional high school to graduate its Class of 2022:
Monday, May 23: Kell High School, 7:30 p.m., KSU
Wednesday, May 25: Lassiter High School, 3:30 p.m., KSU
Wednesday, May 25: Wheeler High School, 7:30 p.m., KSU
Thursday, May 26: Walton High School, 10 a.m., KSU
Thursday, May 26: Sprayberry High School, 7 p.m., KSU
Friday, May 27: Pope High School, 2:30 p.m., KSU
The Cobb County School District and KSU also have issued the following information about security and parking for graduation events.
There will be metal detector screenings for all persons entering the Convocation Center, and all bags must be clear totes or small clutch bags.
Graduates will report to the Siegel Recreation Center for line-ups, which will take place on the basketball courts.
That’s a change from previous commencements at KSU, but there no changes for parking locations.
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The following East Cobb food scores for the week of May 16 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!
Three more elementary schools in East Cobb will have new principals for the 2022-23 school year.
The Cobb Board of Education on Thursday approved the appointment of new principals for Eastvalley, Powers Ferry and Rocky Mount schools, among numerous personnel changes.
The new Eastvalley principal will be Dr. Whitney Spooner, who has been an assistant principal at Sope Creek Elementary School. She is replacing Kendall Foster, who has been named principal at Norton Park Elementary School.
Lindley Middle School principal Elayna Wilson has been named the new principal at Powers Ferry Elementary School, succeeding Patrice Jones.
Rocky Mount Elementary School principal Peggy Fleming is retiring, and the district has named Dr. Cheri Vaniman, an assistant principal at Nicholson Elementary School, to succeed her.
All three of those appointments will take effect July 1, when the Cobb County School District’s academic and fiscal year begins.
The retirement of longtime Brumby Elementary School Dr. Amanda Richie was made in April, but her successor has not been appointed.
The Cobb school board also made other personnel announcements, including the following at schools in East Cobb:
Stephen Joel Atchison, assistant principal, Murdock Elementary School, resignation;
Bradley Cohen, assistant principal at Bells Ferry Elementary School, reassigned to assistant principal, Addison Elementary School;
Ashley Ford, assistant principal at Smyrna Elementary School, reassigned to assistant principal, Mt. Bethel Elementary School;
Courtney Kelly, assistant principal, Big Shanty Elementary School, reassigned to assistant principal, Nicholson Elementary School;
Elizabeth Marsili, assistant principal, Bells Ferry Elementary School, reassigned to assistant principal, Kennesaw Elementary School;
Tresa Snow, Coordinator, South Cobb Early Learning Center, reassigned to assistant principal, Sope Creek Elementary School;
Carrie Lowery, Technology Training Integration Specialist, Chief Technology Division, appointed to assistant principal, Dodgen Middle School;
Dr. Kacie Phipps, assistant principal, Griffin Middle School, reassigned to assistant principal, East Cobb Middle School;
Bradley Adkins, teacher, Sprayberry High School, appointed to assistant principal, McEachern High School;
Jeffrey Burch, Athletic Director/Administrative Assistant, Centennial High School, Roswell, to become assistant principal, Kell High School.
The board also voted to approve additional one-year contracts to the members of Superintendent Chris Ragsdale’s cabinet. They’re the various department heads, and after a motion was made to accept them all together, board member Jaha Howard made a substituted motion.
He wanted the contract of John Floresta, chief strategy and accountability officer, to be considered separately.
That office is responsible for accountability, research and grants, communications and events and venue management.
Howard did not say why he was making his motion, and it failed.
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The Cobb Board of Education unanimously adopted a fiscal year 2023 budget on Thursday that will provide what Superintendent Chris Ragsdale said is the biggest salary increase in the history of the Cobb County School District.
The record $1.4 billion budget, which takes effect July 1, includes pay hikes between 8.5 and 13.10 percent for non-temporary employees.
The raises were included as the Cobb tax digest is expected to grow by more than 10 percent in 2022, and follows $2,000 bonuses for teachers that were approved by the Georgia legislature.
“This is something every team member does not take lightly,” Ragsdale told board members after the vote, expressing his appreciation on behalf of the district’s more than 18,000 employees.
The district will use $29.5 million in budget contingency to fund the budget, roughly half of which is funded by the state through the Quality Basic Education Act.
The board also passed, by a 7-0 vote, a measure for the district to hire an architect for classroom renovations at Wheeler High School.
The district will spend $309,111 for Gardner Spencer Smith Tench & Jarbeau of Atlanta to conduct architectural design to upgrade STEM and CTAE classrooms and make other modifications, including upgrading elevated walkways between buildings and converting tennis courts.
Board member Jaha Howard asked Marc Smith, the district’s chief technology and operations officer, if the scope of the work included changing the name of Wheeler—”a Confederate general.”
Board chairman David Chastain said “that’s not part of the agenda item.”
Howard is one of three Democrats on the board who has tried to press for consideration of the Wheeler name change, but they haven’t had the votes to get the matter placed on a board agenda.
A first-term member from Post 2 in Smyrna, Howard is not seeking re-election this year. He is among the Democratic candidates for Georgia School Superintendent who will be on the primary ballot next Tuesday.
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 ask county commissioners Tuesday to begin condemnation proceedings for rights-of-way and easements for the Lower Roswell Road transportation project.
Since commissioners last year approved the conceptual plan for the project—which will stretch from Davidson Road to Woodlawn Drive—Cobb DOT has continued with property acquisitions and other work to begin construction.
According to an agenda item, the county is requesting access to six parcels, five of them in a residential community.
Those homeowners are in the Gates on Woodlawn townhomes, at the northwest intersection of Lower Roswell and Woodlawn.
That’s close to the western end point of the nearly $9 million project (fact sheet; location map) that would expand traffic lanes, create special turn lanes in some areas and construct a raised median along one portion of the route.
The county says small portions of the parcels are needed for right-of-way and temporary construction easements.
While Cobb DOT continues to talk to the property owners, “in order to meet project deadlines, condemnation authority is requested,” the agenda item states.
A similar resolution has been proposed for a portion of property housing the Bank of America ATM at 4851 Lower Roswell Road, next to the McDonald’s.
The county also recently received right-of-way and easement access for a portion of the 1.2 acres of Mt. Bethel Park that’s owned by the Cobb County School District.
The land was the original site of Mt. Bethel Elementary School, and makes up part of the nearly four-acre park, the rest of which is owned by the Cobb Parks and Recreation Department.
The Lower Roswell transportation project has been delayed several years. In an interview with East Cobb News last year, Cobb DOT engineer Karyn Matthews said “we wanted to get the right concept for the community.”
The county has had to purchase all but three of the 32 parcels since commissioners approved the concept plan.
Other features of the traffic project include creating dual left-turn lanes from westbound Lower Roswell onto southbound Johnson Ferry Road, and creating a two-lane extension on Lower Roswell in either direction west of Woodlawn Drive, to Parkcrest Place.
That’s part of a major overhaul of a long-bottlenecked intersection that will have dedicated right-turn lanes onto Woodlawn from Lower Roswell.
Once construction begins, the project is expected to take two years to complete. Funding will come from the 2011 Cobb SPLOST.
The Board of Commissioners meeting starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
The full agenda can be found here; the meeting also will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The Cobb County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that a female inmate who had been on suicide watch at the Cobb County Adult Detention Center died of an apparent suicide.
Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Jeremy Blake said in a release that Nicole Smith of Atlanta was pronounced dead at 7:54 a.m. Thursday, after being taken to a hospital.
It’s the third death of a Cobb jail detainee this month, and is the second involving possible mental health issues.
Blake said Smith had been on active suicide watch and had tried to take her own life during mandatory welfare checks conducted by Sheriff’s Office personnel around the clock every 15 minutes.
He said that staffers began life-saving procedures when Smith was discovered Thursday, but he didn’t elaborate.
Blake said Smith had been receiving professional mental health support as part of a suicide prevention program at the jail.
The Sheriff’s Office is conducting an internal investigation and has asked for assistance from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Blake said.
On May 12, Eva Kanja of Smyrna, who had been booked in late April for misdemeanor battery, died at the jail while undergoing a mental health evaluation.
On May 3, Joshua Capes of Kennesaw died at a hospital after being found unresponsive in his cell at the jail.
The causes of those death have not been revealed.
Cobb Sheriff Craig Owens began a detainee mental health program last fall. There were three jail inmate deaths in 2021, Owens’ first year in office, and he asked the GBI to conduct external probes of detainee deaths.
The first of those, in April 2021, was a man who died after attempting suicide.
“Unfortunately, our detention center—and thousands of detention centers across the country—have become de facto mental health hospitals,” Owens said in the release. “I will be convening local leaders, including those who just toured the facility, to help identify solutions and hopefully find treatment options outside of incarceration.”
The Cobb Sheriff’s Office had come under fire previously for a number of jail inmate deaths, prompting former Cobb District Attorney Joyette Holmes to call for an independent probe.
Among those were Kevil Wingo, who begged for medical help from jail staff and died in custody in September 2019.
The Wingo family filed a federal lawsuit against Wellstar Health system, six nurses and three sheriff’s deputies.
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Mitchell, Kaye, a Republican from East Cobb who previously served in the Georgia General Assembly, returned to the state capitol Tuesday to be sworn back into office.
He won a special election runoff earlier this month to fill out the remainder of the term vacated by District 46 Georgia House member Matt Dollar, who resigned in February.
Kaye sent along the photos. At top he is sworn in by Georgia Supreme Court Justice John J. Ellington as Kaye’s wife Amy holds their grandsons Caleb and Ari Kaye.
Kaye is serving through the end of the year. New District 45 boundaries will take effect in 2023 following redistricting.
He did not qualify to run in the May 24 primary. Current District 43 State Rep. Sharon Cooper is running in the new District 45, and is being opposed in the Republican primary by Carminthia Moore.
The winner of the GOP primary will face Democrat Dustin McCormick, whom Kaye defeated in the runoff, in the November general election.
When he served the East Cobb area from 1993-2002, Kaye was the first Jewish Republican elected to the Georgia legislature.
At bottom Kaye poses with (L-R) Ellington, Cooper, Rep. Devan Seabaugh and Rep. Don Parsons, who represent the Marietta and East Cobb areas.
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!
3336 Lost Mill Trace, 30062 (Olde Mill Forest, Walton): Nicholas Marine to Keri Farley and Dannette Martin Lenninger; $800,000
1044 Boyd Road, 30066 (Sprayberry): Edyee Mazariegos Mata to Nicole Harrington; $212,000
1938 New Kemp Road, 30066 (St. Charles Square, Sprayberry): Li Bing Bing, Liu Shuiyin and Li Jiang to OP Gold LLC; $528,000
2630 Shadow Woods Circle, 30062 (Shadow Woods, Pope): Paul Freebairn, executor, estate of Dorothy Freebairn, to Metro Capital Properties LLC, $380,000
May 3
3712 Fox Hills Drive, 30067 (Fox Hills, Wheeler): Arthur Lee Moore to Yuriy Moskovoy and Lauren Hudson; $640,000
1182 Ramblewood Drive, 30066 (Ramblewood, Sprayberry): Morgan Watkins to Ayn Constance Remillard and James Bradley Allen; $380,000
3012 Pathview Lane, 30062 (Wendwood, Pope): Kelly Elizabeth Hopkins, trustee, Kelly Elizabeth Hopkins Trust, to Zachary and Lauren Lonneman; $605,000
3751 Westchase Drive, 30066 (Canterbury Ridge, Sprayberry): Nexhmi Durmishi to Helio Mateus de Arantes Cesar and Aretha Di Cassia Da Costa Valente; $375,000
4434 Windsor Oaks Circle, 30066 (Windsor Oaks, Lassiter): Robert Dougherty to Molly and Richard Hughes; $710,000
4925 Highpoint Drive, 30066 (Tremont, Kell): Zillow Homes Property Trust to Eder Jacinto; $385,000
May 4
3438 Fox Hollow Drive, 30068 (Fox Hollow, Walton): Anoop Kapoor to Thanh Tung Hang and Thi Xuan Nguyen; $560,000
2261 Lessie Maude Drive, 30066 (Powell Station, Sprayberry): Johnny Rich to Janet Boyd; $385,000
2911 Connie Street, 30062 (Rolling Acres, Pope): Michael Broome to John Agel and Melissa Cook; $465,000
May 5
220 Creekside Court, 30067 (Fox Hills, Wheeler): Sterling and Christal Moses, executors, estate of Nick Moses, to Mesa Verde Assets, LLC; $415,000
May 6
2514 Canopy Court, 30062 (Tanglewood North, Lassiter): Debra Heitzman to Elena Sabkova; $1.1 million
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!
