Earlier this month we posted about a fundraising appeal for Wreaths Across America, and in particular donations for purchase wreaths for the gravestones of veterans buried at the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton.
That was right before Veterans Day, but Tom Wilder, an East Cobb real estate agent and Naval veteran of Vietnam who’s spearheading the drive, says the group is running short of time and donations in order to place a wreath at every marker in that cemetery.
That’s more than 20,000 homemade wreaths in all, and the goal is to place the wreaths on Dec. 14. That work is done by local civic, church and scout organizations, but the wreaths need to be ordered by the end of November.
(There’s a separate organization that’s conducting a similar wreath-laying effort at the Marietta National Cemetery.)
Wreaths Across America is a national program that’s been doing this since 2008, and Wilder says Georgia businesses and individual donors have been making contributions for about as long.
Here’s what you can do to help:
Donations are tax deductible with a receipt provided by the Georgia National Cemetery Advisory Council upon request.
Please go to ganationalcemetery.organd support this special program recognizing the lives of those who have protected or given their lives for our freedom.
For more information, contact Tom Wilder, U.S. Navy Vietnam Veteran and Cemetery Council member at 770-973-1422 or tom@wilder-realty.com.
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Butch Carter of Honest-1 Auto Care is flanked by Jim Harris, ECBA president, and Cynthia Rozzo, publisher of the EAST COBBER magazine. (ECN photo)
When Butch Carter left the corporate world after a long career in sales, he took a very different turn as a business owner.
“I didn’t have background in automotive,” said Carter, the owner of the Honest-1 Auto Care repair service in East Cobb. He wanted to run his own business, and worked with a business coach to forge his entrepreneurial path.
When Carter opened in the fall of 2013 at a former Napa store on East Cobb Drive (behind where the Trader Joe’s is now located) Carter sought to fulfill the franchise’s promise “to build long-term relationships and give back to the community.”
Carter was named the 2019 business person of the year last week by the East Cobb Business Association, which honored him during a luncheon (that included an East Cobb cityhood debate) at the Olde Towne Athletic Club.
It’s the second year for the award, whose inaugural winner was Cynthia Rozzo, publisher of the EAST COBBER magazine.
A native of North Carolina, Carter was an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force, then earned an MBA before entering the business world.
Carter had been a pharmaceutical sales representative for Pfizer, Otsuka and Stryker Medical and a sales manager for Axcan/Aptalis Pharma, with a personal business philosophy “that if you treat your customers right, you’re going to be successful.”
While Carter has taken that approach with him as a business owner, he credited his “phenomenal front desk staff. They’re the face of the business.” Those involved in the customer service aspect of Honest-1, he said, “are the driving force behind the success of our business.”
Carter has opened a second Honest-1 location in Johns Creek, and in East Cobb he has plunged into community service work. He’s a member of the Rotary Club of East Cobb, and he’s involved his business in projects that include more than 25 organizations.
Honest-1 has held a cookout for veterans in association with East Cobb-based United Military Care (more here about the work of this organization), has contributed to the food pantry at Brumby Elementary School and benefitted the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Carter also is a big believer in supporting other local businesses in East Cobb, using many of them for vendors for a variety of functions, including marketing, social media and website management.
The other finalists for the ECBA’s business person of the year are Cindy Trow, a health coach with Wellness Now, Ann Lafferty of Rakers Junk Removal, and Tom Gonter, the development director for MUST Ministries.
Righteous Que on the Move
The Righteous Que BBQ restaurant in the Piedmont Commons Shopping Center (1050 E. Piedmont Road) has outgrown its tiny space, and is in the process of moving three doors down, where El Taco Mexican recently closed.
A sign on the Righteous Que door notes it will be closed this week while the move is in progress, and they’re taking applications for the expanded business.
Roll On In Sets Opening Date
The first day of business for Roll On In Sushi Burrito & Bowls at Woodlawn Point (1100 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 365) will be Saturday, Dec. 7. The Asian concept franchise is owned by East Cobb residents Monte and Suzanne Petty Jump. You can track the progress at the store’s Facebook page.
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Submitted information for Wednesday’s Democratic presidential debate taking place in Atlanta. The following events all begin at 7 p.m.:
The November Democratic debates are coming down to Georgia and if you aren’t able to get a coveted ticket to attend the real deal, join the Cobb County Democratic Committee for a fun and spirited Debate Watch Party. We are hosting Debate Watch Parties in three locations. Choose the location most convenient to you.
East Cobb/Cumberland: The Monticello (21 yrs+ only) 2000 Powers Ferry Road, Marietta, GA 30067 (Valet parking available, a self-park garage also located behind the venue).
West Cobb: Taco Mac 2650 Dallas Hwy Ste 100, Marietta, GA 30064
Acworth/Kennesaw: Huey Luey’s Mexican Kitchen & Margarita Bar 3338 Cobb Pkwy N, Acworth, GA 30101
Spirited discussions are guaranteed as we all cheer on our favorite candidates. Play Debate bingo and win a free ticket to our Dems After Dark Holiday Edition, t-shirts, magnets, so much more. Snacks will be provided by Cobb County Democratic Committee. Buy your own drinks and dinner.
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East Cobb cityhood leaders heard plenty from citizens at a Wheeler High School town hall meeting this week. (ECN file)
In trying to lay out a case for why a City of East Cobb might be a better value for citizens’ tax money than Cobb County government, those behind a cityhood movement used some animal analogies this week.
They described East Cobb as a “golden goose,” with its middle class and wealthy homeowners comprising a hefty portion of the county’s tax base, and not receiving the public services, especially police and fire protection, to justify their property tax bills.
East Cobb citizens, they argued, may feel like a frog in slowly boiling water, unaware of how much worse the heat can get if they don’t figure out a way to jump out.
“How are we being boiled?” shouted a woman from the back of the auditorium at Wheeler High School, angry not at the message she was hearing, but the messengers.
Like many of the more than 100 or so people in attendance at a town hall meeting Monday night, she was more than skeptical of the cityhood narrative that East Cobb would be better off as a new city, with more responsive local government delivered without a tax increase.
Cityhood leaders Rob Eble and David Birdwell and Bill Green of the Independent Financial Group at the Wheeler town hall. (ECN file)
It’s a message that the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb has been trying to make for several months, and that was renewed again this week.
“I was one of the frogs,” said Bill Green, who described himself as a cityhood skeptic, then became part of what was called the Independent Financial Group that concluded that a City of East Cobb is fiscally viable.
Before attending the cityhood’s first town hall meeting in March, he said, “I didn’t know what was going on.”
His comments to many of those in the Wheeler auditorium were unconvincing.
Cityhood leaders were heckled repeatedly by citizens unhappy about what they said is a lack of information, or a lack of transparency, or some of both.
Most of all, they remain deeply skeptical that the cityhood group that formed a little more than a year ago has given them any good reason to support a dramatic change in how their local government operates.
“I think it’s a solution in search of a problem,” said John Morgan, who lives in the nearby Willow Ridge subdivision.
He said he moved to East Cobb from DeKalb County more than 30 years ago, is satisfied with the Cobb County services he gets and doesn’t understand calls for what he said would be “another layer of bureaucracy.” Furthermore, slicing off an affluent part of Cobb would be “devastating” for the county and its AAA bond rating.
“And for what? We have a great life here. Why this?”
It’s a refrain that’s been heard repeatedly, and increasingly with more vigor, in recent weeks. A newly formed citizens group opposing cityhood, the East Cobb Alliance, was part of a debate with cityhood leader David Birdwell on Tuesday at a luncheon meeting of the East Cobb Business Association.
Mindy Seger, an accountant, went toe-to-toe with Birdwell on several fronts, taking issue with a financial feasibility study, claims of better police and fire services, and individuals on the cityhood committee with real estate ties.
When Birdwell said only three of the 14 cityhood leaders had real estate estate backgrounds, including himself, she asked, “can we get that list?” (It was released on Friday, on the cityhood’s revamped website, and contained several changes from the initial group members announced in March).
When asked to identify those who’ve been funding cityhood expenses, Birdwell would say only that a “large group” of East Cobb residents have been making donations.
In several ways, Seger is the ideal representative for those dead-set against cityhood. She was well-prepared and kept to factual concerns opponents have had in what has been an emotionally fraught issue.
Mindy Seger of the anti-city East Cobb Alliance debates David Birdwell of the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb. (ECN file)
Like others who’ve come together to fight cityhood, she’s new to this kind of activism. She said after the debate that “there’s kind of been a political awakening” in East Cobb over the issue.
“It’s gotten people engaged,” Seger said, “and that’s a good thing.”
The citizens the cityhood group needs to win over are people like Joe O’Connor, a longtime East Cobb resident who liked the idea of cityhood after Cobb property tax rates went up in 2018.
When the financial feasibility study was released, O’Connor, who worked on East Cobb commissioner Bob Ott’s first campaign for office in 2008, was among those asked by the cityhood group to offer his thoughts.
When O’Connor asked who funded the study, he said he was told it was none of his business, and he promptly resigned.
State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick is taking a “wait-and-see” approach about sponsoring an East Cobb cityhood bill. (ECN file)
Now, O’Connor couldn’t be more opposed to cityhood. At the ECBA luncheon, he said he received a call a couple weeks ago from a pollster asking questions about cityhood that he thought were designed to produce a “yes” vote. He said he told the caller his vote would be no, and in no uncertain terms.
“It’s obvious they’re not going to tell who’s behind this financially,” O’Connor said. “I never invest in a company when I don’t know who’s running it.”
At the Wheeler town hall meeting, resident Patty Hawkins said she’s got an open mind about cityhood, but wanted to get more information about the proposed city boundary line changes (they now include the Pope and Lassiter school clusters).
“I think it’s something to consider,” said Hawkins, who said “I think I’d vote for it,” but there’s still more she wants to learn about the issue.
For the moment, the cityhood opinion that matters the most may belong to State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick of East Cobb. The cityhood bill introduced last session by State Rep. Matt Dollar still needs a local senate sponsor if it’s to pass the legislature and establish a referendum next year.
Kirkpatrick told the crowd at Wheeler she’s getting mostly negative feedback about cityhood, but is keeping an open mind and welcoming feedback from constituents. She’s planning to do some of her own polling on cityhood before the end of the year, which could decide whether the bill will be taken up at all when the legislature returns in January.
After nearly a year since the cityhood effort was revealed, the lack of a genuine public groundswell remains the single biggest challenge for those proposing a City of East Cobb.
While a key lawmaker feels the boiling heat, and as the community watches to see which way she’ll jump, those who think their “golden goose” is being cooked with a cityhood effort are as loud and organized as they’ve ever been, and couldn’t be more distrustful.
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After losing some heartbreakingly close games this season—including to Newnan at Raider Valley—the Walton football team was involved in another nailbiter in a rematch Friday night in the first round of the Georgia state playoffs.
The Raiders took an early 10-0 lead, but Newnan kept hanging around until the final minutes, scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter. This time, however, Walton didn’t squander the lead, and came away with a 27-24 victory to move on to the second round.
Walton is only 6-5 on the season, but four of those losses have come by a combined 15 points.
What’s facing the Raiders next? The other team that beat them this season, and it was a blowout. Walton travels to North Gwinnett next Friday in another rematch in Class 7A.
North Gwinnett, which defeated Walton 35-0 in September, is coming off a 51-14 win over Shiloh on Friday.
The Gladiators, whom Walton beat two years ago en route to a state championship, are 10-1 and ranked No. 4 in Class 7A. They haven’t lost since the opening game of the season, to second-ranked Colquitt County (which ended Walton’s season last year).
The Kell Longhorns jumped to an early lead and never gave it up, defeating Columbis 48-32 in a Class 5A game Friday at Avondale Stadium in DeKalb County.
The Longhorns are 9-2, and will head to Fayetteville on Friday when they play at Starr’s Mill (8-3), which downed Harris County 28-7.
A blocked extra point made the difference between winning and losing for Sprayberry, which reached the playoffs for the first time since 2011.
The Yellow Jackets had a chance to tie the game after scoring a fourth quarter touchdown at Lanier, but the point-after try was blocked, and they fell 15-14 in a Class 6A playoff game in Gwinnett County.
Sprayberry finishes the season at 6-5 and will return running back Demarion Owens, who rushed for more than 1,500 yards as a junior.
Wheeler also was back in the playoffs after a four-year absence, and faced the daunting prospect of playing at Roswell. The game was close in the first half, but after halftime the Hornets rolled to a 31-0 win in Class 7A.
The Wildcats were 5-6 under first-year head coach Bryan Love, and will move next year to Class 6A and compete in the same region with Lassiter, Sprayberry, Pope and Kell.
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The following East Cobb food scores from Nov. 11-15 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing to view details of the inspection:
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In an effort to eliminate double testing and the number of tests Georgia students are required to take, the State Board of Education, Governor Kemp, and Superintendent Woods approved a policy revision that eliminates the End-of-Course-Test (EOC) for International Baccalaureate and Advanced Placement students.
Specifically, the rule change applies to students in the following courses: AP Language and Composition, AP US History, AP Microeconomics, AP Macroeconomics, IB English A Literature, IB Economics, and IB History of the Americas. The updated policy goes into effect on November 27.
The rule change, which Superintendent Chris Ragsdale fully supports, means almost 4,000 Cobb students will take 5,000 fewer EOC assessments in the 2019-2020 school year. Students are not required to take the AP test for the exemption.
How does the change impact Cobb students?
Until the policy change, state law required that the EOC serve as 20 percent of the final course grade. In order to maintain the current course weightings outlined in each teacher’s syllabus for the 2019-2020 school year, the District considered options to keep the course grading as consistent as possible.
Based on input from teachers, principals, and discussions with peer districts, the Cobb County School District staff determined that the best way forward this school year is to replace the EOC grade with a district-created assessment, which will function as a comprehensive exam.
“We are going to ensure that no student’s grade in these IB and AP classes are negatively impacted. We are putting in an assessment that is fair and equitable across the board,” said Superintendent Ragsdale.
From expanding the district-created assessments in the Cobb Teaching and Learning System to the opening of the new Cobb Innovation and Technology Academy in Fall 2020, Cobb Schools staff will continue to look for opportunities to best position students for future college and career opportunities.
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East Cobb Cityhood leaders David Birdwell, Karen Hallacy and Rob Eble at a Walton High School town hall meeting in April. (ECN file photo)
The list of names of those belonging to the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb is a bit different than what the organization originally released earlier this year.
After cityhood leaders were asked at two different cityhood-related events earlier this week to identify all the indivdiuals involved, the following is the group of names included on the committee’s website:
David Birdwell, retired logistics real estate executive
Owen Brown, owner and president of retail real estate company
Rob Eble, technology consultant
Joe Gavalis, retired federal agent
Dee Gay, insurance consultant
Karan Hallacy, Georgia PTA president, Development Authority of Cobb County member
Lisa Hanson, former sales and marketing executive
Nick Johnson, healthcare technology
Chris Mayer, SR VP sales & marketing Flexible Packaging
Chip Patterson, partner, hospitality business
Jerry Quan, retired Cobb County Police Precinct 4 commander, current school resource officer
Carolyn Roddy, attorney
David Womack, technology outsourcing deployment
John Woods, financial consulting
With the exception of Johnson, Mayer and Womack, all of the above were included on the orginal cityhood committee listwhen it was released in March, or joined soon after.
Original committee members Sharon McGehee, an associate director of advancement at Mt. Bethel Christian Academy and Kevin Taitz, a technology consultant, are no longer listed.
The original list had been on the cityhood website until recently, when the some of the site content was changed.
Birdwell, who led a cityhood town hall meeting Monday and was in a debate with the anti-cityhood East Cobb Alliance on Tuesday, also was asked to identify who is funding the cityhood’s feasibility study and lobbyists.
He wouldn’t name names except to say that “a large group” of East Cobb residents have made donations.
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The Georgia Department of Public Health said Friday that three more cases of the measles have been diagnosed in Cobb County, and that testing is underway on another possible case.
Two of those new cases involve two individuals who were unvaccinated, and the vaccination history of the other person is “unclear.”
The news comes after Georgia DPH announced last weekend a measles diagnosis for a person later identified as a Mabry Middle School student. That student was not vaccinated.
The Cobb County School District asked any unvaccinated students to stay away from school until Nov. 22, but declined to identify how many individuals that may involve, citing federal student privacy laws.
The district also declined to answer questions from East Cobb News if any of the new confirmed measles cases involve enrolled students. A district spokeswoman issued this statement:
“The District continues to operate at the direction of the Georgia Department of Health. We do not diagnose measles, outside of official notification from Cobb parents that their child has been diagnosed with measles, all questions should be directed to the Georgia Department of Public Health.”
When East Cobb News followed that response to ask the initial question a second time, the spokeswoman did not respond.
According to a post on the Transfiguration Catholic Church Facebook page Friday afternoon, the East Cobb parish had a confirmed measles case at its 6 p.m. Mass last Sunday, Nov. 10.
In Friday’s announcement, Georgia DPH said the three individuals may have exposed others between Oct. 30-Nov. 13. Public health officials said that “it is highly likely” those people “are all related, but the investigation into any linkage is ongoing at this time.”
Georgia DPH said in its release it does not believe the new cases are related to the case involving the Mabry student.
Thus far in 2019, 11 measles cases have been reported in Georgia, more than in the previous decade combined, and four of them have been in Cobb County.
Here’s more from today’s release by Georgia DPH:
“These additional cases of measles should be highly concerning for anyone who is not vaccinated with MMR. Measles is a serious disease, one which can lead to dangerous complications, even death,” said Kathleen E. Toomey, M.D., M.P.H. “The MMR vaccine is safe and about 97% effective in preventing measles. Vaccination is strongly advised for individuals not only to protect themselves, but to protect vulnerable populations – such as infants who are too young to be vaccinated and those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons.”
Measles spreads when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Droplets from the nose or mouth become airborne, or land on surfaces where they can live for two hours. Measles is so contagious that if one person has it, up to 90% of the people around him or her will also become infected if they are not vaccinated.
Measles starts with a high fever, cough, runny nose and red, watery eyes. Then a rash of tiny, red spots breaks out. It starts at the head and spreads to the rest of the body.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends children receive their first dose of MMR vaccine between 12-15 months of age and a second dose between 4-6 years old. More than 95% of the people who receive a single dose of MMR will develop immunity to all three viruses. A second dose boosts immunity, typically enhancing protection to 98%.
Adults who are not sure about their measles immunity should speak to their health care provider.There is no harm in getting another dose of MMR vaccine if you may already be immune to measles (or mumps or rubella).
People with symptoms of measles should contact their health care provider immediately. DO NOT go to the doctor’s office, the hospital, or a public health clinic without FIRST calling to let them know about your symptoms. Health care providers who suspect measles in a patient should notify public health immediately.
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On Thursday night the Cobb Board of Education recognized numerous groups and individuals at its monthly voting meeting, including student and teachers at three schools in East Cobb.
They include the Pope softball team (above), which recently won the Georgia High School Association Class 6A state championship (ECN coverage here). It was the second for coach Chris Turco (front row, light blue pants), who also won his 300th game at Pope during the state tournament.
Also recognized were staff and teachers at Davis Elementary School for its recent certification as a STEM school.
Wheeler High School teacher Dr. Nicole Ice (in purple dress below) was honored as the recipient of the 2019 Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics Gladys M. Thomason Distinguished Service Award. She was recognized by the board with Wheeler principal Paul Gillihan, at left, and Vicki Massey, the Wheeler math coordinator.
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After hearing complaints about students riding in buses without air conditioning during hot weather, the Cobb County School District got the message.
On Thursday, the Cobb Board of Education approved the purchase of nine new buses, all of them with air conditioning, as the 112,000-student district begins transforming its bus fleet over the next few years.
The 7-0 vote comes a month after the board voted to table the measure.
The nine new buses will cost a total of $895,758, with $538,576 coming from the current Cobb Education V SPLOST (Special-Purpose Local Option Sales Tax), and the rest from state bus bonds and a district building fund.
Five of the buses with have 72-seat capacities for regular education students, and the other four will accommodate 48 special-education students each.
Marc Smith, the school district’s chief technology and operations officer, said Cobb schools have a fleet of 1,198 buses, but only 195 have air conditioning.
During a Thursday afternoon work session, he laid out a purchasing option that would call for a total of 212 new air-conditioned buses through 2023. The costs would include $21 million in SPLOST funds (see chart below).
During the presentation, Cobb school superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the better option for the district was to buy air-conditioned buses, rather than having current buses retrofitted.
He also apologized for presenting inaccurate data at the October board meeting. Of the 279 special-education buses, 81 have air conditioning. The general-education fleet of 831 buses has five that are air-conditioned.
Of the new air-conditioned buses that will be purchased with current SPLOST funding, 123 will be for general education students and 89 will be for special education students.
Having air conditioning adds about $10,000 to the cost of a new bus. Board members haggled in October about that expense, with first-year board member Jaha Howard lobbying for air conditioning.
David Banks of Post 5 in East Cobb argued against it, saying the heat experienced by students early in the school year doesn’t bother them.
At the start of the work session, Jon Gargis, the father of a Cobb student, noted concerns about the cost of air-conditioned buses, given that the board was set to consider Thursday night an eminent domain resolution to buy 15 acres of land near Walton High School for $3 million for a softball field and tennis courts (The board later agreed to terms with the property owner for the purchase, avoiding eminent domain.).
“I’m not a mathematician,” said Gargis, a former reporter for The Marietta Daily Journal, but he calculated that adding that $3 million could help buy 300 72-seat buses to serve more than 21,000 students, about a fifth of the district’s total enrollment.
“I hope that if we can find the money for athletics, we can find the funding for climate-control systems which are all but a necessity and an expected amenity to all of us in 2019,” he said.
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The Cobb Board of Education didn’t have to consider declaring eminent domain to purchase land for sports facilities near Walton High School Thursday night.
That’s because earlier this week, the owner of 15.2 acres of property on Pine Road agreed to terms with the Cobb County School District on a selling price.
Marc Smith, the district’s chief technology and operations officer, said representatives for Thelma McClure approached the district with a signed contract offer for $3 million.
That’s what the district had been offering, a price it said was 10 percent higher than the appraised value for the two parcels of land, one of which is directly across from the Walton campus on Bill Murdock Road.
The board voted 7-0 on the land purchase. The $3 million price doesn’t include closing and other costs that are part of property transactions, Smith said.
The district intends to build a softball field and tennis courts that were displaced in 2014 when construction began on a new Walton classroom building.
The Cobb school district had been negotiating with McClure for nearly five years, to little avail, due to differences over price.
“The only thing that’s different now is that eminent domain signs went up,” said Post 6 school board member Charisse Davis, who represents the Walton cluster.
Under eminent domain, public agencies can acquire private property for public use but must pay just compensation.
Before the vote, a resident living near the McClure property expressed surprise and concern about the possibility of eminent domain, and what may be built on the land.
“I feel heartbroken for her,” Rachel Slomovitz said, referring to McClure. She also asked “will my home be across the street from a parking garage?”
Slomovitz also said the sports facilities would add to additional traffic in the Walton area.
Caroline Holko, a former Cobb commission candidate who’s running for the Georgia House District 46 seat in East Cobb, said she didn’t like the idea of “eminent domaining an old lady out of her house for a softball field.”
Davis said while she understands those who may wonder “how can you do this?,” she said those impressions aren’t accurate.
“She was willing to sell,” she said of McClure, who inherited the land from her late husband Felton McClure, who was part of the Murdock family that owned farmland in what is now East Cobb. “She’s not living there.”
The wood-frame home that lines Pine Road (above) and was built in the 1920s has been vacant for many years, and most of the land is wooded and has never been developed.
Walton softball parents have been lobbying the board and the district to be relocated back to campus soon after having to play at Terrell Mill Park for the last six years.
Although the district has pledged to do that with funding from the current Cobb Education SPLOST 5, the team’s absence from campus has caused some issues relating to Title IX, a federal sex discrimination in education law.
Among the law’s sports provisions is for equitable resources, including facilities. The Walton boys baseball team has remained on campus, while girls softball has been displaced.
Davis said the land purchase is “the first step” toward rectifying some of those issues. “We’re going in the right direction.”
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Georgia State Sen. Brandon Beach, who announced his candidacy for the 6th Congressional District earlier this year, said Thursday he will campaign to retain his current North Fulton-based seat instead.
Beach, who was first elected to the senate in 2013, was one of several Republican candidates seeking to defeat incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath.
In a statement announced by his campaign, Beach said:
“During this campaign, I have come to realize that a calling to public service does not always mean running for higher office. After speaking with Governor Kemp this weekend, I believe that, at this time, I can help more Georgians in the positions I currently hold and be more effective in the State Senate than in Congress.”
Here’s Kemp’s response in a statement also released by the Beach campaign:
“I applaud Senator Beach for his willingness to serve in Congress but respect his decision to remain in the State Senate. Quite honestly, we need bold leadership under the Gold Dome to continue our success and keep Georgia the best place to live, work, and raise a family.”
Beach, the president of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, has been in the senate since 2013, representing District 21, which includes some of North Fulton and Cherokee counties. A resident of Alpharetta, he is the chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee.
The 6th Congressional District includes East Cobb, North Fulton, Sandy Springs and North DeKalb.
Until 2018, it had been in Republican hands for 40 years, when McBath defeated Karen Handel, who had won a 2017 special election.
Handel is running to regain that seat, along with Marjorie Taylor Greene, owner of a Milton commercial construction company, and Nicole Rodden, a former Merchant Marine.
The latest federal campaign finance reports had Handel raising $712,000 through Sept. 30 of this year, compared to $625,000 for Greene (most of that coming from the candidate) and $525,000 for Beach.
Among Beach’s campaign donors is former Atlanta Braves and Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz, who gave $2,000.
McBath, a high-profile proponent of gun-control, has raised $1.7 million this year for her re-election campaign, according to the Federal Elections Commission. That’s the 28th-highest money-raising total among U.S. House candidates, and the most for any Georgia congressional candidate.
McBath defeated Handel by less than 4,000 votes in 2018 in a race that helped the Democrats win control of the House.
The 6th District campaign figures to be hotly contested again in 2020, as Democrats have been making inroads in Republican strongholds in the north metro Atlanta suburbs.
Last month, McBath voted with House Democrats to begin an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump. Hearings began on Wednesday by the House Intelligence Committee.
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Cobb District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes announces that the annual Cobb County Candlelight Vigil and Homicide Memorial will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 19 in the Jury Assembly Room of the Cobb Superior Courthouse.
“This Evening of Remembrance pays homage to those who have been lost to violent crime. These victims were – and still are – held dear in someone’s heart,” District Attorney Holmes said. “As we see far too often, the actual victim of a homicide is not the only person the crime hurts. Those left behind suffer, too. We wish to recognize that and let them know that they are also not forgotten.”
Tangela Brooks, who lost her son, Jonathan, 22, to homicide in 2011, will be the guest speaker.
Law enforcement partners from around the county will be joining the District Attorney’s Office staff at the vigil. Kennesaw Police Chief Bill Westenberger, Cobb Police Deputy Chief Stuart Vanhoozer, and Acworth Police Chief Wayne Dennard will read the names of deceased victims during the ceremony.
“This is Cobb County’s second annual Evening of Remembrance. This vigil is important to those families who have suffered the ultimate loss of life due to murder or homicide in Cobb County in that it gives these families a special evening to remember their loved ones,” said Kim McCoy, director of the Victim Witness Unit. “Hosting an event such as this gives us, the service providers, an opportunity to honor those we serve and to remind us of why we do what we do on a daily basis. We are honored to share this event with our community.”
Gathering and refreshments will begin at 6 p.m. The ceremony will begin at 7 p.m.
Attendees may enter the Courthouse at the 70 Haynes Street entrance. Complimentary parking will be available at the Lawrence Street deck.
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Next Thursday Temple Kol Emeth will celebrate the 15th anniversary of its Ecumenical Thanksgiving Service, which includes nearly two dozen of faith communities in north metro Atlanta.
The interfaith service, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a dessert reception. Here’s more about the event:
“The Ecumenical Thanksgiving Celebration is a program that combines uplifting messages, music, and often humor to help those in attendance find common goals to benefit their local communities. During the reception after the program, guests can enjoy samples of treats from the different congregations and anyone can write their thoughts, comments or feedback about what moves them on the Wall of Words or on social media. This year’s theme is “Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
“With so much negative media about religious extremism in many religions, this evening is proof that we can coexist, can learn and can enjoy being together! We’ve been doing this for years! It is an evening you will long remember.”
Other East Cobb faith communities that will be participating include the Baha’i Faith Center, East Cobb Islamic Center, East Cobb United Methodist Church, Emerson Universalist Unitarian Congregation, Pilgrimage United Church of Christ, St. Catherine’s Episcopal Church, Transfiguration Catholic Church and Unity North Atlanta Church.
Temple Kol Emeth is located at 1415 Old Canton Road, and you’re asked to arrive at least 15 minutes before the service begins because seating for 900 people fills up quickly.
The program also will be live-streamed at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, (3155 Trickum Road), or you can view from home by clicking here.
For more information about the Ecumenical Thanksgiving Celebration, visit the Facebook page or contact Hal Schlenger at hal.schlenger@earthlink.net or Temple Kol Emeth at 770-973-3533.
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The LM Frame + Gallery store (1062 Johnson Ferry Road) is having another artists event on Sunday, and an opening reception tonight. The show is being put together by Marietta-based artist Renee Adams:
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A resolution to declare eminent domain on 15 acres of land near Walton High School will be considered Thursday by the Cobb Board of Education.
The resolution is on the Thursday evening voting session that begins at 7 p.m. at the Cobb County School District central office board room (514 Glover St., Marietta).
That meeting comes after an executive session at 5:30 p.m., during which the board will discuss personnel, legal and land business, as well as a student matter.
Last month board member Charisse Davis, who represents the Walton attendance zone, said the land was needed to relocate the Walton varsity softball and tennis teams.
They’ve been playing home competitions since 2014 at Terrell Mill Park after being displaced for the Walton classroom building that opened two years ago.
The district had been negotiating with the property owner, Thelma McClure, who had agreed to sell the land, located on two tracts at 1550 Pine Road and 1495 Pine Road.
Davis said the discussions got bogged down over price. Cobb schools is offering a sales price of $3 million, which a district spokeswoman previously told East Cobb News is 10 percent higher than an appraisal that was done.
The land had long been in the hands of the Murdock family and is mostly undeveloped. A home built in the 1920s and that fronts Pine Road has been vacant for years.
Also at the Thursday night meeting, the Pope High School softball team will be recognized for its recent state championship.
Also recognized by the board will be Davis Elementary School, which recently earned Cobb STEM certification, and Dr. Nicole Ice of Wheeler High School, the recipient of the 2019 Georgia Council of Teachers of Mathematics Gladys M. Thomason Distinguished Service Award.
The school board will hold a work session Thursday at 12:30 p.m. at the same venue. You can read the agendas for both meetings by clicking here.
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Five of the six public high schools in East Cobb will be competing in the same region next year in varsity sports.
That’s after the Georgia High School Association granted an appeal by Kell High School on Tuesday to move up to Class 6A.
The Longhorns have been competing in Class 5A, and were assigned to stay in place. But the reclassification process includes the right to appeal to move up or move down.
For the next two seasons, Region 6 of Class 6A will be all Cobb County high schools, and includes Kell, Lassiter, Pope, Sprayberry and Wheeler.
The other schools in the proposed new region will be Allatoona, Kennesaw Mountain, Osborne and South Cobb.
When GHSA made reclassification assignments last week, it moved Lassiter and Wheeler down from Class 7A. Pope and Sprayberry remain in Class 6A.
Walton remains in Class 7A, but will have different region foes. Instead of competing against Roswell, Etowah, Cherokee and Woodstock, the Raiders will be in a Region 3 field that includes Harrison, Hillgrove, Marietta, North Cobb and North Paulding.
For the last few years, only Lassiter and Walton were in the same region. Wheeler has been in a far flung region in Class 7A that includes Pebblebrook, Campbell, Westlake of Atlanta, Newnan and East Coweta.
Pope and Sprayberry were in different regions in Class 6A, and Kell’s region rivals in 5A also were spread out, from Cartersville to Rome to Carrollton.
On Friday, four East Cobb schools will compete in the GHSA football playoffs: Sprayberry at Lanier (Gwinnett County), Wheeler at Roswell, Kell at Columbia and Newnan at Walton.
The only ranked East Cobb team heading into the post-season is Kell, at No. 8 in Class 5A.
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Mindy Seger of the anti-city East Cobb Alliance debates David Birdwell of the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb. (East Cobb News photo by Wendy Parker)
After learning that the proposed City of East Cobb map would include areas she represents, Cobb commissioner JoAnn Birrell gave an emphatic answer Tuesday about what she thinks about it.
“I don’t support it,” Birrell said after pro- and anti- cityhood representatives debated before the East Cobb Business Association.
‘I don’t see how you’re going to provide better services for the same taxes you’re paying now.”
That’s what anti-cityhood advocates have been saying after the group leading the cityhood push has claimed a new municipality can deliver better services at the same tax rate East Cobb residents are paying now to the county.
For the first time, opposing forces in the cityhood issue faced one another in a forum format that included opening and closing statements and questions from the audience.
Among the crowd of nearly 200 at the Olde Towne Athletic Club was Birrell, whose District 3 includes some of east and northeast Cobb. The original proposed city boundaries included only parts of District 2, represented by commissioner Bob Ott.
Birrell said she has not heard anything from the cityhood group about revising the map, and that the only information she learned came from visiting the cityhood committee’s website.
“They’re encroaching in my district,” she said. “So now I’m being outspoken.”
Ott, whose town hall meeting in March was the first public event for the cityhood committee, has not taken a position on the issue.
There’s been speculation he would be interested in running for mayor of East Cobb if a city is created, but he hasn’t responded to that, nor has he indicated if he will be running for re-election or another office in 2020.
During the debate, David Birdwell of the cityhood group repeated many of the same points he had given at the Monday town hall meeting: That a new city, with around 115,000 residents, would give citizens more local control of their government, improve public safety, not raise taxes and develop a stronger civic identity in East Cobb.
Mindy Seger of the East Cobb Alliance, which opposes cityhood, mentioned the current staffing and retention issues facing Cobb public safety agencies and wondered “how a new city just getting its legs would be able to solve this problem better than any other city has.”
She also pressed Birdwell to reveal the identities behind those funding cityhood expenses that include a Georgia State University feasibility study ($36,000) and more recently, two high profile lobbyists for next year’s legislative session (both at more than $10,000 each).
He said three of the 14 members of the cityhood committee have real estate backgrounds (including himself). Those names are not currently listed on the group’s website, but he said he “would be glad to share it.”
“It raises suspicions about what people are doing” behind the scenes in the pro-cityhood group, Seger said.
She pressed him to name names, saying the cityhood committee has issues with a “lack of transparency.”
Birdwell said a”large group” of East Cobb residents have made donations, but he didn’t identify anyone during the forum. He said in addition to town hall meetings in the spring and Monday’s at Wheeler High School, the cityhood committee has met with homeowners associations, business groups and others.
Seger also said she had heard nothing from State Rep. Matt Dollar, the East Cobb Republican who sponsored a cityhood bill in the 2019 legislative session, in regards to the revised city maps.
“We don’t need a new city for this area,” said Seger, an accountant who has lived in East Cobb since 2006.
Birdwell argued that if real estate interests wanted to pursue high-density development in East Cobb, “they would want to keep it like it is,” meaning having zoning cases decided by county commissioners.
“If you love East Cobb the way is is,” Birdwell said, borrowing the Alliance’s slogan and holding up the opponent’s business card, “the best way to keep doing that is with incorporation.”
Birdwell said after the forum the cityhood group would like to have some more town hall meetings, ideally in December, before the legislative session begins in January.
Dollar’s bill would have to pass both houses next session for a referendum on East Cobb cityhood to take place.
Although originally eyed for the primaries next May, Birdwell said it would be “virtually impossible” to put a cityhood referendum on the ballot then, and that it would more likely be on the November 2020 general election ballot.
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East Cobb Cityhood committee leader David Birdwell unveils a revised map of the proposed city at a town hall meeting Monday. (ECN photos by Wendy Parker)
Many of the familiar talking points about East Cobb cityhood were made Monday night at a town hall meeting at Wheeler High School.
So were many of the objections to a City of East Cobb that also have been heard for many months.
What was new at the meeting organized by the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb was the proposed map for a City of East Cobb that would be larger than the original, and would include the Pope and Lassiter high school attendance zones.
Cityhood committee members said they just got the map earlier Monday from the state legislative office that draws up such boundaries.
The revision comes several months after a lobbying effort that also included citizens from the Sprayberry High School community, which for now is being left out.
“It could be added now or through annexation,” cityhood leader David Birdwell said.
The original map included most of unincorporated Cobb in Cobb commission District 2 east of I-75. That covered the Walton and most of the Wheeler attendance zones, but only a sliver of the Pope and Lassiter areas and had a population of nearly 90,000 people.
State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick
The new population figure wasn’t immediately available, but it could boost a potential City of East Cobb to the second-largest city in metro Atlanta.
‘Wait and see’
The map is part of legislation sponsored at the end of the 2019 session by State Rep. Matt Dollar (R-East Cobb), and that must pass in 2020 for a referendum to be called next fall.
Among the more than 100 people in attendance at the Wheeler auditorium was State. Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, a Republican of East Cobb who is a critical player in the process.
State law requires cityhood bills to have local sponsors in each chamber of the legislature. Kirkpatrick and State Rep. Sharon Cooper, who also was in attendance Monday, have said they have not formed an opinion on East Cobb cityhood.
The original proposed East Cobb city map.
Kirkpatrick told East Cobb News she’s been getting plenty of anti-cityhood sentiment from constituents, and that she wants to give the pro-cityhood forces a chance to “make their case.”
Her perspective, she said for now, remains “wait and see.” During the town hall, she said she would do some polling near the end of the year and said she continues to welcome feedback from citizens, no matter how they feel about the issue.
When a citizen asked Kirkpatrick about Dollar’s whereabouts, she said he had been out of the country and would be returning Tuesday.
The crowd occasionally grew boisterous during a question-and-answer period. Questions were to have been written on note cards, but some shouted out questions or made statements, often in opposition to cityhood.
The revised map would include the northeastern corner of East Cobb.
Others were concerned about how East Cobb cityhood would affect public schools. When Birdwell repeatedly said there would be no effect on schools—including the Cobb senior tax exemption—some citizens still interrupted.
By Georgia law, new cities cannot create school districts. School districts remain in such cities like Marietta, which have had them for many years.
We’ll have more from Monday’s meeting and other cityhood news after a forum on Tuesday between Birdwell and Bill Simon of the East Cobb Alliance, which opposes cityhood.
That forum will take place at a luncheon of the East Cobb Business Association.
And as soon as we get a better map of the revised City of East Cobb proposed boundaries, we’ll post that here too. Birdwell said it may take time for the state legislative office to make that available to the public.
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!
