The following East Cobb food scores from Oct. 12-23 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!
Cobb District Attorney Joyette M. Holmes announces that her office and its partners have been awarded a four-year grant worth up to $400,000 to create a Family Justice Center, where victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse can receive services in a single location.
“It is exciting that Cobb County has such great collaboration and support among victim-service providers, law enforcement and county government that we were successful in seeking out this opportunity,” DA Holmes said. “The partnering agencies are committed to the establishment of a Family Justice Center for our community so that we can serve the victim where they are rather than the victim having to seek services where the agencies are located. This streamlining of services will provide a safe place for victims and survivors to go to receive wrap-around and holistic services. I am devoted to leading in the planning, implementation, and ongoing partnership to build a Family Justice Center for Cobb County.”
Partners include LiveSAFE Resources, SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center, Inc., along with Cobb County Government, the Cobb Sheriff’s Office and Police Department, the Solicitor General’s Office, and Legal Aid of Cobb County. Partnering agencies and offices will have the opportunity to house representatives in the new center to serve victims.
Tracey B. Atwater is the Executive Director of LiveSAFE Resources.
“Too often, those seeking help after victimization must visit various service providers and agencies in order to get the assistance they need. This incredible new project will allow us and our community partners to better serve those in need by creating a collocated space, reducing barriers for victims seeking help,” she said.
Jinger Robins, Chief Executive Officer of SafePath Children’s Advocacy Center, Inc., also welcomed the project.
“What a great day for Cobb County citizens! The successful award from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council of funding for a Family Justice Center will serve all citizens in Cobb County and further ensure victims of crime are able to have the best access to all the services they deserve. SafePath is honored to be one of the partnering agencies as we work collaboratively to connect victims to services as they heal,” Robins said.
The grant is administered through Georgia’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council with federal dollars from the Victims of Crime Act. Only two other Georgia communities, Waycross and Macon, were awarded grants to create family justice centers. Savannah has the only existing center in Georgia.
The family justice center model has been identified as a best practice in the intervention and prevention of domestic violence by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women. Documented and published outcomes include reduced homicides, increased victim safety and empowerment, reduced fear and anxiety for victims and their children, and reduced recantation by victims receiving this level of support.
Agencies that provided support for Cobb’s center in the application process include Center for Family Resources; Cobb Collaborative; the Division of Family and Children’s Services; Kennesaw State University’s WellStar College of Health and Human Services; police departments of Acworth, Kennesaw and Smyrna; the Georgia Commission on Family Violence; and the Prosecuting Attorney’s Council of Georgia.
Planning and establishing the center will require significant community buy-in. Cobb’s leaders are planning a virtual community meeting in early December to begin discussions.
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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!
Cobb Elections said Wednesday that nearly 30 percent of Cobb’s roughly 540,000 registered voters have already cast their ballots, in person and via absentee.
Through Tuesday’s tallies, that breaks down to 88,053 absentee ballots that have been returned, and 72,165 votes cast at the 11 locations in the county open for early voting.
At the top of the list are the two spots in East Cobb. Through the first eight days of early voting, 9,104 ballots have been cast at the East Cobb Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road).
That’s more, at least for the moment, than the main Cobb Elections office on Whitlock Ave. in Marietta, where 8,715 votes have been cast.
Right behind that is The Art Place-Mountain View (3320 Sandy Plains Road), where 8,521 votes have been cast.
More details can be found here, and here are the daily tallies of early voting countywide:
10.12 7,729
10.13 6,865
10.14 8,123
10.15 9,411
10.16 9,835
10.17 7,391
10.19 11,282
10.20 11,529
As the daily turnout has increased, the wait times continue to go down. As of mid-afternoon Wednesday, the estimated wait times at both East Cobb locations were under an hour—50 minutes at The Art Place, and 30 minutes at the East Cobb government center.
You can check estimated wait times by clicking here; the estimates are updated periodically during the day by poll managers at each site.
Early continues through Friday of this week and Monday-Friday next week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at all of the existing locations.
Absentee ballot applications can still be requested from Cobb Elections, but you’ll need to hurry, by clicking here. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has created an absentee ballot tracker that lets you follow the status of that ballot after you return your application.
Readers have been inquiring about absentee voting issues, including the ballot tracker.
A few days ago an East Cobb resident asked about how long it takes after a ballot is placed in a drop box before a voter is notified that it’s been received and counted.
The best information we had was that it varies from location to location and by each county’s collection procedures. Cobb Elections says it collects ballots from the 16 drop boxes daily.
The reader got back in touch with us to note that he placed his ballot in the drop box at the Mountain View Regional Library (3330 Sandy Plains Road) on Friday. At 8 a.m. today, he got a message saying his ballot had been received and counted.
The other drop boxes in East Cobb are at the East Cobb government center, Sewell Mill Library (2051 Lower Roswell Road) and Gritters Library (880 Shaw Park Drive) and are available 24/7 until the polls close on election day, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m.
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Updating a story from Friday about the temporary closure of the Cobb Animal Shelter:
The county is saying two dogs have tested positive for strep zoo, and at least one canine death is being attributed to the contagious bacterial infection.
The county said late Wednesday morning that several other cats and dogs are being treated for symptoms after all the animals housed at the shelter were tested by the UGA School of Veterinary Medicine.
The county said antibiotics have been ordered, and that veterinarians think the infection came with an animal dropped off at the shelter, “but they may never be able to determine which one.”
Animals showing symptoms are being quarantined, and the shelter will reopen after treatment and when no symptoms appear among the shelter population for two weeks.
So there will be no appointments for the public for adoptions during that time, and the shelter will undergo a deep cleaning.
Any animal showing symptoms will be quarantined. Officers at the shelter will respond to calls and animals brought to the shelter while it’s closed will be kept separately.
The shelter has been open to the public for adoption and animal surrender only by appointment since COVID-19 closures in the spring.
Cobb Animal Services is also notifying anyone who recently adopted an animal from the shelter and is advising them to seek treatment for their pet if necessary.
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State Rep. Matt Dollar said he sponsored an East Cobb cityhood bill because “it was worthwhile to start a conversation.”
Although it’s been nearly a year since East Cobb cityhood proponents put their efforts on hold, candidates seeking local and state office this fall were asked at a forum Tuesday where they stood on the issue.
Among them was the lone co-sponsor of legislation that would have called for a referendum to let voters decide the matter.
State Rep. Matt Dollar reminded an audience at an East Cobb Business Association luncheon that “there was no bill to create a city.”
He was responding to questions from ECBA members, who included people attending in person and others via Zoom.
An East Cobb Republican who’s represented District 45 since 2003, Dollar said his bill—filed near the end of the 2019 legislative session and the day after cityhood proponents first faced the public—was “the start of a two-year process, and it was worthwhile to start a conversation.”
Dollar insisted that he was “not pushing cityhood,” and while at first he supported the idea of a City of East Cobb, he said the supporters of the effort “didn’t do a good job of explaining why it would be beneficial.”
The cityhood group held two other town hall meetings and the ECBA also held a debate, but no other legislators signed on as a co-sponsor, citing negative feedback from constituents.
In Georgia, cityhood bills must have a co-sponsor in the House and the Senate. State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, also an East Cobb Republican, said that “proponents of the bill need to make their case.” She never signed on to the bill and said if there was enough public support she would back a citizens’ committee to further examine the issue but “at this point it’s a moot point.”
In early December 2019 the Committee for Cityhood in East Cobb announced it would not pursue the bill, which also included a proposed city charter and outlined maps, a city court structure and mayor and council terms, with elections as early as 2021.
Sarah Tindall Ghazal, who’s running against Dollar, said his East Cobb cityhood bill “put the cart before the horse.”
State Rep. Sharon Cooper, a Republican from District 43, also didn’t co-sponsor the bill, although she asked for the required financial feasibility study that was completed in December 18 by Georgia State University researchers.
“I didn’t think there was much support,” said Cooper, who attended some of the early town halls in 2019. She said East Cobb citizens are “fat and sassy,” content with the level and quality of public services they receive, and as far as she is concerned, cityhood “now is a dead issue.”
Their Democratic opponents also stated during the forum that they strongly opposed cityhood. Christine Triebsch, an attorney who is challenging Kirkpatrick in the State Senate race, said the cityhood effort “was a colossal waste of time and energy.”
She said she was upset that as a constituent of Dollar’s she never heard anything from him about the legislation or the cityhood effort.
Sarah Tindall Ghazal, Dollar’s opponent on the Nov. 3 ballot, echoed other candidates saying a new city would create an extra layer of government and that Dollar’s bill “put the cart before the horse.”
Luisa Wakeman, who’s running against Cooper for the second election in a row, said “there’s just no support” for East Cobb cityhood.
At the ECBA forum, the two candidates for District 2 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners also said they opposed East Cobb cityhood.
Republican Fitz Johnson said he has been adamantly opposed to cityhood all along, but noted that it’s the legislature, not county elected officials, who would put a referendum before the public.
Democrat Jerica Richardson said she’s read the financial feasibility study and concluded there’s “no sustainable economic base” for a city that would be heavily residential and questioned the report’s assumptions.
“The community was not behind it,” she said.
The proposed city map was to have included all of District 2 east of Interstate 75, excluding the Cumberland Community Improvement District, and a population of nearly 100,000.
Cityhood leaders said later in 2019 that they were seeking to expand the map, based on what they were hearing from those outside the proposed city limits who wanted in.
But the East Cobb Alliance, a group opposed to cityhood, offered up a best-guess estimate in December, and a majority of county commissioners and the Cobb legislators expressed doubts about the cityhood issue.
A few days later, the cityhood effort was abandoned. David Birdwell, one of the chief spokesmen for Committee for the Cityhood in East Cobb, said at that time that “we wanted to take the time to do it right.”
The group hasn’t made any public statements since then, and its website domain has expired. An interactive map it commissioned showing the initial boundaries that bored down to the neighborhood level remains active.
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Officially, those in Cobb County government can’t openly push for the renewal of the county’s Special-Purpose Local-Option Sales Tax that’s on the ballot this year.
What’s being called the 2022 Cobb SPLOST—for the year when a new sales tax collection period would begin—doesn’t have much in the way of big-ticket items, such as new facilities, upgrades or acquisitions.
Instead, the vast majority of the $750 million in spending over six years (down from an original estimate of $810 million) would go to transportation projects, public safety improvements and community amenities, including more park space and development.
Those major items include an $8 million earmark to complete acquisition of 24 acres of land owned by Wylene Tritt next to East Cobb Park.
It’s the most expensive item on a lengthy list of “community impact projects” that the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved for the 2022 project list in May.
Another project on the list is $4 million for the repurposing of Shaw Park in Northeast Cobb and a replacement for the nearby Cobb Fire Station No. 12.
Nearly half of funding on that list would go for transportation and road improvement projects. The rest of the projects would be funded accordingly:
$82 million for public safety
$46 million in countywide projects
$32 million for community impact projects
$27.8 million for public services (parks, libraries)
$18 million combined for projects in Cobb’s six cities
$4 million for Cobb Sheriff’s Office improvements
While commissioners and official county communications to the public are noting that the SPLOST extension is on the ballot, the information is objective, for the most part.
“We can’t advocate for it,” Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce said in an August interview with East Cobb News.
Before the SPLOST officially was approved for referendum, the county held several town halls that became virtual due to COVID-19 closures.
As Cobb voters are turning out heavily in early and absentee voting, county messages on its social media platforms, e-mails and website have been regularly reminding voter of what current SPLOSTs and the current one have yielded.
A video summary opens with the reminder that “this is not a new tax!” and that the current collection period doesn’t end this year, on Dec. 31, 2020.
In recent days the county has been posting on its Facebook page a “countdown” of its “Top 10” list of SPLOST projects over time, including the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center that opened at the end of 2017.
SPLOST critics like to point out the project list has become a “slush fund” that defies the term “special use.”
We heard from such a reader over the weekend, who wrote in to say that “SPLOST funds cannot be used for maintenance and repair.”
It’s been estimated that nearly 90 percent of Cobb DOT’s budget comes in SPLOST funds for just those purposes, which form the backbone of the items on the 2022 wish list.
Boyce was mindful of how the Atlanta Transportation SPLOST went down to heavy defeat in 2012, saying that those pushing for that tax disregarded what they were hearing from voters.
Even in spite of the disconnected nature of virtual town halls and indirect feedback in recent months, he said he feels confident that “we’ve done our homework.”
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We got a message about this recently, and now Cobb County government is getting out the word warning about pine straw scammers who are coming to neighborhoods.
A reader told us that earlier this month an incident happened to a neighbor in East Cobb, after three men in a pickup truck were driving a utility trailer full of pine straw, promising to lay it down for $5 a bale.
The reader said the workers did the job, but then wanted much more money than the agreed-upon price. After an argument, the resident gave them some of the money they demanded for them to go away, afraid of retaliation.
The reader said there may have been a similar incident in the Providence Walk subdivision but with a different vehicle.
Here’s the message the county is getting out to the public:
Workers approach homeowners and explain they are in the area working and have extra pine straw and offer to sell and spread the pine straw for approximately $4 per bale. Depending on the size of the yard the agreement is to spread approximately 10-50 bales of pine straw.
At some point, the workers re-contact the homeowner and say that it will take more pine straw than anticipated to complete the job and the homeowner agrees with the assumption it will only take a few more bales to complete the job. When the workers finish the job they advise the homeowner they installed approximately 4 times the bales the homeowner anticipated.
The workers then try to collect several thousands of dollars for the work they claim they did. In most of the cases, the homeowners start negotiating a rate higher than agreed upon initially but lower than the workers are asking simply to get them to leave.
What to do:
Use extreme caution when dealing with walk-up salespeople.
Ask them for a business card or website so that you can research the business before they start the work.
If possible obtain the business name, employee names, phone numbers, and tag numbers.
Check for a Cobb County Business License and Better Business Bureau review.
If it is a verbal agreement, record the conversation, agree on the specific work that you want to be done, and agree on a specific final price. Before any work starts.
Trying to save a few dollars is not worth it. Use a local reputable company that is established, licensed, and insured.
If you feel that you are being scammed or intimidated to pay a higher amount immediately call 911 to have the issue reported and hopefully resolved.
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A Louisiana rapper arrested at a home on Columns Drive in East Cobb after a domestic incident Friday is being held without bond on a fugitive warrant, according to Cobb court records.
Javorius Tykies Scott, 22, of Bogalusa, La., also known as “JayDaYoungan,” was taken into custody late Friday on a misdemeanor charge of battery and family violence for attacking a woman at the residence, located on Columns Drive near Rivercliff Trace.
His arrest warrant states that Scott “did punch, push and grab” an individual, “leaving visible marks and scars” on the accuser’s arms.
The warrant further stated that Scott and his accuser were “living or formerly living in the same household.”
Cobb Sheriff’s Office records show Scott posted a $1,320 bond for that charge, but another warrant was taken out against him on charges stemming from a February arrest in Houston, Texas.
According to the fugitive warrant, Scott was arrested on a domestic abuse charge of hitting a pregnant woman, and possession of a controlled substance. According to news reports there, he was found by police hiding in an attic of a home.
In April, Scott was arrested in Senoia, Ga., on charges of marijuana possession with intent to distribute, narcotics possession and tampering with evidence. That incident included the arrest of a murder suspect and others on weapons and drug charges at an Airbnb home.
A news report in Newnan said a Coweta County’s Sheriff’s Office investigator said Scott was reportedly in the Atlanta area shooting a video and “possibly buying a property in Marietta.” The owner of the Columns Drive home where Scott was arrested is neither him nor his accuser, according to Cobb Tax Assessor’s office records.
A second fugitive warrant taken out against Scott in Cobb was dismissed, but he remained in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center without bond late Monday afternoon, according to Cobb Sheriff’s Records.
The initial fugitive warrant states that officials in Harris County, Texas, intend to extradite Scott.
Scott has recorded several rap singles that have received multi-million impressions on various digital media platforms and he’s also released several mixtape albums.
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After the first week of early voting in Cobb County, and three weeks after absentee voting began, Cobb Elections figures show nearly a quarter of registered voters in the county have cast their ballots.
Through Saturday’s early voting, a total of 49,354 voters cast their ballots at nine locations.
In addition, 86,302 absentee ballots have been returned, out of more than 172,000 requested by county voters.
That’s 135,656 voters in all out of the roughly 520,000 registered voters in Cobb County who have voted.
Early voting continues the next two weeks and includes two more locations, in Powder Springs and Kennesaw. The East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road) and The Art Place (3320 Sandy Plains Road) continue as early voting locations, from 7-7 Monday-Friday this week and next, and this Saturday from 8-5.
Thus far, 5,924 people have voted at The Art Place, and 6,347 at the East Cobb government center.
Cobb GIS has developed an an interactive map of estimated wait times and as of mid-afternoon Monday those were 105 minutes at the East Cobb government center and 45 minutes at The Art Place.
Voters can go to any early voting location regardless of where they live, or drop off absentee ballots at any of 16 secure drop boxes in the county, including four in East Cobb (see links below). They’re open 24/7 until 7 p.m. on Nov. 3, when the polls close on election day.
Absentee ballot applications can be requested through Oct. 30 from Cobb Elections by clicking here. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has created an absentee ballot tracker that lets you follow the status of that ballot after you return your application.
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Last week the Cobb Board of Commissioners approved spending $40 million in federal CARES Act funds to help more than 3,000 small businesses with relief grants.
Those grants are being used primarily to pay and hire employees, and can be used to meet other basic expenses, such as rent and utilities.
The vote was 5-0, and came after commissioners reworked the terms of a memorandum of understanding to distribute the remainder of an original $50 million allotment for businesses suffering from COVID-19 shutdowns.
Commissioners approved $7.5 million in relief grants in July to 409 businesses. Those recipients were chosen by a committee chosen by Select Cobb, the economic development office of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce, which was hired by the county to distribute the funds.
Many of the applicants had received federal relief funding under the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) or through the U.S. Small Business Administration, which wasn’t originally permitted in order to get a county CARES Act grant.
Amounts varied depending on whether a business had received PPP/SBA funding. The general limit on those businesses was $11,700, while the top tier for businesses who had not received other aid was $20,000.
A total of 3,647 businesses were approved for the CARES Act funds from the county and are listed as follows:
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The Senior Citizen Council of Cobb County celebrated National Senior Citizen Day by selecting six outstanding Cobb senior citizens to receive Life Achievement proclamations from Cobb County. These distinguished individuals were presented with their proclamations in a ceremony at the Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting on October 13.
The Life Achievement award recipients were called up separately and Commissioners JoAnn Birrell and Keli Gambrill read their individual proclamations aloud. The six honorees were Dr. Julie Bolen, Dr. Betty Ann Cook, Ms.Shelle O’Loughlin, Ms. Jessica Townley, Ms. Jeanene Abernathy, and Ms. Mildred White (who was unable to attend).
All of the honorees have a lifetime of professional accomplishment and years of devotion to the betterment of the Cobb community. A video of the awards ceremony can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8U_bsby-WQ&t=278s.
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Send the body of your announcement, calendar item or news release IN TEXT FORM ONLY in the text field of your e-mail template. Reformatting text from PDF, JPG and doc files takes us longer to prepare your message for publication.
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That’s a new record, and compares to 14,288 for a similar period in 2016 and 5,536 in 2012.
At the East Cobb Government Service Center, there were 3,954 ballots cast during from Monday-Thursday, and 3,643 at The Art Place-Mountain View.
Although waiting lines were longer earlier in the week—as elections officials observed social-distancing measures and sorted through some technical issues—more voters turned out later in the week.
More than 1,000 people turned out on Wednesday and Thursday at both East Cobb locations after those numbers were in triple figures on Monday and Tuesday.
Some lines on Monday were several hours in some places, and polling managers were providing occasional updates during the day on a Cobb GIS interactive map.
On Friday, those wait times were an hour or two at the East Cobb locations, but elections officials have said voters can go to any location in the county regardless of where they live.
Saturday was the first of two weekend days for early voting, and as of 1 p.m. the estimated wait time at The Art Place is 45 minutes and at the East Cobb government center it’s 30 minutes.
Early voting will take place Monday-Friday for the next two weeks from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and next Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at all of the existing locations.
As was the case during the primary, however, more people have already voted via absentee ballot. A total of 69,394 absentee ballots have been returned to Cobb Elections, which has sent out 169,868 absentee ballots upon request.
Absentee ballot applications can be requested through Oct. 30 from Cobb Elections by clicking here. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has created an absentee ballot tracker that lets you follow the status of that ballot after you return your application.
More information about absentee balloting can be found at the top story link below, including drop box locations that are open 24/7 until the polls close on election day, Nov. 3.
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On Friday, October 16th, The Janice Overbeck Real Estate Team held an appreciation barbeque lunch to honor local police, firemen, EMT’s and military personnel. The Capital City Home Loans grilling food truck served up burgers and hotdogs with a variety of sides sponsored by other local partners.
Attendees were welcome to use the “social distancing patio” to enjoy their meal or take it on the road. Event sponsors and members of the Janice Overbeck Real Estate Team had a great time serving the 85+ guests and appreciating them for what they do day-to-day.
Additional sponsors for the event included: Arrow Exterminators, First American Home Warranty, Amerispec Home Inspection, Chick-fil-A East Lake, Panera Bread and Perrie & Associates. Local Cobb County and surrounding area first responders, police, fire, detective units and military were all invited. Lunch was also packed up and delivered to Cobb County 911 dispatch.
For more information on community events at the Janice Overbeck Team office, visit: www.JaniceOverbeck.com.
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Let East Cobb News know what your organization is doing, or share news about what people are doing in the community—accomplishments, recognitions, milestones, etc.
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Send the body of your announcement, calendar item or news release IN TEXT FORM ONLY in the text field of your e-mail template. Reformatting text from PDF, JPG and doc files takes us longer to prepare your message for publication.
We accept PDFs as an accompaniment to your item. Images are fine too, but we prefer those to be JPG files (more than jpeg and png). PLEASE DO NOT send photos inside a PDF or text or any other kind of file. Of course, send us links that are relevant to your message so we can direct people to your website.
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The organizers of the Sprayberry PTSA Arts & Crafts Show were holding out hope of having their 38th event later in November, and had been holding some virtual shopping events for customers and to help out vendors.
Many of our crafters did not feel comfortable participating given COVID-19 concerns and we share their concern as well as the concern we have for our shoppers and volunteers. We realize that while some will support our decision, others will not. Please know it was made with much consideration, discussion, and thought. We appreciate all the support that has been provided to our school through the attendance of the Arts & Crafts Show for 37 years. We have been able to provide thousands of dollars in student scholarships, teacher grants, and support programs throughout our school; benefitting our teachers, students, and families. Our 38th show will take place in November 2021 and we can’t wait to see you there!
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From left, Delta Community Credit Union Manager Jill Dent, Sedalia Park Elementary School Assistant Principal Kahilah Rachel and Sedalia Park Elementary Support Staff Specialist Aunquize Perkins
Submitted information and photo:
To show gratitude for teachers’ ongoing commitment to quality education during the COVID-19 health crisis, Delta Community Credit Union’s East Cobb location recently delivered care packages to teachers at Sedalia Park Elementary School.
The manager of the Delta Community branch on Johnson Ferry Road presented gift bags with snacks and personal supplies, such as hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes, and personalized thank you notes for the school’s teachers and support personnel.
“Thank you for giving so much of your time, and your heart, to children and our community,” said Jill Dent, manager of Delta Community’s Johnson Ferry Road branch. “This year, we are especially grateful for all you are doing, every day, for students in East Cobb.”
Sedalia Park Elementary, located at 2230 Lower Roswell Road, is one of 18 schools that Delta Community serves as a Partner in Education. The credit union, which is the largest in Georgia, has three branches and administrative headquarters in Cobb County.
Send Us Your News!
Let East Cobb News know what your organization is doing, or share news about what people are doing in the community—accomplishments, recognitions, milestones, etc.
Pass along your details to: [email protected], and please observe the following guidelines to ensure we get everything properly and can post it promptly.
Send the body of your announcement, calendar item or news release IN TEXT FORM ONLY in the text field of your e-mail template. Reformatting text from PDF, JPG and doc files takes us longer to prepare your message for publication.
We accept PDFs as an accompaniment to your item. Images are fine too, but we prefer those to be JPG files (more than jpeg and png). PLEASE DO NOT send photos inside a PDF or text or any other kind of file. Of course, send us links that are relevant to your message so we can direct people to your website.
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Cobb County government said Friday afternoon that the county animal shelter has closed temporarily because “an unknown illness has affected dogs and cats in the shelter.”
The county said in the announcement that the University of Georgia is conducting tests with the results coming early next week.
Until then, adoption appointments with the public are being cancelled.
The shelter, located in the Cobb government services complex on County Services Road west of Marietta, closed for two weeks last October due to a strep zoo outbreak.
Two dogs at the shelter died from the contagious virus and the facility was thoroughly cleaned.
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Eleven elementary schools in the Cobb County School District reported confirmed COVID-19 cases this week, including Rocky Mount ES in East Cobb.
The district updated its COVID-19 case total on Friday, and it showed 25 new cases from last week, the first for elementary schools students who opted to return for in-person learning.
Since July 1, a total of 349 cases among students and staff have been reported in the Cobb school district. Last week, that number was 324.
The schools reporting cases this week are all different from last week, and all of them are reporting 10 or fewer cases. They include:
Acworth Intermediate
Bullard ES
Chalker ES
Frey ES
Hollydale ES
Mableton ES
Milford ES
Rocky Mount ES
Still ES
Varner ES
The figures do not distinguish between students, teachers and other staff. Last week, Blackwell, Eastvalley, Nicholson, Powers Ferry and Shallowford Falls in East Cobb reported COVID cases but none this week.
The district explained that in accordance with student and health privacy laws, “the Georgia Department of Public Health recommends refraining from publicly publishing numbers of cases or quarantined students or staff that are less than 10 unless the number is 0.”
Cobb and Douglas Public health will “communicate confirmed cases to affected students/staff/ parents,” according to CCSD protocols.
Those guidelines also state that those who test positive “will isolate until 10 consecutive days have passed from their positive COVID-19 test and they are asymptomatic.”
At a Cobb Board of Education work session Thursday, superintendent Chris Ragsdale said the district has ordered a variety of personal protective equipment, including masks and plexiglass dividers as well as cleaning supplies.
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Cobb school teachers who have to quarantine for possible exposure to COVID-19 while on the job won’t have to use personal sick time, according to superintendent Chris Ragsdale.
At a Cobb Board of Education work session Thursday, he told the board that “we’re not going to punish our employees for doing their job.”
His remarks came near the end of the first two weeks of in-person learning for elementary school students and with middle school students returning to classrooms on Monday.
Paying reachers for a first quarantine period of 14 days is covered at the federal level. Ragsdale said if a teacher is forced to quarantine a second time under Georgia Department of Public Health guidelines, the Cobb County School District will cover that pay.
That’s as long as teachers or other district employees must quarantine due to exposure that takes place on the job. If not, they’d have to use personal sick leave.
Ragsdale was making his customary superintendent’s remarks during the work session, which marked the first board meeting in person since February. The board also was holding a voting meeting Thursday night at the CCSD’s central office.
There were no other agenda or board items to discuss school reopening issues at the work session, and when board member Charisse Davis tried to ask other questions along those lines, Ragsdale protested.
“It’s not fair for us to take questions that we weren’t prepared for,” Ragsdale said.
Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters, said she was asking on behalf of district employees who are “stressed, concerned and anxiety-ridden” about returning to school.
Ragsdale said any communications from employees should be sent to him and that he was “concerned about the number of questions” about issues not on the agenda or in response to his remarks.
He said “I want to focus on all the awesome, positive things” district employees and teachers have been doing in reopening schools.
At that point, board member David Banks, who had requested to issue his own comments praising the district’s preparations, tried to chime in, and other colleagues interrupted him.
“Let’s just calm down here,” board chairman Brad Wheeler said.
After other board members pressed Ragsdale on how the district is communicating reopening plans and health and safety measures, Banks once again asked to be heard.
“You’re out of order,” Wheeler said.
Said Banks, who represents the Lassiter and Pope clusters: “You just allowed [others] to spout off. No thank you to the teachers? Administration? I object.”
“You’re out of order,” Wheeler repeated.
In other matters, Davis wanted to discuss incorporating the district’s mask mandate into its dress code policy.
But she dropped her request after Ragsdale reiterated that students who return to school and refuse to wear masks will be subject to the student code of conduct.
He said putting a mask requirement into the dress code policy isn’t necessary because “we believe this is going to be a temporary situation.
“Hopefully that day will come soon so that we can downgrade that requirement.”
While all students, teachers and staff are required to wear masks, three of the six board members who were present were not wearing masks.
Attendance was limited to board members, the superintendent and his executive cabinet due to social-distancing guidelines. The board also did not have staff and student recognitions at its evening meeting.
Ragsdale explained the mask differences by noting that board members were sitting six feet apart and therefore following health protocols.
Those wearing masks were Davis, Jaha Howard and Randy Scamihorn. Banks, Wheeler and David Chastain did not, nor did the superintendent.
Board member David Morgan was absent from both meetings.
Members of the public could address the board at the start of both meetings. Three spoke at each session, but they were brought in one at a time, and had to leave the building after they made their remarks.
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
We’ve been getting questions from readers about the absentee ballot process, and given the lines that continue during early voting in Cobb County, we’ve got some updated answers and information.
First of all, before you go to any early voting location in the county, you can check estimated wait times at this interactive map.
More than 168,000 absentee ballots have been sent to Cobb voters (the county has around 518,000 registered voters), and 61,670 absentee ballots have been returned.
The absolute deadline for requesting one is Oct. 30, but Cobb Elections director Janine Eveler said ideally requests should be made no later than Oct. 27.
Absentee ballot applications can be requested from Cobb Elections by clicking here. The Georgia Secretary of State’s office has created an absentee ballot tracker that lets you follow the status of that ballot after you return your application.
Some readers have been asking if they can still vote in-person if they’ve received an absentee ballot, and the answer to that is that they can.
Georgia is among the states that allows voters to do that, but the process of cancelling a ballot at the polls adds to the wait times. You’re asked to bring your absentee ballot with you; you won’t be able to vote in person until your absentee ballot is cancelled.
There are cancellation instructions that can be found here. If you don’t have your ballot with you when you arrive at the poll on the Nov. 3 election day, you’ll have to fill out an affidavit and poll workers will have to call the Cobb Elections office to have the ballot cancelled.
If you’re planning to vote via absentee ballot, the packet of materials you’ll get in the mail from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office (in the photo at top) includes four separate items: the ballot, a sheet with instructions, and two envelopes.
You must mark your ballot with blue or black ink only, and fill in the entire oval next to the name of the candidate you wish to vote for. The process is the same for voting for a write-in candidate and for ballot issues.
Don’t make an “X” or use check marks or vote for more than one candidate in a race.
If you make an error or spoil your ballot immediately contact Cobb Elections to get a replacement.
When you’re finished, fold the ballot and place it in the smaller envelope that says “OFFICIAL ABSENTEE BALLOT” on the front and seal it. Then place that envelope in the larger envelope with a yellow stripe on the left and seal that.
Make sure you sign the back of the larger envelope where it says “Oath of Elector” and print out your name below that.
If you wish to mail your absentee ballot, include your return address and proper postage. Mail-in ballots must be postmarked by no later than 7 p.m. on election day, Nov. 3.
You can also drop off that ballot at any of the 16 absentee ballot locations in the county (listings here) 24/7 up through 7 p.m. election day, Nov. 3, when the polls close.
In East Cobb those drop boxes are located at the following:
East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road)
In-person early voting lines that had been 8 hours or longer in some parts of the county (and 4-5 from what we heard from voters in East Cobb) on Monday have been shorter as the week went on.
As of noon Thursday, the estimates were three hours at the East Cobb Government Service Center (4400 Lower Roswell Road) and an hour, 20 minutes at The Art Place-Mountain View (3330 Sandy Plains Road).
Those estimates fluctuate throughout the day, and there is no regular schedule for them to be updated.
Eveler said those numbers are revised by poll managers “as they see a change in conditions at that location.”
The estimates are provided to guide voters about when and where they may want to vote in advance.
A total of 22,717 people have voted early through the first three days, Monday-Wednesday. That includes 2,733 people at the East Cobb government center and 2,422 at The Art Place.
Eveler said all of the locations are fully staffed but “but it’s a three-week schedule so it is constantly evolving as people’s situations change,” such as illnesses and no-shows.
Early voting continues in Cobb Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Oct. 30 and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the next two Saturdays, Oct. 17 and 24.
Due to social-distancing guidelines each early voting location has between 6-9 voting machines. Here’s how that breaks down:
That’s another reason why Cobb Elections officials have been encouraging voters to vote via absentee ballot.
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!
After an East Cobb representative to the Cobb Board of Education accused two of his fellow members of stoking racial antagonisms, one of those colleagues has fired back.
Charisse Davis, who represents the Walton and Wheeler clusters, issued a lengthy broadside at Post 5 member David Banks on her official board member Facebook page, saying that “while I usually ignore the ignorant remarks made by some of my board colleagues, today I cannot.”
She was referring to comments Banks made in an East Cobb News candidate profile last Thursday about racial and cultural issues in the Cobb County School District.
Among them were criticisms that Davis and Jaha Howard, both black Democratic first-term members, were making race an issue “where it has ‘never been before… I think they feel like they can get votes that way.’ ”
Banks, a retired technology consultant and business owner, has represented the Pope and Lassiter clusters for three terms. He is one of three Republican incumbents running for re-election in November and is facing first-time Democratic candidate Julia Hurtado.
The board’s vice chairman this year, Banks has said the district doesn’t have the racial and cultural issues that Davis and Howard have raised. They’ve called for the district to create the position of chief equity officer and wanted language in a now-failed anti-racism resolution to include the reference to ‘”systemic racism.”
Banks objected to that term, and said later in the East Cobb News candidate profile that he thought the Cobb district’s biggest challenge was avoiding “white flight” that he said has adversely affected the Atlanta, DeKalb and other metro school districts.
Cobb, with nearly 113,000 students, has become a majority-minority district, with roughly 60 percent of its student body being non-white.
In her Facebook message posted a few hours after the East Cobb News story, Davis said that “it seems as if my colleague, although on this Earth much longer than me, has forgotten a bit of the history of our dear Cobb County.”
She linked to a 2011 story in Patch noting that the Cobb school board didn’t vote to integrate until 1965, 11 years after the Brown v. Board of Education U.S. Supreme Court ruling outlawing segregation in schools. It wasn’t until 1970, Davis said, that “the schools were fully integrated. Y’all, that’s 1970! Ten years before I was born. We’re not talking about some ancient time ago.
“Any critical thinker can recognize that this level of racism would have a long-lasting impact.”
(Blackwell Elementary School in East Cobb was the first school in the Cobb district to enroll black students, during the 1966-67 school year.)
Davis also cited the 2011 article about a meeting in 1960 of group called the Cobb County White Citizens for Segregation. They gathered at Sedalia Park Elementary School in East Cobb—currently in Banks’ post and where Hurtado’s daughter is a student—and worked to boycott businesses that didn’t support keeping public schools all-white.
The group took out an ad in The Marietta Daily Journal, which Davis didn’t mention by name but referenced as “the kind of paper that would gladly run that type of ad (you know who!).”
The newspaper has been occasionally critical of Davis and Howard in its editorial pages. In July, columnist Dick Yarbrough wrote about open turmoil on the school board during discussion of racism in Cobb schools, saying that “if there is anything noteworthy emanating from these squabbles, it is that arrogance is colorblind.”
He referred to Howard, who is a dentist, as Dr. Frick, and Davis as Madame Frack.
As for Banks’ comments in the East Cobb News profile that there are “black-on-black” issues that are more cultural and socioeconomic in Cobb today, Davis wrote that “my colleague goes on to spew racist trash that I won’t include in my post.”
She said that “the diversity of this county is one of its greatest strengths. This is no longer the county you may have fled to because you wanted to get away from black and brown people, and if that’s your thing…you may need to pack up your hate and keep it moving.”
When asked by East Cobb News to describe her working relationship with Banks and if she had discussed racial issues with him, Davis said she would have no further comment. The school board will meet in person Thursday for the first time since February.
Many commenters to Davis’ post were in support of her remarks, including Howard, who wrote that “sometimes deep rooted bigotry throws rocks and doesn’t feel like hiding its hand, visible for all to see. Often times really nice people witness bigotry, but won’t be bothered to boldly reject it. Every time, it’s hurtful to its target audience.”
But a reader named John Hubbard said Banks “is 100% correct here. This is a new low. East Cobb schools are the stars of the county. Accusing people of moving to East Cobb to send their kids to a great public school only because they are ‘racist’ and scared of ‘brown people’ is the dumbest thing I’ve ever read. We don’t need you renaming and ruining our schools.
“You should be ashamed of yourself as an elected official for posting something this stupid and incendiary.”
Davis replied, “sounds like you will also be one of the ones packing up!”
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!
