Last summer the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road) staged the inaugural “Minicon,” a day-long celebration of the arts and crafts of comics, sci-fi, fantasy, anime and gaming. On Saturday, it’s coming back for its second year, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The schedule is similar, including a costume contest (as seen above last year), along with gaming and other demos, cosplay and other workshops, face painting, food, vendors and many other activities.
What follows below more detailed list of what’s being featured. Anyone in the public is welcome to attend, and there is no admission:
Artists and Vendors:
BUTTON GIRL
CAIN 9 SEWING DESIGNS
DORIAN DARKSTAR
DOUBLE PRIMER
EK STUDIO
FELT NERDY
FLINT & FEATHER
GEMINI AND THE WOLF CANDLES
GENE MARKEY
GIGA-BITES CAFE
GOTHBOT
THE HAPPY KAT
JEWELRY BY JACK COLLINS
KNITS BY CAREY
LEGACY A.D.
MARK’S MUGS
MARLENA FRANK
MEGANEBII
MORBID SMILE
P.C. HESTER
SHINY TURTLE STUDIOS
WE THE DREAMING DESIGNS
Food:
COOL BEANS COFFEE
DADDY O’BRIEN’S ICE CREAM
GOOD FOOD
TOM + CHEE
ZAXBY’S
Featured Panel:
THE GREAT JAWA BUILD WITH GEORGIA 501ST
Workshops:
COSPLAY Q&A
FX MAKEUP FOR BEGINNERS
MINIATURES PAINTING* (Limited Space. First come first served)
WEB COMICS
ZINE MAKING
Featured Activities:
COSPLAY CONTEST (ADULTS AND TEENS)
CHILDREN’S COSTUME PARADE
CRAFTS
DEMOS BY THE MAKER STATION
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
FACE PAINTING
FANDOM MEETUPS
PALM READINGS BY HANDFUL OF STARS ($20)
PATHFINDER
TABLETOP GAMING WITH GIGA-BITES CAFE
TRIVIA
For information contact the Sewell Mill Library at 770-509-2711.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A second round of public meetings concerning the development of new Cobb parks properties begins this week and continues into August.
The only property purchased in East Cobb with funding from the 2008 Parks bond program is on Ebenezer Road (above).
A meeting seeking public input to guide that master plan takes place on Wednesday, Aug. 7, in the sanctuary of the Noonday Baptist Church (4121 Canton Road), from 6:30-8 p.m.
Cobb Parks previously hosted a series of public input meetings to discuss planning for the future of new park properties purchased through the 2008 PARKS Bond program.
Although there is currently no funding for the development of these properties, public input is being sought in the planning for future development once funding is identified.
Comments and information from the first meeting involving the proposed Ebenezer Road Park in February can be found below:
The schedule for other Cobb Parks master plan meetings is as follows:
District 1: Anderson property — Thursday, July 18. West Cobb Senior Center, 4915 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs
District 1: Price property — Wednesday, July 31. West Cobb Senior Center, 4915 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs
District 1: Kemp property — Monday, Aug. 5. West Cobb Senior Center, 4915 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs
District 4: Henderson property — Thursday, Aug. 8. South Cobb Community Center, 620 Lions Club Drive, Mableton
District 4: Old Westside property — Monday, Aug. 12. Ron Anderson Recreation Center, 3820 Macedonia Road, Powder Springs.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Rev. Clay Smith and his wife, Terrica, and their children, Madison, Molly and Miller.
On Sunday morning Johnson Ferry Baptist Church announced during its services that a call has been issued to Rev. Clay Smith to be its new senior pastor.
Smith is currently the senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Matthews, N.C. (a suburb of Charlotte) and most of his ministry has been spent in the Carolinas.
He’s a native of Greenville, S.C., and earned a master’s degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where he is currently a Ph.D. student.
According to George Ethridge and John Farish, co-chairs of the Johnson Ferry senior pastor search committee, Smith will be preaching all five services on Aug. 4 as the church’s sole candidate to succeed the Rev. Bryant Wright, who announced in November he would be retiring.
Wright is the founding pastor at Johnson Ferry, which started in 1981, and later became a president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
In a video message also unveiled Sunday, Wright said that “there is no doubt in my mind that Clay Smith is the man that God has chosen for this role.”
Here’s more about Smith from a message Johnson Ferry is sharing with the community:
His central passion for ministry revolves around the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). This includes a biblical concentration in three major areas: evangelism, relational discipleship and missions.
Clay has been the Senior Pastor of First Baptist, Matthews, NC since August of 2014. Prior to that he was Minister of Adults under Dick Lincoln at Shandon Baptist in Columbia, SC from 2008 to 2014, and Associate Pastor, Outreach & Education at Alice Drive Baptist in Sumter, SC from 2005-2008. While in seminary at Southwestern Baptist in Ft. Worth, TX, Clay served as an Intern to Senior Pastors Dr. Jack Graham & Dr. David McKinley at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, TX from 2002-2005. In his free time he enjoys running, playing golf, reading (history) and looking for great greasy spoon restaurants. In addition, you will also find him pulling for his alma mater, the South Carolina Gamecocks.
Clay’s life verse is Galatians 2:20 (NASB). “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself up for me.”
All congregants are invited to view the recap below from the Senior Pastor Search Committee to see how the Lord has been evident throughout the search process.
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!
Andy Lee White, at left, an East Cobb resident and author of the newly published “Atlanta Pop in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s” writes in to say that he and his co-author, John Williams, at right, will be having a signing event July 26 on the Marietta Square.
Their book, published in April by Arcadia Publishing and the History Press, focuses on Bill Lowery, an Atlanta music talent scout and promoter who discovered and developed homegrown Cobb County talent that includes Billy Joe Royal, Joe South and Ray Stevens.
Lowery also launched the careers of Atlanta natives Tommy Roe and Jerry Reed and managed and recorded The Tams. The emergence of Lynyrd Skynyrd, .38 Special, Atlanta Rhythm Section and Classics IV also are included in this book, which covers a critical period in the history of Southern rock and popular music.
White and his wife Trisha operate the Your Extra Attic storage business on Lower Roswell Road near Johnson Ferry Road, but he’s also a singer, songwriter and musician who’s played live music and released two solo albums.
His most recent album, he says, is being completed with Rodney Mills, the noted Atlanta-area music producer and engineer.
This is White’s first book (he’s working on another, he says, that will include “some local Cobb County names and personalities and centers around a story that, for the most part, takes place in Marietta.” Williams, who has taught English at LaGrange college, is a published author, essayist, playwright and novelist.
The book signing event will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. July 26 at The Local Exchange (130 S. Park Square), and books can be purchased on-site.
The event takes place right before an 8 p.m. concert at Glover Park featuring The Tams, an Atlanta-based vocal group that had several hit records in the 1960s, including “What Kind of Fool (Do You Think I Am)” and “Be Young Be Foolish and Be Happy.”
“Atlanta Pop” features a chapter on the Tams, who also are included on the book’s cover, and who are scheduled to appear at the book signing.
The authors have created a Facebook page with more information about the book and related events.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Jill Dent, the branch manager of the Delta Community Credit Union branch on Johnson Ferry Road, and Regional Manager Eddie Johnson, the former East Cobb manager.
Submitted information and photo:
The Delta Community Credit Union branch at 1205 Johnson Ferry Road has a new manager. While the role is new to Jill Dent, her passion for serving members, especially at this branch, is not. She worked in customer service positions for more than a decade before coming to work for the Cobb County-based credit union.
“I’ve also been a member of Delta Community for more than 20 years, so I knew that any credit union that takes such good care of me as a customer would also be a good employer,” explained Dent. “I came to work in our Johnson Ferry Branch in 2016, and now I love this team, and I love this community.”
After beginning her career at Delta Community as a Member Service Agent, Dent was promoted to Assistant Manager of the Johnson Ferry branch in 2017. This month, she was tapped for the manager position after former manager Eddie Johnson was promoted to oversee all the Delta Community locations in North Fulton and Cobb County.
“We have a large number of business members who do their company’s banking here, thanks to the large number of nearby restaurants, retail stores and medical offices in East Cobb,” said Johnson. “Our members have very high expectations for hands-on customer service, and many of them will ask for a specific teller by name, and are willing to wait to see their favorite. Jill is well prepared to address members’ needs for trustworthy, dependable financial advice and products.”
Dent says she plans to continue being involved in community events, such as the East Cobber Festival, and partnerships with nearby schools like Walton and Pope High. But most of all, she’s excited to continue offering the superior service to our members they have come to expect.
“Many of our members visit on a regular basis – sometimes twice a week,” added Dent. “We have many wonderful opportunities to help them with their day-to-day banking needs, and also with those more complex, ‘lifetime’ milestones, such as buying a new home, or opening a business. I’m excited and grateful for the opportunity to help.”
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
After another standstill over a proposed annexation and rezoning case on Lower Roswell Road that has dragged on for months, the Marietta City Council voted Wednesday to continue the delay.
By a 5-1 vote, the council approved a measure that would “stay” the annexation and rezoning proposals, along with related action to update the city’s future land use plan, for 90 days.
That’s to provide time for all the parties to discuss Cobb County’s objection to the rezoning based on density grounds and possibly to reschedule mediation between the city and county that was called off last month.
The stay was proposed by council member Michelle Cooper-Kelly, whose East Marietta ward would include the 7.46 acres at Lower Roswell and the Loop that Traton Homes wants to develop into 52 townhomes and single-family homes.
Residents in the adjacent Sewell Manor neighborhood in unincorporated Cobb have opposed the proposal, saying it’s too dense and would worsen traffic woes they face daily.
Many of them were on hand in Marietta council chambers Wednesday, bringing yellow “Save East Cobb” signs they have used during their fight.
Because of the proposed density of the project—nearly seven units an acre—the county had the right to object, but didn’t formalize that stance in January until it was too late.
The Marietta council twice delayed voting on the annexation and rezoning, which was recommended for denial by the city planning commission in April.
Last month Cobb commissioner Bob Ott met with Sewell Manor residents about their concerns, and told them there’s nothing legally preventing Marietta from annexing and rezoning the land.
A couple weeks later, another notice went up in Sewell Manor about Wednesday’s agenda item, but some residents said they weren’t sure until the last minute what might transpire.
The only council member voting against the delays on Wednesday was Joseph Goldstein, also of East Marietta, who urged there be public hearings before the 90-day period ends.
Cooper-Kelly’s motion would allow Traton, if nothing else happens, to withdraw its application after 90 days without prejudice, meaning it could refile and restart the annexation and rezoning process.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
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!
Shane Spink of the Sprayberry Crossing Action group told East Cobb News there’s still not a conceptual plan for a possible mixed-use development.
Some of the group’s leaders, including Spink, met last week with the developer, who’s been identified as Atlantic Residential of Atlanta, that specializes in residential and mixed-use developments.
The group, which counts more than 4,700 followers on Facebook, was informed last month about the developer’s interest, after years of haggling with the county and NAI Brannen Goddard, the managing agent for the Sprayberry Crossing Partnership owners, to do something about a long-standing eyesore at Sandy Plains and Piedmont.
Spink said while he was encouraged that the developer wants to get community input, “the details were a little fuzzy and I’m not sure they know exactly what they want to do there, mainly because there could be some larger commercial involved that would take up more space. This was a grocery chain and that didn’t seem concrete yet.”
He said the developer appears to prefer a project with a largely residential component, featuring townhomes, senior living and multi-family units on the 16-acre tract that now houses a few businesses, but that has been largely empty for years.
The details there, Spink said, are still to be revealed, “so we are waiting for the final draw up to see where we are and what we think the community will agree to.
“Bottom line is the community wants change so let’s see what they put on paper. It is such a complicated site with all the different parcels and of course the cemetery in the middle.”
A timeline for discussing a conceptual plan, after a survey and design are completed, may come about in a few weeks, Spink said.
“The bottom line on the residential is that it’s going to have to have a larger component [than what has] been proposed in the past just because that site isn’t going to work as 100 percent commercial. So the community is going to have to accept residential there or it’s probably not gonna work for any developer.”
Joe Glancy of Sprayberry Crossing has added some more details, including the map below of the current property. The green area would be redeveloped, with the yellow area currently containing commercial property.
The commercial portion of the new development, he said, “will likely be ground floor below the residential. The developer could envision that including a small grocer – but that is way down the road and far from certain.” Some greenspace figures to be contained as well.
“According to the developer, one of the reasons why this property is more attractive for residential development is that it sits enclosed with no street visibility and is already fronted by retail development. Additionally, the abundance of retail space surrounding the property makes a large retail commitment unlikely.”
He said Atlantic Residential will continue to survey the site over the next few weeks, develop a plan and bring it to the community.
The developer, he said, isn’t going to seek rezoning “until they are satisfied they have the support of the community.”
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
A few Cobb citizens addressed county commissioners Tuesday in the first of three required public hearings on the proposed Cobb fiscal year 2020 budget and millage rate.
The $475.8 million proposed for general fund spending is nearly six percent over the current FY 2019 budget of $454 million.
The overall budget proposal, which includes fire and E911, debt service and other categories outside the general fund, comes to $998.9 million, up from the current $966 million.
After several weeks of pressure from public safety employees and citizens, the budget proposal includes a seven-percent pay increase to boost salaries and benefits as well as retention issues.
It’s part of what commission chairman Mike Boyce has said is the beginning of a longer-term process toward step and grade raises and other incentives for police officers, firefighters and sheriff’s deputies.
No millage rate increase is proposed, but the anticipated tax digest is growing by an assumed 3.4 percent, to a record $39 billion.
Therefore, the county has to advertise the current millage rate as a tax increase since no rollback to the current year’s tax digest total of $36.7 billion.
Even with additional coffers for FY 2020, the proposal includes using $18.4 million in contingency (or reserve) funds to balance the budget.
That flustered Pamela Reardon, a real estate agent in East Cobb. After last year’s tax increase, she told commissioners, “you told me we would have plenty of money. And now we don’t have any money. What happened?”
She apologized for suggesting in such harsh terms that the contingency “looks like it’s being used like a slush fund.”
Reardon also said she thought a seven-percent raise all at once seems excessive. “I’m not opposed to raises, but who decided that?” she said.
That raise would amount to $5.2 million of the proposed contingency spending, with the largest chunk, $7.5 million, for a four-percent raise for other county employees.
Another $2 million would be earmarked for police operating and capital contingency, with another $1 million for undesignated use by the commissioners.
What’s missing from the budget is $850,000 in non-profit spending that in the past has gone to social-service agencies like MUST Ministries and the Center for Family Resources.
State. Rep. Mary Frances Williams, a Marietta Democrat who represents part of northeast Cobb, and who is a former advocate for non-profits, calculated that amount to less than 0.0020 percent of the budget.
But removing it completely would have a far greater detriment that tax dollars saved, she said, since county funding provides “seed money for nonprofits to get matching matching grants.”
Additional public hearings on the budget will be as follows:
Tuesday, July 16, 6:30 p.m.;
Tuesday, July 23, 2019, 7 p.m.
The final date is also scheduled for budget adoption. The meetings take place in the second floor board meeting room of the Cobb government building, 100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
One of the oldest continuing events in all of Cobb County begins anew Friday night on the Marietta Campgrounds on Roswell Road—it’s the 182nd Marietta Campmeeting, a religious revival that traces its roots to the earliest settlers of what’s now East Cobb.
Friday’s opening service begins at 7:30 p.m., but it’s preceded by a picnic from 6-7, and you’re invited to bring a dish to share.
During the service, special music will be performed by the Open Door Trio, a metro Atlanta gospel group. The opening sermon will be delivered by Rev. Ike Reighard, senior pastor at the Piedmont Church in East Cobb and president and CEO of MUST Ministries.
There are twice-daily services during the week, daily services on the weekend and a number of special events during Marietta Campmeeting, including a watermelon cutting after the Saturday evening service and an ice cream social on Tuesday.
The campmeeting began in 1837, five years after Cobb County was carved out of Cherokee County, on land east of Marietta on Roswell Road.
Visiting ministers came in the summers, before there were many organized churches, and many of the longtime campmeeting families lived in tents during the revival.
They include names familiar to East Cobbers today—Sewell, Garrison, Murdock, Lassiter, Allgood, Hamby and other families who farmed in the area.
Many of their descendants continue attending today, as the Marietta Campground is now part of East Cobb United Methodist Church across the street.
That’s where overflow parking is available for attendees. The main parking lot is between the Arbor and Roswell Road, at the Campground entrance at 2300 Roswell Road.
All events and services at the Marietta Campmeeting are free and open to the public.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Motorists who travel through the Post Oak Tritt-Hembree Road intersection will have to wait a few months longer for the roundabout project underway there to be completed.
Cobb commissioners on Tuesday approved a request by the contractor, Glosson Enterprises, to push back the scheduled completion date to March 31, 2020.
Cobb DOT director Erica Parrish said the delay (summary here) was caused by utility and weather issues.
“I am ready to see this finished, and so is the public,” said District 3 commissioner JoAnn Birrell. “I appreciate the public’s patience.”
In other transportation-related action Tuesday, commissioners approved a contract for $308,901 with Tri Scapes Inc. for an eight-foot wide sidewalk with curb and gutter on the west side of Bells Ferry Road, from the Noonday Creek trailhead driveway to Big Shanty Road.
The total length of the project is approximately 0.32 miles. The funding comes from the Cobb 2016 SPLOST.
The county also will be saving $145,460 from the final cost of intersection improvements at Bells Ferry Road and Barrett Parkway. Glosson also was the contractor for the $1.86 million project, which has been completed.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
The following East Cobb restaurant scores from June 24-July 5 have been compiled by the Cobb & Douglas Department of Public Health. Click the link under each listing to view details of the inspection:
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!
Today’s a special day around here: On July 8, 2017, I published the first post on East Cobb News, as I pushed the button on a venture I couldn’t have imagined not long ago.
I’ll admit I was a bit anxious as I pushed that inaugural publishing button, about the Skip Wells Memorial Ride at Sprayberry High School.
I’ve been a reporter for a long time, but not like this. I’ve covered my community before, but not with this ultimate objective:
To report the news for the East Cobb community, and not just about it.
There are plenty of news outlets that do that, when there’s a crime or a fire or a wreck or a storm or a controversy or a novelty.
And then they’re gone.
That credo sounds simple, but as I’ve learned over these last two years, it’s a lot more difficult to carry it through.
My focus all along has been to make East Cobb News distinctive, and not just because this community is my home, where I grew up.
Over the past year, as I built on my first year of publication, I got plenty of encouragement from readers, citizens and many others.
One of the things I heard on occasion was: You don’t have an agenda.
What they meant was that they thought the stories they read here were straightforward and objective.
While that’s certainly something I aim for with everything I post, there are times when it’s important to state a clear perspective about something important going on here.
The East Cobb Cityhood issue certainly fits that bill, and the next few months will be very important ones in the future of this community for that reason.
This time a year ago, we didn’t know there would be an effort to carve out a part of the community for a new city.
That effort, which we’ve reported on extensively, has galvanized the public like nothing in quite a few years around here. It figures to garner even more scrutiny as the legislature is set to act on a bill that could drop a referendum in East Cobb voters’ laps next year.
The truth is I do have an agenda, as noted this time a year ago, and it bears repeating: To “meet the news and information needs of this dynamic community we all call home, and to promote local businesses who help make it better.”
In this third year, as East Cobb News reaches around 30,000 unique visitors a month—a healthy number for a young, locally focused publication—my chief objective will be to help local businesses grow with us.
If you run a local business or organization, and want to reach community-minded customers, please check out our advertising philosophy, which includes flexible rates and options for any kind of enterprise.
We have a business directory that’s ideal for new businesses, solopreneurs and mom-and-pop shops that includes a 25 percent discount for display advertising on East Cobb News.
I realize that readers and advertisers have other options. This a competitive market for news and advertising, but only East Cobb News is totally devoted to covering news and events every day, as they happen.
If that’s important to you, I ask that you have a look around the site, if you’re not familiar already, and see for yourself.
I also encourage you to sign up for the East Cobb News Digest weekly e-mail newsletter, which comes out every Sunday. It contains all of the past week’s top headlines, plus calendar listings, a community guide and so much more.
It’s free and easy to sign up, all in one click below.
Thanks to all of you for visiting East Cobb News, subscribing to the newsletter and following us on social media. We’re excited for what Year Three has in store!
As always, feel free to get in touch with feedback and questions: wendy@eastcobbnews.com.
The U.S. Census Bureau is presenting 2020 Census Job Information Sessions this summer at Cobb County Public Libraries.
A Census official will discuss 2020 Census job opportunities and answer questions about applying during the free sessions. Area Census Bureau positions include assistants, clerks, office operations supervisors and census takers. Pay ranges vary based on location and position.
The upcoming 2020 Census Job Information Sessions at Cobb libraries include:
Each Tuesday afternoon through July 23 from 2 pm to 6 pm at Powder Springs Library, 4181 Atlanta Street, Powder Springs 30127. 770-439-3600
Wednesday, July 10 from 4 pm to 7 pm and Monday, July 22 from 11 am to 4 pm at Mountain View Regional Library, 3320 Sandy Plains Road, Marietta 30066. 770-509-2725
Friday, July 12 and Friday, July 19 from 10 am to 3 pm at South Cobb Regional Library is located at 805 Clay Road, Mableton 30126. 678-398-5828
For information on applying for 2020 Census jobs, including application requirements, visitwww.2020census.gov/jobs and click Apply Now. Potential applicants seeking information and assistance may call 1-855-JOB-2020 (562-2020) or use the Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
That’s the scene from a Georgia 511 camera at Roswell Road and Old Canton Road about 2:55 Friday, as Cobb Police and Cobb Fire are investigating a crash in a busy intersection that’s blocking eastbound traffic on Roswell.
UPDATED 3:40 PM: Cobb Police say all lanes of traffic are now open.
Police are urging motorists heading east on Roswell (the traffic in the right of the photo) to find an alternate route; there’s no word as yet on injuries.
We’ll update this story when more details are available.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Word is coming from Sprayberry High School that Jim Frazier, for many years a member of Yellow Jackets football coaching staff and a legendary figure in the school community’s history, died on Thursday.
“Our school and community will forever be grateful for the contributions made by this wonderful man,” was the message posted on the school’s Facebook page Friday afternoon.
We’ll have more later, but here’s a summary of Frazier’s tenure at Sprayberry, which went far beyond what his teams did in sports:
Frazier came to Sprayberry in 1959, a few years after it opened as East Cobb’s first high school.
While he was an assistant football coach, the Yellow Jackets won two county and two region titles in and three times finished the season in the state’s top 10.
He also coached baseball at Sprayberry before retiring from teaching in 1986, and served on the school’s football and baseball committees for nearly 50 years.
The Sprayberry football stadium is named after Frazier, a native of Tennessee who played football at Carson-Newman College and earned a master’s degree from Peabody College at Vanderbilt University.
Last August, his wife, Wilma Quarles Frazier, died at the age of 85. She taught at Sedalia Park Elementary School for 27 years.
The Fraziers were married for 61 years.
In 2015, State Rep. Don Parsons of East Cobb sponsored a resolution that was passed by the Georgia General Assembly to honor Frazier for his service to Sprayberry and the community.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Next Saturday, July 13, is the second tour in a series of four at East Cobb’s Hyde Farm that includes a cooking class.
The 1840s-era homestead is at 721 Hyde Farm, located off Lower Roswell Road, and on the second Saturday of every month is open for 45-minute tours that are free and open to the public.
The 135-acre Hyde Farm, located near the Chattahoochee River, is also close to forests, agricultural fields, pastures, an orchard, meadows, a home and farm outbuilding sites.
Those tours begin at 10 am. and noon, and registration is required by visiting the Cobb PARKS website or by calling 770-528-8840.
In between the tours, Cobb PARKS, the UGA Cobb Extension service and the American Community Gardening Association will be conducting a class, “From Seed to Table: Cooking With Superfoods.”
It covers the basics of growing and cooking food from a garden. That class also is free and spots may be reserved by calling 770-528-4070.
More Hyde Farm tours and cooking classes are scheduled for Sept. 21 and Nov. 9.
Hyde Farm’s pond (above), built on Mulberry Creek, is the habitat for geese, ducks, herons, turtles, beaver and fish.
On Aug. 17, Cobb PARKS will hold another fishing rodeo at Hyde Farm that’s aimed for kids 3-16. Trophies will be awarded for the biggest fish (see calendar listing here).
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
Even though we are enjoying summer, the Cobb Police Department Community Affairs Unit is already hard at work to support our students when they head back to school. Book Bag-Palooza is an effort to gather as many book bags and school supplies as possible. Donations will be distributed to county students in need at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, which is only one month away. Donations can include new book bags, paper, folders, pencils, crayons, glue sticks and markers. Any items that a student, from elementary to high school, would need to start the school year out prepared and ready to learn. Donations can be dropped off from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday-Friday (excluding holidays) at any of the Cobb precincts:
Precinct 1: 2380 Cobb Parkway NW, Kennesaw
Precinct 2: 4700 Austell Road, Austell
Precinct 3: 1901 Cumberland Parkway, Atlanta
Precinct 4: 4400 Lower Roswell Road, Marietta
Precinct 5: 4640 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs
Headquarters: 140 North Marietta Parkway, Marietta
If a business or club collects a large amount of school items, one of the Community Affairs’ officers will be happy to arrange pick up. For more information, call Sgt. Jeff Tatroe at 770-499-3981.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
UPDATED 4:36 p.m.: Piedmont Road has reopened after an East Cobb car crash earlier this afternoon.
Shortly before 2 p.m. Thursday Cobb Police said Piedmont Road is closed at Sprayberry Drive due to a single-car crash that took down power poles and knocked out electricity in the area (that’s just west of the Piedmont-Sandy Plains intersection and Sprayberry High School).
The car overturned and the crash prompted several small fires, according to police, who said the driver suffered minor injuries.
Will update this story with more information when we get it.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
With the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission coming up on July 16, a special PBS miniseries will be airing to commemorate the event. On Friday, the Sewell Mill Library and Cultural Center (2051 Lower Roswell Road) will be screening a portion of that series, entitled “Chasing the Moon.”
The screening is free and will be held from 6-7 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre and unlike other film screenings there, no food or drink will be allowed.
Here’s more about the PBS “American Experience” miniseries, which airs on July 8-10, and what’s in store during Friday’s screening:
Chasing the Moon, a film by Robert Stone, re-imagines the race to the moon for a new generation, upending much of the conventional mythology surrounding the effort. The series recasts the Space Age as a fascinating stew of scientific innovation, political calculation, media spectacle, visionary impulses, and personal drama.
Our selection is taken from “Part Three: Magnificent Desolation.” It takes a look back at the tension and excitement surrounding the launch of Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969, all the way up until the lunar module finally lands on the moon.
On Monday, July 16, a celebration of the Apollo 11 event will take place from 7-8 p.m. at the Mountain View Regional Library (3320 Sandy Plains Road), featuring NASA Ambassador Chris Thompson. Here’s on tap for that free event for those age 18 and above:
Mountain View patrons will join the history books by being able to touch space rocks just like Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Lunar and space meteorites and other NASA memorabilia will be on display for patrons to look at and touch. Mr. Thompson will also discuss the history of the Apollo missions and the future of NASA and space exploration.
Chris Thompson is a human resource professional who also shares his love of Astronomy and Space in his role as a NASA Ambassador. Mr. Thompson conducts workshops and lectures to adults and children. He is also the president of the Meteorite Association of Georgia and a member of theInternational Meteorite Collectors Association, (NASA, 2019).
For more information, call the Mountain View Regional Library at 770-509-2725, or visit the Adult Reference Desk.
Get Our Free E-Mail Newsletter!
Every Sunday we round up the week’s top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest. Click here to sign up, and you’re good to go!
