Cobb County Government said Saturday that the county’s water system is cleaning up a sewage spill in Sewell Mill Creek near East Cobb Park.
Cobb spokesman Ross Cavitt said in a release that the leak has been stopped and repairs are underway, but the county is advising the public to avoid exposure to the creek from East Cobb Park and southward.
Cobb Water said a structural sewer line failed on the creek near Pimlico Court in the Roswell Downs neighborhood early Saturday morning, dumping an estimated 152,750 gallons of overflow into the creek.
The release said the overflow was stopped around 12:45 a.m. Saturday as crews “have put a bypass pump in place” as a temporary measure:
“The Georgia Environmental Protection Division has been notified, and Cobb County Water System employees are following EPD protocols for such an event. Monitoring of bacteria levels in the creek is already underway.”
Cavitt said that the testing of waters downstream can take up to 24 hours and that signage has been posted informing the public.
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LM Frame and Gallery of East Cobb will be the venue for an upcoming exhibit displaying the work of a notable sports artist.
An opening event for the exhibit will take place on Thursday, July 20, from 5:30-8 p.m. at its location at 1062 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 150.
The exhibit features the work of Jace McTier, based in Augusta, and will continue through Aug. 15.
He’s part of a family of artists that specializes in Impressionist, figurative and sports painting (Lucy and Jace McTier). His mother, Lucy McTier, has been among his influences, along with William Turner, Vincent Van Gogh, and the sports art of George Bellows and LeRoy Nieman.
Jace McTier’s sports art portraits include Tom Brady, Muhammad Ali, Serena Williams and Rory McIlroy.
A portion of sales from the exhibit at LM Frame and Gallery will be donated to the Tim Luke Hope for Minds charity, helping children with brain injuries.
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Bookmiser, an independent bookstore in East Cobb, is starting a reading club for middle school students that has its first gathering next week.
The Middle Grade Book Club will hold its first meeting July 14 from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at Bookmiser (3822 Roswell Road).
The club, which is limited to 10 participants in grades 4-7, will meet the second Friday of every month after that.
Participation is free but books must be purchased from Bookmiser.
July and August books have been selected but future books will be chosen by participants and the club’s moderator, Carlie Sorosiak, a children’s author, creative writing teacher and former bookseller.
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The Tin Lizzy’s restaurant at The Avenue East Cobb will be closing next week for renovations.
North American Properties, which manages the retail center on Roswell Road, said the restaurant will close after dinner service this Sunday, July 9, and reopen for dinner service next Friday, July 14.
“The newly refreshed Tin Lizzy’s at AEC will exude surfer-cool vibes with a fresh, crisp color palette, bold textiles and vintage-style artwork,” NAP said in a release “The breezy, all-weather patio, adorned with cafe tables, lush plants, and corn hole, will be the perfect oasis for a celebration.”
The menu will remain the same, featuring tacos, salads and bowls, salsas, and Mexican skillets, as well as drink specials featuring margaritas.
The renovations come at Tin Lizzy’s amid continuing redevelopment of The Avenue to include jewel box restaurant space and a plaza area and the tentative opening of a Barnes & Noble bookstore this fall in the former Bath, Bed and Beyond space.
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!
The East Cobb Park Garden Club is meeting Saturday morning.
What was initially planned as another in a series of Hyde Farm Walking Tours has been expanded into a full-fledged outing for the whole family.
Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson has organized what’s called Cobb Family Day from 9-12:30 p.m. Saturday at Hyde Farm (721 Hyde Road) that includes a Cobb PARKS fishing rodeo.
The walking tours will take place at 10 and 11, and other activities include “Touch a Truck” with the Cobb Fire Department, cooking demonstrations from the UGA Extension Office, a “Story Walk” with Cobb Libraries and a scavenger hunt.
Everything but the fishing rodeo is free, which has a $5 charge, and you’ll need to sign up. The event is for youths 3-16, and trophies will be awarded for the biggest fish caught.
Also on Saturday morning, the newly formed East Cobb Park Garden Club is getting together for another outing from 10-11:30 a.m. as they tackle beautification efforts.
They’ll start out at the gazebo overlooking the back quad of the park, and are accepting new volunteers and donations.
The group was started by the Friends for the East Cobb Park volunteers organization.
You can find all of our calendar listings in one handy place on our site. If you have events to share with the public, please e-mail: calendar@eastcobbnews.com and we will post them here.
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Stacy Efrat, left, and Debbie Fisher are sworn in by Cobb Probate Court Chief Judge Kelli L. Wolk. Photo: Cobb County government
Two East Cobb residents were recently appointed to the Cobb Board of Elections.
Stacy Butler Efrat was appointed by the Cobb Democratic Party, and Debbie Fisher was chosen by the Cobb Republican Party.
They were sworn in last week and began four-year terms on July 1.
Both are citizen-activists who have been involved in party politics at the local level.
Efrat is a member of Watching The Funds-Cobb, a watchdog group that monitors finances and spending by the Cobb County School District (see our profile story from 2021).
The group has been critical of Cobb school district purchases of COVID-19 sanitizing lights and handwashing machines that were the focus of a Cobb grand jury report, as well the district’s alert system vendor that changed last year after malfunctions.
Efrat has been active in canvassing for Democratic candidates in an East Cobb community that has been traditionally Republican. But in recent election cycles, Democratic candidates have been either winning or become more competitive.
Efrat is a risk manager in the financial industry and is a parent in the Walton High School cluster.Last year, she protested a new logo for East Side Elementary School, saying it resembled the Nazi eagle crest.
Fisher, retired from the internet security industry, is currently a vice president for party and grassroots development with the Cobb Republican Party.
In addition to those and other local GOP roles, she has been involved in civic affairs as a critic of Cobb County government spending and has spoken out against high-density zoning cases in East Cobb.
Earlier this year, she filed an ethics complaint against Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson over the latter’s political action committee activities.
But that complaint was dismissed by the Cobb Board of Ethics.
Fisher is the only appointee of Republican interests on the elections board. Jennifer Mosbacher, another East Cobb resident, is the appointee of Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid.
Chairwoman Tori Silas and Steven Bruning are appointees of the Cobb legislative delegation, which has a Democratic majority.
The first meeting for Efrat and Fisher is July 10.
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The Cobb Planning Commission voted 5-0 today to allow the applicant to withdraw without prejudice, meaning the matter could be refiled at any time.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
A development company that applied to rezone land including the former Mt. Bethel Church Community Center for a small office building wants to withdraw that request.
We noted last month that the 1.13 acres at 4608 Lower Roswell Road includes a 6,250-square-foot building that has been vacant and that was one of several parcels owned by the church that has been put on the real estate market.
But the zoning signs have come down and the applicant’s attorney filed notice with the Cobb Zoning Office last Thursday that they’d like to withdraw without prejudice.
The application was scheduled to be heard by the Cobb Planning Commission on Wednesday, but the withdrawal request would have to be voted on by that board since it came after the deadline for doing so, which is a week in advance.
MRE Properties & Investments, LLC was seeking low-rise office (LRO) zoning, which would permit professional office uses. The current building, which housed various Mt. Bethel Church activities and non-profits, including Aloha to Aging, is a single story on land zoned in the RA-4 residential category.
The Cobb Zoning staff is recommending that the zoning stay at RA-4, with a limited professional services permit (full analysis here).
The land is bordered by an O & I designation at the corner of Lower Roswell and Woodlawn, where a Mt. Bethel Church day care center once stood, and a single-family subdivision.
The staff analysis concluded that “the applicant’s rezoning proposal is in conformity with the policies and intent of the Cobb County Comprehensive Plan, if deleted to RA-4 with a LPSP. Approval of an LPSP would be more appropriate to the residential neighborhoods surrounding the site.”
Another East Cobb case that has been delayed for months is being continued again. It’s for a standalone Starbucks at Paper Mill Village, and was to have been heard by the Planning Commission Wednesday.
The applicant originally wanted to tear down a small building at 31 Johnson Ferry Road at Paper Mill Road where the current Starbucks is located and build a two-story structure.
That has been reduced to a single story, and attorney Parks Huff said his client continues to work on design.
The Cobb Planning Commission meeting Wednesday will take place starting at 9 a.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
The meeting will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.
The Planning Commission recommendations will be considered by the Cobb Board of Commissioners on July 18.
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 residential real estate sales between June 12-16, 2023, were compiled from agency reports. They include the subdivision name and high school attendance zone in parenthesis:
June 12
1097 Willow Field Drive Unit 64, 30067 (The Oaks at Powers Ferry, Wheeler): $512,500
1627 Lake Holcomb Lane, 30062 (Holcomb Lake Village, Sprayberry): $495,000
2305 Chimney Cottage Circle Unit 8, 30066 (Chimney Cottage, Sprayberry): $368,000
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 National Park Service has extended the closure area further downstream. Here’s the release from Monday afternoon:
“The partial closure of the Chattahoochee River from Chattahoochee Nature Center to all downstream sections of the park remains in effect due to elevated E. Coli contamination and the associated risk to health.
The park and Chattahoochee Riverkeeper continue to monitor and test water quality as Fulton County Public Works begins treatment. An issue at Big Creek Water Reclamation Facility has been reported to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. Fulton County is diverting the maximum quantity of wastewater to a plant in Cobb County, and the Army Corps of Engineers generated an additional release to help with dissipation.
Water quality tests received on July 3 reveal bacteria levels that exceed the Environmental Protection Agency recommended limits for recreation. The partial river closure will remain in effect until the water quality is safe for visitors.
“While this closure impacts some of the most popular units of the park, over 30 miles of river remain open. The Chattahoochee River is accessible from Buford Dam to Azalea Park in Roswell. All hiking trails, picnic areas and the Hewlett Lodge are open. Current information about the closure status will be available at www.nps.gov/CHAT.”
ORIGINAL REPORT:
A stretch of the Chattahoochee River that includes most of East Cobb is closed for the time being due to high E. coli bacteria levels in the water.
The National Park Service said water access to the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area was closed on Saturday between the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell and the East Palisades-Whitewater Creek Unit, close to where the Interstate 75 crosses the river.
The NPS said that “dangerously elevated E. coli levels” were caused by “conditions consistent with an ongoing sewage spill near Willeo Creek Park.”
The agency said it received water quality tests “that exceed the Environmental Protection Agency recommended limits for recreation. The river’s current E. coli levels pose an elevated risk to human health, especially in vulnerable populations.”
All park trails are open, as well as the Hewlett Lodge visitor center.
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The all-day 4th in the Park Celebration will take place in Marietta on Tuesday, with a familiar schedule.
The “Let Freedom Ring” parade begins at 10 a.m. at Roswell Street Baptist Church and traverses westbound on Roswell Street to the Marietta Square, where a festival continues until 6 p.m.
There will be arts and crafts, a kids’ zone, food and free musical concerts.
A concert featuring the Patriarchs Band begins at 7 p.m., followed by a concert by Boogilicious from 8-9:30 p.m.
That’s the run-up to a fireworks display.
The City of Marietta has issued a temporary street closure map (click here).
Parking in downtown Marietta will be available; there are some free lots and others are paid lots run by Cobb County government (see map).
Cobb Travel and Tourism has more options, including celebrations in Acworth, Kennesaw and Six Flags.
For those wishing to set off their own fireworks, Cobb County government sent out a reminder this week that fireworks may be discharged until midnight both Monday, July 3, and Tuesday, July 4.
Here’s more from the county about when and where you can use fireworks, and other restrictions and safety tips:
Fireworks and other pyrotechnics are prohibited at all county parks. This includes historic sites, recreational areas or state property. It is illegal to use them within 100 yards of an electric plant, water or wastewater treatment plant, gas station, refinery, electric substation, jail, helipad, hospital, nursing home or other health care facility.
You must be 18 or older to purchase or ignite fireworks. It is illegal to let young children play with them.
Other safety tips:
Keep a bucket of water or a garden hose handy in case of fire or other mishaps.
Keep pets indoors, close the curtains and play music to drown out the noise. Make sure your pet is wearing a collar and tag and is microchipped in case it bolts and becomes lost.
Never try to re-light or pick up fireworks that have not ignited fully.
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!
Despite another year of double-digit growth in the county tax digest, the Cobb government fiscal year 2024 budget proposal does not include a reduction in property tax millage rates.
Cobb budget officials presented a fiscal year 2024 budget proposal of $1.2 billion on Tuesday to the Cobb Board of Commissioners (you can read it here), a $43 million increase from the current fiscal year budget of $1.16 billion.
The budget proposal holds the line on the general fund millage rate, which funds most county government operations, at 8.46 mills.
Because that millage rate is not proposed to be rolled back to reflect current revenue and tax digest levels, the state considers that a tax increase and the county must advertise and hold public hearings.
Those hearings will take place on Tuesday, July 11 at 9 a.m., Tuesday, July 18, at 6:30 p.m. and on Tuesday, July 25, at 7 p.m., when the board is scheduled to adopt the budget and set millage rates.
For the second year in a row, the fire fund millage rate that funds fire and emergency services would go up slightly, to 2.99 mills.
Cobb Chief Financial Officer Bill Volckmann said some of the increases in additional revenues in the proposed budget stem from rising tax assessments.
The Cobb Board of Tax Assessors on Wednesday approved the 2023 county tax digest of $58.1 billion, which is up 15.7 percent from last year.
While that figure combines the assessed value of all commercial, residential and other real property in Cobb County, homeowners are feeling the pinch of skyrocketing assessments, and as the average price of a home has surpassed $400,000.
At an East Cobb Civic Association meeting in May, Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid was asked by East Cobb Newsif she was pondering similar relief.
She said she had been hearing from many citizens about their assessments, and said “she couldn’t say” if she would be proposing a cut.
“I could do it and look good,” Cupid said, “but somebody’s going to have to pay the price.”
The proposed FY 2024 budget includes 34 new positions across county government, compared to 147 in the current budget.
Nineteen of those new jobs would be funded through the general fund, and six of them are state-mandated. Four more are for the county’s family advocacy center.
Another 15 jobs are outside of general fund, seven in fire, and in 911.
Volckmann said the fire and emergency services department is struggling to maintain operating revenue due to salaries and benefits for personnel, and that there aren’t capital expenses that are a factor.
Cobb Chief Financial Officer Bill Volckmann
This is the second year of Cobb’s 2022-24 biennial budget process, and some agencies are proposed to have double-digit increases in spending.
A total of $198 million is being earmarked for agencies overseen by elected officials (Board of Commissioners, Sheriff, District Attorney, courts), an increase of 35 percent from fiscal 2023.
Administrative costs are up to $111 million, or nearly a 20 percent jump, and the overall public safety budget is $97 million, or 17 percent higher than the current year.
Budgets for public services (parks, libraries, senior centers, etc.) would go up by 10 percent, as would the budget for support services, which includes facilities and property management, technology and information services and fleet management.
The other proposed millage rates include the Debt Service (Bond Fund) millage at 0.00 mills; the Cumberland Special Services District II millage rate at 2.45, and the Six Flags Special Service District millage rate at 3.50.
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“Do justice now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now,” East Cobb UMC pastor Rev. Kristin Lee said. ECN photos.
In the seven years he has been the senior rabbi at Congregation Etz Chaim in East Cobb, Daniel Dorsch said that the responses to anti-Semitic acts in the community were always organized by Jews.
Wednesday was different.
At a “prayer and action” service at East Cobb United Methodist Church, faith leaders and citizens turned out to pack the sanctuary.
So did elected and law enforcement officials.
Five days after several Neo-Nazis waved swastika flags and held up anti-Semitic signs in front of the Chabad of Cobb synagogue, a sweeping, community-wide celebration of love, hopefulness and justice followed the condemnations and expressions of outrage.
“What’s different is you,” Dorsch said. “You saw us. You did this and we came. Thank you for seeing us tonight.”
With several Cobb Police vehicles patrolling the East Cobb UMC parking lot, and Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer attending the service inside, Dorsch noted the expenses that synagogues pay for security.
That money, he said, could be spent instead to help feed the hungry and attend to other community needs.
Jews can be reluctant to attend services, he said, because “Pittsburgh, Poway and Jersey City”—cities where mass shootings took place in 2019—”are in the back of their minds.
“Anti-Semitism isn’t a Jewish problem. It’s an everyone problem.”
Saturday’s protest along Lower Roswell Road by the Goyim Defense League drew many more counter-protestors who gathered across the road.
East Cobb real estate agent Mechel McKinney-Hoffman was one of them.
Jarred not only by a Neo-Nazi presence in East Cobb but also a previous rally earlier in the week in her hometown of Macon, McKinney-Hoffman sprung to action in the aftermath.
Working with Rev. Kristin Lee, the East Cobb UMC pastor, she and others put together the special service, which also was called in response to anti-Semitic flyers that have been distributed in neighborhoods in Cobb County and metro Atlanta.
“Just standing by to watch wasn’t an option,” McKinney-Hoffman said, her voice breaking with emotion at times.
“That is what has brought us together as a community. Living in outrage isn’t an option. Living in anger is easy. Living in love is hard.”
State Rep. Solomon Adesanya of East Cobb speaks, with legislators John Carson and Esther Panitch listening.
That was the constant message through the nearly 90-minute service, whose attendees included the Israeli Consul-General in Atlanta and representatives of Atlanta-area Jewish organizations.
In her remarks, Lee stressed the urgency for citizens to “do justice now. Love mercy now. Walk humbly now. . . . You don’t have to do it all now and you don’t have to do it alone. But I pray that we will do this with the same calling that we will find to complete this work. As a community. One.”
State lawmakers who sponsored a hate crimes bill that would write anti-Semitism into state law also spoke.
State Rep. John Carson, an East Cobb Republican, was a main sponsor, and said that he was “disgusted” by the open anti-Semitic act in his community.
“What you have done is unite us,” Carson said, referencing the Neo-Nazis. “You are not welcome here, and we will win on this issue. What you see here is a united front against this action.
“This is a wonderful showing of love.”
Citizens were asked to text ‘acts of kindness” that formed a word cloud.
The bill, HB 30, passed the Georgia House this session but got bottled up in the Senate. Some lawmakers, including Cobb State Sen. Ed Setzler, expressed concern that a criticism of the Israeli government could be considered anti-Semitic.
Current hate crime laws cover race, religion and national origin.
State Rep. Esther Panitch, a Democrat from Sandy Springs and the only Jewish member of the legislature, says current law “doesn’t go far enough. . . . We were almost there. We need Georgia to adopt it.”
“I want you to walk away feeling encouraged and inspired,” she said. “The East Cobb community—it’s a special one.”
She also joined the counter-protestors Saturday, and said “it was absolutely beautiful. It was in the face of hatred that love stood out.
“That was inspiring. That was our community coming together. That’s the only way that we can push back against hate in all its forms. I want to make sure that hate isn’t met with silence.”
Nearly the end of the service, and overwhelmed by the community response, Etyan Davidson, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in Atlanta, noted that he is the grandson of Holocaust survivors.
“They didn’t have neighbors like you,” he said. “We lost six million people because they didn’t have neighbors like you. You showed up. Thank you. Thank you.
“When we stand together, hate cannot win.”
After the service, Dorsch said that he initially was torn about organizing a response, not wanting to give a small band of anti-Semitic protestors too much attention.
At the service, he read a statement from Chabad Rabbi Ephraim Silverman, who was not in attendance, and recited a Holocaust Kaddish.
“But this was inspiring,” Dorsch said. “I came away from this inspired.”
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!
Register with Cobb Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer and Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid.
Mike Register was a man of few words Tuesday, but he insisted on having a lot of people share in his return as Cobb Public Safety Director.
Cobb commissioners on Tuesday voted 5-0 to formally appoint Register to come back to his old job.
For the last year he has been the director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and served as a deputy to Cobb Sheriff Craig Owens.
Register succeeds Randy Crider, who retired at the end of last year and was among those in attendance.
“Thank you for the opportunity to come back,” said Register, who was Cobb police chief and public safety director from 2017-2019.
Many of those he previously served with posed with him for photo ops, along with his wife and retired Cobb NAACP director Deane Bonner.
“Let’s do our job, let’s make Cobb County a better place for all,” he said, noting it’s been a “hard week” in the Cobb public safety community.
A former Cobb Sheriff’s deputy passed away, as did the 18-year-old daughter of Col. Eric Yeager, a 35-year Sheriff’s Office veteran.
Register wore a purple tie in honor of Kylie Yeager, a Marietta High School graduate.
“I’m glad to be home and appreciate the opportunity,” Register said.
Before the vote, Cupid said that “this is a decision [commissioners] all agreed on.”
Commissioner JoAnn Birrell told Register afterward “welcome home.” We’re glad to have you.”
In other action Tuesday, commissioners voted 5-0 to approve spending $720,897 for a sidewalk connecting the Walton High School campus on Bill Murdock Road with a new sports complex on Pine Road at Providence Road.
Commissioners also voted 5-0 to spend $204,000 for state and federal legislative consulting services with Dentons US LLP for 12 months.
Birrell also announced the appointment of East Cobb resident Susan Hampton to the Cobb Neighborhood Safety Commission.
She’s a banking and financial services professional who is the co-chair of the Cobb Public Safety Foundation, which provides support to public safety personnel.
Hampton replaces Larry Sernovitz, who resigned last week as rabbi at Temple Kol Emeth in East Cobb.
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!
Photo submitted to East Cobb News from an anonymous reader. The Neo-Nazi group left the scene around 10 p.m. Saturday.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners on Tuesday unanimously approved a resolution condemning a Neo-Nazi protest last weekend in front of the Chabad of Cobb synagogue in East Cobb.
The resolution was added to the commissioners’ agenda and was voted on without discussion.
The resolution (you can read it here) also mentioned the distribution of anti-Semitic flyers in metro Atlanta neighborhoods in recent weeks, including some in Cobb:
“WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners recognizes that any group has the right to free speech and the ability to peacefully protest, demonstrate, and distribute information regarding its beliefs, no matter how reprehensible to others; and
“WHEREAS, when such speech threatens any person, minority group, or religious community, residents should respond by educating others with voices and actions as loud as those spreading the hateful speech;
“NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the Cobb County Board of Commissioners does hereby denounce the actions of those who threaten members of our community, attempt to shatter the belief that Cobb County is a safe and welcoming place, and call for all to stand against their hate speech and attempts to divide our county.”
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid made the motion to approve, and District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson seconded it.
Here’s a portion of Cupid’s statement:
“While disheartened these messages were spread in our county, I appreciate that these events ended peacefully. Our public safety personnel have our complete support, as do members of the Jewish community and those in Cobb who find these displays reprehensible.
“My desire is for no one to perpetuate a heinous history that signifies hate in our county. Cobb is a community that is moving forward, together, and where we are all in, in establishing a county where all can safely live, work, and enjoy.”
And Richardson’s statement:
These actions do not represent the values of the East Cobb community that I know. As soon as I heard where this was going on, I went to the Synagogue. There, I found the most remarkable display of the community coming together to chant, defend, and support our Jewish sisters and brothers at the Synagogue.
On Sunday, there were among many public elected officials who issued denunciations of the protest, which included around 10 people from the Goyim Defense League.
Gov. Brian Kemp, U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, and state lawmakers also issued statements agains the protest, which was the second incident in Georgia involving the GDL last week. A similar event took place in Macon on Friday, and a public rally of support for a synagogue there was held in response.
A number of other faith communities and organizations also issued calls of support for Chabad, including the Etz Chaim and Temple Kol Emeth synagogues in East Cobb.
A prayer event was scheduled for Wednesday evening at East Cobb United Methodist Church.
And the Georgia chapter of the Council on Islamic American Relations also issued a statement:
“We condemn this deeply-disturbing antisemitic incident and stand in unwavering solidarity with the Jewish community in the face of blind hatred. Such abhorrent acts of hate and bigotry have no place in our society and must be unequivocally condemned. Together, we will stand against this hatred and work toward a future in which every individual can live free from fear and discrimination.”
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 residential real estate sales between June 5-9, 2023, were compiled from agency reports. They include the subdivision name and high school attendance zone in parenthesis:
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 small handful of people stood in front of the Chabad of Cobb synagogue in East Cobb on Saturday, waving Nazi swastika flags and holding up signs with anti-Semitic messages.
A Facebook user named Tamara Stevens was collecting photos, videos and other information from passers-by as the incident unfolded late Saturday afternoon and into early Saturday evening.
This appears to be the second protest in recent days in Georgia by a group calling itself the Goyim Defense League, which conducted a similar event at a Macon synagogue.
Chabad of Cobb is located on Lower Roswell Road, next to the East Cobb Government Services Center and across from Mt. Bethel Church and a branch of the U.S. Postal Office.
Police officers were on either side of the road and directing traffic. A group of counter-protestors across the road shot videos and yelled, shouting at the pro-Nazi group to “go home!” and threatening to tell their employers.
But the pro-Nazi protestors were undeterred, and made gestures in return.
Their signs said “Every Single Aspect of [a particular topic] is Jewish,” with the topics including abortion, the media, the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank and elected officials.
At the bottom of the signs was a Web address to the Goyim group’s YouTube page, with videos including a program called “Saturday White Live.”
One of those shooting videos confronted the protestors directly, including a man holding up a sign saying “Every Single Aspect of Abortion is Jewish,” and called him “an idiot.”
He retorted that “we shouldn’t lie to our children” as he shot a selfie video of himself.
She later went up to a protestor holding a sign saying “Every Aspect of the Federal Reserve” is Jewish. It included photos of past chairs, with the Star of David marked on the foreheads of some of them.
“You’re a Nazi and you’re an idiot,” she told him.
Another protestor held a sign vilifying the Anti-Defamation League, saying it was established to “Protect a Jewish Child Murdering Pedophile Leo Frank.”
The sign included a photo of Frank, who was found guilty in 1913 of raping and murdering Mary Phagan, a Marietta girl, at an Atlanta pencil factory. When his death sentence was commuted in 1915, Frank was abducted from a south Georgia prison and hanged from a tree in Marietta, near Roswell Road and Interstate 75.
We are extremely appreciative and thankful for the outpouring of support and concern from all segments of the community. We have been in communication with Cobb County officials, who have identified these individuals as part of a small group that travel around the country in order to spread their hateful message.
East Cobb has been a wonderful home to a flourishing Jewish community for many years. These individuals do not represent the sentiments of the citizens of East Cobb .
We are working closely with Cobb County officials and the Police Department to ensure the security and safety of our campus. There is no threat whatsoever at this time.
Ultimately, we must remember that the most potent response to darkness is to increase in light. Let’s use this unfortunate incident to increase in acts of goodness and kindness, Jewish pride, and greater Jewish engagement.
Original report continues:
On Saturday, citizens in Macon gathered to to respond to the anti-Semitic incident at Temple Beth Israel.
Temple Beth Israel Rabbi Elizabeth Bahar told the Macon Telegraph that “I’m obviously saddened to find Macon being the unexpected target of these extremists. This organization, they’re interested in air time and attention, but on the flip side, I feel that I must confront antisemitism when it rears its ugly head.”
Chabad of Cobb is one of three synagogues in East Cobb, where anti-Semitic incidents in recent years have prompted a strong response in the Jewish community.
Swastika graffiti was found in bathrooms at Pope and Lassiter high schools, and a neighborhood off Holly Springs Road and Post Oak Tritt Road.
The Anti-Defamation League said the Goyim Defense League—containing the Yiddish term for non-Jews—is a “small network of virulently antisemitic provocateurs” whose “most zealous and visible actors” include some in Georgia.
“GDL’s overarching goal is to cast aspersions on Jews and spread antisemitic myths and conspiracy theories,” the ADL says on its website.
“This includes frequent references to Jews having undue power through their ‘control’ of major institutions such as media networks, the economy or the government, or disparaging Jews as degenerates who molest children and advocate for pornography, abortion and LGBTQ+ communities.”
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Risa Rambo wants to compete in the Transplant Games in Birmingham, Ala., next summer because “this one is so close and I hope my boys and sister can go.” ECN photo.
After undergoing a heart transplant in her mid-40s, Risa Rambo found refuge—as well as a rigorous physical rehab regimen—in competitive sports activities.
She earned medals in two different runnings of The Transplant Games of America, including being the most Valuable Participant for the Team Georgia in 2012.
Some of the medals Rambo has earned at The Transplant Games of America.
A year later, the former high school and college basketball player was at her home on St. Simons Island when she suffered a hemorrhagic stroke, a life-threatening rupture of a blood vessel in the brain.
“My son found me, I was unconscious,” Rambo, 63, says in an interview with East Cobb News in the lobby of the Sterling Estates assisted living community on Lower Roswell Road, where she has lived for the last eight years.
After being rushed to a hospital in nearby Brunswick, Ga., she had emergency brain surgery. Rambo was unconscious for several weeks, and later had to undergo a more grueling rehab in Atlanta at the Shepherd Center, which helps patients recover from spinal cord and brain injuries.
She would be lifted out of bed by rehab specialists, and “they would work you real hard,” from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. almost daily.
“They had to teach me how to walk again,” Rambo said. “I was real scared.”
Part of the therapy was putting a basketball in her hand when she walked, to keep her head up.
Rambo, who as Risa Turton was a hoops star at Crisp Academy and Crisp County High School in Cordele, Ga., and played at the University of Mississippi and Mercer University, knew she would never be able to live the same way again.
After college, she married and raised three sons, and after her divorce, stayed active playing golf on St. Simons. She returned there after leaving Shepherd.
But she could no longer do basic things for herself, such as cook or even change bed linens.
Rambo as a basketball player at Ole Miss.
“I just needed help,” she said. “I couldn’t live by myself.”
Paige Sander, her sister and legal guardian, lives in East Cobb, and in 2015 Rambo came to live at Sterling Estates to be closer to her. There, the staff cooks her meals, does her laundry and cleans her room once a week.
She walks with something of a limp, but is alert and responsive in a busy facility where she greets everyone, including a 106-year-old resident.
Rambo takes walks around the Sterling Estates pedestrian loop and enjoys the facility’s small pool.
But she says she wants to try cooking again soon, and desires some more independence.
Most of all, Rambo wants to get back to the Transplant Games, which became a major source of support and social life with her fellow transplant recipients.
The next Transplant Games take place in the summer of 2024 in Birmingham, Ala., and Rambo is excited about an in-person return. A virtual competition took place during the pandemic, and she was mailed some medals.
But she misses the camaraderie and wants her family to take part in the experience, which like the Olympics also includes opening and closing ceremonies.
Rambo had a long recovery from a stroke in 2013.
“This one is so close,” Rambo said. “I hope my boys and my sister can go. The closer it gets, the harder I train.”
She wants to compete in swimming, cycling and basketball. She and her sister attend Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, where Rambo shoots basketball two or three times a week.
“I’m still trying to get it up to the goal,” she said. “I’ve got a year to work on it.”
Rambo says she can drive, but prefers not to, and gets where she needs to go with her sister and via the Sterling Estates vans that circulate around East Cobb.
She has checkups twice a year at Emory University for her heart, and said that she “checked out well” after a recent EKG.
While she knows the activities are helpful for her brain and body, it’s the connection to others that she values just as much.
After having to retire due to her medical situation, Rambo said “I didn’t do anything for a while, and I got depressed. I wasn’t sleeping.”
At Sterling Estates, she pulls out the facility’s daily activities calendar, which is crammed with outings, bingo, movies and physical therapy and exercise sessions.
Rambo’s stroke rehab included walking with a basketball to help keep her head up.
She also enjoys spending time with friends she has made on the Team Georgia of the Transplant Games. They’ve gone to Braves games and are having a fish fry in August.
Rambo speaks matter-of-factly about the myriad of health issues she’s endured—”I’ve come a long way”—and even the death of one of her sons last year to suicide at the age of 30.
A good support system, Rambo said, has been vital for her recovery.
“You trust in God, and my friends and my family,” she said.
Water workouts are part of Rambo’s continuing recovery from a stroke.Family visits and social activities with fellow transplant recipients have been a big part of Rambo’s support system.
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The proposed sidewalk covers 0.1 mile on Bill Murdock Road across from the Walton HS campus.
Funding for a sidewalk connecting the Walton High School campus with a new sports complex for the school will be requested Tuesday by Cobb DOT.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners will be asked to spend $720,897 for the one-tenth of a mile sidewalk along the southern side of Bill Murdock Road, between Old College Way and Pine Road (see map below).
In an agenda item for Tuesday night’s meeting (you can read it here), Cobb DOT said $359,762 would come from the 2022 Cobb SPLOST School Zone Improvements component. Another $384,762 in Cobb DOT water system funding would be needed to relocate water lines.
The low bidder was Advanced Sports Construction, LLC of Woodstock.
The sidewalk would extend to a $1 million pedestrian bridge that the Cobb Board of Education approved in April to the sports complex, traversing a creek located in a flood plain area near the Bill Murdock-Pine Road intersection.
The sports complex is located on property on Pine Road and Providence Road that the Cobb County School District has purchased to construct a $6.738 million sports complex, housing the Walton varsity tennis and baseball teams.
Walton’s tennis teams played home matches there this spring, but the baseball portion of the complex is still under construction.
Safe access to the complex from the school campus to the complex, which will have 80 parking spaces, is necessary for practices as well as competitions.
The Cobb school district tried to get Cobb DOT to increase pedestrian crosswalks, but to no avail. Cobb DOT also was looking at realigning Bill Murdock Road and Pine Road to straighten out a curve near the intersection, but that also will not be happening.
Traffic at the intersection is regulated by a three-way stop sign.
The Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday will take place starting at 7 p.m. in the second floor board room of the Cobb government building (100 Cherokee St., downtown Marietta).
On the agenda will be a recognition of two students at Hightower Trail Middle School and another at Dickerson Middle School who have attained the Girl Scout Silver Award.
Another agenda item includes confirming the appointment of Georgia Bureau of Investigation director Michael Register as Cobb Public Safety Director. Register would be returning to a position he briefly held in 2018-19.
The meeting will be live-streamed on the county’s website, cable TV channel (Channel 24 on Comcast) and Youtube page. Visit cobbcounty.org/CobbTV for other streaming options.
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“You’re a Nazi and you’re an idiot,” she told him.
