A reader alerted us to the departure of the Ashley HomeStore at the East Cobb Crossing Shopping Center (4281 Roswell Road), and the above photo is what we saw when we went by.
The largest home furnishing retailer in the country had been operating at East Cobb Crossing since 2016, and also has stores in the Cumberland area and Alpharetta in north metro Atlanta in addition to the Town Center vicinity.
The Shopping Center Group, which leases space at East Cobb Crossing, lists the former Ashley space as having 19,230 square feet.
Like many retailing chains, Ashley closed locations in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and has been opening others as it makes significant changes.
Last year, the Ashley HomeStore concept was rebranded as “Ashley” and indicatec that stores in several metro areas, including Atlanta, will “undergo the refresh” amid more expansion.
According to Business of Home, a major reason for the rebrand is an attempt to reach younger customers and to “enhance the overall customer experience.”
Those marketing efforts include offering “experiential events” featuring live music with an emphasis on driving social media impressions and engagement.
Owner Gene Chayevsky cuts the ribbon for the new BODY20 fitness studio. Photos courtesy ECBA.
Body20 Ribbon-cutting
BODY20, a national fitness franchise specializing in wearable, electro-muscle stimulation workouts, held a formal opening and ribbon-cutting on Jan. 11 with the East Cobb Business Association.
Located at Woodlawn Point Shopping Center (1100 Johnson Ferry Road, Suite 270), BODY20 offers one-on-one technology training provided by a personal BODY20 certified coach to customers of all fitness levels.
Workouts are 20-40 minutes, featuring and are designed to improve strength and cardio results.
The East Cobb owner is KLW Fitness, a franchise run by veteran entrepreneur Gene Chayevsky, who is planning seven BODY20 locations in metro Atlanta.
BODY20 is a membership-based business with a variety of joining options. The studio offers a complimentary demo session. To sign up visit the studio’s website or call (770) 450-6127.
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The following East Cobb residential real estate sales were compiled from agency reports. They include the subdivision name, high school attendance zone and sales price:
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!
Wheeler High School’s Athletic Hall of Fame will welcome five new members this weekend.
Matt Haynes, Class of 1985, was a state champion in track and field and was a varsity wrestler and football player at Wheeler.
The inductees will be presented between varsity basketball games against Kennesaw Mountain Friday, around 7:20 p.m.
Induction will take place Saturday with photos at 9:15 a.m., breakfast at 9:30 a.m. and the ceremony at 10 a.m. in the Wheeler Cafe.
Tickets for the breakfast and ceremony will be $10 and can be purchased at the door. For questions, contact Brittny Jones at brittny.jones@cobbk12.org.
Ray Stang, Swimming, Class of 1968
There was no Wheeler Swim Team until he represented the school in the Georgia High School Swimming Championships. In the 1967 State Champion Meet, he finished 2nd in the 100-yard breaststroke. In the 1968 championship meet, Stang finished 1st in the 100-yard breaststroke, becoming Wheeler’s first state champion in any athletic competition. He also finished 3rd in the 100-yard freestyle. Ray’s achievements earned the Wheeler HS Swim Team a 7th place finish in the State for the 1967-68 school year, and Ray WAS the swim team, as he was the only swimmer.
Terry Poor, Football, Class of 1968
During his three years at Wheeler, Terry played in every football game as a starter on both offense and defense. His senior year, Terry was selected by his teammates as a permanent captain for the WHS Football Team.
After graduating college, Terry returned to Wheeler to teach and coach. As an assistant coach on Corky Kell’s football staff, he first coached junior varsity football for two undefeated seasons before being elevated to defensive coordinator for the varsity football team which was a perennial state playoff contender.
Matt Haynes, Track and Field, Class of 1985
After setting a new Wheeler freshman pole vaulting record, and winning the Cobb JV County Meet, with Steve Brown just one jump behind, the Wheeler pole vaulting “dynasty,” that started with Randy Eaton and David Swanson four years earlier was reborn. Over the next three years, Matt broke the rest of Randy Eaton’s Wheeler pole vaulting records, along with a few meet records.
He won State his junior year, and barely missed setting a new State record at 14’2. His senior year, he missed a jump at 14’2” hitting the bar on the way up and placed 2nd at State. Haynes also won the JV Cobb County wrestling title in the 167 lbs. weight class and lettered three times in football.
Jermareo Davidson, Basketball, Class of 2003
Jermareo played basketball at Wheeler for one season and broke the single season blocks record, as well as the record for rebounds. That year, Wheeler also won its 3rd State Championship. Jermareo was selected to play in the prestigious Michael Jordan High School All American game. He played collegiately at the University of Alabama and professionally in the NBA and overseas.
Dale Carey, Baseball, Class of 2010
Dale Carey was a member of the Wheeler baseball team for four years, and he also played football for the Wildcats for three years. During his senior year, he played centerfield and batted .398 with six home runs. He was recognized by the Atlanta Braves 400 Club as one the top players in Georgia.
In 2010, he was named Player of the Year, he was selected for two All Region Teams and All Cobb County Teams. He was also named to the Georgia Dugout Club All State Team. Carey played at the University of Miami and was in professional baseball for six years before coaching at the high school level.
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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!
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 delayed grand opening of Press Waffle Co. at Avenue East Cobb is taking place this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, with special discounts and giveaways.
There will be swag for the first 100 people who arrive at 9 a.m. Saturday, when the Belgian-style waffle eatery formally opens.
It’s occupying one of the “jewel box” buildings that’s at the heart of the retail center’s overhaul in recent months.
Earlier this week management said they’re aiming for a March opening:
“We’re dedicating ourselves to creating a place you’re absolutely going to love. It’s all about bringing the best of sports, food, and community spirit together.”
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The following East Cobb residential real estate sales 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!
The two teenagers killed in a one-car crash in Woodstock last week will have their visitations and funerals together, family members and friends have announced.
The families of Gabriel Escandon, 17, a Pope High School senior, and Esteban David Cortes, 18, who attended Etowah High School, will hold a joint visitation on Thursday and Friday from 4-9 p.m. each day at Poole Funeral Home (1970 Eagle Drive Woodstock).
There also will be closed casket viewings at the same venue Thursday and Friday.
A joint funeral service for the two boys—who were varsity soccer players at their respective schools—will be Saturday at 11 a.m. at Mt. Paran Church of God (2055 Mt. Paran Road NW, Atlanta).
“The families believed that the boys lived life together and should be laid to rest together,” states a message on a remembrance page for Escandon.
GoFundMe fundraisers have been set up for both (here and here) by the “East Cobb Soccer Community.”
They were passengers in a Mazda that crashed into a tree in a median on Towne Lake Parkway last Tuesday.
It was the 18th birthday for Cortes, who died at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital. The Cherokee Sheriff’s Office said Escandon died at the scene.
“Gabriel always encouraged us to seize the moment and embrace life’s adventures,” the fundraiser organizers said.
“And to those who knew Gabriel and his larger than life personality, his spirit remains, watching over his parents, his brothers, and his extended family. On the pitch, he will forever be the 12th man, supporting and encouraging his teammates. In the classroom, amongst his peers and with family, he had the power to illuminate the darkest corners of a room. He understood the meaning of brotherhood. His love of life was felt in everything did.”
The friends of the victims also have set up a website, pray4pkwy.org, where 100 percent of sales of “For His Glory” wristbands and t-shirts will go the families of Escandon and Cortes and to set up scholarships in their memories.
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“All Cobb schools and administrative offices will return to a normal schedule on Wednesday, January 17th.
According to the National Weather Service, tomorrow will be extremely cold, and the wind chill temperatures could be a shock to you and your children. Please be sure your children are dressed appropriately, especially if they will be waiting at bus stops. As you know, the Here Comes the Bus app allows you to track your student’s bus in real-time, so your student can remain indoors until the bus draws near. If you or your student will be driving, please continue using caution on the roads.
Our Team looks forward to seeing your children in school on Wednesday!”
About the weather:
The National Weather Service in Atlanta has issued a wind chill advisory from 5 p.m. Tuesday to 10 a.m. Wednesday for Cobb and much of North Georgia.
Temperatures are expected to reach into the low teens overnight Tuesday, but wind chill factors could make conditions feel near zero or a few degrees below during that advisory period.
Those conditions could result in hypothermia if precautions are not taken when moving about outdoors.
Wednesday’s forecast calls for sunny skies and highs in the mid 30s, with lows reaching around 20.
Winds are expected to die down during Wednesday, and on Thursday, highs will be in the high 40s and lows around 35, with an 80 percent chance of rain expected.
Friday will be sunny with highs in the low 40s, with temperatures much colder again over the weekend.
Saturday’s high is not expected to be higher than 30, with lows around 15.
Sunday will be a bit warmer, with highs around 40 and lows around 25.
Not long after the Cobb County School District announced Tuesday postponements of all classes and other activities, Cobb County government did the same early Monday evening, as all government offices, courts and libraries will be closed Tuesday, due to ” the potential for hazardous travel conditions.”
Among those activities being postponed is a Cobb Board of Commissioners public hearing on the Cobb Comprehensive Plan.
The winter weather advisory begins at 4 a.m. Tuesday and continues until noon, but icy road conditions may be in effect all day. High temperatures aren’t expected to get out of the 20s.
Cobb government said in a statement Monday evening that “Cobb DOT crews will monitor road conditions early in the morning and treat bridges, overpasses, and known trouble spots.”
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The chance of rain overnight Tuesday in Cobb County has prompted the Cobb County School district to call off classes and all after-school and extracurricular activities on Tuesday.
The district said in a statement late Monday afternoon that the closures were”due to the possibility of dangerous winter weather, including freezing rain, ice accumulations, and travel conditions that could impact buses and student drivers.”
It’s the first weather closure of the 2023-24 academic year in Cobb County.
“We understand unscheduled changes to school days impact families differently and do not make this decision lightly,” the district statement said. “Nothing is more important than the safety of our 107,000 students, their families, and our 19,000 team members.”
The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for Cobb and much of north Georgia from 4 a.m. Tuesday until noon Tuesday, with conditions expected to affect morning commutes.
There’s a 35-45 percent chance of rain forecast between 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. Tuesday, with high temperatures expected to reach only 30.
That’s the only wet weather in the forecast for the rest of the week, but highs will hover around freezing Wednesday, with lows dipping into the teens.
But wind chills on Wednesday could make the temperature feel between -5 and -10 degrees.
Temperatures will reach highs in the 40s and lows in the 20s on Thursday and Friday, but the weekend is expected to be frigid.
Saturday’s highs are forecast to be in the high 20s and lows in the low teens. Siunday’s high is expected to be in the high 40s with lows in the mid teens.
Warmer weather is expected next week, with highs in the 50s next Tuesday and Wednesday.
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A one-car crash in Woodstock this week that took the life of a Pope High School soccer player and another teen also caused serious injuries to three other passengers.
One of them is Chris Peixoto, a soccer player at Lassiter High School, who has been hospitalized, the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office said.
Friends of Peixoto, 17, have begun a fundraiser to help pay for his medical expenses, and have received pledges of more than $55,000.
Organizer Emiliano Gonzalez, also a Lassiter soccer player, said that Peixoto “was fortunate to survive, but is going to need multiple medical procedures, surgeries and therapy.”
Peixoto is a senior who has been a member of Lassiter’s state championship soccer teams in 2022 and 2023.
Others involved in organizing the fundraiser are Aiden McConnie, a Lassiter soccer player, and Sprayberry soccer player Gavin Crowe.
Peixoto was a passenger in a Mazda 6 that crashed into a tree on Towne Lake Parkway Tuesday night. Gabriel Escandon, 17, a senior at Pope, was pronounced dead on the scene of the crash.
The Cherokee Sheriff’s Office said that Esteban Cortez-Rendon of Woodstock, who turned 18 on Tuesday, also died after being rushed to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital.
The sheriff’s office said that the driver of the car was an 18-year-old from Smyrna who also is hospitalized, along with an 18-year-old from Tulsa, Okla.
Authorities said speed may be a factor but are still investigating the crash.
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Boy Scout Troop 1011 of East Cobb is taking orders in for its 37th Annual Pine Straw Sale.
Online orders can be made at the troop’s website through Feb. 22, with delivery scheduled for March 1-2.
The troop is based at Mt. Bethel Church and is sponsored by the Rotary Club of East Cobb, and the pine straw is the long-needle variety collected in south Georgia.
Customers can order a classic bale ($6.50) or a roll, about 2.5 bales, for $15.50.
Those who order 10 bales or 5 rolls can get free delivery if they live within a 5-mile radius of Mt. Bethel Church.
For those paying by check, they should be made payable to BSA Troop 1011 and mailed or delivered with an order form to Mt. Bethel Church, 4385 Lower Roswell Road Marietta, GA 30068 by Feb. 22.
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!
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A 12-year-old boy was seriously injured Wednesday when he was hit by a car crossing Sewell Mill Road, according to Cobb Police.
Officer Aaron Wilson, a spokesman for Cobb Police, said the boy was crossing Sewell Mill Road near Danforth Drive at 4:20 p.m. Wednesday when he was struck by a a 2017 Mazda CX-5 driven by Maria Murray, 61, of Marietta, in the westbound lane.
That’s just west of Bill Murdock Road near Dodgen Middle School.
Wilson said the boy was crossing outside the marked crosswalk, and Murray stopped her car in the road.
The boy was taken to Scottish Rite Children’s Hospital of Atlanta by ground ambulance with serious injuries, Wilson said.
In an email to the Dodgen school community, Principal Patricia Alford said the boy is a student there and was walking home when the crash occurred.
Cobb Police closed down Sewell Mill Road for a while and Wilson said anyone with information is asked to call the Cobb Police STEP Unit at 770-499-3987.
A Pope High School student and another teen were killed Tuesday night in a single-car crash in Woodstock, according to the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office.
Gabriel Escandon, 17, a senior at Pope, was pronounced dead on the scene of the crash, which took place after 8 p.m. Tuesday on Towne Lake Parkway near Towne Lake Hills East, the sheriff’s office said.
Authorities said a Mazda 6 with five people—all of them teenagers—left the road and crashed into a tree in the median. The Cherokee Sheriff’s Office said that Esteban Cortez-Rendon of Woodstock, who turned 18 on Tuesday, also died after being rushed to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital.
The three other occupants of the vehicle were not identified. They included a 17-year-old from Marietta and the driver, 18, from Smyrna, and an 18-year-old from Oklahoma, who were seriously injured and are hospitalized.
Escandon was a member of the boys varsity soccer team at Pope.
Pope principal Matthew Bradford sent out a note to the school community about Escandon’s death:
“It is with great sadness that I share with you the passing of Senior Gabriel Escandon who attended our school. This young man was very involved in the Pope High School community through sports and academics. This will be a great loss to all who knew him. Please keep this Pope High School family and our community in your thoughts in the upcoming weeks.”
He also provided ideas for parents to help their children with grief, including contacting the Pope counseling office, as well as community crisis resources.
A Cobb County School District spokeswoman issued the following statement Wednesday afternoon:
“Our hearts are broken today following the news that Cobb students were involved in a tragic car accident. Our thoughts are with the families, friends, and entire school community of the student who passed away and the students who are being cared for in the hospital. Additional school counselors are on site to support students and staff. The families ask that the media give them, and our schools, time to grieve. No further details are currently available, please continue to direct questions to the Communications Department.”
The Cherokee Sheriff’s Office said speed may be a factor in the crash, which remains under investigation.
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The management of the Chick-Fil-A location at Woodlawn Square Shopping Center said the restaurant will be closing temporarily at the end of next week for a remodeling of its drive-thru.
The store announced Tuesday that the restaurant will close at the end of business on Saturday, Jan. 20, for an estimated three weeks, with an anticipated opening in mid-February before Valentine’s Day.
The popular Chick-Fil-A location on Johnson Ferry Road was closed for several months in late 2018 and into early 2019 for a c0mplete rebuilding of the standalone building.
It featured a double drive-thru, as many Chick-Fil-A locations have undergone.
Last year, the Chick-Fil-A Lassiter on Shallowford Road near Sandy Plains Road was closed for a few weeks for a similar drive-thru upgrade.
Retail Planning Corp., which manages Woodlawn Square, got approval from Cobb County last year for a drive-thru expansion that required relocating a Delta Community Credit Union ATM.
The Chick-Fil-A across from Sprayberry High School has reopened after being closed for several months due to a complete facility rebuilding.
Chick-Fil-A Woodlawn Square updates are being provided at the restaurant’s Instagram page: @cfaonjf.
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Cobb Commissioner Jerica Richardson said Tuesday she will remain a candidate for the 6th Congressional District of Georgia, although it’s been vastly redrawn from when she announced her run last year.
The first-term Democrat, who lives in East Cobb and represents District 2 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners, said in a video-taped message that she’s staying in the 6th District.
During a special session in December, it was redrawn by the Georgia legislature in a special session in December to include South Cobb, parts of Atlanta and the south metro area.
Most of East Cobb will be in the 11th District, represented by Republican Barry Loudermilk.
The 6th District currently includes parts of East Cobb, North Fulton and Forsyth and Dawson counties, a strongly conservative area designed for a Republican, although Richardson had been making appearances in some of those places.
That’s represented by Republican Rich McCormick, and most of that area is now included in the redrawn 7th District.
When a federal judge ordered new maps due to violations of the U.S. Voting Rights Act, Richardson said she would not run against an incumbent Democrat.
But the new maps were approved, and former 6th District Congresswoman Lucy McBath, who switched to the Gwinnett-based 7th District in 2022, announced she would be switching back to the 6th.
That’s because much of Gwinnett was carved up by the GOP-dominated legislature into four Congressional districts,, most of them designed for Republicans.
Richardson didn’t mention that in her message (video below), but said her candidacy represents an “opportunity for sustainable and transformational change that will move the entire state forward.
Richardson, who lives in East Cobb, called the new 6th District “my community.” For a larger view click here.
“It’s because this race has always been about us. About our community, and the hopes and dreams that we bring to the table.”
Richardson was drawn out of her District 2 seat during reapportionment, and she and her fellow Democratic commissioners tried to invoke home rule to draw commission district boundaries.
But in a ruling on Monday, Cobb Superior Court Judge Ann Harris ruled that action violated the Georgia Constitution. She has not ruled on a lawsuit asking that the legislative-approved boundaries—which would place East Cobb in District 3—be reinstated.
The county has filed a notice to appeal that ruling.
The area of the new 6th District includes much of the 13th District, which has been represented by Democrat David Scott since 2003.
Congressional candidates do not have to live in the districts they’re running in. Richardson moved to her East Cobb home in 2022 after living in the Delk Road area.
“From Mableton to Austell to Powder Springs to Smyrna and Vinings and Sandy Springs and the Perimeter area and South Fulton and College Park and Douglasville and Fayetteville, I love my community,” Richardson said.
“And the Sixth District is my community. I’m deciding and running for you, and I hope you will run with me.”
According to her latest campaign disclosure reports—from April 1 through Sept. 30 of last year—Richardson reported more than $52,000 in contributions and reporting spending roughly half that amount.
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Cobb commission maps passed by the Georgia legislature include most of East Cobb in District 3 (gold).
A Cobb Superior Court judge has ruled that Cobb County Government’s invocation of home rule over Board of Commissioners reapportionment violates the Georgia Constitution.
Judge Ann Harris issued a motion for summary judgment on Monday on behalf of plaintiffs David and Catherine Floam, North Cobb residents who along with Commissioner Keli Gambrill filed suit in 2023.
They were contesting a 3-2 vote by the commission in October 2022 along party lines—the board has three Democrats and two Republicans—to challenge electoral maps drawn by the Georgia legislature earlier in 2022.
Those maps, approved as HB 1154 (see map at right), drew Democratic District 2 commissioner Jerica Richardson out of her East Cobb home and placed most of East Cobb in District 3.
The Georgia Constitution stipulates that redistricting of county commission and school board maps is a function of the legislature.
The Republican-led legislature bypassed maps drawn by the Democratic-led Cobb delegation that would have kept District 2 lines largely unchanged (see map at left).
The county’s legal challenge focused on a number of home rule exemptions, passed in 1965 legislation designed to give local governments more control.
But in her ruling (you can read it here), Harris said that law, the Municipal Home Rule Act, and a Constitutional Amendment passed by Georgia voters the next year, does not allow counties to invoke home rule to affect elective county office, including procedures for electing and appointing a county governing authority.
“Cobb County argues that the map is not a procedure,” Harris wrote in her ruling. “Read in the most natural and reasonable way, and giving words their ordinary meaning within the text and context, the Court finds that redistricting is part and parcel of the procedures for an election.”
Maps approved by the Cobb commission’s Democrats would keep Jerica Richardson of East Cobb in the District 2 (in pink) that she currently represents.
At the end of her ruling, Harris concluded that “the Court concludes that Cobb County’s Amendment to Act 562 [the home rule law] was an unconstitutional exercise of authority under its Constitutional Home Rule powers, inasmuch as this Court has found it was an action affecting an elective county office and affecting the procedure for election of the county governing authority.”
A separate lawsuit asking that the state-approved maps be implemented is still pending.
Through a county spokesman, Cobb County Attorney Bill Rowling said Monday that his office will be appealing Monday’s ruling.
“We respect the ruling by Judge Harris issued this morning,” Rowling said. “The county has already filed its notice of appeal and looks forward to making our case during the process ahead.”
That filing states that the appeal should be heard by the Georgia Supreme Court.
Qualifying for the 2024 May primaries is in the first week of March; in addition to District 2, the District 4 seat and Cobb Commission Chair—all held by Democrats—will be on the ballot.
The county statement didn’t include a reference to Richardson’s current tenure on the board.
Her term expires at the end of 2024, but it’s uncertain whether she would have to vacate her office immediately.
For Which It Stance, a non-profit advocacy group created by Richardson, issued a statement Monday afternoon denouncing the ruling.
“This ruling casts a spotlight on the Dist 2 Seat, triggering the possibility of an immediate vacancy due to the reinstatement of the state’s HB1154 map,” For Which It Stance Executive Director Mindy Seger said in the statement.
“The unprecedented mid-term vacancy arising from redistricting history in Georgia raises legitimate questions about the potential violation of O.C.G.A 1.3.11, a critical statute addressing the alteration of terms of office.”
Cobb Republican Party Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs hailed the ruling, saying Harris is “an astute jurist for standing up for the Georgia Constitution. We are happy this case is resolved not only for Cobb County but for every sovereign county in the State of Georgia. Most importantly this is a big win for the voters of Cobb County who were being disenfranchised by this gross overreach and who were left in limbo until this case was resolved.”
Harris held two hearings last year on the lawsuit. Initially filed by East Cobb resident and former Cobb Commission Chairman Larry Savage, the lawsuit later was joined by Gambrill.
But she was later dismissed as a plaintiff after Harris ruled she didn’t have standing.
Gambrill and JoAnn Birrell, the board’s two Republican commissioners, have argued publicly that only the legislature can conduct reapportionment of county elected bodies.
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr also issued a statement last year saying the same thing, but his office did not get involved in the lawsuit.
The Floams are residents whose home previously had been in Gambrill’s District 1, then was placed in Birrell’s District 3.
Gambrill and Birrell were re-elected in 2022 with the legislative-approved maps, and voiced their objections each public meeting of 2023 as the commission operated with the Cobb delegation maps.
The commission’s first meeting of 2024 is Tuesday morning, at which a discussion about the case and the ruling may take place.
East Cobb News also asked the county spokesman how commission business will proceed in the wake of the ruling, but he did not respond.
Kevin Redmon, a Democrat from East Cobb who has announced for the District 2 seat but lives in the legislative-approved District 3, issued a statement Monday.
“Redrawing district lines in the middle of a term opens the path to renegade politics where districts can be pulled into question at any point and for any reason,” he said. “We eagerly anticipate an appeal that will further this discussion, which is critical to Cobb County’s political future.”
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The following East Cobb residential real estate sales were compiled from agency reports. They include the subdivision name and high school attendance zone in parenthesis:
Dec. 18
2781 Burtz Drive, 30068 (East Valley Estates, Wheeler): $520,000
889 Fawn Way, 30068 (Fawn Ridge at Indian Hills, Walton): $545,500
2892 Octavia Circle, 30062 (Vestavia Estates, Walton): $1.495 million
2412 Crooked Tree Court, 30062 (Post Oak, Pope): $630,000
2820 Foothill Trail, 30066 (Caribou Hills, Sprayberry): $452,000
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After saying for several months he had not decided on whether to seek a fifth term to the Cobb Board of Education, Post 5 member David Banks made his retirement from that position official Sunday.
Banks sent via his newsletter a letter he wrote to Cobb Republican Party chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs that he won’t be candidate for the East Cobb post he has served since 2009.
He didn’t give a reason in the letter, although he has cited in previous interviews with East Cobb News (here and here) and other media outlets his age.
Two candidates in the Walton High School cluster—Republican John Cristadoro and Democrat Laura Judge—announced last year they will be seeking the Post 5 office.
A former technology executive, Banks, who is in his early 80s, said in the letter to Grubbs that “my goal has always been to provide the best and complete education opportunities for our students that is expected by the Cobb County community. That I have supported the teachers and staff faithfully during my years as a School Board member and encouraged every school to adopt and implement S.T.E.M. programs in all schools.”
Banks, who narrowly won re-election in 2020, has been a controversial figure for much of his previous 15 years on the board.
A strong Republican conservative partisan, he has clashed with former Democratic board members Charisse Davis and Jaha Howard on racial and cultural matters, and has used his newsletter to decry COVID-19 vaccines and to referr to the illness as the “China virus.”
He said in the letter announcing his retirement that his time in office “has been rewarding for me by giving me the opportunity to meet and know many Cobb County families and Cobb School District employees (who are the best). To support a stable school environment, for an excellent education program, and to encourage the Robotics programs in our schools.
“Hopefully my efforts has made Cobb County a better place to live and grow.”
He closed the letter to Grubbs by saying that as he ends his time in public office, “I will continue to support Republican conservative values and support the Cobb County Republican Party.”
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The first-term Democrat, who lives in East Cobb and represents District 2 on the Cobb Board of Commissioners, said in a video-taped message that she’s staying in the 6th District.
