Champion Free Press 4-1-16

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C HA MP IO NN EW SPA PE R C HA MP IO NN EW S CHAMPIONNEWSPAPER CHAMPIONNEWS

by Andrew [email protected]

After two proposedbills and many forumsaround the county,

DeKalb County’s form ofgovernment will stay the sameor now.

Two proposed stateegislations calling for theelimination of the county CEOposition failed to pass theGeneral Assembly this year.

The proposed bills, Sen.Fran Millar ’s Senate Bill 378and Rep. Scott Holcomb’sHouse Bill 1099, both wouldhave abolished the CEOposition in favor of a countymanager hired by the Boardof Commissioners andestablished a full-time, electedcommission chairperson.

Despite the failure of theegislation to pass, Holcombsaid he is not done.

I’m going to keep workingon it, and I do think we’regoing to get to a referendumover time,” Holcomb said. “Ican’t predict when that mightbe.”

From the town hall meetinghe held throughout DeKalbCounty, Holcomb said heearned “that the enthusiasmor changing the formgovernment is different across

he county.”“There is a lot of

enthusiasm in north DeKalband there is less enthusiasm insouth DeKalb,” Holcomb said.

“For this to move forwardhere really needs to besupport] from acrossDeKalb,” Holcomb said. “Weneed to continue to havea conversation about theproposal, what it means andwhy it would be benefcial.

“There are many whobelieve that our issues are

thechampionnewspaper.com F REE P RESS FRiDaY, apRil 1, 2016 • Vol. 18, no. 51 • FREE

• A PUBLICATION OF ACE III COMMUNICATIONS • Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Tucker and Stone Mountain.

CHAMPION The

See Commissioners on Page 5ASee Government on Page 5A

County’s form of government not changing soon Commissionersponder morepay hikesby Andrew Cauthen [email protected]

DeKalb County com-

missioners are consideringmore pay hikes for countyemployees.

On March 22, Commis-sioner Sharon Barnes Sut-ton introduced a plan to ad-dress discrepancies in payof employees who have thesame job titles but are notmaking the same pay.

Sutton proposed givinga 4 percent salary increaseto eligible employees of thecounty CEO and commis-sioners.

“It is not only fair andright, but I think it is theproper and legal thing to do,”she said about adopting thepay increase. “It is incum-bent on us to address thoseconcerns.”

Sutton said commission-ers already knew there werepay discrepancies that need-ed to be addressed.

“It was brought to our at-tention from the very begin-ning and we all know thatthis was something we hadto address,” she said. “We

had thought it would be OKto wait until midyear adjust-ments but it was brought tomy attention that there werepeople in several differentdepartments who had exact-ly the same job title, not justsimilar responsibilities.”

The county needs to“make sure all of our em-ployees are paid what theyare due,” Sutton said.

The proposed pay in-crease would be in addition

The Georgia General Assembly did not pass legislation that would have eliminated theDeKalb CEO position. Photos by Andrew Cauthen

Millar

Holocmb

Business .................................17A

Classified ..............................20A

Education.........................18-19A

Opinion ......................................7A Sports ................................21-24A

QUICK FINDER

EDUCATION 18A

DEKALB COUNTYSCHOOLS RANK HIGH IN

VIOLENT INCIDENTS

LOCAL, 10A

MEALS KEEPSENIORS INTHEIR HOMES

LOCAL, 2A

SPECIALELECTION SET FORCOMMISSION SEAT

– Rep. Scott Holcomb

‘I’M GOING

TO KEEP

WORKING

ON IT.’


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LOCAL The Champion FREE PRESS, Friday, April 1, 2016 • Page 2A

How You Can Help?Provide employment to our graduates

Encourage others to employ our graduates.

District Attorney Robert James

hosts

Jobs Not Jail:A Call To Action

• Two-thirds of every offender will be re-arrested within 3 years• The DA’s diversion program holds youthful, non-violent offenders accountable

• Come learn more about our Anti-Recidivism Diversion Court• Hear from our Anti-Recidivism Diversion Court graduates as they share their experiences

For information about our programs RSVP for the event by 4/5/2016

[email protected] [email protected]

April 13, 2016Historic DeKalb Courthouse

101 East Court SquareDecatur, GA 3003010:00am-1:00pm

Complimentary Breakfast

Special election set for commission seatby Andrew [email protected]

The DeKalb CountyBoard of Commis-

sioners won’t get areplacement Super

District 7 commissioner untilvoters go to the polls in No-vember. The county’s Boardof Elections voted March21 to hold the special elec-on in November with the

general election instead ofholding it on May 24 with theprimary.

A special election isneeded to ll the seat oformer DeKalb County Su-per District 7 CommissionerStan Watson, who resigned

his position to run for countyax commissioner. The twoemaining years of Watson’sour-year commission termwill be lled by a specialelection.

“There were a lot of con-cerns about if we conductedhe election in May we wouldhave had to do a stand-alone election. That had all

kinds of issues associatedwith it,” said Maxine Dan-

iels, director of voter regis-tration and elections.The elections board was

“concerned about whetherwe could successfully dothat for such a large scale,”she said. To pull off thespecial election, the countywould have had to hire 500election workers and rentvoting machines.

“We don’t have sufcientequipment to conduct an

election of that size,” Danielssaid. “We don’t even knowthe magnitude of whether allof our precincts can handletwo elections simultaneouslyin the spaces provided.

“If we had [held the elec-tion] May 24, the specialelection and primary wouldhave had to be done withseparate equipment, sepa-

rate poll workers, separatepaperwork, separate every-

thing,” Daniels said.Daniels said there werealso concerns confusing vot-ers who would have had toll out two voter forms andvote twice. If they were vot-ing by mail and inadvertentlyplaced a ballot in the wrongenvelope, it would not becounted.

“There were lots of is-

sues with how you wouldconduct such an election,”Daniels said. “While we’vedone that in the past, wehave not done that with...100

precincts out of our 189.“Our experience has

been these elections are dif-cult even in a small magni-tude,” she said. “All of themhave been troublesome.”

The delay in the specialelection means the commis-sion seat will be unlled forthe rest of the year.

DeKalb County NAACPpresident John Evans toldcommissioners March 22that he hopes the vacancywon’t “stymie the county”with three-three split votes

on the commission board.“We know what hap-pened last time. We justbotched up stuff, we heldup stuff because we had anopportunity to hold it up,”Evans said. “Seven or eightmonths [with the unlledposition] can create havoc ifwe are not careful.”

Former DeKalb Commissioner Stan Watson resigned to run for tax commissioner. Photo by Travis Hudgons


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AROUNDDEKALBCOUNTYWIDESchool district accepting advisory applications

The DeKalb County School District (DCSD) is currently accepting

applications for the E-SPLOST Advisory Committee.Through April 8, members of the public have the opportunity to joinDCSD on a voluntary basis in providing citizen-review of upcomingE-SPLOST projects. E-SPLOST projects are often capital-basedprojects involving construction, maintenance, repairs, and infrastructure.

According to DCSD, experience in accounting, architecture, auditing,construction, engineering, nance, education, law, planning, projectmanagement and/or real estate are desired. Accepted members mustbe able to dedicate at least two hours per month for meetings held in theevening.

Qualied attendees must be residents of DeKalb County and maynot be DCSD employees. A background check will be conducted todetermine criminal history as well as economic interest in DCSD’scapital projects.

Those interested may submit their information online at www.dekalb.k12.ga.us/splost-iv/oversight-committee/. Online applications will beaccepted until April 8,11:59 p.m.

BROOKHAVENPolice to host active shooter response training

The Brookhaven Police Department will hold a free CivilianResponse to an Active Shooter Event (CRASE), designed to provide thepublic with a basic understanding of how to survive an active shooterincident. The event takes place April 18, 6:15 - 9 p.m. at BrookhavenChristian Church, 4500 Peachtree Road. Seating is limited to 170registrants through EventBrite. Doors open at 6:15 p.m. for check in.Program begins at 7 p.m., followed by Q&A from 8:30 - 9 p.m.

City to host festival

Brookhaven will hostits annual Cherry BlossomFestival April 2-3 at BlackburnPark, 3493 Ashford DunwoodyRoad. The festival is from10 a.m. - 7 p.m., April 2, and11 a.m. - 6 p.m., April 3. Formore information, visit www.brookhaven.gov.

CHAMBLEEPolice department selling clothes for Special Olympics

The Chamblee Police Department is supporting Special OlympicsGeorgia by selling event T-shirts and baseball caps.

Chamblee police have supported the event for more than 20 years,and are selling merchandise to help fund this year’s Special Olympics. All merchandise can be purchased at the department’s headquarterslocated at 3518 Broad Street in Chamblee. T-Shirts are listed as $15and the hats are $12.

According to the Chamblee PD, approximately $86 is needed tosend an athlete to one of ve Special Olympics held in the state.

Special Olympics Georgia is a nonprot organization serving morethan 26,700 athletes throughout the state. The nonprot helps providesports training, competition and support year-round for children andadults. The State Summer Games will be held May 20 through 22 atEmory University.

CLARKSTONGeorgia Piedmont hires new business VP

Georgia Piedmont Technical College (GPTC) in Clarkston recentlyannounced the hiring of a new vice president.

On March 10, GPTC announced the hiring of Mark Komdat as vice

president of business and nancial services.“I am excited about the opportunity to join the Georgia Piedmont

Technical College family,” Komdat said. “I look forward to contributing ina meaningful way to the college’s journey to excellence.”

Before arriving at GPTC, Komdat was the dean of administration atthe State University of New York (SUNY) in Ulster County. While there,

he was in charge of many capital-based projects and a $28 millionbudget. Komdat is an alumni of SUNY, earning both his bachelor’sand master of business administration degr ees at the New York-basedcollege.

Komdat also has nonprot experience in serving with the AtlantaBallet as a general manager and chief nancial ofcer for 11 years. Hisresponsibility areas included accounting, nance, human resources, andinformation technology.

DECATURDeKalb County CASA to hold informational meeting

The public is invited to attend a volunteer information meetinghosted by DeKalb County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)

on Thursday, April 7, 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. at the Gregory A. Adams JuvenileJustice Center, 4309 Memorial Drive, Decatur.This session will provide an overview of the program for those

interested in becoming a CASA volunteer. The next ve-week trainingsession will be held on Thursdays, from 4 to 7 p.m. from May 5 - June 9.No session will be held on May 26.

DeKalb County CASA is a nonprot organization that recruits,screens and trains community volunteers who are appointed by a

juvenile court judge to advocate for the best interests of an abused orneglected child placed in foster care. DeKalb County CASA volunteerswork with the DeKalb County Juvenile Court and Division of Familyand Children Services to ensure that all the necessary information iscollected and presented to the court allowing the judge to make the bestdecision possible regarding placement of the child.

The DeKalb County CASA Program is designed to give abused andneglected children in foster care a voice.

For more information regarding this event or to RSVP, call (404)378-0038 or email [email protected] or dekalbcasa@

dekalbcasa.org.

DUNWOODY Fallen police detective honored at State Capitol

A recent event at the Georgia Capitol honored fallen Doraville PoliceDetective Shane Wilson.

On March 7, Georgia State Senator Steven Henson, Lt. GovernorCasey Cagle, Doraville Mayor Donna Pittman, City Manager Shawn Gillen, and Doraville Police Chief John King joined Wilson’s family inpassing a resolution honoring Wilson’s memory.

That honor includes a plaque being placed on a bridge spanningI-20 near the site of Wilson’s death. After the process is cleared with theGeorgia Department of Transportation, a memorial ceremony will takeplace.

Wilson was struck by a drunk driver along I-20 in DeKalb Countyon Nov. 14, 2011. The crash occurred while he was on call to a homeinvasion incident as part of the Doraville SWAT team. He was 27 at thetime of the crash.

Wilson worked as a dispatcher at the Doraville Police Departmentfrom 2003 to 2007 when he was made a sworn police ofcer. He waspromoted to Detective Corporal in 2011 two months prior to the collision.

STONE MOUNTAINCity to host garden event

Stone Mountain will host Community Garden Work Day April 9,8 to 11 a.m. Master Gardener Talk at 9:30 a.m. will be by Juliamma

Pierre on weeds. For more information, email Columbus Brown [email protected].

Cherry Blossom Festival. Travis Hudgons


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John Siegel

John Siegel

Doraville to spend $400K on emergency pipe repairs

John Siegel calls them “happychairs.”

He purchases and paintsocking chairs for children

and donates them to nonprot

organizations around Georgia.n DeKalb, the chairs have goneo Our House, Scottdale Early

Learning Inc., and CoralwoodCenter School.

“I started out doing themwith my grandchildren,” Siegelsaid. “My partner and I have 21grandchildren, so I did quite a fewchairs.

“What I do with each chair iseach chair has over 25 colors on it,and lots of dots, and it’s just fun,”he said.

Siegel said he has determinedhat “no two [rockers] could be alike

because…there are 35 differentplanes that I could change colors onand 25 colors that I’m working with.”

Each chair also has “threecoats of paint and one coat of

polyurethane and probably 1,000dots,” Siegel said.“I enjoyed doing them so

much for my grandchildren that Imade the decision about 10 yearsago that I would start doing it forcharities,” Siegel said. “And if I gota sale, I wouldn’t turn it down.”

Siegel said he recently nishedpainting his 478th chair.

“I paint every day. I thoroughlyenjoy it. It gives me a great deal ofpleasure,” he said.

For chairs that go to a particularchild, Seigel puts that child’s nameon the chair. He signs all chairs as

“Granddaddy John,” puts a date onthem and puts what number rockerthat is for him.

“I’ve got a picture album thatI keep that has every rocker that

I’ve done in it and where it’s gone,which is kind of fun to ip through,”Siegel said.

Siegel said he paints anddonates the chairs because heloves working with the colors.

“I enjoy doing something that Iknow will put a smile on kids’ faces,”he said. “I love the idea that thesechairs are going in places and tokids that would not normally beexposed to something fun like this.

“It’s extremely rewarding tome,” Siegel said. “They make mehappy and hopefully they make thechildren happy.”

Doraville City Council approved moving forward with emergency pipe repairs along Lambeth Circle and McLave Drive for anestimated cost of $400,000.

by R. Scott Belzer [email protected]

The city of Doraville is set tospend big on emergency pipemaintenance in a residentialneighborhood.

Doraville ofcials agreed tospend an estimated $422,310 onmaintenance work at LambethCircle and McClave Drive followinga regularly scheduled biweekly city

council meeting held March 21. Theproposed area is located one blockeast of Buford Highway and is listedn the city’s resolution as sufferingrom “structure failure.”

The resolution states the “failurehas caused large sinkholes” whichun the risk of “compromising thentegrity of several driveways andhreatening the foundation of [a]

home” along Lambeth Circle.The matter was presented

o the Doraville City Council byCity Manager Shawn Gillen, whoexplained the need came to hisattention during the course of otherwork occurring in the area.

“We discovered a collapsingpipe which has corroded away andhere’s been a lot of erosion,” Gillen

said. “There’s some sizeable anddangerous sinkholes all along thepipe.”

Costs adding up to $422,310,which includes contingency,nclude approximately $100,000 innew piping, $22,200 in replacingunsuitable soils,” $24,750 on a

new driveway, and a combined$19,000 on removing and replacingvarious fences and walls. Another$100,000 will be spent on gradinghe area.

“On a project this large,whenever we start digging in theground, and these are big pipes,we’re going to run into somethingwe didn’t know of,” Gillen said.

“There may have to be a fence

that’s removed to make way for theproject, things like that.”When asked by council member

Pam Fleming if the $422,310included a listed 20 percentcontingency, Gillen assured her itdid.

Gillen said Doraville’s stormwater fund was approximately $3.5million. He also asked the councilto consider how only $1 million hasbeen budgeted so far this year forother projects.

“We’ve only worked our waythrough about half of those and thisone would be in addition to that,”Gillen said. “These are dollars we

need to spending, otherwise the[Union for Public Domain] will getconcerned that we’re not xingour storm water system. There’s ahealthy fund balance there that we

do need to draw down on.”

Council member DawnO’Connor questioned Gillen as towhether the city had enough moneyto complete the proposed project inaddition to similar ones throughoutthe city. This includes a DoravilleWafe House location which is stillthe subject of litigation.

“We will have plenty in reserveto do the projects we have plannedand to do the storm water project atWafe House,” Gillen said. “I’m notgoing to talk about that too muchin detail because it’s still underlitigation.”

Doraville city attorney CecilMcLendon said there were some

“new developments” in the litigationand it “would be best to have afull discussion during executivesession.”

O’Connor also voiced concerns

about residents’ needs during the

course and eventual completion ofthe project.“We usually go and talk to

residents to get everything squaredaway,” O’Connor said. “I’m thinkingmaybe this year we’ll have betterluck than we have had in the past. Isaw some people complaining ‘Yousaid I was going to have a lawn andnow I don’t have a lawn,’ or ‘Mybush fell over and you didn’t x it.’I’m concerned that we make it clearabout what we’re going to replace.They’re not going to get the soddedlawn and picket fence.”

The Doraville City Councilunanimously approved the

emergency purchase. Noinformation regarding the project’sstart date was issued during theMarch 21 meeting.


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The Champion FREE PRESS, Friday, April 1, 2016 local Page 5A

COMMISSIONERS Continued From Page 1A

GOVERNMENT Continued From Page 1A

not with the structure of ourgovernment but rather with thepeople who are elected,” hesaid. “I’ll be the rst to agreethat people absolutely matter,but I have also learned…thatthe structure matters, too, andI rmly believe that we canchange the structure of ourgovernment in way that can leadto better results.”

Holcomb said he tried toget community support forhis proposed legislation byhaving town hall meetingsand engaging in a transparentprocess.

“I was able to clearlyexplain what the differencesare between our existinggovernment and the proposal

in House Bill 1099,” he said. “Idon’t know that the same was

true for the Senate effort. I’mnot aware of any town halls thatwere held or any other outreachthat were done.”

Millar said he is“disappointed” that DeKalb’sform of government won’t bechanging soon.

“I think the sentiment that alot of people felt is that the CEOposition has not worked outpretty well ever since [formercounty CEO] Manual Maloof ,”Millar said. “We’re the onlycounty that has that form ofgovernment. I think a majorityof people where I live, certainly,and I think throughout the entirecounty, have had enough andare tired of being embarrassedwith the same old gridlock.

“I think the General Assemblyis tired of DeKalb,” he said. “I

think the House certainly is.Every time they turn aroundwe’ve got another situation. Iknow the governor is certainlytired. The governor…came outand said we need to abolish the

[CEO] position. That’s the onlyreason I brought the bill, to behonest with you.”

Millar said he will not bring thebill forward again in the Senate“until something happens over inthe House.”

“I’m not going to waste mytime,” he said. “The Houseleadership indicated to me thatthey …were going to moveforward …and never did.

“They keep talking about thecharter commission,” Millar said.“How many commissions can we

have in DeKalb? I think at thispoint it’s rather ridiculous. I don’t

people really are sincere abouttrying to do anything about theform of government.

“I think it’s all smoke andmirrors and talk,” Millar said.“They’re content…with being in

the newspaper every day. Sobe it if people want to continuebeing known as the countywhere everybody is looking forcorruption.”

Millar said DeKalbRepublicans helped Democratsget one of their priorities passed,but Republicans receivednothing in return.

“We helped create aDemocratic city, Stonecrest, andyet the Republican priority wasto do away with the CEO andwe didn’t act on it. And people

wonder why Donald Trump isso popular.”

o pay increases ap-proved by commissionersn February for police,re, 911, sanitation andwatershed employees.

When commission-ers voted 4-3 to approvehe county’s 2016 bud-

get, they also approvedhe salary raises, which

will affect approximately2,800 employees and willgo into effect in May.

That 4-percent in-crease amounted to $5.2million in the current bud-get.

According to ZachWilliams, the county’schief operating ofcer, theanticipated cost to imple-

ment the new proposal isanother $3 million. Andbecause the monies arenot in the current budget,they would have to comeout of the county’s sav-ings.

Commissioner Jeff

Rader opposed the plan,saying, “This is not in-formed adequately by thepay and class study thatwe have commissionedand are still awaiting theresults of.

“I have since learnedapparently that the payincreases that we madefor public safety havenot corrected the issueof promotion disparity,”

he said. “In spite of thefact that there may besome disparities that arecurrently in place, weshouldn’t be making fur-ther expenditures withoutthe benet of the pay andclass study so that we

can better understandwhere the issues are.”

Commissioner KathieGannon said she hasseveral concerns.

“I agree that probablyeveryone in this county,in terms of staff, needs apay increase,” Gannonadded. “But we also needto have our pay classi-cations and our pay rang-es. We need to get our

house in order. Let’s putthings in order and reviewthis and give everybodyan appropriate raise, not

just across the board,because some areas willneed more than others.”

Gannon also said she

is concerned about thecounty’s savings account.

“It already went downin the last budget, which Idid not support,” Gannonsaid.

Sutton responded, “Ifwe have over $28 millionin reserves, which is insavings, we can’t take $2million out and make surethat the employees arebeing paid what they are

due.“We have to do a study

to that?” she asked.Commissioners decid-

ed to defer voting on theproposal for a month. Bythen commissioners willhave received the long-

awaited pay and classstudy.

Commissioners alsodeferred action on a reso-lution that would set theminimum wage for countyemployees, except thoseof other elected countyofcers, at $10.10 perhour.


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The Champion FREE PRESS, Friday, April 1, 2016 opinion Page 6A

Keeping sanity in local electionsThe local political season

has begun.Twenty-eight candidates

are vying for 10 differentpolitical positions in DeKalbCounty alone. Then there are2 State House and Senateaces as well as a state courtudgeship up for grabs.

The outcome of theseaces will determine who

sits on the school board andcounty commission, whooversees the county tax of-ce, who heads our sheriff’s

department and who will bedeciding which criminal cas-es to prosecute. The con-ests also involve those whowill be crafting and voting onstatewide legislation.

In other words, the seats

hat are up for grabs will af-ect some of the most impor-ant aspects of our lives.

For that reason, theseare the elections that shouldcommand our attention farmore than what’s playing outnationally in the race for thepresidency.

However, since the presi-dential preference race hasbeen so unusual this year

with bizarre behavior on thepart of candidates as well asthose in support of and oppo-sition to various candidates,let’s review how we shouldconduct ourselves here inDeKalb County as we em-bark on our most importantlocal electoral season.

Candidates:Stick to the issuesLet’s focus on the many

critical issues needing atten-tion in our county and notresort to name calling andpersonal insults. Offer voterssubstance in how you willresolve problems and workfor the betterment of thecommunity.

Show leadership fromthe start

Demonstrate your styleof leadership throughout thecampaign process so voters

can gauge who you are andhow you conduct yourself.Don’t just talk about the kindof leader you will be, show itin how you conduct yourselfwith fellow candidates andpotential constituents.

Stay out of the gutter Don’t resort to mudsling-

ing and focusing on what’swrong with other candidates.Instead emphasize whyyou are the best person forthe job. Set the tone for thecampaign season by takingthe high road.

Voters:R-E-S-P-E-C-T Let’s be respectful of

the men and women who’vechosen to pursue publicofce whether we support

them or not. We should bespecic in asking candidatesquestions and expect (and

demand) that they answerand not dodge our queries,but let’s conduct ourselves ina respectful way.

Show up, show up,show up

Most of us won’t be aninformed voters by just sit-ting at home. We must showup at candidate forums,ask questions to gather theinformation we personallyneed to make a decision andshow up at the polls to vote(and if necessary return tovote in runoff races).

I’m hoping that none ofthe ridiculousness that we’vewitnessed in the presiden-tial race will seep into ourlocal elections. There’s toomuch at stake for the future

of DeKalb County for us notto take these elections seri-ously.

Gale Horton Gay

[email protected]

Lifestyle Editor


7/24

“...I have examinedhe protections this billseeks to provide to reli-gious organizations andpeople of faith. I can ndno examples that any ofhe things this bill seekso protect us againsthave ever occurred inGeorgia. It is also ap-

parent that the casesbeing cited from otherstates occurred becausehose states had passedstatutes that specicallyprotected their citizensfrom adverse actionsbased on their sexualorientation. Georgia hasno such statutes,” saidGeorgia Gov. NathanDeal in his statement andpress conference prior tovetoing House Bill 757,commonly referred to ashe Georgia Religious

Freedom Act on Monday,March 28.

Earlier during thisegislative session, Geor-gia’s State House passedhe Pastor Protection

Act, which would haveprovided any member ofhe clergy with the abilityo decline performing anyeligious or ecumenical

service in direct con-ict with their faith. Gov.Deal also previouslyndicated that he would

have signed this bill intolaw. There were insteada multitude of other bills,as well as the 11th hourcompromise that becameHB 757.

Since our U.S. Su-preme Court upheldsame sex marriage lastsummer in Obergefellv. Hodges, in some re-

spects forcing forwarda pendulum alreadyswinging in that direction,faith-focused voters andorganizations have beenworking hard, with some

justication, to protecttheir right to dissent, or atleast to not partake in aninstitution or marriageswhich their faith eitheropposes or does not rec-ognize.

During my own seven-year marriage, one of

the handful of things wedid really right was weeloped. Our daughter isplanning her own nuptialslater this spring, and I’mwitnessing at a distancethe joys and pitfalls ofthe wedding industry. Herday and their day will belled with love, family and

friends, but I also cannotimagine a orist, baker,pastor or printer simplytelling her, “No, I’m sorry,but we don’t believe inthat.”

That said, there areplenty of bakers, pho-tographers and evencandlestick makers in thesea. If that were to oc-cur, we would just movedown the line to the nextrecommended entry orprofessional. No sense inforcing a baker to make acake that they can easilydo a lousy job on if forcedto comply.

But Gov. Deal is alsoold enough to remembera Georgia where a dinercould decline all counterseats based on the colorof the customer’s skin, orwhen same-sex coupleswere so afraid for theirlivelihood and societal ac-ceptance that they livedpractically their entirelives in the shadows or

the closet. Today’s Geor-gia is much better, morediversied and more wel-coming than that.

Deal has often ledquietly, convening thepowers that be, key play-ers and stakeholders,seeking input and thenforming a plan, legislation

or reform package. Hedid this to save the chal-lenged nances of theHOPE scholarship andGeorgia Pre-K, againlater, in three phases torestructure Georgia’scriminal justice systemand is still in the midst ofthe long-term restructur-ing of the formula whichfunds public education(Q.B.E.).

Georgia’s businesscommunity leadershipwas of largely one voiceon this issue. Signing abill into law that either al-lowed for state-sponsoreddiscrimination or createdthe perception of samecould do lasting and sig-nicant damage to Geor -gia’s economy and future

job growth. Many of thesesame corporations nowbeing touted as evil werebeloved, wooed andtoasted for announcingtheir relocation or expan-sions here. Where does

Deal chooses the right path,

and the long view

Bill Crane

[email protected]

Columnist

ONE MAN’S OPINION

that hospitality go whenwe recognize that manyof those relocating fromNew Jersey, California orother areas of Americamay bring their same-sexpartners or even moreprogressive politicalviews with them?

“Our people work side

by side without regard tothe color of our skin orthe religion we adhereto. We are working tomake life better for ourfamilies and our commu-nities. That is the charac-ter of Georgia. I intend todo my part to keep it thatway,” concluding his re-marks, Deal said.

I, for one, am proud ofyou, Governor. Anyonecan lead a parade; it isthe tough calls whichseparate the men fromthe boys.

Bill Crane also serves asa political analyst and com-mentator for Channel 2’s Ac-tion News, WSB-AM News/ Talk 750 and now 95.5 FM,as well as a columnist forThe Champion, ChampionFree Press and GeorgiaTrend. Crane is a DeKalbnative and business owner,living in Scottdale. You canreach him or comment ona column at [email protected].

The Champion FREE PRESS, Friday, April 1, 2016 opinion Page 7A

THE CHAMPION FREE PRESS encourages opinionsfrom its readers. Please write to us and express yourviews. Letters should be brief, typewritten and containthe writer’s name, address and telephone number for

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8/24


Dunwoody Police Department engages with citizens

See Dunwoody on Page 9A


On March 22, theDunwoody PoliceDepartment beganits seventh annual

Citizens Police AcademyCPA) which “[gives]

participants the opportunityo learn about variousunctions of police workhrough classroom lectures,raining scenarios and offsiteours.”

Each Tuesday through

May 23, residents willhear information fromDunwoody Police aboutsuch subjects as narcotics,gangs, detective work,crime scene investigation,rafc enforcement, scenarioraining and the local SWATeam. Classes are heldat the Dunwoody PoliceDepartment – located at 41Perimeter Center East –rom 6 to 9 p.m.

Future classes willnclude lectures andconversations about thesesubjects, in addition to aole-reversal night where

CPA students will attempto conduct trafc stops onpolice ofcers.

On March 22,participants received a tourof the Dunwoody PoliceDepartment and weregiven an outline of what toexpect from the course. CPAstudents saw the municipalcourt room, ofcers’ ofces,and the interview roomcomplete with a one-waymirror.

Later in the evening,

participants received a run-down of 10 different formsof social media the policedepartment uses to do itsob.

Ofcers Mark Stevens and Aaron Belt facilitatedthe class after introducingDeputy Chief David Sides,Major David Barnes,Major Oliver Fladrich andLieutenant William Furman.

”I want to thank[participants] for takingtime out of their lives tocome spend time with usand learn more about whatwe do,” said Sides. “Lawenforcement has taken quitea beating in the last year.”

Barnes, after introducing

himself, left the gatheredparticipants with a quotefrom Sir Robert Peel, whois considered “the fatherof modern policing” and aformer British prime minister.

“Police, at all times,should maintain arelationship with the publicthat gives reality to thehistoric tradition that thepolice are the public andthe public are the police,”Barnes said. “The policebeing only members of thepublic who are paid to givefull-time attention to dutieswhich are incumbent onevery citizen in the interestsof community welfare andexistence.”

Fladrich, whocommands the patroldivision of the DunwoodyPolice Department, toldthe attendants the goal ofhis division is to increasevisibility and deter crime.

“It’s a never endingstory that’s hard to gauge,”Fladrich said. “We can’t justdownload every criminal’sbrain and gure out how

many police cars it took forhim to go somewhere else.”

“We’re looking forward toseeing you guys for the next10 weeks,” Furman said.

Participants, mostlylongtime Dunwoodyresidents, retired military andlaw enforcement, as wellas community advocates,had various reasons for

attending the class. Someexpressed their admirationfor the Dunwoody PoliceDepartment and wished tolearn more about it. Otherssaid participating in the CPA

is the best way to serve thecommunity and support lawenforcement.

“I just love men in

Ofcer Mark Stevens of the Dunwoody Police Department guides residents through aguided tour as part of the 2016 Citizens Police Academy. Photos by R. Scott Belzer

Ofcer Mark Stevens shows a Citizens Police Academy student the DunwoodyPolice Department’s citywide coverage area, which is broken down into zones.


9/24


Supreme Court rules against Clarkstonby R. Scott Belzer [email protected]

An ongoing court battlebetween the city of Clarkstonand two local business ownerswas resolved March 21 by theSupreme Court of Georgia.

The Supreme Courtdecision reverses amisdemeanor conviction and$250 ne that dates back toune 2014 involving In and Out

Food Mart on East Ponce de

Leon Avenue, owned by Asterand Efram Gebrekidan. According to the decision,

n 2014, Clarkston issued amunicipal court summonso the Gebrekidans onhe grounds In and Out

Food Mart was housingcoin-operated amusementmachines (COAMs) in additiono packaged alcohol. After

a municipal hearing, theGebrekidans were ned $250.

A COAM is dened asany type of machine or

device that will automaticallyprovide music or some other

ype of entertainment whena coin, token or some otherobject, such as a credit card,s deposited,” by the InternalRevenue Service (IRS).

In 2012, Clarkston passeda citywide ordinance banningCOAMs from any place ofbusiness selling alcohol. Thecity ordinance specicallyprohibits “slot machines,mechanical music boxes,pinball machines, any form ofelectronic or mechanical gamemachine, or coin-operateddevice which might be used to

entertainment or amusementpurposes.”During a council meeting

held March 1, Clarkston ofcialsestimated 60 COAM machines

exist in 10 businessesthroughout the city.

The municipal judge foundthe ordinance is “primarily aregulation of alcohol ratherthan coin operated amusementmachines” and the action takenwas “a reasonable exerciseof [Clarkston’s] discretionarypower to set rules for alcoholsales.” A DeKalb Superior Court

judge agreed.However, a Supreme Court

of Georgia judge did not.

On March 21, the courtdecision stated “We concludethat the state’s COAM lawspreempt the city’s ordinance atleast insofar as the ordinanceapplies to COAMs as denedby the state statutes, and wetherefore reverse Gebrekidan’sconviction and ne.”

Georgia’s COAM lawsmake up more than 35 pages ofthe State Code, and althoughClarkston was arguing ongrounds of alcohol sales, theSupreme Court found the“General Assembly meantto occupy the entire eld of

regulation on the subject.”Clarkston city manager

Keith Barker said city attorneyStephen Quinn will addressthe city council on the subjectfollowing their monthly meetingon April 5. Barker said theenactment of the ordinanceoriginally stemmed from severalreports of abuses that allegedlyended in multiple deaths.

In addition, many reportsinvolving cups lled with alcoholand cigarette butts were givento the city.

“This case has served

to bring attention to a veryimportant issue in ourcommunity and in othercommunities across Georgia,”Barker said. “Many of our

residents reported suspectedabuses associated with theimproper use of COAMSto include cash payoffs.Refugee resettlement agencyrepresentatives, along with ourown police detective division,report that at least two suicidesin our community could belinked to money lost playingthese machines.”

Barker went on to saythat other communities inGeorgia will likely adopt similar

ordinances to Clarkston’s tocombat issues surroundingCOAMs. Although theGebrekidan case was notresolved in Clarkston’s favor,Barker said the businessowners abusing the ordinancehave since moved and theordinances have made theirintended mark.

“The remaining businessesthat operate COAMs know andunderstand that this is a point ofemphasis for the administrationand that only strict adherenceto the law will be acceptable,”Barker said. “We all know and

understand each other now.Most of the remaining ownerswith COAM machines arehappy that we have eliminatedthe folks who were engaging inquestionable activities.”

Barker said the decision totake this case further would beleft up to the council.

“I can’t say what the citycouncil will decide to do asa result of this recent ruling,”Barker said. “I can sayunequivocally, that sheddinglight on this issue has broughtabout some noticeable

reductions in the total numberof COAMs in our communityand signicant improvementsin the legal operation of theremaining gaming machines.”

uniform,” joked Karen Roberts, a repeatstudent in this year’s CPA. “I think theDunwoody police are the best thing tohappen in Dunwoody. This is a wonderfulexperience to learn and go out into thecommunity to sing [their] praises.”

Ron Silvers and Jim Sturgis, whovolunteer as bailiffs for the Dunwoody

municipal court and have taken the CPAcourse before, saw this year’s class as a wayto continue a long friendship with fellow lawenforcement ofcers.

“I’ve been working with the city eversince we were pre-city,” said Sturgis. “I cameto see what the problems with Dunwoodyare at the moment and how the police areaddressing them. We’ve found a great policedepartment and [Stevens and Belt] are greatexamples of that.”

Maxwell Kwaneda, a 30-day resident ofDunwoody, said he was attending the classto learn more about Dunwoody law.

“I took a similar class in Oklahoma,”Kwaneda said. “It was a great way to learnmore about the community.”

Stevens and Belt concluded the classby stating the CPA was a great opportunityto see who police ofcers are behind thebadge.

“We don’t want people to see 30 minutesof [a TV show] and think that’s who we are,”Stevens said. “[Participants] get to see whowe are, what we do and why we do it –something behind the curtain that most peopledon’t get to see. We’re not asking anyone toleave this class and defend the DunwoodyPolice Department and be judge and jury.We’re asking people to listen and take in, askquestions and learn more about us.”

DUNWOODYContinued From Page 8A

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled against the city of Clarkston in the enforcement of its ordinance on coin-operated amusement machines in neighborhood markets and gas stations.

Ofcer Mark Stevens tells the 2016 CitizensPolice Academy class about what they canexpect over the course of 10 weeks at theDunwoody Police Department. Photo by R. ScottBelzer


10/24



I

n DeKalb County, it’s not uncom-mon to walk by or encounter adiverse group of people.

In the span of one day, onecan pass a group of teenagers hail-ng from such places as Ethiopia,Vietnam, Japan, Nepal and NorthCarolina. In the same day, one canencounter their parents at their re-spective places of business.

On certain days, one can en-counter such individuals tilling elds,planting fruit and vegetable seeds,and harvesting fresh crops on thesame plot of land, all thanks to oneocal nonprot.

Global Growers Network (GGN),an independent metro Atlanta non-prot founded in 2009 as an armof Refugee Family Services, nowprovides more than 250 refugeeand low-income families throughoutDeKalb County with opportunities inarming.

Through managing 20 acres atour locations in Clarkston, StoneMountain and Decatur, GGN is ableo provide land and agriculturalsupport for farmers. The network’sarmers include individuals andamilies growing for both private andcommercial interests.

“What we’re trying to do is con-nect several dots together,” saidRobin Chanin, executive director.There’s a tremendous demand

rom Atlanta’s refugee communityor opportunities to grow food muchke they did in their home countries.

We leverage this demand with thecurrent interest in supporting localagriculture in order to create eco-nomic opportunities and to increasehe health of our communities,whether this be through developingcommunity and market gardens oraunching careers and businessesn agriculture.”

Chanin said GGN specializesn giving refugees a chance to useheir farming skills in the DeKalbCounty area. Annually, the gardens

GGN manages produce 200,000pounds of food to be taken home byhe farmers themselves, sold at lo-cal farmer’s markets and distributedo local restaurants.

“We are connecting talent andopportunity,” Chanin said at a recentClarkston city council meeting. “Weare connecting refugees to their ag-icultural heritage here in their new

homes. We are, in the process, cre-ating a new heritage for agriculturen the southeast United States thateects that diversity.”

Chanin also said Global Grow-ers is making sure these farmersget their fair share of the fruits of

heir labor. According to the UnitedStates Department of AgricultureUSDA), most commercial farmers

Global Growers: Connecting the dots one garden at a time

Photo by Jason Hales

Global Growers Network provides refugee and low-income families garden space throughout the metro Atlanta. Photo byJessica McGowan

Photo by Jessica McGowanSee Growers on Page 12A


11/24


Residents celebrate park’s new trees

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Residents in aBouldercrest neighborhoodcelebrated on March 24 the

planting of 70 trees in a localpark.

“I’m just elated that wehave these trees,” saidPatricia Culp, presidentof the Cedar GroveNeighborhood Association.

“We wanted the treesbasically shade because wehave a lot of walkers thatuse this park and it’s alwaysso hot when you’re [walkingon] the trail,” she said. “Wethought it would be feasibleto have some trees to give

us a little bit of shade.“The beauty of the trees

[is] something that we’vebeen blessed with,” Culpsaid. “We love nature sohaving these trees out here

is going to enlighten us. It’sgoing to be an asset to ourwhole community.”

Culp said she wasgrateful to DeKalb CountyCommissioners KathieGannon and Larry Johnson for their work toimprove the park.

Gannon said the newtrees came from the county’stree bank program.

“Many people don’tremember but we still have

See Trees on Page 14ABouldercrest residents joined DeKalb County Commissioner Kathie Gannon to celebrate the

planting of 70 trees in a neighborhood park. Photos by Andrew Cauthen

The trees were provided through the county’s tree bank program to which developers contributewhen they remove trees from a property during construction.


12/24


GROWERS Continued From Page 10A

_ _ _ _ . . _ . :

eceive less than 10 percent of the overall protsrom the crops they sell.

“We’ve sold more than half a million dollars’worth of produce,” Chanin said. “Seventy-ve per-cent of that goes to the farmer, 25 percent goesback to Global Growers. We’re turning the currentood distribution model upside down in an attempt

o create a more equitable food system that val-ues the producer.”To help give back to the community, GGN

only sells at farmers markets that accept or dou-ble the value of food stamps. This way, Chaninsaid, the nonprot can sell products a half-pricewhile still giving most of the value straight back tohe farmer.

“We’re trying to develop an ecosystem thatensures that farming can be a viable business,”Chanin said. “It’s kind of magical, really. We’rerying to shift the way that agriculture works in away that’s more supportive of its producers anddiversity.””

At the same time, according to Chanin,Global Growers is changing the diets of its regionhrough health-conscious and diverse produce.

The executive director said diversity was neededn most American diets just as much as other so-cietal aspects, something Chanin calls a “justicessue.”

“It translates into health for our environment,our farmers and our consumers,” Chanin said.Our food system is currently focused on caloric

needs, we’re focused on nutrition needs. We pro-duce enough calories to feed our community butwe do not produce enough nutrition.”

According to Chanin, GGN is in such high de-mand that their 20 acres are completely full. Theexecutive director explained that the waiting listto start farming at one of the four sites numbersmore than 100 families.

“We’re looking to increase the amount of land

acceptable to farmers to start food production,”Chanin said. “We’re maxed out on land. The de-mand for what we do is greater than our capacityto meet it.”

For this reason, Chanin has been engagingwith city ofcials in the municipalities where gar-dens are located. She said most towns are sup-

portive in providing land access and discussingrelevant issues like agriculture education.The general public has been aiding Global

Growers through interest, volunteering, creatingmore space for members, and buying food. Fi-nancial donations up to $50,000 also have beenaccepted.

“People generally donate around $100,”Chanin said. “But you’d be amazed how far the$5, $10, and $20 donations go. It’s one of my fa-vorite things to see: people contributing what theycan. It’s important.”

Global Growers already distributes productsto such businesses as Twain’s Brewpub and Bil-liards, The SoulShine Sprouts HomesteadingPreschool, Souper Jenny, Grand Hyatt Buckhead,Candler Park Market, Pine Street Market, Avalon

Catering, Wrecking Bar Brewpub, Murphy’s andGarnish & Gather, but is nding more innovativeways to move product and benet its many refu-gee and low-income farmers.

“[Global Growers] is spending more time onwholesale distribution in addition to direct sales,”Chanin said.

For more information on Global Growers Net-work, including information on contributing, visitwww.globalgrowers.org.

Global Growers offers gardeners and farmers theopportunity to grow fresh produce and use them forconsumption or selling. Photo by Jessica McGowan


13/24


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WEEK inPICTURES

The Georgia Tech admissions department was at Arabia Mountain High School March 21 to handout acceptance letters to Stephen Beasley, Victoria Brown, Michael Bryan II, Govinda Harris, NeyahJohnson, Adenike Olagbegi, Anton Turner and Quincey Wilson The principal of Arabia MountainHigh school, Dr. Richard Swanson, congratulated the students and greeted their parents.

Teachers and kids get in on the act, and don colorful costumes during the MJCCA’s Purim parade.

Boys at The Weinstein School take a rest but are at the ready toid those in need during the Marcus Jewish Community Center of

Atlanta’s (MJCCA) Purim parade.

The 3 of Hearts leads the way, as three beautiful princesses inheir royal nery show everyone how it’s done during the MJCCA’s

Purim parade.

Youngsters show MARTA is SMARTA as they take a ride down MainStreet in their own city bus during the MJCCA’s Purim parade.


14/24


TREES Continued From Page 11A

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Nonprofit animal shelter gets donation of pet bedsby Andrew [email protected]

A local animal shelter receiveda donation of $5,000 in dog bedsMarch 24.

FarmHouse Fresh, a Texas-based natural and organic skincarecompany, gave the beds to PAWSAtlanta, a private, not-for-protshelter in unincorporated Decaturhat will be a no-kill facility for 50

years.The donation of 75 dog beds

ncluded small, medium and largebeds in a range of thicknesses, pluskuranda beds and mats.

Laura McKelvey, PAWSAtlanta’s shelter manager, said thebeds were needed.

“We denitely needed it

because we go through them veryquickly and we don’t have enoughfor the dogs currently,” she said. “At

any given time we probably have150 animals on the property—catsand dogs—so that should reallyhelp with our dog population.

“Because so many dogs usethe beds, they get...worn out veryquickly,” McKelvey said. “We willwash them and wash them andwash them until they get to barethreads and we have to get more.”

“It’s wonderful for us because...our dogs will be more comfortable,which is what we always aim forhere,” McKelvey said. “We alwaystry to make sure they have a reallypositive experience even thoughwe’re a shelter.”

McKelvey said the beds also

will “show people more of whatthe dogs will look like in their ownhomes when they see them laying

on these beds. Maybe it will opensome doors to some adoptionswhen they see it. Maybe they canenvision it a little better.”

Farmhouse Fresh works “with alot of animal rescue organizationsdoing charitable work with them,”McKelvey said. “They have aprogram to donate beds and try toget every dog in a shelter a bed.They reached out to us and asked ifthey could help us with that.”

“We are just incredibly gratefulto FarmHouse Fresh,” McKelveysaid.

The bed donation is part ofFarmHouse Fresh’s charitable

initiative to help forgotten and

abused animals.“Our goal is to bring smiles

to dog and animal lovers, while

providing comfort, warmth and loveto our furry friends in shelters, plusraising public awareness of theirneed for a permanent home,” saidShannon McLinden, CEO andfounder of FarmHouse Fresh.

McKelvey said that whilePAWS Atlanta currently doesn’tneed any more beds, “we alwaystake donations of towels, bedsnewspaper—things...for [animals] tolay on because...we do go throughthem.

“These [beds] are very durable,”McKelvey said. “We hope they’regoing to last a long time, but ifanyone wants to donate we’re not

going to turn them away.”

what we call a tree bank,” she said. “Whenwe approve a development…, there’s acertain number of trees they have to keepon the property.

“They are allowed to down so manyrees but with recompense; they have to

pay it back,” Gannon said. “And if youcan’t t the trees back on the property theycame from, then parks and our arboristwork together to nd appropriate locationsor those trees.”

Gannon said she has been working toensure that trees placed in the tree bankfrom developments that I’ve worked on

get used right away so they don’t get lostn the banking system.”

After trees were placed in the treebank from a Clairmont Road development,Gannon said she “worked very hard to

make sure that we got as many trees aspossible back on Clairmont and in thatimmediate vicinity. That’s my rst choice—to get them back so they add to the canopythat was taken away.”

Gannon said, “The tree bank has beenaround for a very long time, but we weren’tdoing a very good job with … making surethe trees got planted. I’ve been making areal concerted effort to make sure that treebank is actually used in a way that benetsour district.”

Users of Bouldercrest Park have beenasking the county for trees for several

years “to get some shade on the walkingpath,” Gannon said.

“So as soon as I had some extra treesin the tree bank I [said] this is where theyneed to go,” Gannon said.

A Texas-based company recently donated $5,000 in pet beds to PAWS Atlanta. PAWS Atlanta shelter manager Laura McKelvey helps a dog onto a kuranda bed.Photos by Andrew Cauthen

Bouldercrest Park has 70 new trees thanks to a county program. Photo by Andrew Cauthen


15/24


Lithonia seeking AmeriCorps VISTAs

Residents give thoughts on Ashford Dunwoody Road corridor studyby Carla Parker [email protected]

Brookhaven residents in theAshford Dunwoody Road corridorhave given a variety of ideas

on what trafc and pedestrianmprovements they would like to seen the corridor.

The city held two stakeholdermeetings on March 21 and 23o collect ideas for the AshfordDunwoody Road corridor study todevelop a vision for the corridor. Thecity is focusing on the corridor toaddress the trafc congestion alongAshford Dunwoody Road.

“This is one of our problem areasrafc-wise in the city of Brookhavenand there has been tremendousdemand for it to be addressed andhis is the rst step in the city doingso,” Councilwoman Linley Jones

said.The project also will focus on

making the corridor friendlier topedestrians, cyclists and residents,who live, work and play alonghe road. Gresham, Smith andPartners design rm conducted thestakeholder meetings—allowingesidents to share their thoughts onhe project by posting sticky noteson a board for everyone to see.

Jones said after the rst meetinghat she was pleased with theurnout.

“We’ve had a terric turnout forhis rst night and I’m really pleased

about that because we want to getall of the thoughts, opinions anddeas as we possibly can,” Jonessaid. “I’m very pleased with thediversity of ideas that are posted onhe board.”

Jamie Cochran of Gresham,Smith and Partners said themeetings are the beginning of theplan.

“One of our rst activities wasactually going out to the public withhe workshop to get community inputon what the people who live near thecorridor or what in the area and whatare the problems they see in termsof transportation,” Cochran said.

The project began with a

meeting of the Citizens AdvisoryCommittee in February. Aftercollecting the suggestions fromresidents, Cochran said her rm willlook at other aspects to develop a

plan for the corridor.

“We have some technicalanalysis we’re going to do,”Cochran said. “We’re going to belooking at trafc data, data on landuses—where people are living and

working. The city also has done its

rst city-wide bicycle/pedestrianplan, so we’re going to take thatinto consideration as well, and thenbring back potential solutions for thecitizens to take a look at probably

this summer.”

Lithonia has been approved bythe State Ofce of the Corporationfor National and Community Service(CNCS) to recruit two AmeriCorpsVolunteers in Service to America(VISTA) to work with the communityin the areas of nancial literacy, safehousing and healthy living.

“We are glad we are able torecruit to ll the VISTA positions

again,” said Lithonia Mayor Debo-rah A. Jackson. “The new VISTAswill build on the work started lastMay to identify and bring resourcesto the community in the areas of

asset-building and access to healthyfood resources. He or she will com-plement the work by our other VIS-TA who is focusing on job trainingand small business development.”

The city’s VISTA project, Li-thonia Action to Build Community-(Lithonia ABC), focuses on theCNCS goals of Economic Opportu-nity and Healthy Futures. The city

is seeking two applicants to serveas VISTA community liaisons for as-set building and VISTA communityliaisons for Healthy Futures. Thepositions are temporary, full-time

and funded through the State Ameri-Corps Ofce for a one-year period.

A monthly stipend of $1,026 isprovided along with health and otherbenets. An educational award isavailable upon successful comple-tion of the program. Outside em-ployment is permitted that does notconict with responsibilities to theVISTA project.

Interested applicants may obtainadditional information at the Corpo-ration for National and CommunityService website at www.nationalser-vice.gov/programs/americorps, un-

der the link Find Opportunities Now. Applications must be submitted

online at the CNCS website by April4. The selected applicant must beavailable to attend the VISTA train-ing from May 23-26. The positionwill start on May 27.

For more information or tolearn how to apply, contact the City Administrator Eddie J. Moody at

[email protected], orMayor Jackson at [email protected], or call city hallat (770) 482-8136.

Brookhaven residents gave a variety of ideas on what they want tosee with the Ashford Dunwoody Road corridor study.

Residents share their concerns with representatives from Gresham, Smith and Partners design rm. Photos by Carla Parker

Residents shared their thoughts on the project byposting sticky notes on a board.


16/24


Couple charged inrape, kidnapping case

Sheriff ’s officereceives Triple Crown

accreditation awardby Andrew [email protected] again, the DeKalb

County Sheriff’s Ofceholds the Triple Crown

Award for accreditation.The award, established

by the National Sheriffs Association, recognizessheriff’s ofces that achievesimultaneous accreditationfrom the Commission onthe Accreditation of LawEnforcement Agencies,

the American Correctional Association’s Commissionon Accreditation forCorrections and theNational Commission onCorrectional Healthcare.

“It is rare that a sheriff’sofce simultaneouslyholds all three nationalaccreditations,” saidDeKalb County SheriffJeffrey Mann. “In fact thereare only 42 of the 3,080sheriff’s ofces nationwidewho hold this distinction.

“I am so proud ofthe fact that our menand women hold theseaccreditations with suchgreat esteem,” Mann saidof his ofce’s 800-plusemployees. “They workhard each and every dayto make sure that they aremaintained.”

Mann said theaccreditations represent“Iiterally hundreds ofstandards that are

considered best practicesnationwide.”

“Achieving these ac-creditations individually isa daunting task,” accordingto a statement by the Na-tional Sheriffs Association.“Acquiring all three at thesame time is an extraordi-nary feat. In fact, the TripleCrown distinction is so rare,that since the establish-ment of the award in 1993,fewer than 100 sheriffs’ of-ces have qualied.”

The sheriff’s ofcehas maintained the TripleCrown distinction since rstachieving it under formerSheriff Thomas Brown in2008.

The DeKalb CountyBoard of Commissionersrecognized the sheriff’s of-ce March 22 with a specialproclamation.

“We really appreciatethe hard work these three[accreditations] represent,”said Commissioner KathieGannon. The Triple Crown“means they’re goingthrough accreditation forperformance and account-ability standards everysingle year.

“We are appreciativeand the people of DeKalbCounty are very fortunateto have law enforcementagencies that are rankedup at the highest in termsof best practices,” Gannonsaid.


DeKalb County Police have arresteda North Carolina man and College Parkwoman in connection with two crimesnvolving kidnapping, armed robbery andape.

Jaquan Lemon, 27, has beencharged with one count of rape, two

counts of armed robbery and two countsof kidnapping. His alleged accomplice,Tori Riascos, 21, was charged with theftby receiving because police believe shebeneted from the robberies.

According to Cedric Alexander , thecounty’s deputy chief operating ofcer forpublic safety, a 27-year-old woman wasattacked on March 6 at 2200 Park LakeDrive at Atlas LaVista Hills Apartmentswhen she got out of her vehicle.

“A male subject approached her frombehind and forced her into her vehicle atgunpoint and robbed her,” said Alexanderabout the.

Alexander said the suspect then drovehe woman to a nearby ofce park whereshe was sexually assaulted.

“Shortly thereafter the suspect thendrove the victim back to the parking lotwhere he rst encountered the victim,exited the vehicle and ed on foot,”Alexander said.

Alexander said a second incident onMarch 14 involved the armed robberyand kidnapping of a 26-year-old female at4310 Paces Park Drive at the Paces ParkApartments in Decatur.

The victim “was exiting her vehiclewhen a subject approached her frombehind, forced her into a vehicle at

gunpoint and robbed her,” Alexander said.The suspect drove the victim to anearby gas station and “demanded moremoney from her at gunpoint,” Alexander

said. Once he received the money, thesuspect ed the scene.

During the investigation, whendetectives contacted surrounding policedepartments, they learned of a similarincident in Atlanta involving the allegedsuspect.

“After comparing the Atlanta case toone of our incidents,...detectives were ableto connect the two incidents,” Alexander

said.On March 17, after obtaining video

surveillance of a suspect’s vehicle, theinvestigation led detectives to a RedCarpet Inn in College Park where Lemonand Riascos were arrested, Alexandersaid.

Police have not determined therelationship between the two suspects,

Alexander said.“Clearly they did have a relationship,”

Alexander said. “So it’s very well possiblethat they may have been planning andtargeting some of these victims along theway.”

The incidents are under investigationand Atlanta police have taken out warrantson Lemon, who has an extensive criminalhistory, Alexander said.

After learning of the rst incident,DeKalb investigators were concerned that“we may have an emerging serial robberand rapist,” he said.

“When something of this nature—we’re talking about a rape, a robbery, akidnapping—that is serious,” Alexandersaid. “It [was] important that we try to getahead of any type of event such as this—so serious in nature—to make sure westop it before it goes any further.

“This gentleman and his accomplice

were a real threat to this community inthe most egregious way,” Alexander said.“We’re delighted to have them off thestreets.”

Lemon Riascos


17/24

BUSINESS The Champion FREE PRESS, Friday, April 1, 2016 • Page 17A

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Phnewfula (pronouncednew-fa-la) Frederiksen lefther career as a music

executive to focus onanother passion—staying inune with the environment.

Frederiksen is now theowner of Happy Mango,an eco-friendly baby,pregnancy and children’sboutique, that opened inKirkwood earlier this month.The shop, which sells itemsor expectant mothers andchildren through age 6,eatures a wide variety oftems, including bambooswaddles, furniture thatgrows with the baby and non-

electric educational toys.“We have anenvironmentally sensitiveversion of just about everytem that would be on yourbaby shower registry exceptclothing,” Frederiksen said,adding, “going green isn’tas hard to do or as offhe grid as people think.

Many of the productsat Happy Mango arecomparable in price toraditional store-bought

baby items and can usually

be repurposed after theirintended use.”

Frederiksen said sherst became aware ofenvironmental issues when

she was in elementaryschool. “We saw a lm thatsaid if we don’t make betterenvironment choices in afew years we’re all going tobe wearing gas masks ormoving to Jupiter,” recalledFrederiksen, who grew up inJapan. “Still, I really startedtaking a serious interest inenvironment issues whenI was a student at Clark

Atlanta University.”Her revised career path

also was prompted by thebirth of her children, now

6 and 1. “I needed to befully present for my kids,”Frederiksen said. “Workingfor a company just didn’tallow me the time I neededto spend with my children.

Also, I felt the music nolonger reected my values,so I quit my job and movedback to Atlanta, where I alsocan be near my mother.”Now her children are oftenat her shop in the play areawith children of shoppingpatrons.

“As an eco-consciousmom, I want to makechoices in the things Ibuy for my children thatare eco-friendly from

manufacturing to shippingto consumer use.” shesaid. “As a mother, I wantto create the healthiest,safest environment formy children. I know thereare other parents andgrandparents out therewho feel as I do,” saidFrederiksen, who said sheis proud to be called a “treehugger.”

“I started tree-huggingin college and reallyadopted a green lifestylefor not only the well-being

of my family, but to instillin my kids a sense ofresponsibility to MotherNature.” Frederiksen saidher children and thoseserved by the shop aretoo young to be educateddirectly concerning theenvironment, “but theywatch what their parentsdo. If we always packtheir lunches in reusablecontainers and otherchildren have lunchesin throw-away plastic

containers, they’ll noticeand ask why.”

Frederiksen saidsaving the planet for thenext generation is the

biggest benet of goinggreen. “After you bring abeautiful human into theworld, you want to keep theworld in good shape,” shecommented.

Education as well asenvironment is a focuswith the toys she selectsto sell in her shop. Thereis, for example, a selectionof wooden building blocksin languages from Hebrewto Swahili. Classic bookssuch as The Adventuresof Huckleberry Finn, Pride

and Prejudice and Les Miserables are available as“baby lit” that contains lotsof pictures and extremelysimplied condensations ofthe original books.

“Not all of our customerscome out of concern for the

environment,” she noted.“Some come becausewe have some really coolthings. Ecofriendly can alsobe fun.”

Happy Mango startedas an online shop in 2008,then launched as a pop-up shop in Atlanta’s KrogStreet market area inOctober 2015, where itremained through January.“But this had been mydream all along, to havea permanent bricks andmortar store,” she said ofthe shop on Hosea WilliamsDrive. “I looked at a numberof locations, but I really loveKirkwood. I love its diversityand its energy. It’s emerging

as a great place to shopand live.”

Store owner Phnewfula Frederiksen shows a game that is bothducational and environmentally sensitive.

Frederiksen holds her 1-year-olddaughter, who can often be seenplaying at the shop.

“Baby lit” versions of classic books have few words and lots ofpictures.

Happy Mango features simple, non-electric toys.


18/24

EDUCATION The Champion FREE PRESS, Friday, April 1, 2016 • Page 18A

DeKalb County schools rank high in violent incidents

Precious ID# 29956706 is a sweet 4 year old who hasa touch of gray on her face and a heart full of love for

her new family. This calm and friendly girl seemslow-key and ready to be a couch potato. At 93

pounds, she is quite overweight and herfamily will need to help her slim down soshe can be happy and healthy. She lovesgoing on walks and sticks right by your

side, so that should be a breeze! Comemeet Precious at DeKalb Animal Services!

Precious qualifies for our April “Spring intoAdoption” promotion. Adoption is only $25 fordogs over 25 lbs. and all cats! Adoption includesspay/neuter, vaccinations, microchip and more! If

you would like more information about Preciousplease email [email protected] or call (404) 294-2165. All potentialadopters will be screened to ensure Precious goes

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If statistics are the highest formof credibility, DeKalb County SchoolDistrict (DCSD) has a lot of worko do in lowering discipline-worthy

offenses.Last year, according to

data collected by the GeorgiaDepartment of Education in themetro Atlanta area, DeKalb Countyanked rst in incidents involving

bullying, rst in disorderly conductor ghting offenses, second in

hreats and intimidation, secondn drugs not including alcohol andsecond in sexual offenses.

Other metro areas includedare Clayton County, Cobb County,Fulton County, Gwinnett County,Atlanta Public Schools, BufordCity, City Schools of Decatur andMarietta City Schools.

When it came to bullying,DeKalb County has shown a trendof improvement. In 2012, DeKalb

County recorded 1,548 incidents.This number shrank to 1,076 in2013 and 753 in 2014 before risingto 849 last year.

Disorderly conduct and ghtinghas shown an opposite trend. DCSDrecorded 8,163 incidents in 2012and 8,705 in 2013. This numberalmost doubled to 15,218 in 2014before falling to 15,069 in 2015.

In terms of threats orintimidation, DeKalb County hasremained somewhat steady. In2012, DCSD recorded 1,639incidents. The number of incidents

fell to 1,591 in 2013 before fallingto 1,540 in 2014. That number grewto 1,792 last year, second only toGwinnett County’s recorded 3,520.

DCSD has shown improvementin terms of drugs not includingalcohol. Since 2012, the number ofincidents within the school systemhas decreased from 637 in 2012to 555 last year. Gwinnett Countyrecorded the most in 2015 with1,214 incidents.

The number of sexual offensesin DeKalb County schools wasshowing a downward trend beforerising again in 2015. In 2012, 520sexual offense incidents wererecorded, a number that fell to 465in 2013 and 464 in 2014. In 2015,the number of incidents recordedwas back up to 530.

DCSD superintendent StephenGreen has pointed to DeKalb’sdiversity in addressing schooldiscipline and incidents takingplace within the district. Specically,he has referenced the county’s

180 represented nations and 144languages.“Our teachers walk into

classrooms every day dedicatedto students who have experiencedtraumatic circumstances (death,abuse, homelessness), and whoare gravely at risk educationally,”Green said in a March pressrelease.

Green also has called forrestorative approaches rather than

punitive approaches within theclassroom to create connectionsbetween offenses and punishments.

“We see schools withrestorative approaches moreeffective at shaping positiveclassroom cultures,” Green said.“They establish lasting changesin relationships and betterconnections among members of aschool community.”

In addition, Green pointed tothe creation of a Student Supportand Intervention Division, whichseeks to “guide [the district’s] efforts

to address the diverse needs ofstudents and families.”“Understanding that behavioral

problems can result from issues[at] home – issues in which entirefamilies may need help – we’llwork to provide intensied wrap-around support for this ‘wholechild,’” Green said. “This supportmay include counseling, socialwork, psychological services andcommunity connections.”


19/24

EDUCATION The Champion FREE PRESS, Friday, April 1, 2016 • Page 19A

Franklin Smith, a sophomore at Miller Grove High School, is active in his community, church, family life and school athletics.Photo by R. Scott Belzer

Doing what’s neededMiller Grove’s Franklin Smith makes his mark


Miller Grove High Schoolsophomore FranklinSmith has one simplerule for his academic,athletic and community-

nvolved success: do whatever isnecessary.

With this rule, Smith hasgarnered accolades and goodgrades in the classroom. Smith isa member of the National HonorSociety and an accepted memberof the National Society of High

School Scholars. His 4.0 gradepoint average is a source of pride.By doing whatever is necessary,

Smith has found success on theootball eld. It has carried that

same success into the basketballarena and into the sanctuary of hischurch, Big Miller Grove MissionaryBaptist Church. When he’s notdedicating 15 to 20 hours per weeko lifting weights or running in the

gym, he can be found spending veo six hours per week in parking lotshroughout DeKalb County picking

up trash and providing security andusher duties for his church.

If one asks Smith about what hedoes, the Lithonia resident providesa humble answer.

“I don’t do a lot, but I do a lotat the same time,” Smith said. “Iry to live where I put others before

myself.”Doing whatever is necessary

may seem simple in concept, butSmith is living proof it is not alwayseasy to implement. When Smithwas 14, his older brother wasshot and killed in Covington—justa stone’s throw from his Lithoniahome.

“He was 29, it was a drive-by,”Smith said. “I always keep him inmy heart.”

That brother’s children arenow Smith’s at-home passion. Thesophomore can be found takingcare of them at home when thechance presents itself. While Smithoves time spent contributing to thecommunity, he enjoys time withamily even more

Football, however, is somethingSmith does for himself. He canbe found on the offensive anddefensive end for the Wolverines,switching between playing tight endand defensive end.

“I love the game,” Smith said. “Iove the physicality, the contact—allof it.”

In the same way, Smithdedicates a healthy amount of

time to Miller Grove’s basketballprogram as a power forward.

“I love the exercise,” Smithsaid. “I’m very competitive. Ourbasketball program has wonseven out of the last eight state

championships. Our whole sportsprogram is good at Miller Grove.”

While Smith does enjoy running, jumping, shooting and tackling,he also nds time for expressinghimself. The sophomore includeswriting poetry among his list ofpassions.

“I write about life—perseveringthrough life when things hit youand bring you down,” Smithsaid. “Really, it’s caused by myenvironment. You see kids and theyouth of today—it seems like it’sgoing down. I write, because, forsome of us, it’s not that we want to

do what we’re doing but we don’tknow any better. I write to get thatoff my chest. I don’t want to be astatistic—I want to be the one that

did something with my life.”Smith said his favorite two

quotes are “You can’t kill whatrefuses to die,” and “Seize themoment.” Not only does Smith liveby them, but he also incorporates

their meaning into his poetry.“I’m very blessed,” Smith said.

“Those two quotes are the reason Ido what I do.”

Smith said he’s had a lot ofhelp along the way in stayingpositive and focused. He countsMiller Grove High history teacherCharmaine Brown as his biggestinuence

“She does everything,” Smithsaid. “She checks on my grades, if Idrop [a class or activity] she’s goingto ask me why I dropped. She’s likea second mom to me.”

Smith said he plans on

attending either Duke University orGeorgia Tech because they mirrorhis own well-rounded lifestyle. Heplans to pursue degrees in both

computer engineering and businessadministration.

“Duke has great sports, greatacademics,” Smith said. “I’ve beenon Tech’s campus. They have greattechnology programs and great

athletics. My dream is to becomea CEO and own my own franchise.But technology is taking over theworld; if you don’t get hip withtechnology now, you’re in for a rudeawakening.”

Smith said he’s been a positiveinuence for his friends. A coupleof his closest friends wonder whatSmith does to maintain himself—his drive, athletic ability, societalcommitments and sanity—andSmith has a simple answer.

“Just do what it takes—whatever is needed,” Smith said.“That’s all it takes. It’s the way I

carry myself. Whether I’m in churchor out of church, I try to carry myselfthe same way, regardless: God rst,then family, then whatever else.”


20/24

CLASSIFIED The Champion FREE PRESS, Friday, April 1, 2016 • Page 20A

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