CrossRoadsNews, January 1, 2011

www.crossroadsnews.comJanuary 1, 2011Copyright © 2010 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.

COVER PAGEGone but not forgottenYEAR IN REVIEW

DeKalb resi-dents said good-bye to a number of exceptional people in 2010, includ-ing longtime arts advocate Becky Blankenship (right) and activist Ron Marshall. 9

Commu-nity donations helped the Southwest DeKalb March-ing Panthers raise the money they needed to get to the Rose Bowl. 7

Benefactors step upCOMMUNITY

Alumni from five South DeKalb high schools are in the cast of “Drumline Live,” a travel-ing adaptation of the popular movie. 8

From halftime to stage timeYOUTH

Volume 16, Number 36

2010: A YeAr of ScAndAlS, Blight, high coStS Church, school scandals

topped headlines

A boy bathes in the polutted waters of South River at Panola and Snapfinger roads in July before DeKalb County blocked access to the river and posted no swimming signs. The river is contaminated with fecal coliform and PCBs. Page 4.

Commuters were squeezed two ways - by cuts in service and increased fares as MARTA grappled with a huge deficit.

As mounting foreclosure ravaged South DeKalb, vacant homes grew weeds and run down property values.

Bishop Eddie L. Long [at podium] and former DeKalb Schools Superintendent Dr. Crawford Lewis (clockwise from top left), school secretary Cointa Moody, former construction manager Patricia Reid and contractor Anthony Pope grabbed headlines for misconduct. Page 4

Overgrown sidewalks and median across South DeKalb lead to the Great DeKalb Cleanup in October. Page 4

Clarkston’s mayor accomplished much in brief time in office

Carla Parker / CrossroadsNews

Clarkston Mayor Howard “Trey” Tygrett, 40, who took office in January 2010, died of a stroke on Christmas Day in Texas.

By Jennifer Ffrench Parker

Condolences poured in this week after the sudden death of Clarkston Mayor Howard “Trey” Tygrett.

Tygrett, 40, died on Christmas Day from a stroke while visiting the par-ents of his wife, Amy, in Brownsville, Texas.

Amy Tygrett said he had a great Christmas Eve with family and that there was no sign of anything wrong.

“He had a most beautiful day,” she said. “He woke up and took the kids [Alice Elizabeth, 2 1/2, and 18-month-old Ty] to South Padre Island. Then he

took them to Chuck E. Cheese and then they had lunch. We had a beautiful din-ner and my mother surprised us with a mariachi band, and he emceed our family talent show.”

She said he went to bed before she did and she found him collapsed.

“At 1:33 a.m. he was pronounced dead,” she said. “We watched the video of the talent show last night and he was fine. There was no sign that anything was wrong.”

The city of Clarkston, where Tygrett made his home three years ago and be-came its mayor 11 months ago, also is reeling from the news of his death.

This week, people who worked closely with Tygrett and those who knew him in passing praised him as a

visionary leader and a man of action.Eddie Carlson, a 12-year city worker,

said Tygrett was real nice.“He got a lot of stuff done,” he said.

“It just doesn’t seem real.”Emanuel Ransom, Clarkston’s vice

mayor, said the news of his friend’s sud-den death floored him.

“It was like someone dropped a building on me,” he said. “He was the main part of the foundation we were building to move the city forward.”

On Dec. 27, DeKalb County govern-ment flew the flag at half-staff in Ty-grett’s honor, and county commission-ers hailed his vision for the Southeast’s most diverse city.

Please see TYGRETT, page 2

May 25, 1970 – Dec. 25, 2010

2

grett, said he was a “let’s get it done” guy.

“He got more done in 11 months than history can record,” Ransom said. “For the first time in his-tory, we have a balanced budget. He stuck with it and worked until we got it done.”

On Tuesday, workers were raising the steel frame for a new Dollar General store, across from the Clarkston Community Cen-ter on Indian Creek Road.

Ransom said that Tygrett got the chain to build in the city.

Other projects, totaling more than $10 million, are also in the works.

Moved projects forwardRansom said Tygrett also worked hard to

move forward the projects that were on the

Community “For the first time in history, we have a balanced budget. He stuck with it and worked until we got it done.”

Clarkston, DeKalb reeling after mayor’s unexpected death

Photos by JeNNifer Parker / CrossroadsNews

Mayor Howard “Trey” Tygrett (above) who moved to Clarkston with his wife, Amy (above, right), three years ago, convinced the Dollar General chain to build a store in Clarkston that is scheduled to open by February. A memorial to Tygrett (left) has been set up at Clarkston City Hall.

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books before he became mayor.At his first State of the City address on

Oct. 2, Tygrett unveiled the projects – the redevelopment of the 168-unit Cedar Pines Apartment on Montreal Road, the new Dollar General store, construction of a new swimming pool in Milam Park, and the dredging and redevelopment of Twin Lakes into a recreation spot – and told residents they would “create jobs and enhance prop-erty values.”

Amy Tygrett said they moved to Clark-ston because it was affordable and close to the city of Decatur, which they liked but couldn’t afford.

The day they signed the papers for the three-bedroom home on Orchard Street, she found out she was pregnant.

“He fell in love with Clarkston and that led to being mayor,” she said.

Ransom said he met Tygrett a year before he ran for office.

“When I heard of his experience in corpo-rate America, I told some people we should get him to run for the City Council.”

When Tygrett declared for mayor, Ran-som said he abandoned his plans to run and supported Tygrett instead.

On the campaign trail, Tygrett, a guitarist, often performed the song “In a Town This Size, There’s No Place to Hide.”

He kept two guitars in his office at City Hall. Vice mayor to finish term

Stephen Quinn, assistant city attorney, said the city’s charter calls for the vice mayor to replace the mayor and serve out his term. He said the City Council will vote to declare

the position vacant at its Jan. 4 meeting and also will pick a new vice mayor.

Ransom said he will work with the coun-cil to make sure the projects Tygrett was working on are completed on time.

Amy Tygrett said her family remembered her husband at a private service on South Padre on Dec. 27.

“He had collected shells with the children on the Christmas Eve visit, and we wrote his name on them and they threw them back in the water,” she said. “We had a beautiful time remembering him.”

Tygrett is being cremated, and his wife said that on New Year’s Day, a larger family group will have a memorial service for him in Brownsville.

“I haven’t forgotten the people in Clark-ston who meant so much to him,” she said. “I just want everybody to know that I will be back soon and we will have a service there for everybody.”

The Tygretts met in Jackson, Tenn., and were married for seven years.

Amy Tygrett said they knew each for seven and a half years before that.

She said her family is coming to grips with their new reality, but that she doesn’t know how much the kids understand.

Each night before they went to bed, she said her husband used to take the kids out-side to look at the moon and the stars.

“I told them that he is up there with the moon and the stars,” she said. “I don’t know how much she understands, but last night Alice Elizabeth said to me, ‘Mommy, I want to go see Daddy and the moon and the stars.’”

Carla Parker contributed to this report.

District 4 Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton, who represents Clarkston on the DeKalb Board of Commissioners, called Tygrett’s death “a great loss for the people of Clarkston and for DeKalb County.”

“He had great vision for the city,” she said. “I am deeply saddened by his death. My thoughts are with the community he served and especially with his wife and family.”

District 6 Commissioner Kathie Gannon said Tygrett “made many impactful changes” for the citizens of Clarkston.

“I am hopeful his vision for Clarkston will be carried on,” she said.

Tygrett was elected in a runoff on Dec. 1, 2009, and was sworn into office on Jan. 5, 2010. In the 11 months he was on the job, he had begun laying the building blocks for a thriving city.

Ransom, who worked closely with Ty-

TYGRETT, fRom paGE 1

Emanuel Ransom

research for more than 30 years.

The Jubilee Day cel-ebration will also include dance performances by Guy-Dance and Develop-ing Seeds.

Shay Dillard, a singer and an announcer for WYZE radio, will be mis-

tress of ceremony. Dillard, who began singing at age 5, has released the singles “It’s in the House” and “Jesus Will Fix It.”

The Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross is at 2005 S. Columbia Place. For more information, contact the branch office at 404-241-8006 or the Rev. Portia T. Minter at 404-202-0234.

Morehouse School of Medicine associate profes-sor Dr. James P. Griffin Jr. will be the guest speaker at the DeKalb NAACP’s annual Jubilee Day Cel-ebration on Jan. 1.

The observance, which begins at 11:30 a.m. at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross, celebrates the Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863, freeing slaves in all territories still at war with the Union.

The theme for this year’s event is “Reflect-ing on the Past to Transform the Future.”

Griffin has been involved in behavioral health promotion, training, education and

Morehouse prof to speak at Jubilee Day

James P. Griffin Shay Dillard

CrossRoadsNews January 1, 20112

3Seven men and wom-

en who were victorious in 2010 elections will be taking the oath of office this week.

Five school board members, newcomers Donna Edler and Nancy Jester, and returning mem-bers Sarah Copelin-Wood, Jesse “Jay” Cunningham and Dr. Eugene P. “Gene” Walker; District 7 County Commissioner Stan Watson and DeKalb Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson will raise their hands and swear to uphold the high ideals of their offices.

Most of them will take the oath from Superior Court Judge Mark Scott.

He will swear in Watson at a Jan. 2 cer-emony at the Porter Sanford III Center for Performing Arts in Decatur at 4 p.m.

DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis, Commissioner Larry Johnson, Congressman Hank Johnson, and others will bring greeting.

A Praise and Worship segment will feature choirs from Watson’s church New

Zepora Roberts and Tim Redovian in the Nov. 30 runoff election.

The Board Room at the DeKalb Schools Adminis-trative & Instructional Complex,1701 Mountain Industrial Boulevard in Stone Mountain.

NAACP Board DeKalb NAACP’s incoming president

John Evans and the 2011 Board of directors will be sworn in during the Jan 1 Jubilee Day Celebration at the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross in Decatur.

Superior Court Judge Mark Scott will administer the oath to officers during the an-nual event that celebrates the Emancipation Proclamation, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863, freeing slaves in all territory still at war with the Union. It starts at 11:30 a.m.

The church is at 2005 S. Columbia Place. For more information, call branch office at 404-241-8006 or the Rev. Portia T. Minter at 404-202-0234.

Community “I want the swearing-in ceremony to have a strong spiritual and community presence so that my term starts out in the right direction.”

Retired judge going to Emory

Newly elected, and returning officials taking oath of office

Robert Castellani

Donna Edler Jay CunninghamNancy Jester Eugene Walker Courtney JohnsonStan Watson S. Copelin-Wood

Judge Robert J. Castellani, who retired from the DeKalb County Superior Court bench in December, will join Emory University’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion on Jan. 1 as Spruill Family Senior Fellow in Law and Religion.

Castellani, a 1966 honors gradu-ate of Emory Law, served more than 26 years on the DeKalb bench.

He plans to research how the U.S. legal system can better handle the increasingly prevalent and complex issues of religious and spiritual values influence on criminal and civil law decisions.

Castellani also will teach legal ethics to second- and third-year law students.

Castellani said he has admired the cen-ter’s work for many years.

“The prevailing notion in our country that religion has no place in law can be, in my opinion, an impediment to real justice,”

Piney Grove Baptist and from Stronghold and Hillcrest Baptist churches. Lithonia High School and a drum corp from Africa will also perform.

Watson said he wants the event to be fun and meantingful.

“I want the swearing-in ceremony to have a strong spiritual and commu-nity presence so that my term starts out in the right direction,” he said. The reception that follows the event will fea-ture international cuisine from the Jamaica, Ghana, Burma, Somala and Iraq.

Porter Sanford III Center for Performing Arts is at 3181 Rainbow Drive in Decatur. To

RSVP call 404-759-1511 or email [email protected].

School BoardDistrict 3 School Board member Sarah

Copelin-Wood and District 5 boardmember Jay Cunningham will take the oath of office from Scott on Jan. 3.

District 7 board member Donna Edler and District 1 board member Nancy Jester, and Dr. Eugene P. “Gene” Walker, who won a second term will also be sworn in at the 3 p.m. ceremony in the J. David Williamson Board Room .

Edler and Jester defeated incumbents

Southall, GDOT Commissioner Vance Smith, Jr., and GRTA Execu-tive Director Jan-nine Miller, the board’s only non-voting member.

After his election, Durrett said metro Durrett, the executive director of the Buckhead Community Improvement Dis-trict, and Daniels, executive vice president and chief credit officer of Citizens Trust Bank served on the old MARTA board for a year. Buckley, a real estate broker, has 25 years of service on the MARTA board. Butler, a land-use attorney, is the DeKalb County District One Planning Commissioner. She is also a board member on the State Road and Tollway Authority. Butler says she will keep her Planning Commission seat but will resign from the Tollway Authority.

At a special board meeting on Dec. 28, the new MARTA Board of Directors elected officers for the 2011 calendar year. It picked DeKalb’s Durrett for chairman, and Daniels, for treasurer.

Fulton County’s Barbara Babbit Kauf-man was voted vice chair, and Juanita Jones Abnernathy of Atlanta was elected secretary. The other board members are the city of At-lanta’s Robbie Ashe and Rod Edmond,Fulton County’s Adam Orkin and Noni Ellison

DeKalb’s members rise to leadership position on new Marta Board

Wendy Butler Jim DurrettFred Daniels Jr.Harold Buckley Sr.

DeKalb’s board members on the recon-stituted MARTA Board include three old members and one new.

Harold Buckley Sr., Fred Daniels Jr. and Jim Durrett, who all served previously on the board, and former DeKalb Planning Com-missioner Wendy Butler, were approved for four-year terms on the new MARTA board by the the DeKalb Board of Commissioners on Dec. 14.

DeKalb lost a seat on the new board cre-ated last year by House Bill 277, the Trans-portation Investment Act of 2010.

The bill, which was signed into law on June 2 by Gov. Sonny Perdue, downsized the MARTA board from 18 members to 11.

It required all existing members to vacate their seats on Dec. 31 and new members be appointed for the new board will have its first meeting on Jan. 10. DeKalb’s three return-ing members are among seven returning members.

The MARTA Board sets policy and make decisions for the Authority ranging from finance to customer service.

In addition to DeKalb’s four representa-tives, the new board is comprised of three representatives each from the City of Atlanta and Fulton County, as well as the Commis-sioner of the Georgia Department of Trans-portation (GDOT). The executive director of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) serves as the board’s sole non-voting member.

Atlanta is at a tipping point when it comes to increasing it transportation options.

“MARTA’s value to the region is be-coming better understood by those re-sponsible for crafting a new, larger re-gional transit framework, and we are committed to being not only partners, but also the most effective and efficient transit agency we can possibly be,” he said. The officers will serve one-year term. New officers will by Dec. 31, annually.

he said. “In most difficult cases, recognition of core values will as-sist in resolving the dispute. I wish to consider more deeply how that recognition can occur in today’s legal system.”

The center’s director, John Witte Jr., said the center is honored to have Castellani focused on some of the most critical issues of law

and religion facing our court system today. “Judge Castellani brings to our center a quar-ter-century of judicial wisdom plus another two decades of exceptional trial experience as a law firm partner, assistant attorney general of Georgia, first assistant U.S. attorney, and U.S. magistrate,” Witte said.

Castellani will also continue to serve DeKalb as a senior judge and assist in the county’s drug court, a program he started in 2002 that has helped more than 300 people reclaim their lives from drug addiction.

CrossRoadsNewsJanuary 1, 2011 3

4Some prominent South DeKalb

residents made the news in 2010 misdeeds and will be defend-ing themselves in courts this year against al-legations of mis-conduct.

Bishop Ed-die Long of New Birth Mission-

ary Baptist Church, who hosted four U.S. presidents at his Lithonia

How time flies.Dec. 15, 2010, was the 10th

anniversary of the assassination of Sheriff-elect Derwin Brown.

Brown was gunned down in the drive-way of his Decatur home five days be-fore he was to take the oath of office as DeKalb’s new

sheriff.Then Sheriff Sidney Dorsey,

the man he defeated for the position, was later convicted of the murder for ordering Brown’s death. Dorsey is serving a life sentence for the crime.

Brown’s family and friends held a candlelight vigil near the graves of Brown and his wife Phyllis, who died on Christmas Eve in 2006 from ill-health that developed after her husband’s death.

year in review

index to advertisers

Acts of Valor Salon......................................... 2Agape Christian Counseling Center .............. 11Agilest Collections / The .............................. 11Browns Mill Civic Athletic Assoc. .................. 10DeKalb County Tax Commissioner’s Office .... 3Ella’s Caring Hands Adult Day Care ............. 10

Exotic Vision Hair Salon - Phase 2 ............... 10Georgia Preventive Health ............................ 11Gibbs Garage ............................................... 10Gutbusters..................................................... 11Henry Mitchell, CPA, PC ............................... 10

Kameron Dunmore ........................................9Kiddy Kompany ............................................ 11Law Office of Trichelle Griggs Simmons ...... 10Macy’s (2) .................................................5, 12Mechanixx Corporation ................................ 10

Mini Mall ....................................................... 11Ministry with Excellence School of Ministry ....8Mystery Valley Golf Club ................................ 2The Law Office of B.A. Thomas ................... 10The Law Offices of Diann Moseley ............... 10

The South River entrance at Panola and Snapfinger Road became a community hangout.

CrossRoadsNews is pub-lished every Thursday by CrossRoads News, Inc.

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LOCAL

SERVICES!LOCAL

GOODS!

Volunteers chipped in to help county crew in clean up

Long and his accusers headed for mediation, then court

Jamal Parris Maurice Robinson

Eddie Long

Anthony Flagg Spencer LeGrande

The great clean up came to South DeKalb in 2010 after the glare of public spotlight was shone on the area’s overgrown medians and other public rights of way.

After a Sept. 25 “Ugly Ugly South DeKalb” CrossRoadsNews story highlighted waist-high weed and other signs of rampant blight, county crews and volunteers moved in to cut kudzu, mow weeds and picked up trash on several week-ends in October.

The Great Clean up started on Flat Shoals Parkway and Wesley Chapel Road and went county-wide.

The ugly curb gutters remain by Bettye Davis, director of the county’s One DeKalb office said they will return to get those too.

South River cleanupThe polluted South River,

which became a brief recreation spot for unsuspecting residents last summer, is in for a little facelift as part of a DeKalb County Consent Decree with state and federal envi-ronmental agencies.

As part of the penalty for hun-dreds of sanitary spills, the county must spend $600,000 to clean up

portions of the South River, South Fork Peachtree Creek, and Snap-finger Creek.

The South River entrance at Pa-nola and Snapfinger Road became a community hangout after the PATH Foundation completed the South River Walk and Bike Trail that runs alongside the river. The attractive improvements and the lack of signs prohibiting people from using the river, made the river attractive to families seeking a place to cool off amids temperatures that

soared to the high 90s.CrossRoadsNews highlighted

the river’s contamination in a July 24 story.

In August, DeKalb officials an-nounced the award of a $25,260 Five Star Restoration Program clean-up grant from the National Association of Counties for Shoal Creek.

The funds were to be used to remove trash and debris at the headwaters of Shoal Creek, which is one of the seven creeks that empty

into the polluted South River.The grant was used to help

clean up 1,200 feet of channel and stream banks that were degraded by trash and overgrown with invasive plants including Chinese privet and kudzu.

In Septemeber, a planned visit to the South River by US Environ-mental Protection Agency (EPA) director Lisa Jackson was post-poned because of the death of her brother. EPA officials said the trip will be rescheduled.

DeKalb Schools former chief operating officer Particia Reid and her former husband Anthony Pope in court facing racketeering charges.

As part of the Great DeKalb Clean Up, South DeKalb Striders Running Club members Edward Driver and Andrew Walker helped pick up trash along Flat Shoals Parkway on Oct. 9.

Derwin Brown

Derwin Brown gone 10 years

School employees facing myriad chargesFormer DeKalb School Super-

intendent Dr. Crawford Lewis, and the school system’s chief operating officer, Patricia Reid, her former husband Anthony Pope, and her secretary Cointa Moody were in-dicted on racketeering charges on April 28.

They will be in court this year defending themselves against charges that they ran a criminal enterprise that sent millions of dollars to Pope, when he was mar-ried to Reid, and to vendors in exchange for cash, sports tickets or other perks totaling more than $33,332.25.

The indictment said Lewis and Reid’s actions cost the school system more than $3.3 million. It said that $2.3 million of that amount were fraudulent payments to Pope.

The other $1 million was lost when the Georgia Department of Education denied the school system reimbursements because of the illegal handling of a construction project at Columbia High School.

church in 2006 for the funeral of Coretta Scott King, made national news in September when four of his protégés accused him of coercing

Lewis is facing six counts; Reid, seven counts; Moody, five counts; and Pope, four counts.

Lewis has appealed Superior Court Judge Cynthia J. Becker’s

them into sexual acts in exchange for lavish trips, cars and cash.

The four men in their early 20s – Maurice Robinson, Anthony

Flagg, Jamal Parris and Spencer LeGrande – said Long seduced them when they were 16 years or older, the legal age of consent in Georgia.

They sued him, his church and the Longfellows Youth Academy, a program based at New Birth that caters to young males ages 13 to 18.

Long denied the allegations, but is scheduled to meet his accusers for mediation in February, before going to court in the summer.

ruling that he can’t keep his lawyer Michael Brown because of a con-flict of interest. The case is on hold until the Georgia Court of Appeals rules.


5 Joyous Kwanzaa!

M acy’s wishes you a joyous celebration of

creativity, family togetherness and prosperity .

UmojaKujichaguliaUjimaUjamaaNiaKuumbaImani

6110299A.indd 1 12/22/10 5:38:33 PM


6 FinanCe

year in review

“This is a hard time because it’s not just about shopping. It is also about jobs.”

Legislative breakfast to update businesses

Bugaboo Creek left Stonecrest quietly

Transit and water rates increased; group launching CID

TJ Maxx on Memorial Drive is closing

In addition to shuttering three AJ Wright stores in the area, parent company TJX Cos. is closing the TJ Maxx in Stone Mountain on Jan. 15.

DeKalb County residents will be paying more for water this year and for the next four years.

The rate hike approved on Dec. 14 by the DeKalb Board of Commissioners will fund the county’s $1.34 billion Capital Improve-ment Plan approved by county commis-sioners.

The plan included $700 million of man-datory improvements that the county is required to make to its aging sewer system as part of a settlement with the U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.

In addition to the mandatory fixes, the

county is paying $1.05 million – $453,000 in fines and $600,000 – to clean up the South River and other creeks.

The penalty is punishment for foul-ing the state’s waters in violation of the Federal Clean Water Act and the Georgia Water Quality Control Act. In 2006, DeKalb reported 256 sanitary spills.

The county will issue bonds to fund the overhaul and expansion, which will increase water rates by 11 percent annually between 2012 and 2014.

DeKalb County operates more than 2,600 miles of sewer pipes, and more than 50 per-cent of them are 25 to 50 years old.

The Wesley Chapel Community Over-lay Coalition made strides in 2010 toward establishing a Community Improvement District on the business corridor that has been battered by store closings in the past five or so years.

Ashton Carter, the WCCOC treasurer, said the group raised $9,000 in cash and pledges at its Nov. 18 fund-raiser at Golden Glide Rink.

“We are a third of the way to the $30,000 we need,” he said.

It costs $100,000 to incorporate the CID, and the WCCOC needs to raise $30,000 to obtain a $70,000 matching grant from the DeKalb Development Authority.

Carter, who is the branch manager of the RBC Bank on Wesley Chapel Road, said they will have another fund-raiser in March or April.

Once incorporated, commercial property owners within the CID will tax themselves an extra 2 to 5 mills annually to finance roads, bridges, sidewalks, beautification projects,

Business group on its way to forming CIDand other improvements and security for the corridor.

They also can use their funds to lever-age up to 10 times more funding from the federal government.

The group got a big boost on Dec. 14 when the DeKalb Development Authority voted to fund a planner to complete the final phase of the work needed to imple-ment the CID.

Bobbi Sanford, who is president of the WCCOC, said the authority agreed to fund the planner to map the area of the Wesley Chapel CID and contact the landowners in the designated area to get them to agree to the self-tax.

“We need 250 property owners to agree,” she said.

The boundaries of the Wesley Chapel CID will extend from I-285 to Panola Road and from Covington Highway to Flat Shoals Parkway. It is one of three CIDs under consideration for south DeKalb County.

Riding public transit got harder and more expensive for commuters last year.

Faced with a $69.3 million budget deficit, MARTA consolidated routes and cut eight buses serving south DeKalb County and modified 15 routes. The changes were part of 440 miles slashed from its service.

Fewer buses and more money to ride MARTA A one-way ride is still $2 and a one-day

pass $8, but it increased the two-day, four-day and seven-day passes by $2. A 30-day pass increased $8 to $68. Mobility Passes for disabled commuters rose by $7 to $115.

It also started charging for long-term parking.

Birthday celebrants will no longer get to kiss the moose at Bugaboo Creek on Turner Hill Road.

The popular Canadian-themed steakhouse was one of 20 closed in November by its parent company, CB Holding Corp., along the Eastern Seaboard.

The rustic Lithonia restaurant opened at Stonecrest in 2002.

It was a popular place for families to celebrate birth-days and get the birthday boy or girl to kiss the restaurant mascot, a huge black moose head.

The company quietly closed all five metro Atlanta Bugaboo Creek restaurants at Stonecrest, Duluth, Fay-etteville, Kennesaw and Newnan in November.

It also closed five Bugaboo restaurants in Massa-chusetts.

New Jersey-based CB Holding began 40 years ago operating Charlie Brown’s restaurants. In addition to the Bugaboo Creek Steak House restaurants, the company operates the Office Beer Bar and Grill.

CB Holding also shuttered 20 Charlie Brown’s Steak-house restaurants and seven Office Beer Bar and Grill locations.

National Black Chamber of Commerce President Harry Alford will be the keynote speaker at the Georgia

Black Chamber of Commerce An-nual Legislative Breakfast on Jan. 8 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta.

The event, which starts at 8:30 a.m., is in its 13th year.

It takes place each year on the Saturday before the General As-sembly convenes and offers elected officials the opportunity to update small-business owners from across the state about their agenda for the

new legislative session. The 2011 theme is “Connecting With a Purpose.”DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis, Clayton County

Commission Chair Eldrin Bell, and Rockdale County Commission Chair Richard Oden have confirmed their attendance and will speak and lead workshops.

Tickets are $50 each. A table of 10 is $500. The Hyatt Regency Atlanta is at 265 Peachtree St. in

downtown Atlanta. For more information, tickets and sponsorship, visit www.gablackchamberofcommerce.org or call 404-329-4504.

Harry Alford

By Jennifer Ffrench Parker

The lone TJ Maxx store in south DeKalb County is closing on Jan. 15.

Customers shopping in the store last week found out from sales associates that the store in the Memorial Bend Shopping Center on Memorial Drive in Stone Mountain will go the way of three AJ Wright stores that their par-ent company TJX Cos. is shuttering in the area.

In addition to narrowing shopping choices for customers, the store closings will put nearly 400 people in merchan-dising, sales, processing, receiving and loss prevention out of work.

Wendy Carriere, a spokeswoman for the TJ Maxx Atlanta District Office, said the Memorial Drive TJ Maxx is the only Atlanta store that is closing. There are 11 stores in the district.

“It’s a difficult decision,” she said. “We don’t close many TJ Maxx stores. It’s really sad.”

Carriere would not elaborate be-yond saying it was a corporate business decision to close the store, but a local manager told a customer that the store had been plagued by theft and revenue was stagnant.

TJX Cos., which is based in Framing-ham, Mass., announced on Dec. 10 that it is closing all 162 AJ Wright discount stores by mid-February. It did not men-tion the closing of any TJ Maxx stores.

The local TJ Maxx store has been on Memorial Drive for 25 years.

Vivian Moore, who has shopped there over the years, said she was shocked at the news.

“I always like shopping at TJ Maxx and that’s the only one close to our area,” she said. “I read about AJ Wright’s closing but didn’t realize TJ Maxx was closing too.”

Moore said she is concerned about what is happening to businesses in our area.

“I wonder what the Chamber of Commerce is doing to stabilize our eco-nomic business downfall,” she said.

“This is a hard time because it’s not just about shopping. It is also about jobs.”

Three AJ Wright stores – in the

Stonecrest Marketplace in Lithonia, in the Belvedere Shopping Center on Memorial Drive in Decatur, and in the Hairston Village Shopping Center in Stone Mountain – opened 18 months to two years ago.

In its December announcement, the company said all AJ Wright stores will close by mid-February and 91 will re-open under a different name after eight weeks. With the division’s closings, it will cut 4,400 jobs nationally.

Carriere said one of the DeKalb County stores will reopen under an-other brand but that she doesn’t know which one or when.

TJX launched AJ Wright in 1998 as a discount store brand similar to TJ Maxx and Marshalls, selling clothing, home decor, shoes and other items.

It offered lower-priced products

but never performed quite as well as its sibling stores. TJ Maxx and Marshalls have benefited as shoppers hunt for bargains due to high unemployment and the uncertain economy.

Nationwide, 91 AJ Wright stores will be converted into TJ Maxx, Marshalls or HomeGoods stores, and 71 will close entirely, along with two distribution centers.

About 3,400 staffers will remain employed at the converted stores.

The DeKalb locations are on the list of stores that are permanently closing.

Last week, the AJ Wright stores began their “going out of business” sales with 25 percent markdowns on everything in the store.

Store associates said they did not have a date for the closures other than they will take place in February.

Photos by JeNNifer ffreNCh Parker / CrossroadsNews


7Community This is the second time in five years that the band will perform at the Tournament of Roses Parade.

Benefactors step up to help band step out in Rose Bowl Parade

The Southwest DeKalb High School Marching Panthers received community donations that helped the band reach the $260,000 it needed to make the trip to Pasadena for the Tournament of Roses Parade.

Chipper eats up Christmas trees Peace Day seeks moratorium on violenceWhat to do with an old natural

Christmas tree? Don’t trash it. Recycle it, says Keep DeKalb Beautiful.

To give new life to old trees, DeKalb Sanitation Division will be sponsoring the county’s 21st annual “Bring One for the Chipper” throughout January.

It will pick up trees at curbside and they will be chipped into mulch or used as wildlife habitat. The county uses the mulch for public beautification projects and residents offers free mulch for resi-dents for use in their gardens.

Natural trees will be picked up on regular yard waste collection days.

Trees can also be dropped off at the Seminole Road Landfill, 4203 Clevemont Road, in Ellenwood. All ornaments and decorations must be removed. Trees over seven feet tall must be cut in half prior to curbside placement.

Keep DeKalb Beautiful has also partnered with Davey Tree & Lawn Care to offer free Christmas tree mulch for delivery to interested DeKalb resi-dents.

The county recycled more than 10,000 trees last year.

For more information, e-mail kdb@

Kenneth Glasgow, a minister and executive director of The Ordinary People’s Society in Dothan, Ala., will be the keynote speaker at Peace Day 2011 on Jan. 8 in Decatur.

Glasgow will speak at 1 p.m. at the event which takes place from noon to midnight.

The Peace Day event, takes place at 2942 Ember Drive. It is hosted by Moorish Science Temple of America, Temple #21 and other local organizations and human service professionals.

Edward Gates Bey, the Grand Sheik and Chairman of the Decatur-based Temple 21, said peace is not just the absence of violence, it is the presence of harmony.

“The excitement of this day is to teach people

that they have the capacity to create a peaceful society.,” he said.

Peace Day includes an afternoon of breakout sessions on topics such as domestic violence, crime prevention, conflict resolution, and fam-ily unity.

A party featuring hip-hop music, food and poetry and birthday celebration for the temple’s founder, Noble Drew Ali kicks off at 9 p.m. Vendor space is available.

Bey says they expect to attract 200 to 300 people but that the real success is not numbers but in getting people to embrace peace.

For more information, contact E. Gates Bey at 404-805-8852 or [email protected].

More than 200 band members, teachers and chaperones from South-west DeKalb High School left on Dec. 29 for the Rose Bowl Parade with the help of benefactors that include DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis, DeKalb District 7 Commissioner-elect Stan Watson, ac-tor and comedian Steve Harvey, and others.

It took $260,000 to fly the group – 170 members of the Marching Panthers and 38 adults – to Pasadena, Calif., for the 122nd Tournament of Roses Parade on Jan. 1.

The band got about $15,000 in do-nations from the public officials and area business owners.

Watson donated $12,000 that was raised at his Dec. 18 Christmas Party from an auction of one-of-a-kind wood sculptures and quilts.

Harvey gave $5,000 and his morning radio show co-host Nephew Tommy

donated $1,000. Ellis gave $2,800 to the band. The band also received donations from State Sen. Emanuel Jones and John Mullin, owner of Century Music Center in Decatur.

This is the second time in five years that the band will perform at the parade that precedes the Rose bowl at which the University of Wisconsin and Texas Christian University wuill face off.

The Marching Panthers are one of only two Georgia high school bands that will represent the state in the pa-rade. The other is Central Carroll High School from Carrollton.

The Marching Panthers will return on Jan. 3.

The Rose Parade will be broadcast on ABC, Hallmark Channel, HGTV, KTLA (Tribune), NBC, RFD-TV, Travel Channel and Univision at 11 a.m. The parade also is seen in more than 200 international territories and countries.


8

Pam Johnson, the ser-vice unit’s cookie man-ager, said those numbers made them champion sellers.

“Even though the economy was down, we received the support of this community for our girls,” she said.

To ready for the annual sale, the girls got tips and sampled this year’s cookies at a Dec. 19 Cookie Rally at Lithonia High School.

Johnson said more than 300 Girl Scouts from 20 troops attended the all-day train-ing session that also got them hyped for the

Girl Scouts in the Greater Atlanta area will be taking orders for cookies from Jan. 7 to Jan. 21. The sales fund programs for 41,000 girls and maintain eight camp properties. Last year, the 40 southeast DeKalb troops sold 72,936 boxes of cookies.

“DrumLine Live,” which pays homage to the black college marching band experience, comes to Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre on Jan. 12.

South DeKalb band alums high-stepping in ‘DrumLine Live’

South DeKalb Girl Scouts prepare for banner cookie sales

Youth “They are busy now thinking about setting goals and the community service projects we should perform with the money from our sales.”

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One thing we can all be sure of – after the New Year’s resolution, here come the cookies, Girl Scout Cookies, of course.

Starting Jan. 7, hundreds of Girl Scouts in South DeKalb will be plying the deli-cious treats – Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils, Tagalongs, Do-Si-Dos and Lemon Chalet Crémes Crunch.

How can we resist?Last year, the 40 southeast DeKalb troops

and their 650 girls from Decatur, Lithonia and Stone Mountain sold 72,936 boxes of cookies that are still $3.50 per box.

task ahead.She is hoping that they can better their

2009 sales.Niketa Mason says the 20 girls in Troop

863 based at Columbia Middle School are eager for cookie sales to begin.

“We are a new troop this year and many of the girls are new to Scouting,” she said. “So this will be their first time selling cookies. They are busy now thinking about setting goals and the community service projects we should perform with the money from our sales.”

Mason also heads Brownie Troop 9004 at Toney Elementary School. She said the 10 Brownies, six Daisies and four Junior Scouts

in that troop will be on their third year of selling cookies.

The annual cookie sales provide the bulk of funds for the Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta Inc., which includes DeKalb and 35 other counties. The sales fund programs for 41,000 girls and maintain eight camp prop-erties. Officials say the program also teaches girls financial and entrepreneurial skills.

Girls will be taking orders from Jan. 7 to Jan. 21. Cookies will be delivered in March.

Cookie aficionados also can visit www .gsgatl.org to find a listing of the Girl Scout Cookie booths in their neighborhood or e-mail [email protected] to locate a nearby troop.

Pam Johnson

Nearly a dozen alumni from South DeKalb high schools will be strutting their stuff in the hit stage play “DrumLine Live” on Jan. 12 on the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre stage.

The 11 musicians, all former band mem-bers, hail from five high schools – Southwest DeKalb, Martin Luther King Jr., Stephenson, Stone Mountain and Clarkston. They are part of a cast of 39 percussionists, musicians and dancers in the play that is based on 20th Century Fox’s hit movie “Drumline.”

The traveling production pays homage to the show-style marching popularized at historically black colleges and universities. It features musical highlights from hip-hop, American soul, gospel, jazz and other genres.

Don P. Roberts, creator and director of “DrumLine Live,” describe the production as high-energy.

“We’ve taken the excitement of an HBCU football game halftime show, increased the intensity by a thousand watts, and created a musical journey that will touch every emo-tion,” he said.

Performing in the cast are Clarkston High graduate Jaques Bell; Martin Luther King Jr. High graduate Isaiah Ellis; Stephenson High graduates Edwin Blakely and Cormesha Johnson; and Stone Mountain High graduate Shimri Israel-McBee.

Southwest DeKalb High School has six graduates – Christina Anderson, Charles Madison, LeJaun McKee, Anthony Pasquini, Jason Price and Slater Thorpe – in the cast.

Roberts, a former Southwest DeKalb High band director, is now the DeKalb School System’s instrumental music coor-dinator. He said he was inspired to create “DrumLine Live” after serving as executive

band consultant for the 2002 movie “Drum-line” that starred Nick Cannon.

The movie, which was filmed in Atlanta, drew heavily on the Southwest DeKalb High band and used the gold and blue uniform of its Panthers. It was one of the first major mo-tion pictures to capture the electricity of the

black college marching band experience. “DrumLine Live,” based in Atlanta,

kicked off its second U.S. tour in October 2010 in San Rafael, Calif. So far, it has visited 38 cities.

In 2008-2009, the show had a 70-per-formance international tour with sold-out

performances throughout Asia.Tickets for the Atlanta performance are

now on sale at www.cobbenergycentre.com or at www.ticketmaster.com. Prices range from $13 to $63 each plus fees.

The Cobb Energy Centre box office is at 2800 Cobb Galleria Parkway in Atlanta.


9transitions For more than 50 years, Dr. William P. Foster reigned over Florida A&M University’s world-famous band program.

They touched us deeply and left us with fond memories

What does the New Year mean to me?It’s another year to be bereaved.

365 days that I cannot see my childWho meant so much to me.

Sometimes while riding in our carI try to see into distances afar.

I shut my eyes and shake my headand then I realize he’s really dead.

This child whom I have loved so muchis nowhere close where I can touch.

That in itself is a terrible feeling; It keeps my emotions rocking and reeling.

I look at his picture and it’s hard to believethat this is all the older he will ever be.

No daughter-in-law will ever be mine,no grandchildren from him to take up my time.

Happy New Year I just can’t sayIt means different things from day to day.

It should mean I’m glad my son is here to celebrate this brand new “year”

But since I’m one of the parents bereaved, This is a fact that will never be.

Another year has come upon us,I’ll get thru it – I simply must.

Kameron Michael Dunmore ( 5/31/01 – 2/2/09)

Gone too soon.

Historic mayorChuck Burris, the Village

of Stone Mountain’s first black mayor, died Feb. 12 at the age of 57.

His election to mayor in 1997, after six years on the City Council, earned him an invitation from President Bill Clinton and in 1998 he sat next to Hillary Rodham Clinton during the State of the Union speech.

His last public service in DeKalb was in September 2006, when he was picked by the DeKalb County School Board to finish three months on the term of former School Board member Simone Manning-Moon.

Burris had relocated to Washington, D.C., with his wife, Marcia Baird Burris. He died there from amyloidosis, a group of diseases in which proteins accumulate in the body’s organs and tissue and damage the structure

DeKalb’s high school band fraternity mourned the passing of Dr. William P. Foster, the 91-year-old “Maestro” of Florida A&M University, on Aug. 28.

For more than 50 years, Foster reigned over FAMU’s world-famous band program and spawned a cadre of musicians who went

on to model his emphasis on character-building and musicianship in the programs that they now lead at schools and colleges across the country. His influence can be seen in DeKalb Schools, where at his death, alumni of his programs were band and orchestra directors at eight of the system’s high, middle and elementary schools.

Avid arts champion and supporter Becky Blankenship (right) died Jan. 6.

Blankenship’s passions also included Arabia Mountain, the Red Hatters, and south DeKalb County, where she lived and raised her family.

She took ill during her an-nual Red Hat Society trip to London and died shortly after returning home. Blankenship was 70.

and function of the tissues.

Longtime educator DeKalb Schools busi-

ness education teacher Louise Blount died May 8 after battling ovarian cancer for more than a year. Blount, 60, taught at Lithonia High School for 26 years and was voted Teacher of the Year twice, in 1992 and 1998.

Legislator, famous dadJames Edward “Billy” McKinney, 83, for-

mer Georgia legislator and father of former U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, died July 15 after years of battling cancer.

McKinney, one of Atlanta’s first black police officers in 1947, was elected to the

Georgia House in 1970 and served for 30 years, some of that time along-side his famous daughter, the former 4th District congresswoman.

A stretch of Inter-state 285, from I-20 to the Cobb County line, is named in his honor.

Community activistCommunity activist Ron Marshall made

his transition on July 9 after battling an inoperable brain tumor for more than two years.

Marshall, 54, championed Grady Hospi-tal and the environment and fought against landfills and other community ills.

He was a frequent speaker before the DeKalb Board of Commissioners, where he

always had pointed words for the elected officials about their duty to their constituents. He made an unsuccessful run for DeKalb CEO in 2000.

Marshall co-owned RGM Management and Development Co., a home inspection, construction and project management company, with Gwen Marshall, his wife of 36 years.

Billy McKinneyChuck Burris

Louise Blount

Ron Marshall

FAMU’s ‘Maestro’ had impact in DeKalb, across nation

Arts advocate, Red Hat Society

matron

In 2010, South DeKalb residents bid goodbye to a number

of notable people:


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October 9, 2010

COVER PAGEFight the bite

WELLNESS

With bedbug infestations on the increase, the Environmental Protection Agency has released a database of ap-proved pesticides to battle the blood-sucking pests. 7

The chain-link fence around the former Wachovia Bank on Wesley Chapel, which violates overlay district ordinanc-es, is temporary, the building’s owner says. 3

Fence under fire

COMMUNITY

Fresh fruits and vegetables will find a home at the Mall at Stonecrest Plaza this fall when a Farmer’s Market opens there for six weeks. 5

Freshness at Stonecrest

FINANCE

Great DeKalb Cleanup unDer Way

County launches cleanup of ugly, neglected areas

Ramp closures to cripple commute on I-20 east this weekend

Get ready South DeKalb. It’s cleanup

time.After years of litter and neglect of public

spaces, DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis and the

Board of Commissioners have launched the

Great DeKalb Cleanup.The effort kicks off Oct. 9 at 7a.m. at the

DeKalb Community Achievement Center, on

Flat Shoals Parkway in Decatur.The county says the cleanups will be held

every weekend through Oct. 31. “As part of a committed effort to stabilize

property values throughout the county, the

Great DeKalb Cleanup will address areas of

unincorporated DeKalb County that have

not been maintained,” the CEO’s office said

in a statement. “The cleanup is designed to

have the maximum level of impact on the

worst affected areas by encouraging the in-

volvement and investment of the community

in policing and maintaining these areas in

the future.” The Great DeKalb Cleanup comes on the

heels of a Sept. 25 CrossRoadsNews front

page article that documented longstanding

neglect of sidewalks and medians across

south DeKalb County, including its commer-

cial corridors and most travelled arteries.

In its Aug. 28 issue, the newspaper also

spotlighted an overgrown media on Turner

Hill Road leading to the entrance to the Mall

at Stonecrest. It was cut days later. The county’s Sanitation Department

began the cleanup on Oct. 2.Crews cleared the kudzu-covered side-

walk on Flat Shoals Parkway pictured on the

newspaper’s Sept. 25 front page, and picked

up trash along portions of Flat Shoals and

Wesley Chapel Road. Crews also mulched

portions of the median on Wesley Chapel

Road.South DeKalb Neighborhoods Coalition

president Gil Turman was on his way to a

football game Saturday morning when he

was pleasantly surprised to see people fanned

out along Wesley Chapel Road and Coving-

ton Highway picking up trash. “I saw trucks,” he said. “I saw people,

some looked like prisoners working off their

fines, trying to do something to beautify this

ugly situation. I saw people picking up trash

on these streets.”He said it was a beautiful thing to be-

hold.Turman said that he is working with an

organization of residents to put in place a

plan to ensure that going forward, the county

is better maintained.CEO spokesman Burke Brennan said

that cleanup effor was part of the Sanitation

Department’s scheduled cleanup.

On Oct. 9, county employees and com-

munity service workers will document and

remove illegally posted signs on the right-

of-ways, cut back overgrown weeds and

shrubs, pick up litter and place debris near

the roadway for sanitation pickup the fol-

lowing day. The Quality of Life Improvement (QOL)/

Great DeKalb Cleanup (GDC) Team will

Interstate and local motorists will find their I-20 east

commute through south DeKalb County nightmarish

this weekend.Starting at 9 p.m. on Friday, weather permitting,

Georgia Department of Transportation said that the

ongoing I-20 resurfacing project will close ramps at

Columbia Drive, and Evans Mill and Turner Hill roads.

It will also cut off access from I-20 eastbound lanes to

I-285 north and south.Thomas Parker, DOT’s area engineer, said that there

will be significant delays throughout this corridor.

“We would ask the public to avoid the area if pos-

sible,” he said. “And if they must drive through it, allow

themselves extra time and be extremely careful.”

The $28.6 million resurfacing project has been

under way since June 18. It is resurfacing 9.8 miles of

I-20 between Columbia Drive and Turner Hill Road.

The project has snarled traffic and made the weekend

commute difficult for residents and interstate travelers.

Weekend work wraps up at 5 a.m. on Monday.

Motorists traveling eastbound on I-20 who wish

to access either north or southbound I-285 should

continue east on I-20; exit at Wesley Chapel Road

(Exit 68), and return westbound on I-20 to I-285.

The resurfacing will continue for two miles between

Evans Mill and Turner Hill roads.

The eastbound entrance ramp from Evans Mill to

I-20 and the eastbound exit ramp from I-20 to Turner

Hill will be closed throughout the weekend, as will the

outside lane of I-20 between the two interchanges.

The resurfacing project will continue on weeknights

and weekends until temperatures get too cool to pave.

It will be completed in the spring. Work hours are

weeknights from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. and on weekends

continuously from Friday night at 9 p.m. until 5 a.m.

on Monday.For more information, call 511 or visit www.511ga.

org.

care of the existing

problem,” she said.

“Here we are still sit-

ting with thousands

of foreclosures that

nothing can be done

about.”Gil Turman, pres-

ident of the South

DeKalb Neighbor-

hoods Coalition, said he too thought

the ordinance was to help deal with the

sociation, said that

fact was kept from

residents.

“That was not

how it was presented

to us,” said Pace, who

attended a number

of public hearings

about the ordinance

and was eagerly

awaiting its implementation to help

her neighborhood deal with more than

50 vacant foreclosed homes.

“We thought this was going to take

A plan to erect a 154-foot-high T-Mobile

cell phone tower on the Lincoln Funeral

Home property on Candler Road is facing

major opposition from residents who say it

would be located too close to their homes in

violation of existing county codes.

Three J Holdings LLC, which owns the

5.1-acre Lincoln Funeral Home property at

2321 Candler Road, wants DeKalb County

to reduce the distance for the telecommu-

nications tower from a residentially zoned

property to 70 and 85 feet from the required

200 feet. It also wants to waive the 10-foot

landscape buffer to allow

it to build the tower.

Judy Jackson, who will

see the tower from her

kitchen window and back-

yard on Ousley Court,

said there is a reason why

the county set the buffer

at 200 feet.

“It is to protect resi-

dents,” she said.

If the variance is approved, both the

property owner and T-Mobile say they will

lease space to more cell phone operators.

In a Sept. 1 letter accompanying the ap-

plication for the variance, Lannie Greene of

T-Mobile South LLC said T-Mobile plans to

locate two other providers on its tower for

a total of three users and that the property

owner intends to lease ground outside the

T-Mobile proposed fenced-in area to other

wireless providers.

Greene told the county that the purpose

of this facility is to provide safe, reliable,

uninterrupted in-building and in-car cover-

age in the area bounded by Second Avenue,

Candler Road, McAfee Road and I-20.

But residents of Ousley Manor and Toney

October 30, 2010

COVER PAGERice on RiceSCENE

Former

Secretary of

State Condo-

leezza Rice

will talk about

her and sign

memoir at

the Mall at

Stonecrest on

Nov. 3. 8MARTA

has dusted off

its proposal to

extend service

from the Mall

at Stonecrest

to downtown

Atlanta and is

gathering resi-

dents’ input. 3

Transit plan revisitedCOMMUNITY “Pride and

Passion: The

African-Amer-

ican Baseball

Experience”

will be on

exhibit at the

Decatur Library

from Nov. 6 to

Dec. 2. 8

The making of sports historySCENE

Residents oppose plan for new cell tower

Variance sought

for a T-Mobile

facility on Candler

Registry won’t affect 15,500 homes

Valley subdivisions say that reducing the

distance will literally put the tower in their

backyards and be a detriment to them.

“We strongly oppose the construction

of such a tower in our backyard,” they said

in an Oct. 5 letter to the county’s Planning/

Development Department and to the Zon-

ing Board of Appeals. Through Thursday, 73

residents had signed a petition opposing the

construction of the tower.

“We believe that this project will ad-

versely affect the health of already physically

challenged residents, endanger the health of

our children and grandchildren, negatively

impact our property values, and encour-

age the flight of younger families from the

Community groups and individuals

eagerly awaiting the implementation

of DeKalb’s new Foreclosure Registry

found out this week that it does not ap-

ply to the more than 15,500 properties

foreclosed before Oct. 27 – its effective

date.The law only requires owners of

properties foreclosed after Oct. 27 to

register them with the county.

Brenda Pace, president of the

East Lake Terrace Neighborhood As-

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CrossRoadsNews, January 1, 2011