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By HATCHER [email protected]
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – The Johns Creek City Council will begin a review of its outsourc-ing contracts for service as part of a decision made at the council’s retreat.
“There is no dissatisfac-
tion with services provided by CH2M Hill, but it is part of good business practices to see what else is available,” said City Manager Warren Hut-macher. “We have been very satisfied with the job they have done.
January 29, 2015 | johnscreekherald.com | 75,000 circulation Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Milton Herald & Forsyth Herald combined | 50¢ | Volume 19, No. 5
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By HATCHER [email protected]
ATLANTA – The Fulton County Board of Commissioners unan-imously passed a $628 million budget that did not raise the millage rate as feared, and instead left the county with a surplus. Meanwhile, commis-sioners completely restored the shortened hours of Fulton’s public libraries, which com-missioners admitted was easily the most unpopular budgeting measure taken in 2014.
For the first time in more than two decades, commis-sioners unanimously passed
a county annual budget. The 7-0 vote is the first unanimous approval for a county spending plan since 1991.
The fiscal year 2015 bud-get includes no millage rate
Fulton passes $628M budget
See BUDGET, Page 10
See COUNCIL, Page 4
Restores all library hours, no millage increase needed
EAVES HAUSMANN
See budget highlights, Page 12
By HATCHER [email protected]
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – Ask any golf course superinten-dent, and he or she will tell
you it takes a lot of fertil-izer, fungicides, pesticides and herbicides to keep those manicured courses looking so good. But ask Rivermont Superintendent Mark Hoban,
and you will get a much dif-ferent answer.
For the last three years, Hoban has been on a new path to keeping a golf course healthy, and he does it with a new philosophy in horti-culture care. Don’t feed your plants, feed the soil, he says.
Mark Hoban’s low-tech ideas keep golf course greenRivermont draws statewide attentionusing science, not chemicals
See HOBAN, Page 44
HATCHER HURD/STAFF
Rivermont Golf Course Superintendent Mark Hoban unveils some of his earthworms hard at work creating the compost mulch that will ultimately feed his golf course. The earthworms themselves are raised on compost materials from the Rivermont food scraps and recycled paper. Hoban’s rich earthworm farm produces the nutrient-rich castings which are part of the golf course’s food chain.
Human traffickingin GeorgiaAtlanta ranks in top 20 in country
► PAGE 20
State House candidatesRaffensperger, Stewart give stances
► PAGE 4
Raiders rollAlpharetta 14-0 this season
► PAGE 31
Songs of lovefor Valentine’sLudwig Symphony in concert
► PAGE 22
City plans review ofCH2M Hill service Council says action part of review of all contracts
2 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald | johnscreekherald.com PUBLIC SAFETY
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ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Master Police Officer Michael Swerdlove has been selected Officer of the Month by the Alpharetta Department of Public Safety for January.
Swerdlove works on the Alpharetta DUI Task Force and has taken many drunk drivers off the road.
In honoring Swerdlove, the depart-ment said his continued dedication to keep the community safe does not go unnoticed.
Swerdlove named Officer of Month
DUI arrests ► Julia Megan Branton, 24, of Bagley
Terrace Drive, Cumming, was arrest-ed Dec. 31 on Ga. 400 in Roswell for DUI and following too closely.
► Fernanda Dias, 21, of Elzey Drive, Cumming, was arrested Jan. 1 on Ga. 400 in Alpharetta for DUI and speed-ing.
► Charles Edward Kramig, 29, of Jayne Ellen Way, Alpharetta, was arrested Jan. 2 on Maxwell Road in Alpharetta for DUI, brake violation, leaving the scene of an accident and violation of a limited permit.
► Racheal Diane Moses, 38, was arrested Jan. 7 on Bethany Bend in Milton for DUI.
► Jennifer Leigh Dawson, 42, was arrested Jan. 10 on Highway 9 in Milton for DUI, failure to maintain lane, open container, violation of lim-ited permit, obstructed license plate and notice of change of address.
► James Richard Banks, 52, of Eatonton, Georgia, was arrested Jan. 7 on Nesbit Ferry Road in Johns Creek for DUI, failure to maintain lane, driving on the wrong side of the roadway, open container and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.
► Shala Loraine Edwards, 36, of Lyons, Georgia, was arrested Jan. 10 on State Bridge Road in Johns Creek for DUI, failure to maintain lane and
driving on the wrong side of the road-way.
► Tonya Michelle Loyd, 44, of Woodstock was arrested Dec. 24 on East Crossville Road in Roswell for DUI and following too closely.
► Paul David Muzyka, 35, of Canton was arrested Dec. 27 on King Road in Roswell for DUI and failure to main-tain lane.
► Alejandro Fajardo-Albarran, 46, of Royal Colony Court, Johns Creek, was arrested Dec. 27 on Old Alabama Road in Roswell for DUI, failure to maintain lane and expired license.
► Tamir Deaundrae Johnson, 30, of Lithonia was arrested Dec. 27 on Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell for DUI, possession of cocaine and failure to yield when entering roadway.
► Charles Jackson Breedlove, 30, of Atlanta was arrested Dec. 31 on Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell for DUI, following too closely and sus-pended license.
► Avery Brooks Simmons, 21, of Peachtree Corners was arrested Dec. 23 on Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell for DUI, child endangerment and failure to maintain lane.
► Erika Renee Jorgensen, 31, of Duluth was arrested Dec. 29 on Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell for DUI.
Drug arrests ► Evan Nattiel Nix, 22, of Lexington
Farms Drive, Alpharetta, was arrested Jan. 4 on Old Milton Parkway in Alpharetta for possession of mari-juana.
DUIS & DRUGSAll crime reports published by Appen Media Group are compiled from public records. Neither the law enforcement agencies nor Appen Media Group implies any guilt by publishing these names. None of the persons listed has been convicted of the alleged crimes.
See ARRESTS, Page 3
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Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 3PUBLIC SAFETY
Speeder caught with stolen goodsJOHNS CREEK, Ga. – A man caught speeding Jan. 17 on State Bridge Road was arrested for far more than that – driving with a suspended license, driv-ing a car with stolen tags, in possession of a stolen weapon and outstanding warrants for his arrest.
Police spotted the car driven by Tavaris Clincy, 20, of Duluth, allegedly going 60 mph on State Bridge Road, a posted 45 mph area. He was pulled over. A check of Clincy returned his license was sus-pended for failure to appear in court. A check of the tags on the car returned it had been reported stolen in October in Mississippi.
A search of the car alleg-edly turned up a Taurus .357 handgun next to the driver’s seat, which was reported stolen out of Mississippi. Also in the car was $363 in cash,
three cellphones, several types of rounds of ammunition and possible marijuana cigarettes.
Tracker points finger at workerALPHARETTA, Ga. – A stolen phone potentially implicated a hotel employee in two thefts Jan. 5.
According to police, a resident of the Extended Stay Hotel on Old Milton Parkway reported his iPhone missing. This occurred a few weeks after a $120 watch was also found missing from the room.
In both cases, the victim claims the items went missing about the time the room was cleaned. The GPS locator on the iPhone allegedly reported it was near Whitestone Place, which is off Old Milton Park-way.
Management told police the cleaning staffer who would have cleaned the victim’s room lives on Whitestone Place.
Warrants leadto drug arrestsALPHARETTA, Ga. – Two nabbed for warrants Jan. 15 were also arrested for drug possession.
Police report that at about midnight an officer spotted a vehicle belonging to Dequetta A. Gleaton, 25, of Ellenwood, on South Main Street in Al-pharetta. Gleaton came up in records as having an active warrant out of DeKalb County for larceny. The car was pulled over.
Inside the vehicle were Gle-aton and a passenger, Devin Amyas Waller, 33, of Coving-ton. The officer noted the car smelled of marijuana.
Gleaton allegedly admitted to smoking the pot before she was pulled over and had it on her person. She was arrested for possession of marijuana and the warrant.
She asked that her car be
turned over to Waller, who initially gave police another name. When police questioned him, he allegedly admitted this. He also had a warrant for his arrest out of DeKalb for larceny. He was arrested.
Wanted: missing cement mixerMILTON, Ga. – If anyone knows the whereabouts of a missing cement mixer, the workers at Bell Memorial Park would like it back.
The workers told po-lice Jan. 13 they left for the Christmas holidays and when they returned, they found a rented $2,100 cement mixer
was missing. At first, work-ers thought others had simply moved it or returned it to the rental company. Instead, no one knew where it was.
Co-worker arrested for ID fraudALPHARETTA, Ga. – An employee suspects her fellow worker of stealing from her.
The victim told police Dec. 3 her credit card was used to buy Amazon items, once for $122 and again for over $1,000. Both times, they were allegedly purchased by some-one named “Sebastian.” The
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► Jayrel C. Collins, 26, of Dassow Court, Roswell, was arrested Jan. 6 on North Point Parkway in Alpharetta for possession of marijuana and expired tag.
► Julian Wayne Gallemore, 39, of Old Dogwood Road, Roswell, was arrested Dec. 28 on Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell for possession of mari-juana and expired tag.
► Eric James Tillman, 25, of Atlanta was arrested Dec. 28 on Holcomb Bridge Road in Roswell for possession of mari-juana and wanted person.
Continued from Page 2
Arrests:
POLICE BLOTTERAll crime reports published by Appen Media Group are compiled from public records. Neither the law enforcement agencies nor Appen Media Group implies any guilt by publishing these names. None of the persons listed has been convicted of the alleged crimes.
See BLOTTER, Page 45
4 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald | johnscreekherald.com ELECTIONS
Raffensperger runs on transportation, tax relief
I’m running for the State House because I believe we need fresh leaders and com-mitted conservatives to move Georgia forward. Here are the key issues facing our district:
Homeowner tax relief: Now more than ever, we need to free our economy and rid our-selves of anti-growth policies that are holding us back from job creation.
As our next representative, I will work to eliminate Geor-gia’s income tax, replace it with a FairTax plan and elimi-nate and freeze tax increases in Fulton County.
Uniquely qualified to address transportation and traffic relief: As the only civil engineer running for state rep-resentative, I have hands-on construction experience with transportation and infrastruc-ture projects throughout the United States.
I will lead the effort for cost-effective innovations, like continuous flow intersections to help reduce our daily commute.
Protect our North Fulton schools from potential QBE-re-lated cuts: As our next repre-sentative, I will work to protect our schools and make sure they maintain high standards for our children’s education.
Liberate North Fulton: We need to reform Fulton County now, and to replace it with Mil-ton County for more local con-trol over our political destiny.
I will fight to double the homestead exemption to save homeowners money. Milton County will be a battle requir-ing persuasion, and I will leverage my existing relation-ships with many elected of-ficials and fellow members of the Republican Leadership for Georgia organization to work for Milton County.
My opponent has pointed out that over 10 years ago that I had business setbacks.
Like many entrepre-neurs and small busi-ness own-ers, we face industry and economic challenges constant-ly. Those
businesses were closed and final tax filings were made years ago. As tough as that situation was, it gave me very valuable wisdom that enabled me to weather the most recent economic downturn and also develop a deeper understand-ing for people as they face their individual challenges.
Today I owe nothing – zero.Perhaps my best example of
commitment is that I can point with love and pride to the 38 years of marriage with my high school sweetheart, Tricia.
Community involvement has included being my three sons’ youth league coach, mentoring middle school boys for three years at Northpoint, youth detention center min-istry and my current YMCA Board commitment.
I will bring that same spirit of dedication to you when elected to the State House.
I am more fiscally con-servative than my opponent. Last year, I voted against the $588,000 property tax increase that my opponent supported. With the city hold-ing a $30 million surplus, I believed it was time to roll back the millage rate so your taxes didn’t go up.
I will be your cham-pion to stand against higher taxes, and I will work to raise education levels for Geor-gians. To represent you in the State House would be a high honor, and I humbly ask for your vote on Tuesday, Feb. 3. Thank you.
Stewart promises ‘straight talking’ conservative values
I want to first thank the people of Johns Creek for their support throughout this campaign for State House. I wouldn’t be here today with-out your support.
This campaign isn’t about me. It is about delivering the straight talk to the people of Johns Creek. It is about tak-ing the conservative principles I have helped implement here in Johns Creek to the State Capitol.
In my time on the City Council, I heard you loud and clear.
The people of Johns Creek want leaders who are going to be honest, serve with prin-ciple, do the hard work and represent us well.
That’s exactly what I did on the council.
I never voted for a tax increase.
I worked to improve our neighborhoods and commu-nity, fought the dysfunction in Fulton County and I was the lone voice that stood up to stop the frivolous investigation of the mayor that cost taxpay-ers $130,000.
I am running to represent you in the State House to con-tinue that record.
We need principled leader-ship at the State Capitol, not more politicians.
That’s why I will always be honest and tell you how things are, not how I want them to be.
It’s why I’m not going to play political games, but focus on solutions.
My solutions are clear.As a small business owner,
I know how hard businessmen and women work to provide for their families. And frankly, I know how much they are taxed. It’s simply too much. That’s why I will never vote for a tax increase. I never have, never will.
I will work to reform the Georgia tax code to cut income taxes on families to keep more money in your pocket and to grow our economy.
I believe it is far past time to remove Johns Creek from the dysfunction in Fulton County to stop Fulton’s abuse of taxpayers once and for all.
Not only will I continue Rep. Lynne Riley’s efforts to create Milton County, but I will also introduce legisla-tion that will prevent Fulton County’s ability to levy and collect any new property taxes on Johns Creek families.
I also pledge to be an aggressive advocate reduc-ing traffic congestion here in North Fulton with common-sense solutions, not tax increases.
I am for keeping our state tax dollars in our community. We must stop building roads to nowhere.
It is time to get a fair return on our taxes to reduce traffic gridlock.
These are the critically important solutions that will make Johns Creek a better place to live, work and raise a family, and I will champion them each and every day in the State House.
But most importantly, I am always going to give you the straight talk. There won’t be any political games or gim-micks.
We may not always agree, but I can promise that I will always be honest with you.
I humbly ask for your prayers and your vote in the runoff Feb. 3.
RAFFENSPERGER STEWART
“But we want to take the opportunity to look at our entire operations to see what, if any, improvements can be made to provide better service for the community,” Hutm-acher said.
The CH2M Hill contract was set to expire in September, but the City Council voted Jan. 26 to extend that contract by one year, to give the CH2M Hill employees working for the city stability while the review is un-der way. CH2M Hill had offered to extend the contract with no changes for up to two years
while the city conducted its review.
When Johns Creek incorporated Dec. 1, 2006, it had to hit the ground running. CH2M Hill,
an engineering and operations consultant, was contracted to provide most municipal services for the city including administration, public works and community development.
In 2010, the city restruc-tured the contract and reduced the scope of the company’s services. CH2M Hill was to pro-vide services to the sole areas
of public works and commu-nity development.
The city has already begun the review and evaluation, but it will be a process that will take several months. It is not a job the city wants to rush, so the city is extending the con-tract one year.
That gives Johns Creek time to make a thorough review without a September deadline hovering over the process and gives CH2M Hill employees a measure of stabil-ity over the next 17 months.
Hutmacher pointed out a September deadline could also hinder CH2M Hill’s ability to attract new employees with the experience and expertise the city desires.
So a short-term extension of the contract would be the best solution all around, Hut-macher said.
Mayor Mike Bodker said the primary objective is to get a good evaluation of the city’s options.
“They have done an excel-lent job for us. But it behooves us to step back and take a look at what we’re doing with new eyes,” Bodker said. “Also, we don’t want to cripple the ability of CH2M Hill to hire the very best people that are out there. And the contract extension will allow that.”
It also gives the city time to study what the next evolution of city government should be, Hutmacher said.
Continued from Page 1
Council:
HUTMACHER
johnscreekherald.com | Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 5Recycled paper | Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
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JC city manager building his team
By HATCHER [email protected]
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – As Johns Creek continues to grow, so do the responsi-bilities of City Manager Warren Hutm-acher, and with the blessing of the City Council he has announced his man-agement team to help him direct the operations of the various departments of the city.
The three new assistant city manag-ers have a wide range of experience.
• Johns Creek Zoning Administrator Justin Kirouac will be stepping up to fill one spot.
• He is joined by Eric Taylor, former city administrator for the city of Smyrna. He was also the city of Avondale Estates finance officer and an economic development project specialist for the city of Marietta.
• Kimberly Greer was Hutmacher’s projects manager when he was
Hutmacher announces 3 assistant city mgrs.to provide close support management
HATCHER HURD/STAFF
City Manager Warren Hutmacher introduces his management team. From left are Hutmacher, Eric Taylor, Justin Kirouac and Kimberly Greer.
See TEAM, Page 36
johnscreekherald.com | Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 7Recycled paper | Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
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8 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald | johnscreekherald.com Submit your opinions to [email protected] 2014 State of the (wedded) Union
Given how this is a new year, and my first as a mar-ried man, I will give what is to be an annual update on my State of the Union.
Similar to what the presi-dent does each year, giving an update on the status of the nation as well as plans for the future year, I will do this for myself and my wife. It’s the Copsey Nation.
This column also happens to (roughly) coincide with both Valentine’s Day and the anniversary of our dating. So there’s that. Timing is every-thing.
The state so far.• I have heard “yes dear” is
the magic phrase. This is boring. Rather, I have found that angering her leads to
fun interactions! She’s so cute when she’s angry.
• The marriage has lasted about three months and has never been stronger. It shows signs of only getting better over time.
• We are going through the process of buying a house. This is time consuming and frustrating. Do we own the house or not?
• Our borders are secure – take that Mexico!
• The cat acts like a dog. The dog acts like a cat. The cat likes me better.
• The one thing I asked for out of our marriage was a toaster. And I got one. It’s the key to a successful marriage.
The future of US• I promise to reduce my
complaining about things left where they don’t belong. Also, the ham-mer does not live on the kitchen table.
• I promise to continue half listening to what you say.
• Finally, I dedicate myself to making your life – and thus ours – better each day.
And that is the State of the Union.
JONATHANCOPSEYRevue & News Editorjonathan@ appenmediagroup.com
Shining a light on Ga. governmentThe usually quiet city of
Cumming has been forced into the spotlight recently with the potential impeach-ment of Councilman Rupert Sexton. He has been accused of releasing a document with the health insurance informa-tion of city employees’, some-thing that the city argues is private information.
Sexton has said time and time again that he is inno-cent. He has denied releasing any such documents. On top of that, he argues that this information is all part of the Open Records Act, so any citizen can obtain the docu-ments.
Last week, the city asked the state attorney general about the issue to get a final ruling once and for all.
But until that is decided, now is a good time to brush up on the rights every citizen has regarding the govern-ment.
As a reporter, I frequently think about the First Amend-ment to the U.S. Constitution and our First Amendment rights as U.S. citizens.
The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free ex-ercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the govern-ment for a redress of griev-ances.”
That simple phrase allows me to do my job and get the information needed to tell the whole story to keep the public informed on government af-
fairs.What most citizens don’t
know is that they too have the right to investigate and request records.
Georgia’s Sunshine Laws are something every citizen should know about in order to dig deep.
These laws are divided into two major sections, Georgia’s Open Records Act and Geor-gia’s Open Meeting Laws.
The open records process is not too difficult.
The form you need to fill out when requesting docu-ments can be found by doing a simple Google search with the name of the jurisdiction for which you are seeking information.
Whoever is asking for the
information will need to make their request either through written submission, which is not required but is highly rec-ommended, or verbally, which can result in disputes as to what exactly was requested or when the request was made.
Try to find out to whom you should submit the docu-ment, because an agency can require the requested docu-ments go to a specified re-cords custodian. This person must be identified on the agency’s website, if it has one.
In your request, be sure to be as specific as possible as to the information you are seek-ing. After the request is made, the agency has three business days to reply. If they are not able to provide it within the time limit, they must reply explaining why there will be a longer delay or why they can-not give you the information at all.
Depending on where or from whom you get the records, you may have to pay for the copies of the requested documents; but it usually doesn’t cost more than 10 cents per page.
Open meetings are easier to follow since you don’t have to fill anything out.
Georgia’s Open Meetings Laws “requires the state and local governmental bodies conduct their business so citi-zens can review and monitor their elected officials and oth-ers working on their behalf.”
Besides having to let you in to public meetings, the government has to let you know about the meetings in
A citizen’s guide to open government in Georgia
KATHLEEN STURGEONForsyth Herald Reporterkathleen@appen mediagroup.com
What most citizens don’t know is that they too have the right to investigate and request records.
See LIGHT, Page 37
Local lawmakers in Wash-ington responded to the president’s annual State of the Union Address on Jan. 20.
To view the president’s 2015 State of the Union speech, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/sotu.
U.S. Rep. Tom PriceU.S. House of Represen-
tatives Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) represents Georgia’s 6th Congressional district, which includes the North Fulton cities of Roswell, Alpharetta, Johns Creek and Milton.
He issued the following statement in response to the president’s State of the Union Address. For more information, visit www.tomprice.house.gov.
“Listening to President Obama tonight, it is clear that this administration is stuck in the past when it comes to thinking about how we solve the tremendous challenges fac-ing our nation. The president believes we should continue pursuing the same failed poli-cies that have contributed to an economic recovery that’s leaving the middle class behind and a long-term budget crisis that threatens our future pros-perity and national security.
The good news is that these challenges can be addressed with positive, innovative solu-tions that empower American families, workers and entrepre-neurs.
Solutions like fundamen-tal tax reform and a balanced budget that will break down barriers to economic growth and opportunity. Regulatory reform to make government more efficient and accountable.
Improvements to the na-tion’s health and retirement programs so that we are saving and strengthening these pro-grams for generations to come.
The president’s plan – higher taxes and more gov-ernment spending when Washington cannot afford to pay for what it has already promised – is neither positive nor innovative. House Repub-licans are ready to work with the president and Democrats in Congress, but it is past time we moved beyond the same, tired policies of the past that failed to deliver on the presi-dent’s promises.
We have to focus on un-leashing an economy that benefits every American with a government that’s account-able to hard-working taxpay-ers. We invite the president to join us.”
U.S. Sen. Johnny IsaksonJohnny Isakson is a Repub-
lican senator in his second term representing the state of Geor-gia in the U.S. Senate. He is the chairman of the Senate Com-mittee on Veterans’ Affairs and the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, and is also a member of the Senate Committee on Finance, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He issued the following state-ment following the president’s speech to the nation. For more information, visit www.isakson.senate.gov.
“I am very disappointed the president has chosen to lower expectation and raise taxes on the American people just at a time when we are begin-ning to recover. His plan is like pouring cold water on small businesses and employers. It is time to lift overly burden-some regulation and have a tax policy that’s fair and equitable to all Americans.
I’m also disappointed there wasn’t much of a talk about foreign trade and about trade promotion authority from the president which Congress needs to act on quickly.
We have three pend-ing trade agreements which are important for American business: the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partner-ship and the African Growth and Opportunity Partnership. All need to be reauthorized or initiated, and they need to be done this year.
I am happy the president mentioned cybersecurity, which is the No. 1 threat to our country and I pledge to work with him to find those ways we can to track those who would come to America and do harm to our people. May God bless the United States of America.”
U.S. Sen. David PerdueDavid Perdue was elected to
the U.S. Senate to represent the state of Georgia in November 2014. He was recently sworn-in to office and serves on the Sen-ate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee, Budget Committee, Foreign Relations Committee, Judiciary Commit-tee and the Special Committee on Aging.
He posted this statement on his Facebook page the day after the president’s State of the Union. For more information, visit www.perdue.senate.gov.
“Last night’s State of the Union sent a clear message to the American people ... Presi-dent Obama is more concerned with his failed agenda than your family.”
Response to the State of the Union
johnscreekherald.com | Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 9OPINION
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LETTER TO THE EDITOR:
A reader’s response to free pressI just read your Jan. 15 article,
“Understanding the free press and public comment.” Insightful and providing some information everyone, most notably elected officials, need to keep in mind. I liked the article and the points you made, and agree with every one of them.
That said, and as is the case with all views, there is another side to the story. As someone who is no longer an elected official, it is easier for me to try to shed some light than it might be for someone currently serving… and I hope I give some portion of their perspective earnest description.
As an elected person speaking on the record, you are trying to convey a message. You may support or oppose the issue at hand, but you are doing your best to deliver a message to the citizens, your fellow councilmembers and the staff and attendees of the meeting.
In my tenure, my only problem with the local press was that sometimes (not often) the message was either unclear or stated in a way I felt misrepresented what I intended to say; thus impacting what the reader believed to be where I stood on an issue or how I reached my position.
Fortunately, in Alpharetta, we have the Revue & News. You, your editor and the owner all live in our commu-nity and you know us. I don’t know what happened with this guy in Mary-land and his local paper, but I have always believed the local papers do a much better job of communicating the message (not just a quote) from local elected officials.
The valid problem comes most often from much larger, regional press.
My personal belief is that they have
an agenda – sell papers! – and they are more concerned with presenting controversy and scandal where none exists, for the sake of their agenda. Please understand there are, in some cases, reasons for public officials to be cautious and even defensive from time to time with what is reported, if they feel their message is being miscommu-nicated.
It was very rare I would return a call from the large regional paper in Atlanta, and I have never subscribed.
I read your paper every week and appreciate the value it brings to Al-pharetta.
There have been some “misquotes” and some minor mistakes in my years of being quoted by the R&N, but not once have I ever felt as though this was due to anyone having an agenda.
I appreciate your paper being there to deliver the message of Alpharetta’s elected officials and staff, accurately and timely, to the citizens of Alpharetta.
John Monson, Former Alpharetta City Council member
You may support or oppose the issue at hand, but you are doing your best to deliver a message to the citizens, your fellow councilmembers and the staff and attendees of the meeting.
2015 Fulton Board of Commissioners makes promising debut with budget
Oh what woe was predicted for the Fulton County Board of Commissioners when it would meet to approve a new budget. Already, Fulton’s libraries had their hours curtailed with days closed and variable hours the rest of the week that one could scarcely remember when it might be open.
There were predictions of looming shortfalls in the budget and no money left in its fund balance. The state Leg-islature, obedient to the Fulton legisla-tive delegation, sought to tie the fiscal hands of the Board of Commissioners. The General Assembly passed legisla-tion prohibiting any millage increase this year for Fulton County specifically.
One can almost imagine their cha-grin that none of the doom and gloom predictions came true. Now perhaps the General Assembly’s legerdemain had its intended effect when the county passed a balanced budget that not only had no millage increase, but restored funding for the library system, in-creased funding for its FRESH grants and senior services and will have an increased fund balance of around $110 million.
If I were handing out the plaudits, I would have to hand it to the ones who made it happen, the Board of Commis-sioners.
Yes, this newly minted 2015 edi-tion showed a maturity and sense of purpose that had been sorely lacking. Freshmen Commissioners Bob Ellis, Lee Morris and Marvin Arrington Jr. showed surprising willingness to work together along with the veteran board members, Chairman John Eaves and Commissioners Liz Hausmann, Joan Garner and Emma Darnell.
HATCHER HURDExecutive Editorhatcher@ appenmediagroup.com
See DEBUT, Page 40
10 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald | johnscreekherald.com Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
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increase for any Fulton County homeowners and a restora-tion of hours for the branches of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System.
Fulton Commission Chair-man John Eaves said the dire predictions of a millage increase and plunging cash reserves did not materialize for a number of reasons. Eaves called it a “perfect storm of converging factors” that staved off the expected red ink.
“No. 1, the county did a much better job of reducing its expenses than we had project-ed at the end of last year. We had reduced expenses and in-creased revenue,” Eaves said.
Fulton will tilt the millage rate down some to reflect the appreciation in the tax digest, relieving the county of the duty to report a tax increase reflect-ing that appreciation. That will close what has been called the “backdoor” tax increase of ap-preciation when that growth is not reflected in the new millage rate.
The big question is how did this new Board of Commis-sioners come together in such a short span with three new members and diverse repre-sentation by four Democrats and three Republicans from across rural South Fulton, ur-
ban Atlanta and affluent North Fulton?
“I think it was indicative of a new Fulton County, where there really is a spirit of ‘let’s make this happen and let’s get it done.’ There was true com-promise and give and take,” Eaves said.
That included a resolu-tion Eaves co-sponsored with Republican Commissioners Liz Hausmann, Bob Ellis and Lee Morris to maintain a fund bal-ance reserve doubled from 8.33 percent to 16.33 percent.
“That will be about $120 million we will have in cash reserves,” he said. “That’s an indication of our desire to have more fiscal restraint as well being a signal to the crediting agencies that we are respon-sible in our budgeting.”
Hausmann said mandat-ing that increase of level of reserves will help maintain the county’s credit worthiness.
“At 16 percent that puts us on the path to help the finan-cial situation and control our credit issues. But more impor-tantly, it sends the message that the board understands we have to be very responsible with the dollars we are en-trusted with,” Hausmann said. “There is a new a new spirit of cooperation on the board that I think is taking a fresh look at how we do everything.”
Other cost-saving measures will include consolidating hu-man resources functions that
are currently scattered around the county.
Hausmann said she has been pleased with the “busi-ness-like approach” the new County Commission has taken during the budget process.
“It has been willing to com-promise to make sure services are delivered, but understands we need to restructure our in-ternal operations,” she said.
She points out how this budget centralizes the human resources functions which will save over $1 million to the line item without affecting service.
“There is a new fresh perspective and approach on this board now. The most significant thing the General
Assembly has done was the redistricting to equalize the representation throughout the county. Now it’s our job to work through the issues,” Hausmann said. “I think it’s a great first step.”
This budget also defused the confrontation that might have arisen from the General Assembly’s legislation barring Fulton County specifically from raising its millage rate this year and requiring a super-majority of five votes to raise taxes in the future.
“To me, this was a great day for Fulton County,” Eaves said. “It was a unanimous vote on the budget and indicative of more to come in terms of an
effort toward greater efficiency and more delivery of services to the citizens of our county.”
He said he was especially proud of the “spirit of compro-mise and cooperation” ethe-commissioners showed.
“This budget balances fiscal responsibility with the demand for county services by our resi-dents,” Eaves said. “Politically, I think we have a more colle-gial board than in the past.”
For many years, Fulton County’s budget process has been more of an internecine battle over cherished programs and bringing home services important to one’s own district.
Freshman Republican Com-missioner Bob Ellis, represent-ing Roswell, Alpharetta and Milton, said in the few short weeks things happened fast. He had been working unoffi-cially at budget sessions before January, so he had spent a lot of time on it.
“We have a lot moving parts that had to be addressed – facilities needs, certain service areas that have cried out to be addressed more adequately, libraries,” Ellis said.
All the commissioners were wondering what was going to come out of this budget.
“While there wasn’t univer-sal agreement from each of us on what we would like the bud-get to look like, we were able to work within a framework that all of us could support,” Ellis said.
Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System announces restored library hours for 2015ATLANTA – The Fulton County Board of Commissioners voted Jan. 21 to restore the lost hours of operation for all Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System branches. Fulton’s budget will allow hours to be restored at the libraries as of April 1.
Fulton Commission Chairman John Eaves said it will take some weeks to rehire part-time staff to get the libraries up to speed for the new hours.
Commissioners unanimously passed Fulton County’s 2015 budget, which included allocation for the restoration of hours for the library branches and an increase to the library system’s materials budget to $1.9 million.
“This is a great day for our libraries and the communities we serve throughout Fulton County,” said Interim Library Director Anne Haimes. “We are meeting critical needs by restoring hours and public confidence in our libraries.”
In 2014, budget reductions meant significant cuts to library hours including the elimination of Friday hours at many branches. As a result of the action taken by the commissioners, hours will be restored to their 2013 levels.
The library building program is also progressing, with the new Wolf Creek and Palmetto Libraries open and additional new libraries opening this year. For information, visit www.afpls.org or call 404-730-1977.
Continued from Page 1
Budget:
johnscreekherald.com | Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 11Recycled paper | Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
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Fulton budget highlightsATLANTA – During its Jan. 21, meet-ing, the Fulton County Board of Com-missioners unanimously adopted the 2015 General Fund budget, with no millage rate increase.
The final $628,691,032 budget includes a range of services for resi-dents countywide, and restores several previously reduced services.
Highlights include:Restored library hours to FY2013
levels, after reductions in FY2014. The budget also includes funds
to operate new libraries scheduled to open this year. • Restored Human Services grants
($3.6 million) and FRESH grants ($1.8 million) to 2013-2014 fund-ing level. These grant programs provide funding to community nonprofits, and were reduced in the 2014 budget.
• Provided $1.5 million for Arts Contract for Services, enhanced funding at the Johns Creek Arts Center to $100,000, and funding to provide improved security at all Arts Centers countywide.
• Continued extended hours at Ful-ton County’s four Senior Multipur-pose Centers.
• Provided capital allocations to ad-dress repairs and maintenance at Fulton County facilities, including the Fulton County Government
Center.• Provided capital allocations to ad-
dress road and sidewalk construc-tion projects in unincorporated Fulton County.
• Increased funding for senior home re-pair through Aging & Youth Services.
• Increased funding for Account-ability Court programs in the State Court and Juvenile Court.
• Provided funding for public e-filing of case documents at the State Court.
• Contingency funding for a proposed 2% Cost Of Living increase and implementation of comprehensive pay and classification study ex-pected to be finalized in the Spring (both subject to additional Board approval).
The budget also restores the Gen-eral Fund balance to $109,796,761 million, or 17.7 percent.
This amount exceeds the new minimum level of 16.66 percent set by Commissioners through a resolution adopted during the Jan. 21 meeting. Previously, the minimum required fund balance was 8.33 percent.
The commissioners anticipate a General Fund revenue-neutral millage rate rollback. The Board of Commis-sioners will set the 2015 millage rate by June 30.
Construction resumes on Ga. 20 bridge over the ’HoochSUGAR HILL, Ga. – Georgia Department of Transportation construction resumed Jan. 15 on the Ga. 20 bridge replacement project over the Chat-tahoochee River.
Construction stopped on the bridge in late September 2014 because a con-struction permit had to be modified due to a change in the way the bridge would be built. The project was originally permitted for the contractor to use barges as a working platform from the river for bridge construction and demolition. Because of the daily water releases from the Buford Dam, barges can’t be used. The water levels change too quickly and too frequently. Stone jetties will now be used. The change to jetties has required complex interagen-cy coordination between GDOT, the National Park Service, Federal High-way Administration and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers. The required permit was approved Jan. 14.
“On Jan. 15, crews will resume working on the concrete structures that support the new bridges on land,” said Brent Cook, Georgia DOT district engineer serving Northeast Georgia. “By Jan. 19, work in the river will
begin. You will start seeing daily work on the bridge until April. Because the river is a National Park Service Recreation Area, no work is allowed in the river from April 1 to Oct. 31 annually. Only one jetty will be in place at a time. The jetty will be removed during peak recreation season because jetties
change the water flow.” The 1.07-mile-long project widens
Ga. 20 from James Burgess Road in Forsyth County to Burnett Trail in Gwinnett to a four-lane divided high-way with sidewalks, and includes new bridges over the Chattahoochee River at a contract cost of $10.2 million. C.W. Matthews Contracting of Marietta is the contractor. The project comple-tion date is May 31, 2016. The project is behind schedule.
The Ga. 20 corridor from Samples Road in Cumming across the Chatta-hoochee River to Peachtree Industrial Boulevard is under construction in three separate projects totaling 7.53 miles.
The speed limit in the work zone is 35 miles per hour around the clock. All fines are doubles in a work zone, up to $2,000.
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14 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald | johnscreekherald.com Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
By CANDY [email protected]
ATLANTA – With education improvements at the forefront of political agendas in Georgia, Fulton Schools Superintendent Robert Avossa could play a key role in driving change.
Last week, Gov. Nathan Deal named Avossa to serve on the newly formed Educa-tion Reform Committee, tasked with making recommendations for improvements to the state’s
public school system.
Deal out-lined his vision for the com-mittee during his recent State of the State address, delivered Jan. 14. He
cited the need for an in-depth look into the state’s education system, including its much-maligned funding formula, and
called for recommendations to improve the system.
The committee will also focus on how Georgia can in-crease access to early learning programs, recruit and retain high-quality teachers and ex-pand school options.
“This is an opportunity to both provide a voice for our stakeholders and learn from the collective experience of others,” said Avossa. “These is-sues are of critical importance to Fulton County Schools, given our recent efforts on teacher recruitment and reten-tion strategies as well as our
exploration of choice options.”The committee’s charge
to study public school fund-ing mirrors a similar effort more than a decade ago under former Gov. Sonny Perdue. Originally named the QBE Task Force (Quality in Basic Education), it morphed into the Investing in Education Ex-cellence (IE2), with a rotating membership of key figures in education and politics.
The committee ended its work with few firm recommen-dations, and no subsequent actions, on revamping the QBE formula for school funding. That formula has not been adjusted since its development in 1985, and has never been fully funded.
Regardless of the past inac-tion, Avossa said he welcomes the opportunity to deal directly with those who ultimately make the decisions on how the state funds its schools.
“Whether any of the com-mission’s recommendations are accepted in full or in part is up to the legislative body,” said Avossa. “But overall, this puts Fulton County Schools at the table and gives us a great opportunity to help legislators understand the real issues af-fecting public schools.”
In all, 33 people were named by Deal to the Educa-
tion Reform Committee, rep-resenting education, business and political sectors around the state. Avossa is one of only five school superintendents on the committee, including Alvin Wilbanks of Gwinnett County Schools, Kent Edwards of Carrolton County Schools, Will Schofield of Hall County Schools and Noris Price of Baldwin County Schools. Price is a former principal in Fulton County. State Rep. Mike Dud-geon of Forsyth County is also on the committee.
The commission will con-vene for its first meeting Feb. 5 and meet periodically through-out the year. Recommenda-tions are expected to be sent to Deal by Aug. 1.
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This is an opportunity to both provide a voice for our stakeholders and learn from the collective experience of others.”ROBERT AVOSSAFulton Schools Superintendent
johnscreekherald.com | Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 15Submit your news & photos to [email protected] SCHOOLS
By CANDY [email protected]
NORTH FULTON, Ga. – The Fulton County School System (FCSS) is kicking off National School Choice Week by host-ing a series of forums to gather input on what parents and students value in education options.
In North Fulton, two fo-rums have been planned.• Jan. 28 at 7 p.m. at Cen-
tennial High School (9310 Scott Road, Roswell)
• Feb. 2 at 7 p.m. at Milton Center (86 School Drive, Alpharetta)
Whether it’s themed or magnet schools, language immersion programs, Interna-
tional Baccalaureate or STEM schools, school leaders want to design programs that will draw students to them. The forums will focus on identifying the communities’ needs, then using this information to help guide choice options over the coming years.
“We believe that educa-tion is not one-size-fits-all and that parents should have more say in how their children’s education is delivered,” said Superintendent Robert Avossa. “This is the natural evolution of our charter system model because it focuses on provid-ing an educational experience that is customized to what our families want.”
Ken Zeff, director of strat-egy and innovation for the
FCSS, said the “customization” of education is a natural evo-lution of the district’s char-ter system, with the goal of making neighborhood schools reflect the needs of their com-munities.
In July 2012, the FCSS be-came the state’s largest charter system, opening the doors for innovation and flexibility. In exchange for the goal of higher academic achievement, the charter exempts Fulton from many state education man-dates, allowing local schools to determine what works best for them.
Already, Alpharetta and Centennial high schools are taking steps to begin an International Baccalaureate program as early as 2017. But challenges remain in offering school choice, since capacity at most high schools is limited. Zeff acknowledges the hurdles, but the goal is to be strategic in planning.
“We have to be creative. If you develop the right choices, you can get the attendance right,” said Zeff, who noted placement priorities will always be with students who reside in the attendance zones for the
schools.FCSS has been working on
the school choice plan for sev-eral months. Last year, mem-bers of the school board visited the Charlotte (North Carolina) – Mecklenburg School System to see the plan in action, and school staff have been working to implement a similar pro-gram for Fulton.
Each forum will be struc-tured the same, and parents can choose any meeting they wish. For those unable to at-tend, input also will be collect-ed through the FCSS website at www.fultonschools.org.
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JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – Any Johns Creek resident who would like a garden this spring but doesn’t have the space can to participate in the Newtown Park Community Garden pro-gram.
Open to any Johns Creek resident, the city offers the opportunity for planting and maintaining a small garden plot at Newtown Park Com-munity Garden. It features 41 raised beds for planting flow-ers, vegetables and herbs.
Individuals or groups can sign up for one or more beds, each measuring 4 feet by 8 feet by 12 inches high.
For older gardeners, there are beds that measure 36 inches high that require less stooping.
Located within Johns Creek’s Newtown Park near the north entrance, the Communi-ty Garden is open year round, starting with spring planting in April, from dawn until dusk.
Membership in the Johns Creek Garden Association, which operates and manages the garden, is required.
Applications for garden plots are accepted during the registration period from Feb. 15 to March 15 each year. Gar-deners must join the Johns Creek Garden Association and agree to abide by the gar-den rules to apply for a plot. The application fee for a plot is $60 or $25 for seniors over 65, and the fee to join the associa-tion is $10.
Each participating gardener provides seeds or plants for
their plot. The city of Johns Creek pays for the water us-age.
Begun as a community service project by members of the 2010 class of Leader-ship Johns Creek, the garden was featured that year during the annual conference of the American Community Garden Association.
JC Community Garden looking for green thumbsResidents interested in spring plantingmay apply for one of 41 Newtown beds
Community Garden plotsContact: Johns Creek Garden Association Website: sites.google.com/site/johnscreek gardenassociation/ Email: JohnsCreek [email protected] of operation: Open daily from dawn to duskFeatures:•35 8-foot by 4-foot
raised beds (12 inches high)
•4 8-foot by 4-foot with 3-foot-tall planting tables (for seniors)
•2 4-foot by 4-foot wheelchair accessible raised beds
GREG FREEMYER, senior consultant at IAC Forensic Services JOIN TODAY: 770-993-8806 • WWW.GNFCC.COM
16 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald | johnscreekherald.com
There’s so much going on, and no one has the magic bullet that’s going to make you secure,
Sponsored by
Panel offers heads-up advice on data breachesBy PATRICK [email protected]
ALPHARETTA, Ga. – All com-panies should have an ac-tion plan for data breaches, because the number of cyber-attacks is growing, a panel of industry experts told business leaders last week.
From 2005 to 2013, at least 613 million records have been compromised in the United States, Ralph Pasquariello of Snellings Walters Insurance Agency said at the monthly Tech Forum of the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Com-merce.
“The cost of global cyber-crime annually is $114 billion,” he said. “The average organi-zational cost of a data breach … is $5.4 million, and each compromised record costs a company $188.”
Pasquariello was one of seven experts from law, insur-ance and technology to provide insights to the crowd of about 50 people gathered at the Mar-riott in Alpharetta.
Greg Freemyer, senior con-sultant at IAC Forensic Ser-vices, said that because of the costs and legal liabilities asso-ciated with data breaches, all companies should conduct a security audit. He said a SANS Review, offered by the SANS
Institute, or an International Organization of Standard-ization audit (called an ISO 27002) can help businesses lay the groundwork for establish-ing a security system.
Implementing an in-house data security system is cost-prohibitive for most compa-nies, he said. And, even when implemented, it wouldn’t protect against new methods hackers are developing to in-vade networks.
“There’s so much going on, and no one has the magic bullet that’s going to make you
secure,” he said.Another step companies
have been taking to increase security is to link up with a cloud service, said Gerry Baron, chief marketing officer at Cirrity.
Most organizations can-not invest the same amount of money and resources into cy-ber security as a cloud service can, he said.
Cloud services have full-time technicians working with the latest equipment to provide data security, he said.
Debbie Risher, a CPA with
Smith & Howard, said it’s often difficult to tell when a breach has occurred. If a company has the proper software in place, she said, security breaches can be flagged in most cases through logs.
“If you don’t have those, then you’re kind of at the mercy of the outside world,” she said. “It could be cus-tomer complaints. It could be a third-party vendor. It could be law enforcement after they’ve gotten complaints from a cus-tomer.”
Another indicator could be
an increase in spam or mal-ware on a company’s network, she added.
Thomas Foxx, a cyber-spe-cialist with Travelers Technol-ogy Products, said all organiza-tions are the target of hacking activity. Right now, the larger companies are receiving all the attention, but it’s likely all the mid-sized organizations have already been hacked, he said.
“We’ve found that the majority of the small and mid-sized organizations – more than 50 percent of the ones we surveyed – were breached,” he said. “That’s why we push for some type of risk mitigation.”
The most important thing a company can do to protect itself is have an action plan in place to handle cyber-attacks. And one of the first steps in that plan should be contact a skilled attorney, said Gina Ginn Greenwood, an attorney with Baker Donelson.
“First of all, I think you need a good lawyer and a good consultant and a good foren-sic examiner,” she said. “You need to have a good emergency preparedness plan.”
Greenwood said companies should have these emergency personnel on speed-dial, on call at any time. Sometimes, calling an attorney first can ensure that the investigative process can be covered under attorney-client privilege.
“It amazes me when we get calls at how many companies really don’t even understand what laws apply to them,” she said. “They’re in the middle of a huge breach, and they’re not even sure which laws ap-ply.”
The number of data breaches in the United States is growing. From 2005 to 2013, at least 613 million records have been compromised.
CORRECTIONThe New Business Spot-light featuring El Don Bar and Grill (Jan. 22) ran the wrong address. The correct address is 6320 Atlanta Highway, Alpharetta.
Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 17Submit your business news & photos to [email protected] BusinessPostsQualifying opportunities with your customers
Do you get excited when a customer accepts your meeting request, only to find out when you meet with them that they are not interested?
Are you taking the time to qualify your customer’s interest and motivation to buy before committing your valuable time to meeting with them?
Qualifying opportuni-ties to do business with new customers can save you time and allow you to focus on more customers who are qualified buyers.
It’s no mystery that top performing sales profes-sionals know how to qualify their customers, and are good at asking the right questions to make sure their investment in time is worth it.
Conversely, sales profes-sionals who don’t do a good job in qualifying opportuni-ties with their customers typically come back to the office empty-handed.
Determining if a poten-tial customer is interested in your product or service, that they have the ability to make a decision and that your efforts in working with them will produce a sale is critical to managing your portfolio of customers.
This includes under-standing your competitors and the decision-making process each customer will use.
By qualifying an op-portunity with a potential customer before the sales process starts, you improve your odds for success.
Just because you were able to secure a meeting, even with a decision-maker, doesn’t mean you have a qualified opportunity.
Asking the right ques-tions to the right people at the right time will help you better qualify your opportu-nities with your customers, and this will lead to more sales success.
Dick Jones is the Founder & President of Jones Simply Sales.
DICKJONESFounder & PresidentJones Simply Sales
Editor’s note: Beginning this week, Appen Newspapers will run serialized excerpts from Frank Norton Jr.’s “Nor-ton Native Intelligence Report for 2015.” The report, which reflects and synthesizes the views from more than 500 indi-viduals surveyed and economic vital signs recorded, is replete with facts, figures, charts and commentary from one of the state’s premier market experts focusing on the north Georgia economy and real estate. The presentation was made Jan. 15 at the Gainesville Civic Center.
To everything, there is a season and a time for every purpose…and the Georgia real estate market is no different.
The residential development and brokerage industry has been battling the cyclical na-ture of its business models for decades. Over time, the market vitality has been tempered with better construction timetables, winter inventory reductions and brokerage firms’ internal sales and listing contests to either sell off year-end inven-tory or build up inventory, which-ever is dictated by that current cycle.
Thankfully our seasonal adjustments are routed in psychological consumer pat-terns, dominated by the noise of the holidays and not arctic winds and snow drifts impeding con-struction. In fact in some national markets, the con-struction season is only six or seven months in length versus the metro Atlanta area, which tracts only an average of 21 bad weather days from November to March.
A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted
So the quick forecast for the Atlanta real estate market (new construction and resales) is that the overall market will slow in December, January, February and early March. It will reenergize itself around March 20 or 21 (spring) only to ignite a storm of new construc-tion and summer of heavy migration and relocation to the New South mecca...Atlanta. The national builders build huge supply and demand com-puter models in order to deliver housing inventory like “just-in-time” automobile manufactur-
ers or widgets, but consumer consciousness or holiday unconsciousness overrules technological productions.
“The winter dip,” however, can be a productive time. It’s the time builders analyze the year’s sales results, under-standing product mixes, home buyer preferences and develop hot new construction floor plans. A time to figure out what worked and what did not work. It is also a time for the home buyer to scan through the latest home magazines and planning books to dream forward to their own spring
construction. A time to explore vacant developed lots or acreage tracts for poten-tial construction or construction-perm custom initiatives.
The winter is “snakeless,” which is a perfect time to walk in the woods and dream of a “hu-man scale” new nest. Winter – with the naked hardwoods and dead underbrush, is a terrific time to see property’s terrain, land-scape features and of course, views. For gen-erations, winter sales on Lake
Lanier soared because tradi-tionally astute buyers can see all the best that a property has to offer and all the warts at the same time.
Expectations for the 2015 real estate market• Overall home inventory will
remain at historic lows in most metro Atlanta micro markets. Expect 3.5 to 4.8 months of home supply throughout 2015. The low supply is most likely with our market until the feds relax current constraints on regional and small town banking, allowing the resumption on speculative home builds.
• The national builders will continue to dominate the new home sector because of their external source of capital. By the end of 2015,
we predict 50 percent of all homes constructed will be by Atlanta’s Top 10 builders.
• The strongest markets are driven by school zones. Hot demand in public education at the elementary school level is driving the market inventory.
• Expect the 22-county re-gion to permit slightly over 20,000 new housing units, single-family and condos in 2015 – nowhere near our peak of 62,000 (2006) but more than doubled the an-nualized activity of our low year of 8,600 (2009) units. And, as in the last five years, 52,000 to 55,000 homes will trade hands through FMLS
and MLS in 2015. Normal activity with average people with average credit buying average homes.
• Residential growth begets commercial retail develop-ment. Commercial retail development begets medi-cal and service sector office growth. Medical and service beget new jobs and busi-ness industrial expansion, and jobs and business industrial expansion beget new residential. In 2015, it (the cycle of Atlanta life) starts again.
To everything there is a season, a time to sell and a time to buy. AMEN
FRANK NORTON JR.
CEO and Chairman The Norton Agency
Enjoy winter rest before home market heats up
2006
Tota
l num
ber o
f hom
es
0
15,0
0030
,000
45,0
0060
,000
20132008 20122011201020092007
Atlanta Home Inventory: Price Point Breakdown
$0 – 149$150 – 249$250 – 399$400 – 749$750+
Source: GAMLS/FMLS – 22 COUNTIES INCLUDED: Banks, Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Chero-kee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dawson, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Jackson, Newton, Paulding, Rockdale, Spalding and Walton.
GNFCC hosts Lunch Connection Feb. 4ALPHARETTA, Ga. – The Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce will hold its Lunch Connection monthly networking and in-teractive workshop Feb. 4 at 11:30 a.m. at The Metropoli-tan Club, 5895 Windward Parkway in Alpharetta. The meeting is an opportunity to network and gain exposure for local businesses.
If you goWhat: Lunch ConnectionWhen: Wednesday, Feb. 411:30 amWhere: The Metropolitan Club5895 Windward Parkway, Alpharetta
The strongest markets are driven by school zones. Hot demand in public education at the elementary school level is driving the market inventory.
18 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald Submit your business news & photos to [email protected]
PEOPLE »
Ciara Rubin named director of operationsALPHARETTA, Ga. — The Alpharet-ta Chamber of Commerce has appointed Ciara Rubin as director of operations. Rubin will lead the chamber’s day-to-day activities and manage staff and communica-tion with members. She will report to Chamber President and Chief Executive Officer Hans Appen.
Prior to her appointment, Rubin served as the chamber’s director of member services and commu-nications.
“Ciara has been an invaluable member and lead-er of the chamber these past eight months,” Appen said. “Since she has joined the chamber, member-ship has grown 230 percent and our programming and member benefits have reaped the benefits. I am thrilled for our members in what they are getting with Ciara at the helm.”
Brady Ware hires new team accountantALPHARETTA, Ga. — Brady Ware announced that Sharon Marcela has joined the firm as a team ac-countant. Marcela has 15 years of experience in accounting and will be working with Brady Ware clients to perform tax services and bookkeeping duties.
Daughter joins Worley family Re/Max real estate businessMILTON, Ga. — Art and Polly Wor-ley, a residential real estate team at Re/Max Town and Country, have hired their daughter, Dana Wor-ley McCall, to serve as a licensed assistant. McCall will work with her parents, focusing on obtaining listings and working with buyers in the north Atlanta area.
A native of Alpharetta/Milton, McCall attended Crabapple Cross-ing Elementary, Northwestern Middle and Milton
High School, graduating with honors from the Uni-versity of Georgia in 2006. She has spent the last eight years in IT sales and recruiting. She lives in Roswell with her husband Brendon and 9-month-old baby girl, Wren.
Greater Alpharetta Tech Network appoints new board membersALPHARETTA, Ga. — The Greater Alpharetta Tech Network (GATN) announced the appointment of three new members to its Board of Directors.
GATN’s new Board members are Nathan Ot-tinger, Atlantic Capital Bank senior vice president, Chad Osgood, Premier Logic CEO, and Kimberly Little Sutherland, identity management strategy senior director of LexisNexis Risk Solutions.
For more information, visit www.gatnconnect.org.
Fifth Third Bank names Kessler to management positionATLANTA — Adam Kessler recently joined Fifth Third Bank’s Georgia affiliate as vice president/commer-cial relationship manager, focusing on middle market companies with annual revenues up to $500 mil-lion. He is responsible for facilitat-ing new commercial banking rela-tionships and focusing on added value solutions to help companies reach their goals.
Kessler has nine years of experience in the financial industry and was previously a vice presi-dent with JP Morgan Chase Bank in Atlanta.
A native of Alpharetta, Kessler is involved with the Atlanta Metro Chamber of Commerce, Cobb Chamber of Commerce and the United Way.
David Orr joins Harry Norman Atlanta NorthJOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Harry Norman, Realtors welcomed David Orr as a real estate agent in its At-lanta North office. Orr and his wife live in Suwanee. He can be reached at 678-525-7870, [email protected] or www.davidorr.harrynorman.com.
UTILITIES »
Sawnee EMC to retire $9 million of patronage capitalCUMMING, Ga. — Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation announced that it is preparing a gener-al retirement of patronage capital to 72,000 eligible members for the years 1994 through 1997. This action will provide a refund of about $9 million to members that received electric service from Sawnee during this four-year period, with varying refunds averaging $103.
Patronage capital is an allocation of revenue in excess of operating costs and expenses and is required by Georgia law.
For more information, call 770-887-2363 or email [email protected].
REAL ESTATE »
Legacy Village at Vickery Creek to open in CummingCUMMING, Ga. — Legacy Senior Services an-nounced it will break ground on a 63-unit senior living community in Cumming, to be named Legacy Village at Vickery Creek.
The 50,000-square-foot facility will have an equestrian look, keeping with the character of the surrounding community, and will be located on Post
Road near Vickery Creek Elementary School.Legacy Village at Vickery Creek will include 31
studio and one-bedroom assisted living suites. It will have another 32 units dedicated to The Harbor, a nationally recognized memory care unit serv-ing those with Alzheimer’s or other memory care disorders that features an electronic storyboard and drug-free, memory stimulation and behavior man-agement system in each apartment.
TECH »
Agilysys deploys new version of business intelligence serviceALPHARETTA, Ga. — Agilysys, a hospitality soft-ware solutions and services provider, recently an-nounced general availability of the latest version of its business intelligence solution, Agilysys Analytics. The system is a comprehensive reporting, audit-ing and predictive analysis service for the hospital industry.
Available as a subscription service, Agilysys Analytics is accessed from a web browser.
NEW LOCATIONS »
Lanier Dental Partners cuts Forsyth ribbonCUMMING, Ga. — Lanier Dental Partners held its ribbon-cutting ceremony at its Cumming loca-tion, 360 Dahlonega St., Tuesday, Jan. 13. Lanier Dental’s second office is at 2390 Thompson Road in Dawsonville.
Mitnick Law Firm opens new office in AlpharettaALPHARETTA, Ga. – The Mitnick Law Firm recently moved from its Mansell Road location to an office at 3180 North Point Parkway in the Gates office park, less than a mile from Old Milton Parkway.
The father-and-son team assists clients with most legal issues. Daniel, who has been in practice since 1994, concentrates chiefly on contested divorce mat-ters and personal injury cases.
Jared, in practice since 2008, has special education in DUI defense and handles most of the firm’s traffic cases, bankruptcies and all aspects of family law matters. Daniel said the new office preserves the firm’s commitment to providing small-firm personalized service with the experience and expertise of a large firm.
For more information, visit mitnicklaw.com or call 770-408-7000.
BUSINESSCOMPUTERPROBLEMS?
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RUBIN
KESSLER
MCCALL
Practice owners Drs. Michael Palmer, Melissa Thomas Durand and Leslie McGuinn Davis helped cut the ribbon at Lanier Dental’s ceremony.
From left: Jared and Daniel Mitnick
johnscreekherald.com | Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 19Recycled paper | Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
Because Taxpayers Deserve A Champion.
The Only Candidate who Never Voted for a Tax Increase.
Eliminate Georgia’s State Income Tax, Replace with the FairTax.
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“We ended Stewart’s employment because of this issue as well as the fact that
she had a pattern of abusing taxpayer dollars, including using taxpayer funds
to make purchases that were clearly personal in nature.”
--Commissioner Yvonne McNelley
January 14, 2015
The Choice is Clear!
20 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald | johnscreekherald.com COMMUNITY
Human trafficking alive and well in suburbs
By HATCHER [email protected]
NORTH FULTON, Ga. – If you think the sexual enslavement of teenage and younger girls is not something that happens in the suburbs, then you are sadly misinformed.
The truth is many of the young girls pulled into the sor-did realm of sexual exploitation come from Atlanta’s suburbs.
The U.S. Department of Justice places Atlanta as one of the top 20 highest human trafficking jurisdictions in the country.
Residents have started tak-ing up the cause in suburban Atlanta to fill the gap left by indifferent lawmakers to make the public aware and to begin to bring these human preda-tors to justice.
As part of Human Traf-ficking Awareness Month, the Perimeter Justice Team at Pe-rimeter Church in Johns Creek is hosting the Atlanta Justice Conference.
Highlighting the one-day event will be GBI Director Vernon Keenan, who will relate the depth and breadth of the human trafficking cancer that is a plague on Georgia and the entire country.
After the address by Keenan, the audience can par-ticipate in focus groups to let residents know what they can do to participate in the fight against human trafficking.
A breakfast will be served before the Keenan address. There will be a break for lunch and the program will conclude at 2:30 p.m.
“We’ve been part of the campaign to raise awareness of the human trafficking issue in Atlanta since 2007,” said Lau-ren Lopez, Perimeter Church
communications director. “But January is the Human Traf-ficking Awareness Month. We try to do any awareness events in the month of January to go along with that.”
As part of the awareness effort, the feature film “8 Days” will run for a week at the Studio Movie Grill on Holcomb Bridge Road.
The film is in part spon-sored by Out Of Darkness, an anti-trafficking ministry of At-lanta Dream Center. They are dedicated to reaching, rescu-ing and restoring all victims of commercial exploitation.
“Atlanta is a dark place in the sense that so many men, women and children are being trafficked for sex here. But a light is also shining,” said Jeff Shaw, director of Out Of Darkness. “We are excited to partner with ‘8 Days’ to bring greater awareness and to receive the blessing of finan-cial support to enable us to continue serving with excel-lence.”
Film, GBI director put spotlighton teens forced into sexual slavery
Trafficking awarenessWhat: The Atlanta Justice Conference; A conference to shine the light on hu-man trafficking and chal-lenge citizens to become part of the action plan to put an end to it.When: Saturday, Jan.31, 8:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.Where: Perimeter Church9500 Medlock Bridge Rd., Johns Creek
What: Film, “8 Days”Where: Studio Movie Grill 2800 Holcomb Bridge Rd. Tickets: $10
LUKE ROBERT MILLER PHOTOGRAPHY
The film, “8 Days,” is based on true events that show how vul-nerable young teenagers can quickly become entrapped in “The Life” of sexual slave.
johnscreekherald.com | Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 21Recycled paper | Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
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22 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald Submit your news & photos to [email protected] & ENTERTAINMENT
Ludwig Symphony hosts Valentine’s concert
ROSWELL, Ga. – The Ludwig Symphony Orchestra will pres-ent “A Romantic Valentine’s Day” gala with a “Wee bit o’ the Irish” on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center. The evening’s performance features sensational Mexican violinist Anabel Ramirez performing the Paganini Violin Concerto No. 2 “The Bells” and local Atlanta bass Ben Polite interpreting arias of Wagner and Rossini.
Caitlyn Cleary, a student at Roswell High School and winner at the 2014 All-Ireland Competition in Sligo, will sing two Irish tunes. John Lemley of WABE will be master of cer-emonies. In keeping with the spirit of Valentine’s Day, every woman will be given a rose.
Ramirez is one of the most exciting young violin talents on the music scene today. Pos-sessing a soulful heart-rending tone and a fiery personal-ity, her formidable technique enables her to play one of the most difficult works ever writ-ten in the violin literature.
Ramirez began her violin studies at age 6 in Mexico City with Russian violinist Gari Petrenko.
She has appeared as soloist with major orchestras includ-ing the National Symphony of Mexico, the Orchestra de Mineria, San Antonio Sympho-ny and has performed inter-nationally at the Mozarteum of Salzburg, the Aspen Music Festival and the Musicorda Festival. She won the American String Teachers Association Award as well as the Mozart Medal (2002). Ramirez has been a core member of the Houston Grand Opera and the Houston Ballet orchestras since 2008.
Polite, bass vocalist, has built up a substantial follow-
ing in Atlanta because of his magnificent voice and power-ful presence. Called “the Paul Robeson of our times” by critics, Polite is a graduate of Florida State University and has worked with such notable conductors as Arthur Fagen, Enrique Diemecke and David Ott and directors that include Jasmine Guy and Chaz Rade-Schieber. He has appeared as
Dr. Bartolo in Mozart’s “Le Noz-ze di Figaro,” and Don Basilio in Rossini’s “The Barber of Se-ville.” He will interpret “Mogst du, mein kind” from Wagner’s “Flying Dutchman” and “La Calunnia” from Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.”
Maestro Thomas Ludwig, former music director of the New York City Symphony and resident conductor for the
American Ballet Theatre with Mikhail Baryshnikov at the Metropolitan Opera House, will lead the 80-piece orchestra in a varied and colorful program that also includes the majestic Tannhauser and Die Miesters-inger Overtures of Wagner and the capricious and lighthearted “Italian” Symphony No. 4 of Fe-lix Mendelssohn.
– Jonathan Copsey
Roswell singer part of star-studded event
If you goWhat: Ludwig Symphony Orchestra’s “A Romantic Valentine’s Day” galaWhen: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14Where: Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St., RoswellTickets: Adults, $22; seniors, $19; students, $12Info: 770-623-8623, www.ludwigsymphony.org
Violinist Anabel Ramirez will join a star-stud-ded performance for Valentine’s Day Feb. 14.
Roswell singer Caitlyn Cleary will perform as part of the Ludwig Symphony Orchestra Feb. 14 at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center.
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24 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
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Alpharetta High School students take part in a “test kitchen” program by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Alpharetta HS takes part in USDA test programALPHARETTA, Ga. – Alpharetta High School was selected as one of only 12 schools in Geor-gia to participate in a new test program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Angie Yarbrough, the school’s cafeteria manager, is given a new recipe each month to test on students. Students fill out a survey, and their feed-back is sent to the USDA for review. Student responses are used to make decisions regard-ing the use of these recipes in Georgia schools.
AHS teacher Kaylyn Harris was able to integrate the pro-gram into a unit of study.
“I responded to Angie’s
request in the beginning of the school year when we were in our Experimental Design unit. When we returned to the classroom, I asked the stu-dents what factors they could apply to Experimental Design (control, independent and de-pendent variables). This served as a good ‘mini review’ of this unit since we covered it so long ago,” said Harris.
All USDA recipes have fruits and/or vegetables as new nutrition guidelines for students. This year, fruits and vegetables are being included in recipes more than ever before.
–Adam Barth
ROSWELL, Ga. — Local quilt makers are invited to apply to be part of the 33rd Great American Cover-Up Quilt Show at Bulloch Hall from March 6-15. The application deadline is Jan. 31. Full application details and the link to submit entries can be found at www.bhqg.org.
Presented by the Bulloch Hall Quilt Guild, this year’s show will feature about 200 quilts made by local artists throughout the antebellum home. The exhibit also will feature “challenge” quilts created by guild members and a display spotlighting quilt artist Dawn Williams Boyd of Atlanta.
Bulloch Hall Quilt Guild accepting applications for quilt show
February 28 – 7:00pm - 9:00pmMake Your Mark – Free Teen Event Print Making With Aaron Artrip
Johns Creek area high school students come together for Open Mic Night, Poetry Slam, Printmaking, Trivia Contest, & Refreshments. This event is free and open to area high school students. Due to limited seating, please register online: www.johnscreekarts.org
Made possible by a grant from
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T
FEBRUARY EVENTSCome Join Us!February 7 – 3:00pm - 6:00pm6th Annual Bowls Fundraiser
This annual event is a fantastic opportunity to purchase handmade, one-of-a-kind pottery made by exceptional ceramic instructors and student volunteers at the Johns Creek Arts Center. With the purchase of a ticket, choose from over 300 beautiful, unique, ceramic pottery bowls and enjoy a variety of chilies from our chili cook off along with refreshments. Arrive early for best selection! Entrance is free for you and your family with the purchase of your $20 ticket.
February 15 – 4:00pm - 6:00pmArt Talk & Ladies TeaCrowns Event – Sunday afternoon art talk and reception on African American female artists. Extravagant hats have long been a signifi cant part of African American culture. Participants are encouraged to sport their most lavish millinery creations. People’s Choice Award for the most spectacular hat. Traditional African American desserts and beverages will be served. Free and open to the public. Due to limited seating, online pre-registration is requested. www.johnscreekarts.org
All events at: Johns Creek Arts Center 6290 Abbotts Bridge Rd., Bldg. 700Johns Creek, GA 30097www.johnscreekarts.org770-623-8448
Johns Creek Arts Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profi t organization off ering classes, camps and workshops in Sculptural and Functional Ceramics, Visual Arts, Photography, Jewelry, Mosaics, and Theater for youth and adults.
johnscreekherald.com | Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 25Recycled paper | Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
26 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
By JOE [email protected]
ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Alpharetta High School sophomore Benja-min Bearup is gaining national recognition for his coverage of aviation news, including an ar-ticle that was featured by Fox News covering the final days of AirTran in December 2014.
Bearup claims that many of his friends call him a “plane
nerd,” and his interest in avia-tion began at a young age.
“My passion for aviation is a natural passion. Ever since I was little, I have been fasci-nated with airplanes. While at the airport I would keep my eyes peeled on the windows to see all of the airplanes moving around,” he said.
Bearup’s relatives also helped cultivate his interest in aviation. Bearup’s great-uncle
was attorney Stewart Speiser, who successfully represented the families of those who were killed on PanAm 103 in Lockerbie, Scotland, as well as Korean Air 007, which was shot down over the Soviet Union in 1983. Another of Bearup’s great-uncles was Col. Robert Ruddick, an Air Force One pilot during the tenures of Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
In 2014, Bearup began writing for Airline Geeks, a blog site managed by teenagers who
share a passion for aviation. Having gained experi-
ence writing for Airline Geeks, Bearup began to seek a larger audience and to work with industry professionals. In July 2014, Bearup began writing for Airways News, a magazine covering aviation and airline news. Bearup now writes multiple stories a week for the publication.
“Roughly 95 percent of my writing comes from home. It is the other 5 percent that make the memories, however,” he said, referring to the travel opportunities the publication affords him.
At only 16 years old, Bea-rup must balance his schooling at AHS along with his writing and travel.
“Balancing school, my social life and writing can be challenging at times,” he said. “School definitely comes first. My social life and writing often interfere with each other. I will often have friends over when aviation news breaks. When this happens, I just quietly pull out my laptop and start researching and writing away. Many of my friends call me a ‘plane nerd.’”
Bearup’s age is also a factor in how he is treated in an in-dustry devoid of young writers.
“My age has been a touchy subject during my time as a writer,” he said. “A large amount of people have sup-ported me during my writing career. Many at first do not expect someone at my age writing.
“At the same time, I have had my fair share of critics,” he said. “There are people who
disagree with the fact that I write. People have questioned my credibility in reporting on the aviation industry. There have been several times in which I have been denied ac-cess to industry events solely due to my age. I just look past these missed opportunities and move on to the next project.”
However, Bearup claims the Airways News has been a very positive experience where any questions of his age are concerned.
“The staff at Airways News has been nothing but con-stant professionals,” he said. “I rarely think they view me as different. At the end of the day, we share the same goal of bringing quality and reliable content to our viewers.”
One of Bearup’s recent articles covered his experi-ence traveling on AirTran’s last flight from Milwaukee to Atlanta on Dec. 28, 2014. The article was then picked up by Fox News.
Although Bearup has shown a proficiency in writing, he is not necessarily seeking a journalism career. Instead, Bearup claims, “My dream is to become an executive at either Boeing or Airbus.”
For now, Bearup is cer-tainly enjoying his role cover-ing the world of aviation as he looks toward a future in the skies.
“The most rewarding thing about covering aviation is the people I meet and the places I visit,” Bearup said. “As I started my journey, I never imagined I would travel the country by myself taking such amazing journeys.”
FLYING HIGH:
AHS student covering the world of aviation newsWriting featured on Fox News
Alpharetta High School sophomore Benjamin Bearup has cre-ated a promising career as an airline journalist. His article on the last days of AirTran was picked up by Fox News.
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28 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald | johnscreekherald.com COMMUNITY
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Johns Creek libraries host eventsJOHNS CREEK, Ga. – Johns Creek’s two libraries have scheduled a month’s worth of events for patrons in February. For more information on these events, contact the Northeast/Spruill Oak branch, located at 9560 Spruill Road, at 770-360-8820 or the Ocee branch, located at 5090 Abbotts Bridge Road, at 770-360-8897.
February events •Ocee Reads Book Club
– Feb 2 at 2 p.m.; Ocee branch
•Everything College Ad-missions Seminar – Feb. 2 from 6 – 8 p.m.; Northeast/Spruill Oaks branch
•Free Math Tutoring – For students grades K-12. Feb. 1, 8, 15 and 22 from 1 – 3 p.m.; Ocee branch
•Sunday Dahn Yoga – Feb. 1, 8, 15 and 22 at 3:30 p.m.; Ocee branch
•Tai-Chi for Relaxation – Feb. 2, 9, 16, 23 at 10 a.m.; Ocee branch
•Yoga and Meditation – Feb. 2, 9, 16 and 23 at 11 a.m.; Ocee branch
•Atlanta Junior Bridge – Feb 2, 9, 16 and 23 from 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.; Ocee
branch•Family Fun Storytime Uni-
versity – Feb. 3, 17 and 24 at 10:30 a.m.; Ocee branch
•English as a Second Language (ESL) – Feb. 3, 10, 17 and 24 at 4 p.m. for beginners and at 5 p.m. for intermediate; Ocee branch
•Grounded Kids Yoga – Feb. 4 at 6 p.m.; Ocee branch
•Bolly Zumba – Feb. 7, 14, 21 and 28 at 1 p.m.; Ocee branch
•Six-week SAT tutoring – Feb. 9, 16 and 23 at 6 p.m.; Northeast/ Spruill Oaks branch
•Story time for Tots – Feb. 10 at 10:15 a.m.; North-east/Spruill Oaks branch
•Music for Babies with Miss Gail – Feb. 10 at 10:30 a.m.; Ocee branch
• Introduction to Microsoft Word – Feb 10 at 1 p.m.; Ocee branch
•Wacky Wednesday Craft – Ages 5-12. Feb. 11 at 5:30 p.m.; Ocee branch
•TAB (Teen Advisory Board) – Feb. 12 at 5 p.m.; Ocee branch
•Costumes! Games! Art
Class! Prizes! All-In-One Day! – Mini Comic-Con/DragonCon-style party. Ages 12-18. Feb. 14 from 2 – 6 p.m.; Northeast/Spruill Oaks branch
•African American Story Teller Event – Feb 16 at 2 p.m.; Ocee branch
• Introduction to AFPLS Re-search Databases – Feb. 16 at 2:30 p.m.; Ocee branch
•Story time for Tots – Feb. 17 and 24 at 10:15 a.m.; Northeast/Spruill Oaks branch
• Introduction to Microsoft Excel – Feb. 17 at 1 p.m.; Ocee branch
•Young Artists – Ages 7 and up. Feb. 7 and 21 from 1:30 – 3:30 p.m.; Ocee branch
•Chess Club – Ages 5-13. Feb. 18 at 6 p.m.; Ocee branch
•Social Security for Baby Boomers – Feb. 21 from 2 – 4 p.m.; Northeast/Spruill Oaks branch
•AARP Smart Driver Course – Feb. 28 from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; North-east/Spruill Oaks branch
– Joe Parker
CITY OF JOHNS CREEK ITB NUMBER #15-057
OPERATIONAL IMPROVEMENTS ON BOLES RD., OLD ALABAMA RD., & MEDLOCK CROSSING
The City of Johns Creek is accepting sealed Invitation to Bid (ITB) from qualifi ed construction fi rms for Operational Improvements at three (3) locations-Boles Rd., Old Alabama Rd., and Medlock Crossing. Sealed ITB’s will be received no later than 10:00 A.M. on February 26, 2015 in the City of Johns Creek Purchasing Offi ce, 12000 Findley Rd., Suite-400, Johns Creek, Georgia, 30097 at which time ITB’s will be opened and publicly read aloud. ITB’s received after the above time or in any other location other than the Purchasing Offi ce will not be accepted. Deadline for questions is February 12, 2015 @ 5:00PM.
The City of Johns Creek, in accordance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and 78 Stat. 252, 42 USC 2000d—42 and Title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, Department of Transportation, Subtitle A, Offi ce of the Secretary, part 21, Nondiscrimination in federally assisted programs of the Department of Transportation issued pursuant to such Act, hereby notifi es all bidders that it will affi rmatively ensure that in any contract entered into pursuant to this advertisement, minority business enterprises will be afforded full opportunity to submit bids in response to this invitation and will not be discriminated against on the grounds of race, color, sex, or national origin in consideration for an award.
ITB packages and plans are available on the City of Johns Creek website (www.johnscreekga.gov). Additional information may be obtained by contacting the Purchasing Offi ce at (678) 512-3233. Please refer to ITB #15-057 and name, Operational Improvements at Boles Rd., Old Alabama Rd., and Medlock Crossing when requesting information. ITB’s shall be presented in a sealed opaque envelope with the ITB number and name clearly marked on the outside of the envelope. The name of the company or fi rm submitting an ITB response should also be clearly marked on the outside of the envelope. THREE (3) ORIGINAL HARDCOPIES AND ONE (1) ORIGINAL COPY ON CD OF THE ITB MUST BE SUBMITTED. ITB’s will not be accepted verbally or by fax or email. All offerors must comply with all general and special requirements of the ITB information and instructions enclosed herein.
The City of Johns Creek reserves the right to reject any or all bids and to waive technicalities and informalities, and to make award in the best interest of the City of Johns Creek.
Warren Hutmacher Mike BodkerCity Manager Mayor
Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 29Submit your news & photos to [email protected] COMMUNITY
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ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Alpharetta High School’s Devontae Cacok has signed a national letter of intent to play basketball at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.
Cacok was runner up for the 2014 Player of the Year in Region 6-AAAAAA. He also led Alpharetta to a region championship and school record of total wins.
He averaged 21 points per game and 12
rebounds per game last season and was se-lected to play in the prestigious North vs. South Georgia All-Star game for juniors.
UNCW is a Division I program that plays in the Colonial League.
This season they are under the leadership of new head coach Kevin Keatts, who came to Wilmington from being an assistant at Louis-ville.
Alpharetta’s Cacok signs with UNC-Wilmington
Devontae Cacok signs his letter of intent as Mrs. Cacok looks on. From left, AHS Athletic Direc-tor Mike Scheifflee, coach Frederick Hurt and Principal Shannon Kersey look on.
30 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald | johnscreekherald.com Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
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Basketball scoreboard; Jan. 19 – 24BoysMonday•Milton 62, Alpharetta 60 – OT •Pinecrest 50, King’s Ridge 45 Tuesday•Milton 54, Woodstock 51 •Cherokee 54, Roswell 52 •Alpharetta 86,
North Forsyth 44 •Centennial 67, Johns Creek 52 •Lambert 69,
Chattahoochee 51 •West Forsyth 74, Northview 50 •Kell 53, Cambridge 43 •Blessed Trinity 58,
Washington 48 •Mount Pisgah 41,
Fellowship 31 Friday•Milton 48, Etowah 45 •Roswell 41, Lassiter 40 •Alpharetta 72,
Lambert 70 – 2 OT •Chattahoochee 63,
Habersham Central 59 •Johns Creek 49,
South Forsyth 45 – OT •North Forsyth 58, Northview 45 •Riverwood 46, Cambridge 39 •Mount Pisgah 62,
King’s Ridge 33 •St. Francis 75, Fellowship 40 Saturday •Chattahoochee 40, South
Forsyth 34•Roswell 54, Walton 51 •Blessed Trinity 51, Therrell 32
GirlsMonday •Pinecrest 64, King’s Ridge 20 Tuesday •Centennial 61,
Johns Creek 57 – OT •Chattahoochee 38,
Lambert 33 •West Forsyth 49, Northview 33 •North Forsyth 61, Alpharetta 22 •Cherokee 34, Roswell 29 •Woodstock 72, Milton 27 •Kell 61, Cambridge 32•Washington 75,
Blessed Trinity 61 •Mount Pisgah 20,
Fellowship 18 Friday •Lassiter 36, Roswell 35 •Etowah 63, Milton 48 •West Forsyth 48,
Centennial 32 •Lambert 56, Alpharetta 49 •Habersham Central 46,
Chattahoochee 44 •South Forsyth 53,
Johns Creek 36 •North Forsyth 56, Northview 33 •Riverwood 57, Cambridge 42 •Mount Pisgah 49,
King’s Ridge 16 •St. Francis 59, Fellowship 35 Saturday •Milton 44, Alpharetta 43 •Roswell 48, Walton 33 •South Forsyth 67,
Chattahoochee 46 •Therrell 68, Blessed Trinity 50
BASKETBALL ROUNDUP:
Eagles tied for second after stellar 3-0 week
By MIKE BLUM [email protected]
NORTH FULTON, Ga. – The Milton Eagles ended last week tied for second in Region 5-AAAAAA after a pair of victories, begin-ning the week with an overtime win over non-region rival Alpharetta.
The Eagles defeated Etowah 48-45 Friday to improve to 9-3 in the region and 12-8 overall. After leading 25-22 at the half, Etowah outscored the Eagles 18-7 in the third quarter, but Milton took the fourth period 16-5 to erase an eight-point deficit. Chris Lewis led Milton with 21 points.
Milton won 54-51 at Woodstock earlier in the week, playing without Lewis. Alex O’Connell scored 20 points for the Eagles, and Jordan Burrow added 13. Milton led 41-27 after three periods before holding off a fourth quarter rally by the Wolverines.
The Eagles opened the week with a 62-60 overtime win over Alpharetta at Peachtree Ridge as part of a series of games on Martin Luther King Day. O’Connell scored 23 points. Lewis and Quarte Sapp had 11 each and Burrow scored 10, as the Eagles rebounded from
a disappointing loss two nights earlier at home against Pope.
Milton led 33-32 early in the fourth pe-riod before Pope outscored the Eagles 15-0 over a six-and-a-half-minute stretch and won 47-36. Pope was also 9-3 in the region coming into this week.
After opening the week with a tough 54-52 loss at Cherokee, Roswell came back with narrow wins Friday and Saturday to move into fifth place in 5-AAAAAA at 6-7. After winning 41-40 Friday at Lassiter, the Hornets (9-12) defeated Walton 54-51 at home Saturday.
Sam Jessen led the Hornets with 16 points against Walton, including a three-pointer early in the fourth quarter that put the Hornets ahead for good at 44-41. Eric Jones hit three key late free throws and scored 11 points, and brothers Tariq and Malik Abdulgader were strong inside and combined for 18 points.
The Hornets also got a strong defensive effort from Jayden Comma, who helped keep Walton standout Nick Wells from leading a late comeback.
Centennial won 67-52 at Johns Creek and ended the week tied with the Gladia-tors for third in 6-AAAAAA at 9-5. Terrell Dirton hit four of six three-pointers and led the Knights (12-9) with 25 points, while Darrian Brown was credited with 14 as-
Hornets move up with win over Walton
See BASKETBALL, Page 36
johnscreekherald.com | Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 31Submit your news & photos to [email protected] SPORTS
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Raiders unbeaten in region after double-overtime victoryBy MIKE [email protected]
ALPHARETTA, Ga. – The Al-pharetta Raiders took complete command in Region 6-AAAAAA with a 72-70 double overtime victory at home Friday night over Lambert.
The Raiders improved to 14-0 in the region. Lambert is in second at 12-2, with both losses against Alpharetta. With only four region games left, all against North Fulton oppo-nents, the Raiders need only two wins to lock up the regular season title and the top seed in the region tournament.
Alpharetta trailed 15-9 after a cold-shooting opening quar-ter, but reserve Carlos Car-riere scored 11 points in the second period, including a trio of three-pointers, to give the Raiders a 30-27 halftime lead.
The Raiders stepped up their defensive pressure in the third quarter and rattled the Longhorns, leading by as many as 14 points before ending the period with a 49-39 lead. Al-pharetta regained its 14-point lead early in the final quarter before the Longhorns began to find the range from outside while the Raiders struggled to preserve their lead.
Regulation ended tied 56-56, with the Raiders scoring
with 30 seconds to play on a tying basket by Greg James. Alpharetta appeared to be in trouble in the first overtime pe-
riod when standout post player Devontae Cacok left the game after being hit in the face while drawing an offensive foul.
The Raiders trailed by five points with one minute in the first overtime, but freshman point guard Alex Jones scored
on a three-point play off a turnover. Jaylon Gamble drove for what would have been the tying field goal with 15 seconds on the clock after the Raiders stripped a Lambert player try-ing to score, but Gamble was called for an offensive foul.
Undeterred, the Raiders again forced a quick turnover and got the ball inside off an inbounds pass to Cacok, who had just returned with a bandage under his eye. Cacok scored to send the game into a second overtime tied 64-64.
Cacok had been quiet of-fensively most of the game, as the Raiders frequently put up shots before their big man had a chance to get down the court and set up inside. But the 6-foot-6 senior took over in the second overtime period, scoring all eight of the Raiders’ points.
The Raiders got the ball in-side to Cacok for two baskets, and he scored twice on offen-sive rebounds.
Two of his four baskets came on resounding dunks. Cacok’s second rebound score came with five seconds on the clock and snapped a 70-70 tie.
Cacok, a UNC-Wilmington commit who is averaging 17 points a game, led the Raiders (17-4 overall) with 21 points.
KEVIN O'BRIEN/SPLIT SECOND IMAGES
Alpharetta’s Devontae Cacok attempts to block the shot of Lambert’s Connor Mannion (24).
32 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald | johnscreekherald.com Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
By MIKE BLUM [email protected]
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – As far as the Mount Pisgah Patriots are concerned, the 2014-15 basketball playoffs are already under way.
The Patriots are battling for a spot in the state Class A private school tournament,
and their late-season schedule is filled with games against teams that have either locked up a playoff spot or are in a similar situation to Mount Pisgah.
Coming into last week’s games, the Patriots were 13th in the power rankings (the top 16 qualify for state), with a key game last weekend against fellow playoff contender King’s Ridge.
Two of Mount Pisgah’s last five games are against two other teams battling for one of the 16 spots, along with games against St. Francis (No. 1) and
Whitefield Academy (No. 8). “We’re in the playoffs now,”
Mount Pisgah coach Matt Petersen said after a 41-31 vic-tory last week over Fellowship Christian.
After that win and a big 62-33 victory Friday over King’s Ridge, the Patriots were 5-4 in Region 6-A South and 11-8 overall.
They had games left against Walker (19 in last week’s power ranking), Providence Christian (10) and Hebron Christian (14), along with the two against the sub-region’s top two teams.
This is Petersen’s first season as the team’s head coach, and he and his play-ers have had to overcome several obstacles to put themselves in position for a postseason run.
The Patriots were one of the last teams in the state to start their season, beginning Nov. 29 against Blessed Trin-ity, which was playing its sixth game.
With three of the team’s starters also starters in foot-ball, a late start was necessary. The basketball season began the night after the football team lost in the second round of the state playoffs.
Mount Pisgah lost its opener to BT, a state-ranked Class AAA team, but the Patri-ots’ biggest loss that night was an injury suffered by 6-foot-7 senior center Jesse Deloach,
one of the starters who doesn’t play football. Deloach, who will play at Western Carolina on a scholarship, hyper-extended his knee in the game and hasn’t played since.
Petersen hopes to get De-loach back in early February. If the Patriots’ center is close to full strength, the team could be a dangerous playoff op-ponent, considering how they have played in his absence.
The 6-foot-7 Deloach is the team’s lone post player, with the Patriots going 10-7 since his injury while starting a lineup Petersen says effec-tively consists of “five guards. We have nobody taller than 6-foot-3.”
Without Deloach, who pro-vided a strong rebounding and shot-blocking presence, the
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Patriots shoot for stateTeam winning despite late start, key injury
See PATRIOTS, Page 39
johnscreekherald.com | Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 33Submit your news & photos to [email protected] SPORTS
By MIKE BLUM [email protected]
ROSWELL, Ga. – The Fellow-ship Christian Lady Paladins are in line for a state tourna-ment berth in basketball with a team that largely consists of players whose primary sport is not basketball.
Senior Kelsey Royalty, a four-year starter and the team’s top player, is headed to Samford on a softball scholar-ship. Starters Abigail Freemy-er, Megan Hudgens and Olivia Karam are soccer players. Two others were members of the FCS volleyball team that reached the state semifinals.
“We have some athletes,” head coach Clay Price said, “but not necessarily basketball players.”
That fact is occasionally evident on offense, where the Fellowship girls have at times struggled. Last week’s key Re-gion 6-A South win over Mount Pisgah was a case in point, as the Paladins managed to score a 20-18 victory despite a dreadful shooting effort.
Fellowship held Mount Pisgah to two points in the final period and pulled out the win with the aid of two three-pointers in the fourth quarter. Hudgens, a point guard who started last year, connected with a little over four minutes to play to pull the Paladins within a point, and Karam hit a corner three with 3:10 on the clock.
Both teams committed several turnovers after that, and neither scored. Fellowship hung on for the win. The Pala-dins (5-3 in the sub-region and 11-6 overall) began the week 15th in the Class A private school power rankings. They were likely to move up thanks to the win over the Lady Patri-ots (5-4, 11-9), who were ninth in the rankings and likely to drop a few spots after losing for the sixth time in the last seven games.
The top 16 teams at the end of the season qualify for state, and the Paladins are looking to be one of the 16, despite the lack of scoring.
“Defense has been a con-stant,” Price said. He pointed to his team’s effort against the Patriots’ Paige Peterson, who scored 23 points against the Paladins earlier in the season in a 37-32 win over FCS. Peter-son was held without a point in last week’s win and the Fellowship coach said his team was determined to prevent a repeat of the previous meeting.
“We did not allow her to spot up and we needed that effort,” Price pointed out. The Paladins have begun playing
more zone defense of late, and Price said, “The zone has been very good for us. It’s helped us rebound.”
Royalty, a versatile player who can run the offense or use her 5-foot-10 height to play inside, has been the team’s one consistent scoring threat, but has gotten offensive help from a variety of teammates.
Karam, Hudgens, Freemyer, Cameron Swartz and Rebekah Mann have all had double fig-ure scoring games this season, and Price said, “We need to share the basketball for us to be successful.”
Royalty “has not taken as many shots this season as she’s taken before, but has made some outstanding passes,” Price said, with the senior managing just one field goal against Mount Pisgah. She missed three games earlier this season, with the Paladins losing two of them by narrow margins.
“I think that made us a little better,” Price said. “We learned from those close game situations. Even though we were not successful, we turned them into a positive when Kelsey came back.”
The Paladins won two close
games shortly after that in a tournament at Fannin County, and Price said that was where “I could see us grow up collec-tively as a team.”
Fellowship returned nine players, with Royalty and Freemyer, who also started last season, the lone seniors and the other seven all juniors. Swartz, a freshman, had a key three-pointer against the Patriots after the Paladins went scoreless for more than six-and-a-half minutes to start the third quarter.
Swartz scored 21 points Friday in a 59-35 loss to state
No. 1 St. Francis.The Paladins last made the
playoffs in 2008, Price’s first season as head coach, but a
return to postseason play is within reach with just a hand-ful of games remaining before the region tournament tips off.
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34 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
By KATHLEEN [email protected]
CUMMING, Ga. — A panel that was to decide the possible impeachment of Councilman Rupert Sexton instead advised the City Council to punt the issue to the Georgia attorney general. This marks the second time in five weeks that the at-torney general has been drawn into city of Cumming matters.
Sexton said it’s just another way to embarrass him.
“I’ve not done anything and they’re trying to use legal maneuvers to force me to resign or get me off the board,” Sexton said.
The potential impeachment arose after Sexton was ac-cused of releasing the personal financial and health insur-ance information of Cumming city employees on Facebook, including Mayor H. Ford Gravitt’s girlfriend, Angela Mullinax. Sexton has denied
this.The revelation that Mul-
linax, who is not a full-time employee of the city of Cum-ming, receives city health insurance has caused a stir in Cumming and prompted a protest before a special called meeting Jan. 20, in which the investigatory panel discussed the next step in the impeach-ment process.
“I heard that the mayor’s girlfriend was getting free health care, so I was won-dering if I could too,” said Suzanne Chapman, protest organizer. “The problem is that the mayor’s embarrassed that he’s been found out. Sexton is the whistleblower, and they’re going after him and [trying to] impeach him when he did nothing wrong.”
The investigatory panel, comprised of City Attorney Dana Miles, former Forsyth County Commissioner Patrick Bell and local businessman
Steve Page, first met Jan. 13 to assess impeachment allega-tions against Sexton.
At the Jan. 20 meeting, the panel reported their findings to the Cumming City Council.
Miles read the report and recommendation of the panel, and said the panel is con-cerned with two legal issues. Prior to any further action being taken in the impeach-ment process, Miles said the panel has requested an opin-ion from the attorney general of Georgia or a declaratory judgment action in Supreme Court.
At issue is the question of whether Section 51 of the city charter dealing with the city’s impeachment process is fair, providing appropri-ate due process for Sexton; and whether the release of the employees’ information violated state and federal privacy laws in OCGA Sec-tion 50-18-72(A), Subsection
20 through 21 or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996,
HIPPA.
‘Taking the easy way out’Investigatory panel puts Sexton impeachment case in Georgia Attorney General’s lap
PHOTOS BY KATHLEEN STURGEON
Councilman Rupert Sexton watches the protestors, who rallied in his defense against a possible impeachment.
See SEXTON, Page 35
Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 35Submit your news & photos to [email protected] COMMUNITY
The council discussed the panel’s recommendation and ultimately voted to ask the at-torney general for an opinion. The panel was discharged of further duties.
This is not the first time the state attorney general has been involved with the city of Cum-ming recently.
An investigation was sparked by a letter from Sexton to Assistant Attorney General Kelly Campanella, in which Sexton alleges the Cumming City Council held an illegal meeting on or about Dec. 16, 2014 to discuss revising how spouses receive health ben-efits.
Campanella responded Jan. 14 by saying “without further information or evidence to bear out the claims of an improper meeting.
The matter appears to amount to a scenario of duel-ing faction accounts. As such, this office is not in a position to litigate or otherwise pursue the matter further.”
Now the attorney general will be asked for an opinion again.
Sexton said the panel was taking the easy way out.
“They put everything in the lap of the attorney general,” Sexton said. “They should have already cleared everything before now.”
Miles was asked Dec. 23, 2014 about contacting the attorney general for an
opinion on the impeachment case, but he said he hadn’t at that time because it’s “not his obligation to contact the attorney general’s office about it.”
Sexton said he believes the attorney general has “already basically decided on those two questions,” but he wouldn’t reveal his source.
“I have information that if they go forward with an im-peachment, the attorney gener-al will step in,” Sexton said.
Sexton said there is no doubt the impeachment charge is retaliation for the release of the list. While recently in the hot seat, Sexton said it’s nice to have people supporting him.
“I feel pretty good,” Sexton said.
The council is waiting to hear back from the attorney general.
www.nfultonhospital.com
Timeline of events•Dec. 16, 2014: Council-
men hold City Council meeting, discuss insur-ance policies. Later on that night, city employ-ees’ health insurance document is leaked on social media.
•Dec. 23, 2014: City holds special called meeting re-garding leaked document and possible impeach-ment of Councilman Rupert Sexton. Votes to create investigatory panel.
•Jan. 13: Investigatory panel interviews Mayor H. Ford Gravitt, Councilman Lewis Ledbetter, Council-man Ralph Perry and Hu-man Resources Director Phil Higgins.
•Jan. 20: Protest over Angela Mullinax getting health insurance through the city, prior to special called meeting in which panel brings findings to council. Decides to ask Georgia’s attorney general for legal opinion.
Continued from Page 34
Sexton:
Suzanne Chapman and her mother, Una Harrel. Chapman orga-nized the protest.
PUBLIC NOTICECITY OF JOHNS CREEK
Tuesday, February 10, 2015OPEN HOUSE and Possible Quorum
Johns Creek Central Business District Redevelopment Plan
The City of Johns Creek will host an OPEN HOUSE on Tuesday, February 10, 2015 beginning at 7pm. The purpose of the Open House is to have Urban Design Associates provide information and receive feedback regarding the Johns Creek Central Business District Redevelopment Plan.In conformance with the Georgia Open Meetings Law, please note a quorum of the City of Johns Creek Mayor and Council Members may be in attendance. In addition members of the Arts and Culture Board, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Public Arts Board along with members of the Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals may also be in attendance at this Open House scheduled for Tuesday, February 10, 2015 at Johns Creek City Hall Council Chambers (3rd fl oor) which is located at 12000 Findley Road, Johns Creek, GA 30097. This Open House is from 7pm until 9pm and the public is invited to attend. Please contact the City Clerk’s offi ce at 678-512-3212 should you have any questions or need assistance.
Joan Jones, City Clerk
36 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald | johnscreekherald.com Submit your news & photos to [email protected] | Recycled paper
Dunwoody city manager. Greer is also a certified project manager and has a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Georgia.The three assistant city
managers will each manage separate areas of responsibility over different departments and answer to Hutmacher.
“Their jobs will be to assist in the day-to-day operations of the departments they oversee,” Hutmacher said.
Taylor will have the respon-sibility of communications,
community relations and infor-mation technology.
Kirouac will have oversight of the municipal court and economic development and its implementation while work-ing in conjunction with Johns Creek Advantage, the city-business partnership working for economic development.
Greer will oversee parks and recreation; intergovern-mental relations with Fulton County, the General Assembly and the Georgia Municipal Association. She will also have oversight of city projects as needed and look at strategic outsourcing.
One of the projects the city will be taking up is a review of the contract with CH2M Hill.
As the city looks at rebidding the contract for services with CH2M Hill, it will also review outsourcing of city services. “It is just time to take a look at what we’ve done in the past and see if there is another creative way to use the private sector,” said Hutmacher. “We want to look at expected rev-enues and expected expenses.
“We have no strategic initiatives at this time. We are preparing for a parks and recreation master plan,” he said. “We want to develop an economic development strategy and information technology master plan.”
These are major studies that will chart a positive course for the city in the coming years.
There will be some sub-area studies as well. Kimball Bridge Road and State Bridge Road will be two of those. Another is the revitalization of the Boca Bargoons shopping center.
The City Center study is already under way. There will be a great deal of data collec-tion for that, beginning with focus groups in early February to identify various interests in the district. Urban Design has already been awarded the contract for that.
Each of the new assistant city managers will bring their unique sets of talents into play for the city.
Kirouac is already well known in Johns Creek for having piloted the city through many rezoning cases and headed up community focus groups such as the one that recently ended with changes to the community sign ordi-nances.
“I think I bring a set of management skills which are portable. I enjoy building and reforming systems. I think I have the talent to be the O.C. [offensive coordinator] on a team,” Kirouac said.
In other words, he likes to look outside the box for solu-tions.
Taylor’s background in city
government has prepared him for overseeing various depart-ments. He doesn’t see himself as a micro-manager.
“I am more of a general-ist. I look at operations and how they function and can be streamlined,” Taylor said. “I can bring things to the table to help people do a better job of managing the city.”
Greer says she has a lot of hands-on experience in seeing large projects through.
“I’m a certified projects manager, and I have had oversight of some large ones, and I know how to navigate the grants procedures, which are important to getting the city money that is available to it,” Greer said.
She noted Energy Efficiency grants are highly detailed and require the background knowl-edge to give the government agencies the information they are looking for and in the way they want it presented.
“I bring order to the chaos,” Greer said.
She will also be involved in writing the requests for proposals, helping prepare programs 10 years out so that the city will have the facilities it needs to do the things that need doing and not duplicating the private sector.
Please join North Fulton Hospital and don your most fabulous red attire as we celebrate National Wear Red Day with an informative and fun complimentary breakfast event featuring NFH cardiologist Dr. Ayushi Ahuja speaking on heart health.
This event is limited to the fi rst 100 people to RSVP.
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sists. Mark Lancaster had 17 for
Johns Creek (11-10), which came back Friday with a 49-45 overtime win over South Forsyth. Ian Joseph scored 14 points, and Lancaster and Chase Campbell scored 13 each for the Gladiators, who have lost twice to Centennial this season.
Chattahoochee (13-8) is fifth in the region at 7-7 after Saturday’s win over South Forsyth.
Blessed Trinity remained unbeaten in its 4-AAA sub-region with a pair of wins. The Titans are 7-0 in the sub-region and 17-4 overall with a key game Tuesday at home against Westminster.
St. Francis is also unbeat-en in its 6-A sub-region (7-0, 17-3) and ranked first in the Class A private school power rankings. Mount Pisgah (5-4, 11-8) and King’s Ridge (4-5, 9-13) are battling for third in the sub-region behind St. Francis and Whitefield Acad-emy.
The Centennial girls solidi-fied their fourth place position in Region 6-AAAAAA with a 61-57 overtime victory last week against Johns Creek.
The Lady Knights led 32-26 at the half before being out-scored 19-5 in the third quar-ter. Centennial took the fourth quarter 18-10 to force overtime and outscored Johns Creek 6-2 in overtime. Jada Triplett connected on eight of 13 three-pointers for the Knights and scored 13 points, and Jillah Moede had 12 points and 17 rebounds, 10 on offense.
Johns Creek (5-9, 10-11) fell into sixth place behind Chattahoochee (6-8, 12-9) in the region standings.
St. Francis was unbeaten in its 6-A sub-region (7-0) and was 15-2 overall going into Saturday’s showdown against Osborne, one of the top teams in AAAAAA.
St. Francis is No. 1 in the Class A private school rank-ings.
Fellowship Christian (5-3, 11-6) was third in the region and Mount Pisgah (5-4, 11-9) was fourth, with both teams vying for spots in the state tournament.
Continued from Page 30Basketball:
Continued from Page 6
Team:
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Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 37Submit your news & photos to [email protected] COMMUNITY
If you’re tired of the weath-er and would just like to get out of Dodge, why not set a course straight down Interstate 75 to Tampa for one of the largest and most unique out-door events? It’s the Gasparilla Pirate Fest.
I apologize for the bait-and-switch of the gas one-tank home state trips, but this event in our neighbor state is so spe-cial and so timely, I just had to tell you about it. It’s just a seven-hour drive, so you can make it in time for the Friday night concert if you get away before noon.
This venerable festival just celebrated its centennial last year. It began only a few years after Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders bivouacked on the lushly landscaped grounds of the Plant Hotel, the pride of the West Coast, while the officers bunked in the elegant hotel.
Jose Gaspar was an 18th-century aristocrat educated at the Spanish Naval Academy, who took a dastardly tack, led a mutiny on the vessel and set sail for the Straits of Florida, turning pirate.
Gasparilla Island, one of the Barrier Islands of the coast of Tampa, is said to be named for this last of the buccaneers.
And so today his exploits are still remembered. Since 1904, the invasion of Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla has been re-enacted. That first one had to have been a hoot, as it was a surprise cooked up by the society editor of the local paper. She chose Patron Rogue Gaspar’s nickname to set the theme for the merriment.
Today, their craft is the only fully pimped out pirate ship built in modern times, loaded “stem to stern and capstan to crow’s nest” with hundreds of Tampa’s mov-ers and shakers. Some will
be puffing on good ol’ Tampa cigars and knocking back sponsors Captain Morgan and Busch’s brews.
The Invasion comes first by sea, launching Saturday morn-ing, Jan. 31, with a fearless flotilla of hundreds of water-craft, heedless of musket and cannon shot from the mother ship.
Ashore, they corner the mayor at the Convention Center, and he caves, handing them the Key to the City and acquiescing to the Invasion on foot.
Half a million spectators turn out to watch the spectacle featuring more than 100 units, including at least 12 marching bands and floats of 50 different krewes, including the Bud-weiser Clydesdales and a mule-drawn wagonload of Rough Riders (well known for their exuberant cries of “Bully!”).
Onlookers of all ages clam-
or for the booty of beads and coins from the scurvy invaders. (Don’t forget your sunscreen and ear plugs. Pirates are LOUD.)
A couple of decades ago, the women folk decided they were tired of watching the guys have all the fun, so they formed their own krewes. A favorite of mine is The Unsink-able Krewe of Molly Brown, whose float resembles the Titanic. Now, many krewes are open to both genders.
The 4.5-mile waterfront route wends past some of
Tampa’s loveliest homes (including the one featured in the media in conjunction with Gen. Petraeus!)
Homeboys Atlanta Rhythm
Section will open for the Com-modores Friday at 6:30 p.m., and events kick off at 10 a.m. Saturday with the brunch, Pirate Invasion and parade.
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advance.A few types of open meet-
ings include city councils, county commissions, regional development authorities, li-brary and school boards, plan-ning commissions and zoning boards.
Georgia’s Open Meet-ings Laws “applies to nearly every group that performs any function of a government entity.”
There are exceptions to this law as well, including per-sonnel matters, legal actions and certain conflicts of right-
to-know, such as real estate sales.
It’s important to know which meetings are open and which are closed, in case something similar to what hap-pened to citizen blogger Nydia Tisdale occurs.
Tisdale was kicked out for trying to video record a Cum-ming City Council meeting in 2012 – an open meeting.
While this case was a good example of Open Meet-ings Laws, the recent health insurance scandal may soon be a good example of the Open Records Act.
With taxpayers footing the bill for any illegal actions re-garding the Sunshine Laws, it’s important to know your rights.
Continued from Page 8
Light:
38 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
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ALPHARETTA, Ga. – Life can be difficult for families with members who have special needs. Constant attention or care are necessities and can leave little room for the care-taker, often a family member, to have time to themselves.
Alpharetta First Baptist Church offers its Shine Minis-try Respite for special needs families in order to bring them into the con-gregation and community.
On Jan. 31, from 1-4 p.m., the church will host a special needs respite for special needs fami-lies, where the church will care for individuals for the after-noon.
“The respite is an opportu-nity for families to come and
bring their loved ones there and be cared for,” said Jen-nifer Burton, co-director of the
Shine Ministry. “The caretakers and guardians who are under stress can get a break.”
The minis-try holds such events through-out the year.
Burton said she became involved in the ministry when she and her daughter, who has special needs, began attending the church.
“There was such a strong support for the
family,” Burton said. “We want other families to know they can have the same thing.”
Families with special needs members are under constant strain – financial, physical and emotional stress can tear apart such families.
“We wanted to let the special needs community
know we do care about them,” Burton said. “Families often do not feel there is a place for them. But there is a place to you and the doors are open to you.”
Shine Ministry is an ongo-ing program on Sunday morn-ings to allow the families to worship.
The respite is Jan. 31 from 1-4 p.m. at the church, 44 Academy St., Alpharetta.
All ages are accepted and a registered nurse will be on site.
While the event is free, reg-istration is required.
For information and regis-tration, visit www.fbca.com/shine-programs.
Shine Ministry offers community for special needs familiesWill hold ‘respite’ event Jan. 31
If you goWhat: Shine Ministry RespiteWhen: Jan. 31, from 1-4 p.m.Where: Alpharetta First Baptist Church, 44 Acad-emy Street, AlpharettaCost: FreeMore Info: www.fbca.com/shine-programs
The respite is an opportunity for families to come and bring their loved ones there and be cared for.” JENNIFER BURTONCo-director of the Shine Ministry
Carli Walters (left) and Kathleen Burton have a great time together at the respite event. The First Baptist Church will host a special needs respite Jan. 31 for families.
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Patriots are vulnerable against taller, stronger opponents. But starting five perimeter players also “causes some matchup problems with those teams,” Petersen points out.
The Deloach-less Patri-ots are led by seniors Aaron Winchester and Ben Miller, the all-state football quarterback and his leading receiver.
Miller, several inches short of 6 feet, leads the team in scoring with more than 15 points a game, and gives the team a dangerous long-range shooter.
Miller also directs the of-fense with some help from Winchester, who is averaging more than 12 points a game and leads the team in steals and rebounds with the ath-leticism he displayed on the football field.
Connor Richey, the third football starter, averages 9.5 points and at 6-foot-3 is the tallest active player.
The three football play-ers combined for 36 of the
team’s 41 points in the win over Fellowship, with Win-chester leading the way with 16.
The Patriots have gotten a lift from freshman Brandon Younger, who averages 8.5 points. Kevin Ginty, a 6-foot-2 junior, has moved into the lineup in Deloach’s absence, with freshman Brandon Pope, sophomore JonErik Alford and junior Will Custis contributing off the bench.
After playing without De-loach almost the entire season, Mount Pisgah will have to make an offensive adjustment when he returns. But Petersen doesn’t think that will be a problem, as the team’s veteran players have played with oth-ers previously.
Even with the late start for the football players, get-ting acclimated to a new coach and the injury to De-loach, the Patriots came back from the opening loss to win their next three games, and have positioned themselves to make some late-season noise.
“We’ve got an opportunity,” Petersen said. “We’ve just to get everybody healthy.”
Continued from Page 32
Patriots:
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SarahCare hosts fall and fire prevention training class CUMMING, Ga. — SarahCare at Johns Creek will offer a free educational opportunity through a Forsyth County Fire Department class to help older adults reduce falls and fire risks.
Attendees will also learn about resources that are avail-able to seniors through the fire department and sheriff’s office.
This free class is open to anyone who provides care for older adults in the community. The location and time of the training are SarahCare, 4265 Johns Creek Parkway, Suite B, on Jan. 30 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
To register, email [email protected] or call SarahCare at 770-476-8400. Light refreshments will be served.
If you goWhat: Fall and fire preven-tion training classWho: SarahCare at Johns CreekWhen: Jan. 30 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.Where: 4265 Johns Creek Parkway, Suite BMore info: To register, email LLColeman@ ForsythCo.com
40 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald | johnscreekherald.com Submit your news & photos to [email protected] | Recycled paper
Missing was the usual horse-trading that was a hall-mark of county budget hear-ings in which the budget was carved up like so much pork to bring home to one’s district.
Hausmann said these com-missioners showed a much more business-like approach
that showed the ability to compromise, and they under-stood the need to restructure operations in more cost-effec-tive ways.
Above all, there was a much more collegial atmosphere and respect for one another. That fostered a spirit of cooperation that has been sorely lacking since the day Mitch Skandala-kis was elected chairman. He was always more interested in garnering headlines than he
was in garnering support from his fellow commissioners.
But he has been long gone, and over the years and up until this past election, some of the old baggage had continued to exist on the BOC.
It may be early days for the Fulton Commission, but this budget it has produced bodes well for the coming issues that will face Fulton County. It is not only the result they achieved, but the professional
way they went about it.Eaves hailed this budget
as a new day of cooperation. Hausmann said as much. She puts a lot of the weight on the redistricting that has at last given North Fulton its just rep-resentation on the board.
No doubt, this has had a leavening effect on the board also.
In the past, one old hand in commission politics told me it was always about getting the four votes needed for a major-ity to do anything.
And certainly in the bad old days, that was true. But this board appears to be as inter-ested in the systemic health of the county and the services it provides.
In my years covering Fulton County, it seemed that each year it was government by crisis. Around mid-year, the county would cut back, freeze new hiring, freeze wages or take some other measures that left everyone holding their col-lective breath at the end.
Hausmann said she is en-couraged that this BOC wants to take the actions necessary to make Fulton County much more stable.
“Just give us the time,” Hausmann said. “This is a great first step.”
If she is right, and Fulton can get its fiscal house stabi-lized, the county can take its rightful place as a leading light among the metro counties.
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Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 41Submit your news & photos to [email protected] COMMUNITY
By JONATHAN [email protected]
ROSWELL, Ga. – The next big project for North Fulton is the coming 104-acre mixed-use development of Riverwalk Village, at the intersection of Ga. 400 and Holcomb Bridge Road.
Roswell NEXT, a networking and so-cial group for Roswell, hosted an infor-mation meeting Jan. 22 at the Aurora Cineplex, where Riverwalk’s architects were able to present their ideas for the project to a crowd of residents.
As presented, Riverwalk Village is an ecologically driven development that will include parks and public spaces, pedestrian-oriented areas near retail and entertainment and a system of public running, walking and biking trails that will connect the development and surrounding neighborhoods to the Chattahoochee River.
The developer, Duke Land Group, holds more than $2 billion in real es-tate in the metro area. As Roswell Inc Executive Director Steve Stroud said, “They know what they are doing.”
The Riverwalk property is 104 acres that follows the east side of Ga. 400 from just south of Holcomb Bridge Road south to touch the Chattahoochee River, with Old Alabama Road follow-ing the property to the east. Currently, some apartment buildings sit on the site. A large pond is in the center and feeds into the river.
Riverwalk comes as the economy is rebounding and large, mixed-use developments are becoming hot com-modities. Alpharetta’s Avalon just up Ga. 400 is similar in concept.
Roswell is no longer a small town. With nearly 100,000 residents, it is one of the largest cities in the state.
Stroud said such a development was necessary as a means to build quality, affordable housing in the city, a feature that is largely lacking.
“I want this so my daughter can
come back [from college] and has a great place to work and live and an affordable place to work, live and play and enjoy all the great things I enjoy,” he said.
If developed as currently planned, an office park will be to the southern end of the site, with eight- to 10-story buildings sitting on the lowest grade of the land. To the center and north of the site will be multi-family residential buildings with retail beneath. A su-permarket will be onsite, along with a school.
The hope is the development will be largely self-sufficient. Residents will live and work in or near the site.
Kevin Sloan, the principal architect and urban planner, called the develop-ment “landscape-driven urbanism.” He designed the George W. Bush Presi-dential Library and the Sprint head-quarters campus as well as the south campus for Syracuse University. He said he primarily works with taking the landscape and working around it, not simply bulldozing it.
“We want to make sure it’s done right,” he said.
Sloan said he will use “abundant” Georgia plants native to the state to create a landscape in the property. Just under half the site will be left open, and 12 percent will be dedicated to nature preserve, largely to the south, near the river.
Resident reaction from the Aurora presentation was generally positive, if cautious.
“It looks great. You can spend the whole day there and not get in your car,” said resident Chipper Gronholm, who watched the presentation.
He added that traffic on Holcomb Bridge Road can be bad, and adding so many people could make it worse.
Riverwalk has not yet come before the city for official approval or pub-lic input. The developers expect this process to begin mid-year. Construction could begin in the next two years.
“This is just the beginning of the conversation,” Stroud said. “[The plan] can be tweaked and discussed.”
For more about Roswell NEXT, visit their website at www.roswellnext.org.
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Roswell gets 1st glimpse at Riverwalk Village104-acre mixed-usedevelopment at Ga. 400, Holcomb Bridge
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The proposed Riverwalk Village is a 104-acre mixed-use development on the east side of Ga. 400 in Roswell. As currently envisioned, it will feature more than 1,500 residential units, 1.7 million square feet of office, a hotel and a school.
42 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald | johnscreekherald.com Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
University of North GeorgiaDAHLONEGA, Ga. – Univer-sity of North Georgia’s spring graduating cadets were award-ed commissions as second lieutenants in the U.S. Army or Georgia National Guard.
Justin M. Stephens earned a bachelor’s of busi-ness administration degree and will be stationed with the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Stephens, of Cumming, is the son of Michael and Debbie Stephens and a 2009 graduate of South Forsyth High School. Stephens served his senior year as the president of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and was inducted into the ROTC honor society Scabbard and Blade.
Stephen C. Mulhern, son of Leslie Mulhern and John Tumblin, received a Certifi-cate of Commendation and his first set of “gold bars” during ceremonies at the University of North Georgia, and was com-missioned into the U.S. Army following graduation.
Brooke E. Mazur, daugh-ter of Kirsten Rappa and Bren-dan Mazur, received a Certifi-cate of Commendation and her
first set of “gold bars” at the University of North Georgia, and was commissioned into the U.S. Army following gradu-ation.
Clemson UniversityCLEMSON, S.C. – Bridget Johnson of Roswell was named to the President’s List for the 2014 spring semester, earning a perfect 4.0 grade point average for the semes-ter. In addition, she was also inducted as a member of Sigma Alpha Lambda, a na-tional leadership and honors organization. Johnson is a 2013 graduate of Roswell High School and is the daughter of Ray and Karen Johnson.
The CitadelCHARLESTON, S.C. – Members of The Citadel class of 2014 were recognized for excel-lence in leadership, service and academics at commence-ment ceremonies following the spring semester. The following local students graduated:
Eric Joseph Bueltel of Cumming, Brian Eugene Dopson of Roswell and Con-nor Macquire Reasoner Blasch of Alpharetta.
University of GeorgiaATHENS, Ga. – Lorin Janae
Crear has enrolled at the Uni-versity of Georgia as a Stamps Foundation Fellow.
The value of the Stamps Foundation Fellowship for four years at UGA is worth up to approximately $84,000, including enrichment funds for international travel, research internships and outdoor lead-ership experiences.
Chosen for her leadership, scholarship, perseverance, service and creativity, Crear plans to study biology at UGA. The child of Walter and Monika Crear, she graduated summa cum laude from Chattahoochee High School, where she served as yearbook copy editor and president of the Books for Africa Club.
She is a first-degree black belt in American Karate and has volunteered as small group leader at North Point Commu-nity Church.
Also at the University of Georgia, Madelyn Teel of Milton was recently recognized as a member of Sigma Alpha Lambda, the national leader-ship and honors organization.
Valdosta State UniversityVALDOSTA, Ga. – Joely Caro-line Henriquez, a 2013 gradu-ate of Alpharetta High School, has been inducted into the Sigma Alpha Lambda National Honor Society at Valdosta State University. A sophomore with a 3.6 GPA majoring in
speech communication with an emphasis in public relations, Henriquez is an active member of VSU’s Phi Mu Kappa Beta chapter.
In addition, local students recently graduated and/or earned Dean’s List status from Valdosta State following the spring 2014 term.
Graduates:Terrae Alexander of Su-
wanee, Mariela Andersen of Alpharetta, Kristen Bates of Cumming, Paige Boccia of Alpharetta, Hannah Bodie of Cumming, Shayla Brawner of Cumming, Makeda Bryce of Alpharetta, Alexis Carter of Alpharetta, Carl Caballes of Cumming,
Bradley Covert of Al-pharetta, Stephanie Crook of Alpharetta, Jacob Edwards of Roswell, Jonathan Frost of Duluth, Nikole Fuente of Alpharetta, Ashlie Gilbert of Alpharetta and Dana Griffith of Duluth.
Kelly Hessler of Al-pharetta, Melissa Insardi of Alpharetta, Derrick Iverson of Milton, Ayannah John of Roswell, Ericson Joubert of Suwanee, Thomas Keller of Cumming, Elizabeth Knutson of Milton, Baily Korb of Johns Creek, James Lord of Roswell, Ashley McKenna of Cumming, Colleen McGinn of Alpharetta, Natalie McPherson of Cum-ming and Brian Miller of Cumming.
Chris O’Connor of Cum-ming, Rebecca Perkins of Milton, Coleman Rankin of
Roswell, Ainsley Robinson of Johns Creek, Rachel Santan-gelo of Milton, Louie Schro-eder of Alpharetta, Sierra Schultz of Alpharetta, Cody Smith of Alpharetta, Melissa Sams of Suwanee, Christo-pher Spooner of Roswell, Jes-sica Tuggle of Alpharetta and Kaitlyn Wild of Suwanee.
Dean’s List:Maegan Abkemeier of
Cumming, Shabana Ahmed of Alpharetta, Natalie Ajamian of Roswell, Caroline Baum of Roswell, Lucas Bell of Johns Creek, Isaac Berrios of Al-pharetta, Austin Bohannon of Roswell, Brennan Byrd of Cumming, Jason Champ of Cumming, Stewart Cocker-ham of Alpharetta, Stepha-nie Crawford of Alpharetta, Matthew Deese of Roswell, Madison DiMauro of Al-pharetta and Elizabeth Eaton of Alpharetta.
Alison Fay of Cumming, Maci Fletcher of Cumming, Alena Franks of Cumming, Nikole Fuente of Alpharetta, Zachary Gainey of Cumming, Grant Gardner of Duluth, Ashlie Gilbert of Alpharetta, Hannah Gorman of Duluth, Michael Habib of Roswell, Anna Hardin of Alpharetta, Allyson Hayenga of Alpharet-ta, Joely Henriquez of Al-pharetta, Daniella Hermoza of Roswell and Melanie Jackson of Alpharetta.
Andrew Jeschke of Al-pharetta, Naomi Johnston of Cumming, Charles Keel-ing of Alpharetta, Baily Korb of Johns Creek, Emily Li of Duluth, Natalie McPherson of Cumming, Cody Mixon of Cumming, Dillon Moore of Cumming, Victoria Papadelis of Duluth, Patricia Price of Cumming, Emily Raymond of Alpharetta and Cody Smith of Alpharetta.
Erica Smitherman of Duluth, Margaret Stauffer of Roswell, Shelby Varchmin of Cumming, Taylor Watts of Alpharetta, Jamie West of Al-pharetta, Christopher Whelan of Cumming, James Whelan of Cumming, Courtney Whit-enack of Duluth and Kyle Wilkerson of Duluth.
NOTICE OF CITY OF ALPHARETTA
GENERAL ELECTION AND CANDIDATE QUALIFICATION FEES
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED that on the 3rd day of November, 2015, a non-partisan general election will be held in the City of Alpharetta, Georgia to elect a Mayor and three (3) Members of the City Council (Posts 4, 5 and 6). All candidates for Mayor shall pay a qualifying fee of $900.00 and candidates for election to City Council shall pay a qualifying fee of $450.00.
Coty Thigpen, City ClerkCity of Alpharetta, Georgia
VARSITY BRIEFSSend us your news!
Email to [email protected] Info: 770-442-3278
Local tennis player signs with Presbyterian CollegeALPHARETTA, Ga. — Presbyterian Col-lege signed Tracy Johnson, of Alpharet-ta, to join the women’s tennis team for its 2015-16 season.
“I am really excited that Tracy will be joining our program next year. She is a fabulous tennis player and extremely athletic,” said head coach Catherine Dunagan. “I have no doubt that she will reach her full potential here at PC. With both her academic and athletic success, she is everything
that we look for in a student-athlete. I look forward to watching her grow into a strong leader for the future of our program.”
Johnson, a 5-foot-11, right-handed 4-star recruit out of Rivers Academy, trains at the Windward Tennis Acad-emy and is currently ranked 14th in Georgia by TennisRecruiting.net. John-son has been ranked in the Top 30 in the South and has reached in the Top 100 nationally.
See VARSITY, Page 45
Chattahoochee High SchoolName: Ivory Hughes Age: 17 GPA: 3.38Athletic Team: Softball Position: Right Field School and/or Community Activities: Red Cross Blood Drives, Vision Walk Athletic Awards: Varsity Letter for Softball and BasketballAcademic Awards:Certification of Completion for Healthcare Track, Perfect AttendanceFuture Plans: Attend college at Georgia Regents University in Augusta, GA to study biology. Then attend medical school to become an OB/GYN.
student athlete of the week
Ivory Hughes
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Tracy Johnson to be a “Scotty” next year.
johnscreekherald.com | Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 43Recycled paper | Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
CITY OF JOHNS CREEK
RFP NUMBER #15-049
RECREATION & PARKS COMPREHENSIVE MASTER PLAN
The City of Johns Creek, Georgia Recreation and Parks Division is now accepting proposals for qualifi ed professional services providers to develop a comprehensive Recreation and Parks Strategic Plan for its park system. Sealed RFP’s will be received no later than 2:00 P.M. on February 18, 2015 in the City of Johns Creek Purchasing Offi ce, 12000 Findley Rd., Suite-400, Johns Creek, Georgia, 30097. RFP’s received after the above time or in any other location other than the Purchasing Offi ce will not be accepted. A Pre-Bid Conference will be held on February 2, 2015 at 10:00AM at the City Hall location Chattahoochee Conference Room.
RFP packages and plans are available on the City of Johns Creek website (www.johnscreekga.gov) . Additional information may be obtained by contacting the Purchasing Offi ce at (678) 512-3233. RFP’s shall be presented in a sealed opaque envelope with the RFP number and name clearly marked on the outside of the envelope. The name of the company or fi rm submitting an RFP response should also be clearly marked on the outside of the envelope. FIVE (5) ORIGINALS AND ONE (1) COPY OF THE RFP ON CD MUST BE SUBMITTED. RFP’s will not be accepted verbally or by fax or email. All offerors must comply with all general and special requirements of the RFP information and instructions enclosed herein.
The City of Johns Creek reserves the right to reject any or all bids and to waive technicalities and informalities, and to make award in the best interest of the City of Johns Creek.
Warren Hutmacher Mike BodkerCity Manager Mayor
City of Johns Creek Board of Zoning Appeals, Public Hearing:Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at 7:00 P.M.
City of Johns Creek Council Chamber12000 Findley Road, Suite 300Johns Creek, Georgia 30097
The following Variance proposals located within The City of Johns Creek are scheduled for Public Hearing as stated above.
Case Number: V-15-001Petitioner: Maria Manzanero Present Zoning: C-1 Property Location(s): 5700 Block of State Bridge RoadVariance Request: To allow two wall signs on the same wall area
PUBLIC NOTICECITY OF JOHNS CREEK
CALL FOR SPECIAL ELECTIONIN CONJUNCTION WITH A
NOVEMBER GENERAL ELECTION
The City of Johns Creek has CALLED for a SPECIAL ELECTION in conjunction with the November GENERAL ELECTION to be held November 3, 2015. The Special Election will be to fi ll the unexpired term of Council Seats Post 2 (expires 12/31/2015) and Post 5 (expires 12/31/2017). The GENERAL ELECTION will be held to elect Council Posts 2, 4, and 6. QUALIFYING will be held in the City Clerk’s Offi ce at Johns Creek City Hall which is located at 12000 Findley Road, Suite 400, Johns Creek, Georgia 30097. The qualifying fee for each council seat is $450.00 which is 3% of the total gross salary for the preceding year. Each candidate shall fi le a notice of candidacy in the offi ce of the City Clerk of Johns Creek between Monday, August 31, 2015 and Wednesday, September 2, 2015, the hours of qualifying will be from 8:30am to 12:30pm and from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. Each candidate must meet the qualifi cations of the Charter and Code of the City of Johns Creek, as well as all applicable state and constitutional laws.
Joan Jones, City Clerk
CITY OF ALPHARETTANOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
The following items will be heard at a public hearing held by the Planning Commission on Thursday, February 5, 2015 commencing at 7:30 p.m. in the Alpharetta City Hall Council Chambers, 2 Park Plaza (new City Hall), Alpharetta, Georgia. A workshop will also be held by the Planning Commission at 6:30p.m.
The following items will also be considered by the City Council on Monday February 23, 2015 commencing at 7:30 p.m. in the Alpharetta City Hall Council Chambers, 2 Park Plaza (new City Hall), Alpharetta, Georgia.
a. CLUP-14-09/Z-14-14/V-14-31 Atwater Retail and RestaurantConsideration of a request to rezone approximately 2 acres from O-P and O-I to C2 as well as site plan approval on a C2 portion. A change to the Future Land Use Plan from “Corporate Offi ce Campus” to “Commercial” and a parking variance. The property is located at 2665 and 2705 Old Milton Parkway and is legally described as being located in Land Lot 801, 802 1st District, 2nd Section, Fulton County, Georgia.
b. PH-14-22 Tribble Alley AbandonmentConsideration of abandonment of a portion of the Tribble Alley Right of Way. The alley is located between Old Milton Parkway and Westside Parkway within Land Lots 801,802, 1st District, 2nd Section, Fulton County, Georgia c. CLUP-15-02/Z-14-13/V-15-03 Spruell SubdivisionConsideration of a request to rezone approximately 5 acres from AG to R-8D in order to develop 21 single family detached homes. A request to change the Comprehensive Land Use Plan from “Low Density” Residential to “Medium Density” Residential is also requested. A variance to allow a front setback variance is also requested. The property is located at 3500 Spruell Circle and is legally described as being located in Land Lot 7, 1st District, 1st Section, Fulton County, Georgia.
d. MP-14-10 Regency Park/iFlyConsideration of a request to amend the Regency Park Masterplan in order to permit Commercial Recreation/Entertainment as a permitted use in POD 1. The property is legally described as being located in Land Lots 637,638,655 and 656, 1st District, Second Section, Fulton County, Georgia.
e. PH-14-13 Downtown Master PlanConsideration of approval of the Downtown Master Plan. The area boundaries generally include Mayfi eld Road and Canton Street to the North; South Main Street and Allyson Circle to the South; Wills Road to the West; Westside Parkway to the East.
f. PH-14-14 UDC Changes – MU & For Rent Housing RegulationsConsideration of a change to the Unifi ed Development Code in order to revise MU zoning district regulations and Dwelling, For-Rent Housing Regulations.
Note: Georgia law requires that all parties who have made campaign contributions to the Mayor or to a Council Member in excess of two hundred fi fty dollars ($250) within the past two (2) years must complete a campaign contribution report with the Community Development Department. The complete text of the Georgia law and a disclosure form are available in the offi ce of the City Clerk, 2 South Main Street.
44 | January 29, 2015 | Johns Creek Herald Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
Then the plants can feed them-selves.
His fellow golf superinten-dents call Hoban “The Mad Scientist,” but that is more to describe his passion for what he does than in jest. In actual-ity, they are following his work quite closely. It is not only a “greener” way to go, it has the potential of savings thousands of dollars annually on the ap-plication of all of those chemi-cals and fertilizer.
That is why Hoban received the Environmental Leader in Golf award from the Georgia Golf Environmental Founda-tion (GGEF).
In making the award, the GGEF noted Hoban’s organic maintenance philosophy significantly reduces the use of water, fertilizer, pesticides and mowing. And not only is it environmentally friendlier, it saves the golf course money that can be used on other course enhancements.
“That’s important, because if you don’t have good greens on a golf course, you don’t have anything,” Hoban said.
Hoban works his magic by taking the worm’s eye view of not only what is going on at ground level but just below ground level.
“What we do is create a super abundance of rich mi-crobes applied to the soil that in turn are fed on by protozo-ans and nematodes. The plant extracts nutrients from their excrement out of the soil when the microbes are eaten,” Hoban said.
“So we’re feeding the soil with microbes to feed the plants. This has greatly re-duced our need for fertilizer, pesticides and fungicides in particular,” he said.
To get the billions upon billions of microbes he needs, Hoban has found a way to brew up supercharged vats of the little critters that can literally be blown off the top of this delicately heated mixture of food that they like. The brew or “tea” is then spread on the fairways.
Hoban says each batch that he brews has more microbes than all of the people who have ever lived on the planet. They supply naturally the nutrients that the turf needs.
Now here is where the worms come in. It turns out if you want to make microbe pizza, the best ingredient you can find is worm manure, also known as worm castings. It is rich in the nutrients that make the microbes grow, divide, grow, divide and so on.
Microscopic creatures such as protozoa and nematodes eat the microbes, and their waste provides more nutrients for the roots of the grass. The super abundance of microbes also draws them nearer the root systems, which absorb the nutrients more easily.
That means Hoban is also in the worm-farming business. He raises them in a hothouse of worm beds and has no problem in feeding his worms like kings. That is because the kitchens and the waste baskets provide him with an endless supply of food and paper to compost. Worm pizza. And the worm castings are rich in the microbes.
Hoban is using the natural microbial nutrients – greatly enhanced to do the job of fertilizer he once bought by the pound to feed his fairways – at great cost savings.
A former Georgia Golf Course Superintendents Asso-
ciation president and chapter Superintendent of the Year in 2002, his environmentally friendly approach has not only won Hoban accolades from his peers but has attracted inter-est from the University of Geor-gia, which is doing research at the Rivermont course.
Hoban began his golf career with the Standard Club in 1971. He was always inter-ested in bringing more natural techniques for the care and feeding of his golf course.
He introduced native grasses and plants to his golf course. He also intro-duced using natural brown river sand in bunkers in-stead of the bleached white sand so often used at other courses.
He met resistance from Au-gusta-philes, who wanted the traditional manicured courses and white sandy bunkers.
Chris Cupit, owner and general manager of Rivermont, bought into the idea of using more natural plants to sur-round the Rivermont course. On the recommendation of a lifelong friend of his father’s, he lured Hoban away from the Standard Club.
When Hoban came to River-mont, he came to a 40-year-old course that needed reinvigora-tion. It was the perfect place to introduce his ideas of a more natural course.
“I had a lot of resistance to the Georgia flora course I wanted to introduce [at the Standard Club]. But the golfers at Rivermont loved what I was doing,” Hoban said.
His biggest supporter was Cupit.
“While Mark and I shared a love of learning and trying new things, I never envisioned where we would be today,” Cupit said.
Hoban’s work with natural bio-feeding of the fairways is just the latest example.
In 2006 and along with golf architect Mike Riley the three of them shared a vision to create something unique to Atlanta. The new design incor-porated native areas of grasses and sedges. They converted of 25 acres to natural native areas instead of groomed Ber-muda grass.
“We wanted to create a ‘throwback course’ that cel-ebrates the growing trend of minimalism and naturalness in golf architecture,” Cupit said. “Our course features brown river sand instead of the arti-ficially bleached bright white stuff dotting most golf courses around the country.”
Hoban said that is what golf courses ought to be doing, reflecting native plants and wildlife, rather than becom-ing some landscaped spectacle that is not natural to the envi-
ronment.“That’s a lot of acres that I
don’t have to fertilize, reseed, water or mow. It has the added benefit of providing new habi-tat for native plants, animals and insects,” Hoban said. “We have wildflowers, bees, mon-arch butterflies and deer on the property.”
Cupit said the new look for Rivermont is a deliberate step back from the courses fans see on TV.
“We took the approach of being the ‘anti-Augusta.’ We’re not trying to imitate their model of extreme maintenance and formality. There’s noth-ing wrong with it if you have a billion-dollar TV contract. But it is not a sustainable model for the other 99 percent of golf courses,” Cupit said.
His golfers tell Hoban they love the natural beauty and the
wildlife the course now has.He has seen a reduction in
overall plant disease, which means less chemicals to treat the acres, and that saves money as well. Just return-ing acreage to a natural state saves $15,000 to $20,000 an-nually, Hoban estimates.
Natural plants also replace carbon in the soil, and that is a benefit as well.
“And native plants on the edges create a great frame for the course,” he said. “The old course was brown in the winter and green in summer. Now we have year round color on the course.”
The scruffy-edged bunkers with river sand provide a more “classical” course as well.
The course is the first Audubon Cooperative Sanctu-ary Golf Course in the South-east located outside Florida.
Continued from Page 1
Hoban: How Rivermont superintendent keeps course green
Hoban’s work with fortified nutrient compost is part of a Univer-sity of Georgia experiment. Here the compost is poured over a test strip of the fairway for comparison to a conventionally fertil-ized strip next to it.
One of the extra benefits of returning 25 acres of the golf course to its natural state has been the resurgence of wildflow-ers on the course, which also provide a source of nectar for honey bees.
The additional acreage returned to its natural state has also created more wildlife habitat on the property as this heron can attest.
johnscreekherald.com | Johns Creek Herald | January 29, 2015 | 45Recycled paper | Submit your news & photos to [email protected]
Boston CollegeCHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – Ji Young Lee of Alpharetta has graduated cum laude from Boston College with a bach-elor’s degree in international studies from the College of Arts and Sciences.
Hamilton College CLINTON, N.Y. – The follow-ing local students have been named to the Dean’s List at Hamilton College for the 2014 spring semester:
Rachael L. Feuerstein, daughter of Harry and Jill Feuerstein and a graduate of Alpharetta High School, is a rising junior majoring in psy-chology.
Jacob L. Wagner, son of George and Heather Wagner of Alpharetta and a Milton High School graduate, is a rising senior majoring in biology.
Armstrong Atlantic State University SAVANNAH, Ga. – Armstrong Atlantic State University in recently announced its Presi-dent’s List honorees, each of whom earned a 4.0 GPA for two consecutive semesters dur-ing the 2013-2014 academic school year.
The following local students
were named to spring 2014 President’s List:
Samantha Brown of Cum-ming, a senior early childhood education major, and Alyssa Plemmons of Cumming, a sophomore pre-radiologic sci-ences major.
Northern Illinois UniversityDEKALB, Ill. – Richard Mi-tacek of Johns Creek has graduated from the University of Northern Illinois. Mitacek earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Business.
Clarkson UniversityPOTSDAM, N.Y. – Amoge Okolie of Suwanee is attend-ing Clarkson University as an incoming freshman for the fall 2014 semester. Okolie will be majoring in chemical engineer-ing.
Brenau UniversityGAINESVILLE, Ga. – Brenau University student-athlete Sydney Danielle Koon of Johns Creek was named the NAIA Volleyball National Player of the Week. Koon was selected for her performances the week of Oct. 27 through Nov. 2. She helped guide Brenau to wins against Bethel and Martin Methodist in the Southern States Athletic Conference.
Also at Brenau, local students participated in the
Gainesville Theatre Alliance WonderQuest production of “Sleeping Beauty” Sept. 26 through Oct. 4. Among the local participants were Katie Keel of Johns Creek, Rebecca Martell of Cumming, Meredith Martin of Cumming, Amanda Willett of Cumming, Caitlin Cavana-ugh of Suwanee and Sydney Rohrbaugh of Suwanee. All are majoring in theater.
St. Scholastica CollegeDULUTH, Minn. – Lasaunia Johnson of Alpharetta gradu-ated from the College of
St. Scholastica with a mas-ter’s degree in health informa-tion management.
Ga. Southwestern State UniversityAMERICUS, Ga. – The follow-ing local students made the spring 2014 Dean’s List at Georgia Southwestern State: Brennan Bauschka of Al-pharetta, Matthew Dean of Cumming, Lindsey Fetner of Duluth and Cindy Ring of Suwanee. To qualify for the Dean’s List, students must earn a grade point average of 3.5 or better and take a mini-mum 12 credit hours.
Wofford CollegeSPARTANBURG, S.C. – Kevin Patrick Hady of Johns Creek and Logan Mackenzie Mor-
ris of Suwanee both made the spring 2014 Dean’s List at Wofford College.
Reinhardt UniversityWALESKA, Ga. – The following local students graduated from Reinhardt University following the 2014 spring semester: Alex Kaplan of Alpharetta, bach-elor’s degree in biology; Shane
Turner of Alpharetta, master’s degree in business admin-istration; Andrea Wilson of Duluth, bachelor’s degree in business administration/marketing; Jeremy Burns of Suwanee, bachelor’s degree in business administration/mar-keting; and Laura Rusinyak of Suwanee, master’s degree in teaching in early childhood education.
Winnifred Dorene Bergan, 74, of Cumming, passed away January 16, 2015. Arrangements by Ingram Funeral Home.
Douglas Besen, 76, of Cumming, passed away January 14, 2015. Arrangements by McDonald and Son Funeral Home.
John Cecil Duncan Sr., 74, of Cumming, passed away January 19, 2015. Arrangements by Ingram Funeral Home.
Katherine Marie Hendrix, 90, of Woodstock, passed away January 17, 2015. Arrangements by Ingram Funeral Home.
Edwin Donald Gravitt, 75, of Cumming, passed away January 20, 2015. Arrangements by Ingram Funeral Home.
Lonnie Junior McBrayer, 78, of Cumming, passed away January 13, 2015. Arrangements by Ingram Funeral Home.
Dorothy Jean Ogletree, 87, of Cumming, passed away January 19, 2015. Arrangements by Ingram Funeral Home.
DEATH NOTICES
victim said she works with a man with that name. Police were able to determine one of the Amazon orders was alleg-edly sent to the home address of the coworker, Sebastian Vidrio-Banuelos, 19, of Cum-ming.
When he was confronted, Banuelos allegedly admitted to the theft of the victim’s credit card information. He was arrested Jan. 14 for identity fraud.
Vandals out in force Jan. 12JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – Several vehicles were damaged over-night Jan. 12 on Addison Lane when someone removed their catalytic converters.
The converters are valued at about $2,000 each.
During the same night, down the road on Old Alabama Road, six vehicles had win-dows smashed while they were parked late at night.
Two victims reported windows smashed and the interiors rummaged through.
One victim reported her glove box was opened but nothing was missing. Another victim reported similar damage but a laptop computer was taken.
Shoplifter leaves purse, ID behindMILTON, Ga. – A suspected shoplifter who fled authori-ties July 25, 2014 and left her handbag behind was arrested Jan. 13.
Police say Tanya Anita Mings, 51, was seen pushing a grocery cart at the Wind-ward Walmart filled with over $600-worth of goods. She al-legedly walked past all regis-ters and left the store. When employees tried to stop her, Mings left the cart and sped off in a nearby Jeep. Along with the goods, Ming left behind her purse, which contained her driver’s license.
A warrant was issued for her arrest and she was finally found Jan. 13.
Bobcat found disassembledMILTON, Ga. – Someone stole parts from a Bobcat earth-mover Jan. 15.
Workers on the site told police they came in to work that morning and discovered the Bobcat was disassembled. Thieves had taken the front door, rear window and a motor from the machine.
The suspects had used shovels to dig under it in order to remove the track to get at the engine. The shovels were left behind. The vehicle is val-ued at $7,500.
Sibling rivalry leads to drug arrest?JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – A sister turned in her older brother for drug possession after he was caught smoking pot in their home.
The caller told police her 25-year-old brother was visit-ing the family’s High Falls Circle, Johns Creek, home from his Atlanta residence.
While there, the brother allegedly started smoking mari-juana. The sister called 911.
The brother was found in possession of the pot and coop-erated with police. He also had a warrant for his arrest out of Atlanta for failure to appear in court.
He was arrested on posses-sion charges.
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