Inside Brookhaven Reporter www.ReporterNewspapers.net Scan here to get Reporter Newspapers in your inbox or sign up @ ReporterNewspapers.net MARIST ARTS & CRAFTS page 22 BY MELISSA WEINMAN [email protected]A DeKalb judge has ruled that Brookhaven may not annex Cen- tury Center unless a Nov. 5 referendum to annex the property into Chamblee fails. Citing Georgia law in an Oct. 28 order, DeKalb Superior Court Judge Tangela Barrie ruled that Local Act 205, the General As- sembly’s legislation creating the Chamblee annexation referendum, trumps Brookhaven’s Oct. 8 vote to annex the Century Center of- fice park. “By proceeding to annex using an alternative method, Brookhav- BY MELISSA WEINMAN [email protected]A recent planning session centered on the Brookhaven-Ogletho- rpe MARTA station yielded ideas for improving Peachtree Road, and unveiled tensions between MARTA and Brookhaven officials over the control of the large redevelopment project. e four-day ‘charrette’ for the redevelopment of the Brookhav- en-station, which came to a close Oct. 24, was a planning and brainstorming session for architects, urban planners, transporta- tion experts and stakeholders to discuss ways to make “transit-ori- ented development” at the MARTA station a reality. SEE JUDGE, PAGE 5 SEE PLANNING, PAGE 4 This ride is awesome! PHIL MOSIER Left to right, Caroline Koziol, 8, Reese Butler, 9, and Thomas Koziol, 5, get a kick out of a carnival ride at St. Martin’s Episcopal School’s Fall Festival on Oct. 19. The event, sponsored by the Parent Teacher Organization, featured bungee jumping, games, food and more. Additional photos on page 19. Judge: City can’t annex Century Center yet Planning session yields ideas for MARTA project NOV. 1 — NOV. 14, 2013 • VOL. 5 — NO. 22 Sage advice Added legal counsel needed on strip club ordinance? COMMUNITY 2 Doing splits Sidewalk, parks projects will see funds COMMUNITY 3 Batter up Cricket popular among Indian residents AROUND TOWN 7 Seismic shift County should review charter, ethics board COMMENTARY 6 Healing heart Vietnam War victim learns to forgive FAITH 14 See our ad on page 15 to learn about our 14 day test drive! FREE demonstration and hearing screening! AUDIOLOGICAL CONSULTANTS of ATLANTA “Since 1983” A C A You Could Be Hearing From Us. Helena Solodar, Au.D. Kadyn Williams, Au.D. CAN. A REVOLUTIONARY HEARING AID THAT CAN HEAR LIKE YOUR EARS DO.
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A DeKalb judge has ruled that Brookhaven may not annex Cen-tury Center unless a Nov. 5 referendum to annex the property into Chamblee fails.
Citing Georgia law in an Oct. 28 order, DeKalb Superior Court Judge Tangela Barrie ruled that Local Act 205, the General As-sembly’s legislation creating the Chamblee annexation referendum, trumps Brookhaven’s Oct. 8 vote to annex the Century Center of-fi ce park.
“By proceeding to annex using an alternative method, Brookhav-
A recent planning session centered on the Brookhaven-Ogletho-rpe MARTA station yielded ideas for improving Peachtree Road, and unveiled tensions between MARTA and Brookhaven offi cials over the control of the large redevelopment project.
Th e four-day ‘charrette’ for the redevelopment of the Brookhav-en-station, which came to a close Oct. 24, was a planning and brainstorming session for architects, urban planners, transporta-tion experts and stakeholders to discuss ways to make “transit-ori-ented development” at the MARTA station a reality.
See Judge, PAge 5 See PLANNiNg, PAge 4
This ride is awesome!
phil mosier
Left to right, caroline Koziol, 8, Reese Butler, 9, and Thomas Koziol, 5, get a kick out of a carnival ride at St. Martin’s episcopal School’s fall festival on oct. 19. The event, sponsored by the Parent Teacher
organization, featured bungee jumping, games, food and more. Additional photos on page 19.
Judge: city can’t annex century center yet
Planning session yields ideas for MARTA project
NOV. 1 — NOV. 14, 2013 • VOL. 5 — No. 22
Sage adviceAdded legal counsel needed
on strip club ordinance?
coMMuNiTY 2
doing splitssidewalk, parks projects
will see funds
coMMuNiTY 3
Batter upCricket popular among
indian residents
ARouNd ToWN 7
Seismic shiftCounty should review charter, ethics board
coMMeNTARY 6
Healing heartVietnam War victim
learns to forgive
fAiTH 14
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At the urging of residents, Brookhaven City Council will consider seeking addi-tional legal advice regarding its controver-sial sexually-oriented business ordinance.
Brookhaven residents, dissatisfied with the city’s legal battle with the Pink Pony strip club, aired their grievances during an Oct. 16 roundtable discussion with Mayor J. Max Davis and Council-man Joe Gebbia.
The informal gathering was orga-nized by a group of neighborhood lead-ers who commissioned a telephone poll about the lawsuit. The results showed 75 percent of those polled wanted the city to settle its lawsuit with the Pink Pony, and 62 percent felt the city’s actions did not represent the will of the people.
Residents lobbed their questions and criticisms at the city officials, who for months have been advised not to talk about the lawsuit.
“This is not so much about the Pink Pony, but the will of the people,” said Kerry Witt, president of the Pine Hills Homeowners Association and an orga-nizer of the poll. “We’re just trying to convey to the city that the will of the people is just as important as what they think is right for the city.”
Earlier this year, the Pink Pony strip club sued the city of Brookhaven over its sexually-oriented business ordinance, which bans nude dancing and alcohol. City officials say DeKalb’s law is uncon-stitutional, and a stronger ordinance is necessary to protect the city. But the owners of the club say the law would put them out of business.
Currently, the owners of the Pink Pony pay DeKalb County a $100,000 annual licensing fee as part of a settle-ment from a previous lawsuit.
Davis asked the group for a show of hands to see who would feel comfortable with the city collecting that fee from the Pink Pony in exchange for ignoring the law. All hands shot up, and some even suggested the city should ask for more.
“We in the city need these tax dol-lars. I want to see 15 more squad cars,” said Ashford Park resident Ronnie May-er. “Use that tax money for good.”
Many of the residents questioned the city’s employment of Scott Bergthold, the Tennessee attorney who was hired to help draft the sexually-oriented business ordinance. Bergthold has written and defended laws that regulate adult busi-nesses around the country. One woman asked the city officials to seek the advice of other attorneys.
Residents also disputed the city’s claims of “secondary effects” caused by sexually-oriented businesses. A Pine Hills resident who said he lives “a stone’s throw” from the Pink Pony said he has never had any problems associated with the club.
Kathy Forbes, a Brookhaven Fields
resident who organized the event, list-ed a number of new businesses near the club to dispute claims that the Pink Pony will discourage economic develop-ment.
“We just don’t buy it. They’ve been good neighbors, and there’s a lot of busi-ness coming in,” Forbes said.
Davis said members of City Coun-cil felt it was their duty to shore up the regulations for adult businesses. He said clubs that serve alcohol and allow nude dancing can bring down property values and have shown to be associated with other crimes.
“It’s not because we’re moralists,” Davis said. “It’s not because we’re on a crusade to shut down strip clubs.”
At the City Council’s Oct. 22 meet-ing, Davis told the other council mem-bers that following the suggestions from residents at the roundtable discussion, he’d like to seek the advice of other at-torneys regarding the city’s law. He said outside opinions would help to affirm the city’s position or bring up things they may not have considered.
“Frankly, there were a couple things I didn’t have answers for that I would like answers to,” Davis said of the roundta-ble discussion. He said seeking outside legal advice is “not to undermine our or-dinance …. It’s just more informing our decision.”
Councilwoman Rebecca Chase Wil-liams quickly rejected the suggestion.
“I have a bit of an objection to this. I personally think we reached out ear-ly on and had suggestions at a work ses-sion,” Williams said. “Are we going to keep looking for opinions until we find one they agree with?”
Councilman Bates Mattison, who watched a video of the roundtable dis-cussion, said he’d like to entertain other ideas to help potentially lower the city’s legal costs.
“The issue I heard resoundingly is that [residents] are concerned about the cost,” Mattison said.
Councilman Jim Eyre also ques-tioned the need to seek other advice. He said he doesn’t know what, short of re-scinding the ordinance, would make the Pink Pony owners drop the lawsuit.
“We’re sort of on a train that has left the station,” Eyre said. “While I under-stand and appreciate what you’re saying, I don’t know that we have the option to mitigate those costs because we’re not driving those costs.”
Gebbia said talking about the sexually- oriented business ordinance with residents was very valuable because council mem-bers have been “muzzled” on the topic.
“One of the most valuable outcomes was people were generally satisfied to have us there,” Gebbia said. “We all ran on the basis of transparency and that was transparency.”
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Brookhaven government calendarBrookhaven city council usually meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 7 p.m. at locations to be determined.
for complete and up-to-date schedule of Brookhaven city meetings, go to http://brookhavenga.gov .
the two members of brookhaven City Council seeking re-election are unopposed, so no city election
will be required Nov. 5 in brookhaven, according to county election offi cials.
Sidewalk, parks improvements to begin before year’s end
Brookhaven has set aside funds to be-gin improvements to the city’s parks and sidewalks before the end of the year.
City Manager Marie Garrett told City Council Oct. 22 that there is $400,000 to be split among sidewalk projects in the city’s four council dis-tricts and $200,000 for use in the parks.
“It’s to allow you to have some visual impact this year,” Garrett said. “Th at in-cludes enough funding to provide 1,000 feet of sidewalk improvements in each of your districts.”
Th e 2013 fi scal year ends Dec. 31. Garrett asked council members to sug-gest sidewalk improvements or con-struction that could be completed quickly and cheaply.
Councilman Jim Eyre said one such project is extending a sidewalk in his district. He encouraged other coun-cil members to meet with public works staff as soon as possible to ensure that their sidewalk projects can be handled.
“It’s a relatively easy project but it’s not going to happen overnight,” Eyre said.
As with sidewalks, Garrett encour-aged City Council to think of small
improvements that could be made in Brookhaven parks by the end of the year.
“Th e criteria should be what is quick-est and makes the most visible impact?” Garrett said.
Th e city is preparing to begin a parks and recreation master plan. Council members discussed waiting to begin any big projects in the parks until after that planning process is complete.
Th ere are no parks in District 4, the southern portion of the city represented by Councilman Joe Gebbia.
But Gebbia said he would like to work out a land sharing agreement with the DeKalb County School system that would allow the city of Brookhaven to use the athletic fi elds at Cross Keys High School on the weekends.
Gebbia said an arrangement would provide green space for residents in Dis-trict 4 and help the school.
“We’re in a dire situation with no funding at all being put into that school,” Gebbia said. “At the same time, we could be making some very valuable improvements that would not only ben-efi t residents from a parks standpoint but also benefi t students.”
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Beginning next month, Brookhaven residents will see their power bills go up slightly. Georgia Power Co. will begin col-lecting an additional charge called a fran-chise fee from residents of the new city.
Georgia Power began sending letters to Brookhaven customers Sept. 24, in-forming them of the upcoming chang-es to their bills.
According to the letter, “This change has resulted in a debit being applied to your account to bill the appropriate Mu-nicipal Franchise Fee from March 2013 until the current billing period. This retroactive amount will be reflected on your next monthly statement. Going forward, this Municipal Franchise Fee will be applied to your monthly bill based on your current monthly usage.”
Some Brookhaven residents are un-happy about the new charges.
Jane Fink said she wants to know ex-actly what the city will do with the reve-nue from franchise fees. She said she will pay about $43 more per year due to the franchise fee.
“If you’re going to raise taxes, I don’t have a problem with that. But tell me why you’re raising taxes,” Fink said.
Georgia cities may collect franchise fees from electric, gas, telecommunica-tion and cable providers.
Franchise fees were historically im-plemented to encourage economic de-velopment in Georgia cities, Brookhav-en officials said.
The charge won’t increase pow-er bills by much. The franchise fee for Brookhaven residents is 2.9 percent, compared to a 1.1 percent charge under DeKalb County, according to the city.
Brian Green, a spokesman for Geor-gia Power, said for a typical customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours of electrici-ty per month, the new franchise fee will be $3.68.
Before Brookhaven incorporated, those customers were charged 1.1 per-cent, or $1.36.
Georgia Power pays the fees to cities with franchise agreements to place and maintain their equipment, such as poles and power lines, on public right-of-way property, Green said in an email.
Brookhaven officials said the money from franchise fees will go into the city’s general fund and will be used to provide city services.
MARTA will soon begin the search for a developer to build a mixed-use project on the underutilized parking lots surrounding the station.
The main purpose of the gathering was to think of ways to make street im-provements so people would be able to walk or bike to the station – located on a busy stretch of Peachtree Road – rath-er than driving in their cars.
City officials also discussed potential zoning for the MARTA property, which is envisioned as a unique mix of uses sur-rounding the station.
Robert Reed of Southface, the or-ganization leading the charrette, said Brookhaven’s PC3 zoning classification – a mixed-use designation that relies heavily on a site plan – would be ideal.
He said the rezoning application would include ‘pods’ with descriptions from the developer. Ideally, he said, the zoning would be in place before MAR-TA puts out a request for proposals from developers next year.
But Brookhaven City Council mem-bers did not like the idea of approving the zoning before seeing the develop-ment plans.
“Having the zoning done before you know what the development is going to be is a bit ‘cart before the horse,’” Mayor
J. Max Davis said.Reed warned that quality developers
may not be interested in going through the effort of preparing an RFP and work-ing with MARTA if the zoning is uncertain.
“Our goal obviously is to minimize barriers … for developers,” said Jason Ward, manager of joint development for MARTA.
Michael Roberts, of the Brookhav-en Peachtree Community Alliance, pre-sented a plan to provide runoff deten-tion and treatment at Fernwood Park by creating an amenity lake and green space at the site, which is behind the Brookhaven library branch. Joe Palla-di, a Brookhaven resident and retired GDOT engineer, presented some of the road design options from the charrette.
One idea was to install a median along Peachtree Road, providing pe-destrian refuge much like the recently completed work along the same road in Buckhead near Lenox Mall.
Another idea is a boulevard design, featuring two center lanes for high-er-speed travel separated by two medi-ans, and two outer lanes for lower-speed travel, bicycles and street parking.
Palladi told council members there aren’t cost estimates for these proposals. “These are ‘what-ifs.’ Not ‘can you afford its?’” Palladi said.
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en’s actions are in fact impairing the General Assembly’s authority to annex via local act because Brookhaven’s ac-tions would essentially usurp the intent of the referendum,” Barrie wrote in the order.
According to the Georgia Code sec-tion Barrie sites, “Except as otherwise expressly provided in this chapter, no provision of this chapter relating to an-nexation or deannexation by any such alternate method is intended to or shall be construed to in any way restrict, lim-it, or otherwise impair the authority of the General Assembly to annex or dean-nex by local act.”
Brookhaven officials appealed the judge’s decision to the Georgia Supreme Court on Oct. 29
In a news release, city officials also encouraged more county residents to petition to join Brookhaven. Mayor J. Max Davis invited residents of DeKalb County’s north-central corridor to apply to be annexed into the city.
“We are confident that the Supreme Court will see the merits of Brookhaven’s claims and respect the property owners’ wishes to be included in Brookhaven’s boundaries,” Davis said. “We as a city have a strong desire to expand our bor-ders and municipalize DeKalb’s north-central corridor. We encourage any property owner – residential or com-mercial – to petition to be part of our city and enjoy the benefits of living in Brookhaven.”
On Nov. 5, voters will decide on whether Chamblee should annex a large tract of land to its southern border, in-cluding about 11,000 homes from the Dresden East neighborhoods and the Century Center office park.
The cities of Brookhaven and Cham-blee have been in and out of court ar-guing over the right to annex Century Center, a tax-rich commercial property located near I-85 and Clairmont Road.
On Aug. 16, Barrie issued an injunc-
tion temporarily blocking Brookhav-en from annexing the property until af-ter the Oct. 24 hearing. On Sept. 17, Brookhaven filed an emergency motion asking the Supreme Court to lift the in-junction.
In the motion, Brookhaven claimed the DeKalb judge overstepped her au-thority because she “enjoined a state leg-islative function, which is entirely inap-propriate and outside the jurisdiction of the Superior Court.”
The high court ruled Oct. 3 that Brookhaven had the right to vote to an-nex the Century Center office complex. However, the court’s ruling only applied to the city’s ability to vote, leaving the dispute over the annexation open.
On Oct. 24, Chamblee and Brookhaven’s high-profile lawyers ar-gued their cases during a three-hour hearing.
Bob Wilson, a former DeKalb Coun-ty district attorney, said that the Gener-al Assembly had the ultimate authority on annexation. “Until 1954, there was absolutely no way anyone other than the General Assembly could do annex-ation,” Wilson said.
Then, annexation was delegated to cities through alternative methods, however Wilson said, “the paramount authority of annexation rests with the General Assembly.”
“Indisputably, the reason we are here is what Brookhaven is doing is in con-flict with Local Act 205,” Wilson said.
Former Gov. Roy Barnes, represent-ing Brookhaven, argued that the local act is not yet effective because it hasn’t been approved by voters.
Barnes said there is no language in the General Assembly’s local act that prevents other methods of annexation from taking place. “There is legal dele-gated authority that has already been ex-ercised,” Barnes said. “Can the General Assembly, without saying so, prevent a totally legal action of delegated authori-ty from the Constitution?”
coNTiNued fRoM PAge 1
Judge rules that city may not annex century center yet
friends of Brookhaven to raise money for defibrillators
A new group called Friends of Brookhaven is raising funds to buy au-tomatic external defibrillators for all of the city’s police cars.
Shannon Cameron, president of the organization, told the Brookhaven City Council on Oct. 22 that she and oth-er residents who advocated the creation of the city formed the group as a way to stay involved.
“We all were so excited about the for-mation of the city of Brookhaven,” said Cameron.
The organization’s first goal is to raise approximately $65,000 to buy
64 AEDs by the city’s first birthday, Dec. 17. The units are used to resus-citate people who have gone into car-diac arrest.
“The goal is to help foster a strong sense of community in a new city,” Cameron said. “We have the opportuni-ty to bring the community together and build something exciting.”
The city of Brookhaven agreed to provide $30,000 toward the goal.
“We’re thrilled the community is stepping forward and wants to en-gage in that,” said City Manager Ma-rie Garrett.
With the indictment of DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis, new calls have come for a shift to a commission/manager form of govern-ment in DeKalb County.
As with the CEO form, there is no standard structure in Georgia enabling legislation, so the “devil is in the details” on exactly what this means. To inform opinion, it is important to look at all the mechanics of the “Organizational Act” or charter, identifying defi ciencies and options for improvement. Neither form is invulnerable to manipulation by elected or appointed offi cials, so the real test is what’s in a charter that informs the public on government operations and makes it accountable to voters and taxpayers.
Governmental operations are complex, and they can aff ect your freedom, property and welfare. Th erefore, you should be able to know in advance how you will be treated by govern-ment, and be treated the same as others.
Unfortunately, many governmental processes are not formal-ized, and are subject to the whims of individuals. Th e most egre-gious example of this is the alleged manipulation of purchasing procedures for political gain, but it can happen in the award of per-mits, employment, and the enforcement of laws and regulations.
DeKalb County needs an administrative procedures man-date that will require county departments to formalize and doc-ument how they conduct business and implement laws, and to adhere to those procedures. Th e charter restriction against adopting a purchasing code should be removed.
Elected and appointed offi cials are fond of touting their ac-complishments, and as in Lake Woebegon, everyone seems to see their accomplishments as above average.
What’s lacking is an objective third party with the skills and resources to systematically evaluate DeKalb operations against best practices and makes a public report of fi ndings and recom-mendations for improvement.
Surprisingly, the current charter provides that option in the form of an internal auditor, but the Board of Commission-ers has never fi lled the position or funded operations. DeKalb County needs an independent and mandatory internal auditor with a guaranteed budget.
Likewise, the ethical conduct of elected offi ce is the founda-tion of governmental legitimacy. DeKalb County has a state-mandated Board of Ethics, but it has been neglected and under-funded by the county government.
DeKalb’s ethics board should be strengthened by shifting the power of appointment away from the offi cials the ethics board
oversees, and by giving the ethics board a guaranteed budget equal to at least 25 cents for each of DeKalb’s 700,000 persons. A quarter per cap-ita is a small price to pay for an ef-fective ethics watchdog.
County governments are too small and too important to operate on a partisan basis. Partisan align-ment disenfranchises large minori-ties in jurisdictions where elections are determined in the primary. Th e election of all county offi ces should be non-partisan.
Commission district boundaries, like those of the General Assembly and Congress are the object of in-creasingly eff ective gerrymandering. As in these other bodies, the result is entrenched incumbency, political polarization and a general disaff ection with government as representative of the common interest. DeKalb should have an objective redistrict-ing protocol that creates compact districts with common com-munities of interest.
As mentioned at the start, the details of an improved charter are important and complex. In many other states (and increas-ingly in new DeKalb cities) charter review is accomplished by a “Charter Commission”, an independent group of leading cit-izens with expert staff , but in Georgia, such changes are often accomplished by local legislative delegations in the course of the 40-day legislative session.
Th e DeKalb delegation should empanel and fund (using county tax dollars) a Charter Commission to work for a year to draft a revised DeKalb County Organizational Act for legisla-tive approval in 2015.
All these suggestions and not a word about CEO vs. Com-mission/Manager! Th at’s because the improvement of govern-ment is not so much about how politicians divide power be-tween themselves, but is instead about how accountable those politicians are to the public that elects them.
If voters don’t insist that accountability be strengthened, the CEO/commission-manager debate won’t matter much at all.
Je� Rader represents District 2 on the DeKalb County Com-mission. His district includes a substantial portion of Brookhaven.
DeKalb should review its charter and empower its ethics board
JeFF RadeR
DeKalB COUnTy COMMissiOn
JeFF RadeR
on the recordRead these articles from our other editions online at ReporterNewspapers.net.
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–Dunwoody resident Jim Dickson, speaking to Dunwoody City Council about opposition to the scheduled rebuilding of Dunwoody Village Parkway
“I’m concerned about the delays. But I’m really concerned about the future, too. I’m really concerned that they don’t value us as a customer.”
–Dunwoody City Councilwoman Lynn Deutsch on the city’s relationship with the Chattahoochee River 911 Authority
“Like older schools, administrative buildings become
harder to maintain and costlier to operate as they age. When the time came to consider improved facilities, we knew it was also the time to look at the current location of our administrative centers and whether they were in the right place.”
–Fulton County School Board President Linda Schultz on the school system’s decision to move to its o� ces to Sandy Springs
“Barring unforeseen complications, Lake Forrest Drive should reopen in early 2014.”
–Sandy Springs city spokeswoman Sharon Kraun on the status of work to reopen Lake Forrest Drive between Lake Summit and Chevaux Court. City o� cials closed the popular north-south road in August for safety reasons.
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It’s the sound of bats, not insects, during these matchesBlackburn Park in Brookhaven, on
a recent Saturday morning: On a cou-ple of � elds, parents cheer their kids as they play soccer. On one baseball � eld, a group of guys play touch football. On the adjacent baseball � eld, a smaller group of guys, most wearing bright yel-low shirts, practice catching a red ball lofted by a wide, � at-faced bat.
� e guys in yellow shirts call them-selves the Dunwoody Hitters, but they are playing the game of a di� erent place. � ey’re playing cricket.
It reminds some of them of home.“It’s getting back to the roots in a for-
eign land,” Jai Varadarajan said. Most of the Hitters come from India.
� ey’re from all over that country, from the south and north. � ey live in Dun-woody now, mostly in two apartment complexes with a lot of other Indian res-idents. � ey work with computers and came to the United States for jobs. � ey love playing cricket, a game not a lot of Americans follow or understand. � e
yellow jerseys they wear to practice bear the team colors of their favorite profes-sional team, the Chennai Super Kings.
“In India, we love cricket,” said Il-aiyaraja Rajamohan, who’s been in the U.S. only � ve months. He used to play on his school’s cricket team, he said. “Everyone plays cricket.”
“It’s in the genes,” said Pravinkumar Nallamaruthamuthu, who’s 40, and says he started playing cricket at age 5. He’s one of the founders of the Hitters. “At my age, however much I can, I will play.”
� ere’s another cricket team based in Dunwoody that’s composed of Indian players, Nallamaruthamuthu said. � e Dunwoody Devils, he said, have been around a little longer. Nallamarutha-muthu and Varadarajan started the Hit-ters about a year ago. � e two have each lived in the U.S. 11 years. � ey met at their gym. � ey started talking about their favorite sport and decided to pull together their own team. Nallamarutha-muthu said the Hitters started “with my apartment friends. Now we’re kind of
scattered.”� e team
has a total of 15 members. � ey grab un-used base-ball � elds for practices on weekends. On some Sun-days, they play match-es with oth-er teams that have orga-nized around metro Atlanta, in towns such as Marietta.
� ey usually don’t draw a crowd. But passersby sometimes stop to gawk and try to � gure out what they’re doing. “We have some spectators come and take pic-tures,” Varadarajan said.
All but one of the members of the team is Indian. � e exception is Derek Kuipers, who’s 47, and works in corpo-
rate � nance. He only half jokes that when other teams see him show up with the Hitters, they assume he must be Australian or English or South African or an immi-grant from some oth-er former British Em-pire country where cricket is played.
Kuipers came to cricket in a round-about way. He played American sports such as softball and base-ball – he’s a center � elder – but knew lit-tle of cricket until he started sending mon-ey to a charity that
helps care for poor children in foreign countries. He was paired with a boy in India. � ey corresponded often, and the boy wrote regularly about his fa-vorite cricket team and players. Kui-pers started following the game on the Internet so he’d have something to write about.
A few months ago, he was walking his dog through Dunwoody Park, he said, when he saw the Hitters practic-ing. He started talking to them about their game and soon joined in. “� e � rst time I played, they put me in the equiv-alent of right � eld,” he said. Now he’s one of their best � elders, his teammates say. “Now I play the equivalent of short-stop,” he said.
He says the game has given him an introduction to Dunwoody’s Indian community. “I’m just fascinated by the Indian population in Dunwoody. � ere are places in Dunwoody where that’s all you’ll see, and there are people in Dun-woody who don’t know they’re there.”
� ey are. So is their game.
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Left to right, Hari Prasad Adinarayanan, Rohan Jain, Derek Kuipers, Ilaiyaraja Rajamohan, Pravinkumar
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‘WalkUPs’ now impacting local economic development
BY MELISSA WEINMAN AND DAN WHISENHUNTA study says “Walkable Urban Plac-
es” in the Atlanta region o� er a sign of things to come across the country as ur-ban sprawl ends and more pedestrian-friendly communities emerge.
� e report, authored by Chris Lein-berger of the George Washington Uni-versity School of Business, says that walkable places, which he called “Walk-UPs,” will drive tomorrow’s national real estate industry and the economy, turn-ing what was once a niche market into the predominant market.
� e report demonstrates that Walk-UPs signi� cantly impact economic growth and development in the Atlanta region and across the nation.
“During the second half of the 20th Century, the dominant development model was the familiar, drivable subur-ban approach, and few places have done it better than metro Atlanta,” said Lein-berger.
“However, the pendulum is swing-ing back toward building walkable ur-banism, the dominant pattern prior to the Great Depression. According to this latest study, metro Atlanta is on the leading edge of this new urban develop-
ment trend.”� e Central Perimeter area was
named one of the regionally signi� cant established WalkUPs, and one of four “platinum” areas in an economic success ranking of those communities.
Yvonne Williams, president and CEO of the Perimeter Community Im-provement Districts, said increasing pe-destrian access has been a major goal of the self-taxing business district.
“� e Perimeter Community Im-provement Districts have led the trans-formation of Perimeter from a subur-ban, car-dependent area to a livable, walkable community, which is paying o� with signi� cant economic returns,” Williams said.
“As a result of the past 13 years of work by the Perimeter CIDs, Perimeter is at the forefront of a game-changing structural shift that is underway in met-ro Atlanta real estate.”
� e PCIDs � rst project was adding miles of sidewalks and pedestrian cross-walks, according to the organization.
“We continue to emphasize the im-portance of pedestrian connectivity in all of our projects,” Williams said.
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� e study identi� es Sandy Springs and Buckhead as “Drivable Suburban Commercial Redevelopment.”
“Drivable Suburban Commercial Re-development WalkUPs are similar in real estate mix and form to Suburban Town Centers, albeit with somewhat more of-� ce space,” the study says.
“And whereas Suburban Town Cen-ters are often oriented around a central node, Drivable Suburban Commercial Redevelopment WalkUPs are more lin-ear. Developed around a major auto cor-ridor, they also integrate walkable infra-structure into the rights of way.”
Buckhead Coaliton President and former Atlanta Mayor Sam Massell said the study is a reminder that “real estate is a constantly changing phenomena.” He predicted the former urban sprawl me-ga-centers will adjust to keep up with the newest trends happening in Atlanta.
“I think the one word, ‘convenience,’ remains the driving force as to how real estate develops in the future, short range or long range,” Massell said. “We see that with automobile congestion, fuel cost, parking problems and so forth, as they increase, the conveniences of what they’re calling ‘walkup’ arrangements will take their place.”
Sandy Springs Mayor Eva Galambos said nothing in the report was news to her.
“� e George Washington University study reiterates that of past studies re-garding New Urbanism, which say that millennials want walkable communities: areas where they can live, work and hang out, getting from place to place via foot, bike or public transit,” Galambos said. “� e study is nothing di� erent from what planners have been telling us for the past 10 years.”
� e report says metro Atlanta’s walk-able urban places are attracting an in-creasing share of new development, and have seen a rise in rent premiums over drivable suburban areas.
� e report notes that from 1992-
2000, roughly 13 percent of real es-tate investment in the region went into current and emerging WalkUPs. From 2001-2008, that number dou-bled to 26 percent. Since 2009, met-ro Atlanta’s share of development in WalkUPs more than doubled again, reaching 60 percent in 2013.
“We are pleased to see thriv-ing, walkable urban places emerg-ing throughout metro Atlanta,” said Tad Leithead, chairman of the At-lanta Regional Commission. “It’s ev-ident that the market favors the kind of development that o� ers real mo-bility choices and opportunity for new community vitality. Greater walkability, housing and retail op-tions are keys to our future econom-ic growth.”
Brookhaven was identi� ed in the report as an emerging WalkUP.
“Making Brookhaven more pe-destrian-friendly is one of the city’s goals,” said City Manager Marie Garrett. “Walking and bicycle op-tions will be included in the city’s transportation study.
“We also have committed to making Brookhaven more walkable by including funds in this year’s budget to expand and improve sidewalks in the city. We hope these improvements will continue to make Brookhaven a more pedestrian-friendly city.”
–Collin Kelley contributed to this report.
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The Central Perimeter area was named a regionally signifi cant WalkUP.
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Drive around met-ro Atlanta in the morning or late afternoon and you will likely encounter tra� c troubles around schools, as big yellow buses, parents in minivans, and kids with backpacks all try to move in and out of school drive-ways.
Sven Hagen, co-presi-dent of the PTA for Ash-ford Park Elementary School in Brookhaven, said the problems at his school mostly come from parents double parking and block-ing the � ow of tra� c.
“It’s partly a function of the design of the school, which is from a di� erent era when a lot of the kids walked to school,” Hagen said. “It doesn’t allow for a lot of tra� c at the front of the school. � e problem comes when we have parents pulling in and pulling out.”
Hagen said at the start of the school year, he and other parents volunteered to pay for an o� -duty police o� cer to help direct tra� c around the school. “It was the � rst two weeks of school and it was just bedlam,” Hagen said.
Local police departments usually do not direct tra� c at schools as part of their regular assignments. But many schools hire o� -duty o� cers to help move cars more smoothly at the start of school and at dismissal.
Dunwoody Police O� cer Tim Fecht said tra� c can be particularly bad at schools located on major thoroughfares. He said Dunwoody police have a regu-lar presence near Chestnut Charter El-
ementary School, Peachtree Charter Middle School and Dunwoody Elemen-tary School, which are located on busy North Peachtree and Womack roads.
“� ose are both very high tra� c areas … due to the [Georgia Perimeter] Col-lege and the closeness to the Interstate as well,” Fecht said.
Hagen said Brookhaven police do not have the resources to send an o� cer to the school every day, and he doesn’t want to drain the PTA’s resources paying an o� -duty o� cer. He hopes the tra� c problem will solve itself, if more people follow the rules.
“It is our parents that are choosing not to follow the program for whatever reason,” Hagen said.
Brookhaven Police Lt. Brandon Gur-ley said while the police department doesn’t station o� cers at schools, it does provide regular patrols around the 12 schools within Brookhaven’s borders.
“We’ve developed really strong work-
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traffi c in front of The Weber School, located at 6751 Roswell Road.
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ing relationships with the schools in Brookhaven,” Gurley said. “We have re-quests from time to time both from par-ents and school o� cials for increased pa-trols around their property, whether it’s tra� c or safety issues.”
In Sandy Springs, police spokesman Capt. Steve Rose said o� -duty police o� cers have been hired to direct traf-� c at schools located on busy streets, such as � e Weber School at the inter-section of Roswell and Abernathy roads, and North Springs Charter High School near Dalrymple Road.
“Tra� c coming out of schools is no di� erent than tra� c in the rest of San-dy Springs, which can be a nightmare at times, but it’s not consistent,” Rose said.
He said Sandy Springs police are available to the school resource o� cers from Fulton County schools. “We’re al-ways working with school resource o� -cers if they need something,” Rose said.
� e DeKalb County School System has its own police force that serves the schools. School resource o� cers are typ-ically posted at middle and high schools. � e county also provides crossing guards to help students safely cross the road.
Fecht said there typically are not school resource o� cers in elementary schools. In March, the Dunwoody Po-lice Department created a program for elementary schools called SAFE: Safety and Friendship in Education.
“We started that early this year in light of events that happened in New-town, Conn.,” Fecht said.
Fecht said under the program, o� -cers who are patrolling near elementary schools will take a few minutes out of
their shift to go into the school and in-teract with students and sta� .
“Our goal is to increase patrols, and if anyone were thinking about any kind of criminal actions, it would be a deter-rent,” Fecht said.
Fecht said the other goal of the pro-gram is to give students a positive intro-duction to police o� cers.
“We want them to see us as a friend-ly face and know o� cers by name … so they’re not intimidated and don’t have that negative connotation,” Fecht said. “It’s a friendly face that they can trust.”
PHOTOS BY MELISSA WEINMAN
Sgt. James McNabb keeps vehicles moving along busy Roswell Road in Sandy Springs.
“Traffi c coming out of schools is no different
than traffi c in the rest of Sandy Springs, which can be a nightmare at times, but it’s not consistent.”
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F O R K I D S
OwlsWednesday, Nov. 6, 3-3:45 p.m. – Learn about owls and do a fun craft with Sarah Brodd from the DeKalb County Cooper-ative Extension. Free and open to
the public. Appropriate for 5-12 year olds. Open to the � rst 15 participants. No registration required. For groups of � ve or more, call 404-848-7140. Brookhaven Branch Library, 1242 N. Druid Hills Rd., NE, Brookhaven, 30319.
Turtle ToursSaturday, Nov. 9, 11 a.m.-12 p.m. – Her-itage Sandy Springs’ “Turtle Tours,” an education-al series appropriate for children ages 2-5, contin-ues. In this program, museum mascots “Sandy” the Chipmunk and “Spring” the Turtle “Learn about Georgia.” Free; donations encouraged. 6075 San-dy Springs Circle, Sandy Springs, 30328. For ad-ditional information, email: [email protected], call 404-851-9111 or visit: www.heritagesandysprings.org.
Autumn CraftSaturday, Nov. 16, 12-4 p.m. – Children ages 4-12 can drop in any time between 12-4 p.m. with parents or caregivers to make an autumn craft. Free, and the public is welcome. Suggested audiences: pre-school and elementary school. Buckhead Branch Li-brary, 269 Buckhead Ave., NE, Atlanta, 30305. Email: [email protected] or call 404-814-3500 for further information.
C O M M U N I T Y
Fall BargainataWednesday, Nov. 6, 7-10 p.m. – Atlanta’s section of the National Council of Jewish Wom-en’s holds their Fall Bargainata sale, beginning with a preview night. Sale continues on � ursday, Nov. 7, 11 a.m.-7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 10, 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Find new or gently worn men’s and wom-en’s designer clothing, shoes, purses, accessories and housewares. Preview night: $25 in advance; $35 at the door. Proceeds fund programs bene� ting At-lanta’s women, children and families. No admission fee other sale days. Cash or credit cards, no checks. Hilderbrand Court Shopping Center, 6125 Roswell Rd., Sandy Springs, 30328. Call 404-843-9600 or visit www.ncjwatlanta.org for details.
Strength for the Journey
Friday, Nov. 8, 6 p.m. – Mason Murer Fine Art Gallery hosts “Strength for the Journey: Art by Art � erapists,” an exhibit and symposium in which Georgia art therapists re� ect on the pow-er of art-making in their own lives. Free and open to the public. Bring a toy or food for the Atlanta Food Bank. Exhibition continues through Dec. 31. � erapists’ symposium on Sunday, Nov. 10, 2:30-4:30 p.m. 199 Armour Dr., NE, Atlanta, 30324. To learn more, contact Gayle Torres at 404-917-4254 or email: [email protected].
Holiday FestivalSaturday, Nov. 9, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. – � e Dunwoody Unit-ed Methodist Church holds their 22nd an-nual Holiday Festi-val, with proceeds go-ing to Habitat for Humanity. Check out over 120 artisans, photos with Santa, book nook, silent auc-tion, petting zoo and more. Breakfast available at 8 a.m. Indoors. 1548 Mount Vernon Rd., Dunwoody 30338. Visit: www.dunwoodyumc.org/holiday-fes-tival or call 770-394-0675 for details.
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KristallnachtMonday, Nov. 4, 7-7:30 p.m. – � e Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta commem-orates the anniversary of Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass. Program includes a brief ceremony, song performance by the Israeli Scouts, and light-ing of six torches representing Jewish lives lost in the Holocaust. At 7:30 p.m., the MJCCA Book Festival features Harry Rosenfeld, who discusses his memoir, “From Kristallnacht to Watergate.” � e ceremony is free and open to the community. In the Besser Holo-caust Memorial Garden, 5342 Tilly Mill Rd., Dun-woody, 30338. For additional details, email: [email protected] or call 678-812-4161.
“Seeds”� ursday, Nov. 7, 7 p.m. – � e Upper School at Mount Vernon Presbyterian presents “Seeds,” part courtroom drama and part social satire, which docu-ments the 2004 Canadian Supreme Court showdown between a Saskatchewan farmer and a multinational biotech � rm. Additional shows, Nov. 8 and 9, 7 p.m.; matinee at 1 p.m., Nov. 9. In the MVPS Black Box � eatre, on the Glenn campus, 510 Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs, 30328. Tickets, $5. Regis-ter online: www.mountvernonschool.org or call 404-252-3448, ext. 2801 for information.
Pro-Mozart SocietySunday, Nov. 10, 3-5 p.m. – � e Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta pres-ents organist Brink Bush and pianist Frank Mitchell Bush in a joint concert, at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church. Free; $15 per per-son donation is encouraged to help raise funds for the organization’s scholar-ship program. 805 Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs, 30327. For information about the concert or the society, visit: www.mozartatlanta.com, call 404-667-4700 or email: [email protected].
Harpsichord ConcertSunday, Nov. 10, 4 p.m. – Enjoy “Round and ‘Round La Ronde: Chaconnes, Passacailles and oth-er Rondeaux from the Court of the Sun King,” fea-turing David Buice on the Harpsichord. General admission, $10; free for Oglethorpe University Mu-seum members and those with a Petrel Pass. 4484 Peachtree Rd., Brookhaven, 30319. For more infor-mation email: [email protected] or call 404-364-8555. www.oglethorpe.edu.
L E T ’ S L E A R N !
AcupunctureTuesday, Nov. 5, 7-7:30 p.m. – Acupuncturist Taian Wang discusses the basic theory behind Chi-nese medicine and demonstrates several treatments. Free and open to the community. Registration not required. For adult audiences. Sandy Springs Branch Library, 395 Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs, 30328. Email: [email protected] or call 404-303-6130 with questions.
“Illuminations”Wednesday, Nov. 6, 7 p.m. – Dr. Jay Lutz, French professor at Oglethorpe University, discuss-es Léger’s modernist take on Rimbaud’s “Illumi-nations.” General admission, $5; free for OUMA members or those with a Petrel Pass. 4484 Peachtree Rd., Brookhaven, 30319. For more information vis-it: museum.oglethorpe.edu or call 404-364-8555.
Marvelous Mushrooms Saturday, Nov. 9, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. – Mush-rooms can be found during just about any walk in the woods. Join mushroom expert Mary Woehrel for a glance into the mysterious lives of mushrooms. Par-ticipants will look for native mushrooms, then head inside to learn how to identify edible and poisonous mushrooms, and more. $12 per person. Space is lim-ited. RSVP by calling 412-398-1101. Blue Heron Nature Preserve, 4055 Roswell Rd., Atlanta, 30342. Go to www.bhnp.org for additional details.
Folklore HikeSaturday, Nov. 9, 6-9 p.m. – Join Horticultur-alist Lisa Cole in an evening journey through illumi-nated, woodland trails at the Chattahoochee Nature Center. Identify common species in our region, as well as get insight into the “Spirit of the Trees.” Top-ics include Celtic and American folklore, medicinal properties, and the associations with Hobbits and Winnie the Pooh. Evening ends with marshmal-lows, plant-infused teas and more. $15 general pub-lic; $10 CNC members. Register by Nov. 6. 9135 Willeo Rd., Roswell, 30075. Call 770-992-2055 with questions. www.chattnaturecenter.org.
Stress-Free HolidaysFriday, Nov. 15, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. – � e holi-day season is a joyous time of year but often brings un-wanted stress to our lives. Join others at a Lunch & Learn program at St. Joseph’s Hospital and get useful stress reduction techniques and relaxation strategies that you can use during the holidays (and year round). Free and open to the community. Free parking. Lunch pro-vided. RSVP required by calling 678-843-5051. 5665 Peachtree Dunwoody Rd., Atlanta, 30342.
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Stormy Falso, a practitioner and teacher of Christian Science, will share inspiring accounts of healing through prayer and show how you can prove for yourself the healing truths in the Bible and Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy.
Sunday, November 17, 2 pmSecond Church of Christ, Scientist
347 Carpenter Dr NE, Sandy Springs 30328(one block from Comfort Inn, near I-285 and Roswell Rd)
For more information: call the church 404-364-9642, or visit the web site: www.SecondChurchAtlanta.org
A repeat of the lecture on Sunday will include extra time for questions.Child care will be provided on Sunday.
“DISCOVER YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD: THREE SIMPLE QUESTIONS”
A FREE Christian Science lecture by Stormy Falso, CSB
Saturday, November 16, 11 am
Heritage Sandy Springs6110 Bluestone Rd,
Sandy Springs 30328
Healed heart: Woman depicted in iconic photo speaks
� e picture of a 9-year-old Kim Phúc, naked and screaming as napalm singed skin from her body, remains a po-tent symbol of senseless con� ict.
Phúc on Oct. 23 told a group of Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School stu-dents that while the Pulitzer-prize win-ning photo is forever burned into the historical record of the Vietnam War, her anger is not eternal.
She forgives the pilots who dropped napalm on her village, Trang Bang, in 1972. She forgives the communist gov-ernment that forced her to drop out of medical school so she could serve as a prop for its propaganda machine.
In time, she even grew to love the people who had wronged her.
“It sounds easy, but it wasn’t,” Phúc told students gathered in the school’s Fine Arts Building. “It was the hardest work of my life, but I did it. If I can do it, I believe all of you here can do it too, right?”
Phúc becoming a Christian was the � rst step in her lifelong journey toward healing her heart.
She recalled her reaction to reading Luke 6:27-28, which says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”
“Do you know how di� cult that is?” she said. “I didn’t know how to do it. It seemed impossible. I had a lot of scars. I had endured so much pain emotional-ly and physically. At � rst I thought, ‘No way, Jose.’”
Phúc, aware that the “No way, Jose” expression would sound dated to her young audience, smiled and said, “You use that, right?”
She recalled the events leading up to the moment Associated Press photogra-pher Nick Ut snapped the photo. On June 8, the villagers were told to hide in the local temple. Phúc thought the temple, a sacred place, was safe. She was wrong.
“It was only when the soldiers yelled for us to run that we got really scared,” she said. “� e airplanes were so loud and so close. We were running up the road. Most of the children ran � rst and sud-
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denly there were bombs and explosions of gasoline. You know what happened. My clothes were burnt o� by the � re, and my skin was on � re. Someone be-gan screaming, ‘Too hot! Too hot!’ � at someone was me.”
Ut carried the 9-year-old girl to the local hospital. She was transferred to the children’s hospital. Sta� there thought there was no hope of saving her, so they moved her to the morgue where she re-mained for three days. Her parents even-tually found her and she spent the next 14 months in a burn clinic.
Phúc underwent 17 operations, but scars remain. She wears long sleeves most of the time. After spending so much time surrounded by doctors, Phúc decided she’d become a doctor, too. She was accepted into medical school in Vietnam, but the government had dif-
ferent ideas about her future. “� ey thought I should be a war
symbol for the state,” Phúc said. “� e o� cers would pick me up from school to do a lot of interviews with the for-eign press. � ey tried to control me, and eventually they cut short my study. I wanted to be left alone, but they didn’t care what I wanted, so I became a victim all over again.”
She described the experience as a low point in her life. She cursed the pi-lots. She cursed the propagandists. Phúc wanted them to su� er.
She began her transformation in 1982, when she found a Bible in a lo-cal library.
“From that moment I knew that God had a purpose for my life,” she said. “In 1986, the government gave me permis-sion to go to Cuba to study.”
Phúc learned English while study-ing at the university in Havana. � e Vietnamese government allowed her to study medicine in the communist na-tion, but remained overly interested in how she spent her time.
It was there she met her husband,
a fellow student. While on their honeymoon, the couple defected to Canada.
“We were allowed to stay in Canada, but we had no mon-ey, no friends, no knowledge of the culture,” Phúc said. “We had nothing but faith.”
Faith was enough. Since mov-ing to the West, Phúc has trans-formed herself into a new symbol for the power of forgiveness. She’s become a public speaker and cre-ated the Kim Phúc Foundation, a charity that helps children a� ect-ed by war.
Like her physical recovery, her spiritual recovery took time. It was a necessary rehabilitation, she said.
“I didn’t just wake up one day and say, ‘Yes, I forgive,’ but I knew that in or-der to be free I had to learn to forgive,” she said.
“It was only when the soldiers yelled for us to run that we got really scared. The airplanes were so loud and so close. We were running up the road. Most of the children ran fi rst and suddenly there were
bombs and explosions of gasoline. You know what happened. My clothes were burnt off by the fi re and my skin was on fi re. Someone
began screaming, ‘Too hot! Too hot!’ That someone was me.”
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To view more photos visit ReporterNewspapers.net. Submit photos @ [email protected]
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SPECIAL
Winners in all artsOver 200 Sarah Smith Elementary School students participated in
the “Refl ections Arts Recognition and Achievement” program, with a team of art industry professionals selecting the winners in categories
such as literature, photography, dance, visual arts and fi lm.
SPECIAL
Ride in styleHunter Olive gives the Tour de Dunwoody bike event a thumbs-up as he gets ready to hit the streets on Oct. 19. The 3-mile, family-fun ride took off from Dunwoody Elementary School, traveled down Tilly Mill to Peeler Road, then headed back to the school through the Village Mill
neighborhood. The event, in conjunction with Dunwoody police, gave riders a
chance to pedal safely around the city.
SPECIAL
Is it NYC?Cece Benz, left, and
Hannah Green, students at Mount Vernon Presbyterian
School in Sandy Springs, participate in the
“Cardboard Challenge.” The 2nd annual national event gives kids a chance to use their imagination and creative-thinking skills. Mount Vernon students collected
School student Joshua Perling, a second-degree black belt,
celebrated his Bar Mitzvah by hosting an anti-bullying prevention
seminar at the school on Oct. 23. Above, over 800 students took the anti-bullying pledge.
Right, Joshua, front, and instructor Josiah Hunt. Josh’s team performed a martial arts demonstration and various skits showing
bully-prevention techniques and the psychology of bullying behavior.
SPECIAL
It’s a fi rst!The North Atlanta High School’s girls’ cross country team fi nished
third and the boys’ fourth at the AAAAA Region 6 meet on Oct. 26 at Druid Hills Middle School. This is the fi rst time in school history that both teams advanced to state in the same year.
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Standout StudentStudent Profi le:
Morgan McConnell Mount Vernon Presbyterian
School, senior
Morgan McConnell has it covered. She covers canvases with her unique style of painting, covers pages with her creative writing, and covers the commu-nity with her volunteer work.
Morgan has been taking art classes for as long as she can remember, and is a part of the art club at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School, which she has at-tended since � rst grade. She has always liked painting landscapes and images of nature, and while as a freshman, she found that she could create interesting designs using paper towels.
“It creates a lot of di� erent textures, and I never know exactly what I am go-ing to get,” she said. “Sometimes I real-ly love it, and sometimes I really hate it; it just happens.”
It is not only with her art that Mor-gan is willing to experiment. As a junior, when she knew the leader of her school’s poetry club would be graduating, she founded a creative writing club.
Each weekly meeting of the club is a forum for students to express them-selves. � e members share responses to prompts that Morgan creates, and cri-tique one another’s work.
When he was originally approached about the idea, James Campbell, a his-tory teacher at Mount Vernon and the sponsor for the club, knew that if Mor-gan had set her mind to it, she would do it to the best of her abilities. “She takes care of all the behind-the-scenes things without being the center of attention,” said Campbell.
In addition to being the president of the creative writing club, Morgan has worked on di� erent, school-wide com-
mittees. As a sophomore, she worked on the outreach committee that dealt with volunteer service; as a junior, she partic-ipated in the unity committee to bring together the older and younger students at Mount Vernon; and, as a senior, she is a member of the communications com-mittee.
“She deals with everything that comes her way, and she overcomes any obstacles that present themselves. She is a top-notch student and scholar,” Campbell said.
Morgan has had many chances to prove her ability to conquer obstacles in her path. At nine months old, she was diagnosed with a rare metabolic disor-der which can impact her muscles and vision. � is past summer, Morgan spent three months volunteering as an intern with the March of Dimes. “Fundrais-ing and knowing that it could be help-ing people in similar situations to me is very inspiring,” said Morgan.
What’s Next: Morgan hopes to pursue a degree in
English, and is looking at both small and large schools, including New York University, Elon, Rollins and Syracuse.
� is article was prepared by Mollie Si-mon, a student at Chamblee Charter High School.
Lisadiscoversscience Where will your child go and how will she get there? The Society of Mary founded
Marist School more than 100 years ago to provide an education quite unlike any other. Our faculty and curriculum inspire excellence in all of our students. Beyond the classroom, we offer a
comprehensive array of extracurricular activities to pique students’ interests and uncover their hidden talents. Through it all, we instill a sense of personal responsibility, foster spiritual growth, and teach the joy of serving others.
Learn more about what Marist has to offer. Please visit marist.com or call Jim Byrne, director of admissions and financial aid, at 770-936-2214. Help your child prepare for his or her future—no matter where it leads.
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Open House: Sunday, December 8, 1 - 4 p.m.
fall frolickingSt. Martin’s episcopal School held its fall festival on oct. 19. Right, elyse Hayek, 3, at left, along with
her sister eva, 2, create their own entertainment. Below, the event, sponsored by the Parent Teacher organization, brought
out a crowd to enjoy the bungee jump, despite the overcast skies.
Parents and teachers in north DeKalb County shared their ideas for improving the struggling school system as part of a reboot of the district’s fi ve-year plan.
During a brainstorming session at Cross Keys High School on Oct. 29, stakeholders gave their input on the fi ve strategic goals that have been identifi ed for the school system: student success; staff effi cacy and excellence; stakeholder engagement; internal/external commu-nication; and operational and organiza-tional eff ectiveness and effi ciency.
Th e Georgia School Boards Associa-tion began the fi ve-year strategic plan-ning process with DeKalb in 2010, but upheaval in the school district’s admin-istration shelved the process. Th e Oct. 29 meeting was held for stakeholders in Region 1 of the DeKalb County School System, which includes the Cross Keys High, Chamblee Charter High and Dunwoody High school clusters.
Laura Reilly, a consultant with the GSBA who led the meeting, said sug-gestions from parents during the 2010 process were used as a starting point this year. “We actually used all that input we had gotten to come up with these fi ve strategic goal areas,” Reilly said.
Reilly said Interim Superintendent Michael Th urmond believes very strong-ly in the need for a fi ve-year plan.
“Th ere’s been a sea change of leader-ship here in DeKalb County,” Reilly said.
Parents expressed frustration over the lack of action from the school system.
Allegra Johnson of Dunwoody told Reilly it may be diffi cult to engage par-ents in the planning process. Parents who were involved in the past did not see results, she said.
“We went through it with [former Superintendent Cheryl] Atkinson, we went through it with [former Superin-tendent Crawford] Lewis, and now we’re going through it again. Th e third time is not a charm,” Johnson said.
Several students were included in the discussion as well. Th eir ideas ranged
from the relatively simple - make sure there are enough textbooks for every class - to the more ideological, such as moving away from teaching to standardized tests, and including more enrichment oppor-tunities during the school day.
All agreed that more nurses, more social workers and more counselors are needed in DeKalb schools. Th e group said more counselors are particularly needed at the high school level to help students plan better for their futures af-ter graduation, and to help them work through personal issues in their lives.
“We have families in crisis and those children come to our schools every day,” said Terry Segovis, principal of DeKalb International Student Center. “Without wrap-around services, it’s just not going to be successful.”
Kim Gokce, president of the Cross Keys Foundation, said the school sys-tem needs to do a much better job of sharing information with the communi-ty through proactive, targeted commu-nications eff orts.
“I give us an ‘F’ on communicating to stakeholders who don’t walk into this building every day,” Gokce said.
Reilly said she is holding meetings in each of the fi ve regions in the DeKalb County School District to get input on issues and how to address them to “come up with workable solutions to address these fi ve goal areas.”
Th is information will be sent to ac-tion teams, who will create plans to ad-dress issues and measure success, Reil-ly said.
Page Olson of Dunwoody recom-mended bringing the planning process to the cluster level - to each high school and its feeder middle and elementary schools. She said DeKalb County has such diverse schools that the needs of one don’t necessarily apply to the others, even in the same region.
“Th ey’re going to get lost in this whole, system-wide recommendation process,” Olson said.
Laura Reilly, a consultant with the georgia School Boards Association, meets with parents and teachers during a brainstorming session at cross Keys High School on oct. 29. The session’s goal was to share ideas to improve the deKalb school system.melissA WeiNmAN
• We made our position…the costs are what they are…
• We had members of the community come up to us and consistently state this point... on seeking additional legal counsel. It would have to be someone with no vested interest here or that has no perceived agenda.
• “Gebbia added, “As representative of the citizens, we have an obligation. I don’t really think it has anything to do with what our current stance is.”
• We’ve already made our commitment… we’re in a lawsuit!
they are… on seeking additional legal counsel. It would
we’re in a lawsuit!
legal counsel. It would have to be someone legal counsel. It would have to be someone
If the Pony was causing economic
blight. The Facts: Within 1000 ft
of the Pony. Microtel built motel
next to Pink Pony. Hampton Inn built
from ground up, Strip center has
remodeled and has increased rent
on tenants, Wells Fargo formerly
Wachovia maintained a busy branch
location next to Pony, Lenoxville
Apartments were built across street
from Pony, CVS built new store from
ground up, Salvation Army built
house of worship next to the Pink
Pony. LIPPS Purchased property
for over $800,000 and
spent a million dollars on
improvements, right next to
the Pink Pony.
PROPERTY VALUES LOWERED DEBATE DEBUNKED:
WHY DO SOME COUNCIL MEMBERS REFUSE TO
LISTEN TO THE VOTERS?“I have a bit of an objection to this. I personally think we reached out early on…”
— The Brookhaven Post, October 23, 2013
“I have a bit of an objection to this. I personally think we reached out early on…”
WHY DO SOME COUNCIL
“I have a bit of an objection to this. I personally think we reached out early on…”LISTEN TO THE VOTERS?LISTEN TO THE VOTERS?“I have a bit of an objection to this. I personally think we reached out early on…”
“I have a bit of an objection to this. I personally think we reached out early on…”
WHY DO SOME COUNCIL
LISTEN TO THE VOTERS?LISTEN TO THE VOTERS?“I have a bit of an objection to this. I personally think we reached out early on…”
WHAT DID THE BROOKHAVEN COUNCIL HAVE TO SAY?
have to be someone with no vested interest here or that has no perceived agenda.
• “Gebbia added, “As representative of the citizens, we have an obligation. I don’t really think it has anything to do with what our current stance is.”
perceived agenda.
“As representative of the citizens, we have an obligation. I don’t
anything to do with
have to be someone with no vested interest here or that has no
have to be someone with no vested interest here or that has no perceived agenda.
“As representative of the citizens, we have an obligation. I don’t
If the Pony was causing economic
blight. The Facts:
of the Pony. Microtel built motel
next to Pink Pony. Hampton Inn built
from ground up, Strip center has
remodeled and has increased rent
on tenants, Wells Fargo formerly
Wachovia maintained a busy branch
location next to Pony, Lenoxville
Apartments were built across street
from Pony, CVS built new store from
ground up, Salvation Army built
house of worship next to the Pink
Pony. LIPPS Purchased property
for over $800,000 and for over $800,000 and
spent a million dollars on spent a million dollars on
improvements, right next to improvements, right next to
the Pink Pony.the Pink Pony.
PROPERTY VALUES LOWERED DEBATE DEBUNKED:
Kathy Forbes, Resident of Brookhaven
Roundtable Discussion
• Mattison called for a reconfi rmation of what the litigation cost is. “When we fi rst discussed this we were told this issue going to cost the city 75 grand and it will be over in 9 months. It’s 9 months now, we’ve spent 40 grand on this issue and we haven’t even gotten to the courthouse.” There’ll be a tremendous amount of prep time prior to that and there will also be appeals...possibly numerous appeals. I frankly don’t believe the quotes that we were given about the total costs of litigation.”
THIS IS A PAID ADVERTISEMENT BY TROP INC.
• Davis thinks it’s a good idea to acquire additional legal counsel to address the legitimate questions from the citizens regarding the SOB ordinance, for which he didn’t have answers. .
• During the Roundtable Discussion the question was asked: How many would be comfortable with the fi nancial arrangement DeKalb County has with the strip clubs? Every Brookhaven citizen in the room raised their hand to accept that fi nancial arrangement. ($450,000, property, taxes, licenses and permits)
Under the current DeKalb county ordinance there haven’t been any new
strip clubs since 1992. Let’s move forward and Grandfather the Pink Pony in!
Reporter Classifi eds To place a Classifi ed or Service Directory ad call deborah at 404-917-2200 x 110.
We got the goodsMarist School held their 33rd annual Holiday Traditions Arts
and crafts show on oct. 26, with 240 vendors showcasing their wares. Left, student Sterling desantis sells framed, inkjet reproductions of his art, assisted by brother Preston, far
left. Right, student Jack Larkin creates “Brag Tags,” personal name tags made from copper, and suspended from a suede,
leather necklace. Some proceeds go to children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Below, manning the “Lauren’s Products” table, left to right, camryn Wolf, Lauren Hughes, Natalie Stafford, Anna Wathen, Kiki Popescu, carley Hale and Lauren’s sister, Abbey.
photos by phil mosier
BK
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GARAGE SALE Sports, sofas, bookcases, household, history, books, desk, rugs, camping – Nov. 16, 9 AM – 4 PM. 1880 Olde Village Run, Dunwoody.
MEETINGNovember 7, 2013, 11:00 AM – The Georgia Commission on the Holocaust will have a Board Meeting at 5920 Roswell Rd, Suite A-118, Sandy Springs GA 30328
CLEANING SERVICESHouse Cleaning Services Available – Home or Offi ce. Detailed oriented. Free estimates. Call Ellie Wingers or Walter at 404-903-2913.
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FOR SALEA don’t miss opportunity to live in an Active Senior Adult community in Sandy Springs at Mount Vernon Towers! – Choose from $29,900 in excellent condition, $43,500 completely updated or $59,900 exceptionally updated! Marsha Sell, Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage 404-713-5373/440-955-0555.
Driveways & Walkways – Replaced or repaired. Masonry, grading, foundations repaired, waterproofi ng and retaining walls. Call Joe Sullivan 770-616-0576.
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North Georgia Lawn Care – Honest, affordable and dependable. Free Estimates. Tony 404-402-5435.
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HELP WANTEDAdvertising Sales/Reporter Newspapers & Atlanta Intown – We’re hiring another great salesperson—join our team! You should have a record of success selling products or services to small and mid-sized businesses, know the local market and enjoy working in a fast-paced, deadline-oriented, entrepreneurial company. Unlimited earning potential with base salary + commission + company-paid health insurance. Contact publisher Steve Levene at 404-917-2200, ext. 111 or email [email protected]
Hiring PT – residential and commercial cleaning staff. Experience required. Criminal background and drug testing conducted. Valid driver’s license and reliable transportation with insurance required. (404) 937-4097.
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Part Time Cashier / Greeter Needed! – Looking for a local Dunwoody resident to greet customers and cashier at Sunshine Car Wash of Dunwoody. $8.50 / hour. Call (404) 245-9537 for details or apply in person at 1244 Dunwoody Village Parkway.