ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Alpharetta homeowners whose property values have risen may pay a higher tax bill this year if the city’s proposed tax rate is approved.
ROSWELL, Ga. — Despite rainy weather on May 18, crowds packed Canton Street for 2023’s second Alive in Roswell festival. Hosted by the city, the free monthly festival runs from April to October, with live music, food trucks and local vendors.
“I feel like I’m back at Shaky Knees,” a young
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woman shouted walking through the crowd. Alive in Roswell isn’t quite the size of Atlanta’s annual music festival, but the monthly event attracts thousands of visitors.
On average, city officials said the event garners about 5,000 attendees. From 5-9 p.m. they can shop from over 75 vendors, watch live music Roswell City Councilwoman Christine
the Top Job Beverage and Events tents to raise money for the Children’s Development Academy at Alive on Roswell on Canton Street on May 18. See ALIVE, Page 4
The Alpharetta City Council approved its first reading of the fiscal year 2024 millage rate at a public hearing May 22. City Finance Director Tom Harris announced the tax rate on property – or mill levy – will remain at 5.75 mills, the same rate since 2009.
While the city estimates Alpharetta homeowners will save $6.7 million in taxes from homestead exemptions, it also announced it expects a 7.74 percent increase in property tax revenues, primarily due to new development and increases in existing property values.
The city estimates the tax increase for a home with a fair market value of $550,000 will be $39.83. A nonhomesteaded property with a fair market value of $1,175,000 would pay an additional $164.50 in taxes.
Councilmembers also unanimously approved the first reading of the budget ordinance for the upcoming fiscal year. Harris said the only change since the last published budget was the addition See TAX, Page 4
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ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Police said multiple vehicles around Alpharetta were recently hit by a spree of burglaries.
Between 3 p.m. and midnight May 15, seven vehicles parked at local restaurants, a grocery store and a park were burglarized by unidentified thieves who were able to steal medications, electronics and other personal items from residents.
Reports said four vehicles were burglarized at the Millers Ale House and Benihana restaurants off Mansell Road. Three other vehicles were burglarized at Vinny’s restaurant on Windward Parkway, Web Bridge Park on Web Bridge Road and the Kroger shopping center on Crabapple Road.
In nearly all of the incidents, vehicle windows were smashed to gain entry. Stolen items included wallets, cash, credit cards, laptops, prescription medications and other valuables.
At the time of the reports, police had not identified any suspects in the cases. Police believe that video evidence from some of the incidents may exist.
ROSWELL, Ga. — An 82-year-old Roswell woman told police she was the victim of financial identity fraud on May 15 after receiving letters for weeks with charges for a Range Rover she never bought.
When officers arrived, the woman’s daughter explained the situation. The elderly woman had been receiving mail
for weeks about a Range Rover purchased in her name, but the woman had never bought the vehicle.
Then she received a ticket because the car had been caught speeding in a school zone. She also received a license plate for the Range Rover, a letter stating she has a $2,900 line of credit and a letter stating she has a $54,972 charge for the vehicle.
The woman told police she had not made any of the purchases but is worried somebody opened accounts in her name and is damaging her credit. She gave police the license plate and said she wishes to press charges.
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Authorities arrested a wanted 21-year-old man who allegedly led police on a chase through Alpharetta and Roswell May 14.
Police reports said the chase began at about 2:30 a.m. when an officer driving on Main Street in Alpharetta toward Old Milton Parkway observed a vehicle traveling at high speed, failing to maintain its lane and running red lights.
At points during the chase, the vehicle traveled as fast as 80 miles per hour in a 35-mile-per-hour zone, and ran red lights on Maxwell Road and Mansell Road, reports said. Despite multiple officers being involved in the chase, the suspect was able to escape.
From the vehicle’s license plate, Officers learned it was registered to an individual who previously fled from a traffic stop in 2022. With assistance from Roswell police, officers located the vehicle’s registered address and made it there before the suspect’s vehicle arrived.
ROSWELL, Ga. — Roswell police arrested a Smyrna woman on Holcomb
Bridge Road May 14 for public indecency after she pulled her pants down in front of motorists.
When police got to the woman, they asked what she was doing. She said she was going to the bathroom, but thought she was bleeding. The police report said she was restless and grinding her teeth.
Officers asked if she was on meth, and the woman replied “not yet.” They arrested her for public indecency and took her to the Alpharetta Jail.
ROSWELL, Ga. — On May 17 Roswell police responded to a report that a set of tires and rims were stolen off ha man’s car on Old Holcomb Bridge Way.
The Roswell man said his car had been parked since the morning of May 12 and he noticed five days later that the rims and tires were taken from his vehicle. Earlier on May 17, the man said his father had seen the tires and rims still on the car.
The car was propped up with round flat log discs with the lug nuts strewn on the ground. Police did not find any fingerprints on the vehicle.
He told police that the tires and the rims cost $3,200 total.
All 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.
ROSWELL, Ga. — The Roswell City Council and Canton Street business owners plan to create two separate task forces to study a proposal that would close Canton Street to vehicle traffic during summer weekends.
Three public meetings on the plan have left community members divided on the best way to move forward.
The task forces were proposed at a May 19 City Council workshop at East Roswell Park’s recreation center where the mayor, council and city officials discussed the proposal for the third time.
At the workshop Roswell City Council members shared their thoughts on the proposal to turn the popular street into a pedestrian “promenade” for weekends over the summer, closing it to vehicles from Ga. 9 to East Alley. Some members of the City Council, such as Sarah Beeson and Peter Vanstrom, said they want the city to proceed slowly so that it can be “done right.”
Councilwoman Lee Hills said she wants work on the plan now, because she is “ready to commit.”
With a divided council and ongoing resistance from residents and business owners, Mayor Kurt Wilson proposed a task force to address issues with the closure plan, including traffic, parking, accessibility and business revenue. The council was scheduled to vote to officially form the task force at a May 23 Community Development and Transportation Committee meeting.
Wilson said the task force is not saying “hey, it’s going to be done by May 27, 2024 or July 19, 2023,” and the goal is to get different perspectives. The mayor did not set a timeline for the task force to come up with a plan.
Resident Susan Tyser said the creation of the task force is “very important,” so long as it includes residents a mile or two out from Canton Street in every direction because of traffic and safety concerns. The city did not say how it will constitute the task force.
After the council decided to create a task force, two Canton Street business owners came forward with an additional proposal: a task force by the businesses on Canton Street to come up with a plan.
John Michael Brunetti, owner of Rock ‘N’ Taco on Canton Street and Jenna Aronowitz, owner of 1920 Tavern have been vocal about their split feelings regarding the closure. Each has been an informal spokesperson for other Canton Street shops and restau -
rants on either side of the debate.
Aronowitz has been an opponent of the plan, urging the city to halt any “promenade” concepts until the city builds a parking deck in the area. She said when Canton Street closes for Alive in Roswell, a festival held the third Thursday of each month from April to October with food, drinks and music, the area turns into a “drunk fest.”
Speaking on behalf of several Canton Street businesses, Aronowitz has said the road closure will lead to revenue loss for shops and restaurants that depend on car traffic to stay open.
Brunetti has a different perspective. He has issues with the closure plan as proposed, but he said he does not want to “close the conversation to close Canton Street.”
The eight days a year when Alive in Roswell shuts down the road are his “busiest days,” and he said other businesses only lose revenue because they close their doors to an influx of customers. He admitted some customers do get rowdy at the festival, but closing Canton Street over the summer would be a different situation.
“We’re just trying to create a green space,” Brunetti said.
Ideally, Brunetti said the city would take the summer to work on details and have the plan wrapped up by September.
Both Brunetti and Aronowitz advocated for a pause on the Canton Street closure plan, although the two differ on the details. At the May 19 workshop, the pair decided the public debate had gotten out of control.
“We are dividing our community and that’s the worst thing we could possibly do,” Brunetti said.
Afraid to “burn the relationship,” the pair told the mayor and council they want to be their own task force. They said each side of the issue has valid points, so they want to come up with a plan using input from residents and deliver it to the city.
They said it should take them about three weeks to create a plan from scratch. Aronowitz said the plan may not end up being a full road closure.
“Nothing is set in stone except for activating Roswell,” Aronowitz said.
Mayor Wilson was in full support of the proposed task force, which he said will be a forum for residents to discuss the proposal.
“The City of Roswell government will be at your disposal,” Wilson said. Aronowitz and Brunetti said they don’t plan on returning to the city until they “talk to everyone.”
Alive:
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on two stages and buy beverages from several tents on the street.
Roswell Special Events Manager Chris Ward said the work behind Alive in Roswell is a year-round job. The team spends months getting sponsorships, coordinating vendors and working with the Roswell police and fire departments.
“The idea started several years ago, basically it was to get people to come to Canton Street on a Thursday night,” Ward said.
The event has grown since its creation, now offering various food trucks alongside the Canton Street restaurants and drink tents from Top Job Beverage and Events.
Ward said the feedback from Alive in Roswell has been overwhelmingly positive, particularly because it appeals to everyone.
“If you walk down Canton Street, you’re walking through all demographics,” Ward said. “There’s not really one group that owns the event.
Roswell City Councilwoman Christine Hall worked as a “celebrity bartender” at one of the Top Job Beverage and Events tents on May 18, where she fundraised for the Children’s
Development Academy in Roswell.
“I raised $675, so that’s really exciting,” Hall said.
She attends the event frequently to relax and run into people in the community.
“It’s a great opportunity for the community to get together,” Hall said.
Many come from out of town, though.
Ashley Duke, a Vinings resident, said it was her second time attending Alive in Roswell. Her family visits the event frequently.
When she does attend, Duke said it makes her wonder why she doesn’t come more often.
“Nowhere else does this,” Duke said. “I know people who came here from Vinings, Buckhead and Johns Creek.”
She said part of the draw of Alive in Roswell is the community feel, with live music, street vendors and open container policy that lets her carry drinks from place to place.
Special Events Manager Ward said the city prioritizes Roswell-based businesses, with about 60 percent of the booths run by local businesses.
Amanda Miller, owner of resin homeware and jewelry business the Golden Girl spent the May 18 festival selling her products at one of the event booths.
This is Miller’s second year as a vendor at Alive in Roswell. To sell at the event, she pays a flat fee to set up a booth for the whole “season.”
Tax:
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The draft budget includes additional positions in the Public Safety Department, $50,000 for a grant management firm and citywide needs that total over $3 million, as well as a $239,900 capital component.
Residents can speak at public hearings on the proposed budget and millage rate 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. June 19.
In other matters at the meeting, the City Council was set to vote on the first reading of its draft ethics ordinance, but the item was tabled following clashing opinions from councilmembers.
Originally presented at a work session May 15, the City Council had considered updating the City Code of Ethics and Conduct.
Proposed changes would have removed residents from the Ethics Board in favor of attorneys who live and practice outside of Alpharetta, as well as have placed a moratorium on ethics complaints against incumbents within 90 days of the
Miller, who grew up near Canton Street, said she has always been familiar with the event. When she started her business in 2020, she knew Alive in Roswell would be a natural choice.
“I really like just being a part of the local community,” Miller said.
The large crowds are also a guaranteed profit for the shop owner, who said there aren’t many events like Alive in Roswell.
“This is the only place to go outside the perimeter,” Miller said.
The open container laws have caused some local business owners to call the festival a “drunk fest,” specifically after 9 p.m. when the event is officially over.
Roswell Police Chief James Conroy said the festival gets “pretty rowdy” as the night continues. Around 9:30 p.m. officers start clearing the street.
Roswell Fire Department Deputy Chief of Operations Pabel Troche said the festival is “pretty tame” compared to other areas like downtown Atlanta. He said the fire and police departments typically have to deal with people stumbling and falling, or occasionally getting too inebriated.
As the night stretches on, many of the Canton Street businesses close their doors. A few businesses, like Rock ‘N’ Taco stay open until 1 a.m. where people line up to keep the night going.
municipal elections Nov. 7.
At the May 22 meeting, Councilman John Hipes suggested the moratorium be removed from the draft ordinance altogether, as well as the addition of a minimum 30-day preparation period for those facing ethics complaints.
Councilmen Jason Binder and Doug DeRito also said they would prefer the ethics board include Alpharetta residents.
“I don’t think it should be if you live or work in Alpharetta that that should disqualify you to help serve the City of Alpharetta,” Binder said.
Pending councilmembers’ comments, City Attorney Molly Esswein said she would prepare an updated form of the draft to present at an upcoming work session.
Also at the meeting, the City Council recognized a number of student athletes, including the Alpharetta Gymnastics Academy. Girls from the school won state competitions in 2022-2023.
Opinion: Alpharetta is weighing a dangerous idea
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ROSWELL, Ga. — The City of Roswell and the Roswell Rotary Club will partner for the city’s 24th annual Memorial Day observance with a military ceremony, music and food truck at City Hall on May 29.
The City Hall grounds will open at 10 a.m. with music from Roswell New Horizons Band and a program including a military ceremony, presentation of the colors, National Anthem, the Pledge of Allegiance, a
prisoners of war ceremony and the laying of the wreath.
After the ceremony there will be a variety of food trucks on the City Hall grounds.
Sunny K. Park, a 2000 United Service Organization Patriot Award Recipient who has served as a member of the White House Advisory Commission and the vice chairman of Georgia Ports Authority will be the event’s guest speaker.
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — The Rotary Club of Alpharetta and the city will host a Memorial Day tribute at City Hall from 9-10:15 a.m. May 29.
The ceremony will feature an invocation, the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem, followed by keynote speaker Grant McGarry. A former U.S. Army Ranger and Roswell native, McGerry was deployed five times to Afghanistan and Iraq and
was the 158th inductee to the Georgia Military Veterans Hall of Fame. He also authored the memoir “A Night in the Pech Valley.”
Visitors are also invited to visit American Legion Post 201’s Walk of Memories at 201 Wills Road to honor veterans and their families. The post will announce activities closer to Memorial Day.
— Shelby Israel
ROSWELL, Ga. — The Roswell Arts Fund is partnering with the city to host ArtAround: Pathways, an outdoor public and performing arts display along the trail at Don White Park from mid-June to the end of September.
The festival features temporary installations, performances and workshops including music, theatre, dance and aerials that Roswell Arts Fund said reflect the interplay of art and nature. Throughout the festival more than 30 works from local and regional artists will be shown.
Atlanta-based public art nonprofit
Dashboard is the project’s production team.
“This project offers a rare opportunity for the community to experience the creative responses of artists to our natural surroundings,” Roswell Arts Fund Program Director Elan Buchen said. “We believe that this celebration of public art will inspire and delight all those who attend, and we can’t wait to share this incredibly experience with the community.”
The Roswell Arts Fund said artist announcements and the performance schedule for ArtAround: Pathways will be released soon.
ROSWELL, Ga. — Fulton County Schools has announced River Eves Elementary School Assistant Principal Susan Gowin as the school’s new principal, filling the role left vacant by Matthew Donahoe resigned for personal reasons April 13.
The district announced Gowin’s promotion May 16.
Gowin has been the school’s assistant principal since 2020. She will work over the summer as principal to prepare for the opening of classes in August.
She was first hired as a teacher
at River Eves Elementary in January 2011, and has spent the last 12 years in multiple roles including early intervention teacher, fifth grade teacher and literacy coach.
Gowin has lived in Fulton County for the past 15 years, where she has raised three children with her husband. She has a bachelor’s degree in education from Notre Dame College in New Hampshire and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Georgia Southern University.
They have defended our liberty and have helped to keep us free. Remember the hundreds of service men and women that served in past wars this Memorial Day.
ROSWELL, Ga. — The City of Roswell has sold the first round of general obligation bonds approved by voters in the November 2022 election. At the May 22 Roswell City Council meeting financial adviser David Cheatwood of First Tryon Advisors announced the $86.2 million sale had gone through that morning.
The nearly $180 million general obligation bond referendum approved by voters was split into three major project areas: parks and recreation, public safety and a downtown parking deck.
The largest of the bonds, $107.6 million for parks and recreation will fund updates to various parks across Roswell, bike and pedestrian improvements and sidewalks across the city.
Voters also passed a $52 million public safety bond for a new police and fire headquarters and fire stations and a $20 million bond to fund a parking deck in Historic Downtown Roswell.
The parking deck has gained recent attention due to a city plan to close Canton Street to cars for weekends
over the summer. Mayor Kurt Wilson has promised that the deck will be completed within the next two years, although the city is still working on real estate deals to secure a site for the project.
Cheatwood explained that the bonds were separated into taxable and tax-exempt portions. The sale will handle the first issuance of bonds, covering a portion of the parks and recreation bonds and the public safety bonds and the entirety of the parking garage bond.
With the bonds split, different firms bid to underwrite the taxable and tax-exempt bond portions. As underwriters, the firms purchase the bonds directly from a bond issuer and resell them to investors.
Cheatwood said Citigroup Global Markets had the best bid for the “2023A series,” which covers parks and recreation and public safety. The firm had the lowest interest rate at just under 4 percent.
For the taxable “2023B series” which handles the parking deck project, the lowest interest rate was at about 5 percent. Financial services company Raymond James won the bid.
Mayor Wilson said the city is “elated” to see favorable reactions from the market, with multiple bidders on each “series” of bond sales.
The debt will be paid over 30 years, costing about $4-$5 million dollars in the first two years with payments then decreasing to about $3.7 million annually until 2053. With the sale approved, the money will be wired to the city in about two weeks.
“This is a very exciting time,” City Councilwoman Christine Hall said. “The voters demanded it, and we were able to execute.”
The council unanimously approved both bond sales.
Also at the May 22 meeting, the
council held the first reading for fiscal year 2024 city budget. The council first reviewed the budget at a special called meeting May 11. The second budget reading and adoption was moved from May 25 to a regular City Council meeting on June 12.
The proposed $194.3 million budget is up almost 14 percent from the current year, with $100.5 million going to the general fund that pays for day-to-day city operations.
The budget also includes an estimated 4.463 millage rate, the same as fiscal year 2023, though the official property tax costs will be determined at a later point in the year before tax bills are issued.
Councilman Mike Palermo said he was glad the schedule was adjusted, but he questioned whether the budget laid out city “priorities.”
“I think we have a lot of great priorities for the residents of Roswell, but I do feel we have some that are not being set as priorities,” Palermo said.
He advocated for a greater focus on repaving and resurfacing roads, saying that in past years the city has not “appropriately funded” road and sidewalk projects.
Councilwoman Sarah Beeson also said the city should use its “own funds” instead of bond money to fund sidewalk projects.
The proposed budget includes a five-year commitment of a minimum annual $4 million payment to the Transportation Department. The mayor said that payment could change as the council learns more about what the department needs financially.
The 2024 budget proposal also includes over $21 million for transportation projects, including trails, bridge replacements and road resurfacing.
Transportation Department Deputy Director Dave Cox said there has been work to get more “bang for our buck” using a combination of state and local funds to cover certain transportationoriented projects.
Palermo said the budget proposal will likely change before the second reading and approval of the budget, because he wants to be “as happy” with the 2024 budget as he is with the current budget.
“My concern is with this budget, are we setting ourselves up to make sure that we are prepared if we do see a decrease in revenue?” Palermo said.
The proposed $194.3 million budget will be discussed further and put up for approval at the June 12 City Council meeting.
MILTON, Ga. — Barge “Peter” Stoios, Sons of the American Legion Post 201 member and former Fulton County Schools bus driver, died in a car accident May 6.
Police responded to the call at around 10:51 p.m. that night, and upon arrival, determined Stoios had been ejected after attempting to negotiate a curve in his 1990 Mazda Miata on Birmingham Highway. According to the police report, a preliminary investigation indicated his vehicle left the roadway, struck a power pole and spun off the roadway.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Peter’s memorial expenses, with $3,490 a $5,000 goal raised. According to the page, he leaves behind two daughters, Sophia and Jacquilyn. Any leftover money will go toward the cost of their trip to Australia, Peter’s home country, to spread the ashes.
“He was the most loving father one could hope for and will be missed terribly,” Sophia said.
DUNWOODY, Ga. — Taqueria Los Hermanos was born from the vision of three brothers two decades ago, but its history dates back to a rich family tradition in the cuisine of southern Mexico.
Located in The Shops of Dunwoody on Chamblee Dunwoody Road, co-owner Miguel Romero said the restaurant offers a unique take on the typical Mexican fare, with a menu rich in seafood that is beloved by the community.
Romero’s personal favorite on the menu are Mama’s tamales, a spicy red chicken and a spicy green pork tamale served on a bed of warm Mexican rice with a side of black charro bean soup and handmade sauces. He said the recipe dates to his great-grandmother, who passed it down through the generations.
“That’s something, I think, that a lot of other restaurants are lacking,” Romero said. “There’s not really a true family recipe. It’s more of just kind of same old, same old, just different kinds of varieties or whatever. But for us, everything is homemade. All of our sauces are homemade. All the marinades are family recipes.”
The fan-favorite Romero said a fan-favorite at Taqueria Los Hermanos are the tlayudas, a Mexican-style pizza that originates from the state of Oaxaca. The dish consists of refried black beans, shredded cabbage, avocado, tomato, red onions,
radishes, roasted poblano peppers, queso fresco and shredded Oaxaca cheese on a crunchy corn tortilla, topped with grilled chicken, pastor or asada steak.
Guests are also treated to an expansive list of strong margaritas, homemade-style desserts and dishes ranging from taquitos, tacos, burritos and enchiladas.
But Taqueria Los Hermanos’ standout offering is its service and dedication to quality.
“Our goal is to be number one in every aspect – in food, service, drinks, everything,” Romero said.
Much like its menu, Taqueria Los Hermanos is the product of family tradition carried down through the generations. Romero’s father and uncles opened the restaurant when Romero was 7 years old in 2001, and Romero’s first job was working as a busser.
“As I got older, I became a server and then assistant manager, general manager and then owner,” Romero said. “Obviously, Los Hermanos is very successful, so I wanted to be a part of it alongside with my brother and my cousin.”
Together, the three opened the restaurant’s Dunwoody location at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020.
“It was interesting,” Romero said. “We were busy, I mean, slammed for the first week, and then it just stopped because of the pandemic.”
See TAQUERIA, Page 9
Our goal is to be number one in every aspect
in food, service, drinks, everything.
MIGUEL ROMERO, co-owner, Taqueria Los HermanosSHELBY ISRAEL/APPEN MEDIA Miguel Romero is the co-owner of Dunwoody’s Taqueria Los Hermanos, a familyoperated restaurant founded by his father and uncles in 2001. The restaurant’s menu is rich in seafood, embodying the family’s native southern Mexico.
Continued from Page 8
Despite initial challenges and working odd hours, the restaurant persisted, and Dunwoody’s love for Taqueria Los Hermanos never waned.
A year later, the eatery was named one of the best Mexican restaurants in Gwinnett Magazine’s Best of Gwinnett awards, and Taqueria Los Hermanos won the same category in Appen Media’s Best of Perimeter awards in 2022 and 2023.
Romero said he studied at the University of Georgia, and there, peers from Dunwoody had told him the area needed a good Mexican restaurant. With its proximity to major state highways, Atlanta and North Fulton County cities, he said Dunwoody was the ideal spot for Taqueria Los Hermanos’ fifth location.
“I would like to thank Dunwoody in general,” Romero said. “It’s an amazing community, and it’s awesome because not only are they great customers, but they also help us out a lot with sending their kids to work with us … Overall, we’ve had a lot of help from the community, so we’d like to say thank you for that.”
Taqueria Los Hermanos is in suite 3 at 5500 Chamblee Dunwoody Road. Menus, hours and more information can be found at taquerialoshermanos.com.
Tucker
Paras
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Yes, you read that correctly. Those were the only words written in what must have been size 20 million font on a billboard near Greenville, South Carolina. A beautiful United States flag was proudly portrayed on the billboard behind those words. And, oddly, no company name, logo or other identifying information was present to connect this billboard to a specific business or corporation. From what I could see as I drove by, nothing was on the billboard except an American flag and the words “Be Patriotic. Vape.”
This billboard had me puzzled. Was it a joke? Was it actually trying to convince people that vaping is an act of patriotism? Does it assume that the general population and particularly our young people are so impressionable as to believe this billboard and start vaping because they love our country?
I laughed as I drove by, but the billboard did have me worried. The US military included cigarettes in soldiers’ rations from World War II through 1975, and as a result, nicotine addiction and tobacco use has long been a plight of our veterans. Many adult smokers have attempted to use e-cigarettes and vaping as a way of avoiding regular cigarettes. But the fastest growth of vaping has been among young people. Approximately 20% of those aged 18 to 29 report vaping – the highest for any age group.
Since young people seem to be most strongly prone to vaping, it’s important to spread the word on the negative health effects of vaping to our youth. As a dermatologist, I can attest to negative skin effects of vaping, some of which should grab one’s attention:
1. Black, hairy tongue. Multiple oral problems can occur from vaping. The most newsworthy from a teen’s perspective is probably black hairy tongue. The exact
reason vaping can cause this condition is not known, but it’s well-established that some individuals will develop a black, hairy-appearing tongue when they vape. Skin cells on the tongue build up, and certain types of bacteria can overgrow. Go to Google Image and type in “black hairy tongue” to scare any teens you know out of vaping.
2. Genital burns. Many e-cigarettes use lithium batteries that were manufactured poorly and are prone to exploding. Between 2015 and 2017, more than 2000 people went to the emergency room for burn injuries from e-cigarettes. Explosions were often spontaneous while the device was simply in the person’s pocket. Pockets are close to one’s private parts, and genitals were commonly burned. Scare your teen with this one!
3. Acne and aging skin. Nothing seems to motivate a social-media era individual like aesthetics. Cigarettes are known to cause acne, premature aging of skin, enlarged pores and oil glands. Nicotine causes many of these changes, and nicotine is present whether one is using traditional cigarettes or e-cigarettes.
Finally, the question of patriotism. In case you were worried that you need to starting vaping to prove that you are a patriot, the answer is that you do not. Patriotism and vaping have NOT been linked. An article in the journal Tobacco Use Insights entitled “The Vaping Teenager” found that teens who identify themselves as “patriotic” are actually less likely to vape than those with other peer crowd identifications. Teens who selfidentified as patriotic were more likely to report valuing hard work and enjoying the outdoors. The billboard would have been more accurate had it said “Want to risk burnt genitals, hairy tongue, acne, cardiovascular side effects and a lighter wallet? – Vape.” I guess they ran out of room?
It wasn’t long after Virginia was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s that her husband, Anthony, started having trouble finding meaningful ways to engage with her. Anthony’s days were lived by a checklist – Making breakfast – check. Morning medications – check. Help with bathing – check. Getting dressed for the day – check…check… check. As Virginia progressed through her disease it became more difficult to accomplish tasks on the list - Virginia would insist she already took her medications that day, or that she didn’t need a shower. Frustration would kick in for both and the whole day would become a battle. They’d go to sleep, wake up the next morning and attempt the checklist all over again.
Caring for a loved one with dementia can trigger significant relationship changes. The new caregiver morphs from a loving family member into a role that is task and service oriented. It’s easy for
a caregiver to become burned out, leaving little energy to engage in fun and meaningful time together. Or, as in the case of Virginia’s changing abilities, how to have fun together. This is where Connection Café comes in!
Connection Café is a no-cost social gathering which allows people experiencing memory loss and their loved ones to connect with each other through activities, socialize, and build a new support network. Care partners can witness trained staff and volunteers model effective ways to communicate and interact with their family members, and they learn new activities and techniques that can be used at home. The group meets twice a month at the Roswell Senior Center and provides a break in the day-today and an opportunity to meet other families who are walking the same path.
Alyss Amster is the Associate Executive Director of the Dementia Spotlight Foundation, the organization that runs the Connection Café at the
Roswell Senior Center. “Alzheimer’s and the many related dementias are misunderstood in our society. Our attendees can be themselves in a safe environment where everyone understands”, Amster said.
Join us in June!
• June 2nd - “Armchair Travel to Finland”, led by Jake Heikkinen, owner of Roswell Home Care.
• June 16th – “Floral Arrangement and Design”, led by Julie Coffin, owner of Unique Floral Expressions, an award-
winning luxury floral and event design company.
If you are caring for a loved one with dementia and would like more information on attending an upcoming Connection Café, contact Alyss Amster at 678-332-1711 or alyss@ dementiaspotlightfoundation.org
Connection Café at the Roswell Senior Center
1250 Warsaw Road – Roswell, GA 1st and 3rd Friday of the month 1:30PM – 3:30PM
RSVP is required to attend.
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By ALEXANDER POPP alex@appenmedia.com
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Appen Media Group has filed a lawsuit against the City of Sandy Springs over access to information from police reports.
In an official complaint filed in the Superior Court of Fulton County May 12, Appen Media Group, which publishes the Sandy Springs Crier, Alpharetta-Roswell Herald and four other weekly newspapers in north Metro Atlanta, alleged that it has repeatedly been denied access to initial police officer narratives that are routinely filed during investigations.
Excerpts from police reports included in the complaint involve cases of aggravated assault, street racing and reckless driving, indecent exposure and weapons law violations. But in each case, the investigative report narrative contained one sentence with limited details about what allegedly occurred during the incident.
The newsgroup alleges that despite guidance from the Georgia Attorney General’s Office, the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police and multiple other state agencies that initial narrative
information must be released under Georgia law, Sandy Springs has denied records requests under the pretense that releasing narrative information would hinder police investigations.
“In requesting the incident reports from Sandy Springs, The Newspaper has asked for arrest reports, including any supplemental reports or narratives from the reporting officer,” Brooks K. Hudson, an attorney representing Appen Media, wrote in the complaint. “Sandy Springs will then provide the Newspaper with an incident report that either has no narrative, or a one-line narrative that gives little to no detail about the incident.”
Without narrative information about what occurred during initial police investigations, Appen Media executives said that neither they nor members of the public will have an accurate understanding of crimes that occur in the community.
While not referenced in the lawsuit, reports filed alongside the complaint also redact the names of officers, without any justification for why the redactions would be permitted under Georgia law.
“The law requires that all initial
reports are subject to open records laws, regardless of whether they are called ‘initial incident reports’, ‘supplemental reports’, ‘narrative reports’, or something else,” Appen Media Publisher Hans Appen said. “Cities cannot avoid disclosure requirements by simply calling files something other than what they are.”
In an email from February, Sandy Springs City Attorney Dan Lee claims that Appen Media’s reading of the law is mistaken, and the city is only required to provide “public supplements” to initial police incident reports, but not other types of supplemental reports.
Lee said that when cases are closed, and there is no threat that an investigation will be compromised, the city is willing to release more documents.
“It is apparent Appen believes that more information is required in the initial incident report, but Georgia Law does not support that requirement,” Lee said. “The City prides itself on transparency and has not encountered this complaint from any other outlet.”
Appen argues they believe that Sandy Springs is violating both the intentions and spirit of Georgia’s Open Records Law by upholding a policy that provides citizens with virtually no details about what crimes are occurring in their community.
“Our ability to obtain complete reports is one of the best tools we have for giving the public an account of how their tax dollars are being spent, how police resources are being prioritized, and how safe their families are in their homes, schools and driving down the street,” Appen said. “We do this accountability journalism and file these open records requests so that the public doesn’t have to. We do need the city to their part though in supplying us the information to relay.”
Beyond that violation, Appen said that Sandy Springs is the only municipality in north Metro Atlanta that provides limited or no narrative as part
of incident reports released through open records requests.
“We do not have this issue with our public safety coverage for Alpharetta, Roswell, Johns Creek, Milton, Forsyth County, or Dunwoody,” Appen said. “They generally do a good job of giving us initial incident reports, which provide the public with a baseline of the who, what, when and where a crime has occurred.”
In 2018 Appen Media Group sued the City of Roswell over similar alleged violations of the Georgia Open Records Act.
As part of the lawsuit, Appen Media alleged the Roswell Police Department had consistently withheld vital information about criminal incidents from public records. The lawsuit also alleged that the Roswell Police Department had failed to meet time requirements for supplying the reports after requests were made.
After a year of legal maneuvering on both sides of the suit, members of the Roswell City Council voted to settle the lawsuit in 2019, agreeing to pay the media company $10,500 in attorney’s fees and provide them a year’s worth of free open records requests.
“Filing suit was always our last and least desirable option,” Appen said. “We spent months and months going back and forth with the city [of Sandy Springs] giving them every opportunity to comply with the law and fill our records requests. They refused, so here we are.”
In an email, Sandy Springs Communications Director Andrew Allison said the city stands by its interpretation of the Georgia Open Records Law and they are ready to meet the complaint in a court of law.
“Sandy Springs will continue to release all appropriate information required under the Open Records Act and, if the lawsuit proceeds, the city will seek to recover costs, damages and attorneys’ fees to respond to these allegations which question the city’s integrity," Allison stated.
the 38th
The Magnolia Ball has been an outstanding and highly coveted Roswell black tie event for 38 years. Join us for an amazing night which begins with a very social cocktail reception, exceptional food, a band that will not let you stop dancing, an irresistible auction, and great shopping. Do not miss this incredibly fun night!
Bulloch Hall is the only nationally recognized historic house museum in Roswell since it was the childhood home of Mittie Bulloch, mother of President Theodore Roosevelt. After Mittie’s marriage to Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. they moved to New York City where Mittie Bulloch Roosevelt became an adored high profile New York socialite while in a closeknit family lovingly nurturing four children, one who would become a US President.
DUNWOODY COUNTRY CLUB
1600 DunwoodyDrive
Atlanta, GA 30350
SATURDAY, JUNE 10, 2023
6:00 pm – 10:30 pm
$175 per person / Formal evening attire
Presenting Sponsor
MALON D. MIMMS
Co-Chairs
CHRIS & TRACY ARCHER
Tickets available online at: friendsofbulloch.org/events/2023-magnolia-ball
The mission of this year’s Magnolia Ball fundraiser is the preservation of Bulloch Hall and grounds with a pressing need for renovation of plumbing, replacement of period appropriate fabrics, rugs, draperies, and repair of furniture.
This year the Magnolia Ball will highlight the numerous restorations and reconstructions that Friends of Bulloch, Inc. has achieved over 30 years to include period appropriate furnishings for Bulloch Hall; reconstruction of the Service yard with dog-trot cabins and Carriage House; the Summer House; Main & Cooling Wells; Osage Terrace, Pavilion & Fireplace; Orchard Hill with pond, fountain, dock, gazebo, bridge & earthen amphitheater; and more recently the Blacksmith Shop. A beautiful pergola will grace the entrance to Orchard Hill within the next year.
MILTON, Ga. — Earlier this month, Fair Fight Action published a coalition letter about voter access in Milton, and the city’s residents had something to say about it.
Fair Fight Action is a national voting rights organization rooted in Georgia and founded by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. It is backed by nonprofits, like the New Georgia Project, which works to register, civically engage and empower “New Georgia’s” majority Black, brown and young voters, and by Common Cause Georgia, an advocacy organization that promotes public participation in government to ensure that public officials and institutions are accountable and responsive to citizens.
The letter holds the view that the Milton City Council has directly limited voting access for Black and brown voters, with its May 1 resolution. The measure established two polling places on Election Day: Milton City Hall and the Milton City Park and Preserve.
The decision primarily affects precincts ML05, ML06A and ML06B in the city’s southeast corner, an area that Appen Media found to have most of the city’s Democratic voters.
The three precincts also have the highest number of Black and brown voters, according to the letter, published more than a week after Appen Media’s findings. It says that 30 to 50 percent of this area’s voters are people of color.
A member of Fair Fight’s data team said he used voter files for registered voters in each precinct, which includes demographic information. In the three precincts combined, 38.4 percent of voters are people of color.
Not everyone is on board with Fair Fight’s conclusion, though.
“Unfortunately, Mayor Jamison’s prepared statement and amended proposal has provided Appen Media with their talking points for the unfair article in last week’s Milton Herald,” Milton resident Nia Cortsen said during public comment at the May 15 Milton City Council meeting.
“Their article was the impetus behind the Twitter post from the Stacey Abrams very partisan Fair
Fight Action group and four other divisive political organizations.”
Mayor Jamison read a prepared statement at the May 1 council meeting, advocating for a third polling location at the Public Safety Complex in District 3. But his motion failed to garner a majority.
“I am confident that any reasonable individual would agree that equal opportunity and equal access to all citizens is being provided,” Cortsen said.
The coalition letter says the lack of a polling location in District 3 exacerbates the disproportionate wait times that Black and brown voters already face.
According to 2020 analysis, copublished by ProPublica and Georgia Public Broadcasting, Georgia’s voter rolls have grown by nearly 2 million people, yet polling locations have been cut statewide by nearly 10 percent. The growth in registered voters has largely been fueled by younger, non-White citizens, the study says.
In the nine core Metro Atlanta counties, the analysis says four out of five new voters are people of color. It also says the same area holds nearly half of the state’s active voters but only 38 percent of the polling places.
“The growth in registered voters has outstripped the number of available polling places in both predominantly White and Black neighborhoods,” the report says. “But the lines to vote have been longer in Black areas, because Black voters are more likely than Whites to cast their ballots in person on Election Day and are more reluctant to vote by mail, according to U.S. census data and recent studies.”
Organizations within the coalition were contacted by concerned citizens in the city, said NGP Policy Director Stephanie Ali, but had been monitoring the idea of self-run local elections that had spread through North Fulton municipalities earlier this year.
“People who have everything else going on in their life — kids and work and any other distraction going on — may not have the capacity to go a little bit further across town to access one of these two polling places,” Ali said.
In an interview, a Fair Fight representative said the group will continue to educate Milton citizens about what’s going on and directly advocate on their behalf to the
mayor and City Council regarding discriminatory impact.
Other speakers criticized the partisan turn of Milton’s municipal election process May 15, with a keen eye on Jamison’s outlook.
Milton resident Brett Chromi said he didn’t “escape” from California to Georgia to “get woke policies dictated to [the City Council] from a Marxist organization like Fair Fight.”
“There’s no support for a woke mayor or a woke council in Milton,” Chromi said. “Get your act together, Peyton, and start being a leader instead of enabling Milton to plunge into a ruined leftist future.”
Several others, some from neighboring jurisdictions, also voiced support for the Milton Municipal Election Feasibility Committee’s recommendation for two polling locations.
But there was one Milton resident, Kevin Shigley, who said it would be “great” to offer as many polling locations as possible.
“Making it easy to vote is something that we should do,” Shigley said. “I would ask you to reconsider and perhaps put together one more location for our fine people of Milton.”
Shigley said he may be among the minority. However, his wife Debra started a petition asking that Milton put a halt to running its own election with an alternative option to add a third polling location. As of May 17, the petition carried more than 55 signatures. In an interview, she said plans to continue raising awareness, specifically in District 3, then regroup about next steps.
“Things are pretty far down the road, and I’m not sure what makes sense, right? Because we want to continue making our voices heard,” Debra Shigley said.
In addition to voter access, she voiced doubts about the election budget that’s been presented to the council. It now sits at around $83,000.
Debra Shigley said she isn’t sure if she’s an “activist,” but she knows she’s a “concerned mom,” who has done some research.
“When you do peel back the curtain a little bit, you see, ‘Well, that doesn’t sound right. That doesn’t look right. What’s going on here?’” she said. “That’s sort of what’s activated me because I just think if nothing else, we can help shine a light on things …”
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Mount Pisgah Christian School’s new preschool facility, the Stuart and Eulene Murray Academy, will open its doors this fall.
Located on the Lower School campus of MPCS, the 24,000 square foot preschool has 10 new classrooms,
a chapel and theatre space, innovation center, and an outdoor playscape.
The Murray Academy program serves the school’s three and fouryear-old full day preschool students. An open house on June 1 for interested families will include a tour of the new
facility.
First made possible by Mount Pisgah Church’s generous gift to the school of the South Campus property itself, the Murray Academy is named in recognition of a $1 million grant from the Stuart and Eulene Murray
Foundation.
Located in Johns Creek, Mount Pisgah Christian School serves more than 1,000 students from infants through 12th grade.
To learn more and schedule a tour, visit www.mountpisgahschool.org
MountPisgah
Christian Schools new preschool facility will open for the first time this fall. It is named in honor of a $1 million grant from theStuart and Eulene Murray Foundation.
The Herald is first and foremost a community newspaper. Send us your notes, awards and photos
to newsroom@ appenmedia.com.
DUNWOODY, Ga. — Areas of sidewalk at the Spruill Center for the Arts are now covered in chalk murals, created by a class of around a dozen who participated in a street art course recently.
Since mid-April, Brave Nu Ventures’ Rachel Griner and a team of local street art experts and creatives have led workshops on the history and varied meanings behind the medium that covers Atlanta. Students also made their way around the city’s Castleberry Hills neighborhood and South Downtown to get a first-hand look at the work — big, often colorful and thought-provoking.
Separated into two groups, students brought their drafted designs in the course’s last class May 20. Using a homemade projector, one group made stencils to illustrate a theme based on the concept of enlightenment. The second group, which received passerby participants, chalked a waterway with the slogan, “We’re all drops in the river.”
In the last class, students also spent time reflecting on what they had learned throughout their time examining street art, Griner said. One student admitted to having a preconceived notion of graffiti as a “blight” on city surfaces but now sees it as an “entire culture.”
Griner, who developed the course curriculum over a year, said many students foresaw driving through the city, seeing a blank wall, and asking themselves: “Why isn’t there graffiti on it?”
While Griner was familiar with street art, she too learned something new — the transcendent and interrelated quality of art communities, how the barriers between street art, graffiti and public art are more porous.
“There was just a hunger and veracity for learning and for connecting with people,” Griner said regarding the students and the instructors. “We just felt connected by our curiosity and our sense of community and our commitment to art as a form of self-expression.”
Because of its success, Griner said “Exploring Street Art in Atlanta” will be a standard course offered at the Spruill Center every spring and fall.
Aysha Pennerman, a professional muralist, guided students as they
etched their images on concrete.
The week before, she led an artist studio and introduced students to her experiences with communitybased murals. Pennerman also led discussion on how street art can be used to improve public safety, or tactical urbanism. She once created a “tactical walkway” mural in the Adams Park neighborhood in Atlanta because there weren’t any sidewalks.
Pennerman said public art can be transformative and inspirational, that it can become a source of pride for areas that are disinvested or neglected.
“It has the opportunity to bring voices to the forefront,” she said.
Pennerman often creates murals in low-income communities, at schools, and involves others in the process. From a concept developed over three sessions with students at Harper-Archer Elementary School, Pennerman and students filled in her paint-numbers design that harkened back to the school’s mascot — the Trailblazers.
“I thought of a light … they will be the ones that will continue to spread light wherever they go and make an impact,” Pennerman said. “I wanted to continue to speak that into them and into the community, that they are all lights. They can all make a difference in the world.”
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When one approaches the Chattahoochee River going south on Medlock Bridge Road in Johns Creek, the last house on the right is the home of Mildred (nearly everyone calls her Millie) Moore. The house sits on the banks of the river, next to a beautiful historic red barn and close to a once-white rectangular building with its own history. I have known Millie since I wrote the book “Barns of Old Milton County” 12 years ago. Her red barn slice of history is the first picture in the book. It is a pleasure for me to revisit the property and to write about Millie and her fascinating family.
The first Medlock in North Fulton County was Isham Medlock (17771852), who came to this area in 1818 from South Carolina. Millie’s grandfather William Oliver Medlock (1866-1934) was a descendant who built the original house, barn and various long-gone outbuildings and the rectangular building that remains on Millie’s property. He and his wife Louella-Hamilton Medlock (1867-1938) raised eight children on their 9- acre cotton and wheat farm. William Oliver’s father Robert Medlock Sr. (1832-1919) was born in Gwinnett County, and his wife Selma McDonald Medlock (18961974) was from Jefferson. All the generations had multiple children, so the Medlock’s have deep roots in this area.
Unfortunately, the original house on Millie’s property burned to the ground in 1913. The Atlanta Constitution reported that the fire started in the stove flue, and that only a piano and a few minor items were saved. Mr. Medlock was out on the farm at the time of the fire.
In 1886, William Oliver established a ferry service to carry farmers and their wagons across the Chattahoochee. His customers took produce and livestock from their farms in north Georgia to Atlanta to sell in exchange for “store-bought” clothing, kitchen utensils, tools and other household items. Travelers often spent the night near the barn in the rectangular building which served as a general store and bunkhouse.
In 1891 William Oliver upgraded his ferry service by building the first steel bridge across the Chattahoochee on his property. He charged 25 cents for
a wagon, five cents per person and a penny a head for livestock. Five years later he sold the bridge to Milton and Gwinnett counties. The steel bridge was replaced by a concrete span in 1958 when Medlock Bridge Road was realigned and paved. The road was widened to four lanes in 1993.
Milly’s parents were William Oliver’s son Robert David Medlock (18881948) and his wife Selma McDonald Medlock (1896-1974). Robert served as a wagoner in the 118 Field Artillery in World War 1. He was a postman for many years and was beloved by the people he served. When people did not have money for a stamp, Robert provided one and when they could not get to town, he delivered their groceries. When Robert died the officiating minister of the Warsaw Church said he had never seen so many people attend a funeral.
Miss Maude Brown lived with her mother in the store for many years. Miss Maude ran the store when Millie was a young girl. Millie remembers that Miss Maude sold candy and vegetables
to local residents and overnight travelers. She paid rent to Millie’s father and moved away several years after his death.
Millie had an identical twin sister, Selma Cheeley, and two older sisters, Sara and Annette, all deceased. The four girls were raised on the farm. They attended Warsaw School, one of five schools built in North Fulton in the 1920s and 1930s. Situated near the intersection of State Bridge and Medlock Bridge roads, the brick building currently is used as an office building
Selma, like Millie, was active in the community. She served on the local school board and was twice president of the Buford Women’s Club and was president of the local garden club.
Millie attended Georgia State College majoring in business. She was employed by Gulf Oil Corporation in Atlanta. In 1959, Millie married Davis Moore of Decatur (1927-1992). They raised two daughters Tricia Crawford and Marian Osborne, both of whom live close by. Davis was one of the top
salesmen for Johnson & Johnson Co. for 20 years covering 10 states.
Millie says growing up on the farm was a wonderful life. She remembers riding horses and ponies to Duluth and Norcross where they knew “most everyone.” The family entertained a lot of visitors and hosted McDonald family reunions attended by more than 100 people.
“Everyone brought home cooked dishes, so there was no store-bought food served at the reunions,” says Millie. An old basketball hoop saw a lot of use and still adorns the barn.
The Medlock’s were true pioneers. Roads, schools, neighborhoods, businesses and parks carry the Medlock name, keeping it alive and current.
Bob is director emeritus of the Milton Historical Society and a Member of the City of Alpharetta Historic Preservation Commission. You can email him at bobmey@bellsouth.net. Bob welcomes suggestions for future columns about local history.
Alpharetta is considering placing what amounts to a three-month gag order on ethics complaints lodged against candidates running for local office this year. That includes incumbents.
It’s a bad idea.
The City Council heard a report May 15 from City Attorney Molly Esswein that proposed amending the ethics ordinance to prohibit acceptance of ethics complaints against incumbents during the three months preceding a municipal election. This includes a primary or the general election.
When the matter came up earlier this week, the City Council tabled it. Councilmembers couldn’t agree on whether to include city residents on the Ethics Board or appoint attorneys from out of town.
Only Councilman John Hipes raised issue with that portion of the proposal that would extend candidates a blanket immunity during the height of a campaign.
Politics can be a nasty business, even at the local level. There were a lot of sleazy allegations thrown around in the 2021 Alpharetta City Council elections, none substantiated, so none worth printing then or now.
An ethics complaint, legitimate or not, can bludgeon a campaign and tarnish the reputation of a decent public servant.
Let’s consider Milton.
Before the ink had dried on its new city charter in 2006, two council members faced ethics charges, which were dismissed by the city ethics board. The charges were then refiled before the state Ethics Commission.
The mayor also was targeted with a campaign-related state ethics complaint.
And it didn’t stop there. One member of the Milton Ethics Board filed an ethics complaint against another member of the Ethics Board.
Council meetings devolved into accusations pitting one, two or three councilmembers hurling charges against the others.
Even after hiring an organizational psychologist and holding two teambuilding sessions, the Milton City Council was still a mess, and there was no end in sight.
After five ethics complaints in its first three years, Mayor Joe Lockwood pronounced it madness, saying each case was politically motivated.
Finally, Milton City Attorney Ken Jarrard – donning his red bow tie for maximum effect – suggested the city ditch its resident-based ethics board and name three out-of-town attorneys to preside over ethics cases.
While the measure didn’t bury many hatchets in the city’s verdant pastures,
governing in Milton gained traction and began operating.
Around the same time Milton was finally getting its sea legs, the young city of Dunwoody struggled with ethics warfare of its own.
Five years after it incorporated in 2007, the entire City Council faced an ethics complaint from a resident before the ethics board even had a set of bylaws on how to operate.
That sparked another series of ethics complaints.
The city attorney was forced out for allegedly leaking closed-meeting information. He took a lie detector test to disprove the charge, but it didn’t matter. A councilwoman spent more than a year defending herself from the same charge. She countered with an ethics complaint against a member of the ethics board and the attorney for the city. And for good measure, she filed ethics complaints against the mayor, City Council and the city manager.
The complaints were withdrawn after the city rang up more than $100,000 in legal fees.
Chuck it up to growing pains, I guess, but local government can be a squalid arena.
Even with this sordid history, though, it makes little sense to do what Alpharetta is considering. As proposed, the measure would provide a three-month blanket immunity to an incumbent seeking re-election.
Most striking of all is that it would deprive the electorate knowledge of possible malfeasance in a candidate they may support. It’s striking because Alpharetta City Attorney Molly Esswein is an associate at Jarrard & Davis law firm, which provides government counsel throughout north Metro Atlanta.
Ken Jarrard is Forsyth County Attorney and Milton City Attorney. Angela Davis is Cherokee County Attorney. Both speak throughout the state at law conferences on the Georgia Open Meetings Act and the Open Records Act.
I’ve had my tussles with Ken Jarrard over government disclosure of information. He’s a tough hombre. But one thing I am certain of is that he or his firm would never introduce a policy to shield government officials from legitimate criticism unless they were directed to do so by their client.
That narrows things down.
This fall, Alpharetta has a mayor and three City Council seats on the ballot. My sense is that one or more of these incumbents fear a smear is near.
This could all be avoided if Alpharetta adopted the same tack as Milton took 10 years ago. Get outside lawyers to evaluate ethics complaints and be rid of this silliness.
As for the three-month grace period from ethics complaints, elected officials should be accountable through their entire terms. They deserve not one second of immunity from facing ethics charges.
I didn’t plan it this way, but the last two books I read were by Canadian authors. One a new novelist, the other an old hand. My reading selection is governed by the availability of books at the library. I don’t visit there and peruse the shelves. Instead, I log on to the website and search for the books on my never-ending TBR list. That list is populated with books that sound interesting based on reviews I’ve seen in the paper or online. If the library has it, I put it on hold.
Sometimes, they’re bestsellers and I wind up as number 85 or something higher on the waitlist, meaning it could be months before I get the wonderful email that says, “Come get your book.” Other times, it seems I’m the only one looking
for a particular book, and it comes available almost immediately.
Though “The Maid” and “A World of Curiosities” are both bestsellers, they came in pretty quickly and in the same week, and I devoured them both.
“The Maid” by Nita Prose
The protagonist, Molly Gray, is a 25-year-old who struggles with social skills. Through the years, her grandmother has been her guide in understanding and reading the intentions of others. Molly doesn’t always know when she’s being made fun of or misled, and when her grandmother dies, life becomes more difficult for her.
A maid at a prestigious hotel, she is good at her job and appreciated by her manager, but not necessarily by her co-workers. She finds herself in a pickle when a guest dies in one of her rooms. The red herrings and clues abound in this puzzler. Who is out to get Molly? Who is on her side?
Will her social missteps do her in?
This mystery is well-plotted and the main character is endearing, all the things I love in a good book.
“A World of Curiosities” by Louise Penny
As is always the case with a Louise Penny mystery, I couldn’t put this one down. Inspector Gamache is back in the village of Three Pines surrounded by family and friends and soon, of course, a crime, or perhaps several.
I found this installment in the long-running series to be much darker than the previous ones, though none of them are by any means light. Perhaps this one is more disturbing because it reveals more about Armand Gamache, his early life and early cases, and the toll that those cases have taken on him. The mystery moves between the case that brought Gamache and his son-in-law Jean-Guy together and their current life as co-workers and
family. Though that case is in the past, it inserts itself into the present day.
This is a book about evil. Can someone be born evil? If so, can they ever change? What is a psychopath? What toll does evil take on the men and women who must deal with it as they seek to solve cases and put killers behind bars?
Once again, Louise Penny does a masterful job of portraying the evil in our world and the impact it has. After this one, though, I may need a palate cleanser, something a bit more light-hearted. Please drop me a line if you have a recommendation.
Author Kathy Manos Penn is a nominee for the 2023 Georgia Author of the Year Award. Find her cozy mysteries locally at The Enchanted Forest in Dunwoody and Bookmiser in East Cobb or on Amazon. Contact her at inkpenn119@gmail.com, and follow her on Facebook, www.facebook.com/ KathyManosPennAuthor/.
One of the many interesting things about ecosystems is that there are usually keystone species that serve as the backbone. The well-being or even survival of others within this interconnected environment has always depended upon the keystone species. It could be a wolf, a beaver, a gopher tortoise or a keystone native plant such as butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa).
Over hundreds, maybe thousands of years, a natural environment learns to depend on certain plants that have evolved alongside the local wildlife. These plants have proven to be steadfast sources of food and shelter for the indigenous birds, butterflies, bees and other pollinators and wildlife. Today we know them as “keystone native plants.”
Without these keystone native plants, our pollinators and wildlife struggle. (Or worst case, everything collapses like a long-ago Roman arch that lacks the central stone that locked everything together.) For example, there is concern that the eastern monarch butterfly population is declining due to several factors, including the loss of native milkweed. According to the U.S. Forest Service, though they feed on the nectar of many flowers, a monarch butterfly will only lay its eggs on a milkweed plant.
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) website has a Native Plant Finder that lists keystone native plants ranked by the number of butterfly and moth species that use them as host plants. To find a specific area, search nwf.org/ nativeplantfinder/plants and specify your location by entering your ZIP code.
Some suggestions include native oaks, cherries, eastern redbud, hawthorn, highbush blueberry, butterfly milkweed, black-eyed Susan, goldenrod, asters and Joe Pye weed.
The State Botanical Garden of Georgia at the University of Georgia encourages planting high-impact plants that support pollinators. The Georgia Pollinator Plant of the Year
program, a collaboration of the State Botanical Garden, UGA Extension and green industry partners, nominates four top-performing landscape plants that support pollinators each year.
The 2023 Pollinator Plants of the Year are: Spring bloomer: blue wild indigo (Baptisia australis); Summer bloomer: wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa); Fall bloomer: aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium); Georgia native: coastal plain Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium dubium).
When it comes to residential landscaping, there are a wide range of needs and goals. Some of us want greenspace with the lowest maintenance possible. Others may aspire to a picturesque landscape worthy of Monet’s Garden at Giverny.
Keep in mind that keystone and native plants do much more than turn a yard into a lovely scene that elicits “oohs” and “aahs” from those passing by. They’re the workhorse plants that support our food web and healthy wildlife communities.
Remember what Bill Nye the Science Guy said: “What happens to other species also happens to us.”
Happy Gardening!
North Fulton Master Gardeners, Inc. is a Georgia nonprofit 501(c) (3) organization whose purpose is to educate its members and the public in the areas of horticulture and ecology in order to promote and foster community enrichment. Master Gardener Volunteers are trained and certified by The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. Learn more at nfmg.net.
This week’s guest Master Gardener “Garden Buzz” columnist is Pam Rentz. Pam, a Roswell resident, has been a North Fulton Master Gardener since 2010. Along with a background in marketing communications for tech companies, she has a longtime passion for plants and our planet.
The 2023 Pollinator Plants of the Year: Spring bloomer: blue wild indigo (Baptisia australis); Summer bloomer: wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa); Fall bloomer: aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium); Georgia native: coastal plain Joe Pye weed (Eutrochium dubium).
Native Georgia plants tend to perform better in our climate and require less maintenance. To learn more about native plants, check out some of my favorite UGA Cooperative Extension Bulletins:
•Native Plants for Georgia Part I: Trees, Shrubs and Woody Vines - https://extension. uga.edu/publications/detail.html?number=B987&title=Native%20Plants%20for%20 Georgia%20Part%20I:%20Trees,%20Shrubs%20and%20Woody%20Vines
•Native Plants for Georgia Part II: Ferns -https://extension.uga.edu/publications/ detail.html?number=B987-2
•Native Plants for Georgia Part III: Wildflowers -https://extension.uga.edu/ publications/detail.html?number=B987-3&title=native-plants-for-georgia-part-iiiwildflowers
•Native Plants for Georgia Part IV: Grasses and Sedges -https://secure.caes.uga.edu/ extension/publications/files/html/B987-4/B987-4-highres.pdf
Facilities/Property Manager for church in Alpharetta area. Bene ts.
Needs basic competency of the practices, methods, and equipment utilized in facility maintenance, construction, and repair activities; including skills and abilities related to plumbing, janitorial, electrical systems, painting, carpentry, construction, and heating and air conditioning systems. Basic understanding of IT and AV technology would be helpful. Strong interpersonal skills and ability to manage contractors/volunteers. Requires successful completion of a criminal record and child abuse background check, a valid driver’s license and the ability to perform physical tasks.
Quali ed candidates please send resume to Alpharettajobopening@gmail.com.
Sawnee EMC is seeking a General Clerk III – Customer Service to assist in a high-volume call center. Requires high school diploma or equivalency, computer, communication and general o ce skills. Two years of related experience preferred. Position is full-time; must be exible to work irregular hours, to include evenings, weekends and holidays.
Applicants must complete an application prior to 5 PM, June 2, 2023. Apply online: www.sawnee.com/careers. If you require a paper application or an alternate format, please contact us at 770-887-2363 extension 7568.
Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation is an Equal Opportunity and A rmative Action Employer of Females, Minorities, Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities. Sawnee EMC is VEVRAA Federal Contractor. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable quali ed individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Drug Free Workplace.
Protestant church in downtown Alpharetta seeks a parttime (15-18 hours per week) Administrative Assistant for Youth & Children’s Ministries. In addition to normal administrative duties the candidate will assist with scheduling, social media, securing supplies, maintaining attendance records, planning events and mission trips.
Quali ed candidates are a person of outstanding character who is friendly, organized, able to prioritize, exhibits an understanding of the importance of con dentiality, and is willing and able to work in an environment that is welcoming and inclusive of all people.
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Community Events Manager
The Community Events Manager is responsible for all aspects of NFCC’s community events, from inception through execution, including helping secure sponsorships. Events may include annual golf tournament, annual fundraising gala, community engagement events, donor recognition events, and other community events. Position requires a highly organized, creative, and motivated person to lead event planning, sponsorship, and community engagement. Bachelor’s Degree preferred with 2-3 years special events and fundraising experience. To view entire listing visit: https://nfcchelp.org/workat-nfcc/ To apply, send a resume to Sandy Holiday, sholiday@nfcchelp.org.
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Sawnee EMC is seeking an Electrical Distribution System Engineer. Requires a bachelor’s degree in electrical, mechanical, civil engineering or similar engineering discipline. Preferred experience in design, modeling and maintenance of distribution power systems. Must have strong computer, mathematical and communication skills.
Applicants must complete an application prior to 5 PM, June 2, 2023. Apply online: www.sawnee.com/careers.
If you require a paper application or an alternate format, please contact us at 770-887-2363 extension 7568.
Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation is an Equal Opportunity and A rmative Action Employer of Females, Minorities, Veterans and Individuals with Disabilities.
Sawnee EMC is VEVRAA Federal Contractor. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable quali ed individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Drug Free Workplace.
A degree from an accredited college or university is preferred. Computer competence within O ce 365, editing, and writing skills are required. Experience with REALM is a plus.
Successful completion of a criminal records and child abuse background check is required.
Send resumes to alpharettajobopening@gmail.com.
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The Donor Operations Associate greets and removes donations from vehicles and sorts merchandise in a designated area. They are responsible for keeping the merchandise secure, all areas free of debris and the donor door area neat and clean. This position is the face of NFCC so they are expected to provide excellent customer service and treat each donor with a professional and friendly demeanor. High school diploma or equivalent preferred. Ability to perform low to moderate facility maintenance tasks. To view entire listing visit: https://nfcchelp.org/work-atnfcc/ To apply, please complete an application for employment and email to Marten Jallad, mjallad@nfcchelp.org.
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