Johns Creek Herald - February 23, 2023

Honoring, reclaiming history

Macedonia descendents remember, look ahead

By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Plastic flowers now adorn the graves at Macedonia Cemetery, a historical Black burial site off Medlock Bridge Road. Relatives of enslaved people buried on the grounds gathered there Feb. 18 to learn about its extensive history from members of the Johns Creek Historical Society.

Of those venerating the dead, one was as young as 4 to 5 years old, whose family member guided her hand to drive a bundle of flowers into the dirt as they knelt.

Sabrina Aquell, who organized the gathering, had been going to Macedonia Cemetery for years.

Aquell said the site holds around 80 percent of her family members, including her grandfather Sam Jones.

Because of the sadness that

See HISTORY, Page 4

Students lobby state for equitable funds

► PAGE 6

Alpharetta coaches personalize fitness

► PAGE 8

Former officer faces potential indictment

► PAGE 19

North Fulton mayors talk city elections

By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — City elections dominated discussions at the Feb. 9 meeting of the North Fulton Municipal Association held at the Avalon 1000 Building in Alpharetta. The organization, composed of elected and senior staff from North Fulton cities, meets monthly to discuss matters affecting their municipalities.

Over the past month, North Fulton city councils have explored efforts to run their own municipal election this fall in the face of rising charges from Fulton County, which has traditionally managed the polling.

In December, the Milton City Council voted to approve selfrun municipal elections this year following the recommendation from a locally appointed election study committee.

While the Alpharetta City Council approved a new city elections superintendent position, other cities are still deciding on whether to remain with Fulton County, run their own election or formally sign with other cities to seat an elections superintendent to oversee municipal elections in Milton, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Roswell and Mountain Park. The agreement, still in draft form, leaves each city to figure its

See ELECTIONS, Page 20

AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA

A young girl, with help from an older family member, plants flowers at Macedonia Cemetery grave Feb. 18. Descendants of those buried at Macedonia gathered Saturday and heard from Johns Creek Historical Society members about the cemetery’s history.

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Thieves take two safes in residential burglary

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — A couple left their home on Fairview Bluff with a locked door around 11:30 a.m. Feb. 6, and returned home a few hours later to find the door unsecured and damaged.

The man told Johns Creek Police he found multiple items missing from the dining room table, located immediately to the left of the front door. The bedroom and closet appeared to have been ransacked with multiple items missing, the police report said.

Two safes were taken, the report said, one from under each side of the master bed. The rest of the home appeared to be untouched.

Both the man and his wife reported multiple items missing, including two safes, basketball cards valued at $100,000, a laptop and iPad valued at $350, $22,000 in cash, 12 ounces of gold and 140 ounces of silver, two passports, immigration paperwork and a work permit.

Thieves raid mailboxes on Riverclub Parkway

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Johns Creek Police was dispatched to Riverclub Parkway Feb. 7 in reference to mail theft and received another call for mail theft on the same road less than an hour later.

When police arrived at 9 a.m., according to the first report, police observed many of the residential mailboxes on the road had their doors opened. Police then spoke to one victim, who said that between 3 p.m. Feb. 6 and 9 a.m. Feb. 7, a bundle of

mail was removed from her mailbox.

The victim said they were away from their home on vacation for eight days and returned Feb. 5. She held her mail with USPS and expected one large bundle of all eight days’ worth of mail to be delivered to her mailbox Feb. 6.

The victim checked her mailbox Feb. 6 at around 3 p.m. and said the mail had not yet been delivered for that day. When she walked outside the morning of the report, she observed her mailbox open with no parcels inside.

The victim said she used the United States Postal Service “Informed Delivery,” which sends her a scanned copy of every parcel of mail to be delivered on a given day. None of the expected parcels were located inside the mailbox, the report said.

Around 45 minutes later, the same officer received a second call regarding stolen packages at a residence on the same road. The officer, again, noticed that several mailbox doors were opened.

The second victim said her W-2 and several birthday cards addressed to her husband were stolen between 3 p.m. Feb. 6 and 9:30 a.m. that morning.

The woman also used the USPS “Informed Delivery” which sends her a scanned copy of every parcel of mail to be delivered on a given day and expected to have her W-2.

Neither residence had exterior facing cameras on site.

Stolen packages reported on River Trace Drive

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — When going out for a morning walk in his neighborhood Feb. 8, a homeowners association president was approached by a resident who said her mail was stolen from her mailbox and front porch on River Trace Drive.

The man also told Johns Creek Police he received an email about suspicious vehicles driving through the

neighborhood and looking in mailboxes around 6:20 a.m. Feb. 7.

He said he accessed the neighborhood’s camera system and was able to provide license plate info for three vehicles in the area around that time. The first vehicle was described as a white Toyota Corolla with a tag registered in Norcross. The second vehicle was a brown Nissan sedan with a tag registered in Marietta. The third vehicle had a Pennsylvania tag but did not come back with any information, the report said.

Police went to the victim’s home, but she was not there.

Two Feb. 7 reports were also filed regarding larceny from mailboxes, which occurred on Riverclub Parkway, about 1 mile north of River Trace Drive.

Suspect harasses student for online nude photos

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — A senior at Chattahoochee High School sent pictures to an unidentified man on social media, who threatened her stating he would release the photos if he didn’t receive more.

The victim told Johns Creek Police Feb. 10 that she had been contacted a month ago on social media. She was told that she needed to follow and contact an account and that the account owner would pay her for sending naked pictures.

The victim originally made contact with the man through Instagram, then Snapchat, then Telegraph. She said she sent nude images to him via Telegraph in hopes that he would send her money. She then told police she stopped talking to him and blocked him on social media.

She received a text message Feb. 10 from a person she believed to be the man, demanding more pictures, or he would leak her previous pictures to her whole school. She said she had not responded and that she plans to block all forms of contact with the man.

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.

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overcame Aquell whenever she would visit Macedonia, seeing the graves and their condition, she didn’t go often.

But lately, Aquell said visiting the cemetery has rejuvenated her spirit and decided to invite more than 40 of her family members to the cemetery to share the newfound feeling. Aquell hoped to re-introduce to her family the importance of getting involved with Macedonia Cemetery project efforts.

Ownership

Aquell met with Johns Creek Mayor John Bradberry a few weeks ago.

“I said, ‘How can you own us in life and [in death] too? How could you do that?” Aquell said. “I think this cemetery should be left for our family, for our children, for us to decide what we want to put up here.”

Aquell referenced the Georgia Cemetery Law that would have required the city to prepare a plan by a genealogist for identifying and notifying the descendants of those buried or believed to be buried at Macedonia before developing the property.

Aquell said she saw “They Were Here,” the grant-funded project

consisting of four documentaries produced by local high school students about Macedonia Cemetery.

“Yes, we’ve been here,” Aquell said. “We’ve been waiting.”

The first formal presentation of plans to descendants was a Jan. 9 meeting at City Hall where Johns Creek City Manager Ed Densmore heard grievances from Kirk Canaday, a

AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA

member of the Johns Creek Historical Society who oversees the project. Aquell attended the meeting as well as Madyun Shahid, a descendant of April Waters. Shahid, who lives in Virginia, had also previously visited Macedonia Cemetery with his family.

The Johns Creek City Council approved the measure to acquire the historic property in November 2020 and officially acquired the land September 2021.

While the city had been in contact with Shahid prior to the change in ownership, Shahid said he had only been engaged in casual conversations, rather than conversations about intent.

However, Bradberry said City Attorney Ron Bennett informed the city it had done everything necessary to move forward with acquisition and improvements.

The city only owns the land, Bradberry said, but not the graves themselves — echoing the Georgia Cemetery Law that declares “human remains and burial objects are not property to be owned by the person or entity” as they are “part of the finite, irreplaceable and nonrenewable cultural heritage of the people of Georgia.”

A history lesson

On the chilly afternoon, Aquell’s family sat in rows, holding laminated images of the cemetery and attentively listened to Aquell as she stated her reasons for inviting them there.

She opened with her philosophy on God, the soul, the purpose of life and the way everyone should treat one another.

“It’s the soul that counts,” she said.

Carla Carter walked over to Aquell

carrying a binder of records that held the lineage of Sam Jones, Aquell’s grandfather who is buried at the cemetery. Through stories passed down to her, Aquell said she has a strong connection to Jones.

Carter joined the Johns Creek Historical Society a year ago after reading about Macedonia Cemetery, realizing that the cemetery had been in poor condition, overrun with weeds.

“[The graves] deserve to be recognized and taken care of,” Carter said.

Joan Compton, president of the Johns Creek Historical Society, stepped in to describe the history of the Cherokee Nation, which once lived in the same area and owned the plantation where many were enslaved — including April Waters.

“Part of researching the people that are buried here is how did they do? How did they live when they got a chance? Did they ever learn to read and write? Did they ever accumulate any wealth? Did they ever buy land?” Compton said. “April’s one that did not, unfortunately.”

‘We is here’

Macedonia Cemetery had been the “one calling card” for the Black residents of Johns Creek, said Nicole Washington, founder of Impact Johns Creek. The organization, founded in 2020, is intended to bring together and engage Black residents.

“There are Black people in Johns Creek,” Washington said. “But we’re not organized, we’re not structured, we’re not together, we’re not a unified front.”

Washington said she didn’t want the event to be the first and last time Aquell’s family was present. Things have just begun to change, she said, with people like Canaday and Devon Dabney, who was filming the event for an upcoming documentary about Macedonia.

Dabney said the student-produced documentaries about Macedonia Cemetery had been criticized as “sanitized,” and so, her documentary seeks to paint a fuller portrayal.

Dabney, a member of Impact Johns Creek, is also the co-chair of the Johns Creek Arts, Culture and Entertainment Committee. The committee recently recommended the city host a Juneteenth celebration and have the federal holiday added to the city calendar.

With a raised voice, Washington asked, “Johns Creek will know who we are, and by ‘we,’ who are we talking about?”

“Us,” the crowd responded.

“Because we is here and we ain’t going nowhere,” Washington said. “Can I get an ‘Amen’?”

Sabrina Aquell speaks to a crowd at Macedonia Cemetery in Johns Creek Feb. 18. Aquell organized the gathering, asking her family members to get involved with the cemetery project.

Georgia students campaign for education funding equity

By DELANEY TARR delaney@appenmedia.com

ATLANTA — Francesca Ruhe and Mason Goodwin are ready to seize the power of young people, and they want to use it to bring equity to public school funding.

The two are registered lobbyists for their statewide organization, Georgia Youth Justice Coalition.

The organization has members from ages 14-22 focused on education justice in communities across Georgia. The nonprofit has grassroots and legislative divisions, all led by students and young people.

On Feb. 16, Ruhe and Goodwin sat outside the Georgia Capitol for a quick break from one of their legislative initiatives. The pair are part of a lobby day, put on in partnership with organizations including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Deep Institute in Savannah.

Goodwin said the groups created a coalition called Fund Georgia’s Future, focused on “fair and full funding” for schools across the state.

The organizers are grateful for the help from their well-known partner organizations, but their focus is on what young people can bring to legislator’s offices.

“Legislators don’t expect some very highly motivated … young people who are demanding change,” Ruhe said. “We just kind of seize that power.”

At 18 years old, Francesca Ruhe lobbies in between classes at Georgia State University. For the Feb. 16 lobby day, she wore business attire — except for the bright yellow Converses, covered in pictures of Woodstock from the Peanuts cartoons.

Mason Goodwin, 20, is a student at Georgia State University.

They make up a fraction of Georgia Youth Justice Coalition, which has a “student base of hundreds” according to Ruhe. At the lobby day, their nonprofit brought about 25 students to the Capitol.

“There’s an infinite number of us, and we all have the same gripes with the public education system,” Ruhe said.

At the lobby day, the coalition of students and adults focused on an “opportunity weight,” which would add funding to schools that serve students in poverty.

“It could help make up the difference (in funding) between the richer schools in the North Metro Atlanta area and the South Metro area,” Ruhe said.

The opportunity weight is part of

Georgia House Bill 3, called the “Support for Students Living in Poverty Act” introduced in January.

Georgia is one of only six states with a school funding formula that does not provide additional funds to schools with low-income students. The state does provide equalization grants through the “Quality Basic Education Act,” which was passed in 1985. The grants focus on filling funding gaps for poor and rural areas.

Goodwin and Ruhe said their experiences in Georgia schools are fundamental to their legislative work, especially when it comes to education funding.

Ruhe said she saw educational disparity for the first time in middle school. In sixth grade she joined an organization called Page Turners, aimed at bringing books to underserved

schools across Metro Atlanta.

As a volunteer, Ruhe traveled around Atlanta and interviewed authors in front of groups of kids.

“It was incredible, the disparities,” Ruhe said. “In my own personal upbringing, which I consider to be pretty privileged I had all the resources I needed to be a fluent reader.”

At an early age, Ruhe saw the impacts of economic disparity.

Mason Goodwin had a different experience growing up but a similar takeaway. He was one of the “lower income, single-parent households kids” in Atlanta public schools.

Goodwin started in the general classes, where he was the only White student. In his junior year, Goodwin got pushed into honors classes. The classrooms were full of other White students.

“You start asking the kids and they’re like ‘Yeah, I’m getting tutors for my AP classes,’” Goodwin said. “You realize they have the resources to actually push through school.”

Goodwin said that “waking moment” pushed him into activism.

Ruhe and Goodwin said the Georgia Youth Justice coalition has been involved in major efforts, from onthe-ground work to stop book bans in Forsyth County to conversations about the school to prison pipeline in Gwinnett County.

“The beauty of the coalition is that we’re made up of students, and students always have a million different issues to contend with,” Ruhe said.

Even if the students don’t win every fight, the young organizers are optimistic.

“Just being here is a huge win,” Ruhe said.

GEORGIA YOUTH JUSTICE COALITION/PROVIDED

A group of about 25 students from across Georgia participated in a “lobby day” with Georgia Youth Justice Coalition on Feb. 16. The organizers and lobbyists focused on the creation of an “opportunity weight” to help low-income students in Georgia schools.

Exercise Coach Alpharetta personalizes fitness

By SHELBY ISRAEL shelby@appenmedia.com

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — When Eric Roberts lost his job in 2019, he was forced to reimagine what he wanted to do with his life.

“I was just kind of trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and I was so glad to be back in Georgia,” Roberts said. “I was so glad to be back in Alpharetta that I absolutely thought, you know, I want to do something locally, and I’d always wanted to provide jobs.”

Roberts, a Macon native, spent his career traveling around the United States and Canada. After an opportunity relocated him and his wife to Georgia, Roberts opened The Exercise Coach Alpharetta in February 2021 after a year of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The studio, located in Suite 800 at 735 North Main St., offers customers two 20-minute sessions a week, where they work one-on-one with a coach to find a personalized routine that works for them.

Customers exercise on the studio’s proprietary Exerbotics equipment, which analyzes the user’s minimum and maximum force to tailor the experience. The machine, Roberts said, learns something new about a customer every time they use it.

The display on the equipment shows a range for each user. Roberts said the goal is to keep the line within the shaded area.

Rather than doing 20 reps, he said, a user will do between four and eight intense reps, which loads the body’s muscles and burns energy. With each experience, workouts get progressively

harder along with the customer’s individual pace.

Roberts, 54, said he had never enjoyed exercising, but a longtime friend introduced him to the studio’s Dunwoody location. There, despite initial skepticism, Roberts said he found a love of fitness, which he wanted to share with the community.

“And when I started to do it and I

fell in love with it, I then signed the deal,” Roberts said. “It not only meets the need of what I had wanted to do is to bring jobs locally, but it’ll allow me to work out with a coach because I still work out to this day with my own coaches.”

He said his father, who owned a convenience store when Roberts was growing up, often spoke of the pride he

had for his business that gave him the ability to give back to the community.

The studio employs five coaches who build relationships with customers to provide a customized experience beyond the equipment, Roberts said. Many of the studio’s customers, he said, are retired or

See FITNESS, Page 9

SHELBY ISRAEL/APPEN MEDIA

The Exercise Coach Alpharetta employs five, including, from left, owner Eric Roberts, Studio Manager Roxanne Foster, and coaches Joe Dougherty and Justin Phillips. Coaches at the 735 North Main St. studio work individually with clients to provide a personalized fitness experience.

I was so glad to be back in Alpharetta that I absolutely thought, you know, I want to do something locally, and I’d always wanted to provide jobs.

ERIC ROBERTS, owner, The Exercise Coach

Fitness:

Continued from Page 8

live lifestyles that leave little time for exercise.

“We have a lot of pilots that come to us,” Roberts said. “We have a lot of retired people that come to us. We also have younger people as well, but it really is for that person that’s on the go, getting that full workout and not having to spend an hour in the gym and walking out of there and not feeling like you’ve just been attacked in any way, shape or form.”

Roberts also said the studio is a no-judgment zone that has no mirrors, and it lacks the atmosphere that many gyms have.

Before opening the studio, Roberts worked in the insurance and energy efficiency industries. While he still does some consulting work on the side, Roberts said The Exercise Coach Alpharetta is his passion.

Beyond providing employment opportunities, Roberts said seeing how his studio has improved his customers’ lives is a rewarding experience. He described himself as a customer and the owner, and working out alongside patrons gives him the opportunity to find ways to improve the business.

Part of the personalized experience,

Roberts said, is ensuring that customers get their money’s worth. He said the studio has been successful, and 10 percent of his customers have been there since day one.

The Exercise Coach has five other locations in Georgia. After his

experience with the Alpharetta studio, Roberts said he hopes to open another in Cumming, Woodstock or Canton in the next year and a half.

“It’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever experienced,” Roberts said.

The studio stops by the North Main

Street Market at Alpharetta, which takes place in the parking lot in front of the studio, on Wednesdays from 3:30-6:30 p.m.

The Exercise Coach Alpharetta is open weekdays 6 a.m.-8 p.m., and Saturdays 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

SHELBY ISRAEL/APPEN MEDIA

The Exercise Coach Alpharetta Studio Manager Roxanne Foster uses the 735 North Main St. studio’s proprietary Exerbotics abdominals and back machine Feb. 16. The user’s goal is to keep the yellow line within the green shaded range, which will adjust in the next workout based on the user’s performance.

Youth and their mental health: meeting our students where they are

Brought

Director of Development at Summit Counseling Center

While the pandemic is in the rearview mirror for many, we are still riding the wave of challenges brought on by Covid-19 with specific impact on our youth. Recent studies have shown that children are facing a variety of problems including anxiety, depression, impulsivity, sleep problems, and beyond (National Library of Medicine). If left untreated, research tells us that these symptoms can lead to adverse consequences including drug and alcohol abuse, violence or self-destructive behavior, low educational attainment, and lower rates of employment in adulthood (2023 Voices of Georgia Children Factbook). Additionally, suicide rates among youth are once again on the rise, with suicide being the 3rd leading cause of death for individuals 3-17 in Georgia (2023 Voices of Georgia Children Factbook).

These staggering statistics point to the vital need for mental health services in our schools. School board members nationwide consider student mental health the most pressing issue facing schools and students today, according to a new national survey of school board members commissioned by Mental Health First Aid USA. In our state, 45% of children aged 3-17 struggle to, or are not able to access needed mental health services due to the many barriers. (2023 Voices of Georgia Children Factbook).

By partnering with local public and private schools in our community, Summit Counseling Center addresses many of the

mental health challenges facing youth today. Through Summit OnSite, we currently have therapists in 31 schools providing therapy to students on a daily basis. This program aims to meet each child where they are – physically at their schools, and financially through subsidized sessions – to ensure they have access to the support they need and otherwise may not receive.

As a nonprofit counseling center, The Summit’s school-based program is one of the many ways we provide hope, healing, and restoration to our community. At our core, we strive to create a community where everyone has full access to professional, integrative mental health services without the barriers of affordability, accessibility, or stigma. To learn more about our services, visit us online at www.summitcounseling.org

We invite you to join our mission by attending or sponsoring our 8th annual Summit Gala: A Hope Full Experience on Saturday, March 25th at The Hotel at Avalon. Each year at our gala, hundreds of community leaders and Summit supporters gather to celebrate and reflect on how far we’ve come, share the joy and generosity of our community, and express our continued commitment to support mental wellness. Funds raised at this event help subsidize counseling for children, adults, and families in our community.

To learn more about attendance and sponsorship opportunities for our gala, please visit www.summitcounseling. org/gala or contact Rachel Newcomer, Director of Development, at rnewcomer@ summitcounseling.org.

to you by - Rachel Newcomer,

Brought to You by Home Helpers of Alpharetta and North Atlanta Suburbs

While February brings thoughts of those we love and Valentine’s Day cards, the best gift of all is to remember it’s also American Heart Month. Heart disease is the leading cause of hospitalization for those over age 65 and is still the leading cause of death in this country. Over 800,000 deaths a year are due to cardiovascular disease. The good news is it’s largely preventable, so let’s review how to improve and maintain your heart health.

Monitoring your blood pressure is a key indicator of where you stand with your heart health. Yet only 48 per cent of people aged 50 to 80 who take medication or have a health condition affected by high blood pressure (or hypertension) monitor it on a regular basis. Preventing hypertension lowers your risk of heart disease and stroke. So setting a regular schedule and getting a blood pressure monitor you can learn to use at home is the start of knowing the numbers for your heart health journey.

Eating a healthy diet with a variety of food with potassium, fiber, protein, and importantly is lower in salt is critical. Flavor your food using more spices, eat salads and steamed vegetables. Select grilled poultry or fish and avoid heavy sauces, salad dressings and fats. This will help you get to or keep a healthy weight.

Staying physically active and reducing stress comes next. Moderate walking or other forms of physical exercise can do wonders. While 150 minutes of moderate activity a week is recommended, be sure to check with your doctor about forming

a personalized plan of action and regular visits that are right for your current health status. Social isolation can also impact your stress levels, so staying in touch with friends, community groups and family is an important part of the picture.

Sleep is emerging as an ever increasing factor in heart health. It keeps your blood vessels healthy, and not getting enough sleep on a regular basis correlate to increased rates of stroke, high blood pressure and heart disease. Aim for a regular schedule and seven to eight hours of sleep.

Stop smoking and be careful about alcohol consumption for a healthy heart. So, if this is an issue, monitor your use and start a plan to cut back.

At Home Helpers, we know how important a skilled and well-matched Caregiver is to helping an older loved one maintain their heart health. Whether it’s making sure a moderate walk can be done without fear of a fall risk, regularly monitoring blood pressure and vital signs, following a nutritious diet, keeping a regular sleep schedule, or creating social bonds to battle loneliness, we strive to make each day the best it can be.

Our heart centered Caregivers can assist with all personal care, help around the house, safely speed up recovery from surgery, or provide specialized care for Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Parkinson’s, etc.

We’re here to help - from six hours a day, several days a week to 24/7 and livein care. For a free consultation contact Home Helpers of Alpharetta and North Atlanta Suburbs today at (770) 6810323.

It’s time to focus on heart health

Sunshine on healing skin — one step forward, two steps back?

The most common pre-cancerous lesion dermatologists treat is the actinic keratosis or “AK.” These rough growths are often frozen with liquid nitrogen and gone in a zap. Sometimes, however, a patch of skin is covered with precancerous lesions. One almost doesn’t know where to start. For such a patient, the correct treatment is often not to spray twenty or thirty AKs with liquid nitrogen. If the whole patch of skin is affected with precancerous lesions, then spot treatments like liquid nitrogen zaps will just result in a game of whack-a-mole. One AK is beaten down only to have one or two more pop up by the next visit.

Field damage demands field treatment. Rather than spot-treating individual AK’s, an entire patch of skin can be treated with certain creams and therapies to reduce the number of precancers and the amount of sun damage in an entire area. Field treatments like fluorouracil cream, imiquimod cream, and photodynamic therapy (“blue light therapy”) can reduce the AK burden across an entire zone such as the entire scalp or face. These treatments reduce the number of future cancers and get the number of AK’s back down to a reasonable number.

I often recommend field treatments to my patients but with one big caveat. I tell them, “Don’t undergo a field treatment unless you can stay out of the sun during the treatment and for a week or so afterwards.” I advise patients that I am worried that sun damage on skin that is being treated or is recovering may not only cancel out the benefits but might leave them worse off.

Why the worry? Am I overcautious? I believe not. I’m concerned about more than just a little sunburn. I’m concerned about the sun hitting cells when they are at their most vulnerable: when they are replicating – such as when cells fill in tiny wounds and even micro-gaps created from the killing of precancers like AKs.

Every system has its vulnerabilities,

and our DNA repair processes are no different. Our cells’ repair processes work well during the resting phases of cell life when they are happily performing their usual functions. But when a cell decides to duplicate its DNA and divide into daughter cells in a process called mitosis, some of the repair processes are temporarily shut down.

Remember in the movie Jurassic Park when getting the park back online requires temporarily turning everything off? The electricity to the fences had to be shut off, too, and some of the carnivorous dinosaurs escaped and wreaked havoc. Well, the same thing happens in our cells when they duplicate their DNA and divide from one cell into two cells. When cells synthesize new DNA, many of the DNA repair processes are temporarily turned off to allow DNA duplication and cell division to take place. If a mutation, such as from sunlight, occurs when the repair systems are off, then the mutation is often not corrected. The resulting daughter cells are permanently affected with the mutation. Such mutated cells can develop into cancer.

Field treatments like fluorouracil, imiquimod and photodynamic therapy kill bad cells. The healthy neighbor cells must then start dividing to take the place of the bad cells. More cells dividing means more cells with DNA repair processes in the “off” position. Treatments aimed at eliminating cancerous lesions temporarily create a vulnerable state.

Advice to avoid the sun during AK treatments is not just a case of preventing your usual sunburn or of healing skin being more sensitive. Healing skin is more susceptible to mutations and DNA damage from sunburns than resting skin is. Biology argues against taking a “cheat day” and getting sun exposure during or after any treatment that requires skin to heal. If you find yourself in need of field treatment such as PDT, fluoruracil or imiquimod, remember it is only a good idea if you can stay out of the sun during the entire treatment and for the time it takes afterwards for your skin to repair itself.

Brought to you by - Brent Taylor, MD, Premiere Dermatology and Mohs Surgery of Atlanta

The senior orphans

Brought to you by –Michelle Wilson, Wilson Legal, PC

Dear readers, This article is for those whose nest was never full. The senior orphans we call them. They don’t come see attorneys like me to make a plan for others to help with financial or health issues or to deal with their estate after death because they are sad, feel ashamed, or embarrassed that they don’t have family to fill those seats.

If this is you, I want you to know that there are people who can help. Helpers can be friends, extended family, or professionals.

WILSON

And you can compensate a helper so that you don’t feel that you’re a burden. Sometimes friends love you just as much or more than your actual relatives and are happy to help. Professionals passionate about helping people who feel alone in this area wonderful to meet and include in your plans. Please know that your life is valuable and that you can have an estate plan too. Please call us if you or someone you know needs help choosing helpers. At Wilson Legal, we love finding helpers for those who didn’t think they could have help. You don’t have to choose to age alone.

Pain relieving Laser Therapy

Brought to you by - Johns Creek Physical Therapy

Having treated hundreds of patients over the past 6 years with Pain Relieving Laser Therapy, it’s not hard for me to appreciate how well it works. But if you’ve never tried it, trust me when I tell you…. you’re missing out!

Several years ago, John Deere ran a promotion on their zero turn lawn mowers. They used a fun tag line, “It’s not how fast

you mow, it’s how well you mow FAST!”

I wish I could come up with a similar tag line for Pain Relieving Laser Therapy because it can deliver pain relief in just a few minutes. It’s not uncommon for patients to have their pain be reduced by 50% on the first treatment.

How does it work? Pain Relieving Laser Therapy uses light energy to promote heal-

ing and reduce pain. Laser Therapy is FDA cleared to treat pain, inflammation, arthritis, and muscle spasms and is a great alternative to medications and injections.

The most common thing we hear after someone tries it for the first time is “WOW!” I’m sure if you are just reading this article, you are probably thinking, “yeah, RIGHT??!! Nothing works that fast!”

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Performer evokes the spirit of Harriet Tubman in one-woman show

By DELANEY TARR delaney@appenmedia.com

ROSWELL, Ga. — The stage at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center was sparsely decorated, with only a few trunks and boxes as decoration for the one-woman show, “The Spirit of Harriet Tubman,” Feb. 4. The set was all writer and star Leslie McCurdy needed to put on the play, which she has performed for 26 years.

As a dancer-turned-actor, McCurdy portrayed abolitionist Harriet Tubman’s life from childhood to old age using only her movement and strategic costumes. The show was a part of the city’s month-long Roswell Roots festival celebrating Black History Month.

Harriet Tubman is best known for her time as an activist working the Underground Railroad, a network of activists and safe houses used by slaves searching for freedom. Tubman was born into slavery and escaped through the Underground Railroad, then returned to rescue 70 more slaves across 13 missions.

Throughout the hour-long family friendly show, McCurdy explored

the life and “spirit” of the famous abolitionist in depth, talking about Tubman’s, childhood, family and romantic interests.

As 7-year-old Tubman, McCurdy bounded across the stage and gestured wildly. As Tubman aged,

McCurdy crept through the seats to hide from slave catchers, and later in life, McCurdy’s Tubman trembled and croaked with the wisdom of an elderly woman.

For McCurdy, the performance was an ode to her “personal hero.” McCurdy has always studied Harriet Tubman, but it wasn’t until a friend told her about a play about Tubman that she considered playing her hero.

Once she was cast, McCurdy started performing the play, but she wasn’t comfortable with the script.

“(My friend) actually told me to take that other person’s play and edit it and then I could still use it,” McCurdy said. “He did not tell the playwright that.”

When McCurdy got a cease-anddesist order from the playwright, she wrote her own play and performed it.

“I wrote it in three weeks and memorized it in two days,” McCurdy said. “Twenty-six years later, I’m still doing it.”

After the Feb. 4 performance, McCurdy hosted a Q&A with the audience. She said she does it after every show to help people engage with the material. She also told the audience that not everything in the show is truthful, because it was based off the “legend” of Harriet Tubman.

When a child asked what McCurdy learned creating the show, she said “all of this stuff you saw.”

McCurdy has left the script the same since she created it, even though the information available on Tubman has shifted over that time. McCurdy has changed, though, and

so has her performance.

“Every year, I’m a little different, and I bring that perspective,” McCurdy said.

When asked why she keeps performing the piece year after year, McCurdy’s answer was simple.

“Audiences keep requesting it, and I love it.” McCurdy said. “Performing, it gives me life.”

She came to Roswell after the city’s Cultural Arts Center requested she put on two shows for the annual Roswell Roots festival, a monthlong celebration of Black History Month with various educational and cultural events. McCurdy performed the play on Feb. 3 and Feb. 4.

“We programmed this show because we wanted to include a strong youth and family event in our Roots line-up,” Cultural Arts Coordinator David Crowe said. “One that was educational, theatrical and showcased the way arts and culture can bring a community together through history and storytelling.”

Roswell City Councilwoman Christine Hall attended the show, and said it was a great moment for the Roswell Roots 2023 festival.

“This year really rocks,” Hall said.

Families lined up after the show to meet McCurdy and take photos with the performer. One woman tearfully hugged McCurdy and thanked her for her work. Another woman from Tucker said the show was “awesome.”

“Through the arts you can touch people emotionally, even if it might make them uncomfortable,” McCurdy said.

DELANEY TARR / APPEN MEDIA

Writer and performer Leslie McCurdy answers questions from the audience after a performance of her one-woman show “The Spirit of Harriet Tubman” on Saturday, Feb. 4 at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center.

School program pairs students in workshop

By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Juniors at Valor Christian Academy who have interest in a career in the medical field, developed and led learning stations for first grade students Feb. 14.

The learning stations featured hands-on activities focused on the ears and eyes.

The workshop was organized through Valor Christian Academy’s Diploma of Distinction program, which provides high school students an opportunity to receive credit for further study, research and experience in their area of interest. The school creates a space in students’ schedules for internships.

Because of the program, Head of School Jennifer Gastley said one student will be a licensed pilot by the time he graduates.

Gastley said Valor Christian Academy is one of the least expensive private schools in the area. Parents pay $10,500 for a full-time, 12th grade student at Valor Christian Academy.

Meanwhile, Mount Pisgah Christian in Johns Creek asks for $25,095 annually for upper school students.

Opened in 2020, Valor Christian Academy on Kimball Bridge Road combines a hybrid school named

Legacy Community Academy and a traditional school named Bridgeway Christian Academy.

“What we realized is that students learn differently, and not everybody needs to be sitting in a building five

days a week learning,” Gastley said.

Students are given many options. They can be hybrid, receiving education at home and at school. They can go the traditional route, attending five days a week. High school students use Friday as an independent learning day, Gastley said, which helps them prepare for the college experience.

Parents can also do home school and pay Valor Christian Academy for a curriculum and standardized testing.

In the fall, the school is launching a fully virtual school program, but has one student piloting the program now.

More plans are in the works. Next year, Valor Christian Academy is rolling out a tiered special education support program. Special education is hard to come by in private schools, Gastley said, because there’s often not a mandate for private schools that they have to meet student needs.

“[Valor Christian Academy] is kind of like a one-stop shop for all modes of instruction,” Gastley said.

Former Alpharetta police officer may face charges in K-9 incident

By SHELBY ISRAEL shelby@appenmedia.com

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Former Alpharetta Police Officer Michael Esposito may face criminal charges this March stemming from a July 2021 use of force incident.

In an official 2021 review of the incident, the Alpharetta Police Department found there was no violation of federal, state or departmental policy.

Despite the verdict of the police review, Esposito may now face charges from a Fulton County grand jury.

Alpharetta City Councilmembers passed a resolution Jan. 23 that provides legal representation to former and current employees of the city acting within the course and scope of their duties. The vote came after Esposito had reached out to request legal aid.

Speaking at the January meeting, City Administrator Chris Lagerbloom said the city had been notified by the Fulton County District Attorney that she intends to present the charges before a grand jury in March. Lagerbloom said the city will provide up to $10,000 per year in legal aid to Esposito until the point

that a formal indictment is made by the grand jury.

Alpharetta police were dispatched to Travis Moya’s home for a domestic disturbance call July 25, 2021.

In the following minutes,

Esposito released the K9 Ares, who attacked Moya’s upper arm, leaving “large amounts of blood and fatty tissue coming out of the wound,” according to the initial incident report.

Moya’s family said he was not

resisting.

Moya was charged with felony willful obstruction of law enforcement officers and misdemeanor obstruction of law enforcement. The charges were dropped June 2, 2022, after Fulton County Assistant District Attorney Melissa Roth filed a nolle prosequi order due to insufficient evidence to support a finding of guilt.

Moya and Stewart Miller Simmons Trial Attorneys of Atlanta filed a civil suit against Esposito and Officers J.J. Frudden and Chrisopher Benfield; the City of Alpharetta; Police Chief John Robison; and Lt. R.A. Splawn in 2022.

Moya’s attorneys say the incident resulted in Moya suffering “excruciating physical injuries and pain and suffering, permanent disfiguration to his arm, loss of wages, humiliation, significant emotional trauma and distress, and other damages as a direct and proximate result of Defendants’ violations of law.”

The civil case is still pending.

Assistant City Administrator James Drinkard said Alpharetta cannot comment on pending legal matters per city policy.

MOYA FAMILY/PROVIDED

Cellphone footage shows Alpharetta police officers surrounding Travis Moya during a July 25, 2021, domestic incident at the Moya home.

VALOR CHRISTIAN ACADEMY/PROVIDED

Valor Christian Academy junior Cam Jenkins leads a workshop Feb. 14 with first graders, who are studying the ears and eyes. The workshop was organized through Valor’s Diploma of Distinction program, which allows high school students to receive credit for further study, research and experience in their area of interest.

Newspaper Delivery Route Openings with Appen Media Group

We are looking for one person or couple interested in delivering weekly newspapers in South Forsyth, Alpharetta and the Johns Creek areas.

Requirements: Must have a perfect driving record and background check, reliable transportation, honest, hard-working and positive attitude.

For more information or to apply, email heidi@appenmedia.com and include a paragraph or two about who you are and any relevant background/experience. In the subject line of the email please put “Delivery Route Application.”

Elections:

Continued from Page 1

way through election operations.

Sandy Springs has no municipal elections scheduled for this year.

The remaining cities have until the end of March to decide whether to contract with Fulton County or embark on their own to operate polling.

The municipal organization

The North Fulton Municipal Association includes the cities of Sandy Springs, Alpharetta, Johns Creek, Milton, Roswell and Mountain Park.

A partner to the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce, the municipal organization has no webpage, so agendas or meeting schedules are not posted. The group’s chairman, Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul, said the association has been “going on” since he was elected, about a decade ago.

“It’s mostly an opportunity for us to get together and share information, kind of talk through common problems and develop solutions, and proposals, for how we work as a region in the North Fulton area,” Paul said.

Meetings generally include the mayor and possibly some city councilmembers from each city as well as city managers and other senior staff.

At least four members of the Johns Creek City Council – a quorum that qualifies as an official Johns Creek City Council meeting – were present at the gathering. The city’s official website carries no listing for the council meeting.

The association also regularly invites representatives from other entities, like Fulton County Government, the Georgia Department of Transportation, MARTA and the Atlanta Regional Commission.

A printed handout shows the meetings are held monthly on Thursdays at 11:30 a.m. on the following dates: March 23, April 27, May 25, June 22, July 27, Aug. 24, Sept. 28, Oct. 26, Nov. 16 and Dec. 13.

Municipal elections

The setup in the conference room Feb. 9, positioned officials in a roundtable discussion without microphones, so discussions were sometimes inaudible from the gallery.

Conversation about municipal elections was short, running around 10 minutes. The newly drafted multi-city agreement was not discussed.

However, Fulton County commissioners Bob Ellis and Bridget Thorne provided information on the county’s municipal election budget.

In a split vote, the County Commission passed a resolution Feb. 1 to budget the same amount of money for municipal elections as it did in 2021 — $5.2 million, plus an extra 10 percent for contingencies. The county would then assess its charge for running a local election based on the number of registered voters in the city.

Some estimates for the cost per registered voter were then tossed around.

Milton City Manager Steve Krokoff said he figured the cost per registered voter will be more than $7 for cities that allow Fulton County to conduct their municipal elections this fall.

But, because Milton has already set up an apparatus to run its own election, its cost per registered voter will be less than $3, Mayor Peyton Jamison said.

Following the meeting, Johns Creek City Councilwoman Erin Elwood found herself in a tense conversation with Alpharetta Mayor Jim Gilvin, in which she expressed concerns about the logistics of North Fulton cities running their own election on short notice as well as cost being the determining factor.

Elwood has consistently contested the idea of Johns Creek running its own election or signing an agreement with other cities to coordinate municipal elections.

But Gilvin maintained he has faith in the cities to do a better job than Fulton County this year.

In other action at the meeting, Johns Creek Mayor John Bradberry, who was not in attendance, was elected as the new Municipal Association chair.

AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA

Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis speaks to North Fulton mayors Jim Gilvin and Rusty Paul at the North Fulton Municipal Association’s Feb. 9 meeting.

Dunwoody mourns loss of dog rescue volunteer

By ALEXANDER POPP alex@appenmedia.com

DUNWOODY, Ga. — To nearly all who knew or met her, Dunwoody resident Rosemary Rutland was an unrelenting force of selflessness, generosity and positivity.

Friends and family said Rutland dedicated herself to supporting and caring for animals in the community for decades, helping countless dogs find forever homes with loving families in the process.

Rutland died Jan. 23 at the age of 64 after a protracted battle with pancreatic cancer, but those who knew her best said her legacy will live on through the lives of people and animals her work affected.

“She is going to be a tremendous loss,” Rutland’s longtime friend Lisa Johnson said.

Johnson, who founded Ruff Dog Rescue in Milton, said Rutland was a master at seeing, “the extraordinary out of the ordinary” and loved helping the most difficult dogs, no matter what type of care they needed.

Rutland made a habit of rescuing dogs who had truly been left behind, Johnson said.

“She never went for the easy dogs,” she said. “She didn’t go for the little cute little fluffy dog that everyone ponders over, she would literally go and look at the longest residents there.”

But throughout her years working at animal shelters and rescue programs in the community, Rutland’s

husband Tracy said his wife’s greatest gift was her ability to engage with people and help them find the right dog.

“So many people in dog rescue are more focused on getting the dogs treated and healthy and everything else, but they don’t necessarily know how to do the people part of it,” Tracy Rutland said. And she was really good at that.”

Rosemary would often continue checking in with families for years after they adopted a dog, he said, sometimes getting them to adopt another animal years later.

In some cases, like with Johnson, those check-ins turned into a lifelong friendship.

“Our first encounter was at one of the local county animal shelters, and I was looking at dogs to rescue,” Johnson said. “She could obviously tell what I was doing and she goes, ‘take that one’ and that’s just kind of how she was, she always put herself out there to engage and get to know people.”

In time, Rutland even became one of Johnson’s best volunteers at Ruff Dog Rescue.

“Having a pet rescue, a lot of volunteers come and go throughout the years,” she said. “But there was a period of time that Rosemary was what I would consider the heart and soul of the rescue.”

Rosemary and Tracy Rutland got involved in the north Georgia dog rescue community when they moved back to Dunwoody from overseas in 2001. Over

the years, the couple did everything from pulling dogs out of kill shelters to running adoption events in the community.

Eventually, Rosemary became known as the “dog lady” in their area of Dunwoody, Tracy Rutland said.

In recent years, she focused her work on the Georgia Jack Russell Terrier Rescue and the BarkVille Dog Rescue in Jasper. She also was heavily involved in efforts to improve the conditions of rural dogs in winter, visiting rural communities and talking to dog owners about bringing their pets inside when the weather gets cold.

Another longtime friend, Jody Joyce, said she was inspired to get involved with the rescue community after meeting Rutland at an adoption event back in 2012.

“She taught me so much, about not just about rescuing dogs, but rehabbing and rehoming,” Joyce said. “She

really was one of the kindest and most generous and amazing women I’ve ever come across in my entire life.”

JODY JOYCE

Joyce, who now serves as the adult dog coordinator for Ruff Dog Rescue, said it was easy to see Rutland’s impact on the community by the sheer number of people who came to visit her in hospice.

On some days, as many as 68 people visited her, Jyce said.

“The Earth needs more Rosemarys,” she said. “It would definitely be a better place if we had more people like Rosemary.”

A celebration of life ceremony for Rutland has been scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 26. It will be held at Buckhead Church, 3336 Peachtree Road NE in Atlanta, with a greeting and gathering from 1:45 p.m.-2:30 p.m. and a celebration of life from 2:30 p.m.-4 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, Rutland has asked for donations to go to her favorite nonprofits, the Georgia Jack Russell Rescue & Adoption, and the BarkVille Dog Rescue.

Forsyth County appoints panel to spur growth in film industry

By SHELBY ISRAEL shelby@appenmedia.com

FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. — The Discover FoCo Film Initiative announced it has established its first official Film Commission.

The nine-member commission, Film Forsyth, was announced Jan. 13 and will assist with sourcing for leads and location scouting for projects in the county’s film industry.

“Our communities in Forsyth have many different unique characteristics, natural settings and a blend of big city and rural community making it an ideal location for productions of all sizes,” County Commission Chairman Alfred John said. “We welcome the TV and film industry to our community and recognize the impact productions

have on our local businesses.”

Film Forsyth is composed of county Director of Building and Economic Development Vivian Vakili; makeup artist Melanie Steele; EWISE Marketing and Communications President Joanne Sanders; and Tim Hopkins of Keller Williams Realty.

“It is an honor to be chosen to serve on this commission,” Vakili said. “The film, TV and video production industries have made an incredible impact on Georgia’s local economies over the past decade, and I am excited to see even more impact here in Forsyth County in the years to come.”

Others on the commission are the Georgia Film Academy’s High School Summer Camp Director Jason Hanline; Forsyth County Schools Chief Communications Officer Jennifer Caracciolo; Bottoms Tree

Farm owner Nathan Bottoms; and Jimmy and Martha McConnell, copresidents of the Historical Society of Cumming/Forsyth County.

Bottoms said it is an honor to serve on the commission, and he hopes Film Forsyth can grow potential film opportunities in the county. His farm was the filming site of an OshKosh B’gosh and a tractor commercial, as well as photoshoots for several businesses.

Discover FoCo Director of Tourism Joni Buford said the county has hosted confidential series from Disney+, Marvel and Netflix; commercials from OshKosh B’gosh, Georgia Lottery and Popeyes; the CBS and Paramount+ series “True Lies”; and 20th Television and ABC’s “Will Trent.”

In 2022, Forsyth County hosted nine productions, and it received

over 28 leads.

Buford said there are as yet no quantified estimates on the economic impact the film initiative had in 2022.

“Most of these projects utilize privately owned residences, spaces and businesses, directly pouring into our community via its residents,” Buford said. “This is why often times people don’t even realize filmings are going on. They’re often tucked away and in-and-out pretty quickly.”

Some leads and projects are confidential, Buford said, but they range from small indie and student films to large production studios.

Film Forsyth has 12 location listings, including Lake Lanier, local businesses, the Cumming Fairgrounds and the Forsyth County Jail.

“The Earth needs more Rosemarys.”

Adult dog coordinator for Ruff Dog Rescue

Answering the phone says a lot about a business

RAY APPEN Publisher Emeritus ray@appenmedia.com

Our company does many things that are new – like cutting edge. We were first to market with our local podcasts. We were – back in 1995 –one of the first to market online with Internet coupons.

Ha, I still own these two domains: Couponscoupons.com and CouponsRus.com! But I digress.

While we try hard to stay “current,” we also do a lot of things the old fashion way, like answering the phone. The rule is that when you call Appen, a human (her name is Jade or sometimes Heidi or sometimes Ray) will answer your call by the second ring if not sooner. It is one of my pet peeves. If you are going to take your time to call us, the least thing we can do is respect your time and answer your call personally, and fast.

We get a lot of calls sometimes. And I will tell you that we are probably batting 95 percent answering them by the second ring. We don’t always operate our business as well as we want to, but it is not from lack of trying or a lack of caring.

I would say that 85 percent of the time I am calling a business – other than Appen – the person who answers is a machine, and I have to listen to a

machine tell me what to do. “Press 1 for sales. Press 2 for service. Press 3 for accounting. Press 4 if it is Wednesday (because we are closed). Press 5 if you want to relisten to this list. If you know the extension of the person with whom you wish to speak, press 9. If you want to wait for a long time to talk to a person, press 0 now.”

About half the time, when you press one of those numbers you get another round of questions that demand answers.

I can think of only a couple things that drive me crazier than this. One is when you press the customer service prompt, you are transferred to India to someone who reads a script and never, ever strays from what the script says no matter what you have just said. The other is those losers who harass other people on roundabouts because they are in a hurry or are having a bad hair day, or because they are just assess –like the late model dark blue or gray Dodge Ram who blasted that white BMW in front of me on the roundabout out near Freemanville Road area today. One hundred percent loser in a hurry to be a bigger loser and probably go home and beat his wife or kids or maybe his dog. In a hurry? Not. But I digress.

I recently had a test done at Emory. My insurance covered the bill but apparently there was a deductible that I still needed to pay even though it was my understanding that I had

already met my deductible. I tried to call Emory to make sure I really owed that $100. I tried, and I tried, and I tried. It was like going into a maze with lots of turns, blindfolded and walking with your hands and trying to get to the other end. Ultimately, I concluded that contacting someone who could help me on this outstanding bill was impossible and that maybe that text or email they were sending me was legitimate, so I caved and sent $130 to a machine online that said I owed Emory $130. Note – the bill went from $100 to $130 when I waited to pay it for about a week. I am sorry Emory, but it is virtually impossible to deal with your administrative “system,” and I use that term loosely. It is hard to have confidence in any business that fails so miserably in something as simple and basic as taking a phone call from someone who wants to pay a bill. Amazon does it right. Why can’t you? How a business manages the phones tells a ton about the business. Technology very often pushes businesses further away from their customers – further away from meaningful communication with customers. Businesses think that they save money by having a “system” that makes a caller jump through hoops to ultimately – maybe – route the call to the desired person. It never ceases to amaze me that these businesses never seem to value the caller’s time – as if the caller’s time has no value at all.

What are they thinking?

This “phone thing” is, to me, just an example of this trending disconnect between people that gets worse every day. It has something to do with values. It has something to do with how much we do or do not respect each other. The disconnect manifests itself everywhere every day – from on roundabouts to in schools, to in government, to in the quality of our health care, to our relationship with a neighbor.

It is all part of the noise that surrounds us at all times, and it can be hard to notice unless you step back and ask yourself, “Wait, why am I in such a hurry? Why am I sending that email instead of picking up the phone. Why am I harassing a complete stranger on a roundabout just because I am not having a good day? Why am I posting hurtful stuff on social media?”

We can continue to digress toward some truly dark unknown condition, but I believe we still have time to reverse some of this contamination that technology has generated and return to a way or life – an attitude – that makes us healthier, wiser and happier. But that means disconnecting from a lot of the technology – purposely, and with deliberate intent. It means reconnecting with others, personally. It starts with how we treat others and how we want to be treated. We don’t want technology to interfere with that – ever.

So, answer your phone, personally.

When the first automobiles came to the country

Effie Spruill Carpenter recalled the first time she saw a car drive through Dunwoody and told the story to her granddaughter Jane Anderson Autry.

The people of Dunwoody waited in yards and along the road, waving and clapping as the car drove by. Carpenter said the driver was a Mr. Vaughn from Roswell, and his drive through Dunwoody took place in the early 1900s.

Cliff P. Vaughn and Claud Groover opened the Roswell Motor Company in 1921, so Vaughn may have been advertising for the dealership. The company sold Fordson tractors, Lincoln and Ford cars. A Whippet dealership opened in Roswell in 1929 but was short lived due to the Great Depression.

(“Roswell, A Pictorial History,” edited by Darlene Walsh)

According to the Digital Library of Georgia, White Star Automobile in Atlanta was the first Southern automobile manufacturer and began operations in 1909. The $1,500 car was advertised as “complete with top, magneto, and lamp equipment.” That same year, the company name was changed to Atlanta Car Company. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1911.

Benjamin Burdett and his son Arthur of Sandy Springs invested in the Hanson Motor Company in 1917 after the car was

introduced at the Southeastern Automobile Show. The Hanson Six automobile was designed by Don Ferguson, who had worked with Studebaker and General Motors. Arthur Burdett was vice president of Hanson Motor Company.

The Burdett family built a two-story brick mansion in 1900 where Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church is today. Benjamin Burdett had already started a realty firm before getting into the car business. The Hanson Six sold well initially, but by the mid-1920s, large manufacturers were too much competition. The company closed in 1925. (“Atlanta and

Environs, Vol. 2,” Franklin Garrett)

Tillie Hindman Womack recalled that Benjamin Burdette commuted from Sandy Springs to Atlanta in his Hanson Six. At the time, he was the only person driving a car in Sandy Springs. People still got around with horse-drawn carriages and wagons, so everyone was fascinated with the car. (Sandy Springs Gazette, 2017)

Elmer Womack, who lived where Georgia State University Dunwoody campus is today, was the proud owner of a 1925 Model T Ford that was sitting idle in the garage. When the Tucker Federal Savings and Loan interviewed him for their

local newsletter in 1970, Womack told the story of an $800 cash offer he recently received for the old car. He turned down the offer because he was still thinking of trading the Model T for a newer car.

Fred Donaldson of Dunwoody remembers a 1928 model Chevrolet the family owned. One day the car started rolling down the driveway. As Donaldson tells it, “We were all sitting on the front porch one Sunday when the ’28 model Chevrolet came down the drive right by itself. My brother Fletcher ran and jumped in, stopped it right before it reached the railroad cut.”

Johnson W. (Dub) Brown grew up in Chamblee, graduating from Chamblee High School in 1941, the year the school burned. His family ran a dairy. Brown later served as mayor of the city. His first car was a stripped-down Model T. Ford.

Gordon Wallace also had a strippeddown Model T, which he took with him to the University of Georgia. His father was postmaster of Chamblee for 18 years, ran a store with Charlie Warnock, and owned Wallace Construction Company.

In “Dunwoody Isn’t Bucolic Anymore,” Richard W. Titus recalls seeing Dunwoody school principal Elizabeth Davis driving a Henry J automobile from the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation. For two years, a version of the Henry J. was sold in the Sears-Roebuck catalog.

Award-winning author Valerie Biggerstaff is a longtime columnist for Appen Media. She lives in Sandy Springs. You can email Valerie at pasttensega@gmail.com or visit her website at pasttensega.com.

Friends, Rome, Georgians, lend me your ears

Part of my job includes reminding our reporters about AP Style – that’s the official rulebook for language use as laid down by the Associated Press.

PAT FOX Managing Editor pat@appenmedia.com

Many of these rules I don’t agree with, and I encourage some to be ignored.

One rule I’d like to change regards U.S. House members.

AP Style guidance is to name the person, then, in parentheses, provide their party affiliation and the state they represent.

It seems a simple and salient practice, unless you consider the person and buffoonery of one Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Listing Ms. Green as (R-Ga.) is unfair to most residents of this state.

My recommendation would be to credit those local voters who unleashed her on our nation.

So, it would be: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Rome, Ga. or R-Floyd County, Ga.).

Give credit where it’s due, I say.

Greene’s continual outbursts are in contrast to a recent report from Preply, an online language learning platform, that recently ranked Georgians among the slowest talkers in the United States.

The report analyzed data from two nationwide studies based on YouTube videos and call recordings. It then ranked the average speech rates of Americans from 114 cities and in all 50 states.

Georgia ranked 5th among states with the slowest talkers with an average of 4.89 syllables per second. The U.S.

average is 5.09 syllables per second. Here are some of the key findings in the Preply study:

• The state with the fastest average speech rate is Minnesota at 5.34 syllables per second.

• The state with the slowest average rate of speech is Louisiana at 4.78 syllables per second.

• The U.S. city with the fastest average rate of speech is Portland, Oregon, at 5.38 syllables per second.

• The U.S. city with the slowest average speech rate is Peoria, Illinois, at 4.71 syllables per second.

Those in the Southeast ranked way up there in slow speech.

Having lived in the South for almost 40 years, I’ve learned to love the musical lilt of the local dialog.

Few things aggravate me more than

actors, mostly from other regions, who feign Southern accents for their roles. They’re often preposterous and almost always exaggerated. Have you ever heard someone from Nebraska try to say “y’all?”

Oddly, the actors who can best nail a genuine Southern accent are British or Irish. (Tell me Kenneth Branagh isn’t dripping with perfect Buckhead portraying an Atlanta attorney in “Gingerbread Man.”)

The Pelpry study does not address the content of speech, whether what’s being said is worth saying or the time it takes to listen to it. Nor does it say whether the speech is infused with banal interjections, like “like,” “sorta like” and “you know.”

Such a study would be valuable, allowing us to focus our attention on those most reliable for not wasting our time.

DONALDSON FAMILY

The Donaldson family car parked out front of the family home around 1932.

Forget about halftime, Super Bowl wasn’t half bad

This is being written mere days after the Super Bowl. It was fairly typical: Good ads, bad ads, a stinker of a halftime show, politics and an unruly mob made up of the losing team’s fans.

Maybe I’m a sentimental sap, but the Amazon commercial where they tease the feisty family dog’s apparent banishment to a crate only to reveal there was no cell, just a four-legged pal. Maybe next year, they’ll show both pets wreaking havoc on hardwood floors and carpets. For the most part, the ads were, well, normal. I am still giggling at Bradley Cooper trying to keep a straight face while he and his mom pitch T-Mobile. Ditto for J’Lo catching hubby Ben Affleck moonlighting at Dunkin’ Donuts. Ol’ Ben loves getting his donut/coffee fix at Dunkin’ in Boston and the commercial tickled me.

THE INK PENN

I guess the best part was that weirdness was kept to a minimum. For the most part.

I can’t criticize the halftime show. The two minutes of Rihanna’s lipsynching was inspiring. It inspired me to make a beeline upstairs and make a sandwich.

Not sure there is any necessity for two national anthems. Personally, I think the one played by Chris Stapleton covered things nicely.

Oh yeah, about that unruly mob, otherwise known as Philadelphia Eagles fans. They outdid themselves, booing Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott winning the ultrahumanitarian Walter Payton award.

I would have expected nothing less. After all, the late Jay Johnstone, who played for the Phillies, once told me when asked about playing in the cheesesteak city: “The fans are ridiculous. They go to the airport and boo the good landings.”

They boo philanthropic, civicminded Cowboy quarterbacks, too.

Do you reckon whoever came up with that city’s “Brotherly Love”

moniker is laughing somewhere, knowing he played “pull my finger” while selling us a Whoopee Cushion of a slogan.

You know there had to be brawls at Independence Hall, a monstrous scrap where they make Scrapple, a broken hand when an “over-served” fan took out his frustrations by taking a swing at the Rocky statue.

And connecting.

Everyone got their money’s worth it would seem. And Philadelphia fans aren’t the only ones who lost.

We have to wait until September for any football.

Having attended a few Super Bowls, I’ll never forget Gramps showing up at our house in Bakersfield and telling me to take ride with him on a mid-January Sunday in 1967.

“You’re not going to make me dig in that riverbed again, are you?”

“Nope,” he replied. “We’re going on an adventure.”

Now my Grandpa might have been a tad nuts. This was the guy who hit golf balls in the neighborhood trying

to cure a slice. Broken windows and flowerpots were evidence that his game needed lots of work,

I also once spied him firing live .22 rounds into a blanket, somehow reasoning he was fashioning some type of hayseed silencer.

What Gramps had planned was way better than a lighter and a can of hairspray. That decrepit Ford station wagon barely made it over the mountains to Los Angeles. JL Stone, the grandpa who really cared, took his oldest grandson to the half-empty Coliseum to watch the Green Bay Packers wallop the Kansas City Chiefs in the first AFC-NFC Championship.

Those marketing geniuses hadn’t come up with the “Super Bowl” name yet.

They were probably busy inventing Pringles.

Mike Tasos has lived in Forsyth County for more than 30 years. He’s an American by birth and considers himself a Southerner by the grace of God. He can be reached at miketasos55@gmail.com.

Choose your location—London or Paris

Whether it’s new locales or familiar ones, reading can transport you wherever you’d like to go. I especially enjoy visiting cities I’ve explored in the past, because I like recognizing familiar landmarks.

That’s what I got to do with these two books — first I crossed the pond to visit London, and then I hopped the channel to see Paris.

“The Twist of a Knife” by Anthony Horowitz

If you’re a fan of “Masterpiece Mystery,” you likely watched “Magpie Murders,” a recent hit on PBS. It is based on the book of the same name by Anthony Horowitz. The author was also the screenwriter for “Foyle’s War,” another fan favorite on “Masterpiece Mystery.”

What fun to read a novel in which the author is the main character. That’s the case with Horowitz’s Detective Hawthorne novels. In

this fourth in the series, Horowitz is once again the reluctant author who writes about the mysterious Detective Hawthorne. This book opens with him telling the detective he no longer wants to write about him.

When Horowitz becomes a murder suspect, though, he has no choice but to call on the reclusive detective and resume a reluctant partnership with him. Intrigued by the blurring of fact and fiction, I turned to the internet for more information.

Fact: Horowitz did write a play called “Mindgame,” and it debuted at the Vaudeville Theatre in London. A fact not in the book is that it also debuted on Broadway with Keith Carradine in the lead role.

Fact: As happens in the book, the play was not a success in London, and in real life, its Broadway run wasn’t either.

If you’ve read the first three books, you will recall that the titles have a pattern: “The WORD is Murder,” “The SENTENCE is Death,” “A LINE to Kill.” This title is different, and he mentions in the story that the first three titles were a mistake as they were difficult to

continue.

I have to wonder if that detail is fact or fiction, and I wonder whether there will be a fifth book. Something tells me the series will continue because there’s more to learn about Detective Hawthorne. Horowitz the author has yet to reveal the complete story about the man, and, of course, in the books, Horowitz the character is as clueless as we readers are.

“Time was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co.” by Jeremy Mercer

I had to pick up this book when I saw it displayed at Shakespeare & Co., the bookshop in North Carolina, not France. I feel quite fortunate that I’ve gotten to know the manager of this quaint bookshop in Highlands and that he decided to carry my books. Yes, I visited the namesake shop in Paris but didn’t have the time it takes to get to know it. This book showed me what I missed.

Most of us have heard of the original shop that opened in 1919 and became a home away from home to authors such as Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and others. It

didn’t reopen after WW II. Today’s Shakespeare & Co. opened in 1951 on the banks of the Seine as Le Mistral and its owner changed the name to Shakespeare & Co. in 1964 when the original owner died.

This book is a memoir about an unemployed Canadian journalist who made his home there in early 2000. He lived above the store and worked for “the proprietor … patron saint of the city’s down-and-out writers.” It is a memoir, though it is as much about the strange and wonderful bookshop as it is about the author’s time there. For me, it was a very different visit to Paris.

Where will your next book take you? I’m reading “A Dangerous Fossil,” so I’m off to Dorset, a county in southwest England known for the Jurassic Coast. Such is the beauty of a good book.

Award-winning author Kathy Manos Penn is a Sandy Springs resident. 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/.

MIKE TASOS

Columnist

KATHY MANOS PENN Columnist

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WW II hero celebrates 100 years (Part 1)

Eighteen-year-old Jack Buckner was in his second year studying architecture at Georgia Tech at night while working days at Western Electric Company. A 1940 graduate of Fulton High School in Atlanta where he was senior class president, Jack was having fun at a roller skating rink in Lakewood Park on December 7, 1941, when he heard the news over the loudspeaker that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. He knew he had to do something.

Jack joined the Army January 19, 1942, the day the Army lowered the enlistment age for Aviator Cadets to 18.

Thus began a saga of sacrifice and courage that took young Jack to fight in distant places under the most challenging circumstances.

Jack is a special person. He celebrated his 100th birthday on Feb. 3, 2023. He and his wife Florence will observe their 79th anniversary on Feb. 25. He flew 50 perilous missions as a bombardier in World War II and shot down two German Luftwaffe fighters in the process. What a great story he has to tell.

After passing the written test and physical exam at the local Army recruitment center, Jack was sent home to pack a toothbrush and shaving articles. Upon returning to the recruitment center, Jack joined other volunteer enlistees who passed the entrance exam that day. They marched together to the Terminal Railroad Station where they took a train to the Army’s Maxwell Field (now MaxwellGunter Air Force Base) in Montgomery, Alabama, for initial training as Army Air Corps cadets. Next stop for Jack was

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

the Army Bombardier Flying School at Kirtland Army Air Field in Albuquerque, New Mexico, noted for training 5,200 bombardiers during the war.

Upon graduation in August 1942, Jack was commissioned a second lieutenant and was sent to Hendricks Field in Sebring, Florida, the first training school in the United States for heavy bomber crew instruction. There, he began training on the B-17 Flying Fortress, developed by Boeing Corporation, that dropped more bombs during WW II than any other aircraft. That training was followed by advanced training at Gowen Field Army Air Corps Base in Boise, Idaho. It was there that his 10-man crew was formed as part of the 347th Bombardment Squadron, 99th Bombardment Group, which was composed of four squadrons with nine planes each. The final eight months of training was at Sioux City Army Air Base which was constructed shortly after Pearl Harbor for advanced group training prior to overseas deployment.

The crew picked up their plane at the Smoky Hill Army Airfield in Salina, Kansas, in January 1943. The crew named their plane Warrior, and Jack was given the honor of painting the name and image on the side of the aircraft.

A bombardier had to be proficient in mathematics, Morse code, meteorology and have the ability to identify enemy aircraft quickly. Jack learned to use the Norden bombsight, a top secret weapon that he had to guard with a sidearm every time he carried it to and from his aircraft. The bombardier has to factor in the speed of the airplane, its altitude, speed and direction of the wind and the size and weight of the bomb. Most missions were from 20,000 to 26,000 feet so accuracy was a complicated assignment.

The crew’s first operational assignment

was in March 1943 at the Navarin Airfield in Algeria, used by B-17 bombers against the German Afrika Korps led by Field Marshal Rommel. There was no base, just a landing strip in the desert, and no ground crews, so the Warrior crew had to load their own bombs, ammunition and gasoline from 5-gallon cans. They had no tents, so they slept under the wings of the aircraft. They had only C-rations and K-rations to eat.

It could be 120 degrees during the day in Algeria and 40 to 50 degrees below zero at flying altitudes. The B-17s were not pressurized or heated. The crew took buckets of water on missions to freeze so they would have ice for drinks after their return from their missions.

When the Americans moved east into Tunisia, the airfield was dismantled and abandoned.

The Warrior’s first mission was to bomb ships and docks at Naples, Italy. They had five direct hits on a ship, and all planes returned safely to base.

In July 1943 the Warrior was tasked with the destruction of airfields and railroad yards during the Allied invasion of the island of Sicily. Rommel accumulated ammunition and food for his Africa troops on the island, and he had to be stopped. The Warrior also bombed the harbors in Tunis where Rommel kept his boats. The objective was to prevent German supplies from entering North Africa.

To be continued.

My appreciation to Martine Broadwell for her assistance with this column.

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.

Prostitution stings require more data

I read the article about the practice of the Dunwoody police reporting the City Hall address for suspected cases of prostitution and the resulting question about public transparency. I understand the business interest in protecting the reputation of the hotels in our area.

Whether the address of the actual hotel is published is less of a question for me than asking if the Police Department or other city authorities track data about the arrests and work with those hotels to improve their

security or prevention practices. For example, are any hotels used more than others? Are there hotels that have an ongoing problem with human trafficking and prostitution? How does the location of the hotel affect the number of suspected instances of this behavior? Are minors involved? Are there particular days or times when suspected instances occur?

Mapping of the data about these arrests along with other person or time analyses could tell a story and provide

better insight into why particular hotels are ongoing locations for these particular arrests. As a member of the public, I don’t have to know the particular hotels involved, but I think the Dunwoody Police, the city authorities and the hotel management would want to answer these questions – and plan for better public prevention and hotel staff awareness.

HELEN PERRY DUNWOODY

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BOB MEYERS Columnist

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