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

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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.

Continued from Page 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