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Autrey Mill staff seeks safe return of missing turtles By SYDNEY DANGREMOND sydney@appenmedia.com
PHOTOS BY: SYDNEY DANGREMOND/APPEN MEDIA
Firefighters deploy at the scene of a fire at The Standard Club in Johns Creek Sept. 30. Fire Chief Chris Coons said roughly 25 firefighters and a handful of police were on the scene helping to quell the blaze and ventilate the building after the fire was extinguished.
Fire cuts candidate debate short By SYDNEY DANGREMOND sydney@appenmedia.com JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — A debate for City Council candidates ended prematurely when an industrial dryer caught fire in the laundry room of The Standard Club Sept. 30. Candidates were finishing responses to the penultimate question prior to their closing remarks when an alarm brought everything to a halt. Huddled in the dark outside the club’s lobby along Abbott’s Bridge Road, crowd members were unsure whether the debate would resume. The uncertainty cleared a few minutes later when three engines, two ladder
See FIRE, Page 20
Candidates for Johns Creek City Council prepare for questions Sept. 30 at The Standard Club. The debate was cut short by a fire in the laundry room.
INSIDE: Auburn extends classes to Fulton County students
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JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Five of the Autrey Mill Nature Preserve’s eastern box turtles were abducted from their home Sept. 19 and are still missing. “We’re heartbroken,” Executive Director Lizen Hayes said. “We all hope that we just get our turtles back and that’s really all we are concerned with.” The stolen animal ambassadors, like the preserve itself, are older than the city. Four of the turtles are in their early 20s, Conservation Educator Jess Legato said. The fifth is just a teenager, at 15. “These are basically community pets, they’re representing their species, but they’re also representing our community,” Legato said. “People come here and are devoted to these animals and truly bond with them and love them just like we do as staff.” Hayes called the kidnapping “senseless,” and Legato said it’s been “shaking the community who follow [the preserve].” Security footage captured by the preserve shows three individuals believed to be teenage males removing the turtles from their enclosure and
See TURTLES, Page 2