Milton Herald - February 23, 2023

Planting for the future

The Arbor Day celebration at Milton City Park and Preserve Feb. 17 drew close to two dozen people who participated in educational demonstrations and helped plant two of the remaining 13 winged elms for the event. The trees will provide a rounded canopy shape, Milton Arborist Sandra Dewitt

said, and they grow to at least 45 feet tall. Dewitt also said the deciduous trees are resistant to Dutch Elm disease. Dewitt said that when planting a tree, the hole should be twice as wide as the root ball. She also advised to make certain the tree has room to grow and will receive adequate sun.

Mayor

recaps year of

Milton milestones

► PAGE 4

Nonprofit helps children of aging parents

► PAGE 6

Alpharetta exercise studio offers hands-on fitness

► PAGE 8

Fulton Schools offer tips on bullying prevention

► PAGE 20

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Store employee identifies suspect in previous theft

MILTON, Ga. — A Windward Parkway Walmart loss prevention officer reported to Milton Police that he recognized a suspect from a previous shoplifting case and that he believed the suspect repeated the offense Feb. 12.

The employee said he believed the suspect shoplifted a box mattress and observed him walk to a gray Mercedes sedan. He then showed officers video footage from the previous incident and the Feb. 12 incident. According to the police report, the suspect from both videos appeared to be the same person.

The suspect was still in his vehicle when police were on scene, and they approached the driver, asking for identification “based on articulable reasonable suspicion of the shoplifting incidents.”

The driver then quickly accelerated away from officers. Police ran the Georgia tag which came back as registered to two people. One was the originally identified suspect. Police observed a woman in the front passenger seat but couldn’t positively identify her as the second registered owner.

The Walmart employee later said he reviewed footage for the suspected shoplifting of the box mattress to confirm his suspicion. But he determined the item had been paid for.

Man leaves Walmart with two televisions

MILTON, Ga. — Milton Police were dispatched to the Walmart on Windward Parkway Feb. 9 regarding a shoplifting incident and were informed of the vehicle information and tag, but the

vehicle was not found after fleeing the scene.

Police met with an asset protection investigator, said a Black man with black dreads, possibly in his 20s and around 6-foot-3, was seen on video surveillance footage entering the Home & Living side of Walmart with a shopping cart. The man was wearing a white shirt and black jeans at the time, the police report said, and he was seen going straight to the electronics section and putting two Samsung 55-inch televisions on the shopping cart. The TVs totaled $769 in value.

The man then exited the store a few minutes later through the Home & Living side and went to his vehicle which was parked in Row 7. He then took the televisions out of the box, put them in his vehicle, placed the boxes on top of the vehicle and discarded them behind the store, the report said.

A woman was seen with the man at the vehicle, the report said, but no clear description was available.

The suspect’s vehicle was a blue Nissan Versa bearing a Georgia tag.

When running the vehicle information, police reported that the photo of the registered owner did not match the description of the man who took the televisions, and police found no possible suspect when searching other databases.

Man defrauded of $5,000 after fake call from ‘son’

MILTON, Ga. — A man reported having received a phone call around 11 a.m. Feb. 8 from someone pretending to be his son, requesting bail money.

The Feb. 9 Milton Police report said the man reported the caller was in distress and told him he was in jail for getting into a motor vehicle accident with a pregnant woman, and he had been arrested for driving under the influence.

The caller said his lawyer would be contacting him shortly. Then, the man received a call from the phony lawyer, who said it would cost $5,000 to get his son

out of jail.

The “lawyer” told the man to meet the “bond agent,” so she could pick up the cash. He first said the agent would be driving a black Hyundai with a specific tag number, then changed course, saying the transfer should be made with a female agent driving a white Chevrolet Equinox with a different tag number.

The man withdrew $5,000 from his wife’s bank account and met with the female agent at 3 p.m., handing over the cash. He told Milton Police the woman appeared to be the only person in the vehicle.

The man said he received a call from his son around 3:30 p.m., and discovered the incident to be a scam.

Police ran the tag for the Chevrolet Equinox, which returned to a rental vehicle with a Tennessee tag. Police could not find a return for the Hyundai tag the caller provided.

business, BEING FOUND FIRST  is what makes you a winner!

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Mayor pumps ‘Team Milton’ at State of the City address

By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com

MILTON, Ga. — Milton Mayor Peyton Jamison told his son he’d be treated to ice cream if he sat still through his “State of the City” speech Feb. 15 at City Hall.

It ran only 30 minutes, but Jamison covered a lot of ground, highlighting the city’s accomplishments over the past year, including major milestones in parks development, to the crowd of more than 100.

Once park poor, the mayor announced the city recently purchased 47 acres of active park space. Seven acres, off of Bethany Bend, will likely be an indoor sports complex and community center, he said, in addition to 40 acres on Hopewell Road that will serve as a new athletic complex full of fields and playgrounds.

Jamison reiterated the city’s priority to enhance resident access to nature and parks, describing updates to Birmingham Park and Legacy Park. Providence Park has undergone a transformation over the past 15 months, he said, including a wheelchair accessible trail, Eagle Scoutmade signage and permanent restrooms.

“There’s no porta-potties at Providence Park,” Jamison said.

Milton City Park and Preserve, once the Milton Country Club, saw a new community center unveiled last year. Most of the property is passive use, funded through the $25 million greenspace bond passed by residents in 2016.

The bond helped allow the city to add

Gasthaus Tirol

While recognizing the regulations Fulton County must follow, Jamison said the city still could not rationalize the soaring cost from a financial perspective.

“We also recognize that one reason why we formed the city was to have more local control,” Jamison said. “And so, we took the lead. And even though leading isn’t easy, it’s also sometimes necessary.”

A ‘Milton’ atmosphere

Milton City Hall was decked out for the event Wednesday evening, thanks to sponsorship from The Jenny Doyle Group. Walking in, refreshments were laid across several dark green tablecloths. One spread held cupcakes, and in the Milton way, pinned with horse silhouettes.

To the front of the dais, rows of country-style chairs with white upholstery were positioned to either side of the podium, where the City Council and city staff sat for Jamison’s speech.

park land and free up recreation funding for its own residents.

There are no longer any cost-share agreements with Alpharetta for recreational programming, Jamsion said, “giving residents of both cities more, less expensive opportunities.”

The cost-sharing agreement allowed Milton and Alpharetta residents to enroll children in recreation programs in each city without paying non-resident fees. The agreement ran for seven years and was heavily subsidized by the City of Milton, which had a fraction of the park space and recreation facilities as its neighbor.

In 2018, Milton residents accounted for 14,300 registrations for Alpharettabased recreation programs, while 413 Alpharetta residents participated in Milton-based park programs. During that time, the City of Milton paid Alpharetta $453,100 in fees.

Mayor cites milestones

Collaboration within and outside of the city was a consistent theme in Jamison’s speech.

“Sure, we have all different roles, different areas of expertise and different types of responsibilities,” Jamison said. “But no matter what, we all pull in the same direction, and we are all Team Milton.”

A more recent, rather sizable milestone was the city’s role as vanguard to other North Fulton cities currently seeking to run their own municipal elections this fall. The move was driven in large part due to rising costs announced by Fulton County. Following a months-long feasibility study, the Milton City Council approved plans for a self-operated fall 2023 municipal election.

The audience held civic leaders from other communities, like Johns Creek Mayor John Bradberry and Alpharetta Mayor Jim Gilvin. Milton resident and Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis, former Commissioner Liz Hausmann and representatives from state offices also sat listening.

“I think Sen. Ossoff told me this is his favorite city,” Jamison said.

Business breakthroughs

Jamison lauded developers who made the vibrant downtown Crabapple Market District possible with mixed-use developments like Town Center East. The city also saw 27 ribbon-cuttings for new business last year, Jamison said, which is almost as many the city had in the past five years.

Economic development efforts now tend to Ga. 9 in the Deerfield area in a long-term project that should add multiuse paths. Jamison promised to make the Deerfield area a success by involving and informing the community and by supporting changes of signage, architecture and landscaping so the area looks “uniquely Milton.”

The mayor also praised Milton Fire CARES, or Community Advocates for Referral and Education Services, launched in 2021. CARES is a free outreach and assistance program that bridges the gap between emergency care and everyday health care needs.

“Why did we do this? Well, the answer is right in the program’s name, our firefighters care,” Jamison said.

Jamison also hailed the Milton Fire Corps, a resident-led group that volunteers its time supporting the city’s fire and rescue team. Relatedly, Jamison

AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA

Milton Mayor Peyton Jamison gives the “State of the City” address at Milton City Hall Feb. 15, listing city successes and new plans.

Nonprofit offers support for children with aging parents

By SHELBY ISRAEL shelby@appenmedia.com

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — The Atlanta chapter of Adult Children of Aging Parents, a nonprofit that provides support to children and caregivers of aging adults, met at Town Square Sandy Springs Feb. 8.

The free, monthly program provides resources, informational presentations and an open floor Q&A for adults who have aging parents or loved ones.

Chapter Coordinator Mary Remmes said the program offers an important social setting for individuals who may not have anyone else to share their experiences with.

“The other thing that it addresses is the community support, because caring for an aging parent can be very isolating,” Remmes said. “Really, I mean, I’ve coached so many people, and they all say to me, ‘Are we the only ones that have this? Am I the only one that experiences this?’ And I say, ‘No, you know, you can’t see it because you’re in it, but I see it all over.’”

Remmes worked to start the Atlanta chapter over the past 10 months. Remmes has worked as a life coach and aging parents guide and relationship

expert for eight years.

She has a background in longterm care, working as a nursing home administrator before beginning her path as a life coach.

Remmes said she saw a need in the Atlanta area for social support and education to address the struggles and nuances of the experience. The chapter, the first in Georgia, will provide resources and work to reduce the stigma surrounding the discussion of aging parents, she said.

Organizations like ACAP are important, Remmes said, because the experience is not discussed widely.

“So, people are reluctant to talk about it,” Remmes said. “And yet, I think if we can normalize that it’s hard to experience this, but it doesn’t mean that it has to be. There’s ways and resources available to take this situation that is hard and make it more manageable for you without giving up your life, without putting your life on hold for 10 years or 20 years.”

Each meeting will follow the same

template, with refreshments, an information session and a Q&A. Remmes said the chapter uses data from the AARP and the National Alliance for Caregiving to cater each presentation to the evolving needs of aging adults and their caregivers.

Remmes said Dr. Melissa Black, a physician at Empower Family Medicine and a core sponsor of the chapter, seeks to start a chapter in Decatur as well. Black was one of two speakers at the Feb. 8 meeting, where she shared information and tips on understanding dementia and how to provide care.

The Atlanta chapter will meet at 5:30 p.m. every second Wednesday at Town Square Sandy Springs, an adult daycare center that employs reminiscence theory, a process designed to stimulate mental activity. The interior of the facility is designed after mid-century America, with a retro model car, a diner-themed cafeteria and a green town square.

Remmes said the facility, another core sponsor of the chapter, offered its use at no cost.

“And I just think that level of engagement and that environment that they have brings out the absolute best in the people who are even experiencing cognitive decline,” Remmes said.

Mortgage professionals open boutique brokerage

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Phone: (770) 559-0348

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Phone: (678)208-6788

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ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A family with more than 20 years of mortgage industry experience has opened their own mortgaging company, Ardent Loans in Alpharetta.

The small, “boutique” mortgage broker offers various loans and has a lender network for clients to choose from. The company also offers refinancing options and assistance in the home-buying process.

“We are excited to bring our expertise and personalized service to the Alpharetta community,” Ardent Loans President Max Kallos said. “Our goal is to help our clients achieve their dream of home ownership, and we will work tirelessly to make that happen.”

The broker is available in person by appointment only at 8000 Avalon Blvd., Suite 100. For a free consultation, call 404-277-5884 or visit ardentloans.com.

North Fulton NAACP collects coats for kids

ROSWELL, Ga. — The North Fulton County branch of the NAACP hosted a coat drive for Hembree Springs Elementary School students through January, collecting more than 50 coats for kids in need at the Roswell school.

The drive started on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and ran to the end of January. The nonprofit partnered with elementary school staff and PTA to gather 50 gently worn and new coats

from the community. By the end of the month the drive collected 54 coats.

“During the winter months, the elementary kids that need coats to go outside and play can now have one,” NAACP North Fulton President Kay Howell said.

The drive is a partnership with a nationwide organization called One Warm Coat. Last year the coat drive distributed more than 400,000 coats across the United States.

SHELBY ISRAEL/APPEN MEDIA

Dr. Melissa Black speaks on the topic of dementia at the Atlanta Chapter of Adult Children of Aging Parents’ first meeting Feb. 8 at Town Square Sandy Springs. Black, a physician at Empower Family Medicine in Decatur, is one of the chapter’s core sponsors.

Dr. Shamir Bhikha Dr. James Livingston

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 Dun-

woody, 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.”

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

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.

people who came to visit her in hospice. On some days, as many as 68 people visited her, Jyce said.

JODY JOYCE

“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.

“The Earth needs more Rosemarys.”

Adult dog coordinator for Ruff Dog Rescue

8 | Milton Herald | February 23, 2023

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

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

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.

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,

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.

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.

Tara Tucker

Paras

Installation Services

Team Leader

SHELBY ISRAEL/APPEN MEDIA

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

Brought

- Rachel Newcomer, 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

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

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

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.”

Address:

Continued from Page 4

announced plans to build a brand new fire station, Fire Station 45, on the corner of Birmingham Highway and Providence Road.

Switching gears, the mayor described the diverse range of calls Milton Police must take, including mental health crisis calls. All officers undergo enhanced crisis intervention training, he said, and for two years MPD uses grant funding to support

de-escalation training for department members.

The mayor also described the city’s Local Road Safety Plan, a resident-driven “deep dive” into road engineering, education and enforcement. To reduce speed, the city’s Public Works Department has constructed and will continue to build more roundabouts.

“Everyone in Milton knows they love roundabouts,” Jamison said.

Following Jamison’s address, one resident said, “Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for improving my life with roundabouts.”

School system offers guidance on bullying

ATLANTA — As part of a “Parent Safety Toolkit,” the Fulton County School System listed facts and tips on bullying for parents and children.

Bullying is distinctly different from disagreements between peers or aggressive behaviors between siblings or current dating partners and can be characterized by intentional and repeated behaviors that often have a power imbalance.

Bullying can take many forms, including direct and indirect bullying. Examples of direct bullying are verbal abuse or physical aggression, while direct bullying might be name calling, social isolation, defamation and rumor spreading. Bullying can also take the form of cyberbullying, which is any type of bullying carried out through electronic media.

Bullying can leave a lasting impact on victims, perpetrators and bystanders into adulthood, affecting them psychologically, socially, physiologically and academically.

Bullying involves a power differential between the bully and the victim that is based on real or perceived factors and

often happens to vulnerable student populations, like LGBTQ+ youth, students who have a physical, mental, or intellectual disability, and students perceived as “different” due to weight, clothing or socioeconomic status.

Although bullying is pervasive and can have many effects, there are things that can be done to address these behaviors.

Parents can model and teach respectful behavior systematically; develop, implement and enforce antibullying policies; recognize bullying as a mental health and relationship issue; use a comprehensive approach to address bullying; teach responsible use of technology; and provide support to students who might be marginalized.

Meanwhile, children can report instances of bullying to adults; address bullying with bystanders by stressing the importance and responsibility to stop harassment and intimidation; show kindness to all students; reach out to students who are being bullied; and stand up to bullying if the situation is safe.

AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA

Milton Mayor Peyton Jamison talks with Alpharetta Mayor Jim Gilvin after his speech Feb. 14. Johns Creek Mayor John Bradberry, at left, and Milton resident/ Fulton County Commissioner Bob Ellis, on right, listened in.

OPINION

Answering the phone says a lot about a business

Our company does many things that are new –like cutting edge.

as well as we want to, but it is not from lack of trying or a lack of caring.

RAY APPEN

Publisher Emeritus ray@appenmedia.com

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

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

See PHONE, Page 28

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.

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.

PAT FOX

Managing Editor pat@appenmedia.com

OPINION

The 60/40 asset allocation debate and your financial plan

For years, Wall Street gurus espoused an asset allocation model of 60 percent stocks, 40 percent bonds. The idea was that a generous allocation to equities would provide for longterm growth, with a modicum of dividends, while bonds offered interest income and a potential cushion during periods of market stress. Easy guidelines to follow have appeal that’s based on simplicity. Reality is generally a bit more complicated, as a truly diversified investment portfolio is likely to contain more than stocks and bonds.

The drops in equity values along with a concomitant rout in the bond markets in general in 2022 have several large asset managers arguing over the pros and cons of the 60/40 strategy. The rigid allocation model may be akin to declaring that a fruit salad should always contain 60 percent apples and 40 prcent bananas. What about berries or exotic options such as mangoes, passion fruit, coconut, etc.?

As noted, a diversified investment portfolio will likely contain more than stocks and bonds. Even stocks and bonds offer a plethora of choices. You may elect individually self-selected stocks, mutual funds, exchange traded funds (ETFs), professionally managed portfolios of various holdings including individual stocks. Bonds come in various formats, similar to equity offerings. Some formats may include stocks and bonds in the same portfolio, as in a “balanced fund.”

Equities offer a variety of choices akin to a diverse restaurant menu. Large-cap (capitalization) stocks, mid-cap, smallcap, micro-cap? What would you prefer today: U.S. stocks, non-U.S. stocks? What about investment “style”— growth, growth at a reasonable price (GAARP), value, deep value? Dividend-paying stocks, non-dividend payers focused on growth? Utilities? Where do strategies such as option writing (puts and calls) come in, if at all?

When it comes to cash or bonds, what mix is appropriate for you? Treasury bills, notes, bonds? Money market funds, CDs, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, other types of debt instruments? Again, you have choices as to individual holdings, mutual funds, ETFs, and/or separately managed portfolios.

You may want to mix in alternative

investments in various forms such as real estate, private equity, precious metals, or other assets. Perhaps you own a closely held business that is your largest single investment. How does growing the value of that asset play into other investment and planning choices?

If you are confounded in a fine restaurant by a complex and diversified menu with an extensive wine and cocktail list, you are likely to turn to an experienced waitress or waiter and ask, “What do you suggest?” In the same way, you might turn to an experienced financial adviser to suggest what mix of planning options and investment choices is right for you.

To determine what is appropriate for you, before any recommendations are made, a client-centered adviser will have a series of discussions with all parties involved. This means you, of course, as well as your spouse or partner depending on the circumstances, and perhaps an adult child who may have to step up given your incapacity or death. As with choosing the makeup of your portfolio there are a multitude of variables: your age and time frames, goals and objectives, health status, number of dependents and their time frames, other family obligations such as aging parents or a special needs child, current net worth, debt levels and cost of debt, need for liquidity, your understanding of risk versus reward, and your mental and financial ability to deal with risk.

An adviser would want to understand your story. How did you get to where you are and where do you see yourself in the short-, mid-term, and long-range future? What do you want your money to do for you? Do you understand risk?

Risk is a tricky concept. Some people will tell you that they can tolerate risk, only to change their mind when confronted with loss. Markets fluctuate. Some investments do well, some okay, some lose money. With some speculations (like the recent crypto fiasco), the value of the investment may go to zero. If you’re going to take a flyer, the question would be, “If you lost your entire investment in XYZ Ventures, would it imperil your lifestyle?” If your answer is “Yes,” don’t invest.

In any well-diversified portfolio, performance in any one sector will vary from time to time. But the assumption is that over the long run, the portfolio will grow to meet your goals. Beyond investment strategies, you must

LEWIS J. WALKER, CFP

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

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 Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base) in Montgomery, Alabama, for initial training as Army Air Corps cadets. Next stop for Jack was the Army Bombardier Flying School at Kirtland Army

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

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

FAMILY/PROVIDED

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.

Dunwoody should provide more data on prostitution stings

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

Talk back

Where do you stand on the story, and the department’s practices? Write to Appen Media at newsroom@ appenmedia.com.

BOB MEYERS

Columnist

Eight of the 10-man crew of the B-17 named Warrior are photographed beside the aircraft. Bombardier Jack Buckner is standing second on the left. The bombardier sat in the transparent nose of the aircraft. His job was to assure accurate placement of bombs taking into account weather, wind direction, outside temperature, speed, altitude and other factors. He also operated one of the plane’s machine guns. (late 1942)

Asset:

Continued from Page 23

look at the “what if?” vicissitudes of life. A comprehensive financial plan encompasses elements of living and testamentary estate planning, application of various insurance tools, tax planning, special needs planning and charitable giving. For the business owner, concepts of “value acceleration” are critical for dealing with what may be your largest single investment asset, your lifestyle business or enterprise.

The allocation model of 60/40 is not as simple as it looks. The proportion, or something similar, may be a good starting point and a useful rule of thumb periodically, but there are many other factors to consider.

Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, noted, “To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there.”

Your financial plan should reflect your journey and your goals and expectations. Choose well, indeed.

Lewis Walker, CFP®, is a life centered financial planning strategist with Capital Insight Group; 770-441-3553; lewis@capitalinsightgrp.com. Securities & advisory services offered through The Strategic Financial Alliance, Inc. (SFA). Lewis is a registered representative and investment adviser representative of SFA, otherwise unaffiliated with Capital Insight Group. He’s a Gallup Certified Clifton Strengths Coach and Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA).

Phone:

Continued from Page 21

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.

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