WELLNESS
MINISTRY
SCHOOLS
Health agencies and websites concerned about childhood obesity offer tips to get kids away from TV and computers and into physical activities. 6
More than 1,000 church members and their families and friends have signed up for a 12-week, faith-based fitness challenge designed to improve their overall health. 8
Workers at Arabia Mountain High School are putting finishing touches on DeKalb County’s newest track for cross country meets. 9
Screen time alternatives
Copyright © 2009 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
Faithfully fit
August 1, 2009
New cross-country track
www.crossroadsnews.com
Volume 15, Number 13
Four-day tax-free holiday shopping off to a brisk start By McKenzie Jackson
Bargain-hunting parents were first out of the box Thursday snatching up bargains with the added benefits of Georgia’s tax-free shopping weekend. The respite from the state’s 7 percent sales tax through Aug. 2 is providing a shopping bonanza for penny-pinching families and retailers hamstrung by the economic recession sweeping the country. Keisha Clayton of Decatur was at the Conway department store at the Gallery at South DeKalb Thursday morning trying to outfit her kids Dontavious Arnold, 11, and Hannah Clayton, 4, for the upcoming school year, which kicks off Aug. 10 with a stricter dress code. “I’ll be shopping for the whole weekend trying to catch different sales,” she said. On her back-to-school shopping list are T-shirts, shorts, collared shirts and bookbags. Clayton said the tax break is helping her stretch her dollars even further. The tax is 7 percent,” she said. “If you are spending $400, the tax adds up. So tax-free helps a lot.” Rhonda Thomas, also of Decatur, said the tax-free shopping came in the nick of time. “I just recently lost my job, so it being tax-free helps a great deal for me,” she said while shopping for clothes with her 13-year-old son Devonta McClendon. For the three-day shopping weekend, families will save on a number of popular back-to-school items, including books, pencils, backpacks, clothes, and computers and accessories priced under $1,500. Retailers are hoping that the tax savings will be the lure that snags them some shoppers. To attract more traffic, the Mall at Stonecrest and North DeKalb Mall have ad-
Keisha Clayton of Decatur sizes up a shirt for her son Dontavious Arnold at the Conway department store in the Gallery at South DeKalb Thursday morning.
McKenzie Jackson / CrossRoadsNews
vertised shopping sprees and cash giveaways. Stonecrest shoppers can register to win a “$1,000 Back-to-School Shopping Spree” with a coupon in the July 25 CrossRoadsNews. At North DeKalb Mall, Saturday shoppers who bring that mall’s “R U Smarter?” ad, also in the July 25 CrossRoadsNews, could become contestants in the contest and compete for gift cards from mall anchors and specialty stores. Donald Bieler, the Mall at Stonecrest’s marketing manager, said the turnout at the mall this weekend will be a barometer of what they can expect for the upcoming holiday shopping season. “We are looking forward to a very successful shopping season,”
he said. Mary Joyce Burdge, North DeKalb Mall’s marketing manager, said shopping at the Decatur mall was off to a brisk start Thursday. “People are shopping,” she said. “We see bags and that’s a good thing.” Burdge said mall merchants tell her the tax-free shopping weekend is as big a holiday for them as Christmas. “So it’s very important and we have high hopes for the three days,” she said. In good times, Georgia’s annual sales tax holiday has yielded big sales numbers for retailers. Even though the state is faced with cutbacks and furloughing state employees and will lose more revenues
with the tax holiday, Gov. Sonny Perdue, who signed it into law on May 5, said it is important to have it this year. John Heavener, president of the Georgia Retail Association, said that back-to-school spending is projected to be down 7.7 percent nationally from 2008 but he hopes the combination of low prices and sales-tax savings will propel shoppers into stores. “We believe that consumers and retailers have been waiting for this event all summer,” he said. Kerrene Campbell, assistant manager at the Radio Shack at the Gallery at South DeKalb, said she is anticipating a successful sales weekend because of the tax holiday. “We’ve already had a few people
come in and ask about it,” she said Thursday. “They want laptops; they want computers.” With sales prices and other promotions on laptops, she said shoppers should find something to fit their budgets. “You don’t really have to pay full price,” she said. John Hubert, shopping with his 14-year-old grandson Justin Hubert, said tax-free is a put help in a down economy. “Save a penny here or there,” he said. Dena Wright of Lithonia, who was shopping with her son Trajon at the Mall at Stonecrest, said she was just getting started. “If I don’t find everything today I’m going to have to comeback tomorrow, ” she said.
Lou Walker’s legacy to be highlighted on anniversary of his death Church on Candler Road Former DeKalb Counin Decatur. ty Commissioner Lou Johnson said Walker Walker will be honored had a great impact on Aug. 3 on the fifth annithe county, both as a versary of his death. community activist and Walker, the Super Disa commissioner. trict 7 commissioner for “I am honored to be four years, died Aug. 2, able to acknowledge the 2004 while in office, from Lou Walker things he accomplished, injuries sustained in a car the lives he touched and the legacy accident on I-20 in Atlanta. Commissioner Larry Johnson, a he’s left,” Johnson said. The tribute is open to the public protegé and mentee of Walker who served alongside him on the Board and will be attended by Walker’s of Commissioners, is hosting the 7 widow, Theresa. It will include p.m. tribute at Mt. Patmos Baptist personal tributes from former CEO
Vernon Jones, Rockdale County Chairman Richard Oden and other friends of Walker. Vocalists Angela Dickerson, Sister Dee Lawson and Sarah Rucker will perform. Margaret Britton, Johnson’s spokeswoman, said the event will start at 7 p.m. and will include a parade from the church to nearby Resthaven Garden of Memories Cemetery to lay a wreath at Walker’s grave. A reception, sponsored by EMG, will follow in the church’s banquet hall. As a community activist, Walker lobbied for years for DeKalb Medi-
cal to build an hospital in South DeKalb. He attended the groundbreaking for the 500-bed DeKalb Medical at Hillandale but did not live to see it open for business in July 2005. During his tenure as commissioner, Walker worked to secure passage of the county’s first Park Bond Referendum and spearheaded the passage of the building moratorium that allowed for the updating of the county building codes and reorganization of the Development Department. As a business owner, he co-
founded the Georgia Black Chamber of Commerce and was a champion of minority-owned business participation in public and private contracts. Walker, a character actor, also appeared in more than 65 feature films and made-for-television movies, including “Mississippi Burning,” “My Cousin Vinny,” “The Firm,” and “Remember the Titans.” Mt. Patmos Baptist Church is at 2207 Candler Road in Decatur. For more information, call Larry Johnson at 404-371-2988.