Dunwoody Reporter www.ReporterNewspapers.net
FEB. 20 — MARCH. 5, 2015 • VOL. 6 — NO. 4
Inside
Perimeter Business
Let’s be safe Vaccines are necessary COMMENTARY 6
Shine on Brightest are recognized STAR STUDENTS 16-17
Watch the birdie
PAGES 7-11
County considering trimming home garbage pickups BY JOE EARLE
joeearle@reporternewspapers.net
the job. “It’s the chase,” Barrett said. “You have the crime and then you have the chase to catch the bad guy.” Barrett said he’s only worked two years on day shift during his nearly 20 years as an officer. “Your serious criminals will come out at night,” he said. “Normal working people have a job and they have to be asleep to get up at a certain time. They’re not going to be out bumming around at midnight, 2, 3 or 4 in the morning.” He said he preferred working at night because night-shift officers have a little more leeway to pursue what they feel most passionately about. Barrett worked with Cobb County Police and transferred from a DUI Task Force to a gang unit, where he really started enjoying investigative police work, he said. When he came to Dunwoody, Barrett said he continued to work on identifying gang members and trying to help the
DeKalb County officials are considering major changes in how and how often county workers pick up residential garbage. Interim DeKalb CEO Lee May has proposed the county cut garbage pickups from two days a week to one and that county sanitation workers pick up yard waste and recycling on the same day they collect garbage. The change, intended to save money, will mean garbage trucks will come to residents’ homes once a week instead of four times a week. The county needs to make the change to cut costs, he said. “In DeKalb County, we have been delivering a Rolls-Royce level of service, but you all have been paying a Ford Focus rate,” May told about 40 people at Brookhaven City Hall. Residents now pay about $265 a year for garbage pickup, May said. If the county adopts the new pickup plan, it will not have to raise the fee, he said. May discussed the garbage collection plan with residents at meetings in Dunwoody Feb. 5 and Brookhaven on Feb. 17. He said he has recommended that the DeKalb County Commission adopt the new garbage pickup schedule. “This is the most Interim DeKalb dynamic CEO Lee May service delivery change this county has seen in a long time,” May said in Brookhaven. He said the county had not raised garbage pickup fees in nine years. “We should have looked at this long ago,” he said. Still, he said he worried about tinkering with a popular county service. “For me, it was a tough decision,” he said. “My staff will
SEE DETECTIVE’S, PAGE 20
SEE COUNTY, PAGE 5
PHIL MOSIER
Ariana Wright, 10, along with her grandmother Lamar, scan the skies during the “Great Backyard Bird Count” at the Dunwoody Nature Center on Feb. 14. The bird count, now in its 18th year, enables citizens to collect data on the populations and migratory patterns of birds for the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology. View additional photos on page 22.
Detective’s work on the night shift wins fans BY ELLEN ELDRIDGE
elleneldridge@reporternewspapers.net
As a young man, Robert Barrett listened eagerly as his uncle told stories about police work. He decided that’s what he wanted to do, too. “I wanted to get in and get the bad guys off the streets,” Barrett said. His commitment and enthusiasm for the job has paid off. This year, his fellow Dunwoody police officers voted Barrett, now a detective, the department’s “Officer of the Year” award for the second time. He won the award both in 2010 and 2014. Deputy Chief David Sides says that in a fairly small department such as Dunwoody, everybody knows everybody, and the officers know who’s doing a good job. “When you stand out to such a degree that you get noticed by your peers, that’s saying quite a bit,” he said. Barrett said he believes his peers recognized his dedication to the job when they voted for him. He regularly chooses to work nights and volunteers for extra duty. And he loves