MARCH 30 - APRIL 12, 2018 • VOL. 9— NO. 7
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► Local police differ on responses to shoplifting calls PAGE 4 ► Assembling the worst superhero team ever Robin’s Nest PAGE 10 FARMERS MARKETS RETURN | P19
Brook Run Park events may face fee hike, attendance cap BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net
The city is considering significant rate hikes and attendance caps for private events, festivals and 5K runs at Brook Run Park to bring its fees in line with neighboring cities. Brook Run Park was the site for 41 special events last year, totaling more than 30,500 people, and 87 private facility rentals. But the city only received about $32,000 last year in event rental fee revenue. In 2016, 32 special events were hosted at Brook Run Park and 77 private facility rentals, bringing in slightly more than $23,000 in rental fee revenue. See BROOK on page 14 Kristen Rezac and her dog Co Co enter the costume contest at the third annual Rescue Dog Olympics March 17, one of many events held in Brook Run Park. Such events could see fee hikes and attendance caps under a city proposal.
Coping with a Crisis: Opioid addiction in the suburbs EXCLUSIVE SERIES
How a suburban mother started peddling fentanyl and became the target of federal prosecutors BY MAX BLAU
H
e knocked at the door with $1,400 in his pocket. Cathine Sellers welcomed her ex into the quiet of her red brick townhouse on Roswell’s Weatherburne Drive. He’d been there for drugs before. Now he was back to buy some more. The 38-year-old mother with hazel eyes offered up a selection of drugs, including counterfeit oxycodone pills full of the synthetic opioid known as fentanyl. “Customers have returned the pills because they’re too strong,” Sellers told the
man, according to federal court filings. “Try taking a quarter instead.” He bought about 100. Sellers later learned her ex was working as a confidential source for the Drug Enforcement Administration and had informed for the Sandy Springs Police Department since 2016. On June 13, 2017, DEA special agents arrested Sellers at a gas station off Ga. 400 and raided her townhouse. There, they found another 100 fentanyl pills inside a dietary supplement vial and a loaded Glock 30 in a laundry hamper. Think of a drug dealer in Atlanta; the tra-
ditional picture that probably comes to mind is someone selling heroin on the streets of English Avenue. But who deals drugs — and how they deal drugs — has expanded to include doctors running pill mills and suburban mothers like Sellers. From police to prosecutors, authorities are not only grappling with this new breed of opioid sellers — but new kinds of opioids, too. Federal authorities charged Sellers with possession with the intent to distribute fentanyl, a narcotic so potent it can kill someone exposed to a dose the size of a few grains See HOW on page 8
PHIL MOSIER
Grubb withdraws proposal for massive mixeduse project BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net
Grubb Properties hurriedly withdrew its proposal for a massive mixeduse development on Perimeter Center East rather than face an outright rejection from the City Council on March 26. The developer intends to return months from now with a new plan. The withdrawal followed a failed vote to defer a decision at the council meeting. Voting against deferring were Mayor Denis Shortal and Councilmembers Terry Nall, Jim Riticher and Lynn Deutsch. Voting in favor of deferring were Councilmembers John Heneghan, See GRUBB on page 15