APRIL 13 - 26, 2018 • VOL. 9 — NO. 8
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After years of friendship, a Gold Girl Scout troop winds down Around Town PAGE 13
► More students mean more trailers at Dunwoody High PAGE 20
Tornado’s 20th anniversary marked
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Development Authority may expand mission BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net
Members of the City Council and Dunwoody Preservation Trust planted two trees at the Donaldson-Bannister Farm on April 9 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the tornado that devastated the city. From left, the city’s Parks and Recreation Director Brent Walker, Donna Burt, Suzanne Huff, Danny Ross, Melanie Williams, Mayor Denis Shortal, City Council Member Lynn Deutsch, and City of Dunwoody Parks Manager Gabe Neps. Read story page 16.►
PHIL MOSIER
Coping with a Crisis: Opioid addiction in the suburbs EXCLUSIVE SERIES
Opioid ODs are deadlier than mass shootings, but some high schools don’t stock the antidote BY MAX BLAU
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n the spring of 2014, a student fell out of his chair in a 10th-grade classroom at Buckhead’s North Atlanta High School. A teacher quickly noticed he was unconscious and hardly breathing. After someone called 911, a paramedic arrived and, suspecting an overdose, administered an opioid antidote in hopes of saving the kid’s life. The antidote, known as naloxone, worked. In reviving the student, Atlanta Public Schools staffers suddenly found themselves on the front line of the opioid
crisis. Nurses realized they could either shake it off as an isolated incident — or prepare for future overdoses to come. Imagine a school without a plan for an active shooter in 2018. Yet there were four times as many fatal opioid overdoses than gun homicides in 2016. Those deaths have
Listen to our special podcast or watch the video of a deeper discussion about the opioid epidemic’s local impact. See page 11
left a haunting trail of news reports across the country that include students finding classmates sprawled out on school bathroom floors and paramedics responding to the overdoses of teachers. In recent years, the rash of in-school overdoses nationwide hasn’t spared Atlanta, as the NAHS incident showed. And graduates of local public and private high schools have died from overdoses to opioids that they first tried as students. Yet many schools — including ones in Sandy Springs, Dunwoody and Brookhaven – have chosen not to stock the life-saving opioid antidote. See OPIOID on page 10
The Dunwoody Development Authority is known mostly for offering tax incentives to major developments such as State Farm. But now the authority is determining if its mission should expand to include restaurants and the hospitality industry. The DDA held its first-ever retreat March 29 at the Donaldson-Bannister Farm with Mayor Denis Shortal and Councilmembers Jim Riticher and Lynn Deutsch attending along with members of other boards such as the Urban Redevelopment Authority. No decisions were made as the DDA wanted to discuss ideas that will likely be discussed more in depth over the next three to six months. Major discussion centered around the basic question the DDA is considering – should the authority remain reactive or become more proactive in trying to shape redevelopment in the city? See DEVELOPMENT on page 18
Concerns raised about tree loss in Brook Run Park renovations BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net
Several residents and City Council members are raising concerns about the planned renovations to Brook Run Park and the number of trees that may be cut down to make way for new amenities. The mayor and council voted April 9 to approve a preconstruction services contract for $15,250 to Reeves + Young. That company joins Lose & Associates, hired in February for $324,000 to design phase one of the Brook Run Park master See CONCERNS on page 19