Inside Going green Fundraising campaign for Bobby Jones Golf Course COMMUNITY 3

Listen up! Advice offered to high school grads

Buckhead Reporter www.ReporterNewspapers.net

MAY 16 — MAY 29, 2014 • VOL. 8 — NO. 10

That’s awesome!

COMMENTARY 6

Born a boxer Local fighter prepares to defend his title

STANDOUT STU page 18

DENT

Conservancy brings farm to urban setting BY ANN MARIE QUILL

annmariequill@reporternewspapers.net

AROUND TOWN 7

Most visitors to Chastain probably don’t even notice the little farm nestled around the park conservancy headquarters that offers visitors a chance to learn about conservation and the global environment. “The majority of people have no idea we’re back here,” said Josh Fuder, the farm’s environmental program manager. But the farm is starting to win attention. Some 500 students already have visited Farm Chastain. A partnership between the Chastain Park Conservancy and Southeastern Horticultural Society, Fuder says the idea for an urban learning farm came about because residents of the Chastain community indicated they would like to see gardening opportunities in the park. “The Chastain Park Conservancy had this nice spot of land that really wasn’t being used,” Fuder said. “This was just a lot of rubble and a storage area.” Now, a walk through the area reveals raised-bed garden

Crutches, canes Local Rotary club recycles medical items MAKING A DIFFERENCE 10

Gotta pull over Marvel over a metal horse, folk art and ‘piggy hill’

SEE CHASTAIN, PAGE 4

ROAD TRIPS 14-15

Memory of local mother noted with ‘Little Free Library’

Graduation Day Complete list of local high school ceremonies

BY H.M. CAULEY

EDUCATION 16-17

Police blotter

PHIL MOSIER

Find out where crime has happened in your area PUBLIC SAFETY 22

Mary Collier Thurman has her party face on while she watches the Carnaval parade during International Travelers Week at Sarah Smith Elementary School on May 9. The event “took” students to Brazil, helping them learn about the country’s culture. More photos on page 19.

Mother’s Day had a poignant air in the Collier Hills neighborhood this year. At a late-afternoon gathering of residents, the community’s Louise G. Howard pocket park welcomed two new features in the memory of a local mother who was killed in a car wreck two years ago. On May 11, family, friends and neighbors of the late Tracy Downer dedicated a park pavilion in her name. And to remember her dedication as the mother of two, they also raised donations to install a “Little Free Library,” a box stocked with donated books for adults and children to share and swap. The memorial grew out of the community’s desire to remember Downer, who died at age 44 in a car crash in July 2012, as not only a mother, but as a good neighbor and active member of the local Greystone Garden Club. “Tracy was the sweetest, most giving person,” recalled Melissa Libby, a neighbor who spearheaded the drive to erect a book box. “Her death was tragic and unnecessary, SEE BOOK BOX, PAGE 21