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Dunwoody Reporter
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Feel the shift
Bennett takes District 80 seat COMMUNITY 4
Going old school
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Two coaches talk tradition HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL 16
AUG. 21 — SEPT. 3, 2015 • VOL. 6 — NO. 17
By a nose
PAGES 7-11
Local nonprofit expands its service facility BY ELLEN ELDRIDGE
elleneldridge@reporternewspapers.net
The largest nonprofit human services organization in Dunwoody plans to expand its footprint in the community, its chief executive officer says. Jewish Family & Career Services CEO Rick Aranson said the organization plans to move its program helping developmentally disabled adults from a space in a Chamblee office park to its Dunwoody location on 4549 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road. The building will be renovated and expanded to include an additional 8,300 square feet of space. John Perlman, president of the organization, said the “Tools for Independence” program started about eight years ago in the basement of a building in the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta. When the program outgrew the 1,500 square feet there, it moved about five years ago to Chamblee, where it had 3,500 square feet. “We provide health, career and human services to improve the quality of life in both the Jewish and the broader communities,” he said. “We’re a nonsectarian organization and we’re diverse in every sense of the word.” SEE LOCAL, PAGE 20
Master swimmers travel out of state annually to compete BY ELLEN ELDRIDGE
elleneldridge@reporternewspapers.net
PHIL MOSIER
Olivia Whitake, 10, takes delight in getting a close look at a “Julia Longwing” while attending the annual Butterfly Festival at the Dunwoody Nature Center on Aug. 15. The event attracted a record crowd who enjoyed games, crafts, live animal encounters, and of course, tents of butterflies. See additional photos on page 19.
Wade Whittle and his swimming friends train in Dunwoody, but they compete across the nation. On Aug. 8, these swimmers traveled to Chicago to take part in a mile-long race in Lake Michigan known as the Chicago Sharkfest Swim. It was the group’s fourth “destination race,” Whittle said. The friends first traveled to San Francisco to swim the Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim in 2012. Then, they visited New York’s Liberty Island and swam in the Hudson River, which Whittle called “gross.” Last year, they went to Charleston, where Whittle, who is in his mid-30s, said he won first place in his age group. All of the Dunwoody swimmers successfully finished the race in Chicago, with John Stanforth and Whittle placing second in their respective age groups. Jeff Frame and Fran Romanchuck placed third in their age groups. Whittle said he’s been part of the masters swim team that trains at the Dunwoody Baptist Church facility for about six years, but Steve Hartley, a 57-year-old airline pilot from Sandy Springs, has been part of the team for more than a decade. This year’s trip to Chicago was the only out-of-state competition Hartley had to miss. Hartley said Dan Hardy, a Dunwoody dentist, organized the team and found its first coach, Greg Schmid, who swam at Auburn University. SEE MASTER, PAGE 19