SEPTEMBER 2019 - Buckhead Reporter by Rough Draft Atlanta | Atlanta Intown, Reporter Newspapers & Silver Streak

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SEPTEMBER 2019 • VOL. 13 — NO. 9

Buckhead Reporter

SEPTEM

Fall Education Guide

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PHIL MOSIER

Mark Nelson, the Chastain Park Conservancy’s director of operations and volunteer programs, sits at a picnic table near some of the stonework that is getting a fresh look.

For Buckhead, it’s wait-and-see on emissions risk from Smyrna facility BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

For residents in western Buckhead and beyond, “wait and see” is the official message right now on concerns about emissions of a possibly cancer-causing gas from a Smyrna plant.

A recent report from WebMD and Georgia Health News revealed federal estimates of elevated cancer risks from emissions of the invisible, odorless substance, called ethylene oxide, at a facility run by Sterigenics. The company uses

IMAGINE

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ALL THE POSSIBILITIES

See page 8

BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

Mark Nelson hiked up some of the historic stone stairs he recently exhumed from head-high weeds in Chastain Park, part of months of his work to uncover fine stonework that is little-known even among park regulars. “It reminds me of north Georgia,” said Nelson, who joined the Chastain Park Conservancy as director of operations and volunteer programs in January in a busy year for the park. A devastating Jan. 4 fire at the conservancy’s headquarters – the day after Nelson started work – was the first challenge. The conservancy is now preparing for a move into a new headquarters building, while projects and changSee OLD on page 23

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City’s chief planner, APS superintendent to answer questions at BCN BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

Atlanta’s chief planner and the Atlanta Public Schools superintendent will speak and take questions at the Sept. 12 Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods meeting. Tim Keane, the commissioner of the Department of City Planning, is coming to speak about development issues at the request of BCN Chair Mary Norwood. And APS Superintendent Meria Carstarphen wants to talk about the impact of development tax breaks on her district’s funding, according to Norwood. At a BCN meeting last fall, Carstarphen slammed the tax implications of downtown’s Gulch redevelopment. Carstarphen will be joined by APS Chief Financial Officer Lisa Bracken. Norwood said the focus of the meeting is public input: “…we want to hear from you on tax issues, development issues, school issues.” “I know that the neighborhoods are very concerned about development. I know that they are very concerned about the infrastructure,” Norwood said about her invitation to Keane. “… [W]e need to be very careful about how we have neighborhoods MARY NORWOOD. coexist with the central business district. BCN CHAIR All of the officials will answer audience questions as well. To submit questions in advance, email questions@buckheadcouncil.org. The September meeting is scheduled to begin promptly at 6:45 p.m. at Peachtree Presbyterian Church, Room 2202, 3434 Roswell Road. For more information, see buckheadcouncil.org.

Norwood said that the following month’s meeting, scheduled for Oct. 10, will feature reports from the BCN’s various task forces. Those groups on working on such topics as transportation, housing affordability and crime. She said she is not certain whether they will have solid proposals to make at that time. Norwood has kept her own pressure on crime issues, including frequent Facebook posts about gang activity. Gang-related crime is a problem in the metro area, according to such officials as Gov. Brian Kemp and and agencies such as the Atlanta Police Department. However, Norwood drew criticism in August for reposting a supposed list of Atlanta street gangs that was blasted as a mix of fact and fiction, as well as being 15 years old. On the political commentary site GeorgiaPol.com, writer George Chidi blasted the list as “hilariously wrong” and Norwood as provoking “the needling, irritating sense that at times she will run with a story she hears regardless of whether or not it is true.” Norwood said she got the supposed gang list from someone else – not a member of law enforcement, she added – and partly defended it. “That list may not have been 100% accurate… but I felt it was critically important for people to say, ‘Oh, my goodness!’” she said. Regarding the appearance of rap groups on the list, she said, “There was a reason they were put on that list.” Norwood said that an overarching message is to fight gang activity and “not have our young people mesmerized and enticed into a life that will destroy their future and hurt their lives.”

I know that the neighborhoods are very concerned about development. I know that they are very concerned about the infrastructure.

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Community Briefs U. S. SEN . ISA KSON TO RETIR E M I D -TERM F OR H EA LTH REASO NS

U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson will retire at the end of the year, stepping down mid-term for health reasons, he said in a surprise announcement Aug. 28. “With the mounting health challenges I am facing, I have concluded that I will not be able to do the job over the long term in the manner the citizens of Georgia deserve,” said the 74-year-old Republican and Marietta resident, who has had serious health issues in recent years. Isakson’s current term in office does not expire until 2022. Gov. Brian Kemp will appoint a successor, who will then face election to retain the seat. SPECIAL Isakson has represented Georgia in the U.S. Senate since U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson 2005. Isakson’s has Parkinson’s disease and has suffered injuries and other ailments in recent years.

ATL A N TA -F ULTON LI BRA RY SYSTEM I SSUES A N N UA L SURVEY

The Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System has introduced its annual user survey to receive residents’ input on library functions. The online survey asks about what services patrons most often use and measures the overall satisfaction with their local branch. The library system estimates the survey takes about two minutes to finish. To see the survey, visit afpls.org,

S C O OTER RIDER I N JURED, CITED I N LATEST BUC K H EA D A C CID ENT

A scooter rider was injured and cited for riding on the sidewalk on Buckhead’s Peachtree Road Aug. 8. It was the second reported scooter injury in Buckhead within a week, and came hours after the city announced new restrictions on the vehicles as it scrambles to establish safety guidelines. According to a police report, the accident happened around 6:40 p.m. at the Texa-

been questioned by advocates in recent weeks after a string of serious and sometimes fatal accidents involving scooters and motor vehicles. Another scooter accident on Peachtree Road on Aug. 5 left a juvenile with a head injury. The latest accident happened the same day that the city announced a ban on operating the rentable scooters during part of the night, a measure intended to improve safety while long-term fixes are studied. The ban, which begins Aug. 9, covers the hours of 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. The ban would not have prevented the Aug. 8 accident, which happened before sunset. The three fatal scooter accidents that have occurred in Atlanta all happened at night and the measure is intended to reduce the danger. However, it is unclear why the city set the 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. times, as it remains dark after 4 a.m., and sunset already comes earlier than 9 p.m. By the end of August, Atlanta’s sunset will come around 8 p.m. and sunrise around 7 a.m. The city’s press office did not immediately respond to questions about the timing. The latest Buckhead accident also came the same day that local City Councilmember Howard Shook said the string of deaths and injuries was proving true his worst fear about legalizing scooters – a decision on which he was the lone “no” vote. “There are times I absolutely despise being right and this is chief among them,” he said.

R AD IO , TV PER SO NA L I TY M A R A DAV I S T O S P EA K AT B U CKHEAD B U SINES S A S S O C IAT IO N B R EA KFA S T

Mara Davis, a radio and TV personality, will speak at a Buckhead Business Association breakfast on Sept. 12. A popular DJ on Atlanta radio for many years, Davis currently contributes to WABE and co-hosts the “Atlanta Eats” dining show on PeachtreeTV. The Sept. 12 breakfast is scheduled for 7:30 to 9 a.m. at Maggiano’s Little Italy, 3368 Peachtree Road. Non-member admission is $25. For registration and more information, see buckheadbusiness.org.

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Scooters from the company Lime set up on a sidewalk outside Buckhead’s Tower Place 100 skyscraper in 2018.

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co gas station at 1888 Peachtree Road at Collier Road, where a motor vehicle driver exiting a driveway collided with the scooter, which was being ridden on the sidewalk. The scooter rider, an unidentified male, was found lying on the ground and “complaining of back pain,” according to the police report. He was transported to Grady Hospital. According to the police report, the scooter rider was “found to be at fault” and cited for operating the scooter on a sidewalk. Under current city law, scooters are banned from sidewalks – even though they are typically parked there – and must be ridden in the street or on bicycle paths and lanes. That is among the parts of the law that have BH

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Sandy Springs Arts Foundation executive director exits, now leads Buckhead nonprofit BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

The executive director of the often troubled Sandy Springs Arts Foundation has made a quiet exit, taking a new job leading a Buckhead-based educational nonprofit. Emily Hutmacher started work this month as executive director of Playworks Georgia, the local affiliate of a national organization that provides schools with structured play and programs for recess, according to spokesperson Doniell Glass. Playworks Georgia operates at 1708 Peachtree St. in southern Buckhead. “I’m excited to help improve school climate for all kids and school staff throughout Georgia,” said Hutmacher in a Playworks press release. “…[T]he beginning of the school year is when our coaches hear about needs that schools would like SPECIAL Emily Hutmacher. to address.” Hutmacher took the reins at the Foundation in Sandy Springs about 18 months ago, and it is unclear when she left. The Foundation made no public announcement of her departure or any successor. Her name remains on the Foundation’s website and voicemail. Hutmacher, Foundation board chair Ken Byers and other board members did not immediately respond to comment requests. The nonprofit Foundation, originally established by city government, began working in 2017 with a mission of subsidizing arts programs, especially at Sandy Springs’ City Springs civic center and its Performing Arts Center. That included grants for programming subsidies and arts education, running a campaign where donors would get their names on brick pavers, and vetting naming opportunities for the PAC and other City Springs facilities. When the Foundation board finally hired Hutmacher to fill the executive director position in early 2018 after organizing struggles, there was only six months left before the PAC’s grand opening. She quickly cautioned the board about public and internal confusion regarding the Foundation’s mission and cut back on some fundraising gala plans she called overly ambitious. At the time, the organization was far behind on a $7.5 million fundraising goal, and Hutmacher began work on a quick version of a strategic plan. In late 2018, the Foundation board severed its ties with the city and reorganized as a private nonprofit for several reasons, including the reduction of possible legal conflicts and to shield itself from laws requiring open meetings and open records. The Foundation has been providing $500,000 in funding to the PAC this year, but the brick program has yet to materialize and the building remains unnamed by a donor. It is unclear whether city officials were aware of the Foundation’s leadership change or have any concerns about its support of the PAC. “Since the foundation is not affiliated with the city, we must defer to its leadership to make any comments,” said city spokesperson Sharon Kraun. –Hannah Greco contributed

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Sandy Springs appears on another ‘safest cities’ list an expert calls useless BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

Sandy Springs has appeared on yet another “safest cities” website list, this time for purportedly “keeping children safe,” and a criminologist is once again saying the ranking is useless. SafeWise.com is one of two websites that get a lot of free press around the country for publishing “safest cities” lists, on which local cities frequently appear. Last year, Utah-based SafeWise acknowledged to the Reporter that its lists are made by staff members with no expertise in criminology or law enforcement as part of a marketing business that drives customers to security companies and Amazon.com. Josh Hinkle, an associate professor at Georgia State University’s Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, said at the time that SafeWise’s ranking method was not an effective way to calculate a resident’s risk for random crime. Now SafeWise is back with a list of “The 50 Safest Cities to Raise a Child in 2019,” on which Sandy Springs appears at number 36. The list was widely promoted with a press release quoting its author, Kaz Weida, and identifying her as a “security analyst.” The press release already resulted in one uncritical story, featuring a quote from Weida and a local mayor, in a New Jersey newspaper.

However, the report itself describes Weida only as a parent who “spends her time reviewing products,” and SafeWise spokesperson Krystal Rogers said she is a freelance writer who has no degree in criminology or law enforcement. In written messages sent via Twitter, Weida said she did not write the promotional quote that identified her as a security analyst. She said she has “a degree in education and several years of experience as a journalist writing pieces about home safety, crime, politics, parenting and community policing.” She also characterized the Reporter’s scrutiny of her qualifications as a “security analyst” as a form of personal criticism that was “despicable” and “truly off-base and irresponsible.” Weida did not directly respond to Hinkle’s criticisms of the report, but said she was not responsible for the method or the data. “I’m not involved in developing the methodology. I simply receive the data and a creative brief and craft the piece,” she said. The method SafeWise says it used to create the ranking involved comparing crime rates, graduation rates per capita, and the number of sex offenders per capita who are registered as living in the city. Hinkle, the GSU criminologist, said that method is based on a false assumption about citywide crime rates and that the sex offender registry is a “poor measure” of

child molestation risk. “Thus, I see no utility to this list,” said Hinkle. Rogers, the Safewise spokesperson, made no specific response to Hinkle’s criticisms, instead saying generally that crime is “a complex topic” and that SafeWise writes about “safety trends.” “The bottom line is that we want people to talk about and think about safety — if we get a conversation started that can help increase that everyday awareness and inspire ‘safety as a lifestyle,’ then we’re on the right track,” Rogers said. “We appreciate the conversation and will continue to evolve our process. We are constantly striving to provide more relevant and helpful information and resources, and we are learning from thoughtful inquiries such as this.” When asked why SafeWise doesn’t simply hire criminologists to conduct valid studies, and whether the company intends to correct misinformation, Rogers replied, “Thank you for the suggestion. If a mistake is discovered in the data, we are happy to correct it.” Hinkle said the entire premise of “safe cities” and comparing cities to each other makes no sense in terms of crime rates and risks. That is because street crime is highly localized. “It’s pretty moot to look at citywide safety when we know crime is highly concentrated at the microplace level… [which

means] street blocks and lots of block-toblock variation in crime even in ‘bad neighborhoods,’” Hinkle said. Another overall flaw in SafeWise’s method, Hinkle says, is the use of violent crime statistics. That’s because most assaults, rapes and murders are committed by a family member or acquaintance of the victim, not a stranger whom one might randomly encounter in a city. In the new list, the use of sex offender data has the same problem, Hinkle said, because the majority of child abuse and molestation also is committed by family members and acquaintances. And SafeWise appears to have counted all registered sex offenders, not just those convicted of child molestation, when in fact, “most of those aren’t pedophiles,” Hinkle said. For useful information on finding a safe place to live in terms of avoiding random crime, Hinkle said, the best places to go are the websites of local police departments, which usually offer a map of recent crimes. On those maps, anyone can see where there are local concentrations of random crime, such as burglaries and robberies. The Sandy Springs Police Department uses the site crimereports.com. “Finding a safe street in a safe neighborhood is what matters, not picking a safe city,” said Hinkle.

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Police raise alarm on guns stolen from cars BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net

At a recent Brookhaven City Council meeting, Police Chief Gary Yandura gave a brief report on the department’s activities. A fundraising 5K to benefit a police program was scheduled in the next few days, traffic at Montgomery Elementary School seemed to be running smoothly at the start of the school year with help from the traffic unit. But one final item stood out to council members. Yandura reported that on Aug. 12, a day before the council meeting, an AR-15-style rifle was reported stolen from the backseat of a person’s pickup truck while it was parked in the driveway of a house on Becket Drive. The victim, who lives in Alabama, had parked his vehicle at the house on Aug. 7 before he headed to Maryland for a vacation, according to police. When he returned Aug. 12, he noticed the $400 rifle, kept in a military case, was gone. The victim told police his car was unlocked the entire time he was gone, according to a police report. “Any valuable, especially a firearm, should not be left in an unlocked vehicle,” Brookhaven Deputy Chief Brandon Gurley said in an interview. “We are inviting criminals to come into our community, into our neighborhoods, because we make it easy.” The Brookhaven victim did not say exactly what kind of firearm was stolen from his car, other than it was a high-caliber rifle that he described as an AR-15-style weapon, Gurley said. He also did not have its serial numbers. The bullets the gun uses can pierce an officer’s body armor. It is the first known high-caliber weapon of that type reported stolen in the city, he said. “Most of what we see taken are handguns. This was unique and different,” he said. This year alone, dozens of guns from unlocked cars have been reported stolen in Brookhaven, Dunwoody, Sandy Springs and Buckhead, according to spokespersons

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GUNS STOLEN FROM CARS BROOKHAVEN

2017 / 19 2018 / 18 2019 / 22 Numbers from Jan. 1 through July 31 of each year

DUNWOODY

2017 / 16 2018 / 9 SANDY SPRINGS

2017 / 84 2018 / 54

2019 February to Aug. 21 / 3 2019 February to Aug. 21 / 30

ATLANTA ZONE 2

2017 / 284 2018 / 230 2019 January to Aug. 22 / 146 Including firearms or firearm accessories

from each department. But data shows the numbers of weapons stolen from cars are on a downward trend. Georgia does not require private gun owners to report stolen guns. The issue is not just occurring in metro Atlanta. In Nashville, 20 guns were stolen from unlocked cars in one week in August, according to WSMV-TV. In Charleston, S.C., 40 of 44 handguns stolen from vehicles between January and July were from unlocked cars, according to an ABC affiliate. In Mobile, Ala., approximately 1,200 guns were stolen from vehicles last year with 80 percent of those being taken from unlocked cars and trucks, according to a report at AL.com. The prevalence of people leaving high-valuable items in their unlocked cars has essentially put a target on those communities for criminals who see these areas as easy pickings, Gurley said. None of the guns stolen in Brookhaven have been tracked to any other crimes in metro Atlanta, Gurley said, but the likelihood they end up in another criminal’s hands is significant. An Aug. 25 New York Times report investigated how firearms stolen in the U.S. end up on the streets of Jamaica, where they are used in killings. In Jamaica, 80 percent of its homicides are committed with firearms and most of the guns come from the U.S. where lax gun laws help facilitate the carnage, according to the report. Between February and August, there were 23 guns stolen in Brookhaven. Of that total, 18 were stolen from vehicles. The majority of these were from unlocked cars, Gurley said. In neighboring Dunwoody, seven firearms have been reported stolen in the past six months; three of those being stolen from unlocked vehicles, said Sgt. Robert Parsons, spokesperson for the Dunwoody Police Department. “We are begging people to stop leaving things in cars that leave you a target for theft,” he said. “We beg people to not leave firearms in their vehicles,” he said. “Because once they get in the hands of the wrong people, it can result in tragic results.” Parsons said criminals like to come to Dunwoody because they understand people here tend to leave valuables in their cars and often leave them unlocked. The city and police department have initiated community programs, such as at Perimeter Mall, where signs are posted through the parking lot urging patrons to “Lock, Take, Hide.” Parsons said people may have a belief that that because they live in a nice neighborhood and city, “it won’t happen to me.” In Sandy Springs, there have been 412 reported thefts from autos so far in 2019. Of that total, 30 firearms were stolen from vehicles, with most taken from unlocked

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cars and trucks, according to Sgt. Samuel Worsham, spokesperson for the Sandy Springs Police Department. “We try to remind everyone to keep their vehicles locked, remove all valuables, and take the keys with them,” Worsham said. “So many of the vehicles are left unlocked and it makes it easy for thieves. Sometimes people get comfortable or complacent and forget that they may be a victim of theft.” In the Atlanta Police Department’s Zone 2, which includes Buckhead, there have been 146 guns, ammunition or holsters stolen from vehicles so far this year. How many were stolen from unlocked cars was not readily available. Maj. Barry Shaw, commander of Zone 2, said car break-ins throughout Atlanta are down 11 percent; in Zone 2 they are down 20 percent. But if you are a victim, you don’t always care about those numbers, he said. Slowing or stopping the stealing takes a partnership, Shaw said: police working areas where crimes are reported to catch the offenders; the courts and judges sentencing the criminals when caught; and residents not rewarding criminals by leaving valuables in their cars. “It’s like fishing,” he said. “If I go to a lake and I’m not catching anything ... I will go elsewhere.” Guns being stolen from cars keep officers on edge from the fear they will be used to seriously hurt someone, Shaw said. Shaw said he knows there are some places people cannot carry their firearm, so they will leave them in their car. They say they want the gun for their protection, but at the same time they are not responsible enough to protect others by ensuring their gun is not stolen, he said. “If you are going to carry a gun in your car and not take it inside, then you need to secure it in the car,” he said. Lock boxes and other special gun locks are readily available, he said. Shaw stressed he was not victim-blaming, Even Atlanta Police officers have had guns stolen from their vehicles, he said. And while the APD will continue to pursue criminals, getting help from the citizens would also help, he said. “Quite frankly, if everyone would stop leaving valuables and guns in their cars, then this problem would go away,” he said.

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In a leap of faith, a new church is born Carol Niemi is a marketing consultant who lives on the Dunwoody-Sandy Springs line and writes about people whose lives inspire others. Contact her at worthknowingnow@gmail.com.

In the last 20 years, attendance at American houses of worship has dropped 20 percent, according to Gallup. Last year, the percentage of Americans reporting church or synagogue membership reached an all-time low of 50 percent. So, why would anyone want to start another church? That’s what I asked a group of Dunwoodians who five months ago started a Bible study in a private home that is now preparing for its official launch as an independent church in a 70-year-old stone chapel in Sandy Springs. Miracle? You decide. It all started last March when a popular worship leader left his position at a promiCarol Niemi is a marketing consultant who lives on the DunwoodySandy Springs line and about people whose nent Dunwoody church. Doug Allen hadwrites followers, but nolives jobinspire prospects. others. Contact her at worthknowingnow@gmail.com. “It was blind faith,” said Allen. “I walked away from my only job not knowing what was next, but my wife and I knew He would provide.” He joined a small group that started meeting in a private home in Misty Creek, in the Sandy Springs panhandle. The group soon became a nondenominational “house church” with guest preachers. Meanwhile, Stephen Streett, a popular former Dunwoody church youth minister who had moved to Dalton to head another church, had left that church to become a hospital chaplain. Ironically, Streett and Allen had both served at the same Dunwoody church, though at different times, and had never met. “One of the people in our home church suggested I meet Stephen. We met at the Dunwoody Starbuck’s. It seemed like a divine appointment,” said Allen. The next Sunday, Streett drove down from Dalton as guest preacher. “Not knowing it would become a church, I came down every Sunday,” said Streett. “After five weeks, they decided to become a church and asked me to become the pastor. Everything happened very fast.” He was made official in June.

“We didn’t have much to offer and were asking him to move his family from Dalton,” said Allen. “The fact that he would uproot his family for this little home church didn’t make logical sense.” Despite the lack of logic, things moved quickly. As word spread that the two popular Dunwoody church leaders were involved, the home church grew. “The music and preaching are a big part,” said founding member Ragan Defreese. “But it’s also the genuineness of the people.” By late spring, the group had grown to more than 40 and needed a real church building. Once again, things that didn’t make sense somehow came together. Over in Sandy Springs sat the little stone chapel of the First Baptist Church of Sandy Springs. Built between 1938 and 1949, the chapel had gone through many iterations. Now rented to Orbit Arts Academy during the week, it sat sadly unused on Sundays. Luckily, Defreese knew a member of First Baptist who told him about it. But would First Baptist be willing to rent it to a “competing” church? Once again, the unexpected happened. “We’d been praying for a church to occupy that building,” said David Shivers, First Baptist senior pastor. The deal was struck. The new church, now called Misty Creek Community Church, would become the resident at the old stone chapel. “It’s a story of God pulling strings to bring us together,” said Shivers. Though not officially launched, the new church has been meeting in the stone chapel since July and has been growing steadily, with an average weekly attendance of 90. Non-denominational, Biblically based and conservative, it invites people to come as they are, meet after service under a tent on the front lawn for refreshments and fellowship, and join small home groups to explore every week’s message. The church will launch officially with a meet-and-greet on Sept. 15. On Oct. 6, the two churches - Misty Creek Community Church and First Baptist Church of Sandy Springs will have a joint service featuring bluegrass music and a free barbecue. “We’re bringing in one of the best bluegrass fiddle players I’ve ever heard,” said Allen, now official worship leader of the new church. Services at Misty Creek Community Church are Sundays at 10:30 am at 590 Mt. Vernon Highway NE. The joint service on Oct. 6 will be across the street at First Baptist Church of Sandy Springs at 10:30 am at 650 Mt. Vernon Highway NE. For more information, go to facebook.com/mistycreekchurch.

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Lenox Square celebrates 60 years as mall destination BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

Lenox Square is celebrating 60 years as a destination mall in not only the Southeast, but for international tourists as well. The massive mall at Peachtree and Lenox roads opened Aug. 3, 1959, in a very different form – an open-air shopping center with 60 stores. Now it’s a multilevel icon with well over 200 stores. And for the summer, it is featuring a display about its own history. “We celebrate Lenox Square’s 60th anniversary with pride,” said Sam Massell, president of the Buckhead Coalition, in the written version of remarks he delivered at an Aug. 1 anniversary event at the mall. “It has been such a powerful force changing retailing from downtown to suburbia, labeling Buckhead as the retail mecca of the southeastern United States.” He praised it as remaining “firstclass” through its many changes over the decades. In the 1940s, the property was an estate called Joyeuse and owned by John Ottley. A developer named Ed Noble bought it for the Lenox Square development. A decade after the Lenox Square opening, it drew competition at the opposite corner of the intersection in the form of the Phipps Plaza mall. Today, both malls are operated by Simon Property Group, but Phipps Plaza is not conducting a similar 50th anniversary celebration. At Lenox Square, the next big change came in 1980, adding a food court, atrium and plaza level. In 1986, the neighboring JW Marriott hotel and an office building were added to the site. In 1994, the mall added a fourth level. And the changes continue up to this year, with a massive expansion of the Zara

PHOTOS COURTESY LENOX SQUARE

An entrance to today’s Lenox Square

The opening celebration of the mall on Aug. 3, 1959.

store coming and a new “flagship” store under construction that the mall won’t yet name. Lindsey Jones, the mall’s marketing director, noted that it originally opened under the motto, “There’s everything there at Lenox Square.” She attributed the continued success to that motto holding true, with a mix of luxury and neighborhood-oriented stores, as well as more than 50 retailers whose only Georgia location is there. With the anniversary display, Jones said, she’s heard many personal stories, such as couples getting engaged at Lenox Square. “That’s what really warms my heart,” she said. The anniversary display stands along

a wall in the Mall level across from Banana Republic. For more information, see simon. com/mall/lenox-square.

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A 1960s promotional photo for the mall.

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Commentary: Nicknaming the new 285/400 interchange It’s big. It’s expensive. It already has created controversy and angered drivers and it’s not even going to be finished until next year. But one thing the rebuilt interchange at I-285 and Ga. 400 doesn’t have is a name. It needs one, if only to keep up with Spaghetti Junction, the Cobb Cloverleaf, the Downtown Connector and other metro Atlanta highway landmarks. We came up with a few suggestions of our own and asked our readers on social

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media to suggest more nicknames for the collection of concrete taking form on the Perimeter. And they came through. In a big, big way. A strong contender: “The Top Knot.” That kind of says it all. Plus, there’s the source: the Twitter account of North Perimeter Contractors, the folks who are building the thing at the behest of the Georgia Department of Transportation. Who knew construction contractors had a sense of humor? The “Perimeter Pretzel” was by far the

readers’ favorite among our own suggestions. Less beloved were “GDOT Knot,” “Traffic Twister” and “Rush-Hour Ramen.” Here are some of our readers’ suggestions. We couldn’t print them all, of course. Frankly, some were a tad racy. Others, while apt, seemed less sobriquets than the stuff of protest signs, such as “Welcome to Standing Springs.”

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Bumper-to-Bumper Incompetence Intersection Diverging Disaster Top End Travesty Purgatory Highway to Hell Apocalypse Now Bypass Boondoggle Malfunction Junction Dysfunction Junction The Can of Worms Jungle Junction Area 51 The Towering Tie-Up The Insane Interchange

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As the school years pass, so do the backpack fashions In the beginning, there was the diaper bag. It was made of vinyl, and no matter what any designer did to disguise it, it was still a vinyl diaper bag. Ours was covered with teal-colored elephants, so there was no doubt to anyone that it was not my purse or my weekender travel bag, but that it was there to serve the youngest among us. It contained everything we needed to feed, change, entertain and care for our baby—everything short of an actual nanny, although it was big enough to hold one. We lugged it around for years until our toddler outgrew it, passed it to his younger sister as a back-up, and promptly replaced it with the preschool tote bag. It was then I realized that, rather than marking the growth of my children with penciled lines on the wall, I was registering their growth by the size of their bags. The Preschool Tote Bag phase lasted for three more years. It was launched when my son entered the house with a bright purple bag personalized with his handprint and name — in paint that was still wet -- so this phase was marked on the kitchen cabinets for a while, along with the name of the girl he had a crush on. The smeared purple tote bag took him until first grade and to many a grandma sleepover as well. Soon his sister had one, too. Something about that gloppy gel paint made me smile, and those bags grew on me as they hung around in the closet, signaling the Stage of Carefree Childhood. When the kids hit primary grades, the Backpack Era began. My son and daughter started wearing backpacks, but they were little adorable ones that came with matching lunch bags covered with fire trucks or daisies, or packs that were fashioned to look like zoo animals. We had a turtle with a zippered shell, and a ladybug, I believe, but my favorite was a lion with a mane made of yellow tassels. These were backpacks so cute and lunch boxes so clever that I used to play dress up with them myself. They were artfully camouflaged so that children were duped into wearing them for fun. Little did we know that these were actually training packs, because our kids would be lugging backpacks to school and beyond for the next 25 years of their lives. Sure enough, as soon as the children moved from preschool to elementary school, the bags dropped the cute decor, sprouted wheels, and went industrial. Robin Conte lives with her In middle school, though the bags were heavier, wheels husband in an empty nest were not cool, and my kids would leave for school each day in Dunwoody. To contact looking like they were embarking on a three-month trek her or to buy her column across Europe. collection, “The Best of the When the day came that their backpacks were too large Nest,” see robinconte.com. and heavy to meet the carry-on standards of an airplane, I knew that my kids had arrived in high school. Once they hit college, they were in fact embarking on a three-month trek across Europe, and their backpacks were fitted accordingly. Each school year ended with the ripped and tattered remains of nylon, and I retired the remnants, thinking of their increasing size, my kids’ growth, and how far we’ve all come since the smeared purple tote bags and the vinyl diaper bag. The lion-shaped bag still rests on the top shelf of the twins’ closet, as a reminder of the days when kids and packs alike were small and playful. Yet even now, bags are still marking rites of passage in our house. Those would be the bags under my eyes.

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Around Town Joe Earle is editor-at-large at Reporter Newspapers and has lived in metro Atlanta for over 30 years. He can be reached at joeearle@reporternewspapers.net

Rosin up the bow: Jamming on the old tunes in Sandy Springs

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Libby Lintel played piano, but she decided it was too solitary an instrument. She wanted to tackle music that would allow her more chances to play with other people. So, a little more than six years ago, she took up the banjo. Learning to play her new open-backed banjo led her to “old-time” music, the slice of American folk music associated with songs and string bands of the Appalachians. “The old tunes JOE EARLE are pretty,” the 57-year-old Cobb Jeremy Aggers, foreground, plays banjo County resident said. “They’re while, left to right at rear, Libby Lintel, Hal simple melodies. They’re historic. Rabinowitz and Vicki Page play along. It kind of links you with the past.” It links her with like-minded musicians, too, which is why one recent Saturday afternoon she joined nine other instrumentalists in the back room at Slope’s BBQ in Sandy Springs to play old tunes. “The reason I picked up banjo was so I could get good enough to come play with a group like this,” Lintel said. Old-time players gather at Slope’s most Saturday afternoons and many Tuesday nights to perform old tunes that sometimes may sound familiar, but often bear strange names. At any time, they may start up “Shove That Pig’s Foot a Little Further in the Fire” or “Camp Meeting on the Fourth of July” or “Floppy-Eared Mule.” The number of players at Slope’s varies from jam to jam, as does the instrumentation. On this Saturday, the group featured five fiddlers, a mandolin player, a guitarist, a hammered-dulcimer player and two banjo players. Mandolin-player Don Sinisi said that when he was young, he played what he called “hippie mountain music,” meaning acoustic music by performers such as the Grateful Dead or John Prine. He moved on to bluegrass and old-time music, then stuck with old-time because he enjoyed it more. Bluegrass jams turn into individual players performing solo after solo, he said; old-time musicians play together as a group. The instrumentalists gathered in a room decorated with wooden and ceramic pigs, a country quilt, lots of Georgia license plates and a serving tray printed with the photo and signature of Elvis Presley. They set their chairs into a circle and sat facing one another as they strummed or hammered or plucked their instruments and took turns calling out songs to play. The informal old-time jam has been meeting in Sandy Springs for about two years, but it’s been going for decades. Decades ago, the players gathered in Decatur. Then they moved to Manuel’s Tavern in Atlanta for a while, until renovation of the tavern forced them to move to Sandy Springs, said Dan Byrd, an 80-year-old fiddler and Buckhead cardiologist who now pulls together the gatherings. Byrd, known to everyone as “Doc,” said he started fiddling about 40 years ago. Before that, he played banjo. “I’ve been playing music all my life,” he said in a telephone interview a couple of days before the jam. “It’s relaxing. There’s no pressure on you and people are learning new songs all the time.” Now Byrd keeps a mailing list of 86 musicians who show up for the jam at one time or another. On any given Saturday, anywhere from four to 15 may join, Byrd said. “The jam session is open to anybody,” he said. “If you want to show up with your instrument, we welcome you.” And once they start playing, the group draws notice. As they worked their way through tunes such as “Snake River Reel” and “Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine,” diners applauded or wandered over to snap photos with their phones of the musicians. Mary Jacobsen of Marietta said she and her husband, Quen, drop by Slope’s for lunch just about every Saturday in order to hear the music. “They call us their groupies,” she joked. Tyler Ellis was pleasantly surprised to find the group jam when he stopped by for a barbecue sandwich for lunch. The 29-year-old Sandy Springs resident, who grew up in Simpsonville, S.C., said the music reminded him of home. “It’s awesome,” he said, before snapping a souvenir photo. On this Saturday afternoon, fiddler Vicki Page of Roswell filled in for Doc as the group’s leader. The 64-year-old said she began playing fiddle after college. She started off playing Celtic music but felt a kinship with the old mountain tunes. “My family is from eastern Kentucky,” she said. “That’s where old-time comes from.” She and the others started discussing what tunes to play next. Before long, it would be time tackle “Nail that Catfish to a Tree.”

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CNN White House reporter Jim Acosta discusses Trump and immigration in Buckhead appearance BY KEVIN C. MADIGAN Journalist Jim Acosta has been CNN’s chief correspondent at the White House since January of 2018, during which he has challenged the administration on multiple issues. But it was his questions to President Donald Trump regarding immigration policy that got Acosta banned from the place — at least temporarily. Acosta spoke to the Atlanta Press Club in Buckhead in an Aug. 10 appearance to promote his book “Enemy of the People: A Dangerous Time to Tell the Truth in America,” a personal account of the adversity he encounters while covering the White House. At the event, held at the Buckhead Club, he voiced strong criticisms of Trump and connected the president’s language and behavior to such recent news as an Aug. 3 mass shooting at an El Paso, Texas Walmart and Aug. 7 federal immigration raids on food plants in Mississippi. “People think I was magically beamed down to Earth in the middle of this Trump thing to become the chief antagonist of the president, but that’s not how life works,” Acosta said while describing a long career that included stints with CBS News in Dallas, Chicago, New York, and Atlanta. He joined CNN in 2007 and reported on the 2008 presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama — “that little slugfest,” he calls it — and subsequently covered the Obama administration. “I went to Cuba with Obama and had a chance to ask Raul Castro about his human rights record,” he recalled. “My father’s a Cuban immigrant and as a Cuban-American myself that was one of the highlights of my career — to be able to ask one of the Castro brothers about the conditions on the island that drove my father and his mother to come to the United States back in the early ’60s.” Acosta, 48, said his book is the result of “keeping a periodic diary of my travels with Donald Trump as he made this unprecedented and unimaginable rise to power.” He drew Trump’s ire last November, resulting in the revocation of his White House press credentials, which led to a lawsuit filed by CNN in which the company prevailed. “He didn’t want me to challenge him on this notion he’s been peddling that immigrants pose some kind of threat, like an invasion coming into this country, when that’s just not the case. There is no invasion. San Diego is not about to become part of Guatemala,” Acosta said, adding, “The El Paso shooter [referred to] a Mexican invasion. Whenever you have a situation where the leader of a country is demonizing immigrants or people who are less fortunate than ourselves, bad things can happen.” He continued: “We’re starting to see some of that manifest itself. I do think there are people on both sides of the political spectrum who have definitely been thinking hard about what happened in El Paso and how it relates to some of the out-of-control rhetoric the president has been using. We’re seeing it in real time and in living color. You’re letting the genie out of the bottle and there is such a thing as unintended consequences.” A journalist in the audience asked Acosta how the press can responsibly cover the president without amplifying his false claims.

“He says things like members of Congress should go back to where they came from, that Baltimore is a rat-infested place,” Acosta responded. “Do we stick our head in the sand? It’s the president of the United States, so it matters. It’s news. “I don’t want to be part of the normalizing and sanitizing that we’ve been seeing and we can’t avoid covering it,” he continued. “We present this to the public so that it resembles something along the lines of full and responsible coverage.” Acosta said he believes the Republican Party has compromised many of its principles to make peace with itself and get on board with Donald Trump. He does, however, hear from some of its leaders privately expressing their alarm. “They are logically concerned about what happened in El Paso and at the workplace raid in Mississippi — these kids crying on television for their mommies and their daddies — and they wonder what the hell has happened to our country.” He added, “We have a leader now who’s playing a game of divide and conquer, and he is realizing some short-term political gains, but down the road we’re going to have to get back to a place where we are all on the same team…where we’re not at each other’s throats.” “Regardless of where you stand on the issues, we are at a critical point in our country’s history,” Acosta said. “There are a lot of questions but I do think we are going to get answers. History tells us that [eventually] we will be able to see very clearly what’s been going on and folks will have to decide for themselves whether or not it made America great.”

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Buckhead mansion draws more citations amid party controversy

“legal strategy” he is involved with regarding the Garmon Road mansion. “I applaud the APD for their response and how seriously they are taking this issue,” Matzigkeit said. During a July 6 party, police say, Oduwole was taken into custody and issued citations alleging a noise violation and obstruction, and a DJ was also cited for an alleged noise violation. On Aug. 15, police say, Oduwole was again cited for a noise violation. That’s the day he says there was no party. On Aug. 17, police say they arrested a security guard at the mansion named

Clifton Lacour, 31, and accused him of violating the noise ordinance and providing false information to the police. According to the Municipal Court of Atlanta’s records, Oduwole is scheduled to go to trial on Oct. 21 on citations alleging commercial noise violation, zoning ordinance violations and disorderly conduct in the form of physical obstruction. Oduwole has pleaded innocent, according to the court records. “I probably will attend it and I suspect quite a few neighbors will as well,” Matzigkeit said of Oduwole’s trial.

Police Blotter / Buckhead SPECIAL

The 4499 Garmon Road mansion as it appears in Fulton County property records.

BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

A Buckhead mansion at the heart of a city controversy about “party houses” was the scene of another arrest and more citations in August amid complaints about noise and commercial rentals. A local City Council member says he’s working on a “legal strategy” to shut down the mansion, while the man identified by police as operating it says at least some of the complaints are unfounded. “Let’s just say we are actively working on efforts to make sure this illegal activity is shut down,” said City Councilmember J.P. Matzigkeit about the 4499 Garmon Road mansion, which has been advertised for commercial rental on various websites, a practice that Matzkigkeit says violates the zoning code. “This is illegal. And this will stop.” But Olutosin O. “Tosin” Oduwole, whom police have described as the mansion’s “owner,” said in a text message to the Reporter that during an alleged Aug. 15 noise incident, “There was no party here” and that he believes “police lie all the time” about such circumstances. “Because there is a citation does not automatically mean it was a party,” Oduwole wrote. “If my car backfires and I get a citation, you will say it’s a party. If I have four friends over and one is playing his car radio loud, you will say it’s a party.” Oduwole declined repeated interview requests and on Aug. 27 demanded that the Reporter cease writing anything about him. Formerly owned by star musician Kenny Rogers, the mansion at 4499 Garmon Road drew the city’s attention last year for a string of massive par-

ties, which ended late in the year with a $1,000 zoning violation fine imposed upon a woman who claimed to be the property’s new owner. However, Oduwole began advertising the mansion for event rentals again this year and parties resumed this summer. That drew the ire of officials, helping to spark Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and Matzigkeit to call for legislation restricting “party houses.” Matzigkeit and other officials have said that they believe large commercial parties are illegal in residential areas under zoning, which prohibits many commercial uses in areas zoned for single-family residential. But lack of legal definitions in the code clearly have been among the issues complicating official response, and one the new legislation seeks to fix. According to the Mayor’s Office, the new legislation would create a zoning code definition of a “party house.” The definition reads: “A single-family, two-family or multi-family dwelling unit, including all accessory structures, which [is] used for the purpose of hosting a commercial event. For this definition, commercial event includes parties, ceremonies, receptions or similar large-scale gatherings where the attendees are charged entry to the event, or the structure and its curtilage otherwise functions as a commercial recreation facility.” Party houses would be allowed in residential-zoned areas only with a special permit. Matzigkeit, who represents Buckhead’s District 8, said the “party house” legislation is now working its way through the Neighborhood Planning Unit review process. He declined to provide details of the

The following information, involving events that took place in Buckhead July 18 through Aug. 7 was provided to the Buckhead Reporter by the Zone 2 precinct of the Atlanta Police Department from its open data records.

HOMICIDE

July 21 700 block of Sidney Marcus Boulevard

— July 24 1700 block of Commerce Drive — July

2100 block of Tula Street

— July 12

700

block of Bellmeade Avenue — July 26

AG G R AVAT E D A S S AU LT

1100 block of Collier Road — July 30

1800 block of

Howell Mill Road — July 18

3400 block of Roxboro Road — July 31

300 block of E.

Paces Ferry Road — July 19

3400 block of Roxboro Road — July 31

900 block of Canterbury

Road — July 24 3100 block of Roswell Road — Aug. 4

B U R G L A RY-R E S I D E N C E 1900 block of Howell Mill Road — July

18 3400 block of Roxboro Road — July 18

4400 block of Glengary Drive — Aug. 4 4400 block of Glengary Drive — Aug. 4 100 block of Pharr Road — Aug. 5 400 block of Pharr Road — Aug. 6

1300 block of Northside Drive — July

B U R G L A RYN O N-R E S I D E N C E

18 1700 block of Commerce Drive — July

18 4400 block of Jett Road — July 18 3300 block of Grant Valley Road —

900 block of Canterbury Road

— Aug. 1

3000 block of Peachtree Road — July

18 1700 block of Commerce Drive — July

July 18

3400 block of Lakeside Drive — July 22

200 block of 26th Street — July 19

2100 block of Monroe Drive — July 27

2100 block of Cheshire Bridge Road —

1000 block of Lindbergh Drive — Aug.

July 19 400 block of Northside Circle — July

20 3400 block of Roxboro Road — July 21 1000 block of Lenox Park Boulevard —

1 3500 block of Piedmont Road — Aug. 3

R O B B E RY 2700 block of Defoors Road — July 20 BH

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3300 block of Peachtree Road — July

22 3500 block of Peachtree Road — July

25 1700 block of Howell Mill Road — July

26 400 block of East Paces Ferry Road —

July 28 2200 block of Cheshire Bridge Road —

July 28

100 block of Terminus Place — Aug. 4 1900 block of Peachtree Road — Aug. 5

LARCENY Between July 18 and July 31, there were

93 larcenies from vehicles reported across Zone 2 and 70 reported cases of larceny and shoplifting. Between Aug. 1 and Aug. 7, there were 44 larcenies from vehicles reported across Zone 2 and 22 reported cases of larceny and shoplifting.

AU TO T H E F T

1900 block of Howell Mill Road — Aug.

Between July 18 and July 31, there were

24 reported incidents of auto theft. Between Aug. 1 and Aug. 7, there were 13 reported incidents of auto theft.

Aug. 1 1000 block of Park Avenue — Aug. 4

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41 AWARDS FOR EDITORIAL EXCELLENCE We’re honored that Reporter Newspapers and Atlanta INtown have won 41 awards in the Georgia Press Association’s Better Newspaper Competition over the past three years. For 2019, the Reporter’s honors include eight first place awards in its category. The annual competition is judged by newspaper professionals from around the country and represent the highest journalism standards. Thank you to our readers, advertisers and peers who support our mission of providing trusted, hyperlocal community journalism.

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Section Two

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LOCAL COUPLE BRINGS ANIME, GAMING EVENT TO ATLANTA

Brookhaven Buckhead

Perimeter Busines

Business: PCIDs turns 20 ►Q+A with local couple behind Atlanta’s big anime convention

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NATURE AND THEATER MERGE AT DUNWOODY’S PLAY-READING SERIES PAGE 26

PAGE 26

Spring 2019 |

Where brick-and-mortar

The PCIDs 20 years of shaping marks Perimeter Center COMMUNITY retail still works

P. 36

BY JOHN RUCH

johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

After 20 years of a population increasingly boom, jammed highways scraper-sprouting and skymega-developments, it may sound quaint that people about Perimeter worried Mall traffic way 1999. back in But the Perimeter Community provement Districts, Imof business propertythe self-taxing groups out of those concerns,owners that formed are among the sons the local boom has happened reawhy the traffic and isn’t even worse. to Perimeter If you go Center today, you may well get there via one of the big projects PCIDs pushed – like the Hammond the ramps on Ga. Drive 400 or the Ashford-Dunwoody Road diverging diamond change at I-285 inter– and you’ll see smaller touches they’re responsible for, scaping and rush-hour like landtraffic cops. “They had a reputation for, one, cleaning things up, providing number those cosmetic amenities we’ve some of all become used to,” said Ann Hanlon, who watched the CIDs form as resident and now a longtime Dunwoody serves as their director. “At the executive time, that was pretty revolutionary, that a private group was willing to pay for those amenities.” Back in 1999, the day cover Perimeter three cities that toCenter – Brookhaven, Dunwoody and Sandy Springs not yet exist. – did As the PCIDs looks its next 20 years, ahead to it has refocused sion on transportation, its misleaving previous proposals such as park-building ies. Transportation to the these days means citerything from evhelping to build trail networks multiuse to shaping the toll lanes and future of transit on Ga. 400 and I-285. That’s in addition to some of the PCIDs currently basics the provides or coordinates, like sidewalks and crosswalks, commuter shuttles, traffic signal timing and the rimeter Connects commuter advice Pevice. serAn increasingly part of Perimeter residential sector is Center’s future, with

Who’s running for mayor? So far, just one P12

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Mount Paran and Powers Ferry Joe Card, the owner of this carriage house at the a plan to build a roundabout. roads intersection is calling for the city to stop

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City Springs theater group prepares for another season of packed houses

BY EVELYN ANDREWS

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The Sandy Springs Reporter is mail delivered to homes on selected carrier routes in ZIPs 30327, 30328, 30342 and 30350 For information: delivery@reporternewspapers.net

As the City Springs Theatre Company prepares the final shows of its inaugural season, it’s also prepping for what it expects to be another season of packed shows as it tries to keep up with the enthusiasm and de-

mand from the community. The theater company survived major

leadership changes at City Springs and has succeeded in implementing one of the complex’s key initiatives – educational programming. “I’ve been involved in nonprofit theatre for 33 years now. I have never, ever in my career seen anything like the level of support and desire for musical theater,” Brandt See CITY on page 12

country store. “We’d like Sandy Springs to make a priority of residential neighborhoods and not Aar- out our podcasts Check make it a bypass for commuters,” said at ReporterNewspapers.net on Gill, a homeowner at the intersection. The start of the project is quickly approaching, with utility relocation expectconstruction ed to begin in the fall andThe DunwoodybyReporter is spring 2020. The city is currently working mail delivered to on securing right of way for the round-

homes on selected about. carrier routes in The $2.5 million project is expect-ZIP 30338 ed to cost $1.2 million for construction, For information: $800,000 for right of way and $300,000 delivery@reporternewspapers.net for design. The city did not respond to

DeKalb CEO touts Dunwoody unity in ‘State of County’ address

BY JOHN RUCH

johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond touted unity as the force behind local resurgence, and cited his “odd couple” partnership with Dunwoody Mayor Denis Shortal as key bridge-building, in a special “State of the County” address to

a request for comment, but has said the roundabout would improve safety by reducing side-impact crashes and installing pedestrian improvements. It’s also expected to reduce congestion, according to the city.

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Layla Smith, left, and Corrine Ovellette, eighth-graders at Peachtree Charter School, ride the swings during Middle the 20th edition of the Lemonade Days festival, which ran April 24-28 at Brook Run Park. The festival this year raised money for the Dunwoody Preservation Trust and the Donaldson-Bannist er Farm.

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Spring 2019 | Where

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MAY 2019

P. 36

BY JOHN RUCH

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Main photo, the diverging SPECIAL at Ashford-Dunwoody diamond interchange Road and I-285 as it looked shortly after opening in 2012. Inset, the Hammond FILE Drive Ga. 400 shortly after interchange with it opened in 2011.

An increasingly residential sector is part of Perimeter Center’s future, with

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business leaders April 25. Adding to the symbolism, the event – hosted by the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce and the policy and lobby group the Council for Quality Growth – was not only held in Dunwoody, but in very same Crowne Plaza Ravinia hotel ballroom where the city’s own annual “state See DEKALB on page 10

Dunwoody’s old Austin Elementary School, which was expected to close once a new, 900-seat version debuts P16 open temporarily next year, may remain as DeKalb Schools searches for ways to alleviate overcrowding. Doing so would mean extending a lease agreement between the city and the school district, but officials are being tight-lipped about their discussions. COMMENTARY The city currently owns the old school at 5345 Roberts Drive, originally built in 1975, as part of a 2016 land swap deal with DeKalb Schools. The agreement included the city trading the former Dunwoody Senior Baseball fields for the school property and DeKalb Schools paying the city $3.6 million. DeKalb Schools P18 is building the new school on Roberts Drive on the site of the former baseball fields and adjacent to the NEST ROBIN’S Dunwoody Nature Center, less than a halfmile from the current AES. The city has not finalized what it wants to do with the old school property once it is vacated, but talks have generally focused on creating a park space. The new Austin Elementary School is being built using 2011 special local option salesP19 tax funding. As part of the 2016 agreement, the city agreed to lease the old school to DeKalb

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COMMUNITY

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Section Two

MAY Sandy

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Springs

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Dunwoody

►Perimet

Brookhaven

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BY JOHN

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net After 20 years increasingly of scraper-sprou jammed a population highways boom, it may ting and skysound mega-develop about Perimeterquaint that ments, 1999. Mall trafficpeople worried But the way back provement Perimeter in Community of business Districts, property the self-taxing Imout of those concerns, owners that groups sons the why the local boom are among formed the traffic has to Perimeter isn’t even happened reaand get there worse. Center If you today, via one PCIDs of the you may go pushed ramps big projects well – like woody on Ga. 400 the Hammond the or the Drive change Road diverging Ashford-Dun touches at I-285 – diamond and you’ll interscaping they’re responsible see smaller and rush-hour for, like “They had a traffic landone, cleaning reputation cops. those for, number cosmeticthings up, providing used amenities to,” some we’ve the CIDs said Ann all becomeof Hanlon, resident form as a longtimewho watched director. and now serves Dunwoody as their lutionary,“At the time, that was executive that to pay for those a private group pretty revoamenities.” Back was willing day coverin 1999, the Perimeter three cities en, Dunwoody that toCenter not yet and – Brookhavits next exist. As the Sandy Springs – did sion on 20 years, it PCIDs looks has proposalstransportatio refocusedahead to n, leaving its missuch as ies. Transportatio park-building previous erything n to these the from trail networks helping days means citto build toll lanes evto multiuse and transitshaping That’s the future in PCIDs addition to on Ga. 400 and I-285.of currently some like sidewalks provides of the basics shuttles, the or coordinates, and crosswalks, rimeter traffic signal Connects timing commuter vice. commuter and the An increasingly advice Peserpart of Perimeter residential Center’s sector is CONTINU future, with ED

Main photo, the diverging at Ashford-Dunw diamond looked SPECIAL shortly oody Road interchange and Inset, after opening I-285 as the in 2012. it Ga. 400Hammond shortly Drive interchange after FILE it opened with in 2011.

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Take steps to protect urban wildlife Mother’s Words of Wisdom

• VOL. 13 —

Buckhead Reporter

After 20 years of a population boom, increasingly jammed highways and skyscraper-sprouting mega-developments, it may sound quaint that people worried about Perimeter Mall traffic way back in 1999. But the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts, the self-taxing groups of business property owners that formed out of those concerns, are among the reasons the local boom has happened and why the traffic isn’t even worse. If you go to Perimeter Center today, you may well get there via one of the big projects the PCIDs pushed – like the Hammond Drive ramps on Ga. 400 or the Ashford-Dunwoody Road diverging diamond interchange at I-285 – and you’ll touches they’re responsible see smaller for, like landscaping and rush-hour traffic cops. “They had a reputation for, number one, cleaning things up, providing some of those cosmetic amenities we’ve all become used to,” said Ann Hanlon, who watched the CIDs form as a longtime Dunwoody resident and now serves as their executive director. “At the time, that was pretty revolutionary, that a private group to pay for those amenities.” was willing Back in 1999, the three cities that today cover Perimeter Center – Brookhaven, Dunwoody and Sandy Springs – did not yet exist. As the PCIDs looks ahead to its next 20 years, it has refocused its mission on transportation, leaving proposals such as park-building previous to the cities. Transportation these days means everything from helping to build multiuse trail networks to shaping the future of toll lanes and transit on Ga. 400 and I-285. That’s in addition to some of PCIDs currently provides the basics the or like sidewalks and crosswalks,coordinates, commuter shuttles, traffic signal timing rimeter Connects commuter and the Peadvice service.

to remake Emory unveils $1B plan innovation district’ Executive Park as ‘health

The Brookhaven Reporter to is mail delivered homes on selected carrier routes in ZIP 30319 For information: delivery@reporternewspapers.net

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Dunwoody Brookhaven

Business: PCIDs turns 20 ►Q+A with local couple behind Atlanta’s big anime convention

►Perimeter

DYANA BAGBY

evelyn@reporternewspapers.net

ROBIN’S NEST Residents near the intersection of Mount Paran and Powers Ferry roads have rallied against a roundabout expected to be built early next year. They argue the roundabout will mostly help commuters while negatively affecting their properties, including requiring demolition of a P19 once used as a nearly century-old building

Sandy Springs

Section Two

dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net

P18 BY EVELYN ANDREWS

reporternewspapers.net MAY 2019

NO. 5

fishing regulations approved after heron’s death

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BY JOHN

johnruch@reporternew spapers.net

After 20 increasingly years of a population jammed boom, scraper-sprouting highways and skyit may sound mega-developments quaint that about Perimeter people worried, Mall traffic 1999. way back in But the provement Perimeter Community Districts, Imof business the self-taxing groups out of those property owners that formed concerns, sons the local boom are among the why the has happened reatraffic and to Perimeter isn’t even worse. If you Center today, get there you may go via well PCIDs pushed one of the big projects – like the ramps on Hammond the Ga. 400 Drive woody or the Ashford-DunRoad diverging change diamond at I-285 – and you’ll intertouches they’re responsible see smaller scaping and rush-hour for, like “They had traffic cops. landone, cleaning a reputation for, those cosmeticthings up, providing number some of amenities used to,” we’ve all said Ann become the CIDs Hanlon, who watched form as a longtime resident and now Dunwoody serves as director. their “At lutionary, the time, that was executive that a private pretty to pay for group was revothose amenities.” willing Back in day cover 1999, the three cities that Perimeter en, Dunwoody toCenter – Brookhavnot yet exist. and Sandy Springs As the – did its next 20 years, PCIDs looks ahead it has refocused sion on to transportation, its misproposals leaving such as park-building previous ies. Transportation erything these days to the citfrom trail networks helping to buildmeans evmultiuse to shaping toll lanes the and transit That’s in on Ga. 400 future of addition and I-285. PCIDs currently to some of the like sidewalks provides or basics the and crosswalks,coordinates, shuttles, traffic signal commuter rimeter timing and Connects the Pecommuter vice. advice serAn increasingly part of Perimeter residential sector Center’s is future, with CONTINUED

Old Austin Elementary School may remain open to relieve overcr parkg owdin New public

SPECIAL diamond looked shortly Road and interchange I-285 as after opening it Inset, the in 2012. Hammond Ga. 400 Drive interchange FILE shortly after with it opened in 2011.

ersMill sidewalks HomeownTilly criticize spark right-of-way dispute ut roundabo threatening 1927 Take steps to protect buildingurban wildlife

COMMUNITY

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| Where brick-and-mo

MAY 2019 • VOL. 11 —

Main photo, the diverging at Ashford-Dunwoody

COMMUNITY

Main photo, the diverging SPECIAL at Ashford-Dunwoody diamond interchange Road and I-285 looked shortly as it after opening in 2012. Inset, the Hammond FILE Ga. 400 shortly Drive interchange with after it opened in 2011.

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EMORY UNIVERSITY

shows future of Executive Park it owns plan for the 60 acres and Musculoskeletal Emory University’s master colored in blue, including a new hospital and industrial. office medical and office buildings to rezone the property from retail to Center. Emory is seeking

300-plus properties could be affected ect by I-285 toll lanes proj AND JOHN RUCH BY DYANA BAGBY toll lanes on the The state’s plan to build impact a minimum of top end of I-285 could the corridor, rang300 properties all along easements to full ing from construction to city of Brookhavland takings, according en officials. City CouncilmemMayor John Ernst and about 50 people ber Linley Jones informed community meeting at attending an April 18

number they learned City Hall that was the with a Georgia Deafter a private meeting on project manpartment of Transportati did not know how ager. They also said they would be afmany Brookhaven properties fected. affected on the The 300-plus properties located between Hentop end of I-285 are area in the east derson Road in the Tucker See 300 on page 23

BY DYANA BAGBY

apers.net

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Take steps to pro tec urban wildlife t

P18 revealed its $1 Emory University has Park, a “livebillion plan for Executive ROBIN’S that district” NEST work-play health innovation a hotel, multifamily includes a hospital, and office space. The housing and medical 15 years to build, but 60-acre plan will take start could center work on an orthopedic this year, Emory says. neighborPark, a Residents of Lavista Park, are seekhood adjacent to Executive P19 Brookhaven, posing to be annexed into year, in part because sibly as soon as this a say in the developthey want to have

Mother’s Words of Wisdom

ment. a say because this Check out our “It’s critical we have at ReporterNew podcasts d,” said Mispapers.net comes into our neighborhoo shortly before Emchael Lappin, speaking 22 See EMORY on page The Buck

head is mail delive Reporter red on selected carrieto homes in ZIPs 30305 r routes , 30327 and 30342 For inform delivery@re porternewsp ation: apers.net

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The PCID of shapings marks 20 year s Perimeter Center

Left, John Beach, presid which repute ent dly killed the of the Buckhead Herita holds what is said to be neighborhood’s names ge Society, holds the “Buckh the same firearm ake deer in an undate in 1838. Right, Jamesead Gun,” d photo. (John Whitle Ruch/Specia y l)

After 45 ye launches a ars, a nonprofit citizen inpureview of NPU t system

BY JOHN

RUCH

johnruch@rep

orternewspape

rs.net

The Neigh borhood Plann tem that ing Unit sysreviews plann ing, zonin other big g and issues ment is gettin for Atlanta city govern g a review downtown of its own. nonprofit A called the Civic Innov Center ation has begun a quiet, for but

potentially influential, series of meetin and survey s that aims to have reform gs ommendatio recns for the 45-year-old on the table system by March 2020. “There are things about tem] that [the NPU are amazi ng, and things syswe need to that have a lot more conve about,” said rsation CCI Execu tive Direct or Rohit See AFTER on page 14

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Section Two

►Perimeter

BY JOHN

RUCH

johnruch@repo rternewspapers .net

The woode with age. The n stock is beige and battere metal plate decorated above the trigger d with a pair is of birds. The long, heavy barrel is and octago nal. It’s an old sure. It might muzzleloading firearm even be the , deer that gave one that killed for Buckhead the 1838. its curious name in John Beach, Heritage Society president of the Buckh ead , is still trying to figure that For more on out, partly by trackin g John Beach, see the tales surrou Around Town, nding another little-known page 20. piece of area history – an quietly surviv 1842 ed destruction log cabin that to a Buckh ead back yard. by being moved Beach gave In the meant the Report ime, er an exclus ive close-

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Art & Entertainment | 17

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Stage Door Players bringing laughs and drama in its new season BY JUDITH SCHONBAK The Stage Door Players, Dunwoody’s professional theater company, closed its celebratory 45th season just a few weeks ago. Now it’s heading straight into Season 46, which debuts Sept. 20 with “The Savannah Sipping Society,” the story of four women from different parts of the South, who are thrown together by fate and a hot-yoga class. Plenty of laughs are in store with this opening production and with several more during SPECIAL the season. Robert Egizio, producing In Novemartistic director at ber “A Nice Stage Door Players. Family Gathering,” a prequel to last season’s holiday hit, “A Nice Family Christmas,” finds the Lundeen family on Thanksgiving Day and the first family gathering since the patriarch died. Family dynamics and Dad’s return as a ghost keep the laughs coming. The classic drama “The Glass Menagerie,” a memory play by Tennessee Williams, comes to the stage in January. The narrator, Tom, leads the audience through the story of his family: his fragile, disabled sister Laura who spends much of her time with her collection of glass animals; his mother Amanda and his own role in their lives. “The Outsider,” a regional premiere of a sharp satirical, political comedy about an unlikely gubernatorial candidate follows in March. In May, the musical, “The 25thAnnual Putnam County Spelling Bee” sees six quirky adolescents compete in the bee, run by three equally quirky grown-ups. Audience members, take note: You may be tapped to help out in the bee. The season closes in July with “The Fox on the Fairway,” a madcap farce set in a snobbish, upscale country club. A parody and tribute to man’s love affair with golf, it will be directed by Egizio. First up on the playbill is “The Savannah Sipping Society.” The humor and one-liners keep the laughs coming throughout the play. And no wonder. The playwrights, Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, were the writers for the TV series “The Golden Girls.” The play made its debut in Buford, Ga. in 2016. “It’s a play for everyone,” said Producing Artistic Director Robert Egizio. “A lot of the women in our audiences may recognize themselves; both women and men will recognize someone they know. And men may get some insight about how women talk about them.” Stage Door Players has a small theater with 125 seats in a half-round configura-

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tion of low-rise, red, comfy seats. Egizio noted a big plus is that all the seats have great stage views. “The joy of an intimate theater is authenticity,” he said. “Audiences really can feel like they are part of the story rather than watching from a distance, and, at times, they actually become part of the story.” The size of the stage – 36 feet by 22 feet –dictates what can be performed as does backstage space. Actors and stage crew slip by each other in a narrow corridor behind black curtains surrounding the stage. “In choosing productions, we have a long list of considerations in addition to the physical space of the stage and backstage. Most important are our audiences and the actors who perform here,” said Egizio. Founded in 1974 as a Community Improvement Project of the Dunwoody Woman’s Club, Stage Door Players performed in various locations until 1988, when it found a permanent home in the North DeKalb Cultural Center in Dunwoody. The transformation of Stage Door Players from a small community theater in 1974 to an award-winning professional company can be attributed largely to Continued on page 18

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Stage Door Players bringing laughs and drama in its new season Continued from page 17

Egizio’s arrival on the scene in 2004. Egizio was bitten by the theater bug early on and graduated from Temple University Theater School in Philadelphia. Over the years, he has worked and performed around the country and he has called Atlanta home for more than 20 years. His network is extensive. He was worked as director, choreographer and actor in most of Atlanta’s theaters. What drew him to Stage Door Players? “I saw so much potential in this theater when I first came here in 2003 as director and choreographer for ’Dames at Sea’ and returned the following year to direct and choreograph ‘Ain’t Misbehavin,’ which won the theater’s annual Woodie award for Best Show of the Year,” he said. That success led to an invitation to join Stage Door Players as its first full-time pro-

Let’s talk about something retirement communities hardly ever mention. Accreditation. Because having the confidence and peace of mind of accreditation is important. So, let’s talk. The Piedmont at Buckhead is accredited by CARF International. It’s an independent organization that sets exceedingly high standards for care and service. It’s a lot like an accreditation for a hospital or college. Or a five-star rating for a hotel. But like most things in life, you have to see it to believe it. So, let’s talk some more at a complimentary lunch and tour. Please call 404.381.1743 to schedule.

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Stage Door Players 2019-2020 season 5339 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody Info: stagedoorplayers.net

The Savannah Sipping Society Sept. 20 – Oct. 13 A Nice Family Gathering Nov. 22 – Dec. 8

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee May 22 – June 14

The Glass Menagerie Jan. 24 – Feb. 16

The Fox on the Fairway July 17 – Aug. 9

ducing artistic director. “When I signed on, we gave each other a season to see if we were a good fit. And here I am in my 16th season. It’s been a long steady growth,” Egizio said. “I don’t have a formula, but I love shows that are character-driven, family-driven and friendship-driven. We build our season with a combination of popular, new and lesserknown shows and include comedies, classic dramas, musicals and a premiere,” he said. When Egizio came on board, the company had a loyal following of about 238 subscribers. By his tenth year, it had grown to more than 1,200. In its 45th anniversary season, the players counted nearly 1,400 season ticket subscribers. About 10,000 people come to the six-play season, said Debbie Fuse, executive director of Stage Door Players. “Keep in mind that we’re a 125-seat theater, and that number pretty much maxes out our space.” In total some 12,000 visitors come to the theater each year with all events, such as readings, cabarets and special shows. Stage Door Players is presenting several special events during October for Dunwoody’s Art & Culture Month, orchestrated by Discover Dunwoody. A Playwright Works in Progress Play reading is scheduled for Oct. 2, as part of a series throughout the year, and on Oct. 8, actor Elliot Folds of “The Last Night of Ballyhoo” takes the stage for a one-man show.

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Inspiring people and imaginations through the kitchen

BROOKHAVEN

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SANDY SPRINGS

FESTIVALS

MUSIC

Sunday, Sept. 8, 11 a.m. With tasting competition, vendors, silent auction, live music and children’s activities. Free; tasting tickets $20-$50. The Green at City Springs, 1 Galambos Way. Info: theatlantakosherbbq.com.

Thursday, Sept. 5, 7 p.m. Tickets: $30. Studio Theatre at City Springs, 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs. Info: citysprings.com/events.

KOSHER BBQ FESTIVAL

TASTE OF BUCKHEAD

Thursday, Sept. 19, 6 p.m. The Buckhead Business Association hosts a tasting event with top restaurants. The event will also feature a “Spirit Wall” fundraiser to benefit Nicholas House, a nonprofit agency operating an emergency shelter and temporary housing for homeless families. Tickets $75, ASW Distillery, 199 Armour Drive, Buckhead. Info: tobatl.com.

BUCKHEAD FINE ARTS FESTIVAL

Saturday, Sept. 21, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 22, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The two-day arts festival will showcase 100 painters, photographers, sculptors, metalwork, glass artists and jewelers, and also offer artist demonstrations and live acoustic music. Free. Buckhead Village, 200 Buckhead Avenue, Buckhead. Map and other info: buckheadartsfestival.com.

SANDY SPRINGS FESTIVAL

Saturday, Sept. 28, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Sunday Sept. 29, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. The Sandy Springs Festival returns to offer two days of art, live music, cultural performances, children’s programming, classic rides, gourmet and festival food options, and more. Heritage Green, 6075 Sandy Springs Circle, Sandy Springs. Info: heritagesandysprings.org.

PERFORMING ARTS MARY POPPINS

Friday, Sept. 13-Sunday, Sept. 22 The City Springs Theatre Company brings the classic Disney film to life. Tickets: $30$65. Byers Theatre at City Springs, 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs. Info: citysprings.com/ events/mary-poppins.

12 ANGRY JURORS

Friday, Sept. 13-Sunday, Sept. 29 A drama based on the television movie about jurors arguing the fate of a murder defendant. Tickets: $16-$25. Act 3 Playhouse, 6285R Roswell Road, Sandy Springs. Info: act3productions.org.

THE SAVANNAH SIPPING SOCIETY

Friday, Sept. 20 -Sunday, Oct. 13 The Stage Door Players present a comedy about four Southern women, all needing to escape their day-to-day routines, who find themselves drawn together by fate. Tickets: $34. Stage Door Playhouse, 5539 ChambleeDunwoody Road, Dunwoody. Info: stagedoorplayers.net.

ELVIS TRIBUTE ARTIST DEAN Z

CONCERTS BY THE SPRINGS

Sunday, Sept. 8, 5-8:30 p.m. Band X plays rock, R&B, jazz and pop starting at 7 p.m. Food trucks on site. Free. Heritage Sandy Springs. 6110 Blue Stone Road, Sandy Springs. Info: heritagesandysprings.org.

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Friday, Sept. 27, 6:30 p.m. The City Green in Sandy Springs wraps up its summer music series with singer-songwriter Shawn Mullins. City Green, 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs. Free, no tickets required. Tables may be reserved starting at $40. Info: citysprings.com/events.

TOGETHER FOR A CAUSE

YMCA DAY OF SERVICE

Friday, Sept. 13 and Saturday, Sept. 14, Two days of service projects that serve the Atlanta area, including Chattahoochee River Cleanup, Project Open Hand Meal Delivery, and Peachtree Creek Greenway Cleanup. Various locations. Info: ymcaofmetroatlanta. regfox.com/days-of-service-2019-individuals

SEPT. 26–28 SCAD ATLANTA

WINE, WOMEN AND SHOES

Sunday, Sept. 15, 1-4 p..m. Wine-tasting and designer fashion show benefiting the Leukemia and Women’s Cancer Programs at Northside Hospital. With raffle, live and silent auctions, and more. Tickets: $150 and up. The Grand Hyatt Atlanta, 3300 Peachtree Road, Buckhead. Info: give.northside.com/events/wws.

SPECIAL SCREENINGS DEMOS BY PROS FUN FOR ALL

SWAN COACH HOUSE FLEA MARKET

Thursday, Sept. 19-Saturday, Sept. 21 The Forward Arts Foundation hosts its annual Swan Coach House Flea Market with proceeds from the event supporting visual arts in Atlanta. Catch the “Fleur de Flea” Frenchthemed preview party on Sept. 19 6-9 p.m. at $30 a ticket or $100 for four. Otherwise, free to attend. The market runs Friday, Sept. 20 and Saturday, Sept. 21. Lower level parking lot at the Atlanta History Center, 130 West Paces Ferry Road, Buckhead. Info: 404-261-9855.

VISUAL ARTS PAINT THE PARK

Sunday, Sept. 15, 1-4 p.m. All ages and skills are invited to “Paint the Park.” Completed pieces will be displayed at Blackburn Park pavilion. Winning pieces will be shown at City Hall. Art supplies and paper will be provided. Free. Blackburn Park, 3493 Ashford- Dunwoody Road, Brookhaven, Info: brookhavenga.gov.

Get your tix now scad.edu/animationfest

20 | Art & Entertainment

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Atlanta History Center exhibit chronicles women’s fight for right to vote

Atlanta and included floats from groups like the Fulton and DeKalb County Branch and the Atlanta Equal Suffrage League. dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net “She drove in Atlanta’s first suffrage parade … and her mother was a catalyst to the Upstairs at the Swan House on the grounds of the Atlanta History Center are two founding of the Equal Suffrage Party of Georgia,” VanLanduyt said. rooms filled with dozens of historic artifacts, from documents to dresses to a judge’s The passage of the 19th amendment did not mean all women could cast ballots, howrobe and gavel. They all come together to contribute to the story of the women’s votever. Mostly, white women benefited. The law required women voters to be citizens, and ing rights movement in Atlanta and Georgia different states had different definitions. and its impact on women in politics. African American women still could not The artifacts are part of a new exhibit, vote, nor could Native American or Chinese “Any Great Change: The Centennial of the women. 19th Amendment,” commemorating the As the curator of the exhibit, VanLan100th anniversary of women gaining the duyt said she wanted to acknowledge this right in 1920 to vote in elections. The exhibpiece of history as well. Several women of it about the advocacy for suffrage – a term color are highlighted for their activism for voting rights – remains open through in the women’s suffrage movement, even Jan. 31, 2021. though they knew they would not benefit. “What we wanted to do was capture a One such woman was Mary A. McCurdy, full year of time … to show people that, over whose portrait is featured on a purple bantime, people have been fighting for their votner in the exhibit. She was an African Amering rights and to take down barriers to the ican journalist who moved to Atlanta in voting booth,” said Jessica VanLanduyt, lead 1886 and then to Rome, Ga., where she becurator for the exhibition and the Atlanta came editor of the “Woman’s World” newsHistory Center’s vice president of guest expaper. periences. In her 1895 essay “Duty of the State to “And hopefully in an election year [in the Negro,” McCurdy wrote, “Then we dare 2020], people will be inspired to vote or be to insist upon the State doing its duty to the inspired to participate in some way,” she Negro [men], and in the meantime we forget said. not the thousands of women who are pleadThe artifacts on display include dozing to-day for equal franchise.” ens of political buttons, one from the 1963 Another was Dr. Mabel Lee, whose famPHOTOS BY DYANA BAGBY March on Washington by Civil Rights acily moved to New York from China when Political buttons are just some of the artifacts featured in the exhibit. tivists; a vintage purple dress fitted with a she was 4. By the time she was 16, Lee was a gold-and-white sash that reads “Votes for well-known figure in the women’s suffrage Women”; and a banner hanging in a window inked with the portrait of Grace Towns movement. But she wasn’t able to vote until 1943 due to a federal law banning Chinese Hamilton, who in 1965 became the first African American woman elected to the Georimmigrants from becoming citizens. gia General Assembly. “We really wanted to call out that all types of women participated, and whether they In the center of one room stands a mannequin draped with a black robe that bewere going to get to exercise the right to vote is not any sort of barrier to participating in longed to former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears. Sears was the the movement,” VanLanduyt said. first African American woman to serve as a chief justice of a state supreme court. Barriers to voting have existed since the country’s founding and continue today, VanHer successful election as chief justice is a direct link to the women’s suffrage moveLanduyt said. A goal of the exhibit is get people to not just think as voters but as citizens, ment, VanLanduyt said. The same thing can be said for all women elected to hold office, to think about issues facing their communities and how to find solutions. including the ones who last year made up the largest group of women elected Congress. “We’re not just talking about voting, but also about community service, attending “This is still so present for us,” she said. “It has not happened in a far-away past.” community meetings, just being informed, registering to vote,” she said. Lining the top of a wall in one of the rooms is a “Road to Suffrage” timeline. On one And, yes, voter registration forms are available within the exhibit. end is the year 1848, marking the first women’s rights convention, held in Seneca Falls, “When you have access to vote, you should use it,” VanLanduyt said. N.Y.; at the other end is the year 1920, when Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify The History Center is located at 130 West Paces Ferry Road in Buckhead. For more inthe 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, making it law and giving some women the formation, see atlantahistorycenter.com. right to vote. And just past that 1920 entry is the year 1970, when Georgia belatedly voted to ratify the 19th amendment. VanLanduyt said the Swan House was specifically chosen to host this exhibit because two of Atlanta’s top women’s suffrage activists were Emily C. MacDougald and her daughter, Emily Inman, who built the house in 1928. Inman is named on a yellowed piece of paper from 1915 that is labeled “Suffrage Parade Program” by the Equal SufDresses worn by voting rights activists included some that were styled after military Former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Leah Sears frage Party of Georgia. uniforms, while others wore “Votes for Women” sashes to rallies and parades. donated her robe and a gavel to the Atlanta History Center, That was the first womwhich are now on display in the “Any Great Change.” en’s suffrage parade in BY DYANA BAGBY

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22 | Community

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For Buckhead, it’s wait-and-see on emissions risks from Smyrna facility Continued from page 1 the substance in its process of sterilizing medical equipment at the 2971 Olympic Industrial Drive facility, less than a mile from the Buckhead border. The results of actual air tests, rather than estimates and models, should be coming in about a month, according to state Sen. Jen Jordan (D-Atlanta), whose districts includes Smyrna and most of Buckhead. And she’ll seek a study to determine whether there are any “cancer clusters” in the area of the facility, which has operated for decades. But the only thing that can be stated for now about actual health risks, Jordan says, is: “We’re not sure.” On its website, Sterigenics says it has always operated within federal guidelines and says it already captures “99.9%” of ethylene oxide emissions. The company recently entered an agreement with the state Environment Protection Division to add further emission controls that will take three to eight months to build. “Sterigenics is committed to the safety of the communities in which we operate, our employees and the patients we serve,” the company said in a press release. “We follow rigorous safety protocols at our Atlanta facility and at all of our facilities and are committed to continuously improving our operations in the ongoing interest of public safety.” Further criticism has followed the revelation that the state is investigating a July 31 leak of gas from a drum in the facility. According to a Sterigenics spokesperson, “less than six pounds” of the gas ethylene oxide was released from a drum. Sterigenics said that amount is below the state reporting requirement. Jordan said the “revelation that Sterigenics failed to disclose yet another leak at its facility just days before it entered into a rushed consent agreement with the state shows why public distrust of the facility is warranted.” Modeling emissions risks The local concern has come three years after the federal Environmental Protection Agency deemed ethylene oxide to be a more significant cancer risk in emissions from such facilities than previously estimated. And Sterigenics is embroiled in controversy over another facility in Illinois, which was shuttered earlier this year by the state following detection of high ethylene oxide emissions there. More than 30 Illinois residents are now suing Sterigenics, alleging cancer and cover-ups, while the company asserts it followed the rules and did not hide any information. In metro Atlanta, the emissions concerns are rooted in a 2018 EPA report of its modeling of air pollution across the country for the year 2014. That model, which is just an estimate and is based on emissions information self-reported by companies, showed elevated ethylene oxide cancer risks in certain census tracts around two facilities: the Sterigenics site in Smyrna and another company’s facility in Covington. Among the areas showing elevated levels of the substance in the model, according to Jordan, is the Paces area and other parts of Buckhead roughly bordered by Peachtree Creek, I-75 and Northside Parkway. The state Environmental Protection Division was aware of the modeling, but did not tell local residents or the general public, and did not conduct thorough air testing around the facilities. The public and elected officials learned about it through the WebMD/Georgia Health News report.

Jordan says the information was “kept from the public, seemingly intentionally…. EPD basically decided to keep this to themselves, for whatever reason.” The local concern has been significant. Atlanta City Councilmember J.P. Matzigkeit, who represents western Buckhead, said he has heard from “lots and lots of folks” worried about the emissions. Jordan says she has heard concern farther north in Sandy Springs. “The hope is, obviously, the further out you get, the better,” Jordan said. “I don’t think it’s going to extend up to Sandy Springs, but I’m not sure.” InterContinental Hotel Group, a major hotel company whose North American headquarters is in Dunwoody, has a design center in the same Smyrna complex as Sterigenics and has temporarily left the site “in an abundance of caution,” according to IHG spokesperson Jacob Hawkins. However, models and self-reported data are not hard facts about actual cancer risk. Cobb County and the cities of Smyrna and Atlanta are now collaborating on extensive air testing around the Sterigenics facility, with results expected in September. The EPD is also conducted air testing, though its results could take until November, a delay Jordan calls “ridiculous.” “You have to have data, you have to have facts, in order to deal with this situation,” says Matzigkeit. Sterigenics’ website downplays the dangers of ethylene oxide, noting it also occurs naturally and in such other pollutants as motor vehicle exhaust, and claiming local levels are lower than the ambient air in such cities as Chicago and Los Angeles. The company also notes its agreement to alter its facility to further contain the gas. Jordan – who works as an attorney in liability cases — says that “the best-case scenario is, those measures are working.” But even if there is little or no immediate risk from today’s emissions, Jordan said, she is still concerned about the long history of emissions on the site under looser controls. The facility has operated on the site, originally under a different ownership, since 1972, according to the Sterigenics spokesperson. Jordan said that the company’s self-reported information for the year 1987 was 97,000 pounds of ethylene oxide emitted from its stacks. She said that a lack of pollution today would be “very cold comfort to me” looking back on the amount already released in previous decades. She said she will call for a “deep dive with the Department of Public Health on whether we have any cancer clusters emerging. Because this would be the time.” Changes to state law are possible, too. Jordan said that the Illinois controversy is already providing some models for reform, such as usage limits on ethylene oxide and continuous on-site monitoring of emissions. Then there’s the issue of telling the public. “Should there be a law that if EPD knows there’s a major public health risk, they should disclose it?” she said with a chuckle, suggesting that is already the agency’s job. Asked about sites beyond Smyrna and Covington that could have similarly unknown pollution risks, Jordan said, “That’s what’s really scary.” There’s another facility in South Fulton that uses ethylene oxide and has chosen to never self-report emissions, so there is not even a risk model available. And there are smaller facilities in the metro area that use the substance with no reporting or controls, she said.

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Old stonework and new HQ are signs of Chastain Park progress Continued from page 1

known, though McHugh and Nelson say that city workers were installing electric es keep coming, from a new playground wiring and heaters on the walls shortaddition to the completion of the multily beforehand. A surviving memento use path ringing the park. mounted in the temporary office is a And Nelson, sometimes joined by volcorrugated steel panel from the Barn’s unteers, continues the work of battling wall, painted with a picture of the old invasive species, revealing hidden feaheadquarters by McHugh’s father, Saltures of the park, and opening up new vador Soltero. areas, including what may become a The conservancy is preparing to new volleyball court along Alex Cooley move into a new home in an old city DeParkway. partment of Watershed Management “We’re adding usable acreage to garage that has been vacant for several the park with Mark’s work,” said Rosa years, ever since community opposition McHugh, the conservancy’s executive to the industrial-style use got it shutdirector, in a recent interview at the tered. temporary headquarters at Chastain The renovations will cost about Horse Park. $290,000, according to City CouncilSmall but powerful, the conservanmember J.P. Matzigkeit, who cofounded cy raises money, conducts programming the conservancy. He’s covering $100,000 and carries out maintenance to “go of that from Renew Atlanta bond proabove and beyond what the city parks gram funds his office is authorized to department can support,” says McHugh. distribute. It works from a 2008 “My goal is we will be master plan for park in that building by the improvements. The latone-year anniversary” of est item checked off was the fire, he said, adding an addition to the poputhat there will be further lar playground on Alex “visioning” about future Cooley Parkway, which uses of the former headwas scheduled to celequarters site. brate an official ribbon“We need to contincutting on Sept. 14. ue to make it worldThe July 2018 death class and focus on of Ray Mock, a cofoundmaintenance and comer of the conservancy pleting the master plan,” and its director of operMatzigkeit said of the ations at the time, was park. a loss that shook the That’s the focus for park’s many friends and Nelson, a longtime prosupporters. Nelson came fessional landscapin with an impressive reer who, for now, is the Chastain Park Conservancy sume, having served in a Executive Director Rosa McHugh conservancy’s only fullsimilar position at the time employee doing works in the temporary office. Piedmont Park Consermaintenance. Many secvancy. tions of the park, like But then another tragedy struck, as a sports fields and the golf course, are fire destroyed the Barn, a 1940s Quonset maintained by government or such othhut that served as the conservancy’s ofer groups as the Northside Youth Orgafice. Nelson says he had just had time to nization. But Nelson is responsible for move into his office there, and lost many about 65 of the gigantic park’s 268 acres. personal items, including photos and “Piedmont Park was a challenge with professional certificates. all the events they have every weekend,” “That was bananas, unfortunately,” said Nelson. But Chastain “is actually McHugh says of Nelson’s start. “But he’s larger if you factor in the golf course.” risen up from the ashes and done a great He hopes to get at least one other job.” full-time assistant, but for now, it’s just “It was like a pizza oven,” she said him and volunteer groups. And they’ve of the fire. The exact cause remains unaccomplished a lot. In the park’s wooded northern area, they’ve cleared invasive species and towering weeds to improve the sense of safety and to reveal elegant stone stairs, walls and picnic facilities, some of which McHugh says she didn’t know exist. The stonework has many fine touchA surviving panel from the Barn, which burned in January, es, such as low walls was painted by Salvador Soltero and is now displayed in the conservancy’s temporary headquarters. with built-in benchBH

PHOTOS BY PHIL MOSIER

Some of the 80-year-old stone stairs recently uncovered by Nelson’s work.

Equipment on the new playground addition is already enjoyed by toddlers.

es.

Matzigkeit says the stonework was built in the 1930s or 1940s by prison crews and people employed by the New Deal-era federal Works Project Administration. Much of it has gone through cycles of being overgrown and cleared again, he said. In a similar effort about 15 years ago, Matzigkeit said, he recalls helping to clear a grill site. “A person came by, crying, saying, ‘My mom and dad… were engaged at this grill,” he said. Nelson is continuing the work so that today’s park-goers can create new memories. He and conservancy partners have other plans as well. Nelson has a propos-

al to redo the playground’s landscaping, and Watershed Management has a plan to dredge Hamburger Pond, he said. And construction of a new multiuse path on Chastain Park Avenue is expected to start by the end of spring, said McHugh. That will connect to the path already running around most of the park and complete its loop. Also on the conservancy’s agenda is raising funds to pay for all the work. Its big annual fundraiser concert, Rock Chastain, is scheduled for Oct. 3, with featured acts including the Gin Blossoms, Mama Dear, Ruby Velle and the Soulphonics. For more information, see chastainparkconservancy.org.

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STATE GRADES LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOLS

STANDOUT STUDENT

PAGE 37-42

PAGE 35

SECTION TWO

BUILDS FLIGHT SIMULATOR FOR FLYING CLUB

FALL 2019 | EDUCATION GUIDE

Up for debate

Local schools ride high in speech competitions

Marist School debate coach Jeffery Miller, center, with debate team members Sophie Verska, left, and Will Sjostrom, right, with trophies the team has won. PHOTO BY JOE EARLE

For school districts, is smaller better? BY KATHY DEAN The Sandy Springs advocacy group Citizens for Local Area School Systems (CLASS) is pushing to create its own city school district. According to an April 2019 study commissioned by the group, Sandy Springs’ taxes would generate sufficient funding to operate the 11 public schools within the city’s borders. Sandy Springs schools are part of Fulton County Schools (FCS), the fourth largContinued on page 30

BY JOE EARLE Jeffrey Miller portrays his introduction to high school debate as a happy accident. He signed up for his first debate class at his south metro Atlanta high school because he was looking for something that wouldn’t be too demanding. “I heard it was an easy A,” he joked. But debate turned out to mean a lot more to Miller than just something to fill out his schedule. He was hooked. “I took debate all four years,” he said. “I really caught the fever. It’s all I did in high school.” And it stuck. Now, he’s director of speech and debate at Marist School and coaches the school’s team, which travels the country for competitions in places spread from New York to New Orleans and Florida to Minnesota. Dozens of big silver trophies Marist’s team has collected during his tenContinued on page 26

26 | Education

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Up for debate Continued from page 25

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ure now gleam side-by-side in Top, Dunwoody debate team members show trophies they collected in competition. Miller’s classroom, and he’s savBottom, Jordana Sternberg, debate coach ing room for more. Last year, at the Westminster Schools, hoists her Marist’s debate team placed third Georgia Debate Coach of the Year plaque. in a national competition, he said. They took part in 18 competitions altogether last year, he said, and they will compete in 11 competitions by Thanksgiving this year. Jordanna Sternberg, director of debate at The Westminster Schools, got her start as a high school freshman in Massachusetts back in the 1980s. She signed up for junior varsity debate only because a friend wanted company for that first meeting. At the end of the year, Sternberg made the varsity team; her friend didn’t. She, too, was hooked. “I loved it,” she said. Her affection pays off. Her Westminster students, like the students at Marist, have argued their way to trophies at competitions around the country. In 2017, a pair of Westminster seniors took first place in a national championship competition in Utah. This year, 2018, according to the organization’s Westminster debaters plan to take part website. in about 20 competitions, Sternberg Other north metro schools, such as said. Dunwoody High School, Pace Academy, Galloway School and Lovett School, Coaches of the year also field debate teams. Last year, about Sternberg and Miller each have been 70 Georgia schools participated in the named “debate coach of the year” by forensic coaches association’s invitathe Georgia Forensics Coaches Associtional tournaments, which drew 4,100 ation, Miller in 2012 and Sternberg in entries, according to Mario Herrera,

Education | 27

SEPTEMBER 2019 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net the organization’s executive chair and the debate teacher and team coach at Grady High School in Atlanta. Three other organizations, Herrera said, also promote debate and speech events: the Atlanta Urban Debate League, the Georgia Independent School Association and the Georgia High School Association. The forensic coaches association promotes competition in various forms of debate and various kinds of public speaking. It calls itself a “forensics” organization because it includes various public speaking events and the word

meant an argumentative exercise before taking on the more common meaning of applying scientific analysis to police cases. In debates, competitors go heard-tohead to argue different sides of issues. In speech contests, individual competitors may present opinions, or they may do other kinds of public speaking, such as giving humorous talks.

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Above, Marist School debate teacher and coach Jeffrey Miller works in his award-filled office. Below, Marist debates Will Sjostrom, left, and Sophie Verska, both seniors, discuss strategy.

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The first round is kind of dramatic, but they come back and … get more and more confident and you really get to see the kids grow stronger in their skins. That’s very exciting for a teacher. DAVID GAY DIRECTOR OF THEATER AND SPEECH AT DUNWOODY HIGH SCHOOL

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Continued from page 26 derhill took part in two different presentations during speech competitions last year. In one, she portrayed the actress Vivien Leigh of “Gone with the Wind” fame in “Vivien Leigh’s Last Press Conference.” In the other, she was one of a pair who took the top award in the state by presenting “Malcom X Jefferson Elementary Proudly Presents a Fifth-Grade production of ‘A Cho-

SPECIAL

Above, Westminster Schools debater Holland Bald, left, and his partner, George Alford, research a topic for debate. Below, Bald, right, with his partner last year, Chris Rascoe, at left, show awards they won.

rus Line.’” She portrayed five different characters in that one, she said. She also takes part in school plays, but says “speech is special to me. You’re so nervous, but you get up there and you get to embody somebody else. It’s not you. It’s showing what you can do.” David Gay, director of theater and speech at Dunwoody, said he takes teams to nine or 10 meets a year and two national competitions. Gay, who has been named the GFCA’s speech coach of the year, says speech teaches students discipline, to be able to think on their feet, to be confident and to be

competitive. “We’re teaching life skills,” he said. “It’s really exciting to see the kids the first time they go [to a competition],” he said. “They’ve got their tails between their legs. The first round is kind of dramatic, but they come back and … get more and more confident and you really get to see the kids grow stronger in their skins. That’s very exciting for a teacher.” Debate requires different skills. Herrera argues it requires “critical thinking, empathy, writing, logic, listening, argumentation, introspection, commu-

Education | 29

SEPTEMBER 2019 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net nity engagement and sportsmanship, just to name a few.” In what are called “policy debates,” two-member teams research a topic and prepare both pro and con positions. They don’t know which side they’ll argue until just before the debate begins. Just like in a football game, the side a team attacks or defends is determined by a coin flip. Policy debaters stay with a single topic throughout the year. This year, they’re arguing about U.S. policy on arms sales. “You’ve got to learn about topics and learn about them in depth,” Sternberg said. “It takes the ability to engage in critical thinking with other students.”

WHOLE HEART

‘You have to think fast’ Debaters also must learn to think on their feet, said Marist debate team members Will Sjostrom and Sophie Verska, both seniors. When an opponent presents a lot of points in favor of a position, your team has to knock them all down in the time allotted. “If you only have three minutes to prepare … you really have to think fast,” Verska said. “It helps with your self-confidence,” Sjostrom said. “If you have to give another speech at school or go to a job interview, you’ll know how to talk. It prepares you a lot for the real world.” Once a competition starts, debaters on one side try to make as many arguments as they can and then their opponents try, in turn, to rebut them all. Debaters learn to speak quickly in order to get in as many points as possible. Westminster junior Holland Bald, who with his partner ranked 10th in the country last year, according to Sternberg, said his favorite part is the research. Debaters must know a lot about a subject in order to be prepared to present an array of arguments or to answer any specific argument their opponents may offer. “It’s a very unique think to try to learn everything about a topic,” Bald said. And he likes being able to see how arguments work when presented to the judges. “I like the immediate payoff, when you prepare and see it pay off.” To prepare for their debates, students put in hours of extra work. They often miss classes while traveling to distant debates, so they must make up other work, too. Some attend summer camps, usually at colleges, where they learn more about debating skills and research. But it’s worth the extra effort, they say. “It’s really fun. It’s really rewarding, I guess is the right word,” said Westminster senior Sara Ann Brackett. “There’s a lot of payoff.” No argument there.

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est school system in the state. FCS employs more than 14,000 people, including 7,500 teachers in 106 schools, serving about 95,000 students. CLASS formed about three years ago, growing from the effort it took to convince the FCS Board that the North Springs Charter High School building needed to be renovated instead of replaced. Parents felt the aging facility could no longer meet modern scholastic demands, according to statements submitted by CLASS members Cheryl Barlow, Sandra Jewell, Betty Klein, Linda Trickey and Sandy Springs City Councilmember Jody Reichel. It is important to note that the city of Sandy Springs has not officially endorsed the idea of a city schools district. “We wondered why it was so challenging to effect positive change,” the group said in its prepared statement. CLASS studied the state of education in Georgia and Fulton County and found that, despite the good intentions of FCS personnel, the size of the organization, the number of schools and the large geographic area made it difficult to focus on the needs of specific schools and the variety of students. “Sandy Springs is a very diverse city and has broad diversity in its schools,” CLASS said. “FCS has seven board members that serve 106 schools and 95,000 students.” This isn’t the first time the issue has been raised. In 2013, a group of Dunwoody parents organized under the name Georgians for Local Area School Systems (GLASS) to lobby the state Legislature to amend the state Constitution to allow the creation of new city school systems. Schools in Dunwoody are part of the DeKalb County School District, the third largest school system in Georgia, with 140 schools serving nearly 102,000 students and employing about 15,500 people, including 6,600 teachers. GLASS member Heyward Wescott, a former chair of the Dunwoody Perimeter Chamber of Commerce and current candidate for a seat on the Dunwoody City Council, said the group is not actively pursuing an independent school district. However, the group still files papers with the state every year to continue to operate. “We’re ready to go at any moment and become be active again,” Wescott said. “We still want to improve education. We’re keeping an eye on CLASS and waiting to see what happens with our neighbors.” CLASS said that research shows that smaller school districts typically have better student performance than larger school districts, regardless of the racial makeup and economic status of students. Many of the top public-school systems in Georgia

We believe that a local school system will provide many of the same benefits as cityhood—a more responsive organizational structure with greater accountability, the ability to quickly respond to changes, increased community input for desired outcomes and fiscal responsibility that would allow teachers to be paid more. CITIZENS FOR LOCAL AREA SCHOOL SYSTEMS (CLASS) are city school systems or smaller county systems with less than 12,000 students, the group said. Sandy Springs has approximately 10,000 public school students. “We believe that a local school system will provide many of the same benefits as cityhood—a more responsive organizational structure with greater accountability, the ability to quickly respond to changes, increased community input for desired outcomes and fiscal responsibility that would allow teachers to be paid more,” CLASS said. “Sandy Springs is proud to have the highest-paid fire and police forces in the state. Our teachers deserve the same consideration.” However, advocates for creating new school districts must jump a high bar: the state Constitution prohibits creation of new independent school systems. “City districts established prior to the incorporation of this language can continue to operate [under the state Constitution], but no new ones can be established unless the law changes,” said Meghan Frick, director of communications for the Georgia Department of Education. “Legislation has been proposed a few times in recent years that would allow cities to create their own school districts, but has not passed.” CLASS said that the school system cap was first set 70 years ago, when legislators didn’t envision mega school systems with tens of thousands of kids. “While there may have been good reasons then, there are better reasons to eliminate the cap now

SEPTEMBER 2019 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net and allow for new approaches in education,” CLASS said. State Rep. Tom Taylor, a Dunwoody Republican, introduced legislation that called for a statewide vote to change the constitution to allow school districts to be created in cities, such as Dunwoody and Sandy Springs, that have been created since 2005. The legislation repeatedly stalled and Taylor is no longer in office. Still, supporters aren’t giving up. Dunwoody had its own feasibility study done, Westcott said, and found that they have the perfect footprint for a city school district, with one high school, one middle school and five elementary schools that feed into them. “What it comes down to,” Wescott said, “is that there’s a lot of heavy lifting to be done for the legislation to be changed so city school districts can form. We need more cities to be engaged in this issue.” When asked about Sandy Springs’ effort to create a city schools district, Fulton officials responded: “Fulton County has great schools in Sandy Springs. Our students are excelling. We have fantastic and talented teachers and staff. We will continue to provide the best education to the children in our jurisdiction. If the jurisdiction changes, we will continue to provide the best learning experience for the students

that remain in our schools.” CLASS said it has heard concerns from some citizens, including that running a school system is a big job and very different than running a city… “and those concerns are valid,” the group said in its statement. “We know there are major logistical challenges. However, smart people who are motivated can figure this out, just like the other city school systems.” Another concern is that students in other parts of the county could be affected by separation. The CLASS response is that FCS would receive more state and federal funding for their budget. Any difference in the budget can be substantially or totally offset with changes in spending at the district level. “We encourage Sandy Springs citizens to look at their tax bills,” CLASS said. “For most property owners, more than 50% of their taxes go to FCS. And 25% of the FCS operating budget—more than a billion dollars a year—comes from Sandy Springs.” CLASS said that what it wants is to give Sandy Springs citizens the right to choose. “Ultimately,” the group said, “this is about the students and teachers, and giving the citizens of Sandy Springs the right to decide what is important to them and whether they want a city school system.”

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New Faces

Here are some of the new faces appearing on the campuses of schools in Reporter Newspapers communities this year.

◄WABREK TAKES POST AT LOVETT

Lovett School has a new assistant head of school for academic affairs. Chelle Wabrek had served as head of the middle school at the Episcopal School of Dallas. She has worked for 25 years as a teacher or administrator in independent schools and has worked at schools in Kentucky and Louisiana.

Heather Kerutis

Kyle Pietrantonio

Dr. Edward Lindekugel

NEW PRINCIPALS LEAD AT HOLY SPIRIT ▲

New principals take the reins at Holy Spirit Preparatory School’s upper and lower school this year, according to the school. Dr. Edward Lindekugel has been named principal at the Upper School. Kyle Pietrantonio takes the new position of principal of the Lower School and also serves as Head of School. Heather Kerutis becomes director of the preschool. Lindekugel in 2018 founded and led the Catholic School Services division of the Southern Teachers Agency, the nation’s oldest teacher and administrator placement firm, the school said in a press release. Pietrantonio came to Holy Spirit Prep in 2005, the school said. He has served as the school’s director of community service, principal of the junior high school, principal of the lower school and associate head of school. In 2013, he was named Head of School.

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Veteran Fulton County educator Kindra Smith took over as Riverwood International Charter School’s new principal in July. She succeeds Charles Gardner, who took a position as chief operations officer for Marietta City Schools. Smith, a former Fulton County Principal of the Year, was most recently at Elkins Pointe Middle in Roswell for four years. In 2018, Elkins Pointe received the Georgia Department of Education recognition of “Beating the Odds,” which identifies Title 1 schools that outperform schools with similar diverse populations, according to her Fulton County bio. In 2019, Elkins received a five-star school climate rating for its seventh year in a row, along with being chosen as an AVID Showcase School for its work with the college readiness program, her biography said. Smith was previously a teacher at Crabapple Crossing Elementary in Milton for seven years, an assistant principal of Northwestern Middle in Milton for eight years and for five years was principal of Roswell North Elementary, where she was named Fulton County Principal of the Year.

OGLETHORPE HIRES NEW CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

Oglethorpe University has named Peter D. Stobie as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President for Business & Finance. Stobie brings more than 30 years of finance and operational experience in both higher education and the corporate environment, the school said in a press release. He starts his new position on Sept. 16. “Pete is a vital addition to Oglethorpe’s leadership team,” said Oglethorpe University President Larry Schall. “He has a proven track record of strategically and successfully managing campus finances and operations. Pete’s depth of experience will be invaluable as Oglethorpe plans for continued growth and to reinforce our current position of financial strength.”

Education | 33

SEPTEMBER 2019 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net

Education Briefs

BEYOND EXPECTATIONS At Galloway, students are inspired to be fearless learners, to embrace challenges, and to discover more about themselves and the world around them.

LO VET T S C H OOL STA RTS BUS S ERV IC E Lovett School cranked up the 201920 school year with the school’s first bus program. School officials said they were looking for a way to try to address Atlanta traffic and reduce carpool congestion around the school’s campus in north Atlanta. Buses will pick up and drop off students at stops in Brookhaven and North Buckhead or stops in Morningside and Garden Hills, the school says on its website. About 35 students participate, “which eliminates roughly 53 cars from coming to campus both in the mornings and afternoons,” the press release said.

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Atlanta Public Schools is offering a new online tool intended to make it easier for parents, students, members of the community and school employees to contact district officials. The new tool is named “Let’s Talk” and shows up on the district’s webpage, www.atlantapublicschools.us or through the APS mobile app on a smartphone or other mobile device. It is intended to make it easier for parents, students and others to ask questions, make comments and share ideas with distict officials. The new tool was launched Aug. 12.

Continued on page 34

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Continued from page 33

dollars per year by selling snacks and

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by collecting a $5 contribution from students for a week of non-uniform days during Middle School Spirit Week. The snack cart brings in 80 percent of the council’s annual profit. It is a popular attraction at break time in the Middle School and features sweet and savory treats sold for 50 cents each. Council members donate their break time to manage the cart. Last year, the council distributed $5,500 between five organizations: The Good Samaritan Health Center, the Brookhaven

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O G L ET HO R P E NA M ES P R ES I DENT IA L S EA R C H C O M M IT TEE

Oglethorpe University is launching the search for its 17th president. The new president will succeed Lawrence M. Schall, who has held the job since 2005 and plans to leave it next June. Board of Trustees Chair Timothy P. Tassopoulos named a search committee comprised of trustees, faculty, staff, student, and alumni representatives. The committee, chaired by trustee S. Tammy Pearson and assisted by a national search firm, includes: trustees Jack Guynn, Belle Turner Lynch , Timothy Randall Roberson, John Shelnutt and Jim Winestock; faculty members Mario Chandler, J. Lynn Gieger and Katharine Zakos; Mark W. DeLong, immediate past president of Oglethorpe’s alumni association; Colleen Donaldson, special assistant to the president; and student body president Glenn Kaiser; “Selecting a president is one of the most important responsibilities of any board,” Tassopoulos said in a press release. “Oglethorpe is fortunate to have an engaged and active board that will make a selection during a time of significant growth and positive momentum for the university. Our goal is to select a person who will continue to strengthen Oglethorpe while staying true to our mission.” Open forums will be held on campus at the start of the fall semester to gather input from students, faculty, and staff. A presidential search website (presidentialsearch.oglethorpe.edu) also includes an opportunity for alumni and community members to submit nominations, input, and comments.

20-30 minutes from Brookhaven/Buckhead and Dunwoody/Sandy Springs. Take our WiFi-enabled buses.

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Education | 35

SEPTEMBER 2019 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net

Riverwood student builds flight simulator for flying club Lucas Daniels, a junior at Riverwood International Charter School in Sandy Springs, has been interested in planes and aviation since he was in middle school. Upon beginning his freshman year, Lucas heard about the school’s flying club and immediately joined. After just one year, Lucas became the club’s president, when the club’s faculty sponsor, Alan Sohmer, decided that Lucas would be a good fit for the position. Riverwood’s flying club teaches students about aviation through instructional videos and takes the students to fly around the Gwinnett County Airport at the end of each semester, but the trip is financially difficult for some members. Lucas decided to look into alternatives for students to continue honing their craft. After finding an old PC at his house that he felt would be good for the club, Lucas was on the hunt for a monitor to attach to the PC for flight simulations so that club members could practice before their discovery flight. While looking for a monitor, Lucas

Standout Student

Continued on page 36

Open House | December 7, 12:30 - 2:30p.m. 510 Mount Vernon HWY NE | Atlanta, GA | 30328

Lucas Daniels onboard after his discovery flight around the Gwinnett County Airport. SPECIAL

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Standout Student: Riverwood student builds flight simulator for flying club Continued from page 35

OPEN HOUSE Sunday, December 8, 1– 4 p.m.

Share in the Spirit Serving grades 7–12, Marist School provides an education where achievement exists within a spirit of humility and generosity. Students are challenged by an

space Career Education Academy and was selected as one of 12 participants to attend the solo flight academy. After interviewing “in the style that airline pilots are interviewed,” Lucas was accepted to the solo flight program. He has earned 15 hours towards his private pilot license through the program. Lucas also received a $1,000 scholarship to attend the National Flight Academy in Pensacola, Fla., which brings students to learn about aviation on a Navy aircraft carrier. The sponsorship is given by Delta Air Lines and OBAP. Outside of school, Lucas enjoys working with computers, taking them apart and seeing how things work. He also keeps “a couple of guppies, some cherry shrimp and some goldfish in a pond outside.”

heard about the PTSA Student MiniGrant process, which awards funding each semester for projects and classroom needs. After some research, Lucas decided to apply for the grant in order to build a “full-blown simulator” that could be used for practice by all members, not just the students attending the field trip. For the next few months, the team figured out what the costs would be and what they could use the simulator for. With the help of Sohmer, Lucas received the grant and the simulator came to life. Lucas is mostly self-taught when it comes to planes. With the money the club was awarded, Lucas built a flight simulator called the “202 Lemma Delta.” He said that he purchased and installed software himself. He built the computer used to run the software by following YouTube tutorials and guides from various PC enthusiast blogs and websites. Lucas had built his own computer in the past, so he had some general knowledge about the technology. “[The club members] flew like experienced pilots due to having much practice in the flight simulator,” Sohmer said. The simulator helps students learn more about flying before attending the discovery flights. They can decide if they want to pay for the trip or if they want to continue learning on the simulator. During the summer of 2018, Lucas attended the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals’ (OBAP) Aero-

What’s Next? Lucas plans to continue to lead Riverwood’s flying club over the next two years. He would like to attend a college for aviation and eventually wants to pursue a career as a commercial pilot. This article was written by Sloane Warner, graduated from The Weber School and will be attending Northwestern University. Editor’s Note: Through our “Standout Student” series, Reporter Newspapers showcases some of the outstanding students at our local schools. To recommend a “Standout Student” for our series, please email editor@ReporterNewspapers.net with information about the student and why you think he or she should be featured.

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Education | 37

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State grades local public schools BY JOE EARLE AND HANNAH GRECO Each year, the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement publishes an annual report giving Georgia public schools a grade of A-F. The grade is based on a numerical score that reflects the performance of the schools. “This information will encourage parents and community members to understand the strengths and challenges of their local schools and will help focus improvement efforts,” the office’s website says. The A-F grade is based on the school’s score on the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI), which is calculated by the Georgia Department of Education. The CCRPI score ranges from 0 to 100 and is based on state test scores, student growth on these tests, graduation rates and other factors. Source: The Governor’s Office of Student Achievement; schoolgrades.georgia.gov

Atlanta Public Schools Enrollment: 50,847 students

Performance Snapshot ■ Atlanta Public Schools’s overall performance is higher than 58% of districts. ■ Its elementary students’ academic growth is higher than 73% of districts. 2018 LETTER GRADE 2018 SCORE ■ Its middle school students’ academic growth is higher than 47% of districts. ■ Its high school students’ academic growth is higher than 46% of districts. ■ 40.2% of its 3rd grade students are reading at or above the grade level target. ■ 55.2% of its 8th grade students are reading at or above the grade level target. ■ Its four-year graduation rate is 79.9%, which is higher than 10% of districts. ■ 43.7% of graduates are college and career ready.

73.4

DeKalb County Schools Enrollment: 97,363 students

Jump start their futures!

Now Registering for r School Yea Classes

FREE baby classes * Just You & Me Kid * Preschool Gymnastics * Recreational Gymnastics Team * * J-Sport * J-Fit * Dance Boys Gymnastics * * School’s Out Camps * Acro * Silks * Winter/Spring/Summer Camps Birthday Parties * Parents’ Night Out * Tumbling Clinics * Special Events * * Jump Start Travels 5920 Roswell Rd Suite 208 * Sandy Springs, GA 30328 * WWW.JUMPSTARTGYM.COM * 404-252-JUMP (5867)

Schedule a tour today to experience Epstein for yourself. At Epstein, students experience an exceptional education led by specialized STEAM and Hebrew language programs. The school prepares confident lifelong learners grounded in their unique Jewish identities.

Performance Snapshot ■ DeKalb County’s overall performance is higher than 41% of districts. ■ Its elementary students’ academic growth is higher than 53% of districts. 2018 LETTER GRADE 2018 SCORE ■ Its middle school students’ academic growth is higher than 35% of districts. ■ Its high school students’ academic growth is higher than 57% of districts. ■ 36.2% of its 3rd grade students are reading at or above the grade level target. ■ 54.1% of its 8th grade students are reading at or above the grade level target. ■ Its four-year graduation rate is 75.0%, which is higher than 1% of districts. ■ 50.5% of graduates are college and career ready.

Fulton County Schools Enrollment: 93,448 students

Performance Snapshot ■ Fulton County’s overall performance is higher than 89% of districts. ■ Its elementary students’ academic growth is higher than 64% of districts. 2018 LETTER GRADE 2018 SCORE ■ Its middle school students’ academic growth is higher than 46% of districts. ■ Its high school students’ academic growth is higher than 82% of districts. ■ 51.7% of its 3rd grade students are reading at or above the grade level target. ■ 65.4% of its 8th grade students are reading at or above the grade level target. ■ Its four-year graduation rate is 86.8%, which is higher than 38% of districts. ■ 62.4% of graduates are college and career ready.

Continued on page 37

NEW THIS YEAR: Kindergarten–8th graders will also be learning the language of coding.

335 COLEWOOD WAY NW | SANDY SPRINGS, GA 30328-2956 EPSTEINATLANTA.ORG

38 | Education

Facebook.com/TheReporterNewspapers ■ twitter.com/Reporter_News Continued from page 36

Individual High Schools

Chamblee Charter High School

2018 LETTER GRADE

79.4

School grades for past five years: 2018: C 2017: B 2016: B 2015: B 2014: C

2018 SCORE

Performance Snapshot ■ Chamblee Charter High School’s overall performance is higher than 72% of schools in the state and is higher than its district. ■ Its students’ academic growth is higher than 39% of schools in the state and lower than its district. ■ Its four-year graduation rate is 82.7%, which is higher than 31% of high schools in the state and higher than its district. ■ 69.7% of graduates are college and career ready.

Cross Keys High School

2018 LETTER GRADE

66.6 2018 SCORE

School grades for past five years: 2018: D 2015: C 2017: C 2014: D 2016: B

YOU ARE INVITED!

Blessed Trinity Catholic High School - 11320 Woodstock Rd., Roswell, GA 30075 - (678) 277-9083 - www.btcatholic.org

BLESSED TRINITY CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27 1 PM TO 3 PM

Blessed Trinity Catholic High School invites prospective students and their families to tour our facilities, meet our students, and speak with our teachers and coaches. President, Principal, and Director of Enrollment Management will speak at 1 pm and 2 pm. 28 Advanced Placement classes ~ Curriculum delivered on an A/B block schedule that maximizes instructional time ~ The 245 members of the class of 2019 earned more than $32.7 million in college scholarship offers in addition to Georgia’s HOPE and Zell Miller scholarships ~ A fully funded Fine Arts program that includes band, chorus, visual arts, and theater program that performs four first-class productions each year, including a musical, and one of the most highly honored dance programs in the state ~ A student-teacher ratio of 13:1; average class size of 19 ~ A comprehensive community-service program ~ An athletic department that fields more than 50 teams in 22 sports, and has won 44 state championships

Performance Snapshot ■ Cross Keys High School’s overall performance is higher than 32% of schools in the state and is lower than its district. ■ Its students’ academic growth is higher than 74% of schools in the state and higher than its district. ■ Its four-year graduation rate is 64.4%, which is higher than 9% of high schools in the state and lower than its district. ■ 49.3% of graduates are college and career ready.

Dunwoody High School

2018 LETTER GRADE

81.5 2018 SCORE

School grades for past five years: 2018: B 2015: B 2017: B 2014: C 2016: A Performance Snapshot ■ Dunwoody High School’s overall performance is higher than 77% of schools in the state and is higher than its district. ■ Its students’ academic growth is higher than 62% of schools in the state and higher than its district. ■ Its four-year graduation rate is 86.4%, which is higher than 45% of high schools in the state and higher than its district. ■ 75.6% of graduates are college and career ready.

Education | 39

SEPTEMBER 2019 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net

North Atlanta High School

2018 LETTER GRADE

77.1 2018 SCORE

School grades for past five years: 2018: C 2015: C 2017: B 2014: C 2016: C Performance Snapshot ■ North Atlanta High School’s overall performance is higher than 66% of schools in the state and is higher than its district. ■ Its students’ academic growth is higher than 41% of schools in the state and similar to its district. ■ Its four-year graduation rate is 92.5%, which is higher than 76% of high schools in the state and higher than its district. ■ 61.0% of graduates are college and career ready.

North Springs Charter High School

2018 LETTER GRADE

for college for life forever

82.8 2018 SCORE

Holy Spirit Prep embraces the traditions of Catholic education to form students of deep faith, advanced intellect, and heroic virtue.

School grades for past five years: 2018: B 2015: C 2017: B 2014: C 2016: B Performance Snapshot ■ North Springs Charter High School’s overall performance is higher than 81% of schools in the state and is similar to its district. ■ Its students’ academic growth is higher than 73% of schools in the state and similar to its district. ■ Its four-year graduation rate is 90.0%, which is higher than 60% of high schools in the state and higher than its district. ■ 62.7% of graduates are college and career ready. ■ North Springs Charter High School is Beating the Odds, meaning that it performs better than similar schools.

COME VISIT RSVP for a weekly tour at holyspiritprep.org/visit.

An independent Catholic school in Chastain Park, forming students 6 months-12th grade. holyspiritprep.org

40 | Education

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Individual High Schools

Riverwood International Charter School

2018 LETTER GRADE

School grades for past five years: 2018: C 2017: C 2016: B 2015: F 2014: C

2018 SCORE

Performance Snapshot ■ Riverwood International Charter School’s overall performance is higher than 71% of schools in the state and is similar to its district. ■ Its students’ academic growth is higher than 42% of schools in the state and lower than its district. ■ Its four-year graduation rate is 92.2%, which is higher than 74% of high schools in the state and higher than its district. ■ 60.8% of graduates are college and career ready.

Open House November 17 Monthly Forest to Farm Tours, check website for details

Health care for women by women PremierCareForWomen.com Our team of experienced physicians provides comprehensive gynecologic services, in a compassionate environment, throughout every stage of a woman’s life.

MULTI-LEVEL Atlanta Classical Academy District: Atlanta Public Schools Grades: K-11 Clusters: Elementary, Middle, High Address: 3260 Northside Dr NW, Atlanta, GA 30305

School Letter Grade: C

MIDDLE SCHOOLS Chamblee Middle School District: DeKalb County Grades: 6-8 Clusters: Middle Address: 3601 Sexton Woods Dr. Chamblee, GA 30341

School Letter Grade: C Peachtree Charter Middle School District: DeKalb County Grades: 6-8 Clusters: Middle Address: 4664 N Peachtree Rd, Atlanta, GA 30338

• Annual Well-Woman Exams • Menopausal Care • Cervical Cancer Screenings • HPV Vaccinations

• Hormone Replacement Therapy • Minimally Invasive Hysterectomies • Contraception Management • Other Gynecological Issues

OUR PHYSICIANS: Dr. Eva Arkin • Dr. Sujatha Reddy • Dr. Laura Cummings Dr. Nadine Becker • Dr. Jennifer Lyman

Call for an appointment: 404-257-0170 960 Johnson Ferry Road NE, Suite 400, Atlanta, GA 30342

School Letter Grade: C Ridgeview Charter Middle School District: Fulton County Grades: 6-8 Clusters: Middle Address: 5340 S Trimble Rd, Sandy Springs, GA 30342

School Letter Grade: C

Sandy Springs Charter Middle School District: Fulton County Grades: 6-8 Clusters: Middle Address: 8750 Pride Place, Sandy Springs, GA 30350

School Letter Grade: C Sutton Middle School District: Atlanta Public Schools Grades: 6-8 Clusters: Middle Address: 2875 Northside Dr NW, Atlanta, GA 30305

School Letter Grade: B

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS Ashford Park Elementary School District: DeKalb County Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 2968 Cravenridge Drive NE, Atlanta, GA 30319

School Letter Grade: A Austin Elementary School District: DeKalb County Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 5435 Roberts Drive, Dunwoody, GA 30338

School Letter Grade: A

Education | 41

SEPTEMBER 2019 ■ www.ReporterNewspapers.net

H IGH

HIGH MUSEUM OF ART ATLANTA | HIGH.ORG

Enjoy free admission and special programs on the second Sunday of each month.

Accepting New Patients! Primary Care of Brookhaven is a full-service primary care practice providing the highest quality care possible to families of the Brookhaven and the Atlanta Metro Area. Our board-certified physicians, Dr. Jennifer Burkmar and Dr. Jeffrey Reznik provide care for the whole patient, and offer a full range of family medicine services, including: • Primary Care for Patients of All Ages Including Newborns • Immunizations for Children and Adults • Acute Illness Care & Chronic Disease Management • School & Sport Physicals • Women’s Health Services • Preventative Health Consultations We take pride in serving each patient with personalized attention and care, accept most insurance plans, and offer same day appointments for sick visits.

SEPT 8 • OCT 13 Designed for little kids, big kids, and the whole family, Second Sundays are for everyone. Visit us each month and experience new interactive, innovative family activities inspired by our collections and ever-changing exhibitions. Second Sundays are sponsored by the Lettie Pate Evans Foundation.

On Your College Application Alexander Muss High School in Israel: The Ultimate College Prep Study Abroad Adventure Generous grants available for Atlanta students.

amhsi.org recruitment@amhsi.org 800.327.5980

Jennifer Burkmar, MD, MBA, FA AFP

Jeffrey Reznik, MD, FA AFP

Call 404-365-6500 for an appointment • 4062 Peachtree Road, Suite C, Brookhaven, GA 30319 Prim ary C areofBrookhaven.com

42 | Education

We offer multidisciplinary and compassionate cancer care for patients diagnosed with melanoma, other aggressive skin cancers and sarcoma. In partnership with the Northside Hospital Cancer Institute, our specialized team consisting of experts in surgical oncology, radiology, pathology, reconstructive surgery, medical and radiation oncology, and nurse navigation are available to support our patients throughout their cancer journey, from prevention and treatment through survivorship. We are excited to welcome Dr. Nicole Kounalakis, a surgical oncologist with over 10 years of experience that specializes in providing personalized treatment options to her cancer patients. She focuses on the surgical care of conditions including:

Facebook.com/TheReporterNewspapers ■ twitter.com/Reporter_News Brandon Elementary School District: Atlanta Public Schools Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 2741 Howell Mill Road NW, Atlanta, GA 30327

Kittredge Magnet School District: DeKalb County Grades: 4-6 Clusters: Elementary, Middle Address: 1663 East Nancy Creek Drive, Atlanta, GA 30319

School Letter Grade: A

Chestnut Charter Elementary School District: DeKalb County Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 4576 N Peachtree Rd, Dunwoody, GA 30338

School Letter Grade: A

Nicole Kounalakis, M.D. Surgical Oncologist

NorthsideMSOG.com Phone: 404-851-6000 980 Johnson Ferry Road NE Suite 940 Atlanta, GA 30342

• Melanoma • Squamous cell and basal cell skin cancer • Merkel cell cancer • Sarcoma

Dunwoody Elementary School District: DeKalb County Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 1923 Womack Road Drive Dunwoody, GA 30338

School Letter Grade: A Dunwoody Springs Elementary School District: Fulton County Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 8100 Roberts Dr. Sandy Springs, GA 30350

School Letter Grade: C Garden Hills Elementary School District: Atlanta Public Schools Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 285 Sheridan Dr NE, Atlanta, GA 30305

September 20th - October 13th A Comedy... Four Women... Liquid Refreshment... and... Living in the Moment...

StageDoorPlayers.net or 770-396-1726 5339 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd., Dunwoody GA

Lake Forest Elementary School District: Fulton County Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 5920 Sandy Springs Cir, Sandy Springs, GA 30328

School Letter Grade: D Montgomery Elementary School District: DeKalb County Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 3995 Ashford Dunwoody Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30319

School Letter Grade: B Rivers Elementary School District: Atlanta Public Schools Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 8 Peachtree Battle Ave NW, Atlanta, GA 30305

School Letter Grade: C Sarah Smith Elementary School District: Atlanta Public Schools Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 370 Old Ivy Rd NE, Atlanta, GA 30342

School Letter Grade: C

School Letter Grade: B

Heards Ferry Elementary School District: Fulton County Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 6151 Powers Ferry Rd NW, Sandy Springs, GA 30339

Spalding Drive Elementary School District: Fulton County Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 130 W Spalding Dr NE, Sandy Springs, GA 30328

School Letter Grade: B

School Letter Grade: C

High Point Elementary School District: Fulton County Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 520 Greenland Rd NE, Sandy Springs, GA 30342

Vanderlyn Elementary School District: DeKalb County Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 1877 Vanderlyn Drive, Dunwoody, GA 30338

School Letter Grade: C

School Letter Grade: A

Kingsley Elementary School District: DeKalb County Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 2051 Brendon Dr. Dunwoody, GA 30338

Woodland Elementary School District: Fulton County Grades: K-5 Clusters: Elementary Address: 1130 Spalding Dr, Atlanta, GA 30350

School Letter Grade: C

School Letter Grade: B

SEPTEMBER 2019

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Classifieds | 43

www.ReporterNewspapers.net

CARE GIVER

SERVICES AVAILABLE

Female Caregiver with 20 years exp. seeks to barter domestic services for a room in a nice home in the metro area. Senior cat coming with. 470-351-7237. Certified Respite Provider – Caring for Love Ones! Specializes in Alzheimer’s Care. Call Patricia 678-754-1831.

CEMETERY PLOTS Arlington Memorial Park - Three cemetery plots located in the Masonic section - selling for $6995 each. Call 404-403-5676.

Landscaping: Tranquil Waters Lawn Care – Hauling of debris, yard cleanup, aeration, leaf blowing, power washing, etc. Free estimates – No contract necessary – Commercial or Residential. Senior/Veteran discounts available. Call Mike 678-662-0767. Masonry: Driveways & Walkways – Replaced or Repaired. Masonry, Grading, Foundations repair, waterproofing and retaining walls. Call Joe 770-616-0576. Property Home Tending – Regular inspections of your For Sale or unoccupied home. Call Charles 404-229-0490.

Home Services Directory

HELP WANTED

Handyman - Wood rot repairs, roof leaks, deck refinishing/repairs. Interior/ Exterior painting. Excellent references. 404-452-1812.

BOOK FOR SALE Parental Dementia by Keith Galas with Halle Eskew – A Guide Through All the Difficult Questions. The essential book for Dementia families. Order at www. parentaldementia.com use special code word – Mom.

YARD SALE: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14TH, 8:00-3:00 - BROOKHAVEN FIELDS Located behind the Brookhaven/Oglethorpe MARTA station

To Advertise, call 404-917-2200 ext 110 Avoid Costly Roof Replacement *Save 80% compared to a new roof. *Extend shingle life up to 15 years. *100% environmentally friendly. *Roof tune-up included. Call for your free inspection and no-obligation quote.

ilovehomecleanhome.com

www.preserveroofing.com https://youtu.be/M0hi7LbX03g

No Lock-In Contracts

AT YOUR SERVICE Repairs & New installation

Showroom, Design, Build

SHOWROOM

IN HOME CONSULTATION

404-910-3969

www.RemodelingExpo.com

48 KING STREET ROSWELL, GA 30075

Plumbing Appliances Water Heaters Shower Pan Leaks

404-219-1923 justTRASHit!

SINCE 1986

JUNK REMOVAL & RECYCLING

ROOFING

We Haul Away: We Clean Out:

REMEDIES WINDOWS

REPAIRS LEAKS 404-697-6937

Windows And Doors

Buy with confidence! Visit our showroom in Chamblee!

770-939-5634 quinnwindows.com 3660 N. Peachtree Rd • Chamblee, GA 30341

*Furniture *Appliances *Construction *Pianos *Hot tubs *Paint cans

*Basements *Garages *Attics *Offices *Storage units *Estate sales

(770) 314-9867 www.justTRASHit.com

Oriental Rug Shop Antique and Decorative Rugs since 1976

Sales, Cleaning, Restorations, Appraisals, Pick-up & Delivery 5548 Peachtree Ind. Blvd Chamblee, GA 30341 770-452-0430

Best Selection & Values 1.5 miles inside 285 in Chamblee Plaza

www.PersianRugParadise.net

40%

Cleaning & Repair of OFF All Rugs

VISIT WEBSITE TODAY!

Preserve Roofing 770-314-9867

Kitchen Bathroom Basement

Georgia Commission on the Holocaust – Volunteer Opportunity. Greeters for Anne Frank in the World Exhibit 1929-45 - 5920 Roswell Rd. Sandy Springs 30328. Bring the lessons of the Holocaust to life, make A difference, help visitors understand dangers of prejudice, discrimination and hate to make a difference, engage with your community - training provided. A monthly commitment and 2 hour shifts required: Tuesday- Thursday 10- 4pm, Saturday-Sunday 12-4 pm. Call Sandra Craine 770 206-1558.

Sam 770-450-5955

ALL TREES REMOVED OR TRIMMED BIG AND SMALL RELAX WE DO THEM ALL

404-944-0016 FULLY LICENSED and INSURED

Belco Electric

• Family Owned since 1972 • Fast, Dependable Service by Professional, Uniformed Electricians

770-455-4556

Check out our new website www.BelcoInc.com and follow us on

Fall Clean-up Special With two professional in-house polishers, we can make your silver ﬂatware, tea sets, bowls and trays more beautiful than ever before. Bring it by or call us for an estimate today!

Atlanta’s Premier

• Window Cleaning • Gutter Cleaning • Pressure Washing • Family Owned • Licensed and Insured • Free Estimates

since 1968

404.355.1901

With coupon. One per family.

www.WindowCleanAtl.com “Serving Metro Atlanta Since 1998”

• PAINTING • WINDOWS • SIDING

LOCALLY OWNED AND OPERATED BONDED & INSURED PROFESSIONAL & RELIABLE Serving Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Buckhead, Brookhaven, and Peachtree Corners

MrHandyman.com (770) 852-5453

• GUTTERS

770-971-1577

www.paintingplus.com

• ROOFING

44 |

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SANDY SPRINGS MUSEUM AND PARK

FREE!

FESTIVAL SEPT 28 & 29

SANDY SPRINGS 10K The Heart of Our Community since 1984

sandyspringsfestival.com