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Brookhaven Reporter
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On Pill Hill housing plans
OCT. 30 — NOV. 12, 2015 • VOL. 7 — NO. 22
COMMUNITY 3
It’s custom made by Debbie Left, Debbie Matzdkin makes silk art at a vendor’s booth during the 11th annual Brookhaven Arts Festival on Oct. 17. The two-day event, located on Apple Valley Road next to the MARTA station, featured more than 100 artists, showcasing fiber, glass, jewelry, mixed media, painting, photography, sculpture and other works of art. See more photos on page 19. PHIL MOSIER
Women bring pink handcuffs to police work BY ELLEN ELDRIDGE
COMMUNITY 4
Peachtree Creek Greenway could offer many trails BY JOHN RUCH
johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
The first-draft design of the new Peachtree Creek Greenway at Brookhaven park and trail contained a big surprise: not just one creekside path, but up to four paths of different types and uses. The creek, largely hidden behind buildings along Buford Highway and I-85, offers an “opportunity to create multiple experiences in the corridor,” lead planner Carlos Perez said as he unveiled the draft design at an Oct. 22 meeting at Brookhaven’s Briarwood Park. The Greenway was conceived as a BeltLinestyle linear park with a paved multi-use trail running roughly 3 miles through Brookhaven’s section of the creek. That multi-use trail is still the core concept. But in some sections, it could run parallel to an unpaved “nature trail” and a “creek trail” where hikers would be “actually jumping from rock to rock when the water is low,” Perez said. In addition, if the greenway triggers commercial redevelopment facing the creek, there’s also an opportunity for them to feature “urban promenades”—a kind of combo trail and patio overlooking the other trails. Cross-sections of various areas of the creek showed potential open space that could be filled with such amenities as boardwalks and SEE PEACHTREE, PAGE 5
elleneldridge@reporternewspapers.net
The only “dainty, girly” things about Brookhaven Police Officer Celeste Rausch when she’s on duty are her pink nails and a set of pink handcuffs on the dashboard of her patrol car. “I ride a motorcycle [off duty]. I work part-time sports broadcasting for Turner Sports,” Rausch said. “I’ve done a lot of things—shoot guns—that are, in my head, male things to do.” She admits she has a feminine side, though she said she only does her nails to keep from picking at them. “I find that when I polish them I leave them alone for the most part and they don’t break as easily,” Rausch said. “I don’t do my hair or wear makeup on duty.” As a female officer, Rausch is a relative rarity among local cops. She is one of 11 women among the 70 officers in Brookhaven. In Sandy Springs, Lauren Ruffini is one of 11 fe-
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male officers on the 125-officer force. In Buckhead, Atlanta Police Officer April White is one of 349 women among Atlanta’s 1,921 officers. Until this month, Dunwoody’s department hadn’t had a female officer since 2012. Police officials said few women applied for a job and of the few who did, none were qualified. Officer Rashida Moore joined Dunwoody Oct. 8 and was sworn in by the mayor at a City Council meeting Oct. 26. In Sandy Springs, Ruffini started as a patrol officer in May, after the department put her through the police academy to get certified. She said she had worked in the DeKalb County Jail and knew from Dunwoody officers that she wouldn’t get hired in that city because she wasn’t a sworn officer yet. SEE WOMEN, PAGE 20
JOHN RUCH
Residents examine a map of the Peachtree Creek Greenway during an Oct. 22 meeting at Briarwood Park.