Dunwoody Reporter www.ReporterNewspapers.net
OCT. 30 — NOV. 12, 2015 • VOL. 6 — NO. 22
Inside
Perimeter Business
Hindu holiday Diwali all about lights FAITH 16
Write stuff? Robin ponders usernames COMMUNITY 17
PAGES 7-11
City uses surplus to build sidewalks, replace police gear and design trails
I’m on a green machine
BY ELLEN ELDRIDGE
elleneldridge@reporternewspapers.net
PHIL MOSIER
Axel Bong, 3, throws out a wave while enjoying a ride during Apple Cider Days on Oct. 25. The five-day event, held at Perimeter Mall, was hosted by the Dunwoody Preservation Trust. The festivities offered up a carnival-like atmosphere, along with midway games and food. See another photo on page 4.
City officials plan to spend a $500,000 budget surplus to build new sidewalks, pave more streets and cut the grass around city entrances so the town looks better. Originally, the city’s budget committee voted to leave some of the 2016 surplus untouched, but City Council on Oct. 26 voted to use up the remaining money on paving. City Councilman Terry Nall argued the city should go ahead and spend the money, rather than save it, because the 2016 budget has a $300,000 contingency fund, which is separate from the surplus. He said the city needed to pave more streets. “We’re losing ground in the paving war,” Nall said. CITY ON PAGE 3
Farmhouse to host Light Up Dunwoody again BY ELLEN ELDRIDGE
elleneldridge@reporternewspapers.net
Light Up Dunwoody will continue this year in the same place it’s been held for the past five. But the Christmas tree and a six-foot menorah that had been proposed as part of the annual holiday festival will be moved across the street. The Dunwoody Homeowners Association and the Dunwoody Preservation Trust compromised to keep the traditional lighted festival going. “I’m glad to see that cooler heads prevailed,” Dunwoody Mayor Mike Davis said. The DHA’s proposal to add the six-foot menorah to the property at the Cheek-Spruill Farmhouse caused its owner, the Dunwoody Preservation Trust, to reject any potentially religious symbol at the annual event. Co-presidents of the trust said the mission to include all residents
meant restricting non-secular objects on the property. “Because some holiday symbols are open for individual interpretation, we respectfully request that the DHA move the tree to another location,” Dunwoody Preservation Trust said in a public statement. DHA board member Richard Jones said in an email that he wanted to find a compromise that would benefit the event organizers, the community and the groups sponsoring Light Up Dunwoody. “This is a celebration of good will,” Jones wrote. “Let’s not let it devolve into a negative source of ill will that all will regret.” So, DHA President Robert Wittenstein and DHA board members sought a solution that would allow the SEE CHEEK-SPRUILL, PAGE 4
FILE
The annual Light Up Dunwoody event will continue at the the Cheek-Spruill Farmhouse, but the Christmas tree and a proposed six-foot menorah will be displayed across the street.