11-10-17 Dunwoody Reporter

NOVEMBER 10 - 23, 2017 • VOL. 8— NO. 23

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► For sale: Metropolitan Baptist Church PAGE 15 ► After NYC attack, bike path barriers considered PAGE 21

Dancing Dublin-style

CALENDAR:BURGERS, BUILDING STORY | PXX BRIDGES | P8

Dunwoody seeks its special place in metro Atlanta

BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net

While Dunwoody is known for such landmark locations as Dunwoody Village, city leaders are working on better ways to stand out through “placemaking,” a community planning buzzword that encourages creating places where people want to go and interact.

Public art, walkability as well as more trails and green space are being discussed as ways to help Dunwoody create places that set the city apart from neighboring cities competing for the same businesses, economic development and people.

See DUNWOODY on page 17

PHOTOS BY PHIL MOSIER

The King O’Sullivan traditional Irish dance group, featuring, from left, Adele Lyons, Siobahan Hightower, Mary Claire Steele and Katherine Fisher, performs at the fifth annual IrishFest Atlanta on Nov. 4 at the DoubleTree Hilton Perimeter Dunwoody hotel.

More photos, p. 30. ►

STANDOUT STUDENT Brookhaven ballerina balances school, life

I believe thanks to our veterans must begin with a recognition and understanding of the unique liberties you and I are afforded as Americans and then celebrating those freedoms.

‘Living the Vietnam War’ exhibit opens

FORMER STATE SENATOR U.S ARMY VETERAN, IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN TOURS

See COMMENTARY Page 14

BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net A new face will join two returning to Dunwoody City Council next year.

Councilmembers Jim Riticher and Pam Tallmadge were re-elected Nov. 7 and Tom Lambert coasted to an easy victory for a seat that came open when Councilmember Doug Thompson announced he was retiring after his current term.

Unofficial results from DeKalb County show District 1/Post 1 Councilmember

Hunter Hill

Page 10

Council incumbents re-elected; Lambert wins

See OUT & ABOUT Page 25

See COUNCIL on page 18

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Community Briefs Sandy Springs Place Offers Compassionate Care That Seniors Deserve.

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SEN. M ILLAR : CO NFEDER AT E M EM O R I A L S L IKELY TO S TAY

State Sen. Fran Millar (R-Dunwoody) said he believes no major action will be taken in the next legislative session to remove Confederate memorials from public places.

“If anything happens ... I believe the only thing that could happen is a commission is formed,” he said, during a legislative update to the Dunwoody Homeowners Association at its Nov. 5 meeting “There will be a lot of talk, but I don’t look for the monuments to come down anytime soon.”

Millar said while he predicts the Confederate memorials will remain, he also expects that contextual information will be added to them in the future to provide the public with more history about the Civil War and slavery.

The DeKalb County Commission approved a resolution last month asking its legal counsel to find a way to remove or relocate a Confederate memorial located outside the former DeKalb Courthouse in the Decatur square. But who actually owns the memorial — the county or a private entity — is still being researched.

The memorial was erected in 1908 by the A. Evans Camp of Confederate Veterans and Agnes Lee Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

State law prohibits the removal of Confederate monuments. The Georgia chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has hired a lobbyist for the upcoming legislative session, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

HO TEL M O TEL TA X M EETI NG S ET FO R NO V. 1 5

The city will hold a public information meeting on the hotel/motel tax at 6 p.m. on Nov. 15 at City Hall, 41 Perimeter Center East, Suite 103.

The General Assembly this year approved Dunwoody’s request to raise the hotel/motel tax. It is expected to bring another $800,000 to the city’s coffers and an additional $800,000 to the Dunwoody Convention and Visitors Bureau.

City staff members and Mayor Denis Shortal advocated for raising the hotel/motel tax so the city could use the money to build and create trails and green space in Perimeter Center, where the majority of the city’s hotels are located. The green space and trails could then be used by tourists and other visitors in the city as well as by residents, they said.

A 14-member resident advisory committee was formed in August. A City Council committee also was formed to come up with ideas of how to spend the new revenue.

The mayor and council must still approve the tax rate hike. Plans were to have it go into effect in January.

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Dunwoody police are asking for the public’s help in their investigation of the killing of Agustin Contreras Pulido.

The 27-year-old man’s body was found Oct. 4 in the 4600 block of Peachtree Place Parkway. The police did not provide any other information.

Anyone with information about the victim or the incident is asked to call Atlanta Crimestoppers at 404-577-8477 or the Dunwoody Police Department at 678-382-6900.

CITY APPR O V ES AG R EEM ENT WI TH AT&T FO R M ICR O- A NT ENNA AT TA C HM ENTS

The mayor and City Council last month approved a five-year agreement allowing AT&T to attach micro-antenna systems equipment on city-owned property, such as utilenlivant.com ity and traffic signal poles and in the right of way. The equipment is intended to improve cellular service to Dunwoody area residents.

This agreement allows AT&T to install its own equipment rather than using thirdparty providers Crown Castle and Mobilitie, according to a memo to the council from City Manager Eric Linton. As part of the agreement, AT&T will pay the city $500 a year for each city-owned property it uses to install its equipment.

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NOVEMBER 10 - 23, 2017

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City conducting ‘mini master plan’ for Peachtree Industrial Boulevard

BY DYANA BAGBY

are invited to public meetings about the plan, McLeod added. The first meeting is set for Dec. 5 at 6 p.m. at Dunwoody A “mini masterplan” for the City Hall, 41 Perimeter Center East.

Peachtree Industrial Boulevard area of McLeod said his first week on the Dunwoody is underway. A community job in June, he participated in a walk meeting to discuss the proposal is set led by Councilmember Doug Thompfor Dec. 5 at City Hall. son on Winters Chapel Road and includCommunity Development Director ing Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. The Richard McLeod said planhike highlighted pedestriners will make proposals for an-access problems and land use and transportation Thompson and others notimprovements in the area. ed the area, including the Another priority: Looking at older apartment complexes, redevelopment possibilities is prime for redevelopment. for two apartment complexThe plan underway is a es the city controversially atdirect result of that hike, tempted to buy in 2011.

McLeod said.

“We’re coming up with In September, the mayor a plan for what could hapand City Council voted unanpen,” McLeod said. imously to award a $40,000 CITY OF DUNWOODY “Ultimately, we want to bid to TSW, an Atlanta-based Richard McLeod. find out if anything can be planning firm, to develop done with the older aparta small-area study for the ments ... and what’s a good use for the Peachtree Industrial Boulevard area beland, and also transportation improvetween I-285 and Winters Chapel Road. ments,” he said. “This will be a communiIn 2015, the City Council approved a ty-driven and market-driven study for the streetscape plan for a Winters Chapel potential of the area.”

Road to be added to the city’s 2010 ComThe Dunwoody Glen and the Lacota prehensive Plan. The streetscape plan apartments face Peachtree Industrial called for adding sidewalks on both sides Boulevard. In 2011, Dunwoody sought of Winters Chapel Road and a multi-use to buy those apartments and replace trail from Spalding Drive to Peeler Road. them with a sports complex. Voters rePlanners also have proposed a sidejected a parks bond to fund the plan walk on the east side of Winters Chapel and the apartment owners hit the city Road from Dunwoody Club Drive to the with a federal housing discrimination northern city limit. It would connect to lawsuit that was later withdrawn. a planned sidewalk in Peachtree Corners.

Following that failed bond vote, the The study area includes parts of Dunapartment complex owners fixed up woody, Doraville and Peachtree Corners the property, McLeod said. and the city plans to work with repreResidents living in the apartments sentatives from Doraville and Peachtree as well as other community members Corners on the design study. dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net

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Perimeter Center hotel project gains only partial support

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Prado Perimeter Center LLC’s proposed hotel at 121 Perimeter Center West still has not gained the full support of city officials, with the Planning Commission voting last month to recommend approval of only two of the three special land use permit requests.

The Planning Commission’s Oct. 10 vote follows its two prior deferrals of the project, in September and October. Prado Perimeter Center’s plan involves adding a 7-story, AC-brand hotel, a 5-story parking garage and a large restaurant alongside an existing building that houses a SunTrust Bank and a Tin Lizzy’s restaurant in a 3-story building.

“We support the plan, just not in its current version,” said Community Development Director Richard McLeod. “They need to tweak some things before we can be fully on board. Unfortunately, it looks like they will be taking down a lot of trees, some of them large trees.”

At the Oct. 10 Planning Commission meeting, members voted to deny recommending approval of one SLUP that would allow developers to vary the “primary street type” requirement in the Perimeter Center Overlay along Olde Perimeter Way, an east-west driveway through the property.

Olde Perimeter Way is listed as a primary street in the city’s zoning code and requires a 4-foot bike path, a 6-foot street buffer and a 10-foot sidewalk to the building.

Developers argue they should not be required to make the changes because Olde Perimeter Way is a private driveway.

The commission did agree to a SLUP to vary the “minor parkway street type” requirements by allowing the developer not to build a 12-foot multiuse path on Perimeter Center Place, but instead to replace it with a 4-foot bike path and an 8-foot sidewalk separated by a 6-foot street buffer. The bike path is located on the road, according to the developer’s site plan.

Commissioners also voted to recommend approval for the developer to build a 7-story hotel; current zoning only allows for two stories.

Some conditions the Planning Commission put on the project include: ■ A single-story standalone restaurant space can be built, enclosing up to 10,000 square feet; ■ A standalone, two-lane bank drive-through at Sun Trust is allowed; ■ Once no longer required by Tin Lizzy’s lease, a shed located on the western side of the existing 3-story office building will be removed; ■ The existing Sun Trust sign on Perimeter Center West will come into full compliance with city code within 12 months of the issuance of a building permit for the new proposed development; ■ For any trees removed that cannot be replaced on site, the funds paid into the tree bank should go to planting trees within Perimeter Center.

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A lifetime of music

Frank Boggs shares how music shaped his life

BY JOE EARLE

comfortable.”

Boggs took over the festival chorus Frank Boggs has been around church about the time he retired from teaching music all his life. music at The Westminster Schools. He He remembers tagging along to choir taught there for 23 years. A friend, a practice with his mother and father at the minster at a Cobb County church, told First Baptist Church in Dallas, Tex., back Boggs that he’d be miserable without when he was too little to be left at home. a choir to direct. Boggs thought there “I’d go with them and I’d listen to them might be something to that, so he sing and then I’d curl up in the pew and put an ad in a Marietta newspaper go to sleep,” he recalled. “Music was just soliciting singers. The Cobb Festival kind of there my whole life.”

Chorus started Boggs has with 18 organized and members. built choirs, Their first taught music performance, and recorded Boggs said, was two dozen of Handel’s albums. He’s “Messiah,” a appeared on piece usually radio and TV, associated and performed with much around the U.S. larger groups. and abroad.

JOE EARLE “When people He even coChorus founder and director Frank Boggs talks about heard what we wrote the fight music in the living room of his Buckhead apartment. did that first song played to year, I started cheer the Baylor University Bears, the auditioning more singers.” Now, there are football team at his alma mater. The 111 singers with the festival chorus, he said. song he and his roommate wrote while “Over the years, we’ve built a wonderful they were students at Baylor back in choir,” he said. the 1940s replaced an earlier fight song He’s used to building choirs. When he written by Fred and Tom Waring of big started teaching at Westminster, he said, band fame. Boggs thought that song was the choir was composed of just 18 girls and too hard to sing. Now, “every time they three boys.

“It was the most pitiful thing score a touchdown, they play our song,” I’d ever heard,” he recalled. “I came home he said with a smile. and told [my wife] I may have made the “Music is my life,” he said during a biggest mistake of my life.” recent chat in his 21st-story apartment Instead of giving up, he set to work. in Lenbrook, a Buckhead high rise.

He started going to football practices “I love to make beautiful music, and to recruit singers. He told the boys they teaching people to love beautiful music.” could meet girls by singing. “I said, ‘I At age 90, he’s still at it. guarantee you, if you join choir, I’m He leads the Georgia Festival Chorus, going to get every good-looking girl at a singing group he has directed since its Westminster to join the choir.’” Once the founding. The chorus performs concerts football players signed up, he said, girl in the spring and fall and is scheduled singers followed and the choir grew. to perform Nov. 19, Nov. 30 and Dec. 12.

When he was a student at Baylor, “Through the years — this is our 31st year he organized the music for a series of — we have built a very loyal audience,” student-led tent revivals. They started Bogg said. “They turn out to hear us.” out small, but eventually attracted David Scott, associate director hundreds of people from surrounding of the chorus, said Boggs has been communities.

“The Holy Spirit just “tremendously important” to the blessed us,” he said.

A thousand people group’s success. “He’s been a great would be spread out on the grass. … advocate for the music,” Scott said.

Instead of going for one week like we “His choice of material is very good. planned, it went for three weeks.”

He’s fun to work with. …He’s a nice guy These days, Boggs is sorting through to get to know.” his old recordings to make CDs of his That matters. “These things are very music for his grandchildren. He’s pulled personality driven,” Scott said. “If you don’t songs from albums with titles such as “In have integrity, if you don’t have a pleasant God We Trust” and “Yes, God Is Real.” personality, people don’t come back. ” What’s his favorite song? That changes, At the same time, Boggs is a natural he said. He thought a moment and then showman, Scott said. “Frank has a way said a song called “The Majesty and Glory — in a performance he speaks to the of His Name” was one of his favorites for crowd naturally,” he said. “Most folks, the choir. “Every time we sing it,” he said, if you start putting them in front of a “something magical happens.” crowd of 100 or 1,000 or 2,000 people, they get stressed. But Frank is very For more information visit tgafc.org.

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Sandy Springs resident leads a new kind of veterans organization

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Above, Jared Ogden, the founder of Phoenix Patriot Foundation, parachutes onto the Dunwoody Country Club fairway in a tuxedo for a 2014 fundraiser.

Right, from left, current PPF CEO and Executive Director John Paulson, founder Jared Ogden and Mary Paulson at a 2014 fundraiser at the Dunwoody Country Club.

Below, Kyle Butcher.

BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

John Paulson remembers what it was like to come home from Vietnam as a young Marine in 1970 and into the world of old-school veterans groups.

“I went to a VFW and it was filled with all these old World War II guys smoking, drinking, cussing … I never went back,” says the Sandy Springs resident, best known for serving on the City Council and his service at the Buckhead American Legion post.

Today, through a twist of fate and a commitment to service, Paulson is now CEO and executive director of a new kind of veterans organization focused on tailored help for wounded vets of the post-Sept. 11 wars. The Phoenix Patriot Foundation, created in 2010 by a North Springs Charter High graduate who became a Navy SEAL, is a modest but growing nonprofit operating in three areas across the country, including Atlanta, Houston and southern California, and directly aiding about a dozen veterans.

PPF has its own rock band and has helped to fund veterans’ albums. It has organized Special Forces style Jet Ski journeys hundreds of miles along ocean coasts. Most importantly, it’s open to doing just about anything a wounded veteran is driven to pursue.

“We purposely set up these programs to cover anything that comes,” Paulson said.

Kyle Butcher, a Newnan resident, is one of the veterans who has come to PPF. In

Community | 7

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2005, he was a young soldier on track to become an Army Ranger when he was shot three times while serving in Afghanistan, ending his military career.

“I didn’t know which way was up. I was 20 years old and had my life goal taken away from me,” he said.

Butcher tried visits to the Veterans Affairs services, but it’s “just not set up to do the one-on-one,” he said. Then he found PPF and joined one of the quarterly “Vetlanta” veterans meetings that Paulson organizes. Now Butcher participates in those Jet Ski adventures that PPF modestly calls “Challenges” — “600 miles in four days in eight-foot seas at times … it’s not for everybody.”

The importance of PPF, Butcher says is “having their own little organization that specifically tailors what they do … They’re absolutely accommodating. It’s not just, ‘Hey, let’s take a trip.’ It’s like, ‘You want to do woodworking the rest of your life? We’ll find a way to make it happen.’”

The personal touch — and Paulson’s involvement — came from the personal reasons PPF was founded by Jared Ogden. Ogden is a Roswell native who attended North Springs with Paulson’s children and ended up starting a house-painting business with his son Jeff. Mary Paulson, John’s wife, was particularly close to Ogden and stayed in touch as he attended the Naval Academy and then became a SEAL. In Afghanistan, a teammate and friend of Ogden was severely wounded, losing both legs, among other injuries. Ogden soon saw the limited services able for veterans with physical and mental wounds who come home with an abrupt end to a vigorous, teamoriented lifestyle. So he founded PPF to help them “re-engage” and “re-integrate.”

In the early years, Ogden, who now lives in St. Louis, sometimes visited the Atlanta area. In 2011, Sandy Springs declared a “Jared Ogden Day,” and for a 2014 fundraiser, he memorably parachuted onto the 18th hole of the Dunwoody Country Club, carrying an American flag and clad in a tuxedo.

“He thought he was James Bond,” Paulson jokes.

Around that time, Ogden asked Paulson to join the PPF board to help tighten up its organization. And about 18 months ago, as Ogden grew busy with a target shooting enterprise, he asked Paulson to take over the organization’s leadership.

“It’s been rewarding. It’s been challenging,” Paulson said.

For the Atlanta chapter, Paulson is working on a number of programs and offerings with varying success. One program is $2,000 in tuition assistance with the Technical College System of Georgia, but no vets have yet applied. PPF is trying to find better ways to connect veterans with the program.

For early next year, Paulson is organizing a local version of a “challenge” — a Chattachoochee River boating trip to run 35 miles from the Buford Dam to Sandy Springs’ Overlook Park.

Then there are more causal opportunities to socialize and talk in a way that only another veteran can. That’s for both camaraderie and, like many PPF programs, potential therapy for such mental affects such as post-traumatic stress disorder, which Paulson said he suffered after Vietnam.

“I’m a combat veteran,” he said. “Combat veterans talk to each other in ways noncombat veterans don’t get.”

“No veteran will say he needs help. It doesn’t work that way,” Paulson said. But if he or she has a skill or activity they are driven to pursue, he has a simple message about what PPF offers: “We’ll figure it out.”

For more information, see PhoenixPatriotFoundation.org.

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8 | Food & Drink

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Village Burger’s Matt Gephardt on building burgers, bridges

BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net ATIONAL SPORTS P ERN UB INT

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Village Burger in Dunwoody is more than just a hamburger restaurant. It’s become a place where the community congregates for bike rides or special events.

The recipe for its success has led to the opening of two more Village Burger restaurants — one in Johns Creek and another just last month in Tucker.

Matt Gephardt is the face of the group of investors that owns Village Burger. If his last name sounds familiar, it is. He’s the son of Dick Gephardt, the Missouri Democrat who served in Congress for nearly 30 years and ran for president a couple of times. Matt’s parents now live in Florida.

There’s no politics at Village Burger, however. Matt Gephardt said the mission of the neighborhood burger joint is to bring people together for a good meal. For more information, visit villageburger.com.

Q:

Does your dad like to eat at Village Burger?

A:

He is an investor in Village Burger and always wants to eat at the restaurant when he comes into town. He loves the turkey burger at Village Burger, to the point of obsession!

Q:

How did you end up in Dunwoody?

A:

My wife, Tricia, grew up in Dunwoody and after we got married, we wanted to live near family. Her parents lived here, so we decided to move to Dunwoody to be near them before we started our own family. That was in early 2001, so we have been in Dunwoody for almost 17 years and we couldn’t think of a better place to raise a family!

Q: Who owns the restaurant?

A: Village Burger is owned by a group of

investors, most of whom live in Dunwoody.

From the beginning, it was important to us that Village Burger be “from the people of Dunwoody, for the people of Dunwoody.”

Q:

Why did you want to open in Dunwoody?

A:

Village Burger opened in September 2010. It has always been located in Dunwoody Village, in its current location, which was previously a Bruster’s ice cream shop.

We wanted to open in Dunwoody because that is where we live and we thought the community needed a neighborhood burger joint, where families could go to get a delicious handmade meal at a reasonable price.

Q:

There are now a couple more Village Burgers, in Johns Creek and Tucker.

How did those come about?

A:

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We have customers visit Village Burger Dunwoody from across the Atlanta metro area. We often receive requests from these customers to bring a Village Burger to their community. We are always on the lookout for a town like Dunwoody, where a Village Burger would be welcomed and would be able to thrive. When we find such a community, we will look for a potential location, which is how the Village Burgers in Johns Creek and Tucker were started.

Q:

What’s your favorite meal at your own restaurant?

A:

That is a tough question! While we are admittedly biased and love all the food on our menu, it is hard not to en-

NOVEMBER 10 - 23, 2017

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Food & Drink | 9

www.ReporterNewspapers.net

Q:

What was the first day of business like at Dunwoody’s Village Burger?

A: We will nev-

er forget it. It was Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2010. We put out a short message on Facebook announcing our opening and within an hour the line was out the door. We didn’t know what to expect and we got slammed. We are grateful that the community was patient with us as we learned our way.

joy a hot and juicy Village Burger with our favorite fresh toppings and a side of hand-cut seasoned fries dipped in our signature homemade Village Sauce.

Q: How did you come up with the name?

A: We came up with the name Village

Burger because we were opening in the Dunwoody Village and we wanted the name to reflect the fact that the restaurant is a part of the community. We think it conveys what makes us special, which is the fact that we are not a chain restaurant with ownership and control from afar; we are owned by people in the community, who are committed to serve the communities we do business in.

Q:

How did you come up with the main menu?

A:

We started with the basic concept that everything would be fresh, never frozen and made from scratch. The first menu was fairly simple — certified Angus burgers, Hebrew National hot dogs and handcut french fries. We also offered beer and wine.

Over time and based on customer feedback, we added a turkey burger, veggie burger, salads, onion rings, pickle chips, chili and a few other fresh items. Our goal is to have high quality products at a value-based price.

Q: Did you grow up going to a restau-

rant like Village Burger?

A:

There wasn’t one in particular, but many towns all across the U.S. have a neighborhood “burger joint” where the people gather after family events and are likely to run into a friend or neighbor. In some ways we think we’re recreating the early days of Dairy Queen or McDonald’s.

Q:

Do you have regulars who get the same dishes every time they come? Or do you most of your customers like to try new stuff each visit?

Matt Gephardt, right, with his business partner and co-owner of Village Burger, Ricardo Gonzalo.

SPECIAL

A:

We have a mix of both. Our staff works hard to get to know our regulars and their preferences. Some people even sit in the same seat each visit. Many people come in a few times per week — one time they will have a burger and fries, the next time something a little healthier like a salad.

Quick Bites SALAD CHAIN O PENS I N SANDY SPR ING S

A Salata salad restaurant has opened in Sandy Springs’ Glenridge Point shopping center.

The Houston-based chain calls itself a “next-generation salad bar,” featuring made-to-order salads or salad wraps.

Salata is located at 860 Johnson Ferry Road, near the Pill Hill medical center area. For more information, see salata. com or call 470-233-7493.

BATTLE & B R EW U ND ER NEW O WNER SHIP, W ILL R EO P EN

After briefly closing, Battle & Brew, a popular Sandy Springs bar and restaurant known for hosting video game tournaments and trivia, announced on social media it has been purchased by a new owner and will reopen.

Located at 5920 Roswell Road, Battle & Brew closed on Nov. 5, but announced on Nov. 7 it will reopen under new ownership.

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Q:

What famous people eat at your restaurant? Any movie stars since the movies have come to Dunwoody in recent years?

A:

We’ve had a number of professional and ex-professional athletes visit our stores. We’re not sure of any movie stars stopping in, but we’ve had some initial inquiries from producers about filming at the restaurant. Maybe that will happen one day!

Q:

What’s the best part of owning a restaurant? The hardest part about owning a restaurant?

A:

The best part of owning Village Burger is seeing a full house on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Seeing the community together enjoying each other’s company and a good meal is a lot of fun. We also really enjoy our annual Employee Appreciation Party every November. We bring all of our employees and their families for a big party. It’s a night when the owners get to serve the employees that do such a great job serving our customers.

The hardest part of owning a restaurant is the pace of the business. Village Burger is “on stage” every day and we have to perform well to keep our customers happy and coming back.

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10 | Education

Facebook.com/TheReporterNewspapers ■ twitter.com/Reporter_News

Erin Hazelwood

Chamblee Charter High School, freshman Editor’s note: Through our “Standout Student” series, Reporter Newspapers showcases the work of some of the outstanding students at our local schools. If you would expanding her overall skill and knowllike to recommend “Standout edge of the concepts of dance. Every day Student” to be included in our series, please except for Sundays, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., email editor@ReporterNewspapers.net with Erin attended classes that taught differinformation about the student and why you ent styles of dance, such as jazz or modthink he or she should be featured. ern, and that revolved around perforErin Hazelwood discovered her pasmance and technique. sion for ballet five years ago and has been She also took classes in exercises in the world of dance ever since, eventusuch as Pilates to help strengthen her ally leading her to be invited to particistamina for long performances. pate in the Nashville Ballet’s sumThe program worked closely mer program. with Erin and the other stuThe Brookhaven resident’s dents on individual correclove for ballet began when tions and she asked choreograher mom if phy. she could try Erin said out dancing that there after a movis no doubt ie based on that those ballet caught five weeks her interwere chalest. Now, as lenging, but a freshmen that is an at Chamblee aspect of Charter High the experiSchool, Erin ence that is an A stushe enjoyed. dent in the She also is magnet proproud of gram and a how she self-motivathas become ed dancer SPECIAL a stronwho dreams Top, Erin Hazelwood, a freshman at Chamblee ger dancof furthering Charter High School, participated in the er who has her career in Nashville Ballet summer program. improved in ballet.

Bottom, Erin Hazelwood performs a ballet more fields Ballet dance with a dancing partner. than just is both deballet.

The program was no easy feat but manding and satisfying, Erin said, she had fun every day doing what she which is one reason she is drawn to it. loves — dancing. She wishes to attend “I like ballet because there is always the summer intensive program again at something new to learn and work on, I School of Nashville Ballet this upcoming like a challenge.” she says. summer, so that she may continue workShe has to balance her school work ing towards her dream of being a profesand social life while making room for her sional dancer. dancing passion, which often brings 12 Bethany Elias, director at the North hours of practice a week. A normal week Georgia School of Ballet, said she was imfor Erin consists of practice four days a pressed by the range of ability Erin shows week for three hours at the North Georas a dancer after only beginning ballet a gia School of Ballet while still going to few years ago.

“Erin is one of the most speschool Monday through Friday. In whatcial students I have taught,” Elias said. “Her ever free time she has, Erin does stretchhard work, discipline, and attention to dees at home, goes to the gym to work out tail have made her a very smart, dynamic, or watches videos of professional dancand talented dancer.” ers. One she particularly enjoys watching is Svetlana Zakharova, who she says she What’s Next? looks up to as a professional ballerina.

Erin plans to study dance in college and At the Nashville Ballet’s summer prohave a career as a professional dancer. gram, Erin danced for about 40 hours a week alongside more than 300 students This article was written and reported by from 33 states as well as international Kathleen Pahl, a senior at Mount Vernon students from Canada and New Zealand.

Presbyterian School.

For five weeks, Erin spent her summer

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Education | 11

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Education News

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Oglethorpe’s Director of Financial Aid Chris Summers [center] and students Daira Galindo and Jose Franco-Zuniga, left, with Consul General F. Javier Díaz de León [holding check].

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The Mexican government’s scholarship program chose Oglethorpe University, a private university located in Brookhaven, to receive $18,000 to distribute to Mexican students.

IME Scholarships is a program of the Government of Mexico that seeks to expand educational opportunities for Mexicans abroad and is aimed at students with low economic resources who attend basic, university and technological education.

Mexican students have several challenges hindering them from completing a college degree, including being low-income and “the implementation of laws or anti-immigrant positions in some states,” the scholarship program’s website said.

Daira Galindo, a freshman, and Jose Franco-Zuniga, a senior, were two of the students chosen to benefit from the financial aid. The students also met with Atlanta Consul General F. Javier Díaz de León.

Oglethorpe was selected by a local committee and will match the funds. Several other universities in the U.S. were chosen to receive the funds, including one other in Georgia, Georgia Southern University.

R I V ERWOOD P I LOTS PA RTN ER SHIP WI TH GEORGI A F I LM A C A DEM Y Riverwood International Charter School, a Fulton public high school in Sandy Springs, has become one of the first schools to partner with the Georgia Film Academy to teach high school students film industry skills.

Continued on page 12

NOMINATIONS ARE OPEN

Share in inthe the Spirit Serving grades 7–12, Marist School provides an education where achievement

inspire exploration and uncover hidden talents. Through it all, students gain a JANUARY 6 - 19,

2017 • VOL. 11 —

NO. 1

Sandy Sprin Reporter gs FACEBOO

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► Celebrate Martin Luthe r King Jr. Day events PAGE 8 RESTAURANT REVIEWS

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extensive college-preparatory curriculum while an array of extracurricular activities

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Nominator (name, relationship to nominee and contact information) Nominee (Name, age, grade, school, parent or guardian names, contact information) Characteristics and service: Please provide a paragraph describing why this nominee deserves recognition. Include service projects, goals, interests and areas of interest to help illustrate your point.

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exists within a spirit of humility and generosity. Students are challenged by an

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Maureen Shifflett, PNP Amanda Batlle PNP Sara Dorsey, PNP Jennifer Martin, PNP Michael Levine, MD, Emeritus Ruth Brown, MD, Emeritus Jonathan Winner, MD, Emeritus 6095 Barfield Road, Sandy Springs, Ga 30328

O GL ET H O R P E REC EI VES SC H OL A R SHIP FU ND S F R OM MEXI C A N GOVERN M ENT

Each January, we feature students from public schools, private schools and colleges in Brookhaven, Buckhead, Dunwoody and Sandy Springs who have given back to their community in a significant way. Over the last seven years, we’ve featured students who have created their own nonprofits, have given up summer vacation to work domestically and abroad to help the less fortunate and one even helped build a library by collecting books.

The 10th annual 20 Under 20 will appear in our Jan. 5, 2018 issue and we are now seeking nominations of students ages 19 and younger who have committed themselves to service to the community. Nominations are welcome from teachers, counselors, administrators, parents, siblings, fellow students or community leaders. Here’s the information we need:

Sally Marcus, MD Jeff Hopkins, MD Natalie Metzig, MD Allison Hill, MD Amy Hardin, MD Tiji Philip, MD Adele Goodloe, MD

O

BY DYANA

G

IV

EB

BAGBY

dyanabagby@repor ternewspapers.net

About 20 years ago, Doug McKend noticed the basketball hoops at Allen rick Park in Sandy Road Springs had no nets.

“You can’t play he said matter-o basketball without a net,” f-factly. “Have a high school game, a college you ever seen game without game or a NBA a net?”

So the business man, now renowned owner of McKendrick’s the Dunwoody, Steak House purchased in some nets stalled them and inat the local park for the who enjoy playing there. kids And he hasn’t stopped. At ger installs 73, he no lonthe nets. “That takes three and a ladder,” people he said.

But he does like to buy up all the basketball nets at the Target on Roswell them in the Road, keep trunk of his car and drop ple off at the a coupark for the young people ing there to install playthemselves months when every few they become torn, ragged and See FORMER on page 13

AC K

unique strength of character and skill and a joy of serving others that prepares them to be compassionate, confident leaders.

Come visit to experience Marist’s spirit yourself.

Learn more at marist.com marist.com

20 UNDER 20 STUDE NT

STORI ES

START ON PAGE 14

The deadline for nominations is Nov. 30. Please email your nominations to Joe Earle at JoeEarle@reporternewspapers.net.

An An Independent Independent Catholic Catholic School School of of the the Marist Marist Fathers Fathers and and Brothers Brothers

12 | Education

Facebook.com/TheReporterNewspapers ■ twitter.com/Reporter_News Continued from page 11

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The school plans to roll out a film program this spring, the school said.

J.C. Futrell, Riverwood’s audio visual technology and film teacher, was one of 30 Fulton County teachers to participate in a Georgia Film Academy pilot program for high school teachers this past summer, according to a press release. Over 10 days, the program taught teachers the high school curriculum created by GFA and techniques to make films.

Industry professionals helped GFA SPECIAL J.C. Futrell attends a Georgia Film create the standardized film curricuAcademy program to train teachers lum for high school students. GFA will on new high school curriculum. provide professional-grade equipment to Riverwood so Futrell can teach students the curriculum, the press release said.

The executive director of GFA, Jeff Stepakoff, has announced at forums and other public events that the program was planning to roll out a high school curriculum. He said in a press release that it is an obvious choice to train high school students because they have grown up with video technology.

“Interest in film is rampant throughout the state. We are addressing that at the college level, but starting to get our heads around the high school level. We have two million high school students in our SPECIAL state. They’re making movies; they’re Riverwood making them on their iPhones. Why photography are we not bringing them into the fold?” student Isis Mayfield poses Stepakoff said in a press release. in front of her photograph displayed on a MARTA train car.

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R I V ERWO O D S TUDENT S ’ A R T DI S P L AY ED O N M A R TA Fifteen Riverwood students had their art displayed on a MARTA train as part of the citywide Atlanta Celebrates Photography exhibit.

The program invited students from Riverwood and Tri-Cities High School in East Point to submit photographs that told “stories of their communities and reflect upon the assumptions and misconceptions of them.”

ACP organized workshops taught by local photographers for the students.

The program was kicked off at an event at the High Museum of Art where students presented their images and discussed how they represented their communities. The art was then displayed on MARTA Red Line train cars for a week.

Riverwood photography teacher Lana Ensmann said the experience was “incredible” for all students involved. “Not many artists get this kind of exposure — ever!” Ensmann said in a press release.

Students Emily Greenslade, Wesley Mills, Isis Mayfield, Shereen Ragheb, Michael Kraft, Native Erwin, Josephine Johnson, Jason King, Brenna Munson, Maeve Munson, Reina Abernathy, Mary Mac Birkel, Elizabeth Hernandez, Dori Balser and Sage Patterson participated.

The students’ photographs were also used to help launch a new Instagram account called Everyday Atlanta, which is an extension of the popular Instagram feed Everyday Africa. The original Africa account was developed to “combat stereotypes of African communities,” and the Atlanta account has the same goal, according to the release.

NOVEMBER 10 - 23, 2017

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Community | 13

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Residents seek DHA’s help in starting new farmers market

BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net

Want to buy farm-fresh eggs and produce at Brook Run Park on the weekend? Dunwoody residents may be able to do so next spring, if a plan can be hatched between a group of volunteers and the Dunwoody Homeowners Association.

Lynn Deutsch, a city councilmember who said she was acting only as a proponent of establishing a farmers market in the city, along with Elizabeth Cowan, a junior at Dunwoody High School, pitched the idea to DHA members at the group’s Nov. 5 board meeting.

The idea would be to use DHA’s already established nonprofit status and committee structure to get the farmers market off the ground. A group of about a dozen residents have formed a committee to seek sites and find farmers willing to participate, said Cowan, who is a member of the committee. The group also is working with the city’s Sustainability Committee, she said.

The major force behind trying to establish a farmers market in Dunwoody is Marian Avise. Avise, who could not make the November DHA meeting, has lived in Dunwoody for six years and said she plans to make a formal proposal to the DHA in December.

“A farmers market is something I’m personally passionate about and I think it would be great for us to have one,” she said in an interview. “It’s time to take steps to get a farmers market back.”

The city once had a farmers market, but it closed several years ago after backers couldn’t find a permanent home.

“We had a Wednesday morning farmers market and they struggled to find a permanent home for a lot of reasons,” Deutsch said at the meeting.

Those reasons, she said, included the market being for-profit and owned by one farmer who also wanted to control what competing farmers could sell. The proposed farmers market will be a nonprofit.

Avise said she believes Brook Run Park, where DHA holds its popular Food Truck Thursdays events in the summer, is the best site for a new farmers market. Another site being looked at is an overflow parking lot at the DunwoodyPerimeter College campus of Georgia State University.

Plans are to have it held on Saturdays, she said.

A question was raised at the DHA meeting about excluding Jewish people who attend synagogue on Saturdays.

Avise said she understands the concern, but Saturday is the most well received day by committee members and the farmers they have contacted to participate.

“If it becomes as popular as we want it to be, we will also hold it on other

DUN

days,” she said.

So far, about 20 farmers, as well as market representatives, have been contacted about forming a farmers market in Dunwoody, Avise said. “The response has been very positive,” she said.

If the DHA agrees to team up to create the farmers market, the next step will be coming up with guidelines of what will be offered in order to ensure a good mix of goods and food, Avise said.

“This will not be a flea market. It will not be an art festival. It will be a farmers market,” she said.

Avise regularly shops at area farmers DYANA BAGBY markets, such as those City Councilmember Lynn Deutsch, right, and Dunwoody High School junior Elizabeth Cowan in Sandy Springs and speak to the Dunwoody Homeowners Association at its Alpharetta. She said Nov. 5 meeting about the DHA helping to start a local farmers market. the committee is made up of health-conscious drive out of town for fresh food. elsewhere to do something we can do Dunwoody residents who don’t want to “It’s too bad when we have to drive here,” she said.

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14 | Commentary

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Commentary: The many ways to honor veterans Editor’s Note: The following is the address that keynote speaker Hunter Hill was scheduled to deliver during the city of Sandy Springs’ eighth annual Veterans Day Tribute at the Concourse Center on Nov. 10.

Many of you know Veterans Day was first “Armistice Day,” the day which effectively ended hostilities between the Allies and Germany during World War I. It was the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month; 11 o’clock in the morning, on Nov. 11, 1918. The name change to Veterans Day took place in 1954 with President Eisenhower so that our nation could honor veterans from all conflicts on the same day.

KATE AWTREY Dr. Doug Huber, chaplain of American Legion Post 140, left, and Ninety-nine years later, Nov. CWO5 Edwin Harman III, USMC, salute during Sandy Springs’ 2016 Veterans Day celebration.

11, 2017, Americans across the country commemorate this day to say “thank you” to all who that made this country great.

Engage in the public square. Our have served, and to also learn how best There has to be a unity of purpose on founders believed an informed electorwe can honor past and present sacrifices. the part of the American people and our ate was key to the survival of our repubWe live in a trying time for our nagovernment, just like there is in each lic. Then, equipped with that knowltion — one that presents new and danArmy unit — regardless of race, poliedge, we must seek out individuals or gerous challenges for our leaders, both tics or culture. Because America is not organizations that represent our values at home and abroad. And these challand or treasure. America is an idea, an and beliefs and get involved. Whethlenges are especially real for our idea that liberty and juser in your local church, community or law enforcement here at home as tice should be available personal network, engage by making well as our current military overto all people and that all the change you want to see in your loseas. They both are called to opercitizens should be encal, state and national governments. ate in incredibly uncertain envitrusted to govern themAlso, vote. Exercising our right ronments where they don’t know selves. Anyone should be to vote is the basic necessity of any which day may be their last. free to worship as they healthy republic. Too many Americans Current events should also rechoose, they should have throw up their hands and resign to the mind us that veterans are incredthe political freedom to outcome of each election. I fear that a ible assets to our communities, elect their own leaders, people unwilling to exercise their most state and nation. and also have the choice basic freedoms as Americans may not I served three combat tours in SPECIAL in how they pursue their enjoy those rights in the future.

Hunter Hill. the Army, and our motto is, “This own happiness. These Finally, if you are a business owner, We’ll Defend.” This represents are things veterans behire a veteran. Veterans have incredible two notions. First, America is special lieve are worth the sacrifice — things value to offer any business or organizaand worth defending; and second, that worth fighting to protect. tion, and investing in our nation’s finour service men and women have the Often on days like Veterans Day, est is an outstanding way to show our willingness to fight. It is my belief that we may see our simple thanks to those gratitude for their service and sacrifice. whatever challenges our nation, state who have served as insufficient. How Our blessings as a nation are many. and communities face can be overcome do we do more? I believe we can do the One of the greatest is our selfless men if we learn from the values our excepfollowing: and women who, past or present, serve tional armed forces instill in America’s Read our founding documents and our nation in uniform. I hope that we young men and women. familiarize ourselves with what each all continue to say “thank you” and In Iraq and Afghanistan, it didn’t veteran has sacrificed to protect. When mean it. But I also hope that we can matter what political party the man to our servicemen and women enlist, they learn from their values and use their my left and my right supported. When swear an oath to our Constitution — to incredible example to better ourselves you’re in the foxhole, you want somesupport and defend it against all enehere at home. one you can trust to carry out the mismies foreign and domestic and to bear May God bless each of you, our vetsion — you’re a unit trained to accomtrue faith and allegiance to the same. erans, and our country. plish a goal. You all know what you’re The America they represent on the batfighting for and what you’re fighting to tlefield are the ideas enshrined in the Hunter Hill served three tours of comdefend. Regardless of the differences in Constitution and our other founding bat duty in Iraq and Afghanistan in the U.S each unit, platoon or company, we had documents. I believe thanks to our vetArmy as an Airborne Ranger, two of which to work together as a team. I believe we erans must begin with a recognition and were with the 101st Airborne Division. He have lost that unifying theme across understanding of the unique liberties served in the state Senate for Buckhead and our society. We’re all Americans. We all you and I are afforded as Americans and Sandy Springs’ District 6 from 2013 to 2017 stand for the same foundational values then celebrating those freedoms. and is a Republican candidate for governor.

DUN

NOVEMBER 10 - 23, 2017

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Community | 15

Sandy Springs church is for sale; housing redevelopment possible

BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

A Baptist church is shutting its doors after more than 40 years in Sandy Springs, and is on the market for $1.485 million for possible redevelopment into single-family houses.

“The plan is to, after 48 years of ministry, to dissolve the church,” said Dr. Nate Bednar, the senior pastor at Metropolitan Baptist Church at 4795 Peachtree-Dunwoody Road.

“It’s been a very difficult decision for me and the remaining members here at the church.”

But with only seven congregants remaining — and that’s counting Bednar and his wife — there was little choice for the small, suburban church. Bednar recently left his position as a Sandy Springs Police chaplain to focus on the church sale.

Located in southern Sandy Springs close to the Brookhaven and Buckhead borders around Windsor Parkway, the church opened around 1973 with about 100 members.

While attendance has dwindled, the church’s significance remains for such one-time congregants as former Brookhaven Mayor J. Max Davis.

“That was the church I grew up in,” said Davis. “That’s the church where I was baptized.”

Davis’s mother, Mary, attended for over 40 years before her death in 2014, and her funeral was held there. Davis recalled attending meals after Sunday services led by founding pastor “Brother Bob” Spencer.

Bednar — who has been with the church 26 years as assistant and senior pastor — said he wants those good community memories to survive the church. The possible redevelopment has been vetted by neighbors, he said, and proceeds of the sale will go to other Christian organizations.

When a church closes, Bednar said, “Sometimes the pastor flees the state and leaves a mess … My desire is to leave a good testimony here in Sandy Springs.”

He said he expects the church, located in a residential neighborhood, will be sold to a housing developer, though bringing in another church is a possibility.

“All of our neighbors are on board with tearing down our church facilities and putting one to three homes” in its place, he said.

The High Point Civic Association, a community group representing the area in Sandy Springs zoning cases, is not taking a position until it sees a specific, written redevelopment plan, said president Bill Gannon.

The 2-acre church property went on the market the week of Oct. 31 and several potential buyers have reached out already, Bednar said. Most are developers, while one was a church, but it needed a much larger building, he said.

The money will go to such organizations as Christian missions, Bednar said. “So in a sense, the Metropolitan will cease here in Sandy Springs, but will continue in the lives and ministries of approximately 17 to 20 missions and agencies,” he said.

Bednar is facing his own transition. While he’s a natural evangelist — he made sure a reporter left with a Baptist pamphlet — he has no new preaching position lined up and, at least for now, will be returning to the “secular business world,” where he once worked as a project management consultant.

Struggles and history

In a time of dwindling church attendance and rising real estate values, Metropolitan Baptist is not the only local church facing closure. Apostles Church on Glenridge Drive closed earlier this year after a contentious senior housing redevelopment plan faltered; a Catholic church later bought the property and moved in. Elsewhere in the High Point neighborhood, the struggling former Church of the Atonement is attempting a rebirth as Highpoint Episcopal Community Church.

Bednar said his small, independent, nofrills church also was hit by other trends: the modern expectation for lots of music and “entertainment” in church, and the Southern Baptist boom in gigantic megachurches that drew off congregants.

“For smaller churches like ours, this is becoming a common theme,” he said.

Metropolitan Baptist was founded in a different time — 1969, with 40 members who started meeting in a private home. It came to Sandy Springs in the early 1970s with about 100 members, buying a formerly residential property at a discounted price. It was named “Metropolitan,” Bednar said, to reflect that it welcomed members from the entire metro Atlanta area. He said that one founding member, now 96 years old, remains in the Dr. Nate Bednar, the church’s senior seven-member congregation today. pastor, stands in the sanctuary before the pulpit where he has preached for years.

Davis recalled that the land was once a DUN

A sale sign is up at Metropolitan Baptist Church at 4795 Peachtree-Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs.

PHOTOS BY JOHN RUCH

hunting ground and the original Sunday School was a former hunting lodge dating to the 1910s or 1920s, built of stone and still sporting “antlers on the wall.” It became too expensive to repair, Davis said, and it was demolished in the 1980s and replaced with an addition to the church. However, the lodge’s stone fireplace and chimney remain standing behind the church.

Davis also recalled that the church property was originally larger, with a piece sold off for redevelopment around that 1980s period.

Now Metropolitan Baptist faces the end of that history. The church held an annual anniversary celebration in June that served as a de facto farewell ceremony, Bednar said. But its doors will remain open to all for every Wednesday and Sunday service, Christmas and other special events that remain until the ink dries on a sales contract.

For more information about the church, see metropolitanbaptistchurch.org.

16 | Community

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A guide to Buford Highway’s Living Walls murals

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BY DYANA BAGBY

The We Love BuHi and Living Walls public art experience continues indefinitely through the larger-than-life murals painted on the sides of buildings along Buford Highway. The collaboration between the two organizations, named The BuHi Walk, was held Sept. 8-17 and included Buford Highway’s inaugural Restaurant Week and community discussions and wrapped up with a block party and night market in Northeast Plaza in Brookhaven. Local and national artists were selected to create their murals after meeting with people who live and work along the corridor renowned for its multicultural residents, businesses and, of course, many restaurants. Living Walls was created seven years ago and brought public art to downtown Atlanta, but this year decided it was time to bring the project to Buford Highway to raise awareness of immigrant experiences, especially as Buford Highway faces rapid redevelopment. Here is a map of the Living Walls murals.

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NOVEMBER 10 - 23, 2017

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Dunwoody seeks its special place in metro Atlanta

The annual Fourth of July Parade in Dunwoody Village is an example of “placemaking” in the city, where an event is created that brings people together in one place to have fun and interact with each other.

Continued from page 1 “Parks and green space, even Project Renaissance ... all of that I see as part of placemaking and creating a unique Dunwoody,” Economic Development Director Michael Starling said. “[B]ut there is the opportunity for us to become more unique,” he said. “How do we uncover and discover our uniqueness and share that with the world?”

Placemaking is a concept that has been around for years. The word itself is a fairly new addition to the planning lexicon. For placemaking to work, the places also must be activated to attract people to them, through events or even public art.

“Placemaking is a hard concept to wrap your head around,” said Katie Bishop Williams, executive director of the Dunwoody Convention and Visitors Bureau. “It’s such a buzzword right now that if you ask 10 different people what it means, you’ll get 10 different answers.”

For Williams, the idea of placemaking means seeking multiple sources of involvement to help develop a place where people want to go, using parks, culture, restaurants, shops, and “all those things that make up a destination,” she said.

But placemaking is much more than just creating a place to shop, or building a park or building a trail. “It’s giving people a way to engage and be part of the community,” she said.

As smaller cities in metro Atlanta compete with each other to attract new business, a sustainable workforce and also to keep current residents happy with DUN

FILE

their quality of life, their officials and community leaders are striving for ways to make their cities stand out from the rest.

Parks and trails are popular and can’t be built fast enough.

Dunwoody is currently working on connecting its own trail system with neighboring cities and hopes to create a network within the busy commercial and retail Perimeter Center district marked by office towers and plenty of concrete.

The Atlanta BeltLine stands as one of the brighter beacons of placemaking in the region. Finding that recipe for success — without an abandoned railroad readily on hand — is what Dunwoody and other cities are hoping to achieve.

MICHAEL STARLING But the Atlanta BeltLine ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR was a decade in the making and required a masofficials from the city, CVB and Dunsive grassroots effort to get city officials to woody Perimeter Chamber hosted a sebuy into it and fund it. ries of public meetings on how to shape Getting that kind of community inDunwoody into the future. Last month, volvement, engagement and passion into the same groups sponsored three breaka project is what city leaders are now tryfast meetings to talk about placemaking. ing to do in Dunwoody. Earlier this year,

We know we’re not going to be a Little Five Points or a Candler Park, but ... we have to make sure we are competing and keeping up with what’s happening.

“This has to happen on its own,” Starling said. “Government needs to understand what residents really want.”

Dunwoody Village is an example of placemaking before city leaders knew what placemaking was. A boulevard through a retail district with sidewalks to encourage walkability created an area that came to be known as the city’s “downtown.”

But placemaking has mostly failed at Dunwoody Village. Although the Dunwoody Homeowners Fourth of July Parade brings thousands of people to the Village each year, most of the year people just drive to one or two stores and then leave.

“One of the problems we have, especially in Dunwoody Village … is that we have so much surface parking,” said DHA President Robert Wittenstein. “There is no green space or gathering spots, and that makes it difficult to make it a place where people want to hang out.”

The Dunwoody Nature Center, on the other hand, works well as a placemaking concept, said Stephanie Freeman, president and CEO of the Dunwoody Perimeter Chamber. Through art and nature, people come from throughout metro Atlanta to visit the park and participate in its many activities, she said.

The City Council recently approved spending nearly $86,000 for an Arts and Culture Master Plan that will serve as a policy guide for the next two decades to outline ways the city can offer residents and visitors quality arts and cultural experiences.

A panelist at one of last month’s breakfast meetings was Marian Liou of Brookhaven, founder of We Love Buhi. We Love BuHi began as an Instagram account and is now a nonprofit with the mission of preserving and promoting Buford Highway’s cultural diversity.

In September, We Love BuHi teamed up with Living Walls Atlanta for The BuHi Walk, a 10-day public art conference that included artists painting large murals representing the immigrant experience on the sides of buildings. The public murals are an example of placemaking.

“She talked about placemaking as a frame to bring the community together ... and that it is also a frame to the outside world,” Starling said. “You create opportunities for people to share.”

Placemaking includes everything from urban design to public art, Starling said.

“We know we’re not going to be a Little Five Points or a Candler Park, but how can we create avenues for people to create this?” he asked. “We have to make sure we are competing and keeping up with what’s happening.”

18 | Community

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Council incumbents re-elected; Lambert wins

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Tom Lambert, left, with Dunwoody Mayor Denis Shortal, celebrates his victory as the newest City Councilmember during his Election Night party.

Continued from page 1 Tallmadge won 971 votes, or 63.84 percent of the total cast, to defeat challenger Joe Hirsch, who collected 544 votes,

or 35.7 percent of the total.

Tallmadge will be serving her first four-year term. She won a special election two years ago to fill Mayor Denis Shortal’s seat after he stepped down to run for mayor.

District 2/Post 2 Councilmember Riticher was re-elected to his second term with 1,119 votes, or 64.83 percent of the total, to challenger Bobby Zuckman’s 584 votes, or 33.84 percent.

Lambert was the big winner of the night, collecting 1,266 votes, or 83.34 percent of the total, to Henry Bierenfeld’s 230, or 15.14 percent.

“I’m just very excited for the opportunity and am looking forward to getting to work,” Lambert said at his Election Night party at O’Brian’s Tavern on Mount Vernon Road.

He said his top priority is to get the parks master plan implemented as soon as possible. “The money is there and the plan is done … it’s time to get that going,” he said. “I’m hoping to see things move at an accelerated pace.”

Tallmadge and Riticher held a joint Election Night party at Marlow’s Tavern in Dunwoody Village.

“I’m glad the people of Dunwoody trusted to put me in office for another four years,” Riticher said.

He said he plans to stick to advocating for paving, police and parks. “It’s all about a balance of the three Ps,” he said.

Tallmadge said she spent her first two years on the council learning the ins and outs of serving and is excited to have four more years to work with the city staff, the rest of the council and her constituents.

“I’m not the newbie anymore,” she said, smiling. “I’m excited to move forward.”

DUN

NOVEMBER 10 - 23, 2017

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Community | 19

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VOTERS APPROVE SPLOST INCREASE DeKalb County voters approved a 1-cent sales tax increase during the Nov. 7 special election to raise tens of millions of dollars over the next six years for transportation and infrastructure projects.

Dunwoody Mayor Denis Shortal praised the win and the way the 12 municipalities and DeKalb County were able to work together on the SPLOST. “I think it’s something good for entire DeKalb County,” he said. “The financial end is good, but bringing this county together can only help all of us move forward and upward. This was good for the citizens of the city and DeKalb County.”

With the approval of the SPLOST, DeKalb County will receive about $388 million over the six years of the tax. The city of Dunwoody will receive about $42 million over the six years.

– Dyana Bagby

Her challenger, paths,” she said.

Joe Hirsch, said he She said she even congratulated Tallwants to look at streetmadge on her victocar options to conry and will continnect East Dunwoody ue to remain active to Dunwoody Village. in city government.

“We need to think out“I wish her and side of the box,” she the residents of Dissaid. trict 1 all the best,” Other priorities for he said in a stateTallmadge include the ment. “I am so possibility of finding very grateful for funding to allow the all those who supcity to provide emerported me and I gency medical servicwill continue to es directly, rather than work on seeking paying DeKalb County improvements for to provide the services. everyone in Dun“There’s a lot of woody.” ideas churning in my Tallmadge said head that have been she has many ideas simmering for the past she hopes to see im- TOM LAMBERT two years,” she said. plemented during COUNCILMAN ELECT Tallmade, Riticher the next four years, and Lambert all said but she especially they voted in favor of increasing the wants to focus on transportation and sales tax from 7 percent to 8 percent, a planning for 30 years into the future tax increase that was tied to a residen“and not just paving.”

“We need to seriously work on bike tial property tax freeze.

The money is there and the [parks master] plan is done … it’s time to get that going.

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20 | Community

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Sandy Springs Democrat launches 6th Congressional District campaign

BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net

Sandy Springs Democrat Kevin Abel is the latest candidate to announce a challenge to Republican U.S. Rep. Karen Handel in the 6th Congressional District next year.

Abel is the founder of Abel Solutions, an Alpharetta-based IT consulting firm, and serves on the board of such organizations as Sandy Springs’ Davis Academy and New American Pathways, a refugee resettlement and assistance nonprofit.

According to his campaign’s Facebook page, Abel is a native of South Africa. He says he lived the American Dream, but is running because he fears for its future.

“While my family and I have benefited from the American Dream, this beacon of hope and opportunity has been eroded,” Abel wrote. “Our national political arena has devolved into a perpetual shouting match; anger and acrimony dominate our national dialogue.

Republicans and Democrats alike have an abysmal view of our United States Congress.”

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He said he wants to work in Conto the crazy things emanating from the gress on bipartisan solutions to “our White House.” country’s biggest domestic challeng“Karen Handel is part of that … That es, including healthcare policy, immiis not centrist, in my opinion,” he said. gration, social seOne of Abel’s curity, climate passions is his change, camwork with New paign finance, American Pathand the ever-exways, a Tuckerpanding debt.” based nonprofit In a phone inthat resettles refterview, Abel said ugees, largely in his campaign was Clarkston. An iminspired by Demmigrant himself, ocrat Jon Ossoff’s he said his experirelatively close ence is nothing like competition with that of, for examHandel for the ple, people fleeing 6th District seat Syria’s civil war. in a nationally But he said he unspotlighted spederstands “coming cial election earlifrom the outside er this year.

“Living in where we looked in Georgia as a Demand said, ‘Oh, my ocrat, I never conGod, look at how SPECIAL sidered getting lucky they are.’

Kevin Abel. into politics be… We really are a cause it’s not very great country.” friendly to Democrats,” he said. But Trump’s election was an “absolute the special election showed the “door disaster for refugee resettlement from opened to a centrist Democrat … to get Day One,” Abel said. The “travel ban elected.” and Muslim ban” was not a specific moAbel said he grew up in Alpharettivator for him to enter the race, but ta, living there for 20 years before his is “something that’s very disturbing to move to Sandy Springs. He said many me,” he said. of his friends then and now are cenAbel described today’s political ditrist Republicans. They include Sanvisions as making him fear for the imdy Springs City Council member elect mediate future of democracy itself.

Jody Reichel, who is his neighbor in He said of his campaign, “If not now, the Mount Vernon Woods subdivision, when?

If not who, me?” and whom he says he supported. “I alBobby Kaple might argue that “who” ways thought that we had more in comcould be him. Kaple, a Democratic formon that what separates us,” especialmer TV news anchor from Milton, rely on domestic policies, Abel said of the area’s centrist Democrats and Republicently announced a run for the 6th Discans. trict seat. Abel said Kaple is a “credible Abel does not count Handel among candidate” with similar politics, but those centrists. hasn’t lived here as long and lacks the “Her stance on Planned Parenthood business experience. “I believe strongdoesn’t exactly make her a centrist in ly I’m the one who can beat [Handel],” my mind,” he said. In 2012, Handel reAbel said. signed as a vice president at the Susan Ossoff recently moved to BrookhavG. Komen breast cancer charity after en, within the 6th District, while not enormous controversy over its defundruling out another campaign. ing of a Planned Parenthood cancer Meanwhile, Handel is is not yet lookscreening program. Critics say Handel ing ahead to campaigning, according played a key role and was motivated by to her political spokesperson, Charlie her anti-abortion stance, while Handel Harper. has said she was following the organi“Karen’s total focus right now is on zation’s general plan to focus on more her constituents and the issues that are proven cancer prevention programs. important to them, such as securing tax “I’ve got nothing bad to say about cuts for working families,” Harper said.

Karen Handel,” Abel said, but then The Congressional district includes immediately added, “I believe Karen parts of Brookhaven, Dunwoody and Handel represents the right wing of the Sandy Springs, as well as areas of Cobb, Republican Party … that is not going to stand up to Donald Trump and say no DeKalb and north Fulton counties.

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NOVEMBER 10 - 23, 2017

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After NYC attack, local cities consider bike path barricades, security

A stretch of the PATH400 multi-use trail in Buckhead.

FILE/PHIL MOSIER

BY JOHN RUCH, EVELYN ANDREWS AND DYANA BAGBY An Oct. 31 New York City terror attack using a truck to run over people on a bicycle path is raising security concerns in metro Atlanta, where multi-use paths like the BeltLine and PATH400 are becoming modern landmarks — and possible highprofile targets.

Local cities say they are considering adding barriers or other security upgrades to their paths. New York is already doing that — though the new barriers are raising their own safety concerns among bike riders and pedestrians.

The Atlanta Police Department is among those already upgrading security in response to similar attacks around the world, and adding more car-blocking bollards to the BeltLine is one possibility, said spokesperson Carlos Campos. Some cities still planning their paths — such as Brookhaven’s Peachtree Creek Greenway — say they will factor such threats into their designs and operation planning.

“Terrorist attacks by vehicle are unfortunately not new,” said Campos, adding, “While tragic, these incidents provide us with an opportunity to examine ways that we can improve our security planning.”

Officials also say a crucial part of security is members of the public immediately calling 911 if they see something suspicious. That gives police a chance to prevent attacks from being carried out in the first place.

“We do our best to learn from and prepare against [terror attacks], but it is also important that residents be aware of their surroundings,” said Sandy Springs Police Deputy Chief Keith Zgonc. “If something appears out of place, notify authorities — ‘See something, say something.’”

Driving a vehicle into a crowd of pedestrians is a terror tactic used in many incidents around the country and the world for at least 15 years, according to media reports. The method has been promoted by the Islamic State terror group and drew particular notice with an attack last year in Nice, France, where a terrorist ran down and killed 86 people.

In the New York attack, a man drove a rented pickup truck for a mile on the Hudson River Park Bikeway, killing eight people and injuring many others. According to the New York Times, the city has now installed concrete barriers at 57 intersections on the bikeway to stop vehicles, which is already raising controversy about making it more dangerous for normal bike and pedestrian use.

In metro Atlanta, there’s no sign of cities going to such extremes at this point, but the New York attack is factoring into ongoing security reviews.

“We have already been looking at options to bolster security around public events and venues in the city of Atlanta, including the use of large vehicles to block access to pedestrian routes,” Campos said. “The tragic event in New York is another painful reminder that our work in this area is far from done.”

On the BeltLine, APD and Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. have already collaborated on such security measures as vehicle barriers and a dedicated police beat called the BeltLine Path Force.

“We will be collaborating to look at the potential to further secure the paths,” said Campos. “We currently have bollards in places along the trail to prevent vehicular traffic; increasing them is a possibility we can look at. Our officers certainly have a heightened security following the NYC attacks and we also encourage BeltLine users to call 911 immediately if they see any suspicious activity.”

Sandy Springs Police Chief Ken DeSimone said earlier this year that his force was looking at ways to prevent vehicle attacks. One upgrade was tougher barricades at the annual Sandy Springs Festival, which is partly held on a closed-off street. Those methods will get another review in the wake of the New York attack, Zgonc said.

Such attacks are also a concern for cities planning new trails or similar public gathering spaces. Brookhaven is currently in the planning stage of its Greenway, a BeltLine-style park and trail to run along Peachtree Creek and Buford Highway.

“As with any city transportation or Parks [Department] project, public safety planning is an integral part of the process,” said Brookhaven city spokesperson Burke Brennan. “… As engineering moves forward, and the trail design takes shape, the appropriate personnel will review plans and meet with first responders, so as to ensure the trail’s safety.”

Sandy Springs is currently building a new civic center called City Springs, which will include a new City Hall, a theater intended to draw high-profile events, and a large street-side public park. Much like the BeltLine, City Springs will be protected by vehicle-blocking bollards and a dedicated police precinct, said city spokersperson Sharon Kraun.

“Since the attack in Nice, France, we have looked at enhanced requirements for securing special events such as festivals and road races,” said Zgonc. “OngoSPECIAL Sandy Springs Police ing, we talk with other law enforcement agencies, inDeputy Chief Keith Zgonc. cluding the GBI [Georgia Bureau of Investigation] and FBI, and we work closely with city departments in the planning of public spaces.”

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22 | Out & About

Facebook.com/TheReporterNewspapers ■ twitter.com/Reporter_News their freshly cut Frasier fir trees. Ball players and parents will help customers select the trees they ordered, fresh-cut the trunks and load trees onto vehicles. Delivery available for a small fee. Riverwood International Charter School, 5900 Raider Drive, Sandy Springs. Ordering details: bit.ly/RiverwoodChristmasTrees. Info: email RaiderBaseballLegacy@gmail.com.

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GET INTO THE HOLIDAYS HOLIDAY ARTISTS MARKET

Opening night Tuesday, Nov. 14, 6 to 9 p.m. Market dates: Wednesday, Nov. 15 to Saturday, Dec. 23.

10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays; noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Closed Thanksgiving Day.

The Spruill Gallery hosts its 24th annual Holiday Artists Market of locally crafted gifts and decor. Special events scheduled throughout the six-week shopping event including Cookies & Cocoa on Dec. 2, Handmade Gift Bazaar on Dec. 16, and a Last Minute Shoppers sale on Dec. 23. 4681 Ashford-Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody. Info: 770-3944019 or spruillarts.org/gallery.

HERITAGE SANDY SPRINGS OUTDOORS CLUB

RIVERWOOD RAIDER BASEBALL CHRISTMAS TREE SALE

Ongoing Fridays, 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. and Saturdays, 8 to 9 a.m.

Ongoing, with tree pickup/delivery Friday, Nov. 24 to Wednesday, Nov. 29.

While still allowing a limited number of walk-up sales, the Raiders’ annual Christmas tree sale has gone online and the team encourages buyers to use the site to pre-order

The Heritage Sandy Springs Outdoors Club hosts weekly hikes through Sandy Springs parks every Friday and Saturday and on some holiday dates. Free. Open to all ages and skill levels. Advance registration recommended, and all participants must sign an online liability waiver. Locations and other info: heritagesandysprings.org.

PERFORMANCES “RISING STARS”

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Out & About | 23

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Capitol City Opera launches its 2017-2018 season with a concert featuring more than a dozen of metro Atlanta’s promising young voices. The performances will include scenes from popular operas as well as lesser known operas at the in-the-round sanctuary at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta. $20. 1911 Cliff Valley Way N.E., Atlanta. Info: ccityopera.org.

GET INTO THE COMMUNITY BLESSING OF THE ANIMALS Sunday, Nov. 12, 4 p.m.

All are invited to bring their pets to Covenant Presbyterian Church for an annual special worship service and blessing of animals in the church parking lot. Every animal must be on a leash or confined inside a cage or crate. Event sponsor Red Bandanna Pet will provide treats for the animals. 2461 Peachtree Road, Buckhead. Info: covpresatlanta.org.

ELECTRONICS RECYCLING DRIVE

Monday, Nov. 13 to Sunday, Nov. 19, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

In honor of America Recycles Day [Nov. 15], Marist School will host a weeklong electronics recycling drive in partnership with eWaste ePlanet to collect used, old, broken and unwanted electronics. Since 2012, Marist has diverted more than 66,264 pounds of old electronics from landfills with its e-waste drives. All computer hard drives will be shredded off-site to protect private information. Free, except for a $10 fee to recycle televisions. 3790 Ashford-Dunwoody Road N.E., Brookhaven. List of accepted electronics: ewasteeplanet.com. Info: Amelia Luke at lukea@marist.com, or 770-936-2228.

Continued on page 24

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But the best part? No matter if you need a little help or a lot, the difference you’ll feel will be amazing.

Please call The Piedmont at Buckhead to schedule your complimentary lunch and tour.

Join us for Starting the Conversation Saturday, November 18th • 11am-2pm Learn practical tips to start talking with your loved one about their senior living needs. Please RSVP to 404.381.1743.

I n de p e n de n t & A s s i s t e d L i v i ng

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24 | Out & About

Facebook.com/TheReporterNewspapers ■ twitter.com/Reporter_News Continued from page 23

Comprehensive Women’s Health

HERITAGE SANDY SPRINGS FARMERS MARKET

Saturdays, Nov. 18, Dec. 2 and Dec. 9, 9:30 a.m. to noon, weather permitting.

Find fresh local produce, pasture-raised meat, farm fresh eggs and dairy products, prepared foods and artists at the Farmers Market as it winds down for the season. Century Springs East, 6100 Lake Forrest Drive, Sandy Springs. Info: sandyspringsfarmersmarket.com or 404-851-9111, ext. 5.

BOOK FESTIVAL OF THE MJCCA Ongoing through Monday, Nov. 20

Lynley S. Durrett, M.D. Obiamaka Mora, M.D. State of the art Pelvic & Bladder Surgeries Minimally Invasive Hysterectomy daVinci Robotic Surgery Bio Identical Hormone Therapy

This 26-year Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta event features more than 45 local, national and international authors with something to offer thousands of book lovers who attend from across the Southeast. Individual tickets can be purchased; some events are free. Most events are held at MJCCA. 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody.

Info: atlantajcc.org/bookfestival; 678-812-4005 or send an email to bookfestival@ atlantajcc.org.

KIDS AND FAMILIES DISCOVER NATURE LECTURE SERIES: OWLS Sunday, Nov. 12, 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Learn about the four common types of owls found locally. Bring a headlamp or flashlight for an optional, short night hike to Falling Branch Creek, to look and listen for owls. Ages 6 and up. Children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. $5 individual; $10 family. Registration preferred; walk-ins welcome. Lost Corner Preserve, 7300 Brandon Mill Road, Sandy Springs. Info: 770-2062035 or registration.sandyspringsga.gov.

Services offered: » Incontinence Testing & Treatment » Abnormal Bleeding Treatment » Annual Exams & Contraception » Nutrient Deficiency Screening & Counseling » Saliva Testing & Pellet Hormone Therapy » Plus Aesthetic Services

Jessica Guilfoil Killeen, WHNP-BC

FIRST ANNUAL HARVEST DAY Thursday, Nov. 16, 6 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.

The Buckhead Library hosts an evening of family fun with a showing of “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” along with crafts and other activities. Free.

269 Buckhead Ave. N.E., Buckhead. Info: 404-814-3500.

AMERICAN GIRL CLUB: HOLIDAY BAKING WITH GRACE Saturday, Nov. 18, 10:30 a.m. to noon.

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Heritage Sandy Springs continues its monthly American Girl Club programming with the story of Grace, a modern girl whose mind for business and talent in the kitchen bring her friends and family together. RSVPs requested and recommended.

Best suited for ages 5-12, and girls can bring a favorite doll. $8 members; $10 nonmembers. No walk-ins this month. 6075 Sandy Springs Circle, Sandy Springs.

Free parking is available on Sandy Springs Place in designated lots. Info: heritagesandysprings.org or 404-851-9111, ext. 2.

HELP SOMEONE CAC HOLIDAY PROGRAMS Ongoing

Donors are asked to view children’s wish lists and spend $50 per child through the Community Assistance Center, which serves people in need in Sandy Springs and Dunwoody. Holiday food donations of gift cards from Kroger or Publix are also needed. Cards can be taken to CAC or donations may be made online. 1130 Hightower Trail, Sandy Springs. Wish list info: ourcac.org/adoptafamily. Food donation info: ourcac.org or 770-552-4889.

NOVEMBER 10 - 23, 2017

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Out & About | 25

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LEARN SOMETHING

featuring oral histories, photographs, documents and artifacts. General admission: $21.50 adults; $18 seniors and students 13-plus; $9 youth ages 4 to 12. 130 West Paces Ferry Road N.W., Buckhead. Info: atlantahistorycenter.com.

FALL PREVENTION WORKSHOP Monday, Nov. 13, 2 p.m.

Perimeter North Villages, a volunteer and membership organization dedicated to helping older adults continue living in their own homes safely and comfortably, will host a fall prevention workshop conducted by Beverly Stegman of Foundation Therapy Center. Free. Dunwoody Library, 5339 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody. RSVP: 470-231-0015.

REMEMBERING WORLD WAR I

Wednesday, Nov. 15, 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Presentation begins at 7 p.m.

“MORE THAN SELF: LIVING THE VIETNAM WAR”

Ongoing through Sunday, March 18, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays; noon to 5:30 p.m. Sundays. Ticket sales until 4:30 p.m. daily.

Dr. Virginia Dilkes will talk about her father’s first-hand experiences in World War I, based on his memoir, “Remembering World War I: An Engineer’s Diary of the War.” She will also discuss the geopolitical legacies of the war and the participation of troops from Georgia. Free.

Dunwoody Library, 5339 Chamblee-Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody. Info: 770-512-4640.

Stories of some of the nearly 3.5 million men and women who served in Southeast Asia between 1964 and 1975 are illustrated in an Atlanta History Center exhibition

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Continued on page 26

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26 | Out & About

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DASH IN & LIGHT UP THE HOLIDAYS

Continued from page 25

AUTHOR TALK: “ALI” Wednesday, Nov. 15, 8 p.m.

Bestselling author Jonathan Eig discusses his book “Ali,” about the boxing champion and activist Muhammad Ali, at the Atlanta History Center. Eig had access to Ali’s three surviving wives and his managers. He also had access to thousands of pages of new FBI and Justice Department files and dozens of hours of newly discovered audiotaped interviews from the 1960s. $10 general public; $5 members. 130 West Paces Ferry Road N.W., Buckhead. Info: atlantahistorycenter.com.

HISPANIOLA FILM SERIES: “STORMING PAPA DOC” Thursday, Nov. 16, 7 p.m.

The film “Storming Papa Doc: The Siege of Haiti’s Casernes Dessalines by Captain Alix Pasquet on July 28, 1958” will be shown at Oglethorpe University. Mario L. Delatour’s animated documentary follows three ex-Haitian army officers bent on the removal of the newly elected Haitian president. Free.

Dolive Theater, second floor of the Philip Weltner Library in Lowry Hall, 4484 Peachtree Road N.E., Brookhaven.

Info: connect.oglethorpe.edu.

Through Dec. 31, stop by either of ElectroBike Georgia’s two locations and save $500 when you purchase an ElectroBike Dash plus an ElectroBike Light. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Brookhaven Police Department’s “Shop with a Badge” holiday event.

GEORGIA PERENNIAL PLANT ASSOCIATION TALK: “THE BEAUTY IS IN THE DOING”

Monday, Nov. 20, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

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Roy Diblik, author of “The Know Maintenance Garden,” will discuss the developing partnership between the gardener, plants and nature as part of an ongoing series of Georgia Perennial Plant Association talks. Event opens with light refreshments and a chance to mingle with fellow garden enthusiasts. Speaker begins at 7:30 p.m. Free.

Atlanta History Center, 130 West Paces Ferry Road N.W., Buckhead. Info: 240-505-0598.

SUBMIT YOUR EVENT LISTING WITH US AT

calendar@ReporterNewspapers.net

NOVEMBER 10 - 23, 2017

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| 27

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28 | Community

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Court rejects Northside Hospital’s stand on shielding financial records

BY GEORGIA HEALTH NEWS In a case closely watched by the state’s hospital industry, the Georgia Supreme Court has reversed lower court rulings that barred access to Northside Hospital’s financial records.

The unanimous decision, announced Nov. 2, remands the case back to the trial court. Justice Nels Peterson wrote that the trial court applied the wrong legal standard in ruling against access to the records by plaintiff E. Kendrick Smith, an attorney.

At the heart of the long-running dispute was whether the nonprofit Northside Hospital, located in Sandy Springs, was subject to the state’s open records law.

The case has involved Northside’s rejection of requests for information about financial documents and other matters. Northside had argued it is not bound by the open records law. The hospital said that because it’s a private nonprofit corporation, not a public entity, this particular law does not apply to it.

Attorney Peter Canfield had argued for the plaintiff that Northside — a hospital system based in Atlanta — is subject to the Georgia Open Records Act because it was created by a public hospital authority, which is a government entity, and that the system operates solely on the authority’s behalf.

The ruling may have a ripple effect on the Georgia hospital industry, because Northside’s corporate structure resembles many others in the state.

Many hospital authorities, for business purposes, have spun off their hospitals into separate nonprofit corporations over the past three decades. Under such an arrangement, the hospital authority leases the assets of the hospital to the corporation. These restructured hospitals include large urban facilities such as Grady in Atlanta, along with medical centers in Savannah, Augusta, Macon, Rome and Albany, as well as in the Atlanta suburbs.

“At the very least …, Northside’s operation of the Leased Facilities is done on behalf of the Authority,’’ wrote Peterson in the court decision. “How closely the transactions at issue are tied to operating the Leased Facilities will determine whether documents are ‘public records.’ ” Canfield told Georgia Health News that he believes the plaintiffs will prevail at the lower court level. “We believe Northside is going to find it impossible to prove that these records aren’t connected with their operation of North-

Northside Hospital’s main campus in Sandy Springs.

side Hospital for the authority.’’

He added that the Supreme Court ruling would have an effect on the public availability of records of other hospitals structured similarly to Northside.

The Georgia First Amendment Foundation praised the Supreme Court ruling.

“The justices said that Northside is bound by principles of open government and transparency,” said Richard T. Griffiths, a board member of the foundation. “The big win for open government is that you can’t allow government agencies to spin off private entities so they can avoid public records scrutiny.”

Griffiths added that “the lower court [now] has to look at these records as though Northside is a public entity and whether there’s an exception’’ to public access under the open records law.

A Northside spokesperson, Lee Echols, said that “we are grateful that the Georgia Supreme Court has decisively rejected the appellant’s claim that virtually every Northside Hospital document is a public record, just as the trial court and Court of Appeals previously have stated.

“From the beginning, the single goal of Mr. Smith has been to gain access, on behalf of a Northside Hospital competitor, to confidential business information that is clearly protected from disclosure,’’ Echols said. “Northside Hospital looks forward to prevailing as we move forward in the legal process.”

Northside’s restructuring occurred in the early 1990s. It’s now an extremely successful hospital system, with more than $2 billion in revenues, and is set to add Gwinnett Medical Center, a large suburban system, to its fold. Northside has said for years that its flagship Atlanta hospital delivers more babies than any other community hospital in the nation.

Attorney Canfield told the justices in

oral argument in April that “all the assets and liabilities acquired by Northside Inc. during the term of the lease revert to the hospital authority’’ when the lease ends.

“Everything that Northside does [it] is doing for the authority,’’ Canfield said. “All of Northside’s assets come from the authority.’’

An attorney for Northside, Randy Evans, told the court in oral argument that the system is a regional player, owning other hospitals in areas that are not governed by the hospital authority in Fulton County.

“There is no longstanding rule that every [restructured] hospital is necessarily subject to the Open Records Act,’’ Evans said. He said the Georgia Legislature has rejected attempts to change the law to widen access to records involving restructured hospitals.

The fight over Northside’s records and hospital privacy began in 2013, when attorney Smith requested information about Northside’s expenditures in the acquisitions of physicians’ practices.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that year reported about patients who faced higher bills after the acquisition of two of these practices.

The hospital turned down the request. The plaintiff, a partner of the firm Jones Day, filed suit, and the case was first heard in Fulton County Superior Court. The judge ruled in favor of Northside, saying that the hospital authority had nothing to do with the operations and acquisitions of the hospital.

Smith appealed. The court of appeals, in a split decision, upheld the lower court ruling, and the case then went to the state’s highest court.

The state’s attorney general, Chris Carr, had urged the Georgia Supreme Court to reverse the lower court opinion.

The Georgia Open Records Act, known as a “sunshine law,” was created to let the

SPECIAL

people of the state know what government agencies are doing. Ordinary citizens, lawyers and reporters routinely use the act to find out how agencies make decisions and spend money.

Media outlets, which make frequent use of open records requests to investigate and report stories, traditionally favor broad access. The Georgia Press Association, the First Amendment Foundation, the Savannah Morning News and the AJC are among organizations that filed amicus briefs supporting the Smith appeal.

Last year, Savannah’s Memorial Health rejected a request from the Savannah Morning News for documents on the relationship between the thenCEO of the health system and a potential buyer, Novant Health. In reply to the request, Memorial Health’s attorney cited Northside v. Smith and the earlier ruling that had favored Northside.

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce, among other organizations, sided with Northside in the Smith case.

Previous to Thursday’s ruling, Northside had said it was protecting its business interests by denying the requests.

“If the decision is overturned, it’s certainly possible that other Georgia hospitals could be required to release sensitive business information when they’re not a public body,” it argued.

The decision on Northside is the state Supreme Court’s second big ruling recently involving Georgia hospitals.

Last month the court upheld Georgia’s “certificate of need” law in an opinion that said a surgical center could not expand without state approval.

This story was reported by Georgia Health News, a nonprofit, independent news organization devoted to covering healthcare in the state.

NOVEMBER 10 - 23, 2017

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Classifieds | 29

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Reporter Classifieds

To Advertise, call 404-917-2200 ext 110

HELP WANTED

SERVICES AVAILABLE

HIRE ME

BOOK FOR SALE

Administrative Assistant – Performs full administrative and general support duties to assist the manager and Board of Directors.

Proficiency in MS Word, MS Excel and MS Outlook. Excellent people skills required.

CINC experience a plus. Excellent starting compensation with benefits. Sandy Springs area. Email resume to: P.O. Box 4822, Alpharetta, GA 30023.

Driveways & Walkways – Replaced or repaired. Masonry, grading, foundations repaired, waterproofing and retaining walls.

Call Joe Sullivan 770-616-0576.

Female Care-giver with 18 year’s experience seeks to barter services for living quarters in the Buckhead/Brookhaven/ Dunwoody area. Services: Care-giver, Chauffeur, Personal Assistant and Light House-keeping. Sweet indoor cat coming with. Call 470-351-7237

“LegalEats, A Lawyer’s Lite Cookbook” – a fun legal themed cookbook available

Home Tending – Regular inspections of your unoccupied property…”0n market or just away”. Call Charles at 404-229-0490.

from Amazon.com; iUniverse.com legaleatscookbook.com.

and

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Inspired by Ireland

A

B

C

E D

Musicians play traditional Irish music at the fifth annual IrishFest Atlanta on Nov. 4 at the DoubleTree Hilton Perimeter Dunwoody hotel. The event promotes the culture of Ireland through the country’s traditional music, song, dance and language.

A - Sofia Campisi, 9, a member of the Under Twelve Atlanta Irish Music group, plays the fiddle.

B - John Nolan helps lead a workshop on playing the accordion.

C - A group of accordion players.

D - Maeve Terry, 3, enjoys some music.

E - Sam d’Entremont plays a traditional Irish wooden flute in the “Musicians Corner.”

PHOTOS BY PHIL MOSIER DUN

NOVEMBER 10 - 23, 2017

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Public Safety | 31

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Police Blotter / Dunwoody From Dunwoody Police reports dated Oct. 29 through Nov. 5.

The following information was pulled from Dunwoody’s Police-2-Citizen website.

LARCENY/ SHOPLIFTING/ THEFT 4000 block of Dunwoody Park — On

Oct. 29, a woman reported her Apple laptop stolen and iPad destroyed.

4500 block of Olde Perimeter Way —

On Oct. 29, in the afternoon, a woman said her wallet was pickpocketed.

4300

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Oct. 29, in the evening, a man was arrested and accused of shoplifting from a department store.

4400

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Oct. 29, in the evening, an 18-year-old male was arrested and accused of trying to steal a pair of Adidas shorts from a department store.

4700

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Oct. 29, in the evening, a woman was arrested and accused of stealing a printer from a discount superstore. A Samsung phone is still missing.

of trying to steal a screen protector from a discount superstore.

4400

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Nov. 3, in the morning, a woman was arrested and accused of shoplifting.

Ashford-Dunwoody

Road/ Perimeter Center East — On Oct. 30, at night, a woman was arrested and accused of driving unlicensed and failing to use headlights.

Ashford-Dunwoody Road / Perimeter

4000 block of Ashford-Dunwoody

Road — On Nov. 4, a man was arrested for disorderly conduct under the influence.

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Nov. 3, in the afternoon, two women were arrested and accused of shoplifting.

Road — On Oct. 30, at night, a man was pulled over for a broken headlight. He was arrested and accused of driving with a suspended license, no insurance and an expired tag.

4500

4600 block of Shallowford Road —

4400

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Nov. 3, in the evening, a man was arrested and accused of shoplifting.

A S S AU LT 6600 block of Peachtree Industrial

Boulevard — On Oct. 29, in the morning, officers responded to a nonviolent family offense.

On Oct. 31, after midnight, three people were arrested and accused of marijuana possession charges.

Winters Chapel Road / Peachtree In-

dustrial Road — On Oct. 31, in the early morning, a woman was arrested and accused of driving with a suspended license.

4000 block of

Dunwoody Park — On Oct. 29, in the evening, officers responded to a nonviolent family offense.

Ashford-

Center East — On Nov. 4, at night, a man was arrested for driving with a suspended license.

4500 block of Chamblee-Dunwoody

OT H E R I N C I D E N T S 4400

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Oct. 29, in the early morning, a 30-year-old man reported he received harassing communications while at a restaurant.

100 block of Perimeter Center East

— On Oct. 29, in the evening, an officer detained five people after observing an illegal narcotic activity taking place.

Marijuana was recovered.

6600 block of Peachtree Industrial

Boulevard — On Oct. 29, in the evening, a man reported harassing communications to police.

I-285 EB/ Ashford-Dunwoody Road —

Lytham Court — On Nov. 1, in the evening, officers responded to a nonviolent domestic offense.

Dunwoody Road/ Perimeter Center East — On Oct. 31, in the early morning, a car was pulled over for an expired tag and invalid insurance.

The driver was also accused of possessing marijuana and not possessing a driver’s license.

On Oct. 31, a woman reported her Coach handbag, containing $900 in cash and designer sunglasses, was stolen from her car during the night.

2500 block of East Madison Drive —

I-285 / Peachtree Road — On Oct. 31, in

On Nov. 3, around noon, a man was arrested and accused of aggravated assault.

the afternoon, a man was arrested and accused of driving with a suspended license.

Oct. 30, in the evening, the victim reported credit and identity fraud.

600 block of Ashwood Parkway — On

4400

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Nov. 5, in the morning, a woman was arrested and accused of simple assault.

I-285 / Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On

ARRESTS

2300 block of Welton Place — On Nov.

On Oct. 31, in the morning, an officer pulled over a vehicle bearing a paper tag that said “test drive.” The car was towed and the driver was cited for a suspended registration and insurance.

4000 block of Dunwoody Park — On

Oct. 29, sometime in the evening, a woman reported items missing from her car.

A suspect, a juvenile, was arrested and the items were recovered.

4700

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Oct. 30, in the afternoon, a woman was accused of trying to steal food from a store and was arrested.

2900 block of Winterhaven Court —

Oct. 30, at night, a woman reported her car was broken into and several personal identification items were stolen.

4600

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Oct. 31, at noon, a man said his car was broken into and his laptop and clothes were taken.

4400

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Oct. 31, at noon, a man reportedly stole a bottle of YSL cologne from a department store.

100 block of Perimeter Center Place —

On Oct. 31, in the evening, a man was arrested and accused of trying to shoplift wine and a jacket from a superstore.

4700

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Nov. 2, in the afternoon, two young men were arrested and accused DUN

1900 block of

Ashford-Dunwoody Road / Hammond

Drive — On Oct. 30, in the morning, a man was arrested and accused of failing to appear in court.

I-285 / Peachtree Road — On Oct. 30,

in the morning, a man was arrested and accused of improper lane usage and driving while unlicensed.

5700 block of Chamblee-Dunwoody

Road — On Oct. 30, in the afternoon, a man was arrested and accused of driving unlicensed and following too closely after an accident.

Nov. 1, in the morning, a man was arrested and accused of driving with a suspended license following a car accident.

1, in the afternoon, a woman was arrested and accused of a family offense.

100 block of Perimeter Center — On

Nov. 3, in the early morning, a man was arrested and accused of marijuana possession.

4400

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Nov. 3, in the morning, a man was arrested and accused of driving with a suspended license.

Tilly Mill Road — On Nov. 3, in the

morning, a woman was arrested and accused of driving with a suspended license.

On Oct. 29, at night, a man received a citation following a hit and run accident for improper lane usage.

100 block of Perimeter Center East —

On Oct. 30, in the early morning, a woman reported she was receiving harassing communications and texts.

4500

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Oct. 30, in the afternoon, a man was cited for striking a vehicle outside a department store.

1200 block of Hammond Drive — On

Perimeter Center/ Meadow Lane —

4400

block of Ashford-Dunwoody Road — On Oct. 31, in the afternoon, a suspect used the victim’s credit card to buy sunglasses.

I-285 WB/ Shallowford Road — On

Nov. 1, after midnight, a 17-year-old driver was pulled over for a broken taillight.

He was cited for driving with no insurance.

I-285 EB/ Ashford-Dunwoody Road —

On Nov. 1, at night, a man was cited for driving unlicensed.

32 |

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