reporternewspapers.net
DECEMBER 2019 • VOL. 11 — NO. 12
Olympic Park bombing investigation: Remembering dark days P8
Brookhaven Reporter
After PDK plane crash, residents question safety and who pays for damage
COMMUNITY
Historic American Legion building renovated
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COMMUNITY
Ryan Gravel
Designer of the Atlanta BeltLine
Richard Jewell
A public challenge: Reimagine I-285
BY JOHN RUCH johnruch@reporternewspapers.net
er piece of property. Brookhaven Park’s approximate 20 acres is almost evenly divided between the city and county. The city owns about 12 acres at the back of the park with the address of 4518 Peachtree Road. The county owns the front 11 acres, including approximately 4 acres where the DeKalb County Services Board is
An explosion jolted John Patterson awake in his DeKalb County townhome on Oct. 30. As he and his dog Max fled the damaged building, he assumed a gas line had burst because so little was left of the real cause: a private airplane that crashed into his home shortly after takeoff from DeKalbPeachtree Airport. “I said, ‘Where’s the plane?’” Patterson recalled asking firefighters and other first responders. “They said, ‘We’re looking.’” The violent crash at 2421 Peachwood Circle near I-85 killed the pilot and a passenger. Debris smashed a huge hole in the roof of Patterson’s spare bedroom and fell through the floor into the kitchen below. Patterson and his neighbor, whose unit was badly damaged as well, were left temporarily homeless. That day, they joined the unlucky few who, despite only tiny risks, have had homes or cars hit by planes falling out of the sky as they leave or approach PDK. The accident has revived safety fears
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See AFTER on page 30
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ART & ENTERTAINMENT
‘A Tuna Christmas’ continues theater partnership P26
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The townhomes on Peachwood Circle in DeKalb County that were damaged by a fatal Oct. 30 plane crash.
JOHN RUCH
New library long overdue as city, county squabble BY DYANA BAGBY dyanabagby@reporternewspapers.net
A $2.2 million agreement the city thought it made with DeKalb County to purchase about 7 acres of the front portion of Brookhaven Park has yet to be finalized a year later. Now the county is saying it may need to build the city’s new library in the park because it has no money to buy anoth-
It’s that time of year... “Siri, where can I buy the best wife insurance?”
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