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Access Atlanta > Blog > Archives > 2006 > April > 11
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
Policeman’s Ball raffle license turns up missing
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta’s first Policeman’s Ball Saturday night at the InterContinental hotel in Buckhead — featuring Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin as honorary chair and Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington — could have done with, well, some more law enforcement.
Some of the $200,000 raised at the event benefiting the nonprofit Atlanta Police Foundation was made through a raffle of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and designer jewelry.
State law requires “any nonprofit, tax exempt organization desiring to obtain a license to operate a raffle shall make application to the sheriff” for a license.
Whoopsee.
As it turns out, the ball wasn’t issued the necessary license to make the raffle legal. Fulton County sheriff’s office Sgt. Nikita Adams Hightower confirmed to Buzz Monday there was no record of the Atlanta Police Foundation requesting or receiving the $100 raffle license.
“We don’t have anything on file,” said Hightower. Later, she called Buzz back to say her department was still looking for the application. “This could be something that’s on the sheriff’s desk that he just hadn’t gotten to yet,” she explained.
Magdalynne P. Gates of the foundation said she was looking into whether the group sent in an application.
The raffle forms were sent out with invitations for the ball. One raffle ticket cost $50, three went for $100 and a pack of 20 tickets cost $500. On the raffle ticket, there was a space for attendees to provide organizers with their credit card number.
The legality of its raffle aside, the sold-out black-tie affair that attracted law enforcement officers, business leaders and TV news anchors did much good.
News anchors Monica Kaufman of WSB-TV and Wes Sarginson of WXIA-TV, who co-anchored the WSB newscast for six years in the late ’70s and early ’80s, were reunited as emcees for the evening. Kaufman, in a bright red J. Peterman ball gown, wore red cowboy boots “in honor of Wes, who always wears cowboy boots.”
Party chairs Wendy Babchin and Wanda McGaha reported that the money raised will go toward re-establishing mounted horse patrols and hiring additional police officers.
“We earmarked over $40,000 from the Buckhead Coalition for the horse force,” said coalition President Sam Massell, attending with his wife, Doris. “It’s marvelous for crowd control and an appealing image for law enforcement, among children in particular.”
Grandmas love Sawyer
Former Cherokee County resident turned “Lost” hunk Josh Holloway, who plays James “Sawyer” Ford on the hit ABC drama, gives a funny interview in Stuff magazine this month. The Q&A, which appears in the May issue hitting newsstands this week, highlights Holloway’s “Lost” audition: “It was a 38-line monologue or something ridiculous, so I just studied it. I just fired it off. I think I got [ticked] in the middle of it and kicked a chair, and the casting person said, ‘Don’t hit me.’ It was funny. They had written it like Sawyer’s supposed to be a slick, Prada-wearing, urban conman, and I was so tired of trying to dress the part in Hollywood. I just didn’t give a [flip] anymore. I went in my thermal and bluejeans and didn’t shave, and delivered. It worked out. I’m not dead yet.”
As for his new distinction as a babe magnet, Holloway says: “I’m like, ‘Why couldn’t they have done this when I was 25?’ Strangely enough, it’s not all hot girls sending me pictures. It’s women over 60. The grandmas are really aggressive.”
A shining moment — in N.J.
On Palm Sunday, Star Jones Reynolds urged members of a Somerset, N.J., church to realize the importance of faith in their lives.
“Beauty, wealth and success mean little if you have not developed a relationship with God,” the 44-year-old co-host of ABC’s daytime hen party “The View” said at the First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset. “I’ve learned that a relationship with God is achieved through solitude, meditation, prayer and soul-searching and — above all — patience.”
Further emphasizing her point, Jones Reynolds then whipped out a Sharpie marker and signed copies of her Buzz reader-beloved book, “Shine: A Physical, Emotional & Spiritual Journey to Finding Love.”
Stork report
Apple, meet Moses. It’s a boy for actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay singer Chris Martin. Moses Martin, the couple’s second child, was born over the weekend in New York City, the office of Paltrow’s publicist, Stephen Huvane, confirmed Monday. No other information was released. Their daughter, Apple, will be 2 on May 14.
Celebrity birthdays
Actress Louise Lasser is 67. Actor Meshach Taylor (“Designing Women,” “Dave’s World”) is 59. Singer Joss Stone is 19.
Contributing: Marylin Johnson and news services. If you have a tip, 404-526-2749. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
If you have a tip, call 404-526-2749. Or fax 404-526-5509. Or e-mail: buzz@ajc.com.
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