Community News

ATLANTA

Atlanta Christian College earns kudos

The Corporation for National and Community Service has named Atlanta Christian College to the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts and service to America’s communities.

“This award is very gratifying to our college community,” Dean Collins, the school’s interim president, said in a statement, “because it indicates that our students are learning that with the privilege of education comes the responsibility of serving those in need.”

Launched in 2006, the Community Service Honor Roll is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement.

—- John Hollis

Grants cover pit bulls’ spaying, neutering

The Atlanta Humane Society is looking for 100 pit bulls or pit bull mixes that need to be spayed or neutered.

The shelter recently received a $5,000 grant from the Holland M. Ware Foundation to do the free surgeries. Owners must call 404-875-6420 to schedule an appointment.

Dogs that do not have proof of a rabies shot also will be given the vaccination free of charge. The clinic is at 981 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta. More information: atlantahumane.org or 404-875-5331.

—- Sandy Eckstein

CLAYTON COUNTY

Teen dance to honor gang violence victim

Clayton County teenagers can celebrate Valentine’s Day while remembering a 14-year-old victim of gang violence. The Krystal Williams Foundation will host its Black & White Affair, a semi-formal ball, from 8 p.m. to midnight Saturday at the Clayton County International Park on Ga. 138.

Tickets can be purchased for $20 by calling 770-603-1835. The organization also is donating tickets to some teens who cannot afford the admission price, event coordinator Sherry Mallory said.

The event is for residents ages 12 to 19 and will feature dinner, dancing and a speech by Magistrate Court Judge Daphne Walker.

Williams was a freshman at Forest Park High School when she was shot and killed while attending a “Sweet 16” party in 2005.

—- Megan Matteucci

Also …

> Students’ break: Clayton County public schools will be closed today, Monday and Tuesday for winter break. School offices will be open Friday and Tuesday. Schools return to the normal schedule Wednesday.

—- Megan Matteucci

COBB COUNTY

Marietta company to work on Burnt Hickory

A Marietta company has been awarded a contract to do intersection improvements to Burnt Hickory Road at Stout Parkway, in Cobb’s southwest corner.

Lewallen Construction Co.’s $348,129 bid was the lowest of eight companies seeking the contract. The Cobb County Commission approved the contract at its meeting Tuesday.

The project will move Stout Parkway to align with Brownsville Road Extension, which enters Paulding County, creating a four-way intersection at Burnt Hickory Road.

Cobb County will pay half of the $335,371 roadway construction cost of the project, which was approved in 2005 as part of the Transportation Improvements Program. Paulding County will pay the other half.

An estimated 3,300 cars daily use Stout Parkway, and an estimated 5,400 cars travel on Burnt Hickory Road, according to Georgia DOT traffic counts.

—- Kent A. Miles

DEKALB COUNTY

Advances unveiled at Tucker medical facility

Emory Healthcare demonstrated its bedside interactive system for patients at a dedication ceremony Thursday for its most electronically equipped hospital.

The flat-screen TV offers Internet display, free movies and links to view a physician’s education background and a patient’s personal health record.

The 45-bed Emory University Orthopaedics & Spine Hospital in Tucker, which opened in September, specializes in knee replacements, total hip replacements, spine surgeries and other orthopedic operations.

Patient and family-oriented features include sofas in rooms that convert to beds for family members; family lounges with computers, paperbacks, and washer and dryer; and a higher-priced, two-room suite that offers fine dining, including filet mignon.

There are no visiting hours —- families can come and go as they please. The hospital is “not just bells and whistles,” said Dr. Scott Boden, director of the hospital and an orthopedic surgeon.

—- Andy Miller

Schools’ central offices plan move

DeKalb County school board members Thursday approved plans to move the system’s central offices to a renovated warehouse in Stone Mountain, clearing the way to sell off its current headquarters.

DeKalb Superintendent Crawford Lewis said the system’s central offices are among nine old or unused properties that starting next month will be recommended either for sale or to be “re-purposed.”

The central offices occupy two buildings that sit on 9.3 acres on North Decatur Road near Clarkston, and date to 1973.

The move will cost $3.9 million but still keeps the warehouse’s renovation under-budget by $750,000, according to the system’s chief operating officer Patricia Pope.

—- Kristina Torres

Budget meetings planned this month

Several DeKalb County commissioners will have public meetings this month to discuss the proposed budget for 2009.

Commissioner Larry Johnson, District 3 in southwest DeKalb:

> Thursday at 6:30 p.m., at Meadowview Elementary School, 1879 Wee Kirk Road, Atlanta.

> Feb. 23 at 6:30 p.m., at Churchill Downs Civic Association Clubhouse, 3677 Citation Drive, Decatur.

Commissioner Sharon Barnes-Sutton, District 4 in south-central DeKalb:

> Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., at Victory Church, 1170 North Hairston Road, Stone Mountain.

> Feb. 23 at 7 p.m., at Antioch AME Church, 765 S. Hairston Road, Stone Mountain.

Commissioner Lee May, District 5 in south DeKalb:

> Today at 11:30 a.m., at Lou Walker Senior Center, 2538 Panola Road, Lithonia.

—- Ty Tagami

FULTON COUNTY

Woodward teacher diagnosed with TB

Students, teachers and staff members at Woodward Academy in College Park will be tested for tuberculosis after the head of the Upper School Science Department was diagnosed with the contagious disease.

School Headmaster Ron McCollum, in an advisory sent out Thursday, said there was “no urgency” to take the tests, but asked that they be taken as “soon as possible.” The school is not charging for the tests.

The teacher diagnosed with TB is “at home and on an antibiotic regimen” and is expected to make a “speedy recovery,” McCollum wrote. He said there is little chance the teacher infected another person because her exposure to students and staff was only about one hour a day.

—- Jeffry Scott

Lack of sponsorship cancels marathon

The economy has claimed another victim: the Alpharetta Marathon and Half-Marathon.

The city of Alpharetta and prominent sponsors such as ADP and Choice Point were unable to help finance the event, said Bill Burke, race director for Premier Event Management, the organizers.

The race, which would have been in its third year, was expected to attract 1,200 people in the 26.2-mile and 13.1-mile races.

—- Doug Nurse

Johns Creek police getting motorcycles

Johns Creek police are adding speed and mobility to their arsenal of crime-fighting equipment.

The department has purchased two Harley Davidson Police Road King motorcycles, “motors” in police parlance. They will be used primarily to respond to traffic complaints. The motors also will escort parades, foot races, and dignitaries visiting the city.

Traffic officer Mike Thomas said that motorcycles’ mobility is a plus when responding to an accident.

“Getting through traffic to respond to a bad accident scene is a lot easier on a motorcycle,” Thomas said.

The motorcycles cost about $22,000 apiece. Equipping the officers cost another $1,500 each.

—- Doug Nurse

GWINNETT COUNTY

How about $409,235 for a birthday gift?

A Loganville computer programmer just received the perfect birthday gift: nearly a half-million dollars in the Georgia Lottery.

Melissa Bailey, who will turn 45 today , matched all five winning numbers in the Feb. 8 Fantasy 5 drawing, capturing the $409,235 top prize. She claimed the prize Monday.

“I couldn’t believe it,” she said in a news release. “I woke my husband and shared the good news. We both feel great.”

Reached at home, husband Tim Bailey said winning was “pretty surreal.” He said they plan to use the money for home repairs, investing and a college fund for their 14-year-old son, Tyler. As for his wife’s birthday, Tim Bailey said even with the winnings, they’re still planning a pretty low-key affair, consisting mostly of dinner.

“We’re still trying to let this sink in.”

—- Shane Blatt

Approval sought for waste transfer station

A Norcross development company will seek approval to build a waste transfer station next to the county’s planned recycling complex on Cedars Road.

A subsidiary of the Inland Group wants to build the center on 3.8 acres of land that’s occupied in part by Southern Flooring & Interiors, said Inland owner Eric Johansen.

Locating a transfer station used to consolidate garbage from households onto landfill-bound tractor-trailers makes sense because of the location of the recycling center next door, he said. The land is near the runway for Gwinnett County’s airport.

The Gwinnett County Commission recently approved a highly-controversial transfer station near Norcross. Another application for a site near Dacula is pending.

—- Michael Pearson

Recall effort reviewed for Evermore group

The Gwinnett County tax commissioner’s office is reviewing signatures on petitions seeking a recall election for two members of a south Gwinnett business group paralyzed by board infighting for nearly two months.

The effort grows out of the December firing of the Evermore Community Improvement District’s economic development manager and a feeling among some board members that the group has paid too much attention to managing the reconstruction of U.S. 78 and not enough on economic development efforts.

Members of the faction seeking the recall election say board members Ken Shiver and Dean Robinson should be replaced to break a 4-4 deadlock on the board over various issues.

If certified, an election would likely occur in March, recall organizers have said.

—- Michael Pearson

GREATER ATLANTA

Cherokee teenagers charged in burglaries

Four Cherokee County teens were arrested Thursday in connection with 17 car burglaries in the Bridgemill subdivision where they live, police said.

Ten Bridgemill residents reported that their cars were broken into early Thursday morning, and seven others made similar reports earlier in the week, said Sgt. Jay Baker, spokesman for the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office.

The four suspects were arrested after deputies were alerted to a suspicious vehicle driving through the subdivision at about 3:30 a.m.

Deputies stopped the vehicle on Bells Ferry Road and arrested Xavier Jones, 17; Brandon Jones, 18; Benjamin Campbell, 17; and a male juvenile, Baker said.

—- Nancy Badertscher