COMMUNITY BRIEFS

CLAYTON

Hundred-plus birds for sale at market

The Georgia Department of Agriculture is looking to find homes for 149 birds.

The animals were seized in June after a breeder near Savannah stopped caring for them properly, and now the department plans to auction the birds Saturday to help recover costs.

The list of birds includes 95 cockatiels and 13 black-masked conures. The sale will be held at the Atlanta Farmers Market in Forest Park at 11 a.m.

More information, including photos of some of the birds, is available on the department’s Web site, www.agr.georgia.gov or by calling Ray Deluca in the Animal Protection Division at 404-656-4914. For directions to the farmers market, in Clayton County, call 404-675-1782.

—- Sandra Eckstein

DEKALB

Child exchange center opens

The Women’s Resource Center to End Domestic Violence plans to open today what it says is the state’s first supervised child visitation and exchange center specifically for families affected by domestic violence.

At the Decatur center, called Nia’s Place, staff members will monitor on-site visits between noncustodial parents and their children or supervise parents as they pick up and drop off children at staggered times for off-site visits. Services will be provided on a sliding fee scale based on income. For more information, call 404-371-1051 or log on to www.niasvisitation.org.

—- Donna Williams Lewis

ATLANTA

Cab drivers can’t charge fee anymore

Taxi drivers can no longer charge an additional $2 on trips in Atlanta, city officials announced Friday.

The City Council approved the surcharge this summer when the average price for regular unleaded gasoline was between $2.90 and $4.39 a gallon. When it approved the surcharge, the council added a provision that the surcharge would be removed once prices fell below $2.90 a gallon for at least 14 consecutive days.

Gas prices have fallen well below $2.90 a gallon in recent weeks across the Atlanta region.

—- Eric Stirgus