Morning, y’all! I’m always looking for silver linings and things that could unite us. One thing I’ve stumbled on: being mad! Yes, we all get angry. Baby is chewing drywall again. Your best friend’s politics changed in unexpected ways. The Spaghetti Junction bottleneck is stuck on hour 5,000. The world is on fire.
Today, we discuss some healthy (and unhealthy) coping mechanisms for the biggest news of the day.
BREATHE. JUST BREATHE.
Credit: John Spink
Credit: John Spink
Every driver experiences it: being cut off or swerved around, witnessing a red light run or forgetting to use a turn signal. It’s agitating.
But an unfortunate scene has played out on repeat across metro Atlanta streets over the past three weeks: These minor infractions escalate into shots fired. According to police reports and arrest warrants:
- May 30: What started with honking, tailing and yelling between two Gwinnett County motorists ended with a man pulling out his gun and shooting at the other car. No one was injured.
- June 9: An Alabama father was shot and killed after he allegedly threw a lit cigarette at another driver and got out of his car wielding a knife in Paulding County.
- June 15: Gunfire between two vehicles in Smyrna struck a 6-year-old in the abdomen.
- June 16: A verbal dispute between drivers in Atlanta turned deadly when one fired a gun, striking a 62-year-old motorist and causing him to swerve his vehicle into a vacant house. Police have not named the shooter or made an arrest.
Road rage incidents can happen anywhere and can escalate quickly. Why? Well, it’s not altogether different from why people can be so much uglier on social media than they are in person.
“That's what the anonymity of the vehicle does: It gives us a power, in some ways, and it releases us in other ways, from the social norms that we tend to follow."
The AJC’s Taylor Croft has so much more on all of this, including how to stay safe in a road rage incident. The cliff notes:
- Do not engage with the other motorist
- Call 911
- Get a description of the other vehicle and driver
🧘 Read More: Tips for calming yourself down
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LET IT ALL OUT
Roya Shahidi was heartbroken to learn that Israeli bombs were falling on her native city of Tehran — Iran’s capital, where she lived until she moved to the United States at age 16. Her grief only increased when the U.S. joined the bombing campaign with strikes of its own last week.
“It’s what we were all afraid of for so many years,” said Shahidi, who is 64 and lives in Atlanta. “It was our worst nightmare.”
Shahidi is one of about 8,300 people of Iranian descent who live in metro Atlanta’s core counties, and about 11,000 statewide, according to U.S. census figures. Many of these Georgians have complicated feelings about the military strikes.
🔎 Read more of their reactions here
GET FIRED UP
Credit: TNS
Credit: TNS
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection sent 100 free pizza boxes to Mojo Pizza N’ Pub, which sits in one of the most liberal neighborhoods in metro Atlanta. Safe to say the campaign to recruit jobs for the immigration crackdown didn’t go over well with the staff.
“This lady answered the phone. I told her, ‘I'm calling because we got some pizza boxes, and I have some questions.' ... She said something to the effect of, ‘Are you going to use the pizza boxes? We could come and pick them back up.' And I said, ‘We'll use them, all right. We'll use them in a bonfire.'"
Which they did.
GATHER ALL YOUR DATA
Elena Schlossberg is sick and tired of living in Data Center Alley. Northern Virginia is beautiful and filled with natural and historic resources. “And we are going to ruin that,” she says. “As far as the eye can see, there’s data centers, diesel generators, transmission lines and substations.”
While Schlossberg sees red, data centers have provided Virginia’s leaders with plenty of green to lower homeowner tax rates and bankroll schools. And, as the AJC’s Zachary Hansen writes, metro Atlanta better be paying attention to those lessons as Georgia has morphed into one of America’s top homes for data centers.
🌐 Read part 2 of the AJC’s Data Surge series
MUST-KNOW POLITICS AND BUSINESS
🍔 There is a plan on the table to develop a collection of restaurants and other tenants between Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the Georgia World Congress Center, in what is currently a grassy area with concrete walkways called International Plaza. If the project moves forward, construction would start after the FIFA World Cup ends, with an aim to finish before the 2028 Super Bowl in Atlanta.
🐘 The far-right Georgia Republican Assembly has been trying for years to stoke a conservative revolt within the state party’s ranks. Now it’s facing a rebellion of its own after dozens of prominent GOP activists formally quit the faction last week, writes the AJC’s Greg Bluestein.
🚨 The Office of the DeKalb County Solicitor-General dropped misdemeanor criminal charges against Mario Guevara, an influential Spanish-language reporter in metro Atlanta whose arrest at a recent protest has put him on a path to deportation.
GIVE BACK
Credit: Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Credit: Children's Healthcare of Atlanta
Take some time to read Fletcher Page’s story on Chase Elliott, a top NASCAR driver and Georgia native who, for nearly a decade, has invited young cancer patients at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta to design his race car, fire suit, shoes, helmet and gloves for one special race each season.
At Saturday’s race at EchoPark Speedway (formerly Atlanta Motor Speedway), 11-year-old Rhealynn Mills of Thomasville will see her own artwork on Elliott’s car.
The design includes a nurse on the hood, gold childhood cancer ribbons on the fenders and sides, a stethoscope, heart monitors and bandages. She included messages: “Cure Cancer” and “Helping Kids Like Me.”
🥹 Read the story and see the car here
NEWS BITES
Hawks trade back in draft and get UGA star and Atlanta native Asa Newell
Welcome (back) to ATL, Asa.
Jake Paul’s $39 million Georgia property is fit for a ‘big kid,’ broker says
Sixteen minutes in the ring with Mike Tyson is all it takes to live out your childhood dreams.
Tim McGraw, Pitbull to perform at MLB Speedway Classic in Tennessee
At the same time!? Now that’s a Billboard home run.
Monday Night Brewing adds new taproom, outdoor space
This should turn some frowns upside down.
ON THIS DATE
June 26, 1973
Credit: AJC
Credit: AJC
Dean thinks President knew of spying plans — The Atlanta Journal. Former White House counsel John W. Dean III told the Senate Watergate committee Tuesday that in his opinion President Nixon knew of the Watergate intelligence operation before it occurred, that to his certain knowledge the President was very soon aware of the cover-up which began after the June 17, 1972, break-in and the President knew the legal violations which were being caused by the cover-up.
Ah, yes, another option: Take ‘em to court.
ONE MORE THING
My wife has road rage — specifically when it comes to her biggest pet peeve of ATL drivers: everyone being confused by four-way stops. So here is the right-of-way rule: First vehicle to arrive goes first. If simultaneous, always yield to the right. That means the car furthest left should wait until both have passed. If head-to-head: Straight traffic goes before the turner.
Thanks for reading to the very bottom of A.M. ATL. Questions, comments, ideas? Contact us at AMATL@ajc.com.
Until next time.
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