County by county news for Tuesday

The $11.2 million project will replace a 1930’s era railroad bridge and a road bridge over Cobb Parkway.

The project will add additional turn lanes at Industrial Dive/Eizabeth Street and increase clearance from 13 to 17 feet under the railroad bridge. Tucker McQueen for the AJC

Diversity awards to be presented Thursday

The annual Creating Communities Awards recognizing county organizations that have fostered diversity is set for Thursday in Marietta. Recipients this year are: the Special Needs Development Group, Foundation Masonic Lodge #592, Piedmont Church and Alpha Kappa Alpha/The PEARL Foundation.

The ceremony begins at 6 p.m. at Piedmont Church, 570 Piedmont Road in Marietta. Information: www.ccrc.cobbcountyga.gov Janel Davis

Ott to hold town hall meeting in Mableton

Cobb County Commissioner Bob Ott will hold town hall meeting on Wednesday in Mableton. Ott will discuss development and road projects, as well as, countywide issues.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the Vinings Estates (Crescent Ridge Clubhouse), 655 Crescent Ridge Trail S.E. in Mableton.

Information: www.cobbcounty.org/ott; 770-528-3316 Janel Davis

MUST Ministries water fixture to get update

Volunteers from Delta Faucet and Marine Plumbing companies will be in Marietta on today to retrofit fixtures at MUST Ministries’ The Extension and Elizabeth Inn, as part of the annual Fix a Leak Week. The work will include installation of more than 100 water efficient fixtures. The water savings is estimated at more than 560,000 gallons of water each year. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cobb Water System, Cobb County-Marietta Water Authority and waterSmart are also partners in the project. Janel Davis

Austell to pay $56,000 for new sidewalk

Austell City Council members voted last week to install a new sidewalk on Cemetery Street.The $56,000 cost will come from the special purpose local option sales tax, or SPLOST. Croy Engineering will install three-tenths of a mile, of sidewalks on Cemetery Street from Bowden Street to Veterans Memorial Highway. Carolyn Cunningham for the AJC

Bottles of water collected for homeless

Bottles of water for the homeless are being collected now through April 1 at the West Cobb Senior Center, 4915 Dallas Highway, Powder Springs.

They will be given this summer by OFH Clothing to help more than 7,000 homeless men, women and children the metro area. A list of more items for the homeless that are collected by OFH, 2120 New Macland Road, Powder Springs may be found at ourfathershands.com/items-needed.html. Information: 770-528-8200 or OFH at 770-222-6775. Carolyn Cunningham for the AJC

GWINNETT

N. Berkeley Lake Road to close for year

Residents of Berkeley Lake, and all motorists fond of cutting through Gwinnett from Peachtree Industrial Boulevard to Peachtree Parkway on North Berkeley Lake Road, are in for a long-term adjustment. Beginning March 19 through Feb. 2013 the road will be closed to through traffic due to the long awaited dam repair required after 2009 storm damage.

Gwinnett County DOT have approved a Traffic Control/Detour Plan available for review online at http://berkeley-lake.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=455. Karen Huppertz for the AJC

Chrysler donates vehicles to GTC

Chrysler has donated six vehicles worth nearly $200,000 to the automotive technology program at Gwinnett Technical College. Students will use the late-model vehicles to gain experience on new automotive technologies. For information on the college’s programs, visit www.gwinnetttech.edu or call 770-962-7580. David Wickert

County awards contracts for road work

The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners last week awarded construction contracts for road and other improvements in Norcross and Sugar Hill. Commissioners awarded a $1.7 million contract to CMES Inc. for adding a center turn lane and sidewalks on Old Norcross Tucker from South Norcross Tucker Road to Guilford Drive/Payton Way in Norcross. The sidewalks will continue to Britt Road.

Commissioners also awarded a $219,457 contract to Triscapes Inc. for sidewalks, curbs and gutters on Johnson Road from Riverside Elementary School to Settles Bridge Park and from the park to Suwanee Dam Road in Sugar Hill. David Wickert

Snellville selects city attorney

Snellville Mayor Kelly Kautz has selected Kevin Tallant as city attorney, replacing interim attorney Stuart Oberman. Subject to confirmation by the council, Tallant’s Cumming-based firm -- Miles, Patterson, Hansford and Tallant -- will charge Gwinnett’s fourth largest city $185 hourly. Tallant, who has represented municipalities including Cumming and Dawsonville, hopes to skirt the mayor and council members’ often contentious relationship. “I know Snellville is going to have a lot of dynamic issues,” Tallant said. Michael Alpert for the AJC

Alzheimer’s workshop in Sugar Hill today

The Benton House Sugar Hill senior living community, in partnership with the Georgia Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, is hosting a Safe Return Emergency Response Workshop today from 6 to 7 p.m. at Benton House, 6009 Suwanee Dam Road, Sugar Hill. The workshop is free. Information: www.bentonhouse.com. Veronica Fields Johnson

Duluth Reads hosts book talk

The Duluth Fine Arts League through their Duluth Reads initiative is encouraging residents to simultaneously read the same book during the month of March. Readers can read When the Finch Rises by Jack Riggs, then meet the author today at the Strickland house in Duluth. Karen Huppertz for the AJC

NORTHSIDE

Commissioners have special meeting on jail

The Fulton County Commission will hear recommendations from heads of the county’s criminal justice system during a special-called meeting Wednesday. In an effort to lower the jail population and come out from under a 2006 federal consent order, the commission has been working with superior and state court judges, the District Attorney’s office, the Public Defender’s office, the sheriff and other departments. The meeting starts at 3 p.m. in the 10th-floor conference room of the Fulton County Government Center, 141 Pryor St., S.W., downtown Atlanta. Johnny Edwards

DOT to hold Ga. 400 meeting in Forsyth

The Georgia Department of Transportation has scheduled an open house in Forsyth County this week to let residents know about its Ga. 400 Express Lanes Feasibility Study. The study is focusing on such potential improvements as tolled express lanes and high occupancy vehicle lanes between I-285 in Fulton County and Buford Highway/Ga. 20 in Forsyth County, a 24-mile stretch. The meeting is set for 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Piney Grove Middle School, 8135 Majors Road, Cumming. Mark woolsey for the AJC

Cherokee schools to have furlough days

All 41 schools in the Cherokee County School District, plus all district offices, will be shuttered Thursday and Friday as the district observes the last two of four unpaid furlough days for the 2011-12 school year. The Cherokee County Board of Education approved the furlough plan in July of 2011 to help offset more than $26 million in state austerity cuts. Mark woolsey for the AJC

Push on to register north Fulton voters

The Fulton County elections office is teaming with the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce to host another in a series of voter initiatives to boost the number of registered voters. The session will be at 6:30 p.m. today at the Doubletree Hotel, 1075 Holcomb Bridge Road, Roswell.

Elections officials estimate there are 40,000 eligible but unregistered voters and more than 33,000 registered but inactive voters in north Fulton County. The keynote speaker for the event is Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

Information: 404-612-7089, 678-471-6767. Patrick Fox

Sandy Springs reopens Morgan Falls park

Sandy Springs has reopened Morgan Falls Overlook Park at 200 Morgan Falls Road. The recreation area had been closed since mid-February to allow for installation of shades over the playground equipment. Shades were fitted over large and small equipment in response to requests from patrons. Patrick Fox

School board meets today for work session

The Fulton County school board will meet today for a work session to discuss pending business and initiatives.

The meeting will begin with a closed-door executive session at 12:30 p.m. at the district’s Administrative Center, 786 Cleveland Avenue S.W., Atlanta.

The public portion of the meeting will begin at 2 p.m. Board members will hear a presentation on Fulton Schools enrollment projections, among other things. D. Aileen Dodd

ATLANTA

New chairman named for children’s shelter

Dr. Kelvin J. Holloway has been named the new chairman of the board of directors of the Atlanta Children’s Shelter .

Holloway is an associate professor in the department of pediatrics at Morehouse School of Medicine and deputy chief of staff at Grady Health System.

The midtown Atlanta shelter, founded in 1986, is currently undergoing a major renovation and plans to launch a new shelter in Gwinnett County. Shelia M. Poole

Soap project packs shipment for Haiti

Volunteers for the Global Soap Project spent Monday loading a container to ship roughly 90,000 bars of soap to Salesian Missions in Haiti.

The shipment will be distributed by the Congregation des Salesiens to residents in Port-au-Prince and surrounding communities.

Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco, which has worked to help people in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.

The Global Soap Project is an Atlanta-based nonprofit that recycles discarded soap from hotels using a process by which the soap is melted and remolded into new bars, then distributed to people in developing countries. Shelia M. Poole

Louis Sullivan to sign books at Morehouse

Louis W. Sullivan, the former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary and a founder of the Morehouse School of Medicine, will sign copies of his book, “The Morehouse Mystique,” today on campus.

Sullivan will discuss MSM in the context of the history of medical education for blacks.

His book includes excerpts from personal interviews with prominent black doctors, as well as with former presidents Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush who share how politics shaped the development of black medical schools.

Sullivan will speak at 7:30 p.m. in the Louis W. Sullivan National Center for Primary Care, 720 Westview Dr. Ernie Suggs

DEKALB

Woman after phone falls into trash chute

Police and firefighters were called to a Dunwoody apartment building Sunday morning to rescue a 19-year-old woman trapped in a trash chute.

The incident happened at the Gables Metropolitan apartments on Madison Drive. According to Dunwoody police, Amanda Still dropped her cell phone into the building’s trash chute as she threw away some trash just before 6 a.m. When Still reached in to retrieve the phone, she fell head first and was stuck between the second and first floors, according to police.

A friend who was with Still called 911. Still was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening. Fran Jeffries

Superintendent’s team to met with parents

The new cabinet for Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson will greet parents at a March 21 meeting of the Emory LaVista Parent Council.

Nine deputy superintendents and departmental chiefs for the DeKalb County School District are expected to attend the event at Druid Hills Middle School, 3100 Mt. Olive Dr., Decatur.

The event begins at 9:15 a.m., with refreshments served half an hour earlier. Ty Tagami

Decatur Farm School recognized

The Georgia Department of Public Health recognized the Decatur Farm to School Initiative as one of its “Partner Up! for Public Health Heroes.”

The Decatur initiative seeks to combat childhood obesity, support family farms and protect the environment. The program has helped to add more fresh produce to cafeteria menus and decrease unhealthy foods at school.

The Decatur program is one of three programs statewide honored through the new “Heroes” program for contributing to the health of their communities. Carrie Teegardin

Decatur Kitchen Garden opens Wednesday

Decatur agreed to a three-year, $1-per-year lease on two acres of land for an urban market garden at the United Methodist Children’s Home.

Officially called Decatur’s Kitchen Garden, its grand opening is Wednesday at the UMCH, 500 S. Columbia Drive, 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.

The garden will be tended by immigrants and lower-income residents under guidance from the Stone Mountain-based Global Growers Network of Refugee Family Services.

Fifty percent of all produce will be offered to DeKalb retail outlets, the other half going to individual growers and food pantries. Bill Banks for the AJC

Commissioners press for I-20 rail project

Three DeKalb County Commissioners recently met with MARTA board members, to emphasize their support for a south DeKalb train line.

The commissioners would like to offer funding recommendations to voters, about how to get the so-called I-20 rail project built.

A penny sales tax up for a vote this summer would raise just $225 million toward the $522 million project and could cover express bus, not rail, service.

MARTA is developing a plan that would include some train service, though no final plan has been presented. April Hunt

SOUTHSIDE

Man found not guilty in murders of two women

A Fulton County jury recently found Anthony Wilder not guilty on all counts in the killings of two College Park women in 2009.

Wilder, indicted for murder, armed robbery and burglary, faced a life-without-parole sentence if he had been convicted, his lawyer, Kenneth Sheppard of Smyrna, said. Wilder and three others were charged with the killings of Lanaetria Butler and Karida Winkler inside their apartment on Godby Road. Fulton prosecutors have yet to try the other co-defendants, including Christopher Varner, who faces a death penalty trial. Bill Rankin

Education official visits Henry school

Henry County High School and officials with Henry County Schools welcomed Jason Snyder, U.S. deputy assistant secretary for school turnaround, and state education officials last week. Snyder was in Georgia for a Race to the Top school conference in Athens and wanted to visit a school that receives a school improvement grant (SIG). Nancy Badertscher

Peachtree City police look for armed robbers

Peachtree City police are asking the public for tips regarding an armed robbery on a golf cart path last Saturday.

The victims were riding a golf cart between Balmoral Village and Village Park in the Braelinn area were approached by two men about 6 feet tall with handguns, wearing all black clothes, at about 8 p.m. The suspects took personal property and the golf cart keys before fleeing on foot toward Braelinn Village Shopping Center.

Anyone with information should call 770-631-2510. Jill Howard Church for the AJC

Jonesboro mock trial team advances to finals

Regional Mock Trial champ Jonesboro High School advances to the state finals this weekend in Lawrenceville. The Jonesboro team has one 11 straight regional titles, six state competitions and two national titles. In mock trial, teams perform the same trial with students posing as attorneys and witnesses, and arguing a fictional case. The state winner goes to the national trial in May in Albuquerque, N.M. Tammy Joyner

Peachtree City library to hold poetry reading

The public is invited to a poetry reading sponsored by the Friends of the Peachtree City Library at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the library, 201 Willowbend Road. Featured poets include Boston University professor Carrie Bennett, author of Biography of Water, and Clayton State University Professor Brigitte Byrd, author of Song of a Living Room. Information: www.peachtree-city.org/library. Veronica Fields Johnson

Peachtree City police will dispose of meds

The Peachtree City Police Department is accepting unwanted prescription medications at its headquarters, 350. S. Ga. 74, Peachtree City. The new MedReturn program is similar to the National Prescription Drug Take Back days but you can now dispose of meds Monday through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Items are incinerated weekly. The program doesn’t take syringes with needles, thermometers, IV bags, bloody or infectious waste, inhalers, medical equipment or hydrogen peroxide. Tammy Joyner