County by county news for Wednesday

Volunteers needed for alcohol survey

The Cobb Alcohol Taskforce needs volunteers to help conduct a community assessment. Volunteers are also needed to participate in the survey.

The survey asks opinions, use and attitudes about alcohol, and is being conducted as part of a statewide alcohol prevention program. The survey responses will be used to help create and evaluate the prevention program.

Participation and responses will be kept confidential.

Information: Catie Ramp, 770-432-0112, ext. 2019; www.cobbatmedia@mopdog.com Janel Davis

Chamber’s networking expo to be Thursday

The Cobb Chamber of Commerce will host its annual business-to-business expo on Thursday at the Cobb Galleria.

The expo is a networking opportunity for businesses to interact with more than 1,500 potential customers, vendors, executives and other business owners.

More than 150 companies will showcase their products and services during the event. A best of show award will be presented to the most impressive booth.

The expo runs from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Galleria’s Exhibition Hall.

Information: 770-859-2320; www.cobbchamber.org/businessexpo Janel Davis

5K to benefit Powder Springs student

The first annual Chasing the Dream 5K Race will be held Saturday to help a Powder Springs college student.

Dream Makers Youth Foundation, based in Smyrna, will be hosting the 8 a.m. race at the Homer Leggett Memorial Park, Silver Comet Trail, 531 Seaboard Ave., Hiram.

Proceeds will help buy a vehicle for Chad Crews, a Chattahoochee Technical College student with arthrogryposis, a rare condition, leaving him with abnormally developed muscles and stiff joints.

Information: dmyf.info/5krace, info@dmyf.info or 678-398-6693. Carolyn Cunningham for the AJC

Shelter looks for homes for animals

Looking for a pet to call your own?

The Cobb County Animal Control Shelter will hold an adopt-a-thon  from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Saturday at 1060 Al Bishop Dr. in Marietta.

Last year, the shelter held three adopt-a-thons placing about 180 pets. Officials hope to break new records with events this year.

The event will include raffle prizes, music, food and local vendors. There will also be a veterinarian to answer questions about pet care and services. The adoption rate is $80. Shelia M. Poole

GWINNETT

Two suspects caught after bank robbery

Two suspects are in custody after a bank robbery Tuesday morning in Duluth, according to Gwinnett County police.

The two suspects allegedly robbed the Wachovia Bank at 3072 Old Norcross Road around 11:15 a.m. and fled, police said.

“Officers got behind the suspect vehicle on I-85 south and pursued it onto Pleasantdale Road, said police spokesman Cpl. Jake Smith. He said the vehicle crashed on the ramp from I-85 south to Pleasantdale Road. Both suspects were caught on foot in the area, Smith said. Police turned the investigation over to the FBI, which will be the lead agency, according to Smith. Fran Jeffries

Public input needed on trail improvements

Gwinnett County is seeking public input for plans to improve the trail system at Yellow River Park near Stone Mountain.

The county will host a meeting on the trail system at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday at the Mountain Park Activity Building, 1063 Rockbridge Road, Stone Mountain. The county has contracted with Foresite Group and Trail Dynamics to develop a new trail plan. Information: www.gwinnettparks.com.

David Wickert

School budget gets final look Thursday

A $1.2 billion budget for Gwinnett County Public Schools gets final scrutiny Thursday night. The second and final pubic hearing on the budget is set for 6 p.m. at the school system’s instructional support center, 437 Old Peachtree Road. It is scheduled for adoption during the school board’s regular monthly meeting at 7 p.m.

The budget, which is down $60.6 million from this year’s spending plan requires two unpaid furlough days and larger class sizes. It also is being balanced by leaving open 585 jobs being vacated primarily through retirements and normal attrition. Nancy Badertscher

Gwinnett schools to graduate 10,000

Nearly 10,000 high school seniors will graduate next week from Gwinnett County’s 12 high schools. Alvin Wilbanks, chief executive officer and superintendent, said this year’s graduating class is the largest and one of the most accomplished. The class includes 10 National Merit scholars, 15 National Achievement scholars, 26 Georgia scholars, 11 Gates Millennium scholars and three Questbridge scholars and 2,050 honor grads.

Brookwood High has the largest graduating class with 779, followed by Peachtree Ridge High with 757 and Mill Creek with 714. Nancy Badertscher

Norcross police get $10,000 grant

The Norcross Police Department has been awarded a public safety partnership grant totaling $10,000 from the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety.

The incentive grant, which will last through September, is for smaller law enforcement agencies that have partnered with GOHS in highway safety initiatives that helped make their communities safer.

With the money, the department bought two solar powered speed notification systems for Mitchell Road and North Norcross-Tucker Road. The systems provide speed notice to drivers as they enter residential areas. Andria Simmons

NORTHSIDE

Court upholds sex predator’s life sentence

The federal appeals court has upheld a life sentence imposed against a man caught in an undercover sting targeting sexual predators. Russell E. Worsham, 45, was arrested outside a Sandy Springs restaurant in 2008 by FBI agents after he arranged over the Internet to meet a woman he thought was the mother of a 7-year-old girl but who was actually an undercover detective. Agents found a spanking tool, crayons and child pornography in Worsham’s van. At trial, a victim testified that Worsham had sexually assaulted her beginning when she was 9 years old. Bill Rankin

Pitts takes aim at tax commissioner

Fulton Commissioner Robb Pitts will try again Wednesday to find out what the county spends collecting Atlanta, Johns Creek and Sandy Springs property taxes. Pitts is looking into Tax Commissioner Arthur Ferdinand’s arrangements with the cities, which pay him personal fees that make him the state’s highest-paid elected official, earning $347,000 last year.

Pitts’ motion to ask the county manager to calculate costs failed for lack of a second earlier this month. In a news release, Pitts accused Ferdinand of double dipping and said charging the fees “borders on greedy.” Johnny Edwards

Update on water projects to be Thursday

North Fulton residents can get an update Thursday, and voice concerns, on a county project that’s installing about 7 miles of water mains and other lines in Alpharetta and Johns Creek. The meeting lasts from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Glen Abbey subdivision’s clubhouse, 3600 Grey Abbey Drive, Alpharetta.

The new pipeline will start at Jones Bridge and Buice roads and end in downtown Alpharetta.

The Kimball Bridge Road section is scheduled to be finished by November, and construction of other sections will start next year. Information: 404-612-7462. Johnny Edwards

Water main break impacts Abernathy Road

Road crews repaired a break in a 12-inch water main Tuesday morning that closed one lane of westbound Abernathy Road near Roswell Road in Sandy Springs.

City officials say the area will be closed again this week as crews lay asphalt over the damaged roadway.

The break occurred late Monday in a mechanical joint recently installed by City of Atlanta Watershed Management. The work was part of a pipeline relocation project required for the Georgia Department of Transportation’s Abernathy Road Project. Patrick Fox

Decision on jail locks not likely today

Fulton Commission Chairman John Eaves says he’ll be out of town for today’s meeting, and the panel will likely put off a decision on whether to go more than $6 million in debt to replace the jail’s cell door locks, costing taxpayers millions in additional interest.

County staffers have suggested increasing a $54.7 million loan, which funded other required jail upgrades.

Many inmates know how to pick the existing minimum-security locks, and it’s one of the lingering issues preventing the county from shaking off federal jail oversight. Johnny Edwards

ATLANTA

Mayor in Paris for urban discussions

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is participating in two panel discussions during the New Cities Summit this week in Paris.

The gathering is focused on to urban development and includes about 800 elected officials, businesspeople, architects, urban planners and academics .

Reed said he accepted the invitation to the summit to strengthen Atlanta’s relationships with nonprofit foundations that work with cities.

It is Reed’s second trip to Paris as mayor.

Reed’s staff said the New Cities Foundation is covering most of the cost of the trip, with Reed paying for some out-of-pocket expenses. Jeremiah McWilliams

3 hurt in West End shootout

Three people were wounded in a shooting Tuesday morning in West End.

The shooting happened shortly after 11 a.m. in the 700 block of Lee Street in the Bank of America parking lot across the street from the West End MARTA station.

Atlanta police Lt. Bryan Paden told the AJC that the three male victims were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, all in stable condition.

He said one person possibly involved was in custody, and police were still looking for one other person. Mike Morris and John Spink

Community law clinic at mall on Saturday

The Gate City Bar Association will host a Community Law Clinic from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday at Greenbriar Mall, 2841 Greenbriar Parkway S.W., Atlanta.

The free event will provide a forum for one-on-one consultations in the areas of bankruptcy, foreclosure, family, and criminal law.

Those who attend will obtain free legal guidance and clarification on their rights and available options from top legal minds.

Gate City is the oldest African-American Bar Association in the State of Georgia.

Information: gatecitylawclinic@gmail.com. Kenneth Musisi

DEKALB

Diverging diamond to open June 4

Motorists will begin using Georgia’s first diverging diamond interchange June 4 if work proceeds according to plan.

The Perimeter Community Improvement District and Georgia DOT announced Tuesday that the interchange, at Ashford-Dunwoody Road and I-285, will channel traffic onto the left side of the overpass to ease access for motorists wishing to turn left onto the freeway. The interchange will close June 1 for final work. Of the 123,515 jobs in the Central Perimeter Market, 88 percent are filled by people who commute to the area. And, of the 65,639 people who live in the market, 79 percent commute out to jobs. Patrick Fox

Man hit, killed by police vehicle

A man was struck by a police vehicle and killed early Tuesday while trying to cross a busy DeKalb County street. Channel 2 Action News reported that the man was crossing Memorial Drive near a Texaco station at West Mountain Street when he was hit by the marked patrol car. A witness told Channel 2 that the man was jaywalking, and that the officer did not have his emergency lights or siren activated. Police have not released the names of the dead man or the officer. Mike Morris

2 schools receive musical instruments

Students at Clarkston High School in Clarkston and Sequoyah Middle in Doraville opened boxes containing $100,000 worth of musical instruments Monday.

The DeKalb County School District credited the donation to the Abraham J. & Phyllis Katz Foundation and The Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation.

The donations were split about evenly between the schools. Ty Tagami

‘Rides of Silence’ to remember cyclists

Bicycle riders will congregate today at the 10th Street/Charles Allen Drive entrance to Piedmont Park and, beginning at 6:30 p.m., will ride 90 minutes to honor cyclists injured or killed on the road. “Rides of Silence” are held nationally, but the Piedmont Park version will partly honor the most visible local bicycle death of late, the death of 53-year-old Paul Taylor on North Decatur Road in Decatur. Taylor was struck by a car on April 30. Bill Banks for the AJC

Stone Mountain CID secures funding

The DeKalb Development Authority recently awarded $20,000 toward the effort to create an economic development plan for a key section of east-central DeKalb.

The money will be added to a $80,000 grant from the Atlanta Regional Commission to the Stone Mountain Community Improvement District for the plan. April Hunt

Jacobs to address Republican groups

The joint meeting of the DeKalb Senior Republican Network and the Central DeKalb Republican Women will be 2 p.m. May 21 at the DeKalb Republican Party Office (3583-G) in the Embry Village shopping center. State Rep. Mike Jacobs will discuss key issues from the recent legislative session, including the upcoming referendum on creation of a city of Brookhaven. The meeting is open to the public . Kenneth Musisi

SOUTHSIDE

CVB: Tourism brought Clayton $1 billion in 2011

Tourism in Clayton County generated $1.045 billion last year, according to new data from the Clayton County Convention and Visitors Bureau. The data also shows Clayton’s tourism products and services generated 30,200 hospitality-related jobs in 2011 which amounted to $1.777 billion paid in payroll. Clayton is home to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, a direct contributor to the county’s tourism. State and local sales tax income generated from county visitors helped saved Clayton resident $1,880.89 per household in 2011, the bureau’s report said. Tammy Joyner

Henry schools puts 2013 budget on the table

The Henry County Board of Education has proposed a $293 million budget for the 2013 fiscal year, a $3 million decline from the current year. If approved in June, this will be the first time in four years that faculty and staff do not have any furlough days. The overall budget is 12 percent lower than four years ago when it was at $329 million. Monroe Roark for the AJC

Fayette residents can chat about transit tax

Fayette residents are invited to a “wireside chat” on the July 31 transportation referendum. Tyrone Mayor Eric Dial will field the June 5 calls which link local elected officials with residents regionwide. The telephone chats will be between June 4 -7 and June 13-14. Residents must register in advance to get reference materials to use during the call. Details: www.wiresidechats.com, or call 404-463-3227. Tammy Joyner

Henry officials tour new emergency center

Henry County officials recently toured the new E911/Emergency Operations Center. The county purchased the 22,500 foot structure and five acres in 2009 for $1.15 million, which was paid entirely with E911 Special Funds.

The total budget, however, is $4.83 million which includes renovations, fixtures, furnishings and equipment. Tammy Joyner

Shaquille O’Neal’s mom to speak at luncheon

NBA great Shaquille O’Neal’s mother, Lucille O’Neal, will speak at the Clayton County Chamber of Commerce’s 7th Annual Women in Business Luncheon on Thursday. The 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. event will be at the Georgia International Convention Center, 2000 Convention Center Concourse, College Park. Tickets: $45 a person; $450 for a table of 10.

O’Neal will host a book-signing after the luncheon. Details: Call, email or logon to the chamber at 678-610-4021 or info@claytonchamber.org or www.claytonchamber.org. Tammy Joyner

Law firm want nominations for heroes

A Peachtree City law firm is accepting nominations through today for its Give Back to Heroes Contest. The Law Offices of R. Shane Smith will give a new television to an individual police officer or police station in Georgia based on testimonials submitted by the public.

The contest seeks stories of “bravery, hope and maybe even a little humor.”

Submissions can be made at www.shanesmithlaw.com/newsletter.cfm.

The winner will be announced May 25. Jill Howard Church for the AJC