COBB
School community forum on Monday
A State of Our Schools Community Forum will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the South Cobb Recreation Center, 875 Six Flags Drive, Austell.
All parents and caregivers of students attending a South Cobb public school are asked to attend this forum that is sponsored by We Thrive on The Drive and the State of Our Schools Committee.
Information:
, Monica DeLancy, 770-369-6531.
Carolyn Cunningham for the AJC
Meetings set on proposed penny tax
Cobb County will hold seven public meetings on a proposed 2016 SPLOST starting 9 a.m. July 8, 10 a.m.-noon July 17 and 7 p.m. July 22 at the Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting room, 100 Cherokee St., Marietta. Each of the four Cobb Commission Districts will also have meetings July 9-July 16 in east Cobb, Mableton and Powder Springs.
Information: www.cobbcounty.org or www.cobbSPLOST.org.
Tucker McQueen for the AJC
Battlefield park to hold 150th annivesary
Opening ceremonies to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain will start 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park Visitor Center off Old Highway 41. Activities around the park, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday, will include cannon firing, infantry and artillery demonstrations, civilian and soldier encampments, 24-Gun Battery and ranger-led hikes.
Information: www.battleofkennesawmountain.150.com.
Tucker McQueen
Summer food program needs donations
MUST Ministries needs donations for a summer lunch program for children who get free and reduced lunches during the school year. The faith-based program delivers 6,000 meals daily in eight metro counties during summer months. MUST needs prepared lunch bags, financial donations and lunch and snack items.
Information: www.mustministries.org or e-mail to summerlunch@mustministries.org.
Tucker McQueen for the AJC
Marietta seeks ethics committee member
Marietta is looking for a resident to serve on the city ethics committee that reviews complaints filed against City Council members and determines violations of the city code. Applicants must be city residents and willing to serve a two-year term.
Information: www.marietta.gov or City Clerk Stephanie Guy at sguy@mariettaga.gov.
Tucker McQueen for the AJC
Commissioner seeks volunteers, interns
Cobb County District 4 Commissioner Lisa Cupid is looking for volunteers and interns to serve on her staff.
Various positions will assist with administrative work, communications, community and constituent outreach, economic development and policy research.
Résumés, including email address and area of interest, may be sent to johnathan.warren@cobbcounty.org.
Information: 770-528-3312.
Carolyn Cunningham for the AJC
GWINNETT
Family medical center to bring 40 new jobs
Gwinnett Medical Center announces the opening of the $1.35 million Strickland Family Medicine Center, offering treatment options from newborn care to geriatrics, including maternity care.
The facility will create 40 jobs, five of which will be new resident physicians. The 9,400–square-foot facility, made possible by Clyde and Sandra Strickland, is located on Gwinnett Medical Center’s existing campus on Duluth Highway. The center will provide educational opportunities for residents, medical students and other allied health professional students.
Information: www.gwinnettmedicalcenter.org.
Karen Huppertz for the AJC
College’s accreditation reaffirmed
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has reaffirmed Georgia Gwinnett College’s 10-year accreditation to award baccalaureate degrees.
The college, which expects an enrollment of about 11,000 students in August, was first accredited in 2009. An initial accreditation is valid for five years, and subsequent accreditation is valid for 10 years.
Information: 404-679-4500
Karen Huppertz for the AJC
Celebrate July 4th in Lilburn City Park
Lilburn will celebrate July 4th with Sparkle in the Park 5:30-10 p.m. in Lilburn City Park. Live music begins at 6:30 p.m., fireworks at 9:30 p.m.
A1A, a Jimmy Buffett tribute band, will perform a family friendly concert.
Information: www.cityoflilburn.com.
Karen Huppertz for the AJC
Peachtree Corners awarded grant
The Georgia Department of Transportation roadside enhancement program has approved $50,000 to enhance Peachtree Corners’ gateway sign located between Peachtree Parkway and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.
The sign, built in 2008, is a stone-based monument currently landscaped with pine trees and crape myrtles. It is easily missed by northbound traffic.
The funds will be used for new landscaping to include a variety of flowering trees and roses. In addition, new sod will be added to the front of the sign and a maintenance plan established.
Karen Huppertz for the AJC
Berkeley Lake to charge sales fee
The Berkeley Lake City Council voted Thursday to require a $75 permit for door-to-door solicitation.
Applicants must also submit to a criminal background check and be fingerprinted to obtain the permit.
Applicants are responsible for all fees associated with the fingerprinting process through the Georgia Applicant Processing Service.
Karen Huppertz for the AJC
Quilts of Valor exhibit to stop in Snellville
More than a dozen quilts, which will eventually find themselves comforting U.S. soldiers, will be on display 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through August at Snellville City Hall, 2342 Oak Road.
Quilts of Valor, a nonprofit organization founded in 2003, will display the lap-sized quilts to later be sent to troops serving across the world.
Information: www.QOVF.org.
Karen Huppertz for the AJC
NORTHSIDE
Sandy Springs renews ambulance contract
Rural/Metro Ambulance will continue to provide emergency medical services to Sandy Springs. The Sandy Springs City Council approved a five-year contract extension with EMS Ventures Inc., Rural/Metro’s parent company. Under the agreement, Rural/Metro must dedicate three full-time, 24-hour ambulances and two ambulances in the city for 12 hours a day during peak hours. Rural/Metro also must meet an eight-minute response time on all emergency calls and a 15-minute response time on all non-emergency calls 90 percent of the time.
Kent A. Miles for the AJC
Northside streets, Ga. 400 will see closures
The Hospital Highway Bicycle Ride will prompt northside street and freeway lane closures Sunday.
Ga. 400 southbound between Holcomb Bridge and Northridge roads will be shut down 7 a.m. Portions of Haynes Bridge Road, North Point Parkway and Windward Parkway will be affected. Roads accross parts of Fulton, Cherokee and Forsyth counties will see rolling closures.
Information: ga400century.com
Mark Woolsey for the AJC
Northside state Senate candidates to debate
State Sen. Jack Murphy, R-Cumming, and challenger Michael Williams will square off 7 p.m. July 7 at the Forsyth County Administration Building, 110 E. Main St., Cumming, in a debate for the Georgia State Senate District 27 seat. The runoff election is July 22.
Mark Woolsey for the AJC
Forsyth citizens academy gearing up
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office is accepting applications for its next Citizens Law Enforcement Academy.
The free 10-week course kicks off July 28 at the Forsyth County Public Safety Building, 3520 Settingdown Road, Cumming. The classes are free and open to all Forsyth residents, employees and business owners age 21 and older. Topics covered include traffic stops, use of force, K9 operations and SWAT.
More information: hjplager@forsythco.com or 678-513-5880.
Mark Woolsey for the AJC
Northside 911 seeks accreditation
The Chattahoochee River 9-1-1 Authority, which provides service to Sandy Springs, Johns Creek, Dunwoody and Brookhaven, is seeking accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc.
City employees and the public can offer comment by phone from 1 to 3 p.m. July 21 at 404-843-6615. Written comments can be sent to CALEA, 13575 Heathcote Blvd., Suite 320, Gainesville, VA 20155.
Mark Woolsey for the AJC
Johns Creek will open amphitheater
The Johns Creek Newtown Park Amphitheater will officially open with a ribbon-cutting 7:15 p.m. Saturday at 3150 Old Alabama Road.
The 10,600-square-foot open-air facility is made of stacked stone and Southern pine and is designed to seat up to 440 people under cover, and another 1,000 on terraced grass. The Johns Creek Symphony will play an opening-night concert the same night at 7:30 p.m. It’s the first of three events in the city’s summer concert series.
Mark Woolsey for the AJC
ATLANTA
Free GWTW exhibit opens July 2
“Wilbur G. Kurtz: History in ‘Gone With the Wind’” will open July 2 through April 4, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays, at the Kenan Research Center, Atlanta History Center, 130 West Paces Ferry Road NW.
The free exhibit presents journals, correspondence, drawings and photographs of Kurtz, who guided the film’s production as historian and technical adviser.
Information: atlantahistorycenter.com/attraction/wilbur-g-kurtz-history-gone-wind.
Carolyn Cunningham for the AJC
Patriotic concert at First Presbyterian
First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta is hosting a benefit concert for veterans on Sunday at 1328 Peachtree St. NE, Atlanta.
A potluck supper at 5:30 p.m. will precede the concert at 7. Organist Jens Korndoerfer is the featured performer for the patriotic-themed concert.
Information: 404-228-7732.
Kent A. Miles for the AJC
Author to host personal finance workshop
Author, speaker and personal development coach Judi Mason will host the “Where is the Money Seminar,” a personal finance workshop, at 3 p.m. July 12 at the Atlanta-Fulton County Public Library’s Peachtree branch, 1315 Peachtree St., Atlanta.
M. Olette Etheridge, a local author and financial industry veteran, will join Mason to discuss ways participants can obtain financial freedom and how to secure the funding to make dreams reality.
The event is free and registration is recommended.
Information: www.reinventyoumovement.com
Kent A. Miles
Workshop to focus on safe use of medications
An information session on the safe use of medications will take place at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Harriett G. Darnell Senior Multipurpose Facility, 677 Fairburn Road NW, Atlanta.
Guests will learn at the one-hour workshop how to avoid harm from medication misuse, abuse and errors.
Information: 404-613-8580.
Kent A. Miles for the AJC
DEKALB
School board calls budget vote meeting
The DeKalb County school board will meet at 7 p.m. today to vote on the 2014-2015 budget.
The school board took a first, and unanimous, vote early this month on the budget, which adds new teachers and school safety officers, gives small across-the-board raises and returns students to a full, 180-day attendance calendar.
The expenditure on general operations is pegged at $800,144,877.
Ty Tagami
Superintendent candidates in forum
Alisha Thomas Morgan and Valarie Wilson, Democratic candidates for state school superintendent, are expected to discuss education issues on WAOK-AM at 5 p.m. and then participate in a meet-and-greet and forum an hour later at Gladys Knight’s Signature Chicken and Waffles restaurant at 3752 Cascade Road in southwest Atlanta.
Morgan and Wilson, the top vote-getters in the May 20 Democratic primary, are facing each other in the July 22 runoff. The winner will take on the Republican nominee in the general election this fall.
Wayne Washington
Avondale approves ambitious music venue
Avondale Estates’ commission approved a conditional-use permit application for DeMedici Entertainment to renovate the long-closed Towne Cinema into a performing arts venue.
DeMedici founder Tony Longval said he’ll present mostly acoustic national acts — including jazz, blues, country, rock — and plans on including an upstairs, speakeasy-type piano bar. He anticipates it will take one year to refurbish the 500-seat space, formerly a movie theater from 1938 until the early 1970s.
Bill Banks for the AJC
Healthy Life Expo in Decatur
The third annual Healthy Life Expo, a community event promoting healthy eating and active living, will take place at 5 p.m. Saturday at the field behind Peace Lutheran Church, 1679 Columbia Drive, Decatur.
There will be tours of the community garden, a food sampling table and a produce sale, along with activities for children, exercise demonstrations and health screenings. The event is free to the public and guests are asked to bring a can of nonperishable food for donation to homeless veterans.
Partners in Action for Healthy Living Inc. is hosting the event.
Information: www.pahlga.org or 404.996.6324.
Kent A. Miles for the AJC
Festival, concert in Stone Mountain
Stone Mountain’s 175th anniversary celebration continues with an evening of family friendly activities Saturday in Stone Mountain Village.
The Second Street Children’s Festival at 5 p.m., between East Mountain Street and Manor Drive, will feature a variety of activities for participants of all ages. At 7 p.m. a bicycle parade will lead children and families to the Pavilion for an evening of musical entertainment by the Georgia Brass Band and a community choir made up of singers from participating area churches.
Information: www.stone mountainvillage.com
Kent A. Miles for the AJC
SOUTHSIDE
Fire department to dedicate engines today
The Fulton County Fire Rescue Department will dedicate fire engines at 1 p.m. today at the Public Safety Memorial at Wolf Creek, 3025 Merck Road, College Park.
The two new Spartan Gladiator fire engines, costing $402,000 each, are assigned to Fire Station 5 in Fairburn and Fire Station 23 in Atlanta. The engines will be dedicated to the memory of firefighters Felix Roberts, who died in the line of duty in 2007 while attempting to save a life, and Harold Gibson, who died in 2011 as a result of illness suffered in the line of duty.
Information: www.fultoncountyga.gov
Kent A. Miles for the AJC
Peachtree City warned of dam danger
Peachtree City’s Lake Peachtree dam has been reclassified from a Category II to a Category I structure, further complicating ongoing repairs. The Georgia Department of Natural Resources wrote to local officials last week noting, “a probable loss of life would occur in the event of a dam failure.”
Fayette County is conducting its own breach analysis for a possible appeal of that ruling, which would require more stringent and costly repairs than those planned.
Jill Howard Church for the AJC
Mental health is focus of awareness fair
Mental Health in the African American Community Inc. will hold its first Mental Health Fair at 11 a.m. July 12 at Club E, 3707 Main St., College Park.
The event will draw mental health professionals, community groups and workshop facilitators who will conduct mental health screenings, provide information and educate the public about mental illness and the services available to those affected by it.
Information: 770-873-4496.
Kent A. Miles for the AJC
State approves Ga. 74 repaving
Fayette County has received word that the Georgia Department of Transportation has approved repaving the northern section of Ga. 74.
County officials sent a letter to the state earlier this year noting the road’s deterioration. Work on the portion between the Fulton County border and Aberdeen Parkway in Peachtree City will begin in late summer or early spring.
Jill Howard Church for the AJC
Updated app offers emergency alerts
Fayette-area residents can take advantage of an updated mobile app for severe weather and other emergency notices. The Georgia Emergency Management Agency’s Ready Georgia app includes geo-targeted alerts, including live traffic updates and shelter information.
Go to www.ready.ga.gov/mobileapp.
Jill Howard Church for the AJC
Fayette park committee meeting
The next meeting of the Fayette County Justice Park Committee is 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Administrative Complex meeting room, 140 Stonewall Ave. West in Fayetteville.
The volunteer group is working on developing a park near the county justice center.
Jill Howard Church for the AJC
