Newspaper Page Text
QUICK FINDER
Business
17A
Education
18-19A
Sports
21-23A
Opinion
5A
Classified
20A
COUNTY PLANS
TO FILL 1,100
POTHOLES
LOCAL, 8A
I SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER
REFUSES TO RESIGN
AMID ALLEGATIONS
EDUCATION, 18A
CHAMBLEE GIRLS,
SWD BOYS WIN TRACK
CHAMPIONSHIPS
SPORTS, 21A
The Official Legal Organ ofDeKalb County, GA. Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Tucker and Stone Mountain.
mn® The lampion
SECTION A: VOL. 24 NO. 41
ist Place
General excellence
Award Winner
Georgia Press Association
‘Better Newspaper Contest’
2007, 2009-2014
APRIL 9 - 15, 2015
500
The shell of a burned house was leveled by DeKalb County workers as part of a program to rid the county of uninhabitable houses. Photos by Andrew Cauthen
County demolishes blighted house
by Andrew Cauthen
andrew@dekalbchamp.com
For three years, Gerard Dyson
has lived in the Windy Ridge Way
neighborhood in Lithonia two hous
es away from an abandoned, burnt
house.
“It was here when I got here,”
Dyson said.
“It looks like a war zone; it looks
like a bomb fell on the house,” said
Dyson, a veteran. “It’s just devastat
ing. It’s embarrassing.
“Everybody always asks, ‘What
is that house doing up in this nice
neighborhood? Why hasn’t anyone
knocked it down? Why is it taking
DeKalb officials and employees talk to residents in front of the Windy Ridge Way
Lithonia moments before it was demolished.
house in
three years for someone to come
into this community to knock it
down when some other houses
in some other communities and
they’ve already demolished them?”’
Dyson said.
Those questions were answered
early April 3 when county sanitation
workers bulldozed the house into a
pile of rubble.
“To see this go down is a really,
really good thing today,” Dyson said.
The demolition is part of a pro
gram through which the county
goes to court to get authority “to go
onto the property to either abate the
See House on page 15A
LaVista Hills, Tucker cityhood
bills pass General Assembly
by Carla Parker
carla@dekalbchamp.com
LaVista Hills and Tucker
are one step closer to be
coming incorporated after
both cityhood bills passed
the Georgia General Assem
bly April 2.
Once Gov. Nathan Deal
signs the bills, it will be up
to residents in those areas to
vote on whether they want
the proposed cities to incor
porate. According to reports,
last-minute negotiations
were made between the state
House and Senate over a
disputed area in the Livsey
Elementary School area. The
House did not agree with
the altered maps approved
by the Senate State and Lo
cal Governmental Opera
tions Committee that shifted
2,000 residents from Tuck
er’s map to LaVista Hills.
A Conference Commit
tee was formed, and it voted
5-1 to return 500 residents,
along with a Wal-Mart and
a QuikTrip to Tucker, and
1,500 residents remained in
LaVista Hills, according to
reports. The committee also
removed the Medlock and
Mason Mills neighborhoods
from LaVista Hills’ map.
The House passed LaV
ista Hills (HB 520) 112-52
and Tucker 131-33 (HB
515). The Senate passed
LaVista Hills 36-8 and Tuck
er 43-4.
In a released statement,
See Map on page15A
A Conference Committee redrew the boundaries lines for LaVista Hills
(above) and Tucker maps before it was passed in the General Assembly.
64 116
DCHAMPIONNEWSPAPER QCHAMPIONNEWS gCHAMPIONNEWSPAPER ©CHAMPNEWSPAPER