About The champion newspaper. (Decatur, GA) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 9, 2015)
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
