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District 5 commission seat election is June 16
See coverage on page 11A
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.
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thechampionnewspaper.com
SECTION A: VOL. 24 NO. 50
TheChampion
JUNE 11-17, 2015
ist Place
General excellence
Award winner
Georgia Press Association
‘Better Newspaper Contest’
2007, 2009-2015
500
Round Two
Burrell Ellis on trial again
by Andrew Cauthen
Andrew@dekalbchamp.com
“Debt, desperation and de
ceit. That is what the evidence
will show this case is about.”
That’s how Assistant District
Attorney Lawanda Hodges be
gan her opening arguments June
9 in the retrial of suspended
DeKalb County CEO Burrell
Ellis.
Ellis is on trial in the
courtroom of Superior Court
Judge Courtney Johnson. He is
accused of strong-arming ven
dors to donate to his re-election
campaign in 2012.
In October 2014, Ellis’ first
trial ended in a hung jury after
six weeks; the jury deliberated
for 11 days.
In the first trial, Ellis faced
four counts of criminal attempt
Suspended DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis is facing a jury for the second time on
corruption charges. Photo by Andrew Cauthen
e re going 10 asr gou 10 re
a verdict-one that speaks the
truth,..and that is rinding the
defendant quiltu oh everu coun
on that indintmen '
-Lawanda Hodges
to commit theft by extortion;
three counts of theft by taking;
two counts of criminal attempt
to commit false statements and
writings; three counts of coer
cion of other employees to give
anything of value for political
purposes; and a count each of con
spiracy in restraint of free and open
competition, and of conspiracy to
defraud a political subdivision.
Before his retrial began this
month, four charges were dropped:
two counts of theft and two of co-
Hodges said that the evidence
will show that, using the help of
then-chief procurement officer Kel
vin Walton, Ellis used vendor lists
to raise money for his campaign.
“The defendant uses power to
punish vendors who refuse to give,”
Hodges said.
When Ellis called JoAnn Wise
of Cyber Inc., an information
technology services company, “He
began the conversation by saying, 1
see your company has done a lot of
work for DeKalb County over the
years. Can I count on you for a con
tribution?”’ Hodges told the jury.
During the conversation, Ellis
“became aggressive and insistent,”
Hodges said, when Wise did not
agree to donate to his campaign.
Ellis allegedly called Wise a few
more times. Wise did not return
the calls because she thought they
were “harassing” and of a personal
nature, Hodges said.
“You will learn that the defen
dant berated her” during another
ercion.
Animal advocates
ask county to build
larger shelter
by Carla Parker
carla@dekalbchamp.com
S ome animal advocates are not
pleased with the design of a
proposed animal shelter and
voiced their displeasure at the June
9 DeKalb County Board of Com
missioners meeting.
Advocates said the county is
designing a facility that is smaller
than the current animal shelter.
“The current design, accom
modating a proposed maximum
221 dogs, falls far short of even the
peak population of 390 dogs at the
current facility,” said Sonali San-
daine, chairwoman of the DeKalb
County Animal Services Advisory
Committee. “Trends show that
while animal adoption has in
creased, growth of animal intake
has far surpassed us. So, we will be
spending $10 million to build the
one shelter for DeKalb for genera
tions to come that would be inad
equate from the start, killing over
100 animals a month just because
there was less space built.”
Two years ago, commission
ers approved a site at DeKalb
Peachtree Airport as the location
to build the county’s new animal
shelter. Sandaine said as work has
progressed, the costs associated
with the construction, materials
and labor have increased since the
estimate of $10 million was ap
proved to fund construction of the
shelter.
“The advisory board’s opin
ion is that the $10 million budget
was never supported by realistic
research,” she said. “As a result,
because of the cap of $10 million,
the administration is now moving
forward with a shelter design that
grossly fails, to me, the current and
future needs of the county.”
Sandaine said questions have
See Ellis on page15A
See Shelter on page 15A
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