Newspaper Page Text
Page 18A
LOCAL
The Champion, Thursday, June 25 - July 1, 2015
Brookhaven Councilman Bates Mattison (right) speaks with Interim City Attorney Chris Balch.
Brookhaven
Continued From Page 8A
Mayor J. Max Davis.
On May 13, spokes
woman Megan Matteucci
told The Champion that a
city employee filed a com
plaint Feb. 24 accusing
Davis of sexual harassment,
and that Kurrie was investi
gating the incident.
Later that day, the city
released a statement clear
ing Davis of wrongdoing
with Kurrie saying a com
plaint was never filed nor
was there an investigation.
However, a complaint
was filed and an investiga
tion was conducted. Ac
cording to documents and
emails the city sent to The
Champion, both employees
reported the alleged sexual
harrassment to City Man
ager Marie Garrett, and
one employee told Garrett
the incident left her “very
uncomfortable,” according
to an email Garrett sent to
Human Resources Director
Rick Stone.
Kurrie conducted an
Balch
investigation and cleared
Davis.
Following the incident,
the city council at its June 16
meeting passed a resolution
to support transparency and
open government. Accord
ing to the resolution, the city
will abide by four policies
and procedures regarding
access to government re
corders, including, “Every
effort will be made to pro
duce all documents respon
sive to every open records
request.”
At the beginning of the
June 19 special call meeting,
Chase-Williams said, “We
have to learn from our mis
takes and work to continue
forward in the best interest
of the city and all that we
do,” Chase-Williams said.
The city council also
voted unanimously to ask
City Solicitor Tim Tanner to
withdraw his resignation.
Tanner, who works at
the same law firm with
Kurrie, resigned following
Kurrie’s resignation. Both
Kurrie and Tanner work for
Coleman Talley LLR and
Chase-Williams said the
firm initially believed Tan
ner should resign as well.
However, Tanner changed
his mind.
“I talked to Tim at
length and the agreement
now is that if the council
would ask him to withdraw
his letter of resignation, he is
willing to continue on as our
solicitor,” Chase-Williams
said.
Birthday
Continued From Page 11A
retired in the early 1960s,
and since then has been a
doting grandmother, great
grandmother and great-great
grandmother. She even cared
for children who were not
biologically hers.
“I kept everybody’s chil
dren,” Sims said.
Like any 90-plus-year-
old person, Sims has seen a
number of historic moments
in her lifetime and has expe
rienced many events. How
ever, there are two events that
she will never forget. One of
those events was a trip to Je
rusalem in 1995 with church
members from Greenforest
Community Baptist Church.
One of the highlights of her
trip included a camel ride.
“I rode that camel,” she
said. “The rest of the women
were scared of the camel but
I wasn’t scared.”
She was also baptized
in the Jordan River by the
church’s pastor at the time
the late, Rev. Dr. George Mc-
Calep Jr.
Sims also remembers the
times she voted for President
Barack Obama, the first
Black president.
“I never thought I would
see a Black president in my
life,” she said.
“She cried when he was
elected,” Johnson said. “She
has a shrine of him-T-shirts,
tags, everything.”
Sims has birthday let
ters from Obama from the
last three years. This year,
she will receive a proclama
tion from him for her 100th
birthday.
Brothers
Continued From Page 6A
company would tear up his
roof.”
There were two more
victims in the case, an elder
ly couple who paid the Ogles
brothers more than $20,000
for roofing work that was
later valued at only $2,000.
The defendants returned on
numerous occasions without
invitation or appointment,
each time asking for addi
tional payments.
On Nov. 24, 2014, the
Browns returned to their
residence to find the Ogles
brothers on the roof of their
home, again without invita
tion. They called the police,
who had already obtained
arrest warrants for the de
fendants, and they were ar
rested on the scene.
James urges families to
keep a close watch over their
older loved ones.
“We all have to be vigi
lant in making sure that our
parents and grandparents
are not being taken advan
tage of and exploited by
criminals like the Ogles
brothers,” said James, who
hosts annual events for se
niors to combat scams and
schemes. “Far too often we
hear of similar crimes that
involve caregivers and even
other family members who
take advantage of vulnerable
adults.”
Funding
Continued From Page 16A
variety of ways and one of them is to
have an attractive wayfinding sign,”
he added. “What we currently have
is square posts that have been weld
ed up with new sight signs hanging
from them. My personal opinion—
they’re not very attractive, relative to
other cities with wayfinding signs.”
James said the funding will also
be used to hire a consultant firm to
assist with the parking issue in the
city. James mentioned that creating
a parking deck behind city hall is a
possibility.
“We’re not convinced that that’s
an optimal place to have a deck,”
James said. “Having said that, we
don’t know. Part of the funding that
we will ask for would be to hire a
consultant firm, people who have
expertise in how to determine how
large a deck should be and where it
should be.”
James said hiring a consulting
firm would cost between $20,000
and $25,000.
“It’s a one-time opportunity,” he
said.
James also said the city needs to
“better market” the central business
district. He said business owners in
the central businesses district are
suffering.
“One of the reasons they are suf
fering is because of the lack of de
velopment,” he said. “These people
took a chance and they came in and
maintained a business as best as
they could, and we had a lot of turn
over with the businesses. If we were
better able to market the businesses
that are currently here as a destina
tion within the three-to five-mile
area with high-income individuals,
we believe we could increase the
number of people coming to Avon
dale.
“We’re too small of a city to
depend on the people that live in
Avondale to support the businesses
that we currently have and the ones
that we need to draw here,” James
added. “So, marketing is essential
for us.”
James mentioned the arts area in
the city and how it can be used as a
marketing tool.
“We have a vibrant arts area,” he
said. “We’ve talked about this a lot—
what the arts mean to Avondale.
But, we need to be able to publicize
that to people outside of our city. It’s
my personal opinion that we have a
more vibrant arts scene than the city
of Decatur, which is right next door,
but I think [one would] be hard
pressed to find people in Decatur
that recognize that.”
Mayor Jonathan Elmore said he
is in favor of funding the DDA on
“some level” and “seeking out tasks”
to address wayfinding signs and
parking.
“This is one of many discussions
we’ll have about this, but I’m glad
it’s being initiated. It’s long overdue,”
Elmore said.