Newspaper Page Text
QUICK FINDER
Business
17A
Classified
?nn
Education
in-inn
Opinion
7fl
Sports
21-23A
CLARKSTON MAY CRACK
DOWN ON SMOKE
LOCAL, 2A
COONTY CEO POSITION
OP FOR GRADS
LOCAL, 9A
DEKALB SCHOOLS
IMPROVE IN RECENT
COLLEGE PREP SCORES
EDUCATION, 18A
The Official Legal Organ of DeKafb County, GA. Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Ciiambiee, Clarks ton, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Tucker and Stone Mountain.
Social
OC
thechampionnewspaper.com
£TheCHAMPION
ist Place
General excellence
Award Winner
Georgia Press Association
'Better Newspaper Contest’
2007. 2009-2015
SECTION A: VOL 25 NO. 46
MAY 12-18,2016
Volunteers join hands with Brannon Hill residents after hours of cleaning up the condominium complex located near Clarkston.
Photo by Travis Hudgons
by Andrew Cauthen
andrew@dekalbchamp.com
T o Clarkston business
owner Manna Samuels,
the severely dilapidated
Brannon Hill Condominium
complex looks “very sad.”
“This looks like a third world
[country] where we just came from,”
said Samuels, an Eritrea native
and owner of Merhaba Shawarma
restaurant. “It shouldn’t look like
this.”
Samuels closed her restaurant
for a few hours to help “to show
the community my support because
most of my friends lived here and
live here. I just want to show my
support.”
Samuels was one of
approximately 150 people—
politicians, community activists,
religious leaders, students and
residents—who banned together
May 7 to begin the cleanup
of Brannon Hill Condominium
complex.
Located off of Memorial Drive
and a few hundred feet from the
Clarkston campus of Georgia State
DeKalb County Commissioner Sharon
Barnes Sutton works on a community
garden in Brannon Hill. Photo by Travis
Hudgons
University, Brannon Hill has been
called DeKalb County’s worst
neighborhood by some.
Several buildings are either
burned or boarded up, and, in some
cases, boards have been removed
and units are occupied by homeless
people. Multiple abandoned cars,
some of which look lived in, fill
parking spaces throughout Brannon
Hill.
“There have been a lot of
problems at Brannon Hill so we are
trying to revitalize this community
and bring everybody together.
This is a beginning,” said Omar
Shekhey, president of Somali
American Community Center.
Shekhey said the next steps
include addressing safety concerns,
removing the debris of burned
buildings and improving the
effectiveness of the homeowners
association.
“We are trying to show the
world that we have pride in our
community,” Shekhey said. “We
are working hard to better our
community.”
DeKalb County Commissioner
Sharon Barnes Sutton, in whose
district Brannon Hill is located, said
the community event was organized
See Brannon Hill on Page 5A
500
DeKalb County Fire Rescue Capt. Josh
Miller wipes tears from his eyes as he
talks about the life of Jason Blalock.
Photo by Andrew Cauthen
DeKalb
firefighter
laid to rest
by Andrew Cauthen
andrew@dekalbchamp.com
T he funeral for a DeKalb
County fireman who died
following a party at Lake
Lanier late last month was held
May 5.
Jason Anthony Blalock,
who was affectionately called
Mookie by his fellow firefighters,
was “a soldier, a fighter, and
truly had a passion for hard
work. He was a worker bee with
a leader attitude,” said DeKalb
County Fire Rescue Capt. Kevin
Cavanaugh of Station 24, where
Blalock worked.
On April 25, “we made one
simple phone call to Mookie
and his phone went straight to
voicemail,” Cavanaugh said.
“This was the beginning of a very
bad nightmare that brought us all
here today.”
Three days later, “the
firefighters from Station 24’s B
Shift assisted Hall firefighters
in removing Mookie from Lake
Lanier,” Cavanaugh said.
“Mookie belongs to us—the
firefighters of Station 24 and
the citizens of DeKalb County,”
Cavanaugh said during the
funeral at First Baptist Church of
See Funeral on Page 5A
64116
1
Q'CHAMPIONNEWSPAPER championnews ^championnewspaper
