About The champion newspaper. (Decatur, GA) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 2, 2020)
LOCAL THE CHAMPION, THURSDAY, THURSDAY, JAN. 2 - 8, 2020 • PAGE 2 2019 LOCAL IN REVIEW JANUARY DeKalb delegation tackles cityhood movements In recent years, DeKalb has incorporated cities such as Stonecrest, Tucker and Brookhaven within the county and supporters of cityhood movements are attempting to add two more. During a DeKalb Legislative Delegation meeting Jan. 5 at Georgia Piedmont Technical College Conference Center, members of the delegation heard from advocates of cityhood movements for Greenhaven and Vista Grove. The meeting was organized by State Rep. Karla Drenner, D-Avondale Estates. Drenner said the delegation wanted to hear from supporters of cityhood movements before the start of the legislative session Jan. 14. Consent decree deadline looms For more than a decade, DeKalb County has been in hot water with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Division (EPD) over violations of the Clean Water Act. In 2011, DeKalb County entered into an agreement with the EPA and EPD known as a consent decree. The decree requires the county to clean, repair, enlarge and maintain its sanitary sewer pipes so sewer overflows are reduced. The deadline to implement changes under the guidelines of the consent decree is mid-2020. In an interview with The Champion, DeKalb County Commissioner Nancy Jester said DeKalb won’t meet the deadline set by the federal court order. “We’re not on track,” Jester said, “not at all. Our obligations will not be met.” FEBRUARY With no takers, Confederate monument could receive contextualization plaque DeKalb County commissioners may decide to use a plaque to explain the origins of a Confederate memorial in downtown Decatur. After months of unsuccessful attempts to relocate the monument, commissioners are expected to vote on language that describes the history of the memorial. “We really need to take advantage of making this a teachable moment and create some way of identifying this monument and letting people know what it really means,” said DeKalb County Commissioner Kathie Gannon. “When people come to look at it, they can see the historical meaning behind it.” The plaque will cost approximately $3,000 and would be placed beside the monument if the monument were to be relocated. “No matter where [the monument] goes, this marker will follow,” Commissioner Jeff Rader said. “This resolution affirms our policy in support of the monument’s removal. We would place this content surrounding the monument so that people will know what we think about it...as well as an accurate historical context for how something like this came to be.” Several protesters have opposed the monument’s location. The monument has been defaced with yarn, paint and feces in the past two years. Decatur police were unable to make any arrests in these incidents. Sara Patenaude, creator of the activist group Hate Free Decatur, said she would like to see the monument removed from its current location but is happy with the county’s action. “I was surprised that [county officials] were willing to call things out so plainly,” Patenaude said. “[The marker] is in line with the historical evidence we presented to them. We appreciate that the county has learned a lot and has come a long way. This is a good step.” Stonecrest residents considering filing lawsuit to remove cell tower Residents living near a newly constructed T-Mobile cell tower are discussing filing a lawsuit to have the tower removed, citing the tower was illegally built on conditional commercial zoned property. The cell tower is located off Evans Mill Road in District 5 of Stonecrest. Councilwoman Diane Adoma, who represents District 5, met with residents Feb. 6 to hear their concerns about the tower and discuss possible solutions. Residents Phillip Kelly and Virginia Pierce-Kelly said they discovered the cell tower being built behind their neighborhood. Pierce-Kelly said she contacted Adoma to find out why a cell tower was being constructed without public notice; however, Adoma said she did not know the cell tower was being constructed. “I had no idea what was going on and that’s how I found out about the tower,” Adoma said. “There is no way something of this magnitude should bypass a councilwoman, a district and a city.” Dunwoody makes 32 sex-related arrests ahead of Super Bowl As the Atlanta area prepared for the Feb. 3 Super Bowl, Dunwoody Police Department conducted a multiday undercover commercial sex trafficking operation that resulted in 32 arrests. “The goal of operations such as these is to first and foremost rescue any children or young adults who are victims of sex trafficking. We also want to remove those profiting from commercial sex trafficking from our streets by putting them in jail,” said Dunwoody Police Chief Billy Grogan. In the operation that occurred the week of Jan. 28, sex-related arrests were for pandering—nine arrests, human trafficking—one arrest, enticing a child for indecent purposes—one arrest, prostitution—19 arrests and pimping—nine arrests. All nine pimping arrests are listed as misdemeanors on jail records. Dunwoody Police Department worked with FBI Metro Atlanta Child Exploitation Task Force and Gwinnett County Police Department to conduct the multiday undercover operation in Dunwoody. “Through our continued participation in the MATCH Task Force, we were able to identify and rescue two victims from sexual servitude. This would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the men and women of the Dunwoody Police Department, the FBI, and the Gwinnett County Police VICE Unit,” states the city of Dunwoody on its website. According to the FBI, 169 sex trafficking related arrests were made in the region during 11 days leading up to the game, putting Atlanta on the high- end scale compared to arrests in other Super Bowl host cities in the past. “From Jan. 23, 2019, to Feb. 2, 2019, the operation’s goal was to raise awareness about sex trafficking by proactively addressing that threat during the Super Bowl and events leading up to the Super Bowl,” the FBI said in a statement. “Sex trafficking is not just a problem during large scale events; it is a 365-day-a-year problem in communities.” SEE YIR ON PAGE 5
