Newspaper Page Text
JUNE 22 - 28,2023
www.THECHAMPIONNEWSPAPER.com
VOL 32 • NO. 52
e CHAMPION
The official legal organ of DeKalb County, EA. Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Uthonia, Pine Lake, Tucker, Stonecrest and Stone Mountain.
504
LOCAL
Doraville police,
GBI search for
missing woman
‘believed to be
in danger’
PAGE 3
LOCAL
Champion
staff
recognized
at press
association
convention
PAGE 8
LIFESTYLE
Clarkston
mother/
grandmother
prepares
for Mount
Kilimanjaro climb
PAGE15
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Decatur restaurateur named
best chef in the Southeast
New MARTA
budget to restore
pre-pandemic
operations
BY CHRISTINE FONVILLE
CHRISTINE@DEKALBCHAMP.COM
A Decatur chef has earned one
of the top accolades in the food
world.
Terry Koval, owner and chef at
The Deer and the Dove and owner
and operator of B-Side Cafe, both
located in Decatur, won a 2023
James Beard Foundation award
for Best Chef in the Southeast.
Koval won the top prize, beating
other chefs from Georgia,
Kentucky, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Tennessee, and West
Virginia.
Each year the James Beard
Foundation, a nonprofit that,
SEE RESTAURATEUR ON PAGE 6
Terry Koval recently won the 2023 Janies Beard award for
best chef in the southeast. Photo courtesy of The Deer and
The Dove
New superintendent of City
Schools of Decatur sworn in
Dr. Gyimah Whitaker is sworn in as the new
superintendent of City Schools of Decatur
as her family stands by her side. Photos by
Christine Fonville
BY CHRISTINE FONVILLE
CHRISTINE@DEKALBCHAMP.COM
City of Decatur Schools officially welcomed
a new superintendent at a swearing-in
ceremony on June 13.
A crowd that included elected officials,
school staff, and community members gathered
in downtown Decatur at the Elizabeth Wilson
Student Support Center to watch Decatur Chief
Municipal Judge Rhathelia Stroud administer
the oath of office to Dr. Gyimah Whitaker and
hear the new superintendent's immediate
plans for the district.
"City Schools of Decatur is a good school
district that will be a great school district when
'all' really means 'all,'" stated Whitaker after
her swearing-in ceremony. "By recentering the
school district on all students, reimagining what
the school district will look like to meet the
needs of all students and creating space for all
students to feel included, this community and
district will reach a higher level."
Whitaker said that her first 100 days on the
SEE SWORN IN ON PAGE 6
BY JAY PHILLIPS
JAY@DEKALBCHAMP.COM
Metropolitan Atlanta
Rapid Transit Authority
(MARTA) Board of Directors
announced on June 8 that
their $1.6 billion fiscal year
2024 operating and capital
budgets include $712.4
million in gross operating
funds and $854.5 million for
capital programming.
A news release states
that the 2024 "budget
supports the resumption
of pre-pandemic levels of
bus and rail service, and the
advancement of large capital
projects, including beginning
construction on the region's
first bus rapid transit (BRT)
line."
Several projects in DeKalb
are slated to receive portions
of the 2024 budget. MARTA
officials will continue work
on the South DeKalb Transit
Center in Stonecrest project
and the Brookhaven paver
station rehabilitation projects
in 2024, according to the
budget.
MARTA will also begin
work on the 1-285 top end
BRT project that was originally
spearheaded by Brookhaven
Mayor John Ernst and other
north-metro Atlanta city
officials. BRT is intended to
increase bus efficiency in high
traffic areas.
Additionally, the budget
states that it has money
allocated for the Clifton
Corridor Transit Initiative -
which is MARTA's proposed
high-capacity transit line that
would connect two existing
heavy rail lines through a
major employment and
institutional corridor in
DeKalb. Key activity centers
SEE MARTA ON PAGE 6
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