Newspaper Page Text
JULY 27 - AUG. 2, 2023
www.THECHAMPIONNEWSPAPER.com
VOL 34 • NO. 5
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
East Memorial
Drive pop-up to
return
PAGE 2
BUSINESS
Business degree
program designed
for veterans and
military personnel
PAGE 11
SPORTS
Football coaches
want more playoff
wins in 2023
PAGE 12
LIFESTYLE
Pickleball going
strong in DeKalb
PAGE14
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DeKalb County officials call the new East Central DeKalb Community and
Senior Center on Elam Road “state-of-the-art.” Photo provided
County celebrates opening
of new community and
senior center
Businessman
sentenced to
federal prison
for bribes
BY JAY PHILLIPS
JAY@DEKALBCHAMP.COM
L ohrasb "Jeff" Jafari,
the former executive
vice president of
Atlanta engineering firm
PRAD Group, Inc., was
sentenced to five years in
federal prison for bribing
government officials from
city of Atlanta and DeKalb
County and evading taxes.
According to a news
release from the U.S.
Attorney's Office Northern
District of Georgia, Jafari
was sentenced for paying
bribes to two city of Atlanta
officials in exchange for
steering city business worth
millions of dollars to his
company, paying bribes to
a former DeKalb County
government official in an
attempt to obtain county
contracts, and evading
more than $1.5 million in
taxes.
According to the
charges and other
information presented
in court, from 1984 to
2018, PRAD Group was an
architectural, design, and
construction management
firm headquartered in
Atlanta that performed
services for the city of
Atlanta and DeKalb County.
Jafari served as PRAD
Group's executive vice
president and oversaw
PRAD Group's finances.
From January 2003
to February 2017, Adam
Smith was Atlanta's
chief procurement
officer and supervised
purchasing activities and
SEE BRIBE ON PAGE 6
BY KATHY MITCHELL
FREELANCE REPORTER
The Elam Road site
at which DeKalb County
recently cut the ribbon
on the new "state-of-the-
art" East Central DeKalb
Community and Senior
Center had just five years
earlier been a neglected lot
and a favorite spot for illegal
trash dumping, according
to Steve Bradshaw, one of
the featured speakers at the
event and commissioner for
DeKalb County District 4,
in which the new center is
located.
The journey to that July
20 event, Bradshaw said, had
been a long and rocky one.
"This has been a long time
coming. The vote to build this
facility finally came in 2018,
but it was not a unanimous
vote. Some people fought
hard to stop it; but they
could not stop it and they
would not stop," he recalled.
"It was just a vision then and
many things had to happen
out of the spotlight to make
that vision a reality."
DeKalb County District
7 Commissioner Lorraine
Cochran-Johnson, whose
super district also includes
the facility, expressed her
excitement at the opening.
"You can tell what people
care about by where they put
their time and money and
I'm ready to put money into
this project," she said, waving
an oversized blank check.
She said she was ready to fill
in the amount necessary to
complete a trail connecting
the center with Hairston
Park. "And, Steve," she
added, turning to Bradshaw,
"you don't have to worry
about a bus for this facility.
That's already been taken
care of."
DeKalb County CEO
Michael Thurmond called
the event "weighing up
time," a reference—recalling
his upbringing in rural
Georgia—to the end of a day
of cotton picking when the
cotton is weighed to see how
much has been harvested
that day. "My cotton sack is
full," he declared. "In DeKalb
County we love senior
citizens. I love senior citizens
especially because I'm a
SEE CENTER ON PAGE 6
Merry Hills/Toco
Hills annexation
application
withdrawn
BY CHRISTINE FONVILLE
CHRISTINE@DEKALBCHAMP.COM
O fficials announced
that an application
to annex more than
600 acres of unincorporated
county land into the city
of Brookhaven has been
withdrawn.
The withdrawal of the
petition for annexation into
Brookhaven on July 19 came
one day after DeKalb County
commissioners adopted a
resolution allowing county
attorneys to file an objection.
"The withdrawal of the
application by the applicant
ends the annexation process
for this Merry Hills/Toco
Hills application but does
not preclude residents from
making another annexation
application in the same
area," Brookhaven officials
said in a statement.
The applicant, Howard
Ginsberg, said he decided
to withdraw the petition for
annexation "due to some
questions raised about the
application."
At separate meetings
hosted by DeKalb County
officials and Brookhaven
officials, multiple public
speakers voiced concerns
about forged signatures and
fraud related to the petition
that supposedly met the 60
percent method, a statewide
law that requires 60 percent
or more of residing electors
giving written consent and
60 percent or more of the
owners of property within
the area to be annexed
(measured by acreage) also
giving written consent.
Some business owners in
the area, including Herbert
SEE BROOKHAVEN ON PAGE 6
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