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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 VISIT US ONLINE @ THECHAMPIONNEWSPAPER.COM 64116 00001 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 U/e'V S>Ci0l/ @DEKALBCHAMPNEWS