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COMMUNITY
PHOTOS BY JOE EARLE
A taste of fine dining
Above, Adrian Porter, left, chef at Shula’s 347 Grill, shares a taste with
Garth Peters of the Buckhead Coalition during the Buckhead Business
Association’s Taste of Buckhead event April 11. Shula’s server Yvette
Ingram, center, and sales manager Veronica Strong-Young look on.
Below, left, Ashley McGaha, chef at the Village Tap, prepares shrimp
and grits. Below, right, Jose Laos, left, executive chef at the Capital
Grille, prepares lobster macaroni and cheese, and bites of beef.
Owners, descendants seek
hearing on cemetery case
BY DAN WHISENHUNT
danwhisenhunt@reporternewspapers.net
The city of Sandy Springs, descen
dants of a Confederate veteran and a
local attorney who owns the veteran’s
grave will soon appear before a Fulton
County Superior judge to determine the
fate of an historic cemetery.
Both sides are asking for a hearing,
but a date has not been set for each to
present their case.
The attorney who owns the proper
ty, Christopher Mills, on April 1 filed a
response to a joint motion for summa
ry judgment filed by the city of Sandy
Springs and 28 descendants of Judge
John Heard. The motion for summa
ry judgment asked that Heard’s family
cemetery be returned to his heirs.
The cemetery is located at 0 Heards
Drive in Sandy Springs, a modest 1-acre
parcel surrounded by million-dollar
homes. More than century before the
land was developed, Heard, a Confed
erate veteran, dedicated it as a cemetery
for his heirs.
The cemetery was acquired in 2006
after it was sold at auction to pay off
back taxes. There’s a problem, though.
Cemeteries are tax-exempt in Georgia.
The cemetery was apparently placed on
the auction list by mistake.
That mistake lies at the heart of the
current legal controversy, a lawsuit filed
because the city of Sandy Springs denied
Mills’ application for a building permit.
Mills wants to build a house on a por
tion of the land that does not contain
graves, according to an archeological
survey Mills obtained.
Mills, who purchased the property
from his in-laws after they bought it by
paying off back taxes on the parcel, said
the 28 descendants had a chance to pay
the back taxes in 2007 and didn’t.
“Mills, through Sandy Springs’ re
sponses to his discovery requests, expects
to present evidence to demonstrate that
Sandy Springs, its counsel of record, and
certain Heards had notice of the Cline
Transaction before the statutory right
expired and did nothing to satisfy the
taxes in arrears,” Mills April 1 response
says. “Further, it is rather dubious that
all 28 Heards claim to have no knowl
edge of Cline Deed in 2007, now sys
tematically mobilized to challenge Mills’
ownership of the property four years lat-
>5
er.
Mills’ claim appears to contradict
emails sent to his in-laws in 2007 by the
attorney representing them at the time.
The emails show the attorney for
Henry and Wanda Cline, Mills in-laws,
questioned whether it was wise for the
Clines to pay Heard-descendant Mary
Ann Eisner $10,000 to give up her
rights to the property. The attorney’s
email suggests the Clines and the neigh
bors were unsure if there were any other
Heard heirs. The 28 descendants came
forward after the lawsuit received exten
sive media coverage.
City Attorney Wendell Willard said
the claim that the city had knowledge
of the Cline’s purchase of the property
has no bearing on the city’s actions in
the case.
“The issue does not, in my opinion,
apply to the city as a defendant as we are
not claiming any interest in the proper
ty,” Willard said. “Our involvement ad
dresses the ability to obtain a construc
tion permit on the property which we
did not issue as a result of the dedica
tion of the property as a cemetery. We
learned of the conveyance by tax deed
when we received a title report.”
Wright Mitchell, attorney for the de
scendants, said the claim isn’t relevant to
the descendants’ case.
“While this may be relevant to the ti
tle issue, it has no bearing on the ulti
mate issue regarding whether the cem
etery has been perpetually dedicated for
burial purposes,” Mitchell said. “At the
end of the day, that is what matters most
in this case.”
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