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Alpharetta named ‘top city’
Library grand opening
Best in nation for business ►►PAGE 4
Residents engrossed in new books ►►PAGE 10
August 5, 2015 | miltonherald.com | 75,000 circulation Revue & News, Johns Creek Herald, Milton Herald & Forsyth Herald combined | 50¢ | Volume 10, No. 32
Bell Park to reopen in Sept.
Bell Memorial Park is nearing completion. The sod is being placed and fields are done, ready for local teams to begin playing on them. The park is scheduled to open in September.
MILTON, Ga. – Bell Memorial Park, off Thompson Road, is slated to reopen next month after just over a year of construction that has completely remake the space. Work began on the nearly 30-acre park in August 2014. The new park design will have four dedicated baseball/softball fields. There will also be two rectangular fields lined for football and lacrosse. The second field can also be set up as a 200-foot, fifth diamond field. The new park is roughly double to size of the original park. The city bought surrounding land to make the expansion possible. The total cost of the expan-
The new park is roughly double to size of the original park. sion is about $9.9 million. Parks and Recreation Director Jim Cregge notes the new park will be a great addition to the city’s programs. “It’ll be huge,” he said. The park will open in September. —Jonathan Copsey
THE PATH TO CITIZENSHIP »
Milton resident becomes citizen after 29 years in U.S. By JOE PARKER news@northfulton.com MILTON, Ga. - On her 25th wedding anniversary, Milton resident Lisa O’Flynn wanted one thing – for her husband, Conleth, to finally become a U.S. citizen. On the couple’s 26th anniversary, her wish was granted. Conleth O’Flynn, along with 200 others, took his Oath of Allegiance July 24 at the Gwinnett Justice Center. This brought to an end O’Flynn’s 29-year journey toward citizenship. O’Flynn first arrived in this country the summer of 1986 on a work-exchange program
while attending college in Ireland. He and Lisa, an American, met in Boston, married in 1989 and have lived in Milton since 2000. Although films and television portray citizenship as being automatic when marrying a U.S. citizen, this is not factual. According to the Immigration and Nationality Act, marriage to a U.S. citizen allows you to be eligible for permanent resident status (green card holder), not immediate citizenship. After three years of marriage, a permanent resident alien may apply for actualization. “I just waited 26 years,” O’Flynn said.
TUTORING
“It’s always been something I had intended to do,” he said. “My wife said to me, ‘It’d be nice for our 25th anniversary if you became a citizen.’ The country has been good to me, I worked hard and I felt it was time to become a citizen.” For O’Flynn, the decision was not always so easy. “In the early years, one of the things that held me back from becoming a U.S. citizen is you need to pledge allegiance to the U.S. flag and denounce any current allegiances to any other nations or sovereignties. Years ago, I wasn’t ready to do
See CITIZEN, Page 6
DON’T LET YOUR CHILD’S LEARNING STOP JUST BECAUSE SUMMER STARTS.
LISA O'FLYNN/SPECIAL
Conleth O’Flynn holds his certificate of naturalization after being sworn in.
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