Alpharetta-Roswell Herald - February 23, 2023

GEORGIA YOUTH JUSTICE COALITION/PROVIDED

Roswell Housing Authority plans redevelopment

$6 million funding gap remains for Grove Way

By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com

ROSWELL, Ga. — The Roswell Housing Authority is scrambling to find funding for a near-$30 million redevelopment of the 199 Grove Way apartments where more than 30 tenants were displaced last year.

The Housing Authority’s 199 Grove Way in the Pelfrey Pines public housing development consists of 40 one-bedroom units serving tenants who earn below 80 percent of the area median income. The units were also designated for seniors and people with disabilities.

Fighting for equity

A group of about 25 students from across Georgia participated in a “lobby day” with Georgia Youth Justice Coalition on Feb. 16. The organizers and lobbyists focused on the creation of an “opportunity weight” to help low-income students in Georgia schools. Read story, Page 20.

Municipal code changes could strengthen police

► PAGE 4

Cities, county partner up for Supreme Court case

► PAGE 7

New exercise studio personalizes fitness

► PAGE 8

Last March, residents were notified that they would need to relocate by the end of August after the City of Roswell deemed the property structurally unsound. Only one resident remains, but Karen Parrish, chairwoman of the Roswell Housing Authority, said the woman is set to move into a new unit soon.

While the agency commissioned a 2017 engineering report citing several structural issues at the housing facility, Parrish said she wasn’t made aware of them until 2019. The Feb. 14 board meeting was Parrish’s fifth anniversary as board chair.

Since then, Parrish said the

See HOUSING, Page 14

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Man reports firearm aimed at him from car

ROSWELL, Ga. — A Roswell man called the police on Feb. 9 after a passenger waved a gun in his direction from a car as it drove by the Chevron gas station on Holcomb Bridge Road.

The man told police he was smoking a cigarette in front of the gas station when the car passed by, and a passenger shouted out of the window “Who are you with?” then pointed a gun in his direction.

The man said the car was a black 2012 Nissan Pathfinder with a white sticker on the rear passenger side, and that the gun looked like a real weapon.

Police checked security footage and saw the car drive by with the passenger waving a gun around. They said the weapon “appears to pass over” the man who called the police. There was no sound on the video, so officers could not determine if the passenger shouted at the man.

The man told police the car came from the nearby McDonald’s parking lot, so officers also got footage from the restaurant’s drive-thru.

Entering auto thefts reported in Alpharetta

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Alpharetta police are investigating a series of entering auto thefts that occurred downtown Feb. 4.

Police said multiple vehicle burglaries occurred at Fairway Social, 240 S. Main Street, and Foundation Social Eatery, 203 Roswell Street, and were discovered at about 10 p.m. Thieves reportedly broke the windows of four vehicles at the businesses and stole valuables, including purses, wallets, glasses and prescription drugs.

Other reports said an additional vehicle burglary occurred Feb. 5 at the Alpharetta Pappadeaux restaurant on Mansell Road.

Officers responded to the restaurant at about 10 p.m. and were told a customer’s vehicle had been entered through its rear passenger window. A MacBook and two pairs of sunglasses were stolen from the vehicle.

The report indicated the burglary was related to the other incidents in downtown Alpharetta.

No suspects were identified.

Hotel guest loses car he lent to strangers

ROSWELL, Ga. — Roswell police responded to a car theft on Feb. 4 at the Ramada hotel on Mansell Road after a man lent his car to two strangers and didn’t get it back.

The victim told police he was staying at the hotel when two middle-aged men approached him. One man identified himself as “old school.” The pair asked if the man could drive him South to see his brother.

The victim told the pair he was intoxicated and could not drive. The man identified as “old school” said he would pay $40 to borrow the car for an hour. The man asked for personal items from the pair as collateral, and “old school” gave him clothes. The pair left in the car, but never returned.

Police listed the vehicle as stolen and the case remains open.

Texas man arrested for hotel gun threat

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Alpharetta police have arrested a Texas man who allegedly threatened two people with a gun at a local hotel Feb. 12.

Police records indicate the 55-yearold man was arrested when officers were called to the Sonesta Suites on Windward Parkway at 6 p.m., responding to reports a man was waving a gun and pointing it at other guests.

At the scene, officers learned the

incident occurred due to an argument over parking and a trailer hitch attached to one of the victim’s vehicles. Witnesses said the suspect became irate after seeing two guests had a large trailer hitch, with a luggage carrier, blocking a portion of the hotel’s sidewalk.

The suspect allegedly yelled at the victims, telling them to take the luggage carrier and trailer hitch off. When they refused, he brought out a saw and began sawing at the trailer hitch, the report said.

When the victims tried to stop him, the suspect pulled out a handgun and pointed it at them several times. After police arrived, the suspect surrendered the gun and allegedly admitted pointing it at the victims, because he “had too much to drink.”

The man was arrested and charged with pointing a gun at another and criminal trespass. He was taken to the North Fulton County Jail in Alpharetta.

Construction worker reports attack by crew

ROSWELL, Ga. — A construction worker told police his construction crew assaulted him and the man they work for Feb. 4 after the workers were not paid $1,400 for a job they completed.

He said the construction crew found out the man was at their coworker’s house on Belmont Drive. The construction worker said four men and one woman, all a part of his crew, arrived at the house and immediately started attacking the man who had not paid them.

When the construction worker tried to intervene, he said they attacked him too. Police said the worker had visible injuries to his face.

There were other people at the location who tried to calm the situation, to no success. The construction worker said the tenant of his home came outside with a gun in hand, and his coworkers quickly got back in the car and left.

All crime reports published by Appen Media Group are compiled from public records. Neither the law enforcement agencies nor Appen Media Group implies any guilt by publishing these names. None of the persons listed has been convicted of the alleged crimes.

Alpharetta considers adding offenses to city code

Court could decide cases away from Fulton County

By SHELBY ISRAEL shelby@appenmedia.com

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — The Alpharetta City Council discussed adding several criminal offenses to its city code, which would allow municipal prosecution rather than sending offenders to the Fulton County court system.

Alpharetta City Solicitor Kelsie Mattox submitted the proposal to the City Council at its Feb. 20 meeting. The item was originally included as a first reading, but Mayor Jim Gilvin said it had been changed to a workshop item.

Mattox said the amendment would not replace the way felonies are handled, which would still be sent to Fulton County for prosecution.

Mattox and Director of Public Safety John Robison said the amendment would give Alpharetta Police Department officers more discretion in determining which cases are worthy of a felony prosecution.

“Ultimately right now, Fulton County and their backlog and the

cases that they’re seeing, a lot of the felonies that go down there aren’t even being prosecuted as felonies,” Mattox said. “Especially

when it’s a first-time offender, or a situation where they just don’t have the resources to prosecute them effectively.”

The ordinance would amend Article 1 of Chapter 30 of the city code, and it would address destruction of property, defacing buildings, unauthorized entry of property, creating hazardous or offensive conditions, keeping a disorderly house, making false representations and furnishing alcohol to a minor.

Councilman John Hipes said he was concerned that the amendment would overstep the boundaries of the city’s charter, which mandates that felony cases are heard in the state courts.

Hipes also said unauthorized entry of occupied property is the definition of a burglary, and destruction of property is a felony offense if the amount is over $500, which would make the city ineligible to handle the prosecution of such offenses.

Councilman Doug DeRito said he was uncomfortable with the city being responsible for crimes that Fulton County or the state had failed to prosecute, and he said was concerned with the additional cost to taxpayers if it is adopted.

“I do believe there’s some good ones in here that are clearly misdemeanor under our charter, and we can enact them,” Hipes said. “I’m just going to say from my viewpoint, we’ve bitten off more than we can chew with some of this stuff, and I

don’t want to pass something that we’re not legally able to pass.”

City Attorney Melissa Tracy said her office will continue to work with Mattox to address the council’s concerns before the ordinance’s first reading.

Council approves mid-year budget adjustments

Councilmembers unanimously approved mid-year budget amendments for the 2023 fiscal year, including a $288,273 increase to local option sales taxes and several increases to department budgets.

At the City Council January planning retreat, Finance Director Tom Harris said the city’s legal services handled by Jarrard & Davis would require an additional $750,000.

The anticipated budget increase for legal services has reduced $400,000, with councilmembers approving a $350,000 increase to the $750,000 budget at the Feb. 20 meeting.

Councilmembers granted the Public Safety Department an additional $51,340 to its $36.7 million budget.

The council also approved an additional $826,336 for Recreation, Parks and Cultural Services, making its amended budget $12,629,527 for the fiscal year.

Disorderly House

Alpharetta city officials are considering an ordinance that would allow various offenses to be prosecuted in municipal court rather than sending cases to Fulton County. One section outlaws “a disorderly house.” It then stipulates that a disorderly house means a place where “conduct occurs in violation of law or ordinances relating to,” the following things:

• Alcohol

• Gambling

• Prostitution

• sale, possession, or use of drugs

• disorderly conduct

• public nuisance

• “Any other unlawful conduct or pattern of unlawful conduct pursuant to city ordinances.”

SHELBY ISRAEL/APPEN MEDIA

Alpharetta City Solicitor Kelsie Mattox and Director of Public Safety John Robison address the City Council at its Feb. 20 meeting. Mattox presented an ordinance that would allow various offenses to be prosecuted in municipal court and grant more discretion to city police.

See CODE, Page 16

Alpharetta mayor delivers State of the City Address

By SHELBY ISRAEL shelby@appenmedia.com

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Alpharetta Mayor Jim Gilvin reflected on the city’s past, present and future in his 2023 State of the City Address Feb. 14.

In his fifth address since becoming mayor, Gilvin told a crowd of close to 140 assembled at the Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta that the past decade has made Alpharetta whole, with amenities, entertainment and business destinations for residents and visitors to enjoy.

Even so, the mayor said, work must continue to reinvigorate the once prosperous North Point area, which has declined since the advent of major commercial, entertainment and residential centers like City Center and Avalon.

“We’ve watched Alpharetta evolve,” Gilvin said. “But even though we’ve seen it, sometimes we forget about it. We take it for granted, what we have in this community, and so today, I want us all to sit and think how blessed we are and appreciate what we have because it wasn’t always this way.”

Gilvin said before the developments downtown, there were few restaurants and little to do. Residents of the city would often leave town to find entertainment.

Through understanding and cooperation in the community and the city government, as well as development in the private sector, Gilvin said Alpharetta became the city that it is today.

Gilvin said the city’s foundations began with its schools, its safety and its appeal to technology companies, but it wasn’t until 2012 that the constituency really wanted more out of the community.

“But we were missing a lot of things that we really wanted in our city,” Gilvin said. “One of them was just a place to go out and gather, to have events, to have fun, to come together as a community. We really didn’t have those types of spaces, and so we started looking at how we could do that.”

Gilvin reflected on city developments around this time that fostered community involvement, including the new City Hall, the Alpharetta Library, the downtown parking decks, the Town Green and Brooke Street Park.

The city has spent more than $100 million from taxpayers to fund downtown, road projects and parks, Gilvin said.

The mayor also discussed upcoming

projects, including the 25-acre master development The Gathering on Haynes Bridge Road. and Continuum, a 51acre mixed-use project on Windward Parkway.

He emphasized the city remains committed to North Point redevelopment, and while the district has suffered two failed developments recently, the area still has major potential. Earlier this month, the City Council approved a $200,000 grant application for improvements in the area. Late last year, the council approved plans for the North Point Streetscape Project, which will redesign the roadway from six to four lanes, promoting pedestrian-friendly amenities and ties to the Big Creek Greenway.

Now in its 12th year, the State of the City Address is sponsored by the Alpharetta Business Association. In addition to the crowd of business and civic leaders, the morning event drew members of the Alpharetta City Council, Roswell Mayor Kurt Wilson, Johns Creek Mayor John Bradberry and Milton Mayor Peyton Jamison.

Gilvin said he is convinced and enthusiastic that Alpharetta’s best days are ahead, and he looks forward to the next 10 years in the city.

“There are so many great things going on in this community, and we continue to look for more,” Gilvin said.

SHELBY ISRAEL/APPEN MEDIA

Alpharetta Mayor Jim Gilvin speaks at the Alpharetta Business Association’s 12th annual State of the City Address Feb. 14 at the Atlanta Marriott Alpharetta. Gilvin credited developments like Avalon and City Center with increasing community involvement. He went on to discuss ure projects like the 51-acre Continuum.

Sewer work delays Webb Bridge Park turf replacement

By SHELBY ISRAEL shelby@appenmedia.com

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — The artificial turf replacement at Webb Bridge Park has been delayed until construction of a new sewer system is completed.

Projects Manager Kurt Kirby told the Alpharetta Recreation Commission at its Feb. 14 meeting that the project has been divided into two phases, with the sewer replacement taking priority.

After the design, procurement and installation processes of the sewer are finished, the turf can be replaced, Kirby said.

Alpharetta Recreation and Parks Director Morgan Rodgers said the project was split into two parts because the city ruled that the sewer replacement is an infrastructure project rather than a part of the turf replacement program.

At the City Council’s planning retreat in January, Rodgers told councilmembers the cost of the upper field synthetic turf replacement had increased from $1 million to $1.2 million.

At the meeting, Rodgers also said the

failed septic system at the soccer field would require an additional $875,000 to connect the field to the Fulton County sanitary sewer system.

The Alpharetta Public Works Department submitted a capital project request for the 2024 fiscal year for the new sewer

connection. At the retreat, Mayor Jim Gilvin said the project is worthy of a midyear budget adjustment.

Rodgers said the department’s goal is to install a sewer line that will one day connect the baseball restrooms with the maintenance shop to prevent the same thing from happening to the baseball field, which also uses a septic system.

“The plan is to put it in a capital improvement plan in the next year or two and take care of that,” Rodgers said. “We

won’t forget about that because we don’t want to go through this again.”

Kirby also said construction of the new maintenance facility at Wills Park is in its final stages, and he expects it to be completed by mid-March.

The project cost, originally approved in spring 2022, saw a 23 percent increase after the City Council approved a $123,000 change order at its Jan. 17 meeting, raising the facility cost to $802,500.

Recreation Commissioner Jeremy Scott said the Wacky World 2.0 project has gained momentum recently.

He said the project will have its official design day March 28 at Alpharetta Elementary School, which will allow students to share their wishes for the playground with consultants from the project’s vendor Play by Design.

That evening, Scott said, the conceptual design chosen by the students will be shared with the community.

Community Services Manager Amanda Musilli told commissioners the Community Services Division has begun preparations for the upcoming Taste of Alpharetta, including digital ticketing options and incentives for restaurants to participate.

The event will run from 5-10 p.m. May 11 in downtown Alpharetta.

School system offers guidance on bullying

ATLANTA — As part of a “Parent Safety Toolkit,” the Fulton County School System listed facts and tips on bullying for parents and children.

Bullying is distinctly different from disagreements between peers or aggressive behaviors between siblings or current dating partners and can be characterized by intentional and repeated behaviors that often have a power imbalance.

Bullying can take many forms, including direct and indirect bullying. Examples of direct bullying are verbal abuse or physical aggression, while direct bullying might be name calling, social isolation, defamation and rumor spreading. Bullying can also take the form of cyberbullying, which is any type of bullying carried out through electronic media.

Bullying can leave a lasting impact on victims, perpetrators and bystanders into adulthood, affecting them psychologically, socially, physiologically and academically.

Bullying involves a power differential between the bully and the victim that is based on real or perceived factors and

often happens to vulnerable student populations, like LGBTQ+ youth, students who have a physical, mental, or intellectual disability, and students perceived as “different” due to weight, clothing or socioeconomic status.

Although bullying is pervasive and can have many effects, there are things that can be done to address these behaviors.

Parents can model and teach respectful behavior systematically; develop, implement and enforce antibullying policies; recognize bullying as a mental health and relationship issue; use a comprehensive approach to address bullying; teach responsible use of technology; and provide support to students who might be marginalized.

Meanwhile, children can report instances of bullying to adults; address bullying with bystanders by stressing the importance and responsibility to stop harassment and intimidation; show kindness to all students; reach out to students who are being bullied; and stand up to bullying if the situation is safe.

SHELBY ISRAEL/APPEN MEDIA

Community Services Manager Amanda Musilli shares updates on Taste of Alpharetta and Old Rucker Farm with the Alpharetta Recreation Commission Feb. 14.

Alpharetta, Milton, Forsyth support Gwinnett County in zoning case

By SHELBY ISRAEL shelby@appenmedia.com

ATLANTA — The Cities of Milton and Alpharetta and Forsyth County have joined hands in support of a Gwinnett County appeal to the Supreme Court of Georgia.

Ken Jarrard, who serves as city attorney for both Milton and Alpharetta and county attorney for Forsyth County, submitted an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, brief that supports Gwinnett County’s appeal of lower court decisions.

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the county’s support of the amicus brief Feb. 2, followed by the City Councils of Milton and Alpharetta Feb. 6.

The outcome of the appeal could affect each government’s decisions to regulate land, as well as the appeals process for denied zoning applicants.

Under sovereign immunity, local zoning boards are exempt from damage claims that result from a zoning denial.

However, a recent Court of Appeals decision opens the door for inverse condemnation claims, meaning local governments could be held liable for

monetary damages.

The Jan. 24 appeal, Gwinnett County v. Schroeder Holdings LLC et al., seeks to clarify whether the role of local zoning boards is legislative or adjudicatory.

In a draft of the amicus brief submitted by Jarrard, he said precedent cases hold that local zoning boards are adjudicatory.

Gwinnett County’s appeal further addresses the process of appealing a local zoning board’s decision. In the draft brief, Jarrard writes that according to precedent cases, denied applicants are required to submit a formal petition to the courts due to the adjudicatory nature of the boards.

Schroeder Holdings submitted a 100-acre rezoning application in May 2019. The company had said the land had no “reasonable economic use as currently zoned.”

After the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners denied the rezoning application, the company filed suit against the county.

A state trial judge ruled in favor of the county, arguing that by failing to name the Board of Commissioners as a respondent in the suit, Schroeder Holdings and the other filing parties did not follow procedure. The court

further ruled that the county had acted in its quasi-judicial capacity in the denial.

Schroeder then appealed the decision. The Court of Appeals ruled Jan. 5 in Schroeder’s favor, stating that zoning boards can act in a legislative capacity, which does not require a certiorari review.

The Court of Appeals’ decision also allows Schroeder to pursue an inverse condemnation claim, which refers to a property owner’s ability to sue a government for taking private property without compensating the owner.

“This is a brief where we’re not a party to the case,” Jarrard said at the Feb. 2 Forsyth County commission meeting. “But the legal issues involved, to specifically include the specter of inverse condemnation damages in a zoning case, is of such importance, I believe, to Forsyth County as well as other local governments that we need to ensure that we educate the court as best as we can to give us some guidance on this issue.”

Gwinnett County Attorney Erik J. Pirozzi said in the county’s Jan. 24 appeal the opportunity for inverse condemnation claims would be disastrous for all counties and

municipalities in Georgia and threaten to bankrupt local governments involved in such zoning disputes.

“The consequences would be severe, and result in not only threatening the coffers of every local government,” Pirozzi said in the appeal, “but would also deter them from properly exercising their police powers in zoning cases for fear of being exposed to money damages, resulting in great harm to the health, safety, morals, and general welfare of the public, and there would be many other grave consequences as well.”

Gwinnett’s appeal is still under review by the state Supreme Court.

Alpharetta-Roswell Herald | February 23, 2023

Exercise Coach Alpharetta personalizes fitness

By SHELBY ISRAEL shelby@appenmedia.com

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — When Eric Roberts lost his job in 2019, he was forced to reimagine what he wanted to do with his life.

“I was just kind of trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and I was so glad to be back in Georgia,” Roberts said. “I was so glad to be back in Alpharetta that I absolutely thought, you know, I want to do something locally, and I’d always wanted to provide jobs.”

Roberts, a Macon native, spent his career traveling around the United States and Canada. After an opportunity relocated him and his wife to Georgia, Roberts opened The Exercise Coach Alpharetta in February 2021 after a year of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The studio, located in Suite 800 at 735 North Main St., offers customers two 20-minute sessions a week, where they work one-on-one with a coach to find a personalized routine that works for them.

Customers exercise on the studio’s proprietary Exerbotics equipment, which analyzes the user’s minimum and maximum force to tailor the experience. The machine, Roberts said, learns something new about a customer every time they use it.

The display on the equipment shows a range for each user. Roberts said the goal is to keep the line within the shaded area.

Rather than doing 20 reps, he said, a user will do between four and eight intense reps, which loads the body’s muscles and burns energy. With each experience, workouts get progressively harder along with the customer’s

individual pace.

Roberts, 54, said he had never enjoyed exercising, but a longtime friend introduced him to the studio’s Dunwoody location. There, despite initial skepticism, Roberts said he found a love of fitness, which he wanted to share with the community.

“And when I started to do it and I fell

in love with it, I then signed the deal,” Roberts said. “It not only meets the need of what I had wanted to do is to bring jobs locally, but it’ll allow me to work out with a coach because I still work out to this day with my own coaches.”

He said his father, who owned a convenience store when Roberts was growing up, often spoke of the pride he

had for his business that gave him the ability to give back to the community.

The studio employs five coaches who build relationships with customers to provide a customized experience beyond the equipment, Roberts said. Many of the studio’s customers, he said, are

See FITNESS, Page 9

SHELBY ISRAEL/APPEN MEDIA

The Exercise Coach Alpharetta employs five, including, from left, owner Eric Roberts, Studio Manager Roxanne Foster, and coaches Joe Dougherty and Justin Phillips. Coaches at the 735 North Main St. studio work individually with clients to provide a personalized fitness experience.

I was so glad to be back in Alpharetta that I absolutely thought, you know, I want to do something locally, and I’d always wanted to provide jobs.

ERIC ROBERTS, owner, The Exercise Coach

Fitness:

Continued from Page 8

retired or live lifestyles that leave little time for exercise.

“We have a lot of pilots that come to us,” Roberts said. “We have a lot of retired people that come to us. We also have younger people as well, but it really is for that person that’s on the go, getting that full workout and not having to spend an hour in the gym and walking out of there and not feeling like you’ve just been attacked in any way, shape or form.”

Roberts also said the studio is a nojudgment zone that has no mirrors, and it lacks the atmosphere that many gyms have.

Before opening the studio, Roberts worked in the insurance and energy efficiency industries. While he still does some consulting work on the side, Roberts said The Exercise Coach Alpharetta is his passion.

Beyond providing employment opportunities, Roberts said seeing how his studio has improved his customers’ lives is a rewarding experience. He described himself as a customer and the owner, and working out alongside patrons gives him the opportunity to find ways to improve the business.

Part of the personalized experience,

The Exercise Coach Alpharetta Studio Manager Roxanne Foster uses the 735 North Main St. studio’s proprietary Exerbotics abdominals and back machine Feb. 16. The user’s goal is to keep the yellow line within the green shaded range, which will adjust in the next workout based on the user’s performance.

Roberts said, is ensuring that customers get their money’s worth. He said the studio has been successful, and 10 percent of his customers have been there since day one.

The Exercise Coach has five other locations in Georgia. After his experience

with the Alpharetta studio, Roberts said he hopes to open another in Cumming, Woodstock or Canton in the next year and a half.

“It’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever experienced,” Roberts said.

The studio stops by the North Main

Street Market at Alpharetta, which takes place in the parking lot in front of the studio, on Wednesdays from 3:30-6:30 p.m.

The Exercise Coach Alpharetta is open weekdays 6 a.m.-8 p.m., and Saturdays 8 a.m.-2 p.m.

SHELBY ISRAEL/APPEN MEDIA

Youth and their mental health: meeting our students where they are

Brought to you by - Rachel Newcomer, Director of Development at Summit Counseling Center

While the pandemic is in the rearview mirror for many, we are still riding the wave of challenges brought on by Covid-19 with specific impact on our youth. Recent studies have shown that children are facing a variety of problems including anxiety, depression, impulsivity, sleep problems, and beyond (National Library of Medicine). If left untreated, research tells us that these symptoms can lead to adverse consequences including drug and alcohol abuse, violence or self-destructive behavior, low educational attainment, and lower rates of employment in adulthood (2023 Voices of Georgia Children Factbook). Additionally, suicide rates among youth are once again on the rise, with suicide being the 3rd leading cause of death for individuals 3-17 in Georgia (2023 Voices of Georgia Children Factbook).

These staggering statistics point to the vital need for mental health services in our schools. School board members nationwide consider student mental health the most pressing issue facing schools and students today, according to a new national survey of school board members commissioned by Mental Health First Aid USA. In our state, 45% of children aged 3-17 struggle to, or are not able to access needed mental health services due to the many barriers. (2023 Voices of Georgia Children Factbook).

By partnering with local public and private schools in our community, Summit Counseling Center addresses many of the

mental health challenges facing youth today. Through Summit OnSite, we currently have therapists in 31 schools providing therapy to students on a daily basis. This program aims to meet each child where they are – physically at their schools, and financially through subsidized sessions – to ensure they have access to the support they need and otherwise may not receive.

As a nonprofit counseling center, The Summit’s school-based program is one of the many ways we provide hope, healing, and restoration to our community. At our core, we strive to create a community where everyone has full access to professional, integrative mental health services without the barriers of affordability, accessibility, or stigma. To learn more about our services, visit us online at www.summitcounseling.org

We invite you to join our mission by attending or sponsoring our 8th annual Summit Gala: A Hope Full Experience on Saturday, March 25th at The Hotel at Avalon. Each year at our gala, hundreds of community leaders and Summit supporters gather to celebrate and reflect on how far we’ve come, share the joy and generosity of our community, and express our continued commitment to support mental wellness. Funds raised at this event help subsidize counseling for children, adults, and families in our community.

To learn more about attendance and sponsorship opportunities for our gala, please visit www.summitcounseling. org/gala or contact Rachel Newcomer, Director of Development, at rnewcomer@ summitcounseling.org.

Shingles shot savings

Brought to you by- Jay Looft, Senior Source Medicare

I wrote about Medicare coverage on the Shingles Shot Vaccine several years ago, but beginning this year coverage of the vaccine has changed.

Prior to 2023, the Shingles Shot was subject to deductibles and copays, and was placed into higher drug tier levels. However, due to the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, beginning this year the Shingles Shot will be covered by Medicare Part D plans for $0 cost.

This is exciting news!

So, whether you are on a Medicare Stand-Alone Prescription Drug Plan (typically paired with Original Medicare and a Medicare Supplement) or the “all in one” Medicare Advantage plan (through private insurance companies), the cost for the Shingles Shot will be $0!

You can get the Shingles Shot at your in-network local retail pharmacy or your doctor’s office. If you don’t have any form of Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage, the Shingles Shot will cost around $200

using a discount code from one of the popular prescription drug discount websites.

If you need help navigating your Medicare Prescription Drug Plan options, or just have questions, please give us a call or text us at (770) 913-6464 or visit our website at www.SeniorSourceMedicare.com to send us a message.

Medicare 101 Educational Workshop Coming Soon!

Within the next several weeks we will begin getting the word out about upcoming dates and times on our Medicare 101 Workshops.

Whether you are new to Medicare, or simply looking for a refresher course, we would like to invite you to attend. We take the word “Educational” to heart, meaning no sales talk, just the nuts and bolts of Medicare and how it pieces together. We will be communicating these dates and times in the newspaper, but also through our blog. Sign up to receive our blog updates at www. SeniorSourceMedicare.com/Blog

Brought

to You by Home Helpers of Alpharetta and North Atlanta Suburbs

While February brings thoughts of those we love and Valentine’s Day cards, the best gift of all is to remember it’s also American Heart Month. Heart disease is the leading cause of hospitalization for those over age 65 and is still the leading cause of death in this country. Over 800,000 deaths a year are due to cardiovascular disease. The good news is it’s largely preventable, so let’s review how to improve and maintain your heart health.

Monitoring your blood pressure is a key indicator of where you stand with your heart health. Yet only 48 per cent of people aged 50 to 80 who take medication or have a health condition affected by high blood pressure (or hypertension) monitor it on a regular basis. Preventing hypertension lowers your risk of heart disease and stroke. So setting a regular schedule and getting a blood pressure monitor you can learn to use at home is the start of knowing the numbers for your heart health journey.

Eating a healthy diet with a variety of food with potassium, fiber, protein, and importantly is lower in salt is critical. Flavor your food using more spices, eat salads and steamed vegetables. Select grilled poultry or fish and avoid heavy sauces, salad dressings and fats. This will help you get to or keep a healthy weight.

Staying physically active and reducing stress comes next. Moderate walking or other forms of physical exercise can do wonders. While 150 minutes of moderate activity a week is recommended, be sure to check with your doctor about forming

a personalized plan of action and regular visits that are right for your current health status. Social isolation can also impact your stress levels, so staying in touch with friends, community groups and family is an important part of the picture.

Sleep is emerging as an ever increasing factor in heart health. It keeps your blood vessels healthy, and not getting enough sleep on a regular basis correlate to increased rates of stroke, high blood pressure and heart disease. Aim for a regular schedule and seven to eight hours of sleep.

Stop smoking and be careful about alcohol consumption for a healthy heart. So, if this is an issue, monitor your use and start a plan to cut back.

At Home Helpers, we know how important a skilled and well-matched Caregiver is to helping an older loved one maintain their heart health. Whether it’s making sure a moderate walk can be done without fear of a fall risk, regularly monitoring blood pressure and vital signs, following a nutritious diet, keeping a regular sleep schedule, or creating social bonds to battle loneliness, we strive to make each day the best it can be.

Our heart centered Caregivers can assist with all personal care, help around the house, safely speed up recovery from surgery, or provide specialized care for Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Parkinson’s, etc.

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It’s time to focus on heart health

PROVIDED

Sunshine on healing skin — one step forward, two steps back?

The most common pre-cancerous lesion dermatologists treat is the actinic keratosis or “AK.” These rough growths are often frozen with liquid nitrogen and gone in a zap. Sometimes, however, a patch of skin is covered with precancerous lesions. One almost doesn’t know where to start. For such a patient, the correct treatment is often not to spray twenty or thirty AKs with liquid nitrogen. If the whole patch of skin is affected with precancerous lesions, then spot treatments like liquid nitrogen zaps will just result in a game of whack-a-mole. One AK is beaten down only to have one or two more pop up by the next visit.

Field damage demands field treatment. Rather than spot-treating individual AK’s, an entire patch of skin can be treated with certain creams and therapies to reduce the number of precancers and the amount of sun damage in an entire area. Field treatments like fluorouracil cream, imiquimod cream, and photodynamic therapy (“blue light therapy”) can reduce the AK burden across an entire zone such as the entire scalp or face. These treatments reduce the number of future cancers and get the number of AK’s back down to a reasonable number.

I often recommend field treatments to my patients but with one big caveat. I tell them, “Don’t undergo a field treatment unless you can stay out of the sun during the treatment and for a week or so afterwards.” I advise patients that I am worried that sun damage on skin that is being treated or is recovering may not only cancel out the benefits but might leave them worse off.

Why the worry? Am I overcautious? I believe not. I’m concerned about more than just a little sunburn. I’m concerned about the sun hitting cells when they are at their most vulnerable: when they are replicating – such as when cells fill in tiny wounds and even micro-gaps created from the killing of precancers like AKs.

Every system has its vulnerabilities,

and our DNA repair processes are no different. Our cells’ repair processes work well during the resting phases of cell life when they are happily performing their usual functions. But when a cell decides to duplicate its DNA and divide into daughter cells in a process called mitosis, some of the repair processes are temporarily shut down.

Remember in the movie Jurassic Park when getting the park back online requires temporarily turning everything off? The electricity to the fences had to be shut off, too, and some of the carnivorous dinosaurs escaped and wreaked havoc. Well, the same thing happens in our cells when they duplicate their DNA and divide from one cell into two cells. When cells synthesize new DNA, many of the DNA repair processes are temporarily turned off to allow DNA duplication and cell division to take place. If a mutation, such as from sunlight, occurs when the repair systems are off, then the mutation is often not corrected. The resulting daughter cells are permanently affected with the mutation. Such mutated cells can develop into cancer.

Field treatments like fluorouracil, imiquimod and photodynamic therapy kill bad cells. The healthy neighbor cells must then start dividing to take the place of the bad cells. More cells dividing means more cells with DNA repair processes in the “off” position. Treatments aimed at eliminating cancerous lesions temporarily create a vulnerable state.

Advice to avoid the sun during AK treatments is not just a case of preventing your usual sunburn or of healing skin being more sensitive. Healing skin is more susceptible to mutations and DNA damage from sunburns than resting skin is. Biology argues against taking a “cheat day” and getting sun exposure during or after any treatment that requires skin to heal. If you find yourself in need of field treatment such as PDT, fluoruracil or imiquimod, remember it is only a good idea if you can stay out of the sun during the entire treatment and for the time it takes afterwards for your skin to repair itself.

Brought to you by - Brent Taylor, MD, Premiere Dermatology and Mohs Surgery of Atlanta

Housing:

Continued from Page 1

Roswell Housing Authority has been passing yearly inspections “with flying colors.” She attributed some of the success to the board’s partnership with the Gainesville Housing Authority, which now manages its properties.

Because of the redevelopment, Parrish said the 40 replacement units would be open to anyone seeking a onebedroom, rather than limited to seniors and people with disabilities. The units will also be vouchered, meaning tenants would only pay for up to one-third of their income for rent.

Redevelopment will also add 61 units. While unvouchered, those units will be open to tenants who took a voucher upon their displacement. The Roswell Housing Authority is also trying to “sprinkle” two bedrooms into the new development, Parrish said, because many seniors require caregivers.

Another 55 income-based housing units in Pelfrey Pines are slated for a second phase in redevelopment.

Funding

To help fund the project, the board discussed a 9-percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credit application at its Feb. 14 meeting, which would require the board to secure $6 million in funding — half the price tag the board anticipated in a 4-percent application announced last July.

Low-Income Housing Tax Credits give local agencies annual budget authority to issue tax credits for the acquisition, rehabilitation, or new construction of rental housing targeted to lower-income households.

In the past, Parrish said 9-percent applications have funded around 90 percent of development projects with a compliance period of 15 years. Some of the project would also be funded through a mortgage.

A lot of money is spent up front, Parrish said. Penrose, the developer, must perform a series of studies to provide details to the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, or DCA, to qualify in the application process. But Penrose is committed to covering those upfront costs, Parrish said.

The board plans to submit the application in May, but it won’t know until November if it will receive any tax credits. If all goes according to plan, the Roswell Housing Authority would have new units in fall 2025.

The Roswell Housing Authority met with the city a few weeks ago about the project and gap funding if the application were to be approved with an ask of $4 million. The city voiced its support, Parrish said, and is currently

figuring out what form that would be.

“I left the meeting feeling that they’re definitely trying to work with us to find a solution to address the issue,” said Shenetra Gates, resident commissioner for the Roswell Housing Authority. “And that they were concerned about the wellbeing of the residents.”

Previously, the city committed $1.7 million in funds in infrastructure to the Veranda at Groveway housing development. The Veranda at Groveway, which sits near 199 Grove Way, opened in 2017 and is a 101-unit facility offering one- and two-bedroom apartments for seniors 62 and older. While Veranda is a Roswell Housing Authority redevelopment project, the agency owns less than .01 percent of the partnership.

City support

Parrish said the board brought forth some ideas for how to finance the gap, such as Community Development Block Grant program funds through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Parish also said she spoke with Gov. Brian Kemp briefly, who said he’s open to a discussion on funding opportunities. She said she has spoken to members of Congress as well.

“Our focus is on the residents, these current residents that we have,” Parrish said. “Our focus is on taking care of them.”

The board also increased rental rates for the Myrtle Street Apartments at its Feb. 14 meeting.

Myrtle Street isn’t a HUD property, or federalized, but Parrish said the Roswell Housing Authority has a $350,000 loan on the property that could become a grant if the board adheres to its terms, like housing homeless people and veterans.

Over the next three years, rents will increase at a rate of 5 percent. Tenants paying a current rate of $715 will arrive at $826, and tenants paying $825 will end up paying $955 in three years. New tenants will be charged the new rates.

Beth Brown, executive director of the Gainesville Housing Authority, said the rates haven’t been raised in 10 years.

“We’re just trying to keep up with covering our costs,” Brown said.

AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA

Beth Brown, executive director of the Gainesville Housing Authority, presents the Roswell Housing Authority’s financial report at its Feb. 14 meeting.

Roswell Black historian reflects on personal history

By DELANEY TARR delaney@appenmedia.com

ROSWELL, Ga. — Charles Grogan has spent the past 40 years working on a comprehensive book of his family’s history. The massive binder is packed with pages of research and documents on his family and the Black community in Roswell, stretching back to the 1800s.

Grogan is Roswell’s “Black Historian,” but he doesn’t see himself that way.

“More so this is my lived experience, this is the story of my life,” Grogan said.

He has worked with the Roswell Historical Society since 2001 and is on the board of the Pleasant Hill Cemetery Committee, a committee dedicated to preserving the historically Black cemetery.

Grogan is not credentialed, but he’s dedicated years of his life to learning Roswell’s Black history. He sees himself as more of a “living historian.”

The work paid off. Grogan has found long-lost information about his family. He learned his great-grandmother owned property in 1896, a rarity for the time. She is now buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery.

Grogan also found a lot of information about his own life. He was born in the late 1940s and his mother was unmarried. In 1948, his mother’s father encouraged her to give Grogan up.

His aunt on his father’s side came and took him to her house one day, and Grogan said, “that was it, she kept me.”

In his research, Grogan found his name in the 1950 census. It was the first mention of him in any official document. He was listed as adopted by his aunt.

Grogan was close with his mother growing up, and with the rest of his father’s family on Willow Street. Grogan’s bonds also stretched into the greater Roswell community.

The Black community in Roswell was small, according to Grogan. It made it easier for him to find the history of everyone around him.

“It’s interesting to have (the history) since I have a relationship with a lot of people,” Grogan said. “They felt like family, they even were family,”

Grogan left his community behind when he graduated from school in

1965. As a young man, he was drafted into the United States Army in 1966. Grogan said Roswell officially integrated in 1967, so he wasn’t around for the change.

“That portion of Roswell I kind of missed,” Grogan said.

It was an easy adjustment for him. He grew up with white friends, playing basketball and throwing rocks as children.

“We didn’t get the learned behavior that had been before me,” Grogan said. “You have to be taught to hate.”

Grogan made more white friends in the military. When they all came back to Roswell, they joined an integrated basketball league in Alpharetta.

Soon after returning home, Grogan was hired in the mailroom for an electric company. Once he started, they hired more Black men to fill positions.

“When I got out of the army, they started hiring more Black people,” Grogan said.

He started playing softball with his coworkers, where he was the only Black man on the team. Grogan said his time in the mailroom was relatively “smooth going,” which he credits to his coworkers and his laid-back attitude.

Now, years removed from the early days of desegregation Grogan reflects on Roswell’s Black History. He said the city is doing a “decent job” respecting their history. He said Roswell Roots is one of the “cool things” the city does that he appreciates.

It’s not all perfect, though.

Years ago, Grogan talked to people who wanted to have different historically Black locations people could visit in Roswell. Grogan pointed out that there were not very many places Black “Roswellians” could gather.

“There weren’t that many locations,” Grogan said. “The café, that’s the only place we could go back in the day.”

Grogan also remembers more recent historical struggles. Many of the

people he grew up with no longer live in Roswell, pushed out by housing restrictions and costs. In the 1970s, his cousin tried to buy a house. The realtors said there weren’t any vacant homes in Roswell.

Now, his family lives in Minnesota and Michigan.

“They don’t care about coming here,” Grogan said.

He knows other people who live in Atlanta and avoid Roswell because of the bad experiences they had. But Grogan disagrees with their decisions.

“You probably offended somebody once, and you don’t want them to take that for 50 years and carry it,” he said.

Instead, he encourages people to return to Roswell and enjoy the memories.

“When I got to Willow Street, I sit on the porch and still see myself riding down street on the tricycle,” Grogan said. “This is where I grew up and this is where my story goes.”

Code: Parking deck approved for The Gathering

approved a change of conditions for the multi-use development The Gathering on Haynes Bridge Road.

Continued from Page 4

Councilmembers unanimously

The approved changes will add four detached single-family homes, increase the commercial area more than 8,000 square feet, add green spaces and change the parking layout from two

levels to a four-level parking deck.

Hipes and Gilvin shared concerns about the appearance of a parking deck at the entrance to the city.

Developer Adam Brock said commercial businesses that are interested in the property had demanded more parking, and he said

the previous two-story deck, which was half underground, could no longer meet the parking demands.

The change of conditions passed 6-0, and the developer Brock Built agreed to plant 6-inch caliper trees to help obscure the deck from the street view.

DELANEY TARR / APPEN MEDIA

Charles Grogan, Roswell’s “Black Historian” flips through the pages of his book on Feb. 16 — a binder of research on family history he’s compiled across the past 40 years.

Macedonia descendents remember, look ahead

By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Plastic flowers now adorn the graves at Macedonia Cemetery, a historical Black burial site off Medlock Bridge Road. Relatives of enslaved people buried on the grounds gathered there Feb. 18 to learn about its extensive history from members of the Johns Creek Historical Society.

Of those venerating the dead, one was as young as 4 to 5 years old, whose family member guided her hand to drive a bundle of flowers into the dirt as they knelt.

Sabrina Aquell, who organized the gathering, had been going to Macedonia Cemetery for years.

Aquell said the site holds around 80 percent of her family members, including her grandfather Sam Jones.

Because of the sadness that overcame Aquell whenever she would visit Macedonia, seeing the graves and their condition, she didn’t go often.

But lately, Aquell said visiting the cemetery has rejuvenated her spirit and decided to invite more than 40 of her family members to the cemetery to share the newfound feeling. Aquell hoped to re-introduce to her family the importance of getting involved with Macedonia Cemetery project efforts.

Ownership

Aquell met with Johns Creek Mayor John Bradberry a few weeks ago.

“I said, ‘How can you own us in life and [in death] too? How could you do that?” Aquell said. “I think this cemetery should be left for our family, for our children, for us to decide what we want to put up here.”

Aquell referenced the Georgia Cemetery Law that would have required the city to prepare a plan by a genealogist for identifying and notifying the descendants of those buried or believed to be buried at Macedonia before developing the property.

Aquell said she saw “They Were Here,” the grant-funded project consisting of four documentaries produced by local high school students about Macedonia Cemetery.

“Yes, we’ve been here,” Aquell said. “We’ve been waiting.”

The first formal presentation of plans to descendants was a Jan. 9 meeting at City Hall where Johns Creek City Manager Ed Densmore heard grievances from Kirk Canaday, a member of the Johns Creek Historical Society who oversees the project. Aquell attended the meeting as well as Madyun Shahid, a descendant of April Waters. Shahid, who lives in Virginia, had also previously visited Macedonia Cemetery

with his family.

The Johns Creek City Council approved the measure to acquire the historic property in November 2020 and officially acquired the land September 2021.

While the city had been in contact with Shahid prior to the change in ownership, Shahid said he had only been engaged in casual conversations, rather than conversations about intent.

However, Bradberry said City Attorney Ron Bennett informed the city it had done everything necessary to move forward with acquisition and improvements.

The city only owns the land, Bradberry said, but not the graves themselves — echoing the Georgia Cemetery Law that declares “human

remains and burial objects are not property to be owned by the person or entity” as they are “part of the finite, irreplaceable and nonrenewable cultural heritage of the people of Georgia.”

A history lesson

On the chilly afternoon, Aquell’s family sat in rows, holding laminated images of the cemetery and attentively listened to Aquell as she stated her reasons for inviting them there.

She opened with her philosophy on God, the soul, the purpose of life and the way everyone should treat one another.

“It’s the soul that counts,” she said.

Carla Carter walked over to Aquell carrying a binder of records that held the lineage of Sam Jones, Aquell’s

grandfather who is buried at the cemetery. Through stories passed down to her, Aquell said she has a strong connection to Jones.

Carter joined the Johns Creek Historical Society a year ago after reading about Macedonia Cemetery, realizing that the cemetery had been in poor condition, overrun with weeds.

“[The graves] deserve to be recognized and taken care of,” Carter said.

Joan Compton, president of the Johns Creek Historical Society, stepped in to describe the history of the Cherokee Nation, which once lived in the same area and owned the plantation where many were enslaved — including April Waters.

“Part of researching the people that are buried here is how did they do? How did they live when they got a chance? Did they ever learn to read and write? Did they ever accumulate any wealth? Did they ever buy land?” Compton said. “April’s one that did not, unfortunately.”

‘We is here’

Macedonia Cemetery had been the “one calling card” for the Black residents of Johns Creek, said Nicole Washington, founder of Impact Johns Creek. The organization, founded in 2020, is intended to bring together and engage Black residents.

“There are Black people in Johns Creek,” Washington said. “But we’re not organized, we’re not structured, we’re not together, we’re not a unified front.”

Washington said she didn’t want the event to be the first and last time Aquell’s family was present. Things have just begun to change, she said, with people like Canaday and Devon Dabney, who was filming the event for an upcoming documentary about Macedonia.

Dabney said the student-produced documentaries about Macedonia Cemetery had been criticized as “sanitized,” and so, her documentary seeks to paint a fuller portrayal.

Dabney, a member of Impact Johns Creek, is also the co-chair of the Johns Creek Arts, Culture and Entertainment Committee. The committee recently recommended the city host a Juneteenth celebration and have the federal holiday added to the city calendar.

With a raised voice, Washington asked, “Johns Creek will know who we are, and by ‘we,’ who are we talking about?”

“Us,” the crowd responded.

“Because we is here and we ain’t going nowhere,” Washington said. “Can I get an ‘Amen’?”

The crowd responded, “Amen.”

PHOTOS BY AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA

Sabrina Aquell speaks to a crowd at Macedonia Cemetery in Johns Creek Feb. 18. Aquell organized the gathering, asking her family members to get involved with the cemetery project.

A young girl, with help from an older family member, plants flowers at Macedonia Cemetery grave Feb. 18. Descendants of those buried at Macedonia gathered Saturday and heard from Johns Creek Historical Society members about the cemetery’s history.

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March springs forth with literary events featuring bestselling authors, new releases

By KATHY DES JARDINS CIOFFI newsroom@appenmedia. com

When it comes to nearby book events this month, March will be in like a lion and out like a lion, too.

Kicking off a packed calendar, the Dahlonega Literary Festival returns March 4 after a twoyear pause. As it has since 2003, the festival will once again have readers and writers rushing to the historic gold-mining

Literary Events Around North Atlanta

Saturday, March 4: Dahlonega Literary Festival. Numerous authors from the Appen reading area will participate in the return of the Dahlonega Literary Festival, headlined by Pulitzer Prize-winning Rick Bragg. Free offerings will feature sessions led by North Fulton and Forsyth authors, including Colette Bennett, “Enter the Meta;” Michael Buchanan, “The Fat Boy Chronicles;” Soniah Kamal, “Unmarriageable;” Chris Negron, “The Last Super Chef;” John Pruitt, “Tell It True;” Rona Simmons, “A Gathering of Men;” Jan Slimming, “Codebreaker Girls;” and William Walsh, “Fly Fishing in Times Square.” 9 a.m.-6 p.m. See link for pricing of two ticketed events. Dahlonega Baptist Church, 234 Hawkins Street, Dahlonega, with book sales provided by Bookmiser. literaryfestival.org

Tuesday, March 7: Bonnie Garmus. Roswell Reads will host two virtual book discussions of Garmus’s New York Times bestselling debut novel, “Lessons in Chemistry.” Online. 2 p.m. or 7 p.m. Free. Register by emailing name, city and preferred time to RoswellReadsBookDiscussions@gmail.com. Roswell Reads book discussions are moderated by volunteers (without authors) and all selections are available at Bookmiser. 770-509-5611. RoswellReads.com

Thursday, March 9: John Pruitt. Friends of Sandy Springs Library, in partnership with Bookmiser, will host Pruitt, a former Atlanta television anchor and reporter. For a halfcentury, Pruitt covered the civil rights movement, Georgia politics and major news figures, experiences that inspired his novel, “Tell It True.” 1 p.m. Talk, signing. Free. Sandy Springs Library, 395 Mount Vernon Highway NE, Atlanta. 404-612-7000. bookmiser.net/book-events.html

Thursday, March 16: Zoe Fishman. The North Atlanta Author Series will celebrate Fishman, 2020 Georgia Author of the Year, with morning tea alongside her new work, “The Fun Widow’s Book Tour.” She will be in conversation with Emily Carpenter, critically acclaimed author of “Reviving the Hawthorne Sisters.” 11 a.m. Free. Milton Library, 855 Mayfield Road, Milton. 404-613-4402. bookmiser.net/book-events.html

Thursday, March 16, Kimberly Brock. The award-winning writer will discuss her recent novel, “The Lost Book of Eleanor Dare.” Brock’s fictional tale was inspired by the true saga of the lost Roanoke Colony. 5 p.m. Discussion, signing. Free. Poe & Company Bookstore, 1890 Heritage Walk, Suite P101, Milton. 770-797-5566. Poeandcompanybookstore.com

town for the prospect of seeing true literary gems.

Aiming to please in 2023, the showcase event that has previously featured such renowned authors as Diana Gabaldon and Rebecca Wells will present Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling writer, as this year’s keynote speaker. A full day of free workshops and panels is also planned, led by a host of authors from North Fulton and Forsyth counties.

Weeks of additional book activities will follow locally, culminating in Roswell as USA Today bestselling author Colleen Oakley launches her new book March 28 with mimosas and mingling.

Details about these events, as well as others, are below.

Saturday, March 18: Jan Slimming. Slimming, author of three World War II titles including “Codebreaker Girls,” will sign books at the Winston Churchill Society of Georgia. 11:30 a.m. Free. The Lost Corner Preserve, 7300 Brandon Mill Road, Sandy Springs. 770-730-5600. perfectbookclub.com/jans-blog

Tuesday, March 21: Lynn Cullen. A Novel Idea hosts the bestselling author of historical fiction as she discusses her new release, “The Woman With The Cure.” Cullen’s book is based on the true story of Dr. Dorothy Horstmann, whose groundbreaking research helped make the polio vaccine possible. 6 p.m. Conversation, signing. Free. Alpharetta Branch Library, 10 Park Plaza, Alpharetta. 770-509-5611.

Thursday, March 23: Jeffrey Armbruster. Armbruster will sign his book, “Some Practical Lessons in Leadership.” 5 p.m. Free. Poe & Company Bookstore, 1890 Heritage Walk, Suite P101, Milton. 770-797-5566. Poeandcompanybookstore.com

Saturday, March 25: Katie Asher. After decades spent dealing with trauma, loss, abuse and her son’s severe autism, Asher detailed her experiences in “The Book of Heaven: A Story of Hope for the Outcasts, the Broken, and Those Who Lost Faith.” 2 p.m. Talk, signing. Free. Poe & Company Bookstore, 1890 Heritage Walk, Suite P101, Milton. 770-797-5566. Poeandcompanybookstore. com

Saturday, March 25: Marilyn Baron. An award-winning author of 29 works in a variety of genres, Baron will launch her latest cozy mystery, “The Case of the Forgotten Fragonard” with plenty of epicurean delights. 5 p.m. Discussion, signing. Free. Bookmiser, 3822 Roswell Road, Roswell. 770-509-5611. bookmiser.net/bookevents.html

Tuesday, March 28: Colleen Oakley. A USA Today bestselling author of five novels, Oakley will mix, mingle and toast the launch of her new book, “The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise” with mimosas. Oakley’s titles have been translated into over 21 languages and optioned for film. 1 p.m. Conversation, signing. Free. Bookmiser, 3822 Roswell Road, Roswell. 770-509-5611. bookmiser.net/book-events.html

To submit an author event for the upcoming month, email Kathy Des Jardins Cioffi at kathydesjardins3@gmail.com by the 15th.

BRAGG OAKLEY

Alpharetta boutique hotel hires sales, marketing head

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Georgia’s first boutique hotel, the Hamilton Curio Collection by Hilton in Alpharetta hired Saleh Akley as the new sales and marketing director.

Akley will oversee all sales and marketing initiatives for the hotel and its on-site restaurant, Carrie’s Conservatory. Akley has over 20 years

of experience in hospitality.

Previously, Akley was a sales director with Aimbridge Hospitality, where he oversaw revenue at two Hyatt Place hotels in the Metro Atlanta area. He helped open the Courtyard by Marriott Atlanta Alpharetta in 2018 and worked as sales director until 2021.

Originally from Dubai, Akley moved to East Cobb when he was 8 years old. He started working in hospitality sales in 2013.

Visitors bureau executive receives lifetime award

ALPHARETTA, Ga. —

Alpharetta Convention and Visitors Bureau President and CEO Janet Rodgers was awarded the Tom Kilgore Lifetime Achievement Award Feb. 14 at the Georgia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus’ state tourism conference. Rodgers has held her role in the bureau for over 20 years, where

she has promoted shopping, dining, entertainment and live music in the city.

“Her dedication to the industry, her community and her staff is unparalleled,” said Dotty Etris, former executive director of the Roswell Convention and Visitors Bureau. “She is known for building strong partnerships, cooperative marketing efforts and skillfully executes a variety of programs that bring greater attention to the Alpharetta community, the state of Georgia and the region.”

Mortgage professionals open boutique brokerage

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A family with more than 20 years of mortgage industry experience has opened their own mortgaging company, Ardent Loans in Alpharetta.

The small, “boutique” mortgage broker offers various loans and has a lender network for clients to choose from. The company also offers refinancing options and assistance in the home-buying process.

“We are excited to bring our expertise and personalized service to the Alpharetta community,” Ardent Loans President Max Kallos said. “Our goal is to help our clients achieve their dream of home ownership, and we will work tirelessly to make that happen.”

The broker is available in person by appointment only at 8000 Avalon Blvd., Suite 100. For a free consultation, call 404-277-5884 or visit ardentloans.com.

North Fulton NAACP collects coats for kids

ROSWELL, Ga. — The North Fulton County branch of the NAACP hosted a coat drive for Hembree Springs Elementary School students through January, collecting more than 50 coats for kids in need at the Roswell school.

The drive started on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and ran to the end of January. The nonprofit partnered with elementary school staff and PTA to gather 50 gently worn and new coats

from the community. By the end of the month the drive collected 54 coats.

“During the winter months, the elementary kids that need coats to go outside and play can now have one,” NAACP North Fulton President Kay Howell said.

The drive is a partnership with a nationwide organization called One Warm Coat. Last year the coat drive distributed more than 400,000 coats across the United States.

Before her position at the bureau, Rodgers served as the special events director for the City of Alpharetta. In this role, Rodgers created and produced events such as Taste of Alpharetta.

Rodgers also was the vice president of marketing and sales at the Dekalb Convention and Visitors Bureau, as well as director of marketing and sales at several resort and corporate hotels.

Rodgers will be recognized for her economic impact in the city and for her receipt of the award at the March 6 City Council meeting.

Executive Director of the Georgia Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus Jay Markwalter recognized Rodgers’ role in leading tourism in the city, the state and along the Ga. 400 corridor.

“Working in the tourism and hospitality industry is without question, one of the biggest joys of my life,” Rodgers said. “I will forever be an advocate for this industry, and I am so appreciative to be recognized with the Tom Kilgore Lifetime Achievement Award.”

RODGERS

School program pairs students in workshop

By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Juniors at Valor Christian Academy who have interest in a career in the medical field, developed and led learning stations for first grade students Feb. 14.

The learning stations featured hands-on activities focused on the ears and eyes.

The workshop was organized through Valor Christian Academy’s Diploma of Distinction program, which provides high school students an opportunity to receive credit for further study, research and experience in their area of interest. The school creates a space in students’ schedules for internships.

Because of the program, Head of School Jennifer Gastley said one student will be a licensed pilot by the time he graduates.

Gastley said Valor Christian Academy is one of the least expensive private schools in the area. Parents pay $10,500 for a full-time, 12th grade student at Valor Christian Academy. Meanwhile, Mount Pisgah

Christian in Johns Creek asks for $25,095 annually for upper school students.

Opened in 2020, Valor Christian Academy on Kimball Bridge Road combines a hybrid school named

Legacy Community Academy and a traditional school named Bridgeway Christian Academy.

“What we realized is that students learn differently, and not everybody needs to be sitting in a building five

days a week learning,” Gastley said. Students are given many options. They can be hybrid, receiving education at home and at school. They can go the traditional route, attending five days a week. High school students use Friday as an independent learning day, Gastley said, which helps them prepare for the college experience.

Parents can also do home school and pay Valor Christian Academy for a curriculum and standardized testing.

In the fall, the school is launching a fully virtual school program, but has one student piloting the program now.

More plans are in the works. Next year, Valor Christian Academy is rolling out a tiered special education support program. Special education is hard to come by in private schools, Gastley said, because there’s often not a mandate for private schools that they have to meet student needs.

“[Valor Christian Academy] is kind of like a one-stop shop for all modes of instruction,” Gastley said.

Georgia students campaign for education funding equity

By DELANEY TARR delaney@appenmedia.com

ATLANTA — Francesca Ruhe and Mason Goodwin are ready to seize the power of young people, and they want to use it to bring equity to public school funding.

The two are registered lobbyists for their statewide organization, Georgia Youth Justice Coalition.

The organization has members from ages 14-22 focused on education justice in communities across Georgia. The nonprofit has grassroots and legislative divisions, all led by students and young people.

On Feb. 16, Ruhe and Goodwin sat outside the Georgia Capitol for a quick break from one of their legislative initiatives. The pair are part of a lobby day, put on in partnership with organizations including the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Deep Institute in Savannah.

Goodwin said the groups created a coalition called Fund Georgia’s Future, focused on “fair and full funding” for schools across the state.

The organizers are grateful for the help from their well-known partner organizations, but their focus is on what young people can bring to legislator’s

offices.

“Legislators don’t expect some very highly motivated … young people who are demanding change,” Ruhe said. “We just kind of seize that power.”

At 18 years old, Francesca Ruhe lobbies in between classes at Georgia State University. For the Feb. 16 lobby day, she wore business attire — except for the bright yellow Converses, covered in pictures of Woodstock from the Peanuts cartoons.

Mason Goodwin, 20, is a student at Georgia State University.

They make up a fraction of Georgia Youth Justice Coalition, which has a “student base of hundreds” according to Ruhe. At the lobby day, their nonprofit brought about 25 students to the Capitol.

“There’s an infinite number of us, and we all have the same gripes with the public education system,” Ruhe said.

At the lobby day, the coalition of students and adults focused on an “opportunity weight,” which would add funding to schools that serve students in poverty.

“It could help make up the difference (in funding) between the richer schools in the North Metro Atlanta area and the South Metro area,” Ruhe said.

The opportunity weight is part of Georgia House Bill 3, called the “Support for Students Living in Poverty Act” introduced in January.

Georgia is one of only six states with a school funding formula that does not provide additional funds to schools with low-income students. The state does provide equalization grants through the “Quality Basic Education Act,” which was passed in 1985. The grants focus on filling funding gaps for poor and rural areas.

Goodwin and Ruhe said their experiences in Georgia schools are fundamental to their legislative work, especially when it comes to education funding.

Ruhe said she saw educational disparity for the first time in middle school. In sixth grade she joined an organization called Page Turners, aimed at bringing books to underserved schools across Metro Atlanta.

As a volunteer, Ruhe traveled around Atlanta and interviewed authors in front of groups of kids.

“It was incredible, the disparities,” Ruhe said. “In my own personal upbringing, which I consider to be pretty privileged I had all the resources I needed to be a fluent reader.”

At an early age, Ruhe saw the impacts of economic disparity.

Mason Goodwin had a different experience growing up but a similar takeaway. He was one of the “lower income, single-parent households kids” in Atlanta public schools.

Goodwin started in the general classes, where he was the only White student. In his junior year, Goodwin got pushed into honors classes. The classrooms were full of other White students.

“You start asking the kids and they’re like ‘Yeah, I’m getting tutors for my AP classes,’” Goodwin said. “You realize they have the resources to actually push through school.”

Goodwin said that “waking moment” pushed him into activism.

Ruhe and Goodwin said the Georgia Youth Justice coalition has been involved in major efforts, from onthe-ground work to stop book bans in Forsyth County to conversations about the school to prison pipeline in Gwinnett County.

“The beauty of the coalition is that we’re made up of students, and students always have a million different issues to contend with,” Ruhe said.

Even if the students don’t win every fight, the young organizers are optimistic.

“Just being here is a huge win,” Ruhe said.

VALOR CHRISTIAN ACADEMY/PROVIDED

Valor Christian Academy junior Cam Jenkins leads a workshop Feb. 14 with first graders, who are studying the ears and eyes. The workshop was organized through Valor’s Diploma of Distinction program, which allows high school students to receive credit for further study, research and experience in their area of interest.

WW II hero celebrates 100 years (Part 1)

Eighteen-year-old

Jack Buckner was in his second year studying architecture at Georgia Tech at night while working days at Western Electric Company.

A 1940 graduate of Fulton High School in Atlanta where he was senior class president, Jack was having fun at a roller skating rink in Lakewood Park on December 7, 1941, when he heard the news over the loudspeaker that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor. He knew he had to do something.

BOB MEYERS

FAMILY/PROVIDED

Jack joined the Army January 19, 1942, the day the Army lowered the enlistment age for Aviator Cadets to 18.

Thus began a saga of sacrifice and courage that took young Jack to fight in distant places under the most challenging circumstances.

Jack is a special person. He celebrated his 100th birthday on Feb. 3, 2023. He and his wife Florence will observe their 79th anniversary on Feb. 25. He flew 50 perilous missions as a bombardier in World War II and shot down two German Luftwaffe fighters in the process. What a great story he has to tell.

After passing the written test and physical exam at the local Army recruitment center, Jack was sent home to pack a toothbrush and shaving articles. Upon returning to the recruitment center, Jack joined other volunteer enlistees who passed the entrance exam that day. They marched together to the Terminal Railroad Station where they took a train to the Army’s Maxwell Field (now Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base) in Montgomery, Alabama, for initial training as Army Air Corps cadets. Next stop for Jack was the Army Bombardier Flying School at Kirtland Army

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Air Field in Albuquerque, New Mexico, noted for training 5,200 bombardiers during the war.

Upon graduation in August 1942, Jack was commissioned a second lieutenant and was sent to Hendricks Field in Sebring, Florida, the first training school in the United States for heavy bomber crew instruction. There, he began training on the B-17 Flying Fortress, developed by Boeing Corporation, that dropped more bombs during WW II than any other aircraft. That training was followed by advanced training at Gowen Field Army Air Corps Base in Boise, Idaho. It was there that his 10-man crew was formed as part of the 347th Bombardment Squadron, 99th Bombardment Group, which was composed of four squadrons with nine planes each.

The final eight months of training was at Sioux City Army Air Base which was constructed shortly after Pearl Harbor for

advanced group training prior to overseas deployment.

The crew picked up their plane at the Smoky Hill Army Airfield in Salina, Kansas, in January 1943. The crew named their plane Warrior, and Jack was given the honor of painting the name and image on the side of the aircraft.

A bombardier had to be proficient in mathematics, Morse code, meteorology and have the ability to identify enemy aircraft quickly. Jack learned to use the Norden bombsight, a top secret weapon that he had to guard with a sidearm every time he carried it to and from his aircraft. The bombardier has to factor in the speed of the airplane, its altitude, speed and direction of the wind and the size and weight of the bomb. Most missions were from 20,000 to 26,000 feet so accuracy was a complicated assignment.

The crew’s first operational assignment

was in March 1943 at the Navarin Airfield in Algeria, used by B-17 bombers against the German Afrika Korps led by Field Marshal Rommel. There was no base, just a landing strip in the desert, and no ground crews, so the Warrior crew had to load their own bombs, ammunition and gasoline from 5-gallon cans. They had no tents, so they slept under the wings of the aircraft. They had only C-rations and K-rations to eat.

It could be 120 degrees during the day in Algeria and 40 to 50 degrees below zero at flying altitudes. The B-17s were not pressurized or heated. The crew took buckets of water on missions to freeze so they would have ice for drinks after their return from their missions.

When the Americans moved east into Tunisia, the airfield was dismantled and abandoned.

The Warrior’s first mission was to bomb ships and docks at Naples, Italy. They had five direct hits on a ship, and all planes returned safely to base.

In July 1943 the Warrior was tasked with the destruction of airfields and railroad yards during the Allied invasion of the island of Sicily. Rommel accumulated ammunition and food for his Africa troops on the island, and he had to be stopped. The Warrior also bombed the harbors in Tunis where Rommel kept his boats. The objective was to prevent German supplies from entering North Africa.

To be continued.

My appreciation to Martine Broadwell for her assistance with this column.

Bob is director emeritus of the Milton Historical Society and a Member of the City of Alpharetta Historic Preservation Commission. You can email him at bobmey@bellsouth.net.

Prostitution stings require more data

I read the article about the practice of the Dunwoody police reporting the City Hall address for suspected cases of prostitution and the resulting question about public transparency. I understand the business interest in protecting the reputation of the hotels in our area.

Whether the address of the actual hotel is published is less of a question for me than asking if the Police Department or other city authorities track data about the arrests and work with those hotels to improve their

security or prevention practices. For example, are any hotels used more than others? Are there hotels that have an ongoing problem with human trafficking and prostitution? How does the location of the hotel affect the number of suspected instances of this behavior? Are minors involved? Are there particular days or times when suspected instances occur?

Mapping of the data about these arrests along with other person or time analyses could tell a story and provide

better insight into why particular hotels are ongoing locations for these particular arrests. As a member of the public, I don’t have to know the particular hotels involved, but I think the Dunwoody Police, the city authorities and the hotel management would want to answer these questions – and plan for better public prevention and hotel staff awareness.

HELEN PERRY DUNWOODY

Talk back

Where do you stand on the story, and the department’s practices? Write to Appen Media at newsroom@ appenmedia.com.

Columnist

Eight of the 10-man crew of the B-17 named Warrior are photographed beside the aircraft. Bombardier Jack Buckner is standing second on the left. The bombardier sat in the transparent nose of the aircraft. His job was to assure accurate placement of bombs taking into account weather, wind direction, outside temperature, speed, altitude and other factors. He also operated one of the plane’s machine guns. (late 1942)

When the first automobiles came to the country

Effie Spruill Carpenter recalled the first time she saw a car drive through Dunwoody and told the story to her granddaughter Jane Anderson Autry.

The people of Dunwoody waited in yards and along the road, waving and clapping as the car drove by. Carpenter said the driver was a Mr. Vaughn from Roswell, and his drive through Dunwoody took place in the early 1900s.

Cliff P. Vaughn and Claud Groover opened the Roswell Motor Company in 1921, so Vaughn may have been advertising for the dealership. The company sold Fordson tractors, Lincoln and Ford cars. A Whippet dealership opened in Roswell in 1929 but was short lived due to the Great Depression.

(“Roswell, A Pictorial History,” edited by Darlene Walsh)

According to the Digital Library of Georgia, White Star Automobile in Atlanta was the first Southern automobile manufacturer and began operations in 1909. The $1,500 car was advertised as “complete with top, magneto, and lamp equipment.” That same year, the company name was changed to Atlanta Car Company. The company filed for bankruptcy in 1911.

Benjamin Burdett and his son Arthur of Sandy Springs invested in the Hanson Motor Company in 1917 after the car was

introduced at the Southeastern Automobile Show. The Hanson Six automobile was designed by Don Ferguson, who had worked with Studebaker and General Motors. Arthur Burdett was vice president of Hanson Motor Company.

The Burdett family built a two-story brick mansion in 1900 where Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church is today. Benjamin Burdett had already started a realty firm before getting into the car business. The Hanson Six sold well initially, but by the mid-1920s, large manufacturers were too much competition. The company closed in 1925. (“Atlanta and

Environs, Vol. 2,” Franklin Garrett)

Tillie Hindman Womack recalled that Benjamin Burdette commuted from Sandy Springs to Atlanta in his Hanson Six. At the time, he was the only person driving a car in Sandy Springs. People still got around with horse-drawn carriages and wagons, so everyone was fascinated with the car. (Sandy Springs Gazette, 2017)

Elmer Womack, who lived where Georgia State University Dunwoody campus is today, was the proud owner of a 1925 Model T Ford that was sitting idle in the garage. When the Tucker Federal Savings and Loan interviewed him for their

local newsletter in 1970, Womack told the story of an $800 cash offer he recently received for the old car. He turned down the offer because he was still thinking of trading the Model T for a newer car.

Fred Donaldson of Dunwoody remembers a 1928 model Chevrolet the family owned. One day the car started rolling down the driveway. As Donaldson tells it, “We were all sitting on the front porch one Sunday when the ’28 model Chevrolet came down the drive right by itself. My brother Fletcher ran and jumped in, stopped it right before it reached the railroad cut.”

Johnson W. (Dub) Brown grew up in Chamblee, graduating from Chamblee High School in 1941, the year the school burned. His family ran a dairy. Brown later served as mayor of the city. His first car was a stripped-down Model T. Ford.

Gordon Wallace also had a strippeddown Model T, which he took with him to the University of Georgia. His father was postmaster of Chamblee for 18 years, ran a store with Charlie Warnock, and owned Wallace Construction Company.

In “Dunwoody Isn’t Bucolic Anymore,” Richard W. Titus recalls seeing Dunwoody school principal Elizabeth Davis driving a Henry J automobile from the Kaiser-Frazer Corporation. For two years, a version of the Henry J. was sold in the Sears-Roebuck catalog.

Award-winning author Valerie Biggerstaff is a longtime columnist for Appen Media. She lives in Sandy Springs. You can email Valerie at pasttensega@gmail.com or visit her website at pasttensega.com.

Friends, Rome, Georgians, lend me your ears

Part of my job includes reminding our reporters about AP Style – that’s the official rulebook for language use as laid down by the Associated Press.

Many of these rules I don’t agree with, and I encourage some to be ignored.

One rule I’d like to change regards U.S. House members.

AP Style guidance is to name the person, then, in parentheses, provide their party affiliation and the state they represent.

It seems a simple and salient practice, unless you consider the person and buffoonery of one Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Listing Ms. Green as (R-Ga.) is unfair to most residents of this state.

My recommendation would be to credit those local voters who unleashed her on our nation.

So, it would be: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Rome, Ga. or R-Floyd County, Ga.).

Give credit where it’s due, I say.

Greene’s continual outbursts are in contrast to a recent report from Preply, an online language learning platform, that recently ranked Georgians among the slowest talkers in the United States.

The report analyzed data from two nationwide studies based on YouTube videos and call recordings. It then ranked the average speech rates of Americans from 114 cities and in all 50 states.

Georgia ranked 5th among states with the slowest talkers with an average of 4.89 syllables per second. The U.S.

average is 5.09 syllables per second. Here are some of the key findings in the Preply study:

• The state with the fastest average speech rate is Minnesota at 5.34 syllables per second.

• The state with the slowest average rate of speech is Louisiana at 4.78 syllables per second.

• The U.S. city with the fastest average rate of speech is Portland, Oregon, at 5.38 syllables per second.

• The U.S. city with the slowest average speech rate is Peoria, Illinois, at 4.71 syllables per second.

Those in the Southeast ranked way up there in slow speech.

Having lived in the South for almost 40 years, I’ve learned to love the musical lilt of the local dialog.

Few things aggravate me more than

actors, mostly from other regions, who feign Southern accents for their roles. They’re often preposterous and almost always exaggerated. Have you ever heard someone from Nebraska try to say “y’all?”

Oddly, the actors who can best nail a genuine Southern accent are British or Irish. (Tell me Kenneth Branagh isn’t dripping with perfect Buckhead portraying an Atlanta attorney in “Gingerbread Man.”)

The Pelpry study does not address the content of speech, whether what’s being said is worth saying or the time it takes to listen to it. Nor does it say whether the speech is infused with banal interjections, like “like,” “sorta like” and “you know.”

Such a study would be valuable, allowing us to focus our attention on those most reliable for not wasting our time.

DONALDSON FAMILY

The Donaldson family car parked out front of the family home around 1932.

PAT FOX

Managing Editor pat@appenmedia.com

Answering the phone says a lot about a business

Our company does many things that are new – like cutting edge. We were first to market with our local podcasts. We were – back in 1995 –one of the first to market online with Internet coupons.

Ha, I still own these two domains: Couponscoupons.com and CouponsRus.com! But I digress.

While we try hard to stay “current,” we also do a lot of things the old fashion way, like answering the phone. The rule is that when you call Appen, a human (her name is Jade or sometimes Heidi or sometimes Ray) will answer your call by the second ring if not sooner. It is one of my pet peeves. If you are going to take your time to call us, the least thing we can do is respect your time and answer your call personally, and fast.

We get a lot of calls sometimes. And I will tell you that we are probably batting 95 percent answering them by the second ring. We don’t always operate our business as well as we want to, but it is not from lack of trying or a lack of caring.

I would say that 85 percent of the time I am calling a business – other than Appen – the person who answers is a machine, and I have to listen to a

machine tell me what to do. “Press 1 for sales. Press 2 for service. Press 3 for accounting. Press 4 if it is Wednesday (because we are closed). Press 5 if you want to relisten to this list. If you know the extension of the person with whom you wish to speak, press 9. If you want to wait for a long time to talk to a person, press 0 now.”

About half the time, when you press one of those numbers you get another round of questions that demand answers.

I can think of only a couple things that drive me crazier than this. One is when you press the customer service prompt, you are transferred to India to someone who reads a script and never, ever strays from what the script says no matter what you have just said. The other is those losers who harass other people on roundabouts because they are in a hurry or are having a bad hair day, or because they are just assess –like the late model dark blue or gray Dodge Ram who blasted that white BMW in front of me on the roundabout out near Freemanville Road area today. One hundred percent loser in a hurry to be a bigger loser and probably go home and beat his wife or kids or maybe his dog. In a hurry? Not. But I digress.

I recently had a test done at Emory. My insurance covered the bill but apparently there was a deductible that I still needed to pay even though it was my understanding that I had

already met my deductible. I tried to call Emory to make sure I really owed that $100. I tried, and I tried, and I tried. It was like going into a maze with lots of turns, blindfolded and walking with your hands and trying to get to the other end. Ultimately, I concluded that contacting someone who could help me on this outstanding bill was impossible and that maybe that text or email they were sending me was legitimate, so I caved and sent $130 to a machine online that said I owed Emory $130. Note – the bill went from $100 to $130 when I waited to pay it for about a week. I am sorry Emory, but it is virtually impossible to deal with your administrative “system,” and I use that term loosely. It is hard to have confidence in any business that fails so miserably in something as simple and basic as taking a phone call from someone who wants to pay a bill. Amazon does it right. Why can’t you?

How a business manages the phones tells a ton about the business. Technology very often pushes businesses further away from their customers – further away from meaningful communication with customers. Businesses think that they save money by having a “system” that makes a caller jump through hoops to ultimately – maybe – route the call to the desired person. It never ceases to amaze me that these businesses never seem to value the caller’s time – as if the caller’s time has no value at all.

What are they thinking?

This “phone thing” is, to me, just an example of this trending disconnect between people that gets worse every day. It has something to do with values. It has something to do with how much we do or do not respect each other. The disconnect manifests itself everywhere every day – from on roundabouts to in schools, to in government, to in the quality of our health care, to our relationship with a neighbor.

It is all part of the noise that surrounds us at all times, and it can be hard to notice unless you step back and ask yourself, “Wait, why am I in such a hurry? Why am I sending that email instead of picking up the phone. Why am I harassing a complete stranger on a roundabout just because I am not having a good day? Why am I posting hurtful stuff on social media?”

We can continue to digress toward some truly dark unknown condition, but I believe we still have time to reverse some of this contamination that technology has generated and return to a way or life – an attitude – that makes us healthier, wiser and happier. But that means disconnecting from a lot of the technology – purposely, and with deliberate intent. It means reconnecting with others, personally. It starts with how we treat others and how we want to be treated. We don’t want technology to interfere with that – ever.

So, answer your phone, personally.

The evolution of the NFMG Lecture Series through the pandemic

The title of this column really sums up the transformation of our horticultural education over the past three years. Prior to the pandemic shut down in March 2020, we presented each of our seven gardening classes in person at three different locations in North Fulton County (Sandy Springs, Alpharetta, and Roswell). We typically attracted about 300 attendees to all 21 classes.

During the spring 2020 Lecture Series, life as we knew it came to a standstill. On March 13, in response to COVID-19, we announced the cancellation of the remainder of our in-person classes.

Our team quickly pivoted and learned how to record classes using Zoom. We created a YouTube channel. We recorded one of our cancelled classes using Zoom and uploaded this first video in May 2020. This Hydrangea lecture has 1402 views to date.

In 2020, we Zoom pre-recorded and posted 13 gardening lectures to our YouTube channel. To date these classes have been viewed more than 5,600 times.

In the spring of 2021, feeling brave, we transitioned to live Zoom webinars. Our team executed an extensive marketing and social media campaign. We held 10 live webinars – streaming live to both Zoom and Facebook and afterward, we posted the recordings to those same sites. The Spring Gardening Lecture Series has had over 11,000 views, of which 2,500 were viewed live on Zoom and Facebook.

The 2021 David Gibby International Master Gardener Search for Excellence Awards recognized the North Fulton Master Gardeners for our

efforts in the face of a global pandemic in successfully providing horticultural education to the North Fulton community and beyond through virtual webinar technology. The First Place Award in the Workshops/Presentations category was made on Sept. 15, 2021, during the virtual International Master Gardener Conference. View our video at https://youtu. be/_1hSJfpsFS0.

We are pleased that more than 5,800 people have attended one or more of the 43 free NFMG Garden Lectures live-streamed on Zoom or Facebook since May 2020. An additional 25,000 people have viewed the videos on the NFMG YouTube video library at youtube.com/northfultonmastergardeners.

Our class registrants hail not only from North Fulton County but also from throughout Georgia and the United States, Canada and a smattering of other countries! Thirty to 40 percent of each class are Master Gardeners from throughout Georgia and neighboring Southeastern states.

As society opened after the early months of the pandemic, we surveyed our class attendees to determine whether they were ready to transition back to in-person gardening classes. We learned that 90 percent of the 355 people who responded to our spring 2022 survey at the end of each class prefer viewing our classes through Zoom and Facebook Live streaming, while an additional 6 percent of respondents prefer to view the classes later at their leisure through our YouTube channel. Amazingly, only 4 percent of respondents tell us that they prefer to attend in-person classes in North Fulton.

The decision is clear! Post pandemic learners prefer virtual learning. So, the North Fulton Master Gardeners in collaboration with UGA Extension in Fulton County will continue to

provide horticultural education to the North Fulton community and beyond through free virtual gardening education programming.

The Spring 2023 Gardening Lecture Series begins Sunday, March 5, and will again be available through live Zoom webinars and Facebook Live as well as viewable for later viewing several days later through our YouTube channel.

Each class emphasizes practical gardening activities at the time of year that is best suited for that activity. You may register for all five classes or just pick specific classes. Please register in advance at https://bit.ly/ Spring2023NFMG-GardeningLectureSeries to assure your place. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join the webinar. If you cannot attend the live webinar, you can register anyway so you will receive a recorded link to the class.

Don’t miss these incredible opportunities to learn more about gardening in metro Atlanta.

• Walk in the Woods with Spring Wildflowers - Observing the Beauty of Nature, Sunday, March 5, 2023, at 2 p.m.

• Figs at Home: An Introduction to Growing Figs in the Southeast for the Home Gardener, Sunday, March 12, 2023, at 2 p.m.

• Insect Allies: Predators and Parasitoids in the Garden, Sunday, March 19, 2023, at 2 p.m.

• Ferns of the Southeast, Sunday, March 26, 2023, at 2 p.m.

• Annual and Perennial Plants for Water Gardens, Sunday, April 2, 2023,

at 2 p.m.

For more details, visit https:// mailchi.mp/nfmg/nfmg-februaryupdate.

Happy Gardening!

North Fulton Master Gardeners, Inc. is a Georgia nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose purpose is to educate its members and the public in the areas of horticulture and ecology in order to promote and foster community enrichment. Master Gardener Volunteers are trained and certified by The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. Learn more at nfmg.net.

About the Author

“Garden Buzz” guest columnist is Lee Tanenbaum, a master gardener since 2011. Lee is NFMG’s Communications co-chair for Publicity and Marketing as well as the current interim chair of the NFMG Gardening Education Team. Lee is a retired speechlanguage pathologist and public health professional, a mother of three, and a grandmother of nine. Lee loves to garden and travel, especially with her grandchildren.

LEE TANENBAUM Guest Columnist

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Mention this ad. Concrete driveway specialists. Driveways, Pool Decks, Patios, Walkways, Slabs.  A+ BBB rating. FREE ESTIMATE. Call Rachael at 678-250-4546 to schedule a FREE Estimate. 30 years of experience. ARBOR HILLS CONSTRUCTION INC. Please note we do have a minimum charge on accepted jobs of $4,500.

Home Improvement

PHILLIPS HOME IMPROVEMENT

We offer drywall, painting, carpentry, plumbing and electrical. Basements finished, kitchen and bath rehabs. All types flooring. Also total home rehab for those who have a rental house or one to sell. Call 678-887-1868 for a free estimate.

BASEMENTS-FRAMING-DRYWALL-TRIM-PAINT

Decks repaired/built. Labor payment upon completion. 30-plus years experience. John Ingram/678-906-7100. Act now before prices increase next year! Heritage Home Maintenance homerepairga@ gmail.com. heritageconstructionga.com

HEATING, AIR CONDITIONING, PLUMBING Repair Services Call Philip 678-910-1094

Cemetery

SAVE $12,000!

Greenlawn, Roswell.

Regularly $7995 each.

Owner: $12,000/all 3.

Side-by-side Fountain B. 26-c. 1.2,3. 770-490-6425

Call us for roof repair or roof replacement. FREE quotes. $200 OFF Leak Repairs or 10% off New Roof. Affordable, quality roofing. Based in Roswell. Serving North Atlanta since 1983. Call to schedule FREE

Quote: 770-284-3123. Christian Brothers Roofing

Concrete/ Asphalt

Retaining Walls

Contact Ralph Rucker. Many local references. Honest, punctual, professional and reasonable prices! 678-898-7237

Flooring

PHILLIPS FLOORING

Hardwood, laminate, carpet & tile installation and repairs. We do tile floors, showers, tub surrounds and kitchen back-splashes. Regrouting is also available. Call 678-887-1868 for free estimate.

Pinestraw

PINESTRAW, MULCH

Delivery/installation available. Firewood available. Licensed, insured. Angels of Earth Pinestraw and Mulch. 770-831-3612

10% Senior & Military Discounts. Call 1-833-610-1936

BATH & SHOWER UPDATES in as little as ONE DAY! Affordable prices - No payments for 18 months! Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & Military Discounts available.

Call: 855-761-1725

Donate Your Car to Veterans Today! Help and Support our Veterans. Fast - FREE pick up. 100% tax deductible. Call 1-800-245-0398

HughesNet - Finally, super-fast internet no matter where you live. 25 Mbps just $59.99/mo!

Unlimited Data is Here. Stream Video. Bundle TV & Internet. Free Installation. Call 866-499-0141

Become a published author. We want to read your book! Dorrance Publishing trusted since 1920. Consultation, production, promotion & distribution. Call for free author’s guide 1-877-729-4998 or visit dorranceinfo.com/ads

DISH TV $64.99 For 190 Channels + $14.95 High Speed Internet. Free Installation, Smart HD DVR Included, Free Voice Remote. Some restrictions apply. Promo Expires 1/31/24. 1-866-479-1516

The Generac PWRcell solar plus battery storage system. Save money, reduce reliance on grid, prepare for outages & power your home. Full installation services. $0 down financing option. Request free no obligation quote. 1-877-539-0299

Safe Step. North America’s #1 Walk-in tub. Comprehensive lifetime warranty. Top-of-theline installation and service. Now featuring our free shower package & $1600 off - limited time! Financing available.

1-855-417-1306

Switch and save up to $250/yr on talk, text & data. No contract or hidden fees. Unlimited talk & text with flexible data plans. Premium nationwide coverage.

100% U.S. based customer service. Limited time get $50 off any new account. Use code GIFT50. 1-855-903-3048

MobileHelp, America’s premier mobile medical alert system. Whether you’re home or away. For safety & peace of mind. No long term contracts! Free brochure! 1-888-489-3936

Free high speed internet if qualified. Govt. pgm for recipients of select pgms incl. Medicaid, SNAP, Housing Assistance, WIC, Veterans Pension, Survivor Benefits, Lifeline, Tribal. 15 GB internet. Android tablet free w/one-time $20 copay. Free shipping. Call Maxsip Telecom! 1-833-758-3892

Caring for an aging loved one? Wondering about options like senior-living communities and inhome care? Caring.com’s Family Advisors help take the guesswork out of senior care for your family. Free, no-obligation consult: 1-855-759-1407

Inflation is at 40 year highs. Interest rates are way up. Credit Cards. Medical Bills. Car Loans. Do you have $10k or more in debt? Call National Debt Relief to find out how to pay off your debt for significantly less than what you owe! Free quote: 1-877-592-3616

Wesley Financial Group, LLC Timeshare Cancellation ExpertsOver $50,000,000 in timeshare debt & fees cancelled in 2019. Get free info package & learn how to get rid of your timeshare! Free consultations. Over 450 positive reviews. 833-308-1971

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