ROSWELL, Ga. — Seer World, a consulting company hired by the City of Roswell, is recasting the city’s economic landscape.
Founder and CEO Peter Sorckoff has introduced a pipeline of new, multi-milliondollar projects, mostly from the private sector, aimed at invigorating the local economy and elevating Roswell as a key destination.
SCREENSHOT
His presentation at a July 29 City Council session represented a plan for future economic growth that gelled from a year and a half – or some 6,000 man-hours – of work. The presentation ran around two hours, 90 minutes over its scheduled time allotment at the City Council’s regular open forum.
Economic Development Director Darryl Connelly set the stage, providing an overview of the key personnel involved in the planning. It was a slow integration of players, spanning three waves.
The last group to hop on board with Seer included Joe Cusack, former general counsel and deputy director of the State Ethics Commission.
Cusack had been asked to review and OK the city’s contracts with Seer, which he did. He is now the city’s
Peter Sorckoff speaks at the July 29 Roswell City Council meeting. See STRATEGY, Page 6
RENDERING BY DIONNA WILLIAMS/APPEN MEDIA
This rendering maps out some of the projects slated for downtown Roswell as part of the city’s economic development strategy. While most are private, the Green Street Parking Deck is a $35 million bond-funded project.
Gridiron tourney kicks off fall play for high schoolers
By HAYDEN SUMLIN hayden@appenmedia.com
ATLANTA — The 33rd annual Corky Kell & Dave Hunter Classic kicks off the 2024 high school football season Aug. 14-17 with 11 games across five locations, featuring some of Georgia’s top talent.
Each of the games will be shown live on Peachtree Sports Network and streamed digitally on the Atlanta News First app. The Saturday games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium will be broadcast on Peachtree TV and 92.9 The Game.
Half of the 22 competing teams will make their first-ever appearances in the high school football showcase this year. For the first time in school history, the Dunwoody Wildcats are playing in the Corky Kell Classic.
Last season, head coach Michael Nash and the Wildcats ended a 14-year playoff drought, exiting in the first round after a historic season.
One reason to be optimistic about the school’s first showcase invitation is star quarterback Matt Pearch, two-sport athlete pitching for Yale University in 2025.
The Dunwoody Wildcats will travel up Ga. 400 to Cumming and square off against the South Paulding Spartans from Douglassville Aug. 15 at 4:30 p.m. at West Forsyth High School.
It’s the third game of the 2024 Corky Kell & Dave Hunter Classic.
The West Forsyth Wolverines, perennial Class 7A playoff team, takes
NEWS TIPS
770-442-3278
AppenMedia.com
319 N. Main Street Alpharetta, GA 30009
HANS APPEN Publisher RAY APPEN Publisher Emeritus CONTACT
Contact reporters directly or send story ideas to newsroom@appenmedia.com.
LETTERS, EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS
Send your letters, events and community news to newsroom@appenmedia.com. See appenmedia.com/submit for more guidance.
ADVERTISING
For information about advertising in the AlpharettaRoswell Herald or other Appen Media properties, email advertising@appenmedia.com or call 770-442-3278
CIRCULATION
To start, pause or stop delivery of this newspaper, email circulation@appenmedia.com or call 770-442-3278.
POLICE BLOTTER
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.
Woman with dementia scammed out of money
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A phone scammer defrauded an Alpharetta woman diagnosed with dementia out of $15,000 on July 29.
About 5:20 p.m., police were dispatched to a home after the woman’s husband reported his wife was missing and couldn’t be reached by phone, according to an Alpharetta police report.
The husband told police his wife had a history of being deceived by scammers.
Officers searched for the woman’s vehicle and were beginning a process to track her cell phone when she arrived back at the home. She was still on the phone with the scammer.
An officer took the phone, identified himself and asked whom he was speaking with.
A man on the phone identified himself as Kevin and claimed he was with PayPal. The call originated from a number with area code 706, which covers an area outside of Metro Atlanta.
Kevin was upset the police had been called and refused to answer questions before hanging up.
The woman told police she already had sent $15,000 to the scammer.
She said she had been contacted via text claiming her PayPal account had been mistakenly credited with $15,000. A person claiming to be a PayPal representative had asked her to return the money.
The woman withdrew the money from her bank account, converted it to Bitcoin at a package store and sent the digital currency to the scammer.
Examining the phone, police found that the woman had received multiple fraud detection warnings from her bank throughout the day.
While looking at her phone, police noticed she had installed remote access and Bitcoin apps.
Police also noticed she had emails from her bank notifying her that her passwords had been changed.
Police contacted her bank, which froze her online banking accounts.
Rental company owner reports stolen vehicle
ROSWELL, Ga. — Roswell Police are investigating the report of a stolen vehicle after the owner of Daniels Cars reported a renter for failing to make payments July 30.
The local business owner said he rented a car to a man May 13 who was making regular payments until July 25.
The vehicle is a white 2018 Audi Q3, valued at $28,000.
Officers said the owner’s tracker showed the car at the same location as their license plate readers.
After checking law enforcement databases, officers said the renter used a Texas man’s identification to secure the car.
Officers said the owner’s description of the suspect did not match with the Texas man’s ID.
After searching the suspect’s phone number on file, officers tracked it to an Atlanta residence.
Officers later said they found a July 2023 case involving two Atlanta men who lived at the same residence attached to the phone number.
After listing the vehicle as stolen, officers said charges against the suspect are pending a positive identification or the recovery of the Audi in his possession.
Attempts to contact the suspect and his next of kin were unsuccessful, officers said.
Man passes off hundreds in counterfeit currency
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A man defrauded a Walgreens on Main Street using counterfeit currency on July 25.
About 1 p.m., police were dispatched
to the store after a fraud was reported, according to an Alpharetta police report. A man had given three counterfeit $100 bills to a cashier to be deposited to a Cash App account.
Cash App is a mobile payment service and app. Transferring cash to Cash App is a service commonly provided by Walgreens for a small fee.
Security footage showed a man wearing all-black clothing, white shoes and a green camouflage hat had initiated the transaction. Police could not get a clear description of the man because of the recording’s angle.
An officer examined the bills and noticed they lacked a blue security ribbon found on authentic $100 bills. The bills also had different coloring. Two had the same serial number.
The manager provided to police a Cash App transaction receipt for the transfer, which was to an anonymous account.
Creekside Way resident reports squatter, burglary
ROSWELL, Ga. — Roswell police responded to a Creekside Way burglary report July 24 after a former resident found a squatter in his vacant apartment.
Dispatch told officers the suspect was inside The Crossing at Holcomb Bridge apartments and provided a description.
Officers said they spoke with a property manager who said a former occupant came by to look over his apartment and found someone squatting inside. An employee said the former resident went to the leasing office, dropped off his keys and told them about the squatter.
Officers said property management did not allow anyone to be in the vacant apartment.
Police conducted a search but could not locate the squatter.
The manager said damage to the back door lock, flooring, carpet and lighting totaled $550.
Officers said a maintenance worker sent them security footage and images of the suspect.
CITY OF ROSWELL/PROVIDED
The Roswell Summit property at 1080 Holcomb Bridge Road will house the city’s new Public Safety Headquarters. The site features two office buildings with a combined total of 127,545 square feet, though the city intends to keep only one of the buildings for the time being. It intends to lease Building 200 for four years to the seller, who donated it.
Roswell to pay $8 million for Public Safety HQ site
By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com
ROSWELL, Ga. — Offices for Roswell’s police and fire departments are set to move to the 8.7-acre Roswell Summit property off Holcomb Bridge Road.
The City Council unanimously approved the $8 million purchase, with another $600,000 in closing costs, at the July 29 special called meeting, backed by the $52 million bond voters approved in 2022.
Jonathan Bartlett, a consultant with the city’s bond program manager Jacobs, explained the site assessment for the new Public Safety Headquarters. The Summit property was selected from eight properties, accounting for physical, traffic, utilities and operational factors.
Bartlett noted one challenge with the property: it only has right-in, right-out access. But, he said traffic engineers could solve the issue with timing and adjustment of existing signals as well as ingress and egress routes.
The site features two office buildings with a combined total of 127,545 square feet, though the city intends to keep Building 100 for public safety but lease Building 200 for four years to the seller, who had donated it.
The master lease agreement, at $1 a year, would allow the management company to accommodate existing tenants and plan for an eventual
transition out of the space.
Throughout the duration of the fouryear lease, the city will pay insurance on both buildings, handle grounds maintenance, trash removal, and pay water/stormwater costs. Sugar Oak Management will pay for janitorial, security, electric and gas for the 200 building.
Deputy City Administrator Sharon Izzo said the city had estimated the Public Safety Headquarters to cost $40 to $60 million, which was why it opted to pull the 911 Call Center component out.
The center will be in the former SharpShooters USA facility, purchased in March for $5.9 million. Izzo said it will open in fall 2025.
She characterized the cost savings associated with repurposing office space on the Summit property as a “tremendous win.”
But, Jason Yowell, former Roswell City Council candidate, questioned the city’s fiscal responsibility over the purchase of SharpShooters. He said the project had a $3 million renovation cost.
“Why would you buy that when you could put it in this facility where you have more space than you could possibly hope to have?” Yowell asked. “... You’re spending money like it’s falling out of the sky. You’re spending money so irresponsibly, I can’t even begin to comprehend it.”
Tech Alpharetta mentorship course set for 4th year of guiding students
By JON WILCOX jon@appenmedia.com
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A mentorship program hosted by a local startup incubator will connect 38 female high school students and executives this year.
Tech Alpharetta’s Women’s Forum announced their fourth STEAM Mentoring Program July 30, marking its fourth cohort. The program started in 2021 with five pairs of mentors and mentees.
The STEAM Mentoring Program partners with Fulton County’s Innovation Academy, a public magnet school in Alpharetta, to inspire and guide female students toward careers in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. As mentors, local accomplished female tech executives volunteer to encourage and connect with students as they prepare for college and professional careers.
“Our volunteer mentors and board members have dedicated nearly 400 hours in the past school year alone to growing and running our … mentoring program,” Karen Cashion, president of the Women’s Forum and president and CEO of Tech Alpharetta, said. “We’re grateful to them for all the time they have generously volunteered to grow our program’s impact and potential for future growth.”
Jenni Palocsik, a vice president for customer experience automation company Verint, is one of the 38 mentors working with students in the cohort. She will be returning this year to work with the same student, a rising junior.
“I feel very passionately about supporting women at all stages of their careers,” Palocsik said.
A Cumming resident, Palocsik has worked at Verint for 12 years, helping
Mentors represent a range of large enterprise companies, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Best Buy, Global Payments, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, Scientific Games, Verint and more.
the company’s sales team engage with customers. The company uses AI technology to automate customer interactions and improve their experiences.
She remembers times during her career when there were few women in certain roles. She now understands the importance of having someone to seek advice from and share experiences, network and build confidence with.
Mentors and mentees meet once a month for about an hour. During that time, they first hear a 15-20-minute presentation from subject matter experts on various topics, such as interviewing skills, communication styles, goal setting or time management. Mentors and mentees then break into pairs to discuss the presentation or talk about anything on the mentee’s mind.
Palocsik has seen her mentee and others come a long way. In fact, she is already planning for college and beyond.
Mentees have built confidence, learned professional skills and begun to plan their next steps after graduating high school.
Some more introverted mentees begin the program with qualms about speaking with an adult they don’t know well. Others need support and structure.
Despite their differing personalities, one commonality Palocsik saw in many mentees was personal growth.
“The growth was really exciting,” Palocsik said. “It was really rewarding to see.”
The 2023-2024 STEAM Mentoring Program cohort stands for a group photo during their Microsoft Experience Center field trip.
ATLANTA — A Sandy Springs attorney, Sherri Allen, is the new chair of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections after county commissioners approved her nomination at a July 29 special-called meeting.
The confirmation vote was 6-0, with District 5 Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. abstaining.
Allen is a Sandy Springs resident and practicing attorney. She operates her own firm in the city, specializing in wrongful death, medical negligence, nursing home abuse, social security and veterans’ claims.
Allen is not new to serving her community. She is chair of the Sandy Springs Board of Appeals, legal assistance
Football:
Continued from Page 1
the field right after at 7:30 p.m. against the Class A defending champions Prince Avenue Christian.
The Alpharetta Raiders, head coach Jason Kervin and edge rusher Julius Holly have a chance to get revenge for their neighbors to the south, North Atlanta High School, when they face the Houston County Bears Aug. 17 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The Bears knocked off the North Atlanta Warriors 42-32 in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs last year. The Warriors face the Kell Longhorns at their stadium 8 p.m. Aug. 14 in the second game of the high school football showcase.
Alpharetta is led by a group of highend recruits, including quarterback D.J. Bordeaux and tight end Ethan Barbour who
manager for The Warrior Alliance and on the board of Solidarity Sandy Springs.
Nominated by Fulton County Board of Commissioners Vice Chair Khadijah AbdurRahman, Allen is the third person to chair the Board of Registration and Elections this year.
In April, former Chair Patrice PerkinsHooper left for an interim role as Atlanta’s city attorney after less than a year chairing the elections board.
Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts then tapped Perkins-Hooper’s predecessor, Cathy Woolard, to take over for the May primaries and June runoffs.
Woolard announced her resignation as board chair in early July, giving Chair Pitts and commissioners just weeks to fill the position.
Already an important task, managing
is committed to the University of Georgia.
Corky Kell Executive Director I.J.
Rosenberg said it took three months to put together the showcase’s widest range of participants yet.
“I think if you look at the 11 games and 22 teams playing this year, you will see we worked hard to be as inclusive as possible,” Rosenberg said. “We also have made a move into South Georgia as well as going back to the northwest part of the state while getting teams from all over Metro Atlanta.”
When the football showcase began in 1992, only four Metro Atlanta high schools participated, McEachern, Brookwood, Southwest DeKalb and Newnan.
Corky Kell Classic organizers added former Brookwood Broncos head coach Dave Hunter’s name to the high school football showcase in 2023 to honor his involvement and advocacy since day one.
Sports Turf Company, sponsors of the Corky Kell & Dave Hunter Classic for the
the elections process will carry a particularly heavy weight this year in light of the November presidential ballot. National attention will be following closely the polls of Georgia’s most populous county.
District 2 Commissioner Bob Ellis, who represents the western half of North Fulton County, told Appen Media he’s excited to have Allen chairing the board. Ellis said Allen’s extensive work in the Sandy Springs community, her experience as a poll worker and nonpartisan disposition makes her a good fit. The fact that she hasn’t run for public office helps too, he said.
Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul also chimed in on the selection.
“Sheri Allen has been an exemplary member of the Sandy Springs Board of Appeals,” Paul said. “I am sure she
will be effective as chair of the Board of Registration and Elections.”
On July 30, Allen issued a statement through Fulton County officials:
“Elections and voting access should not be politicized or partisan, an imperative which is made clear by the bipartisan composition of our Board. No matter the case or situation, I intend to follow the laws, best practices and successful procedures to provide transparency and access to the public. My predecessors’ priorities of access, fairness and transparency are priorities that I intend to continue. By providing consistency and reliable information, Fulton County will continue to build public trust and lead the state for voting equity. Fulton voters deserve measured and transparent leadership, and that is what I intend to do as the chair of the Fulton County BRE.”
The 2024 Corky Kell & Dave Hunter Classic schedule
Wednesday, Aug. 14 at Kell High School, east Cobb County
• 4:30 p.m. Fredrick Douglass vs. LaGrange
• 7:30 p.m. North Atlanta vs. Kell
Thursday, Aug. 15 at West Forsyth High School, Cumming
• 4:30 p.m. South Paulding vs. Dunwoody
• 7:30 p.m. Prince Avenue Christian vs. West Forsyth
Friday, Aug. 16 at Hebron Christian High School, Dacula
seventh consecutive year, are hosting the coaches’ and players’ luncheons Aug. 5 at the Marriott Northwest at Galleria and Aug. 6 at the Rome Civic Center.
2:00 p.m. D.M. Therrell vs. Hebron Christian
Friday, Aug. 16 at Barron Stadium, Rome
• 5:00 p.m. Callaway vs. Cass
• 8:00 p.m. Creekside vs. Rome
Saturday, Aug. 17 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
• 10:00 a.m. Walton vs. Brookwood
• 1:00 p.m. Alpharetta vs. HoustonCounty
• 4:00 p.m. McEachern vs. North Gwinnett
• 7:00 p.m. Douglas County vs. Cedar Grove
The company recently completed turf field replacements at Alpharetta and Milton high schools.
“Sports Turf Company’s mission to support Georgia high school’s coaches and athletes aligns with ours, creating the perfect partnership for this event,” Corky Kell’s executive director said.
Venus Justice
Strategy:
Continued from Page 1
assistant city attorney and sat on the dais July 29 occupying City Attorney David Davidson’s regular seat next to Mayor Kurt Wilson.
According to his LinkedIn page, Cusack ended his time with the State Ethics Commission in June. He joined the city in July.
Broad analysis
Sorckoff took the reins from Connelly to detail the goals and objectives of the economic development strategy; an analysis of the city’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats; and a plan that maps oncoming development and investment within the city’s downtown, midtown/uptown and eastside areas.
“I think, if we’re being honest with ourselves, we are not the preeminent city in North Fulton right now,” said Sorckoff, a Roswell native.
He characterized the city’s restrictive Unified Development Code, high land costs and a lack of parking as a “killer concoction that really stops development dead in its tracks,” which he said can be combated with the Roswell Public Facilities Authority, a bond issuing agency.
Sorckoff’s firm was recently tasked with helping the city draw revenue outside of property taxes through an envisioned city-run parking business, and the PFA is a key aspect.
Sorckoff also mentioned the city’s lack of “greenfield” and abundance of “greyfield,” or underutilized commercial properties that must be redeveloped, presenting a host of issues like the need to demolish and remediate, planning and parcel assembly.
“All of those complexities are what this city is facing right now, and sort of our inability to be able to really create big catalytic projects,” Sorckoff said.
Downtown projects
However, “big catalytic projects” are on their way to the city with several proposed for the downtown area.
The Green Street Activation Plan, which envisions the bond-fund parking deck, pedestrian plazas and a multi-use trail system, is projected to cost $35 million.
The plan has sparked controversy due to the City Council’s vote to exercise eminent domain on an integral property that includes Masonic Lodge No. 165, a pre-Civil War structure. Dozens of advocates were there that night to oppose the demolition of the building.
Another project set for downtown is a $102 million 7-acre mixed-use development to kick off a larger “Hill Street District” next to City Hall, characterized as a “baby Avalon.”
Sorckoff said the city plans to run the district into a new Roswell Housing Authority project that nearly doubles the amount of affordable units in the downtown area. According to a press release on the authority’s website, construction is slated for late this year.
Other new capital coming to downtown is Southern Post, a $126 million 4-plus-acre mixed-use development on Alpharetta Street, and Roswell Junction, a chef-driven food hall concept at the site of the former Atlanta Street Baptist Church. Both are set to open this year.
While not a private development project, the City of Roswell has committed $10 million to undertake Founders Park, which includes Town Square and the historic homes
Continued on page 7
Continued from page 6
surrounding it. The phased project looks to expand event-hosting capabilities, enhance trail and greenspace connectivity, and improve public programming.
Mayor Wilson chimed in.
“The council said, resoundingly, ‘We want to be in the historic asset business,’” Wilson recalled. “I said, ‘Okay, then let’s come up with a plan.’”
Hotel industry
Downtown Roswell will also welcome its first hotels.
The Chambray Hotel, a $50 million Hyatt-brand boutique lodge with 125 rooms, will sit next to Southern Post on Alpharetta Street.
Another 125-room hotel, the West Alley, is slated for the intersection of Mimosa Boulevard and Magnolia Street. City officials said the $127.5 million Kimpton-brand boutique lodge, recommended by the Roswell Downtown Development Authority in 2021, has been on the table for nearly a decade.
The West Alley, Sorckoff said, presents the city with the opportunity to add parking to the project, allowing the city to contemplate revenue-backed bonds.
Andy Williams, executive director of Roswell Convention and Visitors Bureau, told the council July 29 that out of the city’s 13 hotels, only one is “truly” full-service — the DoubleTree off Holcomb Bridge Road. Williams also said one-third of the city’s hotels are extended stays, which aren’t promoted to travelers.
“We lose a lot of business when you think about the mecca of Fortune 100 and 500 companies to the south of us,” Williams said. “They don’t come to Roswell because they don’t have anywhere to go because they want to do everything under one roof.”
Williams said the hotels will bolster Roswell as a wedding destination. A survey to wedding venues showed that they were losing about 50 percent of their business to guests that needed overnight accommodations, he said.
The two hotels are projected to generate $12 million in direct revenue and more than $1 million in lodging tax.
“So, it’s exciting for what it’s going to generate for the actual community,” Williams said.
City Center vision
A second “node,” looking at connectivity within the city’s midtown and uptown areas, includes plans for a Town Center at Holcomb Bridge Road and Ga. 9.
The 42-acre project dates to August 2022, when the City Council approved an agreement with the Downtown Development Authority to contract with Sizemore Group to create a master plan
for the area.
Sorckoff also highlighted a redevelopment opportunity at Mansell Overlook, 320,000 square feet of “massively underutilized” office space next to the General Motors campus with potential as a mixed-use development that encompasses a live-work-play environment.
WellStar North Fulton Medical Center has 15 acres of undeveloped land on its campus, he added, that the hospital would like to use to expand its services.
“I think they’d like to double the number of hospital rooms…” Sorckoff said.
He also mentioned The Grove, a new 2.7-acre restaurant district coming to the intersection of Crabapple Road and Crossville Road. The project repurposes traditional office park property into restaurants and retail space. In June, the City Council approved a measure that would allow patrons to carry alcohol into a plaza planned for the area.
The Pitch
Sorckoff confirmed that the stadiumanchored entertainment district, led by the United Soccer League, would be in East Roswell. Three sites are under consideration.
With a working name “The Pitch,” he said the $350 million project will act as a catalyst to nearby development opportunities and become a core asset in East Roswell.
“They’re never going to have the historic buildings that the west side has,” Sorckoff said. “So, we have to find an exemplar development for the east, east-central side that really starts to create a sense of identity for that piece of the city.”
He said the city envisions a variety of housing types for The Pitch, including multifamily, townhomes and singlefamily, as well as a full-service hotel and a lot of retail.
“You want to have housing surround a project like this because housing actually creates a base population to eat in those restaurants, drink in those bars,” Sorckoff said.
Sorckoff named more development opportunities in East Roswell, like the 15-acre former Kohl’s site, the 12.5-acre former Studio Movie Grill site and Riverwalk, a $215 million 200,000-square-foot mixed-use medical facility that would usher in the biomedical and pharmaceutical industry into Roswell.
“We would really like to work hard to get this project over the finish line with the developer who has been working overtime on that,” he said.
Council approval
In a motion made by City Councilman Allen Sells, the council approved a resolution that affirms the “projects underway are consistent
Roswell’s history with Seer
The City of Roswell hired Seer World in April in a five-year contract to lead economic development, at up to $2 million annually.
The City of Modesto, California, authorized a contract with Seer World in July 2023 for “urban planning and project management support” not to exceed $650,400, according to open records obtained by Appen Media. Seer’s work in Modesto had been used by Roswell officials as the basis for a recent contract that asked the firm to help the city source revenue from parking.
The firm was also tasked with providing for the city’s COO for the next three years, at an annual rate of $340,000, as part of the parent contract’s $2 million threshold.
The salary of former Roswell COO Richard Rhinehart, who resigned in January after eight months, was around $198,000 plus a $7,200 car allowance, according to open records obtained by Appen Media.
According to a July 2023 invoice obtained by Appen Media, Roswell paid Seer World founder Peter Sorckoff more than $43,000 for “development planning and project support” from March to June of last year. Later invoices covered work related to a stadium-anchored entertainment district. Sorckoff’s consulting work on the district came under scrutiny after a $250,000 agreement with the company was approved last August without going through the city’s bidding process.
The day before the Aug. 15, 2023, Administration and Finance and Recreation and Parks Committee meeting, where a budget amendment for $250,000 in professional services was initially proposed, Purchasing Manager Greg Anderson resigned. Within the same week, Finance Director Ryan Luckett resigned, according to records obtained by Appen Media.
RENDERING BY DIONNA WILLIAMS/APPEN MEDIA
This rendering shows mostly private development projects in Roswell’s midtown and uptown areas as well as on the east side. While its specific location hasn’t been decided, a $350 million stadium-anchored entertainment district will go in East Roswell with a working title of “The Pitch.”
with the council’s instructions” and to request the “Economic Development Task Force to advance the items to a stage of final consideration by the mayor and City Council.”
While the vote was unanimous, Roswell City Councilwoman Sarah Beeson voiced her reservations about taking one singular motion to “be able to tie it all up in a bow” and all the council “resoundingly” give their approval.
She questioned how many public dollars would go toward The Pitch and confirmed that the vote that night was not the “end all be all.”
Someone from the packed crowd shouted a request for public comment on the item.
Mayor Wilson told them, “You’ll have your own time to speak later on and appreciate you keeping it down back there.”
Just opened?
Appen
8 | Alpharetta-Roswell Herald | August 8, 2024
Alpharetta startup’s technology could revolutionize cardiac surgeries
By JON WILCOX jon@appenmedia.com
ALPHARETTA, Ga. — A local startup CEO left the corporate world to pursue a solution for one of the world’s most pervasive health problems.
“We can save lives,” Dr. Ajay Houde, CEO and cofounder of Annoviant, said.
In 2018, Houde left Halyard Health, formerly a part of Kimberly-Clark, a Fortune 100 company with operations in Alpharetta, to pursue a breakthrough technology to help patients with damaged or defective hearts. He and cofounder Dr. Naren Vyavahare, whom Houde described as the “brain behind the technology,” created the Alpharettabased startup Annoviant and an innovative process, dubbed TxGuard.
TxGuard technology removes animal cells from an animal’s blood vessel through a proprietary process and implants it into a person’s heart, allowing it to serve as a kind of scaffold for human cells to grow around. The technology’s ability to regenerate and grow with patients’ bodies may make it especially helpful to children born with heart defects.
Children born with heart defects have few options for replacing heart valves, Vyavahare said.
Annoviant has so far secured four grants from the National Institute of Health and about $7.5 million in funding.
“We can give a better option, minimize the number of repeat procedures and save the time in the hospital for people,” he said.
TxGuard, Houde said, has the potential to make an impact on a huge health problem.
serious health issues. In 2017, his mother died because of a lack of proper diagnosis. In 2002, his wife was rushed to the hospital to receive a stent to treat a renal artery defect. And his sister has struggled with breast cancer.
The health difficulties experienced by Houde’s loved ones were one major reason he decided to leave his position in the corporate world.
received support from nonprofit startup incubator Tech Alpharetta, as well as other organizations. That support, Houde said, has proved invaluable.
“This has been, for me, a lifesaver,” he said.
“Health care is actually very near and dear to me because I have lost many of my relatives, some close friends,” he said. “Some of my family members also were impacted by a lack of having the proper diagnostic or proper treatment.”
Annoviant’s TxGuard aims to provide heart disease patients better options.
Almost 400,000 people undergo heart bypass surgery in the U.S. each year, according to WebMD. Traditionally, the surgery involves taking a blood vessel from another part of the body to go around a blocked cardiac artery or defective parts of the heart.
Since the 1970s, the methods have largely remained the same. Although the surgery saves lives and has a high survival rate, the procedure often requires patients to take anticoagulant drugs and undergo repeat surgeries as the replaced tissues harden.
Developing the technology behind TxGuard has been difficult at times, Houde said, but his business has
With dozens of startups partnered with Tech Alpharetta, the nonprofit has served as a place where Houde can seek mentorship, discuss new ideas and find help in solving complex problems.
The support from Tech Alpharetta has been a blessing, says Houde, but also has offered him motivation in personal tragedy.
A few months ago, one of Houde’s close relatives was diagnosed with coronary heart disease.
“So many people are struggling,” Houde said, adding, “There are 20 million people today who are struggling with coronary heart disease.”
Other people close to Houde also have experienced
During coronary heart surgery, physicians normally remove a vein from a patient’s leg to bypass one in their heart. But for some people, like the elderly or those who have diabetes, that may not be a viable option.
Although the TxGuard technology has not yet been tested in humans, Houde said that could be coming relatively soon. Annoviant has been working with the FDA throughout its development process. He said getting FDA approval could nevertheless take a number of years.
The first TxGuard devices would likely be implanted on pediatric patients who have few options, he said.
“Saving lives and making people healthy is a noble cause,” Vyavahare said. “And it gives immense inner joy if you even help one patient.”
PHOTOS BY: ANNOVIANT/PROVIDED Annoviant co-founders Dr. Naren Vyavahare, left, and Dr. Ajay Houde are developing a technology that could help heart disease patients.
This TxGuard device is implanted into human patients, serving as a kind of scaffold for human cells to grow around.
Glitches spur more fixes to ensure security process on voter cancellation portal
By MAGGIE LEE
ATLANTA — To build confidence in voting rolls, Georgia digitized a cancellation process.
Instead, they exposed voter data to exploitation.
The website launched July 29 by Georgia’s secretary of state intended to help individuals to cancel their voter status and to increase confidence in the state’s electoral rolls has instead exposed private personal data of voters, according to an investigation by The Current.
Oversights by IT workers during a test phase meant that for at least two days vital data such as driver’s license information or partial Social Security numbers would have been visible to malicious actors. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger unveiled the site on Monday, July 29.
The Current discovered one security flaw on Wednesday — and immediately alerted the Secretary of State’s office. The story was held for publication until the agency worked with the IT vendor, MTX Group, to correct the issues.
Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office and former member of the Sandy Springs City Council, told The Current on Wednesday afternoon that approximately a couple hundred people had visited the site before the software fix.
“We launched something, we found some issues, no one was impacted in any real way that we can discover, we’ve taken steps to mitigate it and make sure it doesn’t happen,” Sterling said.
The issue is the second security flaw discovered since the site came online. The first, reported by The Associated Press, has also been fixed, according to Sterling.
The partial Social Security numbers and drivers’ license numbers exposed inadvertently on Georgia’s voter cancellation site are part of data necessary to initiate a voter registration cancellation, along with a person’s date of birth and county of residence. This personal information is valued by hackers to perpetuate identity or credit fraud.
The Current, while using the new
site, discovered that sensitive personal information displayed in the computer code sent from the cancellation portal to some users’ browsers. That flaw was related to an even more obvious security problem first reported by the AP: One page inside the portal very briefly displayed personal information in plain text.
Sterling said his office has been testing the portal internally for weeks. One of the problems had been fixed during testing, but a last-minute change elsewhere invalidated the fix, he said. The problem identified by The Current was on a list of things that needed to be checked, but it wasn’t checked, he said.
The cancellation portal is part of a larger $5.1 million overhaul of the state’s voter registration system. Those changes include storing information in cloud-based servers run by the company Salesforce, which uses security standards laid out for agencies like the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Defense. Not even the MTX Group programmers can see voters’ information, he said.
Georgia’s new election laws allow unlimited numbers of challenges to voter registration, part of a series of changes that the Republican-led state government has made to voting law amid pressure from the pernicious but wrong opinion that voting fraud is rampant in the Peach State. The brunt of those registration challenges falls on county election officials.
Though this portal was designed for individuals to remove only themselves or deceased relatives, it comes at a time when voter-list vigilantes are appearing at county election boards with thousands of names they want removed from voter rolls. Voting rights advocates are on high alert, and didn’t care for the language that first appeared on the new Secretary of State page: “Please enter the information for the voter you are wanting to cancel.”
Despite the initial flaws in the cancellation portal — which Sterling emphasized were fixed within hours — the new digitized system is more secure than depending on paper and the mail, he said.
Sterling said fewer than 20 people
The Current
Comprehensive Internal Medicine
Serving as the Medical Home for Roswell, Alpharetta, Milton, & Johns Creek, for over 20 years
What is a medical home?
A medical home is an approach to providing comprehensive and high-quality primary care, in a coordinated fashion with specialists and consultants.
A medical home is patientcentered with many aspects that contribute to improved healthcare outcomes
• Accessibility: Care is easy for the patient to obtain, including geographic access and insurance accommodation.
• Family-centered: The patient
and family are recognized and acknowledged, ensuring that all medical decisions are made in true partnership.
• Continuous: The same primary care clinician cares for patient, aiding and support through young adulthood through elder years.
• Comprehensive: Preventive, primary and specialty care are provided.
• Coordinated: A care plan is created in partnership with the patient and communicated with all health care clinicians.
• Compassionate: Genuine concern for the well-being of the patient is emphasized and
addressed.
At Comprehensive Internal Medicine, we involve many team members at various levels to coordinate and provide patient care. Our doctors lead all clinical decision-making in a team approach, collaborating with the patient to tailor care in an individualized manner.
Understanding the intricacies of our patient’s care brings a deeper knowledge of the long-term care plan. Our team of administrative professionals strives to answer each call quickly, avoiding voice mail or a phone tree.
Our scheduling department
Alpharetta: (678) 205-9004
quickly accommodates each patient’s scheduling needs.
We save appointment times for same-day appointments and are always welcoming new patients.
Whereas it may be convenient to see Urgent Care, we believe seeing your regular doctor brings your healthcare to a higher level, being seen quickly when needs arise prevents worsening medical symptoms.
Call today to establish with one of our many doctors. We have physicians who focus on young adult care, and others who have special training in the care of geriatric patients.
3180 North Point Pkwy | Suite 303 | Alpharetta, GA - 30005
Providing Medical Care Including the Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment of Diseases
Comprehensive Internal Medicine has been serving the Alpharetta community for 20 years, celebrating this milestone anniversary in 2023.
The medical practice offers a very comfortable environment and serves a medical home where patients are seen for their wellness examinations (checkups) and for the management of multiple medical problems. Same-day appointments are always available.
We welcome new patients, take most insurance plans and discounts for self-pay patients.
Dr. Obiora has a special interest in managing medical issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. He also specializes in diabetes prevention and weight loss.
In addition, he brings expertise in allergy treatment and managing allergic rhinitis, sinusitis and asthma, and can schedule allergy testing to determine the best way to treat allergy symptoms.
Dr. Nandi has practiced medicine in north Atlanta for over a decade and brings expertise to her patient base in the areas of elder care, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. She builds long term relationships with her patients and coordinates care with consulting physicians. She is fluent in Hindi and Bengali.
• High Blood Pressure
• Diabetes
• Women’s Health
• Thyroid Disease
• Obesity/Weight Loss
• Arthritis
• High Cholesterol
• Seasonal Allergies
Dr. Pervaiz has built her medical practice at Comprehensive Internal Medicine over many years and looks to build long term care relationships with her patients. She has special interest in sports physicals for teen patients and the care of preventative medicine for adults. She is fluent in Hindi.
• Asthma
• Heart Disease
• Acute Illnesses such as: sore throat, flu, cough, common cold, etc.
Jeffrey Obiora, M.D.
Sudeshna Nandi M.D.
Sumera Pervaiz, M.D.
Dr. Fatemi has been a vital part of Comprehensive Internal Medicine for 15 years, caring for her patients and their family members for over a decade. She has special interest in cardiovascular risk reduction, diabetes and high blood pressure. She is fluent in Farsi.
Brought to you by – Comprehensive Internal Medicine
Vegetables that go bump in the night
Dermatology and Mohs Surgery of Atlanta
As a responsible parent, I try not to talk to my children about celery right before bedtime. I wouldn’t want to give them nightmares!
After all, celery is one of several plants that contain “psoralens,” a group of chemicals that can cause terrible sun burns and rashes when eaten or dropped on one’s skin.
The classic example of a rash from psoralens is the vacationer who makes himself a margarita and accidentally drips lime juice on his skin. All is well until he lies in the sun. Then, blisters develop everywhere the lime juice touched: most often in the pattern of a line down the forearm following where the lime juice dripped and ran.
But limes and celery aren’t the only culprits. Most citrus fruits, figs, fennel, carrots, and even parsnips contain psoralens. Yes, EVEN parsnips. And all this time you thought parsnips were innocent. Hah.
Most psoralens stay in one’s system for about three hours after ingestion, so someone who consumes large quantities of psoralens should avoid the sun for half a day or so.
An infamous report in a 1990 volume of Archives of Dermatology details the case of a German woman who fell victim to celery. She was a vegetarian who enjoyed tanning beds, and she did not realize that celery and tanning beds are a dangerous combination. One fateful day, she cooked a one-pound celery root and proceeded to eat the entire root and all the broth in which it had stewed. One hour later, she went to the tanning bed and received her usual 30-minute treatment. Nothing seemed amiss during the tanning bed session, but over the following 48 hours, she developed fever and then diffuse swelling and large blisters. She was hospitalized, treated with steroids, and the reaction took weeks to subside.
Investigators studied a comparable celery root and determined that there was approximately 1mg of psoralens in every 10g of celery root, meaning that she had ingested approximately 45mg of psoralens. This dose of psoralens would be expected to cause the observed blistering reaction in the presence of the amount of tanning bed light she received.
For the reader interested in toxicology, the LD50 (Median Lethal
Dose: the amount of something that would be lethal in half of the people who took it) of psoralens in the absence of light is approximately 1700mg/kg in mice. This means that if a mouse receives a dose of 1700mg of psoralens for each kg of body weight, then the mouse has a fifty percent chance of surviving. If we assume the same LD50 in humans and assume a 70kg weight for the average person, then this would mean that a human would have to eat 2,600 pounds of celery in one sitting to have a 50% chance of dying from the psoralens. Of course, this is impossible. No one can eat this much celery in one sitting (do not take this as a challenge)! But, in the presence of ultraviolet light on one’s skin, just one pound of celery was enough to nearly lead to the German woman’s death. It’s a remarkable example of a toxicity that is environment-dependent to the extreme. Celery is approximately 2600 times more lethal in the presence of ultraviolet light than in its absence.
Psoralens hurt us in the presence of light because psoralens can fit inside our DNA and cause chemical reactions that depend on light to be initiated. Mutations and even breaks in DNA can occur. Even if the cell survives, the mutations can ultimately lead to cancer. Still, the small doses of psoralens the average person ingests from a normal diet allow us to usually disregard our diet when going in the sun. Large quantities of psoralens-containing fruits and vegetables are the exception.
Interestingly, we do have a clue as to why plants make psoralens to begin with. The fact that they can be toxic to animals that ingest them means that they may exist to discourage animals from eating these plants. However, a more intriguing finding is that celery stalks will increase their production of psoralens by up to ten times the normal amount when infected with certain molds. Psoralens may be a defense against mold, and we humans may be the innocent bystanders. Eating celery that was infected with this mold prior to harvesting could theoretically increase the psoralen concentration by ten times the amount, and this would mean that the German patient might have only had to eat a couple ounces of infected celery to suffer the same consequences in the tanning bed.
So, remember: Be careful with lime juice at the beach. Be cautious about celery ingestion prior to light exposure. And never, ever trust a parsnip!
Insist
Dr. Brent Taylor is a Board-Certified Dermatologist, a Fellowship-Trained Mohs Surgeon, and is certified by the Board of Venous and Lymphatic Medicine in the field of Vein Care.
He is an expert in skin cancer and melanoma treatment, endovenous laser ablation, minimally invasive vein procedures and cosmetics procedures such as Botox and injectables.
Kathryn is a certified physician assistant with over 18 years experience as a Dermatology PA. We are excited to welcome her, as she brings with her experience in general dermatology and cosmetic dermatology.
Her specialties include general dermatology such as acne, eczema, rashes, hair loss, full body skin exams, abnormal growths etc. Kathryn also specializes in cosmetic dermatology including lasers, injectables, micro-needling, PRP, facial peels, sclerotherapy for spider veins and at home skin care.
Brent Taylor
Kathryn Filipek, PA-C
Brought to you by – Dr. Brent Taylor, Premier
Making family moments possible
Everything you need to know for a healthy
Brought to you by - Emory Women’s Center
The journey to motherhood is a profound and transformative experi ence, filled with moments of joy, an ticipation, and sometimes, challenges. At Emory Women's Center in Johns Creek, we understand the importance of comprehensive care that begins well before conception and continues through the postpartum period. Jana Keating, MD, OBGYN at Emory Healthcare, gives her patients the top takeaways that will help them experi ence a healthy and fulfilling pregnan cy journey.
1. Preparation for Pregnancy: Building a Strong Foundation
Pre-pregnancy care is a cornerstone of a healthy pregnancy. "We recommend several key steps for women to take when planning a pregnancy to optimize their health before conception," Dr. Keating notes. These steps include a thorough visit with an OBGYN to assess medical history, address underlying conditions, and
provide essential vaccinations. She recommends daily folic acid intake to reduce the risk of birth defects in the brain and spinal cord. Maintaining a healthy weight through a balanced diet and avoiding harmful substances, like smoking and alcohol, are also key to a healthy pregnancy.
2. Comprehensive Prenatal Care: Empowering Women Every Step of the Way
Emory Women's Center takes pride in offering comprehensive prenatal care that empowers women throughout their pregnancy journey. Dr. Keating explains, "We monitor mom and baby with regular checkups, providing education on diet, exercise, prenatal testing, and addressing individual health concerns." These checkups include physical exams, weight monitoring, blood pressure checks, and discussions on birthing preferences and pain man-
pregnancy journey
agement options. The center also offers information sessions preparing women for childbirth, postpartum care, breastfeeding, and neonatal education, ensuring they feel informed and supported.
3. Nutrition, Exercise, and Lifestyle: Supporting Maternal and Fetal Health
Proper nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle habits are important in promoting maternal and fetal health during pregnancy. Women should prioritize a balanced diet rich in essential nutrients, stay hydrated, and engage in regular, moderate-intensity exercise. "Getting enough sleep and managing stress are also crucial aspects of a healthy pregnancy," Dr. Keating stated, adding, "Emory's care teams are always available to personalize recommendations based on individual needs, ensuring optimal health for both mother and baby.”
4. Navigating the Postpartum Period: Holistic Support for New Mothers
The journey doesn't end with delivery; Emory Women's Center continues to provide support during the postpartum period. Dr. Keating highlights, "We offer
routine check-ups to monitor healing, breastfeeding concerns, and screen for postpartum depression." This comprehensive approach addresses physical and emotional challenges, providing resources and referrals for mental health support as needed. Parents can receive guidance on newborn care, recovery, and transitioning back to daily activities, fostering confidence and well-being.
At the Emory Women's Center, we are committed to optimizing every aspect of the pregnancy journey, from preconception to postpartum care. Our holistic approach, guided by experienced professionals like Dr. Keating, ensures that women receive the support, education, and empowerment they need for a healthy and fulfilling pregnancy experience.
Start Your Journey with Emory Healthcare
If you are interested in making an appointment at the Emory Women’s Center at Johns Creek location or one of our other locations, we would love to talk to you. Schedule your appointment online or call 404-778-3401.
JANA KEATING
This “good to know” moment made possible by Emory Women’s Center.
COMPREHENSIVE GYNECOLOGICAL CARE
The difference? Emory Women’s Center at Johns Creek uses research and innovation in health to provide exceptional care, close to home. From routine gynecology and menopause management, to pregnancy and specialty care, our team is here for your journey no matter where it takes you.
The di erence? Emory Women’s Center at Johns Creek uses research and innovation in health to provide exceptional care, close to home. From routine gynecology and menopause management, to high-risk pregnancies and specialty care, our team is here for your journey no matter where it takes you.
Visit emoryhealthcare.org/women to schedule an appointment.
Visit emoryhealthcare.org/women to schedule an appointment.
focus every day is matching the right caregiver with each of our clients.
guarantee a good match. Finding the right caregiver is much more than just seeking a professional with great skills. It’s about finding a caregiver with the heart and spirit to make a difference in someone’s life.
Ways
the power of in-home care can boost your quality of life
As we all age there comes a point when the need for in-home caregiving becomes obvious, especially when the physical activities of daily living become too difficult to manage without help. There are a wide variety of situations, however, when the power of in-home caregiving can be used to provide a major boost to the quality of life of you or your older loved one.
When home is in an assisted living community, in-home care can provide a bridge that gives you the freedom and flexibility to remain in the setting and with the friends you’ve come to love. Perhaps maintaining your independence will require extra help as you recuperate from an accident or surgery. Should fall risks emerge, your caregiver can add security and peace of mind. A skilled Home Helpers caregiver can make life and nights easier if your loved one is starting to wander. For couples, this also makes sure a good night’s rest happens for their partner. Adding in-home care to the services provided by your facility can get you through unexpected times and weave a strong layer of support that lets you continue to maintain the lifestyle you want.
Home Helpers can also provide companionship if your loved one is in a Rehabilitation Center. Recovery can often be challenging, and having a sitter who stays with them can provide both
emotional comfort and stability in unfamiliar surroundings. The warmth of a well-matched companion can also help speed up recovery and battle the loneliness that can delay their recovery. It’s a way to have peace of mind knowing someone is by their side and looking out for your loved one.
Over the years, the transition from the loss of a partner, career or shrinking circle of social contacts can make it feel like the world is smaller every day. Depression and loneliness can be as debilitating as any other health challenge. Almost a quarter of adults over age 65 are considered to be socially isolated. Forty three percent of adults in the United States over age 60 report feeling lonely. For your older loved one, promoting social interaction can truly be transformative. A caregiver with a heart centered approach and positive spirit can help reinvent ways to pursue a hobby, enjoy outings and community activities, and build relationships that make for a longer and better life.
We have a team with depth and skill that can provide the care you need from six hours a day, several days a week to 24/7 care. A Home Helpers caregiver can assist with all personal care, help around the house, accompany you on doctor’s visits and provide specialized care for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc. For a free consultation, please call Home Helpers of Alpharetta and North Atlanta Suburbs at (770) 681-0323.
Turning toward
How stressed couples can support each other
Brought to you by – Will Goodwin, M.A at Summit Counseling Center
In a world where stress is often a common household guest, managing our reactions and maintaining positive connections with our spouses can be challenging. However, learning to turn towards rather than away from each other during stressful times can significantly strengthen a relationship. Here are some practical ways to achieve this:
1. Recognize the Signs of Stress
First and foremost, acknowledge when you’re stressed. It’s crucial to be aware of your body’s signals, such as tensed shoulders, a tight stomach, or a general feeling of unease. This awareness can prevent the stress from escalating and affecting your interactions with your spouse.
2. Employ Quick Stress-Relief Techniques
Before engaging with your partner, take a moment to reduce your stress level. Techniques such as the S.T.O.P. method (Stop, take a breath, Observe, Proceed) can be effective.
3. Initiate Connection
For many of us, experiencing stress can lead us to withdraw from others. Instead of withdrawing, try choosing to engage. Opening about your stressors can turn a potential disconnect into a moment of connection.
4. Listen Actively
Active listening involves fully concentrating on what is being said and your spouse’s emotional state rather than passively hearing the message of the speaker. This demonstrates empathy
and validates their feelings.
5. Plan Stress-Reducing Activities Together
Engage in activities that both of you find relaxing. It could be a walk, a shared hobby, or simply watching a favorite show together. Shared activities can not only reduce stress but also reinforce the bond of fondness and admiration between you.
6. Maintain Physical Closeness
Physical touch can be incredibly comforting and soothing in moments of stress. A hug, a gentle touch on the arm, or holding hands can release oxytocin, reducing stress and promoting a sense of calm and connection.
Turning towards each other in times of stress involves a conscious decision to connect and communicate rather than withdraw into individual coping tactics. By adopting these approaches, couples can foster a supportive environment, enhancing their relationship resilience against the inevitable stresses of life.
ISTOCK
Find solutions to back pain with Wellstar
North Fulton Spine & Pain Center
Brought to you byDr. Emily Kurokawa,
medical director of Wellstar North Fulton Spine & Pain Center
Back pain is one of the most common reasons patients seek physician care. Back pain can be emotionally, mentally and physically disabling. This can all lead to sleep deprivation, mood disruption and physical limitations. If you are experiencing back pain, the expert team at Wellstar North Fulton Spine & Pain Center will provide personalized care.
There are many causes of back pain, including degenerative disc disease, disc herniations, nerve root compression and trauma. More rare causes include autoimmune
disorders, inflammatory disorders, malignancy or pregnancy.
Symptoms can range from muscle soreness to joint aching or a shooting and burning sensation down the legs. There are “red flag” symptoms that may indicate serious causes for back pain. These symptoms may present as limb weakness, bowel or bladder incontinence, or pain that awakens you from sleep. However, most cases of back pain will resolve with rest and non-surgical treatments within a few weeks.
Non-surgical treatments may include muscle relaxants, topical creams, prescription medications or over-the-counter pain medications such as acetaminophen, aspirin or ibuprofen. You may also benefit from applying heat or ice, resting and/ or seeing a physical therapist or a chiropractor.
If back pain lasts longer than six
weeks despite non-surgical therapies, then further imaging and/or injections may be needed. Injections may help reduce pain. Our boardcertified pain physicians offer a range of injections using corticosteroids into various joints or the spine.
A pain physician may recommend an epidural steroid injection if you have disc disease, spinal stenosis or disc herniations that lead to nerve compression. If you have back pain that does not travel to other parts of the body, you may be offered corticosteroid injections into the facet joints or sacroiliac joints, and if indicated, radiofrequency ablation may be offered for a longer therapeutic relief. Those who have had back surgeries and still have persistent back pain may be recommended for spinal cord stimulators, which are implanted devices that send electrical impulses
to the spine. Our pain physicians can also offer various other injections beyond the back. If you have pain in your neck, knee, shoulder or hip, our pain physicians can offer you conservative and non-surgical options.
Our patients at Wellstar North Fulton Spine & Pain Center have success because they have a whole team of experts working for them, and our board-certified pain physicians can guide you in the right direction. If you are a candidate for spine surgery, we refer you to our expert neurosurgeons at Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center, who are standing by to develop a surgical treatment plan that’s right for you.
Learn more about our services at wellstar.org/northfultonspineandpain, or call (770) 751-2719 to make an appointment.
KUROKAWA
EXPERT SPINE SURGERY
Rethinking chemotherapy
Chemotherapy side effects such as hair loss, nausea, and vomiting are the result of the high doses of chemotherapy typically administered. This method of administration is called maximum tolerated dose, and typically requires between 1-3 weeks of recovery time before another dose can safely be given. Such breaks are necessary to reduce (but not eliminate) the risk of more significant side effects. However, I believe there is a better way, which is to administer chemotherapy more often using lower doses.
chemotherapy. It allows for more frequent “hits” to the cancer cells, while also improving the safety profile considerably. Research studies support these findings. I have been administering chemotherapy in my oncology practice this way for years and have been amazed by the results. The risk of side effects, while certainly not eliminated, is significantly lower. As a result, patient quality of life is much better, all while still routinely seeing a good clinical response to treatment. This integrative approach also includes a focus on supportive therapies such as good mistletoe, hyperthermia, nutrition, supplementation, and stress reduction, to name a few. For more information about this treatment approach, as well as many other tools in the anti-cancer toolbox, please check out my redesigned website at drstegall.com.
Brought to you by - Jonathan Stegall, MD
STEGALL
Three options to replace that missing tooth
Brought to you by - Dr. Destinee Hood, Roswell Dental Care
If you’re missing one or more teeth, you may be all too aware of their importance to your looks and overall health. Your teeth are designed to work together to help you chew, speak, and smile. Replacing a missing tooth (or teeth) helps to make sure that all of your teeth continue to work together. Plus, it helps protect your remaining teeth.
Effects of a missing tooth
• It may be harder to speak or chew
• Remaining teeth can drift
• Bone loss can occur, which may cause remaining teeth to become loose over time
• Loss of teeth and bone can make your face sag, making you look older
Removable Partial Dentures
A removable prosthesis can replace multiple teeth on an upper or lower jaw. Partials clasp to your natural teeth and the replacement teeth are set in acrylic that matches your gum tissue. They are typically less expensive and can be removed when cleaning. However, they can break easier and may need to be replaced more than a bridge or implant.
Bridges
A bridge can replace one or more teeth and is permanently cemented into place. However, the teeth on either side of a missing tooth must be prepared and cleaning underneath the bridge requires more effort than other options.
Implants
An implant is a titanium post that resembles a tooth root and is surgically placed into the jaw. This serves as a strong support to hold replacement teeth. An implant is most similar to a natural tooth and, with proper home care and regular dental cleanings, can last for your lifetime. However, since it is a surgical procedure, implants may not be an option for everyone, especially those with chronic illnesses like diabetes or high blood pressure.
We always welcome new patients. For more information or to schedule an appointment for a FREE consultation to have your oral health or facial concern evaluated, give Roswell Dental Care a call at 470.288.1152 or visit www.RoswellDentalCare.com
• Crowns and Bridges in a few days
• Porcelain Veneers
• Tooth Colored Composite Fillings
• Teeth Whitening- no sensitivity
• Oral Cancer Screenings on all patients
• Teeth Cleanings, Digital X-Rays and Comprehensive Oral Exams on all new patients
• Cosmetic Smile Makeovers and Full Mouth Reconstruction (Complimentary Consultation)
• Occlusal Guards and Bite Adjustments
• Snore Guards and Sleep Apnea Analysis
• Digital X-Rays (90% less radiation) and Intra-Oral Photos
• Digitally Scanned Dental ImpressionsNo more gooey impressions!
• FREE Nitrous Oxide and Oral Conscious Sedation •
Dr. David Remaley
Dr. Destinee Hood
Is Your Skin Summer Ready?
August Special
Micro Needling (SkinPen)
Special $300 per treatment or $1000 for a package of 4
(Regular price $400/$1200)
Schedule your appointment today!
3400 Old Milton Pkwy. | Bldg. C, Ste. 465 | Alpharetta, GA 30005
Phone: (678) 888-4460 | info@gallowayderm.com * We accept most major insurance *
Brought to you by – Galloway Dermatologic Surgery
Sunscreen and sun protection play a pivotal role in shielding our skin from the sun’s damaging ultraviolet rays.
The sun’s ultraviolet rays not only can lead to a painful sunburn, but also can contribute to premature aging and the formation of skin cancer.
Selecting the right sunscreen is crucial for sun protection. The following specifications are important to consider when selecting a sunscreen:
1. Broad Spectrum means coverage of UVA and UVB rays. UVA rays contribute to premature aging and skin cancer, whereas UVB rays contribute to sunburn. The best sunscreens will protect against both UVA and UVB.
2. SPF (Sun protection factor) indicates the level of protection against UVB rays. Select a sunscreen with a minimum SPF of 30 which blocks about 97% of UVB rays. Higher SPF offer more protection, but no sunscreen
can block 100% of the sun’s rays.
3. Water Resistance is important if you will be swimming or sweating. No sunscreen is waterproof, so reapplying sunscreen every 2 hours is important.
4. Chemical versus Physical Sunscreen : Chemical Sunscreens contain ingredients such as oxybenzone, avobenzone, octisalate, octocrylene, homosalate and octinoxate. Physical Sunscreen contain ingredients such as zinc oxide and titanium dioxide. The chemical sunscreens work by absorbing the harmful UV rays whereas the physical sunscreens create a physical barrier and block the UV rays from the skin. Whether you use physical or chemical sunscreens the most important thing is to reapply your sunscreen every 2 hours.
Galloway Dermatologic Surgery
3400 Old Milton Pkwy Building C suite 465, Alpharetta, GA 30005 (678) 888-4460
https://www.gallowayderm.com/
Trephina Galloway, DO is a skilled and compassionate skin cancer surgeon who has cared for patients in Alpharetta, Georgia, and surrounding areas since 2007
PEXELS
Do YOU really think that
Dr. Bradley Hepler, Atlanta Center for Dental Health
“Hi, how are you doing today?”
She said, “Do you think that you can make teeth last for one hundred years?”
People are living longer. They need their teeth to last longer. Average life expectancy has been increasing for years now. I have never promised that I could make teeth last for 100 years. But it has become one of our goals at The Atlanta Center for Dental Health. I have a curious mind and have done some reading about longevity. Some great minds in science and medicine seem to be making incredible progress. Ray Kurzweil has postulated that in a few years we may reach escape velocity. His prediction is that scientific and medical advancement will reach a state of adding at least one year to life expectancy every year. Doesn’t that mean that I could live forever?
We can make teeth last 100 years, if we regularly care for our teeth and prevent problems. Maintaining dental health over a lifetime requires consistent care and good habits.
Daily Oral Hygiene
1. Brush Twice a Day: Use fluoride toothpaste and brush for at least two minutes each time. Make sure to reach all surfaces of your teeth and use a soft-bristled toothbrush
you
to avoid damaging your gums.
can make teeth last for 100 years?
2. Floss Daily: Flossing removes plaque and food particles from between your teeth and under the gumline, where a toothbrush can’t reach.
3. Mouthwash: Use an antimicrobial or fluoride mouthwash to help reduce plaque, prevent gum disease, and strengthen tooth enamel.
Regular Dental Visits
1. Check-Ups: Visit your dentist at least twice a year for professional cleanings and examinations. Early detection of problems like cavities or gum disease can prevent more serious issues.
2. Professional Cleaning: Regular professional cleanings remove tartar that can’t be removed by brushing and flossing alone.
Healthy Diet
1. Limit Sugary Foods and Drinks: Sugar contributes to tooth decay. Try to minimize consumption of sugary snacks and beverages.
2. Eat a Balanced Diet: Include plenty of fruits and vegetables. Foods rich in calcium and phosphorus help remineralize tooth enamel.
3. Drink Water: Water helps wash away food particles and bacteria, and staying hydrated is essential for good oral health.
Avoid Harmful Habits
1. No Smoking: Smoking increases the risk of gum disease, tooth decay, and oral cancer.
2. Limit Alcohol: Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to oral health issues.
3. Avoid Using Teeth as Tools: Don’t use your teeth to open packages or bite hard objects, as this can cause fractures or wear down enamel.
Protective Measures
1. Use a Mouthguard: If you play sports or grind your teeth at night, wearing a mouthguard can protect your teeth from damage.
2. Sealants: Dental sealants can be applied to the chewing surfaces of your back teeth to protect them from decay.
Manage Overall Health
1. Control Medical Conditions: Conditions like diabetes can affect your oral health. Managing your overall health helps maintain
healthy teeth and gums.
2. Medications: Some medications can affect your oral health. Discuss with your dentist if you experience dry mouth or other side effects.
By following these guidelines and maintaining a proactive approach to your oral health, you can increase your chances of keeping your teeth healthy for a lifetime. Dentistry has incredible technology for repairing and restoring teeth. With dental implants and the vast array of great materials, we can do amazing things to fix and improve smiles. If we prevent diseases of teeth and gums and prevent people from just wearing out their teeth, I really believe that we can make teeth last 100 years.
“Preventive Dentistry can add 10 years to human life.” -Dr. Charles Mayo of the Mayo Clinic
Dr. Bradley Hepler and the experienced team at the Atlanta Center for Dental Health are dedicated to your health and longevity. We provide all the modern advances that contemporary aesthetic dentistry offers. If you would like a complementary consultation to discover your smile restoring options, please call the Atlanta Center for Dental Health at 770-9922236. It is our pleasure to serve this community and help as many people as possible live their best life.
1 Larger-than-life
5 Pal, in Picardy
8 One way to fall 12 Musical finale 13 Kind of part
Carnival attractions
16 Views
18 Some are debated 20 Actress Spelling
Fraternity letter 22 Windsor, for one 23 Atoll in the Marshall Islands
26 Casbah headgear
27 City on the Rhine 28 Uzbekistan’s ___ Sea
29 British capacity unit 31 “Olympia” painter
32 Reliever’s triumph
33 Climbing plant 34 Apply gently 35 “___ to Betsy!” 37 Don’t dump it
Hydrocarbon suffix
42 Disney dwarf
43 Big Apple park, once 44 German titles of respect 47 Tibetan denizen, maybe
Subcompact 7 “___ De-Lovely” 8 One of the “Katzenjammer Kids”
9 Repeated, singer who sang with Cult Jam 10 Plugs 11 Brunnhilde, e.g. 15 Saint-Germain’s river 17 Accelerator bit
Transmitted
It may be smoked 23 Quite a party 24 Requiem Mass word 25 Polynesian intoxicant 26 After horse or house 27 Plant with tiny
Bellowed
“Dee-lish!”
Crow
Colony member
Middle-Eastern bread
Setting for many a joke
Cocoyam paste
Prefix with classic
Kalansuwa, e.g.
City Springs updates schedule for ‘Jersey Boys’ performances
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — The City Springs Theatre Company announced an updated schedule for its production of “Jersey Boys” through Aug. 11 in the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center’s Byers Theatre.
The musical stars four local Metro Atlantan actors as Frankie Vallie and The Four Seasons. “Jersey Boys” follows the journey of four blue-collar kids from the streets to the top of music charts and their 1990 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
It premiered at San Francisco’s La Jolla Playhouse in 2004 and ran on Broadway from 2005 to 2017.
Atlanta’s-own Shane DeLancey directs the City Springs production with help from choreographer Meg Gillentine, conductor Miles Plant and
designer Mike Wood.
Individual tickets with prices ranging from $42-$108, are on sale with discounts for seniors, students, groups and military personnel.
The City Springs Theatre Company is a local nonprofit providing Broadway-quality productions to north Metro Atlanta’s diverse and growing population.
The nonprofit theater, led by Executive Director Natalie DeLancey with Tony Award-winner Shuler Hensley serving as artistic director, has served more than 175,000 patrons and 135,000 students through its mainstage musicals and education programs.
For information about showtimes and tickets, call 404-477-4365 or visit cityspringstheatre.com/.
The City Springs Theatre Company’s updated schedule of “Jersey Boys” performances in the Byers Theatre:
• Thursday, August 8 at 8:00pm
• Friday, August 9 at 8:00pm
Voter:
Continued from Page 9
visited the site before Monday’s flaw was fixed; and a couple hundred people had initiated cancellation requests as of Wednesday afternoon.
“At the end of the day … all these county [election office] folks, a human being still has to look at this to see if it seems right to them,” Sterling said. Anyone whose registration is canceled should receive a postcard in the mail double-checking the deletion.
Raffensperger’s office called the site “secure” when they announced its debut via press release Monday. The office touted it as a simple way for anyone moving out of state to remove themselves from the Georgia voter list, or to do so for a deceased family member.
“It will also help keep Georgia’s voter registration database up-to-date without having to rely on postcards being sent and returned by an increasingly inefficient postal system,” Raffensperger was quoted as saying in the Monday release.
Georgia Democrats this week have panned Raffenberger’s voter cancellation initiative, and the security
• Saturday, August 10 at 2:00pm and 8:00pm
• Sunday, August 11 at 2:00pm
snafus have enhanced the mistrust among many members of the state’s minority party. As Georgia moves from long-term Republican dominance to a place where more Democrats register to vote, margins as small as 12,000 votes matter in statewide elections. Democrats fear the portal will be abused by conspiracy theorists and bad actors to wrongly disenfranchise voters.
One Democratic state senator said she saw her own personal information in plain text on the site. Her caucus called for the cancellation portal to be taken down altogether.
The state cancellation site still starts by asking for a person’s name, date of birth and county of residence to start the voter cancellation process.
Next, the site asks for the voter’s drivers license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
For a short period Monday morning, if a user clicked an option saying they don’t have a driver’s license, the site generated a form for the user to print and return by mail or email. Pressing that button to create the form exposed the personal information.
This story comes from The Current, an independent, in-depth and investigative journalism website for Coastal Georgia.
Be curious, not judgmental, again
The parking in Blowingrock was insane; there was none.
Blowingrock is a small Western North Carolina town near Boone - the home of Appalachian State University, and within a mile or two of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s about five hours from Atlanta, a couple hours from Charlotte, and about an hour from Ashville. That is, Blowingrock is a destination for city folks - not unlike 30-A (in the Florida panhandle) is for many, but with the Parkway and a number of relatively unspoiled national forests instead of an ocean.
It is a hiking mecca with temperate weather, mountain views, to die-for golf courses, and - in theory - a slower, healthier pace of life.
Fulltime population of the town hovers somewhere around 1,500 people.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
The seasonal population swells to, depending on where you source the data, somewhere between 5,000 and 12,000. The number of hotel rooms and seasonal “housing units” - which would include condos and Air B&Btype of accommodations is estimated at around 500-600. If you do the math, that ratio of visitors to accommodations is, well, “tight.” The town has a number of restaurants, as well as outfitters, and boutique stores. It is quaint, very quaint - as beautiful and idyllic as any that I have encountered - ever. We were there for the first time recently for a wedding.
But the waiting lines had waiting lines and parking, well, don’t get me started. Ok, get me started.
Finding a parking space - or a table at a restaurant - in Blowingrock reminds me of those places where you pan for gold or dig for rubies. It’s not that there isn’t actually some gold or some rubies to be found, it is that the odds of finding any are no-bueno - as in extremely unlikely.
On the first night there we spent
about three hours searching for a parking space and a restaurant that was not full. We heard “you can wait at the bar for someone to leave” almost everywhere we went. The one time that we actually did wait at the bar, we finally gave up after over an hour waiting for someone to leave, and in the face of not so polite competition for the couple potential future open spaces at the bar. We finally decided to just try to go to the market - like a downtown mini grocery store - instead of a restaurant and make sandwiches back at our hotel. I thought that I spotted an open parking space and pulled in. Nope. What I had seen for an open parking space was instead, a highly polished, black, probably 2023 or ’24 Suburban that was parked exactly in the middle of two parking spaces. Seriously. It was breathtakingly bad and disrespectful beyond imagination. I turned to Christina and said that I would bet dollars to donuts that the Suburban has a Fulton County tag. Sure enough, as we double parked waiting for a space
to open up, two men came out of the market, got into the Suburban and drove off - with their Georgia Fulton county license tag and all.
Yep, it is really really hard for me to be curious, not judgmental all the time, but I am trying. That Suburban about did me in. I don’t know why I had this expectation that in this tiny town in western North Carolina that people would be, what, less selfish, less in a hurry, more plain old decent. I suppose that there could have been some good reason they parked in the middle of two parking spaces other than just not wanting any other cars close to theirs or that they were simply one of those folks who think that they are in some way better than everyone else for some twisted delusional myopic reason.
Anyway, if you are at a redlight in Alpharetta next week and you get honked at for not immediately preceding at the green light, look in the rear-view mirror and see if it’s not a shiny black suburban behind you. Kidding! No I’m not.
Public officials must listen to the public
To the editor,
Last Monday, I attended the Roswell City Council public comment meeting to voice my support for preserving the 1859 Methodist Church and my opposition to Mayor Kurt Wilson’s lack of transparency and constituent engagement.
But our mayor had other plans.
Mayor Wilson stacked a three-hour special session ahead of public comment, perhaps hoping to drive away his critics before the mics turned on. And while some people weren’t able to wait, the vast majority of us did. Residents of our disintegrating public housing asked for long overdue repairs, residents harassed by code enforcement asked for help, residents who care about history protested the demolition of the old church. And a few of us protested the mayor himself.
With some hesitation, I shared my public comments online. And, boy, has the reaction been strong.
As of this writing, my public comments have been viewed over 11,000 times on NextDoor and other social
Editor’s note:
JD Jordan is a candidate for Georgia State Senate. While Appen Media encourages submissions from all residents, the newspaper will not publish letters from those seeking public office after August 31 until the November election. See more at appenmedia.com/submit or email newsroom@appenmedia.com.
platforms. And my posts, inbox, and DMs have lit up.
The consistent thread through my comments and the messages sent to me is a simple one: We want our elected officials to listen to us. We know we won’t always change their minds, but the most basic part of their job is communication. And, sadly, communication is the part of the job Mayor Wilson (and so many others) appear to have the hardest time grappling with.
But it doesn’t have to be. We have only to look
Appen Press Club is a way for readers to support our work –directly. If you appreciate local news and want to help us make it happen, consider joining today.
at customer-experience best practices to see how our elected officials might be more proactive about communicating with us, more active when listening to us, and how the whole business of Georgia government can be more transparent and honest. Because we’re not just their constituents. We’re their stakeholders, too. And it’s time they remembered that.
JD Jordan Roswell
RAY APPEN Publisher Emeritus ray@appenmedia.com
Gen. Jack Singlaub, a military legend with ties to Georgia (Pt. 2)
In a previous column I described the career of legendary Maj. General John (Jack) Singlaub, a highly decorated veteran of World War II, Korea and Viet Nam who died January, 2022 at the age of 100.
In 1943 Jack received a commission to join the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant even though he was a semester shy of graduation from UCLA. He was quickly recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor of the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Army Special Forces, known as the Green Berets.
Singlaub’s first assignment was as a member of a three-man team that parachuted behind German lines in France soon after the D-Day invasion of June 1944 to help French resistance fighters. Jack became an expert and leader in unconventional and covert operations in Europe, Korea and Vietnam. His military career came to an end in Georgia when his views opposing President Carter’s defense policies were widely publicized. Here is his story.
In 1977 General Singlaub was serving as Chief of Staff of U.S. Forces in South Korea. In an interview with the Washington Post he was asked on “background,” that is without attribution, about the position of the South Korean military regarding President Carter’s publicly stated objective of removing U.S. ground forces from the Korean peninsula over a period of four to five years. The Korean Armistice was signed in 1953 and U.S. troops remained in South Korea as a deterrent. The president thought South Korea was able to protect itself.
President Carter was not pleased when he saw the report of the general’s interview, even though the idea of troop withdrawal was unpopular with the U.S. military, the U.S. intelligence community and the South Korean government. Unlike the case of General Douglas MacArthur, who violated a direct order from President Truman to clear policy statements before issuing them, General Singlaub pledged to implement the President’s order even though he thought the move would lead to a future war.
The general’s remarks to the reporter, which Singlaub thought were off the record, received wide news coverage. President Carter relieved Singlaub of his post, and Singlaub was reassigned to Fort McPherson in Atlanta as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM), one of the Army’s largest command centers. The president said the general “was not being chastised or punished” but transferred because his Korean post would have directly involved him in implementing the policy he was criticizing. Ironically, the President later abandoned the idea of withdrawing US troops from Korea and they are still there today.
Fort McPherson occupied almost 500 acres in southwest Atlanta and is one of the largest U.S. military bases. It operated from 1885 until its closure in 2011. It was named after Union Major General James McPherson who was killed during the Battle of Atlanta in the Civil War. Forty buildings constructed beginning in the late 1800s now
ARMY/PROVIDED
On the left shoulder of General John (Jack) Singlaub is a U.S. Army Ranger insignia patch and a U.S. Army Forces Command (FORSCOM) patch. Both played important roles in General Singlaub’s career.
constitute a historic district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2015 filmmaker Tyler Perry purchased a majority of the base’s land for use as his film studio. He preserved the historic district and uses some of the buildings as movie sets according to a staffer at the studio.
Relations between President Carter and the general suffered another blow during his assignment in Atlanta. General Singlaub criticized several of the president’s national security policies in response to questions during a lecture to ROTC cadets at Georgia Tech University in April 1978, once again supposedly off the record. However, the resulting news stories led to the general’s forced retirement, but not his presence in the public arena.
In retirement he headed two anti-Communist organizations, the World Anti-Communist League and the U.S. Council for World Freedom. At one point in his career, he headed the U.S. Parachute Association and led the U.S. Army parachute team in competitions around the world, earning the nickname “Jumping Jack.” He received many awards and published his memoirs, including a lot of military history, titled Hazardous Duty, in 1991.
Another little-known aspect of the General’s amazing career is his key role in establishing the program for training Army Rangers at Fort Benning, Georgia in the early 1950s where he was an
Part 1
Read the first part of this column on General Jack Singlaub at appenmedia.com.
SINGLAUB FAMILY/PROVIDED General Singlaub and his family resided in a historic house at Fort McPherson built in 1888, a house where former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt once stayed and where General Colin Powell lived at one time.
instructor and battalion executive officer. In 2023 the base name was changed to Fort Moore. The training program still exists, partly at Fort Moore and partly at Camp Frank D. Merrill near Dahlonega where students learn military mountaineering techniques.
Jack’s career had an impact on his daughter Mary Ann Singlaub, the youngest of the general’s three children. She worked in the South Korean Consulate General in Atlanta in 1977-1978 and worked in the language lab at Georgia State during her father’s assignment. The consulate experience was her first exposure to diplomacy and after graduating from the University of Colorado and earning her Master of Science in Foreign Service at Georgetown University, Mary Ann joined the U.S. the Foreign Service.
General Jack Singlaub, a name synonymous with valor and unconventional clandestine warfare, affected the lives of thousands of American soldiers and civilians in far-away places. His life was a tale of determination, commitment to his soldiers and to his country.
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. Bob welcomes suggestions for future columns about local history.
BOB MEYERS Columnist
US
OPINION
GET OUTSIDE, GEORGIA!
At Moccasin Creek, age has its privileges
This time last week, you’ll recall, we were in the midst of grandkids. It was much fun! We even took them fishing, she and I did, leading our entourage down to a nearby stream.
Fish were caught – many fish. Snakes were spotted too.
The kids, it turns out, are much more adept at spotting water snakes than are those of us of more advanced age. They have sharper eyes, perhaps?
Anyway, how did that go? Well, I kind of like seeing the snakes, but she is less enthusiastic. As in:
“Mimi! Look at that snake!”
And she replies, “I think it’s time we move.”
Anyway, we fished and skipped rocks and looked for snakes and climbed in and out of the creek, oh, about 150 times the kiddos made all that in-andouting look easy, hopping without misstep or pause from rock to rock and flying through the air as they did so.
She and I moved a little bit more deliberately and maybe, as the afternoon progressed, a little bit more slowly too?
Later, back home, the kids were still all energy and excitement. We, however, were (as my granddad used to say) feeling it in the knees.
Yeah. It must be that age thing I keep hearing about.
But aging isn’t all bad. For example, they say that wisdom comes with it. It has seemed to me that I’m a little wiser lately. Don’t you think?
Mostly, though (and as someone near and dear to me once put it) aging sure as heck beats the alternative.
Another eventual advantage of aging is the senior discount at the Golden Corral. I do dearly love their bourbon chicken, and now and then I just have to go get some. When I do, thanks to my maturity and wisdom, it costs me less to do so than it used to. Yay for me.
I get the same kind of age…uh, wisdom-based special treatment at the local thrift store.
At the thrift store? You bet. She got me hooked on “thrifting,” as she calls it, not long after we met. Now I can hardly pass one up, especially when it happens to be Senior Discount Day. I think I’m secretly hoping I’ll walk in and there will be a box of classic handmade English bamboo fly rods labelled “Fishing Poles $1 Each.” I shall buy them all…but since it’ll be Senior Discount Day I won’t pay nearly what I would have if I was still a young whippersnapper and less
wise. See? All you have to do is look for the silver linings.
One of the best things about this age thing, though, awaits those of a fishing bent just a few miles up the road at Moccasin Creek State Park. It’s the seniors-and-kiddos section of Moccasin Creek, a trout stream which flows through the park next to the park’s campground.
It’s a stream where age (I mean WISDOM!) is a plus!
Moccasin Creek State Park is a 32-acre park is located in northeast Georgia’s Rabun County on Georgia 197. It nestles up next to Lake Burton, and it is right across the creek from the Burton Fish Hatchery. The park offers a range of things to do too. Right there at the park is a playground where the kids can work off some energy. If you’re feeling more ambitious, you’ll find some good hiking, too, including a good trail that takes you to Hemlock Falls. The trailhead is marked by a prominent inscribed boulder. With a total in-andout length of about 2 miles, it’s a great hike to do with the kids.
Or maybe you prefer the water. Moccasin Creek State Park offers easy access to the lake, thanks to a boat ramp and dock. Don’t have a boat? Kayaks, paddleboards and canoes can be rented at the park during the warmer parts of the year.
There’s camping, too, with more than 50 tent, trailer and RV campsites. All have water and 30-amp electrical service – and (yes!) the camping is discounted for those 62 years old or older. See? Age is looking better all the time. But make your reservations early as this park is often completely booked.
During your visit, you’ll want to
cross the creek and visit the Lake Burton Trout Hatchery. It’s open from 8 till 4:30 weekdays and from 10 till 3 on weekends and holidays.
But what about that fishing?
The section of Moccasin Creek through the state park is open only to seniors age 65 or older and to kids age 11 or younger, as well as to those with disabilities. This special-regulation water starts on the downstream end near the lake at a sign marking the “approximate normal pool level of Lake Burton” on the downstream end. From there, it extends upstream under Georgia Highway 197 to the diversion dam which feeds water into the Burton Trout Hatchery.
Aha! So we who are steeped in wisdom (as well as those who are still too young to worry about such things) have our own special piece of trout stream heaven? You bet we do!
Access to this stretch of the creek is easy, even though no wading is allowed. Fishing platforms put you in good positions to cast to some of the best holding water. Creekside access is good away from the platforms, too, and a trail on the state park side provide additional fairly easy bank access to further expand the possibilities.
What swims in the creek? The big draw is the trout, of course, and the folks at the adjoining Burton Trout Hatchery regularly stock catchable-sized trout there. You’ll probably see some of these fish holding in the current near the fishing platforms…but remember that if you can see them, they can see you too. They may be harder to fool than you’d think!
What should you use when fishing the special section of Moccasin Creek?
One good bet is worms – nightcrawlers or super jumpers or whatever your favorite flavor happens to be. Another is eggs (the kind you find in jars in the fishing department of your favorite bigbox retailer, those so-called “fish eggs” of various colors). Regular-style pink or orange fish eggs are the choice of many, but others swear by different colors (you hear chartreuse mentioned quite often) or by those which are seasoned with a hint of garlic.
Another good bet can be a flashy inline spinning lure such as a Roostertail or Mepps Spinner. Fish these on a light line. If you’re fly fishing, try a Y2K, a 3-D Sucker Spawn, or a San Juan Worm. A bright streamer (that is, some sort of minnow imitation) may work for fly fishers too.
In addition to trout, you’ll see sunfish in the creek. You may catch a few of those too. All are fun!
If you don’t fall into the age brackets that let you fish the special regulations water, there’s still fishing awaiting you at Moccasin Creek State Park. You can fish the nearby lake, for example, or you can go upstream above the diversion dam and fish for trout there. Just remember that within the special regs section, you’ve got to be 65 or older, 11 or younger, or disabled.
The next time you’re looking for something to do with the grandkids, or the next time you want to really convince yourself that the aging thing isn’t all bad, take a look at Moccasin Creek State Park. It’s made to order for making memories – and you just might take home a nice trout or two as well.
We had a good time at Moccasin Creek. And (despite the name) we didn’t see a single snake!
STEVE HUDSON Columnist
PHOTOS BY: STEVE HUDSON/APPEN MEDIA
Fishing takes place from the creek’s bank at Moccasin Creek. In the background, across the creek, is the Burton Trout Hatchery.
An inscribed boulder marks the start of the Hemlock Falls Trail.
It’s summer school despite what the calendar says
Maybe it’s because we have a “sorta” President who doesn’t want to “re-up” for the job. Or maybe it’s because folks are mostly ignoring the results of all those Democrat Party primaries. Then again, it could be because the Olympics opened in Paris with an offensive (to some) opening ceremony that was too weird to embrace.
A better explanation for these strange times might land right at the doorstep of the local school districts here in Georgia. There’s a possible culprit for things just seeming “off.”
For some reason, the folks responsible for educating students seem to have failed our kids when it comes to teaching some common sense.
Here’s the subject of my ire: Right smack-dab in the middle of summer, it’s “Okay, everyone out of the pool! Get to class. Sharpen those pencils. Pony up your lunch money. Go to bed before the Braves game. Hurry up and get to the bus stop.”
Why in the name of all that’s holy are we starting school on the first day of August? I’m not for insurrections of any kind but I think if I were a school-age youngster, I might adopt the posture of my generation when it came to being shipped off to a place called Vietnam.
“Hell no, we won’t go.” Those adopting that stance were vilified, termed un-American. They were Commies, draft dodgers, or even worse. Looking back, they were right to sit that silly war out.
Maybe the kids today could form some sort of coalition and say: “It’s hot time, summer in the city. It’s too hot and we got gypped out of playing with our friends. We’ll see you in September, say the Tuesday after Labor Day will be about right.”
Administrators and teachers are a giving lot. They sacrifice and do their collective best to provide the best education possible. As a parent who always supported those educators, I am flummoxed as to why these educators have such a devil of a time reading a calendar. Summer vacation shouldn’t wrap up on the last day of July. To me, there’s no argument where that would make sense.
Visit Maries
Pizza, strombolis, calzones are menu items that seemingly don’t belong anywhere near a good breakfast. And that’s where you might be surprised to find that one of the best morning meals around is firmly ensconced at Marie’s Italian Deli in Cumming.
I know, I know. I didn’t think it possible to parlay a great place for pizza with a cool little restaurant that offers yummy bakery items and hearty eyeopeners like a vegetable frittata and a sausage-and-egg meal that includes wonderful potatoes and fresh-baked Italian bread. For later-in-the-day
The kids are grown so I don’t have a dog in this fight.
I don’t speed through school zones, even when the temperatures are still sizzling because, after all, the calendar will tell us there is still nearly two months of summer left. I have become acclimated to school buses running with summer heat rising off the blacktop.
desserts, there is a full display of gelato just begging to be taken home.
The place is a staple for pizza. Weekends will find Marie’s jammed to the rafters. There’s usually some cool music that includes Jimmy Buffet, Dylan and Tom Petty. I have often found myself dillydallying while picking up a Friday night pizza or calzone for the family.
Owner Karen Smith is involved with helping the community as evidenced by the awards and stickers in the window. The service is as outstanding as the food.
It’s a homey, comfortable establishment that will surprise but not disappoint.
This all makes about as much sense as a football bat. Will this column raise the ire of teachers? I sure hope so.
Mike Tasos has lived in Forsyth County for more than 30 years. He’s an American by birth and considers himself a Southerner by the grace of God. He can be reached at miketasos55@gmail.com.
The perks of being an avid reader
I’ve been an avid reader my whole life. In grammar school, I lived for the book fairs, and I was the girl in high school who always had a novel tucked inside her textbook. I learned all I needed to know about the Kings and Queens of England from historical novels by Phillipa Gregory, Anya Seton, Jean Plaidy, and goodness knows who else. Of course, I majored in English in college. What else was a girl to do?
The number one perk is the pure joy I get from reading a good book, which is why I read every night, often two-three books a week. Next is what I learn. It was the Maisie Dobbs series that introduced me to the impact of the first World War on England— beyond the actual bombs and devastation to a generation of young men. A dry history book is not for me. It’s novels I crave. What I never imagined is that
later in life, I would become a worldfamous columnist writing about books. Do you see my tongue firmly planted in my cheek? I’m certainly not famous, but a bit of attention has come my way because of my book columns in the Dunwoody Crier.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with book clubs to discuss my books, my path to writing, and books I recommend. When a member of Sisters in Crime Atlanta read my columns, she invited me to attend a monthly Reader Rendezvous meeting. What fun to chat with a group of mystery readers about the latest books we’ve enjoyed.
That invitation led to my joining SINC Atlanta and participating in lots of book festivals. And yes, on occasion, someone reads the byline for my columns and picks up one of my books.
The latest perk came my way when the communications manager for a major publisher noticed my columns. She wrote to ask if I’d care to read any of the mysteries and thrillers the firm planned to release this year and sent me a list to consider.
The first thing that caught my eye was an October release by Colleen Cambridge, so that went on the list. But I also found several new to me authors. This week’s review is about a debut novel described as “Maisie Dobbs meets James Bond.” How could I resist?
“A Jewel in the Crown” by David Lewis
Set in England during WWII, it features Caitrin Colline, a strong, talented female protagonist. Charged by Winston Churchill with removing the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London and driving them north to Scotland, an unlikely pair of secret agents sets out under the cover of darkness. They are to safeguard the jewels at all costs so that they don’t fall into the hands of the Nazis. It’s not long, of course, before the plan goes awry.
Is there any doubt that Caitrin Colline, a Welsh coalminer’s daughter, will save the day? Author David Lewis has given us a wellresearched, action-packed caper filled with witty dialogue. I wasn’t
surprised to read that he was an award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker. That background shines through in this tale that kept me turning pages well past my bedtime several nights in a row.
Trust me when I tell you that there is not a boring moment in this novel. Lewis tells us he has more Caitrin Colline stories to share, so I’m eagerly awaiting Book II. The series may be dubbed “The Secret Churchill Files”, but like the Maisie Dobbs series I so love, I’ll read it to learn more about Caitrin Colline.
This book ticks all my boxes—set in England, strong female lead, well plotted mystery, and more. I highly recommend you grab it now. Happy reading!
Award-winning author Kathy Manos Penn is a Sandy Springs resident. Find her cozy mysteries on Amazon or locally at The Enchanted Forest, Bookmiser, Tall Tales, and Johns Creek Books. Contact her at inkpenn119@gmail.com, and follow her on Facebook, www.facebook.com/ KathyManosPennAuthor/.
MIKE TASOS Columnist
KATHY MANOS PENN Columnist
THE INK PENN
INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING
While covering Milton election operations, Appen Media analyzed historical voter data and identified possible disenfranchisement.
This reporting caused a statewide watchdog to get involved and, eventually, the city moved to add a polling place to the area. Later in the year, Appen discovered that the feasibility report the City Council used when voting to run their own elections was not the original document. Two residents on a working committee had altered it after city staff had completed it and before its presentation to council. Appen Media reporters identified all of the differences between the two documents and then created an interactive digital document. Readers and officials were able to scroll through the materials and read notes from the newsroom explaining the differences. You can find this document at appenmedia.com/electionsreport.
Randy Knighton City of Roswell Kurt Wilson City Administrator Notice of Public Hearing Mayor
The following item will be considered by the Planning Commission at a public hearing on August 20, 2024, at 7:00 PM in the Roswell City Hall Council Chambers, 38 Hill Street, Roswell, Georgia.
a. CU 20240837/CV 20240836 - 870 Woodstock Road
The applicant, Jordan Corbitt, P.E./Kimley-Horn, is requesting a Conditional Use for Outdoor rental of construction and landscaping equipment, Concurrent variance for a reduction to the Type D buffer requirements; land lot 248.
Note: Georgia law requires that all parties who have made campaign contributions to the Mayor or a City Council Member in excess of two hundred fifty dollars ($250), within two (2) years, file a campaign contribution report with the Community Development Department. The complete text of the Georgia law is is available in the office of the City Attorney.
The complete file is available for public view at the Roswell Planning & Zoning office, 38 Hill Street, Suite G-30, Roswell, Georgia, (770) 817-6720, or planningandzoning@roswellgov.com.
ADVERTISEMENT FOR INVITATION TO BID
CITY OF ALPHARETTA, GEORGIA FOR
FY 2025 PAVEMENT PRESERVATION
ITB #25-002
The City of Alpharetta is inviting bidders to bid for FY 2025 PAVEMENT PRESERVATION. The work to be done includes, furnishing all materials, labor, and equipment for the complete construction, including, but not limited to, maintaining traffic control measures, applying high density mineral bond, performing cleanup, and related work. The location of the work is at various locations within the City of Alpharetta, Georgia. A bid bond in the amount of 5% of the bid pricing is required with each bid submitted.
All construction shall conform to the State of Georgia Standard Specifications for the Construction of Transportation Systems, latest Edition. Only contractors that have been pre-qualified with the Georgia Department of Transportation to perform this class of work shall be allowed to submit bids. Please submit your Georgia Department of Transportation qualification specification letter with the package.
The ITB will be available online Thursday, August 8, 2024, at our bid posting website, http://cityofalpharetta.bonfirehub.com/. Interested parties are required to log in to review the ITB documents. All bids must be received before closing at http://cityofalpharetta.bonfirehub.com/, webpage for this project. Responses submitted by hard copy, mail, facsimile, or e-mail will not be accepted. Responses received after the closing time will not be considered.
This procurement is issued under the authority of the City of Alpharetta Procurement Policy and applicable law. The city has the authority to reject all proposals or any proposal that is non-responsive or not responsible, and to waive technicalities and informalities to award a contract that is in the best interest of the City.
The bid opening will be held on Thursday, September 5, 2024, at 10:00 AM online using Microsoft Teams. Meeting ID: 295 448 925 103. Passcode: Wf36SC.
For information, please contact Beth Rucker at the City of Alpharetta Finance Department via email at purchasing@alpharetta.ga.us or at 678-297-6052.
Randy Knighton City of Roswell Kurt Wilson City Administrator Notice of Public Hearing Mayor
The following items will be heard by the Mayor and City Council at a public hearing on Monday, August 26, 2024, at 7:00 PM in the Roswell City Hall Council Chambers, 38 Hill Street, Roswell, Georgia.
a. PV 20240505 - 55 West Crossville Road
The applicant, Bradley Riffell/ AEC, Inc., is requesting Parkway Village Small Tract status; land lot 393.
b. CU 20243380 - 885 Woodstock Road
The applicant, Michael Drum, is requesting a Conditional Use for a Massage Establishment; land lot 254.
c. UDC Text Amendment
An ordinance to amend the Unified Development Code by modifying Article 13, Administration, Section 13.3.4, Who Can Submit an Application, Letter E; Second reading.
d. UDC Text Amendment
An ordinance to amend the Unified Development Code by modifying Article 5, Downtown Historic Districts, Section 5.2.1, Applicability; First reading.
Note: Georgia law requires that all parties who have made campaign contributions to the Mayor or a City Council Member in excess of two hundred fifty dollars ($250), within two (2) years, file a campaign contribution report with the Community Development Department. The complete text of the Georgia law is available in the office of the City Attorney.
The complete file is available for public view at the Roswell Planning and Zoning Office, 38 Hill Street, Suite G-30, Roswell, Georgia, (770) 817-6720 or planningandzoning@roswellgov.com. Refer to www.roswellgov.com.
CITY OF ALPHARETTA PUBLIC NOTICE PH-24-AB-14
Please note that this meeting will be a virtual meeting, conducted online using Zoom meetings.
PLACE
To Attend the Virtual Meeting: Using Your Computer, Tablet or Smartphone Go to: https://zoom.us Meeting ID: 878 3164 5636 Dial In: +1 646 558 8656 US August 12, 2024 at 2:00 P.M.
PURPOSE
Change in Ownership Eating Establishment Consumption on Premises Distilled Spirits, Beer, Wine & Sunday Sales
APPLICANT
Jejumouse114 Hospitality, LLC d/b/a Monkey 68 160 North Main Street Alpharetta, GA 30009
Owner: Jejumouse114 Hospitality, LLC
Registered Agent: Yen Po Liu
CITY OF ROSWELL SURPLUS AUCTION SALE
The City of Roswell will sell at auction a variety of vehicles.
The auction will be held on-line through GovDeals at www.govdeals.com .
The sale of the surplus vehicles will begin Thursday, August 15, 2024 at 7:00 am and end Thursday, August 22, 2024 at 7:00 am.
Payments are made directly on GovDeals site. All sales will be final to the highest bidder and sold “as is” and “where is” with no warranty expressed or implied.
Randy Knighton
Kurt Wilson City Administrator Mayor
CITY OF ALPHARETTA NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING
The following item will be considered by the City Council on Monday, September 9, 2024 commencing at 6:30 p.m. in the Alpharetta City Hall Council Chambers, 2 Park Plaza, Alpharetta, Georgia.
a. V-24-21 Christian/204 Marietta Street Setback Variance
Consideration of a variance to allow for the construction of a 2-story, 14,176 square foot medical office building on 1.14 acres in the Downtown. A variance is requested from Unified Development Code (UDC) Subsection 2.2.12(D) to reduce the front building setback. The property is located at 204 Marietta Street and is legally described as being located in Land Lots 694 & 1270, 1st District, 2nd Section, Fulton County, Georgia.
Note: Georgia law requires that all parties who have made campaign contributions to the Mayor or to a Council Member in excess of two hundred fifty dollars ($250) within the past two (2) years must complete a campaign contribution report with the Community Development Department. The complete text of the Georgia law and a disclosure form are available in the office of the City Clerk, 2 Park Plaza, Alpharetta, Georgia.
John H “Chip” Reed M.D. is announcing his retirement and closing his clinical medical practice Southeastern Endocrine and Diabetes located at 1475 Holcomb Bridge Road, Suite 129, Roswell, GA 30076 on September 30th, 2024. It has been a privilege to care for so many over the years. If you would like to request your medical records, please contact Southeastern Endocrine and Diabetes at 678-325-2250 before September 30th 2024.
NOTICE OF LOCATION AND DESIGN APPROVAL
FULTON COUNTY
Notice is hereby given in compliance with Georgia Code 22-2-109 and 32-3-5 that the Georgia Department of Transportation has approved the Location and Design of this project.
The date of location and design approval is: July 15, 2024
The proposed project is approximately 1.4-miles in length and begins at the intersection with Mansell Road and ends at the intersection with Haynes Bridge Road in the City of Alpharetta in Fulton County in Land District 1. This enhancement project would reduce the existing urban 6-lane section to a 4-lane section while maintaining the existing raised median and existing left turn lanes at a reduced width. The existing triple left turn lanes from Mansell Road to North Point Parkway will be reduced to two left lanes and the median widened in this area to absorb the third existing left turn lane. New curb and gutter will be constructed along the outside shoulders, and portions of the existing raised median will be replaced. The Project will provide 12-ft shared-use paths on both sides of North Point Parkway, improved pedestrian crossings across North Point Parkway, improved shelters and amenities for transit riders, pedestrians, and cyclists, and install improved low impact stormwater management infrastructure. The existing traffic signals along the corridor will be upgraded and replaced. The existing established mature trees and landscaping along the corridor will be preserved as much as possible and new green spaces will be added. The estimated construction time is 24 months.
The City of Alpharetta would be responsible for acquiring property rights for this project.
Drawings or maps or plats of the proposed project, as approved, are on file and are available for public inspection at: Pete Sewczwicz, PE, Director of Public Works City of Alpharetta psewczwicz@alpharetta.ga.us 1790 Hembree Road Alpharetta, GA 30009 678.297.6200
Any interested party may obtain a copy of the drawings or maps or plats or portions thereof by paying a nominal fee and requesting in writing to:
Kimberly W. Nesbitt, State Program Delivery Administrator Office of Program Delivery Attn: April McKown amckown@dot.ga.gov 600 West Peachtree St. NE, 25 th Floor Atlanta, GA 30308 404.631.1866
Any written request or communication in reference to this project or notice SHOULD include the P. I. Numbers as noted at the top of this notice.
SERVICE DIRECTORY
Home for Rent
BIG CANOE $1,000,000 home for lease with long range views. 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 4500 sq feet. $3500 per month, good credit required. Inquire at larryjmorris@aol.com.
SOFTWARE ENGINEERS: Alpharetta, GA & various unanticipated locations throughout the U.S.: Anlyz biz rqmts and cmps into a techncl use case. Invlv in full SDLC, obj-orntd prgrmng, & db dsgn. Blt rusbl code, lbrrs & stream prcsng apps. Create CloudFormation tmplts. Dvlp & intgrt w/msg brkrs & implmnt evntdrvn archtctrs. Cndct code rvews, prvd cnstrctv fdbck to ensure code qlty & mntnblty. Archt, dply, & mnge srvrls apps. Debug, trublshot web app & fix issues. Skills req’d: Java, JavaScript, Jenkins, Angular, Spring Boot, AWS, HTML, CSS, Apache, JUnit & Mockito. Bachelor’s in Sci, Tech, or Engg (any) w/5 yrs exp in job off’d or rltd occup is req’d. Mail CV: HR, Arcean Solutions LLC, 5470 McGinnis Village Pl., Ste 101, Alpharetta, GA, 30005.
24 ON Physicians PC seek multiple FT Hospitalist Physician (Alpharetta, GA). Provide medical care to patients in timely manner. Must have MD, DO or foreign equiv degree. Must be board certified or board eligible in Internal Medicine or Osteopathic Medicine. Must possess Illinois Medical License or able to obtain. Subject to periodic transfers to various unanticipated locations in US. Must have legal authority to work in US. EEOE. Resume to: C. Fann, 24 ON Physicians PC, 13000 Deerfield Pkwy, Ste 100, Alpharetta, GA 30004 or cfann@incompasshealth.com. Ref:HospitalistNB24
Prepare for power outages today with a Generac Home Standby Generator. Act now to re-ceive a FREE 5-Year warranty with qualifying purchase* Call 1-855-948-6176 today to schedule a free quote. It’s not just a generator. It’s a power move.
Deadline to place a classified ad is Thursdays by 4pm
Eliminate gutter cleaning forever! LeafFilter, the most advanced debris-blocking gutter protec-tion.
Schedule free LeafFilter estimate today. 20% off Entire Purchase. 10% Senior & Military Discounts. Call 1-833-610-1936
Bath & shower updates in as little as 1 day! Affordable prices - No payments for 18 months! Lifetime warranty & professional installs. Senior & military discounts available. 1-877-543-9189
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
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
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
DIRECTV Stream - Carries the most local MLB Games! Choice Package $89.99/mo for 12 mos Stream on 20 devices at once. HBO Max included for 3 mos (w/Choice Package or higher.) No contract or hidden fees! Some restrictions apply. Call IVS 1-866-859-0405
Replace your roof w/the best looking & longest lasting material steel from Erie Metal Roofs! 3 styles & multiple colors available. Guaranteed to last a lifetime! Limited Time Offer up to 50% off install + Additional 10% off install (military, health & 1st responders.) 1-833-370-1234 Jacuzzi Bath Remodel can install a new, custom bath or shower in as little as one day. For a limited time, waving all installation