Minuteman Press just keeps rolling along ► PAGE 6
Januar y 4, 2024 | AppenMedia.com | An Appen Media Group Publication | Ser ving the community since 1976
Court issues ruling against newspaper in open records suit By PATRICK FOX pat@appenmedia.com
See TRUIST, Page 18
See RULING, Page 18
HAYDEN SUMLIN/APPEN MEDIA
The Truist Bank branch at the Dunwoody Place Shopping Center will continue to operate until March 2024. The branch will close along with seven other locations in Georgia as a part of Truist Financial Corporation’s effort to close 4 percent of its branches across its retail footprint.
Truist plans to close 8 Georgia branches By HAYDEN SUMLIN hayden@appenmedia.com SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — Truist Bank customers in Georgia may have to find a new brick-and-mortar branch by March 2024. There are six branches closing throughout Metro Atlanta, including the Dunwoody Place Publix branch in Sandy Springs. The other shuttering branches are in Dalton and Macon. Appen Media reached out to the Truist Newsroom and its media relations team for comment. A spokeswoman for Truist, Stephanie Leney, said clients were sent a letter in mid-December
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announcing the financial corporations’ decision to shutter eight branches in the state. Truist Bank will keep over 200 retail locations throughout Georgia. The letter also notified clients where they can bank at the next nearest location. On average, clients across the United States will have access to a branch about 2.5 miles away from ones that are closing. In Georgia, clients will have access to a branch less than 2 miles away, Leney said. In case a client missed the letter, shuttering branches have posted notices and teammates have
ATLANTA — A Fulton County Superior Court judge has ruled that the Sandy Springs Police Department is not violating the Georgia Open Records Act by providing – for the most part – one-sentence narratives on its initial crime incident reports it makes available to the public. Judge Kimberly Adams ruled Dec. 22 that Appen Media had failed to prove that it is unlawful for the department to withhold supplemental information about a crime that police file in a subsequent report, often on the same day and gleaned from the same initial visit to the scene. Appen Publisher Hans Appen said he plans to appeal the ruling. “Judge Adams correctly cites state Supreme Court precedent that initial incident reports should be disclosed to the public, but fails to address the loophole that Sandy Springs creates for itself by writing multiple reports,” Appen said. “Common sense is that any information gathered by a responding officer to a scene is the initial incident report, regardless of when that officer actually writes his report or the number of reports he writes. We are confident the appeals court will recognize this tactic for what it is and reverse.” The Georgia Open Records Act maintains that all public records are open for public inspection, but it does make exceptions. Medical information, Social Security numbers, the names of confidential police informants and a host of other privileged material is protected from disclosure. The law also provides some latitude for materials surrounding ongoing police investigations. However, initial police crime and incident reports are