CIVIC DUTIES
Passion for environment drives Stormwater staff
By AMBER PERRY
amber@appenmedia.com
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Johns Creek Stormwater Utility Manager Cory Rayburn was still energized days after a presentation on Creekside Park at the Southeast Stormwater Association’s Annual Regional Stormwater Conference.
On the third floor of City Hall, he began an hour-long conversation by describing the many benefits of the project, the city’s biggest to date at nearly $36 million. Stormwater Engineer Roman Carey, a self-described lifelong “tree hugger,” sat across from Rayburn in the room covered in maps.
A large screen showed unseen park renderings, and at one point,
data on weather extremes, illustrating a progressive situation that spoke to the urgency of their role in the Public Works division.
It hasn’t rained since Hurricane Helene swept through Metro Atlanta, bringing with it 10 inches of rainfall in two days.
Johns Creek clamps down on City Council expenditures
Records show reimbursements for professional growth perks
By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Questions surrounding City Council members’ individual expenses have spurred efforts to place limits on the City of Johns Creek’s Expenditure Policy.
The current policy, passed in 2019, has no monetary cap on non-travel meals and stipulates that council members can be reimbursed so long as they are related to city business, like with a constituent, for example.
It also allows council members to use city funds to pay for professional memberships with organizations like Rotary Club. At an Oct. 21 work session, City Councilman Bob Erramilli argued that council members should not be questioning one another and that there should be more trust.
The plan was to revisit the policy three years after it was adopted.
City Councilman Chris Coughlin disagreed.
“…I haven't ever questioned any of y’all’s’ expenses until I’ve seen y’all’s’ expenses,” Coughlin said. “That's where I'm like, ‘Oh, we should have guard
See COUNCIL,
AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA
Johns Creek Stormwater Utility Manager Cory Rayburn and Stormwater Engineer Roman Carey stand next to a map of plans for Creekside Park, which includes constructed wetlands that will add 4.5 million gallons of stormwater storage.
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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.
Police seek suspects in boutique burglary
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Police were dispatched to a burglary alarm Oct. 15 at a clothing boutique off State Bridge Road with possible intruders inside.
When police arrived, they noticed a trash can knocked over in front of the business and a window panel shattered, with a white T-shirt from inside laying on the sidewalk, according to the incident report.
The owner told police $700 in Tshirts had been taken.
After police set up a perimeter, they found a man nearby and pulled him in for questioning. But, the suspects seen in surveillance footage did not match the man’s description, and the man was released.
Footage showed a black SUV pull up to the front of the business. A description of the suspects seen in the footage, entering the business, was redacted on the incident report.
The scene was turned over to detectives.
Cash, documents taken in burglary at pizzeria
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — The owner of a pizzeria on Jones Bridge Road reported to police Oct. 17 that his business had been burglarized overnight at around 5:45 a.m.
The owner told police a male suspect stole $200 in cash from one register and took another cash register which contained documents but no money, according to the incident report.
Police said a small filing cabinet also had pry marks on it and that the suspect may have used a large crowbar or Halligan tool.
The suspect left through the rear door, the report says. Police said no vehicle or any other suspects were seen.
Man stopped for speeding cited with drug violations
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Police arrested a 47-year-old Duluth man Oct. 18 after he was clocked speeding at 72 mph in a 45mph zone on Medlock Bridge Road.
Police said the suspect had been weaving in and out of traffic in his Honda Accord, without signaling lane changes and cutting other drivers off, according to the incident report.
When police caught up to the suspect to conduct a traffic stop, the suspect admitted to having a marijuana blunt that fell between the center console and front driver seat.
Police also found a colorful bag in the center console that featured a mushroom and the words “FLOAT GUMMIES MAGIC LOVE,” “Groovy Mix,” and “Smart Shrooms + Delta 9 THC.”
on it. The bag contained a couple of pieces of mushrooms.
The suspect admitted to ingesting the mushrooms, according to the report.
Police also located a 5.8-gram bag of marijuana shake.
Police charged the suspect with possession of schedule I, possession of marijuana less than an ounce, speeding and failure to signal lane change, and transported him to the North Fulton County Jail.
Man says theft suspect fired at his apartment
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — A Johns Creek man reported to police Oct. 20 that he saw four suspects attempting to break into cars at his apartment complex off Kingsley Circle.
The man told police he saw a silver passenger vehicle drive into the parking lot area with its headlights out at around 3:30 a.m.
The witness said he saw one male on foot walking between the vehicles, checking door handles, and after some time saw a total of four suspects, all
wearing hoodies checking the parking lot, according to the incident report.
The man also told police he confronted one suspect attempting to enter his vehicle and that the suspect, shocked, ran back to the suspect vehicle. At that point, the man said the suspects left the neighborhood in the suspect vehicle.
As the vehicle passed by the man’s apartment building, one of the suspects held a firearm out of the window and fired multiple shots towards the building, according to the report. Police said several shell casings were discovered at the scene and that bullet holes were found in the side of an apartment building.
The scene was turned over to detectives.
— Amber Perry
Planet Fitness patron reports stolen wallet
ROSWELL, Ga. — A 56-year-old patron of Planet Fitness off Ga. 9 reported a thief took his driver’s license, three credit cards and $300 cash from his gym locker Oct. 15.
Officers said Planet Fitness employees gave them the victim’s contact information.
The victim, a 56-year-old orthopedic surgeon, said someone stole his wallet from an unsecured locker at the gym around 11:30 a.m.
Officers said the victim reported two fraudulent charges on one of his credit cards at Walmart and Journeys following the theft.
The victim said he only saw one other person while he was in the locker room, a man not dressed in traditional workout clothes.
Gym employees provided officers with a name of a Stone Mountain man based off the victim’s account of the incident.
Officers said they took no further action after listing the financial transaction card fraud charge.
— Hayden Sumlin
ASK APPEN
Regional agency pushes aid plan for homebound to area counties
By JON WILCOX jon@appenmedia.com
ATLANTA — An Atlanta Regional Commission trial program reduced long waitlists for in-home care by allowing those in need to hire their own staff, the agency said.
If implemented by counties, the consumer-direct model could reduce backlogs and give caregivers more autonomy and flexibility, said Cara Pellino, access to services unit manager for the ARC.
In Fulton County, waitlists for all in-home services extend more than one year, with many on the sidelines several years, Pellino said. Many on the waitlists are people in immediate need.
“These are vulnerable individuals, some of whom have limited or no caregiver support in the community or may even be caregivers themselves,” she said. “The help is not there when they need it.”
The Atlanta Regional Commission is a regional planning agency. Its Area Agency on Aging serves 10 metro counties, including Fulton and DeKalb.
Often, homebound senior clients who seek in-home services through the 1965 federal Older Americans Act are placed on waiting lists while a case manager determines which services and resources are needed, Pellino said. The act provides funding to allow local and state agencies to provide care for older adults. Its services include home-delivered meals, health and wellness programs, in-home care, transportation, elder abuse prevention, caregiver support and adult day care, according to the nonprofit USAging.
Through the ARC’s consumer-directed model, those
JON WILCOX/APPEN MEDIA
Cara Pellino, access to services unit manager for the Atlanta Regional Commission, gives a presentation on the organization’s consumer-direct program for caretakers and older adults at the ARC office in Downtown Atlanta Oct. 23.
seeking aid can bypass the normal process and directly hire their own care staff or request help from an agency.
“The assumption is that the person knows better about what they need,” Pellino said. “It’s about preference and choice.”
During its four years of operation which ended in September, the ARC program served 68 clients and seniors in all 10 counties its Area Agency on Aging covers. About 75 percent chose to hire their own employees or family members. About 20 percent opted for finding care through an agency.
The ARC used federal COVID-19 funding to start the
program, hoping it would serve as a “proof of concept,” said Becky Kurtz, manager of ARC’s Aging & Health Resources Division.
“We were like, ‘Let’s show the value of this,’” Kurtz said. Studies on consumer-direct care programs have shown no increase in fraud than traditional models, Pellino said.
Next, the ARC plans to apply the consumer-direct model to services offered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
ARC officials will visit veterans who need services and help them complete the necessary paperwork to enroll and hire their own caregivers.
Consumer-direct service models could and should be applied at local-level Area Agencies on Aging, Pellino and Kurtz said.
“They’re the ones that get the funding to pull people off the waiting list, to provide the homemaker personal care,” Pellino said. “So, if they had the consumer-directed model, they could probably really further reduce their waitlist.”
The ARC is ready to work with county governments to show them the benefits and how they can be implemented, Kurtz said.
“We’ve had experience with it over the last few years,” Kurtz said. “We can coach you through it. We really want you all to be trying this at the county level.”
Georgia ranks 47th in the nation for access to consumer-directed programs, Pellino said. Local governments may be wary of trying out a model that is unfamiliar, but she said there’s nothing to be afraid of.
“Try it,” Pellino said. “Instead of having people on multiple waitlists, they could use the same dollar amount … and be more efficient.”
Johns Creek turns blowout Diwali event into lowkey market
By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — As a way to manage overwhelming turnout the past two years, the City of Johns Creek transformed its Diwali celebration into a two-day market with extended hours.
The market, held from Oct. 26-27 at City Hall, featured around 80 vendors, including retail, food and nonprofits, and a kids activity zone with inflatables, face painting, balloon art and clay painting.
There were also about two dozen cultural performances that took the stage over the weekend, with groups wearing colorful traditional attire as they danced, often symbolizing Indian folk stories.
That Saturday, Mayor John Bradberry welcomed the small crowd, soon joining in dance with council members Larry DiBiase and Dilip Tunki as well as event organizer Himanshu Karnwal and India Consul General Shri Ramesh Babu Lakshmanan.
“This is beautiful,” Bradberry said. “We have so many great people from our community here today, whether you're from Johns Creek or not. We just want you to feel very welcome and just you know we're glad that you're here to celebrate Diwali. It's a very joyous occasion.
He said Johns Creek was the first to host a Diwali celebration, aka the “festival of lights,” in Georgia.
In 2022, the Diwali event at Shakerag Park saw around 12,000 visitors. While the city upgraded to a larger space in 2023 at the Heisman Field across from the Atlanta Athletic Club, attendance deluged available parking and local roads with an attendance of around 20,000 people.
Dancers with the Laasya School of Dance perform at the Johns Creek Diwali Market Oct. 26. Held at City Hall, the market featured around 80 vendors, about two dozen cultural performances and a kids activity zone.
Stretched over two days, the market had a slower pace.
City Manager Kimberly Greer said the new focus aligns with how the event is celebrated in India. It’s one of the year’s largest shopping and marketplace events, Greer said, where families exchange gifts, hold feasts, and purchase and wear new jewelry.
Among the food vendors at the Diwali Market was Biryani Place, Venu Danda’s Sandy Springs-based restaurant. Biryani is a popular rice dish in Hyderabad, Telangana,
India, and Danda’s favorite.
“My childhood was there, and I was there for almost 25 years,” he said.
In the Hyderabad style of biryani, Danda said the rice and chicken are cooked separately and layered.
This year was Danda’s first participating in the Johns Creek annual event.
“It's very energetic, the way it's going on,” he said.
Nearby, Sachin Gupta helped his wife Shalini with her business Gayatri Collections, based in Cumming. Their tent featured an array of colorful wall decor, many pieces intended for doorways which Sachin said are usually placed by an in-home temple.
The Guptas’ biggest sales items are traditional Indian attire, though, worn on special occasions, like women’s gowns and men’s kurtas, or long, loose, collarless shirts. Sachin said the clothing’s hand embroidery, called “chikankari,” is unique to his native city in Uttar Pradesh, India.
“That’s the specialty of Lucknow, hand weaving and then cuisine, of course, the Lucknow cuisine,” Sachin said. “Lucknow is famous for many things.”
The Guptas have set up shop at the Johns Creek Diwali event every year.
Sachin commented on the additional space at the market but said visitors will miss the fireworks. Previously, the city’s Diwali celebrations ended with a fireworks show, an integral part of Diwali in India.
Diwali, he said, is a “message to everyone.”
“It symbolizes peace, it symbolizes harmony,” Sachin said. “People from different cultures, they get together, and we all celebrate together.”
AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA
Alpharetta volleyball to compete for back-to-back state titles
By ANNABELLE REITER annabelle@appenmedia.com
ALPHARETTA, Ga — Alpharetta volleyball will advance to the 6A Georgia championship to be held at Lake Point Sports in Cartersville at noon on Nov. 2 for the second year in a row. The win also boosted the Raiders up in the national rankings to No. 8.
The Raiders traveled to East Coweta High School Oct. 22 for a match against the Indians. The match saw senior Brooke Boyles reach 1,000 career digs.
It was a block party for the rest of the Raiders, with senior middle hitter Madison McLin logging a solo block in addition to four block assists. McLin had a season highlight of a night, posting 13 kills and securing her spot at the secondhighest hitting percentage in Georgia. Senior setter Abigail Li also recorded four block assists at East Coweta in addition to her 30 assists.
Set one went quickly, with the Indians only scoring eight points before the Raiders got to 25. Alpharetta’s focus was intact, seeing Li and junior libero Kailey Leonard combine for five aces in the first set alone.
The Indians struggled in the first set, seeing a double hit penalty immediately followed by a rotation violation, putting the score at 8-19. Kills from Boyles and McLin sealed off the set, 8-25.
The second set got a bit more dicey. East Coweta senior outside hitter Karea Copeland found her footing to throw down a few kills, while sophomore right side Taryn Timmons and junior outside hitter Niah Redmond came through clutch with powerful spikes when the Indians needed it most.
The Raiders had to battle hard against the Indians during the second set but came out on top. Final score of set two was 19-25.
Boyles and McLin were hot in set three
with flashes from junior outside hitter Kennedi White. Final score of set three 15-25 to make another clean sweep for the Raiders.
The Final Four was held at Westminster School Oct. 26, where the Raiders played the Norcross Blue Devils. The two teams met earlier in the season, resulting in a sweep by Alpharetta although the Blue Devils had a major contributor out due to injury. Head coach Marshall King told Appen Media, “this is the toughest team we have faced all season.” King said he “expected the game to go to five sets,” the first match to do so for the Raiders this year.
The Raiders won the first set 19-25, and took a slightly wider margin in set two with a final score of 17-25. Boyles led Alpharetta in kills again with 21 on the match, but White broke through and notably had 12 kills in addition to a block assist.
Norcross has several division I commits of their own, battling hard against the Raiders. Senior outside hitter Kendall White (committed to St. John’s) and junior right side Sofia Guerrero-Wilson (committed to Cincinnati) headlined the Blue Devils’ effort to send Alpharetta home. Norcross entered set three hungry and unwilling to lose.
Despite best efforts in powerful kills by Boyles and McLin, and blocks from McLin and Simpson (who reached a season-high six block assists), the Blue Devils took set three 25-23. Norcross kept the game close through the halfway point of the fourth set, at which point the Raiders were able to separate themselves and bring the nail-biter to a close, final score of set four 16-25.
The final moments of the fourth set when Alpharetta was able to run away with the game came from key plays by McLin, Li, White, and Boyles.
The Raiders advance to the state championship again and will play against North Cobb High School Nov. 2 at Lake Point Sports in Cartersville.
Samantha B. Benson, MD Johns Creek: Tues., Thurs. Milton: Mon., Fri. Kaavya Chivukula, MD Johns Creek Only
ALPHARETTA VOLLEYBALL/PROVIDED
The Raiders take a 3-1 win over the Norcross Blue Devils at Westminster School Oct. 26. Alpharetta will be competing Nov. 2 for the state championship.
Milton soars past Johns Creek on Homecoming
By ANNABELLE REITER annabelle@appenmedia.com
MILTON, Ga — The Milton Eagles blanked the Johns Creek Gladiators 56-0 on homecoming night Oct. 25, turning the student section into a Friday night celebration.
Milton dominated the first quarter and took a 50-0 lead into halftime. The Eagles put in backups during the third quarter and notched another six points with seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Eagles quarterback, University of Miami commit and now-crowned Milton Homecoming King Luke Nickel reached 2,000 yards on the season during the game, logging 183 yards before being subbed out for backup quarterback, junior Cooper Bradshaw. The Gladiators’ offense struggled all game, but senior running back Nick DiPietro fought hard with 16 carries and two receptions. Milton’s tough defense kept him out of the red zone all night.
Johns Creek kicked off the first half, and Milton responded on its first drive with a receiving touchdown from senior tight end Ethan Barbour. The Gladiator’s first drive ended in a fumble recovered
by senior inside linebacker Hayden Tumminia. After the turnover, senior wide receiver CJ Wiley caught one of Nickel’s touchdown tosses.
The Eagles’ next drive saw Milton’s leader in touchdowns this season, senior running back TJ Lester, score his one and only touchdown of the game.
At the end of the first quarter, Johns Creek fumbled the snap on a punt, which Eagles junior outside linebacker Billy Weivoda managed to block. With less than 90 seconds remaining in the quarter, Wiley recorded his second receiving touchdown of the night.
The second quarter saw three more touchdowns from the Eagles. Barbour recorded his second, Nickel ran one to the house and sophomore wide receiver Jordan Carrasquillo brought in the third.
The second half saw a running timeclock, and Milton’s backups held strong to maintain the shutout. The last few seconds of the fourth quarter saw a rushing touchdown from sophomore Marcus Turk.
Johns Creek will play Chattahoochee (4-5) on Nov. 1 and Milton will compete for the regional title against Roswell High School (8-1) next week.
NOVEMBER
City Calendar & Events! 2024
November 4
Planning Committee Meeting
City Hall - 7 p.m.
November 9
Honoring Our Veterans
Newtown Park - 9 a.m.
November 11
Veterans Day
City offices closed
November 14
Arts, Cultural, & Entertainment Committee
City Hall - 6:30 p.m.
November 18
City Council Work Session
City Hall - 5 p.m.
City Council Meeting
City Hall - 7 p.m.
November 19
Board of Zoning Appeals
City Hall - 7 p.m.
November 20
Recreation and Parks Advisory Meeting
City Hall - 6:30 p.m.
November 28
Thanksgiving City offices closed
November 29
Thanksgiving
City offices closed
Scan the QR Code to learn more or to contact the City of Johns Creek!
ANNABELLE REITER/APPEN MEDIA
Johns Creek sophomore running back Nick Dipietro attempts to get around Milton’s defense at Milton High School Oct. 25. He was the go-to running back with 16 carries for 45 rushing yards.
JOHNS CREEK BEAUTIFICATION/PROVIDED
Volunteers plant daffodils at ALTO Senior Living Oct. 26 as part of Daffodils4Hope planti ng campaign, led by nonprofit Johns Creek Beautification in partnership with CanCare Atlanta. More than 8,500 daffodils were planted that day.
Volunteers continue to lift
Johns Creek with thousands of daffodils in campaign
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — More than 100 volunteers planted more than 8,500 daffodils across six locations in Johns Creek Oct. 26, as part of a community-wide campaign.
Daffodils4Hope, led by nonprofit Johns Creek Beautification in partnership with CanCare Atlanta, is intended to help drive awareness of cancer survivorship.
Cauley Creek Park was one planting site this year, and it was one of the campaign’s largest planting efforts with 60 volunteers planting more than 3,500 daffodils along the 5K trail.
Johns Creek Beautification is aiming for a total of 10,000 daffodils this year with two more sites, bringing the citywide total to 62,250 daffodils across 23 locations. They will bloom next spring.
Join us at an upcoming event! Visit AltoJohnsCreek.com or call 706.252.3411.
Cassandra Littlejohn, who coordinated
Planting partners include
• Rotary Club of Johns Creek North Fulton
• Rotary Club of Johns Creek
• Johns Creek Presbyterian Preschool
• Hands for Christ Food Bank
• Autrey Mill Nature Preserve
• ALTO Senior Living by Allegro
• Hilton Garden Inn-Johns Creek
• Zion Missionary Baptist Church
the Daffodils4Hope initiative, said the day was a success.
“It was beautiful to see so many people enjoying the day, strengthening community relations, and providing support where needed,” Littlejohn said.
— Amber Perry
Kemp announces income tax rebate
By DAVE WILLIAMS Capitol Beat
ATLANTA — A For the second time in three years, Gov. Brian Kemp is giving Georgians a tax rebate worth more than $1 billion.
Kemp said Tuesday he will include the rebate in the mid-year budget he introduces to the General Assembly in January. He said the extra money will come in handy, particularly for Georgians who suffered losses from Hurricane Helene.
“We all know that even if inflation has fallen, high prices haven’t,” he said. “Families see that every day when they go to the grocery store or the gas pump. … People shouldn’t have to deal with that added burden, especially in the wake of tragedy.”
The Oct. 22 announcement was the second tax relief measure the governor has issued in recent weeks. Kemp temporarily suspended collection of the state sales tax on gasoline and other motor fuels shortly after Helene struck large portions of South Georgia and the Augusta region.
The governor proposed a similar tax rebate two years ago worth about $1 billion. The General Assembly approved that rebate during the 2023 legislative session.
Under the new tax rebate, single tax filers will receive $250. A single filer who is the head of his or her household will get $375, and married couples filing jointly will receive $500.
Kemp said the state can afford the rebate because conservative budgeting has helped the state build up a huge budget surplus. He said he’d rather send that money back to taxpayers instead of pouring it into new government programs.
“This is one-time money … a way for us to use our excess surplus to get it back to the people we believe know how to use it best,” he said. “The worst mistake the state could make would be to grow government with one-time money.”
This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Come prepared with business cards and your 45-second pitch about your business! From these meetings, you will form relationships, create business opportunities, Wednesday
11695 Johns Creek Parkway, Suite 100
Johns Creek, Georgia 30097
A part of our mission is to help businesses in Johns Creek connect, grow, and thrive. One of the ways we fulfill this mission is by helping business professionals grow their networks. All are welcome to the following networking opportunities for little to no cost, so please join us! The schedule is subject to change so to stay up to date with all the information visit the Calendar on our website or give us a call.
Men’s Happy Hour Networking
4th Thursday of the month. Check calendar on website for all details.
This event allows male professionals in the Johns Creek area to expand their referral network. So come on join your fellow gentlemen friends – and make new ones- at this monthly event! Chamber membership is not required and there is no admission for this event, just pay your own tab.
Women’s Networking Connection
4th Thursday of the month. Check calendar on website for all details.
Our Women’s Networking Connection is a great platform for women in business to come together to build strong connections with other businesswomen. Whether you own, run, or have a women targeted business you’ll enjoy great networking, great referrals, and great conversations!
Three kid-preneurs take reins of family business
By ANNABELLE REITER annabelle@appenmedia.com
CUMMING, Ga — In 2015, Mom Adwoa Asenso-Okyere started a business she called Akoma Collections designing and making bags and jewelry. She got acquainted with the local trade show market and would attend them as a vendor with her three young children.
Papa Yaw, now 11, Akoma, 9, and Nshira, 7, took an interest in what their mom was doing, prompting the family to transition the business with a new name and have the parents take a supporting role while their children are in the driver’s seat.
Today, AsenSoul Inspirations, based out of Cumming, still attends trade shows with jewelry, bags, journals and other goods, but the true focus of their business now revolves around creating media. Snowballing from the first idea of writing a children’s book, AsenSoul sells coloring books, with more in the works, and has a presence on social media with kid-created and kid-focused content.
AsenSoul Inspirations will make its next in-person appearance Nov. 16 at the Fall Children’s Business Market in Stone Mountain. Their books and coloring books are available on Amazon as well.
Mom Adwoa says their goal as a family is to promote balance.
“Each of them is involved in different extracurricular activities,” she said, “but the point [of having them take the ropes] is they have realized they can do anything they put their minds to. They’re not too young. The sky is truly the limit and I think they’ve seen that.”
AsenSoul Inspirations frequents
KidBiz Expos to help introduce other
children to “Kid-preneurs” that are in a similar position while gaining life skills as they learn about business. In the Asenso-Okyere family, each child has their own responsibilities within the business.
Papa Yaw is the social media manager for AsenSoul Inspirations and runs their TikTok and YouTube accounts. He also has a podcast called AsenSoul Kid Talk where he interviews other kids about current events and
their world views.
Papa Yaw manages another platform the business handles called FunFam. This is where they have information about activities and events, focusing on cultural adventures.
Akoma handles the production of many of the goods sold at trade shows, including the jewelry and the refreshments at their booth. She’s also responsible for the idea of the children’s book that led to their business
transformation, now published, titled “Yo Bro, I Am Not a Monkey.”
Mom Adwoa detailed the process of writing, illustrating and publication, explaining that her daughter’s experience throughout pre-K and elementary school came to a head the first week of this school year when another incident of racist and hurtful language took place.
ASENSOUL INSPIRATIONS/PROVIDED
From left, Adwoa, Papa Yaw, Akoma, and Nshira Asenso-Okyere attend A Taste of Black Gwinnett in Norcross Oct. 18. Their business, AsenSoul Inspirations, focuses on cultural education and empowerment.
See ASENSOUL, Page 11
AsenSoul:
Continued from Page 10
“We don’t know the angle they’re coming from, but there’s ways to help,” Adwoa said. “We’re doing this not spitefully but in love, to educate and to help people.”
Akoma told said that her goal in creating “Yo Bro” was to “touch people’s hearts and let them know they are respected,” fostering more tolerance and love to those in need.
Another positive result made from a troublesome situation has been the cultural empowerment club, the Difference Makers, that Akoma formed in her school. The club features cultural diversity presentations and other events to promote education and inclusion.
Mom Adwoa says, “I think she’s seen some of the fruits of that at school already.”
Nshira is the creative director of the jewelry operation, coordinating the design before it goes to production with Akoma. Nshira felt inspired by her older sister creating a book and said she “wanted to uplift girls like me to know they are beautiful, valued and worthy of respect.”
The method to accomplish this, coloring books.
Nshira’s first coloring book is titled “Unapologetically Me,” which features inspiring words and images aimed to encourage young girls and highlight different cultures, backgrounds and dreams. A second coloring book, “Colorful Cultures,” highlights historic landmarks and cultural aspects of more than 50 countries to draw attention to the beauty of diversity.
Akoma has plans to make “Yo Bro” a series with the help of some of the members of the Difference Makers club and their experiences facing
County Schools will have
ASENSOUL INSPIRATIONS/PROVIDED
“Yo Bro, I Am Not a Monkey” was published to help educate other children in response to Akoma’s experience in elementary school.
Asen-Soul Inspiration upcoming events:
• Nov. 16: Fall Children’s Business Market at D7 Lounge in Stone Mountain, Ga., 9-3 pm
• Nov. 30: Holly Jolly Market (Kid Biz Expo) at 4096 E Cherokee Dr Canton, Ga., 10-3 pm
• Dec. 13: A Taste of Black Gwinnett at Norcross Cultural Arts & Community Center, 6-10 pm
Instagram: @Asensoul_Inspirations
YouTube: @Asensoul_Inspirations
TikTok: @Asensoul_Inspirations
mistreatment at school. They hope to increase awareness of cultural differences for more people and expand their scope. Papa Yaw and Nshira are also working on stories of their own to be published soon.
for all Fulton County Residents beginning next school year (25-26). Join us to learn about The Northview Experience.
High School 10625 Parsons Road • Johns Creek GA 30097
Theatre program prepares students for the big stage
By HAYDEN SUMLIN hayden@appenmedia.com
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — Collegiate musical theater programs from around the country travel to Sandy Springs to audition local youth talent developed by the City Springs Theatre Conservatory.
Tucked within the Northridge Commons office park in north Sandy Springs lies the City Springs Theatre Company and its Studios.
While some Metro Atlantans are familiar with Broadway-quality productions at the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center, fewer know about the City Springs Theatre Conservatory.
After just two performances during its 2018 inaugural season in the Byers Theatre, the local nonprofit launched its Conservatory to develop the next generation of performers and technicians in musical theater.
The Conservatory offers prospective students options through its arts education programming, allowing a middle schooler to try out an acting lesson or take a high school junior step-by-step through the college audition process.
It also offers a traveling competition team, 10-week classes on skill-based techniques, one-on-one lessons and summer programs.
The programing offers performance and training opportunities, both essential to music theater, to meet prospective students of all ages where they are.
While the professional theater company performs at the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center, the magic would not happen without rigorous, weekly training in Suite 136 at 8601 Dunwoody Place, a state-ofthe art training facility.
With renovations completed in late August, there are three new private lesson rooms with soundproof walls for acting and voice training.
More importantly, the addition of two new dance studios allows students and
ater programs in the country.”
This past year, students received $7 million in college scholarships.
professional actors to train at the same time.
Students get flowers
Studio rehearsals for productions like September’s “The Music Man” ran from around 5-11 p.m.
Natalie DeLancey, executive director of the City Springs Theatre Company, said a problem arose because students with the Pre-Professional Company, the Conservatory’s flagship theater program, get out of school and are available for rehearsals at the same time as the professional actors were using the facility.
“We were competing, so whenever we would rehearse a mainstage show, we’d have to tell the kids … ‘hold on a minute,’” DeLancey said. “Well, that’s like the worst message ever for kids who want to train in this field.”
DeLancey gave special thanks to the Zeist Foundation, which donated funds needed to renovate the City Springs Theatre Studios.
“They do everything in here,” DeLancey said. “Now we have two studios, which is a big deal.”
The main stage actors, like vocal teacher and competition team director Haden Rider, often teach classes at the Conservatory.
“It’s that crossover, which is really cool to see,” DeLancey said. “Because then the kids get to see their teachers doing what they’re telling them to do.”
The Conservatory’s Pre-Professional Company is an audition-based, year-round program that requires middle and high school students to tape their vocal, acting and dance auditions.
The idea is that a Pre-Pro Company student will get a taste of everything musical theater, so if a skill is required down the road, they will have it.
Once accepted, students are placed in training classes based on talent level, experience, age, maturity and professionalism.
In just six years, the City Springs Theatre Conservatory and its programming has collegiate musical theater programs flying into Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport for a chance to audition Metro Atlanta high schoolers.
DeLancey said the Pre-Pro Company is unique.
“Since we started doing college process, we have an 85 percent call-back rate,” DeLancey said. “From there, we have been able to place kids at the top musical the-
“They want our kids so bad, they’re coming here,” DeLancey said.
Kaitlin Hopkins, founder of the topranking musical theatre program at Texas State University, said the Conservatory consistently turns out exceptional students.
Programs create professionals
Bob Adams, Kristine Reese, Billy Tighe and Katie Berger Wood serve as directors for the Pre-Pro Company, also overseeing the college audition process.
Reese and Tighe have performed on Broadway, and their faculty is required to have a college degree in some aspect of musical theater education.
Tony Award-winner Shuler Hensley is the theater company’s artistic director, bringing Broadway talent and expertise to City Springs productions in the Byers Theatre.
He’s the first one to laud the talent coming out of the Conservatory’s youth training programs, which he said simply didn’t exist a generation ago.
The Pre-Pro Company has increased its class size 50 percent since accepting about 50 students its first year.
It divides students into classes based on their skill levels first.
Because the Pre-Pro Company has students ages 12-18, instructors say it’s beneficial for younger students to see and understand the program’s trajectory.
Last fall, the Conservatory announced the creation of its Pre-Pro Tech program for students interested in set design, light-
PHOTOS BY: CITY SPRINGS THEATRE CONSERVATORY/PROVIDED City Springs Theatre Conservatory students are all smiles after an intensive class covering musical theatre dance during the Pre-Professional Company’s 2023 fall semester. The objective of the Pre-Pro Company is to provide students with weekly training from highly qualified industry professionals.
From left, City Springs Theatre Company Executive Director Natalie DeLancey and Education Director Jenna Gamerl stand inside the recently renovated City Springs Theatre Company studios at Northridge Commons office park in Sandy Springs.
Stage:
Continued from Page 12
ing, sound and stage management out of the City Springs Theatre Company’s new production facility in Marietta.
Both programs come together to put on the Pre-Pro Company’s end-of-year showcase in the summer.
The Conservatory’s private lessons and weekly elective classes are not a part of the Pre-Pro program, but its students are encouraged to take them.
In-person auditions for the 2024-25 Pre-Pro Company are closed with a waitlist, but interested students must prepare vocal, acting and dance videos for consideration.
The nonprofit is still looking to continue expanding its mainstage musicals and education programs, which have served more than 175,000 patrons and 135,000 students.
Excelling program has origins
Jenna Gamerl, education director of the City Springs Theatre Company, brought the idea of creating a Pre-Pro Company to DeLancey’s attention in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
DeLancey said she initially thought it was a bad time with the world shuttered, but Gamerl convinced her of the demand for youth activities.
“She couldn’t have been more correct, [and] we had no idea where it was going to go,” DeLancey said.
Coaching and developing the next generation of actors, singers and dancers
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on the mainstage is the focus of the City Springs Conservatory
“We had high expectations going into it, and I think those expectations have always been maintained through the years,” she said. “Seeing over 100 students come out and audition every year to be a part of the program, that’s the moment.”
As the Conservatory increases the size of its Pre-Pro Company, it must also balance the value of one-on-one coaching, individual development and artistic quality.
Gamerl meets with students and parents at least twice a year to go over their progress, changes to their voices or bodies and help planning their careers.
“And they’re theater kids, they’re naturally dramatic,” Gamerl said. “You want to be careful, cautious, sensitive and push them at the same time, so it’s kind of balance of that.”
DeLancey seconded Gamerl’s perspective on training middle and high schoolers in the performing arts. She said the only drama allowed is on stage.
Both described the Pre-Pro Company as a tight knit family. There won’t be any reality TV shows depicting drama-filled dance classes and squabbling parents filmed at the theater company’s studios.
Even if Pre-Pro Company students or class participants do not pursue a career in musical theater, Gamerl and Delancey said they’re still getting skills like public speaking, teamwork and discipline.
“Ultimately, we want a triple-threat, well-rounded performer who can walk out of here and feel like they can go to any audition with confidence,” Gamerl said. “We have success and enjoy that, but it’s really about the student.”
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CITY SPRINGS THEATRE CONSERVATORY/PROVIDED Grace Arnold, instructor for the City Springs Theatre Conservatory, checks in students for a Pre-Professional Company dance class. Arnold is one of 15 instructors on the Conservatory’s faculty, which also includes voice and acting specialists.
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A division of the Johns Creek Police Department boasts a police vehicle-turned-pirate ship for Trunk-or-Treat Oct. 23. The department hosts the event every year.
Thousands turn out in Halloween
best for Johns Creek Trunk-or-Treat
By AMBER PERRY amber@appenmedia.com
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — On Oct. 23, the parking lot of Johns Creek City Hall was covered in thousands of creative costumes for the Johns Creek Police Department’s Trunk-or-Treat.
Young princesses, inflatable dinosaurs and aliens, a family of parents dressed as Starbucks baristas and three young daughters as Frappuccino.
Participating organizations’ vehicles were also decked out, but the five divisions within the Police Department had the most elaborate set-ups, incentivized by an internal contest.
The award? “Just pride,” said Michael McCullar, community liaison and lead chaplain.
McCullar, handing out the sweet treats, had been paired with Special Operations, a group staged in front of a nearby replica of the Addams Family home. Each major role was played out in costume.
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Elsewhere in the parking lot, another police division created a walkthrough haunted house. Other officers, wearing pirate costumes, were set up next to a police vehicle-turned-pirate ship, wrapped up in the tentacles of kraken.
Pop music led droves of young ones to an area by production company GigRite, with artificial fog wafting over them.
This year was the second time Ben Greener, owner of Gigrite, supplied the party.
Children dance in the fog to music provided by production company GigRite Oct. 23.
“It's such a good vibe,” Greener said. “You see all these kids, all their families, everyone just having a really good time hanging out with the community, a lot of really amazing costumes.”
PHOTOS BY: AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA
Michael McCullar, community liaison and lead chaplain for the Johns Creek Police Department, hands out candy to passersby at Trunk-or-Treat Oct. 23.
PHOTOS BY:
Benjamin Franklin Lesh Civil War diary
This is the story of a young Civil War soldier, Benjamin Franklin Lesh (18451882), based on the diary he kept. Franklin was 18 years old when he joined the Ohio Volunteer Infantry Nov. 6, 1862. His great grandson, Ned Lesh, a resident of Roswell has a copy of Franklin’s diary which was meticulously kept during his final year of military service in 1864 and 1865. Ned’s Uncle Harvey, deceased, had the original handwritten diary, which was typed by Harvey’s daughter Virginia Ramsey, also deceased. My notes are italicized.
Clearly troops spent a lot of time marching during the day or sometimes all night. It rained frequently and the troops were often soaking wet and uncomfortable. There were frequent skirmishes with Confederate soldiers which Lesh calls Rebs, Johnny Rebs or Johnnies.
I will quote a few highlights from the diary using Franklin’s spelling and language. It starts on May 1,1864 by describing a march from Decatur, Alabama, to Georgia marching over the Chickamaga battle grounds which “looks torn up pretty bad…we camped on Chickamaga Creek.” [The Battle of Chickamauga in September 18-20, 1863, was the second bloodiest battle of the war after Gettysburg as Union troops sought to seize control of Chattanooga, a major rail hub and manufacturing center. The Union troops lost the battle but came back in late November under Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman and retook Chattanooga which led to the Atlanta
campaign when Atlanta fell to Sherman’s troops.]
[maybe a week or two later] “This morning we started out and marched till midnight and camped in an open field. Morning came too soon.”
[next day] “This morning we started out and marched fast and pretty steady and the weather being warm, made it pretty hard for us. At two we stopped and was ordered to make coffee and rest till four, but we rested till sundown and then marched all night, till broad day light. We drew rations and set out at nine and arrived at Kingston about three in the afternoon.” [On May 18, 1864, General Sherman occupied Kingston and stayed there for three days as he prepared for his
Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Lesh (1845-1882) was only 18 when he joined the 63rd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry in November 1862. His occupation was listed as musician. He mustered out in July 1865 after three years as a soldier during the Civil War. In May 1864 the regiment joined Sherman’s Atlanta campaign. Lesh is buried in the North Canton (Zion) Cemetery, Stark County, Ohio. In 1866 he married Eliza S. Bushong. The regiment lost during its term of service two officers and 91 enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and five officers and 259 enlisted men by disease, for a total of 357 fatalities.
NED LESH/PROVIDED
push toward Atlanta.]
[Some days later.] “We drew rations and started out reconnaissance. We crossed a little hill from where we could see the Mountain Kennesaw at a distance of about seven miles. We went along the railroad. Deployed skirmishers [solders sent ahead of troops to harass the enemy], have drove the rebels back a piece.
“It rained all day today Sunday. The skirmishers are picking [a line of soldiers set out in front of the main soldiers to provide early warning] all the time. Some of our batteries are sending their compliments to the Johnnies.”
[Some strange developments as the war is not going well for the Confederates.] “I seen a great many of them run into our lines waving a white flag some turned and fired into their own men.”
“This morning we got orders to go to Marrietta, thirteen miles. We reached it by night. We drew our skirmishers and lost not one man.”
“I have been over in town, Roswell. The factories are all burned. Our men have the bridge about down.”
“This morning we started for Decatur Ga., but encountered the Johnnies, so we stopped and camped for the night.”
“All the talk is about the veterans and election, which will be elected, Lincoln or McClellan.” [The election was held Nov. 8, 1864. Lincoln defeated former Gen. George McClellan by a wide margin, partly due to the Union victory at the Battle of Altanta.]
“I went along the railroad and saw where the rebels burnt a trestle. Election day, our boys voted. I bought pounds of hard beat [?] at Altoona and saw the prisoners and wounded men. They tried hard for that place but was whipped and lost a number of men.” [The Battle of Allatoona took place Oct. 5, 1864.]
“This is my birthday, November 4. Two years ago today I enlisted.”
“This is election day, everything seems lively and peaceable….The election was as follows in our regiment: For McClellen – 93; Abaham Lincoln – 218 votes….We got our pay and I got 10 months pay from the first of November 1863 to the last of August 1864. Six dollalrs a month since the first of May 1864….Sent home 60 dollars and paid off my debts.”
[Final entry.] “March 1, 1865 We lay in camp all day. The rebels are fortified at Cheran….Moved at six nineteen miles to town. The rebels ran and left all the sick men, camp equipment, teams and forty pieces of artillery. I took a walk through town and saw the sick rebels. It is a very nice town on the great Parddee River.”
[Franklin was mustered out July 8 1865 after three years of active service.]
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
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Keep an eye out for spotted lanternfly
If you keep up with the news, you’ve probably heard some buzz about spotted lanternfly. This invasive insect was first seen in Pennsylvania in 2014 and has since spread to 15 states, most recently to North Carolina in 2022. Spotted lanternfly has not been observed yet in Georgia, but entomologists and residents alike are keeping their eyes open.
What is Spotted Lanternfly?
Despite its name, spotted lanternfly is not a fly. It is a large planthopper, a type of insect related to aphids, cicadas, stink bugs and more, that uses its needle-like mouthparts to pierce plant tissues and suck out sap. Spotted lanternfly can feed on over 100 different types of plants, including natives like beech, birch, black gum, maples, oaks and sycamore, as well as food crops like grapes, apples, peaches and plums. Its favorite host plant is tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima), an invasive tree that grows across the Southeast.
Feeding by spotted lanternfly causes aesthetic damage and also stresses plants, making them more susceptible to diseases and environmental pressures. Spotted lanternfly adults aggregate in large groups and are considered “swarm feeders.” Feeding by a large group can cause wilting and dieback on plants and trees. Just like aphids, lanternflies produce sugary excrement called honeydew. When honeydew builds up on plants, it acts like a petri dish for sooty mold to grow. Not to mention it’s just unpleasant to have a swarm of feeding insects in your landscape! The damage caused by spotted lanternfly is likely to affect farmers, plant nurseries, landscapers and gardeners in many ways. Farmers, nurseries and landscapers will have to spray more insecticides and spend more on labor to manage this new pest. Any producers who transport plants across state lines – a common practice – will have to expend significant resources making sure their cargo is completely free of spotted lanternfly eggs, nymphs and adults.
A preliminary study by Penn
About the author
This week’s “Garden Buzz” guest columnist is Gabrielle LaTora, agriculture agent in Fulton County’s Extension office. An entomologist by training, Gabrielle is interested in insects on farms and in gardens and is passionate about closing the gap between people and their food. In addition to helping coordinate Fulton’s Master Gardener Extension Volunteer program, Gabrielle oversees the North Fulton Community Garden, answers clients’ questions about gardening and natural resources, works with urban farmers and delivers educational programs for Fulton County residents. Gabrielle presented “Insect Allies: Predators and Parasitoids in the Garden” in the spring 2023 Gardening Lecture Series presented by the North Fulton Master Gardeners, https:// youtu.be/NZ3um6QXXKc.
insect is yellow with brown/black bars.
How to Report a Sighting
The earlier an invasive pest like spotted lanternfly is detected, the better state and federal agencies, homeowners and producers will be able to manage it and control its spread. Do your part and keep your eyes open!
State University found significant economic effects following spotted lanternfly’s introduction in Pennsylvania alone, estimating that damages could reach as high as $554 million with a loss of 4,987 jobs if the insect spreads throughout Pennsylvania.
What to Look For
Spotted lanternflies have several life stages: egg, four nymphal (juvenile) molts and adult. To correctly identify the spotted lanternfly, we need to know what they look like at each life stage.
• Eggs: Spotted lanternfly ride out the winter as eggs, grouped together in masses on any hard surface. According to Cornell University Extension, “The egg masses are often found on the underside of branches or objects and vary in size but are typically about 1 1/2” long and 3/4” wide and look like grayish splotches of mud or putty.”
• Nymphs: Nymphs hatch from
the egg masses in spring or early summer. The young nymphs (molts 1-3) are less than ¼” long and have black bodies with small, white spots. At their 4th molt, the final nymph stage can be up to ½” long. They are still black with white spots but now have a red wash across their backs with a vertical black line down the center.
• Adults: By late July, spotted lanternflies complete one final molt to the adult stage. Adults are about 1” long and ½” wide. They have wings at the adult stage, which they hold tent-like over their backs. The front wings, which are visible when adults have their wings closed, are grayish tan with black/brown spots. They may even have a purplish sheen. The tips of the front wings have a brownish speckled pattern. The hind wings – only visible when the adults spread their wings open – have brown tips, a white section in the middle, and a flash of scarlet on the inside corner. The body of the
If you suspect you have seen a spotted lanternfly, take a good photo and contact your local Extension Office to report your sighting. You can also report suspected populations of spotted lanternfly or tree-of-heaven via the EDDMapS website or app (https://www. eddmaps.org/). These reports go directly to the GFC Forest Health Coordinator, UGA entomologists, USDA-APHIS and other programs for evaluation.
Happy Gardening!
North Fulton Master Gardeners, Inc. is a Georgia nonprofit 501(c) (3) organization whose purpose is to educate its members and the public in the areas of horticulture and ecology in order to promote and foster community enrichment. Master Gardener Volunteers are trained and certified by The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. Learn more at nfmg.net. Previous Garden Buzz columns are featured at: https:// appenmedia.com/opinion/columists/ garden buzz/.
BUGWOOD.ORG/PROVIDED
Top left: Spotted lanternfly egg masses (image by Kenneth R. Law)
Top right: Spotted lanternfly nymph after its fourth molt (image by Richard Gardner) Bottom: Adult spotted lanternfly has grayish-tan front wings with black/brown spots. Hind wings have a flash of scarlet (image by Lawrence Barringer)
GABRIELLE LATORA Guest Columnist
OPINION
presidential election of 1824 serves as a
Election chaos has historical precedent
HAYDEN SUMLIN Staff Reporter hayden@appenmedia.com
With the 2024 election just days away, I can’t stop thinking about the time the U.S. House of Representatives chose the president.
The four-candidate race for the 1824 presidential election yielded no one with a majority of the Electoral College. It’s only happened once in American history, almost exactly 200 years ago.
Today, both presidential candidates and their supporters claim that American democracy and the future of the republic is at stake. This history nerd is doubtful, especially given an interesting case study from two centuries ago.
All four presidential candidates in 1824, Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams, William Crawford and Henry Clay, were members of the DemocraticRepublican Party.
Crawford, whose poor health throughout the election resembles contemporary times, was a nonfactor.
Jackson received the most popular and electoral votes but fell short of the threshold to secure a clear victory.
The 12th amendment excluded Clay, who received the fewest electoral votes, from the House runoff.
Clay, speaker of the House at the time, famously backed Adams, who named him as secretary of state once elected to the White House.
Jackson and his supporters denounced Adams’ election and Clay’s appointment as a corrupt bargain.
The 1824 presidential election ended the Era of Good Feelings, a term associated with unity, the end of bitter partisan disputes and the presidency of James Monroe.
Jackson would go on to serve two terms, centering his 1828 run on accusations of the corrupt bargain.
This also reminds us of today, and an easy comparison can be made between the two populists, Jackson and former President Donald Trump.
Both leveraged nontraditional political backgrounds to win over votes in an era of political realignment. Both have accused the political establishment of working against them.
Regardless of how you feel about this election’s candidates, there’s no indication that a chaotic election will spell the end of American democracy and civil liberties.
I think it’s all normal and a part of the game.
There have been two presidential elections in the United States since I received my driver’s license.
After elections in 2016, 2020 and even the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial election, whichever political party lost the election spent months challenging the results, telling their supporters it was stolen and blaming everything but themselves.
Republicans and Democrats are both doing it, repeatedly, when politically expedient.
There’s nothing unusual about this election. Stop buying “your” party’s line.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
The
reminder of the resilience of the United States after none of the four candidates received a majority of Electoral College votes.
President Andrew Jackson
President John Quincy Adams
100 most influential people, top 10
Pat Fox, our editor and friend, keeps asking me when I am going to write my column on the 100 most influential/impactful people of all time. It seems like a good idea for a column albeit, a bit imposing. But I have finally worked up enough energy and optimism to at least start. Spoiler: I think these might not be your traditional “influential” folk, at least some of them, and I may not take this idea seriously all the time.
No. 1: George Balanchine. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Balanchine was the most influential choreographer in ballet history. Why should No. 1 designation go to a ballet choreographer? I went to the performance of the Ukraine Ballet last night at The Cobb Energy Center with my ballerina daughter (once upon a time) and realized in the middle of the performance, that the opposite of “war” is – and has to be “ballet.” The horror of war is mirrored/refracted by the beauty and truth that is ballet. Both ballet and war are choices. One is not a good one. The other is.
No. 2: Alfred Nobel. He might as well have invented modern war. In 1867 he invented dynamite. Naturally, following his ranking somewhere has to be Robert Oppenheimer —generally regarded as the father of the atomic bomb, the ultimate weapon of war — but I don’t know how I feel about putting him high in the rankings, or at all. Maybe my grandfather H.V. Appen should be there instead. He helped build the Manhattan Project Oakridge Tennessee, the facility where the bomb was developed. He did that while his brother Albert von Appen was piloting a German U-boat. Okay, maybe not. Actually, maybe none of them should be on the list. Maybe the guy who prevented the use of the Atomic Bomb should be.
No. 3: Vasilli Arkhipov. Context: Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962, Oct. 27. Soviet submarine, B-59 which is equipped with nuclear torpedoes and captained by Valentin Savitsky. U.S. Navy enforcing blockade around Cuba and is dropping depth charges to force Soviet submarines to surface. Communication is cut off with B-29, and its captain believes that war with the United States has begun and orders the nuclear torpedoes armed and readied to launch. Launch requires approval of three people — the captain, the political officer, and the second in command. The political officer gives his approval, leaving only the second in command to approve. The second in command, Vasilli Arkhipov, refuses to consent to the launch. One guy. Just one guy and a probable nuclear armaged-
don between the Soviet Union and the United States is averted.
No. 4: Stanislav Petrov. Context: In 1983 — about 20 years after the almost nuclear war — this Soviet military officer was on duty when the Soviet early warning system detected multiple U.S. missile launches aimed at the Soviet Union. Protocol called for Stanislav to report the perceived attack to his superiors which would probably have triggered a Soviet nuclear retaliatory strike. Petrov suspected that the alarm was a malfunction and did not report it to his superiors. His assumption later proved to be correct, and his willingness to risk his career and probably his life potentially saved the world from a catastrophic nuclear conflict. Maybe he is the one who should get that Peace Prize.
No. 5: Jointly, Linus Pauling and Albert Schweitzer. Both won Nobel Prizes for Peace, Pauling specifically for his activism in opposing the testing, use and proliferation of nuclear weapons, and Schweitzer for his “Reverence for Life Philosophy” which included his opposition to nuclear arms and his work jointly with Pauling, his friend Albert Einstein, and other scientists. Of note, Pauling also won the Nobel prize for Chemistry, the only person ever to win two unshared Nobel Prizes and one of only two people to have won Nobel Prizes in two different categories. The other was Marie Curie, who won in physics and in chemistry (for the discovery of polonium and radium).
No. 6: The Joker in Batman (The Dark Knight), Context: Hans Zimmer who wrote much of the music for the Dark Knight trilogy said that The Joker — not Batman —- was the only true honest character in The Dark Knight Trilogy. So, naming him as No. 6 is sort of my way of nominating “honesty” as a most influential idea (instead of an individual) — and the fact that it is through art and culture — in this case a movie and a music composer — that the value is spotlighted and promoted. It’s sort of like the Ukraine Ballet and their representation and opposition to Putin’s war.
No. 7: Antulio Ramirez Ortiz. Context: Antulio is the first guy to hijack a commercial plane (National Airlines Flight #337 in 1961) which was traveling to Key West from Miami and was diverted by Antulio to Cuba. He was allowed to live in Cuba but most of the remainder of his life is undocumented.
Honorable Mention goes to D.B. Cooper, the first person to hijack a domestic plane and escape via parachuting out (as it flew somewhere over Washington State) on Nov. 24, 1971. D. B. Cooper was never caught. Both Ortiz and Cooper are largely responsible for the billions of dollars spent worldwide on security screening apparatus and the tens of thousands
of jobs associated with the staffing in airports.
No. 8: Andy Warhol. (I apologize for my indulgence here) Context: There is no serious merit for this ranking, OK? Andy Warhol — mainly because I love the Campbell Soup Cans; I love the potoroids of Marilyn Monroe; actually because I love anything and everything Marilyn Monroe — what and who she was, represented, and suggested; and because when I think about MM, it takes me back to the time when Lou Reed was playing with The Velvet Underground and wrote two of my sentimental favorites, “Walk on the Wild Side” and (my very favorite) “Pale Blue Eyes.”
No. 9: Joe DiMaggio. (Another indulgence, sorry) Context: His 56-game hitting streak — probably the baseball record least likely to ever be broken. Also, his class and dignity. And finally, I have to admit what a romantic sucker I am — his short marriage to Marilyn Monroe (see No. 8) and after her death on Aug. 5, 1962, he delivered a dozen roses to her grave every week for the next 20 or so years… “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you.” (Thank you Paul Simon)
No. 10: Muhammad Ali. Context: Take your pick Mohammad Ali his principals, his integrity, his willingness to fight for and go to jail for what he believed in — a Black man in a White man’s world who ended up being the most famous, most recognized and arguably one of the most respected human beings on the planet.
Or does one pick his fights? Ali vs Smokin’ Joe Frazer — heavy weight fights that are the boxing standard we will never see again. “It was the closest thing to dying that I know. I was in a war.” That’s Ali on the first fight (losing) with Frazier. “It was like a war. I gave it my all. I thought I was going to die in there.”
Joe Frazier on the second (losing) fight with Ali. “I hit him (Ali) with punches that would’ve taken a tree down. Lord he is a great fighter.” Joe Frazier on the “Thrilla in Manilla.”
Or, do you pick just one fight — the epic fight in 1974 — “The Rumble in the Jungle” in Kinshasa, Zaire, between an aging in the final years of his career Ali and the 25-year-old George Foreman, the reigning heavy weight champion with 37 knockouts. Prior to his match with Ali, Foreman destroyed Joe Frazier (January 1973), knocking him out in the second round, and in March 1974, he destroyed Ken Norton in the second round, the same Ken Norton who broke Ali’s jaw in the second round of their March of 1973 non-title bout.
After the broken jaw, Ali fought another 10 rounds and end up losing to Norton in a split decision. Who fights 10 rounds with a broken jaw? Who? Only
one guy — Ali. Everyone expected Ali also would be destroyed by Foreman, and for almost eight rounds, Foreman pounded him. Ali had nothing. Just stayed on the ropes and let Foreman hit him until early in the eighth when Ali exploded, drawing on all the remaining strength of his tired arms and relying on pure raw will — the kind of will that only true champions have. He released a series of hooks that rocked Foreman, then landed a heavy right hand followed by a left hook that shook the boxing world to its core as Foreman toppled and couldn’t get up. Only one person wasn’t surprised by the win — only one. Ali. No. 11: Our Appen Media Herald/ Crier reporters and news staff. They are working their hearts out for you, and they need — we need — you to come on board with us and help row; row with your financial support so we can keep doing what we do for you and your family.
We’re monitoring government spending of your tax dollars. We saved helped save thousands this year and we’ll continue to do that. We continue monitoring law enforcement to make sure your rights are respected and you are kept safe. We’ll monitor all this growth and development that directly impacts your quality of life — and the traffic! This accountability journalism is critical. But we do more. You see stories like these:
• Our story on a Dunwoody memorial for fallen American soldiers and the South Vietnamese who fought alongside them.
• A story about local, dedicated business owners working hard to make a living.
• A critical story about efforts to save a top-performing public elementary school from district closure.
All those stories were written by just one of our reporters, Hayden Sumlin; he wrote them all within just a few days and he wrote others as well. The rest of the reporters work just as hard and diligently. Our newsroom is skilled, fast and efficient, so when we ask you for your support, know that we will use it wisely. Our goal is to add 35 new Press Club members by the end of October. We are so close to reaching this membership goal.
Here’s how to make a recurring contribution or a one-time payment, any amount you are comfortable with: CONTRIBUTE ON AppenMedia.com home page — upper right — click on that red bar that says “JOIN THE CLUB” to access your options. You can also just mail in a contribution: Appen Press Club, 319 North Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009. Make the check out to Appen Media and in the subject line write “Appen Press Club.”
In the next column we’ll take a left hook at the next 10 most influential or impactful people or maybe a top 10 rotten tomatoes list! Who knows?
RAY APPEN Publisher Emeritus ray@appenmedia.com
Civic:
Continued from Page 1
“We’ve had the driest October on record,” Rayburn said. “...It’s these extreme events that really put a lot of pressure on our infrastructure and our drinking water resources.”
City staff in the Stormwater Department oversee water quantity and water quality. That day, Stormwater Inspector Dahn Nguyen was out sampling waterways around Johns Creek for E. coli.
A novel approach
In August, city leaders broke ground on Creekside Park, the tentative name for the 21-acre plot behind City Hall. It’s an innovative project.
The park’s upper pond will feature an amphitheater and deck over the water, terraced seating and pedestrian access areas, including a 15-foot-wide boardwalk that stretches to a lower constructed wetland area. There will also be a trail connection to the pedestrian tunnel under Medlock Bridge Road, the park’s southern gateway.
The project seeks more than to activate the area with a green space for visitors to enjoy, but it also has major utility. Rayburn said it will add around 4.5 million gallons of stormwater storage for the entire area downstream.
He said the plan is to reduce the water in the lower wetland pond about 5 feet and regrade it into a series of shallow and deep wetland pools, then planting native species.
The pond will help with downstream flooding as well as water quality. Plus, the extra detention volume encourages growth in the Town Center area.
Rayburn said it’s an economic incentive, saving upstream developers up to millions of dollars in creating a detention pond themselves. It also saves space, giving developers more buildable area.
“For us, it’s a win-win,” Rayburn said. “We’re doing good for the downstream folks, but we’re also providing some economic incentive for redevelopment upstream, and we’re using constructed wetlands to do it. It’s kind of a novel approach.”
‘Headwall to headwall’
Aside from coordinating new projects, the team oversees repairs to the existing stormwater infrastructure. That’s 23,000 assets — 150 miles of pipes as well as manholes, catch basins and other structures.
The city has spent around $11 million on operating and maintaining its stormwater system since it implemented the Stormwater Utility in 2021, and Rayburn said Johns Creek is ahead of schedule.
More than 1,700 stormwater assets have been maintained by removing excess sediment; around 80,000 feet of pipe has been cleaned; and more than 400 pipe segments, spanning 30,000 feet, have been repaired, replaced or lined.
Rayburn said the city’s use of “trenchless technologies” have resulted in significant cost savings. They extend the life of a pipe by 80 years and cut the price of a traditional repair in half.
One practice, called “cured-in-place pipe lining,” works by forcing a flexible liner into an existing pipe and curing it with steam to create a new pipe. Another process, called “spincasting,” uses a remote-controlled robot to spray the insides of an existing pipe with a fiber-reinforced cement that hardens in place.
“So, we’re extending the life of these pipes without having to dig up roads and without having to dig up yards,” Rayburn said.
Without the city’s stormwater credits — incentives to
CITY OF JOHNS CREEK/PROVIDED
Pictured is a damaged stormwater pipe. Since the City of Johns Creek implemented its Stormwater Utility in 2021, it has spent around $11 million on stormwater infrastructure repairs, operations, and maintenance.
good stewards — and if all $70 annual household bills were paid, the utility would bring in around $3.2 million to maintain, repair and improve the city’s stormwater system.
And, in Johns Creek, one of the newer Metro Atlanta cities to implement the program, the service extends “headwall to headwall,” meaning the city can help repair pipes on private property that are connected to the public right of way.
Carey does most of the reconnaissance, checking out complaints or issues, overseeing a lot of the repair work. He engages with residents regularly, advising them of the opportunity for the city to step in and take the burden, so long as they grant the easement, or right of entry.
City assistance
Carey said homeowners often assume repairs are the city’s responsibility anyway, but that’s a misconception. Carey’s role involves a lot of education.
“A lot of calls that I go out to, what I hear is, ‘You guys neglected the system for 10 years,’” Carey said. “‘Well, this system, this pipe, is through your property. Technically, you neglected it for 10 years, but we have the ability to help you.’”
Sometimes, a pipe on someone’s private property can affect a larger system, like a project that Carey oversaw last year in the Foxmoor subdivision, a neighborhood developed in the early ’90s. Ten properties were affected.
“Essentially, the entire pipe system was undersized, which was causing flooding within the cul-de-sac, which led to water issues for individual residents who weren’t even touching the pipe systems,” he said.
While pipes in the public right of way are often made of concrete, ones through residents’ yards are typically made of corrugated metal which is good for about 40 years. If ignored, Rayburn said they will start to collapse, causing sinkholes, or in worst-case scenarios, washed-out, collapsed roadways.
“It’s much more expensive than to do the preventative maintenance,” Rayburn said, adding that the city has an asset management strategy that prioritizes repair and maintenance.
Future relief
Rayburn said the City of Johns Creek is exploring a grant-funded program for residents experiencing the detrimental impact of stormwater to their property, like erosion — issues that fall out of the city’s jurisdiction in its extent of service.
Appen Media previously reported on backyard erosion in the Parsons Run subdivision and recently visited the home of a couple in Lexington Woods experiencing a similar issue.
Using walking sticks, Ronald and Trevolyn Sullivan descended the steep slope of their back yard, arriving at a
CIVIC DUTIES: In a new series from Appen Media, Civic Duties will take readers behind the scenes of local government. Senior Reporter Amber Perry and her colleagues will shadow employees across different city departments and turn those experiences into original reporting, so residents get a closer look at what exactly local governments provide the community.
trench that has expanded over time. They said a tree from their neighbors’ yard had recently fallen into the yard of someone living across the way.
“Homes are beginning to move down,” Trevolyn said, adding the expensive efforts of her neighbors to build up their embankments to slow erosion and the legal limitations on construction allowed in the area.
Erosion is affecting nearly a dozen homes in Lexington Woods.
The Sullivans were told about the city’s grant program, which has more than $420,000 in funding in fiscal year 2025. The application process will be open sometime next year, once it’s finalized.
Applicants will be able to install green infrastructure on their property like rain gardens, permeable pavement as well as stream restoration projects.
“There’s about 10 different mechanisms of improving water quality downstream and preventing some of those erosion issues,” Rayburn said.
He noted that the environmental permitting process on the city’s stream restoration project, currently in the works, took 18 months. It will restore 1,500 linear feet of stream bank and add a multi-use, 10-foot-wide trail connecting McGinnis Ferry Road to Creekside Park.
“There’s kind of a quicker way to do some of that kind of stream bank work, but we’re currently talking with [the Environmental Protection Division of the state Department of Natural Resources,] the folks that kind of regulate the buffers and variance process,” Rayburn said.
He emphasized the issue is not just in Johns Creek.
“Everywhere you have development, you start seeing degraded streams,” Rayburn said.
Impact of dog waste
Rayburn, who has a bachelor’s degree in environmental health science, said he’s always been a “policy geek.” Later, he earned a master’s degree in civil engineering.
“I’ve wanted to try to implement policies that will protect homeowners and to improve water quality and improve the environment,” he said.
Since Rayburn joined the City of Johns Creek in 2021, the City Council has passed a dog waste ordinance. Pet owners in violation must pay a fine.
“It’s not something we talk about all the time, but it’s important,” he said.
Last year, Rayburn worked with Student Leadership Johns Creek to develop a survey on dog waste and pamphlets on the city’s stormwater system, handed out at Pup-a-Palooza.
The city is plagued with impaired creeks and streams, meaning they don’t meet the state requirements for fishing, swimming and other recreation. Rayburn said one of the main contributions to the poor water quality is dog poop.
Rayburn oversaw a series of master plans that addressed the issue, identifying a number of projects across three major areas in Johns Creek that could help improve water quality.
Master plans help obtain grant money.
Just this past year, he said the city has received almost $1 million to help with bigger projects, like the stream restoration effort near Creekside Park.
“There’s an unprecedented amount of funds for infrastructure,” Rayburn said. “Having those master plans really help smaller, medium-sized cities to really get some of those federal grant dollars.”
Council:
Continued from Page 1
rails, appropriate checks and balances.’ I think I've been explicitly clear that I don't think these positions should have any type of fringe benefits associated with them.”
Quantifying value
Open records obtained by Appen Media show that one council member, City Councilwoman Stacy Skinner, has been reimbursed for a Rotary membership in the past three years. If the new Expenditure Policy is adopted, professional memberships will no longer be funded.
Skinner, who joined the Rotary Club of Johns Creek-North Fulton this past year, told Appen Media she didn’t think the reimbursement would be an issue.
“Rotary was one of those service organizations that truly gives back in a large form all around the world,” she said. “So, I thought, ‘Well, I've got to narrow it down and quit spreading myself so thin’ … I never imagined any of this would have been such a big issue to my colleagues.”
At the Oct. 21 City Council work session, City Councilman Bob Erramilli uses an analysis he created of departmental expenses to discuss potential changes to the city’s Expenditure Policy. The City Council agreed to updates that would curb individual council member spending.
Skinner is also the only council member slated to travel to St. Simon’s Island for the Georgia Municipal Association’s two-day Fall Training Event in late October, reimbursed for $660 with another $255 for boarding at the Sea Palms Resort.
She plans to take two all-day classes, “Making Citizen Engagement Work in Communities” and “Steering Through the Storm: Guiding Your Community Through a Disaster.”
“I thought those were very fitting and appropriate,” Skinner said.
While some learn by reading, Skinner said she learns through human connection.
“You can't really put a value on what I get in hearing from whether it's the presenters at GMA or it's working on a service project,” she said. “...I've heard comments from residents that perhaps it would be a good idea for all of us to take yearly or bi-yearly leadership classes because we would treat each other a little nicer on the dais.”
Personal vs. city business
For $2,500, City Councilman Larry DiBiase enrolled in the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership North Fulton program, according to open records. The 2024-25 online roster listed DiBiase with his real estate company Sparkpoint LLC. The website was updated the morning of Oct. 23 to reflect his affiliation with the City of Johns Creek, around the time DiBiase returned a phone call from Appen Media.
In an interview, DiBiase said there was some confusion in the program’s long application process. He said he introduced himself as a Johns Creek City Council member first, then as the principal owner of Sparkpoint, and that the program director “just picked” Sparkpoint.
DiBiase said he got into real estate in 2012 and went out on his own with
Sparkpoint in 2018.
“...With my real estate business, it's all referrals,” DiBiase said. “I have zero social media presence. I don't have a website. I'm not on Facebook. I've been trying to build it, but I suck at social media.”
DiBiase described the leadership skills he hopes to gain in this course, through reading assignments and other means, like understanding how to lift your “detractors.”
“As far as how that relates to the City Council … we’re somewhat of a split council in a lot of our thinking,” DiBiase said. “But it's also staff. How do we work with the staff? How do we engage with them to know that we got their back … We want to help them be successful, which helps the city, which helps the citizens.”
Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Kali Boatwright said the leadership program doesn’t introduce space for participants to truly “promote” their personal businesses.
As someone who went through the program, Boatwright said she could see the benefits for city council members, city staff and businesses alike.
“It really gives you a well-rounded view of what's happening in your community and the region, beyond just what you may be seeing in your … smaller area of influence,” Boatwright said.
Issue with expense coding
Appen Media had previously reported that Councilman Erramilli enrolled in the 2023 Leadership North Fulton class. The council’s fiscal 202224 expense report, obtained in an open records request, doesn’t explicitly list the charge.
At the Oct. 21 work session, City Manager Kimberly Greer said staff were working to standardize coding.
“Sometimes there’s some interpretation…” Greer said.
In an interview, Erramilli said the learning never stops.
“Most of the time, when you learn something, you immediately apply it to whichever organization you're part of,” he said, adding that “many things” were brought to light while in the Leadership North Fulton program.
Erramilli is the founder, owner and director of operations at Sy Med LLC, a health care services company.
He said the opportunities the council is given to get out into the community are “not adequate.”
“...If I don't network, who am I punishing? My citizens, through my lack of information,” Erramilli said.
To Erramilli, there are more important things to worry about, rather than council expenses. He said he wouldn’t care if the mayor took a $4,000 business trip if there’s value in it.
“We practically sleepwalked through the budget with screaming discrepancies, and we are stuck on this small side note, footnotes,” Erramilli said.
Smaller council budget
Erramilli questioned why the City Council’s expense budget was cut in fiscal year 2025, while other departments faced no reductions. He had provided the council with a crossdepartmental spending analysis.
The City Council shaved off more than $20,000 from its travel expenses, down from $40,750. It also decreased its budget for training courses for elected officials by around $2,000. The Cities United Annual Conference, with a price tag of more than $3,000, excluding travel expenses, was also nixed.
Councilman Coughlin told Erramilli that city staff need education and training; elected officials should not.
“City Council is a finite term, limited to eight years in the role,” Coughlin said. “I'm not trying to educate you on how to become a leader .... I will elect someone who already can do that next time …These people (city staff) need to be certified in best practices. They need their education, their dues, the professional memberships, because this is their career.”
The council came to a consensus to update the list of qualified expenditures for direct reimbursement to office supplies, business meals, copying/printing charges, and cellular charges. Mileage reimbursements will continue to be governed by city code.
The Council clarified that business meals will now be capped by the U.S. General Services Administration’s per diem rates and that receipts must list the purpose/topic of the meeting as well as the attendees.
There was also consensus that the budgets for education and training, travel, and dues and fees within the City Council budget will be divisible evenly by seven, for each council member.
The City Council will vote on the updated Expenditure Policy at a future regular meeting.
In a follow-up interview, Mayor John Bradberry said he supports reigning in council expenses.
He said he has, on several occasions, questioned the rationale behind the city backing professional memberships for council members. He couldn’t recall any council members who had been reimbursed for professional memberships or for leadership training since he joined the council in 2017.
“The council made the right choice to make these no longer reimbursable,” Bradberry said.
AMBER PERRY/APPEN MEDIA
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