COMMUNITY
SCENE
Smooth sounds abound
Baby steps for new club
Trombonist George Bohanon and others will share their artistic talents at Jazz Under the Stars at the Lithonia Amphitheater. 2
An informational kickoff meeting for the “new” Arabia Mountain Walking Club is set for Aug. 20 at the Stonecrest Library. 4
Put Litter in Its Place Let’s Do Our Part to Keep DeKalb Beautiful
EAST ATLANTA • DECATUR • STONE MOUNTAIN • LITHONIA • AVONDALE ESTATES • CLARKSTON • ELLENWOOD • PINE LAKE • REDAN • SCOTTDALE • TUCKER
Copyright © 2016 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
August 13, 2016
Volume 22, Number 16
www.crossroadsnews.com
Denny’s, Barnacles opening restaurants in South DeKalb By Ken Watts
New England Patriots. Thompson says the Panola restaurant will open on Aug. 27. This week, workers were putting the final touches on the restaurant’s interior. Thompson said he Donnell Thompson picked Panola Road for his first DeKalb location because the area is underserved. “We saw a need in the [Panola Road] corridor,” he said. “We saw there were only
A worker puts the finishing touches on the interior of the Denny’s restaurant at 2657 Panola Road in Lithonia. It is scheduled to open on Aug. 27.
Two new sit-down restaurants will open soon in South DeKalb. A Denny’s is near completion at 2657 Panola Road in Lithonia, and Barnacles Bar and Grill is planned for the old Dugans space on Flat Shoals Parkway in Decatur. The new Panola Road Denny’s is owned by RWDT Foods Inc., a company founded by lifelong friends and former high school, college and NFL players Donnell Thompson and Ronald Wooten. Thompson, RWDT president, played defensive end for the then-Baltimore, now Indianapolis Colts, and Wooten played for the Please see RESTAURANTS, page 3
Ken Watts / CrossRoadsNews
Six arrested in teen’s death a day after vigil Operation Lead President John Evans (left), Josie Dean (center) and Gerald Rose (with bullhorn) at an Aug. 9 prayer vigil against gun violence on Glenwood Road.
These suspects – (clockwise from top left) Roderick Harris, Roderick Jackson, Michael Miller and Sharod Jackson – and two juveniles are charged with murder. Ken Watts / CrossRoadsNews
Seventh suspect in shooting at large as family raises funds for funeral By Ken Watts
Two juveniles, three other teens and an adult have been arrested in the shooting death of 15-year-old Keaira Palmer, who was on her way home after a trip to a nearby Decatur convenience store on Aug. 3 when she was a caught in the crossfire of a driveby shooting. Keaira was killed near the entrance to the Peachcrest Gardens complex, 4110 Glenwood Road, where she lived. Her mother, Lawanda Riley, said she died two weeks shy of her 16th birthday. Keaira also died five days from the Aug. 8 start of the new school year. “She was just supposed to be going to the store to get a Sprite, a bag of hot chips and a Slim Jim,” Riley told WSB-TV. Two other teens, 18 and 19, escaped with minor injuries, and a 25-year-old man was hospitalized week with serious wounds. Investigators didn’t have a motive at press
“She was just supposed to be going to the store to get a Sprite, a bag of hot chips and a Slim Jim.” Lawanda Riley, mother of Keaira Palmer (left)
time on Thursday but believe the shooting may have been gang-related. The six suspects – two juveniles ages 15 and 16; Roderick Harris, 17; Sharod Jackson, 18; Roderick Jackson, 18; and Michael Miller, 22 – were arrested Aug. 10. The police are not releasing the names of the juveniles because they are underage. The six are in custody and charged with felony murder, two counts of aggravated assault, and six counts of felony criminal gang activity. A seventh suspect, 24-year-old Tahja
Williams, remains at large. Williams has been in trouble with the law before and was arrested on April 6, 2012, on burglary charges; Feb. 12, 2013, for contempt of court; April 20, 2014, for failure to appear in court; and Feb. 4, Tahja Williams 2016, for violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act. DeKalb Police are asking anyone with information about Williams’ whereabouts to call Crime Stoppers at 404-577-TIPS [8477]. Keaira’s aunt Charlene Riley has set up a GoFundMe account to help the family cover funeral expenses. The site had raised $3,650 in donations at press time Thursday with a goal of $5,000. The break in the case came one day after a coalition of civil rights groups led an Aug. 9 prayer vigil a few steps away from a makeshift memorial of stuffed animals, cards and
flowers that grieving family and friends left to mark the spot where Keaira died. Participants in the vigil included John Evans of DeKalb Operation Lead; Robert Champion, who lost his son, Robert Jr., in a 2011 hazing incident at Florida A&M University; Josie Dean of Black Man Never Forget LLC; Gerald Rose of New Order Human Rights Organization; and Viola Davis of Unhappy Taxpayer and Voter Organization, who called for an end to black-on-black violence. They said gang-related black-on-black violence is the greatest threat to the AfricanAmerican community. In her opening prayer, Dean called gangs “black KKK.” “Because they’re doing worse damage to us than the white KKK ever did,” she prayed. “They’re killing us more than the police, dear God.” Champion, co-founder and co-chair with Please see ARRESTS, page 2