COMMUNITY
SCENE
YOUTH
DeKalb middle and high school students are putting together care packages for Georgia troops serving in Af ghanistan. 4
Guests at the holiday mixer sponsored by the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation and CrossRoads News Foundation delivered with toys and food. 8
Young artists were recognized for their talents in a contest sponsored by State Court Judge Eleanor Ross. 10
Holiday cheer for troops
Plenty of Toys for Tots
Talented artists
EAST ATLANTA • DECATUR • STONE MOUNTAIN • LITHONIA • AVONDALE ESTATES • CLARKSTON • ELLENWOOD • PINE LAKE • REDAN • SCOTTDALE • TUCKER
Copyright © 2011 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
December 10, 2011
Volume 17, Number 32
www.crossroadsnews.com
Opponents of cell towers not giving up By Carla Parker
two high schools and a comprehensive school for up to 30 years. Seven of the nine schools are located in south DeKalb County. Joe Staley, who lives across the street from Margaret Harris Comprehensive School in Atlanta, said board members didn’t have the guts to tell parents about the proposed cell towers on school properties. “The bottom line is, I believe what you wanted was little resistance as possible and you were successful,” Staley said. “Not a single person in my neighborhood knew about the proposal or had any realistic opportunities to
Even though the DeKalb School Board insists that its decision to allow cell phone towers on nine school grounds is final, parents and residents continue to voice opposition to the towers. At its Dec. 5 meeting, dozens of red-shirtwearing opponents from the Briarlake community told School Board members that they will continue to speak out against the towers, and they lashed out at board members for not giving them an opportunity to voice their opinions before its July 12 vote that approved a $2.3 million contract for T-Mobile to erect and operate towers at six elementary schools, Please see CELL TOWERS, Page 4
Carla Parker / CrossRoadsNews
Briarlake residents wore red to School Board meeting to oppose cell towers on school grounds.
Fight against death penalty pledged NAACP leading charge to end ‘barbaric’ practice By Carla Parker
The Georgia State Conference of the NAACP is making good on its promise to lobby for the end of Georgia’s death penalty. At an “Execute the death penalty” rally Thursday on the steps of the State Capitol, protesters including preachers, a state senator, Occupy Atlanta and other community activists said they won’t rest until they see its end. Edward O. Dubose, the state NAACP president, said the death penalty needs to go. “We know that this barbaric act of killing for no good outcome serves no purpose,” he said. The protest comes less than three months after the Sept. 21 execution of convicted cop killer Troy Davis by lethal injection. He maintained until his death that he was innocent of the charges. Davis, 42, was convicted Sept. 3, 1991, for the 1989 death of Mark MacPhail, a white off-duty Savannah police officer, when he was 20 years old. There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime, and after several key witnesses recanted their testimony, supporters say there was too much doubt to execute. Davis was black. State Sen. Vincent Fort of Atlanta said he will sponsor legislation to abolish the death penalty when the legislative session opens on Jan. 9. “We are telling the public and the world at large that we believe that the death penalty is murder and that we will not tolerate it,” Fort said. “We will come together to organize and work against the death penalty.”
Carla Parker / CrossRoadsNews
Edward O. Dubose, state NAACP president, called for an end to capital punishment in Georgia at a Dec. 8 rally at the State Capitol.
Opponents of the death penalty say capital punishment is a product of a failed system and that eyewitness testimony is unreliable. Since Dec. 1, nearly 139 men have been released from death row across the country due to wrongful conviction. Five of them were from Georgia. Kathryn Hamoudah, a public policy associate of Georgians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said not only is Georgia’s death penalty system riddled with error, but it’s racist and targets the poor.
“In Georgia, those convicted of killing white victims are four and a half times more likely to be sentenced to death than those convicted of killing black victims,” Hamoudah said. “And 80 percent of those accused of crimes cannot afford an attorney, yet funding for public defenders has been repeatedly slashed in Georgia in recent years.” Dubose said the death penalty not only kills the intended person, but it kills and destroys the family. Davis’ sister, Martina Davis Correia,
passed away on Dec. 1 after losing her battle to breast cancer. The family also lost their mother, Virginia Davis, who died in April. “The death penalty not only took Troy Davis, but it took the life of three members of the family,” Dubose said. “We say to the Board of Pardons and Parole, ‘Enough is enough.’” The NAACP and other organizations say they will rally again on the steps of the Capitol on Jan. 9 to support anti-death penalty legislation promised by Fort.