SCENE
YOUTH
MINISTRY
Kwanzaa, the African-American cultural holiday, will be celebrated at First African Presbyterian Church and other venues around Atlanta starting Dec. 26. 6
Atlanta Tech High student Alexis Johnson found herself at the center of attention after she posed a quest to US Secretary of Education last week. 8
When members gather at area churches for Watch Night services, they’ll be honoring a tradition some say dates back to the Emancipation Proclamation. 9
Cultural celebration
Copyright © 2009 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
Focus on education
December 26, 2009
Night etched in history
Volume 15, Number 34
Santa’s helpers to the rescue
www.crossroadsnews.com
“It signals that we need to do some of the stuff that we recommended in the budget – cutting expenses, raising revenue and setting money in reserve.” Burrell Ellis, DeKalb CEO
DeKalb sees credit rating dip By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
DeKalb County Sheriff’s SWAT deputies Armandor Malone (left) and Lance Tucker load toys into the SWAT truck for delivery to Toys for Tots.
Students, adults step forward with toys, shoes, food When the economy is tough, the generous get going. DeKalb residents – many of them hurting financially themselves – reached deep into their pockets this holiday to help others less fortunate. The DeKalb Sheriff SWAT deputies collected more than 2,000 toys for the Marine’s Toys for Tots. St. Timothy School fifth-graders collected almost 500 cans of food to the Stone Mountain Cooperative Ecumenical Ministry. On Dec. 19, parents – many with their own children in tow – fulfilled the wishes of more than 400 foster children in DeKalb Commissioner Larry Johnson’s Tree of Love program. At its Dec. 22 Winter Wonderland, the Howey Hudson Lowe Foundation gave bicycles and gifts to 350 children. Seventy children from Our House, a Decatur homeless shelter children, got gifts from the DeKalb Rockdale Employer Committee. In Lithonia, Rock Chapel Elementary School students collected hundreds of pairs of shoes for children in Senagal, West Africa, and in downtown Decatur, Chef William Lipscomb and his students from the International Culinary School at The Art Volunteers sort some of the 400 gifts donated to Commissioner Larry Institute brought cheer to the children of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Johnson’s Tree of Love program for children in foster care.
Chef William Lipscomb and students Faye Jonah, Paul Zalluska and Melanie Yarnot work on a giant gingerbread house.
Students at Rock Chapel Elementary in Lithonia have been collecting shoes for YES Inc.’s “Shoes for Africa” humanitarian project.
After eight years at the pinnacle of public credit rating, DeKalb County lost some of its credit luster last week. Citing a host of economic factors and two years of deficits, Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the county’s triple A rating to double A1 on Dec. 15. “The downgrade to Aa1 and the assignment of a negative outlook reflect the county’s pressured financial operations that ended in deficit undesignated reserves at fiscal year-end 2008 and the near-term challenges of restoring fund balance to levels consistent with the Aaa rating level,” it said. Moody’s said its negative outlook on DeKalb reflects its belief that the county will remain challenged to restore structural balance and to enhance its overall financial position and reserve levels over the medium term. DeKalb ended 2007 with a $9.8 million deficit that rose to $31.9 million in 2008. For 2010, it is facing $50 million less in revenues from declining property and sales tax receipts caused by foreclosures, the stalled real estate market, and the economic recession. Moody’s based its rating downgrade on the county’s $471 million of outstanding general obligation debt. Mike Bell, the county’s director of finance, said the revised credit rating is not good news. “We hear what they are saying, and what they are saying is we need to cut expenses and raise our revenue,” he said. Bell said that the immediate impact of the lower credit ratMike Bell ing will be negligible if the county acquires no more debt. He said the downgrade would result in about five basis points – or 0.05 percent more in interest – if they borrow new money. “We have no plans to borrow any money in the near future,” he said. “The Please see RATING, page 4