YOUTH
COMMUNITY
EXPO
Collector contractor named
Time to cast your vote
After listening to thousands of residents such as ODE president David Schutten (right), the DeKalb School Board will on a plan that includes fewer closings. 12
A Marietta company has been awarded the $30.9 million contract to build congestioneasing collector/ distributor lanes where I-20 and I-285 merge. 5
The nominations are in and it’s time to determine who offers the best goods and services in East Metro Atlanta. The ballot is online and on pages 8&9.
Consolidation scaled back
Copyright © 2010 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
February 12, 2011
www.crossroadsnews.com
Volume 16, Number 42
First lady brings obesity fight South By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
Jennifer Ffrench Parker / CrossRoadsNews
First lady Michelle Obama spoke to a crowd of more than 5,000 at North Point Community Church in Alpharetta on Feb. 9.
ond-highest rate of childhood obesity in the country. Before her speech, Obama visited Burgess-Peterson Academy and helped hand out snacks of fresh blueberries. She also toured the East Atlanta school’s organic garden. She unveiled a public service campaign highlighting being active that will reach 33,000 media outlets. At North Point Church, she told the crowd that lined up for hours to hear her that changes in what we eat are under way because parents asked for them. “You asked for more fresh, nutritious food in your communities,” she said. “So we’re working to bring more grocery stores into under-served areas. You wanted healthier, more affordable options on those grocery store shelves. So food manufacturers made a ‘Healthy Weight Commitment,’ pledging to cut 1.5 trillion calories a year from their products. “And Wal-Mart promised to sell products with less sugar, salt and trans fat – and to reduce prices on healthy
On the first anniversary of Let’s Move! – her campaign to fight childhood obesity – first lady Michelle Obama told an Atlanta crowd of more than 5,000 people that the initiative has become a movement. “We’ve seen changes at every level of our society,” she said, “from classrooms, to boardrooms, to the halls of Congress.” Nationally, nearly one in three children is overweight or obese, and health experts say this may be the first generation of children who will have shorter life spans than their parents. But Obama said Let’s Move has started a national conversation and is gaining momentum. Obama, the mother of two girls – Sasha and Malia – who are the same age as the children targeted by Let’s Move, said she picked North Point Community Church in Alpharetta to make her anniversary speech because she wanted to reach parents from all different backgrounds with kids of all different ages. She came to Georgia on Feb. 9 because it has the sec- Please see OBAMA, page 2
Ex-Judge Baffled by Treatment Lawyer: Mobley received raw deal after resignation By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
On Jan. 17, DeKalb State Court Judge Barbara Mobley was riding in a pickup truck through the streets of Stone Mountain waving and smiling in the annual Martin Luther King Jr. parade. On Feb. 4, Mobley, who was the only African-American State Court judge, had penned her resignation and abruptly left the bench. That same day, the Georgia Judicial Qualifications Commission, which regulates judges, filed 16 allegations of judicial misconduct against her to the Georgia Supreme Court and permanently banned her from requesting or accepting elected or appointed judicial office in the state of Georgia. “This prohibition commences immediately and carries forward permanently,” the consent order said. It also said that she will not seek, request or accept senior judge status for any court. In her two-sentence resignation letter to Gov. Nathan Deal, Mobley, who was reelected in November unopposed for a second four-year term, said her departure was effective noon on Feb. 4. “I want to thank the people of Georgia and DeKalb County for allowing me to serve,” she wrote. The allegations against Mobley ranged from improper use of public employees for personal matters and other non-judicial business, to using probationers to provide services and labor to Greenforest Baptist Church, where she is a member, to engaging in ex parte communications with litigants and attorneys, and restricting public access to
Carla Parker / CrossRoadsNews
What a difference two weeks make. On Jan. 17, DeKalb State Court Judge Barbara Mobley participated in the annual MLK Day parade in Stone Mountain on Jan. 17. On Feb. 4, she resigned abruptly amidst allegations of judicial misconduct.
the her courtroom. The allegations of judicial misconduct also charged her with “repeatedly and persistently failing to promptly rule and to dispose of matters before the court which resulted in inexcusable delay in numerous cases, some in excess of four years,” and for “allowing an extensive travel schedule to take precedence over judicial matters resulting in excessive delays and inexcusable neglect of matters pending before the court.” Deal accepted her resignation that same day. Her lawyer Jackie Patterson said Mobley got a raw deal from the Judicial Qualifications Commission. “She only resigned because she was told
that her complaint was not to be made public,” he said Thursday. Patterson said he negotiated the agreement with the commission’s director, Jeff Davis. “They did not publish the allegations against other judges when they resign,” he said. “What would be the motivation to resign if the allegations are made public? Judge Mobley could still be on the bench and just be facing a hearing.” Patterson said he does not know why the commission treated Mobley differently. “We thought the case was behind us,” he said. “When I got a phone call from an AJC reporter asking me about 16 allegations, I
was flabbergasted.” Davis could not be reached at press time. Patterson said he is upset that the complaint was made public. “We will write a letter next week to the JQC complaining about the way she was treated,” he said. Patterson, an Atlanta-based lawyer, said there is no remedy for what was done to Mobley. “The governor has already accepted her resignation,” he said. “That’s why we are so upset. Why resign if there is no benefit to Please see MOBLEY, page 3