COMMUNITY
WELLNESS
KING HOLIDAY
DeKalb Commissioner Larry Johnson was among several local candidates who took the oath of office this week, some of them for the first time. A4
Thousands of homes across America are harboring a silent killer called radon, and in January the focus is on raising awareness about the naturally occurring gas. A5
Marching bands, elected officials and others will once again head to downtown Stone Mountain to pay tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. B1
New terms under way
Copyright © 2011 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
Focus on silent killer
January 8, 2011
The legacy continues
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Volume 16, Number 37
Reshuffle could close 13 South DeKalb schools By Carla Parker
In August, South DeKalb could have 13 fewer schools and thousands of students will be attending classes in new locations and in different school buildings. The reshuffle is part of a redistricting and consolidation proposal before the DeKalb School Board. It is seeking to shutter more than 20 percent of the schools in the southern part of the county to compensate for shifting demographics and declining enrollment and to help the school district access maximum state funding for its schools. In all, the proposal presented to the new School Board by its consultants at its first meeting of the year on Jan. 3 calls for 14 schools – 12 elementary, one middle and one high school – to close countywide by the start
Redistricting & Consolidation Public Input Workshops
“If you know where Bob Mathis is and where Oak View is, they’re nowhere near each other. I know we want to have the numbers to fill seats, but we have to think in consideration of the kids and parents.” Jesse “Jay” Cunningham District 5 School Board representative
of the 2011-2012 school year. The proposal will consolidate schools, dramatically change attendance lines, and reassign students to schools that will all have enrollment of more than 450 students. It also will merge the district’s high achievers magnet schools and programs that serve 1,605 students countywide.
The elementary and middle schools and programs will be consolidated into a single location in Avondale Estates, and the high achievers magnet programs at Chamblee Charter and Southwest DeKalb high schools will merge into a single location, also in Please see CONSOLIDATION, page A2
Date Location Jan. 11 Miller Grove High School, 2645 DeKalb Medical Parkway, Lithonia Jan. 13 Chamblee Charter High School, 3688 ChambleeDunwoody Road, Chamblee Jan. 18 McNair High School, 1804 Bouldercrest Road, Atlanta Jan. 20 Stone Mountain High School, 4555 Central Drive, Stone Mountain All workshops start at 6:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.dekalb.k12 .ga.us/vision-2020.
New site proposed for biomass plant Claudette Powdard was among Lithonia residents opposing Green Energy Partners’ new location for a proposed $60 million “biofuel” generation facility.”
Lithonia residents renew fight against processing facility By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
The proposed biomass plant just won’t go away, and Lithonia residents are asking the big “why” question. The $60 million plant to process wood chips into electricity was rejected by the city of Lithonia on Dec. 6. It is now being proposed for a 20-acre site at 1744 and 1770 Rogers Lake Road, just outside the city limits. At a Jan. 5 community meeting at the Redan-Trotti Library, residents questioned why the plant is back on the table for adjoining properties near their city, homes and churches. Gerald Sanders, who lives a quarter-mile from the newly proposed site, said they have told the developer and DeKalb County repeatedly that they don’t want the plant in their neighborhood. “So I am asking you, why would you continue to bring it to the county and to the people in this area when you hear over and over again that we don’t want it,” he said. “Could you answer that – why do you keep bringing it back?” Sanders and a vociferous crowd of about 25 residents attended the meeting hosted by Patrick Ejike, a former DeKalb Planning and DevelopPatrick Ejike ment director, who took early retirement from the county last year. Ejike, who is now CEO of his own planning and engineering consulting firm, Aku-
Jennifer Ffrench Parker / CrossRoadsNews
Bata Group LLC, was hired by Green Energy Partners to shepherd the plant through the county’s permitting process. Green Energy Partners has a 20-year contract from DeKalb County to collect and convert yard waste into electricity using a non-emission technology. It says the plant will incinerate 100,000 tons of yard waste – wood chips from trees and leaves – to generate 10 megawatts of electricity to power 7,000 homes. It plans to sell the electricity to Georgia Power Co. and says the plant will generate $200,000 in revenues for DeKalb County government, create 100 jobs during construction and 25 permanent positions, and add $50 million to the tax digest. In the month since the plant – first pro-
dent, passed out copies of a Waste posed for a 26-acre property on Gasification report published by Bruce Street – was rejected by the the Blue Ridge Environmental DeLithonia City Council, developers fense League and urged residents to have all but dropped the word “gasread up on the subject. ification” from its name and now He told them also to read the refer to it as a “bio-fuel generation reasons given by the county last facility.” April when developer Raine CotEjike told the residents that the ton withdrew his application to Rogers Lake property is already Willie Dunlap locate a similar plant in Briarwood zoned industrial, a permitted zoning for the proposed plant. He said he was in Atlanta. “If they turned it down three miles away, hosting the meeting to inform residents why would it be better for me to accept it,” about the plant. Ejike said the proposal will go before the Dunlap asked. “This gentleman says he is DeKalb Board of Commissioners in March, not trying to mislead you, but he is just not and before that, to the Community Council telling you the truth.” and the DeKalb Planning Commission. Willie Dunlap, a 24-year Lithonia resi- Please see GASIFICATION, page A4