COMMUNITY
WELLNESS
SCENE
Sheldon Fleming of Wonderland Gardens (right) and volunteers are reclaiming the historic Lyon Farm off Browns Mill Road in Lithonia. 4
A Lithonia entrepreneur has hit upon an environmentally friendly way to keep used cooking oil from clogging sewer drains by recycling it into biodiesel fuel. 7
Writings of Frederick Douglass and other historic African Americans will be read during a Black History Month event at Arabia Mountain High School. 9
Freshen up the old farm
Copyright © 2010 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
Cure for clogs
January 30, 2010
Legendary authors
Volume 15, Number 39
www.crossroadsnews.com
Commissioner: Financial problems in the past By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
DeKalb Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton said this week that the outstanding warrants for writing bad checks that surfaced last week were an isolated incident and doesn’t affect her work on the county commission. “That’s in the past,” she said Wednesday. “It was before I was elected. It has nothing to do with how I serve my constituents.” But information surfaced this week of a string of charges for writing bad checks and default judgments for delinquent loans dating back to 1996. Atlantaunfiltered.com, a website that investigates elected officials, unearthed and reported Thursday on the charges
“I am just grateful that I had the opportunity to clear up this matter and I can go back to focusing on my work.” Sharon Barnes Sutton
and judgments in court records in DeKalb and Gwinnett counties. The public record shows a trail of debts and financial problems that included missed car payments, garnishment of her teaching salary, and the loss of her $162,000 Stone Mountain
home last September when she unable to make her mortgage payments. In the midst of her financial problems, Barnes Sutton reported loaning $49,500 to her 2008 campaign for the seat on the Board of Commissioners. The court records also show that some of the charges for writing bad checks were dismissed because the statute of limitation had run out. In others, Barnes Sutton pleaded no contest and paid the outstanding charges. But on Wednesday before the records were found, Barnes Sutton, who represents District 4 in Stone Mountain, said the bad checks totaling $1,000 to a Costco in Gwinnett County were written in 2007, before she ran for office. She said that she was
unaware of them before the police found them last week. “I don’t remember writing those checks,” she said. “It didn’t look like my handwriting. It could be a case of identity theft. I have my lawyer looking into it.” If she wrote the checks, Barnes Sutton said she could have missed them in 2007 because of personal issues she was going through, including the death of her late husband, which she did not want to talk about. “I was taking care of a lot of transactions,” she said. “Something could have gone through my account.” To clear her name, Barnes Sutton said Please see BARNES SUTTON, page 3
Judges argue case to avoid deep cuts in budget DeKalb Superior Court Chief Judge Cynthia Becker (far left) urges members of the DeKalb Board of Commissioners Budget Committee to consider the impact of funding cuts to the county’s justice system.
Photos by Jennifer Ffrench Parker / CrossRoadsNews
By Jennifer Ffrench Parker and Lee Williams
DeKalb County’s austerity budget is eliciting howls all the way to the courts. On Thursday, judges from Superior, State, Probate, Magistrate and Juvenile Courts showed up at the Board of Commissioners’ budget meeting to press the case for fewer cuts. The county is grappling with a $50 million reduction in revenues and must trim that much from its 2010 budget. Superior Court Chief Judge Cynthia Becker, who led the charge on behalf of the courts, said the judges showed up in person because the proposed cuts of 17 percent are of great concern to them. “We are the first line of defense,” she said. “People come in with foreclosures, dispossessors, increase in child support contempts, and increase in domestic violence. When the economy tanks, people lose their jobs. They come to court as the first line of defense to say, ‘I need help.’ ” The 10 courts and departments, which are funded at $53 million in the current budget, will only get $47.8 million in the proposed 2010 budget. The cuts range from
“This approach is akin to fully funding the ambulance service, while cutting back on the trauma care available at the end of the ride.” DeKalb County State Court Judges
$1.2 million in Superior Court, to $18,197 in Juvenile Court. Becker said that there is a “delicate and fine balance” with our constitutional obligations to the community, the functioning of a healthy court system and the economy. “We have seen that,” she said. “We understand that.” CEO Burrell Ellis’ proposed $582.7 million budget calls for a 1.86 millage rate increase, job cuts and reduction in spending in most departments. Becker said it’s wrong for the county to lump the courts in under public safety. “We are a separate constitutional arm of government, critical to the functioning of this county,” she said. Becker said Superior Court cannot and will not absorb the
proposed 17 percent cut. “It will disrupt the continuum of justice which must be protected constitutionally,” she said. “We are charged with making sure that 24/7 that every citizen, every person in this county receives the protection provided by the Bill of Rights. We can’t do that with a 17 percent cut.” The Board of Commissioners’ budget committee, chaired by District 7 Commissioner Connie Stokes, has been holding meetings with department heads and constitutional officers, as it searches for more cuts in lieu of the 1.86 millage increase proposed by Ellis. The Board of Commissioners must approve a balanced budget by March 1. The proposed cuts for the courts and its departments amount to $5.3 million. Only the Sheriff Office, the District Attorney’s Office and Recorders Court are spared. Becker says the cuts will hamper service and create a backlog. She said drug court saved the county $2 million last year and asked the commission not to cut its budget. She suggested that the county use the drug court testing lab. “If you test your employees here, you
can pay $15 or $20 per person instead of $50,” she said. “ We can keep the money in the county.” Earlier in the week, the eight judges on the DeKalb State Court wrote to the CEO and the commissioners to “highlight our serious concerns over the detrimental effects” that the proposed budget cuts will have on the court system and urge them to reconsider. State Court Chief Judge Edward Carriere said the cuts will affect the local residents as much as the court staff. “It will greatly affect the services,” Carriere said. “Anytime you have a cut in funding, it will have an impact on the level of services you provide.” In the letter, the judges said the cuts will affect the areas of domestic violence and DUI law enforcement. The judges said it makes no sense to provide funding for law enforcement, but cut the services on the post-arrest followthrough, which deters repeat offenders. “This approach is akin to fully funding the ambulance service, while cutting back on the trauma care available at the end of the ride,” the judges wrote.