SCENE
COMMUNITY
Dressing up our parks
Delivering jobs and meals
Volunteers wilf fan out to dress up state parks and historic sites to celebrate “Your State Parks Day” on Sept. 24. 2
The new Home Chef plant in Lithonia has hired 107 workers and is shipping 10,000 meals per week. 3
Litter... R Is unsightly R Lowers property values R Discourages investment R Is everyone’s problem R All of the above
Let’s Do Our Part to Keep DeKalb Beautiful
EAST ATLANTA • DECATUR • STONE MOUNTAIN • LITHONIA • AVONDALE ESTATES • CLARKSTON • ELLENWOOD • PINE LAKE • REDAN • SCOTTDALE • TUCKER
Copyright © 2016 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
September 17, 2016
Volume 22, Number xx
www.crossroadsnews.com
Green orders testing of water for lead at DeKalb schools By Ken Watts
Crews will begin testing the water at 150 DeKalb County public schools, centers and facilities on Sept. 20 because of concern about high lead levels found in schools across the country. Superintendent Stephen Green said the district is launching the test as a precaution in the wake of the lead crisis in Flint, Mich. Several public school systems including Atlanta, New York, Chicago and Milwaukee tested their water systems this spring. Twenty-five of 60 Atlanta schools showed levels above the Environmental Protection Agency’s limit of 15 parts per billion in one or more water fountains or sinks.
“The health and safety of all students and staff are, and always will be, our top priority.” Stephen Green
Research by the American Society of Pediatrics suggests even low lead levels could affect behavior and learning. Green stressed at a Sept. 13 news conference at district headquarters, that there has been no indication of a lead problem in DeKalb schools, but he wanted to be proactive.
“The health and safety of all students and staff are, and always will be, our top priority,” he said. Lead was legally used in construction before 1986 and the district has 106 buildings from that era. While all schools and facilities will be tested, the initial schools were chosen based upon the age of students. The district says that priority given to schools with pre-K programs, putting elementary schools among the first tested. Testing will be conducted by Atlanta Environmental Management, Inc., an environmental consulting and engineering firm. Green said testing will be completed by the summer of 2017.
Toxic lead levels depend on several factors, including the water temperature as well as how long it sits in pipes. Inspectors will check water fountains, ice makers, classroom, kitchen and restroom sinks, all classroom bubbler fountains, drinking water sources on athletic fields. Joshua Williams, the district’s chief operating officer, said results from each school will be available 10 days after testing is done and results will be posted as they become available. The district will also send results by mail. Parents and employees can visit www. dekalbschoolsga.org/lead-testing/ to find out the latest on the water testing project.
National African American museum opens Sept. 24 All South DeKalb Rotarians are charter members
Members of the National Newspaper Publishers Association make the trek to the National Museum of African American History and Culture (center) during Media Preview Day on Sept. 14.
By Jennfier Ffrench Parker
When the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture opens to the public on Sept. 24, the pride will stretch all way to Decatur where 100 percent of the members of the Rotary Club of South DeKalb County are proud charter members. William Murrain, an attorney and 13-year Rotarian, said the club is the only Rotary Club in Georgia whose members all signed up as charter members of the nation’s first museum dedicated to celebrating the contribu- William Murrain tions of African Americans to building the country. They are among nearly 100,000 charter members of the museum in Washington, D.C. The NMAAHC, built at a cost of $540 million, sits on five acres on the National Mall, within sight of the Washington Monument. It is the 19th and newest museum of the Smithsonian Institution and the only one on the National Mall without a white marble or concrete facade. Instead, its façade is made up of 3,600 bronze-colored “Corona” metal panels inspired by the ornate 19th-century ironwork done by enslaved Africans in New Orleans. Murrain, who joined the South DeKalb Rotary Club in February 2003, said he encouraged his fellow Rotarians to become charter members because “we should be involved in learning and preserving our history.” “It’s important for ourselves and the generations to come to know that we were contributors to this country,” he said Monday.
Jennifer Ffrench Parker / CrossRoadsNews
All the members of the Rotary Club of South DeKalb signed up as Charter Members of the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opens Sept. 24.
“We didn’t ask to come here but we helped to build this nation.” Murrain said that African Americans can’t wait for others to tell our story. “We must tell our own story and learn about our history,” he said. “People who don’t know their history are prone to repeat the
grand-opening events, it will be the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African-American life, art, history and culture. The collection illustrates the major periods of African-American history, from the origins in Africa, to slavery, Reconstruction, the struggles for civil rights, the Harlem Renaissance and into the 21st century and the election of Barack Obama as nation’s first African-American president. Murrain said it was not difficult for him to convince the 14 members of his Rotary club to become charter members. The club is the only all-black Rotary Club in District 6900 and one of the few Rotary Clubs in the state comprising 100 percent Paul Harris Fellows – named for the Chicago attorney who founded Rotary International
mistakes of the past.” The museum, located on Constitution Avenue between 14th and 15th Streets N.W., is sandwiched between the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. When its doors open to the public in a weekend of Please see Exhibits include, page 4