FREE
VOLUME 23 NUMBER 20
ocgnews.com
Town hall for vets at Wesley Chapel
V
eterans are invited to come out and learn about resources that are available to them at an upcoming town hall meeting. Justice For Veterans will host a town hall meeting on Aug. 15, 6 to 8 p.m., at the Wesley Chapel Library, 2861 Wesley Chapel Road, Decatur. Al Bocchicchio, director of the Atlanta Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Veteran
Affairs, will discuss benefits and resources that can assist veterans and their families. Bocchicchio is responsible for administering benefits and services to the estimated 773,000 veterans, service members, their families and survivors living in Georgia. The Atlanta Regional Office administers approximately $1.4 billion in annual federal benefits, which include compensation, vocational rehabilitation and employment and loan guaranty. “It’s not often that you have the top official of the V.A. in this area coming to speak. We’re glad to have him. We’re hoping to pack library,” said U.S. Army Lt. Colonel Amos King, who heads Justice For Veterans. “Mr. Bocchicchio will be bringing staff with him to help veterans with their concerns and providing the latest information concerning vets out of the Administration.” King said the forum is a good opportunity for vets to meet with a top official. “He’ll (Bocchicchio) be taking questions from the audience. We’re encouraging all veterans to come,” King said. King said Justice for Veterans is planning to host another veterans’ informational event in the Atlanta area in the near future. “We want to have it near the bus line so that it will be easy for veterans to attend,” King said. There is no charge to attend the Wesley Chapel Library event.
AUGUST 12, 2017
Published Since April 1995 Serving DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry and Rockdale Counties
City of Stonecrest’s inaugural staff grows
JOYNER
BELL
HARRIS
JAMES
DOZIER
MAYS
RODRIGUEZ
LOWE
The city of Stonecrest’s staff is growing. The new municipality, which marked its one-month anniversary at City Hall on Aug. 10, now has 15 people on staff, officials said. “A number of the critical positions have been filled,” said Adrion Bell, the city’s communications director. “The mayor is content. Every week, we chart where we are in terms of progress and we are ahead of our goals.” In addition to staff hires, the city also approved a contract for two law firms to represent Stonecrest. Thompson Kurrie, a partner at Coleman Talley LLP, and Emily Macheski-Preston, an associate from the same firm, is part of the legal team, as well as Steven Fincher and Winston Denmark of Fincher Denmark LLC. The city also appointed its first municipal judges, Attorney Jonathan Weintraub as chief judge and Attorney Michael Sheridan as judge pro tem on Aug. 7. Bell said the city plans to hire a court clerk and land development inspector between now and December. The clerk would be responsible for scheduling code enforcement cases that come before the municipal judges and the land development inspector’s duties would include ensuring that city ordinances are adhered to concerning soil erosion and grading for new projects. “Once we fill these two positions, we probably will not do anymore hiring until the first of the year when we’ll take on the maintenance of our parks,” said Bell. The new city initially will provide three services to residents: parks and recreation, planning and zoning and code enforcement. Bell said some of the city’s milestones include the launch of its web site (stonecrestga.gov), LinkedIn and Twitter pages; updates to the city’s Facebook page; creation of forms needed for various departments; the selection of BB&T for the city’s banking services; transfer of the utility franchise agreements from DeKalb County government; and the purchase of three 2017 Ford Focus models, Ford 150 and a Ford Transit for city administrative services and initial code enforcement. The city hired CH2M for $16.2 million, 5-year contract to manage the city.
SEE STAFF , page 7
facebook.com/ocgnews
Young Rockdale filmmaker New York bound By Mackenzie N. Morgan
Christian Anderson, a 16-yearold junior at Heritage High School in Conyers, has been selected to participate in the 2017 All American High School Film Festival. Anderson, who produced a music video, is seeking the public’s support for the chance to attend the festival Oct. 6-8 where his video will be screened at the AMC Empire Theaters in New York City’s Times Square. Anderson filmed, edited and directed the music video entitled “The Drive” for his friend and rap artist, Ahmady (Ahmad Barron), also a student at Heritage High School. The award finalists and winners will be announced at the Teen Indie Awards Show on Oct. 8, and Anderson is hoping to be among the winners named. More than $400,000 in SEE FILM , page 7
DeKalb employees get pumped up for back to school
DeKalb County Schools Superintendent R. Stephen Green set the tone for the upcoming school year with “Every Little Step,” a message about embracing the actions needed to raise student achievement, at Convocation 2017 on Aug. 4. Triscilla Weaver, regional superintendent for Region 4, leads her schools through coordinated cheers during roll call at the convocation, which was held at the Infinite Energy Center Arena in Gwinnett. Officials said the event was held in Gwinnett because DeKalb has no facility large enough to accommodate the school district’s more than 13,000 employees.