Celebrating
Community
Coming Up
Easter Events
19 years
Rockdale commissioners deny application for church’s preschool....page 3
Clarkston sets community festival to celebrate diversity....page 4
SERVING DEKALB, FULTON, GWINNETT, HENRY AND ROCKDALE COUNTIES
VOLUME 20 NUMBER 2
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Easter Egg Hunts across the Metro ....page 6
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APRIL 12, 2014
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Miller Grove’s Sharman White named USA Today’s “Coach of the Year” By Joshua Smith
DEKALB COUNTY–Miller Grove High School’s Coach Sharman White and his six-time champion basketball team are basking in glory again. White was named USA Today’s “Coach of the Year” this week. “I found out a couple of weeks ago, but they swore me to secrecy like the President was coming. It was pretty crazy to keep the secret,” White told On Common Ground News. “I don’t know if USA Today will be sending an award or anything. They haven’t told me anything like that yet.” Last year, White was named Georgia’s “Coach of the Year” by the Atlanta Tip Off Club. He has been the basketball coach and athletic director at Miller Grove since the school opened in 2005. This year, White coached his team to a state record sixth consecutive title. Winning was all the more Terrell “Too Tall” Coleman, who emotional for the Wolverines, who collapsed and died during an all-star dedicated their season to freshman game.
Photo by Joshua Smith/OCG News
White said the recognition from USA Today is a great individual award, but he could never achieve such heights
without a great supporting cast. “The players put in countless hours and the parents have to make that sacrifice for us to keep them, sometimes all night. My coaching staff is second to none. We have had nothing but support from DeKalb County. It really does take the whole community working together as one,” said White. “The reason we have become a powerhouse in a small amount of years is because all the players and their families bought into what I was saying to them.” White said he held a meeting with players on April 4 to prepare for next season. “As soon as the kids get back from spring break, we’ll be back at it. We’ll be back in the gym and the weight room, working out and conditioning to try to do it all over again,” said White. “One day, I would like to be coaching on the college level, but right now, all my focus is on Miller Grove. We have more work to do here.”
Red Hats Galore Red Hatters from all over Georgia came together for fun and fellowship in Covington at The Red Hat Society’s 10th Annual Tea and Luncheon on April 8. More than 300 women attended the event. See Red Hatters, page 9
Photos by Joshua Smith/OCG News
Gallery at South DeKalb Mall’s movie theatre closes
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By Valerie J. Morgan
fter making a comeback seven years ago, the Gallery at South DeKalb Mall’s movie theater has closed. The South DeKalb Stadium12 theatre shut down over a month ago, leaving the 42,000-square-foot big box empty, mall officials confirmed this week. “We’ve been talking to other possible tenants,” said Tene Harris, the mall’s general manager. “Obviously, our first choice would be to replace it with another movie theatre because the space is already suited for entertainment. But it could be converted for another use. We would just have to look and see what works.” The South DeKalb movie theater has experienced several transitions over the years. In the early 1990s when it was a 24,000-square-foot theatre, the facility was closed for years in disrepair.
Photo by Glenn L. Morgan/OCG News
The mall, which opened in 1968, launched a redevelopment program in 1998 after DeKalb County government approved a $2.8 million tax package to help fund a $13 million movie theater. Then-mall owners O’Leary Partners and Magic Johnson Theatres had planned to build a 12-screen cinema at the mall, but that deal fell through. In April 2007, American Screen Works built a
42,000-square-foot cinema with stadium seating, digital sound, advanced ticket pick-up and an enhanced food and beverage menu on the back side of the mall. The movie complex also included a jazz bar for adults. Eight months later, in Nov. 2007, the cinema changed hands becoming the Galaxy Funplex South DeKalb, Harris said. Next, Tennessee-based Big Cinemas Management took over and began managing the South DeKalb Stadium 12 theatre. Harris acknowledged the theatre has had difficulty attracting a steady base of customers. “No business can stay open without the support of the community,” said Harris. DeKalb Commissioner Larry Johnson, who serves as presiding officer of the Board of Commissioners, said he plans to do everything possible to assist the mall in making sure the community is well served.