Paid for by Tom Brown for Congress Treasurer George Coletti
SERVING DEKALB, FULTON, GWINNETT, HENRY AND ROCKDALE COUNTIES
VOLUME 20 NUMBER 6
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MAY 10, 2014
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Elections keep Decatur signs business bustling
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By Valerie J. Morgan
or Don Jackson, the printing business is booming right now, largely because of the election season. Jackson, who owns Best Print & Design in Decatur, says with so many candidates running for local elections, he has been working around the clock to keep pace with the workload. Jackson said candidates running for office are printing more campaign signs than ever before as Election Day—May 20—nears. “It’s been absolutely insane,” said Jackson. “This has been a unique year. Normally, this is considered an off year, in terms of elections. It’s not the year for a Presidential election, when you expect to see a lot more activity.” Jackson attributes the increased activity to the sheer number of candidates running in local races where normally there might only be two or three contenders in one race. The DeKalb County Sheriff’s race, for example, is crowded with eight contenders: Incumbent Jeffrey Mann, Dale Collins, Ted Golden, Vernon Jones, Tony Hughes, Melody Maddox, Melvin Mitchell and LaSalle Smith, Sr. The DeKalb School Board races are another example. In total, there are 21 candidates running for six seats on the School Board. Districts 3 and District 5 each have five-way races. “A lot of times, candidates who have never run for office are trying to figure out how many signs they
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ELECTION COVERAGE SPECIAL SECTION pg. 5- 12
Best Print & Design owner Don Jackson works on a sign for a political candidate. The political signs are buried at Jackson’s request.
will need to get them through an election. They will place an order for one amount and then re-order more,” Jackson said. Jackson, who has been in the printing business for 23 years, said he has printed more than 25,000 signs so far for this election season, an amount he considers respectable for his business. “Our best year ever was when Obama first ran for President. We did 52,000 elections signs for that year,”
said Jackson. “We’ve already done half that amount this season and we’re still taking orders.” Jackson said candidates are not only buying small yard signs for their campaigns, but big display signs as well. “It’s very competitive out there. Candidates want their signs to match the size of whatever their opponent is doing,” said Jackson. As the only minority-owned union printer in the state of Georgia, Jackson
Photo by Glenn L. Morgan/OCG News
said he is also getting a good bit of business from candidates in state and federal races who want campaign handbills, mailers and T-shirts. And with high school graduations around the corner, Jackson said he is getting his share of print jobs for personal banners and commemoration programs, too. “When it comes to those programs, they’re constantly adding names and taking names off. And everybody wants everything on Friday,” Jackson said.
Commissioner Larry Johnson honored by President Obama for ACA work DeKalb County District 3 Commissioner Larry Johnson was among several community activists from around the country President Obama thanked for their work with the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Johnson was lauded during a reception as an invited guest of President Obama on May 1 at the White House.
Johnson spearheaded several enrollment events, which were held January through March, to get Georgians signed up for the mandatory Affordable Healthcare Act. “I am deeply honored and humbled to have had the opportunity to assist in such an important aspect of human life,” Johnson
said. “Just knowing that thousands more DeKalb residents now have access to quality health care is not only fulfilling, but it’s certainly worthwhile. I would like to thank each of our partners, DeKalb Library System, DeKalb Parks and Recreation, State Representatives Karla Drenner, Howard Mosby and Pamela Stephenson, Dante’ McKay
of Enroll America and Pastor Phillip Mosby of Solomon’s Porch Ministries for their collective efforts to make this endeavor the success that it was.” In addition to Johnson being recognized, Atlanta poet/ humanitarian Hank Stewart and actress Nia Long were honored at the event.
Commissioner Larry Johnson
Conyers Police use social media to nab 30-year-old man for child exploitation By Valerie J. Morgan
Bryan Jack Knight, 30, was expecting to meet a 14-year-old girl when he arrived at the Conyers Ride Share parking lot a few days ago. Instead, he was arrested. Detectives in Conyers Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division charged Knight with child exploitation and child pornography on April 29, after two months of investigating him on a social media web site. Knight had contacted Detective Sergeant Kristen Moore on the website, believing she was a 14-year-old girl. Knight decided to ride the Express Bus from Atlanta to the Conyers Ride
Share and pick up the “14-yearold girl” with whom he thought he had been communicating, police said. Knight was arrested and taken to the Rockdale County Jail. According to the Bryan Jack Knight Rockdale Sheriff’s Office online jail information, Knight is from Blairsville. “Social media has become so prevalent for child predators. They’re not just using Facebook and the typical social media sites, there are a number
of sites that are out there and we’re just trying to stay on top of it,” said Conyers Police spokesperson Kim Lucas. Sgt. Moore, who led the investigation, has been with Conyers Police for nearly six years, Lucas said. Moore serves as an agent on the Internet Crimes Against Children task force with the Georgia Bureau of Investigations (GBI), which provided her with the programs and training necessary to conduct communications with perpetrators. Lucas said Moore was part of a multi-agency team that arrested 14 people, Feb. 26 to March 1, in a GBI sting dubbed “Operation Broken Heart.” The sting, conducted by 37 law enforcement agencies, focused
on the use of the internet for child exploitation. John McGill, a 56-year-old Douglasville elementary school principal was among 14 suspects arrested in the sting. The suspects ranged in age from 21 to 64. The purpose of “Operation Broken Heart” was to arrest persons who communicate with children on-line and then travel to meet them for the purpose of having sex, the GBI said in a released statement. Authorities said online child predators visit chat rooms and websites on the internet, find children, begin conversations with them, introduce sexual content and arrange a meeting with the children for the purpose for having sex.