Author: On Common Ground News

By Valerie J. Morgan President Barack Obama’s legacy will not only be recorded in history books when he leaves office at the end of the year. The nation’s first black President—the 44th commander in chief–will leave a legacy specifically in DeKalb County at a new elementary school that will become Georgia’s first to be named for him. The DeKalb County Board of Education voted unanimously on July 11 to name the new school the Barack H. Obama Elementary Magnet School of Technology after a committee comprised of parents, students, faith leaders, two principals and staff identified naming options that were then…

    DeKalb County officials have rolled out the welcome mat to the Dream Team 4, the top professional soccer players from Nigeria who will compete in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August. The team won gold at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta 20 years ago. Discover DeKalb Convention & Visitors Bureau, Sports DeKalb and United Soccer Africa and key partners were instrumental in organizing the 22-member team’s visit to DeKalb this month. As an Olympic team, the players had the possibility of training and visiting any place in the world and they chose DeKalb County, Georgia…

By Valerie Morgan It was a good day for hundreds who attended a jobs fair on July 11 at New Life Christian Church in Decatur. Organizers said nearly 500 people were hired on the spot for jobs at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport. “They’ll be starting to work the first week in August,” said Sharon Dukes of Dukes Consulting Services, which worked with Morningstar Urban Development, Inc. to coordinate the jobs fair. “We are so pleased that we were able to help so many people in the community.” People began arriving at 6 a.m., forming a line outside the building where…

A DeKalb County grand jury indicted a man and woman linked to the deaths of three young children during illegal drag racing on Moreland Avenue in April 2015. Melanie Denise Putman and James Gerald Benford were each charged with three counts of homicide by vehicle and one count of reckless driving for the April 12, 2015 wreck that killed 3-year-old Lauren Coleman and her brothers, Jaylen, 6, and Jordan, 4. “This was a terrible, terrible tragedy and we will prosecute this case to the fullest extent of the law to prevent something like this from ever happening again,” said DeKalb…

By Shawn Evans Mitchell for On Common Ground News The initial task was simple: Research the history of Antioch AME Church, which has a location in DeKalb County and one in Rockdale County. That “simple” initiative took on a snowball effect that ignited the interest and enthusiasm of a historian who got funding for a genealogy project that includes digital archives, educational seminars and more. Now, Antioch AME is offering a History Day in partnership with Georgia Humanities, the Center for Public History at the University of West Georgia, and Agnes Scott College. The community History Day will be…

By Mackenzie N. Morgan Dozens of Rockdale County citizens and law enforcement officials came together for a town hall meeting on July 12 seeking solutions following two fatal officer-involved shootings of African American men, one in Baton Rouge, LA., the other in Falcon Heights, Minnesota. Those shootings sparked the ambush retaliation murders of five police officers in Dallas, Texas, touching off even more rallies and cries for peace around the nation and town hall meetings like the one in Rockdale. Rockdale Chairman Richard Oden called the meeting in an effort to encourage dialogue between the community and government officials to…

As the flags in front of my building are at half-staff, I can only sit and reflect on last week’s events. The death of five law enforcement officers following the death of two black men, once again glued us to the television watching the videos. It’s early in either case, but much of the public is wondering if any of these shootings are justified. Incidents of deadly force, with and without videos, seem to come with saddening regularity, and for much of the uneducated public, feel as if it involves a white officer and an unarmed black man. It has…

ATLANTA Fifth Annual Black Homeschool Expo: “Our Culture is Our Cure” Families seeking to homeschool their children are invited to attend a three-day homeschool exposition July 15-17. The first day of the expo will be held 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., at the Omenala Afrikan History and Teaching Museum, 337 Dargan Place SW, Atlanta. The remainder of the conference will take place at Georgia Piedmont Technical College Conference Center, 495 North Indian Creek Drive, Clarkston. Presented by Liberated Minds, the theme for this year’s black homeschool and education expo is “Our culture is our cure: cultivating the black genius in…

  Off-duty DeKalb County police officers are patrolling commercial properties on Wesley Chapel and Panola Roads in Decatur under a new initiative launched by the East Metro DeKalb Community Improvement District (CID). Officers are working staggered shifts, primarily during overnight hours, to provide protection and increased visibility to the Wesley Chapel/Panola Road businesses that are located in the CID. Sgt. Susan V. Sowell, who is leading the patrols, said CID property owners may contact DeKalb’s East Precinct to report areas of concerns. “I will use a variety of enforcement options, such as high-visibility patrols, the operation of speed detection…

DeKalb County’s Gresham Park will soon have an outdoor basketball court, thanks to The Atlanta Hawks Foundation. The foundation donated $48,000 to develop the basketball court, expected to be completed by late Fall. DeKalb County Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Affairs and Foundation representatives held a groundbreaking ceremony on July 14 at the park, located at 3113 Gresham Road, Atlanta. About 100 children participating in the county’s summer parks program joined officials for the ceremony. The new basketball court, county officials say, will not only provide recreation for residents in the area but enhance the overall health and wellness…