Author: On Common Ground News

ROCKDALE COUNTY,GA—Keep  Conyers-Rockdale Beautiful has set a new date for its Electronics Recycling & Paper Shredding event. The event, which was scheduled this month will be held in October, due to anticipated inclement weather. Officials said that the paper shredding truck used during the event is inoperable during rainy weather. The event will take place Oct. 23, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., in the parking lot of the Rockdale County Annex, located at 1400 Parker Road, Conyers. In the event of rainy weather, the date is subject to change. The free, half-day event will provide the public a place to safely discard and…

DECATUR, GA–DeKalb County District 5 Commissioner Mereda Davis Johnson will host a “Tenant & Landlord Eviction Relief” virtual town hall on Thursday, Sept.16, 6:30 p.m. Participants include DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, Congressman Hank Johnson, DeKalb County Chief Operating Officer Zachary Williams, and DeKalb County Clerk of State and Magistrate Courts Javoyne Hicks. The virtual town hall meeting will offer an opportunity for DeKalb County tenants who may be facing eviction and landlords who have filed a dispossessory to learn about how they can get eviction relief from DeKalb County. “We know that the eviction moratorium is coming to an end…

AARP Experience Corps brings students, seniors together DECATUR, GA—The DeKalb County Human Services Department is recruiting volunteers to participate in its tutoring program designed to help DeKalb students improve their reading skills. Participating DeKalb schools will include: Stoneview Elementary, Pine Ridge Elementary, Murphy Candler Elementary, E.L. Miller Elementary and Redan Elementary. Informational sessions will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 10 a.m., and Wednesday, Sept. 22, at 7 p.m. via Zoom to provide more information to the public about the program. There is no cost to participate. Registration, however, is required. The links for the sessions are as follows: Sept. 21, 10…

Tucker will oversee DeKalb, North Fulton, Gwinnett, Forsyth and Rockdale counties    ATLANTA – Georgia Power has announced that Deon Tucker has been named the Metro North regional director in the Atlanta area, effectively immediately. In her role, she will lead the company’s external affairs activities for DeKalb, North Fulton, Gwinnett, Forsyth and Rockdale counties. She will also provide leadership and support for power delivery, customer service, sales, and community and economic development to bring value to customers. Prior to her current role, Deon served in Macon as a regional director, serving 136,000 customers in a 22-county area. Previously, she worked…

ATLANTA– Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr is warning Georgians about the latest version of the grandparent scam. The scam still starts with a phone call from someone pretending to be your grandchild, one of his/her friends, a lawyer or a law enforcement officer. The caller then describes an urgent scenario requiring that thousands of dollars be sent immediately, e.g. your grandchild will go to jail if you don’t send bail money or he or she became ill while traveling in a foreign country and needs money to come home. If impersonating the grandchild, the scammer may speak…

The former Brown Middle School in Atlanta’s Historic West End will be renamed for one of the city’s most famous business leaders and entrepreneurs    ATLANTA – The Herman J. Russell West End Academy, formally named Joseph E. Brown Middle School, will host a ceremony honoring the renaming of the school on Wednesday, Sept. 15, at 10 a.m. The renaming of Brown Middle School pays homage and tribute to Herman J. Russell, an Atlanta native who became a well-known real estate and construction businessman and philanthropist. Brown was a secessionist Georgia governor who opposed the abolition of slavery. Born and raised in…

DEKALB COUNTY, GA—DeKalb County Police are continuing to seek the public’s help in finding the person responsible for killing Quartez Mender in a hit-and-run on Sept. 1. Mender would have turned 16 today. Police said Mender was killed around 2 a.m. on Flat Shoals Parkway near Wellington Court. His family members said he snuck out of the house. Investigators say they believe he was struck while walking near the entrance of Orchard Walk Apartments. The driver of the vehicle stuck Mender and did not remain on the scene, police said. Family and friends held a candlelight vigil and balloon release on…

SNAP to launch in-fused water tastings across Georgia    ATLANTA – Georgia’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamp) and its  four partner agencies are launching Hydrate My State, a campaign tailored for SNAP-eligible Georgians to encourage more water consumption, instead of sugary beverages. The campaign, led by the Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) Office of Family Independence (OFI) SNAP Nutrition Education Program (SNAP-Ed), will consist of in-person infused water tastings, recipes on how to incorporate more water into daily life, nutrition fact labels on why water is so important, and formal shareable promotions. “This comes as a…

ROCKDALE COUNTY, GA–Rockdale County Public Schools (RCPS) congratulates Gen. Ray Davis Middle School (DMS) on being named among the top 5 percent of Title I schools by the Georgia Department of Education (GADOE). The Title I Distinguished flag for 2021 Title I Distinguished Schools was recently presented to DMS administrators and teachers during a faculty meeting. This year’s Title I Distinguished Schools list is based on the 2019 CCRPI (College and Career Ready Performance Index), the most recent CCRPI available. DMS has been named to the GADOE’s top performing Title I schools lists for multiple consecutive years. The Distinguished Schools…

The Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office issued an alert today (Sept. 13) to residents in Rockdale, Newton, Walton and Barrow counties about a scam targeting senior citizens. Scammers are calling elderly residents pretending to be a relative in trouble with the law and needing bond/bail money. The scammers then connect the concerned victim with a person pretending to be their family member’s attorney. This so-called attorney arranges for the victim to pay cash or check to a courier service to help pay for legal fees and bond money. The courier is also a fraud. In reported cases, the suspect was a black…