Author: On Common Ground News

A member of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s K9 Unit has died in the line of duty. Investigators in the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Fugitive Unit were attempting to serve an arrest warrant on a rape suspect today(Aug. 4)when a K9 Deputy Sheriff escaped his partner’s control inside the Atlanta apartment complex where the endeavor was being made. “The K9 Deputy lost sight of the suspect and came upon a plain clothes sheriff’s office investigator involved in the pursuit,” said Chief Deputy Randy Akies.  “When the K9 Deputy advanced aggressively, the investigator fired in self-defense and, unfortunately, the K9 died…

  Hiring underway in Locust Grove The City of Stonecrest will become home to one of three new warehousing facilities for Georgia-based The Home Depot, which is expanding in DeKalb, Fulton and Henry counties. In addition to Stonecrest, the company is opening warehouse facilities in the cities of East Point and Locust Grove. Gov. Brian P. Kemp said in his announcement today (Aug. 4) that the tri-county expansion will create approximately 1,000 jobs for the greater metro Atlanta area. “Since 1978, The Home Depot has been creating jobs and opportunities for hardworking Georgians and for people around the…

Pictured L-R:Woolworth student lunch counter sit-in demonstration, 1960, Dr. Noel Battle and Mrs. Martha Battle.  Atlanta has lost another pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement, the Rev. Dr. Noel Battle, one of the foot soldiers in the city’s lunch counter sit-ins and one of its most prominent black developers and philanthropists. Dr. Battle died on July 28 at Emory St. Joseph Hospital in Atlanta after a long illness. He was 87. “He fought the good fight of faith for as long as he could,” said Martha Battle, Dr.…

Due to an outbreak of the coronavirus at Chief Cornerstone Community Church, 2900 Salem Road, Conyers, Fieldstone voters now must go the Rockdale County Government Annex, 1400 Parker Road, on Tuesday, Aug. 11. Elections officials announced the emergency relocation in a news release this evening, Aug. 3. The annex will be open on Aug. 11 from 7 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.(extended hours) for the Democratic Primary and Nonpartisan Runoff Elections. The Board of Elections and Registration Office was notified on Friday, July 31, that several members of Chief Cornerstone Community Church have tested positive for the coronavirus.  The virus is…

Virtual learning, current school guidelines and available resources among topics to be discussed   DeKalb County Commissioner Lorraine Cochran-Johnson will host a special countywide community meeting to share important information with parents and students on how to best prepare for the upcoming school year. The virtual Back-to-School Town Hall will take place Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2020, at 6 p.m. and will feature DeKalb County School District Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris. Recently, the DeKalb County Board of Education voted to adjust the calendar for the 2020-2021 school year, delaying its start in order to make accommodations to operate virtually…

The city of Stonecrest is preparing to receive the late Rev. Dr. Noel Battle, who will lie in state for public viewing at City Hall on this Friday, Aug. 7, 1 to 4 p.m. Rev. Battle, founder of First Comfort Missionary Baptist Church in Decatur, passed away on July 28. He was 87. “The Rev. Dr. Noel Battle was an important national civil rights and community leader for decades. I knew him personally, and he was one of my heroes and inspiration for creating the City of Stonecrest,” said Mayor Jason Lary. Stocks Funeral Home Kirkwood Chapel, Inc. is handling…

DeKalb County Schools Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris and her cabinet members will host a virtual community town hall meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 5:30 p.m., to discuss measures the DeKalb County School District is taking to protect student athletes from the coronavirus. Joining the superintendent and her Cabinet, will be Dr. Sandra Ford, district director of the DeKalb Board of Health;James Jackson, executive director of athletics; and Vasanne Tinsley, deputy superintendent of Student Support and Intervention. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) reported on July 31 that student-athletes from two of the district’s high schools have tested positive for the coronavirus, prompting practices to…

                  Superintendent, Cheryl Watson-Harris The DeKalb Cultural Exchange will host its monthly meeting virtually on Saturday, Aug. 8, 10 to 11:30 a.m. Stonecrest City Councilmember Rob Turner and his wife, DeKalb County School Board Vice Chair Vickie B. Turner, will host the meeting. This month, the meeting will focus on the reopening of school and the virtual platform that students will use. The new Superintendent, Cheryl Watson-Harris and members of her cabinet are the invited guests. Parents and stakeholders will have an opportunity to get…

ATLANTA – State Representatives Park Cannon (D-Atlanta) and Renitta Shannon (D-Decatur) will host a candle light vigil and drilling ceremony for Jamarion Robinson on the fourth anniversary of his death by police brutality on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 6 p.m., 842 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive S.W. in Atlanta. State representatives, activists and mothers will each drill a total of 76 holes on a mural to signify the number of bullet holes found in Robinson’s body when he was killed in 2016 in a raid by several metro Atlanta agencies, led by U.S. Marshals. The mural artist is Maisie Thompson,…

L-R: Mayor Jason Lary,  City Council member Rob Turner Special-Called City Council meeting today, Aug. 3, 6 p.m.   STONECREST—Residents are planning to stage a drive-thru protest to stop the construction of a Metro Green, LLC concrete recycling plant, which is now underway in the city of Stonecrest. The protest will be held in the parking lot of Stonecrest City Hall on Aug. 10, 6:30 p.m., said Kamla Gonzales, one of the organizers. Gonzales and other residents say the plant will bring pollution, continuous truck traffic, noise and lower their property values…