Author: On Common Ground News

STONECREST—This Friday, June 19, Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance(AMHAA) will join Flat Rock Archives in celebrating Juneteenth, the holiday commemorating the end of slavery in the U.S. Flat Rock Archives Co-Founder and President Johnny Waits will host a live, virtual tour of the Flat Rock Historic Cemetery, where many blacks of the Flat Rock community,  including Waits’ descendants, are buried in the city of Stonecrest. To participate, you can watch a live video on our Facebook page. The first person to comment a question on the Facebook post will receive a free family tour of the Flat Rock Archives when…

Gov. Brian P. Kemp announced the appointment of Chris Wells Today (June 16), Gov. Brian P. Kemp announced the appointment of Chris Wells to serve as Executive Director of the Georgia Vocational Rehabilitation Agency. Wells recently served as irector of the Physical and Economic Development Division at the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget. Prior to serving in that role, he held analyst positions in multiple government agencies, including the Georgia Department of Labor and the South Carolina Executive Budget Office. Wells currently serves as a member of Georgia’s Employee Benefit Plan Council, is a…

  Photo essay by Will Thomas/Special to On Common Ground News   ATLANTA—Photographer Will Thomas captured these images in the aftermath of protests for Rayshard Brooks, the latest black man to die at the hands of a white police officer. Protestors gathered  at the scene where the 27-year-old black father was fatally shot in the back by a white Atlanta police officer on June 12.  Only a shell of the Wendy’s was left.Makeshift memorials of balloons, flowers, and cards have been set up at the site. A “Black Lives Matter” T shirt was draped on one of thememorials. Demonstrators held posters of…

There will be a Virtual Celebration of Life Homegoing Service on Tuesday,June 16, 1 p.m. Gregory B. Levett & Sons Funeral Home is handling the service. Use this link to take you to the Tribute Page of the Live Link and Condolence Posts: https://www.levettfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Barbara-Jones-70/ Scroll down and click the Video Link (picture of a video reel) which states: “Gregory B. Levett & Sons Funeral Home created a video in memory of Barbara Jones.

Pictured (L-R): Attorneys Harold Spence and Mawuli Mel Davis On June 12, 2019 while running from police after being suspected of smoking marijuana, Jaylin Hughes was tased while climbing the top of a fence by a former Lieutenant of the City of McDonough Police Department, Douglas Miller. Following this incident, Hughes spent several weeks at The Shepherd Center, where he was diagnosed with quadriplegia. On Tuesday, June 16, at 2 p.m., the family of Hughes, 20, will hold a virtual press conference to discuss the released video footage which captures the incident immediately after his tasing and the filing of a lawsuit against Miller…

Pictured (L-R): Congressmen Hank Johnson and Congressmen Jamie Raskin WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today (June 15), Congressmen Hank Johnson (GA-04) and Jamie Raskin (MD-08) introduced The Bivens Act, legislation that ensures citizens can recover damages for Constitutional violations committed against them by federal law enforcement officials, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Department of Justice (DOJ) and federal prison officials. Almost 50 years ago, the Supreme Court recognized in Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics that the Constitution authorizes a remedy for civil damages against…

Pictured (L-R): Incumbent Pam Dickerson and challenger Sharon Henderson ROCKDALE COUNTY SPECIAL MEETING, JUNE 17, 2020, 9:30AM  PUBLIC INVITED TO ATTEND   The Rockdale County Board of Elections will hold a Special Meeting on Wednesday, June 17, 2020 at 9:30 a.m., for the purpose of certifying the results of the General Primary/Nonpartisan/Special and Presidential Primary Elections and to consider a recount request for House District 113. Incumbent Pam Dickerson and challenger Sharon Henderson are vying for the House District 113 seat. Henderson received 5,689 votes (50.70%), while Dickerson received 5,531 votes (49.30%), according to unofficial results as of June…

Be Someone Inc., the Stone Mountain-based youth development organization that has taught over 75,000 youths how to make the right moves in their lives by learning how to play chess, has been named to the lineup of virtual summer camps offered by DeKalb County. Registration is now open for the six-week “Chess for Success” program, which will be held Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., June 22—July 27. Classes are designed for ages 8 – 18 and are free. Be Someone’s Executive Director Orrin Hudson, who has traveled the country teaching his program, is excited about the…

ATLANTA— Protestors have set fire to the Wendy’s tonight, demanding justice for Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old black man who was shot and killed by a white police officer late Friday(June 12). Not far from the Wendy’s, demonstrators and police are at a standoff just south of downtown Atlanta, where they have shut down I-75. Brooks had fallen asleep in his car at a Wendy’s drive-through, causing other customers to drive around him, according to authorities. Police were dispatched to the Wendy’s around 10:30 p.m. and conducted a sobriety test, which police said Brooks failed. Brooks attorney,…

Runoffs in Clerk of Courts, BOE Post 5 races set Aug. 11 Rockdale County Supervisor of Elections Cynthia Willingham said that the outstanding ballots from the June 9 Elections were counted on Friday, June 12. Willingham said she made the decision for the remaining absentee and provisional ballots to be counted on Friday instead of the announced date of Monday, June 15, after a flood of calls from candidates and the community who were concerned about results in close races. The sheer volume of outstanding mail-in absentee ballots—nearly 800 of them—was a very tedious process to complet, in such a short amount…