Author: On Common Ground News

The Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office is accepting registration for its next Citizens’ Firearms Class, which is set to start Saturday Oct. 5, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. The class will be held in the Sheriff’s Office Training Room on the second floor of the Jail Administration Building at 911 Chambers Drive NW, Conyers. Participants will learn basics in firearms safety and handling. Please bring your weapon and ammunition for inspection and to shoot on the firing range. To sign up, contact Lt. Jake Coggins at jake.coggins@rockdalecountyga.gov or Dr. Karen Anderson atkaren.anderson@rockdalecountyga.gov                  …

The DeKalb County Board of Health’s Richardson Health Center, located at 445 Winn Way in Decatur, will close at 2 pm. on Wednesday, Oct. 2. Upgrades to the building’s plumbing system will be made during the closure. All other health centers will operate under normal hours, from 8:15 a.m. until 5 p.m. The Richardson Health Center will reopen on Thursday, Oct. 3, at 8:15 a.m. For the latest updates regarding DeKalb County Board of Health operations, visit www.dekalbhealth.net.                        

The deadline is approaching to register for the Phi Omicron Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.’s scholarship essay writing seminar. Submit your essay and register by Saturday, Oct. 5: phiomicronzetazetaphibeta.chair@gmail.com The writing seminar will be held on Saturday, Oct. 19, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Newton High School, 1 Ram Way, Covington. Topics will include how to write a winning scholarship essay and tips and tools to help stand out in the application process. The workshop is free to attend and will be held in the school’s media center. Parents are encouraged to attend.

ATLANTA – The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Police Department has made an arrest in the Aug. 17 assault aboard an eastbound train near Georgia State Station. After an extensive investigation, Bernard Edward Daniel, 31, of Talladega, Alabama, was identified as the suspect. MARTA Police obtained arrest warrants for the charges of Battery, Kidnapping, False Imprisonment, and Robbery by Force. MARTA police worked with the U.S. Marshal Southeast Regional Task Force to locate Daniel in Talladega, Alabama on Sept. 12 and arrested on the above warrants by the Gulf Coast U.S. Marshal Fugitive Task Force until the extradition…

Work Session: Tuesday, Oct. 1,10 a.m. – Assembly Hall, 901 Main Street, Conyers, CANCELLED   Voting Session:Tuesday, Oct. 8, 10 a.m. – Assembly Hall, 901 Main Street, Conyers Extended Budget Work Session: Tuesday, Oct. 15, 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. – Assembly Hall, 901 Main Street, Conyers Zoning Public Hearing: Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at 9:00 a.m. – Assembly Hall,901 Main Street, Conyers Voting Session:Tuesday, Oct. 22, 10 a.m. – Assembly Hall, 901 Main Street, Conyers 2020 Budget Public Hearing: Tuesday, Nov. 5, 9: a.m. – Assembly Hall, 901 Main Street, Conyers, Work Session: Tuesday, Nov. 5, 10 a.m.…

Chloe Dorsey honored as DeKalb County Torchbearer A screen shot from Chloe Dorsey’s video of an unusual rescue. This week, DeKalb County government is honoring Chloe Dorsey for her very impressive and unusual heroic rescue effort at Stone Mountain Park. Dorsey was on a morning run at Stone Mountain when she came across a youngster in distress. A young deer, that is. The small animal attempted to jump over a fence with its herd when it got caught between two metal fence bars. Summoning the strength of half a dozen super heroes, Dorsey pried the bars apart, freeing the deer.…

DeKalb County police are investigating a deadly shooting that happened late Sunday in the courtyard near the Round 1 bowling arcade at The Mall at Stonecrest. Police said it was reported that several people fired at the victim after an argument inside Round 1, a late-night entertainment complex that offers bowling and an arcade.  The mall was closed at the time of the shooting. Authorities said the victim was found in the parking lot with a gunshot wound to his back.  He was taken to Grady Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The identity of the victim had…

 https://youtu.be/x23dAqt8xKk At a news conference today, Attorney Mawuli Davis and community activists called for Sheriff Eric Levett’s resignation. They blamed his lack of leadership and incompetence for the death of 22-year-old Shali Tilson, who died from dehydration after being detained in the Rockdale Jail . The news conference follows the release of a Special Grand Jury report released on Wednesday that concluded Rockdale jail administrators did not criminally causeTilson’s death but died as a result of complacency and lack of leadership. Davis said the Tilson family is filing a civil lawsuit.

Riki Albury, Jr., 19, was sentenced to life plus five years for the bludgeoning murder of 49-year-old Ronald Roach of Decatur, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston announced today. Roach was brutally beaten and stabbed more than three dozen times in a robbery-motivated attack. Albury was convicted of Murder, Felony Murder, Aggravated Assault, Theft by Taking, and Possession of a Knife during the Commission of a Felony. A friend discovered the victim’s body inside of his Flat Shoals Road apartment in Decatur on the morning of June 28, 2018. He had been stabbed 38 times throughout his chest, neck, and…

Attorney Mawuli Davis, who is representing the family of Shali Tilson, the 22-year-old mentally ill man who died of dehydration while in the custody of the Rockdale County Jail, is holding a news conference at 10:30 a.m. today at the Rockdale County Courthouse. Davis said he plans to address District Attorney Alisha A. Johnson and the Special Grand Jury’s report, which was released on Wednesday, Sept. 25. The Grand Jury’s four-month investigation concluded the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office and its jail administrators did not criminally cause Tilson’s death. Tilson died of dehydration on March 12, 2018 after being arrested…