Author: On Common Ground News

First year students in the RCPS Student Athletic Aide Program Training Camp held June 2019. (Pictured left to right) Back row: Brianna Pinnock (Salem High School); Crosby McFall (Heritage High School); Isabella Cooper (Rockdale County High School); Anthony Neil (Edwards Middle School); Samaddi Burse (RCHS).  Middle row: Jasmine Davis (SHS); Trinayah Harris (SHS); Alexia Boyd (HHS); Christiana Damron (RCHS); Mya Solomon (HHS); Ebony Evans (RCHS); RCPS Athletic Director Dr. Kechia Rowles; Athletic Trainer Chelsea Ector. Front row – Oakland McFall (EMS); Abigail Sweeney (HHS); Imani Birden (HHS); SkyLah Parker (RCHS); Aliyah McKnight (RCHS); and Destiny Landy (HHS). …

By Sarita Mason For On Common Ground News African-American entertainers weren’t the only ones honored at this year’s BET Awards in Los Angeles on June 23. “The Exonerated Five,” whose lives were depicted in the Netflix documentary series, “When They See Us,” received a standing ovation for their courage and endurance. State Rep. Billy Mitchell, D-88, who lives in DeKalb County, said the “Exonerated Five” will be honored at the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus (GLBC) conference, which will be held Sept. 27-28 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Atlanta. Mitchell said the men deserve to be honored…

Mayor Jason Lary greets Shirley Smith, who visited the exhibit at City Hall with her grandchildren and Kayna Sanders, DeShawna Smith. The City of Stonecrest celebrated Juneteenth, the national commemoration of the June 19, 1865 announcement of the last slaves freed in the U.S., by hosting a black history exhibit at City Hall. The exhibit, which was set up in the Martin Luther King, Jr. High School Conference Room, featured local black history and history makers, including pictures and artifacts from the Flat Rock community, one of the oldest African-American communities in DeKalb County. Mayor Jason Lary said the…

Stonecrest Mayor Jason Lary (far right) poses with the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners at City Hall. L-R: DeKalb Commissioners Larry Johnson, Steve Bradshaw, Jeff Rader, Nancy Jester (back row) and Mereda Davis Johnson. Stonecrest Mayor Jason Lary welcomed the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners (BOC) to City Hall on June 18. The board’s Committee of the Whole evening work session was held at the Stonecrest City Council auditorium for the first time.  The BOC passed a resolution in 2016 to hold meetings three times a year  in communities so the public would have easier access to attend. Lary…

By Sarita Mason Nearly 200 people attended the June17 community meeting where DeKalb County District 4 Commissioner Steve Bradshaw and project officials unveiled plans for the proposed Southeast DeKalb senior center in Stone Mountain. The meeting was held at Antioch AME Church, 765 S. Hairston Road, Stone Mountain, which is located in the vicinity where the new facility will be built. Bradshaw, along with Community Development Director Allen Mitchell, architect Wood, Inc., said they were pleased with the turnout, which underscored the significant interest in the project. The Southeast facility will serve residents in Districts 4 and 7, joining…

The execution of Marion Wilson, Jr. for the 1996 murder of an off-duty prison guard was carried out on June 20 at 9:52 p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center in Jackson, Georgia. Wilson was executed by lethal injection. The sentence was carried out after the United States Supreme Court denied his request for a stay of execution. Wilson and Robert Earl Butts Jr. were convicted of murder and sentenced to death in the March 1996 slaying of Donovan Corey Parks, 24.  Butts was executed in May 2018. He was 40. Wilson, 42, took about 10 deep breaths,…

Stonecrest Mayor Jason Lary and city officials are taking city government to communities, fulfilling a promise the mayor made during his State of the City Address in May. The first  meeting was held on Thursday, June 13, 7 p.m., at the Parks at Stonecrest. A second meeting was held on Saturday, June 15, 10 a.m., at the Springlake subdivision. Staff such as Code Enforcement, Parks and Rec, DeKalb Police and Planning and Zoning will attend the meetings so that citizens can meet them and ask questions. A schedule of the mayor’s upcoming one-on-one sessions will be released soon.  Residents who want…

By Mackenzie N. Morgan, Staff Writer For nearly 40 years, Gregory B. Levett, Sr., founder of Gregory B. Levett & Sons Funeral Home, has been helping metro-Atlanta families celebrate the lives and memories of their loved ones. The community recently came together to celebrate a new milestone for Levett who recently received an honorary doctoral degree from Allen University, located in Columbia, SC, for his hard work as a businessman and philanthropist in the community. Levett, who was nominated by his pastor, the Rev. Dr. William D. Watleyof Saint Philip AMEChurch in Atlanta,said he was surprised and delighted when…

Rockdale County will celebrate the opening of South Rockdale Park’s mountain bike trails with a ribbon cutting ceremony and inaugural bike ride on Saturday, June 22, 9 a.m. at 3909 East Fairview Road, Stockbridge. MTB Atlanta and Rockdale County Recreation & Maintenance have worked together to build 6-miles of beginner, intermediate, and advanced trails at South Rockdale Park in Rockdale County on the Rockdale River Trail. “Cyclists will be able to enjoy new multi-use mountain bike trails, the first of its kind in our park system that provides a picturesque view of South Rockdale Park,” says Sue Sanders, director of…

By Sarita Mason For On Common Ground News By the time people got home from work on the East Coast, the documentary, “When They See Us,” had shot to No. 1 and it stayed there all night, said Director Ava DuVernay. The four-part trending Netflixseries has sparked renewed demands for criminal justice reform locally and throughout the country. The documentary re-enacts the lives of five boys ages 14 to 16 who became known as the Central Park Five, after they were wrongfully convicted of the rape of a white jogger in New York City in 1989. All five…