Author: On Common Ground News

The annual Gwinnett Fallen Heroes ceremony will take place on Saturday, May 29, 1 p.m., at the Gwinnett Fallen Heroes Memorial, 75 Langley Drive, Lawrenceville. The Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners and honor guard units from Fire and Emergency Services, Police Department, Sheriff’s Office and the Lawrenceville Police Department will participate in the event to commemorate fallen American military and public service personnel. The Memorial Day ceremony will be televised on May 29, 7:30 p.m., on TVgwinnett, Gwinnett County’s government access cable channel and also will be available on demand at www.tvgwinnett.com.

It’s graduation time and even the youngest graduates marched in celebration. At Voices of Faith Christian Daycare in Conyers, the pre-K program graduates stood proudly to accept their diplomas during a program held on March 24. Some giggled, some cried and some played during the program. For more photos and a salute to the high school valedictorians and salutatorians, visit www.ocgnews.com.

DeKalb County Sheriff Jeffrey Mann, who is under investigation for exposing himself in an Atlanta public park and running from police, says he is disciplining himself for “conduct unbecoming.” Mann said in a statement that he is suspending himself May 27 through June 4 and donating one week’s pay to a charity to be determined. Mann’s announcement comes in advance of a the findings of an investigation expected to be reported in a few days to Gov. Nathan Deal. The governor ordered a special panel to broaden its scope of an investigation of Mann, who was arrested on May 6…

  Rockdale High School’s Valedictorian 2017:  Name: Myra Larkin  Age: 18 Schools attended (elementary, middle, high): Browns Mill Elementary, Salem Middle School, Martin Luther King Jr. High School (9-10), Rockdale County High School (11-12) Parents’ names: Maranda Jones, Anthony Larkin Siblings’ names (and are you oldest/youngest/middle, etc): Demyrion Peterson, I’m the oldest Extracurricular activities: SGA (9th) MLK Village Scholar (10th) Beta Club (10th, 11th, 12th) Superintendent Advisory Committee (10th) Dance Team (10th, 11th, 12th) Spanish Club (10th) Spanish Honors Society (10th) Show Choir (11th, 12th) Mu Alpha Theta (11th, 12th) National Honor Society (11th, 12th) Student Council (12th) Vice…

DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond continues to make good on his promise to address the county’s water crisis. Thurmond announced this week that he has developed a plan to replace more than 100,000 aging water meters starting the fourth quarter of this year. According to a task force led by Thurmond, 55 percent of the county’s 184,000 small meters, or 102,000, are at risk of failure and may contribute to inaccurate water bills. Thurmond’s plan includes replacing 62,000 small meters that are outside of their 15-year life cycle and 40,000 manufactured before 2014 that have potential factory defects. The majority…

Lee May has announced plans to launch his Transforming Faith Church in DeKalb County. May, who formerly served as interim CEO of DeKalb County for three years, said he plans to hold what he calls “worship preview services” on June 11, July 9, Aug. 13 and Sept. 10, at 9 a.m., at Southwest DeKalb High School, 2863 Kelley Chapel Road in Decatur. He said the actual launch is scheduled for Sept. 10. That’s when the church will begin hosting weekly services, he said. “The preview services are just to give you a bit of flavor about how we worship. “Our…

Stonecrest City Councilwoman Diane Adoma, in her capacity as mayor pro tem, ran the May 24 work session in Mayor Jason Lary’s absence. Lary was attending the RECON conference in Las Vegas with developer Vaughn Irons and representatives from Discover DeKalb Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Mall at Stonecrest and other agencies to recruit vendors for the Atlanta Sports City at Stonecrest project. Emory Healthcare and Urban Retail, which owns the Mall at Stonecrest, announced their partnerships with the project on May 17. The Stonecrest City Council’s three-hour work session covered several items including continued discussion on capitol equipment needed…

Stonecrest City Council member Robert Turner, District 2, will host his first “Listen and Learn” town hall meeting on June 1, 6 to 8 p.m., at the Lou Walker Senior Center, 2538 Panola Road, Lithonia. Stonecrest City Council member Jazzmin Cobble, District 3, will host a town hall meeting for constituents on June 8, 7 p.m., Ousley United Methodist Church, 3261 Panola Road, Lithonia. Stonecrest City Council member Jimmy Clanton, Jr., District 1, has scheduled two town hall meetings to provide citizens updates and to hear from them. The first meeting will be held on June 12; the second meeting…

The Arabia Mountain Heritage Area Alliance hosted an open house on May 23 to provide the community an opportunity to learn about the Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area (AMNHA). The open house was held from 1 to 7 p.m. at the Alliance’s office, 3350 Klondike Road in the newly-formed city of Stonecrest. Throughout the day, visitors met with community leaders, attended a 15-minute presentation by Arabia Alliance Executive Director Mera Cardenas and were given a brief overview of the National Heritage Area with topics covering recreation, preservation and information about the Junior Ranger program, the historic Lyon Farm rehabilitation, and…

Rockdale County has hired a code enforcement manager, making good on Chairman Oz Nesbitt’s promise to put more resources into enforcing compliance of the county’s codes and cracking down on blight and nuisances in Rockdale. The county has hired Troy A. Smith, who has more than 20 years of experience in code enforcement. Smith, who earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Atlanta’s Morris Brown College, previously worked five years for the city of Atlanta, where he was responsible for ensuring compliance with the city’s codes. Smith also worked for the San Mateo County, California government, where he redesigned the…