Click to enlarge photos.By Otis Brumby, Bill Kinney & Joe Kirby
Columnists
HOW FAR can the Cobb County government stretch $40 million?
It seems they're trying to stretch it as far as possible in regard to parkland acquisition.
On the heels of Friday's announcement that the county would earmark $5 million of the bond toward the $14.2 million cost of acquiring the historic 95-acre Hyde Farm in east Cobb, county officials are hinting they're close to using bond money to secure another large tract, this one in southwest Cobb near Paulding County.
The $40 million parks bond was approved by more than 70 percent of the voters in 2006. Since then, the county has purchased 172 acres, spending $26.9 million of the bond proceeds, not counting Friday's purchase.
That's an average of $156,500 an acre for new parkland.
The county purchased 26.5 acres of the Mabry Centennial Farm at the corner of Wesley Chapel and Sandy Plains roads for $4.2 million, 16 acres near Henderson Road off Veteran's Memorial Highway near the Chattahoochee River for $2.4 million and 17.7 acres of the Price property located at Stilesboro Road near Acworth-Due West Road for $1.4 million. The largest acquisition so far has been the 112-acre Bullard-Stockton tract along Dallas Highway in west Cobb, which Cobb Commission Chair Sam Olens says the county is set to buy for $18.6 million.
With the announcement of the Hyde Farm purchase, the county has secured three of its top four priorities with the parks bond, as determined by the county's parks advisory board set up after the bond's passage. The fourth property listed was a 54-acre tract owned by Wylene Tritt on Roswell Road in northeast Cobb.
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IN A QUICK GLANCE through Friday's legal notices section, one name often there lately was absent this time - that of Southwest Cobb Commissioner Annette Kesting.
The Cobb Tax Commissioner's office had filed liens on property owned by Kesting and her husband, Christian, in May, with notices of the eventual sale of their duplexes scheduled to start running yesterday in the Journal's Legals section.
The commissioner's office had said the Kestings owed a total of $3,260.64 on the four units in their two duplexes in Powder Springs. The duplexes would have been auctioned off on the courthouse steps July 1 if the bill had not been paid.
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STATE REP. EARL EHRHART (R-Powder Springs), who chairs the powerful House Rules Committee, has told Around Town that he has left The Facilities Group of Smyrna, a construction management firm under federal indictment for alleged bribery and theft. Ehrhart was an executive with the company.
Ehrhart said Facilities Group founder Robert Moultrie approached him and offered an amicable departure from The Facility Group, both to avoid the appearance of impropriety and because the allegations against the company could be used by Ehrhart's political opponents against him.
He will continue to work in the number of non profit groups which he has been involved with, Ehrhart said.
The Facilities Group has managed Cobb County School System's Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax program since its inception, earning fees of $9.1 million for SPLOST I and $12.8 million for SPLOST II. It has been working without charge laying the groundwork for the upcoming SPLOST III referendum set for Sept. 16.
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U.S. REP. DAVID SCOTT (D-south Cobb, Atlanta) has completed a weeklong NATO delegation trip to Germany, Turkey and Afghanistan. During the trip, Scott — who originally supported the Iraq War, but for the past year or so has strongly supported House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s attempts to pull the plug on it — met with Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus and Georgia Air Force personnel.
Scott and his fellow congressmen also met with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Recep Erdogan of Turkey and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.
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MEANWHILE, AN ALLEGED SEXUAL SLUR by Rep. Scott has the husband of his Republican opponent demanding an apology.
Andrew Honeycutt, husband of 13th District Congressional Candidate Dr. Deborah Honeycutt, picketed Scott’s Smyrna office May 30 demanding the congressman apologize for having insulted his wife.
According to Honeycutt PR director Allan Lipsett of Smyrna, Scott had approached a writer for the Atlanta Voice newspaper during candidate qualifying, asked about the 13th District contest, then allegedly asked, “Are you helping that b-tch?”
In addition to his picketing, Honeycutt has sent a certified letter to Rep. Scott, asking for an apology. Scott has not responded, according to the Honeycutt camp.
“I wanted to give him a chance to respond. This is a response to his non-response,” Mr. Honeycutt said. “I’m just asking him to be respectful.”
Dr. Honeycutt, a family practice physician, is running unopposed in the Republican Primary with a conservative theme of “protecting your family, your health and your pocketbook.”
Rep. Scott easily defeated her during the 2006 General Election in that heavily Democratic district, which wraps around southside Atlanta.
Scott chief of staff Michael Andel on Friday denied the Honeycutt account, saying, “That is absolutely not true. Congressman Scott would not say such a thing.”
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CORPORATE HOLDINGS CEO John Williams and Bank of North Georgia CEO Kessel Stelling, both past presidents of the Cobb County Chamber of Commerce, will host a re-election luncheon June 19 for Cobb Superior Court Judge J. Stephen Schuster in the President’s Room at the Marietta Country Club.
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LEGENDARY RETIRED UGA football coach and athletic director Vince Dooley will be the featured guest of the Cobb Library Foundation Sept. 22 at its latest “Meet the Author” luncheon. The event will take place at the Georgian Club and will benefit the Gail Rogers Scholarship Fund, named in honor of the recently retired Cobb Library System director.
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ALYSSA BARNES of Marietta has been named recipient of the 2008 Golden Apple Award at Samford University, which recognizes an outstanding teacher who received an undergraduate degree from Samford University’s School of Education and Professional Studies.
Barnes, a 2001 grad, also has a master’s degree in multiple and severe disabilities from the University of Virginia and is completing a Ph.D. in special education and education law and policy at the University of Virginia.
She is the daughter of former Gov. and Mrs. Roy Barnes.
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THE MARIETTA MUSEUM OF HISTORY is rotating exhibits again. The new one is called The Collection of Collections: Oodles of Oddities. This eclectic exhibit contains collections of everything from baseballs to bird eggs, seashells to swizzle sticks.
Serious collectors and even just the curious will enjoy seeing the advertising icon dolls, arrowheads and campaign buttons. Even kids will get into the collections mood in Murray & Etta’s Creation Station.
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THIS AND THAT: It’s a son, Henry Earl O’Dell, for Marietta lawyer Justin O’Dell and wife, Jennie. Little Henry was born May 25 at WellStar Kennestone Hospital. …
Ward 4 Marietta Councilman Van Pearlberg will host a town hall Meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday at City Hall to discuss Church Street road improvements. Pearlberg has been promoted by District Attorney Pat Head to deputy chief assistant district attorney.
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MARIETTA HIGH SCHOOL student Antonia McManus has been selected from among 100 students statewide to participate in CNN’s 21st Century Leaders Leadership Unplugged program. The program provides them an opportunity to meet with CNN and TBS executives for daily workshops, gain insights about the broadcast media and valuable experience in broadcast journalism.
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THE “ROCKIN’ NIGHTS” concert series kicks off tonight at the Mable House Barnes Amphitheatre with the group America, whose best-known tunes were cornerstones of 1970s radio.
Tickets for individual shows range from $20 to $45. Season ticket prices are offered at a 20 percent discount off individual ticket prices.
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