With deep cuts looming in the state's budget for historic preservation; and with Mayor Steve Tumlin vetoing the city's first local historic district less than a week earlier; the Cobb Landmarks & Historic Society held its annual meeting and awards ceremony at the Cobb/Marietta Museum of Art Jan. 28.

Named Volunteer of the Year was former restaurateur Larry Zenoni, a CLHS board member who opened his Forest Avenue home for public tours, labored hard on the Marietta Pilgrimage and who is a familiar face at the Saturday Farmer's Markets in downtown Marietta selling boiled peanuts. The nut sales raised $2,000, which he donated to the CLHS.

Education Awards went to Marietta High School teacher Brandon Andrews and students Cody Bly and Truitt Clark, who provided filming, editing and processing of video clips and interviews for the city's 175th anniversary observance last year. The students conceived the project as part of their International Baccalaureate program at the school.

Retired Cobb Juvenile Court Judge Jim Morris was honored for his service on the search committee for a new CLHS executive director and for his forthcoming history later this year of the Cherokee Heights subdivision.

The author of this column and Lockheed photographer Damien Guarnieri were honored for their book that came out last year, "Marietta Revisited: Then and Now."

Shane McDonald and Allison Doke of Georgia Landmark Artists were honored for their group's work depicting local landmarks. The group, which has an unrestricted membership, seeks to record the county landscape as a historical record for future generations. Some of the profits from sales of their work are donated to the Landmarks Society.

Former Mayor Bill Dunaway was honored for his leadership in seeking to establish historic district and for his successful efforts to restructure the Marietta Historic Board of Review to make it more independent of the Downtown Marietta Development Authority and make it a more authoritative body, rather than one that just deals with paint colors and the like.

He was outspoken that night and afterward about the need for the proposed historic district, noting that while Tumlin was correct to veto it on technical grounds, there remains a great need for such a district and that allowing for the inclusion of an "opt-out" clause is a mistake.

"What we're going to wind up with is not a historic district, but a historic checkerboard district," he said. "All the historic district status would do if it passed would be to protect you from someone putting up something weird next door."

The biggest honor of the evening was the Florrie and James Corley Award for Lifetime Achievement in Historic Preservation, which was give to developer Skip and Jeanine Harper. Yes, a developer is also the biggest honoree of a preservation organization. How's that for a study in contrasts? But Harper is not your run-of-the-mill developer, but one who has always tried to incorporate the old with the new, rather than just bulldoze it. And the CLHS's decision to honor the Harpers in such a way is a testament not just to the success of their efforts, but to the open-mindedness of the organization.

The Harpers chaired the CLHS in 2008 and were involved as volunteers and a huge host of other group projects, the most notable of the year perhaps being Skip's work to insulate the attic of the Root House, which has resulted in major improvements in its temperature and thus saved greatly on its electric bill.

Preserving Marietta's past is an ongoing battle, one that has seen great successes through the years, thanks in significant part to Cobb Landmarks. Yet it's clear that further battles await.

Joe Kirby is Editorial Page Editor of the Marietta Daily Journal and co-author of the new "Then & Now: Marietta Revisited."