Meanwhile, state Sen. Majority Whip John Wiles (R-Ken.) is holding a breakfast fundraiser at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at The Georgian Club in the Galleria featuring Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Bill Cowsert and Senate Caucus vice chair Cecil Staton. Cost is $2,400 to chair, $1,000 to host and $250 to attend. RSVP to (770) 426-4619.
MORE POLITICAL PATTER: The Tea Party Business Eggs and Issues breakfast will be today at 8:30 a.m. at the Piccadilly Cafeteria at 536 Cobb Parkway in Marietta. Confirmed speakers are Congressman Phil Gingrey of Georgia's 11th district, Maria Sheffield, candidate for insurance commissioner, and D.A. King of the Dustman Inman Society. Doors open at 8. ... A fundraiser for Rep. Sharon Cooper (R-east Cobb) will be from 6-7:30 p.m. Monday at the home of Peggy and Tom Cannon. Expected to attend are Speaker of the House David Ralston, Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones and House Majority Whip Ed Lindsey. Call Kelly Earley at (770) 402-3720. Minimum donation is $250.
FOR A BIRDS'-EYE VIEW of the Marietta July Fourth Parade (on July 3rd this year), it's hard to top the Cobb Terrace atop The Strand Theatre. Tickets are $15 each, which includes breakfast and a cash bar. And that evening, there's the Red Wine & Brew VIP dinner and fireworks show atop the Strand. The $80 tickets (or $640 for a table of eight) also lets you hear Robert Ray's "I Hear America Singing" live stage show and enjoy a spectacular view of the city's fireworks. Call (770) 293-0080.
And "The Great American Family Picnic" will be taking place at Marietta First United Methodist Church that evening, reports Mary Koronkowski. There'll be sack races, tug of war and other activities, followed by an up-close view of the fireworks. Williamson Brothers will provide the barbecue, with proceeds to MUST Ministries and the church's youth projects. Reservations for tables and/or lawn space are strongly encouraged. Cost starts at $50. For more go to www.MariettaFUMC.org or call (770) 429-7800.
Another option is to reserve a table at The Root House for the fireworks for $120 per table of eight. You can bring your own picnic, beverages and decorations. Reserve via Paypal at www.CobbLandmarks.com or mail a check to Cobb Landmarks, 30 Atlanta Street, Marietta, GA, 30060.
THE WEST COBB NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION will hold a meet-and-greet for the two candidates for Northwestern District Cobb Commissioner - incumbent Helen Goreham and challenger Leonard Church - on June 24 at the Burnt Hickory Lakes Clubhouse. Free hot dogs and soda will be served beginning at 6:30 p.m. and the candidates will take questions after brief statements beginning at 7.
TUESDAY’S CANDIDATES FORUM sponsored by the Cobb County Republican Women’s Club lost one of its gubernatorial contestants, former Fulton County Commission Chairwoman Karen Handel, at the last minute when she learned that candidate Ray McBerry planned to attend. Handel has been boycotting joint appearances with McBerry, who is accused of an improper relationship with a student when he was a high school teacher.
That left former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal of Gainesville, McBerry and state Sen. Jeff Chapman of Brunswick as the gubernatorial representatives. Deal began his opening statement by lamenting the absence of the other candidates, then quipped, “I guess they all decided to stay home and watch President Obama’s Oval Office address instead of being here.”
McBerry, who first gained prominence as a “flagger” candidate pushing the return of the Confederate battle emblem to the state flag, noted in his remarks that he wanted the Republican Party to be “not just the ‘Party of Lincoln,’ but the party of Jefferson as well,” as in Thomas Jefferson. But cracked a wag, “I think he really meant Jefferson Davis.”
THE FORUM also featured the six Republicans hoping to unseat Democratic U.S. Rep. David Scott of Atlanta in the 13th District, which includes south Cobb. Scott is African American, as are two of the Republicans, Dr. Deborah Honeycutt and moving firm owner Rupert Parchment, the son of Jamaican immigrants. He told the crowd, “Scott’s No. 1 tool is the race card and I can’t wait for him to try and use it on me. With a name like Rupert, he’s in for a surprise!”
Incidentally, Parchment is holding a fundraiser from 11-2 p.m. today at the MJ Lmmnz Cafe, 4426 Floyd Road in Mableton.
The CCRW will sponsor a second forum June 29 for candidates for state attorney general, school superintendent, agriculture commissioner, labor commission and Public Service Commission. The group’s final forum July 6 will feature candidates for local state house and senate races, plus countywide candidates. Both forums will be aired live on Cobb TV 23.
OUTSPOKEN COBB ATHEIST and inveterate MDJ letter to the editor writer Ed Buckner of Smyrna is in London this week to take part in four debates against various Islamists in London and Birmingham. His trip was sponsored by the Islamic group iERA.
The first contest will pit him Sunday against Abdullah al Andalusi on the topic “Secularism or Islam: Which One Makes More Sense for Modern Human Society?” at the famous Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London.
Buckner, who is president of America Atheists, e-mailed AT: “Even the more conservative readers of the MDJ will be pulling for me on that one, eh?”
Later in the week he’ll be debating on the topics “Islam or Atheism: You Decide”; “Is a Secular Society a Better Society?” and “A Tale of Two Histories: What Now for the Future?”
KENNESAW City Councilman Bruce Jenkins visited Turkey for 10 days earlier this month at the invitation of the Turkish Secretary for Industry and Foreign Trade to open dialogue for future business opportunities between Georgia and Turkey.
This invitation came following a conference hosted by the Istanbul Center in Atlanta. Jenkins attended as Mayor Pro-Tem for the city of Kennesaw and was among a group of eight selected to visit Turkey at the request of the Secretary.
The Turkish government absorbed all expenses except the flight, for which Jenkins personally paid.
Jenkins will speak and showing slides of his visit at Monday’s city council meeting.
THE ANNUAL MEMORIAL SERVICE for Confederate Gen. Leonidas Polk will take place at 10 a.m. today atop Pine Mountain in west Cobb, where the pre-war Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana was killed by a Union cannon shell. The service will take place beside the marble obelisk erected by the men of his command after the war on the spot where he died. The site is now owned by Fred “Bow Tie” Bentley on Beaumont Drive off Stilesboro Road in Kennesaw. Period dress is welcome.
RETIRED COBB Superior Court Administrator Skip Chesshire and his son Austin, continued their 13-year “Boys of Spring (and Summer)” tour of the country’s baseball parks by attending a Tampa Bay Rays and Florida Marlins game at Tropicana Field last weekend. Highlights of previous years include catching a foul ball at Boston’s Fenway Park and meeting New York Yankee legend Derek Jeter at Texas Rangers Ballpark. Austin is home from briefly from Los Angeles, where Marietta native and Walker school grad Chris Wyatt, producer of the hit “Napoleon Dynamite,” is mentoring him in film production.
EVENTS: On July 15 the Brown Bag Banter at the Marietta Museum of History will feature Lauretta Hannon of Powder Springs, award-winning author of “The Cracker Queen — A Memoir of a Jagged, Joyful Life.” Hannon is slated to speak at the Marietta Kiwanis Club in August, and has penned a special Father’s Day tribute that will appear on the Op-Ed page in Sunday’s MDJ.
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