the news, feb 7, 2015 v6 i45

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NEWSFeb. 7, 2015 Volume 6, Issue 45 $1

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Red, Hot, HealtHy

Hollywood

SIGNING DAYthe

Page 4

Page 3

City takes lessons from

FergusonPage 7

Fighting AtlAntA sewAge

2

IS CRIME OUT OF CONTROL IN ROCKDALE?

NO.Then why does the public

believe otherwise?FULL STORY ON PAGE 8

A number of people spoke out Thursday night during a public hearing against the proposed per-mits that the city of Atlanta is seek-ing from the Georgia Environ-mental Protection Division (EPD).

Atlanta is seeking federal per-mits to effectively reduce the amount of waste it must clear from sewer water before it is discharged into river systems. Atlanta has an older system that combines sewage and stormwa-ter runoff, which leads to sewage discharges during heavy rains.

The public hearing was hosted by the EPD at the EPD Trade-port Training Room located at 4244 International Parkway, At-lanta, Georgia and 17 concerned citizens voiced their displeasure with the permits, offered ideas for what else should be in the permit and offered solutions to Atlanta’s combined sewage and stormwa-ter system.

Rockdale County was well rep-resented and residents and county officials defended the South Riv-

er, which starts in Fulton County and flows through Rockdale and Newton counties before ending at Lake Jackson.

Rockdale County resident Pe-ter Dykstra told EPD officials and a room full of attendees that he’s a frequent user of the South River and can’t believe that this discus-sion is still being had today.

“The first thing I have to say, with all do respect, in the year 2015, I’m a little appalled and embarrassed that this is still a thing. That this is still an issue,” said Dykstra. “The Clean Water Act was passed 43 years ago. I find it hard to accept that that’s not enough time to fix the prob-lems with the sewer system and keep the South River and Chatta-hoochee River clean.”

Dykstra says Atlanta officials using a lack of money as a rea-son to why they can’t to fix their sewer system issues isn’t a viable excuse one because the city has spent millions of dollars on other endeavors.

“In half of those 43 years they’ve found the money to build a Falcons football stadium, tear it

down and build a new one,” Dyk-stra said. “We need to move on this. We need the EPD’s help.”

The cost of separating com-bined sewer overflow areas is significant; the city of Grand Rapids, Mich. reportedly elimi-nated most of its combined sew-er overflow areas with construc-tion from 1991-2011 at a cost of $360 million.

Atlanta will provide more than $200 million for the construction of the new $1.2 billion Falcons stadium.

Another Rockdale County res-ident, Russell Tonning, says he simply wanted to read a passage from the EPD’s own website off his phone while he spoke at the podium. The passage he read spoke about how the EPD’s mis-sion is to protect the environment.

“This is from the EDP web-site,” he said. “That’s your goal and mission. I hope you fulfill it.”

South River Watershed Al-liance President Jacqueline Echols told the audience she was shocked that she was back in a permit fighting situation with At-lanta after being involved in one a

decade earlier.“For me that’s a little much to

fathom at this point,” Echols said. “The anti-backsliding provision of the Clean Water Act clearly states that limits in a reissued per-mit must be as stringent as those in the original permit.”

The new permits would report-edly reduce the amount of solids and biological waste Atlanta is re-quired to clean out of its sewage water before dumping it into the South River water system.

“Keep in mind that the South River is small. A small river with a lot of poop goes a long way,” said Echols.

Post 2 County Commissioner Doreen Williams also took the trip to the public hearing. She wanted to let the EPD know how important the South River was to the recreational activities in Rockdale.

“I came specifically as a com-missioner tonight to remind the EDP that the South River flows through Rockdale County,” Wil-liams said. “It is used in recreation. It is used as a PATH (walking/biking trail) system that we have

invested heavily in. It needs to be a beautiful, pleasant place that it is designed to be. The county is cre-ating a resolution expressing what we feel ought to happen.”

The South River Resolution will let the EPD know the coun-ty’s and the City of Conyers of-ficials statement on the issue of Atlanta’s permits and state what the government officials believe should happen, said Rockdale Water Resources Director Dwight Wicks, who also spoke at the pub-lic hearing.

Wicks told the EPD he was simply looking for compliance from the Atlanta and consistency from the EPD on performance standards.

He says that Rockdale County has to comply with its strict per-mits so why can’t Atlanta – a city with significantly more money – do the same.

“When EPD visits Rockdale County, we too have wastewater treatment facilities. We will not be discussing (Biological Oxygen

The News Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015 • 3

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“A FAMiLy sERViNg FAMiLiEs wORLdwidE”

Officials, residents speak out against Atlanta request for more sewage in South River

Charles Hunter Walker Jr., age 78 of Robertsdale, died Fri-day, Jan. 23, 2015 at Covenant Hospice at West Florida in Pensac-ola, Fla. Walker, a na-tive of Parkersburg, W. Va., was an Air Force veteran, having served 20 years, with tours in Korea, Indiana, Alaska; Homestead, Fla., and Montgomery before re-tiring to Robertsdale.

He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Elaine Killam Walker; three children: Charles (Chuck) Walker III of Conyers, Ga.; Michelle Walker of Brooks, Ga., and Paul Walker of Gulf Shores; two grandchil-dren, Chas Walker and Lena Walker, both of Conyers; a daughter-in-law, Angela Walker of Conyers, Ga.; his sister,

Marlene Walker Taylor of Parkersburg, W.Va.; four brothers-in-law; five sisters-in-law; nu-merous nieces, nephews and cousins.

Walker, was a long-time member of the Robertsdale First Christian Church (Dis-ciples of Christ) where he served as an elder, deacon and secretary. He was a former mem-ber of both the Ameri-can Legion and the Vet-erans of Foreign Wars. He attended Pensacola Junior College.

A celebration of life service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flow-ers, the family requests donations be made to the Robertsdale First Christian Church (Dis-ciples of Christ); Post Office Box 1068, Rob-ertsdale, AL 36567.

The News4 • Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015

The 10th annual Red Hot and Healthy Luncheon and Fashion Show at Rockdale Medical Center brought the glamour of the Hollywood’s Golden Age in the 1920s and ‘30s to heart health awareness month on Friday, Feb. 6. Outfits for the fashion show were provided by Belk department store. Here are a few scenes. Look at rockdalenews.com later for more.

Darrell Everidge/The News

obituariesCharles Hunter Walker, Jr.

red, hot & healthy in Hollywood

We welcome letters to the editor. Letters must be 350 words or less. They should be limited to issues of public interest and may be edited for content, grammar, spelling and length. • Mail: Editor, The News, 1009 Milstead Ave., Suite 200, Conyers, GA 30012 • Email: [email protected]

HAVE YOUR SAY

OpiniOnSaturday, Feb. 7, 2015

RockdaleNews.com/opinionPage 5

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the NEWS

VaccinationsIt is really a sad sign of our times

to read about the uproar about whether vaccinations should be mandatory for children or whether vaccines for certain diseases cause abnormalities like autism. First the claim made by one former Play-boy bunny that vaccinations cause autism – which was picked up by thousands of uninformed people who believe anything they see on social media or the internet with-out first investigating – has been proven to be false.

There should not even be a question about the fact that vac-cinations for childhood diseases should be mandatory or not; they should be. Many of us can remem-ber when we were young that an epidemic of polio was sweeping the land. Thanks to Dr. Salk a vac-cine was developed to control that outbreak. It was mandatory to take the polio shot and later the polio sugar..

If you for some reason think it’s your Constitutional right not to have your child vaccinated, it is not. You have no more right to practice a belief that puts other families in danger of impairment or death than the person who would falsely shout “fire” in a crowded auditorium.

There are many laws and in-stances where the government has overstepped its Constitutional right; requiring vaccinations to protect our children’s lives and other children’s lives is not one of them.

Many people agree Geor-gia needs a $1 billion in-

crease in transportation funding in the 2016 state budget to maintain its neglected transportation network. But a new trans-portation fund-ing package (House Bill 170) mostly shifts money from the edu-cation, health care and public safety portion of the state budget and takes reve-nue from local governments. This attempt to solve one problem cre-ates a multitude of other ones.

GBPI’s analysis of HB 170 shows the plan eliminates the state’s 4 percent sales tax on motor fuels and phases out the local por-tion, which ranges from 2 to 4 per-cent more. Meanwhile, the state excise tax increases from 7.5 cents a gallon to 29.2 cents a gallon. Today 3 percent of the state sales tax on motor fuels is dedicated to roads and bridges, while 1 percent generates about $180 million for the General Fund. The local por-

tion of the sales tax on motor fuels, which totals about $520 million, will be eliminated over time.

Implementing HB 170 as it stands result s in a $180 million cut to the governor’s 2016 state budget proposal. That constitutes a major setback, just as state rev-enues and the state budget begin to recover from the devastation of the Great Recession.

The governor’s 2016 state budget proposal includes several significant increases. Examples include:

$280 million more than the pri-or budget for the K-12 education funding formula. Even with the additional money the funding for-mula still faces a shortfall of $465 million. Most schools in the 2015-2016 school year can still expect fewer teachers, larger classes, fewer electives and less money for supplies and materials than before the recession.

More than $50 million is in-cluded in the budget for a mini-mal merit-based salary increase for state employees. Take-home pay for most state employees will remain lower than pre-recession levels even with the increase, due to increased health insurance costs over the past seven years.

$12.5 million to hire 278 child

protective service workers. The average caseload rose to 20.1 from 13.5 from 2011 to 2014. This new money creates the opportuni-ty to take a first step to decrease the caseload to 15 by 2017. Not only are these funds necessary to move toward the state’s goals, but new money is needed again in the 2017 budget.

That new commitment to such vital programs is welcome. But if Georgia shifts the $180 million in motor fuel revenue now flowing into the state’s General Fund, that jeopardizes those proposed fund-ing increases, as well as funding for healthcare and public safety. This is akin to robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Lawmakers can choose from many sound tax policy options to raise state and local revenue to mitigate the damage from elim-inating the motor fuel sales tax. Examples include:

Increase the cigarette tax by $1 a pack, which raises between $325 million and $400 million.

Revisit tax exemptions and credits that overwhelmingly bene-fit single companies or industries. That includes the sales tax exemp-tion that benefits Gulfstream and other aircraft manufacturers at a state revenue loss of $20 million

and a local revenue cost of $15 million, or the electric vehicle tax credit that mostly spurs Nissan Leaf sales at a cost of more than $60 million.

Revisit Georgia’s ultra-gener-ous exemption for retirement in-come. Returning the exemption to pre-recession levels raises $127 million.

Abolish sales tax holidays, which would generate $42 million for the state and $31 million for local governments.

More details on these revenue options and others are available in our 2014 report “Menu of Rev-enue Options to Pave Way for Georgia’s Rebound: 2014 Up-date.”

It is easy to argue the logic of consolidating motor fuel tax pol-icy around an excise tax to focus that money exclusively on trans-portation. But that is only half the solution. If the goal is to raise $1 billion for transportation, it is imperative the funds are actually new, not just an illusion of new money created through an ac-counting gimmick.

Alan Essig is the executive director of the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute. He can be reached at [email protected]

Bad time to blow a $180M hole in budget

Alan EssigGuest

Columnist

This past week marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston

Churchill, Britain’s prime minis-ter during World War II. Churchill took up painting as a hobby in 1915, after the Gallipoli debacle, where 46,000 allied lives were lost over nine months of the c a m p a i g n . He went on to paint more than 500 paint-ings during his lifetime. As wartime prime minister, he took a break from paint-ing, focusing instead on the task at hand — winning the war, no matter the cost.

Churchill’s output and accom-plishments were extraordinary. He “produces more published words than Shakespeare and Dickens combined, wins the Nobel prize for literature, kills umpteen people in armed conflict on four conti-

nents, serves in every great office of state including prime minister (twice), is indispensable in vic-tory in two world wars and then posthumously sell his paintings for a million dollars,” wrote Boris Johnson in “The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History.”

His first speech as the wartime prime minister laid out his vision for war policy: “You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.”

Always aware that his speeches were meant not only for listeners in Great Britain but also for audi-ences on the other side of the At-lantic, where his mother was from, the United States.

When he spoke at the United States Capitol, on Dec. 26, 1941, shortly after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, which pulled the United States into the War, Chur-chill used language to connect the United States and Great Britain

into one body. “Here we are to-gether facing a group of mighty foes who seek our ruin; here we are together defending all that to free men is dear. Twice in a sin-gle generation the catastrophe of world war has fallen upon us; twice in our lifetime has the long arm of fate reached across the ocean to bring the United States into the forefront of the battle.”

Churchill made one exception to his break from his hobby, paint-ing a sunset in January of 1943 at Marrakech, Morocco, “The Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque.” Rath-er than representing a relief from the pressures of the war, this paint-ing, given to President Franklin Roosevelt, was a gesture of friend-ship that served to tighten the bond between the two leaders. Churchill had persuaded Roosevelt to vis-it Marrakech after the two held a summit meeting in Casablanca.

It wasn’t just that Churchill made history; it was that he shaped history. He had recognized the threat posed by Nazi Germany in the 1930s while in the political wilderness and clearly identified the coming threat of Communism

in a speech in Fulton, Missouri, on March 5, 1946. Though he had just lost his bid to serve as prime minister of Great Britain, he did not let his personal defeat prevent him from declaring that, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.”

The Iron Man labeled the Iron Curtain.

He understood that “success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusi-asm,” and enthusiastic he was.

Possibly it was his belief in de-mocracy and freedom that drove him forward, or it may have been the reprieve and restoration he re-ceived from painting. Whatever drove him, we can’t know. But we can take from his life, and his achievements, that failure often happens to the best of us. And we can learn a valuable lesson: A per-son is defined not by any failure, but by what he or she does after the failure.

To find out more about Jackie Gingrich Cushman, visit creators.com.

Churchill’s power of personality

Jackie Gingrich

CushmanGuest

Columnist

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Demand) and (Total Suspend-ed Solids).We will be discuss-ing phosphorus and nitrogen to the minute levels,” said Wicks. “Now I don’t understand why we have to be so strict on our water levels, and BOD and TSS are going to be removed from another permit. So again, I’m just looking for consistency and compliance.”

Newton County resident Hoke Thomas, who has owned the Snapping Shoals hydro-electric facility in Newton County since 1976, says that water quality has improved in the decades since he’s owned the facility and praised EPD and the city of At-lanta for their work.

But he also acknowledged that the runoff from heavy rainfall contributes mightily to the pollu-tion of the river.

“It seems like God flushed the commode,” said Thomas. “It smells. I can’t say enough bad

things about it.”Thomas is not so optimistic

that anything positive will hap-pen with the South River any-time soon.

“In my lifetime, I don’t think the South River… will ever change,” he said. “You need money to make things happen and Atlanta just doesn’t have the money.”

Rockdale draws its drinking water from the Haynes Creek watershed which feeds the Ran-dy Poynter Reservoir in the north half of the county.

In the wake of the Fergu-son-triggered debates on race and policing, the Conyers Po-lice Department must start a program to diversify its ma-jority-white ranks, Chief Gene Wilson said at the city’s annual Winter Retreat on Jan. 24. He also wants the force equipped with gear that has factored into post-Ferguson controversies: body cameras, crowd-control devices and an armored truck.

CPD is 81 percent white in a city that is 55.8 percent black, Wilson said, adding, “I think we’re going to have to work more diligently on that number” with federal diversity mandates likely on the way. He proposed a new police cadet system to serve as an employment pipeline for youths—all local and mostly mi-nority—in the department’s suc-cessful Explorers program.

The issues raised by the con-troversial killing of a black teen by a white officer in Ferguson, Mo., last summer are not ab-stract in Conyers. A New York Times article in September not-ed uncomfortable similarities between the demographics of Ferguson and Conyers, trig-gering frank local forums. And those issues are playing out on the streets as well, Wilson re-vealed, with Conyers’ big differ-ence being good police training.

Wilson described a recent CPD incident that “could have been a tragedy to rival Ferguson.”

About three months ago, behind a burger place on Flat Shoals Avenue, a white CPD of-ficer confronted a young black man acting suspiciously. The suspect volunteered that he had

a gun, but said it was fake, at one point even tugging it out of his waistband by the handle while saying, “See, it’s just a toy.” The officer kept his cool, never fired a shot, and was able to control the suspect and dis-cover it was indeed a toy gun.

Wilson contrasted that to last fall’s infamous Cleveland police killing of a boy playing with a toy gun, involving an inexpe-rienced officer forced out of a previous department for emo-tional instability. Wilson said that, even though CPD must di-versify and needs a bigger force, he will never compromise on the quality of people it hires.

“I’d rather tell you I’m run-ning short [on staff] than put somebody on the street that I’m not sure what they’re going to do,” Wilson said. “Think about the power a police officer has,” he added, noting that anyone in the room could be stopped and potentially killed by an officer.

And CPD is indeed running short on staff. Its 63-member ranks are down six from the cur-rently approved level, and Wilson said more officers are needed, in-cluding officers sfor a new Street Crime unit he proposes. But competition for quality officers is fierce, he said, making both hir-ing and retention a problem.

Wilson will seek pay increas-es and an education-benefits program as one solution. The proposed cadet program is an-other, for both staff numbers and diversity. It would offer behind-the-scenes police work jobs to grads of the Explorers program, at a proposed salary of 5 percent less than what rookie cops make—roughly $30,000 with benefits. Wilson wants a pilot program of four cadets.

“I want to create a program that takes [youths] from Ex-plorer to police officer,” Wilson said. “We’re letting these people get away from us.”

Body cameras for officers is another proposal, with an estimat-ed cost of $30,000 to $40,000 that forfeited funds from drug cases might cover. Wilson noted that CPD School Resource Officers have used them for two years in a pilot program with success.

Body cameras have been de-bated as a possible solution to police brutality claims and sit-uations. Wilson said they are not a “silver bullet,” but would help. City Manager Tony Lu-cas noted they come with many complex legal issues, including the privacy of children who might be filmed, and expenses and limitations associated with storing video footage.

A BearCat brand armored truck is another of Wilson’s wish-list items. The basic issue is that CPD’s Special Opera-tions unit is currently using an aging SUV that is far from ide-al for hauling SWAT-type gear.

Wilson said there are disagree-ments within the department about a suitable replacement, with options including a fairly run-of-the-mill van.

But Wilson himself prefers the armored truck, which could run $90,000 for a refurbished model. The use of such mili-tary-type gear by local police has been hotly controversial, especially with such trucks be-ing displayed at the originally peaceful protests in Ferguson. Wilson said he wants the Bear-Cat for officer safety reasons.

“These idiots out there yo-deling like parrots about police militarization, they don’t know what they’re talking about,” he said passionately.

Wilson said his main concern is drug-related crime involving powerful rifles. He said CPD re-cently got a tip about a planned home invasion by criminals using AK-47 assault rifles, which ended

up not happening. With a touch of drama, he passed around an actual AK-47 round, saying that CPD has “no piece of equipment in our possession that would stop that bullet.” An armored truck would be a different story.

Wilson admitted that ri-fle-shooting criminals are a rar-ity in Conyers, and “Y’all may feel the city having a BearCat is something we don’t need.” But if a siege or riot did occur, he noted, the city would be unprepared.

Wilson gave no overall budget for his proposals, which will be-come more formal in future City Council meetings. In later discus-sion, city officials said there’s no doubt they would be expensive, probably raising the police bud-get by more than a third.

“Let’s see the price tag,” said Councilman Cleveland Stroud. But he and the other council-man added that public safety must be a city priority.

By Staff [email protected]


Diversity within CPD

81 % Caucasian officers

% of Blacks in Conyers

55.8 %

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Learning the lessons of FergusonConyers police look at diversity, better training

I’d rather tell you I’m running short [on staff] than put somebody on the street that I’m not sure what they’re going to do”

— Police Chief Gene Wilson“

The numbers say crime in Rockdale County has been on the decline for the last five years, with a large drop over the past year. Yet many people in the public Rock-dale and Conyers have a hard time believing the reports and don’t feel it reflects what they perceive. What does this gap in public per-ception and on the ground activity mean for those on the front lines of law enforcement?

For the county, there was a 20 percent drop crimes classified as “Part I crimes” such as aggravat-ed assaults, thefts, burglaries and robberies, from 2014 compared to 2013, according to the Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office. Burglar-ies in the county were reduced to 380 incidents reported, signifi-cantly down from the 609 cases in 2013. Overall there were 1,976 Part I crimes in 2014 compared to the 2,467 of similar crimes that were reported in 2013.

In the city, the Conyers Police Department saw a similar but slightly less dramatic drop in Part I crimes, about 14 percent, from 2013 to 2014. The city saw bur-glaries down from 163 to 115 and overall down from 1156 in 2013 to 986 in 2014.

Yet in an informal man on the street survey of local residents and shoppers found most didn’t be-lieve local crime had gone down and had a number of reasons why.

A Covington man who was shopping in Rockdale said, “I wouldn’t believe it. They’re open-ing up more Sheriff’s department (precincts) so crime went up. They had to justify opening up more Sheriff’s department (precincts).”

A Conyers mother with a daughter in middle school said, “I believe it’s going up. When you look at TV, you see a lot of kill-ing. Everywhere you look there’s killing.” She added, after hearing the numbers, “You know for a fact that when they do those scale rates of up and down they never really tell the public the truth anyway because they don’t really want to scare anybody. Me honestly, I

think it’s getting better, but I think we can do better.”

One Conyers man who’s lived in Rockdale for 14 years said he thought it might be going down. “Maybe down. I haven’t heard as many horrible type crimes maybe as I did last year.”

A Conyers young man said, upon hearing the reported rates, “Numbers are numbers. A lot of crimes are not caught.”

Are the numbers real?There are some people who

think the RCSO may be under-reporting the number of crimes. RCSO Chief Deputy Scott Free-man said that this just isn’t true.

“I can assure you we are not cooking the books when it comes to (Uniform Crime Reporting),” he said. “We take great strides to make sure that’s done correctly.”

All crimes entered in to system go through an audit process with the Federal Bureau of Investiga-tion and state law enforcement officials.

Conyers Police Chief Gene Wil-son said if anything, the Conyers Police Department adheres to the stricter UCR standards than the state standards. “We’re audited by the (Georgia Crime Informa-tion Center). Of all the things they audited last year, they found one thing that they didn’t like,” said Wilson.

“When the feds or state does an audit of how we are classifying our crimes we always pass,” Free-man said, for the RCSO. “There is oversight into how we report those crimes. There’s a checks and bal-ance system there.”

Perception vs. actual crimeChief Deputy Freeman gives

two reasons as to why the public may have a sense that there’s more crime happening around them.

The first reason is that crime rates have been on the rise for a number of years prior to 2013, the year the RCSO Sheriff Eric Levett took office. Although the rate has lowered over the last five years, crime rates today compared to the 1990s is significantly higher, said Freeman.

“I remember ten years ago when

we had a carjacking or armed rob-bery, people were like, ‘We have that crime here in Conyers, Rock-dale?’ It has changed consider-ably,” said Freeman. “The crime rates from when I started working the streets of Conyers are nowhere the same. It is considerable higher than what it was when I started in the early 90s.

“It used to be people were sur-prised that there were carjackings and home invasions. Those were the types of calls that were far and few between. It’s not so common that we have it every single day, but when you have those inci-dents, in the age of social media, that can spread very quickly.”

Wilson said many are holding on to a view of law enforcement’s role from another era. “You’ve got a lot of people who want to see it like it was years back, and only reason for law enforcement was to get a cat out of a tree. Those days are gone,” said Wilson.

So, for people who have been living in the area for ten or more years, they may have seen Rock-dale take a turn for the worst in terms of crime and still apply those facts to today.

“When things start to change it takes a little bit of time for that message to go out,” said Freeman. “I think as law enforcement we’re really challenged in really over-coming a lot of obstacles.”

Broadcast MediaOne of those obstacles is the

stories and images the local televi-sion media broadcasts to Rockdale residents.

“When you turn on the televi-sion, you hear robbery, murder, people lured for car-jacking. It’s almost like people expect it,” said Wilson. He added that it’s the same in any city that has local tele-vision news.

The majority of the stories are about murders, shootings and oth-er violent crimes, said Freeman, so it’s natural that people apply those types of crimes to this area.

“It’s the consistent barrage of what’s on the (TV) news at night. It’s human nature to apply that to


By Martin Rand III, Michelle Kim

[email protected]

CriMe is downBut the public still thinks it’s terrible.

2014 vs. 2013(Rockdale Sheriff’s Office)

Robberies (27 in 2014 vs. 39 in 2013)Aggravated Assault (100 in 2014 vs. 159 in 2013)Burglaries (380 in 2014 vs. 609 in 2013)Larceny thefts (1,320 in 2014 vs. 1,485 in 2013)Motor Vehicle Thefts (134 in 2014 vs. 165 in 2013)

(Conyers Police Department)

Robberies (26 in 2014 vs. 34 in 2013)Aggravated Assault* (74 in 2014 vs. 58 in 2013)Burglaries (115 in 2014 vs. 163 in 2013)Larceny thefts (719 in 2014 vs. 833 in 2013)Motor Vehicle Thefts (41 in 2014 vs. 52 in 2013)

wHY?

See Page 9


See “Perceptions,” Part 2 of 2 in the Feb. 14 edition

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Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office

Conyers Police Department

Conyers Police Chief Gene Wilson praised the sharp eye and quick response of officers and detectives in apprehending criminals and pre-venting crime in the city this past year. Pictured, left to right: Conyers Police Chief Gene Wilson, Captain Derek Parker – Administrative Services Bureau, Major Mike Waters, Captain Jack Dunn – Field Services Bureau. Photo by Darrell Everidge

Bringing down crime in the city and county

(top) The Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett credited the Patrol, Investigative and Jail deputies on the front lines of law enforce-ment as key in bringing the crime rate down. Pic-tured, left to right: Front row - K9 Harley, Deputy Jeff Peek, Detention Deputy Candice Murphy, Sergeant Dexter Harris, Lieutenant James Cabe, Chief Deputy Scott Free-man, Sheriff Eric J. Levett, Civilian Miranda Johnson, Civilian Connie Ponder, Detention Deputy Mayara Torres, Deputy Tiffany Castillo. Back row - Major Mike Kenlein, Captain John Mumfurd, Captain Nikie Weathersby, Captain Duane Day Captain Son-ya Cordero, and Captain Christ Traylor. Photo by Michelle Kim

where ever you may be liv-ing,” he said. “We’re not in de-nial that those crimes are here. The intensity is a lot less than when you get into the (DeKalb County) and the (city of At-lanta) and some of the other counties, but you still have that bleed over of perception and it’s difficult to overcome.”

Mark Warr, professor of So-ciology at Unversity of Texas at Austin, has made studying this perception gap his life’s work and notes this is not a new phenomenon.

“When we ask Americans in surveys where they get most of their information about crime, the overwhelming answer they give are the mass media, par-ticularly television. What is the single most prevalent topic of network dramas, televised movies, and local news cover-age? Crime.”

But news coverage is great-er on things that are unusual or rare. “The rarer crimes tend to be violent crimes which are the most newsworthy – but the public is presented with what I call a mirror-image or up-side-down view of the world: what is truly rare is common on television, and what is tru-ly common (in life) is rare (on television).”

Our brains often fall back on a shortcut to estimate how frequent or likely something is with how easily we can recall it, Ware explained.

“So if you ask me how com-mon suicide is in my city and I can remember three news stories from just the last week, then I infer that it’s pretty common. Since crime is such a common news topic, people have little problem recalling numerous incidents of it.

In an article for the National Institute of Justice, Warr wrote, “What is seriously lacking in news reporting, and might be of greatest benefit to the public, is information about the risk of criminal victimization relative to other aversive or benchmark life events. To illustrate, what is the probability that I will be robbed this year compared with the chances that I will be involved in a serious automo-bile collision, eat contaminated food in a restaurant, contract an infectious disease at work or school, or suffer a heart at-tack?”

Please note the Calendar dead-line for Saturday’s paper is noon Thursday. Email events to [email protected].

Saturday, Feb. 75th Annual RCA 5K

10:30 a.m. 1 mile; 11 a.m. 5K; at Rockdale Career Academy, 1064 Culpepper Dr; [email protected]

Peachtree Academy Open House

10am - noon, Feb. 7, March 14; Pre-Kindergarten -12th grade; infor-mation and tour of the school, includ-ing visits to the classrooms to meet teachers.

Go Red for Women Fashion Show

2 p.m.; at Mall at Stonecrest; Chi Tau Omega Chapter of AKA Sorority Inc.; free Fashion Show for aware-ness about heart disease in women; youth and adult models; www.chi-tauomega.com

Monday, Feb. 9Salem UMC Blood Drive

1:30 - 7:15 p.m.; Salem United Methodist Church, 3962 Salem Rd., Red Cross Blood Drive; David Ben-nett, 770-388-7236.

Affordable Healthcare regis-tration

6-8 p.m.; Macedonia Baptist Church, 1052 Barton St; bring social security numbers, 2013 tax income forms, current health insurance pol-icy numbers, healthcare.gov forms; registration deadline Feb. 15; Spon-sored by Rep. Tonya Anderson; 770-362-0123

tueSday, Feb. 10Youth Town Hall

Feb. 10, 6-8:30 p.m., Rockdale Career Academy, 1064 Culpepper Dr; Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler, panelists Sen. Ronald Ramsey, Commissioner

Doreen Williams, Rep. Pamela Ste-phenson, Conyers Mayor Randy Mills

RCHS Black History Show7 p.m.; Rockdale County High

Autidtorium, RCHS Black History Show, “Same Problem, Different Time”; free

thurSday, Feb. 12Nehemiah food pantry

9:30-11:30 am.; Nehemiah Empowerment Group Ministries, Inc., 1005 Hardin St.; food pantry and clothes ministry open Thursdays; [email protected].

Prime Timers10:30 a.m.; Ebenezer Baptist Stu-

dent Warehouse, 2533 Stanton Rd; meeting (age 50+) guest speaker former county atty. John Nix; 770-922-8447

Saturday, Feb. 14Friends of Library Book Sale

10:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Feb. 14, Nancy Guinn Library, 864 Green St.; used book sale; 770-388-5040.

Spread the Love Community Breakfast at Macedonia

9-11 a.m., Feb. 14; Macedo-nia Baptist Church, 1052 Barton

St; serving breakfast for those at extended stay hotelsand homeless in the community Bald Rock Baptist Women’s Day Celebration

10 a.m. Feb. 14 Brunch; 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Feb. 15 service; Bald Rock Baptist Church, 2284 Old Cov-ington Rd; Women Ministry Annual Women’s Day Celebration. 770-929-3421.

EMACW Writing Workshop1-5 p.m.; at GPTC Newton Cam-

pus, Bldg. D, 8100 Bob Williams Parkway, Covington; workshop by David Darracott; 404-444-7514 or 770-784-0079

Valentine’s Dinner Family Promise fundraiser

6 p.m.; Conyers First United Meth-odist Church; 921 North Main ST NW; “Love to Laff” Valentine’s Dinner fea-turing author Darrell Huckaby; $40 per couple; [email protected]

Valentine’s Day Wagon Rides1 p.m.; Hard Labor Creek State

Park, Rutledge; wagon ride begins at beach; register in advance; $5 plus $5 parking; 706-557-3001.

10 • Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015

Community Calendar

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Lt. Col. Fred Lamar Coving-ton, 79, passed away on Jan. 31. Lt. Col. Covington was a 20-year veter-an of the Unit-ed States Air Force, serving

as a Senior Electronic Warfare Officer (EWO) and Systems’ Management Engineer. During his military career he served in the Vietnam War from 1972 to 1973, where he completed 43 combat missions in the F-105 Wild Weasel for a total of 128 combat flight hours.

Fred Covington was born on April 23, 1935 in Ariton, Ala. to John Dixon and Ethel Covington. Upon his grad-uation from Auburn University, in 1958, he was commissioned into the United States’ Air Force as a 2nd Lieu-tenant, at Lackland Air Force Base, Tx., his first duty station. He married Dotti Covington in Montgomery, Ala. in 1958. A natural mathematician, scientist, and engineer he worked for 18 years as a science teacher in the Henry County School System after his military retirement. Since 1978 he was an active member at Rockdale

Baptist Church where he served as a deacon, Sunday school teacher, and Bold Mission Builders volunteer.

Fred Covington was a life-long fol-lower of Jesus Christ, a distinguished and decorated military officer, and a devoted and loving husband, father, and grandfather.

He is survived by his wife Dotti; daughter Amy; son Tim and daugh-ter-in-law Jessica; son Tom and daughter-in-law Holly; son Andrew and daughter-in-law Mollie; seven grandchildren - Stephen, Rebekah, Drew, Townes, Joshua, Emma Grace, Emilie. He is also survived by his sis-ter Sara Nell Young and his brother Robert Covington. He is preceded in death by his mother Ethel Covington, father John Dixon and brother James Covington.

A celebration of life will take place at Rockdale Baptist Church, Conyers, today, Feb. 7, 11 a.m., with visitation 9 a.m. - 11 a.m. The service will be offi-ciated by the Rev. Tom Covington and the Rev. Andrew Covington. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to The National Parkinson’s Foun-dation, PO Box 5018, Hagerstown, Md. 21741 or Ga. Humane Society, 981 Howell Mill Rd NW, Atlanta, Ga. 30318.

Covington

obituariesFred Covington


Conyers Middle SchoolSchool Spotlight

Conyers Middle School continues to focus on our core business of teaching, learning and on the Success for All. As part of that “all” we want our parents to experience excellence in our partnership in the devel-opment of our students. The month of February is well noted for “Love.” It is no secret that at CMS, we love our students. Likewise, we love our parents and com-munity members!

As we seek to enhance the day-to-day operations of our school, we do so with our students and our par-ents, as the heartbeat of our work. It is no surprise to anyone that re-search overwhelmingly states that children experience greater depths of success when schools and fam-ilies work together. Additionally, there is overwhelming research that reveals that as children matriculate from elementary to middle to high school, the parental involvement begins to decrease. We are inten-tional about our desire to reverse

that status quo. We invite and embrace the presence, participation,

and purpose of our parents as meaningful contributors to student success. On many occasions, our teachers and staff can be seen conferencing with parents, send-ing technology reminders, using social media to con-nect with families, having coffee and candid conversa-tions, and most excitedly, sponsoring parent trainings. Through our Tuesdays Lunch and Learn opportunities, we have begun teaching parents some common core standards and strategies that they can use to help their children at home. Additionally, through our Technolo-gy Tuesdays, we offer parents the opportunity to come and learn technology skills. Our Title 1 parent work-shops are aimed at informing parents with academic strategies to support learning at home. Our mentor program allows parents and community members to connect with young people and be another voice in the village that supports students. As we persist in being transparent, we host opportunities for parents to come and shadow their children so that they can view school through the lens of a student and as evidenced on our “Educator for a Day” event, parents came and served as the teacher allowing them to see through the eyes of the teacher. Every opportunity to award and recognize students is an opportunity to reward and recognize par-ents. Our State of the School address yielded us such an opportunity as we recognized students in grades 6-8 for defying the norms and maintaining excellence in their attendance, academics, and behavior; this was certainly accomplished through the collective support of both our parents and teachers.

Parents Matter and the power is in the village. The stronger the village, the better the victory. Please feel free to come by and visit CMS. In response to your ESPLOST support, you will soon be able to tour our new parent reception area, renovated auditorium, and can visit our new aerospace engineering classrooms. We are excited about the upcoming Aeronautics Engi-neering program and will have more on that soon. We will see you soon.

from the PrinciPal’s Desk

Parents Matter

Allison Barbour

Principal, CMS

Web: portal.rockdale.k12.ga.us/schools/cms, Facebook: www.facebook.com/Conyers MS, Twitter: @ConyersMiddle

The CMS girls’ basketball team is undefeated this year, with a record of 14-0! The New Rock League Tournament is at CMS this year and began this past Wednesday. The top four teams will advance to the play-offs that started at 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 6 and continue Saturday, Feb. 7. Admission is $5 for students, $6 for adults.

Undefeated Lady Bulldogs

The Atlanta Hawks have partnered with Conyers Mid-dle School to offer Hawks Nights! Come out to watch the Atlanta Hawks take on the San Antonio Spurs on Sun-day, March 22, for our first event. Ticket prices start at $21, and are available to the first 30 people. Ticket order forms are on the CMS web-site – which can be printed off and turned in to CMS PTA by Feb. 13 – or purchased online with a credit card through the CMS website by clicking on the Atlanta Hawks.pdf. Our second Hawks Night is Sat-urday, April 4, against the Brooklyn Nets. Tickets are $25. Deadline to turn in mon-ey or order tickets online is March 6.

Contact CMS PTA with any questions, [email protected]

Hawks Nights

Four students from CMS were awarded ribbons in the Rockdale Regional Science Fair. Even though these students did not advance to the state level, their efforts should be applauded. (Pic-tured left to right) Nicole Gore Third Place Animal Science, Erika Perfecto Third Place Plant Sci-ence, Helena Scheaffer Third Place Animal Science, Jaxon Cowles Second Place Mathematics.

Regional Science Fair Showing

Submitted photo/The News

The CMS PTA will host a Mardi Gras Dance on Thursday, Feb. 12, 4 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Tickets are $5 and will be on sale during lunch pe-riods Wednesday, Feb. 11

and Thursday, February 12.

Permission slips have been sent home with stu-dents and must be signed by parents to stay for the dance.

Mardi Gras Dance, Feb. 12

cms Pta corner

Submitted photo/The News

Signing Day is usually reserved for football players transitioning from high school to college, but Heritage held a signing day for all of its 2015 signees. 10 athletes signed on to attend college. Daniel Fos-ter – Savannah State (football), Kenan Johnson – Dean JC (football), Josh Smith – Tusculum (football), Roemello Armstrong – Tusculum (football), Jamal Odom – Arkansas Pine-Bluff (football), Haley Elliott – Georgia Military College (soccer), Jonelle Bailey – Oxford College of Emory (soccer), Andre Deas – University of Central Florida (soccer), Brianna Dafney - South Carolina State (volleyball), Damali Thomas – Huntingdon College (basketball).

Saturday, Feb. 7, 2015Page 12

rockdalenews.com SportSRockdale County represents

on Signing Day

Rockdale County enjoyed a solid season and reaped the benefits on National Signing Day, sending seven players to college. Left to right: Keijne Thomas - Safety- Delta State University, TJ Warren - Corner Back- University of Missouri, Malik Dawkins - Corner - Air Force Academy, Venson Elder - Head Coach, Blake Davis - Offensive Line - Air Force Academy, Devon Williams - Running Back - Notre Dame Col-lege of Ohio, Sean Mer - Corner Back - Bethel University, Mike Murray - Hutchinson College of Kansas

See rockdalenews.com for Salem Signing Day Video

Darrell Everidge/The News

Michelle Kim/The News

Rivalry game after rivalry game, fans take to social me-dia, the local barbershops and pretty much any place where you can strike up a normal conversation to discuss which school/team is the best. Between the two counties there are six high schools, all vying for bragging rights. We decided to end the talk and put it on paper (actual-ly computer, because technology, but you get it). Every team has pretty much ended its regular season and region tournaments are set to begin next week. The following list has been compiled based on regular season wins, re-gions wins, wins against teams in Newton/Rockdale and the eye test (i.e. how good teams look when you watch them play). Boy’s basketball

1RCHS - This pick was probably one of the easier picks of the list. The Bulldogs beat Newton twice, Heritage twice, Salem in the only game they played

and they beat Alcovy twice. Coupled with that is the fact that Rockdale has been dominant in Region 2-AAAAAA with its only two region losses coming against Tuck-er. Rockdale finished its season 19-6 (8-2 Region 2-AAAAAA) and will likely play Newton next Friday if the Rams beat Alcovy on Tuesday. The Bulldogs, under head coach Tyrone King, are led by Connor Ferrell, Jalen Jordan and Dwayne Brown, three of our picks for first team all-area.

2Heritage/Newton - The distinction between picking which team was No. 2 and which team was No. 3 was a difficult decision. Nevertheless it came down

to which team had more quality wins, which put Newton and Heritage in a tie for second place. Newton finished its season with a 19-6 (5-5 Region 2-AAAAAA) record overall with big wins over Cedar Shoals, Lovejoy and Clarke Central. Heritage, on the other hand, finished with less regular season wins at 16-8 (they have one game left against Salem, which is likely a win) but the Patriots boasted an 8-3 region record including wins over Tri-Cit-

ies, Cedar Shoals and Tucker. Both teams have had really good seasons and they even split the season series with each other, making it harder to pick one for a solid No. 2. They’re also pretty stocked with talented players like Jordan Thomas, Makyle Wilkerson and Isaiah Banks for Heritage. Then you’ve got D.J. Hill, Jaquan Sims and Darvin Jones for Newton. It’ll be interesting to see where these two teams end up in the playoffs, as they’re both capable of making deep runs.

4 Eastside - Eastside (14-10, 9-7 Region 4-AAAA) has enjoyed great success as of late. The Eagles have won seven of their last eight games including

a 67-56 win over Walnut Grove, one of the best teams in the region. Eastside head coach Gregory Freeman, with future star sophomore guard Isaiah Miller has his team spreading the wealth on offense and playing stifling de-fense. The Eagles have had a streaky season, but they’re ranked here because of their region success and the re-cent roll the team has been on.

5Salem - Both Eastside and Salem have been in-consistent this season, but Salem has a losing re-cord overall and in region play (10-13, 5-7 Region

8-AAAAA). It’s crazy because Salem probably has more talent than a lot of these teams, especially with Austin Samuel (18 points per game, seven rebounds per game), but they just haven’t been able to put it together. Salem lost every game to Heritage, Rockdale and Newton, but managed to beat Alcovy twice with ease.

6Alcovy - They haven’t won a game yet. In all fair-ness, Tigers’ head coach Duane Kelley tries his hardest to bring the best out of his players, but this

just isn’t their year.

Girl’s basketball

1Salem - Last year this team went to the elite eight in the state playoffs and at the beginning of the season they didn’t look like a team that could replicate its success,

but now they do. Salem stands strong with a 16-8 (8-4 Re-

gion 8-AAAAA) record and they’ve beaten Alcovy and Newton twice, Rockdale in the only matchup, but, pecu-liarly, they lost to a Heritage team that had just two wins at the time. Still, led by head coach Rochone Dilligard, Salem has the most dangerous one-two punch in the coun-ty and on this list with Shay Tarver at guard and Ayanna Mitchell at forward. Salem makes its money on defense, getting rebounds and easy baskets. They’ll be hard to stop in the region tournament and in the state playoffs.

2Newton - Twice, Newton came close to beating the No. 1 team on this list, but they came up short each time. However, the Lady Rams are a young and dan-

gerous team. They have a 17-8 record overall and they’re 7-3 Region 2-AAAAAA, which is good for second place in the region. Newton split its season series against de-fending state champion Tucker this season, and they’re the biggest threat to beat them in the region tournament. The Lady Rams have been bitten by the injury bug and haven’t been completely healthy the entire season, but they look to get back one of their starters in guard Jurnee Smith, who will make a huge difference down the stretch. Smith will play next to the second deadliest one-two punch on this list in sophomore Imani Broadnax and freshman Alexcia Chatman. Other than inexperience, there is nothing stand-ing in the way of Newton winning the region again and possibly making noise in the playoffs.

3Alcovy - Although being ranked No. 3 may seem like this team isn’t as good as the top two, and that’s true to a fault, but the Lady Tigers are really close to being

better than both. After losing to Salem by 28 points in the first game of the season, Alcovy came back and played them hard the second game losing by just four. The Lady Tigers also split the season series with Newton, winning at home. Tierra Hodges leads the team in scoring and re-bounding, as she averages 18 points, 10 rebounds and two steals per game. The Lady Tigers are third in the region and have a legitimate chance to beat both Newton and Tucker if things go their way.


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See Rankings, Page 14

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4Eastside - The Lady Eagles are the epitome of a team that doesn’t have much

success outside the region, but wins games when it matters, which are region games. East-side is 1-8 against non-region opponents, but the team is 9-7 in Region 4-AAAA. They’ve gotten owned by Newton and Alcovy, but when it comes to region play the team wins games. Led by Janelle Cook, Teirra Brown and Rayniesha Clay, the Lady Eagles are cur-rently second in the sub-region and they could be one of those teams that gets hot and makes a run with their defense as their greatest strength.

5Heritage - At first glance, you think why isn’t Heri-tage the No. 6 team instead

of Rockdale? The Lady Patriots are 4-17 overall and 2-10 in Region 8-AAAAA, while the Lady Bulldogs are 7-16 and 2-8 in Region 2-AAAAAA. But then you look at their schedule and see that the Lady Patriots beat Rockdale, twice. Although they got off to a rough start, Heritage has been much more competitive as of late. Senior Damali Thomas has done well leading young up and coming players like sophomore Asia Caldwell and freshman Ca-mille Saunders. The Lady Pats probably aren’t deep enough to make noise in the playoffs, but they have a bright future if the team can develop its youth.

6Rockdale - The Lady Bulldogs (7-16, 2-8 in Region 2-AAAAAA) ha-

ven’t played to their potential this season, especially with the supremely talented Syd-

ney Fields and go-getter Jonai Jackson. Still, with Fields and Jackson both being juniors, they have another year to cap-italize on their talent and make a run during the season.

rankingsFrom Page 12


15

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770-385-0499

aCtivity DireCtor - Seeking full time activity director for personal care home. Must be well organized and energetic. Must have senior living experience. Excellent pay and benefits. Email resume to [email protected].

eLeCtriCiaN HeLPer needed - with one (1) to three (3) years of experience in a commercial / industrial environment. Must possess a clean MVR, pass a Drug & Alcohol screening, be available to travel and have a solid work ethic. Please forward a cover letter / resume of work experience to [email protected] or call Tim at 678-671-2153. We are an At-Will, Equal Opportunity Employer.

Forever HoMe Aide Service: Now excepting applications for CNA, LPN, RN and Independent Contractor. For appointment call 678-625-0004.

GeorGia state Licensed MLO/Processor needed for a mortgage company specializing in 1st mortgage loans for credit union members. Our mortgage leads are generated by the credit unions we serve. The office is located in Covington GA. We offer conventional, FHA, VA, and USDA mortgages. We warehouse & service loans for credit union members and sell loans to our secondary market investors. We have been in business for over 20 years and are owned by 5 credit unions. Our compensation package includes: base salary; incentives based on loan amount closed; and a generous employee benefit package.

PLease seND a resume and salary requirements to:

CreDit UNioN Financial Services, LLC

attN: roBiN Wilson [email protected] eLM Street, NE

CoviNGtoN, Ga 30014

WeLLNess DireCtor - Seeking LPN for Wellness Director in Personal Care Home. Must be well organized, good clinical skills, computer literate, and possess strong supervisory skills. Must have senior living experience. Excellent pay and Benefits. Send resume and salary requirements to [email protected].

real estate

For rentaPartMeNt For rent. Jackson lake. Access to lake and pool. All utilities included. 770-775-0215 or cell 770-584-5885.

Commercial Property For rent

6000 sq. ft. with acreage. (NICE) 12582 Hwy 278 E. 404-787-8186.

House For rentMUst see! Two bdrm, 1 bath, newly renovated, Covington, very nice location, CHA, all appliances included. $750/rent+deposit. 770-354-7774.

toWN HoUses for rent. 2bdrm/1.5 bath. Refurbished. New carpet, paint. Kitchen has all appliances. Back deck. 770-316-3267

NaMe: CoviNGtoN NEWS; Width: 3.222 in; Depth: 5 in; Color: Black; Ad Number: 270_1

Digital advertising account executive The Covington News, the leading source of award-winning news in the east Atlanta area for 150 years, continues to expand in the digital land-scape. We are expanding our Digital Advertising department to meet the growing needs of our advertisers and our readers. We are looking for those who work well in a fast-paced, challenging team environment with cutting edge advertising technology. Online Advertising Sales Ex-ecutives will provide solutions to local and national businesses utilizing our entire portfolio of digital advertising products. Our Advertising staff strives for excellence in contributing to the overall achievement of the Advertising department’s financial and product sales goals. Ideal can-didate should possess the ability to get to decision makers and build relationships that lead to increased revenue. If you can’t wait for the next new product to be launched, and network-ing on Facebook & LinkedIn is second nature to you, we’ve got a great opportunity for you! Our mission is to help local businesses market themselves in an on-line world that’s become too fragmented and complex for them to man-age. Local merchants can now take control of their brand marketing and message to customers across all the channels. Our clients need to be online and have a partner there to help them through the process.

essential Functions:• Selling online advertising across multiple platforms • Responsible for rate negotiation with clients • Responsible for cultivating and maintaining client relationships at all levels • Prospect new advertisers • Apply creative marketing plans to generate new revenue opportunities • Maintain current working knowledge of interactive products and their functions • Prepare and present proposals to advertisers • Performing research and developing leads for new online revenue opportunities • Service existing accounts and create special sales opportunities specific to each client • Assist in creating presentations, sales materials and online creative ads • Performing other incidental and related duties as required and assigned • Collect money as needed for outstanding accounts

Knowledge, skills, and abilities a plus: • Understanding of digital advertising methods and concepts, web/internet sales • Knowledge of interactive products and how they function • Ability to communicate and negotiate effectively is required • Able to create creative marketing plans for advertisers • Strong organizational and prioritization skills required • Proficient with Microsoft Office Suite • Ability to make sound business decisions and exhibit detail orientation • Able to quickly build and maintain relationships • Ability to follow up and adapt quickly in fast-paced digital industry • Maintain effective interdepartmental relationships and foster a positive workforce environment • Able to manage transactional sales activity for multiple products • Able to multi-task, prioritize and meet deadlines • Able to quickly, accurately and calmly handle decision-making process • Must represent the company with professionalism and integrity

What we offer:• Competitive base salary, and commissions.• Cell phone and car mileage expenses included.• Laptop and/or Tablet for digital product presentation• Multimedia and design team for quick turn-a-round.• Relaxed and Business Casual Atmosphere • A wide open and growing digital industry

Send resume to [email protected]

MARKETPLACEB u y • S e l l • Tr a d e • S e r v i c e s

Online @ marketplace.rockdalenews.comSu

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@roc

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news

.com

Classified

Advertising

Works!

Call770-787-6397

to placeyour ad.

rockdalenews.com

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