the rockdale news feb. 21, 2015 vol. 6 issue 45

rockdalenews.com Serving Rockdale County and Conyers

The C.J. Hicks Elementary School faculty, students and staff will have a heavy heart when they return to school next week as they mourn the death of one of their own.

Candace McGriff, a physical ed-ucation teacher at the school for the last four years, was shot and killed Tuesday afternoon in her apartment located in the 1800 block of Concepts 21 Drive in DeKalb County.

Her 30-year-old fiancé, Antio-

ne Hood, has been charged with felony murder.

On Tuesday, DeKalb County Police Depart-ment officers respond-ed to the scene around 1 p.m. to find 28-year-old McGriff laying face up on the bedroom floor on the right side of the bed with one bullet wound in the middle of her chest, according to the police report. She

NEWSFeb. 21, 2015 Volume 6, Issue 45 $1

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a conversation with

By Martin Rand [email protected]

the

CJ Elementary coach killed, boyfriend charged with murder

0

See full story on PAGE 3

‘ANYTHING TO STIMULATE THE SHOPPING CENTER, I’M ALL FOR IT’

Property owners, business managers react to potential Enterprise Zone designation

See MURDER PAGE 9

HOOD

CANDACE MCGRIFF

A VETERAN’S STORYANOTHER SOLDIER

COMES HOMEPAGE 6

BRITTANY EVANS

Rockdale County will hold its state of the county address in a new format with a stakehold-ers’ breakfast on March 5 and a community evening address on March 12.

Rockdale County Chairman and CEO Richard Oden will present to citizens, businesses and other community stakeholders a review of 2014 and his vision for 2015 at the county’s first-ev-er State of the County Breakfast, hosted by the Council for Quality Growth and Conyers-Rockdale Chamber of Commerce.

The breakfast will be held Thurs., March 5, 8 a.m., in the Springfield Baptist Church atri-um, 1877 Iris Drive, Conyers, 30013.

Admission to the breakfast is $25 per person or $250 for a ta-ble of 10 seats. Registration is required. To register or for more information, visit www.council-forqualitygrowth.org or contact Amanda Crater at [email protected] or 770-813-3370.

Oden will then address the community at large during a free event on Thurs., March 12, 6 p.m., at the J.P. Carr Services Community Room, 981 Taylor St., Conyers, 30012.

The 2014 Charles P. Cole Cit-izen Involvement Award will be presented to a citizen selected by Oden as representing dedication of time and energy to the Rock-dale community.

The evening presentation is free and open to the public. No RSVP is needed.

Hands Across Rockdale seeks projects for April 18

It’s all hands on deck as the annual Hands Across Rockdale community service event seeks community projects for the day of community service on Satur-day, April 18

Project applications and sub-missions are now being accepted for the event and organizations are encouraged to go to www.handsacrossrockdale.com to register or for corporate sponsor-

ship. The deadline is February 24.Organizations may register

their own project with the focus on being a collaborative effort throughout the community of ser-vice to others.

The leadership of the Hands Across Rockdale project, or-ganized by Leadership Rock-dale and the Conyers-Rockdale

Chamber of Commerce, want to ignite a passion for service and create lifelong community vol-unteers. Since its inception by the Leadership Rockdale Class of 2011, Hands Across Rockdale has grown to become an annual event of service and community beautification in Rockdale.

The News2 • Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015

The winner of the 2015 Rockdale County Spelling Bee, pictured in the Feb. 14 edition, was Memorial Middle School student Brandon Hong.

The Rockdale News regrets the error. The News intends to promptly correct all factual mistakes. If you find an error, please report it by calling 770-728-1437.

CorreCtion

1UPDATED: CJH Elementa-ry coach killed in DeKalb

home, fiancé charged with murder

2City, county to boost devel-opment at Salem Gate

32nd Whitehead twin pleads guilty to manslaughter

MOST-VIEWED STORIESrockdalenews.com

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Board of Education budget hearing for public input, Thursday, Feb. 26, 6:45 p.m., 954 N. Main St.

Board of Education called voting meeting, Thursday, Feb. 26, 7p.m., 954 N. Main St.

Meeting PlaCe

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First State of the County breakfast March 5

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Rockdale, Heritage high schools named AP Honor Schools

Heritage and Rockdale County high schools were named 2015 Advanced Placement (AP) Honor Schools by Georgia State School Su-perintendent Richard Woods.

"We are proud of our teachers, students and administrators for continuing to emphasize rigorous coursework which shows through these outstanding results," said Superintendent

Richard Autry."We have made it a priority to provide an

increased number of AP class offerings as well as additional support to students over the past several years. Many of our students also choose to participate in Dual Enrollment for college credit while in high school. Whether taking AP courses or Dual Enrollment classes,

our students participating in these courses will leave high school with an advantage as they move forward after graduation."

Both Heritage and Rockdale were recog-nized in the AP Access and Support and the AP STEM categories. Rockdale County High School was also recognized in the AP Merit and AP STEM Achievement categories.

For more, go to rockdalenews.com

The News Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015 • 3

By Martin Rand, [email protected]

Even though it’s been a long time, Patrick Parker can still re-member the better days of the Sa-lem Gate Shopping Center, 1355 Iris Drive, Conyers.

There was once a large grocery store, he recalls, a Food Depot, and even a movie theater – Co-nyers Salem Gate Cinema – in the area that kept a lot pedestrian traf-fic coming through Salem Gate.

But, with the grocery store and the theater closing down not too long, things haven’t been the same. Rows and rows of empty parking spaces reflect the lack of business happening at the bleak shopping center.

“This used to be one of the ma-jor shopping centers,” said Parker. “It’s been empty for a couple of years now. I have no idea (what happened to it).”

Parker works at Flooring & Tile Superstore, 1295 Iris Drive, Co-nyers, located in the Salem Gate Shopping Center. The Superstore is one of the anchor businesses in the shopping center occupying 29,000-square-feet of space, the largest space by square footage in Salem gate.

For 19 years Parker has been a manager of the store, and he wouldn’t mind seeing other busi-nesses relocate to the near desert-ed shopping area to rejuvenate the once active site.

So when Parker read about the city’s plan to purse establishing an enterprise zone, which could potentially spur redevelopment of an area by giving businesses cer-tain tax credits, at that location, he was pleased.

“Anything they can do to stimu-late the shopping center I’m all for it,” he said.

An enterprise zone, enacted in 1997, is a program under the Georgia Department of Commu-nity Affairs (DCA) that gives busi-

nesses a number of tax reduction or abatements, including property and occupation taxes, regulatory and building inspection and other fees.

School taxes, sales and use tax-es and taxes imposed for general obligation debt are excluded.

Only certain kinds of busi-nesses are eligible to participate in the program, including retail, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, residential construc-tion, daycare providers, finance, real estate, insurance, tourism, re-search and development, telecom-munications and processing.

Westmont, Illinois-based Tri-Land Properties owns the Salem Gate Shopping Center. The com-pany, which has owned Salem Gate since 2006, specializes in revitalizing unoccupied shopping centers and then selling them for a profit.

On the company’s website, un-der large letters surrounded by a red banner that reads, “JOIN THE FUTURE OF SALEM GATE,” is a sketch of a proposed site plan for a remodeled shopping center.

On the sketch, the smaller busi-ness units on the property would be eliminated and replaced with larger, wider individual units. The parking lot would get an increase in parking spaces and new structures would be built on unused land.

A manager working in Salem Gate, who spoke under condition of anonymity, responded with a resounding, “Yes,” when asked if the business would support any improvements Tri-Land wanted to make.

“We’d like to see some more businesses in the shopping center,” the manager said. “The parking lot needs to be resurfaced, restriped.”

The manager would also be open to moving the business from its current location “as long as they give us enough notice” before any type of raze occurred.

The unit where Flooring &Tile

Superstore is located, which cur-rently has seven separate units on the same block as it, is substan-tially bigger in the sketch, taking up most of the block with only three units able to fit on the re-maining space.

“We don’t necessarily need any more space,” Parker said. “If that means we need to go bigger or smaller, we’re game for whatever they want to do. Anything that will increase traffic in the shopping center, we’re all for it.”

The expanded space could also signify that Tri-Land developers would like to bring in a national franchise tenant to anchor the re-developed shopping.

“We’d rather not move,” said Parker. “It would take a long time to move all the stuff in the store.”

Parker would rather help bring new life to Salem Gate and be a part of the restoration process.

“The land’s going to get used for something whether they bulldoze everything and put something new up, or they bulldoze it and put apartment complex up or whatev-er,” he said. “It’s going to get used for something, so like I said, we’d rather be a part of the plan.”

Attempts to contact representa-tives for Tri-Land were not returned by press time.

Businesses in the Stoneway Pla-

za, located di-rectly adjacent to Salem Gate, approve of any r emode l ing that needs to be done as well.

J o a q u i n G u t i e r r e z , manager for G u t i e r r e z C o m p u t e r s Inc., says any revitalization efforts are a “good thing” for the area “as long as they don’t charge us

more for the rent.”Gutierrez Computers Inc., 1365

Iris Drive, Conyers, is located in the Stoneway Plaza, which is owned by Atlanta-based S&S Hale Properties.

Sam Hale, owner of S&S Hale, said that when he original-ly bought the property in 2006, he

did so thinking that he would “ride the coattails” of Tri-Land as they were planning a massive redevel-opment for Salem Gate.

The economic crash shortly thereafter put a halt on the process.

“The tenants they thought they had lined up just all went away,” he said. “I’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting for them, but I’m at a point where I just need to move forward with redevelopment.”

Hale says that he’s been in dis-cussions with businesses to bring them to Stoneway Plaza, but he knows he needs to make some changes to the area to get a major tenant in there. The roads around the area, the parking lot and the canopy of the property need to im-prove he says.

If the property does end up be-ing in an enterprise zone, that can only help his efforts, he says.

“Yeah, I would be all about that,” Hale said. “I think in general most landlords would love to see help from local municipalities.”

Property owners, business managers react to potential Enterprise Zone designation

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A shootout last week left one Atlanta resident without $1,000 and landed a female teenager in jail.

Conyers resident Jazmyne Booker-Mitchell, 17, is being charged with armed robbery and theft by taking, a felo-ny, for her alleged role she played in helping two male suspects rob the 24-year-old male victim.

Sometime shortly before 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morn-ing, the victim went to meet up with Booker-Mitchell. He couldn’t find the exact ad-dress that was given to him by Booker-Mitchell, but was able to pick her up at a block in the Country Lane Drive area. She reportedly told him “not to park in her driveway because her brother was home and she wanted to enter her house without her brother knowing (he) was with her,” wrote the report-ing deputy. After driving for a short while, the victim says he parked in the 1300 block of Country Lane Drive, and both got out of the vehicle and began walking.

At that point, two males approached them with guns drawn and told the victim to “give me what you have.”

The victim told the assail-ants that he didn’t have any-thing to give and then drew his firearm, according to the deputy’s report. The victim says they fired shots at him, so he fired one or two shots back. No was injured during the exchange of gunfire. The victim was chased to JH House Elementary.

“Once there one of the males told him, ‘You have to get your car, this is my neighborhood,’ before both males left,” the deputy wrote.

The victim then told dep-uties that he then went to a house in the 2800 block of Ga. Highway 20 to call law enforcement. When the RCSO deputy arrived on the scene, he transported the vic-tim back to the 1300 block of Country Lane Drive where his vehicle was parked.

The victim’s 2011 Jeep Compass was not in the place the victim had parked, but shards of broken glass and his cellphone case that was located in the vehicle were found on the ground. His ve-hicle was later found in the nearby cul-de-sac of Country Brook Court.

The victim says that $1,000 in cash was located in the ve-hicle. The victim also report-edly had multiple condoms with him.

Several items, including a gun magazine for the man’s firearm and his identification card which were both locat-ed in the man’s SUV, were found in Booker-Mitchelle’s residence at Country Lane Drive.

Camp says the RCSO is still investigating the situa-tion but haven’t been able to identify the other two sus-pects involved.

Stolen vehicles recycled in Conyers

An Atlanta man is in Rock-dale County Jail for allegedly taking stolen cars out of other counties and then recycling them at the Newell Recycling Center in Conyers.

James Cunningham, 40, is being charged with theft by taking, a felony, and 11 counts of theft by receiving stolen property for allegedly taking 11 stolen cars out of Fulton and DeKalb Counties and turning them over to the recycling center for scrap metal cash.

The suspect was arrested Wednesday while driving in a 1999 Dodge Caravan, the twelfth stolen vehicle which he allegedly planned to turn to scrap metal.

The Rockdale County Sher-iff’s Office first suspected illegal activity happening at the Newel Recycling Center, 2314 Dogwood Dr., Conyers, after a DeKalb County man discovered his stolen vehicle was at the recycling center to be salvaged for parts Feb. 5.

When deputies asked a recy-cling center employee about the stolen vehicle, “he stated a gentleman (by) the name of James Cunningham brought the vehicle and received a check to be recycled.”

Upon furthering investi-gating, the RCSO discovered Cunningham had brought in ten other stolen vehicles for the same purpose.

“We had a lookout for him at that point,” said RCSO Cpl. Michael Camp.

Cunningham didn’t disap-point and was seen at the re-cycling center again bringing in another vehicle, at which point he was arrested.

All the vehicles are older models, and it’s not known whether he was the person that actually stole the vehi-cles, says Camp.

Unruly teens evicted from movie theater

About 150 teens were es-corted out of the Carmike Cinema early Sunday morn-ing for unruly behavior.

Rockdale County Sheriff’s Office deputies who were working an off duty job at the theater called for assistance at the theater around 2 a.m. Feb. 16 as they escorted out “a large number of juveniles who were in the parking lot in front of the movie theater,” according to a Conyers Po-lice report. CPD were called to the scene to help with the large crowd.

While one juvenile was being placed in handcuffs, a crowd was forming around the deputy and CPD officers assisted in dispersing the crowd.

“Most of the crowd was cooperative,” wrote the re-porting officer, but one sub-ject became “irate, yelling curse words, and attempted to shove me out of the way

to get back over to the RCSO deputy.”

That juvenile was told to leave the area and the juve-nile’s friends were trying to calm him down. But a few moments later, the juvenile reportedly spit on a CPD of-ficer’s patrol car windshield. Officers put him in handcuffs after a struggle, and a crowd began forming, “shouting and cursing officers on the scene.”

A .9 mm handgun with bul-lets, and a small bag of what appeared to be marijuana was found on the juvenile. The juvenile’s guardian was con-tacted and said she could not drive to pick up the juvenile due to recent surgery.

Rockdale County Public Schools was out on winter break Feb. 16-20.

Social media meet turns into armed robberyCRIME BRIEFS

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. 21, 2015

RockdaleNews.com/opinion

Our Thoughts

EditorMichelle Kim

[email protected]

SalES dirEctorAnnette Godwin

[email protected]

comptrollErDebbie [email protected]

publiShErT. Pat Cavanaugh

[email protected]

circulation dir.Amanda [email protected]

dESign EditorSabastian Wee

[email protected]

the NEWS

LentThe official start of the Lent-

en season began this past week, and we have heard many of our friends and colleagues talking about what they were going to give up for the 40 days leading up to the celebration of Christ’s resurrection.

It’s interesting that people who are not regular church goers still follow the tradition of perform-ing some type of sacrifice during this period.

During this Lenten season, instead of giving up something, plan to give back. Our food banks always can use food to help assist folks who are still having a hard time making ends meet for their families.

In Rockdale, the Rockdale Emergency Relief Food Bank has been a lifesaver for many families because of your kind-ness. Last year, the food bank served 3,012 households and 8,655 individuals with over 71 tons of donated food.

The items they need the most are Tuna Helper, elbow macaro-ni, spaghetti sauce, grits, peanut butter, jelly and of course any-thing else you may wish to bring.

So this year, as your sacrifice for lent, visit your local grocery store, load up a few bags of gro-ceries each week and donate to the food pantry.

The Rockdale Emergency Re-lief is located at 350 Tall Oaks Drive in Conyers.

The Rockdale County Soil and Water Conservation District (RCSWCD) is currently led by two duly elected and two appoint-ed supervisors. Along with the Georgia Soil and Water Conser-vation Commission, the District, established and empowered by a Federal mandate, works in coop-eration with private landowners, local businesses and govern-mental entities to encourage the conservation of the state’s natural resources that are the basis for economic growth and prosperi-ty. Aided by the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, this effort ensures productive

lands and healthy ecosystems.Historically, the City of At-

lanta has used the South River as an extension of its sewer sys-tem, never even aspiring to return the City’s waste to the river as it was taken. Many of us on the RCSWCD Board remember the South River in earlier years as an open sewer… with all the shame-ful unpleasantness. Beginning in the 1970’s, EPA regulations pro-foundly changed the River. The stench, the 3-feet-tall soap suds, grey-green water and, the in-credible burden of sediment and pollution all but went away. The South River has made a remark-

able recovery… and more work needs to be done to eliminate trash, pharmaceuticals and fecal coliform from the river’s water.

It is breathtaking to those of us on the RCSWCD Board that our State’s Environmental Pro-tection Division is not just that… protecting the environment. Why would our state agency even en-tertain the notion of going back-wards after so much hard won progress has been made?

In Rockdale County, we now have a State Park that straddles this River and a multi-use path that travels the South River’s length through our county. Our

communities, particularly the young people, are taking a new interest in this lovely river with its rocky shoals, Mountain Laurel and broad white sand bars. It is the duty of the EPD, as it is the duty of the RCSWCD, to do all in its power to improve the quality of the water in our community.

Do the right thing.

Russell Tonning, David Shippe, Fox McCarthy, Eddie

ShireyRockdale County Soil &

Water Conservation District Supervisors

EPD needs to protect South River

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Mary Allen: :’-( absolutely devastating. RIP dear one. Praying for your school, family, and friends

Diona Davis Dent: So sad! Domestic violence has got to be put to an end!

Mailem Reyes: How horrible! There’s no telling what she has been going through with that man. She was probably trying to end the relationship and he killed her so that a real man couldn’t have her. Let’s pray for everyone that knew her.

Keisha Long Cornwell: Excuse my language but damn!!! No telling what she has been going thru with this man.

Roxanne James: Wow! He tried to turn it on her?! He’s going to get what he deserves! May she sleep in peace. My gosh!

Dominique Jones: R.I.P. my kids will miss her dearly

Stacy Roper: I pray justice is served. Candace will be missed by her RCPS PE colleagues.

Jane Stapp: Rest in peace

Joan Siddon: Omg

Destiny Williams: Vandeweghe Eye for an eye. Poor girl. Rest In Paradise.getting into trouble for years and needed help. Like I said it’s all just sad for the mom and the children. I feel for all involved.

Stephany Hull Lewis: Wow. Just Awful! My condolences to the family

Your reaction to “C.J. Hicks Elementary School physical education teacher Candace McGriff shot and killed, allegedly by her fiancé”

Reaction to editorial on Pro-bate Judge in Feb. 14 edition:

According to the U.S. Su-preme Court, the presumption of the innocence of a criminal defendant is described as an as-sumption of innocence that is indulged in the absence of con-trary evidence (Taylor v. Ken-tucky, 436 U.S. 478, 98 S. Ct. 1930, 56 L. Ed. 2d 468 [1978]).

The phrase presumed inno-cent keeps judges and juries focused on the ultimate issue at hand in a criminal case; wheth-er the prosecution has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed the al-leged acts. If these laws were

not in place anyone could be-smirch the reputation of an in-nocent person and obstruct their service to a community.

Imagine a country that tolerat-ed a system that allowed people who do not agree with anything a person with Democratic, Tea Party or Republican ideals said or did. Again imagine if people with criminal backgrounds or political vendettas could sim-ply say something/anything, loud, often and in print and be believed by the average person simply because it is in the news-paper.

The people of the United States have rejected the alterna-

tive to a presumption of inno-cence, a presumption of guilt, being contrary to the principles of a free society.

The writer of “Our Thoughts: Probate Judge” said, the person-al shenanigans that are going on involving the Probate Judge has tarnished the trusted position. Has the Probate Judge been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that alleged crimes have been committed or is the court of public opinion in session making slanderous comments every other week to sway the uninformed reader? The writer also suggested that the Probate Judge take a leave of absence;

again I ask why, nothing has been proven against the Judge.

Over the past few months hundreds of people including me have visited the Probate Judges office. We find the service of the Probate Judge’s office exceeded our expectations and are serving the citizens of Rockdale County. I end by challenging any citizen of the county to do your own research and visit your county Probate office, and then you will see excellent service delivered by a good and worthy servant of the county.

David Dashing

Rockdale County

Response to editorial on Probate Judge

My wife and I at-tended the funeral service Saturday for WWII Mont-

ford Point Marine Virgil Weems at Shiloh Baptist Church in Mc-Donough. The Montford Point Marines were all black, separated from white Marines in basic train-ing at Camp Lejeune, NC. These ‘men of color’ served their coun-try in time of war yet most Amer-ican businesses would not serve them. German POWs incarcer-ated on American soil during WWII were often shepherded to local towns for an American meal in an American restaurant. Any black soldiers on the guard detail would have to wait outside the American restaurant while the enemy POWs ate American food. The wacky parody of that Ameri-can reality is too deep to fathom.

Virgil Weems’ funeral service was my first time to attend a black funeral in a black church, and at-tempts to pen a story on the experi-ence eluded my talent. I struggled to find the right words to describe a black funeral at a black church be-cause I’m white; simple and to the point. I deleted two rough drafts because the narrative was infiltrat-ed with stereotype rubbish likened to a New York Times reporter tu-toring Southerners on how to fry chicken or bake a pecan pie. In-stead of gibberish, I decided to pen heartfelt honesty. So, here it is, and I pray my words show the proper respect to Virgil Weems, his family, and the church he loved so much.

I was born and raised a Lutheran and will most likely push up grass as a Lutheran. Less formal than Catholic services, Lutheran liturgy is a mite too structured for most folks and a few of our hymns have often been labeled as non-narcotic sedatives. Religious formality is fine if devotion to your God re-quires conventionalism, but I know my dad had trouble staying awake during sermons. Then again, my dad could take a quick nap on a

cactus plant during a dust storm. Nonetheless, before Pastor Arm-strong-Reiner calls for my excom-munication, please allow a brief defense of my faith. Lutheranism implanted the basic rules of life into my personality: right against wrong, good versus evil, obey the Ten Commandments, always re-spect the cloth, and memorize the Lord’s Prayer.

Lutherans do not ‘backslide’; we simply trip, fall down, and go ‘Boom’! Then we pick ourselves up, choose a better path, and with any luck use our God-given com-mon sense not to flounder over the same obstacle lest one be accused of stupidity. Tolerance based on moderation is a Lutheran attribute, but the scarcity of joie de vivre in song and sermon could use a good God-inspired shot in the arm. No so at Shiloh Baptist Church.

The spiritual message at Shi-loh, in my unassuming opinion, is likened to a faith-inspired Physi-cian of the Word checking a con-

gregation for vital signs. In other words, if you are not tapping your feet or clapping your hands or cutting loose a random “Amen!’ then you may need to check your pulse because odds are you are no longer among the living. Virgil Weems’ service was precisely what the funeral program indi-cated: ‘A Goinghome Celebra-tion.’ Now, a few words about a share cropper, a man of faith, an unyielding father figure, and a Montford Point Marine.

Let’s take a trip back in time, way back, to May 1, 1924. Virgil Weems is born in Locust Grove, GA, the eleventh of twelve chil-dren. Like his dad, Virgil share-cropped until he received a letter of ‘greetings’ from Uncle Sam. Share-cropping was demanding work for little financial return yet a necessary way of life and survival for generations of poverty stricken Americans. Virgil’s daughter, Dr. Mamie Smith, recalled when she was a child, “As a little girl I fol-

lowed my father in the fields while he plowed straight rows, one after the other. On occasion he would let me take a turn behind the plow but my rows zig-zagged all over the place. When I asked dad how he plowed so straight, he would always reply, ‘Pick out a spot in front of the mule and focus on that one speck. Don’t take your eyes off the goal. That will serve you well in life, too.’”

Drafted into the Army, Virgil was the only one in his recruitment group chosen for the Marine Corps. He confessed during our interview over a year ago, “I didn’t even know what a Marine was. When I asked them why I was chosen, they said I was too smart to be in the Army.” Trained by the selected few, Virgil was dispatched to the Pacific for the retaking of Guam, the bloodbath called Iwo Jima, and the brutal decisive battle for Oki-nawa. Reflecting on these islands of horror, Virgil softly said, “It was a dreadful thing. I lost a lot of

friends on those islands, white and black. War is the equalizer, every-body bleeds the same color blood.” Honorably discharged in 1947, Vir-gil went home to raise a family and realize the American dream.

Imagine the journey from being born into a share-cropping house-hold, being sent across the vast Pacific Ocean to fight against an enemy most likely from impover-ished backgrounds much like him-self, then returning home to see a transformation long overdue in Civil Rights, acceptance, respect, and a long membership and dea-conship in a church filled with love and grace. Imagine. Just imagine. Experiencing ninety one years of change, slow change in many cas-es, too fast of change in others, yet living to realize the dreams proph-esied by the man from Selma come to fruition. Imagine, just imagine, the dreams of a share cropper, a fa-ther, a war veteran, a man of faith, a man most likely dreaming for his family and friends; not himself. Just imagine.

Imagine, too, the passing of the last WWII veteran, the last member of the Greatest Generation. That day is rapidly approaching. Every ninety seconds America loses one of its Greatest, and with their pass-ing all of us lose a piece of history, a piece of America, a piece of the American dream. Virgil told me the story of his Montford Point Ma-rine journey, but the narrative was only a small part of his ninety one year journey. It’s true that young people possess the energy, but old people possess the experience, and the human experience, even in war, is the fabric that shapes mankind. Men like Virgil Weems have the experience to appreciate that the flipside of mankind is simply being a kind man.

Photos of Virgil faded in and out on three large video screens at Shiloh Baptist Church. Alongside one photo of a young man in uni-form were the words: Another Sol-dier Comes Home. I respectfully disagree with the first two words. Virgil Weems was not just ‘anoth-er soldier’…….he was a Marine, a Montford Point Marine. And Virgil was so much more than a ground pounder, he was a ground breaker.

Can I get a witness?

Pete Mecca is a Vietnam vet-eran, columnist and freelance writer. You can reach him at [email protected] or avet-eransstory.us.


PETE MECCACOLUMNIST

ANOTHER SOLDIER COMES HOME

Ms. Pamela Henry Wilson, 75, of Co-nyers, Ga., passed away on February 15, 2015. She was born in Georgetown, Guyana to Egbert Lake and Elise Henry Lake. She was preceded in death by her parents and sister, Gloria Henry.

She retired from her daycare business in 2012 and spent the following years visiting her grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was a member of St. Pius X Catholic Church of Conyers. She enjoyed cooking, entertaining and spending time with her loved ones.

She is survived by her two sons and daughters-in-law, Sel-wyn Henry (Renee Henry) and Nigel Henry (Stefanie Henry); granddaughters, Janelle (Kelawn) and Holly; grandson, Colin; great grandchildren, Jamel and Nyema; nephew, Adrian; niece, Allison (Mark); great niece and nephews, Sydney, Tommy, Brandon, and Chandler and many other family members and close friends.

Funeral services will be held at St. Pius X Catholic Church, Saturday, February 21, 2015 at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Randy Mattox officiating. Interment will follow at Eternal Hills Mem-ory Gardens, Snellville, Ga. The family will receive friends on Friday February 20, 2015 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Donald Trim-ble Funeral Home, Decatur, Ga.



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Honorable Judge Charles K. MaysRockdale County’s First Black Probate Judge

Elected Nov. 6, 2012 - Present

Ralph J. Bunche Diplomat,

First black to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, 1950

C. R. Patterson & SonsFirst Black owned

Automobile manufacturing company, 1915

Daniel Hale WilliamsFirst Black to develop and

own a hospital, 1891

We proudly celebrate the achievements ofAfrican American trailblazers during this time

that we observe as Black History Month.Many have paved the way with their contributions

to our country and inspire us even today.Let us honor and remember them for their bold courage.

HonoringOur Trailblazers

Mae JemisonFirst Black female

in space, 1992

Pamela Henry Wilsonobituary

Conyers officials proclaimed the city as a Purple Heart City in December 2014 and later this month, signs proclaiming it as such will be erected on city limit signs throughout the com-munity thanks to a local donor.

Councilman Vince Evans, after attending the Purple Heart ceremony for Major Pat-ty Justice at the Walk of He-roes Veterans War Memorial in December, learned of the Purple Heart City designation through Commander Doug Middleton of the Georgia Chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. At the De-cember 17, 2014 city council meeting, Conyers Mayor Ran-dy Mills and councilmembers

proclaimed Georgia as a Pur-ple Heart City.

Funding for the signs was generously donated by veteran and local businessman Greg Grimes of Patriot Storage. City staff collaborated with Tommy Clack, chairman of the Walk of Heroes Foundation, to order and install street signs denoting Conyers as a Purple Heart City.

“We are grateful for the ser-vice and sacrifices made by all of our veterans and those recognized as Purple Heart recipients in our country and this community,” said Mayor Randy Mills. “These signs are just one way we can publicly thank them and show our sup-port. We are very appreciative of Mr. Grimes’ donation of the signs.”

The Purple Heart City signs will be installed by Conyers Public Works and Transportation employees along the following roadways:

• Georgia Highway 20 at the Target shopping center• Pine Log Road near C.J. Hicks Elementary School• American Legion Road• Georgia Highway 138 at Centennial Olympic Parkway• Milstead Avenue• Green Street• Parker Road• Irwin Bridge Road• The north and south ends of Main Street

Pictured left to right: Vietnam veteran and Walk of Heroes Foundation Board Member Pete Mecca, Conyers City Councilman Chris Bowen, Vietnam veteran and Walk of Heroes Founda-tion Chairman Tommy Clack, veteran and Conyers Public Works employee Charles Drake and veteran Greg Grimes of Patriot Storage.

Rockdale County’s best readers from Lorraine Elementary School and Davis Middle School competed against other teams from the metro region Feb. 14 in the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl at Clayton State Uni-versity. Both schools placed second in their regional after competing against 14 teams and both will advance to the divisional competition today, Feb. 21.

The Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl is an annual competition and was found-ed by Helen Ruffin, a firm believ-er that “Children who read become adults who lead.” While serving on the Georgia Children’s Book Award Nominee Program in 1985, she en-visioned creating a fun competition which would test students’ knowledge on the selected books. She hoped that students would realize how enjoyable books were and how it could have a positive impact on their lives.

The competition consists of six rounds with 10 questions each. Two

teams of five students answer as many questions as they can during each round and the ultimate winner from the competition is determined by the total points gained during the rounds. Questions can come from any of the sixteen books listed in the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Elemen-tary Book List. Students are expect-ed to be well versed in every book’s content. From the county level, two teams advance to the regional level and from there, two teams go on to division level.

Davis Middle School’s team is led by Coach Carol Compton and is now in their fourth year of competi-tion. When asked what she enjoys the most, she said, “I enjoy coaching the Reading Bowl team because it has given me an opportunity to meet and get to know many of the incom-ing sixth grade students. Additional-ly, I have a love of reading so I get to share this with others. I am one of the Health and Physical Education teach-ers at Davis so working with athletes is second nature to me. Reading Bowl

gives me an opportunity to work with academic athletes. These academic athletes have to train and put in plen-ty of hours of work and practice to be successful just like an athlete that is involved in a sport.”

They have won three county cham-pionships and have advanced to the regional competition all four years. This is their second year placing at the regional level. The team’s favorite parts about reading bowl are discover-ing a variety of books and going to the competitions knowing they are well prepared to answer questions.

Lorraine Elementary School’s team began in 2008 and is led by Coaches Beth Clark and Jan Mackinem. Stu-dents Ciara Devane, who has been on the team for two years, said, “In reading bowl, I like that it’s a team effort and it’s fun to talk about the books. I really like One for the Mur-pheys and The False Prince. It’s fun whenever we do reading bowl be-cause afterwards even if we lose we always go out, and it’s fun to hang out with my friends.”

By Elizabeth Hwang, Ryan [email protected]

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EducationSaturday, Feb. 21, 2015RockdaleNews.com

Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology students represented Rockdale on the national stage as the RMSST robotics team, “Ohms,” tied for third place in the world at the Zero Robotics Finals competition at Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Jan. 16. The team watched a live feed from the In-ternational Space Station as their code ran on autonomous robots located on the ISS.

i, robot

Rockdale’s best readers take second placesubmitted photos/The News

submitted photos/The News

Rockdale County’s best readers from Lorraine Elementary School and Davis Middle School competed against other teams from the metro region Feb. 14 in the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl at Clayton State Uni-versity. Both schools placed second in their regional after competing against 14 teams and both will advance to the divisional competition today, Feb. 21.

The Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl is an annual competition and was found-ed by Helen Ruffin, a firm believ-er that “Children who read become adults who lead.” While serving on the Georgia Children’s Book Award Nominee Program in 1985, she en-visioned creating a fun competition which would test students’ knowledge on the selected books. She hoped that students would realize how enjoyable books were and how it could have a positive impact on their lives.

The competition consists of six rounds with 10 questions each. Two

teams of five students answer as many questions as they can during each round and the ultimate winner from the competition is determined by the total points gained during the rounds. Questions can come from any of the sixteen books listed in the Helen Ruffin Reading Bowl Elemen-tary Book List. Students are expect-ed to be well versed in every book’s content. From the county level, two teams advance to the regional level and from there, two teams go on to division level.

Davis Middle School’s team is led by Coach Carol Compton and is now in their fourth year of competi-tion. When asked what she enjoys the most, she said, “I enjoy coaching the Reading Bowl team because it has given me an opportunity to meet and get to know many of the incom-ing sixth grade students. Additional-ly, I have a love of reading so I get to share this with others. I am one of the Health and Physical Education teach-ers at Davis so working with athletes is second nature to me. Reading Bowl

gives me an opportunity to work with academic athletes. These academic athletes have to train and put in plen-ty of hours of work and practice to be successful just like an athlete that is involved in a sport.”

They have won three county cham-pionships and have advanced to the regional competition all four years. This is their second year placing at the regional level. The team’s favorite parts about reading bowl are discover-ing a variety of books and going to the competitions knowing they are well prepared to answer questions.

Lorraine Elementary School’s team began in 2008 and is led by Coaches Beth Clark and Jan Mackinem. Stu-dents Ciara Devane, who has been on the team for two years, said, “In reading bowl, I like that it’s a team effort and it’s fun to talk about the books. I really like One for the Mur-pheys and The False Prince. It’s fun whenever we do reading bowl be-cause afterwards even if we lose we always go out, and it’s fun to hang out with my friends.”

By Elizabeth Hwang, Ryan [email protected]

lithonia pawnlithonia pawn2574 old covington hwy., conyers, ga 30012

770-483-8200pawn - buy - sell - since 1977

we custom order Firearms accessories

• top Dollar paid For Firearms• title pawns on 1998 & newer Vehicles

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top dollar for scrap gold, silver, platinumdiamonds and gold & silver coins

www.lithoniapawn.com

Located Directly Behind Chowdog Restaurant (Next to Rockdale Flea Market)

new Gunsstarting at

$12999

• shot Guns & Rifles $95• Ruger Rifles (30/06) & 270 $349.99

• 9mm pistols $179.99• Ruger lc 380 $359.99

• Ammo Available 7.62x39 • 5.56 (223)while supplies last! Must bring in ad to get these prices

EducationSaturday, Feb. 21, 2015RockdaleNews.comPage 8

Rockdale Magnet School for Science and Technology students represented Rockdale on the national stage as the RMSST robotics team, “Ohms,” tied for third place in the world at the Zero Robotics Finals competition at Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Jan. 16. The team watched a live feed from the In-ternational Space Station as their code ran on autonomous robots located on the ISS.

i, robot

Rockdale’s best readers take second placesubmitted photos/The News

submitted photos/The News

was pronounced deceased at the scene by medical first responders.

Hood, who had called 911, told inves-tigators that it was a self-inflicted wound.

He was standing outside the apartment talking with a neighbor when first re-sponders arrived.

With a calm manner, he told police that McGriff shot herself because “he was at-tempting to leave her and she did not want him to leave,” according to the report.

A handgun was located at the scene on the right side of the bed surrounded by male clothing, according to the report.

Hood, who was the only person in the apartment with McGriff, was detained by police at the scene. After a few hours of further questioning with detectives at po-lice headquarters, he was released, says DeKalb Police Capt. Steven Fore.

However, the medical examiner’s re-port came back Thursday and determined the bullet wound could not have been self-inflicted.

Hood was arrested Friday and booked into the DeKalb County jail.

On Monday when school is back in session, parents and teachers face the difficult task of explaining to C.J. Hicks

Elementary students what happened to “Coach” McGriff.

On the homepage of the school’s web-site, underneath a picture of McGriff, some suggestions were posted for parents to help explain the situation to their kids. They also offer the e-mails to two of the guidance counselors at the school.

Superintendent Richard Autry said in an e-mailed statement, “We extend our sincerest sympathy to the family and friends of Ms. McGriff. RCPS will pro-vide the necessary support to the entire C.J. Hicks school community as we re-turn from the break and mourn the loss of a teacher, friend, and colleague.”

C.J. Hicks Elementary’s principal Na-dine Campbell had glowing words about McGriff. “The C.J. Hicks family is heart-broken over the loss of our P.E. teacher, Ms. Candace McGriff. She loved our children, our staff and our school and we loved her.”

Campbell says that McGriff, who has been employed at the school since Janu-ary 2011, will be “greatly missed.”

“She led our Fitness Club and taught us all how to build endurance, eat healthy, and lead a healthy lifestyle,” she said. “Our thoughts and prayers are with her family as well during this difficult time for all who knew her.”

Reactions on social media ranged from shocked and horrified to heartbroken. Most

gave thoughts and prayers to her family.Tiana James wrote, “My child her PE

teacher... how do explain that to a child with autism that her PE teacher is no lon-ger with us.”

Katina Cherie Humphries-Daniels wrote, “Wow, so sad and so young. She was a great P.E. teacher and always greet-ed u with a smile.”

Once the news of Hood’s arrest and charges were confirmed, the reactions turned to the domestic violence of the sit-uation.

“Wow! He tried to turn it on her?! He’s going to get what he deserves! May she sleep in peace. My gosh!,” wrote Rox-anne James.

Mailem Reyes wrote, “How horrible! There’s no telling what she has been going through with that man. She was probably trying to end the relationship and he killed her so that a real man couldn’t have her. Let’s pray for everyone that knew her.”

Visitation will be held Tuesday, Feb. 24, noon – 8 p.m., with visitation for fam-ily from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the Rockdale Chapel of Gregory B. Levett and Sons Funeral Homes, 1999 Ga. Highway 138, Conyers.

Funeral services will be held Wednes-day, Feb. 25, 1 p.m., at Greenforest Baptist Church, 3250 Rainbow Drive, Decatur. Interment will be at Kennedy Memorial Gardens in Ellenwood.



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“A FAMiLy sERViNg FAMiLiEs wORLdwidE”

Hollywood’s biggest night is fast approach-ing, and Rockdale Emergency Relief is celebrat-ing on Sunday, Feb. 22 with an evening full of Rockdale’s stars as they “Walk the Red Carpet for RER.”

RER operates a county-wide food pantry, rent and utility assistance and much more for those struggling with financial instability and facing homelessness. This gala seeks to help RER meet their fundraising goals and keep up with the growing needs of neighbors in need in Rockdale.

The inaugural fundraising event was inspired by Rockdale’s rapidly growing film and televi-sion industry.

Sponsorship opportunities range from $5,000, or the “Blockbuster” level, to “Hol-lywood Mogul,” $2,500, “Studio Executive,” $1,000, “Independent Filmmaker,” $500, and “Rising Star,” $250. Sponsorships must be confirmed by Feb. 18.

The event is from 7:30-9:30 p.m. at the Acuity Brands Lighting People Center at One Lithonia Way (off Lester Road). To RSVP or for more, email [email protected] or [email protected]

10 • Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015

Brittany Evans was named the new director of the Conyers Main Street’s new Director last fall. Evans comes to Conyers following four years in Sylvester, Ga. where she acted as the executive director for the Downtown Sylvester Main Street Program. Her time spent in southwest Georgia included successfully completing the two year process of Sylvester earning designation as an official Main Street Start-Up City by the Ga. Department of Community Affairs. Evans also launched a downtown local farmers market and coordinated other special events and festivals. She previously served as the Better Hometown director in Metter, Ga. Evans holds a 2007 Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology and a Master of Public Administration degree both from Georgia Southern University.

Tell me about your background. How did you get started working in community organizations?

(Grew up in) Jefferson County, which is close to Augus-ta, I graduated high school there. A small country town. From there I went to college (Georgia Southern Universi-ty), to the City of Metter to the City of Sylvester.

After I got my sociology degree, I knew I wanted to pursue (something in) my education. I knew I did not want to be a social worker. I decided what if I was to pursue working for the public sector and nonprofit organizations.

The first nonprofit I worked for was Keep Bulloch Beautiful, when I was in Statesboro. That’s when I became aware of public education. Going out into the community, doing surveys. That face to face contact that I got to have with my neighbors and people in my community, that is what made me feel like I like my job. I wanted to stay in Metter, not go to the state or federal level, because we are the front line, working for the people. I enjoyed that.

Actually going out, meeting the people, finding out what they offer, what do they do, what do they specialize in, find out what they want to do. Do they actually have a voice? From there I learn this is an issue, or this is something we can work with. I think this is how the ball keeps moving. You have to have input and feedback from the community, so that stakeholders are invested.

I’ve always been willing, if I don’t know how to do something, to find someone who does and get them all together so we can accomplish this mis-sion. I think it’s all about being a good people person and being able to adapt and communicate with people from all different walks of life.

I’m a small town girl - Louisville, it’s very, very, very small…. It’s those values of saying “Hey, how are you doing?” That’s one thing I had to get used to up here; not every-body waves.

I really like it here in Conyers. I think we have so much

to offer here; I can find anything I need here. I’m grateful I don’t have to go into Atlanta traffic everyday.

What are some of the things you see that you’d like to try and tackle and move the ball forward?

As part of the (Main Street Conyers board) economic restructuring plan – we’re in the beginning stages of our plan – we’d like to see more retail here. There’s some vacant spots in downtown that need to get filled. We’re trying to develop a list with property owners. A lot of merchants have expressed they’d like to see more events in downtown. So I’d like to hit the ground running this year. Next year, maybe add a twist to it. Some people have expressed they’d like a community garden or a farmer’s market here.

The objective is to bring people to Olde Town, tourists for shopping and dining. If we can create jobs along the way, that would be awesome.

Another thing would be more aestheti-cally pleasing signage. Develop our own branding that all looks the same. That’s something we could accomplish through our Main Street Program.

I feel like it’s all coming together. We have this big ele-phant. The only way to eat that is one bite at a time. Also you have to know, yeah, there’s all these other issues

out there, but you can’t bite off more than you can chew. Sometimes you have to focus on one or two things at a time before you spread yourself out and you’re not able to finish anything. That, I’m trying to be realistic on.

Who are some mentors you’ve had in your life?I wouldn’t get this far without mentors. The first boss

I had, the city manager of Metter, Joseph Mosley, he saw something in me and took me under his wing and taught me everything. How to talk, dress, all the soft skills, how to be professional, how to handle a situation, period. He was a great inspiration for me. I have to thank him for a lot.

My mother is also a big mentor for me. My mom’s a teacher. I was taught to serve, to give to people. That’s what you’re supposed to do. Without getting tied up in per-sonal beliefs, I like to serve and help. Putting others first, not yourself, is a big deal to me.

I have three sisters. I’m the baby. I take it as a blessing being the baby because I got to learn from all them. They all had a hand in raising me up. They’re great sisters.

I have a great boss here, Jennifer (Edwards). She’s a really great coach and mentor. She shows me the ropes and she steps back. I feel like I’m in good hands.

What do you do in your spare time?I have a sister here and a cousin. And I’m only two

hours away from home. I have a dog, Ginger; she’s my baby. She’s a boxer-pit mix. She’s so pretty... I have a cosmetology license. I love to do hair on the side. I love being in a salon.

The News

A conversation withBRITTANY EVANSThe New Director of Main Street Conyers brings a focus on community service and collaboration

As told to Michelle Kim

I think it’s all about being a good people person and being able to adapt and communicate with people from all different walks of life.”

“

Brittany Evans, 29Hometown: LouisvilleAttended:

Georgia Southern University

Family: Mother and three

older sistersPets:

dog Ginger


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

SATURDAY, FEB. 21 Tree Top Excursions

1 p.m. Tree Top Excursions: Introduc-tion Climbing, Panola Mountain State Park, Stockbridge, GA; use rope and harness for this moderately strenuous activity; register in advance; $15 plus $5 parking; 770-389-7801.

SUNDAY, FEB. 22Black History Observance Day

11 AM; Bald Rock Baptist Church, 2284 Old Covington Road, Conyers; cel-ebrating Black History Day; 770-929-3421.

Walk the Red Carpet for RER7:30-9:30 p.m.; Acuity People Center,

One LIthonia Way; Hollywood themed gala fundraiser for Rockdale Emergency

Relief, which operates food pantry and relief servcies; $50 per ticket; sponsor-ships available; RSVP by Feb. 18 to [email protected]

TUESDAY, FEB. 24Preschool Pops

10 a.m., Feb. 24 and 26; Rockdale Auditorium, 903 Main St; $3 per child, adults free; Puppeteer David Stephens, “New Adventures of --Brer Rabbit”; Conyers Rockdale Council for the Arts, 770-922-3143, www.conyersarts.org

Rockdale Retired Educators11:30 a.m.; at Rockdale Baptist

Church, 1295 Smyrna Rd.; speaker John Mitchell from the Historic Oak-land Cemetery; Reservations required for lunch; [email protected], 770-483-6808

FRIDAY, FEB. 27Free movie night at library

5:30 p.m.; Nancy Guinn Library, 864

Green St.; “42” film on the life of base-ball great Jackie Robinson; Refresh-ments provided; free.

TUESDAY, MARCH 3Preschool Pops

10 a.m., March 3, 5; Rockdale Audi-torium, 903 Main St; $3 per child, adults free; Brenda Bean Parrot Productions; Conyers Rockdale Council for the Arts, 770-922-3143, www.conyersarts.org

Rockdale Special Olympics meeting

6-8 pm; 1400 Parker Rd; Cece Hart 770-378-1318, Rockdalespecialolym-pics.net

State of the County Breakfast8 a.m.; Springfield Baptist Church

atrium, 1877 Iris Drive, Conyers; County Commission Chairman Richard Oden presents vision of county; $25 per per-son or $250 for a table of 10; Regis-tration is required, at www.councilfor-qualitygrowth.org or ac@councilforqual-

itygrowth.org or 770-813-3370.

SATURDAY, MARCH 7Spartan Race

8 a.m. - 3 p.m. March 7, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. March 8; at Ga. Int’l Horse Park Steeplechase Field; 3-5 mile race cover-ing terrain and obstacles; $45-90 entry; $25 spectators; $10 parking; www.SpartanRace.com; [email protected]

SATURDAY, MARCH 14Rockdale Cares fundraiser

6:30 p.m.; Epiphany Lutheran, 2375 Hwy 20 SE; 37th annual fundraiser, “Luck of the Irish;” $40 per person; casual dress; RSVP by March 7, rock-dalecares.org

THURSDAY, MARCH 12State of the County address, Charles P Cole award

6 p.m.; J.P. Carr Services Community Room, 981 Taylor St.; State of the County

and Charles P. Cole Citizen Involvement award; free

SATURDAY, MARCH 14Rock on Rockdale 5K/Fun Run

7:30 a.m. registration, 8:30 a.m. fun run, 9 a.m. 5K; 1400 Parker Road; 4th annual fundraiser for Rockdale Special Olympics; Registration by March 4 $20 individual/$70 family of four; $24/$80 after; [email protected], 770-833-0907

Peachtree Acad.Open House10am - noon, Feb. 7, March 14;

Pre-Kindergarten -12th grade; informa-tional program and tour of the school, including visits to the classrooms to meet teachers.

St. Patrick’s Day 0.1 mile Endurance Run

Held by the Rockdale Rotary Club at the Olde Town Conyers World’s Fastest Growing St. Patrick’s Day Parade and Festival (see page 14)

Community Calendar

Man on

the Street

What are you giving up for

Lent?

CFUMC’s Music Min-ister Steve Hester is giving up talk radio

and replacing it with Christian and classi-

cal music.

Arlene Anderson is giving up fish since she normally does

not eat meat.

Arlene Anderson Joshua Hudson

CFUMC’s youth minister the Rev. Joshua Hudson,

son Jackson, and wife Jennifer are embarking on a three day juice fast and trying to ween out

any processed foods and fast foods.

Steve Hester Joseph Kaparampil

Joseph Kaparampil is giving up meat.

Jordan Kelechek

Georgia Cyber Academy student

Jordan Kelechek is giving up television

and replacing it with additional Bible

reading.

Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015Page 12

rockdalenews.com SportS

Senior forward Dwayne Brown lit up Cleveland Stroud gym on Wednesday

to the tune of 26 points and 13 rebounds in a 60-56 win that put Rockdale in the sweet 16 of the state playoffs. Brown was named first team All-region this year, his first time playing varsity for a full season. Yet, ust a year-in-a-half ago Brown couldn’t even walk.

After a playing JV as a fresh-man, Brown, in a testament to

his talent, was set to play varsity as a sophomore.

“I was in 10th grade. You know, 10th grade about to play varsity, happy and everything. We go into our first scrimmage against Arabia Mountain and we’re warming up and every-thing. I try do a little twist thing and my back, it hurt. I had a sharp pain in my lower right back,” Brown said.

Brown would play minimally in that game. He started tak-ing painkillers in preparation for the team’s opening game, but his back was still bothering

him. Brown played in just two regular season games that sea-son.

He eventually went to the doctor to find out that he had huge back spasms, so Brown sat out a while, but it only got worse. At a practice, Brown says he attempted to run and his back started hurting. He couldn’t run. He tried to play JV, but he couldn’t.

“For two weeks I couldn’t even walk. So I was at the house laying down for two weeks be-cause I couldn’t even walk,” Brown said. “Come to find

out I got scoliosis and this dis-ease called discitis and we go through the summer and I’m still dealing with it. It takes me until I’m about to go to 11th grade. The summer it was like, ‘We’re going to schedule a sur-gery.’ I got surgery on August 22 and it was a six month re-covery, I had to wear a brace for three months.”

Brown sat out his junior year, but in March of 2014, he was back to playing basketball. Brown started playing AAU, playing with his trainer Dominique Coo-per and with Team Eat.

“He just pushed me. Made me work hard. I had to lose weight, work hard and every-thing,” Brown said. “I wasn’t as athletic as I was when I was in 10th grade, ninth grade. I had to work on getting better. This is the game I love so I mean you just can’t quit because some-thing’s in front of you.”

Brown worked his butt off and shed a lot of weight.

“I could dunk still because I was tall, but I wasn’t athletic, jumping and stuff. So we’d do

BACK and better than everBrown playing lights out in first

full year on varsity

By Shakeem [email protected]

See Brown,

Left: Dwayne Brown helps up teammate Connor Ferrell in region champion-ship game against Tucker. Above: Brown attacks the basket against Tucker.

Anthony Banks/The News

Anthony Banks/The Rockdale Newa

Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015Page 12

rockdalenews.com SportS

Senior forward Dwayne Brown lit up Cleveland Stroud gym on Wednesday

to the tune of 26 points and 13 rebounds in a 60-56 win that put Rockdale in the sweet 16 of the state playoffs. Brown was named first team All-region this year, his first time playing varsity for a full season. Yet, ust a year-in-a-half ago Brown couldn’t even walk.

After a playing JV as a fresh-man, Brown, in a testament to

his talent, was set to play varsity as a sophomore.

“I was in 10th grade. You know, 10th grade about to play varsity, happy and everything. We go into our first scrimmage against Arabia Mountain and we’re warming up and every-thing. I try do a little twist thing and my back, it hurt. I had a sharp pain in my lower right back,” Brown said.

Brown would play minimally in that game. He started tak-ing painkillers in preparation for the team’s opening game, but his back was still bothering

him. Brown played in just two regular season games that sea-son.

He eventually went to the doctor to find out that he had huge back spasms, so Brown sat out a while, but it only got worse. At a practice, Brown says he attempted to run and his back started hurting. He couldn’t run. He tried to play JV, but he couldn’t.

“For two weeks I couldn’t even walk. So I was at the house laying down for two weeks be-cause I couldn’t even walk,” Brown said. “Come to find

out I got scoliosis and this dis-ease called discitis and we go through the summer and I’m still dealing with it. It takes me until I’m about to go to 11th grade. The summer it was like, ‘We’re going to schedule a sur-gery.’ I got surgery on August 22 and it was a six month re-covery, I had to wear a brace for three months.”

Brown sat out his junior year, but in March of 2014, he was back to playing basketball. Brown started playing AAU, playing with his trainer Dominique Coo-per and with Team Eat.

“He just pushed me. Made me work hard. I had to lose weight, work hard and every-thing,” Brown said. “I wasn’t as athletic as I was when I was in 10th grade, ninth grade. I had to work on getting better. This is the game I love so I mean you just can’t quit because some-thing’s in front of you.”

Brown worked his butt off and shed a lot of weight.

“I could dunk still because I was tall, but I wasn’t athletic, jumping and stuff. So we’d do

BACK and better than everBrown playing lights out in first

full year on varsity

By Shakeem [email protected]

See Brown, Page 13

Left: Dwayne Brown helps up teammate Connor Ferrell in region champion-ship game against Tucker. Above: Brown attacks the basket against Tucker.

Anthony Banks/The News

Anthony Banks/The Rockdale Newa


vert training. After every workout we’d do vert training. Then we’d just get in the gym get like 400/500 shots up and we’d just work from there. And I was just losing weight con-stantly,” Brown said.

He didn’t quit, he lost weight and now he’s back as a 6-foot-6 forward and one of the corner-stones of Rockdale’s “big three.”

“Last year being the assistant coach I used to just see Dwayne on the side, he’ll come to prac-tice everyday and he’ll just shoot and shoot and shoot. I really didn’t know what a gem we had in him until we saw him during the summer,” Tyrone King, Bull-dogs’ head coach, said. “In the summer he was just fantastic. He can get to the basket and then I didn’t realize he could shoot like he could so just having him add-ed with this group here it just made a different dynamic here at Rockdale and that’s why we’re 21-and-7 right now.”

“It’s funny because during the summer we had him playing a lot of the three and he probably didn’t rebound like he should have, but now he’s bought into we can’t win without him rebound-ing. He’s posting double-doubles night in and night out. He had

26 and 13 or something like that [Wednesday night],” King said. “He’s just upped his game and I think raised the stock because he can rebound. He can play with his back to the basket and he can also play out on the perimeter, but he’s been fitting in nicely with what we need him to do and that’s get it to the basket. If we needed him to shoot the three, he’ll definitely come out and do it.”

Brown, who’s averaging 13 points and seven rebounds per game according to maxpreps.com, is the third scoring option on the team behind Connor Ferrell and Jalen Jordan. One opposing coach thinks Brown is the team’s most important play-er. King seems to share that sen-timent, as he thinks Brown can play the three at the next level.

“Every camp we went to he dominated in both positions, inside and outside on the of-fensive end,” King said.

“He could be our first option on offense and sometimes he is our first option. Versus Newton, it was a point in the game we needed scoring. When we played (New-ton) here our second time they held Jalen Jordan to five points. Well, in the third quarter [Brown] knocked down three threes be-cause teams don’t see that every night,” King said. “Then last night in the state tournament game, he hit 26 points, but everything was inside and he mixed in a couple

baseline jumpers and he hit one three pointer here and there.”

Brown is an elite all-around player. He’s a good rebounder, he has a solid post game and he can score from pretty much any-where on the court. There prob-ably isn’t a system he couldn’t fit into at the next level.

“I don’t count myself as a scorer much,” Brown said. “My offensive game for this team is pretty much getting the ball, cutting through the lane, taking it from the wing to the basket, sometimes getting in the post, sometimes catching mid-range, sometimes shooting some threes. Any available scoring I can do.”

As Brown continues to help Rockdale on its state champion-ship run, he’ll have to wait until after the season to find out where he’s going and if there are any Di-vision-1 teams that might want the All-region forward. King says there are currently some schools looking at Brown, but he hopes to get a few big schools on the line at some point down the line.

“I’m just thankful for having Dwayne. It’s a blessing to have him on the team,” King said. “The only real thing that I’m kind of sad about, he really didn’t get those looks that other kids get during their junior year. Every-thing’s come to form this year so whoever gets Dwayne on the next level, they’ll be getting a real steal.”

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brownFrom Page 12

RCHS Athlete of the week: Dwayne Brown

Dwayne Brown put up 26 and 13 against in a win against Valdosta on Wednesday and he had 14 points in last week’s region tournament championship game.

Jeffrey is about a year old and weighs 58 lbs. He is a sweet lov-ing boy. Jeffrey loves to go for car rides. He is well mannered on a leash. He is quite in a crate and is crate trained. He likes to hike and explore water like creeks and lakes.

Jason is a gorgeous & very friendly silver tabby. He was res-cued from Rockdale ac. Please scheduel a visit to meet this su-per sweet guy!! Take him on a sleepover!! He likes pretty much everybody. He LOVES toys! He is a really funny guy!!

Sammuel Reshrod Anderson, 24, Conyers, Feb 9, Aggravated Assault

Tanya Lynn Hammonds, 33, Covington, Feb 9, Theft by Taking

Terry Antonio Strickland, 27, Conyers, Feb 9, Theft by Shoplift-ing

Maleek Bakari-Ralpheal Bliss, 17, Conyers, Feb 10, Simple Bat-tery

Tyler Deqwan Williams, 17, Conyers, Feb 10, Battery

James Henry Cunningham, 40, Riverdale, Feb 10, Theft by Re-ceiving Stolen Property

Dernado J Coleman, 25, Atlan-ta, Feb 10, Theft by Shoplifting

Kardarius Terelle Latimore, 17, Conyers, Feb 11, Carrying Weapons within School Safety Zone

James Henry Cunningham, 40, Atlanta, Feb 11, Theft by Re-ceiving Stolen Property

Erin Nichole Jennings, 33, Covington, Feb 12, Dui

Matthew Grant Mason, 35, Oxford, Feb 12, Aggravated As-sault

Jazmyne Booker-Mitchell, 17, Conyers, Feb 12, Theft by Taking,

Armed Robbery Keion Dwayne Mclemore, 18,

Conyers, Feb 10, Affray Emily Taylor Graham, 19, Co-

nyers, Feb 12, Forgery Patrick Michael Willoughby,

19, Conyers, Feb 13, Poss of Mar-ijuana, DUI

Carlos Garcia Ramirez, 34, Conyers, Feb 13, Battery

Teresa Lynn Hodges, Conley, Feb 13, Poss of Marijuana

Jay Bradley Sanders, 36, Co-nyers, Feb 13, Poss of Meth

George Edward Harris, 49, Conyers, Feb 13, Open Container, DUI


For full week’s jail log go to rockdalenews.com

Rockdale county Jail log

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the rockdale news feb. 21, 2015 vol. 6 issue 45

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