Welcome back!

By Jon GilloolyMarietta Daily Journal Staff Writer

MARIETTA – Six of the seven members of the Cobb Board of Education joined with the Cobb School District on Wednesday to file a lawsuit in Cobb Superior Court against Smyrna Mayor Max Bacon and the Smyrna City Council for allegedly violating the Georgia Open Records Act.

“The city has evaded the Georgia Open Records Act and has acted without substantial justification in failing to comply with the Open Records Act,” according to a complaint filed just before 5 p.m. by school board attorney Clem Doyle of the Marietta law firm Brock, Clay, Calhoun and Rogers.

The complaint requests attorney’s fees and a jury trial.

The action was triggered because of Bacon’s alleged failure to produce documents that school board Chairman Lindsey Tippins repeatedly requested relating to the Jonquil Village tax allocation district project. Last fall, officials approved a $26.2 million TAD subsidy for the redevelopment at the corner of Atlanta and Spring roads.

Reached at his home, Bacon said he had just returned from vacation out West and was unaware the lawsuit had been filed.

“I just think it’s a low point in the history of this county for the school board to sue a municipality over absolutely nothing,” Bacon said.

All Cobb school board members are named as plaintiffs in the lawsuit except Holli Cash, who represents the Smyrna area.

“I’m very disappointed in every member of the school board who supported this,” Bacon said. “When one government brings suit against another government for information it makes everybody look bad.”

Tippins said it didn’t have to end up in court. He said he met with Bacon a couple weeks ago at a Waffle House to give him another chance to produce the documents.

On June 13, the school board voted 5-1 – with Ms. Cash opposing and the Rev. Dr. John Crooks absent – to pursue legal action against Smyrna unless city officials explained how they calculated the $181 million value for the 14-acre Jonquil Village redevelopment.

The issue dates back to Nov. 14 when the school board approved the $26.2 million TAD subsidy for Jonquil Village, a mixed-use project at the site of the present Jonquil Plaza.

A TAD is an incentive for developers to build in blighted areas to increase property values, which results in more tax revenue and requires cooperation between the city, county and school district to quickly repay project bonds.

Before the board approved the Jonquil project in a 6-1 vote, with Tippins opposing, board members complained that supporting financials for the project continued to change.

“There’s an awful lot of misrepresentation in these documents we’ve been given,” Tippins said at the time.

According to the complaint, Bacon promised Tippins during a meeting at Trackside Restaurant after the board’s November vote to produce documents that reveal how officials arrived at the $181 million figure.

When Bacon failed to do this, Tippins sent him an request under the Georgia Open Records Act.

Smyrna City Administrator Wayne Wright tells Tippins in a May 17 letter in response to his open records request that Tampa, Fla.-based developer, A.G. Armstrong did not want the numbers made public.

“It may be helpful to remind you that the detailed cost estimates you seek are proprietary information that has been retained by the developers of Jonquil Village,” Wright states in his letter, which is an exhibit in the complaint.

Another exhibit includes a May 16 letter sent from the Armstrong’s Atlanta-based attorneys, Hartman, Simons, Spielman & Wood, to school board attorney Glenn Brock, accusing Tippins of challenging Smyrna’s use of TAD financing to further his personal business interests.

“To the extent that Mr. Tippins is taking action in his capacity as chairman of the Cobb County Board of Education to further his personal interests, Mr. Tippins’ conduct is contrary to the Cobb County School District Board members’ Code of Conduct,” the letter states.

Tippins said he has no business interests in Smyrna.

The importance of the documents that detail how the $181 million number was reached, the suit alleges, is significant “because it is inextricably linked to other aspects of TAD financing particularly in relationship to the ability of the tax increment to retire bonds in a timely manner, and the potential adverse financial impact on the school district and its tax payers.”

The lawsuit alleges that Bacon and other Smyrna officials failed to keep copies the documents to shield them from the Open Records Act.

“The defendants intentionally did not retain copies of the requested documents when they reviewed them,” the complaint states.

The complaint argues that even though Smyrna officials failed to keep copies, they still must be produced.

“The defendants cannot avoid their disclosure obligations under the Open Records Act merely because the requested documents may be in the physical possession of a private developer (or other third party),” the complaint states.

Bacon said the school board and county commission had access to the documents, arguing if they were important they should have copied them themselves.

“The school board had these documents. The county had these documents. If the documents were so important why didn’t they keep copies of them?” Bacon asked.

Bacon suggested that the school district’s chief financial officer, Robert Morales, had them.

“I don’t know why (Tippins) hasn’t started with his staff. Morales may have the numbers,” he said.

Tippins said that logic doesn’t make sense.

“If everybody had access to the documents we wouldn’t be in court,” he said.

Bacon said the lawsuit only would divert money from funding education to attorneys.

“It’s very disappointing to see money for the education of children used to sue the city over information the county and Morales had,” Bacon said.

To see the article in its entirety, go to http://www.mdjonline.com/articles/2007/06/21/268/10263143.txt

Normally I don’t think I would be that excited saying that I’ve reached week 3 of the Step It Up fitness program, but that’s because it’s normally a four week program. With the Fourth of July holiday coming up, we signed up to torture our bodies in a compact three-week program. I was hesitant at first, but now that I’ve made it through two weeks already, it feels like it’s almost over versus only halfway over.

It’s been a great experience so far and despite what you may interpret from my musings, I would highly recommend it for those who have nothing better to do at 5 in the morning (that means everyone). Where else can you see such great sunrises?

We’re supposedly winding down a bit and getting ready for our big evaluation day on Friday. Today was really hard, so it should be pretty easy to wind down from here. If we don’t, I may not make it to Friday.

Campbell High School is the high school supporting the Smyrna Vinings area. The current Principal is Dr. Grant Rivera. Campbell High is located at 5265 Ward Street, Smyrna, GA 30080, which is just west of Smyrna Market Village and south of Windy Hill Road. Their contact number is 678-842-6850.

Campbell High School is one of sixteen high schools in the Cobb County School System. The school was officially named after Orme Campbell, a successful businessman in Atlanta, who sold the land on which the original school was built. Orme Campbell Campbell High School opened in 1952 with the merger of Smyrna High School and Fitzhugh Lee high School. It opened with a total of 425 students in grades 8-11.

In 1989, Orme Campbell High School and F.T. Wills High School merged to form a new Smyrna High School. Prior to the merger, Campbell students were known as the Green and White PANTHERS and Wills students were known as the Red and Black TIGERS. The students united together in selecting new colors, Royal Blue and Silver, and a new mascot, the SPARTANS. In 1990, the courts overruled the name change of the school, and the name Campbell High School was reinstated. Since the ruling pertained only to the school name, it was decided the new colors and the new mascot would be left unchanged.

Campbell High School is home to Cobb County’s International Baccalaureate program. Campbell High started the International Baccalaureate Program in the fall of 1997 as a Cobb County magnet program. The IB Diploma Program is a comprehensive, pre-university course of study that incorporates international perspectives within a rigorous core curriculum in both the math/science and humanities areas of the curriculum.

Simply click here to learn more about Campbell High School.

If you would like to find a home in the Campbell High School district, simply click here.

By STACY SHELTON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/22/07
Richard Grove of Cumming, a kayaker who does marathon trips and guides groups down the Chattahoochee, was “shocked” to find the Paces Mill boat ramp closed earlier this week, just before the summer crush.

“That’s as stupid as closing the stores on Christmas,” said Grove, who immediately called the National Park Service to demand an explanation for the closing of the ramp in southern Cobb County.

Paces Mill is the last of seven boat ramps in the 48-mile Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area to undergo a $1.8 million facelift, with new walkways and fresh concrete. Earlier this week, a construction crew blocked the boat ramp using sandbags and tarps, then built a temporary takeout spot about 150 feet downstream. They also planned to make room for trucks and cars to pull down to the river. Without the path, boaters were forced to lug their craft a couple of hundred yards to their vehicles.

Signs on the river explaining the change were not yet up Thursday afternoon, but park officials said they would be up by the weekend.

Paces Mill Park in Cobb County is the southernmost national park land on the river in Georgia and the last place to pull out before floating into the section where most of metro Atlanta discharges its treated sewage. The park is also the most popular takeout point because it’s just downstream from one of the most beautiful stretches of the Chattahoochee, where the national park hugs both banks and the river passes through high granite cliffs and a series of small rapids.

Some boaters already are adapting to the change.

Chris Zelski, co-director of Learning on the Log summer camp, led a group of 16 children and eight adults on a canoe and rafting trip through that section of river on Thursday. As he pulled into the temporary takeout spot at Paces Mill, he told a group of parents waiting on the shore “I had no idea there was that construction going on up there. But this will work fine. … With river stuff, you gotta be flexible.”

Nancy Walther, the chief of resource education for the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, said the construction work will take three to four weeks, through July Fourth and up to mid or late July.

“It is going to be an inconvenience to the visitors,” she said, adding that park superintendent Kevin Cheri “apologized for that.”

The original plan was to complete the job before Memorial Day weekend, she said. Work on other boat ramps delayed the project.

Find this article at:
http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/cobb/stories/2007/06/21/0622metboatramp.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=13

I often wonder as a Realtor here in the Smyrna Vinings community why real estate agents get a bad rap. Granted we’re not as disliked as say an auditor for the IRS, but still we’re usually not high up on people’s lists. I think part of that comes from how easy it is to get a real estate license. Technically, once you have your license you are qualified to practice as a real estate agent, even if you’re really not qualified. And the press never really helps us either.

They always seem to be against us, case in point a recent article on the Mansion Madam. In case you missed it, the Mansion Madam is the nickname given to Lisa Ann Taylor who was allegedly running a prostitution ring from her home in Sugarloaf Country Club in Gwinnett. The AJC article covered the recent indictment of Ms. Taylor for racketeering, drug and prostitution charges.

However, what caught my eye was this part of the article: “Taylor has said she had been trying to leave the adult entertainment industry before her arrest, working as a real estate agent. She has since rekindled her career as a nude dancer, capitalizing on her notoriety as the “Mansion Madam.”"

Come on now, I would love to see the job description that compelled her to get into the real estate industry.

Needed immediately for an exciting career in real estate.

Minimum requirements include:

1. former Penthouse Pet (or current)
2. experience with prostitution
3. experience with drug trafficking

Not required, but a plus would be a background in racketeering.

What I did glean from this article is that a real estate career is not for everyone. I just want to go on the record as your Smyrna Vinings Realtor, that I will never pose in Penthouse, run a prostitution ring, traffic drugs or be indicted for racketeering. I am here to service your housing needs only and will do so in a professional and ethical manner.

Of course, if Ms. Taylor does beat the wrap, she may want to consider trying real estate again. Agents are always trying to outdo themselves with catchy slogans like “Sold by Susie” or “Elise sells Estates”. She already has a head start. Mansion Madam is quite catchy.