Even for someone that graduated from a pretty expensive college within the past decade, these current tuition, room and board prices are just mind-blowing.  Though it imposed its smallest percentage increase in the past 35 years, the cost of Agnes Scott College is now nearly $40k.

Seriously, many colleges are $10,000 more than they were just 8-10 years ago!  Can these high costs possibly survive in today’s credit stagnation or will colleges eventually feel the crunch too?

That reminds me…I gotta pay my student loans…

Looks like fun was had by all at the first annual Park Renewal Day at Dearborn Park this past Saturday!  (The event was put on by Renewal Construction, DeKalb County, and the city of Decatur)

Thanks to an army of volunteers, many areas of Dearborn once riddled with invasive plants are now clean and accessable.  See lots of pics of the event, including some impressive before and after ones, on Zenner Enterprise’s website. [h/t: The Decatur Minute]

Big prizes were awarded to groups based on the quality and quantity of their clean up work in designated areas.

• 1st Prize ($1000): Invasive and Persuasive
• 2nd Prize ($500): Ivy League
• 3rd Place ($350): Decatur Bulldog Boosters
• 4th Place ($250) : Kudzu Krunchers

In a follow up note, DHS teacher and Close Up Club advisor Chris Billingsley informs DM that even though Close Up didn’t win any money for their trip to D.C., they had a great time.  PLUS, the Decatur Bulldog Boosters, who won 3rd place, were so impressed with Close Up’s efforts that they donated their $350 winnings to the club’s trip!

So congrats to all the winners with a special nod to the Decatur Bulldog Boosters!

Generosity breeds generosity!

Avondale will be holding their own annexation meeting tonight at 5:30p to discuss extending the city limits farther out College Avenue, encompassing more commercial and residential land.

For those of you just arriving at the Annexation Party (Let me take your coat. Would you like a mimosa?) here’s a short recap of the annexation tension (or lack thereof) between the two cities…

Shortly after it was revealed earlier this year that Decatur was looking at annexation along College Avenue, Avondale quickly responded by saying that they were ALSO going to begin studying annexation along College Avenue between the two cities…presumably because they didn’t want Decatur to gobble up all the commercial goodies along the corridor, leaving nothing but residential crumbs behind.

What could have resulted in a throwdown between these two neighboring cities instead ended in a “gentleman’s agreement” that concluded that if both decided to annex, they would meet in the middle.

But I still say that pistols at dawn would have made for a better blog posting!

The AJC calls it a ‘cigarette warehouse“. 11Alive calls it a “wholesale grocery store”.  Regardless its on fire.

The A to Z Wholesale Warehouse at the corner of DeKalb Industrial and Lawerenceville Highway is ablaze this morning and with all the combustible goods (cigarettes) inside firefighters believe it could take all day to extinguish the flames.

The fire is producing a ton of smoke, which is easily seen from downtown Atlanta.

Anyone have eyewitness reports?