DHS teacher Chris Billingsley writes in…

The Decatur High School Close Up Club had its first meeting of the new year Thursday evening. Students and parents are very excited that this year’s trip will include a day trip to visit the Gettysburg National Battlefield. Through the fund raising efforts of students and the generous support of many citizens in the City of Decatur, the Gettysburg trip will be free! The Decatur Craft Beer Festival has also awarded us $1,500 to help pay for the trip. Thank You Decatur!

Club members will be participating in the City of Decatur MLK Service Day on Monday. If you would like to sponsor the service work of one of the DHS Close Up members, or make a contribution to help pay for our trip, please contact Mr. Chris Billingsley (cbillingsley@csdecatur.net) for more information.

Scoutmob – a new Atlanta website offering daily, local deals with write-ups on local area businesses – has a report from contributor Eli of “Tomorrow’s News Today Atlanta“, that the famous Grindhouse burgers of the Sweet Auburn Curb Market might be building a second home in Decatur.

“After the success of his original location at Sweet Auburn Curb Market, owner Alex Brounstein has his sights set on a second location. He’s been scouting metro neighborhoods and has narrowed his search to downtown Decatur and the Cheshire Bridge/LaVista ‘hood. Since his hope is to rehab a second generation space, my money is on Decatur being the winner. Best part of all? The new space should be nearly 3,000 square feet! Great news, since the lunch wait at the original location tended to get too long for folks on a time crunch. Mr. Brounstein, as of this week, claims he does have a couple specific sites in mind, though for obvious reasons, he couldn’t elaborate. The goal is to have something in place within the next 60-90 days, and have an opening date by year’s end.”

h/t: Andisheh

Ellen and Ann at Mingei World Arts just sent out this alert…

On Thursday and Friday this week, Mingei will donate 10% of total sales to Partners in Health for earthquake relief. We will also be accepting cash and check donations which we will forward. This organization, founded by Paul Farmer and Ophelia Dahl, has been working in Haiti for many years. Please read about their work here.

With all the scams popping up out there, it makes sense to rely on your fellow residents with intimate knowledge and the right connections to make sure your donations are spent wisely.

If you know of other local businesses or organizations that are collecting funds to help the Haitians in Port-au-Prince, please post below.

Garrett notes that Andrea Berry has just posted video of the first portion of City Schools of Decatur’s Tuesday Community Forum online.

The video includes the voices of community members, the CSD Board of Ed, and the Superintendent discussing details of the plan.  Personally, I was very glad to see the Board and Superintendent offer reassurances to the community.  At this point, no one can answer everyone’s acreage questions, and we can each continue to elaborate on our personal comfort levels regarding site size, but I appreciated that the Board and Superintendent were willing to relay their reasons for being comfortable with 5th Avenue’s current size.

I hope everyone with an opinion/interest in the 5th Avenue rebuild will take the time to watch it.

FYI: Andrea pledges that part 2 would be available Friday morning.

A week ago, Beverly sent in a note inquiring to the current status of the Pharmhouse Restaurant along the Sycamore sidewalk on the southern side of Decatur Square.  She recounted…

We’ve tried to get in there a couple of times since Christmas but it’s never open. I hate to see this one close so quickly – we really like it!

At that time, I sent an email along to Chef Wayne, but never received a reply.

This morning, Billy revived my Pharmhouse curiousity with a similar question “…what is up with pharmhouse? Did they close?”

Unable to make person-to-person contact, I humbly turn this question over to the masses.  Anyone know more?