Decatur Police just sent out this note and sent along a photo…

On 07/14/2104 at approximately 8:16 am, Decatur police responded to a suspicious person call on East Parkwood Road.  A resident reported seeing a person taking mail out of mailboxes and provided a detailed description and direction of travel.  An officer located the suspect in the 1100 block of West Howard Avenue carrying a bag with a large amount of unopened mail.  When officers attempted to detain the suspect he tried to pull away but was handcuffed without further incident.  Mail belonging to a total of 36 victims, to include credit cards and a driver’s license, from various addresses in Decatur, DeKalb County and Atlanta was recovered.  The suspect, a 29-year-old male from Roswell, was charged with theft by taking, theft by receiving stolen property and obstruction of an officer.

Decatur officers have made several arrests in recent months for mail theft due to community members calling quickly and providing detailed descriptions and direction of travel after observing suspects taking items from mailboxes or going to multiple mailboxes.  We want to thank everyone for continuing to watch out for your neighbors and calling when suspicious behavior is observed.

Mail theft continues to be a problem in Decatur as well as the Metro-Atlanta area.  One of the easier prevention strategies is to install a locking mailbox insert or locking mailbox that allows mail to be placed through a slot by postal carriers but requires a key to open and retrieve the mail.

Photo provided by Decatur Police Department

The City of Decatur sent out this announcement today.  Decatur Next states that drafts will also be made available on that site for online review.

Unified Development Ordinance: PUBLIC REVIEW AND COMMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Join us to fine-tune the draft.

The Unified Development Ordinance process has taken our existing development regulations, tidied up their inconsistencies, incorporated certain goals from the Strategic Plan, and consolidated everything into a single, easy, unified document. It’s now ready for your review and comments. Please join us at any of the following drop-by open house meetings:

Monday, July 21st

• Decatur Recreation Center, 231 Sycamore St.
• 9am-4pm

Tuesday, July 22nd

• Decatur Recreation Center, 231 Sycamore St.
• 9am-4pm

Wednesday, July 23rd

• The Solarium in the Oakhurst Village
• 10am-Noon and 7pm-9pm

Thursday, July 24th

• Decatur City Hall
• City Commission Meeting Room
• 10am-Noon and 7pm-9pm

Feel free to discuss/evaluate them independently.  I feel like there may be some pretty strong opinions on this one.

Photo of fantastical, movie set froyo shop courtesy of Bryan

All you old “Save Westchester!” folks, take note and take out your wallets.

Westchester Elementary School will reopen its doors to students with the start of school on August 4th.  Why not celebrate with a new t-shirt?

The new Westchester PTA is offering this t-shirt online for $15 with this note…

The teachers have already selected the school colors which are Orange, Blue, & Red!

Each student at Westchester will be provided a field trip shirt by the PTA.  These t-shirts will be distributed on August 1 at the Meet & Greet at school.  

However, you can use this site to order a Westchester Sign design for yourself, spouse, grandparents, children, etc. Let’s start this first school year back at Westchester with a bang, and a sea of orange, blue, and red!  

Related – you can view some Westchester renovation photos on CSD’s Facebook page.

The Decatur Book Festival sent out this announcement this morning…

July 15, 2014 (Atlanta) — The 2014 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical (AJC DBF) will release the 2014 Keynote Address tickets for sale at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 5. Famed American literary icon Joyce Carol Oates will deliver the Keynote Address at 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 29 at Emory University’s Schwartz Center for Performing Arts (1700 N. Decatur Road, Suite 251).

Tickets for the Keynote Address are required, free, and limited to two per person. They can be collected by visiting the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts; by calling the Arts at Emory Box Office ); or by visiting www.Tickets.Arts.Emory.edu. Phone and online orders will incur a four dollar processing fee. A limited number of tickets are also available at A Cappella Books, Charis Books & More, Eagle Eye Books, and Little Shop of Stories.

At the Keynote Address, Joyce Carol Oates will launch her new short story collection, Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories. The new collection has been described as “insightful, disturbing, and breathtaking in its lyrical precision,” and is said to display Oates’ “magnificent ability to make visceral the terror, hurt, and uncertainty that lurks at the edges of ordinary lives.”

Best known for her works of fiction, Oates’ novels include Blonde, a bold reimagining of the inner life of Marilyn Monroe, and We Were the Mulvaneys, which follows the disintegration of an American family in the late 20th Century. Since 1963, 40 of Oates’ works have been included in the New York Times annual list of notable books. Among her many honors are two O. Henry Prizes, two Bram Stoker Awards, the PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story, the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Book Critics Circle, the Mailer Prize for Lifetime Achievement, the PEN Center USA Award for Lifetime Achievement, and The Poets & Writers Distinguished Lifetime Award. In 2010, reflecting the widespread esteem in which her work is held, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama.

More information about the Keynote Address can be found here:

www.DecaturBookFestival.com/2014/activities/keynote.php.

Photo courtesy of Decatur Book Festival website