Trinity Place, Decatur GA (pic courtesy of Don)

At last night’s Decatur City Commission meeting, residents from the Decatur Terrace neighborhood submitted a petition to be included in Decatur’s Annexation Master Plan. Currently the neighborhood is part of Avondale’s master plan, but these Decatur Terrace residents have asked to be removed.

According to representative Renee Valdes, 86% of residents of the 110 Decatur Terrace residents who participated in this effort support inclusion in Decatur’s annexation plan.

According to the petitioners, the neighborhood is made up of 147 residential parcels. The neighborhood is bordered by College Ave to the north, Craige Avenue to the South and Arcadia Avenue to the west.

Annexation petitions can be filed with the Decatur City Manager’s Office through this Friday, October 24th. And for all the annexation addicts now craving a Master Plan timeline, here it is through the end of the year.

Decatur Police released this late yesterday…

On 10/17/14 at approximately 9:09 pm, Decatur Police responded to meet with a parent on Madison Avenue regarding a previous suspicious person incident.  The complainant reported his nine-year-old daughter was traveling home from school on her bike at approximately 3:20 pm and noticed an older black male, with a bike, standing on the sidewalk in the area of East Lake Drive and 2nd Avenue.  She rode past the male and he then proceeded to ride his bike and travel in the same direction, taking the same three turns as she traveled home.  When she turned into her driveway, the male continued on down the street and did not attempt to make contact with her.  She informed her parents of the incident later that night.

This incident could have been a simple coincidence or it could have been a situation where a child was intentionally being followed.  It can be hard to talk to children about safety and what to do in certain situations when we want to prepare them without scaring them.  It is important for parents to have regular, open dialogue about safety issues so that the information is reinforced and the topic is not taboo and scary.  For more resources and tips on talking with your children, please visit one of the following websites

http://safelyeverafter.com/index.html

http://www.kidpower.org/library/article/safe-without-scared/

http://www.ncpc.org/topics/violent-crime-and-personal-safety/strangers

Following up with DPD, they informed us that the child’s house was before the last intersection before the street dead-ended.