Who knew that a “paint on a road” story could have a part II?

First, in case you missed it here, the city has posted a detailed explanation of their sharrow plan-o.  Here’s a blurb…

Ponce de Leon and Sycamore Drive were chosen for sharrows because they are streets that provide important connections through town and have a wide variety of users on the street. Ultimately, the city will continue to place sharrows on all the streets in the Decatur Bicycle Network that call for an “on-street facility” and do not meet the requirements for bike lanes.

And then this report from Sharon this afternoon…

I was just interviewed (on my bike) by one of the local news channels about the sharrows on Ponce. (Maybe CBS, but I’m not sure. And of course I didn’t think to ask when they’d be airing the clip.) Hopefully they interviewed people who are better at thinking on their feet than I am, as I didn’t have much to say… but I did give props to DecaturMetro when they were surprised I had heard of a sharrow.

UPDATE:  Here’s the link to the video.

A little late with this, but Kathy just pointed out this CBS Atlanta video and story from noon today that showcases the clean-up of a enormous tree that fell across Fairview Avenue during last night’s storms.

I swear, if I talked or reported stuff like this, you people would laugh me right off the internet.

After CBS Atlanta reported earlier this week that Marietta City School employees had been serving children expired food for lunch, all the Atlanta news agencies have been buzzing about potentially expired lunch food in school warehouses and refrigerators.

Somehow the City Schools of Decatur got itself wrapped into a CBS follow-up story yesterday where they gave the network access to the CSD’s lunchrooms and to the school system’s nutritional director Allison Goodman.

However, instead of highlighting to complete LACK of expired food or food warehouses at CSD, OR the school system’s focus on local produce initiatives, CBS Atlanta honed in on an off-hand comment by Goodman that CBS Atlanta reporter Crystal Cruz deemed “shocking”: cheese near-expiration found at the back of a freezer!

Feel free to watch the segment for yourself HERE.

I’d make more of a joke out of the fact that a DeKalb County School Board member threatened to “slug” a CBSAtlanta reporter if the larger nepotism story wasn’t so darn concerning.

CBS Atlanta has learned [DeKalb County School Board member Zepora] Roberts has two daughters employed by the school system; one who got a job, and another who got promoted during the time their mother has been in power.

In Robert’s anger she was quick to point out she’s not the only highly influential administrator with relatives being given jobs and promotions. In fact, she’s made a list.

“There was Jim Henson, who was a Superintendent who had two children working for the system and it was not an issue. Dr Hallford had his son, his daughter, his in-law and everybody else.”

The video showing Roberts’ threatening reporter Wendy Saltzman is embedded in the article linked to above.

UPDATE: This new AJC article titled “Parents of dead 5-year-old boy were going through a divorce” gives greater detail of the issues surrounding the DeToma family prior to the horrific incident yesterday.  Thanks to karass for pointing it out.

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According to this CBS Atlanta video, Gary DeToma Sr. confessed to Decatur Police last night that he suffocated his five year-old son and also tired to kill the younger of the two boys as well.

A DM reader has reached out to a relative about a potential vigil for Gary DeToma Jr.  I will keep the community updated if there are any developments.

CBS Atlanta reported yesterday that the city of Atlanta has deemed the “AJC Reach” – a bunch of ads stuffed in a plastic sleeve  – unlawful under the city’s ordinance litter law as a “handbill”, since it’s thrown onto the properties on subscribers and non-subscribers alike.  Some residents around Atlanta dislike the tossed ads so much that they’ve created a website www.stopajcreach.com. [h/t: InDecatur]

In the segment, CBS attempted to get a response from the AJC on the city’s stance that if the newspaper didn’t change their method of delivery they would be cited.  But it was to no avail.

A quick look through Decatur’s city code reveals a similar law…

Sec. 70-3. Same–Depositing, distributing on private property.

It shall be unlawful for any person to distribute or deposit any handbills, advertisements, printed matter or rubbish upon any real property located in the city without the consent of the owner thereof.

(Code 1967, § 3-3)

I’ll verify with the city, but to me it sounds like the AJC Reach is also unlawful in Decatur.

Photo courtesy of www.stopAJCreach.com

After DeKalb’s budget for the coming year passed with no furlough days, no pay on holidays (police still have to work on holidays), and no merit pay increases, some DeKalb police officers on the DeKalb Officers blog threatened to stop giving out traffic tickets in protest.

That led to this CBS Atlanta report…

And that led the DeKalb Officers blog to respond with this statement, which reads in part…

We all took an oath to protect and serve the citizens of DeKalb County, and we intend to do just that. If you have a true emergency or are in need of protection from being a victim, especially a victim of violence, we are coming.

…But on the other hand, when it comes to traffic enforcement, we have discretion and lots of it. During these times when the commissioners are forcing us to work on holidays for no pay, we may just look the other way when you ease through that traffic sign or fail to use a turn signal. We envision traffic citations decreasing and warning tickets increasing. But please, not for one second believe we will allow anyone to place someone ease’s life in danger.

The commission has suggested traffic fines be increased by 3%. We don’t agree. That is just another back door tax on the motorist within DeKalb County. We are not tax collectors. We are law enforcement officers.