the DeKalb FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2019 • VOL.

24, NO 9• FREE

Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Stone Mountain, Stonecrest and Tucker • A PUBLICATION OF ACE III COMMUNICATIONS

Hippity hop
toward Easter fun

Two happy Easter egg hunters count their treasures at last year’s Brookhaven Easter Egg Scramble. Photo provided by the City of Brookhaven.

Spring is here and Brookhaven

Chamblee
Chamblee First United Methodist Church,
the flagship holiday Brookhaven’s Parks and Recreation
Department will host its annual Easter Egg
4147 Chamblee Dunwoody Road, will host an
Easter egg hunt on its front lawn April 13 at
of the season is Scramble where egg hunters will be split
into age groups with separate areas for each,
10-11 a.m.

around the corner. starting at 10 a.m. April 20.
“We invite all families to come out to
Blackburn Park to experience this great spring
tradition,” said parks and recreation director
BY TAYLOR ROBINS Brian Borden.
taylor@dekalbchamp.com The event located in Blackburn Park is free
and food trucks will be available.
Brookhaven will also host an
Residents will not have to go far to Eggstaordinary Easter Egg Hunt to
celebrate Easter, which this year is April 21, as accommodate extra sensory or special needs
DeKalb County will be home to numerous egg children April 13. The event will be held
hunts, services and other events. at Lynwood Park 10 a.m. to noon and will
provide special considerations for vision- and
Avondale Estates hearing-impaired youngsters as well as those
The city of Avondale Estates will hold its in wheelchairs and children who are sensory-
Easter egg hunt and dog parade at Willis Park sensitive.
April 20 10 a.m. to noon.
Decatur
First Baptist Church of Decatur, 308
Clairemont Ave, will host an Easter Egg Hunt
April 13 starting at 11 a.m.
The event will feature baskets filled with
arts and crafts by Treehouse Kid & Craft, story
time with Little Shop of Stories and snacks
from Steel City Pops.
Mason Mill Recreation Center, 1340
McConnell Drive, will host its Easter egg hunt
April 20 10-11:30 a.m.
Higher Calling Ministries will host a free
Easter egg hunt April 13 from 10 a.m. to noon.
During the event there will be face
painting, balloon twisting, a bounce house and
games. The event will be held at 2901 Wesley
Chapel Road.

SEE HOP ON PAGE 6

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OPINION
Bump stock ban long overdue
Unless the United States
Supreme Court decides to overrule
President Donald Trump’s
immediate ban on owning, buying or
selling the devices that can convert a
semi-automatic weapon into a rapid-
fire–almost continuous-fire–weapon;
the device will soon be illegal to
own.
While many gun owners and
gun rights advocates are vehemently
opposed to the measure that was
twice approved by the Obama
administration, even the National
Rifle Association has expressed the
organization’s support of the move
by saying “The NRA believes that
devices designed to allow semi-
automatic rifles to function like fully
automatic rifles should be subject to
additional regulations.”
I am not a gun owner, but do
not oppose gun ownership. I do,
however, believe strongly that every
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John Hewitt
johnh@dekalbchamp.com
gun should be registered and that
every person who legally purchases
a gun, other than a BB gun or low-
powered air rifle, should undergo
extensive background checks that
would include a mental assessment.
I also strongly support the
concept of the so-called “cooling
off” period that would delay a gun
purchaser’s ability to immediately
access a newly purchased gun.
Far too often there have been
mass shootings such as the 2017 Las
Vegas shooting at an outdoor concert
venue that killed 58 and resulted in
DEKALB FREE PRESS • FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2019 • Page 4
more than 800 injuries from either
gunshot wounds or the ensuing panic
after the massacre began. Vegas
shooter Stephen Paddock used
bump stocks that allowed him to fire
many more rounds of bullets than
would have been possible had he not
had the devices.
It is difficult for me to
comprehend why anyone would
need, or want, a device that
essentially turns a regular rifle
into a rapid-fire machine gun.
One exception would be for skeet
shooting—which I happen to enjoy
doing—but if bump stocks were
allowed on shooting ranges, it is
a safe assumption that they would
eventually make it into the hands of
those who should not have access to
them.
Those who currently own bump
stocks, under the proposed ban, can
destroy the devices on their own
and or make an appointment with
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives to surrender
the devices.
It is also safe to assume that
with authorities having no way of
knowing who owns bump stocks that
there will be many who knowingly
ignore the law and retain ownership.
However, failure of bump stock
owners to either destroy or surrender
the devices could result in felony
charges, a $250,000 fine and up to 10
years in prison.
Hopefully, the Supreme Court
upholds the ban. Our nation, and
the world, will be a safer place to
exist and if one life is spared by the
measure, it more than compensates
for any inconvenience those who
own bump stocks may endure.
OPINION DEKALB FREE PRESS • APRIL 12, 2019 • Page 5

Some inconvenient truths

“Welcome to Arlington National
Cemetery, Our Nation’s Most Sacred
Shrine.  Please Remember:  These
Are Hallowed Grounds,” greeting
inscribed at the entrance to Arlington
National Cemetery.
 
The American Civil War ended
154 years ago as Appomattox treaty
meetings got underway on April 8,
1865. This ended five years of conflict
that resulted in more than a million
U.S. casualties and 655,000-plus
deaths. Union troops suffered more
than 364,000 deaths and Confederate
troops more than 290,000. The war
gave America its greatest loss of life
in the history of our nation, and the
Confederacy lost almost 25 percent of
its White male population.
 For more than a century since,
the majority of southern states
have commemorated or celebrated
Confederate Memorial Day on April
26—the anniversary of the completion
of treaties and Confederate
surrender. Georgia still has a state
holiday on the fourth Monday in
April, but it no longer has a name or
official cause for celebration. Gov.
Nathan Deal made that change,
which was both practical and healing
in its intentions. However, calls for
erasing all recognition of the valor
and sacrifice of more than 900,000
Confederate troops is another issue
entirely.
 Perhaps the most sacred cemetery
in our nation is Arlington National
Cemetery. Arlington was originally
the 1,100-acre working plantation
and home of Gen. Robert E. Lee,
his wife and children. Lee married
Mary Custis, who inherited Arlington
from her father George Washington
Park Custis in 1857. Custis was the
grandson of Martha Washington
and had been adopted by Gen.
George Washington. Custis built his
showplace mansion atop a hillside
looking across the Potomac at our
nation’s capital in 1802. Running
the plantation required the efforts of
nearly 200 slaves, who also became
the property of Gen. Lee and his
family in 1857. Prior to that time,
Lee, a military career man with long
tours away from home and out of the
country in Mexico, had not previously
owned slaves. By coincidence or
and sold their claim to the government we pass over Confederate Memorial
for $150,000 (roughly $3 million in Day this year—and recognize and
‘One Man’s today’s dollars).  celebrate Memorial Day in May—we
Today there are more than 400,000 should all try and remember that.
Opinion’ U.S. veterans honorably buried on the
lands of Arlington.
Bill Crane  And for more than 150 years Bill Crane also serves as a political
bill.csicrane@gmail.com since, widows, descendants and analyst and commentator for Channel
survivors of veterans on both 2’s Action News, WSB-AM News/Talk
sides of the Civil War have met, 750 and now 95.5 FM, as well as a
happenstance, it is interesting to prayed and honored their long columnist for The Champion, DeKalb
note here that later Union Forces dead at Arlington. If it can happen Free Press and Georgia Trend. Crane
Commanding Gen., Ulysses S. Grant, there; it should be possible most is a DeKalb native and business owner,
was himself a slave-owner until 1859.  anywhere. This simply requires the living in Scottdale. You can reach
 Not long after Confederate will of reconciliation and the spirit him or comment on a column at bill.
troops fired on Union forces at to make our nation stronger, and not csicrane@gmail.com. 
Fort Sumter, S.C. in April 1861, destroy itself with more self-inflicted
President Abraham Lincoln called wounds and endless self-criticism. As
up 75,000 Union troops to surround
and protect our nation’s capital, so
devastated by the British during
the War of 1812. Virginia seceded
the Union in late April of that year,
and Lee resigned his Union officer
commission and declined (twice)
an offer by Lincoln to lead Union
forces. Arlington and its hillsides
overlooking Washington, D.C.
would have been the perfect place
for Confederate cannons to shell the
capitol. A month after Lee accepted
his Confederate commission, Union
troops moved to confiscate Arlington.
 Warned by a Union officer with
ties to the Lee family, Mary Custis
learned of the impending seizure of
Arlington by the Union. She gathered
family mementoes, silver and the
personal papers of President George
Washington (then still under family
control) and Gen. Lee, and fled to
Richmond. The Lee family would
never again own or control Arlington.
Though the Arlington plantation home
still stands and is offered as part of
tours of the cemetery, little is said
or explained about how our nation’s
most sacred shrine came to be.
 In 1877, Lee’s oldest son, George
Washington Custis Lee, sued the
U.S. government, seeking to recover
his family estate. Though in the midst
of Reconstruction, the case eventually
went all the way to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which upheld the Lee family
claim to the land. The decision in
essence said that our government
can’t confiscate someone’s land
simply because he had led an army in
rebellion against it. The Lee family
was not eager to return to a graveyard,

FREEPRESS
the DeKalb Publisher: Staff Reporters:
John Hewitt Carla Parker STATEMENTFROMTHE
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LOCAL
COUNTYWIDE
GeorgiastaterepresentativesandopponentsofHouseBill481poseforapictureatthecapitolbuilding.
Disputeover‘heartbeat
bill’ not over
BY HORACE HOLLOMAN
horace@dekalbchamp.com
A bill that would ban abortions
after a heartbeat is detected will need a
signature from Gov. Brian Kemp to go
into law after Georgia lawmakers passed
the legislation in this year’s session.
Proponents of the bill say the
legislation protects Georgia’s “most
vulnerable” residents. The bill, titled
House Bill 481, or the Living Infants
Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act, would
prohibit women from terminating their
pregnancies after a heartbeat is first
detected, which could be as early as six
weeks after conception.
Kemp has spoken in favor of the
legislation and will likely sign it into
law.
“Georgia values life. We stand up
for the innocent and speak for those
who cannot speak for themselves. The
legislature’s bold action reaffirms our
priorities and who we are as a state.
I thank these lawmakers for their
leadership and applaud their undeniable
courage,” Kemp said in a statement.
The LIFE act also allows mothers to
collect child support from fathers and
permits parents to claim their unborn
child as a state tax deduction.
Some DeKalb legislators said the bill
is too restrictive and they will continue
to oppose the LIFE act by urging
Kemp not to sign. State Rep. Dar’shun
Kendrick, D-Lithonia, delivered
statements from individuals opposing
the bill to Kemp’s office.
“I get emails and calls all the time
DEKALB FREE PRESS • FRIDAY, APRIL 12, 2019 • Page 6
about how dangerous this bill is...
especially for individuals outside of the
metro-Atlanta area,” Kendrick said. “I
have gotten plenty of calls about how
bad this bill is for Georgia.”
Kendrick received national media
attention during this year’s legislative
session for her proposed “testicular
bill of rights” that would have required
men to get permission from their sex
partner before obtaining a prescription
for erectile dysfunction medication, pay
child support when the woman is six
weeks and one day pregnant, wait 24
hours before purchasing porn or sex toys
and ban vasectomy procedures. She said
the bill, which was never officially filed,
was drafted to start a conversation about
reproduction rights for men and women.
Kendrick said despite Kemp’s approval
of the bill, she will still urge him not to
sign.
“I believe that we should fight for the
women of Georgia until the very end,”
Kendrick said.
Rep. Renitta Shannon, D-Decatur,
said in a statement she will continue to
urge Kemp not to sign the LIFE act.
“It is unconstitutional. It is
unconscionable. And I will not stand
idly by while it happens,” Shannon
said. “Three weeks ago, I promised
myself that if the speaker put this bill on
the floor, he would have to physically
remove me to get me to stop fighting
against it. As a Black Georgia woman
who has had an abortion, I know
firsthand how destructive this bill is, and
I said so. I will continue to say so.”
Clarkstonwins‘greenest
city’ award
BY CARLA PARKER
carla@dekalbchamp.com
Clarkston is the most eco-friendly community in Georgia,
according to a group of scientists.
The 2019 “Greenest City Award” for Georgia was announced
April 3 by Insurify, an auto insurance website.
The award recognizes the city with the most eco-friendly
driving behaviors per state. Insurify officials said its data team
analyzed driver practices, vehicle types, city compactness, park
value, air quality and renewable energy programs to determine
the greenest community in each state.
Clarkston City Manager Robin Gomez said the city is excited
and honored to be recognized by Insurify as the Greenest City in
Georgia.
“Certainly, quite an honor that speaks extremely highly of
our mayor and city council’s efforts to promote a sustainable,
eco-friendly, walkable city,” Gomez said. “Numerous activities
and programs— from the ‘10-Minute Walk’ (to a park) to a non-
smoking city to transitioning to a 100 percent clean, renewable
energy city by 2050 to the city’s continued investment in its
redesigned, safer, more accessible streets and sidewalks—
Clarkston continues to lead and to innovate in championing and
protecting our environment.
“We are extremely appreciative of the recognition and will
continue celebrating our accomplishments with additional
eco-friendly/green initiatives including hybrid police vehicles,
renewed and expanded park lands such as our Friendship Forrest,
and continuing to encourage alternative, cleaner energy sources,”
Gomez added.
Insurify officials said it analyzed its database of more than 1.6
million car insurance applications to rank each state’s cities by
their collective vehicular carbon footprint. States with inadequate
city data were omitted from the analysis, according to Insurify.
Insurify said the scoring procedure factors in fuel-efficiency,
engine displacement, drivetrain, annual mileage and vehicles per
household to identify the top five cities per state with the greenest
drivers. They added scoring boosts in accordance with statistics
on citywide renewable electricity programs, park quality, urban
sprawl and air quality index to determine the most eco-friendly
city in each state.
HOP Continued From Page 1A
Lithonia
D.U.T.Y Mentoring Program will host its annual Easter Egg
Hunt Fundraiser at Redan Recreation Center, 1839 Phillips Road,
April 20 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The event will include an egg hunt, sack race, face painting
and egg coloring.
Stone Mountain
Residents can attend an Easter Sunrise Service April 21 at
Stone Mountain Park, 1000 Robert E Lee Blvd.
Stone Mountain Sunrise Association will present two
simultaneous, non-denominational Easter services at the top of
the mountain and at the base of the mountain on the Memorial
Lawn, starting at 7 a.m.
Tucker
Northlake Church of Christ, 1625 Colledge Road, is inviting
residents to join in snacks, crafts, religious stories and its annual
Easter egg hunt April 20 from 10-11:30 a.m.
Games, prizes, inflatables and an Easter egg hunt will be at
Lilburn Alliance Church, located at 5915 Lawrenceville Highway.
The Easter event, located at 5915 Lawrenceville Highway, is
April 20 from 9-11 a.m.