the DeKalb FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2019 • VOL.

24, NO 14• 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

FANS OF ANIME AND GAMING

TO COME OUT AND PLAY
BY TAYLOR ROBINS
Taylor@dekalbchamp.com

T
his year marks the 15th year
that the self-proclaimed
“geek culture” convention
MomoCon will come to Atlanta May
23-26.
The convention to be held at the
Georgia World Congress Center,
is run by DeKalb County couple
Jessica Merriman and Chris
Stuckey.
Merriman launched MomoCon
in 2004 on the Georgia Tech Campus
because she had a “desire to expand
the community around Georgia Tech
who liked anime and video games,”
according to Stuckey. The first
convention in 2005, which funded
and supported by the Georgia Tech
anime club, garnered 700 attendees.
In 2018, the convention had 35,000
attendees and this year’s event is
expected to have 38,000 attendees.
“It was really easy to grow
quickly because word of mouth is

SEE MOMOCON ON PAGE 6

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OPINION
Georgia’s 'Heartbeat Bill': designed to save lives or promote a political agenda?
It seems odd to me that anyone
would have a problem with the
preservation of human life; but
apparently there are many who do not
hold that same sentiment.
We heard the discussions, laced
with political rhetoric, for months
prior to the Georgia gubernatorial race
as now governor Brian Kemp made
restricting access to late-term abortions
a campaign issue.
While I greatly value a woman’s
right to make decisions that have
long-term implications on their lives
and their health, I also value the lives
of those who have no voice and are
incapable of protecting themselves.
HB481, or the Living Infants
Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act was
signed into law by Kemp on May 7
just days after a May 3 statement from
Andrea Young, executive director of
The American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) of Georgia, promised to take
Georgia to court if the governor signed
the bill.
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#ItsInTheChampion
John Hewitt
johnh@dekalbchamp.com
Opponents of the bill argue that
limiting abortions at six weeks, or
as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be
detected, often does not allow women
enough time to confirm the pregnancy
or schedule an appointment with a
doctor. Opponents also say legislation
that limits a woman’s right of choice
is an infringement on their individual
rights.
Of course, an expectant mother
has rights as all members of a civilized
society should have, but unfortunately
in the case of an unwanted pregnancy,
that newly created life should also have
rights.
DEKALB FREE PRESS • FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2019 • Page 3
According to Planned Parenthood,
pregnancy can take up to six days after
intercourse for the sperm and egg to
join and form a fertilized egg and six
to 10 additional days for the fertilized
egg to implant itself in the lining of the
uterus.
Based on Planned Parenthood’s
information, it can take up to two
weeks after unprotected sex for a
woman to confirm pregnancy. But
many in the medical profession suggest
waiting until the first day of a missed
menstrual cycle before testing is
accurate.
If it takes two weeks to confirm a
pregnancy, a woman has approximately
four more weeks to decide if she
wants to allow the embryo to become
a human being. Four weeks may seem
like a short period of time to some, but
it would seem that most sexually active
women would already know whether
they want a child.
If a sexually active woman uses
little or no protection, it seems logical
that they would be mindful of their
menstrual cycle and the inherent risks
of unprotected sex.
An online search for abortion
clinics in the Atlanta area showed
numerous clinics that offer same day
abortion services
I believe that most people are
compassionate and caring individuals
who value the sanctity of life at any
age. I also believe that some who are
adamantly supportive of, or opposed
to, restricting abortions are acting with
political motivation and pouncing on
a topic that they feel will energize
support by those most likely to prefer
them as a candidate and therefore tell
those potential voters what the believe
they want to hear.
If the issue of abortion rights is
being used by candidates to garner
support, I can’t think of any topic that
would be less offensive than promoting
loss of lives to gain voter support.
OPINION
Inside the First Amendment
BY LATA NOTT
If you’re reading this
column in your local newspaper,
congratulations! Just by skimming
your eyeballs over this page,
whether it’s in print or online,
you’re doing a vital service for your
hometown, and for democracy as a
whole. (Go ahead and take the rest
of the day off.)
It’s no secret that local
journalism is in trouble and
has been for quite some time.
According to a 2017 report from
the Pew Research Center, the
weekday circulation for U.S. daily
newspapers has been on the decline
for 28 consecutive years. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics notes that
between 1990 and 2016, the number
of newspaper employees in the U.S.
declined from 456,300 to 183,000.
Despite the vitriol that
publications such as The New
York Times and The Washington
Post attract from the Trump
administration, it’s not the national
news media outlets that we need
to worry about. Their subscription
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numbers are on the rise. It’s the
smaller newspapers that serve local
markets that are suffering. Many
are chronically understaffed. Some
have shuttered altogether. A map
created by the Columbia Journalism
Review reveals that communities all
across the United States have been
“left with no daily local news outlet
at all.”
What’s the cause of all these
news deserts? It’s the internet (to
paraphrase the Simpsons, “the cause
of, and solution to, all of life’s
problems”). Local newspapers lost
print subscriptions when people
started reading the news online (and
came to expect it to be free). They
lost another major source of revenue
when their classified sections were
supplanted by Craigslist. Their
digital editions have to compete for
eyeballs and advertising revenue
with websites that traffic in national
scandals, political commentary and
cat videos.
This isn’t just a financial
hardship for your local newspaper.
According to a new paper co-
authored by three professors of
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P. O. Box 1347, Decatur, GA 30031-1347;
Send email to Johnh@dekalbchamp.com
FAX To: (404) 370-3903; Phone: (404) 373-7779.
Deadline for news releases and advertising:
Thursday, one week prior to publication date.
DEKALB FREE PRESS • MAY 24, 2019 • Page 4
finance, it’s a financial hardship for
your entire town. The researchers
looked at cities that lost newspapers
between 1996 and 2015, and
found that within three years of a
newspaper’s closure, the costs for
municipal bonds and revenue bonds
increased for these cities. Here’s
how they explained the connection:
“Revenue bonds are commonly
issued to finance local projects such
as schools and hospitals, and are
backed by the revenues generated
by those projects...[T]hese bonds
are rarely regulated by the state
government.
A local newspaper provides
an ideal monitoring agent for
these revenue-generating projects,
as mismanaged projects can be
exposed by investigative reporters
employed by the local newspaper.
When a newspaper closes, this
monitoring mechanism also ceases
to exist, leading to a greater risk that
the cash flows generated by these
projects will be mismanaged.”
In other words, local
newspapers provide a public good,
one that can be measured in dollars
Publisher: Staff Reporters:
John Hewitt Carla Parker
Horace Holloman
Chief Financial Officer: Taylor Robins
Dr. Earl D. Glenn
Social Media Manager:
Production Manager: Donna Seay
Kemesha Wadley
The DeKalb Free Press is published each Friday
by ACE III Communications, Inc.,
114 New Street, Suite E, Decatur, GA. 30030
Phone (404) 373-7779.
www.championnewspaper.com
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and cents. The problem is that
today’s marketplace doesn’t really
reward them for this. A n article
about amazing dogs will always
generate more advertising revenue
than coverage of a city finance
committee meeting. (You know
which one you’re more likely to
click on. Just admit it to yourself
and move on.) But the latter article
could actually prevent municipal
corruption. Even if no one reads
it, public officials are more likely
to behave ethically when they
know they’re being monitored. As
citizens, we tend to take this effect
for granted. Maybe we need to stop
thinking about our local newspapers
as businesses that need to turn a
profit and start thinking about them
as utilities that we need to finance
for our own good.
Lata Nott is executive director
of the First Amendment Center
of the Freedom Forum Institute.
Contact her via email at lnott@
freedomforum.org, or follow her on
Twitter at @LataNott.
STATEMENT FROM THE
PUBLISHER
We sincerely appreciate the
discussion surrounding this and any
issue of interest to DeKalb County.
The Champion was founded in 1991
expressly to provide a forum for
discourse for all community residents
on all sides of an issue. We have no
desire to make the news only to
report news and opinions to effect
a more educated citizenry that will
ultimately move our community
forward. We are happy to present
ideas for discussion; however,
we make every effort to avoid
printing information submitted to
us that is known to be false and/or
assumptions penned as fact.
LOCAL
MOMOCON Continued From Page 1A
[the] primary drive for any
event… people bring their
friends,” said Stuckey.
Similar to San Diego
Comic-Con and Dragon
Con─held in Atlanta
during Labor Day
weekend─MomoCon
focuses on Japanese and
American animation,
gaming and comics. The
event also features celebrity
panels and attendees
participating in cosplay.
According to Stuckey,
40 percent of MomoCon
and Dragon Con attendees
participate in cosplay─the
practice of dressing up as
a character from a movie,
book, or video game─as
opposed to Comin-Con’s 20
percent.
MomoCon’s steady
attendance growth is
attributed to Georgia’s film
industry and the number of
comic book movies made in
the state such as Marvel’s
Black Panther which
opened in theaters in 2018,
according to Stuckey.
“People can be more
open about liking comics
and anime and they’re
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DEKALB FREE PRESS • FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2019 • Page 6
willing to go to an event
celebrating it. Atlanta has
a lot of younger people
coming to the city. It also
has made Atlanta feel
cooler,” said Stuckey.
Based on MomoCon’s
data, gaming is more
popular than anime and
comics. To accommodate
their attendee’s interest,
the convention includes
Esports─organized,
multiplayer video game
competitions─and 60
gaming tournaments.
Stuckey said the gaming
aspect of the convention is
its strongest. Stuckey said
MomoCon officials learn
of their attendees’ interests
through social media and
through surveys.
“Responding to the
community allows us to
be adaptive so that we can
be in the forefront,” said
MomoCon includes gaming during its annual convention that also celebrates anime and comics. Photo provided by MoMoCon.
Stuckey.
Along with more
activities for guests and
longer hours, the convention Guy and Emperor’s New work an entire year on this rewarding experience,” said
will host 100 celebrity Groove. conference and it is all plans Stuckey. “Even if you’re not
guests, including Patrick “I enjoy seeing on paper, and then you see a geek, there’s a lot to do
Warburton, who has everything come together; the vendors and attendees and check out.”
voiced characters on Family that’s my favorite part. You participating, and that’s a
Know the Facts!