The rally annually draws thousands of people, whose number typically include nearly every candidate of both parties running statewide or on the local county level. Like the old cowboy movies in which everyone leaves their guns at the door, a good time is had by all. There are no speeches or pontificating, just country music or, sometimes, bluegrass. And lots of country-style corn, pinto beans, tomatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, cole slaw, cornbread, fatback, sliced onions, Mayfield ice cream, tea and of course, Coca-Cola.
Tickets are $20 per person, with the proceeds split between Warren’s re-election campaign and the Cobb County Youth Museum. For more call (770) 429-8287 or visit www.neilwarrenforsheriff.org.
MORE POLITICS: Retiring Cobb District Attorney Pat Head told Around Town on Friday that he is endorsing John Skelton in the hotly contested three-way race to be the next clerk of Cobb Superior Court. He also has endorsed Vic Reynolds over Cindi Yeager in the race to be his successor as district attorney. …
Cobb Superior Court candidate Greg Poole was endorsed this week by Sheriff Warren. …
Gov. Nathan Deal will be on hand July 12 for a fundraiser reception for state Rep. John Carson (R-northeast Cobb). The 7-8:30 a.m. event will take place at Indian Hills Country Club and will also feature Secretary of State Brian Kemp, Speaker Pro-tem Jan Jones and state Sen. Judson Hill (R-east Cobb). ...
Brad and Dina Wolfe will host a fundraiser for Clerk of Superior Court candidate Skelton from 2-5 p.m. Sunday at 362 Mayes Road in Powder Springs.
THE COBB DEMOCRATIC PARTY will hold its annual Herb Butler Independence Day Picnic July 4 following the Marietta parade at the International Association of Machinists Local 709 Union Hall at 1032 Marietta Parkway, from noon till 5 p.m. Cost is $10 for adults and $5 for kids 12 and under. The late Herb Butler was a stalwart in local union and party activities. ... Cobb Republicans, as usual, will hold their post-parade party at Jim Miller Park.
THE GEORGIA CONFERENCE of the NAACP will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. Monday on the steps of the county court building at 32 Waddell St. to question “whether Georgia’s ‘Stand Your Ground Law’ applies only to the protection of white citizens.” The group is calling for the release of John McNeil, now in prison for the 2005 shooting death at his Powder Springs home of handyman Brian Epp.
COBB LANDMARKS still has a few spaces left at its fireworks-viewing party Wednesday at its headquarters at the Anderson House, 65 Whitlock Ave. facing First United Methodist Church. Tables for 8 are $100 per table. Contact Rose Wing by Monday at (678) 386-1059 or email wingr@bellsouth.net.
BIG SHANTY ROAD in north Cobb, which was sliced in two by the construction of Interstate 75 in the early 1970s, has finally been made whole once again via the completion of the Big Shanty Extension (aka the Big Shanty Connector).
The now four-laned road runs roughly two miles from Chastain Road eastward across Town Point Drive and Barrett Lakes Boulevard, goes under I-75 and then joins the widened Big Shanty Road at George Busbee Parkway. It’s a badly needed east-west alternative to Chastain Road and Barrett Parkway in the Town Center area.
Ribbon cutting for the revived Big Shanty Road is at 10 a.m. July 18 and will feature remarks from, among others, Cobb Commission Chairman Tim Lee, Atlanta Regional Commission Chairman Tad Leithead, DOT board 11th district member Jeff Lewis and Kennesaw State University President Dr. Dan Papp.
The ceremony will take place at 2985 George Busbee Parkway, near the Children’s Hospital.
Funding for the road came via the state, county and Town Center Area Community Improvement District.
THE MARIETTA CITY COUNCIL is wrestling with how much to spend on the renovation of the 4.8-acre Victory Park on South Park Drive, off Roswell Street between Victory Drive and Aviation Road.
When voters approved the $25 million parks bond in 2009, it included a line item of $200,000 for Victory Park, but also another $5 million line item to be used on new and existing parks.
The city’s parks director, Rich Buss, said the council directed him to poll the Victory Heights community on what it would like to see in the park, and his staff came back with a plan that would cost about $600,000 to build.
Buss presented the plan during the Council’s series of committee meetings Thursday night, prompting Councilman Johnny Sinclair, who chairs the parks committee, to raise concerns about it being three times over budget.
Councilman Anthony Coleman also worried that spending that amount could cut into the budget of the new Elisabeth Porter recreation center, a multi million facility the council is planning to build.
But Victory Heights residents such as Cheryl Wagnon expressed disappointment that council members didn’t want to support the plan.
Wagnon pointed out that in her 35 years living in the neighborhood the city has done little to improve the park.
“We’ve received zero, zero support in that area,” she said.
Councilwoman Annette Lewis, in whose ward the park is, also complained that the city has neglected it, prompting Councilman Grif Chalfant to reply that he and more than 100 volunteers from the Marietta Kiwanis worked to build a state-of-the-art 2,500-square foot playground at the park in 2008.
Yet Sinclair objected to staff “tempting citizens with nice drawings,” when he didn’t know if there would be enough money left over in the parks bond to fund them.
“I don’t want the city staff to get these people’s hopes up,” he said.
Lewis countered by saying the only thing $200,000 would do is make the park ADA compliant.
“Right now there’s not even stairs to get into the park. They rotted away,” Lewis complained.
Sinclair said he would call a special parks committee meeting in the near future to decide how to move forward.
“I don’t like being pressured into the Cadillac version,” he said.
THE COBB CHAMBER will host a TSPLOST forum at its First Monday Breakfast July 9. Moderator will be Heath Garrett, with a panel consisting of the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Ed Baker, Post Properties’ Dave Stockert (chairman of Citizens for Transportation Mobility) and Paul Bennecke, founder of Red Clay Strategies. …
And three local high-profile foes of Obamacare will discuss the new health care law as panel members at the July 17 meeting of the Cobb Chairmen’s Club of the Chamber of Commerce. Panelists will be U.S. Reps. Tom Price and Phil Gingrey (who are both doctors) and Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens.
Moderating the breakfast event will be Reynold Jennings, CEO of WellStar. The private event will take place at the Cobb Galleria Centre.
RETIRED Ambassador Donald Leidel will lecture on Middle East politics at 6:30 p.m. July 6 at the Marietta/Cobb Museum of Art. The public is welcome, but a $5 donation is suggested.
Leidel, whose son, Michael, is a Marietta resident, was appointed ambassador to Bahrain by President Reagan in 1983.
THE COBB LIBRARY FOUNDATION will host former UGA head football coach and athletic director Vince Dooley at 6 p.m. Aug. 9 at The Georgian Club in the latest segment of its “Booked At Six” series. Tickets are $50 a head.
And next up in the Foundation’s “Booked For Lunch” series at the Marietta Country Club Aug. 22 will be Susan Gregg Gilmore, author of “Salvation at The Dairy Queen.” Tickets are $25 per person and include lunch.
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I ask other voters to research the history of the other candidates before deciding. In this REPUBLICAN primary, Ms. Keaton has chosen a Democrat as her 2nd in command and Ms. Davis is a FORMER Georgia attorney because she was disbarred. Further, Ms. Keaton, has chosen to hijack most possible website names that Mr. Skelton would have used in an effort to undermine his campaign. Some view that as a smart tactic but I and many others view it as a dirty trick. When I use a search engine to find any material I don't appreciate my time being wasted because someone has chosen to purposely misdirect me to another site. Ms. Keaton seems to want to prevent the voters from making informed decisions through underhanded tactics. I don't appreciate that in a candidate and certainly wouldn't want a person like her in a position of authority at the Clerk of Court's office.