HALLOWEEN is the scary season of the year, but Cobb's foreclosure forecast for November is even scarier.

The headline in Friday's MDJ declared that Cobb was in for another "brutal month" with 1,411 properties set to be auctioned off on the courthouse steps in November, but Gwinnett Daily Post publisher J.K. Murphy reports that in his county more than twice that many foreclosure sales are slated for next month.

Yes, Gwinnett has more than 800,000 residents, compared to Cobb's 600,000-plus, but the whopping foreclosure numbers both there and here are jarring reminders of the depth of the real estate recession - or what some say is a real estate depression..

For the record, Cobb's 1,411 November foreclosures represent the third-highest figure for this year. September was the worst thus far, with 1,611. And the number for November is up significantly from last November's 1,113 - indicating that conditions are getting worse, not better.

And while headlines over the weekend dealt with the pros and cons of a foreclosure moratorium, the Cobb and Gwinnett numbers remind us of U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson's oft-repeated admonition - that "Real estate downturns get us into recessions and real estate rebounds get us out."

Unfortunately, that longed-for rebound is nowhere in sight.

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THE CHEROKEE HEIGHTS NEIGHBORHOOD in north Marietta is planning another art show, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 13.

"We were the only neighborhood to respond to (then-Mayor Bill Dunaway's) request for neighborhoods to take part in the city's 175th Anniversary celebration last year," said retired Cobb Superior Court Judge Jim Morris. "We cast around looking for a theme and discovered that we have a lot of artists in our little area and decided that we would put on an art show. We did that in the spring, had so much fun that we did another in the fall of last year, also."

They proved so successful the group is now putting on another, on Etowah Drive between Freyer and Seminole.

"There is absolutely no professional management of this event; it is totally volunteer produced, a real cooperative effort," he said, with First Landmark Bank and Keep America Beautiful as sponsors.

For more, go to "Cherokee Heights Art Show" on Facebook.

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LOCKHEED MARTIN has chosen Erica Crosling of Cobb as director of communications and community relations for its plant in Marietta. She has more than 17 years of corporate communications experience and will be responsible for employee communications, media relations, executive communications and community relations (including all philanthropic and volunteer programs) for the plant.

Crosling was formerly director of PR for HD Supply, a multi-billion dollar wholesale distribution company headquartered in Atlanta. She also was VP of communications for Citigroup on the Home Depot Credit Services portfolio, has a B.A. in journalism and sociology from Rutgers University, and is a member of Zion Baptist Church in Marietta.

She succeeds Alyce Sarno, who this summer was promoted to VP of corporate communications at LM's corporate headquarters in Bethesda, Md.

ROSWELL STREET BAPTIST CHURCH pastor emeritus the Rev. Dr. Nelson Price and his wife, Trudy, are being honored for their service to Shorter University in Rome.

The Prices will be thanked with a celebration just prior to Shorter's football game against the University of the Cumberlands on Oct. 23. Price was selected as chairman of the Shorter Board of Trustees in 2005 and is a longtime member of that board. The Shorter game that day will take place at 1:30 p.m. at Harrison High School on Due West Road in west Cobb.

For information, call (706) 233-7641.

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THE HONORARY COMMANDERS ASSOCIATION of Cobb is having a special lunch Wednesday at Simpatico on the Marietta Square in honor of the Navy's 235th birthday, which also coincides with "Navy Week." The speaker at the event will be Capt. Mike Cockey, commanding officer of the nuclear submarine USS Georgia.

The Georgia is one of only two "special ops" subs in the Navy (i.e., one of only two equipped to carry Navy SEAL teams to their missions around the world). ...

The Cobb County Republican Women's Club will host its eighth annual Veterans Celebration Brunch "Honoring Service to our Nation" at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 30, at the Marietta Hilton Conference Center. The invited speaker is U.S. Sen. Scott Brown, (R-Mass.)

For ticket info, call (770) 785-2522 or go to www.ccrwc.org.

FREQUENT MDJ guest columnist D.A. King will debate Atlanta immigration lawyer H. Glenn Fogle Jr., Oct. 27 in Room 301 at John Marshall School of Law in Atlanta. The topic will be the federal 287(g) program used by Cobb County and other local-level jurisdictions to conduct immigration-status checks on those arrested and brought to local jails on other charges. The debate is being presented by John Marshall's Immigration Law Society and is open to the public.

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GOV. SONNY PERDUE has appointed his former chief of staff, John K. Watson of Powder Springs, 41, to the board of governors of the Georgia World Congress Center Authority. Watson is now the principal of real estate development at TPA Realty Services and serves on the board of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce. The Wake Forest grad and his wife, Kimberly, have two children.

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JODIE BRANNER of east Cobb has received a Presidential Citation Award for her service as past president of the Atlanta Association of Health Underwriters. Branner is an account broker with Pritchard & Jerden and also is on the board of the Cobb Chamber of Commerce. ...

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THE FRIENDS OF THE COBB LIBRARY will hold their annual used book sale this weekend at Jim Miller Park on Callaway Road. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, with all 170,000 items priced from 10 cents to $2. For more, visit cobbcat.org.

THE FOURTH ANNUAL Toots for Toys Chili Cook-Off will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 16 at the Salvation Army Recreation Center at 202 Waterman St., in Marietta. The cost is $10 per person, with proceeds going to the 13th annual Christmas parade sponsored as usual by the Loop Group and the Marietta police and fire departments.

Contact Annette Lewis at (770) 429-0963 or Betty Hunter at (770) 422-9125, or e-mail to loopgroup@hotmail.com.

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BBQ ALERT: The Whole Hawg Happenin' takes place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 23 at Six Flags White Water in Marietta, featuring the best of Atlanta's barbecue restaurants. Admission is free, with proceeds going to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta.

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FRIENDS of Smyrna's Lucille Cobb Crowe, who died Oct. 3 at 105, attribute her long life to the fact "She stayed so active and never quit working."

She attended Smyrna's First United Methodist Church, where she had been a member for 95 years, having joined in 1915, according to associate pastor the Rev. Barber Hatchell. She lived alone until age 103, drove her own car until she was 93 and had a keen memory about old Smyrna. Earlier, she worked at the Bell Bomber Plant during World War II and later at Dobbins Air Base and for the Air Force Reserve. She also was a volunteer for the American Red Cross.

Mrs. Crowe and her late husband were charter members of the Braves 400 Club and visited every National League city on club trips. On her 100th birthday the Braves honored her with a special message on the ballpark scoreboard.

OUR TOWN lost a courageous and remarkable man when Marietta native David Rambo died at 85 early Sunday morning at his Colston Road home adjacent to Whitlock Heights.

Rambo was a principal in Rambo Sales, a manufacturing rep, and the developer of the "King's Mountain" area of Whitlock Heights with the late Arthur Crowe before he was stricken with a stroke and left paralyzed 16 years ago.

He also served on the board of directors for Cobb Exchange Bank, was a principal in Marietta Construction Company, headed by the late B.L. Cosey, and served on the board of directors for the Marietta Housing Authority.

Despite being confined to a wheelchair and sidelined from the business world, he was remembered by his son-in-law and neighbor Jimmy Drew as a man who "fought the good fight, always upbeat, optimistic and full of energy."

Rambo and his wife, Betty Baskin Rambo, were devoted parents with four children, six grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.