DeKalb County settles Georgia NAACP voter purge lawsuit

DeKalb County will pay $82,500 to settle a lawsuit filed last year that alleged the county was unlawfully purging voters from the rolls in violation of federal law.

The DeKalb County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously (7-0-0) on Tuesday to approve settlement of a lawsuit filed in February 2020 by the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP and the Georgia Coalition for People's Agenda against the DeKalb County Board of Registration & Elections. 

The lawsuit (1:20-CV-00879-ELR) alleged that the county was "unlawfully purging voters from the DeKalb County registration rolls in violation of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution." It asked that the county be prevented from purging voters from the rolls until the county receives written confirmation from the voter of a change of address, or the county provides proper notice and waits two federal election cycles.

The lawsuit also contended that the county election board was improperly asking for information from cities regarding the validity of some voter registrations. It said this violated the U.S. Constitution because it improperly discriminated against voters "residing in transitional housing or non-traditional residences." 

After a lengthy executive session, the BOC voted 7-0-0 to settle the case with a requirement that the lawsuit be dismissed with prejudice. The payment is to go to the plaintiffs and their legal counsel as part of a settlement agreement, release and waiver of claims.

The county had tried to argue that the DeKalb County Board of Registration & Elections is protected from federal lawsuits by sovereign immunity. However, U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross rejected that claim in September 2020, ruling that county boards of elections in Georgia are not “arms of the state,” even when determining voter eligibility.

In 2019, the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said the DeKalb County Board of Registration & Elections had purged voters who used the Decatur address of a center for people with mental disabilities who need housing to avoid psychiatric hospitalization. The elections board said it removed the voters because the address was not a "residence." 

In an August 2019 letter to the county elections board, the ACLU said "neither state nor federal law grants election officials the authority to judge what constitutes housing, especially for those hardest hit by life's struggles." 

"Election officials must be vigilant when considering challenges or requests to disenfranchise people that are based on Google Maps or their preconceived notions of what a 'residence' looks like," the ACLU said in its letter. "It is morally wrong for government officials to judge where someone calls home," ACLU Georgia legal director Sean Young said at the time.

Barnes-Sutton extortion, bribery trial delayed until October

The federal court trial of former DeKalb County Commissioner Sharon Barnes-Sutton on two counts of extortion and one count of federal program bribery, originally set for August, has been delayed until October, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

The newspaper says U.S. District Court Judge Mark Cohen has set an Oct. 18 start date for Barnes-Sutton's trial so that she can undergo surgery in September for a health condition. 

"The Court finds that Defendant has presented sufficient medical evidence to support a continuance until after the completion of her surgery, which will result in only a short continuance," Cohen said in his order.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment against Barnes-Sutton in 2019, alleging she extorted bribe payments from a DeKalb County subcontractor while she was the chair the Board of Commissioners' Finance, Audit & Budget committee. 

Federal prosecutors alleged in the indictment that Barnes-Sutton sought monthly payments from an individual whose company had received a procurement award from the BOC related to construction of a wastewater treatment plant.

DeKalb gets $950,000 federal YouthBuild grant for education, occupational skills development

DeKalb County has been awarded a $949,811 grant to help unemployed young people aged 16 to 24 who are not in school to get jobs in construction and other industries.

The YouthBuild grant, administered by the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment & Training Administration, provides occupational skills to young people using a pre-apprenticeship model that includes classroom and workplace training. Participants can earn a high-school diploma or equivalency degree while getting the training.

The award to DeKalb County was one of the smallest of the 68 grants around the country that were announced on Thursday. The only other recipient in Georgia was the Bibb County School District in Macon, which is receiving $1.5 million.

DeKalb County began its YouthBuild program in 2019. At the time, the DeKalb Juvenile Court said it would use the funds to provide paid internships and training in partnership with the Solicitor-General’s office, WorkSource DeKalb and other community organizations.

"YouthBuild meets young people where they live, and wherever they are on their path to educational attainment and career success," Principal Assistant U.S. Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Suzi LeVine said in a statement announcing the latest grants.

DeKalb County officials monitor election bills in Georgia General Assembly

DeKalb County election officials are monitoring moves in the Georgia General Assembly to impose new requirements on voters, even though the state's top elections official has said there was no "systemic fraud" in the November 2020 election.

The Georgia House voted on party lines on Monday in favor of a bill (HB 531) that would make more than two dozen changes to election laws and impose new identification requirements on absentee voters.

"That's probably going to change everything we do. We just got voters to learn about how things happen and now everything's going to change," DeKalb Voter Registration and Elections Director Erica Hamilton told county commissioners during a committee meeting on Tuesday.

The state measure, sponsored by State Rep. Barry Fleming (R-Harlem), who chairs the House Special Committee on Election Integrity, would limit the time period when voters can request an absentee ballot and reduce weekend hours for early voting.

"We're already anticipating what we'll need to do if this legislation passes as is. We'll need additional resources," Hamilton said. "We'll need to beef up our full-time staff so that we can always have a very knowledgeable base in the office and not have to worry about the temporary staff putting most of the weight."

Hamilton expressed concern about low voter turnout for current elections. She said voter turnout was only three percent in the Feb. 9 House District 90 election and advance voting has been low for the March 9 runoff. "Out of 20,000, only 240 have cast a ballot," she said.

Out of 5,000 eligible voters, only four have cast a ballot in Clarkston's March 16 special election to fill an unexpired term on the City Council, Hamilton said. (Clarkston's web site says the city has 6,281 registered voters.)

Commissioner Ted Terry said Tuesday he has been asked by the nonpartisan, non-profit National Vote At Home Institute to observe an election next Tuesday in Orange County, Calif., which has shifted to voting by mail. About 80 percent of voters in Orange County, the fifth-largest county in the nation, mailed in their ballots last year.

"I will keep my colleagues posted with any developments and provide a post-observation report with the purpose of better informing the DeKalb elections work group," said Terry, who chairs the Board of Commissioners' County Operations (OPS) Committee.

"The hurdles and outright barriers being constructed with Jim Crow-era precision are, in essence, whiting out the lines of conduct for a free and fair democratic process and our democratic republic," he said.

"The state is going to cost DeKalb County taxpayers millions and extra bureaucratic layers for the sole purpose of making it harder to vote -- not because of potential fraud ... but because the state knows that when more people express their free will and vote, they tend to lose," Terry said.

The Capitol Beat News Service reports the measure approved by the Georgia House on Monday would require absentee-ballot drop boxes to be located inside polling places or local elections offices. The bill was approved by a vote of 97-72. It will now be considered by the state Senate.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reports that the Georgia Senate Ethics Committee has approved a separate bill that would limit absentee balloting to people who are over 65, are disabled or will be away from their precinct on the day of an election.

"I hope they will reverse course," Terry said. "We will not relent in our path to ensure voting rights and protections are afforded to all legal voting registered citizens." 

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in November there were no irregularities that would have affected the results of the November election. "We've never found systemic fraud -- not enough to overturn the election," he said on ABC-TV's "This Week."

Commissioner Cochran-Johnson plans March 11 Town Hall meeting

DeKalb County Commissioner Lorraine Cochran-Johnson will host a virtual Town Hall meeting on Thursday, March 11, at 6 p.m. to provide progress reports on existing and planned initiatives.

Heads of DeKalb County government departments will make presentations at the District 7 First Quarter Town Hall Zoom meeting. There will also be an update on Cochran-Johnson's partnership with PNC Bank and Operation HOPE to provide DeKalb County residents with financial dignity training, home ownership assistance, and resources for small business development and expansion.

"Economic development, home ownership and the fight against blight have seen significant advances, but COVID-19 has impacted service delivery in certain areas. I am eager to share our progress, departmental updates and future projects with District 7 residents," Cochran-Johnson says in a news release.

While Cochran-Johnson's District 7 includes the eastern half of DeKalb County, she says all county residents are welcome to register for the Town hall at http://bit.ly/3qOA8ID .

Rockbridge Coalition hosts March 2 town hall on voting

The Rockbridge Coalition is hosting an event Tuesday evening town hall meeting on how neighbors can organize on a precinct and block-by-block basis to empower their communities' power base.

Speakers will include NACP DeKalb County Branch President Teresa Hardy, Mega International CEO and founder Dr. Gerald Austin, and Karen Davenport, DeKalb Democrats' 2nd Vice Chair.

The Rockbridge Coalition says its mission is to enhance and preserve quality of life in the community thru proactive collaboration, promotion of best practices, active communication, expansion of government partnerships, and mobilization of direct action. The organization is chaired by Lance Hammonds.

Clarkston voters to fill City Council position in March election

Clarkston voters will go to the polls on Tuesday, March 16, to elect a City Council member. The special election is to fill a term on the City Council that expires at the end of this year. 

Candidates who qualified to run for the post are Mark W. Perkins, Dean Moore and Shana "Tiny" McAllister. Moore served as a Clarkston council member from 2010 through 2017.

The deadline to register to vote in the election is Feb. 16. Voting will take place at the Clarkston First Baptist Church Family Life Center and the Clarkston Community Center.

Former Stone Mountain lawyer pardoned for massive mortgage fraud

A former Stone Mountain lawyer given a stiff sentence for mortgage fraud was among 73 people pardoned on Tuesday by President Donald Trump just hours before he left office.

Chalana McFarland, who owned the McFarland Law Firm in Stone Mountain, was sentenced in 2005 to 30 years in prison and jailed immediately after pleading guilty to 169 criminal counts of mortgage fraud. She was among 17 people indicted in the case.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said McFarland used the stolen identities of numerous victims to submit false fraudulent loan applications which used straw buyers and inflated appraisals as part of a property flip scheme between summer 1999 and March 2004. 

Prosecutors said the scheme involved more than $20 million in fraudulently obtained mortgages mostly in the Waters Edge, Mountain Oaks, North Shore and Southland subdivisions in Stone Mountain and Lithonia in DeKalb County, but also involved properties in cities as far away as Griffin and Elberton.

McFarland had been serving her sentence in Florida, but was allowed last year to serve the rest of her sentence at her Marietta, Ga., home because of concerns about COVID-19 at the federal prison where she was being held. 

Homeowners in Waters Edge noticed unusually high sales prices in their subdivision and notified local officials, according to a 2004 Atlanta Journal-Constitution report. "This case was made because vigilant citizens became aware of suspicious sales in their communities and told us about them," U.S. Attorney Bill Duffey said at the time.

The McFarland law firm had offices on Redan Rd. and N. Hairston Rd.

Virus exposure prompts two-week closure of Stone Mountain Municipal Court

The City of Stone Mountain has suspended in-person access to its Municipal Court for two weeks after learning that someone who attended court on Thursday, Jan. 14, tested positive for COVID-19.

The city says it will conduct a deep cleaning of City Hall and notify defendants of their rescheduled court dates by mail. 

The room used for court proceedings, which is also normally used for City Council meetings and other purposes, will remain closed to the public through Jan. 29. No court sessions or case hearings will be held.

Anyone who attended Stone Mountain Municipal Court sessions on Jan. 14 was potentially exposed to the virus, City Manager ChaQuias Thornton said in a statement.

Stone Mountain legislator backs legalization of sports betting

State Representative Billy Mitchell (D-Stone Mountain) is co-sponsoring legislation (House Bill 86) that would legalize mobile sports betting in Georgia.

The proposed "Georgia Lottery Mobile Sports Wagering Integrity Act" would have the state's Lottery Corporation oversee the gambling and issue at least six betting licenses. Each licensee would each have to pay a $50,000 application fee and an annual licensing fee of $900,000. 

"Net proceeds of lottery games conducted pursuant to this article shall be used to support improvements and enhancements for educational purposes and programs and that such net proceeds shall be used to supplement, not supplant, existing resources for such educational purposes and programs," the bill states.

West African businessman given key to City of Stonecrest

Dr. Kwaku Oteng, a millionaire from the west African country of Ghana, has been given an International Key to the City of Stonecrest on behalf of Mayor Jason Lary. 

A plaque presented in a ceremony on Sunday evening at the Evergreen Marriot Conference Resort in Stone Mountain describes Oteng as "an international entrepreneur who employs more than 5,000 people and is an avid philanthropist," GhanaWeb reports.

The recognition noted his "initiatives as Executive Chairman of Angel Group of Companies, which is a powerhouse conglomerate of companies ranging from television broadcasting, multimedia, real estate to gold mines and more."

A Ghanaian web site, GHGossip, reported last year that Oteng is married to five women and it published pictures of them. Polygamy is prohibited in Ghana but the law against it is not strongly enforced.

Confederate flags to remain on Stone Mountain walk-up trail

The Stone Mountain Memorial Association says it will not remove Confederate flags at the base of the mountain's walk-up trail because they are permitted under Georgia law.

The association cites a Georgia statute that prohibits the removal or relocation of Confederate monuments, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

A group called the Stone Mountain Action Coalition had urged that the flags, near Confederate Hall, be removed on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, Jan. 18. 

"On November 16, 2020, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association publicly announced that it was considering making changes within months for a '21st century perspective on Stone Mountain Park.' Two months later and there have not been any updates. Enough is enough," the group says.

Residential property owners to see increased DeKalb County property tax burden

Single-family homeowners are likely to pay a higher portion of DeKalb County's property taxes this year as owners of apartments and commercial buildings seek reduced values for their properties because of COVID-19.

Residential property appraisals are expected to increase 5 to 6 percent this year as appreciation accelerates in a market where there are a limited number of properties for sale, DeKalb County Chief Appraiser Calvin Hicks told a committee of county commissioners on Tuesday.

Hicks warned that 80 to 90 percent of owners of multi-family properties, as well as hotels, motels and restaurants may appeal their appraisals this year because they have been negatively affected by the pandemic. Some apartment buildings were unable to evict tenants who had not paid rent because of the federal government's eviction ban, which President-elect Joe Biden has said he will extend.

"They have some legitimate concerns," Hicks told commissioners. "You can't really deny that there's been some loss of value as the metrics of the economy as it relates to their revenue have diminished." 

"I've seen some reports that indicate as much as 80 percent of the commercial owners may consider filing some type of an appeal simply to get some sort of tax relief," he said. 

High blood lead levels seen in Clarkston-area children

The ZIP Code surrounding Clarkston, 30021, is among the top 20 postal codes in Georgia with the highest blood lead levels in young children during the past decade.

Georgia Health News quotes DeKalb County Environmental Health Manager Ryan Cira as saying the problem in the Clarkston area is not due to lead-based paint.

"There are refugees coming in already poisoned," Cira said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends parents adopting children from overseas should have them screened for lead contamination. 

Respected DeKalb Police officer struck, killed in downtown Atlanta accident

Sergeant Daniel Mobley, a 22-year veteran of the DeKalb County Police Department, died Saturday after being struck by a vehicle while on the scene of an Interstate 75-85 accident involving an off-duty DeKalb County police officer.

"We cannot express how much we appreciate the Grady Hospital staff who treated our sergeant," a DeKalb County Police Department statement said. "We ask all to pray for Sergeant Mobley and his family." 

Mobley, 44, had stepped out of his patrol car after responding to the accident on the southbound side of Atlanta's downtown connector when he was struck by a passing vehicle.

"Sometimes we get distracted, and distracted driving can cost a life," said DeKalb Police Chief Mirtha Ramos. "And that's what happened today."

Mobley was a "highly-respected supervisor," Ramos said. "He earned that respect."