Community Corner

News Nearby: Fatal Church Shooting; Smyrna Robbery; Charter School Debate

The top headlines from Cobb and metro Atlanta for Wednesday, Oct. 24 include a murder arrest at Lenox Square.

At Lenox Square mall, Atlanta Police on Wednesday arrested the male suspect of a shooting at the World Changers Church that left one man dead, according to news reports.

Police arrested 52-year-old Floyd Palmer, who was wanted in connection with the shooting death of Greg McDowell, 39, prayer leader and member of the church, on Wednesday morning at the College Park megachurch.

Buckhead Patch has more information.

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Armed Robbery at Smyrna Gas Station

The Cobb County Police Department is investigating an armed robbery that occurred around 10:30 p.m. Monday at the BP gas station on Cobb Parkway near Paces Mill Road.

According to investigators, an armed male entered the gas station and pulled out a handgun while threatening an employee. The employee opened the cash register and the perpetrator took an undisclosed amount of cash from it. The man then “calmly” walked back to his Jeep and was last seen driving northbound on Paces Mill Road.

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Smyrna-Vinings Patch has the details, including a description of the suspect.

Acworth Officers Save 74-Year-Old Woman

Acworth Police Officer Russell Mines went to the Cobb Parkway QuikTrip Monday for gas.

He ended up helping save a 74-year-old Dallas woman's life. 

It all started around 2:27 p.m. Monday when Mines was filling up his patrol car. He noticed Margaret Kehrt lying in the parking lot, unconscious and not breathing.

Mines retrieved his medical bag and notified dispatch. Cpl. Luke Reynolds arrived on the scene to find an emergency room physician, Dr. William Zorn of Watkinsville, Ga., tending to Kehrt.

The full story comes from Acworth Patch.

School Board Member, State Rep. Clash Over Charter Amendment

State Rep. Ed Setzler’s main argument Tuesday night in favor of the proposed charter school amendment was choice—allowing parents to pull their children out of failing traditional public schools to attend charter ones.

“Southwest Atlanta, rural Georgia—is there any school in the state that you wouldn’t want to send your kid to?” he asked the dozen-plus forum attendees at Hillgrove High School. “If there is any school you wouldn’t want to send your kid to, you’ve got to support choice.”

But the forum’s other two panelist—West Cobb school board member Alison Bartlett and Karen Hallacy, the legislative chair of Georgia’s PTA—voiced their unyielding opposition to the amendment, with Bartlett calling charter school agencies “for-profit groups under the guise of choice trying to make money off our schools.”

Read more at West Cobb Patch.


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