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WWW.CHAMPIONNEWSPAPER.COM • FRIDAY, JULY 13, 2012 • VOL. 15, NO. 16 •FREE
F 
REE 
P 
RESS 
• A PUBLICATION OF ACE III COMMUNICATIONS •
 by Andrew Cauthenandrew@dekalbchamp.com
W
hat began with eightBlack south DeKalb cy-clists in 1984 has growninto a 61-member Atlantacycling organization.The Metro Atlanta Cycling Club(MACC), a predominantly Black group of male and female cyclists, ex-ists to “promote cycling in the Black community and build camaraderieamong all cyclists,” said
Greg Mas-terson
, MACC’s president.“At first we were pretty much agroup of guys that rode together,” saidMasterson, who has been a member since 1989. MACC started at the now-closed Yellow Jersey Bicycle Shop,a Black-owned bicycle shop in southDeKalb from 1984-1992.Although the group is open tocyclists throughout Atlanta, approxi-mately 50 percent of the club membersare from DeKalb County, Mastersonsaid.Throughout the month, MACChas various rides including women-only rides. Beginners’ rides are fromseven to 20 miles and there are 30- to60-mile rides for advanced riders.There are also impromptu ridesthat usually leave from the KensingtonMARTA station.“These are kind of the BreakfastClub rides,” said Masterson, whocycles 3,000-4,000 miles per year.Other rides start at Miller GroveMiddle School, Stone Mountain Park,Arabia Mountain and Smyrna’s Silver Comet trail.MACC member 
Larry Jennett
 said the group, which is “the onlyhardcore cycling club” of which hehas been a member, is “very enjoy-able.”Jennett has been a member of theorganization for approximately 20years and into “serious cycling” sincethe early 1980s.“Legend has it I was born on a bicycle,” said Jennett, who rides ap- proximately 4,500 miles per year.“I just enjoy cycling tremendous-ly, it’s almost like a cure-all for me,”who added MACC is “almost like ahome away from home.”“You’re fully accepted for whoyou are…and there’s always some- body there to help you,” Jennett said.Jennett, a foreman in the automat-ic train control department of MAR-TA, said he has heard of turmoil inother cycling groups that led to splits.“We’ve managed to stay togeth-er,” Jennett said. “It’s like a big happyfamily. It’s a wonderful organization.”Jennett said the health benefits of cycling are “tremendous.”“It’s a good healthy lifestyle andthere’s always somebody [in the club]to encourage you,” Jennett said. “It’s agood way of staying fit.“My goal is a century on my cen-tury,” Jennett said. “When I get to be100 years old, I want to do a 100-mile bike ride. Hanging out with MACC, Imight get there.”To become a member of MACC,cyclists must be able to remove thefront or rear wheel and replace a tube,and comfortably be able to performleft and right turn signals and stop sig-nals. Cyclists must also be able to look over the left or right shoulder to check traffic and ride with either hand whiledrinking from a water bottle.Within a year of applying for membership, which has a $30 annualfee, cyclists must complete sevenrides, accompanied by three or moremembers.“We do that so that everybody getsto know everybody,” Masterson said.Potential members must also com- plete a 50-mile bike ride.“To do 50 miles, you’re a cyclist,”Masterson said. “You don’t have to doit fast.”Masterson, a database administra-tor at the Federal Reserve Bank, saidMACC always tries to be an inclusivegroup.“In some rides, people take off and if you can’t keep up, that’s it,”Masterson said. “We try to look outfor people so that people don’t get left behind.”In addition to sponsoring monthlyrides, MACC sponsors a fundraiser ride called the One Love Century,which has raised $5,000-$11,000 eachyear for the past six years.Proceeds go to promote inner citycycling. MACC has raised money for the youth cycling programs at the Dick Lane Velodrome in East Point and for the East Atlanta Kids Club, an after-school program that puts on a bikerally.For 
TaVona Boggs
, who begancycling a year ago, MACC offers ca-maraderie and a chance to learn frommore experienced riders.“And I feel like I have more pro-tection,” Boggs said. “There’s safetyin numbers.”“It’s very easy to lose an elbow”when a car drives by, Boggs said. “It’sanother thing when you have a groupof 20 riders. [Drivers] tend to havemore respect.”Boggs, who has been a MACCmember since January, said relation-ships she has built with cycling clubmembers provide additional motiva-tion to ride.“Blacks on bikes is not somethingthat you see very much,” Boggs said.“Blacks being active and having an ac-tive lifestyle is not something we see.“When I want to be a couch po-tato, inevitably somebody is going tocall me and say, ‘Hey, are you goingon that ride today?’” Boggs said.
Blacks on bikes
:
 
Blacks on bikes
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Club promotes cycling in metro Atlanta
 
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Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Tucker and Stone Mountain.
 
Page 2A The Champion Free Press, Friday, July 13, 2012
 by Andrew Cauthenandrew@dekalbchamp.comDeKalb County Police Of-
fcer 
Chase Trammell
grinnedwhen asked what lessons hehas learned in the 360 daysafter an off-duty car accidentnearly killed him.Trammell fell asleep at thewheel while on the 75-minutedrive from the North DeKalb precinct where he works to hishome in White County.“The biggest thing that I’velearned is to always, always,whenever you have the op- portunity to help somebodyout, do it—whether you havethe money or not, whether youhave the means or not—be-cause you never know whenit’s going to be you in that situ-ation,” Trammell said.“You never know when thegood Lord is going to say, ‘I’mgoing to put you through thistrial and I’m going to test your faith,’” Trammell said.Another lesson he learned
is “defnitely don’t sleep and
drive.”“That day I broke the rou-tine,” Trammell said. “I’m
defnitely not going to let that
happen again.”After working a standard12-hour shift on June 19, 2011,Trammell skipped his routinenap before driving home. Itwas Father’s Day and he want-ed to spend time with his dad.Driving on Long BranchRoad in Dahlonega, Trammellfell asleep at the wheel andveered off the road.Quickly waking up, Tram-mell struggled to regain controlof his vehicle, but his vehiclewent into a deep embankment,hit a tree, which fell across thecar.“Contrary to popular belief,no matter how hard you blowthe horn at trees, they don’tmove out of the way,” Tram-mell said. “They just don’tcare. They just let you hitthem.”From the accident, Tram-mell received two broken fe-murs, four cracked vertebrae, a broken clavicle, a puncture tohis left lung and seven brokenribs. He remained hospitalizedfor approximately two months.A year and 13 surgerieslater, Trammell returned June12 to the job he loves.“I just generally like help-ing people out,” Trammellsaid. “I handle every call as if [this] was my mom or dad.“At the end of every ticketI write, my goal is to have people thank me,” Trammellsaid. “You kill people withkindness.”Although the accident andsubsequent medical care nearlycaused him to be evicted,Trammell said he kept a posi-tive attitude.“No matter what happensI’m always going to be takencare of by the man upstairs,”Trammell said. “You can’t just give up your faith becauseyou’re going through some-thing bad.”
Trammell said his fancée
Britny Vanderstelt
supportedhim throughout the ordeal.“She’s been a trooper,”Trammell said. The coupleare planning to get married inSeptember at the R Ranch inDahlonega in an outdoor wed-ding.Trammell said his troublesmade him “more and moregrateful every day.”“You never know whenyour number is going to becalled,” Trammell said.
After taking a year to recuperate from an off-duty car accident, DeKalb Police ofcer Chase Trammellsaid he has learned his lesson: “Denitely don’t sleep and drive.” Photo by Andrew Cauthen
DeKalb ofcer learns lessons after off-duty crash
 
Page 3A The Champion Free Press, Friday, July 13, 2012
 by Daniel Beauregarddaniel@deklabchamp.comIn 1974 Decatur waschosen as a pilot city to participate in a new federal program enacted to revital-ize blighted neighborhoods.The program stemmed froma relatively simple idea:selling foreclosed homes for a dollar.Local historian
DavidRotenstein
said, at thattime, many homes in southDecatur were falling intodisrepair because some whomoved into the newly gen-
tried area were unprepared
for home ownership.“The program was in-tended to bring a new set of homeowners into the com-munity and the skills andresources to improve their houses and their commu-nity,” Rotenstein said. “Thefollowing year Decatur sold113 of the houses.”Rotenstein said one of the main reasons someneighborhoods in southDecatur had fallen intodisrepair during the 1960sand early 1970s was be-cause prior to 1966, the areaknown today as Oakhurstwas undergoing rapid gen-
trication.
By the mid-1970s, theU.S. Department of Hous-ing and Urban Development(HUD) was south Decatur’slargest residential propertyowner and property man-ager. Titles to more than100 vacant homes in HUD’s portfolio were transferredto the Decatur HousingAuthority and 113 of thosehomes were sold to newowners for a dollar.Urban homesteading wasauthorized under the samelegislation that created com-munity development block grants. Together, these twoacts enabled the rehabilita-tion of residential propertiesthroughout south Decatur and improvements to McK-oy and Oakhurst parks.Additionally, the home-steading act and communitydevelopment grants enabled
the area’s rst streetscape
improvement project totake place in the newly re- branded Oakhurst businessdistrict. Now the area looksmuch different and Roten-stein said many of the dollar homes have disappeared tomake way for new houses.“The program was moresuccessful in Decatur thanit was in other cities,” Ro-tenstein said. “However,many of these older homesare now being torn down tomake way for newer homes being built by younger peo- ple moving into the area.”
Historian remembersDecatur’s ‘dollar homes’
State Supreme Court rules in 2009DeKalb hotel robbery lawsuit
NEWS BRIEF
Two views of a south Decatur HUD dollar home; from 1978 and 2012. Photos provided
420-322953 7/12,7/19,7/26,8/2
 
NOTICE OF SALE UNDER POWER 
GEORGIA, DEKALB COUNTYBecause of default in the payment of the indebtedness, secured by a Security Deedexecuted by
Chudney Farr
to Fleet National Bank dated December 11, 2000 in theamount of $129,229.00, and recorded in Deed Book 11769, Page 714, DeKalb County,Georgia Records; as last transferred to JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association byassignment; the undersigned, JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association pursuant tosaid deed and the note thereby secured, has declared the entire amount of saidindebtedness due and payable and pursuant to the power of sale contained in said deed,will on the first Tuesday in August, 2012 , during the legal hours of sale, at theCourthouse door in DeKalb County, sell at public outcry to the highest bidder for cash,the property described in said deed to-wit:All that tract or parcel of land lying and being in Land Lot 219 of the 16th District of DeKalb County, Georgia, being Lot 3, Block C, Providence Point Subdivision, Unit 1,as per plat thereof recorded in Plat Book 116, Pages 1 and 2, DeKalb County Records,which plat is incorporated herein by reference.
 
which has the property address of 
7888 Providence Point Way, Lithonia, Georgia
.,together with all fixtures and other personal property conveyed by said deed.The sale will be held subject to any unpaid taxes, assessments, rights-of-way,easements, protective covenants or restrictions, liens, and other superior matters of record which may affect said property.The sale will be conducted subject (1) to confirmation that the sale is not prohibitedunder the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and (2) to final confirmation and audit of the status of the loan with the holder of the security deed. Notice has been given of intention to collect attorneys' fees in accordance with the termsof the note secured by said deed.Said property will be sold as the property of Chudney Farr and Rolando Dishon Burseand the proceeds of said sale will be applied to the payment of said indebtedness, theexpense of said sale, all as provided in said deed, and the undersigned will execute adeed to the purchaser as provided in the aforementioned Security Deed.JPMorgan Chase Bank, National AssociationAttorney in Fact for Chudney Farr McCurdy & Candler, L.L.C.(404) 373-1612www.mccurdycandler.com
The Champion NewspaperPublication Dates:07-12-2012, 07-19-2012, 07-26-2012, 08-02-2012
File No. 10-16685 /FHA/lseymoreTHIS LAW FIRM IS ACTING AS A DEBT COLLECTOR AND IS ATTEMPTINGTO COLLECT A DEBT. ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE.
In a case stemming from a 2009 robbery at a DeKalb ho-tel, the Georgia Supreme Court has ruled that juries can beapportioned among all the parties at fault, including crimi-nals and a hotel owner that does not keep guests safe.“The rules of statutory construction, including relianceon ordinary word meanings, dictate that an assailant whoevades hotel security to intentionally abduct, rob and assaulta hotel guest is, at the very least, partially at ‘fault’ for the
 brutal injuries inicted by the assailant on that guest,” Jus
-tice
Harold Melton
wrote for the majority in the 5-2 ruling published July 9.“As a party at fault, such an assailant must be includedwith others who may be at fault, e.g., the property owner in a premises liability action, for purposes of apportioningdamages among all wrongdoing parties,” Melton wrote.
The case stems from a lawsuit led in federal court by
Nairobi
 
Couch
, who was attacked and robbed by unknownassailants in August 2009 while staying at the Red Roof Innmotel on North Druid Hills Road and Buford Highway inAtlanta.
 
Couch sued the hotel’s owners for negligently failingto keep their premises safe and failing to provide adequatesecurity. None of Couch’s attackers have ever been identi-
ed. The hotel’s owners led a notice of their intent to ar 
-gue “fault of non-party” under a recently amended Georgialaw, arguing that their responsibility for damages should bedecreased “in whole or in part” due to the fault of the crimi-nals who attacked Couch.
In response, Couch led a motion challenging the appor 
-tionment, or divvying up, of damages and challenging thestatute as unconstitutional. The case is pending in the U.S.District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, whichasked the state Supreme Court to answer two questions re-lated to Georgia law before ruling on Couch’s motion.Justice
Robert Benham
dissented, arguing that Geor-gia’s common law prohibits the consideration of intentionalconduct in assessing damages.
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