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WWW.CHAMPIONNEWSPAPER.COM • FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012 • VOL. 15, NO. 2 •FREE
F 
REE 
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• A PUBLICATION OF ACE III COMMUNICATIONS •
 by Kathy Mitchellkathy@dekalbchamp.com
T
rees are in blossom and owers blanket the hills and roadsides.Spring is here and that meansthe Easter/Passover season can’t be far behind. This year, as they oftendo, Easter and Passover coincide. Pass-over, an eight-day celebration, starts theevening of Friday, April 6, and Easter isApril 8.Whether one is observing a sacredholiday or simply celebrating the com-ing of spring, Mother Nature already isdressed in her nest to greet the seasonof new life. There will be a variety of  both secular and sacred events acrossDeKalb County this holiday season. Hereis a sampling.
Just for funCallanwolde’s Eggstravaganza
Eggstravaganza returns to Cal-lanwolde on Saturday, April 7, 10 a.m. – noon. A family favorite for years,Callanwolde’s Easter egg hunt featuresthousands of eggs, a live performance byEnzo Clown, Atlanta Braves game ticketsand prizes, arts and crafts and a chanceto meet the Easter Bunny. Families areinvited to bring Easter baskets and cam-eras for a fun day in Callanwolde’s beau-tiful gardens and grounds.The charge for children 12 andyounger is $10 in advance or $12 at thedoor. Adults are admitted free. Ticketscan be purchased online at TicketLeap.All proceeds benet the Callanwoldedance program.In case of rain the event will becancelled. No onsite parking will beavailable. There will be free parking andshuttle bus service beginning at 9:30 a.m.at the Emory University Briarcliff Cam- pus, 1256 Briarcliff Road, a half milenorth of Callanwolde. For more informa-tion call (404) 872-5338 or visit www.callanwolde.org.
Dinosaur Egg Hunt at Fernbank 
The Fernbank Museum is offeringa day of springtime family fun with itsthird annual Dinosaur Egg Hunt on Sat-urday, April 7. This year’s Dinosaur Egg
Hunts for eggs and holy services mark a special season
 
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Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Tucker and Stone Mountain.
See Sunrise on Page 13ASee Hunts on Page 13A
 by Kathy Mitchellkathy@dekalbchamp.com
T
he themes of Easter—resurrection,new life, beginning again—makethe tradition of celebrating the holi-day with a sunrise worship serviceespecially appropriate. Such services notonly symbolize resurrection—with thesun’s light bursting forth after a periodof darkness—they also evoke the Chris-tian belief in the discovery at dawn of anempty tomb.One of the area’s most popular Eas-ter sunrise service destinations is StoneMountain Park, where for 68 years earlyrisers have come—now by the thou-sands—to participate in a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ as the suncreeps over the mountain.
Jim Lancaster,
president of the StoneMountain Sunrise Association, said hecan’t confirm the story, but he has heardthe tradition started with a Sunday Schoolclass—a group of approximately 15 to 20 people who invited others to join themin subsequence years. Visitors now comefrom all over the world to participate inthe service. Park officials estimate that between 3,500 and 4,000 people attendedlast year.Getting people in and out of the park quickly and efficiently goes smoothly inspite of the numbers, Lancaster said. “The people at Stone Mountain Park are verygood at managing crowds,” he said, add-ing that not every worshiper drives; manycome to the park on foot. Those who driveare charged the normal vehicle entry fee.Church vans and buses enter free.
 
Therealso are fees to ride the Skylift to the topof the mountain; climbing is free.With its Confederate Memorial carv-ing and history of Ku Klux Klan rallies,Stone Mountain Park has not always beena welcoming place for African Americans.
Sunrise service at
Stone Mountain
— a 68-year-old tradition continues
 
Page 2A The Champion Free Press, Friday, April 6
,
2012
 by Daniel Beauregarddaniel@dekalbchamp.comThe city of Decatur isasking residents to weighin on how it could make thecity more sustainable and protect its trees.Decatur’s 2010 strategic plan called for the devel-opment of a sustainability plan and
Lena Stevens
, aresource conservation coor-dinator for the city of De-catur, said the city held twoseminars April 3-4 to informresidents and start a dialogueabout sustainability.Decatur has a nine-mem- ber environmental sustain-ability board (ESB) madeup of residents that recentlydrafted a sustainability planand posted it online for feed- back.The draft addresses sevencategories related to sustain-ability, including govern-ment management prac-tices, food and agriculture, buildings and energy, andresource conservation andwaste reduction.However, Stevens saidafter reviewing feedback from residents the ESB real-ized it had left out two is-sues that were incredibly im- portant to residents: historic preservation and protectingDecatur’s tree canopy.“The issue of trees cameabout because there are a lotof people in this communityconcerned about what’s hap- pening on private propertyas people build,” Stevenssaid.Stevens said current zon-ing regulations are lax re-garding building on private property and what to do withthe trees on the land. Shesaid because of this the ESBis conducting a tree canopystudy and developing an ur- ban forest plan.On April 3, the city of Decatur and the ESB hosteda seminar, “Historic Preser-vation—Respecting the Pastand Meeting the Needs of the Future,” at Agnes ScottCollege.The event featured speak-ers
Susan Kidd
, sustainabil-ity director at Agnes ScottCollege, and
Mark McDon-ald
, president of the GeorgiaTrust for Historic Preserva-tion. Stevens said the pur- pose of the seminar was toencourage adaptive reuse or restoration of historic build-ings. Additionally, panelistsdiscussed the relationship between historic preserva-tion and environmental sus-tainability.“I think the reason it’simportant to have some of these speakers is that they’re professionals and experts,and they’re tied into the lo-cal scene,” Stevens said.The second seminar heldApril 4, concentrated on protecting Decatur’s treecanopy.
Ed Macie
, an arbor-ist for the city of Decatur,explained the resource valueof Decatur’s current treecanopy.Macie and residents alsoreviewed possible amend-ments to the tree ordinance,and to the permit processto remove trees from singlefamily properties.“We thought it would be really good for us to sitdown and talk about ordi-nance changes all the waydown to educational efforts,”Stevens said. “It’s really tofacilitate a community con-versation.”Stevens said unlike thestrategic plan, which isrevisited every ve years,the purpose of the environ-mental sustainability planneeds to be more exible.Therefore, Stevens said thesustainability plan would berevisited every two years.Both the ESB and the De-catur City Commission will be asked to approve the sus-tainability plan. Stevens saidthe city’s goal is to have itadopted by the end of May.
Decatur hosts sustainability seminars
The Champion’s 
Legal AdvertisingDepartment nowhas a new e-mailaddress:
Please begin usingLegalAds@dekalbchamp.com for all e-mailcorrespondence with ourlegal department.Call 404.373.7779 foradditional information
114 New Street, Decatur, GA 30030
The old courthouse in the Decatur square is one of the city’s historic locations. Decatur recently hosted seminars to promote historical preservation and environmental sus-tainability. Photos by Daniel Beauregard
 
Page 3A The Champion Free Press, Friday, April 6
,
2012
Commissioners question watershed jobs stimulus program
 by Andrew Cauthenandrew@dekalbchamp.comAs DeKalb ofcials gear upfor the county’s $1.3 billion wa-tershed capital improvement proj-ect, some commissioners want toknow what safeguards are in placeto guarantee that many of the es-timated 4,000 jobs go to DeKalbresidents.“I see the vision, but I don’tsee anything to make it hap- pen,” said Commissioner 
SharonBarnes Sutton
during a March29 meeting of the Board of Com-missioners’ public works com-mittee. “It’s my understanding asthese jobs become available thatthe companies that are selectedwill come in with their own crewswho have specic skill sets.”
Kelvin Walton
, the county’sdirector of the purchasing andcontracting department, said po-tential contract winners will berequired to hire workers from thecounty’s First Source registry, alisting of qualied and trainedDeKalb County residents avail-able for contracts.The county’s First Source or-dinance requires contractors and beneciaries “to make a goodfaith effort to hire 50 percent of all entry level jobs using the FirstSource” candidate database, ac-cording to the county’s website.When the contracts are ready, potential primary contractors willhave “to list who they’re goingto hire, [and for] what positionsthat they’re going to hire,” Waltonsaid.“That’s going to be part of the evaluation process,” Waltonsaid. “If a contract is for $1 mil-lion we expect [the contractor]to hire people and not just one person. We’re going to be evaluat-ing those contracts based on howmany people they say they’re go-ing to hire.”Walton said residents are beingtrained at DeVry, Georgia Perime-ter College and Georgia PiedmontTechnical College.Sutton said she has receivedcalls from constituents who can-not nd information about theOne DeKalb Works jobs.“At the schools, there’s noth-ing listed about the One DeKalbWorks programs,” Sutton said.“They have the regular curricu-lum up but I don’t see anythingthat’s in reference to that. Andtheir regular curriculum do notsupport the type jobs” the countywill need.County watershed director 
JoeBasista
told commissioners thecapital improvement plan “fallsunder the county’s One DeKalbWorks program.”That program was hailed byDeKalb CEO
Burrell Ellis
in No-vember 2011 as a “local stimulus plan.”“The attempt of the OneDeKalb Works program is to le-verage public spending to maxi-mize opportunities for DeKalbCounty residents to secure gainfulemployment and grow small busi-nesses,” Basista said.“There will be lots of contract-ing opportunities,” Basista said.“There will be hundreds of con-tracts issued to hopefully localand small businesses, and therewill be thousands of jobs created.”Commissioner 
Lee May
saidOne DeKalb Works “is a politi-cal program that the CEO has puttogether.”“As much as we want it to be a jobs program, it’s a byproduct of the need that we have,” May said.“I don’t want people to begin tothink this is a political program.This is an infrastructure programwhere there’s real need. As a re-sult of that need, that’s where the jobs and the business develop-ment component comes in.”“The whole One DeKalb thinghas so many political dynamics toit,” May said.In addition to One DeKalbWorks, the umbrella has OneDeKalb Lives, One DeKalb Vol-unteers, One DeKalb Votes.During the next three months,DeKalb County ofcials plan to put together their three manage-ment teams for the $1.3 billion project.In April, the county will seek  proposals for a program manage-ment team for its consent decree projects.This team would oversee theconsent decree schedule, costcontrols, reporting; sewer systemmodeling, cleaning, inspectionand rehabilitation; and real estateacquisition coordination and pub-lic outreach.A second request for proposalsis planned to be issued in May for the construction management for the Snapnger Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant.Snapnger is the “single larg-est project we will undertake,”Basista said. Approximately $250million will go to rebuild, upgradeand expand the plant.Another management rm willhandle the capital improvement plan, including project develop-ment, design management anddesign reviews. This rm willalso ensure that at least 20 percentof the contract work goes to localsmall businesses.
Workers are building a flood-proof wall around a pump station off of Drake Road near Lithonia. The station was inundated with water during a 500-year flood in 2010. Photosby Andrew Cauthen
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