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WWW.CHAMPIONNEWSPAPER.COM • FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2012 • VOL. 15, NO. 3 •FREE
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• A PUBLICATION OF ACE III COMMUNICATIONS •
Members of Occupy Atlanta, an activists group,are camping at the home of Christine Frazer in south DeKalb. The group wants to stop theforeclosure of Frazer’s home. Photos by AndrewCauthen
 
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Serving East Atlanta, Avondale Estates, Brookhaven, Chamblee, Clarkston, Decatur, Doraville, Dunwoody, Lithonia, Pine Lake, Tucker and Stone Mountain.
See Occupy on Page 15A
 by Andrew Cauthenandrew@dekalbchamp.comMembers of the Occupy Atlantaactivist group held a barbecue at thehome of a south DeKalb woman to cel-ebrate the failure on March 29 of a billto pass the General Assembly.The bill would have would made protesting on private property an ag-gravated misdemeanor with a penaltyof up to two years in prison.“It would have put a hole in theFirst Amendment,” said 62-year-old
Christine
 
Frazer
, who had a personalinterest in the proposed legislation.Occupy Atlanta members are camp-ing out at the south DeKalb homeFrazer shares with her mother, 85;daughter, 25; and grandson, 3.Frazer and her family are facingforeclosure and eviction after 
 
18 yearsof home ownership.“The plan is to have a non-violentsit-in,” said
Cai Otee
, with Occupy At-lanta, which has been at Frazer’s homesince March 4. “We’re going to try todelay it as much as we can.”“We’re pretty much waiting for themarshals to show,” said
Leila
 
Abadir
,with Occupy Atlanta. “We’re going todefend this home.“Hopefully, if we get enough peo- ple here, [the marshals] will be intimi-dated and push back their schedule,”Abadir said. “The goal is to save thehome.”Abadir said that a writ of posses-sion notice was signed on March 7,giving marshals the authority to re-move the occupants from the home.Frazer’s financial misfortunes be-gan in 2002 when her husband
Leroy
  passed away.The couple owned a ladies’ cloth-ing store and a moving company inAtlanta. They were successful enoughto have nine employees and to be ableto purchase a second house used for workers and to house the business.Frazer continued to operate themoving company for a year after Le-roy’s death.She has filed for Chapter 13 bank-ruptcy several times.“I was trying to keep my house,”Frazer said.After selling her moving companyin 2004 to a buyer who defaulted onthe contract, Frazer went to work for Orkin Pest Control in March 2007. Shewas fired in July 2009 for violating the
Occupy Atlanta occupies south DeKalb home
company’s “no-fault tardiness policy” after be-ing late for work when her car broke down.Since then, Frazer has been looking for a job so she could afford her mortgage payments.“I’m a victim of the economy,” Frazer said.Trying to hold onto her house, Frazer hasunsuccessfully sought help from the Neighbor-hood Assistance Corporation of America.The balance on Frazer’s mortgage is$145,000, plus approximately $25,000 ininterest, late fees and court costs, she said.The most recent appraisal of the house was$45,000.“The banks got their bailout,” Frazer said.“Where’s my justice? Where’s my bailout?”When she turned to her lender, she wastold that if she could make three mortgage payments on time, they would consider a loanmodification, Frazer said. She was unable tomake the payments, but six months later she
 
Page 2A The Champion Free Press, Friday, April 13, 2012
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 by Kathy Mitchellkathy@dekalbchamp.comWith a popular golf course, easyaccess to interstates 285, 75 and 675and to Hartseld Jackson Airport, theBouldercrest, Moreland, Cedar Grovearea is seen by many who live thereas having a good deal of potential butmany obstacles to overcome.The community, located in thesouthwest corner of DeKalb County,has grown in population faster thanthe county as a whole, but with little planning. Since 2007, communityresidents and business owners haveheld a series of meetings with countycommissioners
Kathie Gannon
and
Lee May
and consultants in an ef-fort to change that. Stakeholders havediscussed their vision for the com-munity, identied what they see as itsstrengths and opportunities and de-veloped a plan to promote economicdevelopment and redevelopment. Theresult is a proposed overlay district tocreate local zoning ordinances withinthe community that would establish“orderly and consistent guidelines for the design, construction and mainte-nance of public and private improve-ments.”At a meeting held April 5 at achurch on Bouldercrest Road, com-munity residents reviewed the latest,and possibly nal, version of the plan, now outlined in detail—downto what types of signs businesses andsubdivisions may construct to whichtrees, shrubs and groundcover may be used—in a 38-page document.The next step, Gannon explained, isto have lawyers go over the proposalfor the overlay, which creates withinthe district ve tiers—three mixed-usecommercial, one industrial and onesingle-family residential. The propos-al must then be approved by the full board of commissioners.Among the concerns that sur-faced during community meetingsare crime, an uncoordinated mix of residential, commercial and industrialareas along with too many of sometypes of businesses such as gas sta-tions and small discount stores, andnot enough of others such as major chain grocery stores, restaurants anddrug stores.The proposed overlay district isdened roughly by Bouldercrest Roadon the east side and on the west side past Moreland Avenue to the countyline. Interstate 285 largely denes thenorth side and to the south it goes pastCedar Grove Road to the county line.At present, the area is a hodge-podgeof single-family homes, subdivisions,
See County on Page 3A
From the intersection of Moreland Avenue and Cedar Groveroads, drivers have easy access to several busy thoroughfares.Many area residents hope to attract a wider variety of retailstores than are currently in Bouldercrest Plaza, near Boul-dercrest Road and I-285.The south end of Moreland Avenue has been thesite of a number of landfills. Photos by KathyMitchell
 
Page 3A The Champion Free Press, Friday, April 13, 2012
County 
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70290
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
DeKalb County 2008-2013 Consolidated Plan for HUD Programsto include the 2013 Annual Action PlanGRANT APPLICATION PROCESS FORThe United States Department of Housing and UrbanDevelopment (HUD) 2013 FUNDS
On April 26, 2012, the DeKalb County Human and Community DevelopmentDepartment will begin accepting applications from faith-based organizations,community organizations, municipalities, non-profit agencies and other entitiesinterested in applying for Community Development Block Grant (CDBG),Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), and HOME funds for the Year 2013. Allapplications or requests are subject to future HUD funding for these programs.CDBG and ESG applications and general information may be obtained beginning April 26, 2012 at the DeKalb County website; www.dekalbcountyga.us.
 _________________________________________________________________ 
Application/Information/Technical Assistance Workshop
Date/Time Location
Thursday, April 26, 201210:30 AM – 12:30 PMWesley Chapel Library2861 Wesley Chapel RoadDecatur, Georgia 30034
This meeting is very important given the funding reductionsin the various programs! 
Public Hearings
The DeKalb County Human and Community Development Departmentis conducting two Public Hearings.
Date/Time Date/TimeThursday, May 3, 2012 at 6:30 PMCommunity NeedsMaloof Auditorium
1300 Commerce Drive, Decatur, GAThe purpose of this public hearing is tosolicit input from the public regardingcommunity needs and priorities. We willdiscuss general information concerningthe 2013 Annual Action Plan submissionprocess as well as HUD updates andchanges.
Thursday, August 23, 2012 at 6:30 PMProposed Budget/Annual Action PlanMaloof Auditorium1300 Commerce Drive, Decatur, GA
We will present the proposed 2013 Annual Action Plan, proposed budgetand solicit public questions and/or comments.
See Budget on Page 13A
trucking companies and freestanding businesses, pepperedwith churches and undevel-oped wooded areas. There isno uniformity of landscaping,architectural design, outdoor lighting and furnishing, and business signage.In September 2011, resi-dents of a Bouldercrest Roadsubdivision learned that asmall-box discount retailer would be constructing a storeat the entranceway to thesubdivision.
David Amakor
, president of the Cedar Grove Neighborhood Association,reported that 75 to 100 com-munity members attended ameeting at nearby Church of Christ at Bouldercrest. “Everyone of them was against it,”he said. “They are putting ina business that’s out of synchwith our vision for the com-munity.” Because the propertyhad been zoned commercialfor many years, there wasnothing area residents coulddo. The proposed overlaywould empower the commu-nity to assure that new devel-opment “be of a consistentlyhigh design character.”The area also lacks a“senseof place,” accordingto the consultants’ report. Itdoesn’t have an identity or “brand” similar to that of well-dened communitiessuch as Tucker, Brookhaven,East Lake or Oakhurst. Oneresident at the April 5 meet-ing suggested calling the areaSugar Creek, drawing on thename of the golf course. Con-sultants said they expect the process to be completed bythe end of the year.
 by Daniel Beauregarddaniel@dekalbchamp.comThe DeKalb County SchoolDistrict has found a way to avoida projected budget shortfall of nearly $40 million for SPLOSTIII and IV construction projects,school ofcials announced at anApril 9 Board of Education meet-ing.Additionally, ofcials saidthe district will be able to fullyfund the Chamblee High Schoolreplacement project, which wasfound to be $10 million over bud-get earlier this year.“March 12 the board approvedmoving SPLOST III projects intoSPLOST IV as allowed by lawin order to enable [the district]to complete all of our projects as promised. I can report that the le-gal counsel has advised us that wemay move forward with [this],”Superintendent
Cheryl Atkinson
said.Atkinson and ofcials origi-nally proposed a plan halting35 construction projects fromSPLOST III. Ofcials said bymoving some of those 35 projectsonto the SPLOST IV project listand paying for others with cash onhand, the district will be able tocomplete all SPLOST III and IV projects.“We’re going to pay as we go.That will allow us to reallocatethe $11 million we had previouslyscheduled for debt service; we’llmove that money because wewon’t be [taking out] a bond for SPLOST IV,” Chief OperationsOfcer 
Stephen Wilkins
said.That will be the largest sav-ings measure the district will taketo fund the projects. Others in-clude transferring approximately$20 million from SPLOST III toSPLOST IV, saving $5 million by
 
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