Fresh Loaf

Current amount, in dollars, of President Obama’s stimulus plan aimed to create jobs and spur the economy: 827 billion

Amount, in dollars, Mayor Shirley Franklin recently requested for Atlanta projects: 1.88 billion

Estimated number of city jobs Franklin says the federal stimulus plan could create: 40,000

Number of police officers Franklin wants to add with stimulus money: 200

Dollar value of sewer projects the city wants to build using stimulus funds: 801 million

Amount, in dollars, the city requested to build the International Terminal at Jackson-Hartsfield International Airport: 500 million

Number of federal dollars Franklin says would go to offset the city’s budget deficit: 0

Amount, in dollars, the Georgia Department of Transportation has requested for state projects: 3.4 billion

Estimated number of jobs Georgia could gain because of the stimulus package: 143,000

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, U.S. Conference of Mayors

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The Midtown Ponce Security Alliance hosts a special meeting tonight at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer to address the city’s crime problem. Atlanta City Councilmembers Kwanza Hall and Anne Fauver and Major Khirus Williams of the Atlanta Police Department’s Zone 5 will attend. The public is welcome.

Full release and additional details are after the jump.

(more…)

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The Atlanta Police Department has issued a missing person alert for Kirkwood resident Alicia Cook.

From the department’s Missing Persons Unit:

The Atlanta Police Department Missing Persons Unit is seeking the public’s assistance in locating Alicia Cook. She is a 27 year old white female, 5’6” tall, 120 pounds and has burgundy hair. She was last seen at 372 Arizona Ave on January 19, 2009. Ms. Cook suffers from mental disorders and has not been taking her medications. Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Ms. Cook is asked to please call 911 or contact the Atlanta Police Missing Persons Unit at (404) 853-4235.

(Photo courtesy of the APD)

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Earlier this month, John Henderson was killed during an early-morning robbery at The Standard Food and Spirits on Memorial Drive. Today and tonight, more than 60 Atlanta restaurants are participating in a “dine-out” benefit to raise funds for the reward that would lead to the arrest of individuals involved in his slaying.

For a full list of participating restuarants — and a map their locations — check out Atlantans Together Against Crime’s website.

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By Andy Nelson

In a scene that seems right at home in a daytime soap opera, Ricardo Moyet, age 30, was arrested after a fight with two other officers, one of them the mother of his child. According to the AJC article, the reason for the fight was over the custody of their child.

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Nearly 175 people gathered in Little Five Points last night to rally and raise awareness about the city’s  crime problem. Atlantans Together Against Crime, a grassroots citizen group, organized the event. The group plans to stage rallies in different Atlanta neighborhoods on the last Monday of every month.

Grayson of Mostly Media has video of last night’s event.

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Members of Atlantans Together Against Crime, a grassroots advocacy group launched after the slaying of John Henderson, will hold a rally tonight in Little Five Points to raise awareness about crime in the city. The group plans to rally in a different Atlanta neighborhood on the last Monday of every month.

Here’s the information from the organization’s Facebook group:

Reclaim Atlanta’s Neighborhoods!
A Rally for Action, Awareness, & Change.

Monday, January 26th.
5p-7p
Findley Plaza, Little Five Points

On Wednesday night, more than 20 Atlanta restaurants including JCT Kitchen, 97 Estoria, Beleza, El Taco and Stella Trattoria will participate in a “dine out” benefit. Participating restaurants are encouraged to donate at least 20 percent of the evening’s proceeds to a reward fund established for information leading to the arrest of the people involved in Henderson’s slaying. For a map and full list of participating restaurants, visit ATAC’s group page.

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Mayor Franklin continues to remind everyone that she has a thin skin. This time, it comes in the form of open letter released minutes ago and addressed to Sgt. Scott Kreher, president of the Atlanta police union, who had publicly scoffed at her proposal to raise taxes to hire more cops.

“Can the mayor be any more full of hot air on that one?” Kreher was quoted as saying in today’s AJC.

Kreher dismissed Franklin’s proposal to add 400 officers to the APD by the end of the year as so much empty political rhetoric. Even if the city had the money, Kreher told the newspaper, the mayor knows it would take longer than that to recruit, train and certify so many new officers.

Here are some excerpts from Shirley’s fairly lengthy reply:

I have your public comments and I faithfully appreciate the frustration you must feel as you advocate for the officers and the International Brotherhood of Police Officers members in recent weeks. In spite of the divisive comments you have made about me I believe we share a common goal, which is a safe city. I think we both recognize the essential role our police officers contribute to achieving this goal.

(more…)

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John Henderson

The reward for information leading to the arrest of the suspects who murdered John Henderson, a bartender at Standard Food and Spirits, has doubled.

The AJC reports that the $5,000 reward originally offered by Atlanta Crime Stoppers, a program of the Atlanta Police Foundation, now totals more than $10,000. Much more information is available at the Grant Park Neighborhood Association’s page on the fundraising efforts.

The paper also reports that police are investigating whether the guns fired in the Wednesday morning crime may have also been used in recent robberies.

Police ask anyone with information about the robbery and homicide at The Standard to please call Crime Stoppers Atlanta at 404-577-8477. You can also visit the website.

If you’d like to make a contribution to the John Henderson Memorial Fund, visit the Grant Park Neighborhood Association and follow the links to donate via credit card. Checks and money orders can also be sent to the Grant Park Neighborhood Association, P. O. Box 89235, Atlanta, GA 30312. Designate “John Henderson Memorial Fund” on the donation.

(Photo courtesy of the Grant Park Neighborhood Association)

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Grayson Daughters produced an excellent video of this morning’s vigil for John Henderson, the Standard Food and Spirits bartender who was murdered early Wednesday morning during a robbery at the Memorial Drive restaurant.

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As mentioned in Joeff Davis’ earlier post about this morning’s vigil at the Standard, local residents Kyle Keyser and Tessa Horehled have started an advocacy group for Atlantans to connect and stay informed about crimes and other issues affecting the community.

The group, called Atlantans Together Against Crime and Cutbacks, is in its beginning stages. (Residents can share stories and information about crimes with other members on the group’s Facebook page.)

Keyser writes:

The Facebook forum will be for sharing accounts of violent crime that effect those within our community, as well as posting updates on news, protests, and other tools to help bring awareness to this issue. The mailing list below will be used to share information on gatherings, protests, and lobbying efforts to fight cutbacks. You will not be inundated with email and will only notify you of big events (estimated at a few emails a month).

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UPDATE: Standard Food and Spirits’ management request the event be a vigil, not a protest, and that participants do not bring signs or placards. Participants are encouraged to bring candles to light as a tribute to the victim. The post below has been edited to reflect the Standard’s request.

Southeast Atlanta residents shaken by the this morning’s murder of a bartender at Standard Food and Spirits will hold a 7 a.m. vigil tomorrow at the Memorial Drive restaurant.

Rally participants are encouraged to bring candles to light.

For driving directions to The Standard, visit here. To find the nearest public transit that serves the restaurant, visit here.

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RATTLED: Little Five Points resident Kyle Keyser says his Dec. 17 mugging reflects how brazen Atlanta crime has become.

On Dec. 17, local video producer and blogger Kyle Keyser stopped at the Pizza Hut on North Avenue to pick up a late dinner for his roommate’s boss. Five men stood outside the pizza joint. One asked Keyser if he’d buy him some food. Keyser, sympathetic to the man’s hunger, said sure.

But the restaurant was closed, and as Keyser returned to his car, the five men surrounded him and pushed him against a nearby vehicle. One shoved a gun to his neck. They demanded money. Keyser said he didn’t have any but handed over his ATM card.

The men took Keyser’s cell phone and wallet and ordered him to lie on the ground. One suspect, pistol in hand, took aim.

“I’m gonna shoot him,” Keyser recalls the suspect saying. “I’m gonna shoot this motherfucker.”

“Don’t shoot him,” pleaded the guy who Keyser had offered to buy food.

“Naw,” the gunman said, “I’m gonna shoot him in the leg.”

Keyser, face down on the pavement, braced himself for a bullet. Instead, he saw five pairs of sneakers walk off. He sensed he had an exit, jumped in his car, and sped toward Midtown to call the police. He says bank receipts show the suspects purchased food with his card at a gas station a block away.

“OK, people get mugged and asked for money,” says Keyser, whose house has been broken into twice. “There’s a certain amount of crime that you associate with living in the city. It’s not forgivable, but it’s understood. You know it’s going to happen. What concerns me now is the spike in violent crime.”

Read the rest of this story.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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If you’re behind the wheel this evening, be sure to avoid the area around Underground Atlanta. City police will block off some vehicular traffic so lots of people can look at a foam-and-fiberglass peach, listen to unknown country music stars, and get soused in a part of town where few people visit the other 364 days of the year.

From the city:

Streets that will be closed for the Peach Drop are:
• Alabama Street from Forsyth to Peachtree streets
• Wall Street from Central Avenue to Peachtree Street
• Marietta Street/Decatur Street from Spring Street to Central Avenue
• Walton Street from Forsyth to Peachtree streets
• Luckie Street/Auburn Avenue from Forsyth to Peachtree Center Avenue
• Williams Street from Forsyth to Peachtree streets
• Forsyth Street from M. L. King Jr. Drive to Walton Street
• Broad Street from Marietta to Peachtree streets
• Peachtree Street from M. L. King Jr. Drive to Ellis Street
• Park Place from J.W. Dobbs Avenue to Decatur Street
• Equitable Place from Auburn to Edgewood avenues
• Pryor Street from Decatur Street to M. L. King
• J.W. Dobbs Avenue from Peachtree Street to Peachtree Center Avenue
• Edgewood Avenue from Peachtree Street to Central Avenue

And:

Vehicular traffic will be allowed to flow on, but not enter the perimeter formed by:
• Central Avenue and Peachtree Center Avenue on the east;
• Spring Street, Walton Street and Forsyth Street on the west;
• M. L. King on the south; and Ellis Street and Carnegie Way on the north.

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More than a year and a half after its creation, Atlanta’s Citizen Review Board has started investigating cases of police misconduct.

The board was formed in the aftermath of the Thanksgiving-eve 2006 killing of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston, who was repeatedly shot in her home by two Atlanta cops serving an illegally obtained warrant.

According to a press release:

On November 13, 2008, the Atlanta Citizen Review Board held its monthly meeting and considered its first seven complaints.  The Board voted unanimously to seek further investigation or information concerning three of the complaints and to refer two of the remaining four complaints to the Atlanta Police Department Office of Professional Standards.  The remaining two complaints have already been investigated by the Office of Professional Standards.

The ordinance requires … that the complaints fall into six specific categories of alleged misconduct.  The categories include abusive language, false arrest, false imprisonment, harassment, excessive force, and serious bodily injury or death which is alleged to be the result of a sworn employee of the police or corrections departments.  The four cases that were dismissed were either untimely or did not fall into the classifications authorized by the Ordinance.

So I guess the board doesn’t hear allegations of bribery or corruption — just garden-variety brutality. Best leave complaints about systemic ills to the APD’s in-house Office of Professional Affairs, huh.

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Now that the FBI has concluded its investigation into the death of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston at the hands of two Atlanta cops, the police department has formed a task force to conduct its own internal probe of Johnston’s killing.

Here’s what Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington said (in a press release) about the creation of the task force:

Following the November 21, 2006 death of Ms. Kathryn Johnston at 933 Neal Street, I asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to commence an independent investigation into Ms. Johnston’s death.  The scope of the FBI investigation included allegations of criminal acts as well as other misconduct. I would like to thank the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office for their help and assistance in conducting this investigation regarding criminal misconduct. …

The Atlanta Police Department should be given an opportunity to review the actions of its own employees for the purpose of determining whether administrative charges are appropriate. If it is deemed appropriate, adminstrative action will be taken against officers as warranted.

My question is, where does the city’s newly created Citizen Review Board — a board that came into existence as a result of the Johnston killing — fit into all this?

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Former Atlanta Police officer Arthur Tesler pleaded guilty today in federal court to conspiracy to violate civil rights resulting in death. Tesler, who was convicted of a state charge earlier this year, is the third cop to plead to federal charges in the fatal police shooting of 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston.

The other two officers, Gregg Junnier and Jason Smith, cooperated early on with the FBI and entered guilty pleas. (Tesler initially declined a plea offer.) Junnier and Smith face 10 years on voluntary manslaughter charges, though their sentences could be reduced due to their cooperation. Tesler, who was sentenced to four years on the state charge, now faces 10 years on the federal one.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office:

“Officers Tesler, Smith, and Junnier, however, repeatedly ignored the requirements of our Constitution and violated the civil rights of the citizens they were sworn to protect, and it was inevitable that one day their illegal ‘shortcuts’ would lead to tragedy.  … [T]he cooperation of Junnier and Smith and the dedicated investigation by the FBI have brought other police misconduct to light.

“The FBI also announced today that it has completed its investigation of the Kathryn Johnston shooting and other misconduct by APD officers. … The FBI will therefore soon be providing a report on the investigation to APD Chief Richard Pennington for  consideration of potential administrative discipline or state charges against other APD officers.”

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Percentage of graduates in the last two Atlanta Police Academy classes who’ve been arrested or cited for a crime: 36

Of the 33 total graduates, number who became officers: 33

Number of those graduates who’d been denied jobs with other law enforcement agencies: 12

Minimum number of graduates who’d been deemed psychologically incompatible for work at another police department: 1

Number of officers the Atlanta Police Department should employ to ensure public safety, authorities say: 2,000

Number of officers currently employed: 1,700

Number of Atlanta officers indicted in a 2006 botched raid that left a 92-year-old woman dead: 3

Of those, number who blamed pressure to meet arrest quotas as the impetus for the raid: 3

Months after the raid that the city created a Citizen Review Board to review police misconduct: 4

Number of police misconduct cases that the board considered in its first 18 months: 0

Sources: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, International Brotherhood of Police Officers

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Veruca is expected to survive her gunshot wounds

Last week, a woman’s pit bull mix was shot by an Atlanta cop in her back yard. According to a statement from Atlanta Police spokesman Officer Eric Schwartz, the incident is under review.

Schwartz’ statement is consistent with dog owner Tracy Dummet’s version of events, but adds that the officer was attacked by the dog.

Dummet had run to her front door after she saw an officer racing down the sidewalk in front of her Sylvan Hills home. By the time she opened the door, the officer — who was in pursuit of a suspect — was making his way toward her back yard, which is enclosed by a privacy fence. Dummet heard the officer yell “freeze,” then she heard gun shots. She ran to her back door to call her dog, Veruca, who’d been playing outside.

According to Schwartz’ statement:

The officers were chasing a suspect on foot and when the suspect jumped a fence, one officer followed in an attempt to stop the fleeing suspect. At this time the officer was attacked by a pit bull and in fear for his safety, fired his city issued weapon, striking the dog. The incident will be reviewed by our office of professional standards as is the policy when an officer discharges their weapon.

Veruca, who was shot an estimated four times, including once in the face, is expected to survive.

When asked if the officer was OK, Schwartz replied, “Yes.”

(Photo by Manuel Llaneras)

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Thanks to the efficient and helpful staff employed by the Mexican airline Aeroméxico, I had an 18 hour layover in Mexico City over the weekend. (more…)

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Tracy Dummet was lying on her couch watching Oprah yesterday afternoon when she heard a commotion outside.

She went to the front door of her Sylvan Hills home and saw a cop running toward her back yard, which is enclosed by a six-foot privacy fence. She heard him yell, “freeze!” Then she heard gunshots.

She ran to her back door to call her pit bull mix, Veruca, into the house. Her other two dogs, Rosie and Mayfield, already were inside.

When Veruca came bounding up, blood was streaming from her face.

It turns out that the dog had chased a police suspect through her yard after he’d scaled the fence. The cops were close behind him. Upon seeing the dog, one of the officers pulled his gun. He shot her four times.

To Dummet, it looked like her dog’s snout had been blown off. “Immediately I thought, they killed my dog.”

Miraculously, Veruca survived. She’s in stable condition at a local vet. She has bullet wounds to her face, her front leg, her tail and the base of her spine. Early estimates of her medical costs are $5,000 to $7,000.

When contacted today, Atlanta police spokesman Officer James Polite said, “I’m trying to see if there’s anything to that. I’m curious to see what transpired.”

For an update, with photo, click here.
(more…)

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At least one Atlanta cop does not appreciate Police Chief Richard Pennington’s request for on-duty motorcycle officers to escort his Corvette club around town, AJC.com reports.

If the allegation — which was described in an ethics complaint filed against Pennington — is true, it’s a pretty brazen move for a chief who already has an uneasy relationship with his ranks.

According to the AJC story, a probe of the allegation has begun and Pennington declined comment on the open investigation. The story goes on to say:

The officer who filed the complaint did so anonymously out of fear of retribution, said police Sgt. Scott Kreher, president of an Atlanta police union. …

Kreher said the club’s members came to Atlanta for its week-long annual convention and stayed at a hotel south of the city, near the airport.

On July 12, Pennington had a handful of officers escort the club members, driving their Corvettes, from the hotel to Lenox Square Mall in Buckhead, Kreher said.

Pennington was with the group, was not on duty and was driving his Corvette, Kreher said, adding that the escort required about two hours of the officers’ time.

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AJC.com published a really interesting story today about an Atlanta cop who recently learned she is intersex, meaning she appeared to have the anatomy of a girl at birth and later developed “external sexual anatomy that appears to be a blend of a man’s and woman’s.”

Genetic testing conducted earlier this year showed that the officer, Darlene Harris, carries the XY chromosomes of a male.

Sounds very close to the plot line of Jeffrey Eugenides’ 2002 Pulitzer-winning novel, Middlesex. Eugenides’ intersex protagonist, Calliope, has 5-alpha-reductase deficiency — which, judging from its Wikipedia entry, closely approximates to Harris’ condition.

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This photo, taken yesterday, makes it look as if all is peachy keen over at Atlanta Police headquarters. Nope, no woeful under-staffing here. Officer morale is at an all-time high!

Actually, the mood at City Hall East more closely resembles this.

Note to developer Emory Morsberger, City Hall East’s soon-to-be owner: If you were to permanently install a rainbow over the 1920s, former Sears, Roebuck & Co. distribution center, you could easily charge 20 percent more for the 1,100 lofts that will replace the dismal police cubicles. Just a thought.

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Driving down to south Georgia recently, I noticed a billboard a few miles north of Macon — actually, two billboards, on both the northbound and southbound side of I-75 — that came across as something of a desperate plea: “The Atlanta Police Department Wants You!”

Looks like the APD is recruiting cops from outside the metro area — those who are perhaps less familiar with the low morale that has plagued the department. And, judging from a story in today’s AJC about the exodus of Atlanta officers, it’s no wonder the APD is recruiting so aggressively:

After the Atlanta Police Department froze 53 vacant positions last month — a byproduct of the city’s budget crisis — retaining officers is now more important than ever. But a recent audit by the city, made public July 29, revealed that Atlanta police are losing an increasing number of officers, most of whom have five years on the job or less.

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