Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Almost all the plaintiffs were pleased with U.S. District Judge Steve Jones' revised district maps with a few exceptions.
All of the plaintiffs in the Cobb County redistricting case “are satisfied with virtually all aspects of the court’s initial redistricting plan with one exception.” It’s just not the same exception. Jonathan Crumly—the Marietta lawyer who brought the lawsuit against the commissioners last month, then accepted their switch to his side Monday—focused his lone concern on the district border shared by JoAnn Birrell, District 3 Commissioner, and Bob Ott, District 2 Commissioner. He wants U.S. District Judge Steve Jones to move two precincts along the Fulton County border—Roswell 01 above Ga. 120 and Timber Ridge 01 below it—from District 3 to Bob Ott’s District 2. “Plaintiff believes this minor shift will sustain the integrity and …
Saturday, March 24, 2012
The elections board's decision means a July 31 referendum is likely, and sales could start Aug. 12.
Cobb County is back on the Sunday wagon, at least until mid-August. The county Board of Elections and Registration decided during a special meeting Friday morning not to fight a voter challenge to the referendum that approved Sunday package sales of alcohol in unincorporated parts of Cobb. That means Sunday sales will not start June 3 as now scheduled. It also means all citizens in Cobb County will likely have the chance to vote on Sunday sales again July 31, even though almost 70 percent of county voters already said yes March 6. The problem is that residents of Cobb’s six cities, including Smyrna, were excluded from the countywide referendum despite paying taxes, electing officials and receiving services from the county and voting on …
Friday, March 16, 2012
In the March 6 primary only those in unincorporated Cobb County voted on a Sunday alcohol referendum.
Cobb County's Sunday alcohol sales vote is being taken to court. Marietta lawyer Justin O'Dell of Cauthron, Nohr & O’Dell filed a petition in Cobb County Superior Court today to ask for a revote that includes the residents of the county's six cities as well as those who live in unincorporated areas, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Asked about the county's response, Cobb government spokesman Robert Quigley emailed: "The county will be in court and will provide information to the judge as to what our opinion was based on." County Board of Commissioners Chairman Tim Lee acknowledged to the AJC and the MDJ that excluding city residents was a mistake. If a judge agrees, O'Dell said, the only option is to throw out the March 6 vote …
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Readers, We asked for your opinions last week on the best child friendly places to grab a bite, get a child's haircut and more.
Readers, We asked you to vote last week on the best kid friendly businesses in your communities. Today we offer you a roundup of the top picks from a dozen participating Patch sites. These are the places that you, dear readers, told us are tops in your corner of the world: Do you agree with this best of list? Did one of your favorite kid friendly business make the list? Tell us in the comments area below.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Cobb election officials were about 90 minutes slower getting results out last night, compared to the SPLOST vote in March 2011. Plus take a look at the precinct by precinct results for Smyrna-Vinings.
Those searching for election results Tuesday night on the Cobb County election returns home page had to wait until 9 p.m., two hours after the polls closed, for any information. It would be close to 11 p.m. before all of the results were in. When Cobb County had the SPLOST election last March, the first results came in by 7:30 p.m. In an e-mail to Patch, Elections Director Janine Eveler says there is a logical explanation. "Our processes have changed since March 2011; we no longer ask the poll workers to transmit results from the polls. Transmitting did provide some initial results sooner but it delayed the overall process by adding 42 additional steps to the poll closing procedures and because some polls made multiple unsuccessful …
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
The Cobb County Sunday sales referendum passed by a wide margin Tuesday. While some Vinings liquor stores plan to open when the law goes into effect in June, they don't expect to see a large increase in overall sales.
As predicted, voters approved Sunday sales in Cobb County by a wide margin in Tuesday's election. Of unincorporated Cobb County voters nearly 70 percent voted in favor of the measure that would allow package sales of alcohol after 12:30 p.m. on Sundays. It also passed in Marietta, Powder Springs and Austell. Not much will change for some county businesses like supermarkets and convenience stores that are already open on Sunday. However, some locally owned package stores in the county have experienced an impact since Sunday sales were permitted in some neighboring municipalities in January. Hema Nayee works at Paces Bottle Shop, a package store her husband owns at the intersection of Atlanta Road and Paces Ferry Road. She said that many of …
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Several hundred cheering supporters gathered Tuesday night to hear him speak.
Calling the last several months the most difficult of his long political career, Newt Gingrich won Georgia’s Super Tuesday primary. “This is amazing. I hope the analysts in Washington and New York, who spent June and July saying our campaign is dead, will learn something from this crowd,” Gingrich told several hundred cheering supporters. "You believed in the power of ideas; that people can make a difference; and that Wall Street money can be defeated by Main Street work." Gingrich held his election night party at Smyrna’s Renaissance Waverly Hotel. Several networks called the election at around 7:00 pm, only moments after Georgia’s polls had closed. Gingrich supporters stressed throughout the evening that their candidate is the only …
In today's election, Cobb County residents voted in favor of Sunday alcohol sales by a landslide.
No shocker here. Unincorporated Cobb County has given its nod to Sunday sales of alcohol. The county follows various cities and other jurisdictions throughout the state that have done so. The state legislature passed a law last year that allowed cities and counties the right to make their own call on the issue. Other cities in Cobb that had the issue up for a vote were Marietta, Austell and Powder Springs. See results below and click on each city for details. Other cities—Kennesaw, Acworth, Smyrna (click one for details)—passed the measure in November 2011. Those in favor of Sunday alcohol sales pointed to the fact that with all of the other surrounding areas now having Sunday sales, it was only fair. 40.77% "I think it's important for …
The live blog is closed, but you can replay and read all the comments. What are your thoughts on the GOP primaries? Add your comments below the article.
Newt Gingrich cruised to winning Georgia's Republican presidential primary Tuesday, his one bright spot on a night he finished only as high as third in other Super Tuesday voting. Georgia was among 10 states selecting delegates Tuesday. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won in Virginia, Vermont, Massachusetts, Idaho and Alaska. CNN and other networks projected a Romney victory in a tight race in Ohio. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum won in Tennessee, Oklahoma and North Dakota. With 99 percent of Georgia's precincts reporting, Gingrich, the former U.S. House speaker, was leading with 47.2 percent of the vote, followed by Romney at 25.9 percent, Santorum at 19.6 percent and Texas Congressman Ron Paul at 6.6 percent. Romney and …
Polls are open today from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
It’s Super Tuesday as Georgians and voters from nine other states across the nation head to the polls to cast their vote for their preferred Republican presidential nominee. Huffington Post Polling Editor Mark Blumenthal predicts that Mitt Romney will take Massachusetts, Vermont and Virginia. He also predicted a toss-up in Ohio, which he said could be the tiebreaker in the race. Howard Fineman, Huffington Post editorial editor, predicts the Ohio competition will be between Santorum, who will play up his west Pennsylvania roots, and Romney who will cater to the state’s political establishment. Blumenthal said the large number of evangelical Christians down South will make Georgia, Tennessee and even Oklahoma a toss-up between Newt Gingrich …
Chris
12:18 pm on Monday, March 26, 2012
Not that it's relevant, but it won't cost anything. There is already an election scheduled for July 31st. This question will be added to the ballot. I say that the cost isn't relevant because protecting the right of Smyrna citizens to vote in all Cobb elections is far more important than any expense that might have arisen out of this re-vote. The Cobb County Board of Elections made a mistake (the… more ›