The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has reopened its probe into former Austell Police Chief Bob Starrett.
The investigation into the city’s longtime police chief was first opened in December 2021 and was related to the finances of the department’s K-9 unit.
The probe was originally sparked by an open records request from MDJ news partner Fox 5 Atlanta seeking veterinary bills from the department. Upon retrieving the bills, the department reported the documents to the GBI prior to releasing them, which then-Interim Chief Natalie Poulk said was due to “discrepancies” in the paperwork.
Starrett announced his resignation that same month.
The investigation was then closed last summer. According to Fox 5, the GBI determined there was insufficient evidence Starrett had “willfully committed theft against the Austell Police Department.” Fox 5 further reported the Cobb district attorney’s office is now investigating Starrett as well. Reached for comment by the MDJ Friday, District Attorney Flynn Broady said he could only confirm that an investigation into Starrett is open, but declined to say whether his office was involved.
In the middle of winter, the tropics — or at least a taste of them — have come to Marietta.
On December 15, the Frozen Goose opened on Powder Springs Street near Marietta Square, featuring frozen, slushy cocktails, alongside a menu of bar food and other alcoholic offerings.
The bar’s co-owners, Johnathan Disser and Domnic Belli, previously owned Neighborhood Cuisines and Provisions at the same address. That restaurant opened during the height of the pandemic and primarily sold oven-ready, take-home meals.
Disser said business declined when people stopped social distancing and started dining out. Meanwhile, the duo worked on a concept for a daiquiri bar. The 27-seat bar has three large TVs for sports, along with churning machines that dispense a variety of frozen drinks, including a kid-friendly, non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiri and Disser’s favorite, “Chuck’s Revenge” — a drink made with tequila, pineapple, tangerine and peach.
The menu includes seven varieties of wings. The bar has plans to install a carry-out window for drinks and to nearly double the amount of seating with an outdoor patio. Disser said they hope both projects will be done by spring. The Frozen Goose is open 3-9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 3-10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday.
A Life University executive sought to dispel misconceptions about the university as much as he aimed to provide an update on the school at this week’s Kiwanis Club of Marietta luncheon.
Founded as a chiropractic college in 1975 by Sid Williams, Life now has undergraduate and graduate degree programs and numerous sports teams, said Gilles LaMarche (Jill La-Marsh), the school’s vice president of university advancement.
Rob White, the school’s president since 2017, was scheduled to speak but had a conflict and sent LaMarche (La-Marsh) in his place.
Life’s impact on Cobb County is far more significant than most people realize. In 2019,their economic impact was over $230 million on Cobb County.
LaMarche added that the university accounts for 1,288 jobs in Cobb and enrolls around 2,700 students, including 658 living on-campus.
Kiwanis Club member Rebecca Koch has a degree in positive psychology from Life and serves as the school’s director of service initiatives. She said the impact that the school and its students have on the county, especially near the school’s 110-acre campus at Cobb Parkway and South Cobb Drive, is oftentimes overlooked.
A Cobb salon owner has created an innovative business concept that provides resources and financial independence for freelance cosmetologists.
Rooted Salon & Suites is a hybrid salon model located in the heart of east Cobb at Paper Mill Village. The 3,100-square-foot building has two business concepts operating under the same roof — one side of the store is home to the owner's hair salon, while the other side has seven studio spaces that function as business suites for cosmetologists.
Cassidy Ward, the owner and founder of Rooted, said her business serves as a collaborative space that offers beauty professionals independence and ease. Ward said this concept allows for independent stylists to be their own boss without the headache of owning an entire shop. For those interested, the owner said she currently has five suites up for grabs. Rooted began in 2017 as a small, 80-square-foot studio after Ward left a previous salon to start her own. At the time, Ward said there was a noticeable shift in the beauty community— cosmetologists were leaving their conventional salon jobs to pursue freelance work. From makeup artists and nail techs to aestheticians and massage therapists, the owner said she invites anyone in the cosmetology industry to rent a suite at Rooted.
The North Cobb Christian football team’s game-winning play Sept. 2 earned a 19-15 win over Wesleyan.
From there, it went viral, and it continues to earn publicity four months later, selected as the 2022 Play of the Year by SBLive Sports.
An SBLive Sports representative visited the North Cobb Christian campus this week, presenting a $1,000 award to Eagles coach Matt Jones and the players involved in the play — Skyler Parker, Brayden Williby, Jadin Coates, Jacob Cruz, Matty Go and Trey Priester. Down 15-13 with the clock nearing zero, Go, the Eagles’ quarterback, took the snap and threw a 10-yard forward pass to Parker, who passed back to Priester.
Preister lateraled to Cruz, who threw it back to Parker. The ball made its way to Coates and he saw a lane, got a key block from Williby and broke free for a 55-yard touchdown run up the far sideline to win the game.
It was a play Jones never saw himself calling that Friday night. North Cobb Christian ran the play four times in practice that week, with only one successful attempt. The award-winning play moved North Cobb Christian to 3-0 that week and avenged a second-round loss in the 2020 state playoffs, where Wesleyan escaped with a 20-17 win.
A new organization wants to bring change to downtown Austell by involving neighbors, holding discussions about common issues and advocating for solutions to those issues with the city government.
Create Austell held its first meeting Saturday at Austell Cowork on Broad Street, where around 20 people discussed what they wanted the organization to be and do.
Create Austell was the idea of local real estate broker Derek Caffe and some of his friends and neighbors who wanted to see a more connected community in Austell that could advocate for development downtown. Caffe described Create Austell as a social group first — a way for neighbors to get to know each other and share ideas and issues.
Caffe said the group also wants to act as a source of information for ongoing and planned city projects, because some citizens, especially those who don’t attend every city council meeting like Caffe does, aren’t aware of what the city government is doing or how to access that information. Create Austell’s next meeting will be in February. For more information, visit the group’s Facebook page.
#CobbCounty #Georgia #LocalNews
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