Sex trafficking is ubiquitous, even though many people fail to notice it.
That is why the Rotary Club of North Cobb hosted “The Truth About Sex Trafficking In Our Community,” a forum this week that brought together Cobb leaders, concerned citizens and groups combating sex trafficking in the county and across Georgia.
North Cobb Rotary member Hicks Malonson is an ambassador for Rescuing Hope, a Marietta-based nonprofit fighting sex trafficking through educational programming and support for survivors.
Human trafficking has gained greater attention in Georgia since 2019, when Governor Brian Kemp established the Georgians for Refuge, Action, Compassion, and Education Commission, chaired by his wife, Georgia first lady Marty Kemp.
The commission, composed of public officials, experts on human trafficking, and representatives from law enforcement and advocacy groups, is tasked with combating human trafficking in the state. Georgia's heightened focus on the issue extends to law enforcement agencies.
Georgia Assistant Attorney General Kaitlyn Salinas works for Georgia’s statewide Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, created in 2019 as the first of its kind in the U.S. Salinas, speaking at the forum, noted that it is far less likely nowadays for traffickers to walk through an airport or hotel with large quantities of cocaine, but it is much easier for them to walk through either with a young person they are trafficking. Susan Norris, the executive director of Rescuing Hope and a member of the GRACE commission, moderated a panel of local “first responders” to human trafficking at Tuesday's forum.
Ana Murphy, the school social work supervisor for the Cobb County School District, said it is difficult to identify whether a student is being trafficked. She noted it is “a major red flag for us” when students are frequently absent from school, a trend that worsened with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Norris said one study showed a 40% jump in trafficking during the pandemic because students were online, not only in class, but socializing with other students and, potentially, traffickers. Norris encouraged attendees to become involved in volunteering for Rescuing Hope and other anti-trafficking organizations at the forum, like Out of Darkness (www.outofdarkness.org), Wellspring Living (www.wellspringliving.org) and The Table on Delk (www.thetableondelk.org).
More information about Rescuing Hope can be found at www.rescuinghope.com.
For help or to report suspicions of human trafficking call 911, the Georgia Coalition to Combat Human Trafficking, or the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
Kennesaw State University’s Wellstar School of Nursing has received a federal grant to teach graduate students how to help patients break increasingly deadly opioid addictions.
Assistant professor of nursing Kathy Barnett and Wellstar School of Nursing Associate Director of Graduate Programs Susan Beidler teamed to earn the nearly $729,000 grant, which comes from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a subsidiary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Barnett and Beidler will implement curricular revisions in the KSU Masters of Science in Nursing programs that address decreasing stigma and increasing access to early interventions for substance use disorders. According to data from the Georgia Department of Public Health, drug overdose deaths increased by 61% from 2019 to 2021, and fentanyl-involved overdose deaths increased by 230%, illustrating the urgent need for more medical training in helping people with opioid addiction. Opioids include many prescription pain medicines, fentanyl and the illegal drug heroin.
In a theatrical, winding speech interlaced with musical tie-ins and clips from “Back to the Future,” Mayor Derek Easterling recapped his seven years in office before a crowd of civic and business leaders this week.
Easterling, first elected in 2015, was reelected without opposition in 2019. This year marks the final year of his second term. The mayor told the MDJ after speaking that he intends to run for a third term this November.
Ever the showman, Easterling emerged ahead of his speech to the Kennesaw Business Association to the tune of “Rockstar” by Nickelback, carrying a guitar and clad in jeans, cowboy boots and a leather jacket. With his back to the crowd, the speakers then began to blare the opening riff of “Back in Black” by AC/DC as Easterling pretended to play guitar. The mayor then shook his head and yelled for the music to stop. The same sequence then played out with Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train,” and Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”
Finally, City Manager Jeff Drobney, dressed as Doc Brown from “Back to the Future,” yelled out “Mayor, you’ve got to get back to the future.” Easterling then began speaking.
In his State of the City address, Easterling ticked through a laundry list of developments the city has seen during his time in office, recapping improvements to parks, roads and other infrastructure; new businesses and housing developments; changes to city services and systems; and more.
Those developments were listed chronologically, and as the mayor started speaking about a new year, a “Back to the Future” clip would be played on the screen. To accompany the theme, the city also procured a DMC DeLorean, which was parked outside the Adams Park Recreation Center, where Easterling spoke. Easterling said some of the things the city can look forward to this year are the opening of the Depot Park amphitheater, progress on a new public safety center, the start of a Cherokee Street streetscape project, improvements to Ben King Road and more.
McEachern pulled away early and never looked back as the Indians made the short trip to defeated archrival Hillgrove 68-57 in Tuesday’s Region 3 6A opener.
McEachern reversed an early Hillgrove advantage and took control of the game with an 18-0 run that began late in the first quarter and lasted until midway through the second quarter.
The Indians went on to outscore the Hawks 42-20 through the second and third quarters combined. Though the win gave McEachern an early leg up in the region standings, for coach Tremayne Anchrum Sr., and his players, getting the win over their crosstown rival was more significant. Moses Hipps scored 15 points and Ace Bailey added 14 points to lead McEachern. McEachern went on to outscore Hillgrove 23-11 in the second quarter to take a 40-32 halftime lead, then outscored the Hawks 19-9 in the third quarter to widen its advantage to 59-41. Hillgrove did narrow the gap a little bit at the end, but the Hawks were only able to get as close as 10 points — 61-51 — with 5:00 remaining in the game.
The Marietta Board of Education voted unanimously this week to elect Kerry Minervini of Ward 6 as the chair for another year.
Minervini, a real estate agent who was first elected in 2017, also served as chair last year. Unlike the Cobb County Board of Education, Marietta school board members can serve consecutive terms as chair.
The board also unanimously elected Ward 1’s Jeff DeJarnett as vice chair. DeJarnett replaces Jason Waters of Ward 2 in the role.
Board attorney Clem Doyle distributed index cards to the board members, each of whom privately wrote down their nomination for chair and vice chair. Doyle then announced the results — seven nominations for Minervini for chair, seven nominations for DeJarnett as vice chair. Votes were then held to approve both appointments.
The chair and vice chair elections stand in contrast to those of the Cobb school board last week, where members split along party lines, with the Republican majority winning out. Marietta’s school board is nonpartisan. The Marietta board elected its leaders at the top of its first work session of the year. In other action, the board reviewed several items it will vote on at its Jan. 17 meeting.
South Cobb welcomed a new community garden this week — or, at least, the beginnings of one.
A coalition of agricultural, gardening, and healthcare groups gathered off Powder Springs Road at the Cobb County Farm Bureau offices. There, partners broke ground on a garden that’s intended to help out with food insecurity and healthier living.
The Wellness Garden, as it will be known, so far is simply a lawn next to the Farm Bureau with a few posts sunk for a fence. But it will one day feature 15 garden beds — each 12 feet by four feet — along with a pollinator garden and hoop house.
Unlike some community gardens, which are merely shared spaces for residents to grow their own produce, the Wellness Garden will be geared specifically toward providing food to those in need and spreading the word on how to use locally-grown produce. To that end, volunteers alongside nutritionists from Wellstar Health System — one of the partners in the venture — will be holding classes in the Farm Bureau offices on healthy cooking and eating. Other partners include the Cobb County Conservation District, the Master Gardener Volunteers of Cobb County, and Cobb EMC, which is helping to financially support the effort. Renae Lemon, one of the master gardeners, has been involved in several community gardens throughout the county including one which opened in Acworth this summer. She said the group has been meeting regularly to plan the Powder Springs garden since June, with the hope of starting to get plants in the ground this Spring.
#CobbCounty #Georgia #LocalNews
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