A person was killed Friday after being buried by a collapsed trench at a Smyrna home.
The collapse occurred at a home on Wells Drive, according to Smyrna Fire Department spokesperson Eric Mohrmann.
The incident occurred Friday afternoon while the person was working in the trench, MDJ news partner Fox 5 Atlanta reported.
Mohrmann said responding firefighters found the person fully buried upon arrival and initiated a “trench rescue.”
First responders also called in back-up from additional Smyrna Fire Department units and Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services, per Mohrmann.
Mohrmann said the person was confirmed dead at the scene, and the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s Office and U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been contacted. Officials have not disclosed the identity of the person who was killed.
Cobb County commissioners are considering changing the county’s stormwater management fees from what Chairwoman Lisa Cupid called an “inequitable” system Tuesday.
But what form those changes might take remains very much open for discussion after an afternoon work session on the subject.
Presently, residents who live in unincorporated Cobb pay a stormwater fee to the county based on their water usage. Customers with more water usage therefore pay more for stormwater service.
But Judy Jones, Cobb’s water system director, noted that arrangement isn’t reflective of who generates the most runoff, which has more to do with impervious surface area — pavement, buildings, and the like. Jones provided commissioners with the example of a drug store and a fast food restaurant. Though the drug store could generate more runoff by having a larger impervious surface area (a bigger parking lot, for example), the restaurant would pay more for stormwater by virtue of its higher water use.
The example also applies to thousands of customers who live outside a city limit but purchase their water from a city. That means they don’t pay the county for stormwater services. About 5,000 such customers, for example, live in unincorporated Cobb to the east of Marietta proper.
The proposed change would shift the stormwater calculation to one based off impervious surfaces, which according to Jones is the preferred method of more than 60 jurisdictions in Georgia. The discussion originated with last year’s floods which caused millions in property damage in east Cobb. In the aftermath, the county repeatedly said it doesn’t have the resources to conduct all the maintenance its system needs, and the proposal to explore a fee change was floated as a way to provide stormwater with its own dedicated revenue source.
But County Manager Jackie McMorris said changing the fee structure wouldn’t be a “panacea” for severe flooding issues.
It will still be up to the board, Jones said, if it pursues the impervious-based stormwater fee and whether it would come with any expansion of services. The county could also cut some services, like maintenance on certain detention ponds which were dedicated to the county.
Marietta is set to host the third annual Lemon Street Classic at Marietta High School, December 17-20.
The boys high school basketball event, which will have 31 games over three days and highlight 25 schools, including seven ranked in the top 10 of their respective classifications, is presented by Superior Plumbing. Ranked schools include Number 1s Alexander in Class 6A and McDonough in Class 4A. Eagles Landing in Number 2 in Class 5A, Lovett is Number 3 in Class 4A, Dutchtown is ranked seventh in Class 5A, North Cobb Christian comes in ninth in Class 2A and Etowah is 10th in Class 6A. There are also four teams from out of state — Albany Academy from New York, Louisville-Western from Kentucky, Blythewood from South Carolina and Christ School from North Carolina. The Lemon Street Classic is played in honor of the former Lemon Street School and its athletes. Lemon Street was a place of community and pride for the Black community in Marietta and throughout Cobb County. The last graduating class was in 1966 before its integration with Marietta High School. Marietta, which will play its first game of the event at 8 p.m. against North Cobb Christian, will once again wear the throwback Lemon Street jerseys during the tournament. While the Lemon Street Classic has been planned all year, Pope will also host a tournament next weekend which was taken over close to the last minute. Alpharetta was originally supposed to host the event, but because of unforeseen circumstances, could not. Instead it will be the Pope-Alpharetta Holiday Tournament.
Like Santa’s sleigh minus the reindeer, a CobbLinc bus laden with presents is traveling around Cobb County this week collecting Christmas gifts for local kids whose families can’t afford presents.
The “Stuff-A-Bus” toy drive, which kicked off Tuesday, is a partnership between the Cobb County Department of Transportation, CobbLinc and Cobb Christmas Inc., a volunteer-run nonprofit whose sole purpose is providing toys to kids at Christmastime.
Toys can be donated at any location on the bus’s itinerary, which runs through Thursday. Locations include Wellstar Health Park Acworth, the Kennesaw State University campus and Laseter’s Tavern in Vinings. Cobb Christmas gives at least three toys to each child, which are distributed at Marietta’s Center for Family Resources in large black bags so parents can keep the toys hidden until Christmas. According to Cobb Christmas, last year’s drive provided toys to roughly 1,000 children. The full schedule for Stuff-A-Bus bus can be found at Cobb Christmas dot net slash stuff dash a dash bus. New, unopened toys may also be dropped off at the Cobb Christmas distribution site, IAM Lodge 709 on South Marietta Parkway from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m today.
Kennesaw State University senior Bonga Maswanganye (Mas-Wang-An-Yee) said it was an often-misunderstood hobby that led him to his now promising career path as a programmer and virtual designer.
The Marietta resident and computer game design and development major is set to graduate December 15 and go to work in the video game industry after picking among several offers. Bonga hasn't only prepared for his career through coursework and theory at KSU. For several semesters, he worked at KSU's Realities Lab within the College of Computing and Software Engineering, developing virtual reality games on which local businesses train their employees. Kevin Markley, virtual reality software developer and Realities Lab manager, said Bonga wasn't just a worker at the lab - he was a major part of its success during the coronavirus pandemic's disruptions and beyond. When students and employees alike had to shift in a weekend to working from home, the lab's team still had project deadlines looming with three companies.
Kevin said Bonga was one of the main reasons those projects for companies, including Cobb EMC, stayed on track. Kevin said Bonga, who he called an "avid seeker of knowledge," kept working over the summer, even as he'd traveled to South Africa to visit family, to make sure any project bugs were addressed and lab needs filled. Kevin is excited for Bonga, and a little jealous of his future co-workers in the gaming industry.
Christmas is a special time of celebration for families. Unfortunately, too many hard-working families find themselves coming up short at holiday time and are unable to provide Christmas toys for their children.
This year, Mount Paran Christian School's high school Beta Club and National Honor Society members joined forces with Mission 1:27.
During the week of November 28 to December 2, MPCS sponsored a school-wide toy collection, with families, faculty and staff contributing more than 500 toys and donations with a retail value in excess of $11,000. Approximately 30 Beta Club and NHS high school students gathered the new, unwrapped toys and assisted with the Mission 1:27 Christmas Market shopping event on December 10. At the Mission 1:27 Christmas Market, families who are struggling financially found the latest and greatest toys and gifts at greatly reduced prices. All items were priced at 75-80% off retail, thus allowing families in challenging times to afford Christmas gifts for their children. The Mission 1:27 Christmas Market provides a unique giving opportunity because it provides three gifts in one:
This is the second year that MPCS student volunteers have supported Mission 1:27 Christmas Market, but 2022 marks the first year that the school hosted a toy collection drive as part of the third annual MPCS Family Christmas event.
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