Real Estate Reinvented
Wildcats start football season at Corky Kell classic ► PAGE 11
770.605.7545 | Together, Opening Doors
September 3, 2026 | AppenMedia.com | An Appen Media Group Publication | Ser ving the community since 1976
Applications now open for Dunwoody citizens academy
City Hall hosts exhibit to mark 25th anniversary of 9/11
By HANNAH YAHNE hannah@appenmedia.com
By HANNAH YAHNE hannah@appenmedia.com DUNWOODY, Ga. — The community is invited to Dunwoody City Hall on Friday, Sept. 11, to view a commemorative exhibit from the 9/11 Memorial & Museum that honors victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks. This year marks the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, when hijacked planes killed 2,977 people at the World Trade Center complex in New York City, the Pentagon and a crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. City Hall at 4800 Ashford Dunwoody Road will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for community members to learn, remember and share personal connections to a day that changed the course of the world.
See EXHIBIT, Page 16
CITY OF DUNWOODY/PROVIDED
Two women view “September 11, 2001: The Day That Changed the World” in an earlier display of the exhibit from the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. This year’s showing will be open Friday, Sept. 11, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Dunwoody City Hall, 4800 Ashford Dunwoody Road.
DUNWOODY, Ga. — Residents can apply to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the city of Dunwoody operates during “Dunwoody 101: All Aboard,” a daylong citizens academy taking place Friday, Oct. 2. Participants will meet city staff, learn about essential services and decision-making, and ride a trolley to visit community projects and destinations across
Dunwoody. The program is open to Dunwoody residents ages 18 and older. This will be the fourth session of the citizens academy since the new version was introduced last year. Dunwoody City Manager Eric Linton said participants have said they appreciate the opportunity to meet staff, learn more about city operations and see Dunwoody’s progress firsthand.
See ACADEMY, Page 16
Dunwoody OKs clearing office site for 122 townhomes DUNWOODY, Ga. — Members of the Dunwoody City Council have cleared the way for a townhouse development to be constructed on Ashwood Parkway and Ashford Dunwoody Road after voting to rezone the properties
from office-institution to planned development at an Aug. 24 meeting. Properties at 1200/1240 Ashwood Parkway and 4754 Ashford Dunwoody Road will be transformed from the current five-story office building and associated parking lot into a residential area offering a
See COUNCIL, Page 16
The Appen Press Club is a way for readers to support our work – directly. If you appreciate local news and want to help us make it happen, consider joining today.
CITY OF DUNWOODY/PROVIDED
Participants of the Dunwoody 101 session in April gather at “Common Ground,” a public art sculpture in Georgetown Park created by Huelani Mei.
GO TO appenmedia.com/join or mail a check to 319 N. Main Street Alpharetta, GA 30009
RESS NP
A
UB CL
JOIN TODAY!
maximum of 122 townhomes in walking distance of the Perimeter Village and shopping centers that include Publix and Target. The townhomes will be threestory models ranging from 1,850 to 3,000 square feet.
APPE
By HANNAH YAHNE hannah@appenmedia.com
2 | September 3, 2026 | Dunwoody Crier | AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody
PUBLIC SAFETY
Three injured in police chase; driver charged By DAN WHISENHUNT dan@appenmedia.com
770-442-3278 AppenMedia.com 319 N. Main Street Alpharetta, GA 30009 HANS APPEN Publisher DICK WILLIAMS Publisher Emeritus CONTACT NEWS TIPS Contact reporters directly or send story ideas to newsroom@appenmedia.com. LETTERS, EVENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS Send your letters, events and community news to newsroom@appenmedia.com. See appenmedia.com/submit for more guidance. ADVERTISING For information about advertising in the Dunwoody Crier or other Appen Media properties, email advertising@appenmedia.com or call 770-442-3278. CIRCULATION To start, pause or stop delivery of this newspaper, email circulation@appenmedia.com or call 770-442-3278.
DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A DeKalb County police chase resulted in three injuries and charges for a man accused of driving a stolen vehicle. The driver crashed into another vehicle, causing minor injuries. Two occupants of the other vehicle were treated at the scene. The driver accused of driving the stolen vehicle suffered “moderate injuries,” a DeKalb police spokesperson said. The chase occurred at 9 a.m. Monday, Aug. 24. The county’s RealTime Crime Center alerted officers to a stolen vehicle at Lawrenceville Highway and North Druid Hills Road, near the Shamrock Plaza Publix. “Officers attempted to initiate a traffic stop; however, the driver refused to stop and fled from officers,” the police spokesperson said. “Officers pursued the vehicle. The driver of the stolen vehicle later collided with another vehicle at Glendale Road and Church Street.” Officers did not attempt to disable the vehicle or make contact with it, the spokesperson said. “The suspect, 55-year-old Danny Kirksey, was taken to DeKalb County Jail,” the spokesperson said. “He is facing charges in DeKalb for fleeing and eluding, reckless driving, speeding, possession of drug-related paraphernalia, failure to obey traffic control devices, improper lane changes, improper passing and driving while license suspended.” The vehicle was reported stolen in Gwinnett County. The Aug. 24 police chase follows a pursuit that occurred Aug. 14. That chase started when an officer tried to pull over a driver suspected of being under the influence. It ended in a crash that injured four people in another vehicle. The crash occurred at the intersection of Scott Boulevard and Clairemont Avenue near Decatur.
DEAN HESSE/APPEN MEDIA
A DeKalb County Police vehicle. DeKalb Police chases have increased since 2025. A Decaturish investigation found that police pursuits in DeKalb County jumped nearly 500% in 2025 after the county announced a new chase policy. Police were given permission to pursue people for nonviolent crimes, such as property crimes. In 2024, the department reported 17 vehicle pursuits to the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police. In 2025, the year the new policy was announced, the number of chases increased to 99. “A pursuit may be initiated if there is probable cause to believe that the suspect being pursued has committed any crime — whether felony, misdemeanor or any traffic offense,” the updated policy says. Previously, the county used a more restrictive policy, resulting in far fewer chases. Police chases pose risks to public safety, accounting for hundreds of deaths every year, though there’s no
reliable national database tracking this information. Those killed are often bystanders, according to a 2015 USA Today analysis. In April, a DeKalb County police pursuit ended in a crash near Miller Grove Middle School. The crash killed a pedestrian, Antionette Catchings, and seriously injured her 14-year-old grandson, Robert Stuckey. Chases can also injure bystanders. In 2025, the county reported three such injuries, including one that was serious. Decaturish does not have a comprehensive list of all bystander injuries for 2026, but with the two thirdparty injuries that occurred on Aug. 24, the four that occurred Aug. 14 and Robert Stuckey’s injury, the county has already surpassed its 2025 totals. In 2023, the Police Executive Research Forum recommended limiting chases to life-or-death situations. Chases should be limited to when someone has committed a violent crime or is an imminent threat, the research group advised.
ASK APPEN
What do you want to know about the community? Submit questions at appenmedia.com/ask or scan QR code.
AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody | Dunwoody Crier | September 3, 2026 | 3
STORE CLOSING Total Liquidation!
Going Out Of Business
60-75% OFF Entire Store!
Over 1,000 Rugs in Stock! All Sizes and Colors!
A few examples of our Going Out of Business prices: 13x20 hand-knotted rug 100% wool – $9,850 now $1,250 10x14 hand-knotted rug 100% wool – $5,500 now $980 8.5x11.5 antique heriz – $11,500 now $2,500 8x10 power loom – $1,720 now $290 6x9 woven 100% wool – $950 now $175 3x5 antique – $1,200 now $175
Store Closing Means Unbeatable Savings.
Thousand plus rugs are available in all sizes, colors, and styles new and antiques from all over the world with unbelievable prices. This is your opportunity to purchase premium rugs at some of the lowest prices we’ve ever offered. These savings are only available while inventory lasts, so don’t wait to find the perfect rug for your home.
SCAN FOR MORE INFORMATION Store Hours: Monday - Saturday 10:30 am - 7 pm | Sunday 12 pm - 6 pm 11266 State Bridge Rd, Suite 300, Alpharetta, GA 678-404-7555 * All sizes are approximate. | License #15200
4 | September 3, 2026 | Dunwoody Crier | AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody
OPINION
TALK BACK TO THE CRIER
Public safety must not become public surveillance George Orwell published “1984” as a warning about a society in which government possessed the power to watch its citizens virtually everywhere. Dunwoody is certainly not Orwell’s Oceania, and our elected officials and police officers are not Big Brother, but technology has advanced to the point where capabilities Orwell could only imagine are becoming possible. That should cause all of us to ask an uncomfortable question: Are we creating a surveillance system without ever consciously deciding that we want one? I strongly support the Dunwoody Police Department and technology that helps officers prevent crime, apprehend criminals and protect our citizens. Flock Safety’s technology has legitimate law enforcement uses, but public safety and personal privacy are not mutually exclusive. A free society has a responsibility to protect both. The scale deserves our attention. The Wall Street Journal reports that Flock has about 120,000 cameras in 49 states capturing about 20 billion license plates every month, along with other identifying information about vehicles. Police can use that network to locate suspects and stolen vehicles across jurisdictional boundaries, which can be an extraordinarily useful crime-fighting capability. It can also become an extraordinarily powerful surveillance capability. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis put the issue plainly this week. While emphasizing his strong support for law enforcement, he said automated license plate readers have gotten “out of control” and added, “I don’t want to have this become a surveillance state.” He said people are right to be concerned, ordered a review of how Florida agencies use the technology, and is considering additional legal restrictions. That is an important distinction: Supporting the police and protecting privacy are not competing principles.
TALK BACK TO THE CRIER: You talk, we listen. The Crier is parking the Talk Back section at the front of the paper for the foreseeable future. Send your letters to newsroom@ appenmedia.com by Sunday night and they’ll end up here that week. Rules of engagement: • Typically we restrict letters to 300 words. To limit fury from the copy desk, try and stay below that line. • We normally do not publish letters written in response to other letters. We are going to waive that policy for the time being. • We won’t publish your letter or name without explicitly getting your approval.
DEAN HESSE/APPEN MEDIA
A Flock camera on Main Street in Tucker.
Dunwoody has now found itself in the middle of this national debate. The Journal reports that a Dunwoody resident obtained audit logs showing Flock employees viewed Dunwoody cameras more than 1,000 times, including a camera at a park. Flock CEO Garrett Langley told the Journal that the Dunwoody Police Department had given the company permission to use its cameras for sales demonstrations, and that Flock has since stopped using Dunwoody cameras for that purpose. Earlier reports also raised concerns involving access to cameras at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, including cameras associated with areas used by children and families. Whatever authorization may have existed, citizens have every right to ask how cameras intended for public safety came to be viewed in connection with demonstrating a commercial product. These are no longer merely hypothetical questions about what surveillance technology might someday
permit. There is an important difference between a license plate reader photographing a vehicle traveling down a public street and a live camera observing a park, swimming pool, playground, school or children’s recreational facility. There is another difference when stationary cameras are supplemented by drones for aerial surveillance. Each capability may have a legitimate public safety purpose, but together they can create something much more powerful than any individual camera. Flock has responded to privacy concerns by announcing stronger safeguards, including shorter recommended retention of license plate data and additional controls and auditing. Those are constructive steps, but Flock does not govern Dunwoody. Our police department operates the system, our attorneys advise the city, and technology companies provide the tools. The responsibility for determining the limits of government surveillance ultimately belongs to the mayor and City Council and, through them, to the citizens of Dunwoody. The danger is not that someone in
City Hall announces that Dunwoody will become a surveillance state. That is not how these things happen. Another camera becomes useful, another database is connected, another agency is granted access, another private camera joins the network, and another drone takes flight. Each decision can be justified individually in the name of public safety, but eventually those individual pieces can become a system capable of knowing far more about the movements and activities of ordinary citizens than any of us ever intended government to know. That is the lesson of “1984” that remains relevant in 2026. The danger is not technology itself, but allowing the power of technology to advance faster than the safeguards controlling its use. Dunwoody does not have to choose between effective policing and individual liberty. We can have both, but doing so requires clear rules governing access, retention, sharing, auditing and expansion of the system. The question is not whether Dunwoody has become George Orwell’s “1984,” because it has not. The question is whether, in the name of public safety, we are quietly assembling a surveillance capability that no free community would ever consciously choose to create. We should embrace technology that makes Dunwoody safer, but we should never become so impressed with what government can do that we forget to ask what government should do. The more powerful the government’s technology becomes, the stronger the citizen’s safeguards should become. That principle allows us to support our police, use modern technology and preserve the privacy and liberty that technology should serve rather than diminish.
Danny Ross
Founding member, Dunwoody City Council
TALK BACK TO THE CRIER
MARTA needs visionary leadership more than ever Thank you for publishing Hannah Yahne’s column, “MARTA Riders Want World Cup-Level Service to Continue.” I have been a Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority rider — to the airport and to events in Downtown Atlanta — for the past 30 years, and with the exception of occasional annoying panhandlers, I have been satisfied with the convenience of car-free transport, especially to the airport, and with not having to deal
with Atlanta car traffic or the hassles of parking there. I am very sad that voters in the northern Atlanta suburbs nixed a proposal several decades ago to extend MARTA rail up Georgia 400 to Alpharetta and beyond. In my opinion, this was pure racism. Now, instead, the Georgia Department of Transportation is cutting down thousands of trees to make room for more lanes on Georgia 400, leading
to more cars, more traffic and more fossil-fuel pollution. Local government lacks the vision or funding to make MARTA rail expansion a reality, and appallingly, MARTA gets no funding from the state government, in contrast to other systems such as the New York City subway and Bay Area Rapid Transit in San Francisco. It is also an insult to the regular MARTA rider that safety is “geared up”
for special events such as the Olympics and the World Cup, while safety has not been a priority on “ordinary” days. Visionary Atlanta Mayors William B. Hartsfield and Maynard Jackson founded and expanded HartsfieldJackson Atlanta International Airport, the world’s busiest. We need such visionaries for MARTA. Salpi Adrouny, MD Johns Creek
Puzzles
Crier 8/20/26 Connect-It
PuzzleJunction.com
Connect-It
Copyright ©2026 PuzzleJunction.com
Each line in the puzzle below has three clues and three answers. The last letter in the first answer on each line is the first letter of the second answer, and so on. The connecting letter is outlined, giving you the correct number of letters for each answer (the answers in line 1 are 5, 4 and 5 letters). The clues are numbered 1 through 7, with each number containing 3 clues for the 3 answers on the line. But here’s the catch! The clues are not in order - so the first clue in Line 1 may (or may not) actually be for the second or third answer in that line. Got it? Good luck!
Dunwoody Crier................................September 3, 2026 | 5
1
IS IT SOUP YET? 1. Coin toss result. Barber shop call. French ___ soup. 2. Soup with a lot of fiber. Acidic. Vetoes. 3. Hawaiian feast. Vegetarian soup, usually. Recipe direction. 4. Like many a cellar. Soup with spuds. Duck hangout. 5. Cream soup made from shellfish. Hurry. Big pitcher. 6. Reindeer herder. Baby buggy. Cattle rear end soup. 7. Soup from green reptiles. Visionary. Litter member. PuzzleJunction.com
Dunwoody Crier 8/20/26 Crossword
Across
1
1 Scarf material 5 Overdue 9 Glimpse 13 Boredom 3 14 Macaws 15 Blue shade 16 Island in the road 4 18 Swallow quickly 19 Tender 20 Tipster 5 21 Smacks 22 Summer (Fr.) 23 Terrarium plant 6 24 Big game 25 Even, in verse 26 “Shucks!” /20/26 Sudoku7 28 Young newt Is It Soup Yet? Crier 8/20/26 Kakuro 31 Ohio, for one PuzzleJunction.com How to Solve: Each line in the puzzle Dunwoody above has three clues and three answers. The last letter in the first answer on each line is 34 Sicilian erupter 1. first Coin toss Barber call. French ___ letter soup.is outlined, giving you the correct number of letters for each the letter of result. the second answer,shop and so on. The connecting 35 Niagara River answer (the answers in line 1 are 4, 5 and 5 letters). The clues are numbered 1 through 7, which each number containing 3 clues 2. the Soup with aonlot fiber. Acidic. Kakuro, alsoThe known as Cross Sums, is a challenging number puzzle, a crossword grid. The rules are easy: A number source for 3 answers theofpuzzle, line. Buteach here’srow, theVetoes. catch! clues are not in order - so the first clue in Line solved 1 mayin(or may not) style actually To solve the Sudoku column and above the diagonal line in a black square is the sum of the white squares to the right of it. A number below the diagonal line is36 the sum Protect those be for the second or third answer in that line. Got it? Good luck! box must contain the numbers 1 to 9. 3. Hawaiian feast. Vegetarian soup, usually. direction. of the white squaresRecipe in the sequence below it. You may only use the digits 1 to 9, and a digit can only be used once in any sequence. within 39 Curved shape 4. Like many a cellar. Soup with spuds. Duck hangout. 40 Keats, for one 5. Cream soup made from shellfish. Hurry. Big pitcher. 41 West Pointer 42 Kitten’s cry 6. Reindeer herder. Baby buggy. Cattle give up their rear ends 43 Brass component for this soup. 44 Club ___ (resort) 7. Soup from green reptiles. Visionary. Litter member. 45 Mystery writer Ambler 47 Kimono sashes 49 Stew morsel 52 Dixie drink 54 Very, in Versailles 55 Jack-in-thepulpit 56 Cutlass maker 57 In the way place 59 Old dagger 60 Dance bit 61 Torcher’s Copyright ©2026 PuzzleJunction.com How to Solve: Kakuro, also known as Cross Sums, is a misdeed challenging number puzzle, solved in a crossword style grid. The rules are easy: A number above the diagonal line in a black square is the sum of the white squares to the right of Copyright ©2026 PuzzleJunction.com it. A number below the diagonal line is the sum of the white How to Solve: To solve the Sudoku puzzle, each row, squares in the sequence below it. You may only use the digits column and box must contain the numbers 1 to 9. 1 to 9, and a digit can only be used once in any sequence.
2
5
2
5 3 8
4 6 1 7
5
7
9
2
8 1 5
4
8
9
4
1
6 7
2
PuzzleJunction.com
3
4
5
7
8
9
14
13 16
17
19
20
34
29
30
49
50
51
35
37
38
39
40
41
52
28
24 27
36
43 45
12
21
26
33
42
11
18
25 32
10
15
23
22
31
6
44
46
47
48
54
53
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
Copyright ©2026 PuzzleJunction.com
62 Richard Rodgers collaborator 63 Rocky peaks 64 Male turkeys Down 1 Schnoz 2 Harden 3 Crescent 4 Youngster 5 Work 6 Make a left or right and you’re there 7 Tense 8 Time zone 9 Raptor 10 Land measure (Brit.)
11 Orange feature 12 Hogs the conversation 13 Gaelic 17 Egyptian solar deity 21 Japanese coin 23 Touch 24 Doodle 25 Engrave 27 Dill seed 29 Penalty 30 Exam 31 Con game 32 Radial, e.g. 33 Machinist’s tool 34 Collar type 35 Cry of surprise 37 Colossal 38 Deck members
43 Energy 44 Soybean paste 46 Change, as a clock 48 Makes like a horn 49 Geometrical solid 50 Continental money 51 End of grace 52 One of the Brolins 53 Arm bone 54 Former Yugoslav leader 55 60’s hairdo 57 WW II craft (Abbr.) 58 Blubber
See puzzle solutions on Page 21
Solution
Solution 7 2 9 5 1 3 6 4 8
5 8 6 4 2 9 1 7 3
3 4 1 7 6 8 5 2 9
8 6 7 1 5 2 3 9 4
4 1 2 9 3 6 7 8 5
9 5 3 8 7 4 2 6 1
1 3 8 2 4 7 9 5 6
2 9 5 6 8 1 4 3 7
6 7 4 3 9 5 8 1 2
Is Your Company Hiring? Submit your opening at appenmedia.com/hire
COMMUNITY
6 | September 3, 2026 | Dunwoody Crier | AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody
Allen Stone, Nicotine Dolls headlining Blue Stone festival By HANNAH YAHNE hannah@appenmedia.com SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — The Blue Stone Arts & Music Festival will return to Sandy Springs in September with a diverse lineup of performances spanning rock, soul, R&B and country. The festival will begin at 4 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25, with a market offering original creations from more than 60 artists, kids’ activities and a sports zone. There will also be food trucks. Performances on the City Green Stage will start at 4:30 p.m. Friday with duo Carl Wockner + Cat Ridgeway. That performance will be followed at 7 p.m. by Brother Maven and, at 8:30 p.m., Nicotine Dolls. On Saturday, Sept. 26, the festival will start with the Blue Stone 5K-9, an official Peachtree Road Race qualifier. The artist market, activity zones and food trucks will open at 11 a.m., with performances scheduled on both stages throughout the day. The City Green Stage will host a Zach Bryan tribute band to begin the performances at 1 p.m. A Bon Jovi tribute band will follow at 4 p.m. Original artists will perform R&B, soul and rock music throughout the day, with a headlining performance by Allen Stone at 8:30 p.m. Squonk + Joy Machine will put on multimedia performances both days on the Hilderbrand Stage. Festival-goers won’t just watch the show; they’ll become part of it by helping power the whimsical joy machine. The Blue Stone Arts & Music Festival is produced by the city of Sandy Springs with the support of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners and Nissan of Marietta.
DRIVEWAYS & CONCRETE
Pool Decks, Patios, Walkways, Slabs
$250 OFF
*
Mention ad for $250 Off. New Driveway. Cannot combine coupons.
BBB A+ Rating
ARBOR HILLS CONSTRUCTION INC. 678-250-4546 | FREE QUOTES • Landscaping Residential & Commercial • Tree Services • Sprikler Systems • Maintenance & Installation Pine Straw & Mulch • Over 25 Years of Experience • Many Local References • Fair Prices for Professional Work • Maintenance & Installation Pine Straw & Mulch • Reliable, Punctual, Honest
JAMIE GODIN/APPEN MEDIA
Pop-punk band Lit headlines during last year’s Blue Stone Arts & Music Festival on the City Green stage. This year’s festival, Sept. 25-26, will feature headliners the Nicotine Dolls and Allen Stone. ATTENTION - Double check ad for ALL content. Phone, web, address, coupons, etc. Assume nothing Reply back that ad is approved once ALL ITEMS HAVE BEEN CHECKED FOR ACCURACY.
CONCRETE
Driveways • Patios • Walls • More McKemey concrete $250 OFF* Any job $2500 or more
Competitive Pricing Many Local References
NEW or REPAIR and Patios • Slabs • Walls Sidewalks • Pool Decks McKemey concrete $250 OFF
*
Any job $2500 or more
Bobby Albritton
Master Licensed Electrician Bobby Albritton
Residential & Commercial Services Master Licensed Electrician
CallResidential for a FREE Estimate &
404-519-8635 Commercial Services bgalbritton@live.com
Many Local References
10% OFF
*Offer expires 10 days after publication
Any job $500 or more.
*Offer expires 10 days after publication
Ask for Dave McKemey
678-648-2010 | FREE QUOTES
678-648-2010 | FREE QUOTES
678-506-0006 | FREE QUOTES
ROOF REPAIR & REPLACE
Fruit Trees NOT Producing Fruit?
WE
STOP LEAKS
Serving North Atlanta Since 1983. Affordable Quality Roofing. Based in Roswell.
98 • Tree Removal • Tree Pruning • Stump Grinding
• Full Insured • Free Mulch • Emergency 24/7
$150 OFF
99
$200 Leak Repairs or 10% OFF New Roof *Offer expires 10 days after publication
770-450-8188 | FREE QUOTES
Fruit Tree Pruning Fruit Tree Planting Soil Care
$200 leak repair. Up to 8 penetrations. (1-story house, up to 7/12 pitch). Some restrictions apply
jobs $1500 or more
770-771-5432 | FREE QUOTES
DRIVEWAYS
770-284-3123 | FREE QUOTES
Specialized Fruit Tree Prunning and Care
bloom and fruit
bloomandfruit.net
info@bloomandfruit.com
COMMUNITY
AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody | Dunwoody Crier | September 3, 2026 | 7
PET OF THE WEEK
KNOCKER
going on now
MACY’S LABOR DAY AREA RUG EVENT FRANCES AGUILAR/IMAGE PROVIDED TO APPEN MEDIA
Knocker (ID No. 57232565) is the perfect mix of resilience and love. As a former court case dog, he’s overcome a tough past. Now, he’s a happy, well-adjusted boy who absolutely adores people — soaking up affection and returning it tenfold. This gentle pup gives the best hugs, takes treats politely, and likely has potty training down. He’s also shown great social skills with other dogs. Knocker is ready to leave his past behind and shower his future family with love and loyalty. If you’re looking for a devoted companion, he’s ready to meet you! Expand your family by four furry little feet; meet Knocker and have a loving friend forever. All adoptions include spaying or neutering, vaccinations and a microchip. All you have to do is provide the love and security that every shelter animal deserves! If you would like more information about Knocker, or if you have questions about adopting, fostering or
volunteering, email adoption@dekalbanimalservices.com or call 404-294-2165; all potential adopters will be screened to ensure Knocker goes to a good home. Come visit Knocker and hundreds of other adoptable pets at DeKalb County Animal Services today — no appointment needed! Our address is 3280 Chamblee Dunwoody Road, Chamblee, GA 30340. You can also email adoption@dekalbanimalservices.com or call 404-294-2165 for more information. We look forward to helping you find your new best friend! If you can’t adopt, please consider fostering temporarily or come take one of our pups for a fun day out with our Dog for the Day program. This program is a great way to borrow a canine companion for a hike, a trip to the park, or a lazy day at home. Email foster@dekalbanimalservices.com for more information about Dog for the Day. Your love and kindness can make all the difference.
75
%
Reg.Priced* RUGS
OFF
ALL EVENT RUGS ARE READY TO GO HOME WITH YOU TODAY!
At these Rug Galleries: Macy’s Perimeter Furniture Showroom Perimeter Mall, Atlanta Macy’s North Point Furniture Gallery 7231 North Point Parkway, Alpharetta Macy’s Town Center Furniture Gallery 400 Ernest W Barrett Pkwy, Kennesaw Shop handmade rugs, hand knotted one-of-a-kind rugs & machine woven reproductions in a wide range of sizes, shapes, designs and colors. Bring your fabric swatches, room sizes and color ideas – we have the rug for your home!
* REG. PRICES ARE OFFERING PRICES & SAVINGS MAY NOT BE BASED ON ACTUAL SALES. SOME REG. PRICES NOT IN EFFECT DURING THE PAST 90 DAYS. SALE ENDS 9/14/26. Floor stock only. Selection varies by store. All sales final. Styles shown representative of group. Delivery not available. Prices & merchandise may differ on macys.com.
NEWS
8 | September 3, 2026 | Dunwoody Crier | AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody
MARTA parking fees, free period changing at 9 stations SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — Starting Monday, Sept. 14, long-term parking rates will increase by $2 per day — after 14 hours — at the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s Dunwoody, North Springs and Sandy Springs stations, along with six others throughout metro Atlanta. The free parking period at MARTA’s paid parking facilities will also decrease and require commuters to pay after 14 hours of parking, instead of 24 hours. The changes do not affect any of MARTA’s existing free daily parking locations. Once in effect, it will cost $10 per day — after 14 hours — to park
at the North Springs station and $7 per day — after 14 hours — at both the Dunwoody and Sandy Springs stations. The new parking rates are estimated to generate an additional $500,000 of annual operating revenue for MARTA, according to a press release. The increased fees will help recover the cost of recent systemwide upgrades that are helping move MARTA’s parking operation toward self-sufficiency. The additional revenue will also support future upgrades to lighting and other security measures at the parking facilities.
MARTA stations increasing to $7 per day — after 14 hours — include: • Dunwoody • Kensington • Lenox • Medical Center • Sandy Springs MARTA stations increasing to $10 per day — after 14 hours — include: • College Park • Doraville • Lindbergh • North Springs — Hannah Yahne
Temporary exits open southbound on Ga. 400 SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — Two temporary exit ramps opened Aug. 29 past Exit 5 leading southbound on Ga. 400 for drivers to access the North Springs Station, Abernathy Road and Hammond Drive during express lane construction. Exit 5B is located approximately 0.6 miles south of the current Exit 5 and will be exclusively for drivers getting to the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority’s North Springs Station and
parking garage. Exit 5A will provide direct access to Abernathy Road and Hammond Drive roughly 1.1 miles south of the current exit. Construction activities are related to the Ga. 400 Express Lanes Project that’s building 16 miles of new express lanes in both directions on the state highway extending from Exit 5C in Fulton County to Exit 12 in Forsyth County. — Hannah Yahne
CITY OF SANDY SPRINGS/PROVIDED
The North Springs station — located at 7010 Peachtree Dunwoody Road in Sandy Springs — is the northern terminus for the red line of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, more commonly known as MARTA.
MARTA Route 5 changed after intersection improvements
GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION/PROVIDED
A map shows two temporary exit routes planned by the Georgia Department of Transportation to accommodate for the construction of express lanes in both directions, starting at Exit 5C on Ga. 400 and heading into Forsyth County.
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority updated a portion of Route 5 in Sandy Springs effective Aug. 22 to align with the two-way travel now allowed on Johnson Ferry Road and Mount Vernon Highway. The roads opened for twoway travel in June. MARTA has simplified the bus route to run in both directions along the south side of Veterans Park in Sandy Springs, rather than driving around it. Now, southbound stops align with existing northbound stops on Johnson Ferry Road, Mount Vernon
PROVIDED
Highway and Roswell Road. The route changes are limited to this area; more details are available at itsmarta.com/ servicechanges. — Hannah Yahne
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody | Dunwoody Crier | September 3, 2026 | 9
35th Atlanta Writers Conference important event for authors By KATHY DES JARDINS CIOFFI newsroom@appenmedia.com ATLANTA — Writers in search of literary agents or editors, take note: The Atlanta Writers Club just might change your life. Twice a year, the 112-year -old organization for established and aspiring authors hosts the Atlanta Writers Conference, a two-day, one-stop shop for all scribe-related subjects. From hands-on help with the craft of writing to possible literary representation and book deals, the event is something of a publishing beall and end-all. The club's next conference, its 35th, will be Nov. 6-7 at the Westin Atlanta Airport Hotel. Thirty literary agents and publishers will provide manuscript and query letter critiques, take pitches and conduct Q&A panels. While these sessions often sell out, more than half of November's panelists still have spots available, and all other weekend activities are open. In other words, there's still time to sign up for an event that has been life-altering for many Atlanta-area authors. "After nearly every one of the
past 34 conferences, one or more writers have received representation offers from literary agents and/or publishing offers from the acquisitions editors they met with," said George Weinstein, BELLON the club's executive director and conference director. "Some writers have received sixfigure book deals," he said, "and one author so far — Becky Albertalli — has had her book turned into a movie and TV series." Weinstein said the 35th conference will include first-time sessions such as a legal issues seminar, one-onone meetings with an entertainment lawyer and a marketing and public relations expert, and a workshop on perfecting the first five pages of a manuscript. "The conference also features pitch practice sessions, a book fair, a social mixer with agents and publishers, and an award ceremony with giveaway drawings," he added. While the twice-yearly events routinely draw writers from across
the country, the 1,600-member club plans an abundance of activities for local members, 70% of whom are from suburbs along the Perimeter and farther north to Milton, Cumming and beyond, Weinstein said. Those offerings include monthly educational meetings and periodic workshops on the craft and business of writing, more than 60 critique groups, a self-publishing conference, writing contests, the biennial Townsend Prize for Fiction, two mentorship programs and a craft of writing certificate program, he said. Toni Bellon, a Johns Creek author and longtime club member, has benefited from a number of those resources. She is also one of the conference's many success stories. Bellon published her first novel, "L.E.A.P.," in 2024. "Back in 2017, I was introduced to the Atlanta Writers Club by an ex-neighbor," Bellon said. Since then, she has regularly attended meetings and conferences to learn about the writing process and improve her skills. Five years later, at the November 2022 conference, she met Geoff Habiger of Artemesia Publishing. "In 2023, he offered me a contract
for my first book," Bellon said. "Thanks to George Weinstein and all those who taught at the Atlanta Writers Club." For Bellon, literary lightning struck twice at another conference a year later. "The AWC also allowed my next book, 'The Cost of Sin,' to be picked up by Histria Books" and distributed by Simon & Schuster, she said. Bellon will launch "The Cost of Sin" at 4 p.m. Sept. 13 at Bookmiser, 3822 Roswell Road, Marietta. Register on Eventbrite. In addition to discussing her new novel and the third book she's working on, she just might mention how the club has affected her life. "It has helped me become convinced that I am a writer," said Bellon, who retired as assistant dean of education at the University of North Georgia. "I wasn't sure I could call myself a writer until others told me my writing was good enough to be published. "It doesn't matter how many books I sell," she said. "Someone thinks they are good enough.” For more information about November's conference, go to atlantawritersconference.com.
Welcome
Joanne Jacob, MD! We’re pleased to welcome Joanne Jacob, MD, to our Brookhaven, GA, location. Now accepting new patients!
SCHEDULE N O W! Joanne Jacob, MD • Tiffany Clay-Ramsey, MD • Kehinde Raji Olumesi, MD, MPH, FAAD • Titilola “Lola” Sode, MD
BROOKHAVEN, GA 4360 Chamblee Dunwoody Rd Ste 280 Atlanta, GA 30341
CALL OR SCAN TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT
(470) 903-8886 E P I P H A N Y D E R M AT O L O G Y. C O M
10 | September 3, 2026 | Dunwoody Crier | AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody
NEWS
Fear, votes and money: The mechanics of attack ads By JOSHUA WILSON joshua@appenmedia.com ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Turn on the television in metro Atlanta this summer, and it’s hard to avoid them: ads warning that one candidate is dangerous, dishonest or simply wrong for Georgia. With hotly contested races for U.S. Senate and governor both underway, attack ads have become a fixture of daily life for Georgia voters — and one researcher said that is by design. David Schweidel, the Goizueta chair in business technology and a professor of marketing at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, has spent years studying how political advertising shapes voter behavior. He said the basic definition of an attack ad is straightforward. “Attack ads are focused on your opponent,” Schweidel said, distinguishing them from ads in which “the candidate is promoting himself, saying, here is my record.” He pointed to the Senate race between incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Mike Collins as a live example. Any Ossoff ad focused on what Collins “is doing,” what he “might do” or on the Republican’s character would be classified as an attack ad, Schweidel said — and the same holds true in reverse. Fear and anger stick Attack ads are not inherently more memorable than positive ones, according to Schweidel, but they tend to trigger the emotions that make messages stick. “What we found is the things that tend to stick with us are the things that evoke high arousal emotions,” he said. “In particular, things that evoke fear and anger tend to resonate with us. That’s the stuff that we share on social media. That’s the stuff that we choose to read online.” By contrast, he said, positive messaging rarely has the same pull. A candidate touting a strong economy might earn a shrug. “It doesn’t really excite me,” Schweidel said. “Whereas if I get you afraid of something, if I make you angry at someone — those are the things that kind of get us really riled up, and that’s what tends to be most effective.” Gabriel Sterling of Sandy Springs, the former chief operating officer of the Georgia Secretary of State’s office who ran unsuccessfully for that role earlier this year, put it more bluntly: there is no such thing as a rational voter — only a rationalizing one. “We use emotions much more as a sorting mechanism to make decisions, and then we rationalize it with our intellect after the fact,” Sterling said. “Attack ads are a much more gut emotional thing. Issue ads on real
substantive discussion things do not move the needle at all. They just become background noise.” A modest but real effect on votes Schweidel’s research has found negative advertising makes an impact on both voter turnout and vote share, though the effect of any single ad is small. Citing a 2018 study, he said a 1% increase in a candidate’s own negative advertising was associated with roughly a 0.015% increase in that candidate’s total vote share. That may sound negligible, he said, but in Georgia’s tightest statewide races — decided in recent cycles by a matter of thousands of votes — even a marginal shift can matter. Sterling said he sees that modest effect play out in a different way — not who wins, but who shows up at all. He pointed to a statewide Republican primary race this year as a case study. Operatives and scholars had projected turnout between 1.2 million and 1.35 million, he said, but the eventual nominee spent more than $100 million — most of it on attack ads — and turnout came in at 950,000. The former state elections official said the drop was concentrated in metro Atlanta among college-educated suburban voters. “It’s not fatigue so much as a pox on both their houses,” Sterling said. “[Voters end up thinking] ‘all these people suck. What’s the point?’” Beyond the ballot box The effects of heavy negative advertising don’t end on Election Day, Schweidel said. Partisan messaging from ads bleeds into ongoing media coverage, keeping conflict in the headlines long after the ads stop running. “It devolves from talking about actual issues into the mud-slinging contests,” he said. Asked whether negative ads are fueling the country’s rising “affective polarization” — the emotional, identity-based divide between the parties — Schweidel said he sees them more as a symptom than a cause. “We are in a very divided society,” he said. “It’s ‘us versus them.’ That’s how each side sees it. It’s not so much in favor of a particular candidate, but it’s ‘I can’t stand the other party, so that tells you who I’m going to vote for.’” He called Georgia “kind of a microcosm of the U.S.” as a genuinely “purple” state where large blocs of voters on the left and right — and a substantial middle — are left choosing between polarized options. “In my opinion, [that polarization] detracts from actually addressing the issues,” he said.
disappeared, Schweidel said, in part because they lack the emotional punch of an attack ad. “That almost to me feels more like a rational appeal,” he said of comparative advertising. “It’s not as sexy as the extreme language.” Research on campaign advertising found that negativity itself is increasing, Schweidel said. Campaigns used to hold back and pivot from positive to negative messaging late in a race, aiming for a final push before Election Day. That is no longer the pattern. “Campaigns are going negative earlier and earlier,” he said. DECATURISH FILE PHOTO
Gabriel Sterling of Sandy Springs served as chief operating officer of the Georgia Secretary of State’s office and ran unsuccessfully for that position earlier this year.
Sterling called that reaction “active apathy” — not indifference, but active dislike of every option on the ballot. He said the effect compounds because suppressed turnout tends to thin out swing voters first, leaving a more partisan electorate behind. He cited the crossover voters who backed both Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, and U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, in 2022 as the kind of bloc that disappears when attack ads dominate a race. Follow the money Negative ads also serve a fundraising function, Schweidel said, particularly in close, high-profile Senate races where out-of-state money pours in. Campaigns and parties frame contests as existential — “the Senate hangs in the balance” — to justify appeals for donations from voters who don’t even live in the state. Notably, his research found candidateand party-funded ads tend to be more persuasive than ads from outside groups such as political action committees. “Maybe viewers are kind of, maybe not consciously, but they are able to tell, ‘Oh, this is a third party attempting to persuade me. I’m going to discount that a little bit,’” he said. Sterling agreed attack ads serve campaigns’ fundraising needs but noted they cut both ways — an ad attacking a candidate raises that candidate’s negatives, but it also raises the negatives of whoever is running it. This is a particular risk for the outside groups and PACs that often produce them, the former state official said. Going negative, earlier and earlier Comparative ads — the kind that lay two records side by side and let voters judge for themselves — have all but
Little appetite — or ability — to regulate Political advertising faces few content or truthfulness regulations, Schweidel said, and enforcement is difficult given how quickly campaigns move. He traced part of the landscape back to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which he said “opened the floodgates for third-party spending.” Sterling, however, said money “is like water.” He said it finds a way into politics regardless of the legal framework and argued the more consequential unintended effect of the ruling was weakening the political parties’ role as a moderating filter. “The parties used to act as a buffer mechanism to weed out and be a little bit more responsible,” Sterling said. “Since the parties have been disconnected from it, there’s not a mediating mechanism.” Schweidel said he supports more oversight of political advertising, including on digital and artificial intelligencegenerated content, arguing there is no reason platforms could not verify the claims made in political ads before they run. Fact-checking, however, does little to blunt an ad’s impact once it’s out in the world, he said — a dynamic that predates social media but has been accelerated by it. “A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its boots on,” Schweidel said. “Even when you try to tell people this ad was wrong, the people who care about that have already made up their mind who they’re voting for. The undecideds aren’t listening to that fact check.” Ads that follow you Streaming has changed who even sees these ads, Sterling said. He estimated more than a third of Georgians now watch television through services like YouTube TV, which lets campaigns target individual voters rather than buying a broadcast time slot.
See WILSON, Page 20
SPORTS
AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody | Dunwoody Crier | September 3, 2026 | 11
Dunwoody starts football season at the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic By ANNABELLE REITER annabelle@appenmedia.com ROSWELL, Ga. — Four more teams kicked off their season Aug. 20 at the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic, hosted by Blessed Trinity High School. Centennial, Dunwoody, Decatur and Blessed Trinity saw their first gridiron action of the season, with mixed results. The first game heated up in the second half, with a made-for-primetime field goal by Carlos Marquez to win it 23-21 for Centennial. The second game was a shutout, with Blessed Trinity leading from the start to the 44-0 final. In the first half of game 1, it was looking like a lopsided blowout may be in store for the fans. Dunwoody wasn’t able to get points on the board until 15 seconds before the first-half buzzer. The Wildcats put their heads down to reach the end zone twice more in the third quarter, putting them on top due to an earlier missed extra point by Centennial. Once the fourth quarter struck, both teams turned up the defense, not allowing a point until the game-winning scoring drive. The 39-yard field goal went through the uprights with one minute and 24 seconds left to play per UnFair Sports, and the Wildcats weren’t able to complete on their resulting drive. The most miraculous part of Centennial’s game-winning field goal? The senior who kicked it had never played a game of football for the Knights before. Carlos Marquez has been the starting third baseman for the Knights. His parents finally allowed him to play football this year, with one condition: no physical contact. Head Coach Adam Miller found a place for their son as the team’s kicker, but when he learned Marquez would be joining the team, he never could have guessed the outcome a few short months later at the season opener. “We build with kids at Centennial,” he said in a postgame interview with Score Atlanta. At Corky Kell media day, Miller said his players needed to be disciplined, give “phenomenal effort,” and trust the process before the game, and those foundations, along with an “underdog mentality,” brought them the distance against Dunwoody. The Knights have Johns Creek next up for their home opener. “These kids wore the black and blue when they were little, and [we’re] so proud of them to come out and win a big game like this for our program,” Miller told Appen Media after the Corky Kell. Marquez, who won Robbie Hunter Most Valuable Player for the game, said the moment meant so much.
KEN LANGLEY/PROVIDED
Dunwoody senior Bradley Stephens, center, completes a drive at Blessed Trinity High School Aug. 20 during the Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Classic. Dunwoody had a late surge, with all three touchdowns coming from Stephens, before a game-winning Centennial field goal. “Me and my teammates have worked really hard for this, it wasn’t just me,” Marquez said. “It was just a team effort. I love these guys, I love coming to practice every day with these guys.” Marquez’s football career is off to an incredibly memorable start. The Knights are coming off a second-round playoff loss last year, after spearheading one of the state’s biggest upsets in the first round over 1-seed Locust Grove. Coach Miller complimented Dunwoody’s Head Coach Matt Schmitz and the program he is building. Schmitz, like Miller, is too facing the obstacles of rejecting the transfer portal that has trickled down from college athletics into high school. Dunwoody has suffered two straight losses in the Corky Kell after falling to St. Pius X last year at Mercedes-Benz. The Wildcats named running back Bradley Stephens offensive player of the week. Stephens brought in all three of the team’s touchdowns. The defensive honor went to senior end Matt Phillips. Sophomore Mason Moore won special teams player of the week. After the first game wrapped, Blessed Trinity handed a tough loss to Decatur in the season opener. The Titans have had a defense heard round the state, and this year the offense is coming up to par as well.
Titans Head Coach Ed Dudley said that looking ahead to their next game against Milton, there are a few areas to clean up with execution. That said, he also told Appen Media that the execution has improved greatly from last season. “[Running back] M.J. Craft had a fantastic game behind a young offensive line, so I think we’re going to really come together as the year goes on, and you’re going to see more of that,” Dudley said. He was pleased with his defense’s effort against Decatur and said they “have got to come out and replicate that effort” against the Eagles. “I think our guys are all together,” he said. “We’ve been really emphasizing team chemistry and team togetherness, and I thought that was on display tonight. So I was really proud of them.” Multiple players echoed the importance of team chemistry this year, citing it as one major area of growth from last year. Junior running back M.J. Craft pulled in two touchdowns on 12-yard and 71-yard carries, earning him the Robbie Hunter Most Valuable Player Award. Craft said that this year, the team and coaches are both more “in-tune,” and he looks forward to seeing what this team can accomplish with the close
bond they’ve formed. “It’s a good opening,” he said. “I love my team, and I feel like we’re way better than last year concerning chemistry. We’re way more skilled, and we all love the game.” Several outlets have ranked Blessed Trinity on top of Class 5A. Craft shared his thoughts on how far the team can go. “I think we’re gonna win state,” he said, before correcting himself. “I don’t think. We is gonna win state.” The No. 1 edge rusher in the country, Ohio State commit David “D.J.” Jacobs, Jr. also spoke with Appen Media after the game. He said he felt the Bulldogs got too many first downs for his liking, but the vibes in the huddle were good. He also brought up team chemistry as a strength this year. “We work together, we do everything together, it’s like a brotherhood for real now,” Jacobs said. Truly a brotherhood for the Jacobs. D.J.’s younger brother Dawson is another highly recruited defensive player for BT. Not related by blood, but by sweat and tears, Quinn Jacobs joined the Titans last year after coming from Milton. D.J. and Dawson played for Quinn’s father, former NFL running back Brandon Jacobs, and the youth football league he ran, Northland Giants.
12 | Dunwoody Crier | September 3, 2026
Sponsored Section
ISTOCK
Escaping shackles of traditional & beige design Brought to you by – Bath and Kitchen Galleria If your home was built during the 1990s or early 2000s, you are likely to know this specific design aesthetic very well. It’s the sea of neutral beige. For more than a decade, builders and homeowners wrapped kitchens and bathrooms in a warm, monochromatic blanket of tan ceramic tiles, honey oak cabinets and beige walls. This beige palette and heavy crown molding was the gold standard of suburban design. Senior Designer at Bath and Kitchen Galleria, Bobbie Kohm, comments “While bulky corbels and the beige palette offered safety and mass appeal back then, today it often makes beautiful homes feel dark, dated, and heavy. Fortunately, updating your kitchen or
bathroom doesn’t require jumping to the other extreme of wild, fleeting trends. You can easily trade out the dated look for a fresh, updated aesthetic using timeless and conservative color strategies.” Modernize the kitchen core The quickest way to break the beige cycle in the kitchen is by addressing the honey oak cabinetry. If the cabinets are in good structural shape, painting them with more neutral warm off-whites, sophisticated creams, or muted stone grays will do the trick. To update the kitchen layout and incorporate a large island, new cabinets will be in order, which will allow a departure from the feel of heaviness and result in a simpler, cleaner look and feel. For countertops, replace speckled brown granite with quartz that features a
clean white background and subtle gray veining. This introduces movement and brightness without overwhelming the senses. Refresh the bathroom sanctuary Bathrooms from the turn of the millennium often suffer from an overload of beige and travertine tiles and matching grout. You can neutralize this heavy look by replacing the floors with large-format porcelain tiles in soft charcoal or light greige—a beautiful blend of gray and beige that bridges the gap between warm and cool tones. For the walls, swap out the muddy tan paint for a crisp, calming seafoam green, pale slate, or a refreshing mist gray. “These colors evoke a spalike atmosphere while maintaining a clean look that appeals to younger
generations.” Says Bobbie Kohm. Finish with contrast To tie your new palette together, focus on the details. Replace old shiny brass hardware with champagne bronze or polished nickel faucets and cabinet pulls. This adds a sharp, intentional contrast that instantly anchors the room into the modern era. Stepping away from traditional beige and traditional design doesn’t mean you have to embrace modern or loud aggressive colors. By shifting toward thoughtful neutrals and muted, natureinspired tones, you can give your 1990s home a sophisticated, timeless revival. To learn more about what’s discussed in this article contact Bobbie Kohm at Bath and Kitchen Galleria in 10591 Old Alabama Rd Conn, Alpharetta, GA, 678-459-2292.
REAL ESTATE REPORT • Sponsored Section
AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody | Dunwoody Crier | September 3, 2026 | 13
14 | September 3, 2026 | Dunwoody Crier | AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody
REAL ESTATE REPORT • Sponsored Section
Don't let probate court run your business Why a trust matters for business owners
over you. That process is public, it takes time, and the court — not you — decides who is appointed and what authority they're given. Meanwhile, your business may have no one with clear legal authority to sign checks, make payroll, or respond to a crisis.
Brought to you by – Holly Geerdes Estates Law Center USA
HOLLY GEERDES
If you own a business, you've spent years building something that runs on your judgment, relationships, and daily decisions. But what happens to that business the day you can no longer make those decisions — whether from death or incapacity? For many owners, the honest answer is: nobody knows, because there's no plan in place.
Estate Law Center USA Top 5% Super Lawyer in Georgia
The problem with relying on a will alone A will only takes effect at death, and even then, it doesn't avoid probate — it has to go through it. Probate is a court-supervised process, and court supervision means delay, public record, and a judge (not your family or your business partner) overseeing what happens to your ownership interest until the estate is settled. For a business that depends on quick decisions — signing contracts, approving payroll, responding to a supplier issue — a probate delay of months isn't a paperwork inconvenience. It can be the difference be-
PROVIDED
tween the business surviving and the business stalling out while heirs wait for a judge's approval to act. The bigger gap: Incompetency Death planning gets most of the attention, but incapacity is arguably the more dangerous gap. If you become incapacitated — from an accident, a stroke, a progressive illness — a will does nothing at all. It has no legal effect until you die. Without other planning in place, the only way for someone to step in and manage your business interest is for a family member to petition a court for guardianship or conservatorship
How a trust changes the picture A properly funded trust holds title to your business interest during your lifetime, so there's no gap in authority if you're incapacitated. Your named successor trustee simply steps in under the terms you wrote, with no court process required. And at death, the trust doesn't need to pass through probate at all — the successor trustee already holds legal title and can continue operating or transitioning the business according to your instructions, immediately and privately. For a business owner, that difference isn't abstract. It's the difference between a seamless handoff and a court-supervised interruption at exactly the moment your business can least afford one. The bottom line If your business interest is one of your most valuable assets — and for most owners, it is — it deserves more protection than a will alone can offer. A trust, properly drafted and properly funded with your business interest, is what allows your business to keep running smoothly through incapacity and to pass to the next generation or the next owner without a probate court standing in the way. Come visit our workshops and webinars to learn more about protecting your assets.
Would you like your business included in the next Real Estate Report? Protect Your Assets, Your Home, And Your Family In 3 Steps
Reserve Your Seat For A FREE Estate Planning Workshop • Does my Will protect my “stuff”? (It does not.) • Should I upgrade my Will to a Trust? • What do I need to know about Revocable Living Trusts? • How do Irrevocable Trusts work? September/October Workshops: Tues., Sept. 1, 4 pm Thurs., Sept. 3, 12 noon Wed., Sept. 9, 6 pm Tues., Sept. 15, 4 pm
Thurs., Sept. 17, 12 noon Wed., Sept. 23, 6 pm Tues., Sept. 29, 4 pm Thurs., Oct. 1, 12 noon
• Medicaid. What’s true and what’s not? • How do I protect my assets for my family and legacy? • How do I remain in control? • How do I avoid losing everything to nursing home costs? • How can my family avoid probate?
Reach affluent North Atlanta communities with a
circulation of 114,000 the first week of each month.
Attend our FREE Educational Workshops. Reserve your Spot and Get a FREE Consultation for attending the Workshop (a $500 Value) CODE: herald2023
1100 Cambridge Square | Suite B | Alpharetta, GA 30009 | 770.209.2346 | hgeerdes@gklawgroup.com
To learn more, call 770-442-3278 or email: mike@appenmedia.com
COMMUNITY
AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody | Dunwoody Crier | September 3, 2026 | 15
Good Neighbor Day air show returns to PDK Sept. 19 CHAMBLEE, Ga. — DeKalb-Peachtree Airport, known as PDK, will host its Good Neighbor Day Air Show and Open House on Sept. 19. The event is returning after a one-year hiatus. Gates open at 1 p.m. and close at 9 p.m. at the airport, 2000 Airport Road in Chamblee. Admission to the event is free, but parking is $20 at surrounding lots. This year’s event will celebrate America’s 250th anniversary and will expand into a full-day celebration featuring aerial demonstrations, a newly introduced STEM Expo, a night air show, a drone light show and fireworks. “We are excited to bring back our air show,” Hunter Hines, PDK airport director, said in a statement. “Due to airport construction, we were unable to hold the show last year. Good Neighbor Day has become an Atlanta tradition and the longest-running air show in the region. We look forward to welcoming residents, families and aviation enthusiasts once again.” The Good Neighbor Day Air Show is designed to strengthen relationships between the airport and surrounding neighborhoods through aircraft displays, demonstrations, aviation education and family-friendly activities. The addition of a dedicated STEM Expo builds on an event that has grown beyond its origins, Hines said. “What began as a modest community fly-in has grown into one of the region’s best-attended aviation events,” Hines said. “Our goal is to build on that success by expanding the aerial programming and introducing a dedicated STEM Expo to inspire
students, young professionals and families.” Among the headline attractions is the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team. The Golden Knights will perform two parachute demonstrations during the event — one during the afternoon air show and a second jump during the night program. The evening air show will also feature Matt Younkin’s legendary Beech 18. Flying an illuminated historic twin-engine aircraft, Younkin’s routine “combines graceful aerobatics with synchronized pyrotechnics and lighting effects, creating a breathtaking spectacle rarely seen anywhere in the world,” according to organizers. Aviation fans can also watch Cody Elkins, a professional freestyle motocross rider, who jumps his motorcycle over a moving aircraft flown sideways beneath him by aerobatic pilot Skip Stewart. PDK has deep military roots. A century ago, the site was part of Camp Gordon, a U.S. Army training base during World War I. In 1940, the U.S. Navy acquired part of the land, commissioning it as a Naval Reserve Air Field the following year. From 1941 to 1959, Naval Air Station Atlanta trained hundreds of aviators and Navy personnel. The airport's air show legacy dates to 1947, when the U.S. Navy Blue Angels performed in their Grumman F-8F Bearcats. PDK launched the Good Neighbor Day Air Show and Open House in the early 1980s, and it quickly became a tradition for families and aviation enthusiasts across metro Atlanta. Visit pdkairshow.org for more information. — Dyana Bagby
PDK AIRPORT/PROVIDED
Cody Elkins, a professional freestyle motocross rider, jumps his motorcycle over a moving aircraft flown sideways beneath him by aerobatic pilot Skip Stewart. Elkins and Stewart will perform the stunt at the Sept. 19 PDK Good Neighbor Air Show.
16 | September 3, 2026 | Dunwoody Crier | AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody
Council:
NEWS
Continued from Page 1 Under the approved plan, no more than 10% of the townhome units will be available as rental homes. Twelve units will be constructed to potentially accommodate elevator installation in the future. Joe Ingram, representing the developer Ashton Woods Homes, said buyers can request elevators be installed in those units. Buyers would be responsible for covering the cost of the elevator and its installation. Amenities within the development will include a pool and cabana, green space, a gym and a public walking path around the existing stormwater pond. Those items will be completed at the developer’s expense. Maintenance of the stormwater pond will fall to property owners or, if organized, a future homeowners association. Council members added two more conditions to the rezoning ordinance, bringing the total number of conditions to 16. One of those Aug. 24 additions requires the developer to use natural grass and other native plants to landscape around the pond and to coordinate with the city arborist to use native trees and shrubs within the development site. The second Aug. 24 addition requires the developer to attempt to find a reptile or amphibian volunteer service to relocate animals in the stormwater pond before a land disturbance permit is issued for construction. Council members approved the rezoning and two additional conditions in a 5-1 vote. Council
Exhibit: Continued from Page 1 The “September 11, 2001: The Day That Changed the World” exhibit features 14 posters of archival photographs and images of artifacts from the New York City museum’s permanent collection. It recounts that day’s events through the stories of those who witnessed and survived the attacks. “Twenty-five years later, we continue to honor the innocent
Academy: Continued from Page 1 The October session will begin at 9
HANNAH YAHNE/APPEN MEDIA
The team behind the rezoning application for 122 townhomes on Ashwood Parkway and Ashford Dunwoody Road sits in the audience at the Aug. 24 Dunwoody City Council meeting.
risk manager position. The legal department is getting an additional $20,000 to accommodate a professional services contract price increase effective Sept. 1. A total of $662,595 of one-time transfers will be divided to cover additional costs related to renovations at City Hall and at the Dunwoody Nature Center. Dunwoody’s Communications Department will also receive a $15,000 boost in its advertising budget for the city’s Holiday HQ event.
Member John Heneghan opposed the rezoning request, and Council Member Tom Lambert was absent from the meeting. Before casting his vote, Heneghan said he does not think townhomes fit the purpose of planned development zoning. He said the council created that zoning district for large-scale, multiuse developments. Heneghan also said this development does not align with Dunwoody’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan and the Edge City report, both of which outline strategic growth plans for the area. He said those documents call for making “aging in place” housing models a reality, and the lack of single-level homes planned for the development contradicts that. “I will be voting no on this development as it does nothing for aging in place, and I believe our community as a whole deserves better,” Heneghan said. Mayor L ynn Deutsch said she thinks the development serves as an opportunity for “empty nesters.” She
said she also thinks the location will be popular. “Here, people will be able to walk to … restaurants and to the doctor’s office,” Deutsch said. “I think the location is a tremendous asset.” Budget amendment approved for additional expenses Council members also unanimously approved a midyear budget amendment to cover $860,355 of additional expenses that have been previously approved for City Hall renovations and departmental operations. It will increase Dunwoody’s budgeted use of its fund balance for this year to almost $8.2 million. Despite the increased use of reserves, city staffers said the plan still leaves the city with approximately seven months of contingency funds, which is more than what is required by the city charter. The city manager’s departmental budget is increasing by $166,620 to account for the addition of a
Approvals delayed for tech policies Votes on Dunwoody’s new artificial intelligence and technology policies were delayed by the council. Technology Director Ginger LePage said the AI policy follows the guidelines proposed in an AI accountability law pitched in the state Senate this year. The legislation did not advance in that chamber. “It did bring together some guidelines for us to make sure that we’re also following as a city when we roll out AI policy,” LePage said. Under the AI policy, city employees can only use approved generative AI platforms vetted through the city’s technology procurement process. The policy works in tandem with other policies, LePage said. The technology director also proposed changes to the city’s overall technology policy, including updating contact information and establishing guidelines for the Rave Panic Button app, which is designed to rapidly communicate critical information to city staffers during emergencies. The policies will come before the city council for approval at a later date.
lives taken, the first responders who answered the call and the resilience of our nation,” Dunwoody Police Chief Mike Carlson said. “This commemoration gives our community a place to pause, reflect and ensure the stories of Sept. 11 are never forgotten.” The Dunwoody Preservation Trust, in partnership with students from Mount Vernon School, will host “Recorded Memories” sessions where community members can share their recollections of the attacks and their aftermath. These oral histories will
become part of the Trust’s archival collection, helping future generations understand how the events of Sept. 11 affected individuals, families and communities. Two conference rooms will be dedicated to the recordings, and reservations can be scheduled in advance at dunwoodyga.gov. Walk-ins are also welcome. “History is more than dates and events. It is the personal stories of people who lived through those moments,” Kristin Simons, executive director of the Trust, said. “By recording these memories and
involving students in the process, we are helping preserve firsthand accounts of Sept. 11 so future generations can better understand its impact on our community and our nation.” At 8:46 a.m., the moment the first hijacked plane struck the World Trade Center’s north tower, Dunwoody police personnel will observe a moment of silence while ChattComm, the city’s 911 provider, broadcasts a memorial dispatch. Residents and visitors are welcome to join in this quiet moment of remembrance.
a.m. with a discussion on budgeting and city governance, followed by a trolley ride to the Dunwoody Cultural Arts Center. Participants will visit the sites of new mixed-use developments, including High Street and Campus
244, and get an inside look at the Dunwoody Police Department’s new Real-Time Crime Center. The day will wrap up at 3 p.m. Applications for Dunwoody 101 are open through Friday, Sept. 4. To
apply, visit dunwoodyga.gov. Space is limited to 25 participants because of the trolley capacity. If more than 25 applications are received, participants will be selected at random and notified by Monday, Sept. 7.
OPINION
AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody | Dunwoody Crier | September 3, 2026 | 17
GARDEN BUZZ
Please plant native for picky eaters Increasingly, scientists and backyard gardeners are recognizing the importance of native plants to the survival of native insect populations. What is a native plant? Native plants are Guest Columnist species that have grown naturally in a specific region for thousands of years. Most were here before European settlement, and they have thrived and contributed to the health of our ecosystem. Some native insects depend DANA HALLBERG on one or a handful of Guest Columnist specific native plants for survival. One urgent example is the eastern monarch butterfly, which has declined over the past several decades.
About the authors This week’s “Garden Buzz” guest columnists are Carole MacMullan and Dana Hallberg, both master gardeners and Milton residents. Carole is a former biology teacher who enjoys using her teaching skills to create a variety of presentations on gardening topics for the North Fulton Master Gardeners Speakers Bureau. Her favorite hobbies are gardening, hiking, biking, and reading. Dana is a retired, pharmaceutical research chemist turned scientific and healthcare staffing executive. Dana has lived and gardened in New Jersey and Southern California before moving to Georgia.
CAROLE MACMULLAN
What do butterflies and moths need? Two types of native plants are essential to many butterflies and moths: nectar-rich plants, which sustain adults so they can reproduce and lay eggs, and host plants, which nourish the caterpillars that emerge from the eggs. Be a friend to butterflies and other pollinators by planting nectar-rich natives such as bee balm, coneflower, beardtongue, columbine, salvia, Joe-Pye weed, butterfly weed, milkweed, blazing star, goldenrod and asters. Butterfly bush (Buddleia), confusingly, is neither a native nor a host plant. It earned the moniker by attracting butterflies as a nectar source. Monarchs require milkweed as a host plant The key to the monarch’s long-term survival is a single plant: milkweed. Monarch caterpillars eat only milkweed in the Asclepias genus. They are picky eaters. The leaves feed the caterpillars and, because of chemical toxins called cardenolides, make both caterpillars and adult monarchs poisonous to predators. Monarchs’ generational migration Eastern U.S. monarchs, like all butterflies and moths, have a four-part life cycle: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa and adult. Adults are known for their long, round-trip migration in the spring from their winter roosts in the mountains of Mexico to the northeastern United States and back to Mexico in the fall. But the story is more complicated than
PAT MILLIKEN/PROVIDED
Upper Left: Monarch butterfly enjoying nectar from a pink-flowering swamp milkweed Upper Right: Monarch feeding on orange-flowering butterfly milkweed Lower left: A single white, monarch butterfly egg on a milkweed leaf Lower middle: Two monarch butterfly caterpillars on a milkweed plant Lower right: A monarch pupa after emerging that, because no single butterfly makes the whole trip. On the journey north, monarchs stop at four locations with one objective: to reproduce. Four generations are born over the course of a year before the last of them returns to Mexico. First generation The sexually immature adults overwinter in Mexico. As the weather warms in the spring, they mature, travel north and make their first stop to reproduce in a Southeastern state. Second generation These offspring travel to a midAtlantic location to find a mate and lay their eggs on the leaves of the essential milkweed, so the picky caterpillars can grow into adults. Egg laying is a laborious process. The female lays one egg per milkweed leaf until her supply is depleted. When the eggs hatch, after a three- to eight-day incubation period, each caterpillar has an instant source of food. Both the second and third generations die within two weeks of reproducing. Third generation A desire to travel is built into a monarch’s DNA. The third generation flies to a northern location to reproduce, and its descendants fly farther north to reproduce for the last time.
Fourth generation The fourth generation is supercharged. These monarchs do not reproduce, and they can live six to nine months. The best chance to see monarchs in Georgia comes in late summer and early fall, as they travel south and stop here to fuel up on nectar-rich plants. That energy carries them on a 1,500-mile journey to their winter home in the mountains of Michoacán state, west of Mexico City. The Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site, shelters them in an oyamel fir forest for four or five months, until the spring odyssey begins again. Georgia gardeners have three suggested native milkweeds: swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata), which has pink flowers; butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa), which has orange flowers; and whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata), which has white flowers. These plants are often difficult to find locally, so growing them from seed is an excellent alternative. Growing milkweed from seed Buy organic seed that has not been treated with systemic pesticides. Place the seeds on a paper towel or coffee filter, seal them in a plastic bag and refrigerate them in the crisper drawer for 30 to 45 days to simulate the winter cold they need to
germinate. Once the chilling period is complete, it is time to plant. Use a well-draining seedstarting mix in deep containers, because milkweed develops a long taproot. Press the seeds into the soil, cover them with a quarter-inch of soil and set the containers in a sunny window or under a grow light until they sprout. Keep the soil consistently moist. Gardeners should avoid tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica) and hairy balls milkweed (Gomphocarpus physocarpus), which are sold at some big-box stores and large nurseries. These nonnative species do not die back in the winter in temperate areas such as ours, and as a result they interfere with monarch migration and reproduction. Cultivating native plants is a direct investment in the survival of the monarch butterfly. By choosing native milkweed and nectar plants, backyard gardeners can support the essential migration pathways needed to keep these magnificent monarchs flying for generations to come. Happy gardening! North Fulton Master Gardeners Inc. is a Georgia nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose purpose is to educate its members and the public about horticulture and ecology to promote and foster community enrichment. Master Gardener volunteers are trained and certified by the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension. Learn more at nfmg.net. Previous Garden Buzz columns are at appenmedia.com/opinion/ columnists/garden_buzz. Come visit us at the Alpharetta Farmers Market and the Sandy Springs Farmers Market. We will also have a booth at the Crabapple Festival in Milton on Oct. 3.
18 | September 3, 2026 | Dunwoody Crier | AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody
GET OUTSIDE GEORGIA
OPINION
Studying the fine art of getting lost Ever been lost? Well, I have, but only a little bit. You see, if you have my level of outdoor knowledge, you know that you’re never really lost. You’re only temporarily STEVE HUDSON spatially confused. Columnist Think about it. Say you’re out in the woods somewhere, and all of a sudden you realize that you don’t really know where you are. Are you lost? Only a layman would say “yes.” Those with my level of navigational acumen, however, don’t even bat an eye at that sort of thing. We realize that no matter where we are, if we head east, we’ll eventually reach the Atlantic Ocean. There, all we have to do is turn right, or maybe left, and make our way to Savannah. Then it’s simply a matter of moseying over to Interstate 95. From there, we can go just about anywhere we want. So ... lost? Never! Lost is for amateurs. Still, occasional temporary displacement is always a possibility. Sometimes that kind of displacement happens because I’m distracted a little by something important, perhaps a life-or -death matter involving armadillos or cows. But can you believe that some would say that’s just a polite way of saying I’m not paying attention? I recall one day in west Georgia. We’d been exploring a little country road that turned right off a much bigger highway. Our GPS map hinted at several promising creek crossings along the stretch of road ahead. Would one of them be a good fishing spot? Hope springs eternal when you’re looking for fishing places. Maybe so. But just how much can you trust GPS? It is, after all, just a device. It’s mere technology. How much does technology really know anyway? It doesn’t hold a candle to highly tuned, ninja-class cross-country navigation skills. Such skills are honed only after years of grass-roots exploration. Such abilities are polished only after countless outings in which one (me) masters the subtleties of navigating by stars, wind and the ways that hawks and buzzards turn as they drift through the sky. Yeah, that sort of thing is rare
and beautiful to behold. And when the grid collapses under the weight of civilization, when the GPS isn’t GPSing anymore, then me and my one-with-the-outside-world mind will be relevant! But I digress, and so back to our search for fishing spots. As it was turning out, success was proving elusive. The crossings were all overgrown and inaccessible — that is, all but one. Ahhh. The non-overgrown one was clearly the best of the batch. There was a wide place to pull off and park. There was a nice little foot trail leading down from the road to the water. There was also a beautiful pool and a gravelly patch of creek bank that sang that siren song no angler can ignore. It was just the place for a little fly-fishing, and we were ready. But then I spotted movement in the bushes nearby. Squinting, I made out shapes ... moving shapes ... animated bovine shapes ... and they were looking our way. Uh-oh. It was an angler’s worst nightmare. It appeared that this particular spot was guarded by cows. Putting my outdoors ninja skills in high gear, I immediately divined that these were not regular cows. Oh no. Instead, they were big, mean, killer cows, and one in particular (the biggest and meanest of them all) was giving us the eye. “Must be the supreme commander,” I muttered, for it definitely had that braggadocious barky look that only a Cow in Chief can have. If you’ve ever seen one, you know exactly what I mean. And you probably have. Would the fishing be worth the risk? Now I may not be the sharpest hook in the tackle box, but I do know that killer cows are not to be trifled with. How I know that is another story for another day, but let’s just say I decided it was time to turn around and head home. I turned back to the car, still watched by those cows. No doubt they were calculating whether to charge, much as their distant cousins the lions and tigers might do after spotting a particularly tasty-looking afternoon snack. Cows are devious that way, too, you know, and it appeared to my trained eyes that their plans were moving right along.
But just how much can you trust GPS? It is, after all, just a device. It’s mere technology. How much does technology really know anyway? Fortunately, being the trained woodsman that I am, I saw right through their plotting. Realizing that our very survival was at stake and that time was certainly of the essence, I picked up the pace and was soon safely back in the car. I turned around in a convenient farm road. Then we headed on down the road, none the worse for the experience and leaving the cows, disappointed, far behind. After a little bit we came again to the main highway, where I confidently turned right. Yeah, I turned right. If you’re geographically attuned like I usually am, you’ll realize that “right” was not the way to turn to head back the way we came. Had I turned “left,” which is what I should have done, we’d have been pointed back toward home. But I was no doubt distracted by our close call. So I accidentally turned the other way. You see how that could happen, of course. Unfortunately, the error in my ways was not immediately apparent. One stretch of rural highway looks pretty much like the next stretch, at least for a little while. Soon, though, we started seeing things we had not seen on the way in. On the left there was a bright red house. On the right was a country store. Just past it was a big ol’ pasture and a herd of (you guessed it) more cows — were they looking our way? — and just beyond that there was a hand-lettered sign, done up in shaky letters and bloodred paint, proclaiming that the end was near if one wasn’t careful. We hadn’t seen any of that before. Clearly, we were headed in an
unexplored direction, going toward somewhere at 65 mph. But what would that somewhere turn out to be? My brain immediately began a careful analysis of just exactly what all of this might mean. “What do you think it means?” I asked. “I think,” my wife said, “that it means we may be lost.” Lost? “Lost?” I said. “How could we be lost? One is never lost if one knows where one is, and I know that we are here!” We rode on a little longer. “But where is here?” I added at last. “Alabama,” she said. “Alabama?” “Uh-huh. We just crossed the state line.” Alabama, huh? Well, being the trained whole-earth navigator that I am, I’m sure I would have seen that. Only I’d been distracted again by yet a third battalion of cows, those ones over there (that’s a little bit of colloquial dialect-type stuff, included here to add local color). They were definitely looking our way, I saw. It dawned on me, too, that they were Alabama cows. Alabama cows, among all the cows in all of creation, are especially not to be trifled with, and that realization probably distracted me even more. So you can understand how I missed a little thing like crossing over into a whole other state. That’s all it was. Uh-huh. But when it’s time, it’s time. So I found another country road and turned around again (the correct way this time), and eventually we did get home. You know, it’s funny how some things just become legend. That story — which I have recounted here as it happened, mostly, more or less — is one of them. It’s a tale still told at family gatherings, at campgrounds, at baby showers and birthday parties and even, once, in the Walmart checkout line. In fact, it’s told pretty much anywhere such stories are told and everywhere there’s even the faintest chance of encountering cows. It’s kind of nice to be the stuff of legends. Meanwhile, I have been learning to rely more fully on GPS. I guess it’s here to stay. How the times have changed!
OPINION
AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody | Dunwoody Crier | September 3, 2026 | 19
Fire companies replacing customer service with AI spot-on amazingly. Then, one day recently, I called the dealership to ask a simple question about my truck. I needed to speak to someone in the service department. Instead of a human answering my call, I got an automated voice. The voice informed me that I needed to state which department I needed to reach and to leave a message describing my issue, and someone from that department would return my call. I hung up. I called back again and, again, was answered by a machine. I requested to speak with a human. The machine refused to transfer me to a human; it just repeated the “leave a message” response. I hung up again. By this time, I had wasted maybe 15 or more minutes. I tried a third time, but this time I figured that if I told the machine I needed to speak with someone in sales “regarding purchasing a new truck,” maybe a human would come on the line. Bingo. Someone — a human — from the sales department picked up the phone. Imagine that. I thanked him for picking up and explained that I was really trying to reach someone in the service department to ask a simple question, and was there any way he could walk over and ask it for me. He did. After putting me on hold for at least another 10 minutes, he came back with the answer I needed. So the dealership will call me back if I leave a message — on its schedule, not mine. If I had wanted the answer to my question later, I would have called later. The dealership had no problem wasting my time, and not compensating me for my lost time, in order to avoid paying a receptionist to deal with a customer — to save a few minimum-wage dollars. The result is twofold: I no longer get my truck serviced every 5,000 miles at
The public will increasingly push back against much of AI-based communication and the companies that embrace it instead of valuing their clients — and especially their clients’ time.” the dealership, and hell will freeze over before I buy another vehicle from that dealer. I previously bought a new truck and a new SUV there. So I ask you: Has artificial intelligence saved that dealer or that restaurant money? What do you think? And, just saying, I am not picking on the dealership or the restaurant. I routinely stop doing business with those who disrespect my time — who place zero value on my time and my business — by using AI instead of going to the expense of retaining a human to answer the phone and treat me with some respect and consideration. The reverse is true as well. I go out of my way to do business with folks who do not use AI and instead make the investment in remaining a humancentric concern. Publix, for example, is running a national advertising campaign that emphasizes its continued focus on human-to-human personal service instead of AI. I will be a loyal Publix shopper forever. Publix
PUBLIC NOTICE DREAM Dachshund Rescue Howl-O-Weenie 2026 September 26, 2026 11am-3pm Brook Run Park - Large Pavilion Save the date for DREAM Dachshund Rescue’s biggest fundraiser of the year - Howl-O-Weenie! Join us for a day full of fun with music, games, costume contests, local vendors, food trucks, beverages, and plenty of dachshund excitement. It’s a can’tmiss event in support of our mission to rescue and rehome deserving doxies. It’s a tail-wagging good time you won’t want to miss!
dreamrescue.org
RESS NP
A
UB CL
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING The City of Dunwoody Zoning Board of Appeals will meet on Thursday, October 1, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council of Chambers of Dunwoody City Hall, located at 4800 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody, Georgia 30338, for the purpose of due process of the following: ZBA 26-17, 1200 & 1240 Ashwood Parkway and 4754 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody, GA, 30338: Variance from Sec. 16-78 to allow construction and disturbance in the stream buffer for a new townhome development. ZBA 26-18, 4782 Olde Village Cove, Dunwoody, GA, 30338: Variance from Sec. 27-58 to allow a porch to encroach into the rear setback. Should you have any questions or comments, or would like to view the application and supporting materials, please contact the City of Dunwoody Community Development Department at 678-382-6800. Members of the public are encouraged to call or schedule a meeting with the staff in advance of the Public Hearing if they have questions or are unfamiliar with the process. The staff is available to answer questions, discuss the decision-making process, and receive comments and concerns.
gets it and puts its money where its values are. Smart Publix. The public will increasingly push back against much of AI-based communication and the companies that embrace it instead of valuing their clients — and especially their clients’ time. At Appen Media, our goal is always to personally answer the phone before the second ring. It is just who we are, and one of our values — to respect people’s time and humanity.
APPE
I needed to make a reservation for nine at the restaurant. It was going to be my tab, and I guessed I would be spending hundreds of dollars. I called the restaurant. RAY APPEN The phone rang Publisher Emeritus ray@appenmedia.com and rang. I hung up. Then I called again. It rang many times again, but finally my call was answered — by an automated voice. By then I had wasted a lot of my time and energy trying to spend a lot of money locally with this restaurant. I hung up again. It happens that I live close to that restaurant in Crabapple — close enough to walk there in about five minutes. So, still very unhappy, I got in my truck and drove there to make my reservation. It was 11:30 a.m., and the restaurant was supposed to have opened at 11 a.m. The door was open, but no one seemed to be at work yet, so I waited for maybe 10 or 15 minutes until an employee finally came around the corner and took my reservation. I complained to her about the automated voice. She shook her head — in agreement with me — and replied that she also hated having to deal with machines instead of humans. I decided to find a different restaurant for my party of nine. I drive a Toyota Tundra and always get it serviced at a dealership — the one where I bought the truck new some years ago. One of the reasons for going to the dealership was its stellar — like impeccable — service. I loved going there, even though I generally paid a bit more than I could have paid elsewhere, because I enjoyed watching a business that was run so well, so
appenmedia.com/join
20 | September 3, 2026 | Dunwoody Crier | AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody
Wilson: Continued from Page 10 “I can give a list to a vendor of Republican voters, or swing voters, I want to hit,” Sterling said. “It will follow you around if you go on vacation; if you open your streaming service, it will find you.” He said the result is that attack ads increasingly run with no public witness. Your neighbor may never see the ad built to move you, which means no one outside the target group is positioned to catch it, question it or call it out, he noted. Same ads, different battlefield Sterling, who has worked on presidential campaigns since 1988, agrees with Schweidel that attack ads are not the true cause of rising polarization. “I do not remember a time in my political life where we didn’t have attack ads at some level,” he said. He pointed to the U.S. presidential election of 1800 between incumbent John Adams and the eventual victor Thomas Jefferson as proof the tactic predates any modern cause. “They had the yellow, you know, the partisan papers,” Sterling said. “They literally called John Adams a hermaphroditic troll.” What has changed, in his view, is that voters no longer share a common set of facts to argue over. He pointed to social media algorithms that reinforce whatever a user already clicks on, creating parallel realities even among people who agree on the underlying events. “We are living in two different realities, even though all the facts are the same,” Sterling said. “We’re only having certain ones reinforced. And I think social media, more than the attack ads, is the bigger single problem.” Schweidel is looking at a related question from a different angle. The professor’s current research examines how attack ads shape the news coverage and social media commentary that AI systems draw on to summarize candidates for voters. “To what extent does today’s attack ad shape the way that AI talks about a candidate?” he said. “That is something that we’re looking into.” For now, Georgia voters can expect the ads to keep coming. With the OssoffCollins Senate race and the governor’s race between Republican Rick Jackson and Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms both unresolved heading into the fall, Schweidel offered little hope of relief before Election Day. “Unfortunately, they’re not going to stop,” he said. “We got another two, three months.”
Join today for $16/month
Support Local News Join Appen Press Club CHARTER MEMBER
DC Aiken Big Sky Franchise Team David & Michelle Bertany Amour & Duane Carthy Scott Childress Adam Corder
Patrick Cressaty Lindsay DeFranco Robert Flint Robin Fricton Zachary Hahn Allison January
Michael Kenig Roderick Liptrot Bob Meyers Claude Nardy Cliff Oxford Bruce Paulk
Ross & Lori Ramsey Sarah Reiter Mark Rundle Matthew Sayle Lynn Thomas Kim Truett
Roger Wise Jr. Colt Whittall
Robert Popp Dave Rhinehart Sergey Savin Heather Sawyer Kate Seng Karen Shih Bob Stevens
Kimberly Verska Carol Williams
Thomas Edmonds William Edmundson Denise Eicher Mim Eisenberg Danny Elkins Su Ellis Grady Evans Leslie Ann Everett Steve Fabian Carol Fain Martha Fasse Nell & Doug Fernandez Renai Fitzpatrick Daniel Fleck Lee Fleck Laura Floyd Andrew Flynn Cathy Flynn Paul Folger Adrienne Fontaine Mary Ford Nanci Foster Amy Frederick Kelly Frommer Carol Fry Tim Fulton Andrew Garner Tracey Ganesh Steve Garrett Daniel Gay Matthew Geller John Gibbs
John Gilberto Leslie Gilliam Bailey & Ryan Gladysz Michelle Glotzbach Harvey Goldberg Christopher Goodrich Jim Gray Ralph Griffin Rihard Griffiths Elaine Gwynn Carolyn Hall Marilee Hamilton Susan Hanna Marion Hannah Chris Harrell Roxanne Hazen Penn Hodge Dianne & Steffan Holmquist Joan Hostetter Julie Hostetter Krista Howland Austin Hughes Jason Hunyar Jacqueline Hursh Susan Huss Paul Huth Jeffrey Hyde J. Craig Inman Sandra Jacobs Sue Jacques Lynn Johnson Tyler Jones
MEMBER+ Barbara Anderson Kerry Arias Scott Baynton Joseph Bell Rita Brown SM Buscher Mark Casas
David Conti Theodore Davis III Maureen Drumm Charlcie Forehand Aileen Horton Deborah Jackson David Johnson
Ali Mahbod Richard Matherly Evan McElroy Vickie McElroy Anne Peer Helen Perry Jennifer Phillippi
MEMBER Carl Abernathy Bruce Ackley Salpi Adrouny Alpharetta Lions Club Omar Altalib Dave Altman Ron Altman Joel Alvis American Legion Post 201 Ken Amos Alice & Dr. Richard Appen Stewart Applbaum Gaye Armstrong Mary Asbury Amy Auffant Bonnie Avera Carolyn Axt Bangkok Boxing LLC Sandra Balmer Shannon Banna Beth Barnes Michael Baron Janet Bass Caitlin Bates Jannet Bauer Barbara Bauschka Miriam Beattie Kathy Beck Laura Bentley William Bentley Steve Berman Leslie Berry
Tom Billings Caroline Blackmon Tochie Blan Ron Boddicker Jodi Bogen Sherri Bolles-Rogers Katherine Bolt Helen Borland Debra Bowen Joe Bowen Kenneth Bowman David Boy Ryan Brainard Mark Brandus Mel Brannen Amy Bratten Carol Bright Linda Brill Dorothy Brouhard Mary Anne Brown Erendira Brumley Zack Buchanan Bernhard Burgener Alvin Burrell Mike & Theresa Buscher Mary Busman Clea Calloway Kirk Canaday James Carr Bridgette Carter William Carter William Cartwright
Linda & Frank Catroppa Pat Check Virginia Christman Adam Cleveland Ann Coaloa Kim Coggins Michael Cohen Evelyn Collazo Michael Mackenzie Communications Joan Compton Kathleen Cook Carol Cookerly Terri Coons Sarah Cox Cynthia Crawford Rhonda Cude Connie Cunningham Christopher Cupit Bart Dean David Dean Duane DeBruler Marilyn DeCusati Kathleen DeMartino Nancy Diamond Sarah Donehoo Rebecca Donlan James Dorsey Tom Driscoll Michael Dudgeon Jeanette Dummer DutchCrafters Amish Furniture
To join go to appenmedia.com/join and follow the prompts to select your membership level and select your t-shirt size! Questions? Email Hans Appen at hans@appenmedia.com or call 770-442-3278.
Scan QR code to join the Appen Press Club
2
5
AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody | Dunwoody Crier | September 3, 2026 | 21
Join today for $16/month
Support Local News Join Appen Press Club MEMBER (CONT.)
Zach Jones Patricia Kachur Amy Kanderis Arthur Kebanli Laura Keck Mark Kelly Nancy Kennell Randall Kent Carol Kerr Sally Klaskala Allison Kloster Dyna Kohler Brett Koutnik Larry Krueger Jess & Chris Kysar Malinda Lackey Sarah Lamm Daniel Lashinsky Richard Lapin Christine Law Brandon Leach Dennis Lee Ken Leffingwell Carol Lehan Melissa Libby Bonnie Lind Francia Lindon Karen Lippert Harlan Little Jarrett Long Ross Long Kyser Lough Rita Loventhal Jerry Lucas Brenda Lundy Harry Lutz Rita Loventhal Karen Magill Freda Manning-Rumph
7 5 4 SOLUTIONS Solution 3 8 6 1 7 9 5 8 2 Pu Dunwoody Crier 8/20/26 Kakuro 1 5 4 8 Carol Tall Mike Tasos Candice Teichert 9 The Small Business Advisor Suzanne & Bob Thomas William Tietjen 1 4 Lisa Tilt Michael Townes Connect-It Solution Trunnion LLC 6 7 Matthew Tyser
Julie Martin Linda & Todd Martinez Carla Masecar Valerie Matthews Theresea Mattioli William Maxwell Nicole Mayer Rachel McCord Austin McCully Diane McDonald Evan McElroy Karen McEnerny Jack McGinnis Lynn McIntyre Mike McLoughlin Margaret McManus Jay O’ Meara Jennifer Mendoza Al Merrill Chris Miller Christine Miller Patricia Miller Milton Animal Hospital George Mobley Joe Modica Fred Moeller Sarah Moen Catherine Moore Ralph Moore Carol Morgan Kathy Morgan Stu Moring Leslie Mullis Donna Murphy Jack Murphy Aileen Nakamura George Nathan Caroline Naughton Richard Nichols
THE FUTURE OF LOCAL NEWS
Cindy Nolan North Fulton Master Gardeners, Inc. Tricia Novarro Bob O’Brien Jay O’Meara Diana O’Sullivan Anne Pappas Lynn Pennington Jonathan Peters Kurt & Leslie Phillips Mary & Jan Phillips James Potts Debra Powell Seth Price Joyce Provissiero Chuck Pugh Patricia Rackliffe Robert Radloff Raj Rajagopalan Pankaj Rajankar Ashwin Ramaswami Cheryl Rand Manu Rao James Rasmussen Paula Rattray Lori Rausch Jean Rearick Joseph Reed Scarlett Reynolds Righteous PR Angie Rigney Sean Riley Neil Robertson Kimberly Robinson Matt Rohs Kim Romaner Courtney Rozear Fran Russell
Continued innovation in digital media has changed the ways in which people buy, sell and interact with products and services. It has caused businesses to reassess the ways in which it communicates with potential customers and advertises its products. It has been well documented that these changes have had a destructive impact on local newspapers, which continues to be a primary source for local news, but is no longer a primary source for local advertising dollars – historically the lifeblood for reporters and their coverage. At Appen Media Group we want to address this conflict head on, and build new and innovative approaches to monetizing local news and creating a sustainable future for local journalism in metro Atlanta.
Janet Sandberg Carolina Santos Kelly Sarmiento Fran Schefer Derek Scheidt Dorothy Scherr Stephanie Schniederjan The Schoenblum Family Robert Scholz Robert Schreiner Stephanie Schuette Susan Searles Frances Segars Tracy Shealy Tina Shelton Lisa Shippel Steve Short Tom Simon Cindy Simpson Robert Singleton Faye Sklar Mitchel Skyer Judith Slaughter Andy Smith Lee Smith Tia Solh Morris Soriano Heidi Sowder Gena Spears Donald Spencer Melissa Spencer Jan Stephens Judith Stewart Wesley Stewart Cathryn Stovall Celeste Strohl Diana Sullivan Andy Sumlin Kathy Swahn
E S P Y L A T E S I L K A Q U A A R A S E N N U I G U L P R O U N D A B O U T S L A P S T O U T S O R E D E E R F E R N E T E E F T D A R N E E N E R I E E T N A S T A T E C I R C L E T H E W A G O N S C A D E T P O E T A R C H style grid. The rules a challenging D Kakuro, also known as Cross Sums, is a M M inEa crossword N C solved Z I puzzle, E W number below the dia of the above the diagonal line in a black square is the sum A P it.EA number O B toI theSright of C squares I white E R can only be used on andRa digit of the white squares in the sequence below U M E S1 to 9, A R digits T the E Ponly use L may J it.U You L I N E O F F I R E O L D S A R S O N S T E P S N E E T O M S T O R S H A R T Copyright ©2026 PuzzleJunction.com
Edward Votta Linda Wabler Ollie Wagner Lewis Walker Elizabeth Waller Valerie Walters-Gold Ann Marie Warning Terry Warnke Jonathan Washburn Michael Watson Deborah Weiss Michael Weiss Herbert Wells Benjamin Wemberly Beverly Whisenant Sally White Thom White Umpika White Mae Whiteside Ashley Whitt Jennifer Wieland Christine Williams Jamie Wimberly Jonathan Winkie Nancy & Dave Wistrand Kalle Wood Theresa Woolridge Laura Wysong Jonathan Young
THE APPEN PRESS CLUB
One solution is the creation of a membership driven organization called the Appen Press Club that is dedicated to recruiting people and companies to join as members. Members pay recurring monthly or annual dues that are 100% dedicated to sustainable journalism. By providing predictable revenue, Appen Press Club members and partners help fund the salaries and expenses of local reporters who will no longer be subject to the whims of marketing budgets and an ever changing advertising world. In turn, those reporters will provide the readers they serve with highly researched and qualified journalism focused on subjects that directly affect their quality of life.
To join go to appenmedia.com/join and follow the prompts to select your membership level and select your t-shirt size! Questions? Email Hans Appen at hans@appenmedia.com or call 770-442-3278.
Scan QR code to join the Appen Press Club
E X T A I L S 1 O N I O N PuzzleJunction.com
Copyright ©2026
2 A C E R B E A N I X E S 3 B O I L E N T I L U A U 4 P O N D A M P O T A T O
5 B I S Q U E W E R A C E
6 O X T A I L A P P R A M
Solution
7 S E E R U N T U R T L E
7 2 9 5 1 3 6 4 8
5 3 8 4 9 1 2 1 5 3 9 6 PuzzleJunction.com 4 ©2026 8Copyright 6 1 7 2 3 8 5 4 7 1 9 8 2 6 2 6 5 3 7 4 8 9 8 2 6 4 7 1 1 5 3 7 2 9 4 7 2 9 8 6 5 3 3 9 4 5 1 6 7 Solution
6 7 4 3 9 5 8 1 2
22 | September 3, 2026 | Dunwoody Crier | AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody
SERVICE DIRECTORY Landscaping
Pressure Washing
AwArd winning LAndscApes
20 years of Keeping Dunwoody Green
Installation Maintenance Seasonal Color
Ogletree Enterprises
a MALTA Award Winning Firm Ken Ogletree
770.840.8884
Servicing the Dunwoody area since 1981, with more than 1000 established references available.
CELEBRATING MY 45TH YEAR! THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU! • Competitive Pricing: Ext. house wash, fences, pool/patio decks & driveways (ASK ME ABOUT MY
TWO-COAT HAND BRUSHED EXTERIOR PAINTING)
MY EXPERIENCE ACHIEVES OPTIMAL RESULTS!!!
Licensed • Insured • References Concrete/Asphalt
Roofing
ALEX FRASER MASONRY INC.
ROOF LEAKING? Call us for roof repair or roof replacement. FREE quotes. $200 OFF Leak Repairs or 10% off New Roof. Affordable, quality roofing. Based in Roswell. Serving North Atlanta since 1983. Call to schedule FREE Quote: 770-284-3123. Christian Brothers Roofing
• BRICK • CONCRETE Alex Fraser, President www.alexfrasermasonry.com E-Mail: afrasermasonry@aol.com
• BLOCK • STONEWORK FULLY INSURED
Cell: (404) 281-0539
Driveways $250 OFF NEW DRIVEWAY!
Home Improvement
Garage Doors
ROT-DOC
Dunwoody Door Lift Co.
Mention this ad. Concrete driveway specialists. Driveways, Pool Decks, Patios, Walkways, Slabs. A+ BBB rating. FREE ESTIMATE. Call Rachael at 678-250-4546 to schedule a FREE Estimate. 30 years of experience. ARBOR HILLS CONSTRUCTION INC. Please note we do have a minimum charge on accepted jobs of $5,000.
Don’t waste good paint on rotten wood. Minor repairs make a major difference!
We sell, install and repair garage doors and openers.
Miscellaneous
Rot Repair Technician
Interior/Exterior Painting Pressure Washing Rotten Wood Deck Repair Free Estimates
Thurman | 770.899.1354 | www.rot-doc.com
The ONLY garage door company in Dunwoody!
Authorized Genie Dealer serving Dunwoody since 1973.
770-393-1652
If you can’t lift your door, let Dunwoody Door Lift it!
Budget Fabrics And Upholstery *DISCOUNT PRICES*
-FREE Design Consultation• Thousands of designer 770-396-6891 fabrics IN STOCK 770-396-6824 Mon-Fri 8-6 • Sat 8-3
Electricians
Belco Electric
“Family Owned Since 1972” Fast Dependable Service by Professional Uniformed Electricians
Check out our new website:
770-455-4556 BelcoInc.com
and follow us on:
Handyman Matthew the Handyman - Carpentry, painting, drywall, plumbing. Electrical and small jobs. 404-547-2079. CARPENTRY AND REPAIRS Wood Rot, Roof Leaks, Decks and Refinishing. Interior and Exterior Painting. Flooring, Doors and Handyman Punch Lists. Give us a call, we do it all. 770-262-6272.
To place a classified ad, email classifieds@appenmedia.com. Deadline is Thursdays by 3pm
AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody | Dunwoody Crier | September 3, 2026 | 23
24 | September 3, 2026 | Dunwoody Crier | AppenMedia.com/Dunwoody
VISIT THE APPEN MEDIA STORE Support local journalism by visiting appenmediastore.com – every purchase directly funds the vital work of the Appen Media newsroom.
SHOP AT APPENMEDIASTORE.COM AND SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM