Sandy Springs Crier - March 5, 2026

St. Pius basketball takes region title

► PAGE 6

Career expo to link employers with job seekers

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — The annual Sandy Springs Connects! Career Expo will bring job seekers and Perimeter Center employers together on March 11.

The expo runs from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Sandy Springs Performing Arts Center, 1 Galambos Way, and is free to those looking for jobs in the Perimeter

Center area.

The job fair is hosted in partnership with the City of Sandy Springs, the Greater Perimeter Chamber of Commerce and the Community Assistance Center’s Empowerment Center.

The purpose is to move hiring beyond online applications and create

History’s forgotten women take author’s center stage

By GALYN CHATMAN newsroom@appenmedia.com

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — The Friends of Sandy Springs Library (FOSSL) welcomed award-winning author and Clark Atlanta University professor Piper Huguley Feb. 21 for a free community event that drew a full house of local book lovers.

Known for her historical fiction spotlighting overlooked women in American history, Huguley spoke about her work and inspiration. The talk was part of a monthly series hosted by FOSSL, which aims to support the library through donations, book sales and community involvement.

Huguley’s latest release, “American Daughters,” explores the friendship between Portia Washington and Alice Roosevelt, the daughters of Booker T. Washington and President Theodore Roosevelt.

The novel has earned praise for bringing new perspectives to the lives of two women who lived in the shadows of famous men.

“I’m preoccupied with these unnamed women in history,” Huguley said during her talk in the library’s community room. “What were the hidden lives of these unnamed women?”

Huguley’s work revives the stories of people who contributed to the nation’s cultural and social foundation but were left out of mainstream narratives. Her books include “By Her Own Design,” which chronicles the life of African American fashion designer Ann Lowe who designed Jacqueline Bouvier’s wedding gown for her marriage to John F. Kennedy.

Devotees Tiana Odem and Erecca Simpson waited in line to purchase a signed copy of the book after Huguley’s talk.

See HUGULEY, Page 4

opportunities for face-to-face conversations and networking between employers and jobseekers, according to organizers.

“Our business community continues to grow and create strong career opportunities across multiple industries,”

Sandy Springs Mayor Rusty Paul said.

Companies and organizations

participating this year include Northside Hospital, State Farm, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Crowne Plaza by IHG, Fulton County Schools, the Atlanta Police Department and the Sandy Springs Police Department.

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DEA seizes 37 pounds of meth in Sandy Springs

By CARL APPEN carl@appenmedia.com

SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. — A federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) operation in Sandy Springs yielded one arrest and 16 kilos of suspected methamphetamine Feb. 13, according to agency officials and documents obtained by Appen Media.

The DEA executed a search warrant on an apartment on Northwood Drive in Sandy Springs. Inside the home agents located 37 pounds of, “a crystallike substance,” which allegedly tested positive for methamphetamine, according to court documents.

The federal officers found one woman and two juveniles in the apartment. They released the children to a guardian

and arrested the adult, charging her with felony trafficking in illegal drugs. The agency also seized an undisclosed amount of money.

DEA agents conducted the investigation and apartment search, asking Sandy Springs Police detectives to assist with “perimeter security” and have a department vehicle on site. Once the arrest was complete, federal officers turned the suspect over to city police for transportation.

DEA officials told Appen Media the city will now prosecute the case.

Sandy Springs detectives took the woman to the Fulton County jail. A judge awarded her a $100,000 bond, though she now also has an immigration hold. This status, known as a detainer, is a request for jails to hold suspects,

“for up to 48 hours beyond the time they would ordinarily release them so [the Department of Homeland Security] has time to assume custody,” according to the federal agency.

Conditions surrounding the woman’s immigration status are not clear. The DEA referred further questions to the city, considering they will now pick up the drug case. Sandy Springs Police spokespeople declined to provide details of the arrest or suspect.

The incident and arrest are absent from the city’s Police to Citizen website, an online portal presented as a way for the public to see law enforcement activity.

City officials also declined to comment on why the events are missing from the dashboard.

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Atlanta Lacrosse Invitational features college talent

By ANNABELLE REITER annabelle@appenmedia.com

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Lacrosse Invitational returned for its third year, this time at Morehouse College, for three high-level college matchups Feb. 21 featuring 13 Georgia natives on the field.

Army and Michigan fielded men’s and women’s teams. Boston College and Florida State women’s teams also competed.

This year, 285 Lacrosse’s annual games took place at Morehouse’s B.T. Harvey Stadium after two years at Georgia Tech.

The men faced off first, with a ranked matchup that drew the largest crowd despite wet conditions from earlier storms.

Army defeated Michigan 13-11 in the first match, boosting the Black Knights to No. 8 in the USA Lacrosse rankings. Michigan, though not ranked by USA Lacrosse, is in the top 10 of efficiency rankings and No. 4 in cumulative shooting percentage according to Lacrosse Reference.

The game featured the most players from Georgia – two Wolverines and four Black Knights – and one coach.

Army offensive coordinator Rick Lewis is a Cumming native and St. Pius X graduate.

He played for Ohio State and now is in his fifth year coaching for the Black Knights and his first in the offensive coordinator role.

With four players from metro Atlanta on his team, he said he feels recruiting is going in the right direction.

“If you’re not recruiting the state of Georgia, you’re really missing out,” Lewis said. “It’s so special to do what you love with the people you love in a place that you love. Just to come down here and get the win on a business trip, the amount of Georgia guys that we have, especially.”

He said he was satisfied with the offensive execution against Michigan’s

DRIVEWAYS

MEN’S LACROSSE: BLACK KNIGHTS 13, WOLVERINES 11

WOMEN’S LACROSSE: WOLVERINES 10, EAGLES 9

WOMEN’S LACROSSE: BLACK KNIGHTS 13, SEMINOLES 7

late-game surge.

“I think we’re playing offense with 10 guys, we’ve got efforts in the cage,” Lewis said. “Just really thankful and happy that our guys stuck with the plan, they just continue to grind it out and trust us as a staff, and then we’ve got full trust that they could go out and make plays.”

Black Knights brothers Evan and Hill Plunkett are Roswell High graduates and their younger sister is a sophomore at the school.

Evan is a senior midfielder and Hill is a sophomore attacker. Roswell junior Linkin Miller plans to join Hill at Army in his senior year.

Roswell head coach Bryan Wallace was at the game standing on the sideline and said many on the Hornets team were in attendance.

See LACROSSE, Page 7

Indie bookstore turns page after fire impedes business

By KATHY DES JARDINS CIOFFI newsroom@appenmedia.com

FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — A few local indie booksellers drive most of the author appearances Appen features monthly. And, when it comes to Roswell listings, one of the most active is Bookmiser.

Working alongside two Friends of the Roswell Library programs – Roswell Reads and Atlanta Authors – Bookmiser has helped facilitate some of the city’s most notable author celebrations since 2018. From blockbuster writers like Fredrik Backman, Delia Owens and Ann Patchett to regional authors like Karen White, Mary Kay Andrews and Rick Bragg, Bookmiser co-owner Annell Gerson has helped coordinate them all from a strip-mall storefront 10 minutes from Roswell’s historic downtown at 3822 Roswell Road in Marietta.

That brick-and-mortar location,

Saturday, March 7, the 22nd annual Dahlonega Literary Festival, featuring numerous nationally known fiction and nonfiction authors including headliner Joshilyn Jackson. Free or $35 for Jackson’s session, which includes a signed hardback copy of her latest novel, “Missing Sister.” 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Holly Theater, 69 W. Main St., Dahlonega. literaryfestival.org.

Tuesday, March 10, Liz Moore, 13th annual Forsyth Reads Together headliner. The No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of “The God of the Woods” will speak and sign books at the Forsyth Conference Center, 3410 Ronald Reagan Blvd., Cumming. Sponsored by Forsyth County Public Library, FCPL Friends and Advocates and the Forsyth County Arts Alliance at the Forsyth County Community Foundation, with books sold by Read It Again Books. 7 p.m. Free. Registration required. An Eventbrite waitlist and a standby line is planned. eventbrite.com/e/an-evening-with-liz-moore-tickets1981356153592?aff=oddtdtcreator

Tuesday, March 10, Isla Jewell with her new romantasy, “Books & Bewitchment.” Jewell, who also publishes as Delilah S. Dawson, will answer audience questions. 7 p.m. Free. Johns Creek Books, 6000 Medlock Bridge Road. 770-696-9999. johnscreekbooks.com.

Thursday, March 12, and Saturday, March 14, Robert Gwaltney detailing “Sing Down the Moon.” March 12 in conversation with Emily Carpenter. 5:30 p.m. Either $27 with book or $5 admission only. Poe & Company Bookstore, 1890 Heritage Walk, Suite P101, Milton. Poeandcompanybookstore.com.

On March 14, Atlanta Authors presents Gwaltney with author Lo Patrick. 2 p.m. Free. Roswell Library, 115 Norcross St., Roswell. eventbrite. com/e/atlanta-authors-presents-robert-gwaltneytickets-1979739706756?aff=oddtdtcreator

Monday, March 19, Laura Elizabeth Murder

however, suffered a major setback in September, when a fire at a nearby computer repair store triggered a fivemonth shutdown, gutting and total remodel.

With no in-store holiday sales and facing ever-growing e-commerce competition, Bookmiser maintained offsite support for a host of organizations and events, including two author appearances for Roswell Reads and Atlanta Authors.

Then, despite a tsunami of challenges, Bookmiser reopened the last weekend in February with an in-store author function.

“Now more than ever,” Gerson said, “we appreciate the community’s support in spreading the word that we are open and dedicated as ever to putting the right book in the right hands at the right time, our quest for 27 years.

Here are details, along with other March happenings.

Mystery Dinner featuring her book “All is Now Lost.” 6 p.m. $60. Poe & Company Bookstore, 1890 Heritage Walk, Suite P101, Milton. Poeandcompanybookstore.com

Thursday, March 24, Kim Costa launching “Live in Your Wheelhouse.” 5:30 p.m. Either $27 with book or $5 admission only. Poe & Company Bookstore, 1890 Heritage Walk, Suite P101, Milton. Poeandcompanybookstore.com

Tuesday, March 24, A Novel Idea spotlights authors Ron Hsu, Robert Gwaltney and Katherine Nichols with “Down South + East," "Sing Down the Moon," and "Imperfect Alignment," respectively. 7 p.m. Free. Roswell Junction, 340 S. Atlanta St., Roswell. anovelidea.us.

Friday, Saturday and Monday, March 27, 28 and 30, Friends of the Roswell Library Book Sale. See website for hours and details. Roswell Library, 115 Norcross St., Roswell. 404-612-9700. forl.net.

Saturday, March 28, The Atlanta Writers Club’s Self-Publishing Conference giving indie writers tips and skills to build their audience and sell more books. Georgia Tech Hotel & Conference Center, 800 Spring St NW, Atlanta. 8 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Pricing and details at atlantaselfpublishingconference. com/

Saturday, March 28, Vanessa Riley celebrating “Fire Sword & Sea,” hosted by Bookmiser and Friends of the Sandy Springs Library. 2 p.m. Free. Sandy Springs Library, 395 Mount Vernon Highway NE, Sandy Springs. bookmiser.net/events.html

Tuesday March 31, Emily Carpenter launching

“A Spell for Saints and Sinners,” in conversation with author Kimberly Belle. 5:30 p.m. Free. Poe & Company Bookstore, 1890 Heritage Walk, Suite P101, Milton. Poeandcompanybookstore.com

To submit an author event for the upcoming month, email Kathy Des Jardins Cioffi at kathydesjardins3@ gmail.com by the 15th.

Dyana Bagby joins staff as Appen Media reporter

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Appen Media Group announced Dyana Bagby has joined the staff as a reporter. Bagby will cover local government and business in the cities of Dunwoody and Sandy Springs. She will report to Carl Appen, director of content and development, and be based in Alpharetta.

Bagby has covered local government, commercial real estate and LGBTQ+ issues in metro Atlanta. Her work has been featured in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, WABEFM, Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) and The Atlanta Voice.

Expo:

Continued from Page 1

“One of our goals is to help create opportunities for both jobseekers and the business community of the Atlanta Perimeter to come together in person to engage beyond the resume and make direct hiring connections,” said Janet Dahlstrom, Community Assistance Center Empowerment Center manager.

She said the expo helps employers quickly connect with qualified applicants to explore career paths with competitive wages, benefits, and longterm growth potential.

“Local journalism is important in providing transparency, holding local officials accountable and creating a sense of community,” Bagby said. “I am excited to join Appen Media and look forward to connecting to readers in my coverage areas.”

Appen announced Bagby’s coverage will focus on Dunwoody and Sandy Springs, leaning on her experience in the region. “Dyana has been a staple in Metro Atlanta journalism over the years,” he said. “We are thrilled to add more experience covering the Perimeter and help be a vessel for Dyana’s critical reporting.”

For story ideas and questions, readers can reach Bagby at dyana@ appenmedia.com.

— Carl Appen

Sandy Springs is home to six Fortune 500 companies, hundreds of mid-size firms, and thousands of small businesses. Participating employers typically recruit for multiple roles across IT, sales, marketing, human resources, medical, legal, accounting and operations among others. Job seekers can register for the Sandy Springs Connects! Career Expo on March 11 at www. sandyspringsconnects.com. Companies interested in participating can apply at the same link.

Huguley:

Continued from Page 1

“I’m definitely going for the one about the fashion designer” Odem said, who first hear about Piper Huguley through a local book club.

“Yeah, the description of the book alone makes me want to grab it,” Simpson added. Both women said they never would have known the name Ann Lowe had it not been for Huguley’s celebrated historical fiction.

— Dyana Bagby

Marsha Holcomb, a FOSSL board member and organizer, said the literary events are free to attend.

“We always try to bring in authors people will be interested in,” she said.

Events like author talks not only connect residents with writers but also further FOSSL’s mission to enrich the library’s role as a hub for cultural engagement.

FOSSL’s monthly author series continues next month, with details available through the Sandy Springs Library’s event calendar and the Friends of Sandy Springs Library Facebook page.

giving you the correct number of letters for each answer (the answers in line 1 are 5, 5 and 4 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!

PARTNERS

1. Jekyll’s partner. Like some gas. Garbage.

2. Sea bird. Valuable fur. Clark’s partner.

3. Poe’s bird. Lum’s partner. Like a busybody.

4. Hardy’s partner. Small salmon. Kind of test.

5. Musical mark. Fibber McGee’s partner. Territory in NE Canada.

6. Baby buggy. Popeye’s partner. Latin American dance.

7. Bird venerated by ancient Egyptians. Delilah’s partner. Half-moon tide.

1 Jekyll’s partner. Like some gas. Garbage

2. Sea bird. Valuable fur. Clark’s partner.

How to Solve: Each line in the puzzle above 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 4, 5 and 5 letters). The clues are numbered 1 through 7, which 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!

3. Poe’s bird. Lum’s partner. Like a busybody

4. Hardy’s partner. Small salmon. Kind of test

5. Musical mark. Fibber McGee’s partner. Territory in NorthEastern Canada.

6. Baby buggy. Popeye’s partner. Latin American dance

7. Bird venerated by ancient Egyptians. Delilah’s partner. Halfmoon tide.

St. Pius X wins Region 5-4A championship

By ANNABELLE REITER annabelle@appenmedia.com

DECATUR, Ga. — St. Pius X beat Tucker 79-54 Feb. 19 to win the 2026 Region 5-4A tournament held at Southwest DeKalb High in Decatur.

Private schools won both the boys and girls region titles. In the girls championship game, Marist defeated Southwest DeKalb in dominant fashion.

Marist girls basketball boasts the No. 1 player in the country for the senior class, Kate Harpring. The War Eagles have scored 100 or more points in three games this season.

In last year’s Region 5-4A boys final, Tucker bested Southwest DeKalb. This year, the Panthers swept Tucker in the regular season but fell to the Tigers in the region semifinal Feb. 17. The back-and-forth battle ended 52-44, and Tucker advanced to the final.

Tucker started the championship game on fire, pushing to win the tournament for their retiring head coach James Hartry.

Senior Julian Glenwinkel and sophomore Sterling Pritchett scored 16 points apiece in the loss. The lead went back and forth between the teams into

the second quarter until St. Pius pulled away with a 20-0 run and never relinquished that lead.

Tucker senior JaKobe Williams missed the region final due to ACL surgery that morning. Williams suffered an injury last month that ended his season. He had been averaging 19 points a game.

Coach Hartry said his team’s youth showed in the second half, but looking ahead to the state tournament, he said

he’s prepared to emphasize the importance of the moment now that it’s win or go home.

St. Pius has two alumni on the coaching staff who both played against Hartry’s Tigers – head coach Will Cloyd and assistant Aaron Parr. Cloyd played center for the Golden Lions and Parr was a guard and formerly the head coach. He is now the school’s president.

Reynolds made the all-region first team last year and improved to Player of the Year this season.

Members of the press have said Reynolds unlocks another level of dominance when his hair is pushed back, prompting the nickname “Headband Harris.”

Reynolds showed up big as the headband predicted, posting a game-high 30 points to live up to his Region Player of the Year title.

Cloyd said the Golden Lions’ defense propelled them to the win over Tucker. This is St. Pius’s ninth region title in 10 years.

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“I’m so lucky, I have guys that are just electric athletes and very coachable and execute really well,” he said. “We knew we would have to play well [to compete with Tucker’s roster] and we did, we were able to do a lot of things well in all four phases [full-court press, half-court defense, half-court offense and fastbreak opportunities].”

St. Pius has a 28-0 record and has been named one of the best teams in the state of many publication’s Georgia rankings. ITG Next has the Golden Lions at No. 3, On3 ranks them No. 6 and MaxPreps at No. 14. Sandy’s Spiel has them listed as the favorite for the state 4A title.

No other team in Division 4A has an undefeated record. The only other team in the state to achieve unbeaten record so far into the season is Gainesville, who won a Region 7-5A title over Johns Creek the same night.

The Golden Lions’ streak came close to ending Jan. 20 when they faced off against Southwest DeKalb and posted a 1-point victory. Of their 28 wins, only three were by a single-digit margin. They have posted 17 20-plus point wins including beating Clarkston by 64 and Northview by 56.

The team is led by Clemson commit Harris Reynolds, a five-star recruit.

He is averaging 35 points against Tucker over three games this season –42 at Tucker Dec. 2, 33 at home Jan. 16 and 30 in the region title game.

Reynolds said his team was underwhelmed with their performance last season and has repeatedly brought up their ability to “take it to the next level” this year.

“We wanted it more today,” he said. “Before the game, we were so hyped it wasn’t even funny. We’ve been waiting on this for a long time, I hated the way we went out last year, and everybody played so hard today.”

Fellow senior D’Marley Elliott has also committed to college, and he will be announcing the school in the coming weeks. Elliott, who posted 16 points in the final against Tucker was named to the all-region team, along with senior Westin Keppen. Max Etienne and Thomas Rogers were honorable mentions.

coach James Hartry.

Senior Julian Glenwinkel and sophomore Sterling Pritchett scored 16 points apiece in the loss. The lead went back and forth between the teams into the second quarter until St. Pius pulled away with a 20-0 run and never relinquished that lead.

Tucker senior JaKobe Williams missed the region final due to ACL surgery that morning. Williams suffered an injury last month that ended his season. He had been averaging 19 points a game.

Lacrosse:

Continued from Page 3

All of the Georgia native players in the men’s game were also alumni of club team Thunder, where Wallace is a director. He shared his pride in being able to watch so many of his former players thriving on a big stage.

Wallace described the Plunkett brothers as exceptional on and off the field. He said they were instrumental in a culture change that has led to the program making history as the first Georgia boys team to win back-to-backto-back championships the past three years.

“They’re very different people, and the way they play is very much also like their personalities in that way,” he said. “The development each year for both of them was like, when you think it’s getting good, it just gets better and better.”

Evan was named an All-American last season by Inside Lacrosse and USILA – honorable mention by USA Lacrosse – and scored one goal and three assists against Michigan. Hill made the all-conference first team with his brother last season and put up the same stat line of one goal and three assists.

The first women’s game was a ranked matchup that went to double overtime. Michigan attacker Ceci Stein’s gamewinning goal put the Wolverines up 10-9 to end the match.

Seven of Stein’s shots didn’t make it to the back of the net with two being saved by Boston College goalie Shea Dolce.

Boston College was ranked No. 3 in a preseason players poll, but has since fallen to 0-3 on the season. Despite a winless record, BC is still in national rankings at No. 13.

The win boosted Michigan in the USA Lacrosse rankings from No. 10 to No. 7.

In the third and final game of the day, the new Division I program in Florida State faced off against longtime juggernaut Army. The Black Knights dominated wire to wire, averaging 31 seconds in between their first three goals. At the final buzzer, the score was 13-7.

The Seminoles found their footing as the game went on, but facing off against two nominees to the Tewaaraton Watchlist in midfielder Brigid Duffy and attacker Allison Reilly proved difficult. Reilly was nominated for Inside Lacrosse’s Player of the Week after a two-goal, eight-assist performance against the Seminoles. Duffy posted one goal and one assist.

Marleigh Sanders is a graduate transfer on Florida State who has yet to play for the Seminoles due to an ACL injury.

Sanders is a graduate of the Milton lacrosse powerhouse and played four years for Notre Dame before transferring to FSU. She said she chose Florida State for the opportunity to be involved with building a new program and growing the game.

Seems to be a family affair as Sanders’s parents’ company, Sports Intel, was a sponsor for the games.

“It is so awesome to be able to grow the game here in my hometown, in Atlanta, to bring it to Georgia, bring it to Morehouse, it’s just been super special,” Sanders said. “I wanted to be a part of something new, be able to not only create a legacy of my own, but to be able to create a foundation of women’s lacrosse programs in Florida, it’s only us, Florida, USF and Jacksonville.”

285 Lacrosse put on the invitational. Founder Jason Breyo started the company three years ago with the goal of growing the game in Atlanta. An upstate New York native and University of Delaware alum, he said 285’s mission is all about elevating lacrosse in Atlanta in many aspects.

“We want kids to see this game and want them to grow up and be like these girls out on the field,” he said. “We’re really happy to be here at Morehouse. Morehouse is a great institution to build leaders for the city, the state, the nations of the world.”

USA Lacrosse CEO Marc Riccio has been in the role since 2021 and signed a contract extension last year through 2028, when lacrosse will make its first Olympic appearance in Los Angeles.

Riccio said it was unfortunate that scheduling conflicts kept him from attending last year’s Maryland–Notre Dame matchup at Bobby Dodd, but he was glad to be there to support new hotbed areas that are generating more buzz.

“Places like Georgia in the Southeast, they care about sports,” he said. “You get a lot of great athletes, and once you give them the opportunity to play the game, develop skills, develop a lot of the game, then getting players to compete at the highest level just comes next and it adds. We’re getting so many more young athletes coming out of non-endemic markets to compete at the highest level, but that’s to the credit of what happens in the local community.”

Thunder and EagleStix club lacrosse programs in Metro Atlanta boasted a dozen former players from the three games combined.

Riccio highlighted several of his team USA women’s coaches and their goalie, Boston College’s Shea Dolce, competing at the Invitational.

“Our mission at USA Lacrosse is 11 words, three objectives,” he said. “Feel the growth, enrich the experience, field the best national teams, and this is a culmination of all of that. From the standpoint of growth, so many of these young people started in local towns, community programs, people here today, young kids, watching the game, that becomes inspiration and aspiration.”

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OPINION

The cruel history of convict leasing and chain gangs

One year after the Civil War ended, the Georgia General Assembly legalized the leasing of prisoners to individuals and businesses. Convict leasing allowed the cruelties of slavery to continue. (georgiaencylopedia. org)

Douglas Blackmon’s Pulitzer Prize winning book, “Slavery by Another Name: The Reenslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II,” focuses on Alabama convict camps but includes Atlanta camps. Some of the oldest neighborhoods, buildings and businesses in Atlanta have ties to these camps and have benefited from convict labor.

The author describes how convict labor camps and later chain gangs were used to arrest and imprison men, especially Black men, for minor and sometimes arbitrary charges, then forcing them into labor.

Women also became part of this system. The first all-female convict labor camp was built in Atlanta in 1885. The women made bricks for the construction of an almshouse next door to the camp. There were Black

and White women in the camp, with a much larger number of Black women. Women could be arrested for arguing or cursing in public.

In the Atlanta area and beyond, there were West, East, Sandy Springs, Roseland and River Camps. Later there were the Bellwood and McPherson camps.

Georgia Senator Felder introduced a bill to stop convict leasing. It would abolish the prison commission and replace it with a board of seven directors appointed by the governor. The directors would manage the state penitentiary going forward. (Atlanta Georgian, Aug. 10, 1908, “To abolish the Georgia prison commission and to put an end to lease system, Felder introduces comprehensive bill”)

Charles Murphey Candler wrote the legislation which ended the convict lease system. The bill that passed made leasing convicts to individuals and businesses illegal, but their labor could still be used for government work. This included work in rock quarries, road building and other government projects. Convict leasing was replaced with the chain gang.

The Sandy Springs camp was located at the southwest corner of Roswell Road and Hammond Drive. There was a rock quarry nearby along today’s Sandy Springs Circle.

The top 5 stupid Ray things

We all have our little things that we do or don’t do in our own particular way that, we sometimes think, are uniquely “us” – that is, stuff that only we do. I suspect that rarely is the case; we’re all basically the same –just fleetingly different around the edges. Coffee. I have never actually taken out a spoon or a measuring something to put a specific amount of coffee into the coffee maker. Never. Now, I will use a spoon or something similar to extract the ground coffee from the bag or can, but not to measure the amount. I typically just load up the coffee into the maker/filter until I think it is holding the most coffee it possibly can and still have the end-result coffee drinkable. I only know a few people who like my coffee – very few – maybe no one. It’s a problem when we have guests. I try really hard to moderate the ‘darkness” of my coffee in those instances, although that usually means that the filter is only 60 percent full of the coffee instead of close to my normal 90 percent (probably 10-15 scoops). When I see brewed coffee that I

There was also a quarry at Lake Forrest Drive and one on Peachtree-Dunwoody Road. (“Images of America: Sandy Springs,” by Kimberly Brigance and Morris V. Moore)

Richard Adams shared his memory of a chain gang working on the road in front of his childhood home.

“Once each year, the county would provide manual convict labor to work the road,” he recalled. “They all had white striped suits and some of them with a ball and chains around their legs. There were a number of guards armed with high power rifles or shot guns. The convicts were given water from the family well.”

Adams’ family farm was on Old Lawrenceville Road, also known as County Line Road and included land in both DeKalb and Milton Counties. Today, that road is Dunwoody Club Drive. (Richard Adams memoir, DeKalb History Center archives)

A camp was built on Powers Ferry Road in 1916, an “experimental convict road camp” in Fulton County. Not surprisingly, the experiment found that “cleanliness, comfort and humanity in the convict camp are not inconsistent with economy and efficiency in the work of the inmates.”

These convicts worked on Powers Ferry and Heards Ferry roads.

Another convict camp was located near

Chastain Park, where West Wieuca Road and Roswell Road meet. There were two camps, one for Black inmates and one for White inmates. There was another rock quarry near Peachtree Dunwoody Road and I-285. Granite was used for curbs and roads and in parts of Chastain Park.

Convict leasing was used to prepare Piedmont Park for the 1887 Piedmont Exposition. Chain gangs performed much of the road and sewer work along roads we still use today. (Archive Atlanta, podcast by Victoria Lemos)

The Sandy Springs camp closed in 1933, and the prisoners were relocated to other camps. The cost of maintaining the location had become too high. There were 987 prisoners in Fulton County camps at that time. (Atlanta Constitution, Nov. 12, 1933, “County will abandon Sandy Springs camp”)

Media coverage and an investigation into the abuse and harsh conditions of chain gang camps led to their end. Gov. Ellis Arnall abolished them in 1943.

Award-winning author Valerie Biggerstaff is a longtime columnist for Appen Media and the Dunwoody Crier. She lives in Atlanta. You can email Valerie at pasttensega@gmail.com or visit her website at pasttensega.com.

can see through, I don’t even try it. It might as well be decaf. Oh yea, “decaf” is another pet peeve but , well, that is sort of a given. Gas pumps. It drives me absolutely crazy when I see people pulling up to the pump – usually at Costco (my go-to) and their gas is not on the side of the pump –so they are stretching the hose over the top of the car and (sometimes with great difficulty) sticking the nozzle in. No idea why this bugs me, but it does. It’s something I have never done and never will – for some reason.

Why would they just pull up on the correct side of the pump? Don’t get it.

Publix grocery carts. Probably my most non-negotiable/set in concrete stupid Ray-thing. I love Publix. Always have. I think it is because I don’t think I have ever been in a Publix – anywhere – that the employees weren’t just nice, wanting to help, good people. In the over 50 years I have shopped at Publix, I have never – as in “never-ever” – left my emptied cart out in the parking lot in one of those cart-corrals. I walk my empty cart all the way back inside the store so that the lowest-ranking Publix employee who is tasked with bringing the carts back into the store from the lot has one less cart to deal with.

GET OUTSIDE, GEORGIA!

The fine art of gallivanting – or is it scooter-pooting?

You know how they say that half the fun of traveling is planning the trip? Well, they’re right.

Mostly.

Except when they’re not.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy the planning part of travel as much as anybody. I can spend hours and days and weeks poring over maps and brochures and travel guides as I plan even the most modest of expeditions.

Like the other day: She called me about lunchtime and asked me to run up to the grocery store to get some bananas for a batch of homemade banana bread.

“I think I’ll make banana bread tonight,” she said. “But we need some good bananas.”

Do you like banana bread? I’ll bet you do, and if you do, then you know the critical importance of getting bananas that are just right.

I have been well trained in the art of selecting the right bananas for banana bread. They must be just the right degree of ripeness at the time of bread-making, and choosing them is nigh onto science with a touch of magic thrown in.

I’m good at it. Yay for me!

Anyway, there I was, getting ready to

Things:

Continued from Page 11

It is sort of the “Ray-way” of saying “thank you Publix” for who you are and what you do.

The only similar instance that comes to my mind of other people being as idiosyncratic as this was when I was hiking the Appalachian Trail. The unwritten rule on the trail is to “leave no trace.” That is, pack your trash out – every single piece no matter how tiny. Like, not even a candy wrapper,

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Paul Adams, age 91, of Alpharetta, GA passed away on February 20, 2026. Arrangements by Northside Chapel Funeral Directors & Crematory.

Erin Athey, age 46, of Roswell, GA passed away on February 19, 2026. Arrangements by Northside Chapel Funeral Directors & Crematory.

head off to the Land of Produce to do my banana selection thing. It was gonna be just a quick trip.

But first, being the true traveler that I am, and fully aware of the possibilities that travel offers for finding new places to see, and certifiable in as many as three other categories too, I paused for a moment of research to see what I might see along the way. That’s the fun of travel, even travel to the grocery store: there’s always a chance of discovering something you’ve overlooked or not even thought about before.

So I got on the interweb. I searched for “things to see on the way to the grocery store.” Then a whole list of things came up on the screen, and I spent the next five hours looking at each and every one, making meticulous and careful notes about which ones I’d like to explore and experience. It was a grand list, too, organized into categories and subcategories with circles and arrows and color-coded highlighting. I printed out a map of the route, too, and carefully marked the location of each and every spot I’d found.

Okay, so I was getting a little lost in the research. Time was passing. But I was planning! Man, I was gonna be ready for this trip to get bananas!

About that time, I realized that the sun was starting to set.

Uh oh.

Maybe I’d gotten a little carried away

or toothpick, or water bottle cap or cigarette butt. I mean nothing – zero. In the over 2,000 miles/ 6+ months on the trail, I saw exactly not one single instance of hikers not leaving no trace. Everyone, but everyone, packed their stuff out. Down to postage stamp-sized scraps of paper. Will never forget that.

Horn honkers. OK, I have written about this before. Not everyone agreed with my stance which basically is that, other than using your horn to prevent an accident or similar, horn honkers are dirtbags – miserable excuses for humans that need to crawl back under their rocks. Enough said, ex-

Merwin Brewer, age 94, of Roswell, GA passed away on February 18, 2026. Arrangements by Northside Chapel Funeral Directors & Crematory.

Robert Brubaker, age 88, of Milton, GA passed away on February 19, 2026. Arrangements by Northside Chapel Funeral Directors & Crematory.

with the planning thing. Maybe I should have just gone to the store.

But where’s the fun in that?

Now it’s another day, a day or two later. We are sitting at the table enjoying some coffee (I make good coffee, too, but don’t even get me started on the planning involved in making a trip to the coffee store).

We are talking about travel and about trips and about planning. There’s a big trip coming up, and I can tell that I’m about to do another deep dive into the world of online trip planning. I can tell this because I’m starting to talk about side trips and second-tier destinations. And I’m just getting ready to reach for my box of highlighters when suddenly, somewhere in the distance, a train whistle blows (no kidding) and I’m jerked back to reality, and all of a sudden I stop.

“Hmmm,” I say out loud. “Hmmm.”

“Hmmm what?”

“You know, it occurs to me that I am getting lost in the process. Planning is good. But sometimes gallivanting is good too.”

“Gallivanting?”

“Yes, gallivanting. You know,” I add learnedly, “the fine art of roaming or wandering without plan or agenda, the experience of travelling just for the fun of it…just to see where the road will lead.”

“Gallivanting?” she says. “With one ‘el’ or two?”

“Opinion is divided,” I say. “Some schol-

cept, in the same category are the low-life’s that do road rage – like those one-finger salutes – when they have to pass you on the right side because you are only going 10-15 miles an hour over the speed limit in the fast lane. I usually try to ignore all of them and write it off to people just being miserable with their lives and taking it out on anyone close by.

Turning against traffic. OK, another traffic one. This one is really stupid of me but it is what it is. I sometimes will drive an extra mile-ish to be able to turn left at a traffic light, and then basically do a Uturn which will then allow me to turn right

Willis Dockery, age 75, of Milton, GA passed away on February 22, 2026. Arrangements by Northside Chapel Funeral Directors & Crematory.

John Kardian, age 56, of Roswell, GA passed away on February 17, 2026. Arrangements by Northside Chapel Funeral Directors & Crematory.

ars belong to the one el school, while others say that two els is correct. Research is ongoing pending continuation of federal funding.”

Whether one or two, gallivanting is a fine word. Maybe it’s a Georgia word, though I think I have heard it in other places too.

“Gallivanting,” I say again. “Freeform travel! And think of all the time it will save!”

“Oh!” she says. “You mean ‘scooterpooting!’ “

“Scooter-pooting?” I ask. Haven’t heard that one. Maybe it’s an Alabama term, a nugget of language from the land of her birth?

“Uh huh,” she says. “Scooter-pooting. Means the same thing!”

I take a sip of coffee and think about it. Travel without planning? Travel without maps and highlighted dots and destinations? Travel just to see where the road will take you?

Yeah!

So, we keep talking about the big trip that’s coming up. Some of the places we’ll go do need the planning (you know, for reservations and hours-of-operation and all that kind of thing). But as we keep planning, we build in room for more freeform adventures. I am sure there will be plenty of them, and I can’t wait to tell you how they unfold and share the places that we find.

“It’s gonna be fun,” I say. “It’s gonna be great fun gallivanting!”

“You mean scooter-pooting,” she says. Yeah. That too.

somewhere and not block traffic to do so. When I see cars stopping traffic trying to turn against like 2 or 3 lanes of bumper-tobumper traffic to, for example, pick up a kid at school or something – instead of driving a little past and doing a U-turn to be able to turn right, my blood pressure shoots up unless I force myself to chill.

About three years ago, I decided to never be in a hurry again – for anything – unless we’re talking about a real emergency. It has made a huge difference in how I deal with life – for the better. However, I have to realize and accept that not everyone is in that same space and therefore, I need to chill.

Troy Summey, age 95, of Roswell, GA passed away on February 22, 2026. Arrangements by Northside Chapel Funeral Directors & Crematory.

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