Kenneth Lamb Update 4/30/2010
After a brief hearing, Kenneth Lamb (the barefooted beggar) pled Not Guilty and requested a jury trial on his case for which he is charged with making a terroristic threat against Sgt. W. Cooper. Sgt. Cooper was executing a probation warrant for Lamb, based on his probation violation charges for his failure to comply with the requirements of the Sex Offender Registry. Because Lamb has probation pending in two other cases, he has probation revocation issues to contend with along with the resolution of the Terroristic Threats case. The case was reset for four weeks to resolve these issues.
Lamb is currently serving a prison sentence until September 2011, and a conviction at this hearing may protect the community for even longer. Court watch opportunities will be coming soon.
Ricky Love Resentenced
On Thursday (4/29), Judge C. Schwall heard a Petition to Revoke Suspended Sentence in the case of the State v. Ricky Love. Ricky Love was convicted of Aggravated Assault (2006 incident) in September of 2008 and sentenced to mental health treatment and banishment from Fulton County. In December 2008, members of the MPSA reported seeing Love in the Ponce & Boulevard area. Our patrol confirmed these reports, and we contacted our Community Prosecutor who immediately asked the court for a hearing to revoke the sentence and resentence Love to prison. Judge Schwall acted quickly to issue a warrant for Love’s arrest and he was placed in custody.
Upon his arrest, Love was not competent or able to assist his attorney with his defense and was sent to Georgia Regional Hospital for treatment and counseling until such time that he could become competent. On April 29, 2010, that hearing took place. Eight volunteers of the MPSA’s court watch program listened to testimony from Sgt Cooper and Charles Wright with the House of Mercy, the treatment center from which Love was ordered to undergo treatment. After finding that Love did not complete treatment (he slipped out after one day) and did return to Fulton County, Judge Schwall found that Love did not comply with his order and sentenced him to four years in prison. Because of his lengthy mental health history, Judge Schwall has left open the possibility to resentencing Love to mental health treatment, if his attorney and social worker can locate an appropriate facility. This would allow Love to receive treatment without any danger to t he public.
MPSA Profile Sheet: http://www.midtownponce.org/news/profile006.pdf
Andrew Arnett Accepts Plea Deal (4/26/2010)
Andrew Arnett, who was arrested in March for possession of methamphetamines on Ponce, accepted a very light sentence of five years probation. The prosecution recommended 10 years probation with banishment from Midtown, drug court treatment, and electronic monitoring. Despite his lengthy criminal history dating back many years, the judge only sentenced him to five years probation, and only banished him from Ponce De Leon Avenue from West Peachtree to N Highland and one block around it. He is on intensive probation, and has a curfew set by probation, according to community prosecutor Sharla Jackson.
Just on Friday, he was reported to have gotten off the Route 2 bus at the Ponce Kroger. We anticipate that he will appear frequently on Ponce, in defiance of his sentence. To better protect the Midtown community we will work out a protocol to deal with his blatant violation of his probation terms. Please let us know if you see him on Ponce! Meanwhile, we have updated his profile sheet with new photos found on the web.
Updated profile sheet http://www.midtownponce.org/news/profile196.pdf
SPI Club Update & Call for Action 4/24/2010
1. We have received the following information from Mr. Brodie’s attorney relative to his Temporary Restraining Order against SPI Clubs (former owners of Club Vision):
“Yesterday, the Mayor received compliance letters from the Bureau of Buildings, the Fire Department and the Department of Health. If not for the agreement we obtained from the City at the hearing in our court case on November 16, 2009, the alcohol licenses for SPI Club would be subject to issuance at any time. According to our agreement, which I have now for the second time reconfirmed with the City, the Mayor may not issue the licenses before April 30. If we file an appeal with the Bureau of Zoning Adjustment by April 30, the Mayor may not issue the licenses unless and until the appeal has been decided.”
2. We would like for you to send a very brief email to Mayor Reed (MayorReed@atlantaga.gov) explaining to him the degredation of your quality of life in Midtown during the time Club Vision was open and operating here. Be very specific about such things as noise, traffic issues, and litter, but also be brief or you will not get his attention. Time is of the essence as he could decide to approve the applications as early as April 30. Please also copy us at info@midtownponce.org.
3. We sent the following letter to Mayor Reed:
________________________________________
Midtown Atlanta, April 22, 2010
Honorable Mayor Reed:
The Liquor License Applications for the SPI Clubs have landed on your desk for final disposition. We ask that you take a moment to read our concerns before you decide if you will approve the applications, deny the applications, or remand them to the LRB for further review.
At the hearing last October, Peggy Harper declared that in her entire eight years on the License Review Board, she had never seen such a crowd gather for an application hearing as we did for the SPI Clubs; 147 of us, and all but a handful in opposition of the applications!
The applications were approved by the LRB in a 3:2 tie-breaking vote.
Large crowds also attended the neighborhood reviews and the NPU review. Both of those groups denied the applications. Some 1450 individuals signed an on-line petition, in opposition, and hundreds of emails were sent to the LRB and to Mayor Franklin in opposition. You can read many of these emails and letters at http://www.midtownponce.org/news/Spi_letters.pdf
We felt this overwhelming neighborhood opposition should have had a major impact on the final decision of the LRB for two night clubs on Peachtree Street, on the Midtown Mile, which we know from past experience with the owners, will wreak havoc in our community. Instead, we came away from that hearing feeling we were not heard.
We were not allowed to speak when questions came up during the hearing; even Mr. Baile of Daniel Corp, the most impacted property owner, was not allowed to speak.
The possibility of nightclubs like SPI back on Peachtree Street, in the heart of Midtown, in the middle of a beautiful high rise development of residences, offices and at the front door of a luxury hotel, is untenable and would destroy the plan for our wonderful, friendly, neighborhood.
Certainly, there are other places in the city where clubs would improve the area and cause it to prosper. Or, these clubs could be the first venues in an Entertainment District.
We respectfully request that you deny these requests, or remand them to the LRB with your request for them to resolve all the issues they brought up at the first hearing. And, we believe the neighborhood should be able to bring attorneys and planners in to answer questions as the applicant is allowed to do.
Thank you for your consideration. As one member of the LRB stated, “this club/lounge has the potential to destroy the fragile environment of Midtown.” Please don’t let that happen.
Sincerely yours,
– Board of Directors, Midtown Ponce Security Alliance
Weekend update 4/17/2010
Dear Midtowners!
Major Williams has informed us of Zone 5’s plan to handle this weekend to address concerns relating to Spring Break 2010. We share that with you below.
In other notes, our last blast ran an error under Sgt. Cooper’s hours for the weekend. He will be patrolling the neighborhood Saturday (4/17) from 1pm-8pm, and on Sunday (4/18) 1pm-6pm. At times APD may need to limit access to parts of the neighborhood to residents only – flashing a placard at the controlling officer should facilitate access to the neighborhood. You can download it for printing at www.midtownponce.org/news/MidtownResident.pdf. So far it seems that everybody is having a good time in the neighborhood this weekend, and we encourage you to do so too. Come visit us at the beverage booth near the 14th Street entrance – MPSA is raising funds for the patrol again this year.
———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Williams, Khirus <KWilliams@atlantaga.gov>
Date: Fri, Apr 16, 2010 at 1:50 PM | Subject: Spring Break 2010 update
Good afternoon, the department’s initiative for Spring Break 2010 began this morning at 7am. Our staff are assigned to the streets, to address and prevent misconduct. Our emphasis are placed on pan-handling, traffic congestion, and the activities inside and outside of our night clubs. Presently, there are no issues and we have completed several arrests for pan-handling and the sales of merchandise, without a permit. To address any potential concerns, our employees are scheduled for 7am – 7pm and 7pm – 7am for 911 operations. Also, I have scheduled our discretionary units (to address crime and quality of life related issues) for 8am – 8pm; 12n – 12m; and 4pm – 4am. If there is any assistance that we can provide please inform me. Moreover, if there are crowds that may begin to swell, around your venue, please dial 911 to report such activities, so that we can address the matter in its beginning stages.
Yours,
Khirus
Major Khirus E. Williams | Zone 5 Commander | Atlanta Police Department | 200 Spring Street | Atlanta, Ga. 30303 | Office 404-658-6446 | FAX 404-658-6484 | kwilliams@atlantaga.gov
“Who is it today that you’ve helped, or hampered and which will it be tomorrow?” – KEW
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