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Oakhurst Jazz NightsBill Bryson — WhBryson@Gmail.com

Oakhurst Jazz nights will have a new leader this spring; Bill Bryson is handing over the reigns Edward McNally. Edward is no stranger to Jazz Nights. He and his wife, Siobhan, live just a few doors down from The Solarium and are some of the most regular concert attendees. Edward has been an Oakhurst resident and public relations and marketing professional for over 15 years. He has 20+ years of experi-ence in event planning, sponsorship, management, and promotion, including past leadership experience with the Atlanta Jazz Festival. Most importantly, Edward is passionate about Jazz and the Oakhurst community and was actually one of the original Jazz Nights coordinators when the series

began. Edward has some great ideas for keeping the series fresh. Please make him feel right at home in this new volunteer role in our community. See you at Jazz Nights!

Annual Touch-a-Truck& Free Bicycle RegistrationCheryl Burnette — Cheryl.Burnette@DecaturGA.com

Join Decatur Active Living on Saturday, March 3rd from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. for the annual Touch-a-Truck Event. This fun community event gives children of all ages an opportunity to touch, explore and see their favorites trucks and equipment on wheels.  The City of Decatur and DeKalb County dump trucks, fire trucks, tractors, police cars and motorcycles and many other types of vehicles will be on display.

www.OakhurstGA.orgOakhurst Leaflet

Inside This IssueOakhurst: What’s in a name? Page 8Because I Said So! Page 15

Celebrating Art, Jazz and Nature Like No Other Deep-Rooted Neighborhood

Page 16

February 2012 Leaflet Vol. 15, No. 2

Continued on page 3

Save time and money

Improve your eating habits

Rule your kitchen

Ashli Price

404-538-8066 www.plantoplate.com

The ONA typically meets on the 2nd Monday of each month

7 PMThe Solarium

321 West Hill Street

Everyone is welcome to address the community during the New Business Agenda Item

Oakhurst Neighborhood AssociationONA@OakhurstGA.org www.OakhurstGA.org

Anne Clark — PresidentMike Vajda — Vice PresidentMark Sanders — Treasurer

Jennifer McGranaghan — Secretary

Oakhurst LeafletThe Oakhurst Leaflet is published monthly. Our

mission is to provide an outlet for communication in Oakhurst. No association or individual is liable for the content. We provide content contributors e-mail addresses so readers can communicate directly with the author. We encourage our Oakhurst residents to contribute often. The Oakhurst Leaflet staff reserves the right to modify, edit, or not publish submitted

content. Ads are printed as delivered. The advertiser is responsible for the ad quality. No additional modifications will be made to submitted ads.

Oakhurst Leaflet StaffDaniel FloresMark SandersDoug Keeler

Deb BaumgartenEJ Sadler

Margaret Mary RileyGeorgia Bell

E-mail Content to LeafletEditor@OakhurstGA.org

Circulation Circulation is approximately 2,300,

delivered directly to homes by Oakhurst Neighborhood Association volunteers.

To volunteer for delivery routes, please e-mail Leaf letCirculation@OakhurstGA.org

Advertising Rates LeafletAdvertising@OakhurstGA.org

Oakhurst Neighborhood Assoc. P.O. Box 362

Decatur, GA 30030

1/2 Page $160 1/4 Page $90 1/8 Page $50

Ad Deadline: February 15

Content Deadline: February 13

Because I Said So!Susan Eppley — Susan@ParentCoachAtlanta.com

Dear Susan,I am the parent of a three-year old named Lucy.  We are not the “traditional family” as our daughter has two dads.  We are very loving parents who try to give our daughter the best of every-thing and to keep her happy.  But something's not working.  Our daughter is acting out and refusing to follow directions.  This seems more than just the "terrible twos" I read about.  Here's an example of the problem.  Lucy refuses to drink from a cup.  She prefers to drink her juice from a bottle.  My partner insists that Lucy should be drinking from a cup because she's not a baby anymore.  I feel that it's more important that she drinks something rather than letting her get dehydrated.  Besides, she's only three!  Also, I' ll admit that if she drinks from the cup, she' ll spill juice everywhere and since I'm primarily responsible for the houseclean-ing, I don’t want to be constantly mopping the floors and cleaning the rugs to keep from walking on sticky floors!  Can you help?

Thank you for writing to me.  First, let me assure you that the problem you are describing has nothing at all to do with the fact that you are not a “traditional family.”  And in fact, this problem is rampant in "traditional families."  You see, today's parents, being very loving and well-intentioned, believe that providing "the best of everything" is the key to their child's happiness.  This is a very dangerous assumption.  Our job, I contend, is to raise well-adjusted, humble and modest, loving and caring adults.  Not grown people who have (read: de-mand) the best of everything.  

I suggest that you and your partner sit down and discuss the 10 characteristics you want your daughter to possess by the time she is 30 years old.  Look at that list.  Finalize it.  Then write a mission statement from it.  That mission statement is your target.  And, all the discipline you provide for your daughter over the next 10 years or so are the arrows.  Your job is simply to pick up the arrows and aim at your target!

Now about the bottle issue.  Your partner is right.  Get rid of all bottles and juice in the house.  Your daughter is too old for bottles and juice full of sugar.  Give her water.  In a cup!  If she spills (or throws it), teach her how to clean it up, all by herself!  And, if one of your targets is for Lucy to be in the habit of hydrating herself with healthy liquid AND be able to manage household chores, doing this will kill 2 birds with one stone, so to speak.

Good luck and let me know how it goes!

Susan

Susan is a certified Leadership Parenting Coach with Parent Coach Atlanta.  If you have a question you'd like answered, send her an e-mail Susan@ParentCoachAtlanta.com or for more information on classes, workshops and coaching visitwww.ParentCoachAtlanta.com

All proceeds go to the Oakhurst Neighborhood Association and our community!

Oakhurst LeafletFebruary 2012Oakhurst Leaflet www.OakhurstGA.org Page 15Page 2

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School Tours for Prospective Parents

Attention!! Do you have neighbors or friends who have future CSD children?  Please share these school tour dates and times:

1:15-2:30 p.m.February 10thMarch 9thCall Nekee Mathis at 404-370-4490 to RSVP4/5 Academy at Fifth Avenue (4-5)101 Fifth Avenue404-371-6680http://fifthavenue.csdecatur.net

9:30-10:30 a.m.January 25thFebruary 8thFebruary 22ndMarch 14thCall Susie Girardeau at 404-371-6680 to RSVPRenfroe Middle School (6-8)220 W. College Avenue404-370-4440http://renfroe.csdecatur.net

9:00 a.m.Every Thursday in February and March Call Leah Reuter at 404-370-4400 x0 to RSVP.Decatur High School (9-12)310 N. McDonough Street404-370-4420http://dhs.csdecatur.net

Parents and prospective students meet in the Media Center. Information packets will be distributed and a guidance coun-selor will be available to answer any questions. Counseling interns will conduct the campus tour.

February 2nd 8:30-10:00February 9th 8:30-10:00March 2nd 9:00-10:30 March 30th 9:00-10:30 Freshman Information Night: Thursday, Feb. 22nd at 6:30PM in the auditorium.Media Contact:  Heather Borowski  |  404-370-3848 x17  | hborowski@csde-catur.netCity Schools of Decatur  |  http://www.csdecatur.net

College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center (infants - preK)917 S. McDonough Street404-370-4480http://eclc.csdecatur.net

Pre-K program tours are offered the 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month at 9:30 a.m.  Call Felicia Gibson at 404-370-4480 to schedule a tour.Clairemont Elementary (K-3)155 Erie Avenue404-370-4450http://clairemont.csdecatur.net

Register on the "Parent Tours" webpage:http://clairemont.csdecatur.net/tour/8:00-8:45 a.m.February 10thMarch 9thApril 13thGlennwood Elementary (K-3)440 E. Ponce de Leon Avenue404-370-4435http://glennwood.csdecatur.net

Register on the "Parent Tours" webpage:http://glennwood.csdecatur.net/tours/8:00 a.m. Community Circle; Tour at 8:30February 3rdMarch 16thApril 27thOakhurst Elementary (K-3)175 Mead Road404-370-4470http://oakhurst.csdecatur.net

8:00-9:00 a.m.February 27thMarch 26thApril 23rdCall Cassandra Hall at 404-370-4470 to RSVPWinnona Park Elementary (K-3)510 Avery Street404-370-4490http://winnonapark.csdecatur.net

Annual Touch-a-Truck & Free Bicycle RegistrationContinued from page 1

New this year: Ride your bicycle to the event. Decatur Police will be on hand to register your bicycle. In the event that it is lost or stolen, registration will aid in its safe return.

Touch-a-Truck takes place in the Callaway Building Parking lot located at 120 West Trinity Place, Decatur. In case of inclement weather, the event will be rescheduled for Saturday, April 21. For more information, contact Cheryl Burnette 678-553-6541 or cheryl.burnette@deca-turga.com. Be sure to visit www.beactivedecatur.com for up to date information on all Active Living programs throughout the year.

Oakhurst Leaflet Oakhurst LeafletFebruary 2012www.OakhurstGA.org Page 3Page 14

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Oakhurst EatsJami Moss — JamiMoss@gmail.com

I spent about ten years of my life in Wisconsin‚ ten years that crystallized my identity as a Southerner. There’s nothing like having people remark on your‚ ‘adorable’ accent (while saying ‚“oh, we don’t hev en eccent in Wizgensen”) or shoveling show in April to make you realize that you are somewhere you may not really belong.

And then came the pimento cheese.

I was talking with a group of friends one night at dinner when the conversation turned to favorite childhood foods. I talked about my grandmother’s pimento cheese sandwiches, which she toasted open-faced in the oven. I waxed eloquent about how she spread Miracle Whip on first‚ ignoring the disgusted looks of those who didn’t appreciate its sugary tart goodness‚ toasted the bread a bit, spread on the pimento cheese, then toasted it again to melt it.

My friends looked confused. ‚‘What’s pimento cheese?’ one said.

I was equally confused. What planet had I landed on? Would I also have to explain air, or how grass grows, or where babies come from? How does one describe a thing so very basic to ex-istence to someone who doesn’t even know it exists? Especially when one doesn’t know the recipe?

I have since confirmed that pimento cheese is indeed unique to the Southern United States. Food writers Jane and Michael Stern (who hail from somewhere Up North) recently covered it in an episode of ‚‘The Splendid Table’ on WABE, and they described it in the same way I used to talk about brat wurst

and cheese curds to my friends and family back home: ‚‘. . . and you can buy it in the grocery store! They have a whole shelf of it!

The easy availability of good pimento cheese was the main reason I’d never learned to make it myself. For the many of you reading this who aren’t native to the South (and thank God you’re here, by the way, with your brats, decent coffee, and sushi), pimento cheese is a spread consisting of grated cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, and diced pimento. It has a zillion variations. Sometimes the mayonnaise predominates, sometimes the cheese; some add onion; some add bacon. It’s nearly always creamy, cheesy, and tasty.

The recipe below is not traditional but it was Carolyn Wet-zel’s. It’s published this month in her memory. She was long-time Atlanta resident, a great advocate for women, a wonder-ful cook, and a dear friend. You can count on any pimento cheese of hers.

Carolyn Wetzel’s Pimento Cheese

• 8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded• 8 oz. plain, fat free yogurt, drained• 1 tbsp. minced garlic• 2 oz. chopped pimento, drained• 1/3 c. reduced calorie mayonnaise• 4 drops red hot sauce

Line a strainer or colander with a round coffee filter or white paper towel. Empty yogurt onto filter and drain for about an hour. Discard liquid. Mix all ingredients together. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with crackers or party rye bread or use as a sandwich filling with sliced tomatoes, avocado slices and lettuce.

Oakhurst Presbyterian Church announcements for February, 2012

Our clothes closet remains busy this winter. We are grateful for your donations of clothes for all babies, children and adults and con-tinue to collect warm clothes for the folks from our community who need them. We also need job interviewing clothes, especially dress shirts and pants for men. Thanks, too for the grant from the Barbecue and Blues Festival for a much needed closet makeover.

For the celebration of Black History Month, Sunday classes and worship services will include information on people who have made contributions for civil rights and our common good.

The season of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 22 at 7:30 p.m. Our weekly worship begins at 11:00 a.m. — join us for worship and other activities of interest.

For information visit OakhurstPresbyterian.org or call the church at 404-378-6284.

• A hardened steel pin inside the bolt that spins in response to a sawing attack and can’t be cut through

• A strike box for the jamb to receive the bolt from the door, with a third, long screw inside the box for deeper anchoring into the jamb

• Larger bolt diameter

• At least 1 inch bolt throw (the length that the dead bolt extends out of the door edge)

• Seamless steel construction of the shroud around bolt inside door

• Hardened steel ball bearings that shield the mounting bolts and prevent them from being drilled out

The ultimate solution is a high security dead bolt like those from Medeco and MultiLock costing about $250 each. However, there are other good quality, reliable, and reason-ably priced (about $50-80) dead bolts. Not all models of the common brands are equally good. Kwikset’s UltraMax lock (780 or 980 series) is recommended. Kwikset’s easy-to-rekey-yourself Smart-Key version, though labeled Grade 1, is considered by most locksmiths to be Grade 2, and is also recommended and readily available. The Schlage B560 series (Grade 2) is a recommended mid-price choice. Locksmiths also have a Grade 2 lock from LSDA‚ Locksmiths Distribu-tors of America.

The Entry Enforcer is a solution for your home safety and security. Contact Duncan Cottrell, (404-289-6960) who can advise you about installation of any products mentioned.

Is your dead bolt locked?Continued from page 7

Oakhurst Leaflet Oakhurst LeafletFebruary 2012www.OakhurstGA.orgPage 4 Page 13

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Make 2012 your year to START THRIVING!

If you feel that your child is being bullied at a public school …

© 2012 Michelle LeGault — Michelle@Legault-Legal.com

If your child is currently or has ever been a victim of public school bullying, you are probably hoping that you can sue the teachers or principal for failing to prevent the bullying.  Due to very strong public policy and constitutional protections (“sovereign immunity” and "official immunity") that benefit school districts and school staff, it can be very difficult to success-fully sue except when a very narrow exception applies. The very narrow exception is for ministerial functions negligently performed or omitted.

Sovereign ImmunityCounty-wide school districts are entitled to sovereign immunity under a 1991 amendment to the Georgia Constitution of 1983. Georgia has recognized the “doctrine of sovereign immunity” which protects the state and its subdivisions from being sued without their consent. In practical terms, if a county-wide school district is sued and the doctrine of sovereign immunity applies, the school district will be dismissed from the suit at a very early stage, well before a jury would be selected to hear the case on its merits.

So, while the parents or guardians of a publicly-educated child are not barred under Georgia law from suing a county school district, if they do, the school district is entitled to a complete defense under the doctrine of sovereign immunity.  There are also penal-ties for bringing frivolous lawsuits or engaging in other harassing litigation conduct.

Official ImmunityOfficial immunity provides similar protections to county-wide school board members, educators, prin-cipals and, where employed by the school district, school resource officers from having to defend lawsuits involving claims that they failed to prevent a bullying incident which caused personal injuries.

Ministerial and Official/Discretionary FunctionsUnder the Georgia Constitution, county-wide school board members, educators, principals and, school resource officers employed by the school district may only be liable for injuries and damages

Living the Green LifeAll Year Long at the Decatur Library

The Oakhurst Community Garden Project, the City of De-catur, and the DeKalb County Public Library are offering an exciting series FREE of classes in 2012. For more information about this series, contact Andrea.Zoppo@Yahoo.com.

Your First Edible GardenWednesday, February 22, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.Saturday,  February 25, 10 - 11:30 a.m.For first time gardeners or those transitioning to organic methods of vegetable gardening. Join Stephanie Van Parys, Executive Director of the Oakhurst Community Garden Proj-ect, and learn about spring and summer vegetables and herbs perfect for our region. 

Drought and Rain Gardens - Prepare for Both!Monday, April 16, 10 - 11 a.m.Join Glynis Ward for an informative class on growing plants in extremes. Learn how to grow plants without a massive water bill. Use water most productively while reducing erosion and clarifying the water. Discover which plants do best in dry and wet conditions.

Compost Workshop for the Entire FamilySaturday, June 16, 9 a.m. - noonJoin the staff of the Oakhurst Community Garden Project and learn all there is to know about composting.  Families will rotate through hands-on learning stations.  Learn how to care for your compost pile and what to do with compost once it is finished.  This workshop takes place at the Oakhurst Commu-nity Garden Project, 435 Oakview Road, Decatur, GA  30030.

Plant your First Fall Vegetable GardenMonday, August 27, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.Tuesday, August 28, 7 - 8:30 p.m.For first time gardeners or those transitioning to organic methods of vegetable gardening. Join Stephanie Van Parys, Executive Director of the Oakhurst Community Garden Proj-ect, and learn about fall vegetables and herbs you can enjoy all season. Included are tips for success!

From the Kitchen to the Medicine CabinetTuesday, October 23, 2012, 7 - 8 p.m.Heal Yourself!  Join one of Oakhurst Community Garden's favorite teachers and herbalists, Charli Vogt, RN, MN, MPH of Beyond the Measuring Cup, and learn about which of the foods, herbs, and spices in your kitchen are health inducing.  Taste and learn about food that restores health and provides comfort.

that (1) are caused by the negligent performance or omission of their ministerial function; or (2) result from actions taken with actual malice or with actual intent to cause injury in the performance of their official functions.

So, if a person employed by a school negligently performs or negligently fails to perform a ministerial act or function, he or she may be liable for the injury or damage that resulted, if there are no defenses to negligence under the facts of the case.  If, however, that person negligently performs or negligently fails to perform a discretionary (or “official”) act or func-tion, so long as that person does not act with “actual malice” or with “actual intent to cause injury”, that person will not be liable for any injury or damage that results.

What is the difference between ministerial and dis-cretionary functions? A ministerial act is one "re-quiring merely the execution of a specific duty.”  In contrast, a discretionary act requires “the exercise of personal deliberation and judgment, which in turn entails examining the facts, reaching reasoned con-clusions, and acting on them in a way not specifically directed.”  In addition, actual malice is “a deliberate intention to do wrong” – that is, the intent to cause the harm suffered. Implied malice which is defined as “the reckless disregard for the rights or safety of oth-ers” is not enough.

Also important for the negligent supervision claims that parents of bullied students want to bring, Georgia courts have consistently reached the conclusion that when school officials are monitoring, supervising or controlling students, they are performing discretion-ary functions.  This is true “even where specific school policies designed to help control and monitor students have been violated… [and] in cases where students have been injured or killed.”  Even where courts have found that a school official was performing a discre-tionary function (and will be entitled to a dismissal from a lawsuit on official immunity grounds), they will sometimes analyze the facts of the case under tradi-tional principles of negligence, to point out further obstacles in a student-plaintiff’s case.

Oakhurst Leaflet Oakhurst LeafletFebruary 2012www.OakhurstGA.org Page 5Page 12

12 5

Continued on Page 11

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Emory Tennis Camp: Tennis plus Swimming!

Oakhurst resident and Emory women’s tennis coach Amy Bryant is excited to announce that registration is now open for her 2012 summer tennis camp. Full and half day week-long sessions are offered May 29 - June 1, June 4 - 8, June 11 - 15 and June 18 - 22 at Emory University. Girls and boys ages 5 - 18 at all playing levels are welcome. Oakhurst residents who sign up by March 15 will receive $25 off the price of one full-day session or $10 off the price of one half-day session.

By creating a fun and safe learning environment, Bryant and her staff strive to instill a lifelong passion for the game of ten-nis in each camper. With excellent facilities, fun games and a daily format ending with an hour-long free swim, what's not to love! Favorites for the older campers include college-style drilling and afternoon Davis Cup match play. Prizes like candy cans (empty tennis ball cans filled with candy), stick-ers, toys, and tennis gear reinforce the skills taught during the day. Every camper also receives a complimentary personalized DVD showcasing the skills learned during the week.

Under current case law, unless a parent can point to a ministerial act (and the courts have been very reluctant to find any in the past decade or so), and then overcome any other defenses to negligence, or can overcome the “ac-tual malice/actual intent to cause injury” requirement, the doctrine of official immunity effectively ensures that school employees get dismissed from suits at an early stage and never have to face a jury even when a child under their supervision is injured or dies.

Other possible remediesParents may have other remedies even if their ability to recover monetary damages on behalf of their injured child is severely restricted by the doctrines of official and sovereign immunity. Such remedies include: (1) suing the bully for assault or battery (if he or she is at least 13 years of age); (2) suing the bully’s parents (if they negligently allowed the child access to a weapon or other inherently dangerous item with which their child would likely hurt someone or if the parents knew of the child’s propensity for the specific dangerousactivity and failed to prevent it); (3) bringing delinquency or criminal charges against the bully for assault or bat-tery; (4) monitoring any student discipline that is imposed on the bully, and making sure that the school officials comply with the requirements imposed by school policies; and/or (5) bringing an ethics complaint to the Georgia Professional Standards Commission against the educatorresponsible for the alleged negligent supervision.

*While I am an attorney, I am not your attorney, and this article does not change that. Please do not rely on the infor-mation contained in this article without obtaining legal advice from a lawyer familiar with the facts andcircumstances unique to your situation.

Camp is open from 8:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. with extended care op-tions including swimming lessons, games and rock climbing. Weekly prices range from $124 - $450. For more information on Coach Bryant’s tennis camp at Emory, go to www.Bryant-Camps.com.

If you feel that your child is being bullied at a public school …Continued from page 5

Oakhurst Leaflet Oakhurst LeafletFebruary 2012www.OakhurstGA.org Page 11Page 6

222 Melrose Ave. $539,000 Gorgeous historic renovation; 4br/3ba with high-end finisheswww.222melrose.com

928 East Lake Dr. $669,000All-brick Tudor Craftsman; more than 3,000 sq. ft. www.928eastlake.com

312 Fayetteville Rd. $449,900New construction under $450K; 4br/3.5ba with gorgeous finisheswww.312fayetteville.com

324 Kings Highway $549,000 Gorgeous historic renovation; 4br/3ba and 2700 sq. ft.www.324kingshighway.com

138 Fayetteville Rd. $599,000The Oakhurst Castle – 3br/3ba plus office, two-car garage www.138fayetteville.com

621 East Lake Drive $649,000 New construction in heart of Oakhurst; 4br/3ba + bonus roomwww.621eastlake.com

Buying or Selling in Oakhurst? Contact your neighbor and intown real estate specialist!

3www.ChipWallaceRealEstate.com

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Stop by our office in Oakhurst Village!715 East Lake Drive • Decatur, GA 30030

Is your dead bolt locked?DuncanCottrell@yahoo.com

Keeping your home secure should be as simple as locking the dead bolt. Studies have shown that 32% of unlawful entries into single family homes are through unlocked doors and/or windows. Even when the door jamb is reinforced, if the dead bolt is an inexpensive one – as most $20 lightweight, Grade 3, residential locks are – the bolt will bend and break when force is applied, and the perpetrator will gain entrance into the house. Locks can also be breached by hitting with a hammer, twisting with a pipe wrench, drilling, picking, and lock bumping. Grade 1 or Grade 2 locks are a much better choice than the vulnerable Grade 3 residential locks typically sold at hardware stores.

Also making homes vulnerable to unlawful entrance is breaking the door glass or sidelight, reaching in, and simply unlocking the door. Many homeowners, in an effort to prevent this, install double cylinder dead bolt locks with keyholes on both sides of the door. However, in case of a fire, when the family needs to get out of the house quickly, valuable time is lost looking for the key to unlock the door. For this reason, most building codes do not allow this type of lock on exit doors. To balance family safety and security from intruders, one manufacturer has developed a dead bolt lock with a feature called a captured key. On the interior, the dead bolt has a "thumb turn" that can be removed from the lock, leaving a keyhole. When no one is home, there is no need for the thumb-turn. The last person to leave removes the thumb-turn, creating a double cylinder dead bolt. When people are home, the thumb-turn is left in place. As an alternative with double cylinder dead bolts, a key can be placed on a nail to the side of the door, out of view and reach from outside.

Good security features in a dead bolt include:

• An anti-pry shield that is integrated into the exterior housing (also prevents one form of picking)

• Hardened steel as the exterior casing

• Tapered exterior casing to deter grabbing with a wrench

Oakhurst Leaflet Oakhurst LeafletFebruary 2012www.OakhurstGA.org Page 7Page 10

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Continued on Page 13

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527 MCKOY STREET 3 BEDROOMS + 1.5 BATHS * OFFERED AT: $289,000 This well maintained and updated home offers the

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332 WEST BENSON 3 BEDROOM + 2 BATHS * OFFERED AT: $399,900 This classic Oakhurst cottage is currently being

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Oakhurst Leaflet February 2012

David S. Rotenstein David.Rotenstein@EarthLink.net

Our Oakhurst neighborhood is a pretty new community, relatively speaking. Although there was an independent Town of Oakhurst that had its own government and corporate limits a century ago, as Decatur’s history books tell it, De-catur annexed Oakhurst just five

years after the Georgia legislature enabled Oakhurst’s creation.

Details of the original Oakhurst are elusive because many of the town’s records were destroyed in a fire. Oral traditions and imprecise historical accounts have compli-cated our understanding of the neighborhood’s history and how Oakhurst went from a distressed area in the last quarter of the 20th century to the now vibrant and funky community where we live, work, play, and worship.

For much of the 20th century, Oakhurst as a place didn’t ex-ist. Institutions founded inside the Town of Oakhurst and on its margins endured and, along with them, the Oakhurst name. Before the 1970s, the area we now call Oakhurst was simply known as South Decatur or Southwest Decatur. The area bounded by College Avenue on the north, the city’s western and southern limits, and McDonough Street comprised Decatur’s first streetcar suburbs. In 1890, the Atlanta Suburban Land Company carved subdivisions out the more than 1,000 acres it had consolidated between Atlanta and Decatur. The subdivisions had familiar names like Kirkwood and East End. There were also others with names that dropped from local memories, like Poplar Springs.

www.OakhurstGA.org Oakhurst Leaflet Page 9Page 8

8 9Oakhurst the town straddled the freight and rapid transit railroad tracks that bisect 21st century Decatur. Chartered by the State of Georgia in 1910, the town was created from lands owned by the Atlanta Suburban Land Company and Druid Hills. Its center was near the intersection of Second Avenue and East Lake Drive where the East Lake Drive & Improvement Company had platted the Oakhurst subdivi-sion in 1911. The town planned a school site at the corner of Madison Avenue and Johnston Place and its last town hall was at the corner of East Lake and Johnston Place.

Less than two years into its existence as an independent town, Oakhurst began lobbying Decatur for annexation. In 1914, the legislature passed acts revoking Oakhurst’s charter and giving Decatur the power to expand its corporate limits to absorb the town. Two years later, in 1916, the legislature enabled Decatur to expand again by an-nexing the remaining East End subdivi-sion in unincorporated DeKalb County. In January of 1917, Southwest Decatur was complete--a merging of Victorian entrepreneurial subdivisions and the southern portion of the former Town of Oakhurst.

Southwest Decatur, like its counterparts throughout the Jim Crow South, was segregated. It was a white neigh-borhood where elderly African-American residents who once lived in the Beacon Hill Community recall encountering open hostility. Older African-American Decatu-rites recall that Blacks could not safely go to Southwest Decatur after sundown. Former Decatur mayor Elizabeth Wilson recalls driving to school in the early 1960s through the East Lake Drive and Oakview Road intersection where she saw white men in overalls hold-ing signs telling African-Americans to stay out of the neighborhood.

The first African-Americans moved into Southwest Decatur in the 1960s. Those first families spurred a white exodus that turned Southwest Decatur majority

African-American by 1970. Many of the African-Americans who settled in Southwest Decatur in the 1960s had been displaced by urban renewal elsewhere in Decatur and in Atlanta. They were unprepared for the transition to home-ownership and some of their properties fell into disrepair and foreclosure.

By the mid-1970s, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had added nearly 200 South Decatur homes to its growing inventory of foreclosed and vacant homes. Fortunately for Decatur, Congress passed landmark legislation in 1974 that created Community Development Block Grants and an urban homesteading pro-gram designed to return vacant foreclosed homes to private ownership. Decatur became one of 23 pilot Urban Home-steading Demonstration Program cities and South Decatur was the city’s program neighborhood.

As city worked to rehabilitate residential neighborhoods, re-vitalization efforts were also focused on Southwest Decatur’s deteriorated business district at the intersection of East Lake Drive, Oakview Road, and Mead Road. Longtime residents recall that this crossroads area was called East Lake during much of the 20th century. The shopping district had devel-oped in the 1920s, at the same time as the old Scottish Rite Hospital was establishing itself on West Hill Street. When the hospital decamped for more modern quarters in Atlanta’s northern suburbs in the 1970s, the neighborhood continued its slide towards blight. By the late 1970s more than half of the stores were vacant.

Oakhurst: What’s in a name?To help revive the struggling business district, Decatur hired a consultant to prepare a revitalization plan. In February of 1979, the City released a report titled The Oakhurst Shop-ping District Revitalization Plan. The Oakhurst identity and neighborhood boundaries that we recognize today were first proposed in that report:

While only a part of the trade area traditionally has been known as Oakhurst, the planners recommend that the name Oakhurst now be considered synonymous with that of southwest Decatur, and that the name and logo … be used by merchants and others in that area.

By the summer of 1979, one of the Oakhurst Neighborhood Association’s predecessors, the South Decatur Community Council, adopted the name and the now-familiar logo. In its June 1979 newsletter, South Decatur Speaks, the group wrote:

People driving through and living in Southwest Decatur may soon see a new sign which has been developed to rep-resent the Oakhurst neighborhood. The sign is an oak tree encircled by the letter “O” for Oakhurst.

The new identity and new logo set the stage for community organizing efforts to eliminate crime, calm traffic, and push the City for better services. Localized block groups, like the Second and Third Avenue group founded by Mary White-head, coalesced in the last decade of the 20th century into the Oakhurst Neighborhood Association.