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Art by Crystal Jordan | VOX Staff

By Crystal Jordan| VOX Staff

Cleveland High School Shooting
After being suspended on Oct. 8, for getting into a fight with a fellow student, 14-year-old Asa H. Coon returned to Success Tech Academy just two days later, and went on a shooting rampage. When his spree was over, Coon had shot two teachers and two students then committed suicide. The two teachers were 57-year-old David Kachadourian, who was shot in the back, and 42-year-old Michael Grassie, who was shot in the chest. The students include 15-year-old Michael Peek with a gunshot wound to his side and 18-year-old Darnell Rodgers, who was shot in the elbow. All four survived. Fellow students and school staff said Coon had made violent threats in the past, and on the day he was suspended, he even said “I got something for y'all.” But no one took him or his threats seriously until Oct.10, the day of the shootings.

Did your car make the “Hot List”?
What comes to mind when you think of a “hot rod” or an appealing ride? Most would think of a brand new 2007 luxury car, right? Well, that is not the case for sneaky car thieves in Georgia. The 2006 National Insurance Crime Bureau’s annual “Hot Wheels” report shows that the 1994 Honda Accord is the most stolen vehicle. Coming in a close second is the 1994 Chevrolet Full Size C/K 1500 Pickup, followed by the 1989 Chevrolet Caprice. The NICB did not explain why the 13-year-old car is a prime candidate for theft, but it is. Nationwide, the 1995 Honda Civic is the most stolen vehicle. The statistics from the 2006 report do show that automobile theft decreased by 42,417 in 2006 from 1,235,226 in 2005. Even with that said, there is still one automobile stolen every 26.4 seconds. On average that means two automobiles are stolen every minute.  

Water Emergency
Known to most “ATLiens” as Lake Lanier, but formally known as Lake Sidney Lanier is metro Atlanta’s primary source of water is at an historic low. Since September, the state has issued a statewide water ban of nearly all outdoor watering in trying to conserve the lake’s fresh water. Lake Lanier is at an extremely low water level, which is causing federal and state officials to say that there is less than a three-month supply left for the use of all metro Atlanta residents. The worst part about this whole situation is that most of the water that leaves the lake is not used by the people of Georgia. It is mandated by law that billions of gallons of water leave the lake daily to flow along the Alabama boarder to operate Plant Scholtz, a small coal-fired facility near Lake Seminole. Lake Lanier’s water is also used to protect two mussel species in a Florida river. Jan. 30, 2008 is the day when the predicted water supply is to run out completely. There seems to be a debate of whether the lake’s water level is in question. Gov. Perdue says that there is a water crisis that needs to be resolved, even though some Army Corps of Engineers staff say no. With that said, metro Atlanta residents may not be able to perform daily tasks. Simple things such as flushing the toilet, taking a shower/bath or even cooking could possibly be lost due to no water.

WNBA comes to Atlanta
Woman’s National Basketball Association President Donna Orender announced on Oct. 17 that Atlanta would soon have a new professional sports team owned and operated by Atlanta businessman J. Ronald Terwilliger. As of now, they have no team name, team colors, coaches or even players, but that will soon be determined. The season is scheduled to start in May 2008. Home games will be played in Phillips Arena along with the Atlanta Hawks (men’s basketball), Atlanta Thrashers (hockey) and the Georgia Force (arena football).

T.I. Released on $3 million Bond
After appearing at this second bond trial to see about his release, on Friday, Oct. 26, rapper T.I. was released on $3 million bond. The $3 million was comprised of two cashier checks and his high-class Clayton Co. property. Despite his release, T.I. is still a prisoner in his own home with a condition that he can only have three visitors at a time between the hours of 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. The beginning of this whole ordeal happened just hours before the B.E.T. Hip-Hop Awards 2007 were set to take place (October 13) and T.I. was locked up. On October 10, T.I. allegedly arranged for his bodyguard to pick up $12,000 cash to buy weapons. Little did they know the dealer was an undercover ATF agent. The bodyguard gave the agent $2,200 and a .223-caliber pistol in exchange for three 9mm machine guns and two 9mm silencers. After that transaction, the bodyguard was arrested on the spot and later said that he was doing T.I. a favor. Two days later, T.I.’s body guard worked with police to lure T.I. into a trap. Authories set up an undercover sting and shortly after T.I. was arrested in an Atlanta parking lot, his vehicle was searched, and he was soon sitting in jail under federal custody. 

Waffle House Brawl
After performing to a sold out crowd at The Tabernacle, rock star Kid Rock (Robert James Ritchie) landed himself in jail. In the parking lot of a Buford Highway Waffle House restaurant around 5:15 a.m. on Oct. 21, Kid Rock got into a fight with another man and was helped out by five other members of his entourage. Afterwards, the group fled the scene and was pulled over. All six members were arrested and booked into the DeKalb County Jail on misdemeanor battery charges. After spending 12 hours in jail, the Atlantic Records recording artist posted bail and was released. He signed autographs as he walked out of jail.

ECHS Rally in Protest
On Oct. 28, many protestors and supporters of Smoke Signals, East Coweta High School’s student written and published newspaper, showed up at the square in downtown Newnan to show their displeasure with the censorship of their newspaper. Not only were the teens upset about their newspaper not being distributed, but at the fact that their First Amendment rights were violated in some way. Due to two opinion articles written and published in the October issue of Smoke Signals, by senior writer Justin Jones and former managing editor Caitlyn VanOrden, the school principal Derek Pitts impounded 500 undistributed copies of newspaper. Principal Pitts told school staff that he wants more positive and uplifting content in the newspaper. The article Jones wrote was in response to pessimist Jonathan Swift’s writing, “A Modest Proposal”. Jones wrote that killing 5th grade students with low-IQ scores could alleviate the worlds’ issues. VanOrden’s article was written to criticize East Coweta High School in condoning a school beauty pageant. She wrote that it was shallow and destructive to young girls to participate in as she once did herself. Because of their “touchy” subjects their principal stopped the printing and distributing of the newspaper. As of November, Principal Pitts has stopped the publication of Smoke Signals but states that it should be back in circulation by Thanksgiving under the new leadership of Elizabeth McFadden, whom he appointed himself after the former advisor resigned.

Genarlow Wilson Released
The now 21- year-old Genarlow Wilson was released from the Burruss Correctional Training Center in Forsyth on Friday, Oct. 26 after serving 32 months and 12 days. The former Douglass High School homecoming king, honor roll student, and varsity football star was convicted of felony aggravated child molestation for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old girl when Wilson was 17. Back in 2003 when Wilson was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, sex between minors less than four years apart was a misdemeanor and the age of consent was 16. But oral sex was protected by the “Romeo and Juliet” provision and was considered a felony in all cases if one of the two involved was under 16. Then in 2006 while Wilson was sitting in prison serving his sentence, the law changed. Ga. Lawmakers dropped the distinction between oral sex and actual intercourse. Despite the law change, they did not apply it to Genarlow and refused to set him free. After many appeals and supporter outcry, the Ga. Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that Genarlow’s sentence was “cruel and unusual punishment” under the state and federal constitutions and was released. Now that he is released, Wilson says that he plans to “lay low”, go to college and major in sociology, and become an active role model for his nine-year-old sister Jiaya. As for the 15-year old girl who was responsible for giving the oral sex, she is now 19 and a high school graduate. Her mother, Veda Cannon says that she enlisted in the Navy to pursue a nursing career and provide a life for her 2-year-old son.