Let #MarchMadness begin. Kennesaw State will square off in the first round of the NCAA tournament; Wheeler knocked off Cherokee to win the state title; The adult spelling be was a huh success; And an area man had written a book to make sure his parents’ experiences in the Holocaust are never forgotten.
Now, it seems real.
It had been a full week since Kennesaw State defeated Liberty to win the ASUN Conference tournament title and earned a spot in this year’s NCAA Tournament
On Sunday, the wait came to an end. The Owls earned the Number 14 seed of the Midwest Region and will face third-seeded Xavier on Friday in Greensboro, North Carolina. Tip-off is set for 12:40 p.m. on TruTV. The winner will advance to play either sixth-seeded Iowa State or the Number 11 seed — the winner of a First Four game between Mississippi State and Pittsburgh. Xavier, which lost to Marquette in the Big East Conference title game, is one of the highest-scoring teams in college basketball, averaging 84.1 points per game, but Kennesaw State coach Amir Abdur-Rahim said he knows exactly what to expect in the matchup. He said Sean Miller’s teams are always physical and will guard well. Abdur-Rahim said he has seen Miller’s teams up close before. Twice as an assistant at Texas A&M, he coached against Miller’s then-Arizona teams in early-season showcase tournaments. In 2016 the Aggies played the Wildcats and fell 67-63. A year later, Texas A&M got a point closer but lost 67-64.
While the history with Miller may not have played in Abdur-Rahim’s favor, he is still happy about who and where the Owls will be playing as they make their first NCAA Tournament appearance. Greensboro is only 5½ hours from Kennesaw. For fans interested in purchasing tickets can visit the NCAA’s official ticketing site at NCAA Tickets dot Com.
As the final seconds ticked off the clock in Saturday's Class AAAAAAA state championship game at the Macon Coliseum, Isaiah Collier began to let his emotions out.
The Wheeler point guard dribbled the ball for the last time, fell to his knees and had a quick moment of prayer.
Just seconds later, he was swallowed up by his teammates as the Wildcats defeated Cherokee 78-58 for their third state title in four years and the ninth in the program's decorated history. The fact that Collier was still on the floor at the end was a surprise to some, but it was something the Southern California-bound Naismith High School Player of the Year asked his coach for.
Collier wanted to honor the memory of Khalil Hardison, a former Wheeler player who drowned last August while swimming in the Chattahoochee River. Hardison was Collier's cousin and the son of Wildcats coach Larry Thompson. Once Collier got back to his feet after the dogpile, he was still emotional. With tears coming down his face, he and Thompson shared a long hug, and then the celebration started in earnest.
In his final game, Collier showed why he is one of the best -- if not the best -- high school players in the country. He finished with 22 points on 9-of-13 shooting and seven assists, and he was key during an 11-3 third-quarter run that helped put the game away. Wheeler finished the season on a 17-game winning streak and without a loss to a team from Georgia. The victory over Cherokee was the Wildcats' 12th in a row in the series and the 21st of the last 22.
The Downtown Marietta Development Authority and the City of Marietta have announced the 2023 Glover Park Concert Series, presented by Marietta Dental Associates.
As in previous years, these free concerts take place monthly in Glover Park in Marietta Square.
The concert lineup will be April 28 with Ray Howard Band, a tribute to Earth Wind & Fire; May 26 with The Platinum Band Variety Party Band; June 30 with Guardians Of The Jukebox, an 80’s tribute; July 28 with Chuck Martin & The Line-up, Country & Classic Rock; Aug. 25 with Bogey and The Viceroy, Classic South to today’s hits; and Sept. 29 with Grains of Sand Beach, Soul & Motown.
A limited number of stage-adjacent tables can be reserved for a fee. On the first working day of each month beginning at 8 a.m., table reservations open. Attendees can bring a picnic or dine in one of the restaurants located on the Square.
Blankets and lawn chairs may be set up in the park. Tables and chairs are permitted in the street after 6 p.m. No personal tables, plastic ground covering, ropes, tape, stakes, etc. used to section off areas are permitted inside the park as they will be removed. For more information please head to Facebook dot com slash Glover Park Concert Series.
The smell of beer and popcorn permeated the Strand Theatre as the boisterous crowd settled in for the evening’s entertainment.
A voice boomed overhead as lights flickered on and off, creating dancing shadow-apparitions on the walls of the Strand’s art-deco interior.
It was time for the crowd to quiet down so the costume-clad performers could make their introduction. So began the Sixth Annual Adult Spelling Bee, a fundraiser for the Cobb branch of Communities in School, a school dropout prevention and intervention organization that offers resources to students in need. Each team burst out from behind curtains to music blaring and roars from the crowd, running up one aisle and down the other, slapping hands with the audience before jumping on stage to find their seats. By scanning a QR code from the event’s program, audience members could participate by donating money throughout the show. People could vote for at least $1 each time to support their favorite group, or they could buy a team back into the contest for $150 if a word was spelled incorrectly.
The crowd, as well as the contestants, were fired-up throughout the night.
As each team rose from their seats and approached the mic, dancing and singing would inevitably ensue before a spelling attempt was made. Dressed as Disney princesses Snow White, Cinderella and Ariel, the “Once Upon A Time” team — Joy Doss, Bobby Johnson and Matt Giddens — received the most votes as the fan favorite, raising more than $3,000. Team “Bee-g Bang Theory,” comprised of Raymond Goslow, Michael Miller and Andy Tatnall, spelled the final word — incunabulum — correctly and received trophies for winning the big event. In all, over eighty five thousand dollars was raised.
Michael Ruskin was on a mission as the last surviving member of his family to write about what his parents endured at the hands of the Nazis.
That drive culminated in Ruskin sharing his parents’ story of surviving the Holocaust in his book, “The Vow: A Love Story & The Holocaust.”
Ruskin spoke about the book Saturday at the Marietta History Center. He told attendees his parents did not talk much about what they experienced when he was growing up. Ruskin did not know the full story until after his parents died. After his father died, he found a bunch of old documents and photos while cleaning out his father’s Miami condo. This was the beginning of his journey to tell the story of his late parents, David and Dora Ruskin.
Michael Ruskin spoke about how his parents were forced into a Lithuanian ghetto, called a “safe zone,” early in their marriage. They survived horrific conditions in cattle cars as they were shipped into the unknown. His father ended up in Dachau, the first concentration camp built by the Nazis outside of Munich. Ruskin’s mother was sent to the Stutthof Concentration Camp in northern Poland with his sister, Rose, who was only 3 years old when she was killed.
Somehow, his parents survived. At the end of World War II, David Ruskin was liberated in 1945 by American troops, and Dora Ruskin was liberated the same year by the Russians.
The book describes their journey to reunite and move forward. For more information on Ruskin’s book, visit The Vow a Love Story dot com.
Sitting at the corner of Barrett Parkway and Bells Ferry Road, boarded up and abandoned, the fate of the Robert McAfee House is uncertain. There is a historical marker in front of the house, but the house and land are not protected, according to Trevor Beemon, executive director of Cobb Landmarks and Historical Society. The property is owned by the Medford Family Limited Partnership. The house was constructed for early Cobb County settlers Eliza and Robert McAfee. During the Civil War, according to a historical marker on the front lawn, the house was used by Brigadier General Kenner Garrard as his headquarters shortly after Union forces seized Big Shanty, now known as Kennesaw.
The house is located in unincorporated Cobb, and an application to rezone the land it sits on is currently being reviewed by the Cobb Board of Commissioners. A developer is looking to buy the land and build a car wash on the property, Beemon said.
The only way to save the house is to relocate it, Beemon said, and using the house as a commercial structure isn’t financially viable. In order to help make sure historic properties in Cobb are protected, Beemon urges people to attend Cobb County Board of Commissioners meetings on a regular basis.
Historic homes on private property can be tough to save. Director of the Marietta History Center Amy Reed said that there is only so much the historical society can do, but they would love to be able to save this house.
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