A well-earned rest from the news
Dec. 20 — It’s Cathy and Stephanie from Rough Draft with our weekly newsletter on Tucker. Now that everything has been lit up, unveiled, and celebrated in the city, it has pretty slow going, news-wise. But honestly, I’m not that sad about it. We all need a break after this trip around the sun, what with every kind of bad news a body can bear. I doubt anyone thought 2025 was all sunshine and roses, but please feel free to email me with details on your happy life.
🐐 This week’s edition will be the last “newsy” one of the year. On Dec. 26, we’ll do a recap of Tucker’s most notable stories, and you can bet that anything involving rogue animals will get top billing.
📆 Have a great weekend,
Cathy and Stephanie
Fed Ex truck kills man near Northlake Parkway
🚨 A 77-year-old man was struck and killed by a FedEx truck driver over the weekend near the entrance of Tucker Target shopping center.
Around 11:13 a.m. Dec. 13, the victim, Berhane Tedla, was hit by a FedEx truck while walking on a private driveway at Target on Northlake Parkway near Crescent Centre Boulevard, a DeKalb County Police Department spokesperson told Rough Draft Atlanta.
“Preliminary investigation suggests the victim was crossing a private driveway at Target and was struck by a FedEx truck attempting to make a turn out of that driveway onto Northlake,” said Blaine Clark, DeKalb County Police public information officer. “The incident is still under investigation.”
Wrap Up a Year Full of Surprises
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Performing Center opening in Tucker
🎹 A new live performance venue plans to infuse funk and soul into the heart of Tucker with its New Year’s Eve opening party.
Londzell Performing Arts Theatre, located at 3993 Lavista Rd., has just a few finishing touches before it opens on New Year’s Eve with a night highlighting soul and music favorites ConFunkShun, Zapp, and local band Soul Cartel. The 30,000-square-foot venue was developed at the site of the former Bali Fitness by Londzell Hardy, an Atlanta entrepreneur and musician.
“This was empty for almost 20 years,” Hardy told Rough Draft Atlanta. “I thought this was just a great area in the center of Georgia, 15 minutes from Gwinnett, 10 minutes from Buckhead. The parking and the space are perfect.”
🪑 Read Stephanie’s story about the venue here.
Data center six-month ban in DeKalb
💻 News of interest to the Tucker community and beyond: the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners voted on Dec. 16 to continue a pause on building new data centers in the county until June 2026, a decision prompted by community concerns about the public health and environmental impact of such centers.
The board unanimously approved a substitute motion introduced by District 7 Commissioner LaDena Bolton to extend a moratorium until June 23, 2026, blocking new licenses or permits for data centers until that date, according to Miranda Rupkey, district chief of staff for Super District 6.
By extending the moratorium, commissioners agreed to delay any new data center development while they consider possible regulations in unincorporated DeKalb County. Terry made a motion for a 12-month moratorium on the data centers to allow time for an independent environmental and public health study to be conducted, but it failed by a 3-4 vote.
Tucker Grinch on the loose
❤️ I’m crazy about the Tucker Grinch – its organic start (fished out of the trash), its journey around Tucker each year, and that one year that he didn’t come home for six months. It’s such a pure pleasure, unlike, well, pretty much anything else that has been happening lately.
Every year, Sherry Cross sends the Grinch on his way around Thanksgiving, and he travels to anywhere from 15 to 20 locations before returning sometime after New Year’s Day.
Anyhoo, from the look of its Facebook page, it’s been making the rounds around the city, posing for pictures with happy children, who then pass it on to another family.
🚗 Here is a story I wrote about him last year.
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