High court sides with Marietta grocer in eminent domain case

MARIETTA — The Georgia Supreme Court has sided with a former grocer in a years-long eminent domain case over property the city hoped to use to expand a park.

In an opinion handed down Monday morning, the state Supreme Court ruled the city of Marietta violated the Landowner’s Bill of Rights when it moved to condemn a grocery store owned by Ray Summerour in the historically black Bishop Town neighborhood without providing an entire copy of its appraisal. Monday’s decision upheld a Court of Appeals ruling in favor of Summerour, saying the city acted outside its authority by condemning the man’s property and dismissing Marietta’s condemnation petition.

Shaddi Abusaid, Marietta Daily Journal

Canton teen charged with high school senior’s death

CANTON — A Canton teen was arrested and charged Friday for driving under the influence and causing the car accident that took the life of a rising Creekview senior, Mahlon Thornton, in June near Ball Ground.

Cameron Childers, 18, was charged with one count each of vehicular homicide, vehicular homicide in the second degree, driving under the influence of drugs, reckless driving, weaving over the roadway and speeding, according to Cherokee Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Sgt. Marianne Kelley.

The office’s Traffic Enforcement Unit had recently completed its investigation into the fatal car accident that occurred June 19, Kelley said.

“The driver in the accident, Cameron Childers, 17 years of age at the time of the accident, was driving westbound on Hightower Road when his Dodge Ram pickup truck left the roadway traveling down an embankment where it struck a tree causing the death of his passenger, Mahlon Thornton, 16 years of age,” she said.

Childers turned himself into the Cherokee County Adult Detention Center and was released from jail that same day on a bond of $14,227, Kelley said.

Madison Hogan, Cherokee Tribune