Georgia Briefly

DeKalb water saga causes CDC to close Monday

ATLANTA (TNS) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s main campus on Clifton Road was closed Monday because of the water pressure woes that dogged much of DeKalb County over the weekend.

While Roybal campus was “closed to everyone but essential personnel,” the CDC’s other Atlanta-area offices were open. However, officials strongly encouraged employees at those offices to work from home.

A short distance from the CDC, the Atlanta VA Medical Center was open for normal operations, but because of the water main problems, staff was “encouraged to bring bottled water, coffee and tea for personal use,” according to spokesman Greg Kendall.

Here’s what you need to know about ongoing water issues in DeKalb, which remained under a boil water advisory just after 1 p.m. Monday.

What broke and when and how did it break?

A county worker using heavy equipment hit a fire hydrant Thursday at the intersection Henderson Mill and Evans roads in the Tucker area, rupturing a 48-inch main transmission line. Officials thought they had solved the problem Saturday morning, but the patch they installed blew when pressure was restored to the pipe.

Complicating matters were gas, power and other utility lines in the area of the pipe, which is about 20 feet underground.

Who was affected?

The problem mostly affected the communities of Decatur, Avondale Estates, Druid Hills, Stone Mountain, Oakhurst and East Atlanta Village.

The latest on the repairs

The county’s Department of Watershed Management reported at 1:30 p.m. Sunday the problems had been fixed, and the system was “now fully pressurizing.”

Overseer in Ralston case resigns

ATLANTA (TNS) — The man tasked with overseeing a State Bar of Georgia complaint against state House Speaker David Ralston has resigned to focus on his new job as head of the state Judicial Qualifications Commission.

Hiawassee attorney Mark Dehler notified the Georgia Supreme Court of his decision and said in a letter to the court that the Ralston case would take too much time away from his new job. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution obtained a copy of that letter.

Dehler takes over at the JQC on Sept. 1.

Ralston is accused of violating nine State Bar rules and of allowing his duties as a legislator “to adversely affect his representation” of his client. The Supreme Court, which decides punishment against attorneys, appointed Dehler as “special master” of the case.

Possible outcomes range from a dismissal of the complaint to public reprimand to disbarment. In a petition filed in June, Ralston attorney James Balli of Marietta suggests that the speaker face no more than “formal admonition” or public reprimand. While Ralston acknowledges violating two State Bar rules, Balli said they were inadvertent.

But the Bar earlier this month said in its own filing that Ralston’s account was “inaccurate, incomplete or immaterial,” and it demanded an evidentiary hearing “where the proof of each party can be tested for accuracy.”

Dehler’s resignation from the case should not cause much of a delay, as his role was just coming into play. Now that both Ralston and the Bar have made their cases, the special master’s job is to make a recommendation to the Supreme Court. In his resignation letter, Dehler said it appeared the Ralston case would not be finished until the fall.

Off-duty cop hospitalized after bar fight

ATLANTA (TNS) — An off-duty Atlanta police officer remained in Grady Memorial Hospital on Monday after he was injured trying to break up a club fight in the Castleberry Hill neighborhood.

The officer was working security inside the club on Peters Street early Sunday morning when a fight broke out, according to police spokeswoman Kim Jones. She said a patron hit the officer, causing him to fall and hit his head.

Two suspects were arrested after the incident, Jones said.

Body found in river had prom bracelet on

MACON (TNS) — The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office has joined the investigation into a body found Saturday in the Ocmulgee River.

Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones has yet to identify the badly decomposed body, but discovered more information during the autopsy Monday morning.

Sunday, Jones learned the man was wearing a black and gold rubber bracelet that said “Prom 2015” on it, but uncovered the words “Mary Persons” when it was cleaned during the procedure.

Mary Persons High School is in neighboring Monroe County.

Sheriff John Cary Bittick said there are no active missing person’s cases in Monroe County that fit the description.

“We’re trying to see if we can narrow this down,” Bittick said Monday morning.

There were no clothes or tattoos on the body, which was discovered by a kayaker on Saturday morning. The body was badly decomposed, and Jones was unable to determine how long the man had been in the water.

2005 slaying of woman with baby still unsolved

AUGUSTA (TNS) — Catrina Beatrice Evans was dead nearly a week before she was discovered in her apartment with her 13-month-old child crawling near her feet a decade ago.

Without any strong leads since, investigators aren’t any closer to solving the 19-year-old’s August 2005 death.

According to Augusta Chron