John Ruch, Author at Reporter Newspapers

Former DeKalb commissioner’s husband sentenced for corruption

Posted by John Ruch | Aug 19, 2015

The husband of former DeKalb County Commissioner Elaine Boyer was sentenced today to a year and a day in federal prison, ajc.com is reporting. John Boyer pleaded guilty earlier this year to arranging a kickback scheme benefiting the couple. He will serve a year and a day in a federal prison camp. “John Boyer used his wife’s position as a DeKalb County Commissioner to steal thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds,” said U.S. Attorney John A. Horn in a U.S. Department of Justice press release. “The Boyers’ scheme put county money in their pockets and ultimately left the citizens of DeKalb County holding the tab. In a county that has recently seen its share of corruption cases, this is a particularly sad chapter.” Elaine Boyer is already in federal prison, serving a 14-month sentence for corruption involving personal spending with a county-issued Visa card. Rooks Boynton, an evangelist, was indicted last week on federal corruption charges for his alleged role in the kickback scheme. Prosecutors allege that the Boyers paid Boynton $85,000 in false consulting fees, then got a large portion of the money back as kickbacks. The Boyers’ schemes are among several corruption scandals plaguing DeKalb County. Investigators hired by CEO Lee May to dig into the county’s problems recently declared the government to be “rotten to the core,” sparking criticism from May and a dispute about when that...

Brookhaven searching for a new parks director

Posted by John Ruch | Aug 19, 2015

The city of Brookhaven’s Parks and Recreation director, Jerry Kinsey, is retiring after only a year on the job, and the city is now searching for a replacement. This is...

Ashton Woods/Mercedes plan approved with new park; neighbors may sue

Posted by John Ruch | Aug 18, 2015

The Ashton Woods housing portion of the Mercedes-Benz USA headquarters project—whose plan now includes a new 14-acre public park—won approval from Sandy Springs City Council tonight in a 5-1 vote....

Former DeKalb ethics chair to run for Brookhaven mayor

Posted by John Ruch | Aug 18, 2015

John Ernst Jr., the former chairman of the DeKalb County Board of Ethics, announced Aug. 18 that he will run for mayor of Brookhaven. “I served as chairman of the...

Adult business lawsuit goes to court after zoning change

Posted by John Ruch | Aug 18, 2015

A federal lawsuit challenging Sandy Springs’ adult-business restrictions is going to trial as scheduled today. But a last-minute zoning change has trimmed the number of issues the court will decide, according to Cary Wiggins, the attorney representing the adult businesses in the nine-year-old lawsuit. Court arguments likely will last a few days, and a ruling will likely come several months later, Wiggins said. The adult bookstore Inserection and the strip clubs Flashers and Mardi Gras allege that the city is trying to force them out of business with laws violating the First and Fourteenth Amendments. One complaint involved zoning code restrictions that the businesses said were so tight, they made it practically impossible to move elsewhere in the city. Last month, in response to the lawsuit, the city quietly changed the zoning code to allow adult businesses in more areas. Wiggins said that complaint is now removed from the lawsuit. The remaining complaints that the court will decide include allegedly “overbroad” restrictions on alcohol sales; “arbitrary and capricious” rules on the expiration of the businesses’ zoning status; and an “overbroad” ban on “employees exposing ‘specified anatomical areas’ to patrons in private rooms.” Two other, separate lawsuits also challenging the city’s adult-businesses restrictions are still pending in federal and state courts. Also still pending is a 2011 lawsuit where the city is suing four adult businesses for alleged legal...