Author: Reporter Newspapers

By C. Julia Nelson Sandy Springs City Council members may be in the doghouse no matter what they decide regarding a possible dog park at Ridgeview Park. The Sandy Springs Pooch Park Pals want a safe place for their dogs to run and play, unleashed, within the city limits. Pooch Park Pals are volunteers who act as stewards to the parks providing general maintenance and cleaning services. Additionally, the group has raised about $15,000 in private funds to add to the $25,000 already allotted by Sandy Springs City Council for the purpose of creating the dog park. On the other side of the fence, neighbors living in the immediate area surrounding Ridgeview Park are wary of increased traffic, lack of enforcement of current leash laws and oppose adding a dog park to a park that is rarely maintained and has limited space for other recreational activities. The catch 22: everyone is concerned that people continuously disregard the law and let their dogs run unleashed, putting children at risk. Last Wednesday, about 100 people attended a town hall meeting, at the Church of the Redeemer, 5185 Peachtree-Dunwoody Road, to discuss a one- to two-acre, fenced-in space for local canines to run amok without bothering others in the 20.2-acre park. District 5 Councilman Tibby DeJulio arranged the meeting to collect information as to how and if council should proceed with the...

By Katie Fallon katiefallon@reporternewspapers.net The city has now tabled further discussion on creating a Historic Preservation Board, despite the vocal efforts of one councilwoman. District 6 Councilwoman Karen Meinzen McEnerny was met with a resounding silence at the city council’s July 10 work session when Mayor Eva Galambos asked who on the council would be in favor of McEnerny’s proposal to create the board. The council passed an ordinance in December, 2005, to allow for the creation of the board, but the group was never created. McEnerny said at the work session that she wanted to activate that board at the behest of members of Heritage Sandy Springs as well as many residents. The purpose of the board, McEnerny said, would be to have another step in the process if the owner of a historic property wanted to go through a rezoning or get a permit for a land disturbance. In addition, she also wants the board to compile a registry of historic properties in the city. That list, though, would not be sanctioned by the national or state registries. The board, McEnerny said, would then be included in the city’s normal rezoning process. “In my view, we need a qualified board of people that are familiar with architectural integrity, age and history to come up with a listing of properties that should be on the registry,” McEnerny said....

By C. Julia Nelson Ever heard of home medicine delivery that didn’t require an Internet connection? For 36 years, pharmacist Richard ‘Doc’ Smith, R. Ph. has been delivering medications to the doors of customers who couldn’t make it to the pharmacy. The medications are delivered the same day they are ordered and for only a dollar over the cost of the medicine. Operating two businesses, “where the customer comes first,” Doc Smith is confident that the independent Sandy Springs Pharmacy and E-Z Med, a closed pharmacy servicing assisted living homes relative to medication packaging, has an edge over the ‘big boys’ in the pharmaceutical industry. The independent pharmacy was formed by Doc Smith, now age 63, in 1971 as a compliment to the former Sandy Springs Medical Center, now known as the Benson Center. In 1974, he partnered with the late Orrin Skolnick and together the two men created a niche that continues to maintain its loyal clientele despite the convenience of drive-thru pharmacies where photos can be developed or groceries bought. Doc Smith and Skolnick later relocated the pharmacy to Vernon Woods Drive at Roswell Road and in 1990, moved the pharmacy to its current location at 6329 Roswell Road. (E-Z Med is located at 199 Hildebrand Dr. NE. and opened in 1985.) This past February, Sandy Springs Pharmacy became the last independently owned pharmaceutical outlet in the...