The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • B3

Filename: B3-METRO-AJCD0503-AJCD DateTime created: May 2 2011 Username: SPEEDDRIVER05 Magenta Black 3B AJCD Tuesday, May 03, 2011 METRO 3B Tuesday, May 3, 2011 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution B3 Metro DeKalb faces $25 million shortfall Property values fall more than expected, CEO says. ed and withdrew its rating on a handful of the county's bonds. Ellis said the county has been in communication with both agencies and is working with the Board of Commissioners to reach a solution. Ellis said he expects the board to increase the millage when it makes midyear budget adjustments, but Commission chief executive said Monday. The decline in assessed property values will be closer to 10 percent, not the 4 percent that was factored into the budget, DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis said at a news conference.

"Increasing costs and decreasing revenues have created a cash flow problem for the county," he said. And because of this, budget committee, which hasn't made a recommendation to the full commission. "But the board's solution will address the county's liquidity problem," May said. Ellis said he is confident the board will do what needs to be done. "But time is of the essence and we must act now," he said.

he and other officials expect Moody's, a global bond rating agency, to downgrade the county's credit rating. "This can be corrected, if we take the appropriate, swift action," Ellis said. "If we do that, I believe both agencies will restore our credit rating." Earlier this year, Standard Poor's downgrad er Lee May, chairman of the board's budget and finance committee, doesn't have that same expectation. "I told them we would be looking at everything, both cutting expenditures and the possibility of raising taxes, but I was not definitive about the exact solution," he said. May said there are still options before the By Michelle E.

Shaw mshawajc.com DeKalb County will experience a $25 million shortfall in its budget because of declining property values, the county's Public-private reserviors legal Governor signs legislation into law. Partnerships useful during budget cutbacks, Deal says. By Aaron Gould Sheinin asheininajc.com Partnerships between public authorities and private enterprise to build new reservoirs are now legal in Georgia under legislation Gov. Nathan Deal signed into law Monday. Senate Bill 122 "is particularly useful at times such as these when budget cutbacks hinder our ability to invest in new infrastructure," Deal said at a Georgia Chamber of Commerce luncheon in his honor.

"This stretches public dollars by attracting partners to move forward with public works projects that will benefit the citizens of the state for generations." Lawmakers approved $46 million in bond money in the state budget that takes effect July 1 to help facilitate the construction of new reservoirs. Deal said he hopes to increase Ready to deploy to Afghanistan Soldiers hug their family and friends goodbye Monday during a departure ceremony for Alpha Company 63rd Expeditionary Signal Battalion at Fort Gordon in Augusta. The company is headed to Afghanistan for a year of duty. Rainier Ehrhardt Augusta Chronicle Man suspected in more slayings that to $300 million over the next several years. "Increasing our water supply in terms of holding that supply is critical for meeting our future needs," Deal said.

State Sen. Ross Tolle-son, R-Perry, was the bill's primary sponsor. After Deal signed the bill, Tolle-son urged the business leaders in the room to sell the measure as good for the state. "Wherever you are from in this state, call your people and help them understand the economic vitality of this state is important to every region of this state from a water-quality standpoint," Tolleson said. Tolleson said he has worked for the past several years to manage concerns and expectations of environmentalists who fear new reservoirs will destroy habitat and down-stream communities who don't want fast-growing North Georgia to siphon off rivers for unchecked growth.

"I tried for the last six years to be kind of the bridge over troubled waters of the north part of the state and the southern part of the state," he said. gee River, which would move properties with an estimated $1.2 million in annual tax revenue into Monroe County. The western corner would also be nudged, while a straight line would connect the two under Scarborough's survey. Sherrill's recommendation now goes to Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who is expected to schedule a hearing or make a decision late this month. ASSOCIATED PRESS Diplomas handed out 31 years later AUGUSTA The Paine College class of 1970 was denied a graduation ceremony because of a race riot in the streets of Augusta.

As Paine's Class of 2011 celebrated its commencement convocation Sunday, the graduates shared the moment with a few graduates from 1970 who returned for the ceremony they never had. After the names of the 2011 graduates were called, 15 of the 95 students in the 1970 class received their diplomas. The 1970 graduates posed on stage for a photo with graduation speaker Rep. James Clyburn, and Paine president George C. Bradley.

ASSOCIATED PRESS Paid Advertisement runaway, Brittany LeAnn King, to see whether Carter was responsible. His father lives in Henry County, and a car belonging to Carter's cousin was found behind the abandoned house where King's body was recovered. The cousin told police he thought Carter had taken his vehicle. Carter said he didn't know the teen, according to court records. He claimed the vehicle had been carjacked days earlier.

Maj. Joe Jackson of the Henry County Police Department said Friday that a detective will review the case in light of Carter's recent convictions. Carter reneges on Fulton plea In June, Carter filed a motion to withdraw his guilty pleas in Fulton, claiming that his lawyers pressured him to confess. A hearing on the motion is likely to be scheduled this month, said Sheila Ross, Fulton's chief assistant district attorney. If the judge allows him to withdraw the plea, prosecutors would try to use Carter's apology to the victims' families against him at trial, Ross said.

At the May 3, 2010, plea hearing, Carter told the families of Allen and Rosenthal that they were "strong women, good women." He said they didn't deserve to die, and he regretted killing them. "Whatever I am, a monster or whatever," Carter said, "I do have a conscience and I am chael Leon Sneed, 35. The account Carter described in his Gwinnett investigative file of killing a man behind a school in DeKalb resembles what happened to Sneed. Sneed was abducted from a Lawrenceville Highway gas station by a man who stole his wallet and car, shot him several times and left him for dead behind Henderson High School. Investigators in the District Attorney's Office must review the evidence before they decide whether to prosecute, Chief Assistant District Attorney Nicole March-and said.

Richard Thomas was only 13 when his stepfather was killed. Now 34 and living in Roswell, Thomas still remembers being devastated when his mother and three siblings learned Sneed was dead. Thomas said that Sneed, a devout churchgoer and insurance underwriter, had raised him and his siblings as his own after marrying their mother. A DeKalb detective told them last year that Carter was identified as a suspect in Sneed's death. Thomas said relief washed over him.

"It was just a big burden off us because we just didn't know who or why when it happened," Thomas said. "I just want to see the guy gets what he deserves, whether he is prosecuted for Mr. Sneed or the other parties." Police in Henry County are also taking a second look at the May 2003 killing of a 16-year-old Paid Advertisement Lake Lanier likely to stay at high level State climatologist David Stooksbury says Lake Lanier should remain at a high level through the summer. The lake's summer full pool elevation of 1,071 feet above sea level took effect Sunday. Lanier has remained around that mark since early February.

The last time the lake dropped below 1,070 feet, its winter full pool, was Feb. 4. Stooksbury says the lake is big enough to prevent the water level from getting low unless the area experiences multiyear droughts. Stooksbury says drought conditions remain for Middle and South Georgia. ASSOCIATED PRESS Counties face shifts in boundary lines MACON A judge has sided with Monroe County in its line dispute with Bibb County.

John Sherrill, a special assistant administrative law judge, decided a border drawn by surveyor Terry Scarborough was done professionally and accurately. The line shifts the corner border hundreds of feet south on the Ocmul- Police: Norcross murderer may have killed 2 others. By Andria Simmons asimmonsajc.com Charles Lendelle Carter received his third life sentence for murder this year and described himself in court as a "monster or whatever." Yet authorities aren't certain how many times he has killed. Over the past year, the 43-year-old Norcross man has pleaded guilty to two slayings in Fulton County and one in Gwinnett County. The victims were: Apriel Allen, 38, an administrative assistant who was stabbed and sexually assaulted at her town-home in Atlanta on Oct.

20, 2004. Angela Thayer Green, a mother of six who was found strangled to death Dec. 27, 2005, at a friend's apartment in Norcross. Lisa Rosenthal, 40, a single mother of two who was stabbed in the face and back at her Alpharetta home on Jan. 12, 2006.

Police in two other metro Atlanta counties are also looking at Carter in connection with two killings. A review of the Gwinnett County district attorney's investigative file on Carter, obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution via an open records request, provided an in-depth look at the slayings for which he has been convicted, and some new information about killings for which he is a suspect. Carter lived with his mother at an extended-stay hotel in Norcross and bounced between restaurant jobs as a chef. On the day of Green's slaying, he showed up for work at a now-defunct restaurant in Norcross with blood on his pants. He was also known as something of a small-time crook.

He was arrested 15 times between 1987 and 1997 on charges involving theft, deception, battery, Charles Lendelle Carter, 43, has been convicted of three murders in Fulton and Gwinnett counties. aggravated assault, probation violations and traffic offenses. But no one suspected the scope of his crimes until he became a suspect in Rosenthal's death. One of the DVD movies stolen and pawned from her home still had her younger son's fingerprint on it. Carter signed the pawn receipt.

Carter avoided talking about Rosenthal when police brought him in for questioning. But, according to the investigative file, he revealed that he had killed a man in DeKalb County and tossed his body behind a school. That's when, according to the file, Carter told detectives that he "might be some kind of monster" and serial killer. He calmly confessed that he thought about killing his kids so they wouldn't grow up to be like him and have the urges that he has, the file says. Police also say he told them he had multiple personalities.

The killings for which Carter was convicted had similarities. He tended to prey upon people who were having problems in life, Gwinnett County Assistant District Attorney Stephen Fern said. Carter also knew the victims. He had a short relationship with Allen. He dated friends of the other two women.

He was familiar with the layout of their homes. And he was calculating, Fern said, waiting until the kids were gone before he attacked their mothers. Possible links in DeKalb, Henry DeKalb police filed a warrant against Carter in November, charging him with murder in the March 16, 1992, shooting of Mi PUBLIC BUDGET HEARING All concerned citizens are invited to attend the public budget hearings to be held on Tuesday, May 1 0, 201 1 at 7:00 p.m., at the Fulton County Board of Education Administrative Center, 786 Cleveland Avenue SW, Sandy Springs, Georgia, and on Thursday, May 1 9, 201 1 at 7:00 p.m., at Dunwoody Springs Charter Elementary School, 81 00 Roberts Drive, Sandy Springs, Georgia. During these meetings, the school system will solicit public input on the FY12 proposed budget prior to the Board of Education adopting the Fulton County School System budget. The FY12 adoption of tentative budgets is scheduled for Thursday, May 19, 2011, at 7:30 p.m., at Dunwoody Springs Charter Elementary School; and the FY12 final budgets are scheduled to be adopted on Tuesday, June 7, 201 1 at 7:00 p.m., at the Administrative Center.

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