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Community Building and Membership has increased citizen and local business participation and has monitored our collection of dues.

Our Proactive Planning, Land Use, and Zoning Committee has monitored changes in local construction and business development to protect the nature of our community as well as traffic developments.

The Public Safety Committee held events for our Fire Stations and our Police Precinct as well as holding meetings on reapportionment and code enforcement.

We have also started our non-profit sister, TCA Forward Fund, Inc., to solicit corporate contributions and gifts that can be tax deductible.  All in all, a very productive year,

Respectfully Submitted,

Tom Lawrence

TCA Board Members Elected at Membership Meeting, Thursday, February 16

President: Leslie Richardson

A Tucker resident since 1992 and a member of TCA since 2010, Leslie is a project manager for EM Squared, a custom software company.  She served the past two years as PR Chair.  A freelance writer for website development and a nine-year Communications Director for Arbor Montessori School, Leslie is a certified teacher of Tai Chi for

Vice President: Ron Wilkinson

Ron moved to Tucker in 2001 and joined TCA in 2007.  He served two years as District 4 Representative before becoming Vice President.  He works as a manager for a firm that supplies prosthetics and orthotics.  He serves as a block captain in the Neighborhood Watch program, has helped build two homes with Habitat for Humanity, and volunteers time for charitable causes through First United Methodist.

Secretary: Evelyn Burkett

A resident of Tucker for 15 years and a member with her husband of TCA for the past few years, Evelyn served last year as District 4 Representative.  She works in computer support for Emory Health Care.  Married and with two children at home, Evelyn also functions in many capacities at First United Methodist including co-chair for both communications and blood-drives.

Treasurer: Dick Livingston

Dick is a 40-year resident of Tucker/Smoke Rise and previously served TCA as District 3 Representative.  He is a real estate lawyer specializing in residential and commercial financing.  He is a long-time volunteer with the DeKalb Chamber of Commerce and Atlanta Area Boy Scouts, as well as an original board member of the Stone Mountain ART Station.

District 1 Rep: Marty Bryan

Marty has lived in the Tucker/Smoke Rise area since 1981.  A retired registered nurse who specialized in hemodialysis, she  has served as president of the Stone Mountain Woman’s Club, and President or Co-President of PTAs for Smoke Rise Elementary, Kittredge Elementary and Tucker High School.  A graduate of Leadership DeKalb, she has also been honored as the local Rotary Club “Volunteer of the Year.”

District 2 Rep: Fred Barber

A member of St. John Apostolic Holiness Church in the Peters community for a quarter-century, Fred has been involved with TCA’s “Rivers Alive” and “Give An Hour” programs for the past three years.  A maintenance technician for DeKalb County School System, Fred has worked with the American Red Cross, the Hosea Williams “Feed the Hungry” initiative, and Restoration Outreach Ministry which counsels women in prison.

District 3 Rep: Randy Shepley

A graduate of Clarkston High School who grew up in DeKalb County, Randy is now senior pastor at First Baptist of Tucker.  He joined TCA last year and won his first race as district rep.  He has served on the Candler Theology School Alumni Board and as clerk of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Georgia.  He is also co-vice president of the NETWorks cooperative ministry.

District 4 Rep: Andrew Poulos

A resident of Northlake/Tucker since 1984 and a member of TCA for three years, Andrew is a public accountant with an office in Tucker.  He chairs the Business & Technology Advisory Committee for Tucker High School and serves on the Board of Directors for the School of Accountancy at Georgia State University.

The first step in the process is to conduct an internet-based survey of senior residents in the community. The results of the survey will identify services and street improvements that will be most beneficial.

For more information, please email Pam McNall at parks@tuckercivic.org

One of TCA’s goals the past few years has been to build relationships with churches, and NETWorks’ membership in TCA underscores our common interest in addressing social needs.

There is a NET food pantry in the Tucker Rec Center that provides a week’s provisions for a needy family which has cooking appliances.

The NETWorks food pantry, on the other hand, will assist homeless families and individuals who do not have access to a stove or conventional oven.

At our November “Give An Hour,” you can get a sneak-peek of the new headquarters and help stock the shelves. For more info, contact Evelyn Burkett at district4@tuckercivic.org or 770-846-4960.

This 47-acre piece of incredible Tucker green space has two lakes and wetlands teeming with wildlife such as beaver, blue herons, hawks, ducks, turtles, snakes and fish. The lakes were originally created 60 years ago as a pay fishing lake. About seven years ago DeKalb County bought the property around the old Johns Homestead with the intention of establishing a nature preserve, hiking trails and a county history education center.

With tools in hand and garbage bags hooked to belt loops, Tucker Rivers Alive volunteers worked to dig out bathroom sinks, old abandoned washers, and pounds of roof shingles from the lakes near Johns Homestead.

photo: Evelyn Burkett

Rehoboth Baptist Church let our volunteers park in their lot and gave us tables to use at our sign-in staging area. Tucker’s Publix Supermarket on Hugh Howell Road not only brought us breakfast, but then rolled up their sleeves and helped save that beautiful oak tree. Roly Poly, Firehouse Subs and Riverside Pizza all generously donated sandwich platters and large pizzas.  Dave Butler with DeKalb County Natural Resources Management Office was a great help.\Keep DeKalb Beautiful and the Dept. of Watershed Management both gave us recycle bags and other freebies to help make the day flow just a bit easier.

Northlake Thai Cuisine, Tucker Pet Supply, Golden Dolphin, Roly Poly,  and Sonic all offered coupons and gift cards to give out to volunteers. Go out and support your local Tucker businesses. As the TCA motto goes, “A dollar spent in Tucker, stays in Tucker.”

Year after year many of the same Tucker organizations come each October, such as the Tucker Optimist Club, Boy Scout Troops 129 and 876, members of five different Tucker Girl Scout Troops and Tucker High School’s ROTC program.

This cleanup is a means to an end, with a vision in mind. If we play our cards right, help raise funds, and work with the county, we could end up with a new county museum and nature park, featuring the Johns family homestead as an educational centerpiece.

Please email Pam McNall at Parks@TuckerCivic.org if you’re interested in helping organize a Friends of Johns Homestead group.

Jonnie Johnston, Tonaya Moss pose with "Scrappy"

DeKalb County Police Department held a number of “crime prevention” community events at Ace Hardware stores on Saturday, Oct. 8, and Tucker Civic Association was on hand to support the event at our local Ace Hardware, 4365 Cowan Road.

At these events, public education specialists from DeKalb Police precincts set up tables with information displays and literature designed to give homeowners advice on how to protect their home and property.  Ace Hardware stores were natural partners, as they offer many locks, sliding door security bars, and other products that can keep burglars from invading a house.

At the Cowan Road Ace Hardware, Tucker Precinct public education specialist Tonaya Moss set up a table with display boards, brochures and information sheets.  On her table was a cache of locks and security bars available at store owner Harold Smith’s Ace Hardware.

TCA Public Safety Committee Chair Jonnie Johnston set up a table with TCA materials and explained to store visitors that TCA supports public safety efforts by DeKalb Police and DeKalb Fire departments.  Working with Past President Paul Ellingson and his community service-minded daughter, Rachel, Jonnie spread the word of TCA’s involvement in public safety efforts.

A special highlight was the arrival of a DeKalb Police mobile command bus, driven by Neighborhood Education Technician D.D. Evans, which citizens were welcome to tour.  From the bus appeared Scrappy, the crime-fighting dog mascot, who graced a number of photographs with children and Ace Hardware employees.

TCA President Tom Lawrence presents Tucker Citizen of the Year to Tucker High's Linh Pham

At Tucker Civic Association’s fall membership meeting on September 20, TCA President Tom Lawrence presented the “Tucker Citizen of the Year” award to Linh Pham, a teacher in Tucker High School’s International Baccalaureate (IB) program, a pre-university course of study to teach students academic, creative, and humanitarian skills to be accepted to any university worldwide.

Linh reached America with her family after they escaped from the harsh political and grim economic climate of Vietnam.  Learning English as a second language, she managed to graduate from Tucker High School with good grades.  After graduating from Mercer University she returned to Tucker and accepted a position in Tucker High School’s IB program.  She has been a positive force in the growth of the IB program over the past six years.

The IB program requires students to conduct college-level research projects, and among her many contributions, Linh has organized trips to the Georgia State University library to facilitate the research.  Most importantly, Linh teaches the Theory of Knowledge class, which is the heart of the IB program.  In this role, she has mentored scores of students, enabling them to see how the study of music involves history, how philosophy affects chemistry, how mathematics requires language arts, and how all academic subjects relate to each other.  Her peers describe her as a gifted teacher who is demanding of her students because she truly cares for them.

The TCA review committee had many quality nominees to consider.  Committee members decided that, as a role model to hundreds of local students, Linh Pham deserves the 2011 “Tucker Citizen of the Year” award.

TCA’s fall membership meeting also included a discussion of “How Zoning Works” by TCA chair of the Proactive Planning, Land Use & Zoning Committee, Bruce Penn, and a discussion on the Georgia legislature’s redistricting maps, led by TCA President Tom Lawrence, a former Republican Whip in the Georgia House of Representatives.

Saturday, October 1, 2011 – 9:00am -12:00pm

Attention Rivers Alive participants. Here’s some basic information for you to know for our October 1st cleanup. If there is heavy rain/thunder/lightning, the cleanup will move to Oct. 8th, same time, 9a-12n. If it’s a light rain/cloudy, we will move forward as planned.

Please arrive to the Rehoboth Baptist Church parking lot (2997 Lawrenceville Hwy) no later than 9am to get yourself signed in. Please have your Rivers Alive waiver forms already filled out and ready to be handed in that morning.

We will have van(s) available to bring people to the Twin Brothers Lakes area. The walk is .3+ miles, so volunteers can either walk down to the lakes or take the van that morning. There is poison ivy around the lakes, so please wear closed-toe old shoes, long sleeves, and long pants. Do not forget a hat and sunscreen! Please bring gloves and gardening tools if you have them!

There will be EMTs on site, we will also have bug spray, extra sun screen, anti-bacterial hand sanitizer, food, water, etc.

Tools, garbage bags, recycle bags, trash-grabbers, etc. will be available on site at the lakes.

If you need more specific information, email parks@tuckercivic.org. Thank you for your support and we look forward to a successful cleanup!”