May 14 — After last year’s disastrous harvest, Georgia’s peach industry has rebounded in a big way for 2024 with a bumper crop of an expected 3 million bushel boxes. 

🌧️ A 70% chance of rain and 75° today. 

🚨 An Uber driver has been arrested for raping and robbing one of his passengers in Sandy Springs. 

➡️ Atlanta Police have identified the two victims shot and killed during an altercation at a Buckhead nightclub over the weekend. 

🔎 A former Dunwoody police officer accused of sexual harassment is now being investigated by the state’s standards and training council. 

🚧 Long Island Drive under I-285 in Sandy Springs will close for the weekend beginning Friday so contractors can install overpass bridge foundations.

🗳 Georgia’s Republican Party has removed one of its officers after an administrative law judge found he voted illegally nine times after moving to the state.

🗣️ Historic preservation nonprofit Easements Atlanta has appointed Sarah Borcherding as its next executive director.

ELSEWHERE

⚖️ Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen testified in the ongoing hush-money trial that he paid off porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her affair with the former president secret from the media. An audio tape of Trump directing Cohen to pay off another woman, Karen McDougal, was played in court. 

🧶 Melinda French Gates will step down as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the nonprofit she and her ex-husband founded and built into one of the world’s largest philanthropic organizations.

🎷 Saxophonist David Sanborn died Sunday. He was 78.

🕖 Here’s what’s in today’s newsletter:

• Take 5 with Allison Hill
• Chef Kargar’s new restaurant
• Around the State: Macon award
AND
• Volunteer Opportunities

Stay dry,
Collin & Sammie

💎 Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery invites you to their auction featuring the collection of iconic television writers Bridget and Jerome Dobson. Between writing award-winning scripts, the couple collected treasures from around the world, including original works by Pablo Picasso. Join us May 16 at 1788 Ellsworth Industrial Blvd. or bid online.

SPONSOR MESSAGE

1. Take 5 with children’s author Allison Hill

🦞 Reading Allison Hill’s first book, “Lolly the Left Out Lobster,” our columnist Teri Elam felt compelled to let her inner child come out and play. 

Hill writes children’s books, and this edition of Take 5 talks about where she got the inspiration for Lolly, a lobster battling against ostracization and finding friendship in the most unlikely of places. Other topics touched on include the beauty of snow, pandemic lessons, and Hill’s nonprofit – Eat Laugh Give.

📖 Take a look at the full interview here.

WATCH: Flyover video tour of ATL’s new commute at 285/400

SPONSORED BY PERIMETER COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTS 

🚁 The Transform 285/400 Project, spearheaded by the Georgia Department of Transportation, has come a long way with construction rolling toward completion later this year.

The 10.5-mile infrastructure upgrade is enhancing regional access and improving daily travel to the heart of Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, and Brookhaven.

But don’t take our word alone. See the transformed interchange for yourself with this hyper-real flyover video tour.

👉🏼 Watch it here.

---

2. Delbar’s Fares Kargar drops details on his sprawling restaurant and rooftop bar at Star Metals

🇫🇷 Delbar chef Fares Kargar will open Eden next year at the Star Metals district on Howell Mill Road. The sprawling French-Mediterranean restaurant will include a rooftop bar called Garden of Eden.

Eden will feature design aspects channeling the cosmopolitan supper clubs popular in Iranian cities like Tehran during the 1960s and early 1970s. Look for multiple indoor and outdoor spaces like a covered patio filled with greenery, a 50-seat central bar, chef’s tables, and a more intimate bar paying tribute to Iran’s film industry in its design.

At night, the main restaurant will become an entertainment venue, too, with dancers, live performances, and DJs. Upstairs at Garden of Eden, the rooftop bar promises glimpses of the city skyline. 

➡️ Learn more about the new restaurant here.

---

3. Macon wins national revitalization award

🏆 Leaders of Macon’s decades-long downtown redevelopment efforts are celebrating national recognition of their success. 

Chicago-based Main Street America annually recognizes cities that best exemplify their approach to revitalizing medium and small cities: public/private partnerships making hyper-local investments aligned with shared community values.  

This year the nonprofit NewTown Macon was recognized as one of three Great American Main Street winners for its work nurturing about 120 new businesses into a downtown that sat nearly vacant 25 years ago.

➡ Get the whole story from GPB at this link.

---

💎 Ahlers & Ogletree Auction Gallery invites you to their auction featuring the collection of iconic television writers Bridget and Jerome Dobson. Between writing award-winning scripts, the couple collected treasures from around the world, including original works by Pablo Picasso. Join us May 16 at 1788 Ellsworth Industrial Blvd. or bid online.

SPONSOR MESSAGE

---

4. Volunteer Opportunities

IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HANDS ON ATLANTA

💻 SkillsUSA is seeking volunteers to serve as competition judges for the SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference at the Georgia World Congress Center from June 24-28. You will need to be at the GWCC on both June 26 and 27 and may be involved in competitions such as chapter business procedure, chapter display, community service, extemporaneous speaking, job skill demonstrations, or the quiz bowl. To sign up, complete the SkillsUSA Volunteer Interest Form.
 
🌸 The City of Atlanta Department of City Planning and AgLanta are looking for volunteers Friday morning to help weed, mulch, plant, prune, and harvest vegetables, herbs, fruit, and flowers near Browns Mill Park. 
 
🌿 Join Park Pride volunteers at Spink-Collins Park on Atlanta’s westside (pictured) for invasive plant removal on Saturday morning. You will help native seed banks re-establish and flourish by removing invasive plants like kudzu, privet, and English ivy.

---

Making loved ones smarter since 2021

Share your love of Rough Draft by texting or emailing your personal referral link to a friend. Or your partner.

Get 10 referrals and we’ll send you some stickers.
Get 20 and you’ll get a t-shirt!

---

📧 Today’s newsletter was edited by Julie E. Bloemeke.

---