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Tammy Joyner

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Atlanta
As seen in: State Affairs, Medium, The New York Times, Washington Post Opinions, Yahoo Canada, Detroit Free Press, Reader's Digest (U.S.), The Minnesota Star Tribune, Glamour, Miami Herald, Military.com and
Mom. Unleashed genie (genealogist). Journalist @StateAffairsGA
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Business fears rise amid 'religious freedom' debate

Business fears rise amid 'religious freedom' debate

Atlanta Journal-Constitution — Some metro Atlanta business leaders hope their political counterparts at the Capitol can quash a "religious freedom" bill that is prompting talk of driving business from the state.
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Slain metro Atlanta cop: Answers sought about his final mission

Slain metro Atlanta cop: Answers sought about his final mission

myajc.com — The morning after two deputies were killed in Maryland, Riverdale Police Chief Todd Spivey stopped by his staff's weekly crime meeting. He had an important message for those attending the 9:30 a.m. Thursday meeting: Be careful. Maj. Greg Barney was there. It would be the last time Spivey would see the 25-year veteran police officer alive. Within hours, Barney would be shot dead by an assailant evading a no-knock search warrant for drugs, making Barney another statistic in what has been one of the deadliest weeks for U.S. law enforcement. A married father of 15-year-old twins, Barney was 50.
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Clayton County psychiatrist linked to deaths of 36 patients

Clayton County psychiatrist linked to deaths of 36 patients

myajc.com — Two years ago, just 24 hours after being released from rehab, Audrey Rae Austin returned to the man who provided her with pills. Jonesboro psychiatrist Dr. Narendra Nagareddy had not seen the 29-year-old Forest Park woman in five months, yet law enforcement officials say he gave her a prescription for 90 tablets of a strong sedative and 90 tablets of Methadone. The woman returned to his office the very next day and got a prescription for 60 amphetamine pills. Austin overdosed that day. She was put on life-support and died two days later on Feb. 23, 2014.
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Former Clayton police chief files whistleblower suit

Former Clayton police chief files whistleblower suit

myajc.com — Former Clayton County police chief Greg Porter has filed a whistleblower suit against the county commission alleging he was demoted for bringing attention to problems he was having with the county's top executive. The 56-page complaint filed Jan. 20 in Clayton Superior Court alleged the commission's decision to reassign Porter to the county's 911 emergency dispatch department hurt his reputation and future earnings potential. He went from overseeing a department with 600 employees and a $32.5 million annual budget to a department with fewer than 50 workers and an annual budget of $3.7 million. The suit is brought under the Georgia Whistleblower Act.
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Family's legal spat threatens to shutter Dean's Barbecue

Family's legal spat threatens to shutter Dean's Barbecue

Atlanta Journal-Constitution —
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Georgians getting their closeups behind-the-scenes in film...

Georgians getting their closeups behind-the-scenes in film...

myajc.com — Next time you're watching the Fox television show "Sleepy Hollow," take a close look at the tavern and the tunnels that snake through the set. It's the handiwork of Conyers resident John Principe. Shortly after production for the hit TV show moved from Wilmington, N.C. to Conyers last summer, Principe was part of a rigging crew that set up stages, props and lighting and generally transformed the old Hill-Phoenix building in the warehouse district of Conyers into the spooky environs of the 1780s. "It's great energy when you're on set.
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Fayette's voting rights feud: A petri dish of social,...

Fayette's voting rights feud: A petri dish of social,...

myajc.com — Alan Felts was drawn to Fayette County a decade ago for its good schools and an unplugged, traffic-free lifestyle that offered lots of elbow room. So was Lurma Rackley who also thought it would be a good place to look after her aging mother. Both relish their small-town life but they're split over the best method for electing leaders in this suburban county of about 110,000, just south of Atlanta. Fayette's voting method has drawn a lot of attention since the NAACP Legal Defense Fund sued the county four years ago on behalf of some black residents seeking to replace its at-large voting with district voting.
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Warnings missed for years in Nagareddy case

Warnings missed for years in Nagareddy case

myajc.com — Long before he was dubbed "Dr. Death," Jonesboro psychiatrist Narendra Nagareddy was known across metro Atlanta's southside as the go-to physician for prescription drug addicts. The users knew it, court records and interviews show. So did law enforcement, pharmacists, other doctors, state regulators and addiction counselors. The mother of one patient complained to authorities in 2012 that he gave her daughter prescriptions she did not need. Years of state and federal data, available to the public, raised red flags showing that Nagareddy was among the state Medicaid program's top prescribers of one of the most abused prescription drugs.
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Riverdale father stunned to learn how son died

Riverdale father stunned to learn how son died

Atlanta Journal-Constitution — This story appeared in a Watchdog Blog. The post is written by me. "I love you Dad." Those were the last words Jim Trimble of RIverdale heard his son Michael say before the elder Trimble headed off to bed. He woke up sometime during the early hours to let the dog out and noticed his son "laying in a certain position" on the den sofa, where he often slept to relieve his arthritic condition. The next morning, Trimble found his 42-year-old son dead in the same position. That was March 8, 2014. Until recently, Trimble believed his son, who had moved in with his parents after his divorce several years earlier, died of a heart attack.
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Law enforcement's embrace of 'In God We Trust' stickers sticky...

Law enforcement's embrace of 'In God We Trust' stickers sticky...

myajc.com — (NOTE: I beat The New York Times on this story.) Spurred by controversial confrontations nationwide between police and the public, nearly a dozen law enforcement agencies in Georgia have joined a national movement that's reigniting debate over God and government. In the last six weeks, sheriffs' departments in Berrien, Burke, Coweta, Douglas, Gilmer, Haralson, Paulding, Polk and Walton have affixed their vehicles with decals that say "In God We Trust." The phras e, cherished by many, first appeared on the U.S. two-cent coin in 1864, became the country's official motto in 1956 and was added to the paper money beginning a year later.
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Retired 4-star general jailed in Fayetteville over Chinese...

Retired 4-star general jailed in Fayetteville over Chinese...

Atlanta Journal-Constitution — A retired four-star general was out on bond Tuesday after being taken to the Fayette County jail over the weekend for allegedly ordering Chinese food without paying for it and then assaulting a delivery driver.
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Retired Fayette general, officials dealing with fallout over...

Retired Fayette general, officials dealing with fallout over...

myajc.com — It was supposed to be a relaxing Saturday get-together with friends over Chinese takeout. Instead, it ended up in the arrest of a highly-decorated retired general and evolved into an embarrassing ordeal for Fayette County law enforcement officials who are still dealing with the fallout. Retired four-star general William "Bill" Livsey said Friday he's still trying to make sense of his arrest over an $80.60 delivery bill for Chinese food. The 84-year-old Fayetteville widower sustained cuts and bruises to his wrists as he was handcuffed by Fayetteville police and said he spent three days in the county jail without his medication and was not allowed to take a shower.
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A Teen Remembered

A Teen Remembered

myajc.com — Home from his freshman year in college, Wali Clanton Jr. was watching a Saturday night movie with his mother who wasn't feeling well June 13 when he got the call from a friend about the pool party. He kissed his mom on the lips - a departure from his normal peck on the cheek - and said he'd be back. The next time LaToscha Brown saw her son was three days later, through an observation window. He was lying on a slab in a funeral home being prepared to be flown to Tampa for his funeral.
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Victor Hill charged in shooting, issues statement

Victor Hill charged in shooting, issues statement

myajc.com — Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill was charged with reckless conduct in connection with a weekend shooting that left a woman in critical condition. Hill turned himself in and was booked into the Gwinnett County Adult Detention Center at 7:48 p.m. Wednesday on a single misdemeanor count, jail records show. He posted the $2,950 bail and was released about an hour later. The sheriff declined to speak to reporters as he left the Gwinnett jail. It is unclear what effect the charge might have on Hill's law enforcement career.
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Stockbridge's soap opera drama plays out

Stockbridge's soap opera drama plays out

myajc.com — Flying water bottles. Temper tantrums. Vengeful ex-lovers. Tabloid talk show? Nope. Just a sampling of the political drama that has played out over the past five years in Stockbridge, a fast-growing bedroom community of 26,500 in Henry County. In the latest installment of this long-running soap opera, the city council requested that the mayor undergo anger management counseling after he allegedly threatened to beat up the mayor pro tem. While the antics have provided steady fodder for local gossip mills and the media, many Stockbridge residents are fed up with the fighting they say has taken precedence over governing.
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Peachtree City residents in uproar over proposed water park...

Peachtree City residents in uproar over proposed water park...

myajc.com — Developers envision a 40-acre resort with an indoor water park that could pull in half a million visitors a year. With its hotel, eateries and arcade, they say, the venture will generate millions in annual revenue from taxes and up to 770 jobs. In an age of intense competition for economic development, it's a project many communities would be lucky to land, some are saying. But in this instance, the community is Peachtree City, and many residents are feeling anything but lucky. A good number of the residents of this town of 35,000 say the Great Wolf Lodge development will bring exactly what Peachtree City doesn't need: increased traffic and decreased home values.
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Clayton's 'Walking Warrior' logs final miles to public transit

Clayton's 'Walking Warrior' logs final miles to public transit

myajc.com — Brenda Crook has worn through multiple pairs of walking shoes since Clayton County scrapped its C-Tran bus service five years ago. Her size 10 moccasins have logged thousands of miles around Clayton. And the 65-year-old Riverdale resident plans to walk right up to the moment she plants her feet on the Route 196 bus on Saturday, the day Clayton joins DeKalb and Fulton as the only metro Atlanta counties with MARTA service. Four months after voters approved the expansion of MARTA, limited bus service will start with three routes, chiefly in the northern part of Clayton.
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Despite county bailout, Clayton hospital struggles to survive

Despite county bailout, Clayton hospital struggles to survive

myajc.com — A $50 million county bailout last year may have saved Southern Regional Medical Center from immediate shutdown. But its future remains in peril, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution examination found. Unless the Clayton County medical facility can continue slashing costs, attract more paying patients and persuade the county to provide ongoing financial help, some fear Southern Regional won't survive until the end of the decade. If it doesn't, Southern Regional would be the largest acute care hospital to close in Georgia since at least 1980, when the Georgia Hospital Association began keeping closure data. It also could create a medical desert on the south side of metro Atlanta.
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5 die in Douglas: Teen pleaded with father to stop shooting

5 die in Douglas: Teen pleaded with father to stop shooting

Atlanta Journal-Constitution — As she ran from her Douglas County home, a teenager pleaded with her father who chased her with a shiny gun in his hand.
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