North Druid Hills-Briarcliff|News|
Alan Robert Burns, Former Northlake Mall Santa, Dies at 57
The retired BellSouth supervisor died in his Tennessee home from complications related to pancreatic cancer on Aug. 7.

Email: jonathan.cribbs@patch.com
Phone: 678-490-6497
Hometown: Owings, Md.
Birthday: Aug. 2
Bio: I moved to the Atlanta metro area in 2008 and freelanced for several publications before The Champion Newspaper in Decatur hired me to cover the news in DeKalb County in 2009. I joined Patch in October 2010.
I live in the North Druid Hills community and have worked for daily and weekly newspapers in Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas. I graduated from the University of Maryland in 2005 with a degree in English Language and Literature, a wonderful field of study that will challenge and engage you even as it lays the groundwork for your future unemployment. (But you'll know how to chart our nation's secular transformation from the works of Charles Brockden Brown to Seinfeld. FYI: Moby Dick is a turning point.)
I grew up in southern Maryland near the Chesapeake Bay. I'm a huge ice hockey fan and played the sport through middle and high school. I also love movies and own a somewhat sad collection of more than 500 movies.
As a journalist, I've covered everything from large national stories (the Washington, D.C., snipers in 2003) to the smallest story you can think of, including pizza day at Lady's Island Elementary School in Beaufort, S.C.
The retired BellSouth supervisor died in his Tennessee home from complications related to pancreatic cancer on Aug. 7.

The national grocer is considering dumping its new service within the next few months. Nothing is definitive yet, however.
Staff members received Years of Service Pins, a tradition started in 2007.
Be part of a new Patch series,"DisPatches: The Changing American Dream.”
The top five stories from the previous week in the North Druid Hills-Briarcliff area.
Tons of our kids have graduated from college with degrees this year. Do you know any of them? Scan the list.
Want to know what's going on in the neighborhood this weekend? Patch let's you know.
Curtis Alligood of Stone Mountain matched all five winning numbers from the July 31 Fantasy 5 drawing, winning $619,977.
A new study said parents spend $600 a year on school supplies. Does that ring true to you? And is that too much?
The movie starring Jennifer Garner, which shot in Henderson Park and other parts nearby, is set to be released next August.
The Golden Lions hope to build on their successful fall last year during which all six sports advanced to the playoffs.
Foundation gives the school money to start community garden.
The movie starring Jennifer Garner, which shot in the Northlake area and other parts nearby, is set to be released next August.
Daniel Glusman, a Lavista Park resident who grew up in Toco Hill, started the page Saturday, and it already has 200 members.
North Druid Hills-Briarcliff Patch helped send books to Africa a few weeks ago.
The Northlake restaurant will donate 15 percent of its dinner service proceeds to a DeKalb County memorial project created to honor Sept. 11 victims.
Students throughout the North Druid Hills-Briarcliff area return to school today. For some it'll be the same old-same old. Others will see big changes.
A selection of crimes in our area reported to DeKalb County police.
"I tried to get out but I couldn't," said John Catana, 63, of Lawrenceville regarding the Thursday morning crash into a Chevron gas pump on Clairmont Road.
Four burglaries have occurred near Clairmont and Briarcliff roads since July 29, DeKalb County police said.