Danny Fendley started more than just his mower Tuesday afternoon when he tugged at the machine’s pull chord.

He was in the garage of his two-story brick home in the north Atlanta suburb of Johns Creek when the machine exploded and burst into flames. Before Fendley could extinguish the fire, it had spread all over the garage.

“It’s a goner,” said Fulton County Fire Lt. Gregory Chambers, at the scene of the blaze. “There’s not even one brick standing.”

He has removed the mower’s spark plug, to check it, when the mower wouldn’t start right away. After replacing the plug, he stood over the mower, ready to try again.

One final yank at the starter cord and . . .

“Poof! Flames just flared up at me,” he said.

Fendley said he ran inside to grab something to put the flames out and tell his wife, Sabrina. But when he returned, the fire had spread too far to stop it.

As Fendley struggled with the blaze, he said his wife tried to toss a can of gasoline out a window. She missed.

“Gas spilled everywhere,” he said.

Within 60 seconds, the conflagration had engulfed the house. At one point Fendley discovered his clothes were on fire, but his wife put out the flames with an extinguisher.

Before they fled, the couple successfully rescued their cats. No one was seriously hurt.

Johns Creek’s first City Hall will be located in Technology Park/Johns Creek at 12000 Findley Road just off Medlock Bridge Road.

Mayor Mike Bodker agreed to rent 33,000 square feet on third and fourth floor of the building. During that time the city can make plans to construct a new purpose-built City Hall.

John Cornetta is trying to give about $3,000 to the city toward the purchase of a new firetruck. They don’t want to take the money.

Cornetta offered to give money to the Fulton County Fire Department in memory of fallen firefighter Felix Roberts, but the department also has refused the gift. He said he gave about $2,000 to the families of Roberts and a resident who died in the same fire May 28.

“This is money that’s sorely needed,” Cornetta said. “I think this government has failed its people. They should be impeached.”

Today, we present a detailed interview John Cornetta. He talks about the case, about himself and about matters that will probably continue to impact Johns Creek for months to come.

1) For those who don’t know, could you explain a little bit about your personal background? How did a guy from New York Jersey end up getting under peoples’ skin in Atlanta?

I was born and raised in New York, I was raised a Catholic and was an alter boy for 4 years. My family owned a marina on the Hudson River and I attended public schools. My parents sold the marina, Cornetta’s Seafood Restaurant and Marina, in 1977 and we moved to Boca Raton Florida. I then attended school in Florida, moved back to New York, graduated in New York and bounced back and forth between these two states for years. In the mid 1980’s I owned several clubs and bars with my parents in both New York and Florida. While in Florida I met a guy who was doing lingerie fashion shows for us in our bar. He was making a lot of money, was surrounded by lots of girls, so I thought I can do this too. He became a friend so I didn’t want to do it in Florida & New York was no longer appealing as most of my family was now in Florida except one sister who was living in Dunwoody Georgia with her husband. I asked around, this was in February 1990, and everyone was saying Atlanta is the next big thing. By this time our bar was not doing well, and I was just getting out of a failed relationship. So I packed up my belongings and moved to Atlanta and started doing Lingerie Shows in bars and grills all over Atlanta. As far getting under peoples’ skin, the ones I talk to don’t feel that way and from what I’m shown your poll doesn’t think so either.

2) The Love Shack is a small part of your business dealings. What other businesses do you own or have involvement with?

Well I wouldn’t say The Love Shack is a small part it’s a rather large part. I own business interests in many different companyIES that operate many things not only in Georgia but in other states and in other countries as well.

I publish Atlanta Xcitement since 1993 it is a magazine that acts as a guide to Atlanta’s night life and centers on Atlanta’s Adult Entertainment businesses. I also publish two industry trade publications one for the swimwear & lingerie industry and one for owners of Adult Stores. I own interests in various clubs, bars, AND restaurants. I own an internet Hosting and Development Company. I own several smoke shops. I also am in the manufacturing business. All in all I think I employee over 300 people. The businesses listed on my corporate website www.cornetta.com just barley scratch the surface. I also own several other adult themed stores in Atlanta that are not named Love Shack.

3) What lead you to open the store in Johns Creek?

I never did, I opened it in unincorporated Fulton County to be precise. I own a home in that area which is now Johns Creek. I scouted the area for years looking for a viable location. The area was in dire need of a nice store that offered some adult products; of this I have no doubt. I spent a lot of money to build out that location and to stock it. Then to have to rearrange the stock over and over because of this nonsense that to me just makes no sense at all. Why should the people of Johns Creek have to drive somewhere else to buy something they desire? This is the funny part. If you live on the border area of Gwinnett and Johns Creek you have to leave Gwinnett County and drive in to Johns Creek to buy liquor from a liquor store because they are against the law in Gwinnett County and if Johns Creek didn’t have The Love Shack the people of Johns Creek would have to drive to Gwinnett to buy their adult DVD’s or magazines. Now where is the logic in that?

4) What are the nuts and bolts issues of this case?

This case is very simple when you boil it down to the nuts and bolts, and I will make this very easy to understand because those opposing me will do anything they can to cloud these facts. A great lawyer once told me a story. He said John “When the law is against you, pound the facts, when the facts are against you, pound the law, and when they’re both against you, pound the table!” This is exactly what Fulton County and now Johns Creek has done. They both knew early on that both the law and the facts were against them and so all they have done since is “pound the table”. They have done everything in their powers to muddy the case, act improperly and I believe to some extent when all is said and done the facts will show that unfortunately some have acted illegally.

This case in its essence is purely a content based case. One needs to ask themselves if in August of 2006 had Blockbuster Video or Hollywood Video made application for a store at that location would they have been issued a business tax certificate. The answer is of course yes, we all know this that area is zoned for general retail and that is exactly what those businesses are. I need not go any further then that to know that the problem for those who have a problem with this store is its content and not zoning. However lets go further, I purposely wrote on my application for this location that I would offer some adult material as allowed by law but that I would not exceed the 25% that was allowed by law. I mean how much more prudent or honest does a man need to be before he is treated equally in this county? They didn’t just somehow find out, I told them in advance after they had already issued me an occupancy permit. The law department advised the commissioners that they had no legal ground to deny or to hold up the business license other then “pounding the table”. Well commissioner Lynn Ryle went on and did just that. She met with then Mayor elect Mike Bodker and did all they could to raise hell, hold school meetings and “ Pound the table” but again there was nothing legally for them to do.

I opened legally and they know it, Steve Rosenberg knows it. I have been battling with Steve for years now, when I first started Fulton Counties ordinance was 50% as the threshold for adult businesses. I helped write the one that currently exists through defeating the 50% one. I know that ordinance better then any commissioner in Fulton County. My intent was never to go beyond that 25% and I never will. Now the other side will say this is a zoning issue and Cornetta can have his Love Shack but not at that location, that there are plenty of alternative locations available for me to move to and that this location does not zone for adult entertainment. To them I say these things. I do not want to be an adult business. I want to be a general retail store that carries some amount of explicit media, non obscene explicate media which is presumptively protected by the Georgia and United States Constitutions. This is easy stuff, not hard at all. Some amount must be allowed according to both Georgia and US law.

The next thing I would say is show me the locations. There are none anyway. The largest zoned area is Johns Creek Tech Park……………… Well not any more, you see I opened a Bar there called Equity VIP and Lynne Riley emailed just about everyone she knew asking if I was opening up a strip club there ( I have the emails ) so the association at her request passed a ground ordinance saying none of the land could be used for any type of adult business. They have no argument and it is my belief that members of Fulton County and Johns Creek governments conspired against me on both the Love Shack issue and on the liquor license for Equity VIP. Now I do not just say this, the Vice Chairman of Fulton County has already admitted this on his video taped deposition.

5) What are the potential outcomes of the case? What are the best and worst case scenarios?

Well I am not sure of the worst case scenario because I know if you push long enough the public and the judicial system eventually get tired of the guy “banging the tables” and then you win, so I will just stick to what I know and that is full vindication. The bad news for Johns Creek and Fulton County is going to be the legal fees and damages that the poor citizens will end up paying me when this witch hunt ends.

As the speaker pro tempore of the Georgia house he was able to include $200,000 in the 2007 budget for the University of Georgia to outline a road map for an independent Milton.

In a long article, he outlines why he believes Milton County is a good idea.

As the nation’s largest obstetrics hospital (delivering more than 18,600 babies a year), Northside will construct a new 103,000 square-foot facility that will include:

• Six Private Labor-Delivery -Recovery Rooms;
• 16 Private Postpartum Rooms;
• Two C-Section Delivery Rooms with associated pre-op and PACU areas;
• A Normal Newborn Nursery featuring 24 bassinets;
• A Level II Neonatal Intermediate Care Unit (NICU) featuring four bassinets;
• Perinatal Diagnostic Services;
• Lactation Center;
• Admissions and other support areas.

• BonefishGrill.com
• Map of the restaurant’s new location

Local voters can go the polls on March 20 to decide whether to extend the sales tax for another five years. The money would be used for additional classroom space and technology, which would allow general funds to be used in classrooms.

In Johns Creek, the sales tax revenues would pay for improvements at each elementary, middle and high school as well as a new $60 million-plus high school. According to Fulton County Schools, more than 20,000 new students enrolled over the past 10 years, and an additional 19,000 students are expected by 2012.

Johns Creek Logo

The new Johns Creek logo has been revealed.

Its wavy blue lines, reflecting the running water of the Chattahoochee, were designed by a staff member at CH2M Hill-OMI which provides municipal services to the city. The logo was approved by Mayor Mike Bodker.

The logo will appear city-wide, on letterhead, vehicles, uniforms and other official items.

The fight has been going on for about two weeks, since John Cornetta opened the store called the “Love Shack” without a business license.

A judge told Cornetta, two weeks ago, that he had to keep the adult inventory content level of his story below 25 percent. On Wednesday, a judge found Cornetta still had too many sex toys and adult videos on the shelves, and fined him $14,000 — $1,000 for every day the store had been open.

Cornetta said the fine — $14,000 — is only money, and he wanted people to know he will fight for what he said he believes is right.

Cornetta remained defiant and said he had no plans to move his store outside of Johns Creek.