Marietta, Georgia anon here. Pics related; we love the Big Chicken. It was originally Johnny Reb's Chick Chuck & Shake before KFC took over. The mechanical beak opens and closes; the eyes used to roll around when I was a kid, but I'm not sure if they do anymore. It's tough to keep the interior mechanicals operating because pigeons roost inside and the pigeon poop is not, to say the least, good for moving parts.
All that to say, I just received the following email alert from the Marietta Police:
Friday September 25, 2020, 3:00 PM
Marietta Police Department
Advisory: Department of Defense conducting training in Marietta 9/27 - 10/4. LOW flights planned. More:
Dear Carla Morris,
The U.S. Army requested we share with you information about planned military exercises that will take place in Cobb County.
LOW FLYING fixed wing and helicopters are part of these training exercises.
Here is their official statement:
“Elements of the Department of Defense are conducting training in Blairsville, Atlanta, and Marietta, Georgia from 27 September – 04 October, 2020. Aviation assets will be involved in this training, so citizens may experience a higher than normal level of noise associated with military aircraft. This training is fully coordinated with local government officials, and every effort will be made to fly friendly and limit inconvenience to the local communities. Extensive safety precautions are in place to protect the service members and local citizens and to limit inconvenience to the communities. Due to inherent risks to personal safety, there will be no opportunities for public viewing of this training." [END STATEMENT]
No other information is available from the Marietta Police Department regarding this planned training.
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Blairsville is near the North Carolina state line, not far from the highest point in the state at Brasstown Bald. There's plenty of National Forest Service property in the area, but other than that, I can't speculate why it would be included in the areas included. Marietta is almost seamlessly attached to Atlanta in Cobb County, where some zip codes (mostly 30339) use Atlanta for their address.