Marietta DJ: Around Town/Literature, sports displace the ordinary Ill Will in today's column
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AROUND TOWN: She almost sued Kennesaw. Instead, she wrote two novels.
James “Doc” Eaton and his daughter, Cris Eaton-Welsh are pictured in this June 17, 2020, MDJ file photo.
Shannon Ballew
Former Kennesaw City Council member Cris Eaton-Welsh has published two novels she says were inspired by — but do not directly recount — the events that shaped her family over the past several years.
Eaton-Welsh served on the Kennesaw City Council for six years after first running for office following a racial discrimination lawsuit involving the city. When she chose not to seek reelection, her father, chiropractor James “Doc” Eaton, was elected to her seat.
Doc Eaton later resigned from the council in protest after the city granted a new business license to Wildman’s Civil War Surplus.
“The City accepting a new business license that will allow the new owner to perpetuate the blight and bigotry on Main Street is unacceptable,” he wrote in his resignation letter.
The Eaton family also relocated their chiropractic practice just outside Kennesaw city limits in protest.
Last fall, Eaton-Welsh sent the city an ante litem notice — the first step toward filing a lawsuit against a local government. The notice alleged the city retaliated against her family and their businesses after they spoke out against Wildman’s. The Journal previously reported Eaton-Welsh had ultimately decided not to pursue litigation and instead focus on writing.
Eaton-Welsh said she journaled nearly every day over the last four years, initially as a way to process what happened.
“I never set out to write a book,” she told Around Town Tuesday. “It really just made sense, because this was probably one of the hardest seasons of my entire life.”
Her latest book, “The Hill I Died On,” was independently published June 1. It follows fictional chiropractor Dr. Sarah Kent, whose life is upended after she questions why her town, Magnolia Falls, issues a business license to reopen the Collectors Civil War Surplus store, connected to a controversial property dispute.
According to the book’s description, Dr. Kent’s decision to challenge city leaders triggers years of personal and professional fallout as she and a small group of residents confront questions of integrity, power and community values.
“’The Hill I Died On’ is the story of what happens when principle collides with profit, when integrity demands a price and when ordinary people refuse to remain silent,” the description reads.
Earlier this year, Eaton-Welsh also published “Rewrite an Ending,” which is described as “a powerful fictionalized account of one family’s collision with small-town politics, social change and the hidden cost of challenging the status quo.”
The novel follows a respected Southern family whose efforts to make their town more inclusive expose divisions over race, privilege and belonging, leading to public backlash and personal loss.
Eaton-Welsh emphasized that both books are works of fiction inspired by what happened to her family. She said the characters’ names are entirely fictional and do not correspond to real people.
She hopes readers come away with a broader message that “integrity matters.”
“And that sometimes life isn’t going to go the way you thought it was,” she said. “But if you hold true to your values and your integrity, and you never waver, regardless of who comes after you, your kids will learn lessons. They’ll change generations.”
The book has even become a family effort. The cover artwork for “The Hill I Died On” was painted by her daughter, Isabelle, an art major at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Eaton-Welsh said creating the cover was cathartic for her daughter.
Although she joked about someday writing more stories featuring Dr. Sarah Kent — “the Sarah Kent Chronicles” — Eaton-
Welsh said she isn’t sure whether there will be additional books.
“I feel like so much of it just was a lot of closure for us,” she said.
She hopes readers don’t see the books as stories rooted in resentment.
“I don’t want to be remembered as stories about conflict,” Eaton-Welsh said. “I hope they remember stories about perseverance and moments that test our character.”
The books can be ordered on Amazon.com.
MESSI IN COBB: Lionel Messi, widely considered one of the most famous people in the world, touched down in Cobb County earlier this week ahead of Argentina’s game against Egypt in the World Cup round of 16 Tuesday.
Messi and Argentina were seen practicing at Kennesaw State University Monday, while Egypt and star-player Mohamed Salah have been training at the Atlanta United facility in Marietta.
Egypt and Argentina arrived in Atlanta Sunday, and Salah was even seen walking around Buckhead with teammates over the weekend.
The two teams played at noon Tuesday in the second-to-last match Atlanta is hosting for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with a semifinal still scheduled for July 15. In a stunning comeback, Argentina scored three goals late in the match to defeat Egypt 3-2, advancing to the quarterfinal round against the winner of Tuesday’s second game pitting Switzerland vs. Colombia.
The most decorated player in professional soccer history with more than 500 million followers on Instagram, Messi already has eight goals — including one Tuesday — in five World Cup matches. Tuesday’s goal pushed Messi ahead in the race for the Golden Boot, awarded to the top scorer at FIFA World Cup 2026, with France’s Kylian Mbappé and Norway’s Erling Haaland close behind, each with seven goals.
Meanwhile, Salah, a four-time Premier League Golden Boot winner and the league’s all-time leading foreign-born scorer, has been the face of Egyptian soccer, pushing Egypt deeper into the World Cup than it’s ever been.
Argentina could still make its return to Atlanta — and Cobb County for training — should the team win its quarterfinal round on Saturday, July 11.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T: For Cobb GOP Chair Mary Clarice Hathaway, this year’s Cobb County Republican Party Fourth of July celebration had an even deeper meaning due to the nation’s 250th anniversary.
“No other country has achieved what we’ve achieved in 250 years, and we still have founding documents that ring true,” Hathaway said. “The vision of our Founding Fathers still rings true. We haven’t been overtaken by some other mindset or dictator like a lot of other countries have.”
Saturday’s attendees heard from Republican Georgia Labor Commissioner Bárbara Rivera Holmes, who is running for reelection; Elvis Casely, the Republican running against state Rep. Lisa Campbell, D-Kennesaw; Vietnam veteran and former Cobb elections board member Pat Garland, who spoke on how to engage veterans to vote in Georgia; and Jim Jess, who kicked off the event with an American history lesson about the Founding Fathers.
Many of the speakers, Hathaway noted, talked about being a “unified party.”
“Making sure we’re doing the work to be successful for November, but uniting around the cause and the purpose that we have,” she said.
Though Hathaway said she had never met nor heard Holmes speak, she said she was “blown away by how impressive” the labor commissioner was. Holmes talked about her background, including being a first-generation American, and shared “what she’s done and what she wants to do” if reelected as labor commissioner, Hathaway said.
“I mean, incredibly smart, just an excellent communicator, she knows what she’s doing, and I was incredibly impressed,” Hathaway said. “I told her I was going to start a rumor that she was going to be our first female governor at some point.”
Other attendees, per Hathaway, included state Sen. Ed Setzler, R-Acworth, state Rep. Sharon Cooper, R-east Cobb, and Republican Cobb Board of Education member David Chastain.
“We had a great turnout. It was a great event,” she said. “It was at the Civic Center, and (Cobb Chairwoman) Lisa Cupid opened up the door for us to be able to have it there, and I really appreciated her doing that.”
Hathaway used Cupid’s help as an example that it “pays not to be rude to people.”
“We can disagree on politics, and that’s fine,” she said. “I just am a big believer of — in fact, I heard somebody say this the other day — if somebody can’t disagree with you and still walk away feeling respected, then the problem is not the disagreement, the problem is your leadership.”
“... I wish we would get back to more of that. I’m not perfect, but I wish we would get back to more of that instead of the constant, vitriolic attitudes that get exchanged.”
Hathaway believed that was an important message to carry into the future to ensure another 250 years.
The ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup, she said, has also done a good job in cultivating pride and improving the perception of America globally.
“The combination of the world seeing who we are for real, not what the mainstream media portrays, and then the combination of this milestone birthday, I think it hits (differently) this year,” she said, adding the World Cup was “one of the best things that has happened to America.”
“... I just love that (the 250th) coincided with the World Cup, because I think the narrative is changing, and I hope it changes permanently.”