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Serving Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Traditions, Reunion, Deaton Creek and West Jackson $1.00 copy Wednesday, December 16, 2020 Vol. 14 No. 1 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. www.BraseltonNewsTODAY.com 12 pages Local health leaders urge caution during holidays Mayor: ‘Take C0VID-19 threat seriously’ Local health leaders are urging the community to use caution during the up coming Christmas holidays as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise in the area. The Greater Hall Coun ty Chamber of Commerce hosted a forum last week with representatives from District 2 Public Health and Northeast Georgia Health System. As of Dec. 14, the hospi tal system was treating 265 COVID-19 patients with 58 of those at Northeast Geor gia Medical Center Bra selton. Across the system, there are 688 occupied hospital beds with 30 available. At NGMC Braselton, 163 beds are occupied with five avail able (23 occupied in ICU with three available). At one point last week, NGMC Braselton had zero beds available. “We are seeing the surge that was predicted.” said Dr. Clifton Hastings, NGHS chief of staff. “We're weath ering it. But we really don't have any capacity at this point, we’re just making do.” The number of COVID cases has risen after ma jor holidays throughout the year. With the upcom ing Christmas holiday ap proaching, Dr. John Delzell, vice president of medical education and designat ed institutional official at NGHS. is encouraging the community to be smart about holiday family gath erings. “If we want to decrease the risk of transmission of the virus, what we really need to make sure if that we're paying attention to even those family gather ings.” he said. Small gatherings within your immediate family that you see regularly may be a lower-risk activity. Delzell noted that as the party size goes up, so does the risk. He also noted the risks involved with traveling or hosting family from outside of the region. “So we would encourage you to really think about how do you do that safely,” Delzell said. He cited a number of dif ferent precautions a person can take if they're taking part in higher risk activities, include wearing a mask at all times: spacing people out instead of eating at one ta ble; and having one person plate guests' meals. Delzell also encouraged families to be honest about any COVID symptoms and to stay home if you have any of those symptoms. See Chamber, page 2A After battling COVID-19 himself, Braselton's mayor is urging the community to take the virus seriously. Braselton Mayor Bill Orr contracted the virus in late October after a busi ness trip in Knoxville, Tenn. “On Oct. 22 after having lunch in our offices with two of my staff, social distancing protocol ob served, I began feeling ill and decided not to return home that afternoon as I was overly tired and did not feel like I could safe ly drive,” Orr said in letter about his experience with COVID. “Instead, I re checked into the hotel and spent the night. I got up Friday morning and start ed the 2 Vi hour ride home to Braselton. It was a hard See Mayor, page 2A Concept drawing of retail building Braselton approves drive-thru for proposed smoothie chain project Braselton leaders recently gave the nod for a request to allow a drive-thru in the Riverstone Braselton development. The applicant is targeting a national smoothie chain for the site. The Braselton Town Council voted Dec. 14 to approve the conditional use drive-thru request on a .72-acre tract on Friendship Rd. Developers plan a 5,000 square foot re tail center, which will have multiple ten ants. The request was approved with sever al conditions, including a stipulation that only 2,000 sq. ft. of the building can be used by the drive-thru tenant. Another condition limits the hours to 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Council member Jim Joedecke was the lone “nay” vote against the move, cit ing concerns with potential traffic issues and the increasing number of drive-thru restaurants in the Hwy. 211 area. “I am concerned that we will have a situation not too long from now where we could have drive-thrus up and down (Hwy.) 211,” Joedecke said. Joedecke added that as more drive-thrus are approved in the Hwy. 211 area, it will be easier for developers to argue that future proposed drive-thrus fit with the character of the area. See Braselton, page 2A Traveling parade brings Christmas joy Photos by Wesleigh Sagon Santa Claus came to town on Saturday, December 12, where he visited 15 neighborhoods. The Braselton Police Department and West Jackson Fire Department escorted the parade and YearOne Muscle Cars provided Santa with a convertible. Neighborhoods visited included: Lakeshore, Keys Crossing, Pinecrest, Vineyard/ Vineyard Gate, Liberty Crossing, Preserve, Baker’s Farm, Broad moor, Sienna, The Falls, Mulberry Park, Riverstone, The Gates, Chateau Elan and Del Webb. Here, Mikalyn, 7, and Olivia Smith, 5, are shown waving to Santa as the Christmas parade made its way through The Falls of Braselton. YearOne Muscle Cars provid ed Santa with a convertible during the Christmas pa rade that traveled through 15 neighborhoods in Braselton on Saturday, December 12. Olivia Hawley, 2, and Timothy Velez, 4 Vi, waved to Santa as he made his way through the Del Webb subdivision on Saturday, December 12. Hoschton council looking at hefty pay hike Members of the Hoschton City Council could get a pretty big pay hike in 2022 if a proposal from Mayor Shannon Sell moves forward. Sell proposed that the council's pay be in creased to $500 per month for each council member and $1,000 per month for the mayor. In addition, he suggested that all council mem bers be eligible for city group health insurance and retirement programs offered to other city employees. Sell pitched the plan at the council's Dec. 14 meeting, but said it was an idea that had been floating around for a while. Council members are currently paid $25 per meeting with a maximum of $75 per month. Sell also said that when the city’s charter is redone, he wants the council to go back to six members from the current five. There would be an election cycle in 2021 be fore the proposed pay hikes would take effect in January 2022. he said. OTHER BUSINESS In other business at the Dec. 14 council meet ing, the board discussed: • ways to change the city’s meetings schedule for 2021. The council wants to move the city's planning commission meeting to the end of the month to give officials more time to process planning board actions before those go to the council for approval. The council also appears to want to move its own meeting time from 7 p.m. back to 5:30 p.m. and perhaps change the day of the week the council meets from Monday to another day. City staff said they would work out a plan to present to the council at its Dec. 21 meeting. • some changes to the city stormwater ordi nance and to have some stormwater agreements See Hoschton, page 2A MAILING LABEL Hall middle, high schools transition to blended learning Jackson schools planning for phased-in return after holidays Hall County middle and high school students will transition to blended learn ing on Wednesday, Dec. 16. Blended learning will be held through Friday, Dec. 18. All middle and high school teachers and staff will report to schools from December 16-18. Elementary school stu dents will continue to fol low the in-person instruc tional model. All Hall County School District extracurricular activities will switch to a “maximum two tickets per participant rule” until fur ther notice. No general ad mission tickets will be sold to the public. This will also apply to the Lanierland basketball tournament. For extracurricular activities proving to have COVID-19 spread among participants and coaches, additional changes may be required. The Hall County School District will utilize an A/B hybrid schedule January 5-8, to re-teach 200 Percent Accountability and to ensure the district are in a position to deliver in-person instruc tion after the holiday break, the district said in a news release. Students whose See Hall, page 2A The Jackson County School System is making plans to “phase-in” mid dle and high school stu dents to in-person classes following the Christmas break. During a meeting of the Jackson County Board of Education last week, school leaders outlined plans for a phased-in re turn to class due to an anticipated high rate of Covid spread during the holidays. The plan revolves around alternating in-per- son learning days with middle and high school students with two days a week being in-person and three days a week attend ing class by remote learn ing. How long the alter nating plan would be in effect will depend on up dated data about the virus' spread during January. The large December uptick in overall com munity spread of Covid led the school system to stop in-person classes last week and move to remote learning until the holiday break begins on Dec. 21. See Jackson, page 2A