Serving Braselton, Hoschton, Chateau Elan, Traditions, Reunion, Deaton Creek and West Jackson $1.00 copy
Wednesday, February 1, 2023
Vol. 16 No. 8 A publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. www.BraseltonNewsTODAY.com 12 pages
Runners-up
The Jackson County girls' wrestling team took a second place
finish at a tournament in Pickens County over the weekend.
PAGE 10A
Author coming
to Hoschton bookstore
Bestselling author John Cribb will appear at a Hoschton bookstore
to discuss his new novel, The Rail Splitter
PAGE 3A
Special election
State House District 119 special election heading to a runoff
The State House 119 spe
cial election is headed to a
runoff after none of the sev
en candidates earned at least
50% of the vote on Tuesday
(Jan. 31).
The top two vote getters
— Holt Persinger and Char-
Persinger Chase
lie Chase — will vie for the
open seat in a Feb. 28 runoff.
Both are Republicans. Pers
inger finished with 27.9%
of the vote while Chase took
25.48%
The seat was vacated af
ter Danny Rampey, who was
elected to the House District
119 seat last year, resigned
from the post following his
arrest on burglary charges in
Barrow County. House Dis
trict 119 covers portions of
Jackson County (in the Bra-
selton-Hoschton area) and
Barrow County.
Here's the vote tally for
Tuesday’s special election:
•Charlie Chase, Republi
can, 25.48% (831 votes)
•Shelbey Diamond Alex
ander, Democrat, 11.71%
(382)
•Joseph Grodzicki, Repub
lican. 2.24% (73)
•Renee Lord. Republican,
12.45% (406)
•Holt Persinger, Republi
can, 27.9% (910)
•Joe Price, Republican,
1.96% (64)
•Bill Ritter, Republican,
18.27% (596)
Emergency
Aircraft makes
emergency landing
on 1-985 last week
An aircraft made an emer
gency landing on 1-985 last
Tuesday (Jan. 24) afternoon,
shutting down the north
bound lane, according to a
Twitter post from Gwinnett
County Police.
An image posted on the
Georgia Department of
Transportation’s Facebook
page showed that the plane
landed near Woodward Mill
Rd., just north of the 1-985
and 1-85 split.
According to Gwinnett
County Fire and Rescue, two
people were on the plane. No
injuries or fire were reported.
According to the department,
the airplane came into contact
with a semi-trailer traveling
on 1-985 northbound. Fire
fighters arrived at 4:13 p.m.,
secured the scene and de
ployed a fire hose for protec
tion. The Georgia State Patrol
responded to the site as well.
The two occupants of the
See Emergency, page 3A
Hall County Sheriff’s office
Arrest made in identity theft
case involving Braselton woman
A South Carolina man is
being held without bond in
the Hall County Jail follow
ing his arrest this week for fi
nancially exploiting an elder
ly Braselton woman through
identity theft/fraud, according
to a press release from the
Hall County Sheriff’s Office
(HCSO).
The HCSO Warrant Ser
vice Unit deputies took Aar
on Justin Williams, 31, of
North Augusta, into custody
on Wednesday, Jan. 25, at
the Aiken County Detention
See Arrest, page 3A
INDEX
News
1-3A
Opinion
4A
Public safety
5A
Social
6A
School
7-8A
Obituaries
9A
Sports
10A,12A
Obituaries
11A
Jackson Trail FFA
competes in Rome
PAGE 8A
Downtown Braselton
Photo by Ben Munro
The Town of Braselton is asking for public input in downtown’s future as work begins on a five-year
downtown plan.
Town of Braselton asks residents
‘What’s next?’ for downtown
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews. com
The Town of Braselton is
gearing up for a new down
town strategic plan but needs
public feedback to guide its
growth vision.
Town leaders and repre
sentatives from Downtown
Strategies — a firm hired
to help develop a five-year
growth plan — will hold a
public input session on Feb.
9 (11:30 a.m. to 1p.m.) at
the Braselton Civic Center
(27 East Lake Dr.). The town
is coming off a successful
Public input meeting
•When: Feb. 9, 11:30
a.m.to 1 p.m.
•Where: Braselton Civic
Center (27 East Lake Dr.)
•What: The public is in
vited to offer input over the
future of downtown Bra
selton as the town prepares
a five-year downtown plan.
20-year downtown plan that
delivered some of Braselton’s
most notable structures.
Town Manager Jennifer Scott
stressed the importance of
public opinion for this new,
five-year plan.
“It’s the most important
thing there is,” Scott said.
“We can only implement the
ideas if we receive them.”
Braselton accomplished
every project proposed in its
20-year downtown plan, a
rarity for a municipality. So
rare, Scott has been called
upon multiple times by the
Georgia Downtown Associa
tion to speak about the town’s
implementation of it.
“It’s really the elected
officials,” Scott said. “For
the last 20 years, we’ve had
elected officials who — even
though the person in the seat
might have changed — they
all stayed on course to imple
ment the plan that our citizens
thought was so important.”
The 20-year plan included
many structures now vital to
downtown — the police and
court building, library, town
green, parking deck and civic
center. The plan also called
for sidewalks, streetscapes
and relocating Hwy. 124
See Downtown, page 3A
MAILING LABEL
O
Historic preservation
Gathering up
history: Hoschton to
host ‘history harvest’
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews. com
The City of Hoschton
hopes for a plentiful “har
vest time” as it begins
gathering a historical ar
chive.
The city, in cooperation
with its downtown devel
opment authority (DDA)
and historic preservation
committee (HPC), will
host its inaugural “histo
ry harvest” on March 11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at
to collect artifacts of the Hoschton City Hall. The
city’s past from residents.
The collection runs See H ar yest, page 3A
Pictured is Hoschton’s first post office in 1901.
The City of Hoschton will seek artifacts as well
as old photos and documents from residents on
March 11 during its “history harvest.”
History harvest
•When: March 11, 10
a.m.to 4 p.m.
•Where: Hoschton City
Hall (79 City Square
•What: The public is
invited to donate any ar
tifacts they have related
to Hoschton’s history. Call
706-654-3034 to make an
appointment.
o
