The Braselton News
Page 5A
Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Area feature
Braselton hospital employee owns near-40-year-old horse
Photo by Ben Munro
Pamela Whitmire poses for a photo with her quarter horse, Lady, who will turn
40 on Monday (Feb. 27).
By Ben Munro
ben@mainstreetnews. com
Pamela Whitmire spent
last week figuring out how to
make a birthday cake — for
a horse.
But it's very much a mo
ment worth commemorating
with a treat. On Monday (Feb.
27). Whitmire's “Lady” will
turn 40. a rarity for a horse.
When Whitmire bought
Lady 24 years ago, the
Northeast Georgia Medical
Center-Braselton employee
figured she’d have the then-
16-year-old red-haired quar
ter horse for maybe 10 years.
At nearly 40 — paperwork
through the American Quarter
Horse Association (AQHA)
verifies her age — Lady is the
second longest-living horse
in memory in the AQHA (the
oldest was 42).
“She’s like an Energizer
Bunny,” said Whitmire, an
NGMC-Braselton employee
since it opened in 2015.
Lady has outlived three of
the four babies she gave birth
to under Whitmire's own
ership. Whitmire's Jeffer-
son-area neighbor and fellow
horse enthusiast. Lynn Smith,
said most owners will lose
their horses between ages
20-28. She attributes Lady’s
breed as a significant factor in
her long life.
“She comes from stoic
bloodlines,” said Smith, who
described herself as Lady’s
“surrogate aunt.” “She’s stoic.
She's not sensitive. It’s defi
nitely, I’d say, the breeding
and her good life here.”
Not only is Lady about to
be 40, she’ll be a healthy 40.
Lady still eats well and main
tains a solid weight, while
other old horses tend to be
come emaciated.
“That's the first thing that
goes; they can’t digest food.”
Smith said, “but Lady looks
dam good for her age.”
Whitmire said she acquired
Lady over two decades ago
simply because she wanted
horses. Knowing nothing
about them, she and her hus
band purchased a farm on
Mauldin Rd. near Jefferson,
and she poured through any
information she found on
raising horses.
“I bought every book I
could possibly find and read
every book,” Whitmire said.
‘That was before the inter
net.”
They then bought Lady
and her three-week-old foal
because Whitmire wanted a
horse-and-baby pair. Lady
and her foal were the first
of what would become a
16-horse farm for the Whit
mires. Lady is the only re
maining horse there. Whit
mire described Lady as the
“boss.”
“She was the smallest
one that I had — the small
est mare — and she was the
boss,” Whitmire said. “She
was the boss of everything.
She was the boss mare.”
Lady's full name on her
AQHA papers is “Feisty’s
Lady,” and she reportedly
lives up to it. Whitmire re
calls when Lady once kicked
through metal, cutting her to
the bone. The wound took a
vet extensive time to sew up.
“Nobody messed with her,”
Whitmire said. ‘They knew
better.”
Lady is still feisty, as she’ll
come running across the
Whitmires’ pasture to the
bam area whenever she hears
a slamming gate.
“You would never know
that horse is that old.” Whit
mire said.
Lady no longer eats hay,
however, due to her age and
some lost teeth. So, Whit
mire feeds her mush, joking
that she goes through “a lot
of groceries.” Whitmire, who
schedules cardiovascular test
ing in her job at NGMC-Bra-
selton, used to ride Lady reg
ularly but hasn’t done so in
about 15 years.
“I just got old, and it hurts
when you fall off,” Whitmire
said with a laugh.
Whitmire said Lady will
be her last horse. She and
her husband plan to move to
Kentucky at some point but
will remain on their Jefferson
farm for the remainder of La
dy's life.
“She was a good mother, a
good mama,” Whitmire said,
reflecting on her horse's long
life. “And she took care of her
babies, and she loved her ba
bies.”
As for Lady’s birthday,
Whitmire ended up molding
Lady's mush into a circular
shape and placing a “40” can
dle on top of it.
Lady’s 40th birthday
Monday will be something
of an occasion on Maul
din Rd. with several of the
Whitmires' friends set to
drop by to visit this still-
feisty mare.
State attorney general
Eight indicted in Gwinnett after
human trafficking, gang investigation
Attorney General Chris Carr
announced Thursday (Feb. 16)
the indictment of eight alleged
members of the LOTTO gang in
Gwinnett County following a ma
jor investigation conducted by the
Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office
Special Investigations Section.
According to a press release
from Carr's office, the eight de
fendants are facing a range of
charges, including trafficking
of persons for sexual servitude,
violation of the Street Gang Ter
rorism and Prevention Act, con
spiracy to Violate the Racketeer
Influenced and Corrupt Organiza
tions Act, aggravated assault and
kidnapping.
The defendants are alleged to
have engaged in the trafficking
of five female victims, including
one minor, to further their crim
inal enterprise. The defendants
are also alleged to have recruit
ed others to join LOTTO. This
case will be jointly prosecuted
by the attorney general's Human
Trafficking Prosecution Unit and
his new Gang Prosecution Unit,
which officially began its work on
July 1,2022.
The Attorney General’s Human
Trafficking and Gang Prosecution
Units presented evidence to a
Gwinnett County grand jury, re
sulting in the indictment of the fol
lowing eight defendants on Feb. 8:
•Sean Aaron Curry (also known
as Jaak), 33, Gwinnett County
•Sean Patrick Harvey (also
known as Shootah), age 35,
Gwinnett County
•Eric Duane Johnson (also
known as EJ), age 46, DeKalb
County
•Jadah Marie Henry, age 20,
Gwinnett County
•Tyreek Raysheen Lee (also
known as Reek), age 26, Monroe
County
•Bobby Jamaine Downing
(also known as Kahlil), age 41,
DeKalb County
•Hilton Lance Dobbins (also
known as Sporty), age 33, Fulton
County
•Jayda Veronica Wilson (also
known as Thump), age 25, Gwin
nett County
Along with racketeering, seven
of the eight defendants are also
facing additional charges.
Curry, Harvey and Johnson are
alleged to have engaged in crimi
nal activity while occupying a po
sition of leadership with regard to
LOTTO. The three defendants are
therefore facing charges specific
to this allegation.
Curry and Harvey are further
alleged to have encouraged an
other to become an associate of
LOTTO. The two defendants are
therefore facing charges specific
to this allegation.
Braselton
Public hearing related
to Dell Webb at Chateau
Elan expansion ahead
The Braselton Planning Com
mission will hold a public hear
ing Feb. 27 (6 p.m.) related to
plans for expansion of Del Webb
at Chateau Elan.
The applicant, PulteGroup,
seeks planned unit develop
ment (PUD) amendments from
the original master plan, which
called for a continuation of Cha
teau Elan. These would now
be separate neighborhoods and
would not connect.
With this project, Pulte also
seeks to annex and rezone to
PUD 14.61 acres in Gwinnett
County on Duncan Creek Rd.
into town as part of Del Webb at
Chateau Elan. It will develop 28
homes on this tract. The annex
ation tract will connect existing
Del Webb at Chateau Elan with
two other tracts, already with
in the town limits, where 255
homes will be developed.
Additionally, a separate res
idential development of John
Wieland homes — situated next
to three holes on the Chateau
Elan Woodlands Golf Course —
is proposed for 62 lots.
According to documents sub
mitted by Pulte, the requested
amendments to the PUD include
eliminating road connections
into Chateau Elan neighbor
hoods and layout changes to the
homes.
The Braselton Town Council
will hold a separate public hear
ing on these items on March 9 at
4:30 p.m.
Election continued from 1A
to 5 p.m. at the Ponchie Beck ing will be held from 8-5 p.m.
Election Center, located at 441 at the Barrow County Elections
Gordon St., Jefferson. Office at 233 East Broad St.,
In Barrow County, early vot- Winder.
Districts continued from 1A
that the council had not decid
ed on its recommendation for
legislation.
“We're still in the works on
the recommendation for dis
tricting,” he said. “We are still
talking that out ... What the
final recommendation to our
state is going to be. we still
have not decided whether there
will be a recommendation or
actually just not do it at all.”
The council’s recommenda
tion. if it makes one. will not
require a vote. Sen. Frank Ginn
would sponsor the legislation
on the city’s behalf should it
move forward.
The state’s general assem
bly executive office drew the
proposed city council districts
based on population density
using data from the 2020 cen
sus. It submitted both two-dis
trict and three-district options
to the city.
At the work session. Car-
swell said the potential change
would ensure all parts of town
have representation on the
council. He said the council
has discussed districting pub
licly since 2021. Carswell
noted that at one time, four
Hoschton council members
lived in the same four-block
area of town.
“If without a district, every
body’s on one street,” Carswell
said. “What about everybody
on the other side of town?
They have no representation
whatsoever. I don’t think that's
fair. I know it's not fair, quite
honestly.”
The consideration of council
districts comes as the southern
portion of the city, with the
large Cresswind and Twin
Lakes subdivisions, is project
ed to grow by 7,000 residents
before 2030.
The proposed council dis
tricts proved unpopular with
residents who attended the
Feb. 16 meeting, particularly
those who live in the Cress-
wind neighborhood. Six resi
dents. four living in Cresswind,
spoke against the proposed
legislation at the council meet
ing.
The Cresswind-Twin Lakes
segment of town, located in
proposed District 3 in the
three-district model, would
represent a large majority of
the city’s population in a few
years. But it would only have
two council members under
the proposed format.
“It really doesn’t seem like
you’re getting the equal rep
resentation that is the goal of
drawing the districts,” said
resident Christina Brown, who
resides on Quail Run, which
would be assigned to District 3
in the three-model system.
Cresswind resident Mike
Cope offered a similar opinion.
“Those 7,000 people are
going to be underrepresented
with only two representatives,”
he said, suggesting District 3
should have at least three rep
resentatives.
Other complaints of district
ing included a need for more
public opinion in the process.
“Have you asked the cit
izens via poll that you rep
resent?” Cresswind resident
Scott Quarter asked.
Quarter favored the at-large
system, arguing that the most
qualified candidates should
serve on the council regardless
of location.
“Does it really matter where
you live, or is it the best per
son for that seat? That's the
question I have for all of you,”
Quarter said.
If Hoschton’s council dis
tricts are approved, they’ll be
subject to change in seven
years. Under Georgia law,
council districts must be up
dated after each census. The
next census count will be held
in 2030.
WATER LINE IM
PROVEMENTS
The city council approved
a bid of just over $1 million
from Dirt Work Grading and
Construction, Inc., to run a 12-
inch line (most city lines are
four, six or eight inches ) from
Broad St. downtown to White
St. to Industrial Blvd. to Hwy.
53 down to Jopena Blvd. on
the south end of town.
The city has $814,000 in
grant money to apply to the
project, which will likely finish
in the fall of 2024.
The water line will improve
water pressure and flow to the
Cresswind and Twin Lakes
neighborhoods on the south
side. The bid was under bud
get, with the city allotting $1.2
million for the project.
The new line is part of a
comprehensive upgrade of the
city's water system, including
distribution, storage and sup
ply.
OTHER BUSINESS
•held a first reading of a
lengthy update of the city’s
alcohol beverage ordinance to
reflect state codes.
•approved Cole Hudgens,
Jennifer Landers. Christine
Moody, Ray Vaughn. Sean
Stephan, Minton O'Neal,
Christina Brown and Tammy
Sweat as members of the city’s
eight-member impact fee advi
sory committee. The commit
tee, comprising developers, re
altors and residents, will meet
once and submit proposed
changes to the council. The
city is amending its impact
fees following a lawsuit from
Kolter Homes, which is devel
oping the Cresswind and Twin
Lakes subdivisions.
•renewed lease agreements
with Woodmen of America
and Piedmont Injury Mas
sage at city-owned property
on Hwy. 53. The spaces are
located within the city's police
station complex. The city signs
one-year leases should the po
lice department need to expand
into those spaces.
Victim continued from 1A
in a hospital bed.”
According to a Braselton
police report, an officer arrived
at the scene and saw Moore
lying in the turning lane of
the intersection, where Hall
County fire and rescue person
nel tended to him. Emergency
medical personnel transported
Moore to Northeast Georgia
Medical Center in Gainesville
with non-life-threatening inju
ries.
SEARCHING FOR
INFORMATION
According to Braselton Po
lice Major Michael Steffman,
the officer who investigated
the accident checked nearby
businesses for cameras that
might have recorded the crash,
but none had footage. In the
following days, a criminal
investigations detective can
vassed the area but found no
additional information.
“Either the cameras were
inoperable or not facing the
direction of the intersection,”
Steffman wrote in an email,
“and the Georgia DOT camera
that is at the intersection does
not record.”
Steffman said the depart
ment continues to search for
witnesses to the accident. He
asks anyone with information
to contact the Braselton Po
lice Department at police @
braselton.net or call 706-658-
2852 or the department's tip
line at 404-308-7974.
According to Moore’s
aunt, the family plans to post
banners at the intersection in
hopes of finding the driver
who struck Moore or to help
provide information to Bra
selton police in its investiga
tion. She wrote that Moore
had been walking to work
because he was saving up for
expensive car repairs.
“My family and I have
offered to Uber him. and he
has declined, saying he didn’t
mind walking,” Christina
Moore wrote. “He's just an
old soul, a really good human
and a responsible kid that did
not deserve this. We want to
start this for him in hopes it
will help him in some small
way.
“Thanks to anyone who
feels inclined to donate, share
and pray for my nephew. I be
lieve we will find the person
who did this.”
To donate to Moore’s cam
paign, visit https://www.
gofundme.com/f/21 -year-
old-bryson-hit-and-run-
victim?utm_medium=re-
ferral&utm_source=un-
known&utm_cam-
paign=comms_gfm+21 -year-
old-bryson-hit-and-run-victim.
HELP WANTED!
Financial Manager
Braselton, GA.
Required: Bachelor’s degree in
Accounting, Finance, or Economics
& 2 years of managerial experience in
accounting or finance.
Mail resume to: Duckyang America,
Inc., 984 Broadway Ave., Braselton, GA
30517.
