Newspaper Page Text
20 Pages, 2 Sections, Plus Preprints A Publication of MainStreet Newspapers, Inc. Winder, Barrow County, Georgia $1.00 Copy Wednesday, December 23, 2020
First vaccines arrive
Photos courtesy of Northeast Georgia Health System
Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton staff began receiving COVID-19 vaccines last week. Northeast
Georgia Health System had given nearly 1,000 doses at the end of Monday, Dec. 21.
Local health leaders urge continued caution
during Christmas, ongoing record surge in cases
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barro wnewsj ournal. com
In a hopeful development amid a monumental, yet
dreadful, year, several frontline medical workers in the
area have begun receiving coronavirus vaccinations in
the past week. But medical leaders are continuing to
urge caution as Christmas arrives and Barrow County,
northeast Georgia and much of the rest of the state con
tinue to be battered by a record surge in COVID-19 cas
es and hospitalizations.
Northeast Georgia Health System received its first
batch of the Pfizer vaccine — 5,000 doses — on Thurs
day morning, Dec. 17, and vaccinated its first seven
employees Thursday evening at the system’s flagship
hospital in Gainesville. Additional vaccinations began
Friday, Dec. 18, at Northeast Georgia Medical Center
Braselton.
“It feels like Christmas came early,” NGHS president
and CEO Carol Burrell said in a news release, “It’s been
a long eight months for our organization and our com
munity, as we continue to see record numbers of COVID
patients. We still have a long journey ahead of us. but
simply having a vaccine in our hands is a tremendous
and positive step forward.”
As of Monday, Dec. 21, NGHS had administered
nearly 1,000 doses. Hospital leaders hope to have the Dr Rami Arfoosh receives his C oviD-l9 vaccine at
See COVID, page 3A Northeast Georgia Medical Center Braselton.
Ga. Supreme Court
upholds conviction
of Winder man in
2011 killing of wife
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
The Georgia Supreme
Court has upheld the sec
ond murder conviction of a
Winder man in connection
with the luly 2011 killing of
his wife after tossing out the
initial conviction due to the
exclusion of evidence in his
first trial.
In a unanimous ruling
dated Monday, Dec. 21,
with Justice Sarah Hawkins
Warren not participating,
the state’s high court ruled
that James Morris Lynn Jr.’s
malice murder conviction
and life-without-parole sen
tence for beating his wife,
Tonya Lynn, 38, to death
with a baseball bat should
stand. The court vacated
Lynn’s concurrent 20-year
sentence for aggravated
assault, saying that count
should have been merged
with the malice murder
count for sentencing.
Lynn was indicted in
October 2011 by a Barrow
County grand jury on mal
ice murder and aggravated
assault charges, and he was
convicted on both counts
in Barrow County Superior
Court following a jury trial
in June 2012.
The state Supreme Court
reversed that conviction in
2014 due on the basis that
evidence that Tonya Lynn
engaged in two extramarital
affairs was excluded from
the trial. The court at the
time argued that evidence
would have corroborated
James Lynn’s testimony
that Tonya told him of her
infidelity just before he
killed her and could have
resulted in a reduced charge
of voluntary manslaughter.
Lynn was retried in Au
gust and September 2015
and again convicted on all
counts. His motion for a
new trial was denied by the
trial court in May and he
; 7;
James Morris Lynn Jr.
appealed to the Supreme
Court.
Lynn argued that the Su
preme Court should vacate
the trial court’s order deny
ing him a new trial for “lack
of adequate findings” and
remand for new detailed
findings. He also argued
that the trial court erred in
denying his motion for a
mistrial during the second
trial, that he had ineffective
counsel at the trial and that
those combined errors “cu
mulatively prejudiced” him.
“But the trial court was
not required to make de
tailed findings in denying
Lynn’s motion for (a) new
trial,” Justice Nels S.D.
Peterson wrote in the high
court’s 27-page ruling.
“The trial court did not err
in denying Lynn’s motion
for a mistrial because the
alleged basis for a mistri
al posed little prejudice to
Lynn and the court gave a
sufficient curative instruc
tion. Lynn’s ineffective as
sistance claims fail because
he has not established that
trial counsel performed de
ficiently in any respect. And
his cumulative error argu
ment fails because there are
no errors to cumulate.”
After Tonya Lynn went
missing on July 27, 2011.
James Lynn was inter
viewed multiple times by
authorities and eventually
admitted to killing her with
See Lynn, page 3A
Index:
Public safety
6-7A
Social/school
3-4B
Classifieds
9A
Legals
5-7B
Obituaries
10-11A
Opinion
4A
Sports
1-2B
MAILING LABEL
Early voting
to resume
next week
after break
Roughly 10,500 Barrow
Countians had voted early
for the Jan. 5 runoff elec
tion as of Monday after
noon, Dec. 21.
Voters are deciding be
tween candidates for both
of Georgia’s U.S. Senate
seats that will determine
party control of the cham
ber, as well as a Georgia
Public Service Commission
seat.
Republican incumbent
Sen. David Perdue is seek
ing a second term and is
being challenged by Dem
ocrat Jon Ossoff. Perdue
narrowly edged Ossoff in
the Nov. 3 general election,
but failed to get over the
50-percent-plus-one thresh
old required to avoid a run
off. In the other Senate race.
Republican Kelly Loeffler
is seeking her first full term
after being appointed to the
seat last year and is being
challenged by Democrat
Raphael Warnock.
See Voting, page 2A
Statham tables rezoning request for large subdivision
Google Maps image
The Statham City Council has tabled until January a vote on a request
to rezone 75.5 acres south of Atlanta Highway between Moore Drive,
Jefferson Street and Bethlehem Road (Highway 211) for a residential
subdivision of 174 single-family homes.
By Scott Thompson
sthompson@barrownewsjournal.com
The Statham City Council will
wait at least another month be
fore voting on a rezoning request
that would allow a large residential
subdivision of more than 170 sin
gle-family homes south of Atlanta
Highway in the downtown area.
The council voted Tuesday, Dec.
15, to table the request by Macas
Development and the Mrs. Kurtz
Moore and Jack Rivers Stapleton
estates (property owners) to rezone
75.5 acres at 541 and 546 Moore
Dr. for 174 single-family homes to
be built on smaller lots than allowed
under the current zoning. The devel
oper had 197 homes included in the
original application.
The council, which already held
a public hearing on the request Dec.
3, after delaying that by a month, is
now scheduled to hold a vote at its
7 p.m. Jan. 19 meeting.
Stanton Porter, the attorney repre
senting the applicants, requested that
the item be tabled so the developer
could work with the project engineer
on a traffic study to present to the
council next month. Porter said the
study would be aimed at trying to al
leviate concerns expressed by coun
cil members and residents over the
traffic issues the development could
present.
He said the developer also wants
additional time to study the fea
sibility to add a third entrance to/
exit from the proposed subdivision
on Bethlehem Road/Highway 211,
which city staff has recommended
among a list of more than 20 condi
tions for approval. In addition to the
main entrance off Atlanta Highway,
the developer has plans at the city’s
recommendation to have a second
entrance off Jefferson Street and ex
tend Jefferson across city property.
An additional entrance, for emergen
cy vehicle access only, is being eyed
on Park Street.
“It’s smart for a project this size to
move forward incrementally,” Porter
said.
See Statham, page 2A
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