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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 o 1 4 5 4 1