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BANKS
HALL
• Homer
• Gainesville
Commerce
MADISON
Flowery Branch
JACKSON
• Danielsville
• Braselton
v • Hoschton
• Jefferson
• Bufori
• Winder
CLARKE
• Athens
GWINNETT
BARROW
Lawrenceville
Watkinsville •
Loganville
OCONEE
• Monroe
WALTON
BANKS
COUNTY
UGA linebacker
charged with DUI
The Bulldogs’ outside linebacker
Cornelius Washington was pulled over
by a Commerce Police officer Sunday
at 3 a.m„ according to a Commerce
Police report.
The Red & Black reported that,
according to police, an officer became
aware of Washington when he saw
him speeding at 92 mph in a 55 mph
speed limit zone.
The officer noticed one person in the
front passenger seat — later identified
as 20-year-old Lindsey Garic — and
two other passengers in the back,
according to the report.
Garic agreed to a breathalyzer test
and her blood-alcohol content tested a
0.176. She was placed under arrest for
underage consumption.
Washington was also given a
breathalyzer test and blew a reading
of 0.12 according to the report.
BARROW
COUNTY
Winder scraps
its voter list
Monica Franklin, interim elections
superintendent for Barrow County
Elections and Registration, last week
told the Barrow Journal that Winder
officials had decided not to use the
list of voters developed over the past
two months.
Instead, Winder officials apparently
are starting over, a move that might
end up with a shorter list of names.
Franklin said she would provide
the 3,000-name voter list on Oct.
10 to Winder municipal elections
superintendent Sabrina Wall, who
will review the names and, by Oct.
14, submit to the county a new list of
challenged registrations.
Georgia Club’s
plans spur jobs
Plans to build new high-end homes
at the Georgia Club will give some
of those once-busy builders and
craftsmen work again in Barrow
County.
The Georgia Club, the residential
golf community that spans Barrow and
Oconee counties, recently announced
plans to start construction on high-
end homes, the Athens Banner-Herald
reported.
Georgia Club leaders plan to build
six new homes by spring 2012 and
two houses per month after that.
New home construction at the
Georgia Club stalled during the
recession when former owner, Dublin-
based Anglo Irish Bank Corp., was
nationalized by the Irish government.
CLARKE
COUNTY
Man arrested
on drug charges
An Athens-Clarke police officer
arrested an Athens man on multiple
felony drug and theft charges on
Friday after an officer spotted the
man’s car, a 1991 Honda Accord with
a ground effect kit, driving on Nellie
B Avenue at Martin Circle Friday
evening, according to the Athens
Banner-Herald.
The officer followed James Vemard
Smith until he turned onto Winterville
Road, and then lost the car when the
man turned off into a one of several
driveways along a stretch of the road.
When the officer searched and
found the Honda again shortly after 7
p.m., a man approaching the car saw
the officer and ran away. The officer
chased him down and arrested him.
The officer searched Smith’s car
and found cellphones and other
electronics, along with several kinds
of pills and a digital scale.
Clarke County
gets bike funds
Georgia Bikes, the statewide
nonprofit organization working
to improve bicycling conditions in
Georgia, recently announced the
winners of its 2011 Bicycle Signage
Grants. Funds for the 2011 Bicycle
Signage Grants are part of the Share
the Road tag partnership between
Georgia Bikes and the Governor’s
Office of Highway Safety.
Athens-Clarke County received
$4,100, while Oconee County
received $800. Conyers, Clarkston,
Young Harris and Georgia Institute of
Technology also received funds.
The money will be used to install
“share the road” signs and make
shared-lane pavement markings.
David Clark, director of Athens-
Clarke County’s Department of
Transportation and Public Works, said
the money will be used to extend
the existing 55 miles of “Share the
Road” corridors in Athens, recently
recognized as a Bicycle Friendly
Community by the League of
American Bicyclists.
Landfill plans
raise concerns
The state Environmental Protection
Division has given Athens-Clarke
County preliminary permission to
expand the Lexington Road landfill
onto 79 acres in Oglethorpe County,
the Athens Banner-Herald reported.
If affected residents submit a petition
within the next month, under state law
they can negotiate for concessions
with Athens-Clarke and Oglethorpe
county officials.
At a public hearing last Thursday
night, nearby residents raised concerns
about odor, noise, property values and
health risks — common worries about
landfills. The EPD often inspects the
landfill and has found nothing amiss,
county Solid Waste Director Jim
Corley said.
Drinking at UGA
hasn’t increased
Though the University may still be
the No. 2 party school, fewer students
may be going over their limits during
downtown downtime, according to
The Red & Black.
University Chief of Police Jimmy
Williamson said officers have
noticed a recent decrease in alcohol
overconsumption among students.
“It’s obvious some students have
changed their mentality of how often
they’re going out,” Williamson told
the newspaper. “Since the HOPE
requirements have changed, it might
be very important under the economic
conditions to maintain HOPE. Parents
might be pressing on students that it’s
very important to keep HOPE, or they
might not have as much money as
they used to.”
Some businesses also noticed a
change in patronage over the past year
that seems to indicate fewer underage
drinkers downtown.
GWINNETT
COUNTY
1-85 toll lanes
mark new era
With a fraction of the usual weekday
drivers on Interstate 85 on Saturday,
the State Road and Tollway Authority
marked “a new era in transportation”
by beginning its new toll system,
which is expected to spread throughout
Atlanta in the next decade or so.
Although, according to the Gwinnett
Daily Post, Monday’s rush hour posed
the firsdt real test of the new system,
as thousands of commuters took to the
interstate for the commute to work.
”It is really about having a choice,”
said Gena Evans, the executive
director of the tollway authority who
recently thought the new toll lanes on
Interstate 85 would have little effect
on the rush hour in Gwinnett.
“This provides a transportation
advantage to people in that corridor
who are willing to pay for that
advantage.”
Evans said last weekend’s launch
was planned to give drivers a few
days to get used to the lanes before the
pressure of rush hour. But drivers will
still have a “grace period” from fines
to get used to the system, which has
drawn fire from area residents.
Police: Robbery
related to drugs
The 2300 block of Bellefonte
Avenue in The Villages at Huntcrest,
an upscale townhouse development,
teems on weekend afternoons with
shoppers, walkers, bicyclists and kids
trotting to the pool.
Not the opportune time for robbers
to covertly strike.
But, according to the Gwinnett Daily
Post, Gwinnett police were called
there two weeks ago to investigate a
burglary when they found 24-year-
old Lawrenceville resident Anthony
Johnson Jr. shot dead in an end-unit.
Elsewhere in the townhouse were the
owner, Ricardo Linton, 27, and his
mother, Violet, 52, police said. Both
were unharmed.
A week later, police called the
incident a clash between two drug
pushing teams. Arrest warrants
indicate the drug trading hands was
marijuana.
Two days later, police booked
Duluth resident Tyrone Thomas, 20,
on drug and murder charges. Police
believe he was on the side of Johnson
and another man who came to the
home, Terrane Denson, 21, of Buford
— the only player in the soured deal
who’s still at large, Gwinnett police
spokesman Cpl. Jake Smith told the
newspaper.
Last week, neighbors gathered at
a communal clubhouse and aired
concerns. Namely, that the community
— gated at both entry streets — has
experienced an uptick in drug activity
since the recession hit. Home values
dropped and more renters have moved
in.
Family displaced
by house fire
A Buford home is now a “total loss”
after a fire last weekend displaced a
family of five.
According to WDUN, firefighters
responded to the report of a house
fire at 7 Cross Creek Court in Buford
shortly before noon Saturday according
to Charles Wells, deputy chief of
operations for Gwinnett County Fire
and Emergency Services.
First-arriving units found a double
wide manufactured home almost
totally engulfed with fire.
The home is a total loss, according
to the fire department.
There were five occupants home at
the time of the fire: two adults, two
teenagers and one child.
The occupants were alerted by
neighbors about the fire, and one was
treated at the scene.
HALL
COUNTY
Budget cuts nix
county reception
Hall County’s Development Services
building — home to officials who
deal with business licenses, planning
and zoning, building inspections,
environmental health and mapping for
the county — has fewer employees
than it did two months ago.
After budget decisions made in
late June, according to The Times of
Gainesville, nearly 15 people have
disappeared from its hallways.
A room once home to a soil erosion
specialist, like many of the offices
in Development Services, is empty
except for a computer monitor on the
floor beside a phone book and a stack
of folders.
The building’s receptionist has been
replaced by a bulletin board directing
visitors to the office of the official
they need.
No longer able to afford a
receptionist, county officials have set
up an automated phone system to
guide callers to the office.
Newtown marks
61st anniversary
The Newtown Florist Club celebrated
its 61st anniversary Saturday night at
the Gainesville Civic Center.
According to WDUN, the club
began in 1950 as a service group that
would provide flowers to families
in the Newtown Community when
they lost a family member. But in
the late 1970s, it began to evolve
into a community action group that
focused on environmental concerns in
the members’ neighborhood and the
inherent health problems that arose
from those environmental concerns.
The club usually has a keynote
speaker each year for its anniversary
gala, but this year six male church
choirs were the main feature. In
additon, the club’s Girls Leadership
Program played an active role in the
celebration.
Businessman is
5th to join race
A fifth candidate has joined a
growing field for the Nov. 8 special
election to fill the District 25 seat in the
Georgia House of Representatives.
According to The Times of
Gainesville, Emory Dunahoo Jr., a
businessman from Oakwood, says
he will seek the seat being vacated
by James Mills, who was appointed
to the state Board of Pardons and
Paroles.
Dunahoo was a part owner in K&D
Transportation for 25 years. He is
currently semi-retired and employed
by Robinson and Harrison Poultry.
Dunahoo joins five other candidates
who have announced their intention
to run: Todd Reed, also an Oakwood
businessman; Gainesville lawyer
Sonny Sykes; former Hall County
Commissioner Bobby Banks; and
Flowery Branch City Councilman
Kris Yardley.
Man charged
with rape
A rape charge has now been filed
in Oakwood against a man police say
kidnapped a woman friend from a
Gainesville park on Sept. 25.
According to WDUN, Capt.
Andy Smith of the Oakwood Police
Department confirmed last Wednesday
that the man went to Longwood Park
about 5 p.m. Sept. 25 to meet the
woman. She got into his car but the
man wouldn’t let her out, according to
police, and they drove to Kingswood
Apartments in Oakwood.
The suspect has also been charged
with kidnapping, aggravated assault
with a vehicle and cruelty to children.
Investigators said the attack happened
in front of two children, the victim’s
daughter and the suspect’s daughter.
The suspect’s name was not released
due to the domestic nature of the
alleged crimes.
WALTON
COUNTY
Sheriffs deputy
honored, buried
Walton County Sheriff’s Office Lt.
Darran Hester was laid to rest last
Thursday at Union Chapel Cemetery,
according to the Walton Tribune.
Police and sheriff’s office personnel
from Walton County and elsewhere
gathered in honor of Hester, who
was killed in a motorcycle accident
involving an alleged intoxicated driver
Sept. 27 in Gainesville.
Members of the sheriffs office
offered a 21-gun salute, and bagpipes
and a trumpet echoed through the
cemetery as family, friends, fellow
law enforcement and motorcycle
riders gathered to pay their respects
to Hester.
As the crowd began to assemble,
a Monroe Fire Department truck
hung an American flag high in the air
while the flag on the flagpole outside
the sheriff’s office where everyone
gathered around for the ceremony
hung at half-mast. Red ribbons from
Mothers Against Drunk Driving
adorned the shirts of many.
“This is one of those things we don’t
understand,” said Allen Whitley, who
oversaw the ceremony. “I know we
all feel like peace will never come.
Tonight I hope you all can begin the
healing.”