The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current, October 26, 2018, Image 8

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The times., October 26, 2018, Image 8

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Newspaper Page TextL2J OUR REGION Shannon Casas | Director of Content The Times ’ Gainesville, Georgia 770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com Friday, October 26, 2018 Woman killed in Forsyth crash BY ALEXANDER POPP apopp@forsythnews.com A Dawsonviille woman was killed Wednesday morning when authorities say an SUV driven by a Gainesville man crossed the center line of Jot Em Down Road in North Forsyth County and struck the SUV she was driving. Barbara Morgan Fowler, 71, was killed when the Honda CRV she was driving east was struck by a 2001 Toyota Sequoia traveling west at about 9:30 a.m. Oct. 24 near County Lake Road, according to Cpl. Doug Rain water of the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office. The Toyota was driven by Sean Charles Campbell, 31, of Gainesville. Rainwater said the force of impact from the colli sion took the vehicles off the roadway and into a nearby yard. Fowler’s husband, Rob ert Fowler, was riding in the CRV and transported to an area hospital with seri ous but not life-threatening injuries. Campbell and a front-seat passenger in the Sequoia, Kelsey Sullivan, 23, of For syth County, received minor injuries and declined treat ment at the scene, Rainwa ter said. “This incident is under investigation by the (Traf fic Specialist Unit) to deter mine what caused the Sequoia to cross over the center line,” Rainwater said. “(The driver) was not showing any signs of intoxi cation at the scene, but we will be looking at any other factor that may have played a part in the crash.” Fair to connect students with Historically Black Colleges and Universities BY JOSHUA SILAVENT jsilavent@ gainesvilletimes.com Gainesville High School will host a college infor mation fair featuring His torically Black Colleges & Universities from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Oct. 27, for all Gainesville City and Hall County schools’ students. There are 101 public and private HBCUs in the United States, which were estab lished prior to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Twenty-seven of these schools offer doctoral pro grams; 52 offer master’s programs; 83 colleges offer bachelor’s programs; and 38 schools offer associate degrees. The LIO Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated is working in collaboration with Gaines ville High School to host the event. The following colleges and universities will par ticipate: Howard University, Stillman College, Tuskegee University, South Carolina 2018 College Fair What: College fair featuring Historically Black Colleges and Universities When: 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 27 Where: Gainesville High School, 830 Century Place, 30504 More info: Email rakia. marcus@gcssk12.net or the event chair at nannygadsden@gmail. com State University, Claflin University, Payne College, Johnson C. Smith University, Southern University, Florida A&M University, Alabama A&M University, Fort Val ley State, Morris College, Allen University and Bene dict College. Informational materials from several other colleges would be provided. And breakout sessions for parents and students on col lege recruiting topics, such as the application process, and scholarship and finan cial aid opportunities, will also be held. Bus with no students aboard involved in accident A Hall County Schools bus was involved in an accident with a work truck on Highway 52 near the intersection of Bethel Road in North Hall on the morning Wednesday, Oct. 24. The driver of the truck was transported to the Northeast Georgia Medi cal Center for evaluation of non-life-threatening injuries, according to Hall County Schools spokesman Gordon Higgins. Bus driver Dwight Reyn olds, described as a 15-year veteran, was the only per son on the bus at the time of the accident and he reported no injuries. The Georgia State Patrol is conducting the accident investigation. Joshua Silavent SAT ■ Continued from 1A average score slipped to 1142 from 1157 in 2017. However, overall, Geor gia’s improvements took place even as more students took the SAT. In Forsyth County Schools, for example, 2,206 students took the test this year with an average score of 1167 compared with just 1,649 stu dents scoring an average of 1146 in 2017. In Dawson County Schools, three fewer stu dents took the test this year, but the average score increased to 1065 from 1046 in 2017. “We are seeing historic improvements in our edu cation outcomes here in Georgia,” State School Superintendent Rich ard Woods said in a press release. “On the SAT, which was once used to label Geor gia as ‘last in the nation’ ‘We are seeing historic improvements in our education outcomes Richard Woods, State School superintendent in education, Georgia’s public-school students are now beating the national average.” A focus on improving scores among minority students also fared well, according to the Department of Education. African-American stu dents across Georgia scored an average of 961, higher than the national average of 935 and an increase over 957 in 2017. Georgia’s Latino students averaged a score of 1022, a slight decrease from 1023 last year but still better than the national average of 979. SAT scores - 2018 high school graduating class Number of Average test takers score Hall County 1,090 1054 Gainesville City 234 1000 Buford City 238 1142 Forsyth County 2,206 1167 Dawson County 131 1065 Source: Georgia Department of Education Man charged after fleeing traffic stop BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com An East Point man is facing more than a dozen charges after he alleg edly fled a traffic stop on Interstate 985 Wednesday, Oct. 24, according to authorities. Samuel Rivers, 29, was charged with speeding, speeding in a construction zone, failure to maintain lane, follow ing too closely, driving within a gore or median, driving in the emergency lane, passing on the shoulder of a road way, failure to signal when changing lanes, improper lane change, reckless driving, possession of an open con tainer, possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, obstruction of an officer and felony fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer. A Georgia State Patrol trooper stopped a Ford Fusion for speeding near mile marker 14 of the southbound highway. As the trooper approached the car, the Ford Fusion sped off back onto the interstate, according to state patrol. As the pursuit entered Gwinnett County, the trooper was able to per form a precision immobilization tech nique, causing the suspect’s vehicle to crash near mile marker 4.5. The passenger, Brittanie Long, 21, of Buford, was charged with misde meanor possession of marijuana and taken into custody from the vehicle. Authorities captured Rivers in a wooded area shortly thereafter and found he had multiple outstanding warrants, according to state patrol. Rivers was taken to Northeast Geor gia Medical Center for minor injuries sustained in the crash. Long and all law enforcement involved were uninjured. Kemp plans to appeal injunction over absentee ballot rejections in Georgia BY TYLER ESTEP The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ATLANTA - Over renewed objections from Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp and other elections leaders, a federal judge on Thursday officially issued an injunction stop ping the state from rejecting absentee ballots because of signatures deemed not to match those on file. The injunction, which Kemp’s team now says it intends to appeal, was granted by U.S. District Court Judge Leigh Mar tin May. It orders Kemp’s office to inform local elec tions offices that, instead of issuing rejections, they should mark such ballots as provisional, then give the would- be voter “pre rejection notice” and an opportu nity to resolve the discrepancy. Absentee ballot applications with potential signature issues are ordered to be treated similarly. Several hundred ballots would likely to be affected. May had released a pro posed version of the injunc tion Wednesday but gave Kemp’s office and the Gwin nett County Board of Registrations and Elections — both plaintiffs in a pair of ongoing voting rights lawsuits — until noon Thursday to files responses. With less than two weeks until Election Day, Kemp’s attor neys called the injunction “unworkable given the need to have votes counted and the election certified by the Monday after the election.” They made similar arguments in a new filing submitted late Thursday afternoon — a motion to stay injunction pending appeal. It essentially amounts to Kemp asking May to hold off on enforcing the injunction while Kemp’s team appeals it to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. “Last-minute challenges to longstanding election procedures have long been disfavored because they threaten to disrupt the orderly administration of elections, which is essential to the functioning of our par ticipatory democracy,” the motion said. Kemp Hall commissioners reverse course, approve community for disabled adults AUSTIN STEELE I The Times Seth Barnes Jr. of Adventures in Missions argues on behalf of the rezoning on Bogus Road for construction of the Adventures in Missions community during a Hall County commissioners’ meeting on Thursday, Oct. 25. BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com Adventures in Missions will be building a commu nity for disabled adults in North Hall after the devel opment was unanimously approved by the Hall County Board of Commissioners Thursday, a departure from the planning commission’s unanimous denial of the proposal earlier this month. Seth Barnes Jr. of Adven tures in Missions said that since the planning commis sion meeting, Adventures in Missions has gone door- to-door and reached out to the community to talk about the project, which has been named the Flourish Community. Families with special needs children said they saw a need for a com munity for disabled adults, he said. “It’s the community step ping up that made the differ ence,” Barnes said after the project was approved. "... Hall County is such a great place with a lot of people who care deeply about people with disabilities, and I think it’s due to them that we were able to get this passed.” The property on Bogus Road in North Hall is next to Adventures in Missions’ cur rent offices. The community will eventually house up to 48 disabled adults who will live with full-time care fam ilies in four homes. Adven tures in Missions recruited several local families who supported the project to attend Thursday’s meeting and voice their support. Homes would be added gradually, with one being built about every 12 to 18 months, Barnes said. However, several resi dents in the Bogus Road area said they were wor ried that the development, which they said would be relatively high density for the area, would threaten the rural character of North Hall. Karen Pruett and Ken Torbett said they are not opposed to the idea for the community, but they do not think Bogus Road is the right spot, a sentiment agreed upon by their neighbors who also spoke Thursday. “We picked Bogus Road because it is a country road. ... (This project) is a change of character to the rural neighborhood,” Torbett said. Torbett and other resi dents said they were also worried about traffic that could come with the devel opment. Bryan Jackson said Bogus Road already has blind spots and can be unsafe. Construction vehicles will just make that problem worse, he said. Barnes said because the residents of the Flourish Community will not be driv ing, traffic will be relatively limited. Because the com munity will expand gradu ally, with homes being built in stages and residents mov ing in one at a time, any change would not happen overnight, he said. The next steps for Adven tures in Missions are fund raising for the project and starting construction, which Barnes said he expects to begin next summer or fall. DOG ■ Continued from 1A Black said. “(Dogs) know they’re on a chain. ... This ordinance could be the domino in a series of dominoes that helps us help a lot of dogs in Hall County.” Commissioners asked the crowd to identify whether they supported the ban by standing. A solid majority of people in the room said they supported the ban on unsupervised tethering. A few people in the room did stand up to signify that they were in opposition to the rule, with one person choosing to address commissioners Thursday. Gregory White of Gainesville said he adopted a dog who was accustomed to spending time in a backyard, pacing along the fence line of his enclosure. But White said he noticed his dog was more relaxed on a leash, so he decided to tether the dog to his deck and noticed a difference in his behavior. White said the tethering ban will still not ensure that people properly love and care for their dogs. “You will just change the form of confinement and not the love for the animal,” he said. “I believe that every one here has good intentions. They see a problem that there is only one solution for, and that is changing the hearts and minds of the dog owner.” The ordinance prohibits tethering unless someone is staying with the dog for supervision. The rule is the result of a months-long study by the Humane Society of Northeast Georgia and the Hall County Animal Shelter, which included focus groups, a survey and a study of other municipalities’ policies. TRAFFIC ■ Continued from 1A The prickliest issue is the city’s considering a proposal to close the Chattahoochee Street railroad crossing. Norfolk Southern has offered to put in a signal known as a “lunar light” that would help guide trains to at least clear the Lights Ferry crossing, the most fre quently used crossing down town. Lights Ferry provides a straight shot for motorists from McEver Road to Inter state 985. In return, though, Norfolk Southern wants to close the Chattahoochee crossing, just north of the Spring Street crossing. The railroad would pay for the closing, plus give the city $50,000. But the city, if it wants to go that route, has to act fast. The railroad has the expenses in its budget, ending Dec. 31. “This is probably the best deal we’re going to get from the railroad,” Mayor Mike Miller said at the night meet ing. “They are at the point that they could walk away now and just say, ‘Fine, we’re ... just going to park the train where we’re sup posed to. You all deal with it.” Still, residents said they were concerned about how downtown congestion would only intensify with the cross ing closed and hundreds of homes being built nearby. Residents talked about how downtown streets need improvements, including sidewalks. “Where’s our priorities?” asked one resident. “All the property is being used for (new) housing.” Kristi Watson asked city officials if they would con sider temporarily blocking Chattahoochee Street at the crossing to see how a closure would work. She and husband John, who have properties on Spring and Church streets, were concerned that down town streets couldn’t handle the extra traffic. “We’re all about develop ment,” John Watson said, upon leaving the morning meeting. “However, the infrastructure is so behind that people who have invested (downtown) — it’s like we’re getting dumped on. Our biggest concerns are safety and infrastructure.” Also, as part of helping traffic flow at the Lights Ferry crossing, the city is looking at making Railroad Avenue a one-way street between Lights Ferry and Main Street. Under the plan, motorists wouldn’t be able to travel Railroad Avenue from Main to Lights Ferry. Closing the Radford Road crossing north of the Chat tahoochee crossing also has come up as an option. The McEver Road side of the crossing is in Flowery Branch and the Atlanta Highway side is in unincor porated Hall County. Will Miller, a Norfolk Southern representative who attended the morning meeting, said the crossing’s fate depends on how things work out with the new Exit 14 being built on Inter change 985. The interchange, expected to be finished next summer, would con nect Martin Road at Atlanta Highway east of 1-985 to H.F. Reed Industrial Parkway at Thurmon Tanner Parkway west of 1-985. H.F. Reed leads to McEver Road, crossing over Norfolk Southern railroad tracks. “If trucks are safely cross ing (over the tracks), then we would try to eliminate (the Radford) crossing over time, if we’ve got support from the county and the city,” Miller said.