9 ft f Player of the week: A versatile
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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2018 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Kane Brown: ‘New school meets
old school country.’ life,4b
Honestly Local
A battle for every vote
SCOn ROGERS I The Times
Poll officer Vito Delliponti and other poll workers set up the Gainesville voting precinct Monday, Nov. 5, at First
Baptist Church for the election.
Governor s race intensifies in final hours of campaigning
BY RUSS BYNUM, BEN NADLER
AND BILL BARROW
Associated Press
SAVANNAH — The battle for
governor intensified in its final
hours Monday as Democrat Sta
cey Abrams and Republican Brian
Kemp framed it as a stark choice for
this growing and diversifying state,
and prepared for another month of
campaigning if no one wins a major
ity today.
At her first campaign stop in
Savannah, Abrams slammed Kemp
as a “bald-faced liar” who abused
his powers as the sitting secretary
of state when he suggested over the
weekend, without offering evidence,
that the Georgia Democratic Party
tampered with the state’s online
voter database.
Kemp also made a last-day cam
paign stop at a private airport termi
nal in Savannah, where he insisted
there was reason to suspect a hack
ing attempt, but declined to give
details.
“I’m not going to get into the spe
cifics of the investigation,” Kemp
told reporters. “But I can tell you
I would not be calling Homeland
Security, the FBI and the GBI unless
we had information that we needed
them to look at.”
Earlier in the day, Kemp told
supporters at a suburban Atlanta
airplane hangar, “I’ve never seen
a time where the state of Georgia
had more at stake than we do in this
contest.”
Abrams Kemp
Already a historic matchup,
with Abrams trying to become the
first black woman elected gover
nor in U.S. history, it has morphed
in recent weeks from a battle of
clear ideological differences into
a racially charged argument over
ballot access and voter fraud. A
last-minute fracas about Georgia’s
voting system raised the specter of
a disputed result.
Both candidates are seeking to
cobble together enough votes to win
outright today. If neither Kemp nor
Abrams wins a majority — a distinct
possibility with a Libertarian candi
date on the ballot — there could be
another month of campaigning.
More than 2 million Georgians
have cast early ballots. That’s about
80 percent of the total votes cast
four years ago. There are almost 7
million registered voters in the state.
In Hall County, more than 22,000
people voted early. Hall has 120,848
registered voters who are eligible to
cast a ballot
Kemp, a 54-year-old business
man who has been secretary of state
since 2010, has embraced President
Donald Trump as he tries to extend
Election Day
When: Polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Where: Your polling precinct
Online: Go to gainesvilletimes.
com/election2018 to catch up
on coverage. Tonight, go to
gainesvilletimes.com to learn the
results.
GOP dominance in a state that
hasn’t elected a Democrat to its top
job since 1998. Trump visited Macon
on Sunday for a mega rally. Kemp
stormed to the GOP nomination
with ads featuring everything from
the candidate cranking a chain saw
and jokingly pointing a gun toward
a teen boy suitor of his daughter to
Kemp’s offer to “round up criminal
illegals” himself in his pickup truck
Abrams, a 44-year-old Yale Law
graduate and former state legisla
tive leader, has run as an unapolo-
getic liberal as she looks to establish
Georgia as a legitimate two-party
battleground ahead of the 2020
presidential campaign. She touts her
work with Republican state lawmak
ers but pledges to expand Medicaid
insurance and prioritize public fund
ing of education.
She also backs tighter gun
restrictions and supports remov
ing Confederate monuments from
state property. Abrams cruised to
the Democratic nomination after
encountering initial resistance from
old-guard Georgia Democrats who
backed her white opponent, in part
■ Please see VOTE, 6A
Teen still critical
after pumpkin
launcher mishap
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Jacob Stevens had been manning the bounce house at Corner
stone Assembly church’s Trunks of Treats event on Halloween
night, waiting for his turn to use the pumpkin launcher.
The 16-year-old got down on his knees to use
the device, which is similar to a slingshot.
“When he let it go, the pumpkin didn’t
release and it just recoiled back and hit him in
his chest,” his mother Jan Stevens said.
Jan Stevens said her son was hit “at the right
spot, at the right force and at the right cycle of
his heartbeat” to cause his heart to stop.
Hall County Fire Services and Oakwood
Police responded and took Jacob from the
Flowery Branch church to Northeast Georgia
Medical Center in critical condition. Five days later, Jacob is still
in critical, but stable, condition at the hospital.
That night, one of Jacob’s youth leaders, Preston Fowler, who
had learned CPR through his work at Tallulah Falls School,
came to his aid.
“I saw him go down and realized something was wrong. I
immediately went to check on him, and then as the situation pro
gressed, the need for CPR became apparent,” Fowler said.
Jacob’s mother estimated there were roughly 75 people in
the waiting room the first night. Seeing the community come
together to help in a time of crisis has been “heartwarming,”
Jan Stevens said.
As of 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 5, the community had raised $6,870
for the family through a Gofundme page.
The church and Katie Boswell, the fundraising account
administrator, have posted periodic updates for those
concerned about Jacob’s well-being.
Stevens
■ Please see PUMPKIN, 6A
N. Hall truck
terminal rejected
by planning dept.
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
A proposed truck terminal that would hold up to 10 trucks at
a North Hall location was denied Monday, Nov. 5, by the Hall
County Planning Commission.
The vote was 2-1, with another planning commissioner
abstaining, but the proposal needed at least three commission
ers in favor to pass, Planning Director Srikanth Yamala said.
He clarified the vote after about 100 people — mostly oppos
ing Hulsey Environmental Services’ proposal — had cleared
the room.
Hulsey was seeking to add a truck terminal off Cleveland
Highway, near Hub Head Road, that would hold up to 10 trucks.
Hulsey is a plumbing and environmental services business
that uses enclosed trucks to transport waste and byproducts
from other businesses, including poultry plants and restau
rants. According to the application with the county, the trucks
would be empty when arriving at the Clermont property.
Residents have said they have noticed an odor and believe
that Hulsey, which relocated there in May from Calvary
Church Road in Gainesville, is the source. They voiced the
same concerns at Monday’s meeting.
The audience was vocal at times, speaking out as planning
board members discussed the proposal.
“I can clear the room,” commission Chairman Don Small
wood said.
Commissioners had talked about placing numerous condi
tions on the proposal, including reducing the number of trucks
from 10 to five.
“I don’t think anybody has a problem... with (Hulsey) operat
ing an office out of there,” Commissioner Bo Brooks said. “The
trucks is the issue.”
Starbucks getting bigger at Target store in Flowery Branch
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Starbucks soon will have a larger
presence in the Target store in
Flowery Branch.
Work has been underway for sev
eral weeks inside the store, which
is part of the Stonebridge Village
shopping center off Spout Springs
Road and near Interstate 985.
Shoppers can’t see the construc
tion taking place, as crews have
draped off a section of the store
near the front entrance and in front
of customer checkout.
“We will be expanding the
space to create room for a larger
Starbucks layout and additional
seating,” said Liz Hancock, a
spokeswoman with the Minneapo
lis-based retail chain.
Starbucks will be “updated with
the latest design elements, and will
reopen to continue serving guests
within the next few weeks.”
A permit for the work filed with
Flowery Branch says the “reconfig
ured Starbucks includes new walls,
ceilings and lighting.”
The area being refurbished used
to include Target Cafe, where shop
pers could buy popcorn, pizza and
soft drinks.
The store is “reallocating our
cafe space but will continue to offer
a selection of beverages and pop
corn,” Hancock said in an email.
Officials with the Seattle-based
coffee chain couldn’t be reached
for comment.
Starbucks is growing in South
Hall, with stores opening the past
couple of years in Buford and
Oakwood.
The chain has also locations in
Kroger grocery stores in Oakwood
and Braselton.
JEFF GILL I The Times
Target at Stonebridge Village shopping center, Flowery Branch.
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DEATHS 7A
Cosby Lee Barron, 79
Ned Beatty Sr., 96
Jimmy Brown, 79
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Marilyn Elizabeth Joiner, 84
Elise Darracott Jones, 100
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