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ELI OUR REGION
Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief
770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Wednesday, November 7, 2018
Body found in Lanier in apparent drowning
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
The body of a Lawrenceville
man, who reportedly told his
friend he had planned to “go fish
ing all night,” was discovered Mon
day, Nov. 5, in Lake Lanier, Hall
County and Department of Natural
Resources authorities said.
Benjamin Franklin Jackson, 48,
told a friend Sunday, Nov. 4, about
his fishing plans.
By 3:50 p.m. Monday, Jackson’s
wife reported him missing and used
his cellphone’s geolocation data
to find the device near Flowery
Branch Park off of Mitchell Street.
With help from another person,
she found his “pickup truck off of
the railroad tracks between Bell
Drive and Mitchell Street. His
fishing equipment and chair were
nearby and close to the shore,”
Hall County Sheriff’s Office spokes
man Derreck Booth wrote in a
news release.
Jackson’s body was found
roughly 20 feet from the shore
three hours after his wife called
authorities.
“The preliminary investigation
found no signs of foul play in what
appears to be an accidental drown
ing,” Booth said.
Jackson’s body was transported
to the medical examiner’s office
for autopsy, and the case is still
under investigation by Hall County
authorities.
BOB ANDRES I Associated Press
A steady stream of people vote at the St Mary’s Orthodox Church in Roswell, Ga., Tuesday, Nov. 6.
GOP holds slim lead in
several statewide races
Associated Press
SAVANNAH — As voting con
tinued in several counties early
Wednesday, Republicans appeared
to hold slim margins on the way to
holding control of several statewide
offices
Open seats
Candidates squared off to fill the
statewide offices given up by Repub
lican Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle and Brian
Kemp, Georgia’s GOP secretary of
state, when they joined the election-
season scramble to replace term-lim
ited GOP Gov. Nathan Deal.
Republican Geoff Duncan, a for
mer state lawmaker, faced Demo
cratic businesswoman Sarah Riggs
Amico in the race for lieutenant gov
ernor and held a 53-47 percent lead
at 1 a.m. Duncan would be only the
second Republican to hold the job
since it debuted on the ballot in 1946.
Democrats last won the No. 2 state
wide office in 2002.
Former Democratic congressman
John Barrow, who lost his House seat
in 2014, sought a comeback in the
race for secretary of state. Republi
can state Rep. Brad Raffensperger
hoped to keep the office of Georgia’s
elections chief in GOP hands and
held a razor-thin margin. Libertarian
Smythe Duval is also on the ballot.
GOP Insurance Commissioner
Ralph Hudgens’ decision to step
down created yet another vacancy.
Republican Jim Black, Hudgens’ for
mer chief of staff, had 51 percent of
the vote against Democratic insur
ance agent Janice Laws. Also in the
race was Libertarian Donnie Foster.
Other showdowns
GOP state School Superintendent
Richard Woods won a second term
against Democrat Otha Thornton Jr.,
who was the first black man to serve
as president of the National PTA.
Republican Labor Commissioner
Mark Butler defeated Democrat
Richard Keatley, a former professor
of French and Italian. And Agricul
ture Commissioner Gary Black won
re-election over Democratic soft
ware developer Fred Swann.
Republican Attorney General
Chris Carr faced his first election test
since the governor appointed him
two years ago to fill the unexpired
term of his predecessor, Sam Olens,
and seemed to be on his way to vic
tory against opponent Charlie Bailey.
Public Service Commission
Two Republican members of
Georgia’s utility-regulating Public
Service Commission hoped to defend
their seats amid criticism over esca
lating costs for building two new
nuclear reactors at Plant Vogtle near
Augusta.
GOP incumbent Chuck Eaton
faced Democrat Lindy Miller and
Libertarian Ryan Graham for the
commission’s District 3 seat in metro
Atlanta and held a slim lead. Republi
can commissioner Tricia Pridemore
was being challenged by Democrat
Dawn Randolph and Libertarian
John Turpish for the PSC’s District 5
seat in western Georgia.
GOVERNOR
■ Continued from 1A
would be the first black woman in
American history elected governor
in any state and the first woman or
nonwhite governor in Georgia history.
She’s already made history as the
first black woman to be a major party
gubernatorial nominee.
Kemp, a 54-year-old businessman
and veteran secretary of state is vying
to maintain the GOP’s hold on a state
that is nearing presidential battle
ground status courtesy of its growth and
diversity. Republicans have won every
Georgia governor’s race since 2002.
Ballot access and election integrity
flared up in the final weekend after
a private citizen alerted the Geor
gia Democratic Party and a private
attorney of vulnerability in the online
voter database Kemp that oversees
in his current job as secretary of
state. Those private communications
ended up with Kemp announcing,
without providing any evidence, that
he was launching an investigation
into Georgia Democrats for “possible
cybercrimes.”
Kemp pushed back Monday against
concerns that his call for an investiga
tion is politically motivated.
But Abrams would have none of that,
declaring Kemp a “bald-faced liar”
intent on deflecting attention from
security problems with his system.
Nonprofit Protect Democracy said
in a news release that it filed a lawsuit
Tuesday seeking to keep Kemp from
being involved in counting votes, certi
fying results or any runoff or recount.
The lawsuit says that Kemp presid
ing over an election in which he is a
candidate “violates a basic notion of
fairness.” Secretary of state’s office
spokeswoman Candice Broce called
the lawsuit a “twelfth-hour stunt.”
Both nominees frame the election
as no less than a battle for Georgia’s
soul, a contest so intense that early
voting has approached the overall
number of ballots cast in the gover
nor’s race four years ago. Georgia
law requires a majority to win, so the
presence of a Libertarian on the ballot
could yield a Dec. 4 runoff.
“I’ve never seen a time where the
state of Georgia had more at stake
than we do in this contest,” Kemp told
supporters at one of his final cam
paign stops.
In the closing days, Kemp basked in
President Donald Trump’s glow, after
a Sunday rally that drew thousands
of boisterous Republicans to central
Georgia to see Trump deplane from
Air Force One.
Abrams, meanwhile, continued
as she has throughout her campaign
noting the potential historical signifi
cance but arguing the contest should
be about more.
“I don’t want anyone to vote for me
because I’m black,” she told support
ers in Savannah on Monday. “And no
one on the ballot needs a vote because
we’re women. And I don’t even want
you to vote for us just because we’re
Democrats. You need to vote for us
because we’re better.”
The Georgia outcome is among the
most closely watched of any midterm
contest for reasons beyond Abrams’
race and gender. Democrats are
expected to pick up several governor’s
seats across the country, particularly
in the Midwest region that helped pro
pel Trump to the White House in 2016.
But flipping what has been a GOP
stronghold like Georgia would signal a
potential meaningful shift in the elec
torate and open up a new battleground
ahead of 2020.
MIDTOWN
■ Continued from 1A
redevelopment plan, and the zone
was adopted in the city’s land
development code in 2005. City offi
cials want to encourage redevel
opment in Gainesville’s midtown,
which includes several industrial
developments.
“It really set the vision and stan
dards for this overlay to improve the
aesthetics and functionality of the
uses within this area.... For 13 years
now, we have identified additional
uses that really just do not contribute
in a positive way,” Tate said.
The ordinance passed 4-1, with
Councilwoman Barbara Brooks
opposing. Brooks said after the meet
ing that she was not comfortable
with having gas stations in the area,
and the perimeter of the overlay
zone includes major roads that have
plenty of places for drivers to get
gas. Allowing gas stations could lead
to more liquor or package stores, she
said.
No one had spoken in opposition to
the ordinance at a Tuesday hearing.
The ordinance went into effect
immediately.
Long lines,
machine issues
mar vote on
Election Day
Associated Press
ATLANTA - Problem
signs that arose during
weeks of early voting car
ried into Election Day as
some voters across the
country faced hours-long
lines, malfunctioning voting
equipment and unexpect
edly closed polling places.
Some of the biggest back
ups were in Georgia, where
the governor’s race was
among the nation’s most-
watched midterm contests
and was generating heavy
turnout.
One voter in Gwinnett
County, Ontaria Woods,
waited more than three
hours and said she saw
about two dozen people
who had come to vote leave
because of the lines.
“We’ve been trying to tell
them to wait, but people
have children,” Woods said.
“People are getting hungry.
People are tired.”
The good-government
group Common Cause
blamed high turnout com
bined with too few vot
ing machines, ballots and
workers.
Fulton County elections
director Richard Barron
acknowledged some pre
cincts did have lines of vot
ers but said that was due
to the length of the ballots
and voting machines taken
from use because of an
ongoing lawsuit, although
plaintiffs in the case dis
pute that as a reason.
While voting went on
without a hitch in many
communities, voters from
New York to Arizona faced
long lines and malfunction
ing equipment.
By Tuesday afternoon,
the nonpartisan Election
Protection hotline had
received about 17,500 calls
from voters reporting prob
lems at their polling places.
Kristen Clarke, president
of the Lawyers’ Committee
for Civil Rights Under Law,
which helps run the hotline,
said that number was well
ahead of the last midterm
election in 2014, when it
had received about 10,400
calls by the same time.
Tuesday’s election
marked the first nation
wide voting since Russia
targeted state election
systems in the 2016 presi
dential race. Federal, state
and local officials have
been working to make the
nation’s myriad election
systems more secure.
There were no signs
throughout the day that
Russia or any other foreign
actor had tried to launch
cyberattacks against voting
systems in any state, federal
authorities said. There was
also no indication that any
systems have been compro
mised that would prevent
voting, change vote counts
or disrupt the ability to tally
votes, U.S. officials said.
That was little comfort
to voters who found them
selves waiting in long lines
or dealing with malfunc
tioning voting equipment.
Permitting for business
park begins in Gainesville
BY MEGAN REED
mreed@gainesvilletimes.com
The Gainesville City
Council voted unanimously
Tuesday to start the permit
ting process for a 1,300-acre
business park on city land
off of Allen Creek Road.
The property near the
Allen Creek Soccer Com
plex, will be divided into 20
lots. The city has signed on
as the business park’s first
tenant and will operate
water resources and public
works maintenance facili
ties there.
The city has owned the
land since 1990, when state
and federal regulations
required municipalities
to use spray irrigation for
sewer treatment plants.
Because the land is near
Allen Creek, flood plains
and ponds, the city will
have to apply for permits
with the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers before the site is
developed.
Gainesville currently has
five business parks that are
almost full. The city plans
to work with the Greater
Hall Chamber of Com
merce to recruit businesses
for the new business park.
“We’re excited about the
possibilities here moving
forward. .. 1,300 acres of
city-owned land there that
we feel can really be a shot
in the arm for our commu
nity,” City Manager Bryan
Lackey said.
A trail would connect one
end of the business park to
the soccer complex.
The cost and timeline for
the project have not been
finalized yet.
Bus shelter panels damaged
by alleged BB gunfire
The city of Gainesville spent more than $1,000 to replace
bus shelters panels after police believe someone fired at the
shelters with a BB gun.
Gainesville Police took two reports Oct. 31 of criminal
damage to the Hall Area Transit bus shelters on Athens
Street.
Sgt. Kevin Holbrook said it “sounded like someone drove
by with a BB gun” and shot at the plastic shelters.
According to the report, the damage happened sometime
between Oct. 8 and Oct. 29.
“I am told that we replaced four panels at a cost of $1,024,”
City Manager Bryan Lackey wrote in an email.
Nick Watson
FIELDALE
■ Continued from 1A
fixing the Georgia Dock Broiler
price index.”
The price index data from 2000-
2016 can be found on the Geor
gia Department of Agriculture’s
website.
Fieldale Farms and the plain
tiffs entered a settlement agree
ment in July 27, 2017, and the cor
poration paid it into an interest-
bearing escrow account around
Aug. 28, 2017, according to court
documents.
In the memorandum con
cerning the settlement’s final
approval, Fieldale Farms is
reported as one of the small
est broiler market shares of all
the defendants. The settlement
also requires Fieldale Farms to
make current or former employ
ees available for interviews and
depositions as well as other docu
ments for the plaintiffs’ continued
prosecution.
After sending out thousands of
notice forms, posting notices in
industry publications, creating a
website and toll-free call-in num
ber, there were 109,695 potential
class members. Only 43 of those
sent opt-out requests.
According to the memoran
dum, the settlement agreement
was reached before the U.S. Dis
trict Court in Illinois ruled on the
motions to dismiss.
“In fact, Fieldale Farms argued
that their antibiotic free broil
ers were much more akin to the
halal, kosher, free range, and
organic broilers not included
in the (Direct Purchaser Plain
tiffs’) proposed class,” according
to the memorandum. “Although
rejected in the order on the
motions to dismiss, the court cau
tioned that the argument could
prevail at a later stage in the liti
gation. Because the settlement
was negotiated before the court
ruled on Fieldale Farm’s motion
to dismiss, the (Direct Purchaser
Plaintiffs) properly took into
account the risk of that argument
prevailing at the motion to dis
miss stage or later — which likely
would eliminate most or all of the
claims against Fieldale Farms.”
The memorandum asked the
court to grant final approval of
the settlement.
Attorneys for neither side
returned calls for comment from
The Times.