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Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief
770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Thursday, November 8, 2018
Ex-priest on list of‘credible allegations’ of abuse
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@
gainesvilletimes.com
A priest who worked at St.
Michael’s Catholic Church
in Gainesville for roughly six
years is on a list released by
the Archdiocese of Atlanta
regarding members of the
clergy “credibly accused of
sexual abuse of a minor.”
The archdiocese released
the list Tuesday, Nov. 6,
and included 15 names of
“priests, deacons, seminar
ians” and others affiliated
with the Atlanta diocese
since its establishment in
1956.
On the list is Jorge Cris-
tancho, who was ordained in
May 1978. Under his places
of service, St. Michael’s
appears from 1996-2001. In
2001, he served at St. George
Catholic Church in Newnan.
Cristancho was perma
nently removed from the
ministry in 2003.
A second priest, Stanley
Dominic Idziak, was listed
as having been at a St.
Michael’s church in the mid-
1980s, but no specific church
was denoted. There are sev
eral St. Michael’s Catholic
churches across the state.
The letter said Idziak was
permanently removed from
ministry in 1992 and died in
2017.
No other information was
provided.
The Gainesville church
did not return multiple calls
from The Times.
Gainesville Police and
the Northeastern Judicial
Circuit District Attorney’s
Office did not have any
information regarding
the situation.
The archdiocese’s direc
tor of communications
Paula Gwynn Grant did
not immediately answer an
email with questions from
The Times.
“Along with the publica
tion of this information, I
also renew my apology for
the damage that young lives
have suffered and the pro
found sorrow and anger that
our families have endured.
It is a response in faith that
must accompany this list
ing,” wrote Archbishop of
Atlanta Wilton D. Gregory in
a letter appended to the list.
According to the letter,
the list was compiled by
“the Archdiocesan Review
Board, which is composed
of members who are layper
sons and not in the employ of
the archdiocese.”
Sweda chosen as Lanier Technical College’s GOAL winner
KOCH
Chase Sweda, a welding stu
dent at Lanier Technical Col
lege, was named the college’s
winner of the Georgia Occupa
tional Award of Leadership at
a luncheon Wednesday, Nov. 7,
at the new Hall County Campus
Ramsey Conference Center.
Sweda, who lives with his fam
ily in Flowery Branch, said, “This
is awesome! I am very thankful
for the experience and I will do
my best to bring the title home.”
Sweda was chosen by a panel
of local leaders over three other
nominees for the award. The
runners-up were Robert Enright
of Lumpkin County, EMS; Donna
Pickens of Barrow County,
accounting; and Abigail Rodri
guez of Hall County, applied
technology.
Sweda will now proceed to
regional judging. From regional
finalists, to be chosen in April,
a statewide winner will be
announced. The grand prize also
includes a new car, courtesy of
GOAL sponsor Kia Motors Manu
facturing Georgia.
Sweda is the son of Donna
and Patrick Sweda. He chose to
attend Lanier Technical College
to earn his diploma in welding
and joining, and after furthering
his education at a specialized div
ing school in Charleston, S.C., he
will pursue a career in underwa
ter welding/commercial diving.
GOAL, a statewide program
of the Technical College System
of Georgia, honors excellence
in academics and leadership
among the state’s technical col
lege students.
From Lanier Tech press release.
For The Times
Chase Sweda was named the college’s winner of the Georgia
Occupational Award of Leadership.
■ Continued from 1A
Koch in the Hall County Superior Court,
claiming a breach of the real estate
contract.
The city is using $1.8 million from
the economic development fund to buy
the land. Most of the money in that fund
comes from land sales. Gainesville sold
it to Koch in 2006 for $1.6 million, but
the company made some improvements
to the land that slightly increased its
value.
City Manager Bryan Lackey said the
city will work with the Greater Hall
Chamber of Commerce to find a new
company for the site. The land should
not have to stay in the city’s hands for
long, he said.
“This is 41 acres, so there’s not a lot of
property out there like that, especially
in that good of a location,” Lackey said.
“... We’re very excited about the possi
bilities of that site.”
BRENAU
■ Continued from 1A
“We’re pulling from our
lake for our drinking water,
we’re swimming in that
water,” Caldwell said.
As both a tourism hub
and biological lifeline for
Hall County and Northeast
Georgia, Lake Lanier’s pro
tection is something Jenni
fer Flowers — who works
as a stormwater coordina
tor for the city’s Depart
ment of Water Resources
— said all residents have a
major stake in.
Collaborating with the
Riverkeeper, which has the
same “end goals” to protect
Lanier, is critical because
“they’re great at getting
people involved,” Flowers
said.
Katelyn Zeller, a theater
major, took it upon herself
to put the elbow grease into
the project. With a tough
scrub brush, she’d clean an
area for the marker to be
placed, a spot just perfect to
be noticed.
It may not sound fun, but
it was the best of all options,
Zeller said, and she was
interested to learn about
something she was unfamil
iar with.
Like Zeller, Rachel
Hodges, who is studying
accounting, said, “I didn’t
know anything about this.”
But that was only after
she had just placed a
marker where Zeller
had cleaned, and the two
walked off to the next
sewer grate, ready to apply
a small signal about the
importance of protecting
what’s underground.
Above: A no-dumping
sticker is placed next
to a drain at Brenau
University as a part
of a service project
for a first-year course
Wednesday, Nov. 7.
Left: Jennifer Flowers,
MS4/stormwater
coordinator with the
City of Gainesville,
shows students a
map of where to
place no-dumping
stickers next to drains
at Brenau University
Wednesday, Nov. 7.
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE
The Times
FREEMAN
■ Continued from 1A
“Pat has had a tremendous impact
on seniors in Gainesville-Hall County
and throughout North Georgia,”
agency spokesman Don Colombero
said.
“It was a nice surprise,” Freeman
said of the award, in an interview after
the luncheon.
The Missouri native began her advo
cacy work when aging services were
handled by the Georgia Mountains
Regional Commission. Wanting a health
services component the program didn’t
offer under GMRC, she created the non
profit Legacy Link in 1997.
Legacy Link handles case manage
ment statewide for two different Med
icaid programs.
With a caseload of about 1,300 peo
ple, “we work with families to help fig
ure out services to come into the homes
(of older residents) and keep them out
of nursing homes,” Freeman said.
Legacy Link primarily operates in a
13-county area, including Hall, offer
ing a wide variety of programs and
services for older residents, including
employment and training for those
continuing to work, wellness and vol
unteer service programs.
Over the years, “I’ve done grant
applications and, as other things have
become available through the state
government, we would apply for it,”
Freeman said. “When you’re success
ful and doing a good job, people come
to you and say, ‘You’re doing good on
this. Why don’t you try this?”’
As result of expanding programs, the
agency has grown from five workers to
123 over the years, she said.
At 79, Freeman has decided to cut
back some on her work.
“I’m going to go part-time in a few
weeks,” she said.
As far as full retirement, “I don’t
know when that will be, but sometime.”
And considering her agency’s func
tion and her own age, she quipped, “I
gotta get it right for when I need it,
huh?”
ELECTION
■ Continued from 1A
The move comes after a
tense standoff that leaves
open the possibility of litiga
tion, as Abrams’ campaign
spent the day pushing for the
continued counting of absen
tee, mail-in and provisional
ballots and renewing its con
cerns that Kemp remains
the chief elections officer
supervising his own election.
In a conference call with
reporters Wednesday eve
ning, Abrams’ campaign
manager Lauren Groh-
Wargo made it clear the
campaign was not giving
up and did not recognize
Kemp’s self-proclaimed
victory.
“We are here tonight to
say that we do not accept
that,” Groh-Wargo said.
The Abrams campaign
said Kemp’s camp did not
notify it of his intent to
declare himself the victor,
and was withholding what
should be public informa
tion, including the actual
number of outstanding pro
visional ballots.
“He is using the secretary
of state’s office as an arm of
his campaign apparatus,”
Groh-Wargo said.
Abrams campaign chair
Allegra Lawrence Hardy
detailed a robust legal team
preparing for litigation. The
attorneys are “looking at all
options,” Hardy said.
The Abrams campaign is
focused on finding enough
votes to force a recount or a
runoff against Kemp, which
the team believes it can win.
Finding out how many bal
lots remain uncounted is at
the core of that strategy.
“They deserve to be
counted before the sitting sec
retary of state crowns himself
governor,” Groh-Wargo said.
The Abrams camp was
also concerned with absen
tee ballots expected from
counties affected by Hurri
cane Michael, saying some
mail from the Albany area
had been routed through
Tallahassee because of
storm damage.
With reported votes
exceeding 3.9 million —
almost 95 percent of Geor
gia’s 2016 presidential
turnout — Kemp has just
more than 50 percent.
Kemp’s spokeswoman
in the secretary of state’s
office, Candice Broce,
said that by Wednesday
afternoon the number of
uncounted absentee and
mail-in ballots was less than
2,000 — with her boss still
above the 50 percent thresh
old. Broce said about 22,000
provisional ballots have yet
to be processed, according to
a canvass of county officials
across the state.
Mahoney asserted that
those numbers make it
impossible for Abrams to
pick up enough votes to deny
Kemp an outright victory.
Kemp’s office has not
released a county-by-county
breakdown of provisional
ballots, but Abrams’ cam
paign said they believe they
are concentrated in metro
Atlanta counties where
Abrams won a large share of
the vote.
Carl Cavalli, a professor
of political science at the
University of North Geor
gia, said voters may have
mailed in their ballots due
to a variety of factors, such
as long lines at polling places
and a perception that voting
machines may be unreliable.
Forecasted severe weather
on Election Day could have
also driven voters to send in
their ballots instead, he said.
“I think fears of prob
lems with voting machines,
word getting around about
the general convenience of
absentee ballots,” Cavalli
said. “Essentially, we have
mail-in voting in the state of
Georgia.... You don’t need a
reason (to vote absentee), so
people can do it whenever
they want to.”
Many of the outstand
ing ballots are in the metro
Atlanta area, a region that
has seen high turnout for
Abrams. In Gwinnett County,
Abrams won with 56 per
cent of the vote. In DeKalb
County, she received 83 per
cent of votes.
That shift to the left, which
some call the “blue wave,”
did not make its way north
to Hall County, where Kemp
got 73 percent of the vote.
Cavalli also noted that
U.S. Rep. Doug Collins,
R-Gainesville, held strong in
the conservative 9th District,
getting almost 80 percent of
the vote.
Increasing diversity, par
ticularly with a growing
Hispanic population, may
shift the vote in the future,
though, Cavalli said.
If a runoff is necessary,
the second round would take
place Dec. 4, extending one
of the marquee races of the
November midterms as
Abrams tries to become the
first black woman elected
governor in American his
tory while Kemp looks to
maintain the GOP’s domi
nation in a state evolving
into a genuine two-party
battleground.
Either way, Georgians
are sure to see a new round
of bitter recriminations
over ballot access and vot
ing rights that could leave
some voters questioning the
outcome of a contest both
nominees have described as
a “battle for the soul of our
state.”
“This is why we had a
steady drumbeat for him to
resign,” Groh-Wargo said
Wednesday, noting Abrams’
and others’ warnings about
the potential for chaos in
a tight election. “Here we
are,” she said.
Kemp, 54, told his support
ers early Wednesday that
“there are votes left to count,
but we have a very strong
lead. ... The math is on our
side to win this election.”
A nonprofit group, Protect
Democracy, filed a lawsuit
Tuesday seeking to keep
Kemp from being involved
in counting votes, certify
ing results or any runoff or
recount. Broce called it a
“twelfth-hour stunt.”
State law gives counties
until Tuesday to complete
vote counts and certify
results to state elections offi
cials. The statewide certifi
cation must follow by Nov.
20.
But confusion also sur
rounded that timetable, with
a release from the Secretary
of State’s office saying the
election would be certified
“no later than Wednesday,
November 14,” while Groh-
Wargo maintained that coun
ties must certify by Monday,
which is a federal holiday.
The indefinite extension
in Georgia focuses a spot
light on a race that already
has drawn massive invest
ments of time, money and
star power — from Presi
dent Donald Trump and
former President Barack
Obama to media icon Oprah
Winfrey.
Cavalli said Republicans
and Democrats can thank
Trump for high turnout in
the election.
“I think the Donald Trump
presidency has energized a
lot of Democrats to become
active in the process. I think
also, you have the millen
nial generation, more and
more of them reaching vot
ing age,” Cavalli said. “This
plus the general increase in
polarization means more
and more people are con
cerned, and concerned peo
ple always are much more
likely to go out and vote.”
For now, the only thing
certain about the vote for
governor is that the ultimate
outcome is uncertain. Or
as Hardy said Wednesday
night:
“Please stay tuned.”
Times reporter
Megan Reed and news
editor Nate McCullough
contributed to this report.
