About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 9, 2018)
North Hall football team aims fV% for first road playoff win in program history, spokis,™ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2018 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Students compete in contractors’ skill challenge. life,ioa Honestly Local debate Midterms change health care Efforts to repeal Affordable Care Act to stop; Medicaid expansion questionable BY JOSHUA SILAVENT jsilavent@gainesvilletimes.com Several important changes are coming in 2019 to individual health plans that could impact Hall County consumers, but the biggest may have taken place on Tuesday, Nov. 6, when Democrats won con trol of the U.S. House of Represen tatives in midterm elections. That feat stands to end before it begins a new political battle to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act, and the timing coincides with the start of open enrollment, which runs through Dec. 15. The Trump administration still has wide latitude to implement the ACA, however, and many pro viders have pulled out of the fed eral health exchange market in recent years. Hall County residents were left with fewer and fewer options for individual plans until this year, when only Alliant served the local market. In 2019, Blue Cross Blue Shield enters back into Hall County, according to Brett Fowler, partner and vice president at Turner Wood & Smith Insurance in Gainesville. But that comes with a major caveat: Blue Cross will only be providing an HMO product that is not in network with the Northeast Georgia Health System. Laura Colbert, executive direc tor of nonprofit Georgians for a Healthy Future, said health con sumers need to be mindful that there has been a growth in the number of short-term plans made available that do not have the same minimum coverage require ments as those plans meeting ACA standards. She advised consumers to shop on www.healthcare.gov, the offi cial federal exchange, rather than through outside vendors. The midterm elections also saw voter referendums in three red states — Idaho, Nebraska and Utah — that will expand ■ Please see HEALTH, 8A FLOWERY BRANCH A new place for craft brew AUSTIN STEELE I The Times Marc Stampfli, co-owner of Beer Me, stands at a table at the newly opened craft beer store in Flowery Branch on Wednesday, Nov. 7. Beer Me, Lakeside Market move into new building BY JEFF GILL jglll@gainesvilletimes.com Beer Me has opened in downtown Flowery Branch, and Lakeside Market was preparing earlier this week to be its neighbor in a new red brick building on Main Street. The businesses’ opening at 5609 Main St. culminates four years of effort, start ing with the demolition of a century-old house on the property, which is off Mitchell Street and across from Ante bellum restaurant. “It’s a dream come true,” said Karen Ching, the building’s owner, who has seen the project through government meetings, permits and construction. There have been a couple of bumps, including one of the original tenants, pizzeria Peyton’s Pie Co., pulling out. A cigar lounge later pledged space in the building but also backed out. Ching’s son, Robert Sabbath, and Marc Stampfli are co-owners of Beer Me, which opened Nov. 1 and is plan ning a Nov. 16 ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce. Business “has been great” so far, Stampfli said. Originally, the craft beer store was housed in one of the older city-owned buildings on Main Street. ■ Please see BEER, 8A Brian Kemp resigns as secretary of state Abrams insists runoff still possible BY BILL BARROW AND KATE BRUMBACK Associated Press ATLANTA — Republican Brian Kemp resigned Thursday as Georgia’s secretary of state, removing himself from the ongo ing count of the governor’s elec tion he says he’s already won. Kemp made his announcement in the governor’s office of the Georgia Capitol, standing beside the man he plans to replace in January. Republican Gov. Nathan Deal called Kemp “the governor- elect” and both said they would begin transition work together. “We won a clear and convinc ing victory,” Kemp said of returns showing him with 50.3 percent of almost 4 million votes, about a 63,000-vote lead over Democrat Stacey Abrams. That’s a narrow sum considering the near-pres idential election year turnout, though sufficient for the majority required for outright victory. Abrams maintained there are enough uncounted ballots to force a December runoff in one of the marquee matchups of the 2018 midterm elections. The Associated Press has not called the governor’s race. With legal wrangles opening on what votes to count and how, the dispute is prolonging a bitter contest awash in historical sig nificance and national political impact. Abrams hopes to become the first black woman elected governor of any American state. Kemp seeks to maintain Repub lican dominance in a growing, diversifying Deep South state positioned to become a presiden tial battleground. The key question is how many uncounted ballots actually remain. Kemp says it’s less than ■ Please see ELECTION, 8A Kemp Abrams AUSTIN STEELE I The Times Lessie Smithgall is awarded the annual Quality of Life Award by the Gainesville-Hall County Community Council on Aging at First Baptist Gainesville on Thursday, Nov. 8. Philanthropist Smithgall honored by aging council BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com Over the past 107 years, Lessie Smithgall, a Gaines ville philanthropist and co-founder of The Times, has made her mark. On Thursday, the Gainesville-Hall County Commu nity Council on Aging honored her with its Quality of Life Award for her commitment to improving quality of life in Hall. Smithgall was born in 1911 in East Point, Georgia. She studied journalism at the University of Georgia, then began her career at a radio station in Atlanta. She married the late Charles Smithgall in 1934, and they had four children. The family moved from Atlanta to Gainesville when a radio station and weekly newspaper went up for sale. The Smithgalls founded WGGA in 1941 and The Times in 1947. In 2001, the couple donated land for the Smithgall Woodland Legacy, the Gainesville campus of the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The nature preserve opened in 2015, and Smithgall said she has enjoyed seeing Gainesville become a tourist destination when people stop by to see the garden. The Smithgalls founded The Arts Council on the porch of their Gainesville home in 1970. To support the local arts community, they purchased and then donated the former home of Gainesville First United Methodist Church and Westminster Presbyterian Church which is now known as the Smithgall Arts Center. Smithgall said she has always enjoyed the arts. Her youngest son, Thurmond, is a musician, and she has fond memories associated with music. “When I was about 12 years old, my father took me to the Metropolitan Opera in Atlanta.... I’ve loved it ever since,” she said. On Thursday, Smithgall heard an opera perfor mance from Jan Grissom, an adjunct professor at Brenau University. Smithgall is a member of Gainesville First Baptist Church, the Northeast Georgia Writer’s Club and the Gainesville-Hall County Junior League. She is also a ‘We have many assets, good businesses and cultural activities. It’s just a good place to live.’ Lessie Smithgall ■ Please see SMITHGALL, 8A INSIDE 0 40901 06835 Advice 6B Bridge 6B Business 7A Calendar 2A Classified 8B 8 Comics 7B Life 10A Lottery 2A Opinion 6A Our Region 8A Sports 1B TV/puzzles 6B WEATHER 2A DEATHS 9A High Low 55 37 Lake Lanier level: 1,069.4 feet Full pool 1,071. Up 0.02 feet in 24 hours JoAnn McNeil Dyer, 87 Ann Bland Hinton, 85 Bobby Lawson, 71 Deborah Shumake, 64 Carol Adkins, 78 James Ned Beatty Sr. Genevieve Burke, 96 Charles Crane Jr., 74 Elsie Crane, 76 Patricia Frederick, 76 Louie Hamm, 71 Johnny L. Holtzclaw, 63 David Malcolm Jackson, 74 Nancy A. Marlow, 76 Norma Martin, 80 Claudia Purgason, 51 Jimmy Reynolds, 80 Myra T. Sorrow, 86 Carolyn S. Stacey, 76 Regina Wofford-Rosales F. Robert Zimmer Jr., 69
