The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current, November 12, 2018, Image 6

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The times., November 12, 2018, Image 6

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Newspaper Page Text6A Monday, November 12, 2018 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com LOCATSTATE Black Georgia voters hear echoes of voter suppression BOB ANDRES I Associated Press Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, Stacey Abrams’ campaign chairman, stands with attorneys during a news conference Thursday, Nov. 8, in Atlanta. BY ERRIN HAINES WHACK Associated Press ATLANTA — When Bar bara Williams arrived at the Pittman Park Recreation Center just before noon on Election Day to cast her vote, she saw a line so long that the end wasn’t in sight. “There were so many people, you couldn’t count them,” Williams recalled. “They were looped around. The line started at the door and it snaked around to the left.” She ultimately waited four hours to use one of the three voting machines at the precinct where the 58-year- old retiree has voted in every election since she turned 18. Others reported similar challenges to voting at Pittman Park, located in the heart of Atlanta’s oldest black neighborhood: Hours- long waits and voters leaving in frustration. For Williams and others who sought to vote at Pittman Park, the hurdles echoed a long his tory of voter suppression unfolding in a race in which Democrat Stacey Abrams is seeking to become the nation’s first black female governor. “I feel like they didn’t want her to win,” Williams said of Abrams. “They made things so that we would get aggravated and people would leave.” The race between Abrams and her Republican opponent, Brian Kemp, is still too close to call five days after the election. Kemp has denied any attempt to sup press the vote. But his back ground as someone who, as secretary of state, deleted inactive voters from regis tration rolls and enforced an “exact match” policy that could have prevented thou sands from registering to vote, has brought the issue of minority access to the polls to the forefront. That’s especially true at Pittman Park, which has long been a center of black civic and community life. Many residents learned to swim there at the only pool they were allowed to use during the segregation era. Today, it offers after school care, classes for seniors and a space for local meetings. It has been a precinct for as long as Douglas Dean, head of the Pittsburgh Neighborhood Association, can remember. Three years ago, it was consolidated with a nearby polling station, dou bling the number of regis tered voters to nearly 3,800, according to the Fulton County Board of Elections, one of the factors that may have played into last week’s lines. “There is no excuse for what happened here in this election,” said Dean, 71, and a former state representa tive. “Georgia is changing and there are some whites who want everything to stay the same so that they remain in power. We’ve been fight ing this battle for years. This is nothing new.” The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had been troubleshoot ing election irregularities in the city that day, was at the precinct Tuesday to investigate. “They were four deep in the room,” Jackson said, describing the scene in an interview. “Some were in wheelchairs, some were on walkers, some were sick. I appealed to them to stay. Either incompetence or corruption or both is what happened.” Williams fought back, maintaining her place in line and pleading with oth ers to do the same. “It was important for me to vote,” she explained. “I vote in every election. I’m a human being and I have a life and I try for it to be bet ter. A whole lot of people left. I even tried to get some of them to stay. I said, ‘That’s what they want you to do.’” Joseph Jarrett came at around the same time as Williams, with his 4-year-old son in tow to show him the significance of voting. When he saw the line, Jarrett left, not wanting to stand there with a restless toddler. He debated whether or not to come back. On his mind were lessons from childhood. He thought of the Mississippi voting activist Fannie Lou Hamer, a per sonal hero, and what she did for the community. Jarrett retuned to the line just after 2 p.m. Three hours later, he cast his ballot. “I was determined to vote,” said Jarrett, 38. “Our whole community was gal vanized by Stacey Abrams’ campaign. But some people came in, saw the line, and walked right back out.” Others also tried to per suade people to be patient, attempting to counter frus tration with a festive atmo sphere. A band arrived and played music. Dozens of pizzas and refreshments appeared. When the rain broke, the sizzle of a grill began in the parking lot. Jackson took selfies to try to lift spirits. He also went to a playbook that has worked for him since the civil rights movement: He mobilized the press and created a scene. Soon, five brand new machines, still in the wrap per, were brought to the con crete building on Garibaldi Street. But by then, some of the damage had already been done. “Some people had to leave and go to work,” Jack- son said. “Some had to go home and get their medi cine. Some people became discouraged. Denial of opportunity, denial of access to democracy .. That’s what voter suppression looks like. I’ve seen this for a long time.” Voters in other black neighborhoods complained of long lines and inadequate resources, too. As the hour drew near for the polls to close, the Georgia NAACP won its lawsuit to extend vot ing hours for three precincts in Fulton County, including Pittman Park. When the lights were turned off after the last ballot was cast, it was 1 a.m., according to workers at the center. Nearly a week after the election, even those who were able to vote are left wondering whether they were excluded from the process, despite their perseverance. The fight continues, as Abrams has sued a southwest Georgia county over absentee ballots and has vowed to stay in the race until the recount is complete. “I think she probably did win, but I don’t think she’ll be the governor, because I don’t think they’ll do the right thing,” Jarrett said of Abrams. “It’s a damn shame, because people really came out. For their votes not to be counted .. it’s like a dis grace to democracy.” ATLANTA Fulton officials fight to freeze tax assessments Fulton County officials head to court Tuesday to justify a 2017 freeze of most residential prop erty values at the previous year’s levels. The county filed suit against the state revenue commissioner, who still hasn’t approved the county’s 2017 tax digest. The Atlanta Journal-Con stitution reports that the tax commissioner, Lynne Riley, questioned the legality of Fulton’s actions. If Fulton’s attorneys fail to convince a judge that county commissioners’ actions were in the right, leaders could be forced to re-bill residents for last year’s property taxes. The freeze on property values at 2016 levels came after nearly a quarter of the 318,000 resi dential parcels in Fulton saw values shoot up by 50 percent or more for 2017. DENMARK, S.C. 2 shot after homecoming event at South Carolina college One man died and another was injured after they were shot after a homecoming party on a South Carolina college campus. Voorhees College in Denmark celebrated its homecoming Friday. The State newspaper reports that the school said in a statement that the two men were shot later that night after an event on campus. The statement said neither of the two shooting victims was a student at the school. The shooter had not been identified. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division is investigating. The residential side of the campus was on lock- down, and only students, faculty and staff with proper ID or decal were allowed to enter. Voorhees is a historically black college. The State reports that the school is listed as hav ing 642 undergraduates and 42 full-time faculty members. Associated Press NEWNAN Tai chi helping Parkinson’s patients focus on and regain their balance BY MELANIE RUBERTI The Newnan Times-Herald Tai chi is becoming a new favorite exercise among Par kinson’s patients like Larry Bergeson of Newnan. “I’ve had two trial lessons,” he said. “Tai chi is great for learning movement and bal ance. As a person affected by Parkinson’s disease, both movement and balance become more difficult as the disease progresses.” Bergeson also heads up a Parkinson’s support group. He invited Trish Gurney, a therapist with the First Hands organization of Peachtree City and tai chi teacher, to lead an exercise class during one of the support group’s meetings. “The great thing about tai chi is it can be done standing, holding onto a chair or sit ting,” Gurney explained. “A lot of people with Parkinson’s disease lose control of balance in their lower extremities. Tai chi teaches them to move from their center of gravity which is three fingers below the belly button. It brings their focus down, helps them align their bodies in a straight line and gives them good posture. According to Gurney, Par kinson’s patients who take tai chi classes for at least a year have less tendency to fall. Falling to the ground can be just one outcome for patients with Parkinson’s disease. According to the Parkinson’s Foundation website, the dis ease is a neurodegenerative disorder that predominantly affects dopamine-producing neurons in a specific area of the brain. Around 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease each year, according to www.parkinsonassociation.org. It is estimated between 7-10 million people worldwide are currently living with the disease. Unfortunately, researchers do not know what causes Par kinson’s disease, and there is no cure. Symptoms generally develop slowly over years. The disease affects everyone differently, but indicators include trem ors, slowness of movements, rigid limbs and balance issues, according to the Parkinson’s Foundation. Parkinson’s disease affects a person’s cognition, or mental abilities used to process infor mation and apply knowledge, according to www.apdaparkin- son.org. This includes functions that allow people to estimate distance and depth percep tion, which is why Parkinson’s patients may have trouble walking, turning around, reach ing for objects and even walk ing backwards. The lack of coordination, vertigo, loss of muscle tone, and issues with depth percep tion are another set of potential problems for patients living with Parkinson’s disease, said Dr. Amy Morse, a physical therapist with Neuro Rehab Clinic at the Emory Brain Health Center. According to Gurney, tai chi can help with those health issues as well. “Tai chi teaches Parkin son’s patients to keep their joints loose,” she explained. “There are exercises we can do that create a long ‘form,’ or segue into more choreo graphed movements, which is great for the patients’ mental state as they memorize the movements. “I teach them ways to refine the movements and still keep the integrity of it,” Gurney added. Gurney has taught tai chi classes for people with all ranges of abilities for 21 years, she said. Gurney is also a master of Emei Qigong, she said. Similar to tai chi, Emei Qigong is a Chinese martial arts aimed at promoting good health, emotional balance and spiritual awareness through practices that strengthen the body’s vital energy. The medi tative exercise also reportedly deepens people’s healing abil ity, according to the emeiqi- gong.us website. “People with Parkinson’s disease have to envision a move before they do it, such as getting up from a chair,” she explained. “It can be done if their foot is positioned in the right place and they are sitting up correctly. “Tai chi also teaches patients to keep their knees bent, which strengthens their quad mus cles,” Gurney added. “Having strong quad muscles is what gets you out of a chair or off of a toilet.” But most importantly, patients need to have an open mind, Gurney said. Tai chi and other martial arts are a form of eastern holistic medicine that Gurney believes has not been fully embraced by the “western civilization” as a means of healing. OBITUARY Cathy Wanda Lee Hodge Coley Nov. 18, 1953- Nov. 10, 2018 Cathy Wanda Lee Hodge Coley, 64, of Gainesville passed away on Saturday Nov. 10, 2018, fol lowing an extended illness. Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018, in the chapel of Memorial Park Funeral Home with Rev. Jason Sim mons and Rev. Carroll Coley officiating. The family will receive friends at the funeral home on Monday, Nov. 12, 2018, from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. and from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Born on Nov. 18, 1953 in Asheville, N.C., she was the daughter of the late Charles Edward and Bertha Luna Gilleland Hodge. She was formerly employed with Frazier’s Restaurant and attended Diamond Hill Bap tist Church. In addition to her parents, Mrs. Coley is preceded in death by her brothers, Curtis Hodge and Herman Hodge. Mrs. Coley is survived by her husband, Jimmy Coley of Gainesville; sons and daughters-in-law, Jerry Charles and Carisa Burch of Dahlonega; Carroll and Amber Coley of Gainesville; grandson and wife, Dylan and Joanie Burch of Gaines ville; grandsons, Damian Burch of Gainesville, Slate Burch of Dahlonega, Caiden Coley of Gainesville; sis ter, Elizabeth McMahan of Asheville, N.C.; brothers, Larry Hodge of Weaver- ville, N.C., Carroll Hodge of Gainesville. In lieu of flowers, the fam ily request that contribu tions be made to Muscular Dystrophy Association, 2310 Parklake Drive, Suite 375, Atlanta, GA 30345 in mem ory of Allen Lane Coley. Memorial Park Funeral Home, Gainesville Sign the online guest book at gainesvilletimes.com. The Times, Gainesville, Ga. Nov. 12, 2018 DEATH NOTICES Velma Jean Gazaway Died Nov. 10, 2018 Velma Jean Gazaway, 82, of Cumming died Saturday. Funeral service, 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 14, Mount Pisgah Baptist Church. Ingram Funeral Home & Crematory, Cumming. Memphis Webb McGehee Died Nov. 10,2018 Memphis Webb McGe hee, 92, of Suwanee died Saturday. Funeral ser vice, 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 13, funeral home chapel. Ingram Funeral Home & Crematory, Cumming. Montese Phillips Died Nov. 8, 2018 Montese Phillips, 88, of Alpharetta died Thursday. McDonald and Son Funeral Home, Cumming. Michael Schneider Died Nov. 8, 2018 Michael Schneider, 66, of Dahlonega died Thursday. McDonald and Son Funeral Home, Cumming. Obituary information Death notices are printed free as a public service by The Times. More information can be provided in paid obituaries. The rate is $50 per 100 words (or any part thereof). There is an additional mandatory $40 fee for online services, which includes a guest book that allows family and friends to post condolences. Deadline for publication is 6:30 p.m. seven days a week. Death notices and obituaries are accepted only from funeral homes. They should be emailed to obits@gainesvilletimes. com. All submissions will appear in The Times and online at gainesvilletimes. com. For additional information, please call 770-718-3419 or 800-395- 5005, extension 3419, between 3 and 6 p.m. weekdays. INTRODUCING Little & Davenport Funeral Home To inquire about pricing packages available to memorialize a pet in print, please contact Megan Lewis at 770-535-6371 or mlewis@gainesvilletimes.com Pets at Peace will appear in The Times the last Sunday of each month.