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L2J OUR REGION
Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief
770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Friday, November 16, 2018
Times owner speaks to Chamber of Commerce
Stresses need for community journalism to avoid news deserts’ and national crisis’
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Community newspapers are
struggling, but without them, com
munities would suffer also, The
Times owner Charles Hill Morris
Jr. told Hall County business lead
ers Thursday, Nov. 15.
“If we can’t figure this out, we
sitting in this room are going to
have a lot larger problem than
just here in Hall County,” he said,
speaker at the Greater Hall Cham
ber of Commerce’s monthly board
of directors meeting.
“We’re going to have a national
crisis.”
Morris showed a 2 IL-minute
video with the message that the
communities need professional
journalists to hold public offi
cials accountable. Without them,
the only source of news would be
untrained observers, including
bloggers “with an agenda.”
Community journalism has
faced challenges for more than a
decade, including social media’s
rise in popularity, the 2007-09
Great Recession and a sharp
decline in advertising revenue.
That has forced some dire con
sequences, including newspaper
journalist jobs being cut by 45 per
cent between 2008 and 2017.
In Georgia, 40 papers have
closed in the last 14 years and a
total 28 Georgia counties “have no
dedicated newspaper.”
“Why is that a problem?” Morris
said. “That is a news desert. The
stuff that goes on in those commu
nities (isn’t reported) unless some
one comes in and covers it from
the outside.”
Locally, the impact has been
The Times deciding to no longer
print Monday or Tuesday editions,
moving to a five-day-per-week
print cycle, and scaling back on
wire coverage.
Otherwise, the paper will con
tinue to be produced and posted
digitally seven days a week.
“We’re going to be working hard
to make additional investments in
news and adding additional news
content,” Morris said.
To survive, newspapers have
had to diversify.
In The Times’ case, the paper
is involved in several enterprises,
including publishing magazines,
full service direct mailing and
printing services.
The paper also has announced it
would discontinue the free distri
bution publication Lanier Life at
the end of November.
“We are making some big
changes and ask our readers and
advertising partners to be patient
as we work through the hundreds
of details,” Morris has said.
Jingle Mingle lights up square
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
People take photos during the lighting of the chicken at Jingle Mingle in downtown Gainesville on Thursday, Nov. 15.
Santa hugs Willow, left, and Whitley Spradley after receiving The Believers Band performs at Sweet Magnolias
a gift from them during Jingle Mingle. during Jingle Mingle.
CROSSING
■ Continued from 1A
According to the city’s
documents, the projects are
expected to raise $767,000
per year in combined rev
enue for the city’s TAD fund
when completed.
The projects would help
offset a portion of the costs
for demolition and new con
struction on the former city
hall and police department
buildings, which would
have more than a dozen
apartments and ground-
level retail.
Another project involves
traffic signals and utility
infrastructure for the 325
single-family detached
homes on the Conner
Property.
The third would create
a multi-purpose field and
other amenities for the
Villages at East Main, a
development boasting 63
townhomes and 31 single
family homes between East
Main Street and Phil Niekro
Boulevard.
“The apartment develop
ment is within the tax allo
cation district, and they’ll
create a value. What they’re
asking is we use some of
that value to build basically
some more streetscape,
a couple of parks, more
parking here downtown,”
Andrew previously said.
Two council members
and Mayor Mike Miller are
on the advisory commit
tee and previously voted in
favor.
Andrew said the first dis
persal of funds would likely
come in early spring.
Water and sewer
rates
The council tabled the
resolution on a potential 5
percent increase on water
and sewer rates until the
Dec. 6 meeting.
The recommendation
on the increase came from
Nelsnick Enterprises, a con
sulting firm working with
the city as it assesses its
capital improvement plan.
The rate changes would
have taken effect Dec. 1.
Andrew said they would
determine the new effec
tive date at the next
meeting.
The city council raised
the water and sewer rates
by 4 percent last year, but
there had been no increases
since 2014. Bobby Sills, co
founder and planning solu
tions consultant at Nelsnick
Enterprises, said the rec
ommendation has been to
review the rates each year.
“Part of our findings was
the revenues generated by
the water and wastewater
customers were not suffi
cient to cover operations.
You were actually borrow
ing from the reserve fund
of the water and sewer
account,” Sills said.
Nelsnick is recommend
ing water and sewer rate
increases over the next five
years “based on infrastruc
ture improvements needed
in our system,” accord
ing to the city’s executive
summary.
Nelsnick also recom
mended a $1,003 per
equivalent dwelling unit on
wastewater system devel
opment charges, which
is a cost incurred for new
developments.
The system develop
ment charge, also known as
sewer capacity, only affects
new business and is effec
tively a 64 percent increase.
SARDIS
■ Continued from 1A
run along existing segments of Sar
dis Road, Fran Mar Drive, Brack
ett Drive, Ladd Drive, Ledan Road
and Southern Road.
The route “may vary some, espe
cially if we find environmentally
sensitive areas, graves we didn’t
know about or historical markers,”
Farr said. “But at this time, we feel
like this is the general area that the
route is going to take. ”
Area resident Vicki Lester is a
little more skeptical of the project
coming to fruition.
“They’ll never do it,” she said.
“We’ve been waiting since 2007.”
BRENAU
■ Continued from 1A
staff, Brenau trustee and search com
mittee chairman Mike Smith said,
“Working alongside of our search
firm, Hyatt-Fennell, (the committee)
is charged with evaluating the pool
of qualified candidates assembled,
selecting a short-list of semifinalists
for ‘airport interviews’ conducted by
the search committee, and propos
ing approximately three candidates
to the executive committee for the
selection of a potential new presi
dent to be voted on by the Board of
Trustees.”
Smith said he expects strong inter
est in the position due to the uni
versity’s success under Schrader’s
leadership.
For example, the university’s bud
get has nearly tripled to $65 million
during Schrader’s tenure, while its
endowment has increased to more
than $51 million from $26.3 million.
Meanwhile, student enrollment
has nearly doubled to 4,000 and the
university’s 6,500-piece art collection
has grown to an estimated value of
$8.3 million.
The search committee has
approved the position profile, which
is posted on the university website,
and applicants have already reached
out to the search firm.
Smith said the committee expects
to receive 60 or more applications by
the Dec. 10 cutoff date.
Chicken house
fire an accident
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
The cause of a fire at a chicken house earlier this week has
been determined to be “electrical in nature,” and an acci
dent, according to fire department spokesman Capt. Zachary
Brackett.
A chicken house holding roughly 9,000 egg-laying hens
caught fire Tuesday, Nov. 13, in northeastern Hall County.
Hall County firefighters were still extinguishing hot spots
around 9 p.m. that night at the 500-foot-long chicken house in
the 4000 block of Cedar Creek Road.
“These guys did a lot of work in a short period of time and
were able to get it stopped,” Capt. Zachary Brackett said.
The defensive attack kept the spread to roughly one half
of the chicken house.
Brackett said the chicken house belonged to a private
grower associated with CWT Farms.
“All of the chickens were exposed to what we would call
products of combustion, what you would call smoke. They
were all affected in some way,” Brackett said.
Brackett said Thursday it was estimated that half of the
chickens died.
No other injuries were reported.
Photo courtesy of Gainesville City Schools
Gainesville High student Adam Jobson, with principal Jamie
Green, is a semi-finalist for the National Merit Scholarship.
Gainesville senior
in running for
Merit Scholarship
Gainesville High School senior Adam Jobson has been
selected as a semifinalist for the 2019 National Merit Schol
arship Program.
About 16,000 semifinalists from across the nation are
selected to compete for 7,500 merit scholarships worth an
estimated $31 million.
The semifinalists are among the top 1 percent of more
than 1.6 million students across 22,000 high schools who
entered the 2019 competition by taking the preliminary SAT/
National Merit Scholarship Test, according to officials with
Gainesville City Schools.
“Gainesville High School is very proud of Adam and all
of his accomplishments,” GHS Principal Jamie Green said
in a press release. “His selection as a semifinalist in the
2019 National Merit Scholarship Program is a reflection of
his innate talents and abilities, as well as a testament to the
incredible support he has received from his family and his
teachers.
In February 2019,15,000 finalists will be selected based
upon academic achievement, SAT scores, leadership abili
ties and participation in various school events and commu
nity activities.
The scholarship awardees will then be announced in April.
From this group, National Merit Scholarship winners will
be determined and announced in April.
Joshua Silavent
HALL COUNTY BOARD OF
COMMISSIONERS
Spout Springs Road townhomes
rezoning request denied
A subdivision on Spout Springs Road will not be getting
townhomes after the Hall County Board of Commissioners
unanimously denied the rezoning request on Thursday.
The neighborhood near Spout Springs Road will have
187 single-family homes, which commissioners already
approved in 2016. The applicant, Clayton Properties Group,
had also asked to build 144 townhomes in the subdivision and
rezone that land to planned residential development.
No one spoke in opposition to the development at Thurs
day’s meeting.
Megan Reed
Commissioners approve Whitehall Road
closure for future county park
An approximately half-mile portion of Whitehall Road in
North Hall will be closed so that the spot can become part of
a future county park, after the Hall County Board of Commis
sioners unanimously approved the road closure Thursday.
The road leads to Healan’s Head’s Mill, which the county is
restoring and hopes to turn into a 100-acre park with a heri
tage center and walking trails. Improvements to the road will
be made so pedestrians can safely walk in the area when the
park opens.
Some residents will need to take a longer route to Corne
lia Highway when Whitehall Road is closed. No one spoke in
opposition to the road closure at a public hearing Thursday.
Megan Reed