I2J OUR REGION
Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief
770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
Man accused of touching child
Police: 7-year-old told adults following school program; cops credit initiative for uptick in reports
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A Gainesville man is
accused of inappropriately
touching a 7-year-old girl,
police said.
Sgt. Kevin Holbrook said the
information came following a
school program for students.
“What happens is the school
system goes in and does their
‘Good Touch, Bad Touch’ (pro
gram), and then this was one
of those that came out of that
program,” Holbrook said.
Holbrook said the girl then
revealed information to an
adult about multiple incidents.
“Through the course of the
investigation, it was revealed
that (Curtis Eugene Akins) had
been inappropriately touching
her,” Holbrook said.
Akins was booked Friday,
Nov. 16, in to the Hall County
Jail on a charge of child
molestation.
No information was avail
able from Magistrate Court on
Akins retaining an attorney.
“We’ll typically see an
increase, sadly, of these cases
as a result of that program,”
Holbrook said.
Akins
SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Ralph Cavedo, an engineering inspector with the Hall County Department of Public Works, makes his way through
the woods Monday, Nov. 19, at Reunion Country Club to where a sewage pipe began leaking three days earlier after
a Sherwood Creek bank collapsed.
SEWAGE
■ Continued from 1A
afternoon.
Cavedo said sewage is being
diverted to city of Gainesville
systems.
Rearden said signs have been
posted advising against swimming
in the creek, but drinking water has
not been affected. The creek flows
into the Oconee River and is not con
nected to Lake Lanier.
The Georgia Environmental Pro
tection Division was notified of the
spill on Saturday, Rearden said. The
county will then hand over its test
ing data from the area to the EPD,
Rearden said.
According to EPD regulations,
any discharge of sewage that
exceeds 10,000 gallons is classified
as a “major spill.”
Officials are now cleaning up
debris and reviewing water sam
ples from the creek. Lime is being
applied, but flows in the creek are
still high, Rearden said. He said
repairs and cleanup are estimated
to cost at least $10,000.
The county has been in commu
nication with maintenance staff at
Reunion’s golf course, Rearden said.
Rearden said earlier this year,
a contractor broke a force main,
but all sewage was contained in an
on-site pond, then pumped out and
treated.
Dale Caldwell, headwaters direc
tor with Chattahoochee River-
keeper, said sewage spills can pose
risks to both people and wildlife.
“There’s definitely human health
concerns. You can contract bacte
ria, viruses and parasites, but also
there’s an environmental health
component,” Caldwell said.
Sewage in a waterway can lower
the dissolved oxygen levels, which
is harmful to aquatic life, Caldwell
said. Also, too many nutrients can
flood the water system, creating
harmful algal blooms that can nega
tively affect wildlife, he said.
Lawsuit: Student
suspended after
reporting assault
BY KATE BRUMBACK
Associated Press
ATLANTA — School officials didn’t believe a Georgia high
school student and illegally retaliated against her after she
reported that she was sexually assaulted by another student,
according to a civil rights lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in Atlanta on
behalf of the teen, who is identified only as “Jane Doe.” It
accuses Gwinnett County Public Schools officials of violating
her rights under Title IX, a 1972 law that bars discrimination
based on sex in schools that receive federal money.
The school district hadn’t received the lawsuit Monday
and couldn’t comment, spokeswoman Sloan Roach said in an
email.
The alleged attacker, who was a minor at the time, is not
identified in the lawsuit.
Adele Kimmel, a lawyer with legal advocacy group Public
Justice, which is representing Doe, said a complaint filed in
August 2015 with the Department of Education’s Office for
Civil Rights has been investigated but remains unresolved.
“We did not have confidence that this would get resolved
in a way that would hold the school district accountable given
the changes in policy in this administration,” Kimmel said,
explaining why they filed suit.
They had alleged systemic problems in the way Gwinnett
County school officials handle sexual assault and harassment
reports from students, but the Education Department now
focuses on individual incidents rather than investigating the
possibility of systemic problems, Kimmel said.
While the lawsuit asks for monetary damages, it also seeks
policy and training changes, Kimmel said.
“What’s most important to her is that she does not want this
to happen to any other student,” Kimmel said of the now-19-
year-old Doe.
Shortly after classes ended for the day at Peachtree Ridge
High School in Suwanee on Feb. 4,2015, the 16-year-old sopho
more was waiting for her mother to pick her up when a male
student asked if she wanted to go see the school’s television
network’s room.
Once there, the male student groped Doe and started to pull
down her pants, the lawsuit says. She pushed him away and
said, “No, stop!” and “What are you doing?”
He pushed her into a chair, forcibly kissed her and forced
her to perform oral sex, the lawsuit says. When he eventually
released her, she fled and went to meet her mother.
The male student sent a text message to a friend saying he
felt “guilty” about doing something he shouldn’t have done,
the lawsuit says.
Doe told two teachers she trusted at the start of classes the
next day, and one of them took her to meet with the school
resource officer.
The officer and three assistant principals questioned her,
asking her to repeat the details of the alleged assault multiple
times and having her re-enact it, the lawsuit says.
The officer asked what she was wearing, whether she
screamed, why she didn’t bite the male student’s penis and
whether she was sure she hadn’t wanted to have oral sex, the
lawsuit says.
Doe was initially suspended pending a disciplinary hearing,
after which she was suspended again.
During the joint disciplinary hearing for the two students,
attorneys for the male student and for the school grilled her,
the lawsuit says.
The school’s attorney said he didn’t believe Doe and that
the male student’s claim that the encounter was consensual
was more credible because Doe hadn’t screamed louder, had
no physical injuries and didn’t tell her mother immediately
afterward, the lawsuit says.
School officials determined both students had violated the
sexual misconduct policy.
When she returned from suspension, Doe dreaded running
into her alleged attacker and was bullied by other students,
the lawsuit says.
She eventually withdrew from the school before the end of
her sophomore year, and her family left Gwinnett County “to
escape unbearable hostility and retaliation in the community.”
The lawsuit says school officials retaliated against the girl,
failed to properly investigate and failed to correct a hostile
educational environment. It also says the school district failed
to properly train employees and implement policies to deal
with sexual assaults.
Public Justice has gotten other calls about mishandling of
sexual assault and harassment cases in Gwinnett and is looking
into those, Kimmel said.
0AKW00D
■ Continued from 1A
another example of “rapid,
rampant development”
that’s turning the area into
“another Gwinnett County.”
A couple of residents also
voiced opposition to the
12-acre McEver develop
ment, saying they were con
cerned about the housing
density.
Mayor Lamar Scroggs
said at that meeting that the
property has had its cur
rent commercial zoning for
about 15-20 years and “there
haven’t been any buyers for
the property.”
He went on to say that
Oakwood’s lack of residen
tial growth over the past
few years might hurt the
city financially when Hall
County and its cities begin
later this year looking at
renewing the special pur
pose local option sales tax.
Gov.-elect Kemp unveils his transition team
ATLANTA — Georgia gover
nor-elect Brian Kemp has unveiled
a transition team that includes for
mer U.S. Health and Human Ser
vices Secretary Tom Price to begin
building out his administration.
The incoming Republican made
the announcement just three days
after his opponent in the hotly
contested race, Democrat Stacey
Abrams, conceded there weren’t
enough votes for her to force a
runoff. Kemp’s win was certi
fied by Georgia elections officials
Saturday.
Kemp revealed the team of GOP
politicians and activists Monday in
Atlanta. He said his administra
tion would be seen as “incredibly
competent, obviously diverse and
clearly committed to doing the
right thing.”
Price resigned his Cabinet post
early in President Donald Trump’s
administration amid outcry over
his use of costly private charters
for official travel.
