Newspaper Page Text
Athlete of the Week: Cherokee Bluff’s
Griffin Neville scores 39 against
Denmark. sporis,ib
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 21,2018 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Honestly Local
Hall deputies getting body cameras
Devices integrated with new Tasers, includes unlimited cloud storage
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Smile, because soon you could
be on body camera — some of the
first used by the Hall County Sher
iffs Office.
“Moving into the new year, our
officers are particularly excited
about the cameras, which will
help produce the best evidence
for court proceedings. We could
not have made this project come
to fruition without the support and
assistance of the Hall County com
mission,” Hall County Sheriff Ger
ald Couch said in a statement.
Hall County Sheriff’s Office
spokesman Derreck Booth said
the department will receive in
the coming weeks 125 body cam
eras and Tasers to equip its patrol
deputies as well as officers in the
warrants’ division.
The Hall County Board of Com
missioners approved a five-year
lease/purchase agreement last
week with Axon Enterprises for
$1,189,206.66.
It will cost $163,422 for the
first year, which will be funded
through the current fiscal year
2019 budget.
Couch and Booth said the
department hoped to purchase
these earlier but were stymied by
hard financial times.
“They had to focus on basically
keeping vehicles running and
having radio communication for
years and just focus on that. Now
that things have turned around in
the economy and everything, they
decided to go ahead and pull the
trigger this year,” Booth said.
The Tasers, body cameras and
unlimited cloud-based data stor
age comes as a package through
Axon. Capt. Brad Rounds said
in a news release “the storage
■ Please see CAMERA, 8A
New tech comes to McDonald’s
Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
McDonald’s employee Shay Harper helps customers use the new kiosk Monday, Nov. 19, at the Jesse Jewell Parkway
restaurant. The store has added technology options and a new look.
Gainesville’s oldest Golden Arches gets ahead of the curve
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Gainesville’s oldest
McDonald’s now has the
newest technology.
The fast-food restaurant
at 707 Jesse Jewell Park
way, south of Queen City
Parkway, has just com
pleted a two-week renova
tion equipping the interior
with new self-order kiosks
and digital menu boards.
Also, the two drive-thru
lanes have digital menus,
which display the custom
er’s order in much larger
type.
“Before, we had these
plastic pieces of advertis
ing material that we would
have to put in, and you
would have to depend on
your crew and managers
■ Please see TECH, 8A
I Morninqs
I made better.
L, ^
ir J
' - U
m
McDonald’s employee Shakir Floyd takes a customer’s food order Monday, Nov. 19, at
the Jesse Jewell Parkway location in Gainesville. The longtime location has recently been
renovated with new technology options added for customers.
Suwanee man killed in Buford shooting
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
An Auburn man is accused
of shooting a man he worked
with in the Buford area Tues
day, Nov. 20.
Gwinnett County Police
were called to investigate the
fatal shooting of Allen Craig
Willard Jr., 25, of Suwanee,
in downtown Buford.
Officers responded around
12:10 p.m. Tuesday to West
Main and South Lee streets
regarding an active shooter
report and found Willard’s
body in the roadway.
“It was also determined
that it was not an active
shooter but a shooting due
to a dispute between known
parties.
A description of the sus
pect was obtained and given
to responding units,” police
Cpl. Wilbert Rundles wrote
in a news release.
The 34-year-old suspect,
Jerome Daniel Colvin, ran
from the area and was appre
hended shortly thereafter.
“Detectives are working
to determine what led to
the dispute and subsequent
shooting.
No other parties were
injured during the alterca
tion,” Rundles said.
Colvin was charged with
felony murder, malice mur
der and aggravated assault.
Police have not released
any other details about the
connection between the
two men other than they
“worked together in the
Buford area.”
Islands deer
hunt set for
this weekend
BY NICK BOWMAN
nbowman@gainesvilletimes.com
Bow hunters are descending on the islands of Lake
Lanier this November for the lake’s annual deer
hunt.
The hunt is regulated by the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, which drew a lottery for bow hunt
ers in October to participate in the Novem
ber event. Not all islands are involved in the
event, which includes a few off-limits areas for
hunters, but it does cover about 23 groups of
islands, peninsulas and areas across more than
1,000 acres.
Deer populations on the lake aren’t tracked by
the corps, according to Nicholas Baggett, its natural
resource manager on Lake Lanier. However, the
population isn’t unique to the lake or its islands.
“They swim out to the islands (from the main
land),” Baggett said.
The hunt is scheduled in the fall of each year to
coincide with bow hunting season and is intended to
control deer populations on the uninhabited islands
of the lake.
A map is available from the corps at its website,
www.sam.usace.army.mil. The corps has also dis
cussed the issue at length on its Facebook page.
Hunters are put through a pre-hunt safety briefing,
and several islands near high-traffic areas will be
marked for boaters with signs noting the upcoming
hunt.
“Aside from this announcement (which we will
repeat before the next two hunts) the peninsulas and
islands that may become peninsulas (depending on
lake level) receive signs at their narrow points notify
ing walkers of the hunt, ’’the corps posted on its page.
“Some of these include 4 Mile, Little Ridge, Wahoo,
etc, depending on the lake level. Other islands such
as 3 Sisters will not receive any posting on the island
itself.”
Last year, 110 hunters bagged 43 deer — nine
bucks and 34 does — leaving a success rate of 39
percent.
This year, hunters will need to use boats because
the lake is about at its full pool, Baggett noted. In pre
vious years, the lake has been low enough to allow
hunters to walk or wade to a few islands near the
shore.
Georgia Department of Natural Resources helps
schedule and organize the island hunt.
“We like to do it during this period when the parks
are not used very much,” Baggett said. “We try to
strike a balance between those who may want to use
our trail system or some of the parks in the south end
and just close them down for some limited periods.”
The hunt has grown over time, according to corps
records that go back to 2007, and 2017 was the busiest
hunt to-date by both hunter participation, number of
deer bagged and area of land open to hunters.
For The Times
INSIDE
WEATHER 2A
DEATHS 9A
0 *40901
06835 8
Advice
6B
Bridge
6B
Business
4B
Calendar
2A
Classified
8B
Comics
7B
Life 5B
Lottery 2A
Opinion 6A
Our Region 8A
Sports 1B
TV/puzzles 6B
High Low
||58 36
Lake Lanier level: 1,070.67 feet
Full pool 1,071. Down 0.24 feet in 24 hours
Roger Junior Barner, 73
Margaret Beckley, 83
Peggy Butler, 86
Adam Dunagan,38
Regina Ann Howard, 82
Maudell Huey, 89
Jimmy Lee Jones, 80
Elizabeth Brooks Langston, 80
Frank Thomas Langston, 84
John Gordon Leggett, 66
George McDonald
Thomas Hanie Paris Jr., 79
Skye Arielle Patterson, 24
Jason V. Waters, 42
Debbie Sue Weaver, 58
