Newspaper Page Text
Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief
770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Saturday, November 24, 2018
l*L3 OUR REGION
GHS Class of’64 awards first scholarship
AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Rentavious Buffington, a graduate of Gainesville High School, is the first
recipient of the Gainesville Class of 1964 scholarship.
BY JOSHUA SILAVENT
jsilavent@gainesvilletimes.com
Rentavious Buffington, 18,
exudes the kind of spirit and
enthusiasm that makes it easy
to see why the Gainesville High
School class of 1964 chose him
as their first recipient of a newly
established college scholarship
worth $1,500.
Buffington greets strangers with
a hearty handshake, wears a big,
generous grin when speaking to
them, and vibes with confidence
as he shares his family’s story, his
love for the performing arts and
his excitement about his studies
at the University of North Geor
gia in Gainesville, where he’s now
enrolled.
Patricia Fargason, a member
of the class of ’64, said Buffington,
who graduated from GHS last May,
was the “most perfect candidate”
for the scholarship. She described
the young man as accomplished
and popular.
Buffington admits that he was
surprised to be awarded the schol
arship, but he now sees himself as
an ambassador and role model for
future recipients.
More information
To learn more about
scholarship funds managed by
the North Georgia Community
Foundation in Gainesville, visit
www.ngcf.org/scholarships/
view-scholarships/
“It was kind of a big deal,” he
said.
The North Georgia Community
Foundation in Gainesville admin
isters more than 50 scholarships
established by individual donors
and organizations, including the
“GHS Class of ’64 Scholarship.”
According to the NGCF web
site, “Each scholarship has its own
specific purpose and eligibility
criteria, and awards vary in size
depending on the amount available
in each particular fund.”
Buffington said he was research
ing local scholarships when he
came across the class of ’64 offer.
“ I was trying to find the best way
to pay for college,” he added.
Buffington thought he fit the
scholarship’s qualifications and
was a strong candidate, but admits
that he never allowed himself to
believe he’d be chosen.
“I just applied for it, and when
they told me I received the schol
arship, I was really surprised,” he
said.
Buffington said he thinks his
involvement in theater and other
extracurricular activities at GHS
is what earned him the scholarship
because he showed that he was
giving back to the school that gave
him so much.
Buffington has carried his love
for acting and theater production
to UNG, where he is focused on the
technical aspects of lighting that
can give any performance its aura
and aesthetic.
It’s an important role, one he
learned and developed at GHS.
Good lighting, though perhaps
unnoticed by some audiences, can
bring out so much in a story. And
Buffington likes working behind
the scenes.
“You put a lot more work in,”
Buffington said of the step up from
high school theater to college.
Of course, Buffington loves the
acting part, too. He once played the
Tin Man in a production of “The
Wizard of Oz,” his favorite all-time
role.
Buffington also served in a
distinguished role as a student
officer for the annual Georgia
Thespian Conference, which fea
tures high school theater group
performances.
And he paired his class of ’64
scholarship with the Pam Ware
Leadership Scholarship, worth
$2,000 and awarded to a thespian
“who best illustrates through the
troupe resume and interview out
standing leadership ... by putting
into action the dedication to excel
lence and the drive to succeed so
lovingly and professionally mod
eled by legendary director Pam
Ware.”
“I just got involved in a lot more
as I progressed,” Buffington said.
OSHKOS*
Courtesy KAREN EWING I For The Times
Jackson EMC Gainesville District Manager David Lee presents Meredith Pierce, community director of the Path Project, with a
$30,000 check to help transport students from the Baker & Glover Mobile Home Park to after-school tutoring support programs.
Jackson EMC donates $30K to Path Project to buy van
Jackson Electric Membership Corpo
ration donated $30,000 to Path Project
in Gainesville to buy a van to transport
students in the Baker & Glover Mobile
Home Park to after-school tutoring
support.
“This grant will allow us to provide
student transportation outside the
mobile home park neighborhood, since
many families do not have vehicles,”
Meredith Pierce, community director
of Path Project, said in a press release.
“We will be better able to offer elemen
tary tutoring and homework help.”
The Path Project has delivered after
school programming in conjunction
with Gainesville First United Method
ist Church for 10 years in an effort to
increase the high school graduation rate
of students living in mobile home parks.
The Jackson EMC donation was made
from margin refunds that have been
unclaimed by the electric cooperative’s
members for five years.
Legislation passed in 2005 per
mits Georgia electric cooperatives to
make charitable, education and eco
nomic development contributions of
unclaimed margin refunds.
Joshua Silavent
IN OUR COMMUNITY
Gainesville Newcomers Club donates to day care center
The Gainesville Newcomers
Club presented a $4,000 check
to Little Steps Daycare, which
is in partnership with Family
Promise, an agency that helps
homeless families and those
seeking employment.
SEND NEWS
The Times accepts
information about and photos
of charitable donations, civic
meeting happenings, student
achievements and other
awards. Submissions are
edited and published as space
allows on the Our Region page;
photos of large groups will be
published in the Sunday Life
section. Email submissions to
community@gainesvilletimes.
com and include a contact
name and phone number.
L .liiituhooclvr L Country CJi
Above: Edna Clinton,
with the Gainesville
Newcomers Club;
Danielle Latlippe, Little
Steps Community Day
Care coordinator with
Family Promise of Hall
County; and Lindsey
McCamy, executive
director of Family
Promise of Hall County.
Left: Latlippe accepts
a check from Clinton
during the ceremony.
For The Times
Authorities:
Man accused of
pushing mom,
breaking wrist
A man is accused of pushing his mother
Wednesday, causing her to break her wrist
at a Flowery Branch residence, according to
authorities.
Hall County Sheriff’s
Office Lt. Scott Ware said
James Greg Gaddis allegedly
“pushed his mother, caus
ing her to fall and break her
wrist” Wednesday, Nov. 21, at
a home on the 4200 block of
Holcomb Circle.
“This was in the presence of
two minor children — ages 11
and 13,” Ware wrote in an email.
Gaddis was charged with aggravated battery
and two counts of third-degree child cruelty.
He was booked Thursday, Nov. 22, in to the
Hall County Jail. No bond has been set at this
time.
Nick Watson
Gaddis
Woman sues
after time in jail
— for cotton
candy possession
BY ZACHARY HANSEN
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A woman is suing after the GBI found that the
blue substance in her car that led to her spend
ing three months in jail was not methamphet-
amine — it was cotton candy.
According to Macon-based WMAZ-TV, Dasha
Fincher has filed a lawsuit in federal court
against the board of commissioners in Monroe
County, two deputies and the manufacturer
(Sirchie Acquisition Company) of a drug test
administered during her traffic stop.
The incident report, obtained by WMAZ, said
David Morris Jr. was riding with Fincher in the
passenger seat on New Year’s Eve 2016 when
deputies Cody Maples and Allen Henderson
pulled them over for a window tint violation.
The lawsuit, also obtained by the news sta
tion, said the deputies told them the car’s win
dow tint didn’t end up violating the law after
they were pulled over.
Fincher and Morris allegedly had suspended
licenses, and when the deputies searched the
car they found a “plastic bag filled with a blue
crystal-like substance in the passenger side
floorboard,” the report said.
The report described Fincher as “shaking”
and “very anxious” when asked about the con
tents of the baggie, and she said it was cotton
candy.
The lawsuit claims that police dashcam video
shows Fincher and Morris were both “calm”
during the encounter.
The substance was tested using a Nark II
roadside kit and came back positive for meth,
and both Morris and Fincher were arrested, the
lawsuit said. The test kits, according to the law
suit, have a “history of producing false positive
results.”
Fincher was charged with trafficking meth
and possession of meth with intent to distribute,
the lawsuit said.
The judge ordered her to be jailed on a $1 mil
lion bond, which the lawsuit said she couldn’t
afford so she remained in jail for about three
months while the GBI tested the substance.
In March 2017, the GBI said the blue mate
rial contained no controlled substances, and
she was released from jail on April 4 with her
charges dropped about two weeks later, the law
suit said.
The suit doesn’t mention what happened to
Morris after his arrest.
Fincher said her time in jail caused her to
miss “several serious life events,” including the
birth of two grandsons and her daughter’s mis
carriage, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit asks for punitive damages, as
well as court fees.
