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I2J OUR REGION
Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief
770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Tuesday, November 27, 2018
Chamber hosts
governor, state
legislators for
open breakfast
BY MEGAN REED
mreed@gainesvilletimes.com
Community members ca
next legislative session and
at an event with Hall
County’s delegation and
Gov. Nathan Deal next
month.
The Greater Hall
Chamber of Commerce’s
Annual Eggs & Issues
breakfast will be Dec. 13
at the Ramsey Confer
ence Center at the new
Lanier Technical College
campus off Ga. 365.
The chamber has space
at the venue for 600,
with 75 reservations still
available as of Monday
afternoon.
Deal will be speaking,
and members attending
from Hall’s delegation to t!
of Representatives include:
get a preview of Georgia’s
arn more about state issues
Eggs & Issues
What: Meet with elected
officials and discuss
state issues
When: 7:30 a.m.
Thursday, Dec. 13
Where: Ramsey
Conference Center at
Lanier Tech, 2535 Lanier
Tech Drive, Gainesville
How much: $25 chamber
members, $35 for
nonchamber members;
make a reservation
More info: Gerri Collins,
gcollins@ghcc.com or
770-532-6206, ext. 106
Georgia Senate and House
■ State Sen. Butch Miller, 49th District
■ State Sen. John Wilkinson, 50th District
■ State Rep. Lee Hawkins, 27th District
■ State Rep. Matt Dubnik, 29th District
■ State Rep. Emory Dunahoo Jr., 30th District
■ State Rep. Timothy Barr, 103rd District
Deal looks back
on administration
SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Gov. Nathan Deal is the keynote speaker Monday, Nov. 26, during the Rotary Club of Gainesville’s meeting at the First
Baptist Church banquet hall.
Issues to be discussed at the event include transporta
tion, jobs, workforce development, health care, educa
tion, taxes and water.
“Our legislators remain OllT legislators
interested in hearing what
the citizens of this com
munity have to say, and
the attendees want to hear
what the legislators have to
say,” Kit Dunlap, president
and CEO of the chamber,
said in a statement. “The
issues that have been iden
tified prior to the legisla
tive session have a direct
impact on our commu
nity, and we need to bet
ter understand the issues
as well as have an under
standing of our legislators’
positions on these impor
tant issues.”
The event, which is open
to the public, includes a
buffet breakfast. Tickets
are $25 for chamber mem
bers and $35 for nonmem
bers. A table is $350.
Reservations are
required. To make a res
ervation, contact Gerri
Collins with the chamber at gcollins@ghcc.com or 770-
532-6206, ext. 106.
remain
interested in
hearing what the
citizens of this
community have
to say, and the
attendees want
to hear what the
legislators have
to say.’
Kit Dunlap
President and CEO of the
Greater Hall Chamber of
Commerce
Courtesy Hall County Fire Services
An early morning fire Nov. 27, damaged a single-wide
mobile home on Titshaw Drive south of Gainesville.
Mobile home
fire displaces 2,
kills dog, Blaze
A mother and her 5-year-
old daughter are staying at
a hotel after their mobile
home caught fire, killing
their bulldog pup named
Blaze.
Hall County Fire Ser
vices responded to the fire
just after 5 a.m. Monday,
Nov. 26, in the 3600 block
of Titshaw Drive south of
Gainesville.
The fire affected about
half of the single-wide
mobile home and was
quickly extinguished,
according to the fire
department.
The cause of the fire has
not yet been determined.
A Gofundme account
was created for the woman
and her daughter by a fam
ily friend.
“It turns out there was
no insurance on the house.
Everything is a total loss
and there is no insurance
to help with anything,”
according to the page.
As of 7:45 p.m. Monday,
Nov. 26, $790 had been
raised for the family.
Nick Watson
Governor reflects on legislative successes and achievements
BY MEGAN REED
mreed@gainesvilletimes.com
Gov. Nathan Deal returned to his
roots Monday, speaking to the Gaines
ville Rotary Club about his eight-year
administration, which is coming to an
end.
Deal, who spent most of his adult life
in Gainesville, served as the president
of Gainesville’s Rotary Club in 1976.
Philip Wilheit of Wilheit Packaging, a
longtime friend of Deal’s, introduced
him Monday, reflecting on Deal’s
involvement with the Rotary Club and
his political career.
Several Rotarians contributed to
Deal’s first State Senate campaign in
1979. Then, in 1995, he announced at
the Rotary Club that he was switch
ing from the Democratic Party to the
Republican Party.
“Throughout the years, Rotary has
played a significant role in Nathan’s
political career,” Wilheit said. “... I’d
like to thank him for everything he’s
done for our state, the great state of
Georgia, everything he’s done for
Gainesville and Hall County. We take
great pride in our relationship with
Nathan and Sandra.”
Deal thanked the Rotarians for their
support before reviewing the highlights
of his administration.
“Many of you have been very vital
players in this process,” he told the
club Monday.
Recovering from the Great
Recession
Deal said when he took office in
2011, the state was still recovering
from the recession, with a rainy day
fund that would only allow the state
to operate for about two days. Boost
ing the economy became a focus of his
administration, he said.
“We decided early on that we
wanted to grow our way out of the
Great Recession, not tax our way out
of it.... We are a low tax state, we’re a
low regulatory state, and we’re a great
place to work, live and do business and
raise a family,” Deal said.
Statewide unemployment is about
a third of previous levels, he said, and
now sits at about 3.6 percent. For the
‘I’m proud of the fact
that we have spent
so much money on
education. That is
truly the future of
our current situation
and every future
generation yet
to come.’
Gov. Nathan Deal
Gainesville-Hall metropolitan area,
that number is 2.6 percent, the lowest
of Georgia’s 14 statistical areas.
Deal said employers like Kubota and
King’s Hawaiian help keep unemploy
ment low in Hall. He said he is excited
by new businesses like Fox, which is
relocating its headquarters from Cali
fornia to Hall later this year and bring
ing 800 jobs.
New businesses are arriving state
wide, he said — Georgia currently has
about 20 prospects with an average of
850 jobs each.
Investing in education
Earlier this year, the state funded
the Quality Basic Education formula
—which allocates dollars for Georgia’s
public schools — for the first time since
the program started in 1985. Deal said
over half the state’s budget has been set
aside for education, which he named
as a priority of his administration.
“I’m proud of the fact that we have
spent so much money on education,”
Deal said. “That is truly the future of
our current situation and every future
generation yet to come.”
He said the state’s budget includes
$9.8 billion for K-12 education and
$2.4 billion for universities. And Hall
County has been a focus, too, he said —
Georgia has contributed $130 million to
Lanier Technical College.
“(Lanier Tech) is truly going to
be the hallmark of technical college
education in the state and probably in
the country,” Deal said. The college is
opening a new campus in January.
Deal said technical colleges are a
key part of workforce development,
and jobs in Georgia still sit unfilled
because of a shortage of skilled work
ers, a problem his administration
worked to fix, he said.
“My common sense says that’s a
good place to start,” Dealsaid. “Instead
of going and spending all of your effort
and going to get new jobs to come in,
why don’t we try and fill the ones we
already have with Georgians?”
The HOPE Career Grant provides
tuition grants to students in fields
where there is a shortage of skilled
workers. About 88 percent of students
in the program get a job in the field
they were trained for, and 99 percent
of them get a job, he said.
Reducing burden on state
prisons
Deal said he decided early in his
administration that taking on the chal
lenge of criminal justice reform would
be a priority for him.
Prison commitments dropped by
about 20 percent between 2009 and
2017, and African-Americans have
seen bigger drops in commitments,
Deal said.
“That translates to, you have an
overall lower prison population,” he
said. “If you’re paying close to $20,000
per bed for keeping someone incarcer
ated in our system, and you reduce that
by about 8,000 below what it was pro
jected to be back in 2011, we’ve saved
the state a lot of money. ”
Accountability courts have helped
keep people out of the prison system,
Deal said. His son Judge Jason Deal’s
Hall County courtroom has been used
as a statewide model.
“What they are doing is giving peo
ple second chances. I tell my preacher
friends that if you ever run out of ser
mon material, just to go to a graduation
ceremony from one of these account
ability courts,” Deal said.
Other programs have focused on
training prisoners for the workforce
and giving them an opportunity to get
a GED or high school diploma.
ABERNATHY
■ Continued from 1A
Wilheit Packaging in Gainesville. “He
was as honest as the day is long, and he
was fun to work with.”
Abernathy later sold Diago to Mis
sion Foods. After retirement, he
opened Eagle’s Nest Pottery in Cleve
land and Gainesville.
Serving under five governors, he
was in his 37th year on Georgia’s
Board of Public Safety. Georgia State
Patrol Post 6 on Cleveland Highway
was dedicated to him in December
2009.
Named small businessman of the
year in 1984, Abernathy also served on
boards at Gainesville Junior College
(now University of North Georgia’s
Gainesville campus), Lanier Techni
cal College and East Hall High School.
Known as “Buddy” to his grandchil
dren, Abernathy, who lived in Lula,
attended Victory Baptist Church.
“He loved his country, his family
and had a passion for woodworking,”
his obituary says. “Most of all, he
loved the Lord, reading his Bible with
(wife) Ruby in the mornings.”
Abernathy “was very concerned
about where his friends and family
would spend eternity.”
“My dad was our family patriarch,”
said his son, John Wayne Abernathy,
who has been in the funeral business
for 26 years. “He was our backbone.”
He recalled, “I would call my dad
about every morning and tell him
what was going on, and he’d give me
advice. Already, I miss those phone
calls.”
Funeral services will be held 2 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 27, at Victory Baptist
Church in Gainesville.
BUSES
■ Continued from 1A
Clay Hobbs, director of trans
portation, said the current analog
radios use a VHF signal and can
only reach about 80 to 85 percent
of the county.
Antennas have long been sta
tioned at Wauka Mountain Mul
tiple Intelligences Academy and
along Skitts Mountain in North
Hall.
The Skitts Mountain antenna is
being removed, the Wauka Moun
tain antenna will remain and a new
antenna will now be located on a
water tower near Flowery Branch
High School to maximize coverage,
according to Hobbs.
The new radios will have roam
ing technology, allowing buses to
pick up the strongest possible sig
nal from either of the two antenna
stations, depending on the bus’
location.
The state funding comes on
the heels of a spate of incidents
at schools across Hall County in
recent months that have officials
on alert about security threats.
“I think it shows we’re on the
right path,” Board of Educa
tion chairman Nath Morris said.
“We’re going to continue to put
money into security and safety in
areas we hope make a difference.”
In September, a Clermont man
was accused of threatening to
shoot up Wauka Mountain elemen
tary and is now facing an indict
ment in federal court regarding
firearm possession.
That same month, a Gainesville
man was accused of having an Air-
soft pistol in the school safety zone
near Lanier College and Career
Academy.
In early November, a sixth-
grader at East Hall Middle School
was arrested after another student
reported he had a weapon. The
school was placed on lockdown
after the report.
And on Nov. 16, a Chestatee
Academy student was suspended
after the Hall County Sheriff’s
Office and Hall County Schools
investigated a possible threat made
on social media. It was “quickly
determined” that the school and
students were never in danger, and
the student was not charged with a
crime.
Morris said each instance
involved great communication to
either dispel or end the purported
threats.
“When things don’t go noticed,
that’s what concerns me,” he
added.
Superintendent Will Schofield
said there are always limitations
in what officials can do to ensure
safety and security on school
campuses.
“But our job continues to be do
all that we possibly can to keep our
kids and our staff members as safe
as possible,” he added. “And one
of the things that helps with that is
communication.”
