Newspaper Page Text
LOCA^NATION
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Sunday, December 2, 2018 7A
Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
An outdoor patio overlooks a small lake at the Lanier Technical College Hall conference center.
A meeting takes place inside the Lanier Technical College Hall conference center.
CALIFORNIA
Left behind by
Camp fire: Up to
8M tons of debris
LANIER
■ Continued from 1A
The new center also will
meet a growing need for a
bigger meeting space in Hall
County.
“As a growing commu
nity, one of the needs we
have is larger spaces for
allowing more people to
participate (in events),” said
Tim Evans, the chamber’s
vice president of economic
development.
“We’re looking at it for
a number of future events,
as well. It’s much bigger
open space. It gives us more
capacity for events.”
Eggs & Issues has been
held at the Gainesville Civic
Center at 830 Green St.
The event typically draws
a huge crowd and a program
that includes area lawmak
ers talking about the upcom
ing legislative session. This
year, Gov. Nathan Deal is
scheduled to speak, marking
one of his last appearances
as the state’s chief executive.
In March, more than 70
companies filled the civic
center for the chamber’s
annual job fair.
It was a showing that
prompted Evans to say at
the time, “If we had more
space (at the Gainesville
Civic Center), we’d prob
ably have more companies
there.”
The civic center “is still
going to be the best fit for
a lot of things,” Evans said
last week. “I think it will be
an additional option, and
it’ll help meet the need and
demand there is currently
(in Hall). It can be chal
lenging sometimes to find a
space if you don’t give your
self enough time to book it.”
Frank Norton Jr. has
scheduled his annual eco
nomic forecast at Lanier
Tech’s conference center
for Jan. 29, something he
was considering even as he
was planning the 2018 event
at The Venue at Friendship
Springs in South Hall.
“We’ve moved the event
around, trying to go to
ground zero for the elec
tricity that’s going on in
that area,” Norton said in
January.
“I’m excited about being
at the new venue,” he said
last week. “It’s a great con
vention/meeting facility for
Hall County.”
Jeff Pruitt, who opened
the conference center at
Lanier Tech’s Forsyth
County campus, will run the
new center in Hall.
“This (venue) is fabu
lous,” he said. “The capabili
ties and vision for this center
and the community are just
unbelievable.”
The ballroom has nine
sections that can be used in
“multiple configurations,”
Pruitt said.
“We can roll in boats, cars,
just do all kinds of applica
tions here,” Perren added.
The ballroom may be the
main attraction, but the cen
ter offers much more.
The center also will house
the college’s culinary arts
program.
“I’m just so proud of how
well equipped it is,” Perren
said.
The lobby, which has
stacked stone and natural
wood in its design, will serve
as a “pre-function” area for
receptions and event gather
ing space.
Also offered are meeting
and executive boardrooms
with the latest technology,
including one room that has
inside and outside areas sep
arated by a double-sided fire
place. The outside area also
gives visitors views of woods
and a lake below.
A boardroom also pro
vides big views of the
outdoors.
Perren said he has kidded
staff, “If you ever miss me,
this is where I’ll be, with this
beautiful view.”
The outside meeting
space also features the col
lege’s original 1964 dedi
cation plaque bolted to
the fireplace.
That’s meant as a tribute
to the college’s past.
“Even though this is a new
campus, we’re not a new col
lege,” Perren said.
BY LOUIS SAHAGUN
Los Angeles Times
CHICO — The first job
was to contain the state’s
deadliest wildfire. The sec
ond is to deal with what’s
left behind.
With more than 17,000
structures destroyed by
the Camp fire, authorities
will soon begin a cleanup
that will test their inge
nuity like never before:
removal of an estimated
6 to 8 million tons of toxic
rubble, soil and concrete
strewn across 150,000
acres of mountain terrain.
If all goes according to
plan, what is expected to be
the most expensive cleanup
campaign in California his
tory will be completed in six
months to a year, allowing
some displaced Paradise
residents to begin rebuild
ing their homes by summer,
said Sean Smith, state debris
removal coordinator.
“We still have some
creative work to do, but
I’m pushing hard to get
that debris off the ground
in time for people to start
rebuilding in optimal
weather,” Smith said.
The project will be man
aged by the U.S. Environ
mental Protection Agency,
with help from the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers,
state and county authori
ties and thousands of con
tract workers.
It will begin in a week
or two, Smith said, when
crews arrive to assess lev
els of hazardous and carci
nogenic materials such as
lead, asbestos, pesticides,
herbicides and propane
tanks, lot by lot.
In January, fleets of con
tracted bulldozers, dump
trucks, cranes and track
hoes with mechanical
jaws at the ends of 30-foot
hydraulic arms will swarm
the narrow mountain roads
of the Sierra foothills city,
about 10 miles east of Chico.
Half the debris —
burned concrete and metal
including vehicles — will
be taken to a railyard in
Chico and later taken to a
recycling center.
“The debris will be
hauled in trucks lined and
covered with heavy plastic
to ensure containment of
the materials while they
are in transit” to seven land
fills as far away as Kettle-
man City, about 300 miles
south, said Bryan May, a
spokesman for the Califor
nia Governor’s Office of
Emergency Services.
Landfills in the imme
diate vicinity of Paradise
and neighboring moun
tain communities won’t be
burdened by the federal
cleanup, officials said.
The cost of excavating
and removing Camp fire
debris is expected to far
surpass the $1.3 billion
spent cleaning up after the
Tubbs fire of 2017 in the
Santa Rosa area, the sec
ond-most destructive wild
fire in California history.
That fire destroyed
more than 4,600 homes,
many of them in the city of
Santa Rosa, and produced
more than 2 million tons of
toxic debris, which over
whelmed regional landfills
already brimming with
rubble from a series of ear
lier fires, Smith said.
The Federal Emergency
Management Agency will
fund 75 percent of the
effort, with the rest paid
for by the Governor’s
Office of Emergency Ser
vices, officials said.
MEMORIAL PET CARE
THE ONLY FULL SERVICE PET FACILITY IN NORTHEAST GEORGIA
NOW LOCATED IN GAINESVILLE
Memorial Pet care is working with
area Veterinarians to insure we can meet
all needs regarding your pet. Through
your Veterinarian you can request our
services for cremation, burial in our
cemetery, or interment in our pet niche
wall. Additionally, we have a full line
of urns, jewelry, and a well-appointed
area for memorial services.
For additional Information, call Jenn Fleming at
770-287-8227 or email jflemming@yahoo.com.
We would like to invite you to visit Memorial Pet Care
located at: 2030 Memorial Park Road Gainesville, GA 30504
The Lanier Room is seen inside the new Lanier Technical
College Hall conference center.
*
*
Greater Hall Chamber's Annual Legislative Forum
Thursday, December 13
7:30 am - 9:30 am
T~1 *-C / .JU dill " dill
NEVV Lanier Technical College
D r- m r f rv I n/
*&lssues
Ramsey Conference Center
2535 Lanier Tech Drive in Gainesville
Special Guest Governor Nathan Deal
and the Hall County Legislative Delegation
Governor Nathan Deal
Butch Miller
49th State Senate
John Wilkinson
50th State Senate
Lee Hawkins
27th House District
Matt Dubnik
29th House District
Emory Dunahoo
30th House District
Timothy Barr
/ 03rd House District
$25 Chamber Members | $35 Non-Members | $350 Reserved Table
Reservations Required | Non-Refundable | Includes Full Buffet Breakfast
Gerri Collins: 770-532-6206 x 106 • gcollins@ghcc.com
Online: GreaterHallChamber.com/events
Open to the Public
JACKSON
Greater
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
