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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2018
GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Honestly Local
Work to begin on new Enota garden
Ground-breaking at historic Smartville site scheduled to happen within next month
BY JOSHUA SILAVENT
jsilavent@gainesvilletimes.com
The Gainesville City Schools Board
of Education this week signed off
on a project to resurrect the historic
Smartville Garden at the new Enota
Multiple Intelligences Academy.
Adrian Niles, chief operations offi
cer, said he expects to break ground
on the project within the next month
and finish this spring.
“That’s our goal,” he added.
Ryan Thompson, a member of the
Gainesville Planning and Appeals
Board, chaired a “garden commit
tee” to review and determine how
the project should be designed and at
what cost.
Thompson had a few vested inter
ests in the project.
First, he has two children attending
Enota. Secondly, he is the co-founder
of Pro Touch Landscapes in Gaines
ville, so he knows a thing or two about
landscape design and architecture.
“I’ve been in this business for a long
time, too,” Thompson said, adding
that the garden committee had three
“talented” firms design projects for
consideration.
Thompson said that members of
the committee, which included par
ents, teachers, administrators and
Enota alumni, liked aspects from all
three and asked the firms to work
together to incorporate the best
aspects of each design.
“It was good for the school, good for
(the architects), good for everyone,”
Thompson said.
The win-win scenario retains some
of the traditional aspects of the origi
nal Smartville, such as the water
tower, which was demolished to make
way for the new $19 million, state-of-
the-art school that opened this fall.
And plants that were harvested
from the former site and nourished
elsewhere while the new school was
constructed will be brought back.
Thompson said that while the gar
den committee had to consider bud
get parameters, he feels good about
providing new additions for group
■ Please see GARDEN, 8A
Resurrecting
the historic
Smartville
Garden at the
new Enota
Multiple
Intelligences
Academy in
Gainesville will
likely occur over
multiple phases,
according to
school officials.
FILE PHOTO
The Times
Denny’s kills their Gainesville grill
JEFF GILL I The Times
The Denny’s at 1701 Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville has closed, the sixth restaurant to do so on the site since 1997.
Restaurant closing means Browns Bridge Road site vacant —
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
What’s up with 1701
Browns Bridge Road in
Gainesville?
Six restaurants have
come and gone from the
location since 1997 — the
latest being Denny’s, which
closed three weeks ago.
Rio Bravo was the first
eatery on the site, replac
ing what had been a mobile
home sales lot. The prop
erty was annexed into
Gainesville in 1996 as a res
taurant location, said Matt
Tate, Gainesville’s plan
ning manager.
Following Rio Bravo
was Up the Creek in 2001,
Smokey Bones in 2003,
Sweet Fire Lodge in 2008
and Shooter’s Tavern in
2010.
Asked why he thought
the restaurant site had so
much turnover, Tate said,
“It makes no sense con
sidering the neighboring
restaurants .. have done
well.”
Along the same stretch
are Applebee’s, Red
Lobster, LongHorn and
O’Charleys.
The restaurant site is
across from Gainesville
Towne Center shopping
center, which has several
restaurants, including
Golden Corral and Panda
Express, which are under
construction.
Also nearby are long
standing Pizza Hut and
Taco Bell.
“I am only speculating,
but it seems there have
been management issues
throughout the years,” Tate
said. “I believe a nation
ally known restaurant that
is managed well could do
well there.”
RWDT Foods, founded
again
by two former NFL play
ers, owned the Denny’s
restaurant in Gainesville.
Officials there couldn’t be
reached for comment.
When the Denny’s
opened in November 2013,
co-owner Donnell Thomp
son said he hoped to defy
the property’s history.
“It’s not necessarily the
building you’re in. It’s the
brand that you represent,”
he said. “People come to
(Denny’s). (The chain) is
60 years old. We’re one of
the oldest brands out there;
we’re the brand that you
can’t kill.”
Bank robbery suspect finally in custody
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A Cleveland man who
allegedly stole thousands of
dollars from a Clermont bank
is now in Hall County’s cus
tody after he was detained
in Colorado, according to
authorities.
Michael Anthony Gordon,
48, was wanted by the Hall
County Sheriff’s Office in
the 2017 robbery at United
Community Bank
on Cleveland
Highway.
According to
authorities, Gordon
allegedly showed a
gun and a note to
the United Commu
nity Bank tellers
before leaving with
roughly $2,059.
No one was injured in the
incident.
Deputies responded to the
silent panic alarm at
the Cleveland High
way bank at 10:22 a.m.
April 5.2017.
Gordon also alleg
edly robbed a bank in
Cornelia three weeks
later.
On June 1, 2017,
Gordon was arrested
in Colorado.
“He was stopped on a rou
tine traffic stop as we under
stand it, then arrested on the
warrants,” Sheriff’s Office Lt.
Scott Ware wrote in an email.
Gordon was transferred to
Habersham County in June
2017, and the Hall County
Sheriff’s Office took custody
of Gordon Tuesday, Dec. 4.
He was charged with
armed robbery, possession
of a firearm by a convicted
felon and possession of a fire
arm during the commission
of a crime.
No bond has been set.
Gordon
Pa. school says
coach arrested
in Hall County
had clean record
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
The president of an Erie, Pennsylvania, school sent
a letter to parents regarding a coach’s arrest in Hall
County, saying he had passed all background checks
before joining the school.
Scott Jabo wrote Dec. 3 to the parents of students at
Cathedral Preparatory School, Villa
Maria Academy and Mother Teresa
Academy regarding Gregory Man-
cini, a man who was charged in Hall
County with criminal attempt to com
mit child molestation.
The Hall County Sheriff’s Office
released information on his arrest
Dec. 4.
“Prior to his arrest, there were
never any reports of inappropriate
behaviors with minors.
Also, he had passed all of the required background
checks before working with our school. Those back
ground checks include the Pennsylvania child abuse
background checks, FBI fingerprinting, and Pennsyl
vania criminal background checks, in addition to satis
fying all other state mandates related to the protection
of children and the requirements of the Diocese of
Erie’s child protection
policy,” according to
Jabo’s letter.
Mancini allegedly
had sexually charged
online conversations
with a 13-year-old Hall
County boy through the
shooter game Fortnite
on Xbox and tried to
meet him, according to
authorities.
The boy told his
mother who then
reported it to law
enforcement Oct. 23
“Over the course of
several weeks, the two
began to video chat,
and the man turned
the conversation to
sexual subject matter.
As the contact contin
ued, the man said that
he planned to travel
to metro Atlanta and
wanted to meet with
the boy,” Sheriff’s
Office spokesman Der-
reck Booth wrote in the
Dec. 4 news release.
Mancini was arrested Nov. 3.
Jabo said Mancini had worked with the school “in
limited capacities over the years, most recently as an
assistant basketball coach for Cathedral Prep.”
“He was also a substitute teacher for Cathedral Prep
and Villa Maria Academy, but he has not been involved
in that capacity since 2015,” Jabo wrote.
Jabo’s letter said Mancini can not associate with the
school and its students until the case is resolved.
Mancini’s attorney Arturo Corso declined to com
ment Tuesday, Dec. 4, when the details of the arrest
were released.
‘Prior to his
arrest, there were
never any reports
of inappropriate
behaviors with
minors. Also, he
had passed all
of the required
background
checks before
working with
our school.’
Scott Jabo
president, Cathedral
Preparatory School
□
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WEATHER 2A
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IP 48 35
Lake Lanier level: 1,070.72 feet
Full pool 1,071. Down 0.21 feet in 24 hours
DEATHS 9A
Patsy Wilson Allbright, 66
William A. Anderton III, 69
Frank James Bell, 65
Larry Townsend DePriest, 78
Judith Canady Dodge, 77
Mary Willene (Poss) Gipson, 57
Ralph Donald Hadaway Jr., 59
Dorothy Bennett McClure, 97
Bobby John McMahan, 85
Wanda Ruth Mitchell, 80
Buford Oglesby, 73
Sam Scaffide, 76
