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L2J OUR REGION
Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief
770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Friday, December 14, 2018
30 days for man who bit girl at Lanier
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A Dacula man cannot teach
and must avoid areas “where chil
dren congregate” for the term of
his probation in a negotiated plea
entered Dec. 4.
Jonathan William Herbert, who
formerly worked for Gwinnett
County Public Schools, entered
a plea under the First Offender
Act for battery, public drunken
ness and bribery. He was previ
ously accused of biting a
14-year-old girl’s buttocks
July 4 at Lake Lanier, but
the sexual battery charge
was dismissed by the dis
trict attorney’s office.
The sentence was 30
days in confinement at
the Hall County Detention
Center followed by four
years of probation, according to
court documents.
According to the dismissal order
by Northeastern Judicial Circuit
District Attorney Lee Dar-
ragh and Chief Assistant
District Attorney Wanda
Vance, the girl was playing
volleyball at Lake Lanier
Islands when the incident
occurred.
After speaking with the
victim and her mother, the
district attorney said “they
would like to see the case resolved
without requiring the juvenile to
testify.”
“The state is therefore offer
ing a plea offer to a felony resolu
tion with a requirement that the
defendant not teach for the term
of probation, have no contact with
the girl and complete counseling,”
Darragh and Vance wrote.
The prosecution “has some con
cerns that the jury might nullify
and return convictions on the other
counts, but not the sexual battery”
because the case varies from other
sexual assault cases.
According to the indictment,
Herbert was also accused of
offering a deputy $200 “with the
purpose of influencing him in the
performance of his official duties.”
If Herbert completes the terms
of his probation, the case will be
discharged “without court adjudi
cation of guilt,” according to court
documents.
The additional terms of probation
include 40 hours of community ser
vice, 2 12-Step meetings per week
for four years, two drug screens per
month for four years in addition to
drug and alcohol treatment.
Herbert
SCOn ROGERS I The Times
Participants in the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce tour hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Candler Park
Condominiums Thursday, Dec. 12, at the site of a condo unit currently under construction.
Candler Park Condominiums
adds 5 new units in final phase
BY KELSEY RICHARDSON
krichardson@gainesvilletimes.com
Candler Park Condominiums has
implemented the last phase of its
construction.
Two new units will be available to
the condo community on March 1,
and three more will arrive in June.
Keeping with its original regula
tions, only people 55 years and up
will be able to live in these condo
spaces.
Co-owned by brothers Bradley
and Daryl Dunckel, the condos
will be priced in the mid- to upper
$400,000 range. Daryl said the proj
ect’s total cost equates to around
$2.5 million.
The new condos will include an
1,800-square-foot first floor with
two bedrooms, and an optional
1,700-square-foot basement.
“We’re catering to a mature
audience who wants to downsize
from a large home, but still wants
quality materials and finishes on
the inside,” Bradley said. “They’ll
be able to lock up and go away for
weeks without having to worry
about exterior maintenance.”
Bradley said the community’s No.
1 attribute includes its proximity to
the hospital and local businesses.
Daryl said the five units will
be the last phase of a project that
started in 2006. With the new addi
tions, Candler Park Condominiums
will have a total of 28 units.
For more information about Can
dler Park Condominiums, contact
Gina Kendrick at 770-654-5698.
EGGS
■ Continued from 1A
just property owners but we
have a lot more people that
take advantage of the educa
tion process,” Dunahoo said.
Hawkins said ESPLOST,
a penny sales tax that funds
local schools, could be an
alternative funding source.
Protecting
community hospitals
The Certificate of Need
program is a Georgia Depart
ment of Community Health
program that evaluates pro
posals for new or expanded
health care services or facili
ties. The goal of the program
is to avoid duplication of ser
vices and improve access to
health care.
Hawkins said the program
was designed to protect the
investments of hospitals that
offer specialized services,
like The Heart Center of
Northeast Georgia Medical
Center. Community hospitals
suffer when private hospi
tals can afford to only treat
patients with insurance, he
said.
“If you have a private
entity, for-profit hospital or
clinic move in to the area and
treat only insured patients
and cash pay patients, then
they can effectively charge
less for the treatment
because they’re not charg
ing non-payers. That is very
harmful to our community
hospitals,” Hawkins said.
Miller also said hospitals
who treat indigent patients
should be protected, noting
the closures of several rural
hospitals that have forced
patients to travel to larger
cities to get health care.
Technology
Legislators were asked
about the possibility of wire
less companies putting small
cell antennae on poles to help
with capacity as demand
for high-speed internet
increases.
Dubnik said small cell
technology and rural broad
band were issues raised to
him frequently during the
most recent legislative ses
sion. In the past, there have
SHANNON CASAS I The Times
The convention center ballroom at Lanier Technical College’s new campus was
named the Kathryn L. “Kit” Dunlap Ballroom Thursday at the annual Eggs & Issues
breakfast put on by the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce.
Ballroom at new campus bears
name of chamber president
BY SHANNON CASAS
scasa@gainesvilletimes.com
The convention center ballroom at
Lanier Technical College’s new cam
pus is now the Kathryn L. “Kit” Dunlap
Ballroom.
The naming was announced Thurs
day at the annual Eggs & Issues break
fast put on by the Greater Hall Chamber
of Commerce and featuring the local
legislative delegation.
While most of the accolades during
the event were directed toward out
going Gov. Nathan Deal, he directed
some toward Dunlap as he announced
the president and CEO of the chamber
would be the namesake of the ballroom.
“I’m not very much at a loss for
words,” Dunlap told the crowd gathered
at the breakfast, “but thank you so much
for that honor, and I appreciate it.”
Dr. Ray Perren, president of Lanier
Tech, made a few remarks as the letters
above the ballroom were unveiled fol
lowing the breakfast.
been “two Georgias,” he said,
with metro Atlanta having
easier access to resources
than the rest of the state.
That is changing, but there
is still a discrepancy, he said.
Businesses, local govern
ments, schools and indus
tries such as health care
rely on broadband access, so
expanding access should be a
priority, Dubnik said.
Dunahoo said the neces
sary equipment could also be
installed underground so aes
thetics are less of a concern.
“It’s like beautiful Green
Street. Who wants to drive
and see a telephone pole with
little towers or little configu
rations on top of it?” Duna
hoo said.
SCOn ROGERS I The Times
Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce President and CEO
Kit Dunlap and Gov. Nathan Deal take the stage Thursday,
Dec. 13, at the Lanier Technical College conference
center during the annual Eggs & Issues breakfast.
Report: Plane hit
treetops before
inverting in crash
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@
gainesvilletimes.com
A plane struck the treetops
near Lee Gilmer Memorial
Airport Nov. 17 before it
crashed, killing the pilot and
seriously injuring the passen
ger, according to a National
Transportation Safety Board
preliminary report released
Dec. 11.
Robert Carlisle Alber-
hasky, 68, of Cumming died
after his 2015 Lancair Inter
national Legacy RG crashed
Saturday, Nov. 17.
Mark Lewis, 69, of Flow
ery Branch was also in the
plane and critically injured.
The plane departed
Charleston Executive
Airport in Charleston,
South Carolina en route to
Gainesville’s airport.
“A witness in an airplane
waiting to takeoff from
runway 23 saw the acci
dent airplane approach the
runway. He indicated that
he saw the landing lights,
which ‘became dim and they
appeared to roll 180 degrees’
before the accident,” accord
ing to the preliminary report.
Lewis reported the air
plane “suddenly became
inverted” but didn’t remem
ber other details.
When the two were
roughly a tenth of a mile
from the runway, the plane
struck treetops which were
about 50 feet tall.
Emergency personnel
discovered the single-engine
plane had fallen down an
embankment along Queen
City Parkway.
Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Jeremy Green, co-owner of Sliced, stands in his new
Gainesville location during the soft opening of Sliced on
Thursday, Dec. 13.
PIZZA
■ Continued from 1A
a bunch of things good, you
won’t do any of it good,” Ted
der said. “So, we went sim
ple and said, ‘If we can do
pizza, and do it really well,
that’s what we want.’”
People can purchase
individual sizes or opt for a
14-inch or 18-inch pizza.
Green said the restau
rant will use as many local
ingredients as possible
and sell beer from nearby
breweries.
He also intends to incor
porate eco-friendly habits
into Sliced by providing bio
degradable straws and recy
clable plates. Most of the
tables are upcycled pieces
made of scrap barn wood
from Tedder’s family prop
erty in Savannah.
Despite eating pizza
nearly every day, Green said
he never gets sick of it. Both
Green and Tedder relish
the pizza business and enjoy
sharing the same passion.
“I love seeing our other
stores that got busier every
week, every year and
packed every weekend,”
Tedder said. “It’s so simple
and effective with what peo
ple want. We’re just trying to
do one thing and focus on it.
It’s cool to see that pay off
and for people to get it.”
Sliced offers a variety of specialty pizzas including The Chief,
which is topped with pepperoni, sausage, onion, mushroom,
black olive and green peppers.
BADMINTON
■ Continued from 1A
shift, but there is potential
for them to be called out
during the day,” Johnson
said. “Hester does encour
age them to learn the layout
of the schools.”
The issue is the entire shift
was there, Johnson said,
leaving the county without
any officers on the road.
“(Patrol officers) will
often engage in smaller,
lower scale training like
traffic stops on slow nights,
especially with new recruits
and things of that nature,”
Johnson said. “It’s encour
aged as long as it doesn’t
interfere with their duties.”
An open records request
has been filed with Dawson
County Schools requesting
video of the incident.
With a standard of up to
five patrol officers on shift
at a time, the sheriff’s office
could be down most if not all
of a shift after the incident is
addressed.
“As your sheriff, I apolo
gize to our community for
this occurrence. We strive to
build trust within our com
munity, and unfortunately
incidents such as this serve
to undermine that trust,”
Johnson said. “I am very dis
appointed in this behavior as
I know it is not indicative of
our staff as a whole. I want
to reassure our community
that we truly have excep
tional professionals serving
our county.”
Superintendent Damon
Gibbs said Thursday he had
no comment on the incident.