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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2018 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Honestly Local
Happy 200th birthday, Hall County
Namesake of signer of Declaration of Independence marks bicentennial today
BY KELSEY RICHARDSON
krichardson@gainesvilletimes.com
Today marks the 200-year anni
versary of the establishment of
Hall County.
Created on Dec. 15, 1818, in
a land lottery act, the county’s
boundaries were described origi
nally as the area lying southwest
of “a line to begin at a place
where Capt. John Miller now
lives on the Franklin County line,
running north 30 degrees west of
the Chattahoochee River, down
the same to the Gwinnett County
line.”
The county received its name
from Dr. Lyman Hall, who was
a governor, minister, physician
and signer of the Declaration of
Independence.
Officials celebrated the
bicentennial all year, install
ing sculptures and other exhib
its at the government center at
2875 Browns Bridge Road, and
hosting a free concert at Mule
Camp Market.
From the founding of Brenau
University as Georgia Baptist
Female Seminary in 1878, to the
filling of Lake Lanier in 1959, Hall
County has taken quite the jour
ney over the past two centuries.
Working on the railroad
Hall County jumped from a pop
ulation of around 8,245 in the 1820s
to 9,607 after Gainesville became
the terminus for the railroad line
in 1871.
The train mostly transported
products south, but the northbound
train to Gainesville was bringing
manufactured goods, labor and
money into the local economy.
Brenau University soon opened
years later in 1878, which added
to the beginnings of growth in the
area.
“From the booming of the rail
road is when Gainesville elected
its first police chief,” said retired
Gainesville Police Capt. Chad
White of Thomas Haney.
Lake Lanier becomes
tourist hub
For more than 50 years, Lake
Lanier has provided its visitors
with blue waters and endless lei
sure possibilities.
Over its lifetime the lake has
served people as a drinking water
source, tourist hotspot and a sport
ing venue for the 1996 Olympics.
Lake Lanier opened for busi
ness in 1957, welcoming more than
250,000 people. The lake was offi
cially filled in 1959, reaching 1,070
■ Please see BIRTHDAY, 6A
‘Fin here to serve and lead’
Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
New Lula Elementary principal Lynette Scheman began with Hall County Schools in 2001 teaching at McEver Elementary
before transferring to Jones Elementary School as instructional coach. In 2004, Scheman moved Lanier Elementary, to teach
and then become an instructional extension administrator.
New Lula Elementary principal finds joy in challenges
BY JOSHUA SILAVENT
jsilavent@gainesvilletimes.com
Lynette Scheman is not shy about tak
ing on new challenges. Those butterflies
she feels are just a sign that she cares.
“I was very nervous,” Scheman said
about walking into Lula Elementary
two weeks ago as the new principal.
“It’s a whole new environment.”
But Scheman has bounced around
enough, and taken on a number of
different roles, throughout her pro
fessional career as an educator that
moving to the top position at an unfa
miliar school still felt right.
“I was given lots of opportunities
along the way,” she said.
Those included teaching stints at
Jones, McEver and Lanier elementary
schools in the early 2000s.
Scheman taught kindergarten, first
grade and fifth grade, and served as
■ Please see PRINCIPAL, 6A
New Lula Elementary principal Lynette Scheman drops by the school’s media
center Friday Dec. 7, as third-grader Madi Browning and classmates learn coding.
Scheman began with Hall County Schools in 2001 teaching at McEver Elementary.
Jaemor Farms’
Echols recalls
fallen officer as
happy worker
Flores’ body being returned
to Habersham this morning
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Before Edgar Flores got his license, Jaemor
Farms’ Drew Echols would drive him home from a
hard day’s work.
On the way the two would talk,
and Echols learned about the
impressive young man who wanted
to become a police officer.
“You wouldn’t want to call him
an average Joe, because he’s much
better than an average Joe. He had
the same demeanor, he was always
happy and just a hard worker,”
Echols said.
Flores, 24, took gunfire while pursuing a man who
ran from a traffic stop on Candler Road in DeKalb
County near 1-20 about 5 p.m. Thursday, according
to police. He was shot multiple times when the man,
identified by the GBI as 33-year-old Brandon Taylor
of Decatur, pulled out a handgun.
Flores was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital,
where he was pronounced dead. He was at the begin
ning of his law enforcement career, hired by the
police department on May 8, 2017, and a graduate
of the Nov. 4,2017, police academy class, the county
said Friday morning in a statement.
Echols said Flores had worked on the farm at the
corn maze since he was roughly 15 years old, a young
man who was always good working with customers
and the community.
“Even at 15 years old, (he) worked with grown men
and kept up. He did a good job,” Echols said.
The two men last spoke in October when Flores vis
ited the corn maze and the market. Flores told Echols
about his new job and inquired about the farm.
Habersham County EMS Director Chad Black said
law enforcement will be bringing Flores’ body back
to Habersham County from the medical examiner’s
office around 10 a.m. today. The procession will
travel 1-985 and Highway 365.
■ Please see FLORES, 6A
‘You wouldn’t want to call him an
average Joe, because he’s much
better than an average Joe.’
Drew Echols, Jaemor Farms
Flores
Health system hopes to build Braselton surgery center
BY MEGAN REED
mreed@gainesvilletimes.com
The Northeast Georgia Health
System hopes to build a surgery
center at its Braselton hospital, with
the goal of opening the new medical
building in 2021 if the state approves
the proposal.
The ambulatory surgery center,
which would provide same-day
outpatient care, would be on the
first floor of a new medical build
ing behind Medical Plaza 1 on the
Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s
Braselton campus off of Friendship
Road.
Louis Smith, NGHS’ president of
system acute and post-acute opera
tions, said the multi-specialty center
would focus on general surgery,
spine care and orthopedics. Other
medical offices would be located in
the Medical Plaza 2 building as well.
Smith said plans for the Brasel
ton medical campus have always
included a surgery center, although
the need has arisen sooner than
anticipated. NGMC Braselton
opened in April 2015.
“When we developed the original
Braselton campus, there were ques
tions about what exactly the growth
rate would be and what would hap
pen in that community. That area
was certainly very different when
we embarked on our planning and
investments in that community,”
Smith said. “Not a whole lot existed
at that time. As we have gone
through our planning, the hospital
has grown much more rapidly than
the original planning expectations
were.”
The health system has filed a
certificate of need with the Georgia
Department of Community Health,
which evaluates proposals for new
medical facilities to avoid duplica
tion of services and help ensure that
needs are met in areas around the
state. NGHS is expecting to hear a
response to the application in March
and could officially begin the two-
year process then, with a tentative
opening date of spring 2021.
Smith said the health system has
made a 6 percent indigent care
commitment for the facility but will
likely exceed that number.
INSIDE
WEATHER 2A
DEATHS 7A
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Advice 5B
Bridge 5B
Business 8A
Calendar 2A
Classified 7B
8 Comics 6B
Life 4B
Lottery 2A
Opinion 5A
Our Region 6A
Sports 1B
TV/puzzles 5B
j. High Low
4^4. 53 44
Lake Lanier level: 1,070.74 feet
Full pool 1,071. Down 0.18 feet in 24 hours
Sarah Anderson, 77
Mary Beard, 76
Betty Borders, 82
Runette Cantrell, 78
Dianne Green, 69
George Osborn, 90
EliseWebb, 90
Ricky Wike, 44
Earl Worsham, 95
