About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 15, 2018)
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 0 40901 06835 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
