I2J OUR REGION
Shannon Casas | Editor in Chief
770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Monday, December 17, 2018
FOOD
■ Continued from 1A
Services set for fallen officer
across our country,” Perdue
said in a statement.
But, he added, the bill is “not
perfect.”
“It fails to make common-
sense changes that would help
put Americans receiving food
assistance back to work,” Per
due added. “However, I am
encouraged by the willingness
of President Trump and Agri
culture Secretary (Sonny) Per
due to deal with this issue.”
Republicans had sought to
tighten eligibility by expanding
work requirements for recipi
ents up to 59 years of age from
49 years, and also parents with
children ages 6 to 12.
Had these proposals been
included in the bill, it could
have affected up to 1.1 mil
lion households receiving food
assistance, according to an esti
mate by Mathematica Policy
Research.
About 9 percent of house
holds in Hall County receive
food stamps, according to U.S.
census 2017 one-year estimates.
Across Georgia, about 1.7
million people use food stamps,
and about one in eight of all
Americans use the program.
According to the Georgia
Budget and Policy Institute, 45
percent of recipients in Geor
gia are children, 18 percent are
elderly or disabled, and 23 per
cent live in rural areas.
Adding eligibility require
ments, the left-leaning GBPI
argues, fail to “recognize the
steep barriers low-income
people must overcome to find
work.”
‘It fails to make
common-sense
changes that
would help
put Americans
receiving food
assistance back to
work. ’ Sen. David Perdue
Man trapped
under vehicle,
killed Sunday
A man was trapped under a
commercial vehicle and killed
Sunday afternoon in southeast
Hall County.
The 47-year-old victim was
found deceased at about 4 p.m.
Dec. 16 in the 7300 block of
Berry Hill Drive. His name has
not been released, pending noti
fication of family.
The Hall County Sheriff’s
Office, Hall County Coroner’s
Office and Georgia’s Motor Car
rier Compliance Division are
investigating, but the incident
appears accidental, according
to preliminary information.
The cab of the truck appeared
to be unoccupied.
Compiled from a Hall County
Sheriff’s Office press release
Person who fled
traffic stop arrested
A person who fled from a
Hall County Sheriff’s Office
deputy during an attempted
traffic stop was taken into cus
tody Sunday, Dec. 16, sheriff’s
1st Lt. Chris Dale said.
He had no other immediate
details.
“We will probably be able to
get something more detailed
out once all the reports come
in,” Dale said.
The pursuit began after the
driver ran a stop sign at 3:17
p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15.
Dale said the driver “ditched
the car shortly after” and was
on the run near Holly Springs
Road and Skitts Mountain Road
in Clermont.
A K-9 unit was used to track
the driver, and Georgia State
Patrol assisted with troopers on
the ground and a unit in the air
Saturday until about 6 p.m.
Jeff Gill
Missing man with
dementia found safe
An 89-year-old Gainesville
man who had been reported
missing was found safe in South
Carolina, Gainesville Police
Sgt. Kevin Holbrook said Sun
day, Dec. 16.
The Gainesville Police
Department had said Alfred
Wheeler Ringer, 89, of Gaines
ville, was last seen driving a
car around 10 a.m. Dec. 15.
Ringer has dementia, the police
department said.
Jeff Gill
Funeral services are
scheduled this week for
DeKalb County police offi
cer Edgar Isidro Flores.
Law enforcement
escorted his body from
DeKalb to Habersham
County on Saturday,
including along Interstate
985 through Hall County,
where people lined the
highway to honor his service.
The 24-year-old took gunfire
Dec. 13 while pursuing a man who
ran from a traffic stop on Candler
Road in DeKalb, accord
ing to police. He was shot
multiple times and pro
nounced dead at Grady
Memorial Hospital in
Atlanta.
He is survived by family
in Cornelia and Baldwin.
Visitation is scheduled
6-8 p.m. Monday, Dec.
17, at Whitfield Funeral
Home, North Chapel, in Demorest.
A funeral service will be held at
Prince of Peace Catholic Church in
Flowery Branch at 11 a.m. Wednes
day, Dec. 19. Interment will follow
at Yonah Memorial Gardens. An
earlier funeral service is planned
11 a.m. Dec. 18 at All Saints Catho
lic Church in Dunwoody.
Flores had been hired by the
metro Atlanta police force in May
2017.
At roughly age 15, Flores began
working for Jaemor Farms in Alto.
Jaemor’s Drew Echols on Friday
remembered Flores telling him of
his dream to be a police officer.
Echols recalled he was a happy
and hard worker at the farm.
“Even at 15 years old, (he)
worked with grown men and kept
up. He did a good job,” Echols said.
Friend Carina Trejo, who came
Saturday to watch the procession
on 1-985, also remembered him as
“always happy.”
“He was so humble, he loved
to help out people, he was always
there when I needed him,” she
said.” I’m just going to miss him a
lot.”
Shannon Casas, Nick Watson and
Layne Saliba contributed
Flores
Courtesy Jimmy Smith, Hall County Schools
Russell Rego received an honorary diploma from North Hall High at the Hall County Board of Education meeting on Monday, Dec. 10. The
Marine Corps veteran attended the school before joining the Marine Corps in 1972 and serving until 1993.
School honors veteran with diploma
‘We’re not giving anybody anything.
These individuals (like Rego) gave of
themselves so that we can enjoy what we
enjoy today. They’ve earned every bit of
the diploma. It is our honor. Thank you
for your service.’
Will Schofield, Hall County Schools superintendent
BY JOSHUA SILAVENT
jsilavent@gainesvilletimes.com
Russell Rego has appeared in
the pages of The Times on a few
occasions in recent years.
In 2014, he discussed, along
with his wife, Delia, the men
tal health and substance abuse
struggles many military veter
ans face today.
In 2016, Rego brought to the
public’s attention his fight for
tax relief for disabled vets like
himself.
The next year, the Russell
D. Rego USMC Act passed the
Georgia House of Representa
tives. It has since stalled in the
Senate, but if it passes it would
allow qualified disabled veter
ans to file for a three-year ret
roactive reimbursement of the
Disabled Veteran Homestead
Tax Exemption.
To qualify, honorably dis
charged Georgia veterans must
own the home and use it as a pri
mary residence.
The exemption extends to
surviving spouses who haven’t
remarried and minor children
as long as they remain in a home
in the same county.
Now, as 2019 approaches,
Rego has more news to share.
Earlier this month, he was
awarded an honorary diploma
from North Hall High, where
he had attended school before
enlisting in the Marine Corps.
“It’s truly a special honor,”
he said before the Hall County
Board of Education on Dec. 10.
“Fifty-six years I’ve waited to
receive this.”
Rego never did return to fin
ish high school and graduate.
Instead, he served from 1972
to 1993, including in Vietnam
during the last months of the
war, leaving shortly before the
fall of Saigon. He was later sta
tioned in South Korea.
Rego also raised a family,
with his two now-grown children
attending North Hall High. And
he now has grandchildren, too.
His service to the community
and the nation left an unmis
takable impression on Hall
County Schools Superintendent
Will Schofield.
“This is about as special as it
gets,” he said.
The state allows individuals
who left school to serve in for
eign wars to receive honorary
diplomas.
Schofield said Rego had
earned his diploma through his
sacrifices for Americans.
“We’re not giving anybody
anything,” he said. “These indi
viduals (like Rego) gave of them
selves so that we can enjoy what
we enjoy today. They’ve earned
every bit of the diploma. It is
our honor. Thank you for your
service.”
Rego posed for pictures with
his wife, daughter, son-in-law
and grandchildren while those
in attendance gave him a stand
ing ovation.
But Rego, like a true service
man, shifted the focus to his
wife, who he said had “put up”
with him for 40 years.
“If there’s a medal for wives
of military people, she’d get the
highest one,” Rego said.
DOWNTOWN
■ Continued from 1A
JEFF GILL I The Times
A mixed-use development is still in the works at the old Cooper Pants Factory site off Maple and
Broad streets in downtown Gainesville.
150 market-rate apartments in floors above.
“We feel like these future residents will be
able to walk to everything they need,” Knight
said at the announcement. “The time is right for
both of these projects. We’re very excited about
getting started. We’re thankful to the city for
giving us this opportunity.”
The Cooper Pants factory site holds a place in
history, as well.
The factory was caught up in a 1936 tornado
that devastated downtown, killing more than
200 people. The twister caused the factory to
collapse, sparking a fire that trapped and killed
about 70 workers, mostly young women. A his
toric marker was placed on the site in October
2014.
Knight also is developing Parkside on the
Square off Main and Spring streets. That project
features 15,000 square feet in street-level retail
and 32 luxury condominiums filling the four
floors above the retail.
Parkside would sit on what is now a parking
lot occupying the fourth side of the square.
Construction also has been underway for sev
eral months on a $12 million, 60,000-square-foot,
four-story building that would house Carroll
Daniel’s new headquarters.
The first floor of the building off Main Street
at Jesse Jewell Parkway will be open for retail,
restaurant and office space.
Carroll Daniel will occupy the second and
third floors, and the fourth floor will feature
recreational and meeting space uses with a
rooftop deck.
As part of the downtown work, two floors are
being added to the parking deck on Main Street.
The first three floors reopened in November,
and the remaining three floors are set to be
open in January.
When the project is complete, the deck will
have 180 new spaces, bringing the total to about
600. The fifth floor of the expanded parking
deck will have 64 spots set aside for Parkside
residents.
FOREST
■ Continued from 1A
Davis, executive director of The Nature Conser
vancy in Georgia, said in a statement.
According to The Conservation Fund, the
act “will help to streamline land management,
better protect key habitats, and enhance recre
ational access for hunting, fishing and hiking.”
U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., said the
act will also update some park boundaries to
improve recreational access and support its
economic impact on the region.
“Northeast Georgians have always been
thoughtful stewards of their beautiful land
scape, and the Chattahoochee-Oconee National
Forest Land Adjustment Act will expand their
opportunities to hunt, fish, hike and care for
local forests,” U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gaines-
ville, said in a statement. “On behalf of the
Georgians who spend their time and make their
living using our state’s forests, I’m thankful that
my friend David Perdue and I were able to
bring these improvements to land management
over the finish line.”
