WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19,2018 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Honestly Local
Deputy chief to lead Gainesville Police
BY MEGAN REED
mreed@gainesvilletimes.com
Deputy Chief Jay Parrish
of the Gainesville Police
Department will succeed
Chief Carol Martin in the top
role in the department when
Martin retires Jan. 31.
Parrish has been with the
department since 2000 and
is a lifelong resident of Hall
County. Martin announced
her retirement in October.
City Manager Bryan
Lackey announced the
appointment at Tuesday’s
City Council meeting.
Parrish said he is looking
forward to leading his home
town police department and
is grateful for the support he
has already gotten.
“It’s extremely exciting,”
Parrish said. “I’m deeply
humbled by the support
I’ve received from inside
the agency and the commu
nity. I have deep gratitude
to Chief Martin and Mr.
Lackey for their trust. ”
Parrish thanked Martin
for her leadership.
“Chief Martin set
the bar very, very
high, and I know
that we have the
best police depart
ment in the state of
Georgia,” Parrish
told councilmem-
bers Tuesday.
Parrish has pre
viously served as a patrol
officer, detective, training
division director and cap
tain of the Support Services
Bureau.
Lackey said when
searching for a new
police chief, he had
discussions with
Parrish about com
munity policing,
crisis response and
growth in the city.
During these discus
sions, Lackey said it
became clear that
Parrish was the right person
for the job.
“ I think it shows when any
community promotes from
within that there is a healthi
ness to the department,”
Lackey said. “I’m excited
about what Jay brings to the
department.”
Councilmembers said
Tuesday they also felt Par
rish would be a good fit for
the position.
“I contacted people in the
department. ‘Who do you
think deserves this post?’
Every single person that I
asked said you, and I did not
lead them,” Councilwoman
Barbara Brooks told Parrish
during the meeting. “That
speaks volumes, and I want
to thank you for having the
kind of personality, the kind
of work ethic, the kind of
leadership ability that peo
ple who work with you can
work for you.”
Councilman Sam Cou-
villon also said he trusted
that Parrish could lead the
department well.
“One thing that I’ve
learned about this police
department is that when
■ Please see CHIEF, 6A
Parrish
Bringing a truckload of style
SCOn ROGERS I The Times
The Cali mobile Boutique owner JayDe Ramos, right, helps Sharon Combs, left, and Sara Turner with clothing items
at West Hall High Tuesday, Dec. 18. The boutique filled with women’s fashions visited the school to raise money for
the school’s volleyball program.
Fashion and fundraising, Boutique Bus offers clothes on the go
BY KELSEY RICHARDSON
krichardson@gainesvilletimes.com
After three years of selling clothes
online, JayDe Ramos of Gaines
ville decided she was tired of being
stationary.
In December 2017 she added
wheels to her business and become
a fashion nomad, traveling around
Georgia in her indisputably teal vehi
cle called The Boutique Bus.
“It’s really the interaction that I
love so much from the customers,”
Ramos said. “It’s fun watching peo
ple’s reaction when they come in, and
seeing them be so excited. I can never
give it up.”
Also named Cali Boutique, the bus
can be spotted around Hall County
and the Atlanta area.
Throughout the week Ramos
drives with her husband Aldo to fes
tivals, events and schools. Because
most cities and counties have laws for
selling items out of a vehicle, Ramos
said parking her shop can prove chal
lenging. Even though her business
is licensed and insured, it has been
turned away from specific locations.
When in Hall County, people can
either find the bus at a local festival
or school. The boutique’s schedule is
accessible on her website.
Being a store on wheels, Ramos
said she has been forced to accept
inevitable maintenance issues.
“You have to roll with it,” she said.
“It’s not normal, things move and we
need to take time to fix it up.”
When Ramos and her husband
first started driving the bus to ven
ues, racks snapped out of place and
items moved inside the bus. Through
trial and error the two eventually
designed the bus in a way that suited
the on-the-go nature of the business.
It includes central heating and air,
which people find welcoming during
■ Please see BOUTIQUE, 6A
Bond denied
for man accused
in murder case
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Sitting a few rows back and to the right of Christopher
Vargas-Zayas, Susan Andrews and family wore pins bearing
the face of Carly Andrews.
As she waited for Hall County Superior
Court Judge Clint Bearden to rule on a
potential bond for Vargas-Zayas, who was
charged with malice murder in the fatal
shooting of Andrews, Susan Andrews said
she was afraid “he was going to get out.”
“I’m afraid to go out on my front porch.
I’ve been since this happened,” said Susan
Andrews, Carly’s mother. “I’m afraid that
somebody’s going to hurt us.”
Authorities were called at about 2 p.m. Sept. 6 to the
apartment on Norton Drive in Gainesville where Vargas-
Zayas and Andrews lived together. Andrews had suffered a
single gunshot wound to the chest; she died at the hospital.
Bearden ultimately decided not to grant
a bond Tuesday, Dec. 18, for Vargas-Zayas.
Defense attorney David West said his
client asserted this was an accidental
shooting, though he hasn’t received any
discovery in the case. During the hearing,
West asked the judge to grant a reason
able bond so his client may potentially
stay with his mother in Puerto Rico or his
father locally.
“I thought the judge was going to bite
on it because he asked about the passport
question. We were more than willing to surrender the pass
port so any concerns about him going anywhere else were
allayed,” West said.
The prosecution and the judge raised questions about
both options, including the added difficulty of bringing
someone to court from Puerto Rico or the potential risk of
intimidating witnesses here in Hall County.
“If there was a threat, they should have put it up there
and let us hear that person say what it was. I don’t believe
that for a minute,” West said.
Susan Andrews described her daughter as “one of the
sweetest kids in the world.”
“She did anything for anybody, and you couldn’t get mad
at her because of that laugh and that smile she had,” Susan
Andrews said.
Carly’s mother said Vargas-Zayas and Andrews were
in a relationship for roughly three years, though she had
learned troubling details about their time together since the
shooting.
“We kept trying to tell her, ‘Leave him, Carly. Leave
him.’ But there was something that made her stay there,”
Susan Andrews said, adding that she felt Vargas-Zayas was
controlling.
West argued Vargas-Zayas had a “minimal at most” like
lihood of committing any crime while on bond and had no
risk of fleeing.
Bearden ruled against bond but said he would likely
reconsider if the case began to drag.
Andrews
Vargas-Zayas
Pilcher to make ‘positive difference’ in new planning board role
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Going from community
activist to Hall County Plan
ning Commission member
won’t be a stretch for South
Hall’s Gina Pilcher.
“I would really like to
make a positive difference
in the growth that we know
is inevitable in Hall County,”
she said Tuesday, Dec. 18.
“We need to work on quality
growth and try to find a fair
balance.”
Pilcher, 57, was appointed
Thursday, Dec. 13, by the
Hall County Board of Com
missioners to fill a vacant
seat on the planning board.
The planning board lost
a veteran member this
month, when Chairman Don
Smallwood retired after 21
years.
The planning board,
which makes recommenda
tions on rezoning matters to
the Board of Commission
ers, will vote on a
new chairperson at
its Jan. 7 meeting,
according to Sri-
kanth Yamala, the
county’s planning
director.
Before Pilcher, a
Hall County native,
got involved in
community affairs,
she was “a small business
owner, full-time mom, in
the car going in circles, that
kind of thing. I had other
things to pay atten
tion to.”
And then came
Martin Road.
The Georgia
Department of
Transportation’s
plans to build an
interchange off
Interstate 985
between Flow
ery Branch and Oakwood
ignited a “Stop Exit 14”
movement and otherwise a
huge outcry from residents,
including Pilcher.
“It was an eye-opening
experience,” she said. “I’ve
spent the last 2'h years
attending different meet
ings getting a feel for what’s
going on in other places,
what the options are, what
other people think.”
The Martin Road situa
tion evolved into a group
of residents, Martin Road
Stakeholders, meeting with
county officials to work
out differences.
Even though the inter
change project moved for
ward, and is now well under
construction, the county
removed a project to widen
to four lanes Martin Road
from Falcon Parkway/
Ga. 13 to Winder Highway.
Officials also agreed to put
up stop signs and install a
roundabout on Martin.
Pilcher has moved on to
■ Please see PILCHER, 6A
Pilcher
□
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Lake Lanier level: 1,070.53 feet
Full pool 1,071. Down 0.13 feet in 24 hours
DEATHS 7A
Sarah Charlotte Eberhardt Banks, 94
Lucille Powers Buechler, 96
Jerome Mack Caudill, 74
Betty Jean Funk, 89
Willie Samuel Guffin Jr., 85
Cleveland Harris Haughton, 90
Paul Allen Jones Jr., 80
Harold Francis Kowalske II, 71
Manita Hansford Lynch, 95
Braganza Forrester Pitchford, 89
John Dean Pritchard, 83
Wayne Dale Rainwater, 72
