About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 22, 2018)
North Hall boys basketball team pulls away from Johnson with 46-33 win. SPORTS, 1B SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2018 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Honestly Local Community benefits from overflow of Christmas joy Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times Joshua Hernandez of Gainesville and his son, right, Hezehaik, 3, prepare a load of toys from Toys for Tots for a family on Friday, Dec. 21. Toys for Tots nearly doubles donations from last year s haul BY KELSEY RICHARDSON krichardson® gainesvilletimes.com Packing a warehouse to the brim with gifts, Hall County’s Toys for Tots nearly doubled last year’s amount of donations. The number jumped from 753 to 1,300 families served through the fundraising efforts of various local businesses, organizations, churches and individuals in the community. Sponsored by Marine Corps League Detachment 665, people flooded into the warehouse next to Rockport Indoor Soccer off Atlanta Highway in Gainesville. Kristi Graham, coordinator ■ Please see TOYS, 6A Jose Pastor of Gainesville loads his car with toys from Toys for Tots on Friday, Dec. 21. Director: Funds for domestic violence shelter ‘within reach’ BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com The Christmas present Executive Director Jessica Butler was anxiously awaiting, along with the rest of the Gateway Domestic Violence Center staff, was funding from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines. After starting an application process earlier this year, the domestic violence center finally was awarded $720,000 through the bank’s Com petitive Affordable Housing Program. That money has put Butler and Gateway over the $2-million mark in its campaign for a new emergency shelter. Butler said the total stands at $2,020,876 as of Thursday, Dec. 20. “We feel like our goal of raising $2.5 million is now within reach,” she said. The shelter announced in March there was a contract in place on a property, as the center is hoping to have a minimum 15,000-square-foot facility with access to public transportation and job opportunities. At that time, the campaign known as “Gateway to 2020” had $1.12 million. “We’ve had another foundation award $100,000 in the last month and then we’ve had several individuals in the community send very generous gifts to get us to this point, ” Butler said. ■ Please see GATEWAY, 6A Meth found in woman’s pants, car during traffic stop BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com Agents conducting surveil lance and a traffic stop on two people led the officers to thousands of dollars worth of methamphetamine, according to authorities. Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad officers stopped a vehi cle Thursday, Dec. 20, driven by Jessica Ashley Clanton, 37, of Lula. Thomas De La Cruz, 33, of Buford, was a passenger in the car. Seven l-ounce bags of meth were found, including three on Clanton’s person, according to authorities. Officers had been ■ Please see METH, 6A Gainesville City Schools announce dates for student choice enrollment BY JOSHUA SILAVENT jsilavent@gainesvilletimes.com Gainesville City Schools has announced dates and deadlines for school choice enrollment for the 2019-20 academic year. Last February, the Board of Education unanimously approved a redrawing of attendance zones and divided elementary schools into two clusters — with parents choosing their child’s school within the cluster they are zoned. One cluster includes Centen nial, Fair Street, New Holland and Enota elementary schools. The other includes Mundy Mill and Gainesville Exploration academies. The changes allowed Gaines ville City Schools to expand pre kindergarten to all elementary schools beginning this school year. For classes beginning in the fall of 2019, a pre-K lottery sign-up will take place from Jan. 7-23 at the Gainesville School Board Office, 508 Oak St. The lottery drawing to determine student placement will take place on Jan. 24. Meanwhile, parents and guard ians wishing to register rising kin dergarten students can do so at the elementary school of their choice from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Jan. 8-22. Parents should bring a birth cer tificate, immunization form No. 3231, ears/eyes/dental certificate No. 3300, Social Security card (if available) and two proofs of resi dency documents, which can be any of the following: current lease/ mortgage/purchase agreement, current warranty or quit claim deed, current paycheck stub/IRS Form 1099, current homeowner’s insurance policy and a copy of a current (within 30 days) utility (gas, water, electric, cable/inter- net bill with service address) and photo identification of the parent and/or guardian. ■ Please see CHOICE, 6A INSIDE WEATHER 2A DEATHS 7A 0 40901 06835 Advice 5B Bridge 5B Business 3B Calendar 2A Classified 7B 8 Comics 6B Life 4B Lottery 2A Opinion 5A Our Region 6A Sports 1B TV/puzzles 5B High Low 49 35 level: 1,070.41 feet Full pool 1,071. 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