Newspaper Page Text
OUR REGION
Shannon Casas Editor in Chief | 770-718-3417 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
She Strnes
gainesvilletimes com
Sunday, December 23, 2018
Officials consider police substations
Gainesville authorities look at potential locations for patrol offices to boost presence
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
As the city’s population contin
ues to grow and traffic become
more congested, Gainesville
Police and city officials have
assessed the possibility of
spreading to two substations
from its Queen City Parkway
headquarters.
City Manager Bryan Lackey
said the city has worked with a
consultant and published the 2019
update to the Capital Improve
ments Element plan.
In terms of functional popula
tion — people who live and work
here — the city is expected to
increase from 93,061 in 2019 to
120,824 in 2039.
Lackey Martin
“In terms of police, what Chief
(Carol) Martin has sort of talked
about with the consultant is that as
we grow and get more congested,
having one central facility may
not be the best way to go,” Lackey
said.
Though Lackey and police offi
cials say the report is highly con
ceptual, it does list the potential of
creating two patrol offices in the
Ga. 53/Dawsonville Highway area
and the New Holland area. These
facilities could be co-located with
new fire stations.
The city collects impact fees
from developers of new projects
that can be used for new growth.
Lackey said these two corridors
are growing and are expected to
continue growing.
“There’s so much in (the report)
that we won’t collect enough in 10
years anyway to fund all those
projects. Just being on the list
makes it eligible for when we start
looking at a year’s capital projects
for the next year,” Lackey said.
Deputy Chief Jay Parrish, who
was named last week as Martin’s
successor, said he envisioned hav
ing the two patrol offices equipped
for the same services available at
the city’s headquarters.
That would include people
being able to meet with police offi
cers, picking up reports and the
processing of background checks.
“One of the main objectives if
we did this would be to cut down
on response times by having offi
cers that are dedicated to work
out of those precincts, and that
would be the main area that they
would respond from,” Parrish
said.
In 1990, the city made big moves
in its community-oriented policing
project by opening precincts in
the Gainesville housing projects
at Atlanta Street, Harrison Square
and Melrose.
Retired Capt. Chad White said
the project reduced crime in those
areas and helped build commu
nity relationships.
“Not only did it allow for us
to have more visibility in that
community (but it) cut down our
response time for calls for ser
vice,” White said.
Later on, the city would also
open up precincts in Lakeshore
Mall as well as the Shallowford
Road Target. Eventually those
would be shuttered, and former
Chief Brian Kelly ended the hous
ing project precincts in 2010.
Retired Chief Frank Hooper,
who preceded Kelly and retired
in 2009, said the precincts were
highly effective.
■ Please see POLICE, 3C
Hankering for dessert?
Love is All You Knead
Photos by KELSEY RICHARDSON I The Times
Endrick Ordonez, owner of Love Is All You Knead, prepares cheesecake ice-cream on Wednesday, Dec. 19.
New bakery
opens at Main
Street Market
BY KELSEY RICHARDSON
krichardson@
gainesvilletimes.com
Bacon-topped doughnuts,
Nutella crepes and rolled ice
cream have taken over a storefront
at the Main Street Market with the
opening of Love Is All You Knead.
Endrick Ordonez, the shop’s
owner, said he opened the first
Love Is All You Knead out of a food
truck four years ago in New York
City.
Wanting to move closer to his
family and branch out to the South,
Ordonez brought his business to
Georgia in January 2018.
His niece drew his attention to
an empty storefront at the Main
■ Please see KNEAD, 3C
The new Love Is All You Knead shop at the Main Street Market prepares all of its
doughnuts in under a minute.
EVAN VUCCII Associated Press
President Donald Trump speaks during a signing
ceremony for criminal justice reform legislation in
the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Dec. 21.
President signs
Collins’ bill on
justice reform
President Trump signed into law on Friday Con
gressman Doug Collins’ justice reform bill, the First
Step Act, a bill reminiscent of Georgia’s reforms
under Gov. Nathan Deal.
“The First Step Act invests in what Americans
value most fiercely — people. We know that lives
can be redirected and redeemed, and we’re com
mitting to doing that with tools that are proven to
work,” Collins said in a statement.
The bipartisan legislation, introduced by Col
lins and Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), passed the
House of Representatives with
overwhelming support, after the
Senate approved the bill 87-12 on
Tuesday.
The act sets up access to “men
tal health counseling, education,
vocational services and substance
abuse treatment needed to help
incarcerated individuals get
back on their feet and become
productive members of society,”
Jeffries said. “It also provides retroactive relief
for the shameful crack cocaine sentencing dis
parity that unfairly destroyed lives, families and
communities.”
Collins also credited the president’s son-in-law,
adviser Jared Kushner, with helping push the leg
islation through.
“Jared Kushner never lost sight... His courage to
take the political path less traveled has been instru
mental in delivering us here today,” Collins said.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Good-
latte also praised the bill’s passage.
“The First Step Act will help control corrections
spending, manage the prison population, reduce
recidivism, and ensure our system works more effi
ciently and justly, while also protecting our citizens
from violent criminals,” Goodlatte said.
Nate McCullough
Collins
‘Jared Kushner never lost sight
... His courage to take the
political path less traveled has
been instrumental in delivering
us here today.’
Rep. Doug Collins
R-Gainesville
Student organization spreads Christmas cheer to foster families
‘Our reason for this club is to create a
culture of giving back.’
Zelma Estrada
President, Community Awareness Group
BY KELSEY RICHARDSON
krichardson@
gainesvilletimes.com
Eight foster families in Hall
County received a Christmas
party Friday, Dec. 14, thanks
to the efforts of the Univer
sity of North Georgia’s Com
munity Awareness Group.
The student organization,
which is based on the col
lege’s Gainesville campus,
partnered with Cheddar’s,
LongHorn Steakhouse, Out
back Steakhouse and PPG
Paints to provide gifts and
dinner for the families.
During the party 15 chil
dren were presented with
gifts at Christ Church Place
in Flowery Branch.
Gabriela Miranda, the
group’s vice president, said
one of the foster mothers
told her that this year will be
the last Christmas she shares
with her twin girls before
they move back in with their
biological father.
“She expressed her grati
tude for the kind donation
of gifts, so her family could
enjoy one last Christmas
together filled with gifts,
love and bittersweet good
byes,” Miranda said in a
press release.
The Community Aware
ness Group began in August
2018 and already has plans to
hold more events this spring.
“Our reason for this club
is to create a culture of giv
ing back,” Zelma Estrada,
the organization’s president
said in a press release. “And
this Christmas party for fos
ter families was our way of
showing them how much
we appreciate and care for
them.”
The University
of North
Georgia’s
Community
Awareness
Club hosted
a Christmas
party for eight
foster families,
providing gifts
for 15 children.
Photo Courtesy
CLARK LEONARD,
UNIVERSITY OF
NORTH GEORGIA
For The Times
