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The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Sunday, December 30, 2018 3C
COLLINS
■ Continued from 1C
CSPAN I For The Times
This screen capture from C-SPAN shows Rep. Doug Collins shaking President Trump’s hand during the signing ceremony for the First Step Act at the
White House in Washington, DC, on Friday, Dec. 21,2018.
A prisoner who completes a pro
gram could receive time credits of
10 days for every 30 days of suc
cessful participation in a program.
“A prisoner determined by the
Bureau of Prisons to be at a mini
mum or low risk for recidivating,
who, over (two) consecutive assess
ments, has not increased their risk
of recidivism, shall earn an addi
tional (five) days of time credits
for every 30 days of successful par
ticipation in evidence-based recid
ivism reduction programming or
productive activities,” according
to the legislation.
Prisoners who committed vio
lent crimes, terrorism, certain
sexually-based offenses and some
drug distribution crimes are ineli
gible for the time credits.
Collins said the reform was a
result of “old-school” legislating,
where the House of Representa
tives worked to create the strongest
bill possible while collaborating
with the Senate and White House.
“We knew that the Senate was
a little bit further ahead on some
sentencing reforms and other
areas than the House was, so what
we did was provide the base bill for
prison reform and issues with time
credits to get it over to the Senate,
where we knew they would be
able to add some of the sentencing
provisions that we probably didn’t
want to start with in the House (of
Representatives),” Collins said, as
the House prepared for a version to
come back from the Senate.
A separate bill sponsored by Sen.
Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was intro
duced in the Senate in November,
which included language about
expanded judicial discretion on
mandatory minimum sentencing.
Another section included a “retro
active application” of the Fair Sen
tencing Act of 2010, which would
allow prisoners sentenced before
that act to petition the court for a
review in their case because of
the “100-to-l disparity in sentenc
ing between crack and powder
cocaine,” according to a fact sheet
by the Judiciary Committee.
Collins said he was “very pleased
with the product that came out.”
Collins lauded the work by the
state of Georgia and Hall County’s
accountability courts. Hall Coun
ty’s Drug Court began in 2001, and
the county’s suite of courts has now
expanded to include DUI Court,
Family Treatment Court and a Vet
erans Court.
GED
■ Continued from 1C
The Gainesville/Hall
County Alliance for Literacy
alone reports that it has helped
4,951 people attain their GEDs
between 1995 and 2016.
GED recipients have bet
ter prospects of higher-pay
ing work and, of course, the
opportunity to pursue post
secondary education.
However, the GED test
was redesigned in 2014, and
passing rates fell, perhaps,
correspondingly.
And the number of people
taking the exam dropped by
more than 50 percent.
The National Council of
State Directors of Adult Edu
cation reports that the addi
tion of two new high school
equivalency exams con
tributed to the decrease in
participation.
Earning her GED was a real
struggle, Kleinhardt admits.
Drug addiction, jail, family
treatment court, a child with
cancer. Homeless at eight
months pregnant. These have
been moments in her and her
partner’s lives.
“My whole life really just
turned upside down,” Klein
hardt said.
But it’s been flipped back,
mostly right side up - and not
just with a GED in hand, but
with Kleinhardt’s children at
home and a new hope she has
set to be the best example pos
sible for them.
“If I can do that, I’m sure I
can go through some college
courses,” she said.
Now enrolled at Brenau
University and ready for
classes to begin in January,
Kleinhardt intends to pursue a
degree in psychology.
She wants to help others
who have gone through the
same trials and tribulations
she has experienced.
“My dream job is to be a
drug and alcohol counselor,”
she said. “There are not near
enough counselors.”
Kleinhardt already is help
ing through mentoring and
sponsoring other women
in Alcoholics Anonymous
groups, she said.
Kleinhardt is also ready
for the challenges college will
bring, she said, because she
wants to be there. She wants to
be there for her two children
still at home, and she wants to
be there to chase the dreams
that have been on hold for too
many years.
“It makes me realize every
day what could have been,”
she said.
Kleinhardt’s advice to oth
ers thinking about pursuing a
GED or going back to college?
“It’s never too late,” she
said.
SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Jessica Kleinhardt and daughter Addysun Turner, 3, walk across the lawn while visiting Brenau University Dec. 18.
Lynching marker vandalized
for second time in five years
Associated Press
VALDOSTA - A marker
identifying the location of
one of the most gruesome
lynchings in Georgia his
tory has once again been
vandalized.
The Mary Turner and the
Lynching Rampage histori
cal marker was riddled with
bullet holes for the second
time in five years, The Val
dosta Daily Times reported.
In an email to the newspa
per Thursday, Mary Turner
Project coordinator Mark
Patrick George said the
marker was shot 13 times in
the last two to three months.
It was shot five times in July
2013.
The marker is dedicated
to 13 lynching victims killed
in Lowndes and Brooks
counties.
George said the Mary
Turner Project is offering a
$200 reward to anyone who
comes forward with infor
mation about the vandalism.
“Although there is little
our organization can do to
stop these acts of hatred,
and given we live in one of
the few states that does not
have hate crime laws, the
Mary Turner Project is con
tacting members of the press
and local elected officials
for your assistance,” George
said in an email.
Lowndes County Sheriff
Ashley Paulk said a deputy
met Thursday with George
to document the vandalism.
Investigators have no
leads regarding who shot the
sign or if the vandalism was
a targeted hate crime.
“You can’t really classify
it as attacking Mary Turn
er’s sign, so we can’t say if
it’s any kind of hate crime,”
Paulk said. “There’s no way
to prove it or accuse some
body of it.”
When the marker was
damaged five years ago, the
organization also offered a
$200 reward for additional
information, but no one
came forward.
George said neither inci
dent of vandalism comes as
a surprise, though he doesn’t
want to speculate it has any
ties to racism.
Mary Turner was eight
months pregnant when her
ankles were tied and she
was lynched by a mob at
the Lowndes-Brooks county
line in 1918. Her husband
was one of the 13 lynching
victims commemorated by
the marker. Turner’s outcry
over her husband’s death led
to her lynching.
“It’s interesting that this
has been a target at least
twice,” George said. “We
treat this as a sacred place
because this is where she
was killed, and this was
basically her tombstone
because her body was never
recovered. What people are
desecrating is basically a
tombstone.”
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Brent Hoffman
BERKSFIIRE HATHAWAY | Georgia Properties
Brent@BrentHoffman.com
Commercial Division
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