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The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Sunday, December 30, 2018 5A
SCOn ROGERS I The Times
Gov. Nathan Deal announced the coming inland port to be
built at Gateway Industrial Centre off Ga. 365 in Hall County
during a press conference at the Lanier Flight Center Monday,
Dec. 3, at Gainesville’s Lee Gilmer Memorial Airport.
ECONOMY
■ Continued from 1A
This year brought the unveiling of the new Lanier Techni
cal College campus on Ga. 365, as well as the announcement
that an inland terminal would be constructed at the Gateway
Industrial Centre to serve the Port of Savannah’s reach into
Northeast Georgia.
The chamber report also notes how health care provid
ers continue to be a huge economic driver in Gainesville-
Hall County, with 373 service providers employing more
than 12,500 individuals and providing nearly $750 million in
annual wages.
New medical office developments are planned in Gaines
ville, Oakwood, Flowery Branch and Braselton.
And small businesses remain the heart of local industry.
The chamber reports that 99 percent of the 4,417 busi
nesses registered in Hall County are categorized as small,
using the Small Business Administration’s definition of fewer
than 500 employees. And about 97 percent of organizations
employ fewer than 50 people.
Local public and private schools, colleges and universities
also contribute a healthy amount to the region’s economy.
Brenau University now is managing the Business Incuba
tor at Featherbone Communiversity, for example.
The chamber also notes that 2019 will see the completion
of several traffic improvement projects for Gainesville and
Hall County, which can boost commerce, including work on
U.S. 129 south of Gainesville, a new Tumbling Creek Bridge,
and the new Exit 14 interchange on Interstate 985.
Holiday shopping season
Americans buoyed by a strong economy pushed holiday
shopping growth to a six-year high in 2018, with retail sales
rose 5.1 percent between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24 from one year
ago, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracked
spending online and in stores across all payment types,
including those who paid by cash or check.
Total sales topped $850 billion this year, Mastercard said.
Online sales continued to grow, as well, up more than 19
percent from a year ago. Last week, Mastercard said online
sales made up 13 percent of total retail sales.
Clothing sold well this year, up nearly 8 percent from last
year, the biggest growth for apparel sales since 2010. And
home furniture sales rose 2.3 percent, while electronics and
appliances slipped 0.7 percent.
Shoppers spent less at department stores, which Master
card said was partly due to store closings.
But shoppers did head to the websites of department
stores, where sales rose 10.2 percent, Mastercard said.
Traditional retailers have been updating their websites
and smartphone apps, as well as making it easier for shop
pers to buy online and then pick up their items in store.
Is an economic slowdown coming?
Now, the (potentially) bad news.
The stock market’s volatility this year has some small
business owners deciding to run their businesses more cau
tiously, according to the Associated Press.
Consumer spending and the economy are strong and many
businesses report all is well. But some owners are worried
because their customers are spending less.
Some owners are thinking of taking fewer risks. One
concern is that the gyrations are a harbinger of recession;
investors tend to buy and sell based on what they think the
economy will do in six to nine months.
And while the market has been right before — as in mid-
2007, when it began falling half a year before the Great
Recession began — it’s not foolproof.
Chester Spatt, a finance professor at Carnegie Mellon
University’s Tepper School of Business, notes that when the
market crashed in October 1987, “that fall was not really
associated with a material change in business.”
Still, when there’s volatility, “businesses may react, for
example by reducing their orders in advance,” Spatt says.
Most economists note that surveys and more-reliable eco
nomic data point to a slowdown in capital spending growth
next year.
Capital investment did increase markedly in the first
half of this year, probably in part because Trump’s tax cuts
sharply reduced corporate taxes.
But the most recent data suggests investment will slow, not
accelerate, next year.
U.S. factory orders for large capital goods have fallen in
three of the past four months.
Surveys by regional Federal Reserve banks show that
companies are planning to spend less on capital equipment
next year.
That’s one reason many economists forecast economic
growth will slow in 2019 from a pace of about 3 percent this
year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Photos by AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Candice Easton, Cornelssen’s daughter, hugs retired Major
General Marvin Back during a celebration of life for Cornelius
Cornelssen VIII, a World War II veteran, at Flowery Branch
Masonic Lodge 212 on Saturday, Dec. 29. “Ever since I
stepped into my father’s life — remember, I was just this little
girl, so I wasn’t somebody he told a whole lot of stories to
— I realize every time my dad was with veterans or veterans
are together, they have a certain, very strong, bond and
camaraderie,” Easton said. “There’s a brotherhood, and it
matters. They matter to each other,” said Easton.
A crowd of people applaud following remarks during a
celebration of life for Cornelius Cornelssen VIII, a World War II
veteran, at Flowery Branch Masonic Lodge 212 on Saturday,
Dec. 29. Cornelssen was awarded a Bronze Star for “exemplary
conduct in ground combat against the armed enemy” during
the Rhineland Campaign in early 1945. He earned two Purple
Hearts for his war wounds in Luxembourg and Arracourt, in
northern France.
VET
■ Continued from 1A
1983 to 2011 and said he didn’t want to be one of those
people that let busyness get in the way of something
important.
“I’ve seen times when her fears were realized,”
Hemphill said of Easton’s worry that no one would be
there to honor her father. “We’re losing so many World
War II-era veterans and so many people don’t under
stand the sacrifice and the things that they did. Why
we are the way we are in the world today is because of
those folks.”
Speaking directly to Cornelssen, as if he was standing
in the crowd Saturday, retired Major General Marvin
Back said he, along with everyone else, was there to
honor him for his courage and devotion to duty.
“We’re here today to pay our respects to a superb
American warrior. Rest in Peace, comrad. You shall
not be forgotten,” he said as the crowd began to applaud
and shouts of “oorah” rang out.
Joseph Schrage, a Boy Scout from Buford, looked
on and listened to everything being said and the reac
tions of those around him. He stood with his grandfa
ther, Larry Lindgren, who was in town from Orange,
Texas, for the holidays, and although Schrage couldn’t
see over the adults that surrounded him, he knew the
importance of what was happening.
“I thought this would be an incredible experience,
helping honor a veteran,” Schrage said. “It’s really
made me respect that man. It’s incredible what he did.
That’s a lot of hard work that he must have put in, and
how he kept positive through everything.”
Not only did Cornelssen keep positive after his time in
the Army, he kept serving. That’s what a few of Easton’s
friends, who are teachers, remembered most about
him as they milled around outside the lodge, waiting to
speak to Easton.
They said Cornelssen would come to White Oak Ele
mentary School where they were teaching and read to
the first-grade students. He wouldn’t just read the pic
ture books, though, he would talk to the students, and
make sure they understood what he was reading to
them.
“I think it’s huge that he continued to serve his com
munity into his 90s,” said Lori Plaskowsky of Suwanee.
“I think that’s very powerful, and I think that speaks to
the kind of person he was. ”
As the crowd thinned out and the cars that lined the
streets around the lodge began to drive away, Easton
said she felt uplifted at the turnout. She said her father
was “a really happy guy” who told a lot of jokes, so hav
ing a sad remembrance of him “just wouldn’t have been
appropriate.”
She was proud the celebration of life Saturday ended
up being exactly what she thought he would have
wanted.
“I saw a lot of smiling faces,” Easton said. “I don’t like
to trouble other people, I don’t like to ask other people
for help. The one time I was vulnerable, strangers, peo
ple I didn’t even know reached out to comfort me and
make it OK and that’s pretty amazing about life. ”
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