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L2J OUR REGION
Nate McCullough | News Editor
770-718-3431 | news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Thursday, June 27, 2019
GAINESVILLE
Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Gainesville Fire Department’s Jess Clark adds foam to hot spots Wednesday, June 26, at a home destroyed by fire on
Maple Forge Lane in Gainesville.
Two escape early morning fire
Two people escaped a
house fire early Wednes
day morning, but the house
is a total loss.
Gainesville firefighters
were called at about 5 a.m.
June 26 to the house in the
3000 block of Maple Forge
Lane off Mountain View
Road.
The fire had reached the
roof by that point, and as it
moved through the attic,
the attic collapsed into
the interior of the home
causing the fire to spread
farther, Gainesville Fire
spokesman Keith Smith
said.
The residents had heard
their smoke detectors and
evacuated after finding
heavy smoke in the home,
Smith said. They will be
staying with family nearby,
Smith said.
It appears the fire
started in a basement
garage; the fire marshal’s
office will investigate the
cause.
Shannon Casas
Driver may
have dozed
off in wreck
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
The driver in a two-vehicle wreck Wednesday, June
26, may have fallen asleep while driving, according to
authorities.
Georgia State Patrol responded after 11 a.m. Wednes
day to Jesse Jewell Parkway east of East Avenue, where
Maya Sims, 20, of Gainesville, was heading eastbound in
the inside lane in a Nissan Sentra.
Kristopher Armour, 48, of Gillsville, was driving a Ford
F350 belonging to the Hall County Board of Education
westbound in the inside lane.
Cpl. Major Patterson said Sims failed to maintain lane
on a curve and struck Armour on the front driver’s side in
the westbound inside lane.
“(Sims) is believed to have fallen asleep while driving
and was issued citations for driver to exercise due care
and failure to maintain lane,” Patterson wrote in an email.
Both drivers were taken by ambulance to North
east Georgia Medical Center with injuries deemed not
life-threatening.
Hall County officials did not return a request for com
ment regarding the incident.
Courtesy United Methodist Church
This artist’s rendering shows the concept for a new
church building McEver Road United Methodist Church
has proposed off McEver Road at Gainesville Street in
Flowery Branch.
CHURCH
■ Continued from 1A
“It just seems to me that
the property owner is miss
ing out on a higher and bet
ter use for that site, with
the availability of sewer,”
Andrew said.
The Hall County Board
of Commissioners voted
Tuesday, June 25, to
approve a rezoning for the
boat and RV storage.
The Rev. Rob Bruce,
McEver Road UMC’s pas
tor, said the church appre
ciates “the opportunity to
meet with the city officials
for them to hear our story
and vision.”
He added: “We believe
the contributions we can
make to the community’s
quality of life have the
potential to be priceless
and that we will be prof
itable to the community
in ways that cannot be
accomplished by another
gas station or convenience
store.”
Ultimately, it’s an issue
“for them to decide and
we will respect their deci
sion,” Bruce said. “We too,
want what is best for the
community.”
DIRECTOR
■ Continued from 1A
city,” she said. “It’s like you’re in a nature center in the
middle of the woods.”
Walkability is a trend in recreation, and trails are
becoming more popular. Mattison said she is looking
forward to working to expand Gainesville’s options.
“Everybody wants a walkable community and walk-
able neighborhoods. It’s an overall goal nationwide,”
she said. “.. We have already been working on it, so
now I just get to be a part of it.”
Lake Lanier Olympic Park is set to officially become
a city park on July 1, and Mattison said the city will
work with the park’s foundation to make some improve
ments, including renovations such as new restrooms.
“We’re working through the details, but we’re really
excited about it. .. What can we do to improve the
overall look of the park and attract more visitors?”
SCOn ROGERS I The Times
Kate Mattison, left, meets with aquatics manager
Shannon Parris at Frances Meadows Aquatic Center.
she said. “They already have a ton of really awesome
things going on, but how can we help promote it the
rest of the way?”
Man accused of child cruelty
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A Gainesville man
was accused of leav
ing severe bruises on
a 14-year-old girl after
beating her with a belt,
according to authorities.
Diego Jorge Diego, 35,
was charged with first-
degree child cruelty.
Hall County Sher
iff’s Office Lt. Scott
Ware said deputies
were called out Monday,
June 24, to a residence on
Williams Street.
“Mr. Diego had beaten his
minor daughter ... with a belt,
on her back, leaving
severe bruising and
visible marks,” Ware
wrote in a news release.
The deputies
arrested Diego and
booked him in to the
Hall County Jail, where
he is being held without
bond.
No attorney informa
tion was listed for Diego
Wednesday, June 26, with Mag
istrate Court.
Diego
AUSTIN STEELE I The Times
Carolyn Layfield, a volunteer with Meals on Wheels, has her
fingerprints taken by Stephanie Hood, volunteer coordinator
at Meals on Wheels, during a background check at the
Community Service Center in Gainesville on Wednesday,
June 26.
CHECK
■ Continued from 1A
requirement,” Phillippa
Lewis Moss, director of
Gainesville-Hall County
Community Services, told
local volunteers in an email
last week shared with The
Times.
For several years, advo
cates for the aging and dis
abled pushed for Georgia
lawmakers to create such a
registry and extend finger
print background checks to
not just owners of personal
care homes and assisted-
living communities, as well
as private home care provid
ers, but also to employees
(and applicants) working
directly with patients.
The fingerprint back
ground checks primarily
look to flag people convicted
of sexual offenses, theft or
forgery, drug use or distribu
tion, or negligence in caring
for the elderly or children.
But implementing the
background check program
for volunteers has become
a daunting task, Moss said,
with legitimate privacy con
cerns for unpaid volunteers.
“I imagine that for some
of you, this new process
might occur as a bit offen
sive, or a time-consuming
burden, while others
may be pleased with the
increased level of secu
rity,” Moss said in the
email. “Wherever you
fall in the spectrum of
reactions, please know that
we greatly value who you
are and what you do for this
community.”
Moss said she understands
that Meals on Wheels may
lose some volunteers given
the privacy concerns that
accompany background
checks.
“They’re already giving
quite a bit with their heart,”
she said in an interview.
And recruiting volun
teers is already a constant
challenge.
Allan Fields, a seven-year
volunteer with Meals on
Wheels who is also a part of
the program’s “leadership
council,” said he expects
the fingerprint background
checks to result in the loss
of some volunteers, making
recruitment an even bigger
chore.
About 350 volunteers is an
ideal number to serve the
approximately 400 clients
Meals on Wheels volunteers
will serve in Hall County
alone each year while dis
tributing roughly 100,000
meals.
But as a former “military
man” and Vietnam War vet
eran, Fields said the finger
print background check was
“not a big deal to me.”
On a recent afternoon, he
and a few other volunteers
were among the first to have
their fingerprints taken.
Stephanie Hood, the
Meals on Wheels coordina
tor for Gainesville and Hall
County, entered each per
son’s information, pulled
from their driver’s license
or photo identification, into
a database.
Fingerprints are taken
using an electronic scanner
that requires only a little
moisture on the tips of the
fingers, but no ink.
Each finger is pressed and
rolled to ensure accuracy,
but there is no palm print
required. Results should be
returned within about two
days.
Hood said the process
is just getting started, with
about 260 more Meals
on Wheels volunteers to
schedule.
Carolyn Layfield, who
has volunteered for 19
years, described the pro
cess as easy and seamless.
Layfield said she had pre
viously been fingerprinted
for her gun permit, as well
as her admission to a local
citizen’s police academy,
so there’s some familiarity
with the process that didn’t
turn her off.
Evelyn Gainous, who has
volunteered for the last four
years, said she also wasn’t
concerned because she
didn’t have a criminal his
tory to hide.
With modern technology,
fears about the erosion of
privacy have risen among
some, while others may
view privacy as an anti
quated notion.
Gainous said she believes
that fingerprint background
checks add a level of secu
rity that ensures those in
need are being served but
trustworthy volunteers.
Meanwhile, Moss said the
task of fingerprinting all vol
unteers is made more monu
mental by its cost.
“We project that this new
regulation will cost some
$7,500 the first year and a
few hundred dollars every
year thereafter as new
volunteers join the team,”
Moss said in the email to
volunteers.
Fortunately, there’s a
solution in place for this
problem.
The Gainesville-Hall
County Community Coun
cil on Aging will cover the
approximately $50 cost of
each individual fingerprint
ing for local volunteers.
In the coming months,
Moss said the Gainesville-
Hall Community Service
Center would provide the
fingerprint scanner to
approve volunteers at all
senior centers in the North
east Georgia region, making
the process “doubly or triply
burdensome.”
The technology will also
be made available to other
Gainesville and Hall County
government agencies and
departments, such as the
courts and law enforcement.
Finally, the fingerprint
scanner is also being made
available for public use.
In all instances, submis
sions are processed by the
Georgia Bureau of Investiga
tion and the Federal Bureau
of Investigation.
“We will not have access
to anyone’s records,” Moss
said, adding that city and
county officials will not be
privy to specifics, such as the
manner of crime commit
ted or the circumstances of
a criminal case, should that
turn up in the background
check of a volunteer. “All we
will know is that they were
denied.”