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East Hall’s youth boys basketball
camp returns under Seth Vinings’
direction, sports, ib
SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2019 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Concerts planned for freshly roofed
Performing Arts Complex. life,4B
Honestly Local
985
Police ID bones in suitcase off I-
New technology aids law enforcement in discovering womans identity
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
After nearly three years, police
have identified the remains of
a woman found in a suitcase in
Buford along Interstate 985.
A Georgia Department of Trans
portation worker discovered the
skull and bones July 29,2016, when
he walked “into the woods to relieve
himself,” police said. The remains
were found north of Buford Drive.
“A tag from the suitcase
appeared to have faded blue ink
that was no longer visible to the
human eye. Several lighting tests
were done in 2016 to try and read
the writing, but the ink appeared
to have washed away,” Gwinnett
County Police Cpl. Michele Pihera
wrote in a news release.
This month, the tags were re
examined with new technology that
revealed a partial name and address.
That led them to Jessica Ashley
Manchini, 29, a missing woman
originally from Pennsylvania who
spent her last few years in Gwin
nett County.
Manchini was reported missing
in December 2014 by her mother.
“Dental records and medical
records have confirmed that the
human remains belong to Jessica.
Her cause and manner of death
are still under
investigation,”
Pihera wrote.
Anyone with
information is
asked to call
police at 770-513-
5300 or use the anonymous Crime
Stoppers tip line at 404-577-8477.
Manchini
Disabilities without limitations
Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Jessica Holloway encourages Hudson as he makes his way through a basketball dribbling course Friday, June 28, during the
“Bounce Out The Stigma” basketball camp for special needs youths at the North Hall Community Center and Park gymnasium.
North Hall basketball camp empowers kids with special needs
BY MEGAN REED
mreed@gainesvilletimes.com
A basketball camp at the
North Hall Community Cen
ter this week helped kids
with special needs find con
fidence through sports, and
the program’s founder hopes
to expand the camp next year.
Mike Simmel, a New Jer
sey native, founded Bounce
Out the Stigma and trav
els around the country for
the basketball camps. The
Gainesville camp, which is
in its fourth year, was the
first time the program came
to Georgia. About 25 players
participated this year.
“We had a great time com
ing down here the first year,
and it just grew and grew and
grew,” Simmel said. “We’ve
been here now four years,
and the program has just
taken on a life of its own.”
Simmel said he also is
considering hosting one-day
events throughout the year.
The goal of the camp is to
show kids that their disabili
ties don’t have to be limita
tions, he said.
“We want to show these
kids through basketball that
with self-empowerment and
confidence, they can do any
thing they want to do as long
as they put their mind and
heart to it,” he said.
And their future goals don’t
necessarily have to include
sports.
“It could be something in
their life like a school sub
ject, it could be being the best
brother or sister they can
be, daughter or son they can
be, whatever it is, just doing
chores around their house,”
Simmel said. “... We want
these kids to be the best they
can be and go through life
saying ‘yes, I can.’”
Jessica Holloway’s son
has been attending the camp
for four years, and she has
stepped up to assist Simmel
in running the camp. She said
her 10-year-old son, Noah, is
noticeably more confident.
“I can tell he’s getting
stronger with his muscles.
It’s helping his low muscle
tone,” Holloway said. “It’s
just amazing how much
this camp has
really
helped.
He was
shy,
and now
he’s coming
out of his shell.”
Kelli Grogan, another
parent who has been volun
teering for four years, said
Simmel values the players’
potential and teaches them
not to give up.
“Mike sees great capa
bilities in these kids, not dis
abilities,” Grogan said. “The
basketball drills he teaches
are many of the same drills
they teach high school, col
lege and even pro teams.”
Simmel is teaching from
experience. He has had epi
lepsy since he was 2 years
old.
“I used to have seizures
every day. I wore a helmet,”
he said. “I couldn’t do a jump
ing jack at one point in my
life.”
Basketball became his
passion.
“My dad gave me a bas-
“Bounce Out The
Stigma” basketball
camp participant
Issac gets set
to shoot the ball
toward the basket.
ketball. I dribbled the ball
everywhere I went and got
better.... When I was 12,1 was
dribbling two basketballs and
doing tricks. It
just took off,
he said.
He went
about a
decade
without
having a
seizure,
until
he was 16 and had a seizure
at a basketball camp. Simmel
was asked not to return to the
camp, and while his parents
fought to keep him there, he
remembers what it felt like
to feel out of place.
“I always kept in the
back of my mind that I
wanted to help kids in the
■ Please see CAMP, 5A
FLOWERY BRANCH
Chick-fil-A
employee jumps
through window
to save child
(Q) Online
See video footage
of incident at
gainesvilletimes.com.
BY MEGAN REED
mreed@gainesvilletimes.com
A Flowery Branch Chick-fil-A employee went
beyond the call of duty Tuesday evening when he
jumped through the drive-thru window to save a
choking customer.
Logan Simmons,
19, was working at the
Spout Springs Road
restaurant when he
noticed a car in the
drive-thru was stopped
in the line but wasn’t pulled up to the window.
He didn’t think anything of it at first, until a man
appeared at the window and said a customer
needed scissors because her young son was
choking on his seatbelt.
Simmons had a pocketknife and took the quick
est route to the car, jumping out the window. He
ran over to the car and saw the boy choking, then
asked the mother if he could cut the seatbelt off.
“You could see him struggling and it get
ting tighter and tighter,” Simmons said. “I cut
it down and he laid back in the seat, and I was
I Please see HERO, 6A
Man involved in
murder-suicide had
no prior incidents
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
According to law enforcement officials,
Christian Castro did not have any crimes
against persons or domestic-violence incidents
in his history before a murder-suicide Thursday
morning on Poplar Springs Road.
Castro shot his 2-year-old son and then turned
the gun on himself, according to authorities.
Hall County Sheriff’s Office deputies first
responded around 12:30 a.m. Thursday to a call
about a “man assaulting a 23-year-old woman
and leaving the residence with the couple’s
2-year-old son.”
“He hit her with his fists, choked her with his
■ Please see CASTRO, 5A
Authorities respond
to reported drowning
near Vanns Tavern Park
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Emergency officials said they are looking
for the victim of a reported drowning on Lake
Lanier near Vanns Tavern Park.
Mark McKinnon, the public affairs officer for
the Georgia Department of Natural Resources,
said game wardens were called to the scene of
a possible drowning off the shore from the Van
Tavern day use area on Lake Lanier at around
6:15 p.m. on Friday, June 28.
McKinnon said two individuals were rescued
by the game wardens, but one person is unac
counted for.
McKinnon said sonar was being used to
search the area. The search will resume at 8
a.m. today if the victim has not been found.
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