About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 2020)
Lakeview Academy takes down Riverside Military behind 3-point shooting, sports, ib SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 2020 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Central Baptist Church celebrates 130 years, ufmb ■ . IJM/4 .: - *•>' Honestly Local Don’t take bait in fishing scam SCOn ROGERS I The Times A fisherman wets a line in a cove at Wahoo Creek Park recently. Authorities are warning consumers of a website that claims to sell Georgia fishing licenses, but is actually stealing personal information from visitors. DNR: Roughly 20 people hooked by fake license website BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com The Georgia Department of Natural Resources law enforcement division is trying to get a website shut down that has scammed people looking for a fishing license. DNR said the scam license website appears when someone searches for “Georgia fishing license.” “The site then allows you to enter your personal information, such as name, date of birth, social security number, driver’s license number, phone number, email address and res idential address. It gathers this info, but never asks for payment for the license,” DNR communications and outreach specialist Melissa Cummings wrote in an email. DNR spokesman Mark McKinnon said Thursday, Jan. 23, the depart ment is still trying to find the respon sible parties for the scam website, adding “it is likely still operational.” “We have had approximately 20 people who have reached out to us to inform us they have been scammed,” McKinnon wrote in an email Thursday. The only legitimate website for Georgians looking for hunting and fishing licenses is gooutdoorsgeorgia. com. Cummings said it appears the web site was created outside of the United States and is active in North Georgia and on the coast. Anyone who has pro vided personal information is asked to contact the DNR law enforcement division investigative unit at 770-918- 6408. The department also encour ages people to file a police report with their local agency and monitor/freeze credit. According to the Federal Trade Commission, there were 44,888 iden tity theft reports in Georgia in 2019. “The best thing people can do to protect themselves from these types of scams is to be absolutely certain you are on a legitimate site when look ing to purchase something. If the site is asking for information that could compromise your identity, pick up the phone and call the company or agency that sells the product or service to ver ify the validity of the site,” McKinnon wrote in an email. ‘The best thing people can do to protect themselves from these types of scams is to be absolutely certain you are on a legitimate site when looking to purchase something. If the site is asking for information that could compromise your identity, pick up the phone and call the company or agency that sells the product or service to verify the validity of the site.’ Mark McKinnon spokesman, Georgia Department of Natural Resources Police looking for armed robbery suspect The Gainesville Police Department is looking for a suspect in an armed rob bery Thursday night at Meeks Grocery on Atlanta Highway. Police say the suspect had a handgun, demanded the store clerk hand over money and then fled with the money. Officers responded to the store at 309 Atlanta Highway at about 8:45 p.m. Jan. 23. The suspect is described as a Hispanic man between 5 feet, 10 inches tall and 6 feet tall, according to police. He was wearing a rag over his face, a dark hat, a sweatshirt over a white T-shirt and jeans. Anyone with information about the case can contact the Criminal Investiga tions Division at 770-535-3783. Compiled from Gainesville Police Department press release Hall woman dies in Forsyth head-on crash BY BRIAN PAGLIA bpaglia@forsythnews.com A Hall County woman was killed in a head-on collision in North Forsyth on Thursday, accord ing to authorities. Kandi Tucker, 42, of Gainesville, was killed after a 2018 Jeep Compass traveling east on Keith Bridge Road near Leland Drive allegedly crossed the center line and struck her vehicle head-on, according to Cpl. Doug Rainwater of the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office. A female passenger in Tucker’s vehicle and the driver of the Jeep Compass were both trans ported by ambulance to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Tucker was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities first responded to the incident at 2:21 p.m., Thursday, after reports of a two- vehicle crash on Keith Bridge Road. Traffic was closed on both sides of the roadway between Cantrell Circle and Leland Drive for more than an hour. The crash remains under investigation by the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office’s Traffic Spe cialist Unit. Charges are pending for the driver of the Jeep Compass “once we analyze all the data from the scene,” Rainwater said. Photo courtesy Hall County Fire Services A pontoon boat and a ski boat were damaged by a fire at a dock off of T Moore Road in west Hall, according to Hall County Fire Services. Pontoon, ski boats damaged in W. Hall fire BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com A pontoon boat and a ski boat were dam aged by a fire Friday morning at a dock off of T Moore Road in west Hall, according to authorities. Hall County Fire Services spokesman Zach Brackett said the fire from one boat was spread ing to the other at a double slip two-story dock on Lake Lanier. Both boats and the dock suf fered “extensive damage,” Brackett said. The fire was extinguished and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was notified. The cause of the fire is under investigation by the fire marshal’s office. Buildings proposed off Winder Highway for retail, office use BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com Two retail/office buildings are proposed off Winder Highway/Ga. 53 in South Hall. An 11,000-square foot building and a 9,000-square- foot building are planned for 31/2 acres at 4609 Winder Highway, south of Union Church Road. The property is also near Youngblood Road, according to Hall County documents. No tenants have been named, with the applicant, JCoS Properties LLC, saying, “The highest and best use of this property is commercial, and the future land use plan shows this property as being a commercial property.” JCoS Properties is seeking to rezone the land from Hall County Planning Commission What: Proposed rezoning for office/retail buildings at 4609 Winder Highway in South Hall When: 5:15 p.m. Feb. 3 Where: Hall County Government Center, 2875 Browns Bridge Road, Gainesville residential and agriculture-residential to highway business. The proposal is set to go before the Hall County Plan ning Commission on Feb. 3. A caretaker would live in a house built in 1950 now on the property “until the plans are finalized and the devel opment permit is issued, ’’the county planning staff said. Hall County planning staff is recommending approval of the rezoning. JEFF GILL I The Times An 11,000-square foot building and a 9,000-square-foot building are planned for 3 1 /2 acres at 4609 Winder Highway, south of Union Church Road. 0 40901 06835 8 INSIDE Advice 5B Life 4B Business 3B Lottery 2A Calendar 2A Opinion 4A Classified 7B Sports 1B Comics 6B TV/puzzles 5B WEATHER 2A DEATHS 6A High Low 46 33 Lake Lanier level: 1,070.79 feet Full pool 1,071. Down 0.06 feet in 24 hours Freddy Alaniz, 61 Stacey Cash, 21 Mildred Craven, 96 Jean Chitwood, 90 Maximillian Gerleman, 63 Elise Harrison, 94 Dorothy Holbrook, 78 Charles Lewis, 76 Theresa Peck, 82 Anthony Richards, 78 Richard Swaford, 85 Pamela Thomas, 61 Ronald Turner, 89 Patricia Williams, 89
