About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (May 7, 2020)
Historic wooden bridge in Lula closes due to structural deficiencies, inside,<» Thursday, May 7,2020 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Health experts fear 2nd wave of coronavirus infections. INSIDE, 3A Honestly Local Ga. revenues drop by 36% in April State lawmakers request that agencies prepare for major cuts to budget BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com Georgia’s net tax collections in April dropped by nearly 36%, Gov. Brian Kemp’s office said in a news release Wednesday, May 6. Revenues were $1.84 billion, compared to $2.87 billion last year. Year to date, revenues are at $19.23 billion, compared to $19.9 billion last year, the release says. That’s a drop of 3.4%. The reductions “are largely attributable to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pan demic,” according to Kemp’s office. Particularly affecting revenues is the shifting of payment dead lines related to motor vehicle, corporate and individual income tax. Expecting a major blow to the state’s economy and revenue col lections due to the coronavirus pandemic, Georgia lawmakers in charge of the state budget sent a memo last week asking agencies to prepare for cuts of 14% across the board, totaling nearly $4 billion. “While the Great Recession of 2008 was considered then to be a ‘once in a lifetime’ event, our cur rent situation will certainly over shadow it,” the memo says. “That I Inside I Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan plans to I take pay cut in light of upcoming I state budget changes, 3A is why this request is being made to ALL areas of the state budget with no exceptions.” Iconic oak returns home SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Flowery Branch woodworker Marty Week created furniture from the oak tree that once stood outside Lanier College & Career Academy at The Oaks. Week designed and built two rustic benches and a large dining room table from the tree, which was removed due to poor health, and donated them back to the school. LCCA at The Oaks now features pieces made from 150-year-old tree Photo courtesy Jamey Moore Lanier College & Career Academy at The Oaks was built in 2010 around a 150-year- old red oak tree — pictured here before it was cut down — which gave the school its name. BY KELSEY P0D0 kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com The iconic red oak tree that once graced Lanier College & Career Acad emy at The Oaks has returned home. In December 2016, the tree — which lived to around 150 years old — was cut down. Rhonda Samples, executive director of the school that offers nontraditional opportunities to Hall County high school ers, said at the time that the tree was rotting and posed a safety hazard to the school. “We nurtured it since the school was built in 2010, and we had an arborist,” she said. “We did everything we could to try to save it.” The salvaged pieces were transformed by Marty Week, a Flowery Branch-based artisan, into two benches and a dining room table, which now sit in the school. “It really did mean a lot to do it,” Week said. “I think more people will get to see it now. It’s going to be more visible to every one that goes in there.” LCCA at The Oaks not only based its name and logo on the sprawling oak — which is actually two trees intertwined — its architecture was designed to curve around it. Week said he made the two benches to fit into the curvature of the building’s walls. The pieces of furniture can now be found in the school’s main front hall. The table sits in the center of Bistro at The Oaks’ dining area. According to the plaque that sits in the school, the campus was once the home and farm of the H.B. Reed Family, as well as the site of Reed’s Produce. Sam ples said the oak tree was a part of the old farm. Before the property was obtained by Hall County Schools, the land had been in the Reed family for over 150 years. H.B. Reed served on the Board of Education, and his daughter Brenda taught in the dis trict for over 30 years. “I just think it’s nice when folks enter the building, that they know the history behind the tree, and that the tree will always be a part of the college and career academy,” Samples said. Week’s wife, Angie, who works at West Hall High School, said she was the one who proposed the idea to Superintendent Will Schofield about having her husband work on the project. She passed along Week’s card, and the rest was history. ■ Please see OAK, 5A Gainesville to reopen some offices May 18 BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com The city of Gainesville plans to reopen some of its offices on May 18. Hours will be 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at its administra tion building, the historic City Hall building and the Community and Economic Development building off the downtown square, as well as the Public Safety Complex at 701 Queen City Parkway. In speaking to Gainesville City Council Thursday, May 5, City Manager Bryan Lackey called the move a “soft reopening” as just the front doors of those buildings will be open for at least two weeks. “We’re hoping for June 1 as entering phase two (of reopening),” Lackey said. “That’s still really flexible, based on where we are in the community with our COVID-19 numbers.” The city will limit the hours it will be open after May 18 “because we’re going to be very minimally staffed,” he said. Also, it will give employees time to get ready for the day and close out the day, Lackey said. Upon closing at 4, city employees will “clean our high-touch public areas... and get ready for the next day,” he said. All essential city services, including police, fire, water, sanitary sewer and trash pickup, have been continuing as usual. On the city website, people can make pay ments and find contact information for city departments. Testing events by Good News, NGHS see 28% positive cases BY KELSEY P0D0 kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com About 22% of the 1,020 people tested recently at Good News Clinics were positive for COVID-19. The nonprofit clinics and Northeast Georgia Health System hosted a free COVID-19 testing drive-thru April 28, with 224 testing positive, according to Liz Coates, director of the clinics. She did not have data on the percentage of those patients that were asymptomatic. “This is far better than the first smaller one that we did,” Coates said. “To me, it’s great to look at the one event but also great to look at the bigger picture. ” Almost half of those testing at a similar event April 19 were positive. Together, 1,356 people were tested for free, with 374 testing positive. That’s a 28% overall positive rate. Although NGHS covered the cost of testing, Coates said the events still proved expensive for Good News Clinics. “Our role in the testing event was not only to provide human resources for registration of ■ Please see TESTING, 6A This e-edition sponsored by:
