About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (May 13, 2020)
Cherokee Bluff’s Phillips set the standard for athletic excellence in final two years of high school. H SPORTS, 1B Midweek Edition - MAY 13-14,2020 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Honestly Local Ej ELECTION 2020 I HALL COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS CHAIRMAN Commission chair faces 3 challengers Republican candidates BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com As Hall County government prepares to evaluate its budget due to expected losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hall County Board of Commissioners’ chairman faces two Republican challengers. No Democrats are running for the posi tion, so the winner June 9 will secure the position and begin the term in January. Incumbent Richard Higgins, who was first elected in 2016, is running against Bobby Banks, a former commissioner, and Judy Sartain, a local adoption attorney. They will likely be faced with the chal lenge of helping the county recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, as the county expects to see a loss in revenues. “We just have to be really fiscally con servative with our money moving forward because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our goal seek to oust Higgins; is to maintain the programs that we have,” Higgins said. “... It’s going to be a tightrope to walk this next year. ” Banks, who was on the board during the 2008 economic recession, said that experi ence gives him some insight into helping the county deal with budget challenges. “We did the best we could figure out at the time, without having to raise taxes. We furloughed employees one day a month, that included commissioners, instead of laying people off,” he said. All three candidates said they would work to avoid a tax increase, even in light of bud get shortfalls. “We can’t continue to spend like there’s no tomorrow. The rainy day is going to come, and of course now, the rainy day is here,” Sartain said. But Sartain said changes during made dur ing the pandemic have shown how the gov ernment can use technology to operate more no Democrats running efficiently and get citizens more involved. “There needs to be more transparency, more openness, no more behind closed doors decisions,” she said. “There’s a myriad of methods that that can be accomplished, with virtual town hall meetings, with Facebook Live events, with Zoom meetings.” Candidates on 3 issues Taxes Banks: “Over the next couple years, it’s going to be a priority to maintain services that we have without an increase,” he said. “I think it’s going to be hard to do because of the coronavirus.” He said “if we can trim the budget, that’s even better.” Higgins: The county will be facing difficult ■ Please see COMMISSION, 9A Learn more The Times is providing preview coverage of contested races for positions representing Hall County residents. That coverage began May 6 and will continue through the May 16 print edition. Early voting begins May 18. Inside today U.S. House 9th District representative, 4A,5A Hall County Coroner, 5A House District 103 Republican primary, 5A Upcoming Look for details soon on a Zoom candidate forum. j5 Online Go to gainesvilletimes.com/ election2020 to find all our coverage. Kemp: Keep ‘hunkering down’ Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times A site at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center is prepared May 12, for construction of a temporary unit near the North Patient Tower. Governor says curve flattening in Hall, but urges diligence BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com Gov. Brian Kemp said Tuesday that Hall County is now seeing a flattening of COVID-19 cases after the area was flagged as a hot spot. In April, Kemp said Hall cases were increas ing while other parts of the state were declining. At a May 12 press confer ence at the state Capitol, he said John King, the state’s insurance commissioner, and Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Geor gia Department of Public Health, had worked with community members and local officials to address the spread in Gainesville and Hall County, particu larly with the area’s Latino community. He said the state’s work addressing other hot spots informed the work in Hall. “It was a fairly con tained environment, and so really through those processes and that work that we had done dealing with the Albany situation ■ Please see STATE, 9A A site beside the Northeast Georgia Medical Center North Patient Tower is prepared May 12, for construction of a temporary unit. $1.2 billion road plan gets final OK BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com A $1.2 billion roads plan for the Hall County area through 2050 was officially adopted Tuesday, May 12, by the Gainesville-Hall Met ropolitan Planning Orga- nization’s governing Policy Committee. The plan received initial approval in Sep tember 2019, with the list of projects sent to the Atlanta Regional Commission for further review, particularly making sure the projects align with air quality standards. Hall County is part of a 22-county, Atlanta-area air quality zone. ■ Please see ROADS, 8A Inside Virtual transportation forum set for May 20, 8A Free testing, mask giveaway Friday on Atlanta Highway BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com The “Gainesville Against COVID-19” task force is having a testing drive on Friday, May 15 on Atlanta Highway. The free testing will be from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Fri day at La Flor de Jalisco, 425 Atlanta Highway in Gainesville. Masks will also be given out to people who come by regardless of testing. Norma Hernandez, president of the North east Georgia Latino Chamber of Commerce and task force leader, said she hopes for at least 500 people to get tested. She said the task force is working to have one testing event per week. “(For) security of mind, we are going to be ■ Please see TESTING, 8A DEATHS 6A Dorothy Ammons, 90 Hoyt Ausburn, 90 Ronald Bafile, 86 Jewell Bross, 66 Eula Byers, 92 Austin Caldwell, 28 Jason Clauser, 54 Virginia Cornelison, 89 Carl Dickey, 93 Alice Downs, 71 Earline Estep, 84 Genifa Finch, 70 Russell Freeman, 83 Addie Godfrey, 83 Herbert Hall Jr., 76 Shirley Hamby, 84 Norman Hamilton, 65 Opal Haynes, 85 William Higgins Sr., 86 Jimmie Howard, 72 James Jackson, 72 Denna Kennamer, 93 Charles Lynn, 65 Joyce Moore, 85 John Myers, 93 Ann Norris, 80 Darlene O’Shields, 72 Say Phantharath, 64 Nellie Stone Pirkle, 89 Michael Ridings, 73 Evelyn Robinson, 92 Ronald Robinson, 73 Debbie Saari, 59 Wiley Sanders, 79 Lewis Seabolt, 62 Tommy Seabolt, 68 Erin Shanahan, 49 Wanda Shubert, 69 Robert Smith, 87 Bonnie Staton, 99 Evelyn Strawn, 85 Shirley Tindall, 84 David Varnum, 72 Emma Webb, 92 Robert West, 80 Richard White, 61 Joan Whitmire, 81 George Wood, 94 Dr. James Wright 0 *40901 06835 8 We will make it through this, and the strength of hope will shine brightly. EH NORTHSIDE HOSPITAL
