About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 4, 2020)
LOCA^OP HEADLINES The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Thursday, June 4, 2020 3A Pilgrim’s Pride CEO indicted in chicken price fixing Associated Press The CEO of Pilgrim’s Pride is one of four current and former chicken company execu tives indicted Wednesday on charges of price fixing. The U.S. Department of Justice said a fed eral grand jury in Colorado found that execu tives from Colorado-based Pilgrim’s Pride and Georgia-based Claxton Poultry conspired to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chickens from at least 2012 to 2017. Pilgrim’s Pride President and CEO Jay son Penn was charged, along with former Pilgrim’s Pride Vice President Roger Aus tin. Claxton Poultry President Mikell Fries and Vice President Scott Brady also were charged. Pilgrim’s Pride has a location on Industrial Boulevard in Gainesville and a feed mill on Bradford Street Extension. The charges were the first in a long-run ning investigation into price-fixing in the chicken industry. Broiler chickens are chick ens raised for human consumption and sold to grocery stores and restaurants. Claxton’s customers include Chick-fil-A. “Particularly in times of global crisis, the (Justice Department’s antitrust) division remains committed to prosecuting crimes intended to raise the prices Americans pay for food,” Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim said in a statement. The executives could each face 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. shares tumbled 11% Wednesday afternoon. Shares for other chicken producers, including Tyson Foods, were also down. HAMBY ■ Continued from 1A In a suit filed in 2018 in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, paraprofessional Mary Hamby alleges racial bias by the school system in her June 2017 firing. To bolster her claims, she submitted recordings in which Hamby is alleged to have gone on a racial rant. “In these recordings, a voice attributed to Dr. Hamby angrily exclaims that black tem porary workers are not working on a con struction site,” Johnson’s report says. “The recordings include two separate con versations in which a voice attributed to Dr. Hamby uses (a racial slur) a total of eight times.” Hamby has “testified that, given the media attention focused on the recordings, he elected to resign,” the judge’s report says. “Although Dr. Hamby asserts that it is not his voice heard on the audio recordings, he admits that it ‘sounds like him.’” Johnson’s report also notes that the Buford Board of Education issued a statement in August 2018 to parents, students and staff that says: “We would like to apologize for the actions of our former superintendent. His language in no way reflects the senti ments of the Board of Education or School District. “We recognize the hurt, anger and frustra tion the events of last week caused our stu dents, parents and community. Racism is not condoned or acceptable in any manner.” The relationship between Ingram and Hamby began to deteriorate, according to the lawsuit, when in 2014 Ingram noticed that the color gold was excluded from the school district’s white and green emblem and school apparel. Ingram started a petition asking for gold trim to be included in the school district’s colors, as it had been since the city’s schools were integrated in 1969 to reflect the colors of the former all-black schools, the lawsuit states. Ingram graduated from the integrated high school in 1970. According to the lawsuit, Ingram presented the petition to the board of education and was encouraged to attend board meetings, as well as city commission meetings, to address con cerns from the black community. However, Ingram alleges that Hamby and other school leaders asked her to reveal what information she might say at these meetings prior to her attendance, which she refused to do. Between 2014 and 2017, Ingram began receiving several critiques in her perfor mance reviews. For example, a 2015 review asked Ingram to “please adhere to proce dures for representing Buford Academy out side of school.” Following another performance review in April 2017, according to the lawsuit, Ingram responded that she felt she was being retali ated against. In June 2017, Ingram was terminated for being “perceived as being disrespectful, argumentative and unfriendly and not a good fit in a school environment,” according to the lawsuit. Johnson’s report states that in June 2018, the Buford school system told the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that Ingram “was fired for cause.” In response to the lawsuit, attorneys for the school system have said “all actions taken with respect to the plaintiff were for legiti mate, non-discriminatory and non-retaliatory reasons.” In response to Johnson’s report, Buford school system spokeswoman Kerri Leland said Wednesday, June 3, that the district “does not have an official comment due to this being ongoing litigation.” Lawyers for the school system, Hamby and Pulley also couldn’t be reached for comment. Also, Hamby’s lead attorney, Edward Buckley, couldn’t be reached for comment. 3 more officers charged Cop at center of Floyd case receives additional murder charge CHARLES KRUPA I Associated Press People march in protest against police brutality in Boston, Wednesday, June 3, following the death of George Floyd, who died after being restrained by Minneapolis police officers on Memorial Day. BY AMY F0RLITI, STEVE KARN0WSKI AND TIM SULLIVAN Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS — Prosecutors charged three more police officers Wednesday in the death of George Floyd and filed a new, tougher charge against the officer at the center of the case, delivering a victory to protesters who have filled the streets from coast to coast to fight police brutality and racial injustice. The most serious charge was filed against Derek Chauvin, who was caught on video pressing his knee to Floyd’s neck and now must defend himself against an accusation of second-degree murder. The three other officers at the scene were charged for the first time with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and sec ond-degree manslaughter. All four were fired last week. If con victed, they could be sentenced to up to four decades in prison. Chauvin was initially charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Those charges still stand. The new second-degree murder charge alleges that Chauvin caused Floyd’s death without intent while committing another felony, namely third-degree assault. It carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, compared with a maximum of 25 years for third-degree murder. The other officers — Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao — face the same maximum penalties for aiding and abetting. The additional charges were sought by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Elli son, who called the protests unleashed by the death “dramatic and necessary” and said Floyd “should be here and he is not.” “His life had value, and we will seek justice,” said Ellison, who cautioned that winning convictions would be hard and said that public pressure had no bearing on his decisions. Hundreds of protesters were in New York City’s Washington Square Park when the charges were announced. “It’s not enough,” protester Jonathan Roldan said, insisting all four officers should have been charged from the start. “Right now, we’re still marching because it’s not enough that they got arrested. There needs to be systematic change.” Ben Crump, an attorney for Floyd’s fam ily, called it “a bittersweet moment” and “a significant step forward on the road to justice.” Crump said Elison had told the family he would continue his investigation into Floyd’s death and upgrade the charge to first-degree murder if warranted. The move by prosecutors punctuated an unprecedented week in modern American history, in which largely peaceful protests took place in communities of all sizes but were rocked by bouts of violence, includ ing deadly attacks on officers, rampant thefts and arson in some places. Some of the rockiness of the days since Floyd’s May 25 death dissipated on Tues day night, with demonstrations continu ing around the country, but without major reports of violence. Curfews and efforts by protesters to contain earlier flare-ups of lawlessness were credited with preventing more wide spread damage to businesses in New York and other cities overnight. “Last night we took a step forward in moving out of this difficult period we’ve had the last few days and moving to a better time,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said. New York police said about 280 people were arrested on protest-related charges Tuesday night, compared with 700 a day earlier. Nationwide, more than 9,000 have been arrested in connection with unrest. At least 12 deaths have been reported, though the circumstances in many cases are still being sorted out. Some tense incidents continued Tues day night, but were far less prevalent than in preceding days. Police and National Guard troops used tear gas, flash-bang grenades, nonlethal rounds and other means of dispersing crowds near a police precinct in Seattle, near Centennial Park in Atlanta and at demonstrations in Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida. Minnesota has opened a civil rights investigation into whether the Minneapo lis Police Department has a pattern of dis crimination against minorities. President Donald Trump has pushed the nation’s governors to take a hard line against the violence, saying Tuesday that “lowlifes and losers” were taking over New York’s streets. He again tweeted Wednesday: “LAW & ORDER!” Thousands of protesters took to the streets again in the nation’s capital, singing “Amazing Grace” as they knelt. “We are not going anywhere!” they chanted. Law enforcement officers in riot gear watched the crowd. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser imposed an 11 p.m. cur few after Tuesday’s peaceful protests. The Tuesday curfew had been 7 p.m. Jade Jones, 30, said the protests would continue despite the new charges. “That’s the least they could do,” said Jones, who had been attending Washing ton protests for days. “It’s not going to wipe away 400 years of pain.” “We are glad there are additional charges, but that doesn’t mean justice has been served,” she said. More than 20,000 National Guard mem bers have been called up in 29 states to deal with the violence. The protests have also taken root over seas amid growing global outrage over Floyd’s death, racial injustice and heavy- handed police tactics. In Greece, police fired tear gas after young people attacked them Wednes day outside the U.S. Embassy in Athens. Some 4,000 protesters had been peaceful until near the end of the demonstration, when some threw gasoline bombs and stones at police. No injuries or arrests were reported. Other protests were held Wednesday in London, Helsinki and Rot terdam, among other cities. Meanwhile in Philadelphia, a statue of former Mayor Frank Rizzo was removed by the city early Wednesday after repeat edly being targeted by vandals. Rizzo presided over a police force widely accused of racism and brutality in the 1970s. In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam was expected to announce plans Thursday for the removal of an iconic statue of Con federate Gen. Robert E. Lee from Rich mond’s prominent Monument Avenue, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. The statue in the former Confederate capital has been the target of vandalism during the protests. Georgia police chiefs’ association releases resolution supporting hate crime legislation BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com The Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police adopted a resolution late last month in support of legislation that “enhances and mandates the criminal sentence” in cases involving hate crimes. The resolution adopted May 21 said the association supported this legislation that would affect the sentences “whenever the court determines beyond a reasonable doubt that the convicted perpetrator inten tionally selected any victim, or damaged any property of any victim, based upon bias.” That bias may include the victim’s “real or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gen der identity, mental disability or physical disability.” The association also supported in its resolution allowing the Georgia Crime Information Center making regulations “to ensure reports of crimes of this nature are submitted in a timely manner and properly archived.” “The Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police support the creation of a civil pro cess for victims to seek redress for any injury or damage to his or her property as a result of crimes of this nature,” accord ing to the resolution. The Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center also released a statement advocat ing for the passage of House Bill 426 in the Georgia General Assembly. “We believe this is a defining moment when we, as people of faith and good will, cannot stand by in silence. We must stand up and speak out,” the policy cen ter said in a statement. “We pray for all individuals, families, and communities enduring pain, sorrow, rage, and shock due to the impact of racial violence. We believe that faith leaders have a unique responsibility and a sacred mandate to lift up the dignity and value of all human beings.” The bill passed in the state House of Representatives in March 2019 and then stalled. House Bill 426 would increase punish ments when it is proven in court “beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intentionally selected any victim or group of victims or any property as the object of the offense because of the actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability, or physical disability of such victim or group of victims.” If it’s a misdemeanor, it’s a minimum of three months imprisonment and a maxi mum $5,000 fine. A felony would require at least two years imprisonment. COVID-19 SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Hundreds gather Monday, June 1, during the Newtown Florist Club rally in Gainesville in reaction to the death of George Floyd and the issues of police brutality and systemic racism. Organizers asked attendees to practice social distancing. ■ Continued from 1A patients over the past month. On May 1, the system was treating 146 COVID-19 patients. On May 15, that number was 95. Numbers are updated on the NGHS web site each weekday. However, with recent large gatherings in the area for protests and rallies, along with the Memorial Day holiday, those numbers could again increase. “The incubation period for COVID-19 can range from 2 to 14 days, with most patients seeing symptoms by 5 days after exposure,” Dr. Supriya Mannepalli, chair of Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s Infection Prevention & Control Com mittee, said in a statement. “Because of that, we will need to monitor the next few weeks very closely and we still urge every one to wear a mask any time they’re out in public.” Hundreds attended protests in down town Gainesville on the weekend of May 30-31. Following the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, large protests have been held in cities worldwide to call attention to the issues of racism and police violence. Dr. Kathleen Toomey, commissioner of the Department of Public Health, said at a press conference Tuesday the depart ment would set up testing sites in Atlanta so those who attended protests could be tested for the virus. She also said testing would be made available for first respond ers, including the Atlanta police and fire departments, Georgia State Patrol and the Georgia National Guard. The Georgia Department of Public Health is now updating its COVID-19 status report once daily at 3 p.m. to allow time for processing and validating cases. Local Department of Public Health spokesman Dave Palmer said testing sites in Hall have been able to handle the demand, but if demand increases, current locations can ramp up operations. Over the past month, six free testing events hosted by the department have served 2,596 people, he said. The next free test ing event will be Saturday, June 6, at J&J Foods on Jesse Jewell Parkway. Toomey said “we want to ensure that the pandemic doesn’t spread because of this.” “This situation is no different than any other situation we have talked about. When you have this many people gath ered together in close proximity, you run the risk of viral transmission,” Toomey said. “I think you add to that the fact that individuals have come from out of state, where they maybe have even higher rates of infection and may be bringing it into our state and transmitting it.”
