About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2020)
1 Save up to $97 COUPONS INSIDE Lakeshore Mall continues to struggle amid financial woes due to pandemic, our region, ib East Hall grad awarded $10,000 scholarship to attend UGA. LIFE, 8B mt (ttin fs West Hall graduate taking love of volleyball to play two sports in college, sports, 12b Weekend Edition - JUNE 13-14,2020 | $2.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Honestly Local Officials: Keep cautious as rules ease Doctors urge public to continue following social distancing, hygiene guidelines as state opens up BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com Many types of businesses have reopened with precautions, the number of people who can gather has increased to 25 and Georgia’s shelter-in-place order for the elderly and medically fragile has been lifted. While the threat of COVID-19 may have seemed to lessen, local health offi cials still recommend precautions such as wearing masks, washing hands and stay ing six feet away from others. “We are encouraging everyone to be safe and responsible as they begin to move about more in the community,” Dr. Supriya Mannepalli, chair of Northeast Georgia Medical Center’s Infection Pre vention and Control committee, said in a statement. Mannepalli said people should continue to take precautions so hospitals do not see increased COVID-19 case numbers. The Northeast Georgia Health Sys tem has been treating fewer COVID-19 patients than it was toward the beginning of the pandemic. On Thursday, June 11, the system was treating 64 patients at its facilities. One month earlier, on May 11, that number was 112. On April 24, the earliest data available on the NGHS website, the system was treating 132 patients. ■ Please see COVID-19,4A Precautions to take As some restrictions are lifted, medical professionals advise familiar precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19: ■ Avoid large gatherings of more than 25 ■ Maintain six feet of distance from others ■ Wear masks in public places ■ Wash hands regularly ■ Cover coughs Source: Northeast Georgia Health System Group to hold open-air talk on police and court system BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com In the wake of George Floyd’s death, the Newtown Florist Club is hosting a two-part open-air conversation with members of law enforcement and the judiciary. The first event at 6 p.m. June 18 at the mid town pedestrian bridge was described by the civil rights group as “a space for listening, a time for healing and an opportunity to explore equal justice issues with black and brown people.” The Rev. Rose Johnson, the club’s executive director, said the goal is for voices in the com munity to be heard and to shape an effective strategy for change. “Their lived experiences are important in understand ing how we move forward collectively in our hope for change and reform in the entire criminal justice pro cess,” she said. George Floyd was held down by the knee of a police officer for roughly eight min utes and 46 seconds in a widely circulated video. The 46-year-old man died while being detained by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Four offi cers were fired, and criminal charges have been filed. Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Louisville woman, was shot eight times by narcotics detectives who knocked down her front door. ■ Please see CONVERSATION, 8A Open-Air Conversation What: Discussion concerning law enforcement, the jail and the criminal justice system Where: Grassy end of the midtown pedestrian bridge, accessible from Jesse Jewell Parkway When: 6 p.m. Thursday, June 18 A second part of the conversation will be held July 2 at the same location. For more information or registering to speak, call 770-718-1343 or email newtownl 93@gmail.com. Johnson Should Old Joe stay or go? Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Left, right: Before and after Downtown Gainesville’s Old Joe statue was cleaned after vandals painted the monument’s base the night of Sunday, May 31, during protests downtown. Confederate statue with polarizing history again under debate BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com The spray paint is long gone from alleged vandalism during a recent pro test, but Gainesville’s Old Joe statue in the downtown square continues to be a local flashpoint in the now-global racial equal ity movement. Some area residents are saying they would like to see the statue — a Spanish- American War soldier modified and placed as a Confederate monument in 1909 — removed or at least moved to another, more fitting location, such as the Northeast Georgia History Center in Gainesville. “The Confederate statue known as Old Joe is a symbol that no longer belongs in our downtown square,” Christine Osasu wrote in a June 8 email to the Hall County Board of Commissioners. “Old Joe honors a secessionist govern ment that waged war against the United States to preserve a society that was built upon the enslavement of millions of people. The downtown square should be a welcoming space for all of our diverse community members. Old Joe is not per ceived as a welcoming symbol for many residents.” And Kathleen Canavan-Lima said, “The statue is a mockery, an affront, if you will, to our black brothers and sis ters whose ancestors fought to stay alive while under the brutal and violent hands of slave owners. It’s a constant reminder that blacks existed solely to serve the white man.” Ralph W. Mills, commander of the Sons of Confederate Veterans’ Gainesville chapter, has a different perspective about the statue. “I think a memorial to any soldiers should stay right where it is,” Mills said. “That monument was put there with great affirmation and celebration — and they were all over the South.” He added: “It’s just very natural to want to put something up in honor of your sons, fathers, uncles, brothers-in-law and all these others who fought in a war. (The monuments) were not put up there to intimidate black people and that kind of thing. And we have to address the fact ■ Please see 0LDJ0E, 5A DEATHS 2B Eileen Archer, 70 Charles Beatenbough Sr., 92 Mildred Brackett, 91 Victoria Chapman, 68 John Cronic, 86 Catherine Crosby, 61 Danny Dyer, 56 Robin Elliott, 60 Lamar Fleming, 78 Kenneth Franklin, 81 John Hastings Jr. Havil Hayden, 70 Minnie Lou Knight, 95 Antonio Lazarte, 82 Pamela Loggins, 46 Hunter Lovell, 19 Shirley Major, 73 Catherine Manier, 81 Geraldine Martin, 92 David McCord, 41 Robert McDuffie, 83 Lida Millwood, 82 David Moffit Jr. Michael Mospanyyuk, 58 Andrey Nakonechnaya, 58 Galina Nakonechnaya, 60 Trinh Nguyen, 77 Carolyn Pealock, 87 Michael Penn, 68 Kimberely Smith, 40 Sylvester Storey, 64 Peter Varrone, 69 Bill Wayne, 91 4 0 9 01 06825 9 CANCER CARE NEVER STOPS. Find your cancer specialist at nghs.com/cancer Northeast Georgia Medical Center
