About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 19, 2020)
LOCAL The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Friday, June 19, 2020 3A New N. Hall Bells Mill Bridge open BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com The new Bells Mill Bridge in North Hall opened Thursday, June 18. Traffic was limited to one lane early on for last-minute work, but motorists were soon able to use the two-lane bridge to cross the East Fork Little River. The bridge is on Cleveland Highway/ U.S. 129. The project called for replacing the old structure with a 661-foot bridge. The old bridge will now be torn down. The replacement is being done in tan dem with the new Longstreet Bridge, which opened to traffic in January farther south on U.S. 129. The $34 million bridge replacements have an overall official completion date of September 2020. Road crews often have a “punch list” of items to complete after opening new projects. Georgia legislators have proposed nam ing Bells Mill Bridge after fallen Hall County Sheriffs Office Deputy Nicolas Blane Dixon. Senate Resolution 844 seeks to dedicate the bridge as Deputy Nicolas Blane Dixon Memorial Bridge and to authorize the DOT to put up signs at the structure. Dixon was shot and killed July 7 while chasing burglary suspects. SCOTT ROGERS I The Times The new Bells Mill Bridge is open to one lane of traffic Thursday, June 18, north of Gainesville. Photos by NICK WATSON I The Times Willie Mitchell, longtime member of the Gainesville City Schools’ board of education, takes the microphone June 18 at Newtown Florist Club’s open-air conversation. The event allowed people in the community to share their experiences with criminal justice officials, who will in turn speak at a July 2 event. The Bright Teens United For a Future, or B-TUFF, performing arts team perform before the Newtown Florist Club’s open-air conversation. The June 18 event at the midtown pedestrian bridge brought roughly 100 people to listen to community voices regarding potential criminal justice reform. CONVERSATION ■ Continued from 1A ■ A citizen oversight com mittee to review use-of-force incidents when the arrestee is harmed ■ Ban no-knock warrants ■ Ban chokeholds and estab lish penalties for officers violat ing the policy ■ More training on de-esca lation, with the recommenda tion being one to two hours annually ■ Prioritizing minority hiring ■ No more military gear to law enforcement ■ Requiring officers to intervene “when they know ingly witness and contribute to another officer’s violation of law enforcement policy” ■ End of civil forfeiture, a process by which property seized during a criminal inves tigation can later be sold at auc tion and fund law enforcement agencies ■ Requiring law enforce ment to provide identify ing information and a card with instructions on filing a complaint ■ Protocols on eliminating “unconscious bias and racial profiling” ■ Encouraging patrol offi cers to “use discretion when making traffic stops to limit arrests” ■ End “criminalization of poverty,” which includes poli cies regarding urban camp ing, panhandling and cash bail. They also request hiring social workers and mental health partnerships to assist in calls for service, as well as having court fines and fees on an income- based sliding scale ■ Making statistics on train ing, use of force, arrests and other information publicly accessible. The second part of the open- air conversation will be July 2 at the same location, where law enforcement and judiciary offi cials will share their concerns with the community. Johnson said she was con cerned that people’s feelings may get hurt “and they’re going to feel condemned or indicted.” “It is easier to be in this place, listening to what we have lis tened to today, than to be in Atlanta or Minnesota or Seattle or any of those other communi ties where people are not listen ing and they’re not talking to each other,” Johnson said. The first speaker of the night was Mary Bowman, who intro duced herself as a “conservative Republican who understands my white privilege.” Bowman referenced the death of George Floyd, who was held down by the knee of a police officer for roughly eight minutes and 46 seconds in a widely circulated video. The 46-year-old man died while being detained by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Four officers were fired, and criminal charges have been filed. “Watching this video has made me and many others in our country lose trust in our police departments, so how do we rebuild trust here in our community? How do we keep our community and our police officers safe here in Gainesville and Hall County? How will our city police chief and our county sheriff handle these types of sit uations if they occur here in the future?” Bowman asked. Bowman advocated for Gainesville Police and the Hall County Sheriffs Office to imple ment a citizen’s review board. Shayla Bush discussed the issue of community policing, where she felt there are officers all along Athens Street while there is less of a presence in other parts of town. “It’s easy to say, ‘Well, the statistics show that there’s more crime in that area.’ But if we’re overpolicing, then the crime shouldn’t be there anymore,” she said. Bush called for better rela tionships between law enforce ment and the community. ENGLISH ■ Continued from 1A “Adam did not appear to be armed, and in any event, he was not holding a gun or other weapon in his hands when the officers encountered him,” according to the lawsuit. “Adam was not brandishing a gun or other weapon in a threaten ing manner when the officers encountered him.” The lawsuit claimed it is unknown whether English saw the officers approach ing or understood any verbal commands to stop “because plaintiff has only been allowed to view a portion of a video of the incident.” The plaintiff does allege, how ever, that “Adam was shot in the back by two officers as he continued to walk away from the officers at a normal walking speed. ” Gainesville Police officials did not imme diately respond to a request for comment. The investigation regarding the officers’ use of force is still under review in North eastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney Lee Darragh’s office. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation inves tigative report document said Fowler and Hernandez fired their weapons, though at least five officers were involved in the inci dent, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit claims the officers are not entitled to any qualified immunity as “the Northeast Georgia DiagnosticClinic since 1353 a Northside Network Provider Dr. Esther Lee Northeast Georgia Diagnostic Clinic Welcomes New Endocrinologist We are pleased to welcome Dr. Esther Lee to the Department of Endocrinology. Dr. Lee earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA and her medical degree from Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond, VA. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, PA; and her Fellowship in Endocrinology at Tufts Medical Center at Boston, MA. Prior to joining the Diagnostic Clinic, Dr. Lee worked at Emory Clinic in Atlanta. Dr. Lee is Board Certified in Endocrinology and Internal Medicine. She is a member of the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists and The Endocrine Society. Dr. Lee is now accepting new patients. To schedule an appointment, please call 770-536-9864. 1240 Jesse Jewell Pkwy, SE • Ste 500 • Gainesville, GA Highpoint Medical Center 1270 Friendship Rd • Ste 100 • Braselton, GA www.ngdc.com • 770-536-9864 law being clearly established in September 2019 that mere possession or suspected pos session of a potentially lethal weapon which is not being used in a threatening manner is no justification for the use of deadly force. ” The lawsuit alleges a violation of English’s Fourth Amendment rights, battery, negli gence and a claim involving the Americans with Disabilities Act, as the plaintiff alleges the officers “were aware that Adam English suffered from some form of mental illness.” Under the ADA claim, the officers “failed to make reasonable accommodation for Adam English’s disability by deciding to escalate the encounter into a use of deadly force rather than to utilize de-escalation or other nonlethal strategies which should have been part of their training.” It is also alleged that Fowler “was involved in another excessive force incident just four months earlier in which he deliberately rammed the vehicle of a fleeing motorist in violation of departmental policy, for which he should have been terminated or reassigned but was instead given a short-term suspension and told to undergo additional training in judg mental use of force,” according to the lawsuit. The Times has also reached out to Gaines ville Police to get information on this inci dent and what follow-up took place. The lawsuit is seeking damages, attorney’s fees and court costs following a jury trial. DIRECT HIRE- FULL TIME $14.00 - $18.00 PER HOUR + BENEFITS Apply Online: www.kubota-kma.com Or In Person: 8:00 AM- 2:30 PM Mon- Friday 2715 Ramsey Road Gainesville, GA 30501 1001 McClure Industrial Drive Jefferson, GA 30549 KUBOTA is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer GREAT BENEFITS, COMPETETIVE PAY, JOB STABILITY!
