About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (June 26, 2020)
Hall County area jobless rate falls to 8%. INSIDE, 5A Unease grows over return of virus Clerk of Courts, Scout camper positive as expanded testing finds more cases BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com AND NATHAN BERG nberg@gainesvilletimes.com The Hall County courthouse and a Scoutland day camp have taken protective measures after a hand ful of positive COVID-19 results, as areas around the county see more and more testing positive for the virus. Hall County court officials dis covered Wednesday, June 24, that two employees in the Hall County Clerk of Court’s office, including newly reelected Clerk of Court Charles Baker, have tested positive for COVID-19. Other employees are awaiting test results. “The testing was requested after employees reported to their super visor that they had potentially been exposed through social contact out side the office,” according to Court Administrator Jason Stephenson. Stephenson said no one con firmed or suspected to have the virus has had direct contact with the public, and other employees potentially exposed have been notified. “As a precaution, and due to the close quarters of the office, Mr. Baker has instructed all staff to obtain negative test results before returning to work. All offices and public areas have been cleaned and disinfected,” Stephenson said. Anyone needing to do limited business in the clerk’s office can do so from the first floor receipt room for this week. Scout tests positive A Boy Scout attending a day camp at Scoutland in Gainesville Wednesday, June 24, tested posi tive for COVID-19, according to Trip Selman, Scout executive with the Northeast Georgia Council of Boy Scouts of America. Selman said the boy was dropped off at the camp in the morning, where he began work ing toward a merit badge with a group of seven other boys. Shortly after being dropped off, the boy’s parents contacted Scoutland to let the camp know he had received a positive test result for COVID- 19, a test that had been given for ■ Please see SCOUT, 3A Project draws community together Photos by NATHAN BERG I The Times Karen Hawk paints the first strokes on a recreation of her mural originally put up on the OddFellows Building in 1974. Painting for the new mural began on Thursday, June 25, at the Midtown Greenway in Gainesville. Gainesville groups begin mural along Midtown Greenway BY NATHAN BERG nberg@gainesvilletimes.com With one stroke of Karen Hawk’s paint brush, history came to life Thursday morning at the Midtown Greenway in Gainesville. Hawk, a former art student at what was then called North Georgia College & State University and is now the University of North Georgia, is the original designer of a mural painted in 1974 on the OddFel lows Building on Athens/Sycamore Street as a bicentennial project of what was then the Gainesville Arts Council. The building was later demolished to make way for an expansion of E.E. Butler Parkway, but the Vision 2030 Public Art Committee, along with Hawk and others are recre ating the mural on a building at the Mid town Greenway, with painting just getting ■ Please see MURAL, 3A Tim Mize helps paint a recreation of Karen Hawk’s mural originally put up on the OddFellows Building in 1974. Local activist charged in terroristic threats case BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com A Gainesville community activist was arrested Thursday, June 25, following an investi gation into comments he made on social media. Arturo Adame, 29, was taken into custody at his place of work after investigators obtained a warrant Wednesday regarding “dissemina tion of information relating to terroristic acts,” according to the Hall County Sheriff’s Office. The Sheriff’s Office said Adame used social media “to encourage, solicit and promote ter roristic acts, namely to kill police and burn this country.” Adame’s attorney Jennifer McCall was in the process of getting her client bonded out of the Hall County Jail around 5 p.m. Thursday. A Facebook fundraiser called “Free Arturo” raised more than $8,500 in a day. “It is interesting that people have not been arrested for threats of shooting at or driving ■ Please see ADAME, 3A Hall County approves budget with rollback property tax rate The Hall County Board of Commissioners voted Thursday, June 25 to approve a budget that includes a rolled-back property tax rate and some cuts to account for the economic effects of COVID-19. The general fund millage rate will be 4.853 mills, rolled back from the current fiscal year’s rate of 5.098 mills. The rollback rate is the aver age rate a taxpayer would need to avoid a higher tax bill because of a higher property assessment value. Some taxpayers could get higher or lower bills, depending on their assessments. One mill equals $1 for every $1,000 in assessed value. For each county tax dollar, 17.98% will go to the general fund, 9.82% will be used for Hall County Fire Services, 2.12% will be for emer gency services, 3.72% will go to development services, and 1.35% will be for Hall County ■ Please see COUNTY, 3A Visa rules BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com New Trump administration rules extending a green card ban and a freeze on temporary work visas could be having local business impacts — and not just for international com panies, of which Hall County may be posing challenges for area companies has a huge presence. The new rules may also be affecting companies “try ing to move talent around the world for technology (initia tives),” such as adding produc tion lines, said Tim Evans, the Greater Hall Chamber of Com merce’s vice president of eco nomic development. Evans said “a lot of the pro duction equipment that’s used in manufacturing is produced in Germany, Italy, Korea and Japan, and those equip ment vendors have talent that travel around the world for installations.” “Companies are just hav ing to adjust the best they can right now,” he said. “The thing I’m telling our companies right now is ... look to technology if you can -- video conferencing, to some extent. But it’s kind of hard to troubleshoot a produc tion line from a video confer ence call.” Another option is “get with an immigration attorney and see what, if there’s anything, you can work out,” Evans said. Hall has nearly 50 inter national subsidiaries in the county, “and for many of those businesses our location is both a North American headquar ters and a production center,” ■ Please see RULES, 5A Evans This e-edition sponsored by:
