About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 10, 2020)
Learn which plants are great for luring butterflies into your yard this summer. insde, 3 a Friday, July 10,20201 GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Honestly Local Suspects in death linked to 15 robberies Police, FBI say men charged in slaying of retired deputy in Buford targeted auto parts stores BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com Authorities said they have linked 15 alleged armed robberies to two men previously charged in the fatal shooting of a former Gwinnett County Sheriffs Office deputy. Tavares Norah, 25, turned himself in June 2 and Prince Robertson, 27, was arrested in unincorporated Lawrenceville after 3 p.m. the same day. Both men are being held without bond at the Gwinnett County Jail. Gwinnett County Police said the two men were wanted for armed robbery and murder involving Felix Cosme, 63, of Dacula, who was shot at an O’Reilly Auto Parts store at 2786 Hamilton Mill Road. Detectives learned the night of Cosme’s death that the suspects allegedly fled the robbery scene in a Volkswagen Jetta and that the “tactics and description of the suspects” matched four previ ous Gwinnett County robberies at other auto parts stores, according to Gwinnett County Police. “While trying to zero in on the Jetta, the robbery crew continued doing armed robberies of auto parts stores, including two more in Gwin nett, one in Roswell, Henry County, Athens, and Duluth,” police said. The FBI was called in for assis tance while Gwinnett County Sheriffs Department provided sur veillance on the two suspects. Police said a Gwinnett detective and an FBI agent “witnessed them commit another armed robbery at an Auto Zone in Dacula” June 1. “After con fronting the two men, a car chase ensued where Robertson and Norah crashed off La Maison Drive in Dacula,” police said. Following the two suspects’ arrests, police said they found Norah “crucial evidence linking the men to these robberies and the murder,” including other auto store robber ies in 2017. “In the end, detectives were able to link these two men (to) 15 armed robberies. The total cash sto len was $17,391 and 68 felony war rants were obtained,” police said. Robertson Will Longstreet be ‘canceled? Few statues of Confederate general, later civil rights activist BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com Wounded by friendly fire during the Civil War, Confederate Lt. Gen. James Longstreet seems to have so far dodged bullets in today’s “cancel culture” battle involving Confederate-era statues and namesakes. Second only to Gen. Robert E. Lee in the Confederate Army, Longstreet — who would settle in and spend his remaining days in Gainesville — fought successfully in battles against the Union and is today still considered one of the war’s most skilled battle tacticians. But Longstreet never gained the noto riety of Lee, Stonewall Jackson and other Confederate leaders after the war. The opposite is true — he became a pariah as he literally fought for reconstruction and advocated civil rights, including voting rights, for freed slaves. No Army bases are named after him. And Richard Pilcher, president of the Gainesville-based Longstreet Society, said there’s only two statues of Longstreet — one at Gettysburg National Battlefield Park in Pennsylvania and one off Long street Circle on the site where his Gaines ville home once stood. Otherwise, his name is on street signs and businesses in Gainesville — such as Longstreet Cafe, which is near the gen eral’s homeplace. His grave is in Gaines ville’s historic Alta Vista Cemetery. Longstreet is “world famous in Gaines ville,” said Glen Kyle, executive director of Northeast Georgia History Center at Brenau University in Gainesville. Kyle doesn’t consider Longstreet com pletely safe from protesters. After all, he still fought against the U.S. and for the South, where slavery was an institution. Pilcher agrees, saying he wouldn’t be surprised if Longstreet does get targeted. “These people (involved in tearing down statues) don’t really know Long street was a civil rights activist,” he said. Longstreet has picked up support in arti cles across the country, including an opin ion piece in New York-based Newsday that suggests that, among others, “a monument to one brave Confederate general, James Longstreet, would not be out of place.” His pro-Reconstruction stance after the war was elevated when he led black mili tia troops in opposing the White League, which opposed “carpetbagger” Louisiana Republican Gov. William Kellogg. He was even wounded in the skirmish — his first battle injury since the spring of 1864, when he was accidentally shot in the neck by one of his men in the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia. “Had it not been for (his stances), I think Longstreet would be on Stone Mountain,” said Douglas Young, profes sor of political science at the University of North Georgia’s Gainesville campus. ■ Please see LONGSTREET, 3A GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET, C.S.A. 1 1821 — 1904 SCOTT ROGERS I The Times A monument of Gen. James Longstreet in Gainesville is at a site on Longstreet Place in Gainesville. Tax preparers offer tax help as deadline nears BY NATHAN BERG nberg@gainesvilletimes.com This year’s July 15 tax filing deadline is later than usual, and local experts say the added time to file has led to even greater procrastina tion than usual among taxpayers. Donna Hollingsworth, a senior tax preparer at the Jackson Hewitt location on Dawsonville Highway, said the mad rush to the tax office she and her colleagues typically see as the fil ing deadline approaches has been even crazier than usual. “We have seen a lot of people basically have almost forgotten about their taxes,” she said. “It seems like we’re getting a sudden rush at the last minute. We always have that, but it seems to be a little bit more intensive this year. I think people were just trying to put taxes out of mind for a little while.” Part of the hesitancy to get into the tax office and get returns done can be attributed to the fear of COVID-19 infection, as Hollingsworth reports many of her regular clients have been “very concerned” about the virus. Fortunately for local residents, tax offices around the area are offering a variety of options that do not involve meeting in close ■ Please see TAXES, 3A Police seeking armed suspect in store robbery BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com A man armed with a gun grabbed a Wal greens employee by the hair around 11 p.m. Tuesday, July 7, and told everyone else to walk to the back of the South Enota Drive store, according to authorities. Gainesville Police are looking for the armed robbery suspect, described as a black man wearing a face cover, all black clothing, gloves and a black-gray backpack. Police said he is roughly 5 feet 7 inches tall. Police said the suspect entered the store and brandished the handgun with three employees in the store. The man made employees fill his backpack with “an undisclosed amount of nar cotics,” police said. He also went to the office area and took an undisclosed amount of cash before leaving in an unknown direction. “We are fortunate no one was harmed during this traumatic experience,” Chief Jay Parrish said in a statement. ”No amount of money or valuables are worth the life of anyone in our community, and we must continue to work together to stop these criminals from terroriz ing our community.” Anyone with information on this case or the suspect is asked to call the criminal investiga tions division at 770-535-3783. This e-edition sponsored by:
