About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 14, 2020)
LOCAL The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Tuesday, July 14, 2020 3A Grady Young Foundation names 2020 honorees The Grady Young Foundation, a nonprofit that provides spiritual and financial support to communities in Hall County, has announced its 2020 scholarship recipients and its “Living Legacy” honorees. Although its annual scholarship weekend fundraising project was canceled this year, the organization still was able to award 19 schol arship recipients and recognize 19 seniors 90 years and older for their longevity, leadership and service to the area. Memorial and named scholarship winners: ■ Abigale Derusha, Johnson High School, Grady Young Scholarship ■ Jayla Montgomery, Peachtree Ridge High School, Gaynell B. Y. Williams Scholarship ■ Lauren Hester, Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy, Estelle M. Y. Jackson Scholarship ■ Adonis Merritt, Alvoy High School, Marie Young Johnson Scholarship ■ Nicholas Butts, Cherokee Bluff High School, Marion “Paulette” Lott Scholarship ■ Mariah George, Savannah Early College High School, Irene Young Johnson Scholarship ■ Evian Kilgore, Eloise Mosley Young Scholarship ■ Aniyah Norman, Gerald Franklin Kesler Scholarship ■ Ayana Holmes, Sarah Dillard Legacy Builder Scholarship Book and incentives scholarship winners: ■ Taylor Sturdivant, Gainesville High School, GY Foundation Book Scholarship ■ Luca Bandini, Gainesville High School, GY Foundation Book Scholarship ■ Larkyn Tremble, Woodville Tomp kins High School, GY Foundation Incentive Scholarship ■ Kayla Jackson, Gainesville High School, GY Foundation Book Scholarship ■ Kayla Gales, Woodland High School, GY Foundation Incentive Scholarship ■ Zoe Bailey, Alfred E. Beach High School, GY Foundation Incentive Scholarship ■ Alyssa Ramos, Johnson High School, GY Foundation Book Scholarship ■ Maranda Bhojwani, Groves High School, GY Foundation Incentive Scholarship ■ Molly Holcomb, Johnson High School, GY Foundation Book Scholarship ■ Isley Millender, Pebblebrook High School, GY Foundation Incentive Scholarship Living Legacy honorees: ■ Mary Elizabeth Westbrooks, Gainesville ■ Bernice Helen Austin, Gainesville ■ Louise Barnett, Barrow County ■ Mildred Young-Brown, Gainesville ■ Louise Harriett Randolph Butler, Jackson County ■ Ellen Watkins Cheeks, Gainesville ■ Wessie Nell Clark, Gainesville ■ Beatrice Wheeler Hailey, Gainesville ■ Robert L. “Bob” Hamrick, Gainesville ■ Laverne Law, Gainesville ■ Genoulia Lee, Lithonia ■ Arthur “June” Lipscomb, Hall County ■ Martha F. McCullough, Savannah ■ Richard Charles Morrow, Hall County ■ Margaret Winters Whelchel Osborne, Gainesville ■ Ora Faye Ramsey, Gainesville ■ Sammie Sue Rucker, Jackson County ■ Eloise Riley Stringer, Hall County ■ Nancy Cleo Williams, Hall County Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Visitors to Laurel Park may notice a new set of hammocks set up along the walking path. Hall County Parks & Leisure teamed up with Vision 2030 to install the piece, which is called Hammock Hollow, and made out of old sail cloths. People can also attach their own hammocks to the structure. Hammock Hollow invites people to embrace beauty at lake BY KELSEY P0D0 kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com Hammock Hollow, a new art installa tion at Laurel Park in Gainesville, offers visitors a creative approach to enjoying Lake Lanier’s views. The blue metal zigzag structure over looks the body of water, giving people the option to lounge in one of the three ham mocks crafted from recycled sail cloth or attach their own. The project was born from a partner ship between Vision 2030 Public Art and Hall County Parks & Leisure. Mike Har- boldt, owner of Saint Udio Metal Shop in Athens, designed the piece. Becky Ruffner, marketing and public relationship specialist for Hall County Parks & Leisure, said she teamed up with Allyson Everett, Vision 2030 board member, around a year ago to begin plan ning the installation, which was funded through the 2018 Vision 2030 block pARTy event. Everett brought design options before the parks and leisure department, who helped determine the artwork’s place ment in Hall County. Wanting to install Hammock Hollow in a space that embodies Lake Lanier, Ruff ner said she chose Laurel Park, which is mostly surrounded by water. The struc ture sits on the lake’s shoreline in a place where many people already hang their hammocks. “One of the whole ideas was to create Hammock Hollow What: Public art installation with usable hammocks Where: Laurel Park, 3100 Old Cleveland Highway, Gainesville something not only beautiful, fun and functionable, but something that also represents Lake Lanier and its history of boating and sailing,” Ruffner said. She said the geometric wavy look of the art is meant to mimic the waves of Lake Lanier, while the sail cloth hammocks pay homage to its legacy of watersports. Hammock Hollow is Laurel Park’s only piece of public art. Ruffner said sev eral other installations have been made throughout Hall County’s parks including gold bird statues scattered around the greenspaces and bird bike racks. “We think public art beautifies the parks and brings something unique,” Ruffner said. “We think it’s important for the community in general to have beauti ful pieces of art in the park. ” Elizabeth Higgins, executive director of Vision 2030, said she is in awe of her board members who have helped erect multiple public artworks over the past couple of months including Hammock Hollow, the striking metal Midland sign and vibrant mural in Gainesville’s Mid town Greenway. “During the pandemic, they’re just finding ways for people to be safe and enjoy something wonderful,” Higgins said. “It’s amazing.” Volunteers clean up 2 miles of streets BY KELSEY P0D0 kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com On July 11, around 50 people gathered in Gainesville to take out the trash. For several hours under the hot sun, people of all ages and backgrounds picked up approximately 850 pounds of litter along 2 miles of Queen City Parkway, Dorsey Street and Pearl Nix Parkway. The event marked the second year Lati nos Conservative Organization and Keep Hall Beautiful have teamed up to host the city cleanup. Art Gallegos Jr., Latinos Conservative Organization president, said many vol unteers stepped up to the plate includ ing several Gainesville Police officers, Gainesville City Councilman George Wangemann, Hall County Commissioner Jeff Stowe and Shanda Sexton, executive director of Keep Hall Beautiful. “I hope that people can see even in this environment, in a pandemic, we can still do something positive for our community and really make an impact,” Gallegos said. “It was something good that united us.” While picking up trash in Gainesville, Sexton said people have found a range of discarded objects like jewelry, mattresses and bowling balls. She said the No. 1 type of litter gathered during citywide clean ups, including the one on Saturday, are water bottles. Instead of throwing away the nearly 1,000 pounds of trash, Sexton said people took the time to sort out any recyclable cans and plastic. All non-recyclable items were taken to the Hall County Landfill. Sexton said the purpose of the event was not only to clean up the area but to educate people into becoming better citizens. “It brings out the good in people,” she said. “It makes you want to keep it that way, and it does bring a sense of owner ship. It’s all about being good stewards to your community.” The next cleanup is set for October. City planning board to vote on new middle school site Gainesville City Schools’ new middle school could take a step forward Tuesday, July 14, when the Gainesville Planning and Appeals Board votes on annexa tion and rezoning for the property. The Gainesville City Council will have the final vote at a later meeting. The new middle school, which is intended to alleviate crowding at Gainesville Middle School, will be near Mundy Mill and Gaines ville Exploration academies, at the intersection of McEver Road and Gould Drive. The proposed middle school includes a two-story, 183,400 square foot building and a multi purpose field with field house and bleachers. Primary access for cars and buses is proposed off McEver Road. The school will start off with 750 to 900 stu dents but have the capacity for 1,200. About six acres of the 22.6- acre property for the school will need to be annexed in to the city. About 16.6 acres will need to be rezoned from residential to office and institutional. The Gainesville City Schools Board of Education, the applicant for the rezoning and annexation, is also requesting a special use approval so an existing rental home can remain on one of the parcels for the property. According to a traffic study done in May, the school is esti mated to generate about 2,600 trips a day, both incoming and outgoing. The school will operate with 14 buses. The planning board will vote on the school board’s requests at a 5:30 p.m. meeting Tuesday at the Public Safety Complex, 701 Queen City Parkway. Megan Reed ABORTION ■ Continued from 1A are uncertain, though, con sidering the U.S. Supreme Court last month struck down other abortion restric tions from Louisiana. Women in Georgia can currently seek an abortion during the first 20 weeks of a pregnancy. Both the state and those challenging the law asked Jones to rule without a trial, saying there were no dis puted facts. Jones granted the challengers’ motions for summary judgment and denied the state’s motions, finding the law violated the 14th Amendment. “The court rejects the state defendants’ argument that the statutory purpose solely concerns “promot ing fetal well-being,”’ Jones wrote. “Instead, HB 481’s specific references to Roe v. Wade and ‘established abor tion related precedents’ ... lends support to plaintiffs’ argument that the purpose of H.B. 481 was to ban or de facto ban abortion.” Jones refused to leave any parts of the law in effect, which would have also granted personhood to a fetus, giving it the same legal rights as people have after they’re born. For example, a mother could have claimed a fetus as a dependent to reduce taxes. U.S. Supreme Court prec edent has for nearly five decades held that states can not ban abortion prior to the viability of a fetus, and since Georgia’s law does just that it is unconstitutional, the law’s opponents argued. The state argued that the law promoted fetal well-being. It was widely considered as one of a number of attempts to create fresh legal chal lenges to abortion after two new conservative jus tices were confirmed to the Supreme Court. The high court, by a 5-4 ruling on June 29, struck down another of those challenges involving regulations from Louisiana. The legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, one of the groups that brought the law suit, said any appeal would be fruitless. “The district court blocked Georgia’s abortion ban, because it violates over 50 years of Supreme Court precedent and fails to trust women to make their own personal decisions,” Sean Young said in a statement. “This case has always been about one thing: letting her decide. It is now up to the state to decide whether to appeal this decision and pro long this lawsuit.” Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr, a Republican, said he would appeal the ruling but declined further comment. At least eight states passed so-called heartbeat bills or other sweeping bans in 2019, including Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana Kentucky, Missis sippi, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee. South Carolina is still considering one. All of the new bans joined the fate of earlier heartbeat abortion bans from Arkansas, North Dakota and Iowa in being at least temporarily blocked by judges. Louisiana’s ban wouldn’t take effect unless a court upholds Mississippi’s law. In a separate ruling Mon day, a U.S. district judge in Tennessee blocked a Tennes see law that Republican Gov. Bill had signed hours earlier banning an abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy and prohibiting abortions based on race, sex or diagno sis of Down syndrome. Heritage Heights and Country Place Apartments 101 Heritage Avenue • Jefferson, Georgia 30549 62 MODERN 1 & 2 BEDROOM APARTMENTS * Heritage Heights and Country Place Apartments is financed through USDA Rural Development certain income restrictions apply. 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