About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 17, 2020)
** 1 ’ Gov. Kemp suing Atlanta mayor, city council „ over pandemic rules, inside,3A (The ®tmes Friday, July 17,20201 GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Microtransit service close to launching in Gainesville. INSIDE, 3A Gainesville 85 Business Park up for rezoning, annexation votes Tuesday, inside, sa Honestly Local Georgia jobless rate drops in June State unemployment claims show decrease of 27 percent last month BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com Georgia’s jobless rate dropped in June to 7.6%, the Georgia Department of Labor reported Thursday, July 16. A year ago, the rate was 3.5%. “June was the first month to show positive numbers in all major indicators since the pan demic started,” Labor Com missioner Mark Butler said. “Although it is nice to see the pendulum move in the right direction, we are not naive to the fact that we may see another tick up in claims over the next few months. “We will continue to work unemployment claims both new and continued to ensure all Geor gians are being taken care of dur ing these unprecedented times.” Unemployment claims showed a decrease of 228,209 claims, or 27 percent, in June for a total of 607,851 claims. That num ber, however, is 589,441 claims higher than they were in June 2019, according to a press release issued Thursday. The department has processed over 3 million claims since the middle of March, or when shut downs began occurring because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 3,085,261 claims, 1.4 million proved valid to pay. The invalid claims could potentially be duplicate filed claims or those without enough earned wages to receive benefits, officials said. Also, the department’s jobs website, Employ Georgia, posted more than 89,068 statewide job listings during the month of June. A taste of Jamaica South Hall welcomes a new spice-centric restaurant BY KELSEY P0D0 kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com Ann-Marie and Blue Hibbert are bring ing the flavors of Jamaica to South Hall. Both native to the island country, the couple opened Blue’s Jamaican Restau rant on July 1, off Lanier Islands Parkway next to Coastal Breeze in Buford. “We are cooking for our neighborhood, and we’d love for our neighbors to come in and meet us and taste the cuisine that we’re preparing,” Ann-Marie said. The Hibberts, who co-own the restau rant, run it with two of their sons and their nephew. Ann-Marie said all the meals they prepare originate from fam ily recipes. The menu embraces authentic Jamai can cuisine with dishes including slow- cooked oxtail, jerk chicken, goat curry and fried plantains. Entrees range from $8 to $12, and the appetizers, pastries and sides come in at around 90 cents to $5. For those who have never tried Jamaican food, Ann-Marie described it as “spicy with an array of different fla vors.” She said thyme, jerk seasoning and Scotch bonnet peppers help contribute to its characteristic notes. Jerk seasoning typically consists of allspice and Scotch bonnet peppers. Those who can’t take the true Jamai can heat can opt for less spicy versions of the dishes. “People who haven’t gone to Jamaica, we want them to experience what it’s all about,” Ann-Marie said. “We do put a lot of passion into it.” Both Ann-Marie and Blue spent their early childhood in Jamaica before immi grating to the U.S. with their families. ■ Please see JAMAICAN, 3A Blue’s Jamaican Restaurant Where: 5370 Lanier Island Parkway, Buford Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday through Saturday Contact: 678-765-2525 Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Blue’s Jamaican Restaurant co-owner Ann-Marie Hibbert pours curry chicken into a pan Thursday, July 16, as the Lanier Islands Parkway restaurant opens for lunch. Left: Allan Hibbert, left, and Raheem Hibbert place a tray of pies in the oven at Blue’s Jamaican Restaurant Thursday, July 16, at their Lanier Islands Parkway location. Right: Jerk wings at Blue’s Jamaican Restaurant. Hall Schools plans alternate hours option BY NATHAN BERG nberg@gainesvilletimes.com The majority of Hall County students will participate in either a traditional in-person or a virtual learning experience this fall. But for parents of students in grades K-3, there’s a third option that is a bit less conventional. Around 200 students in those grades have already signed on to the district’s noon to 5 p.m. plan that would have students stay in one room with one teacher, cutting down drastically on the number of other people they will come in contact with, according to Matt Alexander, lit eracy and numeracy elementary director for the Hall County School District. Under the plan, students would arrive to school at noon — avoiding the early morning rush of their arriving classmates — and leave at 5 p.m., when school buildings will be rela tively empty. “We have some families who say my child — we want to have them in brick-and-mortar, but we still have some safety concerns,” Alex ander said. “We want to limit their exposure to the number of kids (and) the number of adults they come in contact with. This program would do that.” ■ Please see HOURS, 3A I Inside Riverside Military Academy delays the start of the school year by two weeks, 3A DNR body cameras to run via smartphones BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com More than a decade ago, the game wardens in Georgia’s woodlands and waterways started wearing body cameras. “We felt like it was important that we get into the 21st century and be able to store (foot age) easily, almost effortlessly by the officers, and be able to manage the videos without a lot of effort either,” said Department of Natural Resources Maj. Stephen Adams Adams said the department, which has 212 game wardens, has recently moved to a more reliable system run through the officer’s smartphone. The law enforcement division purchased Kyocera DuraForce PRO 2 rugge- dized smartphones, which are used in conjunc tion with the cloud-based camera application, Visual Labs. Roughly 20 minutes after a recording, Adams said the footage is available to the credentialed members of the department to examine. “Once the officer stops recording, there’s no way for them to stop that process for it go into the cloud. The security of the video is important to us as well,” Adams said. ■ Please see CAMERAS, 5A This e-edition sponsored by:
