About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 20, 2020)
Former Planned Parenthood clinic director tells how she became anti-abortion activist. INSIDE, 3A (Pie mmts Thursday, August 20,2020 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Portion of Banks Street to close for pond project. INSIDE, 3A Financing now in place for two major Gainesville school projects. INSIDE, 4A Honestly Local GBI aims at human traffickers State creates dedicated unit to wipe out ‘modern-day slavery’ BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com To eliminate what they called the “scourge of modern-day slav ery,” Georgia Bureau of Investi gation Director Vic Reynolds and other state leaders announced the recent creation of a human traf ficking investigation unit out of the GBI’s Atlanta headquarters. Reynolds said the GBI received funding from the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council for two spe cial agents for its Human Exploita tion and Trafficking Unit. The unit, which has four special agents and two agents in charge, will focus on commercial sex trafficking, labor trafficking and “rescuing traffick ing victims,” Reynolds said. The trafficking unit will work with personnel from the financial investigative unit. The ultimate goal, Reynolds said, for this unit is to become a multi-agency task force with local, state and federal partnerships. “It’s very similar to what we’re doing now and have been doing for the last 17 or 18 months with our gang task force,” Reynolds said. Reynolds conveyed a message to potential traffickers during a press conference Wednesday, Aug. 19, at the Capitol. “I want you to know without any equivocation that the GBI is coming after you. And we intend on pursu ing these cases in every corner of the state of Georgia,” Reynolds said. “We intend on investigating you. We intend on arresting you if appropriate, and we intend on insisting that you be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” Criminal Justice Coordinating Council Executive Director Jay Neal said the council’s analysts have been working to identify hotspots and other indicators to assist with the unit’s mission. “Human trafficking is a crime against our communities that targets the most vulnerable among us, and this project was created to protect Georgians from these traffickers who profit in the billions of dollars by exploiting human beings,” Neal said. Gov. Brian Kemp said he believes Reynolds will have “the resources that he needs to crack down on this criminal enterprise and ensure that perpetrators are held accountable.” “We will not rest until we have ended that evil industry in our state,” Kemp said. ‘We re trying to balance’ Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Chicopee Woods Elementary principal Dr. Jamie Hitzges welcomes faculty and members of the community to a ribbon cutting ceremony Wednesday, Aug. 19, opening their walking trails and outdoor classrooms. The trails and outdoor classrooms are intended to be therapeutic for the students. Chicopee school unveils new hiking trails and outdoor classrooms Hall narrows noon option to one school BY NATHAN BERG nberg@gainesvilletimes.com The Hall County School District has cut par ent options for a noon to 5 p.m., one classroom model for students in grades K-3 to just one school, Sugar Hill Elementary, after family interest began to dwindle, Assistant Superin tendent Kevin Bales said Wednesday. Bales said the district initially offered the option in seven different elementary schools, but lack of parent interest has led to a gradual consolidation of the program. He said “roughly 10 to 12 parents” are still showing interest in the noon to 5 p.m. option at Sugar Hill. “At the end of the day, this has been driven by our parents and their options and their choices, not us trying to get rid of it,” Bales said. “We’re the ones that proposed it as a possibility.” ■ Please see NOON, 4A Ex-missionaries open new local BY NATHAN BERG nberg@gainesvilletimes.com Teachers at Chicopee Woods Elementary take a walk along the school’s new walking trails and outdoor classrooms Wednesday, Aug. 19, following a ribbon cutting ceremony. The trails and outdoor classrooms are intended to be therapeutic for the students. Chicopee Woods Elementary students and teachers have plenty of outdoor learning opportunities to look forward to in the coming year. With a cut through a blue ribbon Wednesday morning, principal Jamie Hitzges unveiled a brand-new set of hik ing trails and outdoor classrooms, which teachers will make use of for outdoor les sons, beginning this fall. In addition to more than 3 miles of trails, Chicopee Woods is also installing eight shaded spaces behind the school for outdoor classes. Hitzges said he hopes teachers will use the new outdoor instruction areas “to the greatest extent possible.” He said the trails and outdoor class rooms will help connect students to nature, while also keeping them as safe as possible from the potential transmis sion of COVID-19. “The connection between nature and the academics and their wellness is really what we’re trying to balance,” he said. “All of that is wrapped into like ‘OK, we’ve got a pandemic, how do we take these lemons and really make lem onade?’ It’s really through that kind of thinking that we approached this. ” The new outdoor learning spaces were produced entirely by volunteer work and donations, with Home Depot, Mincey Marble, Garcia Landscaping and Lunsford Grading and Hauling all supplying funds and materials for the project. Hitzges himself, along with many other volunteers, spent the last several weekends using hacksaws and machetes to clear and mark the paths, working through Saturdays and braving chiggers to make sure the outdoor areas would be ready for the start of the school year. Hitzges said lessons such as compar ing deciduous and coniferous trees and teaching students about environmental awareness are potential scholarly ben efits of the new teaching spaces. “The science and everything else that goes along with it is really what I was hoping to get to from an academic stand point,” he said. ■ Please see CHICOPEE, 6A tapas restaurant BY KELSEY P0D0 kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com Harvest Kitchen, a new restaurant that opened on South Enota Drive in Gainesville, is introducing people to the slow-paced nature of Spanish cuisine. Instead of ordering one large entree, co-own- ers Julia Still and Myles Willman invite custom ers to try multiple small dishes — also known as tapas — and hang out for a while. “With most restaurants it’s how fast can you get people out,” Still said. “Here, we want peo ple to stay for an hour or two and order food throughout the night. Our goal is to bring a piece of Spanish culture here.” ■ Please see TAPAS, 4A SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Chef Myles Willman prepares a steak Wednesday, Aug. 19, at Harvest Kitchen on South Enota Drive. The restaurant features tapas and is an extension of their catering business Harvest Catering Co. This e-edition sponsored by:
