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4A Weekend Edition-December 23-24, 2022 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
LOCAL
SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Deric Tanner, right, helps a customer price firewood Monday,
Dec. 20, at R&A Tree Experts on Thompson Bridge Road.
Even colder weather is expected this week with possible
snow in the forecast for today.
PIPES
■ Continued from 1A
Georgia’s Department of
Transportation has urged
drivers to stay home, as
the formation of black ice
on the roadways is likely.
GDOT expected all major
interstates to be treated with
brine by 7 p.m. Thursday,
and GDOT said crews would
then begin reapplying brine.
“Thursday night, we’ll
switch to salting — hitting
those spots that are the
most likely to freeze ... like
bridges,” GDOT’s District
Communications Officer
Joe Schulman said. “Once it
starts to dry Friday, we’ll be
salting and just hitting any
trouble spots that come up.”
The high Friday is only
projected to climb to 19
degrees, with 20-30 mph
winds expected and a low of
7 degrees early Saturday.
“County departments
are prepared to deal with
any black ice that occurs
and have equipment ready
to respond to those areas
as needed,” said Zachary
Brackett, operations and
special projects manager
with Hall County Emergency
Management.
Brackett warned resi
dents to prepare for poten
tial power outages as strong
winds come through north
Georgia Friday and frigid
temperatures last through
the weekend.
“The main threats that
are forecast for this system
are currently extremely cold
temperatures and high winds
that could cause power out
ages,” he said.
On Saturday, tempera
tures will reach a high of 29
and a low of 7 degrees. Frigid
temperatures aren’t likely
to relent until the cold front
begins to move out on Christ
mas Day, with the high up
to 32 degrees before sliding
back down into low 20s that
night.
With temperatures
expected to stay below freez
ing through the weekend,
proper insulation of water
pipes is crucial to preventing
them from bursting — which
could leave homeowners
with costly repairs and no
water.
For those unsure of how to
protect water pipes, Gaines
ville’s Department of Water
Resources’ winter weather
water guide has provided
step-by-step instructions on
the best methods, starting
with a full inspection of sprin
kler and irrigation systems
— which should be turned
off and fully drained.
Then, scan your home for
pipes that could be “prone to
freezing” like crawl spaces,
unheated rooms, basements,
garages and exterior walls.
After locating the main
water shutoff valve — just to
know where it is in the event
of an emergency — elimi
nate all sources of cold air
in and around water lines.
Areas that should be closed
off or plugged include crawl
spaces, windows and crev-
GOLF
■ Continued from 1A
George Washington
described “a small feist
looking yellow cur” in his
diary in 1770. Abraham
Lincoln had a feist named
Fido and wrote about the
breed in a poem called
“The Bear Hunt.” Theodore
Roosevelt brought home a
feist, “a most absurd little
dog named Skip,” after a
hunting trip in 1905. And
a fearless feist features
prominently in William
Faulkner’s short novel,
“The Bear.”
Within an hour of com
ing home, Deanie showed
that her hunting instincts
were finely tuned, but they
weren’t much use on the
golf course — or were they?
“We got her at 8 weeks
old and walked up on the
golf course for our evening
walk, and she ran over to
a tree and treed a squirrel
and had her paws on the
tree and told me to shoot
it,” Booth said. “She did
that about three times.”
After realizing that
her new owner was more
a golfer than a hunter,
she tuned her instincts
accordingly.
“And 15 years later,”
Booth said, “I have over
80,000 golf balls in my
garage.”
Booth is an average
golfer by his own account.
He lives on a golf course,
but he had never had a par
ticular fascination with any
of the sport’s instruments.
A person who collects coins
might start collecting as a
kid. Booth started collect
ing golf balls in retirement.
He retired as a dean at
Brenau University, and
that job title is partly where
Deanie gets her name.
Deanie is also the name
of a character played by
Natalie Wood in the movie,
“Splendor in the Grass.”
Booth is now 78 years
old, and Deanie is about the
same age in dog years.
“So we’re calling it
quits,” he said. “I’m at the
point now where I’m older
and she’s older and they’ve
redone the golf course so
there aren’t as many oppor
tunities to find balls up
there.”
Booth will sell his golf
balls, about two-thirds in
pristine condition, to refur
bishing companies. He
expects to fetch 2-22 cents
per ball, which would net
him between $1,600 and
$17,600.
He wishes he didn’t have
to sell the balls — “they’re
like my children,” he said
— but that might have to
do less with the golf balls
themselves and more to do
with what they represent.
Booth said he wouldn’t be
alive today if not for his golf
ball-hunting dog Deanie.
A few years ago on an
overcast day in January,
after many days of rain,
Booth and Deanie were
going for their usual after
noon walk. Booth stepped
onto a waterlogged patch
of grass, slipped and broke
his hip.
It was 38 degrees outside,
the temperature was drop
ping, no one was around
and Booth didn’t have his
cell phone.
“I couldn’t do anything
but lie there,” he said.
“Nobody was going to find
me. Nobody knew I was out
there. So I said, ‘This is it,
everybody goes out some
way and this is how I’ll go
out.’”
He laid there in agoniz
ing pain for over an hour,
accompanied by his canine
companion.
“My little dog would not
leave me,” he said. “She’d
circle me to keep the var
mints away from me, and
she licked my face to get
the mud and water off of
me.”
Deanie finally ran home
to Booth’s wife and led
her to the golf course. She
waved down a driver —
she didn’t have her phone,
either — and told the driver
to call 911.
But the emergency per
sonnel showed up at the
wrong location, a construc
tion site at the course.
Once again, it was Deanie
to the rescue.
“Deanie somehow heard
them and realized that they
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DEADLINES
FOR CHRISTMAS/NEW YEAR’S DAY
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Ehe (Times
gainesvilletimes com
Offices be CLOSED Monday, December 26 &
Monday, January 2 in observance of the holidays.
t Weekend
/ Worship
Come to me, all you who
are weary and burdened,
and I will give you rest.
- Matthew 11:28
Wi
St. Gabriels
Episcopal Church
OAKWOOD. GA
2920 Landrum
Education Drive
Oakwood, GA 30566
(770)503-7555
www. saintgabriels. org
Traditional Services
Rite I Service
Bam Sundays
Rite II Service
10:30 am Sundays
HARDY
HARDY
CHEVROLET, INC.
Mike Cormier
& Personnel
770-532-4389
FLOWERY BRANCH
Police: Man put
video of child sex
abuse on Snapchat
ices around doors.
Opening cabinets beneath
sinks, vanities and other
enclosed areas containing
water lines can also help
keep warm air around pipes
and prevent them from
freezing.
Any outdoor pipes exposed
to cold air should be wrapped
tight with either insulation,
fabric, newspaper or, if possi
ble, an electrical pipe heater.
The next step is to be sure
water continues to move
through the pipes.
“Keep water working,”
Gainesville’s Department of
Water Resources states in its
winter weather water guide.
“Keep water moving through
the pipes by allowing a small
trickle of water to run.”
If pipes do begin to freeze,
they can sometimes be
thawed by warming the
air around them with a
hair dryer or space heater,
though homeowners should
remain vigilant when doing
so.
“Be sure not to leave space
heaters unattended,” the
winter weather guide says.
“Avoid the use of kerosene
heaters and open flames.
Do not attempt to thaw pipes
without turning off the main
(water) shutoff valve.”
Once pipes are thawed,
according to the guide, turn
the water back on slowly and
inspect the pipes for cracks
or leaks that could have
resulted from the freezing.
were there to help, and she
took off and ran through
people’s backyards and
went over to where they
were,” Booth said. “And
they looked at the report
and the guy said, ‘Did the
report say the guy was
walking a dog when he
fell?’ And when they said
the word ‘dog,’ she circled
once, barked once and took
off and they said, ‘Follow
that dog.’”
Booth will sell all 80,0000
of his and Deanie’s golf
balls in the coming days.
“There’s a certain nos
talgia and sadness,” he
said. “When you get old,
you start thinking of the
end and stuff like that, and
so this is one of ‘the end’
incidents.”
But even as he reflects
on his mortality, he said at
least his wife will be happy
to have the garage back.
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@
gainesvilletimes.com
A Flowery Branch man
was accused of uploading
a video of child sexual
abuse to his Snapchat
account, according to
authorities.
Markus Tyler Skelton
Stevens, 25, was charged
with two counts of sexual
exploitation of a minor.
He was arrested Wednes
day, Dec. 21, and booked
into the Hall County Jail,
where he remains with no
bond.
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@
gainesvilletimes.com
Editor’s note: This
published in a previous
E-Paper edition and is
being provided here for
prin t-only rea ders.
A
Clarkes-
v i 1 1 e
man was
accused
of break
ing into
11 stor
age units
Martyne in May at
a Gaines
ville business with bolt
cutters, taking an SUV,
watercraft and other items,
according to authorities.
Jeremy Alan Martyne,
35, was charged with 11
counts of second-degree
burglary and theft by tak
ing a motor vehicle.
The Hall County Sher
iff’s Office began investi
gating a series of break-ins
on May 12 at Happy Pap
py’s Storage on Thompson
Bridge Road.
The case began with a
cybertip Monday, Dec. 19,
from the National Center
for Missing and Exploited
Children.
The Hall County Sher
iff’s Office said Stevens
uploaded the video Sept.
19 at his home, but inves
tigators do not believe the
child in the video is from
the local area.
The case is still under
investigation.
Further charges are
possible once investiga
tors process Stevens’ elec
tronic devices, authorities
said.
Items taken in the break-
ins included a 2004 Ford
Expedition, a trailer, two
personal watercraft and
other items, according to
the Sheriff’s Office.
Many of the items have
been found and returned to
their owners, the Sheriff’s
Office said.
The Sheriff’s Office said
Martyne left for Florida
but was arrested Tuesday,
Dec. 20, when he returned
to the area.
Martyne was booked
in to the Hall County Jail,
where he remains with no
bond.
The Sheriff’s Office said
the SUV and the watercraft
were worth more than
$10,000.
“While renters of the
units could tell there were
missing items, such as
tools, it was difficult to
get an accurate inventory
of what exactly was sto
len, so we’re not going to
wager a guess on the dollar
amount,” Sheriff’s Office
spokesman Derreck Booth
said.
Man charged with 11
storage unit break-ins
Simpson Trucking &
Grading is excited
to announce the
Promotion of Shawn
Simpson to Vice
President of STG
on Dec -16-2022.
Shawn is a grandson
of the Late James E.
Simpson the Founder
of STG. and he is a
Current resident of
Hall County, where he
resides with his wife Alicia Simpson and 2 daughters
Reese and Bree Simpson. Shawn has work for the
Family Business for 23 years. He has been a Super
intendent for 10+ years, overseeing multiple jobsites
and managing over 200+ employees on a daily ba
sis. We are Pleased to share this achievement with
our local community and are Excited to see what the
future holds for Simpson Trucking & Grading. Con
gratulations Shawn!
770-536-4731
1364 CANDLER RD.
GAINESVILLE, GA 30507
To advertise in this space, call 770-532-1234 or email classifieds@gainesvilletimes.com