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Tuesday, December 27, 20221 GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
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Honestly Local
More sanctions come from nitrogren leak
Six people were killed in incident
at Foundation Food Group poultry plant in January 2021
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Two Gwinnett County judges
issued sanctions against a gas
company stemming from the
January 2021 liquid nitro
gen leak at the Foundation
Food Group poultry plant in
Gainesville, according to court
documents.
Six people were killed and
more were injured after the Jan.
28 nitrogen leak at the Memorial
Park Drive plant, which is now
owned by Gold Creek Foods.
The lawsuits have focused on
Messer Gas, the company that
installed the liquid nitrogen sys
tem at the poultry plant.
Multiple parties in the case
have pointed to the “bubbler
tube,” a component that senses
liquid nitrogen levels to prevent
overflows. The bubbler tube
was damaged when inspected
roughly five weeks after the
nitrogen leak.
Gwinnett County State Court
Judge Emily Brantley previ
ously ordered sanctions against
Messer because a second dam
aged bubbler tube from another
facility serviced by Messer was
discarded.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys did
not find out about this second
bubbler tube until roughly six
months after the lawsuits were
filed.
“Accordingly, the jury is
charged that if the second bent
bubbler tube was available for
testing, the results would have
been favorable to (the) plaintiffs
and unfavorable to Messer,”
■ Please see SANCTIONS, 3A
This photo from
court documents
shows a “bubbler
tube,” a key
component that
senses the level of
liquid nitrogen to
prevent overflows.
A damaged tube
is alleged to be
partially to blame
in the Foundation
Food Group
incident.
‘I’m here to serve the people’
KELLY WHITMIRE I Forsyth County News
Brent Cox is the newly elected state representative for the redrawn State House District 28.
Rep.-elect Cox focused on transportation, school choice issues
BY KELLY WHITMIRE
kwhitmire@forsythnews.com
State House District 28 is new to north
Georgia, but the district’s next represen
tative has a lot of experience in the area.
After a long year of campaigns and
meeting voters, newly elected State Rep.
Brent Cox, R-Forsyth County, a busi
ness owner and former football coach,
has been preparing for his new role by
attending meetings, going to training ses
sions and talking with constituents ahead
of the legislative session, which begins on
Monday, Jan. 9.
“I’m here to serve the people of the
district, so whatever that entails,” Cox
recently told the Forsyth County News.
“If people have a question or concern,
I’ll be more than glad to field those calls.
I’m grateful that I get to do it and hope to
serve you well.”
District 28, representing portions of
north Forsyth County and a part of west
ern Hall County, is new to north Georgia
following redistricting and reapportion
ment in 2021.
Rep.-elect Brent Cox
Age: 52
Occupation: Business owner
Family: Wife, Tonya, three adult
children, one daughter-in-law and
one grandchild.
Priorities in office: Transportation
improvements, school choice
legislation, working on cyber
security.
In November, Cox was elected to the
seat after defeating Democratic candi
date Claudia Wood after receiving more
than 20,000 votes, about 80% of the total
votes in the election.
On the campaign trail, Cox said he
supported “common sense” growth and
development for the area, shrinking the
size of government and looking at school
choice, a proposal that would allow pub
lic education funding to follow students
to schools or services including home-
school, private school and other options.
“I think when we’re dealing with edu
cation, I think school choice and looking
out for the interest of all the kids in the
state of the state of Georgia (is impor
tant),” Cox said. “Forsyth is very unique
in that we have a great public school
system, private and home-schooling pro
grams are great as well, while in other
parts of the state, it’s not quite as simple.
“So, that formula may not be as simple
as one would hope, but I’m a proponent of
putting the kids first and the parents hav
ing great impacts on the kids’ life.”
Cox said he also wanted to focus on
traffic, one of the district’s biggest issues.
“Obviously, a big concern is the roads,
and (state House) chairman of transpor
tation Rick Jasperse is also representing
northwest Forsyth County, so he’s a great
one to be able to look out for the interest
of Forsyth County,” he said, “as well as,
he has to make sure things are distributed
across the state and be as part of that.”
Cox said cyber security was another of
his major concerns and expressed inter
est in bringing careers in the industry to
the district, particularly as vehicles and
■ Please see COX, 3A
Cold weather
broke records
set in 1980s
BY BRIAN WELLMEIER
bwellmeier@gainesvilletimes.com
The cold air that hit Hall County over Christ
mas weekend broke records.
The temperatures over the weekend were
the lowest in Hall County for Christmas Eve
since 1989.
The National Weather Service recorded a
temperature of 5 degrees in Gainesville. That
was one degree lower than the record of 6
degrees in 1989. The coldest high temperature
of 25 degrees from 1989 also fell. A high tem
perature on Saturday of 18 degrees was set.
It was expected to snow Monday into early
Tuesday, according to National Weather Ser
vice Meteorologist Carmen Hernandez.
“We’re expecting isolated to scattered light
snow showers to be possible — moving in
between 6-8 p.m. — and then most likely taper
ing off by midnight to 1 a.m., with accumulation
of less than a 10th of an inch expected at this
time,” Hernandez said. “The overall impact
■ Please see COLD, 3A
Two sentenced
in $12,000 elder
phone scam case
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Two New York men accused of trying to
defraud an elderly Hall couple of $12,000 were
sentenced to time served and
probation after pleas this
month, according to court
documents.
Brandon Massey, 24, and
Jamal Clifford Davis, 29, were
indicted in July of attempted
exploitation of an elderly per
son and attempted theft by
deception.
Both men were sentenced
by Superior Court Judge Jason
Deal to 10 years with the first
six months in incarceration,
but the custodial time was
deemed served. The remain
der of the sentence can be
served on probation.
A Hall County Sheriff’s
Office investigator testified in
court last year that an elderly
North Hall couple were told they needed to
withdraw $12,000 to bond a family member out
of jail.
Davis
■ Please see SCAM, 3A
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