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Thursday, December 29, 2022 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Honestly Local
Pipe problems keep plumbers busy
More than 1,000 Gainesville water customers report leaks after record-breaking cold
BY BEN ANDERSON
banderson@gainesvilletimes.com
Gainesville water officials estimate
that more than 1,000 city customers
had water leaks or pipe breaks during
one of the coldest Christmas seasons
the city has seen in decades.
The city provides water for about
58,000 customers, meaning nearly 2%
of them reported some water-related
issue over the holiday.
“This is the most severe tempera
ture impact that I think has happened
in decades,” said Linda MacGregor,
director of water resources.
Christmas Eve temperatures in
Gainesville broke a decades-old record
with a low of 5 degrees, 1 degree lower
than the 1989 Christmas Eve record,
according to the National Weather
Service.
MacGregor said the city is now tran
sitioning to “recovery mode” as the
weather warms.
It is unclear how many public water
lines ruptured, but “there was no large
outage,” MacGregor said. “We have
met all of our permit requirements, as
best we can understand right now.”
She strongly recommends that cus
tomers sign up with the city’s Water
Use Customer Portal, where people
can track their water use and set up
alerts.
It is not clear how all cities in Hall
County fared during what the National
Weather Service called a “once-in-a-
generation” arctic blast, but it appears
to be a mixed bag.
A boil water advisory is still in
effect for Lula, where 1,400 residents
reported low water pressure and the
demand for water exceeded produc
tion by about 2-to-l.
Flowery Branch’s water system has
■ Please see PIPES, 3A
A home in
Gainesville
was
damaged
after pipes
burst during
record-
breaking
cold.
Photo provided
by Norman
McKay of
Lawson Air
Conditioning
and Plumbing
‘I know what they’re going through’
SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Sam Chapman is vacating his seat on the Hall County school board after 15 years of service. Chapman is a farmer and has
championed agriculture education.
Retiring Hall school board member focused career on underdogs
BY BEN ANDERSON
banderson@gainesvilletimes.com
If Sam Chapman were a betting man,
he’d put his money on the underdog.
That’s because Chapman was an under
dog himself, a high school dropout who is
stepping down after 16 years on the Hall
County school board.
Chapman said age and health issues
are the main reasons he is vacating his
seat. The 86-year-old cattle breeder has
also had trouble keeping up with the pace
of technology.
“Somebody may send me a picture,
and I’ll get it two days later. I mean, you
talk about slow, it’s slow,” he said of the
reception on his farm in East Hall. “We
got to know what’s going on in schools,
and we got to be able to communicate
back and forth real quick.”
He will be replaced by Debra Smith,
a longtime Hall County educator who
defeated her Democratic challenger in
November.
Chapman earned a reputation for visit
ing schools often, mentoring students and
pulling for the underdog.
“Sam is probably more connected with
his community and really Hall County on
a daily basis than all of us,” school board
member Bill Thompson said. “He looks
after, I’ll call it, the little man.”
“He spent a lot of time at schools,”
school board member Nath Morris
said. “His heart was completely in this
position.”
“The impact Sam has had on Hall
County will be immeasurable,” said
school board member Mark Pettitt.
When you talk to Chapman’s fellow
school board members, you begin to won
der why he doesn’t have the word “Saint”
in front of his name. By all accounts, he
is a modest, wise and compassionate man
who is known for having a prayer list a
mile long.
Chapman said he spends as much as
two hours every morning praying and
reading the Good Book. When asked
what he does in his free time, he said he
helps out at Riverbend Church, doing
things like preparing meals for teachers
and delivering them to schools, not just
in his neck of the woods in east Hall but
throughout the district.
“There’s a lot of people that talk about
their faith, and then you get to walk along
side a few that actually live out their
faith,” Superintendent Will Schofield
said. “He goes out of his way — and he
does it very quietly so that people don’t
even know what’s happening — to take
care of the least fortunate amongst us.”
But like Oscar Wilde said, “every saint
has a past and every sinner has a future,”
and Chapman is no exception.
‘Wrong side of the tracks’
Chapman grew up on the “wrong side
of the tracks” in Stanton, Delaware,
and comes from a dysfunctional family.
When he was 15, his mother died of colon
cancer, sending him on a downward spi
ral of self-destruction. He dropped out of
school and had to raise himself.
“When my mother died, I just went
berserk,” he said. “I went through depres
sion and mental anxieties, which caused
all this. I was trying to find something and
when you’re looking for something, the
easy way is never the right way. ”
“You name it, I’ve done it,” he said. “I
was getting involved with gangs.... There
were drugs back then, there were fights.”
■ Please see CHAPMAN, 3A
Suspect in
robbery runs,
slips on ice
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A Gainesville man accused of trying to rob
someone on Christmas Day slipped on the ice
and hit the ground, allowing witnesses to get
the gun away from him, police
said.
Luis Sajbocho-Ordonez, 30,
was charged with armed rob
bery and aggravated assault,
according to the Hall County
Jail database. He remained in
the jail Wednesday, Dec. 28,
with no bond.
Gainesville Police were
called to investigate an armed
robbery around 1 a.m. Dec. 25
on Atlanta Highway.
Lt. Kevin Holbrook said Sajbocho-Ordonez
tried to rob a person leaving a business on
Atlanta Highway.
Sajbocho-Ordonez pulled a gun and
demanded money, Holbrook said. At that point,
another person came outside to see what was
happening.
Apparently spooked, Sajbocho-Ordonez
■ Please see ROBBERY, 3A
LUU\
Zoning districts
get first OK at
council meeting
BY BRIAN WELLMEIER
bwellmeier@gainesvilletimes.com
Lula City Council has taken the first step to
preserve its small town identity.
The council on Dec. 19 approved a first read
ing of an ordinance amending its zoning dis
tricts as development continues to expand east
through Hall County.
The ordinance will require a second vote for
approval by council members at the next regu
lar meeting on Jan. 17 before it takes effect.
City Manager Dennis Bergin described some
of the most fundamental changes to zoning if the
item is approved.
“All the changes, primarily, are all residen
tial,” City Manager Dennis Bergin said. “The
council directed us at the first of the year to
begin to review the amount of density per acre
that they would consider, and the idea there
would be a reduction in some of those densities. ”
■ Please see ZONING, 3A
Sajbocho-
Ordonez
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