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LOCA^OP HEADLINES
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Thursday, December 29, 2022 3A
Dawsonville Highway eatery
closes after 18 years in business
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Atlanta Bread Company
has closed its longtime
Gainesville location.
“We appreciate you let
ting us serve the commu
nity for these 18 years,”
a sign on the front door of
the business at 944 Dawson
ville Highway states. “It has
really been a pleasure, but
it is time for us to move on
to something new.”
The restaurant serving
sandwiches and soup sat
in a strip shopping center
at the busy intersection of
Dawsonville Highway and
McEver Road and at the
entrance of Lakeshore Mar
ketplace shopping center.
“Thank you so much for
all the support you have
given us through the years,”
the sign says.
JEFF GILL I The Times
Atlanta Bread Company at 944 Dawsonville Highway, Gainesville, has closed after 18 years.
Vatican: Health of retired Pope
Benedict XVI declining rapidly
Associated Press
Pope Francis, left, embraces Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, at the Vatican, June 28, 2017.
Pope Francis on Wednesday, Dec. 28, said his predecessor, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, is
“very sick,” and he asked the faithful to pray for the retired pontiff so God will comfort him
“to the very end.”
BY FRANCES D’EMILIO
Associated Press
VATICAN CITY —
Pope Emeritus Benedict
XVI‘s health has worsened
over the past hours due to
advanced age and doctors
are constantly monitoring
his condition, the Vatican
said Wednesday, as Pope
Francis appealed to the
faithful to pray for his “very
ill” predecessor “until the
end.”
Vatican spokesperson
Matteo Bruni said Fran
cis went to visit the frail,
95-year-old Benedict in
the monastery on Vatican
grounds where he has lived
since retiring in February
2013.
“Regarding the health
condition of the emeritus
pope, for whom Pope Fran
cis asked for prayers at the
end of his general audience
this morning, I can confirm
that in the last hours, a wors
ening due to advanced age
has happened,” Bruni said
in a written statement.
“The situation at the
moment remains under con
trol, constantly monitored
by doctors,” the statement
said.
At the end of his custom
ary Wednesday audience
with the public in a Vati
can auditorium, Francis
departed from his prepared
remarks to say that Bene
dict is “very ill” and asked
the faithful to pray for the
retired pontiff.
Francis didn’t elaborate
on Benedict’s condition.
“I would like to ask you
all for a special prayer
for Pope Emeritus Bene
dict, who is sustaining the
church in silence,” Francis
said. “Remember him — he
is very ill — asking the Lord
to console him and to sus
tain him in this testimony
to love for the church, until
the end.”
After the hour-long audi
ence, “Pope Francis went
to the Mater Ecclesiae mon
astery to visit Benedict XVI.
Let us all unite with him
in prayer for the emeritus
pope,” Bruni said.
The Vatican released
a photo at the time that
showed a very thin-looking
Benedict clasping Francis’
hand as the current and past
pontiff smiled at each other.
In his first years of retire
ment, Benedict attended a
couple of cardinal-elevating
ceremonies in St. Peter’s
Basilica. But in recent
years, he wasn’t strong
enough to attend the long
service.
He was elevated to car
dinal’s rank in 1977 by the
then-pontiff, Paul VI. As
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,
the German prelate and
theologian long served as
the Vatican’s doctrinal
orthodox watchdog. He was
elected pontiff in 2005.
Benedict startled a room
full of Vatican prelates by
announcing, in Latin, in Feb
ruary 2013 that he would
step down as pope in two
weeks. Some church tradi
tionalists were dismayed by
his decision.
Francis has praised Bene
dict’s decision as a coura
geous acknowledgement
that physical frailty no lon
ger left him able to fully
serve the world’s 1.3 billion
Catholics.
Given his own health
history, including a knee
ligament problem that has
forced him to use a wheel
chair or a cane, Francis
has said that retirement is
something he’d consider, if
the situation warranted it.
CHAPMAN
■ Continued from 1A
“I was headed for hell,”
he said.
Like many young men
who can’t stay out of trou
ble, Chapman was advised
to join the military. He
joined the U.S. Army toward
the end of the Korean War
and spent a couple years
stationed in Germany.
“The military straight
ened my butt out,” he said.
While overseas, he spoke
to a fellow serviceman who
worked in forestry and had
his PhD, which gave this
self-described “redneck”
the idea that he might be
cut out for college after all.
“I said, ‘You mean you
can go to college and you
don’t have to get out and
wear a white shirt and tie?”’
He wrote a letter to the
late James Jenkins, a pro
fessor of wildlife manage
ment at the University
of Georgia. “Next thing I
know, I was accepted to the
University of Georgia,” he
said.
He met his wife Martha
at a restaurant while they
were students at UGA. She
gave him a fake address and
phone number, but he even
tually won her over. They
now have two children, four
grandchildren and two great
grandchildren.
Chapman earned a degree
in forestry and wildlife and
went to work for a soil con
servation company. He did
that for many years before
retiring at 55. In the last
several years of his career,
he traveled throughout the
United States, mediating
conflicts between farmers
and Environmental Protec
tion Agency regulators.
“I flew about 300,000
miles a year,” he said.
‘The underdog is
what I’m looking at’
A stint in the military and
a steady career might have
set him straight, but he cred
its his Christian faith above
all for making him the man
he is today. He recalled a
conversation in the Army
about the afterlife that
would transform the way he
lived in the here and now.
“We were about to leave
on a mission and a guy asked
me, ‘If you died tonight
where would you go?’ And I
had no background in Chris
tianity, nothing, and that’s
where it started for me,” he
said. “Learning about Chris
tianity is what brought me
to what people think of me
today.”
Chapman’s favorite Bible
verse is Matthew 25:40, in
which Jesus describes the
coming Day of Judgement,
when those who have done
good in their lives will be
welcomed into the King
dom of Heaven: “Truly I say
to you, as much as you did
these things to the least of
these, my brothers and sis
ters, you did it to me.”
Chapman has tried to live
by those words, and they
form the core of his ethos as
a school board member.
His favorite school in the
district is Lanier College and
Career Academy, the epi
center of the district’s work-
based learning programs.
“You know why? Because
they’re (would-be) drop outs.
I can relate to them, I know
what they’re going through, ”
he said. “The underdog is
what I’m looking at.”
“We have zip code prob
lems in the Hall County
school system, and we’re
trying to overcome that
with work-based (learn
ing), school choice, this
type of thing,” he said. “Just
because you live in that zip
code doesn’t mean you can’t
make it, you can’t make a
life, and that’s been my big
deal all along.”
Hall County Schools
has a poverty rate of 52%,
with more half of all stu
dents qualifying for free or
reduced lunch. And 21%
of all students are English
learners. Many students
benefit from work-based
learning programs and end
up pursuing trade school
instead of a standard four-
year college degree.
As a farmer, Chapman
has also been instrumental
in the district’s agriculture
initiatives. In August, Hall
County Schools partnered
with Chapman’s alma mater
in creating a dual-enroll
ment program that allows
high school seniors to take
agriculture courses at UGA.
The district also secured
$2.5 million in state funding
this year for a meat process
ing center. And last year, it
built a 51-acre Agribusiness
Center where students get
hands-on experience in ani
mal husbandry, land man
agement and food science.
“A great deal of the
money that’s been spent up
at the farm... has come from
donations from local busi
ness partners,” said Craig
Herrington, chairman of
the school board. “And Sam
being a farmer himself, I
think that went a long way in
making them very comfort
able in their donations.”
But good luck getting
Chapman to spend even a
moment in the spotlight.
At the final school board
meeting of the year, a fare
well celebration was held
and a white-and-orange cake
was brought in with Chap
man’s name on it. But the
odd thing was, no one said
Chapman’s name out loud or
delivered any kind of lauda
tory remarks. His wife and
family walked in and every
one just started eating cake.
“He threatened all of us,”
Thompson said, laughing.
“He said, ‘If my name is
mentioned, I’m going to get
up and walk out.’ He did not
want any kind of fanfare.”
“Will (Schofield) did not
mention Sam’s name. He
just said we’re going to have
some cake,” Thompson said.
“About that time, his wife
walked in with his family
and I said, ‘Now you try to
walk out, Sam.’”
PIPES
■ Continued from 1A
held up well, according to
the city’s water director,
Jimmy Dean.
“There was only one
individual break,” he said
of the city’s public water
lines. As for city residents,
Dean said, about 10 cus
tomers reported ruptured
pipes.
Gainesville plumbers,
on the other hand, say
they’ve never had so many
calls or had to repair so
many busted pipes.
Debbie Lawson Davis,
owner of Lawson Air Con
ditioning and Plumbing,
said they received over 230
calls from Dec. 23 to 27.
Less than half of those call
ers required a plumber,
she said, but about 45 of
them had broken pipes.
“We’ve seen a lot of cold
spells, but nothing like
this,” she said, noting that
her company has been in
business for 76 years.
“We saw a lot of people
that had poor insulation,
especially in a crawl space
under their home,” she
added. “Or you had your
home insulated 20 years
ago ... and over the years
that has deteriorated to
the point it was ineffective.
Also, a lot of people had
left hoses attached to out
door spigots and had not
drained any outdoor water
supplies, and several spig
ots burst.”
Norman McKay, a
plumber for Lawson, said
all but one service call for
broken pipes “has been
a busted water line on an
outside wall that had no
insulation.”
And it’s not just a prob
lem at older homes, he
said. “It’s happening in
new homes as well. ”
“They need to put more
insulation in and need to
have thicker wall cover
ings,” he said of home
builders. “There needs
to be some kind of heat
source through the walls to
keep the walls from getting
so cold. Something needs
to be done to prevent this
in the future.”
“We still got about 50
people without water,”
Gary Fortune, owner of
Fortune Plumbing, said,
adding that there is a 5-6
day waiting list. “It’s the
worst I’ve ever seen.”
The extent of the water
pipe damage is also
unusual. “They’re busted
all to heck,” Fortune
said. Fortune’s plumbing
company is servicing the
Human Society, where
ruptured pipes have dis
placed more than 100 dogs.
Plumbers say when the
icy weather returns people
should drip their faucets,
open their cabinets, cover
their spigots and drain
their water hoses and
make sure their homes are
properly insulated.
Photo provided by Norman McKay
A home in Gainesville was damaged after pipes burst
during record-breaking cold over the long Christmas
weekend in 2022.
ZONING
■ Continued from 1A
If approved, the classifi
cation of R-l zoning districts
would see a 50% reduction
in density, according to
Bergin, though that’s not
the case across the board.
“That’s where you see
the biggest difference —
now, R-l is one-two units
per acre,” Bergin said. He
explained that changes
under the new ordinance
would likely drive develop
ers to a performance zon
ing classification.
“(Before), each clas
sification had a chance
for performance zoning,
which would allow you
to increase the density if
you performed a certain
measure, .now, in the
ordinance, we have one
district only that allows for
performance zoning,” he
said. “... you can increase
the density but you have
to perform with bigger
buffers, less linear footage
on the frontage ... you can
have the same amount of
area, and you’re using 25%
less of the land and conse
quently reducing the lot
size by 25%. ”
Bergin said the city’s
position is that this specific
amendment in the ordi
nance would serve as a
direct benefit to taxpayers,
who pay to maintain that
area.
“At the end of the day,
you’ll have 25% less pave
ment on the ground, less
concrete gutters, less light
ing, less sidewalks - in
other words, you’ll save
some elements,” Bergin
said. “And who, at the end
of the day, has to maintain
all that? That goes back to
the city taxpayer, so that’s
where the benefit falls
there.”
Bergin doesn’t believe
the new zoning changes,
if approved, would deter
developers looking to build
in Lula, calling the ordi
nance a unique approach
to managing growth in the
city.
“We think it’s a unique
approach,” Bergin said.
“We think this kind of
becomes a calling card for
developers coming into the
community, looking for a
community that rewards
for their performance, .it’s
kind of a give-and-take on
both sides where the com
munity benefits as well as
the developer.”
“We know the growth is
coming,” he said. “Now, it’s
a matter of managing and
bringing in quality growth. ”
The zoning ordinance
will again go before council
for a final vote at its Jan.
17 regular meeting. That
meeting is expected to take
place at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Mayor Joe Thomas could
not be reached for com
ment on the item despite
multiple calls made to his
phone.
Councilman Tony Cor
nett, who voted in favor
of the ordinance Monday,
encouraged residents to
show up and give their
thoughts to council. He also
provided the logic behind
voting for the item, which
was approved unanimously
during the first reading.
“We believe that the big
gest concern that had been
addressed in this zoning
passage was clarifying the
definition of buildable lots,
which drastically affects
density that builders or
developers can propose,”
Cornett said. “It clarifies
the language in which
developers propose the
number of housing units
per acre, and it avoids
the distortion of density
proposals.”
ROBBERY
■ Continued from 1A
fired one round that didn’t
hit anyone and tried to run
away from the business,
Holbrook said.
Holbrook said the sus
pect “slipped on ice and hit
the ground,” allowing wit
nesses to get the gun away
from him.
Holbrook did not have
specifics on the busi
ness, and The Times has
requested the incident
reports.
Sajbocho-Ordonez’s
mugshot shows serious
injuries to the right side of
his face.
Holbrook said it is
unclear if the injuries hap
pened from the fall on the
ice or an altercation at the
scene.
“We know that is how
officers found him when
they arrived,” Holbrook
said.
Sajbocho-Ordonez was
treated by EMS on the
scene and then trans
ported to the jail.