About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 2023)
' * East Hall’s Pruitt credits perfect wrestling season, state title to his faith and family, sports, 3B Midweek Edition - FEBRUARY 22-23,2023 | $1.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Honestly Local ACLU enters Lula religious debate Group monitors city’s meeting a week after resident was denied non-Christian prayer BY BRIAN WELLMEIER bwellmeier@gainesvilletimes.com A regular meeting in Lula became a symbolic showdown over religion and the First Amendment Monday, when a crowd of about 30 people gathered around Mayor Joe Thomas outside City Hall, praying over him in unison. Across the parking lot, standing about 10 feet from a “blue vest” legal observer representing the ACLU, Matthew Sidoti held two signs — one scrawled with the words, “Keep Sepa rate” and another that read, “Out of many, we are one. Government should represent us all.” Sidoti told The Times he was there in support of agnostic resident Joseph Johnson, who just last week questioned the constitutionality of the city’s Chris tian invocation at Monday’s work ses sion, after he was denied his request to say a non-Christian prayer by Mayor Joe Thomas. “I believe in the separation of church and state,” Sidoti said. “I don’t think it would’ve been that big of a deal if (Thomas) likes to pray before (a meet ing), but the fact that someone else asked to pray that’s a different religion and he’s denied, that’s a big violation of the First Amendment in my opinion ... the fact that it’s in my backyard is the reason I’m here.” Lula resident Roy Hall, who spoke on behalf of the 30 Christians surround ing Thomas, called Johnson’s objec tion last week an “attack on religious freedoms.” “I’m here to say ... everybody here has the personal right under the First Amendment (to worship) whoever your religion is,” Hall said. “We serve Jeho vah God... we feel like we’re protected under the First Amendment to exer cise our free speech and our freedom of religion.” By 7 p.m., more than 70 people packed the council chamber, with a total of three members of the ACLU’s team of legal observers seated in the back. The purpose of their visit, they said, was to observe the proceeding of Monday’s regular meeting. ■ Please see LULA, 4A BRIAN WELLMEIER I The Times Lula resident Matthew Sidoti holds a sign as others pray before a city meeting Monday, Feb. 20. Bill takes aim at homeless camps City spends $3.2 million for laptops BY BEN ANDERSON banderson@gainesvilletimes.com The Gainesville City school board on Tuesday approved $3.21 million in federal coronavirus relief funding for the purchase of 8,800 student laptops. “Chromebooks are part of ensuring that we have a continuity of education in the event that students are learning from home,” Jill Hobson, chief technology officer for Gainesville City Schools, said over email. “This is a good way for us to keep student devices updated and ensure that the devices will be useful for the next 4-5 years.” Students are expected to have their new lap tops by the fall, said Superintendent Jeremy Williams. ■ Please see LAPTOPS, 4A A man prepares to enter Good News at Noon on Friday, Feb. 17, in Gainesville. Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Local leaders react to Senate measure that could criminalize sites A homeless man known as Duck to a homeless camp’s residents prepares to roll a cigarette Tuesday, Jan. 10. BY BEN ANDERSON banderson@gainesvilletimes.com Local governments could be sued for failing to enforce public camping bans if a bill making its way through the Georgia legislature becomes law. Senate Bill 62 would make it illegal for local governments to prohibit or even dis courage the enforcement of ordinances that ban public camping, and they could be sued for violating the law. A Senate committee approved a substitute version of the bill, and it will now go to the Senate floor for debate and revision before head ing to the House. “This bill clearly criminalizes losing your housing or being unable to afford housing,” said Jasper Preston, director of program services for the Georgia Alli ance to End Homelessness. “If this bill does pass, of course there are going to be lawsuits.” The bill would also allow the state to sanction its own camps without input from local governments, as well as audit public spending on homelessness. Some local lawmakers have criticized the bill as an act of big government over reach that would limit local control of the homelessness crisis. “That’s a local issue that should be handled by local municipalities,” said Sen. Shelly Echols, R-Gainesville, who opposes the bill. “If their voters want to continue to elect the people who don’t do anything about (homelessness), that’s up to them to do. It’s not the state’s place to tell them what to do.” “My only comment at this time on the legislation is to say that eliminat ing local control is problematic,” Rep. Lee Hawkins, R-Gainesville, said over text. “Issues often vary, as do the solu tions, in respect to our communities and their capabilities in dealing with these challenges.” Rep. Emory Dunahoo, R-Gillsville, said he usually supports local control, but not on the issue of homelessness. “I support this bill 100%,” he said. “Local control should always be our No. 1 priority, but then again, sometimes we have to reach out with a problem that we have here in Hall County, that we have throughout Atlanta ... to where every where you go, you see this growing, grow ing. They’re on the side of the interstate. They hold up traffic. ... There’s a large percentage of homeless that have mental ■ Please see HOMELESS, 3A SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Shannon Beauford sits in Hall County Superior Court Tuesday, Jan. 10, during the first day of his vehicular homicide trial. Second trial begins for 2020 deadly wreck BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com Seven weeks after a Hall County judge declared a mistrial, a Gainesville man charged with vehicular homicide faces a new trial from a 2020 wreck that killed a 17-year-old. Shannon Beauford, 28, was indicted on two counts of first-degree vehicular homicide from the Oct. 4,2020 crash that killed Madison Gray, of Gainesville. Superior Court Judge Jason Deal previously presided over the trial in early January. After deliberating over the course of three days, the jury was still deadlocked. ■ Please see TRIAL, 4A ONLINE INSIDE gainesvilletimes.com/newsletters: Sign up to receive email newsletters from The Times gainesvilletimes.com/apps: Download The Times’ app for a user-friendly online experience and app notifications for big stories Advice 7A Fun+Games 7A Calendar 2A Life 1B Classified 2C Opinion 6A Comics 8A Sports 3B 0 40901 06835 8
