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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
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