Gainesville
boys, North Hall
girls lead list of
contenders in
Hall County golf
championships.
SPORTS, 1C
Ml
mt (ttin fs
Local artist brings modern take
to traditional Korean jars.
LIFE, 3C
Weekend Edition - MARCH 17-18,2023 | $2.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Honestly Local
Suspect grilled over text messages
Wood defends actions in communications after mans death
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
The prosecution grilled
Tabitha Wood on text messages
sent in the weeks after Leroy
Kramer’s death, showing she
impersonated him and pre
tended he was still alive.
Wood spent more than three
hours on the stand combined
between Wednesday evening
and Thursday morning.
She detailed for the jury
Wednesday how Kramer was
alive when she ran out of the
house in early April after a fight.
Wood testified Wednesday that
she returned to the home and
slept next to him for three days
before facing the reality that
Kramer was dead.
Law enforcement believes
Kramer died in early April, but
his body was not discovered until
June 7. The indictment stated
Kramer died from a traumatic
injury to his neck and chest.
In a limited fashion, Wood tes
tified about other women whom
Wood claimed were abused by
Kramer by his own admission.
In the defense’s filings regard
ing self-defense, the attorneys
claimed there was admissible
evidence about Kramer’s alleged
character for violence.
“Such evidence would also be
for the purpose of motive to con
trol females, which goes toward
the defendant’s self-defense jus
tification as the evidence corrob
orates Leroy Kramer’s motive
to control and abuse women in
domestic violence situations,
which is exactly what he did to
■ Please see TRIAL, 3A
Tabitha Wood
takes the stand
in Hall County
Superior Court
Wednesday,
March 15, during
her murder trial.
Wood is accused
of killing her
82-year-old
fiance, Leroy
Franklin Kramer
Jr., then living
with the body for
months.
SCOTT ROGERS
The Times
A new lease on life
SCOTT ROGERS I Associated Press
Braselton is currently accepting bids to improve their historic grist mill that sits along Frances Street in the downtown area.
Braseltons historic grist mill on pace for facelife, addition
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
The exterior has been painted and the
foundation shored up over the years, but
otherwise, the grist mill sits like a time
capsule in downtown Braselton.
The building lacks modern conve
niences, such as plumbing. It has early
original tools and equipment still in place.
Various handwritten scribblings in
pencil — including Bible verses and peo
ple’s names — are on still-sturdy upright
wooden beams throughout the three-story
structure, which was built about 1900.
The mill at 20 Frances St. has sat
overlooking busy Ga. 53, which cuts
through downtown and into neighboring
Hoschton, while growth and change took
place around it.
That is, until a few years ago, when the
Braselton Town Council decided to plot a
future for the 6,000-square-foot building
it had acquired about 15 years ago, Town
Manager Jennifer Scott said during a visit
to the property earlier this week.
“One of the challenges is how do we
preserve the history and still use the
building,” she said.
A major step was taken Monday,
March 13, when the council voted to
transfer ownership of the mill to the Bra
selton Visitors Bureau Authority, which
can borrow money without needing it to
be backed by property taxes.
Next is a process of accepting bids
through March to renovate the mill and
build a 3,854-square-foot, two-story addi
tion. The addition will include a lobby,
restrooms, stairs and office space. Other
work will include “grading around the
addition and existing mill, and new site
walls to improve site drainage.”
Maps of the project show part of the
mill being used as a museum, a suite of
offices in the existing building and then
■ Please see MILL, 3A
Man charged
in shooting
on Ga. 365
BY BEN ANDERSON
banderson@gainesvilletimes.com
A Lula man has been charged with shoot
ing two people in a road rage
incident Wednesday morning
on Ga. 365, Gainesville police
said.
Steven Dallas Cooper, 26,
faces charges of aggravated
battery, criminal attempt to
commit murder, criminal
damage to property, reck
less conduct and aggravated
assault.
Cooper is accused of exiting
his vehicle and shooting a man and a woman
around 8:30 a.m. at an intersection of Ga. 365
■ Please see SHOOTING, 3A
Cooper
Hall employees
lose ruling on
pension lawsuit
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
In a 2-1 split decision, the Georgia Court of
Appeals ruled against the Hall County employ
ees who claimed their pension benefits were
unlawfully frozen 25 years ago.
The class action lawsuit concerns an esti
mated $75 million and a group of roughly 100
current and former Hall County employees.
Filed in Hall County more than six years ago,
the case has pinballed between its home juris
diction and the appellate courts.
Following the Court of Appeals ruling, the
employees’ attorneys said they will ask the
Supreme Court of Georgia to review the case.
■ Please see LAWSUIT, 3A
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