LOCAL
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Weekend Edition-March 17-18, 2023 3A
SHOOTING
■ Continued from 1A
next to the J. A. Walters
YMCA in Gainesville.
Police said Cooper
had a two-year-old child
in the car. He is being
held without bond in Hall
County Jail.
Police said Cooper
fired multiple shots, hit
ting Michael Charles
Gabriel, 50, and Paula
Kay Blackwell, 65, who
was “caught in the cross
fire,” Lt. Kevin Holbrook
said. She was shot in the
kidney, according to
arrest warrants.
As of Thursday, Black-
well was in critical
condition at Northeast
Georgia Medical Center
in Gainesville.
After being shot,
Gabriel drove his Chev
rolet Tahoe south onto
Jesse Jewell Parkway,
stopped and called the
police. He was trans
ported to NGMC and
later released with minor
injuries.
“It was two times that
he shot at me,” Gabriel
told The Times. “He
unloaded a round into
my vehicle, and I took
two hits, one to my shoul
der and then to my lower
back. I was very, very
lucky.”
LAWSUIT
■ Continued from 1A
Before both sides
argued before the Court
of Appeals in October,
the most recent rul
ing was Judge Martha
Christian granting sum
mary judgment in April
2022 for the second time
in favor of the county
government.
Court of Appeals
Judge Benjamin A. Land
wrote the majority opin
ion March 13 joined by
Judge Elizabeth Gobeil
ruling that the summary
judgment previously
granted to the county
government was correct.
The crux of the case
involves the frozen
accrued benefits for
employees under the
defined benefit plan in
July 1998. The county
adopted a “defined
contribution plan” and
stopped making contri
butions to the defined
benefit plan.
The employees argued
that freezing the benefits
was akin to a termina
tion of their defined ben
efit plan, meaning that
they were owed notice
and a hearing.
The appeals court
majority wrote that
there were two fatal
problems with the
employees’ argument.
The first was that the
notice and hearing
requirement was not
part of the defined bene
fit plan prior to the 1998
freeze, and the judges
also ruled that it wasn’t
a plan termination.
“The (defined benefit
plan) has been altered
in that benefits have
been frozen and no fur
ther contributions are
being made to it, but the
accrued benefits are still
being held and adminis
tered for the affected
employees,” according
to the majority opinion.
Presiding Judge Chris
topher J. McFadden
authored a dissenting
opinion, writing that
the county’s actions did
constitute a termination
of the plan and would
require the notice and a
hearing.
“The notice and hear
ing provision is triggered
when the ‘employer,’
here the county, decides
either to terminate its
defined benefit plan or
to withdraw from the
trust created under that
plan,” McFadden wrote.
“The parties to this case
dispute whether the
county’s act of ‘freez
ing’ the defined benefit
plan was a ‘termination’
invoking those require
ments. I would hold that
it was.”
McFadden agreed that
there was not a full ter
mination of the defined
benefit plan.
“As the majority notes,
the plan continues to be
administered,” McFad
den wrote. “But the
county’s acts of ceasing
its contributions into
the defined benefit plan
and freezing the accrual
of benefits under that
plan effectively ended
the ability of some par
ticipants to obtain the
full extent of benefits
provided for under the
plan. So it amounted to
a partial termination of
the plan.”
Plaintiffs’ attorney
Michael Kramer and
co-counsel Ed Buck-
ley sent a statement to
The Times saying they
“always expected this
case to go to the Georgia
Supreme Court.”
“It’s a hard fought
case for the pension
rights of Hall County
government employees
who have been denied
their rightful pensions
promised them by Hall
County,” the plaintiffs’
attorneys said.
“The Georgia Court
of Appeals 2-1 major
ity decision has in our
view misstated the law
and the facts. Judge
McFadden in his dissent
stated he would rule for
our plaintiffs because
he found the employ
ees’ pensions had been
unlawfully terminated.
His analysis contained
common-sense and con
cise factual and legal
analysis. The Geor
gia Supreme Court has
seven judges that would
hear and decide the
case if they accept it
for review. We will be
applying for Georgia
Supreme Court review.
We like our odds and
we’ll continue to fight
for our clients.”
Attorney Ben Mathis,
part of the team of attor
neys representing the
county, deferred com
ment on the ruling to the
county government.
“We respect the
court’s decision and
have no further com
ment,” Hall County
spokeswoman Sarah
Crowe wrote in an email.
Church seeks rule exception for building
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
A prefabricated metal
building is all the Korean-
American church says it can
afford right now. The ques
tion is whether that’s good
enough for Hall County.
“A metal building was our
only option due to its cost,
which is .. less expensive
compared to other options
available in the current con
struction market,” Bethel
Faith Baptist Church says
in Hall County planning
documents.
As such, the church is
seeking a variance, or
exception, in non-residen-
tial design standards Hall
County has on its main
roadways, such as Friend
ship Road/Ga. 347. The
8,400-square-foot church is
proposed on 9 acres at 3331
Hall County Planning Commission
What: Proposed church off Friendship Road/Ga. 347 in
I South Hall
When: 5:15 p.m. Monday, March 20
Where: Hall County Government Center, 2875 Browns
Bridge Road, Gainesville
Friendship Road, between
Spout Springs and Hog
Mountain roads in South
Hall.
Eugene Kim, who is seek
ing the variance on behalf
of the church, says in a let
ter to the county that the
church would be 515 feet
from Ga. 347’s center line
and a mound facing Ga. 347
is 47 feet in height. Plus,
there would be two build
ings in front of the proposed
church.
“Most importantly, the
topography at the site slopes
sharply downward and is
in a densely wooded and
secluded area,” so there
would be limited visibility
of the proposed church, Kim
said.
“We are planning other
structures to be completed
soon, which will comprise
an Asian-American com
munity center. This center
will then be able to hold
community events, such as
conferences, activities and
public forums, to name a
few. These will surely ben
efit and be an asset to our
local community.”
Hall County planning staff
is recommending denial of
the request.
Approval would “lead
to inconsistent application
of the nonresidential prop
erty development standard
... along the primary thor
oughfares in Hall County,”
officials say in planning
documents.
Design standards say that
“exposed concrete block,
painted concrete block,
metal, tilt/up and pre-cast
concrete are prohibited
materials for any exterior
wall.”
The issue is set to go
before the Hall County Plan
ning Commission on Mon
day, March 20.
The planning board can
either table the matter or
make a formal recommen
dation of denial or approval
to the Hall County Board of
Commissioners, which is
set to take final action at an
April 25 public hearing.
TRIAL
■ Continued from 1A
the defendant,” according to
the defense’s notice.
On cross-examination,
Assistant District Attorney
Harold Buckler walked
Wood through her text mes
sages sent in the weeks after
Kramer died.
Wood said she lied about
Kramer being alive to a
friend she owed money to
“keep him away until I could
get the money back to pay
him.”
In the weeks after Kramer
died, Wood represented her
self over text message as
facing continual beatings
and abuse from her 82-year-
old fiance.
Some of the messages
mirror the story she told the
jury in terms of the injuries
she suffered the night of the
fatal fight.
Even though the texts
were lies, Wood later testi
fied she was trying to “get
what was really going on
with me out” regarding the
alleged abuse from Kramer.
One of the texts Buckler
showed included the phrase
putting a “can of whoop-ass
on him” but that she did not
care to because “I know I
would hurt him.”
Wood’s responses took
a circuitous route. When
asked if she caused Kram
er’s fatal injuries, Wood
repeated that she might
have blacked out and was
unsure.
“How would you know
if you blacked out?” Buck
ler asked. “How would you
know if you were defending
yourself and not just beat
ing an 82-year-old man to
death?”
Wood responded saying
she knew what provoked the
situation and that she was
not going to take another
beating.
Her fear was the main
reason she gave for not
telling any of Kramer’s
family inquiring about his
whereabouts.
“You said you wanted
your story to be told,” Buck
ler said.
“This is a judging world,”
Wood said. “Everybody
judges everyone.”
When asked about not tell
ing the detectives the truth
and saying it was a suicide,
Wood said it was because
local law enforcement is
“crooked” and wouldn’t lis
ten to her.
On June 7, Wood sent a
text message to a family
member referencing how
she was in the back of the
police car and “ugly really
committed suicide.”
Wood said she did not
refer to Kramer as “ugly”
and that she uses the voice-
to-text function
“I was trying to say some
thing ugly really, really had
happened,” she testified. “I
believe I was trying to say
Leroy committed suicide.”
She repeatedly told the
jury she was either scared
or in a bad mental state.
The defense rested shortly
after 4:30 p.m. Thursday.
Superior Court Judge
Lindsay Burton instructed
the jury to return at 9
a.m. Friday for closing
arguments.
One juror did not show up
for court at 10 a.m. Thurs
day. Court officials called
the juror multiple times to
no avail. An alternate juror
will take their place.
A rendering
shows the
completed grist
mill in downtown
Braselton.
The city is
accepting bids
through March
to renovate the
mill and build a
3,854-square-
foot, two-story
addition.
Artist’s rendering
MILL
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NORTH GEORGIA TRAVEL AND LEISURE GUIDE
■ Continued from 1A
the addition with a connect
ing lobby, conference rooms,
kitchenette and more offices.
The first floor of the exist
ing building will be used for
Braselton Visitors Bureau
offices.
The agency “will run all
our tourism, but they’ll also
have the mill open for tours, ”
said Scott, who also serves as
chairwoman of the Visitors
Bureau Authority.
The town now opens the
mill several times a year to
do tours, she said.
“We have a whole mill
group who has come in and
studied the whole (build
ing),” she said. “They know
what the equipment does,
and we have a tour guide
who can take you through the
whole thing.”
The Event will
feature great
places to Visit,
Dine, PLay & Stay!
It’s a must have for
families planning a day
trip or weeklong holiday.
Back in its day, the mill
basically was used to turn
grains into flour, which then
could be sold in bags — a
couple of which are on dis
play inside the mill.
Plans also call for the addi
tion to house BraseltonTech,
a public-private initiative
to help start up technology
companies.
“The renderings (of the
project) are very cool,” Scott
said. “I can’t wait to see what
it’s like when this (building)
is actually habitable. There’s
so much to do, but the whole
structure is in perfect shape.”
The project, budgeted at
$2 million, may take a year
to complete, she said.
But the waiting will be
worth it, Scott said.
“It’ll be so much fun to see
this building come back to
life in a whole new way,” she
said.
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