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Man found dead in
Gainesville camper fire.
INSIDE, 3A
Thursday, March 23, 20231 GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Fed raises key interest rate by
quarter-point despite bank turmoil.
INSIDE, 4A
Honestly Local
Principal: Wrong student charged in fight
East Hall High teen accused of kicking teacher in face during scuffle
BY BEN ANDERSON
banderson@
gainesvilletimes.com
The principal says they
charged the wrong student
in the East Hall High School
fight.
Jhonny David Mendez,
an 18-year-old student at
East Hall High School, was
recently accused of kick
ing a teacher in the face
during a fight with another
student.
Mendez was charged
with felony battery and
misdemeanor affray, jailed
and later released on a
$3,500 bond.
But Principal Jeff Coo
per told The Times it was
actually the other student,
a juvenile, who kicked
teacher Heather Hawkins
in the face, and he is now
asking prosecutors to drop
the charges and allowed
Mendez to return to East
Hall High rather than send
ing him to The Foundry, the
district’s remedial school
for students who get in
trouble.
District Attorney Lee
Darragh declined to say
whether his office will drop
the charges.
“That decision still is
pending,” he said over text.
“I will confirm that Mr. Coo
per, his Assistant Principal,
the SRO and the teacher
Ms. Hawkins showed up at
my office this morning and
we met for about an hour.”
Darragh said felony bat
tery is punishable by up to
five years in prison and up
to a $10,000 fine, and mis
demeanor affray is pun
ishable by up to 12 months
to serve and up to a $1,000
fine.
The other student was
also charged. His name
hasn’t been provided
because he’s a juvenile, but
he was charged with misde
meanor battery and affray.
The original version of
events given by Hall County
school officials went like
this: Mendez and another
student got into a fight over
a girl, Mendez ended up on
his back and accidentally
struck Hawkins in the face
while trying to kick the
other student off him.
Cooper now says it was
the other student who
kicked Hawkins and who
threw the first strike.
“David was punched
first,” he said of Mendez.
■ Please see FIGHT, 3A
Rail company pays fine
Photos provided by Marine Environmental Incorporated
On July 30, a Norfolk Southern employee reported a three-car freight train derailment. The company has paid $10,000 to the state
Environmental Protection Division after soybeans spilled into Gainesville’s Flat Creek following the derailment.
Deadline nears
in NGHS, UHC
contract talks
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Contract extension talks are coming down to
the wire between Northeast Georgia Health Sys
tem and UnitedHealthcare.
The contract, expiring April 30, covers care
at all NGHS facilities, including all Northeast
Georgia Medical Center hospitals, Northeast
Georgia Physicians Group practices, Urgent
Care locations, Georgia Heart Institute loca
tions, Laurelwood, long-term care facilities and
outpatient centers.
And the war of words is heating up.
“UnitedHealthcare has let you down,” NGHS
says on a website devoted to the talks.
“Despite our continued best efforts, we
remain very far apart on key contract details.
United wants to limit access to imaging, surgery
and other services and is unwilling to pay equi
tably for the care you need. We simply cannot
accept a contract that threatens our ability to
care for you the same way we have for nearly
70 years.”
And UHC said in a statement that NGHS “is
demanding a near 25% price hike over the next
■ Please see NGHS, 3A
scon ROGERS I The Times
Norfolk Southern penalized $10,000 for soybean spill in Flat Creek
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Norfolk Southern paid
$10,000 to the state Environ
mental Protection Division
in the aftermath of a soybean
spill into Gainesville’s Flat
Creek, leading to 443 tons of
waste.
According to the EPD, a
Norfolk Southern employee
reported July 30 a three-car
freight train derailment from
the day before, and each train
hopper had a max capacity of
226,000 pounds.
On Aug. 12, the Chatta
hoochee Riverkeeper and
governmental agencies
started investigating a fishkill
in Flat Creek. Becca Risser,
the riverkeeper’s headwaters
watershed specialist, said the
dissolved oxygen was well
below the level that becomes
uninhabitable for fish.
The initial Aug. 12 fishkill
report found 21 bluegill and
74 mosquitofish were found
dead in Flat Creek.
Marion Environmental
Inc., the cleanup company
contracted by Norfolk South
ern, said 443 tons of waste
were disposed of in the
process.
Norfolk Southern’s system
manager of hazardous materi
als Robert Wood told the EPD
in November that the cleanup
cost roughly $323,000.
Under Georgia law, Nor
folk Southern could have
faced a maximum penalty of
$50,000 per day “for each day
during which such violation
continues.”
On Feb. 7, the EPD sent
Norfolk Southern a consent
order with the $10,000 penalty
to be paid.
Three weeks later, the
$10,000 payment was
received.
The riverkeeper checked
on the oxygen levels in Flat
Creek for a few months on a
regular basis after the spill
and saw it return to its normal
levels of dissolved oxygen.
“The fish have been com
ing back,” Risser said. “I’ve
been seeing more life in it.”
Risser said most of the
acute impacts of the spill
have subsided, but Flat Creek
has still faced other sources of
pollution.
Surrounded by an urban
and industrial environment,
Flat Creek has experienced
high levels of bacteria fre
quently, Risser said.
“I can’t say for sure where
they are coming from,” she
said. “There’s a lot of poten
tial sources, from the sewer
collection system to indus
tries in the area, chicken pro
cessors. But overall, it’s just
got a huge amount of activity
in this watershed.”
A map of Flat
Creek shows
where the
July 30 rail car
spill occured
and five
locations where
Chattahoochee
Riverkeeper
took testing
samples
Headwaters of Flat
Creek to Queens City
Pkwy/GA-60
Hall Area Transit launched the WeGo vanpool
service in 2020. The county commission will
consider transitioning to zero-emission vehicles.
Hall transit may
move to vehicles
with zero emissions
BY BRIAN WELLMEIER
bwellmeier@gainesvilletimes.com
Transit services in Hall could take a first
step to join a nationwide initiative to go
green.
County commissioners on Thursday will
consider whether to transition Hall-Area
Transit Services to zero-emission vehicles.
Hall’s transit service, WeGo, operates
under the Gainesville/Hall County Commu
nity Services department and provides tran
sit services in Gainesville and Hall County.
If approved, Hall County would pay Plan
ning Communities LLC $50,639 in grant
money to develop a “zero emission vehicle
transition plan for Hall Area Transit,” docu
ments state.
Joseph Boyd, the transportation planning
director for Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan
Planning Organization, explained specifics
of the proposal following Monday’s work ses
sion, stating, “The new infrastructure bill
that came out in 2021 has earmarked funds
for zero/low emission vehicles.”
“But you cannot tap into (that funding)
unless you have a transition plan,” he said.
“We have to have the plan done. That will
look at (Hall-Area Transit’s) fleet, look at
their existing infrastructure and then tell
them what they need to do to seamlessly
transition.”
Boyd said that while it’s still unclear how
many emission-free vehicles the county
could receive, he expects the execution of the
plan to be swift following its approval.
“The plan is going to be quick,” Boyd said.
“It should be done by the end of June, and
then Hall-Area Transit can apply for funds
in (fiscal year) ’24. It’ll probably be a couple
(vehicles) at a time. They’ll look at what they
■ Please see EMISSIONS, 4A
