Four Hall high school seniors named
2023 Georgia Scholars.
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Tuesday, March 28, 20231 GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Gainesville man killed in
BY BEN ANDERSON
banderson@
gainesvilletimes.com
The Hall County Sher
iff’s Office has identi
fied the pilot who died
in a gyrocopter crash
over the weekend.
Larry Franklin
Preiss, 75, of Gaines
ville, was killed after
an ultralight aircraft
crashed around 1:50
p.m. Saturday, March
25, at 4775 Clarks
Bridge Road, according
to authorities.
“The aircraft hit pow
erlines and crashed
into a field,” Peter
Knudson, spokesperson
for the National Safety
Transportation Board,
said over email Monday
morning.
Knudson said a pre
liminary report is
expected in two to three
weeks.
Clarks Bridge Road
was closed in the hours
after the crash.
The aircraft was
an AR1 experimental
helicopter, accord
ing to Eva Lee Ngai,
a spokesperson for
the Federal Aviation
Administration. She
said Preiss was the only
person aboard and no
one on the ground was
injured.
gyrocopter crash
A sheriff’s deputy blocks Clarks
Bridge Road at Dewberry
Baptist Church near the site of a
gyrocopter crash that killed one
person Saturday, March 25, in
Gainesville.
BEN ANDERSON
The Times
Downtown goes to the dogs
Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Hundreds of pooches and their owners ascend on downtown Gainesville Saturday, March 25, for the annual
Mutts on Main sponsored by Main Street Gainesville. The event includes a fashion show, dog contests and show
cases several dog-related vendors.
Sheriff’s Office
identifies body
found in Lanier
BY BEN ANDERSON
banderson@gainesvilletimes.com
The Hall County Sheriff’s Office has identi
fied a man found dead in Lake Lanier over the
weekend.
The body of Timothy Cline Thomas, 61, of
Gainesville, was recovered Saturday afternoon
a short distance from the boat ramp at Bolding
Mill Park, said B.J. Williams, spokeswoman for
the Sheriff’s Office.
Williams said Thomas’ family members con
tacted the Sheriff’s Office early that morning
asking for a welfare check on Thomas, saying he
had sent them texts threatening to harm himself.
Deputies searched the area near Thomas’ home
and found his vehicle at the gate of the park’s
boat ramp just before 7:45 a.m., she said. With
help from the Georgia Department of Natural
Resources, divers found Thomas’ body around
12:30 p.m.
Thomas’ body was transported for autopsy to
determine the exact cause of death.
Williams said foul play is not suspected.
SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Rob Robinson welcomes a group to J’s Place
Recovery Center Monday, March 27, during a
building dedication ceremony honoring Dallas
Gay and the Walters family.
Walters family donates
building, dedicates it
to advocate Dallas Gay
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
After losing his 21-year-old grandson
to an opioid overdose in 2012, Dallas Gay
spent the next decade of his life working to
prevent it from happening to anyone else.
Now more than a year after Dallas’ death,
the recovery center bearing his grandson’s
name, the Jeffrey Dallas Gay Jr. Recovery
Center, was dedicated to Dallas.
Jim Walters, one of Dallas’ biggest sup
porters, was also honored. Walters, a
Gainesville businessman and philanthropist
known as “Big Jim,” died in February 2021.
“Even before J’s Place, Jim Walters was
a big supporter of all of Dallas’ efforts and
all that he’s done,” said Jeffrey’s mother
Cindy Gay.
Members from the Gay family, the Wal
ters family and the center known as J’s
Place gathered Monday, March 27, for a
dedication ceremony honoring Dallas Gay
and the Walters.
J’s Place previously rented the Lanier
Park Drive facility, moving to the much
larger space in 2021 from its Juanita Drive
beginnings.
But the building was donated by the Wal
ters family to honor Dallas and the mission
of J’s Place, which tries to remove the bar
riers preventing people from seeking or
maintaining substance abuse recovery.
“The wisdom, love and compassion
expressed by Dallas Gay and family, the
Walters family, and others in establishing
J’s Place Recovery Center, demonstrates
their dedication to the betterment of the
quality of life in our community,” former
Georgia State Sen. Butch Miller said in a
statement.
Miller was one of the sponsors of the Jef
frey Dallas Gay Jr. Act, which was signed
in 2017 by former Gov. Nathan Deal. The
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