Newspaper Page Text
Midweek Edition - APRIL 5-6,2023 | $2.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Honestly Local
Attempted recall of Lula officials fails
BY BRIAN WELLMEIER
bwellmeier@gainesvilletimes.com
An application to recall Lula Mayor
Joe Thomas and Councilman Gene
Bramlett failed for lack of signatures
required to remove the two men from
office.
Both Thomas and Bramlett, who
took office in January 2022, were pres
ent for a special called meeting by Hall
County’s Board of Elections Tuesday
after signatures on the application
were tallied for review.
Of the 103 residents who signed the
application to recall Thomas, a total
of 18 signatures were stricken by elec
tions officials — four on the Banks
County side of Lula and 14 from Hall.
Proponents who sought to oust
Thomas and Bramlett needed a total
of 100 signatures to proceed to the next
step of the recall to remove the two
men from office.
The application to unseat Bramlett
had 101 signatures, and the same 18
names were deemed invalid by elec
tions officials.
Members of Hall County’s Board of
Elections voted unanimously to reject
both applications Tuesday. Hall County
Elections Director Lori Wurtz indi
cated the names were stricken either
because they weren’t registered to
vote when Thomas and Bramlett were
elected or because they weren’t regis
tered voters at all.
“There are several reasons that a
sponsor may be ineligible to sign the
application and that could be because
of a signature mismatch — we didn’t
have any of those,” Wurtz said. “The
other reasons a sponsor could be found
to be ineligible would be due to not hav
ing been registered to vote in the city
of Lula in 2021... you also have to be a
registered voter in the city of Lula, cur
rently, as well.”
After the meeting, Thomas expressed
a desire to move forward with city busi
ness without the prospect of a recall
looming over his administration.
“Let’s get the city running,” he said.
Bramlett, after shrugging off the
recall movement, conveyed a tone of
■ Please see RECALL, 5A
BRIAN WELLMEIER I The Times
The Hall County Board of Elections rejects applications to
recall Mayor Joe Thomas and Councilman Gene Bramlett
on Tuesday, April 4.
‘It means more and more to me’
Gainesville’s Aaron reflects half a century after Masters win
SCOn ROGERS I The Times
50 years since winning The Masters in 1973, besting runner-up
BY BILL MURPHY
bmurphy@gainesvilletimes.com
Fifty years later, Tommy
Aaron can still recall the
details of his crowning profes
sional achievement and the
day that he put Gainesville on
the map for golf.
Cool to start the day but
seasonably warm by the after
noon of the rare Monday final
round of the Masters on April
9,1973, it’s the exact moment
that the already-successful
PGA professional with a tall
and slender physique, era-
popular sideburns and a head
full of curly dark hair surged
back from four shots down to
win the biggest tournament of
them all.
With his win, Aaron
became the second of three
native Georgians, joining
Claude Harmon (1948) and
Larry Mize (1987) to win the
Masters.
Now 86, and still blessed
with the ability to play golf on
a regular basis, the Gaines
ville High graduate can still
remember with precision all
the ups and downs that went
into that final round, where he
roared back for a one-stroke
win over one of the formida
ble players on the Tour, J.C.
Snead.
Making the moment much
more special, the Masters
champion had his parents,
Charlie and Helen, on hand
for the occasion.
Aaron’s wife, Jimmye, was
at home recovering in Gaines
ville from a series of surger
ies, while both sides of their
families were helping to look
after their two young chil
dren: 10-year-old daughter
Lynn and Tom, who was 4.
“As I reflect back now on
winning the Masters, it means
more and more to me,” said
Aaron, who still resides in
Gainesville.
With Aaron’s local popular
ity, it was a robust contingent
of fans 50 years ago from
Gainesville who were able to
scoop up Masters passes and
make the 125-mile trip down
to Augusta for the thrilling
action at Augusta National.
And, they’re sure glad they
did.
Aaron’s win as the second
Georgian to win the Masters
brought a lot of positive spot
light to Gainesville.
However, it was the process
of Aaron finding his way to
victory that those who made
the trip remember most, even
after so many years have
passed.
With every shot Aaron
made, there were rows of
Tommy Aaron is about to mark
J.C. Snead by a stroke.
Inside
Tommy Aaron’s final round
in 1973 wasn’t perfect, but
it was good enough for a
green jacket, 1C
fans from Gainesville lining
the side of the fairway, or
wrapped around the greens to
watch his putts on the notori
ously tricky slopes leading to
every cup.
“The whole time, Tommy
was cool as a cucumber,”
said his lifelong friend from
Gainesville, Bradley Law-
son, who was in the gallery to
watch Aaron win it in person
in Augusta.
The 1973 Masters was one
that went down to the wire,
and a day later than normal,
due to the second round get
ting washed out.
Aaron had already capped
a splendid round of 4-under
par (68) on the final day, but
waited calmly in Butler Cabin
to see if his nearest com
petitor on the final two holes,
Snead, would be able to force
a playoff — which was 18
holes in those days — or win
the tournament outright.
The television coverage
was split between showing
Aaron’s face in the clubhouse
and Snead as he played the
final hole.
With Aaron leading by one
shot as Snead played No. 18,
the three-time Ryder Cup
team member had a downhill
putt for birdie of about 25 feet
that rolled just by the cup.
Just like that, Aaron’s life
had completely changed for
the better.
Thanks in large part to
three straight birdies to open
his final round, Aaron went
from a successful PGA player
to a household name for fans
around the world.
■ Please see AARON, 5A
Police: Two
electrocuted
during theft
BY BEN ANDERSON AND NICK WATSON
banderson@gainesvilletimes.com
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Two men were electrocuted after police
believe they were trying to steal from a Gaines
ville power substation, police said.
The two men, identified by Deputy Coroner
Kevin Wetzel as Gainesville residents Shane
Joseph Long, 45, and Christopher Blair Wood,
44, were found around 3 a.m. Monday, April 3,
in the area behind Liquid Nation Brewing on
Atlanta Highway.
“It occurred in a fenced-off, well-marked
area behind our brewery where there’s a live
transformer there, which actually doesn’t sup
ply any power to our brewery. It actually is
located back there, but it supplies power to the
rest of some of the other buildings,” said Pap
Datta, owner of Liquid Nation Brewing.
Datta said the bodies weren’t removed from
■ Please see MEN, 5A
SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Two men were electrocuted while police believe
they were trying to steal from a Gainesville
power substation located behind Liquid Nation
Brewing on Atlanta Highway.
Bullet fired
through glass
at local church
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A bullet went through the back of a Gainesville
church and shattered a glass door, according to
authorities.
A Hall County Sheriff’s Office deputy was
called out around 3:45 p.m. Monday, April 3,
to Primera Iglesia Bautista Hispana, a Baptist
church on Harmony Street.
A person working at the church told the dep
uty that she heard gunshots and then saw the
glass door to the church’s fellowship hall was
shattered.
“At this point in the investigation, it looks like
a single bullet entered the back of the build
ing, traveled through the building and hit the
glass door,” Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman B.J.
Williams.
No injuries were reported, and Williams said
there is no surveillance video available.
The deputy recovered a shell casing at the
scene.
The Times has reached out to the church via
email.
ONLINE
INSIDE
gainesvilletimes.com/newsletters: Sign up to
receive email newsletters from The Times
gainesvilletimes.com/apps: Download
The Times’ app for a user-friendly online
experience and app notifications for big
stories
Calendar 2A
Classified 3C
Comics 5B
Fun+Games 4B
Life 1B
Opinion 6A
Our Region 6B
Sports 1C
0
25 9
