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The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Midweek Edition-April 5-6, 2023 7A
Man accused of selling fentanyl,
meth to undercover DEA agent
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Editor’s note: This published in a
previous E-Paper edition and is being
provided here for print-only readers.
A Gainesville man was accused
of selling more than 4 kilos of meth-
amphetamine to an undercover DEA
agent over four months, according to
warrants.
Ernesto Agraz Esparza, 41, faces
six counts of drug trafficking. He was
booked Monday, March 27, into the
Hall County Jail, where he remains
with no bond.
According to war
rants obtained by
The Times, Agraz
Esparza was accused
of selling fentanyl
and meth to an under
cover DEA agent on
multiple occasions
between November
and March.
Citing the ongoing investigation,
DEA Special Agent Crystal Harper
declined to share details when con
tacted by The Times.
Esparza
The warrants alleged Agraz Esparza
sold more than a kilo of meth on four
occasions.
In March, the Gainesville man was
accused of selling 100 pills of fentanyl,
weighing 11.1 grams, to the under
cover officer.
Less than two weeks after that trans
action, Agraz Esparza was accused of
directing another person to sell 672
grams of meth.
Agraz Esparza requested a public
defender, but an attorney had not
been assigned to him as of Friday,
March 31.
Seven local educators recognized
at Masters in Teaching ceremony
Photo provided by Brenau University
Seven local educators were honored as Masters in Teaching at a Brenau University ceremony
on March 29.
Hall County
rehab expected
to open in 2025
BY BEN ANDERSON
banderson@
gainesvilletimes.com
Seven Northeast Georgia
educators were recognized
March 29 at the Masters in
Teaching ceremony pre
sented by Brenau Univer
sity’s College of Education,
the university announced in
a news release Tuesday.
The 15th annual Mas
ters in Teaching ceremony
returned in person after a
break due to the COVID-19
pandemic, Brenau spokes
woman Alyson Shields said.
Gregory Marshall, asso
ciate professor of anatomy
and genetics at Brenau, said
he was humbled to receive
the award.
“My parents were teach
ers, and they were impacted
by students who came back
and said that my parents
had changed their lives,”
Marshall said. “I saw first
hand how meaningful teach
ing is. Knowing that my
students are out there doing
amazing things, that’s really
the mark I have left on the
world.”
The 2022-23 Teachers of
the Year for the Hall County
and Gainesville City school
systems, Susan Howard and
Joy Holeman, respectively,
were among the award
recipients.
The ceremony also fea
tured Georgia Teacher of
the Year Michael Kobito as
a guest speaker.
“Teachers deserve to be
recognized for the work
they do,” Kobito said. “They
change the world.”
This year’s award win
ners are:
• Dee Gillespie — Uni
versity of North Georgia
• Joy Holeman —
Fair Street International
Academy
• Susan Howard — Lanier
School for Inquiry, Investi
gation and Innovation
• John Leverett — Lanier
Technical College
• Gregory Marshall —
Brenau University
• Nicole McGuire —
Lakeview Academy
• Jared Mummaw —
Riverside Preparatory
Academy
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Editor’s note: This
published in a previous
E-Paper edition and is
being provided here for
print-only readers.
State approval has been
given to a new long-term
physical rehabilitation
center at 2500 Limestone
Parkway in Gainesville.
Construction of the
$62 million building is
expected to begin later
this year.
Northeast Georgia
Health System and Life-
point Rehabilitation are
teaming up to build the
40-room, 61,000-square-
foot center, which is
expected to open in 2025.
The project involves
tearing down the old J &
J Foods, which had oper
ated a grocery store at
the site between 2005 and
2018. When it closed, the
store was known as The
Market on Limestone.
Inpatient rehabilita
tion services have been
offered since 1989 at
Northeast Georgia Medi
cal Center Gainesville,
which has a 24-bed unit.
The new facility will
feature a wing for brain
injury and stroke patients,
and a therapy suite includ
ing a gym, private rooms
and a cooking room. It
also will have an Activities
of Daily Living therapy
apartment and rehabilita
tion equipment, according
to an NGHS press release
on Monday, April 3.
The facility will pro
vide intensive nursing,
physical, occupational and
speech pathology services
for adults recovering from
conditions such as stroke,
neurological disease,
brain or spinal cord injury
and other debilitating ill
nesses or injuries.
Lifepoint Rehabilitation
will manage the day-to-
day operations.
“We’re so excited that
this partnership will not
only increase availabil
ity of this kind of care
in the region, but it will
also improve the patient
experience and expand
the kinds of therapies we
can offer — closing a gap
in the care continuum, so
patients can get the care
they need close to home,”
said Kevin Matson, vice
president of oncology,
orthopedic and rehabilita
tion services for NGHS.
“We are passionate
about bringing our evi
dence-based framework
for providing high-quality
rehabilitation care to
more communities, and
we look forward to work
ing alongside Northeast
Georgia Health System as
we advance our mission
of making communities
healthier,” said David
Stark, vice president of
operations for Lifepoint
Rehabilitation.
Rendering provided by Northeast Georgia Health System
State approval has been given to a new 61,000-square-
foot inpatient physical rehabilitation center at 2500
Limestone Parkway in Gainesville.
Firefighters extinguish small
fire on roof of West Hall MS
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@
gainesvilletimes.com
Firefighters extinguished
a small fire Saturday, April
1, on the roof of West Hall
Middle School, according to
authorities.
Hall County firefight
ers responded around 8:40
a.m. Saturday to the middle
school, where they found
flames and smoke coming
from two HVAC units on the
roof.
Everyone was evacuated
from the area.
No injuries were reported,
and the fire resulted in mini
mal damage.
The cause of the fire is
under investigation by the
Hall County Fire Marshal’s
Office.
Hall County Schools
spokesman Stan Lewis said
the HVAC units were dam
aged in an isolated storm.
The school district is
Photo provided by Hall County Fire Rescue
Firefighters extinguished a small fire Saturday, April 1, on the
roof of West Hall Middle School.
assessing the damage, but school to be on site Monday,
the plan currently is for April 10.
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Fifth arrest made in mass
shooting at teen house party
DOUGLASVILLE —
A fifth suspect has been
arrested in a March 4 mass
shooting at a 16th birthday
party in suburban Atlanta
that killed two teens and
wounded seven other people,
authorities said Tuesday.
Tahkel Marquise Beverly-
Smart, a 21-year-old resi
dent of Dallas, Georgia, was
arrested Saturday in con
nection with the shooting
at a house in Douglasville,
Douglas County Sheriff Tim
Pounds announced.
In addition to two counts
of murder, Beverly-Smart is
facing 40 counts of partici
pating in gang activity, nine
counts each of aggravated
assault and aggravated bat
tery, and 20 counts of being a
party to a crime, jail records
show.
Beverly-Smart, like the
four other suspects arrested
so far, was denied bail. It was
not clear whether any had
lawyers who could speak on
their behalf.
Arrested earlier were
Kingston Cottman, 17, Timo
thy Coleman, 18, and twin
brothers Chance and Chase
McDowell, 17. They all face
murder and gang charges,
while Cottman and Coleman
also face aggravated assault,
aggravated battery and gun
charges.
The sheriff’s office didn’t
detail Beverly-Smart’s
alleged role in the killings or
say who is believed to have
fired guns.
The two dead have been
identified as 15-year-old
Samuel Moon and 14-year-
old Aj’anaye Hill.
Pounds has said the shoot
ing was meant to be “a gang
hit” but those who were shot
were not the intended tar
gets. Others have said the
shooting started after home-
owners discovered some of
the 100 or more teenagers
attending the party were
smoking marijuana and
kicked them out.
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