About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 2023)
Gainesville home damaged in garage fire, insider Sunday, April 16, 2023 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com Honestly Local Census: Hall’s growth rate is increasing County is now 10th most populous in Georgia, up from 12th in 2020 BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com Hall County’s population contin ues to swell, but it’s also growing at a faster pace. The latest population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau shows Hall County had 212,692 people, as of July 1, 2022, or a 4.7% increase from 203,136 in 2020. The data also shows Hall grew at a 2.6% clip between 2021 and 2022, compared to 1.8% between 2020 and 2021. At the 2.6% rate, Hall’s popula tion could be on pace for 218,222 people by July 1,2023. “Anyone driving around Gaines- ville-Hall County has probably felt that our population growth has accelerated, between the residen tial construction and additional traffic volume,” said Tim Evans, the Greater Hall Chamber of Com merce’s vice president of economic development. “Despite light headwinds in the national economy, our local econ omy and job growth in Gainesville- Hall County remain robust, in part because we benefit from some resilient economic drivers in health care, education, food processing and advanced manufacturing.” Hall now is the 10th most popu lous county in Georgia, up from 12th in 2020. In Georgia, it picked up the fifth highest number of residents between 2020 and 2022, behind only Gwinnett (which was first), Forsyth, Cherokee and Paulding counties. Between 2020 and 2022, Hall net ted more residents than several metro Atlanta counties, including Fulton, Cobb, Clayton and DeKalb. Clayton and DeKalb are losing resi dents, according to census data. Hall’s rate of growth between 2020 and 2022 is ranked 21st in the state. For counties with a popula tion of 200,000 or higher, it’s ranked third, behind Forsyth at first and Cherokee at second. In the U.S., nearby Dawson and Lumpkin counties ranked fourth and fifth respectively among coun ties of at least 20,000 residents with the largest annual percentage growth. Dawson’s population grew by 5.84% between July 2021 and July 2022, while Lumpkin’s grew by 5.8%. Gainesville’s urban population is now fourth highest in the state, behind Atlanta, Augusta and Savan nah. Based on the 2020 census, it has surpassed Columbus, Macon and Warner Robins in population, according to the U.S. census. The Gainesville “urbanized area,” taking in South Hall County and parts of Forsyth and West Jackson counties, has grown from 130,846 people in 123 square miles in the 2010 census to 265,218 in 252 square miles in 2020. In defining an urbanized area, the U.S. Census Bureau says that “urban areas represent densely developed territory, and encom pass residential, commercial and other non-residential urban land uses.” Also noteworthy is that Gaines ville’s numbers don’t take into account North Hall and East Hall, which aren’t considered part of any urbanized area. The area’s urban population surge above 200,000 may result in the U.S. Department of Transpor tation’s reclassification of the local agency that governs transportation planning from a metropolitan plan ning organization to a transporta tion management area. The existing Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan Planning Organiza tion now governs transportation planning in Hall and part of West Jackson. More people has meant ■ Please see CENSUS, 4A One of the lucky ones NGMC celebrates liver transplant recipient, honors donor BY BEN ANDERSON banderson@ gainesvilletimes.com More than 100,000 Ameri cans are in need of organ transplants, and more than 6,000 die each year while waiting. Sharon O’Neal, 67, was one of the lucky ones. While undergoing treat ment for breast cancer in 2015, O’Neal got some more bad news: The doctor told her she now also had nonal coholic fatty liver disease. Her health deteriorated rapidly and the doctor gave her six months to live. She spent months at a time laid up in a hospital bed until she couldn’t take it anymore. “Finally, I guess I pitched a fit, and I told them I was going home (even) if I had to walk. I just — I had to go home,” she said. “And I didn’t make it home one day and they called me back and told me to come in a hurry.” It was good news this time: She had a donor. On Thursday, April 13, the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville held a Donate Life ceremony for O’Neal and her organ donor, Taylor Evans, who died Dec. 1,2017 at the age of 22. Evans and his girlfriend at the time, Emily Yarbrough, both students at Clemson University in South Caro lina, had been on their way to Atlanta for a concert featuring country singer Luke Combs and Muscadine Bloodline, a country duo Evans knew personally. It was pouring rain and a thick fog blanketed Inter state 985. A semi truck rear- ended Evans’ truck, sending him into a tailspin. His truck rolled nine times. Evans and Yarbrough were transported to North east Georgia Medical Cen ter in Gainesville with serious injuries. Yarbrough survived. Evans’ parents were in New York when they got the call. “We had just gotten there like six hours before,” his mother Stephanie Martin said. “We got a phone call that Taylor had been in an accident and we needed to get there right now.” It would be 12 grueling hours before they made it to the hospital. When they arrived, it didn’t look as though Evans had just been in a serious accident. Other than a bump on the back of his head and a cut on his ear, he appeared normal. “He looked like he was sleep ing,” Martin said. But after a series of tests, they received the crushing SCOTT ROGERS I The Times Organ recipient Sharon O’Neal is hugged by Northeast Georgia Health System Interim Chief Nurse Executive Darlene Sweet Thursday, April 13, at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center during a Donate Life ceremony at the hospital. news. “He was brain dead,” she said. In her remarks on Thurs day, Martin described her son: “Taylor Evans was the child of God. He was a sol dier, a cowboy. He was a simple man. He was that true cowboy. He grew up on our old family farm. He worked with farm animals most all of his life. He loved horses. And when you saw him, he always had on his Wranglers, his dirty boots and his cow boy hat. The farm and the fields were his happy place. And family was his heart.” The ceremony was an occasion to honor Evans’ life and the impact he and other other donors have even in death. Evans’ decision to be an organ donor has impacted more than 70 lives. “I couldn’t express more how grateful we are to still have our mom here today due to Taylor,” O’Neil’s daughter, Cammy Gill, said. Photo submitted to The Times Taylor Evans was killed in a car crash in 2017. His liver was donated to Sharon O’Neal. Man gets year in prison in 50K Bitcoin fraud case BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com In just a few hours across two days in 2012, a 21-year-old stole roughly 50,000 Bitcoin that is now worth more than $1 billion. Roughly nine years later, authorities searched James “Jimmy” Zhong’s Gainesville lake house and found most of it in an underground floor safe and a computer stored in a popcorn tin. Zhong, 32, pleaded guilty in November to wire fraud and was sentenced Friday, April 14 in the Southern District of New York to a year and a day in prison by U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe. Zhong was accused of taking roughly 50,000 Bitcoin from the site known as Silk Road, a dark- net black market. The prosecution said the investigation into Zhong led them to roughly 51,680 Bitcoin worth more than $3.4 billion when it was seized. As of March 30, it was worth $1.48 billion. Zhong was ordered to forfeit $661,900 in U.S. currency found at Zhong’s home, 25 physical coins worth 174 Bitcoin and 154 Bitcoin seized from various locations. He was also ordered to give up his 80% interest in a Memphis-based company with real estate holdings, in which Zhong had invested about $9.5 million of his proceeds. ■ Please see BITCOIN, 4A Photo submitted to The Times A photo of physical coins and other items seized from a man’s Gainesville lake house. James Zhong, 32, pleaded guilty to wire fraud. Worker dies after being pinned under machinery BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com A man working for a grading company was killed Thursday, April 13 when the machinery rolled on top of him in Gainesville, according to authorities. The middle-aged man, who has not been identified, was working at a home about 11:40 a.m. Thursday in the area of Thompson Bridge Road and Woodlake Drive. Gainesville Fire Chief Brandon Ellis said a soil compactor, meant to be operated by a single person, “appears to have turned over.” Ellis said the man was pinned under the equipment and appears to have died before EMS arrived at the scene. Authorities were trying to reach the man’s family before releasing his identity.
