About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (May 21, 2023)
LOCAL The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Sunday, May 21,2023 3A Sardis Elementary names principal BY BEN ANDERSON banderson@gainesvilletimes.com Jim Carter has been named the new principal at Sardis Elementary School. Carter is currently the assistant principal at Myers Elementary. “Mr. Carter’s compassion and courage will enable him to build relationships that are critical in continuing to move Sardis Ele mentary School forward,” Super intendent Will Schofield said in a news release Friday. “His keen sense of process, as well as his expertise in early literacy, will be assets to stu dent learning. We are excited for the Bobcat Nation and what the future holds for the students, the staff and the community,” he said. Carter began his career in 1997 and has taught both elementary and middle school. He holds a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Brigham Young University and a master’s degree in educa tional leadership from Mercer University. Carter and his wife, Rebecca, are Hall County residents and have six children and many foster children. Carter UMC ■ Continued from 1A local church’s trustees. That agreement is then presented at the annual conference for ratification by a majority vote, according to the lawsuit. Sybil Davidson, spokes woman for the North Georgia Conference, said in a state ment that they appreciate the time taken by the judge to hear the case. The conference is exploring appeal opportuni ties, Davidson said. “Leaders of the Conference remain committed to handling this matter in a fair, transpar ent, uniform, and good faith manner,” Davidson said. “Most importantly, our focus continues to be on the mis sion of The United Methodist Church to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transfor mation of the world. That is unchanging.” Gibbs said the churches hope that the churches will be allowed to make their votes but are prepared to defend the ruling before an appeals court. BRIAN WELLMEIER I The Times Babette Baker stands outside of her Flowery Branch home on Thursday, May 18. Her home saw a steep increase in value after assessment notices went out this month. TAXES ■ Continued from 1A “The buyers and the sellers are the ones that are telling us what a property is worth by the sales activity that they produce,” Wat son said. “It’s our job, based on the law, to reflect that in the apprais als. Property owners can expect our values to eventually emulate what the market is telling us that the properties are worth.” According to Watson, low inven tory has continued to drive up home prices across Hall County — which also has contributed to higher property values. “There’s not enough inventory ... there’s not enough competition, so you don’t have as many proper ties to choose from,” he said. “New construction has slowed down for sure — which causes existing home prices to increase.” After receiving an assessment notice in the mail, homeowner San dra Knapp said she’s never seen an increase this drastic since she’s lived in Hall County. Just this year, Knapp said her three bedroom, one-and-a-half bathroom home in Newberry Point subdivision in Flowery Branch climbed in value from $299,700 to $399,500. “That’s just crazy,” she said. “It went up just short of $100,000. “... and we don’t have a basement. If you had a basement and another bedroom and another bedroom in this place, maybe I would see that. But nothing like this.” Both Knapp and Baker said they plan to file an appeal with Hall County. Watson maintained that the pro cess by which his office assesses properties is not arbitrary, stat ing that another reason behind increased property values was that last year, before recent inter est rate hikes, buyers were paying more than asking price for homes in Hall County. He reiterated that the formula used to determine these values is based on sales num bers from 2022, square-footage of living area and the condition of the house in general. “What the key component is not how much it went up, but what it went to,” he said. “We’re happy for people to call us or come in to talk to us. We’ll be happy to work with them in whatever way we can to ensure that their property evalua tion is calculated correctly.” This year, according to Deputy Chief Appraiser John Smith, 89% of all residential properties in Hall County increased in value. That increase, on average, was just above 26% — though there is a “caveat” to this statistic, he said. “The average increase can be misleading,” Smith said. “It’s going to include all the new construction, too. It’s almost impossible to filter out all the new construction — the additions, the remodels, things like that that contribute value to prop erties other than just inflation.” Smith noted also that “it can depend on how you look at the average” when considering the county’s average increase of prop erty values. “If you take the sum of all resi dential properties and calculate the difference there, you’re going to get an aggregate average ... so the average change can be all over the place depending on which way you calculate it,” he said. There is some relief for tax payers who qualify: House Bill 18, signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in March, provides nearly $1 billion in property tax breaks to home- owners across Georgia. Watson said that anyone who has received a homestead exemp tion before April 1 is by default eli gible for a $18,000 reduction in the assessed value of their property. “Property owners don’t need to do anything,” Watson said. “Munic ipalities’ tax offices are going to implement that. Taxpayers don’t need to make a phone call or apply for anything. If you have a home stead exemption, it will be applied automatically.” COURT ■ Continued from 1A up meeting Uriel and started dating Uriel, which upset Guillermo and at some point she started receiving text messages on her phone, veiled threats,” Ewing said of his interviews with the woman. He said one of the bul lets passed through Serrano and struck Ortega in the stomach. “He didn’t have a hole in his stomach,” he said, but “he had a giant golf ball sized wound there.” Defense attorney Kyle Denslow seized on this piece of testimony in arguing that one of the attempted murder charges should be dropped. “Based on the testimony, Juan Carlos is being shot, a bullet likely travels through Juan Carlos and strikes Uriel,” he said. “I don’t think that’s criminal attempt to commit murder if it’s an accidental or incidental shooting ... so one of these two criminal attempts (to commit murder) should be dismissed.” Chief Assistant District Attorney Anna Fowler pushed back, saying, “If you point a gun in someone’s direction and fire it, you’re attempting to kill them. ... You’re presumed to intend the natural consequences of your actions, and pointing a gun at someone and pulling the trigger — a natural con sequence of that is someone is going to die.” Although Magistrate Court Judge Mike Heck found rea sons to agree with both argu ments, he ultimately sided with the prosecution and bound all charges over to Superior Court. “There was testimony that Guillermo was standing over Juan Carlos and firing at him, which after having put a couple of bullets into him, if there wasn’t intent to murder before that, there was definitely intent to mur der at that point in time,” Heck said. Ewing said Vazquez-Mar- tinez fled to Alabama the night of the shooting, adding that they were able to track his location by pinging his cell phone and that he was later apprehended in Dallas, Texas. Vazquez-Martinez was extradited to Georgia and booked into Hall County Jail on May 3. When asked how they found out that Vazquez-Mar tinez was in Texas, Ewing said he was texting the woman and the two men. Ewing recalled one of Vazquez-Martinez’s texts to Serrano, “Something to the effect of, ‘That wasn’t for you, that was for Uriel.’” When the defense asked why it took so long to capture Martinez, the prosecution objected that it wasn’t rel evant. Judge Heck sustained the objection. Ewing’s testimony was based on interviews with the woman, the two men and security camera foot age from Ross Dress for Less. His interviews with both men were conducted through a translator, he said. He said he interviewed Serrano in the hospital before he went in for emergency surgery. Denslow questioned Serrano’s state of mind, ask ing how much blood he had lost and whether he was slur ring his words. Ewing said Serrano was “in a state of shock” but was otherwise lucid and imme diately identified Vazquez- Martinez when he was asked who shot him. Ewing recounted the shooting, saying Vazquez- Martinez pulled up in a dark-colored Mazda van while the two men were walking into Ross Dress for Less, according to security camera footage. “Guillermo had pulled up and was yelling at Uriel,” he said. “And as Juan and Uriel are walking into the department store, you can see them looking back over their shoulder as if some body’s addressing them and they’re having this conversation.” “Eventually, Juan Car los walks out of the view of the camera to walk over to whoever’s addressing him,” while Uriel stays by the entrance door, he said. A few seconds later, he said, the shooting occurred. The shooting itself hap pened off camera, he said. And while Serrano was on the ground, he said, JOIN US FOR OUR PREMIER DISCOVER NORTH GEORGIA TRAVEL AND LEISURE GUIDE The Event will feature great places to Visit, Dine, PLay & Stay! It's a must have for families planning a day trip or weeklong holiday. SPONSORSHIP AND BOOTH SPACE AVAILABLE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL SALES REP OR MARKETING@GAINESVILLETIMES.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION. Vazquez-Martinez’s son, Iran Guillermo Vazquez Ayala, got out of the pas senger seat of the van and started beating Serrano in the legs with a red metal pipe, which they found at the scene, he added. “Iran is beating Juan Car los while he’s being shot, simultaneously,” he said, adding that the son has an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Denslow asked whether investigators pulled secu rity camera footage from other nearby businesses and whether any other wit nesses were interviewed. Ewing said there was no other security camera foot age to his knowledge and said he didn’t interview any other witnesses himself. “I didn’t take any (addi tional witness statements) because I wasn’t there,” he said. “Like I said, I went to the hospital, but you have to go through the report itself to find out if there’s any other witness statements. ... I don’t remember seeing any detailed witness state ments from anybody else.” Now Hiring for Production/ Assembly and Forklift Operators HARRIS DOOR AND MILLWORK Family Work Atmosphere in Pendergrass, Ga Average wage $950.00 paid weekly Monday - Friday 6 a.m. - 4 p.m. Closed Saturday and Sunday • Full Benefits Package • Health Insurance (Starts within 30 days or less) • Dental and Vision (Starts within 30 days or less) • Matching 40IK (Starts Day 1) • 3 weeks paid vacation (Accrual Starts Day 1) • Long Term Disability Insurance (Company Paid) • Short Term Disability Insurance (Company Paid) • 1 hour lunch break and two 15 minute breaks per day (5786 Hwy. 129 N, Suite A) Pendergrass, GA Call 706-693-0060 (Jennifer) or email HR@harrisdm.com
