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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,
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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.”
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