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Jury awards woman $5.6M in dog mauling case
Finelli
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A Hall County jury returned a
$5.6 million verdict for a Gaines
ville High teacher in what her
attorneys have called one of the
worst dog attacks they’ve seen,
according to court documents.
The jury awarded Stacy
Finelli $5.6 million and her
husband, Tony Finelli, $20,159,
after a weeklong trial before
Superior Court Judge Bonnie
Oliver.
Her attorneys say it is one of
the biggest amounts awarded
ever in Hall County from a dog
bite case.
Stacy Finelli walked March
24,2022, over to her neighbors,
the Steusloffs, on Hawthorne
Lane in Gainesville to give them
mail that was misdelivered. Her
attorneys wrote in the original
complaint that the dog, a labra
dor/pit bull mix, “clamped its
teeth into and violently shook”
Stacy Finelli’s body.
“Judging by the photos, to
us it looked more like a shark
attack than a dog attack,” attor
ney Rustin Smith previously
told The Times.
Attorney Matt Cook described
the dog as a “ticking time bomb
that should have been dealt with
long before our client was sav
agely attacked.”
“Five out of six visits to the
veterinary office, two different
offices said that he had aggres
sion problems,” Cook said.
■ Please see FINELLI, 3A
County tax comparison
Photos by SCOTT ROGERS I The Times
Traffic moves along Spout Springs Road Monday, May 22, south of Union Circle Road. If Hall approves a transportation sales tax
increase in November, it would be part of a huge group of counties already charging an 8% tax.
Hall could be part of 8 cents club if TSPLOST is approved
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
If Hall County voters
approve a penny sales tax for
road projects, it will join the
majority of Georgia counties
charging 8 cents on the dollar
but would be in the minority
among surrounding counties.
Among Georgia’s 159 coun
ties, 104 levy at 8 cents or
higher; 52 counties, 7 cents;
and three counties, 6 cents.
That’s according to the
Georgia Department of Rev
enue’s Georgia Sales and Use
Tax Rate Chart as of April 1.
The department updates the
chart every three months,
with the next update effective
July 1.
The state sales tax is 4 cents,
but Hall, like other counties
in Georgia, has added other
pennies per dollar for other
purposes.
In Hall, where the sales
tax is 7 cents, voters have
approved a 1-cent tax for pub
lic projects such as parks and
a 1-cent tax for education-only
purposes, such as new school
buildings.
And the state allows cities
and counties to negotiate how
to divvy up another penny
tax, known as LOST, once per
decade. Gainesville and Hall
wrapped up that process in
2022.
Among adjacent coun
ties, Forsyth, Jackson, White,
Habersham, Dawson and Bar-
row counties also have sales
tax rates of 7 cents per dol
lar. Only Banks and Lumpkin
have sales taxes of 8 cents,
while Gwinnett — the area’s
most populated county — has
a 6-cent sales tax.
In a public meeting in April,
Hall and Gainesville officials
rolled out a proposed trans
portation special purpose
local option sales tax program,
or TSPLOST, that, if approved,
would generate about $325
million in five years.
Officials are aiming for a
Nov. 7 voter referendum. City
elections also will be on the
ballot.
Eighty percent of the reve
nues, or $260 million, would go
to major projects and 20%, or
$65 million, would go to unin
corporated Hall County and
Hall’s nine cities for projects
defined by those jurisdictions.
The $260 million in projects
includes a second phase of
Spout Springs Road widening,
widening McEver Road from
Buford to Flowery Branch
and a $77 million package of
Gainesville projects.
Government officials have
■ Please see TSPLOST, 3A
The state
sales tax is
4 cents, but
Hall, like other
counties
in Georgia,
has added
other pennies
per dollar
for other
purposes.
Man to serve
prison time
for attack on
Hall deputies
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A Sugar Hill man accused of charging at
Hall County Sheriff’s Office deputies with a
3-foot tree branch was sentenced to prison
time, according to court documents.
Roger Wayne Cranford,
52, entered a negotiated
guilty plea April 21 to aggra
vated assault on a peace
officer, obstruction of an
officer and tampering with
evidence. He was sentenced
to 20 years with the first 5
years in prison by Superior
Court Judge Lindsay Burton.
After the prison time,
Burton allowed the remainder of it to be
served on probation. Burton also ordered for
Cranford to be on the mental health caseload
for probation.
Hall County deputies were called out
around 5 p.m. Dec. 3, 2021, to a parked car
under the Interstate 985 overpass at HF
Reed Parkway.
Deputies observed Cranford smoking
something from a glass pipe, and Cranford
tried to run, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The Sheriff’s Office said Cranford later
“charged toward deputies while wielding a
large fallen tree branch.”
Deputies used a Taser to subdue Cranford,
taking him into custody.
One deputy reported a minor injury.
The Georgia Department of Corrections
listed Cranford’s maximum possible release
date as Dec. 3, 2026.
Defense attorney Kyle Denslow declined
to comment.
Cranford
Lula barn with
300 bales of
hay catches fire
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A barn with roughly 300 bales of hay and
farm equipment inside caught fire Sunday,
May 21, in Lula, according to authorities.
Hall County firefighters responded around
6:40 p.m. Sunday to the 8700 block of Belton
Bridge Road, where the barn was fully engulfed
in flames.
The fire lasted for hours, as crews rotated
regularly to keep extinguishing the hot spots.
The Hall County Sheriff’s Office briefly
blocked off a section of Belton Bridge Road
from Forrester Road to Skitts Mountain Road.
Around noon Monday, May 22, Hall County
Fire Rescue spokeswoman Kimberlie Leds-
inger said the barn was still hot but with no
active flames.
“It will continue to burn today due to the den
sity of the 300 bales of hay that caught fire,” she
wrote in an email.
Ledsinger said North Hall residents may
experience a reduction in air quality because
of the smoke.
The cause of the fire is under investigation
by the Hall County Fire Marshal’s Office.
Hall County Fire Services
A barn caught fire in Lula Sunday, May 21.