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Gainesville
senior TE Sky
Niblett looking
to do his
part to bring
program state
title in 2023.
SPORTS, 1C
£ Ml 4
Fentanyl OD victim’s mom, friend
talk about addiction.
OUR REGION, 8C
mt (ttin fs
Center Point’s volunteer mentor
of year goes the extra mile.
LIFE, 1B
Weekend Edition - JUNE 23-24,2023 | $2.00 | GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA | gainesvilletimes.com
Honestly Local
Man sentenced for attempted child molestation
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
A Gainesville man accused of
trying to meet up with a girl he
believed to be 14 for sex was sen
tenced to seven years in prison,
according to court documents.
Jesus Gilberto Luna entered a
guilty plea Monday, June 19, and
was sentenced by Superior Court
Judge Kathlene
Gosselin to 20
years with the
first seven years
in prison.
Luna was
indicted on two
counts of com-
Luna P uter Pornog
raphy and one
count each of attempted aggra
vated child molestation and
attempted child molestation.
The computer pornography
alleged Luna used an instant mes
saging service to seduce a girl he
believed to be under the age of
16.
The Hall County Sheriff’s
Office and the Internet Crimes
Against Children Task Force
arrested Luna in February 2020
on Browns Bridge Road.
Luna sent graphic sexual mes
sages and a photo of his genitals
to an undercover officer posing as
a girl Luna believed to be under
the age of 16. He then arranged
to meet with her, according to the
Sheriffs Office.
According to the guilty plea
form, Luna admitted to going to
meet the girl and have “oral sex
and intercourse.”
Gosselin ordered that Luna
have no contact with anyone
under the age of 16 excluding bio
logical children.
He will also face the sex
offender special conditions of
probation.
Defense attorney Amy Carter
did not return multiple requests
for comment.
Luna
FATAL FENTANYL, PART 3
‘If I can do it, I know you can’
SCOn ROGERS I The Times
Peer Counselor Jodie Wacaster talks about the fentanyl problem in Hall County Wednesday, May 23, at the offices of Georgia
Council for Recovery in Gainesville.
Peer recovery coaches, lawmakers discuss steps to battle fentanyl
BY NICK WATSON
nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com
Approaching five years of sobriety,
Jodie Wacaster is now working in the
field that changed her life.
Wacaster, a graduate of Hall County
Treatment Court and a peer recovery
coach, said the peer support helped her
when she faced some of her hardest
times.
“I was struggling and I desperately
wanted to stop, but I just really did not
have the courage or the faith in myself
to keep going,” she said. “It was another
peer who continued to encourage me. She
was like, ‘If I can do it, I know you can.’”
Wacaster, Kenneth Pinion and Ashley
Stevens — three people certified as peer
recovery coaches for the Georgia Council
for Recovery — sat down with The Times
to discuss the recovery community, the
struggles some face to enter into treat
ment and what can be improved.
The peer recovery coaches said fen
tanyl has become a major community
health issue.
“This is just from what people have
told me, but I think because heroin is so
much harder to come by nowadays, a lot
of people’s drug of use now is fentanyl,”
Pinion said.
When a person comes into the hospi
tal with a history of substance use or has
overdosed, Laurelwood, Northeast Geor
gia Health System’s behavioral health
facility, will make an assessment. If it is
determined that the person may benefit
from peer support, a peer will go in to see
them.
“We’re there to support them, basi
cally,” Stevens said. “We are an addi
tional layer of support. We don’t try to
start them in any certain direction. We
let them lead the way. We walk beside
them.”
It’s not uncommon for the recovery
coaches to see people go into the hospital
a handful of times. At different points in a
■ Please see FENTANYL, 4A
Work may
start soon on
Kubota plant
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Work could begin soon on a new
700,000-square-foot Kubota Manufacturing of
America Corp. plant, vice president Phil Sut
ton said this week.
A groundbreaking ceremony is planned ten
tatively for August, even though grading could
start earlier, he said.
The $190 million plant at 3551 Kubota Way
in Gateway Industrial Centre is scheduled to
open in early 2025, Sutton said.
It will be next to a 502,000-square-foot facil
ity that opened in 2017 and across the road
from a $90 million research and development
facility that opened in 2022. Gateway Indus
trial is off Ga. 365 and White Sulphur Road in
■ Please see KUBOTA, 4A
Lula council
votes to reject
mayor’s public
comment policy
BY BRIAN WELLMEIER
bwellmeier@gainesvilletimes.com
Lula City Council has voted to quash Mayor
Joe Thomas’ public comment policy that had
sought to silence criticism of his administration.
The policy, unilaterally implemented by
Thomas earlier this year, prohibited what citi
zens could and couldn’t say by limiting public
comments only to agenda items for no more
than two minutes per person.
The resolution, approved by unanimous vote,
in effect restores residents’ ability to speak
freely at council meetings.
Council members Tony Cornett and Garnett
Smith, two of the most vocal opponents of the
policy, collaborated on the final draft of the
resolution, which was read aloud after the start
of Lula’s regular meeting Monday.
“Time for citizen comments will be made
available at the beginning and ending of each
■ Please see LULA, 4A
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