About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 4, 2024)
Study shows how new ultrasound technology could help with Alzheimer's drug. INSIDE, 3A Thursday, January4,20241 GAINESVILLE, GEORGIA I gainesvilletimes.com Honestly Local Gainesville High principal to step down in May BY BEN ANDERSON banderson@gainesvilletimes.com Gainesville High School Princi pal Jamie Green will step down at the end of the school year in May to take a job as a principal at a school in his wife's native Brazil. Green made the announcement Tuesday, Jan. 2, during a teacher workday at the high school. A native of England, Green has lived in Gaines ville since 2014 and has been the principal since 2018. He was previously the academic dean at Riverside Prepa ratory Academy, a private school in Gainesville. “The primary element here was for me to be able to spend a little bit more time with my family and to give my kids that international experience, those two things,” Green told The Times. Green has two children, an 8-year-old daughter and a 6-year- old son. He said they are also mov ing to Belo Horizonte, Brazil, to be closer to his wife's family, particu larly her grandmother. Green will be the upper school principal at the American School of Belo Horizonte, a K-12 school with more than 500 students. “It's an American school with an American curriculum with a strong AP program, and so it's a very good fit,” he said. “They're also growing and have plans to expand their campus, which is something, as you know, I've been through here.... We really feel that we can contribute to that community and just kind of leverage some of the things we've been able to do here.” When asked what he will miss most about being the principal at Gainesville High School, he said it's the people. “I've lived in various parts of the UK. Here in the United States, I lived in Boston, and now I'm here in Gainesville, and truth be told this place is really special and it's because of the people here,” he said. Green ‘The place I wanted to be’ Scott Rogers The Times Lula’s newest District 5 council member Juliette Talley visits Lula Veterans Park Wednesday, Dec. 20, with family. From the left they are Rowan Roberts, 7, Freya Roberts, 1, and Aliza Roberts, 5. New council member Juliette Talley explains her decision to run Brian Wellmeier The Times Juliette Talley being sworn in as Lula’s District 5 council member. She won in November, securing over 70% of the vote. BY BRIAN WELLMEIER bwellmeier@gainesvilletimes.com Lula's newest - and young est - council member Juliette Talley won District 5 last November, but the decision to run did not come on a whim: Instead, the longtime com munity volunteer and mother of three said it took the voices of dozens of voters, memo ries of what brought her there, and a conviction that told her she needed to miti gate what she described as a “bully” mentality of the city's mayor. Mayor Joe Thomas could not be reached for comment regarding Talley's remarks. In 1983, Talley was born in Norcross - a railroad town like Lula - later swept by the growth that took metro Atlanta from the west. As a witness of the drastic change seen in Norcross over the years, Talley believes this lends her a unique eye for guiding the growth that could come Lula's way - specifi cally to prevent what has hap pened in that part of Gwinnett County. “When I was in Norcross growing up, it was a lot like Lula,” she said. “It was a quiet little town...one of the exact reasons I moved to Lula was because I wanted to get away from the big city. I wanted to be in a place where it was that small town feel I grew up in.” As a girl, Talley first felt drawn to Lula on a peripheral level when her mother and father drove through the town on family trips to North Car olina. Oftentimes these trips were taken at night around the holidays, she said, when Lula glowed with Christmas lights. “Lula was one of those places I'd always seen as a kid,” Talley said. “My brother and I would absolutely beg to stay up late to see all the Christmas lights. Lula was one of those towns where every house always had dec orations - Christmas, Hal loween. It was almost like a hallmark town.” Linally, decades later, Tal ley landed in that quaint town of just under 3,000 residents that she remembered as a girl. At the time she'd been driving long commutes to and from the Braselton area when she decided to move closer to her job in Chateau Elan. “I started looking, and I looked everywhere,” Talley said. “My mom said, ‘Stop and think - where is some place you absolutely love?' Lula was the place I wanted to be.” Talley chose Lula as the place to call home in 2017, purchased an empty lot and built the house she and her husband Rex live in today. She said she fell into place in the community almost right away. Within a few months of living there, Talley caught word that someone's cattle had escaped from a nearby farm. After a change of clothes, Talley, who spent years on her grandparents' cattle farm in North Caro lina, helped others flank the livestock and then herd them back around into the gate. That's when she first See Talley 14A Report says Hall County economy in good shape BY JEFF GILL jgill@gainesvilletimes.com Growth and development was constant and widespread in Hall County in 2023, but just what do the numbers show? A year-end report from the Greater Hall Chamber of Commerce's Economic Development Council gives a breakdown in several areas, as well as a deeper dive into the economy as a whole. Here are a few takeaways from the report: 500 new jobs, $323M in investments Nine new and expanding developments are expected to add 500 new jobs and $323 million in new capital investment. Since January 1, 2022, a total of 24 new capital investments have been announced with more than 1,700 new jobs and nearly $1.1 billion in new capital investment. “The fundamental economic drivers to the local economy indicate that 2024 will feature better than average economic performance for Gainesville-Hall County when compared to other metro areas in Georgia and the nation,” the report states. Existing industry expansions announced during the year include expansions at Cor porate Storage, CMS, Hydro, Mars Wrig- ley, Eskimo Cold Storage and Big Creek Loods. “Investments in new automation tech nologies and localizing the supply chain continue to be a trend in the existing industry investments,” the report states. See Economy 13A 21-year-old man found dead in picnic area near Lake Russell BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com A 21 -year-old man was found dead Wednes day, Jan. 3, in a picnic area near Lake Russell Beach in Habersham, according to authorities. Habersham authorities responded around 7:46 a.m. Wednesday to the lake outside Mount Airy. The man, who was found by a park employee, has not been identified while authorities seek to notify his family. The body was sent to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, but foul play is not suspected. NGHS doctor accused of medical malpractice resigns BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com A Northeast Georgia Health System surgeon at the center of three recently settled medical malpractice lawsuits has resigned. NGHS spokesman Sean Couch confirmed to The Times that Dr. Andrew Green resigned Dec. 29, but the health system declined to comment on per sonnel matters. Green, who specialized in gynecologic oncology, started with NGHS on May 20, 2013. Green and the health system officially settled three lawsuits Sept. 11, though both sides declined to release any information on the terms of the settlements. The Georgia Composite Medi cal Board lists two settlements for Green in the past six months: one for $2.3 million on Aug. 29 and $1.5 million on Sept. 6. One of the cases involved the death of Trances Mitchell, 42, of Jackson County in May 2016. A Hall County jury initially awarded Mitchell's estate and family $3 million following a March 2021 civil trial. According to the complaint, Green was accused of piercing Mitchell's small intestine during a surgery days before her death and failed to properly check for any injuries before finishing the operation. The Georgia Court of Appeals, however, vacated that judgment a year later and remanded the case. Two other women, who filed lawsuits in 2019 and 2020, sur vived their alleged injuries they claimed happened during opera tions with Green. The health system denied the allegations in court documents prior to the settlement. Green
