OUR REGION
John Chambliss I Managing Editor
770-718-3407 I news@gainesvilletimes.com
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia
Weekend Edition-March 29-30, 2024
Cop apparently hits girl while breaking up fight
BY BEN ANDERSON
banderson@gainesvilletimes.com
Editor’s note: This published in
a previous E-Paper edition and is
being provided here for print-only
readers.
An internal investigation is
underway by the Gainesville Police
Department after a video circulated
online that appears to show officer
Ernest DeLong hitting the hand
of a female student while trying
to break up a fight at Gainesville
Middle School West on Monday,
March 25.
DeLong is a school resource
officer at the middle school.
In a video, two girls, surrounded
by a crowd of students, square
up, throw punches and grab each
other's hair before falling to the
ground, with one girl landing on
top of the other. About 10 seconds
later, DeLong intervenes, places his
knee across the girl on bottom and
throws three punches.
“What the (expletive) is you
beating her for!" a female student
yells.
It appears that DeLong was
punching at the hand of the girl on
top to release her grip on the other
girl's hair, but it is not entirely clear.
A second video showing another
angle is not clear either.
“It is my understanding that the
officer was attempting to break up
a fight, that one of them had the
other by the head, and that is when
the allegation occurred,'' Lt. Kevin
Holbrook of the Gainesville Police
Department said in an email.
“We understand that some
people are reacting to or jumping
to conclusions regarding the video,
but we look at all the information
to make an impartial finding," he
said. “I learned not to make rash
judgement (sic) based on third
party video the hard way.”
‘As with all use of forces, we
are conducting a review,” he said,
later adding in a phone interview
that DeLong has not been placed
on leave.
DeLong joined the Gainesville
Police Department in January
2023, according to a social
media post from the department.
Holbrook said Delong is a veteran
law enforcement officer, adding,
“He came to us with a ton of
experience.”
Gainesville City Schools
Superintendent Jeremy Williams
emailed a statement to The Times.
“Two Gainesville Middle
School West Campus students
were involved in an altercation at
school on Monday,” Williams said.
“School administration met with
the students and their families to
address the incident. We were made
aware of videos circulating online.”
Gainesville Police are
investigating school
resource officer Ernest
DeLong after a video
circulated online that
appears to show him
hitting the hand of a
female student while
trying to break up a
fight at Gainesville
Middle School West on
Monday, March 25.
Screenshot provided from video
“The School Resource Officer
involved is an employee of the City
of Gainesville and his response and
actions are being reviewed by the
Gainesville Police Department,”
Williams said.
Groundwork for the future
Photos by Scott Rogers The Times
Dirt is tossed Wednesday, March 27, at the 17-acre site along McEver Road where a new Hall County
Schools school will be built and open in fall 2025. The school is set to replace McEver Arts Academy and
Oakwood Elementary with enough room for 1,025 students.
Hall County Schools breaks ground on new elementary school
Oakwood Elementary Principal Jeremy Boleman
welcomes visitors at the construction site of a new
Hall County Schools elementary school.
BY BEN ANDERSON
banderson@gainesvilletimes.com
Editor’s note: This pub
lished in a previous E-Paper
edition and is being pro
vided here for print-only
readers.
Hall County Schools
held a groundbreaking cer
emony Wednesday, March
27, for the second of four
new elementary schools
planned in the school
district.
The elementary school,
which hasn't been named
yet, will open in August
2025 following the merger
of Oakwood Elementary
and McEver Elementary,
whose students will transfer
to the new school.
Two of those students
delivered remarks during
Wednesday's ceremony,
saying they were sad to
leave their current schools
but excited to join a new
one. District officials say
they have not decided what
will become of the vacant
schools.
“McEver will be closing
and that makes me a little
sad, but we have a brand
new school getting ready
for us and that is going
to be great,” said Bailey
Stafford, a third grader at
McEver Elementary. “I
love McEver, but I think
I'm going to love our new
school even more.”
The theme of the day was
that McEver and Oakwood
are beloved — but old.
Their regularly malfunc
tioning toilets served as the
butt of more than one joke
on Wednesday.
“I'm excited to join the
drama program at the new
school,” said Imogen John
son, a third grader at Oak-
wood Elementary. “I'm
also excited to make new
friends.”
“And of course I'm
excited about the new
building,” she added. “We
definitely will not have
to worry about all the old
toilets at Oakwood,” she
said to laughter. “All this
to say I'm pumped to have
McEver students join us on
this amazing new educa
tional adventure.”
“We all have memories
of both of these schools,
and they run very deep
with us,” school board
chairman Craig Herrington
told the crowd, noting that
both his wife and daughter
have worked at Oakwood
Elementary. “But now
we're getting a brand new
school.”
“Hopefully the toilets
will work,” he said. “If not,
you let me know and we'll
get that taken care of.”
The 133,000-square-foot
school will be built on a
17-acre lot at 5225 McEver
Road and has a budget of
$45.8 million. It will have
enough room for 1,025
students.
As part of the district's
10-year facility plan, the
school board has approved
the construction of four new
elementary schools, replac
ing seven existing schools
and reducing the total num
ber of elementary schools
from 20 to 17. The average
elementary school in Hall
County is more than 40
years old.
The first of the new
schools, Sandra Dunagan
Deal Elementary, will open
in August, with the merger
of Riverbend Elemen
tary and White Sulphur
Elementary.
The district had origi
nally budgeted $25 million
for each new elementary
school, but those estimates
have been dashed as con
struction costs have soared
in the wake of the COVID-
19 pandemic.
District officials say they
take care to use taxpayer
money wisely but high
lighted the unavoidable
need for new schools.
“Give me a great com
munity under an oak tree
and good things happen,”
Superintendent Will Scho
field told The Times after
the ceremony. “But facili
ties matter.”
“These larger, modern
facilities are much more
economically efficient, but
on a more important level,
they're more instruction-
ally efficient, and you can
meet more needs, you can
offer more programs,” he
said. “And so what I get
excited about is replacing
two buildings that are 60 to
80 years old with a brand
new world-class facility
and all the programs that
come along with it, and this
will serve boys and girls
for decades. That's excit
ing. It's a good day for Hall
County.”
Former school board
member Mark Pettitt
attended Oakwood Ele
mentary when he was a kid,
and it was old back then, he
told The Times.
“My mom went to Oak-
wood, and it was old when
she went. It was really old
when I went, and that was
over 25 years ago,” he said.
“Both schools really need
new space. This is a great
opportunity to accomplish
that. We’ve got some infra
structure problems at each
school with the plumbing,
and everything is at the end
of its useful life (and) that’s
not conducive for learning.”
The contractor is Gaines
ville-based Carroll Daniel
Construction, and the archi
tect is Alpharetta-based
Robertson Loia Roof.
Project manager Hay-
ley Isbell of Carroll Daniel
Construction spoke about
what it means to her to lead
the project.
“I'm from Hall County, I
grew up in Flowery Branch
and Oakwood, so to actu
ally be building a school
where I grew up, I mean,
you can't beat that,” she
said. “To me, that's awe
some to actually be in
charge of a project and see
a ground up build. I mean,
the site was a wooded lot
three months ago, and in a
year and a half we're going
to have a school here with
kids coming in for the first
day of school.”
Speaking to a group of
students from McEver and
Oakwood, Schofield, with
a hardhat on and a micro
phone in hand, said, “I'm
going to ask a blessing over
everything that ever hap
pens on this school campus.
You will be the first students
to attend the school, but you
won't be the last. Think
about this: Thousands and
thousands of students will
walk through these doors,
and you'll be the first.”
The new school will
help accommodate the 7%
growth in Hall County's
population in the last three
years. From 2020 to 2023,
the population grew from
202,889 to 217,267, mak
ing it among the 10 most-
populous counties in the
state.
On Monday, the school
board approved future
changes to elementary
school attendance zones,
which will allow the district
to offset some of the growth
in the south and west of the
county.
“Hall County's just grow
ing. You look around, we re
packed,” Debra Smith, a
school board member and
a longtime Hall County
educator, told The Times.
“I keep going down these
roads and all these new
subdivisions (are) going
up, and Hall County's just a
great place to live.”
“People always argue
about how much we pay in
taxes and all, but it's going
toward our future,” she said.
Oakwood special
election results
certified despite
some discrepancies
BY JEFF GILL
jgill@gainesvilletimes.com
Editor’s note: This published in a previous E-Paper edition
and is being provided here for print-only readers.
March 12 special election results in Oakwood have been
certified by Hall County Elections, despite discrepancies
pointed out by election officials who are still mum on the
matter.
The Times reported earlier this week that officials said 200
voters who do not live in Oakwood cast ballots in the election
and that 22 Oakwood voters who should have been able to
vote in the race were given ballots that did not contain the race.
The document doesn't say what caused the discrepancies
but says that Elections Director Lori Wurtz has investigated
this matter and “determined that these ballot discrepancies
were not the result of actions of the Hall County Board of
Elections and Registration and its staff.”
Wurtz has not commented on the matter. In an email
Wednesday, March 27, she said, “Unfortunately, I will not be
answering questions regarding this matter at this time.”
She did say Wednesday the election was certified, giv
ing The Times a certification document dated March 12 and
amended March 22.
The document shows Rhonda Wood with 302 votes and Vol
ley Collins, 214, and has a note at the bottom saying “Please
see statement of Hall County Board of Elections and Regis
tration attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference.”
The attached statement notes the discrepancies. It also says
319 Oakwood residents voted in the election, but 519 ballots
were cast.
The election at issue is the successor to Dwight Wood, a
Post 4 councilman who died Sept. 21 and Rhonda Wood's late
husband. The city's election ordinance says that his replace
ment will serve through Dec. 31,2027.
The issue was discussed in a called meeting Friday, March
22. Election Board Chairman Jack Noa couldn't be reached
for comment Wednesday.
Collins has said he “was going to contest (the results), but
for me to contest it, I have to hire a lawyer. For me, it's just not
worth spending all that money to go forward with it.”
Wood has said, “The result that I saw election night, I won.
I'm going to stick with those results, and I am looking forward
to going to work for the City of Oakwood, as well as taking
care of the citizens of the city.”
Oakwood City Manager B.R. White has said Wood would
become an official councilwoman “once the vote is certified
and upon swearing-in” and that she would be sworn in Tues
day, April 2, at a called meeting before the Oakwood City
Council’s work session.
Asked Wednesday if the swearing-in was still on track,
White said, “No comment at this time.”
Georgia Secretary of State spokesman Robert Sinners has
said the state “would not be proactively involved in settling” a
local election dispute.
“That would fall to the jurisdiction of the Hall Elections
Office,” he said.
Sinners did say a complaint can be filed with the state,
“which could determine any violations of state election law.”
On Wednesday, he said, “Investigations doesn't have a file
on this.”
Man charged in child
pom case after going
to the electronics store
A Gainesville man was accused in a child pornography case
after he took his phone and computer to an electronics store,
police said.
Danny Lamar White, 66, was charged with felony electronic
exploitation of a minor. He was booked Tues
day, March 26, in to the Hall County Jail,
where he remains with no bond.
Gainesville Police said White compiled
“visual sexual depictions of children engaged
in sexually explicit conduct on his phone.”
Lt. Kevin Holbrook said White took a new
phone and computer March 17 to a local
store for help. The store officials immediately
called the police.
“Rest assured, we will continue to investigate these types of
cases aggressively as
we have always done,” Chief Jay Parrish said in a news
release.
An electronic-detecting dog, K9 Max from the Murray
County Sheriff's Office, helped law enforcement find a hidden
cellphone. White was subsequently charged with 29 additional
counts.
Nick Watson
