Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch speaks at the funeral for Deputy Nicolas Blane Dixon in Gainesville on July 11, 2019. (HCSO Facebook)
Just one day after burying one of his officers, Hall County Sheriff Gerald Couch shared an open letter with the community thanking people for their support during this difficult time.
“In these days of what sometimes seems like an overloaded of negativity towards law enforcement, our hearts are warmed and reassured that we live among some genuinely caring and thoughtful people. For that, I offer my sincerest gratitude,” he says.
Deputy Nicolas Blane Dixon died on July 8, 2019, after being shot in the line of duty. Hundreds attended his funeral in Gainesville on Thursday, including law enforcement from around the state.
In his letter, Couch asks for continued prayers and support for Dixon’s family and fellow officers.
“My wish is simply this, please cotnieue to pray for and support Deputy Dixon’s family their loss is immeasurable. From now on every time they see a Hall County Sheriff’s car driving down the road they will think of him. Every time the blue strobes of a roadside traffic stop catches their eye, their hearts will ache. And every time the sound of a police siren pierces the night they will visualize him behind that car on that fateful night.”
“Also continue to pray for and support those in uniform still doing the job depiste the heartache they are experiencing by his loss. Imagine, if you will, their next shift briefing when they will look around and find a void that can not be filled; not the one created by one less person on a manpower chart, but the one created by the tragic loss of a smiling face and a large caring personality.”
Piedmont College announced today it’s closed a deal to buy 80 acres of land bordering its Demorest campus. The land lies south of the campus and is partly bordered by Camp Creek and U.S. 441.
Piedmont bought the land from the family of Mary and the late Ray Rohletter who once managed a farm on the property. The land had been in the Rohletter family since the early 1900s, according to Piedmont’s news release.
In 2002, the Rohletters gave the college approximately 11 acres of their farm to be incorporated into the conversion of Lake Demorest into a wetlands area.
“We are deeply grateful to the Rohletter family, in particular Ray and Mary’s children Joel Rohletter, Jennifer Rohletter Chambers, and Amanda Rohletter Powell, for their commitment to our students by enabling the transfer of this unique asset,” says Piedmont President James F. Mellichamp.
To honor the family, the college has named the area the “Mary and Ray Rohletter Farm Campus.” A future access road through the property will be been named “Rohletter Farm Drive.”
With the acquisition, Piedmont College now owns more than 400 acres in Demorest. The college also operates a four-acre campus in Athens.
Mellichamp says civil engineers are preparing preliminary designs for the road placement. The college has not determined how the property will be developed.
“This acquisition increases our landholdings in Demorest by nearly 25 percent,” says Mellichamp. “We are a thriving institution that is growing. This land will provide room for future development.”
Evereage Lewallen, age 89, of Baldwin, Georgia passed away on Friday, July 12, 2019 at his residence.
Arrangements are incomplete and will be announced by Whitfield Funeral Homes & Crematory, South Chapel, 1370 Industrial Boulevard, Baldwin, Georgia 30511.
(CLEVELAND) – Truett McConnell University Athletics is adding men’s volleyball to its sports roster. Beginning in the fall of 2020, it will become the college’s 17th athletic program.
Current TMU women’s volleyball head coach Mark Corbin will lead the Bears and all men’s volleyball events will take place inside the Bear Cave Gymnasium during their spring seasons.
“When looking for what direction we needed to grow our athletic program we determined that men’s volleyball was the perfect next step for us,” Athletic Director Jenni Shepard says. Shepard says Corbin’s hiring and new facilities at the college made the move possible.
“With the addition of the Benjamin F. Brady Arena inside the George Blaurock Student Wellness Center, both of our basketball teams made the transition last season to playing in a new venue and we were also able to bring our men’s wrestling program on campus and join women’s volleyball in calling the TMU Bear Cave home.”
TMU is a member of the Appalachian Athletic Conference. Currently, the conference doesn’t sponsor men’s volleyball but Shepard says the college has a workaround. “Our plan is to apply as an affiliate member of another conference so we can immediately compete for conference championships.”
Interested student-athletes should contact Coach Rosser Roberts, the men’s volleyball recruiting coordinator, at rosser.roberts@truett.edu or 770-714-3913.
Pastor Jonathan Hayes speaks about the impact Habersham County SRO Patrick Mayfield had on people’s lives during his funeral on July 13, 2019, at Habersham Central High School.
“There’s a Patrick-sized hole in our hearts.”
With those words, Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell summed up what many in the community have been feeling since hearing about the death of Habersham Deputy Patrick Mayfield on July 5.
Today they had a chance to say goodbye. People stopped and stood along the highways as dozens of patrol cars from local and state law enforcement agencies escorted Mayfield’s body into Habersham for the funeral. The procession arrived in Mt. Airy as storm clouds gathered overhead. As the hearse carrying Officer Mayfield’s body passed under the flag firefighters draped over Highway 197, lightning struck in the distance but it did not rain.
Inside Habersham Central High School, around 300 people gathered for what was more a celebration of life than a mourning of death.
While there were tears, there were also smiles and laughter as family and friends shared stories about the man whose stature (he was 6’5″) was matched only by the size of his heart.
Mayfield’s sons, Devon and Seddrick, shared smiled and cried as they spoke about their father. “How grateful we are to have been personally groomed by a man of that caliber,” said Seddrick.
“As scary as that man might have looked sometimes he was a teddy bear,” said his son Devon Mayfield. “He was full of love.”
That love was evident in their stories of the things Mayfield did, not only for his family, colleagues, and friends but for the hundreds of young people he inspired as a School Resource Officer and coach.
Mayfield coached Little League and rec leagues for years in his hometown of Toccoa. He spent the past several years as an assistant coach for the Habersham Central High baseball team.
“He was passionate about the game,” said HCHS Head Baseball Coach Chris Akridge during the funeral, “but more than that he was passionate about the kids.”
One of Mayfield’s former players, Steve Cogswell, recalled how frightened he was when, as an 8-year-old Little Leaguer he first met Mayfield. “I was scared to death,” he recalled. Mayfield ended up coaching Cogswell through his first year of baseball and the next ten years after that.
The two became lifelong friends.
“When I was drafted at 8 years old I was drafted for life,” Cogswell said. “All those times after every game he told me he loved me.”
It’s a love Mayfield extended to people of all backgrounds. Pointing out the diversity of the crowd at the funeral, Pastor Jonathan Hayes said Mayfield “made an impact across color barriers.”
Making an impact
The hearse carrying Mayfield’s body passes under a flag Cornelia and Habersham firefighters draped over Hwy. 197 at GA 365. Dozens of patrol units escorted Mayfield’s body from Toccoa for the funeral and returned him home to Toccoa to be buried.
“Days like this are reminders that we did not come here to stay,” Pastor Hayes said. “We all have to leave here one day.”
He stressed it’s what happens between the time we are born and the time that we die that matters. He spoke of the hope Mayfield found in his Christian faith and the joy and inspiration he brought into people’s lives.
The pastor recounted the story someone told him of how years ago a police officer visited a classroom to teach the students about drug awareness. At the end of the class, the officer said, ‘Listen, if you ever need me, call 911’. One little boy took it to heart.
Hayes said at night when his family was sleeping, the little boy would call 911 to speak with the officer. His parents didn’t know what he was doing until about two weeks later when the police came knocking on their door.
“Well, that little boy was impacted by that officer,” Hayes said. The boy grew up to become a policeman himself. The officer that visited his class that day was Patrick Mayfield.
Hayes drove home the point, “You never know whose life you’re going to touch.”
In his 52 years, Deputy Mayfield touched many lives, that’s why especially today there’s a “Patrick-sized” hole in people’s hearts.
For most of its 87-minute runtime, Crawl manages to be a solid, slick creature feature that knows what it is and does it well. It probably has more in common with Lake Placid or Anaconda rather than Jaws, but it’s entertaining nevertheless.
It stars Kaya Scodelario as an aspiring swimmer at the University of Florida who’s trying to patch up the relationship she has with her divorced father (Barry Pepper).
The area of Florida that they live in gets attacked by a deadly hurricane and she tries to rush to his aid. Once she arrives, she finds the house slowly going underwater and her dad is unconscious and injured.
They also have other visitors in their midst in the form of two massive alligators (or crocodiles?) that are hell-bent on making them their dinner during the hurricane.
This is not a subtle film. We know each time when an alligator is going to peek out and attack the father and daughter and we know that they become surprisingly resourceful for the convenience of the plot. Still, it does have some inventive moments on how the two attempt to outsmart the gators and nearly all of them work.
Crawl combines atmosphere and suspense in a clever way instead of being dumb and loud. It would’ve been a bore if it was just standard cat-and-mouse sequences, but the movie does actually take some time to develop the characters even though it wasn’t always necessary.
I can’t pretend it’s a great movie because movies like this don’t pretend to aspire for greatness. However, it will bring back fond memories of other creature movies such as Anaconda or Deep Blue Sea. Just substitute a snake or a shark with an alligator.
Crawl manages to work its way in the tradition of B movies. It does exactly what it’s made to do. No more, no less.
Grade: B+
(Rated R for bloody creature violence and brief language.)
Here’s the latest arrest report from the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office.
DISCLAIMER
The arrest records available through this website are public information. Any indication of an arrest does not mean the individual identified has been convicted of a crime. All persons arrested are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
State and local law enforcement in five southern states are teaming up this week to crack down on unsafe driving. Traffic patrols will be out in force July 15-21 in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, and Tennessee as part of Operation Southern Shield. The week-long education and enforcement campaign is aimed at reducing traffic fatalities in the region.
It’s a collaborative effort among the five states and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Public safety and NHTSA officials kicked off the campaign Monday morning at a press conference in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
“This marks the third year of this highly visible traffic enforcement effort,” said Region 4 NHTSA Administrator Carmen Hayes. “Officers are going to be especially vigilant regarding speed but also seat belt usage, impaired driving, and distracted driving violations.”
Officers are stepping up patrols with an aggressive saturation in areas with high crash rates.
“Certainly, no one wants to get a ticket, but the men and women in law enforcement in the state of Georgia is (sic) ready and willing to issue those citations if you don’t heed our warning.”
Last year, over 224 agencies in Georgia wrote more than 11,000 citations during Operation Southern Shield. Of those, 75% were for speeding. Nearly 30% were for seat belt violations and the rest were for distracted and impaired driving.
Hands-free laws will be enforced in Georgia and Tennessee
“In addition to that heavy speed enforcement we’re going to continue to target those who drive with their phones in their hand,” said Georgia State Patrol Public Information Officer Lt. Stephanie Stallings. Pointing out that it’s been one year since Georgia’s hands-free law went into effect, Stallings said, “We’re definitely going to be on the lookout (for violators) as it’s just as important today as it was July the first last year.”
Tennessee’s hands-free law went into effect July 1 of this year. Alabama has a hands-free law for teen drivers who’ve held an intermediate license for less than six months. Florida and South Carolina currently do not have hands-free laws on the books, according to information compiled by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
All five states participating in Operation Southern Shield ban texting and driving.
While traffic laws may vary some from state to state, Stallings offers these common-sense safety tips:
Be mindful of the posted speed limit and adhere to it.
Make sure all occupants wear seatbelts.
Make sure children 8 years of age and under are properly restrained in the appropriate child safety seat.
Put your cellphone down and just pay attention to the roadway.
Don’t drive while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. NEVER be an impaired driver.
A life-saving partnership
Tennessee Safety & Homeland Security Administrator Jeff Long called the interagency partnership “essential to saving lives.” He added, “We want to ask the public for your help and for your voluntary compliance with the law.”
In its first two years, the five states participating in Operation Southern Shield saw a decrease in traffic deaths, according to Georgia Office of Highway Safety Law Enforcement Services Director Roger Hayes.
“Our goal this week is not to write a lot of tickets in Georgia but to show that obeying the speed limit can make our roads safer and easier to drive,” he said. “Certainly, no one wants to get a ticket, but the men and women in law enforcement in the state of Georgia is (sic) ready and willing to issue those citations if you don’t heed our warning.”
Ruth Carlene Tiller Page, age 59 of Cornelia, passed away on Saturday, July 13, 2019.
Born in Griffin, Georgia on December 30, 1959 to the late Carlton and Margie Ree Payne Tiller. She was a home maker and member of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Lula.
Survivors include her husband, Henry Page of Cornelia; son and daughter-in-law, Hank & Shan Page of Dawsonville; son and fiancé, Shannon Sanborn & Julia of Cleveland; daughters and sons-in-law, Michelle & Andy Carroll of Cleveland, Rachel & Nicholas Witcher of Cornelia and Stephanie & Michael Peeler of Cumming; 12 grandchildren; 3 great-grandchildren; brothers, Vance Tiller of Ila and Randall Tiller of Flowery Branch; sister, Joan McGinnis of Griffin; several nieces and nephews.
A Celebration of Life service is scheduled for 11 am, Saturday, July 20, 2019 in the Chapel of McGahee-Griffin and Stewart with Rev. Michael Gaines officiating.
The family will receive friends from 9 am until the service hour on Saturday at the funeral home.
Jose Alberto Quistain Vazquez, age 20 of Alto, passed away on Tuesday, July 9, 2019.
Born in Mexico on October 12, 1998, to Cutberto Quistian Jacobo and Modesta Vazquez Coronado both of Mexico. He was a construction worker and talented musician having played the saxophone with the Tamborazo San Luiseno. Mr. Quistian Vazquez enjoyed riding horses.
In addition to his parents, survivors include his son, Eden Quistian of Mexico; brothers, Alvaro Quistian Vazquez and Eduardo Quistian Vazquez both of Alto, Antonio Quistian Vazquez of Texas and Alfonso Quistian Vazquez of Mexico; sister, Teodula Quistian Vazquez of Mexico.
Visitation services are scheduled for 6-9 pm on Wednesday, July 17, 2019, at the funeral home.
Two Cornelia men escaped a nasty wreck on GA 17 Friday but the driver couldn’t escape charges.A Georgia State Patrol Trooper cited him for DUI, open container, and failure to maintain lane.
According to the Trooper’s report, 30-year-old Jose Cuautle-Estrada was driving south on GA 17 in a 2008 Chrysler 300. He crossed the center line and ran off the east shoulder of the highway. The car then traveled into a deep ditch, hit a culvert and vaulted over the culvert and both lanes of Crest Winds Drive before coming to a stop in the roadside ditch.
Cuautle-Estrada and his passenger, 30-year-old Jorge Procobio, both walked away from the crash without injuries.
When Brad Hicks moved to northeast Georgia in 2017 he says it was the first time in twenty years that he moved somewhere without access to high-speed internet.
Hicks, the president and CEO of Habersham EMC, came to understand what most rural Georgians have known for a long time, high-speed internet is not a “gift” it’s a “necessity.”
That understanding, fueled by new legislation and funding opportunities, propelled Hicks and the HEMC Board of Directors to develop a strategy to expand the co-op’s Trailwave Fiber Optic Services.
“When I arrived just under two years ago there was not a real clear plan of how we’re going to expand,” Hicks said during a recent interview with WRWH Radio in Cleveland. “We have solidified that and now we are actively going out and working with our members, people in our communities, trying to get as many people signed up as we can.”
Making it affordable is a key part of their strategy.
“Our philosophy in the past about you have to pay the full installation cost, we’ve really rethought that and where we can get service to you as a member affordably, we want to do that,” Hicks says.
Hicks encourages members who live in locations near
New law made expansion possible
Hicks credits local lawmakers, including State Rep. Terry Rogers (R-Clarkesville) and Senators John Wilkinson (R-Toccoa) and Steve Gooch (R-Dahlonega) with helping to pass bipartisan legislation giving electric membership corporations (EMCs) statutory authority to provide internet service.
Senate Bill 2 passed during the 2019 legislative session with near-unanimous support.
Wilkinson and Gooch sponsored the bill along with other members of a joint legislative study committee that spent over two years examining how to deliver high-speed internet to rural Georgians.
“Our board did approve a business plan prior to this legislation being passed,” Hicks says. Now the local co-op is looking at different ways to pay for it including, possibly, grants. Georgia law prohibits EMCs from using natural gas and electric service receipts to subsidize broadband activities. “Trailwave Fiber is a stand-alone business and we’re operating it that way,” Hicks says.
Trailwave Fiber added over 2,000 new customers last year and now has just under 4,500 customers. Hicks says 98% of those are residential accounts. They hope to more than double their internet customer base within the next three years.
HEMC is also looking at possibly expanding into other areas, as well.
“We are actually right now evaluating some options for video and telephony service,” Hicks says. “We have not got board approval yet, but we have introduced the idea and we’re hoping that we could possibly have something the first quarter of 2020.”
If approved, HEMC could offer its members bundle services like other area internet and telecommunication service providers do.
Annual meeting
HEMC members who want to learn more about the co-op’s current status and future plans are encouraged to attend this year’s annual meeting. It will be held on Thursday, July 18, at Habersham Ninth Grade Academy in Mt. Airy. Registration and the election of board members begin at 3 p.m.
Members will vote to fill three seats, one in the East District currently held by David Wall of Clarkesville, and two in the West District currently held by Dustin Hulsey of Cleveland and Dan Thurmond of Sautee. Their terms expire on July 18. All three are running again.
Other East District nominees include Hugh Rucker of Clarkesville and Teresa Shirley of Mt. Airy. Raymond (Tim) Kinsey of Cleveland hopes to pick up one of the West District seats.
As usual, there will be a free meal, activities for the kids, live entertainment, and door prizes awarded during the meeting.
To hear Hicks’ full interview with Dean Dyer of WRWH Radio click on the YouTube link below.
Betty Ann Nicholson Williams, age 73 of Demorest, Georgia passed away on Monday, July 15, 2019, following an extended illness.
Born in Clarkesville, Georgia on December 22, 1945, she was a daughter of the late Paul Ernest Nicholson, Sr. & Annie Ruth Tallent Nicholson. Mrs. Williams retired from Dairy Queen with 15 years of dedicated service. She enjoyed raising her children and taking care of her family. Mrs. Williams was a member of Hills Crossing Baptist Church.
Survivors include her loving husband, Junior Lee Williams of Demorest, GA; sons & daughter-in-law, Chris Kastner of Demorest, GA; Mark & Lisa Williams of Clarkesville, GA; daughters & sons-in-law, Debbie & Ronnie Elliott of Cornelia, GA; Angie & Lee Anderson of Clarkesville, GA; Judy & Gary Haygood of Toccoa, GA; brother & sister-in-law, Paul E. Nicholson, Jr. & Shirley Nicholson of Toccoa, GA; grandchildren, Jeremy Thomas, Josh & Laura Anderson, Jessica & Brandon Thompson, Nathan & Kristen Williams, Taylor & Hannah Haygood, Matti Haygood, & Kash Kastner; 10 great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, other relatives & friends.
Funeral services are scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, July 17, 201,9 from the Hillside Chapel with Pastor Michael Welborn officiating. Interment will follow in the Hills Crossing Baptist Church Cemetery with Rev. David Stancil officiating at the graveside.
The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 5 until 9 p.m. on Tuesday, July 16, 2019.
Last week, my sister, Carla, came for her longer summer visit. She was able to stay from Tuesday through Saturday and we spent some precious time together as sisters. She was also able to see a bit more of the day to day with Mom and get a better sense of where Mom is on her journey. I think it was hard for her.
Since I see Mom so often, it’s a bit like watching your children grow. It’s hard to notice the day to day changes, but a week or more away and some things become crystal clear. We keep a daily diary of Mom’s ups and downs which makes it easy to look back a month or 6 months to see the subtle changes in her care. Most days, I’m just focused on her care for that day and I rarely reflect on where we have been or speculate about the future.
This was Carla’s first visit since the first week of April. She tries to talk to Mom on Sundays, but it’s unusual for Mom to understand the concept of phones enough to communicate with Carla. Many Sundays, she doesn’t even get to hear Mom’s voice. When Carla first arrived, Mom didn’t talk much those first couple of days and it was hard for Carla to see Mom in that state.
Lately, Mom has become somewhat erratic in her movement. She has been sitting down before she reaches her chair or collapsing backwards instead of sitting. Although she’s lost a lot of weight, we caregivers have been startled by her sudden change in direction. Thankfully, we’ve only had close calls and near misses without any injury to Mom. Dad did get a pretty severe bruise and abrasion on his wrist last week while Carla was here.
Much of the time, I keep my worry to myself. Occasionally, I’ll discuss it with Carla over the phone, but she’s usually too far away to stress. Although I know she’d drop everything in a minute to come if I truly needed her, the daily worries are mine to bear alone. Having her here brought everything up – she lived the daily stress for five days, too. It was both easier and more difficult for me.
Alan, my oldest brother, came on Friday for a few hours. Mom really perked up for him – the best we’d seen her all week. They talked and sang and had a great visit. It is really amazing how she’ll liven back up when she has company. Visits do her so much good. She crashes afterwards, but it is great while it lasts!
I think Mom’s favorite visitor is Lolo. She is the younger sister of two of my piano students and she comes each week for an hour and plays with Mom. They had a tea party last week. Mom is so enamored with Lolo she dreams about her during the rest of the week. It’s so sweet. I think Carla even played tea party with them.
My hours are limited for visiting with other friends who are housebound, but I wish I had more time for them. If you have free time on your hands, I know a visit would be much appreciated.
A Georgia physician who visited migrant border facilities last month says she was alarmed by the signs of children’s stress there.
Goza
Dr. Sally Goza of Fayetteville, president-elect of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said Monday that the visit by herself and other pediatricians underscored the organization’s position that the Border Patrol facilities are not a good place for children, and that kids should be there for as short a time as possible.
“We believe that pediatricians should be there to care for the children,’’ Goza added.
She talked of a boy crying inconsolably at a migrant processing center in Ursula, Texas after his father had been taken away for a court proceeding. The boy, who had crossed the border with his father, didn’t know how to get in touch with him. The boy “didn’t know what to do,’’ Goza said. “It was heartbreaking.’’
There were about 900 unaccompanied children there at the Ursula center, Goza said. “There were two little sisters, 3 or 4 or 5, with no expressions on their face. That young, you would think they would have expressions. They were holding their hands together so tightly that their knuckles were almost white.’’
At a respite center, a toddler who had just left a Border Patrol facility looked sick. “She had a fever and breathing problems,’’ Goza said. The girl was sent to a hospital, where she was diagnosed with pneumonia and a congenital heart lesion.
Pediatricians who have visited the border facilities have raised strong concerns about the treatment of children at the migrant detention centers.
Over the past five years, tens of thousands of children — mainly from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador — have crossed the U.S. border, seeking relief from violence and poverty.
From October 2018 through May of this year, more than 230,000 children have been apprehended at the border, CNN reported. Of those, about 170,000 were accompanied by a parent or legal guardian.
The Trump administration has agreed to allow a Stanford pediatrician to conduct an independent investigation into health conditions for migrant children at Customs and Border Protection facilities.
Goza examines a child in a Texas respite center.
The pediatrician, Dr. Paul Wise, toured detention centers at the border last summer and was critical of the conditions there. Since September, four children have died while in CBP custody or shortly after being released from it, CNN reported.
Goza spoke of cage-like confinement of families at the processing centers she visited.
According to court filings, Dr. Dolly Sevier, a pediatrician in Brownsville, Texas, who visited children in a detention center, said they were kept in conditions that included “extreme cold temperatures, lights on 24 hours a day, no adequate access to medical care, basic sanitation, water or adequate food,” CNN reported.
Migrant children are supposed to be kept in Border Patrol custody for no more than 72 hours. But a recent report found that nearly a third of children in the facilities inspected were kept longer than that period of time.
In early June, Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan told CNN that the facilities were overcrowded and “not an appropriate setting for kids.”
Last week, he told CNN that “we’ve been taking action” and that the agency was providing “additional medical care” from more than 200 certified providers. A Border Patrol spokesperson said that includes nurse practitioners, physician assistants, emergency medical technicians, certified medical assistants and other medical support personnel.
A new report released Friday by the House Oversight and Reform Committee, meanwhile, said at least 18 migrant infants and toddlers under the age of 2, including nine infants under the age of 1, were separated from their parents at the southern border as part of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy on illegal entry into the country.
Those infants and toddlers were kept apart from their parents for periods ranging from 20 days to six months, the report found.
The Wall Street Journal reported that as recently as a few weeks ago, migrant minors reported being in crowded, unclean Border Patrol cells for nearly a month without regular access to food, showers, and medical care, according to lawyers and advocates. Border Patrol agents have disputed those reports.
The Ursula facility had a strong smell of sweat, urine, and feces, Goza said. The children’s eyes were bloodshot and bulging. “There was very little talking and communicating.”
A drawing by a child of a Border Patrol facility
Goza has reviewed drawings by children who have left detention facilities. “A child will draw what they feel. They drew cages, guards looking down on them,’’ she said.
Detained children can face high levels of physical and emotional stress, which can lead to developmental delays and behavior problems, Goza said. “Toxic stress can change the architecture of a child’s brain. It really changes their childhood.’’ A lack of sleep can lower the ability to fight off infections, she added.
Border Patrol staff are not medical professionals, Goza said. “They don’t know how to evaluate a child’s health. These people are not pediatric-trained.’’
“We need to make sure pediatricians are there.’’
Protest against child detention outside a facility in Texas.
Habersham County voters will go to the polls on November 5 to decide whether to approve nearly $32 million in bonds for the construction of a new jail.
In a unanimous 5-0 decision Monday night, the Habersham County Commission voted to put the issue on the ballot.
Money raised by the bonds would be used to build a 314-bed jail. County commissioners say a new jail is urgently needed to ease overcrowding, make operations more efficient, and protect the safety of detainees and staff.
If approved by the voters, the jail bond referendum would authorize a property tax levy of 1.38 mils which equals approximately $71.76 per year on the average residence in Habersham County, according to County Manager Phil Sutton. “If the next SPLOST is authorized, use of sales tax proceeds from SPLOST could pay for a portion of the cost of this debt service,” he says.
The last day to register to vote in the November 5 election is October 7, 2019.
This article has been updated to include the cost of the bonds and comments from County Manager Phil Sutton
Piedmont College will add 258 new members to its alumni rolls with a Commencement ceremony at 10 a.m., Friday, July 26 in the Johnny Mize Athletic Center at the campus in Demorest.
President James F. Mellichamp and Board of Trustees Chairman Thomas A. “Gus” Arrendale III will present diplomas to students earning Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Master of Business Administration, Certificate of Cardiovascular Technology, Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Master of Arts, Master of Arts in Teaching, Education Specialist, and Doctor of Education degrees.
The Commencement speaker will be Dr. Ronnie Booth, who has devoted 36 years to higher education and retired June 30 as President of Tri-County Technical College. Under Booth’s leadership, the college – based in Pendleton, South Carolina – launched three community campuses, three workforce training centers, an economic development center, and an industrial technology center. Before joining Tri-County in 2003, Booth served in leadership roles at Gainesville College, Piedmont College, and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (South Hamilton, Massachusetts).
Due to a water main break on Level Grove Road, Cornelia has issued a Boil Water Advisory for city water customers in the area of Level Grove Road on Williams Street, west along Level Grove Road.
This includes customers on Baldwin Road, BC Grant Road, Old Level Grove Road, and the 441 Bypass.
Those in the affected areas should boil their water for at least one minute after bringing it to a rolling boil before drinking, cooking, or preparing baby food with it.
The city will test the water tomorrow to see if the Boil Water Advisory can be lifted.
Visit the city’s website for updates. If you have any questions or concerns please contact city hall at 706-778-8585.
