GBI artist rendering of suspect (Gainesville Police Department/Facebook)
The City of Gainesville Police Department is asking for the public’s help in their search to identify an armed robber.
Police say the robbery occurred on Monday, Feb. 28, around 11:30 p.m. at
Kelly’s Kapers, a liquor store on Broad Street in Gainesville. According to the police department, the store clerk was held at gunpoint by a lone suspect who demanded cash.
The suspect is described as a light skin male, 5’10 to 6′ tall with a thin build. He was wearing sunglasses and a light pink hoodie with black pants at the time of the hold up, police say. The hoodie is described as having a colored emblem on the front left and a design down the center of the back.
Investigators worked with a GBI forensic artist to create a composite sketch of the suspect. Now, investigators are asking the public to share any information they may have about the suspect and crime.
On Tuesday, the Georgia Senate Judiciary Committee advanced a controversial bill that would impose stiffer criminal penalties on protesters when violence or property damage occurs, puts local governments on the hook if protests turn violent and require a permit to hold rallies. Protesters marched down the streets of Atlanta on the anniversary of George Floyd’s murder. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
Senate Bill 171 narrowly advanced through the Senate Judiciary Committee with a 5-4 vote along party lines on Tuesday after a hearing where detractors said the bill unlawfully violates freedom of expression and the right to assemble protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
Critics of the bill include First Amendment lawyers, progressive organizations like the ACLU and Americans for Prosperity, a libertarian and conservative advocacy organization.
Under the bill, a person would face one to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000 if convicted of blocking a highway or participating in a protest with seven or more people that turns violent or damages property.
Spray painting or other ways of defacing a publicly owned monument, structure, or cemetery could result in up to five years in prison, a $10,000 fine, and the tab to repair or replace the monument.
During the 2020 season of protests in Georgia calling for racial justice, Confederate monuments across the state were vandalized, including a prominent marker in downtown Athens.
Cataula Republican Sen. Randy Robertson has said the bill is meant to target events like the 2020 protests in Atlanta that in a few instances turned violent and damaged businesses to the tune of millions. He also cited the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot.
“What this bill does is protect the rights of any Georgian to go out there and exercise their First Amendment rights under the Constitution of the United States of America about any issue they choose to do without fear of being assaulted or hurt,” Robertson said. “It also reminds cities like Atlanta that citizens pay taxes and public safety is a primary responsibility of the city.”
Sen. Randy Robertson. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder
The bill also permanently bars anyone convicted of breaking the law from working for state or local governments and offers a legal shield to people who injure or kill protesters while fleeing if they have a reasonable belief they needed to do so to protect themselves.
The bill was amended Tuesday to remove protection of property from the bill’s proposed justifications to cause injury.
Opponents of the bill argue that it intends to prevent peaceful rallies and protests from taking place on public property by also creating a burdensome permitting process. Organizers would be required to provide to local government and law enforcement agencies contact information of people responsible for keeping order, along with an emergency action plan that addresses first aid and security measures.
Kevin Joachin, a community organizer for Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, said that the senators who have signed the bill demonstrate their lack of understanding on why protesting is necessary when other approaches have failed in situations such as a Black person being unjustly killed by police.
“I don’t know what this has to do with places like Cataula, Ocilla, Tyrone– the origin of a lot of these representatives who support this bill, but it sounds like people who aren’t from Atlanta, who aren’t Black, who aren’t from communities of color are trying to prevent progress here in the state of Georgia,” Joachin said.
Robertson’s bill is among a slew of Republican tough-on-crime legislation that adds on mandatory minimum sentences, escalates misdemeanors into felonies, and prevents felons from accessing diversion programs for drug and mental health.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and other Republican lawmakers have cited violent crime rates in Atlanta and other parts of the state as reasons to stiffen criminal penalties and provide more resources to police departments, sheriff’s offices, and other law enforcement agencies.
Civil rights organizations say the harsher penalties and other punishments would be a major setback to criminal justice reforms made by Kemp’s predecessor, Republican Gov. Nathan Deal.
On Tuesday representatives for the City of Atlanta and the lobbying organization for county governments spoke out against the bill’s provision that says local governments can be sued if local leaders tell police not to intervene with protesters. An Atlanta city council member urged police to stand down as an armed encampment of protesters took over a Wendy’s where Rashard Brooks was shot by an officer in June 2020.
Larry Ramsey, an attorney for the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, said the law is troubling in 146 of the state’s 159 counties, where sheriffs are responsible for law enforcement, and county commissioners have no control over that.
“I’m concerned that many counties would be in the posture of balancing the state law requirement to have a permitting scheme and then also trying not to tread on citizens First Amendment and Georgia free speech rights, particularly in traditional public forums like sidewalks and courthouses,” he said.
Georgia legislators should be more focused on mass incarceration and other criminal justice problems, said Kareem El-Hosseiny, director of government affairs for the Georgia chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“We’re all here debating a bill that would curtail our constitutionally protected rights,” he said. “Even now, as I speak, truckers from all around the country are gathered in our nation’s capital doing loops around the Capital Beltway tying up traffic, all to protest the government imposed COVID-19 protocols.
“If SB 171 were to pass, the truckers protest would very likely be unlawful if it happened in this state,” El-Hosseiny said.
The Georgia State Patrol late Tuesday released details of a crash in White County that killed two 16-year-old boys from Habersham. Dawson Zachery Ansley of Baldwin and Walter Avery Camargo of Cornelia died as a result of the wreck around 12:25 a.m. on March 8.
According to the state patrol, Camargo was driving a white Hyundai Sonata northbound on GA 384/Duncan Bridge Road at a high rate of speed when he ran off the road.
“The vehicle then began to rotate and with its passenger side struck a driveway culvert. The vehicle then vaulted before striking a second driveway culvert and overturning,” says Sgt. Michael Best of GSP Post 6 in Gainesville.
After overturning, the car traveled up an embankment and struck a wooden fence before coming to a rest in a ditch.
Shortly after midnight, prior to the crash, a White County Sheriff’s patrol deputy reported seeing a white vehicle traveling northbound on GA 384 at a high rate of speed. He said the vehicle ran a stop sign at the intersection with GA 254.
“The deputy activated his emergency lights in an attempt to catch up to the vehicle, but quickly resumed normal operations once he realized he had lost sight of the vehicle,” says White County Sheriff Rick Kelley.
That vehicle, says Kelley, is the same one later found wrecked on GA 384 north of Pless Road, some three miles from the intersection.
When deputies arrived at the crash site, Kelley says they found Camargo unresponsive behind the wheel of the car: He later died on his way to the hospital. Ansley was pronounced dead at the scene.
Both teens were former Habersham County school students but were no longer enrolled, says Habersham school superintendent Matthew Cooper. They had withdrawn to be homeschooled.
“We are saddened by this tragedy and will be praying for their families,” he says.
Sheriff Kelley, too, offered his condolences to the family, telling WRWH News, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims.”
Gas prices in Northeast Georgia rose above $4 per gallon this week as the economic fallout from the war in Ukraine ramps up here at home. The situation in Europe has accelerated price increases at the pump, which were already rising as demand rebounded from a slump early in the pandemic, exceeding supplies.
The national average for a gallon of regular fuel is now $4.173, according to AAA, after jumping 55 cents in the last week alone. That’s the highest ever recorded, not accounting for inflation, NPR reports.
The previous record price was $4.114 set in the summer of 2008.
The current average price in Georgia is $4.06 per gallon of regular unleaded, 11 cents lower than the national average.
Source: American Automobile Association
In Habersham County, gas was under $3.60 per gallon less than two weeks ago. Now, prices range between $3.90 and $4.50 per gallon.
And drivers are not likely to find any relief soon.
In less than two weeks, the prices at Chevron in Demorest have increased by $1.10. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)
President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that the United States is banning imports of Russian oil and gas as part of the country’s sanctions against the Russian government. He says the sanctions have bipartisan support and will target the “main artery” of Russia’s economy.
But he says this is ban will cost the American people financially to continue the nation’s support of Ukraine.
“Defending freedom is going to cost,” Biden said. “It’s going to cost us as well in the United States.”
While American support for Ukraine remains high, many drivers, like Slade Dover, are wondering how much more they can afford.
“My mom normally pays for my gas, but it’s been a lot recently,” says Dover, a Habersham Central athlete, who says he doesn’t have time between school and sports to work to help pay for gas.
He’s one of four in his family that drive, with two other brothers that also drive trucks. “It’s going to be really hard to afford to fill these trucks, they hold a lot of gas.”
He says he’s worried about how rising gas prices will impact his family, as well as the rest of the community.
Dover, a high school student, is worried about how gas prices could affect his family. (Hadley Cottingham/Now Habersham)
“I don’t like how it’s going, here or in other places in the world,” Dover said as he filled up his truck at Racetrac in Cornelia. “It’s a tough time.”
In an effort to ease prices at the pump, Governor Brian Kemp announced Tuesday he is temporarily suspending Georgia’s gas tax. He also took the opportunity to try and win some political points in an election year where inflation and high energy prices are weighing heavily on voters’ minds and wallets.
“Due to a total failure of leadership in Washington, we are actively working with the Georgia House and Senate to quickly move legislation that will temporarily suspend the state’s motor fuel tax and lessen the significant impact higher gas prices are having on Georgia families,” Kemp tweeted. “Because of our strong, fiscally conservative budgeting, I’m confident we will be able to provide relief to hardworking Georgians – both in the form of a tax refund and lower gas taxes.”
A recent NPR-Marist survey found that 83% of Americans support financial sanctions on Russia, and 69% say they would continue to support such sanctions even if energy prices rise.
This article has been updated with additional information
Ralston speaks to reporters after the vote. Jones and Oliver are at his right.
The Georgia House on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a wide-ranging mental health bill that includes stricter financial requirements on the state’s Medicaid managed care companies.
House Bill 1013 now heads to the state Senate, where its path is less certain. House Speaker David Ralston made a rare appearance at the podium to address his chamber before the vote, and he told his colleagues that he hoped the Senate wouldn’t water down the bill through “nitpicking” and would “appreciate that much is at stake… Lives are at stake with this bill.”
Vote on House Bill 1013
Ralston, a Blue Ridge Republican, said it’s “completely unacceptable” that Georgia, which he called the top state for business in the nation, should have a mental health system ranked at the bottom.
The bill, approved by a 169-3 vote, requires that health plans cover mental health and substance use treatment at the same levels as physical conditions. It also changes the protocols on involuntary commitment of mentally ill people, creates incentives for the training of mental health professionals, and facilitates “co-response” teams with police officers and mental health professionals around the state
The bill also says the state’s definitions of “medical necessity” on mental health treatment must come from standard clinical protocols, and not be determined by insurers.
A lead sponsor, state Rep. Todd Jones (R-Cumming), referred to his son’s battle with mental illness in a speech introducing House Bill 1013. He talked about the frustration and obstacles his family endured in getting his son the help he needed.
Justin went through six years of psychosis, “and he’s finally out of it,” Jones said. “I thank God for that.”
The legislation, he said, “will actually make a true difference” for people like his son. And it’s vitally needed, Jones added, with mental health and substance abuse problems rising amid the pandemic, and the suicide rate and opioid deaths spiking.
A key section of the bill requires that the managed care companies that cover more than 1 million Georgia Medicaid patients spend at least 85 percent of the dollars they receive from the program on medical care and quality improvements.
GHN and Kaiser Health News reported that Georgia is one of only a few states that don’t require a minimum level of medical spending and quality improvements for Medicaid insurers.
Jones told reporters that the goal is to have more money spent on patient care and not administrative costs.
The state House also approved a measure Tuesday that would allow grants for primary care facilities in rural and other high-need areas. Another bill that passed would allow patients to name a caregiver for help in their discharge planning by the hospital.
Increasingly, caregivers are performing medical tasks — such as medication management and wound care — for their loved ones who have been discharged from the hospital.
New rules on committing the mentally ill
The mental health bill sets up a multi-step process for involuntary commitment of someone who’s undergoing a mental health crisis.
Under current state law, mentally ill people must show an “imminent” risk of harm to themselves or others before they can be committed for treatment.
The bill would create several criteria for such commitment. The steps would include determining that a person presents a “substantial risk” of harm to themselves or others; and creates a reasonable expectation that a crisis or major psychiatric deterioration will occur without that care.
Smyre speaking to House members on mental health bill
Other criteria include an assessment that there’s a reasonable prospect that hospital treatment would help that person; that other, less restrictive alternatives are not appropriate; and that the person has declined voluntary treatment or lacks the capacity to make such a decision.
Before the vote, state Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver (D-Decatur), who’s a co-sponsor of HB 1013, said the legislation largely targets people with severe mental health or substance abuse problems who are repeatedly in and out of jails and hospital emergency rooms. “Let us move forward for those who are truly in crisis,” she said.
And Rep. Calvin Smyre, a Columbus Democrat who’s the longest-serving House member, said to lawmakers, “This bill is a game-changer. It’s transformative.’’
Stacey Abrams speaks with reporters after qualifying to run for governor. (Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder)
(GA Recorder) — Former House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, who became a national figure when she ran for governor four years ago, has officially put her name back on the ballot.
Abrams will once again bring star power to her campaign if her appearance Tuesday at the state Capitol to qualify is any indication. She was surrounded by throngs of journalists, supporters and curious onlookers as she filed her papers on the second day of qualifying.
Abrams is the first major candidate of either party to officially qualify in the race for governor. She could end up in a rematch with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who narrowly defeated Abrams by about 55,000 votes in 2018. But the governor must first fend off a Republican challenger, former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, who has the backing of former President Donald Trump.
“The last four years of inaction and ineptitude by the current governor means that I’m simply trying again to do what’s right for Georgia, and I believe this time that we’ll get it done,” Abrams told reporters Tuesday.
Health care is once again at the center of Abrams’ campaign. She campaigned aggressively on Medicaid expansion in 2018 and criticized Kemp Tuesday for his alternative health care proposals, most of which have been stalled by the Biden administration.
The state has sued the federal government over the rejection of work and premium requirements packed into Kemp’s plan, which would have slightly expanded Medicaid eligibility.
Abrams pointed to the billions of federal dollars tied to traditional expansion that the state is currently not receiving, as well as the jobs and support for rural health care that could follow about 500,000 people gaining an insurance card.
“It is being refused not out of ideology because Mike Pence expanded Medicaid. It’s not being refused because we can’t afford it, because we can. In fact, he was willing to put forward a plan that costs more and serves fewer,” she said.
“This has been rejected because he simply doesn’t like the fact that wasn’t his idea, and that kind of mean, calloused leadership is leadership we should reject in Georgia and reject across the country.”
Kemp’s campaign and the Republican National Committee quickly issued statements also touching on familiar themes, including Abrams’ decision not to concede in 2018 but instead acknowledge she would not be Georgia’s next governor.
“We hope Stacey Abrams has her concession speech more readily available this go around, she’ll need it once and for all,” committee spokesperson Garrison Douglas said in a statement.
Kemp’s campaign has accused Abrams of trying to use the governor’s office as a way station.
“Stacey Abrams may see the Governor’s Mansion as the next stepping stone on her way to the White House, but Georgians won’t be fooled. Governor Kemp will continue to run on a record of success putting Georgians first and stop Stacey Abrams from becoming our governor – and our next president,” Kemp’s press secretary Tate Mitchell said in a statement.
The City of Clarkesville’s Monday night meeting included several discussions of various topics, but one item in particular, the city’s discussion of a golf cart ordinance, could be moving forward.
The council further discussed their golf cart ordinance, which city council members have been discussing off-and-on since the summer of 2020. The ordinance would allow citizens to use golf carts for transportation on city streets.
City Manager Keith Dickerson says the city has been conducting various speed studies and has found that traffic and speed-wise, the majority of the city’s roads are safe for golf cart traffic. While a few speed bumps may be an addition to the city’s infrastructure that will help slow down traffic in some more concerning spots, if the public is interested, the council believes the ordinance could be put in place.
The only additional safety measure, other than speed bumps, that the council discussed involved limiting hours that golf carts could be on city streets. The council may consider limiting golf cart hours to daylight hours to avoid nighttime speeding-related accidents.
Before moving forward with the ordinance, the council will hold a public hearing sometime before their next meeting to gauge community interest. They plan to hold it on a weeknight so that citizens can attend after work to share their thoughts on the ordinance with the council.
Now Habersham will keep you updated when that hearing is scheduled.
The Clarkesville City Council is considering whether to allow golf carts to operate on city streets. It’s been a topic of discussion among council members off-and-on since the summer of 2020. If there’s enough public support for it, the council says it will consider enacting an ordinance to allow citizens to use golf carts for transportation.
City leaders are seeking public input. They plan to hold a public hearing on the issue before their next city council meeting with a date and time yet to be decided.
Now Habersham is also seeking public input on the issue. We want to know what you think. Our question of the day today is:
Should golf carts be allowed to travel on Clarkesville’s city streets? Why or why not?
Join in the conversation: Share your thoughts with us on our Facebook Page.
Here are just a few of the comments that have been shared with us so far:
Shah shared this photo of his liquor store in Athens with the commission. (Photo via livestream)
After Cornelia citizens overwhelmingly passed the city’s liquor referendum in the November 2021 elections, which would allow liquor stores to open within city limits, proposals to open up shop are coming in. Monday night, the city council approved plans for the first liquor store in Cornelia.
The city council passed amendments to their alcohol ordinance in December of 2021 that would allow liquor store sales. Monday, they unanimously approved the store location after receiving the city planning commission’s recommendation.
The liquor store, Habersham Package, owned by Brijesh Shah, will move into the Habersham Hills shopping center. Habersham Package will open in the old Sleep Center mattress store near Goodwill and Dollar Tree.
Liquor stores in Cornelia are limited to setting up shop along the city’s highway business district, away from Downtown Cornelia and the historic district, according to the ordinance amendments.
The liquor store will be around 7,000 square feet total, and Shah says he also owns a liquor store in Athens. No one spoke in favor of or against the store opening at the meeting.
