Habersham Medical Center has welcomed its first baby of the New Year.
Baby Mia was delivered at the hospital in Demorest at 8 a.m. on Saturday, January 1, 2022.
The daughter of Daelynn Gordon and Alex Ramirez weighed in at 6 lbs. 13 oz. and was 19 inches long.
Congratulations!
Athens-Clarke County Police are investigating a New Year’s Eve shooting that severely injured a 20-year-old man. Joseph Cunningham was shot through the leg while walking home from the store, the incident report states.
Cunningham told police he was taking a shortcut home when a white Chevy Impala pulled up and started shooting at him. A bullet hit him in the left leg above the knee.
Witnesses corroborated Cunningham’s story, telling police that someone from within the Impala fired on him as he ran home. Police say one round went through a community center door. Eighteen 9mm bullets were found at the scene.
EMS transported Cunningham to an Athens area hospital with severe but non-life-threatening injuries.
Police are still investigating the crime.
“We have not ruled anything out; however, we have not determined a motive at this time,” says ACCPD spokesperson Lt. Shaun Barnett. He asks anyone with information about the shooting to contact Detective Johnson at 762-400-7060 or by email at [email protected].
An Irish New Year’s tradition involves people opening the back door of their house just before midnight to “let the old year out” and opening the front door to “let the New Year in”. I’ve seen some interesting takes on that tradition while perusing social media. For those whose memories of 2021 aren’t too fond, the suggestion was to also open all the windows to make sure it left!
Granted, there are plenty of things we’d probably all like to forget in the past year including a nasty virus that won’t seem to go away and all of the restrictions which have resulted, loved ones lost from COVID, and small businesses which endured months of hanging on by a thread as customers stayed away in droves.
Anyone familiar with Ribeyes Steakhouse in Cornelia knows how tough it can be to find an open table, especially on a Saturday night. But not on this Saturday. Amid the pandemic, owner Jacob Young sat alone.
It was a scene that played out for restaurants in our county and across the country. Thank goodness, slowly but surely, customers have been returning, even if not at pre-pandemic levels.
It’s been another year of struggling through unchartered waters for many families in our community. At times, the American dream felt more like a nightmare.
I asked our staff to weigh in on some of the most memorable stories they’ve covered in the past year. Just as in our everyday lives, our community collectively experienced highs and lows, triumphs and tragedies, many of which brought out the very best in all of us.
Now Habersham publisher Joy Purcell will always remember the story of five-year-old Lincoln Burgess who was killed in a tragic accident.
Teacher shares emotional tribute to 5-year-old student killed in wreck
Sometimes seeing the “light” changes a life. Margie Williamson’s stories of faith reflect that more than most.
“Writing for Now Habersham has been about telling stories about the area, its history, and its people. It is through stories, ours and the stories of those we meet, that we truly begin to see each other. Of all the stories I’ve told during 2021 (all of which I’ve loved), one story seemed to resonate most with readers––the story of Carol Johnson’s journey of faith from a life as an atheist. It’s not a story we hear often, but it’s worth a second read.”
“The soft rain of tears”: Carol Johnson’s journey from atheism to Christ
It’s very evident that “we love our soldiers” both past and present. Veterans must love us too, more than 700,000 live in Georgia with the highest concentration in the northern part of our state.
Some of our most memorable stories are “their” stories. It’s been an honor for us to share them with you.
NH reporter Hadley Cottingham reminded me what a tough challenge it was to narrow it down to one memorable story because there were so many throughout the year. Her choice was the one of a World War II Veteran which is made even more remarkable because every day, memories of World War II—its sights and sounds, its terrors and triumphs—disappear. Of the 16 million Americans who served in WWII, only 240,329 are alive today.
“Hearing Jimmy’s story, and getting to sit down and talk to a man who had such an important role in our nation’s history, was an honor. The sacrifices he made, the things he saw, and the things he did alongside so many other WWII veterans changed the course of world history, but hearing about his life post-war impacted me the most. I’m so glad he was willing to share those memories with me.”
Almost 30 years of my life have been devoted to broadcasting and/or writing. I covered the first launch of the space shuttle and traveled to Argentina for a documentary on Halley’s comet. Memorable? Absolutely! But connecting a Vietnam Veteran with a collector in England to locate his lost Army medals and a prayer book was one of the highlights of my career.
Beyond the two months of research for this story, Jim and I have stayed in touch. We share a love of classic rock music, of pets, and of those who sacrificed to serve our country. Whether it’s me or any of our staff, we don’t just tell the stories and move on. They resonate with us, just as we hope they do with you.
“I was privileged to start a new column this year covering sky-watching stories that are near and dear to my heart. My favorite was an article on solar storms, something I am fascinated by. I got the chance to delve into a little bit of the science and quell some myths about them that pop up in click-bait media. Several readers reached out about this article and all loved it, which is a nice bonus for this science geek.”
Whether you are looking up or gazing at a theater screen, there’ve been some sights worth beholding. Several blockbuster movies have hit theaters, especially in the past couple of months including Dune, the latest Bond installment No Time to Die, Spielberg’s take on West Side Story, and The Matrix Resurrections. Check out Justin Hall’s Top 10 Best and Worst list for the year to see what made the cut.
We don’t have a crystal ball at Now Habersham to show us how events will unfold over the next 12 months. What we do know is that our staff will continue to honor our commitment to delivering the news that impacts folks in all the communities we serve. Who knows, maybe your story will be the one that inspires our readers.
To paraphrase a quote from country music singer Brad Paisley: “Think of 2022 as the first blank page of a 365-page book and write a good one.”
Will you make a New Year’s resolution to continue good practices, change an undesired trait or behavior, accomplish a personal goal, or otherwise improve your life? That would be a page-turner, especially when you look back at the end of the year and check your progress.
Here are 10 great ideas to start making your new year a bestseller.
Whether you are starting a new chapter, closing your book, or writing a new one, let us know how it turns out. It could be our next memorable story for Now Habersham!
While the Northeast Georgia community has worked hard to find homes for many of Now Habersham’s featured animals, some are still hoping to find their fur-ever homes. Could you start your new year with the companionship of a furry friend?
We first shared Chupacabra’s story in November, but his current stay, which is approaching three months, isn’t his first time waiting for his forever home at the shelter.
Chupacabra, a young male cat, was adopted as a kitten from the shelter along with his brother and his sister. But when his family had to move to a rental home, he and his brother couldn’t come with.
“It was a really hard day, losing my home, my sister and my human all at once,” Chupacabra said. “Having my brother with me helped me through it. We did everything together, and I’m a really snuggly cat. Having him to cuddle up with made lonely nights a little less cold.”
But his brother was adopted in early November, leaving him all alone at the shelter. He greets guests with hugs, standing on his hind legs and reaching up for a chance to be held. He’s sweet, social, and loves other cats.
“I want to find home,” he says, reflecting on what the future could hold for him. “I wished for a home for Christmas, and I’m hoping for it in the new year. I want to feel warm and loved, and know that each day, I’m spending my life where I want to be.”
Gwen first shared her story with Now Habersham in October, weeks after she’d been taken in. She was surrendered to the shelter, and found comfort in the love of another surrendered cat.
“Losing my person was so hard,” Gwen said. “I never thought I’d feel whole again when I was sitting all alone in an unfamiliar room at the shelter. I was scared, and I didn’t know where home was anymore.”
While her friend, Three, moved on to find her forever home, Gwen didn’t get to go with her.
“I thought that after everything both Three and I went through, we’d get to face whatever came next together,” she says. “It didn’t go that way. We had each other to lean on for a little while, and having that meant more than words can express. But now, I need my person, whoever that is.”
If you’re interested in adopting Chupacabra, Gwen or any of the other animals at the Habersham County Animal Shelter, please call the shelter at (706) 839-0195 to set up an appointment. You may also visit them in person Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m. to Noon & 1-5 p.m. or on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Check out their Facebook page for more information.
(GA Recorder) — The signature January events that usually mark the start of a new Georgia legislative session are set to return in 2022 with a mixture of in-person and virtual options.
This year, state leaders will resume hobnobbing over a smorgasbord of barbecue and other Southern fare to raise money for the Georgia Food Bank Association as the Wild Hog Supper returns. The legislative kick-off event was canceled in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Two other annual legislative briefings, the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s annual breakfast and Georgians for a Healthy Future’s Health Care Unscrambled, also return with in-person options after virtual-only settings last year.
The series of events often provide a glimpse of what’s to come in the legislative session.
Still, as the pandemic surges with the delta and omicron variants, some events are still offering people an opportunity to log in through their smartphones or other devices to find out what experts and state leaders have to say.
The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute’s in-depth discussion on how health care workers have been treated during the pandemic will only be available to watch online while Georgians for a Healthy Future requires in-person attendees to be vaccinated, but also offers people the opportunity to experience it virtually.
Jan. 9: The Georgia Food Bank Association’s largest fundraiser returns with another celebration of farming with its long-running pig-picking event to benefit the Farm to Food Bank program. The Wild Hog Supper brings together state lawmakers and agriculture leaders to mingle on the eve of the legislative session.
Jan. 10: The Georgia Assembly returns for the second year of its legislative session with a short day of haggling over the calendar. But expect election-year fireworks to quickly erupt following a contentious year in which election law legislation, redistricting and other significant issues dominated.
Jan 11: Georgians for a Healthy Future will host its annual Health Care Unscrambled event, where the featured speaker is Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. The event offers people a chance to check in virtually, but if you attend in-person at the Georgia Freight Depot, you must be fully vaccinated and wear a mask.
Jan. 12: About 2,500 business leaders, elected officials, lobbyists and VIPs typically pack the tables to hear legislative priorities at the Georgia Chamber of Commerce’s Eggs and Issues breakfast. After last year’s virtual-only meeting, the event is scheduled this year at the Fox Theater in downtown Atlanta.
Jan. 13: Gov. Brian Kemp will give his annual State of the State address at the state Capitol.
Jan. 20-21: The Georgia Budget and Policy Institute is hosting a free, online event over the course of two and a half days Insights 2022: Treating Care Workers as Essential, Not Invisible.
Jan. 27: The Georgia First Amendment Foundation hosts a free legislative breakfast online as an expert panel of lawyers, government officials and journalists discusses government transparency and other First Amendment topics expected to crop up during the legislative session.
Arthur Odell Cochran, age 74 of Gainesville, entered rest Friday, December 31, 2021, at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center, Gainesville.
Arthur was born in Gainesville on April 7, 1947. He retired from the Northeast Georgia Medical Center as a CNA and was of the Baptist Faith. He was preceded in death by his loving wife, Brenda Smith Cochran.
Left to cherish his memory, Rev. J.T. & Joy Turpin, Nicholson & a host of friends.
Graveside services will be held at 2:00 p.m. Friday, January 7, 2022, at the Hopewell Baptist Church Cemetery with Rev. J.T. Turpin officiating.
Please share online condolences and memories with the family at www.wardsfh.com. Ward’s Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Arthur Odell Cochran.
A historic mission launched early on December 25th, giving astronomers around the world a Christmas present 25 years in the making.
The first plans to develop a large space telescope to replace the Hubble Space Telescope began in 1996. It was initially called the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) but was later named after James Webb, the administrator of NASA from 1961-1968. Webb was instrumental in the success of the Apollo programs that took men to the moon.
When the development of this telescope began, scientists quickly realized that very little of the technology they wished to use existed yet. Webb was planned to study the cosmos in the infrared range of light, a range not visible to the human eye. This is a different set of light than the Hubble is able to see, and will allow Webb to more easily see through thick dust and gas clouds and study the oldest galaxies and stars. This requires the telescope to operate at extremely cold temperatures to minimize noise, and was a large problem scientists had to overcome. How do you keep a huge telescope cold enough deep in space?
From a size perspective the JWST is significantly larger than Hubble. The mirror alone is nearly 3 times as large with a diameter of roughly 21 feet vs Hubble’s 8. The telescope as a whole is nothing short of gigantic. At 69.5ft by 46.5ft the sunshield is roughly the size of a tennis court. The problem, as you might imagine, comes in finding a way to launch a tennis court sized object into space? This was another huge problem that had to be overcome. How do you launch such a large satellite into space, much less a high precision instrument such as a telescope that has to operate at extremely cold temperatures?
Many technologies were developed to keep it cold, from cryocoolers to lightweight mirrors this telescope is nothing short of an engineering masterpiece. And to top it off the whole thing had to fold up to fit into a modern rocket: the Arianne 5. It rode this rocket into orbit on December 25th and successfully began the trip to its final home: the L2 point. What’s that? Well the L2 point is the Lagrange-2 point, a point in space near the Earth where the gravitational pull between the Earth and Sun even out, giving a net gravitational pull of zero. Webb will “orbit” this point as it carries out its science mission. This allows it to observe all the time, a huge difference from the Hubble which orbits Earth and can only see its target part of the time. A video of this orbit is below.
Other fun facts:
This is an exciting time for astronomers, albeit a nail-biting one. The next 6 months will include many milestones as the telescope reaches its final observing point and begins the long process of unfolding to it’s full size. Once that happens, though, we are certain to see some incredible images from this epitome of engineering achievement.
Have a great week and, as always, watch the skies!
It’s a new year, and we’re looking forward to all the memories we’ll make in 2022. Start your new year off right with local events to inspire you, enjoy the winter season, spend time with loved ones and set whatever your goals are into motion.
Whatever your new year holds, there’s something for you happening in (and around) Habersham.
New year’s day, Join the Lanier Canoe and Kayak Club (LCKC) and Dragon Boat paddlers for the 24th edition Polar Bear Plunge-N-Paddle on Lake Lanier Saturday, January 1, 2022. This event will take place on the docks of the LCKC with a 2-mile guided paddle tour at 11 a.m. and plunge at Noon into Lake Lanier. behind the boathouse. Register for one or both events. Check-in and on-site registration open at 10:30 am.
Beginning at 9 a.m. on New Year’s Day, park rangers across the country are inviting Americans to start 2022 with inspiring First Day Hikes. In Georgia’s State Parks and Historic Sites, more than 40 guided treks will encourage friends and families to connect with nature and each other. Click here for more information about available hikes.
Now through Thursday, Jan. 6, from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., take a stroll through the Sautee Nacoochee Center’s Native Peace Garden and enjoy magical holiday lights and baubles.
Sunday, Jan. 8, the 43rd annual Hogpen Hill Climb is on! Beginning at 8 a.m. at Unicoi State Park, this 18K run is known as one of the toughest races in Georgia and the South– and maybe even in the country. Click here for more information and registration. 
This is the last time the “Happening in (and around) Habersham” article will be updated as we bring back our events calendar for the new year. You can view the calendar here.
If you’d like your upcoming event featured on Now Habersham, submit it here or email [email protected].
Ring in the new year by exploring the free resources available to everyone at Northeast Georgia Regional Library System’s six public libraries in Habersham, Rabun, Stephens, and White Counties.
Pick up a Library Passport at any of Northeast Georgia’s public libraries from January 3 – 31, 2022, and visit each of the library locations to receive a stamp in your passport. When the passport has stamps from all six libraries, return it to your home library to be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card!
Library Passport holders are invited to apply for a free PINES library card and check out the many resources Northeast Georgia’s public libraries offer including books, audiobooks, e-books, wi-fi hotspots, free entry to Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites, Chromebooks, and modern technology for genealogical research.
For more information about libraries in the Northeast Georgia Regional Library System, please visit https://negeorgialibraries.org/affiliate-libraries/.
It was a warm, mostly wet year for Northeast Georgia.
Temperature: Temperatures took some abnormal swings throughout the year, with the year starting off above normal then turning cooler for the summer. The cool summer can largely be attributed to the above normal rainfall that came through. The real story of the year was the month of December which ran incredibly warm. As a whole, the month of December was 7-9 degrees above average region-wide. In some locations this was the warmest December on record. Record highs were broken several times and record warm morning lows occurred scarily frequently. This extreme warmth does not look poised to continue into the New Year, though January 1st will be quite toasty.
For the year, Cornelia came in 1.8 degrees above normal, Blairsville 0.8 degrees above normal and Gainesville up 0.9 degrees.
Precipitation: Precipitation followed a similar, albeit opposite, trend for the year. We kicked off below normal for most of the region, with the higher elevations towards Blairsville being an exception. We would run near or just below normal until the incredibly wet period of June through October. Blairsville recorded an incredible 11.01″ of rain in August, thanks in part to Tropical Storm Fred and Hurricane Ida, both of which dumped plentiful rain across all of North Georgia. Things stayed wet until November when the pattern made a major shift and we suddenly dried out. We would run well below normal for November and December with drought conditions developing across the entire region for most of December.
In total, Cornelia would end the year 6.08″ above average with Blairsville up 7.71″ and Gainesville over by a respectable 6.32″
Snow: Snow was extremely hard to come by in 2021. We only saw one accumulating snowfall across the entire region and it came way back on February 7th. Of course the higher elevations saw a bit more than that, and just at the end of 2020 we had a white Christmas across much of the area. We’ve started this winter off far too warm for snowfall but hopefully that changes as we head into 2022.
Severe Weather: While we escaped 2021 with no particularly bad severe outbreaks, there were 2 tornadoes confirmed in the region. One was in EF-0 in Lumpkin County on May 4th. The second was an EF-1 in Banks County associated with Tropical Storm Fred on August 17. Fred also brought flooding to large parts of the region and gusty winds.
Overall some parts of 2021 will certainly remain in the record books for some time to come. The widespread flooding from Fred and the extreme warmth of December are both things that won’t be easily forgotten. Hopefully we see another uneventful 2022.
Below I have comprised a table of the monthly temperature and precipitation departure from normal and the maximum/minimum temperature for Cornelia, Gainesville and Blairsville.
| January | |||
| Cornelia | Gainesville | Blairsville | |
| Temp Departure | 2.1 | 1.4 | 3 |
| Precip Departure | -2.19″ | -1.66″ | 1.19″ |
| Max Temp | 69 | 70 | 67 |
| Min Temp | 24 | 25 | 20 |
| February | |||
| Cornelia | Gainesville | Blairsville | |
| Temp Departure | 2.1 | -0.8 | -0.2 |
| Precip Departure | -.48″ | .05″ | .31″ |
| Max Temp | 73 | 72 | 72 |
| Min Temp | 24 | 22 | 16 |
| March | |||
| Cornelia | Gainesville | Blairsville | |
| Temp Departure | 4.1 | 3.7 | 4.2 |
| Precip Departure | -.44″ | -1.16″ | 4.64″ |
| Max Temp | 79 | 82 | 75 |
| Min Temp | 27 | 30 | 18 |
| April | |||
| Cornelia | Gainesville | Blairsville | |
| Temp Departure | -0.3 | -1.6 | -2 |
| Precip Departure | -.77″ | -.19″ | .62″ |
| Max Temp | 84 | 83 | 79 |
| Min Temp | 29 | 30 | 23 |
| May | |||
| Cornelia | Gainesville | Blairsville | |
| Temp Departure | -0.6 | -2.6 | -0.8 |
| Precip Departure | -.74″ | 1.36″ | -.36″ |
| Max Temp | 90 | 88 | 88 |
| Min Temp | 41 | 44 | 43 |
| June | |||
| Cornelia | Gainesville | Blairsville | |
| Temp Departure | .4″ | -1.5 | -0.1 |
| Precip Departure | 1.64″ | .67″ | -.36″ |
| Max Temp | 90 | 89 | 88 |
| Min Temp | 54 | 53 | 43 |
| July | |||
| Cornelia | Gainesville | Blairsville | |
| Temp Departure | 0.1 | -0.7 | -0.1 |
| Precip Departure | 3.11″ | 2.65″ | .63″ |
| Max Temp | 92 | 93 | 90 |
| Min Temp | 59 | 60 | 51 |
| August | |||
| Cornelia | Gainesville | Blairsville | |
| Temp Departure | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1 |
| Precip Departure | 4.16″ | 2.31″ | 6.3″ |
| Max Temp | 91 | 93 | 91 |
| Min Temp | 63 | 64 | 56 |
| September | |||
| Cornelia | Gainesville | Blairsville | |
| Temp Departure | -0.4 | -1.3 | -0.9 |
| Precip Departure | 2.9″ | 1.99″ | 1.56″ |
| Max Temp | 85 | 86 | 84 |
| Min Temp | 47 | 47 | 38 |
| October | |||
| Cornelia | Gainesville | Blairsville | |
| Temp Departure | 3.3 | 3.2 | 3.3 |
| Precip Departure | 4.55″ | 3.85″ | 1.34″ |
| Max Temp | 82 | 82 | 82 |
| Min Temp | 41 | 43 | 32 |
| November | |||
| Cornelia | Gainesville | Blairsville | |
| Temp Departure | -0.8 | -1.7 | |
| Precip Departure | -2.23″ | -1.79″ | -2.5″ |
| Max Temp | 77 | 76 | 76 |
| Min Temp | 27 | 31 | 22 |
| December | |||
| Cornelia | Gainesville | Blairsville | |
| Temp Departure | 9 | 7.9 | 8 |
| Precip Departure | -3.7″ | -.1″ | Data Incomplete |
| Max Temp | 75 | 75 | 73 |
| Min Temp | 34 | 29 | 23 |
I hope everyone has a great New Year!
Dune. West Side Story. Free Guy. Old. Space Jam: A New Legacy. Mortal Kombat. What do these six movies have in common? They made either my list of the year’s best or worst of 2021.
Yes, it’s that time of year again. Even with the pandemic still running rampant, audiences were showing signs that they were ready to return to the movies and I was no exception.
I had the opportunity to see 51 movies in 2021 and 20 of them had the fortune or misfortune to make it onto one of these two lists. Plus, like I do every year, I’ve also included my picks for runner-up.
Without further ado, let the countdowns begin!
Top 10 Best:
1. Nightmare Alley
2. A Quiet Place Part II
3. Spider-Man: No Way Home
4. West Side Story
5. King Richard
6. Dune
7. Free Guy
8. House of Gucci
9. The Last Duel
10. In the Heights
Runner-up: The Matrix Resurrections
Top 10 Worst:
1. Dear Evan Hansen
2. Old
3. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard
4. Malignant
5. The King’s Man
6. Snake Eyes
7. Wrath of Man
8. Space Jam: A New Legacy
9. Mortal Kombat
10. Spiral
Runner-up: Eternals
And there you have it. My lists for the 10 best and worst movies of 2021. With that year now behind us, we can look forward to 2022.
Everything from Marvel and DC to Avatar 2 to Jurassic World to Pixar and everything else in between will be waiting for us.
I’ll be there front and center to let you know what to see and what to skip.
Until next time, this is Justin Hall wishing all of you a very safe and happy new year and as always, I’ll see you at the movies!
Ralph Edward McConnell, age 71, of Baldwin, Georgia went to his Heavenly Home on Friday, December 31, 2021.
Mr. McConnell was born on October 29, 1950, in Habersham County, Georgia to the late Perry and Ruby Smith McConnell. He was a member of Alto Baptist Church. Ralph worked for Pepsi for 20 years and was known as “The Pepsi Man” around Habersham County. After leaving Pepsi, Ralph then went into home building for over 20 years. Ralph was a determined and hard worker all of his life, he taught his children the value of having a great work ethic. His favorite hobby was to stay at home and watch Gunsmoke or a good western.
Survivors include his loving wife of nearly 50 years, whom he met at the end of her 8th Grade year, Phyllis Weaver McConnell, of Baldwin; daughter and son-in-law, Kelly McConnell Grizzle and Rodney, of Dahlonega; son and daughter-in-law, Kiley and Jen, of Cornelia; brother, Kenneth McConnell, of Mt. Airy; sister, Betty Copeland, of Douglasville; and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins.
Funeral Services will be held at 2:00 p.m., Monday, January 3, 2022 at the Whitfield Funeral Home, North Chapel with Rev. Dennis Ledford officiating. Interment will follow in the Yonah Memorial Gardens with Rev. Wesley Purcell officiating.
The family will receive friends from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Sunday, January 2, 2022, at the funeral home.
Arrangements have been entrusted to the Whitfield Funeral Homes & Crematory, North Chapel at 245 Central Avenue, Demorest, Georgia. Telephone: 706-778-1700.
