The Clarkesville Water Department has lifted its Boil Water Advisory for homes and businesses in the following areas: Swain Drive, View Street, Memorial Drive, Richard Street, Walker Lane, Stapleton Drive, Leyland Hills, and White Oak Court.
Clarkesville water customers in the affected areas may now resume normal water use.
Bonifacio Sanchez, age 66 of Clarkesville, passed away Tuesday, November 1, 2022, following a brief illness.
Born in Los Tejocotes San Juan Mixtepec, Mexico on October 30, 1956, Mr. Sanchez was the son of the late Augustin Sanchez and the late Aurelia Lopez. He was retired from Fieldale Farms, Inc., and he attended St. Mark Catholic Church.
Survivors include his wife Esperanza Sanchez of Clarkesville, sons Sergio Sanchez of Alto and Ricardo Sanchez, daughters Yolanda Sanchez of Clarkesville and Gabriella Sanchez, brothers Eucario Sanchez of Clarkesville as well as two additional brothers and sisters.
A funeral mass will be held at 10:00 AM, Saturday, November 5, 2022, at St. Mark Catholic Church with interment to follow the service in Hillside Gardens Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the residence on Friday, November 4th from 1:00 PM until the service hour.
An online guest book is available for the Sanchez family at www.HillsideMemorialChapel.com.
Arrangements are in the care and professional direction of Hillside Memorial Chapel & Gardens, Clarkesville, Georgia. (706) 754-6256
Donna Lynn Clark departed this earth towards Heaven at approximately 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday evening, October 26, 2022.
She was born to the late Mr. Harold Melvin Swartz and Mrs. Mary Margarie Douglas of Fort Pierce, Florida, on January 17, 1950.
She is survived by her beloved Gordon Clark of Demorest and sister Michele Abney of Arkansas. She is also survived by her youngest son, wife, and grandson – Justin Harold, Elaine Irene, and Holden James Barnes of Demorest, Georgia. Additionally, she is survived by her eldest son, wife, and grandson(s) – Dwane Allen, Stephani, Dustin, and Cody Barnes of Tennessee.
Donna enjoyed the warm sun in Florida but sought to start a new chapter of life in the foothills of North Georgia in 1994 after her children were raised and there she has resided since. She enjoyed gardening, ceramic painting, and birdwatching… in fact, she could tell you the details of every species by just an audible chirp or faint sighting! Her son Dwane mentioned her saying once to him that “living here was like being in her own little piece of Heaven”.
She will always be loved & sorely missed, but we are encouraged & delighted by God’s Word which reminds us that while she cannot return to us, we will however go to her in that hour when God calls us to enter our new Heavenly home in His glorious kingdom. God is good, and His timing is perfect for those who are called according to His purpose.
Herman R. “Lightnin” Pass, age 82 of Gillsville entered heaven Thursday, November 3, 2022, at his residence surrounded by his loving family.
Lightnin was born July 24, 1940, in Gainesville to the late Ernest & Ruth Harris Pass. He owned & operated Pass Plumbing for a number of years. He never met a stranger and was well-known all over Hall & surrounding counties. He enjoyed hunting, fishing & racing but most of all he loved his family. Lightnin was a member of Calvary Baptist Church where he served as a deacon since 1969. He was preceded in death by his brother, Howard Pass, twin boy brothers & an infant sister.
Left to cherish precious memories, wife, Glenda Thurmond Pass; daughters, Donna (Tony) Shope, Sandra (Mike) Moore; grandchildren, Seth & Sabrina Beeco, Sloane & Jesse Laughman, Drew & Shelly Echols, Daphne Echols, Jesse & Kyle Gibson, Greg & Sabrina Moore, Lacy & Tim Nunnaly; great-grandchildren, Sawyer, Caleb, John, Anna, Sadie, Scarlett, Chloe, Cohen, Hadleigh, Judd, Gillian, Andi, Luke, Holland, Lanier, Lincoln, Abigail, Cody, Gavin, Landon; brothers, Harold Pass, Sherman Pass, Sheron Pass; sisters, Claudine Baugh, Josephine Allen; a number of nieces, nephews & other relatives also survive. As stated by Lightnin ” I’ve got more grandchildren than anybody, because everybody calls me Papa”.
Funeral services honoring Lightnin will be held at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, November 6, 2022, at the Calvary Baptist Church with Rev. Raymond Latty & Mr. John Latty officiating. He will be laid to rest in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends at the funeral home Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, from 4:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m.
You may sign the online register or leave a condolence at www.wardsfh.com.
Ward’s Funeral Home of Gainesville is honored to serve the family of Herman R. “Lightnin” Pass.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has released more details of a joint federal, state, and local law enforcement operation that resulted in 11 gang-related arrests in Northeast Georgia.
The suspects were taken into custody after law enforcement executed six search warrants simultaneously in Hart and Franklin counties. The search warrants were related to a months-long drug, gang, and violent crime investigation known as “Operation Straight to the Hart,” the GBI says.
Eight of the suspects are from Hartwell. All eleven were charged with violating the state’s Street Gang Act. In addition, two of the suspects have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
Jaquavious Waller, 21, of Hartwell, and Len’darrius Keese, 20, of Lavonia, were charged in connection to the death of Mericus Scott of Royston whose body was discovered in Anderson, South Carolina in January of 2020.
Throughout the investigation, law enforcement seized marijuana, cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, MDMA (Ecstasy), and 25 firearms.
The following individuals were arrested on Thursday, October 27, after law enforcement executed six simultaneous search warrants in Franklin and Hart counties:
The following agencies participated in this operation: Georgia Bureau of Investigation Regional Investigative Offices and Statewide Gang Task Force, Hartwell Police Department, Hart County Sheriff’s Office, Lavonia Police Department, Franklin County Sheriff’s Office, Georgia State Patrol, Georgia State Patrol SWAT, Georgia Department of Community Supervision, Appalachian Regional Drug Enforcement Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation (North Georgia Multi Offenders Task Force), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Georgia Department of Corrections, and Georgia National Guard Counterdrug Task Force.
The GBI says this is an ongoing investigation and more arrests are expected.
Baldwin has committed to spending one million dollars to buy two new fire trucks. During a called city council meeting on Wednesday, the council approved the purchase of a Quick Response Vehicle (QRV) and custom pumper truck. The total cost of the vehicles, with interest, is $1,061,666.14.
The QRV is a 2020 International 4×4 with a Class A pump. According to Baldwin Fire Chief Joe Roy, this vehicle’s purpose is to respond to fires of a smaller nature such as grass fires along GA 365, US 441, the railroad right of way, and the airport. It can also provide house fire protection until a fire engine arrives on the scene. The QRV design is smaller than a normal fire truck, which allows it to access areas other trucks can’t.
The QRV will cost the city $255,000. SPLOST 7 funds will cover $218,316 of the purchase price. The remaining $36,684 will come from Baldwin’s Public Safety Fund.
Baldwin city council members also agreed to buy a 2021 Ferrara Igniter Custom Pumper for $695,000. The council intends to finance the truck through a lease-purchase agreement with the Georgia Municipal Association. If the lease agreement is approved, interest will be added in, bringing the total cost of the truck to $806,666.14.
The lease-purchase agreement will span a period of 7 years at an annual general fund cost of $115,238.02. Baldwin’s Chief Administrative Officer Emily Woodmaster says only a percentage of that annual payment would come from the Public Safety Fund, which is funded through fines generated by the city’s school speed zone cameras. The remaining amount would have to be budgeted for each year.
Woodmaster stressed that the city council needed to understand that, going forward, all leases would have to be built into the budget and could not be removed.
Currently, Baldwin’s school speed zone cameras generate approximately $200,000 a year for the Public Safety Fund. Since April 2021, the cameras have generated $317,710.18.
Chief Roy explained to the council that both fire trucks are “basically demos” and are cheaper than brand new trucks. The council voted unanimously to approve the purchase of the QRV and authorized Woodmaster and the city attorney to pursue the lease-purchase agreement with GMA and the seller.
Once the lease-purchase agreement is finalized and approved, interest will be added to the annual payment schedule.
When the polls close in Georgia on Tuesday, Nov. 8, election results should come quicker than before, though tight races on the cusps of runoffs mean finality about who is victorious will likely not.
Georgia has more than 2,600 voter precincts spread across 159 counties and an outsized role in national politics. After conspiracies dominated the aftermath of the 2020 vote count which took several days to complete due to an avalanche of absentee ballots, a desire for timely results has been codified into law in Georgia’s sweeping Senate Bill 202.
The 98-page voting law garnered headlines for absentee ballot changes, expansion of challenges to voter eligibility and other hot button issues, but the bulk of the law includes back-end election administration changes for local officials that require a more streamlined election night and quicker reporting of results.
Under the new law, counties can begin processing absentee ballots starting two weeks before the election instead of the morning of Election Day. In 2020, well over 1 million people returned a mail-in ballot, and the process of verifying the information on the envelope, adjudicating any ballots with issues, scanning and reporting results took several days.
This year, only about 279,000 voters requested an absentee ballot, so fewer ballots and an earlier processing time should lead to quicker reporting of those results. More counties will also begin to tabulate mail-in and in-person absentee ballots starting the morning of Election Day, sequestering those ballots and workers so results are not reported until after polls close.
“Instead of having to wait till 7 p.m. on election night for the larger counties, especially, to begin shutting down and printing the advanced voting scanner tapes that take several minutes to print, they can go ahead and do that during the day,” Georgia elections director Blake Evans said in a recent press conference. “Which means at 7 p.m., they should have all their advance voting results ready to go and be released by 7:30 or so.”
Election Day votes usually take the second longest to count and report, because poll workers must close down well over 2,000 polling locations across the state, take the memory cards from ballot scanners and drive them back to elections offices where they are tabulated.
News outlets and elections analysts project winners of races based on a combination of historic voting patterns, results counted and where remaining unreported results are located. In a state like Georgia, where elections are close and larger, Democrat-heavy counties take longer to report, you likely won’t see reputable sources “call” big races on election night, even with Georgia’s law changes.
It’s also important to remember that the only official source that declares winners is a county certifying its election results after verifying totals are correct.
On election results websites, including the Georgia Secretary of State website, election officials say to also remember context behind “precincts reporting” numbers, reminding that 100% of precincts reporting ballots cast does not equal reporting 100% of the ballots cast. Sometimes results change, as counties have been known to accidentally double upload results or leave out results as the night progresses — but that is not a sign of fraud and is part of the normal reconciliation and counting process.
It’s also possible that one candidate could be ahead as more rural, Republican-heavy counties with small populations complete their uploading process faster than Democratic strongholds with large population, also a normal part of the way Georgia counts votes.
It won’t be known until polls close how many people show up on Election Day or return absentee ballots. But after the end of in-person early voting, it will be known how many people participated using that method, as well as the maximum possible number of mail-in ballots returned (~279,000) since that request deadline has passed. Plus, military and overseas ballots must be received by the Friday after the election and provisional ballots can be fixed by then, too.
More than 2 million people have already cast a ballot in Georgia’s midterm election, which features close races for governor and U.S. Senate among other contests. Recent polling shows both incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp and Sen. Raphael Warnock hovering around the 50% threshold to avoid a runoff, so it will be likely that the outcome of the race will come down to the last ballots counted.
Speaking of counting, Georgia law now requires counties to report the total number of ballots cast (by mail, early in person and on Election Day) by 10 p.m. on election night to provide the state and the public with the total denominator of votes that should provide better context on what is left to be counted. Even so, remember there are military and overseas votes that must be received by the Friday after the election and provisional ballots that can be cured by the same deadline, so that 10 p.m. number is not final.
Elections offices are now required to count without stopping until they are done and must finish absentee ballot counting, which usually takes the longest of the three voting methods, by 5 p.m. the day after the election.
Finally, the new voting law accelerates the timeline for certification and a runoff. Counties must certify the final count of their election results by the Monday after the election, then Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger will announce a statewide race to undergo a risk-limiting audit. After that audit, which confirms the results are accurate and not the specific totals, Raffensperger will certify the results by Nov. 25.
Previously, Georgia law set runoffs nine weeks after the general election, but SB 202 shortened it to just four. That means any race that did not see a candidate clear 50% on Nov. 8 will see voters head to the polls again Dec. 6, with a very abbreviated absentee by mail and in-person early voting period — “as soon as possible” for local officials that are also finishing up counting the general election.
The bottom line: new rules should see election results come quicker in Georgia, though the difference in someone winning outright or going to a runoff could be so close that all the results need to be in before a conclusion is known.
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This article appears on Now Habersham through a news partnership with GPB News
Billy Umberhandt, age 68, of Baldwin, passed away on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.
Born on January 28, 1954, he was a son of the late Lewis David Umberhandt and Evelyn Carpenter Umberhandt. Mr. Umberhandt retired from Scovill after 18 years of employment. In his spare time, Billy enjoyed taking rides through the mountains, loafing around, and sitting in his man cave.
In addition to his parents, he is preceded in death by brothers, James Umberhandt, Ronnie Umberhandt, J. D. Umberhandt, and a twin brother; and sister, Linda Umberhandt.
Survivors include wife, Deborah Umberhandt of the home; son and daughter-in-law, BJ Umberhandt (Leslie) of Baldwin; step-sons and daughters-in-law, Keith Smith (Elaine) of Alto, and Ryan Smith (Tonya) of Clarkesville; numerous grandchildren; numerous great-grandchildren; brothers-in-law, Carl Golding, Jr. of Tyty, Georgia, Dewey Smith of Pearson; sisters-in-law, Judith Childs of LaGrange, Janice Edmondson of LaGrange, Gail Turner of Tifton, and Sylvia Umberhandt of Clarkesville; numerous nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
The family will receive friends from 6 ~ 8 pm on Friday, November 4, 2022, and from 11 am until the service hour on Saturday, November 5, 2022, at the funeral home.
Funeral services are scheduled for 12 noon on Saturday, November 5, 2022, with the Rev. Lester Cowan officiating. Interment will follow at Baldwin City Cemetery following the service.
Flowers are accepted or donations may be made to Deborah Umberhandt, 102 Lenora Lane, Baldwin, GA 30511, to help with funeral expenses.
An online guest register is available and may be viewed at www.mcgaheegriffinandstewart.com.
McGahee-Griffin & Stewart Funeral Home of Cornelia, Georgia (706/778-8668) is in charge of arrangements.
Tallulah Falls School students based in Banks County now have a convenient transportation option with the addition of a new shuttle location.
This adds Banks County to existing shuttle routes in Habersham, Hall, Rabun, Stephens and White counties.
The school will now be running six large buses and four mini buses to our six surrounding counties, according to Dean of Students Jimmy Franklin.
“We are pleased to announce the expansion of our shuttle routes,” says President and Head of School Larry Peevy. “Our day student enrollment is robust; we are happy to accommodate our local families.”
For more information, visit https://www.
The Habersham County Road Department will be replacing a stormwater pipe near 380 Ivy Mountain Road in Clarkesville on Tuesday, November 8. As a result, the road is expected to be closed to thru traffic at this location from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. that day.
Drivers who normally pass by 380 Ivy Mountain Road will need to plan to do so before work begins at 8 a.m. or take an alternate route.
Public Works Director Jerry Baggett asks the public to please use caution and obey all construction signs during this process.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams have shattered the previous record for gubernatorial campaign fundraising in Georgia heading into Election Day next week.
The Kemp campaign and Georgians First, the governor’s leadership committee, had combined to raise $81.5 million through Oct. 25, according to the final campaign finance reports they will file with the state ahead of the Nov. 8 election.
Abrams, as she has throughout the campaign, outraised the incumbent. Her campaign and leadership committee, One Georgia, had brought in a combined $105.3 million through Oct. 25, according to reports submitted to the Georgia Government Transparency & Campaign Finance Commission.
The total for the two candidates and leadership committees — $186.8 million — is nearly four times what Kemp and Abrams raised during their first matchup in 2018.
The huge increase in campaign dollars has a lot to do with the creation of leadership committees by the General Assembly last year.
Unlike the candidates’ own campaign committees, leadership committees can raise and spend unlimited contributions on behalf of top statewide and legislative candidates.
Recipients also can accept leadership committee donations at any time of the year, including while the legislature is in session, something candidates currently holding a state elective office are not allowed to do.
Majority Republicans passed the legislation virtually along party lines, with Democrats warning that allowing unlimited campaign contributions would increase the influence of special interests in Georgia politics. However, as Abrams’ One Georgia committee has demonstrated, Democrats are more than able to benefit from new rules they had no hand in creating.
Among other major candidates for statewide office, state Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, raised $12.9 million through Oct. 25 in his bid for lieutenant governor, far ahead of the $2.5 million raised by Democratic opponent Charlie Bailey.
Republican Attorney General Chris Carr built a smaller fundraising lead over state Sen. Jen Jordan of Atlanta, his Democratic challenger. Carr’s campaign raised $4.8 million through Oct. 25, compared to Jordan’s $3.5 million.
In the race for secretary of state, Democratic state Rep. Bee Nguyen of Atlanta outraised incumbent Republican Brad Raffensperger, $3.6 million to $3 million.
(GA Recorder) — The Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday that in its continuing efforts to tamp down inflation, it would raise interest rates yet again by another three-quarters of a point to a target range of 3.75 to 4%.
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during a press conference following the announcement that the “historically fast pace” of rate increases is “appropriate given the persistence and strength in inflation and low level at which we started.”
Powell, who has been pressured in recent months by members of Congress to avert a recession, said that at some point it will make sense to slow down the pace of increases but added, “We have some ways to go,” and said he anticipates ongoing increases.
Powell said he does not want to prematurely change the Fed’s approach because “ … the longer the current bout of high inflation continues, the greater the chance that expectations of higher inflation will become entrenched.
“Price stability is the responsibility of the Federal Reserve and serves as the bedrock of our economy,” he said. “Without price stability, our economy does not work for anyone. In particular, without price stability, we will not achieve a sustained period of strong labor market conditions that benefit all.”
In its policy statement, the Federal Reserve said: “In determining the pace of future increases in the target range, the Committee will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments.”
In September, when the Fed raised rates three times, a Bankrate analysis found it was the most increases by the Fed in one year since the 1980s. In the 1980s, Federal Reserve Chair Paul Volcker raised rates several times — ultimately to the highest they had ever been, which was close to 20%. There were two recessions as a result and inflation fell to 3.4% in 1987 from 9.8% in 1981.
In August, Powell said the Fed’s goal to eventually get to 2% core inflation is “unconditional.” On Wednesday, the Fed repeated its mission and said it is “strongly committed” to meeting its 2% inflation goal.
And while Powell has said the Fed’s aim is to bring down inflation without causing a recession, he has also said “No one knows whether this process will lead to a recession or, if so, how significant that recession would be,” PBS NewsHour reported. The acknowledgement that efforts to curb inflation could lead to job losses, has resulted in pushback from some economists and lawmakers who argue that a recession would be worse than today’s inflation.
Josh Bivens, director of research at the Economic Policy Institute, wrote in July that inflation does not directly decrease people’s incomes in the aggregate in the way that unemployment does and that in the long term, a recession would hurt economic growth more than inflation would.
Several Democratic senators have spoken out against raising rates, saying that it will put more Americans out of work, and would ultimately result in a painful recession. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted on Wednesday morning, “Throwing millions out of work without addressing key drivers of higher prices isn’t the solution to fight inflation.”
On Monday, Sens. Warren, Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and U.S. Reps. Sylvia Garcia (D-TX), Jesus “Chuy” G. Garcia, Katie Porter (D-CA), Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) wrote to Powell: “Your ‘overarching focus’ on ‘using [the Fed’s] tools to bring inflation back down to our 2 percent goal’ no matter the cost is particularly troubling given the limits of interest rate hikes in addressing key drivers of today’s inflation, including lingering supply chain snarls, corporate price gouging, and the war in Ukraine.”
Powell had previously heard from U.S. Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and John Hickenlooper (D-CO). Brown, chair of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, wrote to Powell on Oct. 25, “ … potential job losses brought about by monetary over-tightening will only worsen these matters for the working class.” While Hickenlooper wrote: “… I worry any additional action will undermine economic growth and harm American families.”
Democratic members of Congress introduced a bill in May that would focus on stopping price gouging during an “exceptional market shock.”
Republicans say they would cut government spending and “regain American energy independence” to bring down inflation, under the Commitment to America plan shared by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Republican candidates for Congress have seized on the issue for the midterm elections. On Oct. 6, Madison Gesiotto Gilbert, who is running to represent Ohio’s 13th Congressional District, tweeted, “41-year high inflation” among her list of criticisms of Biden’s presidency. While Mark Robinson, the Republican running to take Democratic Rep. Dina Titus’ seat in Nevada’s 1st Congressional District, has blamed pandemic relief for inflation, according to the Financial Times. He said, “It’s reckless government policy that spent trillions of dollars we did not have and then paid people not to work: that’s what fueled the inflation. If they hadn’t done that, the Fed would not have to react.”
The CARES Act, the first pandemic relief measure with a $2.1 trillion price tag, was passed with bipartisan support in Congress during Donald Trump’s presidency. And economists have said that inflation in large part is being driven by consumer spending.
In the past month, the Biden administration has taken action to try to alleviate the burden of inflation by providing cost-of-living adjustments to people receiving Social Security benefits as well as implementing IRS inflation adjustments.
