Mixed-use development proposed at Ledan, Sardis roads

A mixed-use development is proposed at Ledan and Sardis roads, a busy northwest Hall County intersection where officials plan to build a roundabout.

S.P. McKibbon Sr. LLLP of Murrayville is seeking to rezone 22 acres for stores and eight residential lots connected by a public street, according to paperwork filed with the county.

The business development “may include, but is not limited to, retail stores, (convenience) stores with fuel stations, restaurants and professional offices,” documents state.

McKibbon’s proposal, which doesn’t mention any specific developments, is set to go before the Hall County Planning Commission April 3.

According to county officials, the proposal calls for 56,000 square feet of retail and office space, a 7,000-square-foot convenience store and a 10,000-square-foot gas station canopy.

Also being sought are 287 parking spaces included for the commercial site.

The new road in the residential area would start at Antioch Campground Road, which is south of the Ledan-Sardis crossing.

“The applicant has not proposed a minimum house size or architectural standards for the residential development,” a county planning staff report states. “The site plan includes a stormwater management area. No amenity site is proposed.”

No road or pedestrian connections between the commercial and residential sections are proposed.

Planning staff recommends approval of the project, with conditions.

Officials also say the zoning request “is consistent with the Hall County Comprehensive Plan,” which “suggests that Sardis Road should have community commercial nodes.”

The county report doesn’t mention the planned road improvement, but McKibbon’s proposal does, briefly.

“Proposed road improvements at the intersection of the two county roads and subsequent right of way acquisitions may alter the site acreage slightly,” it says.

Work could start in May on the planned one-lane roundabout and could take four months to complete, officials have said.

The roundabout has been in consideration since summer 2015, as Hall officials began to search for ways to ease congestion at the key crossroad until a much bigger project — the Sardis Road Connector — could be built.

The connector would run between Dawsonville Highway/Ga. 53 and Thompson Bridge Road/Ga. 60.

The last time a proposed development at the Ledan-Sardis crossing got pushback was in 2015, when a Dollar General store was proposed there.

Residents cited fears about loss of property values and traffic congestion, particularly with schools located nearby.

The planning board recommended denial at the time, and developers pulled the proposal when it became clear that the Hall County Board of Commissioners also had objections.

In the newest proposal, the planning board’s recommendation will be forwarded to the county commissioners for a public hearing and final action April 26.

Mixed-use development proposed at Ledan, Sardis roads

Pearl Harbor survivor from Hall County dies

A Hall County member of an ever-dwindling group — Pearl Harbor survivors — has died.

A graveside service is set Monday for Flowery Branch native Henry Thomas “Jeep” Woodliff, 101, who died Friday at Northeast Georgia Medical Center.

Henry, who was stationed at the Army’s Schofield Barracks in Hawaii when Pearl Harbor was attacked, talked about his war experience in interviews with The Times.

Woodliff said he couldn’t fire at the planes because soldiers had been given new weapons but no ammunition.

“They didn’t fire at us and we didn’t fire at them,” he said. “That saved me that day.”

Henry was ordered to move officers’ cars out of harm’s way.

“He did this as the bombs were actually exploding,” daughter Sheryl Creek said in an interview on her father’s 100th birthday.

Henry would go on to serve in the Army’s Signal Corps on the Pacific Ocean islands of Tarawa and Saipan, according to his obituary.

After World War II, he worked for Southern Bell for 44 years before retiring.

“Throughout his life, Henry enjoyed the outdoors, hunting, riding his tractor and fixing anything that needed fixing,” Henry’s obituary states.

He also became an avid golfer who also enjoyed shooting pool.

Henry also was a member of First Baptist Church of Gainesville and the American Legion.

He will be buried at Alta Vista Cemetery in Gainesville.

Little & Davenport Funeral Home and Crematory of Gainesville is handling arrangements.

Pearl Harbor survivor from Hall County dies

Gillsville woman killed in hit-and-run Saturday

Authorities are looking for the driver of a vehicle that struck and killed a 41-year-old Gillsville woman Saturday morning.

Brenda Kaye Turpin is believed to have been walking east on the south shoulder of Gillsville Highway/Ga. 323 when was struck by the vehicle, according to the Georgia State Patrol.

The state patrol, which arrived at the scene about 7:45 am., believes she was struck when the driver, traveling east on Ga. 323, failed to stay in the right lane while rounding a curve.

The impact threw her body into a ditch.

The driver “left the scene … and did not return,” the state patrol said in a news release.

Based on a witness statement and evidence collected at the scene, the vehicle is believed to be a silver, 2006-10 Dodge Charger, with right front fender damage.

The incident took place near Snare Road, northeast of East Hall Road.

Gillsville woman killed in hit-and-run Saturday

Insider Q&A: Mattel’s COO talks Barbie movie

NEW YORK (AP) — Mattel is looking to the movies. The maker of Barbie and Hot Wheels, which has live-action films based on those toys in the works, says it wants to find new ways to be on more screens…

Insider Q&A: Mattel’s COO talks Barbie movie

El DT Mauricio Soria volverá a la línea de cuatro en defensa

El técnico de la selección boliviana, Mauricio Soria, oculta el onceno que presentará ante la Argentina, el próximo martes, por las eliminatorias sudamericanas. Sin embargo, todo apunta que volverá a la línea de cuatro en el fondo.

El DT Mauricio Soria volverá a la línea de cuatro en defensa

Un raquetbolista nacional pide ayuda económica en el facebook

El raquetbolista cruceño Ronald Keller hace furor en las redes sociales luego de hacer un pedido poco usual. El medallista nacional pidió a través de su cuenta de facebook que le dieran 910 dólares para viajar a Costa Rica para el Panamericano que se desarrollará en ese país.

Un raquetbolista nacional pide ayuda económica en el facebook

Bolívar venció al Chapecoense en un buen espectáculo

Bolívar venció al Chapecoense(3-1), en un partido que sirvió para homenajear al cuadro brasileño, actual campeón de la Copa Sudamericana, que sufrió la pérdida de la mayoría de su primer plantel tras un accidente aéreo.

Bolívar venció al Chapecoense en un buen espectáculo

Hope’s gift of life: Gainesville teen waits on transplant list

An emotional phone call came a day too late for Hope Kienle.

Hope, a 14-year-old at North Hall Middle School, has been on a pre-transplant waiting list for months. She’s set for a multivisceral operation that will give her a new liver, stomach, colon, pancreas and small bowel.

On a Tuesday in January, a call came in to Hope’s mother Amy Kienle about a potential donor match.

But the day before, Hope had been diagnosed with pneumonia, meaning they would have to decline the match.

“That one call changes your life,” she said. “This is the year that my life is going to be on hold.”

At 64 days old, Hope was diagnosed with biliary atresia and portal hypertension in 2003. The liver creates bile, a liquid that breaks down fats and carries waste through the rest of the body for excretion.

Amy Kienle, who is CEO of the Georgia Mountains YMCA, said Hope seemed fine at birth before she was examined at a baby wellness checkup. Hope underwent a liver transplant the next year.

A year and a half ago, however, Hope said she started feeling abdominal pain that made it difficult to breathe or eat.

“It was like being stabbed in the gut,” she said.

A dozen doctors from around the area couldn’t see anything wrong with her, Amy Kienle said, most summing it up as some sort of “stomach bug.”

“We went to probably 10 different doctor’s appointments between here and even her transplant clinic down in Atlanta at Children’s Hospital,” Amy Kienle said.

After an ultrasound, the doctors determined she did not have blood flow to her lower region. Hope underwent another seven surgeries in an effort to reopen all of the clotting in her vein.

“It’s basically a bypass through her liver to try and continue to get that blood to flow,” Amy Kienle said.

About a year ago, internal bleeding caused Hope to start passing out.

“I almost passed out in chorus at school,” Hope said, turning around and grabbing her friend’s shoulder.

Doctors at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C. have recommended the “life-saving transplant,” according to the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, which Amy Kienle said is expected to cost $100,000 above insurance coverage.

“They will also remove her spleen, which she has named Bob,” Amy Kienle said.

“Bag of blood,” Hope said.

The spleen has company with her liver named “Figaro,” which was named by her pediatrician.

“I don’t name all of them,” Hope said. “Just the special ones.”

Only four centers in the country do this type of transplant, Amy Kienle said. She and the family expect to be in Washington, D.C., for four to six months.

“Because the small bowel is involved, the follow-up and immediate post-transplant care is critical,” Amy Kienle said.

For an additional six months, she can’t be around people because of a weakened immune system.

“It’s a very emotional situation for us,” Amy Kienle said. “On top of the very emotional part, there’s the logistical part, which includes the financial burden of this. It’s overwhelming.”

Hope’s father Rob Kienle is North Forsyth High School girls lacrosse team coach. The team held a “Night of Hope” during the game, a fundraiser gathering more than $2,500. The money went to the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, which creates an account accessible by the Kienle family for transplant-related expenses.

Giggling with her friends and fiddling with her smartphone, Hope said she’s someone who “always likes to make people happy.” But the situation for her is “scary” and said she has anxiety.

“The waiting is kind of anxious and emotional,” Amy Kienle said.

More than anything, Hope said she wants to play contact sports, which doctors advise against.

The transplant also means being away from school and friends for a year as she recuperates.

“I’m pretty sure they don’t quite understand what’s happening, but they’re probably sad that I’ll be gone,” Hope said.

Amy Kienle praised the North Hall Middle School staff for being supportive with the family preparing for medical stays.

“They said they’d work with her remotely,” she said. “They’d make sure all the work’s online so she has access to that when she’s feeling up to it.”

In school, Hope said she has enjoyed anatomy and biology, and is considering a career in medicine.   

“I know way more than I ever wanted to know about the liver,” Amy Kienle said.

Those wishing to help can send checks or money orders made to the Children’s Organ Transplant Association, with the subject line “In Honor of Team Hope K.” The mailing address is 2501 West COTA Drive, Bloomington, IN 47403.

Credit card donations are also accepted at COTAforTeamHopeK.com.

Amy Kienle also encourages members of the community to consider becoming an organ donor.

Hope’s gift of life: Gainesville teen waits on transplant list

Debt burden varies for UNG students

The University of North Georgia was one of only three public universities in Georgia picked for being the best value on Kiplinger’s Personal Finance list.

UNG was one of the 300 best values among the nation’s colleges and universities for 2017, communications director Sylvia Carson said. These rankings reflect academic quality and affordability.

Some students, like film major Luke Pilgrim and organizational leadership major Ashley Hardee, graduated without taking out a loan. Neither owe a cent and have careers in the field they wanted to be in.

They are not among the majority. Nationally, 68 percent of students borrow money to pay for college, Carson said.

One of them is Courtney Brooks, who has had to take out loans since her first semester.

“Since I was the first in my immediate family to go to a four-year college, I didn’t realize that I could make payments on my loans as I was in school and I never received any information about through email or anything,” Brooks said.

However, knowing she could pay loans back after graduating has kept her in school.

“I don’t think I would have gone to school or stuck with it if I didn’t have loans to help me out,” she said.

Brooks has not graduated yet, but has accumulated a little over $23,000 in debt during her five years. Brooks had to defer payments, since paying $500 a month wasn’t an option for her.

Nationwide, students average $30,100 of debt at graduation. The average amount of debt for graduating UNG students is $11,679.

Brianna Triplett graduated in August from UNG, but also had to defer payments because she wasn’t making enough to cover her monthly cost. She is undecided whether going to school and accumulating debt was worth it.

When Brooks got her loans, she didn’t consider the interest rate. Now what she owes is higher than it would have been, but she still believes her education is worth the cost.

“When I start paying off my loan, I’ll hopefully have a full-time job in the area that I’ve been studying. So I would say that it is worth it,” Brooks said. “I can also apply for a loan forgiveness if I decide to work for so long in the state in at a particular type of school system.”

David Early didn’t have quite the same experience. He studied criminology at UNG, Georgia State University and then University of West Georgia.

Most of his around $27,000 in loans came from UWG. He graduated in 2015, but started paying up last summer, almost $300 per month. If he and his wife Megan Early continue paying that amount, it will take 10 years to pay them off.

“(David works) in the field, but doesn’t really need the degree for his job,” Megan Early said. “He wishes he didn’t do it. I kind of made him keep going to school to finish it up since he already started, just in case he might need it later.”

Debt burden varies for UNG students

Roadwork to transform area at Hall-Gwinnett county line

With forklifts ripping up the earth around him, Nathan Rhodes ponders his future on Atlanta Highway/Ga. 13 at the Gwinnett-Hall County line.

The four-lane road under construction will sheer off the customer parking in front of his store and otherwise hamper boat deliveries.

“When they start cutting this road, we’re done,” said the owner of Boating Atlanta, a long-time boat dealership sitting just off the busy two-lane road.

Next door, Steve Damus, owner of Motorhead Auto Repair, has similar concerns about his fate.

“At the end of the day, after the amount of undue stress it has caused me, I just try to put it in God’s hands,” he said of his 20-year-old business.

The Georgia Department of Transportation’s widening of the road is supposed to improve traffic flow between Lanier Islands Parkway/Ga. 347 and Sawnee Avenue in Buford.

But it’s also expected it will transform the landscape along the road, going through parts of Rest Haven, a town that’s all but faded into history as Buford continues to grow all around it.

Much of the change will take place because of the roadwork, as many businesses just off Ga. 13 will feel direct impact.

The DOT spent 2« years acquiring 71 parcels along the 1.7-mile stretch, an effort that $11.7 million, district spokeswoman Katie Strickland said.

The right of way acquisition cost more than half of the actual road work amount, $16.3 million.

E.R. Snell Contractor of Snellville is the contractor on the project, which is slated for a June 2020 completion.

Another force behind the changing scenery is Buford itself.

Through an intergovernmental agreement, Rest Haven gave up its zoning, inspection and code enforcement powers to Buford, which is mostly in Gwinnett but has gradually annexed parts of South Hall.

“We’re looking after their city for them,” said Phillip Beard, Buford Board of Commissioners chairman. “Everybody was taking advantage of them — just anything that illegal anywhere else would pop up in Rest Haven.”

No doubt, car lots and other aging businesses dominate the stretch of road. A few homes are scattered off side streets and there are signs of Rest Haven’s past, including an old shotgun-style cinder block building that once served as city hall.

The city, which dates to the 1930s, has a history of honky-tonks, restaurants with carhops and filling stations.

With Buford’s high standards for businesses lining corridors feeding into the city, such as Ga. 13, “all the used car lot stuff you see now ultimately will self-destruct,” Beard said.

On the other hand, several businesses have started renovating, such as Tapp Lumber Co., he said.

The process to improve the look of Ga. 13 will take a few years, Beard believes.

“Hopefully, we’ll improve it and get it looking like something similar to (other entranceways) in Buford,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to go. … But as time goes on, it’ll happen.”

Lula resident Mark Lusink, who owns the property where Boating Atlanta sits and once owned the business, said he believes the city would be OK with the dealership staying put “if I could end up with a couple more acres to maintain the business.”

“But there’s not enough land there, plus they want us to maintain a road around the back of the building,” said Lusink, who lived in Buford before Lula. “There’s just not enough space there to run a business.”

Damus would like to stay where he’s at, as he’s looking at five more years until retirement.

But the uncertainty has spilled over into his daily operations.

“I warranty my work, and when you can’t say how long you’re going to be there, it’s been difficult,” Damus said. “It’s hard to explain to the customers about their longevity with Motorhead.”

He added: “Thank God I’ve got a good group (of employees) here, but they’re watching the progress on the road,” he said.

Roadwork to transform area at Hall-Gwinnett county line