The Sports Pig

Funeral services will be held on Friday for a popular attorney who was killed, allegedly by the ex-husband of one of his clients, last week.

Doug Lewis' funeral will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday at Hamilton Mill United Methodist Church, which is located at 1450 Pine Road in Dacula. A visitation will be held from 4 until 7 p.m. on Thursday at Hamilton Mill Memorial Chapel and Gardens, which is located at 3481 Hamilton Mill Road in Buford.

Lewis was killed on Dec. 7, and Lawrenceville Police have charged Dacula resident Allen Tayeh with murder and arson in connection with Lewis' death. Tayeh is accused of shooting Lewis and then setting his law office on fire.

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For our last interview in the DTL Download series, we talk with Lawrenceville Mayor David Still. 

Also:

A Gwinnett County corrections officer was killed in a shooting early Tuesday morning at the Gwinnett Corrections Center, police said.

Police said the shooting happened about 6:20 a.m. at the jail, which is located at which is located on Hi Hope Road near Swanson Drive in Lawrenceville.

According to police., when officers arrived at the scene they found Scott Riner shot to death in the parking lot of the facility. Police said the suspect, who has not been identified, fled the scene on foot.

That led to a temporary shutdown of the Gwinnett Online Campus, which is also located on Hi Hope Road, police said. School officials say final exams will be rescheduled and students should not come to campus.

Dyer Elementary Schoool and Freeman's Mill Elementary, which are located nearby, were put on a soft lockdown while police search for the suspect.

Earlier, Georgia Gwinnett College was put on soft lockdown due to the incident. That lockdown was later lifted.

Gwinnett County firefighters rescued a man from a fire at an apartment building in Lawrenceville on Monday night.

Captain Ryan McGiboney said crews were called to the apartment building, which is located on Huff Street at 7:48 p.m. Several people who called 9-1-1 to report the fire said people were trying to escape the fire.

When crews at 7:51 p.m., firefighters found one man trapped on the second floor of the two-story building, which had heavy flames that were blowing through a breezeway in the middle of the building. The cause of the fire has not been determined, but one man was treated for non-life-threatening injuries that were caused by the fire. There had been rumors that a second person was trapped in one of the apartments, but firefighters determined everyone had evacuated the building except for the one man that they rescued.

Firefighters used multiple ladders, which were deployed on all sides of the building, as a precaution as they battled the flames. Crews had the fire under control at about 8 p.m.

The Gwinnett Chamber will celebrate its Diamond Anniversary in February at the 75th Annual Dinner with Tammy Shumate highlighting the honorees.

Shumate, director of corporate development at Capital City Home Loans, LLC, will be presented the Citizen of the Year Award, Chamber officials said. The Chamber's top award, it honors individuals whose services have had the greatest impact on the overall quality of life for Gwinnett County in recent years.

The dinner, to be held February 3 at the Gas South District, is presented by Northside Hospital. The goal of the event, chamber officials said, is to focus "on local and regional business growth while honoring the exceptional public servants, corporate citizens, and compassionate organizations who lead it." In addition to honoring Shumate, Public Service Awards will be given to individuals who "have gone above and beyond in their service to the community and its residents."

Parkview grad Buster Faulkner, an offensive analyst for the Georgia Bulldogs, has been hired as Georgia Tech’s offensive coordinator, FootballScoop reported Monday.

Faulkner, who fills a key position on the staff for new Yellow Jackets head football coach Brent Key, has worked with Georgia’s quarterbacks, including Heisman Trophy finalist Stetson Bennett, since 2020.

Before being hired at Georgia, Faulkner coached at Arkansas State, Southern Miss, Middle Tennessee State, Murray State, Central Arkansas and Valdosta State. He served as offensive coordinator at Arkansas State, Southern Miss, Middle Tennessee and Valdosta State. Faulkner played college football from 2000 to 2003 at Valdosta State, where he threw for 7,100 yards and 64 touchdowns in three seasons. VSU went 14-1 and finished second nationally his sophomore season, when he threw for 3,941 yards and 44 TDs. He played one final college season at Texas A&M-Commerce, throwing for 2,861 yards and 16 TDs.

Faulkner was the starting quarterback for Parkview’s first state championship team in 1997, his sophomore season.

The growth of food insecurity among families has accelerated in recent years, according to Georgia Gwinnett College faculty members Dr. Jenna Andrews-Swann and Dr. Gregory Gullette.

The pair, who teach anthropology at GGC, along with their students, seek to study the physical, social and emotional effects of food insecurity among underserved populations in the Atlanta metro region.

Students on the research team are interning with local nonprofits like the Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry and Harvest Gwinnett, a network of community gardens throughout Gwinnett County, to conduct ethnographic research. This includes noting the observations and behaviors of people depending on these community entities for food, conducting interviews and collecting survey responses to better understand these organizations and the clients they serve. This data will be carefully analyzed and shared so the project might positively impact efforts to improve food access in the region. The research will continue through mid-2023.

Norcross grad Bailey Tardy, a former Georgia Bulldogs All-American, earned her LPGA Tour card with an impressive performance in the grueling, eight-round LPGA Tour Q Series.

Tardy, 26, finished second at the final stage of the Tour’s Q-Series on Sunday to earn her card for the 2023 season. She completed the event at a combined 27 under, posting six rounds in the 60s and closing with a 7-under 65.

#GwinnettDailyPost #Georgia #LocalNews   

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The Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast is local news for Lawrenceville, Norcross, Duluth, and all of Gwinnett County. Register Here for your essential digital news.    

        
This podcast was produced and published for the Gwinnett Daily Post and GwinnettDailyPost.com by BG Ad Group 

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Matthew Holtkamp has only a couple of weeks left to enjoy a pre-elected office life, but there was some official business he had to take care of on Friday night for his soon-to-be new position.

He had to be sworn in.

New commissioners typically hold their swearing in ceremonies sometime in the December before their term officially begins. This time it was Holtkamp’s turn, after he defeated outgoing Commissioner Marlene Fosque in last month’s general election, and the ceremony was held at the Gwinnett County Historic Courthouse. And, in true Gwinnett County commissioner fashion, Holtkamp evoked the often-mentioned “Gwinnett Standard” county mantra as he addressed supporters at the swearing-in ceremony. Holtkamp will be the only Republican on the five-member county commission when he takes office in January. In his post-swearing-in remarks, he thanked the Gwinnett Republican Party executive board for supporting his campaign.

But, Holtkamp did get support from across the political aisle at his swearing-in ceremony. Two Democrats who will soon be Holtkamp’s colleagues on the county commission, Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson and Commissioner Kirkland Carden, attended the ceremony. Hendrickson and Holtkamp are both members of the Rotary Club of Gwinnett. As Holtkamp addressed attendees at the ceremony, he recalled moving to Gwinnett from Ohio in the 1980’s and having to learn how things worked in Georgia, and also some of he local vernacular.

A roller coaster of a first half and Georgia’s highest scoring state championship football game ever left the Mill Creek High School players both exhausted and jubilant Saturday.

They had just made history in multiple ways on a foggy night with misting rain at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium.

The Hawks won the first state football title in school history with a 70-35 rout of previously unbeaten Carrollton, giving Gwinnett its third straight state champion in Class AAAAAAA. Their 70 points broke the state record for most points scored by one team in a state final according to Georgia High School Football Daily records, besting the old mark of 62 set by Valdosta in 1971 and Warner Robins in 2020. Mill Creek finished 14-1, pushing past the school record for wins in a season by a game. It wrapped up a completely dominant postseason with another convincing victory, putting an exclamation point on a run that featured the Hawks dealing out the mercy rule of a running clock to their first four playoff opponents. The showdown of nationally ranked teams — Mill Creek is Number 18 by MaxPreps and Carrollton is Number 20, while Carrollton is Number 20 and Mill Creek is Number 24 by USA Today — featured a first half of each team landing shots with the big play. Two of the Hawks’ early scoring plays were on special teams that had them up 28-14 after the first quarter.

Carrollton which hadn’t allowed more than 28 points in a game all season, never got the deficit to single digits after the first quarter despite 529 yards and five touchdowns from freshman quarterback Julian Lewis. The Hawks hit the 70-point mark with a nine-play, six-minute scoring drive, set up by Jamal Anderson’s fourth-down sack. Kevin Mitchell’s 48-yard TD run with 1:36 left in the fourth quarter capped the scoring and made Mill Creek the eighth Gwinnett school to win a state football title in Georgia’s largest class, joining Brookwood, Collins Hill, Grayson, Norcross, North Gwinnett, Parkview and Peachtree Ridge. Gwinnett high school football continued its impressive run with Mill Creek’s championship. At least one Gwinnett team has won a state football title in 15 of the past 17 seasons.

A Navy veteran who went on to work for the Veterans Administration and participated in several community groups has received a recognition from the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The Philadelphia Winn Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution recently presented a DAR America 250 Commendation to Terry Edward Pyatt Manning.

Manning was recognized for roles he filled in the the armed forces and Veterans Administration as well as roles he filled in the community. He served in the Navy from 1967 until 1970 and left the military as a petty officer first class. He later went on to work for the Veterans Administration, where he eventually became the auditor-in-charge.

But, he was also president of the Friends of the National Archives Southeast Region, is a member of the Gwinnett Historical Society, co-founded the Gwinnett County Genealogy Study Group and gives lectures on early American history, which he does while wearing colonial attire.

Manning, who is married to Philadelphia Winn chapter member Virginia Manning, is also involved with groups that work with the DAR. He is a member of the Button Gwinnett Sons of the American Revolution, the Atlanta Sons of the American Revolution, the Georgia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and is the Senior President of the Allen Howard Society of the Children of the American Revolution.

Northside Hospital will be building more of the new tower at its Gwinnett campus right away than previously announced, in a move that will make the Lawrenceville site the largest campus in the Northside Hospital system in 2025.

Officials from Northside said the Georgia Department of Community Health gave them the green light on Wednesday to add seven more stories onto the construction that is gearing up for the new inpatient tower that is being built at the Gwinnett campus.

That will put the tower at 17 stories, which is the height it was always intended to eventually be, all in one go at construction rather than in phases as was previously planned. It will add 146 patient beds at the hospital, and put Northside Gwinnett at a total of 696 beds. The tower, when completed, is expected to compete for the title of being the tallest building in Gwinnett County, at a height of 257 feet and six inches. Its closest competitor for the title, local officials had said in the past, would be the Sonesta Gwinnett Place Atlanta hotel, which has at least 15 floors.

Getting the permission to build additional seven floors means the tower will not be built in stages, as had been the plan at one time. With state authorization granted, Northside officials now only need the blessing of the Federal Aviation Administration — since the hospital is near Briscoe Field and the tower will be more than 200 feet tall — to proceed.

The hospital system has already filed paperwork to get the FAA’s blessing, and is expecting an answer soon.

When former Gwinnett County Commission Chairwoman Charlotte Nash was a young girl growing up in the Harbins area, farming was still king.

She recalls a time when eastern Gwinnett was truly rural — even though it’s less developed that other parts of Gwinnett today, Nash is quick to point that she does not believe it’s really rural anymore. When she thinks of the area being rural, she thinks of the farmland that used to be widespread in eastern Gwinnett.

In fact, she remembers there being more farmland than forests in the Dacula area back in the day.

Nash was one of several dignitaries, including Governor Brian Kemp and current Gwinnett Commission Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson, who attended Rowen’s groundbreaking ceremony, which was held on a field on Drowning Creek Road on Friday.

The 2,000-acre research-oriented “knowledge community” mixed-use development, located between Dacula and the Gwinnett-Barrow county line, has been in the planning stages since it was first announced in 2020, in Nash’s final year in office.

It is expected to take decades to build out, but it is projected to create at least 100,000 new jobs in eastern Gwinnett, according to Rowen Foundation President Mason Ailstock. The agricultural innovation aspect of Rowen in particular will likely have a major impact across the state since, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development, agribusiness is the state’s largest industry.

Buford’s wrestling team won the 18-team Aaron Kirkland Invitational on Saturday.

The tournament honors former Buford wrestler Kirkland, who died in an October 2021 car accident.

The Wolves finished ahead of runner-up Rockmart, third-place Mount Pisgah, fourth-place Creekview and fifth-place Etowah. Buford’s D.J. Clarke, Rylan Ibold, Kieron McCormack, Drew Gorman, Gavin Pope and Aaron Riner won weight class titles.

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The Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast is local news for Lawrenceville, Norcross, Duluth, and all of Gwinnett County. Register Here for your essential digital news.    

        
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A roller coaster of a first half and Georgia’s highest scoring state championship football game ever left the Mill Creek High School players both exhausted and jubilant Saturday.

They had just made history in multiple ways on a foggy night with misting rain at Georgia State’s Center Parc Stadium.

#GwinnettDailyPost #Georgia #LocalNews   

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The Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast is local news for Lawrenceville, Norcross, Duluth, and all of Gwinnett County. Register Here for your essential digital news.    

        
This podcast was produced and published for the Gwinnett Daily Post and GwinnettDailyPost.com by BG Ad Group 

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One of Buford’s top football players will play for Georgia in college; A Dacula man has been accused of a death and arson at a Lawrenceville attorney’s office; And Nicole Love Hendrickson may get a raise. 

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The Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast is local news for Lawrenceville, Norcross, Duluth, and all of Gwinnett County. Register Here for your essential digital news.    

        
This podcast was produced and published for the Gwinnett Daily Post and GwinnettDailyPost.com by BG Ad Group 

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U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock did better in Gwinnett County in Tuesday's runoff than he did in the runoff in January 2021 when he was first elected to the U.S. Senate.

Unofficial results show Warnock received 62.13% of the 265,420 votes cast in Gwinnett for the runoff. Statewide, he defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in the runoff.

By comparison, Warnock received 60.63% of the vote in Gwinnett when he faced then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler in January 2021.

A Duluth man appeared before a federal judge on Monday and admitted his guilt in participating in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

John David Ross Gould agreed to the plea agreement — in which he would plead guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building — with prosecutors on Nov. 30 before formally entering it this week, according to court documents. Gould is accused of entering the Capitol with other rioters while Congress was meeting to certify the Electoral College votes, which would make Joe Biden president.

Rioters had attended a rally with former President Donald Trump, who lost to Biden in the 2020 election and claimed it was the result of fraud, before they marched to the Capitol.

A convicted sex offender from Gwinnett County who has been on the run for nearly five years was arrested in Mexico over the weekend, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Brad A. Hatter, 58, was first arrested in Gwinnett in December 2005 on charges related to an allegation that he tried to meet a 9-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity. He was convicted on an attempted to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity charge in May 2007 and sentenced to 108 months in prison. He was released in September 2017 under the condition that he report to a federal probation officer and register as a sex offender.

Hatter disappeared a few months later, on Jan. 21, 2018, when he stopped reporting to his probation officer and ceased reporting as a sex offender.

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The Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast is local news for Lawrenceville, Norcross, Duluth, and all of Gwinnett County. Register Here for your essential digital news.    

        
This podcast was produced and published for the Gwinnett Daily Post and GwinnettDailyPost.com by BG Ad Group 

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Jackson Electric Membership Cooperative is currently accepting applications for the annual Walter Harrison Scholarship, which provides $1,000 for academic expenses to students pursuing post-secondary education at Georgia colleges and technical schools.

Applicants must be accepted, or enrolled currently, as a full- or part-time student, at any accredited two- or four-year university, college, or vocational-technical institute in Georgia. Student applicants must live in a primary residence served by Jackson EMC.

The scholarship is merit-based, and students are evaluated on financial need, grade point average, SAT scores, academic standing, scholastic honors and community involvement. Applicants must complete an application and submit a biographical sketch with educational goals.

To receive an application, students should contact their school guidance counselor or visit www.jacksonemc.com/walterharrisonscholarship. Fifteen students across Georgia will be awarded scholarships, which are sponsored by Georgia’s 41 electric cooperatives. Completed applications are due by January 31, 2023. The Walter Harrison Scholarship is named in honor of a leader in the state and national electric cooperative movements. Since 1985, more than $250,000 in scholarships have been awarded to 261 recipients. Judges select winners for the Harrison Scholarship each year based on a combination of need, academic ability, extracurricular activities, autobiographical sketch and recommendations.

U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock did better in Gwinnett County in Tuesday's runoff than he did in the runoff in January 2021 when he was first elected to the U.S. Senate. Unofficial results show Warnock received 62.13% of the 265,420 votes cast in Gwinnett for the runoff. Statewide, he defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in the runoff.

By comparison, Warnock received 60.63% of the vote in Gwinnett when he faced then-Senator Kelly Loeffler in January 2021. On Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, "Gwinnett" was trending on Twitter in Georgia, according to the social media app.

One factor about Warnock's 2021 runoff victory that could make his performance in Tuesday's runoff appear more significant was that several Republicans sat out that contest, either in protest over President Joe Biden winning Georgia in the 2020 presidential election or because former President Donald Trump made claims that there was extensive fraud in that election.

That was not a factor in this year's runoff.

But, turnout in Gwinnett for the January 2021 runoff was still higher — 104,374 votes higher, to be exact — than it was for this year's runoff. In 2021, 369,794 votes were cast in that runoff, which had 12 more days of early voting than Tuesday's election had.

If state Representative Jasmine Clark of Lilburn, has any say in the matter, the window between a general election and a runoff will be two weeks longer in the future.

Clark announced on Wednesday that she will pre-file legislation to extend the window between the general election and runoff from four weeks to six weeks. The biggest impact would be a longer early voting period for a runoff, with counties required to offer at least one Saturday voting day during early voting. The bill will address the shortened timeline for the election that led to various issues with voters receiving their absentee ballots in time, extremely long lines and many people not having the option for weekend voting. Until the 2020 election cycle, the window had been nine weeks, but it was shortened to four weeks as part of election reforms that became law last year.

What resulted when this year's U.S. Senate race between Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker went to a runoff was conflicting information over when early voting could begin — due to Thanksgiving being in the window — followed by lawsuits over early voting and absentee ballots that voters in at least one county did not receive.

Judges had to intervene to allow Saturday voting during the early voting period for the runoff because state officials said the fact that the day after Thanksgiving was a holiday meant Saturday voting could not take place because of a state law that went into effect half a decade ago. If the rules outlined in Clark's legislation had been in place for this year's runoff, the election would have been held on December 20. Gwinnett County also would have been able to offer 19 days of early voting — the number it traditionally offers before an election — starting the Monday after Thanksgiving.

The Philadelphia Winn Chapter, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution recently presented individual and group Community Service Awards at its November monthly meeting.

Two awards are presented each year to recognize deserving individuals and organizations for outstanding voluntary service which includes unpaid achievements in cultural, educational, humanitarian, patriotic, historical, citizenship, or environmental conservation endeavors.

Frances Huff Johnson was recognized for her dedicated work as the archive chairperson at the Gwinnett Historical Society. The NSDAR Community Service Award was presented to her in honor of her many volunteer hours of service over the past years working to collect, document, and preserve historical documents, photographs, and objects which significantly reflect the history of Gwinnett County. The GHS Archives is a repository which is often used by individuals researching family genealogy and by those working on scholarly documentations of our local history. Generations to come will benefit from the work of Frances Huff Johnson. The Lawrenceville Cooperative Ministry was recognized for serving the communities of Lawrenceville and Dacula for many years. In addition to the support of local churches, many additional volunteers are needed to organize and deliver this service. The Lawrenceville Co-op volunteers strive to serve with Christian love, preservation of client dignity, promotion of self-responsibility, and partnership with other community service providers.

Lawrenceville Co-op provides boxes of food and hygiene staples on a weekly basis. Beyond that, clients are connected to providers for help with additional needs, such as clothing and shelter.

The Philadelphia Winn Chapter held a successful food drive in October, donating 271 pounds of food, personal items and $250 in cash. Donations to the Co-op can be made at lawrencevilleco-op.org.

#GwinnettDailyPost #Georgia #LocalNews   

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The Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast is local news for Lawrenceville, Norcross, Duluth, and all of Gwinnett County. Register Here for your essential digital news.    

        
This podcast was produced and published for the Gwinnett Daily Post and GwinnettDailyPost.com by BG Ad Group 

For advertising inquiries, please email [email protected]

For more information be sure to visit www.bgpodcastnetwork.com

https://www.lawrencevillega.org/ 

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock did better in Gwinnett County in Tuesday's runoff than he did in the runoff in January 2021 when he was first elected to the U.S. Senate.Unofficial results show Warnock received 62.13% of the 265,420 votes cast in Gwinnett for the runoff. Statewide, he defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in the runoff.

#GwinnettDailyPost #Georgia #LocalNews   

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The Gwinnett Daily Post Podcast is local news for Lawrenceville, Norcross, Duluth, and all of Gwinnett County. Register Here for your essential digital news.    

        
This podcast was produced and published for the Gwinnett Daily Post and GwinnettDailyPost.com by BG Ad Group 

For advertising inquiries, please email [email protected]

For more information be sure to visit www.bgpodcastnetwork.com

https://www.lawrencevillega.org/ 

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https://www.psponline.com/ 

https://www.kiamallofga.com/ 

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A Duluth man appeared before a federal judge on Monday and admitted his guilt in participating in the riot at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

John David Ross Gould agreed to the plea agreement — in which he would plead guilty to parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building — with prosecutors on November 30 before formally entering it this week, according to court documents. Gould is accused of entering the Capitol with other rioters while Congress was meeting to certify the Electoral College votes, which would make Joe Biden president.

Rioters had attended a rally with former President Donald Trump, who lost to Biden in the 2020 election and claimed it was the result of fraud, before they marched to the Capitol. Gould left Trump's rally and walked to the Capitol, where he entered the Senate Wing door on the afternoon of January 6, 2021, according to the statement of offense. He then walked into the Capitol Crypt. A line of police officers tried to prohibit people gathering in the crypt from going any further, but the crowd pushed past them. The statement of offense says Gould then went to the Small house Rotunda and then upstairs to Statuary Hall and into a connector outside the House of Representatives chamber. He admitted to watching a group of rioters try to force their way into the House chamber before going down a hallway and entering the Rayburn Reception Room, where he took a selfie in a mirror.

Federal officials previously said Gould allegedly sent the selfie to a co-worker with a text message that read, "Can you see me in the mirror?"

He left the Capitol 39 minutes after he entered it. Gould is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on April 28, 2023. He faces up to six months in prison, up to five years on probation, a fine of up to $5,000 and an obligation to interest or penalties fines or restitution that is not made in a timely manner, according to the plea agreement.

Every interception Hayden Clark throws is painful. The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder can recount each interception from his junior season and what happened on each play, from one pass that he forced to one where he didn’t see the safety roll over to another that bounced off a running back’s hands. Thankfully, the anguish has been rare during the Hawks’ run to Saturday’s Class AAAAAAA state championship game against Carrollton at Georgia State. His recollection of this season’s mistakes — make that mistake — is more brief.

Clark has thrown just one interception in 269 pass attempts this season. The quarterback’s ball security is certainly noteworthy, but it’s only a small part of what he means to a high-powered Mill Creek offense that averages 45.9 points. He has completed 161 of those 269 passes for 2,142 yards and 24 touchdowns, and has shown the mobility to rush for 303 yards and three more TDs.

In last Friday’s 48-14 win over Milton in the state semifinals, he completed 7 of 8 passes for 143 yards and two TDs, along with a 10-yard rushing TD, to kick start the rout before leaving with a minor injury. He broke the school career record for passing TDs in that victory with his 51st. The Mill Creek coaches ask plenty from Clark, now seasoned in his third year as a starter. He spreads the ball around to a variety of receivers — 15 Hawks have caught passes — makes quick decisions in his team’s busy RPO-or Run Pass Option-game. As the Mill Creek wins and Clark’s highlights pile up, the interest from college recruiters has picked up, though Coach Josh Lovelady admits to frustration that colleges didn’t give Clark more attention earlier in the process.

Clark said recruitment is “going okay,” and that West Georgia is one of the schools he talks with regularly.

David Pierce Sr. can still recall the first fire station — if you can call it a fire station — that Suwanee used when it formed its old volunteer fire department in 1953.

It was, in reality, a barn with a dirt floor, although it gets called a garage to make it sound a bit swankier. It was more of a place that a ember of the City Council offered as a spot to park Suwanee's fire engine when it wasn't being used than it was anything remotely resembling modern day fire stations.

And, Pierce — who is now a spry 90 years old — would know all about the structure and the challenges that the Suwanee Volunteer Fire Department had in using it. He was that department's first fire chief after all.

The old Suwanee Volunteer Fire Department is long since gone, having been merged into Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services in 1981, but a fire station has remained in the city since that time.

Pierce got to see a new fire station for Suwanee on Monday morning — that was very different from the old barn — during the ribbon cutting for the new 10,788-square-foot Fire Station 13 building at the corner of Main Street and Suwanee Dam Road.

The $7.8 million special purpose local option sales tax-funded facility replaces the old Fire Station 13, which was turned into StillFire Brewing a few years ago. Although the old Fire Station 13 building closed a few years ago, the lack of a building did not stop its crews from during their job. In 2021, Fire Station 13's crews responded to 2,322 calls. They serve 29,330 residents and are assigned to protect a 25.03-square-mile area.

A Dacula resident who attends the University of Georgia has been nominated by U.S. Representative Jody Hice to attend the U.S. Military Academy — or the U.S. Naval Academy or even the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Hice's office announced that the congressman nominated Benjamin Cook for the Military, Naval and Air Force academies. Cook is one of 22 students from the 10th Congressional District who received service academy nominations this week. A nomination from a sitting member of the U.S. House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate is one of the items needed to be considered for an appointment to a service academy.

Of the 22 students who received nominations from Hice, nine of them were nominated for more than one academy. Six of the students in that group  — including Cook — were nominated for three academies.

Buford placed first and Mill Creek took second after Saturday’s final session of the Southern Slam, giving Gwinnett a 1-2 finish in a tournament stacked with top wrestlers and 38 teams.

Buford put up 235 points and Mill Creek’s runner-up total was 207.5. Archer was 15th at 87.

Maddox McArthur and Drew Gorman were individual champions for Buford. McArthur won at 132 pounds with a 3-1 decision in the finals over Eastside South Carolina wrestler Colt Schrader. Gorman pinned Mill Creek’s Amantee Mills at 1 minute, 57 seconds in the 138-pound finals. The Wolves’ D.J. Clarke Kieron McCormack and Gavin Pope had runner-up finishes, Rylan Ibold and Aaron Riner were third and Grayson Santee (170) finished fourth. The Hawks’ other placers in the top six were Amantee Mills Jaheim Mills Teequavius Mills John Boratyn), Aaron Garcia Banks Bitterman) and Blue Stiffler.

Archer’s Sam Rwibuka was the champion at 285 after defeating Jeremiah Jackson of High Point Academy of South Carolina 9-3 in the finals. Teammate Max Hennebaul was sixth at 106.

The Gwinnett County Chamber of Commerce is among the top 1% of chambers in the nation when it comes to business practices, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The Gwinnett Chamber recently received five-star accreditation from the U.S. Chamber. It's the highest designation a chamber can receive and this is the first time Gwinnett's chamber has received it. Only 201 of the more than 7,000 chambers of commerce in the U.S. have achieved five-star accreditation, according to Gwinnett officials. Gwinnett Chamber officials said the accreditation recognizes "sound policies, effective procedures and positive impact on the community."

The chamber had to go through a six-month process and complete an application that is more than 200 pages long in order to achieve five-star accreditation. It had to show it met standards in communications, finance, governance, facilities, human resources, program development, technology, benchmarking and government affairs.

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A Sugar Hill family is staying with relatives after a fire destroyed their home on Friday, according to Gwinnett fire officials.

Captain Ryan McGiboney said firefighters were called to the home on the 5700 block of Avonley Creek Drive at 12:54 p.m. and arrived a few minutes later to find heavy flames coming from the house. A 9-1-1 caller said the homeowner worked at night, but no one had seen him escape from the house. There were three cars parked in the home's driveway when firefighters arrived. As it turned out, the homeowner and his wife were outside the home and crews found them standing on a sidewalk. the homeowner confirmed to fire officials that the home had been vacant when the fire broke out.

Firefighters used a ladder truck to knock out most of the flame and then used handlines to extinguish remaining hot spots.

The cause of the fire has not been determined. McGiboney said said the family that lived at the home will stay with family members while repairs are made to their house.

Hebron Christian senior Libby Jackson placed 16th out of 40 athletes in the pole vault at the Birmingham-Southern College Indoor Track and Field Invitational this past Friday.

Jackson’s best vault was 11 feet, 2 inches. She won last season’s Class A Private state championship at 11-0, and was Gwinnett County champion at 11-1.

On Sunday, the United States Marshals Service announced it has caught an international fugitive and child sexual predator from Gwinnett County who had been on the lam for nearly five years.

U.S. Marshals teamed up Mexican authorities to arrest Brad A. Hatter of Gwinnett on December 3. Hatter was sent back to Georgia on December 4 and placed into detention where officials with the U.S. Marshals Service said he remains.

In December 2005 in Gwinnett, Hatter, 58, was arrested for attempting to meet a 9-year-old girl for sexual activity. Officials said Hatter organized the encounter online and then went to the planned rendezvous location, where he was apprehended. In May of 2007, he was convicted of attempting to entice a minor to engage in sexual activity and sentenced to 108 months in prison. He was released from detention in September 2017 with the legal requirement to register as a sex offender and report to a supervising Federal Probation officer.

On January 21st, 2018, Hatter allegedly stopped reporting to his probation officer, stopped registering as a sex offender and went into hiding.

Probation officials immediately contacted the U.S. Marshals, who began their hunt. During the five-year search for Hatter, information was developed that he had left the United States and traveled to the Philippines.

Later, he was located in Mexico — where he worked as a teacher. On Saturday, with the investigative assistance of the United States Marshals Service and after a brief pursuit, Hatter was apprehended by Mexican authorities, the U.S Marshals Service said.

On Sunday, Hatter was returned to the United States and immediately placed into detention.

In his job as a mentor, trainer and assessor at Carrier Strike Group 4 in Norfolk, Virginia, Chief Petty Officer Reza Ghorashi-Sarvestani is responsible for utilizing his vast technical knowledge and training to help thwart cyber attacks on the U.S. Navy’s East Coast fleet.

And yet it seems that every time he visits family and friends in his hometown of Suwanee, this tech whiz comes close to getting lost. Reza says he has to use GPS to get around the growing town. For much of his 16-year career in the Navy, Reza has deployed on submarines and various commands in support of the Navy’s information warfare and operations.

Reza’s main job is to bring sailors up to speed on the latest in cyber defense, on land and at sea. A 2004 graduate of North Gwinnett High School, he enrolled in Georgia Perimeter College right after graduation, but felt what he was learning wasn’t lining up with his professional interests. Referring to himself as an “East Coast sailor all my life,” Reza began his Naval career as a fire control technician on submarines in Groton, Connecticut. He then began training to be an Information Systems Technician and pulled double duty on subs, taking the “side job” of tending to the vessel’s computer network.

He then taught incoming Information Systems Technicians in Groton (location of the Naval Submarine Base New London) and in 2012 transitioned into a Cryptologic Technicians Networks expert and was stationed with Crypto Warfare Group 6 in Fort Meade, Maryland (home of the National Security Agency, United States Cyber Command, the Central Security Service and the Defense Information Systems Agency).

Prior to his arrival at Norfolk Naval several months ago, Reza was attached to Navy Cyber Defense Operations Command in Suffolk, Virginia, for four years. He said in his new position he enjoys “the best of both worlds.”

The long lines to get into the new Whataburger location in Kennesaw could be a look into what can be expected at The Exchange @ Gwinnett next year when the Buford Whataburger location opens its doors.

Whataburger announced earlier this year that the Buford store would be one of six locations that the Texas-based restaurant chain planned to open in Georgia in 2023. Construction on the Buford restaurant has proceeded in the months since then, but the chain has not yet announced an exact opening date.

The restaurant will have 3,746-square feet of space, according to development permits filed with Gwinnett County in March.

In addition to the Buford location, which will overlook Buford Drive at the entrance to the Exchange @ Gwinnett, Whataburger will open locations in Cumming, Commerce, Dawsonville and two locations in Athens in 2023. A Woodstock location was expected to open by the end of this year.

Last year, Snellville officials said the developer working on the Scenic Pointe on Scenic Highway had been in talks to include a Whataburger location in that development, and even included a rendering of a Whataburger location in its proposed site elevations that were submitted to city officials for consideration. A Snellville location was not mentioned in the chain's announcement about its metro Atlanta expansion in March, but county records show Whataburger submitted a building permit application to Gwinnett officials two days before Thanksgiving for a new store at 1436 Scenic Highway.

The Kennesaw location opened to long lines of cars on Monday. On Friday, the drive-thru line for the restaurant wrapped around the building and out of parking lot and down a street behind the store. Two Cobb County police officers were on hand to direct traffic.

Gwinnett County police have asked the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to look into an officer involved shooting that resulted in the death of a man early Saturday morning in unincorporated Norcross.

Gwinnett police were called to 1250 Tech Drive at about 1 a.m. on a report from a security guard about a suspicious person. The man was allegedly wielding a knife as he approached the security guard while she was in her patrol car in front of Food Depot and asked her if she was armed. A GCPD patrol officer and his supervisor were the first to arrive on scene. They both observed the man with a knife in his hand and proceeded to give verbal commands. The man refused demands to drop his knife and ran towards one of the officers. Both officers discharged their firearms. The suspect was shot in the torso. It is not clear what the man intended to do, according to police. The GBI has been requested because it was an officer-involved shooting.

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