April 19, 2017 — Gwinnett Daily Post

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TUITION ON THE WAY UP, 2A

Cost for GGC students to rise slightly in fall

ON THE RIGHT TRACK Brookwood girls, Parkview boys lead at Region 7 championships • Sports, 1B

Gwinnett Daily Post WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19, 2017

www.gwinnettdailypost.com

75 cents ©2017 SCNI

Vol. 47, No. 118

Friend: Double murder suspect has mental illness BY CAILIN O’BRIEN

cailin.obrien @gwinnettdailypost.com

The man accused of strangling a mom and her 2-year-old son to death Sunday near Buford had his first appearance in court Tuesday. Brandon Williams, 32, was appointed an attorney — Robert Greenwald. His

preliminary hearing date is set for 8:30 a.m. April 25. According to Brandon media reWilliams ports, Williams interrupted the judge throughout the appearance saying that he didn’t

understand his charges and that the woman and her baby weren’t dead. He also reportedly talked unintelligably on his way out of the court room. It’s unclear how Greenwald might try to defend Williams at this point, but evidence suggests mental illness could play a part. Family friend Brent Lenz said Williams has a history

of mental illness and may have harmed Natalie Nation, 30, before he allegedly strangled her and her baby Sunday. “She came to me a week ago and told me if anything would ever happen to her to please let everybody know she was just about being good and trying to live for the Lord,” said family friend Brent Lenz.

Lenz, who grew up with Nation, said he thought the request was odd. But on Sunday, it began to make tragic sense. Lenz said he was over at the house on Tybee Drive that Nation was living at with her 2-year-old son, Cole Nation, on Sunday. She’d been living there since September and shared the house with her

boyfriend and his son, Williams. Lenz had met Williams about a year earlier and had noticed some oddities about the man from the beginning. “He was paranoid about people putting cameras in places and stuff like that,” he said. “But I thought that

See MURDER, Page 3A

Board: Deny new landfill near Lanier BY CURT YEOMANS curt.yeomans@gwinnettdailypost.com

Buford residents opposed to a proposed inert landfill that would be located yards away from a Lake Lanier feeder creek in southern Hall County got some reassuring news Tuesday night. The Buford Planning Board recommended denial of the proposal after a short period of public comment on it. The landfill is proposed by Glenn Hamilton for two lots at 6699 McEver Road and 6673 McEver Road that have a combined 27.11 acres of land between them. The latter lot is located near a hill that slopes down toward Big Creek. Although the board recommended denial, the Buford City Commission will have the final say on the matter when it meets on May 1. “We hope that the denial is true,” resident Dan Johnson said after the meeting. “We still have to come back for the Board of Commissioners meeting in order to make sure they also hear what the residents in the area feel about this landfill. We’re definitely encouraged.” If the name McEver Road does not immediately ring a bell to Gwinnettians, it is because that is what the road is called in Hall County. It’s known as Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Gwinnett. A Georgia Environmental Protection Division regulation concerning landfills of this tipe states that only earth or earth-like products, concrete, cured asphalt, rock, bricks, yard trimmings, stumps, limbs and leaves can be disposed of in the landfills. “They are not supposed to have biological chemical products — it’s supposed to be more of a dump for what’s used in construction sites — (but) some of these landfills are abused,” Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Watershed Protection Specialist Dale Caldwell said. “In other words, they dump stuff that they are not supposed to be dumping in an inert landfill. I’m not saying that would happen here, but if it did happen here, it’s right on your lake.” A review of the proposal for the city by McFarland-Dyer and Associates also raised concerns about the proposal, stating “traffic, odor, dust, erosion, methane mitigation, noise and rodents are concerns that support denial of the special-use permit.” Dozens of residents attended the planning board’s meeting to voice opposition to the proposal, which has caused some concern, not only from residents, but also from See LANDFILL, Page 10A

SOCCER STAR

Madison Sherrer (16) reacts in celebration after scoring a goal for Dacula at the start of a game against Habersham on Tuesday in Dacula. (Photos: Dale Zanine)

Dacula girls give Madison Sherrer night to remember BY PAUL THOMAS

MORE ONLINE

paul.thomas @gwinnettdailypost.com

During Dacula High School’s Special Olympics at the beginning of March, Dacula athletic director and girls soccer head coach Mark Karen had an idea. What if Dacula junior Madison Sherrer, a special-needs student with Down syndrome, joined his girls varsity team on the field for senior night? He reached out to her teachers, who asked Madison’s mother, Cierrie Sherrer, about making it happen. Once the family was on board, Karen had to get it approved by the the state and that evening’s opponent, Habersham Central. Everyone agreed to help make Tuesday night’s game at Dacula a special one for all involved. Madison joined the team for pregame warmups, donning the No. 16 jersey, and was an honor-

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Dacula Soccer Club’s participation in the TOPSoccer program. So they were just as excited as Madison in warmups as they presented her with a yellow arm band to match the rest of the captains. During pregame drills, Sherrer was joined on the field by her TOPSoccer coach, Tim Steiner, a teacher at Mill Creek, who works with the Dacula Soccer Madison Sherrer (16) bumps fists with Tim Steiner, her youth Club’s program for disabled coach, during pregame warmups at Dacula High School. athletes, just in case she got ary captain and starter. Haberneat to see her be very excited nervous. sham Central even took it a step about it and for us to be able to Once her name was announced on the PA system it was further, letting her score a goal do that with her and for her. It apparent that wouldn’t be an in game action before the match couldn’t have gone better.” issue for the 16-year-old. As she officially began. Madison has a relationship “She was the star of the with many of the Dacula seniors walked to midfield for the coin night,” Karen said. “She really through the annual Special See STAR, Page 10A embraced that a lot. It was really Olympics at the school and the

Man beaten by Gwinnett police says he feared for his life BY VICTOR BLACKWELL

Sgt. Michael Bongiovanni for not having a license plate, according to the The 21-year-old man police report. seen on cellphone vidHollins said the license eos being beaten by two plate was in the rear Gwinnett County police window. officers says he thought He also said he recoghe was going to die during nized Bongiovanni from the traffic stop on April an August traffic stop. 12. “That’s when I reached Demetrius Hollins was over to get my phone,” Hollins said during an Demetrius Hollins, 21, says he thought he was going pulled over on a busy interview on Monday. to die during a traffic stop in Lawrenceville on April 12. suburban Atlanta road by Gwinnett County Police “(Bongiovanni) started (Photo: CNN) CNN

yelling at me and saying that I’m not going to get video of this, ‘You’re not going to make any phone calls, nobody is going to know about this,’” Hollins said. Hollins said Bongiovanni ordered him to get out of the car. Cellphone video recorded by a witness and posted on social media shows Hollins getting out of the car with his hands up.

“I tried to let him know I didn’t have anything where I could hurt him and, of course, me getting out with my hands up, that means basically I’m surrendering,” Hollins said. Bongiovanni wrote in the police report that Hollins resisted arrest: “Hollins refused to place his hands behind his back, spun around and began to

See BEATEN, Page 3A

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