‘STRONGLY AFFECTED,’ 6A
Calif. university mourns victims of UCSB shooting
IN SPORTS GAC’s Kerr earns sand volleyball scholarship. • Page 1B
Gwinnett Daily Post WEDNESDAY, MAY 28, 2014
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Vol. 44, No. 165
Bond granted for accused driver in 316 crash By Keith Farner
began on Tuesday for Sabrina Patrice The woman believed to Townes be responsible for a deadof Lawly multi-vehicle crash renceville on Sunday afternoon for her Sabrina Patrice was transported from the role in a Townes Gwinnett County jail late FebruMonday to the DeKalb ary 2012 County jail. incident at Lawrenceville Legal proceedings Highway and Lynburn keith.farner @gwinnettdailypost.com
Drive. DeKalb Police spokeswoman Mekka Parish said Townes is facing eight arrest warrants, including charges for vehicular homicide, two counts of reckless conduct, reckless driving, driving with a suspended license, failure to maintain a lane and failure to obey a traffic control device.
A DeKalb County judge granted Townes a $300,000 bond during the same court hearing Tuesday that Townes said she has a history of seizures and has seen a doctor, WSB-TV reported. Lawrenceville Police Capt. Jeff Smith said his department is still investigating Sunday’s incident and has no sense of
urgency to charge Townes while DeKalb authorities process the 2012 incident. According to witnesses, Townes on Sunday allegedly started a chainreaction crash on Ga. Highway 316 westbound when she drove a red Isuzu SUV while passing vehicles on the right shoulder. Seven vehicles
were involved, and one flipped several times as the Isuzu and a pickup truck crossed a median into eastbound traffic. The road was closed in both directions for about five hours. One person died in the crash and three people were transported in critical condition to Gwinnett Medical Center.
LILBURN
Joint library, City Hall project gets county’s OK By Camie Young camie.young@gwinnettdailypost.com
Former Mason Elementary students, from left, Sam Weyen, of Greater Atlanta Christian, Alex Peed, of Peachtree Ridge High, Willie Jin of the Gwinnett School of Math, Science and Technology and Leesa Quinlan of Peachtree Ridge recently posed for a picture at the school. All four were accepted to Harvard University, and Peed, Quinlan and Jin plan to attend Harvard, while Weyen plans to attend Stanford University. (Staff Photo: Keith Farner)
The Brainy Bunch
Former Mason Elementary students all accepted to Harvard By Keith Farner
keith.farner @gwinnettdailypost.com
DULUTH — They dressed up as Greek gods, memorized songs by the Beatles and built a replica of the International Space Station — all before middle school. For a group of four students who began their school careers at Mason Elementary, learning was fun and they enjoyed coming to school. While they’ve moved on to different schools, and won’t all attend the same university, they have one thing
“
It’s so great to know people going to the same school as you, not to know their name, or know they went to the same school as you, but to actually know them and to be in school with them for so long and know you have another four years together.” — Leesa Quinlan, attending Harvard in the fall
in common again: All four were accepted to Harvard University. Three of them, Leesa Quinlan, Willie Jin and Alex Peed plan to enroll at Harvard this fall, while Sam Weyen chose to attend Stanford University. Weyen, the valedictorian at
Greater Atlanta Christian, first met Quinlan and Peed, who each graduated from Peachtree Ridge High, and Jin, the valedictorian at the Gwinnett School of Math, Science and Technology, in the Focus program for gifted students at
Mason. While his pros and cons list leaned toward Harvard, Weyen said he couldn’t keep himself from researching and asking about Stanford, which eventually settled his conscience. “So that right there proved to me that’s where I want to go,” said Weyen, who plans to visit his buddies at Harvard. “That was one of my big selling points, I wanted to be with these people again.” They were all taught by Abby Lockhart, who has taught gifted
As a pastor, Johnny Crist has presided over hundreds of weddings. On Tuesday, he offered his own vow, as the mayor of Lilburn, to Gwinnett commissioners, seeking a partnership in a project to build a new library as part of a planned new City Hall. “Do you, county, take us, the city of Lilburn?” Crist said, placing some reverence onto the adoption of an intergovernmental agreement, which outlines the construction and upkeep of the facility for 50 years. “For better or worse, we are in this together,” Gwinnett Commission Chairwoman Charlotte Nash said after the unanimous vote on the board. “I’m excited about the prospects.” City officials have worked for five years on the idea to build a two-story government edifice along a relocated Main Street, which is now under construction. See BOC, Page 5A
QT pulls out of controversial Norcross location By Camie Young camie.young@gwinnettdailypost.com
After a public outcry, lawyers for QuikTrip have withdrawn a request to build a gas station at a gateway to Norcross’s downtown area. Norcross City Planner Jon Davis said the business’s lawyers requested the withdrawal in a letter dated Friday, saying that the applicant “made a business decision to not proceed.” The company had proposed a change in zoning conditions that would have allowed a gas station to be built at the corner of Holcomb Bridge Road and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard North.
See BUNCH, Page 5A
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See QT, Page 5A