Recently, Hall County Commissioner Bobby Banks has sent out a letter to nearly every elected official in the County. The letter state his strong disapproval of Gainesville’s annexing a few miles of I-985 between GA 60 and US 129. The Times ran an article about it today; and you can read it here. I applaud Banks’ letter and his distaste of a possible speed trap. But let’s get honest right here… Banks said;
“I’m not going to tolerate a speed trap in my district,”
Well Commissioner Banks, if this is so true, then why was Oakwood allowed to annex a few miles of winder HWY? I’m sure they didn’t want to park their police on the sides of the brand new four lane highway and prey on motorists… I wonder why there was hardly anything said against Oakwood when they wanted to annex Winder Highway. It really angers me when Banks is angry with Gainesville wanting to annex almost nothing on a northern border of his district, but when there’s a possible annexation from a city whose police agency is famous for doing nothin but writing trumped up tickets, it’ ok. I guess he can tolerate driving home everyday and seeing Oakwood all over GA 53, I guess he just has beef with Gainesville. I’m glad that Mr. Banks is standing up against the annexation of Gainesville, after all, that’s what he campaigned on. I guess he was “busy” when Oakwood was ready to set a speed trap just 200 yards from the front steps of his home.
Also in the letter;
“It would appear that the City of Gainesville is taking the same approach that the City of Oakwood has taken for years to use their police force as a principal means of revenue generation,” the letter stated.
In response to that statement, Patti Doss-Luna, Oakwood’s acting City Manager stated the City of Oakwood was very disappointed in being referenced as a speed trap. Well, I’m sure if your city wasn’t a speed trap, that comment wouldn’t have been made. It’s plain to see, no one that I know has ever had anything positive to say about Oakwood, especially their Police Dept. If Chief Moon wants to shift the public’s perception of his agency then he really needs to change the way he does business. And thus far, nothing has been done. Ms. Luna, I am very disappointed that people consider driving through your city a hassle, not entirely due to roadwork on Mundy Mill Rd. but mainly due to your police department looking for and waiting on Hall County motorists. I hope you’ll see that your city has a reputation equal to the municipalities along US 129 in Jackson County…
