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AHEAD OF THE PACK Brookwood cross country earns second place finishes at state meet • Sports, 1B
Gwinnett Daily Post SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2016
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STAYING STRONG
Vol. 47, No. 31
Local ballots will be full of choices BY CURT YEOMANS curt.yeomans@gwinnettdailypost.com
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Aimee Copeland reflects four years after surviving flesh-eating bacteria
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BY JASON HANNA CNN
It’s been about four years since Aimee Copeland lost her hands, a leg and a foot in a fight with flesh-eating bacteria, and she is bragging about beating friends in arm wrestling. She’s sitting on a mat in a small exercise room of her Atlanta house earlier this year, with ankle weights slipped over her surgically shortened arms, wearing no prosthetic save for the right foot she uses to help her slide and twist off her wheelchair. She lifts her arms and lowers them, demonstrating one of the many exercises she does for near-daily 90-minute sessions. “Arm strength is so important when you’re missing one whole leg,” she says before musing about how strong she is. “I’ve beaten pretty much everybody at this house in arm wrestling,” she explains, without even using her hand prostheses. Her opponents grabbed the end of her arm, elbows on the table, and she took them down. Her housemate Esther hears her from another room and laughs. “You are evil,” Esther says. “One was a guy,” Copeland offers. “I was going to say,” Esther says with a laugh. Copeland, 28, has long been active and outdoorsy. Before her accident, she hiked parts of the Appalachian Trail, rode her bike to class, went rock climbing in Alabama and dabbled in whitewater kayaking.
Trump or Hillary? Isakson, Barksdale or Buckley? Nash or Shealey? These are just some of the questions going through minds of election watchers in Gwinnett County on Tuesday as a long and winding campaign season comes to its conclusion. What’s up for MORE INSIDE grabs on election Eight legislative day? A lot, and not seats up for grabs just in Gwinnett in election..........5A County. Voters will decide the fate on a range of issues from the county’s proposed SPLOST to who will occupy the White House for the next four years. “It is a long ballot and, because of the interest, people should be prepared for there to be a little bit of a line,” Gwinnett Elections Director Lynn Ledford said earlier this week. “I wouldn’t say much (of a wait), but it could be as much as 20 to 30 or maybe even 45 minutes depending on how big the precinct is and the time of day. “Early morning, lunch and late afternoon are going to be the heaviest times.” Gwinnett voters have already turned out in droves for early voting in this election, breaking the county’s early
See ELECTION, Page 10A
Voters wait in a long line at the Gwinnett County Elections and Registration office in Lawrenceville 20 minutes after the polls closed on Friday, which was the last day of early, or advance in-person, voting in Georgia ahead of the general election. Anyone who was in line when the poll closed still got to vote. (Staff Photo: Curt Yeomans)
See COPELAND, Page 8A
Gwinnett teen convicted in Papa John’s drivers murder BY ERIKA WELLS
time, was delivering a late-night order to A teenager was convicted Lofton of murder Friday in the fatal and the coshooting of a pizza delivery defendant driver from Buford. Jermaine Reginald A Gwinnett jury found Young at Lofton Reginald Lofton, now 15, Wesley guilty following the March Herrington Apartments, 1 killing of Shane Varna1400 Herrington Road, dore, who worked for Papa near Lawrenceville. The John’s. 21-year-old Young is LofVarnadore, 28 at the ton’s older brother’s friend erika.wells @gwinnettdailypost.com
who was visiting from Chicago. The driver was shot by a .40-caliber handgun at the hands of Lofton or Young, who also grabbed the pizza. The prosecution didn’t know who exactly fired the gun, but Lofton was considered a party to the crime, his attorney Leanne Chancey said. Young is awaiting trial. The murder verdict comes with a mandatory life sentence, but the state agreed to
defer the decision 60 days. During that time, Chancey will prepare evidence and mitigation in hopes that the judge allow Lofton be eligible for parole. Lofton also was convicted of armed robbery and aggravated assault charges but was acquitted of malice murder. “If the jury felt he needed to have some consequences for his actions, we were hopeful they’d find him
teen’s mom fell into a coma after being in a car accident, never fully recovered and eventually died. “I intend to try to put that before the court,” Chancey said. “I think that his mother’s death had a very negative impact on him. I don’t think he ever recovered from that. His mother’s birthday is coming up this weekend, and that loss is still very raw for him and his family. He’s had a very hard life.”
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guilty of the lesser charges,” Chancey said. “That would give him less than a life sentence.” No matter the outcome, she said, the troubled teen will be entitled to an appeal. Chancey said the jury could have considered Lofton’s past. At the time of the incident, he had moved from Chicago and was living with his sister. The courts decided his father was an unfit parent. The
Come enjoy a fun-filled day at Garden Plaza to welcome the holiday season! Admission is free for the whole family. Local vendors and crafters will be featured.
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230 Collins Industrial Way • LawrencevilleRetirement.com