Around the Region: Ice Cream Parlor Controversy, Human Trafficking and Dawgs Helping Dawgs

We All Scream For Ice Cream: Mayfield is Urged to Reconsider Closing its Visitors Center 

In response to the recent news that Dean Foods -- parent company of the Mayfield Dairy Brand -- plans to close the Visitors Center and Ice Cream Parlor in Braselton, Mayor Bill Orr and council members discussed possible next steps during a previously scheduled town council meeting.

In the days leading up to Monday’s meeting, Councilman Richard Mayberry met with members of the Mayfield Visitors Center staff.

Councilman Mayberry, Mayor Orr and each of the remaining members of the Braselton Town Council believe a six-month reprieve should be considered immediately, allowing time to examine economic sustainability issues. 

During the council meeting, Mayor Orr said, “We need the opportunity to work with Mayfield and to express our willingness to make it make sense for Mayfield to keep the Visitors Center open because it does make sense for Braselton.”

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Former Suwanee Resident Faces Human Trafficking Sentence

A federal judge in Atlanta has sentenced former Suwanee resident Bidemi Bello, a Nigerian national, to 11 years and eight months in prison for what has been described as "a shocking case of modern-day slavery."

Bello's U.S. citizenship also was revoked in the sentencing by Judge William S. Duffey Jr., according to a news release. Bello, 42, was convicted in June on charges of forced labor, trafficking with respect to forced labor, document servitude, harboring for financial gain, and unlawful procurement of naturalization.

According to U.S. Attorney Sally Quillan Yates, the evidence at trial showed that on twice, Bello returned to Nigeria and recruited two young women to return with her to the United States to work as her nanny and maid. 

Bello had promised the young women and their families that she would send them to school in the United States. Instead, Bello physically and emotionally abused both women, controlled their access to the outside world, and routinely treated them inhumanely.

Evidence showed the women were beaten and forced to eat spoiled and moldy food, and on one occasion, forced to eat their own vomit.

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UGA Student Pantry Filling Need and Stomachs

The UGA Student Food Pantry, open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, has been helping feed hungry people on campus since early September. All it takes to access the service is a UGA identification card.

No agency tracks the prevalence of food insecurity among college students. The food pantry’s organizers just believed the project was needed.

Their instincts were quickly confirmed. Within its first six days of operation, the student-run pantry helped 77 people by providing staples such as canned vegetables, fruit cups, pasta, baking mix and protein such as canned tuna or chicken, said advertising senior Abbey Warren, lead organizer for the pantry.

It all comes down to contributing to the success and well-being of students and faculty on the UGA campus.

“It’s just Dawgs helping Dawgs,” Warren said. “It's our own community that's suffering silently.”

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