Ga.Governor celebrates July 4th at home

GAINESVILLE - Governor Nathan Deal and First Lady Sandra returned to Gainesville Monday for a hometown Independence Day BBQ and celebration.

Governor Deal was the featured speaker at the 18TH Annual Public Servants Community BBQ hosted by Memorial Park Funeral Homes. Under a hot July 4th noonday sun he arrived wearing a short sleeved shirt and straw hat, meeting reporters, then friends and supporters.

Deal said he appreciated the difference between July 4th this year and last year.

"There aren't as many candidates here today I don't think," the Governor said."As you know the 4th of July was a very active time for those of us who were on the campaign trail so its nice to be here with a little more relaxed atmosphere."

Deal said he expected full implementation of Georgia's immigration law would be resolved in the appellate courts, and was disappointed that two key parts of the legislation were enjoined.

He told reporters to expect an 11:00 a.m. press conference Tuesday morning concerning the CRCT investigation and a report would be released at noon.

"It is a large report and I will continue to review it, it was detailed and the kind of investigative report you would want if you've got to deal with something as serious as this," Deal said.

With Georgia moving up to fourth place as the best state to do business in, state revenue is up eight percent over last year.

"That's a good sign," the Governor said, "but for some reason unemployment has not dropped appropriately as income and revenue from taxes have increased at the state level. This is a slow recovery but we're hopeful that it will show that unemployment levels are dropping."

The Governor told his audience that the nation's forefathers would be pleased to see the celebration at Memorial Park.

"Truly this experiment in democracy has proven to be the greatest success in the history of the world," he said. "Today we mark the celebration of that success."

An estimated 6 to 7,000 people turned out for the BBQ to honor area law officers, fire fighters, paramedics and EMT's. One of the honorees was Gainesville Patrol Lieutenant Floyd Canup.

"We really appreciate the food because they get out and work for the public, they don't have to do this because we're here to serve them," Canup said.

According to Memorial Park spokesman Billy Hendrix this year's event was the biggest yet; it took three weeks to prepare for it and involved 80 staff members and volunteers. Hendrix said a lot of people showed up last year, and there were more this year.

"We had around 4,000 last year and by the end of the day I'll bet it will be 6,000", Hendrix said.

The event featured free BBQ pork and chicken with all the trimmings, hamburgers, a big list of local politicians including the Governor, and a blue grass band.