Meet Jay Ivey, part time band member and full time K9 Unit Hall County Sheriff Deputy. He and his wife Crissy have been married for 13 years. The couple have a three year old son and a set of twins (a boy and girl) who are 9 months old. Crissy is a physical education teacher and coach for the Cross County and Basketball teams at C.W. Davis Middle School in Flowery Branch.  Jay has a full plate nowadays and loves to get away and hunt when he can. Jay was born and raised in Hall County, attended Johnson High School and doesn’t see himself leaving the area anytime soon.
Jay spent six years in the United States Marine Corps serving his country in Iraq. In Iraq, he was a part of Operation Phantom Fury. We were recently able to sit down with Jay at the Hall County Sheriff’s Office to ask him a few questions about his life in Hall County.
Question: What inspired or led you to your current career?
Answer: “I am a second generation officer for Hall County. My dad spent 23 years as a deputy sheriff for Hall County, he retired as a lieutenant in 2000.”
Q: What is your favorite restaurant in Hall County and what do you love there?
A: “Atlas Pizza, I like their meat lovers with pepperoni.”
Q: How long have you lived or worked in Hall County?
A: “I’ve lived in Hall County my entire life. I’m 37 years old. I’ve worked for the Hall County Sheriff’s Department for 10 years and three years with the Gainesville Police Department.”
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in Hall County?
A: “(the late) Bimbo Brewer.”
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be? And why?
A: “I’d go back to Ireland, I stopped there for a brief time on my way to Iraq in 2004.”
Q: What is your favorite movie or the first movie you remember seeing in a theater?
A: “My first and most favorite movie still to this day is ‘The Goonies.’”
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
A: “Deer hunting in Texas.”
Q: What are three bands you would like to see (dead or alive)?
A: “Chris Stapleton, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Merle Haggard.”
Q: What former local business makes you the most nostalgic about Hall County?
A: “Larry Daniels Music.”
Q: Choosing anyone alive and a non-relative: with whom would you love to have lunch? Why? Where in Hall County would you have lunch?
A: “Chris Stapleton at Atlas Pizza. I want to meet him because of the amount of No. 1 hits he has written for so many people and because he is a phenomenal musician.”
Q: What is your favorite thing about Hall County?
A: “The diversity and our location. We are 30 minutes from the mountains and we’re 40 minutes from Atlanta.”
Q: Where do you see yourself in five or 10 years?
A: “I’ll still be here in Hall County. Hopefully by then I’ll be a Sergeant over this K9 unit.”
Q: What three words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
A: “Family, love and security.”
Q: Tell us about your dog?
A: “My dog’s name is Rico. He is one of 10 dogs that work with the Hall County Sheriff’s office. Rico is a Dutch Shepherd.  He was imported from Holland and trained here.”
The Faces of Hall County is a project to showcase the amazing people that live or work in our community. If you would like to nominate an interesting person to be featured please email babernathy@gonorton.com.