FLOWERY BRANCH — A series of Hall County public meetings on the proposed 1 percent transportation sales tax — an issue that has sharply divided area residents — ended Monday on a relatively quiet note. A brief discussion among the handful of people who attended centered on the gas tax, which is the current source for paying for road projects, and the history of the state sales tax. John Reed, who lives outside Oakwood, reflected on how the sales tax has doubled since the early 1960s and 1970s.