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move on in state playoffs
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DawsonCountyNews
WEDNESDAY I MAY 2, 2018
Dawson News ► com dawsonville, GEORGIA $1.00
Fire chief resigns after probe
Time cards audited for inconsistencies
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
Longtime Dawson County
Emergency Services employee
and current Fire Chief Lanier
Swafford will work his last day
with the county on Friday.
Swafford was demoted in
January from his joint role of
emergency services director and
fire chief and his pay was
reduced after a December 2017
investigation of county policy
violations under his administra
tion.
Swafford put in his notice on
April 20, and said last week that
he decided to resign from his
position “due to some recent
changes in the leadership struc
ture of Dawson County
Emergency Services.”
County Manager David
Headley restructured the depart
ment in January, placing
Swafford second in command,
and hired Danny Thompson as
the new director.
Thompson is a volunteer fire
fighter with Dawson County and
retired from the Sandy Springs
Fire Department in 2016. He
currently works for Parsons
Corporation as a Traffic Incident
Management Specialist.
Thompson
will start work
as the director
of emergency
services on
Monday.
According to
documents
obtained
through an open records request,
See Chief 19A
Swafford
Photos by Jessica Brown Dawson County News
Janice Blalock, a six-year breast cancer survivor, had fun throwing pies at all of the officials during the
"Pie in the Face" fundraiser at Friday's Relay for Life.
Alena Sewell, 2, prepares to throw a pie in the face of BOE member Roger
Slaton during the first Pie in the Face fundraiser at Relay for Life April 27.
A little boy lands his pie right on Jason Power's
face during the fundraiser hosted by the Dawson
County Tax Commissioner's Office.
a huge success
By Jessica Brown
jbrown@dawsonnews.com
The community came
together at Veterans
Memorial Park April 27
to support their loved
ones who survived can
cer, honor their loved
ones lost to cancer and to
raise money for a cure.
Cameron Lopez, com
munity development
manager with the
American Cancer Society,
said that $14,178.10 was
raised in the five hours
that Relay for Life took
place. So far this year,
$65,044.07 has been
raised for the American
Cancer Society, exceed
ing the $65,000 goal with
more fundraisers planned
in the spring and summer.
“I am so thankful to
Dawson County for sup
porting the Relay for Life
movement,” Lopez said.
“Friday night was evi
dence of this communi
ty’s commitment to the
fight against cancer.”
It was a night of cele
bration and remembrance
for many as the survivors
and teams walked their
ceremonial laps.
Team Susan came out
in full force, as friends
and family of Susan
Williams, a longtime
Dawson County resident
who lost her battle to
breast cancer in January,
made T-shirts and were
selling CDs of the song
“Mess into a Message.”
Williams’ sister, Nancy
Carter, said she wrote the
song for her sister after
she was inspired by her
message. Williams
always wanted to turn the
mess that is cancer into a
message for the world.
And thanks to her family,
her message will live on.
“This is what she
believed in. This song is
about how God turned a
mess into a message,”
Carter said.
The song was recorded
by Dawson County Junior
High School chorus
teacher Kevin Woody last
December. He performed
the song during the lumi
nary walk this year.
The biggest draw dur
ing the evening’s festivi
ties made people smile
and laugh, and served as
a reminder that Relay for
Life is a celebration full
of hope: The “Pie in the
Face” fundraiser, which
was a first for the
Dawson County Relay for
Life.
See Relay 18A
Relay for Life raises $14,000
Pie in the Face
Dawson gov’t
falls victim
to cyberattack
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
Officials with the United States Secret Service,
local law enforcement and other professionals are
still assessing the damage of a cyberattack on
Dawson County government computer servers that
reportedly occurred the afternoon of April 23.
County IT analyst Will Shattuck updated county
commissioners and audience members at the
board’s work session Tuesday afternoon, April 24,
on the potential damage and the status of the
ongoing investigation.
Shattuck said the IT department was first noti
fied around 2:30 p.m. April 23 by the tax asses
sor’s office, which reported it was unable to save
work on some of its files. Soon calls flooded in
from many other departments, and once the IT
department began investigating, it discovered a
ransomware attack.
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that
encrypts writable data, and only the attacker
knows the decryption key.
“We started shutting down servers and trying to
minimize the amount of damage, as it spreads very
quickly, through the networks and through the dif
ferent servers,” Shattuck said.
The county’s exchange server, as well as phone
and internet services, were affected.
“We did work through the night to get phones
and internet back up,” Shattuck said. “Some of the
other servers will take longer to repair and to work
through.”
On April 24 the county called in a cyber security
company, Carvir Cyber Security, which is current
ly still working in conjunction with the county IT
department to resolve the situation.
Email was restored to all of the county offices
on Friday.
See Cyber|8A
Gold Creek Foods claims
chicken parts were planted
on Robinson playground
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
Gold Creek Foods in Dawsonville is searching
for an individual they say deposited chicken parts
on the playground of Robinson Elementary
School last month.
Representatives of the poultry processing plant,
which is located on Hwy. 9 North adjacent to the
elementary school, are offering a $5,000 reward
for “information leading to identification and
arrest” of an individual they claim deposited poul
try parts on the playground on or around April 11
or April 12 and again on or around April 14.
An ad the plant took out in this week’s paper
states that “the person(s) are believed to have been
doing so to wrongfully implicate Gold Creek
Foods as the source of these parts.”
Gold Creek Foods also provided an image of a
person of interest.
The ad states that tipsters will remain anony
mous and can call Matthew Johnson at (678) 928-
6970 ext. 4043 or send an email to tipline @gold-
creekfoods.com.
See Planted 19A
9 0 9 9
Inside
Volume 3, Number 31
© 2018, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Church Events
3B
Classifieds
8B
Dear Abby
6B
Deaths
2A
Legals
8B
Opinion
7A
Sports
1B
4A Annual
Ranger water
jump set for
May 9
5A Kids have
big fun at
Wee Books
barn dance
