Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, September 12,2018
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 7A
FROM 1A
Sosebee
most favorite, favorite tour
guide we ever had. She
never met a stranger.”
Abercrombie said that
guests still come into the
museum and ask for
Sosebee, even though in
recent years she had been
unable to continue giving
tours.
“Racing was her life,
since her husband was a
racer,” Abercrombie said.
“She didn’t just know
about it, she had lived
there, she had been there.”
Gober Sosebee hailed
from the ‘golden era’ of
racing, and was a three
time Daytona Beach Road
Course winner and had
two wins in what is now
the Sprint Cup Series. He
died in 1996 and was
among the inaugural group
to be inducted to the rac
ing hall of fame in 2002
along with Red Byron,
Bill Elliott, Tim Flock,
Roy Hall, Raymond Parks,
Lloyd Seay and Red Vogt.
One of Vaudell’s favorite
parts of the tour was show
ing guests the black and
white 1939 Ford her hus
band gave to her as a gift.
The car was found and
secretly restored in 2014,
and was then donated to
the racing hall of fame.
Sosbee’s sons Brian and
David were also racers,
with David competing as a
NASCAR Winston Cup
Series driver from 1979 to
1988.
Gordon Pirkle, local
NASCAR historian and
president of the hall of
fame, knew Sosebee all his
life.
Pirkle’s family had a
tent at Lumpkin
Campground, a few down
from Gober Sosebee’s
tent. Pirkle said that as a
young boy he would
attend the Sunday service
there.
“I remember on Sunday
morning, we kids would
be waiting to see that
white Cadillac pull up to
see Gober get out and
walk in the tent,” he said.
“We didn’t know what
autographs was back then.
But he always attended
campmeeting. He was my
hero.”
Gober operated
Cherokee Garage in
Atlanta, and Pirkle said he
never would confirm or
deny if he carried moon
shine.
With a husband and sons
so involved in racing,
Vaudell was a natural font
of wisdom on the subject
and even drove in powder
puff races.
Ask her how she was,
Pirkle said, and you’d
always get the same reply:
“Mean as ever.”
“She was something
else,” Pirkle said.
“There was not a mean
bone in her body,”
Abercrombie said. “She
was a true southern lady.”
According to her obitu
ary, Vaudell was born and
raised in Dawson County.
During World War II she
was employed by the Bell
Aircraft Corporation (or
Bell Bomber) and subse
quently worked for
Western Union for 28
years.
“She was a Rosie the
Riveter,” Abercrombie said
about Sosebee’s Bell
Bomber days. “She said
she always wanted to fly
those planes but she
wasn’t allowed.”
A funeral service for
Vaudell was held Sept. 9 at
Bearden Funeral Home
and she was interred in the
Bethel United Methodist
Church Cemetery.
Fundraiser brunch raises
money for free medical clinic
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Allie Dean Dawson County News
Guests enjoy the 7th annual Grits and Granola brunch celebration at
The Chimneys at Big Canoe on Sept. 9.The brunch is the only fundrais
ing event each year for the Good Shepherd Clinic, a free medical clinic
that serves the citizens of Dawson County who do not have health
insurance. This year the brunch had one specific purpose- to raise
funds for new dental chairs for the clinic. The clinic was gifted two
chairs several years ago that have long outlived their life expectancy.
Donna Yaughn, the dental administrator at the clinic, said the cost of a
refurbished chair is about $6,000.
FROM 1A
Tisdale
Tisdale was sentenced under
Georgia’s First Time Offenders
Act, which means that if she
completed the sentence without
issue, her record would be
cleared.
On Jan. 8 Tisdale filed a
motion under the grounds that
there was “insufficient evi
dence to support the verdict”
and “the trial court committed
errors of law,” warranting a
new trial.
Tisdale was arrested at an
Aug. 23, 2014 campaign rally
attended by statewide office
holders including Gov. Nathan
Deal, U.S. Rep. Doug Collins
and Insurance Commissioner
Ralph Hudgens. She was
arrested by Capt. Tony Wooten
of the Dawson County Sheriff’s
Office after being asked to stop
filming by organizers; the event
was publicly advertised and
held on private property.
After Tisdale refused to stop
filming, Wooten forcibly
removed her. During the trial
Wooten claimed he was kicked
and elbowed by Tisdale as he
took her away from the event.
Tisdale argued that her
forced removal violated her
First Amendment rights and
claimed during the trial that
Wooten, who refused to identi
fy himself as he held her
pinned to a counter in a barn at
the pumpkin farm, sexually
assaulted and physically
harmed her.
During a hearing July 31,
Tisdale’s new representation,
Andrew Fleischman of Ross &
Pines LLC, argued that
Tisdale’s guilty charge of mis
demeanor obstruction of an
officer should be thrown out
due to the same issue that per
sisted throughout the original
trial; that Tisdale did not know
Wooten was a law enforcement
officer when she resisted arrest.
In her judgement filed Aug.
22, Superior Court Judge
Martha Christian argues that
the jury did have sufficient evi
dence to find Tisdale guilty of
obstruction and denied her
request for a new trial.
Tisdale took to Twitter on
Aug. 23, four years to the date
after her arrest, and stated that
she would be taking her case to
the Georgia Court of Appeals.
Noah Pines said Tuesday via
email that Ross & Pines will be
representing her during the
appeal.
FROM 1A
Suicide
Dawson County, also have a higher average suicide rate
than non-rural counties.
According to Joe Stapp of Blue Ridge Counseling, vet
erans, the LGBT community, those with chronic pain or
terminal illness, people who have been bullied or cyberbul-
lied and those coping with a significant loss in their lives
are some of the most at-risk groups for committing suicide.
In recent years, instruments such as the Columbia
Suicide Severity Rating Scale have been developed that
better identify people at risk, making it easier for health
care professionals and counselors to understand the warn
ing signs.
Someone exhibiting suicidal thoughts or tendencies
might withdraw from relationships and activities they
enjoy, focus on death and talk about wanting to die, show
signs of despair and self-neglect, have drastic swings in
mood or sleep or increase or start abusing substances.
“Sometimes it’s just an odd feeling where you talk to
somebody and it feels as though they’re saying goodbye
and it’s more than just ‘I’ll see you next time,”’ Stapp said.
“It’s ‘goodbye’ and I don’t know, some of it is just a feel
ing I have and I think others do too.”
A drastic change in personality is also a sign to look for.
It’s not just a sudden change to anger or depression but if
someone goes from feeling troubled to suddenly calm and
peaceful, Stapp said, that’s a warning sign.
“Those are the ones where people say ‘I didn’t see any
signs’ but they’ve come to a form of acceptance where
‘I’m going to commit suicide and now I finally have a
solution to the problem,”’ Stapp said.
In reality, suicide is not a solution to a problem and can
actually lead to a more devastation on a larger scale.
The International Association for Suicide Prevention
stated that for each suicide death, 135 people are affected.
“One person’s suicide affects family, friends, the whole
school, the workplace, so you’ve gone from your pain to
an entire community,” Stapp said.
Relatives and close friends of people who die by suicide
are a high-risk group for suicide as well, due to the psycho
logical trauma of a suicide loss and potential shared famil
ial and environmental risk, suicide contagion through the
process of social modelling and the burden of stigma asso
ciated with the loss.
“A lot of people that commit suicide also when I’m talk
ing to them and they think that’s the only way I’ll tell them
‘if you could have relief for the emotional pain you’re
going through right now, would you do it?’ Nearly all of
them say ‘No. If I could feel better I wouldn’t kill
myself,”’ Stapp said. “I tell them ‘Well then you’re not
looking for death. You’re looking to feel belter. So we need
to figure out a way to make you feel better.’”
Stapp said the best way to help someone who might be
struggling is to ask if they have thoughts of committing
suicide and being open to listening to what they have to
say.
“Let people talk. Take a deep breath. If you hear some
body say ‘yes I’ve had thoughts of killing myself’ one of
the worst things you can do is try to talk them out of it,”
Stapp said.
Redirecting someone who is suicidal to all the positive
reasons they have for living can cause them to shut down.
“They’re going to say ‘yep you’re right.’ They’re going
to give them the answer they want,” he said.
Being open and allowing that person to express their
feelings and asking them if they have experienced suicidal
thoughts is the best way to reach out to someone who
exhibits warning signs.
For more information on Suicide Prevention Awareness
Month visit Suicidepreventionlifeline.org or BeThelTo.
com.
The Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255 and
the Georgia Crisis and Access Line 1-800-715-4225.
Georgia also offers a crisis text line by texting “HOME” to
741741.
From the weekend warriors to the high-school athletes, Dr. Mark Hazel with Northeast
Georgia Physicians Group (NGPG) Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine provides
specialized care designed to help patients return to their active lifestyles safely and
as soon as possible. Dr. Hazel focuses on evaluating, managing, rehabilitating, and
preventing injuries and physical problems that are common among athletes of all ages.
Dr. Hazel sees patients in:
Dawsonville
NGPG Orthopedic Surgery
& Sports Medicine
108 Prominence Ct., Ste. 200
Dawsonville, GA 30534
Gainesville
NGPG Orthopedic Surgery
& Sports Medicine
1315 Jesse Jewell Pkwy. SE, Ste. 300
Gainesville, Georgia 30501
Monday - Friday 8:30 a.m - 5 p.m.
To schedule an appointment call 770-848-6190 or visit ngpg.org/hazel
^ Northeast Georgia
PHYSICIANS group
Orthopedic Surgery
& Sports Medicine
