About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 19, 2018)
Tigers stay undefeated with win over Denmark SPORTS, IB DawsonCountyNews WEDNESDAY I SEPTEMBER 19, 2018 DaWSOflNeWS ^COITI DAWSONVILLE, GEORGIA $1.00 Photos by Allie Dean Dawson County News Chris Gaines and Ken Goines tow abandoned dock floats out of the water on Sept. 15 as part of the 30th annual Shore Sweep on Lake Lanier. Shore Sweep marks 30 years of keeping Lake Lanier clean Asst, public defender dies at 63 Longtime attorney suffers heart attack at courthouse By Allie Dean adean@dawsonnews.com David Turk, assistant public defender for the Northeastern Judicial Circuit, died at the Dawson County government center last week. Stephen Gurr, senior investigator at the Hall County Public Defender office, said Monday that Turk, 63, died from a massive heart attack shortly before noon Sept. 14 in a courthouse elevator. “He was truly one of a kind,” said Brad Morris, the public defender for the Northeastern Circuit, who knew Turk for 30 years. “Very bright, caring, with a loving heart. Anyone who was around David for a significant period grew to relish these quali ties. David’s essence was deep.” Local attorney Joey Homans also knew Turk for 30 years, originally meeting when they both worked in the District Attorney’s office in the late 1980s. See Turk 18A A group of Rotarians pose with some of the trash pulled out of Lake Lanier and the surrounding shore on Sept. 15. Pictured from left are Ken Goines, Chris Gaines, Tony Passarello, Curtis Hill, Kasen Hill, Pepper Pettit, JeanneTompkins, Gordon Brand and Randy Wells. By Allie Dean adean@dawsonnews.com Around 125 volunteers gathered at War Hill Park on Saturday, Sept. 15 to help clean Lake Lanier at the 30th annual Shore Sweep event. War Hill Park is one of 11 locations where volunteers went to pull trash from the lake and its shores. Each year, thousands of pounds of trash are collected and taken to local landfills by over 1,000 volunteers. “The event started 30 years ago and at that point consisted of mostly homeowners on the lake who wanted to come together and help keep their community clean,” said Wilton Rooks, President of Lake Lanier Association. “Now it has grown to include homeowners, marina employ ees, those who enjoy boating and other organizations and individuals in or near Hall County.” Though Shore Sweep is held one Saturday in September, the initiative runs for two to three weeks before the main event. “We always have several advance drop-off locations around the lake, so if someone wants to help out and they aren’t available on the event day, they are more than welcome to collect trash and drop it off whenever they See Sweep 17A Detention officer fired after arrest By Allie Dean adean@dawsonnews.com A Dawson County detention officer has been served a termination notice after he turned himself in to Lumpkin County authorities Sept. 11. John Michael Kormos, 30, faces charges of battery and reckless con duct after an altercation with his estranged wife during which a fire arm was discharged. The incident occurred Sept. 8 at a residence on John Dowdy Road in Dahlonega. In an incident report, Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office deputy Jacob Smith stated that he responded to a call in reference to a male attempting to commit suicide with a firearm. See Officer 18A Kormos Operations of school system discussed at learning academy By Jessica Brown jbrown@dawsonnews.com At the first day of the inaugural 1 Dawson Learning Academy, participants got an in-depth look at the operational side of the school system as topics of employment, energy efficiency, nutrition, safety and finance were discussed during the informal meeting. “Our goal today and next week is to really provide you with oper ational information about the school system but more impor tantly hopefully prompt some questions about how we operate,” said Superintendent Damon Gibbs. Those gathered at the Professional Development Center Sept. 11 learned the behind the scenes information from the human resources, finance, facili ties and maintenance, transporta tion, operations and nutrition departments. Due to the nature of human resources and finance, Chief Human Resource Officer Lisa Perry said the two departments work closely together. Perry and her assistant Jenna Brown are responsible for the 315 certified staff and 226 classi fied staff members of the school system and working with the Finance Director Jamie Ulrich’s four-person department to ensure they receive salary and benefits. Of the $47 million general fund budget that was set earlier this year, 85 percent of the budget goes directly toward salary and benefits. “We spend $50 million a year and we have 540 employees. We have six total employees that deal with those two areas,” Gibbs said. The finance department has a reputation for excellence as it is one of 11 districts in Georgia that have received the Award of Distinction for Excellent Financial Reporting from the Georgia Department of Audits for the past five years. See Learning 18A 0 9 0 9 9 Inside Volume 3, Number 52 © 2018, Dawson County News Dawsonville, Georgia Church Events 3B Classifieds 7B Dear Abby 6B Deaths 2A Legals 8B Opinion 9A Sports 1B 3A Veterans 3 Gun to host charity fishing tournament 5A First responders group looking for volunteers We're all grown up. m NORTHS1DE HOSPITAL FORSYTH WOMEN’S CENTER Celebrating 10 years of delivering precious gifts