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Teen’s photographic skills gives
those with disabilities a voice
LOCAL, 6A
Dawson County senior sets
scoring record in 71 -60 win
SPORTS, IB
DawsonCountyNews
WEDNESDAY I FEBRUARY 20, 2019 DaWSOflNeWS ^COITI DAWSONVILLE, GEORGIA $1.00
BOC planning censure against Nix
County human resources director terminated after receiving confidential emails from commissioner
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
Documents released by the
county last week show Human
Resources Director Danielle
Yarbrough, a 20-year county
employee, was fired Feb. 8 after
it became known she had
received confidential information
from a commissioner via email.
In a termination letter dated Feb.
Yarbrough Nix
8, County Manager David Headley
explained why he fired Yarbrough,
stating that though she had no con
trol over receiving the documents,
she violated a recently-signed confi
dentiality agreement by not taking
steps to notify him upon receipt.
District 4 Commissioner
Julie Hughes Nix, the commis
sioner who sent the emails, is
facing a resolution of censure
from the rest of the board dur
ing Thursday’s voting session.
According to the resolution,
censure is the “appropriate
form of reprimand for a com
missioner acting out of order.”
The resolution states that Nix
acted out of order when she
sent emails to an employee on
repeated occasions, despite the
fact that that the communica
tions were specifically marked
confidential and attorney-client
privileged.
“Despite this specific admoni
tion, such communications were
forwarded by Commissioner
Nix in violation of the attorney-
client privilege when such com
munications were concerning
personnel issues about the very
employee to whom she forward
ed the communications, this
employee was represented by an
attorney, and this employee was
taking positions adverse to
See Nix 15A
DCHS STAR student, teacher named
Jessica Taylor Dawson County News
Pictured from left are Dawson County High School Principal Brody Hughes, STAR student Will Mulberry, STAR
teacher Laura Hendrix and Dawsonville Lions Club President Don Cargill.
Will Mulberry plans to go on 2-year mission trip after graduation
By Jessica Taylor
jtaylor@dawsonnews.com
Earning the highest SAT
score in his class was a
breeze for Will Mulberry.
“It’s just about being con
sistent with (studying).
Some people, they say
they’re going to study and
they might do it for one day
but the key is to just make
sure you’re doing it every
day,” Mulberry said. “If you
do it every day you could
just study little by little and
it makes it much easier. It
doesn’t build as much of a
burden as you’d think.”
The Dawson County
High School senior studied
for months leading up to the
standardized test, success
fully earning an overall
score of 1370.
Mulberry was recently
recognized for his impres
sive score by the Georgia
Educators’ Student Teacher
Achievement Recognition
(STAR) program, which is
sponsored by the
Dawsonville Lions Club.
“Mr. Mulberry is the best
of the best at Dawson
County High School. Very
polite, dedicated, driven,
any of those acronyms you
want to put on it,” said
DCHS Principal Brody
Hughes. “Obviously it takes
somebody of that caliber to
be STAR student so just an
all-around fantastic young
man. We look forward to
the good things we know
he’s going to do with his
life.”
As STAR student,
Mulberry was tasked with
selecting the STAR teacher,
an educator that he feels has
been the most instrumental
in his academic career.
It was an easy choice to
make: chemistry and phys
ics teacher Laura Hendrix.
“He loved that science
and that energizes any
teacher, I do know that,”
Hendrix said.
Mulberry has always had
an affinity for math-based
sciences and a mind for
engineering. In Hendrix’s
classes, he was always
looking for new challenges.
“When we see a student
who loves the subject, you
step it up a bit. I would look
for some challenging prob
lems for him,” Hendrix
said. “He did college based
chemistry and college based
physics and he was good at
it.”
Mulberry said Hendrix’s
science classes helped him
discover what he wants to
do after graduating in the
spring: aerospace engineer
ing.
“She really just helped to
amplify my interests and
help me to decide what I
want to be when I grow up,”
Mulberry said. “In physics
we actually had a day
where we met with aero
space engineers and got to
see what they did on a regu
lar basis. She just did a real
ly good job at showing me
what I want to do when I
grow up.”
Mulberry plans to attend
Brigham Young University
in Provo, Utah and enlist in
the Air Force ROTC at the
See STAR 14A
Uncle Shuck’s
moves ahead
of 2019 season
Owner: Corn maze can
now expand amenities
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
Mathew Hughes has big plans for the
future of Uncle Shuck’s corn maze.
Owner and operator of the business that
called Hwy. 53 on Gober Hill home for the
past 17 years, Hughes recently moved the
com maze, and the recognizable red barn,
across town.
See Shuck's 17A
Jessica Taylor Dawson County News
Hwy. 9 is the new home for Uncle
Shuck's, which is owned and operated by
Mathew Hughes, who has worked at the
business since he was in high school.
Chamber seeks lower
impact fees that
affect businessess
By Allie Dean
adean@dawsonnews.com
The Dawson County Chamber of
Commerce is continuing to fight against
the impact fees instated by the Dawson
Board of Commissioners last August, par
ticularly the effect the fees have on the
business community, as evidenced by a
presentation Feb. 14 by Chamber President
Christie Moore.
Impact fees are one-time fees collected
on new developments during the building
permit process that are intended to help
offset the costs of capital improvements
See Chamber 15A
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9 0 9 9
Inside
Volume 4, Number 22
© 2019, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Church Events
3B
Classifieds
8B
Dear Abby
6B
Deaths
2A
Legals
7B
Opinion
9A
Sports
1B
3A Rules for
passing
school buses
changes
Cause of Friday
morning
structure fire
unknown
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