About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 2019)
Dawson defeats West Hall 34 - 0 SPORTS, IB WEDNESDAY I SEPTEMBER 18, 2019 DaWSOflNeWS ^COITI DAWSONVILLE, GEORGIA $1.00 DAHLONEGA Rallies bring loud voices to square By Nick Watson DCN Regional Staff Ralliers separated by barri cades Saturday afternoon in the downtown Dahlonega square shouted chants across the space usually filled with tourists to the mountain town. “God, Family, Country, Trump” was met with “Racists, Sexists, Anti-Gay, All the Nazis Go Away” as about 250 gath ered, monitored by a law enforcement presence about 600 strong and representing 36 agencies. Chester Doles organized the rally in support of President Donald Trump but withdrew his application for a permit to rally amid growing concern of white supremacist undertones. Dustin Penner, an Army vet eran, stepped in to get the per mit when he saw the “backlash because of (Doles’) past.” Doles is a former member of the Ku Klux Klan and was an organizer for the National Alliance, a mostly defunct white supremacist group with deeply anti-Semitic and anti immigrant beliefs. “But that’s his past. Everyone has a past,” Penner said. Counterprotesters, supported by the Socialist Coalition of North Georgia, who spoke at the event claimed the family- friendly advertisement for the rally was a “facade” in order to build a fascist movement. Penner said he got involved because he fought for and loves this country. “If Trump does not win this next election, there’s no telling where we’re gonna go,” he said. Standing in the middle of the square around noon, an hour before the rally was set to start, Daniel Wayne said he wanted to “see what all the buildup was about.” Living in Dahlonega much of his life, Wayne wore a black, sleeveless shirt reading “Gun-Toting Trump Supporter” See Rally 14A Dawson Co. High School unveils facility Dawson County welcomes autumn Jessica Taylor Dawson County News Sunflower enthusiasts stop by Fausett Farms for its Sept. 14 grand opening for the 2019 season. The fields offer several photo opportunities including tractors, hay and fall decorations. Greet the fall season with sunflowers at Fausett Farms INSIDE By Jessica Taylor jtaylor@dawsonnews.com Fausett Farms is officially open for the 2019 season with more than 900,000 sunflowers for fall enthusiasts to enjoy. Fausett Farms’ sunflowers have been a hit in Dawson County since 2011 when it welcomed more than 30 acres of golden sunflowers, though the fami ly farm has been operational since 1858. Surrounded by mountain scenery, Fausett Farms boasts close to one mil lion sunflowers and offers miles of horse riding trails, mule-drawn wagon rides, barbecue and local honey. Pets are welcome to enjoy the farm but must be on a leash. Admission is $5 per person. Kids ages 5 and under are free. Professional See more photos from Fausett Farms. | 3A photography is allowed at the farm for $35 per session. The farm is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week. Fausett Farms is at 1 1336 Hwy. 136 West in Dawsonville. By Jessica Taylor jtaylor@dawsonnews.com Dawson County High School officially unveiled its newest facility, the College and Career Academy, to the community Sept. 10 in a special ribbon cutting cere mony. “This facility’s possible - the Dawson County College and Career Academy is made possible - 100 percent by the com munity of Dawson County,” said Superintendent Damon Gibbs. The $7 million facility located adjacent to Dawson County High School’s main building was funded completely through ESPLOST. It closes out the last capital project of ESPLOST V. “I’m an old vocational teacher so this is a dream facility for me, but I’ve got to tell you, we’re preparing every child in this school system for a vocation,” Gibbs said. “It’s our hope that we graduate students college and career ready.” The 35,000 square foot facility houses the high school’s career, technical and education pathways with labs and class room space dedicated to business, mar keting, engineering, health science, crimi nal justice, science, early childhood edu cation and culinary arts. Space for a construction lab and an audio and visual studio were also built into the facility for future growth. Ground officially broke on the CCA Sept. 10, 2018 and the facility was com pleted by Carroll Daniel Construction in See CCA| 2A Annual lake cleanup effort removes 30 tons of trash Kenneth Hucks DCN Regional Staff Volunteers picked up an estimated 30 tons of trash from the shoreline of Lake Lanier on Saturday as part of the Lake Lanier Association’s 31st annual Shore Sweep. About a thousand volunteers showed up to 12 different sites to clean up trash, which often flows into the lake when storms pass through, Lake Lanier Association Executive Director Jennifer Flowers said. “The trash comes from either on-lake uses — like we have a lot of the larger dock floats that we do get — or it’s any thing within the Lanier watershed or the basin of Lanier,” Flowers said. “So all the rivers that feed into Lanier bring trash with them every time it rains. Any parking lot around this area that has trash in it — if that washes off, it’s gonna eventually end up in Lake Lanier.” As trash builds up, it can make an area not only unattractive but also become dangerous to wildlife as trash breaks down into smaller pieces. “It seems like it’s not a big deal, but as it gets to be microplastics or even Styrofoam breaking down — then it just ends up in the environment, and animals can efat it and that sort of thing,” Flowers said. “Many volunteers came just wanting to make Lake Lanier look its best,” Shanda Sexton, the executive director of Keep Hall Beautiful, said. Some came with local businesses but many were unaffiliated with a group. “Really it’s just something that they can get out here to do, and they like to be able to help within their community,” Sexton said of the volunteers. “A lot of them live in this area and they want to See Sweep 14A 0 9 0 9 9 Inside Volume 4, Number XX © 2019, Dawson County News Dawsonville, Georgia Church Events 3B Classifieds 7B Dear Abby 6B Deaths 2A Legals 8B Opinion 9A Sports 1B 5A Superintendent discusses ESPLOST ref erendum 8A Uncle Shucks opens for the 2019 season in a new location NOW CANCER CENTERS ACROSS GEORGIA By providing access to more cancer treatment centers, we're bringing expert care to more Georgians. That care is made possible by having the most board-certified medical oncologists of any community hospital network in the state—and it's helped establish us as top 2 in the nation among community cancer programs. 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