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
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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
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