About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2020)
Thrilling win starts Tigers’ new year SPORTS, 1B Popeyes eyes return in mid-January INSIDE, A4 DawsonCountyNews WEDNESDAY I JANUARY 8, 2020 DaWSOflNeWS >COnri DAWSONVULE, GEORGIA $1.00 Citizens hold 'quality of life' meeting Residents discuss development, industry By Joshua Demarest jdemarest@dawsonnews.com Dawson County citizens called a pub lic ‘quality of life’ meeting Saturday, Jan. 4, at the Dawson County Library, where constituents raised questions and held civil discourse with each other and two county commissioners who attended. “What we’ve got is a major communi cation problem between the Board of Commissioners and the citizens. Because we’re primarily a commuter county,” said Hugh Stowers, Jr., a lifelong resident of Dawson County who organized the meet ing. “That takes the communication away from the major voting block of the com munity because they can’t get to the meetings after work.” “The time they (the Board of Commissioners) hold the meetings, it starts at 4 o’clock until about 8 o’clock, something like that, and those people are trying to get home. If there’s a wreck, they can’t get home before 9 or 10 o’clock,” Stowers added. The purpose of the meeting was to let those citizens who may not be able to regularly attend commission meetings voice their opinion to any government officials who wanted to show up and their fellow residents. District 1 Commissioner Sharon Fausett and commission chairman Billy Thurmond attended the meeting. “What I saw was how deeply these people care about Dawson County,” said Commissioner Fausett, who represents District 1, a predominantly rural area of western Dawson County. “And to them, the quality of life equates with keeping the rural nature of the county.” A lot of the conversation at the meet ing revolved around the amount of development the county is seeing. Residents raised concerns and asked questions about the pace of growth, the See Meeting 15A Human Trafficking in Dawson Jessica Taylor Dawson County News Jennifer Robson, Director of Beautiful Feet, speaks to a community collaborative meeting about human traffick ing and her organization's mission and resources. What is it? How does it happen? Does it happen here? By Joshua Demarest jdemarest@dawsonnews.com Picture this: A fourteen-year-old girl is walking to catch up with her friends at the outlet mall. It’s dark outside, but the streetlights are on. The girl is on her phone, and doesn’t see the white van with the blacked-out windows pull up until she is being grabbed and shoved in. That’s what we imagine when we think about human trafficking in America. But according to statistics, snatch-and-grab attacks only represent about one percent of all trafficking sit uations. “I think the great delusion is just that,” said Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson at a Family Connection Community Collaborative Meeting on Jan. 7, where human trafficking was the topic. “We often think of traffick ing as grabbing people and throwing them into vans and stuff, and don’t get me wrong, the community is aware of that. . . . It’s the back doors. It’s the internet. It’s the social media. . . . And it seems like we’re totally ignoring that aspect of it. We’re more concerned with the white van than we are all these other things.” Not that it doesn’t happen. In late 2019, there were two stories here in Dawson County of girls being attacked or stalked in or near the outlets. But that only accounts for a tiny por tion of the human trafficking that does occur here in Dawson County and in north Georgia as a region. What is human trafficking? The Georgia Attorney General’s Office defines human trafficking as crimes that “focus on the act of com pelling or coercing a person's labor, services, or commercial sex acts; or using children under the age of 18 for commercial sex acts. The coercion can be subtle or overt, physical or psycho logical, but it must be used to coerce a victim into performing labor, services or commercial sex acts.” Human trafficking is big business in Georgia. With the world’s busiest airport located in Atlanta, all of Georgia has become a consistent hub for trafficking. In 2007, sex trafficking was estimated to be a $290 million industry in Atlanta. That was up 22% over the 2003 numbers four years earlier. Now, 13 years later, if growth has continued at the same rate, human trafficking could be bringing in nearly $500 million a year. And those numbers don’t account for the In Georgia alone, there were 375 cases of human trafficking reported in 2018. And as with all crime, the reported number is just the tip of the iceberg. See Trafficking 15A New federal, county vape ordinances now in effect By Joshua Demarest jdemarest@dawsonnews.com As of Jan. 1, the new county vape ordi nance is now in effect. It is joined by a new federal law that has increased the legal age to purchase tobacco products and vaping products that contain nicotine to 21. According to the county ordinance, it is now illegal to vape “within 300 feet of any church building, or on any property owned or leased to a church, other than in desig nated areas, if any,” or “within 600 feet of any school building, educational building, school grounds, or college campus, or on any property owned or leased to a public See Vape 15A Traffic stop yields $5,000 of meth By Joshua Demarest jdemarest@dawsonnews.com During a routine traffic stop, Dawson County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant Jason Hogan seized 56 grams of metham- phetamine, worth nearly $5,000. Hogan originally made the stop just before 2 a.m. Monday morning, Jan. 6 on Hwy. 53 when he noticed a car driving with only one functional headlight. During the encounter with the driver, Frances Emily Cheek of Homer, Hogan noticed what appeared to be a plastic bag sticking out from the driver’s side mirror. The bag contained 56 grams of meth- amphetamine, nearly two ounces. Cheek was charged with trafficking metham- phetamines, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, pos session of a controlled substance, posses sion of marijuana, possession of drug objects, head light requirements, and license to be carried and exhibited on demand. Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson commented on the bust, “I am proud of See Meth | A3 0 9 0 9 9 Inside Volume 4, Number 67 © 2019, Dawson County News Dawsonville, Georgia Church Events 3B Classifieds 7B Dear Abby 6B Deaths 2A Legals 8B Opinion 7A Sports 1B 3A LifeSouth blood drive comes to Dawsonville Public comment ends on Foothills Landscape Project LUNG BREAST COLORECTAL GYN PROSTATE BLADDER KIDNEY LEUKEMIA LYMPHOMA MULTIPLE MYELOMA PANCREAS MELANOMA By providing access to more cancer treatment centers, we're bringing expert care to more Georgians. 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