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4B I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, January 15,2020
FROM 1B
Girls basketball
Tigers on an impressive 17-5 run to
give Dawson County a 42-19 lead
headed into halftime.
East Hall briefly challenged the
Lady Tigers with nine unanswered
points to open the second half, but
Townley quickly re-established her
self under the net, preventing a sus
tained run from the Lady Vikings.
A pair of three-pointers, one each
from junior Maddie Anglin and fresh
man Kirklyn Porter, rallied Dawson
County and the Lady Tigers regained
the momentum to finish the quarter
with a commanding 26-point lead.
With such a large lead to work
with, Coach Sweat emptied the Lady
Tigers’ bench, giving the younger
members of his roster an opportunity
to gather some valuable game experi
ence.
Seizing the chance, sophomore
Avery Herring demonstrated excel
lent ball-handling skills with a nifty
drive through a pair of defenders for
two-points, while freshman Rees
Moore displayed her accuracy from
the free-throw line as the Lady Tigers
closed out the 63-40 victory.
“I try to get them as much experi
ence as possible,” Sweat said.
“Hopefully, it will come in handy
towards the end of the season and
into tournament play.”
Townley led the team in scoring
with 18 points, falling just shy of
double-double numbers with nine
rebounds. Anglin and fellow junior
Mariah Benson rounded out the top
scorers with 10 points apiece on the
night.
On the road in Lannin County on
Jan. 10, the game against the Lady
Rebels played out in almost the
exactly opposite fashion as the Lady
Tigers fell just short in their second
regional game of the week.
Sloppy passing by the Lady Tigers
led to five turnovers in the opening
minutes of the game giving the Lady
Rebels a quick 9-0 lead. After the ini
tial rally both teams struggled for
points, but Lannin County managed
to double up Dawson County 15-6 by
the end of the first.
Dawson County began to find some
momentum in the second period, but
still found more iron than net and
went into halftime trailing by a score
of 26-14.
Returning to the floor after the
break, the Lady Tigers finally began
to look true to themselves as they
controlled the pace of the game and
ratcheted up the pressure on the Lady
Rebels.
Lor the first time in the game,
Dawson County outscored their oppo
nent and whittled the lead down to a
manageable four points heading into
the fourth period.
The final eight minutes of the game
was a tightly fought battle that saw
the two teams exchange the lead mul
tiple times before the buzzer. Dawson
County fought back to gain their first
lead of the game with slightly more
than four minutes remaining.
The Lady Rebels responded with an
accurate outside game that featured
some of their most accurate shooting
of the night, and took the lead back
with a beautiful three-pointer from
senior Megan Holt.
Despite outscoring the Lady Rebels
in the final stanza and nearly dou
bling their own score, the Lady
Tigers’ rally fell just short and the
buzzer sounded on a final score of
54-53 in favor of Lannin County.
“As I have said many times before,
you have to be ready to play every
night in our region or you will get
beat,” Sweat said. “Unfortunately,
that was the case tonight.”
Lor the second game in a row,
Townley led the Lady Tigers in scor
ing with 24 points. Porter was the
only other Lady Tiger to hit double
digits with 17 points in the contest.
The loss broke a three-way tie for
first place in region 7-AAA, dropping
Dawson County into second place
with a record of 5-2 in the region and
11-7 overall.
The Lady Tigers had the opportuni
ty to move back into first when they
hosted the Greater Atlanta Christian
Spartans (9-9, 5-1) on Jan. 14.
Results were unavailable as of press
time.
Welcome to Mayberry
RONDARICH
Columnist
Andy Griffith was born
in Mt. Airy, N.C., a town
near the Virginia line. Lor
much of his life, he denied
that Mayberry was based
on the place where he grew
up. However, near the end
of his years, he relented in
his denial.
The town of Mt. Airy, though, has
never wavered in its devotion to Andy
with such evidence as: It hosts an annual
fall festival called Mayberry Days where
folks connected to the show attend while
tens of thousands of visitors crowd the
town; the road leading in is called the
Andy Griffith Parkway (he was there
when it opened in 2002); Main Street is
scattered with stores such as Lloyd’s
Barber Shop, the Blue Bird Dinner,
Snappy Lunch, Walker’s Soda Lountain
and Wally’s Service which supplies
squad car tours of the historic spots per
taining to the show — in a Lord Galaxie
500 just like Sheriff Taylor’s car. The
tour, which sells out regularly, includes
a drive-by of Andy Griffith’s childhood
home, a simple white-clapboard house
on a quiet street just a stone’s throw
from downtown.
There’s also the astoundingly well
done Andy Griffith Museum (but we’ll
talk about that in next week’s column).
When I visited, I turned my car from
Andy Griffith Parkway onto Rockford,
heading toward my hotel. I had passed
Pilot Mountain a few miles back, obvi
ously the inspiration for the town of Mt.
Pilot. Near the hotel, an oversized bill
board featuring Sheriff Taylor, Barney,
and Opie loomed advertising the show’s
daily appearance on the MEtv Network
proclaiming: ANDY’S HOME.
The lobby of the Hampton Inn, the
town’s best hotel, features a shaky
Andy Griffith signature framed from
his elderly years as well as other
Mayberry framings and a rack of
sketches of the various show actors —
and Elvis — for sale at $20 each. This
is common. In the windows of down
town shops are photographs, particular
ly of beloved Barney Life and mer
chandise galore. The town proudly
refers to itself as both Mt. Airy and
Mayberry. It has become a cottage
industry that supports many people
and, to all its citizen, is an association
of which they are rightfully very proud.
Who wouldn’t want to
live in the town that
inspired Mayberry?
After I checked into the
hotel (Tink, to his regret,
had to miss the adventure
because of a business trip
to Los Angeles) I went
downtown and wandered about, feeling
fully that I was back in the 1960s, living
in black and white.
I discovered a music store owned by
gospel great James Easter. The Easter
Brothers, I didn’t know, are from Mt.
Airy. They co-wrote the standard,
“Thank you, Lord, Lor Your Blessings
On Me”.
In a small courtyard on the Thursday
evening, a dozen men with guitars, man
dolins, fiddles and banjos gathered and
played bluegrass and gospel as the sun
dropped. I stopped to enjoy the music. A
young man with thick blonde hair and
bright blue eyes was walking a giant
dog or, rather, the dog was walking him.
I laughed. “Every one in town has
BIG dogs,” I had already seen five or six
the size of a half-grown calf.
“This isn’t my dog,” he said, drawing
to a stop. “I’m walkin’ him for a girl.”
“It must be a girl that you’re interest
ed in.”
He grinned. “Yeah. I thought this’d
get me in good.”
“Did you grow up here?” I asked,
after explaining that I’m a writer.
He nodded. “I did. And it was a great
place to grow up. I couldn’t wait to get
out, though, and experience the big city.
When I got out of school, I went to
Raleigh and then I moved to Tampa for
a time.”
Thoughtfully, he looked around at the
musicians and around the shops on
Main Street. “Then, I couldn’t wait to
get back.” He smiled. “Who wouldn’t
want to live here?”
I agree.
(This is the second in a four part
series on the legendary Andy Griffith
Show. Next week, we visit the museum
that honors Andy and his show.)
Ronda Rich is the best-selling author of Let
Me Tell You Something. Visit www.rondar-
ich.com to sign up for her free weekly
newsletter.
Accounts Payable Technician Sara Beacham was recognized as the
December Employee of the Month, Employee of the Lourth Quarter and
Employee of the Year at the Jan. 6, 2020 City council meeting. She was nom
inated by her peers for the Employee of the Month award due to the outstand
ing job of handling and overseeing all aspects of the annual Christmas Tree
Lighting Celebration. Beacham was also selected by a number of her fellow
employees and presented the Employee of the Lourth Quarter award for her
hard work and dedication. She not only performs her accounts payable
responsibilities, she also has been considered an “administrative jack-of-all-
trades” as well as the “creative dynamo,” due to her performance level, cus
tomer service, vision and coordinating all of the Lriday Night Lood Truck
Nights and special events. Beacham is a tremendous asset to the City of
Dawsonville and was chosen as the 2019 City of Dawsonville Employee of
the Year. Pictured from left are Council member Caleb Phillips, Council mem
ber John Walden, Mayor Mike Eason, Sara Beacham, Council member
Stephen Tolson and Council member Mark Lrench.
Photo for the Dawson County News
King Crossword
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Everywhere
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1 Cleans the
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Surround
blonde
floors
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Attachments
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Plaything
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© 2020 King Features Synd., Inc.
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