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Wednesday, January 15,2020
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 7A
The boats are back in town: Atlanta Boat Show returns
By Layne Saliba
DCN Regional Staff
The Atlanta Boat Show
is back on the water and
ready for another year.
The 58th-annual event,
scheduled for Jan. 16-19 at
the Georgia World
Congress Center and fea
turing 10 Gainesville busi
nesses, is back and bigger
than last year given the
Super Bowl isn’t in town
this time.
“There’s really some
thing for everyone,” said
Kevin Murphy, show man
ager. “There are fishing
boats, there are cruising
boats, there are high per
formance boats. So there is
really something for every
one.”
Murphy said there will
be about 700 boats on the
floor at this year’s show
and about 200 booths for
you to stop by.
“There’s lots of pon
toons, which seem to be
very popular on the lakes
and lots of center-console
fishing boats,” he said.
Like last year, many of
the same things will be
available for you to check
out: Boats and Brews,
Career Day, Kids Zone,
sailing seminars and plenty
of presentations. But new
this year is the Discover
Boating Experience.
“It’s a hub of a bunch of
different things for new
boaters,” Murphy said.
If you’re new to boating
or simply want to learn a
littie more about all the dif
ferent aspects of boating,
there’s plenty at the
Discover Boating
Experience for you.
Murphy said there will be
a boat care station that will
teach you how to keep
your boat looking and run
ning well, a conservation
station where you’ll learn
about National Marine
Sanctuaries and a product
innovation station to learn
about all the new gear and
technology in boating.
“All the late-breaking
technology that is broken
up in our industry on the
boat manufacturing, on the
engine manufacturing and
on the dealer level are all
revealed and displayed
there right under your
nose,” said Ben Studer,
manager at The Boat Shop
in Gainesville. “You can
not get a more front-row
experience than this
Atlanta Boat Show.”
And if you want you
want that front-row, real-
life action, the bass tub —
a 1,000-gallon fishing tank
— is back.
“Seminar speakers and
professional fishermen will
get up there and show you
how to cast into the tank
and you’ll see the fish
actually take a bite,”
Murphy said.
If you’d like to try your
hand at casting, grab a rod
and reel from the fishing
simulator.
“The simulator has a
large screen and you grab a
fishing pole and it pulls
against you like you’re
fishing and shows you how
to catch the big fish,”
Murphy said.
The Boat Shop, which
has been in Gainesville for
the past few years will be
making another trip to the
Atlanta Boat Show this
year. Studer said it’s a
good time for his shop and
all the others at the show to
gain some traction during
the winter.
“These shows stimulate
out-of-season sales for our
industry,” Studer said. “You
see the dealer, boat manu
facturer and engine manu
facturers come together and
discount items in order to
stimulate sales. So there is a
chance you can go to the
Atlanta Boat Show and
come to The Boat Shop’s
booth and see a price on a
unit that you will never see
again that year.”
Murphy said that’s a big
reason many people travel
to the show, but it also helps
to see all the products in
one place.
“It’s always beneficial to
go to the show and see all
the brands next to each
other,” Murphy said. “It
gives you a good compari
son, where if you go to the
dealership, you’re going to
see one or two brands. You
come to the show and
you’re going to see 20.”
But if you stop by The
Boat Shop’s booth, Studer
said he’s looking to offer a
personalized experience.
Even though there will be
many other dealers, you’ll
get the same treatment at
the show as you would in
the shop.
“The one thing that we
kind of capitalize on with
our outfit, so to speak, is
what a small family owned
operation we are,” Studer
said. “Our family orienta
tion delivers a front-end
experience nobody else can
duplicate.”
Whether you’re going to
the show to learn, look or
buy, Studer said it’s a once-
a-year show you don’t want
to miss.
“You have people go
down there that don’t even
buy boats,” Studer said.
“They go down there with
their families to see what
our industry is doing ...
You’re going to have fami
lies come together and just
take pictures in front of
these units and enjoy their
time together.”
FROM 1A
B0C
“We wanted to make
sure we gave out as much
information as possible to
our citizens,” Thurmond
said.
For Duren, she would
also like to see more
transparency between the
board of commissioners
and its citizens. If elected,
she plans to take a proac
tive approach in meeting
with citizens to provide
information and hear con
cerns.
“I’d like to do a town
hall meeting once a
month on a Saturday so
that citizens can come,
citizens that can’t make it
to the Thursday meet
ings,” Duren said. “I’d
like to do that so that I
can update the people on
a monthly basis and then
also they can ask ques
tions and raise concerns
so that I’m not just sitting
back waiting for them to
call me, a more proactive
approach.”
Duren plans to attend
the newly formed Quality
of Life meetings that take
place at the Dawson
County Library on the
first Saturday of each
month to continue hear
ing the thoughts and con
cerns of county residents.
Updating
Ordinances
Both Republican candi
dates also have said their
campaigns have a focus on
updating county ordinanc
es and looking at the com
prehensive plan to ensure
the future of Dawson
County is shaped in a way
that the citizens want.
Duren wants to look
more at the future land use
plan and go “back to the
drawing board on the
future land use plan so that
we can make it look like
the citizens’ vision.”
According to Duren,
only 11 percent of citizens
want a lot of development,
specifically residential
development.
“Our future land use
plan needs to reflect that,”
Duren said.
Thurmond also plans to
continue to look at the
county’s ordinances and
make appropriate updates
if he is reelected to a sec
ond term.
“Most of our ordinances
were 1990-something
models, early-2000s mod
els. We just did the resi
dential land use ordinances
... that hadn’t been updat
ed since 1998,” Thurmond
explained. “We want to
continue to do the updates
on our ordinances. We’ll
do a SPLOST VII which
the citizens will vote on in
November of this year.”
Part of looking at county
ordinances and the com
prehensive plan will be
planning for the future
growth that the county is
expected to see.
Growth and
Development
“The biggest thing is
Thurmond
managing growth. We
wanted to manage growth
to where we could keep
the beauty and everything
that we have here in
Dawson County,”
Thurmond said.
Thurmond
added that the
county recently
reapproved the
comprehensive
plan and received
a lot of citizen
feedback during
that process.
“We want the
growth to go where they
(the citizens) said they
wanted it to go and that’s
down in the 400 corridor
so we want to make sure
that we follow the wishes
of the people in reference
to managing growth and
doing those things,”
Thurmond said. “We
know we’re going to
grow. Everybody knows
that we will grow, and so
we want to make sure that
we’re doing that in a way
that is in line with what
the citizens have said.”
Duren, who is also
campaigning on a plat
form for responsible
future planning and
growth, wants to focus on
putting the citizens first
and addressing issues
such as infrastructure and
road conditions before
creating more residential
growth.
“We need to take care
of that before we chase
more residents,” Duren
said.
Her main concern is
managing the growth in
Dawson County, and she
feels other aspects of her
campaign tie into growth
management — such as
her concerns with the
expenses associated with
residential development
and the inability to add
enough commercial
growth to help offset the
residential costs, along
with the access to public
safety as the population
grows.
“We’re understaffed as
I understand now, and
we’re continuing to add.
We need to catch up, so
to speak, before we con
tinue to add residential,”
Duren said.
Expanding services
through the county such
as access to public safety
entities is Thurmond’s
concern as well.
“First and foremost, I
want to meet the service
needs of our citizens, and
that might be different for
each and every citizen,
but we’d have to look at it
in a holistic approach,”
Thurmond said. “What
we don’t want is for peo
ple to have to wait, espe
cially on public safety, for
a public service to come
to them, and my goal too
was to provide that good,
quality service through
out the entire county not
just in segments of it.”
Part of expanding ser
vices includes the con
struction of Fire Station 8
on Sweetwater Juno
Road, the expansion of
the Senior Center and the
new public works facility
as well as looking at a
second salary study to
look at ways to retain a
good, quality staff,
according to Thurmond.
Personal Lives
Duren moved to
Dawson County in
2009 with her hus
band Michael and
their five-year-old
son Luke. She was
inspired to run for
the chairman posi
tion after being a
vocal proponent to
the Etowah Village
development proposed to
the board of commission
ers in 2019. She attends
Amicalola Baptist Church
and runs the blog For the
Love of Dawson where
she provides maps and
information on upcoming
developments in Dawson
County.
“I just want to
preserve the quali
ty of life and I
want to do what I
can to protect that
sense of communi
ty that we have,”
Duren said. “It’s
just that feeling of
community that is
not easily replicat
ed. We have that here in
Dawson County and we
need to protect that.”
Thurmond is a Dawson
County native who has
worked in the county his
Duren
entire adult life. Prior to
serving the past three
years as chairman,
Thurmond spent 35 years
in public safety and served
in a dual role in
the parks and rec
reation department
for 17 years. He
has 33 years of
experience in man
agement, budget
ing and planning.
“For the last 40
years, I’ve gotten
up every morning
with the goal of
making Dawson County
better for our citizens,
whether I was in public
safety or whether now as a
chairman of the board of
groove on.
commissioners. I want
things to be better. I want
them to have the things
that they need and do that
in a financially responsi
ble way,” Thurmond said.
“I love Dawson County
and I love the people of
Dawson County. I’ve
always worked hard for
the county and if they
bless me with the opportu
nity to be their commis
sioner again for four years
I’ll continue to do that
because I want what’s best
for Dawson County. I
always have. I always
will.”
The candidates will be
on the Republican primary
ballot on May 19.
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