About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (July 7, 2021)
Dawsonville to host movie night event, Food Truck Friday. INSIDE, 5A DCN to host ‘Fall Media Day’ for Dawson High sports. SPORTS, 1B DawsonCountyNews WEDNESDAY I july 7,2021 Dawson News ► com dawsonville, GEORGIA $1.00 Woman arrested after police chase Suspect allegedly fled DUI charges with baby was captured after vehicle crash By Alexander Popp apopp@dawsonnews.com Police shot at a Dawsonville woman’s car last week as she allegedly fled an arrest on DUI charges at a fire station where she had stopped for directions in Habersham County. The suspect, later iden tified as Ashly Sophia Tolbert, 38, of Dawsonville, had stopped the evening of Tuesday, June 29, at the Cornelia Fire Department, where firefighters realized she matched the description of a DUI driver police were seeking, according to a Tolbert press release by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. “Cornelia Police officers responded to the fire department, and one officer conducted field sobriety tests on Tolbert. The offi cer told Tolbert she was under arrest for DUI. Tolbert drove away in her car,” the release states. She was also traveling with an infant in her vehicle, the GBI said. As Tolbert fled the scene, an officer with the Cornelia Police Department fired a shot at her vehicle’s tire, but when the car didn’t stop police pursued it until it struck another vehicle and was stopped. No injuries were reported from the shooting or the wreck, the release said. Tolbert has been booked into the Habersham County Detention Center and has been charged with reckless driving, hit and run, DUI, DUI child endangerment and aggravated assault. The GBI’s assistance has been requested to investigate the shoot ing, the release said, and the Georgia State Patrol will investi gate the wreck. ‘Summer Soar’ Photos by Ben Hendren Dawson County News A Dawson County student plays basketball with a school resource officer at Riverview Elementary School dur ing the "Summer Soar" summer school program in June 2021. Board discusses electric vehicle charging stations By Erica Schmidt eschmidt@dawsonnews.com During the July 1 meeting of the Dawson County Board of Commissioners, board members discussed the possibility of install ing electric vehicle charging stations in the county and approved an application from K.A.R.E. for Kids to use county-owned parking during this year’s Mountain Moonshine Festival. Dawson County Commission Chairman Billy Thurmond said that he, along with representatives from the city and the school system, recently got the chance to learn more about electric vehicles and the benefits associated with them. “I sat through a Zoom meeting that had to do with electric vehicles the other day,” Thurmond said. “They talked about the dif ferent electric vehicles and the different sav ings that were associated with some of those; and I think it’s worth the board and the departments taking a look at that to see exactly what’s out there, what the cost of it is and what the savings could be.” See Board 12A City Council OKs $5M ’21-22 budget School leaders call Dawson County summer school huge success Dawson County students learn in the classroom dur ing the "Summer Soar" summer school program in June 2021. By Erica Schmidt eschmidt@dawsonnews.com This June, the Dawson County School System held a three-week summer school, “Summer Soar” for over 150 local elementary school students, modeled after summer camp with activities and themes to make learning fun while fill ing student learning gaps created by the COVID-19 pandemic. The summer program took place at Riverview Elementary School and included students and teach ers from all four of the coun- ty’s elementary schools. According to Summer Soar Coordinator Tasha Hamil, this is the first year that all the county’s elementary schools have come together for one summer program. “This is the first time that we’ve ever done anything like this altogether; the schools traditionally have something for their kids over the summer but not like this so it’s been a big learning curve, but at the same time it’s been very successful,” Hamil said. “All the teachers and all the students coming together has been most ben eficial for us.” Fourth-grade teacher Beth Peck said that having stu dents and teachers from all the schools working toward a common goal created a spirit of unity and camarade rie between the separate schools. “It’s given us an opportu nity for all of the elementary schools to come together and form relationships with See Summer 14A By Erica Schmidt eschmidt@dawsonnews.com At the June 21 meeting of the Dawsonville City Council, council mem bers officially approved the city’s proposed 2021-22 budget of $5,390,489. Included in the total budget is $2,201,132 in general funding, which cov ers council and mayor salaries, salaries and benefits for city administration, planning and zoning and road department personnel, and city hall and city park maintenance. The remainder of the budget includes $1,886,825 in enterprise funding, which covers water and sewer personnel salaries and benefits as well as fees and supplies for those departments, $556,000 in SPLOST VII funding, $485,000 in capital outlay funding, $208,200 in garbage department funding, $29,400 in Downtown Development Authority (DDA) funding, $18,430 in cemetery funding and $5,502 in hotel-motel tax. See Budget 12A 0 9 0 9 9 4 Inside Volume 7, Number 25 © 2021, Dawson County News Dawsonville, Georgia Church Events 2B Classifieds 7B Dear Abby 6B Deaths 2A Legals 8B Opinion 7A Sports 1B Learn how you can help the Dawson County Humane Society. 6A How local man got into selling antiques and on ‘American Pickers’ > EXCELLENCE AT HEART IS BACK IN GAINESVILLE After over a year, a team of Georgia's top cardiologists are returning to care for you—right here in your neighborhood. Trust your heart to the experts of the Northside System. Visit us at northsidecvi.com/gainesville or call 404.962.6000 to schedule an appointment today. >EXCELLENCE Northside Hospital 1240 Jesse Jewell Parkway, Bldg. B, Unit 500, Gainesville, GA 30501 Allison Dupont MD, FSCAI, FACC Interventional Cardiology Mark Leimbach MD, FSCAI, FACC Interventional Cardiology Jeffrey Marshall MD, MSCAI, FACC Chief, Northside Flospital Cardiovascular Institute Pradyumna Tummala MD, FSCAI, FACC Interventional Cardiology
