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DawsonCountyNews
WEDNESDAY I SEPTEMBER 1,2021 DaWSOflNeWS ^COITI DAWSONVILLE, GEORGIA $1.00
2 district council seats up for vote
Illg will run against former councilman Sosebee in Post 2; French faces McCracken in Post 4
By Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
Two district post seats for
Dawsonville city council will be
up for election this November.
After all four candidates quali
fied during the qualification peri
od from Aug. 16-19, advanced
and absentee voting will begin
on Oct. 12, with election day
being Nov. 2. This Municipal
General Election is for city of
Dawsonville voters only.
Post 2 and Post 4 are both up
for election. Post 2 is currently
held by William Illg, who was
sworn into the position in May
2021. Illg has been a Dawson
County resident since 2019 and
works as an Investment Advisor
and in ministry. Illg had no
intentions of becoming a politi
cian, but said he learned the ben
efits in his short-tenure and
wants to continue to expand.
“The learning curve with
being on city council is a big
one, but everyone within the city
has been such a tremendous
help,” Illg said. “The best part of
being on city council is being an
advocate for our citizens within
our community. I’m excited to
earn the trust and would love to
continue to hold my seat on city
council.”
Illg will run against former
long-time city council member,
Mike Sosebee. Sosebee held a
position from 1980-2004 and
again from 2012-2017. Sosebee
hopes to return to the position to
once again contribute to his
community.
“While I was serving on the
city council, we accomplished
great things for the city of
Dawsonville,” Sosebee said.
“Some of the accomplishments
were grants for the Main Street
Park and the Farmer’s Market.
I’m looking forward to accom
plishing greater things for the
citizens of Dawsonville. It would
be my honor to serve you again.”
Post 4 is currently held by
incumbent Mark Wade French,
who was elected into the role in
2017. French grew up in
Dahlonega and has lived in
Dawsonville for 12 years. He
previously spent 18 years work
ing for Fumpkin County
Government in the finance
department as the budgeting
grant analyst.
“It has been an honor to serve
the residents of the City of
Dawsonville,” French said. In
the time I have served on the
City Council, much has been
accomplished. These accom
plishments range from Main
Street Park and the Farmers
Market to much needed infra
structure improvements. Should
the residents of the City of
Dawsonville continue to place
their faith in me in the upcoming
election, I pledge to remain com
mitted to their service.”
Opposing French for the seat
is Jamie McCracken.
McCracken serves as the
Service Manager for Joe Powell
and Associates, an industrial
equipment supplier in
Alpharetta, Ga. McCracken
lives in Gold Creek.
‘It was just flawless 5
Photo submitted by Amanda Duckworth for DCN
Local auto shop owners recently rebuilt and upgraded Kaleb Duckworth's truck in honor of the late 19-year-old,
complete with brand new personalized seats embroidered with a memorial message.
Shop owners, volunteers rebuild Duckworths truck in his honor
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
Several local auto shop owners and
volunteers came together Saturday,
Aug. 21 to rebuild and upgrade Kaleb
Duckworth’s truck in honor of the
19-year-old who tragically lost his life
in July following a fight at the Dawson
County Applebee’s restaurant.
Brad Ash, owner of Forsyth County-
based Moonlight Performance and
Auto, said that he’d seen several posts
on social media about Duckworth.
Ash, who does a lot of performance
upgrades and repairs on Chevrolet
trucks, had never met Duckworth or
his family members but learned
through social media how much the
teenager had loved his truck, so he
reached out to Duckworth’s father,
Tommy, with an offer.
“I just kept seeing it pop around on
the internet when all of this was hap
pening,” Ash said. “I saw the truck
meet they had and Tommy and
Amanda were in Kaleb’s truck and I
said ‘OK, he’s got a Chevrolet,’ so I
wrote Tommy that ‘Hey, if there’s
anything needing done to the truck, I’d
like to do it.’ He said that would be
great because that’s something Kaleb
had always wanted.”
While Ash did not know what spe
cific repairs and additions Duckworth
would have wanted, he had spent
enough time with trucks that he knew
what someone Duckworth’s age liked
most. So he told Tommy Duckworth
that he would love to donate the labor
and parts to fix up the truck his son
had loved so much.
Tommy Duckworth and his wife,
Amanda, were touched by the offer
See Duckworth 14A
Pay raise for
public works,
police OK’d
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
At the Aug. 19 meeting of the Dawson
County Board of Commissioners, board
members voted to approve pay raises for
the county’s law enforcement, E911, EMT
and public works employees.
In a presentation at the board’s Aug. 5
work session, Sheriff Jeff Johnson present
ed data to the board members, showing that
the Dawson County law enforcement per
sonnel are paid much lower than those of
surrounding counties. Because of this, the
Dawson County Sheriff’s Office had trou
ble finding and retaining its employees.
According to Johnson, having such a
high turnover rate was a waste of the coun
ty’s money in training potential employees
because new employees come in, go
See Pay 14A
Virus cases down
for students, rise
for faculty, staff
Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
The number of people who were absent
from school on Monday, Aug. 30 due to
reported positive COVID-19 cases in the
Dawson County school system is 79; 57
students and 22 faculty and staff members.
After having 85 students, staff and facul
ty absent from school last week on
Monday, Aug. 23, the number had been
trending down all week, but spiked again
on Friday, Aug. 27 when 21 faculty and
staff members reported a positive case.
The number of students absent from
school on Monday, Aug. 30 is the lowest
amount of absences since Aug. 20, but the
highest number of faculty and staff absent
See C0VID | 5A
0
9 0 9 9 4
Inside
Volume 7 Number 32
© 2021, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Church Events
2A
Classifieds
6B
Dear Abby
5B
Deaths
2A
Legals
7B
Opinion
7A
Sports
1B
5A Feed the
Hungry to
move ahead
full speed on
Christmas
5A DCHS alum
accomplishes
academic
dreams
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