Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current, September 01, 2021, Image 1
Tigers unable to stop Flowery Branch in 31 -7 loss. SPORTS, 1B Uncle Shucks Corn Maze to kick off 20th year in operation on Sept. 11. INSIDE, 3A 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 'EXCELLENCE AT HEART Alter ■■j'jBr t. Lsdi'nul'ljKLijjiJ'iCi^; lji :J ubg sti dit ' nL.in ii"£ care fix you i .lj't. hir* in yD.r nuiyhixjrhcoii Try%t ypur hnarl lc> I I'^c (‘xik -- !■; i/1hr hrrthrcidfl System Visit usacnarthudmi corr'jjn nMiMi lr or r.T.I 4DA4£iZ.!i[XKI ro wicrulr an nppDintmi'ittnd.iy. 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