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DawsonCountyNews
WEDNESDAY I SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 DaWSOflNeWS ^COITI DAWSONVILLE, GEORGIA $1.00
'Duckworth gag order revoked'
Motion filed in Roberts murder case rescinded before November trial
Staff Reports
Three-and-a-half weeks after
defense attorneys for Daniel
Lee Roberts asked for a gag
order in his case, they walked
back their request, according to
official court documents filed
on Sept. 14.
Twenty-year-old Roberts has
been accused of fatally injuring
19-year-old Kaleb
Duckworth amidst an
altercation at the
Dawson County
Applebee’s in July.
Roberts was charged
with aggravated battery,
aggravated assault and
two counts of murder.
The gag order was
filed on Aug. 27. It would have
Roberts
assert
barred both the state and
the defendant from
communicating with
members of the media
and the general public,
out of concern for
potential jurors being
influenced against
Roberts.
“Defendant would
that a ‘gag’ order is
appropriate in this case because
of the inordinate amount of
publicity that has been given
including but not limited to
television, newspaper, non-stop
social media posts, as well as a
billboard placed on Georgia
Highway 400 stating ‘#justice-
forkalebduck’,” the motion
said. “The clear purpose of this
billboard is to influence the
potential jurors in the
Defendant’s two pending
cases.”
At 8:50 a.m. last Tuesday, the
state filed a brief and citation
supporting its motion to deny
the defense’s gag order upon
the case parties. That document
referred to the order as a “prior
restraint” on free speech that
was “too broad.”
The prosecution’s motion
See Order 13A
‘A Kind SouF
Photos courtesy Emily Varca with Hippyrose Photography
Above, below: Runners at the 4th annual Race for Grace, in honor of Grace Sheer, who lost her life in a car
accident in 2018, during her senior year at Dawson County High School.
BOE ‘cautiously
optimistic’ about
COVID numbers
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
During the Dawson County Board of
Education’s Sept. 14 meeting, board
members were given an update on the
district’s number of positive COVID-19
cases and the encouraging turn that the
numbers have taken since the beginning
of the school year.
According to Superintendent Damon
Gibbs, the number of total positive cases
in the district have gone down in the past
couple of weeks.
“I don’t want to be too overly confi
dent by any means, but we have seen a
downturn in the number of cases that
we’re dealing with at the district level,”
Gibbs said during the meeting. “I can tell
you that as of today, we have 27 positive
student cases and 5 staff cases; that’s
down significantly from where we were.”
Since the system began posting the
numbers, the total cases fluctuated up
and down but have now gone down from
a total of 90 cases on Aug. 20 to 32 cases
on Sept. 14.
Gibbs said that not only have the
Race for Grace brings a spark of color in memory of Dawson native
Staff reports
The fourth annual ‘Race for Grace’
occured Saturday, Sept. 18 at Rock
Creek Park, in honor of Grace Sheer,
who lost her life in a car accident in
2018, during her senior year at
Dawson County High School.
All proceeds from the race are being
donated to the Grace Sheer
Scholarship Fund. The Grace Sheer
Scholarship Fund will provide a schol
arship for one female athlete at
Dawson County High School who
exemplifies Grace through her work
ethic, kindness, and dedication to not
only athletics, but also academically
and with her outstanding character.
This year’s race was a color run.
Runners could attend the race at Rock
Creek Park or attend virtually, by
sending their times in off of a fitness
app.
Sheer lived in Dawson County her
whole life and was a member of the
See Grace 12A
See COVID 12A
Mom charged with
four drug offenses
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
One Dawsonville mother faces four
narcotics charges after
she was arrested at her
residence two weeks ago
following an alleged sale
of methamphetamine.
Heather Ann Cleveland
was taken into custody at
her apartment near down
town Dawsonville on
Sept. 9 while her four-
year-old son was there.
Cleveland was charged with possession
of less than one ounce of marijuana, traf
ficking in methamphetamine or amphet
amine, drug-related objects and reckless
conduct.
See Cleveland 12A
Cleveland
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9 0 9 9 4
Inside
Volume 7, Number 34
© 2021, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Church Events
2B
Classifieds
6B
Dear Abby
5B
Deaths
2A
Legals
7B
Opinion
7A
Sports
1B
3A Planning
commission
denies
Perimeter Rd.
annexation
5A Father-son duo
arrested for
thefts
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