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4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, October 13,2021
Jacob Smith Dawson County News
The three City Council election candidates who were in attendance for the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce political forum: from left to right-William
lllg, Mark Wade French and Jamie McCracken.
Biggest takeaways for the Dawsonville
Municipal Election Candidate Forum
Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
The Dawson County
Chamber of Commerce
hosted three of the four
Dawsonville City Council
candidates in a one-hour
political forum at Dawson
County Middle School on
Tuesday, Oct. 5.
Chamber of Commerce
president Mandy Power
hosted Post 2 incumbent
William lllg, Post 4
incumbent Mark Wade
French and his opponent
for the Post 4 seat, Jamie
McCracken. Mike
Sosebee was not in atten
dance.
Topics discussed at the
event were ones such as
government consolida
tion, maintaining Main
Street Park, the economic
development of the city
and improving the infra
structure and traffic.
lllg and McCracken
said they would not vote
to approve the consolida
tion of the county and
city government, but
French said he would
wait and hear more
details on the process
before committing to one
side or the other.
“Until you hire an out
side, independent party to
explain what the benefits
are to you, the detriments
are to you and you
become more familiar
with the things we proba
bly never even thought
of...depending on a study,
if we were able to do one,
I may not be in favor of
it,” French said. “But
until we spend the money,
we really don’t know the
pros and cons of doing
so.”
Something lllg said he
prided himself on during
his time with the city
council was the hiring of
two additional police offi
cers and the installation
of security cameras at
Main Street Park. French
was also on the council
during those two votes,
and said he knew the city
would need to “be cre
ative” in figuring out how
to continue the safety and
cleanliness of the park.
McCracken said his
family and he had trav
eled to other cities to go
to areas such as Main
Street Park before it’s
conception and saw great
value in having an area
such as for the communi
ty.
“One of the interesting
things about the park is
that it was part of the last
master plan,” McCracken
said. “Along with the
farmer’s market, those are
the crowning jewels of
the city. Three things are
needed for the park: it
needs to be safe, it needs
to be clean and it needs to
be relevant. Keeping it
relevant is just going to
have to be a focus of the
city. The money has to be
allocated yearly to main
tain it constantly.”
French said he believes
the best way for down
town Dawsonville to see
economic improvement
would be to work with
the Georgia Department
of Transportation to make
a bypass to “enable the
city to get heavy traffic.”
McCracken said he
believes small improve
ments, like landscaping,
can be made now while
conversations between
different government
entities occur.
lllg, a small business
owner himself, spoke
with great enthusiasm on
the economic develop
ment of the city.
“It takes a lot of money
to build a bypass,” lllg
said. “We need to figure
out how to get the money
to do it. If we can’t build
a bypass, then we have to
figure out how in the
world do we relocate
downtown? How do we
make the land acquisi
tions that we need to
make in order to get our
businesses in a position
where they can market
sufficiently to the citi
zens?”
The end of the forum
consisted of each candi
date detailing their top
three biggest priorities
during their time with the
city council:
Post 2 incumbent
William lllg
• Hiring someone in
charge of Economic
Development in the
city: Understands
how to rebuild cit
ies financially
• Marketing down
town Dawsonville
at the North
Georgia Premium
Outlets: Get people
the six miles down
the road to down
town
• Installing an amphi
theater at Main
Street Park: Live
music, plays and
shows
Post 4 incumbent
Mark Wade French
• Mending fences
with the Dawson
County Board of
Commissioners:
had financial argu
ments in the past
• Adding a clear ser
vice delivery area
for the sewer
authority: City
growth will cause
issues
• Working with
GDOT to get a
bypass to direct
traffic to downtown
Dawsonville: brings
people to down
town
Post 4 candidate
Jamie McCracken
• Revisiting ‘perpet
ual challenges’:
Negotiating with
landowners in the
city
• Renewing a
Master Plan for the
city: Current one
was written in
2013
• Building on the
current successes
of Main Street
Park: executing on
different entertain
ment ideas
• Early and absentee
voting starts
Tuesday, Oct. 12
with the in-person
election being held
on Tuesday, Nov.
2.
Lawmakers to renew debate over legalized gambling
Dave Williams
Capitol Beat News Service
ATLANTA - While the
General Assembly gears up for
next month’s once-a-decade
redrawing of Georgia’s legisla
tive and congressional district
maps, lawmakers also will soon
renew a much more frequent
debate over legalized gambling.
Bills that could lead to casi
nos, pari-mutuel betting on
horse racing and/or sports bet
ting in the Peach State will be
on the table when the 2022 leg
islative session convenes in
January for the second year of a
two-year term.
Proposals to legalize gam
bling in Georgia in some form
have come up virtually every
year for the last decade, with
most of the bills dedicating part
of the proceeds to the hugely
popular HOPE Scholarships
and pre-kindergarten programs.
But after years of failing to
gain traction, the effort gained
momentum during the 2021
session.
The state Senate passed a
constitutional amendment last
March calling for a statewide
referendum to legalize sports
betting. While Senate
Resolution 135 failed to reach
the floor of the Georgia House
of Representatives, it marked
the first time a gambling bill
had made it through either leg
islative chamber.
“It looks more encouraging
than ever,” said state Rep. Ron
Stephens, R-Savannah, a long
time supporter of legalizing
gambling in Georgia.
Sports betting is a relatively
recent player in the debate over
legalizing gambling. States
other than Nevada weren’t
allowed to legalize sports bet
ting until a 2018 U.S. Supreme
Court ruling in a New Jersey
case.
Since that decision opened up
the country, 26 states have
launched sports betting, accord
ing to the American Gaming
Association. Another five states
have passed sports betting leg
islation that has yet to take
effect.
Georgia’s sports betting leg
islation is modeled after a law
in Tennessee, which permits
online betting only.
A coalition of Atlanta’s pro
sports teams - including the
Braves, Falcons, Hawks and
Atlanta United - is backing the
idea. They want to use sports
betting to gin up fan engage
ment, said Rep. Alan Powell,
R-Hartwell, another supporter
of legalized gambling.
“They want folks sitting in
stadiums betting on their
phones,” he said.
But Powell is not a fan of
legalizing sports betting in iso
lation. App-based betting on
sports wouldn’t raise nearly the
revenue the state could bring in
from bricks-and-mortar casi
nos, he said.
“There are no jobs created,”
Powell said. “There’s a right
way and a wrong way to do
this.”
Stephens agrees. While he
introduced a standalone sports
betting bill during this year’s
legislative session, he now
favors combining sports bet
ting, casinos and horse racing
into a single constitutional
amendment to put before
Georgia voters.
“Let the people decide: Do
we want to gamble or do we
not?” Stephens said. “That’s
the cleanest way to do it.”
Indeed, the casino industry is
betting on Georgia in a big
way. At least 32 paid lobbyists
are working for passage of
legalized gambling in Georgia,
according to reports filed with
the Georgia Government
Transparency and Campaign
Finance Commission.
Those lobbyists were hired
by 10 mostly high-profile gam
ing companies, including
Caesars Entertainment, Hard
Rock, Wynn Resorts and
Bally’s.
They and other supporters of
casinos are pitching Georgia’s
lack of legalized gambling as
millions of dollars in tax reve
nue and billions of dollars in
economic impact lost to neigh
boring states.
Rick Lackey, an Atlanta-
based real estate developer
behind several proposed casino
resorts scattered across
Georgia, points to the growth of
casino projects across the
Southeast.
Harrah’s Cherokee Casino
Resort in Cherokee, N.C., just
opened a $330 million expan
sion that includes a new 725-
room hotel and convention cen
ter. A new casino off Interstate
85 in Kings Mountain, N.C.,
that just opened in July is
already planning to double its
gaming machines to 1,000.
Alabama boasts three Indian
gaming casinos. And the
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel &
Casino in Tampa is pulling in
more revenue than all of the
casinos in Mississippi com
bined, Lackey said.
“If you go in any of those
casinos, you’ll see a lot of
Georgia license plates,” he said.
Supporters of legalizing gam
bling in Georgia also point to
numerous polls showing the
idea is popular with voters.
But obstacles to gambling
legislation remain, including
the difficult-to-surmount two-
thirds majorities of the state
House and Senate necessary to
pass a constitutional amend
ment.
Faith-based groups oppose
legalized gambling as a threat
to families and a magnet for
crime. Religious organizations
traditionally have held great
sway under the Gold Dome,
particularly with lawmakers
representing districts in rural
Georgia.
Rep. Billy Mitchell, D-Stone
Mountain, chairman of the
House Democratic Caucus,
said he heard the same argu
ments during the 1990s before
Georgia created a state lottery
and dedicated part of the pro
ceeds to the new HOPE pro
gram.
“I don’t think today anyone
can say the Georgia Lottery
has been bad for the state,” he
said.
Stephens said legalizing
gambling today offers the
same opportunity to boost
funding for education that con
vinced lawmakers to support
the lottery nearly 30 years ago.
“Some of the folks who vote
‘no’ on this are going to be
voting against $100 million [a
year] for HOPE and pre-K,” he
said. “It don’t think they want
to do that.”
This story is available
through a news partnership
with Capitol Beat News
Service, a project of the
Georgia Press Educational
Foundation.