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SPORTS
DawsonNewscom
Wednesday, December 8, 2021
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Family donates money from haunted trail
Backyard attraction raises $4K for church food bank
Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
Dawsonville man Robert Still,
along with his wife and in-laws,
started doing a haunted trail for
friends and family in their backyard
around four years ago.
The amount of work to put every
thing together was a lot, according to
Still, so if he were going to continue
doing it, he wanted to make sure it
went to a good cause.
Still works for the Forsyth County
fire department and both his wife and
mother-in-law are nurses, so donat
ing time and resources to do some
thing for others was not out of the
ordinary for them.
As year two rolled around, Still
raised probably about $700 and gave
that money to the Dawsonville Food
Lion to distribute to food boxes for a
local food bank.
This year, Still’s donations were up
to $1,600 just from his friends and
family that were invited to see the
trail. In total, the haunted trail has
raised around $4,000 for the food
bank associated with the Soul Filling
Station church in Dawsonville.
“It was a good time and it was a lot
of work,” Still said. “I wouldn’t stay
dedicated to it if we weren’t doing
something positive for it. It’s pretty
rewarding to have fun and do a good
thing. To turn around and feed peo
ple in need and have a good time
with it.”
The money has paid for nearly
1,000 food boxes to feed locals in
need around the holiday season.
Robert Still
(left) with
his son
and father-
in-law after
donating
this year's
money to
Food Lion
from their
private,
haunted
trail.
Photo submit
ted to the
Dawson County
News
Help fill a need in community
Erica Jones Dawson County News
Dawson County EMS personnel, volunteer firefighters and prospective volunteers gathered at Station 7 on
Dec. 2 for an open house and information session about the county's volunteer firefighter program.
Dawson County Fire recruiting volunteer firefighters
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
Have you ever wondered
what volunteer firefighters do
and what goes into becoming
one? During the Dawson
County Fire Department’s
recent volunteer firefighter
open house event, anyone
interested in it was invited to
come to one of the county’s
fire stations, meet the men
and women who are volun
teer firefighters for the coun
ty, and learn what is involved
in the incredibly important
job.
Captain Randy Edwards,
the volunteer coordinator for
Dawson County Fire and
Emergency Services, said
that in the day-to-day life of a
volunteer firefighter, he and
the other volunteers can be
found responding to many
kinds of calls and helping
with a myriad of tasks.
“We do a lot of other stuff
besides the search and rescue
and the fires and the medical
calls,” Edwards said. “We
also help out the fire marshal
with public safety and educa
tion, we help out at the
Moonshine Festival, public
safety and smoke detectors.”
Volunteer firefighters are
provided with the training
necessary to do the job well,
and can choose to advance as
far as they want within the
program. According to
Edwards, this can range from
filling the role of a support
firefighter all the way up to
moving on from the volun
teer program to a career fire
fighter.
“The first step is a support
firefighter class which is
about an 8-week class, and
then after that people can
decide if they wanna go to
the next step but they can
also stay as a support fire
fighter — they can go on and
do as much as they want,”
Edwards said. “We have a
feeder program where we
also feed folks out into the
career side; so you can come
try it out and we’ll provide
the training and you can see
if it’s something that you’re
cut out for.”
Barbara Roberts is a sup
port firefighter who said that,
while she doesn’t go directly
into the fires herself, she
serves the important role of
helping out the ones who do.
“Support firefighters go
and help the firefighters; for
instance they get parched
from the fire and the heat so
we’ll bring them water,
switch out the air packs if
they’re empty, or roll hoses at
the end,” Roberts said. “You
can start out as a support fire
fighter, and then there’s more
training to be a volunteer
firefighter, more training to
move up to the next step,
there’s always training to
keep learning.”
Edwards said that the vol
unteer firefighters are trained
two times a month, and that
they can respond to as many
calls or work as many hours
as they want to in their roles.
“Most of us have full-time
jobs and we have other things
going on, so sometimes we
respond from our house,
sometimes we’re volunteer
ing a shift at a station and we
volunteer from there, some
times we respond from the
volunteer stations, or some
times we’re in our car,”
Edwards said. “So we have a
lot of flexibility on riding at
stations, working at the vol
unteer stations, or running
calls from your home.”
Currently there are 22 vol
unteer firefighters in the
county, and two fire stations,
Station 4 and Station 5,
which are volunteer stations.
Captain Denny Blackwell is
the head of Station 5 and has
been serving as a volunteer
firefighter for 30 years. He
said that he serves as a volun
teer when he gets off work at
his full-time job, and that he
loves the ability to serve his
community.
“When the tones drop, we
go to an EMA call, a car
wreck, lost persons, wherever
we’re needed,” Blackwell
said. “My favorite part is
serving my community and
people that come to our
county; we try to handle all
the problems they have or
wrecks or whatever.”
Edwards said that the vol
unteer firefighters sign up for
the program for a multitude
of reasons, from wanting to
help their community to
wanting to push themselves
to achieve goals. For the pro
gram’s newest volunteer fire
fighter, Justin Fedoruk, his
decision to sign up was heav
ily influenced by his family
and wanting to serve his
county.
“My parents had been
doing it for a long time so I’d
been around it, my brother
did it for a while, so it was
interesting for me to be on
the other side of how the
county operates and how
things happen,” Justin
Fedoruk said. “I love this
county and wanted to be a
part of it in some way, so this
is a way for me to be
involved in it.”
Currently, Justin Fedoruk
and both of his parents,
Dennis and Stephanie
Fedoruk, serve as volunteer
firefighters together. Dennis
Fedoruk, who has served as a
volunteer firefighter for nine
years and is the lieutenant
over the east volunteer dis
trict, said that the ability to
serve their county as a family
has been a huge blessing to
him.
“It’s something you can do
with your family,” Dennis
Fedoruk said, recounting a
time several years ago when
his whole family helped to
fight a fire in their own
neighborhood. “It helps the
county, your whole family,
friends, relatives, strangers
— you never know.”
For Stephanie Fedoruk,
who has been serving in the
role for five years, an added
plus of the job has been the
ability to push herself and to
expand her limits.
“I feel that it has expanded
my interests; it wasn’t that I
was out seeking to do this but
I’m all about personal
growth, getting out of my
comfort zone, so that’s how I
look at it,” Stephanie
Fedoruk said. “It really
teaches you survival skills
and gets you thinking in a
way that you wouldn’t nor
mally think in normal, every
day life; you’re more geared
toward situational aware
ness.”
Charley Hogwood is a fire
fighter and EMT who is on
staff at the Fumpkin County
Fire Department and uses his
spare time serving as a vol
unteer in Dawson County.
Hogwood said that for him,
the challenge and the chance
to help other people in the
worst and best times is a
huge draw to the job.
“If you really want to learn
something and feel like
you’re making a difference, if
you wanna feel like you’re
really helping somebody and
waking up with a purpose
every day, this is the way to
do that,” Hogwood said. “If
you’re looking for something
a little challenging and inter
esting and you like to live on
the edge this is for you; not to
mention the fraternity and
camaraderie of it if you want
to be part of a family of peo
ple who will be there for
you.”
Currently, the county has a
total of 22 volunteer firefight-
ers in the program.
According to Dawson
County Fire Chief and EMA
Director Danny Thompson,
volunteer firefighters willing
to help out the fire depart
ment are a very needed asset.
“We’ve gotta have volun
teers, cause volunteers in the
fire service as a national
thing is really down,”
Thompson said. “With
Dawson County being a
combination department with
both paid personnel and vol
unteers, they help supple
ment and augment and pro
vide essential resources on
fire grounds.”
Thompson added that the
training provided to the vol
unteers is a great way to pre
pare those who are interested
in making a career of it.
“The other part to that is
we like to be able to have
volunteers come in on that
volunteer level, get some
training and then become full
time members of our depart
ment, so it’s a great training
and recruitment tool for us as
well,” Thompson said.
To apply for the volunteer
firefighter program, those
interested must be at least 18
years old, a resident of
Dawson County, have a clean
See Firefighters 13B
Three win
in wrestling
individually
Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
On Tuesday, Nov. 30, the Dawson County
High School wrestling team hosted
Habersham Central in a duals match, losing
55-21.
Head coach Arron Haynes said he was sat
isfied with the result. A significant part of
Habersham’s points came from forfeits on
Dawson County’s part, due to having nobody
to wrestle that specific weight class.
Three Tigers won their individual match.
Fuke Fowe pinned his opponent with 52 sec
onds left in the first period. Kyle Putnam
finally pinned his opponent with 37 seconds
left in the third round and Riley Westbrooks
won by points in three rounds.
The high school was host to all Dawson
County Parks and Recreation youth wrestlers
on Tuesday night as well.
The Tigers high school team will continue
their season Saturday, Dec. 4 at a tournament
hosted by North Oconee High School.
Q&A with
Commissioner
Gaines after
receiving his
pilot’s license
Jacob Smith
jsmith@dawsonnews.com
Everybody wants to reach great heights in
their life.
Though everyone has different standards
for what personal success is, it is always
nice when a community can rally around
one of their own reaching one of their life
long goals.
Dawson County Commissioner Chris
Gaines reached one of his new goals after
obtaining his pilot’s license last weekend.
DCN editor Jacob Smith talked with
Gaines about his new documentation.
JS: So when did this happen?
CG: I was introduced to North Georgia
Aviation flight school in Gainesville by a
close friend that knows the owner Bud.
After visiting and discussing a plan I signed
up in June (5 months ago) and started this
adventure.
What is your favorite part of flying?
Flying is just an incredible experience
and something everyone should try at some
point. Not only is it a time machine that
allows me to get places quicker to spend
more time on business or with friends, fami
ly and activities that I enjoy but also it’s just
beautiful being up in the air soaring over
North Georgia. Training during the fall has
allowed me the opportunity to see the leaves
change colors from a different perspective
and seeing the lake come alive as the sun
rises and burns off the low layer fog that
covers the water is magical. Flying in the
evening has presented me the opportunity to
see the sunset over the beautiful north
Georgia mountains which is an incredible
experience.
How long have you known you wanted
to fly?
Growing up I had a really good friend
who’s dad was a pilot for the Atlanta Gas
Fight company. My friend and I would
hang out at the hangar during the summers
and I always thought how cool it would be
to have my license to fly a plane on my
own. I finally made the decision this year to
get it done and I am proud of my accom
plishment.
See Gaines 13B