About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 2022)
DCHS wrestling notches win on Senior Night. SPORTS, IB Chamber holds ribbon cutting for The Place of Dawson County. INSIDE, 4A DawsonCountyNews WEDNESDAY I JANUARY 26, 2022 DaWSOflNeWS >COnri DAWSONVULE, GEORGIA $1.00 Nudist resort’s lawsuit goes to court By Julia Fechter jfechter@dawsonnews.com For two full days on Jan. 20 and 21, attorneys pored over documents in order to discern whether local fire officials were justified in issuing stop-work orders for forthcoming struc tures at Paradise Valley Resort Club, located in eastern Dawson County. Representatives for the cloth ing-optional or nudist resort went to court after suing Fire Marshal and Division Chief Jeff Bailey, Fire Chief and EMA Director Danny Thompson and Lt. Chris Archer of Fire Prevention. A decision has not yet been made in the case. Paradise Valley asked for a writ of mandamus to lift stop- work orders on a greeting room and welcome center additions, wine bar, cabanas, indoor pool and fitness center. Jeff Wasserman owns the resort. The plaintiff is also seeking approximately $50,000 for attorney fees and costs going back to October 2018, said law yer Joseph Homans. Paul Frickey of Jarrard and Davis, Dawson County govern ment’s current law firm, repre sented the three defendants. The resort that became Paradise Valley started as a nudist campground in the late 1970’s. Now, it’s a gated prem ises that’s expanded to be over 100 acres, filled with yearly RV sites, condominiums for long term leases, homes, apartments, pools, bars and various areas for group assemblies. Wasserman started working at the resort in 2006 before pur chasing it three years later. On Oct. 27, 2016, he went in front of the Board of Commissioners and requested a master plan rezone update for an indoor pool and fitness center, a wine bar and more land for RV and tent sites. Over 200 people showed up to that meeting. Senior Superior Court Judge Richard Winegarden was assigned to the case Wednesday, after Judge Bonnie Oliver was unable to hear it. As a senior judge, Winegarden hears cases across state superi or courts in Georgia. He will make the final decision in the See Resort 19A A little bit of help for your furry friends KIBBLE2CARE.ORG UNLOCKTHETRUE ^ PERFORMANCE OF YOUR £NG!NF £ SOLD HERE F”-~— "v L asniai j Photo courtesy of Scout Samples Bagley In 2020, Forsyth woman Scout Samples Bagley started Kibble 2 Care, a nonprofit organization focused on bring ing free pet food and supplies to those in need. BOE fires coach for molestation, battery charges By Erica Jones ejones@dawsonnews.com During a special called meeting of the Dawson County Board of Education on Friday Jan. 21, board members unanimously voted to terminate employment for James Gregory Jeffers, the Dawson County Junior High School coach who is facing child molesta tion and sexual battery charges. Prior to the board’s vote, Cory Kirby, an attorney with Harbin, Hartley and Hawkins LLP, the firm that represents the school system, presented board members with the facts of the case and the discussions that he has had with the lawyer representing Jeffers. The 49-year-old Dahlonega man was a See Jeffers 17A DCN names White as new staff writer Kibble 2 Care to bring free pet food to Dawson County By Erica Jones ejones@dawsonnnews.com At the end of this month, Forsyth County-based nonprofit organization Kibble 2 Care will visit Dawson County to hold a free pet food event open to any Georgia pet owner in need of a little extra help for their fur babies. According to Kibble 2 Care Founder Scout Samples Bagley, she first set about starting a pet food pantry during the first wave of the COVID-19 pan demic, when many people were having trouble feeding their pets due to finan cial hardships. “I was actually laid off from my job due to Covid and I’d had the idea in my head for a little while but then I had the time to get it started,” Bagley said, “so I officially announced it in April of 2020 and it kind of blew up overnight because so many people needed help.” The goal of Kibble 2 Care, Bagley said, is to provide pet food and sup plies to Georgia residents who are under financial stress, in order to help them take care of their pets and not have to surrender them at local shel ters. She said that the idea first came to her when she was working at the Forsyth County Animal Shelter and saw how many people were coming in to surrender their pets. “I used to work at the Forsyth County Animal Shelter so I saw a lot of it, but a lot of the reasons why peo ple surrender their pets is because of financial reasons and they can’t afford them so we hope to help in that way,” Bagley said. “I saw a lot of owner sur renders and realized that there needed to be something done; there are a lot of pet food pantries in other areas but there aren’t any around here so there aren’t many resources.” The nonprofit organization original ly started out delivering pet food, but as the need in the community grew it evolved from a delivery service to a monthly event to what it is today. Now, Bagley said that they organize pop-up pet food giveaway events, like the one that will be held in Dawson, and travel around to different counties giving away pet food and supplies to anyone who comes to get it. The Dawson event, which will be on Jan. 30, will be the first one Kibble 2 Care has held in the county. According to Bagley, she had gotten several requests to come to Dawson and has received good feedback from those interested in attending the event. Community members in need of the By staff reports Dawson County News has hired Rio White as a staff writer. His main topic for coverage will be sports. “My aim is to tell the human side of sports cov erage,” White said. “While the statistics are what people see at the end of a game, it is the background stories of each athlete that often reveal much more.’ White, who lived in Cherokee County for 12 years before recently moving to the Roswell area, recently graduated from Kennesaw State University with a bachelor’s degree in Journalism. While attending KSU, White was active in student media, serving as a staff writer, sports editor and managing editor of The Sentinel student-run newspaper. He also See White 13A See Kibble 19A White 0 9 0 9 9 4 Inside Volume 8, Number 4 © 2022, Dawson County News Dawsonville, Georgia Events 2B Classifieds 5B Dear Abby 8B Deaths 2A Legals 7B Opinion 8A Sports 1B 6A Sawnee EMC to return more than $7M 3A 4-H announces winners of Pumpkin Growing Contest * EXCELLENCE AT HEART IS BACK IN GAINESVILLE After over a year, a team of Georgia's top cardiologists are returning to care for you — right here in your neighborhood. Trust your heart to the experts of the Northside System. Visit us at northsidecvi.com/gainesville or call 404.962.6000 to schedule an appointment today. Allison Dupont MD, FSCAI, FACC Interventional Cardiology Jeffrey Marshall MD, MSCAI, FACC Chief, Northside Hospital Cardiovascular Institute 1276 Jesse Jewell Parkway, Gainesville, GA 30501 Pradyumna Tummala MD, FSCAI, FACC Interventional Cardiology Mark Leimbach MD, FSCAI, FACC Interventional Cardiology tm NORTHSIDE HOSPITAL CARDIOVASCULAR INSTITUTE • EXCELLENCE
