6A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, February 9,2022
Dawson County Chamber holds
ribbon cutting for North Georgia
Haircutters, Essence Massage
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
On Friday Feb. 4, the
Dawson County Chamber
of Commerce held a rib
bon cutting for North
Georgia Haircutters and
Essence Massage Therapy,
both of which are located
off of Burnt Stand Road in
Lumpkin County.
North Georgia
Haircutters is a salon that
has been in the community
for about 14 years and
offers haircuts for men,
women and children, hair
styling, hair coloring and
highlighting, perms and
smoothing treatments, and
spa services including
waxing, nails and makeup
services. The business has
been located in its current
building, which was cus
tom designed by business
owner Vikki Condrey, for
almost two years.
Essence Massage
Therapy is a massage stu
dio located in the same
building which offers deep
tissue massage, relaxation
massage, therapeutic mas
sage and other massage
services.
The building also
includes an event room
which can be rented out,
and North Georgia
Haircutters often hosts
community events and par
ticipates in outreach in
order to support the local
community.
Condrey spoke during
the ribbon cutting ceremo
ny, saying that her business
currently stays very busy
and that she is always
looking for ways to grow
her business and serve the
community at the same
time.
“I have two stylists that
work with me and I have
an assistant that is going to
be licensed in the summer,
so we stay very busy,”
Condrey said. “We host
events here all year round
— we have Christmas par
ties and Easter parties; it’s
just for kids around the
community.”
Essence Massage
Therapy owner Katherine
Burnett said that she
worked as a licensed nurse
for 30 years, but that she
came to a time in her life
where she was seeing med
ications given to patients
more than she thought they
should be. She found out
how important massage is
to the human body, and
soon thereafter she decided
to go back to school and
start her own massage ther
apy business.
“Not taking away from
doctors or nurses at all, but
I just found that massage is
so important to the human
body and I can do that nat
urally instead of shoving a
pill in your hand and say
ing take this’ll make you
feel better,” Burnett said. “I
got married two years ago
and he told me I could take
some time off cause I was
really disheartened with
nursing; and I felt like God
just put it in my heart that
because I love to take care
of people so much and I
feel very passionate about
helping people, so I went
to school and here I am
still taking care of people.”
Dawson County
Chamber of Commerce
President and CEO Mandy
Power also spoke during
the ribbon cutting ceremo
ny, saying how happy she
and the rest of the chamber
are to welcome the two
businesses into their
“chamber family”.
“I think it’s awesome
you can come to one
building and spend all
day here getting so much
done,” Power said during
the ceremony. “We are so
happy to have you ladies
in the Dawson County
Chamber — we want to
see small businesses do
well and succeed, and we
want to do everything we
can to help with that.”
North Georgia
Haircutters and Essence
Massage Therapy are
located at 2375 Burnt
Stand Road in Lumpkin
County. For more infor
mation about North
Georgia Haircutters, go to
https://www.northgeorgi-
ahaircutters.com/, and for
more information about
Essence Massage
Therapy, go to https://
www.northgamassageth-
erapy.com/.
Erica Jones Dawson County News
On Friday Feb. 4, the Dawson County Chamber of Commerce held an official
ribbon cutting for North Georgia Haircutters and Essence MassageTherapy.
Residents safe after house engulfed in fire
by Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
One family in eastern Dawson County
and their pet are now safe after being
rescued from their residence in eastern
Dawson County on Feb. 3.
Dawson County Fire and Emergency
Services responded to a house fire off of
River Bend Road on Thursday, accord
ing to a press release from the agency.
The first units arrived on scene within
four minutes of the initial dispatch.
Firefighters saw heavy flames spouting
from the single-story residential struc
ture and undertook an aggressive offen
sive attack on the blaze.
Because there were no fire hydrants in
the area, additional water tender vehi
cles responded to provide adequate
water for fire suppression. Crews were
able to gain control of the fire within 20
minutes of their arrival. Fire service per
sonnel remained on scene to put out
“hot spots.”
Photo courtesy of Dawson County Fire
and Emergency Services
Fire personnel responded to a house
fire off of River Bend Road on Feb. 3.
Neither the house’s occupants nor the
firefighters reported injuries. However,
the house sustained substantial smoke
and fire damage throughout its premis
es.
The fire’s cause is undetermined, said
the press release, but is not considered
to be suspicious.
Chief Juvenile Court Judge will run for
Superior Court spot vacated by Fuller
By Nick Watson
DCN regional staff
A day after Judge C.
Andrew Fuller said he will
not seek reelection, Chief
Juvenile Court Judge
Lindsay Bn
announced she
will run for his
seat in Superior
Court.
Burton has
served on the
Juvenile Court
bench since
October 2013 and
became the chief
judge the follow
ing year. She plans to
qualify to run for the
judgeship in March before
the election on May 24.
Fuller said his last day
will be Dec. 31, 2022.
“Judge Fuller’s
announcement comes with
mixed emotions. I’m sad
to see him go,” Burton
said in a statement on
Friday, Jan. 28. “I had the
pleasure of appearing
before him for the
13 years I worked
in the District
Attorney’s Office.
However, I’m
excited for this
new opportunity.
My entire career
has been spent
serving the com
munities of Hall
County and Dawson
County. I hope voters will
give me the opportunity to
continue my path of ser
vice.”
Burton was the chief
assistant district attorney
in 2009.
A graduate of Penn
State University, she
obtained her law degree
from Villanova University
Law School. Three days
after graduating law
school, she moved to
Georgia.
Burton is married to
Bonner Burton, who has
worked for more than 25
years at the Hall County
Sheriff’s Office.
The Burtons have two
sons who attend
Gainesville City Schools.
This story was originally
published in The Gainesville
Times, a sister publication of
the Dawson County News.
Burton
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