Team effort helps Lady
Tigers move forward
in Region Tournament.
SPOKIS,1B
Woman’s wedding
bands returned thanks
to locals’ goodwill.
INSIDE, 6A
DawsonCountyNews
WEDNESDAY I FEBRUARY 16, 2022 DaWSOflNeWS ^COITI DAWSONVILLE, GEORGIA $1.00
$1K reward for info in gold mine robbery
Suspect took S100K gold, phones, cash, jewelry, minerals
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
A reward of $1,000 is now
being offered for information
leading to the arrest of the suspect
involved in the Feb. 3 armed rob
bery of the Crisson Gold Mine
store in Dahlonega, according to a
Facebook post by the Lumpkin
County Sheriff’s Office on Feb. 8.
The business is located on
Morrison Moore Parkway in
Dahlonega.
The suspect is a white male
between 5’7” and 5’10” who was
last seen wearing a puffy,
Cincinnati Bengals black-and-
orange jacket and carrying a black
duffel bag, according to a press
release from LCSO.
This person is accused of steal
ing $100,000 worth of gold as
well as cell phones, cash, jewelry
and other raw minerals from the
mine around 4:30 p.m.
Employee Tommy Dawkins
was at the store with co-worker
Brianna Weaver when the suspect
entered the building.
“He came in the front door.. .he
already had his gun out, and he
was screaming commands like
‘this is a robbery,’ [and] ‘get on
the ground,”’ Dawkins said.
Like Weaver, Dawkins told a
similar account about how he had
to come around a counter and sit
on the ground as the suspect
ordered Weaver to fill a bag with
valuables.
Right before the suspect fled
out the back door, he grabbed the
employees’ phones and wallets
and threatened to harm them or
have ‘his buddy’ do so if law
enforcement was called.
After fleeing the scene, the sus
pect was and is believed to be
armed and dangerous.
“We get a lot of tourist people,
but we never expected something
See Robbery 12A
Lumpkin
County
authorities
are seek
ing a sus
pect in a
$100,000
gold rob
bery at
Crisson
Gold Mine
and store
on
Morrison
Moore
Parkway in
Dahlonega
Feb. 3.
Photo submit
ted to DCN
‘It’s about spreading joy 5
Erica Jones Dawson County News
On Wednesday Feb. 9, the new Dawson County location of Chicken Salad Chick officially opened for business
with a ribbon cutting and grand opening festivities.
Dawson Chicken Salad Chick officially open for business
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
On Wednesday Feb. 9, the newest
location of the fast casual restaurant
chain Chicken Salad Chick officially
opened in Dawson County, complete
with a ribbon cutting with the Dawson
County Chamber of Commerce, grand
opening festivities and a fundraiser
donation to Georgia Mountain Food
Bank.
The restaurant offers more than a
dozen different flavors of made-from-
scratch chicken salad, along with fresh
salads, sides and soups. The new
Dawson location also includes a drive
through and a revamped pickup area
for customers or delivery drivers to
pick up orders.
Scott Deviney, CEO of Chicken
Salad Chick, said that opening a loca
tion in Dawson has been a long time
in the making.
“We’ve been looking in this market
for years trying to find the right spot
that would allow us be located so that
people can get to us, and we were able
to work with the landlord, found a
spot and the fact that we have a drive
through, pick up station and all of this
in this one area is really exciting,”
Deviney said.
In a brief presentation preceding the
ribbon cutting ceremony, Director of
Company Operations Kim Bolinger
said that, as a Dawson County resident
herself, she couldn’t be more excited
to have brought Chicken Salad Chick
closer to home.
“Personally I’m so excited for this
opening of the Chick cause I live
here,” Bolinger said. “I think what I’m
most proud of is not only the team but
we hired 52 team members at this
location, and living here and seeing
the impact it can have on this commu
nity is outstanding.”
Chicken Salad Chick is a restaurant
chain that consists of 208 restaurants,
all of which are either franchise
owned or company owned like the
Dawson location, across 17 states. An
important goal for the brand, accord
ing to COO Jim Thompson, is to be
not just a business in a community but
to be an integral part of the communi
ty.
“We don’t look at ourselves as a
business in the community, we wanna
be partners in the community so we’re
See Chicken 14A
Ohio man
charged with
child sexual
exploitation
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
A Byesville, Ohio man turned himself in
to Dawson County author
ities after he allegedly
possessed explicit images
of a minor while he was in
the area several months
ago.
Trevor James Dybendal,
20, was arrested by the
Dawson County Sheriff’s
Office on Feb. 1, 2022
around 5 p.m. A DCSO warrant charged
him with committing one count of felony
sexual exploitation of children while he
was in Dawson County last July.
See Dybendal |3A
Development Authority,
EllijayTelephone Co. team
up for broadband grant
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
The Development Authority of Dawson
County is partnering with Ellijay Telephone
Company to use a portion of the Broadband
Grant money recently awarded by Governor
Kemp, according to a joint press release by
the two agencies.
On Feb. 1, Governor Kemp announced
almost $408 million in preliminary
Broadband Infrastructure awards aimed at
providing communities, households and
businesses in 70 Georgia counties with
access to faster and more reliable broad
band. 49 American Rescue Plan Act
(ARPA) grant projects were awarded, and
the Development Authority of Dawson
County was one of the recipients announced
to receive over $1.3 million in funding.
See Grant 13A
Dybendal
0
Inside
Volume 8, Number 7
© 2021, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Church Events
2B
Classifieds
6B
Dear Abby
5B
Deaths
2A
Legals
7B
Opinion
7A
Sports
1B
3A Firefighter
recovering
from injuries
after house
fire.
4A Teen, restaurant
collect toiletries
for nonprofit.
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