Newspaper Page Text
Elliott finishes 10th
in Daytona-500
SPORTS, 1B
Longtime Chevy
dealership moves north,
opens John Megel Ford in
Cleveland, inside
WEDNESDAY I FEBRUARY 23, 2022 DaWSOflNeWS ^COITI DAWSONVILLE, GEORGIA $1.00
nudist resort’s lawsuit
County
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
Almost one month after a
two-day trial filled with evi
dence exhibits, a decision has
been reached in nudist Paradise
Valley Resort Club’s lawsuit
against Dawson County fire
officials.
The stop-work orders against
five forthcoming resort build
ings are valid, and the building
permits for those structures
have expired, wrote Senior
wins in
Superior Court Judge Richard
Winegarden in a decision dated
Feb. 14.
The judge denied the resort’s
petition for writ of mandamus
against Fire Marshal and
Division Chief Jeff Bailey, Fire
Chief and EMA Director
Danny Thompson and Lt. Chris
Archer of Fire Prevention to lift
the stop-work orders. He also
spoke to the validity of the
building permits as part of his
decision.
Attorney Angela Davis
announced the decision during
her report at the Board of
Commissioners’ work session
on Feb. 17. The outcome fol
lows a civil trial that took place
on Jan. 20-21 and drew over
100 spectators, mostly support
ers of the resort, to the Dawson
County courthouse.
“Without stating the name of
the entity against whom the
county was in this litigation
[with], I just thought it’d be
appropriate to commend the
fire department,” Davis said. “It
was a case in which the county
was trying to uphold their fire
code to ensure safe structures
and life-safety protection mea
sures for our citizens.”
She went on to characterize
the legal victory as “hard-
fought.”
“But for their dedication on
those issues and their good tes
timony,” she said of Chiefs
Bailey and Thompson, “I don't
know that we would’ve been as
successful as we were.”
(Although all three defendants
were deemed witnesses, only
Jeff Bailey actually ended up
testifying during trial).
On Feb. 18, DCN contacted
resort owner Jeff Wasserman
and received a reply from his
lawyer, Joseph “Joey” Homans
of Fox, Chandler, Homans,
Hicks & McKinnon LLP.
“Mr. Wasserman and I con
tinue to review the Judge’s rul
ing to determine what issues
should be asserted on appeal to
See Resort 12A
DCHS FCCLA has success
at regional competition
Photo courtesy Lori Grant
Students from the DCHS FCCLA club recently saw success in the regional FCCLA competition, and three groups
will advance to compete at the state competition in March.
3 groups from Dawson will move on to compete at state next month
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
Three groups from the Dawson
County High School Lamily, Career
and Community Leaders of America
(LCCLA) club recently scored at the
top of their categories at a regional
LCCLA competition and will be mov
ing on to compete at the state level in
March.
Among the teams who claimed suc
cess for Dawson County were three
high school seniors who earned second
place at the LCCLA Region Baking
and Pastry competition. Anna Lee,
Megan Dixon and Bernadine Baptiste
baked five different recipes in a two
and half hour time limit and scored a
total 86.6 out of a possible 100 points
to secure their spot at the state compe
tition.
Lor the competition, the three bakers
made petit fours, chocolate lava cakes,
cranberry orange scones, galettes and
rosemary focaccia bread. In the two
and a half hour time limit, they had to
bake, plate and serve all of the recipes
to the judges, all of whom are industry
bakers.
“We were in a time crunch, we were
in a small confined area, we were
given limited stuff and we had to bring
our own mixing bowls, kitchen aids
and ingredients so it was a lot,” Dixon
said. “But we worked well together as
a team and the judges said that our
plating was the best out of all the
teams that were there and that our
focaccia bread was ‘restaurant-wor
thy’.”
Dixon, who made it to the national
level of the same competition last year
as a junior, added that she knew from
last year some of what the judges
would be looking for. The group
brought all of their own utensils, ingre
dients and other needed materials,
including rosemary from Dixon’s gar
den to put in the focaccia bread.
Baptiste, who runs her own baking
business out of her home, said that
baking is something she’s always
loved. After high school, she hopes to
go to college and open her own bakery.
The competition, she said, was more
difficult than they thought it would be
going into it but prepared them well
for the next step of competition at
state.
"It’s definitely gonna take a lot of
work, but after regions now we know
we have to work really hard,” Baptiste
said. “I feel like they’re testing our
skills as much as our resourcefulness.”
In the state competition, the group
will be competing against about eight
other groups from all over the state.
See FCCLA 14A
Reward increased
in Dahlonega
gold mine case
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
A reward of $10,000 is now being
offered for information leading to the
arrest of the suspect or suspects involved
in the Leb. 3 armed robbery of the
Crisson Gold Mine store in Dahlonega,
according to a Lacebook post by the
Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office on Leb.
15.
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 wear
ing 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 stealing
$100,000 worth of gold as well as cell
phones, cash, jewelry and other raw
See Robbery 13A
Crumbl Cookies to
open in Dawsonville
in beginning of March
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
In just a few short weeks, the newest
location of Crumbl Cookies will officially
open in Dawson County, bringing its
unique specialty flavors, ever-rotating
menu and giant, made-from-scratch cook
ies to the community.
The Dawson County Crumbl, located at
12 Dawson Market Way Suite 200, will
be the third location opened by co-owners
Lance Jeffreys and James Griffin, who
also own the Cumming and Alpharetta
locations of the nationwide company.
Jeffreys said that they first fell in love
with the brand when they were on a busi
ness trip to Arizona in 2019 and stumbled
across a Crumbl store.
“We were driving along the road and
James spotted Crumbl Cookies out of the
corner of his eye and we said ‘I love
cookies, let's go check it out’, so we went
in and we were just blown away,” Jeffreys
See Crumbl 13A
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Inside
Volume 8, Number 8
© 2021, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Church Events
2B
Classifieds
6B
Dear Abby
5B
Deaths
2A
Legals
7B
Opinion
7A
Sports
1B
County Planning
Commissioners
suggests denial
for dog rescues
special-use
permit
4A CyberPatriot
team marks
successful end
to 2nd season
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