Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current, March 02, 2022, Image 4

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Dawson County news., March 02, 2022, Image 4

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Newspaper Page Text4A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com Wednesday, March 2,2022 Street car makes Fla. racing premiere Photo courtesy of 1320 Video Dawson County resident Timothy Blythe drove his 5.3 LS-powered 1964Triumph Spitfire in Florida's "Sick Week," a five-day street car racing event. Photo submitted to DCN The Triumph Spitfire's roof was one of its more popular fea tures.The sign came from his employer's welding garage. By Julia Fechter jfechter@dawsonnews.com As he revved his 1964 Triumph Spitfire through Dawsonville’s downtown round about, Timothy Blythe had no idea whether his car would make it to Florida for the “Sick Week” street car event in early February, let alone succeed. However, by the end of that week, his Spitfire had clocked in at 10.92 seconds going 122 mph on a quarter-mile track at Bradenton Motorsports Park. “I had no idea what would happen...I didn’t start getting excited until we got back to Bradenton, and the pressure was off of us because we finished the drive,” he said of the event's fifth day. “I was finally confi dent and not worried about it anymore.” From Feb. 7-11, 350 of the nation's fastest cars made stops at four of the country’s fastest race tracks as part of “Sick Week.” Blythe, 349 others and 200 additional vehicles visited Bradenton Motorsports Park, Orlando Speed World, Gainesville Raceway and then South Georgia Motorsports Park before going back to Bradenton. Blythe and others raced mid morning to mid-afternoon before going on afternoon drives and visiting various pit stops and shows. This past fall, DCN inter viewed Blythe about his four- year stint thus far with drag rac ing and journey learning about car repairs. He has Facebook and Youtube pages under the name “BlytheLife Racing” to showcase his progress. Blythe explained that while his car’s body, particularly the exposed engine components, may have looked shocking to some, his vehicle had the neces sary safety standards in mind. “The majority of people loved the car, which surprised me,” Blythe said. “We were in the hotel lobby [one night], and a random guy, who was just stay ing there for work, came in, asked if I was traveling with Sick Week, shook my hand and said it (the car) was awesome.” “I would say the No. 1 thing people would say was [about] having a road sign as part of the roof,” Blythe said, adding that it’s also popular to use such signs to patch up floor pans. Before installing the sign, he had to frame a roof similar to how one would for a convertible. When it came time to add the top, he wasn’t able to find a sheet of steel in stock. Fortunately, there was an old "Trucks Entering/Leaving Highway” construction sign that was laying around in his employer’s welding garage, where he’s been storing the car. Blythe described his street car's performance overall as mostly “flawless," save some small hang-ups with brakes, the turbo and seals. He made a pass at every single track and made it all the way through the bracket rankings with the Spitfire. The car ended up in about 33rd place in a class of 100 or so cars. During the first day of compe titions in Bradenton, he even got to race against David Freitberger from the car television show “Roadkill" when an episode was being filmed, though he didn’t know it at the time. Blythe made the pass, outper forming Freitberger and clock ing in at 108 mph for 11.18 sec onds. Later on, Blythe saw Freitberger in south Georgia and got him to sign the Spitfire's dashboard. “Anybody important that the car beats, I’m going to see if I can get them to sign the dash,” Blythe said on his vlog about “Sick Week.” Now, he’s looking forward to building his drag racing network and competing in more events, whether it’s with the Triumph Spitfire or his Datsun 240z. “[It’s] just trying to get out and do as much racing as we can this year,” he said in his vlog, “and try to have some fun with it." He elaborated that he and his wife, Kaitlyn, particularly enjoyed the week once the street car made it past the first day. Kaitlyn traveled with him for the whole 850-mile trip, serving as both navigator and moral sup port. “We talked about it at the end, and it's the most fun we've ever had doing anything, and we got to do it together,” Blythe said. Etowah Water wins financial reporting award By Erica Jones ejones@dawsonnews.com Etowah Water & Sewer Authority has recently been awarded with the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for its comprehen sive annual financial report, according to a release by the organization. The certificate of achievement was awarded to the organization by the Government Finance Officers Association and is the highest form of recognition in the area of government accounting and financial reporting, the release said. “Its attainment represents a significant accomplish ment by a government and its management,” the release said. “This is the 15th consecutive year the Authority has received this award.” The award is given to the individual(s), department or agency designated by the government as primarily responsible for preparing the award-winning CAFR, the release said, so it was presented to the Etowah Water & Sewer Authority’s finance department. The GOFA is a nonprofit professional association that serves approximately 17,500 government finance professionals and has offices in Chicago, II and Washington, D.C. In order to be awarded the certifi cate of achievement, the release said that the CAFR was judged by an impartial panel to meet the high standards of the program, including demonstrating a constructive “spirit of full disclosure” to clearly com municate its financial story and to motivate potential users or user groups to read the CAFR. “We are extremely proud of our Finance Department and supporting staff,” Etowah Water & Sewer Authority General Manager Brooke Anderson said in the release. “Their commitment goes beyond compliance and accounting principles. They are con tinually and conscientiously acting as financial stew ards of all our resources.” State Ag. Dept, warns poultry owners against avian influenza Photo courtesy Unsplash By Erica Jones ejones@dawsonnews.com The Georgia Department of Agriculture is warning poultry owners to maintain caution and to implement biosecurity practices to protect their flocks after cases of avian influenza have been identified in Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia. According to a release by the Georgia Department of Agriculture, several cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza have been identified in commercial poultry operations and a backyard flock in Indiana, Kentucky and Virginia. So far, no cases of HPAI have been identified in commer cial or domestic poultry in Georgia. Due to the reported cases, all poultry and feath ered fowl activities have been suspended in Georgia, the release said. “Effective immediately all exhibitions, shows, sales (flea markets, auction mar kets), swaps and meets per taining to poultry and feathered fowl in the State of Georgia are suspended until further notice,” the release said. “Notifications will be announced when listed activities can resume in Georgia.” The Georgia Department of Agriculture is encourag ing poultry producers to implement biosecurity practices to help protect their flocks against the HPAI infection. Acceding to the release, these protec tive measures include: • Moving all poultry with outside access indoors • Implementing strict biosecurity • Monitoring flocks for clinical signs consistent with avian influenza • Reporting any con cerns to your veteri narian, state animal health official or federal animal health official immediately “With HPAI, birds may become quiet, not eat and drink, have diarrhea, and have discolored combs and feet,” the release said. “Birds may also die sud denly with no signs of dis ease.” Avian influenza is a reportable disease in Georgia, the release said. If you have concerns about avian influenza in birds, call the Georgia Avian Influenza hotline at 770- 766-6850 or go to www. gapoultrylab.org/avian- influenza-hotline/. For more information about HPAI detections in the United States, go to www.aphis.usda.gov/ aphis/ourfocus/animal- health/animal-disease- information/avian/avian- influenza/2022-hpai. Sheriff’s office offers junior law academy for 25th year Alexander Popp DCN file photo The Junior Law Enforcement Academy will be hosted by the Dawson County Sheriff's Office at Dawson County Middle School from June 6-10. By Julia Fechter jfechter@dawsonnews.com Rising fourth through seventh graders will have a chance to learn the ins-and-outs of police work during the 25th annual Junior Law Enforcement Academy. The event will be hosted by the Dawson County Sheriff’s Office at Dawson County Middle School, from June 6-10. This weeklong academy is completely free, and applica tions will be sent home with schoolchildren. JLEA only has 80 available spots, so DCSO encourages parents to submit applications sooner rather than later. Applications are due no later than April 22. For more information, people can contact school resource officers Cpl. Randall Mullis at 706-531-5945 or Deputy Phillip Cofteld at 706-531-5941. Last year, 42 students attend ed JLEA. Since its inception in 1997, the academy has been held at Dawson County Junior High School, but it’s been moved to the middle school starting this year to ensure bet ter scheduling and space access, said Cpl. Mullis. He explained that during the academy, children will be split into four different teams, ideally with 20 cadets in each group. Just like in other years, activi ties will include age-appropriate training in firearms and emer gency vehicle operations, as well as sessions on topics like crime scene investigation. This year, though, cadets will be able to learn firearms safety with new equipment, Mullis said. DCSO is acquiring a laser tag-style system for the shoot- or-don’t-shoot and active shoot er scenarios and Glock airsoft guns. Cadets will also be recog nized at an end-of-week cere mony with accolades including but not limited to “Top Driver,” “Top Gun” and the top cadet in academics. The top all-around cadet will get the team’s flag. Mullis shared that his interest in JLEA goes along with his being the school resource offi cer for DCMS. “It’s a good program to give cadets knowledge of what we do and how we do it and an appreciation for law enforce ment when they get older,” he said. He hopes the program can not only offer an alternative to neg ative cultural views toward police but also potentially inspire some cadets to pursue a future career in law enforce ment. “If we can start young by showing them how things really are and give them insight toward law enforcement,” he added, “there will be a little more respect there.”