Elliott finishes 8th
in Bristol.
SPORTS, IB
CHARIOTS IN THE SKY
^DawsonCountyNews
WEDNESDAY I APRIL 20, 2022 DaWSOflNeWS >COnri DAWSONVULE, GEORGIA $1.00
#MasonStrong garners over $16K
Fundraiser works to raise money for teen battling cancer
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
Looking around at all the
smiling faces greeting each
other, throwing footballs or eat
ing concessions-type snacks, it
was evident that Dawson
County teen Mason Palmour
has a whole family of support
ers behind him.
During an April 16 “Punt,
Pass and Kick” fundraiser at
Rock Creek Park, a total of
$16,467.74 was raised for
Mason, who was diagnosed
with stage four Glioblastoma, a
rare type of brain cancer, this
past fall.
His family is seeking a
California-based medical treat
ment for him that costs
$270,000, above and beyond
what insurance will cover.
For the fundraiser’s main
activity, children ages five to 18
years old competed to see who
could throw, punt and kick a
football the farthest distances.
After the event, local non
profit K.A.R.E. for Kids sur
prised Mason and his family
with a $5,000 donation.
Later that evening, Atlanta’s
WSBTV posted an article about
the Dawson-area community’s
efforts to support Mason.
As of April 18, over $32,000
has been raised for Mason
through the GoFundMe.
During a Nov. 28 gathering for
Mason at the DCHS football
field, a group of 50-55 people
raised over $20,000 in dona
tions in support of the teen.
Mason Palmour also has a
bank account with Bank OZK
in Dawsonville for people
wanting to make a deposit
there on behalf of him.
As the teen’s father, Robert
Palmour, looked around at a
lot of the same kids that he
used to coach in different
sports, he called the amount of
support “completely mind-
blowing.”
“My heart is so full,” Robert
said. “We’re a big family up
here. You can really tell.”
Julia Fechter Dawson County News
Family and friends held an April 16 fundraiser to raise
money for Mason Palmour, a Dawson County teen diag
nosed with a rare type of brain cancer last fall. From left,
Mason, his nephew, Brooks and Mason's father, Robert
Palmour.
Making a difference
Photo courtesy of Addeline Wright
DCHS Senior Addeline Wright presents her Career Pathways Day project to other students and state leadership
at a meeting of the State Superintendent's Student Advisory Council.
DCHS senior spearheads Career Pathways Day as project
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
Dawson County High School senior
Addeline Wright recently spearheaded
a Career Pathways Day event at the
middle school and presented it in front
of state school leaders as her project
for the State Superintendent’s Student
Advisory Council.
Wright was selected at the begin
ning of the school year by State
School Superintendent Richard Woods
to serve on his 2021-22 Student
Advisory Council. This selection
came following an extensive applica
tion process, which included choosing
a platform to run on. According to
Wright, she chose mental health as her
initial platform and also ended up dis
cussing improvements that would help
advance Georgia Virtual School class
es.
“One of the things that I talked
about was doing mental health days,
and then one of the things when I
actually got there that I ended up
speaking the most about was our
Georgia Virtual School; I think it’s a
great opportunity for students to take
classes that they want but what a lot of
people didn’t realize was the curricu
lum was really out-dated,” Wright
said.
Wright said that her sister is deaf, so
she and her family use sign language a
lot in their home. She was taking an
ASL class through Georgia Virtual
School to further her knowledge of the
language, and she realized as she took
it that a lot of the signs the program
was teaching were either outdated or
incorrect.
“That’s one of the things that I was
really big on talking about while I was
there, and Superintendent Woods him
self said he didn’t know that was
something that needed to be updated
or that the language moves that quick
ly,” Wright said. “So that was really
good for me to realize I did actually
make a difference.”
Out of over 1000 students across the
state that applied to be on the council,
Wright was one of just 60 students to
be selected. She and her fellow coun
cil members attended several meetings
with state school leadership in Atlanta,
and at one of the first meetings the
students were asked to come up with
an idea for a service project to benefit
their community.
“I was talking to my parents about it
and said ‘what if we did a career fair’,
and I came and talked to Mrs. Smith
about it and she suggested doing one
at the middle school,” Wright said.
CTAE Director Amy Smith said that
when Wright approached her about
the idea of doing a career fair, she and
her fellow administrators were avail
able to help but Wright was really the
one that took the idea and ran with it.
“She came to us early and said she
had to do a community service proj
ect; she said maybe a career fair and
we suggested doing it at the middle
school,” Smith said. “She ran it and
she did a great job — basically we
were just there. She did so much work
and we’re so proud of her.”
Wright said that, as she worked on
her project, she decided to make it a
way for rising eighth graders to learn
about the career pathway opportuni
ties that the DCHS College and Career
Center offers.
“The idea was that junior high kids
when they got up to the high school
would know what pathways they had,”
Wright said. “I feel like we have a lot
See Wright 14A
BOE approves
$2k supplements
for staff members
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
During the April 13 meeting of the
Dawson County Board of Education, board
members approved a $2000 one-time supple
ment for all staff members who have been
with the school system since the beginning of
2022 or longer.
According to Superintendent Damon Gibbs,
the state will fund supplements for most of the
school system’s staff, and with approval from
the board the school system will contribute
funding to extend those supplements to all of
the staff members who have been employed
with the system since January 1.
“One of the things in the amended budget
the governor signed is a $2000 one-time sup
plement for most of our staff members fund
ed by the state,” Gibbs said to the board
members during the meeting. “What I’d like
to do tonight is ask for support to give all of
our staff members $2000 that have been
employed with us in the spring semester.”
According to Gibbs, with approval from
the board every staff member who has been
employed with the school system through the
spring semester will receive the money in
their May payroll. 80 percent of the funding
for the supplements will be paid through state
funding, and the remaining 20 percent will be
funded by the school system’s general fund
balance.
Board members voted unanimously to
approve the $2000 one-time supplements for
all staff members.
Proposed village spurs
larger questions about
Dawson County growth
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
By the end of Fox Creek Properties’
April 12 meeting, most of the residents
there still opposed the firm’s plans for a
mixed-use village at the intersection of Ga.
400 and Lumpkin Campground Road in
Dawson County.
This meeting comes just before an April
19 Planning Commission meeting, the
agenda for which includes the request for
the land to be rezoned as a mixed-use vil
lage.
A separate story will report the results of
that later meeting.
Before the community session’s end,
Ken Wood, the project spokesperson and
president of Planners and Engineers
Collaborative, said he would send out pro
jected impact fees after multiple attendees
asked about those numbers.
Fox Creek has been unsuccessful in get
ting previous iterations of the development
both recommended for approval by the
Planning Commission and affirmed by the
Board of Commissioners.
See Fox Creek 15A
9 0 9 9 4
Inside
Volume 8, Number 15
© 2021, Dawson County News
Dawsonville, Georgia
Church Events
2B
Classifieds
6B
Dear Abby
4B
Deaths
2A
Legals
7B
Opinion
7A
Sports
1B
6A Man arrested
after allegedly
driving stolen
car during
police chase
Chamber of
Commerce
hosts Teachers
of the Year
Luncheon
