Wednesday, June 29,2022
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 5A
Health system breaks ground
on hospital in Lumpkin County
Roe v. Wade is
overturned by
Supreme Court
Julia Fechter Dawson County News
NGHS, UNG and regional elected personnel gather to break dirt on the new
NGMC Lumpkin facility.
By Rebecca Grapevine
Capitol Beat News Service
The U.S. Supreme Court
overturned the 1973 Roe
v. Wade ruling on abortion
Friday, heralding a new era
for dealing with a contro
versial issue that has split
the nation for decades.
“The Constitution does
not confer a right to abor
tion,” Associate Justice
Samuel Alito stated in
the 6-3 ruling in Dobbs v.
Jackson Women's JJealth
Organization.
States will now be able
to decide how they want to
handle abortion without any
federal guardrails.
“The authority to regu
late abortion is returned to
the people and its elected
representatives,” the deci
sion states.
In Georgia, it is likely
the state will move to put
into effect the “heartbeat
law” Gov. Brian Kemp
pushed through the General
Assembly.
Passed in 2019, it prohib
its most abortions after the
detection of a fetal “heart
beat,” typically around the
sixth week of a pregnancy,
before many women know
they are pregnant.
A U.S. District Court
ruling in 2020 deemed the
Georgia law unconstitu
tional, putting it on hold.
The state appealed to
the 11th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals. The appellate
court said it would hold
off on a decision until the
Supreme Court ruled defini
tively in the Dobbs case.
“The 11th Circuit Court
of Appeals will likely soon
take action to ultimately put
Georgia's six-week abor
tion ban into effect,” the
American Civil Liberties
Union (ACLU) of Georgia
said.
Georgians from across
the political spectrum
reacted quickly to the
ruling.
“As a Georgian and a
mother, I am most con
cerned with the impact this
decision will have on the
women and girls in this
state,” said state Sen. Jen
Jordan, D-Atlanta, who is
running for attorney gen
eral. She pointed out that
Georgia has the highest
maternal mortality rate in
the country.
“The basic right of having
control over one's own body
will now wholly depend on
the action of leaders that we
elect at the state level,” Jor
dan said. “Our fundamental
rights are on the ballot this
November.”
Republicans, on the other
hand, cheered the ruling.
“Today's landmark ruling
is a historic victory for life,”
said Republican Gov. Brian
Kemp. “I look forward to
its impact on the legal pro
ceedings surrounding our
historic LIFE Act, and hope
our law will be fully imple
mented and ultimately pro
tect countless unborn lives
here in the Peach State.”
“The Supreme Court
decision sends the issue of
abortion back to the states
where it belongs,” said Her-
schel Walker, who is chal
lenging Democratic U.S.
Sen. Raphael Wamock.
“I won't apologize for
erring on the side of life,
especially considering the
radical abortion views held
by Senator Warnock and
today's Democrat Party,”
Walker added. “I stand for
life.”
This story is available
through a news partnership
with Capitol Beat News
Service, a project of the
Georgia Press Educational
Foundation.
By Julia Fechter
jfechter@dawsonnews.com
Surrounded by gov
ernment and healthcare
officials from around the
region, Northeast Georgia
Medical Center Lumpkin's
Interim President, Sonja
McLendon, called the new
planned hospital facility
“truly a community effort.”
Northeast Georgia
Health System hosted a
groundbreaking for the
forthcoming hospital facil
ity on June 22 at its 57-acre
site near the intersection of
Ga. 400 and Ga. 60.
“It obviously takes
much more than a village
to make something like
this happen,” McLendon
said, praising the efforts of
healthcare providers, hos
pital workers and various
community officials and
members.
The new facility is
expected to open in Fall
2023, though supply chain-
related delays could push
back its premiere until
early 2024. NGMC Lump
kin's current campus is
at 227 Mountain Drive in
Dahlonega. Plans for the
new site began back in
2019 and were delayed by
the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first iteration of the
new Lumpkin campus is
expected to bring around
150 jobs to the area, and
it will be proximate to
NGMC Gainesville, a
Level 2 trauma center.
Plans for the hospital
include 16 spacious visi
tor and patient-friendly
hospital rooms, 10 emer
gency treatment rooms,
four observation rooms
and a separate entrance
and exit. Surgery services
will include three operat
ing rooms and orthopedic,
sports medicine and gen
eral surgery focuses.
There will also be a cafe
and dining area, as well
as a lab and pharmacy.
Specialized services will
be offered in cardiology,
psychology, pulmonology,
neurology and nephrology,
said NGHS Board Chair
Spence Price.
Currently, the Lumpkin
hospital has nine emer
gency department beds and
no treatment, observation
or operating rooms, accord
ing to hospital officials. Up
to 16 inpatient beds can
be staffed as needed, and
with situations like the pan
demic response, more can
be staffed.
NGHS President & CEO
Carol Burrell described
the hospital in Lumpkin
as “an important part of
the community for the past
45 years,” from its incep
tion in 1976 to its stint as
Chestatee Regional Hos
pital and its closing and
rebranding to become the
current medical center.
Rather than permanently
join a trend of what Burrell
called “rural hospitals clos
ing throughout the nation,”
she recounted how a mix
of leaders in state govern
ment, the University of
North Georgia and other
community members gal
vanized around the goal of
bringing the hospital back
to life in 2019.
Burrell said their own
ership “won't change like
it has been” and is here to
stay.
Dawson County Board
of Commissioners Chair
man Billy Thurmond also
said the new hospital would
be “wonderful for the eco
nomic development of
the north side of Ga. 400”
and likewise pointed to the
buildout of businesses from
Dawson all the way up to
the new facility's campus.
Thurmond mentioned
the “greater variety of
healthcare physicians” that
Dawson County residents
would also have avail
able. He and BOC District
2 Commissioner Chris
Gaines both mentioned
the existing and expected
growth of ancillary NGHS-
affiliated healthcare ser
vices in Dawson County.
Gaines added that con
sidering the lengthy drives
that local EMS crews can
currently have with ambu
lances, “response times
will improve” with the new
hospital facility.
State Sen. Steve Gooch,
a sixth-generation native
of Lumpkin County,
praised the steps that
NGHS has taken to help the
community.
“This is why people
like the commissioners of
White and Dawson County
are here today,” Gooch
said. “They know how
important healthcare is to
raise a striving and a grow
ing community... without
a good healthcare system,
economic development
would not exist at the level
we see today.”
The state senator quipped
that if population growth
trends continue, as has
been the case in other areas
of northeastern Georgia, it
may not be surprising to see
the Lumpkin campus con
tinue its own growth and
expansion, with proximate
retail and residential devel
opments to pop up nearby
over time.
“There are a few turning
points in any community,
and I believe this is one
of those turning points,”
Gooch said.
NOTICE OF PROPERTY
TAX INCREASE
The Dawson Countv Board of Commissioners
has tentatively adopted a 2022 millage rate which will
require an increase in property taxes by 5.90 percent.
All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearing
on this tax increase to be held in the Commissioners
Meeting Room at the Dawson County Courthouse/
Administration Building located at 25 Justice Way,
Dawsonville, Georgia on August 4. 2022 at 6:00 pm.
Times and places of additional public hearings on this
tax increase will be held in the Commissioners Meeting
Room at the Dawson County Courthouse/Administra
tion Building located at 25 Justice Way, Dawsonville,
Georgia on July 7. 2022 at 4:00 pm and July 21.
2022 at 4:00 pm.
The tentative increase will result in a millage rate of
7.2225 mills, an increase of 0.4025 mills. Without this
tentative tax increase, the millage rate will be no more
than 6.820 mills. The proposed tax increase for a
home with a fair market value of $375.000 is
approximately $60.38 and the proposed tax increase
for non-homestead property with a fair market value of
$300.000 is approximately $48.30.
PRESS RELEASE ANNOUNCING
PUBLIC HEARING AND ADOPTION
OF MILLAGE RATE FOR 2022
The Dawson County Board of Commissioners today
announces its intention to increase the 2022 property taxes it
will levy this year by 5.90% over the rollback millage rate.
Each year, the Board of Tax Assessors is required to review
the assessed value for property tax purposes of taxable
property in the County. When the trend of prices on properties
that have recently sold in the County indicate there has been
an increase in the fair market value of any specific property,
the Board of Tax Assessors is required by law to re-determine
the value of such property and adjust the assessment. This is
called a reassessment.
When the total digest of taxable property is prepared, Georgia
law requires a rollback millage rate must be computed that will
produce the same total revenue on the current year’s digest
that last year’s millage rate would have produced had no
reassessments occurred.
The budget tentatively adopted by the Dawson County Board
of Commissioners requires a millage rate higher than the
rollback rate; therefore, before the Dawson County Board of
Commissioners may finalize the tentative budget and set a
final millage rate, Georgia law requires three public hearings
to be held to allow the public an opportunity to express their
opinions on the increase.
All concerned citizens are invited to the public hearings on this
tax increase to be held in the Commissioners Meeting Room
at the Dawson County Courthouse/Administration Building
located at 25 Justice Way, Dawsonville, Georgia
at the following times:
1st. Public Hearing:
2nd. Public Hearing:
3rd. Public Hearing:
Millage adoption:
Thursday, July 7, 2022 4:00 p.m.
Thursday, July 21,2022 4:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 4, 2022 6:00 p.m.
Thursday, August 4, 2022 6:00 p.m.
(following 3rd public hearing)
