Wednesday, June 29,2022
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 7A
Rotary holds dedication, butterfly release for new garden
Erica Jones Dawson County News
Rotary Club District Governor Mike Berg speaks
during the Rotary Club of Dawson County's dedi
cation and butterfly release on June 23.
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
On Thursday June 23,
Rotarians and community
members gathered bright
and early at River Park to
celebrate the dedication of
the park's new butterfly gar
den, which was designed
and installed by the Rotary
Club of Dawson County.
The garden features a
wide array of butterfly-
friendly plants, signs with
information about the plants
and about butterflies and a
tall metal butterfly sculpture
in the center. The area also
includes picnic tables and
a pavilion for use by park
visitors.
During the dedication cer
emony, Rotary District Gov
ernor Mike Berg explained
that, while not every Rotary
governor has a theme for
their year, he decided to
make his theme protecting
the environment, mirroring
the seventh area of focus by
Rotary International. With
this theme, he challenged
each of the 71 clubs in his
district to complete an envi
ronmental project.
“I asked each of the clubs
that I visited to have an envi
ronmental project so that
they could understand how
they fit in with the country
that's around them,” Berg
said. ‘‘It (the Rotary Club of
Dawson County) won the
environmental club of the
year award along with being
club of the year.”
Brooke Anderson, one
of the two Rotarians who
helped spearhead the butter
fly garden project, said that
the space at River Park was a
great place to install the but
terfly garden.
‘‘This is a fantastic area;
it's completely under-uti
lized,” Anderson said. ‘‘It's
fenced-in and a secure area
for kids to come out and play
kickball or soccer or what
ever they want to do but they
needed a reason to be here,
so the butterfly garden as
well as the information signs
and the learning experience
that they have combined
with the pavilion and the
picnic table is gonna allow
folks to come out and enjoy
them for years to come.”
As with so many of the
club's other projects, the but
terfly garden was in collabo
ration with Dawson County
and Dawson County Parks
and Rec. Parks and Rec
Director Matt Payne said
that projects like the but
terfly garden are great addi
tions to any of the county's
parks.
‘‘One of the joys of my
tenure here has been work
ing with Rotary; we’re the
beneficiaries of everything
that you guys have done for
us and I speak all the time
about the foot traffic of every
project that you have done
for us is tremendous,” Payne
said during the dedication
ceremony. ‘‘A lot of people
see the signs and they know
it’s a Rotary and they don’t
know what all goes into it,
but they sure do use it tons.”
Dawson County Commis
sion Chair Billy Thurmond
also spoke during the dedi
cation ceremony, thanking
the club for its efforts on the
project and dedicating the
butterfly garden to the citi
zens of Dawson County.
“I've never seen a group
work so well with the com
munity and do so much for
the community; it's just
amazing to see the differ
ent groups that we have in
Dawson County that are
willing to work together
and to do stuff for the com
munity,” Thurmond said.
“We all know the work that
the Rotary Club has done
over the years; it's been
phenomenal. This is just
another phenomenal project
put together by the Rotary
Club in collaboration with
the county staff and other
agencies.”
Jo Brewer, president of
the club, thanked everyone
in attendance and presented
certificates of appreciation
to Thurmond for the county,
Payne for the parks and rec
department, Anderson for
his hard work on the project
and Georgann Schmalz with
the Dawson County Wom
an's Club for the other club's
collaboration and help with
planting the garden.
Ceremony attendees then
released painted lady but
terflies into the air at the gar
den, smiling and laughing as
the colorful creatures flew
up past the sculpture.
McCormick declares victory in runoff for 6th Congressional District
By Kelly Whitmire
DCN Regional Staff
Dr. Rich McCormick has
declared victory in the Republican
runoff for Georgia's 6th Congres
sional District.
As of 11 p.m. Tuesday, McCor
mick, a veteran and emergency
room physician, had earned about
67% of the vote total in the June
21 primary runoff over opponent
Jake Evans, an attorney, who earned
a little over 33% of the more than
38,000 votes counted so far in the
race. McCormick will face Demo
crat Bob Christian in November's
election.
“The voters of Georgia's 6th
Congressional District have spoken,
and I am honored to be their Repub
lican nominee,” McCormick said
in a statement posted on Twitter.
“While encouraged by the outpour
ing of support from every corner
and every community, the real work
begins now in earnest. We must
unite the Party to secure victory in
November for Georgia Republicans
up and down the ballot. Together,
we will Revive Freedom and Save
America!”
U.S. House District 6 represents
all of Forsyth and Dawson coun
ties along with portions of Chero
kee, Cobb, Fulton and Gwinnett
counties.
Of the 2,464 total votes cast in
Dawson County, 2,244 were for
the GOP District 6 runoff. With all
three of its precincts completely
reporting, McCormick is projected
to win Dawson County with 61.5%
compared to Evans' 38.5%. Focal
results are expected to be certified
by the end of this Friday, June 24.
In the primary on May 24,
McCormick received about 43.2%
of the vote and Evans received
about 23%.
Along with McCormick and
Evans, Eugene Yu, Byron Gate-
wood, Paulette Smith, Mallory
Staples, Blake Harbin and Suzi
Voyles qualified for the Republican
primary.
In previous meetings covered by
the Forsyth County News, McCor
mick said that he is concerned about
the direction the country is heading,
saying he has seen the federal gov
ernment become more involved
in creating mandates and rules for
small businesses and residents dur
ing the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said he also wants to face
issues in education where he said
children are being “brainwashed”
inside public schools; with big tech
companies he said are not using
capabilities to block explicit content
on their various platforms; and said
the federal government needs to
allow for more local control.
In 2020, McCormick was the
Republican candidate for Geor
gia's 7th Congressional District,
narrowly losing to now-incumbent
Carolyn Bourdeaux in a 51.4% to
48.6% split.
FROM 2A
BOC
there's an additional chal
lenge with its location.
She added that because
it's a trash compactor and
not a dumpster, it would
minimize any smell and
visual blight.
Gaines also voiced con
cern over the development
encompassing what could be
a prime commercial lot on
its northeastern comer. That
comer would be vacant, per
Continental's current site
plans.
Johnson explained that
the current property owner
has long tried to get a retailer
there but had been unsuc
cessful due to the area's
“biggest challenge” of var
ied topography and grading.
“We're not anticipating
any programming for com
mercial development. I don't
know if we'd be opposed to
parceling that off,” Johnson
said. “I just don't know what
could realistically get built in
that space.”
Gaines mentioned the
county's intent to attract
businesses like medical
offices, which don't typi
cally require large parcels.
“The more that we con
tinue to bring residential
online, the more it costs
[us]...so my focus for this
particular area is more
geared toward a commercial
use than a residential use,
just because we don't want
to do away with parcels that
can be revenue generating
versus expense generating,”
Gaines said.
In related news, this
newspaper is publishing
the following correction: A
hearing date on a rezone for
a proposed 332-home neigh
borhood was incorrectly
specified in the June 15 edi
tion of DCN. Although the
application is online, there
has not yet been a hearing
scheduled for application
ZA 22-15. DCN will pro
vide an update when a date
is set.
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