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2A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, July 13,2022
Dawsonville man sentence in Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol case
By Nick Watson
DCN Regional Staff
A Dawsonville man who
entered the U.S. Capitol on
Jan. 6, 2021, through a bro
ken window told a
Washington, D.C., judge
Thursday, July 7, he was
remorseful for his actions
and took responsibility.
Benjamin Torre, 24,
pleaded guilty in March to
parading, demonstrating or
picketing in a Capitol
building.
He was sentenced
Thursday to 12 months on
probation, with two months
on monitored house arrest.
In addition to 60 hours of
community service, Torre
was ordered to pay $500 in
restitution to the Architect
of the Capitol and a $1,113
fine.
After sentencing Torre,
U.S. District Court Judge
Rudolph Contreras said he
hoped the ordeal provided
the 24-year-old with life
experiences that have
matured him, referring to it
as “youthful indiscretion.”
The prosecution laid out
its case about Torre enter
ing the Capitol with a large
group of rioters and enter
ing both the Senate spous
es’ lounge and the “hide
away” office of Sen. Jeff
Merkley, D-Oregon.
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Kimberley Nielsen
described Torre as “wide-
eyed” inside the Capitol,
posing for photographs
with Capitol Police officers
before leaving 15 minutes
later.
In a sentencing memo
filed before the hearing,
Nielsen asked for two
weeks of incarceration and
three years of probation.
Nielsen noted that Torre
and his parents traveled to
Washington, D.C., and
attended the “Stop the
Steal” rally.
“To be sure, this was not
just some boyish prank,”
Nielsen wrote. “Torre was
angry about the election
and his entry into both pri
vate rooms was an act of
arrogance, a show of power
and control. It showed that,
in that moment, Torre
viewed the private rooms of
members of Congress as
the dominion of himself
and all the other members
of the mob.”
Defense attorney Maria
Jacob said her client was
fired from The Gap after
his employer learned of the
charges against him. He
now has a new job.
Jacob included four let
ters in support of Torre
from family, family friends
and a program director at
Lanier Technical College,
where Torre took classes.
Torre had no prior crimi
nal history.
Jacob said Torre has
“learned his lesson,” realiz
ing the severity of what
happened. Torre was forth
coming when he met with
law enforcement and has
publicly denounced what
happened.
In a separate U.S.
District Court case,
Benjamin Torre’s mother,
Christine Torre, and others
filed a complaint in March
to stop what they call an
“unlawful and overbroad”
subpoena for cellphone
records by the congressio
nal committee investigating
the events of Jan. 6,2021.
According to the com-
FROM 1A
BOC
proposed millage rate will
be held during the board’s
Aug. 4 voting session,
which will start at 6 p.m.
in the BOC’s second-floor
meeting room at the
Dawson County
Courthouse. This individu
al voting session’s time
change accounts for the
millage rate hearing’s
mandatory duration
between 6-7 p.m. The ten
tative millage rate will be
adopted following that
third hearing.
Residential
and revenue
During the meeting,
Gaines, who’s previously
voiced an interest in
increasing commercial
revenue opportunities,
took the lead in explaining
the resolution during the
board’s work session. He
pointed out that his main
motivation for supporting
a moratorium is an antici
pated recession.
The BOC last enacted a
moratorium at the end of
2019 to amend the rezon
ing process.
At the BOC’s May 5
voting session,
Development Authority of
Dawson County chair
Brian Trapnell pointed out
that residential, rather than
commercial use, is driving
local property tax collec
tions.
A 2021 Georgia Tech
study for Dawson County,
which DCN obtained on
Friday, provided more
information up to FY2019
on the county’s different
land uses. The study
showed that residential
development accounts for
67.7 percent of Dawson
County’s tax base.
While this year’s local
tax collections are looking
similar at face value to last
year’s month-to-month
increases, Gaines said in a
follow-up call with DCN
that he believed the uptick
is more so tied to inflation.
He explained that the
county relies on sales tax
revenue to pay for its ser
vices to areas including
past new subdivisions and
said that less revenue
could mean a heavier bur
den on property taxes.
The Georgia Tech study
called $431,100 the
“break-even” home value
for a house in Dawson
County, higher than what
many homes are valued in
the area.
“In other words, on
average, any house valued
at less than $431,100 is
not covering the cost of
the county services,” the
study said.
Its analysis also referred
to Dawson County as
“entirely unique” since
sales from the North
Georgia Premium Outlets
play a larger role in collec
tions for the Local Option
Sales Tax, when typically
more property taxes would
be collected for that pur
pose.
Additionally, businesses
also play a bigger role in
Dawson County by paying
back “far more than they
get back in in services
($0.71 in expenditures for
every $1 in revenue),
which not only creates a
fiscal surplus for the coun
ty, but also helps to cover
the residential deficit,”
stated the Georgia Tech
study. That surplus
increases to .41 for every
dollar once schools are
included.
While Dawson County’s
residential digest doesn’t
fully pay for services, the
study stated it did come
very close with $1.04
spent for every dollar.
That ratio of more than
1.0 means that residential
property doesn’t cover the
costs of county services,
said the study, even with
the bolstering of LOST
from out-of-county shop
pers.
The study did pinpoint
the amount of $1.04 as
being closer to breaking
even than the national
median of $1.16.
“One of the reasons that
the county residential defi
cit is so small is due to the
amount of LOST that is
paid by out-of-county resi
dents,” the study stated.
“While this is a positive
situation for Dawson
County, new growth still
demands capital expendi
tures (e.g., roads, traffic
lights, fire stations, etc.)
which could place a bur
den on local government
finances.”
This moratorium deci
sion follows months of
existing Dawson County
residents attending public
meetings and voicing their
concerns that proposed
subdivisions would nega
tively impact the existing
transportation infrastruc
ture and emergency servic
es.
To that end, Dawson
County Fire and
Emergency Services did
gain two new, much-antic
ipated ambulances that are
expected to go into service
next week.
“With the uncertainty of
what our revenue is going
to look like going forward,
it’d be pertinent of us to
hit pause on the additional
new construction of resi
dential developments in
Dawson County until we
have the ability to look at
impact fees,” Gaines said
on July 7.
Previously, District 3
Commissioner candidate
Deanna Dickinson voiced
her support of at least a 60
to 90-day moratorium on
development.
Dickinson said in a
phone call with DCN that
she’s “glad the commis
sioners are listening to
their constituents” and
added it’d be important for
the board to “continue to
listen.”
“None of us can predict
the future, but we need to
be able to plan to the best
of our ability,” said
District 4 Commissioner
and BOC vice chairman
Emory Dooley on July 7.
“This’ll give us a little
breathing room to do
that...to adjust our zoning
regulations and impact
fees to make sure we’re
able to fund our future
growth without placing a
larger tax burden on our
community.”
OBITUARIES
Shirley Ann Branson
Shirley Ann Branson, age 76, of
Christianburg, Virginia passed on Monday,
July 4, Funeral Services were held on
Friday, July 8, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. at the
Bearden Funeral Home Chapel
Dawson County News
July 13, 2022
plaint, Christine Torre and
her husband “became con
cerned about the election
integrity of the Georgia
voting system” after voting
early at a polling station in
the presidential election.
Her husband was told that
he had already voted,
which was not true, the
complaint claimed.
The Torres then acted as
volunteers of the Stop the
Steal campaign, passing
out signs at a Jan. 5 rally.
The Jan. 6 congressional
committee issued a subpoe
na seeking telephone
records from Christine
Torre and people on her
family plan account,
according to the complaint.
The Times reached out to
Christine Torre’s attorney,
Paul Kamenar, via phone
and email Thursday, but
those requests were not
returned.
This story was originally
published by th e
Gainesville Times, a sister
publication of the Dawson
County News.
King Crossword
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^ Daws o n C o u nty N e ws
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