Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, July 13,2022
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A
COVID-19 vaccines authorized for
children as young as 6 months old
By Staff Reports
COVID-19 vaccines
are now authorized for
everyone six months of
age or older, according to
a press release by the
Department of Public
Health.
According to the
release, children will get
a smaller dose of the
vaccine than teenagers
and adults, and the dose
will be based on their
age on the day of vacci
nation.
“Parents should dis
cuss with their pediatri
cian or family doctor
about vaccinating their
child with the COVID-
19 vaccine,” District 2
Public Health Medical
Director Zachary Taylor
said in the release.
Currently, the Pfizer-
BioNTech vaccine is
available at all District 2
health departments for
children six months or
older. The Moderna vac
cine will be arriving
soon, the release said,
and the Johnson &
Johnson vaccine is not
authorized for children.
“The CDC recom
mends COVID-19 pri
mary series vaccines for
everyone who is six
months and older, and
COVID-19 boosters for
everyone five years and
older, if eligible,” the
release said. “You are
protected best from
COVID-19 when you
stay up to date with the
recommended vaccines.”
Vaccine recommenda
tions vary depending on
age, type of vaccine
received, and timing of
the last dose, the release
said.
“Children five to 11
years old should get two
doses of the Pfizer-
BioNTech vaccine three
to eight weeks apart, and
should receive their
booster dose five months
after their primary series
has been completed,” the
release said. “Children
six months to four years
old should receive three
doses total. Once a child
is vaccinated with their
first dose, they should
receive their second dose
three to eight weeks
later; however, the inter
val between the second
dose and the third dose
is eight weeks.”
District 2 public health
departments, including
the location in Dawson
County, offer walk-in
appointments for
COVID-19 vaccines. To
find a health department
location near you, go to
phdistrict2.org. To learn
more about the COVID-
19 vaccine for adults and
children, go to cdc.gov/
coronavirus.
DCN file photo
FROM 1A
DCSS
“We don’t want to just
focus on one thing, we want
to make sure our kids are safe
on every aspect,” Wooten said.
“I know that active shooter
situations are kind of the main
topic right now, but there’s
other hazards that we’re pre
pared for too that are just as
likely.”
For visitors to even set foot
inside one of the district’s
schools, there are several
steps they must go through
first. All of the schools are
secured with locked doors,
and anyone entering the
school must be buzzed in by
the front desk.
Once a visitor enters the
front office, he or she must be
checked in before being
allowed into the school hall
ways, and the system notifies
front desk personnel if a visi
tor is a sex offender. The high
school has a welcome center
in the parking lot, allowing a
staff member to ask drivers
coming in why they’re visit
ing the campus.
Each school has tinted win
dows on the outside of the
building, so the front desk
personnel don’t feel pressured
to buzz in anyone that they
shouldn’t be letting into the
school. School staff wear ID
badges, and all seven of the
schools in the district have
their own Student Resource
Officer (SRO).
According to Wooten, the
school system has made sev
eral upgrades to its safety
equipment in the past few
years and plans to add even
more in the near future. This
has included a recent upgrade
to the camera system, and a
new measure this school year
will be the installation of
emergency buttons in each
classroom.
“We’re having emergency
buttons inside every class
room and the teachers will
have the ability to wear a
wireless microphone that also
has a safety button on it that
alerts,” Wooten said. “Those
alerts go to principals, to the
resource officers and to the
school safety coordinator, so
anytime that they feel there’s
something that they need to
let us know about they can
just hit their emergency call
button and they have the
wearable mic.”
The P.A. systems in the
schools are also part of the
package with the emergency
buttons and wearable micro
phones, Wooten said, allowing
a school the ability to go into
lockdown at the touch of a
button if needed.
“If a teacher sends some
thing like that and we’re able
to validate that it’s threatening
we can go ahead and hit a but
ton at the kiosk that would
send our school into a lock-
down and the RA. would step-
by-step tell you what to do in
a lockdown,” Wooten said.
“The faster we can lock down,
the safer our students and
staff are in the event of an
emergency.”
Communication is para
mount when it comes to
ensuring the safety of the
children and teachers in case
of an emergency, Wooten said.
“We’re making sure our
communication is as fast as
we can — we can let every
body know as quick as we can
so they know we’re in a situa
tion we feel is unsafe,”
Wooten said.
“Communication is key to let
everybody know what’s going
on.”
Another facet of this com
munication is another upcom
ing project that the school
system will add this upcoming
school year: portable radio
upgrade and base radios for
each school office.
“We have a channel on that
where all of our principals,
SROs and some of the district
personnel all have the ability
to go to that channel and talk
about anything safety-relat
ed,” Wooten said. “And we’ll
have a base radio in every
front office of every school so
if we see something, say a tor
nado on the ground in our
county or a neighboring coun
ty, we can talk to every school
at once.”
The school buses are also
equipped with radios, he
added, allowing the district to
communicate with every bus
driver. The district also moni
tors field trips, so even when
the students are out of the
county the system can watch
out for weather and other
threats in the area where the
students are.
The school also utilizes
Gaggle, a software that moni
tors the students’ emails
through the school devices to
alert the district if any threats
of harm or self-harm are made
by a student.
“We have Gaggle that moni
tors the students’ emails
through our devices so if they
say anything that’s a threat or
self-harm then it alerts us so
we can follow up on that
immediately,” Wooten said.
The schools in the district
also take part in severe weath
er, fire, active shooter and
lockdown drills, and Wooten
added that the schools and the
district have all held tabletop
discussions allowing person
nel to work through every step
of what they should do in case
of an emergency.
In the end, Wooten said, the
most important thing is mak
ing sure that measures are in
place to not only react in case
of an emergency, but also for
each school to be well pre
pared for any emergency
ahead of time.
“What we tell parents is that
we do as much as we can on
the preventative side as well
as the reactive side; we’re not
just focused on one side but
we’re trying to make sure
we’re preventative and pre
pared if something does hap
pen,” Wooten said.
Photos by Jared C. Tilton Getty Images
Elliott celebrates with a burnout after winning the Quaker State 400 present
ed by Walmart on Sunday, July 10, at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Elliott waves the checkered flag following his win.
FROM 1A
Elliott
Room, talking to locals
who were excited to see
the local man do so well.
After the race, Elliott
spoke about what that
meant to him.
“Any time you can
carry on a tradition that
your father had from his
hometown, and for the
people to still [gather]
for me, is really neat,”
Elliott said. “I’m just
proud to be from here,
still live here and grate
ful that the fans from this
state have always kept
me as part of the family.”
The final 100 laps
would see six further
cautions, with the first
one taking out several
contenders just a few
laps into the restart fol
lowing Stage Two.
With that crash scram
bling much of the
leaderboard, Elliott and
Chastain would soon be
joined up front by
LaJoie, who had finished
fifth in the spring race at
AMS.
The No. 7 car would
make the most of his
time up front as those
three drivers dominated
the race from laps 180 to
240.
Elliott enjoyed the lon
gest stretch up front dur
ing this time, leading
from lap 205 onward.
But four more major
incidents threatened to
derail that momentum,
with Chastain inevitably
tangling with Denny
Hamlin in the middle of
those events.
After Christopher Bell
spun out at lap 237,
Martin Truex Jr grabbed
his second lead of the
race and held on while
the Chastain and Hamlin
conflict ensued at lap
247.
LaJoie would regain
the lead after that restart
but would soon be
slowed down by a back-
stretch incident.
With one final restart
at just three laps remain
ing, a frantic finish was
guaranteed.
On the second lap,
Elliott passed LaJoie and
Chastain to retake the
lead. With no other
options, the No. 7
attempted to pass on the
high line on the final lap
but was blocked by
Elliott, sending him into
the wall and ending the
race on a caution.
All of that late drama
made the hometown win
that much sweeter.
“These are moments
you wish you could bot
tle up and keep,” Elliott
said. “To be here and
have a day like we had
was incredible. It’s cer
tainly one I’m going to
embrace and enjoy a
lot.”
Elliott led a total of 96
laps and won both stag
es, securing seven play
off points to go along
with his 16th career Cup
Series victory.
He is also the first
driver to win three races
this season and extended
his lead atop the points
standings with 684
points. After the race, he
passed William Byron
for most total laps led
this season with 645.
Celebrating 192 Consecutive Years
July 25-31, 2022
Host Pastor
Dr. David Sanders
Ministers
Dr. Warren Lathem Rev. Jason Hamby
The song Leader
Barry Slaton.
PUBLIC MEETING NOTICE
The Amicalola Falls Scenic Byway Committee and sponsors (Dawson County Chamber of Com
merce, Gilmer County Chamber of Commerce, Pickens County Chamber of Commerce, Gilmer
County Development Authority, and Pickens County Development Authority) will host a series of
public meetings to receive comments and questions pertaining to the designation of the Amicalola
Falls Scenic Byway. The purpose of these meetings is to provide property owners along the pro
posed route with information about the byway designation process, benefits of designation, and the
long-term vision for the Amicalola Falls Scenic Byway as well as receive community feedback.
Route Description
In Ellijay begin on Flwy 52 at US 76 overpass to roundabout at Flwy 52 near Amicalola Falls
State Park
At Crossroads Grocery at intersection of Flwy 52 and Clear Creek Road, Clear Creek Road to
Fendley Road to Orchard Lane to Yukon Road
Yukon Road toward Talking Rock (becomes Jones Mountain Road in Pickens County) to Flwy
136 in Downtown Talking Rock at Talking Rock Creek
In Talking Rock begin on Flwy 136 at the intersection at Jones Mountain Road to Flwy 183
In Dawsonville begin on Main Street/Flwy 53 at the Dawsonville Museum/Racing Flail of fame
to Shoal Creek Road to Hwy 136 to Bailey Waters Road to Flwy 52 to Amicalola Falls State
Park
In Dawsonville begin on Main Street/Flwy 53 at the Dawsonville Museum/Racing Flail of Fame
to Flwy 183 at the square to Flwy 52 to Amicalola Falls State Park
In Pickens County begin on Burnt Mountain Road at intersection of Flwy 136 to Cove Road in
Jasper
Public Meetings will be held on:
Wednesday, July 20, 2022
4:00pm - 5:00pm - Reece’s Cider Company, 9110 SR-52, Ellijay, GA
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
4:00pm - 6:00pm - Fainting Goat Vineyards & Winery, 201 Vineyard Way, Jasper, GA
Thursday, July 28, 2022
5:00pm - 6:00pm - Georgia Racing Flail of Fame, 415 Flwy. 53E, Dawsonville, GA
All property owners along the route and anyone else interested in learning more about the project
is encouraged to attend. Individuals unable to attend one of the three public meetings may forward
comments or questions to Janet Cochran, Project Manager, Georgia’s Rural Center
404-276-9142 orjanet.cochran@abac.edu
