Wednesday, November 9,2022
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A
Amicalola EMC donates $413K to local communities
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
This year, not-for-profit
electric cooperative
Amicalola EMC donated
$413,000 in community fund
ing to the communities that
the cooperative serves.
According to a press
release by Amicalola EMC,
the organization’s 2022 dona
tions included $140,000 in
high school scholarships,
$50,000 in Bright Ideas teach
er grants, $10,000 to each
local Chamber of Commerce,
$10,000 to each local food
pantry and $1,000 to each of
47 fire departments within the
Amicalola EMC service area,
among other local donations.
The donations are funded
through unclaimed refunds, in
accordance with Georgia’s
unclaimed property laws. In
accordance with these laws,
the cooperative is allowed to
distribute these unclaimed
refunds throughout the com
munities it serves for three
purposes: education, econom
ic development and 501(c)3
charities.
Amicalola EMC members
are given refunds of any
money that is over and above
the cost to operate the cooper
ative, and this year the board
of directors authorized a capi
tal credit refund in the amount
of $2.6 million to members
who received electric service
in 2002.
Members with active
accounts received a credit on
their September power bill,
and members who do not
have an active account will
receive a check in the mail if
they have provided a current
mailing address. Refunds that
go unclaimed are held for
another five years.
Photo courtesy of Amicalola EMC
(L to R) Dawson recipients include Tara Hardwick and Robyn Rotundaz
of Dawson Ric Rack;Todd Payne, Amicalola EMC CEO; Anthony Buttram
of Dawson County Fire; and Bev Bannister andTrampas Hansard City
Development Authority of Dawsonville.
FROM 1A
Roberts
Photo by Rio White Dawson County News
Senior Judge David Emerson, center, listens as
one of Daniel Roberts' lawyers, John Luke Weaver,
speaks during an Oct. 31 motions hearing.
Additionally, the senior
judge deferred a decision
on Roberts’ change of
venue motion until the jury
selection process can com
mence.
The judge noted “the
totality of the circumstanc
es” from evidence shown at
the immunity hearing and
the defendant’s multiple
statements given immedi
ately after his arrest.
“The court does not find
that the defendant met this
burden,” Emerson stated in
the motion.
In their May motion for
change of venue, Roberts’
defense lawyers argued that
their client’s trial should be
moved because a multime
dia campaign by the dece
dent’s family and multiple
articles from DCN would
taint a jury pool.
“The court is not con
vinced at this time that the
defendant has met his bur
den of proof on this issue,”
Emerson wrote in another
Nov.l order. “The court
therefore defers [a] final
ruling on the change of
venue motion until such
time as the court can begin
voir dire of the jurors sum
moned for the trial of the
case.”
Timeline
The judge’s orders fol
low a litany of develop
ments in the high-profile
case.
Previously, documents
for the oldest case alleged
that after getting in a verbal
disagreement with one vic
tim, Roberts hit them while
leaving the parking lot of
Thompson Creek Park on
Oct. 23,2019.
After being arrested the
same night as those alleged
offenses, Roberts was
charged on Oct. 24 with
two counts of aggravated
assault, possession of a
firearm during commission
of a crime and carrying a
concealed weapon.
On Oct. 25, 2019,
Roberts was released on a
$20,200 bond.
He was indicted in June
2021 on the charges from
the 2019 case. As part of
his bond conditions, he was
not supposed to violate any
laws while those charges
were pending.
About a week before the
fight at Applebee’s,
Duckworth and Roberts
had a confrontation during
a truck meet at the Ingles in
Cumming, according to
testimony from a former
DCSO and current DA
office investigator and that
investigator’s video inter
view with Roberts, which
was played at the court
hearing.
Tensions flared further
when a friend of Roberts,
Tyler Dybendal, supposed
ly posted a Snap on
Snapchat about
Duckworth’s truck being
“white trash,” to which
Duckworth is said to have
replied with a picture stat
ing “go back to Ohio lol,”
according to the investiga
tor’s testimony.
That Snap is the focus of
another warrant which
Roberts’ defense wants
suppressed.
It supposedly spurred
Dybendal and Roberts
going to the Applebee’s
parking lot on July 25 so
Dybendal could fight
Duckworth.
During his interview
with the investigator,
Roberts also revealed that
Dybendal had been butting
heads with Duckworth over
the latter’s ex-girlfriend,
who was then with
Dybendal. After arriving at
the Applebee’s, Dybendal
and Duckworth allegedly
fought but were broken up.
Roberts initially said that
Duckworth walked up to
him and asked what he was
going to do before suppos
edly grabbing at his collar
bone area, causing Roberts
to react by punching
Duckworth. Later in his
July 26 interview, Roberts
admitted that he might’ve
instead punched
Duckworth for “getting up
in [his] face and running
his mouth,” with the inves
tigator later insisting that
“someone being up in your
face and grabbing are dif
ferent.”
Roberts said in the taped
interview that he and
Dybendal went to the lat
ter’s house initially because
he knew “the cops would
be coming” to his house.
While Dybendal has
been named as allegedly
being tied to events preced-
ing Duckworth and
Roberts’ Applebee’s fight,
he has not been charged in
this case. Dybendal does
have a separate case pend
ing in Dawson County.
Roberts has been indict
ed on two counts of felony
murder and one count each
of aggravated assault and
aggravated battery for that
case.
The indictment for
Roberts’ case alleges that
he punched the younger
Dawsonville teen with a
closed fist, causing serious
brain damage. After the
fight, Duckworth was taken
to a hospital with severe
brain trauma and died on
July 27.
The prosecution charged
Roberts with two felony
murder counts in relation to
the alleged aggravated
assault and aggravated bat
tery accusatons also con
nected to Duckworth’s
death, according to the
indictment.
Bond motions
Following Roberts’ 2021
arrest, bond for the 2019
case was subsequently
revoked on Aug. 31, 2021.
Court documents from that
time cited that he violated
conditions of the 2019
bond by allegedly commit
ting new offenses. Bond
was likewise initially
denied in the 2021 case,
and he was indicted on
those later charges in
October.
In December, the court
reinstated his bond in the
CARS'Sc
TRUCKS
770-294-3144 (C)
Brad Minard
ibuyfrombrad@gmail.com
earlier case and set a
$100,000 bond for the
newer case. The condition
to violate no laws was a
bond provision in both
cases.
That bond was paid, and
Roberts was released from
DCSO custody.
Assistant District
Attorney Pete Lamb
explained during a recount
ing of Roberts’ alleged acts
that there were other occa
sions for which he has not
been charged since 2019.
That includes a trespass
warning issued to Roberts
for allegedly stalking an ex
girlfriend, the prosecutor
said.
Then this year, before the
May alleged offenses,
Roberts supposedly fol
lowed Duckworth’s par
ents, Amanda and Tommy,
down Lumpkin
Campground Road, bang
ing on the side of the truck
he was driving and yelling
at them, Lamb said. The
prosecutor later clarified
that he’d just learned about
that alleged offense on
Thursday.
Roberts also allegedly
ran another friend of
Duckworth’s off of Ga. 400
in April and tailgated
another mutual friend of
that person and Duckworth
later that month, Lamb
added. Then, on May 1,
Roberts allegedly harassed
a friend of Duckworth’s
again and forced that per
son off of the road as well,
the prosecutor said.
Later in May, Roberts
was booked on the felony
charges related to the May
13 and May 19 incidents.
Roberts allegedly threat
ened a teenage victim on
May 13 near Dawson
Village Way North and Ga.
53, according to a Dawson
County Sheriff’s Office
warrant. He is accused of
telling the victim to come
to his residence, where he,
Roberts, would “give him
the same thing he gave his
buddy,” referring to Kaleb
Duckworth.
Roberts allegedly com
mitted the aggravated
assault against the same
victim on May 19 along
Dawson Forest Road,
according to another
DCSO warrant.
He was purportedly driv
ing his pick-up truck when
he entered the victim’s lane
of travel and caused that
person to swerve in order
to avoid a collision. It
appeared difficult to tell in
the video evidence shown
Friday whether or not
Roberts swerved toward
the victim enough to con
stitute aggravated assault.
In June, Roberts was
indicted on one charge
each of aggravated assault
and terroristic threats.
Since being arrested on
May 20, Roberts has
remained in custody at the
Dawson County Detention
Center.
In July, Emerson wrote
to revoke and decline to
reinstate Daniel Lee
Roberts’ bonds in his 2021
and 2019 cases respective
ly. The judge also denied
bond for the 2022 case
involving the latest allega
tions against Roberts.
A trial date has not yet
been set for Roberts’ 2021
case. DCN will provide
updates when more infor
mation is available.
Start earning with
Bank OZK today!
3.20$?
8 month CD or IRA CD Special
3.50%
13 month CD or IRA CD Special
O/
/O
APY*
18 month CD or IRA CD Special
Visit our Dawsonville location or open
an account online at ozk.com.**
<> Bank OZK
ozk.com I Member FDIC
‘Annual Percentage Yield (APY) effective as of the publication date. Offer applies
to new CDs only. $1,000 minimum deposit to open and is required to earn stated
APY. Penalty for early withdrawal. IRA CD is subject to eligibility requirements.
Offer not available to Pubiic Funds, brokers, dealers and other financial institutions.
Fees could reduce earnings. Offer subject to change without notice. Offer good at
location in Dawsonville, GA only.
“IRA CD must be opened in person and cannot be opened online.
