Wednesday, January 4,2023
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A
UGA Extension Service to offer Master Gardener course
Photo courtesy of Unsplash
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
UGA’s local extension ser
vice, which has offices in
Dawson and Lumpkin Counties,
will hold a master gardener
course in Lumpkin County in
2023 that will be open to anyone
who is interested in learning
more about the craft.
According to a press release
by the extension service, the
term “Master Gardener” isn’t
meant to refer to people who are
garden experts, but rather those
who help out the local extension
office with service projects with
gardening and natural resources
themes.
“Master Gardener Extension
volunteers are made up of peo
ple from many ages and abili
ties,” the release said. “Many
who take the training class are
novice gardeners, while others
are seasoned plant lovers.
Anyone who sits through the
courses will learn something to
enrich their own gardening
skills.”
The Master Gardener training
course will take place at the
Lumpkin County Parks and
Recreation building, located at
365 Riley Road in Dahlonega,
and classes will run Tuesdays
and Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 3
p.m. between Jan. 17 and Feb.
21. Classes will be taught by
UGA Extension professionals
and others skilled in the various
gardening techniques. The entire
course costs $150, which
includes the Master Gardener
Handbook.
“Classes offered include a
wide range of gardening and
landscape topics, including soils
and fertility, plant identification,
insects and diseases, landscape
design, pruning, lawn mainte
nance and selection, pollinator
gardening, fruit gardening and
many more,” the release said.
“It’s a great deal of information
for only $150.”
All participants in the course
must pledge to donate 50 hours
of their spare time to help with
Master Gardener projects in the
first year after their initial train
ing, the release added. After
that, 25 hours of service are
required annually to maintain
the status of an active Master
Gardener Extension volunteer.
“This may seem like a lot, but
we have many projects available
to help with, and the hours build
up quickly for most people,” the
release said.
Those interested in the class
can apply by visiting the
Lumpkin County Extension
office, located at 26 Johnson
Street in Dahlonega, or by
emailing ugell87@uga.edu.
Anyone interested will be
required to fill out an applica
tion form and complete a back
ground check through the
University of Georgia.
“Whether you are an avid gar
dener or have never dug a hole
in your life, consider joining us
for the Master Gardener training
class [in 2023],” the release said.
“You will certainly receive a
good education on gardening
topics, and you will also meet
some great people who are
already involved in the pro
gram.”
For more information, contact
the Lumpkin County Extension
Office by calling 706-864-2275
or by emailing ugell87@uga.
edu.
County’s search continues for new public works director
DCN file photo
After an initial search to fill the lead role, Dawson
County government officials are going back to the
drawing board to find a new public works director.
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
After an initial search to
fill the lead role, Dawson
County government offi
cials are going back to the
drawing board to find a
new public works director.
This position offers an
annual salary of $74,076,
and applications will be
accepted until Jan. 4, 2023,
according to the Dawson
County job posting.
The Director of Public
Works has purview over
the department’s adminis
tration, engineering, roads
and bridges, solid waste
and stormwater/environ
mental divisions.
Prior director Jeff Hahn
departed at the end of
November, according to his
resignation letter DCN
obtained by an open
records request.
Another records request
showed that three people
applied for the Dawson
County position after it was
first posted in mid-Novem
ber.
The candidate to whom
the county originally made
an offer decided to stay at
their current position rather
than take the Dawson
County job, interim county
manager Vickie Neikirk
said in an email to DCN.
Transfer station
In other public works
news, the county’s Burt
Creek Road transfer sta
tion will no longer accept
recyclable items effective
Dec. 28 as the county
plans for repairs to the
facility in 2023.
In August 2022, the
Board of Commissioners
authorized $350,000 for
the first round of fixes to
the transfer station to
repair its building and ret
rofit the facility with a
pull-in and drop-off recy
cling system, similar to
Pickens County.
With the new system,
Dawson County custom
ers will have separate
areas to dispose of house
hold trash and place recy-
clables. Bins or divided
compactors would bear
signage showing what is
and isn’t acceptable.
During the board’s Dec.
1 meeting, chairman Billy
Thurmond suggested nix
ing the proposed contract
to “temporarily halt” the
recycling and “save
money until we get the
other system up and run
ning.”
There is no estimated
timeline on when those
renovations are expected
to be complete and recy
cling can resume, accord
ing to a Dawson County
Government Facebook
post.
Road projects
During his presentation
at the Dawson County
GOP’s Nov. 14 meeting,
Thurmond said Dawson
County has multiple infra
structure fixes on the hori
zon over the next five
years, from roundabouts
to several widening and
resurfacing projects.
At the meeting,
Thurmond also mentioned
his desire to see a one-
penny transportation spe
cial local option sales tax
passed in 2023 to help
finance projects like the
state-led ones.
Previously in 2020,
Dawson County voters
rejected a TSPLOST ref
erendum.
“Funding is the key,”
Thurmond said. “When
you’re talking about road
projects, you’re talking
about multiple, multiple,
multiple millions of dol
lars to make those kinds
of things happen.”
Fifty-plus motions remain
in Dawson man’s capital case
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnnews.com
More than 50 pretrial
motions remain outstand
ing in the case of a Dawson
County man facing the
death penalty after being
charged with his wife’s
2019 killing.
During a Dec. 22 status
hearing, lawyers discussed
how to move forward with
proceedings next year in
the case of 47-year-old
Jeremy Wade Gibson.
Northeastern Judicial
Circuit judge Clint Bearden
is presiding over the case.
The 56 motion-count
does not include any addi
tional motions and two oth
ers allowing the defense to
reserve the right to file
more, said one of Gibson’s
lawyers, Laura Cobb.
A trial has not yet been
set for Gibson.
Charges
Gibson is accused of
allegedly shooting his wife,
Amy, multiple times in
front of their five and eight-
year-old children in the
Fire Station no. 7 parking
lot on July 29, 2019.
Firefighters and their fami
ly members were present at
the time of the shooting.
His and Amy’s two chil
dren, who were in her car
during the incident, were
uninjured. Her sister was
later granted custody of the
children.
Gibson was arrested and
later indicted on two counts
of felony murder, cruelty to
children in the first degree,
family violence-related
aggravated assault and pos
session of a firearm or
knife during commission of
a crime.
He has been detained at
the Dawson County
Detention Center since his
arrest and is the jail’s lon
gest inmate, Bearden said
at a previous 2022 hearing.
Delays
At a March 2022 hear
ing, Senior Assistant
District Attorney Conley
Greer acknowledged how
scheduling court dates has
been impacted by the
COVID-19 pandemic,
shutdown of the trial pro
cess and subsequent back
log of cases.
“The only thing I ask is
that we get a trial date,”
Greer said at that hearing.
“There is a victim in this
case, and that family isn’t
satisfied at all with this.”
Two attorneys are legally
required for capital defen
dants such as Gibson,
Bearden said at the Dec. 22
hearing. Attorneys for
Georgia’s Capital Defender
Office act as public defend
ers for indigent defendants
in death penalty cases.
The withdrawal of both
Gibson’s former attorneys
from the case also delayed
proceedings, Georgia
Capital Defender Jerilyn
Bell explained at the June
hearing. Bell has been tem
porarily filling in with
Gibson’s case to keep the
court updated.
This past fall, Gibson’s
previous second chair with
drew from his case. Then,
the head of the regional
capital defender’s office,
which is based in Athens,
stepped down from his
position earlier in 2022.
Typically, that person
would serve as the first
chair.
During the March hear
ing, Bell said that losing
two attorneys around the
same time in cases “doesn’t
often happen.”
That pause in proceed
ings allowed Gibson’s sec
ond-chair defense lawyer
Laura Cobb to become
barred in Georgia and for
Atlanta-based Metro
Capital Defender’s Office
supervising attorney
Christian Lamar to make
an entry of appearance as
Gibson’s first-chair attor
ney.
During the Dec. 22 hear
ing, Bearden also men
tioned accommodating the
defense lawyers’ obliga
tions to their older death
penalty cases and Gibson’s
case subsequently taking
priority over more recent
capital ones.
“We are blessed with
resources to have the
ARPA (American Rescue
Plan Act) funds so a senior
judge can step in and cover
other calendars of mine,”
Bearden added.
Outlook
Bearden voiced the
court’s desire to “go ahead
and be proactive” with
scheduling multiple hear
ings for the beginning of
2023 and encouraged the
lawyers involved to discuss
setting dates and when to
have what motions heard.
Of the 50-plus pending
motions in Gibson’s case,
lawyers acknowledged that
motions regarding evidence
of prior acts would require
a lengthier motion hearing.
An in-person hearing is
scheduled for Jan. 6, where
lawyers plan to address at
minimum a motion related
to victim impact matters.
Bearden reiterated the
court’s desire to “be pre
pared to know what’s com
ing” and make a “produc
tive use of time” in the
2023 hearings.
DCN will continue to
follow this court case.
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