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6A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, February 8,2023
Gainesville Farmers Market closes
Trial date set for
BY RACHEL ESTES
DCN regional staff
After 14 years of purveying local
produce, artisan foods, handmade
wares and live music on the down
town square, the Gainesville
Farmers Market is no more.
The announcement came via
Facebook Thursday, Feb. 2, citing
the city’s July 2022 decision to relo
cate the market to Roosevelt Square
as “not conducive to a successful
market.”
“Thanks to all our customers, and
to the farmers and vendors that sup
ported the market for 14 (mostly)
wonderful years,” the post went on
to say.
The city previously said the deci
sion to relocate the Gainesville
Farmers Market was jointly made
with market manager Steve Thomas
to better accommodate the market’s
continued growth as well as afford
easier access to vendors and patrons
“outside a moat of traffic.”
Dawson County kitchen inspections: Jan. 30-Feb. 3
From staff reports
Local officials surveyed res
taurants and other food service
providers during the area's
most recent health inspections.
The Dawson County
Environmental Health
Department conducted routine
inspections on the following
food service establishments for
the week of Jan. 30-Feb. 3,
2023.
Restaurants are given a letter
grade that coincides with a per
centile: "A" (90-100), "B" (80-
89), "C" (70-79), "U" (69 and
below).
A searchable list of food ser
vice scores is available through
the Georgia Department of
Public Health's health inspec
tions webpage at http://ga.heal-
thinspections.us/stateofgeorgia.
Restaurant rules and regula
tions are available at https://
dph.georgia.gov/environmen-
tal-health-inspections.
FEB. 3
Crystal Falls Golf Club, LLC
Location: 416 Crystal Falls
Fairway, Dawsonville
Score: 86
FEB. 1
Chili's
Location: 60 Crossroads Blvd.,
Dawsonville
Score: 93
Paulene Ivey Senior Center
Location: 237 Recreation
Road, Dawsonville
Score: 100
Senor Fiesta No. 3
Location: 12 Dawson Market
Way Suite 300, Dawsonville
Score: 95
JAN. 31
A Perfect Gathering
Catering
Location: 2115 Ga. 9 S.,
Dawsonville
Score: 100
Burger King No. 9957
Location: 21 Medical Center
Drive, Dawsonville
Score: 88
Holiday Inn Express
Dawsonville
Location: 16 Bethel Drive,
Dawsonville
Score: 84
JAN. 30
Applebee's Grill and Bar
Location: 31 Bethel Road,
Dawsonville
Score: 99
OneLife Fitness
Location: 534 Marketplace
Parkway, Suite 200,
Dawsonville
Score: 95
Wild Wing Cafe
Location: 796 Ga. 400 S.,
Dawsonville
Score: 80
teen accused in
brother’s death
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
A trial date has been set
in the case of a Dawson
County teenager accused of
killing her brother in late
2020.
Defendant Hope
Lindsey’s trial has been
specially set for the week
of Aug. 14, lawyers dis
cussed during a Jan. 31 sta
tus hearing at the Dawson
County Government
Center.
This date will allow for
any other motions to be
filed in the case by March 2
and factor in a negotiated
plea deadline of May 16,
according to the lawyers’
Jan. 31 discussion.
Northeastern Judicial
Circuit Superior Court
judge Lindsay Burton, who
previously served as the
chief judge for the circuit’s
juvenile court, is now pre
siding over the teen’s case.
Hope Lindsey has been
accused of fatally stabbing
her brother, 11-year-old
Payton Lindsey, at a west
ern Dawson County resi
dence on Dec. 5, 2020.
Payton received multiple
stab wounds and was pro
nounced dead at the scene,
according to a statement
from Dawson County
Sheriff Jeff Johnson at the
time.
Lindsey, who was 14
years old at the time, was
charged as an adult for the
alleged crimes and is being
held at a youth detention
center after being denied
bond.
In March 2021, the teen
was indicted on one count
each of malice murder, fel
ony murder, aggravated
assault and aggravated bat
tery.
Lindsey entered a plea of
not guilty on May 18,
2021. She was found men
tally competent to stand
trial earlier last year follow
ing two evaluations.
Her criminal case was
transferred back to the
active docket in October
2022, according to an order
filed then in Dawson
County Superior Court.
FROM 1A
Wade
Wade, who represents
District 9, is one of just
four house members
tapped by the governor to
step into house floor lead
er roles for the 2023-24
General Assembly. He
said that being one of
these four selected by the
governor out of a total 180
members is an honor and
that he is excited about the
appointment.
“As a sophomore I’m
excited to work with the
governor’s folks, especial
ly his policy team — I get
to carry some meaningful,
good legislation and get to
share my thoughts and
provide insight on policy
issues which is something
I’m pretty passionate
about,” Wade said. “I’m
excited to help and hon
ored to serve.”
Currently, Wade said
that one of the specific
projects he is working on
is school safety and pro
viding support to local
districts to help improve
that safety in local
schools.
“I’m working on school
safety; making sure that
we support our local dis
tricts and help protect our
kids,” Wade said, “so
doing some things to help
provide additional funding
for school safety as well
as just in general doing
things like fully funding
education again, helping
out with training, those
kind of things.”
Another thing he’s
working on, he said, is to
continue improving
Georgia’s human and
child trafficking laws.
“The other thing I’ll be
working on is to continue
to enhance our human and
child trafficking laws in
the state of Georgia to
ensure that we protect citi
zens and lock away those
folks that are doing things
they should never do,”
Wade said.
Wade added that getting
to serve on the governor’s
floor leadership team is
not only a great honor for
himself, but that he hopes
it will also be an honor for
District 9 and his home
town of Dawson County.
“It’s just an honor to
serve and I think it’s going
to put me in a position to
obviously help with key
areas of state government,
but also I think it’s going
to be a good thing for
Dawson County and
District 9,” Wade said.
“It’s going to be a fun ses
sion; I think we’re going
to get a lot of really good
things done.”
In addition to Wade, the
other three representatives
tapped by the governor to
serve as 2023-24 Georgia
House of Representatives
Floor Leaders are
Representative Lauren
McDonald (District 26),
Representative Soo Hong
(District 103) and
Representative Matthew
Gambill (District 15).
FROM 1A
Armory
additional space would
help their business until
they moved all of their
inventory in.
“We were packed over
there and we didn’t realize
until we moved it all,” he
said. “We were able to
spread out, have it nice and
organized and make it flow
better for customers.”
Since the armory has
reopened in its new space,
Lynda Hudson said that
they have gotten a lot of
great feedback from both
their existing and new cus
tomers.
“People have been very
excited and very happy for
us, and glad we’re still in
the same vicinity,” she
said. “It’s going great;
we’re seeing lots of new
faces so word is getting out
that we’ve expanded. What
I’ve had the most fun with
is when people walk in the
door to see their facial
expressions; they walk in
and they’re so surprised
and it’s been fun.”
While the Hudsons were
renting their previous loca
tion, they now own their
new location, something
which she said makes the
move feel even more sig
nificant.
“It was a huge project,
and at this point we’re all
breathing a sigh of relief
that it’s completed; we
turned the old building
back over yesterday so
kind of closed that chapter
and now we’re just fully
ready to serve the public,”
she said. “We’ve worked
hard on the interior renova-
tions and just getting
everything cleaned up and
ready and it feels like
home in here; we put a lot
of sweat equity into it.”
“We’re very excited to
be here and we’re very
pleased with how it turned
out, and we’re just glad to
still be in the downtown
area,” Keith Hudson added.
As the business contin
ues to move forward, they
hope to continue adding
new offerings and are cur
rently working on updating
their website so customers
will be able to see weekly
specials and other news.
For more information
Dawson
County com
missioners
voted on Feb.
2 to approve a
$1,547 million
bid for a
roundabout at
Ga. 53 and
Dawson
Forest and
Thompson
Creek Park
roads.
Julia Hansen
Dawson County
News
FROM 1A
Roundabout
to come from fund balance.
That contingency money wouldn’t be
used unless there’s an issue with the proj
ect, said BOC Chairman Billy Thurmond.
The two-phase project will include the
realignment of Thompson Creek Park
Road and the construction of a round
about.
The developers for the Advenir and
Enclave at Dawson Forest communities
near the intersection are contributing
$250,000 each to the project.
About $15,000 has already been spent
by the county to locate and mark property
comers and do topographic field work at
the intersection, Purchasing Manager
Melissa Hawke previously told the board.
District 2 Commissioner Chris Gaines
mentioned part of his and other county
officials’ earlier discussion with U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers officials.
Gaines asked on Feb. 2 about getting
federal grant money to pave Thompson
Creek Park Road from the roundabout to
the boat ramp area, which Hawke said
would have to be addressed separately
from the roundabout project.
Hawke mentioned possibly getting a
rebate from Georgia Power for the instal
lation of light poles “on the [Ga. 53] side
coming in from Gainesville down that’s
really dark and doesn’t have that ambient
light.”
“It’s a multifaceted vote-a long project
to get to where we are,” Hawke added.
In other infrastructure news, the county
has hired a new public works director,
Robert Drewry. He will start the job on
Feb. 6.
As a reminder, the recycling area of
Dawson County’s transfer station remains
closed for renovations. The county tempo
rarily paused its acceptance of recyclable
items in December.
DCN will report more on these public
works topics in a future article.
about Appalachian Armory
& Off Road, go to appala-
chianarmory.com, follow
the business on Facebook
at www.facebook.com/
people/Appalachian-
Armory-Off-Road-
Inc/100064866573013/ or
call 706-216-2113.
/kt%DAWSON
February 28
9am-noon
Bowen Center
for the Arts
334 Highway 9
North
Dawsonville, GA 30534
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