About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (May 10, 2023)
Wednesday, May 10,2023 dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3B GRHOF honors Herb Emory, law enforcement By Rio White riowhite@dawsonnews.com A busy spring season for the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame had a notable recent highlight, as the local muse um held a special ceremony on Friday, May 5, for their newest display — Herb Emory’s Ford Galaxie replica squad car from “The Andy Griffith Show”. Emory, a longtime traffic reporter for WSB radio and Channel 2 Action News, was well-known in NASCAR cir cles as a passionate motors- ports enthusiast. The GRHOF marked the occasion by having the squad car driven through the Dawsonville square and escorted by Georgia State Patrol troopers as a tribute to Emory. After winding its way back to the museum, the car was carefully brought into the building and placed among the many historical cars pres ent. Behind the car was a dis play that served to commem orate the work of law enforce ment and first responders, which included patches, uni form articles and photos. Karen Emory, Herb’s wife, expressed her gratitude to the GRHOF for creating the dis play, which sits next to the museum’s Herb Emory Library. “This is the perfect place,” Emory said. “Knowing how much Herb loved this car, how much he loved racing, and how much he loves this Hall of Fame...I just know he is smiling down on us right now and everyone that had anything to do with making this possible.” Cindy Elliott thanked the GSP and local law enforce ment for helping coordinate the escort and getting together many elements of the display. Photo courtesy Kaitlyn Baty Herb Emory's Ford Galaxie squad car makes its way through down town Dawsonville on Friday, May 5. Missing a couple of good moms It is not without a stab of pain that I, sometimes, drive past a spot where once stood a hometown restaurant. Nothing remains of it, other than a paved parking. It had once been the center of small town fellowship where men gathered in the morning to tell stories, both those that were true and those that were just a good Southern fable. Sometimes, the stories were more like parables with a moral encrusted. Folks piled in at lunch and supper for the kind of restaurant meal we took for granted then but miss now - a buffet piled with fried chicken, meat loaf, and all types of fried food and gravy. The original owner grew weary of the nonstop life and leased it to a Hispanic family who tried to understand Southern cooking but failed. The res taurant closed within a year. The build ing stood abandoned until it was finally bulldozed into a memory. On the last Mother’s Day of Mama’s life, we went to early church and planned brunch afterwards. At every res taurant, despite the earliness of the hour, lines stretched into the parking lot. “I am not waiting in a long line,” I complained. Mama nodded. We drove down the street, saw this restaurant and, not knowing it was no longer managed by the long, well-regarded folks, we pulled into an almost vacant parking lot. This should have warned us. The buffet was an old-fashioned breakfast of bacon, sausage, biscuits, gravy, eggs, and grits. Nothing was good. As I tried to swallow down the soggy bacon and tasteless biscuits, I apologized. “Mama, I am so sorry.” Salting her eggs, she asked, “About what?” “This breakfast.” “It’s fine with me,” she replied uncharacteristically content with the restaurant food. She took a bite of bacon. “I like it.” In the years that have come and gone, I have thought too many times about that day - my grumpiness in giving her a decent meal on her special day and her complete satisfaction with one of the sorriest meals I’ve ever had. If she had complained or been angry, it would have made much smoother the memory of that Mother’s Day. I woefully regret it. Not long after Mama died, another woman, just a bit younger than Mama, came into my life with a glistening spark of maternal love and embrace that welcomed me into her family. Anne Hodnett, one of the much beloved people on St. Simons Island, became immensely important to me and, later, to Tink. We loved her like the mothers we no longer have. She was a remarkable woman. I can not begin to extol all her virtues of being the perfect Southern woman, with a lilting drawl that drew everyone to her. When her children went off to college, she joyfully took in foster babies. She made a home while her husband, Roy, made a fortune in the real estate business, then she created her own business entwining her love for theater with a good business sense. She formed a film company that made gov ernment training films at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Brunswick, known as Glynco (short for Glynn County) because it has its own zip code. In my new mystery novel that debuts in August, I placed Anne Hodnett in scenes because she had befriended a U.S. Marshal during the course of her film-making.. Shockingly, during the ragged days of January, she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Tink and I hurried to the island where one afternoon, I sat on an ottoman and read to her the passages from my manuscript, “St. Simons Island”, which paid homage to that dear woman. She giggled delightedly then dabbed tears from her eyes. That afternoon left me, thankfully, with no regrets. A lesson learned from Mama. At 98, she departed for her heavenly assignment. To paraphrase Tennessee Williams, “All good women, regardless of age, die too young.” Ronda Rich is a best-selling author of What Southern Women Know (That Every Woman Should). Visit www.rondarich. com to sign up for her weekly newsletter. RONDA RICH Columnist Mothers Day brunch ideas Happy Mother’s Day to all of you moms out there! Instead of dealing with crowded restaurants, why not make a delicious and simple brunch at home? Here are some yummy recipes that are sure to please everybody’s palate. ADLEN ROBINSON Columnist clean dish cloth and dry com pletely. Preheat the oven to 450-degrees. In a bowl, toss together the dried potatoes with olive oil and spices. Pour out onto a rimmed bak ing sheet. Bake 35-40 min utes, tossing every 10 min utes. Shaved Asparagus Frittata • !/2 pound asparagus, trimmed • 2 tablespoons olive oil • 2 ounces prosciutto • 8 eggs • 1 teaspoon salt • !/2 teaspoon pepper • 2 tablespoons heavy cream • 2 green onions, sliced • 2 tablespoons olive oil • 3 ounces goat cheese, crumbled Using a vegetable peeler, peel the aspar agus into ribbons. Heat an ovenproof skil let (preferably cast iron), over medium- high heat. Add a little olive oil and cook the prosciutto. Cook a few minutes and then flip, cooking another few minutes. Remove to a paper towel lined plate. Preheat the oven to broil. Whisk eggs together with cream, salt and pepper. Heat skillet over medium-high heat with a little olive oil. Add the asparagus and cook a minute or two. Add the egg mixture and the goat cheese. Cook on medium-low heat for 5 minutes until the edges are set. Transfer to the oven and broil for 3-5 min utes until set. Cool for 5 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving. Baked Breakfast Potatoes • 3 russet potatoes, peeled and diced • 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped • 1 onion, chopped • Vi cup olive oil • 1 tablespoon garlic powder • 1 tablespoon onion powder • 14 teaspoon cayenne • Vi teaspoon salt • 'A teaspoon pepper Place potatoes in a bowl of cold water and swish around. Let soak for 25 minutes. Drain and rinse again. Pour out onto a Mushroom, Leek and Goat Cheese Quiche • 2 tablespoons olive oil • 2 leeks, white and light green parts, sliced thin • 2 cups mushrooms, sliced • 3 teaspoons thyme leaves • Vi teaspoon salt • 14 teaspoon pepper • 6 eggs • !/2 teaspoon nutmeg • 1 cup whole milk • 6 ounces goat cheese • 1 pie crust, store bought or home made Preheat oven to 400-degrees. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add leeks and cook for 3-4 minutes until soft ened. Add mushrooms and thyme leaves and salt and pepper. Cook another 3-4 minutes. In a bowl, whisk together eggs, nutmeg and whole milk. Meanwhile, place pie crust in a pie plate and prick it all over with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven to 375-degrees. Add vegetables to pie crust and then distribute the goat cheese. Pour the egg mixture over all. Bake for 40 minutes. Cool for five minutes and then cut into wedges and serve. Avocado English Muffins • 2 English muffins • 2 tablespoons butter • 1 ripe avocado • !/2 teaspoon salt • 2 tablespoons mayonnaise • !/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes Spread butter onto English muffins and broil them until browned. In a bowl, mash avocado with salt. When English muffins are toasted, spread mayonnaise on halves. Top with mashed avocados and sprinkle with crushed red pepper flakes. FROM 1B Goode While Goode has been a part of the Lady Tigers program for a while, she is determined to work with Walker and become as technically astute as possible for her first varsity coaching job. “Courtney, my assistant coach, is coming in and is super knowledgeable [as] she played in college and coached at sever al big schools,” Goode said. “Just the technique behind every thing... will be the things I’m looking forward to learn ing.” Given her experience with the junior varsity team, Goode has a strong working knowledge of the entire program’s roster and will continue to help strengthen the team’s identity. “I’m looking forward to build ing the program as one full solid machine,” Goode said. “I want us to be one team, one family [and] one program. When it comes to the stuff off the court, I want them to build those relationships to where they can count on each other outside of sports.” FROM 1B Baseball on the mound, collecting 54 strikeouts in six region starts. Rounding out the Dawson County players represented were Colton Rucker and Banks Hickman, who were chosen as Honorable Mentions. Rucker finished the year with a .330 batting average with 29 hits and 32 runs. Hickman made major strides as a start ing pitcher, with his season highlighted by a complete-game shutout of Gilmer. All but one of these All-Region selec tions will be returning to next season’s squad. Photos courtesy of DCHS golf The DCHS boys golf team finished third in the Area 4-3A tournament, earn ing them a spot at the State Tournament for the third straight year. FROM 1B Golf Senior Jeremy Ray and junior Walker Milholland led the Tigers with rounds of 78, while Will McNatt post ed 80 and Caden Reed shot 82. Previously, the Tigers finished third at the 2021 state tournament and eighth in 2022. This year’s Class 3A state tournament will be held May 22 and May 23 at Bull Creek Golf Club in Columbus. FROM 1B Track their own school record with a time of 4:09.92, finishing second out of 14 teams at the State Sectionals. Lauren Kurtz ran the opening leg with one of her best splits of the sea son, hitting 64 seconds. Anna LeCave solidified the team’s place near the top of their heat, using her long strides to put the team in a strong position as she passed the baton. Katie Gloeckner took the third leg and made a critical pass just before passing off to anchor leg Emily Kurtz, who rocketed forward to help break that record time and finish second in Heat One. That time would prove to be too strong for any team in Heat Two to match. The other relay team to qualify was the girls 4x800 team, which consisted of Gloeckner, LeCave, Jules Phillips and Addison Smith. That team finished fourth out 12 teams, comfortably within the top eight qualifying times. Smith and Phillips ran the opening two legs before Gloeckner and LeCave helped push the team past Monroe Area and White County to secure a top-four finish. Another impressive relay perfor mance came up just short, with the region champion boys 4x200 team fall ing one spot short of qualifying despite breaking the school record that won them the region title. Ironically, the team Dawson defeated by inches to win the region — White County — was the team that beat out the Tigers for the eighth qualifying position out of 15 teams. The Tigers posted a time of 1:33.16, besting their region title run by 0.3 sec onds. But White County also had their best race of the season at the State Sectionals, finishing one-tenth of a sec ond ahead of Dawson. The three individual Dawson qualifi ers in the track portion of the event were Anna LeCave in the 800-meter race, Emily Kurtz in the 400-meter girls races and Aaric Muilenburg in the 400-meter boys race. Kurtz hit a personal best mark of 1:00.67 as did Muilenburg at 52.15. The two earliest Dawson County state qualifiers came in the field events, with Ema Bliss among the third-best heights in the high jump while Emily Kurtz moved on in the pole vault. Bliss needed to match her previous career-best height of 4 feet 10 inches to ensure her place in the State Finals, as she was one of six individuals to clear that. Kurtz’s qualifying attempt at the pole vault was her least eventful of the day as she was one of only eight vaulters in the event, with all of them moving on. The Class 3A State Finals will be held at Hugh Mills Stadium in Albany from Thursday, May 11, through Saturday, May 13.
