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 3A DCHS Class of 2023 earns over $700K in scholarships By Julia Hansen jhansen@dawsonnews.com Dawson County High School’s graduating seniors were awarded scholarships worth over $700,000, not including Hope or Zell Miller money, Principal Michael Negley announced at the school’s Senior Scholarship Night on May 2. “That is an absolutely outstand ing achievement,” Negley said. Many local groups and busi nesses awarded these funds, often noting how the recipients have carried on their predecessors’ missions of caring for the Dawson-area community through extensive civic participation, aca demic excellence and career aspi rations. James Swofford spoke on behalf of the Donald Moss Foundation before those funds were announced for 12 recipients, who will each receive $15,000 over four years in college. It’s the seventh year the schol arship has been awarded, and the foundation has given $1,050,000 to education in Dawson County, Swofford said. “Donald Moss was a lifelong resident of Dawson County. He never had children, but he loved children. He never had very much education, but he realized the importance of education,” Swofford said, adding that the late Moss “never knew a child in need that he didn’t help.” “Tonight, we’re awarding 12 scholarships,” Swofford said, “so hopefully, this’ll help somebody get an education and further their life and make a good citizen not only for Dawson County, but for Georgia.” Other local groups and organi zations that contributed scholar ships on DCHS Scholarship Night included: • Amicalola EMC • Big Canoe Chapel Carroll Daniel Construction Company Chaing Family Charley Dumphey Golf Crye-Leike Realtor Scholarship Dawson County Democratic Party Dawson County Kiwanis Club Dawson County Lion’s Club Dawson County Republican Party Dawson County Woman’s Club Donald Moss Foundation Energizes Others Scholarship Etowah Water Sewer Authority GA Mountains Master Gardeners Gacie Claire Hill Memorial Gainesville Spring Chicken Grace Sheer Foundation lone Bettis Educational Scholarship Kiwanis Key Club Marcus Byrd Memorial REACH Scholars Red Cross Retired Educators Association Scholarship Rotary Club of Big Canoe Rotary Club of Dawson County Sawnee EMC Styles Family Memorial Scholarship Townsend Memorial Scholarship Upper Chattahoochee River, Soil and Water Conservation District Veterans Affairs of Dawson County Vietnam Veterans of America no. 970 Vietnam Veterans ROTC Scholarship Wee Books The following students also received special recognitions for more than $300,000 earned in scholarships from colleges or higher learning institutions: • Ansley Humphreys: Piedmont College Merit Scholarship • Avery Beaty: Georgia State Academic Scholarship • Brady LeBel: Mississippi State Old Main Scholarship • Ethan Duncan: Mercer Merit Scholarship • Jessica Mann: multiple Columbia College scholar ships • Madison Green: University of North Georgia Honors Scholarship • Madelyn Lee: Athletic rifle team scholarship, University of Alabama- Birmingham merit and education scholarships BOC ponders more local control over three lake parks By Julia Hansen jhansen@dawsonnews.com After a winter closure of three lakeside parks previ ously caused a stir among Dawson-area residents, Parks and Recreation Director Matt Payne talked about a possible solution for more local control dur- ing the Board of Commissioners’ meeting Thursday. At the board’s May 4 work session, Payne pre sented a request for the county to enter into a lease agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for Nix Bridge, Thompson Creek and Toto Creek parks along Lake Lanier. Citing previous discus sions within the county and with the Corps, Payne said that it had become “appar ent” that a cooperative agreement would be the way to go. “This could be as soon as you allow it,” Payne said. “We could take this over at the start of the summer and finish out this year with what we have. We can do this fairly quickly.” Under the terms, the county would be responsi ble for light maintenance such as cutting the grass, maintaining campsites at Toto Creek Park, cleaning park bathrooms and other overall upkeep functions, Payne said. Meanwhile, the Corps would be responsible for replacing faulty bathrooms, or fixing potholes and man aging utilities. The tri-park lease would be a five-year agreement allowing for re negotiation after two years. Dawson County would be able to keep user and campsite fees under the new terms, so more of that money would be going back to Nix Bridge, Thompson Creek and Toto Creek parks, Payne added. Other suggestions included four digital fee charging stations, a truck and trailer and signage. In terms of personnel, Payne tentatively suggested hiring an additional full-time maintenance worker and a full-time person to lead what would be a newly- created outdoor activities or lake parks division of his department. Dawson County is cur rently 13 years into a 25-year joint lease with the Corps for War Hill Park. A cooperative lease for the three other parks, as opposed to a joint lease, would help eliminate a lot of the red tape and get proj ects done quicker, since the county would be dealing with the Corps directly, Payne said to the board. Citing the Corps’ intent to continue that joint lease as is, Payne added that the agreement over War Hill Park is not expected to change. The county is still going through a process to update War Hill Park’s master plan, which DCN will report on more in future articles. District 2 Commissioner Chris Gaines mentioned the potential positive of being able to more easily add a revenue-offsetting feature, like a picturesque pavilion, to somewhere such as Nix Bridge Park. District 4 Commissioner Emory Dooley clarified with Gaines that the county would not bear financial responsibility for master plans for Nix Bridge, Thompson Creek and Toto Creek parks. Gaines also circled back to how the unintentional misstep with trying to add luxury camping sites to War Hill Park sparked an $150,000 environmental study and revived the push for a master plan update there. “This would expedite all of that [kind of change], with a cooperative agree ment,” Gaines said. “What started this,” Gaines added, “was that the Corps was forced to close parks they wouldn't nor mally close. Citizens, they are concerned...[so] this gives us more local control to leave those open year round if we decide to.” Gaines said that having attractive lakeside parks helps continue a “macro level trickle-down” cycle, in that people traveling to boat ramps stop at places to buy fuel, food or bait on the Keep Dawson County Beautiful Presents Tire Amnesty Day Saturday, May 13th, 2023 7:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. *please note, event held in MAY only this year Dawson County Waste & Recycling Center (Transfer Station) 946 Burt Creek Road, Dawsonville, GA 30534 • Maximum of 10 standard car/pickup truck tires ONLY-per load. • No commercial vehicle tires accepted: heavy duty/bobcat tires, semi-truck, tractor-trailer or agricultural tires will be accepted. • FREE to Dawson County residents only; no tire companies please. • Not accepting with mud, dirt, debris or rims attached. Email: kdcb@dawsoncountyga.gov www.keepdawsoncountybeautiful.org Julia Hansen Dawson County News Parks and Rec Director Matt Payne speaks to the Dawson County Board of Commissioners during their May 4 work session. way to the water. “I believe if we sign on, we would be the first in the United States to go along with the new [agreement] process that they have, which is kind of cool in and of itself,” he added. Following that discus sion, the board did not choose to move Payne’s request forward for a vote later Thursday night. In related news, Dawson County commissioners approved a request for the county to verify its com mitment to fund half of a $300,000 grant, or $150,000, for the Styles Park project. Last year, longtime resi dent Anne Styles and her family donated 120 acres of land located off of Ga. 183 and Elliott Family Parkway for a future park. The land is located in cen tral Dawson County, in the more rural District 1. If approved for the state grant, the county would contribute the matching $150,000 from SPLOST VII funds. DCN will report more on this park news when more details are available. SATURDAY, MAY 20TH ACCEPTABLE ELECTRONICS: • Desktops • Laptops • Servers • Mainframes • Network Hubs • Network Switches • Celt Phones • Desktop Phones & Systems • Keyboards/Mice • Check Processing • Gaming Consoles • LCD Monitors • CD-ROMS • Floppy Drives • Circuit Boards • Power Supplies • Hard Drives • UPS & UPS Batteries 9curv~ Ifurv WaLmart Shopping Center 156 POWER CENTER DR ACROSS FROM OUTLET MALL • Ni-MH/Ni-CAD Batteries • Lithium Batteries • Blu-Ray Players • CabLe/Wire • Gaming Controllers • Toner/lnkjet Cartridges • Printers • Fax Machines • Copiers • Scanners • Typewriters • Modems • Stereos . 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