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WEDNESDAY I MAY 17, 2023
Dawson News ► com dawsonville, GEORGIA $2.00
Man pleads guilty in child sex crimes case
Jackson to serve ten years in prison, with life on probation
By Julia Hansen
jhansen@dawsonnews.com
A suspect previously accused
of child molestation in Dawson
County and other areas will now
forgo a trial.
Donnie Wayne Jackson, 49,
entered a negotiated plea of
guilty for charges of felony
aggravated sexual battery and
misdemeanor sexual battery
during a Monday, May 8 hear
ing at the Dawson County
Government Center.
He received a life sentence,
with 10 years to serve and the
rest on probation, for the felony
sexual battery charge along with
a 12-month sen
tence, which
will be served
concurrently, for
the misdemean
or charge.
The probation
sentence
includes not
having direct or
indirect contact with victims or
their family members, regular
drug and alcohol screenings, sex
offender restrictions and 40
hours of community service.
Two counts of child molesta
tion were not pursued by the
state.
Previously, Jackson surren
dered to the Dawson County
Sheriff’s Office in August 2020
in light of multiple Georgia
Bureau of Investigation arrest
warrants.
GBI agents began their inves
tigation in June 2020 when the
Lumpkin County Sheriff’s
Office received a complaint
claiming that Jackson allegedly
molested a child. The GBI
assisted with the case and
learned that the incidents alleg
edly took place in Dawson and
Forsyth counties, so warrants for
Jackson were sought in both
counties.
Because of the investigation,
Jackson was accused and later
indicted in Dawson County on
one
count of aggravated sexual
battery and child molestation
relating to an alleged 2019 inci
dent.
He was also indicted on one
count of child molestation and a
misdemeanor count of sexual
battery for an alleged 2020 inci
dent in Dawson County.
Howell was subsequently
accused of six crimes in Forsyth
- two counts of aggravated child
molestation; one count of aggra
vated sexual battery and three
counts of child molestation -
tied to an alleged incident in
March 2020 involving a victim
under 16 years old, his Forsyth
County indictment stated.
After Jackson was initially
detained in Dawson County, he
was transferred to the Forsyth
County Jail, where he and his
father were both held without
bond, according to a later 2020
FCN article.
During the investigation into
the allegations against Jackson
and Howell in Georgia, shared
information with the Tennessee
Bureau of Investigation, who’d
begun looking into allegations
against the men for child sex
abuse there.
Then in September 2020,
Tennessee authorities indicted
Jackson on one count of sexual
battery by an authority figure.
See Jackson 12A
Jackson
A little neigh of sunshine
Therapy pony receives transport stall thanks to local Home Depot
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
A local therapy pony is
now riding in comfort to
spread joy to local nursing
home residents, thanks to the
construction and donation of
a brand-new transport stall
by the Dawsonville Home
Depot.
Cindy Whittle lives in
Forsyth County, and every
Monday she and her grand
daughters Bridle and Bella
go out to visit nursing homes
throughout the North
Georgia area with their
American miniature pony
Sparky, who is a trained ther
apy pony.
“We go to nursing homes
in Dawson and Forsyth, two
or three in Woodstock,
Alpharetta and two private
homes,” Whittle said.
“Sparky is little — a Great
Dane is taller than him —
and he’s a trained therapy
horse so he can go into bed
rooms and hospital rooms
and anywhere to visit with
the elderly.”
Sparky is about eight or
nine years old and weighs in
at a grand total of about 200
pounds, she said. Because
Sparky is such a small pony,
he is able to ride from nurs
ing home to nursing home in
the back of Whittle’s mini-
van, but Whittle said they
soon realized they needed to
find some kind of solution to
help him ride more safely
and securely.
“I have a little minivan and
he was riding in there but he
was flopping around and I’d
have to drive 20 miles an
hour, so we decided we had
to build him a stall,” Whittle
said. “So we built him a stall
and it worked, but it was
really rickety and built by
Photos courtesy of Cindy Whittle
Local miniature therapy pony Sparky recently received a brand new transport stall
thanks to the Dawsonville Home Depot.
girls who didn’t have a clue
what we were doing. It
would fall apart when you
moved it and if I hit a curve
and he bumped it you would
hear it crack.”
Then one day, Whittle was
in the Dawsonville Home
Depot and said that she
remembered hearing that the
business often participates in
service projects.
“I just asked the store
manager if it was something
they would be interested in
and he didn’t even blink an
eye, he just said ‘y es we’ll
do it’,” Whittle said.
And so they set up a time
for her to drop off the exist
ing stall at the store and said
that they would give her a
See Pony 13A
Police probe
drowning at
Dawson park
By Kelly Whitmire
DCN regional staff
The Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office is
investigating a drowning at a Dawson County
park. A body was found in Lake Lanier at
War Hill Park.
In a Sunday news release, Dawson County
government officials said a body was found at
War Hill Park on Friday, May 12 and the
“case has been confirmed as a drowning and
is being handled by the Forsyth County
Sheriff’s Office and Coroner.”
“We are aware of a deceased individual
who was found at War Hill Park on Friday
afternoon, May 12th,” officials said in the
May 14 press release. “Forsyth County EMS
and [the] sheriff’s department responded to
the scene and recovered the body. The inci
dent has been confirmed as a drowning by the
Forsyth County Coroner.”
The victim’s identity and details of the inci
dent have not been released, the release stated.
This story will be updated. Forsyth County
News is a sister publication of Dawson
County News.
War Hill Park
updates part
of master plan
By Erica Jones
ejones@dawsonnews.com
Dawson County’s War Hill Park could be
receiving changes and improvements in the
coming years including improved campsites
and hiking trails, according to a proposed
long-term master plan for the park that was
presented to community members during a
May 10 public meeting.
War Hill Park is a recreation area that
Dawson County manages and operates in
keeping with a long-term lease with the
Army Corps of Engineers. Currently, the
See War Hill 14A
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Volume 9, Number 20 j i
© 2023, Dawson County News °
Dawsonville, Georgia Opinion
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