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Wednesday, June 7,2023
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 3A
Erica Jones Forsyth County News
Dawson County Sheriff Jeff Johnson serves as
a "celebrity waiter" during Family Connection's
fundraiser on June 2.
FROM 1A
Celebrity
“This event was always meant to just bring the
community together and highlight some of our celeb
rities, which we consider people that are just already
serving our community,” Dawson County Family
Connection Coordinator Rebecca Bliss said.
“Dawson County has a large amount of resources and
a large amount of people that care about each other,
and I think that’s evident today; we all support each
other and they all want to support our community.”
It’s been four years since Family Connection has
been able to host the Celebrity Waiter fundraiser, and
Bliss said that she and other nonprofit leadership
couldn’t be more thrilled to finally get to bring the
event back to the community.
“We’re hoping that this is just a sign that the last
four years and everything we’ve been through are
behind us and we’re moving forward,” Bliss said.
“It’s good to be able to sit down and actually see peo
ple and make a true connection with people.”
During the event, Family Connection was able to
raise about $4700, a number that Bliss said will make
a big difference for the organization.
“It’s a great number; we can do a lot with that so
we’re really happy with it,” Bliss said.
She added her thanks to all of the sponsors of the
event, as well as those who took the time out of their
morning to come serve their community members.
“I’m very happy with the turnout and the support
that we’ve gotten,” Bliss said. “We appreciate
Longhorn and Chick-fil-A’s support and all of our
celebrity waiters, they truly do serve our community
and we just appreciate them all so much.”
FROM 1A
Roads
Four months ago, the Dawson
County commissioners unanimously
approved contractor Vertical Earth’s
$1,547 million bid for the round
about, paid for by money from the
Georgia Department of
Transportation and the county’s fund
balance.
The two-phase project will include
the realignment of Thompson Creek
Park Road and the construction of a
roundabout.
After the board’s June 1 meetings,
Public Works Director Robert
Drewry clarified that the Dawson
Forest Road or roundabout side of
the project will actually be construct
ed first, before the Thompson Creek
Park Road portion. Then, the two
project sides will be linked, Drewry
said.
Leverette also updated the board
on the bridge replacement project for
the Ga. 183 bridge over Cochran
Creek.
Weather permitting, the Georgia
Department of Transportation project
is currently on schedule, and the
bridge is set to reopen on Aug. 2,
Leverette said.
“A number of people have asked
about that. It’s still somewhat of a
fair inconvenience for some folks
because of that bridge closure,”
Leverette added.
Paving and culvert projects
On Thursday, the board unani
mously voted to accept a $3.9 million
bid from Blount Construction for
road paving and full-depth reclama
tion (LDR) projects along Kelly
Bridge, Goodson and War Hill Park
roads.
The projects will be paid for using
money from the county’s sixth and
seventh Special Purpose Local
Option Sales Tax funds.
During a presentation at the
board’s June 1 work session, Public
Works Director Robert Drewry
explained what would be done for
each of the paving and FDR projects.
The first project he discussed was
Kelly Bridge Road, from Cowart
Road to the Forsyth County line.
That project came with a $1.64 mil
lion price tag.
The second project will be
Goodson Road from Dawson Forest
Road to the Forsyth County line.
That section of Goodson Road is
“almost two miles” in length, said
Drewry. Just under $1.47 million was
allocated to fix it.
As well, just over $819,000 was
approved to repave War Hill Park
Road from State Route 53 to Liberty
Church Road.
“Just for the sake of the public,
how did we come up with these par
ticular projects?”, District 2
Commissioner Chris Gaines said to
Drewry.
The public works director men
tioned how these roadways had been
on his department’s prior priority
lists.
“We definitely wanted to get the
bids out as quickly as we could
because we wanted to do them this
year,” Drewry told the board. “If
we’d waited too much longer, they
probably wouldn’t [be able to] finish
it this year.”
The majority of these three proj
ects, except for perhaps the road
shoulders, are scheduled to be com
pleted by the end of November,
Drewry later added.
The BOC also approved a
$735,455 bid from Townley
Construction for culvert projects
along some of those same roadways
Thursday.
funding will come from SPLOST
VII and finance three culvert replace
ments along Kelly Bridge Road, two
on Goodson Road and one along
Indian Cove Road.
All of these projects involve
replacing deteriorating corrugated
metal pipes with reinforced concrete
pipes, Drewry said.
Drewry explained that the Indian
Cove Road project, which he previ
ously called “more critical than any
of the other projects,” would need to
be bid out again.
In part, that’s because the contrac
tor submitted a bid for slip lining on
Indian Cove Road rather than for
replacing the culvert as well as an
unsolicited bid for lining the other
culvert projects, Drewry said.
“We are looking at that culvert a
little bit closer,” Drewry said. “It is a
one-way in, one-way out [situation],
and we knew that would be a chal
lenge for the contractor, because you
obviously have to allow people to go
in and out, including emergency ser
vices.”
He added that his department may
consider options such as possibly slip
lining “of some sort” or a completely
new pipe.
BOC chairman Billy Thurmond
confirmed that the new culverts will
be the same size as the current ones,
with concrete headwalls.
“Unfortunately, we have a whole
lot of these corrugated metal ones
throughout [the county], so over
time, they’ll all have to be replaced,”
Thurmond added.
Public survey
Dawson County is also gathering
input for its long-range
Comprehensive Plan through an
ongoing survey.
Leverette mentioned that feedback
from the survey will help public
officials“guide development and cap
ital projects in the county.”
Survey responses are kept confi
dential, and questions range from
transportation and parks to overall
vision for the county, similar to the
prompts in the city of Dawsonville’s
own comprehensive plan survey.
DCN will continue to follow these
infrastructure initiatives.
FROM 1A
Roberts
After the altercation, Duckworth was
taken to a hospital, where he died two
days later on July 27, 2021. Roberts was
subsequently arrested.
On Tuesday, Roberts pleaded guilty to
two counts of involuntary manslaughter
and one count each of simple assault
and battery, all reduced versions of his
previous charges, according to court
documents.
He also pleaded guilty in a 2019 case
to two counts of aggravated assault, pos
session of a firearm and carrying a fire
arm without a license.
Roberts was sentenced to 10 years in
prison and 30 years of probation,
according to his sentencing documents.
The state will not prosecute Roberts
for a 2022 case, in which he was
accused of threatening another teenager,
said Assistant District Attorney Robert
Gardner.
As part of the sentence’s special con
ditions, Roberts will have to pay restitu
tion to Kaleb’s parents and the district
attorney office’s victims compensation
fund.
Upon completion of his custodial sen
tence, Roberts will also have to com
plete 100 hours of community service.
Among other probation conditions, he is
also banned from the Dawson County
Applebee’s as well as Dawson and
Lumpkin counties as a whole.
All eyes were on Duckworth’s par
ents, Amanda and Tommy, as Amanda
spoke before the judge handed down
Roberts’ sentence.
Amanda Duckworth described her
late son as a smart, goofy and hard
working young man who was attending
college full time for a welding degree
and enjoyed spending his time outdoors
fishing or working on his truck.
“He was someone who was always
willing to help those that needed it...his
love for life was contagious. He was a
kind soul that loved his family and
friends and lived every day to the full
est,” Amanda said.
She tearfully expressed the “void” and
“fear, anger and sadness” their family
has felt since Kaleb’s death and their
attempts to remember the past while
mourning “all the memories we won’t
get to make with him.”
“We made a promise to him (Kaleb)
that we’d always talk about him, and he
will never be forgotten. We told him
we’d always work to get him justice,”
Amanda Duckworth said, later adding,
“Maybe today, we’ll be able to leave
here knowing that we kept our promise.”
Background
If Roberts had not decided to enter a
plea, his trial would have started June 5.
He has been in custody at the Dawson
County jail since May 2022, when he
was arrested for violating his bond con
ditions by allegedly threatening and
assaulting a friend of Duckworth’s.
Prior to his arrest last May, Roberts
had been granted another chance at bond
in the 2019 and 2021 cases.
During a July 2022 hearing, the court
heard several hours of testimony, and
the proceeding ended with bonds in
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Roberts’ 2019 and 2021 cases being
revoked and the bond being denied for
the 2022 one.
“This case as we have said many times
... is a tragedy,” John Luke Weaver, a
lawyer for Roberts, said about the 2021
case. “My client was very passionate
about saying his apology to the court,
family and Dawson County.”
Once he’s released from corrections
custody, Roberts will never be able to
again reside in Dawson County as part of
his probation terms, Weaver said at the
May 30 hearing.
“We understand that nothing will ever
make anything perfect,” Weaver added,
“but this [plea] is my client’s effort to do
everything he can to apologize for that.”
Presiding Senior Judge David
Emerson said it’s up to the Georgia
Department of Corrections as to wheth
er Roberts receives credit for any time
served after his October 2019 arrest.
The judge said the details of the
Applebee’s incident would have made
for a complicated trial.
“With this case ... there would’ve been
a difficulty with how to charge and how
to explain the charges to the jury,” said
Emerson, “so this is why the plea is
appropriate, and I’m inclined to accept
it.”
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