About Dawson County news. (Dawsonville, Georgia) 2015-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2024)
Three Tigers achieve career marks against Wesleyan, boys win big against Wolves, sports, -ib ‘Cutest Pet’ owner donates winnings to Humane Society in memory of her dog. INSIDE, 2A WEDNESDAY I JANUARY 24, 2024 Dawson News ► com dawsonville, GEORGIA $2.00 Body found in old Ryan’s parking lot ID’d By Julia Hansen juliahansen@dawsonnews.com Authorities have released the name of the man who was found deceased in the parking lot of the former Ryan’s Steakhouse Friday evening. The man has been identified as Craig Knowles, 64, Dawson County Deputy Coroner Wesley Bearden said on Sunday. At about 8:21 p.m. on Jan. 19, Dawson County Sheriff’s Office depu ties responded to 122 Big Horn Dr., where Knowles was located dead in his vehicle, DCSO Sgt. Matthew Blackstock told DCN. The preliminary investigation con cluded that the death was due to natural causes, Blackstock told DCN. Cael Hand named ’24 STAR student Pursuing Excellence For ail jxemplary school district, with outstanding staff, that prepares stud< quality instruction and student support in a nurturing erv ;on County School System is committed Graduation for all 'roviding a secure & nurturing/supa^H^ ^ultivo - ng relationships tea ting e. c . one wl**' a\r ^B||||| ’revising C C-icfT." *|§|gi Teacher Award Student Award Erica Jones Dawson County News Cael Hand, right, has been selected as Dawson County’s 2024 STAR student, and he has selected John “Dusty” Skorich, left, as his STAR teacher. John 'Dusty’ Skorich chosen as Hands STAR teacher By Erica Jones ejones@dawsonnews.com Dawson County High School senior Cael Hand has been named the 2024 STAR student for the dis trict and has chosen DCHS engineering teacher John “Dusty” Skorich as his STAR teacher. The Student Teacher Achievement Recognition (STAR) program is a pro gram by the Professional Association of Georgia Educators (PAGE) that seeks to recognize and honor students for their achievements in high school. To qualify for STAR nomination, high school seniors must have the highest score on a sin gle test date on the SAT and be in the top 10 per cent or the top 10 students in their class based on grade point average. Hand was selected for the honor based on his academic achievement and high score on the SAT, on which he received a 1450 out of 1600 possible points. On Jan. 12, he was presented with a certificate honoring his accomplish ment by members of the Dawsonville Lions Club, the local STAR program sponsor. See STAR 13A City to hold its final strategic plan meeting this week By Erica Jones ejones@dawsonnews.com This week, the City of Dawsonville will hold its third and final public meeting in its strategic plan pro cess, which has been ongoing since September. The city kicked off its strategic plan process in September of 2023 with a kickoff meeting geared toward collecting input, suggestions and feedback from the public. In November, the city held a second public meeting in the process, which was a design workshop and allowed members of the community the chance to give their opinions and feedback on sev eral different potential design concepts for what the future downtown area could look like. This Thursday, the city will hold the third public meeting in the process. The upcoming meeting will be a final plan open house, and during the event those in attendance will have a chance to hear about and view the final strategic plan document and supplementary materials. Once the final strategic plan document is in place, the city will be able to begin discussions about the future implementation. The final plan open house will take place on Jan. 25 at 6 p.m. at Dawsonville City Hall, which is located at 415 Highway 53 East Suite 100. For more informa tion or questions about the meeting, call 706-203- 4922 or email downtowndevelopment@dawsonville- ga.gov. DCN file photo Man denied new trial in Dawson County child abuse case By Julia Hansen juliahansen@dawsonnews.com A former Forsyth County fire fighter will not get a chance at a new trial in his child abuse case, according to a decision recently filed in Dawson County Superior Court. A defense attorney previously argued during a Nov. 27 hearing that John James Weisgerber III, 43, should get a new trial because of events at his May 2023 trial where jurors heard about an uncharged alleged rape while listening to one victim’s video interview. Before Weisgerber’s trial, his lawyers had filed a pre trial motion to exclude part of the interview at issue where one of the named victims in his case used the word “rape” to describe an alleged observation of a sexu al encounter between him and another person. Following his nine-day trial, Weisgerber was found guilty of aggravated assault, three counts of sexual battery against children under the age of 16 and five counts of first-degree cruelty to children. He was found not guilty on a fourth count of sexu al battery but instead was con victed of the lesser charge of simple battery. The jury found him not guilty or acquitted him of child moles tation. Weisgerber received a total sentence of 40 years, with 15 years to serve in custody, accord ing to his sentencing documents. He attended the Nov. 27 hearing via video call. Northeastern Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Clint Bearden was the presiding judge in Weisgerber’s case. Bearden denied the defendant’s motion in an order filed Jan. 5, 2024. The judge disagreed with the defense’s argument that Assistant District Attorney Conley Greer had acted in bad faith, noting that his written order did not prohibit the video statement at issue. Rather, the order barred a statement about another incident and the playing of video testimony about that incident. Furthermore, Bearden wrote that neither the order or the oral announcement by the court spe cifically related to the video See Weisgerber 12A Weisgerber Inside Events Classifieds Dear Abby 2B 6B 5B Deaths 2A Volume 10, Number 4 © 2024, Dawson County News Legals 7B Dawsonville, Georgia Opinion 7A Sports IB 9 0 9 9 4 0 4 0 0 2 1 BEST OF DAWSON, FOR COSMETIC DENTISTRY B. Manzur, D.M.D 706-265-2505 TIME TO VOTE! BEST OF DAWSON 2024
