• Financial Report Shows Dawson Co. in Great Shape

    DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — Dawson County officials have done a great job of managing the county’s finances. That was the assessment of Chris Hollifield, the CPA who presented the 2015 financial audit report to the Board of Commissioners Thursday. “You’re in great shape compared to other counties,” Hollifield said. “You held expenditures tight and actually came […]

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  • Suspect Tried to Drown State Trooper Before Being Shot and Killed

    GAINESVILLE — Georgia State Patrol’s Operation Thunder was suspended over the weekend following a violent confrontation that ended when a suspect was shot to death and three troopers injured in Gainesville. Rodrigo Guardiola, 36, of Gainesville was shot and killed after he fled a road check on Highway 53 designed to take impaired drivers off […]

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  • Magistrate Judge Asks For $12,000 Raise

    DAWSONVILLE Ga. — As the Dawson County Board of Commissioners works out the county’s new budget, Chief Magistrate Judge Lisa Poss-Thurmond has asked the Board to consider adding a $12,000 supplement to the annual salaries for her and the county’s other magistrate judge, Anthony Tarnacki. Poss-Thurmond made the request at Thursday’s work session. In addition […]

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  • Dawson County Ends Ambulance Service Contract

    DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — Dawson County is terminating its contract with AMB, the county’s ambulance service provider, due to poor performance. Dawson County Emergency Services Director Lanier Swafford cited multiple problems with AMB during his presentation at Thursday’s County Commission work session. The county contracted with NRG in 2014 and the company merged with AMB in […]

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  • Commissioners Say No to Hike in Pay for Public Defender’s Office

    DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — The Dawson County Board of Commissioners unanimously rejected a request by H. Bradford Morris of the Public Defender’s Office to increase the supplement paid to a recently hired attorney in that office by $12,000, bringing the annual compensation package to $72,000. Morris said the typical attorney in that position earns $85,000 annually. […]

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  • Dawson School Board Approves FY ’17 Budget

    DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — The Dawson County Board of Education approved the FY 2016-’17 budget of $44,199,544 Monday.The millage rate is expected to be set at a rollback rate of 15.776 mils at the July meeting. It was set at 16.496 a year ago. Executive Director of Financial Services Jamie Ulrich presented the new budget to […]

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  • Former Deputy Coroner Files Lawsuit for False Arrest

    CUMMING, Ga. — The attorney for Sonya Abercrombie, a former Dawson County Deputy Coroner, says his client was wrongfully arrested, publicly embarrassed and lost her job but now she will have her day in court. Abercrombie was arrested and charged with impersonating a peace officer while a customer at Austin’s Steak and Seafood restaurant in […]

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  • Independent Candidate May Challenge Chris Gaines in November

    DAWSON COUNTY, Ga. — A retired U.S. Army Major and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is attempting to get on the November ballot as an Independent to run for the District 2 seat on the Dawson County Board of Commissioners. Robert Wiley is currently a junior ROTC instructor at Dawson County High […]

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  • Robert Wiley, County Commission Candidate Dist. 2

    DAWSON COUNTY, Ga. — Dawson County is among the reddest of red counties in Georgia, if not the nation. Few can remember the last time a Democrat or independent was bold enough to even run for county commission here, much less win. So, you might say that Robert J. Wiley, who is attempting to run […]

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  • Chris Gaines Quest for County Commission Seat Not Over Yet

    DAWSON COUNTY, Ga. — Chris Gaines expressed disappointment Thursday that in order to reach his goal of becoming Dawson County’s District 2 Commissioner he may have to win one more election. It was less than three weeks ago that Gaines, won a hotly-contested race over Tim Davis in the Republican Primary. Since no Democrat had […]

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  • Public Defender Office Requests Additional Salary Supplement

    DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — The Dawson County Board of Commissioner is considering a request to increase its share of the salary supplement for an attorney in the Public Defender’s office by $12,000 annually. H. Bradford Morris made he request during Thursday’s work session. The current salary is $60,000 , part of which is paid by Hall […]

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  • Dawson Forest Road to Get Major Facelift

    Dawson County BOC

    DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — A major highway in Dawson County is about to get a long-awaited and badly -needed makeover. County Commissioners voted Thursday to move forward with a full-depth reclamation of Dawson Forest Road, awarding the contract to Blount Construction, the low bidder for $2,367,486.50. The work will be done in three segments. Segment 1 […]

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  • Defense Attorney Wants D.A. Disqualified from the Nydia Tisdale Trial

    DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — Lee Darragh, District Attorney for the Georgia’s Northeastern Judicial Circuit District, declined to comment specifically on a defense motion asking that he be disqualified in the Nydia Tisdale case and that a Grand Jury indictment be dismissed. Tisdale faces several criminal charges, including felony obstruction of an officer stemming from a political […]

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  • Dawson Co. Schools Will Not Follow Federal Government’s Transgender Guidelines

    DAWSONVILLE Ga. — Dawson County School Superintendent Dr. Damon Gibbs said Thursday that he considers the Obama Administration’s guidelines regarding transgender students’ use of school bathrooms to be just that, a guideline and not a directive. He said Dawson County schools will not follow that particular guideline. “They are guidelines, not a directive,” Gibbs said. […]

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  • Vendor Protests Awarding of Jail Demolition Project

    DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — The Dawson County Board of Commissioners held an abbreviated meeting Thursday, with only one thorny issue involving a protest from Wrecking Corp, Inc. over the awarding of a bid for the demolition of the old jailhouse. Commissioners recently voted to award the contract to Townley Construction of Dawsonville with a bid of […]

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  • Dawson County Commissioners Meet in Work Session

    DAWSONVILLE, Ga. — The Dawson County Board of Commissioners met in a work session Thursday afternoon. Commissioners listened to a request by the Dawson County Civitan Club to allocate a space at Veterans Memorial Park for the club to donate and install new inclusive playground equipment. The civic organization would like to make the park […]

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