Golf game on a peaceful Thursday interrupted 
Emergency teams work to save David Lee's 'Golden Hour'
   

By Mike Monroe
Contributing writer
Several weeks ago, my wife Carol spent time preparing for and fretting over her 'final exam' with Gerry Schneider's class of '08 CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) trainees.

At the time my reaction was that this was a nice exercise in community involvement. She passed the exam and I asked her later about Gerry's ‘final' . As she spoke about the role-play exam I learned about scenarios of disastrous events: horrific storms, traffic accidents, power outages and the like. Maybe several events happening simultaneously, she explained, to test trainees' skills.

Water, declining economy, green space continuing concerns

Squires and Stags
By Ray Bowyer
Wisely managing the SPLOST V (Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax number five) program is Dawson County's biggest challenge, according to Board of Commissioners Chairman Mike Berg. 

Berg spoke at the Friday, May 2, meeting of Squires and Stags.  He has been on the five-person Board of Commissioners since 2005. 

Level 1 capital expenditures to be funded by SPLOST V, which is being accelerated by bond issues, has the following components:  a new court house, reconfiguring the old court house as county office space, and rearranging parking; paying off debt on the new jail; installing an improved radio system for public safety organizations.

Funds are needed to maintain ‘character of Big Canoe'

By Ann Dickerson
The Big Canoe Property Owners Association (POA) Board of Directors made its pitch for a Capital Initiation Fee at a two-hour-and-45-minute Town Hall meeting Saturday, April 26.

Big Canoe property owners packed the Big Canoe Chapel for the meeting, in which the POA Board pulled out all the stops to demonstrate to owners the need for the proposed fee, which is expected to raise $10 to $11 million dollars over the next 10 years.