Lumpkin County Board of Education discusses communication improvements
Community October 15, 2018
LUMPKIN CO., GA
The Lumpkin County Board of Education discussed the current protocol for communicating with parents, and the possible changes that will be made to those methods, during the Board of Education meeting on Monday, October 8.
LCSS Chief Operations Officer, Greg Trammell, explained their recent transition from PowerSchool to Infinite Campus and how this could impact their current robocall system, One Call Now. Trammell also explained that Infinite Campus comes equipped with Shoutpoint – a remote, dial-in program that commissions bulk-communication more accurately than One Call Now.
Lumpkin County Superintendent, Dr. Robert Brown, stated that One Call Now had flaws that could potentially violate the system privacy codes and why the change is an upgrade for LCSS, “Anybody that ever lived at an address in PowerSchool, showed up in Infinite Campus as part of that household. For example, the home that I was renting at one period, everybody that showed up that ever lived in that house, was showing up in my family’s registry, which could be a serious FERPA [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Acts] violation.” Lumpkin County Elementary School is the first school to test the new system.
The board also mentioned other LCSS system-communication errors that have recently resulted in negative attention for school administrators. According to Brown they need a system to determine, “How, and when, and in what ways will the board like for us to communicate. We’ve been ripped for not communicating enough, and we’ve been ripped for communicating too much.”
Although public concern was raised over not being immediately informed of an alleged event substantial enough to warrant a police investigation, Brown remained solid in his assertion that parental disclosure was not necessary, to avoid “negative attention” for the accused student.
Brown doubled down on his statement that Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard did not repeatedly advise him to do an all-call the night of the alleged threat. , “Contrary to some of the public opinion, the sheriff did not repeatedly tell us to call out,” Brown said. “I had one phone call from him, at 8:51 p.m. and he asked me were we going to put anything out.
Jarrard has publicly stated that he did, in fact, suggest the robo call go out to concerned parents “three different times” but was turned down each time.
Craig Poore, brought up an important issue – how would the parents and caregivers who are not on social media have received that information?
Despite the confusion and misunderstanding from board member, Jim McClure, over the public uproar, it did not occur out of assumption that administrators did nothing to ensure the students were safe. Negative attention was directed at school officials, because they did not effectively inform parents – and would not have informed parents at all – had there been no mention of the alleged threat on social media later that night. One parent of an LCHS junior told Fetch Your News that they feel they “have the right to be informed” of any possible incident involving their children while in the care of LCSS, regardless of the outcome.
Brown stated that there would be an upcoming Leadership meeting, and communication would be discussed in more detail. Hopefully, this has been a learning experience that will lead to proper and improved communication and stronger community trust, and will also help parents feel more at ease when we send our children to school.
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Coroner Jim Sheppard named Coroner of the Year
Opinion September 30, 2018
Lumpkin County Deputy Coroner Frank Goss (left) congratulates Coroner Jim Shepherd on being named Coroner of the Year.
DAHLONEGA, Ga. –Lumpkin County Coroner Jim Sheppard has been named Coroner of the Year for the state of Georgia by the Georgia Coroners Association.
Sheppard received the AR King Award from the 2017 recipient Danny Galpin of Houston County during the Coroner’s Association annual meeting in Macon over the weekend.
It marked the second year in a row the Lumpkin County Coroner’s Office has taken home a top honor from the annual gathering. Deputy Coroner Frank Goss was selected Assistant Coroner of the Year last year. It marks the first time that any Georgia county has taken home top honors in back-to-back years.
“I am thrilled and very excited,” Sheppard said Sunday. “This is definitely a team effort. When I first became coroner, (County Manager) Stan Kelley and (Commission Chairman) Chris Dockery told to let them know what I need and they would get it and they have been true to their word. (Sheriff) Stacy Jarrard has been a wonderful mentor. Having their guidance has been an absolute blessing.”
Sheppard was elected in 2016 to replace Ronald Fortner, who was convicted felony theft by taking and violation of public oath of office. He and Goss quickly went to work to establish a reputation of honesty and integrity.
“The office did have a black eye we had to battle back from,” Sheppard said. “But, thanks to lot of help from a lot of people, we’ve managed to build better relations with the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office, the Georgia State Patrol and Georgia Bureau of Investigation.”
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. FYN attracts 300,000+ page views per month, 3.5 million impressions per month and approximately 15,000 viewers per week on FYNTV.com and up to 60,000 Facebook page reach. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
County Mna
School Superintendent said no to Sheriff’s request for robocall
News September 25, 2018
Sheriff Stacy Jarrard
DAHLONEGA, Ga. –- Lumpkin County School Superintendent Dr. Robert Brown refused repeated requests by Sheriff Stacy Jarrard to issue a robocall last Thursday after a threat was reported by a Lumpkin County High School student.
“The first I heard about a threat was Thursday evening when parents started calling me at home,” Jarrard said. “I couldn’t hardly hang up the phone before the next call came in from parents wanting to know what was going on at the school.” Jarrard continued,“That went on until about 1:30 in the morning.”
Jarrard said he made his first call to school officials around 6 p.m. on Thursday, September 21, to request that a robocall be issued in order to keep parents informed about what had occurred and to let them know if it was safe to send students to school on Friday. Then he called twice more but each time, his request for a robocall was refused.
“They said they didn’t want to scare parents because they didn’t believe the threat was credible,” he said.
But as students got home from school on Thursday, word of the threat began to spread and soon, the Facebook pages began to blow up with frightened parents seeking information.
Jarrard said today the threat “doesn’t appear to be believable,” but he added that his office is still investigating. “I met with the principal, SRO, the child, and the child’s mother who was extremely cooperative and helpful. We have taken all of the child’s electronic equipment to see if there is anything of a threatening nature.”
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. FYN attracts 300,000+ page views per month, 3.5 million impressions per month and approximately 15,000 viewers per week on FYNTV.com and up to 60,000 Facebook page reach. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
4-H Leader Charged With Child Porn Out On Bond Again
News November 10, 2017
Paul Travis Williams
DAHLONEGA, Ga. — Paul Travis Williams, director of the Wahsega 4-H Center who is charged with accessing child pornography from the center’s computer, has once again been released on bond.
Williams, 48, was initially charged after authorities found one image on his computer. He was released on $10,000. But he was re-arrested Oct. 26 after authorities say they discovered thousands more images.
On Wednesday, Williams was released again, this time after paying a $50,000 bond according to Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Lt. Alan Roach.
The initial investigation was conducted by the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the University of Georgia Police Department, following a cyber tip that showed someone uploaded child pornography from inside the 4-H Center.
Williams’ attorney Catherine Bernard said her client is innocent and she accused the Sheriff’s Office of employing “deceptive tactics” to re-arrest him.
“The sudden re-arrest on October 26th was unnecessary,” she said. “On October 11th, the lead investigator called Travis and informed him that a warrant had been issued and that he could turn himself in the next day. At that time, the investigator specifically volunteered a promise that he wasn’t going to ‘play the game’ of having Travis re-arrested on new warrants for the same charge as the investigation continued.”
But Sheriff Stacy Jarrard said, “(The investigator) never would say that because he had no way of knowing how many more counts may be coming.”
Bernard also said, “It appears the Sheriff’s Office is attempting to try this case in the media before even making any evidence available to a grand jury or to Travis and his counsel.”
“We held only one press conference and that was so we wouldn’t have to respond to so many media inquiries at different times,”Jarrard said.
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
Murder warrant issued in connection with missing Lumpkin County woman
News September 21, 2019
LUMPKIN COUNTY, Ga. — Authorities have obtained a murder warrant on 22-year-old Austin Todd Stryker of Lumpkin County in connection with a Lumpkin County woman who is missing and now believed to be deceased.
Hannah Bender, 21, was reported missing by her mother Carol Gilreath on Sept. 14. She has not been seen since Sept. 14. Agents with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and Lumpkin County Sheriff’s deputies searched an area between Lumpkin and Dawson counties Saturday. They located bloody clothing and other items believed to belong to the missing woman.
Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard said investigators believe the blood to be that Ms. Bender and they do not believe a person could survive that amount of blood loss.
Jarrard asked that anyone with information about Bender or Austin Todd Stryker to contact Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office Chief Investigator Marcus Sewell at 706-9746-824.
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. FYN attracts 300,000+ page views per month, 3.5 million impressions per month and approximately 15,000 viewers per week on FYNTV.com and up to 60,000 Facebook page reach. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
Sheriff Jarrard thanks public for help in identifying murder victim
News July 9, 2018
DAHLONEGA, Ga. –Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard thanked the public for helping to identify the woman who left the Rainbow Family of Living Light gathering with John Bryan Capstraw and hitchhiked to Kentucky before being murdered there.
Jarrard reached out for the public’s help in a Facebook post over the weekend after learning from the Elizabethtown (Ky.) Police Department that she had been murdered.
“I would like to take this opportunity and thank everyone with the overwhelming response about the identity of the female victim involved in the murder in Kentucky,” Jarrard said. “The victim has been identified. The response with Social Media was instrumental in getting the word out and I thank all that contacted me with information. At this time, we cannot release the identity of the female victim until we receive further notification from Elizabethtown (Ky.) Police Department.”
An investigator with the Elizabethtown Police Department said Capstraw, 20, admitted to killing the woman and has been charged with murder.
Capstraw told police he and the woman left the event and hitchhiked northward. An ABC affiliate in Elizabethtown reported Capstraw told police he blacked out and when he awoke the woman was dead and he had injuries to his hands.
Fetch Your News is a hyper local news outlet that covers Dawson, Lumpkin, White, Fannin, Gilmer, Pickens, Union, Towns and Murray counties as well as Cherokee County in N.C. FYN attracts 300,000+ page views per month, 3.5 million impressions per month and approximately 15,000 viewers per week on FYNTV.com and up to 60,000 Facebook page reach. If you would like to follow up-to-date local events in any of those counties, please visit us at FetchYourNews.com
County Commission Work Session Set for Tuesday
News January 13, 2017
DAHLONEGA, Ga. — The Lumpkin County Board of Commissioners will hold a work session Tuesday Jan. 17 at 5 p.m. in the Board Room of the Lumpkin County Administration Building, 99 Courthouse Hill in Dahlonega.
The purpose of the work session is to discuss items that will be voted on at the regular meeting which will begin immediately following the work session.
Commissioners are expected to consider appointments to the Board of Health, Park & Recreation Citizens Advisory Board the Joint Development Authority of Dawson, Lumpkin and White Counties , Georgia Resource Management Authority and Public Building Authority.
The Board will also consider creating a five-member ad hoc sign committee to recommend updates to the county’s sign regulations and adopt roads in Brookwoods Subdivision (Brookwoods Lane, Brooks Drive and Baker Street) and Misty Hollow Subdivision (Misty Hollow Drive).
Emergency Management Agency Director David Wimpy will ask the Board to consider adopting the Local Emergency Operation Plan (LEOP).
Senior Center Director Linda Kirkpatrick will request approval of a Community Development Block Grant fund for expansion of the Senior Center.
Public Works Director Larry Reiter will ask the Board to execute a roundabout lighting assistance contract for the intersections of SR 52 at SR 115/CR 41/Copper Mines, SR 9 at SR 52 and SR 9 at SR 60.
Sheriff Stacy Jarrard will request commissioners to approve the Gatekeeper System a video system that films school bus stop arm violators.
• OTHER ITEMS
• Award of Bid for F-350 (Finance Director Allison Martin)
• Award of Bids for Two F-150s (Finance Director Allison Martin)
• Election of Vice-Chairman
• Re-Charging the Library Task Force
Sheriff Jarrard, Georgia Sheriff’s Association Oppose Expanding State’s Medical Marijuana Laws
News January 12, 2017
DAHLONEGA, Ga. — Georgia lawmakers rejected an expansion of state law that would permit a limited form of medical marijuana last year, but determined lawmakers like State Reps. Allen Peake, R-Macon and Renee Unterman, R-Buford may be tempted to try again during the 2017 General Assembly.
Proponents have even expressed the desire to allow an in-state program to grow and cultivate cannabis in Georgia for medical purposes.
At the recent Eggs & Issues Breakfast at the University of North Georgia, Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard urged State Senator Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega and State Rep. Kevin Tanner, R-Dawsonville to oppose any such effort.
In an interview with fetchyournews.com, Jarrard said, “Myself and the Georgia Sheriff’a Association strongly oppose expanding the current law and allowing the cultivation of marijuana in the state. It’s a gateway to other drugs and it’s always been that way. I’ve been to Colorado since they legalized marijuana and officials in their school districts say it has caused a lot of problems. I teach a D.A.R.E. program and I know that marijuana is three times more likely to cause cancer than tobacco.”
Jarrard, like many law enforcement officials, is concerned that expanding the law could have the unintended consequences of an uprising in drug addiction and crime.
Testifying before a senate committee last year, Catoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk said, “I have been in law enforcement for 25 years and I have never seen or met a drug addict that at some point in time hasn’t stated that they started their usage with marijuana. It’s only continued to develop further.”
White County Sheriff Neal Walden agrees with Jarrard and says he too supports the Georgia Sheriff’s Association position.
That position is as follows:
Oppose the legislation of marijuana for all social, recreational and industrial purposes;
Oppose the cultivation of marijuana for all purposes;
Support the use of chemicals derived from cannabis for medical use for certain well-defined serious health conditions;
Oppose the medical delivery or application of chemicals derived from cannabis plants through smoking;
Oppose legislative proposals where appropriate controls and security measures do not exist ans where strict civil and criminal penalties are absent.
Dahlonega Man Killed in Golf Cart Accident at Achasta CC
News June 25, 2016
DAHLONEGA, Ga. — A Dahlonega man was killed and three others injured today when the golf cart they were riding apparently lost its brakes, sped down a steep grade and overturned at the Achasta Country Club in Lumpkin County.
According to Lumpkin County Sheriff Stacy Jarrard, 83-year-old James “Jim” Hansard was pronounced dead at the scene and three others were transported to the hospital with undisclosed injuries. “Their injuries did not appear to be life threatening,” Jarrard said.
2016 Annual Youth Day ~ Yahoola Creek Park
Community January 10, 2016
Guess what is coming up?!! It’s the annual YOUTH DAY! Come to Yahoola Creek Park for hunter safety, skeet shooting, free lunch and much more! *All ages are welcome. January 16th 8-3 or Rain Date January 23, 2016. Please see flyer below for more details:
