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Dawson’s budget hearing: What the law requires and residents should ask

Dawson residents will have an opportunity Sept. 24 to question the city’s proposed budget before the City Council decides how to fund police, fire protection, streets and other services for the fiscal year already underway. But the documents available for review leave a basic question unanswered: How much does the city plan to spend, and what money will pay for it?

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‘Tell them ordinary Americans did extraordinary things’

Twenty-five years to the day after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, veterans and their families gathered Friday at Veterans Park to dedicate a monument to those who served in the Global War on Terror.

State superintendent: Lee County High firefighter certification program a model for Georgia

Georgia State School Superintendent Richard Woods said Thursday that a new partnership training Lee County High School seniors to become certified firefighters could serve as a blueprint for school districts across the state.

Elephant statue at Colquitt County cemetery is an unexpected sight

A white marble elephant statue was placed as a memorial to circus owner William F. Duggan, who is buried at a cemetery near Moultrie. Duggan's grave sits next to his father George Duggan at the Pleasant Grove Primitive Baptist Church cemetery.

Lee County orders Winifred Road speed study as growth raises safety concerns

Lee County will study traffic speeds along Winifred Road and consider lowering the posted speed limit following residential growth and the resurfacing of the increasingly traveled corridor.

‘There’s only one Palmyra’: Residents defeat Ledo Road rezoning

A standing-room-only crowd erupted in applause Tuesday after Lee County commissioners rejected a request to expand general commercial zoning along Ledo Road beside the Palmyra subdivision.

Dawson City Council uninformed as state freezes sewer loans, audits remain incomplete

With three overdue audits, no Mauldin & Jenkins briefing on Thursday’s agenda and funding deadlines approaching, the larger question is increasingly urgent: How will Dawson pay to finish the work, and what will further delay mean for the future reliability of the city’s water and wastewater systems?

Across a county line, foster care rates reveal stark divide

An abandoned home in Dawson sits overgrown and deteriorating, one example of the city’s ongoing struggle with blighted and unusable housing. Dawson’s long-range planning documents identify both a high vacancy rate and a need for more safe, affordable housing. Staff Photo: Kathryn Crockett

Dougherty Commissioner Gloria Gaines to serve as honorary sponsor of 2027 international conference in Atlanta

"By Alan Mauldin [email protected] ALBANY – In 1898 academic and sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois traveled to southwest Georgia during his summer break from teaching to investigate the lives of black residents in the “Black Belt” and later covered his sociological studies of the region in two chapters of his book “The Souls of Black Folk.” The academic and peace activist’s visit and subsequent account was more than an intellectual exercise, however, according to Dougherty County Commissioner Gloria Gaines. Du Bois’ account inspired South Carolina native Joseph Winthrop Holley to move Albany, where he founded the Albany Bible and Manual Training Institute. The institute later became part of the University System of Georgia and became a four-year college in 1943 before its last renaming in 1996 as Albany State University. Holley was inspired by Du Bois’ writing, said Gaines, who will be an honorary sponsor of The International Conference on W.E.B. Du Bois: Race, Democracy and Global Justice in 2027. The conference is scheduled for April 9-11 in Atlanta. “I am in admiration (of) his impact on the founding of Albany State University,” she said. “I also appreciate his political philosophy as well. He was clearly identified with Atlanta University and education.” During her time at Albany State Gaines worked in the office of civil rights attorney C.B, King. She holds a master’s degree in community development and worked as an assistant general manager for MARTA. Her travels also have taken her to Africa, where she worked and met Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. For the 2027 conference, Gaines has collaborated with individuals including professor Preston King, C.B. King’s youngest brother.. Last year she traveled to Accra, Ghana, where DuBois died after he was stranded out of the United States for his opposition to nuclear weapons and had his passport renewal denied, for his 157th birthday celebration. The conference will feature discussions of democracy, equality and human dignity, Gaines said “Those are issues that were important to him,” she said. “Now is a good time to talk about democracy. Some may see it as under threat. I think this conference will be timely. It’s a timely issue, not just for black folks as well as human dignity and equality within the country."

Crime in Albany is flat. Residents’ fear of it isn’t

Albany police recorded 1,200 crimes against persons from January through July. In the same seven months of 2025, they recorded 1,202 — a difference of two incidents.

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