The arctic blast that dropped nearly an inch of snow in Dawson County on Jan. 7 kept sheriff’s deputies and emergency services personnel busy well into the weekend.
Dawson County dispatch reported 199 weather-related calls between Thursday and Sunday, including 43 wrecks.
“We had 32 wrecks without injuries and three with injuries, one entrapment and seven wrecks on private property,” said Dawson County Sheriff’s Lt. Tony Wooten.
Wooten said the totals did not include 23 other calls in which vehicles skidded off roads but required no incident report.
Officers said most of the wrecks were the result of ice on roads. That included an incident Friday afternoon, when a woman lost control of her car and plummeted into a creek.
Joe and Jennifer Austin were enjoying a snow day Friday when the woman knocked on the door of their home near Toto Creek Park in eastern Dawson.
“She told us she busted the back window to get out of the car,” said Jennifer Austin, who wrapped the freezing woman in blankets and comforted her until paramedics arrived.
“I’m just glad we were home. She was so cold.”
The woman, who was not cited in the crash, was taken to an area hospital for evaluation.
Authorities did, however, make several arrests throughout the weekend that were connected to the weather.
A 47-year-old Dawsonville man was taken into custody about 11:30 a.m. Friday and charged with DUI after he flipped his truck on a patch of ice on Harry Sosebee Road, near the Forsyth County line.
He refused a sobriety test and was arrested.
Between 6 and 7 a.m. Saturday, the snowy weather turned into a crime of opportunity for a Dawson County man and his son, who authorities say took a truck that had skidded into a ditch on G.W. Taffer Road.
The truck’s owner reported it missing when he returned with a wrecker to pull it out of the ditch.
Christopher David Hinchman, 42, and Joshua William Hinchman, 20, have each been charged with theft by taking motor vehicle.
The elder Hinchman is also charged with giving false statements to officers.
As of Tuesday afternoon, both men remained in custody at the Dawson County Law Enforcement Center.