Dawson County News has hired Julia Fechter as a staff writer. Her main topics for coverage will be crime and government. 

“I think I bring a  balance to the idea of reporting on crime,” Fechter said. “Though it can be serious, we can show people it’s important to be educated on what’s going on, rather than if it’s the biggest case or not. People can tune government stuff out and I want to find a way to keep people engaged.”

Fechter, a Statesboro native, spent time as an intern with the Statesboro Herald while earning her degree in Multimedia Journalism from Georgia Southern University. 

After graduating in May 2019, Fechter joined the Oconee Enterprise as a news reporter and worked there through June 2021. Fechter won three Georgia Press Association Awards during her time at the Enterprise; two for local news coverage and one first place award for feature writing in 2021. 

Fechter said she is eager to become a member of a small-town, North Georgia community and jumped on the opportunity to join the DCN staff. 

“I was already somewhat familiar with Northeast Georgia,” Fechter said. “I’ve lived in what you could call a small town for most of my life. I wanted to take advantage of the recreational, outdoor opportunities, drawing me to Dawsonville as a town.”

DCN Editor Jacob Smith said he is ecstatic about Fechter joining the newspaper’s staff and was anxiously awaiting her Sept. 13 start date.

“It is not every day that an award-winning journalist wants to join the staff of a mountain newspaper,” Smith said. “Once we learned how passionate Fechter was about not just journalism, but learning about Dawsonville, she was the hire for us.”