Those Dawson County Woman's Club members have done it again: Produced a lovely, fun fundraiser. The "Giving Goes Glam" fashion show luncheon was indeed glamorous with clothing for different ages from several shops at the North Georgia Premium Outlets.

Add to that a delicious lunch and interesting silent auction in a delightful setting with great fellowship, and you have a successful event that provided funds for the group to contribute to many worthwhile projects.

Similar comments could be made about golf tournaments and various other fundraisers held by local non-profit organizations, all of which add to Dawson County's quality of life.

Many of these, however, face a similar problem: Not enough younger residents are making commitments.

Why?

I am aware that parents of school age children are involved in their activities and that many households require several salaries to cover expenses and thus there is little time for extra activities.

But I look at all the growth that has been occurring and I wonder if some of our citizens are just enjoying living in this great location without being a part of it.

Of course, I may be "preaching to the choir."

If you subscribe to the local papers and are reading this column, you are at least interested in what is happening here.

So maybe one of the best ways to involve and activate other citizens is to introduce friends and neighbors to our local news organs.

We can all be Chamber of Commerce ambassadors.

Speaking of local papers, I was interested to read Tom Crawford's syndicated column, in which he discussed the unintentional consequences of so-called "religious freedom" laws being promulgated by some lawmakers.

I had been similarly concerned and was glad to see that others viewed the situation somewhat the same.

Such laws could certainly not be limited to Christians.

How would a female Georgian react to being refused a driver's license by an Islamic DOT employee whose religion does not condone women drivers?

I have also understood the reluctance of some schools to lift a ban on communal prayer: How would I react, for instance, to a prayer led by a Satanist or some unknown who claimed freedom of religious expression?

We'd best not meddle with the First Amendment. There are plenty of churches where we Christians can not only worship freely, but can freely engage in ministries that allow us to put our religious beliefs in practice. And be welcomed to do so.

Although my days of active engagement and accomplishment are essentially past, occasionally someone will admit that a column spurred them into action -- like buying one of the new county history books, for example, and that led them to look for the earlier Heritage books.

Even our more recent citizens will enjoy those, but it may be that only those whose roots are in Dawson County want "Yesterday Once More," Charles Finley's history of county schools (also interesting).

Former school superintendent Nicky Gilleland ,on behalf of the Retired Educators Association, has custody of the remaining copies of that book, which is still for sale.

Money from those sales is used to provide an annual scholarship.

Today's students will be amazed how some of their ancestors were educated, and that is the end of my commercial.

Helen Taylor's column appears periodically in the Dawson Community News.