Dalton’s Thomas honored by state Senate for service

Published 12:01 am Monday, March 4, 2019

The Georgia Senate on Friday approved a resolution honoring Dalton’s Dr. Don Thomas, a former state senator, for “58 outstanding years of medical practice” and other service to the community.

State Sen. Chuck Payne, R-Dalton, sponsored the resolution. He said it was a privilege to honor Thomas.

Thomas retired last year from his medical practice.

The resolution also cites his 14 years of service in the state Senate, where he led the successful fights to ban smoking in most buildings open to the public and to require pickup truck drivers to wear seatbelts.

The resolution calls Thomas a man of “magnanimous strengths with an unimpeachable reputation for integrity, intelligence, fairness and kindness.”

Before joining the Senate, Thomas spent 12 years as a member of the Whitfield County school board and played a key role in filing a lawsuit against the state related to the way public schools were funded. Though the lawsuit was turned away by the Supreme Court of Georgia, the justices did tell the state that changes were needed.