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The
Mayor gives her thoughts
on what makes Berkeley Lake special
By Lois Salter
Mayor
City of Berkeley Lake
Special to GwinnettForum.com
(Editor's Note: We asked the mayor
of Berkeley Lake to write about her home town, and think you'll
get a feeling of why their citizens like their community so much
with her viewpoint. - - eeb)
BERKELEY LAKE, Ga., Sept. 25, 2001 - - Someone once asked me "What
makes Berkeley Lake so special?"
The beautiful lake itself is the center and heart of the city,
that for which it was created 50 years ago. The city also purchased
and protects as permanent greenspace 67 acres of climax hardwood
forest. I told him that the natural beauty around us is a great
resource that will become more rare as it vanishes everywhere else.
However, our other great resource is our people. I told him: "What
makes Berkeley Lake special is that our people largely stick together
as a small town in an anomalous urban sea. We pay attention to issues,
and to each other. We help when we can, without eternally waiting
for Somebody Else to do it. The more we help each other, the more
we help ourselves, because the relationships among us grow richer
and stronger as we struggle to solve mutual problems."
We all have to make difficult choices about how to use our time,
the very precious and limited moments of our lives. But when we
extend ourselves to each other, we get a lot back.
I watch Ken Massaroni juggle his very demanding job as an attorney
for Scientific Atlanta with his commitment to his family, which
is visibly sacred to him. I wonder how he finds time to serve the
city as councilman.
I have watched Claire Grimes care for a sick and dying father,
a husband, children, and her precious grandchildren, whom she adores.
She somehow also does a phenomenal job as our city clerk, for which
she is incredibly underpaid.
These and all of our city officials are largely volunteering the
true value of their time because they have genuinely committed themselves
as true public servants. There are other citizens who have no particular
responsibilities to the city who give of their time and expertise
for the common good without pay.
Gary Moore worked for months to organize the city's Earth Day Celebration,
just because he thought it was a good thing to do! Gary and his
wife Sharie mobilized a happy horde of people to drag out trash
and haul it off. I see no other cities having so much fun doing
this, certainly not with all volunteers. The little kids released
butterflies, the basements and roadside ditches got cleaned out,
dinner was shared that night, prizes were awarded for the weirdest
trash contributions, and people grew closer to their neighbors.
How cool is that?
Tom Kitchens is the definition of a good neighbor. A teenage boy
crashes his new car in the middle of the night----his mom calls
Tom. Any emergency in the city---call Tom, who is tireless in his
unpaid efforts to manage BLEMA, the Berkeley Lake Emergency Management
Agency.
John F. Kennedy: "There will always be the voice of dissidents
in our land, expressing fault and never favor, perceiving gloom
on every side and seeking influence without responsibility."
Here's to the ones who take responsibility without seeking anything.
They make Berkeley Lake special!
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