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TODAY'S
TOPIC
Peachtree Corners Library
gets sporty new look
By Elisa Kadish
Branch Manager, Peachtree Corner Branch
Gwinnett County Public Library
Special to GwinnettForum.com
FEB. 14, 2003 - - "Wow! Look at that!" "Love the
story area." "How extraordinary - it looks so much larger
and open."
These are just a few of the comments made by delighted library
users the first time they visited the recently renovated Peachtree
Corners branch of the Gwinnett County Public Library. In addition
to new carpet, many physical changes took place in the building
during the month the branch was closed: lighting fixtures were repositioned;
shelving and furniture were rearranged; office walls were torn down;
and new walls were put up. The results are a more open floor plan,
a brighter interior, and better access to library services.
The first change customers notice is the placement of two book
drops in the branch's exterior wall facing the drive way. Now customers
can return their materials any time of the night or day. Another
book drop was put in one of the lobby's walls, so customers coming
inside the branch can immediately return their items.
Once inside the branch, customers do not need to go far to get
the help they need at the Information desk, which is now close to
the doors. Library users can now pick up the items they have placed
"on hold" for themselves, rather than wait in the checkout
line for a circulation assistant to get their materials for them.
Two "Express Checkout" machines are strategically placed
to allow customers to easily check out their items themselves.
One of the changes that has received the most compliments from
customers is the relocation of the children's collection to a glass
enclosed area. Here, children and their parents or caregivers can
search for just the right book or video, use the children's computers,
or listen to stories while seated on a colorful carpet featuring
"Miss Spider" from the books by David Kirk.
The Teen section (for students in grades six through nine) has
also been relocated. The area now has room for study tables and
comfortable seating.
Fiction readers who like romance, or inspirational fiction, or
mystery-adventure-suspense novels can now conveniently locate their
favorite reading materials. All romance novels are shelved together,
as are all inspirational fiction books, and all mystery-adventure-suspense
novels.
Crave a quiet area to read or study? Customers can do so in the
branch's Quiet Study Room, which also houses current newspapers
and magazines. Laptops can be plugged into the study carrels in
that room, too. The rest of the branch's study tables have been
placed throughout the building to take advantage of the natural
light which pours through the branch's many windows.
For a virtual tour of the redesigned Peachtree Corners Branch,
point your browser to the library's homepage at www.gwinnettpl.org,
and then click on "Pictures of our recently renovated Peachtree
Corners Branch." Better yet, come see for yourself by dropping
by the branch at 5570 Spalding Drive. The staff will be delighted
to show you around and take care of your information needs as well.
ELLIOTT
BRACK
Hot
and bothered after no flag at half-staff
By Elliott Brack
editor and publisher
GwinnettForum.com
FEB. 14, 2003 -- Yes, I was hot and bothered.
As I came by the Norcross Post Office on Mitchell Street on Monday
before former Postmaster Jimmy Carlyle's funeral, I noticed its
flagpole. The flag was flying in its regular position, not at half-staff,
as it should have been.
Postal regulations require that local post offices move the flag
to half-staff at the death of former postmasters. It didn't happen
at Norcross.
Jimmy retired after 42 years of postal service, 34 as Norcross
postmaster. Yet today's management either didn't know about him
or his death, or didn't know the regulations. They should have shown
Jimmy that courtesy.
Jimmy's postal career spanned the early major growth in Gwinnett.
When he started, there was one postal route and four employees.
When he retired, there were 90 routes and 259 employees. His postal
revenues hit $70 million annually some years. His was the second
largest post office in Metro Atlanta in some years. One of his relatives
was the first postmaster in Norcross.
Jimmy was the last of a breed---political appointees, who did pretty
well. He took his education at Georgia Tech, and proved his mettle,
no matter whether a few, or a lot, of employees. That was a significant
change he saw in postal operations.
And he did it well, maintaining extra carriers regularly on staff
to fill unexpected vacancies, so the patrons could get good service,
and so his employees would not have to work overtime.
Jimmy leaves a wife, Katherine; three daughters; and several grandchildren.
Fittingly, he is buried in the Norcross City Cemetery.
Jimmy Carlyle: 1930-2003: may you rest in peace.
* * * * *
YOU MAY be worth more than you thought. Sign noted at a Lawrenceville
auto lot: "Your W-2 = Down Payment." Hmmmm.
* * * * *
ANOTHER sudden stop: When Boggs Road gets to Georgia Highway 120,
there's no sign telling you that it continues after it crosses the
highway, to Meadow Church Road....
* * * * *
CAN YOU BELIEVE: a recent poll by Walton EMC showed 48 per cent
of those asked owned four or more television sets in their homes?
And if you start counting radios at your home, you might have to
count mighty high. What does this say about our country?
* * * * *
THE MAILED notice was brief, and very understated, from First Bank
of the South, the Lawrenceville banking institution.
Steve Williams is the new president, and Dorsey Grist Jr. the new
vice president for commercial banking at the firm.
Both these senior bankers come to First Bank from the Trust Company
of Georgia. It signals a new era in banking circles in the county,
as First Bank revs up its manpower. It might also signal less dependence
on major Atlanta banking institutions.
Already one of the fastest growing local banks under CEO Glenn
White, this move by First Bank of the South should make its presence
even stronger. John D. Stephens is chairman of the bank board.
The bank has also announced three additional directors besides
Williams: David Snell of E.R. Snell Contractors; Doyle Johnson of
Southeastern Culvert; and Wayne Sikes, the retired day care provider.
Congratulations to these two top execs and new directors, and to
the bank.
* * * * *
Congressman John Linder has endorsed Buzz Brockway of Lawrenceville,
current county party chair, for re-election to a full two year term
when the county party elects officers March 8 at Collins Hill High.
Brockway was first elected chairman after the resignation of Sunny
Warren in February, 2002.
"Buzz has great ideas for the future of the county party,
and his past record of success shows that he deserves an opportunity
to put those ideas in place. His leadership and management style
are well-suited to leading a group as diverse as the Gwinnett Republican
Party, and we would do well to keep him as Chairman," Linder
said. Brockway has a wife and two daughters, and is employed as
the operations manager for The Plastics Group in Lawrenceville.
ABOUT
OUR SPONSORS
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public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com
to you at no cost to readers. Today's sponsor is Hayes Dodge-Chrysler-Jeep
of Lawrenceville and Gainesville. General Manager Mike Hayes of
Lawrenceville and General Manager Tim Hayes of Gainesville invite
you into their showrooms to look over their line-up of automobiles
and trucks. Hayes has been in the automotive business for over
30 years, and is North Georgia's oldest family-owned auto dealership.
The family is the winner of the 2002 Georgia Family Business of
the Year Award. Hayes Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep is affiliated with Hayes
Chevrolet in Cornelia. Check out their web site at: http://www.hayeschrysler.com.
For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: http://www.gwinnettforum.com/about/sponsors.htm.
NEWS
2/14: Two Gwinnett
cities among tops in state
Two Gwinnett cities have been selected among the top 10 "best
managed and most livable cities" by the Georgia Municipal
Association. The two cities are Duluth and Suwanee. They were
judged against 14 criteria, including fiscal management, public
safety, cultural activities and downtown viability.
Other winning cities in Georgia include Alpharetta, Baxley, Covington,
Douglasville, Elberton, Fort Valley, Moultrie, and Vidalia.
Georgia Trend magazine partnered with GMA for the fourth year
to sponsor the City of Excellence program.
2/14: Three new
exhibitions debut at the Hudgens Art Center
Three new exhibitions are now on view in the galleries of the
Hudgens Center for the Arts. Visit soon and enjoy these beautiful
works of art.
The Fowler Gallery shows "Fluid Fibers: Moving Creations
by Southeastern Fiber Artists." This exhibition is presented
by the Chattahoochee Handweavers Guild and underwritten by the
Mary S. Kistner Fund of the Community Foundation for Northeast
Georgia.
The Kistner Atrium presently hosts Collages by the benefacator
of the Gallery, the late Mary S. Kistner of Snellville.
In the Children's Gallery of the Children's Arts Museum is "Ironic
Creatures." whimsical metal sculptures by Georgia artist
Wilby Coleman.
Public hours for the Fowler and Kistner Galleries are Tuesday
through Friday from 10 to 5. The Children's Gallery is open to
the public Tuesday through Friday from 1 to 5. All galleries are
open to the public on Saturdays from 10 to 3.
2/14: Perimeter
College hosts Masters writing class
On Thursday, February 20 Michael Datcher, acclaimed author serving
as writer in residence at Georgia Perimeter College's Lawrenceville
campus, will be conducting a Master Class in Creative Writing
at 2 p.m. on the Gwinnett University Center campus. The class
will be held in Building A, Room 1920. Aspiring writers are encouraged
to attend.
Datcher will talk generally about his work, the creative process
of writing, and the travails of the publishing world. On Wednesday,
February 19, Datcher will also offer a reading and book signing
at the Gwinnett University Center at 6:30 p.m. in the Building
B Atrium.
Datcher's memoir, "Raising Fences, a Black Man's Love Story,"
has been widely acclaimed and was the NBC Today Show Book of the
Month Club pick in October of 2002.
McLEMORE'S
WORLD
The power of duct
tape
THOUGHT
OF THE DAY
What happens to those
great opportunities
"Opportunities are never lost, they just go to someone else."
-- Joe McVay, Loganville.
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