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TODAY'S
ISSUE
Four women from Gwinnett
scale high peak in Colorado
By Cathy Kimbrel
Director, Gwinnett Health and Human Services Division
Special to GwinnettForum.com
JULY 18, 2003 -- Imagine yourself 12,000 feet above sea
level having just hiked a trail to the top of a mountain, turning
all around to look at an incredible 360 degree view of majestic
snow-topped mountains. Suddenly your daughter calls from Georgia
on your cell phone.
Yes, that was my reality two weeks ago when Ellen Gerstein of the
Gwinnett Coalition, Victoria Thomas of Eastside Medical Center and
I were in the middle of our weeklong women's hiking retreat in Colorado.
We were blessed with the opportunity to spend a week with my sister,
Penny, at both her home in Morrison and her condo in Silverthorne,
Colo.
My sister was keenly aware of the importance of working into our
hiking experience in Colorado so as not to become disabled by altitude
sickness. So, we started our eight day adventure by first walking
the golf course behind Penny's house and then the Garden of the
Gods in Colorado Springs. The garden consists of these incredible
outcroppings of red rocks. It was easy to imagine God's presence
as you strolled through these huge plantings of red giants.
Sunday involved a hike up to the top of one of the foothills behind
my sister's subdivision and conducting our own private church service.
Then Monday we ascended up into the mountains heading toward Silverthorne
with a hike scheduled along the way. This hike included fields of
beautiful red, yellow, blue and white wildflowers.
 Tuesday's
hike behind my sister's condo included seeing both beautiful wildflowers
and walking by two beaver dams that helped to create this beautiful
lake. At night we watched an old movie called "The Edge",
which seriously impacted my sleep after watching Anthony Hopkins
use a stick to kill a Kodiac bear that was stalking them. This caused
me to seriously question Ellen's insatiable desire to see a wild
animal.
Wednesday was a hike up Shrine Pass to the 12,000 foot, 360 degree
view of snow topped-mountains mentioned earlier. Oh, did I tell
you that it started to snow when we were on top? Yes that's right
and it was the end of June and not January! Our hiking guide said
this might take us up to 5.5 hours, but only took us a little over
three hours. That lower-level practice hiking must have paid off!
Thursday was a different experience entirely. We drove to Leadville,
rented bikes and rode the 12.5 mile Mineral Belt Trail. It having
been at least 34 years since I has ridden on a bike, Ellen had to
coach me on how to adjust the gears to successfully ride up hills.
We stopped at several of the information markers along the trail,
ate buffalo burgers, attended a John Denver type concert and shared
an ice cream sundae to finish off this extraordinary day. Our final
day of physical activity involved what seemed an unending hike up
this steep dirt road to what was finally a picturesque view of a
lake surrounded by snow top mountains. It was truly breathtaking.
Coming back to Georgia to continue my monthly hikes with my hiking
buddies will sustain this incredibly exhilarating experience, even
if the views are different.
I am glad that this month I chose Cloudland Canyon's West Rim Trail.
It, too, is a breathtaking, 360 degree view of God's wonderful green
earth. Now doesn't that just make your mouth water with a desire
to spend time walking with God on Georgia's trails? If so, just
email me at kimbreca@co.gwinnett.ga.us and I will be happy to add
you to my "hiking buddies" email list.
ELLIOTT
BRACK
Appointed
boards are part of our way of government
By Elliott Brack
editor and publisher
GwinnettForum.com
JULY 18, 2003 -- The current flap between John Dunn and one of
his appointees, M.B. Strickland on the Gwinnett Planning Commission,
highlights basic aspects of how government operates in this country.
The job of a county commissioner, especially in Gwinnett County,
is such a big one that no one person can intelligently make all
the decisions needed in the area served by the commissioner. So
instead, the commission appoints individuals to serve on many boards
within the county so that studied decisions can be made in these
areas by those appointed. There are altogether 43 different boards
for these appointees to serve. (See list below.)
In some other smaller counties, granted, the idea of appointing
people to serve on the commission may be sometimes done for another
reason. Some duly-elected commissioners don't want to have to face
controversial matters which sometimes can pop up. After all, some
elected officials perpetrate themselves in office by not making
decisions. In Gwinnett, having boards to help make decisions is
a matter of sheer size of the county, with so many issues on the
table.
Either way, it's a part of the representative form of government,
with the onus, at the core, resting on the appointing official.
Sometimes a person whom the elected person has appointed votes consistently
differently than the way that appointing person might think. That's
when you may see the fireworks. That's apparently what has happened
in the recent case involving Commissioner Dunn and his appointee,
Ms. Strickland.
Whether John Dunn should be seeking to replace his appointee is
another question. He chose, instead, to launch an effort that has
turned into a controversy since his appointee, Ms. Strickland, would
not meekly go away, with her now being replaced by a 4-1 vote (Marsha
Neaton dissenting) of the entire board.
The question becomes: what should a county commissioner do when
an appointee adopts a different stance than he would have?
Said another way: should the county commissioner be in the micro-managing
business? Ultimately, this becomes a question to be determined at
the ballot box.
Our national government in particular has one arena when over the
course of years, votes can surprise us: the U.S. Supreme Court.
Judges confirmed for that court go through all types of vetting
prior to their selection, and then have to make it through confirmation
hearings. Yet as these people serve on the court, and gain new experience
and insight, sometimes their philosophy---and the way they vote---changes.
When justices start to see matters in a new light, they can sometimes
surprise us by voting in far different ways than people (and the
appointing President) thought they would.
George W. Bush can't do what John Dunn did, and sack these appointments.
With Supreme Court justices being appointed for life, you get consternation
sometimes on the direction of the court. After all, no one, including
the appointing president, can second-guess them, or throw them off
the bench. They are there until they decide to step down, or for
life.
Appointing local members of boards is an important part of our
local government. The recent headlines around this matter only serves
to point out the powers of the appointment, and the actions of those
who serve, are vital in our governments' direction.
* * * * * *
The following is a list of the Boards and Authorities for Gwinnett
County.
1. Accessible Community Task Force
2. Airport Authority
3. Alcoholic Beverage Appeal Board
4. Animal Advisory Council
5. Arts Facility Authority
6. Barrow-Gwinnett Economic Development Authority
7. Board of Construction Adjustments and Appeals
8. Board of Health
9. Board of Registration and Elections
10. Board of Tax Assessors
11. County Surveyor
12. Development Advisory Committee
13. Development Authority of Gwinnett County
14. Family and Children's Service Board
15. GRN Community Service Board
16. Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful Board
17. Gwinnett Convention and Visitor's Bureau
18. Gwinnett County Board of Education
19. Gwinnett County Defined Benefit Employee Pension Committee
20. Gwinnett County Land Acquisition Appraisers
21. Gwinnett County Transit System Advisory Board
22. Gwinnett Historical Restoration and Preservation Board
23. Gwinnett's Legislative District
24. Gwinnett/Rockdale/Newton Regional Mental Health, Mental Retardation
and Substance Abuse Board
25. Gwinnett United in Drug Education (G.U.I.D.E.)
26. Hospital Authority
27. Housing Authority
28. Human Relations Commission
29. Industrial Building Authority
30. Library Board
31. MARTA Board
32. Merit Board
33. Municipal-Gwinnett Business License Tax Review and Appeal
Committee
34. Municipal-Gwinnett Planning Commission
35. Partnership for Community Action (DeKalb EOA) Board of Directors
36. Public Facilities Authority
37. Recreation Authority
38. Residential Care Facility for the Elderly Authority
39. Springbrook Golf Course Commission
40. Tree Advisory Committee
41. Upper Ocmulgee Resource Conservation and Development Council,
Inc.
42. Water and Sewerage Authority
43. Zoning Board of Appeals
Thanks to Sherri S. Hardeman for help on providing this list.
McLEMORE'S
WORLD
All-Star cartoon
From cartoonist Bill McLemore:
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FEEDBACK
7/18: Questions
for Rumsfeld involving known and unknown
Editor, the Forum:
We knew it all along, but now former Ambassador Joseph Wilson
and Greg
Thielmann, a former director of the State Department Bureau
of Intelligence, have confirmed that Bush based his claims of
WMD's on information which he knew or should have known to be
false, and then convinced Congress, the people of this country
and other countries that his information was correct . . . and
continues to maintain that the invasion was the right thing
to do.
My only question (to Mr. Rumsfield, using his own terminology)
is - was the
purported uranium contract with Niger a known, an unknown, an
unknown that was known to be an unknown, or a known that was
unknown, or any other kind of known or unknown?
-- Charles Prendergast, Texarkana, Texas
7/18: Feels that
for the president, the buck stops there
Editor, the Forum:
How stupid do George W. and Ari Fleischer think we are? They
have Cheney send Ambassador Wilson to Africa at the beginning
of 2002 to check whether Iraq bought uranium. Wilson comes back
and states that the document claimed to be a contract between
Niger and Iraq is a blatant forgery.
Various CIA officers, including Greg Thielmann, discuss in
many meetings that this document is a forgery, and a year later,
Bush uses the forged document, with visions of "mushrooms
clouds" as an excuse to declare war on Iraq. Then when
he realizes that he's been busted, blames the inclusion of the
forgery in his State of the Union address on George Tenet. Yet
he says he still has faith in the CIA and trusts their judgment.
Bush says that he has now moved on and thinks that the country
has moved on. Think again! We want answers. What was the reason
to invade Iraq and put our boys at risk? Simply sticking the
blame for the inclusion of this document in the speech on Tenet
is not enough. This was supposed to be the whole rationale for
going to war! Bush, the buck stops here!
-- Estella Bloomberg, Los Angeles, Ca.
NEWS
ITEM
City
of Dacula lands Osborn as their new city clerk
Jim Osburn is the new City Clerk in Dacula. He replaces long-time
City Clerk Joyce Norman, who is retiring from the position after
27 years of dedicated service.
Mr. Osburn holds a degree in Urban Geography/Community Planning
from Georgia State University. He was previously assistant city
manager for development for the City of Sugar Hill, Georgia.
Mr. Osborn will report on August 11, 2003.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
For some, it seems
like style should really matter
"There are people who think that everything one does with
a serious face is sensible."
-- Georg Christoph Lichtenberg.
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is an online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible
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