Gwinnett Forum.com -- Gwinnett County's community forum and idea exchange

TODAY'S ISSUE
Gwinnett resident leads Bosom Buddies moving forward
By Katie Dailey
Special to GwinnettForum.com

OCT. 24, 2003 -- Leadership Gwinnett graduate Lisa Tully serves as executive director of Bosom Buddies of Georgia, Inc. It is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide positive support services and education during diagnosis, treatment and recovery of breast cancer.

Tully's credentials for her position consist of both professional experience and a personal passion. Hers has a strong family history of breast cancer, and she is herself an 11-year survivor. She has been actively involved in the cancer community for a number of years and was named one of the Top 100 of Georgia's Most Powerful and Influential Women in Nonprofit.

Since graduating from the State University of West Georgia, her career has included fundraising, event planning, community relations and marketing with leading national organizations.

Tully brings great enthusiasm for the mission of Bosom Buddies as it celebrates its 20th Anniversary of supporting breast cancer survivors and their families. "It is my goal to continue to strengthen our organization while building additional community awareness of the great work that is being done by Bosom Buddies," Tully states.

Founded in 1983 by Vicki G. Castleberry, Bosom Buddies of Georgia, Inc. began as a support group for three women diagnosed with breast cancer. Today with over 40 facilitator-led breast cancer support groups statewide, Bosom Buddies is the largest survivor-led breast cancer support and education organization in the state of Georgia.

Annually over 350 volunteers lend individualized support and comfort to women in their fight against breast cancer.

Tully oversees Bosom Buddies’ exceptional array of services, including ongoing breast health education and a low-cost mammography program for the medically undeserved, refugee, migrant and minority communities.

Facilitator-led breast cancer support groups throughout the state of Georgia include Spanish Speaking and Young Survivor groups. Training and education are provided for the volunteer facilitators who lead these groups.

Bosom Buddies headquarters in Chamblee houses an Angel Closet filled with about 150 wigs and over 400 turbans and a private room for selection and fitting of prostheses and bras for mastectomy patients. Also available are volunteer made pressure pillows and Suzy bags for women after breast surgery.

The most up-to-date cancer information available can be accessed on the organization's Cancer Help PDQ computer, which is updated monthly by National Cancer Institute, and the Breast Cancer Library contains hundreds of books and videos for loan. Bosom Buddies also provides referrals, resources and educational materials in over 36 languages and produces over 5,000 American Cancer Society Reach to Recovery kits for Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.

One of Lisa Tully's major responsibilities is to ensure that the funding and future of
Bosom Buddies is secure. Tully states, "As Bosom Buddies embarks on the future, we have numerous opportunities to make a difference in the fight against breast cancer but we need the community's support to continue our mission. Whether you contribute a monetary or in-kind gift, help identify collaborative partnerships for our organization, or volunteer your time, I promise that your investment in our organization will not only be personally rewarding, but will also make a difference in the lives of those who have been touched by breast cancer."

Lisa Tully and Bosom Buddies may be contacted at 770-455-7637 or on the web at www.bosombuddiesga.org.

ELLIOTT BRACK
Readers respond with some thoughts of their own
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

A few weeks ago, we asked our readers to contribute to the "Thought for the Day" that we run at the end of each issue of GwinnettForum. Up until then, we had been finding pithy or interesting or timely quotations, and inserting them. We found them on the web, in our readings, or in circumstances we came across.

The outpouring of suggestions for the Thought for the Day has overwhelmed us. We have had them coming from all directions. Since we asked for them, we have run some of them in the Forum. We have amassed so many that we thought today we would just print a few of them, plus the one we use in the Thought today from Loretta Roberts of
Suwanee, while in the last month we have used material from Steve Rausch, Mike
Tennant, Doug Donehue, Marsha Bomar, Nick Nicholson and Jim Dumond. All
responding with witticisms which enriched this Forum.

Of course, that means we will have about cleared out our backlog of witticisms and thoughts provoking. Yep, that's a call for more of you to send along a particularly dandy quote for us to share with others.

Champeen for sending the most so far is Roy McCreary, of Dacula. Here are some sent in recently by Roy:

From Melinda Allen came this gem, though from an anonymous source: "I am all that I claim to be I simply haven't claimed all that I could be."

From another person who asks to remain anonymous comes this gem from the mind of e.e. cummings: "I'm living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart."

A few more in our collection we have been not been able to get in the twice-weekly Forum, which we found in different places:

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FEEDBACK
10/24: Duluth rezoning raises some basic questions

Editor, the Forum:

The City Council of Duluth recently by unanimous vote (5-0) approved the annexation/rezoning of the McDaniel Enterprises property, consisting of 99.7 acres, on Old Peachtree and Buford Highway. This decision by the Duluth City Council is part of a trend that has led to over 10,000 acres of unincorporated Gwinnett County being annexed by municipalities in the last year. So what makes this action by the Council so newsworthy?

When property is annexed, the owner/developer seizes on the desire by local
municipalities to increase property tax revenues and is able to negotiate zoning uses, buffers, density and other concessions that would not customarily be available under the existing zoning in the county. It is a perfectly legal process since the city has the authority to zone property. This makes annexation a winning endeavor for both parties.

Some would argue that the owner/developer's actions were unscrupulous. The owner, McDaniel Enterprises, and the developer, Pulte Homes, have been working secretly since the end of the legislative session, which ended in February to establish the zoning for the McDaniel property to a Planned Unit Development (PUD).

Rather than solicit input from the surrounding community or inform the 97 residents of Chattahoochee Mobile Home Park, the owner waited until days before the zoning hearing to post the signs giving the public notice of the hearing on August 4, 2003. Only when the signs were posted did the residents understand why the landlord had been so persuasive in the need to change their leases to a month to month basis. Now their tenure at the Mobile Home Park becomes most uncertain.

The surrounding subdivisions were also caught by surprise. Many of the homeowners in the adjoining subdivisions were enjoying the last week of summer vacation before school resumed. The legal notices publicizing the Public Hearing were run under the City of Duluth so it was unlikely that the homeowners in Gwinnett County would take note. In every possible way the owner/developer kept the pending annexation/rezoning under the radar of potential opposition. This strategy worked to perfection.

The city's Planning Staff had been working for months with the developer tailoring the plan that was presented to the Zoning Board. It received the proposed materials on Thursday prior to the hearing on Monday. Equally important, the Board relies heavily on the Planning Staff for direction, especially on questions of law and compliance.

Whose interests were best served by the city's Planning Staff in this annexation? Why is the proposed Planned Unit Development contrary to the city's zoning ordinance? Why would this plan be accepted by the city, but would never have been approved in Gwinnett County?

There were a lot of questions left unanswered that night at the Zoning Hearing in August. The approval by the Zoning Board sealed the victory for the owner/developer. The rest of the process was mere formality, because the City Council knew of the annexation months before the Zoning Board and they knew how they would vote.

The annexation/rezoning process is a problem begging for attention. It allows the
owner's burden under zoning law to be circumvented. The owner has the burden to prove that the current zoning is detrimental. Annexation removes this burden and with it comprehensive use plans and zoning are thrown out the window.

Whose vision should be embraced? Multi-family RM uses are not consistent with the surrounding zoning. Why should municipalities be allowed to displace homeowners and disenfranchise the voices of surrounding subdivisions?

It is an issue whose time has come and needs to be addressed by the State Legislature.

-- Jef Fincher, Developer, Parsons Plantation Subdivision and resident

10/24: Questions calling work a masterpiece

Editor, the Forum:

In your recent column about John Grisham's book, "Runaway Jury," you casually called the book a masterpiece.

A masterpiece? I can see one of the works of Hemingway, or Shakespeare, or maybe even Eudora Welty. But Grisham? Give him a few years, and maybe. But not now.

A masterpiece? I don't think so.

-- Anonymous in Washington

(Editor's Note: I agree. Bad choice of words, and not a real masterpiece. But the book is still a good read.---eeb.)

CALENDAR
Duluth Railway Museum plans "Phantom train" fund-raiser

The Southeastern Railway Museum announces that the deadline to reserve tickets for "Phantom Trains", the museums November 1 fundraiser, has been extended until October 23, 2003.

The fundraiser will be at the Museum and will feature music by "Whistle Stop", dinner, a tour of ghosts, silent & live auctions and a historical reception. It is the museum's premiere annual fundraiser.

This year the funds raised are being dedicated to the restoration of Georgia Power Company locomotive #97 (Porter, 1943, 0-6-0T) and the acquisition of Georgia Railroad GP7 locomotive #1026. Funds raised in excess for these two projects will be used to start an endowment for the restoration of Southern Railroad #1509 "Maud", the museums 1880’s circa steam engine.

This year's fundraiser is sponsored in part by Primerica and guided by Paige Havens of Solid Ground Resources Inc. For more information about this inaugural event, please visit the museum's website www.srmduluth.org or call the museum at 770-476-2013.

Southeastern Railway Museum is located at 3595 Peachtree Road, Duluth, one mile North of Pleasant Hill Road. The museum is open Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. and the third Sunday of each month from noon until 5 p.m. Admission is $7 for adults, $5 for seniors (65+), $4 for children (2-12), with those under 2 admitted free.