|
TODAY'S
ISSUE
Fighting gang activity
continues as work in progress
By State Rep. Pedro Marin
D-NORCROSS
Special to GwinnettForum.com
NORCROSS, Feb. 20, 2003---Gwinnett County has a statewide and national
reputation as an area of economic opportunity. We are also known
in a positive way for our excellent public school system and great
new arena for entertainment and sporting events.
 The
bad news is that in recent years we have also attracted unwanted
publicity as a center of gang-related violence.
In the past year, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,
police have identified 175 gangs with as many as 1,800 members operating
in Gwinnett. Gang-associated graffiti is said to have "spread
like kudzu" across some areas of the county, with one agency
reporting more than 200 graffiti-scarred properties.
Worst of all, our communities have been scenes of gang-related
street terrorism ranging from small-time misdemeanors to aggravated
assault and murder.
Fortunately, Gwinnett law enforcement authorities and other community
leaders recognized the gangs' infiltration of our county early enough
in the process to do something about it. Through a concerted effort
at the state and local level, we are confronting the problem head-on.
Although gangs are still here, we are making progress.
Last fall, local authorities reported to the AJC a drop in criminal
activity by the one of the more notorious street gangs after 51
of its alleged members were indicted on federal racketeering charges
and 38 of them were taken into custody. According to the FBI, La
Gran Familia was responsible for at least five homicides in metro
Atlanta over a six-year period.
In addition, teachers and counselors in our local schools are working
in after-school programs aimed at youngsters who may be attracted
to gang life. And organizations like Gwinnett Clean and Beautiful
are doing their part to rid our county of gang graffiti.
But these strides against gangs in Gwinnett County are only the
beginning of what we need to accomplish. As District Attorney Danny
Porter said, gangs often go "underground" for a time before
reappearing.
During the current session of the Georgia General Assembly, I am
working to pass legislation that continues my effort to address
gang-related activity in our communities.
House Bill 381, which I first introduced last year, would toughen
current laws to prevent street gang terrorism. If implemented, the
measure would increase the punishment for gang-related crimes from
three years in prison to five years and from a $5,000 maximum fine
to $10,000.
The bill was favorably received by the House Special Judiciary
Committee and has been assigned to a subcommittee for further review.
I will continue to work for approval of this legislation in the
2004 session.
This measure would follow a bill that I sponsored in 2003 providing
for the use of inmate labor to remove gang graffiti from private
property as a form of compensation to innocent victims of criminal
trespass or criminal damage to property. That legislation passed
both houses of the legislature and was signed by Gov. Sonny Perdue.
The new law took effect last July 1.
We need to do all we can to support the law enforcement agencies
and other community leaders to wipe our neighborhoods clean of gang
activity now and in the future.
Rep. Pedro Marin represents the 66th District (Gwinnett County)
in the Georgia House of Representatives. Contact him in Atlanta
at 404-656-0314 or at 611 Legislative Office Building, Atlanta,
Ga. 30334. His e-mail address is pmarin@legis.state.ga.us.
ELLIOTT
BRACK
This
and that about various topics in Gwinnett
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com
FEB. 20, 2004 -- You've heard that the University of Georgia has
more students from Gwinnett than any other county. Now comes Dr.
Wayne Clough, president of Georgia Tech, who when speaking recently
in Gwinnett said that the county also provides more of his students
than any other Georgia county.
 Gwinnett
is popular at Georgia State, which has 3,689 of its 27,401 (2003
figures) students from this county. Georgia Southern University,
in Fall 2003, had 954 students from Gwinnett County.
One more statistic from Georgia Tech: though it gets transfers
from 15 two-year schools in Georgia, Georgia Tech gets more transfers
from Georgia Perimeter College than any other.
* * * * *
Hats off to veteran Gwinnett developer Tom Wheeler, who on Monday
was re-appointed by Dr. Sonny Perdue to the Board of Natural Resources.
He has served on the Natural Resources Board for seven years, and
was chairman of the board in 1999. He is also a member of the North
Georgia Mountain Authority. Wheeler is president of Wheeler-Kolb
Management Group, and was a founding member and is current president
of the Northeast Georgia Foundation, based in Gwinnett. He holds
graduate and undergraduate degrees from Georgia State University.
He and his wife, Maria, have two children. He also was recently
named a winner of a Gwinnett Chamber's Public Service Award for
2004.
* * * * *
Congratulations are also due Dacula Mayor Jimmy Wilbanks,
for being appointed to the Gwinnett Water and Sewer Authority. That
can be something that could work to benefit all of Gwinnett, since
the Dacula area needs expanded sewer service as it moves toward
adding houses to vacant land. So, in some ways, the appointment
might be called strategic for Gwinnett!
* * * * *
One person suggests a task for Georgia parents whose kids are on
HOPE scholarships, or who have had students on these scholarships
in the past. "These people each week should gladly buy a lottery
ticket, since they are getting a virtual free ride on paying for
education," so this person suggests. One ticket in both drawings
of the two big lotteries each week would cost $4 a week, or $200
a year, a small pittance compared to the lottery funding their child's
education. And…with so many people benefiting from the Lottery,
it would almost ensure its viability. Do your part, parents!
And there even would be hope for such parents buying the tickets….for
they could not win the lottery itself without a ticket!
* * * * *
Spotted Thursday in Gwinnett: the first presidential campaign yard
sign, this one for John Edwards. The Georgia Presidential Preference
Primary is around the corner, set for March 2. Even in Gwinnett,
you might spot a Kerry sign!
* * * * *
For the first time in 20 years, Gwinnett will have no representative
on the Department of Transportation board. Gwinnett is divided into
four congressional Districts, since the transportation board seats
correspond to the congressional districts lines. Just last week,
former Rep. Garland Pinholster of Cherokee won election to former
Sen. Steve Reynolds' seat on the board. Pinholster, the old Stormy
Petral (once Oglethorpe University's basketball coach) himself,
is a forward-thinking former legislator, who we expect will serve
with distinction, and be fair to Gwinnett at the same time.
* * * * *
Hey! Just kidding! Several years ago, when the Department of Transportation
said that they could not widen I-285 any more, I suggested that
next we would hear that they would double deck the perimeter highway.
I was only kidding, honestly. But now some leaders are putting forth
this idea as a possibility. Think of the disruption in double-decking
that highway. It would be far worse than widening in creating delays,
take forever, and be mighty costly. Hey, you guys, I was only kidding!
Honestly!
ABOUT
OUR SPONSORS
 The
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.
Another cartoon from our Bill McLemore:
FEEDBACK
2/20: Another problem
that would have befallen escape route
Editor, the Forum:
You had an interesting tour of duty in the military! ( Forum,
Feb. 17.) The hardest part of leading military wives those
50 miles to safety would have been all the times they'd have
stopped along the way to go shopping. Would have taken forever.
-- Bo Spalding, Atlanta
NEWS
2/20: C-SPAN bus
to visit Gwinnett University Center March 2
The C-SPAN Network's Classroom Bus will come to the Gwinnett
University Center in Lawrenceville on Tuesday, March 2. The
C-SPAN bus will be in the Atlanta area March 1 and 2 to follow
the results of the Georgia primary and the presidential candidates'
progress along the campaign trail.
Both UGA and Georgia Perimeter College students taking classes
at the Gwinnett University Center campus will be offered a demonstration
by C-SPAN staff on how to use C-SPAN's Web resources. They will
also get to tour the bright yellow "Custom Coach,"
specially outfitted with video monitors, computers and television
equipment. Half of the bus serves as a mobile classroom, while
the other half functions as a working production studio.
The bus, which is 45 feet long, 13 feet tall and weighs 22
tons, has been on the road since 1993, covering more than 300,000
miles. The bus has stopped at all nine presidential libraries,
been to all 50 states and state capitals, and visited more than
2,000 communities.
C-SPAN is a private, nonprofit company created in 1979 by the
cable television industry as a public service. The C-SPAN network,
which has received two prestigious Peabody Awards for broadcasting
excellence, provides access to the day-to-day workings of government.
C-SPAN's "2004 Vote" feature keeps its viewers up
to date on the campaigns of the presidential candidates and
the state primary elections and caucuses.
ENCYCLOPEDIA
TIDBIT
2/20: Amicalola
Falls is state's highest with drop of 729 feet
North Georgia's Amicalola Falls derives its name from the native
Cherokee word meaning "tumbling waters." Amicalola
is the state's highest waterfall, with a total drop of 729 feet.
It is located in Amicalola Falls State Park, between Dawsonville
and Ellijay, and is one of Georgia's most popular attractions.
From an overlook atop the falls, one may witness the mountains-to-piedmont
transition.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Good manners, common
courtesy is 90 percent of being effective
"Ninety per cent of being effective has to do with common
courtesy, or simply GOOD MANNERS! Some of the things I learned
from my parents were:
-
"Respond when someone contacts me….
-
"Say "Thank You!" when someone
does something good for me….
-
"Say "I'm sorry." when I've hurt
someone…
-
"When I agree to do something, then DO
it….
-
"As much as possible, don't leave anyone
OUT who should know what I'm doing..
-
"Show appreciation to those I care about."
-- Jan Kennedy, Norcross.
SEND
YOUR FEEDBACK
Send your thoughts, 55-word short stories, pet peeves
or comments on any issue to Gwinnett
Forum for future publication.
===========================================
MORE: Contact Gwinnett Forum at: elliott@gwinnettforum.com
© 2004, Gwinnett Forum.com. Gwinnett Forum
is an online community commentary for exploring pragmatic and sensible
social, political and economic approaches to improve life in Gwinnett
County, Ga. USA.
|
