|
TODAY'S
ISSUE
Duluth "COPS"
program aims at reducing traffic deaths
By
Bill Stevens
Director, Community Oriented Policing Services unit
Duluth Police Department
Special to GwinnettForum.com
 DULUTH,
May 14, 2004 -- Back in 2001, the number of motor vehicle crash
deaths occurring in Georgia involving teens age 15-19 reached a
high of 198. Gwinnett County topped that list with a total of 11
deaths. That led me to take a pro-active approach in educating our
teens about safe driving.
In April of 2001, we developed a program called "Operation
Drive Smart," aimed at reducing the number of teen traffic
injuries and deaths through comprehensive education. The program
consists of four phases.
The first phase includes airing public service announcements concerning
common mistakes that teens make while driving. Thanks to Channel
36 and cable television advertising through CAMA, these announcements
reached at least 1.8 million homes in the first week. Presently,
they are being shown at some 16 Georgia high schools, from Albany
to Flowery Branch. Subjects covered include safely sharing the road
with tractor trailers, racing, railroad accidents, school bus accidents,
paying attention while driving and driving under the influence of
alcohol.
The second phase is the Duluth Police Department's version of a
"Ghost Out," which we call "In a Split Second".
During this phase, the students at the participating high school,
with the help of the Duluth Police Department, county firefighters
and other public safety officials, go through a week- long educational
campaign.
At the beginning of the week, the students organize and present
a simulated car crash involving a fellow student who is positioned
to have been driving under the influence. This student, in the drama,
ends up killing and injuring two classmates. During the week, students
are shown updates on what would be happening to their fellow student
who was "arrested;" the injured student; as well as their
families. Then at the end of the week, there is a mock funeral,
where the student who was killed in the car wreck is laid to rest.
The third phase is the Operation Drive Smart Expo. These is a fair
at the school to educate students on dangers of driving. Stations
include the Duluth Police Department's rollover; a General Electric
driving simulator, which gives students a first-hand view of the
consequences of not wearing seatbelts; and a DUI simulation. Here,
using golf carts, students put on a pair of goggles to simulate
being under the influence and attempt to maneuver through a cone
course. Other participants include "No Zone" tractor trailers,
Promina Healthcare, U.S. Army, Gwinnett County Firefighters, and
Georgia State Patrol.
Another phase includes a Pre-Drive program, geared toward the parents
of teenage drivers.
The final phase developed and implemented this school year takes
the Duluth officers back into the class with 9th and 10th grade
students. The officers teach in the health class and in the state
mandated Alcohol and Drug Aware Prevention Training courses as well
as the community schools driver's education course.
The Duluth Police COPS Division not only developed the program,
they also coordinate and manage the program statewide for the Governor's
Office of Highway Safety. Duluth officers travel across the state
training students from Thomasville to Blairsville.
Funding comes through grants from both public and private sources,
with the Governor's Office of Highway Safety, which provides the
majority of the $82,000 funding this year.
And I am most proud to say that since the inception of "Operation
Drive Smart", the City of Duluth has not lost any teens in
car wrecks.
ELLIOTT
BRACK
Is
our country better off than it was four years ago?
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com
MAY 14, 2004 -- More Americans are more uncomfortable today with
the way our war in Iraq is going than ever before. I've taken no
poll; it's obvious.
 Think
back, if you can, to 20 years ago, or 30 or 40 years ago. In those
days, the people of the United States felt "safe" on the
North American continent, at least from the dangers that they saw
in other parts of the world.
1. We were safe from what we knew were the horrors of totalitarians
regimes, whether in Russia, Poland, Hungary, China and generally
the lands known as Communist countries. Americans knew that freedoms
were precious in those countries, and that our country guaranteed
us liberties others wished for.
2. Americans knew of the troubles in Northern Ireland, where an
ages-old conflict continued to simmer, then explode violently again.
There seemed to be no way out of this quagmire.
3. Our country was a world away from the continuing troubles surrounding
Israel, usually lined up against a host of neighboring countries.
Harshness and violent bombings unsettled both sides.
4. There were trouble spots in other parts of the world, pitting
oppressive rulers against the people, particularly in certain portions
of South and Central America.
Meanwhile Americans felt safe from these troubles, not only because
of the geography of North American being distant from many of these
places, but because of our constitutional rights guaranteed us all.
Now look back: the Communist world as it was is no more; an accord
has taken place in Northern Ireland; there may still be hopes for
peace in the area around Israel; and certain strides have been made
in the Americas.
Yet today the world has changed, with terrorism seeming to be able
to crop up anywhere. We no longer feel safe within our own borders.
But beyond that: the United States has inserted itself and its
troops into the troubles of the Middle East. And suddenly, though
this country is not as safe as it once was, now our country is endangering
thousands of Americans by injecting them into the troubles of the
Middle East in Iraq and in Afghanistan. And the toll of our occupation
mounts daily, as Americans die in battle, in sabotage, in ambushes
and in accidents.
Our country now faces the bigger problem: is it possible to extract
ourselves, with honor, from the poison of Iraq?
The movement of our troops to this other world is far beyond seeking
revenge of the September 11 bombing. It is beyond the search for
terrorists or for weapons of mass destruction. To many, the efforts
we are facing in Iraq are beyond reason.
In previous presidential elections, a question has been asked:
"Are you better off than you were four years ago?"
Americans invading Iraq have "won" the war, but symbolically
lost the campaign. Are we better off than we were before this war
began? Many question this.
Our biggest problem now is finding a way to stop the carnage, turn
Iraq into a country that can reasonably govern itself, and get our
soldiers out of harm's way. The longer we stay, the worse it seems
to get. The recent revelations of atrocities against prisoners will
not make the task easier.
For years, as the world faced problems, it often didn't see a way
out of its many quagmires. While we don't see ways out of Iraq easily
today, there must be a way. We just have to make the tough decisions
to bring sanity back to our world, and ensure that Americans are
safe in a country seething with hatred for us.
ABOUT
OUR SPONSORS
 The
public spiritedness of our sponsors allows us to bring GwinnettForum.com
to you at no cost to readers. Today's featured sponsor is Mobile
Communications, an authorized Motorola two-way radio provider.
With offices in Gwinnett, DeKalb, Hall, Clarke and Forsyth Counties
in Georgia, plus in Augusta, and in Charleston, S.C., call on Mobile
Communications for your needs. President of the firm is Cathy Petty
Nichols, with offices in Lawrenceville.
For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: http://www.gwinnettforum.com/about/sponsors.htm.
McLEMORE'S
WORLD
5/14: Today's job market
FEEDBACK
5/14: Combine chocolate
and Vidalias? Says it tasted good!
Editor, the Forum:
Here is something I tried recently. Core a Vidalia onion and cut
up a small Snickers bar into little pieces. Wrap in foil and bake
in oven.
I know. I thought it was too weird, too, but then I thought of
how I love Vidalias and how I LOVE chocolate. The interesting taste
to me was I could taste the caramel and then the crunchy nuts. Makes
me think I might put a square of caramel on top of the Snickers.
Strange thing about this is I can't get anyone in the office to
confess to being the one who gave me this idea. I DID NOT make it
up and can't for the life of me recall who said it, just last week.
-- Susan Shenefield, Lilburn
CALENDAR
Volunteers sought to
build playtown in new Suwanee park
Hundreds of people throughout the Suwanee area are volunteering
to help build PlayTown Suwanee, the City's new playground to be
constructed entirely by volunteers over a five-day period, June
9-13. About 125 volunteers are needed per shift, three shifts each
day.
Suwanee resident Andria Lochtenbergh and her husband plan to work
a total of three shifts. "My children [ages 3 and 5] are going
to love it," Lochtenbergh says. "I think it's going to
mean so much more to the kids that we helped build it."
Jodi Diffenderfer and her husband will be part of a group of about
20 parents and older children from Cub Scout Pack 518 that will
be working the first day of construction. "It's another great
lesson for the scouts to see their parents involved in the community,"
she says.
"We're offering a deal that volunteers won't be able to pass
up: free parking, a free meal, free childcare, and a free t-shirt,"
says Kristi McCarley, Suwanee's special projects manager. On a more
serious note, she adds, "We've been told by other communities
that this is an incredible experience for volunteers and for our
community as a whole. If you're not involved, you're going to regret
it*and you won't receive our 'Official Crew Member' t-shirt."
In addition to volunteer muscle, the City of Suwanee's playground
steering committee is also seeking to borrow numerous tools needed
for the playground construction. To view a list of the tools and
to sign up to help build PlayTown Suwanee, visit the City of Suwanee
website, www.suwanee.com.
Technology Forum to hear president of Earthlink
Join the Gwinnett Technology Forum and hear Garry Betty, president
& CEO of EarthLink, at an on-the-record "fire side"
chat about issues impacting the Internet and the high tech industry.
The forum is Tuesday, May 18, at 7 a.m. at the Scientific Atlanta
Auditorium on the Gwinnett Technical College Campus in the George
Busbee Center (Building 700).
The event is co-sponsored by the Gwinnett chamber of Commerce.
For information, call 770 233-8809.
BOOK
RECOMMENDATION
From Eugene Patterson
From former St. Petersburg Publisher and Atlanta Constitution Editor
Eugene Patterson, now retired in Adel:
"I've recently been awed by 'The Professor and the Madman,'
by Simon Winchester. He uses a murderer to dramatize the making
of the first comprehensive dictionary of our language, the Oxford
English Dictionary.
"Next up for me? The two books now stacked at my bedside are
'Franklin and Winston: An Intimate Portrait of An Epic Friendship,'
by Jon Meacham and 'Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom
Thurmond,' by Jack Bass and Marilyn W. Thompson, who first publicized
his fathering of an illegitimate black daughter."
- An Invitation: What books have you enjoyed? Send us your
best recent book along with a short paragraph as to why you liked
it, plus what you plan to read next. --eeb
ENCYCLOPEDIA
TIDBIT
5/14: Augustus Baldwin
Longstreet was early humorist
The Georgia humorists were early-nineteenth-century writers who
published satiric sketches about the lawlessness and debauchery
of frontier conditions in antebellum Georgia. Mostly lawyers, newspaper
editors, and other professional men, they included Augustus Baldwin
Longstreet (1790-1870).
Longstreet
|
Born in Augusta in 1790, Longstreet was the dean of the Georgia
humorists. He was admitted to the Georgia bar in 1815, and he settled
into a successful life as a lawyer-farmer. After he was elected
to the state legislature and named judge of the Superior Court of
the Ocmulgee District, he stood for Congress in 1824, but the deaths
of his eldest son and mother-in-law led him to abandon further efforts
to win political office. After a long period of melancholy that
culminated in a religious conversion, he returned to Augusta in
1827 and joined a prosperous legal practice.
Drawing on his experiences of riding the court circuit, he published
several humor sketches in the Milledgeville Southern Recorder. He
then purchased the Augusta newspaper the North American Gazette,
changed its name to the State Rights Sentinel, and began publishing
additional sketches in 1834. The next year he published his collected
sketches under the title of Georgia Scenes (1835); the book made
his literary reputation.
To access the Georgia Encyclopedia, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
What men and dogs should
ge used to
"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should
relax and get used to the idea."
-- Science Fiction Author Robert A. Heinlein, 1907-1988.
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.
|
