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TODAY'S
ISSUE
Gwinnett Relay for
Life continues to lead national effort
By
Phylicia Wilson
Special to GwinnettForum.com
JUNE 29, 2004 -- Gwinnett County has done it again…still another
hugely successful American Cancer Society Relay For Life that this
year raised $2.1 million, a figure that undoubtedly will keep Gwinnett
number one among the 4,200 Relay events in the United States.
What is it about this event that draws thousands to the Gwinnett
County Fairgrounds every year?
The Relay For Life story began 20 years ago last month, when a
Tacoma, Wash. oncology surgeon and American Cancer Society volunteer,
Gordon Klatt, M.D., began a one-man overnight run around a college
track. While he wanted to raise money to fight cancer, his primary
goal was to show compassion for the cancer victims he saw every
day in his surgical practice. He decided on a 24-hour marathon because
he said, "Cancer never sleeps."
A groundswell of support from the grassroots of Tacoma resulted
the following year in a 24-hour team event, which quickly spilled
over geographic lines and caught fire nationwide. Today, celebrating
20 years and the achievement of $1 billion in contributions, Relay
For Life is the world's single most significant fundraising event.
What began as one man's statement in the fight against cancer has
spread to more than 4,000 communities throughout the world.
That Relay For Life is a fantastic fundraiser is obvious. This
year the overnight event expects to raise up to $300 million nationwide
to benefit cancer research, education, advocacy and patient services.
What brings people back year after year however, is the celebration
of survivors and the unique opportunity it offers people to honor
and remember loved ones. Relay is "about being a community
that takes up the fight" and its success begins with the heart
and voice of each local community where families, neighbors, friends
and local businesses join together.
It's a far cry from the years of racing rubber ducks down the Chattahoochee
and sending friends to "jail" where they had to post "bail"
before they could go back to work. Not only did special events like
those lack in their capacity to raise the dollars needed to fight
cancer, they did nothing to create cancer awareness or celebrate
the lives of those affected by cancer.
Cancer impacts everyone, so at a Relay you will find people from
all walks of life - rich and poor, young and old, people of all
races and religions. Relay truly unites communities and the best
Relays are representative of the community in which is it being
held.
A few years ago the American Cancer Society set specific goals
relating to reduction of cancer incidence and numbers of cancer
deaths by the year 2015. Relay For Life, through education, awareness
and advocacy efforts will have a significant impact on whether those
goals are reached. Dr. John Seffrin, Chief Executive Officer of
the ACS said it best last year at the celebration of the one billion
dollar milestone. "We now know that our lifelong journey to
reach our 2015 goals is neither a sprint nor a marathon; it is a
relay - our Relay For Life."
ELLIOTT
BRACK
With
right equipment, good life is a bowl of cherries
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com
JUNE 29, 2004 -- You've heard the phrase, "Life is a bowl
of cherries," right?
 After
a weekend with four pounds of cherries from Washington state, plus
the first use of a "Cherrymat" which has been sitting
unused in the house for two years, now the phrase makes more sense.
Life with a bowl of cherries is pretty good, I'll say. I spotted
four pounds of the big cherries on Friday, and remembering cherries
past, bought them.
In the past, there were two ways of pitting the fresh cherry.
One is easy, but tiring, and slow. You plop a cherry in your mouth,
crunch down on it, bursting the cherry, freeing the pit, spit the
pit out and eat the cherry. (OK, you purists, you first rinse the
cherries, of course, to clean 'em and get rid of any preservative.)
Enjoying cherries that way works best when you are actually picking
them off a cherry tree, or at least on the outside.
Over the years, we've used a second method to pit the cherries,
a device that looks like a cross between scissors and hypodermic
needle. You put one cherry at a time into the bottom of this wire
device, then send the plunger through the cherry, knocking out the
pit. Works, but it's mighty sloppy, with the result usually being
cherry juice on your hands, shirt, t-shirt, table and sometimes
the floor. Not fun. Good way to ruin a shirt.
Now to what turned it all around: it is from Germany, a gift about
two years ago from a daughter, and in that language is a "Kirschentkerner."
Plain English: "Cherry corer," though the manufacturer
coined the term, "Cherrymat."
It is simple and made of plastic. It comes in two parts, a clear
plastic pit catcher of 4x6x5 inches, plus top with room for about
two dozen cherries, channel for cherries to fall into, with a plunger.
You load the cherries into the top, and one falls into a channel,
which has a hole slightly larger than cherry pit. The plunger is
opposite the hole, and you simply ram through the cherry, pushing
the pit into the bottom, and as you bring the plunger up, the cherry
empties into a bowl you have set under the exit.
It's fast. You can pit cherries as fast as you can push the plunger.
The German wording on the package says you can produce about 12
kilograms per hour. That's about 26.4 pounds per hour! The unit
also says it has a "2 jahre ans jaar garantie," and even
I can figure it will last at least two seasons of good use.
Mainly, it makes short order out of cherry pitting. Now for three
mornings in a row, I have enjoyed a bowl of really good Washington
state cherries with my cereal.
And that makes me appreciate the meaning of "Life is a bowl
of cherries." That's a good life.
If you like cherries, a "Kirschentkerner" makes pitting
cherries simpler, neater and fun.
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FEEDBACK
6/29: Wants support
of local soldiers as they leave for Iraq
Editor, the Forum:
Despite the state of your own bank account, Americans have not
let selfishness seep in.
Just a few weeks ago, the Dacula Memorial Day parade and festivities
celebrated our veterans and serving military personnel-men and women
who served and serve selflessly. Some of our residents will be deploying
to Iraq in the next few months. We are able to distance our feelings
and emotions during the Memorial Day Parade, but an actual deployment
of our neighbors is up-close, real, and personal.
Staff Sergeant Josh Emmett, in civilian life a police officer,
and Sergeant Mike Dasher, a franchise representative, of the 14th
Marines, Marine Corp Reserve located in Chattanooga, will deploy
to Iraq to continue the war for freedom from terrorism there and
at home. They will soon leave their families, friends, jobs, and
familiar surroundings to face months of separation, loneliness,
and potential hostilities in their service to their country. They
will represent us in Iraq.
Their families, Brandy and Sydney Emmett and Michele, Alyssa and
Caleb Dasher, will miss them and suffer their separations in silence
and with foreboding. They know that reservists will serve when called.
Probably one of the most heart-wrenching issues for these men is
how to tell their children that daddy will be away for a while.
As they deploy, the Corps will provide support for these Marines,
and we will back up their families at home with prayers, good wishes,
and a support system. As a part of the encouragement system, it
is time, once again, for yellow ribbons to show our support of and
prayers for the Emmett and Dasher families-and all the soldiers
who are serving us. Please display these yellow ribbons on your
homes, businesses and public places. I know Josh Emmett and Mike
Dasher will appreciate the encouragement and support while they
are absent. I know I will.
-- Jim Wilbanks, mayor, City of Dacula
6/29: Waits until return
of sanity and objectivity in news
Editor, the Forum:
In your piece about media bashing, the most interesting paragraph,
to me, was:
"Most respected media usually have no pre-set agenda, go about
reporting and commenting on every day matters and catch the devil
at times from all sides."
Yea, verily!! A few bad apples always spoil the others in the barrel.
In my humble, but experienced opinion, that's what has happened
and is still happening to the media. Network television news programs
along with some of the nation's largest, and, heretofore, influential
newspapers along with--dare I say it?--the heretofore almost always
dependable Associated Press…..have kicked over nearly all traces
of objectivity.
Out here in the hinterland, however, there are still pockets of
objective journalism that we can hope will keep a pilot light of
totally honest reporting alive, while the hot fires of the so-called
new journalism, including "investigative and interpretive reporting"
burn themselves out.
Long before "investigative and interpretive" came into
general use, the media (mostly newspapers) were doing that kind
of stuff in an honest and straight forward way with apologies to
nobody. It was done sparingly and selectively by reporters and editors
who were more concerned with accuracy than sensationalism.
When the media has been sufficiently bashed, it seems entirely
likely that a semblance of sanity will return to the business. After
all, it is a business and when the bottom line begins to cause panic
(it's already causing concern) there are likely to be some noteworthy
changes made.
-- Doug Donehue, Charleston, S.C.
NEWS
Bay Creek area plans
second Patriot's Parade July 3
Eight-four year old Norbert Lorenz, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant
colonel, spent two years in a German prisoner of war camp; George
Ducra, 78, parachuted into German occupied Belgium; Hillman Ryan,
85, fought as a U.S. Navy Gunner's Mate at Marshall Islands and
Okinawa, and J.P. Smith, 84, saw service in World War II and the
Korean War.
 These
four American veterans, all residents of the Grayson neighborhood
Bay Creek, will be honored July 3 and serve as the Parade Marshals
at the neighborhood's second annual Patriot's Parade. The parade,
which starts at 10 a.m., winds down Bay Grove Road and Shannon Road
in the Bay Creek neighborhood, located off Highway 20 between Grayson
and Loganville.
Joining the four WWII honorees will be their neighbors retired
U.S. Army Chaplain Bill Sampson and Lt. Col. Julius Goodman. Sampson,
a retired Methodist minister, was the most decorated chaplain in
the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Colonel Goodman served for
seven months at Camp Doha in Kuwait with the U.S. Army's 132nd Engineer
Detachment and played a key role in the U.S. invasion of Iraq, helping
provide the satellite imagery and mapping used by the U.S. military.
The Patriot's Parade, which was inaugurated last year to welcome
home Colonel Goodman from Iraq, will recognize all military personnel,
former and present, who live in the neighborhoods three subdivisions,
the Cove, the Landings, and the Plantation at Bay Creek.
Jennifer Hawkins, Patriot Parade Chairperson, says: "With
this year being the 60th anniversary of D-Day, we wanted to honor
these brave heroes who helped give us the freedom we're celebrating
on July 4."
Also appearing in the parade will be police escort for the WWII
veterans, a Boy Scout Color Guard, a riding lawn mower brigade,
plus tens of patriotically decorated wagons, strollers, bicycles,
scooters and pets. Hundreds of people were on hand for last year's
parade which featured over 100 neighborhood participants. This year's
event is sponsored by the Bay Creek Homeowners Association.
Shiloh senior is Chamber's 2004 student of the year
Callie Grady is the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce 2004 Student of
the Year winner.
 A
Shiloh High School senior, Ms. Grady is involved in the following
school organizations: Beta Club, National Honor Society, Key Club,
Student Government Association, as well as Mu Alpha Theta, the Conflict
Resolution Team and Gwinnett Student Leadership Team. Over the past
four years, Ms. Grady has been active in volleyball and tennis at
Shiloh, serving in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes for three
years. Her musical skills have earned her the position of first
viola player in the concert orchestra.
Not only does she show a dedication to her studies with a 4.0 grade
point average, but also to the community. Ms. Grady has worked with
Gwinnett Habitat for Humanity, the American Cancer Society Breast
Cancer Walk and Relay for Life, painted murals for Mountain Park
Elementary, volunteered with AIDS Gwinnett and completed a mission
trip to Brazil with her church. She will be attending the University
of Georgia next fall. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Bob Finn.
Commissioners approve
second overlay district in Grayson
Gwinnett County Commissioners approved an overlay district for
the Grayson/Highway 20 corridor during the regularly scheduled public
hearing on June 23, 2004. The overlay district will provide enhanced
aesthetic design for non-residential and attached residential development
projects along unincorporated Ga. Highway 20 between Lawrenceville
and Grayson through the use of architectural design standards, increased
landscaping, signage controls and streetscape design.
A citizen review committee met between mid-March and the end of
April to prepare recommendations for the zoning overlay district.
The committee reviewed a draft overlay district prepared by county
staff that was similar to the district first adopted in the Mall
of Georgia area and later extended to the Sugarloaf Parkway/Gwinnett
Center area and the Highway 78 corridor.
The group's recommendations include the following: 1) applying
the signage, landscaping and architectural standards of the Activity
Center Overlay; 2) creating an official Grayson/Highway 20 Corridor
Overlay Map; 3) street and pedestrian lighting; 4) street tree planting
requirements; and 5) prohibiting peddlers in the Overlay District.
The overlay district committee members were landscape architect/planner
Robert (Bo) Cone; commercial developer Jeff Abrams; residential
developer Darrell McWaters; banker Tommy Carraway; architect Scott
Zanardo; business owner Darron Britt; Jimmy Adams representing the
City of Grayson; and residential representatives Greg Waters, Steve
Weinkle and Carolyn Bagheri.
The Grayson/Highway 20 corridor overlay district is the second such
district to be approved in District 3. The first overlay district
to be approved by the Board of Commissioners for the district is
along the U.S. Highway 78 corridor. Work has begun on crafting a
third zoning overlay to be applied in the Centerville community.
BOOK
RECOMMENDATION
6/29: From Vally Sharpe
Solutions for Organizational Success, Duluth
"I know this isn't a new book, but I recently re-read my copy
of To Kill a Mockingbird. Love and own the movie, too, but
Harper Lee's command and cadence of language is even better than
I remembered.
"Didn't mind Dan Brown's other book, Angels and Demons,
either. Which one you most enjoy really depends on whether you're
an art junkie or a science/physics type of person, and I can get
in both moods. I like Revolutionary War-"founding father"
biographical histories, and loved McCullough's John Adams,
but for some reason I'm having trouble "getting into"
the new one on Alexander Hamilton.
"I have both Democracy in America (de Tocqueville)
and The Lovely Bones on my bedside table as well."
- 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
6/29: More planetariums
in Georgia than you might expect
Georgia has several major planetariums scattered throughout the
state, so that the planetarium experience is within easy driving
distance of most Georgians. Planetariums have revolutionized the
way astronomy is taught, especially to young students and the general
public.
 In
Georgia, National Science Foundation funding during the late 1960s
and 1970s gave a boost to planetarium construction, including expensive
projects for public high schools as well as science centers and
university physics departments. At the same time competitive production
of turnkey (fully equipped) planetariums brought down ticket prices,
and star projectors came within the reach of smaller schools and
museums around the state.
Among the larger planetariums in Georgia are the Jim Cherry Planetarium
at the Fernbank Science Center in Atlanta, the Coca-Cola Space Science
Center in Columbus, the Mark Smith Planetarium in Macon, the planetarium
at Valdosta State University, and the Rollins Planetarium at Young
Harris College. Other planetariums are located at Georgia Southern
University, Agnes Scott College, North Georgia College and State
University, and the State University of West Georgia. The Muscogee
County School District also has a planetarium.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Is only way to change
world, when you think about it
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens
can change the world; indeed it's the only thing that ever has."
-- Margaret Mead, via Janet Gibson, Lawrenceville.
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