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TODAY'S ISSUE
Gwinnett police mystify writer with charges against biker
By Matthew Stovall
Special to GwinnettForum.com

LAWRENCEVILLE, Jan. 14, 2005 -- Last week the Gwinnett County police took the mystifying step of filing charges against a bicyclist who survived an accident that claimed the life of his friend, Tony Serrano, back in August 2004. Both Serrano and Brian Mock were struck from behind on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard last August by a young driver, Luke Nicolosi, but the police elected not to file any charges against Nicolosi. Instead, Mock was blamed for the accident by "being too far into the lane of travel" and for not having a red reflector on the back of his bicycle. The charges against Mock, and the lack of charges against Nicolosi, defy logic.

The Gwinnett County police Accident Investigation Unit, headed by Sgt. Wayne Thaxton, assert that Mock was in the lane of travel, not in the turn lane where the accident report places him, and that the driver swerved to the right to avoid him and hit Serrano. The police freely acknowledge that Serrano and his bike were in adherence with the rules of the road, so he certainly must have been visible; therefore, the police are saying that the driver swerved to hit the bicyclist that WAS visible. This scenario stretches the imagination; if that were the case, couldn't that be construed as a deliberate act? Using a vehicle to hit someone is Vehicular Assault; using it to kill someone is Vehicular Homicide. Neither charge was brought against the driver.

The Gwinnett Police further assert that Mock was "too far into the lane of travel" and thus in violation of Georgia Code section 40-6-294. However, examination of the scene of the accident reveals more than one hazard to safe cycling, which permits cyclists to "take the lane" First, substantial debris collects at the edge of the through lane; and second, the through lane itself is too narrow to allow a car to safely pass a bicycle. Mock had every right under the law to be in that lane, and charging him under section 294 reveals either a faulty or a biased understanding of that code.

The Gwinnett County police elected not to charge Nicolosi with anything at all, even though any other driver who strikes another vehicle from behind is uniformly charged with "following too close" no matter what the circumstances. It can only be concluded that the relatively weak "following too close" charge was considered and then deliberately NOT applied, since it is automatic under other circumstances. If this is not the case, then it belies the position Gwinnett County police have adopted, that bicycles are not vehicles under their purview, despite a clear definition in the Georgia Code that says they are.

The bottom line is that the Gwinnett County police have interpreted the law in error, at best. At worst, they elected to ignore the rights that all cyclists are granted under the law of the State of Georgia, and give a most generous benefit of the doubt to a young driver who was clearly driving too fast for the conditions. In either case, and in any event in between these extremes, how can cyclists trust this authority? How can we expect to be protected, if we can be killed while adhering to the law?

ELLIOTT BRACK
Re-use of Macys at Gwinnett Place could be high-rise building
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

JAN. 14, 2005 -- Ever wonder why George Thorndyke and his group purchased the former Macy's at Gwinnett Place Mall? Of course, they want to make money. But what will they do with this building?

(With the name change, be alert. They did not buy the former Rich's facility, which changed its name to Macy's at the start of the year. George and his partners bought what was the original Macy's at Gwinnett Place Mall.)

People in the development business tell me one obvious use: continue it as a center of retail activity. Stores are itching to get into centers which attract a lot of people. To do this, the facility would probably have to attract lower-end customers. This is always an option, but perhaps not the best use of the space. George has been shut-mouth on this, but seems to indicate he did not buy it to sub-divide into small retail locations, and bring down the quality of the mall shopping even more.

Along with the 248,000 square feet of the Macy's location, you may not realize it, but George's group got about 15 acres of prime real estate, currently a parking lot.

But consider: if you don't use the building as a retail center, you obviously would not need all that parking. So, how to use such land?

At some point in its maturity, Gwinnett will start to see more high-rise buildings. The mall land would be a great spot to erect either a Class A office building, or probably even more reasonable, a upper-end condo. You could, of course, build parking space into such high-rises.

Current laws allow the erection of buildings of up to seven stories. Re-zoning would require higher structures. However, we feel sure that if Mr. Thorndyke, or any other developer, can show their intention to significant upgrade Gwinnett Place Mall or other properties with a high-rise building, approval would follow.

And say what you want, but Gwinnett Place mall today, and certainly down the road, can stand some upgrading. Once the premier shopping facility of the county, the arrival of the Mall of Georgia has changed the shopping landscape. Upper-end retail is being located at the Mall of Georgia.

With the population of Gwinnett, now approaching 700,000 and continuing to grow, should mean that more than one "fine" mall should compliment the county. If nothing else, the sheer number of people, with related traffic, makes traveling a great distance important in shopping expeditions. People will find it difficult to go to another mall if similar goods are at a closer one.

The improved real estate activity that a high-rise could generate, plus more interest in upgrading the mall itself, should make Gwinnett Place a more attractive proposition for shoppers, for retail shops, and for developers.

While it won't happen overnight, George Thorndyke has indicated that he would not necessarily move quickly on the former Macy's property. His group seems to have the staying power to ensure that their effort is well thought-out, and solid. One thing for sure: the purchase price of $6 million is a real long-term bargain for the Thorndyke Group. They can sit on the property for years and still come out ahead. Macy's, in the meantime, got $6 million immediately, and was happy to get out from under a property that was costly for them to own.

So while the former Macy's remains silent and empty, that doesn't mean it will be shuttered forever. Given time, and some new thinking, something good could come out of it for Gwinnett…..though no one can say what right now.

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The real baloney and red herrings, sir, came from you. Your column demanding other Gwinnett cities adopt the same needless smoking ban as the County is pure hogwash. Gwinnett County's smoking ban was a knee-jerk implementation of some commissioners' personal agenda, aided and abetted by liberal political activists.

Your claim that "more than 75 per cent of the county residents are against smoking" is not true. You continually make this claim without proof and broad assumption that anyone who hasn't opposed the ban is in favor of it. The "minority" is actually the anti-smoking cabal, consisting of a very small though vocal group, bankrolled with money extorted from a legal business: the tobacco industry.

How dare you mock business owners' motives for wanting to accommodate paying customers? They have every right to do so.

Consider this: Ireland also has an unfortunate history of brutal religious war; should we adopt that as well? Your statement about their government leading the way is very telling about where your allegiance lies. It also conveniently overlooks the multitude of complaints from pub owners and patrons alike.

Perhaps I wouldn't be so critical of the anti-smoking campaign if the true goal were freely admitted: destruction of the tobacco industry. If you don't think tobacco should be a consumer product, work to remove it the right way. After all, if it is as truly dangerous as claimed, why aren't you working to have it outlawed? It seems disingenuous that you don't care if they export it all over the world, as long as people don't smoke where you are eating your Cheez-its.

The other Gwinnett cities have not adopted a smoking ban and I hope they do not. Mr. Nasuti's suggestion is another way of wiping the stain off his hands for a bad idea that obviously has drawn considerable bad press.

Note: Your remark about the gun lobby in today's column is in poor taste. Pro-Second Amendment groups always stress the same handling and use of firearms. Shooting a gun into the air is NOT one of them.

I guess the people trucking tons of dirt into that lot on Sugarloaf in Duluth for the past year weren't satisfied just bringing it up to grade, now they're building a mountain!

While I am not sure what the Georgia Snapshot Poll is, let me give you the results of our recent (October) statewide survey of what the public thinks about when school should start. Findings are based on 400 random phone interviews across the state, and conducted for InsiderAdvantage.com, a nonpartisan consulting firm of Matt Towery and Pierre Howard. Results are published in the current December 15 issue of James magazine.

Q."Do you favor or oppose legislation that would require all school systems in Georgia to start on the same day?"

These results are not necessarily in conflict with the Snapshot poll due to the different choices available in the two surveys. However the Snapshot poll probably has a slight wording bias in that it is hard for the public to say that 'community input' is NOT important. And we don't know how such community input might be expressed. I think what our survey shows that the community input wanted is that the public wants all systems to start on the same day.

-- Jim Nelems, The Marketing Workshop, Inc., Norcross

Coverage of the financial woes of the passenger airlines has convinced me that these companies should consider transitioning into other markets. I suggest they start trying to fill the gigantic high-speed commuter rail void we have in the United States. Our great nation is about 40 years behind Europe and Asia regarding high-speed commuter rail service, and this puts us at a disadvantage in competing successfully in the global economy.

Europe and Asia do not have the kind of horrible traffic problems we in America do because they have the option to utilize rapid mass transit on state of the art trains. Additionally we could reduce the level of pollution that is the result of our traffic gridlock. This would increase access to affordable housing and it could also tremendously reduce our gasoline consumption and contribute to our effort to end our dependence on foreign oil.

The Gwinentt Technology Forum will hear Marian Lucia, CIO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, at its meeting January 18, 2005 at 7 a.m. The Forum meets at the Scientific Atlanta Auditorium at the George Busbee Center of Gwinnett Technical College in Lawrenceville. The topic title is "How to build an IT strategy that works." For more information, go to:

"When I finished reading The Tall Woman by Wilma Dykeman, I surprised myself by crying a little bit; partly because the ending is a little sad, but mostly because I was sad to have finished the book. This book is a wonderful, well-written and historically accurate story of a family surviving and even flourishing in the aftermath of the Civil War in Nantahala County. The family flourished because of the matriarch of the family, Lydia McQueen. She is a strong and wonderful woman, who will steal into your heart and not let go. This book may remind readers of Cold Mountain, but it was published in 1962, long before Cold Mountain was written.

'The next book I intend to read is Sorcery & Cecelia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer. This is fantasy fiction; my 13-year-old daughter read it and loved it so much she started reading the sequel, The Grand Tour, the next day. I like to read what she reads. Patricia Wrede first attracted our attention with her Dragon series (Dealing with Dragons is the 1st one), which my 9-year-old son also enjoyed."

ENCYCLOPEDIA TIDBIT
1/14: Georgia had its own Prohibition from 1908 until 1935

An organized temperance movement began in Georgia in the late 1820s and, after early difficulties, flourished through the 1930s. As in other parts of the United States, Georgia's temperance reformers typically were evangelical Protestants who regarded alcoholic beverages as harmful (even sinful) for the individual drinker and for society at large. Supposedly, drink destroyed families and reputations and brought about poverty, disorder, and crime.

As elsewhere, Georgia's temperance reformers started by urging individuals to decide voluntarily not to drink and later campaigned to change the laws to restrict and abolish the sale of alcoholic beverages. Georgia had statewide prohibition from 1908 until 1935, a period that began before and extended beyond national prohibition (1920-1933).

The Georgia State Temperance Society, organized in 1828, at first met concurrently with the Baptist state convention. Originally this first statewide society committed its members to moderation in the consumption of distilled liquors. When it attempted in 1836 to shift to a teetotal pledge, the society broke up and disappeared.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries temperance reformers attempted to persuade the state government to enact restrictive liquor legislation and the voters to implement local option powers. An 1885 statute granted voters the right to impose prohibition in the county where they lived. By 1907 most counties had voted themselves dry. That same year the state legislature enacted mandatory statewide prohibition, one of the moral reforms demanded by Progressives throughout the South. Georgia ratified the 18th Amendment for national prohibition three years later. It did not vote for repeal of national prohibition, but after that occurred, Georgia repealed its own statewide prohibition in 1935.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
The public debt must be reduced and arrogance moderated

"The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced, if the nation doesn't want to go bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance."

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