TODAY'S ISSUE
Lilburn's Ben Harris wins Governor's Award in the humanities
By Jamil Zainaldin
President
Georgia Humanities Council
Special to GwinnettForum.com

JULY 29, 2005 -- Ben Harris, a Lilburn resident of more than 12 years, believes deeply in preserving the heritage and history of the state that he has always called home. Throughout a distinguished career at the Georgia Power Company, where he is currently vice president of the Land Division, Mr. Harris has devoted countless hours to humanities and preservation organizations throughout the state.

Harris

Mr. Harris, who recently received the Governor's Award in the Humanities, believes Georgia to be a state blessed by special people and special places. In truth, he is one of those special people.

Born in Atlanta to a family firmly established in Georgia - he had 21 aunts and uncles -he earned a bachelor's degree in Industrial Management from Georgia Tech. Later, he went to work for the then newly-formed Consumer Affairs department at Georgia Power Co. Through his years with the company, Mr. Harris got to see most of Georgia and meet people from all walks of life, helping him to develop a profound sense of the natural places and historic buildings that needed to be preserved for posterity.

Mr. Harris has worked on various preservation projects across Georgia for more than 20 years. He has been a catalyst for raising funds and securing the future of a number of significant state landmarks. That includes the Little White House in Warm Springs ---where a splendid museum opened on the anniversary of President Roosevelt's death last year --- the Sapelo Island lighthouse, and the Hardman Farm in northeast Georgia.

Hardman Farm holds a special place in Mr. Harris' heart. Representing Georgia Power, and working with the Trust for Public Land, the state government and other private foundations, he helped secure the property and buildings of this historic site, located in the Nacoochee Valley on the northern end of the Chattahoochee River corridor. The 173-acre farm, which belonged to Governor Lamartine Hardman and his descendants, is home to buildings erected in 1870 and to a rich variety of wildlife. Native Americans lived in the Nacoochee Valley for thousands of years as well. Thanks in part to Mr. Harris' efforts, the site has been restored and is now operated as a living history center.

Mr. Harris believes that it's important to set aside time and resources to ensure that places like the Little White House and Hardman Farm are safe and secure for future generations to enjoy as he has. "Once they're gone, they're gone," Harris reminds us. "As our state grows, we have to make sure these landmarks stay intact."

Every year, the Governor's Awards in the Humanities, whose recipients are selected by the Georgia Humanities Council, recognize individuals and organizations that build community, character, and citizenship in our state. Ben Harris is a shining example of one of these individuals.

"It's important to give back to the communities in which we live and work," he says. "We all have things that we're passionate about - preserving our state is one of mine. It makes Georgia a better place for everybody."

We couldn't agree more.

ELLIOTT BRACK
School board moves to build elementary schools earlier
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

JULY 29, 2005 -- Were you puzzled, as we were, when you heard, earlier this month, that the Gwinnett School Board had decided to sell the building bought recently for the board's headquarters near Interstate 85, and lease it back? We wondered why a governmental body would venture into a sale of such a facility.

What was going on?

After talking to several officials about it, we find that though unusual, the move makes sense. And the immediate beneficiaries of the move will be students from both the Dacula and Grayson areas.

You may remember that the School Board bought the former Solectron facility, off Old Peachtree Road. They had taken the building first occupied by Oki-Telecon, and about doubled it in size. It is to be also the Instructional Support Center for the School Board. The Board, in effect, got a good buy on the vacant manufacturing site. Oki-Telecom at one time had assembled cell phones as did Solectron, who also assembled other electronic gear. Solectron eventually re-located its operations.

The Board had paid $12.5 million for the vacant 370,000 square foot brick building. Now it will sell this building for $17 million to a newly-formed limited liability corporation (LLC), who will also fund an additional $26 million for renovation and other improvements at the site, converting a manufacturing facility into offices and a data center.

Not only that, but this LLC will also enter into a sales lease-back agreement, allowing the School Board to buy back its building at a pre-determined price at any time over the next several years.

The school board funds which were going to rehab the building and furnish it, some $24 million, will go instead to erecting two new elementary schools at least two years earlier than planned. Happily, it will essentially relieve crowded elementary schools in the Dacula and Grayson area.

As one official told us, "We will build these two schools two years ahead than we normally would from use of sales tax dollars, and we also get a guaranteed price to buy back the building which makes this possible." Not only that, but the board's lease payments will be "significantly below the current market rate for comparable properties," we were told.

The investment banking firm of Merchant Capital, LLC, with offices in Atlanta, has been enlisted by the Board to arrange the financing for this lease purchase program, assemble investors, and execute the transaction for the board. This firm is currently putting together investors for the project. Monies are expected to be made available to the Board within 90 days.

What it amounts to is that the board has engaged in creative financing to expedite the construction of classrooms for the rapid growth. Coupled with the guaranteed rate for re-purchase, while it may be wizardry in financing, it stands to benefit the taxpayers in the long run.

* * * * *

You must be creative when you are the largest school system in Georgia, with 142,453 students expected to enroll in Gwinnett schools next month., , up 7,000 from last year. Don't think this will slow much: by the year 2009-2010, four years from now, Gwinnett is projected to have 162,800 students.

The coming year, Gwinnett will have 447 new classrooms open at 11 existing schools. In addition, six other schools got classrooms earlier than expected and were in use in the previous term. Altogether, Gwinnett now operates 63 elementary schools, 20 middle schools, 16 high schools and seven other educational facilities.

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McLEMORE'S WORLD
7/29:

The latest from cartoonist Bill McLemore:

FEEDBACK
7/29: Former councilman views changes in downtown Snellville

(Editor's note: The writer served for two years on the City of Snellville Planning Commission and from 1999-2002 on the City Council. He now lives outside the city, though in sight of the city limits. -eeb)

Editor, the Forum:

At the dawn of the new millennium, Snellville found its downtown core in a declining spiral of vacant commercial space and blight. The City Hall itself was a patchwork building leaking rainwater from the top and the bottom. Downtown Snellville was in bad need of an extreme makeover.

Anderson

Snellville also had a new Mayor and three new Councilmen with vision and a burning desire to turn things around. Five years later this foursome toured the tangible evidence of their vision and hard work. Current Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer took former Mayor Brett Harrell, former Mayor Pro-tem Melvin Everson, and me, a former Councilman, on a hard-hat tour of the new 33,277 square foot City Hall and the nearly completed 11,500 square foot Senior Center. The City Center development is being built on the site of a former vacant grocery store and shopping center that had become a black eye on Snellville's landscape.

Mayor Oberholtzer listed some of the benefits from the project, which began as a land swap with a local church. 'The City will have a state of the art civic building with digital media capabilities to enhance access to local government. The new state of the art senior center is nearly three times the size of the converted former daycare building. Both buildings are built to serve for many, many years."

Harrell, now the executive director of the Hwy 78 Community Improvement District (CID) added: "The investment the City has made has already spawned a planned $70 million dollar private investment in a mixed use development in the downtown overlay district we created."

In addition, I might add, the Oak Road realignment built with SPLOST funding has greatly improved safety and traffic flow. Both large churches on the south side of US 78 have benefited from enhanced traffic circulation for their congregations.

The Senior Center is nearing completion and should be opened for Snellville's honored seniors in September. The City Hall should be ready to serve its citizens by the fourth quarter. The architectural details such as the cast iron rails in the open rotunda would make our forefathers such as Thomas Jefferson proud, too. Other tangible evidence of the city's vision is found at the new Snellville recycling center, which opened last spring.

-- Joe Anderson, Snellville

7/29: Years for more detailed information on Washington events

Editor, the Forum:

I never thought I would say I don't care as much about the Supreme Court nomination coverage as I do any other issue, but I find myself absolutely STARVING for anything and everything we can learn about the Bush administration's conduct in the run-up to the Iraq war.

I want to know all about the Downing Street Memos, the CIA agent outing scandal, the particular relationships between Departments of State and Defense around the time all this was unfolding, why different aides (like Ari Fleischer and Karen Hughes) REALLY resigned, how Halliburton's contract awards and rising oil prices dovetail with the timeline, etc.

Dig DEEP! Show us the BIG picture. Still give us the facts on the John Roberts nomination, but I don't want to hear about the speculation and partisan squabbling...only what's been determined (or not determined) on the Senate floor. And I don't want to hear partisan smear in response to the Rove/Plame thing either. But do please get out there and ferret out the FACTS, even if Scott McClellan says there are none! Big picture...big picture....

-- Dr. Diane Kistner, Canton

NOTABLE
Property tax bills mailed soon; first payment is October 15

Gwinnett County 2005 property tax bills will be mailed by August 15, 2005. As in the past, this billing will be the only one mailed. It will include two payment coupons and two reply envelopes for both installment payments. Taxpayers should retain the payment coupons for submittal with their payments. Taxpayers making installment payments should pay the first installment amount indicated on the bill by October 15. The second installment is due November 15.

Installments not paid by the stated due dates will have a five percent penalty added to the installment amount. In addition, interest will begin to accrue at the rate of one percent per month beginning on November 16.

For assistance, taxpayers should call the Tax Commissioner's 24-hour customer service line at 770.822.8800 or e-mail the Tax Commissioner's Property Tax Department at PropertyTax@gwinnettcounty.com .

Brookwood senior elected state rep to youth council

Anna Bleau, a rising senior at Brookwood High School in Gwinnett County and Walton EMC Youth Tour delegate, has been elected to represent Georgia on the national Youth Leadership Council (YLC).

Bleau

Bleau recenty attended the YLC Conference in Washington this July. She will also address directors at the Georgia EMC annual meeting this November, as well as attend and assist at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association annual meeting in Orlando this spring. To complete her YLC cycle, she will speak to next year's Youth Tour delegates at the 2006 Georgia Youth Tour Kickoff Banquet in Atlanta.

Created in 1976, the purpose of the YLC is to build leadership and public speaking skills and increase delegates' knowledge of the energy industry and cooperatives.

Representatives to the council are selected by their respective state delegations during the annual Washington Youth Tour.

Walton EMC is a customer-owned power company that serves 110,000 accounts over its ten-county service area between Atlanta and Athens. It's subsidiary, Walton EMC Natural Gas, serves natural gas accounts statewide. Learn more at waltonemc.com and waltonemcgas.com.

UPCOMING
Simpsonwood to host storytelling meet Aug. 10-13

Biblical storytellers from all over the world will meet for four days of storytelling, workshops, presentations, creative worship, and holy hilarity at the Biblical Storytelling Festival Gathering, August 10-13, 2005. This 18th annual Festival Gathering, sponsored by the Network of Biblical Storytellers (NOBS), will be held at Simpsonwood Conference Center near Norcross in Peachtree Corners.

The Festival Gathering has become for many people a life-changing event, as they have come to learn techniques for telling biblical stories and to sharpen their skills. Pastors, church educators, laity from all denominations, teachers, chaplains, professional storytellers, and first-timers all meet to explore the Bible as story as it was originally experienced: as dramatic storytelling rather than read.

This year's keynote speaker is Dr. Thomas Boomershine, author and professor of New Testament at United Theological Seminary. The featured teller is Pam Faro, a professional storyteller from Colorado, who has also recently completed a Master of Divinity degree at Iliff School of Theology.

Storytellers is a 27-year-old, ecumenical organization with local Storytelling Guilds world-wide. For more information call the NOBS Business Office at 1-800-355-NOBS.

RECOMMENDED READ
Broken Prey, by John Sandford

"In the latest and 17th installment of the "Prey" detective series featuring Lucas Davenport, author John Sandford offers a brutal but dynamic thriller that explores a serial killer in Minnesota. While Broken Prey has captivating twists and turns, a subtle back story provides a new depth in this novel as it reminds readers a lot of police work is pedantic and routine. To fill these moments, Davenport's colleagues offer a running commentary on a work in progress - - a list Davenport is creating of the best 100 rock songs of the rock era. After a satisfactory ending to the book, readers get an added bonus: the character's final list, which is provided "in no particular order, except that, as any intelligent person knows, any decent road trip will start with ZZ Top."

-- Calhoun Johnson, Charleston, S.C.

• An invitation: What Web sites or books have you enjoyed? Send us your best recent read along with a short paragraph as to why you liked it, plus what book you plan to read next. --eeb
  
  
  

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
How not paying attention can rear up and bite you

" Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you."

-- Pericles(495-429 B.C.), via Marshall Miller, Snellville.

• Another invitation: What's your favorite saying? Share with others through GwinnettForum. Send to elliott@gwinnettforum.com.
  

MORE: Contact Gwinnett Forum at: elliott@gwinnettforum.com

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