TODAY'S ISSUE
"People and Stories" sessions bring buzz of excitement
By Karen Harris
Branch manager/Diversity Projects Coordinator
Norcross Public Library
Special to GwinnettForum.com

AUG. 12, 2005 -- Gwinnett County Public Library is buzzing with excitement! Advanced students enrolled in ESL (English as a Second Language) classes at the English Language Institute were animatedly discussing in Spanish the story "La Prodigiosa tarde de Baltazar" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which had just been read aloud in Spanish.

Harris

The following week the same story, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez entitled "Balthazar's Marvelous Afternoon" was read aloud in English. The Discussion was in measured but clear English by participants.

The ease with which participants discuss stories in English increased incrementally over the course of the eight week series! Participation in "Gente y Cuentos----People and Stories" provides a comfortable setting for students new to the English language to both enjoy lyrically beautiful literature and practice speaking English in a relaxed and friendly setting! It also provides a way for participants to connect to the meaning in the story by identifying elements that resonate with their life experiences! The imagery and complexity in the stories coupled with the opportunity to share these life experiences allows participants to find their own "voice" and eliminates any self- consciousness or reticence!

The Library is seeing many new potential customers who speak Spanish as a primary language to come into many of the library system's 12 branches. We want to introduce these potential new library customers to literature from the learning point of their own language and life experience. We also want to introduce the library as a valuable resource for learning and information access.

People and Stories----Gente y Cuentos has a 38 year history of successfully introducing those new to reading and the study of literature. The program began in Spanish in a housing project in Cambridge Mass. when founder Sarah Hirschman organized a group of Puerto Rican women for Gente y Cuentos pilot series.

A National Endowment for the Humanities grant in 1981 enabled the expansion of the project to Florida, Texas, New York, and Puerto Rico. The program in English, People and Stories began in 1986 in New Jersey under the sponsorship of New Jersey Council for the Humanities whose support has been continuous. The project became a non-profit corporation in 1993.

Currently, "People and Stories/Gente y Cuentos" offers three discussion models. Story Discussion programs are in English, in Spanish, and Bilingual Spanish/English. The Bilingual program discussion features short stories written by authors such as James Joyce, Hernando Tellez, Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

In addition to introducing people to the joys of reading, and providing a non-classroom setting for students from the English Language Institute to speak in English, the Bilingual Spanish/English program model serves as a bridge between American and Hispanic culture. "People and Stories----Gente y Cuentos" builds in the words of one student "Tertulia", that is, a gathering of people who come together for conversation and to experience community. As the eight week story discussion series progressed, People and Stories----Gente y Cuentos gatherings at the library became "Tertulias" as participants shared understandings, life experiences and grew into a "community of learning" through sharing a rich appreciation of literature read in Spanish and in English. In the words of another student, "This program makes us feel like people again!"

Gwinnett County Public Library is planning series of People and Stories----Gente y Cuentos programs beginning in the Fall 2005 and Spring 2006. Audiences will be invited through contacts with Norcross Human Service Center, English Language Institute, Latin American Association, and Parent Outreach Liaison Groups in Gwinnett County.

ELLIOTT BRACK
Dacula fete recalls when North Georgia led cotton acreage
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

AUG. 9, 2005 -- Speakers Saturday at the Dacula Centennial were often talking about cotton. After all, cotton was king in North Georgia in the early days of the 1900s, outproducing South Georgia.

Today, of course, North Georgia is more chickens (and people) than row crops, for which South Georgia is better suited. But when Dacula was being founded, Gwinnett was very much an agricultural county, with heavy cotton acreage. In those days, Gwinnett never thought of itself as part of Metro Atlanta. My, my, my, how times change!

Agricultural Commissioner Tommy Irvin set the tone at the Dacula festivities, citing figures of the importance of agriculture back then. About half the population 100 years ago was in some sort of agriculture. Today only two per cent of Georgians have any agricultural connection. Irvin noted that Georgians grew 5,1500,000 acres of cotton in 1914, but today only cultivate 1.3 million acres. "But today with modern practices and varieties and controls, Georgia produces more cotton than it did back then."

Dacula Mayor Jimmy Wilbanks, right, gets a commendation signed by Mayor Pro Ten R. G. Halem (dressed in period overalls) for leading the Dacula Centennial efforts.

What radically changed cotton, of course, was the boll weevil, which hit Georgia between 1915-20. It continued to cause problems up until 1987-94, when a boll weevil eradication program virtually made this pest insignificant.

Ricky Seaton, executive director of the Georgia Cotton Commission, was another speaker at the Dacula Centennial. He also noted the importance of cotton to Gwinnett, which as late as 1930 planted 52,920 acres of cotton, the most ever. The year before it had produced 25,530 bales of cotton, also a record. The last year cotton figures were kept for Gwinnett, 1974, the county only produced 45 bales of cotton. The highest yield per acre was with 502 pounds in 1958. But Gwinnett only planted 500 acres that year.

Seabolt says today's biggest cotton pest is the stink bug. "You don't get far ahead of Mother Nature," he notes, though modern practices have reduced spraying from 18-20 sprays to an average of three per season now.

With modern techniques, many farmers today average 660 pounds per acre. With a bale of cotton weighing about 500 pounds, you can easily translate that poundage into bales.

Counties in black and gray produce more cotton. Click here to see larger image.

Today it's not unusual to see spreads of 1,000 to 2,500 acres. "And they do it with less chemicals than ever before," Ricky says. Chemicals are expensive, and farmers don't want to use any more than necessary, "for they live on the land and want to keep it pristine."

Farmers always are at the mercy of the world cotton market. Seabolt feels that with the continuing rise of China as a factor in world markets, "If China buys what we think they will need to satisfy the textile industry," he hopes cotton can get to the 60-65 cent range soon. The recent price for cotton was 52 cents per pound.

Today South Georgia is the center of the cotton crop in the state. Colquitt and Dooly counties lead the state in production.

While at first glance, it might have seem unreasonable for cotton to be the major topic at the Dacula Centennial, we must remember cotton was the main money crop around Dacula 100 years ago. But in Gwinnett today, about the biggest cotton production is the many servings of cotton candy at festivals and fairs. What Dacula cotton farmer 100 years ago would have thought Gwinnett farming would have changed so much!

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 Just Emissions, a firm performing State of Georgia emission testing as certified by the Georgia Clean Air Force (GCAF). We eliminate the potential conflict of interest in the test and repair facility by performing only the test, never the needed repairs. For our commercial accounts we offer charge accounts and a single source of record keeping eliminating the need to "scramble" when it is time to purchase vehicle tags. Just Emission offers certified emission testing in minutes by our courteous, trained technicians. In Gwinnett, we are located at the corner of Scenic. and Grayson Highways in Lawrenceville. There are also locations at 1830 Briarcliff Road, Atlanta, close to Emory University, and 51 S. Cobb Drive, Marietta one block south of the Big Chicken. No appointment is needed.

For a list of other sponsors of this forum, go to: http://www.gwinnettforum.com/about/sponsors.htm



McLEMORE'S WORLD
8/12: The Story Is How You Look at The Simple Letter

The latest from cartoonist Bill McLemore:

FEEDBACK
8/12: Truckload Bunch seeks to rid county of signs along roads

Editor, the Forum:

You may have heard of the "Gwinnett Sign Posse". We actually call ourselves "The Truckload Bunch" and we have earned the respect and support of county commissioners, police officers and citizens. We usually work alone and until recently, many of us had never even met in person. Every week we pick up and dispose of hundreds of illegal signs. We collect truckload after truckload of "trash on a stick".

Illegal signage along public roadways is a major blight and a curse upon every property owner. You can judge the vitality of homes in an area by the type of "Street Spam" nearby. Decaying neighborhoods are plagued with "For Rent", "Lease/Purchase" and "Debt Relief" signs. Mature communities are targeted by "Lawn Service", "Computer Repairs" and "Junk Removal". New developments are plastered with multicolor weekend directional signs. The problem is, they all look horrible and putting up one means others follow.

It doesn't have to be this way. ANYONE can remove and destroy illegal signs just like any other roadside trash. It takes just a few seconds to pull over and grab a sign. When a sign stays up, it will attract other signs and pretty soon there is an entire forest of them. Our invisible hands stop this nightmare so you probably don't realize how bad things would look otherwise.

But you don't have to go far to see where our grip ends. Recently several of us went into the northernmost part of the county, where expensive homes and cow pastures still coexist. The Mall of Georgia/Hamilton Mill area is totally infested with directionals and commercial advertising, and we filled up an entire dumpster. There just aren't enough of us to cover such a huge area.

County "code enforcement" efforts are being concentrated in South Gwinnett right now where sign battles have simmered for years. The County Recorder's Court has been historically reluctant to impose substantial fines. We have hopes this is changing. Fines of up to $1,000 PER SIGN can be imposed. It would only take a few of these before every developer in the county suddenly started obeying the law.

We are not anti-development and wish everyone success in their ventures. But there are other ways to advertise that don't take away from our quality of life. We do this because we care and we consider it an investment in our community. Please see our new website: http://www.truckloadbunch.org for more information.

-- Anonymous Sign Grabber

UPCOMING
CNN's Expo to feature small business improvement program

CNN's Small Business Improvement Program, "The TurnAround,' a series of free seminars held in conjunction with the Business In Gwinnett "BIG" EXPO and Job Fair, presented by AJC Gwinnett News, Mundo Hispanico and AJC Jobs, on August 18 at the Convention Center at Gwinnett Center on August 18, 2005. The Expo will run from 1 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The Expo Seminar Sponsors include Smooth Jazz 107.5 WJZZ and T-Mobile.

The TurnAround profiles a small business owner and a high-profile mentor as they develop a plan for success. Velshi is also a business correspondent for CNN's Daybreak, where he offers viewers tips on how to find the best value for their money. Previously, Velshi anchored CNN's Your Money and The Money Gang.

Velshi will present, "It's Never Too Late To Start: Practical Lessons for Creating Wealth from Middle Age Onward," at 1 p.m. and "Developing a Plan for Business Success: Lessons from The TurnAround, CNN's Small Business Improvement Program" at 2 p.m. The seminars are open to the public. For more information on the seminars, contact Laurie McKenzie at 770-232-8812 or laurie@gwinnettchamber.org.

For more information on the Big Expo, call 770-232-3000 or visit www.gwinnettchamber.org.

Monopoly gala to benefit Gwinnett Impact Group

On September 30, The IMPACT! Group, a non- profit community development organization, will hold its third annual MONOPOLY® Gala & Silent Auction at the Atlanta Marriott Gwinnett Place. Event host IronStone Bank and honorary chair Kerry Armstrong of Duke Realty invite local businesses to sponsor MONOPOLY® properties in support of the non-profit's work to revitalize neighborhoods and help families achieve homeownership.

Guests at the Gala receive a stake of MONOPOLY® money and properties to buy and sell from other guests. Entertainment includes live music, silent auction, food and a cash bar. At the end of the evening, a MONOPOLY® tycoon is named for having the most properties. It could be you!

For more information, visit The IMPACT! Group's website at www.theimpactgroup.org or call (678) 808- 4477.

NOTABLE
Flyover bridge from 316 to I-85 construction is moving closer

Gwinnett motorists are a step closer seeing changes on the westbound portion of Highway 316 over Interstate 85. The Georgia Department of Transportation will soon begin work on replacing the left-hand entrance ramp onto the interstate with a right-hand entrance ramp. Gwinnett Commissioners this week approved an agreement for the county to purchase wetland and stream credits to replace those impacted by the project. This agreement also includes several plan revisions at a cost of approximately $96,000.

The mitigation work is required by the Army Corps of Engineers in accordance with the Clean Water Act and has a cost of approximately $1.87 million. The state will reimburse the county in full for this expense and that of the plan revisions. These are two of the final work items needed before construction bids can open in September.

Additionally, the project will extend High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes from their current terminus (south of Pleasant Hill Road) northward to just north of the Old Peachtree Road interchange. The interchange construction will provide direct access between I-85 HOV lanes and proposed future Georgia Highway 316 HOV lanes.

Gwinnett County is providing the engineering and the required services to buy the land needed for the project. The county's cost is about $6 million. The state DOT is paying for the land and is building the project using state and federal funds. The state is paying about $24 million in pre-construction and land costs. The construction is estimated to cost about $100 million.

The project includes 13 bridges with a total length of over one mile and 24 retaining walls with a total length of more than two and half miles. The state DOT plans to receive construction bids in September with actual work on the ground beginning late this year or early next year. The construction should take about three and a half years to complete.

RESTAURANT REVIEW
Our Place, Richland

"Our Place is a 'bare-to-the-bones' diner featuring varied, delicious and plentiful country- cooking, Southern hospitality and low prices. The restaurant is located in Richland, Ga. (in Stewart County south of Columbus). My wife and I 'lucked up' on Our Place as we were out riding seeking the birthplaces of her father and his mother. It's not much to look at but "Our Place" is worth a visit.

"Jim Wooten (of the AJC) did a piece on the diner in July 1999. In his only concession to celebrity, the diner's owner displays a laminated copy of the article on a wall."

-- Craig Spinks, Evans

• 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
Action to take when your ship fails to come in

"If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it!"

-- Comedian Jonathan Winters, via Cindy Evans, Duluth.

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

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