TODAY'S ISSUE
Pare your grocery shopping with tips from CCCS of Atlanta
By Gay Watson
Consumer Credit Counseling Service
Special to GwinnettForum.com

AUG. 19, 2005 -- Grocery shopping can take a major chunk out of anyone's budget. These tips from Consumer Credit Counseling Service can show you how to fully stock the cupboard without totally unloading your bank account.

The best tip for inexpensive and efficient grocery shopping is to prepare in advance. Plan a weekly or bi-weekly grocery store visit. Making a trip to the store every time you want to cook dinner will add to temptation to buy items you really don't need. Also, on quick, unplanned trips to the store you are less likely to follow a list, comparison shop or use coupons.

Planning is the key. Make a list, clip and organize coupons and shop the grocery store's flyer for good deals. Your list should organize items you need by types of foods or products. Use that list to specify special sales or any coupons you have for certain items.

Be as detailed as possible. If you have a coupon for laundry detergent, write down the specifics, such as the amount the coupon is good for and any size requirements. This will help you quickly determine if the national brand with the coupon is a better deal than the generic.

Only clip and organize coupons for items you will actually use. A good deal is not a good deal if you don't use the product.

Plan a realistic budget and stick to it. This may be hard at first, but after a few trips to the store, it will get easier to predict how much you need to spend on groceries.

Shop at stores that double, or even triple, coupons. Many times, you can get some of your favorite products for a fraction of the price if you shop during sales and use coupons.

If you have storage space, shop warehouse clubs to get good deals on bulk items. Or go with a friend or neighbor and split your purchases and only buy what you can use before the expiration date. Take a notebook along so you can record prices on your favorite items.. Also, check out discount and dollar stores for many non-perishable items and cleaning supplies.

Other tips:

• Eat a balanced meal before shopping. This way you won't be tempted to vary from your shopping list or by expensive treats and snacks.
  
  
• Avoid free samples. These samples are there to entice you to buy. If not on your list, bypass the sample.
  
  
• Check the sell-by date on perishable items. Menu planning will help determine what you will use and when.
  
  
• Don't limit your shopping to eye level. Many lower cost items, including store brands, are stocked on higher and lower shelves while higher priced items are at eye level.
  
  
• Take a calculator along to determine the price per ounce or pound so you can get the best deal. And remember, larger is not always better.
  
  
• Resist buying goodies by the check out counter. It kills your budget!
  
  
• Return home right after buying groceries so you can get cold foods in the refrigerator or freezer. If you have other errands that can't be avoided, take along an ice chest or cooler with ice in it for perishable items.
  

ELLIOTT BRACK
Thoughts concerning Virgil Williams, Jim Boyd and the Braves
By Elliott Brack
Editor and Publisher
GwinnettForum.com

AUG. 19, 2005 -- You've heard the old saw that you would rather be lucky than good! Think Gwinnett resident Virgil Williams, who might be both lucky and good, as a businessman.

For shortly after getting an OK from the Lake Lanier Islands Authority to focus his family energies and bankroll on upgrading Lake Lanier Islands, he gets a prime property dumped into his lap. The Marriott Corp. decides to halt operations at the first luxury hotel on the Islands, the PineIsle resort. Provisions of the PineIsle contract with Lake Lanier says that the hotel will revert back to the Islands if PineIsle stops operations.

And the week before, the Williams' interest get the Islands' contract from the Authority!

While this bodes well for the Williams family, our thinking is that it bodes well for Georgians in general.

When PineIsle opened at Lake Lanier in the mid-70's, it was the first top-class resort in the area. But that was 30 years ago, and meantime, this area has seen numerous other facilities open. In its day, Pineisle was so ritzy that when served your salad, the waiter said to a confused table of diners looking for their salad fork: "Sir (or Ma'am), your chilled fork!"

That was uptown for most of us!

Now after languishing for the last several years, PineIsle and the Emerald Cove Hotel on PineIsle will get the "Williams touch." We feel that means great prospects for the Islands. Virgil has that touch that should transform the property into far better than it has been in the last few years, and could become quite a feather in the Atlanta resort arena.

* * * *

Jim Boyd is dead. The former Duluth resident and oft-running candidate for various offices in the state, died this week at age 70.

Boyd ran for numerous state offices in Georgia, and once ran for the Senate in Tennessee. His last race, for the 2004 Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, won 14 per cent (87,694) votes, no mean accomplishment.

Jim was a believer of small roadside signs, which he placed all over the state, for himself, and for any other candidate that hired him. He was a promoter.

But he was also an expert on trees from his nursery operation. And he was a delight to banter with, usually on political subjects. I know this from my own conversations of back-and-forth volleying. We'll miss the likes of Jim Boyd in the next election cycle.

* * * * *

The Atlanta Braves are back atop the National League East, in what seems their natural home, for the last 14 seasons. This year they have done it with a roster filled with rookies, including the electrifying Jeff Francoeur from Gwinnett's Parkview High. What a terrific rookie seasons in the majors he is having, not only with his bat, but with his arm from right field!

Even though the Braves now sit in first place, it's obvious there is one basic weakness: their relief pitching. Tuesday night former starter-then reliever-and now starter again John Smoltz once more saw his bid for his 13th win of the year obliterated by a failing closer.

Yet now the Braves several good starting pitchers are coming back from health problems. Is this the time to see John Smoltz volunteer, for the good of the team, to return to the bull pen? For what is missing is that efficient closer which Smoltz has proven to be. Man-o-man, it would be great to see Smoltz' determination in his reliever capacity again, smoking the ball, and getting batters out1 That could be another of the surprising weapons of the Braves this year!

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McLEMORE'S WORLD
8/19: Moonwalks

Another great cartoon from Bill McLemore:

UPCOMING
8/19: Will miss Jim Boyd bringing up subjects others would not

Editor, the Forum:

I just saw in the Gwinnett Daily Post the notice of Jimmy Boyd's passing. Like Hoke O'Kelly of Loganville, I never voted for him but always admired his tenacity at running for office. He asked the questions that would not have been asked by other candidates had he not been there. Though I never knew him, I'll miss him.

-- Howard N. Williams, Jr., Snellville

8/19: Viet vet feels radicals are behind Cindy Shaheen case

Editor, the Forum:

Obviously, you have not looked at who is behind this nutcase Cindy Shaheen. She had her audience last year and had nothing but praise for the President. Why this sudden change?

The likes of moveon.org and other radicals have made this their cause in their ongoing efforts to embarrass the Bush administration and give aid and comfort to the enemy. It is time for the boys in the white coats to pick her up and get her the help she so desperately needs.

I would whole heartedly suggest you speak with some returning veterans of the Iraqi war and find out just how much good IS being done. The liberal, biased media in this country has no reason to promote the good things that our service members have done and continue to do so on a daily basis, for the Iraqi people. You better pray that our next President has the guts to continue our fight to stop terrorism and spread freedom to those who long for it. God bless the USA and our leaders!!

-- Larry Partain, Norcross

PS - I am a Vietnam vet and was awarded the Purple Heart and Combat Infantyman's Badge-LP.

(Dear Larry: Our point is that if the president had not been so hard-headed, there would not have been all this continuing media about the lady beside the road in Texas. The president and his advisers brought all this media attention on her (and him). We commend you for being a combat veteran of the military. As opposed to the Vietnam situation, we don't think Americans will ever treat returning veterans as many were in your day. -eeb.)

8/19: Maintains that USA should find way to get out of Iraq

Editor, the Forum:

You're right on getting the heck out of Iraq. These things have endless life. We have been in Korea for about 50 years and who knows how long in the future. Foreign adventurism is very expensive in terms of lives and money, particularly lives, Ms. Sheehan could tell you.

Your suggestions for Bush were sensible and I doubt he has sense enough to follow your advice to talk to her again.

I voted for Forbes in the primary. Bush was a mistake. They make it sound good at first --- "We'll be out of there quickly, a few months at most and everything will be great afterward." Somalia, Kosovo, etc.: it never works as planned.

And where should we go next in search of international wrongs to make right ? What would the Founders think of this ? They would be shocked.

Many "right-wing" writers such as Pat Buchanan, Joe Sobran, Sam Francis and Paul Craig Roberts, along with Republican Congressmen John Duncan and Ron Paul (the best in the business - ronpaul.org), have questioned such military activity from the beginning and are questioning these foreign involvements. Conservative Walter Jones of North Carolina is also calling for an exit strategy.

It is no accident that Nixon ,LBJ, Clinton, GWB, and Cheney have nine daughters and no sons among them. This changes a person's thinking. No problem, never a draft of females.

At least Nixon got us out of Vietnam. Remember 1964 when Johnson was supposed to keep us out of there? I voted for Goldwater. I support the military but question those who sent them there.

The situation is fueled by the all-volunteer military. After all, they joined voluntarily, they always point out. We no longer have to worry about our draft number coming up. We can then become theoreticians, safely away from the fray, sort of the way the neocons like to plan the lives of others.

We had four wars the last century. All four started under five liberal Democrat presidents. You'd think the Republicans, the stupid party, as the late great columnist Sam Francis (1947-2005 samfrancis.net) called them, would learn from their mistakes.

-- Marshall Miller, Lilburn

8/19: Agrees that we see things far differently about protest

Editor, the Forum:

You say the glass is half empty and I say the glass is half full. The fact that we can see things differently is great but the fact that we can both be right is even greater.

You see the president as hard-headed and stubborn. I see the president as strong willed and a man of conviction. You think he needs to listen to reason. I think he is more than reasonable.

You see him painted into a corner. I think he has a variety of options. You see presidential disdain. I see courage of conviction.

You see 100 people as a hullabaloo. I see 100 professional protesters. You see him mired in war up to his eyeballs. I see the beginnings of democracy in the Middle East.

You wonder when it will end. I think when a representation government and trained security forces are ready to govern and protect all the citizens of Iraq.

You best hope is the passage of time and a pacifist president. My worst nightmare is Jimmy Carter reincarnated.

We both have compassion for all the bereaved families of the soldiers that have been killed and empathize with those who have been injured. And I am the first to support Cindy Shaheen's right to camp out in Crawford. But as significant as those numbers are, they pale when contrasted with the numbers that were killed, maimed or injured at the hands of the Sadaam Hussein regime and the Islamic terrorists in Iraq and around the world. Where were the protesters then and why aren't the pacifists protesting the daily terrorist's bombings now.

So in the end is the glass half empty or half full? The answer is perhaps less important than the fact that we have the freedom to debate it. Let's hope, someday, the good people of Iraq can enjoy similar freedoms.

-- Patrick Malone, Snellville

Dear Patrick: Yes, we see it differently. The hullabaloo is what happens---the media onslaught---when the president doesn't give the grieving mother the time of day. -eeb)

UPCOMING
Gwinnett Great Day of Service for 2005 set on Oct. 28-29

The Gwinnett Coalition for Health and Human Services is seeking sponsors, volunteers, and participating agencies for the sixth annual Gwinnett Great Days of Service. The event will take place October 28-29, 2005, at many locations throughout Gwinnett County. This year we need volunteers to work on over 200 community projects. Projects include landscaping, re-stocking food pantries, painting, school supply and food drives, building playgrounds and many more.

The coalition is seeking assistance in the following ways:

• Sponsors are needed to underwrite the minimal costs of this event. Sponsorship levels are available to meet every budget.
  
  
• Agencies can submit project ideas on the website. Every non-profit agency in Gwinnett should have at least one service project for the event.
  
  
• Individual volunteers or volunteer teams can register for a project on the website or contact us for more information. Teams can include families, churches, civic groups, youth groups, and others.
  
  
• Donations are needed in the "Dollar makes a Difference" Campaign. The fundraising campaign will kick off in September to help raise funds for future events.

For more information about how you can be involved, please contact Rachael Holder, at rachael@gwinnettcoalition.org or 678/377-4137. Or contact the Gwinnett Great Days of Service website at www.gwinnettgdos.org.

RESTAURANT REVIEW
Aqua Terro Bistro, Buford

"When visiting in Buford, for lunch or dinner, consider Aqua Terra restaurant. Located downtown on Main Street, it offers American continental fare, and features fresh seafood and steaks.

"The restaurant has been in Buford for over five years. A popular dish we tried recently is the tasty French Country Salad, composed of mixed greens, Golden Delicious apples, walnuts, bacon, gobs of Gorgonzola and red onion. It is scrumptious, we can attest.Chef is Brian Legault, a native of Vermont who has been at Aqua Terra virtually from its opening. Sister restaurants are the Third Coast Grill on Holiday Road in Buford and 37 Main, down the street in Buford. Aqua Terra has a banquet facility in the basement which can seat as many as 99 people. Go to its web site for more information. aquaterrabistro.com". --eeb

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

GEORGIA TIDBIT
Marines operate supply base near Albany since early 1950s

The Marine Corps Logistics Base is located in Dougherty County in southwest Georgia, approximately five miles southeast of Albany. Its mission is to rebuild and repair ground-combat and combat-support equipment and to support installations on the East Coast of the United States.

Marine Corps Logistics Base

Albany was chosen as the site for the logistics base after a two-year search in the early 1950s for a level area convenient to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean and serviced by road and rail. Albany was also attractive for its inland location, well away from the possibility of saltwater corrosion of the stored equipment, and its adequate workforce. Under construction for two years, the base opened in 1954 as the Marine Corps Depot of Supplies. In 1959, renamed the Marine Corps Supply Center, it was assigned the mission of rebuilding non-aviation equipment. In 1976 the base was redesign Ted the Marine Corps Logistics Support Base, Atlantic, and was finally given its present designation in 1978.

Today's Marine Corps Logistics Base, Albany, comprises more than 3,300 acres. In 2002 it employed more than 2,400 civilians along with a complement of 600 marines. The Albany Maintenance Center is also the home base for the commander of the Marine Corps Logistics Bases, which includes those located at Barstow, Calif., and Jacksonville, Fla.

During the Persian Gulf War (1990-91) the base's workforce shipped more than nine million pounds of equipment to air and seaports for rapid transport to troops abroad. Personnel also installed twenty-six "tractor protective kits" on bulldozers used to break through Iraqi barriers and minefields. The armored bulldozers helped open the way for coalition troops to overrun enemy defenses.

In 1973 more than 200 Indian artifacts were discovered on the base. Arrowheads, flint knives, scrapers, and other ancient tools estimated to be more than 8,000 years old were unearthed by archaeologists. Their presence suggests that the area may have been a trading or supply post for Native Americans.

• To access the Georgia Encyclopedia, go to http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org
  
  

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
Ah, growing up can be fraught with perils in later life

"In America any boy may become President and I suppose it's just one of the risks he takes."

-- Two-time Presidential Candidate Adlai E. Stevenson Jr. (1900 - 1965).

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

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